Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-07-30
CHAPTER v

CHAPTER
James Sanderson was pleased with
the lads build and clear ewes. The
big house on Mob hill was pleased with
him likewise. While he was un,m-
pressed with the grandeur, taking If
as a matter of course, yet he had q
smile for every one without being fa-
mlllar. 1t was not to be doubted that
he had manner, as If he were the
masters son, let alone the child of
the masters sister and penny
scrunchin' missionary.
When James Sanderson had arrived
at that place which permitted him to
pulId house Of his own, it was of q
piece with its neishbors, a wonderful
example of ornamentation. The Dor
tlco was corinthian-columne There
were pinnacles and many-angled roofs.
all wood painted gray. Wherever a
space permitted, the whole was iced
with carved wood, acanthi and fat
Rubens-like babies all sprawling to-
gether.
IL was with twinge, after the fire
and earthquake had swept away his
house with all of the others, that San.
derson admitted that a change would
be necessary. This he agreed to. as
1ar as the exterior Of the house was
concerned. There was now nothing
but severe lines, and even his plea for
Doric column was overwhelmed by
the architect.
He was, however, positive about two
thlngs. He would have none of your
low ceilings. He wanted large rooms.
where there was space for a man to
breathe
The other matter was a view-room.
Formerly, cupola had served this
purpose. The nearest that Sanderson
could come was to insist that upon
the roof be built a ptll-box Gas the ar
chitect called it) which set at the oppo-
site end from the roofs water tank IT
had many windows and was reached
by spiral staircase which had land
Ing before the door, and then contin-
ued to a trapdoor in the roof. From
sheer drop of sixty feet
Wisely, Sanderson had this room
prepared for Bob. 1t was apart from
the house. "No sense keepin' the lad
in boarding school. A fellow wants
a little privacy. A place to bring his
friends where we grownups won't dis
turb them, nor hear them"
The room pleased Bob immensely.
Sanderson had fitted it up, as he said,
to give the lonely boy a homelike
place. Actually, he had adorned the
room as % rould have liked his own
:'..,..,: Men he was a lad
Floor space, nothing to speak Of
walls covered with the sort of hunt
ing prints that Sanderson had always
admired; four chairs, all bought sec
ond-hand, so as to be ''homeike, and
not stiff" rack of books, filled with
some Of his uncle's own. A broad
double bed, curtained from the room
(Sanderson had slept upon grain
sacks when he first came around the
Horn); a table with a humidor, lest
Bob take to cigarettes (Which he early
didD.
His first days in the streets startled
him. 1t was strange to walk through
the crowds of hurrying people and see
no face that he knew Once or twice
he had greeted Japanese, only to be
rewarded with blank stare, or SUI
percilious giggle. After that he was
silent. Yet he could not help but feel
each time he saw brown face disap-
pear in the crowd, an unexpected
poignant loneliness 1t seemed to
him that a fragment of his familiar
world had vanished. leaving him alone
He was entirely unaware Of encour
aging looks thrown at him. Bob was
as a woman with two tiny bundles re
marked to her companion, not at all
hard to look at. There was something
commanding about him. Not infre
uuently a girl, or a free-andeasy
young matron, found time to smile at
him.
SanSerson liked the man-company
It gave him feeling that no guest, no
matter how intimate, could instill The
boys rapt attention when he spoke he
took not as duty, but as interest. II
was a combination of both. The
slightest encouragement was sufficient
to start him remIniscing of his college
DAYS. He felt that Bob should be fore
warned, but did not realize that he
was arming him as well.