DAWS ON '11- FORTUNE HUNTER. eon / DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER DAWSON '11 FORTUNE HUNTER BY JOHN T. McCUTCHEON PICTURED BY THE AUTHOR NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1912 COPYRIGHT 1911, 1912 BY JOHN T. McCUTCHEON The cartoons in this book have appeared serially in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER OW, don't you worry about me, Mother. I'll get a job all right, and before you know it I'll be driving back here in a hansom hack drawn by four white horses. And, besides, Chicago isn't a long way off, and I'll be home on a visit before you'll realise I'm gone. I'll write every week and 2O26S54 2 DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER report progress. . . . Certainly, if I need any I'll let you know. . . . Well, I'm not going to get into any trouble, Dad, so you needn't worry about that. . . . All right, I'll promise to tell you if I do. . . . Yep, Mother, every night, one chapter. You put it in my grip, did you ? . . . Sure, Sis, I'll send you a set of the prettiest ones I can find, all in colours ; and say, kid brother, as soon as I can, I'll send you the baseball mask. . . . Now, please don't, Mother; I'll soon see you again. Good-bye, all; I'm off to make my fortune and I must hurry before the rest of the 'n crop get all the good DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER DEAR MOTHER: I arrived safely and am living in a boarding-house down on Wabash Avenue, one of the prin- cipal streets of Chicago. I secured my room at a great bar- gain for the landlady but it does very well for sleeping pur- poses. I'm sending you a rough sketch of it. My home life is simple. I eat in a little restaurant near by I call it a near- 4 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER restaurant but the cooking is not as good as it used to be. So far I haven't created a great stir in the city, but I've suc- ceeded, by alert activity, in keeping from being run over by the street cars. This has kept me so busy that I haven't yet had time to secure a position. But the job-hunting crusade is in full blast just the same. I've struck sixteen different employers, but they seem to be too busy to be interested in a would-be wooer of Mammon from the tall grass. About half tell me to call again, and when I do they have left on their summer vacation. One man gave me some good advice, told me to aim high, etc. Perhaps I'll get work on the seventeenth floor of some building. Still, this job hunting is good practice, and in time I expect to be the most expert job hunter in Chicago, if experience counts for anything. Everything is hustle, bustle, and rustle up here, and the energy in the air is so infectious that I find myself busier than I've ever been before. My health is so good that I have to do a lot of walking to keep it under control. Consequently, I do not patronise the street cars, much to the dismay of the magnates. My funds are lasting pretty well and I don't apprehend hard times for some days yet. By that time I expect to establish friendly relations with the business end of some concern that needs a young man of my height and complexion. There I'll lay the corner stone of a swollen fortune that will put the Dawson tribe on Easy Street. Don't worry about me. I'm feeling great and hope to report grand results in my next letter. I enclose some post- DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 5 cards for Sis and send you all oceans of what requires no extra postage. I shall now peruse the evening paper and then repair to my luxurious boudoir. This is James' evening out, so I'll have to undress myself. CHARLEY. DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER DEAR MOTHER: Things are coming along beautifully. I haven't quite reached the pinnacle of success yet, but if all goes well, I hope to get started soon. They say that "Opportunity knocks once at every man's door," and one of these fine days some discerning magnate will observe me floating along among the by-products of civilisation and will recognise that his opportunity has arrived. Then is when yours truly will DAWSOX 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 7 modestly but firmly arise to ornament the niche of Fame and Fortune that is reserved for him. In the meantime I am in an actively receptive state. I am on the waiting list of some of the biggest concerns in Chicago. I've walked a rut in the best sidewalks and am now one of the landmarks of the city. People steer by me. There are several prominent firms here that wouldn't think the day had started right if they hadn't gone through the ceremony of refusing me a job. This is their daily programme : 8 A. M., unlock the store; 8:10 A. M., unlock the safe; 8:15 A. M., refuse Dawson a job, and so on ad nauseam. If I should fail to appear some morning it would throw the whole force in confusion. I've made quite a study of city life, but the one particular thing I've inferred from having heard it repeated several hundred times is that summer is the dull season. Then is when com- merce yawns and puts its feet on the desk. The marts of trade hum in a lower key and jobs are as scarce as farm hands in the country. The modest suppliant who comes wooing a job is asked to come around later. I never seem to get around late enough. However, don't think I am discouraged. Hope is surging within me, where there is always lots of room. I wake up in the morning with it buzzing away, and sometimes am kept awake nights by it. We are great chums. And above all, please don't worry about me. I'll get along all right. I've moved from my sumptuous rooms in Wabash Avenue because I 8 DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER didn't like to make a vulgar display of my wealth. I am now more centrally located. Tell Sis I'll send her a set of those postcards before long. Give my regards to the hammock that hangs under the apple trees, and tell the fried spring chickens with cream gravy that I haven't forgotten them. With lots of love, I am, your incipiently successful son, CHARLEY. P. S. Excuse pencil; my private secretary is having his evening out. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER P\EAR MOTHER: Success at last is hovering near, with * ^ both arms full of laurel leaves. While I have not yet got my full name on a pay roll, yet I feel that I am worm- ing my way on, a letter at a time. The ramparts and bastions of commerce can't hold out long against my combined assaults, and something soon will have to give, and it won't be your loving io DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER son, either. He couldn't if he tried. However, don't worry on that score, for I still have money left. They haven't got it all away from me yet, and before that time comes, Victory, from her proud perch upon my banners, will be eating out of my hand. The triumphal chariot upon which I plan the joyous ride adown Life's rugged stream is at the door, panting to be off, but on account of tire trouble there is a slight delay in starting. Don't be discouraged! Success that comes too easily is not the best kind, and if I dropped into a fat job the very first thing, it would spoil my biography when future historians write it. You know that all successful men have modest beginnings, accompanied by slight disappointments. They are what make character, and while unpleasant at the time, like mathematics, they have a grand effect on mental discipline. Thus far the Moguls of Finance have not shown that fierce competition for my services that I had hoped to see. But they will soon awake to the fact that there is a determined man in town, and then there will be articles in the financial columns about one Dawson getting a job. And then look out! Some fine day you will see coming down the pike eight white horses and a hack, within which will be seated the proud figure of your loving son the erstwhile Napoleon of Job Hunters. I've been having some very interesting and amusing ex- periences from the standpoint of a sociologist. I wish very much I were the latter so that I could enjoy them. I've been collecting data and statistics upon why business men do "not DAWSOX 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER n wish to assume the responsibility of giving me a job. I think I hold the world's record for waiting to see busy men. They listen patiently to the story of my life, and ask me to come around next Thursday and they'll see what they can do. I wait impatiently for Thursday, and they forget all about it. One man told me to call at three, and when I got there he was leav- ing the office at 2 145. I tried to catch his eye but muffed, and he made a home run. I went to the office three times after that and learned that he had sailed for Europe. I don't be- lieve I'll follow him. I dreamed about you last night. We were eating fried chicken. That's the fourth time this week I've dreamed about eating, and it's only Thursday. When next I write I'll hope to have grand news, so don't be discouraged! Love to all and oceans of it for you. . CHARLEY. 