Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 187, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 August 1917 — Page 3

His Ideal.

By Jessie Ethel Sherwin

(Copyright/ by W. G' Chapman.) “Some fish that, eh?” warbled Ned Driscoll, puffing up with pride and complacency. “Quite a catch,” answered Pierce Marvin and hy continued to gaze steadfastly at-the card photograph, his fellow club member had been showing around to his'friends and acquaintances as fast as they came into evidence. “Seventeen pounds,” ran on Driscoll glibly. “Sort of hit the record up there around Mirror lake. Even the natives stared. Sort. of catches you, don’t it, Marvin?” chuckled the speaker, as his companion showed some reluctance the photograph. “Why, yes, for a fact,” replied Marvin. “You don’t happen to have a duplicate, do you?” “Sure thing!” volunteered Driscoll with alacrity, Immensely flattered at what he regarded as direct homage paid to his skill as an angler and the facsimile presentation of a pictorial prodigy. “Yog can keep that. I’ve got a half dozen more.” “Thank you,” said Marvin and with a ’ last glance at the card stowed it carefully away and submitted to be bored by Driscoll’s detailed description of how he had hooked the big fish up at Mirror lake. He was a shallow, conceited fellow, given to exaggerated stories of his hunting and fishing exploits, and but for the tangible evidence of the photo-his boastfulness would have been greatly discounted. Marvin later dropped info the studio of his artist friend, Lee Bennett, whom he found temporarily absent, sat down

Came With Hurricanelike Velocity.

to wait for his return and proceeded to take another look at the photograph. It represented Ned Driscoll, jolly and smiling and holding up a spring scale ,at the end of which was hooked a mammoth pickerel. %It was certainly a monster of its class, and, as the original had been seen, discussed, verified as to weight and enjoyed by members of the club, Driscoll had some reason to be proud. The scene in the photo showed three or four other amateur fishermen admiringly regarding the trophy. Near by was a veteran fisherman, Indubitably a native. Her arm linked in his in a loving daughterlike way was a girl, smiling archly and with a face which held Marvin spellbound. He was a lover of beauty and here it certainly shone forth in a species of wild rose loveliness that was entrancing. Marvin started as his shoulder was brushed slightly and he looked up to meet the quizzical gaze of the young “I’m of your mind,” pronounced the latter promptly. “You have found another face well worthy of the homage of painter and poet.” That word, “another,” cut Marvin to the quick and he flushed slightly. Author, dilletante, heir to a fortune, amid even this seemingly ideal environment he was a dissatisfied dreamer. One of his popular books had been built about a dark, sensuous beauty whom he had Introduced to the world as his ideal heroine. To his readers she still remained the same. To Marvin there had come a rude awakening. He had never been in love with her, but he had admired her, only to be disenchanted, for in real life she turned out to be a selfish, heartless coquette. “There is something about that face that is witchery, pure and simple,” he told Bennett frankly. “Perhaps the combination of wild scenery, real human nature and all that gild the picture, but the girl so fully harmonizes with "the environment that I shall seek a new inspiration amorig the woods and hills of Mirror lake.” “And the girl,” intimated Bennett, a slight smile upon his lips. “Gladly enough,” confessed Marvin frankly. “I shall get the sylvan beauty In a larger focus and you .shall perpetuate her loveliness in a pretentious way.” * ' , - Marvin was a man of deep impressions and a lasting one had been,. Im-* parted to him by the winsome face in

