The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1921-12-02
CHAPTER 1.
Cousin Percys Little Joke.

COuSin FCTCJS LitLic SoHcs
1 suppose every one has had the ex-
perience of waking In the middle of
the night to find everything perfectly
still and quiet and normal, and yet
with the impression persisting that
there had been a tremendous crash of
some sort just before the waking
senses were alive enough to realize 1T.
1t was some such razing jolt as this
that was given me on the morning
when l was called In, with the other
members of the family, to listen to the
reading of my grandfather's will.
But, first, however, to give some
idea of the conditions precedent, as
lawyer would say. My father-good.
easy-going, comfort-loving Dad =
never owned what Grandfather Dud-
ley, pursuing his thin lips and swapping
the words out, called 'the money
sense" AS an architect high In his
profession and with fine artistic feel
ing for the beautiful in buildings, he
earned liberal income-and spent 1t;
or so much of it that there was barely
enough left after his death to provide
lOi my llOlilCl anu oiotCit anu w hSCP
me going, as you might say, in an ex-
ceedingly modest manner. Without
work, mean. / may as well confess.
at once, that 1 had never acquired the
work habit / was always "going to-"
but 1t was so fatally easy to keep on
postponing the chilling plunge. I sup
pose had been ready on at least half
a dozen occasions to take dive into
some pool with salary attachment;
but always some good friend would
bob up to say, "Oh, come on, Stannie,
old man; we're lacking just one more
to make up the bunch. Don't be a
clam. Time enough to settle down
when you have to-" and then 1t would
be all off.
Besides, you see, there was always
Grandfather Jasper in the background.
He had money-lashings Of it, so we
all believed; and it had been a family
understanding for years that he In
tended splitting the bulk of 1t, fifty
fifty, between my cousin Percy and
me. Before we go any farther. let me
set 1t down that Cousin Percy was
and is-all the seventeen different
kinds of things that l am not, and
never wished to be- smooth, neat, we'll
groomed, a grind In college and n
perfect dear" with the girls, am
bilious as the very devil. and measur
ing his friends by the amount of pull"
they might be able to exert In his be- |
half; there you have him from the |
crown Of his well-brushed little head |
to his patent-leather pumps.
you're a fright, Stannie," he would
say, in his carefully polished diplo-
matte manner-he had billet In the
Department of State at Washington,
and was in training for the legation
service abroad-'you are a perfect
fright. Three whole years out of col
lege, and you haven't done a single,
solitary useful thing yet. When are
you going to begin? And, incidental
ly. how long are you going to keep
Lisette waiting?"
Oh, Lord fright there was another
knot In the tangle-Lisette. We had
agreed to agree-Lisette and I-some
six months or so in advance of Grand
father Jasper's death, and we were
both perfectly well assured, and had
assured each other dozen times. that
my income from Dads estate wasn't
more than half big enough to marry
on. You see, 1t was this way: Lisette
was one of q family of four girls In a
mighty expensive household, and there
wasn't anything to lean on on that
side of the fence. Though, of course
we never discussed II brutally in so
many words, we were waiting for that
lool-in at the will which fam
ly tradition declared had already been
1rawn up. signed. sealed, witnessed
and put away in cold storage; other
wise In the safe-keeping of GRANDPA
her Jaspers family lawyer.
All Of when may serve to bring us