The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-02-03
|Ludin gton S
Rough
By DONALD CHAMBERLAIN

n
diamond spoon in his mouth NO one
knew what his income was. bur all
knew that Il was fabulous. But Lu-
dinrton was a good deal OF man Tor
all that. He had been graduated al
n college which prides itself on its de-
mocracy and had resolutely refused to
no considered favorably on account OF
/ his wealth. He had also made friends
| of his classmates, irrespective OF either
| his social or financial standing. His
/ chum was the son of backwoodsman.
When Ludington left college he spent
) a year in New York associating win
persons of 1is own social position.
though he himself had descended from
ancestors prominent In colonial times,
while most of his set were OF the newly
| rich. Indeed. ne was about the only
young man in New York VINO was both
very -;ch and OF blue blood. He found
his time principally occupied In escap-
ing girls VINO wanted to marry aim.
and. firing OF this. he went west to
become rancher.
/ At the end OF a couple of years he
} returned to New York to SPEND the
cold season. He was not forgotten by
4 his associates-rich men are never for
Z gotten-and since he was fond of so
/ cial doings entered into the seasons
. pleasures. In January he opened one
! OF his country places and invited
! party of young fellows and girls TO
spend a couple of weeks with him
\ there. When they were assembled he
said TO them:
"Tve taken up in the west with a
/ ranchcr VINO is a rough diamond. He
may nor have the ways Of the rest of
US. and his clothes are certainly not
/ OF the latest cut. but | assure you he
Is n fine fellow whom | am proud to
| know. I've invited him TO be with us.
and trust that you will all treat him
as my friend"
Whca Cuihbcrt Bradshaw appeared
I he gayr evidence Of having roughed 1t
for the greater part OF hls life. Ii was
not that he was made Of coarse clay.
for II properly dres SEED he would have
at least looked like gentleman 1t
was that ne had associated with rough
persons so continuously that he had
become rough himself. From his first
i appearance It was evident that none
! Of the guests could stomach him. He
might he a rough diamond. bat Luding
tons friends had never been able to see
the spiritual beauties Of his rough dia
mond friends. and they did not pro
pose to put up with Mr.. bradshaw.
The party had not been together
twenty four hours when they began to
turn upon their host The men could
not use him. for they had all the money
they wanted; the women. any one of
whom would have been glad to add his
fortune 20 hers, would have borne with
him but not with his friend and they
felt aggr'leved that Ludington should
have spoiled an otherwise pleasant
house party by bringing Bradshaw into
It Besides, they felt that their skirts
were soiled by contact with his unpol-
ished boots.
There would not have been open
warfare between Ludington and his
guests had he not given as much of
his time to Bradshaw as to any of
them. And to make matters worse
In proportion to their giving Bradshaw
the cold shoulder, Ludington gave him
more of his time At last Ludington
became so incensed at the treatment
of his favorite that he ignored them
good deal of the time to be himself
/ with Bradshaw.
II Ludincton's guests had all the
money they wanted there was one
thing still to be desired-a foreign IT,
tie This was beyond the hope of the
men hut not the women. some Amer
lean girls having paid millions for
men from whom they were constrain.
ed to secure speedy divorces What
was the house party's surprise to see
one morning, under an announcement
from London of the death of the Earl
OF darlington, that, the earl dying
chidlcss. he title would fall to his
nephew. 'Cuthbert Bradshaw. now
ranchng In New Mexico"
As soon as 1t was evident that Mr.
Bradshaw was noble lord of high
degree all the women of the party
about faced and sought an opportunity
to do him honor. But he went about
among them without taking any notice
OF them for the few hours he re-
manned in the house and when he
went out of it simply raised his hat
politely TO the group that stood on the
porte-cochere to see him OF. When he
was gone the women vented their spite
on Ludington for having deceived them
as to Mr. Rradshaw's family connec.
tons
Some declared that 1t was a frameun
on them: that Bradshaw knew better
than TO wear his ranch clothes among
them and make boor of himself on
purpose. There may be some truth i'm
this bur ha had cort oipt,. hoo, .,.-,