the photograph. Ned Driscoll would have been sadly depressed had he comprehended the real attraction for Marvin in the picture. Marvin reasoned that he made his living, or rather his fame, in studying humanity. Here was a subject that vitally attracted him. Why not exploit the incident? New scenes and new characters would stimulate society-surfeited experiences, Pierce Marvin made up his mind, and by the end of the week he was on his way to Mirror lake. There was a dance at the one public hall of the settlement the night he arrived, located on the top floor of the somewhat Indifferent hotel at which he had put - up. The people residing around the lake, except for summer visitors, were homely, homespun and honest, the atpiosphere of the dance hall healthful,’ cheery, all friendliness. The moment his eyes rested upon a girl with dazzling eyes and glowing cheeks he recognized the original of the picture. He watched her graceful movements, the innocent enjoyment of the occasion throbbing and natural. She was really a study, however. He learned her name. It was Vinnie Brand. Her uncle, a diamond in the rough, her cousin, a young woodsman as artless as herself, completed a characteristic frontier trio. Marvin sought an introduction and danced twice with her. She looked up at his handsome, courteous face with pride and a sort of veneration. “The pleasantest evening of my life,” decided Marvin, as he went to his room after midnight. “I shall cultivate her,” but he did not meet her as he hoped the next day and learned that she had gone with her, relatives on a fishing trip down the lake. He was trying his luck at a secluded cove the next afternoon, and poor luck at that, when he noticed coming down the beach Vinnie and her cousin. The girl carried a great monster of a fish over her shoulder at the end of a rope. She discovered Marvin and halted. There was a confab with her companion. She shifted the fish to him. Then both approached, the lad in the foreground, Vinnie rather shyly holding back. “It’s a twenty-pounder, mister," said the boy. “It’s yours, and the weighing scales and the photograph thrown in, for five dollars.” “I don’t understand you,” spoke Marvin, but he soon did, and comprehended the merit of Ned Driscoll’s phenomenal catch. “They all buy,” said the lad naively, “and go home and brag about their ‘big haul.’ ” “But I do not care to boast of what I have not attained,” explained Marvin. “Where do'you catch these monsters, anyhow?” “I will be glad to show you tomorrow,” spoke Vinnie quickly and then and there an arrangement was made for the morrow. What a day of sport! What a charming guide and companion, w’ho showed not the slightest restraint in the company of a man she instinctively recognized regarded her with respect and admiration. Vinnie, Indeed, knew the secret haunts of the big fish. They were started homoward and crossing the lake at Its broadest part near some small islands, when the girl viewed the darkening sky with a serious glance and rowed the faster. “Uncle said we would have a blow,” she spoke. “Hold fast to the side of the boat. It’s coming.” The furious blast came with hurricanelike velocity. That only Marvin realized, as the boat was sent whizzing ahead against a rock. The contact lifted him clear out of the boat, and the next he knew he was lying on the ground on one of the little islands and Vinnie was placing a dripping bandage to his bruised brow. She had saved his life and had sprained her wrist In dragging him to safety. That he did not know until two hours after the storm, when the old fisherman and his nephew came to the rescue. Two hours the twain had been companion castaways. Two hours braving the intense pain she experienced, Vinnie Brand had kept up a oheerfng chatter to make one she Considered an honored guest forget the gloom and discomfort of his situation. “I can never forget her and do not wish to,” determined Marvin the next morning, and walked over to the home of the old fisherman and told Vinnie that he loved her.

Best Hated Port In World.

Banana in South Africa is probably one ot the best hated ports in the world. Hither come the exiles who have signed three and five-year contracts in far away Europe, where years looked short and salaries looked large. Here they see the west coast of Africa, the land they must live with, for the first time, and there is little in Banana to cheer them over the prospect. There is an air of shiftlessness and Indolence over it all, from the inadequate wharves to the tin cans that niter..-the streets. The spell of Africa, the land that changes men’s spirits and philosophy, Is over It all. And here they'have to pluck up the courage to face the years up river, in Boma and Leopoldsville, and the rubber and ivory posts lost in the jungle.

An Achievement In Living.

Thoreau’s life was an achievement in living. That was his art, and tie did it so Inimitably well that, like all artistic productions, it must suffer diverse opinions. We do our part by understanding and appreciating his life, leaving its emulation to those who can do it with ease- and naturalness. To live well* easily, asplringly, and contemplatively is an achievement which years of effort have brought to man. This achievement belongs to the few of whom Thoreau -was one.—New York Evening'Post. •

. the EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

PIRATE MANAGERIAL JOB IS NO SINECURE

HUGO BEZDEK, NEW LEADER OF PITTSBURGH TEAM.

