Lakeland Evening Telegram Newspaper, May 17, 1915, Page 7

P gbt, 1915, by W. G. Chapman) Stevensons were rich and un- Their next-door neighbors, )iartins, were desperately poor, | ite was to them a radiant dream. gtevensons lived in a big ten- pouse, luxuriously furnished, fhad lots of money. David Martin | 4 as a laborer at & town iron mill, his frugal wife counted over ev- penny twice before it was invest- hus close they were forced to t the Martins had a treasure— je, their adopted niece—and her nce made the humble home glow sunshine and laughter whenever was within its precints. She ed at a store in the village as jer, but home talent was paid for ply, and her contribution to the ehold fund was quite small. Not very genial neighbors, those ensons,” observed Mr. Martin, ing home from his work one cold ember evening. fancy they don’t consider us their returned his plain, practical “Mrs. Stevenson has nodded to once or twice, but only at a dis- ¢, and then quite sourly.” tevenson himself came out of the of his house just as I passed,” tinuved Mr. Martin. “I spoke, but didn't answer me, although I think really was so abstracted in thought t he didn't know me.” think you are quite right, fa- " added Vinnie, in her kindly, ritable way. “I have heard that v have a great sorrow—a runaway . He left them after some trouble got into three years ago. A year e, | have heard, they learned that was one of a number killed in a lone in New Mexico.” Oh, dear, that is sad!” spoke up s. Martin, quickly and sorrowfully. hey have their cross to bear, indeed lost son, a lonely home,” and she e up to Vinnie and enfolded her in oving clasp and kissed her tender- n unhappy home, indeed, was that the Stevensons. They had lost ir only child, a bright, promising , who, when he came of age, had ¢ame a Wanderer and a Fugitive From Justice. leveloped a tendency to sow wild ts. Petted by his father, idolized Y his mother, Warren Stevenson had dly disappointed his parents. In a fight in a gambling resort, he, n onlooker only, had paid the penalty or being in such a place by receiving bullet wound that stripped off the oD of three of the first fingers of his ft hand. This seemed to teach him lesson for a time. Then he fell om grace again. He drifted into he company of a desperate burglar. ponocently Warren was involved in a Case where a man was killed. He Dlayed the part of the craven and be- Cdme a wanderer and a fugitive from fustice. Within a year the real mur- derer died in prison, shouldering the entire responsibility for the crime and Wm_plfltely exonerating Warren. His parents had then sought for bim everywhere, but their quest had Proved unavailing. The news of his death in the cyclone was the final grief that broke their hearts. Be- Teaved, broken down by sorrow and Tegret, no marvel was it that they be- tame cynical, isolated and uncom- Panionable. One evening a neighbor came into the home of Mr. Martin on a brief @l In the course of conversation Be brought up the subject of the unso- ¢ial neighbor, with the remark: Friend of mine told me that this Stevenson objects mightily to your burning soft coal, Martin.” Why, is that so?" queried Mr. Mar- tin. surprisedly. Ves. he says ‘that whenever the ¥ind is from the north it blows the 00t in regular flakes against his Good Advice About Olicloth. Alter washing oflcloth and linoleum, i Sure to dry it properly. If left mmp it will speediiy rot and soon be- mie, Otally rulned. It 1s a grest vaerfe 10 use too much water for Shing it The cloth should be ¥rung out Wurtace. and passed lightly over the w To Cure Hysteria. ‘74D mustard plasters on hznds, rists, soles. allow pa demt 1 m‘m ullu. and S house. It's just and it's spoiling can't help that. to afford anthraci ton, eh?” “Maybe not,” responded | :::::“y' “but T can be ln:!.‘:::n.lf.;; - ““ ‘:::B::Tflhins I never thought ! 1 i m:& ;::v:e came to look at the side of | nson house, Martin saw that the soot had, indeed, marred and de. | faced it. Especially up under the ! eaves, the clapboards were nlmed‘ with feathers of soot. Acting on a :inem:s ljmpulsp. he hailed his neigh- T, who just haj | file he e ppened to be coming | “I say, Stevenson,” spoke th H honest fellow, “I've just {oui;h?utt” that my soft coal is hurting your property. 1 shall use coke through the rest of the winter, and first holi- | day T'll get a ladder and give the | side of the house a good scrubbing.” “Why—thank you—I must say you're thoughtful and kind—yes, { thank you,” and Stevenson acted as though this unusual courtesy of a| | stranger fairly overcame him | Before the opportunity to remedy | things came about, however, some startling events transpired One morn- ing Martin came out into the vard to find a ladder taken from his shed | standing against the side of his neigh- bor's house. The window of an up- Per room was open. Mr. Stevenson was under a great strain of excitement, He declared that the house had been burglarized. | “Was anything taken?" asked Mr. | Martin “Why, not much.” explained his | neighbor in a bewildered sort of a way. “The room the burglar got into is the one my poor dead son occupied. We have left it just as it was when he went away. Whoever broke into the house opened a drawer where ! Warren kept a few trifling trinkets A watch, a revolver and some gold cuff links are missing, but nothing else was disturbed " “That is singular,” observed Martin thoughtfully, and he went up the lad- der a step or two. “Why, sav, Mr Stevenson,” he called down o his neighbor, “here is something queer.’ “What is that?" was asked “In getting into the window the burglar has left some hand marks around its frame "™ “Why, ves—-1 can see it from here, replied the owrer of the despoiled home. “Right among black soot of mine. rather apologetically. “And say—why, hello! Whoever the fellow was he's left a clue.” » “What do you mean?" ‘“‘Hand prints show that he had three short fingers on one hand—why, sir! What is the matter?” Quickly the speaker descended the ladder. With a sharp cry of enlight- enment, Mr. Stevenson had started back. “Three short fingers!” he gasped out hoarsely. “Then—it must have been Warren. Oh, he is not dead, but alive! Mother! mother!" he shouted, rushing into the house and seeking his wife, and leaving the stupefied Martin standing staring after him, unable to comprehend the meaning of his strange actions. it. Of course, you! You're hardly able | te at ten dollars a | | that troublesome continued Martin, What the father surmised turned | out correct, a little later. His son was indeed alive. He had stolen back home, goor, homeless, ill. It would be no ¥obbery to take his own. Shamed at his mistaken past, he had hurried away. after taking the price of a few needed meals, but his father, with the ald of the police, soon locat- ed him. It was a joyful moment when the recovered son was told that the dread- ed hand of the law had been removed. “All because of that blessed soot of yours—all honor to goft coal,” the de- lighted Stevenson had told his neigh- bor. And a true neighbor he made of him, and naturally Warren Stevenson met Vinnie. Closer and closer grew the tles of true neighborliness, and of love, and then the natural sequence of a happy wedding. Ivory Carvers of Canton. There are in Canton, China, about forty shops in which articles of ivory are made and sold. Each shop is small; it consists usually of a show- room that opens to the street, and a back room where the cutting is done. The industry falls into two stages— cutting and carving, says an English paper. Tusks imported from Siam con- stitute the raw material. These are first cut by a saw into shapes that are suitable for the carvers to work on. The cutting apparatus consists of & wooden block or vise, a saw and a tub of water. The workman fixes the ivory firmly in the vise, moistens it with water and cuts it to the desired thick- 88, neAfler the cutting is finished, the workmen carve the pieces into s!mpe with knives of many different kinds. All of them, however, have short blades and long handles made of bam- boo. The carvers also use saws made of wire and a gimlret‘ v\:rked by a virling apparatus of leather. tw;_r;:erge a‘:‘; only a few expert ivory workers in Canton; in fact, there are said to be only six of them. An expert carver seldom works in the shop that employs him He generally works in his own house, and can earn about thirty dollars a week in Canton cur- rency.—Youth's Compaaion. R RER R More Pressing Needs. ‘T need shoes.” ! «Then why don't you buy some?" “Jt is evident that you know nothing of family lite. My graphophone needs records'nnd my wife needs dancing lessons.” Phoebe’s Only Chlneot‘ Cats at a cat show are no on their rat catching records; there fore it would be of no use to enter Phoebe. She'll have to be shown in @ steel and wire trap exhibition.— Toledo Daily Blade. For a Nonskid Stepladder. ! ment. sing & high ladder on 8 pg.lmlod uo?ruwe ‘tned the “safety first plan of placing underneath its fe:t.‘ t:olo squares of coarse sandpaper gl A gether, thus giving a grip on both floor and the ladder: ouse- keeping Magazine. By Donald Allen T ST SR TR | (Copyright, 1912, Ticpoman | By Donald Allea | Assoclated Literary Plestgeoctete An event to be much talked about in soclety and another to cause chat- ter from the seventh floor to the basement at Maxim & Co.’s depart- ment store, occurred the same week. The first was the announcement of the engagement of Miss Edith Lisle to Mr. Eugene Nevins, who was one of the partners of the store, and so- clety agreed that it was a fine match. Society refers to those things the same way men refer to horses in a Trace. The second event was the general overhauling of the store detectives | and many of the sales girls, on ac- count of the sudden increase in shop- ing. Laces and other valuable not the usual prey of the shop- lifter were being taken in a way to make the a sericus one and to d vigilance. d the reputation of st line of laces in the city. re were four salesgirls in this depar nd cha; 1. held 1 the fir first and s over, but ported der susy who set the e, to Mr. Nevins that the made later on. “Lives with her widowed mother; goes out very little and then with Mr. Traver, of the furniture depart- It is said that they are en- gaged. 