Produced by Al Haines. HE COMES UP SMILING _By_ CHARLES SHERMAN WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARTHUR WILLIAM BROWN INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1912 THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PRESS OF BRAUNWORTH & CO. BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS BROOKLYN. N. Y. *HE COMES UP SMILING* *CONTENTS* CHAPTER I The Beauty Contest II A Close Shave III Enter Mr. Batchelor IV And When I Dine V A Plan and a Telegram VI What Is Heaven Like VII Watermelon Yields VIII Gratitude Is a Flower IX On the Road X The Deserted House XI A Night’s Lodging XII The Key to the Situation XIII Only to be Lost XIV Billy, Billy Everywhere XV Love in Idleness XVI A Thief in the Night XVII Alphonse Rides Away XVIII Oh, For a Horse XIX A Broker Prince XX The Seven O’Clock Express XXI Rich and Poor Alike XXII The Truth At Last XXIII Back to the Road XXIV The Poet or the Poodle XXV As He Said He Would *HE COMES UP SMILING* *CHAPTER I* *THE BEAUTY CONTEST* "You have a phiz on yer," said the Watermelon with rare candor, "that would make a mangy pup unhappy." "I suppose you think yer Venus," sneered James, a remark that he flattered himself was rather "classy." The Watermelon sighed as one would over the ignorance of a child. "No," said he, "hardly." "Don’t let that bloomin’ modesty of yers keep yer from tellin’ the truth," adjured James. The Watermelon waved the possibility aside with airy grace. "With all due modesty, James," said he, "I can’t claim to be a woman." "Not with that hay on yer mug," agreed Mike, casting a sleepy eye upward from where he lay in lazy content in the long, sweet grasses under the butternut tree. "When I was a kid, I took a prize in a beauty show," announced James, with pardonable pride. "Swiped it?" asked the Watermelon. "Dog show?" inquired Mike drowsily, listening to the pleasing drone of a bee in a near-by clump of daisies. James sat up and ran his fingers with musing regret through the coarse stubble on cheeks and chin. "I was three, I remember, a cute little cuss. My hair was yellow and ma curled it—you know how—all fuzzy—and I had a little white dress on. It was a county fair. I got the first prize for the best lookin’ kid and was mugged for the papers. If I was shaved now and had on some glad rags, I’d be a lady killer, all right, all right."