The Dolores star., 1924-03-21

| when II mattered whether / spelleu IL
right or not
The knowledge that she was writing
| n letter to Pasadena of some special
sort which had TO be correctly spelled
| would certainly have startled Joe. and
| II 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
misguided fool.
| After week of this she revealed
her mystery. 81 wanted to see whether
| liked It or not before | said any
| thing, that's ALL" she told Jennie.
"Why. I'm going 10 school. You see,
when you told me I ought TO do some
! thing-take lessons. you know, the
only thing could think of that l
wanted to 60 on taking lessons in was
| swimming. That sounds kind OF silly,
| / know. but it's so. There's peach
| of swimmlngteacher I'd heard Of
| at the gym out in Evanston, so | went
to see him about 1t. But 1t seems that
the gym Is part of Northwestern uni
versIty. 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 l went around to
the office to see what kind of student
l wanted to be. They've got special
school there, School of Speech, they
call IT, 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 n letter to the high school
| at Pasadena to send word on that Id
really graduated-and there | am.
like the school even better than the
swimming. They teach you "A 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
| 1t, too. Show 'em few things! You
watchw
This. at first blush, seemed to len
ME TO solve all problems at a stroke.
Meanwhile it had got into October.
and Joe kept postponlng his return
| from the Northwest. For weeks his
| reports had been full of material for
| enthusiasm. All the machinery for
| processing the flax was installed and
in order. They had begun working the
retted straw. 1t was going through
] ,,-tt d cob
! improvements in the direction of econ
omy and simplltcation 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
the laboratory, by now. under the
! charge of new technical man, as a
mill with spinning machinery and
/ looms; all the equivalents, on a re-
| duced scale, for commercial linen
manufacture-and the way the stuff
came through these searching tests
tive of their expectations-not far
short, indeed, of Joe's glowing
prophecies.
But this was only the beginning of
1t. Interest in the new process. ex-
citement over the prospect 1t offered
of finding fortune in the worthless
straw of seed-fax, 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 financlers' 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
fdence was running high everywhere.
If 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 mis- teeth, but
1t wasn't possible to say he was run
ming 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, a letter
came into the office that produced a
panic. 1t was from firm of patent
lawyers, one Of the best-estabIished