Evening Star Newspaper, February 2, 1930, Page 95

, D. C, FEBRUARY 2, 1930. 13 enry Memorial Award Stories CE) BY J AMES HOPPER jiffy was asleep . . . I couldn’t believe it.” and hugging that pillow to her heart. I'll never see anything like it again—never! “The moon moved very slowly; the light re- mained upon her a long time. I kept getting ip to look, getting up to look, and each time & new marveling at my heart. John, she was s0 sweet, sleeping there in that little luminous cave made by the moon. I couldn't belicve it. I couldn’t believe something so beautiful could be happening to me. And thus I spent the night, John! “But is all this of any use to you? Am I giving you anything at all?” I came in from far away; I sat there, blink- ing. “Yes,” I said after a moment. “You are giving me something.” 3 “It seems—so strange now,” he apologized. “Almost—foolish.” “Go on and tell me more,” I said. But he had come to some sort of block. I could see that. He was studying me furtively, appraisingly. “You really want me to go on? You're not bored?” “No, I am not bored!” I said. “What I wanted to tell you about next,” he started doubtfully, “is something that occurred three days later. But—well—I don’t know—— “You see, I was still a bit out of my head—I want you to remember that. And they, still giving me morphine—don’t forget thift.” It seemed that a well intentioned {ffiend, by chance that Sam was in the| hos- pital, had written to Mrs. Sam about it. ' And she had come down post-haste on the first train. It was the third day after the operation and & sultry afternoon. In the afternoon, he ex- plained to me, he would be feeling worse than any other time. He was told that his wife was downstairs, waiting to come up to see him. “It was then something terrible happened,” he said to me now. He choked a little, reddened, but looked me straight in the eye. “I found,” he said, “that I did not want to see her at all. “My wife, John! I did not want to see her at all! “I didn't want to see her, I didn’t want to see any one at alll I wanted to remain just as I was up there in my little room. Alone in “that small, elean, white, quiet world built about me by Marjorie Downe. “It wasn’t only that, John; but there was a sort of despair about it. I tell you truly; I did not want to see her. Wasn't it queer? And terrible?” She was told to come up; there was a per- functory knock at the door; she came in and took her place at his badside. “I was altogether desperate, John—it was the queerest thing! I was trying to hide it from her, of course. I was trying to talk to her in our regular, accustomed manner. But, do you know, I couldn’t! I couldn’t remember what had besn my usual, my familiar manner; I couldn’t remember the tone. It would come out all wrong, all the inflections wrong. Just as when you miss the right note. What I sald kept sounding as if I were talking to a stranger. I'd listen and I'd know I was talking 8s if to & stranger, and I wouldn’t be able to change it. I wouldn't be able to remember the right tone. Everything I tried would twist around into that wrong way, of speaking to a stranger. It was terrible. “After a time, John, she began to speak of & project close to her heart—that of our builde ing a new house. The old place, you know, has become insufficient. ‘The children enter- tain now, and they are a bit ashamed of the old place. Perfectly reasonable, all that; we do need a new house. But, do you know, when she began to speak about it I suddenly went quite wild! I felt as if a hole were being punched in my ecircle—the enchanted circle which had-been drawn about me here, which kept all such things out. Everything began to pour in now—all the mix-ups, the complications—just the idea of moving all that furniture, all those books. ., . , “JOHN. suddenly I found myself tearing at my hair. Violently, with both hands. In the most melodramatic manner. Such as you used to see in cheap plays. Tearing away at my hair with both hands. In the most foolish manner.” ; He came to a stop, looking at me with his flat, honest face twisted with a rueful smile, He seemed to have stopped for good. “What happened then?” I urged. “Well—she—Mrs. Sam—was surprised, of course. Sat there looking at me in amazement. And a little disgust, dare say—naturally! But she saw I was not up to par, was not quite right. Bhe cut her visit short.” The big dining room in which we were sit- ting was now empty. Curtains had been drawn: even the waiter who had been hovering about Our corner was now gone, “And that was my wife, John,” he said, “my own wife? Isn't it strange what a little illness, a little pain, a few grains of some strange drug can do to one? How utterly, for the time being, they can change one? Alter and twist the real and fundamental nature? My own wife, John! Isn't it queer? “Anyhow, I've told you all. I'm a bit asham- ed to have told you so much. But I've done that because you are a writer, John, I feel that we poor dubs who go about, busy as any- thing, creating nothing, owe it to you fellows to tell you anything that may help you. Help you to get things right. And now you have an jdea cf how it must happen when a man falls in love with his nurse—as you read in the papers often. If ever you have to get that into a story, you'll know pretty well how it may happen——" He was fumbling along the bench behind him, he had half risen. “Yes,” I interrupted, “but you didn’t, did you? You didn’t fall in love with your—with—what