The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1918-04-26
HIS MANHOOD
ght, IJII, Dy the McCIure NeWSpa
per Syndicate.)
BY OLIVE GROVES.

she DOaTueu the car.
1t was crisp morning, and the sun
was just peeping over the0horzon like
ball of FURNISHED steel. The street
car was already packed, and the motor
man was standing with his hand on
the crank to let the vehicle go.
\ II have picked her up at all hours
of the night" he remarked to a pas
senger beside him on the platform. He
was Paul Lacroix, the motorman,
young, handsome.
The electric car was on a trip to-
ward the business center of a large
city, and was uncomfortably filled, as
usual at that hour, with stenographers,
clerks and a few miscellaneous pas
sengers.
Going down an avenue that paral-
leled the street upon which the car
was running was another young man,
handsome and self-opinionated. He
was camouflaged employee, for he
spent certain hours in the Office of his
father, who was a rich business man.
He had been looking "over the top and
facing ''high balls" the night before,
and being late to work, was racing his
little Submarine-in common parlance
called an automobile-to reach his Of
fee on time.
On went the electric car, held in
leash by the motorman, who remem-
bered the presence of his lovely pas
senger. There was no more room for
passengers and none disembarked, so
the car moved on without further in
terruption.
The manipulation Of the mundane
submarine" turned on more "juice'
and speeded up to make up for the
time he had wasted the night before.
His mind was partially upon the high
balls that had sparkled in the electric
lights, and his nerves were somewhat
unsteady.
The street down which the car hur-
ried and the avenue down which the
automobile was racing were rapidly
converging. Down some distance was
a circle upon which stood an eques-
trian statue, and there the street and
avenue became one.
When within a block of this circle
the car, in answer to a ring, came to q
stop. Pushing her way through the
crowded aisle, Miss Blanche Carter,
the passenger who had merited the
consideration Of the motorman, disem-
barked. Holding tightly to her hand
satchel she made her way toward q
massive brick structure a block away.
Lacroix did not see who had left
the car, for the crowd was too dense.
When the signal to go was given he
put on full power. Now obvious to all
else than reaching his destination on
schedule time, he was soon going full
speed.
In this age, when all realize that the
building in which they work may be
blown up by dynamite, the house in
which they sleep RACED by bomb from
flying machine, the vessel in which
they ride destroyed by a submarine,
and that they may be riddled as they
walk along the street by a trench
gun masked ten miles away, or ridden
down and crushed to pieces by joy
riders and hair-brained chauffeurs In
acknowledgement now ones nerves
are not equal to looking on unmoved
at an electric car, controlled by love-
mad motorman, and an automobile
handled by Wildcats youngster
dashing wildly and rapidly toward
each other And it is not to be Won
dered at that as the street and avenue
came together, and car and auto, I'M
awares, were making for the same
point at the same identical moment,
the occupants Of the car, penned as
they were, should be excited.
Seeing no chance Of avoiding the
collision, the young man jumped from
his auto. Occupants of the car rushed
madly toward the rear. Lacroix turned
off the current and put on the brake.
He might have let go and run back
ward to safety, but the manhood in
him asserted itself. He might have
been selfish in that he thought of the
girl who impressed him so much. But
he remained steadfastly at his post.
Reaching the large brick structure,
which was an infirmary, Miss Carter
entered. She had scarcely finished
DOMINIC her professional suit when she
was called upon to assist In dressing
a badly wounded young man. 1t was
Paul Lacroix. He had been the only
one who had been injured by the col
1ision, and his injuries were serious.
Paul's life hung on thread for some
time, and then slow recovery fol-
lowed. But as time sped onward he
learned to be dependent upon his nurse
and to regard her in another light than
that in which he thought of her the
day he was injured. At length he be-
gan to regret the coming Of that day
upon which he must leave the hospital.
One day the nurse brought to his
bed bit Of roast turkey and a pot of
f1owers-her gift. He looked up at her
with tears in his eyes, and said:
II indeed have much to be thankful
for, but want one more gift. Can /
have it?" And he reached out his
hand and drew. hpr 11urnSicf;nUlu ~.