The Alaska citizen., 1910-10-24
George Randolph Chester
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In Saturday Evening Pos,

ttllhi '4 i'|' fNttA ttN 'NA. ''' '''- ing letter for you covering that ycry point"
 Not in a gray envelope, l hope eraaued Bobby
 In gray envelope she replied firmly. .oing across 10 her own desk in he library
 hal feared. said Bobby dis many. that sooner or later l should find he had Jeff letters for me in your charge as we'll as in Iohnson's. but had hoped, if that were the case. that al least they would be in pinh envelopes.
 She brought 10 him one of the .amiHarioeking missives. and Bobby, as he took il, looked spcculatiyely at the big fireplace. in which. as il was early fall comfortablc-looking real logs were cracking
 Don't do il. Bobby" she warned him smiling Lets have the fun together" and she sat beside him ou rhc couch. smuggling close.
 The envelope was addressed: TO MY SON UPON HIS COM
 PLANNING THAT HIS FATHERS
 ADVICE COMES TOO LATE,
 He opened it. and together they read.
 No boy will believe green ap-
 ples hurt him until he gets the
 -tomachacho Knowing you to
 re truly my son | am sure that
 if l gave you advice beforehand
 }ou would moi believe ir This
 way vou will
 Robhy smiled erimly
 II remember one painful incident of aGodt the lime I put on knicker- lockers. he unused Father told me 70 keep away from rat-frap that he had bought Of course l caught my hand in it three minutes afrer- ward + hurt and l hoWled, but he only looked al me coldly until ri last asked him 10 help He let he thing squeezed while he asked me if q rat-trap hurt. admitted that fl did. Would I believe him next fime2 l acknowledged that I would, and he opened the trap. That was all there was to il except the raw place op my hand; but that night he came to my room after I had gone to bed, and lay beside me and cuddled me in his arms until I went 10 sleep"
 Bobby" sad Agnes seriously, "uot one of these letters but proves his aching .ove for you"
 "I know it. admitted Bobby with again that grim smile (Which only goes tc prove another thing. that i'm in for some of the severest drub- pings of my life. l wonder where 'he clubs are hidden
 He found out one of them that same night at the Idlers Clarence Smythe, Silas Trimmers son-in-law. drifted in toward the wee small hours ill an unusual condition of hi larity. He had a Vandyke had Mir. Smythe, and was one who cherished a mad passion for clothes; also. as an utterly impossible climber" he was as cordially hated as Bobby was liked at the Idlers. where he had crept in while the window was open" as Nick Allstyne expressed it. Ordinarily he was most prim and pretty of manner, but tonight he was on vinously familiar terms with all the world. and, crowding himself upon Bobby's quiet whist crowd, slapped Bobby joyously on the shoulder"
 Heres the generous lad" he thickly informed Allstyne and Win throp and Starlett. If you chaps have any property you've wanted to unload for half life-time, here's the free-handed boy to buy it."
 Flows that?" Bobby wanted to know, guessing instantly at the hu- initiating truth.
 That Westmarsh swamp belonged 10 Trimmer" laughed Mir. Smythe. so bubblinS with the hugeness of the joke that he could not keep his se- cret; and when Thorne. after pump ing your puffy man. told my clever tather-in-law you wanted iC, he promptly bought it from himself in the name of Miles, Eddy & Co. and put up the price 10 three hundred an acre. Besides taking the proper ty off his shoulders you've given him nearly ! ten,thousanddollar advance for il. Fine business,"
 Great" agreed blunt Jack Star lett. Almost as good a joke as re fusing to lay a poker iebt because it isn't legal
 Bobby smiled his thanks for the shot, but inside he was sick. The game they were playing was a part ing set-to. for the three others were leaving in the morning for Stanley's hunt, but Bobby was glad when it was over In the big. lonely house he sat in his study for an hour be fore he went to bed, looking abstract