Newspaper Page Text
i I l F'f. fi I
p m 11 §.y : ,«|
c ' ' w ' u/. - %
I I \!/ £% v. 1
I : . N®.\ ‘ -' Xf.
f ? JHBfa dr ; \
I
U ■ ■ . ■•• k- - ■ A .:• . :•■:;• ■■*?' \ i
V,
;
t .. ■• J&2Z?'-*
&%r,. -jg^SaaraL^:igg'sy. ■ . ;;;:-■ : y,, 4 .
k«,... ..‘ • »•■■*. #<*.-•• c r .-■ -^* < y^;' g ' i ? _ .'yuA**-,' .. . ...„ , x -r^-Vr’—-"-
A !
, J \y\ - A—»s*
’
,/r~'< i y
Vbnstn©&
f% M- it
pi f iJ( l
Xj£y£ESA±-
y \'iok Tustirv
HtgaCp ß^
A S THE boat pointed its nose to
/% ward the city, the solitary man
c--%k at the prow' turned his back
on freedom and gazed longing
ly at the gray stone penitentiary,
which seemed to be slipping away
from hint and growing smaller and
cozier as distance lent the enchant-'
[m nt of perspective to his loneliness.
For Mulcaby, dazzled by’ liberty,
was very lonely indeed. Every bo
[ment i: at t- wr or widen d between
;bim and tho prison it lo'senod the
I distance from the city, and in two
minutes more the man knew that the
met rope lie, bristling with ante- awm,
cold and st: ige and busy with’ t'.s
holiday season! would.be upon
and it filled i.is heart with a name
less dz. -.d.
Bat, alter all, ho had only himself
to blame f>r his liberty. "Goocj fc»*'-
havicr” —t; was the thing tii t had
turned him loose fror: a comfortable
• heme, three square m-.als a day, and
.his comp-. - ms ot th*- quarry.
►
laws, broken a simple rule or two, all
might have bean well. He might
have calm. Christmas dinner with
Jerry the Spike, Bottles, Hank and the
whole ’appy crew who had contrived
to spend another Christmas in the
"pen" through trifling indiscretions
committed in deliance of the keepers.
These reflections were interrupted
by the sharp teeth of the wind snap
ping at his legs through the thiu
trousers and the threadbare coat.
He shivered as the boat docked, and
then took a long breath as he walked
up the gangplank and out into —was
this freedom striking terror to his
soul? Why was he trembling? He
was free at last, but free to do what?
Free to kill himself before he starved
to death, free to wander the uncom
panionable streets and gaze upon the
happiness that showed itself in the
faces of fugitive passers-by.
He was only free to go anywhere:
but these people had their homes
to go to, each his separate “peniten
tiary," where there were warmth and
food and human things to talk to.
He shut his eyes for an instant and
started bravely up the hilly street that
led to First avenue. Then suddenly
a strange thing happened. He forgot
his misery and his wretched home
sickness. At first he couldn't realize
what the influence was, then he rec
ognized the soothing and thirst-inspir
ing smell of hops that poured over
him like a hot breath from the brew
ery on the next street. This prompted
a thought which was immediately fol
lowed by a sharp movement.
Mulcahy minded him of the faded
five-dollar bill he had in his pocket,
the last bounty of the good home
across the river. He pulled it out and
looked at it.
It represented two weeks and a half
of life; that is, he calculated that
while he was looking for a job it
would provide food and shelter for him.
If he couldn't find a job—but that
thought ended with a look toward the
river; and again he saw the “pen,"
and another thought occurred to him
If h? didn’t find anything to do he
could go back to the .“pen” and beg }
them to take him in. No, he couldn’t j
do that. He squared his ragged j
shoulders as if trying to rise superior j
to tbs thought, for there was a rem- !
nnnt of pride in Mulcahy, albeit time I
and a desperate struggle to keep his |
feet on the globe had frayed its
odgo3.
