Wie Lamp
BY ARTHUR STRINGER JL W. N. U. Service /
Sidney Lander rescued Carol Coburn
from the annoyances of Erie (the Red)
Ertcson. She Is returning to her native
Alaska to teach. Her father, a sourdough,
died with an unproven mine claim. Lander,
an engineer for the Trumbull Co., which Is
CHAPTER XIV
Matanuska was now on the map.
The colonists had arrived.
But that Promised Land, appar
ently, didn't live up to their expec
tations. For all they found were un
finished roads and harried officials
and lumber pil«s and an impromptu
city of tents along the valley flats,
army tents in rows as regular as a
a wooden floor and boarded side
walls and a smoke pipe going up
from its roof.
There was no teaching for th?
chalk - wrangler yesterday wheii
word went round that the first train
load of the colonists was on its way
up from Seward, and Katie O'Connell
was hurried over from Toklutna
to look after the women and chil
dren. And since I was detailed to
stand right-hand man to Katie, I
v/as there to help make boilers of
coffee and watch the disembarking
of the disheveled and sca-worn
army.
But the note they struck was not
always epic.
I could see women still petulant
over their weeks of homelessness,
surrounded like ship-wrecked sailors
by what they could salvage from
their long-traveled belongings. I
doled out coffee and sandwiches to
toil-hardened tillers of the plains
and drouth-wizened cattle-raisers
from valley farms and Mackinawed
ax-wielders from wooded slopes. I
tried to give them a welcoming word
or two as they stared gloomily
about at their Arctic El Dorado and
herded their children up to the grub
tables. The fact they were to live
in tents, it was plain, didn't appeal
to them.
It was the young people, to whom
Alaska meant excitement and Mata
nuska spelled romance, who crowd
ed about the cameras—lanky youths
and laughing girls, not in the slatted
sunbonnets of earlier free-soilers,
but in the sweaters and slacks of
their own blithe generation. And
there were children, slathers of chil
dren, with tousled heads and toys
in their hands, staring wide-eyed at
the white peaks of the Talkeetnas
and lustily proclaiming to the world
they were hungry.
"You belong in these parts?" a
petulant voice inquired of me as I
refilled the coffeepots. I found my
self confronted by a rotund matri
arch with a terrace of chins and
eight obstreperous children.
I said that Matanuska was now
my home.
"Can't say you look like a girl
who'd been brought up on whale
blubber," observed my new friend,
who asserted that her name was
Betsy Sebeck. "But them cock-eyed
bureaucrats, of course, ain't got
anything ready. There ain't even
water, they tell me, in them two-by
four tents. And they ain't got lamps
—when they told us we was to
be steam-heated and lit by elec
tricity!"
"Things will straighten out," I
said as I caught sight of Lander
haranguing a group of grumbling
free-soilers.
"But there ain't even blankets
enough to go round," persisted Bet
sy. "And if I don't get at a wash
tub before the week's out them kids
o' mine will have to go naked."
The bureaucrats, I discovered,
had declined to bring in a piano for
her, had lost two of her trunks, and
vere now trying to stow her away
m a back-row tent which her man
v/ouldn't accept. They'd even failed
ta stock the Commissary up proper
ly, she lamented, and that'd mean,
 f course, going without grapefruit
jind ice cream.
But even in the midst of all that
confusion and complaining I wanted
10 cling to the claim there was
something epic about the migration.
That fact came home to me more
than ever when I stood under an
azure Alaskan sky that arched above
the blue-ravined slopes of mountains
towering up to stately peaks of white
and watched the two hundred fam
ily heads draw lots for their farm
plots. For fate, of course, reposed
in that little wooden box that held
the plot numbers, since a few of the
farmsites were already cleared and
fenced and blessed with cabins,
while others were swampy and un
broken forest. And as the lucky and
the unlucky crowded about a big
map of the valley, to determine the
position and state of their tracts,
there was much cheering and grum
bling and groaning.
