The Washington times. [volume], July 09, 1922, SUNDAY MORNING, Page 6, Image 18

About The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939

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MOTHER CRAZED BY THE RELENTLESS CALL OF THE SEA
KILLS HER BABY AND HERSELF IN LONESOME LIGHTHOUSE
*' S _ ? % ' A r . ^ - 1 '
COMUNJCUT UGHT
STILL FLASHING
DESPITE TRAGEDY
There's Only the Moan of the Sea, Rising at
Times to the Pitch of a Mrge; There's Only
the Keening of the Wild Off Rhode Island
Coast to Suggest a Calamity.
PROVIDENCE, R. L, July 8.'
OFF shore, at the entrance to Narraganaett Bay, high
above the shoals and roeka, the jComunicut Light
flashes clear tonight. Theanrf beats at its' base, gulls sweep
around the great blinking flare, and there's never a hint of
tragedy there. t , ,
Great ahipa pass, picking up the light and steering elesr,
?s turn by turn the powerful protecting rays pierce the
darkness. There's only the Ipoan 0f the sea, rising at times
to the pitch of a dirge; there's only the keening of the
wind to suggest calamity. ,
THE TREACHEROUS 8EA. 4
Tet never an eye sweeps seaward from the shore tonight
without hesitating a moment or more on the light,* and to
all who look comes again the recollection of what Capt.
* Ellsworth Smith encountered when he returned to the tower
the other day.
Juat two month* i|o Ckpttln
Smith brought hi* wife, Nellie, and
their two children, Russell and Rob
art, to tha light. Ha waa warned
?gainst it, of oouraa, for tha men
and woman who ^daily fight tha
aea for a living fear It with a fear
baaed on knowledge.
Bat the wife waa glad ' to ha
With her man. and tha children
looked on It aa a lark. To ha aura,
tha wavea roared and the wind
blew great guna at tlmea, but the
lighthouse waa ataunch and tall
and tha little family waa together.
They didnt know the treachery
of the ocean waters. Ths waves
and the wind could not reach
them; that was obvious. The Wght
houee could stand buffeting that
oould wreck big shlpa. They were
eafe; of course they w??re sate; and
they reassured one another as the
days stretched Into weeks.
THIS SEA TAKB8 ITS TOLL.
But the sea preached them just
the same, reached up into the but
tressed house and flicked out two
Uvea, missing a third by mere
chance. ' There were four In the
lighthouse a week ago. There are
two nsw. The others are in the
WHERE DEATH CALLED
ltttls cemetery In Hut Greepwlcb,
at last out of reach of the relent
Imb water*.
But th? light Isn't dimmed by
on* candle-power, nor Its revolu
tions a ?fraction of a second off
schedule. Ships pass, j;lek It up.
stser clear and silently swing on
to safety tonight as last night,
last night as the night before snd
so on backward to the day when
the lamp was hrst lighted. Op
tain Smith said:
/ "I left ths, light at 10 o'clock
MADDENED BT LONESOME LIGHTHOUSE!?Mrs.
Nellie Smith, driven to despair by the monotony of the sea
surrounded, wind-swept tower, red bichloride of mercury
tablets to her two children, then killed hemelf with the same
Prison, while her husband was ashore.
Itlt Saturday morning, for I had
to 10 to Comunleut to |?t pro
visions. I kissed Nellie and the
babies good-by, of oourse. Ws al
ways do that up bar*.
"And Nellie wfca happy. She waa
playing with the children. 8he
waved to me as I facerf her from
the boat, steering foe the shore. ? I
came back with the boat full of
food and things at 4 o'clock
that afternoon. I hailed the light
and got no answer.'
"As I mounted the steps, I took
my time, thinking as I climbed.
How ooukj X know what I was to
find? And I came Into th? kitch
en with my riro arms filled with
provisions and stuff. I saw Hob
ert sitting on tha table.
"He was pale. He looked vary
weak. He looked,sick. Nellie sat
beside him. Her head waa on bar
arms. I walked over and spoke to
her, still with my arms full. Rob
ber! was too sick to speak to me.
"I spoke sharply to Nellie to
waken her. 8he didn't answer and
then I dropped my packages and
shook her shoulder. I couldn't
think what was. the matter, but
of course I knew there waa some
thing wrong.,,
.-'When shs leaned further over
I lifted her arm. It dropped?
like lead. Nellie waa " ?
