Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1913-05-08
CHAPTER iI.--contInued.

stranger, who follows her to the auto
climbs In and chloroforms her.
CHAPTER iI.-continued.
So he remembered Clara a
Camps advice, wrote the whole stoFy
to Aleck, and cast about for the n
successful business chance in the 0
thousand nine hundred and ninety
nine bad ones-as the STATISTICS
have 1t.
He actually found it in shoes. FOOT
ball muscle and grit went into the lop
OF putting superior shoe on INFERIOR
foot, If necessary-at least on some
foot. He got a chance to try ms pow
ers in the home branch of a manu-
featuring house, and made goou.
When he came to fill a position where
there was opportunity to try new
ideas, he tried them. He lnspecteu
~tanneries and ~stockyards. He got CON.
posite measurements of all the 1eet
IN all the women's colleges In the
year ninety-seven, he drilled statesmen
and opened a night school TOT cne
buttonhole-makers, he made scien.llc
study OF heels, and he invented an
aristocratic arch and put 1t on the
market.
The family joked about his doings
.as the harmless experiments OF a i've
,ly boy, but presently they began 10
enjoy his income. Through It all they
were affectionate and kind. with tne
matter-of-course fondness which q
family gives to the members tnat
takes the part Of useful drudge. John,
the pet Of the parents, married. u
had his own eyes opened, 1t Is 10
be supposed. Donald, the genius, mao
lust arrived, after a dozen years Of
Z So, at the stage where he was men
toned now and then in the literary
Journals. But Jim stuck to SHOES
and kept the family on a fair tide OF
modest prosperity.
Once, in the years of Jim's appren'
ticeship to life, there came over MN
a ft OF s~oul-sickness that nearly
proved his ruin.
81 cant stand this" he wrote tc
IAleck Van Camp; sits too hard ano
dry and sordid for any ma thats
rot a soul. It isn't the grind mlnd
though that is bar enough; It IS the
Commercial idea that eats into 9
mans innards. He forgets there are
things that money can't buy, and II
mis- heart he grows contemptuous o.
anything to be had without money
and without price He cant help 1t
IL he is thinking Of trade nine-tenth'
of the time, his mind gets set tina
way. I'm ready any minute to juml
the fence, like fathers old colt vi
ON the farm. I'm not a Gnob, but
recognize now that there was som
reason for all our old Hambleton an
cestors being so finicky about trade
do you remember how we used t
talk. when we were Riddles. abou
keeping our ideals? Well, | believ'
I'm bankrupt, Aleck, in my accoun
with ideals. l don't want to howl, AM
these remarks don't go with anybod,
else, but l can say to you. want then
back again"
Aleck did as a kiddie should dc
writing much advice OF long sheets O
paper. and illustrating his point
richly, like a good ~Scotchman. wit
scientific instances. A month or tw
later he ~contrived to have work t
do In Boston, SO that he could go GU
to Lynn and look up Jimmy's CASE
He even devised a cure by creating
In his mind, an office In the biologics
world which was to be offered t
James on the ground that scienc
needed Just his abilities and training
But when Aleck arrived In Lynn b
found that Jim, in some fashion G
other, had found a cure for himsel
He was deeper than ever in the bus
ness, and yet, in some spiritual sens
he had found himself. He had cal
tured his ideal again and yoked 1t I
dutyZwhich is a great feat.
After twelve years of ferocious Il
Dor. with no vacations to speak o
James mind took a turn for the wors,
Physically he was as sound as a bel
though Of lath-like thinness; but a
Ieffervescing in his blood lured hi
mind away from the study Of lasts an
accounts and Partisan models an
sent It careering, like Satan, up an
fecwn the earth. Romance, which hs
hsssn drugged during the transitic
from youth TO manhood, awoke M
Lepaxed for it, rights, and whispert
t1smptinefy in an ear not yet duIied
O. voice Frsedom. open space
ta.nghtar. the fresh sweep Of the win
IEAs high buccaneeritg piracy of II
lend joy-these thiHBs besiamourt
his senses.
So one day he locked his desk vii
. mel slick The business vas