The Coolidge examiner., 1932-06-24

mind and the spirit of young
- Sterling was a barrier as high,
practically, as his life was long.
Had you ever suggested anything
of this to any member of the Buh-
low family, they would have met the
implication with loyal and heated
denial.
How could Sterling secretly feel
himself an outsider in the Buhlow
family, when not one of the Buhlow
children, although they had quite
simply been told when they each be-
came eight, had an atom of con-
sciousness that Sterling was not
blood brother?
As a matter of fact, bending too
far backward perhaps to achieve
this end, Ann and Proscow Buhlow
took pains to see to it that Sterling
received even more than their own
children of parental solicitude.
The fact that Sterling had been
adopted by Ann during a previous
marriage was as remote in the minds
Of her present husband and chill
dren as if it had never happened.
Sterling belonged. AS the senior
member of a remarkably alert group
Of children, he was the acknowl-
edged leader of the clan.
STERLING is too outrageously
clever" Ann was wont to remark of
her alleged eldest, treating him in
the colloquial young fashion Of the
modern mother. "He sets a dread
full example to the rest Of the chill
dren. They have to live up to him."
STERLING is not clever" AIMS
really eldest, Shirley, would sing
out on such occasions. Hes soul
less misanthrope, an acid-flinging
cynic, a misbehaviorist, and he
passes off among the unworldlings
Of my mothers generation as
clever"
"Oh, Shirley, be yourself" Terry.
two years below Shirley, would re-
tort on the fling of a sofa pillow.
You know you'd give your sleepy
head to be as clever as Sterling"
what Shirley can't be, she is not
going to bid for" remarked her IA
ther, lodging in turn the same sofa
pillow flung by Shirley toward him,
that had been flung by Terry to his
sister.
Father, 1t is a good thing you
make it a point to speak your true
words in jest. Otherwise your fam
lily would never grant you a hear
ing"
Typical, all this, of the way
Sterling stood in the admiration of
his so-called parents and brothers
and sisters. Not only the two older
of the Buhlow children vested him
thus in their full and enthusiastic
approval, but the stepladder of
younger ones followed suit with
hero worshiping eyes.
STERLING this" STERLING that"
"If l had Sterling's brains" "Ster-
ling is the genius of this family"
"If only Sterling would take the
trouble he could be anything he set
out to be-"
Something undoubtedly there was
in Sterling. The something that
would not take the trouble. Time
after time, her sweet, anxious eyes
scrutinizing this youth, Ann tried to
analyze that trouble. Proscow, too.
And as Ann said banteringly of her
| husband, as a famous alienist
whose job it was to analyze the
workings of the human brain, Pros
COW ought to be able to ferret out
the way to attack the streak of cyni-
| cal inertia.
Darling, with all your brains,
isn't there anything you want to
be?"
"I want my father to subsidiZe
me with ten thousand a year as
guarantee against the horrible
thought of ever wanting to be any
thing"
STERLING, won't you be serious
Just once? You're twenty now. The
time has come when you simply have
to decide what you want to do with
your life. You're too talented! Mu-
sic. Painting. Writing. I've sus-
picion you can be a great person in
any one of them"
Perhaps"
"Proscow, you talk to him."
Curious, with any one of their
own children, this problem would
have been treated in quite another
manner. In fact, the problem of
Terry has already been handled with
decision and the school for his med
ical training selected. With Ster-
ling, just because of his equivocal
position in the household, the di-
lemma of stimulating him to action
was a subtle and troublesome one.
"You know after all, Sterling,
your father, in spite of his wealth,
could never be wealthy enough to
encourage a dilettante in the fam
ily."
e