Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About The Ione independent. (Ione, Or.) 1916-19?? | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 1931)
AHABE by Evelyn Campbell Copyright by Kvelyn Campbell.) WNU Borvlee "CHAPTER XIV Continued , lie did not know why he wits there, except that his body, no longer sub jugated by mind, brought him, without volition, Into a poor tragic comedy of the dreadful night. People hud been killed. Hobos nnd blankets, brought from somewhere, covered the still things with a spuri ous ilecency. Ambulances were com ing; their dlsiant clamor, dulled by the heaviness of the air, bent upon the shrinking silence. A poor creature, once woman, gasped at Brian's elbow: "Three of 'em dead three! Something ought to be done about It. Three of 'em Just like that I" She snapped her fingers. lie saw that there were three wom en beneath a blanket on the ground. Their feet. In high heeled slippers, protruded from the shallow covering; the edges of their dresses showed and their thin stockings, drawn over slen der, terrible limbs. The black bulk of the patrol wagon told about them. And then he saw, close to his feet, a larger mound, that must have been a man. "He was runriin a poor girl In." slithered a voice. "Served him right, too, but he let her In for It same as himself" A helmet advanced upon them. "None o' that, now, or up you go. Clear out. you an' you I" Monotonous with the duty of a hundred such Eights, The woman's voice faded whining away. "Three o' 'em ... ail at once:" As If that were a matter of mourning. Then T.rian heard another sound too faint to be a sigh, but breathed against his ear, like the echo of a lost summer, lie turned his face and saw her standing where she had been ail this time, close beside him, so that he could have touched her If he had known. "Linda," he said, and she put out her hand to him like a lost child, as he had known she would do. They took the few steps to the pave ment side by side, as If they belonged to one another and had come there to gether. The line of questioners closed In behind them. It was a dark street of closed shop windows and little businesses where women did not belong. A wide-open poolroom was flooded with yellow light A fruit stand, open to the world, offered public shelter. They walked on a little way, wordlessly. Then all at once there was a door opened to them. A broad, white-coated arm .drew them, without contact. Info the warm fragrance of a narrow place where one must walk In single file or be enwrapped In the steamy vapors of huge coffee urns and frank griddles. "There'll be a little corner back beyond." explained Coffee John, sig naling over his Ehoulder with a mas sive curled thumb. They went as he told them. Coffee John had been there so many years that no one remembered when he came. Ills shop was large enough to turn a window and a door to the world and deep enough to shelter his philosophy. From his narrow counter he had fed the great ones of the city and offered the cup of charity to the lost children of God. He hud not moved from this place, so that he had grown wide and heavy and his face was livid with the moisture of his sus tenance. Hut he hadseen the world go by and he knew of all its faces, even the false ones, and what was hidden behind the papier mache. His broad back, turned upon Brian and Linda, shut them Into a narrow crevice of their own and stranded them upon a shallow wooden bench, wedged behind a little table spread with pale, slipping oilcloth and pewter spoons. Cut he was there and she was th,ere and that was enough. "Why didn't you tell me, Linda, Linda I What do you know of love If jou could throw It away for such a little reason?" he said. She dropped In her corner, fragile and bending from the outrlft of the storm. Her face was a small white triangle against the blackness' of her furs. Somehow he got hold of her hands and held them, warming them until the thread of life came back. "Tell me. Linda." And she told him; meaningless things that were freighted with the tragedy of the world; dark, noisome things like paths through a fever swamp. She told of her shame that was weak ness and her pride that was without honor. She abased herself with words no cruel that he abased with her, and In the narrow cell they clung to gether like wind driven moths, not en during the blue white light. Hut through It all he believed In her and warmed her hands and through her hands to her heart "I could not let you be hurl through me, Brian." She wunted to go, In spite of his arms. She struggled to be free, know lug that freedom meant the end of all things for her. "You could not leave me you never will, my sweet, my sweet I There Is nothing else but you. There Is no other life than ours! Listen, Linda, we will find our own. It will be small end tine und sweet, and it will belong to Just ourselves. There will be no grandeur and there will be on lies. Those little houses In the snow that bight don't you remember?" A reporter finished his coffee In the lighted front shop and slammed down the cup, "Not much news In a smashup like that," be complained. "No news after all the boys got It A cop an' a couple of frails. Huh. lld you see it off, John?" Coffee John nodded, polishing a cup. "Vas. I was lookin'. lie was a flue man, though O'llara." "Would have been. He'd have made the grade or been down at the bottom for keeps. Wooden sort of a guy, wasn't he?" "Yas. Like wood. Hard." The door slammed. The reporter's face, hurled sourly In his turned-up collar, showed pale for a moment at mfmM mm 1 mil i W , . I tf ! R : 1 : I , 1 "I Could