South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-08-11

:ess. they have a hundred homes.
> it frI iffrl .=uet room .u Ilr-
n5shed room. transien;s forever
transienrs IN abode. transients IN
heart and mind. They sing Home,
Sweet Home" in -agume, they carry
their lares et penates In a bandboX,
their vine is ertwined about pic
ture hat. a rubber plant is their fig
tree.
Hence the houses Of this district
having had q thousand dwellers
should have a Thousand tales 90 tell,
mostly dull ones. no doubt. but II
would be strange ~ there could not
be fosnd ghost or two in the wake
Of all these vagrant guests.
One evening after dark a young
man prowled among these crumbl-
Ing red mansions, ringing their bells.
At the twelfth he rested his lean
hand-baggage upon the step and
wiped the dust from his hatband and
forehead The bell sounded faint
and far away in some remote, hollow
depths.
70 the door Of this. the twelfth
house whose bell he had rung. came
a housekeeper who made him think
OF an unwholesomc. surfeited worm
1has had eaten its nut 20 a hollow
shell and now sought 20 fiji the va
caucy with edible dodgers.
He asked II there was room 20
let.
Come in" said the housekeeper.
Her voice came from her throat; her
throat seemed lined with fur II
have the third floor back, vacant
since a week back. Should you wish
20 look at it,
The young man followed her up
the stairs. A faint light from no
kartfcular source mitigated the shad-
S1yvs- OF the halls. They trod noise
1essfv upon a stair carpet that its
SwneIoom would have fOrsworn. II
seemed 10 have become vegetable;
90 have degenerated IN that rank.
sunless air 20 lush lichen or spread
ing moss that grew in patches TO
the staircase and was viscid under
the foot like organic matter. At
each turn Of the stairs were vacant
inches IN the wall Perhaps plants
had once been set within them. II
so they had died IN that foul and
tainted air. 1T may be that statues
CT the saints had stood there. but IT
was not difficult 90 conceive that
smps and devils had dragged them
forth in the darkness and down 10
the unholy depths OF some furnished
pit below.
keeper. from her furry throat. It's
a nice room. II Amt often vacant
had some most elegant people in
A. last summer-nO trouble at all,
and paid in advance 20 the minute.
The waters at the end OF the hall.
Sprowls and Mooney kept u three
months. They done a vaudeville
sketch. Miss Bretta SprowlS-you
NAV have heard Of her-Oh, that
was Just the stage names-right
90 NH the
marriage certificate hung, framed.
THE gas IS here. and you see there
IS plenty Of closet room. It's a
room everybody likes. It never stays
idle long"
.'Do YOU have many theatrical peo-
pie rooming here2" asked the young
man.
proportion OF my dodgers IS con-
rected with the theaters. Yes SIR
this is the theatrical district. Actor
people never stays long anywhere.
get my share. Yes. they comes and
they goes"
He engaged the room, paying for
q week IN advance. He was tired,
he said. and would take possession
at once. He counted out the money.
The room had been made ready, she
said. even 20 towels and water. AS
the housekeeper moved away he put
for the thousandth time, the cues
ton that he carried at the end Of his
tongue.
a Young giri-NIlss Vashner-
Miss Eloise Vashner-dO you remem-
Der such a one among your lodgersY
She would be singing on the stage.
most likely. A fair girl OF medium
height and slender. with reddish.
gold hair and a dark mole near her
left eyebrow
mo. don't remember the name.
Them stage Ieople has names they
change as often as their rooms. They
comes and they goes. No. don't
call that one 10 mind"
No Always no. Five m onths or
oeaseless interrogation and the tnev-
table negative So much time spent
by day irs questioning managers,
agents. schools and chorusesi oy
night among the audiences OF thea
fers from all-star casts down 10
music halls 30 low that ne dreaded
70 ind what he most hcped for lie
who had loved her best had tried 10
and her. He was sure tat since
her dfsappearance from home this
great water-girt city held her some
where. but Il was Ike monstrous
auckland, shifting its particles con-
stanuv. with no foundation. It's up
ner rranuIes OF today buried tomOr-
row in ooze and slime.
The furnished room received us
latest guest with a first glow OF
misunderstanding hectic, haggard'
nerfunctory welcome like the spe-
cious smile Of a demirep. The sophls-
teal comfort came IN reelected
cleans from the deCayed furniture
the ragged brocade upholstery or a
couch and two chairs, footwide
cheap pier glass between the two
windows. from one or two gilt pic
ture frames and a Gbrass bedstead
IN corner.
The guest reclined. inert, upon a
chair. while the room, confused IN
sneech as though Il were an apart
rnent in Babel tried 10 discourse 20
bir, OF fits divers tenantry-
A polychrOmauc rug Ike some
brllfsnt-nowere rectangular, trop-
teal islet Law surrounded by billowy
sea OF soiled mating. Upon the gay
napered wall were those pictures
that pursue the homeless one from
house 20 house-'The Hugueno'
Lovers" The First Quarrel, The
Wedding Breakfast." PSYCHE at the
r,o7rrtafn'' The mantels chastely
d n.H