The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1918-08-15
Against
Traditions
gA<D
BY J.:.f;E OSBORNE
(Copyright, 1918, by the Mcclure
per Syndicate.1

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Copyright 1918. by the McClure Ne"sp@-
per Syndicate.)
When Justine Flanders consented TO
omen the Red Cross drive in Bishops
town. little did she realize that on the
Sunday afternoon ~set aside for that
purpose so many hindrances, poth
trivial and important, should consplre
TO make difficult her getting off. her
chauffeur's wife was i'll and at the last
minute she had to send to the station
for a taxi; her maid forgot to press the
dress she intended to wear; she mis-
laid her purse and lift came of from
her fayorite pair of shoes-Just the
sort of things that sometimes come ~
mar the serenity of great actresses as
we'll as the rest of u.s. so justine
FLANDERS was in no cheerful moou
when she started out and she wonder
cd &c she slammed her apartment door
lust why she had consented to go OUT
to little town like Bishopstown ana
make an appeal for Red Cross aid De-
fore q LOT of narrow-minded college
professors and ministers ana country
folk. Still she had been asked espe-
cial1v hv DIR. Taylor Holmes, the pres
ident of Bishopstown college, VINO toiu
her that the college men had voted ner
the most popular actress on the stage
and he felt she could make oetter
appeal than anyone else.
The men at Bishopstown were just
at an age when the emotional put
never sentimental, acting OF the la
mons red-haired actress left nothing
IN no desired. AS for DR.. Taylor
Holmes he had never seen the lazy
either on the stage or Off. lie au-
mired her as he admired anyone VINO
had as definitely succeeded in the
achievement of worthwhile ambition
as she had. He had set his neart
on becoming a college president, ana
she on becoming leading actress
and at a little less than forty they
had both accomplished their ambition.
In so far, unused Taylor Holmes, tney
were kindred spirits. In spite OF thls
conviction. the schoolman felt some
misgivings. While he didn't disap-
prove of actresses. he still retained
enough of the old Puritanic traditions
of the family to make him feel that
members of the acting PROFESSION
moved in a different sphere. His
stern old father had thought play
actors were emissGries of the devil !;
for his own part he merely avoided
them. No wonder, then, that as the
time came for the Red Cross rally with
Justine Flanders as the chief speaker
and himself to introduce her, he had
some actual palpitations of the heart.
His maiden sister, who presided over
his household for him, had more than
palpitations. She frankly didn't ap-
prove, though she made an especially
elaborate toilet preparatory to the
meeting and consented to sit with
other celebrities on one of the chairs
on the platform behind the speaker.
"Of course" said the sister decor
ously drawing on her black gloves as
she waited for her brother to crank
his cheap but entirely adequate mo-
torcar on their departure for the hall
where the meeting was to be held,
"of course, we won't have to have
anything to do with her socially. /
hope she won't look indecent" this
with emphasis on the 'look" as If
there was no doubt whatever as to
the actress actually being so.
The college president paid little at
tention to his sister. He was divided
between steering a straight course be
tween the ruts in the bad road that led
30 hn h0I1 an6
hearsing to himself the words of his
Introductory speech.
When the famous actress sat, Smil-
ing and beautiful, on the platform, no
one would have guessed that her de-
parture from the city had been fraught
with Interruptions and distractions.
She did not have to rehearse her
speech, for it was the identical speech
that had been given on all previous
occasions of the SOFT and she knew 1t
by heart.
'I'd know her anywhere by her hair, -
whispered someone on the platform
seats
'Well, at least she is decentIy
dressed" conceded the president sis
ter to the professors wife beside her,
and then there was hush as the
president stepped forth to introduce
the great actress.
Fully three minutes cheering fol-
lowed, before Justine began her talk.
There was not the slightest doubt of
the fact of the students entire ap-
prevail of their idol. With such ovation
1t was perhaps no wonder that her
talk was inspiring and that she used
such powers Of persuasion that within
ten or fifteen minutes $1,000 had been
subscribed to the drive fund. Presi-
dent Holmes could not have entered
more effectively into it had his
own effort been studied and not
the result Of burst, of actual en-
thusiaSm caused by the magnetism
of the Titian-haired actress. He pull
ed his check book from his pocket and
First Fire Alarm in United States.