UIK SUNDAY P.KK : OMAHA, AUGUST 13, 1922.
it my thoughts nhile I bathed in
Jock's llatlrry. However, this con
versation 1itJ rrvc ij make m
notice thereafter Ihe wss of Mr,
Moore. J oik a peilnl'y rilil.
'I he ncm day I I'M ball on our
third hole and signaled Moure lo
yri ihroiiKh,
Erigerlry Moore was playing
around alone. He had lit If iit the
deliberation which marks lli per
(ret irollrr, ll teemed to III that
lit fiddled (or IS ruintilrf building
and rebuilding tee and taking
1ractice swings before lit gave
nog addrns in I lie hall and fit I
it low, straight into Iht bunker.
A i he plodded past tne he did not
look up, but lui lick registered
Utter ducouraginrilt.
Hi! descended into the bunkrr,
spent two miniiiri deciding on
niblick, and dually whacked at (he
ball, lie sliced it terribly. It wit
bounding across the strip of lair
y when it struck me obstacle,
gave another bound almost at right
angles and dribbled on to I lie edge
of the putting green, lie ran up
the slope like a boy; made, aflrr a
great deal of fiddling, a fair ap
proach putt, and holed out in four.
J hen he became atssrr lor the
first lime it iccmed of my prra
tnce, and emitted a senile rrowiiiff.
"One above pari" he cackled,
waving hit putter, "and from I be
hunker at that)" Ilia ruddy fare
above hi while mustache waa
flowing likt the sun on winter
anowi. It occurred to me then
that a bdated ambition la a terrible
thing. Through all his calm, well
fed life he had entirely escaped the
exciting but perturbing desire to
excel. It had struck him at last,
and all the harder bcrauscso long
delayed.
One afternoon early in October
lie toddled into the clubhouse bow
ed with deep melancholy a score
of 70 or io for the nine holes
written on his countenance. The
dining room had closed, though the
ate w ard remained to sell tobacco
and oft drinks, and most of our
iiimniff crowd had scattered. Only
a few permanent residents and two
or three loafers like me were atill
playing'.
We i.ad aa -milled In the grill
room, getting .'rom soft drinks
what conviviality tne may in these
days when the 18th amendment has
killed the 19th hole Billy Means,
John B, Gillespie, Dr. Carrington
and I. The approach of Mr.
Moore, the certainty that if we
gave him an opening we should
have to listen to the detailed story
of his solitary round, set us all to
chattering. Dr. Carrington, appar
ently grabbing at the first idea
which came into his head, remark
edas he had of tea remarked b
for? "Golf's at least three-quarters
mental, and less than a quarter
physical."
"Don't believe ft. That's theory
aid Billy Mia nil, gj-ouchilv. "I ve
heard that stuff and tried it out.
ft doesn't work, I say to myself,
'Now I will Pit that ball' and I
top it and roll ft about three feet
or slice it into the next lot."
"Jock would tell you that It's be
cause you were gritting your teeth
and pressing," said Dr. Carrington.
"I prefer to put it in another way.
It's as though you were trying to
drive with your puttee. You've
taken the wrong club out of your
intellectual bag that's all. It isn't
the mere conscious mind the kind
we're overworking Just now in this
little argument. fRa the old sub
conscious mind the master and the
mystery
"I that, the mind c one uses In
golf?" asked WB. Gillespie, sud
denly. "Certalnlyv- began the doctor.
And at (his momerit be was inter
rupted by the entrance of Jock
Ransome, the pro, who had come
jn to get some tobacco.
"Jocfc," sfid Dr. Carrington,
"isn't golf more mental than phy.
sical?"
"Su-surel" said Jock. "That's,
what I've been felling you all sum
mer, but you wouldn't listen." Jock
was leaving us; he had been en
gaged for the next season with a
fur richer and more fashionable
club, so that he could afford to be
frank. "Most anybody has the
physique to play good golf. That
ain't the point Col. Riordan up
at Ilollymount he's in the artil
lerydid some figuring on traj
inuzile well, whatever you call
it "
"You mean trajectory and muz
ale velocity," said the doctor.
"That's It. It's the same thing
a shell does. He told me he'd prove
that a ball hit right on the button
started eight times as fast as one
bit a hair's breadth to one side.
That' distance, A child or an old
man who got that trick wouldn't
have to take a whole lot from Abe
Mitchell. How could you get it?
Mind. Same thing with accuracy.
There's days when you're going
gd. Say you've got a 75-yard ap
proach. Well, some way your miud
tells you just where to hit and how
Sard to hit and you run her up to
the pin. And then," Jock added
morosely, "there's other dayi,"
"I suppose, then, that if you had
a lung thinking session with your
i h jii-i before jrni hit the ball
you'd nuke a par tmke every
Inner'' inqmrrd the doctor.
