Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 167, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1917 — Page 2

A Soul Fair and Fine

By E.C. WALTZ

(Copyright. 1917, by W. G. ChapmatQ Mrs- Colbert sat on a stool behind a tall desk, making out such business accounts as the keeping of a lodging house demanded. The fire in the small office was banked against any waste of coal. A worn shoulder shawl was pinned under her thin chin. As she shivered and drew this about her a young woman entered and closed the door. Mrs. Colbert looked up. Never had there come in that door such a fresh and glowing creature, never one so well dressed, although her clothes were not of a city cut. The two women looked at each other a moment. The younger actually smiled at the lodging-house keeper. “This is the place to get rooms, isn’t it?” she said, in a pleasant voice. Mrs. Colbert came around from her desk. There were two wooden chairs behind the railing. She opened the gate, set out a chair and turned, the stove damper. This was unusual courtesy for Mother Colbert. “Yes, I let rooms,” she said slowly, “but you could do better.” "My name is Doris Forbes,” said the girl. “My folks are dead and I came to the city to hunt work.” “Yes?” said Mrs. Colbert, questioning her beady black eyes. “My father was a country minister,” she continued. “He died last year and my mother has been dead a long time. I feel as if I must find work.” She spread <out her hands toward the warmth with another bright look. “Folks is poor in different ways,” began the old woman. .“Don’t you really think you could do better?” "I saw your sign and I came in because you were a woman. Have you a furnished room?” The elder woman shrugged hen shoulders as if to say, “If you will, you will,” took a bunch of keys and went upstairs. “There are many empty rooms, too many. Some of my best lodgers have been out of work so long. Here is a room on the side street, with tw r o windows, but you can’t reach it unless you go through the room of those Italian girls.” “Are they working girls?” asked Doris soberly, “because if they are, that would not he so bad. I should not be so lonesome and I like company.” “They sing on the streets and in concert halls sometimes,” replied Mrs. Colbert, with compressed lips; “they used to go with their father, who is dead. Blanca plays the harp, Francesca is younger. Today she went to the Art league. They want to paint from her, I suppose.” <She threw open the door of a room, dirty, meagerly furnished. Beyond was another, no larger, no better. Doris looked at the rusty, fireless stove with a shudder. “There was a woman who couldn’t pay the rent lived with them. They used to warm one stove for all.” When the trunk came to the place a few hours later, Mrs. Colbert went up with it She had been hearing curious sounds. The new. lodger had on a country girl’s working dress, a roaring fire in the cracked stove and had actually washed the windows and floor. There was such a subtle change in the room already that Mrs. Colbert stared. “Can you go on with coals?” she said, basking in the welcome warmth. “Coals are so dear, you See.”

“rm going to make coal somehow,” responded Doris cheerfully. “See if I don’t I know I can make my own way in the city. Do you suppose I can’t find a way in this great hive?” “There’s too many people,” gasped' Mrs. Colbert. Doris was unpacking her trunk. The' woman sat down, unable to resist this excitement. “It’s a death struggle from day to day, in the winter especially.”, Doris looked up gravely. “Does it have to be?” “I keep asking. I watch the people coming, going. You’re the first creature of hope, that’s come in here for many a long day." “Who was the last?” “These girl’s father. He never gave up. He was a musician but got lost in drink. There was something in him that never died. The girls do not understand, no more do I.” When the Raiboldlnl girls, shawls over their heads, stumbled in at dusk, Mrs. Colbert said to them: “There’s a new lodger in your back room. I won’t have Pietro or Rebo Nanni or any other man up there, laughing and drinking. If you do not like it, Blanca, there are other places. She is from the countfy and must be respected.” Doris heard two pairs of timid footsteps In the outer room. She opened the door. “It Is much too cold here. My stove ’is hot. Come, warm yourselves.” “Madonna mia!” cried Blanca as she stepped in, “what heat; what .comfort.” / For a few cheap purchases and the magic'of a woman’s hand had made 9 home of the bare room. On the old stove a tin kettle sputtered, a clean glans lamp gave a bright light on the table, already covered with oilcloth.

