The San Francisco call. [volume], February 23, 1913, Image 5

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
FALLING IN LOVE WITH
HEROES
Mrs. Elmer E. Adler who fell in love with
j a West Point hero. -
Jerome G. Beatty.
ALREADY 1913's list of football
marriages has been well started.
Already young men who excel in feats
cf daring, who are noted for their un
usual physical bravery, are succumbing
to the spell of the 1913 activities of the
God of Love. Elopements of youthful
heroes, men calculated to inspire the
admiration of young women, are oc
curring nearly every week. And the
brides without exception are beautiful.
The particular God of Love who con-
spires to bring rbout these marriages
jA<i just as busy now as he was years
'and years ago—and just as successful.
He's a peculiar sort of god, noi tho
little plump lad they put on valentines.
He's a god of powerful physique and
the Cupid's bow he uses is in keeping
with his stature.
In olden days this god found beauti
ful brides for the big brutal men who
killed lions with a stone axe. Later,
he made young maidens' hearts flutter
when an armored knight on horseback
with lance set came thundering down
the lists. Now he tempts young women
of charm— girls from colleges and girls
from choruses —with youths in football
armor or in the braided uniforms of
West Point and Annapolis cadets.
He's a popular god and one who
produces results. You may have no
ticea him walking around town. Ever
ccc a gentleman looking like Mars,
wearing a football suit trimmed with
gold braid and carrying a Cupid's bow?
That's he. The next time you meet
Elmer E. Adler.
him step up boldly and say, "How do
you do, Mr. God of Love. How's the
good work proceeding this year?"
And if he isn't just about to catch a
train to Princeton or West Point or
Vassar or Smith, or If he hasn't an
engagement to sit in a box that even
ing to see a new musical comedy, he
will stop and talk to you.
"Things are going great!" he prob
ably will remark with pride. "1 just
put in an order for a couple gross of
new gold-tipped arrows and I'm so
busy I have to use one of those modern
rapid-fire, self-cocking bows. Never
has xry marksmanship been better.
The year has hardly started, and look!"
He will hand you this list:
"Lefty" Flynn, Yale fullback, mar
ried Irene Leary, chorus girl.
Frederick Thomas Dawson, Prince
ton football and basebatl player. mar
ried Miss Frances Fisher.
Elmer E. Adjer, West Po'nt caJ*t, |
married Miss Florence E. Davis, pupil
in a Tarrytown boarding school They
first met at a Yale-Army football game.
"Elopements!" the God of Love will j
cry joyously. "Every one of them |
elopements! And they all occurred In ,
the first ten days of the new year.
Here is another marriage that 1 aided
in my small way."
He will give you this record:
"Albert Volney Foster married Miss
Margaret Lawson Baxter, daughter of a
former Governor of Colorado and sis
ter of Mrs. Cornelia Baxter Tevis, who
Lcary,
beauty and
Yale fullback,
with whom she
eloped two days
A hero worship incident of mediaeval times—a lady of Francis I.'s court throws a glove into a lion's
den to test the courage of her suitor. From a celebrated painting.
'is a great beauty and society woman
lof Paris."
"These," the Cod of Love wilt re
mark, tucking his bow under his arm
and tightening his belt, "these fell In
| love mainly through my influence.
| They both are greatly interested in
athletic sports. They announced their
I engagement last November after re
i turning from the Yale-Harvard foot
j ball game and were married at the
! opening of the new year."
The heads of the colleges frown upon
elopements. They cry out bitterly
against all marriages of undergradu
ates. At West Point Annapolis
Full
Backs
Pitchers
Tackles
Soldier?
All in
the
Cupid
Game
the cadet who marries automatically
resigns. No matter who the youth is,
when he weds he can't get any more
salary from Uncle Sam.
At the standard colleges if a student
marries quietly nothing is said about
It That's where the less conspicuous
student has the advantage. But let a
football hero go out and wed a chorus
girl and get his name and that of his
college spread all over the first page!
The professors hold up their hands in
horror and hastily scratch the bride
groom's name from the roll.
When "Lefty" Flyntt married Irene
Leary two days after he had met her
in a skating rink Director Chittenden
of the Sheffield Scientific School an
nounced promptly that "Lefty" could
send for his thing 3.
Dr. Chittenden said it was different
about Edward Guggenheim oE the fa
mous copper family. Edward married
and returned to Yale with his bride and
entertained lavishly until he was. grad
uated last June.
Which caused President Hadley to
rush into print to explain matters. He
said:
"The presumption is against the fact
that an undergraduate can support his
wife unless he has asked the consent of
hie father. If he has married without
his father's leave it is a grave offense
igalnst the academic principle and
against law."
But 'Lefty.".football hero, great full
back and long distance punter, be
laughed at it all.
What if they did expel him?
