The Batesville Herald (Batesville, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 24, 1911 Page: 8 of 8
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1kT«niWe
Tragedy of fte
Auburn Tresses
KW YORK—No matter how
finally times you walk along
Amsterdam avenue, In the
sixties, you will never see
* Elizabeth O'Rourke In the
group of women standing
around the entrance of the New York
llat building In which aho lives laugh
Ing and exchanging tho neighborhood
gossip or running out to the stores
uoar by. writes Maude H. Neal In the
New York World
If you should ask for Her of any
of tho tenants they will look puzzled
and not bn sure than any such person
lives there, although they could tell
you in n second If Mrs. Casey's hus-
band came In sober the night before
or whether Annie Allen Is still keep-
ing eotnpany with her young man'
Yet It Is not so very long ago that
Elizabeth O’Rourke was one of that
same group—a plump, good-natured
Irish girl, "giving back ns good ns
she got" In the Imnter of the neigh-
borhood ns It passed In the early
evening hours, when the streets are
turned Into a sort of promenade for
the young people who have been tied
up In factories nnd stores all day.
Kvery morning she Issued forth
briskly at the snrne hour sad every
evening she came hack, more or less
wearily, a well-known, well-liked fig
lire III her little world
If you recall these farts to the ros
slplng crowd at the doorway a Hash
of recollection will come across one
of the faces, and In a low voice she
will Hay:
"Oh, you mean—why. she lives
fourth floor hack, on the right."
As you start to climb upward 1*
seems to you that you have left a
hush tn the chattering group behind
you— a strange, significant silence
that you do not understand
lint If the world has forgotten
Elisabeth O'Rourke you find her very
Inr away from that same world when
you have entered her three-room Hat
where she lives with her old mother
and her brother The rhnnros are
that you won't see her
Visitors Not Welcome.
When you have told the old woman
who peers out whom you are sivkltnt
she bids vou wait a moment Then
there Is the sound of hurrying slops
inside and a door eloslnc before you
are admitted Then the mother tells
you that Elizabeth Is not at home
However, I did see her, because I
had called on business to Hud out
wbst i rogrers her suit for damages
for the loss of her hair had made
I knew of her misfortune, so I was
I re on red to conceal any shock 1
might ft el, and very glad I was I tint
I had myself In hand when she stood
before me with a hesitant, fearful
look in her eyes, like one who Is ex-
portlre a blow
It was easy to see that Elizabeth
had bee a a good-looking woman, with
s volt almost childish expression on
tier fsee She Is 28 years old, and on
•croont of her good features her mis-
fortune has left her less repellent
than It otherwise would Her health
seemtd excellent, so that she Is quite
likely to live to be 70 or 80, but she
waa vary nervous at flrst as she sat
Angering the skirt of her shapeless
black dress.
Twelve years ago, when Elizabeth
was 16, she followed the precedent of
all her seven slBters and brothers
nnd went out to make her living She
got a place with a drug manulactur
Ing Arm, and from that time on all
the working hours of the day were
passed there.
Before the Trouble.
It was an uneventful life. Perhaps
If you bad asked Elizabeth then If
she was happy and satisfied she
would have hesitated at declaring
that she was.
Two years ago Elizabeth had be-
come what Is technically known as a
plll-coater. In good times she mnde
seven dollars a week—In slack sea-
son-well, she made less It Is easy
to Imagine that munificent sum did
not purchase all the things Elizabeth
would have liked to adorn herself
with to go to Coney Island and the
church fairs and the picnics of the
O'Hrlen association with her "young
man.”
But Elizabeth had one glory—be-
sides a nice disposition nnd a simple,
kindly face—she had a head of beau-
tiful, curling auburn hair.
“Well,” said Elizabeth, "one morn-
ing—that morning I mean—the blow-
pipe of the machine kept falling down
doesn't realize, might laugh or about
at me.”
Her Lifa’a Monotony.
"What do you do with your time?"
1 asked.
"Nothing. I help with the house-
work, but that's soon done. Then
there isn't anything else I walk
around—irom the door lu there to
the window—and look out—then hack
to the table in the back room, and
tbcu to the window again. There
Isn't much to see. There's no use for
me to try to fix up. or make clothes.
