Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1913-11-28
Te DkUGETERo of
DAVID KERR s,e
BY Harry Eir5 TOOtle
Illustrations Sy HY NT=es %
coPYRIchr BY ~AcnecLuRc & &c, az

o God! Not this"
She repeated the pathetic words OF
Little Ella
There's enough Of US drops In Bel
mont to fill a pretty big bucket-oh,
it can't be my father! 1t can't be my
father!-He has q daughter-lt's all
4 horrid mistake. There must be an
other David Kerr. I'm sure"
Gloria sprang from her chair and
seized the sleeping woman roughly by
he arm.
Listen to me. Tell me something
more OF David Kerr"
She shook Little Ella into a con
scious state and repeated the question.
Which David Kerr il IT,"
There's only M l know Of" an
swered Ella. Hes got q real estate
office on Fifth street"
What"
The net Of circumstances was be-
ing drawn tighter and tighter about
one man. and that man her father.
Are you sure he's the man. girl!"
Gloria asked the question in as sub
dued a name az possible. Suddenly
she had become afraid. She did not
wish to rouse suspicion.
Sure, he's the man. 1t tried ones
patience to be reused from sleep, and
then to meet with contradiction vas
enough to make n petulant. To set
| a. tho u,nctiar 81 that chn nNItlA on
back to sleep, little Ella added:
Look on my bureau and you'll see
a program OF the Dave Kerr DENNY
cratic club ball"
Gloria walked over to the bureau
with Its tumble Of ODDS and ends. and
began to turn over the things me-
chemically.
mo, not that. Look behind that
photygraft. That's 1t. That's his pic
ture on the front"
Gloria gave one look. The picture
was that Of her father.
For a time Little Ella chartered
drowsily, but Gloria did not hear. She
was Frustrated by a grief that numbed
her every faculty. The foundation Of
her faith had been swept away.
What she beheld seemed to hurn It,
self into her brain. On the cover Of
the program we're the words: Annual
Ball. David Kerr Democratic Club"
and the picture Of her father. 1t was
the truth; her father was the boss OF
Belmont. SO different was her posi-
ton from that pinnacle on which she
had thought herself to be that the
whole world would have to go through
a revolutionary orientation. There was
nothing in her life which would not
have to be adjusted anew because Of
this revelation.
As she turned the pages OF the pro-
gram. pages filled with liquor and sa-
loon advertisements, her thoughts
were all of herself. Resentment and
anger there were, directed toward her
father, but now in the first moments
when she saw herself as Belmont saw
her humiliation conquered all other
emotions. Her first thought of Joe
Wright wal that he had kept the truth
from her. She could not grow more
sick at heart, comparatively feeling
was out Of the question because she
was completely crushed, but she saw
as in a book that had been written and
laid away as finished, the sacrifice
he had made for her, the supreme re.
nunciation he had made because he
would not denounce her father before
her.
The thought of how different her
homecoming had been from what she
had planned made her laugh hysteric.
ally. Then when she recalled the few
staunch friends she had made she
, clutched wildly at the hope that after
! all it was untrue.
Its a lie, every word OF 1t, a lie his
enemies invent. What big man but
. has about him ~envious wasps thai
: prick and sting? Judge Gilbert, Mr.
: Kendall, Doctor Hayes, they'll all say
that he-Joe Wright! What of him
What will he say"
Sn0 put tHlS man that Hdu lONou HeI
in one balance and the other men III
the other. He ~outweighed them all
and the momentary hope vas gone
? She could see it all now. AS the BAT
. fling attitude of Belmont revealed 1t
self to her bit by bit she buried hel
face in her arms and sobbed.
And ! was SO proud, oh, so proud
moaned the daughter of David Kerr
!. Joe! Joe! You did love mel sem
him away, and | never understood
Now | can see it all. The social sights
the cold disdain l could not under
stand-the whispers that died away
i before they reached my .ears-all, all
all because l was David Kerr's daugh
e ter, David Kerr, the boss Of Belmont.
Her fathers name exercised a fasci
nation over her. Again and again sh,
repeated 1t, her lips curling will