Coquille herald., July 18, 1916, Image 5

TH E C O Q U ILLE HERALD, July 18, 1916
mm
I 1 11
11 1
O
S EC O N D STORY
The Tight Rein
la Jeremiah McCall'» great factory
at Leaping River, it was estimated that
• pair of ahoea waa turned out every
seven and a half seconds. The big
rail* of leather— dry, lifeless skins of
aattle, goats and horses—came in at
•ne end of the plant, and passed out
at the other as the finished article, mil­
lions of them, shining, lacquered,
complete In neat pasteboard boxes.
Conversely, the factory took hun­
dreds of young girls, cheery-choeked,
bright-eyed, glossy-haired, bursting
with youth, and turned them Into dry,
lifeless old women, leathery of face
and leathery of soul.
Among the new applicants for
work— the raw material of the system
—one day came Amy Prentice. It
happened to be a day In April—a trick­
sy day with big, white clouds sailing
lasily over the bluest kind of sky, and
a warm, soft breeie which rustled In
at the open windows to whisper all
sorts of fanciful suggestions. By a
coincidence, It happened to be the
birthday of young Jock McCall, the
son of the owner of the plant—his
twenty-third birthday.
One by one, the applicants passed
before bis desk to be perfunctorily
questioned as to age, experience, refer­
ences.
Then suddenly be glanced up to en­
counter a face which in Its wistful del-
leaoy, and almost childlike charm of
expression, seemed to him the very
counterpart and embodiment of the
day.
"You are looking for work?" he
asked, yet hardly knew his own voice.
It was as If he were saying, “ I love
you."
She started a little at his question,
showing plainly that she too had been
dream gathering; then murmured an
acquiescence.
She was absolutely green and with-
cut experience, and for untrained labor
of that sort McCall usually paid from
three to five dollars a week. Jock
mentally strained a point as to the
faotory's necessities, and assigned her
to piece work on a stitching machine
where. If she were quick and capable,
she oould earn from twenty to twenty-
five.
“ Amy Prentice, age twenty," was the
way she had filled In the application
blank he had given her; but his heart
had christened her, "April's Lady,” be­
fore he ever knew her name.
The entrance of the head of the con­
cern aroused him from his Idle mus­
ing».
Jeremiah McCall was a tall,
spare man as hard and dry and brown
as the leather In which he dealt.
They talked business for a few min­
utes— routine matters—then Jock em­
boldened by the faint diminution of
austerity In the other’s manner, ven­
tured to broach a request which had
been In his mind for some time.
"Bay, father," he plunged In daring­
ly, "I've been around the plant hare
for three years now, ever since I came
back from college. You told me you
wanted me to learn the business, and
Amy Was Discharged.
I've gone ahead and tried to do It. I'm
got throwing any bouquets at myself,
but I do think that I've made reason­
ably good, and that you'd have more
or less of a hard time getting any­
one to fill my place.”
"W ellT” the old man’s tone was
abaoluMy without expression.
Jock hesitated.
"T ell me, first,”
he parried with a touch of shrewd-
ness, “what you think
Have I, or
have I not made goodf"
McCall was rigidly honest In speech
as well as In action. ‘T've no com­
plaints to make of you," he said dryly
"Then." demanded Jock, "why don't
you pay me a salary, as you would
have to with any other man who did
the work for you that 1 am doing?"
“ Oh, I know." he broke out as his
J
m m im
WOODROW
AUTHOR OF “THE SIL
VER BUTTERFLY,"“SAL­
LY SALT,” “THE BLACK
PEARL,” ETC.
NOVELIZED FKOM THE SE­
RIES OF PHOTOPLAYS OF THE
SAME NAME RELEASED BY
PAT HE EXCHANGE.
... ...... ...
„ A W M o « W U r t w l
while a couple of saleswomen hovered advertisements there came to the lodg­
He was obliged to ask his father to | deception that he practiced fn the next
over her with a bottle of smelling ing house, addressed to Jock McCall a
pay for the limousine he had hired. » • "
Under Gertrude's tutelage
blotted and tear-stained note.
