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Show tHHHJ VHH T The Law of Gravitation , H T By Gilbert P. Coleman (CopyrlRht. by Dally Story I'uti. Co.) HHJ It wns out In IMkovlIle, ono o' them western towns near the, foothills, that we run up against it good and hard. We wero playing "Ten NlghtH In a Hnr Room," and hnd been doing a rattling rat-tling business for n spell. You sec, most o' those peoplo out thero nro ketched by a title, and "Ten Nights In a liar Room" looked good to them. It Becmed klhd o' Boclnblo-ltko, with plenty o gumblln' nnd shootin' Irons, nud chaps droppln' In to pass tho time o' dny, und a hot stove with tho boys slltlu' around It and swappln' lies over their liquor. Hut when it got to bo spread around tho country that we wero a strictly niornl show a kind o' dramatic argument argu-ment for teniperanco and slgnin' the pledge why It's surprising tho way lecelptB fell off. So when we got to l'Ikovlllo wo wero drawing about as good ns a chlmbley filled full o birds' nests. The ghost hndn't walked for so long that I guess he'd forgot how, nnd to make things real luterestln' und Important, Im-portant, why what does our innnager do but one night skip with all the receipts. re-ceipts. We wero dend up ngalust It, out nbout a million miles from home, more or less, nud nothing doing to annex the long giecn. And to make matters still worse, we were snowed in, Yes, sir, It Biowetl like I nevor see It snow before. be-fore. You wouldn't believe It, but for five days she never let up. Well, sir, thero wo wero the hull 12 of us, Including tho company, und mo und Tommy llngsby, who played tho "heavy" and did the press ugont stunts. Wo wero stopplu nt the United Stntes hotel, nnd for a time (hoy trcnted us llko whlto people, but It wasn't long nftcr our manager skldooed before they sized us up for a bunch of crooks. You see, It makes a lot ot difference In tho show business busi-ness how you succeed. Well, sir, thero we wore stranded on tho foot hills, nnd not enough nt tho long green In the crowd to pay our hotel bill, to sny nothing of trans-portntiou trans-portntiou back to Times Square. Wo wero up against It for fair but say do you know Tommy llngsby? No? Well, he's It. Tommy's nil tho mustard mus-tard when It conies to tho ways and means committee. Wo hnd been snowed In nearly n week, living on tick, nnd pretty poor tick nt thnt, whon Tommy decided that something must bo duno to rnlso tho dough. You boo, tho snow had como down so deep that you couldn't break through It with n keg o' dynamite. It was piled up n mllo high in tho gutters und out In the mlddlo of the street where the storekeopors hnd thrown It when they shoveled off tho sidewalks. And it got so bad that finally a horse couldn't pull a sleigh through It ho Just sank down to his shoulders nnd stuck. Well, the town council gots a move on nnd advertises for bids Immcdlnto to remove the snow along Mnln street. And hero's whoro Tommy butted in. It scorns ho hnd a hunch on what It would cost to got rid of that snow by tho old-fashioned method of shoveling shov-eling It In carts and holding It awny with tennis. Tommy figured it would como to about u thousand dollars, so what docs ho do but put In a bid ror eight hundred. Well, sir, tho council nearly throw a lit when thoy heard Tommy's bid. It seemed too good to be true, but Tommy Just stood right up In mcctln' nnd bunded them nut a beautiful splol, and they ngreed to let him havo a whack nt tho snow cleaning proposition, proposi-tion, provided thoy wasn't to tiny un til tho snow was good nnd off. Finally homebody nsks him where lie was golug to hire his horses und carts, and whether ho wus going to employ union men or senbs, und Tomm Just smiles real confident, nud suys, kind o' gentlo and reprovln', that he didn't hnvo In mind to employ nny horses or carts, nnd for that mat-tor, mat-tor, any mon, cither. You ought to 'n' seen tho eyes o" them councllmen bung out. At llrst they thought Tommy wns dippy, but thou thoy decided thnt mnybo ho hnd Invented some now kind or a machine for removln' snow, so thoy kopt mum und let him go abend with tho Job. You seo, it wns this way. This town Is situated, llko I said, near the foot hills, and the streets are pretty Bteop. It Btarts way up ot tho foot of a rid go, and then comes down almost al-most llko a ladder, and slopes right through tho business section of the town, which wns tho part the council wanted Bcrnped off. What does Tommy do hut put nu advertisement in the local lo-cal papors that run something llko this: JIOVH AND OIRLSI-A CHANCE TO nmke The Dollars! A kiiowIj.iII rollliiB I'onU'St will tuko placo next Halurilny munilng ut tmi o'clock, from t in- rlclu'-at rlclu'-at tho lii'iul of Main sired. To the liny or Klrl win) Kiicit-cdH lu rolllnu thu liirRcst miowbiill down to tint foot of Muln street will 1m BtU'ii a prlso of live ilollurs. Just think of It-V'IVK DOL-I.ARH! DOL-I.ARH! for a Ilttlo fun! Every school-hoy school-hoy mid HclioolKlrl Ih entitled t a eliance at thin line prize.