The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-01-07
A Singular Call
II Came From One Who Had
Seemed Ungrateful
By r. SMITH

Alec is caught in the Chaplain reservoir.
Come quickly and get him out.
/ ran for the station to take a train
for Chapman and found one made up
to start in twenty minutes. But 1t
seemed an hour before | was rolling
out of the station on a fifty minute
trip. While | am making 1t l will tell
how l came to receive the telegram.
l received a common school educa-
ton. One day in the school yard |
saw one of the boys take a doll from
a little girl, and. holding it by its legs.
he smashed it's china head against the
hard, sandy ground. l walked mp to
the boy and without saying a word
slapped his face. OF course there was
a fight. at which | got the credit OF
having thrashed my antagonist. But
this was rather because the boy l
fought was in the habit Of doing mean
things for no cause whatever rather
than for any advantage l gained owe
him.
The little girl whom / had befriend
ed surprised me after the fight by max
ing a face at me. Children are but IN
grown men and women. and suppose
my ~resenting her Ill treatment was like
interfering in family feuds, for every
body knows that protection against
tyranny in the case Of those who are
fond of each other Is liable to result
d~isastrously to the protector. Refrain
ing from showing any feeling at the
girls ingratitude. ! walked OF with
my hands In my pockets. whistling a
tune to make it appear that 1t was a
matter Of no consequence.
During the rest of my school days 1
had the modification to experience the
I'll will of both this boy and girl, both
of whom seemed to have taken a dis
like to me. 1t was a period when we
were passing out of childhood into
youth, and for the several years re-
manning before we finished school
something about the grill NEW not
what-was growing upon me. Her
treatment of me panied me-indeed,
would have given my best tennis rack
ct for a smile from her. When u
last term at school was finished l found
myself in love with her. True, / was
but sixteen years old and she fifteen.
but my experience in the matter has
proved that the younger the person
the more violent the love.
1t was very distressing for me to see
a girl whom | had befriended and
whom | loved not only showing repul-
sion for me, but lavishing her admira-
ton upon the boy whose malicious
treatment Of her l had punished. But
in matters of the heart one never
knows what a woman will do, and a
man is not much more to be depended
upon. Be this as it may, l saw my
love grow to w~omanhood lavishing her
affection on the person who had out Of
pure deviltry smashed her doll. l think
that as a child her turning against me
a natural. AS a woman it may have
been encouraged by my rival.
Fate threw the three Of Us together
not only as children, but after we had
become men and women. The girl /
secretly worshiped married my rival.
and ] attended their wedding, though
rather as her guest than his, for my
intimacy was always rather with her
family than his. There was a coldness
between me and him that never wore
of. Whether his betrothed and after
ward his wife suspected my feelings
for her ! did not know. But ! did
know that after her marriage she treat
ed me In a much more friendly man.
ner than before.
About the time we finished school
and were ready to go to work a ship
was sunk In the harbor on which we
lived, and divers were sent down to
put the chains under whereby to raise
her. There can be nothing more in
teresting to a boy than a man dressed
In a diving suit going under water.
while those above pump air down to
him. We boys were constantly on
hand watching the process, and the
consequence of it all was that several
of US determined to adopt diving as a
trade.
This brings me to my telegram. 1t
was from Mabel Granger, the wife Of
Alec Granger. the two In whose child
ish companionshlp ! had interfered
many years before to my discontinue.
Alec and l had been divers ever since
we left school, and now he, having
been caught in a dangerous position.
his wife had called on me to save him.
During my journey to Chaplain I could
not drive from my mind that scene 10
the school. Mabel standing with her
beadless doll Rugged to her bosom.
making a face at me as l moved away,
while Alec was brushing the dirt off
his clothes with his hands.
Furthermore. there was every reason
to believe that what | was called upon
to do | would do at the risk of my
life. If 1t were an easy matter to res
cue Alec Granger / would not have
been summoned. ! saw In Mabel's tele-
gram a cry for help In her distress
l can give no idea of my feelings at
such a call Let any one reading my
story put himself in my place and try
to conceive how he would feel. can
only say that among the confusion
within me there was one predominant
sentiment. i was eager to give COM
fort to the woman I still loved by re-
storing her husband to her.
When l reached Chaplain l found a
man waiting for me at the station
with a carriage, in which we drove
at a gallop to the reservoir. On the
way he told me that Granger had peel
sent down to examine the outflow of
water from beneath and while doing
So ha6 onf aaa1Ohf in fho nauuorful ~
ton at the orifce through which the
food was escaping. Air was being
pumped to him, but 1t had not been
possible to draw him up. Two differ
ent men had been sent down to fix
about him a rope strong enough to
bear his weight and overcome the sue /
ton, but neither of them had dared go
near him for fear of being sucked
into the same position as be. 1t was
upon this information that / realized
fully that Mabel had called upon me
to probably sacrifice my life In at
tempting to save that of her husband.
On reaching the scene of the trou-
BILE the group there all turned toward
me. Mabel was present. and when
my eye met hers | was at a loss to
understand the expression there was
In them. l had expected to see a pa
thetic appeal. Whether she realized
that such an appeal would be asking
me to risk my own life, perhaps give
1t, for her husband, l did not know.
nor do l know now. She simply looked
at me- Perhaps she considered her
telegram an appeal which should not