Orland Zenith, Volume 15, Number 27, Orland, Steuben County, 14 October 1914 — Page 3

FiEDERIClTMMER

TtlE LAST SHOT CQPy/?/6y/f/?/■?; Ay C/fARUJ JC/?/SA&?ij JOVc3 _

SYNOPSIS. _. A t tlielr home on the frontier between The Browns and Grays Marta Qalland and J Tf f h h e I-rf nterta ‘n‘ns Colonel Weaterstan- Inteni 5? e Captain Lanstron. stair intelligence officer of the Browns injured by a fall Irf his aeropfane Ten years \ater. Westerllns, nomfnit vice but Tlr' ?'«. f Staff - reinforcea South La rir, meditates on war.

CHAPTER II—Continued. i Rather idly, now, he drew a pad toward him and, taking up a pencil, made the figures seventeen'and twen-ty-seven. Then he made the figures thirty-two and forty-two. He blackened them with repeated tracings as he mused. This done, he put seventeen under twenty-seven and thirtytwo under forty-two. He made the subtraction and studied the two tens. A swing door opened softly and hie executive clerk reappeared with a soft tread. “Some papers for your signature, sir, he said as he slipped them on the blotter In front ot Westerling. “And the 132d—no order about that, sir?’’ he asked. “None. It remains!” Westerling replied. The clerk went out Impressed. IT is chief taking to sume of subtract! n and totally preoccupied! The 132d o remain! He. too, had a questlon-mai k In his secret mind.

Westerling proceeded with his mathematics. Having heavily shaded the tens, he essayed a sum in division. He found that ten went into seventy just seven times. “One-seventh the allotted span of life!" he mused. “Take oft fifteen years for youth and fifteen after fiftyfive—nobody counts after that, though I mean to—and you ten into forty, which is one-fourth. That is a good deal. But it’s more to a woman than to a man—yes, a~Tot more to a woman than to a man!’’ The clerk was right in thinking Westerling preoccupied: but it was crTsTV. Over I Tata cotton thte name ol MAaa Marta Gal- i land, in the list of arrivals at a hotel, had caught hie eye in the morning paper. A note to her had brought an answer, saying that her time was limited, but she would be glad to have him call at five that afternoon. Westerling realized that the question of marriage as a social requirement might arise when he should become officially chief of staff with the retirement of His Excellency the fieldmarshal. For the present he enjoyed his position as a bachelor who w r as the most favored man in the army too i much to think of marriage.

It was a little surprising that the) bell that the girl of seventeen had Tung In his secret mind when he was on one of the first rounds of the ladder, now lost in the mists of a lower stratum of existence, should ever tinkle again. Yet he had heard Its note in the tone of her prophecy with each step in his promotion; and while the other people whom he had known at La Tir were the vaguest shadows of personalities, her picture was as defi- , nlte in detail as when she said: "Yoa have the will! You have the ambition!” She had recognized in him the power that he felt; foreseen his ascent to the very apex of the pyramid. She was still unmarried, which was strange; for she had not been badlooking and she was of a fine old family. What was she like now? Cominnnnlo/»A on-i

Utilize Former Waste Material. An interesting feature of the production of anthracite coal In Pennsylvania Is the comparatively recent utilization of the smaller sizes of coal. Since the first waehery was constructed in 1890 the total recovery of useful fuel shipped from the «vaste heaps or culm banks has amounted to 49,329,376 long tons.

Proof to the Contrary. "Johnny Twickenham is always bragging about having blue blood, ma.” "Yes, dear.” “But it ain't, ma. I punched his I nose today an’ It’* red.’’ -