No, he determined to go back there
honorably, as he had left. He might
get a job shoveling snow—hut alas! it
was one of those cheerless Christ- i
mases, and nature had not even sup- i
plied the people out of work with
snow to shovel.
Mulcahy had worked all his life.
He was fifty now, and, as he“unrolled
the long catalogue of calamity which -
other people might have called his
career, he found that the oaly year
of his life that had been a happy one
was his last in jail. It had started
merrily even. for, after his outraged
pride had revolted at the idea of be
ing arrested for his slight connection
with the robbery, comfort came swift
ly with the thought that he was being
punished for omission rather than
commission.
These thoughts and the haunting
smell of hops brought Muicahy to
Fouth avenue and a saloon. It was
twelve o.'clock, and corned beef and
cabbage-leaf being slated for lunch on
a blackboard under a Satyrish-lut.fl
ing bock and a life-sized “schooner,”
determined the man, and he, stepped
inside.
The story will move much more
rauidly if vet do not follow Mulcahy
| and wr.!* for him :o eat his corned
• '■ *s-• /j v wrt!i* 2. srfrit zzwv*
[ t last year, a spirit that seemed al
! least j fab::! ins , when ."dreamed of if.
!th “pen '—to-wi . the bartender.
I But hole where Mulcahy emerges
| half an hour later, the inner man’
nulled by the sue alert cabhar.j am!
i beef, but a xn hincholy gnawing a: the.
outer man, whose clothes are slight
1 protection against the increasing '
wind.
As the day drew her portals slowly
toj. ther.he fell to trembling again.
How was he going to face the night?
V
(r
Gazed Longingly at the Graystone Pen.
All alone in one of those ten-cent
beds which promise so much to a
weary body that soon discovers the
egg-shell substance of the promise?
He shuddered and hurried down a
side street of Americar.-basement
houses, with their dainty Boston ferns
and yews, pretty windows with costly
curtains that sealed happy homes
from the profane eyes of the public.
And this atmosphere gave Mulcahy
hope. The inspiration born of des
pair took root
He intended to abandon all thoughts
THE COFFEE COUNTY PROGRESS, POITGt.AS, GEORGIA
of getting work until warm weather.
It was worse than hopeless to think
ho could get work now —why, the
weather, his age, all were against it.
He would go back to the “pen” if he
had literally to “steal” his way back.
The thing to do now was to conjure
up some reasonable offense, some
trilling transgression that would open
the iron gates of the prison, as dif
ficult of entrance as it was of exit,
and tide him over the winter months. |
But what could he do? Not a single
misdemeanor suggested itself to his
overwrought brain. If ho could only
steal something long enough to get
arrested and sent to the island! But
how? When, and above all where?
Broadway and Thirty-third street,
with its triangle of shops, answered
that question. It was very late, but
he knew that a week before Christ
mas the shops would be open until
late. In the hope that his clothes
would contribute tbeir help toward
a "on i:;g the suspicions of the store
detec'ives, ho quickened his steps
fevczizhly.-
Inside the shop was warm, brilliant,
and jammed with people. The incom
ing and outgoing crowds jostled and
pushed Mulcahy as if he were t. rub
b:- . uIUNfkU i
) <:. *2l m
. -v
--ivZ/"1 if v ''-' hS F"
■(: iWy! Fryvi
1 (i i
l<- * (Mm
——m— — \ |
i ~ '"5 ~
1 1 illlP
ip )m ,
! i/j
“Have You Seen My Mamma?”
i ber-washer between the hub cf a
i whuol and Hie linen-pin.
ro3> tly ite viand himself at. the.
: he n coui or, swept there by the
: tic of ous inkers, He wondered at
the confidence of the storekeepers,
; who tc k n > trouble to proti ct their
! wares r t forth in little compartment^.
Now he was backed into a little
i case of tooth-brlshep. He felt his fin
yors close on something; mechanical
ly he placed the tiling in his pocket,
i p::d then let himself drift along with
i the. crowd.