(By JACK VEIOCK, International News Sports Editor.) Hugo Bezdek has a man-sized Job on his mitts as manager of the Pirates. It is no cinch to take hold of a tailend teamin midseason and pump It full of life and pepper, but this is the task Bezdek has tackled, and he may surprise the critics by making good with a vim. There are always a few joy killers who predict dark things for the fellow who takes the reins as manager of a losing ball club. He gets about as much encouragement as the allies are giving Von Hindenburg these days, and if he is one of the kind who can be discouraged easily he has about as much chance of getting by as a snowball in a pot of boiling oil. The Pirate managerial job this year looks just about as big as all outdoors, and the material Bezdek Inherited when he took the wheel was not calculated to bring joy to any manager’s heart. But -Bezdek did not hesitate ■when the berth was offered to him. He simply stuck out his jaw and went to It. And he may show the critics a few things about overhauling a ball club that they have never dreamed of. Stranger things have happened in

WAR FEVER STRIKES BROWNS

Shortstop Lavan So Enthused He Is Unable to Keep His Mind on Game —Others Hard Hit. Injuries are not the only thing handicapping the Browns. Several of the players have the war fever so strong they can’t keep their minds on the game. Shortstop John Lavan is one. He is eager to enlist in the army medical service and can hardly wait until the baseball season closes. In fact, it would not surprise anyone if he quit the game before the end of the season. Catcher Hank Severied, who has two .brothers in the military service, also talks of giving up baseball for

Johnny Lavan.

war, while Outfielder Bill Ruinler is pretty certain to join the army before he will accept a minor league berths. Another would-be soldier is Tod Sloan, substitute Infielder, and he and Ramler plan to enlist together.

KNOWS A GOOD BALL PLAYER

Manager Clark Griffith of Washington Made No Mistake When HeHeld Onto Joe Judge. Clark Griffith knows a good player when he sees one, which he often does wherfcothbrs can’t see at all. Take the case of Joe Judge, for instance. Joe Is playing a fine game for Washington at first base, much to the strprise of everybody except Griffith. Griff two years ago let Gandilout in order to make room for Judge and everybody told, him he’d regret it. But Griff knew better, and now he has proved IL

baseball, and if the Pirate owners will stand behind Bezdek he may be the man for the permanent job. Who knows? Look at the case of Lee Fohl. Lee was appointed manager of the Cleve-* land Indians to finish out a bad season. No one thought he would stick as pilot of the club. But he’s still there, and he has had the Indians In the limelight ever since the owners of the club got behind him and handed him moral and financial support. One of the main troubles with the Pirates was the fact that they began playing ragged and often listless baseball, as soon as they found out that they didn’t have the stride* necessary to keep them in the pennant race. They were discouraged, and Callahan was discouraged, too. So the club was not really doing its best. Bezdek gained some valuable experience in the handling of men as a baseball and football coach, and he has studied"players' as a scout for the Pittsburgh club. His fighting qualities were trained during his football days with the University of Chicago, and while he wore the Maroon he was one of the greatest backs the Windy City school ever turned out.

