Evening star., 1923-03-18

naueS. NO Such people as his char
| acters ever lived or ever could live,
because a righteously enraged popu-
lace would have killed 'em in early
childhood. He's the smuggest fraud
and best seller in the United States.
| Wheelwright? The crudest shrewd-
est, most preposterous panderer to
weak minded"
"Whew! Help, 1 didn't know what
1 was starting" protested my visitor.
"As a literary critic you're some big
bertha, Dominic. l begin to suspect
that you don't care an awful lot
about Mr.. Wheelwright's style of
composition. Just the same. I've got
to read him-all of him. Do you
think I'll find his stuff in the Penny
| Circulator?''
| "My poor. lost boy. Probably not.
1t is doubtless all out in the hands
Of eager readers"
However, Phil contrived to round
II up somewhere. The awful and un-
suspected results I beheld on my first
visit of patronage to Barbran's cell
lar. the occasion being the formal
| opening. A large and curious crowd
OF FIVE persons, including myself and
Phil Stacey, was there. Outside an
old English design OF a signboard
with a wheel on it creaked despair
Ingly in the wind. Below was a leg
end. "At the Sign Of the Wheel
the Wrightery."
! The interior Of the cellar was deco
rated with scenes from the novels of
Harvey Wheelwright. triumphant vir-
tue, discounted villains. bengnant
| blessings. chaste embraces, edifyins
death beds and orange blossoms,
They were unsigned, but we'll I knew
whose was the shame. Over the fire.
place hung a framed letter from the
great soul. 1t began: Dear Young
Friend and Admirer," and ended
yours for the light. Harvey Wheel
| wright
The guests ate and drank every
thing in sight They then left: that
is to say. four Of them did. Finally
Phir departed, glowering at me. ]
am patient soul. No sooner had
the door slammed behind him than ]
turned to Barbran, who was looking
discouraged.
"Well. what have you to say ir
your defense?"
The way Barbran's eyebrows went
up constituted in itself a defense fit
TO move any jury to acquittal.
For what?" she asked.
For corrupting my young friend
Stacey. You made him paint those
pictures"
bran demurely. quite true to the
subject"
They're awful. They're an offense
to civilization. They're an insult to
our square. or all subjects in the
world--Harvey Wheelwright. Why
Barbran? Why, why, why?"
Business" said Brabran.
iExplain. please" said I.
81 got the idea from a friend of
mine in Washington square. She got
up a little cellar cafe built around
Alice-Alice in Wonderland, you
know-and the looking glass. Though
1 don't suppose a learned and serious
person like you would ever have read
such nonsense
'It happened to be Friday and
there wasn't a hippopotamus in the
house." I murmured.
"Oh" said Barbran. Frightening
"well, thought IL she could do 1t
with Alice I could do it with Harvey
Wheelwright."
'1n the name OF Hatta and the
March Hare. why?"
| Because for one person who reads
Alice nowadays ten read the author
of Reborn Through Righteousness
and Called by the Cause Isn't it
so?'
| "Mathematically unimpeachable."
Therefore, ought to get ten times
as many people as the other place.
Don't you think so?" she inquired
wistfully.
'Cndoubtedly.'' 1 agreed But DO
you love him."
"Who?" said Barbran with a start.
| The faint pink color ran UP her
cheeks.
Harvey Wheelwright, of course.
Whom did YOU think 1 meant?"
HE is a very estimable writer
returned Barbran primly.
Good might, Barbran," said I sad
1y. I'm going out to mourn your
lost soul"
L
~ find peace and quiet in the vicin-
ity Of ones own particular bench at
| 11:45 pm. in our square. But there
sat Phil Stacey. I challenged him at
once.
what did you do it for?"
| To do him justice, he did not dodge
or pretend to misunderstood. Pay"
| said he.
"Phil! Did you take money for
| that stuff"
mot exactly. I'm taking it out in
trade-I'm going to eat there"
you'll starve to DEATH"
'I haven't got much OF an appe-
tite"
''The inevitable effect of overfeed-
| ing on sweets. An uninterrupted diet
! of Harvey Wheelwright-''
Don't speak the swine's name"
implored Phil, cor I'll be sick"
you've sold your artistic birth
right for a mess Of pottage. probably
| indigestible at that
IT don't care" he averred stoutly.
81 don't care for anything except
Dominic. who told you her father was
nillionaire?"
/ Its well known" said vaguely
Hes a cattle king or an emperor Of
sheep or the sultan Of the piggery or
something. A good thing for Bar
bran, too. if she expects to keep her
cellar going. The kind Of people who
, read Har-our unmentionable author
don't frequent Bohemian coffee cell
lars. They would regard it as reck-
less and abandoned debauchery. Bar
bran has shot at the wrong mark"
1.-THE place has got to be q sue