"Nop," anmrred Jock, stepping
right Into the llp, "'tain! (tut kind
ol iiiiud,"
At ihrte ord-uih a perfect,
tmcontciout repetition of the il'K
tor'-e laughed.
"If )ou would li to learn some
thing instead of making gull a
joke," snapped l'k as he poiketrd
his tobacco and withdrew,
Mr. Moore had nol l.iutibe.J. He
still stood, as he bad at the begin
ning lil the conversation, leaning
morosely again! out denatured
bar, every line ol his far dropping
to match the droop ol hi white sea
lion moustai be,
"Well, I'd come putty near sell
ing my soul to the devil to iel that
kind of mind," he said. "Why to
day when I starird to drive I said
In myself--" and promptly Hilly
Means' chair scraiied on lb floor,
I he doctor remembered that he was
late to dinner! i followed without
any excuse whatever, leaving Mr.
Moore still standing at Ibe bar
droning, Mr. Gillespie atill silting
in the corner twirling hi glass and
ar rmiiiK lo make polite pretense of
lisfcuing.
It was evening of a wind swept
October day when, for Ibe tail
lime that season, 1 observed Fdg
ertry Moore golfing. As I plod
ded over 10 begin Ibe weary search
for lost ball on the third hole, I
glanred up. Two players were
putting on Ibe tee, ailhoiilted
against the pink and ashen sky.
An effect ol light and atmos
phere made them seem for the mo
ment like visions, born ( the
land, and I thought of them, in
this sudden moimnt of observa
tion, a children of the air stirring
sonic devil broth on the summit
of a lonely hill. Then I caught
fair sight of them. The witch
semblance vanished, and I realized
that Mr, Moore wa playing
a round with John D. (iillespie,
liy the time we opened the sum
mer greens next season that pair
had become a fixture on our links,
I remembered afterward that I
never saw Moore playing with
anyone except Gillespie, who was
apparently taking the game as
seriously as hi senile partner.
John 11. Gilletipie attracted atten
tion that firing jn another way.
Suddenly his addition to Case Har
bor began to boom. A great
signboard advertising the addition
went up across the station; one
morning there wa a half page ad
vertisement in all the city papers.
In this, as in the sign which now
blotched the clean greenery
of the forest patch across the rail
road track, "sporty, picturesque
and convenient golf link" blared
out in large letters. I didn't like
it at all; it seemed to me to name
the most definite objection
scarcely clubby. I talked it over
freely round the clubhouse' when
Gillespie was not present, and
found opinion divided and mixed.
The proceeding was rather loud
and presumptuous agreed. lint
and although no one went fur
ther, I could supplement that
"but." Most of us owned our
houses. While none had any idea
selling, it was still plcasatit to real
ize that your bit of land had
doubled in value. Which was
probably what would happen if
Gillespie's addition became a suc
cess. But Madge Bavin, whom I found
just mounting the seat of her road
ster, rendered a short and emphatic
minority report.
"It's horrid," she said, "perfectly
horrid 1 We couldn't be really
fashionable here even if we wanted
to. But lo be semi-fashionable
a lot of profiteers and their stall
led wives and their silly, expen
sive, flapper daughters" Mrs.
Bavin had been adjusting levers
and keys preparatory to. starting.
Her blue eyes determined with
out hardness, firm without cold
nesslooked directly , into my
eyes.
'plow do you like him?" !ie
asked.
"O, so-so 1" I replied.
"Jimmy Langford, you know
you don't like him I He gives me
the crawls somehow, and he always
has," said Mrs. Davin. She dropped
her foot on to the self-starter,
and, as the roadi.tcr slid away
into the distance, 1 reflected that
here, eventually, was the finish of
John II. Gillespie, Mrs. Bavin had
a way of getting things done, Also
I wondered just how much of her
motive was jealousy for her own
leadership among us,
On my way back to the club
house I met Hilly Means, carry
ing the notice of handicaps for the
tluli tournament to post on the
bulletin board. 1 was down for
S-IO. Hut just below my name
came Moore, Kdgerley and I
whistled, He was down for 12. J,
which means tarda running about
90.
"What's this?" said I. "You
don't mean to say that venerable
goof is doing the 18 holes lower
than If"
"The handicap committed oper
ate in dark secrecy," replied
Hilly. "Hut I'm telling you lhat
we gave ourselves the benrflt of
the doubl. If we'd believed his
cards, he'd have gone lower.''
