Evening star., 1918-06-16

vent, honest animal passion Inat TedQ.
ers Of magazines were amused and
asked the editors Of those magazines
for more Of the same. They got more
of the same. enough, indeed, for John
Paul and his sweetheart to make a
beginning Of married life upon. The
which they did. with love making
more divine1y riotous and foolish than
any which John Paul had ever man.
aged to invent for any of his imag-
mary lovers.
OF the love stories which he had sold
he became heartily ashamed. They
fell SO far short of the truth. And of
those which he set himself presently
to write he was still more ashamed.
For these had to be deliberately false.
Having learned at last the truth about
love, and how sacred it must be to the
two who have taught and are teach
ing it to each other, he knew that he
must lock his knowledge in his breast
and. for his public, invent base >imita-
tionS.
To himself he excused himself; say
ing that as yet the matter didn't mat
ter, and that he was still after moth
ing but manner, ways and means OF
telling, and hard-sought words. But
in his heart he knew better. Love in
the abstract may be had for the ask
ing, but in the concrete which is mar
riage, it must be paid for in legal
tender. John Paul was no longer
writing to lean how. He had learned
how after a fashion that was at least
his own, and he was writing for reve-
nue..
They made a foolish beginning Of
married life. Damn a man." thought
John Paul, who haggles on his hon.
eymoon. And as for her (and he
blessed her for it). she didn't know
People in a certain station of life re-
quired certain things. One chose
them and ones husband paid for them.
For gentle folk there is no comfort
able happy medium Of parsimony. A
lady may ride in carriage. or she
may walk, but she must not be SUP
mitted to the smells and insolence of
subways and street cars. 1t is not
necessary to follow John Paul and his
wife step by step into the hole, at the
bottom Of which they presently found
themselves. 1t wasn't SO very deep.
Standing on tiptoe you could see over
the edge. In moments of exhilarated
hopefulness you could scramble half
way out, only to be tumb1ed back
obliged, unwilling, to extemporize.
The hole which they dug for them
selves, and in which they lived there
after, was of ,this kind. They were
never in a position to pay for what
they had had. John Paul was like
man who runs long race from
scratch against big field. His COM
petitors were bills, all rushing ahead
for dear life. And it was really pretty
to see him chase manfully after them
and overhaul them one by one; but
with the leaders, the long handicap
bills, he could never quite catch up.
Again and again it looked as if he was
going to. but always the unforeseen
happened, and he stumbled and fell or
was tripped and thrown.
Babies happened, adorable, extrava-
giant babies, and sickness came. unin-
vited, to be welcomed by the most ex-
pensiye doctors and nurses in the
land. and all the while John Paul ran
furiously after the old bills and the
new, and poured forth his stream Of
love stories, and grew sicker and
sicker Of the writing of them, and re-
ceived higher and higher pay.
John Paul perpetrated. much
against his will and only because he
story, for which he received the larg-
est sum Of money that he had ever
possessed at one time. Now was the
chance to climb plumb out of the hole
in which they lived: but to the young
people it seemed that the time was
not yet come for that, but for home
in the country, where the babies
would grow even fatter and more
beautiful than they were in town.
1t had upon it a very tiny farmhouse,
which. SO the village builder said.
could be altered, heated and plumbed
for $2.5eo.
John Paul hesitated, but not for
long. His stories were selling like
hot cakes; he would simply have to