Image provided by: The Willamina Museum; Willamina, OR
About The Willamina times. (Willamina, Yamhill County, Oregon) 1909-1972 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1940)
TIMES, WILLAMINA, OREGON smoked acridly. Dragged out, It flared into flame briefly— a soaked, dangerous bundle of cotton rags anc paper. Men stamped out the flame, looked at each other somberly. “Somebody,” announced Frank Emmet, “was txing to burn the mill.” “Wind’s wronfk” Hobe said, kick ing a smoking heap into a pool of water, “or she’d have went sure. Looks like if anybody wanted to burn her they'd have figured on the wind." Wills was aware of Lucy Fields' white face near to his elbow "It was set, i’t it?” she said. “Obvio ;h, even if the barrel ere might not have age. That little or less air- tight ’ would have smoldi But le want to set fire" to town would be ruined ___ __ destroyed.” Why,” Daniels cut in, “would anyone want ----- to — spoil the pulp? Something’s wrong somewhere. Where is Mrs. Morgan?” “She went to Asheville to see Tom Pruitt's lawyers. I’d better tele phone her.” “I wouldn’t.” Wills said. “The fire is out. Why worry her? She has troubles enough already.” “That’s true. I won’t tell her. You’d better clean this up, Frank.” “Let's have a look at it first.” Wills looked at Daniels. "We can be true. I’ll talk to Mrs. Morgan— and you can be sure I won’t let the mill be destroyed on my ac count." "Oh—please don’t talk to Mrs. Morgan! Please—just go! You can make some excuse—you had a job, you can say you are going back to HOTEL ASSEMBLY it. You could say you had changed your mind." N IN TH A MADISON. MEATTLB “I’m sorry—I couldn’t leave with C o m fo rta b le M odern Itoomn out talking to Mrs. Morgan. I’m D a lly I I I t W ee k ly 1« Up very much indebted to her.” Coffee Shop Dining R oe» “I appealed to you,” she sighed. “It’s all I can do. But—if you were convinced—” D E N T A L * P L A T E R E P A IR “ You’ve done your part. What H 001 S K I VICK la Mei! C i m i ever happens—I’m to blame.” B r iif e i Mall T a n Plates “I hope nothing happens. I hope lei lepeir-CIKDIT BxteaM I’m wrong." She smiled thinly. But there was a dubious uneasi D r . H a r R y S im l e r . ÏÏ&diit ness in her heart, os Wills went 'IlM * A ■ r u l f l A M O O «t away. Had Stanley Daniels been a — ------- h i i l l l i x n - N U . der vice little odd—a trifle curt and watch CHAPTER IX—Continued when Marian had gone, "is what ful? He couldn’t know anything —11— you could call a dramatic exit. Very about this affair—and yet, he alone carried the keys. Repeatedly she had called them satisfying—to the actor.” HOUSEHOLD Lucy was heavily unhappy as she Into conferences, during the black CHAPTER X walked home alone that night. Life QUESTIONS years of the depression, laying the could be so hopeless, so ghastly facts before them, speaking their Branford Wills went to his work at when you lived in a shabby old language. She had made sacrifices house at the end of a shabby street, to keep the mill in operation when the mill in the morning like a young Use a clean sheet of wrapping When you were so achingly in love! puper to roll pies and pastry on. there was no profit for her, no pos man riding to a crusade. There sible way to show a profit. If the was about him. as he entered the It saves a lot of clvuning up Inter. • • • CHAPTER XI mill closed there was no other em gate, a feeling of going into battle. ployment for them—and yet here No tangible opposition presented it Apples peeled, cored and baked Marian Morgan had driven her in pineapple juice muke a new was suspicion, sabotage and ugly self, no definite hostility. The men little car up a twisting stretch of and tempting dish. doubt that rested, till she had proof were not friendly, but they were • • • ridge road, without having any very and certain knowledge, upon every heavily polite and reserved, as he knew all mountain men to be until definite idea of where she was go man in the mill. Painting the top nnd bottom cel were won over. Daniels was ing or why. lar steps white may save mony Virgie hated the thought with the they and indifferent but their work She drove slowly becuusc she told falls. frightened hate of the innately kind curt not coincide and Wills, following • • • herself that it was thrifty to spare and candid woman. She hated look did the milling of the product through tires on a rocky, boulder-edged Protect the mattress from tear ing at Jerry and Hobe and the Spain the plant, the first