The Richmond Virginian., June 21, 1910, CITY EDITION, Image 10

About The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920

Image provided by: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

                
MLRDER BY JURY.
|v Mecklenburg County. North Carolina, home
of the Declaration of Independence, stems to be;
afflicted with a spirit of personal liberty that re
gards life only as it still lives, and has no re-;
Ijrard to life that has been snuffed out.
Within three years three cold blooded mur
§ der# have been committed in or about f harlotte, i
|T jmd three juries have exerted their arbitrary pow
' er to free the slayers.
In each ease, now that the verdict has been
li Tedered and the accused cannot be prejudiced in
f any right which they may have under the law,
L it may he said that there was no evidence that
ought to have Ix-en considered by the jury, that
I indicated anything except murder.
I; One of these gentlemen,— Biggrrs. by name,
’■ *»**..think,—having sighted another gentleman
^ walking .along* ih>- highway, approached him by
,V a flank movement, placed the muzzle of a re
| voiver carefully behind his left ear. and thus
blew ..ut his brains upon the public street,
y This gentleman was honorably acquitted, up
on the acceptance by the jury of his plea that, at
&• she time of the shooting. he wa* suffering from
ft.’‘Voufuaionnl insanity"- -a term that, so far as
the Kogli-h language, legal encyclopedias, or
» court precedents disclose, is a< unique as the
Mecklenburg Declaration itself,
f The other two cases referred to did not oven
V Hare this excuse of novelty to justify the verdicts
~ .
with which they were greeted. In passing on
the guilt of the prisoners in these cases the jury
simply adopted a modification of the dictum,
f-r**The way to resume, i« to resmne,’' and, desiring
: to aequn. acquitted.
1?' In saving so much we disclaim any intent of
f. giving to Mecklenburg County any other no
torif ty than that which the chance gives it. What
I has happened there. hap{>cu* all over North < ar
>>lina. happens in New York, in South Carolina,
ft in Tennessee, and in Virginia. The chief oon
E <c‘m of juries is to And the pleasing opportunity
faftof acquittal. Their oaths constitute merely the
I m >st formal sort of lip service. Their sense of
y justice is calculated, not upon their duty under
§ tie evidence and the charge of the court, but
g| Upon whether the public will ‘‘stand for” the
. violation of their oaths. To them in their
dilemma the most fragile sophistry, the most
ft. flagrant departures from logic, the most sense
j less appeals to sentimentality or passion are
welcome as affording the flimsy grounds for the
carrying out of a premeditated purpose, in a
time when custom has robbed tile jury lawyer
of the effect which he once had on real men, the
V soft self-corruptibility of juries has availed to
he the trade of this class of mental blow
dfa>» «<**’-< eff>earjon« than evrr. (V.ce the law
yer zed need the jury; now the jury is ready to
ft be seduced at the drop of an oratorical hand
ft kerchief, or the suggestion of a way in which to
Compromise without publicly prostituting honor,
ft The remedy for this abuse which makes life
cheap, which hunts excuses for murders, which
; seeks to palliate crime and thus to engender
f. crime through example, is not to strike at the
ft jury system, hut to strike at the system by which
ft juries are selected. It is to demand that for a
ft high service the prerequisite lw no longer ig
ft noranee, stupidity, want of moral fibre. If. is
I to open jury service to men of intelligence and
moral courage, and to make the possession of
j| these qualities iu> longer a bar to the performance
•V of that, service. It is to take from the prisoner,
If already guarded by the presumption of innocence,
fft the added power of selection of jurymen whose
ftverges ignorance is not capable of proceeding bt*
yond that presumption, These conditions of
jury servi«*< almost universally prevail. They
make for acquittals. Acquittals make for rnur
| der. Murder, with acquittal, makes for lynch
ing. Lynching makes for disregard of law in
; general. ])isregard makes for that contempt of
I law which runs like a sneer from court room
;V to dive, from halls of legislation to the alleys
I where outrage is hatched.
|«L It has come to the pass where the man who
kft cannot become coufusionedly insane after hav
1 ing committed a murder is a congenital idiot.
The need is to make certain sorts of idiocy j»uji
ishable with the same penalties ns munler, at
• least after they have demonstrated that murdoi
f is their preface, if not their result.
•‘ROADS WITHOUT MONEY.”
p Even- now and then we notice in some exchange
I', an article headed ‘ Roads Without Money”.
