Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-02-05

always beat the last car home at night,
frowned on the frivolities that ordt
narily interest one of his years; gave
to charity in accordance with his
means, and withal was the best type
of young citizen. This appeared 10
have pleased mother greatly. If she'll
only tell him now so that he can come
back in my favor, will be able to for
give myself for the stretch that gave
my conscience in order to keep his
record clean. Fact is Jim is a gum
sheer; not bad, but just one Of those
sociable Indians that will chime in on
anything that sounds like a bully time.
could have told mother that at the
very moment she was touting him, and
1 was helping her, he was waiting for
the second show to close In order to
be with a Dollie that mutual friend
introduced him TO the first OF the
week. Every vaudeville skirt on the
circuit has his telephone number and
address. with letter OF Introduction
from her sister who is leaving for the
next stand. At that he is not soft.
Just likes to be around where there
is life occasionally. OF course If l
had been a sledge-swinger would
have come forward with a full report,
related In confidence, and for the pro-
lection of Gertrude and others OF her
friends who tolerated this daylight
angel But I'm giving none of the
gossips any new material to work on.
They have enough to keep them work
ing for a spell yet. They'll get enough
without any assistance from you and
me and the rest of us. What they
don't hear they'll manufacture.
But where I stubbed my toe was In
not warming up to mothers real beany
hobby-woman's suffrage. When this
was mentioned 1 began to fall for the
reason of the almost constant absence
of the head of the house from home.
The boots have been shifted in that
domicile, you can lay three to one on
that. His stall is that he's away look
ing after his western holdings. He is
pretty well healed, as I have hunched
you before. but l guess he could have
more of his laundering done at the
home station If he wanted to. 1 no
ticed Gertrude shift nervously when
mother drifted onto the political shoot.
Mother lit up like y cathedral when.
she declared that tho time was at hand
when women should assert their rights
at the polls. Mon entarily stood pat
Because I did not come back with an
instantaneous rise thought she wouio
get a handful of my face. She rushed
at me and shook her right under my
nose and said I was just like all the
other men. But we were not men, she
said We were selfish towards. A
lovely disposition to greet you at the
breakfast table on a cold winter morn
ing when the coal supply IS short.
The mocha repeated twice at din
ner-had been settling me, and 1 had
about reached that stage when l was
ready for a sacred song when mother
threw the suffrage scare into me. l
braced up, and, in order to save my
self as far as possible, l ventured that
I had not given the question as serious
thought as doubtless it deserved. That
was worse than ever. l was ignorant.
l knew who had the highest batting
average in the big leagues last season,
but I did not know the names of the
grand women who were forging the
way of progress on both hemispheres. /
Then she poured out the cognomens
of a string of James that l never heard
of before, and warned me to watch
their smoke. All that was holding her
back was her natural modesty. 1t
would not take much to get her into
the thick of the fight. tried to
change the subject to the Pinchot-Bal- |
Iinger controversy, and got deeper
than ever into it. I got hipped to
line of scandal that did not know was
in the books. Mothers opinion was
that the whole flock down at Washing
ton ought to be skidded OF course
agreed with her, and then we returned
to suffrage. My only means of avoid |
ing an open breach was to indicate
that 1 was at least interested in the
subject. In fact, I was glad to learn
that the women were rising to a full
of their rights, and it Ill
became our American and European
yaunted gallantry to lay obstacles in
the course of a movement that could |
not fail in such pure hands. The men
had made a sad bungle of political
administration wherever they had been
entrusted with the responsibilities of
government, said l. and l gloried in
the spunk of our motherhood and Sis
terhood in their battle for the freedom
of the ballot, irrespective of sex. Say. |
perhaps that line did not ride strong
with mother During the soto lead |
ing up to the explosion Gertrude fell
asleep. The clash awakened her, and
she was a pretty picture when she |
apologized to me. l under
stand that the loafer with the frat
pin and the bank roll (owned by
father) was caller the night before, |
and hung around until 12-you know |
he don't have to lay for the whistles |
like you and me.
1 carried home II pounds of suffra-
gette literature, including pictures and |
stories of the lives of the leading |
James in the fight see it's up to me |
to get a head full of the dope to be
the next evening l am per
mitted to call But that isn't helping |