Brownsville herald. [volume], August 08, 1933, Page FOUR, Image 4

About Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current

Image provided by: University of North Texas; Denton, TX

                
©!f Inramsoflk SroilO
Established July 4, 1892
Published every afternoon (except Saturday) and Sunday morning.
Entered as second-class matter In the Postoffice.
_ Brownsville. Texas
THE BROWNSVILLE HERALD PUBLISHING COMPANY
_ 1263 Adams St, Brownsville, Texas
MEMBER OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use for publication of
all news dispatches credited to it or not otherwise credited in this paper,
and also the local news published herein.
Subscription Rates—Daily and Sunday:
One Year ..... $9.00 '
Six Months ....... $4.50
Three Months ....... $2.25
One Month ...... .75
TEXAS DAILY PRESS LEAGUE
National Advertising Representative
Dallas, Texas, 512 Mercantile Bank Building.
Kansas City. Mo, 306 Coca-Cola Building.
Chicago, 111, 180 North Michigan Avenue.
Lo6 Angeles, Cal, Room 1015 New Orpheum Bldg, 846 S. Broadway.
New York, 370 Lexington Avenue.
St. Louis, 502 Star Building.
San Francisco, Cal, 318 Kohl Building.
Taxes Mount as Income Slumps
It was inevitable that state governors, meeting in
San Francisco, should devote much of their time to a dis
cussion of taxation. The problem is perennial, but it has
never been more important than now, with public expen
ditures absorbing a continually increasing share of a re
duced national income.
The tax burden has attained such proportions that
it constitutes a genuine barrier to recovery. Even with all
sorts of new tax sources tapped, and levies increased in :
many instances, revenues are inadequate, and many peo
ple believe the limit in capacity to pay has just about been
reached.
States and local jurisdictions are finding it difficult
jto operate schools and other public institutions, to pay
public employees, interest on their debts, and to meet their
running expenses. Many areas are wholly unable to care
for their destitute unemployed, and must rely on the
bounty of the federal government.
Figures tell the story of how the tax collectors dur
ing recent years have been taking a bigger and bigger
share of income.
In 1890 the per capita tax, federal and local, was
$13.56. By 1913 it had reached $30.24, and in 1929 pass
ed $100.
The national income of the United States in 1929
was estimated at around $85,000,000,000. The total tax
bill for that year was about $10,000,000,000, or roughly
12 per cent of the national income.
Last year it was estimated that the national income
had shrunk to about $40,000,000,000. The tax bill, how
ever, decreased by only about 10 per cent, or to $9,000,
000,000. The consequence was that taxes took about 20
per cent of the national income.
City governments took the largest share of the total,
about 30 per cent. The federal government roughly col
lected 25 per cent, state governments 20 per cent, and
local units the remainder. Thus local taxes compromised
three-fourths of the burden.
The size of the tax burden, however, is only one of
the problems. There have been innumerable sales of farms
and other property because owners could not pay taxes.
Billions of tax exempt securities enable big fortunes
to escape payments.
There are more than 300 instances of overlapping
state and federal taxes. The states have invaded income
and death tax fields, and other federal sources; and the
federal government has imposed taxes in fields heretofore
reserved for the states, such as the gasoline levy.
Back of this is the question, particularly in some of
the local communities, of whether a citizen is getting a
dollar’s worth of value for his tax dollar. And the still
bigger problem of the many tax inequalities which are
admitted to exist.
Many state legislatures this year reduced taxes and
instituted economies. The federal government is giving
attention to duplicate taxation. But only a beginning has
been made. The solution will require time and a vast
amount of serious study. |
New York
_Letter
BY PAUL HARRISON
NEW YORK.— The scores of
husky beach guards at Coney Is
land are kept pretty busy yanking
venturesome people out of the surf.
But all of them put together can't
approach the life-saving record of
a plump and elderly little man
named Dr. Martin Couney, who
runs a concession on the boardwalk.
Dr. Couney is the incubator
baby man, and in the 30 years he
Iras been at Coney Island (with
branches new at Atlantic City and
the Chicago fair) he has saved
something like ten thousand lives.
He wras born in Breslau, Silesia,
66 years ago, and in the course of
his studies of prematurely-bor*
children invented the incubator by
which they might be kept alive
until ready to begin normal
growth.
