Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 208, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1917 — Page 2

Pietro’s Secret

By ALICE E. IVES

(Copyright, by W. G. Chapman.) Pietro played among the second violins in the orchestra. He was a quiet man, seldom going off with the other men, but- geaew»Wy-- making directly for home when his work was done at the theater. He was thinking of Tessa and the baby whom he would find waiting for him In the little flat out on the East side of the great city. They called the little one Rosey, and although she was not yet two years old she would listen with wide open eyes, as still as could be, when Pietro played the violin. Tessa was a very happy little wife and mother. She kept the little flat neat and clean, and when her work was done wheeled the baby out toward the river where the air came freshly and there was always plenty to see, with the big ships going and coming. Tessa had been born in this country, so she was perhaps more American than Pietro, who had come from Italy only nine years before. She had a TXiri friend who lived near by who often walked with her down to the river and sat with her on the pier while they both sewed or knitted. One day a young man whom her friend knew joined them on the pier. He was well dressed, good looking, and an agreeable companion. He amused the girls with merry talk and laughable stories. Tessa liked the young man, whom her friend introduced as Mr. Lonna, exceedingly, and was not sorry when a few days after this he again appeared down by the river. This time she was alone, and was all the more glad to' have company. She feared he would be disappointed when he did not find Lisa there, and would not stay long. But the absence of Lisa seemed to make no difference to him. .He stayed till she said she must go home to get dinner for Pietro. After that he found his way quite often to the pier, and almost always when Tessa was there alone. She cared nothing for him further than the pleasure of his merry company, and was so innocent in all her chatter that she did not see he was thinking of her in quite another way. Then one day he let her know what he meant. He told her he loved her, and was plainly astonished when she shrank away from him to indignant surprise. “How could you say that I” she cried. “You know I have Pietro —and the baby. And Pietro is the truest and the best in the world. Lonna’s lip Curled incredulously. “You think he is the truest and best,” he sneered. “How little you know about it. Have you been much around the theater?” “No,” she answered. “Pietro does not care to have me come to the stage door. And why should I? I have Rosey to look after.” “Of course,” he answered. “Why should you? You would be in his way when he wants to meet someone else at the stage door.” “That is not true!” she stormed. “How dare you say it?” She caught at the handle of the little cart and walked quickly away. When Tessa had given her answer to Lonna she felt exactly as she had spoken. Then fearful doubts beganto come. The serpent had entered her Eden, and she began to wonder if she had been a trusting fool in believing so implicitly in Pietro. A few days after Lonna had seen her, Pietro brought a letter in from the box. Tessa noticed the strange look he gave when he opened the letter. He turned away, read it hastily, and thrust it into his pocket. “Who is it from?” she asked. “Just a man—wanting somethingbusiness,” he answered evasively. Always before he had either told who the writer was or handed her the letter to read.

It seemed horrible if she must believe Lonna’s words, but what could this letter mean? Pietro had gone into the bedroom before leaving. What if , he had taken money to give to this woman? She went quickly into the —other room to satisfy herself, though she had a kind of shame in the doing of it The little savings they were putting in a small tin box under a bag in the closet With trembling hands Tessa drew out the box. There had been two hundred and sixty dollars there a few days before. She opened the box. Only ten dollars remained. Torn with the horror of the revelation, Tessa was for some minutes stupffied and unable to think. She determined to go to the theater and watch, but Hosey fretted and was a long time going to sleep, so that by the time she could leave her Pietro would be already in his place in the orchestra, so she determined to wait till the closing time tnd get somewhere In a •place to watch the stage door. She dressed plainly and went out. She was rather early and paced back and forth till people began to emerge from the stage entrance. Soon she saw her husband come out. He did hot meet anyone, nor did he wait, but walked on. It was not in the direction of home, and she fol-lowed-him unobserved. On and on he went till they were in a very doubtful locality. At a corner where the buildings seemed all dark he paused and a ——~rr — 7 —— ;

