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October
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SOUL Ei t; m
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VICTOR ROUSSEAU V“f ^
& COPYRIGHT by W.6.CHA PMAN V«4ptfc /
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the matron 1>y the shoulders and
Rushed her back into her room. He
turned tlje key in the lock and put it
in his pocket.
I That’s settled, I reckon,” he said
with satisfaction.
\ Joan's hand went int# her pocket.
Her fingers closed about the revolver
handle. But at that moment the sec
retary, who had come out of his room,
went up to Lancaster.
"See here, now,” he began to re
monstrate, “have a little sense, doctor.
If you're bent on busting everything
up, you and I part company.”
The other turned on him with so
menacing a gesture that Myer.s flung
up his hands in despair and went
back into his room. Joan stood fac
ing the doctor alone. At that moment
her decision was nearly ripened, and
she felt conscious of no fear of him
nt all.
If he attempted violence she knew
what she would do. But he did not
lay hands on her. He stood leaning
against the newel post at the foot of
the stairs, watching her face.----------
Joan was searching his eyesTor the
least sign of the man she had known
and he broke off, scowling :frid wincli
under tier stare. Above his- word
was tiie sound Of the beating rain, tl.
lashing/wind; and from within tin:
matron’s room Joan heard Mrs. Fra
ser crying in prayer:
'O Lord, save her! she wailed.
II Save that girl this night! O Lord,
from the devil! Save her! Save her,
O Lord!”
“Maybe I got you wrong," continued
the doctor. “But if I did, I ask you,
who’s to blame? Didn’t you come to
me at my house in Avonmouth and
ask for your job back? Weren’t you
as sweet as sugar when yon wanted
something out of me? And didn’t you
agree to come up here to work for
me? Well, what’s the inference, then?
You can have your job back If you
want it. But I can do better by you
than that. You’re too pretty • for a
nurse's job, and I told you so that
day you turned on me in the theater
like a wildcat. Now, then! It’s up
to you! Your move, partner!”
Joan tried to push past him, but he
remained at the foot of tiie stairs,
blocking her way.
“Let me pass, please!” she cried.
“I’m going to leave the institute at
once.”
Without your hat?” he sneered.
Lc f iii e p a ss a t on ce l”
Well, I reckon I can’t stop you, M
he ,rejoined, I. Just one word more, ‘
though. Do you realize your situa
tion? Do you know what people will
say when you go to them with crazy
stories about me? Nobody will think
you came dowifhere to the notorious
John Lancaster after he’d fired you
just because you were such a wonder
ful nurse that he couldn’t do without
you. What sort of reputation do you
expect to have in Avonmouth? You
can go, but you won’t go there, Not
back to Avonmouth, understand that
well. I’ll hound you out of the town,
you little double-crosser 1”
For the first time Joan felt her spir
it begin to shrink from the ordeal.
She was cowed, she was almost as
helpless as if he had used physical 5
violence toward her. And through
the baneful dream she was aware that
Myers had come out of his room and
was watching the scene from the end
of the hall, wearing a smug, compla
: cent smile. Myers was getting his
way
and having his revenge in one.
And because the situation was too
horrible for belief, Joan could remem
ber only the Lancaster of the yester
day. She ran to the man and caught
him by the arms, and looked Into ids
faee with pathetic earnestness.
“I'm going to stay, John! ” she
cried. M,v faith is stronger than
that I remember what you have said
to me, and I remember tny promise to
you. Some day you will come tv
yourself and everything will be clear.
I shall call to tiie John Lancaster J
know against the man who claims to
be he and Is not.”
u What do you mean?” shouted Hie
other. *’\Vhom do you take me for?"
“You are not the John Lancaster
wito won ray love,” cried Joan, with
an Impassioned gesture, Let your
better self hear and uruieritand ine.
You asked me-to stay and tight your
battle with you, and nothing shall
drive me from you till you tell me to
go; and not even that; nothing shall
make me fuller till I have won you
again."
Tiie man's eyes blazed. “You're
right; you’re dead right there, Joan!”
he cried, and caught her in his arms.
He pressed Ids lips to iters.
She struggled wildly in Ills grasp.
“Let, me gol" site punted. But she
could not free herself. She screamed.
Juan wrenched her arm frefe and
struck at the man, but lie pinioned it
again.
