Indianapolis Times, Volume 35, Number 192, Indianapolis, Marion County, 21 December 1922 — Page 8

8

A Hoosier Chronicle By MEREDITH NICHOLSON First Novel in thè Times Series of Fiction Stories by Indiana Writers (Copyright. 1913, by Meredlth Nlcholson.)

"You've got a vhole page and on Sundays two pages about baseball and automoblles, and thè hors® is getting crowded down* Into a corner. ‘We’ —h® was not unmlndfu! of thè plural — M W9 must print more borse news. You teli Atwill to send his young men that does tbe ‘Horse and Track’ around to see me occasionally and I’U b® glad to help him get some horse news that is news. I wouldn’t want to have you bounce a young man who’s dolng thè best he can, but it doesn’t do a newspaper any good to speak of Dan Patch as a trotting horse or giva thè record of my 2-year-old filly Penelope O as 2:09t4 when she made a clean 2:03. You’ve gotto print facts in a newspaper if you want people to respect it. How about that, Morton?” “You’re right, Aunt Sally. I’ll speak to Atwill about his horse news.” Ile began to wonder whether ehe were not amuslng herself at his expense: but she gave him no reason for doubting her seriousness. They mlght have been partners from thè beginning of tlme from her businesslike manner of criticizing thè paper. i She had not only flatly refused to sell her shares, but she was taking advantage of thè opportunity (for which she seemed to be prepared) to teli him how thè Courier should be conducted! “About farming. Morton," she contlnued deliberately, “thè Courier has fan every now and then over thè poor, but honest farmer, and prlnts plctures of htm when he cornea to town for thè State Fair that make him look like a scarecrow. Farming, Morton, is a profession. nowadays, and those poor yaps Eggleston wrote about in ‘Th® Hoosier Schoolmaster* were all dead and buried before you were bora. Farmers are up and Corning I can teli you, and I wouldn’t lose thelr business by poking fun at ’em. That Saturday column of farm news, by thè way, ls a fraud—all stolen out of thè ""Western Farmers’ Weekly* and no credit. They must keep that column in cold Storage to run it thè way they do. They’re usually about a season behlnd tlme—telUng how to plant com along in August and planting wlnter wheat about Chrlstmas. Our farm editor must have been ralsed on a New York roof-garden. Another thing I want to speak of is thè space they give to farmers’ and fetockmen’s societies when they meet here. The last time thè Hoosier State Mulefoot Hog Assoeiation met—right here In town at thè Hortieultural Society's room at thè State House—all thè notlce they got In thè Courier was Ave llnes in ‘Minor Mention.’ The sanie day thè State Bankers’ Association fllled three columns, and most of that was a speech by Tom Adams on currency reform. You mlght teli that funny editorial man to give Adams a poke now and then. and stop throwlng chestnuts about gold bricks and green goods at farmers. And he needn’t show thè bad state of his llver by sarcasticaUy speaking of termers as honest husbandmen either: a farmer is a farmer. unless, for lack of God’s grace, he’s a fool! I guess thè folkß are eoming now. I hope Alien won’t knock down thè house with that thrashlng machine of his. That’s all thls tlme. Let me se—you’d better teli your editor to cali on me now and then. What did you say his nanne was, Morton?” "Atwill—Arthur P.” “Is he a son of that Ebenezer Atwill who used to be a professor in Asbury College?” “l’m afraid not, Aunt Sally: I don’t thlnk he ever heard oi-Ebenezer," repUed Bassett. with all thè irony he dared.

