Charlevoix county herald., 1913-01-18
CHAPTER Il.-contlnued.

stranger who follows her TO the auto.
climbs In and chloroforms her.
CHAPTER Il.-Contlnued.
So he remembered Clara van
Camps advice, wrote the whole STORY
to Aleck, and cast about for the one
successful business chance In the Tour
thousand nine hundred and ninety
nine bad ones-as the STATISTICS
have it.
He actually found it in shoes FOOT
ball muscle and grit went into the Jop
of putting superior shoe on INFERIOR
foot, if necessary-at least on sonle
foot He got chance to try his pow
ers in the home branch or manu-
featuring house, and made good
When he came to fill position where
there was opportunity to try new
ideas, he tried them. He lnspecleu
tanneries and stockyards. He got com
posite 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
buttonhole-makers, he made scientinc
study Of heels and he invented an
aristocratic arch and put 1t on the
market.
The family joked about his dolngs
as the harmless experiments OF i've
ly boy. but presently they began TO
enjoy his income. Through 1t all they
were affectionate and kind, with the
matter-of-course fondness which a
- fhn
takes the part of useful drudge. John,
the pet Of the parents, married, anu
had his own eyes opened, 1t Is 10
be supposed. Donald, the genius, had
Just arrived, after a dozen years OF
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 or
modest prosperity.
Once, in the years of Jim's appren-
ticeship to life, there came over him
a at of soul-sickness that nearly
proved his ruin.
ct can't stand this" he wrote to
Aleck Van Camp; 'it's too hard and
dry and sordid for any man that's
got a soul. 1t isn't the grind / mind
though that is bar enough; 1t Is the
Commercial Idea that eats into n
mans innards. He forgets there are
things that money can't buy. and in
his heart he grows contemptuous or
ANYTHING to be had without money
and without price, He can't help It..
II he is thinking of trade nine-tenths
OF the time. his mind gets set that
way. I'm ready any minute to jump
the fence, like fathers old colt up
on the farm. I'm not snob, but l
recognize now that there was some
reason for all our old Hambleton an
cestors being so fnicky about trade.
do you remember how we used to
talk. when we were Riddles, about
keeping our ideals? Well, / believe
I'm bankrupt, Aleck, in my account
with ideals. don't want to howl, and
these remarks don't go with anybody
else, but can say to you, I want them
back again"
Aleck did as a kiddie should do,
writing much advice on long sheets of
paper. and illustrating his points
richly, like a good Scotchman. with
scientific instances. A month or two
later he contrived to have work to
do in Boston, so that he could go out
to Lynn and look up Jimmy's case.
He even devised a cure by creating,
In his mind, an Office in the biological
world which was to be offered. to
James on the ground that science
needed just his abilities and training
But when Aleck arrived In Lynn he
found that jim, In some fashion or
other. had found a cure for himself
He was deeper than ever in the bust.
ness. and yet, in some spiritual sense
he had found himself. He had cap
tured his ideal again and yoked 1t to
duty-which is a great feat
After Twelve years of ferocious la.
Dor, with no vacations to speak Of
James mind took turn for the worse
Physically he was as sound as a bell
though of lath-like thinness; but an
effervescing in his blood lured his
mind away from the study OF lasts and
accounts and Partisan models and
sent It careering like Satan, up and
down the earth. Romance. which had
been drugged during the transition
from youth to manhood, awoke and
coaxed for its rights. and whispered
temptingly in an ear not yet dulled tc
Its voice. Freedom. open spaces
laughter, the fresh sweep of the wind
the high buccaneering piracy Of life
and joy-these things beglamoured
his senses.
So one day he locked his desk with
a final click. The business was In