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Show Poll Storm Grace Coumtry Miller White by SYNOPSIS. Occupying a dilapidated shack in the Silent City, a squatter settlement near Ithaca, New York, Polly Hopkins lives with her father, small Jerry, and an old woman, Granny Hope. On an adjacent farm, Oscar Bennett, prosperous farmer, Is a neighbor. He is secretly married to Evelyn Robertson, supposedly wealthy girl of the neighborhood. Marcus MacKenzie, who owns the ground the squatters occupy, is their determined enemy. Polly1 overhears a conversation between MacKenzie and a stranger, in which the former avows his intention of driving the squatters from his land. The stranger sympathizes with the squatters, and earns Pollys gratitude. Evelyn Robertson discovers from her mother that they are not rich, but practically living on the bounty of Robert Percival, Evelyns cousin Polly learns from Evelyn that the sympathetic stranger is Robert Percival. Evelyn charges Polly with a message to Bennett, telling him she can give him no more money. She already bitterly regrets her marriage to the ignorant farmer. Polly conveys her message and Oscar makes threats. He insists Evelyn meet him that night. Polly has her father and Larry Bishop, a squatter, take an oath to do MacKenzie no injury. Evelyn unsuccessfully tries to get money from her mother with which to buy oft Bennett and Induce him to leave the country, giving her her freedom. She and MacKenzie avow their love. V 5 Continued. - I wanted to fess up to you this morning, Poll, Oscar ran on. It's a funny thing, but I reckon I care more for your little finger than for Eve's whole body. Maybe some day " after I get nil her cash Polly coughed down a lump that persisted in coming up In her throat. You neednt spiel lovins to me, Oscar, she gulped, an I believe In bein honest. So, before your woman inmesl I might as well give you a bit of my mind. If I owned you from your tap to your boots, I wouldnt use you for a doormat In front of Daddy's . skantyr Jle shot k look of amazement. The confident smile faded from his face, and his lips sagged at the corners. Then he arose to hl feet. I been thinking about you all day, he broke forth. Youve got everything looks, action and brains, I want you, Pollyop and Im going to kiss you this time, so help me God He took a step toward her and Polly scrambled up. Just at that moment Evelyn Robertson entered. Oscar Bennett turned swiftly, and Polly, vefy pale, placed herself at Eves side. And as the wind foamed the lake to fury and shook Granny Hopes forsaken little hut, the man and two girls stood silent a long, tense minute. Then Oscar smiled at Evelyr, a triumphant," insulting smile. "So you thought it best to mind me. my lady," he laughed. "I guess after a while youll come to know I mean what 1 say. Eve tried to speak but could not. Pjily squeezed her arm encouragingly. You're a mean duffer, Oscar, she thrust In. Your womans scared of you, thats all. Try bein better, an see how she likes it Shes got a good right to be d d Now out scared," grunted Bennett. with it, Eve. Whats the rumpus? You havent sent me a cent for a month. With shaking fingers Evelyn pushed back her hair. I couldnt get any money, Oscar, she wailed. My allowance is all gone. I gave every cent of it to you. You know very well mother wont give me any more." She had one card left to piny, and she hoped it would take the trick. I .might as welk tell you, she continued, the steel in her eyes wiping Mother hasnt any away the blue. money. All I thought we had belongs to Cousin Bob." 4 She ceased speaking and waited an' instnnt to note how her news struck her husband. He flung up a clenched fist. The devil take you, Eve! he cried. Dont try to put anything over on me like that. You're the biggest liar in Tompkins county." That he partly believed her showed In his manner, Id never a married you If Id a known that two years ago," Oscar assorted ho.irsely. "You can he dead certain of that, my lady. You were pretty careful to keep your money troubles to yourself. Sit down, both of you !, Youre shivering like two cats. Impulsively Evelyn went toward him. Oh, Oscar, listen, listen to me." she I said, trying to steady her voice. want to be free. I cant, I cant live' this way any longer. A coarse oath fell from Bennetts' lips. Yon dont need to, he shouted. You got a liome to come to my home. You can do the work my old mothers doing. Its your job, not hers. You're my wife, by ginger, and as I said to Pollyop here, you live with me. or yon pay up. I dont give a tinkers d n which you 'do." Ilfs voice grew deer as he finished, and an evil, taunting smile drew up shuddered and swayeo-his up? 1 wind-blow- . n misery! Surely the squatters had suffered in the past yearl Many a boy had been taken from his Rome and sent to France, and many a mother had crept about the settlement with grief-wor- n face, waiting for news from over the sea. , Pollyop understood what war meant. The squatters were always at war! Granny Hope had explained to her that, whenever people fought and were cruel to one another, that was war. Hadnt she warred but two nights ago with Oscar Bennett? She had not seen him since, and the pain and humiliation he had dealt her had been lightened by Granny Hopes assurances that love was the leveler of hate. So Polly, having quantities of love and sympathy to spare, sent It hroadcast over the hopeless ones in the settlement and promptly put Oscar Bennetts cruelty out of her mind. She did not, even remember sometimes how much the milk Oscar had begrudgingly given her was missed In the shack.