The Southern herald., 1921-12-30
PART Il-Continued.

AS he grew older, his nsatiate Gu
rlosltY enabled him to expose unnum-
bere0 weaknesses, indiscretiOns and
social misfortunes on the part of ac-
Qualntances and schoolmates; and to
every exposure his noise and energy
gave hldeous publicity; the more
his victim sought privacy the more
persistently he was sought out by
Wallie, vOciferous and attended by
hilarious spectators. But above all
Other things, what most stimulated
the demoniac boy to prOdigies of sat
ire was any tender episode or symp-
tom connected with the dawn Of love.
Florence herself had suffered excru-
ClatiEgly at intervals throughout her
eleventh spring because Walle dis
covered that George Beck sent her a
valentine; and the humOrist's many,
many squealings Of that Valentines
Rffectl0nate quatran finally left her
unable to decide which she hated the
more, Wallie or George. That was
the worst of Wallie: he never "let
up; and in FlOrences circle there
was no more sobering threat than,
'Tll tell Wallie TOrbin" As for
Henry ROoter and Herbert Illings-
worth Atwater, Jr., they would as soon
have had a head-hrnter on their trail
as Wallle Torbn with anything In his
hands that could lncriminate them
In an implication of love-Or an ac-
acknowledgements Of their own beauty.
The fabric Of civilized life is Inter
woven with blackmail; even some of
the noblest people do favOrs for other
people who are depended upon not to
tell somebody something that the no
hlesl people have done Blackmail is
horn into us all, and our nurses teach
us mere blackmall by threatening to
tell cur parents, if we won't do this
and that-and our parents threaten
to tell the doctOr-and so we learn
Blackmail is part Of the daily life Of
a child; dispIeased, his first resort to
gel his way with other children is a
threat to tell; hut by-and-by his
experience discovers the mutual bene-
ht Of honor among blackmailers.
Therefore at eight Il is no longer the
ticker to threaten to tell the teacher
and little later, threatening to tell
any adult at all Is considered some.
thing of a breakdown in morals No
tOrlousIy the code Is more liable to
lnfraction by people Of the physically
Weater sex, for the very reason, OF
course, that their inferiOrity Of mus,
Gle 50 frequently compels such Il sin
II tupy are TO have their way. But
for Florence there was now no such
temniatiOn Looking toward the de-
m0liiOn Of Atwater & Roo'er, an eX
pOsurc before adults Of the result.
of "rruth' would have been an effect
Of the sickliest pal!or compared t.
whar might be accomplished by Il
careful use of the catastrophe Walit
Torbin
All in ali, it was great Sunday
for Florence. On Sunday evening L
was her privileged custom to 60 tt
the house Of her fat, old great-uncle
Joseph Atwater and remain until min,
o'clock, in chatty companionshlp will
Uncle Joseph and Aunt Carrie, hi
wife. and a few other relatives VII,
were 10 the habit Of dropping in ther,
on Sunday evenings. In summer
lemonade and cake were frequentl
provided; in the autumn, one still
found cake, and perhaps a pitcher o
clear new cider; apples were alway
certainty.
This evening was glorious; ther
were apples and cider and cake an
walruts, perfectly cracked, and
large Open-henrted box of candy
Naturally. these being the cIrcun