"I’ve got you, Joan!” he cried tri
umphantly, “and nothing under heaven
shall make me let you go.”
Held as she was, Joan got her
fingers into her pocket. She grasped
the little revolver and pulled it forth.
She thrust it upward Into the man’s
face. He recoiled with an oath,
squinting at the weapon, ids face con
vulsed. And in that moment knowl
edge came to Joun Wentworth.
“You are not John Lancaster!” she
cried.
As she spoke they heard the sound
of halting footsteps on the porch. The
door swung slowly open, Joan’s
hand dropped to her side, she slid the
revolver mechanically Into her pocket;
she tried to cry but could not.
Upon the threshold of the door, look
ing out with a wry, distorted grin on
his pale lips, was the naan who had
held her. And on the threshold, look
ing in, with eyes drug-clouded, sway
ing and clutching at the door-pillars
’ to su ppo rt hi mself uprlglit, was the
John Lancaster of yesterday, And
even Joan, with' all her love and hate,
could not have told the one man from
the other.
•But with a cry she ran to Lancas
ter, and caught at him, and felt his
arn:s about her.
Chapter XI
It seemed to Joan, long afterward,
like some dreadful picture, the sway
ing man upon the threshold, to whom
she clung, and his double within; and
then the rasping voice of Myers broke
the long silence.
“Well, well, said the secretary,
rubbing his hands together, "here’s a
pretty kettle of fish. It will all have
to come out now. v»
The Lancaster within the door
turned his eyes from Joan to Myers;
his passion and rage had frozen into
malevoleirm..
“Don’t put tiie blame on me,” said
Myers acidly, a I warned you to get
rid of her.”
Strangely, at that moment Joan felt
that she, in spite of lie? physical weak
ness, was the dominating figure in the
play, and the controlling mind as well.
John Lancaster advanced into the
hail. His double, who had drawn
back a pace or two, stood watching
his efforts to steady himself, with fi
scornful smile. Joan put Jtex.-han4s
"oh her lovers arm fit seemed uabear
abie that h e should display il ls weak
ness for "them to mock at.
But then, glancing into his face, she
saw that, weak as lie was, and mor
phine-ridden, too, it was John Lan
caster himself, virile in personality
and mind, who had come back. The
devil who had been exorcised had re
turned into his swept and garnished
chamber, but he could claim only the
physical domuin. The body was afire
with the accursed drug, but the soul
of John Lancaster looked from the
cloudy eyes, a man’s and not a weak
ling’s.
And Joan knew that It was througli
no fault of his that he had come back
enchained, and that her love had
borne him throughout the day and
kept his spirit whole.
Lancaster’s double turned fiercely
upon the secretary____
I Yes, it Is a pretty kettle of fish, *»
he retorted, "and It's going to be fried.
We’ll have this out tonight. Curse
you, why didn’t you stay here at yonr
post, instead of running to me? Were
you afraid of this girl?”
i • Who is this man?” Joan asked
Lancaster.
“My half-brother and my evil spir
it,” he answered. ^
"Why don’t you order him to go?
Why don’t you order them both to go?”
“Because,” replied the other, sneer
ing, “John Lancaster sold, roe his
birthright for a mess of pottage—
morphine pottnge. That's why. Be
cause It is I whom the world knows
ns John Lancaster, and not that out
cast, who has sunk so low that he sold
his very name for drugs.”
“That Is a lie, said Lancaster.
"Yon stole my name. You devil, you
have robbed me of my manhood these
four years past.
“Gentlemen,” cried the secretary,
“we’ve got to talk this matter over,
and'this Isn’t the place. If the agree
ment has worked any injustice to
Doctor Lancaster, no doubt it can be
readjusted. It Is dear that we've got
to come to n sensible understanding.
Let’s fn<-e the facts like men. and talk
it over’in the doctor's room. And
HJ'> girl had better go upstairs,” he
added.
■'.4iss Wentworth stays with me,”
In cm i. let-.
The double find the secretary et
changed Ironical glances. It was evi
dent Hint ti.rf did not fee) themselves
to he in the position of trapped cou
got ratora
GRIFFIN DAILY NEWS
Doctor Lancaster, if yon cannot
order them to leave, Ls it necessary
that you should he drawn Into a dis
cussion now?” Joan asked.
