neighborhood that he was so prosperous that his son never worked
around the house.

He stood on the sleeping-porch and did his day's exercises: arms out
sidewise for two minutes, up for two minutes, while he muttered, "Ought
take more exercise; keep in shape;" then went in to see whether his
collar needed changing before dinner. As usual it apparently did not.

The Lettish-Croat maid, a powerful woman, beat the dinner-gong.

The roast of beef, roasted potatoes, and string beans were excellent
this evening and, after an adequate sketch of the day's progressive
weather-states, his four-hundred-and-fifty-dollar fee, his lunch with
Paul Riesling, and the proven merits of the new cigar-lighter, he was
moved to a benign, "Sort o' thinking about buyin, a new car. Don't
believe we'll get one till next year, but still we might."

Verona, the older daughter, cried, "Oh, Dad, if you do, why don't you
get a sedan? That would be perfectly slick! A closed car is so much more
comfy than an open one."

"Well now, I don't know about that. I kind of like an open car. You get
more fresh air that way."

"Oh, shoot, that's just because you never tried a sedan. Let's get one.
It's got a lot more class," said Ted.

"A closed car does keep the clothes nicer," from Mrs. Babbitt; "You
don't get your hair blown all to pieces," from Verona; "It's a lot
sportier," from Ted; and from Tinka, the youngest, "Oh, let's have a
sedan! Mary Ellen's father has got one." Ted wound up, "Oh, everybody's
got a closed car now, except us!"

Babbitt faced them: "I guess you got nothing very terrible to complain
about! Anyway, I don't keep a car just to enable you children to look
like millionaires! And I like an open car, so you can put the top down
on summer evenings and go out for a drive and get some good fresh air.
Besides--A closed car costs more money."

"Aw, gee whiz, if the Doppelbraus can afford a closed car, I guess we
can!" prodded Ted.

"Humph! I make eight thousand a year to his seven! But I don't blow it
all in and waste it and throw it around, the way he does! Don't believe
in this business of going and spending a whole lot of money to show off
and--"

They went, with ardor and some thoroughness, into the matters of
streamline bodies, hill-climbing power, wire wheels, chrome steel,
ignition systems, and body colors. It was much more than a study of
transportation. It was an aspiration for knightly rank. In the city of
Zenith, in the