He hadn't intended to go back any
way.
This God of Love didn't do so thor
ough a job In a recent affair at Allen
town, Pa. P. Walter Starr, Lehigh
University football star, got into ser
ious trouble because he helped Samuel
Sinclair, a friend, kidnap Miss Anna
E. Steckel, with whom Sinclair was
madly in love. Miss Steckel Is heiress
to a million dollars; she didn't return
the love of Sinclair, who is State
Supervising Inspector of Highways.
The kidnappers were arrested and
Starr, football player, gave as a defense
that he helped his friend just for the
fun of it. The adventure appealed to
the chivalrous Instincts Implanted by
his forefathers, who believed, and
proved—to their own satisfaction, at
least —that women admire daring men,
men who will brave anything, who will
fight legions to carry away the woman
they love.
Since the world began, since love was
born, beautiful women willingly have
been won by valiant men. The primi
tive instinct that drove men to meet in
mortal combat for the favor of the fair
continues to-day. It has been slightly
subdued by civilization, but it still ex
ists in easily discernible vigor. In its
milder form it is confined to admira
tion for the matinee idol, the hero of
thj footlights wo backs into a corner,
draws his sword and shouts to the mob
of ruffians, "You cowards! Advance
but one step and Sir Guy de Bickleton
will spit you on his trusty blade!"
In the underworld to-day it takes
much the same form that it showed in
the days of the Roman gladiator. The
gunmen who killed Rosenthal were
heroes among the women of their kind.
"Lefty" Louie's" wife was known as
the most beautiful girl on the east
side.
Further up In the scale of society
this instinct turns to love of the ath
lete, of the fearless college hero who
tucks the football under his arm and
batters his way pluckily through a
straining horde of other stalwart
youths, all exerting every effort to
throw him back, vanquished. .
Professional baseball player 3, men
who smash the ball far Into the out
field and dash madly around the base 3,
'risk breaking a leg when they slide In
a cloud of dust into the base —they,
too, are favored. "Art" Shafer, utility
infielder of the New York Giants, re
cently announced that he had quit base
ball. "1 get too many perfumed notes,"
is his reason. He is unmarried.
The hearts of strong swimmers al
ways are in jeopardy. At any moment
they are likely to be cal'od upon to
strike out fearlessly aTter a drowning
girl. When she is dragged ashore, In
variably she falls In love with the
brave man who performed the heroic
feat
The swimmers do not necessarily
have to save lives. They may win
wives by daring to.enter the ocean In
midwinter. Four young men, members
of the Polar Bear and Arctic Clubs,
who bathe every Sunday In the winter
at Coney Island, were married during
the holidays to young women they met
while swimming in the .icy surf.
"As it always has been, so it is now,'*
says Miss Harriet May Mills, president
of the New York State Woman Suf
frage Association. "A man of daring
in the world of adventure, a man of
bravery on a field of battle, and even a
man of brutality, each has a peculiar
appeal to some woman.
"The same qualities that caused
young women to fall in love at first
sight with young men years and years
ago cause the same emotions now.
I. "I don't believe that gold-brairied
uniforms and arena togeery In them
selves inspire admiration; It Is that
these uniforms and these toggeries sug
gest qualities in the character of the
wearer that may not be there at aIL
"Unfortunately, a battered hero in a
football* game receives more acclaim
in the newspapers, at least—than tae
genius who heads his class. But It will
not always be so. The advance of
women tends to make them better
judges of character, and the true womap
of to-day chooses her husband because
of his real worth, because of his real
ideals and real abilities.
"Only shallow women marry a man
simply because he is an idol of the
sporting extras; only women who do
not think for themselves admire brawn
more than brain.
"The typical woman cf to-day mar
ries the man she believes will be most
congenial. There always will be im
pulsive women—just as there are Im
pulsive men—who marry a man mere
ly because they admire his courage.
They don't realize that admiration is
not love and that a hero of a football
game may be unbearable as a husband.
"That doesn't mean, by any means,
that heroes don't make good husbands
"Many women are easily deceived,
and when they marry impulsively maj
find they have made a mistake. It is
these who are likely to marry a here
simply because he is a hero. The more
intelligent a woman is the more likely
she is to take her time choosing a hus
band, and it is these marriages that
are the happiest."
Ada M. Comstock, Dean of Smith
College, sees danger ahead for the
young college girl. She believes that
girls of an impressionable age must be
taught higher ideals. She believes th<
chorus girl is having too great an effect
upon the college young women.
WHEN THE CABLE SNAPPED
Karl K. Kitchen
THE 700-mile cable that connected
Hamilton, Bermuda, with Hali-
fax, Nova Scotia, had snapped.