Captain Smith stopped short In
the tale. RoJ>ert, tha five-year
old boy. stared wondarlngty at
him and grinned a little. Daddy
waa crying now! And be couldn't
say it was the spray of tha sea.
In his face either. Captain Smith
glanced at the lad and crushed
his own hands, together as be
went on: _ I '
"I went/ upstairs. Something
told me to go upstairs. I saw
Russell. He was lying on the
bed upstairs just under the light.
He waa *' ?
The man couldn't say the word
In face of the wondering boy. He
threw his hands apart In a ges
ture of despair and went on:
"I ran downstairs, carrying
Robert and dropped Into my dory
and rowed hard?I rowed very
THE SURVIVING SON!?Rob
ert Smith, five, wm ured from
death by hie eagerneea to eat the
tablets which ha thought were
eaady. He at* 10 many that hia
ayatem reacted and his father
rawed him to ahora hi thnO U
arert death.
hard?to Comunlout iftin, with
Robert lying near me at the
ttlJer. We got Dr. Bernar H.
Gilbert and he save Robert an
antidote, and he came around all
right, didn't you, aon?"
Robert nodded Wlaely aa hla
WIFE OF SKIPPER
FED POISON TO HER
, BOYS AS "CANDY*
Mrs. Nellie Smith, Driven to Despoadeae? b?
Roar of Wind and Wares, Commits QiK
While Husband Is Ashore for PrniskB.
Elder Child Swallo.wed Too Many Tablets
r , ?
father's arm encircled him tight
ly, and hi* father * eye* follow
ed him a* he resumed the tale:
ATE IT LIKE CANDY. 1
x'*The boy doesn't know that his
mother and brother are dead. He
" thinks that they are Very sick,
ashore. It was bichloride of
mercury, sir. Tou understand?"
"Nellie gave It to tjteip, saying
It was candy. Both children ate
it. then sbs took It herself,
and "
Right there Robert broke in.
eager to contribute something to
the conversation:
"Yes, mamma said: 'Here, Rob
ert It's candy.' And I took the
little round thing and tatted It.
but It was bitter. But when I
Went to spit out, mamma said:
x " 'No, sonny: it will taste
sweeter in a minute.'
"So I ate ft. and then I thought
if it was going to be sweeter in a
, little while I'd better eat some
more while there was a chance,
and I ate a lot of them?oh. ten
or twelve, anyway?maybe a hun
dred!
THE END COMES.
"Then mamma held Russell on '
her lap and gave him eome of the
little round things. And Russell
tried to spit them out. but she
?aid they were nice candy, and
?he coaxed him
'Then she ate some herself to
Extra Woman in the Triangle By KATHLEEN-NORRIS
This Easiness of Rotes, Glances and Little
Presents Between a Married Man and His
Young Stenographer Are ficilcions to Him,
. Bat Only Prove Weakness of the Girl.
SCENE: The office of the vie*
president.
Character*: The vice presi
dent, rich, forty, handsome, and
. his stenographer, pretty, capable,
twenty-six.
Plot: After seeing- each other
?very day for seventeen months,
and after really disliking each
other In the beginning, they have
come to respect each other, to con
fide In each other, and finally the
vice president has told Miss Mason
that his wife does not understand
him, and that he never really loved
her. And Miss Mason in return
has compared the vice-president
to the various struggling young
men she knows <m"ere boy-* wno
don't know one end of a golf club
from another, and who couldn't
I stand up at a bankers' convention
and respond to a toast to save
their lives, and who don't diffuse
tnat delightful aroma of fine so*ips
, and powders and toilet wattrs
every morning), and she realizes
that she and the vice president
love one another with a great and
terrible passion, and she it ex
tremely unhappy.
This story is set in every village
and town in America, It occurs
upon every floor of the big office
buildings in all the cities, !t never
varies very much, and It ha? a
conclusion as trite as its opening
?the woman pays.
My heart sinks when I discover,
-and rediscover, this f?lot. FHfty
times a year women write it to me.
"This Is my story. I can't write It,
but you could. For three ye*is I
have been working In the office
of??
HOW IT ALL. STARTS.
And so on. Given the original
premise, the conclusion is aimost
Inevitable.
