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PART THREE.
Opposing Commanders in Indiana Politics
Two Men More Diametrically Opposite in Personality Could Scarcely Be Found
in Politics Than Charles W. Fairbanks and Thomas S. Taggart.
By GUY T. VISKNISKKI.
The campaign in Indiana, one of
the important States in the Presiden
tial contest, is peculiar in that the
state leader of the Republican party
is its vice presidential candidate and
his opponent is the chairman of the
Democratic National Committee, and
hence the party's national as well as
state manager.
Two men more diametrically oppo
site in personality could scarcely be
found in politics than Charles W.
Fairbanks and Thomas S. Taggart. I
Mr. Fairbanks is the embodiment of
dignity and grace at all times except
when he is sitting down, when his
long legs, drawn up toward his chin,
make you think of a big jack-knife
half closed; and when he passes along
the street all Indianapolis politely says,
‘ How do you do, Senator?”
Mr. Taggart hardly knows that
there is such a thing as dignity, or
grace either, for that matter. His hat
is usually on the back of his head;
almost any -citizen of Indianapolis can
tell of slaps on the back and pokes in
the ribs given him by the Democratic
manager, and his “Howdy, Bill?” is
met with “Hello, Tom!”
The Senator has never been heard
to make a joke in the course of a
political speech. Mr. Taggart not only
jokes in politics, but is noted as the
greatest wag of the city, and his
friends are continually being made the
butts of his more or less practical
jokes.
Mr. Fairbanks, in a conversation not
long ago, declared that politics was
far too serious a matter to transform
into a joke. “The people want facts,
not stories,” he said. “They may
laugh at the story, and you may think
you've made a hit, but it is my firm
belief that when they come to vote
they will vote for the ticket whose
speakers have given the facts as they
are.”
Taggart Enjoys a Joke.
A good joke to Mr. Taggart is as the
breath of life itself; if he plays it, the
premier joy of the seventh heaven, and
he is no respector of persons when he
is out for amusement. Witness the
way he treated Judge James McCabe,
the Hearst boom manager in the Hoos
ier state, when he journeyed to Indian
apolis to see how his opponent, Tom
Taggart, was getting bn.
Mr. Taggart walked up to the Judge
in a hotel corridor, greeted him effu
sively and while talking with him ex
pertly “lifted” the Judge's fine diamond
stick-pin. Then he turned the conver
sation.
“Judge," said he, “I know you’re a
great admirer of diamonds. I’ve a pin
here I'd like to show you.
"But," said the Judge, swelling with
pride, “I've a fine pin myself. I fancy
you can't beat it,” and he reached for
it, to be confounded with dismay the
next moment over its absence. Mr.
Taggart let the Judge worry all even
ing before he went up to him and sol
emnly stuck the pin back where it be
longed.
Mr. Fairbanks is as careful in speech,
in action, in dress, in thought, in plan
as he is about avoiding what to him is
fatal political ribaldry. Mr. Taggart
seemingly hates deliberation. Ask him
a question, and he answers without ap
parent weighing of words. Not so the
Senator. He hunts for the reply that
will be just right. This extreme care
fulness is one of his distinguishing
marks, and it has made him the master
rf his party in Indiana, from the pre
cinct up, just as surely as Mr. Tag
gart's more picturesque methods have
given him absolute control of his organ
ization.
Methods of Organization.
Only in their methods of organiza
tion are the two men anywhere alike.
To both of them their adopted state
is an open book for instant political
study, and each knows the tempera
ment of the people in its corners as
well as the centers. During the first
Bryan campaign, when the Demo
cratic National Committee met to hear
reports of the pre-election canvass
made by the various state committee
men, Mr. Taggart lugged before his
brethren a good-sized valise with
bulging sides.
"What is that?” they asked in as
tonishment.
"That, gentlemen,” was the' reply,
“contains the poll of every election
precinct in my state.”
The precinct is Mr. Fairbanks'
great hobby also.
"book after the precincts, and the
state will take care of itself,” he tells
his lieutenants. He knows Indiana's
precincts every bit as well as "Tom"
Taggart does. He can tell as certainly
how this or that one will go. and if
there is a precinct in the state in
which he has not spoken in one cam
paign or another nobody knows of it.
The Senator is the most indefatigable
campaigner his party ever had in In
diana. He holds the record for
speeches before Hoosier audiences, and
Mr. Taggart cannot make one of his
unexpected sallies into the sycamore
groves of the state without learning
that the Senator is known there by rea
son of some address he made some
time or other to the backwoodsmen.