removal of track. She searched the hills above ing and from dust by a muslin boys, with speculation in her eyes. the bark to from the warm brown rolls of and below with her eyes, but not mattress cover, and by placing a She loathed the feeling that hostile rolled into storage, saw even to herself would she admit that mattress pad between the spring looks might be following her. Every wood-pulp she looked for anything. She had and the mattress. man in the mill owed something to the chemist but seldom. heard her mother telephoning in But on the snowy morning follow her—and yet people were funny! structions that morning, but she had ing his visit to the jail, Daniels She went home at night, lost in a emerged from his laboratory, his kept her mind sternly on her break heavy, ruminative gloom. fast grapefruit and adjured herself hands in the pockets of a stained She changed her clothes and went jacket, and came to stand beside not to listen. What did it matter down to her big chair that faced Wills who was watching a new couch where the woods truck went or who David Morgan’s picture and still had blanket being spread on one of the went with it? the print of David Morgan’s head big presses. She slipped out of the car, dragged in the leather of the back. David the cushion out and rummaged for Daniels spoke without preamble. looked tired, too, she thought. Da “ You were down at the other end the pump, set it up on the ground. vid was out of it all. He was lucky. of the mill yesterday. Wills. Did With a nail-file from her purse she Marian sat, moodily, in front of you see anyone fooling around the pressed down the valve of a front the fire staring into the blaze. big vats—the digesters? We lost a tire, let the air escape until the "You,” sighed Virgie, sinking into batch of pulp through some funny tire sagged, loose and flabby, a dis the cushions with a groan, “are a business or other.” couraging flummox of limp rubber. cheerful sight for tired eyes! If “I don’t know all the men in the Then she climbed back into the car, a merry laugh or a song ever sound mill as yet,” Wills said. “And I wrapped the rug around her knees ed in this room I suppose I’d drop was out for two or three hours. The and sat in a small, cold huddle dead from shock. What were you vats have padlocks, don’t they?” waiting. doing over at the jail?” Instantly, now that the thing was “That’s it.” Daniels frowned. “It’s “I went over to bring Tom back. an inside job, evidently—without done, a hundred accusing and con He wouldn’t come.” demning voices clamored in her even a motive that we can discov ears. She was being cheap, she was "Being locked up on a criminal er. You haven’t made any of these fellows sore, have you?” doing the sort of shallow trick that charge, that is kind of odd.” a girl of Lossie’s class might de Her face went red and then white Wills looked puzzled. “How could “ You were going to arrange bail vise, she was forgetting that she as Wills came in. for him. Lon Hicks said so. But I? I’ve only been watching and lis was the daughter of Virgie Mor IJ LACK and white yarn—a cro- tening. And if I made a man sore Tom wouldn’t come.” find out perhaps where this stuff gan of the Morgan mills. But draw chet hook—presto—a life-like “I suppose you had to take young he'd be more likely to give me a came from.” ing out all these self-reproaches was panda cuddle toy. Single crochet Wills along in case you needed poke in the jaw, wouldn’t he, than For an instant Wills sensed an the thin, poignant cry that had trem forms the exterior of this cute ani somebody to carry Tom’s baggage to ruin a run of pulp?” “It sounds reasonable. It’s a mys edge of hesitation in Daniels’ man bled through her heart and beat in mal; cotton stuffing the interior; —his other bandana! Did Wills men His eyes flicked around, then her blood since the night she had buttons do excellent service as tion that he’s working for me? Not tery—and not so good for me be ner. were quickly guarded. But his talked to her mother before the fire. eyes. that it matters, but now and then cause I carry the keys. Well, much voice as • • • was carefully casual when “I have to know!” she said, plain we do run off a batch of pulp when obliged.” Easy directions for this cuddly panda he answered, “Not much left—but tively, aloud. "I know it isn’t true— At shouted instructions from a we can get a little co-operation from are Z9036. lie . He la about 14 Inches tall but I have to be sure!” lank man in overalls, Wills