Evening Star Newspaper, March 14, 1926, Page 96

6 Dulcie Gets Into the Rough By Fannie THE SUNDA Kilbourne Y 'STAR, WASHINGTO Involving a Domestic Crisis and a Bag of Golf Tricks. HERE to be a serpent i den of Eiden, but strange that it lwavs be Duleie. for me Tone it n decided by fate 1d be the serpent for the seems seems that she entire town Before ried, Is were mar. was natu awrnily vret she cle was t that the wor il pla tow We had though, and used to her, tc flirting with all more than we minded the sillv. rowdy things tiarriet Luocy was alwavs doing. Harrics wever could 2o to a party without @eoppinz a_snoonful of cream down s or tell- ng each of two people privately that the other one had suddenly got deaf, wive abou <o please but just shout at him. Eversbody to hix own idea of a zood time, we used to sav. and let . my rather spe. v lived next and we were forth to din- afternoons, s quite natural, old e and se I so or a8 S0 many of our n scem too al | wwd weren't | fright, won't they, Wi Or, “I've {0t a pattern for the niftiest sports dress, and it only takes three yards— why don’t you gat some of that wash silk from your dad’s store and make {one too?"” Or, having wlole after- noons to waste, she'd study up the | fine points of mah-jong and then kid Dulcie was' a terrible stra 1 didn’t_vealize how much of one was till she went away on a S visit. The heavenlr peace tled over our little Tiouse! 1 stopped feeling all the time iike a child t is being jerked along by the hand an older person who is walking tc fast. We spent mosi of our spare | time with Howard and Ro jand the Kirsteds and Scott and | Corinne, people who. had babies of their own, and therefore some sense. When any of them came over of an svening, they didn’t stick around till 11 o’clock—they knew that 10 is feed- ing time. Once in a while those girls wouldn't |get around to doll up for supper ieither, and they thought it was stupid | | 1o try to play mah-jong as conscien- { tiously as though you had to "make | your living at it During that peace I actually man- aged to get-my life systematized, even with twins, in a w: 1 never in the world could have done it with Dulcie right mext door. starting {me for playing it about like dominoes. | ie Merton | Jut seeing Dulcie looking like an A summer resort was annoying. climax, when we ctually hinted | self’; ad for And to cap the were riding home Will a putting on weight. cery one does after they children, Wiil,” T explained, a coolly. Rosie and Corinne and Mrs. Kirsted and I had spoken of that that very afternoon. It had satisfied us W1 perfectly, but it didn't seem to sat- isty Will. “I suppose the stuff vou bridge parties afiernoons ing.” he hazarded. 1 said nothing to this, the fact that we quite. likely to have salads, {with Jots of whipped cream and ha at those good answer rather difficult. But T realized vight then that with Dulcie's return all my peace of the last two months was imperiled. Already I be- gan to see glimmerings of unrest ahead. But that was as nothing to the glimmering 1 got the first Saturday | afternoon after her return home. Will and Roger and nk Kirsted and Howard had gone out to pl | golf. as usual. Rosie and Mrs. K sted brought their children over and | parked them on our lawn, so that we could sit on our porch together and | sew and watch them. 1 had made a | fresh marshmallow ¢ 1 decided SOMetRIng 4"y it and serve some lemonade and | o'clock. fattén. | mousses and such things. making any | upset, the Dulcie who couldn't look at a mew heau of another girl with out wondering if it would be possible to get him away from her. Not that oI thought she wanted to y to get any of our husbands now, goodness knows, but—well, I couldn’t quite de- cide what it was that mgade me feel une; But I couldn’t help wishing Dulcle had a pair of babies, too, and had to stay at home like any other | married woman. ! ok ok THI’I next Saturday I had supper ready promptly at quarter past | usual, and those men never | e till seven o'clock. Will was | very apologetic. 1 | ‘e wanted to finish the | elghteen holes,” he explaine ‘and | Dulcie said you wouldn't mind, supper being mostiy a cold meal, anywa “I 'made pon-overs.” I said rather ! chillily; “and I'm afraid they aren't fit_to eat now Will was ver: and ate the pop-overs, which were cold and soggY. declaring they were good, of course. | He went right on explaining being | ‘lat(' and, as is always the case \\lwn; { Will starts smoothing things over, | the more he smooths them the | rougher they get. | “T hated to start home ahead of | the bunch.” he said, “because we get iin our hest chance to play after five All of us just Jearning, it six | ot hom up o) D. C. MARCH 14, 1926—PART married. which ms hopelessiy immatm pany for an adu that were married bables, which made Why. one in ie th 5 new to worry you just the minute vou | ) be zet the old one settled. Will helped {me a lot with the babies, and we got Loves, D things to running as smooth as clock- | She didn’t seem to be | work. | * % % make it o real social occasion. 1!makes us Kind of nervous when the called over to Dulcie to come, too, but | course is crowded; and the Harvester | t home. l'crowd thins down late in the after- {noon. You see, most of them keep | maids. and they have to get home lright on tick for dinner so the girls | any com- And those avs havi 1 i ! | il . i | of the . e - o * * SIE Mrs. Bl om = hool crowd *, ¥ OSIE and Mrs. Kirsted were con ¢ luncheon, Ly saving: baby spinach What do you hat on Well water and ¢ give vours? Everybod knowing that “Then all t} kind of she: were ol ht eut o ice. had looked no baby. 1zhed ing that they made hores nd. T often ally of Ros ed or ( e it w ervthing atien s like noth that kes close to another n confidenti val friend. hive Dulcie used to s contide mary or \ rinne, and they were dr d not tion to 1l that. Th vou feel person shar much and own twin babies came One of the first t Dulcie didr Al ns she had. seen: 1o know any. I went upstairs nd when 1 “Did you feed the :1d feed two en my the twins and Tuck, till v were at once, them Kirsted netimes loger weren't babies. A would m uch more uman. It w this time that regan o the first faint glin of the fact that Dulcie was going to e S WILL, WAS VERY WANTED TO FINISH UP THE HOLES™ HE EXPLAIN AND SAID YOU WOULDN'T APOLOGETIC. EIGHTEED WWE decided not to go away any- where for a vacation, but to | spend the money in the ‘“vacation” | part of. our budget box on other things. Will took half of it and surprise, | joined the new golf -club the Har- [T foined in. vester crowd has started out toward Verblen. Half our_ money wasn't enough, but Father Horton paid the rest, because he thought it would he zood thing for their real estate | business for Will to be able to take prospective customers out there. The other half of the vacation money I | took to pay Ella Crowninshield to stay | with the bables once in a while. | It was a glorious scheme. I bezan | getting out to hridge parties after- noons again now and then. 1 even read a new hook once in a while and felt pretty satisfied, because I Kept myself up better in general than Rosie for Corinne and just as well as Mrs. | Kirsted. Saturday afternoons Will put in learning to play golf. The | Harvester Co. closes Saturday after- oons: =0 does the bank. of course, which left Frank Kirsted and Roger | iree then, so Father Horton gave Will the time off, ton Will and T had always used to do | something together week ends, bhut Will was o crazy to learn golf that | T didn’t have the heart to « 1 knew he really needed the exercise, | and T had to admit that having Ella once in a while T really had more time for fun than he did. He was so dear about helpinz me a lot with the babies that I felt it was only fair. Be- sides, he was very careful about get- ting home to supper on time Oh, everything had got to running like a well oiled clock.” Mrs, Collier, who is a perfect whiz ahout keeping | house and who has her children so well trained you feel they can't be i | awfull | me see what you've picked up!- plaining about their husbands go- 4 turday afternoon to play golf. v weren't bitter at all about it, just pleasantly grumbling, and though T really didn’t mind much, There is nothing that makes you feel so comfortable as, when other women complain of their husbands, to realize that you've got one to complain of, too. 1 do feel orry for unmarried girls. eat any dinner aid plaintively. “Howard didn't at all today,” Rosie le never does Naturday noons any more | Sister, don't put that in vour mouth! —just bolts a few mouthfuls and dashes for the golf course. And then he comes home-at six so hungry 1| simply can’t get enough supper to satisfy him.” That's just the Frank is, 100, said Mrs. Kirsted. “I've decided that T'll have to have dinner at night o ., though 1 loathe it Frankie, bring that to mother! Tet T hate not to be able to get through the hot | work and to be cleaned up in the ternoon.” Will s golf.” T went on. perfectly awful about “Of course, T knew he would be, though. Ie never uses any tense about anything he takes T1e no sooner zets into the house | than he's gralbed one of his clubs and gome out to ihe ravine in back te practice. And, as I told him, while T don't mind his practicing ‘putting.’ whatever that is. all over our living room rugs, when he usked me 1o sit still und let him try dropping balls in my lap with 4 mashie 1 had to draw the line! We all laughed comfortab “T used to be perfectly ¢ Rolf myself before 1 was married,” id Mrs. Kir o T can unde . me kind of home. | sick to nk getting out his | clubs. If it weren't for Frankie, I'd like to take it up again.” We all sighed comfortably and sald | how different vour life was after you and and a baby or $0. I served the lemonade and we got to talking about Betty Bartell, and a quarter of six tne girls were just goi up. I switch “WE DULCIE IND, SUPPER BE- ING MOSTLY A COLD MEAL ANYWAY.” n om n of Eden. that Will admired ser. T don't mcan in the least that he was a particle interested in her senti- mentally, or that there was the faint- est thing the most jealous wife in the world would object But he thought she was pretty and clever and smart looking, all of which there was no de- nying she was. And, goodness knows, I didn’t mind Will thinking o, too. But there is no deny t after my babies came, it was sometimes a steain to have Dulcie childless right next door. Many a time, when dead tired at 5 o'clock sit_right still in my bung: and never move again, I've glanced out of the window to see Dulcie in a periwinkle-blue voile opening up her zateleg table out on the porch, and known she was g0ing to serve supper out there. And once I'd seen her I'd realize T just couldn’t let Will in for seeing such a contrast. I'd make myself take i ath and put on my own rose-dotted swis: ~upper table out on the porch too. Dulice never scemed to realize that it was any * for me to do things than it was for her. She'd say: ““Oh, come on and go to the movies. You know Will wants to Get Ella Crowninshield to stay with the Labies, Oh, of course they’ll be all e the serpen The trouble w I've Leen so I wanted to nd lving | ow apron | { healthy, actually complimented me on the way I was managing. “It's all in system,” she said. *Sy tem—and being firm. I tell Mr. Col- lier and the boys that I am not run- ning a restaurant. They know the meal time, and any one who is late has no meal. That’s all. 1 had to laugh at the idea of run- ning Will like that. But, fortunately, !'T thought, I didn’'t have: to. Will wanted to help me make things' go smoothly and I wanted him to be happy. So we got along beautifully! ill Dulcie got home! * kK k% A UALLY, Dulcie hadn’t been home two days before all my | peaceful, satisfied feeling of life going smoothly had vanished. To begin with, we all went on a picnic out to Lake Winneposocket and went swim- ming. Dulcle wears a black bathing guit, and there’'s no use pretending she doesn’t look simply gorgeous in it. I had brought my old suit and, to my { horror, I found I could scarcely get into it. Z g Not that I was fat in the least, goodness knows. Rosie had twice my trouble getting into her suit, and even Mrs, Frank Kirsted, who used .0 have a better figure than Dulcie, appeared a little broad. Looking about at the other girls who had habies. T should ive e vors well yleased with my- i used to keep all.the girls in_ town .<imply. insisted. electric we all Suddenl, as though an had been touched, lvoked down the street at the same time, Roger Lane's flivver was com- ing with our three husbands and Dul- cie in it. At first, we thought, of course, Dulcie had just driven out after them: but as they all climbed out and came swarming up to our norch with their clubs we found our mistake. Dulcie had been playing with them. She sat on the railing in a green {wash silk sports dress, swinging a 1pair of very good-lpoking golf shoes, and told us she ha% learned to play jon her vacation. The boys were all teasing and jollying her about her game. 1 glanced over at Rosie and, though we scarcely exchanzed a second's look. I could tell that. in the same vague, uneasy way I was feel- ing, she didn’t exactly like the idea. | I glanced at Mrs. Frank Kirsted, and she was looking like a person who | doesn’t really think there’'s a fire and yet seems to smell smoke. If Dulcie were plain and low- heeled and athletic-looking nobody would have minded. of course. But with her yellow hair and pretty eyés | there’'s no denying that Dulcie is simply made to be the serpent in somehody’s garden. Something,came | back to me out of the past. In the itime since