1f she takes the lace, she sells it somewhere. Cannot s: suspicion should of the four at the In the line of & Nevins had once called Miss Grattan to the had not trembled and presence. On the con- od seemed too assired and snirpy to please him. There be discipline in department s and when an employe is before tlie powers that be, he or she is expected to act if 1'fe was at stake. ttan didn’t, Mr. Nevins was ¢ In the g Grattan came first. She had a year when d. The ases were passed the third was re- teport was Miss “There is Slac'iness There.” value of $200 had been taken from her department two days before. There had been a rush at her counter all day, mostly of well-dressed wom- en. There had been scores and scores of sales. There had been scores who did not buy. The salesgirls must not only handle the stock, but swer questions, record sales, k:% their eyes open and look upon ever customer with guspicion, and feel that some one of those customers might be a ehoplifter, and there to put the four in peril of losing their places. Mr. Nevins realized all this, but he made mo excuses for Miss Grattan, nor permitted her to make any for herself. “There is slacknes there or these things could not happen,” he said. “A smart girl can tell a shoplifter half way across the store. If there is any more stealing from your coun- ter 1 shall be obliged to transfer you to the crockery department.” There were three store detectives, all noted for their smartness, and | vet they could not “tell a shoplifter half way across the store,” nor yet ten feet away. Miss Grattan took it rightly that she “was marked down,” but she returned to her counter re- solved to watch with more vigilance than ever. In the big stores they do not make the mistake of watching what may be called the common folks to the exclusion of all others. What the common folks take is called stealing; what the wealthy take goes under the head of kleptomania. Both are watched alike. Four days after the talk in the of- fice, Miss Grattan had a customer for high-priced lace. She was a young woman of about twenty-two, who had come in her auto, and she had a full purse and bought liberally and took away her package. She was watched, and yet ten minutes after she had gone a valuable plece of lace was missing. The most that could be found out about her was that she had frequently been in the store and that she paid cash and never had her purchases sent. The loes had to be reported to Mr., Nevins. He did not Expensive Weed. One of the most expensive woods used regularly in an established im- dustry in the United States is box- wood, the favorite material for wood carving. It has been quoted at four cents a cubic inch, and about $1,300 by the thousand board feet. Worth While Quotations. “Never walt for life to come to you, ‘but create the atmosphere around you. Believe in joy until it 2omes, for she is only half alive who allows life to make her instead of making life."— Selected. - the one in| been painted white, [T NI, |, .(c; Migs Grattan to the crockery department, as he had threatened. He was evidently about to do so, when something she sald in describing the customer she suspected made him hesitate and take on a puzzled look, and after a time to remark: “After you have taken stock tonight you may find the missing lace. At any rate, let it go for a day or two.” Why the change in him? Did he suspect her, and was he going to have her watched? Was he going to have her mother’s house searched? Yes, Miss Grattan was engaged to Mr. Traver, the head of the furniture department; but the fact had not been publicly announced. These en- gagements seldom appear in the so- clety journals. It's two or three days off under protest—a marriage, a flat and then one hears no more. It may be spoken of in the store for a day, but only by employes. between the lovers. Mr. Traver was a man of action. He had a sister who was not known at the store, and next day she was a customer at the lace counter. She didn’t make a pur- chase, but she kept her eyes open. The next day she was at the glove counter. On the next she was back at the lace counter. Perhaps one of the store detectives became suspicious and followed her about for a time; perhaps one of the | four girls at the lace counter hoped to find her shoplifting and see her | punished. She was there, undeter- - mined whether to buy or not when |the young lady of the auto swept s ilnvo the store and up to the counter. | She was graclous and patronizing. She wanted expensive lace to send i to a girl friend in the country. Miss | Grattan walted on her and watched her. Never had she watched a cus- |tomer so closely. Miss Traver sus- | pended her buying to leave the store |and order a public auto to wait in front of it. At the end of half an hour her quarry came out and entered her own auto and speeded away. She was fol- lowed and her residence located. | She had not left the store above a quarter of an hour when the white- | faced and shaking Miss Grattan was inp in the office reporting to Mr. | Nevins: “The young lady whom I suspected a few days ago came for more lace today and bought $50 worth. She had hardly gone when I missed five yards valued at more than that.” “H'm! You will apply for your sal- ary this evening. We can no longer afford to keep you here. The other day, when I told you to wait a bit, T thought I had a clue to solve the problem; but it seems that I was mistaken. 