Ij- The country, especially Virginia, needs good
p roads.
fe But to get them without money is—no way
f to get them.
The flattering unction of something for noth
. ing is here, as elsewhere, fruit of disappoint
ppleijt.
Hp There is one way to get good roads, or good
IpjBO^tbing else. That is to pay for them. Noth
is bought without a price. N'o priee is pair
WaMit a sacrifice. The equation of value itself
cost.
There may be some Utopian plan bv whici
are supposed to lie built without money
do not know, because the subject held m
for us beyond the heading. For then
that makes the sacrifice essential to pur
worth while, that what is gained withou
is worthless. Use follows upon work, pleas
open toil. A gift to competency is no lest
robbery of its heritage.
toads that may be ‘‘built without money’
he poor roads. They will ba roads that wil
* neglected. They will be roads which no oa
appreciate, even if they are worth while
they will not be. They will, in fact, b<
am than bad roads. For roads without mone;
stand as deterrents of roads which cost money.
They interpose their mediocrity as a bar. They
drag on progress. They deny the hope of good
with a milk and water, or clay and water, com
promise.
The way to good roads is for the people to want
to buy them; for the people to want them so
badly that they will buy them. For them to
want the best so badly that they will not haggle
over the price. “Not how cheap, but bow good”
—a good trade maxim—holds doubly good in the
case of roads. The road is a thing in which
every man has a sense of proprietorship. It
is good for his self-respect and for his exercise
of the duty of decent citizenship to ace it in
dicated in dollars and cents on his annual tax
bill. It invests him with a tangible interest, and
a tangible sense of responsibility in the govern
ment in which he participates. It is worth
while, and will be made to bring it* proper re
turn*. because it has been paid for, because it
cost« money, because it is an investment.
We want to see hundreds of miles of good
roads in Virginia. We want to see them cost
millions of dollars. We want none of them with
out price.
Let these economic editions of Mulberry
Sellers shut up on their prattle of “Ronds With
out Money”. We want roads that are worth
w hat is paid for them—and we want the best.
IGNORING THE INTERESTED PARTY.
We wonder if the railroad interests which in
spired the dispatch from New York intimating
that an “agreement’' is to be reached by the
Western railroads and the protesting shippers
whereby the roads, in order to prevent curtail
ment, will be "permitted” to raise rates, realize
the outrage eoni<mplated by such a programme.
It is stated that negotiations looking to this end
have lteen opened by George W. Perkins, of Pier
pont Morgan and Co., and that the shippers are
beginning to see; reason. Tbtis influenced, it
is stated that representatives of the shippers,
who filed the complaint, resulting first in gov
ernment action and then in a compromise where
in- the railroad bill was permitted to pass with
the immediately effective provision giving the
interstate commerce commission supervision over
rates, have been again conferring with the Pres
ident looking to a withdrawal of their protest.
While the dispatch holds a confident note, it is
evident that it is put. forth more as a test of
^public opinion than ns a statement of any tangi
ble condition or change in the situation.
An analysis of this proposal shows only one
accustomed omission of interested parties. Where
do the people “come in’’ ? The shippers felt
aggrieved. They raised a clamor and opened
the yees of the Government to what they con
sidered an actual abuse. Incidentally, the roads
jhad undertaken to act in an illegal manner by
(combining for the purpose of attaining highei
raft's. Hearkening to the shippers, the Govern
luent acted under the Sherman law. Now tht
(.shippers are said to be in a more amiable frame
|of mind, in some way they have been placated
by the railroads. Therefore, it is proposed, tc
do what { To permit the roads not only to raise
the rates in the manner originally decided upon,
but to at the same time release them from the
• operation of the statute resulting from the inis
|carriage of their plans.
In this equation what becomes of the bun
dmls on hundreds of thousands of final pur
chasers, of "ultimate consumers”, from whose
pockets is paid the ultimate price of inereasec
(lost, of transportation; By whut authority dc
jtlie shippers presume to “withdraw” their com
plaint, who constitute but a small proportion ot
the people affected by the rates? On what basil
of egotism d<K's Mr. Perkins (even as the repre
srntutive of Mr. Morgan) place his right to in
terrene as arbitrator between the Govemmeni
and the railroads, while ignoring the party mosl
at interest ? And even if the parties consisted
only of the railroads and the shippers, hut the
issue was the lawfulness nr unlawfulness of th<
railroads' act, what power would these purtiei
■ have to effect a compromise which would him
the Government, directly or indirectly?