Neither Is Domineering.
Neither man is domineering. Mr.
Fairbanks will not recommend a man
for any political preferment who has
not the backing of his district leader.
Mr. Taggart Is equally solicitous of
hi® lieutenant's feelings, consulting
them freely, and, as Is the case with
bb opponent, frequently taking their
advice and moulding a campaign in
part according to their ideas. Both
I" tders also largely rely on their re
spective aides to discover for them
WATCH OUT
FOR
THE 810
PARADE
Jiatontta!) iStaHing
what and whom the people want, and
until their reports come, refrain from
coming out for any issue or candidate.
This is largely the secret of each
man’s reputed political sagacity; and
it was in this fashion that Mr, Fair
banks, in 1896, found out that Indiana
would undoubtedly favor the party de
claring for the gold standard. He had
■already determined that such a plank
should be in the state platform if he
could get it there; be redoubled his
efforts, and, despite misgivings and
some opposition on the part of sev
eral prominent politicians, the plank
was inserted as Mr. Fairbanks had
written it, Indiana being one of the
first states to declare for gold. The
party's candidate for Governor, Mr.
iMount, had not favored the gold
plank, and when the convention was
over, he said to Mr. Fairbanks: "Well,
we've got a good platform—all except
that d—d gold plank.”
"Ah,” said Mr. Fairbanks, confident
ly, ‘that plank will prove our sheet
anchor, and it will make you Governor
of Indiana,” a prophecy which was
fulfilled in November.
There is no detail incident to a cam
paign that either leader will not take
upon himself. Both men are sticklers
in this particular, and for that reason
they are men of "unfinished political
business." If the party's cause will be
furthered by Mr. Fairbanks' entering
into a half hours' discussion about the
best way to secure John Smith’s vote,
he is not the man to plead lack of
time; and Mr. Taggart will give twice
that time, if necessary, to planning out
a big banner to be flung across Wash
ington street. This regard for detail
takes them ail over the state, into its
every nook and cranny, and has made
them personally acquainted with the
men who get out the vote and thou
sands of voters besides.
Prominent at Some Time.
It is noteworthy that both men,
each of whom would die for his party,
■became politically prominent at about,
the same time. Before 1888, when Mr.
Fairbanks was the manager of Judge
Walter Q. Gresham's campaign for
the presidency, he had been known
only as a speaker who could be called
upon at any time to be sent anywhere
within the state's borders. Mr. Tag
gart had been elected county auditor
for the first time four years before,
but not until he was up for renomina
tion did he or his party realize how
strong he was. Then it was that
"Tom" Taggart, at last aware of his
hold on the party, began assuming
the reins, and four years later he, as
state chairman, carried the state for
Cleveland, a victory that made it pos
sible for him to be elected Mayor of
Indianapolis for three consecutive
terms. But while he has almost con
tinuously held some office, either in
the gift of the people or his party,
since his advent on the political hori
zon. Mr. Fairbanks’ sole honor in
this direction has been a senatorship.
DEVIL WAGONS
ON THE WATER
The Amphibious Development of the Auto
mobilist.
BY JAMES R. CALHOUN.
Anew tribe is going down to the
sea in ships; and wonderful ships.
The new tribe is not attracted
by the beauty and mystery of the
sea. Not for it is the stately glide
of white pyramids of sail, or the
laborious thrash to windward. All
that it seeks the water for is to hurry
over it as fast as propellers and devil
engines can go.
The autoboat has arrived on the
scene so suddenly that the world at
large has not had time yet to dis
cover that it is not anew develop
ment of an old sport, but anew sport
by new people.
The men who have taken the lead
in the autoboat sport are not yachts
men, but racing automotollists. As
they choose a road on land, not for
its scenic beauty, but purely for its
properties as a speedway, so they
■choose the ocean purely because it
offers them anew road for making
velocity recox-ds.
If they could make better records
by driving their boats through a ditch,
they would choose that in preference
to the most glorious open sea course
that ever gladdened a yachtsman.
The real sailor world is only just
waking up to the fact that its billowy
domain, on sweet and bitter waters
both, is being invaded by a tribe with
out traditions or respect for tradi
tions. The automobile is too new a
thing to have created any rode of
ethics among its adherents. And the
automobillsts, having entered the wa
ter, are supremely indifferent to the
ethics of the water, which Is a matter
of the oldest tradition, dating back to
the first man who ever paddied a log
over the paleolithic sea.
