Evening star., 1923-08-26

ful-he was downright hipped ON the
I subject. He'd come up and ask you
| funny questions when you were GO
! ing about your business. He'd walk
| into the teller's cage on tiptoe and
! watch him without saying anything.
II there was any mistake of any kind
| in the bookkeeping. he'd not only fire
clerk or so but he'd raise such a
riot that he made you want to push
! him into a vault and slam the door
on him. a
| He was just about running the
bank then, and he'd affected the other
officers. and-oh. You can imagine the
| havoc a thing like that could work
on any sort of organization. Every
body was so nervous that they made
mistakes whether they were careful
or not. Clerks were staying down.
town until II at night trying to
account for a lost nickel. 1t was
thin year, anyhow. and everything
financial was pretty rickety. SO one
thing worked on another until the
crowd OF us were as near craziness
as anybody can be. and carry on the
banking business at all.
II was a runner-and all through
the heat Of one terrific summer I ran.
ran and 1 got mighty little money
for it, and that was the time l hated
that bank and this town, and all /
wanted was to get out and go north.
was getting $40 a week. and I'd de-
cided that when I'd saved fifty out of
IL I was going down to the depot and
buy me a ticket to Cincinnati. l had
an uncle in the banking business
there, and he said he'd give me an
opportunity with him. But he never
offered to pay my way, and I guess
he thought IL was worth having I'd
| manage to get up there by myself.
Well. maybe I wasn't worth having,
! because, anyhow, I never did.
NNNE morning, on the hottest day
~ OF the hottest July ever knew,
! left the bank to call on a man
named Harlan and collect some money
| that'd come due on a note. Harlan
/ had the cash waiting for me all right,
and when I counted 1t I found 1t
amounted to $300.S6, the change being
| in brand new coin that Harlan had
| drawn from another bank that morn
ing. I put the three 800 bills in my
wallet and the change in my vest
! pocket. signed a receipt and left. l
! was going straight back to the bank.
"Outside the heat was terrible. 1t
was enough to make you dizzy, and
1 hadn't been feeling right for days,
| SO, while / waited in the shade for a
! street car, was congratulating my
| self that in a month or so I'd be
where it was some cooler. And then
: as I stood there 1t occurred to me all
of a sudden that outside of the money
I'd just collected, which, OF course,
I couldn't touch, didn't have cent
in my pocket. I'd have to walk back
! blocks away. You see, on the night
before. I'd found that my change
came to a dollar. and I'd trade 1t for
a bill at the corner store and added 1t
to the roll in the bottom of my trunk.
So there was no help for it--I took
of my coat and stuck my handker-
| chief into my collar and struck of
through the suffocating heat to the
| bank.
| Fifteen blocks-you can imagine
what that was like, and I was sick
when started. From away up by
Juniper street-you remember where
| that is; the new Mieger Hospitals
there now-aIi the way down to Jack
son. After about six blocks I began
to stop and rest whenever found a
patch of shade wide enough to hold
me. ana as I got pretty near could
keep going by thinking of the big
glass Of iced tea my mother'd have
| waiting beside my plate at lunch.
But after that I began getting too
| sick even to want the iced teal
wanted to get rid Of that money and
| then lie down and die.
] when I was still about two blocks
| away from the bank put my hand
into my watch pocket and pulled out
that change: was sort of jingfing it
in my hand: making myself believe
| that I was so close that 1t was con-
| venient to have it ready. / happened
| to glance into my hand. and all of a
sudden I stopped short and reached
| down quick into my watch pocket.