He had stolen something! Was it a
I cake of soap—perhaps; but with a
1 sickening sensation of impotence he
, remembered that one caka of soap
| might not unlock the iron gate of
| the “pen.”
Mulcahy sighed. Now he was in
I the jewelry department. It yielded
vast possibilities as far as valaubles
| were concerned, but these were care
fully protected by glass cases. True,
there were some little trays of gold
filled pins and bracelets scarcely
worth the effort of attainment. And
yet a handful of these trifles, flagrant
ly abstracted, might attract the at
tention of a detective.
Perhaps there were no detectives,
after all. This thought smote to him in
the act of reaching out a trembling
hand toward a delicate gold-filled
bangle. Then he paused, and in that
moment of hesitation he felt a twitch
at hi 3 coat, and, turning to face what
he felt must be authority either in
plain or blue clothes, he perceived at
his side a very pretty little girl.
She was well dressed; and after the
first shock he felt on looking into
her clear blue eyes, M-icahy saw a
beautiful locket and chain clasped
around her neck.
In the mean time she has possessed
herself of his coat-pocket as if it were
his hand, and clung to him as she
asked:
“Have you seen my mama?” Her
voice was smothered by the crowd
that pressed around her, and Mulcahy
had to lift her up in his arms to make
himself heard.
“No,” he replied, his face close to
her pretty neck and ear. “Shall we
go and look for her?” he added,
touched by the sudden moisture that
blurred her eyes.
As he spoke he carried her to the
revolving-door. Once out in the street,
she told him that she had been shop
ping with her mother and had got !
lost She lived, she said on Fiftieth j
street, between Madison and Fifth ;
avenue. She didn’t know the number,
but there were green trees at the
door, and it was a white house.
The man assured her that they
would find it together.
You musn’t think that this esca- ;
pade diverted Mulcahy from his origi
al scheme. Only he wanted to be of
use to the child, and he also saw a
much better way of obtaining his ar
rest and entrance to prison.
The locket and chain ho knew
would serve his purpose, for he in
tended stealing them as soon as he
had found iter home. There were j
four dollars and ninety cents left
from the “pen's” munificence, but he j
spent enough of it in a candy-store :
to have provided for himself for two
days.
Over a congenial glass of ice cream
soda the little girl gave hhu her name' i
Yiolet Van Twillor. The telephone
book did the rest in the matter of lo
cating the Van Twillor mansion,
whither Violet was escorted by her
ragged friend.
Afterward, when Mulcahy left her
standing at the door of her home
waving at him and smiling in her
sweet, frank way, he wondered how
he had found it in his heart to steal
the necklace, but thare it was in
his hand, still warm from contact with
her throat.
Then he darted away from the
street, and, clasping the locket tightly,
flew to the first police station and
gave himself up.
The judge did not conceal his dis
gust when he learned that Mulcahy
had robbed a child; and when he
uttered sternly, “Six months on the
island for him,” he marveled at the
brutality of a man who could smile at
the sentence.
11.
Meantime, Violet Van Twillor had
been received with the tears and re
joicings of a hysterical and loving fam
ily and diligently interrogated con
cerning the events of the evening.
Over and over again she repeated
the story of the “kind, ragged gentle
man” who had bought her candy and
soda and had found her home for her.
Latwr, Air. Van Twiller discovered
that Violet had mysteriously lost her
locket; but, though he suspected her
strange friend, he was so grateful to
the “ragged gentleman” that the next
day he advertised in all the papers
that he wished to reward the person
who had restored his daughter to her
family.
But MHcafky never learned of this
golden, appotiunity which might have
i given lim a n< \v tar:, in life, ' nigh
he gave the cdicer v:.o accompanied
' him to the ir’prtd the r me aril ad
dress of the little owner of the neck
lace, n:.d it was sent to her.
Ttif next day sow Muhnhy .-afnly
ah -.r.rd" th< Fidelity and li •z.nsd for the
| “pen.”
