Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 298, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1913 — Page 2

JOHN PAWN PROMINENT CITIZEN

by EMERSON HOUGH

THE MISSISSIPPI BUBBLE s 51-10 OR FIGHT. ILLUSTRATIONS by

cor’rmQvr /3J2 ar rri!£r&s<M mu/g*

n SYNOPSIS.

John Rawn is born in Texas. Early In Ute he shows signs of masterfulness ana Inordinate selfishness. He marries Laura He is a clerk in a St. Louis railway office when his daughter Grace is born. Years later he hears Grace s lover, a young engineer named Charles Halsey, speak of a scheme to utilize the lost current of electricity. He appropriates the idea as his own and induces iialsey to perfect an experimental machine. He forms a company, with himself as president, at a salary of SIOO,OOO a year, and Halsey as superintendent of the works, at a salary of $5,000. Rawn takes charge of the office In Chicago. Virginia Delaware is assigned as his stenographer. She assists in picking the furniture and decoration for the princely mansion Rawn has erected. Mrs. Rawn feels out of place in the new surroundings. Halsey goes to New York with Rawn and Miss Delaware to explain delays in perfecting the new motor to the impatient' directors. He gets a message that a deformed daughter has been born to his wife. Grace Rawn. Rawn bargains with Miss Delaware to wear his jewelry and appear in public with him. as a means to help him in a business way. Rawn is fortunate in market speculations, piles up wealth and attains prominence. He frets because his wife does not rise with him In a social way. He gives her a million dollars to leave him. He asks his daughter, Mrs. Halsey, to take charge of his household. Grace moves to Graystone hall, and Halsey continues to live alone in the cottage near the works. Halsey’s machine proves a success, but he keeps the fact a secret Virginia Delaware becomes more and more indispensable to Rawn. He takes her to New York on a business trip. Idle talk prompts him to offer her marriage. CHAPTER Xl.—Continued. The net was thrown. Silently, gently, she tightened its edges with the silken cords. He loved her.. The rest was' simple. She saw the world unrolling before her like a scroll. All else was but matter of detail. Above all, she exulted in her strength at this crucial moment She knew that love is dangerous for a woman, always had feared, as any woman may, that love might sweep her away from her own safe moorings. She rejoiced now to see this danger past, rejoiced to find her pulses cool and even, her voice under control, herself mistress of her self. She did not love him. But she drew back now apparently startled, apprehensive. “We must go, Mr. Rawn," she said; and would have risen. lie put out a hand, almost rude in its vehemenoe. ‘‘You shall not go! I've got to tell you. Sit down! Listen! We’ll separate in one way, yes. You’re done now with your clerking days for

"I Want You.”

ever. But you’re going to be my wife. I want you; and, by God, I love you!” His voice rose until she was almost alarmed. She looked about in -real apprehension. She turned, to see John Rawn's face convulsed, suffused, his protruding lower lip trembling, his eyes almost ready to burst into tears. She might almost have smiled, so easily was it all done for her. Yet this baker's daughter dared to make no mistake in a situation such as this! “Mr. Rawn,” she began, casting down her eyes, although she allowed him to retain her hand, "what can you mean? Surely you must be in jest. Have you no regard for a poor girl who is trying to make her way in the world? I’ve done my best—and now—" “Make your way in the world! What do you mean? It’s made now! Look down the list as far as you like. Is there anywhere you want to go? Is there anything you want to do? Can you think of anything I’ll not get for you? Look at your neck, your hands—you’ve worn those jewels almost ever since you selected them, and no one else has, though I told you once there was a string to them. There’s no string to them now. The first time you -wore them, down there in the diningroom, below, I told you they were not yours, that they were only loaned to you for one night, that we were only both of us masquerading, trying ourselves out! I told you then you’d do; but I didn't know what I meant 1 don’t believe I loved you then, although now it seems I always have. 1 know I always will Those things are nothing—you shall have everything you want —handfuls of jewels. There's nothing you want to do that you shall not do! Tou can’t dream of anything that I’ll not get for you! You were made for me In every way in the world —every little way, as I've come to j know, little by little, all this time. Sot now, to-night, it’s all come over