Miss Mason is pretty, clever, al
ways trim and neat, always inter
, aated. She gets to know tne nusl-^
' ness as tne wife at homt never
call. She rejoices wh^n the big
fee. or the big commission, or the
successful contract comes al<yng;
the vice president notes that she
has pretty white teeth ana a de
lightfully demure fashion uf ?'tar
ing the firm's triumphs.
Inevitably, the moment of per
sonalities arrives. ?
It is the end of a long, hot sum
mer day. or it Is the beginning of
a cold wlntar day, v>th people
outside rushing by ;n furs, and itie
office radiators clanking plsjs
antly. and Miss Mason's pencil
sharpened, and her pape* cuffs
freshly adjusted, and her s,?no
i?- /
graphic pad Innocently awaiting
the business of the day.
"Certainly, Mr. Cox." she nrt
"I knew that If I held him here un
til you rot back, the deed would
be filed!"
"Oh. you did? Tou vamped Mm.
did you?" say* Mr. Cox, deeply
amused.
Mlm Mason looka down at her
shining fingernails, raises her
trimmed eyebrows, shrugs faintly,
and says:
"I kept him, anyway!"
SWEET NOTHINGS.
That Is the beginning. Five
weeks la for he 1s loitering after
the day's work, and she is loiter
ing, and while the-Sjanitreas is
slopping and clattering In the ad
joining office, they are murn^ir
Ing over her desk.
"No, she didn't suspect any
thing." the vice president is say
ing. "My wife Isn't Jealous!"
"But Heavens, , George." says
Miss Mason, "she might have met
us Inside. Instead of Just outside,
the restaurant!" '
"And should you have minded It
so terribly? She'll have to know
some day, Kthel," says George, not
in the least meaning, or, indeed,
thinking what he says. Why
should he weigh words? He ia
married, and perfectly .safe. and
he likes little Miss Mason, and he.
especially Ukea to flirt.
This business of notes, and
glances. and little presents, Is
perfectly delicious to him. and to
have an intelligent, much younger
woman flattering him so adroitly
keeps him confident and happy.
But Miss Mason cries o' nights,
and really suffers, and snubs her
family, and her old friends, and
Jells one or two close Intimates
Ih about It. i
The Intimates are either happily
married, or happily engaged young
persons, or else they are In exactly
the same position, and have their
own variation of the office-affinity
problem. But, like liquor and drug
addicts, persons afflicted with this
particular misery never recognise
It' In themselves. To every office
affinity her particular case Is
unique.
18 ANYTHING MORE TEDIOUS?
The Intimates sympathize; but
what is to be done? They listen to
Ethel one night, two nights, fifteen
j nights, but It Is only the same
thing over again! George doesn't
love his wife, but he can't divorce
her on account of the little glt-l.
and on his uncle's?the president
of the company?account, do you
see? But he Is Just crasy about
Ethel, and doesn't it all seem too
sad?
And so Ethel Is twenty-six,
twenty-eight, thirty-one, and
Oeorge goes on enjoying the flat
tery, the companionship, the long
confidences and Ethel loses her
bloom and frets herself Into mid
dle-age In the very prime of life.
By KATHLEEN NORRIS:
The Offioe Affinity is
a reactionary.
* * *
She may think that to *
fall in lore with a married
man and tell him so if tre
mendously daring and ad
vanced.
Bat, u a matter of fact,
it it merely proving her
self a clinging vine, the
old /type of carefully over
sexed woman. 8he is tell
ing the world something
like this instead of the
thrilling secrets she thinks
she is imparting:
* ? * v
"Another woman mar
ried this man fifteen years ago, and
taught him some sense, and now I'm
other woman's product, just as I
or the gown she had made.
v ? ? ?
"I won't look around the world, and find my own man,
and develop with him, and grow beside him, and solve
the normal problems of wifehood, parenthood, home mak
ing and life making beside him. I'm a dinger. I'm not
able to stand alone!"
And Is anything?I ask you?ts
anything more tedious than the
relation of such an affair? There
la nothing to be done, there la
nothing to aay, one only sighs
sympathetically."
"Perhaps you'll come to care for
somebody else, Ethel?"
"Oh, n?v?r!" Th* memory of
th* vice preaklent'a money and the
clean odor of hi* ahavlng aoape.
and hie coif stick* are all Mended
In Ethel's reply.
