The Elbert County tribune., 1917-06-15

was kept on the run for days and
nights. She worked as only rich wom-
| en- work when some orgy of charity
Is on foot.
Gloria in turn kept everyone in her
nelghborhood scampering. Her father,
her fathers secretary, her brother and
his secretary, even her brothers wife,
she made use of.
Lois responded to the lash with an
| enthusiasm that surprised Gloria. She
began to understand that idleness had
been more cogent excuse for frivol-
| ity than she had believed when Lois
gave 1t. She saw that Lois heart,
which had yielded too easily to the
Establishments of Freneau, yielded as
easily to the allurements of unselfish
| labor.
The plans for the Polish fete were
changed again and again. The boy
| StaS was so much in the way that
| Gloria set him a task to keep him out
from under her feet. He brought in
the children of the vicinage and estab-
lished himself as their leader.
Some of the rich tots, like their
parents, were good fellows; few of
them woeful snobs. These latter twit-
ted Stas with his origin, whereupon
he had resort to the wild arbitrament
of battle. and two or three small
bloody noses ruined two or three hand
some suits of clothes. After that Stas
was the accepted leader.
In his researches among the picture
books he found "Pied Piper of Ham
lin" and made his "Aunt Gloria" tell
him all about it. He decided that she
should be the pied piper and he would
organize an army of children for her
to pipe away. She kissed him for the
inspiration and that event was one of
| the successes of the afternoon. Mobs
| of people thronged the Stafford estate
on the afternoon of the festival and
the roads outside were quadruply lined
with automobiles.
There was no hesitation about en-
ploying piratical methods of extorting
from the rich as much money as they
had been reckless enough to bring with
them. The hollow eyes of the ragged
starvelings of Poland would have filed
with wonder If they could have seen
in far-off America the well-fed, silk
clad aristocrats reveling in their be-
half. 1t was strange way of getting
food for the hungry, but it was the
fashion of the day, and most important
of all, 1t accomplished its purpose.
The world was so packed with
tragedy and SO bounded with cries for
pity that it took something more than
sorrow to wheedle funds from the
weary public. 1t took beauty and en-
tertainment. Gloria furnished these in
full measure at her festival. In her
ragged doublet and hose, with her
feathered cap atilt, she danced and
piped. qnd the children followed about
the lawn with moving audience till
she led her little army into the great
cave that Pierpont had ordered con-
structed in one of his hills.
The mothers left behind pretended
to weep for their lost ones, and they
begged the pied piper to return. So
Gloria, contrary to tradition, came
back from the cave, and, surrounded
by her kidnapped troop, bowed and
bowed.
Gloria was good and tired when the
last of the spectators had gone home
impoverished. She stretched herself
out on the divan in the living room and
felt her old loneliness come back upon
her. Her task was done and she was of
no more use to the world, for, of
course, her father had pointed out to
her that her project to take the funds
to Poland in person was a beautiful
impossibility. There were several mil
lion soldiers between her and Poland.
and the price of the voyage, even il
she could make it, would buy several
thousands of loaves of bread.
She was In so forlorn humor that
when Doctor Royce took a chair close
to her and poured forth his praises.
she accepted them hungrily. He was
encouraged to the widest hopes by her
response and he kept hunching his
chair closer and closer.
His head was almost touching hers
when her father had come into the
room with the proceeds of the festival.
There were baskets of bills and boxes
of coin and the total was thousands Of
dollars.
Royce fell back disheartened. He
had forgotten how rich Gloria was. and
how poor In comparison was even his
success. He had been on the point of