went to there may be a clue." when finished, and will be a nursery fa the gentlemen I employ.” Wills went back to his work at This contradictory patching up of vorite. It takes but little effort to crochet “Mother, don’t be so prickly! I help smooth the thick blanket into the Jordan machine. It was an hour him. Send order to: took Mr. Wills over there because place on the bed of the machine. later that one of the Spain boys her conscience helped her to be calm, to wait, though her feet tin But the odd unease of being pressed Lossie said the people in town were came to him and said, “Lucy wants gled with cold. A mountain jay A U N T M ARTHA saying you had fired Tom and given upon by strange and unfriendly to see you. In the office.” Bos 1 M W Kansas City, Mo. came and shrieked at her from a forces persisted. He hated the feel Wills Tom’s job. I thought perhaps Wills crossed the yard to the lit sumac clump. A deer stood for an Enclose 19 cents for each pattern ing of defensiveness, of needing to Tom might have heard it. I hope tle structure that stood so bleakly desired. Pattern No....................... you don’t think I took him because justify himself in his own mind. alone. Lucy Fields sat at her little instant, tense and listening under some gnarled ancient apple-trees He liked this job, and he had been Nam « ............................................ ............ I enjoyed his company?” desk, and her face went first red beside the ruin of a stone chim Virgie looked at her daughter lev- swept up into admiration for the in and then white as Wills came in. Address ................................ ney. Then suddenly he bounded trepid spirit of Virgie Morgan. elly. Her heart gave a little jerk. “Sit down, please,” she faltered a And now, as the mill clamor beat little, then plunged rapidly. “Mr. away. There was a metallic vibra Like every other mother she had postponed stubbornly admitting to around him, he was certain that it Wills, I’m doing a very bold thing— tion through the woods. The truck herself her child’s maturity; she had was the remoteness, the indifference asking you to come here. But I was starting. She caught the back put off the inevitable hour of change in her eyes that made this feeling of had to talk to you. There’s—noth fire of a cold engine and the clank nay affect the Heart of shovels tossed aboard, and leaned when some man should desire her being on trial without a friend in ing else to do.” . 7“ In rtom trh or ru liet r u ? art 1ft« a her elbow on the button of her horn. \ t r i f g e r «»n Uie heart A t tb<» flrat sign of <jiair«aa child for his own. For days she court. He had to show her. He had r 2 J ndk . " T <'n J ’* * ’?4 on ,ul1 TablKa to “I see. And what was it you The blare made the jays and the lit f»*«. No la ia fire but made of the fa s t m t - had been seeing through Branford to show her that he was something wanted to say to me?” He took the r kno^ ‘ for •f,d 1 **»n ir the dooan t prove lleJI-ana flatter, return Wills clearly and she had not been other than a lost and rather pathetic chair opposite—the chair that still tle pine sparrows and crossbills with a whirring and snap bottle to u* a o j ratelra IXJt'H U C Muory Back, displeased. She liked his straight young man whom a big-hearted el bore the imprints of David Mor scatter ping of twigs. forwardness, the trace of iron in derly woman had befriended. gan’s shoulder-blades. Then the rusty radiator appeared Dominion Over Self A sudden sharp nausea caught him, the strong and gentle way he Her throat fluttered. A strained You can never have a greater had with women. But there was no him as his mind raced. Young men look came over her small wistful over the rise emitting steam. Joe had let the engine run hot on the or a less dominion than that over seeing through Marian. Virgie ad had been befriended by middle-aged face. grade. He was always doing that, yourself.