THE MAGICAL CHANCE
THE
MAGICAL CHANCE
BY
DALLAS LORE SHARP
AUTHOR OF “THE LAY OF THE LAND,” “THE HILLS OF
HINGHAM,” “EDUCATION IN A DEMOCRACY,” ETC.
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1923
COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY DALLAS LORE SHARP
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
CONTENTS
| I. | The Magical Chance | 1 |
| II. | The Radium of Romance | 39 |
| III. | The Hunt for “Copy” | 69 |
| IV. | The Duty to Dig | 103 |
| V. | The Man and the Book | 131 |
| VI. | A January Summer | 153 |
| VII. | After the Loggers | 173 |
| VIII. | Woodchuck Lodge and Literature | 203 |
THE MAGICAL CHANCE
∵
CHAPTER I
THE MAGICAL CHANCE
“What are you going to say to the collegegirls?” my pretty niece asked, as we motoreddown the valley. She was being graduated thisspring, and the snowy dogwoods and the purpleJudas-trees against the tender hillsides werenot so fresh, nor half so full of bloom, as she.But they were gayer far than she.
“Don’t tell them, uncle, how wonderful theyare! How the world waits for them! Don’tsay it, uncle! I have heard that sort of talkfor these four years, and here I am with nobodywaiting for me; not fitted for anything;nothing to do; and as wonderful—as thirtycents!”
Poor thing!
A few days before, I had seen an interviewwith the President of Yale, in which the young