The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1914-04-30

chap himself and therefore lamentably
unqualified to guide me in any course
whatsoever, especially as he had all
he could do to keep his own wolf at
bay without encouraging mine, and
who, besides teaching good English,
| loved it wisely and too well. l think
| Uncle Rilas would have held Uncle
John up to me as an example,
scarecrow, you might say--if it hadn't
been for the fact that he loved him in
spite of his English. He must have
loved me in spite of mine.
Ny mother felt in her heart that l
ought to be doctor or preacher,
but she wasn't mean: she was positive
! I could succeed as writer If l set
my mind to It, She was also sure that
/ could be president of the United
States or perhaps even bishop. We
were Episcopalian.
When / was a7 my first short story
appeared in a magazine of consider
able weight, due to its advertising
pages but my Uncle Rilas didn't read
it until l had convinced him that the
honorarum amounted to three hun
: dred dollars Even then | was obliged
to promise him a glimpse of the
check when | got it. Somewhat be-
: lated, it came in the course OF three
or four months with a rather tart let
ter in which l was given to under
d stand that it wasn't quite the thing to
n pester a great publishing house with
u queries of the kind l had been so
o persistent in propounding. But at
0 last Uncle Rias saw the check and
II was properly impressed. He took back
$ what he had said about the washer
II woman, but gave me little further
q advice concerning the stocking.
a {. In course of time my first novel ap-
peared. 1t was love story. Uncle
Rilas read the first five chapters and
! then skipped over to the last page
= Then he began it all over again and
- sat up nearly all night to finish it, The
:, next day he called it trash but in
- vited me to have luncheon with him
/, at the Metropolitan Club and rather
: noisily introduced me to few Ole
+" cronies of his, who were not sufficient
'e ly interested in me to enquire wha'
- my name was--a trifling detail he hat
- overlooked in presenting me as hi
!. nephew--but who did ask me to hav'
!, drink.
q. A month later he died. He left m
ve fortune, which was all the NOR
8, staggering in view of the circumstanc
A , that he had seen me named for m
re Uncle John and not for him.
~. 1t was not long afterward that
MT made perfect fool of myself by fall
at ing in love 1t turned out very badly
ot | can't imagine what got into me
ge want to commit bigamy after | ha
Nv already proclaimed myself to be II
all revocably welded to my profession
ass Nevertheless / deliberately covete
.re the experience, and would have al
I'll tanned to it no doubt had it not bee
he for the young woman in the cas-
is- She would have none of me, but wit
rot considerable independence OF spir
ras and, ! must say noteworthy aeumel
N, elected to wed a splendid looking fe
rod low who cerked in a jewelers. she
in Fifth avenue. They had been el
a gagged for several years, it seems, ar
-ed NV swollen fortune failed to distul
ant her sense of fidelity. Perhaps yt
tor will be interested enough in 81
he who could refuse to share fortul
av- of something like three hundred tho
iee sand dollars-(not counting me,
mr.. course)-to let me tell you brief
,se who and what she was. She was
ift typist That is to say, she did pie
ter work for me as happened to provi
Ms substance for her active fingers
how work upon when she wasn't typi
n law briefs in the regular sort OF grin
was Not only was she an able typist,
mt she was an exceedingly wholesoH
, in handsome and worthy young woms
he I think came to like her with gen
tor inc resolution when ! discovered tn
red she could spell my name correc
een and had the additional knack Of un
ter. ing my stray infinitives with stu
ors. born purposefulness as well as
ned ability to administer my gramn
n a with tact and discretion.
an Unfortunately she loved the jew
,,ic er's clerk. She tried to convince II
AXE with a sweetness I shall never forg
law that she was infinitely better suit
said to be a jewelers. wife than to be
-ous weight upon the neck of geni
,ora Moreover. when ! foolishly mention