Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1912-11-29

auBn6u, put Tie PiSees SASS
gered. Many q time ne had returned
to his dormitory decorated mot In
accord with the fond hopes OF his
mother) with o swollen ear, or Q
ruddy proboscis, or q green'orown
eye. There was q limit, and when
they stepped over that, why. he pro-
ceeded to the best OF his ability 10
solve the difficulty with his nsts.
George was no milksop; but Perciyal
Algernon would have been the Old
Man of the Sea on broader shoulders
than his. He dimly realised that had
he been named George Henry William
Jones his sun would have been many
diameters larger. There was q splen-
did quality of pluck under his appar'
emit timidity, and he stuck doggediy
to It. He never wrote home n com
planned. What was good enough for
his mother was good enough for him.
It seemed just an ordinary matter
| Of routine for him to pick up French
| and German verbs. He was far from
| being brilliant, but he was sensitive
and his memory was sound. Since
his mothers ambition was to see him
an accomplished linguist, he applied
himself to the task as II everything
in the world depended upon It, Just
ss he knew that when the time came
he would apply himself al thoroughly
TO the question of rugs and carpets.
Under all this filial loyalty ran the
pure strain of golden romance, side
by side with the lesser metal OF prac-
ticality. When he began to read the
masters he preferred their romances
to their novels. He even wrote poetry
in secret, and when his mother discov-
cred the fact she cried over the senti-
mental verses. The father had to be
told. He laughed and declared that
the boy would some day develop into
a good writer Of advertisements. This
quiet laughter, unburdened as 1t was
with ridicule, was enough to set
Georges muse awinging. and she
never came back.
After leaving college he was given
q modest letter Of credit and told 70
no where he pleased for . whole year
George started out at once In Quesi
! of the Holy Grail, andsthere are more
, roads to that than there are to Rome
! One may be reasonably sure OF get
ting into Rome, whereas the HOLY
Grail diversified. variable, innun1er
able) Is always the exact sum OF
bunch Of hay hanging before old Dob
bins nose. Nevertheless, George gal
loped his fancies with loose rein. HI
haunted romance, burrowed ant
plowed for III and never his spad'
changed musicalfy against the hidde1
treasure, never q forlorn beauty II
distress. not 90 much as chapter on
| of the Golden Book offered Its da1
cling Arst page. George lost some. cor
! fdence.
I Two or three times q woman locke
into the young mans mind, and In hi
guiielessness they effected sundr
holes In his letter Of credit. but LEI
his soul singularly untouched. TIL
red corpuscle, his fathers gift. thoug
It lay dormant, automatically erecte
barriers. He was innocent, but he wa
no fool. That one year taught hiI
:. the lesson, rather cheaply, too.
there vas any romano In life, 1t cam
unlimited, and If courted and sougf
was az quick on the wing al that ers
while poesy must.
The year passed, and while he ha
not wholly given up the quest, tn
practical George agreed with the r
mantle Percival to shelve 1t indie
nitely. He returned to New Yor
with thirty-two pounds sterling out
; the original thousand. a fact that rel
venated his paternal parent by son
ten years
Jane, that boy IL all right. PERI
val Algernen could not kill a boy iii
that"
DO you mean to infer that 1t ev'
could?" Sometimes q qualm wrinkle
her conscience. Her mothers hea
told her that her son ought not to
shy and bashfui, that 1t was not
the nature OF his blood to suspe
ridicule where there was none. Pt
haps she had handicapped him wi
those names; but 1t was too late nc
to admit Of this, and useless, sin
II would not have remeaied the ey
Jones hemmed and hawed for
space. NO." he answered; but
was afraid he might try to live
to II: and no Percival Algernon W
elf lived up to 1t could put his nose do'
on to a Shah Abbas and tell how ma
lat knots 1t had to the square inch.
nm start him In on the Job tomorrow"
n Whereupon the mother sat ba
I'D dreamily. Now, where was the &
worthy Of her boy? Monumental gu
ery ton, besetting every mother, from E
al down Eve, whose trials in this dir
10 ton must have been heartrending!
lis, George lett the cellar In due tr
IN and after that he went up the ladt
ne. in bounds, on his own merit, mi
,ol- you, for his father never stirred
,er. hand to boost him. He took the
hat terest In rugs that turns a buyer Il
did a collector; 1t became a ~fascinat
IA. pleasure rather than Q business.
vas became invaluable to the house. {