Evening star., 1932-05-08

broke Ruff would have continued in affiuence
and proved that his philosophy of life was wise.
If all the rest of the people were mSers like
himself, there would never be business de-
preston or a panic. That was his message of
educational wisdom for his fellow man. He
was q brainy miser, as mserly brains go. He
admitted he a miser and gloated over it
with frosty humor.
Ruff's wife had died a victim of his i'm
possibilities and of her own inability to take
the snarling imp out OF impossible" Ruth
identified the imp and without Ruff's suspect
ing her motive pulled it out as she pulled the
weeds out of her flower garden. Before long
he asking her questions, eager for her
youthful ideas. and together they talked him
back to health and a greater degree Of in
A FTER she left his bedside she wrote I'D
~ Rather Be Miser Than Spendthrift."
The poem was combination of respectful
humor and light philosophy contrasting the
functions of human flowers and weeds She
showed it to a reporter for the community
paper and it was published. Ruff saw it and
at Christmas sent her a check for 500.
Il never dreamed he was going to remember
me in his will" said the girl IT called on him
now and then. and We had many interesting
talks, but he never dropped hint that he had
made win in my favor"
And all on account of the poem" said
Benny eagerly. Let me see the gem that
brought about this transformation Really you
know. what you did is rather wonderful"
Ruth produced a newspaper containing the
verses. The poem was rather long half a
column, and the reporter weighed and
measured it as he read. Not once in the course
of the reading did he look up at the face of
the girl and SO did not observe the curious
manner in which she studied his countenance
; After he had finished. it was the hardest work
he ever did as he struggled to lift his eyes to
meet hers.
"Oh, don't be embarrassed" she laughed
II know it isn't much good-awfully amateur
ish. And it great a disappointment to
me to find that out after it was published
i so much wanted to be a poet when I was
IN high school, but there was nobody to tell
me how. I'm sorry you wasted your time
coming out here. OF course you won't want
to use the poem the way 1t is. And yet, don't
you think there are some ideas in it that some
clever person could make something out of?
Maybe you could II you wanted to-but that
wouldn't do, either"
The suggestion gave Benny a thrill of hope
Too bad he had been thinking that this
bright imaginative creature should have come
so near to a signal achievement and vet have
missed 50 fatally. Some of her expressions
were excellent. but others. from the point of
view of an artist. so weak as to constitute
almost anti-cLmax. Some of the verses were
well formed and hit the spot with admirable
effect while others required tongue and breath
gymnastics to force them into meter Most of
the words were well chosen; others, not so
good. Oh. if she only could have done with 1t
what he could dol And yet. this deformed gem
OF an unframed genius had brought her a
million dollars in a skyscraper billon-dollar-
corporation age
1T would take only few changes to make
an excellent poem out of this" he said with
faint, half-wistful smile at the girl seated
i'm ON fha do
De bound to make quite a hit together with
your story of the miser and the spendthrifts
ana the flowers and weeds in your garden !"
But 1t wouldn't be mine all mine" she
protested with little gasp Of integrity
L don't believe you're so technical stickler
as all that" he replied "Otherwise you would
not have been able to readjust the miser so
effectualy"
She got the point as evidenced by the look
Oh yleldlng IN her eyes, and Benny continued:
anyway l think We can fix it SO vou will
DO all the work. I'm something of poet
myself. used to think ought to be famous but
IN this age there is no muse on top of the
Merchant Tower. It's an ideal place to hitch
commercial Pegasus up there, however I'm
now trying to catch him commercially. but
haven't been able to put on enough speed.
But you seem to be exception to the rule
You seem, unwittingy. to have trapped Your
Pegasus and hitched him to the Tower without
outdlstancing your muse. You've created all
the thrill possibilities necessary with n great
Idea and all you need is a little practice TO
enable you to glide down on the wings of yo,,r
poetic steed in view of a thrill-loving world
Let me show you how"
Benny read the poem aloud ignoring the
acrobatic ehsions and f1lings-in needed in
places to preserve semblance of metricaI flow
The better parts he was careful to read in a
manner that emphasized their excellence.
Get the idea?" he said She nodded eagerly
Now let's attack some of these weaker lines
As read them, want you to see you can't
recast them with the same easy rhythm of the
better ones Keep that rhythmic beat in your
mind-don't lose it
Over the verses they went again and again
making a pruning here and q pruning there