The Syracuse Journal, Volume 4, Number 2, Syracuse, Kosciusko County, 11 May 1911 — Page 3

story £\J Miss Selina Lue AND THE j Soap-Box Babies By Maria Thompson Daviess A* Illustrations by Magnus G, Kettner Copyright 1909, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, SYNOPSIS. Miss Selina Lue, spinster grocery-store Keeper of River Bluff and guardian angel of the community, presides over an impromptu day nursery for the babies of • the neighborhood in the rear of the place. Her charges are kept In soap boxes and are known as the "Soap-Box Babies.” The fact, that she is single makes her somewhat of an object of - sympathy to the mothers, although possessed of stronger maternal Instinct than many of them. One of her intimate friends is Miss Cynthia Page, daughter of Widow Page, who lives in the whitepillared house on the hill. Cynthia visits Miss Selina and learns that she has taken another “Soap-boxer” In. Alan Kent, a young artist who wishes to establish a studio in her barn. Their first meeting Is none too cordial when Blossom, Miss Lue’s adopted baby, and one Cynthia is very fond of, shows an evident preference for Alan. When Cynthia leaves, Alan learns more about her and hears that her mother, one of the first families of the place. Is land poor and in danger of losing the old homestead. CHAPTER ll.—Continued. “Miss Selina Lue, please forgive me for asking. Perhaps I ought not to know.” And Mr. Alan caught one string of the limp little bonnet and curled it tenderly around his finger. “I really do—love the little mite, if that’s any excuse for my “ “Mr. AJan, that’s a excuse for everything in the world ahd Heaven above! When you give it, you’ve donq gave the password to Kingdom Cpme and I ain’t a-holding back the confidence of my heart from one as can speak it. It ain’t the baby’s fault no way, that I found her laid in Charity’s stall, what is like a manger we have both heard on many a time. Charity had a new calf then, what I am in the habit of turning in with they mother on cold nights If the milk do run short in the morning, and that’s what saved the child’s life. Cjharity had crowded her spotted baby in a corner of the stall to keep it warm and had hung her head down over Blossom and her own baby in such a nianner as to hover them both —and there I found her. I wlsht I knowed where that wild-eyed girlmother is a-wandering, lonesome and unhappy.” “She chose the place to leave the baby—wisely,” said Mr. Alan, as he walked over to the counter and slipped hft finger into the curled, pink, little hand which grasped it firmly even from the depths. “Yes, you can always put dependence in the sense and good feelings of a cow,” answered Miss Selina Lue with sweet unconsciousness. “Did you ever think what a noble life they lead —always a-giving for other people who don’t show no more appreciation than a bucket of bran and a little water? If oxes and asses was there, I want to think a cow helped to watch over Him that night. It makes me feel easier about Mary; fer cows they knows things same as humans.’* CHAPTER 111. How Miss Selina Lue Came to the Bluff. “I don’t hold with thinking up bad happenings onto people, for sometime it might kinder hit ’em on some blind side we don’t know about and take.” —Miss Selina Lue. “Now,” said Miss Selina Lue with a sigh of relief, “every string is tied up. The camphire held out fine and there are two pink rags left. Everybody forget all about the yellowjackets and put your mind on the making,of the lemonade. I’ll get the lemons.” And as she spoke she rose from the top step and started into the grocery. She paused for a moment and ran her eyes over the group huddled along the steps, while laughter strove with sympathy in her expression. Just at that moment Miss Cynthia came down the Hill with her rose hat swinging in her hand and hercurls a-ruffle in the breeze. She paused and took in the maimed and bandaged crew of youngsters with round-eyed amazement. And a picture of wholesale catastrophe they presented! Bennie sat on the top step. Tied neatly around his head was a huge white bandage, from which his freckled face peered with swollen solemnity. Ethel Maud drooped on the corner of the step below and nursed a red and enlarged little wing that had been an ear when last Miss Cynthia had beheld It. Luella Kinney choked back sobs with an abnormally fat thumb which she kept fast in her mouth, seemingly deriving comfort therefrom. Around one ankle was tied a blue gingham rag, whleh set off the pink bit tnat swathed one of Ethel Maud’s brown little feet. Several thin knees had seemingly doubled