It would lx- well if in this matter care b<
taken to discriminate, in the interest of tho rea
facts in the case, between the partisan diseussioi
as to whether rates are, now high enough, oi
whether conditions warrant their increase. Tba
lie the question for decision, but it is entirety
apart from the question involved in the orig
inal controversy.
Whether their proposed action was right oi
wrong, the railoads attempted to take it in at
j illegal way. When, looking to the result, tht
(shippers proceeded to ask au enforcement of tht
law, they removed themselves as a party7 anc
j substituted tho Government in their place. The;
now have no shadow of right or power to In
tluence the withdrawal of the suit, or to quality
the terms of the compromise by which it is agrees
ty.be suit shall bo withdrawn. President Taft, ii
agreeing to withdraw the injunction, agreed t<
do so only when the roads agreed on their par
!to permit tho injunction to remain practical!;
in effect 1>y consenting not to raise* rates unti
their reasonableness should lx* inquired into,
Now that a law has been passed providing *h<
method whereby the merits of the original con
troversy shall be determined, it seems the heigh
’ of impudence that the railroads and shipper:
should go into u corner and attempt, to make e
' trade outside the* record and between themgflrei
—a trade, too, in which the rc*al parties at in
' tercst are to be denied either voice or represents
1 'tion.
»I
11 POLICIES MADE SHIPWRECK.
>: RniWvolt in seven years and Taft in a yeai
, and a half recommended nrach and did little.
* “My policies” were as the sands of the sea foi
\ number. Thty were discharged like a load o:
■1
allot, square into the center of the flock. Yet
they were few and far between which found a
billet of result.
Owning into a well-plowed legislative field,
Mr. Taft also commenced industriously to sow
the seeds of measures, many of which have not
germinated at all, while others sprouted into
strange and alien plants.
The last eight years have not done much to
ward creating in the Presidentcy a dictator
ship of legislation, however far legislation may
have gone toward melrinp a dictator of the Pres
ident. It is a strange development that, with
; the trend toward greater power in the hands of
1 the Executive, there should have been lost the
! respect once accorded to Executive recommenda
itiona.
In the case of Mr. Roosevelt, it could be
claimed with a show of reason that “My pol
icies” were defeated by a coalition of pernicious
influences within the corrupt party of which he
was the one supposedly moral star; in thocaseof
Mr. Taft, it happens that his recommendations
have been subject. to revision at the hands of
j Democrats and Insurgent, so that they are un
| recognizable.
It is, therefore, true that more has been done
, in a year and a half of Taft than was accom
plished in seven years of Roosevelt. But it is
also true that, having beeu forced to yield in
the matter of tariff revision to the hurtful in
fluences within his party. Mr. Taft made the
tactical mistake of thereafter listening to the in
terests which had overcome his better purposes,
only to find the power of Congress changed for
the better and himself alingrd with not only the
worse but the losing element. Mr. Taft’s Iwiast
of the “policies” he has carried out is, there
fore. disengenuous. He has recommended al
most as much and accomplished not appreciably
more than Roosevelt.
THE RIVER BATHER.
We are sure that a thrill of sympathy was felt
j by every one who read of their misfortune for
those boys who, in nature’s garb, were recently
! arrested by the police for swimming iu the
(.Tames River, off a city dock.
There are many men of many minds, who go
(to make a city. There arc many women as
(variably inclined. Modesty, also, is of pecu
liar manifestation. It is necessary that, to pre
Kent abuses, many^ ordinances be made, which in
particular application are hardships. The equal
ity of the law must be preserved, even when it
makes a criminal of the youngster who, on a hot
idav, leaves his clothes in a pile upon the bank
(and cleaves the tide of the river head-first, like
a bull-frog. There are always persons eagle
eyed in their hunt for “shocks”, and on their
(complaint the fourteen year old boys who have
(been thinking of nothing except cooling their
bodies and exercising their limbs in a healthful
sport become instantly public malefactors against
good taste.
As u matter of fact, there is nothing quite so
modest—or rather, nothing quite so devoid of
thought of immodesty— as a naked boy in swim
ming. In the beautiful chastity of nature, he
it unconscious of himself and really inoffen
sive to others. The sight of him, clean limbed,
spindle shanked, supple and_willowy, is a glad
poem of the summer.
