Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

LOVE AND LILACS By MILDRED WHITE. (Copyright, 191S. by Western Newspaper Unluu.j Homer Brant drew his car up sud denly at sight of the lilac bush. To him in the roadway came the sweet haunting odor. Indefinably the per fume brought to mind the girl he had so recently and so quickly learned to love. Homer had stopped there, on his way to an engineering camp higher up. He had intended to remain over night, but with Justine Jordan's coming, his visit had been prolonged. During the first day they had visit ed together, upon the hotel veranda, the second found thom roaming the wonderful country in his car; at the end of one short enchanted week, Homer caught the girl in his arras, speaking out his love for brr. And that had been the end. Like some startled bird she had escaped and flown from his embrace, and when after a troubled night, he awaited her morning appearance, humble in his apology-she had not appeared at all. Instead the hall boy had handed him a note in peculiarly characteristic hand writing. "Dear friend," it said, "when this reaches you, I shall be up among the hills, fulfilling a mission which has been postponed just one week. Spring time, and lilac time, tempted me to linger. When I meet you again, I hope it may be in the more prosaic and less ? romantic atmosphere of the city. With '-best wishes ever-Justine Jordan." Whereupon, Homer, inwardly fuming at his admired one's practical coolness, bade the inn good-by. and began a searching tour of the hills. What could be the delayed mission at which she mysteriously hinted and which brought her to this isolated country? He alighted and made his way to the lilac bush which grew beside the open window of a vacated log cabin ; looking inside, he was surprised to see a reclining camp chair in the cen ter of the room. Entering curiously, he sank into the chair, idly drawing from its side bracket a recent illus trated magazine. Some person evi dently made this rude shelter a read ing place. ' Gazing through the open door across the vista of glorious scenery Homer mentally complimented the reader on his choice of location. Then as ho re placed the magazine a pad of writing paper fell from the rack, one glance at the bold and pleasing handwriting broughton quick flush te his face. Sure ly this and the penmanship of his own hasty note of dismissal were the same. So Justine had found her way to this deserted cabin ; then her stopping place must be in a nearby farm house. The heading of the closely written page caught his attention. "Dearest," he read, "Oh, my dearest!" Homer Brant's heart pounded furi ously, as his eyes forcibly followed the fines: "Across the miles I have trav eled to our trysting place, and you are not hore. Instead, I find the lov ing note you braved dancer to leave. Beloved, let not your courageous spirit falter. Without one look into your eyes, without a touch of your dear hand, I could not go back to the world. Some way I shall manage our meeting. Never in my heart can there be room for other than you. I am,-Your Own." The pad slipped from the man's trembling fingers. So this was the secret of the softly brooding eyes; and love after all these years had but found him to make mockery. Homer sprang to his feet, ns a girl came through the doorway, came and stood a moment, surprise and dif fidence in her gaze. "Justine !" he cried out sharply, then still inwardly raging, pointed to the written pages at his feet. "I read your letter through," he said, "I even forgot about scruples and it has show ed me why you ran away from my love. But I want to know." he straight ened before her, "I Fernand to know, why any man dare to ask a woman to meet him in secret, dare bring her in to threatened danger!" Across the girl's somber eyes flash ed her transforming smile. "That man, is a German spy," she replied. Brant came suddenly close, fiercely he caught her wrists In his grasp, ''And you." he breathed, "you-" For a time she stood, looking steadi ly into his face. "Let me go," she said at last, "and I will explain." When he loosed her hands, she smil ed, and going to the camp chair, brought back an open magazine hold ing it'out before him. Dazedly he read the title of a story, "In Love and War." and beneath it, "new serial, by Justine Jordan." "You are more privileged than oth ers," she laughed, "for you have read the beginning of a later installment. That is what I came out here to write. The cabin is my study." "So," he said slowly, "you are a great author, little Justine." "Not great," the girl replied, "very simple, love and lilacs-that sort of thing." "And in your own life, you have no use for love?" She looked from the lilacs nodding through the cabin window, back to the man's tense face. "Six days wore too short a time in which to be sure," she murmured, "the country confuses with Its enchantment." "But now?-" his eyes burned into hers the question. Helplessly she put out her hands, "Ni?vcr id my heart can thore be roon? for other than you," she quoted, "I am, your own." Physicians disagree more than the politicians. After dodging all tho dangers of au tocracy, the czar broke his leg riding a bicycle. This summer's fish story has little interest. The really big game 's the submarine. A necessary adjunct to tho raise more-sheep movement is to rinse fewer worthless dogs. The author of a "how to succeed" book has died insolvent. Most of them do, or ought to. Nobody looks more foolish thnn the man who thinks it clever to cheat his way to an exemption. "Slacker" is a mild word ns com pared to deserter; yet the two are eas ily merged in meaning. The high cost of living has at least discouraged the dangerous tendency to overeat in summer time. With so much food going to waste on the vines and in transit the only thing to do is to cat it. It is safe to assume that the women j fighting in Europe are not a bit like ? the moving-picture war heroines. Were the Savior to come to the Unit ed States there are men who would try to make money out of his visit. The way in which current cabinets are changing would indicate that they are seldom formed of emergency men. ? However, tho joy riders don't seem to be in the least alarmed about the danger of a shortage in the oil supply. In the garden the man with the hop ls much more useful than the man with the hose, but wielding the hose is ens ier. The girl who has married a man in the hope of saving him from war has picked out a mighty poor kind of hus band. The gridiron season Is approaching. Let England and France hold the line and Uncle Sam will carry the ball over. No