"Yes?” he exclaimed. - “Yes? Go on!” And he thought: “I'm really having a very good time." “You see, I came home from my tour with an idea—an idea tor a life occupation Just ae engrossing as yours,” she went on, “and opposed to yours. I saw there was no use of working with the grown-up folks. They must be left to The Hague conferences and the peace societies. But children are quite alike the world over. You can plant thoughts in the young that will take root and grow as they grow.” “Patriotism, for instance," he observed narrowly. “No, the follies of martial patriotism! The'wickedness of war, which is the product of martial patriotism!" The tollies of patriotism! This was the red flag of anarchy to him. He started to speak, flushing angrily, but held his tongue and only emitted a "whew!” in good-humored wonder. ‘T see you are not very frightened by my opposition,” she rejoined in a flash of amusement not wholly untempered by exasperation. “We got the appropriation for an additional army corps this year,” he explained contentedly, his repose completely regained. “Thus increasing the odds against ue. But perhaps not; for wo are dealing with the children not with recruits, as I said. We call ourselves the teachers of peace. I organized the firs i class In La Tlr. I have the chll ■

answer to your will if war comes! That is what you live and plan for. isn't it?" “Yes, exactly! Yes, you have it!” he said. His shoulders stiffened as he thrilled at seeing a picture of him- j self, as he wanted to see himself, done j in bold strokes. It assured him that | not only had his own mind grown be- i yond what were to him the narrow as- j sociations of his old La Tir days, but that hers had grown, too. "And you—what have you been doing all these years?” he asked. “Living the life of a woman on a country estate,” she replied. “Since you made a rule that no Gray officers should cross the frontier we have been a little lonelier, having only the Brown officers to tea. Did you really find it so bad for discipline in your own c'aee?” she concluded with playful solemnity.

seven, a Marta with apission, had set for herself. A page came to teltSfc- 1 erling that Miss Galland would hldowxi directly. When she appeared po 'moseed the room with a flowing, ejpnir .neous vitality that appealed to as something familiar. “Ten years, isn't itff she exclaimed as she seated herself Sp the other side of the tea-table. “Au(®> me see, you took two lumps, if I rjhiember?” “None now," he said “Do you find it I iteuing?” she asked. \ He recognized th mischievous I sparkle of the eyes, th quizzical turn j of the lips, which wai her asset In j keeping any question er 0111 being perI sonal. Neverthless, be dashed slightly.

“A change of taste, 1 ihe averred. ‘‘Since you’ve beconi such a great man?” she hazarded?) "Is that too strong?” This re'errlj to the tea. "No, just right! ” hq nodded. He was studying ieisvith the polite, veiled scrutiny of a&nii of the world. A materialist, he wdul| look a woman over as he would, a #ldier when ho had been a al making an inspection. She was film, supple; he liked slim, supple wdpiea. Yes, she was twenty-seven, witlj the vivacity of seventeen retained, tit ugh she were on the edge of being In old maid according to the convaii tional notions. Necks and shoulder tpat happened to be at his side at dinner he had found, when they were really beautiful, were not averse to his glance of appreciative and discriminating admiration of physical charm. But he saw her shrug slightly and car ,t i a spark from her eyes that made him vaguely conscious of an often?*; to her sensibilities, and he was wht conscious that the suggestion, bring i his faculties up sharply, had the pi tisure of a novel sensation. “How fast you bp e, gone ahead!” she said. ”That,ipEj£ p,rc9.p*’Q£!t^i}L. staff!” _ \

3 After a smile ot satjjjEaoHon tie cor7 rected her. 3 "Not quite; vice-c%f -the rlght3 hand man of His Excdpr I am a 1 buffer between him and tt heads of divisions. This has the errone- ' ous assumption which I cannot too 1 forcibly deny—” He was proceeding wfth the phraseology habitual whenever men or women, to flatter him, had intimated that they realized that he was the actual head of the army. Hte | Excellency, with the prestige of a career, must be kept soporlflcally enjoying the forms of authority. To arousf his jealousy might curtail WesterBng’s actual power. “Yes. yes!” breathed Marta softly, . arching her eyebrows a trifle as she would when looking all around and through a thing or wien she found any one beating about Jhe bush. The little frown disappeared and she smiled understanding!;,, “You know I’m not a perfect go*6di" she added. “Had you been made|:l|ief ot staff in name, too, all the ol# generals would have been In the sulks and the young generals jealous,” shs;cop tinued. “The one way that you might have the power to exercise wasJby proxy.” This downright frank .ess was another reflection of the ink days before he was at the apex of the pyramid. Now it was so unusual in-.his experience as to be almost Sbiock. Oo IHl

