Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1918 — Page 2

At Catalpa Villa

By CLARISSA MACKIE

(Copyright, 1918, by the McClure NewspapsT Syndicate.) ’ Catalpa Villa was the shabbiest of the long row of shabby suburban houses on the dusty street A line of dwarf poplars edged the sidewalks where children played all day long, and the wind quivered among the leaves as a slight breeze wandered down the neglected street. In .the front window of Catalpa Villa whs a black and gold sign. “Furnished Rooms to Rent,” it read. Felix Dare alighted from a car at the corner and walked slowly down the street, studying the little painted signs over the doors. These signs were misleading enough. For Instance, GreenlaWn was quite guiltless of grass in its grubby front yard, Hope Cottage bore a quite hopeless aspect and Rose Arbor bowed its head beneath the weight of a worminfested rambler rose bush which had long since ceased to bloom. Then came Catalpa Villa, named for the decrepit catalpa tree that graced its little strip of ragged lawn. Felix paused In front of Catalpa Villa, set down his bag and violin case, and studied a little notebook. Then resuming his burdens he went up the flagged walk to the front door. A flat-chested, grlmy-pawed woman admitted him to a stuffy little hall. “Mrs. Beals?” asked Felix ly“That’s my name, she replied suspiciously. t Felix smiled. “I met your son, Daniel Beals, when I was in Chicago, and he recommended his mother’s home as an excellent boarding place. I was hoping you had a room for me.” He did not add that Dan Beals was drinking himself to death in the big city, and that Felix’s coming to board In this shabby suburb was prompted by a vague .feeling of pity for Dan’s mother. “That’s another matter,” commenced Mrs. Beals briskly. “It’s the first sensible thing I ever knew Dan Beals to do in all his worthless life —but it’s like his father —keen at hunting up work for me! I’ve got a front room, bay window, new carpet last winter, best bed you ever slept on. Want to see it?” “If you please!” Felix followed his prospective landlady up the narrow stairs. When they reached the top, some one opened a lower door and a sweet voice floated up. “Mrs. Beals, you are wanted at the telephone.” “Tm coming. Just you wait, Mr. Dare, and I’ll send the girl to show you the room. It’s three-fifty a week without board; if you eat here it will cost you eight altogether. Annabelle 1” Mrs. Beals ran down the stairs with astonishing agility and addressed the unseen Annabelle. “Go upstairs and show that gentleman the front room. He can come right in if he wants to —you can get it ready in half an hour. Hurry now and don’t stand staring at me so impudently!” A door slammed after Mrs. Beals’ retreating form. Then light steps sounded onthe stairs and presently a girl joined Felix In the upper hall. Felix stared at her, for Mrs. Beals had the most amazingly pretty maid servant in the world —and she didn’t look a bit like a maid servant; she was a lady from the smooth braids of her coroneted hair to the soles of her neat little black slippers. She wore a print gown of blue and a spotless white apron. “You wished to look at a room?” she asked haughtily. “I beg your pardon—yes!” cried Felx, passing a hand before his dazed eyes. " Annabelle led the way into a dingy front bedroom that gave every evidence of being occupied, perhaps, between the flirtings .of boarders, by Mrs. Beals, herself. The bed was carelessly made, sundry middle-aged feminine garments graced the chairs, and on the bureau was a grizzled false “front,” whose rightful place was undoubtedly atop of Mrs. Beals’ head. “This is the room,” said the girl Indifferently. “But—bat It is occupied," hesitated Felix. “Mrs. Beals has been sleeping here, but it can be prepared for you within an hour,” replied Annabelle. “I hardly think,” began Felix, and then he thought of his promise to Dan Beals —Dan had been a newspaper reporter, and Felix had liked the brilliant, dissolute youth; if in any way he could help Dan by stopping with Dan’s mother he would have a try at it “I will bring my things up now,” he said to Annabelle, who was ing up Mrs. Beals’ garments. When Felix came into the room with his bag and violin case the girl uttered a little startled cry. “You play?” she asked quickly. He smiled and nodded. ‘T am in the orchestra of the Excelsior theater.” v . ' “Not—not the new leader, Felix Dame?” she breathed eagerly. “Yes,* he answered in a surprised tone. “But—what are you doing here —at Catalpa Villa? Who would stop in such— ugly shabbiness unless it was absolutely necessary, and it cannot be that with you I I have heard about you, and when I read that you were

