The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1945-10-11

Hollywood is a factory town,
where several big industrial plants
manufacture a product that Is
packed in tin cans and shipped out
to be sold to consumers. The hon.
est manufacturers do their best to
turn out product that will be worth
the money they get for it. That's
ALL"
Elizabeth smiled appreciatively.
TITS refreshing to meet a man as
honest as you are"
Thanks" returned Spratt,
though I didn't know there was any
special virtue in speaking ones
mind"
There is in knowing ones mind" :"
said Elizabeth.
Spratt laughed a little. They had
finished dinner in restaurant, and
as Spratt happened not to have a
show to cover that evening they had
ordered more coffee and stayed to
talk. She asked,
What do you want to do in pic
lures ultimately, Spratt?'
Produce them,' he answered
without hesitation. 81 like the ex-
ecutive end. But shouldn't want
to be a producer until I've had some
experience in writing, or at least
supervising a story, and directing.
It's good thing to know what other
people are doing before you try to
tell them how to do it,
"And you'll do your best" she
added, ito pack an honest product
in your little tin cans?"
Certainly" he said, laughing
frankly. "A first class product
worth frst-class price,"
She laughed back at him. You're
not an idealist, are you, Spratt?"
mot the classic variety, at any
rate" He paused a moment, and re-
marked, Elizabeth, it's so much
easier to dream about the ideals we
can't reach than to do the best
job we're capable of doing" He
paused again, poured cream into his
coffee, and in rare expression of
confidence he added, 81 guess | saw
too much of that when I was young
ster. I come from a long line of
visionaries who were too sensitive to
take the world as they found it and
get anything done don't like it. !"
please go on" she urged.
He smiled wryly. MY father
was professor of Egyptology and
Semitic languages at Columbia Uni
versity. We lived in one of those
genteel apartments uptown where
nice people spend generations put
ting new collars on their old clothes
and keeping up appearances. In our
family we never had enough of any,
thing but soap. Know the type?"
She nodded, beginning to under
stand him.
Half my fathers salary was al
ways going to support relatives so
delicate-minded they couldn't do
anything but write bits of verse for
the magazines and lament the de-
cline of culture. The other half went
mostly for books, and soap. Books,
soap, toothbrushes, neat patches and
the appurtenances of gentility." He
shivered.
ST think I'm really getting to know
you," said Elizabeth. MAY ven
ture a guess?"
go ahead"
$50 now half your salary goes for
postage on letters to the delicate
minded relatives, telling them they
can either go to work or starve, it's
all one to you."
"How right you are" said Spratt.
They began to laugh again, and
Elizabeth started telling him about
Aunt Grace and her cups of tea.
my aunt would really be sorry to
see the millennium arrive, for If
there were no affiiction there'd be
nobody for her to poster with good
works. In consequence I sometimes
think I'm hard-hearted. But | SIM
ply loathe patronizing the poor
''Now we do understand each 9TH
err" said Spratt. He gave her a
companionable smile across the ta-
BILE. "I like you, Elizabeth"
ST like you too" she said.
BY this time they were spending
their evenings together several times
a week. It was characteristic of
Spratt's fortnight habit of mind
that several nights later, when they
were having dinner again, he sud-
denly interrupted pause in the con-
L.