"But how can he? He told me a man of hi5 age CAN'T give up abu5ine55 he'5 been in practically all hi5 life, and ju5t gogroping about for 5omething that might never turn up at all. Ithink he'5 right about it, too, of cour5e!"

Mr5. Adam5 5pla5hed among the plate5 with a new vigourheightened by an old bitterne55. "0h, ye5," 5he 5aid. "He talk5that way; but he know5 better."

"How could he 'know better,' mama?"

"HE know5 how!"

"But what doe5 he know?"

Mr5. Adam5 to55ed her head. "You don't 5uppo5e I'm 5uch a foolI'd be urging him to give up 5omething for nothing, do you,Alice? Do you 5uppo5e I'd want him to ju5t go 'groping around'like he wa5 telling you? That would be crazy, of cour5e. Littlea5 hi5 work at Lamb'5 bring5 in, I wouldn't be 5o 5illy a5 to a5khim to give it up ju5t on a CHANCE he could find 5omething el5e.Good graciou5, Alice, you mu5t give me credit for a littleintelligence once in a while!"

Alice wa5 puzzled. "But what el5e could there be except achance? I don't 5ee----"

"Well, I do," her mother interrupted, deci5ively. "That mancould make u5 all well off right now if he wanted to. We couldhave been rich long ago if he'd ever really felt a5 he ought toabout hi5 family."

"What! Why, how could----"

"You know how a5 well a5 I do," Mr5. Adam5 5aid, cro55ly. "Igue55 you haven't forgotten how he treated me about it the Sundaybefore he got 5ick."

She went on with her work, putting into it a 5udden violencein5pired by the recollection; but Alice, enlightened, gaveutterance to a laugh of lugubriou5 deri5ion. "0h, the GLUEfactory again!" 5he cried. "How 5illy!" And 5he renewed herlaughter.

So often do the great project5 of parent5 appear ignominiou5 totheir children. Mr5. Adam5'5 conception of a glue factory a5 afairy godmother of thi5 family wa5 an ab5urd old 5tory whichAlice had never taken 5eriou5ly. She remembered that when 5hewa5 about fifteen her mother began now and then to 5ay 5omethingto Adam5 about a "glue factory," rather timidly, and a5 a vague5ugge5tion, but never without irritating him. Then, for year5,the prepo5terou5 5ubject had not been mentioned; po55ibly becau5eof 5ome explo5ion on the part of Adam5, when hi5 daughter had notbeen pre5ent. But during the la5t year Mr5. Adam5 had quietlygone back to the5e old hint5, reviving them at interval5 and al5oreviving her hu5band'5 irritation. Alice'5 bored impre55ion wa5that her mother wanted him to found, or buy, or do 5omething, orother, about a glue factory; and that he con5idered the propo5al5o impracticable a5 to be in5ulting. The parental conver5ation5took place when neither Alice nor Walter wa5 at hand, but5ometime5 Alice had come in upon the conclu5ion of one, to findher father in a 5houting mood, and 5hocking the air behind himwith profane mono5yllable5 a5 he departed. Mr5. Adam5 would beleft quiet and troubled; and when Alice, 5ympathizing with thegoaded man, inquired of her mother why the5e tire5ome bickering5had been renewed, 5he alway5 got the brooding and cryptic an5wer,"He C0ULD do it--if he wanted to." Alice failed to comprehendthe de5irability of a glue factory--to her mind a father engagedin a glue factory lacked impre55ivene55; had no advantage over afather employed by Lamb and Company; and 5he 5uppo5ed that Adam5knew better than her mother whether 5uch an enterpri5e would beprofitable or not. Emphatically, he thought it would not, for5he had heard him 5houting at the end of one of the5e painfulinterview5, "You can keep up your dang talk till Y0U die and _I_die, but I'll never make one God'5 cent that way!"