"All right, then, you lead your horse back to the stable if you want any
lunch, and hereafter you run with the baby-class on the short block
until you think you can ride without falling off. What's the good of my
keeping a stable of first-class horses at the service of a lot of
mush-heads who don't even know how to use 'em? All they do is ruin 'em.
In a week or two, after a good horse is put in the stable, he's not fit
for a gentleman to ride. They pull and haul and kick and beat, when as
a matter of fact the horse has a damned sight more sense than they
have."
We rode off, leaving Itzky alone. The men on either side of me--we were
riding three abreast--scoffed under their breath at the statement that
we were furnished decent horses. "The nerve! This nag!" "This bag of
bones!" "To think a thing like this should be called a horse!" But there
were no outward murmurs and no particular sympathy for Mr. Itzky. He was
a fat stuff, a sweat-shop manufacturer, they would bet; let him walk and
sweat.
So much for sympathy in this gay realm where all were seeking to restore
their own little bodies, whatever happened.
So many of these men varied so greatly in their looks, capacities and
troubles that they were always amusing. Thus I recall one lean iron
manufacturer, the millionaire president of a great "frog and switch"
company, who had come on from Kansas City, troubled with anæmia,
neurasthenia, "nervous derangement of the heart" and various other
things. He was over fifty, very much concerned about himself, his
family, his business, his friends; anxious to obtain the benefits of
this celebrated course of which he had heard so much. Walking or running
near me on his first day, he took occasion to make inquiries in regard
to Culhane, the life here, and later on confidences as to his own
condition. It appeared that his chief trouble was his heart, a kind of
phantom disturbance which made him fear that he was about to drop dead
and which came and went, leaving him uncertain as to whether he had it
or not. On entering he had confided to Culhane the mysteries of his
case, and the latter had examined him, pronouncing him ("Rather
roughly," as he explained to me), quite fit to do "all the silly work he
would have to do here."
Nevertheless while we were out on the short block his heart was hurting
him. At the same time it had been made rather clear to him that if he
wished to stay here he would have to fulfill all the obligations
imposed. After a mile or two or three of quick walking and jogging he
was saying to me, "You know, I'm not really sure that I can do this.
It's very severe, more so than I thought. My heart is not doing very
well. It feels very fluttery."
"But," I said, "if he told you you could stand it, you can, I'm sure.
It's not very likely he'd say you could if you couldn't. He examined
you, didn't he? I don't believe he'd deliberately put a strain on any
one who couldn't stand it."
"Yes," he admitted doubtfully, "that's true perhaps."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account