CHAPTER XXII Elizabeth House was hospltable to male visitors, and Dan sound Sylvia there often on thè warm, stili summer evenings, when thè young women of thè household filled thè veranda rnd overflowed upon thè steps. Sylvta's cholce of a boardlng-house had puzzled Dan a good deal, but there were a good many thlngs about Sylvia that baffled hlm. The acqualntance of Sylvia and Alien prospered from thè start. She was not only a new girl In town, and nne capable of debatlng thè questiona that lnterested hlm. but he was charmed wlth Elizabeth House, whlch was thè klnd of thlng, he that he had always stood for. The democraey of thè veranda, thè good humor and ready give and take of thè young women dellghted hlm. They liked hlm and openly called hlm "our beau. H He establlshed hlmself on excellent terms wlth thè matron to thè end that he mlght All hls automobile wlth her charges frequently and take them for runa lnto thè country. When Dan grumbled over Sylvlas absurd tmmolatlon on thè aitar of education, Alien pronounced her thè grandest girl In thè world and thè glory of thè great experiment. At 7 o’clock on a moming of September, Sylvia left Elizabeth House to begln her novltlate as a teacher. Alien had declared hls lntentlon of sending hls automobile for her every moming, an offer that was promptly decllned. However, on that brlght moming when thè young world tumed schoolward, Harwood lay In walt for her. • "Thls must never happen again, sir; And of course you may not carry my books —they’re thè Symbol of my professlon. Seventeen thousand young persona about like me are on thè way to school thls moming rlght here In Indiana. It would be frlghtfully embarrasslng to thè educational System lf young gentlemen were allowed to carry thè Implementa of our trade.” "Tou can't get rld of me now; I never get up as early as thls unless I’m catching a traln." “So much thè worse for you, then!” “There wlll be momlngs when you won’t thlnk lt so much fun. It ralns and snows In Indiana some tlmes.” Thls moming, as he kept tlme to her quick stop, he craved her Interest and sympathy. Her plaln gray suit and slmple cloth hat could not diaguise her charm or grace. It seemed to hlm that she was puttlng herself a little further away from hlm, that che wus approachlng thè business of Use wlth a determlnatlon, a spiri t, a ■est, that dwarfed to Inslgnlflcanos

his own preoccupation with far less important matterà. She turned to glance back at a group of children they had passed audibly speculating as to thè character of teacher thè day held in store for them. “Don’t you think they’re worth working for?” Sylvia asked. Dan shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose more lives are ground up in thè schoclteaching 'machine than in any other way. Go on! “The girl who taught me my alphabet in thè little red schoolhouse in Harrison County earned her salary, I can teli you. She was 17 and wore a pink dress.” “I’m sorry you don’t approvo of me or my clothes. Now Alien approves of me; I like Alien." v “His approvai is Important, I dare say.” “Yes, very. It’s nice to be approved of. It helps some.” “And I suppose there ought to be a certain reciprocity in approvai and disapprovai?” “Oh, there’s bound to ben* Their eyes met and they laughed light-hoartedly. “I’m going to teli you somethlng,” said Dan. “On thè reciprocai theory I can’t expect anything, but I’ra lonesome and have no friends anyhow, so I’ll give you a chance to say somethlng wlthering and edged with a fine scora.” “Good! ni promise not to dlsappoint you.” “I‘m going to be put on thè legislative ticket today—to fili a vacancy. I suppose you’ll pray eamestly for my defeat.” “Why should I waste prayers on that? Besides, Alien solemnly declares that thè people are to be trusted. It’a not for me to set my prayers agains thè will of thè pee-pull.” “If you had a vote,” he persisted, "you wouldn’t vote for me?” "I should have to know what you want to go to thè Legislature for before committlng myself. What are you dolng it for?” “To do all thè mischief I can, of course; to support all thè worst meaaures that come up; to jump when thè boss’ whlp cracks!” "I hope you will do all those thlngs. You could do nothlng better calculated to help your chances.” They were waiting at a corner for a break in thè Street traffic, and he turned toward her guardedly. "You put it pretty low,” he mumbled. “The thing itself lf not so bad. From what I have heard and read about Mr. Bassett, I don’t thlnk he is really an evll person. He probably didn't start with any sort of ideala of publlc liso: you did. I read in an essay thè other night that thè appeal of thè hlghest should be always to thè lowest. But you're not appeallng to anybody; you’re Just following thè band wagon to thè centre of thè track. Stop, Look, Listen! You’va come far enough with me now. The walls of my prison house loom before me. Good-mom-lng!" "Good morning and good luck!" Luders* shop was not far from Sylvia’a school and Alien devlsed many excuses for waylaying her. His ma chine belng forbldden, he hung about untll 6he appeared and trudged horaeward with her. Often he carne in a glow from thè cablnetmaker’s and submitted for her judgment thè questions that had been debated that day at thè shop. There was somethlng swest and wistful and ch&rmlng in his boyishness; and she was surprtsed, as Harwood had been from thè fìrst, by thè intelligence he evlnced in politicai and social questions. He demanded absolute answers to problema that were perplexlng wise men all over thè World.

