Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-12-01
A Good
Match
But Not One Usually to
Be Expected

|: Be Expected :
|s BY F. A. Mitchell :
ssssssssssssssssssssssssss
One Of the many peculiarites Of hu-
man nature Is to place little value on
what we do easily. A man will have
unlimited ability, for instance, as a
trader. He considers money making
something that any fool should be able
to accomplish. He Is ambitious to play
the piano, and 1t worries him that he
can't tell one note from another.
There Is q worse phase Of such freak
ishness than this. A man with a single
gift, not recognizing its value. will
imagine he has another gift that he
doesn't possess at all. II fell into q
business life by mistake" says Jones.
who easily captured half a million dol
lars. what was made for Is farm
ing" He puts his accumulations In
q farm, and in a few years there Is
nothing left Of them. Yet no one can
convince Jones that he is not natural
| farmer He explains his failure on
| the ground that there were happenings
in his case which would not occur once
in a hundred years.
Norman Alsop at school was a per-
feet scholar. When his report cards
came to his parents there was string
of AS against every study. the whole
looking like a company Of soldiers all
of equal height, without single little
fellow in the lot. All he had to do
was to read his lessons over once. and
then he could go out and play. 1t
pleased him that he could do this. for
a reason. He was ambitious to be
fine tennis player, a twirler, an oars
man-indeed. anything and everything
that was athletic. But while he was
revered by his schoolmates he was
looked down upon by them on the
fields of sport. Tommy Green. who
stood at the other end Of the class
from Norman, would make ball do
the stunts Of q boomerang. Norman
would stand looking at Tom wrapt in
admiration and wish he could exchange
some Of the AS on his report cards tor
Toms curves.
When Norman was at college 1t was
the same. He took all the prizes away
from the other students and was grad
uated at the head Of his class, dis
appointed man. Why? Because he
had failed to get on any Of the athletic
teams. He was not big enough or
strong enough for football, but he tried
for all the rest without a ghost Of
show In any Of them.
One would suppose that these fail
ures would have cured him Of his am
bition to be an athlete. On the con-
trary, after graduating he went of to
q summer resort affording every IA
cility for sports, with the determine
hon to make something Of himself"
as he expressed it AS for his college
course, In his heart he regarded 1t a
failure. At the Pennant, hotel built
on a site expressly fitted for water
and land sports, he found just the
place that suited him. There were golf,
tennis and boating. to say nothing OF
mountain climbing.
At the Pennant Norman fell in with
Julia Damon. She had NO business to
be at such a hotel, for It was expen-
sive, and she hadn't a cent In the
world. The truth Is an aunt OF hers
sent her there to give her q chance to
catch q husband. There was no hope
that she would snare an intellectual
man, for she was inordinately stupid.
but her aunt thought 1t possible she
might mate with some rich mans son
whose only ambition was to attend
horse races and other spectacles,
where he would have nothing to do
but look on.
Norman was introduced to Julia at
the tennis courts. He asked her to
play, and she beat him love set. But
Norman was a nice young man and
seemed 80 cut up by his failure that
In subsequent games she "played on.
permitting him to beat her most OF
the games Of the last set This made
him not only well pleased with him
self. but with Julia.
The same afternoon Norman con-
cluded to take a row on the river. He
hired boat and was pulling out into
the stream when the current took him
in among some tall grass. His oars be-
came clogged, and in his spasmodic ef-
forts to disentangle himself he upset
the boat. He was In no danger, though
he could not swim, for the water
where he was dumped was only three
feet deep. But he presented a lu-
gubrious spectacle. Pulling himself
up on his feet, he stood looking about
him as If for an inspiration as to what
to do next. when he saw Julia stand
Ing on the landing.
She had the good sense not to laugh
at him.
"Tf I were you," she said, II would
walk back here with the boat, where
you can tip 1t on its side and let the
water run out"
'sThis Is the worst place for starting
\ boat" he said apologetcally. II ever
saw. l wonder they put the landing
here"
ats the current and the grass to-
gether," she replied soothingly.
He managed to get the boat, WhIeh
was full Of water. near enough to the
landing for her to get boathOok on 1t,
and she did the rest. Norman went to
his room. changed his clothes and spent
the evening with her. He could not
get over the stupidity Of the man who
had built landing just where the cur
rent would take boat right into the
very place to swamp 1t. Miss Damon
agreed with him. but the next morning
he saw her shoot out from that very
landing In boat without the slightest
difficulty.
As the summer wore on Alsop learn
ed something about handling pair OF
oars from Miss Damon, who While
coaching him contrived to make him
believe that he was coaching her. II
he had stuck to q common rowboat he
L II.