POLK COUNTY NEWS, TRYON, N. C:
Ideal I
3:. : -. ; ,
1 11 MARTHA 1W Ullf lAMe
- ' by McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)'
, "Humph! Off on a man-hunt! I'd
te ashamed but then some folks are
too shameless for anything!" 'Mrs.
Crane ejaculated acidly, at sight of
the Eaton car, with Loren at the wheel,
luggage-laden, and headed for open
country.
Myrtle- Crane, aged twenty-seven,
pursed her lips and let her eyes fol
low ber mother's. Both were filled
with speculation plus envy. Yet the
Cranes had a better car, better
clothes, rather more money than the
Eatous and only themselves to main
talnr Equitably they ought to grudge
their neighbors no whit of the mercy
and modest comfort-they, enjoyed. But
since the Eatons were ever so much
more popular Loren especially quite
eclipsed Myrtle in all companies
there was perhaps some color of rea
on for their bitterness.
"What I wonder is who's the game
this time?" Mrs. Crane went on, her
accent musing: "I asked Toby when
he "fetched the milk last evening where
his Pa and?Loren were going next
time, but he grinned foolish-like, say
ing he didn't know. As if boys- ever
didn't know anjthing they wanted to
find out."
"I'll call up Mrs. Brewer ; her shop
knows all that happens anywhere,"
Myrtie said picking up the receiver.
Two minutes later she nodded to her
mother, saying: "She isn't sure but
it's either - Fernwood or Cross-Cut "
v "That means Tommy Page or Sam
i
He Stood at the Door.
Wesley." The mother Crane inter
rupted : "They're welcome to Tommy
but I do say and always will, it's
a' shame about Sam. A real fine fel
low ought to be let do his own court
ing" "But how If he won't?" Myrtie
questioned smiling covertly. Granny
Crane still held against Myrtie's
mother that Joe, her own son, had
been married rather against his will.
All the summer world seemed sing
ing to Loren therefore she sang with
It, not loudly, but barely above breath.
Now and then she all but chuckled,
thinking how she had mystified gossip
as to her destination. It was none of
the hospitable homes where she and
aer half-invalid father were always so
eagerly welcomed, but a small, brown
bouse, in the foothills, with a tum
bling brook hard by and a stretch of
low, misty distances toward the East.
Dad was not going to fish he left all
the hard work to Loren, by hia own
account but to loaf under trees, lis
tening toy. the singing birds and
bathing his tired consciousness In the
bliss of absolute rest. . A conscientious
judge, he got the wear of two years
from each term of service.
It was Loren's doing, this running
away to the wilds. She had made
touch with the ; little, brown house
through its ruling spirit, a ; farmer's
daughter, who had with gallant blun
dering worked "her way through two
years at high school In the village.
Loren had helped her, given her good
food and safe shelter In return for
what she could do in her free time.
Now that she was married, with a
borne of her own, she was only too
glad to welcome and cherish those who
had made her less a servant than a
friend.
- No other house was In sight save
down the far distance. But up around
the brook's bend there was a spravriy
building,' haunted ; intermittently by
sportsmen from March to November.
They never bothered anybody, said
kindly Mrs. Anna ame In ones or
twos or half dozens minded their own
business, liberal as- could be and ready
to' help at need. So the Judge smiled
whimsically at his daughter, saying:
No' chance for any flirting these ap
parently are" sports rather than men.
If we stay the three weeks out, I fear
ybiftr forget how " to say 'No.' That
would be a calamity eh, Anna?'
to their hostess : "You know her
tricks and manners of old her swarm
of followers and that my mind Is
firmly made up, not to spare her to
any of them." .
"Don't blame yeynobody can,"
Anna laughed: "I'd know which of
you'd be vorst lost without the other.
But all ye, big and little, hang to her
so hard an' fast, anybody that wants
her ought Co want the whole family."
