U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [327]
And there he cracked her maidenhead
Hankypanky parleyvoo
NO DROP IN PRICES TO FOLLOW PEACE SAY
BUSINESS MEN
KILLS SELF AT DESK IN OFFICE
MODERN BLUEBEARD NOW VICTIM OF MELANCHOLIA
He is none other than General Minus of the old Russian Imperial General Staff, who, during the Kerensky régime, was commander of troops in the region of Minsk. Paris policemen threaten to join strike movement, al ow it to send into France barrels bearing the mystic word Mistel es. One speculator is said to have netted nearly five mil ion francs within a week. Oh the first three months and all went well
But the second three months she began to swell
Hankypanky parleyvoo
large financial resources, improved appliances and abun-dant raw materials of America should assist French genius in restoring and increasing industrial power of France, joining hands in the charming scenery, wonderful roads, excel ent hotels, and good cookery makes site of Lyons fair crossed by
-345-the 45th paral el. Favored by great mineral resources its future looms incalculably splendid. Any man who attempts to take over control of municipal functions here wil be shot on sight, Mayor Ole Hanson remarked. He is a little man himself but has big ideas, a big brain, and big hopes. Upon first meeting him one is struck by his resemblance to Mark Twain
RICHARD ELLSWORTH SAVAGE
Dick and Ned felt pretty rocky the morning they sighted Fire Island lightship. Dick wasn't looking forward to land-ing in God's Country with no money and the draft board to face, and he was worried about how his mother was going to make out. Al Ned was complaining about was wartime prohibition. They were both a little jumpy from al the cognac they'd drunk on the trip over. They were already in the slategreen shal ow seas off Long Island; no help for it now. The heavy haze to the west and then the low boxlike houses that looked as if they were drowned in the water and then the white strip of beach of the Rock-aways; the scenicrailways of Coney Island; the ful green summer trees and the grey framehouses with their white trim on Staten Island; it was al heartbreakingly like home. When the immigration tug came alongside Dick was sur-prised to see Hiram Halsey Cooper, in khaki uniform and puttees, clambering up the steps. Dick lit a cigarette and tried to look sober.
"My boy, it's a great relief to see you. . . . Your mother and I have been . . . et . . ." Dick interrupted to introduce him to Ned. Mr. Cooper, who was in the uniform of a major, took him by the sleeve and drew him up the deck. "Better put on your uniform to land.""Al right, sir, I thought it looked rather shabby.""Al the better. . . . Wel , I suppose it's hel over there . . . and
-346-no chance for courting the muse, eh? . . . You're coming up to Washington with me tonight. We've been very un-easy about you, but that's al over now . . . made me realize what a lonely old man I am. Look here, my boy, your mother was the daughter of Major General El s-worth, isn't that so?" Dick nodded. "Of course she must have been because my dear wife was his niece. . . . Wel , hurry and put your uniform on and remember . . . leave al the talking to me."
While he was changing into the old Norton-Harjes
uniform Dick was thinking how suddenly Mr. Cooper had aged and wondering just how he could ask him to lend him fifteen dol ars to pay the bil he'd run up at the bar. New York had a funny lonely empty look in the
summer afternoon sunlight; wel here he was home. At the Pennsylvania station there were policemen and plain-clothes men at al the entrances demanding the registra-tion cards of al the young men who were not in uniform. As'he and Mr. Cooper ran for the train he caught sight of a dejectedlooking group of men herded together in a cor-ner hemmed by a cordon of sweating cops. When they got in their seats in the parlorcar on the Congressional Mr. Cooper mopped his face with a handkerchief. "You understand why I said to put your uniform on. Wel , I suppose it was hel ?"
"Some of it was pretty bad," said Dick casual y. "I