. THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, ' SUNDAY EIORMNG, APRIL 12. J 903
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The Story of the Girl
Who Saved Her Lift
by Playing: Truant
DON'T KNOW why I did it" said
nine-year-old Helen Marks,"but--"
She tausrJ.av.eJ by the realization
that she had saved her life by playing truant'
from school. ' , ,
- When the recent horrible fire disaster, at
Collinwood; Ohio, plunged that tretty suburb
of Cleveland into mourning and shocked the
nation, it was announced that every one of the
thirty-nine putils in Miss Grace risks third
grade room had perished with their teacher.
Jsi7$little ones met death that day, the state ,
snent seemed probable. ; ',
But U was incorrect. There was one sur-
I
t:
xtracted 0 ante. Hla adroit it wJ an xamlntion
of th bank by bar paranta, who now would ear hot If
it bad been 1st, It corroborative evidence. With that M
-t... . f.V F.MVr ,1ttl?Un MitrVt cnti Helen bad tbt time-but let Mr ton u neneu:
-tvor from Must Ms class-rtleien MarKsn aldn.t WMt 0 n t0 ,ohool tha moming.: Funny,
She had Saved her life by playing hOOkey. v f always bat to go to acboot on a warm, sunshiny day
School children have played trucnt, per-: na " t0-
M since the torment of schooldays wasje- f7$2LEl& fthat money out
vised by their elders. They have tone fishing i did it upstair uimt dressed, x thought it would
far &ocy ras for
yVcsVsrs,,
At1-
: 'in.i'nnin'ifff ' hiii livrA hall rm remote ' ayar drop out I wantad mora, but mamma wa calllof , ; -KX-''i-i- ' t-K .'' - '' ' ' i Ivt"' -S. , 'I
.. end swimming, haxe .ptaHei bM on remote p i tia a tn. o.r M&j" S )lt-: xH&P-'Vf J
lots or enjoyed stolen hbeftp in other ways !lb.4got out ttp haf4 to By bandkerchuf. M it wouldn't : SX. ' SL - - Jim Xri ffr' fJy J'M,
that appeal to boys and girls, but few-have , , ' v:.v ; : ' J l1MAV'r-- WJ I
- "4 ..Ill 'O - 'r,lT - -
In this story1 Helen Marks tells, in her
joavi youthful way; of the escapade- that kept
one victim of the death roll of the Collinwood .'
horror. i;:v'::";:Hv,';;'':;
ilnr rrotn aa, hum Marn rarpruaa
Jlppln up behind him nt throwing br
ncK Whlia n w prod din Kraonr tn
Tn (in had plkTM truant rrora ooooi.
Lrk rcturnln
lirr Ithr by i
rmt abont nl
ulna fn h Iwid.
Knt rturnln horn. hr parent auDPOMd that ah had
prlh1. la deapalf hr fathar waa arcblnr In U
rulna. whan tha lrl crtfd: "Onaaa who I am, aapaT'-
Mr.
s
natch an dar of lira. .
CORES of llttla bodlet war lying In tha tatnoorary
morgna, about ' which a crowd of baartbrokan
parenta clu tared. Tha bunch of amarda at tha
, front door partad. X . man, with fao . wan and
Unad wltb grtef and crying- aulatly, cam In.
"Waa It a boy or glrir. tha aympathttio guardt
wfalsparad. -.; 5 ' ') : :'''.--.;
"X glrV ba aobbad. "My Helen." , ' C
They motioned to th left, wbart lay a long Una of
llttla ahapear covered with blanket!,' tarpaullna, abeeta
and newapaperaf "Thoaa are tha glrla," tbay aaid.
. Down , tha long tin tha Borrowing, man went hla
trlef eating bit heart away. -Tha tears earn fatter and
blinded him aa he uncovered tha a till, ghaatly forma
na by on. He ataggered before ha reached the end.
rrhe guard caught and aupported him.
"X guaa aha Un't here,- ha moaned. "Maybe-ihey-havtn't-got
her out-yet" For aU th rlctlxne bad
' not been racovered from the achoolhous death trap.
"look, again," they told him. "Look at th dreaaet;
poibly you will find ber that way."
,, H abook bia bead, but atarted at th bead of th Una
again anyway. . lie examined a ecore of bodlea, then
. tank to bis kneea to pray. At that Juncture
; X little) girl aaueased ber way in. Her face waa
dirty, her white apron waa rent and muddy. Before they
could atop ber ahe ran allently down to the kneeling
figure of the man.
Qoick aa a Saah aha put ber band over hi eyea.
"flues who It la, papa," ahe aaid. ?
With a fierce cry of joy, he apuh around. "My God,
Belen," be gasped. Then he fainted.
There were thirty-nine pupils in Mis Grace Stake'a
third grade room at the LAkeview School, Collinwood.
f hlrty-eight answered to roll call on. that fatal Wed'
nesday moraluvi Helen Marks, a Fourth avenue, was
marked "absent'? ,
An hour or o later every one of the thirty-eight
o dead. With their teacher, they, loat their lives in
the frantic-rush to escape the flame that made the
flimsy building a charnel house.
, NO WHIPPING THIS TIME
Helen Marks lives because the was a naughty little
girl and played "hookey. '
"Vou won't whip me. will you, papa?" she pleaded
us the hapiy father led her through the crowded streets
mitHide the temporary morgue eslablUhed in th Lake
teliore phopB. . -
"Whip yout lieaVers, no," he replied, and kissed her
spaln. . ' .
Some peopl 'will say that it was premonition of
the disaster tha day hold In store that made this nine-"Vt-arold
girl rurt away from -the ill-fated school. Helen
Marks' rhildltth comprehension very likely cannot com
pass "jirunouition,"'. IX wasn't premonition, anyway.
"1 5 11st didn't want 'to. go "to school that day," she
aavs That's all the explanation she has to offer.
While, hf r fallow-pupils were flghilrig to get down the
rMrrow stairways to the safety of th open air outside,
while Colliqwoud's ptmy little fire- department was tinki
ering with iu wheeling, sputtering gasoline-driven en
gine, while htr mother f.nd th other were down on
tiiiir knH In the mud of the-street outside praying
Htilm waa doing some ahopplnfir in Cleveland.
, Oblivious of the terrible happening at home, eh Was
having the tiin of her life 8h bought teanuts here
.ija water -there, roterds,v gum, andy, bananas. In
tu afternoon she at high up, in the gallery,, enthralled
s a f hpii meilrema hero nwam the river With the '
heroin ami tolled 'he villain again; , , ,
'l-cfora Helen lelt- home that-morning she had, ' by-'-"
.uimliuub and ttJiaus shakings of her Cist, Iron bank, '
T'i- . .
-
rattle, and dropped it down the neck of my drtsa Into
my walat .
"I didn't have any appetite for anything to eat . X
kept thinking of that money Inside my dress. 2 waa
afraid that It would up and Jingle. Mamma wanted to
Vecn -far
As.
Jre Girl
Trusrtrt
'Nothing,' X told
know what was the natter with 1 me.
her.-; - . .". -
'."Mamma can aee from our kitchen window all the
way over , to the achool, I had to go atralght that way;
I kept away from th other glrla. Maybe they thought
It wag' funny. , ,' - J '
J1 waa Bur that mamma wat watching me all the
way. I thought I could feel her eye on toy back. Sh
wasn't looking, though. -1 waa glad X didn't meet Mis
Flake on the way.' X would have bad to go right Into
school with ber. '
"When I got to the front door I didn't go In. X went
around to tha back. The last bell waa Just ringing.
Ther wasnt any en out there; not even any boy a. I
, waited around there until I heard the acbolara saying
the Lord's Prayer, then X ran across to th car line Uk
aixty. ' ; " ,
. "I had to wait a long time for the car. There waan't
any place to hide Just a big open apace end I wa
afraid that torn on would ee m and tell on m. X
waa going to go out to Euclid Beach and spend the mors
Ing. X could get back bom by dinner time, X thought
CONSCIENCE ACCUSfeD HER
' "But th ear going that way didn't com. On going
toward Cleveland came along first X don't know what
possessed me to do It but I climbed on.
