may have possessed had been sated by his career as an
itinerant. Now he asked only to be allowed to hatch his golden dollars
peacefully, afar from all harsh winds of controversy. That his own son
should feel a more stirring ambition left him clucking, a bewildered hen
on the brink of perilous waters.

But he clucked cunningly. And before he undertook his appeal to bring
the errant one back to shore he gave himself two days to think it over.
To this extent Dr. Surtaine had become a partisan of the new enterprise;
that he, too, previsioned an ideal newspaper, a newspaper which, day by
day, should uphold and defend the Best Interests of the Community, and,
as an inevitable corollary, nourish itself on their bounty. By the Best
Interests of the Community--he visualized the phrase in large print, as
a creed for any journal--Dr. Surtaine meant, of course, business in the
great sense. Gloriously looming in the future of his fancy was the day
when the "Clarion" should develop into the perfect newspaper, the fine
flower of journalism, an organ in which every item of news, every line
of editorial, every word of advertisement, should subserve the one vital
purpose, Business; should aid in some manner, direct or indirect, in
making a dollar for the "Clarion's" patrons and a dime for the
"Clarion's" till. But how to introduce these noble and fortifying ideals
into the mind of that flighty young bird, Hal?

Dr. Surtaine, after studying the problem, decided to employ the instance
of the Mid-State and Great Muddy River Railroad as the entering wedge of
his argument. Hal owned a considerable block of stock, earning the
handsome dividend of eight per cent. Under attacks possibly leading to
adverse legislation, this return might well be reduced and Hal's own
income suffer a shrinkage. Therefore, in the interests of all concerned,
Hal ought to keep his hands off the subject. Could anything be clearer?

Obviously not, the senior Surtaine thought, and so laid it before the
junior, one morning as they were walking down town together. Hal
admitted the assault upon the Mid-and-Mud; defended it, even; added that
there would be another phase of it presently in the way of an attempt on
the part of the paper to force a better passenger service for
Worthington. Dr. Surtaine confessed a melancholious inability to see
what the devil business it was of Hal's.

"It isn't I that's making the fight, Dad. It's the 'Clarion.'"

"The same thing."

"Not