The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1901-11-19
A KNIGHT
OF 1901
BY WILLIAM BLoss.
Copyright, 1901, by Authors Syndicate,

~ series of school READERS" which
may have been the third" or it may
have been the fourth" reader-was
one which, among other classic Sc
lectiOns, contained the account in
verse of how, when the queen
of the medieval fete had ban
tered Lord Francis to chase aft
er the glove she had wantonly
thrown into the arena among a fero-
cious collection of man-eating lions,
the active and astute Lord Francis
slightly leaped" down to the arena
sands, deftly snatched up the lady's
glove before the astonished lions could
figure out what he was up to, climbed
nimbly back to his seat by the fair
lady's side, and then-good Lord Fran
cisl-threw the glove, slap bang, right
in the lady's face.
"Not love-" quoth he, "but vanity,
prompted such a deed as this"
The poet fails to inform US upon the
point, but one can imagine that after
this there were no wedding bans for
the fair ladye and Lord Francis, who
was the catch of the season, and that
she was exceeding sore about it, and
repented her folly at leisure.
There may be different mental atti-
tddes regarding the propriety of this
tempestuOus conduct of Lord Francis,
some, no doubt, contending that no
true gentleman would under any stress
Of Irritating circumstances return to
lady her glove by throwing it sharp
y into her face, and that this breach
of decorum at once stamped the knight
3 a boorish-mannered and racous-
minded person, whose name should be
stricken from the blue book of his day;
at it appears to be a majority point
al view that the lady was served ex-
.setiy as she deserved, and that if She
went unmarried to the end of her days
she received only such measure as she
melted. And strangely enough, it is
Ehe ladies themselves who most ar
IDENTIFY uphold this latter view of
the case.
IN the midsummer c. this first year
O5Toa- 1Swest century, the big city of
Chicago, stirred by the public spirit of
a generous citizen, discovered in sud-
denness what had been a readily ap-
parent fact for three whole genera
tions-that its far-stretching shore of
sandy beach and cooling water was a
heritage of the people, and had not
been designed by nature as a riparian
asset for land-grabbing corporation
or an easy dumping spot for the refuse
Of contractors. Accordingly, private
means having furnished the equip
ments of which the civic purse had de-
MED, or never thought of, there were
established all along the shore, from
the mouth of the sedgy Calumet to
far Lake View, public bathing beaches.
provided with convenient dressing
rooms. with soap and towels and bath
ing suits, free for the uses of all who
came, with life lines and floating RATS
upon which the bathers could disport.
and, above all, with expert attendants
to teach the art Of swimming and to
be at touch in any moment of peril
which might unhappily overtake the
inexperienced or the venturesome
The waters of Lake Michigan are cold.
and only when an east wind rolls its
sun-heated surface in upon the shall
lows of the western shore is it really
adapted for pleasure bathing.
Public appreciation of this new
found luXury-and tacit condemna-
ton of the civic stupidity which had
so long denied it to the peopIe. IFS
real owners-was evidenced at once
IN the vast popularity these free bath
ing beaches leaped into in an in
slant and continued to hold until the
nlpping air of fall rendered undress
dIsporting on the sands no longer a
pastime and JOY. Hundreds of thou
sands of visitors, the records show.
partook of their advantages during
the brief season.
1t was at the most frequented of
all these beaches so opened to pub
Tic use that young Elmer Armstrong.
university matriculant, whose leg
acy had been a stout heart and am
bition to rise, a strong body and the
hardy constitution bequeathed by
sturdy forbears, a pure mind and in
trepid resolution. He had, besides. a
widows blessing and a couple of
hundred dollars he had earned as an
amateur life saver before he became
a freshman at 10.
Not much, you will say, when it
must be reckoned that this was alb
solutely all he had in the world, be-
yond the dear memory of how his
mother had loved him, and had toiled
long that he might go through the
high school. Well, there are those
worse equipped, many men whose
white hairs speak of that wisdom
whose seed are trial and experience
would prefer Elmer Armstrong; cap
ital of youth and courage and hope
and loyalty to two hundred times two
hundred dollars in the bank, without
those things. 1t wasn't the pawn
brokers, but the youth who were
swift and strong, whom the ancients
crowned with laurel.
And Elmer Armstrong passed a use
full and a DrOSDerOus and 2 sunlit