The Meridian Tribune (Meridian, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, January 9, 1920 Page: 3 of 10
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Texas Digital Newspaper Program and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Meridian Public Library.
- Highlighting
- Highlighting On/Off
- Color:
- Adjust Image
- Rotate Left
- Rotate Right
- Brightness, Contrast, etc. (Experimental)
- Cropping Tool
- Download Sizes
- Preview all sizes/dimensions or...
- Download Thumbnail
- Download Small
- Download Medium
- Download Large
- High Resolution Files
- IIIF Image JSON
- IIIF Image URL
- Accessibility
- View Extracted Text
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE MERIDIAN TRIBUNE
- —f~"r
White Man
By GEORGE AGNEW CHAMBERLAIN
Author of "Home," 'Through Stained Glass," "John Bogardus," Etc.
(Copyright, 1919, by Bobbs-Merrill Co.)
m
ANDREA IS FAST BECOMING RECONCILED TO HER FATE.
Andrea Fellor, handsome daughter of Lord Pellor, impecunious aristocrat,
is doomed to marry an illiterate but wealthy middle-aged diamond mine owner.
She disconsolately wanders from her hotel in South Africa, and discovers an
aviator about to fly from the beach. Impulsively, of course imagining that the
trip will be merely a pleasant excursion, she begs to be taken for a flight,
although she does not know him. He somewhat unwillingly agrees, and they
start. When she realizes her unknown aviator is not going back Andrea in
desperation tries to choke him with one of her stockings. He thwarts her and
they sail on into the very heart of Africa. Landing in an immense craal,
Andrea finds the natives all bow in worship to her mysterious companion. She
is given a slave boy, "Bathtub," and the White Man sets about building a hut
for her. White Man continues deaf to Andrea's pleadings to be restored to
her friends. She goes on a day's hunting trip with White Man and thoroughly
enjoys tne exciting experience.
S:
:S
CHAPTER V.—Continued.
He was dressed as she was, tit for
tat, except for the big black bow and
the very short skirt; and, like her, his
hands were thrust, boy fashion, in the
sido pockets of his open khaki jacket.
A.$ she came close their eyes met and
smiled. "I didn't put on the leggings,"
"I Dtdn't Put On the Leggings," She
Said ShyHy.
she said shyly. It was as though in
-changing back to ways and clothes
like those of childhood she had sud-
denly rid herself of the hardening
year? between.
"Y 5u were right," said the man.
"They're for the brush and when mos-
quitces are bad."
Hf r face lit with pleasure. "You'll
let »ie go into the brush?"
"Never alone," he answered quickly.
""Ba? you may go with me whenever
and wherever you like."
"And may I still call you just White
Man? Somehow it seems impertinent
nov "
"*?on't tease me," said the man
lightly and then his face fell. "Don't
am»ke me feel old."
■•Old!" cried Andrea. "Who could be
old tonight? Why, White Man, we're
-' •we're kids."
He laughed in his sudden relief. "So
we are. So we shall be."
"Excuse me," said Andrea solemnly.
"Did I hear you laugh?"
&.t that he laughed again, not up-
roariously, but as though his slow
smile had become vocal for the occa-
sion. Andrea nodded in a pleased way
as if she were congratulating herself
on guessing aright; it was a laugh.
When the liqueurs and the coffee came
she started chasing a pellet of bread
around an empty plate with a straight,
sfrmll finger. "You fix one," she said,
"and we'll have a race."
The man watched her indulgently,
but absent-mindedly. Presently he
filled two glasses. "My dear Andrea
Pellor," he said gravely, "let us drink
to all the hearts in the world tonight
that are happy and unafraid."
She stood up to the toast, and after
It they sat in a long silence. II; was
Andrea that broke it. "You know,
White Man, I'm a woman."
i "Of course jfou are," he said quickly,
a wary look coming into hi« eyes.
"Yes," said Andrea. "So of course,
too, I'm curious."
