The Washington herald., 1913-11-23
m direct defiance Of an natural laws,

Blaney, who, after his audacious sorties
in the real estate market had been
noised abroad. found himself waited
upon by committee from the Boosters
Club of San Bruno. who offered to make
him their Commissionaire of Publicity,
with immodest apartments in the Grand
Hotel. Brian accepted with alacrity.
It was while he was packing his trunk
to move from the sordid Majestic tc the
splendid Grand that he encountered fate,
fame's Jealous ally, q in the form of a
cabinet photograph, from which smiled a
face Of doll-nke beauty. such a face as
Greuze might have limned or some con-
temporary artist in wax might have set
among the models in a leading ladies'
cloak and suit parlor. Diagonally across
a corner Of the picture, in a hand of
dashing angularity, was written. You
know me-Lottie."
CANDY" snifred Brian, contemptuous-
ly tossing the photograph in the tray of
his trunk. Since a girl with dark eyes
filled his brain completely, he had little
patience with the blond Germanic type.
He had merely taken her out to supper
twice, a year ago, when she, stranded
among a company Of vaudeville per-
formers, had boarded for a week at the
Majestic, and departed to avoid paying
the bill. He remembered her pleasantly,
but without sentiment, as the girl who
had fallen SO violently in love with San
Bruno's climate that she offered TO marry
him, or the Mayor. or a wooden man,
so long as she might be supported in
luxury in that idyllic corner of Califor-
mia.
Inshis new environment, Brian set to
work strenuously spreading the name and
fame of San Bruno. And the blare of
braZen trumpets was never more need
ful than at that moment, for San Bruno
was worried. Less than a hundred miles
down the coast a long-despised hamlet
called Bay Center had suddenly blaZed
into magnitude, like one of those mys-
terious stars which puzzle astronomers.
Yesterday there was rumor of an oil
bonanza in that region; today it was
realized. and the town, swelling like
puff-ball, was discovering the value of
her corner lots. advertising her ''splen-
did harbor and unequaled climate (pil
fering a phrase from San Bruno's Pros
pectus Beautifully, in fast, was building
hotels and business blocks on a man.
moth scale and actually stealing the tour
lists out Of San BrunO's streets. The up
start editor of the Bay Center Herald.
'boasting his city's growth. had darkly
hinted that San Brunos population had
been exaggerated ten thousand. It's
lie.'' the San Bruno Boosters had whis-
pered virtuOusly among themselves.
We've always told within five thousand
of the truth"
-
lation on Saturday nights when the
towns crowded. said Ohrey O'Malley.
the contractor, a stubby-bearded replica
OF Gen. Grant. He, with c. W. Ketchum,
c. B. Brinkhaus. and other prominent
Boosters, had called at Brains Office to
hold a council of war. We've been
buzzing like windbags claiming 1900,
and now the world is getting on to US.
What are we going to do about it,
Increase our population 5,cOO and
make a noise like ten. Then We can
claim I5.O0O till the census man comes
round" was Brains prompt solution.
Ana now It's up 10 me. the boy booster
10 coax. intimidate hustle. and shanghai
into San Bruno 5.uoO citizens of any race,
color, or creed
How chorused half dozen anxious
listeners.
Search muh." answered the Little
Booster carelessly. Gimme a day and
pack O. cigarettes. II ] don't land a
hunch by then. gentlemen. my goat is
yours per Parcel post
Brian closed his desk and went out
for walk. armies of yellow ideas storm
ing the frowniug heights of possibility
and falling back defeated. Every pro-
Ject-trom putting UncIe Steve Pottle on
an Eastern vaudeville circuit with al
monoIogue on How San Bruno Made
Me the Oldest Man IN the World TO a
series of wild press dispatches relating
low Il professor of hygiene from the Uni !
versity of Placerville had discovered the !
San Bruno girl to be the modern Venus !
de Milo-tormented his brain. The beau |
tiful girl idea impressed him favorably. !
Girls-aIways a signal for stop-look- |
see how TIE magazine COW
ers worked it.
Brian's pack of cigarettes being ex-
hausted in the service of imagination. |
he stopped TO renew his supply at the
mahogany cigarstand /
of Leopold Egg. the village gossip. At
the instant of Brian's entrance. Mr.. Egg
was furtively passing a slip of paper to /
a disreputable citizen, who skunk into the /
billiard parlor out back
Aha, Once an Egg. always a
poacheT,"
Brian Knocked. Caught you selln' |
China lottery tickets again."
'Vanta buy vOn?" asked Leopold. ever
alert for profit.
Il never gamble-Tm in the real estate |
business. Besides. who wants to risk a
dollar to win thirty"
Vat you want for nodding? A house |
ind LOTT" inquired Mr.. Egg.
"A house and lot with a wife thrown
N wouldn't be so worse" remarked the !
Little Booster. as he lit up and went |
thought scaled the walls of Possibility |
with such dramatic effect that Brian
stopped dead in his tracks as though
shot by an invisible bullet. a house and
ot with a bride thrown in!
He took the elevator to the eighth
ioor OF the Grand Hotel and locked |
himself in his bedroom amid the glories
II blue Colonial wallpaper and tinted
,ourt beauties in Empire frames How
many yearning bachelors were there in
he United States, how many lonesome
yidowers, with gambling instincts?
Who wouldn't risk 800 TO buy a lot and
ret a chance to win wife. home, and
II said wife were
Lmazingly beautiful? Why not put the
of San Bruno into the hands
# a few big dealers with property to
urn and the nerve to put ii through
limself and Brinkhaus and O'Malley and
cetchum, for instance, who owned vast
'dtoinins tracts in Utopia Addition?
He took the photograph of the irresisti-
lie I,ottie de We're from the tray of his
runk, and, after gazing speculatively
or a moment, went to the telephone
nd summoned the three lard-holders
n 4 conference in his room.