BASEBALL STORIES

Big Fred Toney is going like a house afire for the Reds. > * * ~ ■ The Cleveland fans are beginning to have the pennant fever again. — s m . Stallings has the weakest bunch of hitters in either major league. • • • Rollle Zelder has been?a'tower of strength to the Chicago Cubs this season. • • • President Frazee of Boston has started a crusade against the baseball bettors in Boston. * * • Lee Fohl believes that his Cleveland club will be far more prominent In the race from now on. ♦ ♦ • • Fred Mitchell still believes that the Cubs can win the pennant. He predicts a midseason drive. ♦ * * Seibold of the Athletics can field and hit as well as pitch and Mack tried him at shortstop for a while. * • ♦ Cicotte of the White Sox is 15 pounds lighter than last year. Can he stand to be overworked? Severeld of the Browns has developed into a first-class catcher. He also is a dangerous hitter. • * * Wheh Barry played with the Athletics he seldom opened his mouth. As manager of the Red Sox he has lots to say. • * * Kenneth Williams, the new outfielder of the St. Louis Browns, got a tryout with 1 the Cincinnati Reds last season. Sam Rice of the Senators converted into an outfielder last season continues to hit the ball hard, just as he did last season. »♦ ♦ . • Billy Muryayrwho once was manager of the Phillies, is now a scout for the Red Sox, and, also an adviser for President Frazee. It’s a toss-up as to which is the better thrower. Pecklngpaugh or Scott They are the best shortstops in the American league. 4♦ ♦ . Hans Wagner has shown that he still is spry enough to play third base as well as at first base. The veteran is sure to?prove a valuable man for Manager Hugo Bezdek. /erhaps the most improved .player in the American league this season is Bill Wamfcsftanss of the Indians. He is Adding brilliantly, fighting for first place in batting and rated among tbfl leading base runners.

M’GRAW’S BIG MISTAKE

Giant Manager Booted One When Rousch Slipped Away. Could Not See Former Federal League Player, But He Is Playing Sensational Game for the Cincinnati Reds. John McGraw is conceded to be one of the smartest managers in baseball, and there is no doubt about his ability, but even Jawn boots one now and then. Evidence tending to show, that McGraw kicked one when he permitted Eddie Rousch to get away from the Giants In the deal which sent Matty to Cincinnati may be found in the batting and fielding averages of the National league. And when the baserunning returns are printed there Is no doubt that this lanky young speedboy from Oakland City, Ind., will be numbered among the baserunners who pile up the greatest number of thefts in a season. Rousch became the property of the Giants through sale when the Federal league tossed the sponge into the ring and threw up its fins. He stuck with McGraw’s team until the middle of July and was traded to the (Cincinnati club with McKechnle and Matthewson for Buck Herzog. McGraw couldn’t see Rousch ad compared to Davy Robertson, and Eddie was sent on his way. But today Rousch stands out head and shoulders above Davy as ball .player, and unless Injuries keep him out of the game this season there is little doubt that he will top Robertson’s best efforts In all around playing. Rousch, though It is not generally known, Is one of the speediest players in the two major leagues today. He is a Mercury in the outfield and on the bases he runs like a deer. In a

Eddie Rousch.

field meet during the life of the Federal league, Rousch equaled the record for getting to first base after laying down a bunt. The record was made in 1908 by Shaw of St. Louis, and the time was three and one-fifth seconds. Rousch was clocked in the same time. As a hitter Rousch has natural ability. He does not hit as hard as his former team mate, Benny Kauff, but he has a habit of banging the ball on a line past the infielders at a rate of about steen miles a minute, and he often gets two bases on hits on which the ordinary player would get no farther than first base. Rousch’s experience in baseball as a professional began Jn 1912, at Evansville, and he played with that club nearly two seasons. He was sold to the White Sox in July, 1913, for a price reported to have been $3,000, and later released to the Lincoln club of the Western league. In 1914 he refused to report to Lincoln, jumping to the Indianapolis Federate under Whoa Bill Phillips, where he banged the pill for an average of .333 in 74 games. With the Newark Feds-Rousch hit .298 in 1915, and in 1916 his hitting fell off to .267 in 108 games with New York and Cincinnati. But Rousch is just coming into his prime as a player and he is only twenty-four years old. So it looks as though McGraw overlooked a bet when he traded him.