"He can't have it," said the judge
with a grin. "
Loren shook her finger at him. "You
wait! 'Til I land a millionaire," she
said : "Since suffrage, it's pretty well
settled women can get whatever they
go after. Such a genius as I am for
adaptation to . poverty will surelv be
entitled at forty-odd to claim riches
as a right." :
"A million with a man attaohed
is that your idea of happiness?" the
Judge asked bowing. "Exactly," said
his daughter. ','But, having a liberal
soul, I won't refuse him if , he has
two millions or even five." -
And just then Fate stepped in with
a man worth live millions; he
srtood at the door, a lost and lonely
soul, bound for the fisherman's house,
but stranded on the . way to it. Of
course, he was succored, guided, later
on welcomed and cherished in spite of
a bald head with grizzled fringe at the
ears and a face shrewdly humorous,
but deeply lined and now and then
hard. .. ' .
He came for three days, saw Loren,
was conquered and stayed for three
weeks. Long before the end of them
he had declared himself, first asking
the judge's leave, then, authenticating
himself and his standing. To Loren
he said frankly : "I know you are
not for sale; but maybe money may
help you to endure me-it can't give
me as much happiness any other way
as In putting all the "world's beauty
round about you." Think it over well
before you answer ; but tell me this
much now: Is there any other man?"
. Loren was as frank. "I'm not sure
yet of anything," she said. "Life
with you (would be the fulfillment of
my dream. Always I have wanted to
do things, In big ways to help with
out those needing it knowing whence
It tame, to' have beauty in everything
not to make my home a fairy palace
but a simple homely heaven on earth,
open to sunshine and rain, to joy and
sorrow, to those who laugh and those
others who walk In shadow.. But
love has walked and wrought with me
in my paradise he may not come, no
matter how earnestly I ask him."
Sb Marchmont, the man of millions,
went away in doubt not of Loren
her he trusted as completely as he
loved her, but of how the scale would
tip in the end. She had asked for a
summer's grace he went overseas to
make certain he would not hurry her.
She took up life as usual, apparently
the same merry, helpful, Impertinent
young creature she had always been.
But there were now and then gleams
in her eyes toward dusk altogether
strange.
Prosaically the gleams meant nearly
always Sam Wesley. He was a fine
upstanding fellow, good to look at,
with a tenor voice sweet enough for
the heavenly choir. Listening to it
while she was all but sure she loved
him. Other whiles there spread
through her consciousness a blurring
mist. She would not let herself think
of Marchmont and all he meant the
thing in hand was to discover was
she truly heart-free?
Chance decided for her by the
agency of a pretty flapper, as, rich as
she was foolish and impressionable as
wax, with whom Sam eloped upon
three day's acquaintance. After one
hard breath Loren felt a sense of en
largement, a joy over the turn of the
game.' So she cabled to Marchmont:
"Come 'home. I want you. There Is
not, has never been, anybody else."
DEFINITION OF "ACT OF GOD"
Jurists Have Accepted Lord Mans
1 field's Idea of What It Shall
Mean In Law.
-The carnal mind of man has
"sought out many inventions" about
God and has proceeded to permeate
human society with them, Incorporat
ing them in school books, prayer
books, law books, and In other ave
nues by which men gain knowledge.
From out of the Dark ages came one
of these "inventions," that legal
phrase, "act of God," which Sir Ed
ward Cole. (1552-1634), first defined
and used , in 1581, as meaning storms,
lightning, tempests and the like. , It
has In modern times been extended
in meaning to include death,' illness,
flood and so on. The happening
which is legally termed an "act of
God" is, in general, allowed as an ex
cuse for not performing an agreement
entered into. Various forms of con
tracts, notably steamship tickets,
freight receipts and some employment
Agreements contain this phrase, which
Operates as a release of liability.
When the time came for Lord Mans
field (1704-1793), that great jurist, to
restate the meaning of the, phrase two
centuries after it had originated, his
definition, as then given, was that
'Wery thing Is the act of God that
happens by his permission, everything
by his knowledge."
! Surgical Operation Old.
There is a process of letting air
Into the lungs by incision from the
outside, much - used-In serious . -eases
of pneumonia, and called by physi
cians "artificial pneumothorax." It Is
a1 very modern treatment, but Dr.