"Who tcd (or liimr' I ked
"Gillripir, of course, 'I hey al-
avt play toudhtr,"
"That Die sinner," I said "I
uploe Mr, tiillopic is some
hrr mar srraiih.
"No," repliid Hilly, ignoring
my sarcasm, "he im't entered. IIC
say he's going to caddy lor the
old sea lion. And he's dropping
hlnfs that his bny champion I a
wonder,"
'1 he neat day we got the firnt
Ihfill. I was only Uir that day,
een for me, and from the last hole
I rushed ovrr lo the bulletin board
to S" whether I had qualified. I
(mind a rrowd. In its miter stood
Mr, Moore and John II, !,il!cpie.
'I hey were gesticulating and chat
tering. And through II 1 caught
the on sentence "Moore ill 72 -wbadda
you think of that I" '
, '"srveiily-ltso netf" 1 aked,
"Net nothing" snapped ba k
the aimwrr ol John H, Gillespie.
"72 gro just ar lor the course I"
( you don't believe it. look at
thatl" lie waved the card under
my nose. I inperted il. 'i here il
was, sined by Gilli p' "' "r'
( nrriiiKton, Il wasn't one of
Gillespie' heavy handed Jokes,
then, 'I lie precise, df fmiie miiided
Carrington wa nol thai kind of
man. - ,
" I Iwrc ain'i no such score, said
I. " J he man's a golf mat nine. '
I turned lo the ancient hero; I
congratulated him, expecting to
atari a flood of conversation either
the detailed account ol the match
or a (liberation on some thrilling
bit of knowledge like the history of
the Hyrantine etnerors. II mere
ly gave me a flaccid hand and con
tinued to smile foolishly. Then
John B. Gillespie spoke up:
"The champion must have bis
rub down," said he; and both start
ed for the rlttbhouse, leaving us
? aping after them, Only then, did
recover my egotism and discover
that I had qualilird.
That was Saturday, The fun
day newspapers reach Case Harbor
st about 8 o'clock; if you want
Ihrin.for breakfast you drive over
lo the drug store and get them
yourself. A I entered lhat Sun
day morning I met Mrs. Bavin
coining out, Ifcr faci between her
smart sailor hat and her trim sum
mer cape, was serious, but her
eyes were snapping. And before I
could speak she shoved a section
of the Sunday bulletin into my
fare. Mr eyes centered on a photo
graph of Kdgrrly Moore, two col
umns front page, sporting section,
before I took in the head;. ,
ELDERLY GOLFER
. SHOOTS IN HAR
F.dKcrly Moore, Aged 60, Who
'look Up Game a Year Ago,
Perform Amazing Feat
on Seagull Links.
Do you seel" exclaimed Mm,
flavin. "Did you ever read more
than a four-inch item about any of
our tournaments before? The city
papers usually just telephone to the
steward for the scare. But now
and I passed John B. Gillespie
when I was driving down front the
city last night. I'll just bet "
and here Mr. Bavin resumed her
tumbling of the newspapers. "Here
it is the real estate section he
hasn't been advertising lately and
yes I Ixiok at that I
Across a half page splashed an
advertisement for Gillespie's Addi
tion to Case Harbor, with special
mention of the prettiest, sportiest
golf links on the Atlantic coast.
"We're done I" exclaimed Mrs.
Bavin morosely. "We might a
well move away. 0, why did I
ever start that club?"
"Well, it's apparently hatched a
champion anyway," I said.
"Yes, I suppose so," replied Mr,
Bavin. I had a sense that she w-.s
leaving volumes unsaid. Then, as
though only the backfin of licr
thought was coming to the surface,
she added: -"Did
you know that Mr. Gilles
t pie has closed his house for the
summer and gone to live with Mr,
Moore?" '
"Well, I must say that this
Damon and Pythias act is the best
thing I know about Gillespie," I
replied. "Any one who has the
patience to endure that ghastly old
bore"
"Yes," said Mis. Bavin, drawing
out the word in a manner which
registered again a world of
thoughts in reserve.
When, at the end of that week,
we played oh! the matches, Edger
ley Moore proved that he was no
accident, He ran through all op
position like water through a
filler. I wa struck by my one and
only spasm of real golf, and stayed
to the semifinals, when I blew up.
So 1 didn't see him at work until
the finals, where 1 helped police
the course for we had drawn a
irowd. Not only had cur link
been fr the first time invaded by
the press but cmhui.wH motored
front link '5 mile awav to see it
it could be Irpe and found that
It was, Mr, Moore v. up against
Harry llalisou, our best golfer,
who is handicapped at six in match
play, Habson v. si in form that
day and played hi head offa
bird;e on Ibr econt hide, mostly
par on all the frit round but
what could be do against a handi
cap of 12 and mechanically pel (ret
golf? Mr, Moore on, two up,
one tu play.