A Vnnitnl of tlie Sen.
The HUtomobilist. having turned mi
toboatist. is even inclined to look light
ly on that most sacred thing, the rule
of the road at sea, which is not only
a matter of tradition, but of all the in
telligence and experience of all the
maritime nations. Having succeeded
SAVANNAH. GA.. SUNDAY. AUGUST 28. 1904.
He has always put other proffered
political gifts behind him, r eferring
rather to be hie party's Warwick, as
far as Indiana is concerned.
The only similar incident in the ca
reer of the two men, outside their
methods of political management, is
foqnd in the fact that both had to
make their own way in life, and both
went to Indianapolis from Ohio to do
it some thirty years ago. Toung Fair
banks opened up a law office; young
Taggart went to work behind a lunch
counter in the old union depot. Pretty
soon the lanky lawyer’s careful and
painstaking methods attracted clients
to him, and about the same time
"Tom” Taggart's genial smile and
popularity with the trainmen and the
traveling public earned him the man
agership of the several lunch counters
in the station.
Fnirhn nli** Large Fees.
But the lawyer had reaped the re
results of the struggle long before the
other. While Mr. Taggart was still
looking out for the dollars, Mr. Fair
banks, by securing various railroad
interests as xjients, had got together a
competency that made him practically
independent. Mr. Fairbanks has been
credited with receiving one fee of
$150,000, and it is known for a cer
tainty that he did get at least one that
was only 50,000 less. He is as good
a business man as he is a politician,
and so is Mr. Taggart, the evidence to
this effect being found in the way each
man has made the dollars multiply.
But while the Senator has accom
plished this in a quiet sort of way,
Mr. Taggart has done so with a
good deal of the spectacular and pic
turesqueness that mark his hand in
anything.
Mr. Fairbanks says he is in politics
because he considers it the duty of
every patriotic American to take an
active interest in the welfare of his
country. Mr. Taggart says he is in
politics because he "can’t help it,” by
which he means he loves the game too
intensely to be satisfied with being a
mere spectator—he was born in Ire
land. Each feels himself in honor
bound to carry the state.
The maneuvering and fighting be
tween them will be Interesting to
watch from now on as the campaign
grows hot. There will be moves and
counter moves to furnish zest, for
each man is a great student of what
the other fellow is going to do; and
on election day it would not surprise
the friends of either to learn that he
was doing some such things as work
ing for all he was worth in his own
precinct. Both men believe in fighting
up to the last ditch and taking a hand
at the gun if necessary. They have
made a point of doing so ever since
their ascendency in Indiana politics,
than which no more interesting
brand can be found, unless it be
Ohio’s.
(Copyright, 1904, by Guy T. Visknisk
ki.
in a few short years in upsetting sev
eral thousand rules of the road on land,
he is impatient of the rule of port and
starboard, the right of way and all the
other complicated elements of mari
time law.
Already the papers devoted to wa
ter spprts are printing cartoons show
ing the autoboat careering cheerfully
over capsized craft, ramming contem
plative fishermen and hurling canoes
and skiffs right and left. New as the
sport is. it boasts a good list of acci
dents. ranging from explosion to col
lision.
In New York waters the cry has been
raised for water "bicycle” police to
catch the autoboat as the land bicycle
policeman catches the land autocar
riage. It Is certain that unless the
wiser elements in the auto world be
stir themselves, there will be a demand
for restrictive legislation on the wa
ter to parallel the mass of restrictive
legislation that has been passed on
land.
There is one thing, however, that op
erates to restrict the destructive ca
pacities of the speed maniacs on the
water. It is the fearful and wonder
ful construction of their craft, or rath
er. to be more accurate, vehicles.
The autoboat Is called a boat only by
courtesy. She is a vastly different thing
from the launches and power boats that
are built first of all to withstand wind
and wave and only secondary for speed.
They are real vessels—boats with ari
engine in them. But the genuine auto
boat is an engine of ferocious power,
wiih Just enough thin timbering around
it to float it.
A drifting log can crumble up the
bow of the typical autoboat like paper.
