The Topeka state journal., 1919-04-12
The Gay Old Boy

tn HOSE Of you who have dwelt-
or even lingered-in Chicago,
= Illinois (this is not a humorous
story), are familiar with the region
known as the Loop. For those others
of, you to whom Chicago is a transfer
point between New York and San
Francisco there Is presented this brief
explanation:
The Loop is a clamorous. smoke
infested district, embraced by the iron
arms of the elevated tracks. In a city
boasting fewer millions. 1t would be
known familiarly as downtown. From
Congress to Lake street, from Wabash
almost to the river. those thunderous
tracks make a complete circle. or loop.
Within it lie the retail shops. the COM
mercial hotels. the theatres. the res
taurants It is the Fifth avenue (di-
luted) and the Broadway (deleted) of
Chicago. And he who frequents it by
Z night in search of amusement and
cheer is known. yulgarly, as Loop
hound.
10 Hertz was a Loop-hound. On the
occasion of those sparse first. nights
granted the metropolis of the Middle
West he was always present third
row, aisle left. When a new loop cafe
manded an unobstructed view of any
thing worth viewing. On entering he
was wont to say; Hello. u.s." with
careless eordiality to the head waiter,
the while his eye roved sxpertly from
table to table as he removed his gloves.
That was Je-a plump and lonely
bachelor of fifty. A pletheric. rowing
eyed and kindly man, elutehipg vainly
at the garments of a youth that had
long slipped past him.
The gay=dog business was a late
phase In the life of 10 Hertz. He had
been a quite different sort of canine.
The staid and haFRessed brother OF
three unwed and selfish sisters is an
under dog.
At twenty-seven 10 had been the
dutiful, hard working son Gin the
wholesale harness business) of a
widowed and gummidging mother. who
called him Joey. If you had looked
close you would have seen that IReY
and then a double wrinkle would ap-
pear between JOS eyes-a wrinkle that
had no business there at twenty seven
Then Jos mother died, leaving him
Handicapped by a death-bed promise
the three sisters and a three-story-
d-bassmeHt house on Calumet ave-
nue.. JOS wrinkle became fixture.
Death bed promises should be broken
as lightly as they are seriously made
The dead have no right to lay theil
ciammy fingers upon the living.
Joey" she said. in her high. thin
voice. take care Of the girls"
Il will. Ma" 10 had choked.
Joey" and the voice was weaker
promise me You won't marry till the
girls are all provided for" Then as
Joe had hesitated. appalled,: Joey
it's my dying wish. PROMISED"
'I promise, Ma" he had said.
WhaReupon his mother had died
comfortably, leaving him with COM
pletely ruined life.
They were not bad-leeliRg girls, ans
they had q certain style, too. That is
Stell aHd Eva had. Carrie. the middle
one. taught school over on the west
Side. In those days it took her almost
two hours each way. She said the
kind Of costume she required should
have been corrugated steel. But al
three knew what was being worn. anC
they wore it-or fairly faithful copies
of it. Eva, the housekeeping sister, hae
a needle knack. She could skim the
State street windows and come away
with mental photograph of every sep
arate tuck. hen1S yoke and ribbon
Heads of departments showed her ths
| things@they kept in drawers. and she
went home and reproduced them with
the aid of two dollar-a-d day seam
stress, SteIl, the youngest, was tbs
beauty, They called her Babe. Shi
wasn't really a beauty, but some onI
had once told her that she looked like
! Janice Meredith Git was when tina
work of fiction was at the height of it!
| popularity. For years afterward
whenever she went to parties. she af
fected a single fat curl over her figh
: SHOULDER. with rose stuck through it
Twenty-three years ago ones sis
| ters did not strain at the household
leash, nor crave a career CARR,
taught sehool. and hated it, Eva KEEP
| house expertly and complaiaingly
Babes profession was being the family
beauty. and it took all her spare time
| Eva always let her sleep until ten.
| This was JOS household. and he wa
the nominal head of'it. But it was al
empty title.
Most men of Joe's age were standing
Most men of JOS age were standing
before their mirror of a Saturday night
whistling blithely and abstraetedl!
while they discarded a blue polka do
| for a maroon tie. whipped off the ma
room for shot-sllk. and at the las
moment decided against the ot-sill
in favor of a plain black and white
because she had once said she pre-
ferred quiet ties. 10. when he shoul
have been preening his feathers 70
CONQUEST, was saying:
~..Well, my God. am hurryingl Civ
| a man time. can't you? I Just go
home. You girls have been layin
1 - i
| you're ready"
On those rare occasions when hi
business neeessitated an out-of- tow
trip he would spend half a day found
ertng about the shops selecting hand
kerchiefs or stockings, or feathers. 0
fans, or gloves for the girls.
There was something selfish in hi
+ giving, as there always is in any gil
| freely and teyfHlly made, They neve