■MiKtfctMi ■mrnurMi nrnfm Mi M» Mi MI Mi Mi MiMi »m urnimmili
15he mO/i HOUSE 1
NOVELIZED BY
I EDWIN C. HILL 1
§j FBOM WILLIAM FOX’S GREAT PICTURE ROMANCE M
m OF THE EAST AND THE WEST
| BY CHARLES KENYON AND JOHN RUSSELL
4
Brandon stood leaning against
a tree throughout this ttirade,
his eyes fixed on something in
visible in the far distance of the
West. Lincoln remained silent,
watohing Brandon. Suddenly,
Big Dave spoke his eyes alight,
his powerful sweeping the west
ern horizon.
“Look out there.” he said.
“What is it? Waste. Wilderness
desert—ihountains—-Indians—
buffalo—God knows what! But
some day, in our own life-time,
the railroad will be built that
will reclaim that wilderness—the
road that will make the United
States a real nation. If God spares
me, I’m going to have a hand in
building it, and I want my boy to
have a hand in it.”
He returned a steady gaze to
the West that was drawing his
dreamer’s soul. Marsh spoke
irritable:
‘ ‘ In all your life, Abe, did you
ever hear such a fol-de-rol of
nonsense?”
“Why, yes, Tom,” said Mr.
Lincoln in his leisurely, deep
drawl. “Yes, I’ve heard men talk
that very fol-de-rol—good men,
Tom. I mind hearing a young
man named Dodge, talking just
that way, when I was out in
Council Bluffs a short time ago.
I was sitting on the porch of the
old Pacific House listening to the
bullfrogs ana looking at the
stars, when a young army en
gineer sat down beside me and
got to talking about surveys he
had made for the army on this
very railroad notion.
Well, sir, this young Dodge
was just crammed full of the
railroad project. He’d been all
through Nebraska territory, clear
to the Roeldes, and he was just
popping with enthusiasm. Tom
he made it look pretty reasonable
He just about converted me.”
Brandon swung around from
bis pose by the tree
“ Do you believe it can be done
Abe? Do you really believe it?”
“Bosh!” said Marsh. “All a
damned rainbow! Fellows who
don’t want to work, looking for
the pot of gold!”
Mr. Lincoln put a great, brown
hand upon Marsh’s plump shoul
der.
“Old friend,” he said, “some
day men like you will be laying
rails along that rainbow.”
Gratitude welled up in Bran
don’s heart. Emotion often sway
ed him. He gripped Lincoln’s
band. *
“Seemes to me,” said Mr.
Lincoln, thoiighfully, “I’d head
for the Black Hills, Dave, if I was
really set on going West. This
young Dodge told me that right
there was the heart of the prob
lem finding an easy pass and a
6hort cut through those hills.
Dodge seemed to think that’s
where the pot of gold was hid,
Tom,” he said, his eyes twinkling
toward Marsh.
“Two weeks ’ll see me on the
road,” said Brandon, as he turn
ed away toward his cabin. “I’ll
take my chance in the Black
Hills, Abe. I’ll follow the rain
bow 1”
CHAPTER m
A RAINBOW GROWS IN THE
WEST
It was a wintry, sunlit morn
ing in late February when Big
Dave and Little Davy turned
their backs upon Springfield to
seek the gateway of the West.
Their going ma'de no stir, pro
voked scarcely a ripple. They
had few friends to wish them
well, few indeed, whose hearts
would follow them out upon the
long trail.
In the month that had drifted
by after the talk with Lincoln
and Marsh, the talk that fired
him to decision, Brandon had
sold or traded his few posses
sions, the cabin which had been
home for him and Davy, its poor
furnishings, and the “patch” of
a dozen acres which went with
it. Marsh saw to it that Brandon
was not cheated—the surveyor
had the worst possible head fcf.
business—but the proceeds were
hardly enough to capitalize even
a dreamer.
After all their necessaries had
been bought, riding horses, a
pack-mare, a Sharpe’s rifle,
throwing a bullet heavy enough
to down an elephant in its tracks,
an ample supply of powder and
their stores of food and extra
clothing, Big Dave was not con
scious of the weight of gold he
tucked in his money belt.
“Won’t have much use for
hard cash, anyway,” he told
Higgins, the general storekeeper.
“Guess you think you’re hit
tin’ the Hallelujy Trail,” grunted
Higgins, a sharp-nosed “down
Easter” who took small pains to
conceal his contempt for Bran
don. “Pussonly, I never heerd
tell of any country where a man
didn’t have good use for money.”
