The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1918-12-20
Hero Mine
01
By r. RAY BAKER
1913, by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate.l

Verna Pomeroy had a mania for he
roes.
II viii marry the man who goe!
through fire, water, blood and iron TO
me-" was the way she expressed 1t
Many there were who would have beer
willing to go through water, provided
1t was not too deep; and also through
blood, as long as it was not of theil
own or their shedding; but as to fire
and iron-welI, the former was lit
tie too much to expect and the latter
was difficult.
If Verna had waited few years
she would have experienced no diff
Guilty in finding hero for herself
They are plentiful nowadays, but they
were scarce when Verna was twenty
one and the pretty stenOg" in Jones
& Jones' real estate Office on the fourth
floor of the Ashton building.
Somehow Verna figured that Dan
Williams was destined to be the man.
He was fireman in the station house
three blocks down the street, and he
chung rather heroically, she thought,
to the red juggernaut that roared and
screeched past the Ashton on an aver
age of at least four times day. There
was a man who would at least go
through fire, and certainly through
water, and probably meet the other re-
quirements. He was a strapping
blond Foung man, with strength rip
pling through every muscle, and he
was very good for hero worshiper to
look at.
"Some day he'll prove to be my
hero" she had decided on the day
Dan followed his pet maltese cat in
its wanderings from the station house
across the street to the Pomeroy res
Idence, where Verna happened to be
seated on the porch reading Brave
Men I Have Met"
That's the way they got acquainted,
and since then Dan had wooed Verna
through the fourth floor window every
week day and in the parlor of her
home every night when he got time
of.
When the siren of the ladder truck
gave vent to its mournful shrek
Verna always would look up from her
typewriter and exchange a wave of
the hand with Dan as the red demon
dashed by.
But Dan was not the only one who
wooed Verna through the window.
Ben Vincent rode past the Ashton
building twelve times day. His pace
was not as swift as his rivals, how
ever. because his vehicle was street
car. When he approached Verna's
window. he always stood on the rear
platform and waved one Of his hands
while the other rang up fares.
Verna liked Ben fully as well as
Dan, but his life was so prosaic it Of
fered few heroic possibilities. He had
dark hair and eyes and his face was
attractive, but he failed to come up
to the fireman's shoulder and there
was no noticeable bulge just above
the elbow.
His acquaintance she had formed
when she moved to residence in the
suburbs and was obliged to use a troll
ley car twice each day.
Ben's dark complexion was another
handicap. Verna had hair that she
liked to hear called craven locks
and her eyes were of similar hue;
and she had read that person should
marry an opposite.
That's the way things stood when
the rivals met one night half block
from the Pomeroy home. The conduc-
tor had been calling on verna and the
fireman knew 1t and waited for him.
They both happened to be off duty
but Ben had been the first to ask her
for an engagement.
ssI've been waiting for you an hour"
Dan announced as he stepped out from
the tree against which he had been
leaning. you've been in Miss Pom
eroy's parlor altogether too long. I
can't stand for that"
Ben had no relish for fight-not
with those six feet of muscle-so he
kept his temper In leash.
SORRY I don't please you," he re-
piled with sarcasm-sprinIled GOODNESS.
II didn'tsknow Miss Pomeroy and you
were engaged
The fireRpn knitted his brows into
savage sa4.wl and looked disdainful-
" down at the pebble in his highway
of love.
swell. we aren't he declared.
There is no engagement yet, but there
Is going to be- She wants man, and
I'm it--see7 She isn't going to tie
up with shrimp like you, so you bet
ter make yourself scarce around her.
I'm Just warning you, that's ALL"
About this time Fate decided to take
a hand in the affair. So janitor
went to sleep in the basement Of the
Ashton building late one afternoon
and cigarette dropped from his
mouth into barrel OF excelsior The
Ashton was frame relic Of past arch
ffectural grandeur and the flames ate
into Ii as furnished lion eats into a
chunk Of red beefsteak.
The janitor awoke. choked with
smoke, and staggered to safety. The
occupants OF the building dashed pell-
NELL to the street By means Of the
stairway and the meager fire-escape
facilities. The elevator boy deserted
MS post and fed with the rest.