me at once. I know that I planned, when I came here, to do more than to stand betw’een you and talk! But —this—caught-me all at once, I don’t know how. It’s the truth before God! I never loved a woman before now —I don’t know what it was. Virginia—Jennie—girl—I love you! We’re going to be married to-morrow!” ‘‘Mr. Rawn,” she said, her voice trembling, “I must ask you’to consider well before you make any mistake —a mistake which would mean everything so me. You have no right to jest.” - 1 “I’ll show .you who's in earnest!” he retorted, his hand cruelly hard on her wrist as he forced her back into the seat. "We’ll go home from here as man and wife, that’s what we’ll do. We’ll go from the train, not to the office, but to Graystone Hall. I’ll find a preacher in the morning here. It’s wonderful! I love you! If they want to talk, we’ll give them something to talk about! Let them come to the Little Church Around the Corner —tomorrow—:and see us, you and me!” He had both her hands in. his large ones now, and was looking into her eyes, intoxicated, mad. She leaned just gently toward him. Forgetful of their situation, he caught her in his arms, and kissed her full. “Mr. Rawn, how could you!” she said at last, softly, seeking to disengage her hand. “It's like a dream! I have worked so hard, so long. Life has had so little for me!”

“But you love me—you can?” he demanded.

“Oh, Mr. Rawn!” she said, lifting her eyes to his face, then gently turning them aside. “You do —you have —-tell me! Confess it!”

She laughed now, ripplingly, her color rising, and at least was spared that instance of her perjury. John Rawn accepted it as her oath.

They parted after a time, she scarce remembered how, he to a couch which knew no sleep, she to one that Tong remained untouched.

In her own room Virginia Delaware stood for a long time before >her mirror, in silent questioning of herself, her brows just drawn into a faint vertical frown. At last she nodded approvingly, satisfied that she would do. A wave of sensuousness, of delight in her own triumph, swept across her. She stood straight, swung back her shoulders, gazed at the superb image tn the glass through half-shut eyes. There was no question of it! She was a very beautiful woman, statety, gracious—and aristocratic. So. It was done. She had won. She caught glimpses of the jewels blazing at her throat. She removed them and tossed them lightly on the dresser top as she turned to call for her maid.

“Madam is very beautiful to-night,” ventured that tactful creature when at last she had performed her closing duties for the day. Virginia Delaware looked down upon her with the amused tolerance of the superior classes. “You may perhaps find a little silver on the dresser, maid,” said she graciously.

CHAPTER XII. The Royal Progress of Mr. and Mrs. Rawn. So they were married. Graystone Hall at last had a mistress worthy of its architect and decorator when —love and affection and other good considerations moving thereto, as the law hath it —the new Mrs. Rawn moved into the place of the bld Mrs. Rawn. Thereafter matters went at least as merry as most marriage bells celebrating the nuptials of middle age and youth, of wealth and beauty. As Mr. Rawn had spent a million dollars to free himself from one wife, he seemed willing to spend much more in the process of taking on another. It became current rumor that the one great diamond show of the western city was Virginia' Rawn. The sobriquet, “The Lady of the Lightnings," passed from New York to Chicago and became permanent there. Not that that lady delighted in display; but there were operatic or theatrical events which deJ manded compliance with her husl band’s wishes, in which event she blazed almost better than the best.

But, gradually, she showed the tastes of the aristocrat, as alien to vulgar display as to crude manners Gradually the tone, color, atmosphere, of Graystone Hall began to change. The porcelains which Virginia Rawn purchased were not large and gorgeous, but a connoisseur would have called them worthy. The vast and brilliantly framed paintings came down one by one, and one by one masterpieces went up, selected by one who knew. The walks, the grounds, took on simpler and cleaner lines. Rawn of the Internationa] got a new credit as a person of taste. He was accepted as a collector, a patron of the arts, a connoisseur, In fact, yet more a worthy and a rising citizen. The hospitality of Mr. Rawn’s mansion house also now increased perceptibly, and. delighted that at last numbers came to see him, Mr. Rawn at Arst did not analyze those numbers

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, INDi

very closely. Even the fastidious, many of whom came to be amused, were unanimous in the feeling that Mr. Rawn’s house, its furnishings, its decorations, its pictures, its works of art, ith hospitality also, were beyond reproach. The trace of gaucherie was gone.- The spirit of the place was delicately reserved, dignified, yet well assured. The seal of approval was placed upon Graystone Hall. Who, indeed, should smile at the man who had made so meteoric a rise, who had by a few years of labor become master of this mansion, its furnishings and its mistress’ Who, upon the other hand, might smile at that mistress, whose appearance upon the front page of the leading journals of the city became now a matter of course—a lady of such reserved tastes as led her to forsake the larger marts, and to set the seal of fashionable approval upon a little florist, a little modiste, a little milliner all her own —even a little surgeon hitherto unknown, who honored a little hospital and made it fashionable, by taking there; th|s distinguished patient for a liftlek-pperation ?