"lf I could answer that," she would say to hlm, “I should be entltled to a monument more endurlng than brass. The comfort and happlness of nmnklnd lsn't to be won In a day; we mustn’t pulì up thè old tree till we've got a new one planted and growlng.” "The Great Experiment wlll turn out all rlght yeti Some fellow we never heard of wlll giva thè levar a Jerk some day, and there wlll be a rumble and a flash and it wlll run perfectly,” he asserted. The State campalgn got under way In October, and Harwood was often dlscussed In relation to lt. Alien .always pralsed Dan extravagwntly, and was ever alert to defend hlm agalnst her crltlclsms. “My dad wlll run thè roller over Bassett, but Dan wlll be smart enough to get from under. It's thè greatest show on earth—continuous vaudeville —thls polltlcs! Dan's all rlght. He’s got more bralns than Bassett. One of these days Dan wlll take a flop and land clean over In thè Thatcher camp. It's only a mattar of tlme. Gratltude and considerationn llke that are holding hlm back. But l’m not a partlsan—not even on dad’s side. I'm thè philosopher who slts on thè fence and keeps thè scoro by innlngs.” It seemed to her, In those days and afterward, that Alien symbollzed thè unknown quantity in all thè problema that absorbed hlm. His idealism was not a thlng of thè air, but a flowerIng from old and vigorous roots. Hls politica was a klnd of religlon, and iit did not prove upon analysis to be elther so fantasticai or so fanatlcal as she had believed at flrst. As thè days shortened, he would prolong their walk untll thè shops and factorles dlscharged their employes upon thè streets. The line thlng about thè people was, he said, thè fact that they were content to go on from day to day, dolng thè thlngs they dld, when thè restralnts upon them were so light,—lt proved thè enduring worth of thè Great Experiment. Then they would plunge lnto thè thick of thè crowd and cross thè Mon.iment plaza, where he never failed to pay a tributo In hls own fashion to thè men thè gray craft commemorated. In these walks they spoke French, whlch he employed more readlly than she; In hls high moods lt seemed tei expreas hlm better than Engll3h. It amused hlm to apply new names to thè thoroughfares they traversed. For example, he gayly renamed Monument Place thè Place 3e la Concorde, assurlng her that thè eouthward vasta In tbe Rue de la Meritìienne, discloslng thè lamp-bestarred terrace of thè tew Federai builé'ng. and thè eleotrlc torchee of thè Monument beyond, was hlghly remlnlscent of Paris. Sylvia was able to dramatlze for herself, from thè abundant material he artlesjdy supplled, thè lb he had led

DOINGS OF THE DUFFS—

H /booo-Hooo- X ( VERTERDAY MRSANDSTONE TOOK\ ( TOM l*M SORRY l DIO \ )[ v . ~ " f ano \ /ME OUT AND SHOWEP Me THE NEW } f THAT BOTI PIPN*T KNOW \ f MAKE ME, j 4 I OH Tf>Nl HOMEVOO &UIL.T FOR Me* ANPTO j \ WHAT YOU WERE DOIWG - ( / THE HAPPIEST GIRL. ) ( H .71 nn , f ir >v ‘ THINK I MISTRUSTED VoU AND ( THE HOUSE IS WONPERFUL* > V HAPPV! Jf Vou Ooyfr \ Yoo were doing something for. ) \ icamharoly beueve t / well.why \ w KLy ) f look mappv*) \ meallthe time-i didnt sleep \ ì ano vou pip itali, for J swouldnt ip l\ World! / ? i, ' T ' jit - — j/ ■— -

pPsft ~n-IE- OLD RAIU FENC.E.