we've all been married, | T'd almost forgotten the Dulcle tha | Nxing evervthing up was far less sat- ! now 1 i | again?” I asked, curiosity overcom- | ing_resentment for the time being. { palooza. | won't get sore and leave 1 said nothing for several moments, and the more I thought of that re. | mark of Will's the less I liked it. A husband has to be too considerate of his maid to keep her dinner wait- ing two minutes, but he can leave his mere wife hung up for three quarters of an hour while her pop- Overs get as SOEEY as Sponges. “It seems to me.” I said, in a hurt tone. “that when 1 have to stay at home all afternoon taking care of | vour children and getting your suppev, | the least you could do would be to! get here in time to eat it."” Will was quite crushed by the jus. tice of that remark, but his way of isfactory than before. The next Satur- | day afternoon he culled me up from the golt club. “Listen, honey." he said. as though he were handing me money, “don’t vou bother with supper for me to- night. We're just going to get started and it'll' be late. Dulcie says she’ll get us all something cold when | we get home."” Most unhappily 1 put the babies | to bed that night, got my own sup-| per, and ate it alone. At 8 o'clock | the flivver arrived. Will dashed in. | dropped his clubs, shouted: l “Dulcie says for you to come on over, Dott and dashed over to the Lanes’, i 1 didn’t go over. howeve Things | had come to a pretty pass when if I wanted to see m\y husband I'd got | to meet me at Dulcie Lane's. They ate out on the porch. I could hear them opening ginger ale and laughing and talking about the game. Will came home too enthusiastic to notice my coolnes. “Why don't you come on out and learn, Dotty”?" he demanded. “A lot of the Harvester bunch's wives play.” | “Who would you suggest I'd leave | the babies with?” I asked coolly. “Couldn’t mother—or your moth- *"he began. ‘he Ossili meet 28, 1 reminded arcely care to stay to_let me play golf. “Well, can't you hire Ella “Ella has a beau who has Saturday afternoons off. She would scarcely care to come then.” Whenever I feel irritated at Will use the word “scarcely” a great deal. “Well. you always seem to be able to get away to go to a bridge party,” he sald in a rather aggrieved tone. “I don’t go to bridge parties Satur- days,” 1 said. “Of course I can get Ella occasionally on other days. You see, Will,” T added. gently reproach- ful, “my life is rather different now that we have children. I can scarcely be as free as Duilcie.” “Say,” sald Will suddenly, “it's a funny thing about Dulcie. She doesn’t get anywhere’'s near as long a shot as the rest of us, but she hits straight and we go off wild to one side a lot. When we come to count up strokes, she'll often beat us on the hole.” “Did she wear that green dress er — Saturday after- him. “They'd home from that “No,” said Will; “she’s got a lolla- Stripes running round and round her like a convi It sounds ;unn\'. but it looks pretty slick on per.” he showed me the pattern,” 1 “I'd thought T might make me “Well,” said Will doubtfully, “I 1ln‘l’\"t know that you'd like it for your- self.” If there is anything that makes me wild it's for a husband to admire something orl another girl and then think it's too loud for his wife. Not till two days later did it occur to me that perhaps Will thought I was get- ting too fat to wear stripes running crosswise. This was hardly likely, though. I admitted. I was much sltm- mer than Rosie Merton, and it wasn't fair of Will to go comparing me with a girl like Dulcie. who has no children and nothing to do but doll herself and serve meals in the middle of the night. Oh, the strain was certainly on again, All the peace that had come while Dulcie was away had flown. The next Saturday they didn't get home till half past 8. And I | couldn’t say a word, Will was rav- | ing so over what a good sport Dul- cie was to be willing to get a late sup- per for them. Every week day eve- ning he'd dash out to the ravine to practice, right after supper. “Leave the dishes till it gets dark,” he'd say. “and I'll help you.” And when T wouldn't, he'd go just the same, and never come in till 9 o'clock. I recalledg Mrs. Col- lier saying that if she hadn't taken a firm stand she'd never have seen her husband except when it was too dark for him to see a golf ball. * ok ok X SEVERAL days latey I found that T wasn’t the only one who found Dulcie a serpent, Rosemary and Mrs. Kirstead and 1 happened to be alone at a table at Corinne's porch bridge, and during refreshment we fell