There were blankets and a patch work, quilt over the poor bed, a cushion in the creaking rocker. Before the stovestood Doris. Her, smooth brown hair was parted away from the broad brow, her calm eyes met theirs with friendliness. She wore a working dress and! apron. Bianca was young but worn and bent, with the weight of the harp. Francesca was a little more than a child, straight, slim and with the clustered ringlets of a boy. Both were Shivering with cold for the night was bitter., A wave of compassion went through Doris. She went forward and led Francesca to the stove. There was no more trouble in the -room of the Raiboldini. The Italian girls arranged that. The next day Doris set out to search for work. When she came home at night she smiled at Mrs. Colbert and told her that she was employed as cashier at a bakery. “It is not a very large bakery or a very large business,” she said cheerily, “but it will be a living, the rent and coals and meals. I must make a start.” The women held up their hands. Such luck! She w’ould shortly leave them. Three meals? Surfeit! Doris laughed over their awe. She had thenr in to her fire again. Mrs. Colbert came also. Once sfie had been fond of the Raiboldini girls. Now she would have Bianca play. Bianca brought the harp. Her thin face lighted with enthusiasm. She would play as her father taught her once more. So the street music was forgotten and again she struck the wonderful and tender strains that sent Francesco sobbing to the crucifix. In a week the Italian girls were changed and happier. They had. put their room in order and had mended their clothing. Doris sometimes thought of the sewing bees in her father’s parish. How little he could have imagined her impoverishing a needed sewing bee with two Italians and a lodging-house keeper! The baker was a young man. One night he walked home with Doris.after supper and asked to come to see her. With her usual simplicity she said he could if her roommates were at home, not otherwise. The next day he gave her a slight raise in salary and asked her to change to better quarters. Doris thought soberly.

“I can do more good there than any* where else just now,” she said directly, “and I would rather not change as you desire. I was to marry. My lover’s family objected as I was poor. I cannot forget and I am only happy now in living for others.” He had the manliness to continue her in his employ and to harass her no more. Another time Mrs. Colbert sat on her high stood in her little office. It was evening. Transient lodgers came ln,one by one. The place was cleaner. There was a fire and a brighter lamp. The door opened to admit a tall and stalwart young man. He glanced around. His eye fell upon a text upon the wall over the desk. It read. “God is love.” Then he stood in front of Mrs. Colbert. “Madam,” he said, a little tremulously, “I have reason to believe a young girl. Doris Forbes, lives in this house.” Mrs. Colbert looked at him with a close scrutiny. x;. “She does. She has been here six months. She is upstairs.” A light and delicious strain of harp music came from above, sweet as an angelic assurance. The man trembled. “I have had a long search. Will you show me the way? I am an old friend.” Mrs. Colbert lighted a, lamp from the shelf back of her and led him up the stairway. The tender and wooing harp music was in her ears. At the door the old woman stopped. “When she came I asked her two or three times if she couldn’t do better. But she said, no. She’s changed the house.” She opened the door. Bianca was at the harp, her worn face rapturous with the expression of the unforgotten genius of her father. Francesca looked with a tender joy at a rough sketch of her own head which had been given her and which she had pinned above the crucifix. Doris was seated in the creaky rocking chair, lulling to sleep a crippled child which had been ill for days in an uppei room. When the door opened she gave a bright glance at the newcomers, then held out her hand silently. Mrs. Colbert’s eyes were jnisty as she went down the stairs. “I asked her if she couldn’t do better. It’s been done fbr her.” -

Beat He Could Say.

“What about the'bride's culinary efforts?” asked Wombat. “Well,” said his friend judicially,, “she can make ice cream that melts in your mouth.”

Commercial Melody.

“You have no national anthem!” “That’s where you’re wrong. We have so many that it’s impossible to select any one without offending thousands of rival publishers.”

A Patriot.

“What is a patriot?” “A patriot is ope who does all that he can for his country without expecting the other fellow to do more than he can.” V

The Process.

“I suppose Smith is, quite seasoneu to war by this time.” “Oh. He was well peppered with shot and ,the day after he was mustered in.”

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, TND.

New Happenings in Pongee Suits

Just what will happen to the pongee street suit this year is a question that receives a very satisfactory answer in the latest arrival in that line. It is a street suit in which pongee in the natural color Is bordered with the same silk in black. Those who aspire to smart styles for midsummer will recognize an excellent achievement in this combination. Black used In just the right proportion with sedate colors, gives them a distinction that nothing can excel. In this suit the skirt is a forerunner of promised styles for autumn. It is a little shorter than spring models. Jt hangs in the most uncompromising of straight lines, emphasized by box plaits, very thoroughly pressed Into place.' The black pongee is set against the natural light ecru color in a border about eight inches wide. The coat is plain as to its body, with a panel effect at the front, below the belt, which is of pongee. There are flat pockets at each side, faced with black at the top and cut in a diagonal across the bottom. Straight cuffs.