He was persuaded to bring his
invention to America as a side
show, and started first in Omaha,
Neb. Corn-belt babies were too
healthy and normal, however, so
he came to Coney in 1903. Found
it a good location, tco. for some
times babies are born unexpected
ly after their mothers have gone
riding on a roller coaster. Also
the city hospitals, after inspecting
the incubators, proved willing to
deliver undersized infants into
Dr. Couney's care.
• • •
All Races Accepted
The place is immaculate— white
enamel, gleaming chromium, polisn
ed plate glass partitions behind
which nurses attend their red little
charges. There are twelve incuba
tors and they usually are all oc
cupied; just now one of them is
shared by 2 1-2-pound girl twins,
who are ccming along famously.
Premature babies can’t breathe
ordinary air, so this air is washed,
filtered, warmed and mixed with
oxygen before it is pumped in to the
incubators.
Lying there in swaddling
clothes, and with big pink bows
around their middles, the young
sters have little privacy but don’t
seem to mind the stares and ex
clamations of the curicus. Milton
Boyle, the lecturer, explains that
most of them are incubated about
five weeks; that they are taken
out and fed every three hours; that
there are two doctors besides Or.
Couney, and five nurses. All races
are accepted, and the establishment
has harbored lots of Negro and
Chinese babies. The prize exhibit
now is a little read-headed Irish
man whose yells can be heard out
on the boardwalk.
• • •
Incubator Great
The barker there is George
Bleasdale, who used to be stage
manager for Morris Gest, ana Be
fore that a vaudeville clown who
trouped with Marcelline and Sa
vers. Bleasdale hopes things will
be better on Broadway soon: he’s
tired of explaining to penurious
Coney crowds that “the 25-c?nt ad
mission charge is necessary because
the tiny tots are given the very
best of medical care absolutely free.”
Dr. Couney is fond of recalling
that Darwin. Sir Isaac Newton,
Napoleon and Voltaire W'ere pre
mature babies, but he s much
prouder of the people he has
saved, even if they didn’t turn out
to be geniuses. A strapping big cop
new on the Coney force was one of
the doctor's first patients. And at
least once a week somebody comes
around and introduces hi’rself as
a graduate of one of the early
classes. Sometimes they? are re
unions cf a dozen or more.
+ m m
Grateful Parents
Just now’ the whole island is
sentimentalizing over the pretty ro
mance of a husky Coney electrician
(incubator class of ’07) and one of
Dr. Couney's young nurses. They
were married now’ and are expecting
a baby of their own.
Parents as a rule ar? deeply
grateful, but troublesome. Can’t
seem to understand that the young
sters must not be touched. There
wras one father, though, who de
manded a percentage of the gate
receipts when he saw his tiny son
attracting crowds.
Boston has an information booth
clerk who answers 5000 questions a
day. Huh! Friend of ours who has
a young sen says he often answers
that many just in an evening.
France increases tariff as much
as 1000 per cent cn some articles.
Sam Insull wrent to Greece. Don’t
tell us Joe Grundy has gone to
France!
Out Our Way.By Williams
y"~ OAT VAJROT X »<L> Y*'
jump offa \ TRW'M ter do,
HtKA , \CK ! \ ©oT D\<o Corral
;jumP off! Am Too small,
PE'S TOO I . X JumP
much F6R , OF FA HIM
VOH - THET PUahT ONTA/
MOSS. him! y
m yu^r/ r -^
MflBBrVt »r If I IP" IN" |T‘ 1 ’yi • 1 “ irva f-/
^^BP e 1933 wr m* «cnvwc. wc * CQVEPINAGt ThA^, GQQuMD . uto u. s. pat, orr. j
Daily Health
_ Talk _
The employment of the special
devices used in medical practice
requires hours of study and re
peated use for the development of
proper technic.
As a result of the tremendous
expansion of medical knowledge,
specialization entered the field, so
that today medicine is practiced
not only by general practitioners,
who it has been determined, can
easily take care of 85 per cent of
the conditions for which patients
consult physicians, but also medi
cine is practiced in some 18 to 20
specialties.
These are of various types,
such as those which concern
themselves wholly with internal
medicine and diagnosis; surgery,
which is divided into orthopedic
surgery, genito-urinary surgery,
brain surgery, abdominal surgery
and similar branches.
