Evening star., 1925-08-16
THIs story was constructed b,


me from details given by a
person named Smith, Christian
r. / name John-a returned South
African. HypnotiZing me on
several occa sions on the veranda of a
South Coast hotel, he told me the
- 80 His life in a backward and
forward 1nan..cr, which story was in
the main the story vi the woman who
had made him and brought him pros
perity. / am telling the story for the
sake of thesquestion that forms it's
title, leaving the answer to you.
Mr.. Smith was born at Barking of
middle-class parents, and went to work
at an early age as assistant to a gro
GER. His business was to carry out
parcels, and he was happy because he
had no ambitions, and. being of a
timorous nature, kept clear of dis
turbances and all conflict with au-
thority.
He was of the type that never rises
much and rarely falls, and he might
have been carrying parcels in Barking
to this day had not Providence inter
Nened in the form of swollen glands.
Providence has all sorts of ways in its
dealings with men, and one of its
main businesses is the alteration of
types. Smith, left to himself, would
have died as he was made, only older
ordered to Tive in the country" and
the order coinciding with the require
ment of handy boy by his mothers S
half-brother. small farmer in Essex
John was withdrawn from the grocery
business and packed off by rail to
Braintree. unresisting and blind to
the fates that were moving him as a
cat in d basket.
Amber was the name of the farmer
,l III f.,,- s.;t,
from the town, and he took to John at
first sight and promised to make
man of him. He dealt in pigs and
horses, buying up Scarecrows and fat
tening them and taking them and sell
ing them in Braintree market at 500
per cent profit.
He taught John how TO ride. the
mysteries of SCab in sheep, the intrica-
cies of bolts, pig lore, and how to deal
with government inspectors. And so
things went on for five happy and un-
eventful years, John swelling like a
turnip and evolving into a fairly good
looking young man of % years, dressed
in leEgingS. fresh of face, accepting
everything that came TO him and
promising to go on living just as he
was, at one pound ten a week, till
death called him in the form of old
age.
IIONluellCe IdO OeClQ6Q otherwise.
One Summer Sunday afternoon in a
field two miles from Braintree a girl
saved his life from bull. He was
crossing the field when he suddenly
discovered that the bull had taken a
fancy TO him. A noise like the snort
OF trombone made him turn.
Then he ran.
He made for the nearest hedge,
where girl in d light Summer dress
and shaded by a white parasoI was
sitting enjoying the beauty of the
scenery. She rose up as the runners
approached her, saw clearly that John
would lose by few yards, and inter-
Vened, helping him over the gate in
the hedge and leaving the bull with a
white paraSol on his horns
John was shaking, but she was al
most undisturbed. She was one of
those people who seem absolutely de-
void of fear or sense of danger
mentality indicative of courage in is
highest power or simply complete we 1T
of imagination. Who can tell? FIut
she was distressed for her parasol. 1t
had cost her seven and elevenpence
at Blott & Blott's, and she said So
John said he would buy her another,
and she did not refuse the offer, being
a sensible and businessike person.
p And they walked back to Brailtree
NilClS he Iell HeT DIT neG door MI
randa terrace-with the permission to
call upon her on the Sunday 70 lowing
with the new parasol. Her name was
Mary Jane Summers. That was the
beginning of Johns love affair, if you
can call it his.
IT lasted two years, and then, an
uncle dying and leaving her $500.
Miss Summers came to TIE decision
that it had lasted long erough. She
determined to marry John. She feared
the future no more thin she had
feared the bull. She ha made her
plans, and when she exhibited them
they disclosed that plain common
sense which is better than beauty and
maybe rarer. She had determined that
they must emigrate to South Africa.
Five hundred pounds was of no use
in England, even in those days when
the best butter was d shilling pound,
cattle food procurable. and the wages
of a horseman Is shillings a week.
She had worked everything out in her
head-the wages he was receiving
from his relation, the surety that there
was no prospect of their being raised
beyond a certain lc Y level, the fact
that he was worth II uch more than he
was getting, the tact that he was
likely to get it in South Africa and
the fact that he was not likely TO get
it in England. She had absorbed a
good deal of information about the
place, and she had a cousin living in
Durham. She wrote to the cousin and
got satisfactory reply.
John, when all these things were
disclosed to him, was astonished. He
was of the type that never suspects it