The loungers who made Hig
gins store their club for tbe
resolvent of all questions, social,
political and religious, cackled
their appreciation.
“Better keep tight hold onter
yer hand,” advised Higgins’s
sallow-faced clerk, a youth hard
by fever, ague and a mean dis
position.
“Why so, Hank?” inquired
Brandon, incautiously.
“Bekase the Injuns ’ll sure
jerk yer skelp loose,” said Hank
with a stuttering titter.
“Well,” replied Big Dave,
good- humoredly, but pointedly,
“if they do, Hank, they'll let
daylight in on something your
head never held.”
You think you’r durued
smart, don’t ye?” snarled the
discomfited clerk, as the loungers
haw-hawed.
As Brandon and his son rode
away from the store, their final
purchases securely packed on the
mare, the idlers did not trouble
to wave good-bye. Big Dave felt
a contraction of the heart. After
all, these people had been neigh
bors. They might have given him
a heartier, more human farewell.
“It shows what they think of
me,” he reflected, with bitter
ness unusual to him. “Time I
was getting out, sure enough!”
“At the western edge of the
town, where the main street end
ed and the road to St. Louis be
gan, a little groupe awaited their
coming—and going— Mr. Lin
coln, Thomas Marsh and Miri
am. The lawyer showed a cheer
ful, encouraging face to the
Brandons, as one who felt the
need of lifting their spirits and
supporting their hopes. Marsh
was solemn-faced, still irritable
over Big Dave’s obstinacy, but
realizing, in his good heart, the
friendlessness of these home
less pilgrims. Miriam’s blue eyes
were' drowned in grief, and
though she bit hard upon her lips
and thrust forward her rounded
chin, the tears kept welling down
in glistening rivulets of sorrow.
“This is good of you,” said
Brkndon, as he got off his horse
and shook hands with Mr. Iin
coln and Marsh. “I won’t forget
it—” He stopped, wordless.
Marsh thumped him on the back.
iliat s all right, Dave. I think
you’re doing a fool thing but
you’ve made your own bed, and
I’m not the man to hope you’ll
find it hard to lie on. The Lord
bless you and keep you safe, you
and Davy. Now, if there’s any
thing you’ll let me do for you—
a little loan, maybe?”
“No, we’ve got enough to go
on with,” said Brandon, quietly.
“But I thank you, Tom, for the
offer. I recon we’d better just
say good-by and hit the road.
Good-by, Abe. I’m not forgetting
what you told me about the
Black Hills.”
“Just a minute, Dave, just a
minute,” said Lincoln. He turned
away a few yards to where Davy
and Miriam were standing in in
articulate farewell. They were
very close together, but they had
found nothing to say. The
grief which paralyzed their
young hearts, kept them silent.
Mr. Lincoln put his great arms
around them both and gathered
them to him in a “bear hug.”
“Don’t feel so bad,” he com
forted, “it won’t be long, maybe.
Now, I have brought along some
thing for each cf you, something
to remember me by, a keepsake.
If they make good their threat '
| of sending me to Conaress and
you ever come to Washington,
, you can always show these to the
doorkeepers and they’ll let you
He produced two medals, cast
in bronze, exactly alike, cadi
bearing the haughty head of an
Indian Chief, a date and some
lettering in long words.
“Medals of the Black Hawk
War,” ho explained. “You
(ki^ow—” lie smiled drily—
“they made a ciptain of me in
that little rumpus. I wasn’t
much of a captain, b*.t then it
wasn’t much of a war. I col
lected a few of these souvenirs
after it w. y all over. Perhaps
they’ll malca you think of
Abr’am Lincoln and each other
quite a lot. Keep them with you
for luck pieces.”
Miriam gripped his arm and
sobbed, her little woman’s heart
wrung unbearably; while Davy,
for all his effort at manly fort
itude, showed wet eyes and a
quivering chin, and gave his
“thank you” iu a shaking voice.
“Aren’t you ev-er coming back
,Davy?” said Miriam, between
sobs. ‘ Please, please come back'
I soon! 1 can't bear it without you.
| Nothing will be the same.”
4 She threw her arms about
his neck, and Davy, always the
protector, held her closo to his
heart, murmuring a boy's words
of comfort. Mr, Lincoln Bloody
drew them toward Brandou and
Marsh and lifted Davy to the
saddle. Big ITave mounted. There
were no more words. A wave of
the hand, & despairing sob from
Miriam and they were gone to
wards the sunset.
