The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1919-12-26
~. -. ,~reat cheerfulnes&
Dwell n9 Survivor %,en cs ssSsGa xilks J

~. -. LII ~reat cheerfulneSf
Dut not WIN s<Sa-vou uilaru& y.
"We'll survive, George W. SSts IS
pecially. For my part I'm ns'.5e too
old and too accustomed to fall back
on somebody else for supplies to start
big fight with life; I'll be content
with just surviving, and I can do it on
| an eighteen-hundred-d con-
| sulship. An ex-congressman can al
ways be pretty sure of getting some
such job, and hear from Washing
ton the matters about settled. SO
much for me! But youof course
you've had poor training for making
your own way, but you're only boy
after all, and the stuff of the old stock
is in you. It'll come out and do some
thing. I'll never forgive myself about
that deed; it would have given you
something substantial to start with.
Still, you have little tiny bit, and
you'll have little tiny salary, too !;
and of course your Aunt Fanny's here,
and she's got something YOU can fall
back on il you get too pinched, until I
/
and then"
| Georges 'little tiny bit'' was six
hundred dollars which had come to
him from the sale Of his mothers fur
niture; and the little tiny salary"
was eight dollars week which old
Frank Bronson was to pay him for
services as clerk and student-at-
law. George had accepted haughtily,
and thereby removed a burden from
his uncle's mind.
Anderson himself, however, had not
even a ''tiny bit;" though he got his
consular appointment, and to take him
| to his post he found it necessary to
borrow two hundred of his nephew's
six hundred dollars. 1T makes me
sick, George" he said. But I'd bet
ter get there and get that salary start
ed. OF course Eugene would do any
thing in the world, and the fact is he
wanted to, but felt that-ah-under
the circumstances
"Never!" George exclaimed, growing
red. II can't imagine one of the fam
lily" He paused, not finding it
necessary to explain that "the fam
! lily" shouldn't turn a man from the
door and then accept favors from him.
II wish you'd take more"
| Anderson declined. zone thing I'll
say for you, young George; you have
MT stingy bone in your body. That's
the Anderson stock in you-and l like
It'll"
| He added something to this praise
of his nephew on the day he left for
Washington. lie was not to return,
but to set forth from the capital on
the long journey to his post. George
| went with him to the station, and
their farewell was heightened by the
! trains being several minutes late.
II may not see you again, George"
ANDERSON said, and his voice was 4
| little husky as he set kind hand on
the young mans shoulder. "It's quite
/ probable that from this time on We'll
only know each other by letter-until
you're notified as my next of kin that
| there's an old valiSe to be forwarded
to you, and perhaps some dusty curios
from the consulate lnantelpiece. Well,
it's an odd way for us to be saying
good bye; one wouldn't have thought
1t, even a few years ago, but here we
are, two gentlemen of elegant appear
ance in q state of bustitude. We can't
ever tell what will happen at all, can
we? Life and money both behave like
loose quicksilver in a nest Of cracks.
And when they're gone we can't tell
WHEREOF what the devil we did with
'em! But believe I'll say now-while
there isn't much time left for either
Of us to get embarrassed about it
believe I'll say that I've always been
fond of you. We all spoiled you ter
ribly when you were little boy and
let you grow up en- prince-and l
MIST say you took to it (! But you've
received a pretty heavy jolt, and l
had enough of your disposition, myself,
at your age, to understand little of
| what cocksure youth has to go through
inside when it finds that it can make
/ terrible mistakes. Well, with my train
coming into the shed, you'll forgive
me for saying that there have been
times when l thought you ought to be
hanged-but I've always been fond
of you, and now like you And just
| for last word; there may be some
body else in this town who's always
felt about you like that-fond of you.
1 mean, no matter how much it SEEM
ed you ought to be hanged. You might
try Hello, / must run. I'll send
back the money as fast as they pay
me-so, good bye and God bless you,
| Georgiei"
He passed through the gates. waved
his hat cheerily from The other side
of the iron screen, and was lost from
sight in the hurrying crowd. And as
he disappeared, an unexpected poign-
ant loneliness fell upon his nephew so
heavily and so suddenly that he had
no energy to recoil from the shock. II
seemed to him that the last fragment