The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1906-12-25
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) A MATTER OF STANDARD !
s By Jesse STRONG
u
B, JESSE STRONG


were directed,
nor was Mais. th cordial terms
with the police. In fact he would go
to some considerable pains to avoid
social intercourse with the guardi2Ts
of the law. And by the same token
the olue-coats would move rather
faster than usual to enjoy the pleasure
of Mapes' society. But then Bill had
an innate prejudice against blue
coats and brass-bCttons and stars and
clubs and all that sort of thing. Per-
haps he was not wholly responsible
because the prejudice may have besn
inherited.
1t is to be recalled that his father
Plug Mapes was constitutionally
opposed to the police before his I'M
happy taking-off at the end of rope
in quiet jail-yard on one memorable
day after the society of the blue-coats
had been thrust upon him in a most
shameless manner,
1t is also matter of history that
the gentlemanly wearers of the blue
gave a great sigh of relief upon this
occasion and congratulated themselves
openly and often until some months
later when it was borne to their In
teligence that young Bill Mapes had
succeeded to his respected sires es-
tate and was following, in no unwor-
thy manner, in the paternal footsteps
From all of which it may be de-
duced that Bill Mapes lived and
breathed and had his being without
the law of the land and that he would
not have been a welcome visitor at
your home at the witching hour of
midnight.
Yes, gentle reader you have guessed
right; Bill Mapes was a burglar,
thief, crook and earned his bread by
appropriating the product of the sweat
of the other fellows brow.
And yet Mapes was not bad sight
to look upon. He was a well-built,
sturdy, young fellow handling his
splendid strength with marked grace
of action. His features were rather
well-formed and his eyes clear and
blue and laughing, He was not fear
some object to look upon-excepting
when desperate or angry, and then
he was thunderbolt of action and
of passion.
It was inevitable, Of course, that
Mapes should occasionally be the
guest of the police, but despite all
their most energetic invitations he
had successfully maintained his mod
esty and evaded any considerable
strain upon their hospitality.
Upon his every appearance in the
police court, however, there had APP
peared also a most charming feminine
vision-a delicate, modest, brown-eyed
girl whose beauty won all hearts and
whose tears moved the sternest police
Justice to sympathy. She was mys-
terry to the police court and inspired
more interest than the prisoner in
whom she seemed to have such deep
interest, so to concern. After full
and free discussion it was duly de-
cided that she was settlement work
err or something or other of that sort
who was grieved over Bill Mapes' soul
and was trying to save him.
And while they berated him as a
dog they all bowed before the dainty
brown-eyed divinity.
Now it must be evident to the read
err at this point that Bill Mapes was
not an idealist, nor leading citi-
zen, nor a pillar of society, nor any
thing of that sort, but this simple tale
is written to show that every fellow
has his own standards and his own
ideals
One soft summer evening Mapes APP
reared at Browns Triangle" a rath.
or bad place in a very bad neighbor-
hood--a spot which policemen avoid
cd when on a lonesome beat and a
section most prodigiously berated by
he Anti-Crime society. He did not
enter the flat-iron shaped saloon but
going into one of the darkened streets,
emitted a shrill whistle Presently
A curtain upstairs was cautiously
pulled and a face peered forth Upon
further signal the curtain dropped
and a moment later streetdoor
opened and Bill faced his brown-eyed
divinity of the police court. Lo and
behold far from being a settlement
worker she was only the daughter of
Ike Brown, the keeper of the notori-
Gus Browns Triangle where, accord.
ing to the police, more robberies had
been planned than in any other spot
in the city.
"Howdy, Nan, said Mapes in a voice
somewhat strained with embarrass-
ment and taking the girls extended
| hands awlxwardly. Nice eyenin'."
81 didn't expect you" exclaimed the
gr beaming upon him with the glorl
GUS love-light, which, after all, is all
there is in life.
Nav. but I'm here" he responded