When, however, some outraged witness of his
sport invests him out of his own uncleanliness
of mind with unclean]iness; when he makes
bis modesty immodest through the power of his
own pruriency, the police must act. It is the
. penalty which the boy must, pay to the prudery
of conscious salacity.
Until this complaint is made, however, here
is one misdemeanor in failing to see which the
{“shut-eye sentry” of the law will gain lor his
I blindness public sympathy.
THE WHITEWASHED 3TAX.
The news is that ihc report of the Ballinger
committee is to be tiled this week, although it will
not be submitted to Congress at tins session.
For the sake ot the effect on the campaign,
1 however, tho report, will be published by the eorn
Imittee in violation of the precedent which has
Irnade publication ot findings follow their deliv
ery to the body creating the board of inquiry.
Needless to say, the farce will be carried out.
I Ballinger will be white washed by the vote which
lias all along been, di.-counted. The committee
i will act as it was picked to act—seven votes in
j favor of, live against Ballinger.
I Disgraceful as (his course is, it will, as mark
ing the end of u nausens scandal, be grateful to
the country. Farcical in itself, the report will he
impotent in effect. Not even tho most credu
lous can be influenced by a preconcerteTT ver
dict, Ballinger has been tried before the people.
Guilty or not, he is no longer desired by the
people.
I he outcome will, let us hope, be the resigna
tion of Ballinger. He would not “retire under
; Hre”. Although still recognizable under the
coat, let us trust that his sensibilities will per
mit him to leave the government service in the
|fond delusion that the whitewash renders the
Imtui invisible.
' Mrs. Longworth scandalized the ship by smok
ing a cigarette in public. The suffragettes on
board were delighted that she should act “jnst
like a man”. We would venture, however, that
, ‘he does not know either how to inhale or to
blow smoke through her nose. A woman who
smokes is in the same case with the stage lady
who, masquerading in a male part, attempts to
indicate her masculinity by sitting across a chair
and holding on the back—a thing that, a man
never doea.
Mayor Seidel, socialist, of Milwaukee,
de
nounoes the commission form of municipal gov
■'AT'
eminent m a “plutocratic plan for keeping the
plutocrats in power”. Neither plutocrats nor
socialists seem to realize that their political
tenet* are one and the same.
A belated evidence of the Roosevelt example
upon the world at large is the introduction of
the “Hound Robin” form of protest into tko
Chinese University at Pekin.
Governor Hughes will evidently have to be
choked of! the governorship.
Virginia Comment
The Antl-CuMtog I<a«.
Virginia'* antl-cusalng law went into effect yester
day. The man who find* it difficult to keep out of the
dutches of the law in Virginia, for the bill prohibiting
cursing at the last aeasion of the general aaaembly,
wont Into effect at midnight Wedneiday night. The
bill Is brief but unmiatakably clear, for It says:
If any person shall, in the presence or hearing of
anather, curse or abuse anotner person or use any
violently abusive language to such person concerning
himself or his relatives under circumstance# reason
ably calculated to provoke a breach of the peace, he
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction
shall b« lined not less than $2.60 nor more than $600.
—Alexandria Gazette.
Needs a Typewriter or Phonograph.
The Richmond Virginian, probably well acquainted
with the mental peculiarities and processes of ex
Governcr Glenn, Imputes to that statesman and orator
"the habit of denial," and says, "The truth probably
Is that the ex-governor does not know what he says,
even after he has said it.” This is a pretty severe, al
most a savage arraignment of this distinguished gen
tleman. and would hardly be made without sufficient
reason. If well grounded. It is unfortunate for the
cx-governor that he so persistently Projects hlmselt
Into the limelight of publicity, and talks In so many
places on so many subject*. To avoid the habit of
denial, he would do well to prepare his speeches and
Interviews and see that they are printed as he write*
them.—Petersburg Index-Appeal.
Henry County Road Progress.
The board of supervisors Monday, In the handling
of the jail and the macadam road propositions estab
lished itself as a conservative body of good business
men. New bids, on modified plans, for the jail con
struction. and the appropriation of the 18,000 avail
able for the Mulberry hill macadam, were strictly
business—The Henry Bulletin.
The Talk “Down Home”
Judge Reece Dissents.
The city of Richmond recently passed an ordinance
limiting the speed of automobiles, making an Infrac
tion of the ordinance punishable with a tine of $60.