going to give lessons to a privileged few I—I—” The voice of the little servant broke. “You play? You?” he asked amazed. She nodded sorrowfully. “I came here from Vermont to study—l had a sum of money to pay expenses—l was obliged to break into it to pay for an Illness, and I came at last to board here—theft I got behind with my board and she—Mrs. Beals—seized my violin, and I am working out what I owe her. It Is a weary task paying bld scores and trying to pay current expenses.” “You poor child,” said Felix simply. “You have stopped the lessons?” he asked. “Long ago.” “Who was your teacher?” “Benzeet.” “Adolph Benzeet? Then you must possess unusual talent or he would not have bothered! I am sorry, Miss Annabelle.'” “Thank you,” she said gratefully, “and now, if you will excuse me, Mr. Dare. I will return to my duties and prepare your room. My work has alw’ays been below stairs, in the kitchen, but the chambermaid left this morning and we are short of help and I must hasten—we have supper at 6.” As Felix left the room Mrs. Beals poked her head through the balusters. “You, Annabelle!” she called. “Have that room ready in half an hour —the man has brought the fish for supper and the table isn’t even set!” She nodded sourly at the new boarder as he came down the stairs. “Lazy thing, that girl,” she muttered for his benefit. “Doesn’t want to do a thing except fiddle, fiddle, all day long! Fiddling don’t earn good money, so say I!" “I’m sorry to hear you say that, Mrs. Beals,” returned Felix mischievously. “I forgot to tell you that I’m in the Excelsior orchestra.” Mrs. Beals eybd him suspiciously. “I don’t know as I mentioned that Td like my board in Advance." “Certainly,” agreed Felix drawing out his pocketbook. Mrs. Beals ' greedily counted the money and when the transaction was concluded, she asked. “My stepson didn’t send me any money by you, did he?”

Felix smiled. He could not tell her that Dan Beals owed him S2OO. “So Dan is not your own son?” was all he asked. “I should hope not,” she cried devoutly. “I was a childless wldder when I married Dan’s pa and that boy has been the plague of my life. Make yourself free of the parlor, Mr. Dare.” Felix,threw himself in a chair in the stuffy little room in which each separate article appeared to quarrel with the other. If Mrs. Beals was not the own mother of the unfortunate Dan, Felix did not feel any responsibility concerning her welfare. Mrs. Beals appeared to be fully able to take care of herself. “One week will do me,” sighed Felix as he took out a newspaper and began to read. Rut a face came between him and the printed page—the wistful face of Annabelle. “I wonder when she will have paid her debt?” he mused. Then an odor of frying fish insinuated itself through the house and the advent of sundry tired and shabby looking men and women, who found a home here after a hard day’s work in store or factory, told him that Annabelle had left his room ready for his occupancy and that she was at her post of duty downstairs. Four weeks passed and found Felix Dare still an occupant of Mrs. deals’ front room. While Annabelle marveled that an artist like Dare should be content in that sordid at-, mosphere, she was glad that he remained. Wonderful music came from his room. Dreamy strains wafted up to Annabelle’s attic room, and after awhile she learned to translate their meaning. He was playing to her! Felix Dare’s wooing covered a period of many weeks, but he did not give verbal utterance to his love until one day after Annabelle had paid off her debt and moved away.

Then he went to see her in her new boarding place far from Catalpa Villa; and In the stiff parlor of this new temporary home he told her the most wonderful story in the world. The following Sunday evening they went for a trolley ride, and Felix stopped the car at a shabby street and led Annabelle past Catalpa Villa. The moon was shining on the lonely catalpa tree, on the hopelessness of Hope Cottage and the brownness of Greenlawn. ' ■< . ■ . , “Catalpa Villa is a beautiful spot,” said Felix seriously. “It will always be Beautiful in my sight, dear—guess why?” “Because we met there and because Love transforms all that is ugly and sordid,” whispered Annabelle.

Only Thing She Didn’t Know.

The father of a little Washington girl recently bought ai horse and carriage. Yes, they still sell. The little girl was anxious to drive •the outfit, and was not backward in voicing her desire. “Why,” said her father, “what do you know about driving a horse?” > “I learned dowh at grandpa’s last summer,” answered the child. “I know everything about how to drive, all except when to gee and haw.”

Revenge at Last

“My wife used to find fault with me every time I mispronounced a word,” remarked Mr. Cumrox. “Now, Fm getting even.” “How?” “Daughter’s home from boarding school. I pick out a piece of war news full of geographical names and get mother to read it aloud.”

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN. RENSSELAER. IND.

