The Washington herald., 1921-01-03
An .HenryStory
He Also Serves.

just one little thousand years
L more of life, I might, in that
time draw near enough to true Ro-i
nance to touch the hem of her
robe.
Up from the ships men come, and
from waste places and forest and
road and garret and cellar, to
maunder to me in strangely dis.
tributed words Of the things they
have seen and considered. The
recording of their tales Is no more
than a matter Of ears and fingers.
There are only two fates I dread
deafness and writer's cramp. The
hand Is yet steady; let the ear bear
the blame IL these printed words be
not in the order they were delivered
to me by Hunky Magee, true camp
follower Of fortune.
Biography shall claim you but an
Instant first knew Hunky when
he was head-waiter at ChUbbs, lit
tie beefsteak restaurant and cafe
on Third avenue. There was only
one waiter besides.
Then, successfully, caromed
/ against him in the little streets Of
! the Big City after his trip to
Alaska, his voyage as cook with a
treasure-seeking expedition to the
Caribbean, and his failure as a
pearl-fisher in the Arkansas River.
Between these dashes into the land
OF adventure he usually came back
to Chubb's for a while. Chubb's
was port for him when gales blew
too high; but when you dined'
there and Hunky went for your
steak you never knew whether he
would come to anchor in the kitch-
en- or in the Malayan Archipelago,
You wouldn't care for his descripl
tion-he was soft OF voice and hard
of face. and rarely had to use more
than one eye to quell any approach
to a disturbance among Chubb's
customers.
One night I found Hunky stand
ing at corner of Twenty-third
street and Third Avenue after an
| absence of several months. In ten
minutes we had a little round
table between US in a quiet corner,
| ana my ears began to get busy. I
leave out my sly russs and feints
. 10 draw Hunky's word-of-mouth
/ this
Speaking of the next election"
said Hunky, did you ever know
much about Indians? No? l don't
/ mean the Cooper, Beadle. cigar
store. orr Laughing Water kind
mean the modern 1ndian-the kind
thtt takes Greek prizes in colleges
/ and scalps the half-back on the
/ other sido in football games The
KIND that eats macaroons and tea in
( the afternoons with the daughter
/ OF the professor OF biology, and fills
/ up on grasshOppers and fried rat
| tlesnake when they get back to the
/ ancestral wickiup.
Well. they amt so bad. I like
| en- better than most foreigners
! that have come over in the last few
/ hundred years. One thing about
the Indian is this: when he mixes
with the white race he swaps all
his own vices for them Of the pale
taces-and he retains all his own
virtues. Well, his virtues Al.
enough to call out the reserves
/ whenever he let's 'em loose. But the
Imported foreigners adopt our vlr-
tues and keep their own vices-and
it's going to take our whole stand
/ ing army some day to police tina,
gang.
But let me tell you about the
| trip l took to Mexico with High
| VAIN d CneTOkee twice
, removed. a graduate Of a Pennsvl-
vania college and the latest thing
/ IN pointed-toed. rubber-heeled pat
ent kid mOcCasins and Madras hunt
/ ing-shirt with turned back cuffs
| He was friend Of mine ! met
1 him in TahleQuah when I was out
/ there during the land boom, and we
/ got thick. He had got all there was
| out of colleges and had come back
/ TO lead his people out of Egypt.
! He was a man Of first-Class stvle and
wrote essays, and had been invited
to visit rich guys houses in Boston
and such places
There was a Cherokee girl in
Muscogee that High Jack was fool
/ ish about He took me to see her a
few times. Her name was Florence
Blue Feather-but you want to
clear your mind Of all ideas Of
squaws with nose-rings and army
blankets. This young lady was
whittier than you are, and better
educated than I ever was
You couldn't have told her from
any Of the girls shopping in the
swell Third avenue stores liked
her so well that I got to calling on
her now and then when High Jack
wasn't along. which is the way OF
friends in such matters She was
| educated at the Muscogee COLLEGE.
and was making speciality of