The Topeka state journal., 1910-05-04
THE EVENING STORY
Judge Griscomb's son-in-Law.
(By Brrant c. Rogers.l

10y BTrant Z. ROgerS.)
That Judge Griscomb was wealthy
and did not care for society every
body knew; that his daughter Mabel
was handsome and accomplished and a
social favorite was also a fixed fact.
1t was observed, over and over again,
that she was not a bit like her father.
He regarded the society dawdler as a
cumberer on the earth; she had a dozen
of them f1uttering around her.
Mabel, he would say as they sat
down in the library in the evening,
now and then, for a companiona.ble lit
tie talk. what do you find solid in so
ciety?"
THE getting home as soon after mid
night as I cam" she laughingly re-
piled.
You have many young men calling
| here?"
"Ten or a dozen"
And the society papers are limiting
about this and that admirer?"
In every number
You are 20 years old. You are hand
some and educated; and they know
my bank account to a dollar. 1 some
times encounter one of your admirers
and callers
Poor old daddiei But what must
be your feelings when you do"
Marriage will come, Mabel, and the
son-in-law will come. I've wondered
what he would be like. I've wondered
if girl who took after her hard-head-
these pink-tea dawdlers.'
IT'S the foolish women that make
the silly men. If they looked for men
instead of butterflies then men could
be found. The women of society do
not ask if a man has done great things
in finance, science, art, invention or
what not. The question is: can he talk
to entertain and amuse?"
And what are you going to do?"
asked the father in a dubious tone.
Now, daddie, don't you worry one
little bit You shall see the man and
have a chance to judge him before he
becomes your son-in-law."
1t was said of Philip Barton that he
was a society butterfly. He was born
with a gold spoon in his mouth. He
had time to kill. He had never made
a dollar for himself, but when he pick
ed up a fallen fan and presented it to
a lady a score of persons held their
breath at the grace of it. He was just
a rich young man-just a dawdler-
just butterfly! He wa one of those
who danced and dangled about Miss
Griscomb. He was one of the dozen
who admired. He talked vapidity and
thought she was interested; he fiatter-
ed, and thought she was pleased. He
started to propose marriage, and she
gave him such a look as not only to
check him, but to set him to thinking
very seriously.
Way back, among Mr.. Barton's an |
cestors. there had beer hard-headed |
man-shoemaker, blacksmith, banker
or what From him there had drifted |
down something worth preserving. |
Society had insisted on the young man
being a dawdler and a butterfly. He |
admired Miss Griscomb in a society |
way. For social reasons he felt it a |
sort of duty to fall in love with her |
and ask her for her hand.
When he was ready to put his IDEAS |
into words he got surprise. She was |
in society, but not OF it. 1t came to
him as he locked into her eyes that |
she would never give her heart to a |
man like him. If any one of his |
friends had said to another that he |
took this matter seriously to heart, |
there would have been smiles and
laughter.
From that lar back ancestor came
the leaven, and Mr.. Philip Barton
saw things and thought of things and |
did things. 1t was said that he had /
gone to Europe.
necticut was looking over his gate |
and looking up and down the road,
1t was corn planting time, and he was |
without help. Afar off he saw a man
slowly walking toward him. He was
poorly dressed and seemed strange to |
country ways.
do you know of any one who wants
to hire a man?" he asked, as he
reached the gate.
The farmer, in a dubious manner,
looked him ever. "I need some help
myself he sad cautiously, but I want
to get a steady worker"
I'm ready for work If you'll show
me how" was the reply.
"Hain't used to it, eh? You don't |
look up to much, but most anybody
can plant corn. Five kernels to hill.
and cover 'em up well. Hope you amt
a gam bier or anything of that kind,
and that the police won't be after
you
He was assured on that point and
within an hour the stranger was
working in the cornfeld beside the
farmer He chopped his feet with the
hoe several times, but soon got the
hang of it. and at noon. when he sat
down to the table with the farmer
and his wife he felt that he had made
a start.
Both the farmer and his wife were
curious about him, but they learned
little They came to the decision that
he was no tramp. and that neither
was he a horse-thief. When corn
planting was over, Barnes, as the
stranger called himself, was taken on
as a hired man. He learned to split
wood. milk cows, hold the plow and
do other farm work. His back ached
and he got over it. His hands blis-
tered and became calloused. And the |
farmer said of him:
Never had a hired man who asked
so many questions. He wants to
know all about everything. Shouldn't
wonder if he'd make pretty good
farmer in time. Mebbe he used to be
what they call a confidence man, but |
I'm not holGin' it up agin him. He's
seen the error of his ways"
And when August came Judge Girls