Somewhere under many fathoms of
water lay the two broken ends, per
haps only a few Inches apart—more
likely half a mile "or so from eaca
other, carried from their accustomed
bed by the wash of the waves.
Until the two ends were connected
the thousands and thousands of dol
lars Invested in the cable were bring
ing no Income. And the cable had
broken just at the time when it was
in more demand than it ever had been
before.
President-elect Wilson was In Ber
muda, and with him were a score of
correspondents whose daily dispatches
were keeping the newspaper reading
public informed as to what he did and
what he intended to do. Mr. Wilson
also was using the cable a great deal,
keeping in touch with thing 3 political
In the United States.
As the result of the accident Hamil
ton was practically isolated from the
rest of the world, for the only other
cable went to Jamaica. By sending a
message to Jamaica and having it re
layed to Newfoundland and thence by
telegraph to New York it was possible
to get a few words through in fairly
short time. But the tolls were enor
mously high.
The moment the operator at Halifax
found that the key on the Bermuda
cable did not respond to his touch he
reported the fact to his superior In
the Halifax office. Orders flew back
and forth, telephone bells rang, mes
sengers scurried in and out of the of
fice and in a few hours the Mackay-
San Francisco Sunday Call.
THE APPEAL OF
MEN OF DARING
HARRIET MAY MILLS
President oj the ;Yeo> York SlateSujraje
Association.
"A man of daring in the
world of adventure, a man
of bravery on the field oi
battle and even a man of
brutality, each has a pecu
iair appeal to some woman.
"The same qualities that
caused young women to fall*;
in love at first sight with |
young men years and years
ago cause the same emotions
now.
"I don't believe that gold
braided uniforms and arena
toggery in themselves in
spire admiration; it is that
these uniforms and these
toggeries suggest qualities
in the character of the wear
er that may not be there at
all.
"Unfortunately, a battered
hero in a football game re
ceives more acclaim —in the
newspapers, at least —than
the genius who heads his
class. But it will not always be
so. The advance of woman
tends to make them better
judges of character and the
true woman of to-day chooses
her husband because of his
real worth, because of his
real ideals and real abilities.
-...uuta cable aieuuit;.- was on
its way to Bermuda. The Mackay-Ban
nett is the steam«r whkh picked up
:00 bodies of peisons who died in tho
Titanic disaster.
The operators at Halifax and Ham
ilton had located the break. It was
about six miles from the Hamilton end
of the cable. This they calculated
with sensitive instruments used to re
cord the "resistance."
The writer was in Hamilton when
the Mackay-Bennett steamed into tho
harbor, and through the courtesy oC
Capt. Larnder was on board when ths
steamer went out and grappled for the
ends of the cable and restored it to
usefulness.
Even when the captain of a cable re
pair ship knows that the break is
about six miles from one end it's no
easy affair to pick up the big wirtj
ropes. The floor of the ocean is un
even and he must allow for slack.
The crew was ready when the ship
stopped. With a spiash the big grapnel
went overboard, and yard after yard
of line was payed out until the hoolc
touched bottom. The water was 12*1
fathoms (720 feet) deep at that spot.
Luck was with the cable ship. So
well had Capt. Larnder calculated that
the very first cast of the hook brought
up one end of the broken cable. It xa*
hauled on board, the electricians at
tached their instruments and called
Hamilton. The station answered im
mediately.
A huge buoy was attached to the
heavy wire rope and lowered Into the
water. Then we set out to find the
other end.
Cast after cast of the grappling hook
and not even a nibble from the miss
ing part of the cable. Farther and
farther the cable ship worked away
from the buoy. At last, after three
hours' work, the grapnel resisted the
pull. The fish had been caught. There
was a cheer from the crew as it was
pulled on board, about a quarter of a
mile from the other end.
This end was connected with a tele
graph instrument and the. operator at
Halifax, about 700 miles away, an
swered. There was nothing more to do
except to join the broken ends.
A new section of cable was carefully
spliced to the cable that had just been
picked up. The cable was payed out
over the stern as we steamed back to
the buoy. This was hauled on board
and the broken end spliced to the new
piece of cable, an operation consuming
less than half an hour. The repaired
cable, as good as new, was dropped
overboard to resume its place on the
ocean's bed.
Rarely does a cable repair ship hays
such good luck. Often storms arise
which drive the ship from her course,
tear the buoys from the ends they hold
and compel the work to be done over
again.
In northern waters these conditions
are felt at their worst. The ship be
comes crusted with ice, it is difficult to
manoeuvre, and doubly so to deal with
a cable on bow or stern when the roll
of the seas threatens to fracture It
again, and the launching or boats with
men in them to buoy a loose end Is
hazardous.
From these causes occasionally caole
ships get short of coal and have to
abandon work temporally at
periods, or they are enmeshed among
the ice floes or bergs and have to !ec
gc all and retreat. »