The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, December 17, 1916, SECTION FIVE, Page 3, Image 65

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THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, PORTLAND, . DECEMBElt 17t 1916,
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RECENT NEWS EVENTS PICTURED BY ALERT CAMERA MEN
Winter Sports Beginning British Shown in Prison Camps Billy Sunday Gets Musical Comedy Chorus to Sing at Revival. , '
INTER sports are beginning at
Red Bank, N. J., a jTavorite re
port for New Yorkers. One of
the favorite among them ia skate-sailing-,
which has all the charm of danger
as well as the need of great skill.
During the Somme battles the Brit
ish have taken many prisoners. The
Germans in their counter-attacks have
taken prisoners also. British prison
ers are taken to the rear to be trans
ported to concentration camps.
Billy Sunday is always doing the sen
sational thing. His latest stunt dur
ing the revival in Boston was to have
his musical leader, Rodeheaver, train
the members of the chorus of "Rob
inson Crusoe. Jr.," to sing, with him at
his Sunday services. Jt is not reported
that any of them "hit the trail." ;
It is reported that the followers of
Zayas. Liberal candidate for President
of Cuba, are prepared to 'destroy the
crops to create a state of semi-anarchy
so as to force intervention by the
United States.
Three hundred thousand "Be Care
ful" booklets and 50,000 placards are
being distributed throughout New Tork
City to educate the public to cope with
crime and to avoid accident.
"You who drive motor cars," the
placards read in scarlet letters, "help
people to help themselves. Ask your
policeman for the safety booklet." In
the booklet compiled from hundreds of
"Don'ts" by policemen, motorists are
urged greater care in operating their
machines.
The booklets are being put in all
store windows. In theaters and in every
nook and corner of the city. It is
hoped to cut down considerably the
accident death rate.
The U. S. S. Pennsylvania poked her
nose beneath the Brooklyn bridge span
ning the East River as she was out
ward bound from the New York Navy
Yard in Brooklyn to Rockland, Me.,
where she was to be put through her
speed tests.
The monster vessel has a displace
ment of 31,400 tons and her speed is
21 knots per hour. Her engines work
up to 31, SO horsepower. The vessel
cost l'f.260,000. Her armament con
sists of 12 14-inch guns and 22 5-inch
guns, 4 3-pounders and 4 21-inch tor
pedo tubes. ,
High explosives and munitions in
large quantities are being handled in
exactly the same and dangerous man
ner which led to the Black Tom ex
plosion, according to a statement of
the New York Board of Fire Under
writers, Bureau of Surveys.
"The situation is fully as dangerous
at some points, along the New Jersey
waterfront as it was before the ter
rific Black Tom explosion on July 30,"
reads the statement. -
"Lighters or floats containing high
explosives are handled and operated
along waterfront property and piers
with the same -unlimited license as in
the case of the cars."
Youngsters of the East Side left New
York recently for Washington to pre
sent President Wilson with a peace
plan on behalf of the schoolboys and
schoolgirls of the entire city, urging
that negotiations be started with a
view of ending the war. Enthusiastic
members of New York's JuvenilePolice
Force, a noveltbranch of the police sys
tem, the children have been working
hard in their efforts to start a country
wide schoolboy and girl movement for
peace.
BOTH SIN; WOMAN FORGIVES
BUT MAN, BEFRIENDED, SPURNS
Girl Proves Loyalty to Fiance When Scandalmongers Gossip, but He
Rejects Her When She Tells of Indiscretion of Youth.
m
BY MARY INEZ MARTIN.
I AM a spinster an old maid if you
prefer that term and am glad of
, it. A lifetime spent in the profes
sion of nursing has shown me too much
of the Intimate side of domestic rela
tions to have any illusions left. A no
table French authoress once said: "The
more I know of women, the more I
think of cats." Well, by the same
token, the more I know of men some
men the more respect I Iiave for dogs.
By this I do not mean to imply that I
have not known many noble men, but
I have also known too many ignoble
ones.
