Evening Star Newspaper, October 23, 1921, Page 68

4 Benny, the Book Agent, Takes a Look In—By Ellis Parker Butler HE gcod word “fresh™ might have been created especially 1o describe Benny Barr, the book agent. It may truth- ‘ully be said that what he sold was not Aunt Jane's Cook Book, but fresh- ness and nerve. With his energy and pertness the book did not matter «ould have sold Essays on Assyrian Protoplasms to Irish cooks any time 10 was allowed five minutes in which | he drew one of the portieres slightly | windward. to talk. When Benny was born reverence for men, women and hosts had been left out of his make-up and fippant sauciness had been put in its place. tle would “josh™ a college president or a soclety queen with the same #ood nature he showed in teasing a hotel waitress or a village cabman. Time and experience had, however, ziven Beuny something very like rev- “rence for one group of men and that group was the firm. The firm was Skilling. Ross & Company; the firm bublished Aunt Jane's Cook Book and some hundred and fifty otber profit- able volumes. As Benny said: firm is on the level: the firm has tons of dough: take it from me, the firm is all right!” James Ross, of Skilling, Ross & Company. was the retired partner, but his place, since Lenny had been sell- ing Aunt’ Jane's Cook Book, was well illed by young Haddon Ross, &n effi- nt, cheery and twenty-five. Haddon Ross was in charge of the <ubscription book department; he s Bernny's only “boss” and he was Benn only her He was, in Benny's estimation. a felier.” 1le had peddled books himselt for six months In order to know better how to handle the subscription book end of Skilling. Ross & Company's business. He appreciated a good salesman. o« o . ENNY came out of the account- ant's office and found Haddon Ross talking merrily with a young man of his cwn age and two charm- ing girls. “But. promise, Haddon!" one of the oung girls was saying. “Jack’s fare- bachelor dinner was such an Promise you won't girls at yours!” heart!” said Haddon ot a female!" sport.” said the other young man, “it can't be done. You couldn’t any more give a bach- elor dinner without ladles than you could fly. It's contrary to your record. “All right. T'll break my record.” laughed Haddon Ross. “You think T'm beyond reform; I've cut the ladies off my list. I'm going to give a bachelor dinner that you'll talk about for years. and there will not be a living dame anywhere near. It's a promise, May."” “That's all T ask. Your word is good, Haddon." said the girl he was V. The other young cer. chosen as Had- best man—laughed 'And T'll bet there’ll be a lady at the bachelor dinner.,” he said. Haddon Ross laughingly took the wager. Benny's admiration for the mon of the firm increased when he eard the amount. It was worth while working for men who could bet such sums without winking an eve. ‘11 lose, Hal” =ald Haddon's bride-to-be. “He has Iready. Might as well pay me now.” said Haddon. and after a laughing farewell he turned . He held a cigar toward the book agent. “On_my wedding.” he said. an Harker thinks I'm a hot sport T've been looking into that idea of lost Benny swelled with pride. Tt had been his own idea and now the firm was going to get out the book. He could sell thousands. Haddon Ross was certainly a fine fellow. About a week later Benny Barr came out of the door of 520 Dorsey | lane, Westcote. Long Island. shown to the door by Miss Higgins, to whom he had just sol 00 agunl Jane's *doortine asked Cook Book. “*Any one live .nexi as he lighted a cigarette. “That’s the old Wentworth place.” e#aid the elderly spiunster, who had enjoyed Benny's talk and considered it cheap at the price of $2 the cook book cost. “It has been vacant for years, but it looks to me as if some one might be moving in. The furni- ture was never taken out, and yester- day and today there were a couple of vans in the yard." “Won't hurt to try fit, #ald Benny cheerfully. All the houses in Dorsey lane were met far back from the road. It was here the town edged the country and homes gave place to large estates Here one could have seclusfon, and any one living in Wentworth place had seclusion in plenty. On four =sides the property was sur- sounded by hedges which had been for years untrimmed and now stood like green walls, reaching high above the head of any chance observer. The rank. thick hedges cut off all view of road and neighbor and, as if this ‘were no fficient, here and there on the lawn were masses of shrubbery— Mlacs, svringas and similar leafy bushes—and these had also grown rank and high, so that even from the openings in the hedge that served as entrances from the lane the house ‘was entirely hidden. The untrimmed grass grew knee high and the gravel walks were evergrown by weeds. As Benny Barr came singing out of the gate of Miss Higgin's place a man came hurriedly out of the old Went- worth place. He turned as he came. for an automobile atood at the edge of the lane. and jumped to the seat + beside the man at the wheel. The gears grated, the car started and all Benny had was a view of a cloud of dust ‘as the car disappeared toward ‘Westcote. Benny turned in at the opening in the hedge. The of the driveway gave evidence that vans or some other vehicles had crushed it recently. Up this driveway Benny went, his oil- cloth-wrapped sample copy under his left arm. The huge reddish-brown house, he mounted the wide wooden steps of the veranda, looked @eserted. L TB‘!I house needed repairs. paint was peeling: a number of the fretwork scrolls had fallen or Wung loose; the