Elmer

“ So, in the dark malodorous car, hot with late spring, filled with women whose corsets creaked to their doleful breathing, with farmers who snored in shirt-sleeves, Elmer stood behind the seat in which a blur marked the shoulders of Art Nichols and a radiance showed the white presence of Sharon Falconer. To Elmer she seemed to kindle the universe. She was so precious, every inch of her; he had not known that a human being could be precious like this and magical. ”

“ So, beset from every side, Elmer had to bow to the popular will. After he had explained how several strong points seemed to dispose of the theory of a tramp having been hidden in the loft of the deserted wheelwright's shop, he saw that he had carried pretty much all his audience with him. The scouts hung on his every word, for they understood that Elmer had passed through considerable experience while out on that big Canada ranch and farm with his father, and knew how to read signs as well as any Indian ever could have done. ”

“ Elmer take me. Elmer, loving as Valentino, crushing me to him with Dougstrong arms, hot as flame, Elmer.
Through the dream she is stitching white fingers beckon. The white tulle shines too bright. Red hands clutch suddenly out of the tulle, she cant fight off the red tulle all round her biting into her, coiled about her head. The skylight's blackened with swirling smoke. The room's full of smoke and screaming. Anna is on her feet whirling round fighting with her hands the burning tulle all round her.
Ellen stands looking at herself in the pierglass in the fitting room. ”

“ That must be Elmer."
She opened the gate, and young Mr. Elmer Franklin of New York entered. A man to respect: an open, manly face, clear blue eyes, and a wiry, compact, and vigorous frame. A man with a sound mind in a sound body. He was dressed in a gray travelling suit, and had a knapsack strapped to his back; in his hand a stout stick looking as if just cut from the roadside, and at his side a field glass in a leather case. Immediately behind him came a man bending under the load of an immense trunk. Alma smiled her best, and the young stranger bowed gallantly.
"Mr. Denny, I presume?" ”

“ We don't know how many men were in the mine with Ventner!"
"Well, produce your idea!" Elmer exclaimed.
"Well, my notion is that I ought to go on ahead of you boys, walking as quietly as possible and without a light. If there are people waiting to snare us, they'll naturally think we've bunched our forces and are all coming along together. ”

“ Benham taking him out to the back-porch and presenting him with a check for five thousand dollars, Elmer had the feeling of possessing a family, of being rooted and solid and secure.
For the wedding there were scores of cocoanut cakes and hundreds of orange blossoms, roses from a real city florist in Sparta, new photographs for the family album, a tub of strictly temperance punch and beautiful but modest lingerie for Cleo. It was tremendous. But Elmer was a little saddened by the fact that there was no one whom he wanted for best man; no one who had been his friend since Jim Lefferts. ”

“ Even this alarming interpretation of his motives could not keep Elmer now from the holy zeal of fighting. He thrust aside the one aged man who stood between him and the baker—bashing in the aged one's derby and making him telescope like a turtle's neck—and stood with his fist working like a connecting-rod by his side. ”

“ As an actor enjoyed grease-paint and call-boards and stacks of scenery, so Elmer had the affection of familiarity for the details of his profession--hymn books, communion service, training the choir, watching the Ladies' Aid grow, the drama of coming from the mysteries back-stage, so unknown and fascinating to the audience, to the limelight of the waiting congregation. ”

“ Elmer: It ticks much faster, and will soon run down.
Mother: It is much the same way with the heart of a person who takes drink with alcohol in it. His heart beats faster; his face gets red, and he can think and talk fast. It is like an engineer putting on steam and sending his train at lightning speed down a steep grade. If nothing worse happens, he will find when he comes where the track is up-grade that his power is gone and he has wasted his steam. ”

“ Elmer felt his lungs free of library dust as he pumped. He broadened his shoulders, rejoiced in sweating, felt that his ministry among real men and living life was begun. He pitied the pale Frank a little, and pumped the harder . . . and made Frank pump the harder . . . up and down, up and down, up and down. It was agony to the small of his back and shoulders, now growing soft, to labor on the up-grade, where the shining rails toiled round the curves through gravel cuts. ”