Yes, it is necessary,” said Lancas
ter. ‘Til fight this thing with Lawson
to a finish tonight.
"Lawson?”
"I believe that I am Lawson," said
Lancaster's half-brother, with an iron
ical how. “Though I have as good a
right to the name as Doctor Lancas
ter here. Perhaps I should have in
troduced myself before. But now that
we are all introduced 1 am ready to
accept Mr. Myers’ sensible sugges
tion. t>
They went tow ard Lancaster's room.
Joan perceived now that the doctor's
weakness was purely a physical ope;
he dragged his limbs slightly, the
curious result of the morphine poison
ing that she had noted before. But
he wag gaining strength rapidly, and
his will had never been stronger.
This, was the last battle, of which
he had so often spoken, to her. This
fight must end his captivity.
Site went Into the room with him,
confident In that belief. Myers closed
the door behind them and placed his
thickset body in front of it. It was
astonishing to see how Lancaster
braced himself for the ordeal, He
drew himself up, standing erect, and
faced the others.
"Doctor Lancaster has the floor,”
said Lawson mockingly. “At least, I
understand that the proposal to revise
our agreement comes from him.”
“Joan, I owe you an explanation, if
said. Lancaster, turning toward the
girl. “This morning, after I had op
erated, I was called - to the house
which people think is mine—which
should be mine," lie added with sud
den vehemence. "I was told it was
an urgent case. I found these men
there. They drew me into an argu
ment, and in the heat of it Myers
plunged a needleful of morphine Into
■
my arm.
"To quiet you, because yo u were
becoming violent and injuring your
self," sneered the secretary. "Yes, I
did, and I left you in good hands.”
“They left me senseless in the con
sulting room, but I managed to force
my limbs to obey my will. John Lan
caster had still a little more will pow
er than they had counted on. And
John Lancaster’s name, was enough to
conjure up a special train this after
noon, though they had robbed him of
his money.
Joan put her hands on Lancaster’s
shoulders. If That is all you need to
tell me,” she said quietly. “I knew
you had been trapped by them, 1
never doubted you.
“Eight years ago,” said Lancaster,
"I was a man respected in Avonmouth
and everywhere throughout the Soutli
Then a domestic trouble overtook me,
You know what that was, Joan. Ii
broke me down. I could not cope with
life. I lost my grip on reality, gave
Up my work—
“Yes, John, now we’re getting at the
truth,” interposed Lawson bitterly
“You, the honored head of the South-
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Became a Common Tramp and Wan
derod About tho Country Witi
Hoboes.
era hospital, became a common tram;
and wandered about the country witt
hoboes, and I have been living dowr
your reputation for you. Go on, John
Don’t skip the Interesting parts."
“I shall skip nothing. The woninr
I was to have married left me Hu
evening before, and disappeared will
andther man. Had he been free tc
marry her she would have had nc
need to escape in secrecy. I gave ur
my work. 1 hunted them through tin
Southern states. MyVimind was oh
sessed with the idea of redeeming my
honor. If 1 had found them I should
have killed him. They knew it, anc
they fled before me. I gave them nt
rest. For five years I pursued them
running down-every clue.”
II You’ll permit me to correct yooi
memory on that point, John, said
Lawson suavely, For five years yor
wandered among tramps and hotoes
to the scandal of your former friends
thinking that you were looking fot
your fiancee, but actually doing yont
searching In morphine visions Sue?
delusions of phenomenal activity art
a recognised symptom of your dis
ease. D” Qttlneey imagined Hint lie
visited every corner of the earth while
lying at home In an opium stupor.”
“I never touched morphine luir-ii you
gave it ip me,” said Lancaster.
“That delusion Is part of your dis
ease. No, John, you may have
searched the suburban districts at
Avoaiaouth, but you can't have gone
far, because every few months you
would turn up at the Institute, looking
shabbier r.nd more disreputable on
each occasion, iinj more and more
inonThine soaked. And every time I
tried to set you tip and help you. I
was sorry for you, and you knew it
and traded upon my pity; I was
shamed by you, and you knew that
and traded upon uiy shame,
Lancaster hung his head; jrtmn laid
her hand lightly on his, and after that
he continued to return Lawson's gaze
steadfastly.
