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Show I .. . I, JJ.V..--IH . ... . ....... The Real Man I He Was I ' .......... i By MYRA CURTIS LANE I - (, 1923. Western Newspaper Union. ) 4JOIIN, do you know they're going J to give you a testimonial at the Old Boys' Reunion?" asked Mllly. "I've heard it," he admitted. -For thirty years' service as schoolmaster at Barhams school." John Leigh spoke bitterly. "Thirty years a master at a private school, Hilly. God, what a fate!" "Why, I'm sure it's a very honorable position, John," answered his wife. "It lias given you leisure for study and quiet. You were never meant to hustle hus-tle in the world." He acquiesced, and his wife never knew how her words had stung him. He knew how true they were. He, John Leigh, was temperamentally unfit to struggle in the fighting professional or business world. His was the temperament tem-perament of the scholar. Nevertheless he still had periods of longing to take part in that life that had glided past him. He still dreamed of himself as a successful lawyer or statesman, or even admiral yes, in boyhood he had had the dream of entering en-tering the navy. Of course he would have been hazed out of his class. He knew his limitations. And now there was talk of getting up a testimonial to him on the occasion of the Old Boys' Reunion. Thirty years on the treadmill ! Barhams school was one of the most celebrated private schools in the country. coun-try. It had given great men to the nation. na-tion. And here they were, at the class reunion, men whose photographs appeared ap-peared in the newspapers, but none too greal to come down to the old school. The president was speaking. John Leigh heard his name mentioned. He was eulogizing his long service. John pushed back his gray hair and listened ironically. "He who moulds the minds of the country's youth is greater than. . . ." John knew all that gush. But now the speech was coming to an end, and here it was ... a presentation purse of seven thousand dollars! He was stunned by the munificence mu-nificence of the gift. He was on hi feet, offering thanks In a tremulous little lit-tle speech. . . . "John Leigh, come up here!" He "was at the head table, and they were all about him, talking to -him, shaking him by the hand. Here wns Senator Doane, whom he remembered as a little curly-haired boy in knickerbockers, stammering through his Latin. Doane was telling, as was the custom, of his achievements during the past year. "But I'm prouder of nothing than of having been a Barhams boy. If it hadn't been for the disciplining I had here, I'd never be where I am today." Here was Admiral Purges. What was he saying? A reminiscence of the war. The ship had been torpedoed. Purges had won a reputation for the way he had handled his vessel he was a captain then. He bad calmly seen everybody into the boats. A seaman sea-man had rushed up to him, tried to drag him into ?he. He had recognized the man. "Young Johnson, a Barhams boy. We knew each other. There we stood. At that moment Barhams was the greatest factor in my career." Purges said that. John Leigh re-mejnbered re-mejnbered how he had never been able to cross the geometrical pons aslnorum. And here he was now, one of the big men of the nation. No bigger than Cowles, perhaps, the national lawyer. Cowles was speaking. "Early training at Barhams. Good old Leigh." Everybody was looking at John Leigh. Everybody wanted to shake with him again. It w'as a hectic evening. And there was the purse of seven thousand dollars, representing a fortune for Milly and himself. Oh, school mastering wasn't so bad. Now John Leigli was walking back across the quiet campus alone, toward his bouse. Milly had seen him from the window. She was waiting at the d(ir. She put her arms around him. "Had a good time, my dear?" she asked. He told her of the presentation, showed her the check. But in his heart wr a sense of greater satisfaction. satisfac-tion. He saw now that he had realized himself in this way through these men. lie was Senator Doane. He was Admiral Ad-miral Purges on the sinking ship, and the seaman Johnson, too. These men were he; he bad made them, he had put his personality into them, and lie was immeasurably content. "Not bad at all, Milly," he said. |