veranda floor was rotting and last year's autumn leaves ‘were matted In the corners of the railing. The veranda railing sagged and lacked many of its dowells. The whole place was on the verge of falling into complete decay. The her massive front door, In two leaves, had no glass the panels, which were of oak, now vold of varnish. Instead of an electric bell one of the leaves of the door was fitted with a cross bar handle of the sort that, when pressed down, sets clanging a gong fastened on the fnner side. Benny pressed the bell handle down its full distance and let it fly. The whole house seemed filled with the mighty clangor that re- sulted. Benny waited, his foot ready to slip over the threshold the moment the door was opened, but no one came. “Putting pin cushions on the guest room bureau,” he said, and pushed the bell handle again. Evidently the door had not been tightly latched, or the latoh was old and weak, for the leaf swung ghtly ajai Through this opening Benny saw into the wide old-fashioned hal ‘The afternoon was near its close, but, although it was still light outside, three candles burned on a stand in the hall. They were long candles, of wax, and were hardly burned belgw the little cone at the top. They must have been lighted by the man who had just left, or by some other person about the time the man had left. Benny rang the bell again. Not a sound of foot or voice answered. He joor open a bit farther and into the he shouted. “Any- At one side anyway,” er. be s better term, perhaps—and thii was, like the hall, dimly illuminate ‘Wax candles- burned om the white he ! “The | "l of her hands rested on the edge of the Trle | ,marble mantel. into the hall Benny and peered took a step| into the parior. The furniture was of black | walnut with a few odd pleces of gilded carved wood. The room was surprisingly larg The distances were lost in shadows. Opposite the door of this parlor was a similar door, but it was closed by heavy portieres. Benny took the féw steps necessary to carry him to it and knocked on the door frame. No one bade him enter. but, for that matter, no one bade him stay out, and | I asidel At the sight that met his | he stepped back ready to utter a c | of_excuse. es | v i The room was a dining room—a| splendid room. quite as large as th parlor—and down its center stood tl i dining tabic, dressed in a znowy set with china, crysaal and | silver. At equal distances along the table’s length stood lighted wus candles in silver candlesticks _and | upon the plates were viands. Wine| {bottles stood in_silver buckets on :(h(‘ fioor, all packed with ice, ready jte be opened. On the sideboard stood ia tray of cocktail glasses, each filled | with liquor nearly to the brim. It | was a banquet r for the guests, {but it was not this that made Benny | {step backward quickly. The guests were there! In his first surprise Benny closed o the portiere and turned to flee, but he stopped short. From where he stood he could sce into the parlor's forward a corner shut off from his fi and in this cor- She stood with | turned toward leaning slightly table. _One back partially and she was him forward above a small table lightly. She was looking down- ward at a stuffed bird of some sort that stood under a glass dome on the small table, and Benny knew, from | the manner in which she carried her- self, from the curve of her superb neck and from the mass of red-goldi hair piled upon her head that she! must be a beautiful woman. She was | gowned as & beautiful woman should | be gowned. but, although it was not| yet night, she was in the fullest even- ing dress. Benny took another step toward the street door—on_his ti this time. This w Benny Barr. He hag, some swell function. e But he stopped short again. the dining room, which might well be called a banquet hall, not a sound came! No chatter of voices, no clat- ter of silver and china—utter silence. There was not a sound in the_entire house! It was nonsensical! It was impossible. Benny once more looked into the dining room., 5 There were seats for at least twenty at the long table and now Benny saw that several of these were not occupied. The seats at the head and foot were vacant. Two, or pos- sibly three, more had no occupants. This absence of the host and host and of, perhaps, several important guests might have accounted for the silence. but it could not account for the utter immobility of the guests! already seated. Of the fourteen or fifteen at table ten were women, and all were beautiful women and women beautifully gowned. The men were in evening dress. Not a sound! Not | a motion of a hand or the movement of an eyelld! Benny drew the por- tiere aside and entered the dining room. The figures seated at the table were all o® wa: ell, well, folks' “How's the party Benny ex- this even- . o HE walked the length of the room, looking from one wax figure to the next. The absurdity of it all struck him strongly; it stirred his sbundant sense of humor; the joke was on him, for he had thought this a real party. Not he to be a grouch! He stopped beside one of the male figures. “Well, well!” he cried. “My old friend Astorbilt! And if there isn't my old college chum Vanderfeller! How are you, boys? Some little arty: Countess, 1 am delighted! rincess, 1 assure you it gives me great pleasure!” He bowed to the assembled com- pany and then laughed naturally at the ‘wax figures and at himself. It was a great little joke. “Yes, sir! Some party!” he said. He rested his hand on one of the vacant chairs and took one of the dinner plates frem the