"But. my dear." you say. glanc
ing wistfully at your half-closed
book, "his uncle would drop him
from the firm if he divorced
Minnie!" ,
"Well, that's just It," say*
Ethel, with mournful relish.
FEEDING ON HUSKS.
And then the Interest suddenly
begins to drop out of the whole
thing. George and Ethel pretend
it hasn't, for perhaps a year of
artifice and* pretense. But his
excuses for not seeing her get
more and more frequent, and her
sighs, as she talks to the girls,
i>egtn to have a sharply critical
note. And how pathetic this sort
of talk la, with every one but Ethel
knowing that the whole empty
dream ii over!
It Is over. And George Is Just
where he was six years ago. But
Ethel has been feeding her soul
on husks.
/ Jo* Clark and Jack Wood liked
her enormously six year* ago. Joe
was a good deal of a boor, and
Jack had his mother and slater to
support In those day*. When he
took Ethel out for the day, It ya*
' in a mud-aplattered Ford. (The
vicar president drive* a Harmon).
But now Joe had picked up a
tremendous amount of culture,
somehow, and he la going to mar
ry one of the Wllaona, and go .nto
the firm, and Jack's alater la mar
ried, and hla mother la dea<L and
hla wife (mild Uttl* Batty White)
FASHIONS AND WOMEN ALIKE EAST AND WEST, DECLARES EXPLORER
i *
LONDON, July 1.
Tk T EW light on fejtinine
/w modes, civilized axu bar
barian, it ?hed by Mr*.
Rotita Forbes, famovt explorer,
who telle' of primitive stylet in
African wild*. She findt women
of the Eaet and^Weet much the
same when it comet to deeir^
for adornment, and catle "fash
ion" the moet primitive thing tn
the world." \
By MRS. ROSITA FORBES.
EAUTY la the hall-mark of
efficiency," wrote tho
^ phlloaopher. I am not
nure If thla adage can be ap
plied to clothea. but 1 think that
our frocks should be the hall-mark
of our personality, and thla quality
la too illualve to be bound by tabu
lations. For the last few weeks
the newspapers have all been tnak-'
ln? rules for that which should be
irresponsible, sod asking questions
to which there can elrher be as (
many answers a* there are woman
In England, or none at an.
About a month ago my telephone
bell rang very early, and a discreet
voice lnerrupted me U the middle
of a breakfast egg and an Arable
manuscript to dsmsnd what 1
thought on the subject of dresa
allowance*.
It la difficult to be .epigrammatic
before 1,0 a. m., so I replied that
my ldeaa were not aa elaatlc aa the
subject. The voice was persistent,
and ^suggested that I should quote
a minimum figure, so I stated
truthfully that the least I ever
spent on clothes during a year was
ft 14a. M., but It was far east of
Sues, and when I returned to civili
sation the soles of my shoes ware
tied on with string.
It Is often stated that Americans
are the best dressed women In the
world; but the majority of' them
look exactly alike.
DYKD CIGARETTB8.
Perhaps the American women's
claim Is justified. In spite of their
beauty parlors, which-pluck all In
I
dividuality from eyebrows and re
duce all hair to the same uniform
4
wave,- because of their attention to
detail. Their frocks may be simple,
bat they will use all their Intelli
gence to mike them perfeot by
?heir choice of acteesoriia. I knew
om lovely lady who bad her rig
arettes dyed rose-red and powder
blue to match her clothea!
Surely clothea ought to be the
frame, not' the picture. Perhaps
the cleverest French women know
this when wear only black. It la
*o easy to confound being well
dressed with being overdress id.
And this reminds me of my only
serious attempt to set a faahlon.
It wai m New Ouinea, and we
had ridden up the Bluff at the foot
of the Owen Stanley rang* to a
little tin rest house where the
caretaker' a coal-black, funy-head-'
ed Papuan, received us, tastefully
^tlred in a single piece of string
inth a profusion of feathers and
lobster claws In his hair.
My companion said she could not
bear her breakfast eggs arid bacon
brought In by such a butler, so I
presented the delighted native with
a strip of bright -cotton stuff,
which I imagined he would use as
a kilt. _
Not at all! Next morning hs
had merely added an immense
turban to his Oth#r millinery
decorations.
If the raraat be the beat, the*
dignity la the bom valued aaaat
i
of womanhood, and long, (weeping
line* add rraciousneu to an as*
occupied In attempting to produce
the maximum effect with m min
imum of effort.