on their mates in matter of size. The rest of the congregation had suffered with more or less poignancy. And an aroma of mingled tears and camphor rose from the steps. “Why—why!” gasped Miss Cynthia, “was there a —a cyclone?” “Oh, no,” answered Miss Selina Lue cheerfully. “Just a little yellow-jack-ets’ nest that made a mistake to get mad at the children. They have ’most fergot all about it, fer we was jest about to make a whole water bucket full of lemonade. Nice day, ain’t it, fer drinking sich as lemonade?” Miss Selina Lue bestowed a significant glance on Miss Cynthia, as she spoke, which was very enlightening as to her rational method of treating the hornet cyclone. Miss Cynthia hastened to lend the weight of her mental influence to that of her friend, for she saw that her consternation had started a faint echo of sobs. “Yes. indeed it is,” she affirmed enthusiastically. “I feel as if I could drink several glasses myself. Somebody must draw the water for it right from the well.” “Yes, Bennie can do that while you and Ethel Maud and Luella roll the lemons. There are the glasses to hunt up, and everybody must git ready to help squeeze.” And for at least a half-hour the front of the, grocery teemed with cheerful activity. If sharp little pains occasionally obtruded themselves, they found no encouragement from the busy drink-mixers, who squeezed and stirred and slopped and drank to their hearts’ content. After they had themselves consumed the third concoction from the yellow rinds, they conceived the idea of adding sugar and water still again and carrying the bucket down for the refreshment of Mr. Leeks, who was a dear friend, to be remembered at what they considered an early stage of the lemonade game. “Lands alive!” said Miss Selina Lue as she sank on the top step and watched the last scampering pair of bare feet and fluttering rags disappear down the hill, “that’s almost the worst ruckus we ever had on the Bluff! I was afraid they would all cry themselves sick before I could git they thoughts switched.” “Yes,” answered Miss Cynthia as she seated herself beside Miss Selina Lue, exhausted and panting with the efforts she had made in their behalf, “it was pretty bad, and I was out of the direct path of the hurricane. How did you weather the full force?” “Well, you know,” answered Miss Selina Lue, “I’ve got ’em trained some. * im —IK I? “That’s Almost the Worst Ruckus We Ever Had on the Bluff.” I always did believe that courage is jest to keep going and fergit the pain. I ddn’t hold with making light of suffering, but if distractments will help to ease along, I for one say make a bucket of lemonade.” “Lots of people in the world are agreeing with you on that line, Miss Selina Lue,” answered Miss Cynthia as she laughed up into the kind eyes above her. “Course common sense makes people think alike from Tennessee to Jericho, but ain’t it funny how little of it ft let loose all along the road? I wished we coulder had more of it in that mothers’ meeting we had this morning, which is the cause of all this cyclone-trouble, along of letting the children git away and into a mess of hornets while we talked about how to raise ’em.” “A mothers’ meeting?” questioned Miss Cynthia in astonishment. “Oh, she didn’t mean any real harm. She was sent out by some kinder foolish Women’s Union. She came into the grocery about nine o’clock this morning. I got a chair quick fer her to puff and rest in from the hillclimb. She looked kinder feeble and pinched, but my! she had fire in her eyes and she het up when she talked.” “Did she come up so purposes?” demanded Miss Cynthia indignantly. “Oh, yes, I reckon that is the way she put it to herself. And it was kind of her, but it did set back the work, as this is wash-day. Mis’ Dobbs was glad enough to leave her tuba and coma over to Mis’ Peters’s and set and listen ’stid of rubbing, but Mis* Kinney was as put out as could be.” “And what did she have to impart to you about child culture?” Miss Cynthia again demanded. “Oh, they was all good enough little receipts that most women what has owned a baby a week finds out for herself; but I was glad ter see them took notice of and writ np in fine talk in a book, ’cause how do we know that some woman, some day, might not need sich? I was glad ter have Mary Ellen hear her tell over a few things I have said to her time and time again.”