The
and so be called upon to relate his \ —* woman can always give a man les- salts.
The manager of the department, a handwriting waa very shaky, but still
whole adventure.
,on* ln duplicity—he gave the lmpres-
"Limousine, eh?" snorted Jeremiah. ] *lon «»at he was falling ln with his big, pompous man, bustled ln and took It was unmistakably Amy's.
"T o take home one of the girls who father's wishes and assiduously court- | a look at her.
It was bi ief, scarcely more than hc.lt
“ Ah! coming around all right, eh?” a dozen lines, and It told Mm that hs
got hurt out ln the stitching room?
•*>* the daughter of old Jordan, thus j
“ However, since you've done It. I \avoiding the raising of any Issue, while
He seemed kind, and so as he might as wall give up th search for
suppose I'll have to settle,” he grudg- all
1 the time he was spending stolen shrewdly led her on to talk, It was not her and go back to where he came
long until Amy had acquainted him from. She did not want to be found.
lngly took a five dollar bill from the hours with Amy.
But Leaping River was too small with the main details of hsr long strug­
And this last was underscored three
safe and handed It over. "T e ll Miss
Hastings to charge that up to my per­ a place and the son of Jeremiah Mo- gle for work, and had also rev salad tlmee.
sonal account and give her the girl's Call to « prominent a person in the to him how utterly alone and friend­
Still, Jock did not give up the search.
community for bis actions long to es­ less was her state.
release to put on file."
He abandoned his position and all his
“ Wall, well,” he patted her hand fine prospects, and settled down ln
' Her release?" Jock gave an uneasy cape comment; and when Amy, with
only a healed scar to show for the gently. " I shall oertalnly have to try New York to devote himself to that
start.
"Certainly. Do yon mean to say Injury she had received, returned to and do something for you. Call afound ons end—finding Amy. He went to
that after all this hauling of her work, and Jock made a practice of tomorrow morning about ten o'clock places where the light laughter of
when I have more time to talk with women rises like the bubbles ln their
around like she was some visiting roy­ escorting her to and from the factory
alty, you didn’t get her to sign up every day, some of the gossip that was you."
brimming wine cups. To cabarets and
and release the firm from liability? rife came to the ears of the stern, old
"Or, say," he added, as he walked
Thunder and guns, boy, where are your head of the concern.
with her ln casual fashion to the door,
He satisfied himself that the infor­ "come to think of It, I won’t have s
wits? Why, I’ll bet some personal ln-
JuiT shyster Is out there now draw­ mation was authentic. Then he moved moment tp spare ln the morning. 1
ing up the papers for a suit. Here," swiftly to action. First he gave or­ wonder If It would be possible for you
he waved a peremptory arm, "grab ders for the discharge of the "hussy”
to drop up to my apartment and have
your hat and streak It out there again as he termed her—It was not hard to a chat with me this evening. Here Is
as fast as you can make It. Or, wait find a cause of dismissal, when she the address." He slipped a card Into
a minute,” he seized a pen and scrib­ was so plainly Incompetent—then call­ her hand as he spoke.
bled a line across the sheet of a ing his son Into the office, he laid
Amy eagerly assented. She was en­
down the law ln six vitriolic sentences. tirely willing to meet his convenience,
memorandum pad.
Pretending surrender, he promised she told him. And so that night, all
"Take this and tell Miss Hastings to
give you a hundred dollars in cur­ compliance to all the old gentleman’s unsuspecting, she went to the address
rency. The sight of the cash will some­ demands, and that night after a tear­ he had given her.
times land them when they’d turn ful farewell interview with Amy, he
The next day a girl with wide blue
their nose up at a check. Strike as skipped out.