table. “What do you know about that!" he ex- claimed. “Real roast chicken.” He walked to the sideboard and exam- ined the cocktails. They were Man hattans—the real thin, not imita- tions. ““Well, believe me!” said Benny the book agent. The ice in the wine coolers was real ice; everything was real except the people. Benny chu- ckled with glee. “Some party! Yes, sir, some party!" he repeated. “Ali the show-window swell Now, I wonder what's the idea? He raised one of the cocktall glasses to his lips and was about to wallow its contents; the words ‘Here's to everybody!" were on the end of his tongue, but he put the glass back on the tray. “Just a min- iute, folks!"” he said. He went out of the dining room. As he had guessed, the woman bending over the stuffed bird in the parlor was a wax figure llke the rest. Nor was she alone. When he walked to the shadowy distant end of the parlor he found other wax ladies. There were four in the par- lor in all, three sitting gracefully in chairs, their faces in waxen smiles. Benny greeted them glee- fully. He called them Gwendolyn, Arethusia and Cunegunda. The fig- ure at the small table he greeted in a friendly manner as Cousin Susan. He took a jovial tone with her. “Some bird, Cousin Susan!” he said. “But not edible. Very nice, but not worth long and continuous study. Now here is something worth a good long look—'Aunt Jane's Cook Book,' price only $2, 2,000 choice recipes for the kitchen and the chafing dish icomplled by twenty-four of America’ most famous culinary artists. Not at Not at all!” he said eagerly, as he unwrapped the book and opened it. “Glad to have you look it over. Take all the time you want. I'm dining in the next room.” He removed the stuffed bird and its glass dome and pl them on the floor. Where they had been he placed the open cook book. “Cousin L ST AR RPN 3OS (LT 1R 8 NOT A SOUND! NOT A MOTION OF A HAND OR THE MOVEMENT OF AN EYELID! 7/ THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, OCTOBER 23 Susan” seemed to be standing there,| now have believed the figure In the)a bet there would be no ladies pres- studying the cook book, a smile of | steel-blue gown was alive. This was |ent— pleasure on her waxen lips. no place for Benny Barr! At the| “I'd hate to have you tell me his name was Haddon Ross,” said Benny. “Haddon Ross is his name,” said the voice. g “And I'd dare you to tell me he door he cast another glance at “Miss Vandergould.” She had not moved not even to follow him with her eye Benny looked at her a bit througl Benny was enjoying every moment of this waxen adventure. What it all meant he did not know, and he did not care. 1t was a lark and a He meant to see it|the portieres. He could make noth-|made the bet with Hal Harker,” said d in case—just in case— |ing of it. Already he was beginning | Benny. any one seemed likély to make|to think his sense of touch had be- " “Yes he did make the bet with trouble because he had injected him- |fooled him. He let the portiers drop|Hal Harker,” said the voice impa- self into the strange affair, he had|together and walked across the hall|piently. given “Cousin Susun” the cook book |and into the parlor to retrieve his R to read. That was his anchor to|sample copy. The mystery of the Wax ¢7 ADY.,"” said Benny exultantly, “I knew I had seen Miss Vander- figures might be what it chose, he If whoever had concocted was through with this house. He this huge joke returned and seemed i likely to mean about it, Benny | crossed the paror to where “Cousin : Been i meant to s had done mnothing | Susan” still bent above Aunt Jane's| Bould's face before! I've got it; she's but try to ousin Susan” a cook | Cook Book. He put out his hand to| the dame who stands in the rubber- book. Perfectly legitimate business, take the book and his hand_touched | goods w just what he @id all day long. And i the hand of the wax figure. It was a | & indow,\in |& frubber contiand lets the water trickle over her by he had swailowed a cocktall and|soft, warm, human hand! He stepped aten a few viands while waiting for | back, jerking his hand away. He|the hour without winking an eye- “ousin S to make up her mind, | mad, le| 1id: She's the person the busy New what of it “Cousin Susan” had asked [ copy him to do it. “Cousin san” had [ He backed all the way to the hall,| Yorkers stand in front of and won, insisted that he join the party.| keeping his eve on the motionless| der, Whether she is wax or human! “And If she is? And If the other person is the girl who sits in the window of the hair store on 23d | street, what of it “Why, there's this of it,” said Benny cheerfully. “I've got you all locked in this room, and good old Haddon Ross went to a lot of trouble and had somebody get together a lot of wax figures for his dinner, and Hal Harker butted in and did some brib- ing and got the wax works man to fix up wax imitations of the rubber girl and the hair girl. Great little game! 1In comes Haddon, with his guests, Hal Harker sniggering in the background. Good. old Haddon walks into the parlor—introduces the wax fakes. Walks into the dinning room —introduces the wax fakes. Wine, | chicken and so forth. Hal Harker laughs aloud. ‘Good joke on you, old boy! Come into the par- had snezked out the Susan, and the hair lady is there. She's the real, live stuff. Haddon nearly drops dead. ‘Oh, you Mr. Easy Mark? says Hal Harke | ‘come _into the dining room! ‘ih £o. ‘Some wax works, Haddy Harker: ‘take a look 2t the girl steel-blue. Touch her waxy cheek Haddon does. She is alive. Haddon Ross almost drops dead. And the lit- tle, old