Evening Star Newspaper, October 16, 1921, Page 76

‘'THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., OCTOBER 16 1921— PART 4. Framed for Broadway BY WALTER JONES. Illustrations by Irma Deremeaux A Tale of the Vaudeville World—Humor, Action axid a Surmounting Love. ID you get the booking, | Eddie?" Effie Eaton looked | up questioningly at the| debonalr thespian who en- | [ tered the footworn portals of room | 611. Her words were carefully ca ual, but the glance was full of im- port. | “Booking!" scoffed Eddie La Rock. | with affected nonchalance 200k- | ing? 1 got the air.” He lit a ciga ette and dropped down on a trunk lid. | “You don't mean.” demanded Ettie, “Santmann couldn't get us a rouw—-1 not any of the eastern time at all?* | Not any a-tall” informed Eddie | bitterly. “He said the bookers thought | we wasn't ready for the big leagues | | “Why, Eddie La Rock. we've spent sIx years gettin' ready for 'em!" If- fle dabbled her nose with her hand- SHE PUT OUT HER HAND IMPULSIV. kerchief, but she didn't weep. Tears ruined your makeup, and when you did four shows a day you had vour makeup on most of the time. “What did they say was the matter with the act?* “What could they say! The old - stall’’—he threw away his cigarette and began pacing the floor indig- \ntly. “Mixed teams got to have more novelty nowadays: the chatter was mostly released; and I ought to leave off my song numbers and stick to hoofin’. I told him it's a lie. we coughed up a hundred little iron men | for the cross-fire and we been gol great all over our western route, to eight recalls every theater r A Well th.re then. he says co anything for you aro the way things are breakin. “Did he mention—anything me?" asked Effie timidl Eddie coughed and swallowed. Then he came over and put his hand on his partner's shoulder. “T hate to tell you, girlie. because myself T think | vou been doin’ right well in the act. like T've trained you. Lut your vamp, bit—he sald it's all wrong." He paused judiciously. “And T've been wonderin® if mebbe he ain't right, and | vou better just feed the talk, and dress the act, and come in on them few steps for the finish" ¥ “Why. Eddle,"—Effie bit her lip—"i always gets me a hand. and you said yourself—" “T know, but vamps are terrible out of date, honey. about | You could take it out | and get you a new flash dre ! “What's_the u v ma wearin' | clothes if T don’t do ing in ‘em! No, Ed“—Effie r “r honnie boy had already ling “ long on the Rialto—"we may tuke our medicine. You close route and some day mebbe v framed for Broadway. I been : « after- noon turnin’ the cufls on your silk shirts. What do you say we drop over to the Palace and catch the in- termission?" “Why. girlle, I—I can't very well. tonight.” He was auietly slipping into_ a nobbily pointed collar and | fresh tle. “I promised some o' the| boys I'd step around to the club. You alace alone, or could run over to the P: tomorrow—-" “Tomorrow." put in “I'm goin' shoppin’ for tI to wear In the act; <o you better lex me—Afifty or sixty bucks. “Huh?" Eddie did from the mirror and hat. _“Say. Ef. who do vou think I am—Rockefeller? You've been doin’ nothing but .select wardrobe e since we're in New York! And vou've already got three stage dresses good as new." “Why, Eddie La Rock. you know they've bheen to the cleaner's tillj they're all gray and limper'n a rag!| You just said T ought to buy me a new gown." “T meant"—Eddie eased toward the First National with what grace she with the panniers ™ “That old thing? Why. the silk’s cut_through!" “Darn it. honey. T hate to he =tiff with you. but vou're always stickin® me for coin—I got them English brogues to buy and I ain't very flush.” He took out an anemic roll and peeled off a greenback. “Here's ten for a starter.” * ok ok EDDIB pecked a connubial kiss and{ did a vanishing act, while his better half tucked the tenner in her first national with what grace she could. She was scarcely disappointed about the dress. It was the best fiction she could think of to_salvage collateral. She knew Eddie. He was sitting in a triendly game, from which, in the wee sma’ hours, he would gumshoe in with a flat purse and an alibi. The rest of the week they would eat off the ten-| mer_in the Automat. ‘When, as a disillusioned bride, Effie had first found herself the victim of her husband's ingenious evasions, she had fendly hoped to cure him of his selfishness, and extravagance, and philandering. But six years of matri- mony had taught her that if she wanted to live with Eddie La Rock she would have to take him on his own terms. And so many other ladles wanted him, she was lucky to have him on any terms. At thirty he was an irresponsible | and. in & small way, for herself. | could never quite understand why { they didn't get by. jturn was reframed to play up her possibilities for impersonation and feature his dancing they might de- | liver. Laying aside all rancor, Effie re- read the review. Now she saw it was ‘m i glance she gave his elegant compan- Juvenile with a yellow mane, a face unlined, a gift of gab, and a way with women that would charm the bees off a honeysuckle. For the rare moment in which he was still her lover, Effie | #dored