The Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 191?-19??, 1919-08-20

=
the cheering up of Fanny, IAN heiress,
after all. In spite of rolling mills and
the devil"
The collegian did not return to his
home for the holidays Instead. Isa-
bel joined him, and they went South
for the two weeks. She was proud Of
her staIwart, good-looking son at the
hotel where they stayed, and it was
meat and drink to her when she saw
how people stared at him in the lobby
and on the big verandas-indeed, her
vanity in him was so dominant that
/ she was unaware of their staring at
1 her with more interest and an ad-
miration friendIier than George
evoked.
Both Of them felt constantly the diff
! ference between this Christmas time
and other Christmas times of theirs
in all, it was sorrowful holiday. Bus
! when Isabel came East for Georges
+ commencement, In June, she brought
Lucy with her-and things began to
seem different, especially when George
4 ANDERSON arrived with Lucy's father
on class day. Eugene had been in New
/ York, on business; Anderson easily
persuaded him to this outing; and they
made a cheerful party of it, with the
new graduate Of course the hero and
! center of it all.
His uncle was a fellow alumnus.
"Yonder was where roomed when
was here" he said, pointing out one Of
/ the university buildings to Eugene. Il
don't know whether George would let
my admirers place a tablet to mark
the spot. or not. He owns all these
buildings now, you know"
Didn't you, when you were here?
Like uncle, like nephew"
"Pm sure didn't have it so badly
at his age" Anderson said reflectiyely,
as they strolled on through the COM
mencement crowd.
Eugene laughed. "You need onfy
three things to explain all that's good
and bad about George"
"Three2"
"He's Isabel's only child. Hes an
ANDERSON. He's boy"
"Well, Mister Bones, of these three
things which are the good ones and
: which are the bad ones?"
"AlI Of them" said Eugene.
George took no conspicuous part In
either the academic or the social cele-
brations of his class; he seemed to re-
gard both sets Of exercises with toll
Grant amusement, his own "crowd'
mot going in much for either of those
sorts of things" as he explained to
Lucy. What his crowd had gone in for
remained ambiguous; some negligent
testimony indicating that, except for
an astonishing reliability which they
all seemed to have attained in matters
relating to musical comedy, they had
not gone in for anything. Certainly
the question one Of Them put to Lucy,
In resnonse to investigations Of hers,
seeIlcd to point that way; 'Don J0u
think" he said, really, don't YOU
think that being things is rather better
than doing things?"
He said "rahthuh bettuh" for "rathel
better" and seemed to do 1t deliberate
ly, with perfect knowledge of what hC
was doing. Later, Lucy Knocked hin
to George, and George refused to
smile: he somewhat inclined to such
RECOMMENDATIONS, himself. This inclina
ton was one of the things that he had
acquired in the four years.
What else he had acquired, it might
have puzzled him to state, had any
body asked him and required a direct
reply within reasonable space Of
time. He had learned how to pass ex
aminatiOns by ''cramming;" that is, In
three or four days and nights he could
get into his head enough of a selected
fragment of some scientific of philO
sophical or literary or linguistic sub
ject to reply plausibly to six questions
out Of ten. He could retain the infOr
nation necessary for such feat JUS
long enough to give successful PEP
Torrance; then 1t would evapOrate ut
terly from his brain, and leave him I'm
disturbed. George, like his crowd,
not only preferred "being things" t.
'doing things" but had contented him
self with four years of being things
as a preparation for going on "beinl
things" And when Lucy rather shyly
pressed him for his friends probable
definition Of the "things" it seemed Sc
superior and beautiful to be, George
raised his eyebrows slightly, meaning
that she should have understood with
out explanation; but ne did explain
"Oh, family and all that-being a gen
tleman, suppose"
Lucy gave the horizon a long look
but offered no comment.
"Aunt Fanny doesn't look much bet
ter" George said TO his mother, few
minutes after their arrival on tht
night they got home Doesn't she gei
over it at all2 thought she'd fee
better when we turned over the insur
ance to her-gaye it to her absolutely
without any strings to IT, She look: