Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-24
West Wind Drift
BY GEORGE BARR McCUTCHEON
(opurinht. 1920. BIZ Goorne Rnrr MnCnfnhnnn
Copyright. 1870. By George Barr, McCutoheon

bearted people Of Salem, and of the soul.
f.i puritans who grew heartiess In the
::7-yice Of the Lord
They stood afar off and watched the
email, detachment Of sailors carry the
bodies down to the basin, and every ono
inew that sancho Mendez and Dominic,
heavily weighted. were rowed out to the
middle and dumped into a. bottomless
grave, Some there were who declared
that their bodies would sink for ages he.
thought Of sancho Mendez and Dominic
without picturing them as gliding deeper
and deeper into the endless abyss of
Michael Maione's speech to the multi.
,ude on the shorn edge OF the wheat fela
was brief. He spoke from the sceffold
on which Sancho Mendez. the black
''This man has been fairly tried ami
he is being fairly punished, There. Is
no yay to circumvent the laws OF God or
the laws Of man on this island, my
friends The guilty cannot escape. l.
we transgress the law. we must pay IN
proportion to our transgression. This
man Is to die. The laws of our home
land would not have demanded the life
Of such as he-but they should. my
friends. they should. This island Is small
II will be easy for us to Keep 1t clean
and we must keep It clean. We must not
The lamb lie down together here; the
thief and the honest man walk hand in
hand. Our sins will find us out. We can
not hide them. nsmemn6er ,n6 shat, no,,,,ng IN
% stard in the way of the soundest
nrnciple ever laid down for man Do
unto others as ye would have others do
unto YOU That Is the Golden Rule.
All we have to do Is to observe that rule
md there will be no use for the Ten
commandments. nor the laws of Moses.
nor all the laws that man has made.
W. Jnr't IN N 10 Christians,
unto others as ye would have others do
unto you That, my friends. Is the lazy
of laws. 1t Is the religion Of religionsS
in his cabin few nights after the exc;
cutlons. held forth at some length ana
with peculiar emphasis on what he called
an exploded theory. ~ .,
aaid-not being drinking man myself
it's all bunk about booze being respon-
sihe for all the crimes that are commit
Sancho and Dominic. Look at what they
did-and they hadn't touched II drop for
months. I'm not saying that Ticker is q
soothin' syrup for a mans morals. put
what I am saying Is that if feller has
i,ot II in him to be ornery. he'll be orn-
cry, drunk or sober. was tellin' Parson
Mackenzie only this morning that him
and me both have good reasons for not
,nuchIn' the stuff--for different rcusons.
Of course--but | didn't sec wh" hnr
people oughtn't to have 1t IL they want u:
with me, in my former profession, 1t
you'd have been criminal TO touch the
stuff The worst crime burglar can
commit Is to get drunk. No decent.
bansup burglar ever does i. don! ] don't
suppose there Is more self-respeGtln
sort of man in the world than high
grade burglar. And it's the same with
a preacher. He can't any more preach
good sermon when he is lit up than a
window II he tanks up beforehand. The
parson seemed surprised when I put "
right up to him like that. He said he'd
tlrter thought of It in that light before.
Of course. says he. a minister OF the gos-
pei amt even supposed to know what
ticker tastes like. and I says TO him
that's where we have the advantage OF
him. We know what 1t tastes like. and
Il cramps our style. He leaves II alone
because It's the style for preachers 10
leave It alone, and because they'd go 10
cell II they drank like ordinary men. @
The only place a burglar goes to II he
Wei. a. was saytn'. this here San
cho wasn't soused when he committed
hat crime, and It all goes to prove that that
hese temperance cranks are of th"r
base. Most of the crime that's com
'aitted in this world Is committed be-
When I was up in Sing Sing once
sort OF by accident you might say
here was a lot of talk about. prison re-
;o1m and Pattn the tns erooMs coS,d Sn 6s ,ust
rhoHce. The only chance them guys
want, and keep lookin' for night and ana
tSinkin' about while they're in the pen.
and God knows they're as sober as
Judges all the time they're there; crime ne
Is crime and you can't always lay IT to
booze. It's human nature with some
people. I'm not sayin the world would
not be better Off II there wasn't any
there wouldn't be half so much bunsina,
il people kept sober--'specially when It
comes to crime. Now, II this guy Sancho
ad had couple Of pints sonS in him, .sci,y swsTy;
about the horrible effects of booze, and
What say?" -,
Buck Chizler. repeating MS remaTk, rs.
never did anything wrong In my life eN-
Sure" agreed soapy. But you'd
have done i right II yoI1d been tr"s1s sSGet.
chance to do anything right" Where.
upon with a slow wink Tor the otneI
members ., Of IT,, the ,,s groHiIS; oigSt ne arose All"
Il can't make that feller out, srum-
bed Buck. uncomfortably;
Easter Sunday was bright AM and Q, C clear. ear
winds and rain. The sun smiled, but II
was a cold smile that mocked rather
than cheered. The sky was the color OF
hin. transparent ice; the vast S wm,se
dome was unspotted by n single cloud
the rose tints of early morn; frightenea
away at birth by the. chill unfeenngs
glare, took with them every promise oi
enderness that dawned s w,sn was hard ,ae % the
Hr was soft: the tang or the sa''-se"
spice lay over everything.
Percivnl had no active in part Ths II ene sone eM
service was held In the open. A plat
form had been erected In front OF the
tabernacle" (the Westinghouse on oo,
casion) for the choir and muslc,ams'
There were no seats for the congIesa,
ton, Every one stood, bareheaded. In
wide semicircle facing the PLATFORM
The boss" took his place inconspiGu-
ouslS among those who formed tne ,,
outer fringe of the assemblage Hls
gaze seldom left the face of the girl
he loved. Once her eyes met MS. Sne
vas on the platform discussing arrange
ments with the two clersymen when
her rowing. unsettled gaze CHANGED tc
stared at him flxedly-so hxediy. IN
fact, that Father Franeisco. after a
moment, shot look in the same direc-
ton. Even from his farsoff post, Per-
as she hastily turned away 10 Resume
tho conversation that had been SO In
continently broken Off She, was bare
headed. He had been watching the sun
at play among the coils Of her soft.
dark hair--a CLINT here as OF bronze
CLEAN there as of geld, ever chang.
ing under tho caresses OF that naming
The affable Mr.. Nicklestick was stand
ing beside Percival. carrying on a more
or less -no-sided conversation.
You see, it's this way" ne was say, say
voice to moderate undertcne: I'm
services. I'm N opposed to them be.