Salaria, deep-bosomed and Indian
brown, drifted up to my table and
viewed the scene with a lip curl of
contempt. There she was joined by
Sock-Eye, waiting and watchful for
the first open jeer from one of those
preoccupied cheechakos.
"Looks like a potlatch t' me," ob
served Salaria. "A potlatch with
Uncle Sam passin' out forty-acre
farms instead o' two-bit knives. And
most o' these poor coots don't even
know what they're gittin'."
Sock-Eye spat dourly into the road
dust.
"They think they're gittin' some
thing for nothing," he averred. "But
them gilcots'll be about as happy
THE STORY SO PAR
fighting the Coburn claim, breaks with
Trumbull. But he remains engaged to
Trumbull's daughter. Barbara. Salarla Bry
son, an outdoors girl. Is also In love with
Lander. Lander becomes field manager for
the Matanuska Valley project. He takes
INSTALLMENT XII
in this valley as blacksnake on an
ice block."
"Lander says there's a shortage
of axes and work tools," I was
prompted to explain.
"Of course there is," exulted Sa
laria. "They've got grand electric
coffee-grinders but no power t' run
'em. They've got a string o' thresh
in' machines, but no crops in t*
thresh."
"And stoves over there rustin' in
the rain," added Sock-Eye, "but no
wheres t' put 'em. And a mountain
o" them new-fangled enamel sinks
and no kitchens t' set 'em up in.
And a carload o' harness, by gad,
and no workhorses t' buckle it on."
The tumult had subsided and the
shadows were growing longer and
I could see smoke going up from the
unbroken line of smoke pipes before
Katie was able to join me at my
alfresco coffee table.
"They're pretty well settled," she
said as she munched a sandwich
between her strong white teeth.
"But I wish Ruddy was here."
I asked her why. She postponed
her answer until she had polished
oir her sandwich and reached for
her second cup of coffee.
"There's a baby over there I don't
like the looks of," she finally an
nounced.
"What's wrong with it?" I ques
tioned.
"I don't know, yet," she said as
she bit into a sandwich. Then her
eyes became ruminative. "Wouldn't
it be sweet if measles got into this
little family circle. Or scarletina!
Or even whooping cough." Her tired
"They're pretty well settled,"
she said.
looking eyes surveyed the row of
white-walled tents. "There's six hun
dred kids in that camp, in one mad
huddle, and not a roof over their
head if a bug or two got into their
blood!"
I asked if they all hadn't had
medical inspection.
"They're supposed to," admitted
Katie. "But if I know my onions
there's a father of seven over in that
line-up who won't last long. He's
plainly tubercular. And there's a
Michigan woman who's been having
labor pains all the way up from Sew
ard."
"What docs that mean?" I asked
with a qualm of dismay.
"It means," said the weary-eyed
Katie, "that we can't sit here en
joying the scenery. You'll have to
scrub up, old-timer, and help me
with the delivery."
Two hours later I heard the first
faint wail of the first baby born in
the Matanuska Colony.
CHAPTER XV
If I'm the lamp in the valley I've
got to burn with a brighter wick.
Colonel Hart called me into Head
quarters and told me I was to have
a schoolhouse as soon as they could
find a building that would suit the
purpose. The real school, he ex
plained, couldn't go up until next
year. But if the Colony children
could be grouped into classes of
some sort, and a teacher rotated
among them, there might be less
grumbling from the parents and less
hell-raising by the youngsters.
So for two or three weeks, he
proceeded, I'd have to do the best
I could as a circuit-rider teacher.
The first call on the workers, of
course, was to get homes built.
I suggested that a portable black
board would be a help, since a
blackboard was to a teacher what
a throne was to a king, the seat and
symbol of his power.
"All right," the man at the desk
answered across his mountain of
blueprints. "Tell that bunch of tran
sient workers out there to -make
your board and make it pronto. Tell
them I said so."
So I sallied forth to where, six
flannel-shirted CCC workers Were
languidly piling lumber at the track
side. I ignored a ■ quite nuclible,
THE DANBURT REPORTER. THURSDAY. MAY 22. 1941
Carol to a camp dance and he tells her
of his love. She remind! him of Barbara.