looked about. Then he crossed over to 6'stand for newspapers, now closed and deserted. He stopped at the stand as though searching for something. Then he drew a letter from his pocket, put it under a stone or weight which might have been used for holding down the papers, and walked away. Tessa was so amazed at this mysterious performance she paused for a moment. Then she determined, as soon as Pietro was well out of sight, to go and get the- letter from under the stone. She was Just crossing the street to do this when a woman darted out from an areaway and made for the news stand. Tessa lifted up the stone, but the woman was too quick for her, and she ettught the letter from her fingers and started to run. But Tessa clung with a strong grip to her arm and demanded the letter. “Give it to me!” she cried. “It is mine. I say! Mine!” For answer the woman swore and dealt Tessa a blow that well-nigh felled her. But she did not relax her hold, and began to scream shrilly for help. Strange to say, a policeman was within hearing, and came running up as the two were struggling, and Tessa still screaming. He gripped the two women by the arm and demanded the cause of the disturbance. “She was trying to rob me!” she ex* claimed, pointing to Tessa. “I have money in this envelope, and she tried to snatch it!” »

“No! No!” protested Tessa. “The money is mine! She has no right to it!” “Would I be screaming for help if I were robbing someone ?” asked the woman with a fine show of reason and innocence. “But it was I who screamed!” cried Tessa.-. Ois—“lf you will take her in charge, Officer, I promise to appear against her," said the woman coolly, startiftg to leave. The policeman tightened his grip on her arm. “No.” he said. “You are both coming with me to the station. At the police station where the tw<J women were taken there were several drunken and disreputable men and women to be attended to before them. They had to sit on a bench and wait. Tessa began to think of little Rosey there alone. Suppose she should wake and cry. Suppose Pietro should come home and find her gone? That had never happened before. What would he think? Well, he had'made her suffer, It was Just as well he should.

"No Bail for You Two."

But the baby! When she thought Of her she began to sob and beg the officer to let her go. This told strongly against her, for the other woman was calm and quiet, and the man at ths desk had quite made up his mind that Tessa was the guilty party.

After some questioning, and Tessa found she must either furnish bail or remain all night in the station, the thought of little Rosey made her swallow her pride and resolve to try to Pietro on the telephone. The other woman had already called someone to her aid. The telephone was in the lower hall at Tessa’s home in the flat building. What if Pietro were out searching for her and no one answered? But, yes, he was there, Just starting out. He came as quickly as he could. He made Tessa explain In. a whisper, when she pointed out the woman whose back was toward them at the desk arranging for her bail with a man who had just come in. Pietro rushed up to a policeman, said something, and as the man and woman turned to go stopped them. Then Pietro laid an open letter before the man at the desk.

“Hm!” exclaimed the officer. “Caught redhanded I So you were going to kill this man’s child if hp didn’t give up two hundred and fifty. ‘Black Handers,’ eh! No bail for you two. We’ve been looking for you quite a. while.” Then Tessa saw that the man was' Lonna as the two were being taken to a celt == 777- — : ——

Pietro could not understand how Tessa had found out about It, But she was too full of remorse and shame to speak. She buried her head on his breast in a passion of sobbing. 1. < “You see, little one,” he said, trying to soothe her, “I Couldn’t tell you to make you so frightened, so unhappy. But the money, everything we had was nothing to save the little dear one, was it?” . ... And Tessa kissed his hand and mur* mured: “No.” <

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

Fine Example of Tailored Suit

In the styles so far presented for fall and winter there are no radical departures from those of the passing season. Usually when the time comes to buy new clothes, the attention of the feminine public is almost wholly centered on incoming styles. But just now other absorbing interests are taking so much time that women are best suited with conservative Ideas in dress. They are readjusting their lives In order to become helpful In time of w T ar. The most noticeable difference between the tailored suit for fall and those of last spring is in the length of coats. In coat suits the coats are longer. But a plain three-quarter length even if It did service last year, will find Itself much at home among the plain suits just turned out. Besides added length the fall coats present a new feature in placlngof' trimmings. In many of them decoration appears only at the sides of the coat, where short bands of fur or braid or stitching find a place. Soft surfaces, like wool velours, and

The performance of the Canadian soldiers in the great war will reflect glory on their country and race, as long as history lasts. But their record Is matched by’ that of the women of Canada who have thrown themselves heart and soul Into war work of all kinds. They have shown energy and endurance and bravery equal to that of their men. There is no calcu-j latlng the value of the sendees they have given and the sacrifices they have made.

