Morris tribune., 1917-11-02
Their Hero
By RICHARD MARLEY

One Of the idiosyncrasies Of youth is
an OverappreciatiOn of what is pleasing
to the eye. A boy of sixteen is more
absorbed i'll the cut of his clothes than
ever again in his life. The love of per-
SOnal adOrnment is supposed to remain
with a woman so long as she lives.
Once out Of her teens she is won rath-
er by devotion than good looks. But
a girl from fifteen to twenty is as much
charmed by what is usually denOminat-
ed handsome in a boy as the boy is by
respondent neckWear. Neither the boy
nor the girl attaches much importance
to merit.
Tom Bergman, aged eighteen, the
son of a we'll to do widow, persuaded
his mother to permit him to give a
house party in her country home, which
she did not intend to occupy during the
summer The bunch Tom trained with
was composed of boys and girls of ages
! varying from fourteen to eighteen,
though none of the girls was quite
| seventeen. Six boys and six girls were
invited to the house party, and all &C
copied at once, for none Of them had
ever been so hOnored / fore.
Mrs. Bergman had an intimate
friend, a Mrs. Archibald, whose only
son, Reginald, was Of a proper age to
, be invited to the house party. Mrs
Bergman, desiring to show attention
to her friend, made it a condition of
giving up her country house to her son
and her friends that Reginald Archi-
bald should receive an invitation to be
one of the party.
Tom consented and had been suff1-
GENTLY trained in social dealings to no
| tify the other boys that Reginald Archi-
bald. being a stranger. should receive
especial attention from them. AS to
the girls. Tom knew that if they did
not happen to fancy young Archibald
they would not be likely to put them
selves out Of the way to do him honor.
When Reginald appeared on the
scene he was found to be what a girl
of sixteen would call handsome. His
complexion was pink and white. He
was rather tall for his age and deli
cately formed. He possessed a we'll
turned neck and throat and wore
ny IOulC COIldI dI ali III 1CLShIOu
! which showed the features to advan-
tage He at once gave the impression
that he hOnOred the company in ap-
pearing among them and that he eX-
Dected to be treated with especial con-
sideratiOn.
AS has been remarked, young ladies
of sixteen are like the fish that go for
the glittering spoon that whirls in the
sunshine at the end Of a line. Regi-
maids pink and white complexion, his
soft brown eyes, his artistically tum-
| bled hair and, above all, that throat,
rising above the broad, rolling collar,
captivated every girl in the party.
Moreover, his admirers were too young
to have received proper training in
restraining themselves in such matters,
and Mr.. Archibald at once became their
hero.
Even had the girls refrained from
showing their admiration for the
youngstor with the pink and white
complexion the other boys would
doubtless have discovered it. They
were not envious Of him, but his re-
ceiving all the attention to the entire
| exclusion Of all the rest Of them was
certainly calculated to mar the pleasure
Of the party No one Of them could
make an engagement with any girl I'M
| til she had learned whether Reginald
Archibald would honor her with like
| invitation. If a boy were chatting with
| girl she was forever casting glances
at the AdOnis, evidently more interest
ed in getting him away from the girl he
was with than in her companion.
The longer this concentrated atten-
ton of the girls upon him lasted the
more Mr.. Archibald seemed to consider
| it matter of course. Instead of point
| ing out to the girls the want of wisdom
in their course he rather encouraged
| them in following it. Instead Of en-
| deavoring to be one Of the party Of
| boys he held aloOf from them, seeming
to consider the society of girls prefer
| able. On the whole, the young fellows
were quite eXcusable in being up in
| arms against both the girls and their
| hero for spelling their fun.
They put their heads together to con-