The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-02-01
EVENING sToRY
Brad, Get Married.
ID T,a a.hax

success has opened up so brilliantly
before you. my only hope is that you
will get married. The best of all
Christmas presents that you could
make your old mother would be that
of a new daughter
This came from Brad Days mother
in reply to his letter telling her that
he had been promoted to the position
of general manager of the concern for
which he worked, with a consequent
increase in salary of SO per cent. He
read the letter, penned in the fine old
school handwriting of u half century
ago, as he ate his soft-boiled eggs and
buttered toast in the dining room of
the bachelor apartments where he
made his home. Then, having re-
read the letter, he registered very
slight blush of mingled irritation and
confusion.
ready been giving himself this same
sort of advice, only he himself. know
ing all his own mental quirks and tenn
peramental drawbacks, gave 1t with
less inSistence. Brad, my boy, ne
had told himself the day before, when
he had regarded the large balance on
his bank account, after his mothers
wants and his own had been attended
to, 'if you were any other sort or TEL
low I'd tell you you ought to get mar
fleu. gu are urea TO uedlH VI DelCIl-
elor life. You need petting little,
and you're getting trifle cruSty.
There ought to be some nice girl some
where who would have you. But, of
course, 1 know he went on to him
self, its the dreadful business of hav
ing to find the girl, and having found
her, of having to ask her. Other fell
| lows do it, but I'm blessed if | see
| how. Brad, my boy, what a world this
would be if the ladies did the propos-
ingi"
Yet Brad Daily was far from tinid-
! Stenogra pliers, even the pertest of
them, rather quailed before him, and
the girls of the country club whom
he CHANGED to meet when he played
| golf on Saturday afternoons some
how dropped off from sheer tinidity
and then reproved themselves for not
| having drawn him out. He was such
/, a big, rough-externa1ed, self-contained
sort of fellow. And, of course, no one
| ever guessed that at heart he was one
| of the faint ones who never even
dreamed of winning the fair lady.
So while Brad was always glad to
do anything to please his old mother,
| he would much have preferred it if
she had not made that particular sug-
gestion. 1t stabbed at one of the weak
points of his psychological armor. and
in that particular sore point beneath
he had already been probing himself.
Once in his office that morning he
forgot the irritation and was deep in
the business of the day. Stenograpf-
ers came and went breathlessly, 81
lently. Telephone operators did his
bidding like dutomatons. There was
something in Brad Days manner
that compelled such service. The
morning was a busy one, for the pres
ident of the company had just ar
rived from the west, and there were
many reports to be gone over. Then
came the third probing-the one that
hurt more than either of the two be-
fore. The president was in Brad
office deep in business. discussion,
when he suddenly looked up at the
burly young man beside him.
You know, Daily" he said, you
don't deserve the good thing that has
come to you. If I weren't sure that it
was the only wise thing to do from
the business point of view, I'm blessed
if I'd let you have the job. Old man,
you don't deserve a salary of $4,000
a year. What can a bachelor DO with
so much? You ought to get married
It's the only life and 1 don't why
you don't see it that way. You don't
look like a man-about-town, unable
to stick to one fireside, and 1 don't
want to think it of you"
Somehow Brad managed to turn the
conversation back to business and the
| president knew as little as he had
known before why this apparently nor
NAL male did not begin to think o.
nest-building as other men did. Ru
Brad was secretly annoyed and fell
J that in a free country other folk ought
, rot to interfere in his private affairs
But the day was one of many annoy
ances. He claimed an excuse not tt
lunch with the president and wen
alone to his club, where he purposel1
Joined the most confirmed bachelor
of his. acquaintance man whos'
5 wandering habits would usually have
repealed him. But even from him HI
. had the usual dig.
Tell you what, Daily" he said
There's only one life. With you
new income l don't see what's to pre-
vent your marrying. I'm going to TAX
the plunge into happiness next weel
myself, and I suppose your income
I about three times as big mine.
' Brad was unusually taciturn durin:
. the remainder of the luncheon and lief
the table without tasting his dessert
He left his companion and lounge,
into the library out of sheer selfde
Tense. The first book his hand fel
upon was Roosevelt's autobiography
He opened it and read the first line!
{ his eyes rested on.
=, ''- The greatest privilege ana
{ greatest duty for any man is to b.
s happily married, and no form of sue
!! cess or service for either man or WON
an can be accepted as a substitute
Brad rose to his full six feet two
closed the book and threw it violentl.
= to the table.
always thought Brad was an ad
G rf1irer of the coloners." a member re
a marked. Guess he's changed hi
politics.
Brad Daily hurried back to his of
: flee building and pushed his way int
a crowded elevator. For some reason
perha ps because she had the Kind o
t tawny hair that few men can he'll
d noticing. his eyes fell on a slight fig
ure of a woman in the elevator besid
r him. She seemed out of place in tn
o busy office building. and Brad no
ticed that she breathed with agitation
Ten minutes later the same youn
{ woman had managed to get by tn
various stenogra pliers, secretaries. of
!. flee boys and telephone operators VIII
> | usually barred folk without fror