promise he made his bride-to- be'is broken. And the little bet of five hundred dollars is losi “So you see.” purred the voice figure of “Cousin SBusan.” He turned and wrenched the doorknob of the entrance door. It would not turn! With both his hands Benny twisted at the knob and jerked at the door, but it would not open. He was locked in. Either some one had locked the door—a feat easy enough while he was playing fool at the table—or the catch was old and out of order. Of one T That's what he would say. Benny went back to the dining room. He walked to the sideboard, ruised a glass, uttered a cheery “Here's looking!" and swallowed the cocktail. He put his hat on the floor and seated himself on the chair at the end of, the table. d. “you'll ex- “Well, folks.” he sa cuse me if I begin. No standing on il ) s Far AR ATRA L4 R YA (1 ‘! I Aila ! in | you should unlock the door and go { away at once. You will, won't you Benny seated himself cross-legged on the floor with his back to the door. Girls” he said pleasantly, “you may as well get out your knitfing and go to work. I'm sitting down I the room, “how important it is that | 1921—PART 4. 1 have to sit down and take a long rest, because pretty soon I'm going to laugh. I'm going to laugh 80 hard it will almost kill me. Il laugh a little when Hal Harker leads dear old Haddy into the parlor and finds that Cousin Susan hasn't come to life, but Il laugh a real big laugh when he takes dear old Haddy back into the dining room and springs that funny stuff about the girl in the steel-blue gown. I'll try to hold in until dear old Haddy puts his hand the steel-blue lady's cheek, but then you'll have to excuse me—I'm going to laugh ne’self to death! There was an angry silence in the room. “Well, I'd llke to know who you are to butt in like this!" cried Miss May after a moment. ‘Me? d Benny ungrammatically. “Why, I'm nobody but dear old Haddy's best book peddler. I'm no body but the guy that gets 90 cents a copy for selling Aunt Jane's Cook Book. I'm the fresh guy. But, say, do you want to know who I am go- ing to be Two of the girls in the room gig- d. Yes. Who “Why," sai between puffs of his cigarette, “if I win that half thousand bet for dear old Haddy by keeping the llving wax-works shut in this room I'm going to be the real fresh kid that strikes dear old Haddy to raise my commission to $1 per copy on all the Aunt Jane's Cook Books I sel And he did win the bet for Haddy and he did strike him for the raise. He got it before he left the house. He got it while Haddy’s friends were beating Hal Harker on the back and shouting that Hal was certainly a lemon when it came to pulling off a k. they asked. said Haddon Ross, ‘just to show there is no hard feei- ing, meet the girl that tried to put one over on me. Mr. Barr, Miss Gray- thorne, my wife-to-bi Pleasure is all mine,” said Benny. 'And, speaking of wives, Miss Gray- thorne, permit me to show yvou the most valuable book any wife can have —Aunt Jane's Cook Book, price $2.50 down and the balance on delivery of the book. Now, this volume, compiled b. 3 exclaimed Miss Gray- thorne. “Why, Haddon can bring home a thousand of them.” “But he might forget,” said Benny hastily. “And a work of this sort, compiled by twenty-four of the most ed culinary— T'll take one if you'll only go away, sald Miss Graythorne in desperation: i e 1 (Copyright, 1921.) of Washington f ceremony in old Liberty Hall, he He attacked the nic browned chicken that lay on the plate before | him. He took a stalk of celery from the holder nearest. He found a crisp bread roll in his napkin and crushed it. breaking it in_two. tter was on the individual butter plate at his | hand. The water in his crystal goblet | was icéd. As he ate he talked to the wax figures. ;h!nz he was sure, he was locked n! * ok kX \V’HAT sort of a game was this they were playing on him, he would like to know! He was angry now; book agents are not usually locked into houses—they are usually locked | out. He jerked aside the dining room portieres and walked into the room. The wax figures were as before. | “Miss Vandergould” had not moved her head again. Benny walked around the end of the table, express- ing his opinion of the whole aftair as he went. 'What's the game, hey’ he asked. “No look here Mabel, or Jane, or J or whatever you name it, I I had no right to butt in here; Tm in the wrong: I admit that. I'm where I shouldn't be, but that can't be helped now: 1 was too fresh, but I surrender! Al 1 want is to get out of here the easiest way; how do I do G4 o Miss Vandergould” paid no atten- on. ‘Oh, come now!" said Benny it T know you are alive. It sort of a sell. and I butted into It, but I'm willing to be the whole goat it you'll let me go now. Come, have a heart!” All the The Maury Oak. GROUP of some half dozen over- cup oaks in the grounds of what is now the Naval Hospital is one of the handsomest in the city of Washington. The Naval Hos- pital is cn Observatory hill, overlook- ing Potomac Park at the foot of 23d street, in one of the most picturesque ilocations In Washington. Handsome trees, picturesque location and inter- esting story make a combination diffi- cult to rival. The acorns from which these oaks grew were planted by Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, of physical geography fame. He was born in Fredericksburg, Va., in 1806, nd later he published his first book, “Maury's Navigation,” which was adopted as a textbook in the * % x4 HE wax figures were admirably done. Any one who has made a study of wax figures knows they are