I've Just let myself go. What's the
use? I'm In prison—I am—In pr'son "
"What do you think about, Eliza-
beth?"
"I don't know—most of the time
about my trouble. I cry a great deal
I am so sad. I live It all over, every
day. What Is there for me to think
about? Or hope for? Or plan about?
You don't know bow wretched I am.
Sometimes I cry out. Hut what’s the
use?
“I try to be patient. But what's the
use? What the reward? There Isn't
anything In the world for me."
We sat looking out the window at
the chimneys and the littered fire-
escapes and the washings flapping in
the wind After a few minutes,
Elizabeth went on.
“When I first knew anything In the
hospital, they wouldn't let me see my-
self. For weeks before that I was In
darkness, because of the Injury to my
eyes, but when I was In the light I
wanted a handglass. They wouldn’t
give It to jjie. My head wbb all bound
up. but I didn't know
“The nurse tried to break It to me,
but I didn't guess. Finally the day
came when they first unwound the
bandages from my head and I saw
what had happened. I thought I
couldn’t live. The tearing the day It
happened cume again, worse, to my
heart. I thought I would kill myself
rather than live a thing like that.
But I didn't—I don't know why ”
Keeps Torn Tresses.
Miserable Quasimodo, looking out
over Baris from your refuge In Notre
Dame and watching the dying strug-
gles of the only woman who had call-
ed you friend—wretched "Man Who
Laughs," eating your heart out with
your Wolf—unhappy Cyrano, resign
,|lng your dreams of love—were your
sufferings like this?
We sat there In silence, a few min-
utes, then Elizabeth said, "Would
you like to see my hair?"
Without waiting for my answer,
she went over to an old trunk and be-
gan taking things out of It.
Finally she brought out a shoe box..
I cannot explain the feeling of horror
1 had when I saw It. I felt as if I
were going to see a dead thing. Not
a peaceful, quiet corpse, laid quietly
away, but some strangled creature,
whose unhappy ghost refused to bo
laid.
Then she opened It, and we stood
looking down at It—a great mass of
curling auburn hair, that had been
cut from the machines when the acci-
dent happened. Some of It was
snarled and broken, but In places It
triumphed Into the burnished waves
which had once laid so smoothly
upon the poor, marred head.
“It was pretty, wasn’t It?” she said,
putting a gentle, caressing finger
lightly upon a curl.
An Infant Cuvier.
Miss Griggs easily Induced the
wealthy Mrs. May '.o let her son Fred-
die Join the vacation class in natural
history that sho was organizing for
children.
“I'm sure he'll love It!" said Mrs.
May, with surprising enthusiasm. “And
you will find that he knows a lot about
natural history already."
"Indeed! That Is very pleasant,”
murmured Miss Griggs, vaguely, for
she wr.s not prepared for scientific
attainments in a spoiled boy of five.
"Yes,” said Mrs May, complacent-
ly, "ever since Freddie was a baby
the chef has made all bis blanc mange
In the shape of rabbits and squirrels.
and only lately be nas begun to make
on me and I was very Impatient. ! him marsiimallow frogs and chickens
Every time It did that It meant that j nnd turtles, and Freddie simply wor-
I had lost time and could coat fewer j ahips them—you can’t get him to
pills that day. You see, I got two ! touch anything in a plain mould."
cents a thousand, and to make a dol-
lar you have to hurry. It fell down
again, so I climbed up to flx it. I
was getting down when I felt a lit-
tle tug at my head.
"It was my hair, caught In the
shafting. I tried to pull It out, but It
wouldn't come
"I felt myself going tip 1 scream-
ed. I felt a horrible, horrible pain—
something tearing—I was way up In
the air—I couldn't stand It—that tear-
ing
"Then something gave way I fell.
I didn't know anything more for u
time I couldn’t see.
"The doctor enme and put some-
thing In my arm. II was days and
dais later when I eatne to In the hos-
pital
It was sickening to hear It. But
she had described Just what hud hHp-
"I am sure," concluded Mrs May,
"that you will find Freddie very ad-
vanced for his age."—Youth's Com-
panion.
