The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1915-03-04
CHAPTER l.
I Make No Effort to Defend Myself.

p AM quite sure it was my Cncle
IT memory serves me well he IT..
ieved himself Ut that conviction
in the presence OF my mother whose
l,rUther he WuS-ut Il time when | was
least competent to acknowledge his
wisdom and most arrogant in assert
ing my OWN. was freshman IN
college, Il factor condition perhaps
winch should serve us an excuse tor
both OF us. | possessed another uncle,
Incidentally, and while ! am now con.
vluced that he must have felt as Uncle
l,ilns did about it, he was one of those
who suffer in silence.
assume. therefore, that it was Uncle
itiIas who orally convicted me. an as
sumption justified to some extent 10y
putting two and two together, after
the poor Old gentleman was laid away
tor his long sicep. He hud Men very
emphatic in his belief that Il fool and
MS money are soon parted. Up to the
time Of his death ] had been in no
way qualified to dispute this ancient
theory. In theory, no doubt, | was
practice was quite an untried novice.
1t is very hard for even a fool to part
With something he hasn't got. Not
until Uncle Rilas died and left me all
Of his money was | able to demon
straie that dead men and fools part
With it.
In any event Uncle Rilas did not
leave me his money until my freshmen
days were far behind me. wherein
lies the soIace that be may have out.
through the same process. At twenty,
three l confessed that all freshmen
were insutferable and Immediately aft.
erward took my degree and went out
into the world to convince it that SEN
iors are by no means adolescent.
Ny nncle's original estimate Of me
as a freshman, of course-was uttered
when | at the age OF eighteen picked
ont my walk in life. SO to speak After
considering everything ! decided to be
q literary MANA novelist or play
wright, hadn't much of IA choice be
tween the two, or perhaps journalist
Being a journalist. of course, was pre-.
Iiminary Il sort of makeshift. At any
rate wis going to be a writer My
Encle RiIas, hard headed customer
who had read Scott rs boy and the
Wall Street News as Il man without
| tai,,<y < lp1 nv o;t fail
He said that would outgrow it; theirs
was some consolation in that. He ever
admitted that when he was seventeen
he wanted to be an actor. There yOr
are! said he.
argued that novelists make great
deal of money and playwrights, too
for that matter. He said in reply thai
an ordinarily vigorous washerwomar
could make more money than the aver
age novelist. and she always had
stocking without hole to keep it In
which was more to the point.
Now that | come to think Of it, i
was Uncle Rilas who oracu'arly pre-
judged me and not Uncle John. VIII
was by way Of being Il sort OF llterar.
chap himself and therefore lamentabl,
unqualified to guide me in any cours
whatsoever. especially as he had all b.
| could do to Keep his own wolf at ba.
| without encouraging mine and who be
sides teaching good English loved
/ wisely and too we'll.
My mother felt in her heart that
\ ought to he Il doctor or a preacher, bu
She wasn't mean. She was positive
"ould succeed as Il writer if | set m
j Hlnu to it, She was also sure that
H z }lld be president Of the United State
~ perhaps even Il bishop. We wer
H i,piScopaiAns.
H when | was twenty seven my frs
Il tort story appeared in II MAGAZINE q
Il r.nsi !arahle weight. due to its ndveI
i ."i,c pages. but my Uncle RIns didn
read !, until | had convinced him tina