him. For the rest of the time, she mended his socks and laundered his silk shirts, and made as cheery a job as she could of condoning him. She was used to poker losses, and broken engagements, and being re- duced to ‘“dressing .the act”: these were nothing. But their new’ disap- pointment in not landing the Big Time: that was everything. Thrice they had advanced upon New York and thrice had been turned back to the sticks. And Effie knew that, as far as she was concerned, this time was the last. If Eddie essayed Man- hattan again. it would be with an- other partuer. And once the team split— But this wasn't the only angle that hurt. She was ambitious for him, She She got out again the well-thumbed ELY AND RESTED IT ON HIS. “WO) copy of “Variety” with the report of their uptown tryout. “La_ Rock and Eaton"—the ewer had written— ongs and Talk. 14_Minutes in One. 25th Street. “This team is evidently from the west and with their present layout ey’ll have to go back there. Turn|{ opens with a man loafing in front of the post office. He sings a couple of published comics and pulls some flip | . 1s rather long on looks and i evidently thinks he's a wise cracker. night he had another think When he gets down to step- it's a different story, but too late Save the act. His partner did a vamp bit that got over. If thi re- ping to really constructive criticism. Showed them how to reframe the act and get over. Her vamp bit was good, and she could put in a couple of the im- personations she had been perfecting. And Eddie must get down to brass tacks and give them a little of the real essence, like he used to. They could still do it and have New York eating out of their hands. In a burst of enthusiasm she got up and tried Eddie Foy before her mirror, Rue gli and practiced her Grace La de. and decided she'd go again v Nance O'Neil in “The Passion When - Eddie came in at 3 am. she put it up to him excitedly. But the_moment was inopportune. Red- eyed and wrathy, he had reversed a winning streak and sacrificed his case-note to a bum bunch. “What's eatin’ you, Ef?" he de- manded. io on to bed and forget it. I'm off that dancing stuff for life. My brains is in my head, and some day I'm goin' to prove it to them big bookin’ stiffs. And where do you get the idea you can do imitations? You only been gettin’ away with the vamp bit ‘cause it's sure fire and ever. body’s doin’ it. That ‘Variety' guy’ kiddin' you and you don't know it “Then you ain't willlng to try re- arrangin' our routine?” she persisted. aw. What're you fixin' to do, make a dumb act out o' me?" And he buttoned his silk pajamas peev- ishly and dived into bed. “And an- other thing"—raising up impressively on his elbow—*“any further arrange- vou got for hoggin® the ac 1 beiter get rid of 'em before we art wesi—sea!” The nest morning Eddie elected to consider himself an abused boy and hurried off. Effie collected all finan- cial resources and went on a shop- ping tour. She put in a nerve-rack- ing afternoon making every dollar do the work of two. At 5 o'clock she was hurrying along Broadway when she glimpsed her husband coming out of «a picture show. Pushing forward to join him, she discovered he was not alone. It was an awkward moment and Eddie rushed to the rescue of the cool ion. “Why, hullo, honey, if this ain’t luck! You're just in time to say how- ¥ to Vi'let. I run into her comin’ out of her agent's and we been mak- in' it old-time home week.” * ok ok X IOLET smiled sweetly and extend- ed a bejeweled hand. “Hullo, dearie. Seems like an awflly long time since I've seen you, though Edile tells me you been campin’ on Main street. Too bad you didn't let me know, so I could have you down to my place on Long Island. Opening next week at the Riverside. O' course I got the Palace to follow. “Well, o long, I got to be vampin’ 1f you're in town, be sure to catch me at “the -Riverside. 1 got a entirely new turn, with a dancing partner, and a jazz band that's a riot.” “Vi'let Harter's sure some flash!"” admired Eddie, as the lady's opulent summer furs disappeared in the din- ner-hour throng. “I bet them foxes nicked her for a few. It's a wonder you wouldn't keep up your street clothes better, Ef. Odd coincidence, wasn’t it, me runnin' into her? We was talkin’ over old times on the punkin’ circuits. TI'll say there's a dame'’s done a lot for herself! I'll say —What's the matter, don't you beliave it happened like I said?” “Why, yes, 1 guess so. I'm ju tired, Eddie. T don’t want to talk.” “Well then," he caught her up, “you 80 on to the room and grab off a nap and I'll trek after a guy that owes me a tenner.” the Marquess When Effie reached she slipped into a kimono and threw herself on the bed, but not to sleep. This meeting with Violet Harter in her husband’'s company was the last straw_of disillusionment in her New York sojourn. Violet was an old ac- quaintance of Eddie's, gossip said an old flame. She had crossed the great vaudeville divide and landed where La Rock and Eaton aspired to land. How was a mystery. Talent her friends said; her enemies called it bLrass. ‘To associates in the profession Ed- die was forever boasting about their friendship and he was always holding her up to his