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Show ' lELLIE I EVELLOays: HI-MAN riiiture Is human nature, in a prison us well as nut of It, ana often the very rigor of '.he regime Btlrs Into life finalities thai ave lain dormant until then. A communication from Nell McConlog, connectetl with the Prison Welfare association, related re-lated that they had received from the Inmates of one of the state penitentiaries peniten-tiaries a request for nursery stories and Mother Goose rhymes. These works are not usually considered -best sellers" In prison circles and the men. hers of the association started start-ed a quiet investigation. This is what they learned: One of ; t.,e "paylnn guests" of the Institution -he was paying for having Inspired too much confidence in a credulous ru,Je..I,a( a wife and baby "out there," and not a day passed without an exchange of letters between the convict and his family. By Us mother the child has been brought up to believe be-lieve that Muddy" was In the hospital. hos-pital. Each of the father's letters con-tained con-tained a fairy story for the little one. One day the svory teller ran short of material and In desperation appealed to one of his prison mates to help lain. Assistance was forthcoming and the details of the father's predicament spread from cell to cell. 1 Every one of the prisoner's fellow-passengers fellow-passengers on the train to Straight-vllle, Straight-vllle, who had any Imagination or could spin a yarn, immediately took It Tipon himself to see that "Three Card Sam's" little girl bad her daily fairy tale, even If "Cinderella," "Puss In Boots," "Jack and the Beanstalk," and all the other classics had to be rewritten from a dozen angles to get It for her. Although John T. Murray, the agile comedian, is one of the most popular : fun-makers on Broadway, I remember him when he was getting $35 a week with a small road company that started start-ed out from Toronto, Canada. The truth of the matter Is that he was given a contract for that magnificent magnifi-cent salary, but collecting it was another an-other matter. The management did pay his hotel bills, but when It came to a matter of pocket change, there was a different story. As time went on the young comedian, stage manager mana-ger and master of transportation sorely sore-ly needed a haircut. But his ap-rieals ap-rieals for cash were in vain. Finally, In desperation, he shook his flowing locks at the close-fisted manager and ( demanded enough coin of the realm to get it trimmed. "My boy, my boy," answered the manager in his most unctuous tones, "that will never do. If you have your hair cut, you won't look like an aclor." The old adage that one good one makes up for several bad ones still j holds true. It was proved to my satisfaction sat-isfaction by an incident that occurred during my stay at St. Vincent's hos- ' pitnl in New York. . A man who had a private room, spe cial nurse, many telephone calls and other incidentals, went away leaving a bad check in payment, but not long ' afterward was apprehended and held for judgment. On the same day that tli is cheat was arrested a neatly but not expensively dressed young man called at the hospital and asked to . gre"tho sister in charge. "I just came in to settle an old board bill that I have owed a year," he said. l"pon being referred to the accounting account-ing department he was informed that he owed nothing as he had been in a free bed. "Well," be inquired, "what would the bill have been If it hadn't been free?" A statement for stU) was given him and lie paid it out of a roll of bills amounting to $122. He then gave ten out of the remaining twelve dollars dol-lars to the sister "for smokes for the fellows." he said, adding that $2 was enough to get him back to the ship where he was employed as sTj A great many people pray for things and then get discouraged because be-cause they do not get what they want at once. They fool that Cod has over- , looked them and they let the matter drop. Apparently they forget that God is very busy and has a lot of things to think about. It is up to each one j of us to follow up our prayers. If we j just pray and let it go without help- ing it along, how can we expect re- ! suits? We have to help ourselves j In earthly enterprises. Why not In I prayers? I had no idea cereals were so tasty antil I noted the difference between the kind we get from the grocer and those that come direct and fresh j from the pucker. They might even j " have pleased Burgess Johnson, who j declared In "Life" that If a wheat biscuit reminded him of anything else on earth he would put that anything else out of his life forever. Florence Flinn gave thenew styles, as illustrated in the advanced catalogues, cata-logues, the once-over. "I wonder," she ruminated, "whether we shall be choked or tripped by the next new waistline." Wanted to exchange: A large portion por-tion of siring beans some of them Etringless for an endive salad with roquefort cheese dressing. (CupyriKtal by tho ilcNausln Syndicate. loo.) |
