The Washington times., 1937-10-12

every life-not by a long shot.
Talbot grinned, Not since they
had chummed together as boys
had these two men met.
We'll" he replied, jovially, you
always were inclined to go right
up and shake hands with facts.
What makes you so sure that the
actual living of a life isn't, IN IT.
self. a romance"
Just common sense. Look at
the millions of folks who Suck
around in the same place, leading
average, commonplace lives-and
some of EN- a good bit less. I know
a lot of them. and so do you. II
Won could snag a romance out OF
the whole crowd, you'd be good
Talbot rubbed the stub of his
cigarette in the ash tray. =,
And III bet that If you couIo
dig into every single life in that
bunch you've just named, you'd
find as many stories"
ROWING CAREER
Talbot's business in life had sent
him trailing over the continents
in research and study here, there
and everywhere.
pete. you're crazy" Tom came
back, earnestly. Why. take your
self. for instance! For all your
wanderings over the face of the
earth, what have you done, or
what has happened to you, that
would make a Story?"
Il was born in this little burg,
you know. so we're you. But you've
hit the high spots, where things
happen.
you've forgotten there are
places in the world where life
goes round and round in a cir.
Gle: where John Jones takes up
the family sequence where his
father left off and carries on with
out admitting a shadow OF i'm
agination, much less making a
change; where the kids of every
succeeding generation play tn e
same games and fight the same
fights that every generation OF
kids has done before them.
you've got to live in the same
house, on the same street, in the
same neighborhood, for a hfe'
time to learn that the average
human animal walks right along
in the rut custom has cut for him,
and there it ends. You see, I've
stayed right in this spot"
LEADING CITIZEN
"And now you are one of its
leading citizens"
with nothing more exciting to
lead than a set of the dandiest
folks on the face of the earth,
each stepping in his sire's foot
prints and aiming to keep the
prints as clean as when he came
along"
"Yeh, I know. Salt and all
that, and you're a part OF it.
You're lucky. In too many places
the salt has lost its SAVIOR. What
I'd really like to know. Jim, Is
how you happened to drift into
this hardware business.
II thought you always wanted
to be a doctor. Remember the
doctors kit you made up. the day
your dog fought our cat"
well, you see, dad died and
left mother with five of us. Three
months later our ittlest sister
came. Mother, weakened phys
ically and broken by grief, sur
rounded by us helpless kids.
Helen, next to me, the only
girl, until the baby came. 1t
looked pretty black. Dad had the
hardware store started on its way
and was doing all right, too, but,
gosh, with all of us tumbling in on
them in a stream, he and mother
hadn't had much chance to save.
st was the oldest, you know, and
dad could have used me in the
store but we couldn't afford it if
I was to go on through high school
and college. I had to begin to earn
and do it early.
80 I was making my high
school expenses by doing odd jobs
around old Doc Johnson's office.
Remember him? Same old fellow
to the end. and he lived a long
time. cleaned his office, and his
car, and did all I could to ease up
the long hours he spent in his
work, but, of course, it was his old
laboratory that I loved!
PLAN FAILS
Even it's smells! The plan was
that I was to go on to study medi-
cine and, maybe, if he held out un-
til I was ready, I could step into
his shoes when he walked out Of
them.
He was interested because
was so keen about it all, though
he grumbled and warned me that
only folks who were such fools
they didn't know where they'd
stood ever would go into such a
blasted grind!
"Of course, he loved it, and just
being with him keyed me up in
ambition. Dad and mother were
with ME in the plans. They were
a pair for any youngster to tie to-!
And then-crash! Dad died
went out without warning-just
as was going into my junior year.
What was to be done? Mother and
I sat down and talked it over.
Should we sell the business? If
NE did what could Via dn0 Elnllrr