wife as a model of suc- cess. And today she had certainly looked the part. Effle couldn’t help contrasting her 5th avenue hat, and T YOU SEE THAT I MEAN IT, HONEY? THA' white fox furs, and fingers ablaze with “ice,” with her own seyerely tailored turban, and serviceable serge and lonely diamond supported b: flawed emeralds. Violet had been glitter with Broadway shine. No wonder Eddie wanted to be seen with her. There was no harm in his talk- ing over old times with an old friend. Yet somehow she felt vaguely fright- ened. Realizing this was a state of mind she must not indulge. she bathed away her fears with a hot towel and decided La Rock and Eaton must get out of New York as speed- ily as possible. A week later they took up the three-a-day—sometimes four-a-day— grind where they had left off in the!an extra ten-spot to her usual money spring. There was nothing in Effie’s stage work to stimulate her. She simply dressed the act and fed the chatter. ‘Wondering sometimes If the vamp bit| a0 ° Si ay 4 Nad peon 30 impoisible. she made up| 1oty last Sunday 1 saw that plece her mind to stand Eddie in a corner and make him listen to her other im- personations. Of course he wouldn't let her use them; but— The experiment was never tried. Eddie caught cold in a Turkish bath, whither he h: repaired to sweat off surplus poundage. Booked into an Oklahoma oil metropolis, they played their first show with difficulty. After- ward, at the boarding house, Eddie was stricken with dizzsiness and nausea. The doctor she called pronounced it influenza and ordered him to bed. Tt was within an hour of the time for them to appear when she got word to the house manager. He threw up his hands in despair. “What am I go- ing to do? My show's all shot to pleces. You're the second team on th sick list with this darned flu and my dumb act's working without their property trunks. Couldn’t you go on and do a single?” Effie’s heart went into her boots. She was about to refuse, when she thought of the impending doctor's bill and the hole the manager was in. “Aw, come on, Miss Eaton” he urged. “Just plug a couple o’ song numbers and fake a little stepping.” She assented and hurried back to their room. “First show I ever missed!” writhed Fadie. “It's a awful tough spot to put you in, little girl; but if you can just ease through, I'll be workin’ again tomorrow. I suppose you got ito give 'em the vamp bit and that Mary song wé used for a encore. Wise the leader to cover you up If you're slippin’ and don't try none o' them jay impersonations! * K K K FPFIE hurried back to the theater. and She was switched to go on second the manager encouraged her from the first entrance. “Hop into it, Miss Eaton, and hand it to ‘em be- tween the eyes. She went out for the Mary song— and felt lost on the stage without the support of Eddle’s fiip smile and easy confidence. All through the verses she felt her throat tightening, but she stuck it out, and, after the second chorus, fled in a panic to the wings. “You're .doin' great!" cheered the atting her shoulder. “Now go on back and open up your holler, 'cause they're all your friends out there.” The vamp bit came back like an old friend that begged for greeting. There was instant silence when she began, and when she snapped out of character and bowed off the house echoed with applause. “Some Teda Wara!"—the manager stared at her with wide eyes. “Where do you get that stuff? Got any more?” jhe blushed vividly nd nodded. “Well, go on, spill it. She gave them Eddie Foy for an encore, and then, while the tumult raged, looked up at her mentor ques- tioningly. “Do you think they'd stand for—that joss-house scene—from ‘The Man Who Came Back'?" tand for it! They'd eat it alive!” She went back excited but unafraid. For the first time in her life she was doing the thing she wanted to do and she brought to it every ounce of brains that was in her. Few in the house had ever heard of the honey-voiced siren who drank the dregs of depravity in the dens of the China coast; but when Effie finished not many would forget her. For an {once or I'li telegraph! that foreshadows the spiritual ele- ment in applause; then the riot broke loose. Impelled by a friendly hand, she bowed and bowed until she’ lost count. “Say, Sarah Bernhardt"—the manager caught her and held her off puzzlingly at arm’'s length—“what’re you doing in my theater! Why ain't you on Broadway?" Then the emotional tension broke, and Effie ran sobbing to her dressing room. That night, in the Oklahoma bo- nanza_town, Effie Eaton touched the heights; but the next morning_ she slumped back again. Though Eddie was weak as a fish, he insisted on getting up and dressing. When the doctor came, he said La Rock ‘d have to go to the hospital, where he could be kept in bed. y the manager came to see . how'd the wife get away " La Rock demanded. Effle cut short the manager's rhap- sody: but as soon as she stepped out of hearing, Eddie winked at his 8 SR T I WANT YOU BACK?! caller. “Darned game little girl! Awf'lly nice of you to kid her along. D'you think, seein’ we're a standard act, 'n’ evervthing, mebbe they'd let her hold down the route until—" ou bet!" assured the boss. “I'm wiring to keep