Rawn himselL expanded in all this social success. He saw doors hitherto closed, opening before him', saw his future unrolling before him.also like a scroll?' A hundred times a week he walked to his young wife, caught her in his arms, uxoriously infatuated with her youth, her beauty, her aplomb, her fitness for this life which he had chosen. For once he almost forgot to regard himself as a collector of beautiful objects, although the truth was that his wife, Virginia, became more beautiful each day, more superb of line, more calmly easy in air, more nearly faultless of garb and demeanor. She took her place easily and surely among the young matrons of the wealthier circles of the western city. Whereas thousands of auto-cars Vad passed by Graystone Hall and only a dozen stopped, scores now, of the largest, drove up its winding walks and halted at its doors. The dearest dream of both seemed realized. The hunt in couple had won! They had gained what they desired; that is to say, self-indulgence, ease, idleness, adulation, freedom from care. What more is there to seek? And is not this America? Gradually John Rawn had been losing the rusticity which had accompanied him well up to middle age The city now began to leave its Imprint. The waistcoat of Mr. Rawn gradually attained a curve unknown to it in earlier years, so that his watch fob now hung in free air when he stood erect. His face w’as perhaps more florid, his hair certainly more gray. His skin remained fresh and clean, and always he was well-groomed, having the able assistance of his wife now in the selection of his tailoring, as well as her coaching in social usage. They always looked their part. At morning, at noon, or at dewy eve, in any assemblage or any chance situation, they both the role assigned to them In their own ambitions. Born of an environment wholly unconventional, they now took on that of conventionality as though born to that instead. You could not have found a more perfect type of respectability than John Rawn, a more absolutely valid exemplar of good social form than his wife, Virginia. All things prospered under their magic touch, the genii of the lamp seemed theirs. No problems remained for them to solve. They had in their own belief attained what may be attained in American life, and they were happy. Or, that is to say, they should at least have been happy, if their theory of life and success, and of those like to theirs, be correct. At least they were what they were—products of a wonderful country which makes millionaires overnight and produces out of bakeries women of one generation fit to be the wives of princes born of forty kings.

We are, some of us at least, accustomed to worship such as these as they ride by upon the high car of success. accustomed to envy and to emulate them. If that vehicle be the car of Juggernaut, crushing under its wheels multitudes of those who worship, it is no concern of those who sit aloft. For, a long time Mr. Rawn and his wife remained ignorant of the fact that one victim of the wheels of their success was none other than Rawn’s daughter. Grace. Alas! for that young lady. She unfortunately had been now for almost a year an aspirant in her own right to a seat upon the car of ease and lux* ; ury; yet here she saw herself swiftly supplanted, and worse than that, swiftly forgotten! Her year of quasi-place and power had left her unwilling to

TROUBLE NOT ON HIS MIND

It Was New Woollen Underwear That Caused Mr. Twinkle to Leave So Suddenly.

“What’s the trouble, Mr. Twinkle?” asked Miss Hooker, giving him all the encouragement she could. “Is there something on your mind? You are so uneasy! It can’t be that your chair doesn’t suit you, for it’s the same one you always sit in, so it must be something else that is making you restless. Stop fidgeting, and tell me what it Is. I’m sure I’m a sympathetic listener.’’

—i guess I’ll have to be going. Miss Hooker. I-I-I somehow or other I do feel uneasy tonight, and 'know a long walk in the cold air will do me a world of good.”

return to her own humble home. She remained on at Graystone Hall, now rarely visited by her husband. She found herself calmly accepted, < yet calmly neglected as well. Very naturally she hated the new Mrs. Rawn with all her soul; a hatred which that lajiy repaid with nothing better than a straight look into Grace’s eyes, a look Innocent, calm, and wholly fearless.- Grace must'now see the very jewels her own mother should have worn, blazing at the neck and hands of her*stepmother; must see that lady taking assuredly and as of right, what Grace could now never ask or expect for herself. With an unapproachable and wholly hateful air of distinction and good breeding which rankldti most of all in crude Mrs. Halsey’s heart, Virginia Rawn sat high on the car of Juggernaut; and the car of Juggernaut passed on. In pride and delight over

Fancied Himself to Be a Figure of Dignity.

his young wife, John Rawn really forgot his daughter. The young new wife did the same, or appeared to do so. John Rawn had told the truth to his wife when first he had declared his sentiments toward her —he never before that time really had known Jove, or at least had not known infatuated love such as that he felt for her. He exulted in the vistas of delight which he saw before them, fancying them endless. The very sight of his wife, cool, faultless, self-possessed, haughty, filled him with a sense of his own importance, making him feel that he was one of God’s chosen. She was his, he had found her, discovered her, collected her. She was his to put upon a pedestal, to admire, to display, to worship, to load down with jewels. He had something now which other men coveted and envied. He flaunted his ownership of such a Woman in their faces. What more can a rich man do than that same? Is that not the dream and test of power—to secure what others may not have, to secure special privileges in this life? And is not the quest of beauty the first business of him who has attained power? Of all these special privileges which had come to John Rawn so swiftly in these late rapid years, none so delicately and warmly filled his heart as that of being able to call Virginia Rawn his own. Why blame him? The sultans of thirty or forty generations have devised nothing better than this test of power.

John Rawn, with all properly aristocratic leanings toward sultanry, lacked certain elements of sultanhood in strength, but had others in weakness. He did not know that in reality he was in the hands of a stronger nature than his own. "She’s got him jumping through hoops,” was the comment of one young man. "He’ll sit up and bark whenever she gives the word!” But Rawn did not know that he was barking and jumping, his tongue hanging out excitedly. In all his mental pictures of himself he fancied himself to be a figure of dignity, of strength, Indeed of majesty. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

When a Man’s in Love.

Love was under discussion and the time-old “When-ls-a-man-in-love" question came up. “A man is in love,” said one, “when it gives him physical pain to tear up the slightest of her notes.” "When” —but It would be .violating confidences to tell other answers. One only—the best —we begged leave to print. “A man isn't really in love,” said this romantically astute old gentleman, “until he begins to skip the descriptions of heroines in novels he reads, saying, ‘What’s the use of reading that? I’ll have her looking like her and talking like her anyway.’ ” —Metropolitan.

Then he rushed for the door, made a hasty adieu and was alone under the cold, cold stars. "Oh dear!” he sobbed, in.bitter anguish, “and I’d just worked up my courage to pop the question tonight too! Ding it all, why did I buy that cheap suit of woollen underwear!?

Toothsome.

4 Her head lay pillowed upon his broad shoulder, and her face was so near his that a lock of her hair swept his cheek. She spoke not a word, but her eyes gazed tearfully and appealingly into those dark orbs of his, now filled with a smiling sort of pity. Suddenly he spoke, and at his words the girl shuddered.

“There are two cavities to be filled with gold,” he said, and he drew up his wicked little drill.

THE FRUIT GROWING INDUSTRY IN INDIANA

By M. W. Richards.

Purdue University Agricultural Extension.

The fruit growing interests of Indiana are assuming vast proportions. Large areas of land, heretofore considered as waste, are being planted to fruit. Old, neglected, run-down orchards are being rejuvenated. On every side is found a spirit of horticultural awakening. A demand has therefore arisen for a special horticultural short course where the owners, managers ' and workers of these orchards might come together and review the successes and failures of the past season. Last year the horticultural department of Purdue inaugurated such a course. It was welcomed by the. growers of the state and was very well attended. This year a second fruit growers’ short course will be held at Lafayette, December 1-13. In scope it will be much wider than the previous course. Practical talks on the various phases of horticulture will be presented by the members of the department. Supplementing the talks will be a series of field exercises wherein the student-will actual-

DO CONSUMERS GET WHAT THEY BUY?

By James Troop,

tomology, Purdue University, Purdue University Agricultural Extension.

We are hearing a great deal these days about the high prices which prevail all along the line of food products; a steak which, a few years ago, cost 12% cents per pound, now costs 30 or 35 cents, or even more than that where there is no competition. In fact, the “high cost of living” is felt all along the line and by all classes of citizens. It is not the high cost of things which we wish to call attention to in this article so much as, are we getting full weight or measure of what we buy? Naturally, when food products are low, we do not pay particular attention as to whether we are getting full weight or measure or not. But in times like the present, when a dollar goes a very short way in purchasing food supplies, it behooves every one to see to it that he receives full measure. Many of us have become accustomed to take too much for granted, to accept without question, whatever is given us. This applies more especially to that class of people who buy only in small quantities from day to day; and that does not mean the poorer classes by any means, because, in most of our cities and larger towns, this method is largely the custom with all classes. How many know that they are getting full weight •or measure ? In how many kitchens in this state may be found a reliable set of scales where packages may be weighed as they come from the dealer? Possibly one in fifty. The amount of money that could be saved in this way in a year in each household would more than buy a good set of scales, besides the satisfaction of knowing that one was or was not being cheated. The general use of the Babcock milk-tester has saved many thousands of jlollars to the American farmer, simply by showing him which .of his cows were paying for their feed and which were nbt. This enabled him to stop a large leak in his income. A good set of scales in every kitchen would stop many a leak in the grocery bill. It would not affect the honest merchant, but it would affect the careless dealer and cause him to be more careful.