of remarkably different merit. There are those one sees In cloak store windows on upper 3d ave- nue; look cheap and they are cheap. Their smiles are impossibly artificial ! much as no sessed. They , mere dummies far dis- playing garments as cheap and shod- dy as themselves. As you near 5th avenue and Eroadway the wax figures improve in likeness to living human beings. In the great department stores and elite shops the wax fig- ures reach their greatest perfection. Their faces are natural and have character; thelr limbs are articulated S0 that they can be seated or placed in natural standing positions. You only know they are dummies by the price tags they bear and the fact that they stand in show windows and by, perhaps. a slightly waxy app: ance of the faces and hands. E ax figures remained mo- tionless. Benny stared down at his Miss Vandergould. Al right. I'll admit you're good at Sven | it he ®aid. “You would fool any- this perfection can be surpassed if |body. I'll admit I thought you were the maker is given the opportunity. [Wax. Susies, or Jane, or whatever The motionless figures seated at|your name is, have a heart!" . the table were of the most perfect| She made no sign and it must be quality. The women were beautifully | 2dmitted that Benny was irritated. gowned, the men neatly clothed. | He pushed “Miss Vandergould's” el- They were well posed. It might have |POW ever so slightly. Ever 5o slightly. been @ group of society men and|Dut it was enough. The wax figure in women petrified just as they had|the steel-blue gown toppled. It—or taken their seats at the table. Benny |She—fell sideways against her neigh- conversed brilliantly. He spoke of [Dor and would have fallen to the base ball, golf, the Castles, the latest | floor had not Benny put out his hand musical comedy, asked whether his|t0 catch her. He grasped the same Fight-hand helghbor would get to|5NOWY, shoulder he had touched be- Newport this season and whether his | {oT¢, It Was wax; cold, undenlable left-hand neighbor had attended the | "AX: thickness of card against card, is devoted to Matthew Fontaine Maury in the card catalogue at_the Library of Congress. When Virginia left the Union Maury went with his state. Because he was so well known in Europe he was able to help the Confederacy by acting as foreign agent. His inven- tive genlus was alfo at the Confed- |eracy’s service. He was establishing |a method for arranging and testing torpedo min in Galveston, Tex.. when Gen. Lee surrendered. During the later years of his life he was teacher of physic in the Virginla Military Institute. Some one has said of Commander Maury, “Like few great men, the closer one got to him, the greater he seemed.” He liked nothing better than to work In the midst of the family circle. Some of his most seri- ous writing was done sitting at a large marble-topped table with his papers spread around him, appar- |ently unmindful of the music, the of space. the Bathing Made Painiess By Ring W. Lardner. O THE EDITOR: I was reading a magasine the other day and they was a story in it by Scott Fitzgerald and the hero of the story has got some money and lives alone in a N. Y. apartment and takes a bath every A. M. like people always do in storys, omly this bird wouldn’t stand for his bath being a total loss so he had a book stand rigged up in the tub so as he could enjoy himself reading while he took his bath and it sounded to me like THE SAME.” it they would be a whole lot more people that would take baths because a bath wouldn’t be such a bore if you took It But then, of course they's a whole lot of people that don't enjoy reading when they are takeing a bath or no other time to say nothing of a whole Iot more people that can’'t read and these kind of people generally alwayi needs a bath as much as the rest of us do to say the lease, so I got to thinking over what el a person could do to take their mind off the rigors of the tub and you would be surprised the amount of different pastimes that suggest themselves to a bright mind and I will only name a few of them that I thought up off hand and my readers is welcome to use them as I outline them or improve on them as they see fit and if they help make the world a cleaner place to live in I will consider myself well patd. * % % % VVILE as I say they's a good many folks that don't like to read, they's very few that don’t enjoy look- ing at pictures and even more so when they would at the same time be playing a game that requires nerve and skill. The game is to fix up 2 book rack at the foot of the tub and just before you climb in the tub you put a book on the rack like for inst. a book containing 25 views of At- lanta, Ga. The book is open to Page one and the player must remain in the tub till he has turned the entire ages useing only his toes to turn same. The first few times it will probably take a long wile to say nothing about how it will tickle, but in a wk. of so the player will be able to do the trick in 5 to 6 minutes besides being cleaner than he ever was in his life and able to answer any and all ques- tions that may be ssked him in re- gards to Atlanta, But they's other things besides books and pictures to take the curse off what the French have so aptly termed le bain. For the golfer I have invented the game of tub golf which you play pretty near like the outdoor game only that the number of strokes don’t make no differents but the length of time it takes you to hole out is what counts. had a good book to read wile )'vu‘ a great idear and if everybody done ' tubs “THE PLAYER MUST REMAIN