HOW A PARISIAN AIR RAID FEELS

Red Gross Inspector Tells Thrilling Story of Desperate Moments. NOISE ACCOMPANIES ATTACK Yank Engineers Go About Unperturbed While Rescuing Injured—Victims Are Sent to the Sisters of the Poor. Washington.—Writing of a German air raid on Paris, one of the American Red Cross, inspectors gives a thrilling account of’ how American troops and Red Cross workers give aid to the city In such despqpate moments. He describes an air raid In this fashion: “Nowhere is there any sound but the echoes of footsteps. Not a street light is to be seen, not a single ray of light —nothing but the inkiest and most impenetrable darkness. Then all of the noise In the world seems to break loose. Clang-clang-clang booms the tocsin — like a gigantic pneumatic riveter working on a colossal bell. Whooo-o shrieks the siren, running up and down the scale in an awful wail. “The streets come to life. Doors open and slam shut. The sidewalks are full of ghostly figures hurrying toward the caves, where the inhabitants have fitted up cots and bunks. They get up now to make a sitting place for the newcomers. The children go to sleep with their heads on their mothers’ shoulders, and a girl in the uniform of a street car conductor swaps yarns with a Pollu in dingy blue. In the last raid the front trucks of her car were thrown from the rails by the displacement of air caused by an exploding torpedo. The car and Its Inmates were unhurt. The Pollu looks a mite Incredulous and murmurs: ‘I can well believe you, mademoiselle.’—^—

Archies Barrage Sky. “Outside the noise continues for about three or four minutes and then subsides as a new noise starts —the Archies, or antiaircrft guns, which commence to bark furiously from half a dozen different points. Searchlights rake the sky. The Archies continue their clamor, but they are not firing at anything, merely keeping up a barrage fire to prevent the Boches flying over the city. “Suddenly there Is an earthrocking whoom. No doubt as to where the Boches are. Whoom, whoom, whoom! One Involuntarily ducks and tries turtlewise to cover his head with his shoulders. A hideous noise resounds up and down the deserted street — falling walls, and the tinkling and crash of showers of broken glass and roofing tiles. “Through "the glass and litter of the street an American Red Cross camolnette comes plowing its way. One of the city firemen stands on the running board. “ ‘Anybody here from numbers 49

“13” FIGURES IN SINKING

Fateful Number Plays Prominent Part In Connection With Loss of Oransa. Pittsburgh, Pa. —The figure 13 was very prominent in connection with the sinking of the steamship Oransa, on which were the 57 Y. M. C. A. war workers. The following Is part of a letter received at the Metropolitan headquarters of the Pittsburgh Y. M. C. A. from one of the secretaries in London. “The sailors said they were not superstitious, but — “The passengers went on board on a Friday. “The Oransa left America on April 13. “Thirteen vessels were in the convoy. “Thirteen preachers were on board the Oransa, also thirteen Methodists. “It was the thirteenth round-trip for the commander of the convoy and the thirteenth trip for an escorting warship. “R. C. Bennett, of New York, assigned to berth No. 13, was the only seasick passenger. He moved out. Thomas B. Dawson of Providence, R. 1., who -took on No. 13, had the narrowest escape. “The torpedo struck at 1:03 a. m.. sinking the Oransa In thirteen minutes. “Lifeboat No. 13 alone was destroyed by the explosion. “Upon reaching short a conference was called In Room No. 13, and one man received hat check No. 13. “On the thirteenth day out a black cat on board Increased the passengers by three black kittens. Aside from that there was nothing connected with superstition.”

EXPERIMENTS ON SHELL TO END U-BOAT MENACE

Evansville, Ind. William Schnabel is experimenting on a shell with which he hopes to end the submarine peril by shooting the U-boat instead of its periscope. He says his shell is nonrlcochetlng and that it will not skip along, on top of the water when shot at an angle, as those in use now do.

to 51?’ he calls. A half dozen voices yell out that there Is. “ 'ls everybody here from those numbers? Was there anyone left in either of those “There Is an anxious calling back and forth and a rapid counting of noses. ‘All here,’ Is the answer! Send Victims to Poor Sisters. “Good! Not much left of those two buildings. Don’t enter the ruins Until they have been Inspected by the engineering department Go to the Sisters of the Poor if you want food or a place to sleep. “A half-mile away a bright red glow gets larger and larger and lights the sky. A fire has broken out In the railroad yards and Is making great headway. Several cars of oil are burning fiercely and spreading to cars of merchandise. “Two railroaders' have got hold of a switch engine and are shunting out whole strings of cars. “ ‘Do you know anything about these French engines, sir?’ asks the Impromptu engineer. ‘I can’t find the d brake.’ “The fire is eating Its way toward a pier on which stands a line of drums of gasoline. “‘Come on, boys! roll these kegs o’ gas outa here,’ yells the corporal, and the line of drums starts trundling down the pier. It Is Infernally hot, and the average man knows just how hot gasoline can get before It begins to misbehave; but the line never wavers. ' “ ‘Roll ’em along, boys! Keep ’em going. Everybody has got to die sometime.’ “Little by little things become quieter. The fires die down. The Archies stop. Now the tocsin sounds again, this time with slow, stately measured beats. This Is the ‘all’s clear’ signal.”