They made slow progress.
There was m need for haste.
Brandon planned to go on to St.
Louis, taking his time collecting
there whatever information might
be of value and then, if possible,
to find some means of making his
way up the great water road,
the Missouri River, with other
West-farers. For days they rode,
gradually throwing off the de
pression of uprooted home ties,
their spirits uplifted as they felt
the call of the new—of adven
ture. They spent a week long the
road to the Mississippi, and were
ferried across its broad, yellow
flood to the levee where up-river
and down-river steamboats lay
in orderly array, the sun glisten
ing on their ornamental brass
work, their white paint and on
their great paddle wheels which
could conquer the swiftest of cur
rents. Steamboats before the com
ing of the railroad were the lux
urious couriers of a rich and
splendid business. The fine, fast
boats that met the eyes of the
Brandons fromed an absorbing
spectacle for oy and man. It was
the middle of the day and the
levee, the long, sloping embank
ment which descended from the
water front of the city to the
wharves, was throged with
heavy wagons and one-horse
drays bearing freight to and from
big and little boats that had
plowed triumphantly all the way
from gay New Orleans in the far
South to St. Paul in the far North,
carrying the cotton, tobacco and
molasses of the land of sunshine
in exchange for fabric, furs,
grain and machinery of the lam1
of snow.
“Oh, Daddy!” Davy cried, as
his enchanted gaze identified a
particularly graceful and famous
river flyer of the times. “There’s
the General Pike, daddy, that
w’ve read about, you remember
when her eengineer told cap’n
he’d ‘bust the record or bust her
bilers!’ ”
‘I remember," said Brandon,
hardly less interested than
his boy. ‘‘They’re wonderful,
these boats. They say that inside
they re all silks and velvets and
fine paintings. Maybe we’ll have
a chance to see soon. But wo
must push on to find a place to
stay."
From the ferry landing that
Jim Bridger had eestablished
nearly forty years previously,
they slowly made their way
through a bustling throng. Hun
dreds of river travelers were
hurrying up or down the levee,
'embarking upon or debarking
from a dozn (steamboats: Rich
planters trorn the South, wearing
broad-brimmed hats, broadcloth
coats and breeches and high
oots of fine leathr, gallant, mas
terful-looking men, with faces
browned by a hotter sun than
Missouri knew, and speaking
with tr sott liquid-drawl; fur
trappars from the northwest,
rangy, larded giants garbed in
buckskin shirts or heavy woolen
jackets, wearing round caps of
haver or marten, booted too, and
striding along with a free swing
that took Davy’s eye as their
stragne oaths took his aar; bos
ses: from the great trains of
Sante Fe wagons awaiting their
burdens for Southwest and West
hairy, heavyshouldered fellow^
redfaced and noisy from the
tent whiskey of the levee bar
rooms; Easterners in what Davy
thought was very fancy garb,
indeed; here and there an Indian
in fringed buckskins and moc
casins (government scouts.
Big Dave guessed) ; army
officers in dark-blue, very alert
and straight-backed, on their
way to or from the farscattered
posts of the Indian country;
lordly steamboat captains, tread
’.ng the levee like the monarchs
they were; steamboat mates, hard
men, who carried blacksnako
whips or loaded billies as the
symbols of their man-driving
trade; here and there a fine lady,
mincing along under a ridiculous
parasol,-not much bigger than a
pancake; -wearing a tiy hat trim
med with close-curled feathers, a
tight “basque” and very wide,
voluminous skirts falling to low
heeled shoes of daity kid—very
wonderful ladies, they seemed to
Davy; professional river gam
blers, high-hatted and dressed
with the rigid severity of a minis,
ter of the gospel; hudreds of
negro slaves, staggering undeer
burdens, tugging at great wagons
mired in the mud, or passing in
squads under the rough com
mand of cargo mates, black
faces glistening with sweat,
th whites of their rolling
eyes showing, and singing
with the inextinguishable
merriment of a child-like race—
these and others passed before
the gaze of father and son, mag"
netized by the fascinating St.
Louis of the fifties.
T i *
was mie aiternoon before
they found a tavern which suited
Brandon’s nurse, one that prom
ised simple, homely fare and
decent shelter for them and a
stable for their beasts. It carried
a high-sounding name on its
dingy signbroad, The Indepen
dence Hotel, and it was crowded
with men whose feet were trail
bent—toward Texas or Santa Fe,
toward Kansas, toward the Ore
gon or the Salt Lake Trail and
the upper Missouri—men whose
restless spirits and fortune’s call
were leading into the magical
West.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
INJECTIONS MAY
FIX SIZE OF MAN
Physicians Declare Small
Men May Be Made Larger,
And Tall Men Smaller
Boston.—If you are a ''sawed-off”
little person, or if you are tall and
lanky, this story will Interest you.
