The Washington times., 1931-05-01


made into q talking picture by
Metr O-GOldwyn-Mayer with
Marion Davies In the leading
rOleD
In the long reaches Of what
had become chronic insomnia
John G. Rarick found himself
mentally mounting to himself
phrases such as this: I am a
rich man. I am a very rich
man. Me, John G., rich!
Even in a land where such
annals of achievement as text
books and success magazines
were crowded with the names
of those who had vaulted from
petty beginnings into high
places, there was something
about the rapid phantasmagoria
from obscurity to rapid success
that never failed to tax Rarick's
credulities.
Now, Jenny Rarick, lying there
beside him in the elaborate
marquetry bed, the first piece
Of signed furniture, by the way,
which they had acquired, had
less imagination to startle with
the fecund;ty Of events. She
had a capacity to take for
granted many of the phenomena
Of the world in which she lived.
A sunset was something to
admire, but not to wnoder
about.
She had once remarked to a
poet of no small repute, that
she regretted she had never
found time to become a writer.
Yet it was obviously a nerv-
Gus woman lying there asleep
beside Rarick. The face, always
too angular for beauty, was
constantly ridden across with
expressions, as if, while the
body slept, the mind kept open
shop.
Much on Her Mind
Above the fine coverlet her
shoulders, narrow white ones,
with firm breasts that had not
sagged from child-bearing, rose
and fell to irregular breathing.
Here was some one asleep with
much on her mind.
With Rarick the difference
lay in his not being able to
sleep at all. AS a boy, back on
his stepaunt's farm. 20 miles
out of Keokuk. he had known
the torments Of insomnia, com.
ing in, time after time, from a
long back-splitting day in the
fields to lie SleeplesS for hours
after he had sought his bed.
His room then had been an
unfurnished attic, with a win
dow set into q slanting roof.
stars had cleaned into his in
somnia through that window.
Stars cleaned into his in
Somnia now. They were gilt,
hand-wrought ones, against q
ceiling of billow, cherub and
Streamer, done after the manner
Of Tiepolo's Labia Palace paint
ing of Antony and Cleopatra.
Whimsically Rarick lay on the
marquetry bed, ruminating on
the divergence Of causes that
had contributed to the years OF
his insomnia.
No subject was too casual to
tempt his insomnia. He built
empires and warehouses by
night. He dreamed into flood
ing darkness of achieving his
96lst store, Of possessing the
Gutenberg Bible, of tin tacks,
Of beholding with his own eyes
In his own conservatories, the
opening Of a pasSion-flower.
Into that darkness he designed
window displays, calculated
floor space, inaugurated Eskimo
pie for his soda fountains, and
coveted q lode-Stone ring from
Clusium, the ancient capital of
the Etruscans.
Dreams Of Conquest
Across his relentless insomnia
there stalked contemplations OF
new sites for new five and tens.
Insolent sites within shadow Of
Hellenic marble libraries and
along boulevarded frontage;
more and more Rarick temples
to tin tackS. paper napkins,
hooks and eyes, Sink-swabbers
and paste jewelry mounted on
pasteboard and sold in bins.
His way Of sleeping over a
matter was to lie SleepleSs over
it. A chain Of 642 stores
might virtually be said to
have crocheted itself out of
these hours Of enforced contem-
plations. Problems Of popula-
ton of a given town, types
and habits of the people, study
Of main industries, bank de.
posits and clearings, number Of
different industries, proportion
Of workers to clerks, Of women
employees to men. prevailing
local rental conditions, had
been pondered to their min
utiae from the flat Of his back.
The problems Of Jenny, now.
or of his small son. Avery. or
his daughter. Jennifer, were
another matter. They made
him restless and unable to
concentrate. The fact that ap-
proximately 8 per cent of all
candy sales in America are
made to men was Q reasonable
hypothesis on which to work