He gave the deep sigh 0/ relief of
one who fin4s that the ice is quite
thick, after ^11. "Specify, please."
"Well," sr-.ld Andrea. "It's that
trunk. I've puzzled and pua/iled, but
I can't maKe out quite how that trunk
happened."
"And no wonder," said M'sungo.
"It's simple enough, however* to the
male mind. Let me help you, When
I came out eight months ago my sister
was with me*—just about your size,
just about your age. That trunk was
meant for her and had been sent ahead
with my kit. She never needed it."
He paused &nd added, "I los.t her at
Cape Town."
"Oh!" cried Andrea, too-sea^ tears
jsprii ging to her eye®,
"Yes," he continued calmly. "It was
pretty bad. She married a cub of a
naval officer and is traipsing around
the world on the chance of hitting the
right port and lunching with him Once."
Andrea's hand went to her breast
aid stayed there as though to imprison
her fluttering heart. "White Man,"
she said, "please don't do that to me
agaiij—ever. You see, I've always been
silly about things that get hurt."
"Forgive me," he said. "I was
thoughtless."
"Careless, perhaps; thoughtless,
never," said Andrea, smiling once more.
"Well," she went on, clasping her
hands and throwing her head back,
"I'm for your sister. The woman that
could make up that trunk is a genius."
"She would be," remarked the man
enigmatically.
Andrea paused in her thoughts; then
came wide awake and looked at him
narrowly.
"White Man, didn't a woman make
up that trunk?"
"No, there are few women living
that could. Think it out. That trunk
was all bone, muscle and sinew—with
an after-dinner cigarette at the bot-
tom. Why, the last time I saw Maisie
she had two small moving vans and a
wicker house she thought she was
going to bring witn her. I'd fixed it
with a quartermaster to crop the lot
overboard in the night and at the last
moment. She never even heard of this
trunk."
During his long speech the color had
been rising in Andrea's cheeks. "I
don't think I like you as much as 1
did," she said slowly. "Somehow you
were getting too good to be true. You
bought and packed all those things
yourself." s
He met her gaze steadily. "Don't,"
he whispered,1 "don't let's be old."
"All right," said Andrea with a quick
shrug of one shoulder. "But you've
known lots of women, haven't you?"
"You exaggerate," he answered, smil-
ing. "I've met lots of women."
"Pshaw!" said Andrea. "That's an-
other old crock of a shibboleth. Some
men know lots about women—a jolly
Sight too much."
"That's different from knowing wom-
en," said M'sungo quietly. "It's no
shibboleth, that old belief. Woman,
to man, is an eternal voyage of dis-
covery—a land of valleys and peaks,
of lights and shadows, of storm and
aching peace. Continents and oceans
are lost in her untraveled heart, and
when she throws wide her arms, the
way is open to Heaven and Hell."
"I'm going to bed," murmured An-
drea, and stole away.
c ***** *
It was jtist as well for Andrea that
she had gone early to bed, for at five
o'clock of the next morning a rock
was hurled at her door that almost
burst it in.
"Didn't that get her?" yelled M'sun-
go's voice from half across the kraal.
"No, Master," answered Bathtub.
"Missis sleep plenty hard, same like
pickanin."
She slipped on her bathrobe, opened
the door and put out her head. "Were
you calling me?" she asked with early
morning dignity.
"Not exactly," answered the white
man in the same tone. "Breakfast in
twenty minutes; bath whqn you come
home." 'He turned to give orders to
a group of his cap-tain.S;
Andrea was instant! j thrilled to the
new adventure She culled to Bathtub
to bring her washstand and water and
rubbed one bare foot against the other
in impatience until he was out of the
way; then she dressed feverishly and
ran out.
In ten minutes they had breakfasted;
in five more they were off. A long line
of blacks preceded them, behind came
M'sungo's gunbearer, water boys, Bath-
tub, a carrier or two, and an ancient
donkey half hidden under an enormous
cowboy saddle.
