Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1919-07-04
The Broader
Vision
BY WINSTON SATTERLY
copyright. 1918. Western Newspaper Union.

"Never talk poor" was the advice
John Durham gave his boy, Ned, aged
sixteen, when that young scion of the
family went to the city to find work.
1--WE Durhams haven't much left, in
a worldly sense, but we are pioneers.
Our ancestry came over with the May
flower, and never one of us saw the
inside of a Jail"
Don't fear, dad" responded the vol
atile and ambitious Ned. I'll keep
up the family end if it costs a limb J"
He was bright, ambitious, %persever-
ing, possessed of a powerful magma
ton, and, eager to get on. The first
thing he CHANGED to gain the favor of
Walter Lee, a bachelor aged thirty,
manager of the stock room of Alden and
company. There seemed to come with
this rural applicant for employment,
with his bright eyes, nut brown face,
farm ways and Whit of nature fresh
from the fields, something that awoke
In steady, plodding Walter Lee a Wis
ion of his own bOyhoOd. 1t made more
intense than ever his longing once more
to wander in the woodland, and think
only of wild flowers and nut groves
and winding brooks.
The brisk, chatty, energetic lad be-
came a sort of an inspiration to Lee.
Then one day, when he noticed that
Ned got about with a sort of a limp, he
asked the reason.
ITO tell you the truth" explained
Ned, 81 got homesick for the woods,
and over Sunday l tramped 1t twenty
miles away from the city. Say, l was
nearly in heaven when 1 got all alone
near a regular old-fashioned creek! l
hadn't gone b%arefooted since 1 left
home, and l just whipped off those
shoes of mine and let my feet wallow,
and kick. and soak in the squashy mud
and gravel. Oh, it was like the old
times"
Like one electrified by the memories
:. evoked of like youthful experience,
Walter Lee drank in the recital with
L. bounding pulses.
stepped on a bit of glass in my
threshing around" proceeded Ned
l "and got a slight cut. It'll mend soon,
! though. When l left home sister Mel
l lie put me up a box of MONS prime
taIlow, and it mends in a jiffy. That's
Tessie." continued Ned, and he reveal
r ed a photograph to Lee. ITS her or
top of the hay wagon, leaning on 6
a fork, only she's a deal p%rettier thai
that"
"She's pretty enough in all reason,
@ remarked Lee. ut makes me home
+ sick. all this country stuff, and when
a ever there was a spell of business let
Ing up he would endcs Ned mo re:
counting old farm episodes. 1t was
. there that Ned was led into tempta-
, tons. Recalling the p%aternal advice
; 'never to talk poor Ned proceeded
to build up a fanciful rural present
q ment that became a vision of glory
, to the city-tired business man. Ned
put on all the fanciful friils he could
devise in describing the old farm.
Getting holder, as his imaginative
creations were hungrily absorbed by
his listener, Ned expanded into gross
exaggeratiOns. He depicted the old
farmhouse as a sort of modern pal
ace. He divided it into roomy, lux
urious apartments that had never ex-
listed. He checked himself as he put
marble statues in the garden and
blooded horses in the stables. Then
one day he was overwhelmed, stunned,
crushed, when Mr.. Lee said:
"Ned. you've filled me with such a
longing to get out on a real farm once
more, that I'm going to take my first
vacation in ten years and ruralize for
a month. You look after your work
here as closely as you have done, and
I'll lift you a step up the ladder when
get back. BY the way, isn't Waltham
the town near your fathers farmT'
ooh, say! you amt going there, are
your"
.Why not? It's ideal. according to
your story reminded Mr.. Lee, and
my one anticipation in life is finally
TO settle down with just about that
kind of a layout. I thought I'd ram
BILE around generally and drop in on
your folks some day. I'd like to see
that sweet-faced sister of yours, for
one thing. Then l want to copy the
house, I intend to build after yours"
Eyes, sir!' gulped Ned, and men,
tally decided that the managers dream
was likely to receive a shock.
"Why didn't l stop at the nut
groves and trout brook and leave out
the blooded horses !" ruminated Ned
next day. "And, worst of all, the
house! Say I just built a palace, didn't
I? And the statues, and the screened
~porches! Oh, I've put my foot in it,
haven't II"
Not a word from Mr.. Lee for a
week-two of them. Then cGme a let
ter from Tessie telling what a delight
full man Ned's employer was. He was
making a stay at the village, she
wrote, was a daily visitor at their
home. and had nothing but words of