IN THE TUB UNTIL HE HAS TURNED THE ENTIRE TWENTY-FIVE PAGES, USING ONLY HIS TOES TO TUR? may give added zest to these sports Y| have a rule that the one that wii the last game can use the soap a will or else have the choice whether mo: kot or cold water should be let int the tub. In a three-man tub, the best gam| would be dummy bridge and of cours| regular bridge could be played if th tub was big enough so four coul squeeze into it and the one that wi dummy could relieve the situation little by stepping out on the rug wil the hand was played. ‘When the full possibilities of whi can be done in the bath is realized b: the public, manufacturers of bati will doubtiess begin buildin; NAAANAA them bigger and I wouldn't be sur prised If some day we will have tubs roomy encugh for a 7 hand poke game and it will be a whole lot mor# even game than the kind that is played at a table as they won't be nobody that ain’t cleaned. RING W LARDNER Great Neck, Oct. 2 Water From Cacti. THERE are some thousand vari etles of the monstrous cact family, not taking into consideration the three hundred varieties of the agave or century-plant, incorrectlyl included by many, in northern Mexico. The varieties of the yucca palm and| all other forms of vegetation kmowi| only to the arid regions have thel same faculty of sucking up from the] soll every drop of the all too little] molsture in it and storing it up in] their tough and leathery leaves and roots. Of the many varieties perhaps thie most remarkable is that member of] the family known to those schooled in desertcraft as the “water barrel.”| This plant is shaped somewhat like| a keg and is about the same size. Throughout the years of its growth it has been sopping up what moisture, the famished earth contained and retaining it. It is the sole reliance, of desert dwellers in time of drought The ater barrel” is tapped by slicing off the top with & machete and pounding the pulp until the water contained {n it wells up into the saucer thus formed. The pulp itseif Is pure and the water stored in it is likewise pure and refreshing. Th Indian of the desert worships the “water barrel” as a gift of the sun od. Not all the water-bearing cacti are as gracious to thirsty men, however, as the “water barrel,”” for most of| them impart & bitter tast water they contain. The especially, which abounds in the plains and deserts of Arizona, secrets & bitter and poisonous juice. The plainsmen readlly recognize this variety and warn away the thirsty stranger. In the whole vegetable kingdom there is probably not another plant 'amily having 80 many different| Benny straightened the wax fi races at Belmont Park. gure “And the way, Miss Vander- in the chair and cast one quick glance goulds he. sald, sposking o ter fis. around the room. There was but one ure in the steel blue evening gown,|3°0F in addition to that by which he halfway up the table on his left, «I |[Nad entered; it evidently led into haven't seen you in the park lately. a butler's pantry and thence to the “\liss Vandergould” did mot reply. |Kitchen. He swung the door on ite Her waxen face was turned away |NIn&es. leaped through the pantry from Benny, toward that: of hey|into the kitchen and stood a moment neighbor. to get his bearings. There were four “Oh, very well! Not that I care,” [d00rs; that by which he had entered; sald Benny, I merely mentionea 1c~ |one leading to the cellar; one open- The player uses two regulation golf clubs, a niblick and a putter, and a regular golf ball. At a cer- tain time he turns on the water In the tub, leaving the stopper out. ‘Then he tees the ball on the carpet just outeide the bath room door. The water is allowed to run only five minutes and the player’s object is to loft the ball Into the tub with the niblick and then putt it into the stopper hole as quick as possible so that the ball will be there act as forms as the cactl. It is possible to find among them species that crawl and creep like vines, others that stand erect In a single unbending stalk, like a green living monument of the desert; still others are rooted to the spot, with their highest growth close to the ground and bearing almost no resemblance to usual forms of| vegetation, and others branch out in thick and unblooming branches. ‘The most impressive variety is the He was having a grand time. He [iD8 on a back porch, and one leading Cereus giganticus, or giant cactus, was privileged to do all the talk all|t0 the back stairs. The cellar and stopper before much of the allotted time has elapsed. which in Mexico, Arizona and the the time. He cracked a joke with |0uter doors were plainly not open for his neighbor on the right. He pre- |business; stout bolts closed them. tended to listen to a reply. , | Benny jumped for the door that open- that's it, is {t?" he said, an ed upon the back stairs. The stairs to speak to “Miss Vandergoul were narrow; Benny went up them in His words died on his lips. four leaps. At the top he stood sad- not been conscious of a sound or of |denly atill and listened. He had heard a motion, however slight, on the |& door, somewhere ofi the upper floor, part of any one at the table except [close softly. himself, but the wax figure he jest-| The upper hall was long. At the ingly called *“Miss Vandergould” had [far end was the inevitible hall bed- turned her head! Benny stared at|room and the door of this room her—he could not be mistaken. She |stood open. The doors of all the six had been looking at her neighbor;|or eight rooms that faced the hall now she looked not at Benny, but|also stood