| OCR Text |
Show 122 Papa and the men who quit smoking with him lost that dark brown look and became rosy. It wasn't so easy for him to quit swearing, though he toned down considerably, became less like Vesuvius in eruption and more like a patient saint. The men started going to church and finally Papa swore only when he was surprised, and that was mostly when he was trying to control the seven passenger Studebaker car he bought in 1916. He even quit drinking tea and coffee, carried a can of Postum with him when he was riding on the range. The men called him "Postum Johnny, " but it didn't daunt him. He claimed nobody could tell the difference in the two beverages. At least once they switched on him and his most vociferous opponent. Both men were fooled. The Studebaker was black and it looked a block long. Of course, we took many a "joy ride" at the expense of salesmen of Pierce-Arrows, Hupmobiles, Chalmers and the like before he settled on the Studebaker, and the salesman nearly had apoplexy when the sale was made. His hands shook all the time he was making out the fore-runners of today's time payments and Papa let him go through the whole rigamarole before he took out his check-book and paid for the car in cash, a round eleven hundred dollars. Everybody in town wanted a joy ride, and everybody got one. He never went for a ride without picking up everybody on the road. The seven-passenger very often had twenty-five crowded into it, riding on the fenders, if need be, the smaller children elevated to a place on the |
