Mercedes Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 38, Ed. 1 Friday, November 4, 1921 Page: 4 of 12
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PAGE FOUR
MERCEDES TRIBUNE
c
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1921
MERCEDES TRIBUNE
PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY BY
TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY
W. D. HOLLAND.............Editor
RALPH L. BUELL,-Managing Editor
Entered as second class mail mat-
ter at the postoffice at Mercedes,
Texas, January 23, 1914, under the
Act of March 3, 1879._ .
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MERCEDES, TEXAS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1921
COMMON SENSE VERSUS POLITICS.
Throughout the entire session of the Good Roads meeting at
Alice the early part of this week, the feature which could not
help but bring pleasure to those from the Valley attending the
proceedings was the desire of everyone concerned to see a high-
way built which would connect their section of Texas with the
Valley. As speaker after speaker in reporting the good roads
progress being made in his county concluded his remarks, it was
always with the statement that the people in his county desired
to see a road built which would enable them to come to the
Valley.
State Highway Commissioner McCrory stated in his speech
that the State and Federal Governments were extremely anxious
to see the rest of the State of Texas connected with the Valley
by means of a hard surfaced road.
These several statements are significant in their relation to
the election which lias been called for the 22nd of this month
to determine whether or not the people of this county shall vote
bonds for the purpose of permanent road construction. The value
t0 the Valley of good roads leading to our door and then stopping
is very dubious. Certainly such road construction will not remedy
the evils of our present road system within the county. Certain-
ly tourists and business men will hesitate to make the overlanc
trip with the certainty of bad roads right at their journey’s end.
If we expect tourists and others to travel the roads of Hidalgo
County, we must furnish them the roads on which to travel. It
is an admitted fact that the future prosperity of the county de-
pends very largely upon the construction of good roads.
A regrettable feature of the forthcoming election is the incli-
nation of some of the opponents of the bond issue to make a
political fight over the matter. In no way can the future well-
being of the county he injured to a greater extent than by bring-
ing proposed public improvements into politics. Nothing can be
accomplished at any time by such actions. Supposing for a min-
utae that the bond issue is defeated on political grounds. Will
this county ever be able to make any public improvements?
Suppose again that the political opponents of the present county
officers should be elected next November. Will the adherents
of the present party favor the issuance of bonds once such an
issuance has been made a matter of political dispute? To carry
a bond issue requires a twO-thirds majority. Conversely, t0
defeat a bond issue requires only one more than one-third of the
total votes cast. It is manifestly easy to defeat such an issue,
especially jf the defeat is made a question of political victory.
It should be remembered by those who are seeking t0 make
political 6apital by their opposition to this proposed issue, that
the petition for the election originated not with the Commissioners
Court of the County, but from a precinct which voted practically
unanimously against such an issue two years ago;, and that the
men who circulated this petition were among the bitterest oppo-
nents of the present administration at the polls last November.
Let the Good Roads proposition and the Bond Issue stand on
their own merits. If after careful thought and consideration, the
people of Hidalgo County decide that they desire to issue bonds
for the construction of a permanent roadway through the county,
well and good, the people of the county, not any political party,
have won a victory. If the decision as expressed at the polls is
adverse to such an issue, the best interests and the prosperity
of the county have been defeated, not any political party.
Keep Public Improvements out of politics.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
♦ ♦
I Sisters j
KATHLEEN %
NORRIS |
^ ♦
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦❖♦♦A♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
CHAPTER XV,—Continued
in utter confusion she looked up.
It was Martin who stopped her.
For a few dreadful seconds a sort
of vertigo seized Cherry and she w,as
unable to collect her thoughts or to
speak even the most casual words of
greeting. She 'had been so full of her
extraordinary errand that she was be-
wildered and sick at its interruption;
her heart thundered, her throat was
choked, and her knees shook beneath
her. Where was she—what was
known—how much had she be-
trayed—
Gasping, trying to smile, she looked
up at him, while the ferry place
whirled about her and pulses drummed
in her ears. She had automatically
given him her hand; now he kissed
her.