eyes ln which lurked a shrinking hor­
good a bargain with her as you can
When the safe at McCall’s was
ror and a mouth whose tender curves
and don’t come back without that re­ opened the next morning, It was found
were drooping and forlorn, wandered
lease"
that five hundred dollars ln cash was
^through New York debating ln her de-
Jock vanished, glad to get off with missing, and ln Its place lay the fol­
spalr whether sbe should throw herself
no stronger a reprimand.
lowing letter:
Into the river, or Into the gutter. Of
On his arrival at the cottage he
Father: I have taken (600. I suppose you
one thing she was certain, she could
found that the girl waa only too veil­ w ill say I have stolen It. But I have fig­
.never go beck to Leaping River, or
ing to waive any claim for compensa­ ured carefuAy, and have decided that
even to the lodging house where she
tion to which she was entitled. Jock over and above what I have had from
had been stopping In New York.
pulled out and tendered the one hun­ you, there la more than this due me at the
lowest wage rate paid at the factory. You
In the end—perhaps because the
dred dollars as a “ small Indemnity have steadfastly refused me the wages
from the firm for the loss of time and and the Independence you give to your ¡love of life Is strong even when all
extra expense to which they would be cheapest hand. N ow I am off to win my else Is gone, and because she was
own way.
tired and hungry and had no place else
put."
Old Jeremiah made no comment to go— she crept back to the depart­
Then walking home ln the soft April
ment manager from whom that morn­
dusk, his mind full of entrancing vi­ when hs read this letter. His hard old
ing she had flung herself away with
sions of Amy as she sat propped up face grew a shade grimmer, perhaps;
words of utter loathing and contempt
at a tea table almost smothered ln he drove his working force possibly
fiuddsnly Collapsed In a Faint.
and this time she stayed.
her flowers, he encountered Gertrude a trifle more ruthlessly; otherwise
And the pity of It was that at the dance palaces, and all-night restau­
there was no change ln him. He sim­
Jordan.
He was about to pass her with a ply ceased to mention his son's name. lodging house she had deserted. Jock rants he went, and even to places of
That all resentment was not dead McCall was besieging the door ln the worse reputs. But he never set eyas
mere lifting of the hat and a word of
greeting; but she turned, as If upon within him. though, was shown by the effort to get some Information ln re­ upon her.
Impulse, and fell Into step beside him. significant fact that when he chanced gard to her; for ln spite of his silence,
One day he saw crossing Broadway
"Father and I are invited up to your to learn that the girl he blamed for he had never forgotten or wavered ln at Forty-second street, his old play
She had
house on Thursday,” Gertrude said Jock's downfall was employed at Jor­ his determination to come back and mate, Gertrude Jordan.
get her.
grown stout and matronly, since he had
For a time, when discouragements seen hsr last, but there was u. look up­
fell thick about him, and It seemed on hsr fact which he had never known
that he would never get on, he had ln ths old days, and which made her
been too heartsick to write and then homely
matures almost beautiful.
after that he had fallen 111 and had Then ha recognised the cause, for be­
been ln the hospital for many weeks. side hsr was the stalwart foreman-hus­
But at last with health recovered, he band, now the manager of Jordan's
had managed to annex a small Job ln and on his shoulder was a chubby,
his own line, and had shown such two-year-old boy.
marked capabilities that he had been
Jock did not try to speak to them
rapidly advanced through successive
"There, except for my father’s med­
promotions until now he was an as­ dling," hs muttered bitterly, "goes
sistant superintendent with excellent Amy Prentice and myself."
prospects of an even higher boost.
'. But at last hs found her. It was
He had saved his money sedulously, Just as he had often pictured It. She
and as soon as he felt that he had was at a fast restaurant with a gay
enough he came back to Leaping party.
River.
Hs paused beside hsr.
As he walked up briskly to the tao- ’ "Am y," he said.
tory, old Jeremiah McCall from his
Bhe glanced up at him quickly, and
window saw him like another father half draw back, her faoe paling' under
of whom we are told, "while he was the rouge.
yet a long way off.” But unlike that
" I am going to take you home, and
other father, Jeremiah did not qo out lat you change that gown for some­
and fall upon the neck of the returning thing more suitable," he aald as hs
prodigal.
