The evening world. Newspaper, November 12, 1921, Page 13

TWO SECTIONS. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1921. THE EDUCATION OF PERCY SKINNER By JAMES HOPPER Illustrated by WILL B. JOHNSTONE The Methods of Rosie O’Flare Changed Him From a ‘“‘Rabbit” f Into a “Lion” and the Result Gave Them Both a Big Surprise! HIS happened in the days an- tedating the era of the Great Prohibition, It could then not be written for fear it might prove Bad Example. Now, though, full within the time of the Great Prohibition, it is free of such menace. Bad it may still be, but Ex- ample it cannot be—not by the re- Motest of possibilities. It is therefore ect down to paper in the full certitude that it will do no one harm and lead mo one astray. Percy Skinner worked behind the silk counter of the largest department store ‘n a great city of our land—a city so great it is @ lied little, and so new it is called o'd. ‘Little, old'’-—— it is called, and within it are gathered, taised to the nth degree, size, fortune and folly, Everything there is est-the bnildings highest, all things dearest, the music wildest, and there, in the past, were the cocktails strongest and the beer coldest. A sublimated mining camp it is, in this land which, so far, has been after all but a mine—a placer mine—with its treasures strewn over the ground merely for the picking. But this is changing—that is what ails us. The loot is all off the surface, and now we must dig; there’s where the shoc pinches—the $14 shoe! Percy Skinner worked behind the silk counter, which means that forty-eight times a day he drew down from the shelves on high some hundred bolts of vhimmering stuff which he spread un- der the palpitant nose of some frivolous ittle lady, who after hesitating hours, usually went away having bought none cf it. He was a poor salesman, He was shy—that was the truth of it. The subtle fragrance which emanates from femininity had the power of paralyzing Lim stiff. He paled, his jaws locked, his tongue thickened, he became a per- fect idiot. His salary was eightecn a week. Every day after work he went to the Young Men's Protective Club. He took a chair in the big hall, facing the white cloth stretched for the lantern projec- tions, To his left was the door of the elevator which went up to the hand- ball courts and down to the swimming poo!. This door clanged incessantly to the entrance or exit of fresh-cheeked young men, all smooth and glowing with the cleanliness, inner and outer, of exercise and bath. Perey threw a side glance at them once in a while, and then an obscure discontent stirred bis heart, to which, however, he did not listen, He had no time for frivolities; he was busy bettering his mind, fitting himself for advancement in the world, as he end Etta in sage counsel] had decided many times he should do. He was tak- ing courses in bookkeeping, typewrit- ing, stenography and Spanish, and sedulously attending two other courses which were guaranteed to give him respectively an unerring memory and an iron will. Any one watching him as he sat there, waiting for the lesson to Legin, would have felt for him some- thing close to pity. He looked so shut- im, 80 disoxygenated! Though sti!) a young mag, his hair was dry, his cheeks were lined, his eyes lusteriess, One felt like bouncing him down into the pool or up into the handball) courts, 40 about him were many just like him the parchment skin, the dead eyes who confinement day's work added this toil and confine- ment--and all very patient and wistful, went fo dinner at a s; eating place frequented of palo people, in the packages and cereals, that gave r 1 place dedicated rather to the necds of hens than the wants of men. aseptic meal, He had early become a sober student of the cult known as Chew-chew, and had acquired an ex- cegerated fear and hatred of the monster called Protein. The base of lis dinner was apt to be a substance seemingly extracted from a packing ease, doused with bluish milk, and crowned, on festive days, with a cold baked apple, Upon which, fortified, he went to call on Etta. Etta Schlumberger was a sensible maid with flaxen hair, wide blue eyes, and a soft knob at the end cf her nose which somehow expressed THEY DANCED THE ENTIRE EVENING all her vatues, Which were genUcnesg vomesticity and good common sense The affair was of long standing, but had run well-banked, without flame, Several years ago they had decided they would marry, and at the same time had decided it would ve foollsh to marry too soon, They had settled upon the thine thus: When Perey would have reached forty 6 week, and would have saved $509, they would marry, At present, he had accumulated $364 of the $6 falary was still $18. They but his patient, however, and did not orry; Percy’e