West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1908-06-18

Copyright. 1906. by the S. :. Mcclure CO ]
THO Carson Chalmers. I'm his apart.
ment near the square. Phlllips
brought the evening mail. Be.
sides the routine correspond.
ence. there were two items bearing
the same foreign postmark.
One OF the incoming parcels contain.
cd photograph OF a woman. The 9th.
er contained an interminablc letter.
over which Chalmers hung. absorbed.
( Tor long time. The letter was from
another woman, and ii contained poi-
soned barbs sweetly dipped In honey
and feathered with innuendoes con
cerning the photographed woman.
Chalmers tore this letter into a thou.
sand bits and began 10 wear out his
expensive rug by stridlng back and
forth upon 1t. Thus ao animal from
the jungle acts when It Is Gagged. and
thus Gagged man acts when he is
housed In jungle OF doubt.
BY and by the restless mood was
overcome. The rug was not an en-
chanted one. For sixteen feet he could
travel along II. Three thousand miles
was beyond its power TO aid
Phillips appeared. He never entered.
He invariably appeared. like well
oiled genie
"Will you dine here, sir, or outY' he
asked.
Here" said Chalmers, land in half
an hour" He listened glumly te the
January blasts making an aeollan
trombone OF the empty street.
Walt" he said TO the disappearing
genie. "As | came home across the
end OF the square / saw many men
standing there In rows There was
one mounted upon something, talking.
why do these men stand I'm rows, and
why are they there?"
They are homeless men. sir" said
Phillips. The man standing on the b.,
tries to get lodging for them for the
night. People come around TO listen
and give him money. Then lie sends
as many as the money will pay for to
some lodging house That is why they
stand In rows. They get sent 20 bed In
order as they come"
BY the time dinner is served" said
Chalmers, have one OF those men
here. He will dine with me-"
W-w-which"- began Phillips, STAN
mering for the first time during his
service.
Choose one at random" said Chal-
mers. "You might see that he is rea-
sonably sober, and n certain amount of
cleanliness will not be held against
him. That is ALL"
1t was an unusual thing for Carson
Chalmers to play the caliph. but on
that night he felt the inehicacy of con
-~yentional antidotes to melancholy.
Something wanton and egregious,
something high navoIed and Arabian,
he must have to tighten his mood.
On the half hour Phillips had finished
his duties as slave of the lamp. The
walters from the restaurant below had
whisked aloft the delectable dinner.
The dining table, laid for two. glowed
cheerily In the glow of the pink shaded
candles.
And now Phillips, as though he ush-
cred cardinal-or held I'm charge n
burglar-wafted I'm the shivering guest
who had been hailed from the line of
mendicant lodgers
1t Is n common thing to call such
men wrecks. If the comparison be
used here 1t is the specific one of a
derelict come to grief through fire.
Even yet some fiickerlng combustion
illuminated the drifting hulk His face
and hands had been recently washed, a
rite insisted upon by Phillips as me-
mortal to the slaughtered conventions
In the candlelight he stood. flaw I'm
the decorous fittings of the apartment.
His face was a sickly white. covered