The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-07-21

Inc sheridan building was the big.
gest skyscraper, the Sheridan Trus.
Company. the biggest bank. and Sheri.
dan, himself, the biggest builder and
broker. and truster and buster under
the smoke Of dirty and wonderful
| midland city that piled tower on tow.
er and spread itself out over the plain
| of fair country
Bibbs Sheridan was his "odd one";
the family failure. He grew up only
lengthwise, and at % was the dry
scaffolding of man. Six months in
| his fathers Pump Works made neces-
sary two years in a sanitarium. He
returned to the new house" on the
outskirts Of the city in time for the
house-warmtng party. To this came
Mary Vertrees, whose family next
door maintained the highest air of
| responsibility upon a vanishing for.
tune. She came under home prompt
ings that led her to dazzle with her
wit and beauty both Sheridan and
James Sheridan, Jr.
When young Jim had proposed. Mrs.
Roscoe Sheridan, his sisterin-law,
offered to help Mary in return for help
in an affair Of her own Mary saw
that in bartering, she was to be bar
tered with. Her soul rebelled and she
declined to marry young Jim Sheridan.
He never got the letter.
Sheridan demanded of Bibbs If he
would quit dreaming Of poetry and
follow with Roscoe and Jim to make
the business and the city bigger.
Bibbs could not understand why any
| body wanted to make things bigger.
"Damnation!" roared Sheridan Did
you ever hear the word PROSPERITY
You ninny! DID you ever hear the
word 'Ambition!' Did you ever hear
the word 'Progress!' Look at Jim,
houses at the Pump Works in half
the time the contractors wanted. Jim
took the contract himself, found a
fellow with new cement process and
we begin using them next week Now.
I'm goin' to make a man Of you. BY
God. I am" And Bibbs was given
two months to get his mental attitude
right for the Pump Works.
| Miss Vertrees' note went to the
senior Sheridan, as that afternoon one
Of the new warehouse walls collapsed
sending the inventor and James Sheri.
dan, Jr., to their eternity.
Bibbs had to manage the funeral
and ride from the cemetery with Mary
| Vertrees, but neither spoke. He's not
insane" said Mary to her mother.
''He looks dreadfully i'll. but has pleas
ant eyes"
Later Bibbs and Mary met as he
was passing her gate. He apologized:
Il hate frozen fish myself, and that
three miles was too long for you to
put up with one. I've never been
able to speak quickly. because if I
tried I'd stammer. My brother Roscoe
whipped me once for stepping on his
slate pencil. 1t took me so long to
tell him 1t was an accident, he finished
before I did"
Instantly, Mary saw his nature and
suffering. They walked on and she
Invited him into the church to hear
some Handel music. 1t meant. she
said. one thing above all others to
her-courage.
Thereafter Bibbs went often to the
home Of Mary Vertrees. you see."
he confded to her, "ft Ia all SO simple.
steel Jaws that bite 1t into little cir
cles. IS a minute. used to finch
and the workmen laughed"
1T sha'n't hurt YOU" exclaimed
Mary. All day long, I'll send my
IlouSASc W yOU, dllo yOu luubI re-
member that a friend stands beside
you"
Bibbs fed the old zinc-eater, discov.
cred it's musical rhythm. and sang
his poetry in resonance herewith. At
night Biggs scrubbed:
Manual labor is best Your heart
can sing and your mind can breathe
while your hands are working. What
turbulance Is love. And lovers are
blind. But friendship walks gently
and with open eyes"
Trouble grew in the Sheridan house.
hold. Roscoe took to drink; then
quit He had enough-a few thousand
a year. He had been SO busy he had
nearly lost his wife. "a woman has
to have something in life besides a
business man. Now we are going to
Japan"
Sheridan sent for Bibbs. his only
hope, offered him vice-presidencfes,
salaries and shares; but Bibbs pre-
ferred happiness and nine dollars a
week. whats the USE" he said, "oi
being just bigger, dirtier and noisier?"
That evening Bibbs and Mary read
Maeterlinck together and he told her:
Tomorrow, I'm one Of the hands OF
the Pump Works and going to stay
one, unless I am thrown out and de-
eide to study plumbing"
why not give Bibbs a chance to
live?" said the family doctor. "There
is something finer In Bibbs, than his
physical body. You're half mad Will,
q consuming fury against tho very
self Of Law. But yo,i want tn beat the
law! SO Ajax dened the ushtningl"
Yes! And, by God, I will" cried
Sheridan. Ajax was . jankAss. II
he'd been half man he'd a. rot
away with Il; hitohed It UP and mads
It work for him like q black steer.
I'll have my way with that stubborn
fool, Bibbs." But Bibbs stin said,
NO"