“Hello, Cherry; where you going?”
for the third time.
“I came into town to shop,” she
faltered.
“You what?” She had not really
been intelligible, and she felt it, with
a pang of fright.. He must not suspect
—the steamer was there, only a short
block away; Peter might pass them;
a chance word might be fatal—he must
not suspect—
“I’m shopping!”'she said distinctly,
with dry lips. And she managed to
smile.
“Well,” Martin said, “surprised to
see me?”
“Oh, Martin—” said her fluttered
voice. Even in the utter panic of
heart and soul she knew that for
safety’s sake she must find his vanity.
•“I’m going to tell you something
that will surprise you,” he said. “I’m
through with the Red Creek people!”
“Martin!” Cherry enunciated almost
voicelessly. She'looked from a flower
vendor to a newsboy, looked at the
cars, the people—she must not faint.
She must not faint.
‘•■Well—but where are you going?
Home?”
“I was going to the dentist a min-
ute, but it’s not important.” They
had turned and were walking across
to the ferry. She knew that there was
no way in which she might escape
him. “What did you say?” she said.
“I asked you when the next boat
left for Mill Valley?”
“We can—go—find out.” Cherry’s
thoughts were spinning. She must
warn Peter somehow. It was twenty
minutes of eleven by the ferry clock.
Twenty minutes of eleven. In twenty
minutes the boat would sail. She
thought desperately of the women’s
waiting room upstairs; she might
plead the necessity of telephoning
from it. But it had but one door, and
Martin would wait at that door.
Suddenly she realized that her only
hope of warning Peter was to send
a messenger. But if Martin should
chance to connect her neighborhood
wi^h the boat, when he met her, and
her sending of a message to Peter
here—
“I think there’s a boat at eleven
something,” she said, .collectively.
“Suppose you io and find out?”
Stupidities nau aesseuvu irci- lcnr oi
him.
“I’ve got to send a telegram—for
Alix,” she said.
“What about?” he asked, less curi-
ous than ill-bred.
“Goodby to some people who are
sailing!” Cherry answered, calmly.
“Only don’t mention it to Alix, because
I promised it would go earlier!” she
added.
“I saw the office back here,” he told
her. They went to it together, and
he was within five feet of her while
she scribbled her note.
“Martin met me. Nothing wrong.
We are returning to Mill Valley. C.
L.” She glanced at her husband; he
was standing in the doorway of the
little office, smoking. Quickly she ad-
dressed the envelope. “Don’t read
that name out loud,” she said, softly
but very slowly and distinctly, to the
girl at the desk. She put a gold piece
down on the note. “Keep the change,
and for God’s sake get that to the
Harvard, sailing from Dock 67, before
eleven v' she said.
The girl looked up in surprise; but
rose immediately to the occasion.
Cherry’s beauty, her agonized eyes
and voice, were enough to-uwaken her
sense of the dramatic. A sharp rap
of the clerk’s pencil summoned a boy.
CONCRETE ROAD REINFORCE-
MENT; NOVEL FOUNDATIONS
How a reinforced concrete road
holds up under heavy traffic is to be
determined by the Bureau of Public
Roads United States Department of
Agriculture, through experiments to
hie conducted on such a road now
being built in the suburbs of Wash-
ington in cooperation with Arlington
County, Va.
The road is being reinforced with
many different arrangements of wire
mesh and round steel rods embed-
ed in the concrete. The joints will
be filled with tar, or simply a sheet
of corrugated metal set on edge with
the concrete poured around it. Some
sections are to have joints running
along the middle of the road, some
across it, and some will be built
without joints.
Of especial interest is the construc-
tion of ribbed sections. Instead of
placing the concrete on a nearly flat
subgrade, trenches will be dug in
the subgradp running parallel to the
edges of the road and also across the
road. These trenches will be filled
with concrete, giving the slab down-
ward projections of concrete, and
presumably strengthening it. Expe-
riments also will be conducted to de-
termine the strengthening effect of
treating the earth under the concrete.
