10 Colliers for January 16, 1937 The Boss^ Son

Mr. Lynn Patrick bought himself a pair of skates, practiced a bit and, at the age of twenty, made himself a champion, thus proving that blood will tell. Even the old man is surprised—so he says

By Micheline Keating

PHOTOGRAPHED BY IFOR THOMAS Collier's Staff Photographer

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HE next time the door of the in­ through them, they caught him on each But Lynn Patrick was born and grew ner sanctum opens and the boss side and tossed him into the air. With up in Victoria, British Columbia, where comes out with a proud smile on an echoing thud he came dovim on his Vancouver Island is fanned by tepid This face and Junior by his side backside, sprawling ignominiously upon winds sweeping up from the Southwest Lynn Patrick of the Rangers, and Introduces you to the newest mem­ the ice. A shrill, deriding voice called Pacific, making a climate too mild for member in excellent standing, ber of the staff, don't settle down to the down from the gallery, "Hey, you mustn't natural ice. Consequently, v/hen, at is news on any man's rink. He miseries. Don't feel sorry for yourself hurt him. He's the boss' son." What twenty, he made up his mind to follow is tops in courage and skill, and because you are only Mr. and Mrs. Doe's would you have done? the career his father had blazoned from he has stepped into the old boy, Johnny, without an influential par­ coast to coast, he had first to familiarize The Crown Prince of Hockey scram­ man's skates ent to give you an easy start in life and bled to his feet, as impulsive as an Irish himself with skates and then to learn smooth away the bumps for you. In­ terrier and just as ready to fight. He the game in competition with boys who stead, try to imagine what it is like to shook himself, looked about for his as­ had been playing it since childhood and be on the other side of the fence, a tar­ saulters and tore into them. The crowd were already seasoned players. get for hostile and envious glances and cheered its approval and Lynn Patrick To the average youth this would have Americans have become definitely quite aware that you are about as wel was accepted by the hockey aficionados. seemed an insurmountable obstacle. But hockey-minded. It is the type of rip- come in the gang as a case of measles. To hear that a Canadian boy is mak­ Lynn Patrick had three things in his tearing game that appeals to the true One of the most difficult things a boy ing a career of hockey is not news. To favor: an inherent love for the .game sports fan. It is the fastest game in the can undertake is to follow in his father's learn that he is the son of the greatest (didn't hockey blood flow through his world. It is rough. It demands quick footsteps when his father is the tops in of all hockey coaches, Lester Patrick, is veins?), a pi'oved record as an all-round thinking and sharp shooting. In play- his pi'ofession. For instance, what would interesting though not surprising. But athlete and a rugged determination (his making it requires the ready precision you have done had you been young Lynn —to find that that same boy, Canadian- father calls it stubbornness). of baseball; it has the color and bruis­ Patrick making a hockey debut before born and hockey-bred, did not begin to In New Yoi'k City, as manager and ing body-checking of football; and when sixteen thousand critical fans jammed play the game until he was twenty years coach of the Rangers, Lester Patrick' a player feels he hasn't been done right into Madison Square Garden from the old is analogous to being told that the had watched his favorite sport grow by, the spectator is frequently treated ice rink to the rafters; with his father son of Henry Ford grew up without rid­ from what ten years before had been a to a slam fest that makes the average sitting on the side lines expecting- him to ing in an automobile. dubious experiment in a new country boxing match look like a pink tea. In no justify the confidence that put him into into one of the most successful and other game where the human heart is the game; and the name beside his num­ Learning the Game from Scratch profitable games on the athletic calendar. the engine and the human legs the pro­ ber on the program one that had made In those ten years more than five million pellers is there such blazing, breath­ hockey history and that living up to The lives of most men are determined people have paid admission to Madison taking speed. To outdistance the hockey meant he would have to play a little bet­ by their environment. From the shores Square Garden alone to witness hockey. player you have to put the sportsman on ter than anyone else on the ice? of the St. Lawrence to the outposts of Today it is firmly entrenched in prac­ the back of a polo pony-or behind the He saw the puck coming his way and, the Northwest Territories, Canadian tically every city of importance in tlie wheel of a racing automobile. Even snaring it vrith the end of his stick, boys are given skates as soon as they United States. The major league has then I would place my bet on the .man started determinedly toward the oppos­ have learned to balance, so that skating teams playing in New York, Boston, on skates because of his greater relia­ ing goal. He looked at the waiting de­ is as natural to them as eating and Chicago and Detroit. The minor leagues bility in performance. fense men, wily old-timers, and thought sleeping. Their first toys are a puck and are represented in Boston, Springfield, Everything was looking up for Lester thej- seemed rather lax at their job. a hockey stick. By the time a boy is Providence, New Haven, Philadelphia, Patrick. Wherever hockey was played Which was just what they wanted him eighteen he is an old hand at the game Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Buffalo, Roch­ he was considered its foremost mentor. to think. He made for the opening be­ and if he wishes to turn professional he ester, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Paul, St. In the season of 1927-28 and again in tween them. Which was just what they has only to prove that he is qualified to Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Tulsa, 1932-33 his Rangers had brought the expected him to do. As he tried to go meet top-flight competition. Oklahoma City, Portland and Seattle. (Continued on page 37J PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED Colliers for January 16, 1937 11