On the contrary, he sat lad hsr to tbs door, "and then wb’ re
stonily still with his bard eye* fixed going over to Jersey and get married.
upon the framed text "The Wages Of 1 have a friend there who will mom-
Bln Is Death." And he did not change ags ths license for us.”
from that attitude even when his boy
"Oh, no, Jock," shs fsltsrsd. "It’s
entered the room.
The Girl Was Given Such Relief as Circumstances Permitted.
too lets.
Don't you understand? I
Jock hesitated a moment on the could never hs your wife—anybody's
now with a significant twitch to the dan’s, he called up his competitor on
threshold; then as he realised the sig­ wife now."
corners of her lips. “ It’s to be a the phone and asked as a personal fa­
nificance of the severe back turned so
Shs would hava said more, perhape,
vor to himself that she be discharged.
sort of engagement party.”
Jock, through some Influence he com­ relentlessly toward him, his head but at that minute, the manager from
"iOngagement party?" Jock repeated
went
up,
and
he
stepped
qulokly
for­
the department store, beginning to
manded there had secured the place
vaguely.
ward to lay an envelope on his fa­ •ana# what was ln the wind, strode
"Yes. A kind of opening gun to ar­ for her before he went away, telling
forward.
ther’s desk.
range the marriage between you and her that as soon as he was fairly set­
" I am returning, sir," he said, "with
"Go back to your seat," he ordered
tled and making his own way they
myeelf.”
Interest, the five hundred dollars I dropping s heavy hand upon bar
Jock halted abruptly and stood back would be married; but of course old
borrowed from your safe. I consid­ ■boulder.
Peter Jordan cared nothing for that,
staling at her.
ered then and I consider still that
Almost simultaneously, Jock's fist
"The marriage between you and my­ and waa quite willing to oblige his
the money was Justly due me; but I shot out and ths manager went down
s e lf!" he gasped Incredulously. "Good friend.
To the two women ln the little cot­ am no longer In need of any assist­ to tbs floor with s crash that nearly
Lord !”
ance from you, so I have brought It knocked the glasses off tbs tables.
Gertrude burst Into a ringing laugh tage where Jock had spent so many
back.”
A doien waiters rushed forward to
happy hours, however. It was nothing
Of sheer amusement.
There waa no answer, nor did the Interpose; but before they could get
The
"F latterer!” she mocked. "Really, more or less than a tragedy.
old man change ln any degree his half way across the room, Jock had
Jock, you couldn’t look more horrified semi-invalid mother, broken by the
If I had told you that you were going years ln which she bad fed her youth­ stiff pose of disapproval. Jock waited whisked Amy out of the door, end In­
a moment for some word, some sign to a taxi-cab stsuxdlng ln front. A mo­
to be electrocuted. What's the mat­ ful vigor Into those big machines
of yielding; then with his head thrown ment later they were whirling off to
ter with me, anyhow? I think 1 would clanking away ln the factories along
make a wife for any man to Jump the river, was Incapable of self-sup­ up higher than ever, he stalked from hsr apartment
"Hurry now. dearest," he urged hsr,
port, and Amy was apparently black­ the room.
at."
This first duty accomplished, Jpck as hs opened Uie door with ths key
"You want me to marry you?" he listed.
left the factory, and hastened to the aha gave him, and they passed lnslds
What had happened at Jordan's was
ssild feebly.
"Good Lord, n o !" She was as em­ almost certain to happen at any other cottage of Mrs. Prentice. Had It been together. "I sm going to telephone
phatic ln her disclaimer as himself. place ln Leaping River where she
the other way about and he had been the minister at Hoboken that ws will
“ It Isn't what you or I want that I’m might secure employment; for Jere­ thus Informed of old Jeremiah's scurvy < be there ln half an hour.”
bothering about. It's what our two miah McCall was not the one either to
But again doubts and compunctions
trick ln securing the discharge of the
girl from Jordan’s his visit to his fa­ assailed hsr.
forgive or forget and bis word was
fathers are after.