open with one exception. past him. She was as waxenly mo-[To this door Benny walked. There tionless as before, her eyes had the|was a key in the lock and with a same glassy glitter; she was, seem- |twist of his fingers Benny turned the ingly, the same wax flgure, but she He heard the bolt shoot home had moved her head. There could be no doubt of that; Benny did not doubt it. It was a fact. The noisy. little book agent be- came silent.” He was not frightened, he had an uncanny feeling. He looked up and down the table, try- ing to learn whether any of the other wax figures had moved. He placed his hand on the waxen arm of the “Count” at his side. It was wax—cool, slightly greasy wax. He touched the hand of the female figure at his other side. It was wax. Benny pushed his chalr nervously. “Say, what is this, anyway?" he asked. The glassy eyes of the figure in steel-blue stared past him un- Navy. In 1839, on a trip to Ten- nessee—his parents lived in Tennes- 8See—he was thrown from the top of 2 stagecoach, and his leg was badly In writing home about it ald there were twelve other passengers; he was the thirteenth. The accident happened in Ohio, and there was a long, tedious convales- cence.. When he was considered well enough to go to sea again he was obliged to travel over the Allegheny mountains i a sleigh. He was de- layed by storms and finally reached the seacoast to find that his ship had salled without him. His leg never did get well. For several years he found himself unable to perform active dutifes. He devoted his time to study and to writing. The needs of the Navy were his especial inter- est. He advocated the establishment lof a navy yard at Memphis, Tenn., the taking of observations on the flow of the Mississippi, the' draining of bmerged lands along the Missis sippl, the enlargement of the Illi- nois and Michigan canal—for which in the room whispered. and Illenny could hear an answering gigsle through the open transom. “Please the first voice pleaded. ‘Please unlook the door!" this is where you are, Miss Waxworks, {s it?’ said Benny tri- umphantly. “And if I won't go away’ “Listen, whoever you are, another voice in the room. “You have no right In this house. You had bet- ter unlock the door at once—at once, do your understand? There are men |he received the thanks of the Illi- coming here; they may be here any |nofs legislature—and the establish- moment; if they find you here I don’t ment of a Naval Academy. All these heedingly. He arose and walked |KnOW what they'll do to you. They |things were accomplished, and Maury toward it—or her. ‘“What's the |Will half murder yo received much credit. joke?” he asked. There was no an-| . That will be nice,” sald Benny| In 1842 he was appointed superin- Bwer. pleasantly. “I have never been half |tendent of the depots of charts and Benny stood beside the figure in [murdered. instruments at Washington, after- steel-blue—*“Miss Vandergould,” as There was a consultation in the|wards known as the hydrographical had called her—and stared. He could |room. Benny could hear, not two but [office, and upon its union with the not see so much as a flutter of her |three or four volces. national observatory in 1844 he was white bosom. He placed his hand on| “But we must get him away.” “He|made superintendent of the combined her snowy, waxen shoulder. If the[will spoil everything if he doesn't|institutions. The old observatory shoulder had been flery hot he could |unlock the door at once.” “The boys |shows in the sketch, behind the trees. not have drawn his hand away more (will be here any minute” “We can|To his duties as astronomer of the quickly. It was the warm, Soft|walt until they come and -then|Naval Observatory he added the task shoulder of a human being! The |[scream.” “And that would spoil it all |0f determining the direction of the Woman was alive! 00.” “You speak to him, Miss Gray- | Winds and currents of the ocean. He ad “nerve,” but at the moment he 1 ong store v was no longer Benny' Barr. He had | therer wala o ploctars vata Ppus |all other accessible sources, wherever a feeling of shame because he had |; cFor'c ShIC & PICRETOL VOICE. UO8 (he could find material for his pur- laid his hand on the bare shoulder i e e o a go |Pose. The first fruit of all this spe- of a beautiful woman, and he had [YOU Bleage unlock the door and go a feeling of uncanniness because he [3Way O N s understood. We are just two girls cial work appeared in 18566, in the form of a book, “The Physi could not understand. How many more_of the wax figures were flesh |BVIng 2 lark and you are going to sical Geog- raphy of the Sea,” which was_trans ruin everything.” gted lmoflfl;ll lanfinngu otpl'l'nnced, and blood? He grasped his hat in |FY, 2 5 ermany, Holland, Norway, §pain an Rils nand and cast another glancs at| I just love to ruin things” sald|Ttaly. As & result order of Rnlght- “Miss Vandergould.” The glassy eyes [Benny. hood and other honors were show- stared unseeingly past him. The lips | “Oh!” cried the voice with exaspera- lered upon him. To e their remained set in their glassy smile. [tion. “Well, if I must tell you there Had he not felt the warm: flesh yield |is going to be a bachelor’s farewell under his hand he would not even |supper downstairs and my flance made sources squnds as if one were naming the countries of Burope. Other books followed, so many over an inch \ TWO OF THE MAURY OAKS ON OBSERVATORY HILL. reading aloud, the -joking and the general hubbub about him. He delighted to take his children, “the whole tribe.” on country ram- bles. Often