The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-02-01
VIII

Dad didn't get we'll as quickly
as they had hoped. Apparently
the cold damp darkness of London
was not good for him, so Bunny
tok him to Paris. BERTHE relented,
and met them at the station; even
her husband risked his diplomatic
career, and everything was polite
and friendly for a few hours. But
then the brother and sister got to
arguing; BERTHE wanted Bunny not
to investigate the Socialist move
ment of France, at least, and Bun
ny said he had already promised
Rachel an article about it. There
was youth" paper here that was
on their exchange list, and there
was to be a Socialist meeting that
very week which Bunny was going
to attend. BERTHE said that settled
it, he would never meet the Prince
de This and the Duchesse de That,
and Bunny was so ignorant, he
didn't know what he was missing.
Paris was wet and cold also, and
Dad had cough, and sat around
in a hotel lobby and was so forlorn
it made your heart ache, He would
let you drive him around, and would
look at public buildings-yes, it
was very fine, beautiful city;
people had been working on it
long while, we hadn't had time to
get anything so good at home. But
all the while you could see that Dad
didn't really care about it; he
didn't like this strange people with
their jabber, the men looked like
popinjays and the women immoral,
and people were always trying to
pass off lead money on you, and
the food had fancy fixings so you
couldn't tell what it tasted like, and
why in the world Americans wanted
to come chasing over here was be-
yond Dads power to imagine.
1t was decided to take him to the
Riviera till spring. And there they
were settled in a villa looking over
the Mediterranean, and there was
sunshine at last, pale copy of
California. BERTHE came for visit,
and then Aunt Emma to keep house
for them, and it was sort of
home. Aunt Emma and BERTHE got
along beautifully, because the elder
lady never failed to admire the
right things-oh, how perfectly
lovely, how refined and elegant, the
most magnificent buildings, the
most life-like paintings, the most
fashionable costumesl Aunt Emma
would meet the Prince de This and
the Duchesse de That, and never
injure the diplomatic career of her
nephew-in-law!
Bunny got himself tutor, and
rapidly unlearned the French he
had acquired at Southern Pacific.
OF courset he had to pick out So
cialist tutor, weird-looking, moth
cdISh yOullS man VIM Niu NV oSNAA
to have had a square meal in many
years-a poet, he was reported to
be. Other Socialists came round,
and few Communists and Anar-
chists and Syndicalists and hybrids
of these; they wore loose ties, or
none at all, and hair hanging into
their eyes, and looked to Dad and
Aunt Emma as if they were spying
out the premises with intentions of
burglary. Even here there were
radical meetings, on this Coast Of
Gold, where the rich of Europe gam
bled and played; and poor devils
dangling always on the verge of
starvation reused the pity of a
young American millionaire, who
lived in luxury and had a guilty
conscience. When it was ascer-
tanned that he would lend money,
there were some to ask, and most
of them were frauds-but how was
a young American millionaire to
know?