“Well, it makes me inSignant to | think of her •" “But wait until I tell you about the ' husband experiences she began on. The way she talked sounded kinder < like training a lion or tiger by a kind- : ness method. I seen Mis’ Kinney be* | gin to swell and I got right uneasy. You’ve saw Mis’ Kinney when her : temper has riz. She stood up and I sorter shet that left eye of her’n, and asked in a pleasant voice: “ Difl I understand that you was Miss Bumpas or Mistress Bumpas, j ma’am?’ “ ‘I am Miss Bumpas,’ answered the j lady, jwith vinegar and persimmons i mixed in her voice. “ ‘Well,’ said Mis’ Kinney, ‘then I excuses your remarks. Child, some woman have been joking with you | about i her men-folks. You wasn’t talking about no United States husband at all; must a-been some j Chinee man your friend was com- ‘ plaining over.’ I was surprised how mild and patient Mis’ Kinney was handling her remarks. “ ‘When women are content to sit ! with folded hands and let ‘ The lady got sb far, but Mis’ Kinney in- ' terrupted her in a very impolite way. “ ‘Set with folded hands,’ she kinder repeated, dazed-like. ‘Why, I make mine do the work of four any day, and if Mr. Kinney was to come home and fine me a-«etting cross-handed ’ But here the ruckus began, and I heard it coming down the street lick-ety-split.. Ethel Maud was in the lead, but the others was close behind; and the yelling was like what you call it, a cyclone.” “Oh, how delicious!" gasped Miss Cynthia as she shook with laughter at the .picture. “What did Miss Bumpas do?” “Honey, I don’t know. I didn’t have j time to see. Mis’ Peters says she didn't wait for the ten-fifty car, but , took to the Hill. This is the first j breathing minute I have had since. And now I’m worrying ’cause she will think we haven’t got a bit of manners.” “Why, you couldn’t help the—cyclone ! t “Yes, I know, but you oughter be thankffll fer kindnesses done to you, whether they are caps that fit or not. Mis’ Kinney was riled and—but it’s easy for me to talk who ain’t got no husband to bit and bridle like she recommended and Lands alive! it is almost dinner-time and not a thing bn the stove. Set still, honey, while I bring the beans out here to string.” Miss Cynthia sat for a few minutes in smiling silence, and then there floated down from the barn a tenorwhistled renditioh of an Aida aria. Miss Cynthia stiffened, rose, and called a hasty good-by to Miss Selina Lue, who came to the door to look up the street after her. “I do wonder why she had to go so suddonlike,” she said to herself as she turned again toward the kitchen. Just then Ma Alan entered the back door with Carrots wriggling in his hands. He was a whimpering bunch of the exact hue of that part of the mother-earth inclosed in the garden fence. “Lands alive, Mr. Alan, did Carrots turn over his box at last?" exclaimed Miss Selina Lue as she plucked him by the neck of his apron and set him down by the sink. “He was squirming over the geography of the garden paths when I found him,” answered Mr. Alan with a laugh. Carrots gave one sleepy little purr and rolled over pn the floor for a nap. “Well, such a time as we have been j a-having!” remarked Miss Selina Lue, I as Mr J Alan followed her to the front | of the grocery and they both seated themselves in reach of the river breeze. She began to snap the beans busily.j “I heard about it,” answered Mr. , Alan, f‘hnd I had a drink of lemonade.” “Thait bucket saved a-many of yells and soothed a heap of pain,”answered Miss Selina Lue with a laugh. “But,j dearie me, I wonder if Miss Cynthia coulder been stung by one of them yaller-jackets as a reason for leaving so sudden! I saw one crawling around; the steps a little while ago I’ve just thought of it.” Miss Selina | Lue’s hands were idle from anxiety as she' peered up the Hill, with dis tress in her usually serene eyes. “NoJ said Mr. Alan calmly, “I don’t I think it was a yellow-jacket that : caused, her flight. It might have been a gray serge,” he added under hl» ; “Well, I jest feel too uneasy to rest calm until I find out,” said Miss Selina Lue. “You, Bennie, come here a minute! I want you.” And she hailed the wounded hero as he straggled up the road with the empty bucket (TO BE CONTINUED.) Injunction Erred. “What,” said the little girl Ths father is something of a fastidlan as to speech, and he said to the five year-old: “You should never saj ‘What?’ my dear; always say: ‘I beg your pardon.”’ That the injunctioi erred on the side of sweepingness was conveyed to him later, when the lit tie girj, pointing to a blossom, said: “ T beg your pardon’ is the name <rf that flower?” Bach’s Influence on Music. In Bach we find the germ, the po tency and power of almost every thing great that has been done il music since his day; his influence i> everywhere felt.—Apthorp. Real Kind of Man. A man who is worth calling a mas is not the man who tries to see how much he can get, but the man whose object is to see how much ho can de without.

