Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-01-24

pretty quick crowd and he used tc
play poker and baccarat with them
] at one of the clubs. Well, one morn
ing he woke up and found himself
very much in debt. He cabled his
father exactly how things stood and
in a few hours he got a pretty rough
answer absolutely refusing the
money. OF course, Jim needed the
money, but the old mans wire was
what did the business. I honestly be-
lieve, just out of spite and to show
his father that he couldn't down him,
he signed a check with his father S
name for twice the amount he had
asked for. But when the check
reached New York the old man de-
MED it. l suppose it was because he
loved Jim better than anything else
| in the world. and because he had done
| everything he could for him all his
life, he lost his head completely and
denounced Jim as a forger all over
his old office Half an hour later he
tried to deny everything he had said
and insisted the check was all right,
but it was too late. Every clerk In
the office hurried uptown and told the
story at some tea or dinner or club,
and, although they kept the story
out of the papers, it was all over
with jim"
And then ?" asked the gill
"Oh, then? Well, Jim came home
and the two of them started in to
spend years trying to undo the harm
they both had done in a moment of
anger It almost killed the old man,
and Jim took him from one health
resort to another, trying all kinds of
cures, but there was no cure for that
kind of trouble. The old man died
in Jim's arms, asking the boys for
| giveness with his last breath. / guess
Jim would have been willing to quit
then, too but he had the young ma
chinery the old man lacked, and so
he kept on going
"And some of him lived, but the
most of him died." the girl inter-
rupted
mo, hardly that" the young man
said LAS a matter of fact. Jim
never was any good until he signed
that check. He was a crazy, wild
kid before that, but the trouble made
man of him Absolutely. He
| couldn't turn TO individuals any
more, except few like Brooke, who
loved him better than anybody in
the world. because he knew they
knew the story, and that it was
always being told behind his back
| just as I am telling it to you. So
| for lack of individual friends he
made a friend of the whole world
| He devoted himself t, ideas and
! places and books and races of people
| There is hardly a settlement where
, any white man has been that he
! doesn't know and know well, and
think he has read more, and more
| intelligently, than any one / ever
| heard Of"
Crichton's stay in America was
very short. He decided quite sud
| denly one day that he must return
! to the Far East. A letter from
Paris ten days later to Brooke Cur
tbs, and then he disappeared entirely
Summer passed and winter and sum
mer again. and then one day, lat'
in November Crichton turned VI
once more in New York He wen
to his hotel and asked for a lettel
which was awaiting his arrival. Once
In his room he tore off the envelope
and reread the short note man!
times. This was all sad:
Dear Mr.. Crchton-I shall be
glad to see you any afternoon
after 5, as 1 am nearly always
at home then to give my friends
cup of tea. 1t is good to know
that you are about starting in
this direction.
Sincerely yours.
MARGARET FERGUSON"
Late that afternoon he was stand
ing in front of the fire in the draw