“I went to you, Jim Lawson," he
said, "because I had placed you In
charge of the Institute when I elected
to head tiie other branch of the trust
fund, the Avonmouth hospital. I had
given you the charge here because you
were—’’
“Youj Illegitimate half-brother, w
said Lawson bluntly. "We are not
mincing our words. Because you
robbed me of my own birthright as
your eider brother, by reason of the
fact that my mother was not legally
married to our father. Yes, go on.
"At last, Joan, I was broken down
completely," continued Lancaster. "It
was a monomania, that search of
mine, as I came to understand after
ward, a perverted pride that had eat
en into my heart and left no place for
other thoughts. But I did not become
addicted to morphine until this man
urged it upon me, under the guise of
medical "care. And even then I could
have broken off the habit nt any time,
but I had no heart, to, and It gave me
relief from thoughts that tortured
me.'
*« So they all think,” said Lawson.
“It was he who told me that I could
never break it off, .who urged me to
continue the use of it with sophistical
arguments which I had not the energy
to oppose. I had been five years away
from Avonmouth. The people at the
Southern hospital believed me dead,
and I did not undec eive them. T~eame Jt never
meant to return, When here
It was always by night, to this man
whom I believed to be my friend, to
avoid shaming our name in the eyes
of Millville. Thus none ever saw us
together, and Lawson ami I resembled
each other as much as we do today.”
“More, I hope, John,” sneered the
other. “The life one leads tells as the
years go by. i
a Nobody in these parts had seen me
since I was a boy., I bad left home
young, and studied at Johns Hopkins
and abroad. Lawson had taken my
name. The old neighbors had gone
away, and if any of the country folks
have long memories, they have close
tongues, too. The matron and Jenkins
are both newcomers. I had passed
out of memory.
“This devil saw his chance and
grasped at it,” he went on with cud
den vehemence. “Here was the fa
mous Doctor Lancaster, a broken man.
an outcast, and believed in Avonmouth
to be long since dead. And here was
the Lancaster known to Millville and
Lancaster village, nt the head of this
institute. Why shouldn’t he get me
to take his place here while he went
to Avonmouth and claimed to be I?
Lawson was nmbitlous. He wanted to
be something bigger than the superin
tendent of a little hill institute. And
he wanted to get liis lingers on the
trust fund-at Avonmouth. Do I wrong
you?” he demanded, turning fiercely
upon the other.
] “Not in.The.....k-ft^; yon timiD’r'me;”
said Lawson, with a suave how. “I
wanted to take the fund out of your
worthless supervision and devote It to
proper uses. »»
j “This must be stopped!” shouted
Myers, with a sudden interposition.
“Doctor Lancaster, you are saying
things that you will regret tomorrow.
You are turning to bite the hand that
fed you. Where would you be today
save for Doctor Lawson? A dead
man in a pauper's grave!”
| “He persuaded me, weakened as I
jwas by morphine with which he had
been dosing me,” Lancaster resumed,
without paying the least attention to
The secretary. “He was to take uiy
place in Avonmouth, while I could as
sume charge here, pretend to have an
Illness, which would account for any
change in my aspect and character.
Nobody would know the difference,
and nobody has known the difference.
Here, he told me, I could be free to
brood over my unhappy life, while he,
the clever schemer, taking up my past,
could adapt it to hla own. He con
vinced me.”
Joan gasped as she begun to under
stand tiie enormity of the crime. And
it was true: she could.read that truth
in Lawson's face, his.pride In the ex
ploit. Lawson was actually smirking,
us he had smirked in the operating
theater. ,. ,
“I consented, and he went away,'
said Lancaster. “My recollection of
tiie months that followed is necessa
rily a dim one. I know, however. Hint
I was In no stnte to take care of the
funds. They disappeared, and 1 was
accused of having embezzled them. If
1 1 did that 1 did it In my dreams.”
"That’s Just the trouble with you,
John,” said Lawson. “You dream too
much. The question is, what did you
do with them? Bury them? You can’t
have spent thirty thousand dollars
upon morphine.