her over the last half so she can be near you.” Effie wanted to stay with her hus- hand: but the team couldn’t afford to remain idle. She wrote him every day. And he invarfably answered. telling her not to worry if she “died on the boobs"— he was feeling fine and would join her in a week or so. Then there was a three-day inter- val. She wrote frantically and added Finally she telegraphed. At answer came. order. hat do you ou're getting away with any- think anything. A swimming gesture of I guess there is a|the arms, you understand mistake somewhere. I never gavel| \here is your dummy?” “Where's you no authority to change our rou-|ine suit?" asked a dozen thoughtless, tine, only use the vamp bit and the Mary song. You sure have made a bum out of me with the house man- ager here. He says you got Juliet and Elsle Janis backed off the lot. which, if true, and he ain't loco, I suppose you've already kissed me good-bye. But T think you might have walited springing it till I'm out of this pesthouse. EDDIE. P. S. I got the bathrobe and the tenner. Should I thank you or does it let me down easy? Don't send no more telegrams. If I'm croaked, they'll let you know." Effie read the letter in her dressing room and went white at the stab of it. She suddenly recollected that Eddie was a sick man, lonely. no doubt, and blue. She sat down at once and answered it. “Dear Grouchy Boy."—she wrote him—"I've just received your letter and it's made me feel pretty bad. Leaving you or breaking up the act is the last thing I've thought of. I don't know what that was in the Clipper. but it must have been an awful blurb. I'm sorry about the im- personations, dear, but T had to do something to fill out the time. I'm perfectly willing to go back to the old routine, if you'll only hurry up and get’ well. Am sending you my route. Will you join me Sunday? Or shall we lay off a week in some quiet place till you're all set? Answer at Here's kissing good-bye. Lovingly, vou—but Effie.” She posted the letter and cried her- self to sleep. But when she made her mnext jump there was no mail and no Eddie. A frantic week inter- vened. Finally she got the Okla- homa house manager on the tele- phone. Eddie had been discharged from the hospital three days prvious and had left town. She bought one of the trade papers and was framing a “personal” that wouldn’t reveal too much., when her eye fell on an item under caption: Enegagements. “Eddie La Rock.,"—it reported— ‘'with Violet Harter and Jazz Band. La Rock is reputed a nifty stepper and will strengthen the dancing end of the turn. Routed west over the Orpheum time." Effie finally understood that her blond bov had abandoned her. There was nothing to do but forget him— as_if she ever could forget him! But the pill was bitter. Tt was true then—Eddie was big-time material, and all this while she had been hold- ing him back. * * ¥ *x A MONTH later she opened in a Chicago neighborhood house, un- aware that the eyes of vaudeville were upon her in the person of a small man who chewed a black cigar in the rear of a box party of his wife's relatives. After her turn, he sent for her, and within a week Effie was tendered a contract. She came into New York via a Sunday night concert. It was an ordeal by fire, be. fore a vast sea of blase, dare-you-to- please-me faces. But next morning the news of a new mimic spread like wildfire, and an army of press agents encamped on her humble Hotel arquess doorstep. After four weeks around Manhattan not she closed in June, booked solid the| instant there was that rare silenicelnext season over the big time. {have seen women fairly rush to the reckless young reporters. suit on me,” answered the inventor. dummies, back in dread. He tore a newspaper, again, and slowly his face illuminated. could consult he was over the railing. ——————————— EIFFEL TOWER TAKES BIG TOLL IN DEATH EACH YEAR FROM PAINTERS AND VISITORS BY STERLING HEILIG. PARIS, October 6. PAINTER fell from the Eiffel Tower. When his body struck the ground it sunk five feet into a flower bed. Four mo.e men should ‘fall to complete the mini- mum toll of the most dangerous painting job in the world. They paint the tower every six years. All Paris is interested, be- cause on its paint depends whether the gigantic mass of iron is to be the glory or the eyesore of Paris. Its first shade, in 1889, was “dead leaf,’ When the sun lit its hazy golden, with effects of jeweler's fra- gllity, It was beautiful. “In 1895, after immense discussion, they painted it orange. In strong sun it gleamed like burnished copper. Oscar Wilde declared it noble. Puvis de Chavan- nes, the grand old painter, threat- ened to blow it up with dynamite. In 1900 they made it ‘‘sun color,” which ~ has always been repeated. Again the tower became a thing of glory. “This shows its inartistic character,” says the city architect. “The Pyramids are beautiful in their ruins.” It did not gleam sun color long. According to Camille Flammarion, the atmospheric electricity which such a niass of iron receives is incalculable. Conducting tubes two feet in diame- ter lead it down to fifty feet below the water-bearing stratum; but its effects on paint are disastrous. The paint does not