The general remit wa a fore
gone conclusion to me before they
bad finished the firtl nine holes.
Moore simply couldn't be beaten
I fell lhat in my bones, I bad
said il. "1 he man wa a golf ma
chine. Hi diivmg wa astonish
ing -fully a long a thai of
Harry liabiou who is a stalwart
e lo'itball i. layer in hi early
'JO's. An obi tihiaie kept glancing
in and nut of my mind -he was
playing like one poxexed. The
nailery grew toward the last a
Imle disorderly, so thai twice
Harry Habson stl J'nlitmrd up a
he wa addressing a ball and glared
until he gol silence. Cut the
trowd never bothettd Mr, Moore.
Hi blue eye seemed lo Kp from
hi head with roucru'iaiion; a lie
walked forward lo Ibe next shot
they fairly transfixed the ball.
Once 1 spok lo him, a pleasant
, word of congratulation,
"I never lalk while I am play
ing," he said shorify, Trn min
utes later I heard some stranger
in the rrowd address bini and get
the same answer. He did not even
throw a word to J. H. Gillespie,
his caddy. Gillespie himself spoke
little just now and then a brief,
quirt word of advice as he handed
out Ihc proper club, like "Drop
her over that bunker," or "Now
run her down."
"He's the greatest thing ever
uncovered in golf," said John B,
Gillespie when the malcli wa
over. "The amateur champion at
60 standing right here in these
shoes."
"lining to enter in the county
tournament?" asked some one.
That event was coming olf a fort
night hence at Goreliam; it al
ways brings out s large -entry of
hitch quality, for there are two or
three famous courses to our north,
"I've already entered him," said
John B. Gillespie, "and in the slate
tournament, too. Maybe the na
tional can wait this year," Half
of the gallery laughed at that,
and half, like me, didn't.
When I emerged from the club
house, after talking over the nine
day wonder from 40 different an
gels, I 'met Mrs. Bavin standing
by Ihe corner of the parking place.
"Look!" she said, and gave a
wide, impatient gesture of one of
her long arm's toward the door of
the pros quarters. There, entire
ly surrounded by golf writers and
new photographers, stood John
B, Gillespie, talking genially and
ith theatrical gestures,
"You can see Ihe papers to
morrow, can't you?" said Mrs.
Bavin. "The quaint Seagull
links and the beauty of the har
bor at the head of every item I"
I opened the newspapers next
morning to realize that Mrs. Ba
vin had called the turn. Some
how, the beauty of the coast view
from the Seagull links and the
story of how the course had been
made from a rough farm in a
year, figured in every account. So
in two of them, did the amaz
ing friendship between Mr. Moore
and Win caddy, roach, and man
ager, John B, Gillespie.
I must hurry through the next
singe of filial extraordinary' career.
Mr. Moore went up to Goreliam,
and won quite handily the coun
ty championship. By tradition
that is a handicap affair, The
Goreliam committee, like ours,
couldn't really believe it, and
handicapped him at 9 and 6. At
these figures he raced through the
tournament, defeating on the way
Maurice Naytor, wlto has twice
been runnerup in the national ama-,
teur championship.
He is a picturesque figure in
golf, this Naylor, His defeat in
the semi-finale by the 60ryear-old
unknown brought -Mr. Moore to
the attention of the New York
newspapers. It was, I understood,
the dull and silly season of this
year when journalism is looking
for a sensation. Newspapers, mag
azines, syndicates all turned to
ward Case harbor. Every tram
seemed to bring spruce young men
with roving eye who carried canes
slung over their forearms, and
less spruce young men with big
black cameras. Daily Mr. Moore
was interviewed, photographed,
filmed.
One thing about this interview
ing process struck me as curious,
lividantly he refused to talk about
golf. True, he was quoted exten
sively by one yellow syndicate on
the method by which a middle
aKcd man could improve his game,
but this bore the earmarks of fake;
and Dr. Carrington recognized it
as a rewriting of some articles by
a famous Scotch proiossionat which
had been printed 10 years before.
