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I RAGGED EDGE
8 Harold MacGrath 8
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“So much the better. You will
have a bungalow to yourself,”
i continued McClintock, “and
;your morning meal will be your
iown affair. But luncheon and
! dinners you will sit at my table.
• I’m a stickler about clothes and
dean chins. How you dress
.when you’re loafing will be no
concern of mine; but fresh twill
or shantung, when you dine with
jme, collar and tie. If you liko
books and music, we’ll get
along.”
“Then you are taking me on!”
Spurlock *s eyes grew soft liko
thoae of a dog that, expecting
the whij, saw only the kindly
hand.
“I ai*. going to give you a
(try.”
“When wiU you want me!”—
with pitiful eagerness. “How
••hall I get'to you!”
yacht is in the river. The
doc to? here says he can get you
•boa/d to-morrow night. But
understand me thoroughly: I am
•offering you this job because my
'friend wants to help you. I
don’t know anything about you.
-I am gambling on his intuition.”
DfcQintock preferred to put it
thus.
f "To-morrow night 1" said
Spurlock, in a wondering whis
per. Out of the beaten track, far
from the trails of men! He re
laxed.
The doctor reached over and
Ikid his hand upon Spurlock’s
heart. “Thumping; but that’s
only excitement. You’ll do."
Then he looked at Ruth. Her
face expressed nothing. That
was one of the mysterious quali
ties of this child of the lagoon:
■he had always at instant ser
vice that Oriental mask of im
penetrable calm that no Occi
dental trick could dislodge. He
«on!d not tell by the look of her
(whether she was glad or , sorry
that presently she would be free.
“I have good news for you.
If you do not find your aunt,
any people will take you under
wing until you can stand ou
your own."
“That is very kind of you,"
•he acknowledged. The lips of
the mask twisted upward into
•mile.
The doctor missed the expres
sion of terror and dismay that
flitted across Spurlock’s face.
Once theey were below, Mc
Ointock turned upon the doctor.
can readily see-" he said,
**why you’ll always be as poor
aa a church mouse.." .
44 What ! said the doctor,
whose thoughts were in some
thing of a turmoil. “What b
that?”
“The «dd human cry of some
thing for nothing; but with you
it is in reverse. You are always
doing something for nothing,
and that is why I love you. If
X offcreed you half of my posses
sions you’d doubtless wallop me
an the jaw. To be with you is
the best moral tonic I know. You
tonie my liver and you tonic my
••Mil. It is good sometimes to
walk with a man who can look
Ood squarely in the face, as you
•an.”
“But wasn’t I right! That
fur!”
“I’ll take tho boy; he’ll be a
novelty. Amiable and good
looking. That’s the kind, my
friend, that always fall soft. No
matter what they do, always
vomeone to bolster them up, to
lend them money, and to coddle
them.” ,
t “iSut, man, this chap hasn’t
fatten soft.”
44Aye, but he will. And here’s
•he proof. You and the girl have
made It soft for him, and I’m
Qohtg to make it soft for him.
But what I do is based upon the
Cant Chat he is one of those in
-'tlividu&ls who are conscience
-*drrven. Conscience drove him to
''this aide of the world, to this bed.
Hit drives him to my island, where
X can Study him to my heart ’a
content. He belioves that he is
leaving this conscience behind;
and I want to watch his disillu
sion on this particular point. Oh,
«dbn"t worry. I shall always be
lirimd ta him; I aha’n’t bait him.
dDnly, he’ll be an interesting
nqpeermen for me to observe. But
Ship that girl east as soon as you
can.”
"Why?”
McClintock put a hand on the
doctor’s shoulder. "Because she’s
a fire-opal, and to the world at
large they bring bad luck.”
"Rot! Mac, what do you sup
pose the natives used to call her?
The Dawn Pearl!”
McClintock wagged his Scotch
head negatively. He knew what
he knew.
Spurlock possessed that extra
ordinary condition of the mind
which is called New England
conscience. Buried under varior.s I
ancestral sixteenths, smothered
under modern thought, liberty of
action and bewildering variety
of flesh-pots, it was still alive to
the extent that it needed only
his present state to resuscitate
it in all its peculiar force. The
Protestant Flagellant, who whip
ped his soul rather than his body,
who made self-denial the rack
and the boot, who believed that
on Sunday it was sacrilegious to
smile, blasphemous to laugh!
Spurlock had gone back spiri
tually three hundred years. In
the matter of his conscience he
was primitive; and for an educa
ted man to become primitive is
to become something of a child.
From midnight until morning
he was now left alone. He had
sufficient strength to wait up
on himself. During the previous
night he had been restless; and
in the lonely dragging hours his
thoughts had raced in an endless
circle-action without progress.
He was reaching wearily for
some kind of buffer to his carry
ing conscience. He thought ra
tionally ; that is to say, ho
thought clearly, as a child thinks
clearly. The primitive supersti
tion of his Puritan forbears was
his; and before this the buckler
of his education disintegrated.
The idea of Iluth as a talisman
against misfortune which h« now
recognized as a sick man’s idea
—faded as his appreciation of
the absurd reasserted itself. But
in its stead—toward morning— 1
there appeared another idea
which appealed to him as sub
lime, appealed to the primitive
conscience, to his artistic sense of
the drama, to the poet and the
novelist in him. He was* and al
ways would be dramatizing bis
emotions; perpetually he would
be confounding his actual with
Ms imaginary self.
To surrender Inmseli to the
law, to face trial and imprison
ment, was out of the question.
Let the law put its hand on hi$
shoulder—if it could! But at
present he was at liberty, and he
purposed to remain in that state.
His conscience never told him to
go back and take punishment • it
tortured him only in regard to
the deed itself. lie had tossed an
honoured n*me in the mire; he
required no prison bars to ac
centuate this misery.
Something, then, to appease
the wrath of God; something to
blunt this persistent agony. It
was not necessary to appease the
wrath of human society; it was
necessary only to appease that of
God for the brokeii Command
ment. To divide the agony into
two spheres so that one would
mitigute the other. In fine, to
marry Ruth (if she would con
sent) as a punishment for what
he had donel To whip his soul
so. long as he lived, but to let hia
body go free! To provide for
her, to work and dream for her,
to be tender and thoughtful and
loyal, to shelter and guard her,
to become accountable to God
for her future.
It was the sing-song girl idea,
magnified many diameters. In
this hour its colossal selfishness
nevor occurred to him.
So, then, when McClintook
offered the coveted haven, Spur
lock became afire to dramatize
the idea.
“Ruth!”
She had gone to the door, aim
lessly, without purpose. All the
sombre visions she had been
pressing back, fighting out ,of
her thoughts, swarmed over the
barrier and crushed her. She did
not want to go to the doctor’s
people; however kindly that
might be, they would be only
curious strangers. She would
never return to her father; that
resolution was final. What she
actually wanted was the present
state of affairs to continue in
definitely.
That is what terrified her: the
consciousness that nothing in her
life would be continuous, that
she would no sooner form friend
ships (like the present) than ro
lentless fate would thrust her in
to a new cirele. All the initial
confidence in herself was gone;
her courage was merely a shell
to hide the lack. To have the
present lengthen into years i But
in a few hours she would be up
on her way, far lonelier than die
had ever been. As Spurlock
called her name, she paused and
turned.
“Dawn Pearl 1 . , . come
here!”
She moved to the side of the
bed. “What is it?”
“Can’t you see? Together,
down there; you and 1! . , . .
As my wife 1 Both of us, never to
be lonely again! . . . Will you
marry me, Ruth?”
As many a wiser woman had
(lone, Ruth mistook thrilling
eagerness for love. Love and
companionship. A fire enveloped
her, n fire which was strangely
healing, filling her heart with
warmth* blotting out th» menace
of the world. She forgot her
vital hatred of the South Seas;
she forgot that McClintock’s
would not differ a jot from the
old island she had for ever left
behind her; she forgot all the
doctor’s lessons and warnings.
She would marry him. Because
of the thought of love and com
panionshipT No. Because here
was the haven for which she had
been blindly groping; the posi
tive abolition of all her father’s
rights in her—the right to drag
her back. The annihilation of
the Terror which fascinat?d her
and troubled her dreams o ’nights.
“You want me, thent” she
said
“Oh, yesl—for always I”
He took her hands and pressed
them upon his thrumming heart;
and in this attitude they remain
ed for some time.
Something forbade him to draw
her toward him and seal the com
pact with a kiss. Down under
the incalculable selfishness *f the
penitent child there was tin
man’s uneasy recollection of Ju
das. He could not kiss Ruth.
CHAPTER XVII
After the Ten Commandments
have been spoken, conscience be
comes less something inherent
than something acquired. It is
now a point of view, differing
widely, as the ignorant man dif
fers from the educated. You and
I will agree upon the Ten Com
mandments ; but perhaps we will
refuse to accept the other’s inter
pretation of the ramifications. I
step on my neighbor’s feet, re
turn and apologize because my
acquired conscience orders me to
do so; whereas you might pass
cn without caring if your neigh
bour hoped about on one foot.
The inherent conscience keeps
most of us away from jail, from
court, from the gallows; the ac
quired conscience helps us to
preserve the little amenities of
daily life. So then, tho acquired
is the livelier phase, being drive i
into action daily; whereas the
inherent may lie dormant f jr
months, even years.
To Spurlock, in this hour, his
conscience »tood over against the
Ten Commandments, one of
which he had broken. He became
primitive* literal in his concep
tion; the ramifieatons were, for
the once, fairly relegated to lim
bo. He could not kiss Until be
cause the acquired conscience—
struggling on its way to limbo
made the idea repellent. Analysis
would come later, when the primi
tive conscience, satisfied would
cease to dominate his thought
and action.
Singe morning he had become
fanatical; the atoms of common
sense no longer functioned in the
accustomed groove. And yet he
knew clearly and definitely what
he purposed to do, what the fu
ture would be.. This spedtas of
madness cannot properly be at
tributed to his illness, though its
accent might be. For a time he
would be the grim Protestant
Flagellant, pursuing the idea of
self-castigation. That he was im
molating Ruth on the altai* of hip
conscience never broke in upon
his thought for consideration.
The fanatic has no such word in
his vocabulary.
Ruth had not expected to be
kissed; so the omission passed
unnoted. For her it was suf
ficient to know that somebody
wanted her, that never again
would she be alone, that always
this boy with the dreams would
be der'nding upon her.
A strange betrothal !~the pri
mal idea of which wajs escape 1
The girl, intent upon abrogating
forever all legal rights of the
father in the daughter- of render
ing innocuous the thing she had
now" named the Terror: the boy,
seeking self-crucifixion in expi
ation of his transgression, chang
ing a peccadillo into damnation!
It was easy for Ruth to sur
render to the idea, for she be
lieved she was loved; and in
gratitude it was already her de
termination to give this boy her
heart’s blod, drop by drop, if
he wanted it. To her, marriage
would be a buckler against the
two evils which pursued her.
There was nothing on the Tab
lets of Moses that forebade Spur
lock marrying Ruth; there were
no previous contracts. And yet,
Spurlock was afraid of the doc
tor; so was Ruth. They agreed
that they must marry at once,
this morning, before the doctor
could suspect what was toward.
The doctor would naturally offer
a hundred objections; he might
seriously interfere; so he must
be forestalled.
What marriage really meant
(aside from the idea of escape),
Ruth had not the least conception
no more than a child. If she had
any idea at all, it was something
she dimly reclled fromJier books:
something celestially beautiful,
with a happy ending. But the
clearly definite thing was the ul
timate escape, therein she dif
fered but little from her young
sisters.
That is what marriage is to
most young women: the ultimate
escape from the family, from the
unwritten laws that govern child
ren. Whether they are loved or
unloved has no bearing upon this
desire to test their wings, to try
this new adventure, to take this
leap into the dark.
Spurlock possessed a vigorous
intellect, critical, disquisitional,
creative; and yet he saw nothing
remarkable in the girl’s readiness
to marry himl An obsession is
a blind spot.
“We must marry at once 1 The
doctor may put me on the boat
and force you to remain behind,
otherwise. ’'
“And you want me to find a
minister 1 ’ ’ she asked, with ready
comprehension.
“That’s it!”—eagerly. 'Bring
him back with you. Some of the
hotel guests can act as witnesses.
Make haste!”
Ruth hurried off to her own
room. Before she put on her sun
lielmet, she paused before the
mirror. Her wedding gown! She
wondered if the spirit of the un
known mother looked down upon
her.
' (TO BE} CONTINUED)
PARIS FASHIONS
BY ALICE LANGELIER,
Paris.—The little black patch of
court plaster, or "mouche" (fly), as
the French call It, has wandered back
Into fashion. But it has changed
position and now has the place of
honor between the eyebrows.
One famous lady, so they say, used
to wear her "mouche” at the left
corner of her mouth; and Mrs. Pepys
wore several patches, in all manner
Of shapes, clustered about one cheek,
near the corner of the eye. Now
It Is on the forehead that the patch
must go, high up or low down, as
your choice may be.
The Empire vogue, which undoubt
edly had a little to do with bringing
back the fly patch, has had a marked
effect on Summer jewelry. Earrings,
made of small cameos as well as
large ones, are seen at all the smart
gatherings. Brilliant red and blue
earrings are being shown at a fash
ionable bijoutier In the Place Ven
dome. Pearshaped drops of coral
and lapis lazuli are hung froimslend
er links of platinum.
Empire bracelets, wlds-link affairs
finished off by a large clasp made of
which fit the arm closely and are
OJU pUTS 1JUIUS AMA OBJV OJB ‘O3U1B0 V
worn with the earrings to match.
And, by the way, cameos are quite
the newest fdb garter-clasps. Beige
shell cameos are used to match the
new tones of the stockings.
A very modern bracelet watch that
has little connection with Empire
days gives more attention to the
bracelet than to (he watch. It Is
made of large platinum links set with
tiny diamonds, and In the center of
one of these links the watch Itself
nestles. This new trifle seems to be
a veritable all-day affair, for It Is
seen any time of the day, on the
golf links or In the ball room.
tTltra-modern also Is a new little
pocket thermometer made In the
shape of a watch and registering the
temperature on Its face. It has ap
peared during these last hot Summer
days.
Foi'r heifer calves belonging to Sam
Caracn, of Hermiston, Ore., involun
tarily made a record long distance
■wlm. The heifers strayed away from
the herd and fell into a concrete-lined
canal. The water was too deep for
them to wade and the sides were too
steep for them to scale, so the ani
mals had to swim or perish. They
were noticed by a farmer nine miles
below the Carson place and removed
by use of ropes,
REGISTER FOR
FALL ELECTION
Mr. and Mrs. Charles W.
Bryan Residents of Ne
braska 31 Years
Lincoln, Neb., Sept. .—Governor
and Mrs. Charles W. Bryan regis
tered at the city hall Friday for the
approaching presidential election.
Governor Bryan declared he Is still
a democrat, and Mrs. Bryan also
registered as affiliated with that
party. They have been residents of
Lancaster county and Nebraska for
•1 years, according to the records.
SCHOOLS PLAN
FOR GREAT DAY
“Progress of Nebraska” to
Be Presented in Pageant
At Wayne, Sept. 27
Wayne, Neb., Sept. (Special)—
Eight hundred students in 40 public
schools of Wayne county will partici
pate in the presentation of the pag
eant “Progress of Nebraska” at the
fair grounds here, Saturday, Septem
ber 27.
Students and teachers have been
working for some time on the page
ant, drilling and familiarizing them
selves with the parts they are to play
in the spectacle which is expected to
be the very biggest thing of the kind
ever produced in this part of Nebras
ka.
