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Show THE BINGHAM NEWS I irai in the . MIRROR. ' Elizaboth (Jordan ?S WNU HerTlce wrapped In a healthful atumbef tnat Infuriated Bang, who wandered la aod out of their apartment Ilka aa unhappy ghost On the rara occa-sion! when he and Rodney lunched or dined together, Laurie waa entirely and when Epstein was with them seemed wholly tmperrloua to any hints thrown out, none too aubtly, by his producing partner. "Listen, Laurie," snld that disgusted Individual, almost a month after the new year had been ushered In, "the new year' here. That's a good time for a young fella to get busy again on somethln' vorth while. Ain't I rlghtr l.aurle suppressed a yawn and care-fully struck off with his little finger the Arm ash of an excellent cigarette. He was consuming thirty or forty clgnrettea a duy, and his nerves were beginning to show the effect of this Indulgence. "I believe It Is," he courteously agreed. "It has been earnestly to the young aa a good time to start something." "Veil," Kpsteln's voice took on the guttural notes of his temperamental tura to town; and at) for whatT Re himself had brought out of the foolish experience nothing save a tired nerv-ous system, a aense of boredom such aa he had not known for a year, and, especially when be looked at Bangs, aa acute mental discomfort which In-trospective persons would probably have diagnosed as the pangs of con-- 1 science. Laurie did not take the trou-ble to diagnose it He merely resent-ed It as a grievance added to the su-preme grievance based on the fact that he had not yet even started on the high adventure he had promised himself. He wus gloomily considering both grievances, and tying his tie with his usual care, when something In the mirror caught and held his attention. He looked at It, at first casually, then with growing Interest. In the glass, directly facing him. was a wide studio window. It was open, notwithstand-ing the cold January weather, and a comfortable, middle-age- plump wom-an, evidently a superior type of care-taker, was sitting on the sill, polishing an Inner pane. The scene whs as vivid as a mirage, and It was like the m-irage In that It was projected from some point which Itself remained un-seen. Laurie turned to the one window tlip dressing room afforded a double French window, at his right, but a lit-tle behind him, and reaching to the floor. Through this hp could see across a eonrt the opposite side of his own building, bnt no such window or com-monplace vision as had Just come to him. In his absorption In the phe-nomenon he called to Hangs, who rose slowly, and, coming to his side, re-garded the scene without much Inter-est. , "It's s cross projection from a house diagonally opposite ns," he said, after studying the picture a moment. "It must be that old red studio building on the southwest comer of the square. If we had a room back of this and looking toward the west, we could see the teal window." "As It Is," said Laurie, "we've got a reserved seat for an Intimate study of any one who lives there. 1 won-der who has that studio?" Bangs had no Idea, ne was grate-ful to the little episode, however, for Rnrpitrllnp nvpr fhp. vlelfllnp ' STORY FROM THE START Laurie Devon, successful play-wright, but somewhat Inclined to. wlldneaa, attends the weddlnx of hit sister, Barbara, to whom has been left the great Devon fortune. Laurie had been a gay young chap, but for the last year he haa been toeing the mark! through the efforts of Barbara. Laurie, who la wealthy, refuses to settle down to work, announc-ing his Intention of resting and seeking adven'.ure. ; ' CHAPTER II Continued . Laurie grinned, and the grin Infurlr ated Bangs. He whirled away from It. ! A footstool Impeded his progress, and he kicked It out of the way with large abandon. It was his huhit to rush about a room when he was talk-ing excitedly. He rushed about now ; and Laurie lit a cigarette and watched him, at first angrily, then with a grow- - IItig tolerance born of memories of In their plays which Bangs had thrashed out In much this same man-ner. The world could never be wholly uninteresting while Rodney pranced about In it, cutting the air with ges-tures like that. "Here I am." snapped Ilndney, "ready with my play, the best plot I've hands still In his pockets, stared de-spondently at his outstretched legs. "That's all It means to you," he went on, morosely. "Our partnership Is one In a thousand. It's based on friend-ship ns well as on financial Interest. Tf I do say It. It represents