"Ths past Is past, Amy,” hs said
ther might have been of a less psdflc
"L e t those two old men scheme and very potent.
"W e have both gons
plan all they please. They can lead
In short, there seemed nothing for{ tenor. As It was, so great was his dis­ masterfully.
appointment over finding Amy gone, wrong, and have suffered for It. But
us to the water, but they can t make the girl except to go away.
us dflnk, not If we both make up our
To make her lot more hard, she bad
and so hot his .. esentment over the ths future Is ours, and by ths Eternal,
cause of her leaving that he was wa ll share It together.”
minds to It.” Then she stopped and heard nothing from Jock for several
strongly tempted to return to the fao-
scrutinised him sharply ln the light of weeks. He had not written her, nor
Suddenly, the door was dashed open,
tory and give his father what he and the enraged manager, wild-
a street lamp. "Jock McCall," she ex­ did she even know where he was.
called "one good bawling out.”
In her dilemma, New York with Its
claimed, "there’s another girl.”
eyed and hatless and disheveled,
"How did you guess that?" b f stam- countless opportunities seemed to of­
He had, however, but twelve min­ confronted them with s revolver In his
fer the only refuge, and like many an­ utes ln which to catch a train for hand.
'mered.
The next morning, Jeremiah McCall
"Why, from the very look of you. other girl who finds herself at a disad­ New York, and therefore felt obliged
to defer the Interview until a later picked up his newspaper and read that
I hadn't the chance to see your face vantage against the barriers of her
home
environment,
she
turned
her
occasion. At the station, he sent a his son had shot and killed Amy Pren-
plainly before.
Oh, g lo ry!" she
wire to apprise Amy of his coming. tlce and then killed himself. Thera
-clapped her hands. “ Now I know I eyes toward the shining towers of
Manhattan.
It arrived Just ten minutes after she was nothing ln the account to Indicate
can count on you."
One afternoon when she had been had left the house to keep her 111 fated what had bean their direct motive.
So with a perfect unders ending es­
But Jaremlah McCell raised his eyes
tablished, he escorted her to her gate, wearily tramping Broadway all day In engagement.
and then went on borne to report his the vain search for work, she turned
And so, for three days, Jock suffered grimly to the text on his office wall:
success In obtaining the release to Into the employment bureau of a big every qualm of anxiety, apprehension "The Wages of 8<n Is Death.”
department store. She had had noth­ and panic. The lodging house woman
bis father.
Ths newspaper account of ths trag­
"It took me longer than I expected," ing to eat since breakfast, and then equally with himself was at a loss to edy of these two young lives gave Jere­
he said, "and It cost me the full hun­ only a glass of milk and a couple of
account for tue girl’s lnsxplloeble ab­ miah McCall no hint that the manager
dred dollars, but I finally argued them rolls.
sence; such a thing had nsver occurred of the department store had followed
Bo, as she stood there In the long before, she sail.
Into signing.”
his quarry, taken his desperate re­
It was the first time he had ever de­ line of applicants, tired, footsore and
Jock spent a small fortune la adver­ venge and made good his escape. The
ceived his father on a business matter, weak from hunger, she suddenly col
tising for her, and wandered Broadway police were satisfied with the evidence
but be Justified himself on the ground lapsed In a faint.
Uke an uneasy ghost la the vain hope that appeared to their eyes, hot the
When sbe came to herself again, she that he might pick up soma elue.
moral law still questions;
that he was not being treated squarely
was lying on a couch ln one of the re­
from the other side.
"W H O '8 G U ILT Y?"
Then on the fourth day, the mystery
Nor was this by any means the last tiring rooms of the establishment,» waa solved. In response to one of his 1
(END OF SECOND STO RY.)
J
father started to speak, “ you will tell
me that you give me the privilege of
going to the various stores and charg­
ing things up to your account, always
knowing that you will look over the
bills. Then too, If I want five or ten
dollars for spending m >ney I can gen­
erally get It by asking you and ex­
plaining Just exactly what I am going
to do with It. Probably I getf, all told,
a fair remuneration for my services."
