Meade County news., 1917-01-25
CHAPTER xxl-con.Inued.

-13-
Our daily actions are controlled by
q variety of opposing influences which
are like threads pulling at us from
various directions. When for any rea-
son certain of these threads are
snapped and the balance is disturbed
we are drawn into strange pathways,
and our whole lives may be changed
through the operation Of what seems q
most trivial case. In Bob's case the
cause approached, all unheralded, in
the person of Mr.. Richard Cady,
youth whose magnificent vaculty Of
purpose was the envy of his friends.
Cometlike. he was destined to appear,
fash brightly, then disappear below
the horizon Of this tale. Mr.. Cady
greeted Bob with listless enthusiasm,
teetering the while upon his cane like
a japanese equilibrist.
Haven't seen you for ages" he be-
gan. "Been abroadT
Bob explained that he was spending
the summer In New York, statement
that filed his listener with the same
horror he would have felt had he
learned that Bob was passing the heat
ed season In the miasmatic jungles Of
the Amazon.
"Just ran down from Newport"
Cady volunteered. "I'm sailing today.
Better join me for trip. know"
he cut Bob's refusal short-"travel's
an awful nuisance; get seasick my
self"
'Then why play at it,"
Cady rolled mournful eye upon his
friend. "GirlV said he, hollowly.
"Show girl! II stay I'll marry her,
and that wouldn't do. Positively notl
30 I'm running away. I'll wait over
II you'll Join me-"
I'm a working man."
"Haww Mr.. Cady expelled a short
laugh.
''Truei And I've quit drinking"
Now Cady was blase, but he had
heart; his sympathles were slow, but
he was not insensible to misfortune.
Accordingly he responded with q cry Of
pity, running his eye over his friend
to estimate the ravages of temperance.
up against tT' inquired the other.
$50 says my heartless father. He
has sewed up my pockets and scuttled
my drawing account, hence the dinner
pail on my arm. I'm in quest Of TOLL"
"I'll bet you starve," brightly pre-
dicted Mr.. Cady, in an effort at en-
couragement. "I'll lay you FIVE thou
sand that you make a fivver of any
thing you try"
"I've quit gambling, too"
As they shook hands Cady grunted:
'My invitation to globe-trot is with
drawn. Fine company you'd bev
As Bob walked up the avenue he
pondered deeply. wondering II he real
ly were SO lacking in ability as his
friends believed. Money was such a
common thing, after all; the silly
labor of acquiring 1t could not be half
30 interesting as the spending of 1t. |
Anybody could make money, but to
enjoy 1t, to circulate 1t judlciously, one
must possess indlviduality-of a sort.
HAOhCJ bcCuuCu W COLuO W bOLuc pcOpIc /
without effort, and from the strangest
sources-Kurtz, for instance, had
grown rich out of coats and trousers!
Bob halted, frowning, while Ying
peered out from his hiding place at
the passing throngs, exposing a tiny,
limp, ping-ribbon tongue. II Kurtz,
armed only with pair of shears and
a foolish tape, had won to affluence.
why couldn't another? Stock broklng
was no longer profitable; and old
Hannibal's opposition evidently forced
change Of occupation.
The prospect of such change was
annoying, but scarcely alarming to an
ingrained optlmist, and Bob took COM
fort in rejecting that the best-selling
literature of the day was replete with
Instances Of disinherited sons, impov-