M Fig end of the vc. k he was cit
-1 ig r.t t:. C. rir. d nor w: .oh
1 ln.d f. -enjed a lantern or. . at drend
‘ ful day he was set at liberty.
Between mouthfuls of fat turkey’
and cranberry sauce he boasted to
Jerry rhe pnike. Hank, and Reviles of
; how he had hoodwinked justice
When he reported for work, a few
j days later, tlio keeper who presided
• UJ-\ •; I-I I ». j J >4*7
■f> ijurj : .jfr •
1 .
• 1 ( *» 1 p " ,1
:|==
Tvir|j»L l g~ —V
m w ,v v
<jt~r I , / jHV TT
Boasted to Jerry, the Spike.
over the men engaged in breaking
stone remarked casually to a fellow
keeper:
“I see Mulcahy is back on the job.”
“Yes,” the other replied; “he was
liberated a week ago, and now' he’s
back again. I tell you this place is a
cinch for those fellows. They’re do
ing life on the installment plant. If j
you dumped the whole caboodle into
the East river and told them to swim
to New Yosk, they’d all turn like a lot
of rats and squeak to come back to
the ‘pen.’ ”
(Copyright.)
I
■""" K 1 y
*sf mmiim .. , z ~& ,jr
i
■ t . vV .V • f ' V ' . ' '
:
■ ■■ ■./ *
! i- , A .V'A' "- 1
.• : ' .... , A
p'Ti ■ |«z. ■
W-'-fjm
1 • / ' . V
• . vk. • >’ . ■>> • . . tj- s'- • a.*...
' M
kv 1- r /r # j-< <■ , v y , -1
» \ \\ . A*../ s£ • . ... •
; .-.av:;. ; ■., -|.j
K • •- • -x .. v--• %*.,.—.— v ". ■ r;.l. Jtk ■. -. • -b-1
J n . , . . , .... .. <;
t{.v\ li: «*. ■,; : [f V R Va
U %1 Li UW M i V* # L-J* .] L USD ai a
I
Each Christmas Sees Dearer Ap
proach to Idea!.
Humanity Affected by Teachings of
Him Whose Birth Is Celebrated —
Spirit of Helpfuincss Prevails
Among Pden.
ACH year brings the world
1 nearer to the ideal of the
', f. ||x Prince of Peace, the ideal
/ I A of universal brotherhood.
,w\ Wars may occur from
•Vs? ! :>. time to time and nations
■ /.A '\' ; VT3 continue to arm them
selves, but steadily the
thought develops in the
minds of men throughout
the range of civilization that fight
ing is a wasteful, senseless, incon
clusive method of adjusting differ
ences, and that righteousness and
justice can be maintained by other
moans.
Over nineteen hundred years have
passed since Christ was born, bring
ing the message of peace on earth
, and good will to men. Bolero his
tins the world know no such dic
er. -Q. There was the law of might,
, and might pi vaib d. 'here 4ere
rights, but ri :kt- •. ro A -pendent’up
on tb strer. th of arms and of' vn suf
fered. The strong arm governed in
the nffairs of men. The doctrine f .at
Christ preached was one of enlighten
ment, an appeal to the r- n on, ?.;1-
dr<'s;scfi to tho higher f h'. cf mar..
That Christianity .spread so rapidly
after the first : irugglfng st -t is
proof that Rr-o v . rev eager. for such
a teaching, a: d that they, long- 1 for
the opportunity to live their liv ;
placidly and ?:cncst'y in a spirit of
brotherhood.
Those who cro discouraged by tho
occadioz.al outbrr l:s of strife between
nations should taka comfort in the
thought that there is a steadily in
creasing sentiment for pacific adjust
ments, that the essential spirit of
Christianity is at work throughout
the world to bring men into more
reasonable relations, and that in the
international as well a 3 the private
conditions of life the doctrines that
I wore first preached in Judea nineteen
hundred years ago are becoming
: steadily more dominant.