12 DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER DEAR MOTHER: Don't think of letting Sis stop her music lessons on my account. I'll be able to manage things up here until I connect with a friendly pay roll, so please don't think of sending me any money. You'll have enough to worry about in putting up blackberry jam sufficient to supply me when I come home to visit next fall. That is now your DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 13 sole mission in life, so far as I am concerned. Just settle back in your arm-chair and swat the hot spell with a large palm-leaf fan, and when you think of me, which I hope is often, just pic- ture me on the trail of a swollen fortune, such as will make John D. and Pierpont turn green with envy. I am designing a ten-cylinder touring car for you and a beautiful new plug hat, model 1911, for Dad. His present hat is about due to come back in style in another year or two, however. News is scarce this week. The supply of work is just one short of meeting the demand. I had hoped to chronicle the pleasing item that C. Dawson, Esq., Journeyman Fortune Hun- ter, had accepted lucrative employment on the sunny side of a roll-top desk, or a bench, but such is not the fact at the time we go to press. The Eternal Law of Economics has decreed otherwise. Fortune is trying me out in her crucible a little longer, so that by the time I get my opportunity I will not only greatly appreciate it, but will work twice as hard to make the most of it. I am like the crude iron ore that is going through the furnace before it becomes steel The weather has been open to some much needed criticism during the last week. When your shoes stick in the asphalt and the sun kisses with the ardent passion of a busy mustard plaster, it is no nice way to do, to say the least. Consequently the crusade for employment has languished somewhat. Last Monday I invited, dared, and implored eleven business men to hire me, and was just on the point of putting an "ad" in the i 4 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER paper when the twelfth man dangled a rose-coloured bunch of Hope before me. He told me to come in Wednesday and he'd see what he could do. I felt sure I had a place landed, but when I went back Wednesday he was out playing golf ; on Thurs- day he was at a directors' meeting and sent out word for me to come Friday without fail, and on Friday he went to New York. His office boy said he'd be back in a week or ten days. For about three minutes I was somewhat disheartened, but then Hope, like Atlas rising from the sea, sprang up with a loud cry and swatted Despair a staggering jolt, and Optimism once more reigned supreme. You have no idea how beautiful the parks are. The moon is beautiful and hundreds of young couples are out looking for jobs as husbands and wives. It reminded me of the campus in June. Have you seen Nell lately? How is she? I haven't written to her because I didn't like to write until I could tell her I had succeeded. When you see her, write and tell me everything she said. I saw Scads Allcott on the street last week. He is going to Wisconsin for the summer and intends to try for a position here in the fall. Well, I guess that is about all this time. I have spent a lot of time in the parks; it's so much cooler than my room. And I'm trying a new dietary system. I think people eat too much in the summer. The body does not require much food to create the heat necessary to the system when the weather sup- plies quite enough. So I am going light on heavy foods. .How- DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 15 ever, if you should happen to have fried chicken, just please remember me lovingly to a couple of bites in the second joint. I am trying absent treatment on my appetite. Love to all, and don't worry about me. Lots of love to you. CHARLEY. 16 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER TT\EAR MOTHER: Just a post card to-day it's threat- ^-^ ening to clear up and get hot again. I intended to write you a nice, long, fat letter last night, with at least four cents' worth of postage on it, but out of sympathy for the poor postman who would have to lug it, I am compromising on this silver-lined post card. It is a picture of one of the boulevards with miles of mansions and thousands of automobiles. "In the DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 17 foreground you will see a handsome man with a silk hat. That's going to be me ! And that large automobile just behind is the one in which I expect to show you the town when you come up to visit me in the fall. You wouldn't enjoy coming now, it's so hot and sticky. But in the fall you and Sis and Bud and Dad must hop on the cars and come up and we'll have a regular orgy of sight- seeing, with at least two hours every day in the dressmaking shops. Won't it be great when we're all together again? I can feel my mouth water right now for one of the kisses that Mother used to take. My chauffeur will explain the sights as we ride along. I suppose you are anxious to hear what luck I've had this last week. Well, let's see; I hardly know where to begin. I tried a few benighted business men on Monday, but they said it was the dull season. Perhaps a little later, etc. One man told me to come back Thursday because I had an honest face that inspired confidence. Hooray! Bouquet for loving son! So on Tuesday I spent the day reading in the public library, and on Wednesday I met Mr. Graves from home and had dinner with him a regular gorge that made kind host comment fa- vourably upon the relative capacity of the city appetite as com- pared to the untrained country one. I thanked him in gut- tural tones tones choked with food and tried to wear my hon- ours with becoming modesty. Well, I thought my luck had changed and was certain that Thursday would dawn with the banners of Hope flying high in the heavens and with joy singing 1 8 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER arias all around me. I was sure that the closed season for jobs was over and that before the shades of evening fell upon the great city I would be attending my own coronation on Easy Street. I was too confident. I counted my chickens before they were hatched; in fact, I not only counted them but had them all fried in cream gravy served out on a beautiful table built for five. Well, at the appointed hour I was on hand with hair brushed and face washed until it glistened. My prospective employer was waiting for me.. He was a fine-looking gentle- man, with a grey cutaway, a diamond pin in his cravat, and two handsome diamond rings on his fingers. He certainly looked like ready money from top to bottom. At last, thought I, I am about to realise a life-long ambi- tion and get a job, with real money rolling in every week. He didn't ask any questions about references or experience, but said he'd give me twenty-five dollars a week to start on. I nearly fell over with joyl I would have thrown up my hat, but was afraid of breaking the electric-light fixtures. He then said he wanted me to get some better clothes and began count- ing out some money for that purpose. Real money! I pinched myself a couple of times to make sure. He told me that it was important to put up a good front and then explained the work I was to do. He said with my face and some good clothes I could easily make a hundred dollars a week in commissions aside from my salary. There was something about it that didn't look -FORTUNE HUNTER 19 quite honourable to me. So I refused the job, and the real money, and departed with my hat and other possessions intact. I'm sure you will think I did right, and I'd give a good deal just to see you to-night to explain the whole thing. IVe never wanted to see you so much as I do to-night not that I am dis- couraged. Not much ! We'll land something in a day or two, never fear! I think I hear Opportunity knocking at my door now. So good-night, with lots of love. Am moving, and until I get settled you'd better address me care General Delivery. CHARLEY. 20 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER The Rural Free Delivery DAWSOX 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 21 DEAR MOTHER: Your welcome letter with the money arrived just before dinner yesterday, although what in the world you sent it for I can't imagine. I hope you haven't got die impression from my letters that I needed any. But that's just you, mother, all over always denying yourself for us kids. I suppose it's a habit by this time. And you'll al- ways go on thinking of me as a little boy instead of a grown- 22 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER up. But you mustn't send me any more, for I know how much you need it at home, and instead of you sending me money I ought to be sending some to you. It makes me feel a little ashamed, as though you thought I was not making good up here. I'll keep the ten for the present, however, although I'm going to prove before long that your investment of twenty- one years of unselfishness in Son Charley will bring you a rich reward. I'll refuse to compromise on less than a thousand per cent, interest in cash and a million per cent, in love, in proof of which I hereby send you a large instalment of the latter and hope soon to send some of the former. I've had some funny experiences in the last two weeks you'll laugh when you hear them. I've answered about forty- 'leven ads, but always found that somebody else had got the job just before I arrived, thus proving that you've got to get there early. At one place the choice narrowed down to two of us, and I think I'd have got the place, but the other fellow was married, had two children, and had been out of work for three months. I withdrew in his favour and he got the job. He needed it more than I did, and his gratitude was worth the temporary loss of my meal ticket. Another ad that I answered was at a large business place. When I got there the boss was in a towering rage and wouldn't be bothered with me. One of the clerks told me that the old man had just got his tax assess- ment and they had raised him from $12,000 to $15,000. The clerk said his collection of paintings alone was worth $200,000, DAWSON f 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER 23 and I decided that my rich friend must he a gigantic liar at least. I don't want to work for such a man. I'd rather go hack home and work in the livery stable. I also called upon a prom- inent philanthropist to lay before him a proposition whereby I was to be allowed to ornament his pay roll. He gives hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity every year or so, and when I heard that he pays some of his girl employes only five a week I decided he wasn't good enough for me. I'm sometimes doubtful whether I can adjust my ideals to the practical necessities of the situation up here, but I'm going to keep on trying, at least for a while, anyway. So don't be dis- couraged. Keep a stiff upper lip. When I do get a job it will be something neither of us will be ashamed of, whether it pays very much or not. I have moved to a little boarding-house and have a room with a window. I eat at restaurants, spend my time after banking hours in the public library, and am giving a theater party for myself to-night at the moving-picture show. Oh, this is a delirious life, surrounded by wealth and luxury, but so far I have not contracted any of the expensive vices of the idle rich. I have organised the rest of the boarders into a Seeing Chicago club. They've elected me president. Each Saturday afternoon we shall go on excursions, and in the winter we'll have debates and readings. Am enclosing a poem I copied from one of the books in the library; I thought you'd enjoy it. 24 DAWSON 'n FORTUNE HUNTER Give my love to the old-fashioned hammock that hangs in the trees, and with oceans of love to all of you. CHARLEY. P. S. This is the time of year when everybody wishes he had a vacation and didn't have to work, so you see I'm in a somewhat enviable position. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 25 "Charley's got a job, Mrs. Dawson!" 26 DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER P\EAR MOTHER: I enclose $10 and 10,000 kisses, which -*-^ please apply to my long-standing indebtedness to you. You probably don't want any payment except in the latter me- dium, but I intend to pay you back both in cash and love, or as far as they can go toward paying you. If I live to be a mil- lion years old and made weekly payments I couldn't begin to discharge the debt in full, but at least you will always know that I am not forgetting what I owe you for skimping and denying yourself so much, that I might get an education. DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER 27 The account stands as follows, according to my reckoning: To sitting up five (5) hundred nights when I was a baby, @ $10 . $ 5,000.00 To walking 2,000 miles (approximately) trying to put me to sleep, @ $i per mile. . . 2,000.00 To rocking me to sleep nine (9) hundred nights, @ $5 4,500.00 To singing while rocking nine (9) hundred nights, @ $10 per song 9,000.00 To various sums advanced for circuses, ice cream, candy, etc., etc. (approx.) 500.00 To interceding with father in times of impending danger 2,550.25 To dresses you needed but you didn't get while I was going to school and college 2,000.00 To efforts to make me wash, say prayers, read Bible, go to Sunday School, and other Herculean tasks 10,000.00 To loss of sleep while worrying about me when I went swimming, etc. 2,000.00 To cash advanced on present fortune hunting cru- sade 35.00 To interest on above 50,000.00 $87,585.25 Deducting the ten which I enclose leaves $87,575.25, which is still due you, and I shall vigorously fight any com- 28 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER promise, no matter how much you may insist upon settlement in affection alone. Your last letter was so full of encouragement and good cheer that it made me feel like old Mr. Alexander the Great when he went out looking for more worlds to conquer. Things certainly have changed a lot in the last two weeks. I don't mind confessing to you now that for a while I was almost dis- couraged. Nobody seemed to need me, no matter how much I tried to convince them differently. But now, how different! The birds are singing and the sun is shining, and down in the innermost recesses of my pocket there is the musical jingle of real money; while in the equatorial region there is a compla- cent snugness that eloquently tells me that I have recently eaten a good meal. This evening I am sitting here in my luxurious boudoir, clasped in the friendly arms of an easy-chair, with the Goddess of Fortune smiling graciously down upon me from the frame of the old master that hangs on the wall. Two weeks ago she wouldn't look at me, and yet here she now is, practically eating out of my hand and making eyes at me something scandalous. I think she likes me. The financial centre of the world is slowly shifting in my direction, and I have twelve dollars of actual money in my pocket, with more waiting for me at the end of the week. It's perfectly wonderful how it rolls in at the rate of $16 a week. I like my new boss, and if he proves to be honest and in- dustrious I'll stick to him. As a general thing all employers de- DAWSOX 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 29 mand honesty and industry from the men they hire, and it seems just as important that the employes should demand the same from their employers. So as long as my boss is on the square he can count upon me through thick and thin. I haven't heard a word from NelL I wrote her when I got my job. Is she at home now? Scads AUcott is here after his summer in Wisconsin. He says he is looking for a position. Love to all and more anon. CHARLEY. P. S. You needn't worry. I'm not going up in one of those aeroplanes. DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER DEAR MOTHER : Another week gone by, and I'm just that much, plus $8, nearer my fortune. It certainly feels good to be rich. I started a bank account to-day, and I understand it created considerable excitement in the financial district The money market steadied and consols went up a few points, and I expect every minute to hear that the magnates are getting jealous of me. But that's the way the world goes. They DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 31 never noticed me when I was poor, except to ask me to call around later when business picked up. It was the same way with the late Mr. Jason. Before he found the Golden Fleece he was hardly able to borrow a dollar in Athens, but after he found it, he was the High Cock-a-lorum of the Forum. Anybody would lend him money when they found he didn't need it. Now, when I first came to Chicago, I couldn't have borrowed a dollar, but now that I've started a bank account, I could easily borrow a hundred times more than I could then. It seems to me that 32 DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER if Jason could make good, Dawson can, with all the modern appliances, although the Fleece seems particularly scarce around here just at present. Things have been rather dull at the office lately, and I'm sometimes apprehensive that they may try to run the business without me. Every time the manager sends for me, I have nervous prostration for fear he may tearfully inform me that the firm and I have come to a parting of the ways, and that hence- forth they will try to struggle along alone. But if that day ever comes, it will take the whole office force to fire me. It's a big concern, with an enormous factory out in the edge of town, and they employ an army of hands. I was sent out there last DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER 33 week, and I made up my mind that if the chance ever comes I'll ask to be transferred to the factory. I can learn more about the business there than in the office. I'm reading up now on the various processes they use, and have sent for a set of con- sular reports dealing with the development of the business in the Argentine. I met Scads Allcott on the street the other day. He's liv- ing in a swell boarding-house on the north side. He likes it up here and says he's been to the theatre every night and the ball game every afternoon, and looks for a job in the forenoon. He told me he had several letters from Nell, which, of course, cheered me up considerably. If she is looking for a husband who can make nine holes in bogey and has a lovely tan, then Scads is exactly the party for her. I must close now. I want to walk down past the bank where my $8 dollars are. Did you get the book I sent you, 34 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER and how did Sis like the set of post cards? Give my love to the cook and with oceans of it for you and the rest. CHARLEY. P. S. Am enclosing some original sketches showing life in Chicago. P.S. *cdT -W- UfrKu.^ o^A^^ DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 35 DEAR MOTHER: Fortune favours the Busy ! The boss knows me by sight now, and upon three different occa- sions he has honoured me by inquiring my name. It will not be long before he knows me both ways at once, and then is when Fortune will begin to take notice of her humble suitor. Fifty years from now the historians will say: "At about this point the fortunes of the future money monarch underwent a change. His wages were raised to the proportions of a salary 36 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER and it was noticed that a large smile overspread his classic features." Of course, coming back to earth again, I haven't had a raise yet and I haven't done anything to deserve one, but I'm on the job every consecutive minute and am taking a real in- terest in the work. I have a theory, as yet unexploded, that these things will count in the long run and that some day the boss will want a man for a big place and will say to the man- ager : "How about this young fellow Dawson ? I've been watch- ing him for some time and I think there's something to him." So you see, Mother, I've got it all figured out, and when the call comes I'll be within hearing distance. I'm afraid you'll begin to think that my sole object in life is to get rich, and I don't mind confessing that it was when I came up here. My one dream was to make a lot of money and then go back home and drive up and down Main Street in a gilded hack. I wanted to see old Mr. Allcott, who never noticed me in his life, hustle down the steps of the bank to greet me as an old-time friend, and to have Nell's father invite me to sit on the bench with him at the courthouse. That would have been glory enough for one lifetime. But somehow I've changed my mind since then. I still want to get rich, of course, but, first of all, I want to do it in a way that we both can be proud of. There's something about money that hardens people who think of nothing else, and I don't want to get the disease. I believe I'd rather be like old DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 37 Judge Courtright down home, with all his friends and high ideals, than any rich man I know. You may be sure that if I ever do make a fortune there will not be a cent of it whose source I shall wish to hide or the method of its acquisition con- ceal. Why, there are people up here, with more money than they know what to do with, who own property which is rented for all sorts of improper purposes. I sometimes wonder how they can let their children enjoy money that comes from such sources. I'd rather be just comfortably rich and feel serene in my own mind than to have barrels of money without the re- spect of my neighbours. Scads Allcott doesn't agree with me. We had quite a talk about it last night. He says this is a commercial age and everybody looks up to the man who has the stuff. A big pile is the hall-mark of success and a man is a fool who doesn't go out and get as much as he can. Every man ought to look out for Number One, and, if anybody gets in the way, climb over him. He says when he makes more than he wants he will become charitable. Scads is certainly a chip off the old block. And you know how much every one down home loves old All- cott. If he lost his money to-morrow there wouldn't be a person who would sympathise with him. With these few remarks I'll close before the letter needs 4 cents postage. I'm going to try to come down in a week or two, so please fatten up a chicken or two and have an o. f. kiss and hug ready. Loads of love to all. CHARLEY. 