Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-01-31
(Continued)

proud week, for the papers were full
of nothing but the marvellous ro-
nance of Harrison Stuart of his tre-
mendbus achievements, of his digni-
fled position in the world of struc-
tural' engineering, of his pictures,
front view, profile. and three quarters
standing, walking, and riding in a
machine, working. laughing, and
smoking a cigar. There were pretty
stories, too, about the charming wife
and daughter who had waited for him
all these years, and of the enchanted
parlor, and the paper on its walls,
and the shape and color of the piano,
and the pattern of the rug, and other
Important details Pictures, too, of
the charming ladies. There was no
escaping that, for the whole neighbor-
hood was alive with clicking cameras;
and, If the papers didn't get good
pictures they would use bad ones, or
forge some. SO Tommy Tinkle, with
a proper pride in his friends, saw
that they got good ones. Some of
the papers insisted on engaging beau
tiful Tavy to Tommy Tinkle They
were rather friendly to the news
papers, the Stuart ladies, because,
while the reporters made life bur
den to them for three days, every
thing was so superlativey compli-
mentary; and there was not one hint
anywhere of the enemy which had
iStiiiy IobpSu IldIEISOn OIL MS
memory, and of everything else worth
while.
Honors heaped upon honors! Be-
hold Jean and Tavy Stuart ushered
by Tommy Tinkle into the ladies'
gallery of the Hotel Nabob, and
screened behind a moorish jalousie,
upon which, by some magic, had
grown a purple -blossomed vine with
out roots and without earth and with
out water. Below, under the tons of
ceilinged gold and stucco, and be-
meath the tons of crystalled chan
dellers, and attended by so many
walters that the place is black with
them, sits the T-Beam Club, a sombre
looking collection of black-clad gem
tlemen, all with crinkly or shiny
shirtfronts, and all with stiff-looking
white bow ties, and all miserably
solemn, as is proper at q banquet, for
now the coffee has arrived and the
speeches will begin.
What disappointment! OF course
the banquet table is shaped like the
cross section of huge T-beam, with
| the POSTMASTER and the principal
speakers in the center, and the un-
important new members far away at
the tlanges but the seating is so ar
ranged that fat man hides the guest
/ OF honor almost completely from the
view of the ladies in the gallery and
If they shift, he is more completely
hidden by one of the two absurd
Corlnthian columns, made of flowers
ana bearing huge lanterns upon which
glow the club monogram; so the
ladies' stay where they are, and get
such Slimpses as they can of the bald
spot at the radial center of Harrison
Stuarts gray hair. Sometimes he
moves and then they can see a part
of his face. Once he leaned far back,
4 a !, 10 f-;1
was a thrilling moment!
Now the toastmaster. Ainslev Pu1-
ham, of course. He raps for order,
with gavel the head of which is
naturally from the cross section of q
T-beam; and he drones along for half
an hour, with many an elaborate joke,
| and many sentimental quotation
about their beloved and distinguished
fellow member, who has come back
TO them, out of the great sea of obiv-
ION, to take his rightful place in their
hearts. A toast gentlemen, to our
beloved and distinguished fellow mem
Der, Harrison Stuart, the most valu-
able jewel in the glittering diadem of
the profession! Prolonged applause
With a will, they drink that toast
10 Harrison Stuart, and he drinks
with them in sparkling water, un-
troubled by the glass of yellow cham
pagne which misses at his hand. Far
1own the table, Billy Lane leans for
ward to catch the eye of Hal. Billy
drinks the toast in wine He has
no cause to be afraid of that, and he
turns and lifts his glass toward the
!alousie lattice, which permits the
ladies to see and not be seen. This
lattice is grievous imposition. for
TaVy frantically waves her handker-
chief at him in answer to that uprais-
ed glass; but he cannot see it. Billy
IS In plain view, and that is a COM
tort, for he is the handsomest and
it most distlhgulshed looking young man
there's by all odds!
Now the response The guest of
honor is on his feet, modest, unas-
Sumlng, but his heart deeply touched
py TINS tribute they have paid him =
after all that he had done! A neat
little speech, but quite short, and i'm
low voice, and full of thanks.
Alnsley Pulham again. "The Float
ing Dome," that new marvel of the
structural world, and the response
will be made by that phenomenally
brilliant and successful young en-
gineerinS architect, William Lane, the
partner of the famous Harrison
Stuart!
No low voice here Billy Lane, in
a deep rich, baritone, tells them all
about the floating dome, it's inception,
its beauty, it's value, it's DEVELOPMENT
of new principle of construction
which will revolutionize the sciencei
Who would ever have thought that
Billy Lane was such an orator? With
sure control and smooth words. and
rounded sentences, and contagious en-
thusiasm, he made the floating dome
as interesting as a page out of the
Arabian Nights Tales; but, when he
came to the inventor of that marvel
then indeed he rose to heights of clio.
quence, for here was a topic upon
which he could say his say with a full
heart and sturdy belief! His voice
pulsed and reverberated throughout
the length and breadth of the ban
quet hall, vibrated amid the crystal
of the chandeliers and the stucco and
gold of the ceilings, throbbed into the
ladies' gallery, penetrated to the in
nermost recess of Tavy Stuart, so that
she fairly quivered with the pride
and glory of it all! Were there ever
two such remarkably clever and brill
liant and majestic men as Harrison
stuart and Billy Lane? Neyerl And
in the burst of stupendous applause
| which followed, Jean and Tavy Stuart
laughed and laughed for joy, and wip-
ed their eyes, and held hands.