The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-11-09

III
an appraiser. When thu chief-buyer
retired George was givenhe position.
with an itinerary that carried him half
way round the planet one a year. to
Greece, Turkey, Persia, Arabia, and
India, the lands OF the gnii and the
bottles, of arabesques, oftempfes and
tombs, of many-colored surbans and
flowing robes and distracGng tongues.
He walked and always i kind OF
mental enchantment.
The suave and elusIe Oriental,
with his sharp practicea found his
match In this pleasant pung man,
who knew the history 4 the very
woods and cottons and alks woven
in rug or carpet. So Seorge pros
pered, became known Ia strange
places, by strange people; and saw
romance, light Of foot AID eager OF
eye, pass and repass; harned that
romance did not essentially mean fall
ing in love or rescuing naidens from
burning houses and wreas; that, on
the contrary, true romano was kalet-
doscopic, having more brilliant facets
than diamond; and tht the man
who begins with nothing and ends
with something Is NOR wonderful
than any excursion recomted by Sin
bad or any tale by schehTazade. But
he still hoped that the iraeseent god
dess would some day touh his shout
der and lead him into tat maze Of
romance SO peculiar to biz own fancy.
G And then into this little world Of
business and pleasure same death
and death again, leaving him alone
and with twisted heat. Riches
mattered little, and the sanding title
of vtce-president still les. It was
with a distinct shock thathe realized
the mother and the fathg had been
with him SO long that heshad forgot
ten to make other frieads. From
one thing to another he turned in
hope TO soothe the smart.to heal the
wound; and after time he drifted,
as all shy intelligent and Imaginative
mon drift who are friend1@s, into the
silent and intimate comrayeship of In
animate things, such aa ssaRels, worries,
old metals, rare woods and ancient
embroideries, and perhaps more com
forting than all these good books.
The proper tale OF how the afore-
said iridescent goddess jostled (for It
scarce may be said that she led him
into a romance lacking neither COM
edy nor tragedy, now begins with q
trihing bit OF retrospection. One of
those women who wefe not good and
who looked into the dear pool OF the
boys mind saw the harmless longing
there, and made note hoping to find
profit by her knowledge when the per
tinent day arrived. Sic was woman
so pleasing, so handsome, SO adroit,
that many a man, oder and wiser
than George, found her mesh too
strong for him. Her plan matured,
suddenly and brilliantly, as projects
OF men and women Of her class and
caliber without variation do.
Late one December afternoon Ito
be precise, 1909, Geofge sat on the
tea-yeranda Of the Hdel semiramis
in Cairo. A book lay idly upon his
knees. It was one of those yarns
in which something vas happening
every other minute. AS adventures
go, George had never lad real one
in all his Observation-Disclosures, and he
believed that fate hal treated him
rather shabbily. He didn't quite APP
preciate her reserve. No matter how
late he wandered through the mysteri-
GUS bazaars, either here In Egypt or
over yonder in India, npthing ever be-
fell more exciting than an argument
with carriage-driver. He never car
ried smallarms, for he would not
have known how to use them. The
| only deadly things in his hands were
bass-rods and tennfs-racquets. NO,
| nothing ever happened to him; yet
he never met man in q ships smoke
room who hadn't run the gamut OF
thrilling experiences. AS George
| wasn't liar himself, he believed all
he saw and most Of what he heard.
| Well, here he was, efght-and-twenty
pocket full Of money, a heart full
OF life, and as hopeless an outlook, so
far as romance ana adventure were
concerned, as an old maid in a New
England village.
George, you old fool, what's the
use?" he thought. Whats the use
Of a desire that never goes in a
straight line, but always round and
round in a circle 2"
He thrust aside his grievance and
| surrendered to the neVerending won
der OF the Egyptian sunset; the Nile
feluccas, riding upon perfect refec
tons: the date-palms, black and mo
| tionIess against the translucent blue
of the sky; the amethystine prisms Of
the Pyramids, and the deepening gold
/ OF the deserts brim. He loved tins
| Orient, always so new, always sc
strange, yet ever 50 old and familiar
A carriage stoppedsfn front, and his
gaze naturally shifted. There is cease
less attraction in spseutatlng about
newcomers IN hotel, what they are
what they do, where they come from
and where they are going. A fine
elderly man of fifty got out. In the
t -, $}.n f7avv