a combi-nation of brains, ability, backing and prospects that comes only once In a lifetime,- If It comes at all. Tet In one year you're sick of It and tired of work. You're ready to throw It all over, and to throw over at the same time the men whose Interests are bound up with yours. You're diiwdling In cabarets and roadhouses and res-taurants, when you might be doing Work" Hangs' voice capitalized the word "real work,", he added fiercely, "work other fellows would give their souls to be able to do." He ended on a flat note, oddly unlike his nsual buoyant tones, and sat still as If everything had been said. Laurie lit a fresh cigarette, drew in a mouthful of smoke, and exhaled It In a series of pretty rings. In his brief college experience he had de-voted some time to acquiring this art. Admiringly watching the little rings pass through the big rings, he spoke, with studied carelessness. "It was a pretty good scene, Bangs, " he snld, "and it showed careful re-hearsing. But It would be a lot more effective If vou had a real situation had yet. You won't let me even men-tion it to you. Here's the new season. Here's Epstein, sitting on our doormat with a check-boo- k In each hand, wait-ing to put on anything we give blin. You know he's lost a small fortune this fall. You know It's up to us to give him a piny that will pull him out of the hole he's In. Here's Huxon, the best director In town, marking time and holding off other managers In the hope that you and I will get fl down to business. And here you are, the fellow we're all counting on" He U stopped for breath and adjectives. "Yes," Laurie politely prompted him. "Here I am. What .about It? What am I doing?" "You know d d well what you're doing. You're loafing I" Hangs tired the word at him as If It ere a shell from a Big Bertha. "You're loafing till It makes us all sick to look at you. We thought a week or two of It would be enough, when you realised the con-ditions; but It's gone on for a month; and. Instead of getting tired, you're getting more and more Into the loafing habit You abuse time till It shrieks In agony." "Good sentence," applauded Laurie. "Hut don't waste It on me. Put it Into a play." Bangs seemed not to hear him. Ho waa standing by the room's one win-dow, now, staring tinseelngly out of It, to base It on. As It Is, you're making a devil of a row about nothing. I worked like a horse all last year, and you know It Now I'm resting, or loaf-ing, if you prefer to call It that, and" he bit off the words and fairly threw them at his friend "It will save you and Epstein and Haxon a lot of men-tal wear and tear If you will mind your own business and let me alone." Bangs raised his eyes and dropped them again. "You are our business," he somber-ly reminded his partner. "I've got so I can't work without you," he added, with a humility new to him. "You know that. And you know I've got the plot. It's ready great Scott, It's boiling In me I I'm crazy to get It out And here I've got to sit around watch-ing you kill time, while you know and I know that you'd be a d n sight hap-pier If you were on the Job. Good Lord, Laurie, work's the biggest thing there Is In life! Doesn't It mean any-thing at all to you?" "Not Just now." Laurie spoke with maddening nonchalance. "Then there's something rotten In you." Laurie winced, but made no answer. He hoped Bangs would go on talking and thus destroy the echo of his last words, with which the silent room seemed filled. But nothing came. Rodney's opportunity had passed, and he was lost In depressed realization of his failure. Laurie strolled back to the mirror, his forgotten tie dan-gling in his band. "We'll tet It go at that" he said then'. "Think things over,- and make up your mind what you want to do about the contract." "All right." Bangs replied In the same fiat notes he had used a moment before, and without changing his position ; but the two words gave Laurie a shock. Ho did not believe that either Kodney or Epstein would contemplate a dissolu-tion of their existing partnership ; but an hour ago he would not have be-lieved that Kodney Bangs could say to him the things he had snld Just now. He was beginning to realize that he had tried his partners sorely In the month that had passed since his re-- ' beneath his feet the stolid strip on which he had crossed back to his chum. He threw an arm across Laurie's shoulders and looked Into his face, with something In his expression that reminded young Devon of a fa-vorite collie he had loved and lost In boyhood. "All right now?" the look