ncern Raymond was the money
side. Albert cost at school, and was going to cost more at college. His
father began to economize. For instance, he cut off, this spring, the
contribution which he had been making for years in support of an
organization of reformers that had been working for civic betterment.
These men, considering their small number and their limited resources
had done wonders in raising the tone and quality of the local
administration. The city's reputation, outside, had become respectable.
But a sag had begun to show itself--the relapse that is pretty certain
to follow on an extreme and perhaps overstrained endeavor. The little
band needed money. Raymond was urged to reconsider and to continue--the
upgrade would soon be reached again. Raymond sent, reluctantly, a
smaller amount and asked why the net for contributions was not cast a
little wider. He even suggested a few names.

Whether he mentioned the name of John W. McComas I do not know, but
McComas was given an opportunity to help.

"See what they've sent me," he said to me one day on the street.

He smiled over the urgent, fervid phrases of the appeal. The world, so
far as he was concerned, was going very well. It didn't need
improvement; and if it did, he hadn't the time to improve it.

"They appear to be losing their grip," he added. "They didn't do very
well last election, anyhow."

I sensed his reluctance to be associated with a cause that seemed to be
a losing one.

"Well, I don't know," I said. "I'm giving something myself; and if I can
afford to, you can."

But he developed no interest. He sent a check absurdly disproportionate
to his capacity (he was embarrassed, I am glad to say, when he mentioned
later the amount); and I incline to think that even this bit was done
almost out of a personal regard for me.

Raymond cut a part of his own contribution out of Albert's allowance,
and there was better reason than ever why Albert should not take a long
trip for only four or five days at home.

IV

It is tiresome, I know, to read about municipal reform; most of us want
the results and not the process--and some of us not even the results.
And it is no less tiresome to read about investments, unless we are
dealing with some young knight of finance who strives successfully for
his lady's favor and who, successful, lives with her ever after in the
style to which her father has accustomed her. But in the case of a
maladroit man of fifty....