The "sawed offs” may become tall.
Those Who soar to an embarrassing
altitude may stop growing.
In either case all you will have to
do Is to call In the family doctor.
He will merely Increase or reduce
the nourishment for certain glands
of the body. Bresto! You may b«
short or tall as your heart desires.
Dr. Walter B. Cannon explained
It all at the Harvard University Med
ical School. He credited Dv Eva/ns,
of the University of California, with
the discovery of possible future oen
- trol of bodily height.
The scheme had been tried on rate.
Dr. Cannon displayed lantern slides
of two mt proteges of Dr. Evans.
One, having had frequent Injections
of material from the pituitary gland
of another animal, had grown one
third larger than the other, which
had no Injections. Both were of the
same litter. The pituitary gland Is
at the base of the brain and con
trols the bodily size of animals and
human beings, according to Dr. Can
non. Under-development of thin
gland causes dwarfish stature and
abnormally slender legs and arms.
Likewise, over-development reacts
Ihe other way. So watch the pitui
tary gland.
Dr. Cannon told of an eight-foot,
six-lnen man In Ireland who used '.o
light his pipe at street lamp posts.
He was found, after death, to have
had an over-developed pituitary
gland.
Two-thirds of the bodily substanoe
is water. Dr. Cannon pointed out.
"Adequate salts, particularly limy for
forming bones, Is derived from cus
tomary foods, especially wheat and
milk," ho asserted.
"Butter fat," ho continued. ‘'is es
sential for growth, also nitrogen,
which It Is essential the farmers
should have for fertilizer, In order
that vegetable foodstuffs may ab
sorb It. Another essential Is protein
found In gelatin, peas, beans, white
of egg, cheese and lean meat.”
China Getting Religion,
Bible Sales Disclose
Shanghai, China.—Nearly nine and
a half million copies of the Bible
were circulated In China during 1924,
according to are annual report or
the American Bible society. This or
ganization shares with the British
and Foreign Bible Society of Scot
land the tremendous task of*keeplng
Chinese supplied with the Holy
writ.
IDstributlon during 1924 sbatwsd
a a Increase of neatly two mUUoJQ
copies over the previous year.
HIDERS DONT APPROVE
TOO MUCH EFFICIENCY
By Charles P. Stewart,
Washington NEA Service
Justice department officials are
fixing up an arrangement they be
lieve will make it easier to catch
fugitive criminals throughout the
world. Several European govern
ments think well of it. Next the
| department plans to submit it to
Latin America.
It’s a cinch It won’t get the in
dorsement of certain long-time
North American residents of that
part of Latin America known as
the River Plate region.
Several of them are very promi
nent and influential there, too. If
they object to the justice depart
ment’s scheme their protest will
count. And they’re sure to object.
In Borne instances old scores stand
against them In the home land
that don’t outlaw under the statute
of limitations.
• • •
"Old Bob,” for instance!—not to
designate him too explicitly. "Old
Bob” has lived 20 years in and
around Buenos Aires. He’s a very
substantial, conservative citizen
now, but he makes no bones of the
fact that once he robbed trains
and rustled cattle along the Mexi
can border.
One evening he was talking with
me in a cafe on the Avenida, when
the question o{ the year of the
"A. R. U.” strike came up. "I
think it was in 1894,” said Bob.
"Yes,” after a moment's reflect(>n,
“1 know it was, because that was
the year they chased me out of
Texas for killing a man, and the
strike was going on at the time.”
* * m
Why is it that Americans break
more laws than any civilized peo
ple? asked ex-Governor Hadley of
Missouri in a recent speech before
the American Law Institute. Then,
answering his own question, the ex
governor said the trouble is with
our criminal courts—they let folk
break the laws and “get away with
it."
Dr. Charles R. Mann, talking be
fore the American Council of Edu
cation, of which he’s director, of
fered a different explanation. His
theory Is that Americans violate
more laws than any other nation
ality because they hava so many
more to violate.
• • •
If a penniless criminal falls into
Hadley says, but the one with
money turns his case into a game
between his lawyers and the prose
cution and wins, provided he's had
sense enough to provide himself
with a better legal battery than the
opposition’s.