asked. Just as the dog's look had asked It of the little chap of ten, when something had gone wrong. Rodney's creed of life was held together by a few prim-itive laws, the first of which was loy-alty. Already he was reproaching himself for what he had Bald and done. Laurie carefully completed the tying of his tie. and turned to him with his gayest smile. "Hurry up and finish dressing," he cheerfully suggested, "and wp'll go out to breakfast. Since you Insist on wait-ing 'round for me like Mary's little Iamh. I suppose I've got to feed you." Rodney's wide grin responded, for the first time In many days. He bustled about, completing his toilet, and ten minutes later the two young men started out together with a light-ness of spirit which each enjoyed and neither wholly understood. Both had a healthy horror of "sentimental stuff" and a gay, normal disregard of each other's feelings In ordinary inter-course. But In the past half-hou- for the first time In their association, they had come close to a serious break, and the soul of each had been chilled by a premonitory loneliness as definite as the touch of an Icy finger. In the quick reaction they experienced now their spirits soared exultantly. They breakfasted In a fellowship such as they had not known since Barbara's marriage, the month before. ' If Bangs had Indulged In any dream of a change of life In Laurie, how-ever, following this reconciliation, the next few days destroyed the tender shoots of that hope. Laurie's manner retained Its pleasant camaraderie, hut work and he met as strangers and passed each other by. The routine of his days remained what they had been during the past five weeks. He gadded about, apparently harmlessly, came home at shocking hours, and spent most of the bracing January days Her Elbows Were on the Sill. Her Chin Rested In the Hollow of Her Cupped Hands. moments, "don't that mean nothln' to you?" Laurie grinned. He had caugnt the quick look of warning Bangs snot at the producer and It amused him. "Not yet," he said. "Not till I've had my adventure." Epstein sniffed. "The greatest adventure In life," he stRted dogmatically, "Is to make a lot of money. I tell you vy. Because then you got all the other adventures you can handle, trying to hold on to It I" Bangs, who was developing a new and hitherto unsuspected vein of tact encouraged Epstein to enlarge on this congenial theme. He now fully real-ized that Devon would go his own gait until he wearied of It, and that no argument or persuasion could enter his armor-cla- d mind. The position of Bangs was a difficult one, fot while he was accepting and assimilating this unpleasant fact, Epstein and Haxon Impatient men by temperament and without much training In self-contr-were getting wholly out of patience and therefore out of hand. Haxon, Indeed, was for the time entirely out of hand, for he had finally started the rehearsals of a new play which, he grimly Informed Bangs, would make "The Man Above" look like a canceled postage-stamp- . Bacgs. repeated the comment to his chum the next morning, during Uie late dressing-hou- r which uow gave them almost their only opportunity for a few words together. He had hoped It would make au Impression, and he listened with pleasure to a sharp exclamation from Laurie, who chanced to be standing before the door mirror In the dressing-room- , brushing his hair. The next Instant BangN realized that It was not his news which had evoked the tribute of that exclamation. "Come here!" called Laurie, urgent-ly. "Here's something new; and, by Jove, isn't she a beauty !" Bangs Interrupted his toilet to lounge across the room. Looking over Laurie's shoulder, his eyes found the cynosure that held the gaze of hi friend. The wide-ope- n studio window was again reflected In the mirror, but with another occupant. This was a girl, young and lovely, She appeared In the window like half-lengt- photograph In a frame Her body showed only from above the waist. Her elbows were on the all). Her chin rested In the hollows of her cupped hands. Her wavy hair, parted j on one side and drawn softly over tbe ears In the fashion of the season, whs reddish-gold- . Her eyes were brown, and very thoughtful. Down dropped, they seemed to stare at something on the street below, but the girl's expres-sion was not that of one who was looking at an object with luterest. In-stead, she seemed lost in a deep aai melancholy abstraction. Laurie, a hair-brus- In each nana, stared hard at the picture. "Isn't she charming !" he cried agts. Bangs' reply revealed