is it you called her? With Marjorie Downe?” “Oh, no, not I!” he said hastily. “Why, I am married, John! Happily married—you know how closs we are, Clare and I! No question of anything like that for me. But I did get a pretty good idea as to how it happens when it does happen, and that's what I've been trying to get over to you. About the morphine and everything.” We had risen, ready to go, cramped with our long stay; we were facing each other in the large darkish place. “How did it end?” I asked brutally. He made a vague gesture. “It ended—well— just naturally. You see, in a ‘few days the doctor told me I no longer needed a private nurse; the regular staff service would do. Well, the thing was clear, then. A private nurse costs something; T had no right spending a lot of money that way—when it was so much needed elsewhere—besides the cost of the oper- ation and everything, and my lying idle, my business probably going to pots. I let her go.” He looked at me fixedly. “I gave her a pair of gloves,” he said. His eyes were remaining fixed on me, he Developing Metal for Planes. ‘HE growth of a new industry always brings accompanying problems, and with the problems come unthought-of solutions. His- tory in this connection seems about to repeat itself in the aircraft industry. The need for a light but strong metal has ben met to a large extent with the application of aluminum and magnesium, but science now steps for- ward with the hope that rare metal, even more. adaptable to the needs of the aircraft manufacturers, may be developed on a large scale, The rare metal, beryllium or glucinum, as it is sometimes called, now sells for somewhere around $200 a pound, a prohibitive price, yet with the example of helium, which has grown in a few short years from a very expensive element, used only as a laboratory plaything, to a gas sufficiently low in price to warrant its use in dirigibles, it seems reasonable to expect that in a few years beryllium will be in regular use for the framework of planes, Beryllium probably is more abundant in the earth’s crust than many of the minor metals that are ordinarily considered rather common, states Alice V. Petar, in a report just made public by the Bureau of Mines. It is not a new metal, for it has been known for more than a hundred years, but even yet it has not been put to work commercially except to an extremely limited extent. Since beryllium is very light and exceptionally hard and strong, many believe that it is destined to share with magnesium and aluminum in the fast-growing demands. The mineral beryl, which seldom contains more than about 5 per cent of the element, is the only recognized ore of beryllium. It is a common accessory in pegmatite veins and is also found in clay slate and mica schist, but hitherto only the gem varieties, including em- erald and aquamarine, have been actively sought. In several localities, however, ordinary beryl is produced as a by-product in mining mica feldspar, and often beryl has accumulated on the dumps because no buyer could be found. Only within the last two or three years has. there been an active demand for the mineral, even in ton lots, and as yet requests for car- load shipments are extremely rare. Consid- erable interest has been awakened,” neverthe- less, in the possibility of opening deposits that will yield beryl in substantial quantity, The metal beryllium, or glucium, has aroused the interest of many investigators, who have worked out various processes of extracting it from its ores. Berylllum is very light, having about the same specific gravity as magnesium, and is almost as hard as quartz. It will scratch glass, and it takes a high polish. Early investi- gators claimed that beryllium was malleable and could be easily forged and cold-rolled into sheets, but later studies do not support these claims. Whueitkpoulblefintlhmlufielym beryllium, 1f obtained, might have the qualities formerly attributed to it, investigations con- ducted at the Bureau of Standards with metal of 98.7 per cent purity indicated the contrary. This product was described as “coarsely crystal- line, reminding one of antimony or bismuth, ®* ¢ * hard and brittle, and apparently in- capable of being wrought cold.” It is further stated that more recently metal of more than 99.5 per cent purity has been produced, some lots of which are semi-malle- able cold and can be rolled hot into a thin sheet. The melting point of beryllium has been determined as 1,285 degrees centigrade, or a little above that of manganese. Considerable research has been carried on in this country and abroad toward the develop- did not seem to be able to let go. ‘Then sud- denly his face screwod up in a quick spasm, and two tears squeezed out of his eyes. He was appalled; I could see he was appalled at this which was taking place in him. His hands reached out and clutched me. He held on to me like a man choking, who wants his collar loosened, like a man with a heart ate tack who blindly wants to be held up—and as, helpless, I stood still, looking out over his head, pretending not to see, the movement of his body, transmitted to mine, shook me as if with short hard sobs. There—it was over—he had mastered hime self; he let me go. And catching up our hats we walked out together, I and the man who thought he had some sort of an idea as to how it happens when it does happen. Copyright, 1930, > ment of uses for beryllium, but the use of the 2 metal is still in the experimental