Truly, their paths have crossed many
times by now. but Barbara *llll remain*
a barrier to their romance.
Their future seems far from clear.
"Pipe the peach!" as I approached
them. I merely informed them of
the Administrator's order for the
concoction of a four-by-six portable
blackboard.
"You can have anything we've
got, baby-eyes," said one. And still
another coyly observed that his own
schooling wasn't all it should have
been and it seemed about time to
be starting over.
It wasn't, of course, as bad as it
sounded, being carried on with that
half-respectful and heavy-jointed
jocularity peculiar to the region*
where life is rough and chivalry if
apt to stay in its shirt-sleeves.
And, for all their banter, they as
sured me I'd have my board, neatly
nailed together and ebonized with
a flat coat of lampblack. They even
promised to have it at my cabin the
next day.
I rather overlooked their eager
ness to know just where that cabin
was. And it would all have worked
out better, I imagine, if they hadn't
first gone over to Wasilla where
flourishes the valley's only open
bar, and where they were joined by
a dozen or two other transients.
There, at any rate, they plainly
drank more moose-milk than was
good for them. I could hear them
as they came in a body toward my
cabin clearing, singing as they
came:
"Oh, then, my Booska,
Don't you cry for me,
For I'm off to Matanuska
With the teacher on my knee."
Someone with an accordion was
leading them in that familiar old pi
oneer tune. But I didn't find the
newer wording altogether to my
liking.
I closed and fastened my door.
I pretended to be writing at my
table end, sitting there, rather anx
iously, as they worked pole ends
under the sill logs and tried to im
part a ship-at-sea motion to my
small cabin. But they soon tired of
that, finding the shack too heavy to
be converted into a rocking chair.
So they proceeded to serenade me,
more noisily than ever And to the
general din they added a salvo or
two of revolver shots. When I real
ized that one of the faces peering
in at the window was that of the
fire-eating Eric Ericson I found the
last of my patience ebbing away.
When they started to pound on the
door again, this time with one of
their heavier poles, I could see that
it would soon go down under their
blows. And that not only brought
the light of battle into my eye but
prompted me to cross to the dish
shelf and reach for Sock-Eye's old
revolver. Then I lifted away the
crossbar and swung the door open.
But instead of shrinking back they
began to laugh at me and my threat
ening firearm. They could see hesi
tation, I suppose, in the very way
I held that old six-gun.
It was Eric the Red who swayed
closest to me.
"Mightn't it go off, angel-eyes?"
he taunted.
"It will," I warned him, "unless
you stand back."
I could even feel an impulse to
resent his mockery stiffen my finger
on the trigger. But he was too
quick for me.
With an unexpected upsweet of
his hand he knocked my arm above
my head. The shock of that blow
made the revolver go off, high in
the ajr, and before the smoke
cleared away they were crowding
in closer, pretending to be fighting
for its possession. I could see, by
their laughing faces, that they rath
er liked my struggles. But they
made it a point to keep my right
hand pinioned above my head.
"It mustn't lose its temper," said
Ericson, with his face close to mine.
He even passed mockingly admiring
fingers across my tumbled forelock.
And as I shrank back from that
odious touch a motor truck of bat
tleship-gray came clattering across
the clearing.
It wasn't until I saw him pushing
in through the crowd that I realized
the newcomer was Lander. He scat
tered the startled transients right
and left as he came. A heavier
bodied man, who tried to block his
way, went suddenly flat on the door
yard soil as my rescuer's fist thud
ded against his jaw. The crowd
was no longer laughing.
Ericson, close to me in the door
way, half-turned to fathom the rea
son for the sudden silence. And I
could see Lander's mouth harden
into a grimmer line as he saw
and recognized that half-turned
face. The mallet-like fist, swinging
for the second time, sent my tor
mentor sprawling in across the cab
in floor. He lay there, face-down, as
Lander turned on the resentful
group behind him.