There are also specialists in
diseases of the skin, in diseases
of w'omen, in diseases of children,
in obstetrics, in nervous and
mental diseases, in diseases of the
stomach and in other lines.
• • •
There is not as yet any legal
method for determining who shall
be considered competent to prac
tice a specialty in medicine and
who shall not. It therefore becomes
possible for any physician who
wishes to do so to set himself up
as a specialist in any medical field.
The rewards of specialization
are usually beyond these of gen
eral practice in the form of short
er hours of work, more time for
research, higher pay for work ac
complished and. no doubt, much
more interests in the work.
Various means have been de
veloped by the medical profes
sion itself for limiting if possible
entrance of unworthy men into
various specialties. Some of the
specialists societies will not ad
mit any man until he has had at
least five years of experience in
a specialty gnd until he has done
sufficient research and published
enough scientific papers to prove
his competence.
* * -
Moreover, the medical profession
has itself established in recent
years examining and certifying
boards which now undertake, after
a young man has been at least five
years in practice, to give him both
a written and a practical exami
nation and, provided he is quali
fied, to issue to him a certificate
of competence.
This movement In medicine is
so recent that it is not fair to
say that men who do not have
the certificate are not competent.
It is safe to say that if they have
the certificate they have submit
ted themselves to an examination
and have passed It successfully.
' ~ 1
All the reformers I have met have
a genuine itch to make the world
better, but they irritate more souls
than they heal and purify.
—Rev. Charles H. Parkhurst, New
York.
m m m
Putting brandy in a mint julep
is like putting catsup in iced tea.
—Irvin S. Cobb, humorist.
• • •
Hollywood women get old sooner
and lose their beauty earlier than
women back east. The dry air and
the blazing, sandy California scene
is too much for them.
—Polly Moran, movie actress.
r • r
Prohibition is on the skids. We
can't escape it and we might as well
not kid ourselves.
—Maj. A. V. Dalrymple, national
prohibition director.
I do not think Mr. Roosevelt can
reduce to order by legislation a
world of which chaos is the basic
principle.
—Prof. Harold J. Laski of Oxford
University.
mm
The more T examine present-day
womanhood the more I am dis
appointed in my search after that
ideal beauty which is the roman
tic novelist’s dream.
—Gilbert Frankau, British novel
! ist.
The World At
a Glance
By LESLIE EICHEL
These axe the days of emotional
and moral forces at work. Thus the
appeals of Mrs. Gifford Pinchot,
wife of the governor of Pennsyl
vania, for consideration of hosiery
and coal mine strikers, had consid
erable impact in financial circles.
As a matter of fact, it is realized
now that the U. 8 .Steel corpora
tion lost considerable prestige at the
bar of public opinion when guards
at a mine of its coke-producing
subsidiary raked pickets and near
by strikers* homes with fun fire.
* * •
PURCHASING POWER
The Roosevelt. administration is
determined to increase purchasing
power. The administration plainly
is worried over the depths to which
purchasing power has fallen.
Laying all ballyhoo and foolish
talk aside, administration statisti
cians find the bare figures discour
aging. Psychologically the nation
and the world are better—and with
confidence and plenty of NIRA push
there may be a recovery.
“Wage rates in May were still
27.1 per cent below the avergae 1929
level,” says the bureau of business
conditions, Alexander Hamilton in
stitute.
‘ One of the reasons for the depres
sion was the fact that wages in
1929 were too low. In that year, labor
received only 36.4 per cent of the
value added to raw materials by
manufacture, whereas 41 per cent
is normal production.
WORLD’S FAIR PROFIT
The unexpected is occurring.
The Century of Progress exposi
tion in Chicago will show a profit.
, The exposition company’s charter
requires that all surplus be turned
over to organized charity of educa
tional institutions.
First, the company has to retire
$10,000,000 of 6 per cent guaranteed
gold notes and pay off a floating
debt of $2,500,000.
An attendance of 25,000,000 is re
quired to break even. An attendance
of 30.000,000 is expected.
Total attendance at the 1893
world’s fair in Chicago was 25,000,
000.
In the first 60 days of the pres
ent world’s fair the attendance
was 6,200,000. This figure was not
reached by the previous world’s fair
until after 90 days.
- . .
COAL WHITE WASHED
The top layer of coal shipped
from the Pennsylvania anthracite
region may be white-washed here
after to prevent looting of coal cars.