"What a funny looking old donkey i"
remarked Andrea. "What's he for?"
"For you, when you get tired," an-
swered M'sungo.
"Really! For me?" said Andrea.
"What's his name?"
M'sungo threw back his head aud
laughed softly. "Why," he said, "I
never thought I'd have to tell any one
when I named him. We call him Mar-
guerite. I named him after a friend
of mine."
"Was she as ugly as all that?"
"Oh, no. She's about the prettiest
woman I ever knew, but she was just
like him inside. Try to head him off
some time."
"The best way to head off a woman,"
, mused Andrea, "is to marry her."
"That's so," agreed M'sungo prompt-
ly, "but friendship has limits."
They were necessarily walking in
single file on the narrow path and
Andrea was behind him. She looked
quizzically at his back and wished she
could see his face instead. But her
attention was soon drawn to other
things. They had come to the fringe
of the forest. Spaced from two to
three hundred yards apart and set well
out from the shadow of the trees were
mysterious piles of something or other
that shone straw-gold under the morn-
ing sun.
At the first of the heaps M'sungo
stopped. "Thi.8," he said, kicking at
the silky coilu, "is the greatest sub-
stitute for hump and sisal that the
world has yet produced. The war has
made it tyoi-th—well, not quite its
weight in gold, unless you measure it
by sheer profits on the cost of pro-
duction. It is nothing but the bark
of the temba trees which make up the
; bulk of all the forests in this region,
prepared by hand on a process of my
own,"
Andrea looked at the endless piles
of fiber, tons and tons of it, stretch-
ing away like the posts in a prairie
fence. ' And you say this is a secret?"
she asked incredulously.
He smiled. "It is so far," he an-
swered. "But if you knew all the facts
you wouldn't find it so wonderful. In
the fiist place this spot is cut off on
nearly all sides by waterless wilder-
ness. In the only direction that isn't
true, which is straight down ^he river,
there is a wild zone that in four hun-
dred years has never been pacified by
the European dominance of the prov-
ince. Those unsubdued tribes have
been ray friends in times past and are
my allies today. No white man but my-
self, has ever crossed their boundaries
and lived; consequently they can tell
no tales to my harm. Do you begin to
see?"
Andrea nodded.
"Then at the coast," he continued,
"just within the mouth of the river,
I have a blind in the way of a sisal
plantation. That gives the excuse for
a steamer with machinery, say, to
come in without arousing suspicion."
"So you are a profiteer on the way
to making a war fortune," commented
Andrea.
He flushed more deeply than she had
yet seen him. "If you stay here long
enough," he said stoutly, "you may
understand."
He turned from her and plunged at
right angles into the forest. She fol-
lowed him into the chill air under the
great trees. All too soon Andrea came
out with him into a wide clearing
which, simultaneously with their ar-
rival, began to ring to the blows of
many axes. Through all its length it
swarmed with blacks at work; some
felling trees, some stripping them of
bark, others gathering it, and still
others stacking the bared wood and
cleaning up the general litter accord-
ing to the most approved rules of mod-
ern forestry.
They walked up the wide swath of
the clearing slowly, with many stops
on the part of M'sungo to encourage,
direct or criticize. They passed be-
yond the ringing of the axes into a
region pungent with the smell of burn-
was thinking that noontime would
never come. M'sungo was too en-
grossed with his work to notice her.
She kept on, riding her nerve, until she
felt that in another moment she must
topple over; then she laid a quivering
hand on his arm. He turned quickly,
looked at her face gone white in spite
of the heat and cursed himself aloud.
He led her through the fringe of the
forest to the decy> shade at its open
edge, made her he down and showed
her that a helmet, right side up on the
ground, makes an excellent pillow.
"I'm off. Promise you won't be
lonely, for it will be hours before I
get back."
Andrea's lower lip trembled. "Aren't
you coming for lunch?"
