{"product_id":"2940013760219","title":"Here's Luck","description":"It is absolutely ridiculous to call a man of forty-eight old. A\u003cbr\u003erestricted vocabulary might account for such a remark, and then of\u003cbr\u003ecourse there are people whose observations are superficial and even\u003cbr\u003efrivolous.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTemple, however, is a man who is never frivolous and I was astounded\u003cbr\u003ewhen he said it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Gudgeon,\" he said, \"you're getting old.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I'm not old!\" I protested.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"You look old!\" he insisted.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat was a lie. I pride myself on my looks. I have not a grey hair in\u003cbr\u003emy head, and numerous acquaintances have favourably remarked on my\u003cbr\u003eappearance. I am perhaps, a little under medium height, but then mere\u003cbr\u003eheight is nothing. Notice the relative importance of Napoleon and the\u003cbr\u003egiraffe. I have been called fat by envious persons less kindly treated\u003cbr\u003eby nature and there was one who at the height of his jealousy called me\u003cbr\u003e\"Barrel.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI am not a vain man, but in my own defence I quote a remark made by the\u003cbr\u003egirl in Flannery's saloon bar to a f riend.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"I like,\" she said, \"his ruddy, clean-shaven, ingenuous face; and he\u003cbr\u003ehas such a splendidly mature figure and manly bearing.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThat, I think, should be sufficient. If, however, I say IF there is the\u003cbr\u003eslightest excuse for a remark such as Temple made there is only one\u003cbr\u003eexcuse for it. It is not age. It's worry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt's Stanley--and if there is anything within the ken of man more\u003cbr\u003ecalculated to bring a man's grey hairs in sorrow to the grave, it,\u003cbr\u003ewhatever it is, is not human.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStanley is about eighteen or nineteen, I am not sure which, but looks\u003cbr\u003emuch older than his years. He is taller and thinner than I but\u003cbr\u003eotherwise resembles me as closely as can be expected these days. His\u003cbr\u003eface can look positively cherubic on occasion, but this makes no\u003cbr\u003edifference to the fact that he can be a fiend from the blackest pit\u003cbr\u003ewhen he likes. I've had a lot of trouble with him. A few weeks ago he\u003cbr\u003ewas at that stage where he had given up the idea of being a pirate,\u003cbr\u003eengine-driver, or chief rescuer in the fire brigade, and wanted to be a\u003cbr\u003epoet. He has altered greatly since, but I would much rather rear a\u003cbr\u003eplatypus than a boy. Problems innumerable beset the conscientious\u003cbr\u003efather, but the greatest problem of all is to know in what trade or\u003cbr\u003eprofession the boy will be best fitted to support his old father at a\u003cbr\u003elater date.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe medical profession, of course, suggests itself immediately. I have\u003cbr\u003eno yearning to have Stanley descend to the familiarity of listening-in\u003cbr\u003eto the heart-throbs of the vulgar, and punching people in the ribs and\u003cbr\u003easking if it hurts. Neither do I wish to stand on one leg with my mouth\u003cbr\u003eopen and say ninety-nine, as I would undoubtedly be compelled to do if\u003cbr\u003ehe were training for the medical profession. His mother would see to\u003cbr\u003ethat. Furthermore, judging by the number of divorce cases that doctors\u003cbr\u003ebecome entangled in it would seem that the only way some of them can\u003cbr\u003ekeep their names untarnished is by the application of a little\u003cbr\u003emetal-polish to their brass plate. And whatever else Stanley is, I want\u003cbr\u003ehim to be untarnished. That is to say, he'd be fool enough to get\u003cbr\u003ecaught.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI could make a lawyer of him. He really has a talent in that direction.\u003cbr\u003eHe comes home in the small hours of the morning with an iron-clad alibi\u003cbr\u003eand even the wife can find no chink in his armour of excuses. He is a\u003cbr\u003efountain of fluid eloquence. I'm a bit that way myself: it runs in our\u003cbr\u003efamily. Still, admitting that lawyers are quite all right in their\u003cbr\u003eplace, the trouble is to find the place.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068918186224,"sku":"2940013760219","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013760219_p0.jpg?v=1763589876","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013760219","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}