Railroaders, police and dealers will
be on the lookout for white coal.
• • -
DECLINE
The coal strike in western Penn
sylvania hits three industries—min
ing, railroads and steel. Earnings
for this period will be affected.
a • »
GIVING ’EM IDEAS
The “brain trusters” admit Eng
land has stolen a march on them.
Lord Moynes’ housing committee
recommends expropriation of all
property of landlords who cannot
or will not keep their houses habit
able.
The owner would be given what
he originally paid for his property
or the sum at which the property
is valued for taxation.
m m m
TREASURY BALANCE
Financiers are unimpressed by the
huge cash balance in the United
States tmasury. They point out *i».t
the national debt has risen approxi
mately three billion dollars in a
year.
They do not object to the. gov
ernment borrowing and not spend
ing everything immediately—but
they do desire it known that all is
not gold that glitters. There may
be I. O. U’s for dollars.
But the expenditures by the gov
ernment may stimulate business to
such an extent that government in
come from taxes will begin to pay
the way.
m • -m
WHERE IT’S NEEDED
New York bankers are of the opin
ion that the Reconstruction Fi
nance corporation should press Its
billion offer tby means of purchase
of preferred stocks) on closed banks.
Today’s Radio Features
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8 (Central and Eastern Standard Time)
Note—All programs to key and basic chains or groups thereof unless speci
fied; coast to coast (c to c) designation includes all available stations.
Programs subject to change. P. M.
(Daylight Time One Hour Later)
NBC WEAF NETWORK
BASIC — East: weaf wlw weei wtic
wjar wtag wcsh wfi w'.it wfbr wrc wgy
when wcae wtam wwj wsai; Midwest:
wmaq w-cfl ksd woc-who wow wdaf
NORTHWEST & CANADIAN — wtmj
wiba kstp webc wday kfvr crct cfcf
SOUTH — wrva wptf wwnc wis wjax
wfla-wsun wiod wsm wmc wsb wapi
wjdx wsmb kvoo wky wfaa wbap kprc
^roai ktbs kths
MOUNTAIN—koa kdyl kgir kghl
COAST — kgo kfi kgw komo khq kfsd
ktar kgu
Cent. East.
2:30— 3:30—Tea Dansante by Orches.
2:45— 3:45—Lady Next Door—also cst
3:00— 4:00—Melodic Thoughts, Orch.
3:30— 4:30—Schirmer Schmidt—also c
3:45— 4:45—Nursery Rhymes—also c
4:00— 5:00—Dinner Concert—also cst
4:30— 5:30—Weekly Hymn Sing—to c
4:45— 5:45—Shirley Howard—to cst
5:00— 6:00—Mountaineers—weaf only
5:15— 6:15—Wm. Scotti & Orchestra
5:30— 6:30—Lum A. Abner—east only
5:45— 6:45—The Goldbergs. Serial Act
6:00— 7:00—Sanderson-Crumit, Songs
6:30— 7:30—Wayne King’s Orchestra
7:00— 8:00—Ben Bernie and the Lads
7:30— 8:30—Taylor Holmes—cst to cst
8:00— 9:00—American Heroes—also c
8:30— 9:30—Radio Forum—also coast
9:00—10:00—Harold Stern'* Orchestra
9:15—10:15—Lum & Abner—niidw. rpt.
9:30—10:30—Talkie Picture Time. Skit
10:00—11:00—Ralph Kirbery, Baritone
10:05—11:05—George Olsen's Orchestra
10:30—11:30—Dance Orchestra — east;
Ben Bernie—repeat for the coast
CBS-WABC NETWORK
BASIC—East: wabc wade woko wcao
waab wnac wgr wkbw wkrc whk cklw
wdre "*cau wip wjas wean wfbl wspd
wsjv; Midwest: wbbm wgn wfbm kmbe
kmox wowo whas
EAST &. CANADA — wpg whp wlbw
whec wlbz wfea wore wicc efrb ckac
DIXIE — wgst W'sfa wbre wqam wdod
klra wrec wlac wdsu wtoc krld wrr
ktrh ktsa waco koma wdbo wodx wbt
wdae big wtar wdbj wwva wmbg w'sjs
MIDWEST — wcah wmbd wtaq kfab
wisn wibw kfh wmt wkbn wcco wsbt
wgl
MOUNTAIN—kvor klz koh ksl
COAST—khj koin kgb kfre kol kfpy
kvi kfbk kmj kwg kern kdb kgmb
Cent. East.
