The Mount Holly news., 1919-12-16
A Satisfied
Man
ByALvAx JORDAN GARTH

| Scepyr1ghe, 1s1s. by the Wsstsrz Nsws-
paper unton.l
Those were the days, Burt; you
know 1t and know 1t, don't we?"
"Yes," nodded Raleigh Burt. lust
starting out for two weeks vacation
1aunt, to his close friend, Walter Mars
ton. just returned from one. II fancy
we didn't appreciate the old town dur
Ing the happiest period Of our lives"
wish we'd stayed there" declared
Marston. you got restless. and me
ambitious, and broke away from the
only place that will ever seem like
real home to US. The city lured US.
Well. we've had twenty years of 1t.
am still the slave of a soulless cor
poration at three thousand dollars a
year. You are doing a little better,
but who knows what luck might have
struck us IL we had stayed where we
were brought upT'
n haven't even heard from Rockton
for nearly ten years." said Burt. did
you stop there7"
Il didn't but met old Ezra Perkins
on the train. He gave me all the news.
You know II was Glib Reeves who
took your job at the general store.
Well, It seems he studied law, got ad-
mitted to the bar, was elected Judge
and, according to Ezra, just rules the
town-dignity, position, a sort Of king
about the district. Then there's Mort
Sawyer"
"Still In Rockton, is her"
Largely. conspicuously; you know
he superseded me In my drug store
position. Started In at four dollars a
week. His old boss died rich and
Sawyer married his daughter, Nance.
Why. come to think Of II, she was your
early fame. wasn't sheT'
"A pretty girl and a smart one," re-
piled Burt his eyes showing the
glamour OF memory.
swell. she Is now the richest woman
In the county. Just think Of the luck
Sawyer fell intoi"
II have half a mind to put In my
fourteen days at the old burg" re-
marked Burt thoughtfully.
Somehow Marston's reports Of the
success In life Of Reeves and Sawyer
made Burt thoughtful. Not that he
was enyious. but it appeared to him
that fate had not been very kind to
either himself or Marston, and yet
they certainly had started out In life
with better educations and business
ability than those successful rivals In
the race for success. Burt was not
disloyal in the slightest degree when
he recalled the bright, sprightly Nance
Porter Of his boyhood days, but he
felt dissatisfied as he realized that his
city-bred wife had been obliged to do
without all the luxury and ease that
Of course the inherited wealth of the
rich druggist had brought to his
daughter. AS to Reeves. too. he felt
twinge Of restlessness, for had he not
himself blocked out legal career, but
circumstances had drifted him into an
other line.
"Yes, I'll take in Rockton," decided
Burt, and he did. About the only per-
son who remembered and recognized
him when he reached the town was
antiquated. gossipy old Doc Kendall.
the proprietor of the one pioneer
hotel Of the place, which Burt found |
was just as musty and dilapidated as
In his boyhood days. Rockton itself.
II anything, was more dead than Of
yore. II seemed to be asleep half the
time.
Doc Kendall got Burt In a corner |
and began to pump him as to his his
tory since he had left Rockton twenty !
years previous. The old gossip lived |
on curiosity and talk and entered with
zest into Burt's affairs.
Five thousand a year. a steady job,
four children and happy wife. eh2'
he commented. "Well, 1 call that top
notch, Burt"
you doT observed Burt.
II should say sol Why, look at the |
old crowd you once knew around here.
Vegetators, nearly all Of 'em. Just
took what came along and dream away
their life and stick In the native mud" |
"Why. hear that Glib Reeves has
reached the highest pinnacle Of the
ladder OF fame"
'Ho hol" snorted Kendall, scoffing.
"All front and frazzle. What's a dis
trict Judge In Macon county. any
howf Glib 10 what he always was, a
great big balloon-all josh and brag.
Say. I'll wager he has his home mort
gagged up to the limit and yet he struts
about as II he owned the town."
"And Mort Sawyer"
"Oh, poor old Mortl QuickI There
he goes with his wife. Why, you must
remember Nancef There they are,"
and following the indication Of Ken
dall's finger Burt saw a weazened old
man and a wry-faced, faded woman
driving along In disreputable gig
with a feeble, wobbling crowbait held
up by the patched and splintered
shafts.
"Say, Burt" continued Kendall In
confidential tone. "they say Nance has
got so stingy they live on potato par
ings. She allows Glib a dollar a week
for his tobacco and laundry and about
all but mauls him II he breaks over
the traces. Five thousand dollars a
year. and healthy and prosperous
and bringing up your family
with all the advantages Of sassiety and
education. Why. boy. you're living on
the cream Of life !"
And, his illusions dispelled, Raleigh
Burt went back home and kissed his
wife's cheek with an ardor that
brought back all the freshness Of
youth. and looked over his little brood
with new love and pride. himself
man.