Evening star., 1919-04-27


with the neighbors just let some
Of your so-calIed friends ring you in
On local politics and wish a little
two-by-four office on you. Say. it's
more iiluminatin' than an X-ray pic
ture or havin' your bumps read by a
headoiogist.
Here a while back I was nuIsin'
along the idea that my ratin as q
eiusen OF Rockhurst on the ound
vas along about fair to middlin'.
Course. wheu it came TO finances. /
and near plutes:-- among our little
bunch OF high-brows ! knew l was
q fiivver: and IL II was a case Of So
eial rank Id be classed among the
Also rams every time.
Yet I'd lived out here quite some
dme without hsvin' to face the judge
erom the wrong side OF the court
room! I'd always paid my taxes
prompt; I hadn't run on with any
body's wife; nor I hadn't traded In
my liberty bonds for wildcat minIn'
ftock. was servin' my fourth term
~ director of the Yacht Club. I'd
helped organize the Citizens League
and Id subscribed to all tho funds
from the Armenian appeal to the ono
- raise permanent memorial to our
var heroes. I'd even been referred
10 ~ our esteemed fellow townsman,
Grofessor MeC>abe." in the last annual
tpport OF the committee on war gar
dsns Right out In print. too.
Qn whom to I'd haf svo hnn
picked to fill in this vacancy on tho
echod board amt ss much sur
brised As some might think I'd be.
Course. l starts in by making q noise
IKE a man sufferin' from ingrowin
Snodssty
well. wouldn't that frost a cake"
remarks. turnin' to Sadie. Mo
hame ed to help run the schools. And I
hever even got through the eighth
grade myself. Say. I'll make a fancy
educator, 1 will. guess som ebody
must have pulled a bone"
I'm sure 1 see nothing strange
About it," says Sadie. Il think it's
rather a compliment. Shorty, though
pothing more than you really de-
Serve"
Good girl Sadie" says I. II might
know you'd stand up for me. And il
that's the way you feel about 1t,
planned IL l don't give the thing a
whtrl: yes. even il | have to wear a
pair Of eyeglasses on a black ribbon
to dress the part"
! got to admit, though. that way ia
side Of me | could feel something
eweliin' out my ribs in front. Member
OF the board of education! Eth?
Wasn't that comm along some? Spe-
ciaily for a guy that started where 1
had. I couldn't help wonderin' what
some of the old gang would say IL
they should hear about 1.-THE ones
I'd known back in the days when l
was meetin' all corners who could
make the weight, when j was figuring
strong in the spOrtiR' columns and
earning the big end of the gate
receipts by hammerin' other young
gents around roped platform. Huh.
Wouldn't the news get gasp out of
tem
That pleasin' frame of mind lasts
until 1 begun gettin' the returns from
some Of my good neighbors. 1t was
about the second mornin that the
news seemed to have spread general
among the commuters on the sos, and
they sure had merry time joshin'
me on the way into town.
Hey, Shorty" says one, slappin'
me on the back where have you
been concealing this brainy stun all
the whiie!"
''Oh. that's simple, with pin heads
like you" says 1.
do l understand, Professor, says
another. that you mean to add u
course Of applied pugilism to the high
school curriculum"
That gets a big laugh from the
cross seats where a bridge game is
going on.
Say" says I. 'if the beard wants
to start class in comic kiddin l can
name some who'd qualify for the kim
dergarten department. Come now,
anybody else with a wheeze he's been
savin' up for me?"
Not that most Of it wasn't good ma
tured ana all that. but the fact re-
mains that my having anything to do
with manaHin' the schools is con-
sidered a joke. Oh yes. That seems