The Washington herald., 1921-12-24
PRISONERS PLUCK
lDCMVALRY WIN
M'lVTYRES LIKING
Felon Asks %. O. to Send
Book to Crippled
Press Agent.
By o. o. M'INrYRE.

NEW YORK, Dec. 23.-It Is a sea-
son of Old Scrooge yarns and car
ICONS of -spindly-legged children
gazing at window Christmas trees.
From the cell of a State prison in
the Far West there came to me re-
Gently letter from young New
York actor. To tell the story I must
be bit personal.
He wrote: In the offing. plough
ing through the sea of life, a
strange bark. flying the flag of the
Spoiler, I could not resist the privi-
lege that the season affords to send
you greetings. Every night a news
paper with your articles is pushed
into my cell, etc"
1t was an uncompiainipg letter
breathing the spirit Of one who. has
borne the "bludgeonings of chahce'
with the uncomfortable soul, a man
who had made his mistake, regretted
II and was cheerfully paying the
penalty.
! replied that I would like to
send him some cigarettes and book $
IL 1t were permitted. The young
man Is lonely-he is far from home.
and yet / quote in part from his
reply:
Your bonhommie in offering Gig
arettes is hindered by an institution
"a keynote which urges us to roll
our own. Regarding a book, I'll
compromise.
There is lady. a sick lady. at
st. Vincent's in New York Her
name Is Nellie Revell, a theatrica /
press agent. For three years she's
been featured in a cast-not a typi-
cal Morosco; a plaster OF paris and
iron one. I don't know her-that's
my loss. / have read OF the brave
way she's playing the game.
$50, instead of sending me a book
IL it's all the same and won't offend
you. you might send II to her: or
flower. There's nothing sentimen-
tai about my wish. ] do not know
her. And you need not mention my
name, for, as RUDE Goldberg would
say: 1T doesn't mean anything"
Miss Revell, who Is an old friend
of mine, has been cheered by his
message. 1t did much to make her
Christmas brighter So endeth a
true Christmas tale. -
BY way OF contrast to my friend
in prison I met young lady in a
Greenwich Village tea room tho
other day. She thirsts for higher
things-although she has money
and good home. She Is a chronic
moaner and after a half hour with
her one feels like challenging, her
to moan for s cents a side or some
thing like that. Her intellectual
ism Is complex. I believe she
thinks Babe Ruth wrote THE Bat"
She abhors Christmas because of
its sham. its hypocrisy and silly
gift giving.
Herb Roth, the caricaturlst. Is
buying a country home in West
chester. He is going TO call it
''Dandruff on the Knob"
DR. Royal Copeland. New York's
health officer, has made the Christ
mas season much brighter in the
Fifth avenue corset shops. He has
decided that the new style corsets
are a distinct benefit to women, not
only in serving as a brace but in
giving a symmetry to the figure.
The corset has had a rough time of
it for a year, but II shows signs Of
coming back and again taking its
place as a part of the smart dress
er's wearing apparel.
Abe Attell. the prize fighter. has
opened a shoe shop in the neigh
borhood of the Winter Garden. In
the old days the retired fighters
used to run saloons but now they
go in for shoes. Two other shoe
shops on Broadway are run by
former heroes of the fistic arena.