i dren come together ««ery Sunday j morning and I tell them about the chilj dren that live In other countries. I j tell them that a child a thousand miles j away is just as mucn a neighbor aa | the one across the street. At first I j feared that they would find It uninter- | esting. But if you know how to talk j to them they don’t.” “Naturally they don’t, when you talk to them," he interrupted. She was so intent that she passed over the compliment with a gesture likp that of brushing away a cobweb. Her eyes were like deep, clear wells of faith and purpose. “I try to make the children of ether countries so Interesting that our children will like them too well ever to want to kill them when they grow up. We have a little peace prayer—they have even come to like to recite it —a prayer and an oath. But I'll not bother you with It. Other women have taken up the idea. I have found a girl who Is going to start a class on your side in South La Tlr, and I came here to meet some women who wont to Inaugurate the movement In your capital.”

had ever been a great general. He resented the growing power of these leaders of the civil world, taking distinction away from the military, even when, as a man of parts, he had to court their Influence. His was the profession that was and ever should be the elect. A penniless subaltern was a gentleman, while he could never think ot a man in business as one. All the faces la the street belonged to a strange, busy world outside his Interest and thoughts. They formed what was known as the public, often making a clatter about things which they did not understand, when they should obey the orders of their superiors. Of late, their clatter had been about the extra taxes for the recent Increase of the standing forces by another corps. The public was bovine with a parrot’s head. Yet it did not admire the tolling ox, but the eagle and \he lion.

As his car came to the park his eyes lighted at sight of one of the dividends one feature of urban life that ever j ave him a thrill. A battalion of the 128th, which he had ordered that afternoon to the very garrison at South La Tir that he had once commanded, was marching through the main avenue. Youths ail, of twenty-one or two, they were in a muddy-grayish uniform which was the color of the plain as seen from the veranda of the Galland house. Where these came from were other boys growing up to take their places. The mothers of the nation ere doing their duty. All the land vas a breeding-ground for the dividends of Hedworth Westerling. At the far side of the park he saw another kind of dividend —another group of marching men. These were not in uniform. They were the unemploj e 1. Many were middle-aged, with worn, tired faces. Beside the flag of the ■ untry at the head of the procession ,vas that of universal radicalism. And his car had to stop to let them pasf. For an_ Instant the indignation I ot kuilary - autocracy rose'strong with- 1

I in Um at sight of the national colors In ®ch company. But he noted how natuhuiy the men kept step; the solidarity of their movement. The stamp of their army service in youth could not be easily removed. He realized!, he advantage of heading an army in which defense was not dependent on a mixture of regulars and volunteers, but on universal conscription that brought every able-bodied man under discipline. .....

I#These reservists, in the event of (war, would hear the call of race and they would fight for the one flag that Fthen had any significance. Yes, the 'bid human impulses would predominate and the only enemy would be on 'the other side of the frontier. They would be pawns of his will—the will that Marta Galland had said would make him chief of staff. Wasn’t war the real cure for the general unrest? Wasn’t the nation growing stale from the long peace ? He was ready for war now that he had become vice-chief, when the retirement of His Excellency, unable to bear the height of his years and decorations in the field, w’ould make him the supreme commander. One' ambition gained, he hear ! the appeal of another; to live to sea the guns and rifles that had fired only blank cartridges in practice pouring out shells and bullets, and all the battalions that had played at sham War in maneuvers engaged in real *»■«» «% iinHoi* hia i roo 11 v " ; U <• r-. *»i -