a aevertt practical side of his natuie. "She'll have a beastly cold In tht ; hearl If she doesn't shut that win dow he grumpily suggested. But hit Interest too, was aroused. He stared at the girl In the mirror with an at-tention almost equal to Laurie's. ' it Who Is this girl In the mirror? ' ITO CONTINUED.) "Here I Am," Snapped Rodney. Ms hands deep In his pockets, taking In the knowledge of the failure of his appeal. Under the realisation of this, he tossed a final taunt over his shoul-der. "I can forgive the big blunders a man makes In his life," he muttered ; "but I haven't much patience with a chap that lies around and shirks at a time like this!". Laurie removed the d cigarette from his mouth, and not find-ing an ash tray within reach, carefully crushed out its burning end against the. polished 'op of the dressing case. Be had grown rather pale. 'That will be about all, Bangs." he aald quietly "What you and Epstein and Haxon don't seem to remember Is jn tt oce thing. If you don't like maltors as they are. It's mighty easy to change them. It doesn't take half a minute to agree to dissolve a part-nership." . "I Know." Bangs returned to his anair. and. dropping limply into It his CENSUS REVEALS ASTONISHING FACT 8,549,511 Working Women in United States I i wants to keep her Job or hopes for ' a better one, sho must guard her jwhmiV v'' - health. ' ' AVis V Atlanta, Ga. "My system waa A i , weak and run-dow- and I was tired. "" 1 was this way for five years or VA . ' more. 1 read your advertisement lu JLV c' 'v ' the papers and 1 decided to try your J 1 medicine, the Vegetable Compound. !j sl hut 1 did not begin to take It regu- - 'VJ?' 3 '1W 1(irly untlt f,f,r 1 VB married. I ? . , " f'i Rot bo much pood from It that I feel , J 'j ... fine and have pained I Ht,x . work In a broom shop, but my work i 4 liTfcm. is not so hard on me now, and I ' ''' keep my own house, and work my r 4 garden, too. I am telling all my 1 friends of Lydla E. Plnkham'B Ve- - tt- - " V. etable Compound and how It haa i'-- V.5 helped me."-M- us. W. M. Baii.icy. .s V'M II- - No- - B Bos Atlanta. . , "yut Mrs. w. m. Missouri Woman Helped bailey n. r. d, mo. e, aox i. Atlanta, oioroia Parkvllle, Mo. "I am proud to t? I recommend Lydla E. Plnkham's ; Many oay Lydia rinkham vegetable Compound. I was so Vegetable Compound Helps M 'hat I could not lie down xr l at n,Kht- - Then 1 Rot m? husband Keep lnem tit to WorK to go to the store and buy me a bot- - 8 649,511 women would be a vast tie of Lydla B. Plnkham's Vege-- army. According to the 1920 Census table Compound and I was up and of Manufactures, that In the number around before the first bottle was of women and girls employed In all gone, although I only weighed about trades In the United Slates. ninety pounds. I took si or eight Napoleon said, "An army travels bottles and was able to do all my on 1ta Btomach." This army of housework, washing and Ironing, women travels on its general health, take care of my Ave boys, and tend Every working girl knows that time to my chickens and garden, where lost through Illness seldom Is paid before I had to hire my washing and forandreldomcanbemadeup. Em- - part of my housework " Maa. Anna. ployers demand regularity. If she Cous, It. R. 2, Parkville. Missouri. 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Calif. jiLf which make a hone wbaeaa. iieVV. roar, hare thick wind or A ehoke-dow- a can be reduced ( With Abeorbine. AJao other w(V bunchea or ewellinga. No .O bliter,nohairRone,andhorae y ,,Jkertatwork.ItIaeanomfcai. kkSr Atdrugziaia,orf2.Mpostpaid. Bone book J--S tree. A thankful oner wr. "Completely rejiwyd flesh (.rowth on gland about? incbeadUuneGir. Sincerely thank yoa for good advice and Abeorbau." pw, F. VOUNti, Inc. 6in tywnSt..Sprinttild. M53. Children tyjjk Castoria is especially prepared V--- to relieve Infants in arms anil ; Children sJl apes of Constipa- - tior, Flatulency, Wind Colic tiA Diarrhea; allaying Feverishness arising therefrom, and, by regulating the Stomach and Bowels, aidi the assimilation of Food; gi"ing healthy and natural sleep. To avoid imitations, always look for the signature of AI:oIm.Qv Opiaf . I'iiysiciins evcrywieie recoaanend & License for Travel in Canadian Forests Licensing travelers t)irou;:li forests, as a mentis of protecting Canada's tlmlier wealth from the ravages of tire, Ik advocated by the Canadian Forestry association. ltoUoti Black, editor of Forest and Outdoors, believes that a forest Is poteittlHliy almost us dangerous as a powder magazine iintl advocates the Issuance of travel per-mits, without which no one would he permitted to travel through any forest region during those seasons when there is (lunger of forest tires. The iidviiiilnge of fills system, says Mr. Black, would be twofold. The formal-ll-of securing a permit would bring forcibly to intnd the real (lungers of forest (ires, and since a permit can tie revoked, the possibility of forfel! would make the traveler careful. The preservation of t'liiiiidlun forests, Mr. Black says, would fissure to Canada at) ittifiual income of $.HK).