The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1924-01-04


right or not"
The knowledge that she was writing
letter to Pasadena of some special
sort which had 10 be correctly spelled
would certainly have startled Joe. and
II gave Jennie something to think
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. 81 wanted to see whether
| liked II or not before | said any
thing, that's ALL" she told Jennie.
"Why, I'm going to school. You see,
when you told me I ought to do some
thing-take lessons. you know, the
only thing I could think of that |
wanted to go on taking lessons in was
swimming. That sounds kind of silly,
| know, but it's so. There's a peach
of a swimming-teacher I'd heard OF
at the gym out in Evanston, SOL went
TO see him about 1t. But 1t seems that
the gym is part of Northwestern uni
verslty. 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 / talk, anyhow. So
planked down my hundred and fifty
and wrote letter to the high school
at Pasadena to send word on that I'd
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 Pm going TO be good at
it, too. Show 'em a few things You
watch I"
This, at first blush, seemed to Jen-
ME to solve all problems at stroke.
Meanwhile 1t had got into October,
and Joe kept postponlng his return
from the Northwest. For weeks his
reports had been full of material for
All the machinery for
the fax was installed and
in order. They had begun working the
retted straw. 1t was going through
without a hitch. There were some
In the direction of econ
omy land simplification which could
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
)ratory, and the finished products that
,ame out of 1t. They had equipped
he laboratory, by now, under the
charge of new technical man, as
mill with spinning machinery and
ooms; all the equivalents, on a re-
luced scale, for commercial linen
nanufacture-and the way the stuff
anne through these searching tests
vas well beyond the more conserva-
i've of their superintendent far
hort, indeed, of Joe's glowing
But this was only the beginning Of
{. Interest i'm the new process, ex- |
element over the prospect it offered |
# finding a fortune in the worthless
traw of seed-fiax, were spreading
yer the Northwest country like a |
Groups of local capital |
SITS were coming almost daily to visit |
he four mills. The organization of |
ubsidiary companies was already get
ing beyond the talking stage. Money |
,as being subscribed. BY the time
ext years crop came In, three states
vOuld be dotted with their four-thou-
and-ton mills producing raw linen
nder the Greer process.
To the fnanciers' startled reminder
nat their original program had not
going as fast az this.
oe's replies were more confident and
rgent than ever. Now was the time
, strike Everybody was ready; con-
dence was running high everywhere.
they bestrred themselves, seized
he opportunity al the food. they
)uld repay the whole investment in
he enterprise out of the first years
rOfits and be on velvet thereafter |
)e was irresistible in this phrase.
e had taken the bit in his teeth, but
wasn't possible to say he was run
ng wild. The figures and the facts,
well as the temper of the country,
ere going along with him. The great
,st-war boom was at its height dur
z the summer and autumn of 1919.
And then. one day. when expecta-
IN was looking its rosiest. a letter
me into the office that produced a
mic. II was from a firm of patent ,
wyers. one of the st-established
Id most formidable in the city. and ,
served formal warning that Joe's ,
ocess in general and much of his
achinery In particular. infrir ged the t,
ior rafanfc af clfapf mann