He looked down at her and shook
his head. "There may C"»ne ''ays of
picnics, youngster, but they're a long
way off."
"Please come bacK," she insisted.
hand to receive a lighted white cheroot,
a communal bit of property that had
come up the line of personal attend*
ants, six puffs to a "boy." He never
got a puff, for on feeling less weight
behind, Marguerite opened h's eyes,
looked straight back on both sides of
his lean body at once, flattened his
ears and broke from the path at a
dead run.
The high cantle of the stock saddl€
saved Andrea from staying just where
she started from. She was a horse-
woman, born and bred, consequently
even while her amazement was at ill
height, she wrapped the reins on hei
arms, drove her toes into the bucket
stirrups and straightened her young
back into the long, strong and sawing
pull of calm desperation, for Mar
guerite was headed straight for the
leafy, low-hanging branches of a vaM
mafuta tree.
Yells of delight resounded from
FIVE YEARS
OF SUFFERING
He met her eyes with a hardent.d j every black man in sight with excep-
1
gaze. "There's not a woman living,"
he said slowly, "that will let a man
work when she's arouucN—Af she <*an
help it."
"You're thinking of people in love,"'
said Andrea to start an argument and
gain time.
"Of course I was," said the man on
the instant. "Can't you let me work?"
"Beast," said Andrea and rolled over
on her side, one moist hand for a pil-
low in place of the hard helmet. She
did not wateh him go, she did not see
Bathtub and another boy arrive with
table, chair and lunch basket, all in
a single small load; for before it hap-
pened she was far away in the land
of Nod. When she awoke she was
sorry, for awake the hot hours passed
on laggard feet. At midday she ate;
then she tried to read, but by four in
the afternoon she was desperate for
something to do. She determined to
sleep again, and just as she was dozing
off a whisper came to her—one of those
carefully measured whispers that
reach the intended ear and go no far-
ther. \
"Missis!"
She turned. "What is it?" she
asked.
"Gashly! Missis," breathed Bathtub,
and the agony in his appeal to her
to go slow was so eloquent that she
caught the spirit, if not the meaning
of the word.
She raised her head ever so care-
fully and looked out over the plain.
"Oh!" she murmured.
A quarter of a mile away a band of
sable were grazing, and in a moment
she could tell that they were feeding
directly toward her. "Oh!" she
breathed again, "oh, you beauties!"
Close], and closer grazed the herd,
stepping daintily from tuft to tuft of
fodder. Their black and White faces,
the swesp of their arching horns, their
brown todies that glistened in the sun
as though they had been groomed,
their j.ervous flicking bobbed tails,
their incredibly slim legs, combined
ail the attributes of fascination—
beauty, vigor, strength, motion—and
filled the eyes of the watchers to over-
flowing.
In the van of the herd stepped a
mighty bull, his tiny hoofs liting high
as though he boasted that his weight
was really nothing. Straight toward
the forest and Andrea he led his little
army until presently she could smell
the stable odor of their bodies. Her
heart was beating like a trip hammer.
She tried to hold her breath. Her
bosom rose and fell in a fluttering
undulation. The bull looked up and
saw her. His horns went back and
he squatted, hesitating on the brink
of the mighty spring of fright. In his
eyes was a gleam unbelievably wicked.
Then the crack of a rifle, the thud
of a bullet in fle«L, a body hurled into
the air by the death-throe and falling
in a heap, legs doubled up, neck out-
stretched, blood gurgling from nos-
trils and mouth!
Andrea buried her face in her lap,
trying to blot out the sight from her
eyes, and sobbed as though her heart
were breaking. She did net hear the
wild cry of Bathtub, nor see his crazy
gyrations about the prostrate brute,
but when the white man spoke her
mind leaped to meet the justification
in his words, without which she felt
she could never have looked upon his
face again.
"Stop your crying," he said sharply.