If the American people are con
fronted by a fact they don’t like,
observes Dr. Mann, they pass a
law changing the fact. Only, facts
can’t be changed in reality, adds
the doctor.
This wasn't a debate between
Hadley and Mann. It simply hap
pened they got onto the same sub
ject at the same time at two
entirely different meetings ia "faah
ington.
* * *
A painters' strike is on here.
Word came into union headquarters
that CO men were painting a big
house in New Hampshire avenue.
An agent hastened to the spot
“What’s this?” he demanded.
"This,” said the foreman, “is the
Italian embassy—foreign territory,"
as, indeed, foreign embassies and
— _
[ legations are supposed to be.
| What’s more, the union officials
1 recognized it, when their attention
was called to the fact, and didn’t
Interfere.
Not 8olomon In All Hl« Glory.
From the Mich. Aggie Green Onion.
"Look mamma, the circus Is In
town.”
"Hush, darling. It's only one of those
college boys.”
Not Quits Right
From the Chicago News.
"How does your sister like the en
gagement ring I gave her, Bobby?”
asked Mr. Snow.
"Well,** returned Bobby, ”It-s all
right, she said, but It’s so small that
she has a hard job to get It off before
the other fellow comes.”
One-sixth of the electrical energy now
developed In Canada Is being exported
to the United States, according to tbs
latest census of central electrical sta
tions in Canada. According to returns
made under the electricity and fluid
exportation set, central electric sta
tions exported 1,344,196,867 k. w. hours
during 1923, which was 16.6 per sent. ot
the total output of all stations.
"***- ^ 11 —' ■■■ 1 1 l « II mai
-T 1 "*■ 1 *' — ■mi in • -m •
Contracted Cold at a
■* Billy Sunday Revival
Developed Into Systemic Catarrh
Recommends PE-RUsNA
Mr. A. R. Wilton,
LaFollette, Tenn*
The letter written a short thne ago
by Mr. A. R. Wilson of LaFollette^
Tenn., brings some more direct erf
dence of the value of Pe-ru-na in thf
treatment of catarrhal diseases.
It reads as follows“While attend
ing Billy Sunday's great revival at
Knoxville, Tenn., last February I con
tracted a cold which weakened my en
tire system. I have taken only thre*
bottles of Pe-ru-na and feel like ai
new man. It is a great system builder)
as well as a great catarrh remedy."
To attempt to even estimate thd
thousands who, in the last half cen
tury, have come to know and appre
ciate the merits of Pe-ru-na would b*
worse than usel-ss. The number i*
astonishing and increasing daily.
Year nearest dealer lies Pe-rn-na
la both tablet end liquid fora. Insist
upon having Pe-ru-na, the original
treatment for catarrh.
How to buildup your
Weight
TO RE under weight often proves
low fighting-power In t he body.
It often means you are minus nerve
power, minus red-cells In your blood.
minus nemth,
minus vitality. It
Is serious to be
minus, but the
moment you in
crease the num
ber of your red
blood-rolls, yon
begin to become
plus. That’s why
ss. 8. s., since 1828,
has meant to thousands of underweight
men and women, n plus In their
strength. Your
body fills to the
point of p o w e r,
your flesh becomes
firmer, the age
lines that coine
from thinness dis
appear. You look
younger, firmer, happier, and you feel
It, too, all over your body. More red
Mood-cells! S. S. S. will build them.
S. S. S. Is sold at all good
drug stores In two sizes. Th«i
larger size Is more economical.
Worlds B^st
oodMedidne
British Labor M. P. a Poet
One of the Labor whips of the Brit
ish parliament is James Welsh, wh>»
started composing poetry when he was
eleven years aid and is now a nbvel*
1st of note.
Cuticura Soap for the Complexion.
Nothing better than Cuticura Soup
dally and Ointment now and then as
needed to muke the complexion clear,
scalp clean and hands soft and white.
Add to this the fascinating, fragrant
Cuticura Talcum, and you have the
Cuticura Toilet Trio.—Advertisement.
A man's headache seems n good
deal worse when lie didn’t have any
fun acquiring it.
Lift Off-No Pain!
Doesn’t hurt one bit! Drop a littleB
“Freezone” on an aching corn, instant- B
ly that corn stops hurting, then short-B
ly you lift it right off with lingers. Jj
Your druggist sells a tiny bottle of B
“Freezone” for a few cents, sufficient toB
remove every hard corn, soft corn, orH|
com between the toes, and the footB
