The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1916-11-16


For many other reasons he was not.
He was chiefly fortunate in being, as
certain opponents often strOve wither-
ingly to designate him, "the son of his
father" since that sound old gentle
man was the wealthiest farmer in that
section, with but one son and heir TO
supplant him, in time, in the role of
county god" and haply perpetuate
the prouder title of "the biggest tax
payer on the assessment list" And
this fact, too, fortunate as it would
seem, was doubtless the indirect occa-
sion of a liberal percentage of all
Johns misfortunes. From his earliest
school days in the little town, up to
his tardy graduation from q distant
college, the influence of his fathers
wealth invited his procrastinatiOn, hui
mored its results, encouraged the lax
ity of his ambition, land even now"
as John used, in bitter irony, to put it,
sit is aiding and abetting me in the
ostenslble practice of ny chosen pro-
fession, a listless, aimless undeter-
mined man of forty, and a confirmed
bachelor at that" At the utterance
of his self-depreclating statement
John generally jerked his legs down
from the top Of his DESK and rising
and kicking his chair back to the wall
he would stump around his Uttered Of
flee till the manila carpet steamed
with dust. Then he would wildly
break away, seeking refuge either in
the open street. or in his room at the
old-time tavern. The Eagle house,
''where," he would say, 81 have lodged
and boarded, do solemnly asseverate,
for long, unbroken, middle-aged eter-
nifty of ten years, and can yet assert,
In the words of the more fortunately
dying Webster. that 4 still live y"
EXtravagantly satirical.as he was at
times John had always an indefnable
drollery about bin that made him
agreeable company TO his friends, ut
least; and such an admiring friend lie
had constantly at hand in the person
of Bert Haines. Both were Bohcmians
in natural tendency, and, though John
was far i'm Bert's advance i'm point OF
age he found the young man "just the
kind Of fellow to have around :"
while Bert, ia turn, held his senior in
profound csteem-lookeG up 20 him. in
fact, and even in his eccentricitics
strove to pattern himself after him.
And so it was, when summer days
were Gull and tedious, these two could
muse and doze the hours away to-
gether; and when the nights were
long, and dark and deep, and beaut-
full, they could drift cut in the noon
light Of the stars, and with the soft
complaining flute" and "warIliEg Lutte"
'lay the pipes" as John would say, for
their enduring popularity with the
girls And it was Immediately sub
sequent to one of these romantic eX-
cursions, when the belated pair, at two
o'clock in the morning, had skulled
up a side stairway of the old hotel,
and gained Johns room, with nothing
more serious happening than Bert fall
ing over a trunk and smashing his
guitar-just after such a night Of ro-
nance ard adventure it was that, in
the seclusion of Johns room, Bert had
something of especial import to COM
municate.
Mack" he said, as that worthy
mathematical a spiteful match, and
then sucked his finger.
''Blast the alfred old torch !" said
John, wrestling with the lamp-flue, and
turning on q welcome flame at last.
"Well, you said 'Mackl' Why don't you
go on? And don't bawl at the top of
your lungs, either. You've already sue
ceeded in waking every boarder in the
house with that guitar, and you want
to make amends now by letting them
90 to slecep again !"
'But my dear fellow" said Bert with
forced calmness, "you're the fellow
that's making all the noise-and-"
"Why, you bowling dervish !" inter-
rupted John, with a feigned air Of
pleased surprise and admiration. "But
let's drop controversy. Throw the
fragments of your guitar In the wood
box there, and proceed with the open
Ing proposition"
"What was going to say was this"
said Bert, with a half-desperate enun-
citation; 'Fm getting tired of this way
of living clean, dead-tired, and
tagged out, and sick of the whole arti-
fetal business !"
ooh, yes I" exclaimed John, with a
towering disdain, "you needn't go any
furtherl know just what malady is
throttling you. It's reform-reforn
You're going to turn over a new leaf,
and all that, and sign the pledge, and
quit cigars, and go to work, and pay
your debts, and gravitate back into
Sunday-school, where you can make
love to the preachers daughter under
the guise Of religion, and desecrate
the sanctity of the innermost gale of
the church by confessions at class Of
your thorough conversionp oh, you're
going to"
mo, but I'm going to do nothing Of
the Sort" interrupted Bert resentfully,
what mean-if you'll let me finish
is, I'm getting too old to be eternally
undignifying myself with thfs singing
NJ rnfdnfOht strains undor noDnvhol1ss