"When a sable bull gets as close as
Jhat, there's no telling which way he's
going to go."
tion of poor Bathtub, who had re-
gained his double hand-hold only aftei
having been jerked from his feet, and
now dangled along like the proverbial
village tin can on the tin/ of a ter-
rified dog.
Above the din came to Andrea's veij
busy brain a shojit that stood out liks
a sudden scream in a lsng nightmare,
"Marry him or jump off!" Before she
could grasp the deadly imp<iit of those
words she was hanging likj a h'lif-
Eupora Lady Broke Down and
Was* Most Miserable, Bui
Cardui Brought Relief and
Now She Is Weil.
Eupora, Miss.—Mrs. B. E. Tedder,
recently spoke as follows: "About
five years ago ... I broke down
and took to my bed.
What I suffered no one knew, I was
in so much pain from my knees to my
waist, cramping and drawing, until I
thought I would certainly die.
I grew so weak I couldn't eat, and
so dizzy and faint and every time I
stood on my feet I had the most mis-
erable and heavy feeling in the lower
part of my body.
I began on Cardui. It strength-
ened me after a few doses and di-
minished the . . . after the first
bottle. I commenced to feel better.
I regained my appetite ... I
took the Cardui right along . . .
I am well and strong. That has been
four years. I can do all my work and
feel fine."
Cardui has been found to be a val-j
uable tonic for women. It is com-
posed of harmless medicinal ingre-
dients, which act in a mild and gentle
way on the system and help to build
up the body and nerves.
Your druggist sells Cardui. Try it,
—Adv.
"ObcJo Is
the Market
Women.**
Pries
in His Eyes Was a G!ea*»? Unbeliev-
ably Wicked.
ing greenwood. Along one side, the
side away from the fringe of the for-
est, was a ionj£ line of smoke spirals.
He waved at them. "D' you see what
they're doing? Our axes ran out, so
here we're felling in the old native
way with a ring of fire at the foot of
each doomed tree."
By eight o'clock the sun was at its
full strength and Andrea was thankful
indeed for her pith helmet; by ten she
CHAPTER VL
M'sungo led the march home; the
donkey came next, with his nose glued
to M'sungo's back and with Andrea
in th& saddle. Clinging to his tail with
both hands, more as a drag-anchor
than as deterrent, came Bathtub, and
behind him the long rank and file.
Andrea was still sniffing a little, but
her tear-stained face, like a child's,
was already cloudless.
"I think Marguerite is too funny,"
she said. "He's got his eyes tight shut
and he's steering himself by his. nose
in your shirt. Will you please tell
Bathtub to let go his tail?"
"Bathtub knows his business," re-
plied M'sungo, but, as it happened,
even as he spoke, Bathtub cast off oae
closed jacknife over a limb of the
tree watching Marguerite browse as
though nethii|g had happened, his tail
still tightly grasped by a n<v?e grinning
Bathtub.
Ten minutes later the procession
was under way again in the order
aforementioned with the variation
that the reins of the bridle were knot
ted to the back of M'sungo's belt. An-
drea, too dazed to protest, ponderefd
over this indignity, but when she final-
Ty found her voice she decided to use-
it for another purpose.
"I think it was horrid of the blacks
to yell the way they did," she re-
marked with suspicious meekness.
"Don't you?"
M'sungo seemed relieved. "I certain-
ly do," he answered promptly, "Buf
you'll have to accustom yourself to tU«>
fact that obolo is» the basic considera-
tion between the black man and all
women in the world."
"What do you mean?" asked An-
drea, mystified. "What's obolo?"
"In this country," explained M'sun-
go, "obolo is ibe market price fen
women. The best native authorities,
however, contend that obolo is not a
purchase price but the remuneration
to the father for the board, training
and general keep of his daughter up
to the time of her marriage, and they
base their argument on th© fact thai
while women are property they are
not chattel, title being uontransfer*
able."
"Can damaged goods be : ex-
changed?" inquired Andrea icily.
Andrea has a thrilling ad-
venture in the next install-
ment. •
1
Holland's Great Wall.