OHIO EXPANDS MARKET
INFORMATION SERVICE
The Ohio Bureau of Markets, Co-
lumbus,, Ohio, has had installed in its
office in the State capitol a “drop”
from the leased telegraph wire ope.'
rated by the Bureau of Markets and
Crop Estimates, United States De-
partment of Agriculture, and is ar-
ranging to develop a market news
service for fruits and vegetables, live
stock and meats, and dairy products.
The plans of the Ohio bureau con-
templated giving intensive distribu-
tion of current news regarding sup-
ply and demand and prices of these
products, to Ohio producers, dealers,
and ’consumers.
of 6 inches will be mixed with ce-
ment, Using 1 part of cement to 20
parts of earth. In some places where
there is a grade a trench under the
concrete will be filled with gravel.
These trenches will slope toward the
edges of the road and drain away
any water that might otherwise ac
cumulate under the surface.
-o-
The man without a country would
have one consolation these days. He
wouldn’t have to day an income tax.
-o-
Tom Sims advances the thought
that the School of Experience charges
On one section the earth for a depth most for its night courses.
She glancedx toward the entrance
of the Sausalito waiting-room, a hun-
dred yards away, and a mad hope
leaped in her heart. If he turned his
back on her-
“What are you going to do?” he
asked, somewhat surprised.
“I ought to telephone Alix!” Her
despair lent her wit. If he went to
the ticket office, and she into a tele-
phone booth, she might escape him
yet! While he dawdled here, minutes
were flying, and Peter was watching
every car and every passer-by, torn
with the same agony that was tearing
her. “If you’ll go find out the exact
time and get tickets,” she said, “I’ll
telephone Alix.”
“Tickets?” he echoed, with all Mar-
tin’s old, maddening slowness.
“Haven’t you got a return ticket?”
“I have mileage!” she blundered.
“Oh, then I’ll use your mileage!”
Martin said. “Telephone,” he added,
nodding toward a row of booths, “no
hurry; we’ve got piles of time!”
She remembered that he liked a
masculine assumption of easiness
where all trains, tickets, railroad con-
nections, and transit business <jf any
sort were concerned. He liked to loi-
ter elaborately while other people
were running, liked to pull out his
big watch and assure her that they had
all the time in the world. She tried
to call a number, left the booth, paid
a staring girl, and rejoined him.
“Busy!” she reported.
“I was just thinking,” Martin said,
“that we might stay in town and go
to the Orpheum; how about it? Do
we have to have Peter and Alix?”
Cherry flushed, angered again, in
the well-remembered way, under all
her fright and stir. Her voice had
its old bored note.
“Well, Martin, I’ve been their guest
for two months!”
“I’d just as soon have them!” Mar-
tin conceded, indifteiuntly.
But the diverted thought had helped
Cherry, irritation had nerved her, an I
the reminder of . -ri" * 'd, uyi ig
“George, there’s a dollar In that for
you if you deliver it before eleven to
the Harvard!” said she. The boy
seized it, stuck it in his hat,- and -fled.
“And now for the boat!” Cherry
said, rejoining Martin, and speaking
in almost hgr natural voice. They
went back to the Sausalito ferry en-
trance again, and this time telephoned
Alix in real earnest, and presently
found themselves on the upper deck of
the boat, bound for the valley.
Until now, and in occasional rushes
of terror still, she had been absorbed
In the hideous necessity of deceiving,
of covering her own traces, of antici-
pating and closing possible avenues
of betrayal. But now Cherry began
to breathe more easily, and to feel
rising about her, like a tide, the haif-
forgotten consciousness of her rela-
tionship with this man in the boldly-
checked suit who was sitting beside
her. She had thought to escape the
necessity of telling him that she was
not willing to return to him; she had
been wrapped in dreams so great and
so wonderful that the thought of his
anger and resentment had been as noth-
ing to her. But she had that to face
now.