TiHbAL miiis UUAE FOREVER—

THEV’RG OVER Ito THC F THIM B 1 IS* 11 guass -9KiRT coerone?-what’s- (M v/AODe\iitue shouis-at Sixry ioheat cedrone im all fiOiiC t eecowe of douars Pra— r mcno-o-iu-iu , sire. ******** •

Bl®Ì! £2 | PUNW->S 0L CAf*S % I A MUMBEfc. OF THE TOWN BOYS THAT TOWN CTEY WALKER LEFT THE LODGfE ROOMS BEFOfòE EUSHT cJCLOCK ANO WAS HEADED "HOWARD AUNT SARAH PEABOPYS H OfAB DOWN ON MAPLE STREET

abroad durlng his long exile; as a joungster he had enjoyed unitrammeled freedom cf thè streets of Paris and Berlin, and he showed a curiously developed sympathy for thè lives of thè poor and unfortunat* that had been born of those early He was a great. resource to she enjoyed hlm as she - enjoyed a girl co.-nrE.de. %|MUSat lesa ed hls admlratlon for IjHEpEB

OUT OUR WAY—By WILLIAMS

THE OLD HOME TOWN—By STANLEY

thè frankest fashion. She was adorablo; th© greajtest girl In thè world. "Ah, some tlme," he would say, “who knows!” CHAPTER XXIII Harwood’s faith In Bassett as a politicai prophet was badly shaken by thè result of th© campalgn that fall. About half thè Democratlo candìdatea for State offloé were eleoted, but even

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

Uke This On Your Ukelele

more surprislng was thè rolllng-up of a good working majority In both houses of thè General Assembly. Harwood was not sure, as ho studled thè figure, whether hls party’s surprlslug success was attributable to a dovelopment of reai strength In Thatcher, who had been. much In evidence throughout th© campalgn, ot whether Bassett deserved thè credit. Whll© Thatcher and Bassett had ap-

Helen Slieds Tears of Happiness

tesr.rl

& novJ HEe!5 tu' " s|j IDEA KATbR'* TXI \ /tN TOVE A BE HERE AvlM fsELUVOU-WATCAMEO 1 IKUEVE-nW \ gbT-iw'uus r 8f?OOCH R>R A DOLLARI “TÒ 8E Ahi EV.CELLEK3T BE- A \OF SlfeAH UeU y*SEE Klovl, rr'LL POT IDE A I WAS 'RUki ABOUT' ALL \ WAKi-D MRS. i VOUIVÌ9OUD VjiTW RUkl ABOUTy '.-TU' MISSLiS IF V’fflVE / FÒR ElviE MIkILITES-ib VtB^PRESE^TS \ rr-fn ypryo A / CHR'STMAS! NaJAS HE COULDki’T jT HER Virft\ i\ U CHRicirMAQ / COK3TEKAPLA-TTKÌG OKi \ MAKE A PAVLÀ L? / SETTIKÌC3 HER AKJ \meMTokl A/nOFCARV/Ep, PRESEbiT . J ELECTRIC RLIUABOUT;/ \ciAV P3PEj/ VSOAPjV i bpt ah voli sse, _l J'n 1 rSwoSm, v' ‘. * .

parently etruck a truce and harmonized their factlons, Harwood had at no tlme entertained illusions as to thè reai attitude of thè men towaid each other. When thè entente between thè leaders was mentioned among Thatcher's intlmates they were prone to de dare that Ed would “get” Bassett it mlght take tlme, but thè day of rotribution would gurely come. (To Be Contlnuod)

FRECKLES AND HIS FRIENDS—By BIUSSER

OUR BOARDING HOUSE—By AHERN

FAKES SUICIDE TO TEACH HIS WIFE A LESSON CHICAGO, Dee. 21.—“Eevry time I hit one of thè children you nag me untll I want to die. This time I’m goihg to kill myself,” said Walter Jaroski, He waved hls wife aside and, brandishing a revolver, locked hlmself in thè bedroom. A

DEO. 21, 1922

—By ALLMAH

—By AL POSEN

moment later there was a shot. James Jaroski, 10, announced at thè West Chicago station that “Papa has shot himself.” Patrolmen hastened to thè .laroski home. They sound Mrs. Jaroski prostrated. Forcing open thè nedroom door they sound Jaroski un ;urt and a bullet hole in thè celllng. “I only wanted to teach my wife a lesson," Jaroski explained. He was charg-ed wlth disorderly conduce