crack off or peel off. It just disappears. “The electricity eats up the paint,” they say. 1t is the tower's way of calling for a special bunch of victims—painters! Every day it calls for voluntary victims, by whispering to visitors with thrills of that incalculable at- mospherlc electricity to “jump * ok ok Ok N the upper platforms lounge men who try to look like tourists, yet | these lazy eyes watch every new ar- rival. When they see a tourist stand | immobile by the railing, deaf to re- marks, oblivious of surroundings, with eyes fixed on the abyss and face lit up with a holy look, they move a little closer to the tourist. They are the “body snatchers of the tower.” As the snake fascinates the bird, so the abyss calls to ten tourists daily, while electric soul-jolts mur- mur:’ “Jump!” They're snatched and saved, be sure—the snatchers have the habit! Hundreds of others feel the deadly charm and break it off with energy. They chat with utter strangers. “down’ elevators hiding their face in | their hands. Those who may be! really ready to jump will feel al sirong, friendly human body bump against them, with hcarty pologi ion excuses! How a It is the “body snatcher” saving | your life. He will not let_you jump. | He stands by you. whether you wish | it or not, until you return to no maley. But he never tells you what he is or why he does it. Therefore. miss or madam. do mnot mistake him for another. For there is another urge, up there. a whisper of telluric-magnetic currents. which sends a sweet, troubled weakness through the soul. It has saved many. yet some were almost indignant when they meditated of it later. It will be told in good time. It's nature’s cor- rective, up there, for jumping. Horrid sight! And vet few see it. On the ground by the west pillar is a police room. Here are wheelbar- rows, shovels and a big pile of black garden earth. When a fascinated victim succeeds in jumping few peo- ple realize what has happened. Great heights separate the platform: Crowds are parted in different eleva- tors. You cannot call down: “Did some one fall?” The falling body makes a deep hole in the earth, but before any horrified | or curious party can accomplish the slow descent by elevator or stairway | the remains are piously wheeled to the police room—and the hole is filled up, smoothed with new earth, and, maybe, geranium or green shrub planted. Tourists round the base may see the fall, with horror—but it is soon over. Nothing remains. * X * X THERE are no statistics of those who jump. It is not a thing to talk about—they're mostly visitors. But there are full statistics of legit- | imate victims—painters and inven- tors of parachutes. | So fell Francls Reichelt. “I need height,” he said. “In falling my parachute continues to unfold, all by itself. - It is for aviators who have no time, you understand, to adjust “I have the But all permits are understood for He looked into the abyss and turned to try the wind. He looded down His look of voluptuous longing frightened the reporters. Before they In a season or two Effle became l' standard big time single. Her name went up in the lights. And she head- | lined the Palace.’ She was no stranger now to white fox and diamonds. She was never quite sure that she wasn't dallying in some pleasant dreamland from which she would awaken in Calgary or Grand Island. For three years from the day she left her husband In the hospital, Effie never saw him nor heard from him. For awhile she followed his route with Violet Harter. The jazz band broke up and immediately he disap- peared from the big time. Once she encountered Violet on Broadway. This time, however, Miss Harter wore no expensive furs and her jewels were conspicuous by their absence. “Hullo, dearie,” she said. “Seems like an awfully long while since I've seen you. They tell me you're mop- pin’ up at the Colonial this week. How's that naughty boy of yours? I s'pose you've made it up by this time. He was always expectin’ you'd tel graph him.” Effie conquered her pride and asked a discreet question. “No,” denied Miss Harter, “I don't know where he is and don’t want to, exceptin' it'd be to tell him what I think_of him. On his wire could he join, I let out a swell dancin’ partner, and inside of a week he starts makin’ trouble with the band boys and be- havin' like he owned the act.” Effie retired to contemplate the meager information she had obtained. Evidently, his relations with his dan ing partner had been purely profes- sional. And he was always expecting his wife would telegraph him! Months passed. Effie was playing St. Louis. After the Monday matinee, she went around to the front of the house to have a look at a new lobby frame. As she turned the corner she thought she saw beside a pillar of the colonnade a mirage out of the past, of Eddie, hat battered down_and cigarette draped on his lips. When she reached the pillar he was not there. In the morning she decided to make the rounds of every theater in the city. She covered all vaudeville bills; then began on cabarets. Friday night she had reached the limit of her list: the Cafe Marigny, 2 noisy dance-hall on a shady thoroughfare, called by courtesy a cabaret. Beside a tiny stage, a