Eor every day and out of doors the little miss in city or country cannot have anything better suited to her needs than the plain gingham firess plctUred here. lt is cut on boyish and worn Over bloomers of the same material. It has a panel down the front, buttoning to one side with white buttons and striped collar, cuffs, and belt of gingham in the same color of the dress, with white stripes. There are some less robust, but very useful and pretty little dresses made of chambray in pink or blue, light yel-, low and pale green, with short bodices of white dimity and the chambray skirts either plaited or shirred on to them. Their charms for the youthful are re-enforced by pockets enticingly decorated with little chicks, or birds, or even baby rabbits and squirrels, done in cross-stitch embroidery. Sleeves in ( theße dresses are short, simple needlework stitches, the best liked of all embellishments. Cross-stitch, feather stitch, buttonhole stitch, and' just plain running stitches in colored eotton, seem exactly suited to the childish air of these little frocks. English nainsook, with little tucks and val lace used for adornment, is for the present favored for the dainti-

For All Hours of the Day

turned back at the top, are faced with black also. The wide epaulette collar Is cut into revers at the front and bordered with black across the back. In the buttons the order of things is reversed and the natural pongee becomes the border. They fasten under loops of silk. Just the right sort of hat for this suit might be either a panama or bangkok trimmed with overlapping bows of narrow ribbon, like that shown in the picture.

Gingham for Golf.

When all’s said and done It’s a nice thing to be able to throw a dress you have played golf in' all day bodily into the soapsuds, and that is why plaid gingham is having such a success at fashionable golf links. These cotton dresses are as simple as can be made shirtwaist style, with rather scant skirts tucked so that they hold their place. Some have Turkish petticoats beneath of the same material or of milanese silk in color to ‘match the groundwork.

est of dresses for little folks. Silk sweater-coats, like that shown in the picture, are almost replicas of those that grown-ups wear with their dresses. This one is in blue, with white collar, cuffs and sash, and besides making Its wearer happy-being so much like a grown-up lady in it — it tempers the cool air of morning or evening, or the beach breezes to the white clad little lady.

Beach Capes.

For seashore wear, says th* Dry Goods ..Economist, many silk capes have been brought out in plain and novelty tussah, in taffetas and in satins, together with some sheer silk crepes. These “beach capes,” as they are frequently called, are being made up in all the popular colorings, as wall as In dainty evening shades. The very smartest capes are of satin and are fur lined.

French compulsory education laws apply to all children between six and twelve years of age.

Gales of GOTHAM and other CITIES

Youngster of Eight Proves Himself a Wonder LOS ANGELES, CAL.—How Max Factor, aged eight, eked out a remarkable existence almost a month, after becoming separated from his parents with whom he recently came to California, was told by the hoy at police detective

headquarters. The boy hermit left the new home of his parents some time ago and after visiting the business district was unable to find his way back. When night fell he perched on the East Seventh street bridge, watching the crowds returning to their homes from work. He said that he believed his father might see him. But darkness found him alone, unclaimed. Hungry and tired, Max says that he returned to the bright lights of the streets and

gathered up discarded newspapers. This took many hours. Being an hohest boy, Max sold the papers to late wayfarers, but always explained that they were old papers and not neatly folded. He gathered up a few pennies, enjoyed a meager midnight lunch and slept in a barrel in an alley of the wholesale business district. He renewed his search the following morning, and when he failed to find the slightest trace of his parents he resumed selling papers. That night he gathered up several gunny sacks and established a hermit’s camp in Boyle Heights. There he slept and tried to keep warm during the long, cold nights. On Sunday he washed his clothing in the river after making a few cents selling papers on the streets. Such was the life of little hermit until the police found him. Shortly before dawn he approached Offlcw Boland at Third and Main street and said: “Won’t you get me something to eat? I am very hungry.” Officers who gathered about the; little hermit were surprised when they noticed how immaculately clean the boy was after his unusual experience. He had 15 centslnhlspocket§—hTssavingsdurrnghiS experience as a nomad. The child’s resourcefulness is considered remarkable, inasmuch as he had always had the comforts of a home, had never worked, and was never without his parents.