A. K. Krause calls attention to the
fact that Hippocrates 1,500 'years ago
described it In the following words; '
l4'If this affection results from a
wound or, as sometimes happens;
from an incision for empyema, one
should attach a pipe to a bladder, fill
the bladder with air, and' send the al?
into the Interior of the chest. And
one should Insert a solid pewter
sound and push it forward. It Is by
this method that you will get" the very
best results."
AARY 6&HA BONNER.
i corrhortT t vnTtnw hvtyfu union ' .
STRANGE BIRDS
"J am the Peach-Faced Love Bird,"
Bald one of the birds In the zoo. !
And Indeed he was well named. For
his face was of a rosy peach color
just that color, in fact, of a luscious,
delicious-looking peach. r - . r.-,
He had green and blue feathers as
his back feathers, but his ,face was1
the most exquisite color of all.
"I come from South Africa," he
said, "and I am considered a very rare
love bird, if not one of the very rarest.
That means that there aren't many
of our kind..
"We're unsual not to be seen'
often."
"And I'm the Soth African Ground
Hornblll," said another yet strange
bird. "I am black in color, but I have
a kind of pyuch perhaps you would
call it a puffed-out cravat of a tomato-red
color.
"Quite unusual It is. It is under
my beak .where a cravat should be,
were I wearing a cravat. '
"When I am in the free state I eat
Insects and snakes and small animals.
"Fou see I have a varied diet as one
might say. Yes, I don't eat just one
thing. I like a lot of different things
to eat.
"Ybu know my name means some
thing. It mean I like the ground, and
ill 9 J
"Some Gen Ljook Wise."
care more for the ground than I do
for the air. ,
"Of course, the air Is around the
ground, too, bift I am sure you know
what I mean. I like being upon the
ground and I do not care about being
up in the air.
"Surely that is clear."
"I." said the Concave-Casqued
Hornbill, "am a cousin bird to my
neighbor- Ground Hornbill. I have a
yellow beak and a long yellow neck,
and I have black feathers with
touches of buff and yellow.
"My back is certainly, very long.
Yes, look at it all you want to I do
not mind, in the least. While you are
staring at my long beak and .head, I
can stare at the people with 1 their
small noses and mouths, such small
ones as they have. x
"The Mrs. Concave-Casqued Horn
bills lay from one to two white eggs.
In a" hollow tree. Then we plaster up
the entrance with clay leaving a little
wee, narrow silt through which we can
feed pur mates.
"The Mrs. Concave-Casqued Horn
bills are imprisoned in the trees until
the eggs are hatched, but that means
that they will be safe and the eggs
will be safe, and we make sure of
feeding them. j
"Anyway It Is our custom! And so'
is It the custom of the Malayan Horn
bill family. They have pink-and-buff
touches quite pretty I
"And they have black feathers and
pale yellow beaks."
"I'm C6ck-of-the-ock, a nice name,"
said the next bird neighbor in the zoo.
"I'm from Guiana. I have a fine
crown or comb upon the top of my
head of orange. '
! "In fact, I am all orange in color.
"They say that there is hardly any
bird anywhere so vivid and bright in
coloring as I am.
"In fact, I don't belieye they know
of any bird wearing a brighter suit.
"Isn't it handsome?
"It is so gay and so beautiful an
orange color. Yes, you would notice
me anywhere.
"I often open my mouth as though
I were going to say something wise,
and I don't say anything at all.
"I hope that people will think I'm
Wise by my doing this. You know
how some can look wise, and as though
they were going to say something
smart and clever and bright, and yet
they never do. ,
"StiH they give the idea they're clev
er because they give the idea they're
always going to say something so
clever and people almost Imagine they
have said something worth hearing.
"That is the way I want to look.
And I can help myself along by.being
so bright in color, so gay and so bril
liant in plumage.
"Outside you will see Lady Amherst
Pheasant. I hear she dropped a (flne
feather of golden and brown and that
It was given to a visitor to the zoo
who Is prizing It highly. Well, I don't
object to that."
Teddy' Regret.
Teddy I wish I hadn't licked
Jimmy Brown this morning.
Mother-You see now how wrong
it Is to fight, don't you, dear?
Teddy You bet I didn't know till
noon that his mother was going to girt
party.
OUR
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To PLAN GOLF AT THE. COUNTRY CLUB ? . jf PHONE - .
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