to talking of our husband's golf. Strangely, all the pleasant, comfort- able complaining way we had had the last time we'd discused it was gone. We all felt queer and uneasy. Not that the other girls admited it, not that Dulcle was more than barely mentioned; but I never need any map to trace_out how other girls are feeling. Both of those others were just as uneasy as I was. Mrs. Frank Kirsted because she hadn't known Ducie before she was married and didn't know just what she might do, Rosie because she had kndwn Dul- cie and didn’'t know just what she might do. “I went out to the club with Frank last Saturda Mrs. Kirsted said. “and took Frankie, because Frank But I'll never g | | Dulcfe had told me tha AS THEY ALL CLIMBED OUT WARMING UP_TO_ OUR THEIR CLUB: PORCH WE FOUND OUR MISTAKE. AND CAME WITH DULCIE HAD BEEN PLAYING WITH THEM. Harvester again. There were four wives playing bridee and a couple old gentlemen on the porch. Of course T had to watch Frankie every second He played with the old gentlemen a while, but after a bit they left and he got restless. T took him around to the south porch and the old men were there, but they only staved few minutes. You just have to ke changing constantly to keep Frank quiet in a strange place, pret soon T took him up on the balcon The old men were sitting there t ing, and as 1 came in 1 heare of them groan and sav, “Here comes that infernal kid again® * Rosie and said sympathe how cold } » without childre ways got. was a little. r suggestive pause. Then “Did you see Duleie ont Rosie asked in a tone that woman could recoznize us me to be careless * sald Mrs. Frank Kirsted. “1 ched her drive off the couple tees. That is what makes me simply furious. . Frank has raving about her plaving till Tt} e must be a peach of a plaver Tan't she?" I asked, afraid lieve anything so consoling No." said Mrs, Kirsted: T should say not. The boys don’t play with the Harvester crowd, so there’s no other woman for them to compare her with She's good-looking. <o they thi wonderful if she manages to hit ball at all.” 1 vemember i Ty Thei the the patronizing very morr that the day of the rockinz-chair wom an was over “It makes me so fur Kirsted ten: “heca if T just didn’t have to stick home with Frankie I could go out and life out of her.” Rosemary a cou do at a s 's raining. said Mrs 11 looked up the wat p of blue sky when Do vou honestly think you could?” | " we asked. Hearing Rosie’s heartfelt tones, 1 wondered what Dulcie had said to Rosie. or, worse still, what Rosie’s husband had said about Dulcie. “I know I could,” Kirsted “with one hand tied behind my A But you can't get Ella Crowninshield on a Saturday, and I can’t play golf with Frankie tagging along.” “Leave Frankie with me Saturday I said. “And go out and beat Dulcie. And don't worry about supper said Rosemary. “or hurry home. You house for : ssing on vou girls too much,” Mrs. Kirsted objected “Imposing nothing K-} on his helmet. i stick h. | Corinne’s porch k she's | | the same tone exactly. There's hing in the world we'd like so welll You take your clubs and #0 out next Saturday afternoon and beat Dulecie It was h Kirsted Suturd: me. And Covinne's and T in nestly kind of funny. ht Frankie. over early noon and left him with 1t she had te brow fte I saw v osilk swe she was going to Rosie’s for sup. Tt was kind ding ot ribhon only too glad nd mind her child And with her every girl in We 1o lend her clothes and cook her supper t the prayers of town who had to stay home to take of babies. We might have to #t home that ernoon in the but in the spirit we were strid ing mg the links heside Mrs. Frank Kirste helping her beat Du e And she did. WL came amazed was a whiz ‘How was Dulcie?” 1 asked. “Oh, all rizht.” he said in a_carcless tone: “But no Mrs lesh home 8 oclock Frank's wife, he said, I simply hugged that careless tone my heart for two days. Monday rnoon, all four of us were on fairly idoliz Kirsted, “it W matter them hing to beat Dulcie. As a of fact. 1 licked the crowd of Our hushands, T beg to state, | are nohle luds but rotten golfers. se I know that | the ! Well, t said defen: Mrs, suddenly leaned for- ward, looking like the picture of Joan aring the voices. she said, “of course learning And if you don't want to jet a chance slip by that you'll rezret the rest of your lives, you'll find some way to learn at the same time. Ri row they want you to, and { would he glad to dub around with you But if you wait a couple of years till | they get good, they'll never be willing 1o play with you at all. here. ~ Tell me she couldn't learn to swing & golf club like a clap of thun- der just learning,” we all used to play tennis pretty well” L admitted. “Used to,” Mrs. Kirsted snorted. “That's the trouble. We're every one of us slipping into the ‘used-to’ class. We.can't afford to do it. We've got to keep. up with our husbands. We've sot to, or She paused, and though no one said a word 1 knew what each girl was thinking. Each one of them was see- e a knight of | Kirsted's | Mre. | she disclaimed our praises, | Look at Dot, | It was as alim ing the same picture | was, though Dulcie, pretty, laughing, had strolled slo the porcii. “How can 1 ¥ across | wer ked ny time and we can't g ¥ one to take of our b n” 1 thought of Dulcie again re must he some wayv,” | faid des- | perately. “There's gol to be!" said It “There’s simply got io Corinne. | WE sat rm; v.m.; fa i | Saturday afte timé, our hands I ha It seemed hope- 1 could do to make Ella mother I do. ing thinking thou hard in my life e was all myself leave m who, mnever I couldn’t feel responsibiliiy Zven if T could find somebody in town I could hire—and the town had been ! too well canvassed to leave much hope of that—but even if I could. T doubted I cou right about T 1 would glance up and see looking hopeless, foo sw that every one of them ha Icie’s ghost walk across she | { They would look:up a moment, then bury thefr chins in their hands again and go back to thinki And out of our desperation the idea was horn. [t | happened to come to Ros rton “Why don't we take t * she de- manded. “There are four N seven babies. Why couldn’t each of u give up one Saturday afternoon ou | of four and take ¢ £ all seve It was The Idea! I knew the instant we heard i W world had nobody thought of it b | fore? 1t would be a terrible afternoon for the one left at home, as 1 knew, aving watched spoiled little Frankie Kirsted last Saiurday. But those who went away would feasv. knowing that there was mother on the job who would recog as ve It seen reh e it | nize the croup cough if she heard it. |She told me first of all that And, after all . what was having one perfectly horrible Saturday afternoon lout of four? Tt was certainiy better than having all four kind of terrible. “And we'll have a picnic supper on one of our porches all together after- ward,” we elaborated the plan. “Out on the porch, so we can all put the babies to bed at home and hear them if they should cry. Just cold stuff we can get ready in the morning. The one who's been taking care of the children will just sit still and be waited on by the rest. Paper cups and plates, so there’ll be no dishes to wash.’ It was a gorgeous guess most gorgeo desperate necessity. idea, born, as I ideas are. out of The funny part Fit Lapproach sk | | Callie i in the |awfy » feeling perfectly | veran a |l is worked don’t sn't the that gorgeot Of course it seemed when ting 2 v afternoons I had hard to lea ing my he: to a bridge rnoon out ots of s simple as i we I haven't bee; months, Ever possibly hire B links with the old ight Will and vine. practicing Then some balls inte parts can I'm on the el And eve are out back in ts till dark practice poppi 1z-room chai : f times we the big 1 I went cor s frantic fashie! 1<e of duty, spurred Dulcic. And then one after 1'd been at it for weeks, a sing realization came to me. | iaily crazy about f. 1t is e ? saturdays out of every fou are simply gorgec We didn't ge home one weel quarter past 9 I certainly felt sorry to see poor Mi leaving nd of the 1th hole an 2 home, s not to_keep waiting 17 ites. Mrs, be proud hav “trained” but 1 er have Will look around in sur prised adm a the firs time 1 drove than to have him wel de-show flea. And the way and on b diy sury ' of a 150 yards I've taken off weight I made up the sports dress pattern with the stripes running around, and the first time Will saw’me in it it wis worth all the work. He safd: ‘If you want to hand somehody ar laugh, just put on that dress A then tell ‘em vou've got two chil ven. You look about 14 But in splte of our success, joke is on all four of us girls who saw Dulcie’s ghost walk acros Corinne '« For. now that we've al rned golf just on account of Dulcie ie isn't “plaving zolf any more she ex pects to be in the orange juice and spinach class herself next Winter. I'm really pleased. but not at all for the veason I had once thought I'd be. 1t will mean no rest for me. It certainly seems like looking for trouble, but I've decided to Lunt me up another childless chum right away. Ever woman with bables ought to have at least one. It keeps her from getting fat_and settled down before her time There's no telling when something else like golf will be coming along new and if I just ran around with other mothers I might never even hear of it. I guess it wasn't such a bad idea that slipping the serpent in along with Adam and Eve. (Copyright. 