“ When he had managed to make out what the nature of the white thing was, Elmer planned to return again to his chums, and if it proved to [148] be simply a human being like themselves, he had a scheme in his mind looking to first cutting off all retreat, and then making a capture, after which perhaps they could learn what all this mummery meant. ”

“ Elmer Gantry! Will you hold your tongue and stop being such a wonderful success? Elmer, my dear boy, I'm sure you don't mean to do wrong, but I don't like the way you're treating Cleo . . . and such a dear, sweet, bright, devout girl. ”

“ Elmer saw his cornet-wielding Yankee friend, Art Nichols, with the rest of the evangelistic crew--the aide, Cecil Aylston, the fat and sentimental tenor soloist, the girl pianist, the violinist, the children's evangelist, the director of personal work. (That important assistant, the press agent, was in Lincoln making ready for the coming of the Lord.) They looked like a sleepy theatrical troupe as they sat on their suit-cases waiting for the train to come in, and like troupers, they were dismayingly different from their stage rôles. ”

“ A bright thought has managed to get a foothold in her [115] brain. I bet you it needed a sledge hammer to pound it in. Say, she's beginning to smile at you, Elmer. You've won out. She believes you mean all right. Give him the toad-sticker, Mark, and let him get to work."
Elmer knew that his actions would no longer be misconstrued. The Italian woman understood.
So he held out his hand and received the knife from Mark. The woman moved uneasily, but the smile Elmer gave her was surely enough to disarm any lingering suspicion she may have entertained. ”

“ Elmer admitted.
"Well, you see how you'd be up against it then," Mark went on, earnestly. "A savage Italian woman, who might have a knife along, would be bad enough for one fellow to handle."
"That's so, Mark."
"And should there be a dago man along, why, I guess you'd just have to sit sucking your thumb and not making a move," Mark continued.
"I reckon I would," laughed Elmer. "All of which means that you think I ought to pick out a couple of husky fellows to keep me company." ”

“ Elmer made an examination of the stores, and found nothing amiss there; so it was settled that the crazy man could not have mustered up enough courage to invade the camp of those he considered his enemies.
After breakfast Elmer, accompanied by Chatz and Lil Artha, started out to take a turn around in the woods, and look for signs of a trail made by bare feet. Some of the others amused themselves as they saw fit, sure that if the trail-seekers did make any interesting discovery they would hear all about the same, and undoubtedly be given a chance to help follow it. ”

“ Readily he put his signature to a paper the gentleman wrote out, and Elmer signed his name as a witness. He knew that it all depended upon the ability of the repentant [98] man to make good. If he could show himself worthy of trust, his future was safe in the hands of that fine old gentleman.
"I'll never forget this, kunnel," he said, brokenly, as he stood there and looked his employer in the face firmly. "You're goin' tuh make a man uh me. I don't deserve it a bit, either; for if I got what I deserved——"
"There, that will do, Phil," interrupted the colonel. ”

“ Elmer had already taken hold of the door, and laid out his plan of campaign. He expected every act to dovetail with the others, so as to form a complete whole. And not more than two seconds must elapse after he once started to move, before he finished his work.
Slam went the door shut. A low cry from within told how the nervous Con had given expression to his alarm. Utterly regardless of consequences, now that he had made a start, Elmer slapped the hasp over the stout staple, and then feeling for the hanging nail proceeded to drop it into its place. ”

“ Say, Elmer, I've got some of the best Bourbon you or anybody else ever laid your face to right here in my hip pocket. I suppose you being in a highbrow business like the shoe business, you'd just about faint if I was to offer you a little something to cure that cough!"
"I guess I would, all right; yes-sir, I'd just about faint."
"Well, you're a pretty big fellow, and you ought to try to control yourself." ”