The same disposition to help shows itself among women all over this country. There are few among us so dense as to fail to see that, it is disgraceful to be a slacker in times like these. The government cannot do all- the work that must be done for the soldiers and for those he leaves when he goes out to war. The soldier must be provided with clothing, socks, underwear, sjiirts, sweaters, mufflers and mits, when on duty. These things wear out and must be replaced. Hospitals must be supplied with sleeping garments, slippers, bandages; dressings, and an endless stream of surgical supplies must flow into them, besides sheets, pillow’ cases and other things that are made by women. Comfort kits are to be furnished for every fighting man, and every one is entitled to messages from someone back home, whether he has relatives and friends there or not. • ,; ■ . ’

Prisoners and the men In hospitals are to be remembered with letters and provisions, when possible. And besides all this, for the soldiers, there ;ls the work of looking after the welfare of the poorer families left at home. : All these things require the volunteer work of women, money and more money. Women are showing themselves equal to the task set them. The thing for each one to do is to decide what part of the gervice she win enter, and to enlist In .that and serve as long 'aa she is ueeded. Spdaldlstijictlons

quiet colors, are characteristic of the season. Colors most popular are those classed as “the fur colors” Including taupe, gray,' brown castor, beige. Dark wine and the shades of amethyst in the richest to.nes relieve a range that would otherwise be too grave. Dark blue Is good as always. One' of the new fall suits Is shown in the picture and is a model which looks well in any of the popular wool materials. The skirt has a panel with two plaits at each side down the back, which correspond to'plaits in the coat. It is otherwise plain. The coat Is semifltting with two straps of the material across the back at the waistline. Below these is a straight panel like that in the skirt. A panel finished with three rows of braid at the bottom is set in at each side below a long side body which fastens over it with a button. The pointed muffler collar is a new development of this admirable and popular style in collars. From every standpoint this is a fine example among well-tailored suits.

count for nothing; all are working together In churches, clubs, societies, to furnish supplies of all kinds, money and to db the work at hand whatever

Batik Work.

Batik work, which first made a general appearance in our shops a few months ago, has been adopted as we usually adopt good ideas, and may be use In the future. Various fabrics are now treated with this process, which; produces such unusual and interesting designs, and batik flowers are a not unusual form of trimming on aft-, ernoon frocks.

Corded Yokes.

When making a smock or a blouse that Is to have a corded yoke, It Is; advisable to finish the yoke completely and when attaching the blouse sec-| tlon simply slip the pieces under tliei corded 'part and stitch right above the cording. All you will then have to do Is to trim the under edges and roll them up.

Huge Silk Bags Match Suita.

Huge moire or other silk bags, In suit colorings and mounted on frames are being carried by New York women. They are something entirely new tn handbags. While not really knitting bags, they are long enough to hold the needles and large enough In every way.

Helps Keep Shape.

One of the striking midsummer suits of rajah silk shows a four-inch fringe of silk about the bottom of the coat It not only is attractive to' look at. but it is quite useful, for it is heavy enough to act as a weight to keep the skirt Of the coat hanging struigh* and wrinkleless.*

HAPPENINGS in the BIG CITIES

Woman’s Bluff Was Good, but It Failed to Work RICHMOND, VA.—At least one womsntried to “put one over” at the recruiting stations in Richmond, but the eagle eye of Sergeant Freeman at the United States army quarters and the fineness of “sizing a body up” at the

they say they are full up at present, and I am really anxious to do my bit fori the old flag and the nation.” ~ It was easy to see that she tried to harden her voice, but in spite o e size and her attempts' to emulate her brothers, her voice never reached the male notes of even a high falsetto—they were soprano notes, and like the fable about a child leading a horse to water and all the world being unable to make it drink—she couldn’t get away from her voice. Six or seven husky male applicants were standing around when tne feminine “young man” came in. One of the real sure-enough applicants natt been telling the sergeants that he had thrown a sack containing a bushel ana a half of wheat from the barnyard to his brother in the loft with one han .. when the Eva Tanguay of the army and navy entered. “Say, folks, this here all’s sure a hot day to climb this tree into your office,” she bantered, In a sweet voice, attempting to appear free and easy. She toyed with her straw hat and three of the sunburnt regulars, who were waiting their turn, r Sergeant Freeman that they had.noticed her blush when she entered. The soprano applicant told the army folks she was a resident of Petersburg. They never took her name, yet she told them what it was. They think she used an alias.