1928.) Dy American Mystery Man of Ancient Eze Settles on Rock Above Mediterranean BY STERLING HEILIG. MONTE CARLO, February RE you going to see mysterious Americam 25. the [ ze? When S. S. McClure sent me to Monte Carlo 24 years ago, this month, to report on Santos-Dumont’s air flying along this coast, my hotel warned me not to g6 walking alone up the hill of Ize. An_ English tourist had just been killed in a solitary lane between the points where Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont | hole! and President Poincare now have their | villas. ‘ “The Eze people had Mediterranean corsairs for their great grandfathe: and have not changed much since™ 1} was told. Which, T am persuaded, was a calumny. Anybody may be attacked in a lonely spot. But there is no doubt that both nature and man have been savage at Lze. There is a great gash in-the roc that rise up from the blue sea in fan- tastic beauty of this far-famed Riviera. If American tourists do not climb the stony paths alone today ft is hecause they come in crowded touring cars from Monte Carlo—touring cars have opened up the old pirate stronghold very lately. Kven four years ago, when 1 came looks—clusters of fine, but sinistec.old stone houses on the rock which slants to the abyss, 1,000 feet above the sea. At the tip-top you find the aneient castle and one of the finest, soul- widening views in the wide world. Already, in the little open ylarefl mid the top houses, a “tourists’ bar” was open and fast alseep. Sir Prt:df‘ ick Treves, who had been King Edward VII's doctor, went through rhere again, Eze had not changed in tematically and declares that he found by way of green life “two trees and, in 2 backyard, a vine.” On one of the little terraces there was also a “fam- ily house,” which 1 took as a bid for | Yorker, but les English and American boarders. Igmo this loneliness the American mystery man landed plop! His is Barlow. He appeared her years ago and looked around. hen he bought a house—the bizgzest and a finest in the heap at the top of Ize— | and those whe heard about it laughed: |y the sea is the beloved residence of | Barlow's house had or seven ot name | Wilof Mrs. Belmon commune with a few hundred “inhab- | itants.” who own the houses, whether | they iive in them or not, and often- | est not! | So began the mystery. ‘What was this curious American’ going to_do | with such a house, in such a spot? | A London cockney said he “wouldn't | take it for a gift.” but he had no | imagination of the terrific past of | Eze and no foresight of rising land lues. The cockney called it * but in fact it is a rock cone 1,000 feet high. A_German fourist (there are such Monte Carlo and Nice) made the tion that ‘u man an't live on a view.” ch was the general opinion. Mr. rlow must be rich, because 1o one an speculate in rock-top real estate, Ithough lower. down, by the sea, all along this coast, a near-Florida in- is raging. from top to bottom of the rock is the view; and so, judiclous. people gath- cred that the Amerfcan must be a cultivated and artistic man, as well as rich. T hear that he is both. Guides do not mention Mr. Barlow’s | name. One of the famous “Corniche" roads which runs like a cornice above the sea leads tourist cars on a high viaduct ‘across the abyss of the Eze Valley. Most tourlsts look down. ‘Those Who 100K up call to them: “Look, what a funny village on top of a rock! The next thing they know they are winding down the boulevard Gordon- Bennett. Then, further on, the guide | shout ; “The new ‘stone chateau which you e over there has been built by Mme. Jacques Balsan, nee Vanderbilt! | It | is the Winter house of the former | Duchess of Marlboro, a genuine New adventurous in space Who, indeed, is like The guide goes on: “Below there, by the sea, is the villa mother, of Mme. than Mr. Barlow., { him? [ Balsan!