She doesn't ride the seas like a ship;
she either jumps and slides over them
or drowns herself fore and aft. Her
naval architecture is largely that of a
dugout. Sometimes they put a bow on
her like a knife, and sometimes like a
spoon. The prevailing style in sterns
for her is flat and square, appallingly
like the foot end of a coffin. Second in
favor Is a stern shaped like the ram of
a battleship. Sometimes she is cigar
shaped. Sometltpes she is formed with
a hood in front like a torpedo destroyer.
Whatever her shape may he. her con
struction Is as light as devil-may-care
persons dare to build her. Her extreme
examples are built not of planking, but
of veneer. Sometimes they don't even
bolt or rtven her. but stitch her thin
wooden skin with copper wire.
The only man who is really at home
In her Is h canoeist who Is accustomed
to a craft that crawl* and writhes un
der him.
Having neither the weight nor the
solidity of the autocarriage, the auto
boat drivsr cannot charge on obstacles
living and Inanimate with any degree
of hope that his vehicle will do the
smashing He wilt smash up himself,
sod he knows It. It is the only thing
that ha* rest retried the sgtoist from
making the sea as unsafe ae He he*
made the lend
"The question of 'utility' does nut
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FALL 1904.
Ladies’ Suits, Skirts and Waists which,
in FABRICS and DESIGNS, are authoritative
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IN OUR BOYS’ DEPARTMENT we are show
ing early arrivals in Suits, Hats and
Furnishings.
We are continuing Special Reductions in
our remaining Summer Goods.
B. H. Levy, Bro. & Cos.
enter the autoboat,” says W. H.
Ketcham, president of the American
Power Boat Association. “It is a
racing machine pure and simple. But
while it may be fascinating, and, no
doubt, is very exciting, to skim over
the water at twenty miles an hour In
one of these racing shells, it is peril
ously like tempting Providence for
any one but a first class swimmer to
venture in such a craft, and even then
it is the policy of wisdom to keep
pretty close to terra firma.”
Mr. Ketcham also touches on the
remarkable development of things
nautical by adding: “Yachtsmen and
not chauffeurs should be in charge of
power boats.” This shows how the
field of the yachtsmen has been in
vaded by an alien class.
But it is an invasion that has come
to stay. The most staid yacht clubs
have capitulated. The famous Ameri
can Yacht Club and the Manhanset
Bay Yacht Club have admitted the
Automobile Club of America as a
body to the privileges of membership.
The great and dignified Eastern Yacht
Club had a three days' race meet for
power boats off Marblehead. The At
lantic Yacht Club is in line. Autoboat
races of international scope are
scheduled for this month and Sep
tember in the Swiss lakes, the Eng
lish Channels, the Seine and off Keii.
In the last race of the Atlantic
Yacht Club, in which a Herreshoff
autoboat was entered, the winner
made twenty nautical miles in fifty
six minutes, fifty seconds. The Herres
hoff craft made twenty nautical miles
in the hour.
The winner of the Harmsworth cup
in English waters made the run over
the course—7 7-10 knots—in a few
seconds over 25 minutes. S. F. Edge,
her owner is a motorist and not a
yachtsman. He expects to visit
America for racing purposes, and will
come provided with an autoboat and
and autoearriage.
The close relation of land and wat
er autoing is further shown by the
fact that many of the crack boats are
engined with motors taken by their
owners out of crack autocarriages.
Thus, YV. K. Vanderbilt put his 60
horse-yower motor from his automo
bile, which won the Eagle Rock hill
climbing contest, into his 40-foot ma
hogany racing boat. A crack French
boat on the Seine Is propelled by a
motor taken out of a carriage that
won twenty-one prizes last year.
Amphibious Aniocarrlnge*.
On Bong Island Sound half a score
of old-time shore hotels, that used to
cater to yachtsmen exclusively, have
built garabes of automobile car
riages; while the biggest hotel has
built a remarkable amphibious shelter,
wherein automobiles may enter at one
end while at the other end an incline
leads down into the water so that au
tomobile boats may be run under the
roof and tied fast.
One of the oldest road clubs in
Staten Island, near New York city,
has carried the Idea out to its extreme
point. Every member of this club
now owns an autocarriage and an au
toboat, and there are frequent con
tests in which the rivals dash from
town on their automobiles to the club
house and then Jump into their auto
boats to continue the race on the wa
ter.
The famous old-time yacht builders
have been holding aloof from the field
of the autoboat, hut the Herreshoffs
having come out with a contestant for
the prize, it is pretty positive that the
others will fall into line. Meanwhile
the sport has already developed a host
of new builders —men whose names are
quite unknown to the yachting world.
