Arthur Train

“ Do you know that frayed sparrow that comes and sits on your window ledge and waits for some one? Do you know that lightness that steals over your heart of a morning when you seat yourself at your desk amid the smell of dusty lawbooks? Well, there comes a time when the breeze and the sparrow and the leap of the heart unite to tell you that something is happening to old Mother Earth—and at the same time something happened to Bat. ”

“ For the first time in our lives we lawyers slept easily; for we knew that if by any chance anyone of us should kept from the office Bat would never let a default be taken or other legal accident guardian angel for the small
"Look here, you Bat!" said Hallowell to him one day in March. "Don't you ever take any exercise—play, I mean?"
"Play!" answered Bat solemnly. "I ain't got time to play. What would become of the office?" ”

“ Bat closed his eyes and sank back dreamily with a smile of content. "Then I'll go to sleep." he whispered.
OUT in the corridor the three men looked one another in the eyes and deep down into one another's hearts.
"We're a bunch of infernal brutes!" growled Rynders. "Dumping everything on that kid!"
"Have to give him a big raise—what?" asked Fink, who blamed himself for the whole thing.
"Raise!" echoed Hallowell with solemn earnestness. "When he's able that boy's going to Harvard!" ”

“ CONFOUND it!" snapped Rynders at ten o'clock Monday Morning after Miss Swazey had vainly endeavored for a space to manipulate the telephone. "Where do you suppose Bat can be? This office will go to the dogs in about half an hour more."
"Where does he live?" asked Hallowell.
"Why, I don't know," answered Swazey, "I never asked him. I don't think anybody ever did."
"Nice fix we're in, eh?" growled Fink. "This telephone will simply drive me crazy! No one seems to know even how to stop it from buzzing. Can we get another boy in—temporarily?" ”

“ My best bet is that your boss is Out playing golf or up at the Polo Grounds. Well, I ain't takin' any chances. This is a big ease—the biggest Hallowell ever got a 'look-in' on. If he's gone for the day, I'll just stay right here and dictate the story to you till it lasts. You can take dictation, can't you? Well, get your pencil!"
W. J. Thorne threw off his coat and lit a large, gilt banded cigar with luxurious deliberation. He had been to college with Tom Hallowell, and knew his predilections on Saturday afternoons. But Bat was staring motionless at him. Lose the game! ”

“ And all the time while he was manipulating the telephone with one hand Bat would be looking up calls, addressing envelops, putting backs on legal documents, interviewing book agents and insurance men, receiving clients, and ragging the stenographer.
WE used to leave our doors open and hug ourselves with joy to hear him when he fancied himself undiscovered.
"Say, Zaza!" Bat would fling over his shoulder between times, as a relief to the bullied operator. "They got an ad out for auburn mops up to Weber's. Why don't you try? ”

“ His father had been a motorman until he had been killed by a fire engine, and his mother had been an actress who had gone "on the blink" and was now "a janitor" He had one sister, swore horribly, went to night school, and knew the batting average of every member of the National and American Leagues. He was wholly a wonder, that Bat! The four offices—Rynders". Fink's, Hallowell's, and mine—opened into a central space where Bat—so called from his ears—sat "at the focus of our convergency," answering the telephone, taking orders, giving information, and directing affairs from eight a. ”

“ Also he would lie—for the office—in a way to convince the most doubtful of Thomases, and so consummately that the recording angel must, I believe, on those occasions have unhesitatingly taken the position that Morals did not enter into Art. If by any chance clients asked our whereabouts, we were never, by any possibility, off on a vacation. ”

“ He must finish up all his work so that he would have nothing on his mind the day of the great game!
AND then suddenly the towers began to fall about him. Rynders developed a touch of rheumatism and Stayed at home, and Hallowell was called to Portland to a directors' meeting. On Friday afternoon a case came in that required the immediate drawing of papers, and Fink and I stayed down in the office until eleven p. m. with both Swazey and Bat hammering away for dear life at the machines. ”

“ He drew a paper from his pocket, "I thought you might want to know.
"'With the score two to one against them, the Giants began the ninth with McGraw at the bat. The Pittsburgher was sending cannonlike balls over the plate, which he apparently curved at will out of reach. But Josh stepped forward to meet the third ball and sent it screaming over right field for a three-bagger. The crowd howled itself hoarse, and Tiny Tim Doolan rushed his six feet three to the plate and grinned at Devore. The first ball pitched he pounded between short and second for a single. ”