The Washington times., 1936-12-05
COLLEGE PLAY
BIG BREAK
FOR TAYLOR
BY LYDIA CALVERT
CHAPTER IL

he was master Of his fate, cap
tain Of his soul,' but in reality
Lady Luck had him tog-tied like
Gulliver in Lilliputia.
There at Pomona, one Of hun
dredS Of boys going to class, play
ing football, dancing at weekend
proms, Robert Taylor thought he
was making decisions for himself
when he would accept this or Or
ject that, but it was only Her
way Of amusing herself. Lady Luck
went off in peals Of merry laughter
every time he knit his brow over
some problem that to him was
weighty. But Robert didn't hear
her.
Complete Man
Now he was a complete man.
He looked just as he looks now,
except that he still parted his hair
and wore the traditionally Slouchy
clothes of the campus. Girls took
one look at him and decided to
give q little dinner party. Men re-
spected him because, thought they
saw beauty, they also saw rugged
ness and arms that Swelled with
elastic muscles as he took MS
shower in the locker-room. He was
all-six.feet-one. He was broad
shouldered. He laughed more than
he frowned, so he had friends
galore. ,
But before the senior year had
come at Pomona there had been
q decision to make. Attractive
offers came from Doane. They
wanted him to come back and
they offered all sorts Of induce
ments. Robert was Swayed. Being
. sentimentalist and still keeping
warm spot in his heart for Doane.
where he had been so happy, he
was on the verge Of packing his
things, gathering his credits from
Pomona and transferring to his
old alma mater.
Needed Struggle
His parents, as usual, left the
decision to him, though they
prayed silently he would stay on
1t Pomona. The change to Doane
would be taking the course Of
least resistance. He was too young
and too impressionable to take a
soft berth in the world yet. Strug-
gle against odds was what he
needed.
Roberts thoughts unconsciouSly
followed the course Of his parents
thinking and soon he found him
self driving West, '>ack to Pomona
with Doane forever out Of his life.
Had he returned to his old college,
his life would have followed an
other channel. Hollywood would
never have found him. He would
have been swallowed up in the
nav Of the business world or been
buried in the cello section Of an
orchestra.
Well, he would see what he
would see. So far so good. Driv-
Ing through acres Of orange groves
over the smooth, straight road to
Pomona, he looked ahead. The
road went true as an arrow for
miles, and at the very end the
sun was like a tremendous orange
rolled in the path.
Wanted Success
In his young enthusiasm he
compared that road to his life.
It was straight as he would want
1t to be? It was clean as if it
had been swept and at the end
was the prize-the big golden
lump Of eventual success.
The lump Of gold didn't have
to be money. It could be happi-
ness or contentment or the sat
isfaction of knowing you had
always lived up to your finest
principles. Robert was happy. He
laughed into the warm sunset
and began to sing as he rode
along.
He sang, but he didn't know
that the road that seemed so long
was really short and the lump at
the end was gold-pure gold. The
way it seemed to block the road.
like q big orange, was prophetic.
It was a sketch Of his future. The
worlds traffic would have to 60
around it in a couple Of years.
He got back to college to find
the dramatic club reading play
called Journeys End" 1t was
really o great play, full Of good
red corpuscles and with all mas
culine characters. Robert was
chosen to play the principal part
Captain Stanhope.
He studied his lines assiduouSly.
They rehearsed nearly every
night. The play shaped up quite
professionally, and, finally, open.
ing night came.
Scout Watches
Journeys End!"
Lady Luck is a rascal, a sly
mink with q funny quiry Of
humor. It was really journeys
beginning for Robert Taylor, be-
cause in the audience that night,
a little bored, a little sleepy, sat a
man in a brown suit waiting for
the curtain rise. He was an old
hand at playgoing, but things got
monotonouS at times. He looked
at his watch.
Before the curtain fell, the man,
boredom gone, had pulled an
empty notebook from his pocket
and rapidly copied Captain Stan
hops real name from the pro-