The pageant Is being presented un
der the personal supervision of Miss
Pearl Sewell, county superintendent
of schools.
INSURANCE COMPANIES
ENTER LOUD PROTE8T
Lincoln, Neb., Sept. (Special)—
Nebraska life insurance companies
have entered a protest with the gov
ernor against the proposal to Issue
group Insurance covering every mem
ber of the national guard in a New
York company. The objectors are
for the proposilton, but they demand
to know why the Nebraska compan
ies were not first given an opportun
ity to handle the business. Governor
Bryan has washed his hands of the
deal by saying the state is under
taking no obligations relative to in
surance.
REPUBLICANS TO DO
CAMPAIGN WORK
Norfolk, Neb., Sept. —Two
groups of republican candidates for
state offices, one headed by Adam
McMullen, nominee for governor, will
begin a town to town canvass of the
Third district next Monday. The first
group starts in at Scribner and the
other at Ames. The entire week will
be consumed in making campaign
talks to voters. Night meetings ar
ranged are: Monday, at Columbus;
Tuesday, at Central City and Madi
son; Wednesday, Albion and Creigh
ton; Thursday, Neligh and Wayne;
Friday, Norfolk and Oakl|uad; Satur
day, Fremont. The candidates will
ride in auto caravans.
DEPUTY TREASURER
PLEADS IMMUNITY
Lincoln, Neb., Sept. \—Attorneys
for Elmer C. Baker, former deputy
county treasurer of ydncoln county,
convicted of embezzling public funds,
argued to the supreme court today
that a deputy treasurer is net a pub
lic official, and that while ne has the
right to collect taxes he Is not charg
ed with that duty, and, therefore, not
charged with the duty of accounting
for the money received. They also
said he wasn’t guilty and that he was
a victim of a hue and cry that was
started by a taxpayers’ league and
that resulted in the prosecution of a
number of county officers. Treasur
er Souders is now serving time in
prison.
BRIDGE PIER TO GO
DOWN THIRTY-FIVE FEET. |
Chamberlain, S. D., Sept "i.—The
second pier of the state highway
bridge being built across the Missouri
river here will have to be sunk 35
feet, instead of 12 feet as originally
planned, according to additional
soundings taken last week.
The construction company antici
pated bank would be built on a ledge
east bank would be built on a ledge
of rock which projects into the river
several hundred feet and is very little
deeper than where the first pier is
built on the east shore. Actual con
struction, however, proved that this
strata is not solid enough for a pier
at this point. Solid rock has been
found to be 23 feet deeper.
This may necessitate building the
second pier with air pressure tubes
the same as the other deep-water
piers. It means nothing more serious
than additional work and resulting
expense In putting the pier on a solid
rock foundation.
ELK POINT PIONEER
WOMAN IS DEAD
Elk Point, S. D., Sept. (Spe
cial.)—Mrs. Ellen Shearon, a resi
dent here for 48 years, died this
week at the home of her son, Harry
Shearon, after an extended illness.
Burial was made at LaMars, la. She
is survived by four sons and two
daughters, William, Harry, Caleb and
Claussed and Mrs. Elizabeth Wai
ters, all of Elk Point and Mrs. Mary
Leekly of Gregory, S. D.
WHEELER GIVES
SIZZLING REPLY
TO DAUGHERTY
Third Party Candidate
Charges G. O. P. Control
led By Bootleggers
DY WILLIAM B. McCORMICK,
Uni^.'raal Service Correspondent.
Bloomington, 111.. Sept. 22.—Sen
ator Burton K. Wheeler, running
mate of Senator Robert M. LaFol
lette, brought a crowd of 2,000 rail
road shop employes, miners, trades
men, farmers and their wives to a
pitch of uproarious enthusLasm here
Monday night with the statement:
“A vote for Coolldge Is a vote for
the republican organization which
has fallen into the hands of grafters
and bootleggers who now are tak
ing refuge behind the constitution
of the United States, the flag, and
the Declaration of Independence t»
hide the nakedness of their corrup
tion which we have exposed to
public traze.**
It was a more detailed reply to
the charge of former Attorney Gen
eral Daugherty that, aided by tho
discredited Means, Senator Wheeler
had "framed” tho Brookhart-Wheel
er investigation into the department
oi justice.