Seaside and lake resorts are becoming
sprinkled with these new shipyards,
where craft are built on trestles and
sawhucks Instead of on stock like old
fashioned ships, and where engines are
being fitted carefully Into the boats as
the works are put into watches, in
stead of being sweated and bolted and
cast into place. You won't see spikes
and treenail* lying around these new
shipyards. Dainty copper nails and riv
ets take their place. There Is no sound
of sledges or calking mallets. The
rat-a-tat of lack hummers Is the pre
vailing noise.
It is cabinet work rather than ship
building lo turn nut such boats that
have skins of mahogany one-eighth
inch thick and that have not more
than five feet and a few inches beam
lo thirty-five and forty-five feet of
length, and weigh with engines not
more than from 609 to 1,000 pounds
complete.
(Copyright. 1904, by T. C. McClure ), i
Odors of Perspiration ~~ Royal Foot Wash
Mop* (hoAng, Sweating, lUMni Hwilka Tlrl rwt
**e •( dru Him or pr*p*id from KATON DRUG CO., Allan La. (la. Money
l/h If irnl *.tifl#d nninplo for f-cont itmni>
Not a Horse Thief,
But He Came Near Being Arrested for One.
A native-born New Yorker, who is
also a well-known "man about town,”
and who sometimes spends his week
ends in Vermont, near Brattleboro', has
just had an interesting experience up
there.
One Sunday night recently he found
himself twelve or fourteen miles away
from the railroad station at midnight.
The train by which he had to return
to New York was due at 2 o'clock or
thereabouts. The only horse avail
able to haul him to the station was
not of much account In the daytime on
good roads, and when at his best. In
the night over hilly, crooked roads
and after a long day of hard driving,
there was little probability that the
poor beast could get the New Yorker
to the station in time.
However, the man had to be here
on Monday, for there was a crisis In
his business, and so he started behind
the plug horse in the dark, over bad
roads. There was little hope, but he
was determined to try.
When still eight miles from the sta
tion the horse gave out., “He seemed
to just sit down to rest in the middle
of th? road." says the native-born New
Yorker when he tells about it, "and I
saw the case was hopeless. So I had
to do something.”
What he did was to go into a pas
ture alongside the road, catch a fresh
horse that was grazing there, and aft
er turning the tired horse into the
pasture put the fresh one into the
shafts.
This was his salvation so far as
reaching the railroad station in time
was concerned. The fresh horse got
him there easily, and on reaching New
York, after fixing up the crisis in his
business, the native-born New Yorker
had a whole lot of fun telling his
friends about it. Some of them cau
tioned him about spending another
week end in the vicinity of Brattle
horo’, and the native-born laughed at
HOW THE PRIVATE
FOOLED THE CAPTAIN.
A Real 1,1 fe Romance of Camp Life
at Fort Ninon in.
From the New York Times.
A romance In real life that fully
equals the beat product of the Imagi
nation of a writer of Action was re
lated by a captain of the National
Guard to a party of officers at the
state camp at Peekskill the other day.
It happened during the recent Spanish
war, when he was a lieutenant In the
Twenty-second Regiment. At that
time the Twenty-second was stationed
at Fort Slocum, on David’s Island, in
the sound. This Island lies about 11
mile from the New York main shore,
on a line with New Rochelle, about a
mile and a half from Travers Island,
the rountry home of the New York
Athletic Club, and perhaps three miles
from Uarchmont, where Is located the
club house of the Darchmont Yacht
Club. During the war many dances
were held at the yacht club house,
which were always attended In full
force by the officers of the regiment,
dancing being about the only recrea
tion.
A constant attendant at these
dances, It seems, was a private of one
of the companies, not withstanding that
leave of absence was never accorded
him. As he was punctually on hand
every morning for roll call, however,
no particular thought was given to
the matter, except some wonder as to
how he made his way to the main land.
The only communication between Dav
id’s Island and the New York shore
was hy means of a government tug
stationed there for that purpose, ami
he certainly did not use that, for this
was the boat that carried the officers
to h m hinmit whenever the dances
took place.
Hut there he would he as regularly
as the affaire came around, in all th
glory of his white duck trousers and
blue yachting cap, having in some
equally mysterious way doffed his sol
dier rig, which was another source of
stieculatlon, as nothing but the regu-
them and went up there last week.