“I have accepted and home the bur
den of tiie guilt," cried Lancaster
"Tliis man Myers was plnced in
charge. Thereafter lie was ever st
my dhow, urging me upon the down
ward path. When I would make tut
r t» tu-efit; off my habit lie would
. 'per to roe I! a* my (if? was rifm -tl
lit,' of epdig.t/.lru): ir
•Slid he ; !-ci-.«>(j If ever l. returned t>
ocniotrb lit would art vise toy it
any *tiri^fuejs 1
* ‘V* 4,.,.rtf
yell'd the secretary, "You Tie,* anil
you know it t".
“When you came, Joan. I was nil
tint hopeless. I hud, caught at your
aid as my lust hope, because flint day
you came to me your face looked good,
and strong, too. nndsyou spoke so siu
ccret.Vt and It was s««»**. since I bad
known anyone like you. And you
seemed to have been sent to me.”
‘‘Religious hallucination," said Law
son, tapping bis forehead significantly
Nevertheless. Joan could see that he
was growing uneasy as the plot was
unraveled.
"It was a miracle, that meeting, one
of those chances that seem reserved
to uncover such conspiracies. For.
though this man had stolen my
name”—and here a touch of pride was
visible on Lancaster's face—"there
was one thing lie could not do. He
could not perforin the Lancaster op
eration, « though he had picked my
brains during the weeks In which lie
kept me here, a prisoner In one room.
And so, from time to time, lie com
pelled me to go to Avonmouth, under
the charge of Myers. In order to op
erate. He laid down the regulations:
I was to dress and mask nlone; I was
to speak as little ns possible and to
leave hastily after 1 had finished my
work. And he always sent me there
with a full Injection of the drug In
my body. 1 was too weak to resist,
too much under the thumb of Myers
here.
“Doctor, won’t you stop this painful
recitation of hallucinations?” pleaded
the secretary to Lawson. “You know,
tomorrow he will retract everything,”
“The day came,” continued Lancas
ter, “when a committee of visiting
surgeons was to witness the opera
tion. He thought that lie had learned
It. His vanity led him to go to the
hospital In person, after he had
brought me to Avonmouth. The pa
tient died, but he alone was responsi
ble for that. And that is where you
come Into the case, Joan. I managed
lowed you to this Institute, in order
to forestall me if possible."
“Doctor Lancaster, you did not steal
the funds," said Joan calmly. "Do you
not see the hold these two men have
managed to obtain over you? They
stole the funds, and their object in
drugging you was to get rid of you
the sole evidence of their crime, by
your death. And so, not daring U
murder you, they plnnned that ybu
should commit suicide. •*
“You'll answer for that!” shouted
the secretary, white with rage.
Lancaster shrugged his sholders. "It
doesn't matter now, my dear," he said
But he had struck Lawson through
ids triple hide of vanity at last.
“But that isn't all," shouted the
man. Admit that there may be n
substratum of truth In these morphine
dreums of yours, John Lancaster. Ad
mit that I was ambitious, and that 1
did take tiie place my half-brother
had forfeited In order to be of use to
the world, and In order to save yor
from a felon’s cell or a maniacs
grave. Acknowledge that I did imper
sonate you tonight, as before, that 1
came back with Myers in order to get
rid of this girl who threatened to dis
rupt the institute and put a drug
drunkard in the office I hold, Weil,
what then? That isn't nil the story.
"You. have played your miserable
game craftify, John Lancaster, after
having made a fair agreement with
me. B ut I’ve gone my duty toward
you aniTour father’s fund, and if fie
were alive he would thank me for it.
And as for this girl, she can go. and.
If tier ravings receive credence any
where, I’ll face a jury and tell the
truth fearlessly.
"But you haven't explained every
thing to yoor poor dupe, John. You
haven’t told her where yonr sweet
heart Is. You haven’t said that all
the while you have been making love
to her your fiancee is under this roof,
hopelessly Insane, that she came back
In her mudness, and Hint you took her
Into the Institute and cared for her
when her own people had discarded
her. because you still loved her. And
I'll tell you something, John, 1
brought her back; I was in touch with
her from first to last; and I brought
her here as an additional lure to
you at the institute after I had
to Avonmouth. Just tell Miss Went
worth who Mrs. Dana Is."
Joan’s eyes met Lancaster's,
she saw in his tiie supreme moment
of his anguish. She braced herself to
meet the shock; site told herself that
Lancaster no longer cared for his poor
charge. She faced Lawson and Myera
unflinchingly. But the spring of hope
that had been bubbling in her heart
seemed to iftve gone dry.