Many G. O- P. Voters Attend
Perhaps 80 per cent of the audi
ence comprised voters who In other
elections have invariably cast re
publican ballots, political observers
hero declared.
‘‘If you people have read the head
lines in today's papers,’’ Senator
Wheeler said, "and the alleged re
pudiation by Mr. Means of his
testimony and the inference that
some newspapers have drawn from
It that the farmer-senator from
Iowa, Smith W. Brookhart, serving
his first term in the United States
Senate, and I, a new senator from
Montana, had been able to frame
the attorney general of the United
States, Harry M. Daugherty, as well
as William J. Burns, the great In
ternational detective, and the whole
republican administration so suc
cessfully that tho silent. cautious
man In the White House was finally
forced, though unwillingly, because
of an aroused public opinion, to
oust Daugherty from office, you
will, I am sure, want to know the
real facts.
"Heady, Mr. Daugherty and tho
republican party give Senator
Brookhart and me entirely too much
credit.
Means One of Many
“Gaston B. Means was tho trusted
employe for years of William J.
Burns. Burns says he is one of tho
cleverest detectives in the country.
Means was Daugherty’s associate,
employed by him in the department
of Justice to get evidence on men
and women for alleged violations of
tho law.
Means was only one of tho manj
wi nesses who testified to the in
iquity and corruption in the depart
ment of justice. He was unknown
to mo prior to his volunteering his
evidence.
"Following his testimony, Means
was convicted In New York on &
charge of bribery and conspiracy.”
Thereupon Senator Wheeler re
lated his long distance conversation
of Sunday with Means, in which the
natter offered new documentary evi
dence to the Wheeler-Brookhart
eommlttee. Earlier in the day Sen
ator Wheeler, in a statement In
Chicago, told of Means having made
a repudiation of his Senate inquiry
testimony which formed tho basis
of Daugherty’s statement.
In Touch With Burns
"Means never at any time,” con
tinued Senator Wheeler, "directly
imp'.rated Daugherty during tl. j
hearing. It was always Jess Smith,
Means has, during all our hearings
been In constant communication
v.'it.i the Burns Detective agency,
wbh Tom Miller, alien property cus
todian and Daugherty's friend, and
with other leaders of the republican
parly.
"Means. .Terr Smith Dan-’iu-rtv,
Mannington, Pall, Forbes, Kramer
of the veterans bureau, Holland, Bill
Orr, are prominent republicans who
In conjunction with other leaders nt
the republican party, have been
guiding the ship of state of this re
public
“Dawes, Daugherty, Adams and
CooMdge now see the constitution
bring destroyed, the flag dragged In
the mud. By whom, Mr. Coolidge?
By the farmers? By the laborers^
By the merchants? Let’s be honest
about. It. Mr. Coolidge
Foundations Destroyed
"I agree with you that the founda
tions upon which this country rests
are l-r*ng destroyed, the flag has
been disgraced. The Declaration of
Independence is being rendered
mean mess, but by the representa
tives of crooked business working
In conjunction with its Agents,
Daugherty, Fall, Forbes, Burns,
Means, Jess Smith, Howard Mann
ington and the rest of the leaders of
the republican party.
Woman Accused of Killing
4-Year Old Child With Lye
Bisbee, Arlz-, Sept. 22, (I. N. 8.) —
Pouring lye down the throat of her
4-day old baby, Marls Ariel Zecaya
murdered the child, according to
police, who placed the woman under
arrest. Pedro Zecaya, the woman’s
husband, was also Jailed.
An autopsy performed by Dr. Haw
ley, county physician, showed the
child’s stomach had been eaten away
with lye, a quantity of which was re
moved from the baby's body.
