Evening star., 1925-05-16

wilderment over the trick pre-ordina-
tion played on him. There had been
time when old Mr.. Oldham had been
somebody in his own right. That was
when he was younger man, although
not so very much younger. at that.
and lived in Tecumseh Center. which
is out in Missouri. Now his home
if that is the right name for it-in
Apartment f on the fifth floor Of an
apartment house in one OF the East
Seventies. between Lexington and
Third, which to one who knows his
little old New York would place him
somewhat Oh the less fashfonab BILE
curve of that residential jelly cake
which has Fifth avenue for its icing
and Park avenue for its top layer and
Exterior street. away over yonder by
the river. for its somewhat soggy and
underdone bottom crust. Its name
was Sultana Court Apartments.
This. then, was where he lived with
two others, namely, Mr.. Oscar j. Tate.
who was his son-in-law. and Mrs.
Gussie Tate, wife of the above. who
was his only child On second thought.
the foregoing assignment lacks the
exact shading which makes for accu-
racy. Mrs. Gussie Tate was not so
much Mr.. Oldham's daughter as that
he was Mrs. sic Tate's father
distinction VIII nasily will he under
stood by those 10 made study of
compa rative rela auvity before DIR. Elm
stein took it up in a serious way.
There was nothing of the tortoise in
Mrs. GusSie-She rather was of a hy-
brid type, part chipmunk. the rest
cockatoo She was one of those pro-
gressive, ambitious, youngish women
with the air of being continually try
ing to remember something of impor
tance, which on being remembered
turns out, after all, to be of no great
consequence. In Tecumseh Center
as girl she almost had won first
prize in a contest to select the pret-
test girl in the county, and she had
never quit running.
In New York she still was a candi.
date for beauty honors. She was
prominent in an afternoon bridge and
poker club made up of lady members
whose. commOneSt mode of converse
ton was shrieking. She took bridge
lessons when most of her friends were
still playing the old shioned auction
whist: she gave nah -jong her in
dorsement when most of the rest only
knew the game as a Chinesy name.
She was the first of her set to have
silver pheasants on the dining table.
She would be the first to scrap the
phea SAINTS in favor of the more fash
ionable and larger silver bird dogs.
She never would be at a loss for a
way to spend the long Winter eve
nings; not so long as the movies
might last or the radios endure or Is
minutes spent at the telephone would
bring enough good scouts in for a bout
at a 10-cent limit, one sporty round
of 20-cent roodles for every face-full.
open on jacks or better. AS child
g a
talked baby-talk. She was that kind
get what : | mean?
If YOU do get what | mean and con.
ceded further that you have work
ing knowledge of New York's social
geology, you should be able to assign
the Tates to their proper stratum.
They belonged neither in the Old
Brown Sandstone Period-crumbly
fossil remains TO be found on every
uptown street-nor yet among the
chara cteriStic specimens of another
era observed in the cooperative stu
dio apa artments somewhat nearer Cen
tral Park. Mrs. Tate had little:
trick of saying that they lived just
off Park avenue.
AS a matter of fact, the Sultana
Court stood in that composite border
land where the walk-up apartment
looks down on the plain tenement that
has the fire escape in front and looks
up to the elevator apartment with
private foyer hall for each tenant
The Tates paid twenty-five hundred a
year for their apartment-which was
more than Mr.. Oscar Tate
could afford-and their foyer hall was
exactly the right size to hold two
callers and one umbrella vase at the
same time. But there was uni
formed attendant at the door down
stairs, and the reception hall was done
in Bayonne On. j. Italian.
Old Mr.. Oldham's bedroom was the
little room at the back, with win
dow opening upon the inner court.
There was a freakish sense of inse-
curity about his room. about the whole
a apartment, in fact. At intervals curl
our, almost imperceptible. little tre-
mors would shake 1t. TO account for
this phenomenon there We're two
theories. One was that by reason of
a fault in the schist the Il" trains
passing through Third avenue. one
half block to the eastward. commu-
nicated quiver TO the, made soil