—Da Vinci. mitted to herself that her child was women before—if she thought he “This is such a little town,” she a dark-eyed enigma to her mother. was that sort, an opportunist, a began. “It’s rather awful to live too impatient to cool it out properly th’ey reached the top of a long And in her present state of mind, heel! He gave an involuntary jerk in such a gossipy little place. It when climb. “ SPECIAL” nerve-taut and weary, puzzles were and Bud Spain yelled, “Hey!” But isn’t easy—what y—what I have to say—to Two men jumped down when they irritating. the yell was lost in other yells, rough make it clear, I mean. About the HELP FOR saw Marian’s car, and came run “Do you mean to tell me that and sudden and startling. town. About the mill. It belongs to ning. One was Joe. The other was you don’t know that that chap is in Frank Emmet banged the gears the town—to all of us, Mr. Wills. love with you?” she demanded. of the Jordan machine back, jumped The men who work here have been Branford Wills. Swiftly Marian put “Have I raised up a daughter with and ran. Wills ran, too, and be here always. Nobody ever came in every scruple out of her mind. She Due to Chest Colds no more feminine intuition than a— cause the others were yelling, he from outside till Mr. Daniels came was a woman, using a woman’s Rub chest and throat with Mild Mus- devious and often unfair weapons. ground turtle? Why—Lossie knows yelled, too. Hobe Anderson was last year.” terole (made especially for children) She said, “I’m stuck. That miser more than that! Or am I supposed dragging a flat hose off a reel. An to quickly relieve distress of bron “What is it you’re trying to tell able old tire insists on going flat. chial and spasmodic croupy coughs. to be just a nice stupid old mother, other man struggled with a fire ex me?” Wills asked bluntly. “That I’m And I left the key to the spare in -— O f lL D R R NTM blind as a bat?” tinguisher. an outsider? That somehow or oth my other purse. Isn’t mother with Marian’s eyes darkened and her The smoke was pouring from a er I am to blame for the trouble in you? I thought she came up here. face changed queerly. There was a little oil house, built against the the mill?” There’s a long-distance call for her little convulsion of her lips that was north wall of the mill. They kicked “ And so your suggestion is that I —I came up to tell her.” a tremor of pain, but Virgie was the door in, there were yells and leave town in haste and never come “She didn’t come with us. She too spent and too exasperated to see. men running into each other, and back!” must be at the mill,” Wills said. “So that,” Marian’s voice crack much coughing and hissing of chem Beauty and Sadness Tears ran down her pale face. “I led like ice, “ is the cute little plot. icals. The smoke grew blacker, then know I sound like a fool to you, “Let’s have a look at that tire.” Beauty and sadness always go “It’s flat, all right.” Joe gave the He’s in love with me so you give turned white and sank to the ground. but Mrs. Morgan has been a moth together. Nature thought Beauty him a job in the mill. It’s a Rollo Wills’ eyes were running scalding er to me—tc all of us. We’ve all wheel a kick. “ But there’s still a too rich to go forth upon the earth little air in it. Maybe we can pump book—the nice young man works his water but it was he who kicked the fought and worked and struggled to without a meet alloy.—George it up so you can get down to the MacDonald. way up from sweeping the store and smoldering barrel into the open, gether—always for the mill.” road.” the mill owner’s daughter is sup where Hobe Anderson knocked it “All but the fellow who poured They pumped up the tire, and posed to be all of a twitter because over and sent it rolling with a oil on the newspapers and ruined Joe studied it, testing the valve. she gets a kind look. Unfortunately, stream from the hose. T0\ ^ - the pulp. He was fighting for him “Must be a pressure leak,” he Mother dear, you’ve been reading “Take it easy!” Wills shouted at self.” said. “Valve’s all right. Can you Dorothy Dix or seeing too many Hobe. “Cut that water off. Let’s OF “Perhaps he thought he was fight turn around here without getting movies. Mr. Branford Wills happens have a look at this.” ing for the mill. Perhaps he thought stuck?” qu.ick.Cy « J e not to be in love with me—as any A dozen hands jerked the charred, that outsiders would be coming in to "I think so—I’ll try.” L IQ U ID observer can see with half an eye. smoking staves of the barrel apart. take it away from us. He might TABLETS “ You better do it,” Joe said to SALVE Either half. And I happen not to A label, still intact, on its side, in have thought that you were the N O te D R O M Wills. “It’s steep off there. She be in love with him.” dicated that it had held bisulphide. first.” C O U C H DROPS could turn over easy.” “That,” Virgie mumbled aloud, In the bottom an oily mass still “It sounds fantastic. But it may (TO BE CONTINUED) C L A S S IF IE D D EPARTM ENT INDIGESTION CHILDREN’S CROUPY COUGHS WlSTERQIf COLDS