“I’ll have to see about that!” he rejoined, half-banterlngly, half-threaten-ingly. “There Is something else to come, even more irritating,” she said, less Intently and smiling. “So please be prepared to hold your temper.” “I shall not beat my fist on the table defending war as you did defending peace!” he retaliated with significant enjoyment. But she used his retort for an opening. X “Oh. I’d rather you would do that than jest! It’s human. It’s going to war because one Is angry. You would go to war as a matter of cold reason.” “If otherwise, I should lose,” he replied. “Exactly You make It easy for me to approach my point. I want to prevent you from losing!” she announced cheerfully yet very seriously. “Yes' Proceed. I brace myself against an explosion of indignation!” “It is the duty of a teacher of peace to use all her influence with the people she knows,” she went on. “So I am going to ask you not to let your country ever go to war against mine while you art chief of staff.” “tyiine against yours?” he equivocated. “Why, you live almost within | gunshot of the line! Your people have as much 1 ray as Brown blood In their veins. Your country! My country! Isn’t that patriotism?” “Patriotism, but not martial patriot- ”■ s£--? serp&?t-c£ iZz; is to stop war tor both countries as war, regardless of sides. Promise me that you will not permit it!” “I not permit it!” He smiled with the kindly patronage of a great man who sees a charming woman floundering in an ‘attempt at logic. “It is for the premier to say. I merely make the machine ready. The government’says the word J makes it move. I able to stop war! Come, come!” “But you an—yes, you can with a w'qrd!” she declared positively. -! “Plow?”tr asked, amazed. “How?” he repeated blandly. Was ihe teasing him? he wondered. What new;r of confusion had ten years and a lour around the world developed in her? Was It possible that the whole idea of the teachers of peace was ail Invention to make conversation at his expense? If so, she carried it off with a sincerity that suggested other depths yet unsounded. “Very easily,” she answered. “You can tell the premier that you cannot whuTell him that you will break your army to pieces against the Browns’ fortifications!” He gasped. Then an inner voice prompted him that the cue was comedy. ‘Excellent fooling—excellent!” he said with a laugh. “Tell the premier that I should lose when I have five million men to their three million! What a harlequin chief of staff 1 should he! Excellent tooling! You almost had me!” Again he laughed, though in the fashion of one who had hardly unbent his spine, while he was wishing for the old days when he might take tea with her one or two afternoons a week. It would be a fine tonic after his isolation at the apex of the pyramid surveying the deference of the lower levels. Then he saw that her eyes, shimmering with wonder, grew dull and her lips parted in a rigid, pale line as if she were hurt. (TO BE CONTINUED )

“One cannot consider Individual cases in a general order,” he explained. “And, remember, the Browns made the ruling first. You see, every year means a tightening—yes, a tightening, as arms and armies grow more complicated and the maintaining of staff secrets more Important. And you have been all the time at La Tir, truly ?” he asked, changing the subject. He was convinced that she had acquired something that could not be gained on the outskirts of a provincial town. “No. I have traveled. I have been quite around the world.” “Y’ou have!” This explained much. “How I envy you! That is a privilege I shall not know 7 until I am superannuated.” While he should remain chief of staff he must be literally a prisoner in his own country. “Yes, I should eay it was splendid! Splendid—yes, indeed!” Snappy little nods of the head being unequal to expressing the joy of the memories that her exclamation evoked, she clasped her hands over her knees and swung back and forth in the ecstasy of seventeen. “Splendid! I should say so!” She nestled the curling tip of her tongue against her teeth, as If the recollection must also be tasted. “Splendid, enchanting, enlightening, stupendous and wickedly expensive! Another girl and I did it all on our ow 7 n.”

“O-oh!” he exclaimed. “Oh, oh, oh!” she repeated after him. "Ou, what, please?” “Oh, nothing;’’ he said. It was quite comprehensible to him how well equipped she was to take care of herself on such an advehtUre. "Precisely, when you come to think it over!” she concluded. U“What interested you most? Whdi iw£ I*s3fS2"BBui your jcurney <- ing?” he asked, ready to play the lie tener. “Being born and bred on a frontier, of an ancestry that was born and bred on a frontier, why, frontiers interested me most,” she said. “I collected impressions of frontiers as some people collect pictures. I found them all alike —stupid, just stupid! Oh, so stupid!” Her frown grew with the repetition of the word; her fingers closed in on her palm in vexation. He recollected that he had seen her like this two or three times at La Tlr, when he had found the outbursts most entertaining. He Imagined that the small fist pressed against the table edge could deliver a stinging blow. "As stupid as it is for neighbors to quarrel J It put me at war with all frontiers.” “Apparently,”,he said. She withdrew her fist from the table, dropped the opened hand over the other on her knee, her body relaxing, her wrath passing into a kind of shamefacedness and then into a soft, prolonged laugh. “I laugh at myself, at my own inconsistency,” she said. “I was warlike against war. At all events, if there is anything to make a teacher of peace lose her temper it la the folly of frontiers.”