The Detroit times., 1914-04-17
The Ambition of
Mark Truitt

! Mark drew from his pocket letter
Richard Courtney had given him that
morning Upon it was inscribed ITO
| Thomas Henley, Esquire %
He may be wiling 20 help you
! find work Courtney had said, "if he
remembers me"
! Mark had accepted il carelessly,
with no intention OF using IL. lie
asked no favors he felt no need of
the crutch OF another mans help. But
! that was I'm the morning,
! Now he regarded the letter thought
! fully. He wondered what was in H..
After a moments hesitation he
opened-it was unsealed-and read
! IL.
MY dear Henley" the letter ran,
Il am sending you one who is the
work OF my hands. lie is young
man OF parts. good friends, as We
say up here in Bethel with work.
Also he has a nose for money They
are qualities for which you, perhaps,
can help him find a market :. !
| say he is my handiwork bat he is
an unfinished product What, won
| der will the new life that succeeds
me as his mentor make OF him? Per
| haps | should let him strike out for
himself and learn at once the ugly
cruelty OF the struggle that now seems
I 10 him SO glorious. But We oldsters
have the habit OF helping youth TO
I the sugar-plums OF which We have
I learned the after-taste. And this
introduction IS the last thing / can
! DO for. a young man who means much
( 10 me-
After many minutes study Mark
came 10 his decision. He would pre-
sent himself and the letter 20 Thomas
Henley. And since time seemed an
asset not lightly TO be sQuandered. he
would do IL that very night he rose
! from his dinner.
Where" he inquired OF the super.
ciliUus clerk. does Thomas Henley
live / must see. him. tonight"
100 4seaa the Thomas Henley
Even Mark could see a melting In the
clerks manner at the mention of the
rmagic name.
lis there more than oue?"
The clerk Laughed as at a clever
witticism. You're right Not In this
town You GO" Here followed Ger
tain directions Cant miss it. It's
a big new house-blggest around
there. He does things on big scale. :"
The directions brought Mark at
length into the heart OF a small com
munity from which the city still kept
at a humble distance. Not so the fog,
which was no respecter even OF gilded
colonies. From tall iron fence slop-
ed wide, sweeping lawn dotted at
exact intervals with trees and shrub
berry And in its center loomed a great
shadowy mass, punctured By many
windows shooting broad luminous
bars into the fog IL was the castle
OF the tanner. Mark gaped and tried
TO compute what fraction of Bethel
could be housed under its roof
He proceeded with a holiness prop
er to adventures in Eldorado. past
the waiting carriages that lined the
graveled driveway. TO the wide yeran-
da. There he halted. From within
came the strains OF music and gay
clamof OF voices. He could not know
that on this night the tanner gave
feast, formal dedication OF the new
castle 10 the entertainment OF his kind.
But he felt the hour to be ill-suited to
his purpose,
Yet IL was effected
Curiosity TO look within carried him
TO window To his wondering gaze
Hnfolded vista of Irish point and
damask satin, carved mahogany and
marble figures. gilt.framed pictures
and stlken rugs. A chandelier OF
thousand crystals let no detail flourish
unseen. How cheap now seemed the
gaudy splendor of the hotel dining
room, how ignorant the taste OF him
who had admired
And amid this lavish display OF
beauties paraded a bevy OF creatures
seeming 10 his excited fancy to have
stepped out OF Arabian Nights. You,
madame who remember the fashions
OF the middle eighties may not be as
moved as he, your sophisticated eye
may discern, in some trick OF manner
or contour OF hand. evidence that for
these ladies' the day OF luxury has
but lately dawned: your exquisite and
more expensive taste may carp at
those Jewels engaged in duel OF scin
tillation with the glittering chandelier
as out or place upon shoulders and
fingers that can hardly have forgotten
the burdens and tasks OF the plebian
household, you may even regret that
physical culture has not yet come TO
check the fattening processes OF glut'
tony. But bear in mind that all things
are comparative; look with the eye
OF the pepper and see, not a room
done" by a tasteless hired decorator,
nor a group OF vulgar overdressed
women, but a trophy--a trophy in an
tlomeric struggle that makes youth
drunk with the desire OF conquest
! Unity" he said. will like that"
There spake the sure conviction OF
| the prophet,
While he stood there a troop OF men
garbed In monotony OF black and
white marched into the room. At the
same time voices came from another
wing OF the yeranda.
! And then he. son OF the blacksmith
OF Bethel, became spectator at the
I birth OF a project that for a brief but
brilliant period was TO move the world
to hosannas!
i Henley" said the first voice. deep,
yet softly flowing as honey. Il have
come TO the time OF life when man
OF sense puts away the lusts OF the
/ flesh"
is your digestion out OF order?" in.
terrupted the second. sharper. less
/ musical and with a sandonic quality
!. that delighted the. listener 81 no.
/ ticed you didn't eat much tonight"
All II Is more than stomach. II
4 is soul" the mellow voice flowed on.