- Thomas lliisljy. Ref-erce, Ref-erce, United Hlntos Motel Well, say, can you bent It? Do you know what a big, hoalthy snowball, made out o' sticky biiow, can do when U. gets a good Btart down n stoop Incline? In-cline? Well, you listen, There was about 4.000,000 kids at tho top o' that hill when It como tlmo to Btart tho ruco, and thoro was Tommy, big as life, lookln' serious and solemn as erer, dlrecttug tho proceedings. He had tho Ilttlo boys and the girls go first, becnusc, as ho told mo nftnr- HHJ wards, thoro might be somo snow HH left nftcr the Ilrst roll-off, and ho HHJ thought the big boys could hnndlo HHJ thnt HHJ It didn't tnko tho kids long to catch HHJ on. They begun with n Ilttlo ball HHJ you know, tho kind you throw nt a HHJ person ami rolled them along until HHJ they got nbout nB big as a barrel, and HH then, when they readied a good placo HB nt the edgo of the ridge, they give HHJ them n shove, nnd down they go, HB sailing along serene and tidy, gather- HHJ lug up momentum nud snow, and HHJ clearing that street flno and elegant HHJ by the noble law of gravitation. HHJ Thero wns ono thing, though, that HHJ Tommy forgot. Ho forgot to glvo HHJ the citizens of Plkevllle duo warning HHJ us to Just what kind of oh. Miuloa HHJ wero ,.olng to tnko place, und tho re- HHJ suit was thnt when thoso snowballs, HHJ somo o them ns big ns n smnll hnrn, HHJ come tcnrln' down along Mnln streot, HHJ why there wns some pretty nimble HHJ sldo-stepplng by people who happened HJ to bo doing chores around about that time. It Just seemed llko that street HHJ was alive with snowballB. They coma HHJ pllln' nud swlshln' nnd roartn' down HHJ so fast you couldn't count 'em, and HHJ speedier thnn n Vniulorbllt cup racer, HHJ nud getting bigger nnd blggor ovory second, while the good citizens nnd HHJ cltlzoncBscs thnt happened to bo hang- H lug around begun to get n move on HHJ like tho very old Nick wns after thorn HJ hustling Into doorways and behind HHJ telegraph poles, and wherever there HHJ was n chnuco to escnpo that snowball HHJ cyclone. And, sir, thoso balls kopt H on doing tho street clenntng business HHJ better tluiii a hundred Dagoes could HJ 'a' done It until thoy strlko the level HHJ Just ncross the railroad tracks, and come to a halt right on tho edge o' HHJ tho rivor. Sny, It was n sight to HHJ see them snowballs piled up along HHJ that bank. You would 'a' thought thoy wero a pile or whlto elephants HHJ huddled together. HHJ The only troublo was to decldo who HHJ had won the prize, because oach snow. Hfl bf 11 looked bigger thnn tho other, nud, besides, nobody could tell which was HHJ which. Hut Tommy finally sottlcd It HHJ all right. Ho picked out tho littlest HHJ girl In nil that crowd you could n' HHJ packed a hundred llko her away In tho snowball that Tommy sworo she'd HHJ rolled und glvo her thu monoy, but HHJ everybody seemed satisfied, for they HHJ most suro had moro thnn five dollars' worth of sport. HHj Clean the streets up? Why, thero HJ nlu't u stroct cleaning department In HJ tho country thnt could 'a' dono tho Job any slicker. Ami, sir, you wouldn't believe It, maybe, but In some places HHj those thundcrln big snowballs had even ripped up tho cobble stones, It HJ was a wonderful demonstration that's HHJ tho way Tommy put It or the work-lng work-lng or the Inws or gravitation and capillary attraction, to say nothing or a mysteiious Providence. HHJ We needed thnt eight hundred bad HHJ thoro being evidences nt tho United HHJ Stntes hotel that wo had about ex- HHJ haustcd our supply or welcome. Tlioro was about $ COO 'eft ovor, and Tommy, llko tho good boy ho always Is, dlv- HHJ vied up among the crowd. Some of HJ tho fellows you know you have to ex- HH euso thorn, they hndn't soon money HJ for so long were Itching to get their HJ hands on some moro coin, secln' this HJ come so easy; hut Tommy said he hnd neglected to tuko out a patent on his method, and that tho city fa-thors fa-thors woro just mean enough to offer their own prizo for big snowballs In tho future; nud, besides, all the HJ streets didn't run down hill. Anyhow, as I said, wo cleaned up ?i500, which wns plenty to get us back to Hroadway, where the electric lights HJ |