Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1914-05-01
WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
FROn SCENES IN THE PLAY
QeNNchT IaG, 81 GK QHLhhGNlW Go

Thanks. Rankin. Yes; I'm going to
my study. Don't let me be disturbed"
I'll not. sir"
When he left that study" he avoid
ed Rankin. His fingers were ink
stained from calculations, his hair was
quite disheveled, his eyes were wide
and rolling. He could see no hope
ahead.
He wrote a letter to his uncle ex-
planning that investments had gone
wrong and that he needed a small loan
OF fifty thousand dollars for three
months, He was sure that II he got
this he would be enabled to find some
way out. By return of mail he had
an answer In an envelope which
strangely bulged. He opened 1t with
trembling fingers and a package Of
Jones Pepsin Gum fell out.
Chew this and forget it," said the
cheerful note which Uncle Abner had
wrapped round it. 1t said further:
I'm going to Europe for five years.
Don't bother me again. You've made
you bed, now lie on it."
That was the last straw. Without
the least idea Of what he wished to
do, the frantic Broadway started out
70 md som work by which, at least,
ne could earn honestly his board and
keep.
Wall street offered nothing, for when
ne went down to see his friends there
his courage failed entirely and instead
OF asking them to find a place for him
he bought them. one by one, expensive
luncheons.
He went to neighboring cities, hop.
Ing there to find some means Of get.
ting food to. eat without getting 1t on
credit, and there he had some strange
experiences which lasted several days.
But, while he Just escaped the uniform
OF the Salvation Army, he did not find
work and wandered back to Broadway,
the apartment and more debt.
He had no profession, knew no
trade. Half crazed with the obsession
that he must no longer run in debt,
he decided to sell out the fiat, dis.
charge the servants and do mental
labor. Running through the list of
his abilities he decided, with frank
self-contempt, that about the best
which he could do was help in a hotel
as bellboy. He knew too little about
mathematics to keep books: he never
would succeed as desk-clerk. But he
could not bring himself to try to get
a job OF that sort-it would too often
Isss1ng him into contact with the folk
he knew.
One afternoon, while wandering in
an aimless funk upon a side street. he
saw a card in front Of an apartment
house announcing that an elevator boy
was wanted. He rushed In with alac-
rity and determination-and at the
very threshold met Mrs Gerard, who
had been calling on a friend there. In
stead of asking for the job he took
a drive with her.
1t was while this drive progressed
that the sordid, vicious tempter def
nitely seized him In his tolls. The an
cient but vivacious dame was very
affable-most agreeable indeed. She
was not motherly; she was firtatious.
And she accompanied her coquetry by
a shrewd exposition of the magnitude
OF her unquestionably enormous
wealth. 1t staggered him.
II he had not at the moment had a
simple little Josie Richards letter in
his pocket he might have been swept
under. A thousand times he had dis
covered the necessity Of assuring him
self, as he Travelled up and down
Broadway, that he did not care for
Josie Richards. She was not the sort
OF girl who c%aptivated one who knew
life as he knew 1t; she was dear, but
she was simple, unsophisticated and
what he most admired was wide So
p~histication; he thought as little of
her as he could, but now she popped
into his mind and made him edge away
from the aged, wealthy widow.
When he went back to the fiat he