The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-06-18
Down IN the Cy-
clone Cellar
By FRANK H. WILLIAMS
1921. by Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.)

Perhaps it was because pretty
Betty Simpson lived in the cyclone belt
that she was of such a tempestuOus
temperament; perhaps it was simply
because she was born that way. AT
any rate she was nightly tempestuOuS
when any of her deeper emotions were
involved. And when her father, stern,
mOrOse Henry Simpson, accused her
sweetheart of being responsible for the
loss of the Simpsons slowly accumu-
lated Liberty bonds she tlared up at
once.
'Of course Jim Brown didn't take
Them" she stOrmed. You ought to
know him better than that, father"
Jim knew l kept them in my desk
and that the desk was unlocked" said
her father stOlidly. And what does
he do when l say something to him
about them being gone-he disappears
That proves he took them ~
Betty wrung her hands discOnsO-
lately.
HE didn't take Them" she cried,
81 just know he didn'tv
! She looked around the mOdestly fur
nished little living room desperately. If
only she had some one to help her! If
only her mother hadn't died-she
would have understood!
| Betty looked at the foolish grin on
the face of her senile old grandfather
and then at the happy smile on the
face Of her baby sister. And she
sighed deeply. Life was going hard
with her. If only she could make her
father desist from his expressed pur,
pose.
please don't file an affidavit against
him. Please don't father" she cried
81 just know Jim didn't take theHis3
Just know everything will come out all
right"
'Tve already, filed the affidavit y
answered her father shortly. Il cant
afford to lose all that money. 1 can't
help it if Jim has been your beau"
He turned away heavily. Tears
started to Betty's eyes as she looked
after him. Her father was stern anC
hard Much sorrow and a bitter life
had made him cruel. There was NJ
moving him when he had set his minC
on anything. What could she do?
That night Betty wrote an i'm
FASHIONED letter to Jim-tO an address
he had given her before leaving-urg
ing him to come back and prove hi'
innocence. And in this letter, too, SHE
urged him to tell her why he had left
for quite suddenly after her father haC
partially accused Jim of the theft, h,
had left the countryside without let
ting any one, save Betty, know wher,
he was going. And he had not evel
told Betty why he was going.
It was about a week later that tn
cyclone visited the spot where Bett
lived.
Cyclone weather" had been worry
ing the country folk for some hour
before the unmistakable signs Of az
preaching trouble sent the Simpson
family scurrying into the cyclone ceI
lar near the home. Even as Bett
helped her grandfather down the stair
into the cellar, which had been pre-
pared years before at some little dis
lance from the house. the menacin
spiral of the cyclone was visible dow
the valley.
Betty's father had entered the celia
first, and as Betty pulled the storr
door fiat and locked it she saw that he
father had lighted a lantern and wa
looking quickly and somewhat feal
fully around the cellar. What wa
wrong?
Betty leaped down the remainin
steps of the ladder into the cellar.
"What's the matter?" she crieu I
her father, who was holding the lar
tern high above his head.
/ Once more stern Henry Simpso
loked around the small room befOr
replying. Then he gazed fearfully int
Bettys eyes.
"Where's the baby?" cried Henri
Simpson.
Panic clutched at Betty's heart g
this question. She gazed around tn
room with wild eyes. The baby wa
nowhere in sight.
81 put the baby down here a ha
hour ago. She must have climbe
OUT"
Frantically Betty rushed to the sid
Of the room and Ieaped upon BIO
which brought her eyes in line with
little portfolio, partially raised abov
the level of the earth, in which heaV
glass formed a lookout. She locke
out fearfully.
There, half way between the celia
and the house was the baby, dancin
up and down in the gusts of win
which heralded the near approach {
the twister. A pair Of the CRANE
fathers old overalls, which had bee
blown from the house. were PARTIAL
twined about the baby. And only a
appallingly short distance away-con
pared with the speed at which 1t wa
coming-was the cyclone.
Betty jumped from the box and ra