Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-05-09
CHAPTER discontinued.


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 statlsucs
have It,
He actually found it in shoes. Foot
tall muscle and grit went into the loO
IF putting superior shoe on INFERIOR
foot, II necessary-at least on some
foot. He got a chance to try his pow
ers In the home branch OF manu-
featuring house, and made goou'
When he came to fill position where
there was opportunity to try new
ideas. he tried them. He Inspected
tanneries and stockyards He got com
posite measurements OF all the rect
in all the womens 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
ar,stocratic arch and put 1t on the
market.
The family joked about his doings
as the harmless experiments OF a, i've
" boy. but presently they began 10
entoy his income. Through 1t all they
were affectionate and kind, with the
matter-of-course fondness which
family gives to the members tnat
takes the part Of useful drudge. Jonn.
the pct of the parents. married, AND
had his own eyes opened, 1t Is 70
he supposed. Donald, the genius mao
inst arrived. after a dozen years OF
40. at the stage where he was men
toned now and then In the literary
Journals. But Jim stuck to snoes
and kept the family on a fair ude Oh
modest prosperity.
Once. in the years Of Jim's- appren'
ticeship to life, there came over MIN
a at Of soul-sickness that nearly
proved his ruin.
'T 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. It isn't the grind mind
though that is bar enough; 1t Is the
Commercial Idea that eats into
mans innards. He forgets there are
things that money can't buy. and II
his heart he grows contemptuous Of
ANYTHING to be had without money
and without price He cant help II
II he is thinking of trade nine-tenthi
of the time. his mind gets set tina
way. I'm ready any minute to tumI
the fence, like fathers old colt NJ
on the farm. I'm not a snob, but
recognize now that there was some
reason for all our old Hambleton an
cestors being so flnicky about trade
do you remember how we used tc
talk. when we were hddies, about
keeping our ideals7 Well. believt
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. / want then
back again"
Aleck did as a kiddie should do
writing much advice on long sheets o.
paper. and illustrating his points
richly, like a good Scotchman, will
scientific instances. A month or two
later he contrived to have work u
do in Boston, 20 that he could go ou
TO Lynn and look up Jimmy's case
He even devised a cure by creating
IN. his mind. an ONCE in the biological
world which was to be offered t.
James on the ground that science
needed Just his abilities and training
But when Aleck arrived In Lynn ht
found that Jim, in some fashion Of
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 Il
duty-which is a great feat
After twelve years Of ferocious la
Dor. with no vacations to speak of
James mind took a turn for the worse
Physically he was as sound as a bell
though of lath-like thinness; but al
effervescing In his blood lured hi
mind away from the study Of lasts ant
accounts and Partisan models ant
sent II careering, like Satan, up ant
down the earth. Romance. which haC
been drugged during the Transition
from youth to manhood. awoke ant
coaxed for its rights, and whispered
temptingly In an ear not yet dulled Il
its voice Freedom, open spaces
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