Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 129, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 June 1915 — THE MERRY AND REW [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE MERRY AND REW

By FLORENCE LILLIAN HENDERSON.

(Copyright. IMS. by W. O. Chapman.>

••Who is he. anyway’” “Dalzell—comedian, clown, what you like so that wit and humor and riotous fun play a part.” “Profaasional?” "Oh. yea—expert Merry-Andrew, you might put it He came here a week ago, prospecting to give a show. He happened to be on the spot when Mayor Worden’s team ran away. The two fiancees of the mayor’s two sons were in the carriage. Dalzell halted the team just in time to prevent a bad smash-up. That made him solid with the Worden family, you may assume.” “And he still lingers in the village." ••For a very good reason. His popularity on account of the runaway episode is nothing to the popularity h 6 has won with his quips and jokes at the little hotel here. Why. he keeps the crowd on a broad grin all the time! The lightest-hearted fellow in the world! Don’t believe he ever has a care on his mind. He's bottled up sunshine and mirth. I envy him his happy, contented disposition. “H’m —thanks,” observed the speaker, a young lawyer named Chester. “Sort of a queer fellow. I’m interested in him.”

He was, far more than he indicated. The fact was that Dick and Albert Worden had asked him to look up the actor-humorist. When they realized that the lively stranger had saved the lives of their future wives, they sought some way of rewarding Dalzell. They dared not offer him money. With all his jolly ways, there was a certain natural dignity about Bryce Dalzell that proclaimed him to be a gentleman. There was something, too, suggestive of mystery. They wished to be friendly and helpful to Dalzell and deputized Chester to find out how this could be brought About. Already the young lawyer had set the ball rolling in a plan that was meant to assist the actor. The latter had come to the town to arrange to give entertainments where a comedy he had written was to be the feature.

He had at call some cheap actors in the city who would assist him When Dalzell first suggested the proposition, the owner of the one public hall in the town laughed at him. It was not a theater-going community, Dalzell was told, and every dramatic combination that had come along had met with disaster. But now, after Dalzell's heroic det, his personal popularity as a fun maker, and the efforts of the agent of the two Wordens entirely changed the position of affairs. The owner of the hall entered heart and soul with Dalzell in advertising and preparing for the presentation of the comedy. The young lawyer unobtrusively hung around the reading room of the fyptpl, to find Dalzell in apparent high Spirits over his success. Chester was . z a studious, sedate young man, but he ‘ could not help but smile at some of the shrewd witticisms of the actor stranger who suggested an inexhaustible wave of jollity. There came a letter for Dalzell while he was in the midst of an uproariously comical recital of the woes of a stranded Thespian. Dalzell’s face grew instantly grave, but he finished his story, and then with a last gay remark excused himself and- went to a secluded corner of the lobby. Chester was fairly astonished as he secretly but intently observed Dalzell. The latter opened the letter. Across his expressive face there came a solemn change. It seemed as if he had thrown off an irksome mask. Care, anxiety, grief traversed his features in rapid and poignant succession. Tears coursed down his cheeks. "A mystery? Yes;” reflected the young lawyer. "Why, he looks ten years older than he did five minutes But Inside of an hour Dalzell bad rejoined the group which so admired him and enjoyed his ceaseless fund of merriment Only, ever and anon the watchful Chester noted that Dalzell nlaced his hand against the pocket

where he had deposited the letter, just as though underneath it there was a keen pain In his heart. The two performances took place. They were a grand success. The Wordens and all their friends worked like beavers to make it so. The entire county attended, and, after paying off his dramatic assistants and other expenses, Dalzell left the town the happy possessor of two hundred dollars.

Crowds waved him a friendly adieu as the train departed. No one noticed the young lawyer, closely enfolded in a huge coat, quietly take a place in a rear seat of the coach in which Dalzell was also a passenger. Faithfully following out instructions given by the Wordens, the attorney kept close track of Dalzell unsuspected on the train, and in the city all that day and well into the next morning. He followed Dalzell wherever he went. About noon he telegraphed to the mayor’s sons. They met him at a hotel three hours later. “I thought it best to have you come on," explained Chapter. “This strange man, Dalzell, is indeed a true man, and you can help him in a signal way.” “We will certainly be glad to do that ” spoke the brothers in sincere unison.

“When Dalzell came to the city I followed him to his home. It was pitiful. He occupies a cheap, bare apartment and eats at the poorest restaurants. Then he went to a bank and deposited a hundred dollars. Then to his wife.”

“He is married, then?’’ inquired the elder of the brothers. "Yes. It is a sad story. A year ago Dalzell wedded a lovely, sprightly young girl who had acted with him on the stage. from the house of the officiating clergyman straight to their duties on the stage. Alas! in the second act of the play in which they took part a heavy stage platform fell upon the bride of an hour, crippling her for life and partly paralyzing her. She has since lain helpless.” “Not in the squalid home you describe?" exclaimed the other of the brothers.

“No, and there is demonstrated the true nobility of the man. He has placed her under the care of a trained nurse in comfortable, almost luxurious quarters. He has made her believe that he has Important dramatic engagements out of the qlty which employ all his time and bring in large money retuns. She suffers for nothing. while he at times has barely enough to eat. I had a stolen glimpse of the pair—she fairly worshiping him, he devoting his life to her happiness.” A tear came into the eye of the prae-tical-minded lawyer. Then he resumed: “It seems that a noted specialist claims he can restore her to health, but only through an expensive operation. He requires a thousand dollars in advance for the same. Dalzell has two hundred dollars of the amount at bank and is working to get the balance.” “Take us to Mr. Dalzell and his wife at once," directed one of the brothers. It was with sheer amazement that Bryce Dalzell greeted his unexpected visitors. - “I have come to tell Mrs. Dalzell a story,” announced the lawyer, and then, despite the protestations of Dalzell, he narrated the details of his heroic self-sacrifice. “And here is the money to at once urge on the effort to cure this dear, devoted woman," spoke the elder of the brothers touchingly, and he placed a package of banknotes on the table. The wife was crying in the arms of the man whose self-sacrifice she knew for the first time. In her lovely face there was a mute adoration. And the Merry-Andrew—he broke down at last, but beyond his happy tears a grateful, gladsome smile illuminated his weary face.

“A Mystery? Yes;” Reflected the Young Lawyer.