The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-05-13

WTdppeu lduyB carrying Jug, dp
preached his counter and asked TO
look at some green material, John
brought out a bolt and unwound it.
"Clean and fresh as new grass in
the meadow" he told her, his eyes
shining.
The customer eyed him frigidly
through a pair of long-handled glass
es.
"I desire something to match the
upholstering in my new car" she an
nounced.
At noon he met the glove-counter
girl again, wearing a new waist 1t
was upon Johns lips to remark how
the color reminded him of the apple
blossoms his mother had written
about; but at the critical moment
her eyes held him.
"Do you know" he ventured,
there's a spring just beyond the
old gate, back home, that is as deep
and as shining as your eyes, Miss
Holt"
The girl bestowed upon him half
amused, Multiplying glance.
"How longs it going to take to
wear the moss off your back? Get
new pair of glasses! Get your second
wind! Why, to hear you talk, one
would think New York ran second
to Cinderville, Iowa!"
John remembered the trees, the
sloping meadow, the little brook, the
clear sweep of skies, and the soft, cool
wind; and somehow his lips CULVER
ed.
81 wish-wish I was back there!"
he choked. 81 wish I was back home!
Think of having to stay here-for
always!"
They say of nature that nothing
stands still-a thing either progress
es or dies. John Parent should have
remembered that; he should have
realized that once mans foot is
on the second round of the ladder,
the first round is cut away. One
must ascend or drop back into obTiv-
ion John assembled. After a time
they spoke of him as Mr. Parent,
head. of the silk department.
The evolution began when he left
the musty clearinghouse for room
at an uptown hotel For the first
few weeks the elegance of his new
apartment all but took his breath
away. 1t was like fairy book The
clerk greeted him cordially; the bell
boys raced to be of the slightest SER
vice; the elevator-pilot never forgot
to ask after his health; and the door
man, pompous and commanding IN
his six feet of blue and brass but
tons, saluted him as if he were the
President himself.
Nor did the wonders cease in the
lobby. A shiny button at the head
of his brass bed needed only to be
pressed, in order to crafty every
conceivable desire. Clusters of lights
sprang into life at a touch; a tele-
phone put the whole city at his COM
mand. A knob swerved in one di-
rection gave him heat; in the other
it set an electric fan whirring.
He began to be careful of his
dress; studied the hang of his coat
and the set of his well-creased trou-
sers. His cravats matched his hose,
and he took particular pains in the
selection of his waistcoats More
over, he learned to carry a stick, and
to appear comfortable and careless
in evening clothes.
In the broad, shining aisle of the
Smith store, John Parents back stiff
fened and his chin went up. He lord
ed it over the clerks, snapped at the
cash-girls, bowed the customers this
way and that, reprimanded or prais-
ed as occasion offered,
During the evenings, like an eX-
plorer on unknown seas, he ventur-
ed forth and inspected the region Of
white lights. He dipped into play
houses, assumed a bored expression
between acts, and studied the fit Of
his new dress suit in the tall lobby
mirrors. When he lolled back in the
immaculate barber chairs-for the
safety razor was a thing of the dim
past-an industrious coIored lad pol
ished his shoes, while a demure
blonde who did not live with her
mother did the same service for his
nails.
One Sunday, at his hotel, he made
the acquaintance of a girl who was
wintering there-a slender, stately
creature, with the bluest of eyes, the
fuffest of hair, and a complexion