i TOT and MW GAVE DESCRIPTION OF DOG Man Couldn’t Give Police Any Information Regarding Wife, but Knew Canine’s Points. Mr. Smith was a nervous man, and when, at eight o’clock Mrs. Smith had not come home, he telephoned to the police to inform'them that she was missing. She returned safely enough a little later, having been detained by a slight taxi-cab accident, and her husband scrutinized her carefully. His reason for doing so may be inferred from the account of the telephone conversation between Mr. Smith and the police department. “What’s her description?” asked the official at the telephone. “Her height? Weight?” “Er—er—about average, I guess,” stammered the husband. “Color of eyes?” A confused burring sound came back over the wire. “Blue or brown?” prompted the official. “I—l don’t know!” “How was she dressed?” » “I think she wore her coat and hat —she took the dog with her.” “What kind of a dog?” “Brindle bull-terrier, weight fourteen, pounds and a half, four dark blotches on his body, shading from gray into white; a round blackish spot over the left eye; white stub of a tail, three white legs, and the right 'front leg nicely brindled all but the toes; a small nick in his left ear, gold filling in his upper right molar, a silver link collar with —” “That’ll do!” gasped the official. “Wp’ll find the dog!” DID ALL HE COULD DO. rrpo&TS f Pair's 3 TREATED JI T-SAY KELP FIR-riei BUD THEJR. KATS /v-x b 'P Editor —You say you write for the leading magazines? I don’t think I have ever seen anything of yours in any of them! Scribbler —Well, I write for them, all the same. If they don’t publish them, it’s not my fault. His Reward. Stubb —Yes, the doctors told Coggman he couldn’t live six months unless he stopped smoking and drinking at once. Now he’s going to be married. Penn —But how in the world did he get the girl to accept him? She refused him three times. Stubb —Yes, but the last time he proposed he told her he had quit smoking and drinking on her account. Only Too Willing, “Give us bone and sinew!” shouted the college students, who were boosting for a new gymnasium. And the ladylady of the homse where the students boarded winked humorously. “Bone and sinew they want, eh?” she chuckled. “Well, I’ll see that they get plenty of bones and sinew at every meat” A Reason for Wrath. “That fat man seeing to b« surcharged with passion.” “Yes, Indeed. He looks dangerous.” “What do you suppose is the matter?” “Maybe bls tailor has just told him that he will have to wear skin-tight trousers.” A Sense of Immunity. “Don’t you get weary of winter weather?” “No,” replied Mr. Sirius Barker. “So long as there’s a little snow on the ground here and there, I know it’s still too early to start another excitement about early Christmas shopping.” Dignifying Labor. "Did you tell the man to scrub the whin-wagon shed?” I “No, my dear; I told him to masage the garage.” '

MIRACULOUS CURE BY PRINCE I Boris Czetwertynski, Friend of Kaiser’s. Uses Novel Method to Arouse a Shirker. — The other day saw the death of i an old friend of the kaiser —Princel Boris Czetwertynski. The prince had a passion for big game hunting, and a rather funny story is told in connection with one of his expeditions in central Africa. The one thing he could not tolerate : was anything in the way of shirking j hard work. As he was going up-I country one of his companions—a I rather lazy man, complained of being ; ill. After the prince had nursed him tenderly for several days he began to be suspicious, and finally he became convinced that the, man was sham- i ming. One morning, as he entered the ; tent, his patient asked, plaintively: “Boris, do you think I shall die?” The prince smoothed his patient’s pillow in the kindliest way, and whispered : , “I pray every morning that you will!” ! The “patient” was up and about next day. HE KNEW. — — r u ' IL Teacher—How do you pronounce T-h-a-b-a N’-c-h-u? Tommy—You don’t pronounce It, ma’am. You sneeze it. It Was to Laugh. Venus was trying to teach her willful son to discriminate nicely. “Why," she asked, with some severity, “did you laugh at that chap who took Kis departure so hastily at the sound of his girl’s father’s footsteps on the stairs?” Cupid, or Love, smiled broadly at the recollection. “He made such a beautiful bolt for the door that I thought he was a locksmith,” replied the young god, artlessly.