2:30— 3:30—Berrens Orch.—also cst
2:45— 3:45—Memories Garden—also c
3:00— 4:00—Skippy, Sketch—east only
3:15— 4:15—Roundtowners—also cst
3:30— 4:30—Jack Armstrong — east
only; Between the Bookend*—west
3:46— 4:45—George Hall Orches.—to c
Cent. East.
4:00— 5:00—Reis & Dunn—midw. out;
Skippy, Sketch—midwest repeat
4:15— 5:15—Betty Barthell—also coast
4:30— 5:30—Barney Rapp Orchestra—
east; Jack Armstrong—midw. rpt.
4:45— 5:45—B. Rapp Orches.—also cst
5:00— 6:00—Gypsy Nina—also cst
5:15— 6:15—Jack Denny Orch.—wabc
only; Chicago Dance Time—chain
5:30— 6:30—The Road Reporter—east;
Frank Westphal Orch.—midwest
5:45— 6:45—Boake Carter, Talk — ba
sic only; The Midwesterners—w> st
fl:0C— 7:00—Fur Trapcars—wabc only;
Barbara Maurel, Contralto—chain
6:15— 7:15—Poet's Gold—cst to cst
6:30— 7:30—Kate Smith, Songs — ba
sic; John Kelvin, Tenor—Dixie
6:45— 7:45—Novelty Rhythms—also c
7:00— 8:00—Dramatic Sketch — wabc
only; Modern Male Chorus—chain
7:15— : 15—Westphal’s Orch.—c to c
7:30— 8:30—Nino Martini, Tenor—to c
8:00— 9:00—Calif. Melodies—c to cst
8:30— 9:30—Ted Husing & Orch.
8:45— 9:45—Light Opera Gems—c to c
9:15—10:15—Little Jack Little—c to c
9:30—10:30—Isham Jones Orch.—c to c
10:00—11:00—Martin’s Orches.—c to c
10:30—11:30--J. Hamp Orch.—c to c
11:00—12:00—Dance Hour—wabc only
NBC-WJZ NETWORK
BASIC — East; wjz wbz-wbza wbal
wham kdka wgar wjr wlw wsyr wmal;
Midwest: wcky kyw wenr wls kwk
kwer koil wren wmaq kso
NORTHWEST & CANADIAN — wtmj
wiba kstp webc wday kfyr crct cfcf
SOUTH — wrva wptf wwnc wis wjax
wfla-wsun wiod wsm wmc wsb wapi
wjdx wsmb kvoo wky wfaa wbap kpro
woai ktbs kths
MOUNTAIN—koa kdyl kgir kghl
PACIFIC COAST — kgo kfi kgw komo
khq kfsd ktar
Cent. East.
3:00— 4:00—Paul Ash's Orch.—also c
3:30— 4:30—Larry Larsen, Organist
3:45— 4:45—Orphan Annie—east only
4:00— 5:00—Dick Messner’s Orchestra
4:30— 5:30—Kathryn Newman, Songs
4:45— 5:45—Lowell Thomas—es. only
f:09—Am0* ’n’ Andy—east only
5;15— *;15—Radio in Education—to o
5:45— 6:45—Ray Heatherton, Songs
6:00— 7:00—To Be Announced
6:30— 7:30—Adventures in Health
F,oyd Gibbons on the Air
7:00— 8:00—Lewisohr. Stadium Con.
8:00— 9:00—Music Memories <&. Poet
8:30— 9:30—“Miss Lilia,” Radio Play
®:00~10:00—Adler and Alpert-east;
Amos ’n’ Andy—repeat tor west
9:15—10:15—The Poet Prince—east;
Floyd Gibbons—midwest repeat
9:30—10:30—The Mastersingers—to c
Health Adventures—c rpt
12:.SZll:22^51lll, %*• Rhythm Band
i 10-30—11:30—Mark Fiehar’e Orchestra
EAGLE CALLING TO ITS MATE
■■ ■'
c’mom, kip,
>* -LET’S GO
;’/• PL/\Ces/
* »
'
S'r
Wi P© OUR PART
l
*\V'-V. . -
That would release two billions in
frozen deposits—and greatly aid
general recovery.
