Tombstone epitaph., 1915-03-07

IEsrs gre TEo says ot dolng battle osal7sL cisErz-s- You may live it down CT ycl nay run away from 1t and hide The E-st method is heart breaking. but sure. The second can not he relied upon because of the un- comfortable way disgrace has of turn ing up al your heels just when you think you have eluded her in the last town but one
 Ted Terrill did not choose the first method. He had il thrust upon him After Ted had served his term he came back home to visit his mothers grave. intending to take the next train out. He were none of the prison pal Tor that you read about in books, be- cause he had been shortstOp on the penitentiary all-star baseball team. and famed for the Gexterity with which he could grab up red-hot grounders. The storied lock step and the clipped hair effect also were missing. The super ,Htendent of Ted's prison had been one or the reform kind
 You never would have picked Ted for criminal. He had none of those interesting chronological bumps and Expressions that usually are shown to such frank advantage in the Bertillon photographs. Ted had been assistant cashier in the Citizens National bank In mad moment he had attempted little sleight-of-hand act in which cer- tain Citizens National funds were to be transformed into certain glittering shares and back again so quickly that the examiners couldn't follow it with their eyes. But Ted was unaccustomed 10 these -see-it-and-now-you don't feats and his hand slipped. The trick dropped to the floor with an awful clatter
 Ted had been a lovabIe young kid. six feet high. and blond. with a great reputation as dresser. He had the ;irst yellow plush hat in our town. h sat on his golden head like a halo. The women all liked Ted Mrs. Dank. worth, the dashing widow (why will widows persist in being dashing0, said that he was the only man in our
 
 suit. The men were forever slap ping him on the back and asking him to have little something. Ted's good looks and his clever tongue and 6 cer- tain charming Irish way he had with him caused him to be taken up by the smart set. Now, if you've never lived in a small town you will be much amused at the idea Of its boasting smart set Which proves your igno- rance. The small town smart set is deadly serious about its smartness. IL likes to take six-hour runs down to the city to fit pair of shoes and hear Caruso. Its clothes are as well made. and its scandals as crisp, and it's pace as hasty. and it's golf club as dull as the clothes and scandals and pace and golf club of its city cousins.
 The hasty pace killed Ted He tried to keep step in a set Of young folks whose fathers had made our town. And all the time his pocketbook was yelling. Whoa" The young people rau largely to scarlet upholstered tour ing cars and couniry-ciub doings and house parties, as small town younger generations are apt to. When Ted vent to high school half the boys in his little clique spent their after-school hours dashing up and down Main street in their big. glittering cars. sit ting slumped down on the middle of their spines in front of the steering wheel, their sleeves rolled up. their hair cornbsd a militant ponpadour. One or the other of them always took Ted along. It is fearfully easy to de