“Bad Man” Proved Handy With the Crockery JERSEY CITY. —When Charles V. Hughes was discharged from the construction job of the Lehigh Valley .railroad at lhack Tom, he didn’t like the twinkle in the eyes "of the other ninety-nine who came with him from the

morally —and physically—despite the fact that he would work with them no longer, and had to sever amiable sclal relations with them. So after Charley had taken in a few of Greenville’s well-known all-night hostelries he went back to Black Tom. It was just breakfast time, and the crowd was seated about the tables in a big freight car. “If I don’t eat here, nobody will I” he shouted at them. No one invited him to take a seat, so he filled his arms with dishes, plates, saucers and cups and one after another crashed them on .head after head. Then they came in bunches, Charley hurling a dozen at a time. The interrupted diners dropped everywhere, wounded and beaten, while Charley strolled toward the pot of boiling stew. This was the climax. The crash of the dishes attracted people on the fringe of Black Tom and they hurried to spread the news that, “something WAS. exploding.” Then the police cmne and CTia'rleyHughes was placed under arrest as he dropped an armful of knives and forks that he was about to bring into play.

Woman Has Had Her Full Share of Adventure CLEVELAND. —A French father, a German mother, a Russian husband, and yet an American through and through. Her tailored attire and alertness of manner both proclaim her one. It is more than this, however, that has led

the Y. M. C. A. to employ Mrs. Marie A. Leif as Immigration secretary. For Mrs. Left has a history. When “Marie,” as she calls herself, was a little girl, her father, a French attorney practicing in Germany,, died. Marie was sent to Russia under the care of her uncle, then a Gentian consul in Russia. In Russia Marie attended a private school. Meantime a strange society had sprung up in the universities and schools of Russia —the “Order of So-

cial Democracy.” This society, in secret meetings, discussed and spread democratic ideas. At twelve years of age Marie became a member of the order. While teaching her class of peasants she was attacked by a baml of bloodthirsty Cossacks and severely punished. Then she was imprisoned for a number of weeks. When sixteen, she and another reformer were sentenced to life in northern Siberia. On the way she and on 4of the prisoners were married, together they started on the trip to Siberfti, collecting 900 prisoners on the way. Twelve of these tried to escape. Eight were killed in the attempt. Marie reached England seven months later, and shortly afterward joined her husband in America. He died as a result of his ill-treatment in Russia, and Mrs. Less taught night school and acted as Interpreter for the Santa Fe railroad in Topeka, Kan. She loves America and considers Cleveland the “finest city in America.” Yet Cleveland is going to lose Mrs. Less. She is to have charge of a settlement house in Omaha. I To Shut Down on “Goods Sent on Approval” NEW YORK. —“Goods sent on approval.” The chances are that this announcement will soon disappear from dry goods catalogues. The concession la so abused by the public..tlmt the system no longer pays, and it seems likely that the managers of the

of these articles is worn for a day or two, then returned. Never by any chance is one kept and paid for. In this way the “on-approval” swindler gets the reputation of being wealthy and well dressed. And when the game falls at one shop she tries another. Everywhere you find folk whose means do not match their and who* are yet so averse to hard work that they are forever Inventing, shady schemes to do their fellows out of the use of requisites. The sample Mend is known to every firm. You find him, or her, haunting the free library, and making notes out of advertisement columns of every firm which sends samples free. ' The wrltar once, by way of experiment, made such a list for himself. It Included two sorts of cocoa, a beef extract, some patent oats, a new sweet- . meat, a pastry flour, two sorts of flavoring, one of scent, one of soap and five patent medicines. •• Women clerks in particular complain that it makes too much work.

South. It was this embarrassment that awoke the Greenville section of the city with the dread that there had been another munitions disaster when big Charley “busted” five hundred plates, cups and saucers over their heads while they were at breakfast in a freight car. Hughes, a negro, weighs exactly 220 pounds, so when the boss told him he was “canned” and he saw his friends giggle and whisper to one another, he decided to let them know •that he was going to remain with them

big stores will put their heads together and make a mutual agreement to 1 no longer send anything out on approval. ... ’ Women customers are the worst offenders. They go to a shop, make a few trifling purchases so as to get on the list of customers, and then they begin ordering things t “on approval.” * * One day it will be a hat, the next a scarf, and the third a jacket. Each