She had it to face immediately, too.
She knew that every hour of post-
ponement would cost her fresh humili-
ations and difficulties, and as the boat
slipped smoothly past the island that
roughly marked the halfway point,
she gathered all her forces for the
trial. The one distinct impression she
had from Martin was the appalling
one that he did not dream that she
had decided to sever their union com-
pletely and finally.
“Well, how’s the valley? Bore you
to death?” he interrupted the flow of
his own topic to ask carelessly.
“Oh, no, Martin!” she quivered. “I
—I love it there! I always loved it!”
“Alix is a fine girl—she’s a nice
girl,” Martin conceded. “But I can’t
go Peter! He may be .all right, all
that lali-di-dah and Omar Khayyam
and Browning stuff may be all right,
but I don’t get it!” And he yawned
contentedly in the sunshine.
After a few seconds he gave Cher-
ry an oblique glance, expecting her
resentment. But she was thinking too
deeply even to have heard him. Her
mind was working as desperately as
a caged animal, her thoughts circling
frantically, trying windows, walls, and
doors in the prison in which she
found herself, mad for escape.
She blamed herself bitterly now for
allowing him, in the surprise and fear
she felt, in the shock of their unex-
pected meeting, to arrange this do-
mestic and apparently reconciled re-
turn to the valley house. But it was
too late now! Too late for anything
but a bald and brave and cruel half-
hour that should, at any cost, sunder
them.
Quick upon the thought came an-
other : what should she and Peter plan
now? For to suppose that their lives
were to be guided back into the old
hateful channel by this mere mis-
chance was preposterous. Within a
few days their interrupted trip must
be resumed, perhaps tomorrow—per-
haps this very night they would man-
age it successfully. Meanwhile, un-
til she could see Peter alone, there
was Martin to deal with, Martin who
was leaning forward, vaingloriously re-
citing to her long speeches he had
made to this superior or that.
“Martin,” she said, impetuously in-
terrupting him, “I’ve got to talk to
you! I’ve meant to write it—so many
times, I’ve had it in mind ever since
I left Red Creek!"
“Shoot!” Martin said, with his fav-
orite look of indulgent amusement.
“There are marriages that without
any fault on either side are a mistake,”
Cherry began, “a,hy contributory fault,
I mean-”
“Talk United States!” Martin
growled, smiling, but on guard.
“Well, I think our marriage was one
of those!” Cherry said.
“What have you got to kick about?”
Martin asked, after a pause.
“I’m not kicking!” Cherry answered,
with quick resentment. “But I wish
I had words to make you realize how
I feel about it!”
Martin looked gloomily up at her,
and shrugged.
“This is a sweet welcome from your
wife!” he observed. But as she re-
garded him with troubled and earnest
eyes, perhaps her half-forgotten beau-
ty ffia'ae an unexpected appeal to Mm,
for he turned toward her and eyed
her with a large tolerance. “What’s
the matter, Cherry?” he asked. “It
doesn’t seem to me that you’ve got
much to kick about. Haven’t I always
taken pretty good care of you? Didn’t
I take the house and move the things
in; didn’t I leave you a whole month,
while I ate at that rotten boarding-
house, when your father died; haven’t
I let you have—how long is it?—«even
weeks, by George, with your sister?”
Cherry recognized the tones of his
old arraigning voice. He felt himself
ill-treated.
“Now you come in for this money,”
he began. But she interrupted him
hotly:
“Maytin, you know that is not true!”
“Isn’t it true that the instant you
can take care of yourself you begin
to talk about not being happy, and
so on!” he asked, without any par-
ticular feeling. “You bet you do ! Why,
I never cared anything about that
money, you never heard me speak of
it. I always felt that by the time the
lawyers and the heirs and the wit-
nesses got through, there wouldn’t be
much left of it, anyway!”