Christmas day naturally causes a
reflection upon the state of humanity
as affected by the teachings of him
whose birth is celebrated. Men are
unquestionably kinder and more
thoughtful toward one another now
than ever before. There is more
charity in the world, and more jus
tice, and more earnest disposition to
bring humanity up to a higher level.
There is more widespread education
as a result of this spirit of helpful
ness. and there is less suffering.
Men are devoting themselves and
their lives to the study of the needs
of the less fortunate and to the
amelioration of their condition. In
all lands practical Christianity is
working to the end literally of bring
ing peace on earth and good will to
men.
The observances of Christmas are
mere tokens of the essential spirit of
the day, which is more than the mere
tw'entv-four hours of this particular
calendar time, and extends through
out the year. No matter how elabor
ate or costly the gifts that are ex
changed, how beautiful and impres
sive the services in the churches,
how' extensive the decorations, Christ
mas is no more sincerely commemo
rated than by him who on this day
pauses to remember what it means,
who pays tribute in his soul to the
glorious example of Christ’s life and
resolves to conduct his own as nearly
as possible in imitation of it. It is
the personal Christmas celebration
that counts, the individual effort to
apply to everyday life that which un
derlies the occasion, that which began
at Bethlehem over nineteen centuries
ago.
TEALHhS LLSSOM Cf LOVE
Christines thz Season of All Others
Whore Its Beauties May Be
Learned Anew.
--'At OVE is the keynote cf thi
Christmas season. The
|‘ Jiil greatest mystery of life is
/ j \ "V love. Who has not sought
x/ \ to sound its unspeakable
. depths? Who has not felt
its all-compelling power?
Who has not surrendered
i, ! j£ g irresistible force?
Romances are built about it. Wars
have been fought lor it and religious
based upon it.
Love is tho dream of the poet, the
puzzle of the philosopher, the theme
of the novelist and the song of the
minstrel.
Love links all the human race. Its
note of victory is heard in the royal
court and in the peasant’s cottage.
I The song of love is on the lips of the
; proudest queen and of her humblest
j subject.
it is the stimulus of parental affec
tion in the heme and of patriotism in
j the nation. Brave men die for it and
I noble women perish that they may
hear its sweet incense with them to
| the grave.
How sweet and : -Hr is this splen
did attribn'a.’cf • nb'-.itid! In its Ftnii
irg pi ucss - lgtr, bitter: css and
strife j -It away. How much more
has tho w rid to .■hcpe>fcr from love
j than from envy, malice and hatred!
In iLid.,, period o£ v...r vide dis
i trust, of e.r onion nt ;• ns* econo
| mis conditions, of protest against cu
: spread deeance of law’, can we not
When we shall have learned that
lesson,* we shall also know the better
and fv.ll'T mcanhig of obe X .ice, con
tentment ar.d grace.
A YSAIi CF PLENTY.
Tin- C'fc: Vtm.-. -to • find in tin br; ze;
Tho candy fn-m them 'drops.
And folks declare they’ll surely bear
The heaviest of i roys.
—l'hiir.fMph'-;! Bulk tilt.
Christmas-Tide.
“The twelve days of Christmas,”
embracing the period between Christ
mas. eve, December 24, and Epiphany,
of Twelfth Night, January G, is un
known as Christmastide. Great as
the feast of Christmas is, nothing can
be definitely traced as to its origin,
nobody know's who first celebrated it,
or when or where, or how. We find
that various communities of Christ
ians kept the day on different dates
until about the middle of the fourth
century, when Pope Julius established
the festival at Rome, on December 25.
The holidays of the year are the red
letter days of its calendar. Among
them all, Christmas is unique, inas
much as it brings universal joy and
good will. Let the nations, therefore,
rejoice and be glad in the gift of the
world’s greatest life. —Jennie Day
Haines.
ONE THING LACKING.
: : J X 76^ : :
“Oh, Kitty! if we only had a piece
of candy to put on it, wouldn't it be
just lovely!”