The Washington times., 1915-05-25
Continued from Yesterday

Continued from Yesterday
Mr.. Barclay couldn't help being fond
of Tommy. but in some ways Tommy
proved an awful disappointment to
him.
Adopted into and brought up to be
an aristocrat of wealth, he had no
interest in money except to spend It.
l don't mean that he was especially
wastefu or especially extravagant.
but only that he took no interest in
how the money had been gathered or
how 1t could be made to work. He
and boats and dogs and shooting than
in any of his patrons financial af-
fairs. He went to boarding school
and played on the football team and
team; He took prizes in everything
that he engaged in, except studies. 1t
was the same with him at college. He
spent half of his time winning
trophies tor his college and the other
When he gradual ted. Mr.. Barclay tried
to teach him banking. rallroading,
and a few other trifies all at once.
Mr.. Barclay had no patience with
the idea that it is best to begin at
the bottom and work up. He believed
in beginning at the top. Tommy did
his very best to make good. He at
tended long -drawn-out directors
meetings and he racked his brains to
He travelled all over the country to
inspect this property and that. and
once he almost got into touch with
finance; at least he found amuse-
ment in one aspect of 1t. In short.
he was sworn in as special deputy
In time of coal trouble and helped
to put down a strike.
Mr.. Barclay did not expect too
much of Tommy, and soon saw that
what little he did expect he was not
likely to get. But he was very fond
of him and tried to make the best OF
him. Tommy spent all his leisure time
playing polo or tennis or dashing on
on hunting trips, and some fourteen
or fifteen years after this story opens
he became very much interested in
Miss Mary Blackstone.
He hadn't forgotten the little Ames-
bury girl He never would forget her,
but what is the use of a little girl
who lives in heaven to young man
who doesn't?
Tommy often dreamed about her
still. As he grew older she grew older,
and the heaven in which she lived
and was educated by the most scien-
titic and philosophical of all the saints
and angels became more and more
sophisticated and less and less like
the palace scene in a comic opera.
But Mary Blackstone did not live
in heaven, did not wear a halo. did
not string a golden harp or sit around
and look as If butter wouldn't melt
in her mouth. She lived in low
white house near Southampton. l. /.
It had gardens full of gigantic box
wood, and it had so many fiuted
columns to hold up its veranda roofs
that Tommy, with his distaste for
figures, was never able to count them.
Some people said the house had hun
dred rooms in it; other people said
that there were two hundred. These.
however, did not affect Tommy. He
was on the most charming and tnti-
mate terms with her father, and there
was one southwest room in which he
spent many and many weekend,
and which was always known to the
Blackstone family as TomIny's room. :.
Mary Blackstone rode horses. played
tennis and swan in the surf as well
as strong and courageous boy.
Tommy never knew whether she was
more attractive in athletic clothes or
when, as she expressed It. she was
dressed to look like real lady.
charmed him. Unfortunately. these
same phases and everything else about
her charmed good many other men.
II she liked Tommy better than any
body else she was in no hurry to say
so. She didn't want to cut herself
off from all the other young men.
whom she liked almost as we'll, Carl
ton Fitch, for instance.
Carlton Fitch was Mr.. Barclays
nephew, and in some ways was a
great favorte of his uncles He took
so much interest in his unces
banks. railroads, mines, etc, that
You might have thought that he ex-
pected to own them some day. He
was not only nominal director of
great many corporations, but
very real director in the affairs of
half dozen OF the more important
He never neglected work for play.
Some people admired him tremend-
ously: others said they wouldn't trust
1t f.
cent piece.
Outwardly. he and Tommy were al
ways friendly and polite to each
other. even after they had become
open rivals for Mary Blackstone's
approval. but inwardly. each had u
certain Contemnt for the other. and.
In addition to this. Carlton Fitch was
Jealous of Tommy. for he had ex-
pected to inherit almost the whole Of
Mr.. Barclays money, and since Tom
my's adoption it looked as if he was
going to inherit very little of 1t in
deed. He would be rich, anyway,
but he was very greedy for power
Mentally, they were poles apart.
Tommy, though he loved to spend
money, was given to asking foolish
questions about the ways and prerog-
atives Of capital. He couldn't un-
derstand why the majority of people
In this world have to be poor and
dirty and unhappy. Why the real
producer should have such a small
share in what he produces. He did
not go into these questions very
deeply. but Just enough to be some
thing of a socialist at heart and TO
feel a certain contempt for people to
whom the collecting of money was
the most important thing in tho
world. Perhaps h" only took up
soCiallstiC ideas in order to amuse-
himself at the expense Of those who
maintain opposite theories. for he
didn't go into anything. except
games, very seriously or very thor
ouGhly He did feel very strongly.
however. that in a world containing
so many anle minds Il was a shame
that so much noVerty and misery
should he allowed to exist.
"You couldn't live in a house that
had dirty attic and a flthy cellar
and tuberculous rats behind the
wainscoting," he once said to Bar
clay. "HOw then can you live in
city, nine-tenths Of it fun of dirt,
Hhisery and disease" To which Bar
clay had answered In my own
house | am the master. But in the
city, II I wanted to clean 1t up, they
wouldn't lot me"
"Nho WOuldnt?"
why, the very people who make II
dirty. Understand, Tommy. that in
this country any man who Is willing
20 work. oh, not six or eight hours a
dav. but as hard as he can. and will
live on less than he earns. can be