plano and a saxophone were Jjazsing. She order a cider cup and a sandwich. There was a momentary lull in the entertainment. Then a man stepped out from the faded velvet cyclorama —and Effie’s heart stopped beating; it was the living wrack\ol Eddie La Rock. \ He sang and his former flip assur- ance was now only sullen defiance. A half-dosen frowsy flappers joined him in the chorus. ‘Else shut her eyes against the pain o l ! | TERLING HEILIG Tells of “Unprece- dented Forces of Atmospheric Electric- ity"—One of the Greatest Painting Jobs in the World—The Lure of Tower's Height— The Urge to Jump—Whispering Currents and High Winds—Builder Maintains Home at Tip of Tower. TAVE EIFF] PRIVA TOWER WHICH HE BCUIL The cape unfolded. of hrown silk swelled above him. looked for a moment like success. down went Francis, like a lump lead. A bulging balloon It Then | of The painting job is vast, by reason of the tower's open structure. The edifice weighs less than 8000 tons, but its total surface requires nearly sixty paint for each single co Sixty-five painters wor to be painted tons of liquid ing con- tinuously together take three months to do a single coat In 1889 only five Jumped. painters fell—or The tower had just taken twenty-eight victims during its con- struction, and all were careful. eleven painters fell, few of th men of 1889, Without experience In em of the tower’s lure they had the French artizan’s vanity and daring. Wh after three had gone down, the ma -saving tackle, agement interposed life en, v rebelled in a body. AS a result, others dashed to the ground in five days In 1900 they called for “painters ex pericnced on the tower.” They re- sponded in mass, demanding quad- ruple wages, When put w to mo- tives of humani accepted 30 per cent above union scale, on condi- tion not to disgrace themselves by enfore se of ight fell. o s the same. Nine fell, and always without tackie. In 1813 he a little corporation. came to would e average of “a workma the war has Kkilled, ened experts in all lin * ok ok ok ((}'1! GH winds blow, up ther rds in the winds. Visitors el four ¥ not f v five went down; and five, thes S the future nlike job.” But aged and sick- | says one grizzled expert. “The shaft | sways two yards on a calm day and | do it, moving about the plat- ' She pushed away her sandwich and called the waiter. “Your song plug- ger's an old friend of mine,” she said steadily. “Tell him to come over.” s NDER cover of the dancing, she found a deserted booth and wait- ed. At last she saw him, cigarette in hand, threading his way among the tables. smile froze on his lips. “Ef. ward. here “Sit down, Eddie,” she said quietly. | “Mebbe that's what I was agk vou, what are you doin’ here?” “Well, go on, ask me. Then he looked in—and the '—he took a hasty step back- ‘What the devil are you doing Though it ain’t any of your business, if you got to know, I'm restin’ up between book- ings. But what's it to you—after the (LOWER FIGURE) PARLOR WHICH HE HAS ALWAYS RESERVED IN THE AND WHICH B | | | up there. goin' 10 {4y, STANDING BELOW THE RS HIS NAME. forms. but straddled on a beam, paint- ing some of those 2.500,000 major rivets, you get the ‘gone’ feeling. 1 fear only storms” he added. “Two | comrades went down, beside me, in the storm of 1913. Hail and big drops blinded us. All went black, and the | thunder and lightning were awful. We painters just clung.” Fasting and praver,” laughed one. You've got to keep the stomach in condition to work up there. Other- wise, look out for vertigo and whis- pering currents.” “Electricity! The tower attracts it. Every painter hears the whisper of those currents. Another thing. Why does it swing three yards? “To feel what we painters feel.” he says, “you must be on a beam, up there. with the abyss below and the immensity above, and all is still— until you want to chuck the paint pot, spread your arms and swim in the bright air. It's not like flying in a plane—they're saved by move- ment. Tourists. walking about, don’t always feet it. You must be a painter, | in that open ironwork (it sticks into the sky!), to feel it draw electric| about the wireless oper- v know mnothing. They live in a house. up there, amid stuffed chairs and sofas, furniture and wooden walls, and can't see out.” M. Gustave Eiffel, the enginéer who built the tower, still lives—a veteran great man' of France. His tower ren- dered such services during the war that all talk about its ugliness and dangers is forgotten. Monsicur_Eiffel almost lives, away He has always kept a pri- vate parlor up there, reached by a “reserved elevator,” and in it he re- ceived, the other day, a distinguished visiting delegation of American en- gineering socleties. “The height gives me no qualms,” Unwillingly Eddie’s eyes met hers. His lips parted in a sickiy smile. Then | Ef." his head went down in his hands. “My God, Ef.” he sobbed, “you don't mean | honey boy toda you'd take me back after all this time :1 treatin’ you like a dirty i she bent .over him. ‘There’'s people the next booth.” “Can’t help it,” he wept. “I been such a jealous dog! And here you are actin’ like nothing's happened. But I ain’t worth it. “T jolned with Vrlet ‘cause I was sore on the