* • •
DON’T DESIRE MONEY
Banks—solvent banks — kindly
turn down the offer oi the Recon
struction Finance corporation to
lend them a billion to turn into the
channel of trade credits.
In the first place, solvent banks
all over the nation have too much
i —- i ... —i i ■ .
idle money now. The banking busi
ness, in other words, i sslow. It Just
can't seem to attract customers, elig
ible corporations that borrow to
carry on profitable business. Eli
gible corporations are about as
bashful as eligible bachelors.
Besides, capital borrowed at 5 per
cent would mean a loss. Banks
I can’t earn 5 per cent on their
j money.
I Furthemore, who but the banks
lend the money, via the U. S. treas
ury, to the RPC? And banks are
not likely to borrow their own
money back at a loss.
• • •
THEATERS TO GAIN?
Wall Street believes theaters will
do better business when codes grip
all industries.
Reasoning: More leisure.
BEGIN HERE TODAY
ELINOR STAFFORD. SO. falls
In love with BARRETT COLVIN,
33, bat her Jealous, scheming
mother. LIDA STAFFORD, breaks
up the romance by convincing
Uarrett that Elinor la a heartless
flirt.
When Elinor’s aunt, wealthy
MISS ELLA SEXTON, dies she
(eaves her fortune to Barrett.
I’hen drunken VANCE CARTER
■ hoots BENTWELL STAFFORD.
Elinor’s father. Barrett tells Eli
nor that If she will marry him
and live In his home as a guest
(or a year he will give her the
entire Sexton fortune to divide
among her relatives. Knowing
the money may save her father’s
life. Elinor agrees.
The marriage takes place. Bar
rett, In spite of the lies Lida told
him, finds himself more In love
with Elinor than ever. Barrett
has a ward, nine-year-old GER
ALD MOORE, who Is the son of
his half-sister. MARCIA RAD
NOR. Barrett has promised Mar
cia never to reveal the boy’s true
■ tory. Lida Stafford discovers
(he child’s existence and concludes
he Is Barrett’s son.
Elinor’s father dies. Barrett
takes her to Cuba and the trip
is a happy one. After their re
turn Lida, angry, tells Elinor
about Barrett’s ward. Inferring
(he boy is his son. When Barrett
arrives home Elinor confronts
him with this news.
MOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
CHAPTER XLII
J^ARRETT said slowiy, “Suppose
we sit down and talk this
aver? Just what has your mother
;old vou?"
Elinor had dropped to the foot
>f the chaise longue. Hands
clasped on her knees, she looked
.ike a frightened child on the
verge of tears. Barrett drew a
chair near and sat down, leaning
toward her.
He looked so big and strong,
vet gentle, she thought. Always
le had been gentle. But he had
oeen cruel, too, and unfair to her.
tie had cheated though she had
given him a heart filled with
truth and eager response to his
iove.
“Mother told me that—that
vou have an adopted son at the
aome of a widow who lives in
the country. And that the child
tooks like you. Why haven't you
ever told me? Why did you adopt
aim, Barrett?”
"1 can’t tell you that,” he
aeard himself answer in a dull
monotone.
“Don’t you think I should have
itnown?”
“I don’t" know,” he answered,
still dully.
“I—1 told you everything that
mattered, Barrett!"
“When the affair involves a
woman—a man cannot always
.ell everything—” ne stated.
Her cheeks burned with anger
roused by a sharp flame of Jeal
ausy. So be was still sheltering
this woman who bad come before
aer!
“You admit you are sheltering
.ome woman?” he asked.
, • “Yes. Elinor." His eyes trou
oled her. He was suffering. Even
through her own pain she saw
that.
"You knew her—before you
knew me?”
"Yea, dear—"
"Long—before ?”
“Years.”
“You were very young—?”
“Yes, and I haven’t felt young
since except at those times when
you have shown me that you
cared for me."
“Please!” she begged, shrink
ing..
• • •
HE dropped his face to his j
hands, groaned and then sat
erect, shifting uneasily in his
chair. Then again, forearms on
his knees, he sat forward but did
not meet her eyes. Instead he
looked down at the rug at his
feet. If he looked at her he knew
he might easily blurt out the
whole story.
“I wish you could believe,” he
said slowly and miserably, “that
things are not always as they
seem, dear—that I love you truly
and as you should be loved, that
I would never hurt you willingly.
It’B—it’s killing me not to ex
plain!”
“And yet you can’t because of
some woman?” she questioned.
He drew a deep breath that did
nothing to aerate his sodden
lungs. “No,” he answered flatly.
They sat for some moments, he
looking down at the rug and she
at him. She had been so certain,
so pitiably and youthfully cer
tain, that she had reached Utopia,
she realized. And now she was
learning that the man she had
been so proud to call her hus
band, was of the same mold as
the rest.
"Please go!” she Raid. MI'd
rather be alone. I want to think
it all through—"
Of course there was no think
ing it through. She could only
tell herself that she had been a
fool to expect more. What had
she seen in life but the same
story, written with varying de
grees of sordidness over and over
again?
One thing she knew, growing
hot from resentment, and that
was this child had a right to have
a place near his father, to have
all be would have had with a
different birth. Her thoughts
veered. For a while she forgot
the boy—Barrett’s boy. How she
had loved Barrett and how
frankly she had let him know it!
Doubtless (she trembled at the
thought), be had compared her
caresses with others.
• • •
TTIGGINS tapped on the door
“ and she opened it to take a
note. Barrett had written, “Dear,
please eat some dinner. You
could have it in your room. Don’t
make me more unhappy than I
must be. Please keep well—B.’’
“I’ll have dinner here in my
room, Higgins.” she said. "I
have a slight headache—”
"Yes, Mrs. Colvin. I’m sorry
about the headache,” Higgins an
swered and tiptoed away.
The night seemed endless.
Street noises thinned and for a
short space were almost gone.
Then trucks began to rumble and
milk bottles to elbow one another,
rattling. Someone passed whis
tling and a coarse broom rustled
on the pavement.
Elinor heard Barrett moving
about at four and through the
crack below the door she saw a
light which continued to burn as
long as her eyes were open. When
the first of day turned windows
to oblongs of slate-gray she slept.
She woke to hear rain and to see
the somber light that comes with
a steady downpour. ^
She dressed awkwardly, feeling
the shortness of the night and
her new misery.
Barrett was at the breakfast
table when she appeared. Hig
gins was in the room and Barrett
arose, greeting her as usual with
a kiss.
*‘I didn’t expect you down,” he
said. "I was afraid you hadn’t
slept well.”
“I didn’t. You didn't steep weM
either, did you?"
“No, dear.” Higgins was gone
now so that the “dear” was not a
pretense.
She saw that he could not eat
and the mere thought of food
nauseated her.
"What will we do?” she asked.
“It’s horrible for both of ub!”
“God knows!’* he answered hol
lowly.
"Barrett, I want to talk to you
when you have the time—”
“Any time you say," he aa
swered.
"After breakfast then. In the
library?”
“If you Mke.” he agreed. But
what, he wondered, was there to
be said? He pushed aside his
plate and rose as she was rising.
• • •
HPHE library window* opened on
A a little square of court. Elinor
Bat down before one of the open
windows and Barrett drew a chair
close, facing her*. But Elinor did
not begin. She, too, was wait
ing.
“Of course," he said slowly,*
“you can have a divorce." "
He saw the intensifying pain
in her eyes and his heart warmed.
He went on eagerly, “I suppose
you’d want that. Is there any
chance that you don’t?"
“No," she told him. "Not now.
I wouldn’t want people to know,
for one thing. Besides I am as
happy here as I could be any
where. If you don’t mind, I’d
rather Just stay on until you don’t
want me—”
“But, Elinor, that will make
life Imprisonment In this house
for you. I'll always want ’ you
here. I don’t see how I could let
you go. I can’t even imagine life
without you, dear!"
He was looking down at Ms
hands which he twisted. She
wanted to lay a hand upon Ms
arm and say, “What is the matter
with us? We love each other.
Why must we make each other
so miserable?"
But she could not; she could
not.
“What do you want?" Barrett
asked slpwly, raising his eyes to
meet hers.
“I think I’d like to go some
where in the country and try to
make a home for that child,"
she answered. "Your adopted
son. It isn’t right for him to be
kept away like that."
“Very well.”
For a space they were both
silent; then he spoke. “I have
a chance to go with an expedi
tion to South America. Shall 1
go?"
Her heart seemed to shrink, to
grow small and becom* cold. “If ‘
you want to." she responded.
(To Be Continued)