The other day a man was seen exceeding the limit;
the number of the machine was taken, the owner
was found and cited to appear. There was no dis
pute as to violating the law, but the court held,
| Inasmuch as the owner swore he did not know ht*
: machine was out of the garage, that he was not 11a
j ble, the man driving it being responsible. This is
| great decision. As well hold that when a train run*
j over and kills a man the engineer is alone responsible.
In this ease- the police officer did not know the man
and does not know now who was running it. They
have some great Judges over in Virginia.—Greensboro
Record
A “Has-Been” Cornea Again.
We have never had a great deal of admiration fol
Mr Spencer Blackburn, but It cannot be denied thal
In the possession of recuperative powers he ha* moai
any of the politicians beaten. He has been "down
and out” politically four or five times, but be hat
generally managed to emerge from the gloom aftet
a while with a fat office of some kind. All of which
is apropos of the announcement that he has Jusl
been appointed collector of Internal revenue for the
E istern district of Oklahoma.—Twin City Sentinel.
St. Helena.
We have seen much of North Carolina in our day
! but not until the trip to Wilmington last week did we
j know that a few miles out from that c-tty. and acrosi
! the line in a neighboring county, is a colony of ltaflani
! that are making their section blossom like n rose
Their loc&slon is called 8L Helena, and there arc sale
1 to be something like 4 00 of them In the colony. They
; were brought there from Northern Italy, noted toi
1 its good farmers, and are a vastly different peopl*
from the Sicilian class of peanut and banana venders
who come from the southern part of that country
This colony was planted on unimproved land rlghi
In the woods, but they set to work in earnest and
their section now looks like & truck garden. They
are a class of immigrants that North Carolina needs
and the State should have many such colonies.—
Greenville Reflector.
“Old Mjui Co*.”
Inventive genius will not down. Some twenty yean
ago a man named Cox Invented the first flat-bed wet
printing press—that is to say, a press that would prlni
eight to twelve pages of a newspaper from the type
thus avoiding stereotyping, which is costly. He hat
a cinch and the presses are scattered all over th<
country* and are fine machines, costing but little mor<
to operate than an ordinary cylinder press, while th«
speed Is as high as six or seven thousand. A com
pany was formed under the name of the Cox Duplei
Printing Press Company. A few years ago the nami
Cox was dropped, why is not known, but recently—
that Is to say, within the past two or three years—
another press has made Its appearance on the market
It Is called the Jackson press. It is, so we under
stand, the indention of the same man Cox and from
what has been said of It, It Is a great improvemen
over his former Invention In many ways. So goot
Is the outlook that the Goss people, makers of rotan
and other fine presses, have taken over the manu
facture and sale of the presses and they are being
installed fast. It would appear that Cox, the origins
ln’*cntor, was ousted from the old company,' or If
any event, left it, and having this new Idea In hli
head, went to work and perfected It all of whlct
shows you cannot down a working man. Probably
had the old company known what the old man hac
up his sleeve, they would not have let him get sway.—
Greensboro Record.
How to Catch Yellow Jackets.
Mr. Wade Bivens, the young bechelor member o:
the Marthvllle Furniture Company, la not much If
the oourtiu’ business, but he knows how to catch yel
low jackets. His directions are to place a jug oi
bottle about half fined with water by the nest, ge
a pole and stir up the camp which will cause thi
enemy to go Into the trap. Then you have nothlni
to do but to walk up and thrust a cork Into the botth
or jug mouth and quietly retreat.—Our Home.
Turned Oat as Predicted,
Mr. M. C. Thomas, who livee Juat acroaa the lin<
In New Salem township, certainly has the right ldei
of farming. He steadfastly holds to the truth as h<
sees It that there Is more money in growing grali
and food stuffs than in raising cotton. He drlvei
his argument home by telling of a real farmer wh<
moved into a cotton growing neighborhood and whei
planting time came paid no attention whatever to hii
neighbors' methods of farming, and when asked wha1
ho was going to do for a money crop, replied: “Yoi
fellows will sell your cotton next fall and get thi
money for It but when spring comes you'll have tc
buy com, flour, peas, etc., to make another cottoi
crop and then I'll get your cash." And It turnet
out Just that way.—Our Home.
Raising Peanuts.