The gigantic wall which the Dutch
are building across the entrance to
the Zuyder Zee will be 18 miles long .
and 230 feet wide at sea level.
BRINGING UP A FAMILY
Houston, Texas.—"After motherhood^ 1
always took Dr. Pieree'3 Favorite Prescrip-
tion to build
me up and
str e n g t h e n
me. It surely
benefit e d me
greatly ev e r y
time, and I
would never
hesitate to rec-
ommend this
medicine to all
women who
become ner-
vous, weak
and run-down,
especially
.while bringing
up a family."
—Mrs. Delia
Lea, 4413 Center St.
Houston, Texas.—"I have the utmost
faith in Dr. Pierce's Favorite Prescrip-
tion as a tonic for women or girls devel-
oping into womanhood. When I was a
girl I became all run-down, weak and
nervous, due to irregularity. My mother
;ave ine the 'Prescription' and it restored
me to perfect health."—Mts. A. Thonig,
4318 Spencer St. ^
Houston, Texas.—"Dr. Pierce's Favorite
Prescription for women and their ailments
is an excellent medicine. I have taken
it for feminine troubles and when run-
down, weak and nervous, and must say
it was very quick in building me up and
relieving me of my trouble, and I always
felt much better in every way after its
use."—Mrs. H. E. Williams, 2424 Free-
man St.
Weak women should try it now. Don't
wait! Today is the day to begin. This
temperance tonic and nervine will bring
vdm, vigor and vitality. Send Dr. Pierce,
Buffalo, N. Y., 10 cents for trial package
tablets. It promotes perfect regularity,
It soothes and strengthens the nerves,
drives away despondency, and gives a
healthy appetite and refreshing sleep. It
makes weak women strong:.
"lWas SeWeakM
j Could Not Walk
Rich-Tone Is Making Me Strong and
Healthy."—Says F. Maese.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
How Eagles Secure Prey.
Eagles usually hunt in pairs, om
bird frightening the prey from its
hiding place and the other pouncing
on it as it tries to escape.
English monarch have reigned ai
average of 23 years, la Russia 13w
average was onljr 1&
"I was s© very weak amd nervous,
lest all my appetite and had become fa
such a bad physical condition that at
times I could not walk. I saw your ad-
vertisement on Rich-Tone and am how
taking; it. I feel so much better that I
take pleasure in recommending Kich«
Tone to all my friends as the very foes?
to'siio in the world."
"Take RICH-TONE
and 'gain new eiaer$ty
Mich-Tome makes more red corpuscleSj
emriching and purifying the blood. It
contains all of the elements that are
needed most in maintaining strength
and vigor. Rich-Tone rests the tired
nerves, restores appetite, induces
healthful sleep—it gives you all those
things which mean energy and well-
being. Get a bottle today—only $1.00
at all drug stores.
A. B. Richards Medicine Co.,'Sherman, Texas
MPmim
Y DQSB AW 0 QQTTLSS -£Q* 3Q*& §0*
MITCH E
EYE SAU/E
brings relief to inflamed eyes, gran-
ulated litis, styes, ete. A simple.
dependable, absolutely safe remedy.
— 25c.—all druggisis or by mail from
MJ— /_ _ BAU & BUCK IX, Inc.
215 Washington St., N. V,
WEAK SORE EYES
FRECKLES
POSITIVELY REMOVED by Dr. Berry's
Freckle Ointment—Your druggisc or by
mail, 60c. Free book. Dr. C. H. Berry
Co., 2975 Michigan Avenue, Chicago.
AIRPLANE GLUE—MENDS ANA THING but
a broken heart. 26c large sample. Thomaa
Aircraft Co., 617 Mason Bide-, Houston, Tex.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
Dunlap, Levi A. The Meridian Tribune (Meridian, Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 31, Ed. 1 Friday, January 9, 1920, newspaper, January 9, 1920; Meridian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth415496/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Meridian Public Library.