"Then what are you complaining
about?" questioned McCall coldly.
"W hat do you want?"
“ I want a regular salary. I want
to spend It as I see fit, without any­
one having the right to stop or ques­
tion me. I want— freedom."
“ Suppose.” he flushed a trifle self­
consciously, “ I should meet some girl
that I would want to marry. How
could I ever think of entertaining
such an Idea, when 1 am nothing more
than a dependent— receiving only
what you choose to give?”
The old man's lips relaxed some­
what from their stubborn set.
“ The day you marry,” he said, ‘T il
take you Into partnership.”
He turned back to his desk with an
air of having .ended the discussion,
and Jock, knowing how useless It was
to continue when his father adopted
that tlme-ls-money tone, went.
Meanwhile, McCall scratched off his
signature to a basket of letters which
the stenographer brought In. Then
allowing hlmsolf a breathing spell at
last, he stepped to the window and
gazed meditatively toward a group of
factory buildings over on the other
side of the river, belonging to his
friend and competitor, Peter Jordan.
The two concerns combined would
make one of the largest plants In the
world; and that Is what he saw In
his mind's eye already accomplished
—a mammoth establishment, which
under the name of McCall, would be
carried on by his grandsons and great-
grandsons.
Jordan had already given tacit con­
sent to the plan; for Jordan had no
son to succeed him, and was very
willing that his only daughter, Ger­
trude, should marry such a steady­
going, dependable lad as Jock McCall.
Jeremiah decided as he rubbed his
thin hands together to bring the mat­
ter to a head. He stepped to the tele­
phone and calling up his home, direct­
ed his wife to Invite the Jordans,
father and daughter, up for dinner
some evening that week.
It never occurred to him for a mo­
ment that Jock would enter objections
to the proposed arrangement, any
more than it had to Jordan that Ger­
trude might have other ideas as to
the
disposition
of
her
hand—
Ideas
not
unconnected
with
a
certain handsome your g foreman In
one of her father's shops.
McCall never doubted that Jock
would obediently fall In with the
scheme, when It was outlined to him.
Young Jock, returning from the task
of straightening out the dilatory let­
ters, had made a long and quite un­
necessary detour to pass through the
shop where his little protegee of that
morning was at work.
He saw with a little catch of anxiety
that with her Inexpert handling of the
big machine at which she was set,
there was grave danger of disaster.
Awkwardly pushing the upper, on
Which she was engaged, across the
machine, Amy’s hand had strayed out
o f place and the sharp, strong needle
was driven completely through.
Before it could descend a second
time, almost before the quick cry of
pain broke from her Ups, Jock had
sprung forward and thrown a lever
which brought the swiftly moving
mechanism to a halt. Then as the
girl reeled back half fainting In her
seat, he threw an arm about her and
supported her, while a group of nearby
employees hurriedly leaving their ma­
chines gathered around them.
“ Oh,” he appealed as he gazed at the
white, pain-convulsed face leaning
against his shoulder, “ Isn't there any­
body here who knows what to do In a
case like this?”
Fortunately there was. Minor cas­
ualties of the sort were of no Infre­
quent occurrences In that department,
and a meddlesome state bureau had
compelled the Installment of a “ first
aid” equipment. With this forthcom­
ing now, the girl was given such relief
as the circumstances permitted.
The color came back to her pale
cheeks—came back rather strongly as
she realised where her head was pil­
lowed—and she raised herself a trifle
hurriedly.
“ I am quite all right now,” she In­
sisted. " If someone will only go out
with me as far as the car, I am sure I
can get home without the slightest
trouble.”
But Jock would listen to nothing of
the sort. Already he had sent out for
a luxurious limousine, and so, despite
her protests, Amy rode home In state
and escorted by the son of McCall
to the shabby little cottage In a poor
quarter of the town, where she lived
with her widowed mother.