Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1915-11-24

but IT. did neither. The envelope bore
these words:
Mr.. FREDERIC SWAIN.
1910 Fifth Avenue,
New York City.
If not ut this address,
please try the Calumet club.
sat down on the lowest rung of the
ladder. wl1istling softly to myself. Fol
Freddie SWANS address was no longer
1910 Fifth avenue, nor was he to be
found in the Injurious rooms of the
Calumet club. In fact, 1t was nearly
Il year since he. had entered either
place. For, some eight hours of every
week day, he labored in the law of
fices of Royce Il Lester: he slept in
a little room OH the top floor of the
Marathon; three hours of every eve
ming. Saturday, Sundays and holidays
excepted. We're spent at the law school
of he University of New York; and
the remaining hours Of the "a in haunts
much less conspicuous and expensive
than the Calumet club.
Fog Freddie Swain had taken OF
these toboggan slides down the hill OF
fortune which sometimes happen to
the most deserving. His father, old
Gen. Orlando Swain. had. all his life,
put up q pompOuS front and was sup
posed to have inherited a fortune from
somewhere; put. when he died, this
edifice was found to be all facade and
no foundation, and Freddie inherited
nothing but debts. He had been ex-
~pensively educated for a career as an
OF society, but he found that
career cut short, for society suddenly
ceased to find him ornamental. l sup
pose there were too many marriageablo
daughters about!
am bound to say that he o the
blow we'll. Instead Of attempting to
cling to the skirts of society as a VEN
der OF champagne or an organizer of
fetes c~hamnetres. he-to use his own
words-decided to cut the whole show.
Our firm had been named as the
of the Swain estate,
when the storm was over and we Werc
sitting among h ruins, Freddie ex-
pressed the intention of going to work.
What will o do" Mr.. Royce i'm
quired. Ever had any training in
making money!"
mo. only in spending it," retorted
Freddie. easily. But / can learn. I was
thinking of studying law. That's q
good trade, isn't it?"
warmly. And there are always SO
many openings. You see, nobody studies
teeth"
Just the same. 1 think I'll have a
try at 1t" said Freddie. sturdily. There's
always room at the top. you know"
he added. with a grin. Il al go to
the night school at the university, and
l ought to be able to earn enough to
live on, a s q clerk OF something. I
know how to read and write"
That will help. Of course" agreed
Mr. Royce. But I'm afraid that. right
at first, anyway. you can scarcely hope
to live in the style to which you have
been accustomed"
Freddie turned on him with fire in
his eyes.
Look here" he said, suppose you
give ME a job. III do my, work and
There was something g in h his face that
touched me, n l glanced at Mr..
Royce. / saw that his gruffness was
merely a mantle to cloak his real feel
ings: and the result was that Freddie
Swain was set to work as a copying
clerk at q salary of SIS a week. He
energy that surprised me. and I learned
that he was taking the night course at
the university. as he a planned. Fin
ally. night, I met him as I was
turning in to my rooms at the Mara
a cubby-hole on the top floor Of the
building. After that, I saw him oc-
casionally. n when six months had
passed. was forced to acknowledge that
was thoroughly in earnest I hap
pened to remark to Mr.. Royce one day
that Swain seemed to be making good.
think he a 1t In him. He had a rude
from his dream Of a%ffluence,
and 1t seems to have done him good"
But. somehow, I had fancied that 1t
was from more than a dream Of af-
11uence he had been awakened: and
now. as l sat staring at this letter, I
began to understand dimly what the
other dream had been.
The first thing vas to get the letter
into his hands. for ! was certain that