hit you made—and then we had a rickus—and now—I'm a common bum. I'd just queer your stuff. Go on away and lemme be.” “What I'm worryin' about, Ed, is Do you want to come back in the 1 a “Do I want to come?' cried the prodigal fe “I'd go through Six weeks later La Rock and Eaton way you walked out on me in OKla- ! ere ready for their fourth assault homa' ‘Walked out on payin’ your ho: you to join me you? Wasn't 1 pital bills and writin’ | “Tell that to the marines, Ef! Soon as you got out o' town, chuck the whole frame-up?” “You know I didn't! to change the routine permanen do_the best I could until didn’t you 1 never meant only “I'll say you did pretty good, Ef!" he laughed sardonically. baby now, ain’t you? the Palace?” Her eyes tears—of pi he had done she said simply, ‘“Yes, Eddie, what I came for; to get you back the act.” “That's a good one!” “What'd I do_on the big time? not of wrath. always said I can't sing, and Vi Harter says I can't dance, and th big bookin’ stiffs—" “But you can dance. some steps while I'm changes and—"" “Fill in your changes, hul leaned forward. “And you're coony kid that wasn’t goin' to al our routine!” “Q' course, we couldn’t go hack You could makin’ “Some flashy T s'pose you've come to offer me a job mext week at |, in he sneered. You let em do my He the ter to that now. Mebbe my imitations aren't ny good: but the public stands for 'em, and that's our Bread and butter.” She put out her hand impulsively and rested it on his. I mean it, honey! back! “Won't you see that That I want you I'll never razz you any more about playin’ poker; and we can have good times like we used to, goin’ donsants, and travelin’ round gether.” ‘At last she had reached him. Ef,"—he flared, “why in the devil you want to kid me! one enough——" to to- do Ain't I dead “Do I look like I'd follow every rcute for three years that's been printed, and spill my fam'ly troubles o Vilet Harter, and hunt out Jitney jazz joint, just to kid you his were dim with unshed | When ith his taunting filngs, that's “Say, ! upon New York as a vaudeville team. After an out-of-town showing to break in, their names went up in the lights on Broadway. the St. Louls re- y. The interval after union was employed in getting Eddie back into form. Temperamentally this was easy. Physically it required herolc measures. “How are you goin’ to dance, Ed,"— vith a belt line like His new stage wardrobe was bought n 5th avenue and when it was de- vered he put it on for her benefit. “Gee, girlie,” he remarked modestly, “I look like a million dollars—and feel like thirty cents, acceptin’ it off vou. It's such a classy layout a per- son ought to have a headlight some- wheres to complete the picture.’ Inwardly Effie smiled, but she said with a reminiscent frown, “Darn it, honey, I hate to be stiff with you: but ou're always stickin’ me for coin. I in't very flush just now, and I got them brocade slippers to buy- = “0’ course, if you're goin’ to tie the can on me,” he reddened, “I s'pose I can go back to the Marigny. “Before you start”—she slipped her arm cosily through his—"we better go out and hunt you a sparkler.” SShe left him at 44th in a boy’'s raptures over the “headlight.” They were not sharing the same quar- ters. That was part of his probation. She knew he would always remain a sportive blimp, résponsive to the flut- ter of every passing breeze. Yet if she could once rope him to the han- gar—! 7T HE hour of their Broadway open- ing came at last. Effie was more nervous than she had ever been in her life. But her fears were for Ed- die. Well as she knew him, how- ever, she was scarcely prepared for his nonchalance. * % ¥ % durable and it is beautiful and uniqi in_its colors This is the so-called “Labrador granite” from the Larvik district } With its beautiful appearance and wonderful play of colors. it fis th Norwegian stone that has attracted most attention as an ornamental gtone, and it has been extensively used for that purpose not only {’em I ain't one o’ them single shuffle he told them. “I have slept up here) through bombing Gotha raids in the) late war. 1 have sat, here reading| poetry in the midst of terrific storms| when the tower was ‘touched’ once i} minute and the shaft was swinging four yards in the hurricane.” The distinguished American engi- neers, come to pay tribute of honor| to what still the greatest job of| its kind in the world, agreed with M. Eiffel that there is nothing tangi- ble in the “whisperings”—I think we could all agree 10 the word—but that sticks high into the sky, Several of them took good care not to hang their heads over the ::Ee;! 