38 DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER 39 At Home, 1 1 30 p. M. DEAR MOTHER: It's after u, and so I'll just write a little two-for-a-cent one to-night. Some of the other boys here in the boarding-house dropped in to-night and we had a great discussion. We came out for clean politics. I know you'd like them. One of them, Jim Merritt, is in the office with me and is an awfully nice fellow. He got me to come to this boarding-house. He showed me a picture of his mother, and she's an awfully nice-looking lady almost as nice looking as you are. Compliment ! Two of the boys are in a bank and a wholesale house, and another, Sewell, is a stenographer, a sort of assistant private secretary, to the head of the firm of Dodge & Co. They are our strongest rivals in business, but Sewell and I get on all right. He's a quiet chap and seldom says very much. Well, we had it hot and heavy from politics and finance and back again by the way of matrimony, colleges, and athletics. We decided everything before we got through. Well, in the middle of it who should come in but Scads Allcott. You could have knocked me over with a feather. He said he had nothing to do and thought he might as well come over and see how I was situated. He incidentally told me he had received a letter to-day from Nell. By the way, how is she? I don't want to ask Scads. He hasn't got a job yet, but says his father is trying to get him in a broker's office. After the other boys had gone to bed Scads sat here and talked until I thought he never would go. You see, he doesn't have to get up early. He says 40 DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER I ought to move to a better neighbourhood and get acquainted with the kind of people who can be useful to me. I told him I didn't like the idea, and he called me a chump, and we let it go at that. No more for to-night. With love to all Your loving son, CHARLEY. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER __ DEAR MOTHER: I don't know that I ought to tell you, but I might as well now as later. The fact is that I've had a little trouble with the head of the firm and I'm very much afraid that he is going to try to worry long without me. I'll know on Monday. Perhaps there'll be another Chicago fine, in which I will figure prominently as the fire-ee, but anyway, whatever happens, you mustn't worry for a minute. The fall is a good time to look for a position, and with my experience I'll have no trouble whatever in landing another one. So don't wor- ry for a second. 42 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER This is what happened : You remember I wrote you about a fellow named Sewell who lives at my boarding-house. He seems like a nice fellow, rather quiet and not very confidential, but I liked him and found that he could give me a lot of good advice about my work. He's with Dodge & Co., which is in the same line as our firm in fact, I suppose they're our strongest competitors. Both firms do an enormous business and I guess there isn't the best feeling between them because they are constantly bidding against each other on big contracts. Well, Sewell has been dropping in to see me every evening of late, and a couple of times we have gone to the theatre together. He's been just as friendly as any one could be and said he might be able to put me in the way of making a lot of money outside of my regular work. He didn't tell me how. Last Saturday he telephoned for me to have lunch with him, and I met him down at the entrance of our building. Just as I met him the manager of our firm came out of the elevator and nodded to me. I thought he looked rather queerly at Sewell. Since then I've found out that Sewell used to work for our firm, but suddenly left for some reason or other, I don't know what. Late Saturday afternoon the boss sent for me. Well, maybe I wasn't excited! I felt like a girl who knows she is about to have her first proposal. It was the first time I had been offi- cially noticed by the Grand Mogul and I went into the private office with my heart in my throat. I thought maybe he was DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER 43 going to take me into the firm or consult me about next year's policy. He glanced up, motioned to a chair, and then abruptly asked me how much I was getting. I told him sixteen and he smiled pleasantly. "I suppose you would like to make more," he said, and I supposed I grinned expectantly. He asked me how I liked the work, where I lived, where I had come from, if my parents were living, and a lot more things. It was becoming quite a social occasion. Suddenly his smile faded and his face became serious. "Young man," he said, "I don't mind telling you that we have had our eye on you lately. Whenever a young man shows promise we are disposed to give him every chance for ad- vancement, and I thought it might interest you to know that we are looking for some way to help you along. In a couple of weeks we hope to get a large contract if our bid is success- ful, and if we do we may be able to put you in on that work at a considerable advance at once, with bigger opportunities later. You will have a chance to show what's in you." Well, say ! Talk about joy ! I was in for jumping up on the chandelier and giving nine rahs for everything and every- body. I thanked him in a choking voice and as he turned to his work I started out. "Oh, by the way," he then said, like an afterthought, "you live with young Sewell of Dodge & Co. ?" 44 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER "Yes, sir," said I, wondering what was coming next. "It just occurred to me that you might be of some service to us. The Dodge people are bidding on this contract, and perhaps you might get a little line on their bid from Sewell. Do you know him very well?" I was amazed. You could have knocked me over with a feather. "You want me to find out their bid from Sewell?" I man- aged to say. "Why, certainly; not in a dishonest way, but just casually, you know. Perhaps you can get a slight indication of their bid." I got up and was almost afraid to speak, I was so near crying. It seemed as if the lights had all gone out. He didn't seem to notice my agitation, for he turned to his desk and began to fumble with his papers. "Just think it over," he said; "it may mean a good deal to you. Let me know in a few days." Then I found my voice. "Mr. Morrill, I can let you know now. You and everybody around here have been kind to me and I don't want to seem ungrateful, but I can't do what you suggest. I don't want to succeed that way." I started out and was getting madder and madder every minute. At the door I stopped and turned around and blurted out: "Mr. Morrill, before I go I want to tell you that I'd see you and your old firm and your contracts DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER 45 plumb to thunder before I'd do that kind of crooked work." I then retired while the retiring was good, and now you know the whole situation. I suppose I'll be fired, but I had the satis- faction of stating my position. I'll let you know how it comes out. Lovingly, CHARLEY. P. S. Don't worry. 4 6 DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER DEAR MOTHER: Well, the plot has thickened and thinned a good deal since I wrote you. Everything is lovely now and the goose hangs high, although I don't mind confessing that the goose hung pretty low for awhile, especially just after I had told my boss, Mr. Morrill, that I'd see him in thunder before I'd try to find out Dodge & Co.'s bid from Sewell. When I went home that night and had time to cool oft I felt pretty blue. All my dreams seemed to have collapsed. At 8 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 47 o'clock I was a pale blue, at 9 a deep blue, and at 10 a fright- fully deep blue. And it was just then that Sewell dropped in to see me and at once asked me what was the matter. I told him I had had some words with the boss, but didn't tell him the cause. He advised me to go back and apologise and by all means to hold my job. He said that it would mean a good deal of money to me in the long run. I asked him how, and he said that with me in Merrill & Co. and him in Dodge & Co., and both these concerns bidding against one another on big contracts, we each could do pretty well if we worked together. It suddenly began to dawn upon me what Sewell was driving at, but I thought I'd let him go on just to see what sort of a fellow he was. "For example," said he, "just now there's a job worth several millions that they are bidding on. If you can find out Merrill's bid and let me know it will be worth a pretty good sum of money to you, more than you can make in a year plugging along at your present salary." I think he saw that I was getting mad, because he continued: "Now I suppose that idea shocks you. You are just out of college and have a lot of fancy ideas about honour and moral ethics. I was that way ten years ago, but I found that it didn't pay. Business nowadays is a cutthroat game, and the object is to win out, no