The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-06-21
Magazine compsn
PREFACE.

for sporadic multiplication
~ and later for suto-fertiliZa-
ton, the restless sex, Intensely
bored by the process Of procreation.
presently invented an auxiliary ana
labeled him Mars.
A fool proceeding, for the inner
fled mania for invention obsessed
him and he began TO invent gods
The only kind OF gods that his I'M
agination could conceive were Var-
Gus varieties OF supermen' stronger,
more cruel, craftier than he AND
with these he continued TO derive
satisfaction by soaring himself.
But the restless sex remained
restless: the invention of the sign
OF Mars, far from bringing content,
merely increased the capacity or
tho seq for fdgeting. And its In
satiate curiosity concerning It's own
handiwork Increased.
This handiwork, however, fulnlled
rather casually the purpose or It's
inventor, and devoted the most OF
it's time to the invention OF gods.
endowing the most powerful or
them with all it's own cowardice,
vanity, intolerance and ferocity.
He made u.s." they explaiped
with a inodesty attributable only
tn forgetfulness.
Believe in him or he'll damn
YOU And II he doesn't, we will"
they shouted to one another. Ana
appointed representatives or vari-
Gus denominations to deal exclu-
sively in damnation.
Cede Dec! And so, in conformity
with the edict Of this man-createo
creator, about a decade before the
Great Administration began. little
girl was born.
She should not have been born.
because she was not wanted, being
merely the by-product of an timer
ant actor-Harry Quest. juveniles-
stimulated to casual procreation by
tdleness, whiskey, and phthisis.
The other partner In this shirt
less affair was an uncducated and
very young girl named Conway,
who tinted photographs for a Cticr.
photographer while daylight lasted,
and doubled her small salary by do
ing fancy skating at local ice
Palace" in the evenings.
So it is very plain that the by
product Of this partnership hadn't
much chance in the world which
awaited her; for. being neither ex-
pected nor desired, and, moreover,
being already a prenatal heiress to
obscure. unknown traits scarcely as
yet even developed in the pair re-
sponsible for her advent on earth.
what she might turn into must re-
main a problem to be solved by
time alone.
Harry Quest, the father OF this
unborn baby. was an actor. With
out marked talent and totally with
I'D a ynd
Of agreeable manners, he was
naturai-born swindler. not only Of
others but Of himself. In other
words, an optimist.
His father the Reverend Anthony
Quest, retired, was celebrated for
his wealth, his library, and his
amazing and heartless parsimony.
And his morals. No wonder he had
grimly kicked out his only son who
had none.
The parents of the mother Of
this little child not yet born,
lived in Utica, over a stationery
and toy shop which they kept.
Patrick Conway was the mans
name. He had a pension for being
injured on the railway. and sat in
peculiarly constructed wheeled
chair, moving himself about by
pushing the rubber-tired wheels
with both hands and steering with
his remaining foot.
He had married a woman rather
older than himself. named Jessie
Grismer, a school teacher living in
Herkimer.
To Utica drifted young Quest.
equipped only with the remains OF
one lung, and out Of a job, as usual.
At the local rink he picked up
Laura Conway, after mindless
Irritation. and ultimately went to
board with her family over the
stationery shop.
So the affair in question was a
case of propinquity as much as
anything, and was contaminated
with all the detached irresponsible
ity of two sparrows.
However. Quest. willing now to
be supported, married the girl with
out protest. She continued to tint
photographs and skate as long as
she was able to be about: he loafed
in front Of the theaters and hotels,
with a quarter in change in his
pockets but always came back to
meals. On sunny afternoons, when
he felt well, he strolled about the
residence section or rcposed in his
room waiting. probably, for Oppor-
tunity to knock and enter.
But nothing came except the
baby.
About that time. too, both lungs
being in bad condition, young Quest
began those various and exhaustive
experiments in narcotics. which
sooner or later interest such mon.
And he finally discovered heroin.
Finding II an agreeable road to
hell, the svmptomatic characteris-
tics of an addict presently began to
develop in him, and he induced his
young wife to share the pleasures
of his pharmaceutical discovery.
They and their baby continued to
cucumber the apartment for a year
or two before the old people died
of WEAKNESS, perhaps, perhaps OF
old age-or grief--or some similar
disease so fatal to the aged.
Anyway, they died. and there re-
manned nothing in the estate not
subject to creditors. And, as tinted
photographs had gone out of fash
ion even in Utica, and as the ad-
vent of moving pictures was be-
ginning TO kill vaudeville every
where except in New York. the
cver-provincial, thither the Quest
family driftcd. And there, through
the next few years, they siftcd