The Holly chieftain., 1924-03-27

ieIudThtu Wltn lduSu. We nHu tu
| write II before, OF course. bur not
when 1t mattered whether / spelled II
right or not"
The knowledge that she was writing
letter to Pasadena of some special
sort which had to be correctly spelled
1t gave Jennie something to think
| about, but she asked no questions.
Trix asked her for some money. too,
in bigger lump than she usually
| wanted. hundred and fifty dollars,
and Jennie wrote her the check, not
feeling at all sure whether she was
playing the part of wise woman or
a misguided fool.
After week of this she revealed
her mystery. II wanted to see whether
I liked 1t or not before I said any
thing. that's ALL" she told Jennie.
why. Tin going to school. You see,
when you told me ought to do some
thing-take lessons. you know. the
only thing l could think of that
wanted to go on taking lessons in was
swimming. That sounds kind Of silly,
l know, but It's SO. There's peach
Of a swimming-teacher I'd heard OF
at the gym out in Evanston, so ! went
to see him about it. But it seems that
the gym is part of Northwestern uni
.yersity. and except in summer he
doesn't give lessons, only to students
in the university.
ANY sort of student would do,
though; you don't have to study Latin
or mathematics. so went around to
the Office to see what kind of student
wanted to be. They've got special
school there. School of Speech, they
call 1t, and thought that would be
pretty good for me. Everybody laughs
at the way l talk, anyhow. So l
planked down my hundred and fifty
and wrote letter to the high school
at Pasadena to send word on that I'd
really graduated-nnd there l am. l
like the school even better than the
swimming. They teach you lot of
interesting things: acting and dancing,
and SO on. Physical education, they
call 1t. Things that are some earthly
good to you! I'm going to be good at
it, too. Show 'em few things! You
watchw
This. at first blush, seemed to Jen-
ME to solve all problems alta stroke.
Meanwhile 1t had got into October,
and Joe kept postponing his return
from the Northwest For weeks his
reports had been full OF material for
enthusiasm. All the machinery for
processing the fax was Installed and
in order. They had begun working the
retted straw. 1t was going through
without hitch. There were some
improvements In the direction of econ
omy and simplification which could
protitably be made. but they had
turned up no serious defects.
Williamson and the Corbetts had
begun showing symptoms of an enliv-
ened interest; took to dropping in at
the Office to see the samples Joe was
sending down. in greater bulk from
week to week. for testing in the lab
oratory, and the finished products that
came out Of 1t. They had equipped
INV tuOotototyt Ny AoNb NtC
charge of new technical man, as
mill with spinning machinery and
looms; all the equivalents, on re-
duced scale, for commercial linen
manufacture-and the way the stuff
came through these searching tests
was well beyond the more conserva-
tive Of their superintendent far
short, indeed. of Joe's glowing
prophecies.
But this was only the beginning Of
it. Interest In the new process. ex-
citement over the prospect 1t offered
of finding fortune in the worthless
straw of seed-flax, were spreading
over the Northwest country like
prairie-fire. Groups of local capital
lists were coming almost daily to visit
the four mills. The organization of
subsidiary companies was already get
ting beyond the talking stage. Money
itself was beginning to talk. Capital
was being subscribed. BY the time
next years crop came in, three states
would be dotted with their four-thou-
sand-ton mills producing raw linen
under the Greer process.
To the f1nanciers' startled reminder
that their original program had not
contemplated going as fast as this,
Joe's replies were more confident and
urgent than ever. Now was the time
to strike. Everybody was ready; con-
fidence was running high everywhere.
II they bestirred themselves, seized
the opportunity at the flood, they
could repay the whole investment in
the enterprise out of the first years
profits and be on velvet thereafter.
Joe was irresistible In this phrase.
He had taken the bit ip his teeth, but
1t wasn't possible to say he was run
niIlg wild. The figures and the facts,
as well as the temper of the country,
were going along with him. The great
postwar boom was at Its height dur
ing the summer and autumn of 1919.
And then. one day. when expecta-
tIOn was looking Its rOsiest n letter