New Britain herald., 1915-08-14
(A.R. r. in New York Trlbune.)

| ed or allowed to evapOrate no one
knows how Unused, untouched, UNI
observed, it has accumulated during
tho wears. instead of disappearing
| gradually as we had expected. Those
| who should have applied for block
haven't thought of it, or have been sat
! isfed with what they had, or, worst OF
all. have been aching for it secretly
and haven't plucked up courage to ask
| for it.
Old Bob's Story.
Old Bob was talking to me about it
the other night. We were both smok-
ing away in his coy little den in his
| coy little home. I knew him in the
office as a quiet taciturn, very digni-
, fed chap. That's why all the fellows
| call him Old Bob, because he isn't
really old-not more than forty-five at
the outside. I'd been quite astonished
| to see what an affectionate cuss he was
in his own home-eXcessively so, and
1 had been joshing him pleasantly
about it. He was quite serious for a
couple of minutes and smoked up to
cover his embarrassment.
A Passe Bachelor.
II guess I'll tell you a story about
that" he began. "Not because it's a
wildly exciting tale, but because I'd
like you and every young man I know
to avoid my mistake or experience
You know, I didn't marry until was
thirty eight. Every mothers daugh-
ter had given me up as hopeless, and I
was getting to the point where I'd be
invited as a third. It didn't much
matter if I was an extra man at some
informal function; or they would pair
me off with the elderly widows or
passe damsels, and I was the bachelor
uncle of more Riddles than I could re-
member.
lone day my sister Edith uncon-
sciously let the reason for it all slip
out. You're such a dear Old Bobs,'
she said to me pleasantly from her
comfortable armchair across the ROOM
I had agreed to take on my shoulders
the burden of entertaining her visit
ing young sister-in-law whose fiance
had been unable to come down for the
weekend. There's nobody else I
could trust, but every one knows that
you wouldn't f1irt with the most
heavenly girl that ever walked. No
man would ever be jealous of YOU
Jared at Last. ~
Somehow that got on my nerves.
! here was, almost thlrty-elght, decent
enough to look at, fairly Intelligent,
and L was already labelled as a. man
safe enough for an engaged girl to play
with They all had me down as the
kind of nice old bachelor who brought
little nephews toys and petted the little
| girls but wouldn't kiss a young lady
! on a bet.
! 1.-THE worst of it was that it was
! partly true. I was known as cold
blooded' and 'undemonstrative' ever
since L could remember. The real
truth, however, was that I was and
am the most affectionate sort of in
dividual anybody could want. But we
children had been brought up in
cool. sensible New England home. We
never kissed each other except when
we were about to depart on long
journey. We never called each other
affectionate names unless we were
! very sick and dissolution seemed i'm
minent! OF course, visiting relatives
from far off were affectionate1y fused
over, and l remember I overheard my
mother speaking affectionately to
small nephew. But though I often
yearned to say an affectionate word
10 mother, or kiss and caress her. I
! couldnt. She might think I planned
| gong away. or that I was not quite
! we'll, or L gave myself some excuse,
! although L realize today that perhaps
| she was aching for demonstrations of
! anection as much as was
! Love Accumulates.
YOU'D think that repression
through years and years would crush
| emotOns like that. But it doesn't. 1t
SIMPLY accumulates, and grows even if
| buried under mountain of other in
terests and responsibilities. At thirty
eight 1 realized that here 1 was with
what [ called large block of undis-
posed OF treasury stock of affections
that ought to be properly outstanding.
My sister Ediths words that day were
like an explosion, which sent my placid
acceptance Of myself and things fly
ing, and showed me the light. I de-
termined to kick my old prejudices
and traditions overheard, late though
it was, and great as the effort might
! be-"
Old Bob smoked thoughtfully for a
while and grinned. II didn't waste a
day after I made up my mind That
engaged sister-in-1aw of Edith's looked
as good to me as any girl I knew.
used all of the romantic ammunition
I had ever heard about, but never had
the nerve to use. In two months she
agreed with me that she had never
loved the man she was engaged to- and
decided she ought to mary me. And
we've lived happily ever after, and my
wife thinks I'm more demonstratively
affectionate than any man she ever
saw!
Evil of Repression.
What gets me nowadays is that I
know many men of forty or so-some
~,
the same position I was in. They were
raised in a home where everybody
helped each other and thought the
Of hut a