Evening Star Newspaper, March 2, 1930, Page 97

(D€, MARCH 2, 19%9: 13 e R oo S S SR ET En hort Storics of the Year © By Morley Callaghan ne effort to become a champion, till he had t all interest in fighting. They were sitting the kitchen. His father had his feet up on stove. You're lazy, Joe; mighty lazy,” his father (. Youre all wrong, Pa; I'll get a job tomor- , but that won't please anybody.” But, Joe, what about the big money?” t just don’t appeal to me. I want to fight en I feel like it,” Joe said. “And I can't do d get married.” hree days before the fight with Goldie he eloped an unusual interest in road work, ging along five or six miles a day. Doc es, becoming enthusiastic and eager to en- rage the Soldier, talked about the absolute ssity of strong legs and good wind, and ed to accompany him. But Joe went alone, ing the Adonis at 2 o'clock in the after- n, running unevenly with a clumsy, jerky de. He had never done much road work. jogged up Broadview avenue, slowing to a occasionally, his eyes always on the nd. The steady pounding of his feet as ran helped him to think clearly, and he had g imaginary conversations with Mollie. Out- the city limits there were more trees and n fields. He lay down on the bank at the d side, his hands behind his head, his eyes ked. He wondered if Mollie would be at the ht. e felt sirong and very confident the night the fight. He was sitting in the dressing m talking to Doc Barnes, waiting for the of the preliminaries to finish, and the Doc, ng a new silk shirt, was leaning against ble, giving him advice. Barnes always gave h advice before a fight, though he knew it 't help him. The Soldier was more inter- bd in his bull pup which he was holding on table, regarding it critically. Many ghts had been bothering him all day but he was worried because it looked as if the ’s legs weren’t going to bow sufficiently to him a really ferocious appearance. He bbed the legs at the joints, hunching up the ulders. He pulled down the lower lip, show- strong teeth. The dog liked it and looked did ‘as long as he could hold the position. Barnes went on talking. The Soldier stud- the dog carefully. They could hear the wd shouting. poc Barnes stepped out of the room. He e back quickly and said, “All set, Joe?” ep.” ow you feelin’?” [Fine as silk, Doc.” Soldier wrapped his green dressing gown tightly around his waist and they walked n the aisle to the ring. A crowd of nearly ht thousand was in the Coliseum, an arena h tiers of seats around a level tan-bark sur- sometimes used for horse shows. The pside seats were on the tan bark. Before the fiier reached the ring Goldie climbed through rope, both hands held high over his head. crowd cheered. . The cheering was louder n the Soldier skipped lightly along the P Then the crowd laughed and kidded .hen they . were being introduced he glared Geldie. He waved his hand three times at c one calling to him, but concentrated on QGoldie’s black body, glistening under the arve- Nghts. The crowd yelled at the sound of the bell and Joe walked slowly from his corner, staring intently at Goldie's chin. He crouched, his head forward, most of the weight on his right foot, his right hand held steadily at his hip. He rocked gently back and forward on the balls of his feet. Goldie danced in, hitting him twice with his left, once on the side of the head, once on the chin. Joe grinned. He stood up straight and grinned. He hadn’t touched the smooth brown body that slid by him. He set- tled back to the crouch, sticking his chin out farther while he pawed with his left hand. Then he laughed, and the crowd yelled, and Goldie got sore, smashing him over the eye with his right hand. Joe shook his head. Blood was in his eye. He swung his right hand for the first time but didn’t really expect to land, or get the old feeling, the emotional re- lease. It would come later, everything working up to that point, the inner excitement growing but not yet strong enough. The brown body, glistening with sweat, swung in close, and the Soldier flailed it with his left hand. Goldie hit him six times in the body, twice just over the solar plexus, and he felt sick. The crowd laughed. “Oh, you Soldier.” “Take aim, Joe.” The . Soldier half turned his back on Goldie and stuck out his tongue at the crowd. Cat- calls didn’t bother him; they warmed him up. Goldie, slightly puzzled, stared at him suspi- ciously. The bell ended the round. Joe skipped lightly to his corner. He sat on the stool, his gloves on his knees, listening to Doc Barnes talking excitedly. He stared at the arc-lights, blinking his eyes, then at the small yellow lights over the crowd. He wondered if Mollie were out there under the small yellow lights, and his mental picture of her seemed indistinct. The thought of her was utterly unimportant at the moment. He couldn’t be bothered thinking about her. In the second round his weight held Goldie on the ropes, but Goldie swung back on the re- bound before the Soldier could adjust himself at the new angle, and swung both hands to the head, jarring, jolting, till the crowd yelled for a knockout. The thud and slap-thud jarred