Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1934-01-18
FATALISTIC
g
by r. H. WILKINSON
o. Bell syndicate-wNU Service.

A LvIN WINTHROP is a fatal
"A istic sort of person.
This Is strange, too. when
you consider his wealthy uncle
died not long ago and bequeathed to
the young man the sum Of two million
dollars, which amount has kept Alvin
more or less on the jump ever since
In an endeavor to spend more than his
investments bring in.
On the other hand. when you con.
slider that. at the age Of twenty-one,
Alvin had visited every country in the
world. attended every known function
everywhere Of any national or world
wide interest. dabbled in every sort
of business. met all kinds of people
and achieved more or less fame as an
expert in a variety Of sports-when
you bear these things in mind you do
not wonder that the youngster is some
what bored with life and is apt to de-
vote some of his idle moments. Of
which there are now countless num-
bers, to brooding.
For Alvin is not the type of fatalist
who predicts disaster for the universe
at large; his prophecies concern only
his own destiny.
He Is the sort of person, who, upon
taking leave of your company after. a
brief visit. augments his conventional
farewell with. well. see you tomor
row-if I'm not run over by truck
In the meantime"
In fact, Alvin has injected this
phrase into his farewells so often that
friends and acquaintances have he
slowed upon him, in a spirit of fun.
the moniker, run Over by a Truck
Alvin"
Indeed. Alvin has broOded over the
matter, considered Its possibilities to
such an extent that he has actually
come to believe his death is destined
to be brought about by a careless
truck driver.
With him the thing is no laughing
matter.
He has carefully weighed and fig
ured the chances.
He has added up the number Of
times he crosses busy streets during
the course of one day, multiplied this
figure by seven, averaged the number
of trucks that cross his path in an
equal number of days and discovered
that during the week he has 2S% ex-
cellent opportunities Of being ami
hilated by a truck.
The thing has become an obsession !:
he has remarked upon it SO many
times that we who are closely asso-
ciated with the youth have come to
the conclusion that the boy will feel
disappointed unless truck does &C.
tually flatten him out on some we'll
paved highway.
Recently a number Of us called on
Alvin and, after a period of urging,
prevailed upon him to take q world
cruise.
We waived his argument that he
had been on world cruises before.
What he needed. we told him, was a
change Of atmosphere. climate and as
sociates, something to drive this silly
acknowledgements notion from
his head.
The thing was warping his brain.
He'd better nip 1t in the bud before
funny wagon backed up to his front
door some day and a man in uniform
crooked his finger in his direction.
Much to our relief Alvin consented
to make the attempt.
He agreed with us that he was
spending too much time of late think
ing about himself.
1t was with the sense Of a duty
well performed that we waved Alvins
liner away from the dock. and re-
turned to our various occupations.
He was good boy, likable and gen.
erous to a fault. and we hated to see
a little thing like being knocked for
row Of gooseberry bushes by a lotion
truck upset his mentality.
A month after Alvin set sail, Victor
Perry returned to Boston from a trip
abroad.
We were talking to Vic one night
at the club, when he mentioned hav-
ing met Alvin In France.
OF course. we were delighted to have
frst-hand news Of our patient.
"How is her. asked Vic. HE didn't
mention anything about trucks, did
he?"
"TrucksT"
Yes. You see. Alvin has developed
an insane idea that sooner or later a
truck is going to crush him into moth.
ingness. We advised him to take a trip
around the world and drive the thing
from his mind"
Vic laughed.
well. you succeeded. No, Alvin
didn't say a word about truckA. But
he did mention steamships"
Steamships"
"Yes. When we parted 10 days ago
he said, Well, I'll see you In America,
vic--unless this steamship I'm on de.
cides to investigate the bottom Of the
ocean while I'm on II. Which Il prob
ably will 1t didn't bother me much
at the time. because on several pre-.