The editor of the Catawba County Hews says tha'
on a recent visit to Northampton county he founc
that instead of cotton, which was formerly the prin
cipal crop there, the people raise peanuts, and mak<
from $106 to $100 an acre. ’ A machine to threat
the peanuts from the vines has greatly reduced thi
cost of the crop. Like many other counties in tin
East, Northampton has lost millions In the sale oi
her timber. A Northern company went through then
and bought the finest timber at 6 cents an acre
although In many instances the timber was worth t<
the company $1,000 an acre. Thus all North Care
llna has thrown sway Immense natural resources.—
Lexington Dispatch.
RICHM
RGINfAN
PUBLISHED EVERY DAT EXCEPT SUNDAY
BY
THE RICHMOND VIRGINIAN COMPANY, to*
8AMUSLW. MEEK Uut|v
B. B. WCtoDMN.M—
BuMd*h Offlw: Tb* Virginian Building. Governor and Baa*
RICHMOND _ - - . vWNU
Drty oh nar, poatag* paid.f*M
D«fljr Ob month*, poatage paid.(2.00
D^X thw. month*, povta*. paid.(1.00
*„®.005?1Pta**Jm,ltt*r- January 2%, 1*19, at
187# ffl at Richmond. Va., under act ot March 3.
THE LUCKY MAN
By JOANNA SINGLE.
(Copyright, 1910. by Associated Literary Preaa)
°Un*7Land pretty' But th« prettlnes# wad
Thy°u/h_7a Physical bloom and softness.
Jh V‘*ht. 1,ttle look to her thin but rosy,
i pa, and a hard look In her blue eyea. But the
y°u,n* I"en ln (he case could hardly have been ex
pected to see this. There were two of them—and
a number more, but Gene Turner and Ebe Fisher
I! i? anead—°r lt looked that way. Alao it looked
“ were having the best of lt. if by beet la
*”eaat *h® lttdy 8 favor. It was odd, too, according
den^rlml^* ,of the °thei‘ *irl* »t the Cosmopolitan
store. • They would have thought Susanna
—oorn Susan Jane—would require “some sort of real
style in a fellah!
.„?ene ,va" not stylish, but he was young and straight
and wore his working clothes with a jaunty grace.
«e even carried a dinner bucket as If that were a
matter to be graced ln the doing. And he earned
thrice, at carpentering, what Ebe Fleher did behind
a dry goods counter. Ebe had style He was a good
dancer and dresser, a matter which muat have ab
J?™*“ ?ol,t of hla **!**>• had the girls stopped to
think about It.
-Suzanne, whose final name was Ryan, had some
now escaped the warm-heartedness of her race, which
was a pity. But she was a good clerk, with an un
deniable pert pretttnesa a wealth of reddish hair,
milky skin and large, moist, bright eyea. And she
herself had all sorts of style. She was the best dance
ln the store. She lived with an old aunt to whom eh
gave 13 out of her weekly $7. and to whom she pal
scant attention. The "front room" was, she made It
understood, for her own especial use. and she trlcke
lt out with some cheap tidies and albums, a lot of
photographs of everybody who. would give her one.
and a bright rug and settee brought on the tnstal
i lment plan. For the rest, she owed lt to herself to
dress like a lady.
Her Immense self-confidence gave her a certain
charm to the circle ln which she moved—ehe was gay,
saucy. Independent, with that little touch of feline
cruelty which men laugh at and love ln a pretty girl,
not realizing Its real significance—unless they marry
her!
All winter ehe had danced aand flirted and—work
ed. Ehe, a* the most desirable man ln her train, she
had taken pleasure In playing with. She liked to make
herself envied by the other girls who counted Ebe
I Fisher a sort of a prize, by snubbing him In favor
, of Gene, who was as nonchalant and Independent as
herself. lt was this recklcsness of consequences
which made the store figuratively hold Its breath.
1 They tx>gan. the girl clerks, and the men. too. to bet
' on which would be the lucky man.
Even Gene had become really interested In the
game, llo liked to see how. carelessly enough, be
could get two dunces to Ebe's one, two walks to this
one, the privilege of taking her to the theater or the
park oftener thun Fisher could. At first he has bee
not ’ at all Ih earnest, simply amusing himself. He
j made love to no girl, for he had an old mother t«
support who was the apple of his eye. and he was
paying for a little lot and cottage.
And Suzanne? She had merely used him for a foil
there had been only flirtation, less clumsy than hts
but certainly, even then, none too subtle She wouUf
not, at first, have dreamed of marrying him. but some
how he was not a man to pick up and drop. Hu
left his mark, the mark of personality which is hard
to erase. And hi* independence matched her own.