English women are original by
nature. They have atruck out.
many new line* for themselves,
but It hat, nevertheless, become m
shibboleth that nothing new In the
way of frocks and frills is barn la
London. Why not? Bvery intelli
gent woman Is her own best dress
designer because only she knows
every aspect of her good point*
and her bad. If 104 per cent, of
time. Intelligence and money la
to be spent on clothes, I think It la
the last which will be the leaat
effective.
Take Just one Instance, It la eo
tempting to buy a red frock one
day and a yellow hat the next,
but the question of one's drees
allowance becomes much leas ha
raaaing If ona sticks to a definite
achema of coloring. Doubtlaaa.
however, Eve was very troubled >
whether copper beech leaves would
go wall with coroniande! fronds,
and X auppoae the feminise heart
will always quail bttwH^ the
Scylla of bain* too noticeable In
laat year's frocka and the Cha
rybdla of not be In* noticeable
enough in the exclusive mod-l
which, somehow or other. *11 the
rest of the world has nutnaced to
aecuret / , -?
The whole aucceae of a journey
I once made through Becbuanaland
was marred because I brought, as
presents', the wrong shade and
shape of beads. The previoua yaai
all the maldena wore aprona of
awaylng scarlet, but whan I ar
rived,with the nawaat tlnta of red.
I found I waa quite out of date,
and that blue waa the only accept
able color..
Fashion la the moat primitive
IMnf In tie world. It la our link
with the days when man'a poaltlon
waa known by the color and multi
tude of the feathera he wore, ao
that a million (Olden birds war*
killed to maJto the cloak of a
Hawaiian chief.
Per ha pa the Eaat la wlaer than
tha Weet. fock.lt knowa the value
of aaystery. A hint Ul?o much
mora Intereatlng than a Matament.
Underneath tha claaa awaihed/
'habbara' naor lurk taambasina and
flannel, but for the moment they
preeent the unknown and the un
attainable. It la curloua that the
height of Oriental faahlon la con
cealment, while the epitome of
Weetern waa, at la. revelation I
, Unveiled Women
of Angora Rouse
Wrath of Sheik
WUBTAPHA TOHMT, the
Sheikh ul Iabun, of An
gora. aa he la officially styled,
the oommlaear for the aheriat
(the aacred law), hail lamed a
manifesto condemning the U
centloua behavior of a minority
of Turklah women In the cap
ital.
"Thaoe ao-caned Moelem*."
aajra the manifesto ingart
all law. Of baaar and Inner
They moot male foreigner*, an
veiled, at riaiptlena aad at
afternoon tea. aft at tab* wWh
thorn, aad, horrible to relate,
even Aaaco wM ihm la pri
vate bona en.**
"The Man Enjoys the Flattery, CoopanfeasMp
and Confidences, But the Girl Loses Her
Bloom and Frets Herself Into Middle Age.
This Is the Ineritable End of the Triancle."
told Ethel the other day that they
were buying a home In St. An
drew's Wood.
Ethel, lean, eye-glaaaed. ex
tremely useful to her employer
(but beginning to' take old Mr.
Cox'a letters now instead of younx
Mr. George's, la thirty-five, and
somewhat faded, -and 'somewhat
given to describing herself humor
ously aa an old maid. And the
vice president had gotten a delight
fully pretty girl of twenty-two to
be his personal stenographer.
Ethel watches her" sharply. For
a few months the new gtrl is
friendly and almpie and approach
able. Then she begins to draw
somewhat into her shell, and on*
day she tells Ethel that George .
Cox la a remarkable man. and aaks
Ethel what his wife is like.
"You sawder at the firm picnic:"
says Ethel, imsympathetically.
"She looks horribly cold to me."
says the new stenographer. "And
he's so nice?eo full of fun. He's
Juat a boy."
Now, I need hardly aay my
sympathy, my Interest, my admira
tion, In this Ufa, la all for women.
After thousands of ysars of being
auppreaaed and deceived and cheat
ed, I think that what we %re do
ing, everywhere, every way, every
minute, la ri
consequently I
being fooled and
?tead of the
thlnlu aha la
"Another
?nan fifteen
him In. and
and now I'm
other woman's
would tha
"I won't
and find my
valop with
him, and aohra the
of
maklnc
him I'm a
"I Uka
and flattery The