The Dolores star., 1916-12-01

mfopist, ~EgottSm.
Against that Of q man whose reputa-
ton for political adroitness had b.
come nation wide. "Benevolence."
Against that NJ q great captain oe
industry. ''Innocence."
Against that of 4 certain little man
who for twenty years had worked
humbly among his brethren Of the
slums, Courage"
Charlie himself could foretell no
more than could the person at his el-
bow what verdict the pencil would rem
der. He preferred not to make %
hazardous test. yet there was always
an uncanny fascination in the expert
ment when his friends and acQuaint-
ances formed the subjects. He came
to shrink from this adv enturous por-
traiture and drove his pencil to other
ends
Charlie entered Minot house when be
was thirteen. Sam took him there one
morning in early fall.
Daily, with his happy face glowing
with the xest OF life in its frame Of
blond curls and his odd, deceptively
hesitant gait. he trod the academic
path. He made little difficulty with
the studies outlined for him. but be
was utterly blissful only when he
worked in one of the great skylighted
studios learning the rudirnents Of art
by means Of the cube, the cylinder and
the block hand" with its Cat planes
Of light and shadow.
The life of Minot house got Into
this boys blood. or all the pupils,
whose ages ranged from his own to
that Of the average person ut college
graduation. not one lacked the incen-
tive Of a definite goal
Mary Alice" he would say. at MI
not house everybody's a kind OF Gala
had Knight. They don't all know II.
but they're all on a quest OF the Grail.
Maybe 1t isn't the same Grail for ev-
erybody. but l guess 1t amounts to the
same thing"
Charlie. you're wonder" said
Mary Alice. II never saw such an old
headed child!'
Mary Alice was nineteen. She had
been through high school and thought
her education was complete. She was
back In 1.-THE gloves" at Stacey's Min
| AAC anu k'aoIC anu HIuCe lOuS SluC6
gone the uncharted ways OF matri-
mony. Mary Alice used to look up at
the freckled little face in the armed
turret, where she herself had formerly
done up packages and "tubed" the
sales slips and money. and wonder in
what other ways the bundle girls life
paralleled her own.
The six years which had made .
poised young woman out OF the little
girl whom Francis Willett had called
skinny" had certainly robbed her of
no fraction Of her good looks. Lem
Brown stood more in awe of his hand
some daughter than ever. You couldn't
imagine Mary Alice hauling q CARLOAD
Of washing up Clipper Hill, and Lem
couldn't imagine himself issuing any
orders that she was In the least bound
to respect; and yet he had never. since
the days Of his rehabilitation. ex-
pressed wish which she had not met
promptly and cheerfully.
Lem was and always would be
private soldier, and a good one. He
never would be an officer in any kind
Of army. He had taken orders from
Sam Thomas since the very beginning
Of their relation. which was still that
Of man and master.
Lem knew as much about Sans
business OF dairying as the Boss
Sometimes Sam would compliment
Lem by telling him he sure couldn't
get along without him. And Lem
would always answer: "Oh. I don't
know. I guess you could"
He was a glutton for work. He
saved Sam the necessity of hiring ex-
ira help. except at harvest time; and
Sam was just. He paid Lem, not on a
day-labor basis, but in proportion to
bis own prosperity. The little white
house had not only plenty of green
grass; 1t had flowers in beds, rioting in
old-fashioned profusion. and carefully
tended vines that famed with color in
season. Lem had money in the bank.
Sometimes Sam would walk out on
a Sunday afternoon and stand on top
OF the rocky knoll in the old pasture
lot He would survey his well-tiIled
acres with a soothing satisfaction: then
bis eye strayed along toward the Eve
acre corner piece. where stood the
Brown cottage. which Lem had bought
and nearly paid for. In another two
years LENS title would be all free and
clear Sam could see little Dick Brown
sitting on the back porch with his ia
ther.
II did that" Sam would say to him
self. 'Marthy and Charlie and me. We
took that lump O. mud and made a
man Of 1t. If I never do another
things long as I live. guess nobody
can say j haven't helped this old world
a little. Lordy! Wasn't Lem mess
them first three or four months. Love
and a square-toed boot-that's a win
min combination. all right"
Then his eye would swing OF toward
Sheffield. where the lazy vapors Of
banked fires lay drifting over the city.