But of all the base little eurs I have
ever known, your nice yoinr friend,
T. Blank Commonwealthy, is the best
specimen. You all know T. Blankie,
and hold him as quite a model. He is
clever and ambitious and has charm
ing manners, o what is left to be de
aired? Well. I'll tell you Just one
grain of common decency, that is all.
I hate to talk about these things.
but for the girl's sake I think you
ought to know. Her name is not Polly
Perkins, so we will call her that. Polly
was from New Orleans and came up
North to visit her aunt, and that was
when she met T. Blank. Also that is
how I came to know the girl so welL
It is when you are living in the house
with a person and standing together,
fighting back the Grim Reaper, as we
were doing for the aunt, that you see
the best and worse, and that is how I
came to know the high courage and
unselfishness and sweetness of little
Miss Polly.
Fiancee Hears of Anonher.
Then when the girl came to me with
the news of her engagement to T.
Blank Commonwealthy I thought, with
everybody else, that was all very beau
tiful. She was so charming and popu
lar and he was so promising it seemed
quite an ideal match.
When all that scandal came out about
him and several other young men in
town. we were all so shocked we could
think of nothing but the . humiliation
it would be to poor little Polly. And
it was certainly a fiery ordeal for any
high-spirited girl to go through. Re
porters not only rang her up. but even
came to the house to ask her if she
had known of the existence of this
other woman at the time, and what she
was going to do about it. Her aunt
was, of course, for closing the door
against him" without giving htm a
chance to see Polly again, and I saw
that, too, as the only possible cours
to pursue.
Polly's friends were all so devoted to
her and so up in arms against this
double-faced Commonwealthy that they
came and condoled with her and tried
to sympathize with and comfort her.
But. through it all, I could not under
stand the girt. - She listened to all we
said to her, but aald never a word to
give us a clew as to how she felt about
it herself. Neither did . she seem so
overwhelmed with grief as I thought
she would when she saw the idol
broken at her feet and all her dreams
and hopes blighted. I began to sus
pect she had not cared much for him
after all and that she was not deeply
affected.
But I soon found how little I had
known the real nature of the girl. After
a few days, while the gossip and scan
dal was buzzing at its height, folly
Perkins deliberately sent for Blank to
come to see her. He had not dared to
present himself at her aunt's house,
knowing the reception she would have
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given him, but when Polly sent for him
he came.
It would cot have taken many min
utes for the girl to hand him back his
ring and tell him she had expunged his
very name from her mind, but as. the
time went on and he still Klid not leave
the house the aunt felt it her duty to
know what was going on. so we left
the door open into the conservatory.
And there, to our amazement, we' over-
rheard Polly forgiving this wretch, tell
ing him how cruel it was for her to
have to listen to all the things people
were saying bout him.
"I could scarcely stand it," she said
to him, "while all these people were
here trying to sympathize with me. I
wanted to come right out before them
all and tell them that my love for you
had not changed that this was the
time you needed me mosUand that now,
as never before, I was going to stand
by you."
Of (course the man was on his knees
In tears before this noble. little woman,
who was willing to face the fire of
public opinion for his sake. He blub
bered over her and swore his re
pentance and vowed all sorts of wor
ship of her shadow, and all the rest
of the stuff that goes along with a
man of that nature. '
And. if you will believe it, that is
just what this girl did. She would not
hear to her engagement being broken
off. The only thins that would stop ail
those silly tongues, she declared, was
to go right aloni? as if nothing had
happened. But, I tell you. it took a
higher courage than most people pos
sess to live through the weeks thai
followed Miss Polly's declaration. .
" Friend Are Estrang-ed.
' Her friends, seeing they had taken
the wrong side, did not feel they could
come back to her after saying the bit
ter things they had about Blank. Her
aunt still refused to hear a word in
the man's favor, and would not let her
mention his name in her presence. Peo
ple on the, outside looked askance at
this bold stand she was taking against
the public mmd. and at last the poor
girl told me I was the only one whose
friendship she was sure of, even though
I had told her frankly how thoroughly
I disapproved her course and the man.