—Puck. And Then It Happened. “What is the matter with Jinx? He looks as if he had had a tussel with a barbed wire fence.” “His wife asked him the other night what excuse he had for remaining out until midnight.” “And he didn’t lave a good excuse, ehr “Oh, his excuse was a good one. He took Mrs. Jinx by the elbow, and, leading her to a mirror, pointed to her reflection.” A Perfect Stranger. Mother was trying to put some oil of cloves into her little daughter’s tooth. “Why do you make such a fuss, dear?” she exclaimed impatiently. “You don’t act like that when I have you down at the dentist’s office.” “But, mother,” replied the youngster, “you wouldn’t expect me to squeal when the dentist is almost a total stranger to me.” Suspicious. Bjenks—How is that lean, unscissored Bohemian getting on these days?” Bjarks—Why, they say he is desperately in love with the girl in the laundry and is to be married soon. Something suspicious about it, though. Bjenks—l should say so. What is a true Bohemian doing around a laundry, anyway?” His Business “Picking Up.” “Yes," said the old lady, “now that spring is with us; business will pick up with the old man.” Asked what he did for a living, she replied: “Well, he sells rabbit feet for watch charms, an’ to stave off hoodoos, an* he does fine with rattlesnake rattles, but he makes most at sellin’ young mockin’ birds an* prayin’ for rain.” The Merry Minstrels. Bones —Ah s’pose if a man wants tub build a air castle he has t* git de right kind o’ tools.” Interlocutor —Right kind of tools I Why, man alive, what kind of tools could a man use on an air castle? Bones —Aero-planes, man. Ah am astonished at yo’ iggumence. Its Remedy. “In nature’s resources, what do you suppose the flower popularly named from the day’s eye, does, when it gets weak?” “Os course, it takes to the nightshade.” Meddling With the Market. “Was your husband a bear in Wall street?” I “I think so,” replied young Mrs. Torkins. “He certainly acted like one I when he got home.”

I \v6MAN<X^^S PHtRE -

STRIPES IN CURTAINS PRETTY PATTERNS ARE SEEN IN MUSLINS AND NETS. I Casement Design, Which Dispenses With the Window Blind, Is the Most Popular—Velvet Hangings a Costly Fancy. i The curtain which is most popular j at the moment is the casement design. This curtain is extremely practical, for it dispenses with the window blind and looks well in most rooms, no matter what scheme of decoration prevails. Casement curtains can be fitted at small cost, too —another point I in their favor—and they can be carried out in all kinds of materials, from soft silk to Shantung. The rage for stripes in the world of dress has extended to curtains. Striped designs are to be seen in nets, ' muslins, etc., and very pretty they lock. Dwarf curtains for the little casement windows are already to be x had striped in insertion, or the stripes simply woven in the material itfself. ’ The Vitrage curtains from France gain in popularity each year. Made to hang flatly on the window, they are quite narrow, and finished: with shaped or square ends. Vitrage curtains are particularly adapted for French windows, and they can be either short or long, just as the housewife likes. The new muslin curtains, patterned with rosebuds, are being finished with plain hemstitched borders, and a pretty idea when using these curtains in bedrooms is to have the bedspread to match. To have the hangings in the room in soft rich velvet in the same coloring and decoration as the carpet is a fancy of the season which is somewhat costly, but very lovely, particularly when the Persian colorings are i used. The following materials for the portiere include brocades in silk or velvet, moires, tapestry, chenille, silk, tissue, etc. In design there are floral effects, conventional patterns and antique reproductions, while in some cases the material is quite plain with heavy fringe in silk as a finish. RUSTIC STAND FOR FERNS How to Make This Decorative Little Affair With a Strong Wooden Box and Twigs. Little rustic stands of the nature shown in oi!t sketch, for holding a fern in a pot and for placing upon the table, can be very easily made, and are extremely decorative. For making them a small strong wooden box should be obtained, into which pot containing the fern will fit fairly closely, and a number of straight twigs from which the bark may be peeled. The twigs should then be cut flat on one side, so that they will fit evenly against the side of the box, to which they may be fastened with small thin, sharp nails. These pieces of wood should be long