Pink of Politeness.
Frederick Townsend Martin was be-
ing congratulated by a New York re-
porter on tils Interesting book.
“And I do hope, sir,” the reporter
said, "that the eloquent volume will
have an exceedingly large sale."
"You are very polite," said Mt Mar
tin, smiling "In your politeness you
remind me of a little American girl.
"She was a guest at a house party
In England, nnd one lovely altertioon,
as tve were all taking tea on the ter-
race, with the vast facade of the old
Elizabethan mansion rising up behind
us, and the gardens and lawns and
. . . . woodland spreading before us tn the
prned ^er 'icnlp had been torn off Roldcll nffernooi, uunllght-our host.
as we sat thus, waved his hand before
nnd her forehead and her ears Her
eyelids, too, were torn away, and only
n relenting Fate forbore to snatch
along with them her eyes.
So you can see why she came In
to see me looking as If she expected
a blow. She conceals her scars the
heat she can. but what woman could
ever venture forth with that terrible
blight across her face and In her |
soul? Hopeless Task.
"I can't hear to go any place," she ! An automobile editor is out In west-
said "People look so. nnd I can see t*rn Kansas making a "log" for a
him and said:
"'As far as the eye ran reach, all
this land belongs to me.'
"Then the little American girl
lisped politely:
" And I trust. Lord Reginald, you
are not short-sighted.’"
ninny of (hem turn away In disgust.
You can't Imagine how you fee) to be
a thing like that. And, oh, the chil-
dren—that Is what I bate and what
hurts me most. They stare at me so
nnd the smallest ones are afraid of
me—that's the worst. And I'm always
transcontinental road. A curtous
farmer asked him what be was doing.
"Trying to make a log." replied the
auto editor.
“You’re up against It, stranger." re-
plied the farmer. ‘The Lord tried to
mnke logs grow In western Kansas,
PREPARING SEED BED
Should Be Plowed in Fall
Proper Implements.
With
Presence of Heat, Air and Moisture
Essential to Chemical and Germ
Action—Plants Usa Large
Amount of Moisture.
(By the late DR. 8. A. KNAPP.)
Prepare a deep and thoroughly pul-
verized seed bed, well drained; break
In the fall to a depth of 8, 10 or 12
Inches, according to the soil, with Im-
plements that will not bring too much
of the subsoil to the surface. (The
foregoing depths should be reached
gradually if a Held Is broken with an
ordinary turning plow. If a disk plow
Is used, It is safe to go to the above
depths at once.)
It Is the purpose of the farmers’ co-
operative demonstration work to lnatat
upon such preparation of the soil as
will furnish the best feeding grounds
for the roots and such as will provide
at all times plenty of moisture and
food for the growing plants. It Is bet-
ter to secure 10 or 12 Inches of well
drained, thoroughly pulverized soil
filled with humus than to go deeper nt
the expense of less thorough prepara-
tion.
The presence of heat, air and mois-
ture is essential to chemical and germ
action In the preparation of plant food
In the soil. The depths to which these i oration from the soil, which, even with
uu. This can b« determined by dig
i glng a hole 20 Inches deep. If there U
standing water In the bottom of the
hole. It Indicates that there is too
much water lu the soli or subsolL
The capacity of a given soil to hold
Him and capillary moisture depends
upon how finely It Is pulverized and
upon the amount of humus tn It. Un-
plowed lands retain but little water.
Thoroughly pulverized aoil three Inch-
es deep cannot store enough to make a
good crop.
In ull southern states there are
every year periods of drought, some-
times not serious, but generally suf-
ficiently protracted to reduce the crop.
The remedy for this Is Increased stor-
age for moisture. This can be accom-
plished by deep and thorough tillage
and by filling the soil with bumus
(partly decayed vegctationl. The ef
feet of deep tillage has been explained
The effect of huuiua Is to Increase
greatly the storage capacity of soils
for water and to reduce evaporation.
A pound of humus will store seven and
one-hnlf times as much moisture as a
pound of sand, and the sand will lose
Its water by evaporation three and
oue- half times more rapidly than tho
humus. A clay soil will store only
about one-fourth as much moisture as
humus, and will lose It by evaporation
twice as rapidly.
