Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 106, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1916 — THE WHITE FEATHER [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WHITE FEATHER

By FRANK FILSON.

Geoffrey had his eyes on the girl, like the rest of the passengers in the London “tube.” She was a remarkably pretty girl, In a big hat and wearing costly furs, and she held a feather of snowy whiteness in her hand. And then she handed it to the young man who sat two seats away from her, remarking: “I think this belongs to you, sir.” The young man flushed crimson, opened his mouth, gaped, and began to stammer. “I tried to enlist, but they wouldn’t take me." “Then why are you not wearing an armlet?” inquired the young woman. The young man, as the train stopped opportunely at a station, got up and darted from the car, followed by the amused laughter of the passengers. The girl walked into the next car end Geoffrey, now interested in this incident of English life, followed her. Presently she sat down opposite a very stout man with a flaming tie. “Please let me present you with this feather, sir,” said the girl. The man’s mouth opened, Just as the other man’s had done. He blustered. » - “I’m over forty and I don’t have to enlist They wouldn’t take me.” “Forty-one is the limit,” answered

the girl decisively, and with astonishing deftness she actually succeeded in placing the feather in the stout man's Buttonhole! The stout man tore the feather from his buttonhole, angrily shook his fist in the girl’s face and dashed from the car. The passengers, including Geoffrey, roared. Five minutes later, when Geoffrey’s thoughts were wandering, the girl turned and held out the to him. “Will you not take and wear your badge of honor, sir?” she asked. Geoffrey was utterly taken aback. He had never dreamed of such an indignity.He saw the eyes of all in the car on his. “Will you please give me your card?” he asked, ignoring the feather. “What do you mean?” she demanded angrily. “I mean that you are a public nuisance,” said Geoffrey, “and I intend to prosecute you.” “I shall do nothing of the sort.” “Then I shall accompany you until we meet a policeman,” said Geoffrey. He had turned the tables, for the girl sat back in her seat with a face as red as a peony, and the laughter that followed was decidedly at her expense and not at Geoffrey’s. . She did not deign to answer him, but when she rose the young man followed her. She stopped and swung angrily upon him. “You had better not molest me,” she snapped. 4’Ah! Suffragette, I presume!” said Geoffrey caustically. “I am!” flared out the girl. “And you are intolerable. Go away, now.” “When I have your card,” said Geoffrey doggedly. “You may as well learn that you cannot insult a stranger with impunity. I am an American, and I have been in your country exactly two days." • ... “Well, I suppose that excuses you,” said the girl. “And I am going to call upon some English relatives, and I hope I don’t find them like you,” said Geoffrey. “You have made me sick of England already.” “Dear me!” mused the girl. “I suppose you mil go away now and cease to annoy md ?” . “When 1 have your card or an apology.” “Why, you are positively insufferable!" exclaimed the girl furiously. “Have me arrested,.then! I dare you! It won’t be the first time.” “Nor the last, I hope,” said Geoffrey, with equal anger, j The girl entered the lift without jl word and Geoffrey followed her. They got out at the top and found themselves in the suinry street. “Well, are you going now?” inquired the girl. “When I have your card or meet a policeman,” answered the young man. “Well, have me arrested” snapped the girl. "But oblige me by not speaking to me again, or walking beside me."

Geoffrey fell into place behind fcet and followed her. The girl, with her head held very high, marched through the streets. Geoffrey, whose anger gas fast abating, began to feel sorry for her. No doubt he had been hasty —still, she was a public pest. Finally a policeman appeared in sight, lounging at a street corner. The girl swung round and faced Geoffrey defiantly. But just then the policeman strolled into a shop, and — Geoffrey went on. The girl entered a large hotel. Geoffrey followed her. He knew by now that he could not put her to shame by a public conversation with a policeman, but at least he could learn — or pretend to learn her name and address. She went up to two middleaged ladies on the central sofa, who rose to greet her. Then, as Geoffrey hesitated, a man came up, and the girl, suddenly bursting into tears, to point to her follower and denounce him angrily. The man came toward Qeoffrey and shook his fist in his face. He was a stocky Englishman of about fifty, and he looked as if he meant business. Happily the hotel hall was almost empty. “How dare you molest my daughter!” he demanded. “How dare your daughter offer me a white feather in a public place?” demanded Geoffrey. “I’m going to have this thrashed out in a court of law. lam an American, and you can’t Insult an American without paying for it.” And, pulling out his card-case, he laid down his card upon a table. The man picked it up very coolly and examined it; then he smiled and handed Geoffrey his own. Geoffrey read it and looked more sheepish than the stout man had done. “Uncle William!” he stammered. “Well, you’ve made a good beginning, young man,” said the other with evident amusement. He turned to one of the ladies. “Tilly, my dear, this is our nephew from New York who has come over to study our methods for a year or two in my office, and he has begun well —very well.” “Why—why —” stammered Geoffrey. “Well, do you still intend to drag us into a court of law?” demanded his uncle. “I’m sorry,” said Geoffrey humbly. Suddenly the girl began to smile, and then she stretched out her hand and put it in his. “I’ll forgive you if you’ll forgive me, then,” she said. And Geoffrey decided that it was certainly a good business proposition. (Copyright, 1916, by W. G. Chapman.)

Shook His Fist in the Girl’s Face.