Not Let You Be Hurt Through Me, Brian." the window. He glanced sardonically at the broad man In his narrow groove and vanished. Coffee John finished glossing the cup. It shone like old ivory. Then ha glanced at the dark shallow wall be hind the partition. The two figures blurred. He handled the cup lovingly, yet with delicacy; filled It with a stream of dark golden liquid, touched it with yellow cream from a private bottle and laid three little cubes of sugar upon the thick saucer edge. One could have been no better served. With a light step he went back to them and put the cup before her. "A lady might need war-r-mln on on wUch a night" he said In a distant, rumbling voice and returned to his place. She was spent and exhausted. She had said all that she could say and he had listened to nothing at all. Ilet hand, moving, touched the handle of the thick cup, wavering, but with a sudden poignant longing for life, she lifted It and drank. The door opened from the night A voice whined inquiries. Coffee John came again. "Your taxi's a-waitln out front, sir. He's gettln' him a bite o' lunch." They lifted new faces. "The taxi! By George! Tell him we're coming!" cried Brian, THE END. Language Changes Made Over "Precise" Protests Until about the middle of the Nine teentb century it was usual in pro nouncing the word humble to refrain from sounding the h. Generally the word was preceded by an instead of by a. The changing to sounding the a came gradually as a matter of usage, a many changes In language come. In the end usage must be followed, though precise speakers resist It for a time. Even In fairly recent years a few persons persisted in pronouncing humble without the h. The variation you have observed on this point be tween an early and a later edition of Webster's dictionary is accounted for by acceptance of the change by the later editors. The gradual alteration n usage concerning the word humble was a subject of protest as long ago as 1W3, when a correspondent of the periodical "Notes and Queries" Illus trated his contention that the b should be silent by giving a list of what he stated to be the derivations of words In which the b should be silent. The words were heir, honest honor, hour, humble und humor. Bomb-Proof Auto The most costly and luxurious auto mobile ever brought to China was built In the United States for the president of the Nanking government The whole of the metal work on the body of the limousine, and even the hood, Is of half-Inch thick navy steel plate, which is designed to shed the bullets or bombs of would-be assas sins. Two extra seats project from the back of the car, built high enougl) to permit the occupants to see for wurd over the hood. These will be oc cupied by special guards with machine guns. The running hoards are un usually long, for guards to stand, each, with a revolver In bund. Many Uiei for Carbon Pure carbon Is widely used In decol orizing, clarification, and purification of foods, edible oU and fata. 41 AM mm WW 111 It lilwil COOD-BY This particular cabin was even a more than usually dilapidated speci men of its class, and the chimney, con sisting mainly of the remaliw of an old top hat, presented a comical p pearunce. One of the tourists accost ed a youth who was sitting content edly on a fence. "I say, my boy," he said, "does that chimney draw well?" "Sure thin, It does," was the boy's prompt reply; "It draws the notice Ivory phool that passes by !" WHY PARROT SWEARS "Why does your parrot swear so terribly?" "We can't help It, tny dear the golf course lies right iu front of the house." Up for Dinner Said the chamber maid to th tlecplng guest. "Gt up you lazy etnner. We nfl the nhfet for a tablecloth, There a company tor dinner." Profitable Trading Sambo borrowed a pair of rubber hoots from .Mose. Time passed and the boots were not returned. They met Said Mose Sambo, when Is you-all gwlne gimme lt.it detu boots ob mine?" "Ah ain't got yuh-all's boots, Mose," said Sambo. "Ah dun traded dein fob a pair ob mah own." llecorder. Soma One Shuffled the Deck Mr. Justwed For heaven's sake I What do you call this dish you've made? His Wife I haven't the faintest Idea. I made It from a recipe In my loose-leaf cookbook anil I'm afraid the leaves are not all In place. A Helpful Suggestion The Walter llow'd you like a slice of nice hickory-cured country ham with three or four fresh eggs, right off the nest? The Customer Fine! Just the thing! The Waiter Ain't It so? Too bad, we ain't got none. WHY HE WAS GOOD "Her husband Is awfully good to her, denr." "Yea, so I've heard he's only hall her size." Sir!'.rity Thli world Is a tumultuous scene And our attentive care It claims To tell the difference between Elections, fight and football games. A Slownett Explained l'ou English are slow to see a Joke," said the forward young womun. "l'erhaps," answered the Londoner. "But, you nee, real Jokes are so scarce In our country that one has to tuke a little time to inspect any article that's offered." Washington Star. Excuie It, Pleaiel "How would you classify a tele phone girl? Is hers a business or a profession?" "Neither. It's a calling." Loit If Right Mistress (Interviewing cook) Sup posing I wanted you to cook an elab orate dinner for about 15 people would you be lost? Cook That's Just 'ow the last folks lost me. Humorist She Soon Showed Him He When I married you I thought you were nn angel. She I Imuglne you did. You seemed to think I didn't need any clothes or hats. OUR COMIC SECTION D Events in the Lives of Little Men war wp i Hill rw'f- II r ,V M A. AU 1HE. 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