Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1913-01-15

'SNAANN DO Wds 6ifch mo pOslllon,
with an itinerary that carried him half
way round the planet once a year. to
Greece. Turkey. Persia. Arabia, and
India. the lands Of the genii and the
bottles. OF arabesQues, OF temples and
tombs. OF many-colored turbans and
flowing robes and distracting tongues.
He walked and always In a kind of
mental enchantment
The suave 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 rug or carpet. So George pros
pered. became known IN strange
romance, light OF foot and eager OF
eye. pass and repass; learned that
romance did not essentially mean fall
Ing in love or rescuing maidens from
burning houses and wrecks; that, on
the contrary, true romance was kalei-
doscopic. having more brilliant facets
than diamond; and that the man
who begins with nothing and ends
with something IL moro wonderful
than any excursion recounted by Sin
bad or any tale by Schehe era zade But
he still hoped that the iridesoent god
dess would some day touch his shout
der and lead him into that maze OF
romance SO peculiar to his own fancy.
And then into this little world Of
business and pleasure came death
and death again. leaving him alone
and with a twisted heart Riches
mattered little, and the sounding title
OF vice-president still Less 1t was
with a distinct shock that he realized
the mother and the father had been
with him 30 long that he had forgot
ten to make other friends. From
one thing to another he turned in
hope to soothe the smart. to heal the
wound; and after a time he drifted,
as all shy. intelligent and imaginative
men drift who are friendless. into the
silent and intimate comradeship of in
animate things. such as Jewels. 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 1t
scarce may be said that she led him
into romance lacking neither COM
edy nor tragedy, now begins with a
trlning bit OF retrospection. One OF
those women who were not good and
who looked into the clear 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. She was a woman
so pleasing. so handsome, so adroit,
that many man, older 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. 1900. George sat on the
tea-veranda OF the Hotel Semiramis
in Cairo. A book lay idly upon his
knees. It was one OF those yarns
IN which something was happening
every other minute. AS adventures
go, George had never had a real one
In all his twenty-eight years, and he
believed that fate had treated him
rather shabbily. He didn't quite ap-
preciate her reserve. No matter how
late he wandered through the mysteri-
Gus bazaars, either here in Egypt or
over yonder in India, nothing ever be.
fell more exciting than an argument
with a carrage-driver. He never car
ried small-arms, for he would not
have known how TO use them. The
only deadly things ia his hands were
bass-rods and tennis-racquets No.
nothing ever happened TO him: yet
he never met a man in a 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. hero he WAS. eight-and-twenty
a POCKET full OF money, a heart full
OF life and as hopeless an outlook. so
far ns romance and adventure were
concerned. as an old maid ia a New
England village
George. you old fool. what's the
user" he thought What's the use
Of a desite that never goes In a
straight line, but always round and
round In a circlei'
He thrust aside his Erisvancs and
surrendered 20 tho never-ending won
der OF the Egyptian sunset: tho Me
feluccas, riding upon perfect refso-
lions; the date palms, black and mo
tionless against the translucent blue
Of the sky; the amethystne prisms Of
the Pyramids, and the deepening gold
OF the deserts brim. He loved the
Orient. always so nsW. always 80
strange, yet ever 50 old and familiar.
A carriage stopped In front, and his
gaze naturally shifted. There is cease
less attraction Ia specializing about
newcomers in a hotsl. what they ara.
what they do. where they come from,
and where they are going. A fine
elderly man 81 nifty got out In the
square ,se Il shoulders, The noHI