The Detroit times., 1912-03-21
THE TM
-
SINGER ~ \
a GREAT SERIAL STORY RyA "
MARTHA BELLINGER q IN
Copyright. 1914. The BObbsMerrill Company.


yer. You're not hard-headed enough
TO be good one. AS for being .
minister, well-no. Go into business,
dear boy, something substantial. and
you'll live to thank your stars"
Jimsy received this advice at the
time with small enthusiasm, and
reservation OF criticism that was
credit 10 his manners, at least Ant
the time came when he leaned on II.
Her own child. however, Mrs. Van
Camp encouraged to profession
from the first.
"Aleck isn't smart enough for bust
ness, but he may do something as
student" was Mrs. Van Camps some.
what trying explanation and Aleck
did do something assa student. Elk.
tremely impatient with any exhibition
of laziness, the mother demanded
good accounting OF her sons time.
Aleck and Jim, who were born the
same year, ran more or less side By
sidy until the end OF college. They
struggled together in sports and in
arguments. rushed" the same girl IN
turn or simultaneously, and spent their
long vacations cruising up and down
| the Maine coast In thirty-foot sail
boat. Once they made a more ambi-
tious journey all the way TO Var
mouth and the Bay OF Fundy in a
good-sized fshing-smack.
But when college was done. their
ways separated. Mrs. Van Camp, in
the prime OF her unusual faculties,
died, having decorated the Handle
ton seutcheon like gay cockade
stuck airlly up into the breeze. She
! had no part nor lot in the family
| pride. but understood IL. perhaps. bet
ter than the Hambletons themselves.
Her crime was that she played with
! IT, Aleck, full.hedged biologist,
went 10 the Little Hebrides TO work
out his fresh and salad theory con-
corning the nerve system OF the clam.
James, third son of John and Edith
Hambleton OF Lynn, had his eyes thor.
oughly opened in the three months
after commencement by a considera.
ton OF the family situation. IL seem
| ed 10 him that from babyhood he hat
! been burningly conscious OF the pinch.
| ing and skimping necessary to main
tain the family pride. The two older
brothers were exempt from the
scorching process, the eldest being
the family darling and the second 4
/ genius. Neither one could nationally
be expected Just at present" to take
up the family accounts and make the
income square up with even decent
! ly generous outgo. And there were
the girls yet TO be educated. Jim had
no special talent to bless himself with,
either in art or science He was In.
ordinately fond of the sea. but that
did not help him in choosing career.
He had good taste in books and some
little skill in music. He was, indeed,
thrall 10 the human voice, especially
TO the low voice in woman. and he
was that best Of all critics, good
listener. His greatest riches, as well
as his greatest charm, lay In a spirit
OF invincible YOUTH but he was no
genius. no one perceived that more
clearly than himself
So he remembered Clara Van
Camps advice, wrote the whole story
to Aleck, and cast about for the one
successful business chance in the four
thousand nine hundred and ninety
nine bad ones-as the statistics have
1t.
He actually found il in shoes. Foot
i ball muscle and grit went into the
job OF putting a superior shoe on an
inferior foot, IL necessary-at least
on some foot. He got a chance to try
his powers in the home branch or a
manufacturing house, and made good.
When he came TO All position
where there was opportunity to try
new ideas, he tried them. He inspect
ed tanneries and stockyards, he got
composite measurements OF all the
feet in all. the women's colleges In the
year ninety-seven, he drilled statesmen
and opened a night school for the
buttonh ole-makers, he made scien-
tifc study of heels, and he invented
an aristocratic arch and put IL on the
narkets-
The family joked about his doings
as the harmless experiments of live.
" boy, but presently they began to
enjoy his income. Through II all they
were affectionate and kind, with the
! matter-of-course fondness which a
family gives to the member that takes
the part OF useful drudge. John, the
! pet of the parents. married, and had
/. his own eyes opened, II Is to be sup
posed Donald. the genius, had 1ust
arrived, after a dozen years or so.
at the stage where he was mentioned
now and then in the literary journals.
But Jim stuck TO shoes and kept the
family on a fair tide OF modest pros
perity.
ITO BE contlnued.)