The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1924-07-17
A Happy Bachelor He

with the faraWay look IN MS eyes Se1hS
together. The big man in blue placed
a chair in one corner for the pale
man and sat down beside him in
another. The pale man regarded MS
COMPANION moment with his lara
way gaze and then said;
"a comfortable and contented
bachelor /, and 1 say to myself now
as have said any time these years
past. Luck to you, Braxton Bump
old boy! and may you ever be the
same! Selfish? oh, don't know! MOI
when you come to think about It.
The man in the blue suit nodded
and said he guessed maybe that was
so.
"So?" said the other. so! on, yes!
So? To be sure it is! I am more than
delighted to meet you again Aramln-
ia said |. oh, thank you, Mr.. Bump!
said she. Mr.. Bump! Ha! saw then
that she did not seem altogether
nleased. She was poor. 80 was l.
had thought this ought to serve 10
make things about equal between us
and / told her right there and then
that 1 loved her and asked her 10
be mine.
az am Young said she, and Just
from school. / haven't forgotten WilaC
7 wrote as yaledictorian OF our class
eve must act now to make our I'M
nress on the future and have the
9,,tura at our feet. Now is the time
to grasp opportunity. If we falter no"
the sullen sound of the dark waters
of fate will be in our ears forever
rushing us whithersoever they Wlh'
and we helpless to stay them. mat
is what wrote she said. so you see
Rraxton. how full of feeling am in
the matter. do not say do not love
you, but my husband must be man
who has made name and fame; man
who can elevate me, and whom can
lift even higher by the oyerpoWerlne
ambition and intense yearning and
striving after the barely attainable
Will you win name and fame, Brax-
ton?
"Oh, yes, for you, dear one, / VIII!
AS 1 left the old village that memoir
able day the sallow young fellow who
owned the little grocery on the corner
was getting ready for the days
business.
"What a dreary, hopeless prospect
in life is his unused. so many cab
bages or potatoes, so many pounds of
sugar, coffee, tea, fish, dealt out day
after day. Sleep, eat, awaken. Nothing
to round out a future such as mine is
10 be. No rich, Incompatible prize to
he won. Poor grocer. Happy, happy I.
And now-'"
Comfortable and contented bache-
lor, I; and l say to myself now as I've
said-and that poor, poor grocer! Two
years. Money had come to me at last
and fame. Long and eagerly I had
sought them. Then that stroke of gen
uis-that work of mine. Either Some
thing, Somewhere, Sometime, or
Marlborough both. The senseless
many said, What does it mean?'
And the senseless many bought and
praised and 1 was rich-with a great,
name famous. Aha! Two years.
Home again in the dear, old village.
"Araminta, how well l remember
your words of two years ago, my
husband must be- you said, "a man
who has name and fame; man who
can elevate me and whom I can lift
even higher by the force of my own
overpowering ambition and my in
tense yearning and striving for the
barely attainable.'
"Ah! Here is the little grocery
and its scraggy back yard, with the
usual stray pig and the woodpile and
the sagging clothesline; and, ah, the
poor, forlorn grocer who has won a
mate to share the monotony and hope
lessness of his lot! There she is-a
bedraggled calico dress pinned up
over a faded red flannel petticoat; a
mans old hat perched on a frowsy
head - stretching a Hopping and
patched old jean shirt over the line,
holding meantime two big clothespins
between her teeth. Fit companion
for-good heavensi She she the
grocer's wife? Araminta!
eyes, the same the landlord at the
old village tavern said. Araminta.
Married about year ago. That yearn-
ing of hers for the barely attainable
and husband who could elevate her
and whom she could lift even higher?
"tAh!' said l. And is Simon
man she can lift, and
"Tm afraid so, said the worthy
landlord, and think she does. We
hear now and then of her doing it.
The last time we heard was about the
book Simon bought and took home the
other day. Either Something, Some
where, Sometime, or What? l think
it was called. Simon's quite a reader.
Jim Soggs was coming by the grocery
an hour or so later, when Simon and
the book came cut. Jim said that
Araminta was just behind Simon with
the broomstick.
"'Take that book back and make
them give you your money back!' she
was saying to Simon. And don't you