1 shall transfer the other girls to the crockery department. The four of you are a careless lot, but you are the worst.” An hour later Mr. Traver asked for a word with Mr. Nevins. “If it's about Miss Grattan, I don't wish to hear it,” was the answer. “But it isn't. It's about the shop- lifter at the lace counter. I know her and know her place of resl- dence.” “You—you do!” “And if you get out a search war- rant before she can mail away the lace she lifted this afternoon it will be found in her house. My sister fol- lowed her today.” Mr. Nevins bent forward on his desk and hid his face in his hands, and it was three long minutes before e raised it to say: “I—1 suspected—I knew, but 1 didn’t want any one else to know. You and Miss Grattan are engaged. | Please go, both of you. Your wed: ding gift from the firm will be enough to set you up in business You see, Miss—Miss Lisle 1s a klepto- maniac, and I can't—can't—" And his face was in his hands again when Mr. Traver softly with- drew. Soclety wondered and by and - | by forgot. Why Feminine Angels? The “feminine angel” appears to be the invention of Christmas card pro- ducers and “monumental masons,” as the makers of tombstones call them- selves. In Miiton's heaven there 18 no equality of sex, for there is never a mention of & foman, even as a celes- tial camp follower. Guercino's angel at Fano, which inspired Browning's beautiful “Guardian Angel,” is a man. The feminist, however, will hardly cite this as another example of the unfair predominance of man, since even man, as an angel, has no concern with gov- erament or the vote. A New Leap. A newly qualified judge in one of the small towns of the south was try- ing one of his first criminal cases. The accused was an old colored man, who was charged with robbing a hencoop. He had been in court before on a sim- flar charge, and was then acquitted. “Well, Tom,” began the judge, “I see you're in trouble again.” “Yes, sah,” replied the prisoner. “The last time, jedge, you was ma lawyer.” “Where is your lawyer this time?” asked the judge. “I ain't got mo lawyer this time,” answered Tom, “I'm gwine to tell the truth!™ A Difference. “Men in the olden times were de- lighted 1f they got a lady's glove.” “Well.” “Now they're as glum as can be if they get the mitten.” Indifferent as to the Present One. “Dora, you are sixteen and can't spell your name correctly!” “Oh, that's all right, mother, I ex- pect to change it in a year or 80."— | Judge. Ant's Remarkable Strength, An ant can carry a grain of corn ten times the weight of its own body, while a horse and a man can carry & burden only about equal to their own weight. Straln on Ticket Office Man. A man in the ticket office on a busy | @ay has to conceal his real feelings 50 much that he gets to be a better actor than some of the people on the stage. On the evening of the last theft | mentioned the matter was talked over | WICKED OLD MAN By ROGER JACOB DUNN. The wickedest old man in town sat “ at his desk in a room on the fortieth story of a skyscraper. He was finger- [ ing a letter which he had just re | ceived; after a while he rose and went | to a card index catalogue. 1 “Randall—Randall,” he muttered, | and began examining the records um- | der that name. ! He seemed perplexed, for he could not remember where the Randalls came from, if he had ever known. | Somewhere out West, he fancied. He was still examining the catalogue | when the boy brought in a card, and | he resumed his chair just in time to ! be able to rise and welcome a glrl‘ who entered nervously and with evi- dent signs of agitation. : “Sit down, Miss Randall,” said the wickedest old man in town, offering her a chair. 