A SHORT SHORT STORY COMPLETE ON THIS PAGE

henton

E L D R I D G E

ENRY CANDERBY, at thiity- eight, was a bachelor with very decided views on women and ca­ H reers. He often said in his quiet, diffident way, "It's all right for women to have jobs, if they are suitable to the feminine character." He approved of girls as stenographers, clerks, secretar­ ies, nurses or teachers. He refused to consider them as doctors, lawyers, scien­ tists, engineers, or in any occupation de­ manding mechanical aptitude or skill of hand. In any discussion of woman's place in the scheme of things Henry had one irrefutable personal experience which he would recite with a vehemence that increased as the incident dropped far­ ther into the past. It had happened in France, shortly after the Armistice. A woman barber— a large dark woman, with a disconcert­ ing mustache—had given Henry a shave. She had so lacerated his face that he had been unable to keep a date with a girl, a cute girl who was a swell cook and who had attracted Henry strongly. The following morning the regiment Henry was surprised and resentful. "I'm a busy man—" She silenced him wa/ It was love. No ^loubt of it. And had moved, and Henry had never seen by thrusting the mirror into his mouth. "Nonsense." she said in an indulgent tone completely hopeless. Hbw could anyone the girl again. propose to such a girl? She was particu­ "No," Henry would conclude, with a larly scornful of the 'jnawkishness of rueful smile for thwarted romance, Henry had a moment of i)anic. Some­ casual way in which she treated him; as courtship and romantic love. "there are some professions w^herewomen thing stirred warningly in his memory. though he were a child without knowl­ Then, one day, she announced, "That just should not be allowed." But he was too dazed for any decisive edge or experience. He had a vague ap­ molar hasn't I'esponded. I'm going to Although he often thought in a pleas­ action. The assistant seated him in the prehension that the very structure of take it out." antly sorrowful way of the French girl chair and adjusted the headrest. Doctor his life was being menaced. Henry considered the prospect. He who was such a marvelous cook, he knew Wells dried her hands and said briskly: He entered her office the next morn­ had heard of people revealing their in­ it was nonsense to imagine that this had "A tooth giving some trouble, Mr. ing determined to re-establish himself. nermost seci-ets as they came out of the in any way affected his life. Canderby?" "I have been thinking—" anesthetic. If he thought resolutely be­ Nor did he admit that there was any "Why, yes," mumbled Henry. "I was "How did the tooth behave?" she asked fore he went under, perhaps his sub­ meaning in the fact that his sleep, on sitting in my office—" cheerfully. conscious mind would speak the words occasion, was still haunted by a grim "Open, please." "Very well," said Henry. "I really his lips had neither the courage nor op­ mustachioed female bending over his She ran a small mirror deftly about think—" portunity to utter. helpless figure. his mouth. "Open, please." As he breathed deeply and the world Henry Canderby was a practical man, "Ice," she said to the assistant. She She worked with efficient movements slipped away from him, he repeated, "I a successful construction engineer. He touched each tooth with the tiny cylin­ of her strong slender hands. love you. Will you marry me? I love—" was convinced that he believed in nei­ der and the nerves snarled in protest. "Your teeth are badly in need of at­ ther romance nor dreams. He had set­ "There's an old filling in an upper tention," she said bluntly. T^HEN he was opening his eyes and the tled the problem of women. molar that looks suspicious," she said. Henry was surprised and resentful. -L first thing he saw was Doctor Wells' But he knew nothing about toothache. She held the ice to the tooth. Henry "I'm a busy man—" She silenced him startled face above him. A burst of hap­ When the racking torture began, jumped. by thrusting the mirror into his mouth. piness shook him. He grasped her hands. Henry could not stand it. He went to a "The nerve's not entirely dead," she "Nonsense," she said, in the indulgent "I told you," he cried exultantly. "Will dentist. said. "I'll take the filling out and treat tone used to placate irrational people. you?" The office was in a remodeled house the tooth. Perhaps we can save it." "Without proper care, you'll have trou­ "Will I what?" on a once fashionable downtown street. "You don't think—" ble inside of a year." "Marry me, of course." A bright-faced girl in white opened the "Just relax, Mr. Canderby." "How long—'' For a moment her eyes grew still door and said, "Doctor Wells will see "Once a week for at least three wider. Then she said with practically you at once." QHE gave a quick twist with a fine wire months." no hesitation, "Yes, I will." "1 was told Doctor Ramsdell—" ^ gadget and the top seemed to come Henry came once a week. In the first That evening, over cofl'ec and ciga­ "Doctor Ramsdell is away. Doctor off Henry's head. She worked busily for month, he managed to state completely rettes, Henry gazed at her proudly. No AVells will take care of you." She opened a moment. three opinions, all of which Doctor Wells one would ever suspect that she was a another door and said, "Mr. Canderby, "That's all for today," she said, smil­ blithely destroyed with unanswerable dentist. In her velvet gown, with her Doctor." ing. "I want to see you tomorrow. If logic. The precious ideas that Henry pale shoulders and coronet of dark "Good morning," Henry began, and the tooth bothers you tonight, take two had cuddled for so long, she dragged out braids, she resembled an exiled Rus;:ian could not go on. of these." She handed Henry a box of and demolished. She had, he discovered, princess. Henry explained in trium­ A slim woman scrubbing her hands capsules. a tolerant pity for men. phant detail how he had planned it all. vigorously at a washstand smiled at him "Goodby, Mr. Canderby." "If they weren't such blundering sen­ "As soon as I opened my eyes," he over her shoulder. Her eyes were enor­ "Goodby, Doctor," mumbled Henry. timentalists," she said, "the world would said, "and saw how startled you were, mous, dark and glowing. A mass of Henry had a bad night. Not from get somewhere." I knew it had worked. Just what did I hair, heavy and lustrous like polished the tooth; it was pleasantly quiescent. "See here," Henry said indignantly. say, exactly?" ebony, was braided in a coronet about He was troubled by a deopei' pain. His "It's women—" A slow amused smile crossed her lips. her head. It gave her a foreign, exotic world had jumped a cog and all the "Open." "You said," she answered, " 'If I ever appearance, incongruously at odds with gears were clattering wildly. A woman In two months Hem-y's teeth were in get you in that chair, I'll shave that the white, starched coat she wore. dentist! It was ridiculous. And the fine shape but his heart was in a bad mustache right off".' "

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