he would construet for them “a Tennessee arm,” a long pole with a crotch fastened to the end. With this he was expert In bringing ito earth apples, bright-colored sprays of autumn leaves and an abundance of nuts and acorns. He would tell one of the little girls just where to stand with outstretched pinafore. Great was the glee when the coveted );rlse landed safely In the little pina- ore. We look at the great oaks now standing in sturdy pride and majesty on Observatory hill and we wonder if the great overcup acorns from which they grew were “once upon a time” detached from their parent tree by “a Tennessee arm,” and if they mayhap fell with a happy thud into the pinafore of an excited little girl. ISABEL SEWELL HUNTER. Natural Magnets. IN Nevada are found curious mineral specimens known as ‘“sociable stones.” No better name could be given them, since when a few are dis- tributed over & level floor two or three feet apart they will begin to move toward one another to a com- mon center with an alacrity that is ludicrout Campers first noticed these stones. They had used wrapping paper for a tablecloth and weighted the cor- ners with some of the stones spread over the level top of a boulder. A few moments later, one of the men Inoticed that the paper was Yapping in the breeze and that the four or five stones were huddled in a group in the middle of the paper like a nest full of eggs. He thought the wind responsible, straightened them and added more stones. The next time he looked around the stones were back in the heap again. Once more he replaced the stones and sat down to watch them. They began to roll and hitch along toward one another until they were na The quicker the ball gets in the hole the more water you get for your bath, but no matter how long it takes you to hole out, you have got to climb in that tub d stay there five minutes e holed out. hole out dureing the five minutes the water was running you half to take your bath in & empty tub which gets to be something of a bore after the novelty wears off. One of the most fascinating games T thought up is played with one of these here put and take tops. In this game you measure the water by the glass full and when you have got a dozen glass fulls in the tub you shut off the water and climb in. Then you spin zuur top on the floor of the tub and if it comes up ‘“Put Two,” you put two more glass fulls of water in the tub. If it comes up “Take Three,” you let three glass fulls out of the tub. If it comes up .* u put in all the water the tudb will hold and enjoy a_ good bath. But if it comes up “Take AlL"” you half to leave all the water run out and your bath is over, you might say. L HE first five times I played this game I played in tough luck ag my first spin every time was “Take AlL" but the luck can’t run like that all the time and finely I span & “All Put” and needless to say enjoyed my bath a whole lot more for the long time it took to get it, to say nothing about haveing a practically dry towel when I needed it the most. S All kinds of solitaire games can be played in the tub with waterproof cards, and a system that insures a pretty good cleanseing is to get in the tub and play one kind of a game till you have beat it. me people may prefer an anchored board to play card games on but personly I find it more amuseing to lay the on the surface Qf the they will generally alway: where you put them unless you sway your body and make waves. The sports I have mentioned above is all for ome play: seat twa or more, why any limit to the differ- ent games that can be played. Chess and checkers, casino and cribbage is inded t the two ha! es that amot will hel Of course if got & bath tub big gam 1p pass the time away and it states along the border attains a ight of from thirty to forty fee In many cases the giant is a singl branchless stalk. “The Caliban of the Deser: hrows out gnarled and grotesque branches that run to a oddity in shapes, varying from form 't resembling a hedgehog to a bishop's| miter or & Spits dog. Mineral Microbes. PROF. MATIGNON of the College of| France has described experiments| made by him with ancient medals, vases and so forth, of lead, which are gradually disintegrating in the Museum of Cluny. After a certain number of years they fall into dust. The cause, it is thought, lies in the presence of minute traces of saline matter, with which the objects have| become impregnated during their| long burial in the soil or under water. These microscopic chemical impuri- ties play the part of bacteria and microbes in living bodies. In other| words, the lead is “sick,” and unless| the noxious m¥er be removed, will j * ineVitably perish. Curiously enough. it is found that if traces of salt i.. rted to & fresh mass of leuc it {s attacked, and eventually falls 1 pleces like the objects In the museu A Giant Sun. 'ANOPUS, the giant of the solar| system, is, according to & recen calculation, 49,000 times as bright a: the sun. Its diameter is 134 time: that of the sun; it is 18,000 time larger in surface and 2,420,000 time larger in volume. The distance from us, according to this calculation, i 489 light years. Suppose that instead of being a! this enormous distance it were placed in the center of the solar system, i lieu of the sun. It would then oc: cupy .85 of the space lying betwee the orbit of Venus, and as seen froi the earth would subtend an angle off about 70 degrees of arc. Thus, whe its lower llm‘b‘ :.n ‘otamm:; :::ru: u! w 2! oF the senth. eedless to say, .n‘: !m f the senith. Ni :mlld exist on earth with neighbor.