The Belding banner-news. (Belding, Mich.) 1918-1973, 1920-01-21

Girl Wouldn't Have Me-"
like that on man, and girl wouldn't
have me-"
swell, then. why don't you buy some
real estate" he continued, jocularly.
Every man should have some dissipa-
tion-something to make him forget
his other troubles"
"A little late I'm the meal for that
word. isn't it? But the fact is, have
invested"
A look came into his face which she
did not understand. with whom?"
he demanded, almost peremptorily.
",yith Coward & Eden" she an
swered. and the ROBUSTNESS of her
voice suggested that her despised fem
ininity lay not far from the surface.
"Were you about to be JEALOUSY"
"Why didn't you come TO meT
She realized that he was In deep
earnest. 81 did" she answered can
didly. "At least, / asked for you. but
took me in hand and followed his adj
vice."
do you trust Conward?" he de-
handed, almost fiercely.
"Well, he's good enough to be your
partner, isn't he?"
The thrust hurt more than she
knew. He had his polse again.
Real estate is the only subject j
would trust him on" she continued. II
must say, Dave, that for a shrewd
business man you are awfully dense
about Coward.
He remained silent for a few mo-
ments. He decided not to follow her
lead. He knew that If she had any
thing explicit to say about Coward
she would say il when she felt the
time to be opportune, and not until
then.
"How much did you inv>sti"
"Not much. Just what / had"
"You mean all your savingsT
"Why not? It's all right, isn't It'll"
He had risen and was standing by
the window.
Its all right, isn't itf" she repeat
ed.
I'm afraid it isn'tl" he said, at
length, i'm a restrained voice. I'm
afraid 1t isn't"
"What do you mean?" she demand.
ed.
"Bert," he continued, did IL ever
occur to you that this thing must have
an end--that we can't go on forever
lifting ourselves by our own boot
straps? We have built city here q
great and beautiful city, almost as a
wizard might build it by magic over
night. There was room for 1t here ;
there was occasion; there was justifi-
cation. But there was neither occa-
sion nor justification for turning miles
and miles of prairie land into city lots
lots which in the nature of things
cannot possibly, in your time or mine,
be required for city purposes. These
lots should be producing; wheat, oats.
potatoes, cows, butter-that is what
we must build our city on. We have
been considering the effect rather than
the cause. The cause Is the country,
the neglected country, and until II
overtakes the city we must stand still,
IL we do not go back. Our prosperity
has been built on borrowed money
| and we have forgotten that borrowed
money must some time be repaid"
you mean that the boom Is about
to burstT' she said.
mot exactly burst. II win not be
so sudden as that. 1t will just ooze
away like a toy balloon pricked with
a pin"
There was silence for some minutes
When she spoke at length 1t was with
tinge of bitterness. $50 you are
unloadingT'
"The firm is. beg you, Bert, "a
believe that IL / had known your in
tention would have tried to dissuade
you"
'Why me particularly? I am only
one Of the great public. Why don'i
you give your conclusions to the
world? Now that you see the reaction
setting In doesn't honesty suggest
what your course should be?"
There was reproach In her voice
Dave thought, rather than bitterness
He spread out his hands. whats
the use? The harm Is done. To pre-
dict n collanse would be to nrecinitats