Lawson seemed to be animated by
some Infernal deviltry. He seemed to
he throwing off the mask he had as
sumed; lie leaned forward and shook
his finger In Lancaster's face.
"And there’s another thing. John,"
he said. "You remember that when
we were hoys together I resented th
difference between your position and
mine. Because of a few writtJn words
upon legal document >you, the
younger, were the honored heir of
John Lancaster, Sr., livid* while In the big
unacknowledged house m|^«4ie estate, child, /he I shame was the
of
my fioor mother, ostincized even by
the meaner whit of tiie district
Your friends pretended not to know
who i was when they rode by.”
Lancaster made a gesture of depr*
ention as Lawson's voice shook with
passion. "Tlisit's true, Jim." he said
"hut can you blame me?’ Did I not
give you the [insition here?”
”7 bated yon ticcficsp of that, John,”
resumed La .con. "1 hated you, and
I vowed some day to turn the tables
on you. I "anted to be a Surgeon.
What a struggle I had, working my
a ny thratrob Johns Hopkins, while you
PAGE SEVEN
were sp. ..ding y-mr father's money
there! The struggle soured me, .John.
And fyiu-e, do you remember, 1 was
opeytning on a rabbit under curare,
which had paralyzed the motor nerve*
.and left the beast lo suffer? It was
tut experiment anyth as had often
thought I should like to ntaKe on you,
and you flung a vile word at me and
killed the creature. I told you theB
that 1 would gel even with you some
day, The time arrived. I got my own
hack, and more, hut there is one thing
that I never told you. Yffqr fiancee
"•as the victim of n misunderstanding.
There was no other man.”
John Lancasters deep breathing
seemed the only sound in the room;
ind, as if galvanized into full strength,
lie stood now like a panther, poised
for a leap, every munch: grown' taut,
and bin eyes gleaming, Joan, para
lyzed by the sudden unleashing of
lanvson's venomous revenge, could not
utter a word.
Lancaster spoke, You said you.
were In touch with her and brought
her here nfter she became insane,” he
said. >. How did you do it?”
“You have had your full say, John
Lancaster,” replied Lawson, “and now
I am going to have mine. Under the
delusion that your Intention was to
eiope with her, on the day before that
fixed for the marriage in the parish
church—a romantic plan to evade the
family and curious neighbors— Miss
Reid went to Savannah, to meet yon
there. I needn’t go Into details of the
trap that your unacknowledged enemy
set for you, but when she learned tlAt
she had been tricked It was too late
to return. Her life was ruined, John;
and It was 1, Impersonating you, who
sent her there.”
(To Be Continued.)
The Maiden City
Londonderry, in Ireland, Is known as
“The Maiden City," in allusion to the
fact that, although three times be
sie ged B O
never conquered.
Extreme* in Men
Some men are so covetous as If they
were to live forever, and other so pro
fuse ns If they were to die the next
moment.—Aristotle.
Praise
A man’s praises have very musical
and charming accents in the mouth of
another, but sound very flat and un
tunable in his own.—Xenophon.
The birth rate in Paris was 46,800
in 1923, against 48,000 in 1922.
‘THE NAVIGATOR 1?
FOR SALE
Residence; West Taylor 3t.
Residence, South Hill St.
Residence, South Sixth St.
Several well located V-lots.
100-acre farm, 1% miles out.
24%-acre farm, cfose in.
1 % m illion feet gag-timber—
FOR RENT
One store building.
FIRE INSURANCE
We are prepared to help you pro
tect your property against loss and
if you are thinking of an additional
policy consult the undersigned. You
will not regret it.
e. s. McDowell
Real Estate and Insurance
WARD’S REXALL STORE
FAIR NOTICE
Season tickets for Fair can
be had at following places:
Scales Drug Co.
Sibley Clothing Co.
Cole Drug Co.
Griffin Pharmacy Co.
Slaton-Powell Clothing Co.
Persons-Hammond Hdw Co.
Blue Goose Cafe
Chamber of Commerce
PRICE: 6
J2.00 for Whole
$1.00 for Halves
BRUCE MONTGOMERY
Secretary