They fell back a little, milling and
shouting as they went. But they at
least fell back. Lander, stooping
down from his towering height, lift
ed Ericson from the floor antj flung
him out through the open door. Then
he reached for the revolver still
clutched- in my hand and took li
away from me.
' (TO W CONTINUED)'
FIRST-AID
AILING'ROUSE
by Roger B. Whitman
(S Roger B. Whitman—WNU Service.)
House Construction
A CORRESPONDENT is planning
to build a small house in a sub
urban district. Although he has had
no experience in the work, he wants
to do it all himself. He asks for a
book giving "all details in mixing
cement for the brick facing of the
house, making up the plaster and
applying the same, installation of
plumbing, heating and hot water
systems, drainage system, electric
wiring and fixture installation. In
other words, a book dealing with all
details of house construction." He
also asks whether permits will be
necessary and where to get them;
whether licensed men must install
any or all of the work, and whether
the house must be built by a li
censed contractor.
Answer: No one book covers all
of this information; many books will
be needed. In building a house, one
error may be enough to weaken the
entire structure and to make it all
useless. For this reason I strongly
recommend that he give up his idea.
All developed communities require
the licensing of many of the trades,
and plans and specifications must
be approved by a building depart
ment. I greatly appreciate his de
sire for a house, but strongly ad
vise him to put his construction in
the hands of experienced people.
Bathroom in the Cellar
Question: I wish to construct a
bathroom in the cellar. The room
will be situated in the center of the
cellar and is to receive light from
one window. I intend using imita
tion tile which comes in sheets.
These would come about 30 inches
from the ceiling. Would it be possi
ble to have the top 30 inches closed
in by using frosted glass? If the
glass were used, would noises be
heard through it? Would it be better
to have a tile or wood floor?
Answer: Two sheets of glass sep
arated by at least one inch of air
space would be better for cutting
down sound transmission. For the
floor use either asphalt tile or ce
ramic tile. Either one of these ma
terials can be used on basement
floors. Before going ahead with this
idea make sure that the soil pipe
line to the sewer will be below the
level of the bathroom fixture outlets.
Counter Tops
Question: I have just made cabi
nets for my kitchen, and am puz
zled at what to use for the top of
the drain boards around the sink
and for the counter tops. What do
you advise?
Answer: The material that is in
most general use for work tables
and drain boards is battleship lino
leum. This is cut to size, secured
to the under surface with waterproof
cement, and the edges bound with
specially formed metal strips that
make the edges waterproof, and also
protect them against chafing. Ex
perienced linoleum layers are famil
iar with the work. If you want to do
it yourself, you should be able to
get the strips at a well equipped
hardware store, where you can also
learn of the method of application.
Cement for securing the linoleum
can be roofing cement, liquefied by
heating.
Old Brass Warming-Pan
Question: Is there some way to
shipe up an old brass warming-pan,
and then put something on it to
prevent tarnishing?
Answer: If the brass is badly
tarnished, wash with ordinary vine
gar in which salt has been dissolved
—as much salt as will be taken up.
Follow by rinsing with clear water
and then wipe dry. If necessary,
follow by a good metal polish. After
polishing, wipe the surface with ben
zine, being extremely careful of fire,
and then apply a coat of clear lac
quer. A plating shop could proba
bly do a much better job for you,
and at no great cost. Inquire at
our nearby garage.
Shingles Over Old Roof
Question: What is the cheapest
and best shingle to use on a roof?
Can it be put right over old shin
gles? Do they come in green?
Answer: Asphalt or wood shingles
are probably the least expensive.
Either type of shingle can be laid
over the old shingles; in fact, most
re-roofing jobs are done over old
shingles. Green is a popular color
in all types of roofing materials,
and you should have no difficulty in
getting the shade that you want.
Moths in a Mattress
Question: I have a hair mattress
with moths in it. It was once de
mothed, but the moths came back
after a year. How can we get rid
of them?
Answer: Put the mattress out
doors, preferably on an overcast day
to reduce the fire hazard, and soak
it witt naphtha or clear gasoline.
This will destroy every stage of in
sect life.
