Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-10-30

ne CnCIi may Know, ole. It's oes
ycna %.;s. na:. ], suggest that you sign Smell
"sut this is q personal letter to /. !
!. "wsll. y. can ~ .se.li I rsid.
LADY wants to keen hsr dos. % Sic BE
wosldn's care who ma made 1t i possible. ~
'Shs isn't old, MI. johnSon. She 10
Miss Bowman, Of The Purple Moth -"
Bancroft laughed.
johnson. shook bic head. "Nsvsr
heard OF that or her,"
"Johnson, I'm going to take you ou.
some. night and show you the town."
mo, cir. This 10 the town, here.
abcuts. Here IL where We hold the
reins, cir. Those fancy ofaces uptown
don't mean anything. Down here We
own the city. Yod will want me to
mail .!vsh thi: 2, special delivery"
johnson scrubbed bis chin, which was
always IN need Of q shave late after.
noons. Mr.. Bancroft, It's none Of my
business, but Il seems to me that some
one ought to advise you."
Writing personal letters to young
Iot. Ioels' OF the theatre They're ! bad
but I'm not writing any letters and
u ! did, Bancroft wouldn't appear in
any Of them. I'm jeremiah Ceilings.
II am only suggesting, cir. ! can't
help but observe the headlines In the
newspapers. Always some young fel.
low y being rocked BY these harpies. !"
well, Ill remember. I've seen some
! OF that n the newspApers myself. At
present am perfectly safe. I'm q
POO pSof = young ,,a. man who has come to the
Women have way Of finding out
what they wish to know, sir.'
II haven't any locks to shear, Mr..
johnson. The military cut doesn't give
johnson DO s.isS ssq ss siss s1at at q aSsSs sSs
sasH sil.: :0ssas ssnsrot Il. room once occupied
Yes" said Bancroft, his expression
serious. by the way, who owned that
house before my father bought it,"
Il can tell you In q minute" an.
swered the old clerk. He returned after
brief absence. 1T was purchased
from the Chemical Bank"
Who owned It before that1"
should have to make search"
Don't bother. But ! hnd myself
curious about everything" :
Yes. sir. I still hold the opinion
that there were high words in there"
But what can be done?" said Ban.
croft evasively. "There isn't 80 much
as q single hair to pick up"
johnson sighed. 'There doesn't seem
to BE-"
DO you know anything about my
father that Mr.. Smell doesn't?"
mo, STR"
well, send this letter special de-.
livery, and tell Mr.. Smell III be In to.
morrow, between II and 12."
''Mr. Smell tells me you're quite o
Latin scholar, Sir"
"Oh, ! can get along with IT,"
| THAT'S one Of my pastimes, sir.
never tire Of the Aeneid."
IAN Of which ! saw, and part Of
which ! was.' Wen talk Il over some
day. I'm In hurry now."
Youth ID Ever in . Hurry
johnson sighed again. Youth was
ever in hurry. All at once brilliant
.dea popped into his dusty mind. lie
determined to see what sort OF a girl
this Miss Bowman was. 1t was due
| 10 tHe uIW u sec tuuS tulb yOuuBoJei
was particularly guarded. It was not
right to :it back and permit him to be
"By.by. Better reconsider and le,
me give you q whirl some night" said
Jenny Malloy's words.
"I'm. too old for that nonsense"
"l'll wager you never had a whirl."
Maybe not. Good day, STR"
On the way back to the house in
Ninth street Bancroft studied Nancy
letter; that Ii, he studied the address
on the envelope. Even though he knew
the exact wording Of the letter. even
though 1t was really addressed to him.
he would never break into It. But hc
would always keep 1t.
He was not In love; he was merely In
the middle Of one Of those first adven.
/ lures OF youth; he was dgurAtively sit.
tins on the porch In the moonlight, or
going TO q barn dance or to church %.
cial. It was the thirsty heart, reach.
Ing for the nearest water and some.
how Nancy was the naturalization oi
those dreams he had had Of women
Lacking Z Nancy, hs would have been
temporarily satisfied with q Jenny; q
pretty, friendly young woman, no mat
ter what her name was.
guard whined, eighteenth street !"
He walked down to Ninth street.
EVERYWHERE men and women, boys and
girls. were pouring forth out Of doors,
almost with that jerky hurriedness Of
the slowly turned moving picture cam
era which had always made him laugh.
But in this hour he found nothing
ia LAUGH at. He was struck by an
astounding fact. He was without am
bition; that 10, he had no objectiye,
NO goal. It seemed incredible. HI
could not recall having desired to b.
;omethine--a novelist, an inventor, u
merchant prince. What was the mean
ing OF that? He had lived the very
kind Of life to stir the ambition and
ali these years ho had lent his body
to meninl tasks and bis brain to moon.
shine. What would he have been had
bis father died IN poverty = AZ farm n,
his life! To carve out niche for
himxeif-he hadn't really given the
matter any substantial consideration,
Oh. YES, hs had imagined himself thia
or that character, but he had neyel
created q permanent dream Of which ht
himself should be the wOof and warp
And now the magic wand OF read,
money would atrophy the instinct.
1 It was 4 distinct shock. Wha
could he do? What should he try I!
dor The notion Of fo0ling about witt
a Latin primer now disgusted him
Could he write? Surely, noy or h
would have begun scr!bbing long ago
He was twenty -four, the son Of hi
father, and he had no definite ambition
no goal toward which to set his ener
siaal lie became appalled,; and lh