Too rich in her new position of the
woman beloved by Peter to quarrel
with Martin in the old unhappy fash-
ion, Cherry laid an appealing hand
on his arm.
“I’m sorry to meet you with this
sort of thing,” she said, simply, “I
blame myself now for not writing you
just how I’ve come to feel about itl
We must make,, some arrangement foi
the future—things can’t be as they
were!” 1
“You’ve had it all your way ever
since we were married,” he began.
“Now you blame me-”
“I don’t blame you, Martin!” ,
“Well, what do you want a divorce
for, then?”
“I don’t even say anything about
a divorce,” Cherry said, fighting for
*
m
Cherry Laid an Appealing Hand
His Arm.
time only. “But I can’t go back!” she
added, with a sudden force and con-
viction that reached him at last.
“Why can’t you?”
“Because you dorft love me, Mai’-
tin, and—you know it!—I don’t love
you!”
“Well, but you can’t expect the way
we felt when we got married to last
forever,” he said, clumsily. “Do you
suppose other men and women talk
this way when the—the novelty has
worn off?”
“I don’t know how they talk. I only
know how I feel!” Cherry said, chilled
by the old generalization.
Martin, who had stretched his legs
to their length, crossed them at the
ankles, and shoved his hands deep in-
to his pockets, staring at the racing
blue water with somber eyes.
“What do you want?” he asked,
heavily.
“I want to live my own life!” Cher-
ry answered, after a silence during
which her tortured spirit seemed to
coin the hackneyed phrase.
“That stuff!” Martin sneered, under
his breath. “Well, all right, I don’t
care, get your divorce!” he agreed,
carelessly, “fiut I’ll have something
to say about that, too,” he warned her.
“You can drag the whcfle thing up be-
fore the courts if you want to—only
remember, if you don’t like it much,
you did it: It never occurred to me
even to think of such a thing! I’ve
done my share in this business; you
never asked me ■ for anything I could
give you that you didn’t get; you’ve
never been tied down to housework
like other women; you’re hot raising
a family of kids—go ahead, tell every
shop-girl in San Francisco all about
it, in the papers, and see how much
sympathy you get!”
“Oh, you beast!” Cherry said, be-
tween her teeth, furious tears in her
eyes. The water swam in a blur of
blue before her as they rose to go
downstairs at Sausalito.
Martin glanced at her with impa-
tience. Her tears never failed to
anger him.
“Don’t cry, for God’s sake!” he said,
nervously glancing about for possible
onlookers. “What do you want me to
do? For the Lord’s sake don’t make
a scene until you and I have a chance
to talk this over quietly-”
Cherry’s thoughts were with Peter.
In her soul she felt as if his arm was
>' <.-m> were oouriug uui
to him tne wnoie troumeu story, sure
that he would rescue and console hero
She had wiped her eyes, and some-
what recovered calm, but she trusted
herself only to shrug her shoulder as
she preceded Martin to the train,
There was no time for another word,
for Alix suddenly took possession of
them. She had had time to bring the
car all the six miles to Sausalito, and
meant to drive them direct to the val^
ley from there.
She greeted Martin affectionately,
although even while she did so her
eyes went with a quick, worried look
to Cherry. They had been quarreling,
of course—it was too bad, Alix
thought, but her own course was clear.
Until she could take her cue from
them, she must treat them both with
cheerful unconsciousness of the
storm.
They reached the valley and Martin
was magnanimous about the delayed
lunch. Anything would do for him,
he said; he was taking a couple of
days’ holiday, and everything went.
Kow was chopping wood after lunch,
and he sauntered out to the block with
Suggestions; Alix, laying a fire for tb^
evening, simply because she liked
do that sort of work, was favored
directions. Finally Martin pushed hi
aside.
“Here, let me do that,” he said,
“You’d have a fine fire here, at that
rate!”