Silverflsh
Question: In the downstairs room
of a very old house the wallpaper
above the baseboard is being eaten
off in some places as far up as the
window sil. The damaga seems to
be the work of insects, although we
have never seen any. Can you ex
plain?
Answer: That is undoubtedly the
work of silverflsh, which eat starch
and find it in wallpaper paste. I
have written a leaflet on this ,con
rol of silverflsh, a copy of which is
, leing mailed to you. This will an
ver your question, I am sure.
PATTERNS
SEWING CIRCLE
nw^~
| ||
I \\-
8936
TpHIS slip is designed especially
for large women. It's made
with underarm and waistline darts
to ensure comfortable bust fit and
a slim silhouette. You'll like it
infinitely better than slips not
made to your measure. Pattern
SUOUSEHOLD
Snirrrsffi
Don't keep honey in the refrig
erator. It keeps better in the cup
board.
« • •
To remove chocolate stains
from table linen, sprinkle the spot
with borax and then pour boiling
water through the cloth.
* * *
Painting the top and bottom cel
lar steps white may save many
falls.
« * •
Make an oilcloth cover for your
ironing board. Put over cover on
ironing board when brushing and
sponging garments.
• * *
When buying tea, before putting
it in the caddy, spread it on a
sheet of strong paper and place
in a warm (not hot) oven for 10
to 15 minutes. The tea will go
much farther and the flavor will
be greatly improved.
* t 0
Always use bread crumbs to
cov»r articles to be fried. Cracker
crumbs absorb the grease.
* • •
Cotton corduroys look best after
laundering if they are not ironed,
but are merely brushed along the
direction of the ribs while still
slightly damp.
• • •
Most silk lamp shades may be
successfully washed with luke
warm soapsuds. Dissolve soap
flakes thoroughly before adding
them to the water and use a very
soft brush to apply the suds to
the shade.
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These benefits of advertising are quite apart from the obvious
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. quality, the better service that go with advertised goods and firms.
provides for strap style as well as
built-up shoulders. Included i n
this design are slim-hipped
panties.
• • •
Pattern No. 8936 is designed in even
sizes 36 to 52. Size 38. built-up shoulders.
4'fc yards 39-inch materia). For this at
tractive pattern, send your order to:
SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
Room 1124
211 W. Wacker Dr. Chleai*
Enclose IS cents (or each pattern.
Pattern No 5ize..........
Nam*
Address
Two Escapes
At each minute we are obliterat
ed by the idea and the sensation
of time. And there are only two
ways of escape from this night
mare, of forgetting it: pleasure
and work. Pleasure amuses us.
Work fortifies us. Let us choose.—
Baudelaire.
Good Are Few
The good, alas! are few: they
are scarcely as many as the gates
of the Thebes or the mouths of the
Nile.—Juvenal.
FEET HEAT
Give feet wings of coolness. Sprinkle
Mexican Heat Powder in shoes. Relieves
tiredness. Little cost. Lots of comfort.
Dreaming vs. Reality
Some people merely dream of
being something; others keep
awake and are something.
due to Constipation/
Dr. Hitchcock's All-Vegetable
Laxative Powder an intestinal
tonic-laxative —actually tones lazy
bowel muscles. It helps relieve
that sluggish feeling. 15 doses for
only 10 cents. Large family size 25
cents. At all druggists.
Self-Powered
A good intention clothes itself
with sudden power.—Emerson.
PL ALL FLIES
Placed anywhere. Daisy Fly I
Killer attracts and klila flics. ■
Guaranteed, effective. Neat* ■
convenient Cannot §pill— ■
Will not soil or Injure anything. ■
Lasts all Reason. 2()o at all ■
dealers. Harold Bomcra, Inc., ■
160 Do Kalb |
Peace With Reason
Peace rules the day, where rea
son rules the mind.—Collins.
| j SOOTHES CHAFED SKIN
pnpn.».jM
*C WORLD'S LARGEST UILLIR AT 5 7*
Error's Realm
Obscurity is the realm of error.
—Vauvenargues.