"I forgot about where I had my money until the con- '
ductor come around. Then X had to stick my hand way
down my neck to get it The other people laughed fit
to kill, One old man didn't, thought tie kept looking at
me kind of stern like. I waa afraid he wa a truant
officer. Anyway, I'll bet ha Just knew X waa running)
away from aohooL
"What did L do downtown? Why, X Just walked
around and looked-In the windows, and bought candy
and peanuts and thing and watched the people. Be
fore X knew It It waa noon. I taw it on a big clock on
a post out tn front of a store.
"X didn't know what to do then. X knew that I'd get
a whipping when X got home, and probably papa would
send me to feed without any supper. Then X thought'
that I might Just aa well stay away all day. I'd get the
whipping anyway; I could eat Just enough before X got
on th car to last m over aupper.
iyeflu 1 got aome aoui
Gee, but those stool were high.
"So I stayed.
restaurant
oughnuts and eoffe la a.
xne man
behind th counter wouldn't take my money; I had te
stand In Una and pay a man away up in front
"I walked around for a little while, when X met a
ltttl girl who naked tn if X was going to th show. X
told bar no. Then X changed my mind and aaid yea.
We went together. We went away up, oh, ever so high.
It waa great only there waa a mas betide ua who
chewed tobacco and spit on th floor. 1
"I never saw anything like that play. It wat grand.
They did lota of tha grandest things. ' A man swam a
big river with a girl with the prettiest yellow hair, and
got her away from the bad manand oh, Juat lots of
thing. I cried one when b eeld be waa going to kill
br th bad man, I mean.
; "It waa nearly dark whn X got out I waa getting
afraid. I waa all alone, too, for somehow X had lost tha
other girl coming down the stair. But X Just ran to
where I knew, the Collinwood car passed. X got on the
first one that came'
. "People were all talking about a ilre somewhere.
Lota of people bad been killed., A newsboy got on tha
car. Everybody bought hi papers. X had a penny left
and bought one, too. 1 ' '
; "On the front page It told' about a big Are in the
North, Collinwood' , school. I didn't think anything of
that Our achool ' was the Lakeview School Then X
started to read the names of the children' who were
burned. Down w the middle of it waa my name, Helen
Marks, It had my addreat, ag and everything. News
papers always, get things wrong,, I've heard papa Bay.
' "Well, aayway,-X Juat got Beared to death. I knew
that papa and mamma would be almost eraay. That old
car wa awfully slow. It seemed to atop at every block.
Every time It stopped mora, people got on. They were
all talking about the fire.
"When we finally got there everybody got off at tha
Lake Shore shops. X met a girl I knew, and ah told
me that papa waa tn th shed whr they had all tha
dead children looking for me. I was supposed to b
dead too, you know.
"I ran right In. Som men tried to atop m, but X
went anyway. There Waa papa, kneeling down there.
I-just ran up to him and played bllndman's buff with,
him. Gee, but h waa glad to aee me,
"I didn't get whipped, after all. Mamma and papa
mad me deep with thm that night They hugged and
kissed me for most of the night In the morning papa
gave me a dollar; he says mamma la to take m in to a
play every week now. But X ain't going to run away
from achool any more. , , .
-. "X guess that's ell." :- J ', v ' '
for Monic
P ' aVv ' H W
F
ROM Parig c&QCfl th" announcement that , Oranler, Coauelln,.Mounet-SuJly, 1 Bargy and Gultry.
five of tha greatest dramatist f France : -on. them the beat aotors of Franoe, nay, of th
have been engaged .to write playg lor mov- Barah Bernhardt acting for the camera! Coquelln
v potlng for a dumb show! ; Would you believe itt i
.dmond .Rostand, Alfred Capua, .Henri, Laredan ? But explain fthe manufacturera, v the demand i for
ana juaunce XJCuxi-MfyXi ' U
Lovers of ; the drama are;; asking i t Will ; the
theater pasa away t ; Will the: drama of the future
be produced, not on a stage; but on A white canvas?