At the railroad station the first man
he met W'as the livery stable man
whose tired horse had been turned
into the pasture alongside the road.
“Well," he declax-ed, “you have got
a gaul! You’ll be in jail pretty quick
if you don’t get out of here!”
"What for?”
"Why for hoss stealing, of course.
The maddest farmer in all Vermont
has been looking for you a whole
week. There was a time when hoss
thieves, had hard lines up here and
you’d ’a' been took up sure if you'd
'a' came here last Monday or Tuesday.
I had it in for you myself for that mat
ter. Better not go out to the hotel
better take the next train for N’York.”
It took an hour vf persuasion and a
good many fingers of good red liquor
to convince the stable man that the
change of horses wasn't a criminal
offense, but simply in part an act of
dire necessity and in part a Joke, but
in time he was mellowed Into a forgiv
ing spirit. The farmer hasn't been
seen as yet by the native New Yorker,
but the stableman has promised to
help talk him over.
"Anyway,” he said on Monday
morning when the native-born New
Yorker took the early train for New
York, "there wasn't any real harm
done, but farmer Brown was some
considerably riled when he seen my
hoss in his lot, and couldn't find hide
nor hair of his'n.
"He turned my hoss out into the
road and hitched up and drove to Brat
tleboro’, where he had a piece about
hoss thieves put in the paper. Also
he had some hand bills offering a re
ward for the thief struck off. Just as
he was agoing to start home he seen
my hoss. which had come home,
a-turning Into my stable. That gave
him a clue and he sleuthed my stable
right away. There he found his hoss
as big as life and twice as natural, and
I let him take the beast away without
a kick. I was too glad to get my own
back again to make any fuss. Thanks,
I guess I will take another parting
drink on it.”
lation uniform was allowed the private
soldiers, and there was no way In
which such clothes could bp smuggled
to the island.
Now the captain of the company of
which the private was a member was
quite attentive to the daughter of a
certain resident of l.archmont. Hhe
was very pretty and attractive—ln fact,
the belle of that section. She, however,
didn’t seem to appreciate these atten
tions very highly. On the contrary,
her interest was In quite another di
rection. In the direction, to come to
the point, of the enterprising private,
whose position, It Is unnecessary to
slate, was every hit as good in civil
life as that of his captain, hut who,
by the fortune of war and by the rules
governing the relations of officer and
private, was rated very much his In
ferior in the army.
The fact that the young woman pre
ferred the private soon made Itself evi
dent to the captain, who was, as one
might easily imagine, none too well
pleased with the knowledge. Hitherto
he had given the private’s unlooked-for
and unsanctioned, presence at the
dances no consideration, hut now there
was certainly oecaslnn for an Investi
gation. and the captain sternly re
solved that such a breach of discipline
would have to be attended to.
The hlg dance of the season, the
event of the yachting year, was to he
held In a few days, Everybody had
been Invited, and all looked forward
to a great time. The captain asked
the young woman for the honor of be
ing her escort on this occasion, and
was Informed that she was awfully
sorry, but she had promised Mr. W.
that pleasure, mentioning the name of
the private so’dier.
When the private came to the officer
for leave of absence on that night he
was curtly refused.
"Hut, captain,” pleuded the unfor
tunate, "I have already asked a young
lady to go with me and what will ahe
think of me when I fall to put In an
appearance ?"
This appeal In nowise weakened the
'Hptalii'N determination or awakened
any sympathy for his Inferior’s pre
dicament. At last, seeing that fur
ther remonstrance would have the
ssme result, the private apparently
gave up In despair and left his su
perior’* uresenca.
A court-martlsl was the Inevitable
reault of looving the Island without
permission, which might hsvo had *•-
rtoua results, a* the country was really
In • slate of war, and army officer*
PAGES 21 TO 26
at such times are pretty apt to pun
ish severely such a violation of the
regulations.
Tverything was aglow with life and
merriment at the yacht club house that
night, and a large crowd was lined up
on either side of the main entrance,
when to the surprise of all, along came
the private with the belle on his arm!
With face beaming with pride and sat
isfaction he bowed right and left in
answer to the salutes of their many
friends until he came to a gantlet of
the officers of the Twenty-second.
