Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-01-02
never wrote home and complained.
What was good enough for his mother
~, Vr,v.h him

never wrote home and complained,
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 as
he knew that when the time came he
would apply himself as thoroughly to
the question Of rugs and carpets.
Under all this fllial 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 dis
covered the fact she cried over the
sentimental verses. The father had to
be told. He laughed and declared
that the boy would some day develop
into good writer Of advertisements.
This quiet laughter, unburdened as it
was with ridicule, was enough to set
Georges muse a-winging, and she
never came back.
After leaving college he was given
modest letter of credit and told to
go where he pleased for a whole year.
George started out at once in quest
OF the Holy Grail, and there 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 innumer-
able) is always the exact sum of a
bunch of hay hanging before old Dob
bins nose Nevertheless, George gal.
Hoped his fancies with loose rein He
haunted the romantic quarters Of the
globe; he hunted romance, burrowed
and plowed for it; and never his
spade changed unsteady against the
hidden treasure, never forlorn beau
ty In distress, not SO much as chap
ter one Of the Golden Book offered its
dazzling first page George lost some
confidence.
Two or three times a woman looked
into the young mans mind, and in
his guilelessness they effected sundry
holes in his letter OF credit, but left
his soul singularly untouched. The
red corpuscle, his fathers gift, though
it lay dormant, systematically erected
barriers. He was innocent, but he
was no fool. That one year taught
him the lesson, rather cheaply, too.
If there was any romance in life, 1t
came unlimited, and il courted and
sought was as quick on the wing as
that erstwhile poesy muse.
The year passed, and while he had
not wholly given UP the quest, the
practical George agreed with the ro-
mantle Percival to shelve 1t indefinite
ly. He returned to New York with
thirty pounds sterling out OF the orig
lnal thousand, fact that rejuvenated
his parental parent by some ten
years.
Jane, that boy Is all right. Perci-
val Algernon could not kill boy like
that" Z
do you mean to infer that it ever
could?" Sometimes a qualm wrink-
led her conscience. Her mothers
heart told her that her son ought not
to be shy and hashf,il, that it was not
in the nature of his blood to suspect
ridicule where there was none Per-
haps she had handicapped him with
those names; but 1t was too late now
to admit Of this. and useless. since 1t
would not have remedied the evil
Jones hemmed and hawed for a
space. NO" he answered; sbut |
was afraid he might try to live up to
It; and no Percival Algernon who liv-
ed up to it could put his nose down
to Shah Abbas and tell how many
knots 1t had to the square inch. I'll
start him in on the Job tomorrow,
Whereupon the mother sat back
dreamily. Now, where was the girl
worthy her boy? Monumental ques-
ton, besetting every mother, from
Eve down, Eve, whose trials in this
direction must have been heartrend-
Ing!
George left the cellar in due time,
and after that he went up the ladder
in bounds, on his own merit, mind you
for his father never stirred hand to
boost him. He took the interest in
rugs that turns a buyer into q collec-
tor; it, became fascinating pleasure
rather than q business. He became
invaluable to the house, and acquired
some fame as Judge and an apprais.
err. When the chief buyer retired
George was given the position, with
an itinerary that carried him half
V0y oASuAo IAC PAbuCt 5OACct q JS61I, "
Greece, Turkey, Persia. Arabia, and
India, the lands of the GENT and the
bottles, of arabesques, of temples and
tombs, of many-colored turbans and
flowing robes and distracting tongues.
He walked always in kind Of mental
enchantment
The suaye and elusive oriental, with
his sharp practices, found his match
in this pleasant young man, who
knew the history Of the very woods
and cottons and silks woven In q rug
or carpet. So George prospered, be-
came known In strange places, by
strange peoples; and saw romance,
light of foot and eager Of eye, pass
and repass; learned that romance did
not essentially mean falling in love
or rescuing maidens from burning
houses and wrecks; that, on the con
trary, true romance was Kaleidoscope
having more brilliant facets than q
diamond; and that the man who be-
gins with nothing and ends with some
thing is more wonderful than any ex-
eursion recounted by Sinbad or any
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