Later he went down to the old house
with them, to spend there an hour
that was trying to both women. It
was almost in order now; Cherry had
pleased her simple fancy in the matter
of hangings and papering, and the
effect was fresh and good.
“Girls going to rent this?” Martin
asked.
“Unless you and Cherry come live
here,” Alix said boldly. He smiled
tolerantly.
“Why should we?” ^
“Well, why shouldn’t you?” ^
“Loafing, eh?” 1
“No, not loafing. But you cot^ld
transfer your work to San Francisco,^
couldn’t you?”
Martin smiled a deep, wise, lpng-
enduring smile. oqMflV'
“Oh, you’d get me a job, I suppose?”
he asked. “I love the way you women
try to run things,” he added, “but I
guess I’ll paddle my own canoe for a
while longer!”
“There is no earthly reason why you,
shouldn’t live here,” Alix said pleas-
antly.
“There is no earthly reason why we-
should!” Martin returned. He was
annoyed by a suspicion that Alix and
Cherry had arranged between them to
make this plan the alternative a
divorce. “To tell you the honest truoh,
I don’t like Mill Valley!” ^
Alix tasted despair. Small hope of
preserving this particular-relationship.
He was, as Cherry had said, “impos-
sible.”
“Well, we must try to make you like
Mill Valley better!” she said with
resolute good-nature. “Of course, it
means a lot to Cherry and to me to bo
near each other!”
“That may be true, too,” Martin
agreed, taking the _ front seat again
for the drive home.
Alix was surprised at Cherry’s pas-
sivity and silence, but Cherry was
wrapped in a sick and nervous dream,
unable either to interpret the present
or face the future with any courage.
Before luncheon he had fallowed-Iter
into her room and had put his a*m
about her. But she had quietly shaken
him off, with ‘ the nervous murmur:
“Please—no, don’t kiss me, Martin !”
Stung, Martin had immediately
dropped his arm, had -shrugged- hisf
shoulders indifferently ' and laughed
scornfully. Now he remarked to Alixr
with some bravado:
“You girls still sleeping out?”
“Oh, always—we all do!” Alix had
answered readily. “Peter has an ex-
tra bunk on his porch; Cherry and I
have my porch. But you can he out
or in, as you choose!” \
Martin ventured an answer that
made Cherry’s eyes glint angrily and
brought a quick, embarrassed flush to
Aiix’s face. Alix did not enjoy \a
certain type of joking, and she didlfcu^
concede Martin even the ghost of a
smile. He immediately sobered and
remarked that he himself liked to be
indoors at night. His suitcase was
accordingly taken into the pleasant
little wood-smelling room next to Pe-
•ter’s, where the autumn sunlight,
scented with the dry sweetness of
mountain shrubs, was streaming.
He began to play solitaire, on the-
porch table, at five, and Kow had to*
disturb him to set it for dinner at
seven. Alix was watering the gar-
den, Cherry was dressing. It was an
exquisite hour of long shadows and
brilliant lights.
Kow had put a tureen of soup on
the table, and Alix had returned with
damp, clean hands and trimly brushed
hair, for supper, when Peter came up
through the garden. Cherry had^arn-
bled off in the direction of the barn a
few moments before, but Martin had
followed her and brought her back,
remarking that she had had no idea
of the time and was idly watching
Antone milking. She slipped into her
place after they were all eating, and
hardly raised her eyes throughout the-
meal. If Alix addressed her she flut-
tered the white lids as if it were an
absolute agony to look up; to Peter
she did not speak at all. But to ' r-
tin she sent an occasional answer,
and when the conversation lagged, as
it was apt to do in this company, she
nervously filled it with random re-
marks infinitely less reassuring than
silence. ,. ..
(To be continued)
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Holland, W. D. & Buell, Ralph L. Mercedes Tribune (Mercedes, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 38, Ed. 1 Friday, November 4, 1921, newspaper, November 4, 1921; Mercedes, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth637714/m1/4/: accessed July 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Dr. Hector P. Garcia Memorial Library.