The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1913-12-05

Little Ella
There's enough Of us drops In Bel
mont to fill a pretty big bucker-oh,
! it can't be my father. 1t can't be my
father!-He has a daughter-It's all
| a 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 con-
scious state and repeated the question.
which David Kerr Is it,"
There's only one 1 know Of an
swered Ella. Hes go 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 manner as possible. Suddenly
she had become afraid. She did not
HIoh " dIOuoS SpICIOA
Sure, he's the man." 1t tried ones
patience to be reused from sleep, and
| then to meet with contradiction was
enough TO make one petulant. To set
tie the question SO that she could go
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-
chanically.
mo. not that Look behind that
| photygraft. That's it. That's his pic
| ture on the front"
Gloria gave one look The picture
was that of her father.
/ For time Little Ella chartered
drowsily. but Gloria did not hear. She
was Frustrated by grief that numbed
her every faculty. The foundation of
her faith had been swept away.
! What she beheld seemed to burn it.
self into her brain. On the cover of
the program were the words: Annual
| Ball David Kerr Democratic Club, "
and the picture of her father It 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 was 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 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 he1
| homecoming had been from what she
had planned made her laugh hysterfc
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 lie, every word of it, lie his
enemies invent. What big man but
has about him envious wasps thai
prick and sting? Judge Gilbert, MI.
Kendall Doctor Hayes, they'll all say
that he-Joe Wright! What of him
What will he say?"
She put this man that had loved hel
in one balance and the other men il
the other. He outweighed them all
and the momentary hope was gone
She could see it all now. AS the BAT
fling attitude of Belmont revealed it
self to her bit by bit she buried he1
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 l never understood
| Now can see it all The social Sights
the cold disdain l could not under
| stand-the whispers that died away
before they reached my ears-all; all
all because l was David Kerr's daugh
ter. David Kerr, the boss of Belmont.
Her fathers name exercised a fasci
nation over her. Again and again she
repeated it, her lips curling witt
scorn.
David Kerr, the boss of Belmont
i she cried with a contempt that wruns
her heart. David Kerr, the king O
underhand manipulators. David Kerr
the man these wretched women lool
to for protection-an pay him for it.
This new thought was a poisoned
arrow that sank into her heart A,
she dwelt upon it her eyes fell upol
her handsome tailored coat and he
beautiful hat she had laid aside.
And with the money these unhappy
creatures pay, he-he-God in Heaven
Where did the money come from 70
these clothes 1 wear? What shall
do? All these years, and I neve
knewr'
Where the money came from to pa,
for her handsome clothes wracked he
as poignantly as would a great phys
zeal pain. Her thoughts were incohe1
ent, skipping from one horrid phas
| of the situation IN another Tboyypl