shift in Russian affairs offers Nicholas Romanoff encouragement to do anything more than hoe his vege tables. Now that the French are calling American soldiers "Sammies" one wonders what the Germans will soon be calling them? An expert advises us to eat poultry to save the beef. At present prices the only thing left for us to do is to help save both of them. Germany bas planned to recapture the dye stuff trade from America as soon as the war is over-but we are dyeing to beat them now. In Copenhagen they are expelling tourists who eat too much. Perhaps they are getting nervous over that American blockade and its meaning. One of the ministers of the new Russian cabinet Is Mr. Nikltine. Ile ought to be able to give much help towards smoking out the enemies of the republic. "Nobody knows what the Berlin gov ernment wants," complains a German writer. Wrong. Everybody knows what it wants, but nobody knows what It expects to got. The Medical Record having declared that ?C? cream ls food, it must be con ceded that young men do not waste the money whrr-h they spend in refection for th?ir best girls. "Armenians In Need of More Funds." a headline, illustrates the fa cility with which an oppressed people acquire the ways of the uuoppressed, even in the midst of war. Experiments In bomb-throwing by the American troops in France show that their baseball experience has made them superior at the work tc the French and the Germans. According to the news columns an eminent scientist has discovered that there are only twenty words in the monkey language. Life must be un speakably dull for the lady monkeys. It is just naturally born in man to want to dictate to something or some body, but the man who marries with the idea of having a subordinate to boss is one of humanity's most pathet ic figures. The easiest way to learn to pro nounce the names of the new Russian ministers is to take a badly cracked phonograph record, label it "Kerensky Calling the Roll of His Cabinet," anti | turn it loose. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and whether the new bread Is known as war bread or liber ty bread n great many people think lt an improvement on the white wheat loaf, which it is superseding. The Germans are quoted as think ing American aviators will fall through lack of courage. They need not lay ?nell flattering unction to their FC"uls. It will not help them when the American aviator gets in etti on. ATTENTION GIVEN TO ROADS No Matter What Construction May Be Highways Must Be Given Seme Consideration. Lot no man bc deluded into tte thought that such things as "perma nent roads" are possible. All roads, no matter what kind, require atten tion and (he more they receive the bettor tiley aro. A chief cause for poor roads is the fact that a great proportion of the road work done the country over is of so temporary and make-shift an order. Of course, thc only real sa-tisfactnry road in all weather is a hard road-either paved Hard Road Well Cared for. or stone, with gravel next in favor, says Indiana Farmer's Guide. But even such roads fall into disrepair, if given no attention. What is said to be the worst stretch of highway in Illinois was once a magnificent mac adam road. Now it is almost impass able owing to the deep hollows and ruts which it contains. Everyone gives it a wide berth and it is "black listed" in nil automobile guides. Concrete and brick paving also must have over sight and repair. Autoists have a saying that there is no better road than a dirt road When it is dry. This is because, in the case of a well-drained earth road, passing vehicles smooth out the ruts left after a rain and iron it into a sufficiently level surface to permit of easy traveling. Here, again, it is a case of "working the roads," though the work given ls of an automatic kind and rendered without thought of the service performed. However, it sometimes takes a lons time to smooth out the roughness after a rain-espe cially if thc soil is a heavy clay. And usually the same makeshift attention is given the earth road that is the too-f roquent lot of macadam and gravel. In some townships the dirt roads are dragged at rather infrequent in tervals and if a rain comes right after the dragging tho effect of the latter Is largely nullified. The best dirt roads, year in and year out, are those which are dragged whenever possible at all seasons of the year. This should bo done as soon after every rain as possible but not when the mud is in such condition that it will stick to the drag. It Is best to drag one side of Hie road at a time and forbid travel upon it until lt is thoroughly dry. As a general rule the softer the material of which a road is copiposod the more frequent attention it should receive. But let no one forget that good roads of whatever kind are pos* Bible only at the price of constant over sight RESULTS FROM GOOD ROADS After Improvement Price of Tillable Lands Show Big Increase-Chil dren Benefited. After improving the main market roads in four counties in Virginia and one each in New York, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi during a pe riod of five years, a survey was made of the work and its results. It was found that the price of tillable land served by the roads increased from one to three times the total cost of the Improvements. The total saving every year in hauling costs due to this im provement in the roads amounts to $(127,409 for a traffic of about 3,500, 000 ton miles. The net saving on the hauling, after deducting the cost of Interest and principal for the improve ments, averages 11.6 cents per ton mile. After the roads were better, the aver age attendance of children in the pub lic schools was 70 per cont ; before the roads were Improved lt was CG per cent. Ten more children out of every 100 were enabled to get schooling -as a result of better roads. Dairymen Are Careful. Dairymen as a rule are more careful with their cows than the average farm er who merely produces the milk for family use. Reasonable Truck Hauling. Every pound of merchandise which cnn be added to the truck load makes truck hauling that mucii more reason able. Meal Damaged Surface. When a road is dragged, the dam aged'surface is sealed and healed. Ter JOB OFFICE BO I OUR PRINTING We are equipped with the most modern facilities, 1 and can do your printing in the most up-to-date man ner on short notice. Our New Linotype Machine1 will set type from the small type to the heavy display type. All kinds of work done in the most ap proved manner. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED Send your orders to The Edgefield Advertiser