The Washington herald., 1915-01-10
(CoIgright. lsl5)
TOR twenty years this man had TO
II play to keep alive, or at least to
CCoIgright. lslS.)

the moment he stopped, and went in
doors, and took up the ordinary work
ing life of men.
So. being a bachelor and 4 rich man,
he settled in Il high-shUuldcred old brick
house in one Of the towns along the
sound, and made business OF play. lie
was still not quite forty. 50 he had done
practically nothing else. He was now
a slight, wiry. Sunburned man, with a
lean face and rather precise manner.
Rameses. they called him, from the way
his skull stood out under the brown
skin. lis real name was Saltinstall.
The generation that the man had
started with had. naturally, gone along
about its business. and others had fol-
lowed it. lie was an exile, outside of
any generation lie lived alone in his
big house, with couple Of crUtchcty
old servants; and very few men now.
and no women at all, went inside. But
all the town saw him playing religious
ly lie had ceased to he person and
had become ali institution. .Nnd he had
about as many friends as a county
courthouse.
Women were practically barred from
hi, private life. Il never saw a woman
vet hated enough to ask her to marry
ne" Ae said
1t was curious, under the circum-
stances, that the man should be thrown
50 much with women in his daily exist
Cnce. The only time he really touched
he world OF men was Saturdays and
SundayS-thc weekend, when he could
play GUli or tennis with them at the
country club He gorgcd himself with
exercise then, and got blissfully tired
out. Then Monday came. the men went
back to their work, and left him in the
world of women.
1t is a lonely and alien world for a
man to be left in. But Saltinstall cx-
listed there as wei! as could be expected.
until he finally interfcrcd. this time /
am speaking OF, with the laws and Gus
toms of the country.
The man had a regular formula for
living lie rode horseback in the MORN
ing and watched the work about his
garden. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon
he appeared at the country club. In
the cafe sat Wicked Grandpa. the vet
Gran club LUSH two blOatcd and dc
spondent walters stared out of the win
dUws; Pifflcs-Whifflcs, the rusticatcd
Prep school boy, a cigarette cater and
'tuSscr OF girls, Topped with one leg
over a chair-arm. Occasionally some
other dcrcliCt from the world of men
drlfted in; occasionally some of the
sporting set-Farquhar in his hig green
car, driving some Young woman with a
purple veil; occasionally a clergyman.
OF school teacher. or doctor, or some
other male official or the world of
women.
The women sat on the piazza on pleas
ant days, talking over their own af-
fairs, in their Il tongue. which men
never hear, debating, adjudiCating, and
executing the laws of the women. The
aged Supreme Court, with Caroline Ann
NHNtlIN III d. AlllNl lu>llNC. was dL It's
bridge table; S. o. S." the most ac-
tive social cngInecr-namedf for her habit
OF sending out a wild call for atten-
ton whenever a male hove in sight of
the piazza-moved reStlessly back and
forth among tables. And at the edge of
the piazza gathered the apprentices
the girls of from fourteen to twenty
studying and rehearsing and perfect
ing themselves in the customs and laws
and business of women. Nearly every
afternoon Saltinstall played golf or ten
mis- with them, as he had with their long
line of predecessors.
At 3 o'clock one afternoon in that
summer l was spending there. Saltin-
stall came up toward the clubhouse, and
S. o. S."-who was Mrs. Emily Bis
hee in private life-stood signaling to
him from the piazza When he went up,
there was new woman there, to whom
he was introduced-a fair, red-haircd
woman, rather OverdrcSsed. whom he
finally recognized as a girl he had once
known She had married and moved out
of town; her husband had died, and she
was back agaiu-jus coming out of
mourning At one side, curlcd up in
chair, was a little brown creature,
mostly eyes and hair, who watched him
steadily and dispasSIonateIy. She sccm-
cd 70 be about fifteen years old.
Her mother. his old acquaintance. call
cd to her finally. She untucked her legs,
and came over and shook hands-lOuk-
ing him squsrely in the face.
lack" her mother called her. The
nickname was one Of her fathers queer
,o+tors Hcr ycaI ,,r,,c ,r-,r Tcer,,,;r,.
chosen by the mother herself. But the
husband had called her Jack. because
of her childish preference for the career
of Jack the Giant-killer He had tried
his best to keep her little girl
Ths-girl waited until her inventory
was complete, the eyes of the piazzaful
of women upon her. II was evidently
4 somewhat eXasperating experience.
"Nhat an odd nickname remarked
Mrs. Bisbee, prolonging the agony.
'No odder than yours" said the girl
abruptly. Mrs. Bisbee laughed sharp
w.
Nor mine" said Saltinstall quickly.
mo, nor yours" said the girl. You
all have funny nicknames here" she
continued comprehensively.
Jack, Jack, said her mother fever
ishiy.
why not" asked the girl. "Thev
spoke of my nickname; why shouldn't
of theirs"
81 can beat you playing tennis" she
said to SaltinStall-with the evident pur-
pose of breaking an awkward situa-
tion.
Jack" said her mother feebly, you're
e. T..