the Soldier, his knees sagged, and dazed, he stood up straight, dropping his guard, and de- spising the crowd and Goldie's smart work. He swayed, shook his head, and crouched, rock- ing gently on his feet, his big body tense as Goldie, grinning, jabbed prettily. Goldie jab- bed. The Soldier got it on the chin, but swung his right hand from his hip. He felt the im- pact, stiffening his arm, his heart pounding. his breath held in, the emotion quickly carried to a peak, then slowly subsiding as Goldie toppled, his head banging against the canvas, his right i leg twitching, trembling. The Soldier waved to the crowd. He ran to his corner. The crowd.kept on roaring as he tried to climb through the ropes and his seconds pushed him back. The referee had counted six when Goldie rolled over and got up on one knee. The Soldier saw Goldie trying to balance himself on the one knee. Slightly bewildered he watched him, then rushed across the ring and pushed aside the referee, eager to hit Goldie. The timekeeper stopped counting. The Teferee held on to Joe frying to push him wwey: Joe could think only of Goldie attempting to get up after he had landed satisfactorily and knocked him down. Goldie was on the floor for 30 seconds but the Soldier should have retired to his corner, and there had been no ccunt after six. Goldie got up, staggering clumsily, groping away from the Soldier. The crowd was booing and whist- " ling. A hard hat fell in the ring, then a great many hard hats. Joe did not go after Goldie. He grinned weakly. He wasn’'t anxious. to hit him again. There could be nothing further in it for him. Goldie leaned against the ropes and watched the Soldier, then advanced de- terminedly. The Soldier crouched mechanically and stuck out his left hand. He puckered his forehead and wi'h his right glove tried to block Goldie’s left swing and counter with his left, but had no further energy. He was just mak- ing motions. Goldie came in, the glove came dully against the Soldier’'s chin and he fell on the ropes. The glove came again and Joe fell over the ropes onto the knees of the reporters. He rolled onto the tan bark. The crowd howled. They carried the Soldier intc his dressing room. He was heavy in their arms, and aware, very casually, of Doc Barnes swearing rapidly. ARNES drove him home in his car. Joe sat beside Barnes and rubbed his hand over his chin. He hadn’t shaved his chin for five days. Barnes turned corners recklessly, infringing upon traffic Jaws. Each time they turned a corner Joe knew how the Doc felt about it. Twice he opened his mouth to speak and said finally, “I'm sorry, Doc, but I guess I'm through.” “Oh, you're all right,” Doc said generously. “No, I'm through.” “Man, you can still earn a living at it.” “No, there’s-absolutely nothing in it for me.” “Well, you'll have to do something.” ‘I know it.” The Doc was driving more carefully. A few drops of rain hit the windshield. The Soldier weni on rubbing his chin. He had a thought of the fight and tried to forget the aching dis- appointment that was heavy inside him. ““‘Oh, it’s not so bad,” he said. “How you figurin’?” “I'll get a job.” “Yeah.” “Yeah, I've thought about getting a steady job before, Doc.” “I know.” “And if I get a job I'll get married, and that's that, and it's all settled.” “She wanted you to go across big, didn't she?” “I know, but mostly she wants to get mar- ried.” The Doc, driving with one hand, put a ciga- rette in his mouth. “Well, it's your funeral,” he said. “I know it, Doc, but I want to get it settled. See? And tonight sorta fixes it up for me with her. She won’t have no ambitions for me now, see?” (Copyright, 1930.) New Marriage and Divorce Laws. " Continued jrom Tenth Page at the time married or under the age limit, insane, imbecile, pauper, epileptic, feeble- minded or afflicted with tuberculosis or a ve- nereal disease or related to each other within the first degree of consanguinity or affinity as defined in the bill. 4. Application for a marriage license must be made by one of the parties to the marriage at least two weeks before the license shall be issued. It is provided that in case of emer- gency or extraordinary circumstances, the judge of the court having probate jurisdiction may authorize the license to be issued at any time before the expiration of said two weeks. 5. No license shall be issued unless both of the contracting parties shall personally appear before and be identified to the satisfaction of the proper marriage license clerk, who shall re- quire of the parties at least 10 days before the issuance of the license a statement under oath relative to the legality of the contemplated marriage. 