matter how, and the man that is useful to his firm is the one who gets boosted along. Why, there isn't a big business in this city that doesn't do a lot of things that wouldn't look well in broad daylight, and somebody has to do them. The stockholders 48 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER want dividends, and they are not very particular just how they get them. If there is any crooked work necessary they shut their eyes and only open them the day their dividend cheques come in. If the dividend is reduced they want the manager fired and a new one put in who will produce the dividends. You would be surprised to know how much crookedness goes on in business affairs and at the respectable people who wink at it. "Now sooner or later you will discover that there will come a time when you will be asked to do something that seems a little shady. If you refuse, out you go, and if you consent you will hold your job and be regarded as a very useful and valuable man. The firm will stand by you as long as you can produce results. For five years I plugged along on a high moral plane, was fired four times, and finally decided that I would get into the money-grabbing game regardless of meth- ods or morals. You will probably be shocked to know that it has paid, and that I am now the boss's private secretary. I suppose I've done a lot of things that aren't strictly on the square, but I've been a useful and willing worker. I've had to perjure myself on the witness stand several times, but I believe it is only right to stand by your boss in trouble as long as he stands by you. Now, Dawson, you think it over. I don't want to persuade you to do something you don't want to do, but in ten years you will thank me for the advice I'm giving you. You can't get rich working on a salary, and you know you can DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER 49 always reform after you've made your pile and your children are going to college. I'm going to cut out all this crooked work some day, but not until I am safe on Easy Street." I was perfectly amazed. I couldn't imagine anybody talking in such a cold-blooded way, and I didn't know exactly what to say. But finally I found my voice. "I suppose you mean all right, Sewell, from your point of view. And I suppose you will succeed up to a certain point, but I'd like to bet anything I'll ever have that in the long run you'll lose out. They'll get you just at the time when it will hurt you most, perhaps years from now when you have children in school and your wife has a lot of nice friends. Then the exposure will come and your whole family will be disgraced and ashamed. Every day or so I read of how some fellow gets caught, and I honestly believe that it always comes sooner or later. I intend to be on the square, and if it doesn't pay very much at first I believe it will win out in the long run. Now, Sewell, I wish you would go out and never come in my room again." He flushed up a little, then smiled queerly, and said : "All right, my boy, you go your way and I'll go mine. If you ever need any money let me know." With that he walked out. Now comes the real joke. When I went down to the office on Monday the boss sent for me. I didn't care what hap- pened, so I walked boldly in. He was smiling and very pleasant. "Dawson," said he, "you are a very excitable young man, but I'm convinced you are all right Sometimes we take 50 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER queer measures to find out which of our men are honest, and it was to test you that I proposed last Saturday that you try to get the Dodge bid from Sewell. The manager had seen you with Sewell, you know. You answered me just as I hoped you would, and if you keep on in that way you may be certain that we'll not overlook it. I've asked the treasurer to advance you to $20 a week." He shook my hand and smiled pleasantly, and so I am still on the pay roll. I thought you'd like to hear all about it, and so I've written it all out. There's one thing you may be sure of, Mother, and that is, when you are old and grey you will not be trembling in fear of being disgraced by any exposure of crookedness on the part of your loving son CHARLEY. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 51 DEAR MOTHER: This is certainly pumpkin-pie weather, isn't it? Do you ever think of such worldly things? It's funny, but I got to thinking of it this morning while dressing, and I haven't been able to think of anything else since. I can't get it out of my mind. I'm simply haunted by the pleasant ghosts of bygone 52 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER pies, and I don't know what I am going to do about it unless I organise an expedition of one and go down home for much needed relief. To-day is Sunday, and as I walked through the park and smelled the leaves and breathed in the fresh October air, the whole world seemed to whisper pumpkin pie to me. The little flurries of wind and the whirl- ing leaves sang pumpkin pie until I felt exalted and uplifted as though I were in a great cathedral, with an organ swelling in mighty volumes of sound and with an angel chorus carolling an anthem all about pumpkin pies. To tell the truth, I was considerably homesick for pumpkin pie and "the mother that made pumpkin pie famous" at least famous to me. Why, I had never even heard of pumpkin pie before you first introduced it to my polite attention, and I may say that I have always remembered it favourably. I liked the poetry you put into it, as well as the music, and when- ever I think of one of your pumpkin pies, which I do with staggering frequency, I think of it as an edible golden sunburst, glorified by the skill of a master in pie craft. Some day, when I am rich and philanthropic, intent upon handing myself down to fame and reflected glory, I shall erect a marble monument to the memory of your justly cele- brated pumpkin pies. I planned it all out while walking through the park this morning and picked out a suitable site for it. First, there will be a marble pedestal fifty feet square, at the end of a long avenue lined by Maxfield Parrish poplars and DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 53 pilasters. Upon the four sides of the pedestal will be the words, "To die memory and glorification of pumpkin pie, the pie of the Pierides, erected by Charles Dawson, the eminent connoisseur and pie-lanthropist." On top of the pedestal will be a big bronze pie, 400 feet high, high enough to be a landmark for sailors coming down from Milwaukee and points north, and lighted at night by a row of arc lights around the edge like a golden diadem. Perhaps I'll have this pie revolve, like die Ferris wheel, but that hasn't been definitely decided as yet. I'll have a famous sculptor do the decorations around die border of the pie, and when I get ready to build the memo- rial I want you to send me some of your thumbmarks and linger prints, so that the pie may be historically correct. Also, I shall keep a candle burning in front of the pedestal, day and night, to impress people with the solemnity of the surroundings. Of course, I'll invite you up to the unveiling, so don't make too many engagements far ahead. And don't tell anybody just yet, because I don't want it to get into the papers until the Municipal Art Commission has approved the plan of the "Pie Beautiful Memorial." Now I suppose I'll have to leave this pleasant theme and come down to worldly affairs. I suppose Bud has been out nutting these days and that the farmers are waiting for the first frost before beginning their husking. I'd like to be down there, wading through the leaves in Marshall's woods, with a bag of shell barks on 54 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER my back and with my fingers black from walnut stains. I tell you that's the kind of life that gives a fellow a grand appetite, and by the time he gets home and catches a whiff of fried chicken and biscuits and honey, with the hallowed perfume of pumpkin pie hovering near, he is in a most recep- tive mood as regards the supper hour. I can see you now, standing at the kitchen stove, sur- rounded by a circle of eager little faces, including Old Shep, and with ever)' eye following the supper preparations with alert and expectant interest. Those were grand old days, those days when I was on the jury to judge your cooking. Loud cheers for them, and viva la Pumpkin Pie I Here I am again talking about pie, so I guess I'd better stop before I use up all my stationery. Give my love to the kitchen stove and to my place at the table, and be sure to keep my napkin-ring polished up ready for an emergency. With oceans of love to you and all the folks. CHARLEY. