The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1930-05-23

He Got What He
Wanted
BY EDGAR T. MONFORT

but we liked him unreservedly. He
was somewhere in the fifties, tall,
thin, colorless, unmarried. A good
plodder. He had been one of the
bookkeepers at Jedlow and Ussup's
for over thirty years, a cog in wheel,
man who would have been lost with
! out some one to tell him what to do
every day.
But, as | said before, he was queer.
To illustrate the crazy things the fell
low could do, one day the boss came
along and stopped at Walkers desk
and said: Were trying to get the
vacations fixed up now so that no one
will be disappointed. How would you
like to have yours in May this year
instead of August as you always do?"
"Oh, no, Mr.. Jedlow." the man cried.
1T wouldn't be vacation to me at
all then. You see, | like to take it
when the children are out of school
because | love to play with them"
"But l thought you weren't mar
ried," said Jedlow, surprised.
I'm not mean the neighborhood
children" Walker explained, embar-
rassed. "Tm sort of daffy about chill
dren, l guess"
VERY well, then" Jedlow said, NOV
ing off, well try to fix 1t up for
August"
OF course it went over the Office like
wildfire and we all had a great laugh
at Walkers expense, but we soon for
got the whole matter. We almost for
got Walker himself, although he
worked at our elbows every day. He
was that kind
Summer came hot and sultry
Every one was cross and disinclined
to talk, the office force worked with a
kind of grim determination. On the
stroke of five people rushed for the
elevator and escaped to the park or
to the privacy of their own rooms
where hot, sticky shirts and dresses
could be shed.
On the first of August, Walker dis
appeared for his vacation. Three
weeks later some one remembered that
Walker had not returned. 1t seemed
because he was usually back on the
dot.
Then on the twentieth of the month
the office force got invitations to run
out and spend the evening with
Walker at 1117 Wisconsin avenue. We
accepted out of curiosity mainly.
What could it mean? Walker had
lived in the same roomfng house on
Maple street almost as long as he
had worked at JedloW and Ussup's.
Why had he moved and why the
party?
The evening of the affair we all
met at a central point and went over
to Walkers new address en- masse.
We found plain, shabby little house.
At our ring Walker himself opened
the door He had a baby in his arms,
another was hanging onto his right
hand, two peered around from behind
his long, skinny trousers leg and two
more came tearing into the little hall
at the sound of our voices. Then
when we could at last take our eyes
off Walker we saw thin, middle
aged woman standing beside him.
my wife, friends" he introduced
proudly, "and these are our children.
This is Johnny, and Harry, and Dick,
and Agnes, and Claire, and Louise"
"Yes," piped one of the children,
"Mommy's married and we all went
on the honeymoon and we had the
grandest time. Dad bought the car
out there. Come and see the
car. Come and see the car"
That saved US and gave us time to
collect our wits. The kids fell on US
and dragged us out to see the car, a
dilapidated old giant of a thing.
But the funny part came when we
found out that Mrs. Walker was not
the mother of the children, but an old
maid aunt who had adopted them.
Poor Walker certainly had put his
foot in it, we decided, saddled himself
with an old maid and a half dozen
squalling brats. And how could he
support them on his meager salary2
Then we got our next shock. Jedlow
told us about it afterward. 1t seems
he walked into Jedlows Office one
morning and said something like this:
''See here, Mr.. Jedlow, I've worked
here for over thirty years. | have
been faithful and steady and while /
had no one dependent on me it was
all right, but now that | have a family
to support it's another matter. I've
got to rise and rise in hurry be-
cause / need the money. What are
you going TO do about it?"
Walker rose.
He developed new vim and aggres-
slveness. He was first made assistant
head bookkeeper; in couple of years
he became head bookkeeper and later
was put in charge of the wholesale
department. And the kids? He
spoiled them horribly. 1t was Daddy
this and Daddy that. He slaved to
educate them, to dress them better
than any of the children in his neigh
borhood. He was adored by them and
by his wife.
After all, we had to admit that
Walker wasn't such fool as he
seemed. Queer, maybe, but his mar
riage had been success. He had
seen half a dozen of us make what
seemed to be wise marriages. finally TO
end on the rocks.
You see, Walker got what he
wanted and, after all, that's what it
takes to make life a success.
(Copyright)
There's a Moral