HIGH COST OF GOVERNMENT

Operation Expense Has Increased 35 Per Cent in the Last Fifteen Years. Washington.—Now we have the high cost of government. It has risen 35 per cent In the last 15 years, according to a recent department of commerce report on financial conditions of 219 cities in the country. The report shows that the average American city is In a healthy financial condition, run on good, business-like lines. The total revenues were $1,065,537,142, or $32.04 per capita, and total expenditures $821,491,575, or $24.70 per capita. The total outlay for the 219 cities was $286,529,990, or $8.61 per capita. From this last returns could be expected which, on the average, would still further reduce the expenditures. Next to taxes, the largest Item of which was the tax on the liquor traffic, the greatest source of revenue for the cities was public service enterprises, the bulk of which came from public water systems, which doubled the amount of money spent on them. The net Indebtedness of New York city alone, $987,347,610, was threefifths as great as all other cities of over 30,000 inhabitants taken together. The per capita indebtedness for Chicago was $28.70, and St. Louis $25.07, both of these pities having an Indebtedness which was smaller than most of the small cities and far below the large ones. .

FRENCH TAPE HOLDS RELICS

Relatives of Fallen Heroes Complain of Delays In Getting Effects. Paris. —Complaint has been lodged against the bureau In the Rue Lacretelle where relatives of men fallen in battle go to get the few sad relies the heroes left—their papers, their watches, their little keepsakes. All the effects of men killed or missing are sent to this bureau. The complaint is that there is Interminable delay, and efforts are being made to speed it up.

This German hydrdairplane, painted to look like an American machine, was brought down by the gunners of an American transport in the Mediterranean. The pilot and observer were captured and the piano was taken to an allied base. .1 ap ,

HUN HYDROPLANE TAKEN

WOMAN FOOD CONTROLLER

The Hon. Mfs. Lyttleton, deputy director women’s branch of food production department, England. Mrs. Lyttleton is doing excellent work In ameliorating the food situation.

RED CROSS WORK IN ITALY

Organization Performa Big .Task in Helping the Unfortunates In That Country. Washington.—ln the historic Palazzo Vecchio of Florence, Italy, the American Red Cross distributed clothing to more than 40,000 refugees and pov-erty-stricken Italians in two days. The contents of each parcel covered a wide variety of needs, from underwear to layettes for children yet unborn. Part of the silpply came from this country, part from stocks in neutral countries, where Industrial Red Cross agents have been able to satisfy a portion of their needs, and part from the Italian market, now nearly exhausted. In addition, orders for food were distributed to persons whose needs were guaranteed, small certificates good for five lire worth of rice, canned meat or condensed milk, when presented at the city storehouses. To pay for this draft on the municipal provisions, the American Red Cross deposited 20,000 lire with the city assessor. The press of the country, commented on this relief work of the American people as “the greatest single gift on record to any Italian city during the war.”

ARE DOOMED FOR WORKHOUSE

Frustrated Suicides In New Jersey Are Sent Up by Police \ Magistrate. Trenton, N. J. —Despondent saloonkeepers will be committed to the workhouse by Magistrate Geraghty if they fail in attempts tp kill themselves. An example was furnished recently when Michael Curley, at one time the proprietor of a prominent drinking place in the city, was sent to the institution to serve three months because he tried to drown himself in a creek. He was pulled out in the nick of time by a policeman. When arraigned in court, clad only in a blanket, Curley delivered a brief speech in which he said: “I am sober, all right. I attended a funeral a few days ago, and then decided there was nothing more to live for, so I jumped into the creek. No one cares for me, and Tm just in the way.”

Godmother to Famous Gun.

Olympia, Wash.—Mrs. Ernest Lister, wife of the governor of Washington, has accepted an invitation from the battlefields of France to act as godmother in the christening of the first gun in a French battery that has served with distinction at Verdun, on the Somme and in Flanders, and is still serving in the present drive. In her honor, Mrs. Lister’s name will be inscribed on the gun.

