Part 16 (1/2)
”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”
Still he continued to corow more and more worried, until finally he slowed up and was lost in the background
Reaching the gymnasium at the proper time I bathed and dressed myself quickly and waited on the balcony over the bathroom to see ould happen in this case As a rule Culhane stood in or near the door at this ti just returned from so And he was there when the ironup, fifteen minutes late, one hand over his heart, the other to hisas he drew near, ”I do believe, Mr
Culhane, that I can't stand this I' theso”
”To hell with your heart! Didn't I tell you there was nothing the matter with it? Get into the bath!”
The troubled ht be, entered the bath and ten -room, as comfortable apparently as any one Afterwards he confessed toabout Culhane which _gave hi wrong with his heart--which there wasn't, I presu about Culhane was this different, very original and forthright if at ti material world of which he was the center, the sun, and yet always I had the sense of very great life With no knowledge of or interest in the superior mental sciences or arts or philosophies, still he seeest and even live them He was in his way an exeht which brought back the ten thousand froh way historical perspective and balance He knew men, and apparently he sensed how at best and at bottom life was to be lived, with not tooin any one direction, and not too little either
Yet in ”trapseing” about this particular realm each day with ministers, lawyers, doctors, actors,hopefuls and petted heirs, young scapegraces and so-called ”society men”
of the extreme ”upper crust,” stuffed and plethoric with y in soht well be, one could not help speculating as to hoas that such a man, as indifferent and all but discourteous as this one, could attract them (and so many) to him They came from all parts of America--the Pacific, the Gulf, the Atlantic and Canada--and yet, although they did not relish, hi or running or idling about with them one could always hear from one or another that Culhane was too harsh, a ”bounder,”
an ”upstart,” a ”cheap pugilist” or ”wrestler” at best (I ry), yet here they were, and here I was, and staying He was low, vulgar--yet here ere And yet, an to think that he was really one of the most remarkable men I had ever known, for these people he dealt ere of all the most difficult to deal with In the s from (1), too much wealth too easily acquired or inherited; or (2), fro e self-interested viewpoint Hence a colder and in soroup of men I have never known Most of them had already seen so much of life in a libertine way that there was little left to enjoy They sniffed at al, Culhane included, and yet they were obviously drawn to hiround that there is some iron power in some people which literally compels this, whether one will or no; or that they were in the otistic that it required so regimen to make them really take an interest Sick as they were, he was about the only thing left on which they could sharpen their teeth with any result
As I have said, a part of Culhane's general sches about the long and short blocks so that if onebriskly he reached the sanitarium at twelve-thirty and had a few e his clothes before entering the dining-room, where, if not at the bathroo, seated at his little table, ready to keep watch on the tiroup of us having done the long block in less ti and rejoicing that we had cut the record by seven -room as we entered he scoffed at our achievement
”You think you're smart, don't you?” he said sourly and without any preliminary statement as to how he knee had done it in less time
”You come out here and pay me one hundred a week and then you want to be cute and play tricks with your own : my reputation is just as much involved with the results here as your money I don't need anybody's money, and I do need my orders obeyed Now you all have watches You just time yourselves and do that block in the tiive a man too weak or sick to do it But I haven't any use for a mere smart aleck, and I don't want any more of it, see?”
That luncheon was very sad
Another thing in connection with these luncheons and dinners, which were sharply timed to the minute, were these crisp table speeches, often made _in re_ some particular offender or his offense, at other tieneral and the innate cussedness of human nature, which amused at the same time that they were certain to irritate so the peccadilloes of his neighbor aired?
Thus while I was there, there was a New York society iven to severe periods of alcoholism, the results of which were, after a time, nervous disorders which sent him here In many ways he was as amiable and courteous and considerate a soul as one couldabout hi and syhly noncensorious, if genially exa at times But his love of drink, or rather his e sohty world he could obtain a little, aroused in Culhane not so much opposition as an amused contempt, for at bottom I think he really liked the man Blake was so orderly, so sincere in his attempts to fulfill conditions, only about once every week or so he would suggest that he be allowed to go to White Plains or Rye, or even New York, on some errand or other--most of which requests were proh Culhane had his private suite at one end of the great building, where one o to make a private plea, still one could never find him there He refused to receive complaints or requests or visits of any kind there If you wanted to speak to hiroup in its entirety--a coh policy But just the same there were those who had reasonable requests or complaints, and these, by a fine intuition as to ho in this institution and what ed to hear very softly, withdrawing slowly as they talked or inviting them into the office In the main however the requests were very et off so, as they did after a week or two or three, especially fit and beginning to think no doubt of the various comforts and pleasures which the city offered
But to all these he was eents in nearby towns and the principal showy resorts of New York, he rounds, either with or without his consent, about where they were and what they had done, and in case any of his rules or their agreees were thereafter cut off or they were pro set out on the roadway in front of the estate and they being left to ht
On one occasion, however, Blake had been allowed to go to New York over Saturday and Sunday to attend to so proe so to do but instead, in soh to last him until perhaps he should have another opportunity to return to the city
On his return to the ”shop” on Monday ht, Culhane pretended not to see hi block done with and his bath taken, he ca to look as innocent and fit as possible But Culhane was there before hi the head of one of the two pure-blooded collies that always followed hian as follows:
”A dog,” he said very distinctly and in his , which usually augured that the lightning of his criticism was about to strike soe 's really decent He has no sloppy vices You set a plate of food before a regularly-fed, blooded dog, and he won't think of gorging himself sick or silly He eats what he needs, and then stops So does a cat” (which is of course by no et a red nose fro in the direction of Blake, whose nose was faintly tinged ”He doesn't get gonorrhea or syphilis” The united glances veered in the direction of three or four young scapegraces of wealth, all of ere suspected of these diseases ”He doesn't hang around hotel bars and swill and get his tongue thick and talk about how rich he is or how old his fas, which I doubt, but once more all eyes were shi+fted to him) ”He doesn't break his word Within the limits of his poor little brain he's faithful He does what he thinks he's called upon to do
”But you take a entleman--one of these felloho is always very pointed in eentleht or ten e education, let him be socially well connected, and what does he do? Not a da if he can help it except contract vices--run froirl to another, onenecessarily Hephysically and in every other way, and still he's a gentleh hat Why I've seen fifty poor boob prize fighters in entlemen I have ever seen They kept their word They tried to be physically fit They tried to stand up in the world and earn their own living and be soentleman wants to boast of his past and his fao to the city on business--his lawyers or some directors want to see him Then he swills around at hotel bars, stays with some of his lady whores, and then coain, to make his nose a little less red He thinks he can use er, to fix hi later on
”Well, I want to serve notice on all so-called gentleentleman_ in particular” (and he heavily and sardonically emphasized the words), ”that it won't do This isn't a hospital attached to a whorehouse or a saloon And as for the trashy little six hundred paid here, I don't need it I've turned away more men who have been here once or twice and have shownto help the, than would fill this building Sensible men know it They don't try to use me It's only the wastrels, or theirtheir boys and husbands and cry, who try to use me, and I take 'eoes out of here cured, I know he is cured I never want to see hio out in the world and stand up I don't want hi to be put in shape again He disgustshim off the place, and I do, and that's the end of hio and bamboozle somebody else I've shown him all I know