Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1911-08-23
Mr.. MantOn'S Methods
By CLAUDINE SlSSON
Copyright. 1911. BY Associated Literary press.)

! make the old town assume a more ar
tistic look You might wash your
face and comb your hair and Gew up
some of the rents in your wardrobe.
And now | think | viii bow you out"
AS he held the door open for her to
pass out she was smoothing back her
| tangled hair and showing more shame
than when caught plundering. The re-
buke had hurt.
Almost every morning Mr.. Manton
had a stroll. During an evening he
sometimes sauntered through the
tenement streets On a certain even
ing as he saurtered he was hit across
the back of the neck with a sandbag
and went down When he recovered
consciousness he was in bare room.
hands and feet tied. and couple OF
hardlooking men waiting for the
event They had gone through him.
but that was a mere triiie They
wanted five thousand dollars to give
him his liberty Mr. Manton didn't
rage 1t was a straight business prop
osition Only that day he had read
OF thirteen members Of a state legis.
lature being arrested for Offering to
sell themselves. Was this crime
worse? He didn't charge that IT was.
He simply refused to buy himself at
the sum named.
The hdnappers were not cruel men.
They simply wanted their meney They
fed their captive and waited with
what patience they could And then
one night came Janet She entered
by the skylight. but her hands and
face were clean and her hair brushed.
She cast the captive loose and then
said:
Il amt stole thing since that
day"
That's pretty fair" replied Mr..
Manton
And don't you think look nicerH"
You surely do"
TITS because you let me fall in love
with you / want to please. you know
An uncle of mine is in this Job Co
ing to bring the cops down on him
when you get out?"
mot at all. young woman. Two
a
called eminently respectable came
near beating me out of twenty thous-
and dollars. Why should blame. a
couple OF men not so eminently re-
spectacle for trying to do me out of
quarter Of that sunni"
II guess you'll be glad to hear I've
got place In AZ box factory at four
dollars a week."
"Yes. that's good Most all thieves.
robbers and burglars admit there's no
profit in their trade"
You rather be loved by a factory
girl than by a thief. know I'm
thinking of you most all the time
Well. we've got to shin up the rope
and make over the roofs"
Fifteen minutes later Mr.. Manton
was on the street and walking home
wards He met several patrolmen and
passed two police stations. but he had
nothing to say. Janet's uncle and his
pal had tried to extort money from
him, which is a prison offense. He
passed hundreds of buildings whose
owners were squeezing the tenants
down TO the last cent to pile up their
own profits. Why not law to punish
them?
Two weeks later the bachelor re-
ceived scrawl on a postal card which
read:
Il guess you'll be glad to hear my
wages have riz to five dollars week.
Janet"
Yes; he was glad It was three
months before another card came. 1t
read:
My wages has riz to six dollars a
week and have bow. but I'm low
ing you still"
Then a year passed. and third
card announced a "riz" to eight dol
lars and more love" and four months
later the climax:
Il am now the lady. and have got
married to Tony Grlggs. but he says
may still love you. Respectfully. yours.
Janet"
And If ! had preached reform to
her where would she have been!"
asked the bachelor of himself as he
laid down the postal Seems to me
it's just about as well TO let things
work out by themselves!"