Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1912-12-13

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 senu-
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 a-winging, and she
never came back.
After leaving college he was given
a 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
loped his fancies with loose rein. He
haunted romance, burrowed and
plowed for it.; and never his spade
changed unsteady against the hidden
treasure, a forlorn beauty IN
distress, not so much as chapter one
of the Golden Book offered it's daz-
cling first page. George lost some con-
fldence.
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, subconsciously erected
barriers. He was innocent, but he was
no fool. That one year taught him
the lesson, rather cheaply, too. Ii
there was any romance in life, 1t came
unlimited, and If courted and sought
was as quick on the wing as that erst-
while poesy must.
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 indefi-
nitely. He returned to New York
with thirty-two pounds sterling out of
the original thousand, a fact that reju-
venated his paternal parent by some
ten years.
"Jane, that boy is all right. Perci-
val Algernon could not kill a boy like
that"
"Do you mean to infer hat 1t ever
could?" Sometimes a qualm wrinkled
her conscience. Her mothers heart
told her that her son ought not to be
shy and bashful, 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 8
space. NO." he answered.; "but
was afraid he might try to live uI
to it; and no Percival Algernon who
lived up to it could put his nose dowr
to a Shah Abbas and tell how many
knots it had to the square inch. II
start him in on the job tomorrow"
Whereupon the mother sat bacl
dreamily. Now, where was the CIR
worthy Of her boy? Monumental ques
ton, besetting every mother, from Ev,
down, Eve, whose trials in this direc
ton must have been heartrending!
George left the cellar in due time
and after that he went up the ladde
In bounds, on his own merit, min,
you, for his father never stirred
hand to boost him. He took the in
terest In rugs that turns a buyer int
a collector; 1t became a fascinating
pleasure rather than a business. H,
became Invaluable to the house, an,
acquired some fame as a Judge an,
an appraiser. When the chief-buye
retired George vas given the position
with an itinerary that carried him hal
way round the planet once a year., t
Greece, Turkey, Persia. Arabia, AM
India, the lands OF the genii and TIL
bottles, Of arabesques, Of temples AM
tombs, of many-colored turbans AM
flowing robes and d~istracting tongues
He walked and always in a kind o
mental enchantment.
The suave and elusive Oriental
with his sharp practices, found hi
match in this pleasant young man
who knew the history Of the yer.
woods and cottons and silks wovel
in a rug or carpet. So George pros
pered, became known in strang,
places. by strange peoples; and saw
romance, light Of foot and eager o
eye, pass and repass; learned tina
romance did not essentially mean fall
ing in love or rescuing maidens from
burning houses and wrecks; that, OF
the contrary, true romance was kalei
d~oscopic, having more brilliant facet,
than a diamond; and hat the mar
who begins with nothing and end.
with something is more wonderful
than any excursion recounted by Sin
bad or any tale by Scheherazade. Blu
he still hoped that the iridescent god
dess would some day touch his shout
der and lead him into that maze o.
romance SO peculiar to his own fancy
And then into this little world q
business and pleasure came deatl
and death again, leaving him alone
and with a twisted heart. Richie.
mattered little, and the sounding title
OF vice-president still less. It wa.
with a distinct shock that he realized
the mother and the father had beer
4 q - - 80 -. LEA-