state. From umetoumetherehavebeenltempflnm describing it as the new and logical light metal for aviation use, and the materials subcome mittee of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics is planning to arrange for tests of beryllium for use in airplane construction. Nevertheless, to date this use has not material~ hed,mdnoermmcomm.whlchhubem particularly diligent in its studies of the prop= erties and possible uses of the metal, has con= centrated its efforts chiefly upon alloys containe ing small quantities of beryllium with heavy metals, such as iron, copper and nickel. It is claimed that beryllium hardens iron ) & great extent and that alloys of berylium with copper and nickel have high resistance properties and should find application im grinding, stamping, spring making, etc. In the United States the metal has been produced on a semi-commercial scale by one concern. While this company has devoted some attention to the heavy alloys, chiefly those of beryllilum with gold and silver, its chief interest has been with the beryllium-aluminum alloys. It has been stated that the addition of beryllium to aluminum increases its strength and resistance to corrosion, and that an alloy containing 70 per cent beryllium and 30 cent aluminum exhibits materially greater 5 sistance to salt water and air corrosion tham any other of the light alloys. Beryllium has been used in this country and abroad in X-ray apparatus. Another use which may grow considerably is for electrodes in connection with neon signs. Experiments have been conducted at the University of Pittsburgh on over 80 different glasses in which beryllium oxide replaced eal- cium oxide or magnesium oxide. It was found that beryllium glasses are somewhat more re fractory than magnesium or calcium glasses, and that beryllium glass is much harder than calcium or magnesium glass. Results so far obtained indicate that beryllium glasses wazre rant further study. Beryl, the only recognzied ore of beryllium, is a compound silicate of aluminum and beryl- lium. In color, beryl varies from white or colorless to green, blue, yellow (amber) and even red, but usually it is some shade of green. Clear transparent crystals are cut as gems, ‘The deep green variety, the color of which is attributed to the presence of a little chromium, is the emerald, which is worth more than the diamond. Aquamarine, a sky-blue or greenishe blue variety, is also a precious stone. Bery? is about as heavy as quartz, sometimes a little heavier, but its outstanding characteristic is its hardness. It is harder than quartz or toure maline and practically as hard as topaz, from which it differs in that it has no distinct cleavage. It crystallizes in hexagonal ranging in size from mere thread-like to huge crystals many feet in length and weighing several tons. Occasionally it occurs in large columnar or granular masses. In addition to its potential value as a source of beryllium metal, ordinary beryl may have other uses, notably as a substitute for feldspar in the manufacture of porcelain. Occurrences of beryl have been noted i many States. Good emeralds have been found in Massachusetts and in North Carolina, Aquamarines and other gem specimens have been obtained at Paris and Stoneham, Me.; Mount Antero, Colo., and several places in North Carolina. The best emeralds, however, are mostly imported. The world supply comes from Colombia, British Indis, Brazil, Siberia, Australia and (recently) South Africa. Segregate Poisons in Home. ‘HE man that leaves a loaded gun around where children are playing is no more care~ less than the housewife who leaves poisons around in her pantry where they might become accidentally mixed with foods or mistaken for foods. . As a case in point the Department of Agri- culture points out the recent holiday arsenic poisoning case. A somewhat similar case occurred in an Indiana store some years ago. Contaminated sugar sold by the store made a number of people ill, killing two of them. The tration found that rat poison had accidentally been thrown into an open sack of sugar. In Los Angeles, in 1926, 19 persons became il from eating pies containing arsenic, The baker who made the ples did not know how the arsenic got into the food. It was declared to be accidental. Probably none of these cases would have oc- curred if poisons had been kept away from the food and out of the kitchen. The Federal caustic poison act requires tha$ certain alkall and acid poisons be labeled plainly in large type to lessen the danger of accidental poisoning. However, there are many, other poisons, such as those found in insecti~ cides and some silver polishes, which are deadly If taken in sufficlent ‘quantities, and the hderd law does not require that these articles be' conspicuously labeled as poisonous. Although many manufacturers have volun< tarily used warning labels, or have put poisonous preparations in containers of distine< tive shape or in bottles with rough exteriors studded with knobs or points to warn the user even in the dark, poisons of the insecticide type’ are frequently bought in bulk form in bags that' are not labeled. Arsenical insecticides may easily be mistaken for flour. Unless packages containing such poison are locked up or as least segregated after use, there is danger of the poison getting into food. The cautious housewife should have a safe place in which she can store all poisons to prevent accidents, says the Department of Agriculture, a