Hut apparently he chattered ge
nially, dit'iosely and quite in his did
manner of thing in gi in.ral. When
Ihe second wave of interviewer
came over the top Mr, Moore bad
been reading a book on the cave
dwellings of the Dordogne. Ibis
newly acquired knowledge be
droned out while Ihe reiortert em
ployed tery dodge to make him
lalk golf. On Ibe way bark lo
the slalioil some genut among
tbriii conceived a bnllianl idea 10
dreis up hi interview, which he
indistrtrtly imparled lo Ihe res
And nest .Smnliy s paper ha
new lag (or l.da-erley Moore
"Ihe I'istiiiguiklied Anthrnoloy
Who IScrame a t hampion i.ollr,
Net Saturday Toinuiie Crow
dtr, twice national amateur chain-
loon, isme over (or a special IK
hole match. John I!, Gi!!cpic ar
ranged it -he seemed by now to
be airai.aing everything for our
club. With the ea-i hainpioil ar
rived not only the gentlemen of the
press, but certain other strangers
in loud, light fitting U.ilir and
with hard jowls. AH during the
match this element squirmed
through Ihe enormous x.illiry, I
lid not classiiy them ntml I saw
Ihe Hash ol a greenbai k -heard a
whispered phrase about odds. '1 hen
I saw that we weii- drawing the
professional gamblers. How they
Lid their money I had no idea: li
they were backiuir Tomiiiie Crow
der ibey lost. He played perfect
golf that day with one sbp. On
both round at the dog's leg fourth,
he tried lo drive over the rough in
stead ol going round a dangerous
Ihiinf. (or the carry is too long (or
anything but a freak drive. He
succredid the first time; but the
second lime he got into difficulties
and had to pi k up. lhat was ihe
turning point; he was aKainst a
goll machine, running perfectly.
On thai hole Mr. Moore went one
up and stayed there lo the end.
Ills rard wa 70, breaking the rec
ord or the course, hHd by him
self.
When the shouting ahd the lu
mull were over there arose scan
dalized whispers about lliose gain
1,1, n Hut du i he uoinion nai n
quite erystalized as yet, Most fell,
I .iim,'. I did that the slate
championship wa only a fortnight
away and that we didn't want to
mar our chances. However, on lop
of (hat came an announcement
which nearly brought action. Wil
lie Carr. the famous British pro
fessional, then touring Ihe country,
wa matched with our man on the
following Saturday a kind of (naj.
tuning up for the state champion-,
ship. The public would be admit
ted profits, over and above Wil
lie Carr's fee, lo go lo Ihc town
Hospital luTni.
On the morning before that
match I wa practicing approach
shots on the ninth green lor, like
all the rest of us, I had been filled
with inordinate ambition by the
rise of Mr. Moore and felt in my
heart that if Ihe old dodo could do
it I could. I had already reduced
my card to 90. I looked up
across the fairway and saw that
Mrs. Bavin was approaching with
her quick, striding walk.
"Jimmie," she said, "don't you
really think this thing has gone
far enough?" Her wave of the
hand seemed to indicate the Seagull .
links, hut I knew what she meant'
Mrs, Havin is so splendidly candid -lhat
she often pulls the truth
straight out of you. What had
been a mere distaste in me became
a definite aversion, and I an
swered; "I suppose it has, I suppose we
must have a cleanup after he has
played in the state championship, '
i said, temporizing.
"Jimmie Langford," announced
"gifaiC
:ycs.
t it.
am
Madge Bavin, delimtely, "we re
ing to have a c canuo today I '
1 looked her square in the. eyes,
1 Mc y showed that she meant
Now, her tone changed. It became
serious, almost awed,
"Jimmie," she said, "I've got to
have some one stand by mc'tb's
afternoon. And Bob can't come
on he's held in Cleveland by a
really important matter it would
be throwing down the firm if he
did. ..And Jimmie, I'm coming to
you that sounds like asking a
great deal, but it's really a compli
ment, I know I can depend on
you if you'll help."
"Of course I'll help!" I said
raiher impulsively. Mrs. Bavin
gave me no chance to take that
back.
"1 knew you would,'' she said.
"Begin by believing mc I've got
something strange to tell you.
Don't make objections until I've
finished. Well, I've had John B.
Gillespie looked up he'd already
been looked up by 'the informa
tion department of Hob's firm. He
applied for a loan when he started
Gillespie's Addition. And they
turned him down. He got his loan
later from the Speche ouilit you
know about them regular bank
ing bucket shop a pawnbroker's
interest and long chances. But
Hob's people refused him mainly
because he wasn't a good moral
risk,"
"What was the in.iihi with
him?" 1 asked.
"Well, Gillespie isn't bin name to
hi'Kiu with. 1 hat s almost enough
Hclute that lie was known a
I'rof, Hansen and that probably
wasn't his real name, either. It's
simply irritating the way those
hank reeru base out the most
iuterrsting and important things.
All they bad lo say about hi past
was that he'd led vaudeville be
irnlliiml m ttrr.)
1
S