THE MAGIC RUG

By AGNES G. BROGAN.

Billie’s.face depicted great gloom. “It was bad enough,” he told himself, “to be merely an<humble clerk in a great author’s employ, bdt to have dared to fall in love with the author’s only daughter, that was the worst.” He was glad that war was calling him away; in unselfish action, he might be able to forget. Billy was not even sure that Theodora would be sorry at his departure. Dora bad grown to young womanhood through various schools of training, retaining still the frank ingenuousness of childhood. Useful also, she Insisted upon being, rearranging, with competent hands, the disorder of her father’s study; singing the while perhaps, or easily chatting with Billie. Meeting the secretary occasionally by chance, as he left the entrance of Gall Park, Dpra would invite him to ride home In her car. Absolutely, the girl enjoyed her father’s confidence; what Theodora did, was In his opinion,taiways and exactly the right thing to do. This particular morning of Billie’s gloom, he had awaited breathlessly her appearance In the corridor leading to her father’s study, being screened behind heavy draperies. Billie had fled precipitate-” ly at her approach. It was difficult to trust himself with a simple good morning, while his heart continued to pound in this foolish manner. Wrathfully, Billie entered the as yet unoccupied study, and seated himself at his desk. Into the sanctum, smiling and glowing, came Dora. “How do you do?” she began, then paused in mock concern. “What sort of tragedy has befallen you this morning?” she Inquired. “Such a forbidding face! I am almost afraid to remain. How poor father continues to bear up under your various moods —” She threw out her pretty hands expressively. ' ' Billie forced a smile, “I have enlisted,” he replied; “didn’t wait for, my draft, going off to train tomorrow.” Dora adjusted a vase, studying with critical eye the new effect. “Then," 1 she remarked, “I should go ih a brave frame of mind, worthy of the cause.” Billie stiffened resentfully. “You don’t think I’m blue because I’m afraid to fight?” he asked fiercely. Miss Gall came over to Billie’s desk, and stood looking down Into his eyes, In the depths of her own lurked a smile. “Really,” she said, “sometimes I don’t know what to think of you, Billie. Bi|t,” .she continued briskly, “my errand here was to say that father has been called away, and will not return until evening, ( your day Is free." The prospect of freedom did not seem to bring jby to the secretary, regretfully he began to sort the papers on his desk; the possibility of again seeing Dora that very last day, wap gone. “I am wondering,” said that young, lady from the window, “if it would not be a sort of Red Cross work to take you for a drive this afternoon; out into the country, may be, where in the open you might get a brighter perspective of your great coming venture.” “Will you?” asked Billie, his voice actually trembled In eagerness. All troubling things were forgotten during that long ride. Content with the present, Billie leaned back in his seat beside the girl and gazed into her sweet face. At length she stopped the car. Before them stretched, seemingly endless fields of green. “Here,” paid Dora, “we will get out and commune with nature.” With a laugh she tossed from the car a small faded rug. “Handle It carefully,” she directed, “that Is my magic tug, brought years ago from an Egyptian palace. Father bought It for me when we were abroad.” “A magic rug?” Amusedly, Billy spread It out on the grass. Dora nodded as she motioned him to share its protection.

“They told us so much about them when we were over there,” she said, “that I insisted upon, father buying this one at an exorbitant price. But you will agree that it is well worth while. One has but to sit upon the' rug so, name their heart’s wish and lo! it is granted. You ij»ay even be transported where- you will. One has but to speak aloud the wish and believe in its power.” , - " “Wonderful!” exclamed Billy. Absently he fingered the ancient tapestry. “You might tell it,” prompted Dora. She smiled but her eyes were grave, “that you wish to come safely back from the war to your- apartment in New York.” “No,” answered Billie, “I don’t care much about coming back to that place. There would be something to look! or-, ward to, though, if I might come to a small home of my own with—” “With roses growing . around the doorway?" queried the girl. “K you were there,” said Billie dreamily, “that would be rose enough for me!” Appalled, he realized that words long withheld had spoken themselves. “An impossible wish of course,” he added-hastily. But Dora with eyes alight was looking up at him. “Nothing is impossible to the magic rug,” she said. “I, too, have been wishing—just for happiness, Billie —and — and, my wish can only come true with yours.” Then Billie bent down' his radiant face. “I’m transported now,” he said. (Copyright, 1918, Western Newspaper Union.)