Already the cinematograph as a popular amuse
ment has become, world-wide and famous. ' ;
this; amutemenl is so great that they they can afford
to pay big money and they , are paying large sums
to thes atars. : ; v ' ,s
They declare, further, that the moving picture ia
the coming amusement of the , future; that nothing
too good can to scoured. And so they have engaged
th baat talan t.
In the United States, according
lb CAP the newt that th leading dramaUats of
France of the .world have been engaged to
writ moving-picture play a. It is annoutfeed
that the leading parts In ' these playa will be
taken .by Earth. Bernhardt Bartot, . Re jane, Jeanne
crominent
manufacturer of dims, three of the best known humor
u playwright In New, York write playa tor the
camera,' Their namee are ' not Used : for advertising
purposes.
to a'.
t
"But." continual , the movlni-nlctura man. "tha
dar la very near when we shall compete with one an
other because of -th author of our playa. Th time
1 not far off when we ahall bid for th best talent to
writ our, plays and the best known actor and ac-t
tresses td appear In them." , t '
,vThe idea of writing playa for the moving" picture t
occurred to M. Henri Lavedan, the famoua author of
the "Marqule d Irlola." HI suggestion wa qulokly ,
" taken up by the cinematograph v manufacturer, and ;
Lavedan wa engaged to write a historical drama, '
, - No aooner did other dramatist laarn of thia than
they , professed : tlrelr wiilingnes to write plays, ? and
. they " were Quickly engaged. -"" dmond ' iiottand has ;
been commissioned to writ three fairy drama! M.
. Alfred Caput will write, a play depicting the financial
life of Pari. - " t
In these playa, of course, as in all moving-pictured
dramas, what la required j action. .Emotions express
ed on the stage in words, for the cinematograph must 1
be : translated Into movement and expression. While
appearing before the oamera th actors usually enter
Into conversation la order to give verisimilitude to '
th . show. Otherwise, the movement would nataralljj
be strained. -:'Jy'"- , v
Rehearsala for th moving picture ar"conduct4
just a rehearsal for th stage. There mutt be tpon- -tanelty,
for the camera' record U, unerring.
- Employment by the French manufacturer! of well .
known aotors la certainly an, Innovation in th pro-
ductlon of these dumb ahow. L Bargy, one of the ' ;
most vital of actora, will take the leading part in M.
Lavedan' play. -' , .
A series of short acenet representing phaaea of .
Parisian life will constitute the play to be produced
by M. Caput. Mile, ffiva Lavalllere, of the Varieties,
and De Feraudy, of the Francait, will take th lead
ing rolt.-, It 1 tald the supporting actor are te .
get 1 40 for each rehearsal and $200 for the final per
formance.' The leading parts, of courte, Will draw -larger
and, It it said, extremely large sums. Capua,
it will be remembered, I the author of "La Velne"
and "La Chatelaine,'' the ; leading successe , ot, tw J
successive apasont .ln Paris, For several year he was
the idol of the French, la popularity matching Roe- .
tand. - ' is ' '
, ; Xtostandl Think of th author of "Cyrano de Ber-
' gerao the most popular play at period In Russia,' ;
"- Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Servia, the united States t
and the Countries of southern . Europe writing play -for
moving-picture production. Possibly th "Divine
Sarah" v and .Coauelin will be engaged to ' take ; th
leading parts, . -' v
Writing a play for a moving-picture production la
, simple to the expert The recipe; la lots of actiqn, ex
pression of emotion by pantomime, sensational esca-:
1 padea, hair-breadth escapes humorous situations
A, mere outline of the play i written, divided into "
soenes. .When rehearsing the actora fill in their parts -with
oonversatlont. Occasionally the author will write 1
the dialogue, although thia it not the usual method. '1
The average length of Hhe play aa written 1 600 j
WOfflSe' ' ' ' "' '' v " -'"'V-- if-' .' . J:-V- '-'-'.-.,;.- " v - " ;
In the United States molt of the movlngptcturel
manufacturers employ men to writ their aubjeots.
Many are purohased from outside contributors, and v
from $5 to 50 is faid for a play or good suggestion.