Plants use an enormous quantity of
water. An acre of good corn will ab-
sorb nnd evaporate during Its growth
nearly ten Inches of water. About
three-fourths of this amount will be
required the lust 75 days of Its growth,
or at the rate of three Inches of water
a month. This is in addition to evap-
A Cotton Field In Mississippi.
afraid some bad little boy, who^ but gave It up long ago."
penetrate the soil In the south depend
upon the depth of the plowing.
It has been proved without question
that the roots of plants penetrate the
soil deeper and feed deeper In deeply
plowed land. Thus, In general. It may
be stated that when the soil Is plowed
three inches deep the plants have
three Inches of food, when plowed six
Inches deep they have six Inches of
food, and when plowed ten Inches
deep they have ten Inches of food.
The fact that the bottom of the plowed
land Is not as rich In available plant
food as the top portions shows tho ne-
cessity of getting more air and heat
down to them by deeper tillage.
The soli requirements most essen-
tial to the growth of plants are heat
and moisture. Deep breakage in-
sures air and heat at a greater depth.
For plants to do their beat there
must be In the soil a constant supply
of moisture, so that a film of water
can envelop the soil purtlcles and ab-
sorb nutritive elements. The hair
foots of plants drink this for nourish-
ment. If there Is any more than
enough to serve as films for the soil
particles and capillary water, there is
too much, and it should be drained
NEAR A RIOT WHEN
FILM IS CENSORED
Crowd Pays to See James Boys
in Action and That’s What
They Want.
PICTURES BLOTTED OUT
Censor Orders Action Taken, but
When the Demonetration From a
Disappointed Audience Grows Se-
rious Official Arrests the Manager.
Wichita, Kan.—A practical and
highly efficient method of striking
censored pictures out of a motion film
almost sturted a riot at a local the-
ater the other night.
For some time the managers of the
theater bad been advertising on their
bulletin boards a series of pictures
showing the “exploits of the James
boys, as reproduced by competent ac-
tors in the original settings.” Youth-
ful Wichita eagerly awaited the day.
Elder Wichita wasn’t so sure about
It. Elder Wichita has conscleutlous
scruples against the reproduction of
scenes ol violence. Besides that, the
James boys never have been extreme-
ly popular with the older citizens of
Kansas. This is but natural, as the
older citizens of Kansas never were
extremely popular with the James
boys.
After a conference over the mat-
ter, It was decided to let C. R.
Reeves examine the pictures as pub-
lic censor. A private exhibition was
arranged.
Much of the film was harmless
enough. While some of the figures in
the shifting scenes bestrode their
horses or handled weapons in a man-
ner that would have stricken the real
James boys with astonishment, there
the retarding Influence of the dust
mulch, will amount to several inches
each month in midsummer. In case
the land Is plowed only three or four
Inches deep, though thoroughly pul-
verized, it will store an amount of
moisture entirely Insufficient to sup-
ply crop requirements in any protract-
ed drought. These shallow and gen-
erally poorly prepared seed beds are
the principal cause of the low corn
yields in the south, and they affect the
cotton yields similarly, but not so
much, because cotton Is a more
drought-resistant plant than corn. If
planting is done at ull, It is folly to
prepare a seed bed so shallow as to
bring about the almost total loss of
the crop some years and a reduced '
crop every year.
Value of Paint.
The expenditure of a few dollars for
good paint and its use on buildings
will prevent the weather from dam-
aging the lumber severely, and add
very much to the looks of the build-
ings. Ready mixed paints can be ob-
tained and instructions relative to the
application closely followed by anyone.
BEEF FOR COTTON PLANTER HANDY DEVICE ON ANY FARM
Some Sort of Diversified Farming
Plan Will Tend Towards Better
and More Reliable Results.
The cotton planter of the south, who
has been looking in vain for years for
some relief from the ravages of the
boll weevil, and for a more certain
money crop, owes It to himself to
consider well his equipment for rais
Ing and feeding beef cattle, and the
desirability of his embarking in that
business at this time.