At any rate. Miss Polly held her head
high and nobody but myself suspected
the torture of her soul as she met re
buffs smilingly and appeared never to
notice the slights and cuts that came
from all sides. - She was constantly
seen with Blankie at the theater nd
other public places, went down on her
knees, almost, to some of her relatives
to make them come to a dinner she
gave to get them to meet and coun
tenance her fiance, and kept her spirits
so blithe and gay no one would have
believed she was not the happiest girl
in all Jhe world.
Glrl'a Campalsrn WIn at iJint. -
And at last Polly's plan of campaign
had its effect. Her friends could not
long withstand her entreaties and one
by one they began to com around and
condone the man for her sake. No one
could long hold out against her argu
ments, to the effect that condemnation
did not help anyone; when a man had
made a nlstake and was down it was
. chance to help him by offering a lit
tle encouragement instead of trying to
push him down farther.
It. was almost a year later that the
day for the wedding was eet, and it
looked aa if Polly's f riendl were ready,
to receive them both into their hearts
and let by-gones be by-cones. Then
Polly, so happy and so thankful for the
way it had all -turned out, felt there
was just one mote In the sunshine of
her happiness.
Agairvshe sent for Commonwealthy
to come to her at a special hour for a
special reason and received him in the
same little study off the conservatory.
I had noticed signs of sleepless nights
and great agitation of mind and knew
that something was causing the girl
anguish of soul. It was for this reason,
when T. Blank came by special appoint
ment, I felt it irfy duty to be in the
conservatory.
Having seen so much of life down
to the bleeding core, my standards may
be somewhat different from yours. Vir
tue, to me, is a quality of soul, not of
deeds. Well, there they sat in the same
spot where Polly had proved her -loyalty
to Commonwealthy and he had
crawled at her feet. And there this
noble-hearted woman bared her soul to
the man before she should become his
wife and told him of a misstep taken
long ago through ignorance and im
pulse. Man Refuses to Forgive.
It was a pitiful little story, but she
could not. tolerate the Idea of any
thought unshared between them, so
she had resolved to tell him all.
"And this," she went on, "was one
reason I could so freely overlook that
trouble of yours. . I knew how entirely
apart that thing can be from one's real
self." Her tones faltered, and at last
her voice broke. Still I heard no word
from the man. At last the girl said:
"It is hard, bitter hard, to tell, you
this, dear, but I Just had to. so now
there is nothing between us, and when
we are married our lives will be one in
everything."
"It was several minutes before I
heard another sound from that room.
Did the man take this little woman in
his arms and kiss away the heartache?
Did the man rise to the emergency, as
she had done, rejoice that he had some
small chance to stand by her as she
had stood by him, gather the limp lit
tle form up in his strong arms and
thank Ood that he was now her pro
tector and reverence her for the white
souled honesty that compelled this con
fession? Did your nice T. Blank Com
monwealthy do 'this or anything like
this? . -
The next sound I heard from the
study was a hard, cold voice saying:
"I wish you had told .me this before.
You do not seem to understand that
this is different. You certainly do not
expect me to make you my wife know
ing that you have not been a good
woman. The woman I make my wife
and the mother of my children must
be "
But before the cur had a chance to
say another word through his polluted
lips I made a great clatter out in the
hall by overturning a table which gave
Polly a chance of escape.
So this is what I mean when I say
that Just one grain of common de
cency is what your nice young man
needs most of all.
HORSE'S SOBRIETY ISSUE
Defendant In Routt Crasli Declares
Auto Alone Was Sober.
- MILWAUKEE, Dec. 7. Whether or
not a horse was intoxicated was mado
a part of an argument of a case in
Judge Otto H. Bredenbach's branch of
the Civil Court recently.
Michael Iglinski sued William Koontj
for 11000, charging that the defendant
drove an automobile into his buggy,
t Ms-owing his wife out. Some testimony
tended to show that the buggy was
xig-zagging along the road.
The attorney for the plaintiff. In his
argument, declared that there was no
evidence to show that the horse was
drunk. The court found for the de
fendant, without deciding the horse's
condition.
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