6. No license shall be issued to a male under 18 years or a female under 16 years, and no license shall be issued for the marriage of a male between the ages of 18 and 21, or of a female between 16 and 18 years, without the consent of parent, guardian or curator, except in certain specified cases. Penalties are pro- vided for false swearing and for license clerks who knowingly issue licenses contrary to the law, as well as against any officiating person who does not comply with the law. Full and complete records are to be kept according to forms prescribed in the law. Silver and Gold by Margery May. Continued jrom Eleventh Page heed it. Snatching up her bag, she banged the office door shut and fled toward the elevators. “Horrid old thing! But just the same, I shouldn’t have Jost my temper. Bob will be furious,” she thcught a half hour later as she drove up Whipple Hill and brought her road- ster to a stop before Aunt Martha’s cottage. Another car was parked ahead of her. With a surge of thankfulness, Jane got out and drag- ged herself over to the thin, competent figure sitting at the wheel of a battered four-door. “I tried to get you at the office, Mrs. Craig. But you had gone. I knew you'd be stopping here for the children, so I just drove by to say that I'm over my attack and will be able to take charge of things tomorrow.” “Praise heaven,” Jane thought as, in a tired, listless voice, she gave an account of her stew- ardship. With quick, little nods of understanding, Miss Higgs heard her out. Then she started her engine, “I see. I see. Well, good-by, Mrs. Craig. I'm glad you had such an easy day,” she said. Jane sank down on the steps. “Easy day! If this was an easy day I'd hate to see a hard one,” she exclaimed to Aunt Martha, who, looking like a peony in her fresh, pink gingham, was sitting in a rocker on the porch, With her head on one side, Aunt Martha re- garded Jane's limp, exhausted figure. “Tired, Honey?” she queried. “Tired? Dead!” Then with a sheepish ex- pression, “Aunt Martha,” she confessed, “I don’t guess men have such a smooth time of it after all.” ¥ Turning her eyes to the baby-blue jacket she was knitting, Aunt’ Martha smiled. “Well, Honey, I sorta figured you'd get a different slant on things after a day or so at Bob's office.” With a weary gesture, Jane pushed back a loose tendril of her hair. “I THINK,” she said in a voice as flat as . a soda wafer, “that I know,what it.js to be ... his-ternper as welt-as: e does: 7. The lawful marriage of the father and mother of an illegitimate child shall fully legitimate it. 3 8. The grounds for divorce are adultery, cruel and inhuman treatment, abandonment or failure to provide for a period of one yeatr or more, incurable insanity and conviction of an infamous crime. 9. No decree of divorce is to be granted without. appearance of counsel for the defend- ant, and if none such appears the prosecuting attorney of the judicial district shall defend in behalf of the -State. 10. An interlocutory decree becomes final only after the lapse of a year and neither mymlymlrryumflthedecueshnllbeem 11. The court shall decree such alimony as the circumstances of the case render just and proper, whether it is asked for in the petition or not. 12. The court shall favor the claims of the mother in providing for the guardianship, cus- tody, support and education of minor children, provided she be, in the judgment of the court, mentally and morally competént. 13. A divorce decreed in one State by a court having jurisdiction thereof shall have full effect in every other State. It seems to me that there can be no more important question before the United States than some sane and just marriage and divorece law which will safeguard the home. Such a law cannot be passed without an amendment to the Constitution. (Copyright, 1930.) “I think if I were Bob and had a wife Mke me, who acted as though he didn't have any worries or work at all, that I'd...Id...” - Aunt Martha laughed softly and little bells chimed together in the laughter, caroling their understanding. “That’s exactly what Bob said, Honey. He couldn't do anything much but defend himself, and even that wasn’t working ’cause words don’t seem to have much weight when two folks just say 'em. You have to go live ’em if you're . going to learn.” The tired muscles of Jane's face were curv- ing now into a reminiscent smile: “And to think that I saig that women didn’t have as much snap as men, when I feel as weak as pink lemonade at a Sunday school picnic! If I were Bob I'd go to a realtors’ convention every week to see how the rest of the men stood it. I'd simply no idea of it,” she admitted. > “Of course you didn’t. And for Bob to have to tend to your job for a bit wouldn't be such & bad plan either.” She paused. Then, with her soft, amused chuckle: “Married folks al- ways remind me of the story of the two knights who fought that duel over a statue. One knight was standing on the front side and said the statue was silver. But the knight who was standing on the back side swore it was gold. So they got a-arguing and a-fighting, and final- ly they killed each other. And it wasn't till 1 around the statue and found the one ‘side and silver on the An’ I reckon if more of us would take walk all the way around a trouble it from both sides, there wouldn't so much stewin’ over nothin’.” (Copyright, 1930.) Froxen-Pack Preserving. Fma'r tried experimentally. 20.years ago, - frozenvpack methods of preserving straw~ . 1928; the: last- year-for -which: complete reports ave available; 5,000,000 gallons were preserved i this manner. -