- - To offset that deprivation, she, was free from him and the ugly quarrels she had had to settle almost ; daily between him and Evelyn. This morning, while Daddy Hopkins was in Ithaca, Pollyop started out with her many loves for a walk. On her shoulder perched Wee Jerry; at her side, in stately dignity, stalked the billy goat, and tied to one of her arms by a small rope gamboled Nannie ' Lamb Hopkins. , , Through the Silent City she wandered, helping people here and there to see the sunny side of things. Beyond the row of shacks was the fence Marais MacKenzie had erected to keep the squatters from trespassing on his woodland, and in front of it Polly Hopkins stood. A bill poster had passed and left on the fence a picT ture that caught her attention. It was a beautiful woman, her eyes saddened with tears, and she looked straight out of exquisite coloring at the wide-eye- d squatter girl..- In her arms was a withered, sick, little man, and Pollyop knew that somewhere over the ocean an enemy, perhaps a man ' go. like Old Marc, had hurt him. The Both of you keep mum about this, woman held him close as she looked my lady, he ordered. Im off ! See? at Polly, and for a moment the girls With that he tore open the shanty eyes stung with tears. Then she went door; and Evelyn stood panting with her hand on her heart until the sound of his running footsteps was lost in the windstorm. Then Evelyn led Polly Hopkins home. One arm hung at the squatter girls side; and the pain in her shoulder, where Oscars fist had landed, was terrific. On nearing the shack, Polly whispered : Mebbe hell be quiet a while now. Youd best scoot home, huh? A small box passed from Evelyn's handbag to the squatter girls pocket. said I brought them for Jerry, Evelyn softly, and oh, Polly, whatever can I do for you to even up things? Perhaps " Scoot home, interrupted Polly, and Polly slipped one arm around her ' waist. You want to be free from me, eh? Thats it, is it? he sneered. Some other guy looming up to loye, I spose. Well, I dont mind who gets my leavings if you make it worth my while. But If not Evelyns pale, beseeching face lifted to his. She could not quit him without his promise that she should have her freedom. Neither must he think that she could get him a large sum of money, I cant get another dollar, she repeated hoarsely. I simply cant. And and, I must be free. A frown drew the mans heavy brows together until they touched, and he lifted his fist to strike; but Polly Hopkins, by one swift movement, thrust Evelyn from under the mans upraised arm and crowded in between them. Because Evelyn was his wife, he had the right to beat her if he pleased, Polly thought, but he would not dare to strike Polly. . If youve got to swat some one, Oscar, she gritted between her teeth, swat me ! ; The beautiful white face came close to Bennetts, and the challenge in the squatter girls flashing eyes stirred a feeling within him that he never had had for Evelyn Robertson. Oscar had always believed that a woman must fear a man to respect him, and that to respect him meant to love him. He did not want Evelyn Robertson in the farmhouse, but he did want money and Polly Hopkins. If he could master her as he had Eve, she would come to him willingly when he was ready for her. , Working on that principle, he struck out. As the huge fist came in contact with Pollyops shoulder, she staggered backward. Her low cry was followed by Evelyns scream. The squatter girl sank to the floor limply. No onethad ever struck her before. You've killed her," cried Evelyn ; and Oscar Bennett, fearful that the girls clamor would summon some inswiftly to quisitive squatter, turned ' - THE "ANGEL" CHAPTER Copyright by Little, Brown & Co. '. . Im in., goin Pollyop stole into the shanty in the greatest torment she .had ever known. Granny Hope and Daddy Hopkins had gone to bed, and .she could hear her fathers loud breathing from the back room. She was glad of that, for if he were to learn how she had been hurt, his rage would know no bounds. She lighted a candle and looked about dazedly. The billy goat was snuggled and Nannie against the wood-box- ; Lamb poked her head up and blinked at the light. Polly put down the candle and slipped the dress from her shoulder. How dreadfully it hurt her! Oh, how she wanted something to make her misery less! But squatters did not.have money to spend on drugstore remedies. From an old can she poured a little coal oil on a rag and bathed the injured flesh. Then she took up the lamb and dropped into a chair by the table. In sheer exhaustion her head sank down upon It. After a while she straightened up, threw back her curls, and raised the lambs face to hers, a wry smile flitting across her lips. . Its goin to be a hard, job lovin' Oscar and Old Marc like Jesus loved wicked folk, Nannyop, she said under her breath, but mebbe now I been face to face with a angel, I can do it. Again her. head fell forward; but almost instantly she arose, and with the la mh in her right arm like a baby, moved to the side of the bed. Then she snuggled , the lamb under the blankets and put Granny Hopes Bible beneath her pillow. Carefully she slipped off her clothes and put on a coarse nightrobe. Then, having snuffed the candle, she crawled in beside the lamb. . CHAPTER VI. Twice had the golden sun sunk in a welter of splendid cplors - behind West hill, and twice had the warmth of his rising scattered the mists from (he lakeside since the encounter in the hut, and Polly Hopkins was making ready for her daily walk through the Silent City. It was her custom to go among the squatters and give them courage, to tell them that they had a right to (heir homes, to food, and warmth. How her girl's heart ached tor their dumb comfort - to every one on earth that needs help. Golly, shes some mother, aint Shes she? breathed Polly soberly. beautiful too. Squatter mammies has too many kids to stay handsome like She made a backward motion her. with her thumb toward the fence and searched his face gravely. : A choking sensation in Roberts throat made him cough. The girls statement was like a charcoal draw ing in which a few broad lines tell the whole story. He felt his Interest In her increase. She was the quaintest, prettiest and most solemn child he had ever seen. Yes, he knew she was an inhabitant of the Silent City by the clothes she wore, and the thin, child, to say nothing of the goat and woolly lamb that were with her. ,. r Whats your name? he Inquired. was the answer. Just Pollyop, Polly Hopkins, My daddy is Jeremiah Hopkins, the mayor of this settlement. Surely ! Robert remembered very well MacKenzie speaking of Hopkins, and he remembered too the painted invitation over a hut door as if it were before his eyes. Looking Pollyop over from the top of her curly head to the tips of her bare feet, he decided that she had written It. Question after question he flung at her, and answer after answer came from Pollys lips. She told him where she lived, and how she cooked the beans, bacon and fish Daddy Hopkins provided; how cold It was in the shanty when the cruel north wind swept up the lake; and how wet it was when the rain fell and clammy fogs shrouded the world in gray; how Granny Hope was sick with pains. She gave him an inside view of life in the Silent City. Long before she had finished her recital, Perclvals courtesy had put her at her ease, and she was chattering like a magpie. Can I do something for you, Polly Hopkins? queried Robert, as she finished telling about life in the squatters city. She flung out both hands in a comprehensive gesture as much as to say he could see for himself how much she bow-legg- , . . J needed. " - . Sure, sure you can, she said with fierce emphasis. ' You can make Old Marc leave us squatters be. Youre biggern he is! The squatters need you awful bad. . Her voice broke. Robert took a long breath. Of course he could help this girl and her people. He would, too! As far as money gave power, he could equal and surpass Marcus MacKenzie. I did try to talk sense into Mr. MacKenziea head," he returned presently, but now I will make him leave alone.. you In spite of the curved lips about which a smile lurked, there was apprehension in her voice when she asked : Can you lick lm to a finish, mis' : ; ter? Yes, I think I could," laughed Robert; but It wont be necessary." Then I see us Silent City folks bein happy again, sighed Polly. We got a awful lot of things an folks to take care of here Robert made a sweep with his arm , that encompass). d the group before ' him. You have, evidently! he laughed. An I got more home, Interjected got Daddy Hopkins an Polly. Granny Hope' -- an this brat is my brothel, an this goat Is Billy Hopkins an this lamps Nannyop. Oh, sure, sir, Ive got k hull lot to love in this . ,I Then She Went Closer to the Fence and Spelled Out the Words Under the Picture: The Greatest Mother in the World. - , i, ' closer to the fence and spelled out the words under the picture : The Greatest Mother In the Wbrld. Ah!, So she was, this protector of the hurt and the sick! The Red Cross' poster carried its wondrous message to the very bottom jot the squatter girls heart. A sound, close at hand, caused her A man on horseback to turn swiftly. had drawn up on the side of the road. The blood came in swift leaps , to Pollys face. There was the beautiful angel looking down upon her! What could she do hut stare back at him? In another instant he had dismounted and was coming toward her. Jerry slid from her shoulders to the ground. Iollyops hand clasped his; but she did not speak.,. What had happened to her angel? He looked different ; more like the other men she occasionally saw on .horseback. That was it! He was not wearing the olive-dra- b uniform ! To add to bar confusion Robert Percival was smiling at her in the most friendly way. Then he glanced up at the pictui, his fine face saddening. The Greatest Mother In the World, little girl,, he said, and he smiled again. The Greatest Mother In the World, repeated Pollyop, In awed tones. Does that mean shes mother to the squatter kids what was hurt In the 'var, mister? Yes, he replied after a short pause Yes, It means that, an.t more. Shes ,.iother to every hurt boy and brings fAoto Ak Cetuis Courtesy of Asia in Corn an Indian Grinding Village. good old city, Polly mads an upward motion with her hand tflivard the picture on the ' fence. Shes go4 a bunch to love, too, she J said softly. Aint she? He alk-- to her side and contemplated with her the pictured woman, making heP silent appeal to them for the wounded hoy In her arms. Of eoutse she has, answered PerShes the Greatest cival reverently. Mother in the World, Polly Hopkins, his gaze dropped upon and and her, and lie continued, and youre the littlest mother in the world." A glad smile widened the girl's lips. All the fear that had been' as a ton weight upon her had fallen away. She wanted to pay him the highest compliment she knew. When he had mounted, she told him gently: Some d.ay youll lie the biggest' an most beautifulest daddy in the world. - Good-b- '' Then Two well-plante- Bennett Percival stepped in. thumps laid like a log on the d ground. - " (TO - BE CONTINUED.) - A Sporting Judge. Thirty days In the workhouse. That ought to cure you of speeding. It certain- l- will, your honor. Would you like to itJ my car while Im In durance vile? . you riding lr. No, thanks. Ive a sn " that old bus of youn It couldnt d over forty miles an hoar. Birminp ' ham Age-Heral- (Prepared by the National Geographic So clety, Washington. D. C.) The Moplahs, whose revolt in India Is one of the meat serious the British have had to contend with in recent times, are operating in the portion of India the Malabar coast which was the first to be sighted by Europeans and the first with which trading was carried on. Yet It has been less known than any other part of the great peninsula empire. To the1 casual observer of maps this, seems the front door to India, and the region which should be best known and most influenced by Europeans. For It Is the coast. facing il tose expected that there would be general prosperity and peace in Malabar. Prosperity is fairly well distributed, but ' the motley of religions makes peace more difficult; and every now-anthen it brings about such turbulence as is known these days in other parts of India. The fierce fanaticism of the Mohammedan Moplahs and the stories of their bloody and furious out breaks which reach the outside world may lead to the belief that this is as much a. Mohammedan land as Arabia or Persia. The truth is that barely 30 per cent of the population are followers of the prophet; while about 68 pet cent are votaries of Hinduism and some 2 per cent are Christians. In prestige the Hindus are much tha most important. The Nambudrl Brahmans, at the very top of the caste scale, number only 20,000 in the total population of 3,000,000 of the Malabar district, blit are looked up to with the greatest reverence. Nearly all of them are landholders, many of very large estates. They hold aloof from public affairs and scorn modern education, ' holding more tenaciously, probably, than their fellow religionists in any other part of India, vo the ancient customs of their faith; The old concep-- , tlon of ceremonial pollution is a living thing in Malabar and is strictly adhered' to except in the Cities. There are varying distances within which the mere presence of a member of a lower caste is supposed to defile the Brahman.- A high-cast- e man returning from his cleansing bath shouts out that he e is approaching, and the members humbly retire to the roadside or into the fields until he has passed. Even many Mohammedans follow this custom lest economic pressure be brought to bear through boycotts or other means to destroy their liveli" toward Europe and lies just opposite the main water gateway to pnd from the west the mouth of the Red sea. But although it was natural enough that Yasco da Gama, after he had rounded Africa, should have his first Indian land-fain Malabar, it is equally natural, when geographic conditions, are taken into account, that most of the present-da- y argosies of trade shun this lower western coast of India and turn instead northward to Bombay or, doubling the point of the peninsula, anchor at Indias back doors, Madras and Calcutta. For the. Malabar region is only a narrow strip 20 to 60 miles wide with rugged mountains, the Western Ghats, cutting it off from the rest of India almost as completely as would many miles of water. Then, too, MAlabar has no good ports. Calicut and Cochin1 did well .caravels of enough for the light-drathe early explorers, but carinot well accommodate larger modern ocean-goin- g craft. In the east India has no such continuous