Late in the spring Gene took to running over lr(
the evening, once a week or so. and sitting ln the
'front room with the girl and chaffing her. Final)
he made himself welcome ln the little kitchen, whic
old Mollie, the auut. kept shining and comfortables
and which, with its old furniture, hand-made by
her dead husband, and her old blue dishes, was far
prettier and more characteristic than all Suzanne's
cheap frippery, lt irked the girl that the handsome,
laughing young fellow should spend a good hour of
hts calling sitting with the tod woman, making her
chuckle at his jokes, mending a thing for her. doing
a bit of hammering or sawing and always In a Jolly
companionable way.
Once the girl Joked—rather seriously—at him on
the subject. "A body’d think you were (Lad stuck
on Aunt Mollie." she said.
"I am." he retorted. "She's almost half as aioa
as mother—I'm used to old ladies an' 1 like them.
Come out home with me some night and visit mother
She's a hit lonely, and I try to stay home with hey
a good deal.”
The girl tossed her head. She had no mind to fu«
with the old lady. But secretly, she did want to se
his house. She had ln the back of her head a notion
that a strong, independent man with a house of bis
own might not be bad to marry. She had no idea of
wasting her youth in a department store—she intend
ed to marry.
And as for Gene; he had become fond of the girl.
Ho was, at times, sure he was ln love with her. But
ho was by nature deliberate—he never hurried a
thing. She would get acquainted with hla mother,
lt even entered his head that, if she should care for
him and would marry’ him, ’Aunt Molly could have
her little house moved to a corner of hla lot. and he
and his girl wife could have their “old folks” under
their eyes. He was a born son.
He noticed that Ebe Fisher was becoming mor
and more frequent, more and more serious In his at
tention to the girl. It wakened his sense of rivalry.
And. though he hardly knew it, he was sorry for Su
zanne. He wanted her to have a chance to be quiet
at home, to dress her hair like a real woman tnste* 1
of a hair-dresser's dummy, to stop chewing gum, and
talking pert nonsense at every man In her path. He
wanted to protect her—even from herself. He finally
decided to ask hei to marry him. and to see If »n#
loved him. His mind dwelt on her bright eye, hip
little, wistful smile. She was so sweet and young
he was sure her flippancy was a mere matter or
working In a store. He did not like the flippancy^
but he thought lt would vanish when real love came
to her. These thoughts were subconscious.
One warm evening late ln May he wandered orer
to her little house. If the coast was dear he eouM
tell her all his heart, and. pondering these thlng%
he entered the small green yard with Its old-fash
ioned flowers, and went upon the little porch. He
knocked, but no one answered. He could heap Bu
sanne talking in the kitchen, her voice raised as la
argument but he did not hear the word. He knock
ed again more loudly, with no response. Thsn he
<**relea»iy enotigh sank down in tne ola r<K?Kcr ana
waited on the porch. Probably ehe would come ou
In A minute and find him end he would tell her.
Then, without warning, he heard a door fly open
and a stream of words come thick and fast. He did
not mean to listen, but he was so stunned that he
forgot he was doing so until It was all over* Tha
girl's voice was sharp and angry.
"No ” she said, “I won’t ask Gene to fix it; and I
can tell you right now that you can keep out of the
wav when he comes! Do you think he comes to see
vou. What's matin’ on you, anyhow. Aunt Mollis.
Well, if I do marry him—-and I shall If he asks me.
and he will—you can bet you needn’t think you’ll
live wtth us. Nor hjs mother, either! I’m no such
fool as that. If I do look easy. What you take ms
for7 1 shan’t keep any old ladles home, and If he a
countin’ on that he's got another gUeas cornin’ to him.
I’m payin’ you board, but I don’t need any chaperon
He's asked me over to see his mother. I’ll go, but l
h«t if we're ever married she can come over hero
and live with you. That will be close enough for •
mother-in-law, an —
Without a word Gene rose, went down tho path
and out at the gate, and straight home.
He did not go near her again. One day she salted
him If ho was mad.’’ He said that he was not and
asked what made her think of such a thing? But bis
manner was a final thing. The next day she told him
■he was engaged to Ebe Fisher—she met Gene on the
street and stopped him with her news, her bead 'try
high.
“Oh." he said, “I shall have to wish Joy to you—
and the lucky man." But ln his heart Gans linear
that he himself was the lucky mu,
k