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 55 DEAR MOTHER : Only about four weeks more till Thanksgiving, and then LOOK OUT ! You'll see a familiar figure dash down the road from the depot, jump the fence in one leap, and light right smack in the family circle with a choice lot of hugs and kisses imported especially from Chicago for home consumption. I may have to come down on the night train, but I hope I may be able to arrange to take the afternoon train the day before. It will be simply great, and I'm look- ing forward to my visit as eagerly as I used to look forward 56 DAWSON 'i i FORTUNE HUNTER to Christmas. Why, already I've lived over my trip home a hundred times in anticipation, and each time it gets nicer. Sis must play over all the grand tunes she's learned, and Bud must give me a few lessons in how to crack hickory nuts and eat Belleflower apples. I'm afraid I've gotten completely out of practice since I came up here. You see, they don't specialise in eating hickory nuts in the good old way up here. They don't know that the only genuine way to enjoy hickory nuts is to crack them on a flatiron in front of a roaring fire and without company manners to hamper your technique. I suppose Nell Courtright is at home now and will be when I come down. Scads Allcott dropped in again last night and casually mentioned that he had received a letter from her, but I didn't ask any particulars, for fear of afford- ing him the pleasure of being considered an authority on the subject. He says he's going down on Thanksgiving, too. I don't know what to make of Scads. I think the city is going a little bit to his head. He isn't as nice as he used to be. You remember, I used to like him in college, but he certainly has changed since he came up here. I don't know just what it is, but whenever I'm with him I seem to notice that he seems a little coarser and more sporty than ever. When he came in last night I was working, and I actually believe he resented it. "Great Scott!" he said, "can't you get enough work in DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 57 office hours without lugging it home with you? You'll be an old man at forty, Dawson, if you keep this up." I didn't say anything, so he lighted a cigarette, and eyed my work with disapproval. "Do you know what I think?" said he. "I think you're seventeen kinds of a chump to sit in this stuffy hole working while there are so many pleasanter forms of exercise. I'll bet your boss isn't working to-night, or any other of the big men in your office. Not much !" I didn't want to get into an argument with him, but I just couldn't help remarking that the boss and the big men probably had to do a lot of night work in order to be where they are to-day. "Rats and again rats!" remarked Scads. "You're getting to be one of these goody-goody boys, and if you don't wake up and sow a wild oat or two you will be about as exciting as a last year's bird's nest. Come on, put on your coat, and let's get out among the bright lights. I'll show you what you're missing before it's too late." I told him he would have to count me out. "All right, all right. Far be it from me to tempt any nice young man from the paths of rectitude. Stick to your work, Dawson, and by forty you'll have a couple of thousand dollars saved up and be baldheaded, with the last remnant of your youth gone. Now is the time to play, when you have the capacity for enjoyment, and not when you are an old man who doesn't know how to do anything but work. Sure you 58 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER won't come? I know a couple of live girls who will make you sit up and take notice." "Go ahead, Scads. Have all the good time you want. Burn up the town if you feel that way, but just count me out. I have a certain hunch that when a young fellow is trying to get started in business, that that is not the time for him to be chasing around. Competition's too keen these days. So, if you'll just kindly excuse me, I'll stick to my knitting till I'm established. Then there will be time to relax occasionally." "Sounds like a baccalaureate address. Say, Dawson, do you ever get any pleasure out of life? Do you ever cut loose and act like a natural human being?" "Sure," said I, laughing. "I go to a good play once a week, I take in a moving picture show occasionally, and I'm getting to know a lot of very clean, decent young fellows. I also expect to get a lot of satisfaction out of the fact that I'll make good in my work, if I do, and there'll be some pleasure in that." Scads laughed in an unpleasant way. "Why, you're getting to be quite a preacher, aren't you? That ought to make you very popular, because people love to be preached to. Have you tried the Y. M. C. A. yet?" he asked. "You'd have a lovely time there reading the papers and discussing moral topics." "Scads, you're becoming quite a humourist. By the way, how are you getting on in your work?" I casually inquired. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 59 "Oh, ho ! Sarcastic, eh? Well, you never mind about me. I'll get along all right, and I won't be a sissy, either." And with that he went out, carefully slamming the door. The joke of it is that Scads has had two jobs since he's been up here and was politely let out of each one in spite of his father's influence. Just now he is at leisure. If he didn't have his father to fall back on he would be up against it good and plenty, or else he'd have to try harder to hold his jobs. With these few remarks and with love to all Affectionately your son, CHARLEY. P. S. I think before I get through I shall have to lick Scads. He seems to be lacking in proper respect. 6o DAWSON 'n FORTUNE HUNTER DEAR MOTHER: I had a curious experience yesterday, which has left me feeling quite depressed ever since. I was walking down to my work, as I usually do in the morning, ambling gayly along, enjoying the sunshine, and think- ing favorably of my coming Thanksgiving pilgrimage down home, when suddenly a little dog dashed out of a side street and hustled down the sidewalk ahead of me. You should have seen him. He was the most woebegone specimen I've ever seen all matted and frowsy and, I suppose, without a friend in the DAWSON f 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER 61 world, although willing to make friends with anybody. He was very thin, and his eyes had the hurt and frightened look of one who has been kicked and chased throughout the whole length of his short and wretched life. He had the look of one who has learned by bitter experience that he is not welcome any- where. Well, I felt so sorry my heart went right out to him. He didn't see me until I was quite near, and then he gave a startled look and scurried out of the way. I guess he thought I was going to kick at him, as mostly everybody else had done, so I resolved that if I never did anything else in my life I'd give that dog one good time that he would always re- member. So I stopped and whistled to him. He was very much surprised. Here was a new game and he didn't know what to make of it. His head was cocked inquiringly to one side. So I whistled some more and spoke to him so kindly that a wistful look came into his eyes, his tail began to wag apologetically, and he slowly wriggled his way toward me. I made more friendly overtures, but he was afraid to trust him- self within patting distance, and so, after trying so long that I was afraid of being late at the office, I sadly resumed my way. After some time I turned and what do you think? There he was, trotting along behind me. When I stopped he stopped, still out of reach. I again addressed him in friendly terms, and after that he seemed to think that the miracle had hap- pened and that at last he had found a friend. His eyes seemed to brim over with trustfulness and gratitude. So he joined me 62 DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER in my walk, sometimes trotting at my side, sometimes ahead, and sometimes he would make little detours to investigate al- leys and garbage boxes, but all the time looking around, so as not to lose me. Once I had to go back to find him, and he seemed overjoyed at this evidence of my concern. He wagged so violently that I was afraid he would put his tail out of joint, and I'll bet his little ribs rattled in the slack of his corrugated sides. I resolved to give him a feast that would take every wrinkle of hunger out of those sides, and as I walked along I was busy making plans for his future. There is a little restaurant near where I work and the man who runs it used to live in the country, so that even city life has not entirely smoth- ered his sympathetic interest in the homely little things of life. I decided to take my new friend to this man, purchase a lavish banquet for him, and then try to devise a future home for him. The thought made me quite happy, and I got my reward every time I looked down at the bedraggled but friendly creature that trotted so airily beside me. Two minutes before I reached the restaurant he was at my side, then there was a crush of traffic at a street crossing and when I got across the dog was nowhere to be seen. I went back and looked for him, but he was gone probably had seen some other dog over in the park, or, becoming frightened by the roar of the downtown district, had turned to go back to the quieter districts from which he had come. Well, I was terribly sorry, and all day long at my work I DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 63 couldn't help thinking of him. And somehow the more I thought of the incident the more significant it became. It reminded me of some people I have known the ones who always get discouraged and quit trying just at the crucial mo- ment, when success is almost in their grasp. They may be honest and well meaning, but they give up just a moment too soon. Now, if that dog Alexander the Great, Jr., I called him had stuck two minutes longer he would have had wealth and friends and a comfortable home. But, like lots of people, he quit, or got discouraged, or allowed himself to be distracted by something else, and now, I suppose, is shivering and hungry and friendless again. After hopefully waiting all his life for Opportunity to knock on his door he quit waiting just a moment before the summons came. I think I've learned a good deal from that little dog, but I'm terribly sorry for him. We've been having a lot of scrambled weather here. Yes- terday a man was overcome by the heat and to-day it is bitterly cold. Have you started polishing up my napkin-ring? Lots of love to all and an extra helping to you. CHARLEY. P. S. Yours with relation to the evils of fighting duly re- ceived, and in answer will say that all peaceful measures short of the loss of my self-respect will be observed in my dealings with Scads. i FORTUNE HUNTER TAEAR MOTHER: I have just marked off another day on -J-^the calendar, so that there are now only ten days to be hurdled before I land in your midst on Thanksgiving Day. It doesn't seem so long except when I count it in seconds, and then the result almost gives me heart failure 864,000 seconds ! It sounds like a lifetime, so I figure in weeks instead of seconds. You see, it's only one week and a little over, and I think by superhuman patience I can last that long. I'm al- ready beginning to feel a pleasant glow that makes me very happy, and also, when I allow myself to think of what I shall do to the food supply, I confess that I am strangely interested. If you'll be one hundredth part as glad to see me as I'll be to see you, you'll certainly be considerably tickled. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 65 I've been practising for the Thanksgiving dinner for some time. Every Saturday night Merritt and I go to a new restau- rant and practise up, so that by the time I go home I shall be no amateur with the knife and fork. Merrill's a nice fellow and I am trying to persuade him to go home with me for Thanksgiving his own home being too far away and I know you'll like him, because he's a very clean and clever citizen who is sure to amount to a good deal one of these days. The prospects are that I'll arrive in good condition. You'll be glad to hear that Scads and I buried the hatchet last night not very deep, I'm afraid, but deep enough so that only the handle sticks out and I imagine we won't have to go to The Hague or the mat just yet. Even as I write I can still hear the echoes of the white-winged dove of peace as it flapped gayly around us last night. In fact, it flapped almost too loud to be comfortable, for the peace conference was held in a restaurant and attracted a great deal of concentrated atten- tion from the rest of the people at the tables. This is the way it happened : Merritt and I had been to our weekly show, and as it was Saturday night we stopped in at a restaurant to get a bite before wending our way home- ward. Well, while we were sitting there discussing affairs of state and giving expert advice on how to run the government, who should come in but Scads. He had some girl with him, and they took a table over in the corner not far from us. Scads was trying to convince the girl that Yale would eat up Harvard next 66 DAWSON ' 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER week and the girl was urging him not to talk so loud. You would have thought Scads was at least the president of Yale, to hear him talk, though, of course, he's never been there in his life and only knows the yells from hearsay. Finally Merritt and I started out and Scads saw us and called to us as if shouting across a football field. Everybody looked around to see what the trouble was, while Scads in his efforts to reach us knocked over a chair and spilled a lot of overcoats and hats on the floor. It was very embarrassing, because Scads was determined that we shouldn't go until we had met his friend. "Come over, Dawson, and meet my little playmate. You, too, Merritt; the more the merrier." Well, to avoid a long and painful argument out in the middle of the floor we went over, Scads whispering to us to remember that his name was Livingston Herbert Livingston and that he lived in New York. He introduced us and began hammering the table for a waiter. It was awfully embarrassing, because everybody was looking at him and some of the people were getting sore. I felt sorry for the girl, though she didn't seem to mind it very much, but kept telling him to keep quiet. Well, we got away at last and I breathed a sigh of relief when we got outside. I'm afraid Scads will have a quick finish if he keeps up this pace very long, and I can't help feeling sorry that he is losing his head so fearfully up here. Well, it's getting late now, so I must close. Don't forget the day and date November 3a-week slave in Chicago. As. Mrs. Allcott, she will have her costume described and ride up in a limousine car; as Mrs. Dawson, she will arrive in a street car. No, it's money that counts nowadays. It doesn't make any difference what the man is, provided his name is a big one and the account of the wedding sounds brilliant. A man's got to have money." In this rebellious and gloomy mood he started for a furious walk through the park. It was Sunday, and a genial May sun had brought thou- sands of people out to enjoy the fresh spring loveliness of the trees and the flowers. The day was fairly singing with happi- ness. Upon all sides there were cheerful and smiling faces. Nature was purring, and all the world seemed to have put on its most joyous air in honour of the day. 146 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER As Dawson sat on the stone coping of the esplanade, he noted with a dull sense of resentment that humanity had paired off in happy couples. Every young man was side by side with a girl. It was the spirit of spring in its happiest manifestation. To Dawson it seemed that he alone was out of harmony with the picture. A pleasant voice brought him out of his somber thoughts, and he looked up to see Sewell, the man who had tried to bribe him to reveal the bids of Morrill & Co. on a big contract. "Hello, Dawson," said Sewell. "What's the matter? Aren't your high ideals agreeing with you?" Sewell had arrived at the moment when those ideals of honesty were sorely beset as they never had been before. If there ever was a time when the possession of money seemed of vast importance, this was the moment. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 147 TT7HEN Sewell spoke to Dawson he waited a moment to * see whether his friendly advances would be repelled, and when they were not he sat down on the stone coping beside the disconsolate young man. "What's the matter, Dawson? Business, girl, or health? Or just spring fever?" "Mostly spring fever, I guess," answered Dawson, smiling dryly. "Spring fever with sentimental complications." "So? An affair of the heart, eh? Well, this is the season for such attacks. 'In the spring a young man's fancy/ you know." Dawson said nothing, but in his heart he felt vaguely resentful of things in general. Here was Sewell, well dressed, 148 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER prosperous looking, apparently at peace with the world, and yet with a low code of business morals. The memory of their last interview was fresh in his mind, and he recalled how Sewell had attempted to establish a working alliance with him in order to profit at the expense of their respective employers, the rival firms of Dodge & Co. and Morrill & Co. And here was he, Dawson, who had clung to his high ideals, and who now was in the slough of despond because a rival, with no advantages, save the possession of a rich father and a prominent name, supposedly had supplanted him in the affections of a girl. He felt a compunction against discussing an affair of this kind with Sewell, but the desire to talk of it was strong. Sewell's attitude was one of friendly concern and sympathy. "How does it happen, Sewell, that you, who make no bones about doing underhanded work for Dodge & Co., are cheerful and good-humored, while I, who won't stand for any- thing that isn't on the square, am just at present somewhat down on my luck? It doesn't seem quite appropriate, does it?" Sewell smiled indulgently. He seemed to take no offense at the frank words of the younger man. "Well, Dawson, there are a lot of things that you've got to learn before you get along much farther. High ideals are all right I won't quarrel with you on that score but high ideals and business don't always go together. You've got to strike a working average between them. Now, I suppose, you DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 149 know that I wouldn't steal a cent under any circumstances. I'd rather have my hand cut off. But when it comes to using my brain and my opportunities in other directions I don't allow any grand and lofty scruples to interfere. You can't adjust high ideals with cut-throat business methods, such as exist to-day. For instance, take the successful business men of to-day the big millionaires ; how many of them would be willing to make a clean breast of the methods they used to get their fortunes? Not many, believe me, yours truly. I know." Dawson said nothing, and Seweil continued : "There are two kinds of honesty business and private. I think I am square in a personal and private way, but when it comes to business I merely do what successful men in the past have done. I use my opportunities, and, in a way, I be- lieve that the end justifies the means. After a man makes a great fortune, people don't concern themselves about the way he made it. The mere fact that he has it is as far as they look. He becomes a philanthropist and a prominent citizen. His name is on all the reception committees when some eminent visitor is to be entertained. Isn't that a fact?" Dawson nodded. "I suppose there is a good deal of truth in what you say, Seweil, but I've also observed that in the last few years the public is not quite so much dazzled by big names. A lot of prominent millionaires have been getting into trouble. Their unscrupulous but financially successful methods are bobbing up 150 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER to plague them. People don't ask, 'Has he got it?' but 'How did he get it?' They won't stand for crookedness the way they used to. You ,can feel it in the air." Sewell smiled in a tolerant way. "A few get into hot water, perhaps, but think of the ones that don't. You have to take a gambler's chance on that proposition. It's part of the game. That's where the spice of danger comes in. Now, take our own cases, for example. I am on Easy Street. I make a good salary and three times as much on the side. You are making a fair salary, and, at the usual rate of advancement, you will be a white-haired old octogenarian before you have a fortune if you depend on your salary. Just figure it up yourself." Dawson smiled grimly. Here was the old argument, the one that every dishonest young straggler was using to extenuate his moral delinquencies. Sewell misconstrued his silence and continued his argument. "Now one of these days you probably will be getting married. And, believe me, your voyage on the matrimonial sea won't be any joy ride at the salary you're getting. Now's the time to get busy on the side. I can put you in the way of making a lot of money if you'll get rid of some of those small town scruples. Get in the game, Dawson, while you're young. You always can reform after you've made your pile, you know. And, in the meantime, you'll stand a lot better show of getting the girl you're after if you've got a. little DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 151 bunch of money ahead. How about it? With ordinary care, no one will ever 4 tumble to' the game we can work together." "No, Sewell, you don't get my