News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1921-04-13


dollars a week and her board, skilled
mechanic, who had to board him
self, ought to earn at least fifty. Sc
he put up his prices. Israel Sneed
the plumber raised his scale to CORE
spOnd with that Of the carpenter. The
prices of the butcher and grocer kept
pace with the rise of wages. A period
of uneXampfed prosperity set in.
Some time before, the Old Spirit of
Bingville had received notice that its
services would no longer be required.
1t had been an industrious and faith
not intend to be hard on it. They
were willing to give it comfortable
home as long as il lived It's home
was to be called The Past. There it
was to have nSthing to do but to sit
around and weep and talk of bygone
days. The Old Spirit rebeled. 1t re-
fused to abandon its appointed tasks.
The notice had been given soon af-
ter the new theater was opened in the
Sneed block, and the endless flood Of
moving lights and shadows began to
fall on its screen. The low-born, pur-
| blind intellects of Bohemian New
| York began to pour their lewd fancies
| into this great stream that flowed
through every city, town and village
in the land. They had no more COM
junction in the matter than a rattle
snake when it swallows rabbit To
them, there were only two great bare
facts in life-male and female. The
males, in their vulgar parlance, were
either wise guys" or suckers !" The
females were all my dears."
Much of this mental sewage smelled
to heaven. But it paid. 1t was cheap
and entertaining. 1t relieved the te-
dium of small-town life.
Judge Croker was in the little
theater that evening that the Old
Spirit Of Bingville received notice to
quit. The sons and daughters and
even the young children of the best
families in the village were there.
Scenes from the shady side of the
great cities, bar-rOom adventures with
pugiiiSts and porcelain-faced women,
the thin-ice skating of Illicit love sue
ceeded one another on the screen. The
tender souls of the young received
the impression that life in the great
world was mostly drunkenness, viO-
lence, lust, and Great White Way
WardnesS of one kind or another.
Judge Crooker shook his head and
his fist rs he went out and expressed
his view to Phyllis and her mother in
the lobby Going home, they called
him an old prude. The knowledge that
every night this false instruction was
going on in the Sneed block filled the
good man with sorrow and apprehen-
sion. He complained to Mr. Leak, the
manager, who said that he would like
to give clean shows, but that he had
to take what was sent him.
soon curious thing happened to
the family of Mr.. ]. Patterson Bing.
1t acquired a new god-One that be-
gan, as the reader will have observed,
with a small g." He was boneIess, |
India-rubber, obedient little god. For
years thc need Of one like that had !
boon growing in the Bing family. Since |
lie had become a millionaire, Mr.. Bing |
h, u nj if necessary to spend |
good of time and considerable |
money wv York. Certain of his |
banker frieL n the metropolis had |
Introduced him to the joys of the
Great White Way and the card room
of the Golden Age club. Always he
had been i'll and disgruntled for a week !
after his return to the homely realities |
of BingviIle. The shrewd intuitions
of Mrs. Bing alarmed her. SO Phyllis /
and John were packed off to private
schools so that the good woman would
be free to look after the imperiled
welfare of the lamb Of her flock-the
great J. Patterson. She was really
worried about him. After that, she al
ways went with him to the city She
was pleased and delighted with the
luxury of the great hotels, the cos
tunes, the dinner parties, the thea
ters, the suppers, the cabaret shows
They went out to a great country
house, near the city, to spend week
end. There was a dinner party on
Saturday night One of the ladies got
very tipsy and was taken upstairs.
The others repaired to the music room
to drink their coffee and smoke Mrs.
Bing tried a cigarette and got along |
with it very well. Then there was an
hour Of heart to heart central Euro
iaan dancing while the older mon sat
lDwn for Il night of bridge in the Ii
Drary. Sunday morning the young
PEOPLE rode to hounds across country
while the bridge party continued its
ession in the library. 1t was not eX-
ctly n restful weekend ]. Patterson
md his wife went to bed as soon as
heir grips were unpacked on their re-
urn to the city and spent the day
here with aching heads.
While they were eating dinner that
light, the cocktail remarked with the
Ups of Mrs. Bing I'm getting tired Of