w what they've got...."

I sometimes wonder how the god of Prana Beach will be treated when he
begins to age and to lose his voice. It worries me--a little.

The black pearl stud? Of course not, you wretched materialist. I sold it
in the first good market I came to. No good ever came of material
possessions, and always much payment of storage bills. But I have a
collection of memories that I am fond of.

Still, on second thought, and if I had the knack of setting them
straight on paper, I'd part even with them for a consideration,
especially if I felt that I could reach such an appreciative audience as
that of Prana Beach, which sits upon its heels in worship and humility
and listens to the divine fireworks of Signor I-have-forgotten-too.

TWO BUSINESS WOMEN

They engaged themselves to be married when they were so young they
couldn't tell anybody about it for fear of being laughed at; and if I
mentioned their years to you, you would laugh at me. They thought they
were full-grown, but they weren't even that. When they were finally
married they couldn't either of them have worn the clothes they got
engaged in. The day they got engaged they wore suits made of white
woollen blankets, white knitted toques, and white knitted sashes. It was
because they were dressed exactly alike that they first got excited
about each other. And Cynthia said: "You look just like a snowman." And
G. G.--which was his strange name--said: "You look just like a
snowbird."

G. G. was in Saranac for his health. Cynthia had come up for the
holidays to skate and to skee and to coast, and to get herself engaged
before she was full-grown to a boy who was so delicate that climate was
more important for him than education. They met first at the rink. And
it developed that if you crossed hands with G. G. and skated with him
you skated almost as well as he did. He could teach a girl to waltz in
five minutes; and he had a radiant laugh that almost moved you to tears
when you went to bed at night and got thinking about it. Cynthia had
never seen a boy with such a beautiful round head and such beautiful
white teeth and such bright red cheeks. She always said that she loved
him long before he loved her. As a matter of fact, it happened to them
both right away. As one baby, unabashed and determined, embraces a
strange baby--and is embraced--so, from their first meeting in the great
cold stillness of the North Woods, their young hearts snuggled tog