point of view at all. It isn't the fear of getting caught that makes me want to keep straight. It's the dread of having to confess to myself that I'm not straight. It isn't what other people may think of me; it's what I would have to think of myself. When I shake hands with a decent person I want to feel that I'm straight and clean. That's the reason I'm trying to be on the square, and why I intend to be, no matter if I don't make a financial suc- cess. I want to keep my own self-respect. As for getting married some day, I don't suppose I shall ever get married, but if I ever should, I think my chances of being happy will be better if I am straight instead of crooked." When Dawson returned to his room that day he felt better for having "stuck to his guns." His talk with Sewell had strengthened his determination to be on the square, "no matter what." It would be nice, of course, if he could have included Nell Courtright in his plans for the future, but even if he could not he would have the satisfaction of being straight for his own sake. A special delivery letter awaited him. "Dear Charley," it read, "No letter from you this week. I do hope you are not ill. Please don't be, because I want you to be sure to come down for commencement next week. Write soon and tell me you will surely come. "NELL." 152 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER DAWSON obtained a two days' leave of absence from the office, and long before train time he boarded the car that was to carry him home. It seemed too good to be true. In a few short hours he should again be among the people he loved so much and whom he had not seen since Thanks- giving time. His eagerness grew as the train sped on, and when at last he saw familiar landmarks by the track, he moved himself and his suitcase up to a seat near the door. He was determined to get every minute out of his visit home. As a final preparation for his triumphant return he carefully brushed DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 153 his new spring suit, and determined to do all he could to im- press his old neighbours with visible signs of his prosperity. The family reunion at the depot was up to all his ex- pectations. Bud even had brought old Shep down to greet the returned traveler, and Dawson's measure of happiness was filled when the venerable dog wagged a demonstrative recog- nition. How beautiful everything was! Streets that he last had seen cold and bleak in November were now bowers of deli- cate green; trees that then were gaunt were now triumphal arches of foliage. The air fairly purred with happiness, and Dawson could hardly restrain himself from such exhibitions of joy as would be unbecoming in a dignified man of affairs such as he now was. Dinner! All that the wildest dreams had pictured. A feast to make Lucullus stir enviously in his somber mausoleum. It was an epicurean symphony played on the harps of angels ! From time to time Dawson murmured "Gee !" in complete ac- knowledgment of his utter inability to do justice to the dinner in other words. After the dinner was over and had taken its honoured place among the notable historic epochs of his life, Dawson discoursed at length on life and politics and business, and at half past eight his mother, with instinctive understanding, asked him if he didn't want to call on some of his friends before it became too late. 154 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER "You'll have plenty of time to visit with us," she said. "Now run along and don't stay too late." "Mother's something of a mind-reader," thought Dawson as he left the yard and, by a curious chance, directed his steps unerringly in the direction of Judge Courtright's house. The streets were dark, but from all sides came the sounds of voices and music and distant singing. In the dense shadows, cast by heavy foliage under the street lights, there were glimpses of white dresses as young people strolled along under the arch- ing trees. The air was heavy with the fragrance of flowers, and the spirit of spring was weaving a wondrous spell in Daw- son's heart. From each shadowy yard came the murmur of low voices and youthful laughter; at many of the gates he came upon couples suddenly silenced as he passed. Dawson quick- ened his steps until ahead of him rose the old-fashioned home of Nell Courtright. Ever since he could remember, this dig- nified old house had impressed him as no other house in town had ever done. There was a simple dignity about it that ex- pressed the character of Judge Courtright, and Dawson had never passed it without feeling a certain awe of its modest grandeur. This feeling swept over him anew as he opened the gate and walked into the yard. He suddenly felt very in- consequential. DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER '55 DAWSON pulled the old-fashioned bell knob and a faint tinkle sounded far off in the back of the house. There was a nervous wait, then a hall light was turned up, and a moment later the door was opened by a venerable coloured woman. This was old Aunt Hester, "aunt" by affectionate brevet to every one in town, as well as one of the town's most respected and best known characters. She had been with the Courtrights thirty years and had been with Nell Courtright's mother when the latter was a little girl in the South. Ever since he could remember, Dawson had known her just as she was now with white hair, gold-rimmed glasses, spotless white necker- 156 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER chief and crinkly black silk dress, none of which seemed to change with the passing years. As she walked through the noisy streets of the town sHe always suggested to him an old- time minuet in a ragtime atmosphere. Yes, Miss El'nah was in and would Mistah Dawson "rest" himself in the drawin' room for just a moment ? Miss El'nah would be right down. As Dawson waited, there presently came to his ears the sound of some one moving quickly about in the room above. There seemed to be a great deal of hurrying back and forth, with mysterious intervals of silence. Dawson's nervousness in- creased. He seemed singularly out of place in the midst of the old-fashioned stateliness of the room in which he sat. The walnut woodwork, darkened with age, and the heavy atmos- phere of surroundings that seemed part of a long-gone and time-honoured past, made him seem very small and inconse- quential. The idea of asking Nell Courtright to give up this old home, where she was in her proper setting, for anything that he could offer ! It was preposterous. He thought of the little flat that would be the most that he could give to replace the venerable and faded glory of the Courtright home. No, it was out of the question. He mustn't expect such a miracle to happen. It wasn't fair. She, the daughter of a distinguished man who was rich only in honours and position, deserved more than he could ever hope to give her. And then she came. He found himself shaking her hand DAWSON f 1 1 FORTUNE HUNTER 157 and uttering, in a strange far-away voice, a lot of confused words that seemed fearfully commonplace. He had never seen her looking so pretty, her eyes brimming with friendliness and her cheeks flushed with a glow that he thought must have come from her hurry while dressing. He didn't know what he was saying, and it was not until he felt a gentle tug at the hand he held that he realised how long he had been holding it. "I couldn't help it, Nell. I'm so glad to see you." Both were blushing furiously, but she was the first to recover her composure. "Charley, isn't it dreadfully hot in this stuffy old room? Why in the world did Aunt Hester bring you in here? We always sit on the porch these warm summer nights it's so much cooler out there." And without waiting for a response she fled to the vine-screened porch, where the friendly darkness could hide the betraying confusion in her cheeks. Both were overwhelmed by self-consciousness. The air was charged with disturbing electric currents that made their efforts to talk in commonplace terms seem forced and hollow. Their conversation was lame and halting, and each was inten- sely aware of the reason why it was so. From the darkness came the thousand sounds of a soft summer night. Insects were chirping and humming, and from all sides came the melody of distant singing and music and laughter. Away off some place in the night some boys were singing college songs; from another direction came the sounds 158 DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER of guitars and mandolins; a man was practising on a clarinet down near the river, and yet nowhere in the heavy shadows of the elms and the maples was a human being to be seen. The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers and the poetry of rustling leaves and soft breezes. It was one of the purple nights that live in memory forever. "Isn't it beautiful, Nell?" There was no answer. She didn't dare trust her voice. "I'd rather be here than any place in the world, Nell." There was a long silence and then, in a voice stifled and faint, she managed to frame a reply. "We simply adore it, Charley. Father and I love this old yard." "You know what I mean, Nell. It isn't the yard and the trees and the music; it's being with you, Nell. I've dreamed of it so often" his voice was trembling in its earnestness "O, you'd never believe how much I've thought of it and how much I've longed to be here with you." He paused. "Or any place with you, Nell. You do believe me, Nell, don't you?" He leaned forward and took her hand, half fearing that the wrath of the heavens would descend and smite him. But it did not. He felt her hand tremble a little and was dimly con- scious that her other hand was pressing a little handkerchief to her burning cheeks. There was a suffocating silence that seemed to last an eternity, and then, suddenly, like a sun that bursts from behind the clouds and floods the world with glory, DAWSON 'ii FORTUNE HUNTER 159 came die consciousness that die hand had not been withdrawn. He kissed her, and a moment later was engaged to be married. ******* Dawson '11, Fortune Hunter, had found his Fortune. minium mil A 000 021 370 2