Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-25
AS ONE WOMAN SEES IT
Lady Relative by Marriage Of a Mid
die Western Town Takes a Dare
and Makes the Wicked
Weary
BY SARAH ID. LOwRIE

/ III not Know III 1t Is q point OF nonor
1 nowadays with children, but when l was
a child TO accept a dare was foregone
conclusion.
Whether it was to jump from the highest
hay loft or walk ON the outside gutter OF
the mansard roof, or go up to perfect
stranger with your hat out as though beg
ging aims, yours but to do and die II you
were dared. l was amused the other day
to hear how friend Of mine out in Mid
die. West city had risen to a dare. Her ntti-
tude toward the town and toward opposi.
ton would make the ''low spirited Lady OF
Main street" sit up. take notice and mend
her complaining, ineffective ways, l believe.
AT oil events, the way my friend went at
her job and accepted the challenge OF op.
position shows she is a real American and
her town, being real one somewhere west
OF the Mississippi, likes her for her spunk
and goes to it, with her, even though she
Is an Easterner and only connected with 1t
by marriage.
THE challenge was over the holding Of a
L carnival. Now it seems that what the
Chautauqua is to the High Brows Of the
Middle West, carnivals are to the Low Lives
"A source of income, a source Of inspira
ton. The inspiration that comes from car
nival is for duncing, gambling. drinking and
queered shows that are immune from po-
lice raids by some one being fixed higher up.
Carnivals seem to have most of the OBJ
JtCtlouul FEATURES OF county 1nlrS WITHOUT
the good agricultural competition. There are
regular companies which put them on the
road, arrange their appearances and exits,
and guarantee their pep" They are gem
orally introduced into particular town by
some local organization in need of funds
The organization nominally holds the car
nival and pockets about $1,000 without fur
ther trouble to itself beyond a generous
publicity under its name.
TN THE town of my friends adoption
L there is law on its statute books making
the holding of carnival without the consent
OF the Town Council inable offense. 1t
also happens that from her experience with
the flotsam and jetsam cast up in the wake
Of past carnivals my friend had come to the
conclusion that the evil that the hordes of
unscrupulous strangers wrought by their
weeks stay during a carnival could not be
estimated in dollars cents and certainly
not rectifed by any punishment the law
could devise. So she was against carnivals
with all her mind, and did not care who
knew it,
AS she is very well known person in
that town, very few of It's leading citizens
were unaware of her stand
IL so happened that for last Fourth of
July the women of the Civic Club had under
taken some sort of celebration to welcome
the new citizens with appropriate ceremonies
into their American citizenship. 1t also
happened that part of the ceremony OF
welcome was to be parade in which the
war veterans, young and old, from the Civil
War down, were to march. These military
heroes are known familiariy In the town
as the vets, and their clubs as the Vets
Club With these few facts in mind my
friends recital of the challenge and of her
acceptance of it, I shall now give as she
retailed it without further explanation.
L" IL seemed well until one afternoon a
"A very smooth speaking young man from
the vets came to see me. l learned later
that he had written many pro German let
ters for our pro- German paper until it
was suppressed. He had then gone TO an
other city in the State and given his nge
as over the draft age, but was caught and
| drafted. so that his being vet was, so to
speak, involuntary.
However, during this visit to me he was
most conciiatory and seemed desirous Of
| being helpful in the matter of the parade.
| lie said the Vets Club was to have a
carnival here the week of the Fourth and
| legal action brought by the women If they
did. 1t was a new idea to me, the legal
| action. but was game and said there GER
| tainly would be. ] proceeded to tell him
all the objections to carnvals on moral
| grounds and also the law on our city books
| prohibiting carnivals-except under certain
| very stringent conditions. He seemed much
moved. He said he never had heard of
carnival being bad morally but that neither
he nor the other vets would care for carn-
| walls if they had known what / had told
| him. BY this one they expected to make
| $1,000 and as they were bankrupt it would
mean much
Before they appealed to Council on the
matter I said l would be glad to speak at
meeting of the vets and tell them how the
| women felt and why.
1.-The next few days | was occupied in
rounding up the women and In seeing the
| Councimcn. The meeting Of the Council
was to be held the following Monday.
| had rounded up six women eager to appear
before Council TO oppose carnivals, and
| had four of the eight Councilmcn pledged to
| our side. The vets on the other hand
had boaSted that they had six Councilmcn,
which, if they were telling the truth,
meant that there had been come squirming
or would be when the vote was taken If
our four held, then the Mayor would have
| to cast the deciding vote, which would be q
sore trial TO him, for he likes TO please
everybody and also be pattern of nobility.
l had seen the president Of the Vets Club,
who was extremely nice to me. He said he
liked carnvals, liked a little excitement.
didn't mind gambling as long as you didn {
go broke. lie thought the world a pretty
dirty place, but felt no call to worry
about it, Let each person take care of
himself and the parents control the chill
dren.
WTIlEN the Council met one of our men
w was not present. l called him up at
once and he said he had forgotten. which
| rather doubt. The speakers for the vets
were the smooth spoken Involuntary vet,
and the expert divorce lawyer of the town,
with a neck like bull, who is also a lay
reader in one Of the churches.
'lle had tried for the soft Office Of
judge advocate in one of the State repi
ments Mt the beginning of the war and Or
dered the appropriate uniform for the Job
and got married in It. OF course he missed
It and very late In the war went into a
training camp, out of which he did not get
before the war was over. There was also
ID a labor union representative. His plea for
carnivals was that no one should opposq
evil while We had so much in our back
yards. Some one asked him If because there
was so much evil in the back yard he
wanted it in the front yard, too, and he