“ Elmer’s success as a literary and moral evangel to Mr. Clyde Tippey sent him back to his excavations with new fervor. He would lead the world not only to virtue but to beauty.
Considering everything, Longfellow seemed the best news to carry to this surprised and waiting world, and Elmer managed to get through many, many pages, solemnly marking the passages which he was willing to sanction, and which did not mention wine. ”

“ Then Mark saw that some object was threshing the bushes furiously. Twice the woman tried to rise, but on each occasion she fell back again.
Then presently he gave a shout as he guessed the true situation.
"She's caught fast in a vine, Elmer. Even the woods work with us! I tell you she's a prisoner right now! All we've got to do is to tie her hands!"
"But look out for that dandelion knife, boys," warned Elmer, as the three of them reached the spot. ”

“ Hubbard, at that time dominating America, Elmer found inspiration. He learned that Rockefeller had not come to be head of Standard Oil by chance, but by labor, genius, and early Baptist training. He learned that there are sermons in stones, edification in farmers, beatitude in bankers, and style in adjectives.
Elmer, who had always lived as publicly as a sparrow, could not endure keeping his literary treasures to himself. But for once Cleo Benham was not an adequate mate. ”

“ There never was, and there never will be again, such a bully chance to lay in a big winter's supply of nuts in double-quick time. And I never did like to take other people's leavings."
"Make up your mind to it we don't have to," Elmer assured him.
"Might as well make ourselves comfy while we're about it," suggested George, as he dropped down, and sat tailor-fashion, with his legs doubled under him.
"Yes, for we may have to stay here quite some time," admitted Elmer, copying his example without hesitation.
"Ain't it nice to watch other people working for you?" observed Ted, after a while. ”

“ She had no Heels on her Shoes, pronounced each Syllable distinctly, and believed that her Mission in Life was to carry Maeterlinck to the Masses.
In nearly every Instance she had a Father who acted as frozen Figurehead for some Trust Company.
Consequently, Elmer began to perk up and serve on Committees which met in Exclusive Homes and were entirely surrounded by Mahogany.
Whenever an Intellectual Queen pushed the Button, Elmer was right there with a Pitcher of Ice Water. ”

“ But boys as well as men often lay splendid plans without taking into account the element of chance that always abounds. Elmer might be doing all he figured on, and yet meet with a cruel disappointment.
He had just drawn back to make the next to last forward hunch, and was in a position where any other movement was an utter impossibility when there sounded a loud and unmistakable sneeze! ”

“ When Elmer, as a Freshman just arrived from the pool-halls and frame high school of Paris, Kansas, had begun to learn the decorum of amour, he had been a boisterous lout who looked shamefaced in the presence of gay ladies, who blundered against tables, who shouted and desired to let the world know how valiantly vicious he was being. He was still rather noisy and proud of wickedness when he was in a state of liquor, but in three and a quarter years of college he had learned how to approach girls. ”

“ Elmer meant it for something."
"And I can guess what it is," declared Chatz Maxfield, the Southern boy.
"Then tell the rest of us," cried several.
"Why, it's dead easy," was his reply. "Stop and think; who's always losing his hat every chance he gets?"
"Nat Scott!" quickly exclaimed Landy.
"All right. And don't we happen to know that Nat was one of those who went ahead of Elmer and Lil Artha by an hour or so," laughed Red.
"Well, I declare!" cried Landy, "and do you mean to say Elmer has guessed that, or did he see the fellows before he wrote this letter?" ”

“ What's on your mind now, Elmer?" and Lil Artha confronted the other as he spoke, lifting a reproachful finger at him.
"Well, there's many a slip between the cup and the lip, you know."
"Oh, rats! Get down to business, Elmer. What might happen to upset our plans?" asked the tall scout.
"One of the men might return."
"And of course throw down the log and liberate our prisoner. But between you and me and the lamp-post, Elmer, I don't believe that's going to happen. 'Cause why? Well, it's my honest belief that this Italiano woman's got all the nerve there is in that crowd. The men are cowards." ”