Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1920-02-26
THE FLYER
BY T. B. ANDERSON

! stand why pretty Althea Torrance
| favored Gale Marston as a sweetheart,
! least of all her cross grained, parsi-
monious yet wealthy grandfather. He
/ allowed her no visitors. and when he
! found that she was meeting Gale
clandestlnely at the rear garden gate,
he surprised the romantic duo and
/ gave Gale severe dressing down.
IF / find you skulking about my
premises again" declared the drastic
old tyro 9TH get out my shotgun
You'd better do something in the
world before you think of getting mar
ried"
The taunt cut deep. To his own
way of thinking. Gale averaged pref
ty well for young man of twenty
| two. He had worked up from entry
! clerk to bookkeeper. was receiving
| quite a liberal salary, lived respect
ably, dressed well and loved Althea,
which was the crux of the situation.
| And Althea loved him in return
that was the JOY that drove away the
despair caused by the cruel and cheer
less opposition of crusty, mean
souled old man.
"Do something in the world, chr
communed Gale with himself, as he
| saw Althea driven, rather than led,
! into the house by her tyrannical rela-
tive. In tears what does he mean2
I'm headed right in business way
and they elected me president of the
| Merchants club last week. They gave
me a great sendoff in the papers, too.
Maybe the old curmudgeon is think
ing of Darcy Moore, who invented
new collar button and made a lot out
of it. Or that favorite of his, Ben
Junkin. I'll bet that's it! Junkin
has become a professional aviator.
Mr.. MarSton tried to interest Althea
in Junkin but she won't have it. Yes,
he's limiting at what a superior fell
low Junkin is His stunts down at
the aviation training field make the
old man think he's won fame and is
worthy of winning Altheal Well. it's
given me an idea"
The young mans idea was soon put
into execution. He decided to cater
to the belief that to amount to any
thing in the world a fellow must be-
come a hero, or a money success, at
tain notorietv and get to be looked
upon as Somebody" The aviation
field seemed sensational and popular
They were offering to teach asprants
the way to fly at the field, ten miles
distant, with a view to training re-
cruits for the army and postal service
in the future, Gale got a leave Of
absence Of two days and went down
/ to Ardmore.
! Ben Junkin was there, the king Of
! the roost, so TO speak. He was so
filled with a sense of his own impor-
lance, that he feigned great interest
in Dales frankly expressed aspiration
to become an ace" He flattered the
hopes of the novice and then took one
of the expert aviators aside.
"See here, jim" he said confiden-
tally, 81 want you to put that fellow
through the PAGES. He's got the fly
ing bug. Encourage him. Wear him
out with the tests
IAN right" acceded the other.
Gale Marston never forgot the day
he put in with these practical iokers.
They took him to a building where a
tub-like contrivance wheeled him
around on his feet at lightning speed.
This he was told was done to test any
tendency towards dizziness. Then he
was swung aloft on one foot to dis
cover any tendency towards a rush of
blood to the head.
When Jim took him up in the air
he gave the propellers a tip which
sent the victim rolling to the bottom
of the pit. Then he made a sharp
dive with the machine, yelling out,
cough I've lost control !" He al
lowed the airship to strike the ground
nose first, and Gale was sent whirling
twenty feet across the field By this
time Gale began to suspect horsepay
He rghted himself pluckily, sat on
the ground, lit cigarette and coolIy
| remarked:
Fine exercise, eh?"
He was bruised, he had been fright
tully scared he was through with
aeronautlcs, but Gale displayed sheer
pluck to the last and, limping from
the field, decided that he would there
after devote his energies distinctly to
winning Althea exclusively. No more
trucking to the prejudices or favorit-
ism Of the whimsical Josiah Dor
rance! He got word to Althea and
had stolen interview with her
A few evenings later Ben Tunkin
was chuckling over "the course Of
sprouts" they had put Gale through.
lie narrated its incidents TO Mr. Dor
rance.
"The fellow showed pluck and nerve.
I win admit he observed, but he
will never be a flyer"
whats that now" exclaimed the
old man, as the chugging of an auto
mobile sounded in the lane behind the
house
He looked into the next room where
he had left Althea quietly sewing a
few minutes previous. She was not
there He dashed out through tho