South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-08-21
The Mystery Of The Red
Headed MdSquGrdder
BY Fred c. Kelly.

4
And here l am, monologued
Henry j. Mix. tucked away as pro-
/ prietOr of little hick drug store
/ like this, all because | once spent an
\ evening in Brooklyn. y. Y.
If l hadn't gone that night TO
/ Brooklyn, y. Y, | would not now be
I avoiding that town and enVirous and
/ going through life afraid TO look a
redheaded man in the eye. AS it is
! / know not whether to stay here or
1 journey out to Terre Haute, Ind,
where the chances Of seeing anyone
that / ever saw anywhere else might
! be even less-and between these per
! pIexities that rack my poor brain L
3 am a mOrOSe man.
Brooklyn" went on Henry J. Mix.
after pausing 20 bite off a hangnan,
lis a great place for banquets and
/ balls and all kinds of social out
| groupings Of the gregariOus instinct
/ in human kind. don't undertake
| to know why this is sc any more
| than | can explain why a college
| boy with a general debility mustache
makes the best automobile agent l
simply accept the fact that Brooklyn
people are great hands TO get to-
/ gether on a social basis in the night
season; I accept that just as 1 ac-
/ cept the fact that pug dogs and
spring bottom pants are no longer
the thing.
We'll, after l had been working in
New York for a couple of years,
something put it into my head to go
/ to Brooklyn. My best chum worked
on a newspaper in Brooklyn and he
had been harassing me for long
| time to run over and spend a day
| and night with him. / never thought
| OF doing so, though / had a brother
| living there and we had often talked
/ Of spending Christmas together at
his home some year. One night.
/ however, | accompanied my friend
Horner TO Brooklyn with as little
| thought as if I had simply been 60
ing out to Chicago for a few days.
1--WE had dinner together and
| talked about the boyhOod days when
his dad ran a grocery out in Ohio
/ and he and l rode around in the de-
/ livery wagon discussing how TO fol-
/ low the line Of least resistance in
| casting spells over the fiaxen-haired
maidens of the little community.
| Horner even in those days had al
ways intended to marry some young
| person whose folks could afford 10
maintain him in the style to which
/ he had been accustomed. For
| time, | recalled. he aspired to the
| hand of winsome little Clara Lynch.
/ The Lynches lived down by our lead
/ ing lumber yard. AS rapidly as he
/ could steal the lumber, old man
/ Lynch built OF to his home until in
/ time he had what by our simple
standards comprised mansion. All
might have been we'll, but old man
Lynch bought a frock coat one day
to wear to the wedding of a relative.
/ and in order TO get the good out of
1 il. he would often wear it to the
pOstOffice on Sunday mornings. That
/ coat made him feel so important
/ that he got all swelled on himself
and thought Bill Horner wasn't good
enough for his daughter. because
Bill wasn't above being seen with
me in his fathers grocery wagon.
But I started to tell you about my
stay with Bill in Brooklyn. y. Y. Aft
er we had eaten right heartily of soft
: shell crabs and chocolate ecleirs Bill
/ broke the sad news to me that he had
I 10 go out on an assignment that eve
! ming. but that j. ouldn't take him
/ long He confessed TO me that he was
probably the best reporter on their
paper. but IL spite of that he was al
WAYS getting cooked up with some
/ cub assignment that consisted of an
/ Introductory sentence or two, follow
ed by the line. Among the guests
were. And then just names and
/ names and names
whatever it was ne had to attend for
his paper. as l had always desired
/ To 90 about with a newspaper reporter
or a plain clothes detective and see
1 the inside of things. l sympathized
/ with him for living in a town where
/ the big issue at night was charity
ball under the auspices of the Paper
hangers league. or a beefsteak dim
ner e. the retiring board Of directors
of the Flatbush Married Mems I'm
+ prOVement association. He said he
didn't mind il so much any more
that he had gone 10 one banquet
where every guest got a chefs cap
and apron for a souvenir. Just for
joke. he said. he put on his SOU
Nenirs and wore them out in the back
yard OF his sisters home. where he
boarded. and all the neighbOrs
thought his sister kept a foreign
chef and they all began 20 call on her
and show her much attention. In that
way she got acquainted with some
I very pleasant people and she was
most grateful 10 Bill, which made him
feel mighty good of course
We talked OF these things as we
made our way 10 a skating rink.
/ where there was a big masquerade
4 ball i'm progress. IL was this ball that
/ HOTner was 10 write up for his paper.
He made me wait for him while he
went 10 hunt up the chairman OF the
entertainment committee. I saw him
I walk away. with the sang froid OF q
head waiter. and IL wasn't long until
ne was conversing. on d basis Of per-
feet equality. with a man wearing a
+ gilt sword and large plumes that must
have cost him 81 or IS for their use
II they cost him a cent
Suddenly there walked up TO me a