The legislature of Indiana has recognized the fact that we have both of these classes to deal with. In 1911 the legislature passed a weights and measures law which was intended to remedy this evil of short weights and measures, but every one who has given the subject any thought, knows that we continued to get short boxes of berries, and even those entrusted with the enforcement of the lgw, did not seem to be able to stop it. 'the law did not say that a Igprry box should hold a dry measure quart or pint, add so all that was necessary was for the dealer to sell his berries by the box, and the consumers had no redress, even If they gave the matter any serious attention. , The legislature of 1913 went a step further and amended certain sections

Department of Horticulture, Purdue University Experiment Station.

Department of En-

ly perform the various operations, under expert guidance. Outside authorities on several lines, such as marketing, storage, use of by-products, cooperation and methods of crop disposal, will also address the students of this course. Everything new in tho fruit growing line will be taken up, discussed and illustrated. Especial emphasis ivill be laid on, firpt, the production of quality fruit and second, on profitable methods of crop disposal. Cultural methods, such as pruning, spraying, fertilization, thinning, cultivation and harvest will all be presented. Packing will be especially emphasized and several periods will be devoted to both the box and the barrel. Several new ideas In crop disposal will «ba developed and presented to the grower. In fact,, every phase of profitable orchard management, in its newest phase, will be presented by men who know. The course is free. If you are interested, correspond with the Purdue Horticultural Department, Lafayette.

of the previous law, making it obligatory that “all commodities shall be sold by standard weight or measure,”’ except those which are usually sold by numerical count, such as eggs, or melons, squashes, etc., or those articles sold in packages, such as the various kinds of breakfast foods, etc. This means, if it means , anything, that berries must be sold by dry measure, that is a legal quart of strawberries or raspberries must contain 67.2 cubic Inches, and a pint, one-half that amount; a peck of potatoes must weigh 15 pounds; and yet we have been getting In our markets during the present summer, berry boxes which fell short from five to ten cubic Inches, and it is a common thing, with some dealers at least, for a peck of potatoes to weigh only 12 •r 13 pounds. This means that the purchaser is not getting what is coming to him when he buys these berries, and he is losing from 8 to 12 pounds on each bushel of potatoes that he buys. Not very much, and yet, when there is a large family to support, he is paying for five or six bushels more than he gets during the year, and this is only one Item in the list.

In a recent trade paper the statement is made that growers in another state are attributing the shortage of the berry crop to the fact that they were required to use standard quart boxes; that where heretofore they have had 400 crates, this year they only had 300 crates from about the same quantity of berries. This gives one an idea of what the consumer has been getting in years past, because the retailer very seldom changes his berries from a “short” box to a dry measure box before selling them. Very likely, the above-mentioned conditions do not prevail now In all cities and towns of this state; It ought not to be so In any of them, but It is. It is a condition that we are facing, not a theory. x

A Defect in the Law. Section <•! of weights and measures law, approved March 10, 1913, amends section 3 of the law of 1911, so that “The board of county commissioners of every county of 50,000 population or more shall, and the board

of county commissioners in counties of less than 50,000 population may appoint a county' inspector of weights and measures who shall serve during the pleasure of the said board,* . . “Provided, however, that It shall not be obligatory upon the board of county commissioners of such counties containing a city or cities of the first, second,, third or fourth class which are already provided with an inspector of weights and measures or city sealers to make such appointment.” In other wqrds, a county which has less than 50,000 population, but which has a city of either class mentioned above, and which is provided with an inspector or sealer of weights and measures, need not have a county inspector; neither are the county commissioners required to appoint an inspector in any case in •such a county. A city inspector’s jurisdiction does not extend beyond the city limits, coneeqpently the balance of the county, no matter how many towns and villages it mgy contain, is left without difficulty; without any one to enforce it, a law is of no account. Either each county should have an inspector, or else each city inspector should have jurisdiction over the whole country.