Prisoner in County Jail Lifts Voice in Song /CHICAGO. —There is a mysterious baritone in the county jail. This gentleV man song bird has made considerable of a hit on the sheriff’s circuit, judging by the thunderous applause that greeted his efforts. Those having

choice reservations in the cell blocks cheered lustily and clapped their hands. The baritone succeeded tn attracting an appreciative audience on the outside, too. Traffic was blocked in the street, while the baritone went through his repertoire. But there’s a mystery about it An Investigator rushed into the jail to learn what prisoner possessed such an exquisite voice. “There’s been no singin’ goin’ on tn here,” vouchsafed one of the

deputies. “We don’t allow no singing in the jail.” “Strange,” murmured the investigator. “There certainly was someone singing.” He departed. Out on the street he noted another crowd had collected. Sure enough, the baritone was singing, his voice floating out on the murky atmosphere of the street. He was singing a song about mother. Again It was furiously applauded by jail inmates and persons on the outside. This time the investigator rushed back into the jail, determined to fathom the mystery. He walked through the corridors outside the cell block, demtindIng the name of the singer. But the jail inmates merely laughed and said they didn’t know anything about it< The mysterious baritone manages to keep his Identity a secret and no one knows how long his engagement will last.

Gotham Judge Has Poor Opinion of “Nosey Women” NEW YORK. —A man doesn’t have to tell his wife what he is doing when he absents himself from the family fireside at night, according to ths ruling handed down by Justice S.teln in police court. He ventured that ‘‘a

Moore’s place as far as your husband is concerned?” Inquired Justice Stein. "Exactly” said Mrs. McConnell firmly, stating that she had spent the last seven years of her life “trying to bring Mr. McConnell to realize hla duties as a husband.” Mr. McConnell was not in court on a charge brought against him by his wife, but he appeared as a witness for his sister, Mrs. Lizzie Zang, who came to visit him several days ago. He had not seen his sister before in 15 .years, and according to the testimony was very zealous in “showing his sister a g ° When Mrs McConnell expressed her determination not to attend the molders’ picnic, Mr. McCdnnell said that he would take his sister and two daughters. The party arrived home at 1 a. m. * Mrs. McConnell stated that she took her husbands pocketbook and left the house, going to relatives “for a short time." She stated that when returned Mrs. Zang attempted to put her out of her home. t Justice Stein stated that-he thought poor judgment had been all parties concerned, and told them to return home and fix matters up.

Rod Not Spared on Seven Detroit Boy Brigands TXETROIT —There are seven smqll boys in Highland Park who disagree D most violently with the words of ancient Solomon In that “spare _ the rod and spoil the child” verse of Scripture. They were not spoiled the other

morning and It Is to be believed that lunching from the pantry shelf will be a popular pastime with the sufferIng seven for some days to come. In addition they suffered that agony of boyhood’s shame, a licking In the presence of grinning growji-ups, and still further horror, the grown-ups were their, sworn enemies, the police, j The seven had been caught redhanded robbing a store and arrested. Chief Seymour had them rounded

up In the station and their mothers were sent for. When a long, black and supple strap appeared in the chief’s hands the boys gazed despairingly at one another. : Th« strap was turned over to the mothers and the chief said merely “go abend ” At every door of the room a tall- policeman stood, the windows were too high to jump from. Despair, a moment’s silence and there rose r walling and a dull thudding sound. Some minutes later seven tear-stained faces were lifted tb the sound of the chief’s voice and sc .en pain-racked .small bova eave solemn promise never, never to dojt again. And after ih:it--oh. SSeF” molb«rs were beard to say. -Ton Jost wait Illi I get you home.”

United States navy station, the Unitea States Marine corps and both Virginia regimental headquarters, nipped- the plan completely, and “he," as shei called herself, got no further than to make a request to enlist. “Look me over,” she told Sergeantl Freeman, when she climbed the step* of three floors in Broad street, where the sergeant holds out in the interest of the federal army. “I have been toi the Marine corps and to the navy, ’ she farther explained to the sergeant, “and!

nosey woman can create a lot of trow ble.” This judicial opinion wai prompted by the airing of the troubles of one James McConnell, who admitted that he Is the human prototype of Mr, Jiggs, of cartoon fame. Mr. McConnell, is a molder, and for many years he has never missed one of their annual picnics. Mrs. McConnell says that she doesn’t care for molders’ picnics. “I take It that you consider a molders’ picnic similar to Dinty