barrier as the Western Ghats, and so the wide portion of the peninsula to the east of those rugged mountains has become a familiar land to travelers and has to a degree become Europeanized, while the Malabar hood. coast has been little known and has The Mohamniedans of Malabar the remained the best mirror of ancient Moplahs differ greatly from other InIndia. ' dian Moslems. Many of them are de-- . What the Region, Is Like,. scendants of Arab traders who came In few other places will the West- to the west coast in very early times, erner have his dreams of the East and and they have retained all the. fanatiof India come so nearly true as in cism of the fiercest Mohammedans of Malabar. The climate is hot and the the Arabian deserts. To. them have annual rainfall amounts to nearly ten been been added converts from lower feet. The coasts are fringed with mil- caste Hindus. lions of coconut palms. Just inland in Moplahs in Periodic Outbreaks. many parts of the region are quiet la- " For considerable periods the Moplahs goons and backwaters, connected by accept their somewhat submerged concanals, on which picturesque Eastern ditions and live in peace beside the "gondolas" ply. Along these Inland Hindus. But their lust for turbulence shores are still more coconut and other and blood is only slumbering, and sudpalms, and in the waters are crocodenly it breaks out with the assassinabrown natives diles, Everywhere tion of a Hindu landowner, the defiling swarm mostly bare above the waist-li- ttle or the looting of a of a Hindu different in appearance and cus- house. Thetemple little group engaged in toms from the first Indians which the these episodes rims riot over the rePortuguese found on those shores in gion, their numbers growing until a 1498. fanatical mob Is formed. A band usBack of the coastal lagoons are flat is formed whose members derice fields and in many sections these ually decide' to make martyrs of finitely extend up the lower hillsides on ter' from the countless themselves, are consecrated, refuse to races, irrigated sell their lives as dearly streams that trickle surrender and monsoon-bor- n as possible when opposed. In the past down from the Ghats. Elsewhere the battles with bands of Moplahs have hill slopes are given up to gardens smacked of fights of the Paris police which even in the Fifteenth century with the notorious apaches. In some were models of careful cultivation. In instances it has been necessary to them are grown characteristic Eastern dynamite buildings .In which the Moproducts, plantains, mangoes, pepper, plahs had made their stand and from cinnamon, ginger, coffee, tea and many which they shot down all who apJ : . vegetables. them. proached in coast the from the Farther higher One of the peculiarities of the Malahills, are the luxuriant forests with bar region is its system of inheritance their undergrowth of tree ferns, rho; through the mother. A mans property delitheir reeds and and dodendrons does not go to his children, but his comcate and colorful orchids. And to are his nearest heirs. of sister's children plete the Westerners dream-pictur- e The Malabar district Is under direct the East, in the forests are tigers and British control, but in Travancore, to leopards and wild elephants. This re- the south, which is a native state, the gion is in fact the elephant country, succession to the throne is through par excellence, of India. In its sm'all the sister, and a rulers sons are of no forest-- reserves in the Western Ghats or family consequence. . Womthe British Indian government makes political en, especially those of the upper a respectable amount of pin money classes, have a marked degree of inby selling the elephants which It traps. and may divorce their husdependence, Large herds, too, roam over the pri- band at will a privilege, however, of the lands owned forest region which is vately usually exercised with discreand of Travancore, immediately to the tion. south. These wooded mountains form When the Portuguese first arrived a region of great beauty precipitous at Calicut the natives were weaving n dark-greeravines which in peaks with cloth of excellent quality and it became silver streams . descend In numerous an article of commerce with the west. waterfalls and cascades. . The town, in fact, gave its name to Most of the People 'Are Hindus. calico. But the weaving Of that fabric Though the Malabar coast is blessed has almost died out and this original with rich soil and luxuriant vegetation home of calico now actually imports it is not as dependent on agriculture the cloth. . , w . as ulost other portions of India. Fish 1 abound in the sea and are caught in Tall" Fish Story. great quantities and eaten. The tim. A gamekeeper shot a large pike near ber Industry, too, is important and many natives are employed in it. the surface of tha canal at Gorstang, Famines are practically unknown) In Lancs., Eng. He found In its mouth roach (or white fish), which a his favored corner of India. With nature so bountiful It might be again had just caught a small gudgeon. ll ft . -- . low-cast- |