The Social Triangle (Henry)
Short summary
Saturday night, Ikey Snigglefritz finished work and went to Cafe Maginnis to admire Billy McMahan.
Ikey boldly asked McMahan to drink with him, spending his week's wages on champagne. At a fancy restaurant, McMahan approached millionaire Cortlandt Van Duyckink.
Later, Van Duyckink visited the slums to help the poor and met Ikey outside his tenement.
As the auto crept carefully away Cortlandt Van Duyckink felt an unaccustomed glow about his heart. He was near to being a happy man. He had shaken the hand of Ikey Snigglefritz.
The circle completed.
Detailed summary
Section titles are editorial.
Ikey Snigglefritz and his hero Billy McMahan
On a Saturday evening, Ikey Snigglefritz finished his work at the tailor shop and received his weekly wages of twelve dollars. After cleaning himself up and donning his best clothes, he set out to pursue his ideals.
For each of us, when our day's work is done, must seek our ideal, whether it be love or pinochle or lobster a la Newburg, or the sweet silence of the musty bookshelves.
Ikey made his way to Cafe Maginnis, the famous gathering place of Billy McMahan, whom Ikey considered the greatest man in the world. McMahan was celebrating a recent election victory with his supporters when Ikey arrived. The district leader stood triumphant among his cheering lieutenants and constituents.
Overwhelmed by admiration, Ikey boldly approached McMahan and extended his hand. The great leader shook it warmly and smiled. Emboldened by this reception, Ikey invited McMahan and his friends to drink with him. When McMahan accepted, Ikey ordered champagne for the entire group, spending his entire week's wages of twelve dollars on the gesture. Despite the financial sacrifice and the scolding he received from his mother and three sisters when he returned home penniless, Ikey remained in ecstatic joy.
Billy McMahan and his encounter with high society
Billy McMahan had achieved great success in politics and business, but his heart was sometimes troubled. Despite his wealth and power, there remained a social circle from which he was excluded. He and his wife dined at an expensive restaurant where the elite gathered, but they sat in relative isolation, knowing no one around them.
Four tables away sat Cortlandt Van Duyckink, a man worth eighty millions who held a sacred position in the exclusive inner circle of society. Van Duyckink kept his eyes on his plate, knowing that everyone present hungered for his attention.
In a moment of audacious inspiration, McMahan rose and walked directly to Van Duyckink's table. He introduced himself and offered to help with any reform work Van Duyckink might be planning among the poor in his district. Van Duyckink graciously accepted the offer and expressed pleasure at making McMahan's acquaintance. When McMahan returned to his seat, he basked in the envious admiration of other diners.
His shoulder was tingling from the accolade bestowed by royalty. A hundred eyes were now turned upon him in envy and new admiration.
Overcome with excitement, McMahan wanted to buy wine for everyone in the restaurant, but was discreetly advised by the waiter that this would be inappropriate for the establishment's dignity. Billy McMahan was supremely happy - he had shaken the hand of Cortlandt Van Duyckink.
Van Duyckinks charitable mission and the completing of the triangle
Some time later, Cortlandt Van Duyckink drove his pale-gray automobile through the poor neighborhoods of the lower east side, accompanied by Miss Constance Schuyler. He was surveying the area for his charitable work, planning to build soup kitchens and replace dangerous old buildings with safer housing.
The automobile stopped before a dilapidated brick building. Van Duyckink stepped out to examine one of the leaning walls when a young man emerged from the building - the very embodiment of the neighborhood's degradation and poverty. Acting on a sudden impulse, Van Duyckink approached the young man and warmly grasped his hand.
I want to know you people...I am going to help you as much as I can. We shall be friends.
As the automobile carefully drove away, Van Duyckink felt an unaccustomed warmth around his heart. He was near to being truly happy, for he had just completed the social triangle. The young man whose hand he had shaken was none other than Ikey Snigglefritz - the same tailor's apprentice who had so desperately wanted to shake the hand of Billy McMahan, who in turn had yearned to shake the hand of Cortlandt Van Duyckink. Each man had found his moment of connection with someone he admired, creating a perfect circle of social aspiration where the highest reached down to the lowest, completing the triangle of human longing for recognition and acceptance.