™ ! And. at a decent. intery “The villa with the palm-tree terrace Al Poincare, former President of the rooms, and the windows in its thick ;¥rench Republic.” stone walls enjoyed the glor All around, humped up against were smaller stone houses with a few But,"as nothing can be seen, from practicable automobile road, of Barlow’s house—which is the rooms and windows each, straggling | newest as well as the oldest of them down the rock. The bhig house had en the may 111 doubt {f the guides will eve: - is a litdle pronounce’ his name: rotten | vestment fever in land for habitations | The only valuable thing | But the natives all around, whose ancestors were pirates, and American art students. who are about as push- |ing as any Mediterranean . pirates were—they climb up and wonder. What is he doing up there? Wonder and surmises increase. for {little by little Mr. Barlow has been buying up discreetly. without any real estate boom. on Eze's rock top now one and now another of the little stone housts that flank and bolster up his own dwelling near the peak. What is he doing with them? That {is the mystery. And still the womw der grows, Relays of workmen—headed by high-paid specialists—come up with cement and tiles and porcelain bath- tubs on donkey back. The bought houses are not torn down. On the contrary, they are left in all their solid old picturesqueness, to cling to the rock of which they seem a part. But. like the great house, of which |they are to be. auxiliary dwellings (with winding steps up to it and down again, in short. wide flights) they show within all the luxury. of Amer. ica and Europe. Each has its little artistic room, with bedroom. bath. d voom, trunkroom and a door onto a beautifully paved terrace. The ter- races connect, and on them Mr. Bar- low’s guests may dance in the moon- light, look at the lights of Monte Carlo, and dream of the days when ze was the great pirate cit sitting {where Mr. Barlow sets them down in iluxury saw drunken pirates’ quarrels |and the blood of slave-made seamen and passengers: Nowhere else is s clear days they may blue level of the Mediterranean, ch a view. On Spy, across the the Napoleon was born. Napoleon's wars were gigantic, but they were not as bloody in proportion as the fighting up and down this rock women as peaceful as tourists were climbing up and down for untold | thousands of years before that. | The oldest ting road | world’s ci !foot of this rock. It began as the trail of the wonderful people who be- gan circling the Mediterranean almost as soon as it had become a sea all by itself, with outlet into the Atlantic Ocean. Their remains are found in cave dwellings on both sides of Monte Carlo. Some came wandering .from what i< now Africa. by the west.” Oth- ers came from what are now Ttaly N of the of all | {Europe, and the little stone house | tory distant Island of Corsica, where great for a thousand years. And men and | ization winds along at the | slng{\\hlle seamen | Greece, by the east. In the grottoes of the Red Rocks, only a dozen milés away, layers of tracked-in soil remain with relics of human life from nine successive ages! On the rock-top of Eze the mer chants of Tyre (like the Romans hun dreds of vears afterward) kept a sta tion to observe the changing moods of the sea and movements of suspicious navi Then the Saracens stormed up and down the rock, murdering and pillag ing along the whole coast and making on the Rock of Eze their impregnable stronghold At e the Saracens remained .20 vear . They were ousted by a combination of European corsairs as bad as them selves. 3 out-and-out republic of cutthroat pi rates from all Europe. without an: racial subterfuge. as with the Sara cens, rioted, feasted their wives and ioned off the loot from gutte: merchant ships in their strong city o Eze. Respectable merchants from a dozen cities came habitually, as at fair in tervals, to bid on bargain goods fron those unhappy ships, already sunk and passengers, surviv ing as slaves, were stabbed in pirates drunken gaveties. To clean up the blood and grime of the ages from the huddled little houses of these creeping lanes that crawl up to the rock top would de mand the vacuum cleaners of all his Mr. Barlow. as on the terraces beside the Deds he has made, musi se, at times. the phantom form ossa, * last great Turkish pirate who raged up and down here or that of the grandson of De Gors bloody corsalr of South France, who made himself Seigneur of Ezk, with a political treaty from Rome, on con dition to attack no European shipx imd “defend the coast against the pirates of Barbary But to get the piano into his great house Mr. Barlow had to demolish the loorway. Such is life. Fven his guests dance flower Broadcast Reports. HE LeAgue of Nations has est. lished the broadcasting of heaith reports from a radio station in French Indo-China, so that countries of the world may be kept informed of dis- ease conditions and warned of nl.rm-{ s o