FOR SUMMER WEAR w White Chiffon and Lace and Ostrich Feathers. Flower Selection. In selecting flowers for the sitting or drawing room thought should be given to the general tone of decoration. If the wall paper be a soft, dull blue or green, above all if the aspect be north, yellow or orange flowers seem to provide the sunshine that is lacking; and from the beginning of autumn to its return there is seldom a month when some blossom does not approach the glorious sun in tone. Yellow chrysanthemums, double and single daffodils, sweet tulips, plain and variegated; buttercups redolent of the country and the effective but not always appreciated nasturitium, in its many hues, from straw color to orange and chestnut; American marigolds, the small perennial sunflower and the barberry with its yellow clusters, will take us “round the clock.” Cleaning the Tongue. Flexible scrapers for cleaning the tongue—not a very pleasant idea, but a really valuable sanitary Instrument —all for the small sum of 10 cents.

enough to entirely cover the sides of the box and extend about a quarter of an inch above the edge, and should be arranged as closely together as possible. At each corner two longer pieces of wood are nailed so that they form legs to the stand and raise it an inch or so from the table. When complete, the stand can be stained a nice dark oak or entirely covered with gold paint, and in the JHBbb. latter case the twigs may be left in their rough state an<|, f the bark need not be taken from them. The space in the box on either side of the pot, and also the top of the pot itself, can be covered in with green moss; and should it be covered to suspend the basket, then thin wire or strong twine attached to holes made in the sides will effect this purpose. Fringes. Fringes are seen on many of*the new lingerie gowns as girdle and tnnic trimming. One beautiful variety is of knotted silver braid, very long, and with the strands set far apart. Strips of cut cloth and leather ini Indian fashion trim walking frocks. Coarse crochet has several sizes off small wooden beads knotted into it. i This last givei-, charming color possibilities in odd, crazy quilt effects. But the best of these fringe trimmings is that most of them can be duplicated by the home seamstress, thus saving money and gaining originality by modification. New Writing Papers. According to a fashionable stationer, many women are growing tired of the smooth linen-finished papers which have been in vogue for so long. They want something a little heavier in weight and a little rougher in finish. To comply with this demand some new papers have been Introduced—papers which look rather more masculine, but are none the less goodlooking. White is preferred to colors, and the sizes are much the same.

SMALL WOMEN MAY REJOICE Stripes, Long Revers, Short Trains and High Heeled Shoes All Help Them. Now that stripes are at the top notch of fashion it will be to the advantage of (the short woman to take some thought in the usiug of striped material for her gowns and suits. In fact the fashions are kind to the short woman this season for with the long revers on coats and wraps, the simple cut and the small high toque, any woman with a little discrimination in choice may in very fact “add 1 a cubit to her stature.” In evening gowns the advent of the short train has been heralded with delight by the small woman, for the sweep of goods at the back lends an air of dignity, grace and height to the wearer that could not be gained withi the short length “little girl” frocks which were popular throughout the winter. I Another help is the high heel—not the Insecure French variety, which is only suitable for evening wear, but the high straight heel with a broad enough base to admit of resting the foot securely on the ground. These are all immense helps to the small woman, who, if she will but take heed of them, may, in appearance, add several inches to her height. Ideas From Paris. New models continue to arrive from Paris and the big fashion shops, which began to display their spring and summer goods several weeks ago, are constantly adding tKe latest importations to their fascinating displays. Among the attractive new things shown are some Very short walsted frocks with, quaint little jackets, which one hesitates to call Etons or bolero* because of the abbreviated peplum frills that appear below their empire Falst finish. These effects are worked out-In both plain and figured silks, and some; of the most picturesque combine a| 1 one-tone silk with a figured material*]