Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1922-04-28

when Eve began to patch up ng iedNes
for Adam.
Like a coat of paint" ne murmured
aloud.
The cowpuncher grinned. He under
stood the business that went with sell
ing a suit in some stores. But 1t hap
pened that he liked this suit himself.
'"How much?" he asked.
The owner of the store dwelt on the
merits of the suit, It's style, its dur
ability, the perfect fit. He covered his
subject with artistic thoroughness.
Then, reluctantly, he contided In a
whisper the price at which he was go
ing to sacrifice this suit among suits.
ITO you, my friendt, l make this
garment for only ~sixty-t1ve dollars"
He added another secret detail. Below
wholesale cost"
A little devil of mirth lit In Lind
says eye. "Td hate to have you rob
yoreself like that. And me a perfect
stranger to you too"
"Qvality, v understan' me. Which
a man must got to live garments Ike
I done to appreciate such a suit. All
wool. Every thread of IL. UnShr1nk-
able" Mr.. Bernstein caressed it again.
zone swell piece of goods" he told
himself softly, almost with tears In his
eyes.
"All wool, you say?" asked Clay, feel
ing the texture. He had made up his
mind to buy it, though he thought the
price a bit stiff.
Mr.. Bernstein protested On his honor
that there was not a thread Of cotton
In it. (Which you could take it from
me that when l sell a suit of clothes
It is like l am dealing with my
own brother" he added. Every gar
ment out of this store takes my per-
sonal guarantee"
Clay tried on the trousers and looked
at himself in the glass. SO far as he
could tell he looked just like any other
New Yorker.
The dealer leaned forward and spoke
in a whisper. Apparently he was
ashamed of his softness of heart.
"Fifty-five dollars-to you"
"Ill take It," the westerner said.
The clothier called his tailor from
the rear of the store to make an adj
justment in the trousers. Meanwhile
he deity removed the tags which told
him in cipher that the suit had cost
him just eleven dollars and seventy
five cents.
Half an hour later Clay sat on top
of a Fifth avenue bus which was jerk
ing its way uptown. His shoes were
shined to mirror brightness. He was
CARRIED in a blue serge suit with a little
stripe running through the pattern.
That suit just now was the apple of
his eye. 1t proved him a New Yorker
and not a wild man from the Arizona
desert.
The notorious ran up Fifth avenue.
cut across to Broadway, passed Co
lumbus circle, and swept into the Drive.
1t was a day divinely young and fair.
The fragrance of a lingering spring
was waited to the nostrils. Glimpses
of the park tempted Clay. It's wind
ing paths! The children playing on
the grass while their maids in neat
caps and aprons gossiped together OF
the benches neari This was the most
human spot the man from Arizona
had seen in the metropolis.
Somewhere in the early three-igure
streets he descended from the top of
the bus and let his footsteps follow his
inclinations into the park. He struck
GRO the Drive into a side street. An
apartment house occupied the corner,
but from the other side a row of hand
some private dwellings faced him.
The janitor of the apartment house
was watering the parking beyond the
sidewalk. The edge Of the stream
from the nozzle of the hose sprayed
the path in front of Clay. He hest
tated for a moment to give the man
time to turn aside the hose.
But the janitor on this particular
morning had been fed up with trouble.
One of the tenants had complained of
him to the agent of the place. Another
had moved away without tipping him
for an hours help in packing he had
given her. He was sulkily of the opin-
lOu IHdI Tie WHOle NOT1u was III d
conspiracy to annoy him. Just now the
approaching rube typifed the world.
A little f1lrt of the nose deluged
Clay's newly shined boots and the low
er six inches of his trousers.
Look out what you're doing!" pro-
tested the man from Arizona.
81 tank you better look where you're
going" retorted the one from Sweden.
He was a h~eavy-set. muscular man
with a sullen, obstinate face.
MY shoes and trousers are sopping
wet. l believe you did it on purpose"
TANK so? Val, yust one teng l LAX
to tell you. l got no time for d-n fule
talk"
The westerner started on his way.
There was no use having a row with a
sulky %janitor.
But the Swede misunderstood his
purpose. At Clay's first step forward
he jerked round the nozzle and let the