The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1925-05-22
CHAPTER XIII-Continued

10
When, in 1918, Dirk took off his uni
form he went into the bond depart
ment of the Great Lakes Trust COM
panyain which Theodore Storm had
large interest. He said that the war
had disillusioned him.
"What did you think war was going
to do?' said Selma. purify! 1t never
has yet"
1t vas understood, by Selma at
least, that Dirk's abandoning of his
profession was a temporary thing.
Quick as she usually was to arrive at
conclusions, she did not realize until
too late that this son of hers had def
inite1y deserted building for bonds;
that the only structures he would rear
were her own castles in Spain. His
first two months as q bond salesman
Melted him more than years salary
ut his old post at Hollis & Sprague's.
When he told this to Selma, in tri-
umph, she said, "Yes, but there isn't
much fun in it, is there? This selling
things on paper? Now architecture,
that must be thrilling. Putting build
ing down on paper--little marks here,
straight lines there, figures, calcula-
tions blueprints, measurements-and
then, suddenly one day. the actual
building itself. Steel and stone and
brick, with engines throbbing inside it
like a heart, and people flowing in and
out Part of city. A piece of actual
beauty conceived by you! Oh, Dirk T.
To sec her face then must have given
him pang it was so alive, so eager.
He found excuses for himself Sell
ing bonds that make that building pos
sible isn't so dull, either"
But she waved that aside almost
contemptuously. what nonsense.
Dirk. It's like selling seats at the box
office Of theater for the play in
side"
Dirk had made many new friends in
the last year and half. More than
that, he had acquired a new manner;
an air of quiet authority, of assur-
ance. The profession of architecture
was put definitely behind him. He did
not say to Selma that he had put the
other work from him. But after six
months in his new position he knew
that he would never go back.
From the start he was success.
Within one year he was so successful
that you could hardly distinguish him
from hundred other successful young
Chicago business and professional men
whose clothes were made at Peel's;
who lunched at the Noon club on the
roof of the First National bank where
Chicago's millionaires ate corned-beef
hash whenever that plebeian dish APP
peared on the bill of fare. He had
had little thrill out of his FIRST meal
at this club whose membership was
made, up Of the big men, of the city's
financial circle. Now he could even
feel a little flicker of contempt for
them. He had known old Aug Hem
pei, of course, for years, as well as
Michael Arnold, and, later, Phillip EN-
cry, Theodore Storm, and others. But
he had expected these men to be differ
ent
They We're not at all the American
Big Business Man of the comic papers
. and of fiction-that yellow, nervous,
dyspeptic creature who lunches off
milk and pie They were divided into
two definite types. The older men of
between fifty and sixty were great
high-colored fellows of full habit.
Their faces We're impassive, their eyes
shrewd, hard. Their talk was colloqui-
al and frequently illiterate. They often
said was for "were" "Was you GO
ing to see Baldwin about that South
American stuff or is he going to ship
1t through without?" Most Of them
had known little Of play in their youth
and now they played ponderously and
little sadly and yet eagerly as does
one to whom the gift of leisure had
come too late. They ruined their pal
ates and livers with strong cigars,
thinking cigarette smoking undignified
and pipes common. Only few were
so rich, so assured as to smoke cheap
light panatellas. Old Aug Hempel
was one of these. Dirk noticed that
when he made one of his rare visits
to the Noon club his entrance was
met with little stir, Difference. He
was nearing seventy-five now; was still
straight, strong, zestful Of life; mag
nlfcent old buccaneer among the pet
tier crew. His had been the direct
and brutal method--swish! swash
and his enemies walked the plank. The
younger men eyed him with certain
amusement and respect.
These younger men whose ages
ranged from twenty-eight to forty-fve
were disciples Of the new system in
business. They were graduates of uni
versities. They had known luxury all
their lives. They were the sons or
grandsons of those bearded, rugged,
and rather terrible old boys who, in
1885 or 1910, had come out Of County
Limerice or County Kilkenny or out
of Scotland or the NRhineland to mold
this new country in their strong hairy
lands.
Dirk listened to the talk of the Noon