Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Runaway wives -- Fiction; Sportswriters -- Fiction
There was never any telling when some stray scrap of information could
be pressed into service for a sporting story. For instance Peter had
been struck by that quotation from Walter Pater about the Mona Lisa
which he had happened upon in a Sunday newspaper story. Two years later
he had been able to use it about Ed Dunkhurst, the human freight car, by
paraphrasing the line to read, "Here is the head upon which all the jabs
of the world have come and the eyelids are a little weary."
The quotation had given distinction to the story. Sporting writing ought
to be just as distinguished as a man could make it. The days of the
lowbrow commentator were disappearing. Young Peter might very well carry
on and expand the tradition which he had begun. To be sure, there wasn't
any hurry about giving him the job. Twenty-five years more for himself
would be about right. By that time young Peter would be just twenty-five
years and three weeks old. A year or so of general work on the city
staff of the Bulletin might be good for him. Indeed anything on the
newspaper would do for a start. That was, anything real. Book critics
and people like that weren't really newspaper men. On his fiftieth
birthday, perhaps, Peter would go to the managing editor and say, "I'm
through and there's just one thing I want from the Bulletin. I think
it's only fair that you should let me name my successor."
And the managing editor would say, "Why, of course, Neale, who is it to
be?"
"His name is Peter Neale."
Naturally, the managing editor would express some regrets. He would pay
a warm tribute to the worth and career of Peter Neale, at the end of
which Peter would remark, "I'm glad you feel that way about it, sir."
After that formality the substitution would be accepted. The line of
Neale would remain unbroken.
All this gazing into the future cheered up Peter so much that he started
out very gaily that afternoon to compose a column and mind the baby at
the same time. Unfortunately the five o'clock feeding time came around
just as he was getting into the swing of an article on the advantages of
being lefthanded for the purposes of baseball. Somebody had told him
that the Bible had something to say on the subject. Peter found it in
the twentieth chapter of Judges where he read: "The inhabitants of
Gibeah.... Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men
lefthanded; everyone could sling stones at an hair-breadth, and not
miss."
That was just meat for Peter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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