'Anld none were asked to clim) e spiral stairs to the tip-top, where M. Eiffel plays tag. Ve nes * kK x NTAGARA Falls aro high. They “Y could fall from the tower's first platform. The loftiest masonry con- structions in the world—American skyscrapers—could not reach even the intermediate platform, halfway up the shaft, 647 fect from the ground. The third piatform (like the brim of a hat) is 911 feet high Niagara, with a suspension bridge 1100 feet above It. could fall between it and the top of our highest sky- scraper, leaving &pace to spare. And the tower's true top is 74 feet higher. ‘The ground inclosed by its four legs is three acres. Re theater and cafes of the firs form seat 1,600 people, terior galleries” hold 400 mor second platfo accommodat 3 persons, the intermediate and thire 1,000 more. Add 0 udults mount i uration™ 0 people—tii ing and descending stairs tors and the total the tower becomes 17 pupulation of no me “Saturation” has, been reached. but it n prob: is remarkes Paris that the tower's shareholde after getting not a cent throughou the war, touched 73z per cent la year and expect a 12 per cent divi- dend short For thi: prosperity they t thank the wireless ‘and t queerest of all “whispering 1 said that 1 would mention time. Now that it wireless station, the tower ge advertising all over the world large proportion of visitors who con« to Paris for the first time feel bound to make the ascent A queer legend of the tower's first days has helped to boost the div in good s such an importan s free dends. Not atmospheric electricity alone, they but its commingling with obscure earth currents work- on hearts and souls with unimugin- able forc These telln currents (no knows a word of their true naturc but supposed to be earth magneti ow and powerful) st and softe he harsh flood of atmospheric el tricity which urges Jump!” a de ears to Lorrid mai dat “Tl the grand lure of the tower exists” s d French astronomer. “it dangerous vertigo in tie ere. in the immensity of and silence the of the great movement rd! rotation of the earth upon its axls, the swing of our gl around the sun and the majest progress of our solar system through space toward the constellation of the lyre.” Stirred to jump by atmospherl electricity (“it's strong enough make each atom of the ir structure tingle-tangle”), girl keep her head where brave me: vearn to spread their arms and swim* Except that overwhelming count currents (from the feet up) thrill he: to a soft confusion, though no boob. around about, have nerve to test it? She is saved (from jumping) just by thinkin’ of it All these things were known in 18§ Then, in October, 1880, they w quite forgotten, by joint effort of th press and public. “Good things ought mot come so was the general consensus. Norway Granite. GRA\'ITE is one of tke exports orway, and it ships it to many countries which have granite of their own. Some of the granite which Nor- way sells to other countries is of the famillar gray color. but that which figures most in its trade is a granite is which is found nowhere It Norway. but also throughout Europ The proper name of this syentic rock is sugite-syenite or larvikite, bu commercially it is ecalled brador or Royal Blue.” When polished it has a most beautiful appearance, with large feldspar shimmering in ever shade of blue. The rock has not a very well developed cleavage, which renders quarrying somewhat difficult, but it is ‘nevertheless quarried in large quantities and at various places. “Quit givin’ me the gloomy stare, he guyed her, in the wings. “There ain't no ivy growin’ on vour Them new steps 1 got for my finish are goin’ to knock ‘em into the aisles.” They went on first for a short double. The house was tensely quiet as Eddie made his exit. Effie gave them her usual routine and received her usual ovation. ‘Then Eddie’s clatter mat went down and the orchestra picked him up. At first the audience was cold: when they found he wasn't faking or stalling to a song, they were with him. And he showed them thing—from “Sunrise on the down through “Black Annle “Bumbershay.” His collar was limp and beads stood out on his makeup; but he had not labored in vain. A solid hand swept the house. A half hour later Eddie sald to her shyly, “Mind. Ef. i e shake the hard-bolled gang and take a little turn in a taxi?’ “Why, no,” she assented, wonder- ing. “Where to?" “Anywhere.” he shrugged, as thex ®ot in. “Through Central Park. We! little girl. we're the regular sho stoppers, ain't we? 1 guess I show: four-flushers. bit—" For awhile Eddle babbled on: then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, he produced a satiny florists’ box that disgorged an opuient corsage of vio- lets. “Say, Ef." he mumbled. sheep- ishly, “I thought mebbe—yow'd wear these—for a celebration. “They ain't bought with the jingle you been stak- in' me to—honekt they ain't!—but a little jack I had loft in the old grouch bag.” With the blush of a bride Effie took them. “Thanks, 134, she said, unsteadily. He watched her admiringly as she pinned them on. “You're some clever baby these days, Ef! You sure are! Too bad you been tied up to such a down-and-outer—" “Don’t, Eddi uch a low-down grotto howad—" “Now, don't.” uch a jealous dog' “Please—! “Well, 1T won't, And in your Petrova only—I_want 1o wise you from now on I'm goin’ over the jumps clean. I guess them Bookin' people was right; my brains is in my feet. I—Gee, Ef, still wear- in' the old hoop!"—he caught her hand impulsively and ralsed it to his 1ips and they rode on in silence. Pres- ently he took up the speaking tube hesitantly. “Where'll it be, girlte® “Home, James! or ‘Back to St. Louls® for little Eddie “Home James!"" she murmured His arms closed around her. Ta Rock and Eaton were framed for Broadway at last. (Copyright, 1921.)