LUCKY PITCHER IS FAVORED

Aged Baseball Fan Comments on Game Between New York Giants and Chicago Cubs. The Giants, behind Christy Mathewson, one day at the Polo grounds, had outhlt the Chicago Cubs, with Lew Ritchie pitching, by about two to one, but had lost the game. The score was close. The “Old Master” had pitched great ball, while Lew’s work was rather sloppy. A Giant fan was complaining quernlously. ~ " “That Ritchie’s the luckiest guy I ever saw in my life,” he whined. “He never has a thing but luck against this dub.” The aged baseball man arose and stretched his senile arms. “What you say is true, my son,” he remarked. “He’s lucky. But let me tell you "something: I’d, rather have a pitcher who is lucky even if he hasn’t got so much on the ball, than a great pitcher who is unlucky; Give me the kind that wlp. I don’t care how they Op so they win.”

HOME TOWN HELPS

SITE MATTER OF IMPORTANCE: Should Be Selected by Home Builder Only After Many Things Are Taken Into Consideration. Selection of the proper site, the on® most adapted to the style of structure contemplated, Is a question of great Importance to the prospective homebuilder. Many features should be considered in choosing the location. AIL of the reasons why much care should be exercised in pieklng the right situation have an Important bearing on the enjoyment of the home by the occupants. Proximity to the business of the head of the house and to transit facilities, schools and church should be ascertained before a site is decided upon. Other features to be considered are advantages from a public-facilities viewpoint—good streets, drainage, gas and water supplies and sanitation. Healthiness and beauty of location, street lighting, privacy and genera! character of the' neighborhood are other features to be investigated, Relation of the site’s value and surroundings to the proposed <ost of the contemplated home should be considered. Size of the lot should also* greatly influence the style of buildingThe type of the home should be determined by definite conditions, in which, the character of the site and surroundings are of predominating importance. While a prospective builder may have In his imagination an adaptation’ or reproduction of a periop design. It is very frequently unwise to permit such an imagination to be the deciding factor as to what design a home should represent. Errors in construction are often made through placing a reproduced design In an Inappropriate setting, where a uniquely constructed 1 dwelling is entirely out of place with, its surroundings.

CITY PLANTS SHADE TREES

Women of Oakland, Cal., Aid Superin- — tendertt of Parke in Beautification of Residence Streets. All of the big residential streets in Oakland are to be planted with shads' trees, according to Lee S. Kerfoot, superintendent of parks. He will be assisted In the matter by local society women. 1 The plan had its inception at afternoon teas and other social gatherings where society women met. The subject of lining the residence streets with trees of uniform growth and species was often discussed, and a committee appointed to take the matter up. ■ ' According to the park superintendent, the plan is to use trees grown by the city In Its conservatories in Lakeside park. Poplars, willows and. eucalytus will probably be used, and: no two varieties will be planted on any one street.

Ain’t It So?

If 'you want to live In the kind of a town Like the kind of a town you like, ■ You needn’t slip your clothes in a grip And start on a long, long hike. ■ You’ll only find what you left be- ; hind, r For there’s nothing really new. i It’s a knock to yourself when r you knock your town, r It isn’t your town—it’s you. F f Real towns are not made by ’ men afraid • Lest somebody else gets ahead; • When everyone works and nobody shirks You can raise a town from the dead. '■ And if you can make your personal stake, Your neighbor can make one, ; too. ■ Your town will be what you want to see; It isn’t your town —it’s you. Dotted. Line.

Getting Privacy About Home.

. Within the last few years Americans have begun to discover that the* land about their house should be treated as a part of the home and that it should have the charm of intimacy* and privacy. They have reverted to the ways of the early Colonial days, when the fence was hot only a protection but an ornamental part of the. grounds. Some of the fences around, the old houses In Salem. Mass.*, in< Charleston, S. C A and elsewhere bear witness to the state and dignity of the* persons who lived behind them, and: through the gates one still get» glimpses of charms that would lose by ; half if they were not secluded and kept for the persons who live in the house* of which they form the setting. We are even borrowing the foreign idea, hesitatingly, of turning onr houses about, with their backs to the srreet and their fronts to .a garden of lawn and flowers which may be as fully and freely enjoyed as the most com* sortable living room in the house. /