Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1919-10-17


! ment still irritating. Undeniably
Fanny Minafer was one of the people
who drew this conclusion, for she cut
| the article out and inclosed it in a
letter to her nephew. having written
| on the border of the clipping, Il Won
der whom it can mean!'
| George read part of it:
We debate sometimes what is to be the
future of this nation when we think that
| in few years public affairs may be in
the hands of the fin-de-siecle gilded
youths we see about us during the Christ
mas holidays. Such foppery. such luxury,
such insolence was surely never prac-
ticed by the scented overbearing patrl-
clans of the Palatine, even in Rome's
most decadent epoch. With his airs of
young Milford his fast horses, his gold
and silver cigarette cases, his clothes
from New York tailor, his recklessness
of money showered upon him by indulgent
mothers or doting grandfathers, he re-
spects nothing and nobody. He is blase,
If you please. Watch him at a social
| function, how condescendingly he deigns
to select partner for the popular waltz
or two-step; how carelessly he shoulders
| older people out of his way, with what a
blank stare he returns the saiutations Of
choose in his royal Whim to forget!
One wonders what has come over the
| new generation. OF such as these the re-
public was not made. When we compare
the young manhood of Abraham Lincoln
with the specimens we are now producing
| we see too well that it BODIES Ill for the
| twentieth century
George yawned and tossed the clip
ping into his waste basket, wondering
why his aunt thought such dull nom
sense worth the sending. AS for her
insinuation, penciled upon the border,
he supposed she meant to joke-a sup
position which neither surprised him
nor altered his lifelong opinion of
her wit.
He read her letter with more in
| terest:
~. The dinner your mother gave for
the Morgans was a lovely affair. 1t was
last Monday evening, just ten days after
you left 1t was appropriate that your
mother, herself an old friend, should as
semble a representative selection of Mr..
Morgan's old friends around him at such
| a time. He was in great spirits and most
entertaining.
He will soon begin to buifu his factory
which he says is term he prefers to
'horseless carriages" Your Uncle George
| told me he would like to invest in this
| factory as George thinks there Is a flu
ture for automobiles; perhaps not for gem
| eral use, but as an interesting novelty,
which people with sufficient means would
| like to own for their amusement and the
sake OF variety. However, he said Mr..
Morgan laughingly declined his offer. as
| Mr.. M. was fully able to finance this ven
ture, though not starting in very large
| way. Your uncle said other people are
manufacturing automobiles in different
parts Of the country with success. Your
father is not very well, though he is not
actually i'll, and the doctor tells him he
ought not to be so much at his office, as
the long years of application indoors with
no exercise are beginning to affect him
unfavorably, but / believe your father
would die if he had to give up his work,
| which is all that has ever interested him
outside of his family. never could UNI
derstand 1t. Mr. Morgan took your
mother and me with Lucy to see Mod
| jeska in Twelfth Night yesterday eve
ming, and Lucy said she thought the duke
looked rather like you. only much more
democratic in his manner. Hoping that
you are finding college still as attractive
as ever,
Affectionately.
AUNT FANNY.
George read one sentence In this
letter several times. Then he dropped
the missive in his waste basket to
Join the clipping, and strolled down
| the corridor Of his dorrnitory to bOr-
row copy of Twelfth Night" Hav-
| ing secured one he returned to his
study and refreshed his memory of
| the play-but received no enlighten-
ment that enabled him to comprehend
Lucy's strange remark. However, he
| found himself impelled in the direc-
ton of correspondence, and presently
wrote a letter-not reply to his
Aunt Fanny.
Dear Lucy: No doubt you will be sur
prised at hearing from me so soon again,
especially as this makes two in answer
to the one received from you since getting
back to the old place. / hear you have
been making comments about me at the
theater, that some actor was more demo-
cratic in his manners than am, (which /
do not understand. You know my theory
of life because I explained it to you on
our first drive together, when I told you
/ would not talk to everybody about
things l feel like the way spoke to you
of my theory of life. / believe those who
are able should have a true theory of life,
and / developed my theory of life long.
long ago.
Well. here I sit smoking my faithful
briar pipe, indulging in the fragrance of
my tabac as I look out on the campus
from my many-paned window, and things
are different with me from the way they
were way back in freshman year. I can
see now how boyish in many ways / was
then. believe what has changed me as
xyicif ar
the time / met you. So / sit here with
my faithful briar and dream the old
dreams over as it were, dreaming of the
waltzes we waltzed together and of that
last night before we parted, and you told
me the good news you were going to live
there, and would find my friend waiting
for me when get home next summer.
/ will be glad my friend will be waiting
for me. am not capable of friendship
except for the very few, and, looking back
over my life, 1 remember there were times
when I doubted If I could feel a great
friendship for anybody especially girls.
Here in the old place do not believe in
being hail-fellow well-met with every
Tom, Dick and Harry just because he
happens to be a classmate any more than
/ do at home, where I have always been
careful who was seen with. largely on
account of the family, but also because
my disposition ever since my boyhood has
been to encourage real intimacy from but
the few.
From several letters from my mother,
and one from Aunt Fanny hear you are
seeing a good deal of the family since
left I hope sometimes you think of the
member who is absent 1 got a silver
frame for your photograph in New York,
and 1 keep it on my desk It is the only
girls photograph ever took the trouble
to have framed, though, as 1 told you
| frankly / have had any number of other