Evening star., 1922-10-22

|
And that" says Barry. will bring
US TO McNutt manor. will it?'
Never heard Of no manor" says the
rough person. I'VE call it the old
Joslyn place. You can tell it by the
red barn with cigarette sign painted
across one end and a busted wooden
sfio with the top blown off. That's
where McNutt lives"
Somehow" says Barry. that doesn't
listen like afternoon tea"
Oh. come" says I. why judge a
get along"
Yet it did seem rather odd that the
hrst thing we noticed as we drove
into the yard of the Joslyn place was
a carpenter busily at work putting a
new roof on the old silo. What should
have impressed us most was the fact
that the farmhouse had been improved
by breaking out attic roof dormers
and adding an obviously new sun
| porch on the south side, but both 1neZ
and l seemed bent on making Barry
| take back his silo slur.
"See?" says Inez. Hes fixin' 1t up
Not only that" I adds. but he's
having windows cut near the top.
That's a new one on me, but ! expect
| it's the latest design in silos. And
there are no less than three-no, four
| -Workmen on the job
! That's So" says Barry. Il admit it
/ all. But did you come here to inspect
| the outbuildings or to see Nelly Nc
Nutt?"
| "Mebby that feller in the funny hat
would tell us where he was" suggests
lnez.
| X y X X
\ ND then for the first time I noted
1 \ this person wearing the pinch
| crowned sombrero with the braided
leather band. He was stubby. short
legged man who evidently thought
/ that style of hat made him look taller.
! He had on brown corduroy breeches,
| fared at the bottom and decorated
! with silver buttons. khaki shirt
and a dull red sash completed the cos
tune.
| That one?" says I. why. he looks
! like some movie extra strayed from
location. Why the Mexican get-up
here on the edge of Vermont? Eth.
Barry?"
| At which Barry. who had been
| driving the car around a pile of
new lumber. turned off the motor and
took a glance. Then he chuckled.
"Oh. 1 say!' says he. Don't you
know? That's Nelly himself. Hey,
I hn
ciable It's Barry Flatt."
! Well. even for me. who wasn't
expecting to see quite the type Of
| motion picture poet that Inez had de-
scribed, 1t was quite shock. For.
along with the weird costume. he had
as hard and as tough a face as you
often see. Perhaps 1t was the mar
row set eyes and the broken nose. or
maybe 1t was the three days growth
Of stubble on his chin and the ragged
hair that curled over the back of his
shirt collar. Anyway, he was just the
kind you wouldn't care to meet on
lonely road.
Shades of Byron and Shelley" 1
gasped. Can it be-"
Tit amt him, Is it," whispered
Inez.
But it was He strolled over. squint-
ing casually at us. and stuck out
grubby hand for Barry to shake
When Inez and I were introduced We
were favored with an off-hand nod
and nothing more. The cowboy hat
was not even threatened with re-
moval.
| MY friends" explains Barry, in
dicating US, ARE admirers of your
verse; especially Miss Petersen. She
can quote your Urban Etchings' word
for word
"Oh, that rot" says Mr.. McNutt.
And / could feel lnez squirm beside
me.
"You-you shouldn't talk like that"
protests Inez. Them pieces about
New York They're awful nice, I
| think"
| Thanks" says he. "Ill admit the
awful Just hack stuff. though. or
course, when 1 wrote the first ones. a
couple Of years ago. was crazy about
the city myself. I'd been in New YORK
Just long enough to reach that stage
1t does get you, you know. And
went cuckoo on the subject. 1 sup
pose. So the things made hit Well,
now they'll not let me do anything
else. That's one of the reasons l
have to live up here"
II don't quite get you." says Barry.
"You mean you have to keep away
from the city in order to write about
it?"
Exactly" says McNutt. ''stay in
It and you get stale, you got to hate
1t. But up here in the country-weli'
you get the perspective. At a dis
! tance Of 200 miles or SO I can see
more beauties Of broadway and oth
avenIe and Chatham Square than
than ever existed"
! x X X X
7 DOUBT If Inez understood all thls'
i but she got the general drift and
shook her head. ''Me," says she' i
think It's swell there
"Then you must have been away
from it Just long enough" says NC
Mutt. Besides. women are always
mushy on everything they like
"Oh! Is that so?" says 1nez-
! He didn't seem to care, this NC
Mutt person. He was no ladies' man.
that was quite clear: and with that
face you couldn't blame him for not
! trying. So he merely shrugs his
! shoulders and proceeds to roll Gig
arctic. Barry, though, shifted the
| ocf11-