Evening star., 1925-05-16
One of a series of the
wears best short
stories.

upon which the founda tions of the
| building rested. But the uptown
tracks of the subway ran underground
only a few rods to the eastward, so
some blamed it on the subway.
Whatever the reason may have
! been, the fact was that about once in
so often, all day long and all night
long, light articles on Mr. Oldham's =
closet shelves would tremble the least
little bit. and pictures on the back
wall would swing to and fro for the
fractional part of an inch. The thing
got on his. nerves, more or less. He
had a, morbid fancy, which, however.
he expressed to no one except him
self, that the restlessness of New
York was crawling right up through
the earth to get at him and annoy
him.
Perhaps by now it has been made
plain that Mr.. Oldham did not care
deeply for New York. Well, such was
the intention. 1t Is the main inten-
tion OF this story, and not much else
happens in this story. The reader who
expects some mounting climax some
quirkish denouement, has been given
fair warning. He can stop right here
Nor was there aught of spectacu-
lar nature in Mr.. Oldha earlier
history. occurring prior to the time
it into a para graph.
He clerked in drug store in Te-
cumseh Center from the time he was
20 until he was nearly 40. From then
on he. owned the drug store: bought
it with his IA wings. When he was So
his wife died. When he was 65 he
sold out the business at a profit-not
much profit, but still a profit Hel
travelled about some then; went back
y1Fhn hA
spent three or four excessively bore.
some months there; went to Cali.
forn1a and to Florida and on a home
seekers excursion to the Canadian
Rockies.
Travelling around wasn't so exciting
when YOU did IL as when you were
reading about and preparing for IT
beforehand. 1t didn't take the wild
over very long to find that out. So
hnally he came on East to live with
his married daughter. Gussie and her
husband suggested it themselves
They had been in New York for GO
ing on nine years, and wild horses
wouldn't have dragged them back to
Missouri. .Gussie thought her father
would learn to like New York as
much as they liked 1t; there was so
much to do and always so much to
see. Besides. he wouldn't be wander
ing about all at loose ends. So he
came, on a condition which he i'm
posed. The condition was that he
pay his share of the living expenses.
Every month he would hand Gussie
over 800. They accepted by wire; up
until then the negotiations had been
carried on, back and forth, by mail.
And he packed up and came on.
He had been here nearly three
years. In those three years he had
learned this much, anyhow: that while
there might be great deal to see in
New York, seeing it alone wasn't ex-
sctly what it had been cracked up to
be. To be sure, he was not the first
to make this discovery nor will he be
the last to make 1t, by a long shot.
Robinson Crusoe, on his island before
man Friday came, might have been
lonesome. He should have tried Man
haitian Island, that.e-all. 1t takes all
kinds of people to make UP New York.
but man Fridays are scarce. And If
you are old-fashioned and rather shv
by nature and set in your ways and
come as a stranger, you are likely to
remain stranger, no matter how
long you stay. That was old Mr..
Reuben Oldham's fix.
Long before the three wears were
up he had picked up that habit of
talking to himself. He had found
out something else about New York.
too. 1t was the town where there
was no place to loaf. And anyway. If
there had been, 1t wouldn't have done
him much good because, in his case
you see, there was nobody to loaf
with. To loaf properly you must
have help, which means company.
that Is, If you naturally are grega.
rious, as most of us are. and as old
Mr.. Oldham certainly was. Also, you
should have reasonably comfortable
spot to loaf in.
He stood right stock still in the mid. |
die of Lexington avenue between the
car tracks one afternoon and voiced
this discovery to his customary an.
dience of one. '
Continued in Tomorrow's Start