1 But she refused to be seated, and, | opening her reticule, took out a letter and a clipping and flung them angrily upon the desk. “I received your blackmailing scheme,” she cried. “Well, do you think you can do what you threaten and get away with it?” “Madam, I have been getting away with it for fifteen years,” answered the wickedest man in town. The girl collapsed into the chair and burst into tears. The wickedest man in town seemed really concerned about her. “Now, now, control yourself,” he said soothingly. “This is a simple business proposition. I edit a paper devoted to news of the socially elite. I have received very interesting in- formation about your family which would make good reading. Before printing it 1 submitted a copy of it to you—a proof, we call it—asking you whether you wish it to appear, and. if not, whether you would care to call here to discuss the matter. Well?” But as the girl only stared at him in belpless aversion, the wickedest man in town proceeded to read the article slowly, with due enunciation of every word. “‘The Randall-Robinson wedding which takes place on the day follow- ing the return of the bridegroom from England, next month'—" “Yes, you coward,” interrupted the girl. “If Mr. Robinson were here you would not dare to print that. He would thrash you within an inch of your life.” “Madam,” sald the wickedest man in town, “I have been thrashed within an inch of my life at least once a year since I became an editor. 1 thrive on it.” And he continued to read: “‘Will excite great interest, on ac- count of the interesting past of the Randalls. Coming from'—I left a blank there for you to fill in,” he con- tinued. “How much do you want to keep that out of your paper?”’ demanded Miss Juanita, “Tush, my child!” answered the wickedest man in town. “You admit its truth, then?” “How much?’ repeated the girl in- § flexibly. “I have some other interests be- sides editing my paper,” pursued the wickedest old man in town thought- 1 have a good deal of mining “How many shares do you want me to buy?” inquired the girl. “But it is not for sale. However, ! it you are really thinking of buying' mining stock I can put you in touch with a good friend of mine who has some for sale, I belleve. I will ask him to call on you tonight. However, Miss Juanita, it would be better for us to be entirely frank with each other. Since I gather that you are averse to having that item inserted, it shall not be inserted. 1 always try to please my friends. But now, tell me, where do you come from?” “I won't tell you.” “Your mother's maiden name, then,” urged the wickedest old man in town. “What are you going to do with that information?” “Keep it, my dear, for a hundred years longer than I live. Come, be as frank with me as you would be with your lawyer. Who are your people?” “My mother was a Miss Rogers of Austin,” answered the girl The wickedest old man in town bowed, and, walking to the catalogue, took out the Randall card. He showed it to the girl, and then tore it into tiny pieces, which he let flutter through his fingers into the waste-paper bas- ket. “Good day, Miss Randall,” said the wickedest old man in town. “My friend will not call on you with that mining stock.” “But—but,” stammered the girl, “the article—" “Will never be published,” answered the other, taking up the proof and tearing it, likewise, into small pleces. “Good day once more.” “But why did you send for me?” the girl demanded uneasily. “To verify my suspicion the wickedest old man in need have no further fears, good day.” When at last the girl was gone the wickedest old man in town sat down at his desk and fell into an abstrac- tion. “I wonder what Molly Randall would say if she knew who her husband 1s?” he ejaculated. “Gad, that girl is a hummer! It almost makes one re- spectable to be able to clalm a daugh- ter like that.” (Copyright, 1914, by W. G. Chapman.) Curse of Idleness. Idleness is the badge of gentry, and the bane of body and mind, the nurse of naughtiness, the stepmother of dis- cipline; the chief author of all mis- chief, one of the seven deadly sins, the cushion upen which the devil chiefly reposes. Cause of Waterfall’'s Roar. l The roar of a waterfall is produced almost entirely by the bursting of mil- Uons of air bubbles. YOU SEE THIS PICTURE? THIS IS NO FANCY, IT’S A FACT. YOU CAN’'T GROW A TREE WITHOUT A RUOT; YOU CAN’T BUILD A HOUSE WITH- OUT A FOUNDATION; YOU CAN’T BUILD A FORTUNE WITH- OUT PUTTING MONEY INTO THE BANK TO GROW. AND IT IS MIGHTY COMFORTABLE TO HAVE A FORTUNE WHEN YOU ARE OLD. START ONE NOW. BANK SOME OF YOUR EARNINGS. BANK IWITH US. WE PAY 5 PER CENT INTEREST ON TIME DEPOSITS. American State Bank BE AN AMERICAN, ONE OF US.” BRDBE DR ibhdi b e PPPOBD BB PRPPPPR Flour! CHEAP & Now is the Time to Lay - In a Supplv &R 98 Ib. Sacks Best Plain Flour 24 Ib. Sacks Best Plain Flour 12 Ib. Sacks Best Plain Flour 98 Ib. Srlf-Rising Flour $3.85 1.00 50c 4.00 E. 6. TWEEDELL PHONE 59 This Is the Busy LET'S HAVE A BUILDING BOOM! Every building that is built brings just so much prosperity to the community. Get Busy and Build? We.are usually busy, but never so busy that we could not be busier, and will get busy with your building business as soon as submitted to us, See Us for Lumber and Building Material l | Lakeland Manufacturing Company PHONE 76 LAKELAND, FLA. J.B. STREATER CONTRACTOR AND BUILDER Having had twenty-one years’ experience j ding and contracting in Lakeland and vicinity, 1 feelmeo:':;letmt ;o i;-;nder v:flhle ::stl services in this line. If comtemplating uilding, wil pleased to furnish estimat infor- mation. All work guaranteed. sl Phone 169.