The Washington herald., 1921-06-12
An O. Henry Story
THE MOMENT OF VICTORY.

TX aged twenty-nine Will ich h
~ should enable you to guess the
war. He Is also principal merchant
; and postmaster of Cadiz. little
town over which the breezes from
the Gulf Of Mexico perpetually blow.
Ben helped to hurl the Don from
his stron ghold In the Greater An
titles; and then, hiking across half
the world, he marched as q corporal
usher up and down the blazing troptc
aisles of the open-air college In
which the Filipino was schooled.
Now, with his bayonet beaten into
q cheese slicer, he rallies his cor
guard of cronies in the shade
of his vell-bewhittled porch. instead
=, of in the matted jungles of MIN
danao. Always have his interest
and choice been for deeds rather
than words; but the consideration
S0and digestion Of motives Is not De-
yond him, as this story. which Is MS
will attest.
80 what is it, he asked me one
noonlit eve, as we sat among MS
:, boxes and barrels, that generally
makes men go through dangers. ana
battle, and such recourses! "hat
does a man do 1t for? Why does ne
try to outdo his fellow-humans, ana
be braver and stronger and more
daring and snowy than even ms
} best friends are? What's his game!
What does he expect to get out OF
tt7 He don't do It just for the fresh
air and exercise. What would you
say, now, Bill, that an ordinary
man expects, generally speaking. for
his efforts along the line Of ambition
and extraordinary hustling in the
market places, forums, shooting
galleries, lyceums. battlenelds. links.
b, cinderpaths, and arenas of the civil
: lied and vice versa places of the
worldT
well, Ben" said I. with judicial
seriousness. Il think we might safe
iy limit the number of motives of
man who seeks fame to three-to
Ambition. which is desire for popu-
: lar applause; to avarice. which looks
. to the material side of success: and
to love of some woman whom he
either possesses or desires to pos
sess--
Ben pondered over my words while
"a mocking-bir on the top of mes
quite by the porch trilled a dozen
bars.
Il reckon said he, that your
- diagnosis about covers the case ac-
-cording to the rules laid down in
the eopybooks and historical read
: srs- But what 1 had in my mind
was the case of Willie Robbins, a
person 1 used to know. I'll tell you
about him before 1 close up the
store, IL you don't mind listening.
Willie was one of our social set
up in San Augustine. 1 was clerk
ing there then for Brady & Murchi-
son wholesale dry goods and ranch
supplies. Willie and l belonged
{ 10 the same German club and ath-
Ietic association and military COM
pany. He played the triangle in
our serenading and quartet crowd
that used to ring the welkin three
nights a week somewhere in town.
Willie jibed with his name con-
siderable He weighed about as
much as a hundred pounds of veal
IN his summer suitings, and he had
n where-is-Mary? expression on his
features so plain that you could al
most see the wool growing on him
But what does this Willie do but
coax his heart out of his boots and
} lose IL to Myra Allison. the liveliest,
brightest, keenest. smartest. and
.aprettiest girl in San Augustine 1
tell you. she had the blackest eyes.
the shiniest curls, and the most tan
taliZing oh. no, you're OFF Il
wasn't a victim. 1 might have been,
but knew better. 1 kept out Joe
Cranberry was 1t from the start.
He had everybody else beat a couple
of leagues and thence east to a
stake and mound. But. anyhow.
Myra was a nine-pound, full-merino
fall-c1ip fleece. sacked and loaded
on a four-horse team for San
p Antoine.
%. One night there was an ice
cream sociabIe at Mrs Colonel
Spraggins'. in San Augustine. We
fellows had a big room upstairs
opened up for US to put our hats
and things in. and to comb our hair
and put on the clean collars we
brought along inside the sweat
bands OF our hats-in short, a room
to dx up in just like they have
everywhere at high-toned doings. A
little farther down the hall was
the girls room, which they used to
powder up in. and so forth. Down
stairs we-that is. the San Angus
81 tine Social Cotillion and Merry
makers Club-had a stretcher put
down in the parlor where our dance
was going on.
willie Robbins and me happened
to be up in our cloak room, i be-
Heve we called it-when Myra ALL
son skipped through the hall on her
way downstairs from the girls
room Willie was standing before
the mirror, deeply interested in
smoothing down the blond grass
% plot on his head. which seemed to
give him lots of trouble Myra was
always full of life and devilment
She stopped and stuck her head in
our door. She certainly was good
looking. But knew how Joe
Cranberry stood with her. So did
= Willie: but he kept on ba-a-ing
"a after her and following her around.
He had . system of persistence that
, didn't coincide with pale hair and
- -Hello, willier says Myra-
what are you doing to yourself In
the ElassT
TIN trying to look ny says
willie.
-wel1. you never could be n.y.
says Myra with her special laugh.
which was the provokingest sound
I ever heard except the rattle of an
empty canteen against my saddle
horn
Il looked around at Willie after
Myra had gone He had a kind of
- q lily-vhite look on him which
seemed to show that her remark
had. as you might say. disrupted his
soul 1 never noticed anything in
what she said that sounded par
ticularly destructive to a mans
ideas of seif-con scfousness. hut he