(KUX" for n II time to romp. Willie's Bath Ir. Jesse Slddull Beeves of the t'tiiversll.v of Michigan wus talking at Willlamstown nbout disarmament. "F.trrope's ideas about disarming," be snld, "resemble Utile Willie's ideas about hnl hill'.'. "'What are you trouncing Willie for?" the betid of the house grumbled. 'He's imiklng such n noise I ctm'! read iny evening paper.' "'lie mortified me to dealh today that's why I'm trouncing him,' said Willie's mother. 'He promised me faithfully that he'd give himself a thorough clenntii' so's 1 could take blm to be vacclnaled, and when we got to the hospllid It turned out he'd washed file wrong anil.'" I Freddy Wag Hungry The minister bad come home wllh the Browns for d'nticr. When thev sat down to the men) Mr. Brown nkod the fiest to sav trwe". This he rtM However, the stmke "o duff. !y thct ilio'e at the liib'e did riot hear his wh'snercd "Amen." Freddv. flioittrli. be') been wafdilng flic miniver out of tie co'tiT of his eye. so when (''' still sat wl'h howed lieatt" after the frace was i d. Freddv exdalnu'd : "AH bend in and let's go to eatln'!" Kansas City Star. New Religious Plan To discover the religious problems which perplex the man la the street, Itev. F. I.. II. Millard, vicar of tlm Church of St.. John the Evangelist, Brixton. London, Is setting aside cer-tain Sundays when. Instead of h ser-mon, questions will be asked by wor-shipers from their petes. The vicar also will question the congregation from fhe pulpit. ( J "Wlinl has Senator Hokum ever ' dipe to dil Ingulsli himself?" j "Well, he stayed home from Europe I his ; ear.'' Being an endless afTalr, a wedding ring frequently gets one into no end of trouble. Justice Is the bread of the netion; . It Is' always hungry for It Clmteau-hrlan-j Never rise tn speak till you have I Mi'iietbiiig to say; and when you have j said It. cease. Wtthcrspioii. ' Mercy Cut No Figure in Old-Tim- e Justice these places. Sometimes he finished his work by striking the criminal two or three blows on the chest or stom-ach, which usually put an end to the sufferer's life, and therefore were called blows of mercy. The punish-ment of the wheel was abolished In France at the revolution. In Germany It was occasionally Inflicted early In the last century for the crimes of trea-son and parricide. The torturing of criminals on "the wheel" Is a very ancient form of pun-ishment. In an "Improved" form it was revived in Germany In the Four-teenth century. The unfortunate vic-tim was laid upon a very large cart wheel, bis legs and arms extended and fastened to the spokes, and in that po-sition, as the wheel was turned around, his limbs were broken by suc-cessive blows with an iron bar. In France, where the wheel was used only to punish criminals of the most atrocious sort, the victim was first bound to a frame of wood In tbe form of a St. Andrew's cross that is, two bars of equal length laid crosswise, like an X. Grooves were cut trans-versely In these bars, above and below the knees and elbows, and the execu-tioner struck the limbs of the victim eight blows so as to break them In Famous Old English "Beau" The sobriquet "Beau Nash" was be-stowed upon Itlchard Nash, a fashion-able personage of the Klghteeuth cen-tury. He was born In Wales In 1674. and studied law, but later became a gambler, for which he seemed to have a greater liking and aptitude and from which he derived an ample revenue. In 1704 he transformed Bath from a vulgar and neglected watering place into a gay and fashionable resort. The city of Bath, lu gratitude for his serv-ices, plsced s statue between those of Newton mid Tope. He lived to be eighty-seven- , but Ids last years were spent in poverty, owing to tbe act of parliament that suppressed gambling. Kaitis City Star. Failures Become Critics Reviewers are usually people who would have been poets, historians, bi-ographers, etc.. If they could; they have tried thetr talents at one or tbe other, and have failed ; therefore they turn critics. Oolerldga. |