These he coolly saluted, as if the fact
of his being there were the most natu
ral thing in the world. But the cap
tain’s face was a picture. Vexation,
amazement and exaspei-ation, all were
plainly expressed thei-e. Could this be
the fellow* he imagined to himself as
moping disconsolately somewhere about
the fort, mournfully gazing in the di
l-ection of Larchinont? These expi-es
sions, however, finally gave way to one
that boded ill for the private, who,
with the young woman, was now joy
ously gliding through a waltz with a
look of pleasure on his face that indi
cated anything hut apprehension as to
what the morrow might bring.
At last, like all periods of joy, the
dance came to an end. Among the
last of the guests to depart were the
army officers. A number of the Lareh
mont couples accompanied the officers
down to the clubhouse landing stage to
see them aboard the boat which was
to take them back to the island.
Among these couples were the belle and
the private, around whose head trou
ble seemed about to break. But he
joined in the merriment of the party
so heartily that it would be hard to
imagine that he would soon be the vic
tim of a court-martial. Gayly waving
their farewells to the receding officers,
among whom stood the captain with a
look on his face as he glared at the
private which seemed to say: "Well,
I've got you at last, and I’ll make you
dance to a different tune,” the party
retraced their steps toward the club
house. As soon as they were out of
sight of the officers the careless atti
tude of the young private changed like
a flash. Now was the time for action,
or he was in for it. Hurriedly 1 telling
the young lady that he was forced to
ask her to allow her brother to see her
heme, to which she consented, for she
had entered into the lark as gladly as
himself, he made a dash for the club
house gate.
The tug bearing the officers landed at
David's Island about fifteen minutes
before roll call that morning, and the
captain made it his business to be
piesent, although as a rule he was ab
sent. He was sure that by no possi
ble chance could the young private
have reached the fort this time, and
his face lit up with grim pleasure as
his eye ran rapidly over the faces ill
the front rank and the features of his
rival were not visible. The different
names were called in alphabetical or
der until at last the sergeant cried
" W—!”
came the answer.
"Where's W— ?” said the captain,
peering incredulously over the front
rank.
“Here!" repeated the private from
the rear.
"W —, step two paces to the front,"
commanded the captain.
And the private broke through the
front rank and saluted his astonished
superior, whose face plainly said:
“Well, I’m damned!”
A year or so later the captain joined
the New York Athletic Club and he
and his former private met in the cafe
one night. Finally the captain said:
”W—, there's one thing that's al
ways puzzled me—”
"And I know just what you are go
ing to ask,” interrupted W—•.
"How the devil did you get back to
the island that morning?”
"Well, it happened in this way.”
W replied. "I was a member of the
New York Athletic. Club, and, being a
good swimmer, each night of the
dance I used to swim the mile and a
half to our boathouse. There in a
locker I kept my yachting outfit Aft
er donning this I would mount a bi
cycle which I always had on hand,
and then ride up to Barehmont. On
the night of the big dance, as soon as
the tug with the officers aboard left
for the yacht clubhouse, I jumped into
the water, ahd, aided by a swiftly
running tide, soon xeached the boat
house. Hastily throwing on my shore
rig, I mounted my wheel and pedaled
to the house of Miss . I trundled
the wheel along as we walked to th
clubhouse, and left it at the gate
which opens into the grounds.
"After you left for the island on the
morning after the dance, I ran for the
gate, mounted the bicycle, and fairly
burned up the road to Travers Island.
Without delay I shook off Any clothes,
donned my bathing suit and, once more
assisted by a friendly tide, which I
had studied out. beforehand, soon
swam to the fort. My feet had no
sooner touched the bottom at David’s
Island than the bugle sounded the
reveille. Dashing over to my tent,
I threw on my uniform, and as the
men lined up for roll call Just had
time to step Into the i-ear. though my
usual place was in the front rank.”
Contrary to the usual romance, how
ever, neither one got the girl, for sha
later became the bride of a handsome
young Southerner.
—The House of Commons is losing
its dignity. Black and White hear*
that members Have been seen around
the premises in shirt sleeves in warm
weather. It expects to find a member
with musical tastes entertaining friends
at tea on the terrace by playing "Good
by, Dolly Gray.” on a mouth organ.
The Ismdoners have Just heard of
"Dolly Gray," and It Is popular.
Ice Cream
Freezers
We have the one great manu
facture—the White Mountain
—ice cream freezers. If you
have one you are happy. If
you do not have one, you
want one. We are headquar
ters for them. Cost no mor
than the others, and are bet*
ter.
ALLEN BROS.,
Wedding Presents A|erlall*ta and
House Inrulebris,