Evening Star Newspaper, March 23, 1930, Page 98

ALITY This Story Is First- Run Fiction—The Sun- day Star’s Magazine Has First Call on This Series of Unusual Short Stories by the Highest- Paid Writer in the World—=So Miss Hurst’s Stories Appear Exclu-% sively in Washington in The Star’s Sunday Magaczine. HAT happened to Norman Perry in Paris, during the latter 'teens of the twentieth century, was just as much part of the world up- heavel as machine guns, trench imisery, air raid and barbed wire. Uponthlsboylmthephcldmldo!n suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, there burst, with the variegated fire of a skyrocket, the spectacle of plunder and death, Paris and beauty, license and pain, vice, cowardice and a panorama of bravery that through the rocket's red glare made’ mankind seem sublime. of his out- side of Cincinnati, found something a World War hero, two bravery citations to his credit; a citizen of the world, floundering around the battle fields of France and Flanders for two years, and finally, & disabled soldier on extended leave while wounds of an all but mortal nature slowly but surely closed their ugly mouths. Then what happened was just normal part of the abnormal condition. He met, through a wagary of circumstances, the usual little French Colette, whose hair was like a wet mop of curls, whose drolleries were as exciting as they were alluring, whose constancy was pa- thétic and whose adoration healed him more swiftly than medication. H:tm,mmmmmaun moment, “the girl back home,” ensconced himself with Colette in the traditional thatched attic on the left bank of the Seine, and for months the idyllic, irresponsible life of a man and his maid flowed in uninterrupted bliss. Colette! He tried sometimes to capture the words to describe her. A dragonfly skittling over bright waters. Popcorn dancing in its pan. A chrysanthemum in a gale. All to no éffect. She would not be caught in the prison of words. She was thistledoyn, dancing aliead of the wind. She elyded on every side. She was delectable nonsense, and then stramgely, para- doxically, she was the frugal little French girl, conserving your interests, your funds, your health, you well being. Life in that attic, with geraniums on the window sills, cookery reeking from the little im- provised stove, laughter blowing about the cor- ners, happiness squatting every turn, was a dream caught in an interlude between two realities: the reality of war; the reality of the suburb of Cincinnati. Life and Paris and flower stands and holi-- days on the Seine and walks in Fontainebleau and nibbles in patisseries and kisses on the back of Colette’s darting adorable neck were just one bouquet of irersponsible hours crammed with irresponsible joys. You awoke with a sense of holiday, you galloped through the all too short days with that same sense of holiday and blessedly, worn out with fatigue of pleasant hours, you slept that you might awaken to another holiday And so the days became the weeks and the months and finally the year, and then, as is the case with all perfect holidays, there came one day the awakening to the still cold dawn of for a Paris America. arriving and a honeymoon it fell into the midst of that ¢ paradise as bombs like that were f. into one after another of the transient para- d fessions that came in driblets from the lips of her fiance. ©Of course, Norman had been indiscreet. The THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MARCH 23, 1930 A Storyof Love in Warand Peace. A cable from the girl back home fell as a bomb into their little paradise. What was Norman Perry to do? had survived to tell the not be held account- a knot at the nape very beauty of repose, - he did not pause to realize it, Norman, with his slick, short, tan hair; his square jaw, which in America is the badge for efficiency; his brisk tailor-made manner and up-and-coming com- merclalism, was just as neatly hewn to his enviionment. ‘The Norman Perrys, when their children were cautious, living; good strong ideals; well educated chil- dren, social advancement, travel, comfort and the largest woman's club in Cincinnati, patron- ized every important musical enterprise in town, sponsored cultural events, such as the Ben Great Players and community sings, and was a member of the board of one of the city’s largest charity hospitals. The Boat Race Which Failed. Continued from Ninith Page mirable, the water was in exceptional con- Nor does it matter much now. He may have been sick, as is claimed, and he may have taken his part from choice. ' His friends, who insist that he lacked neither strength, skill nor endurance, explain his failure yesterday by saying that in a crisis he is subject to nervous prostrations which almost invariably unfit him him to bed. “This is a charitable s it is perhaps He should withdraw himself from public view, at once and forever. He is no longer an object of interest. “But leaving g‘o:rtney out of view altogether, d when he beat a field of seven of the best known oarsmen. From 1876 to 1884 he was never BY FANNIE HURST . Norman, as president of two corporations, of- ficer in a bank, president of a noonday club and pillar of a church and several philan- thropic organizations, marched onward toward millions. Like every other radical conservative, how- ever, he has his “blind spots” as Helen laughe- ingly puts it. It was his wish, and she abided by it, although*she counts it as one of her most wifely sacrifices, that she cut her lovely flowing hair and wear it in a mop of curls on her head. It subtracts in dignity but does, 1t must be admitted, lend a certain air of in- souciance to her placidity. With her hair shorn and worn “mopped,” something gay and almost a little naughty seems to crop out in Helen. Norman adores it. NOTHER of his “blind spots” was his in- sistence for a den, in the attic part of the new house, after an architect had already planned him a luxurious one on the second floor. Perry's choice, however, was for one of those slanting- roofed, garret corners where he has geraniums growing along,the window sills and all sort of fantastic charcoal drawings on the wall. For all the world, laughs Helen, like one of those Paris garrets you read about, where Trilby lived and loved. In this garret, sometimes it seems to Helen, strangely aloof from her, Norman spends hours and hours. Colette has married, too. The rather pompous owner of a patisserie, in whose shop she flits about all day. helping him to succeed. He is a rough-haired, half blond, rather charming fellow; adores his wife, and makes no secret of it. In her way, Colette returns his homage. She has done much toward toning him into a more impressive type of business man. Especially in the years since marriage has his appearance changed. She has worked over his head until, instead of the iow-headed, rough-haired fellow she married, he has been metamorphosed into a sort of American-business-man looking person, with slick flat tannish hair that gives him a look eficiency. Copyright, 1930. Mills Figfit Static, T!NS of thousands of volts of electricity whirling around at high speed in the midst of highly inflammable dust or gas and the stage is all set for disaster. This is a condition which has long existed in industry, and many fires and explosions testify to the dangerous nature of the situation. The trouble all lies in the fact that belts, rubber or leather, running at rapid speed over pulleys, create static electricity at the instant of separation as the belt leaves the pulley. This continues, with the amount of the static stored up, until highly dangerous quantities are present and sooner or later will throw off a spark. The Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture undertook to study and correct this evil, and the work has been successful. First, to give some idea of what they found, one test showed 40,000 volts of static stored up in an ordinary belt, enough to make a spark al- most an inch long. ‘The question of eliminating static from the pulleys was simple, for the employment of metal pulleys attached to shafting or machinery which was properly grounded eliminated the storing up of static. The belts presented a more diffi- cult problem. The use of metallic belts was out of the question, of course, and it remained to find a means of eliminating the storing of the static in the rubber and leather belts in come mon use. This was accomplished through the use of belt dressing containing metallic ingredients, which conducted the static and prevented its being stored up. This dressing for rubber belts consisted of lamp black and spar varnish, the filler of which contains mineral spirits and f:rrebon tetrachloride, & non-inflammable mix- For leather belts it was found necessary to use another consisting of liquid fish glue, glycerin, ted castor oil, water, lamp black and ammonium hydroxide. ¢ - Compass Plants. Tl-m so-called compass plants get their name from a habit of growth brought about through self-preservation. of a colony.