The cotton crop for some time has
been far from a sure crop, and the
south needs today, as never before,
some sort of diversified farming plan
that will tend towards better and
more consistent results. Cotton can-
not be depended upon year In and
year out as In the earlier days Grain
•nrmlng alone w ill not only not main-
tain the fertility of the soil, but In the
end will ruin it. And not all of the
south is adapted to grain growing.
With u more equitable climate, with
natural grasses abundant tbe year
around, with sufficient grain feed
raised, live stock growing should h<
profitable In practically all sections
of the south. The only obstacle Is the
prevalence of the fever lick, and the
work of tick eradication is being
pushed In all the southern states with
much progress nnd there Is much rea-
son to believe that in u very few
vears the tick will be confined to small
and scattered localities
• Growing Own Pork.
The farmers of tbe south are learn-
ing to .grow their own pork, and this
U a aroaf atcfl frlti U Eft i n H AfUlft A OliPA
Ordinary Gate or Barn Door May Be
Held Open or In Any Position
By Hinge Stop.
An ordinary gate or barn door can
be kept partly open or held In any j
position against a wind or draft by |
the use of stop as shown In the sketch
Hinge Stop for Barn Door.
from Popular Mechanics. The stop is
made from an ordinary hinge wbtea
has only one wing fastened to the
lower part of the door or gate.
The loose wing catches on tho floor,
ground or cement walk. When not lt>
use it Is turned up ugalnst the gate
Digging Potatoes.
Irish potatoes should not be dug
until fully mature If wanted for win-
ter storing Sweet potatoes should be
dug belore heavy frost. Turnips,
rutabagas, and carrots should not be
pulled until the end of November or
the first of December. Beets and
mangold wtirtzels should be pulled be
fore frost.
Weevil Destroyer.
Discoverers of an Egyptian worm
that will eat the cotton boll weevil
have been discouraged by learning
that It is canabalistic In its tenden
cies and will eat Its companions aa
readily as weevils.
Wanted Their Money Back.
was nothing about that to offend the
stainless minds of Wichita's youth.
But It wqs when members of the
band were represented as walking in-
to banks and extracting their treas-
ures, incidentally rnuking targets of
their fellow cltlz.ens, that the censor
balked. As the bandits were about
some such diverting escapade, most
of the time, the censor was kept busy
telling the operator just which Beenes
must not be erhlbited.
The news of this censorious activ-
ity got around and of course tbe house
was packed the night for the first
public exhibition of the film Expec-
tation became more intense ns the
spectators beheld the bandits prepar-
ing to <lo something real blood-and-
thundci y
But Just at a critical moment when
Jesse .lames lilmself was peeping over
his revolver's muzzle in an effort to
find a satisfactory spot for his bullet
In a Kansas patriot's torso, something
happened. A cloud obscured the film
and by the time it had passed the
dark and dastardly deed had been
done.
When a similar thing happened as
Cole Younger was about to make a
widow of the wife of a humble paying
teller and again when Bob Ford was
getting ready to supply the corpus
delicti for a funeral service. It began
to look strange.
Then somebody looked up and found
the explanation.
The operator was carefully oblit-
erating the censored scenes by put-
ting Ills hand over bis machine when-
ever one of them appeared.
The spectators felt that they bad
been cheated They bad paid their mon-
ey to see somebody slaughtered In
Jesse Jamcsque style and they wanted
the carnage to go on. What was the
good of paying to see pictures of ban-
dies who didn't bandit, who never slit
a single bank Into a morgue?
Simultaneously and with great unan-
imity of purpose, the spectators arose
and started for tbe box office Tbe
manager and his assistants retreated
Inside and barricaded themselves.
From their retreat they breathed a
firm refusal to give - anybody his
money back.
It began to look like real trouble for
tbe manager and his men when Cen-
sor Reeves got an Inspiration Pull-
ing out hla marshal's star, dusting It
and pinning It on his breast where ev-
erybody could see It, be placed Mart-
ling and his assistants under arrest.
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Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Martin, Dot. The Batesville Herald (Batesville, Tex.), Vol. 12, No. 11, Ed. 1 Friday, November 24, 1911, newspaper, November 24, 1911; Batesville, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1108494/m1/8/?rotate=90: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .