The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1916-06-08


had no strong affection for 1t. One
day when the sickly boy was nine. lie
requested with unwonted vehemence
to be allowed to exchange names with
his older brother, Roscoe Conkling |
Sheridan. or with the oldest, James
Sheridan, Jr., and upon being refused |
went down into the cellar and re
mained there the rest of that day. And
the cook. descending toward dusk. re-
ported that he had vanished; but a
search revealed that he was In the
coal-pile. completely covered and still
burrowing. Removed by force and
carried upstairs, he maintained cryp-
tic demeanor. refusing to utter syl-
liable OF explanation, even under the
lash. This obvious thing was wholly
a mystery to both parents; the mother
was nonplused, failed to trace and
connect; and the father regarded his
son as a stubborn and mysterious fool,
an impression not effaced as the years
went by.
At twenty-five Bibbs was physically
no more than the outer scaffolding OF
a man, waiting for the building to be-
gin inside-a long-shanked, long-faced.
rlckety youth. sallow and hollow and
haggard, dark-haired and dark-eyed,
with a peculiar expression of counte-
nance: indeed, at first sight of Bibbs
| Sheridan he seemed upon the point OF
tears. To a slightly longer gaze, not
grief. but mirth, was revealed as his
emotion; but Bibbs never, on any oc-
casion in his life, either laughed aloud
or wept.
He was disappointment" to his
father. At least that was the parents
word-a confirmed and established
word after his first attempt to make
business man" of the boy. He sent
Bibbs to "begin at the bottom and
learn from the ground up" in the ma
chine shop of the Sheridan Automatic
Pump works, and at the end of six
months the family physician sent
Bibbs to begin at the bottom and learn
from the ground up in a sanitarium.
"You needn't worry, mamma" Sher-
idan told his wife. "There's nothin'
the matter with Bibbs except he hates
work so much it makes him sick. 1
put him in the machine shop, and I
guess l know what I'm doin' about
as we'll as the next man. Ole Doc Cur
ney always was one o. them nutty
alarmists. Does he think I'd do any
thing d be bad for my own flesh
and blood? He makes me tired"
Anything except perfectly definite
health or perfectly definite disease was
incomprehensible to Sheridan. He
had a genuine conviction that lack OF
physical persistence in any task in
volvlng money must be due to some
subtle weakness of character itself, tO
some profound shiftlessness or slyness
''Look at me-" he said. Look al
what l did at his agel why, when
was twenty years old, wasn't l up ev'
cry morning at four o'clock chopin
wood-yes! and out in the dark and
snow-to build fire in country gro
Gerry store? And here Bibbs has to &c
and have n doctor because he can't
Pho! 1t makes me tired! If bed gone
at 1t like a man he wouldn't be sick
He paced the bedroom-the usua
setting for such parental discussions
in his night gown, shaking his big
grizzed head and gestlculating to hi
bedded spouse. my Lordw he said
''If the little, teeny bit o. work lik,
this is too much for him, why, he ain
fit for anythingl It's nine-tenths imag
ination, and the rest of it-well,
won't say it's deliberate, but I woul,
like to know just how much Of it's pu
onr
"Bibbs didn't want the doctor" salt
Mrs. Sheridan. at was when he wa
here to dinner that night, and notices
how he couldn't eat anything. Honey
| you better come to bed"
| "Eatv he snorted. "Eat! It's wor
| that makes men eatl And there's ar
| other thing you'll notice about goo
| health, If you'll take the trouble I
| look around you, Mrs. Sheridan; bus
men haven't got time to be sick, an
they don't get sick. You just thin
1t over, and you'll find that 90 pc
cent of the sick people you know ar
either women or loafers Yes, ma'am!
Honey" she said again, drowsil,
r "you better come to bed"
v "Look at the other boys" her hu'
o band bade her. "Look at Jim and Ro'
Il coe. Look at how they work. Rigt
e now there isn't harder-workin
Il brighter business man in this city tina
.e Jim. I've pushed him, but he give m
something TO push against. You can
,e push nervous dyspepsiav And loo
IN at Roscoe; just look at what that boy
2 done for himself, and barely twent!
b. seven years old-marrled, got fin
y wife, and ready to build for himse
" with his own money when put up I'll
n- new house for you and Edie."
- "Papa, you'll catch cold in your bar
a feet" she murmured. you'd bett,
III come to bed"
"And I'm just as proud of Edle, II
rt a girl" he continued, emphatically, "a
ID / am OF Jim and Roscoe for boy
ne She'll make some man a mighty goo