The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1913-01-10
CHAPTER Il.-continued.

CHAPTER Il.-continued.
So he remembered Clara Val
Camps advice. wrote the whole stor.
TO Aleck. and cast about for the on'
successful business chance in the foul
thousand nine hundred and ninety
nihe bad ones-as the statistics
have IL.
He actually found 1t in shoes. Foot
ball muscle and grit went into the 1ot
Of 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 a manu-
featuring house. and made good
When he came to fill position where
there was opportunity 10 try new
ideas. he tried them. He Inspected
tsnneries 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 scientihc
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 live
ly boy. but presently they began to
enjoy his income. Through ii all they
were affectionate and kind, with the
matter-of.course fondness which
family gives to the members that
takes the part OF useful drudge. John
the pet OF the parents, married. and
had his own eyes opened II is TO
be supposed. Donald. the genius, had
tust arrived after a dozen years or
so. al the stage where he was men
toned now and then in the literary
journals. But Jim stuck TO shoes
and kept the family on fair tide OF
modest prosperity.
Once. in the years OF Jim's appren.
ticeship 10 life, there came over him
a fit OF soul-sickness that nearly
proved his ruin.
II can't stand this" he wrote TO
Aleck Van Camp: its too hard and
dry and sordid for any man that's
got a soul. II isn't the grind ] mind,
though that is bar enough: II Is the
Commercial Idea that eats into
mans innards. He forgets there are
things that money can't buy, and in
his heart he grows contemptuous OF
ANYTHING 10 be had without money
and without price He can't help IL
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 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 TO
talk when we were Riddles, about
keeping our ideals? Well l believe
I'm bankrupt, Aleck. In my account
with ideals. I don't want to howl. and
these remarks don't go with anybody
else. but ! can say to you, 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
60 Lynn and look up Jimmy's case.
Re even devised 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 II to
duty-which is great feat.
After twelve years of ferocious la.
Dor. with no vacations to speak of,
lanes mind took turn for the worse
he was as sound as bell,
though of lath-like thinness; but an
sfYeryesclng In his blood lured his
mind away from the study Of lasts and
accounts and Partisan models and
tent Il careering, like Satan, up and
Iown the earth. Romance. which had |
,een drugged during the transition
rom youth to manhood. awoke and
oaxed for It's rights. and whispered
In an ear not yet dulled to
% voice. Freedom. open spaces. i
aughter. the fresh sweep Of the wind.
be high buccaneering piracy OF life
nd joy-these things beglamoured
IN senses.
So one day he locked his desk with
final click. The business was In