The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1921-09-23
Both Won Their
. Case
BY RAY BAKER


AS soon as the tousle-haired office
boy disappeared after depositing the
weekly Paragon" upside down on
the desk, with an eloquent flourish be-
fitting such an important attache in a
lawyers place of business, cyril
Holmes unbent from his dgnltied
posture. With chuckle that sound
ed almost like gloating the young law
yer seized the paper and unfolded It,,
tearing one of the pages an his haste.
wait till Matte sees this an
nouncement," he said to himself, glee.
fully. Maybe she'll come to the con-
clusion I'm getting On In the world,
after all, instead of being mere grow
eler, as she told me | was during our
last quarrel. 1t ought to be about on
page three, think. Cyril Holmes
Candidate for Prosecuting Attorney
or something like that, is the way the
headline should read"
AS he turned the pages in quest Of
the announcement of his candidacy,
Cyril settled back in the swivel chair
and lighted cigar. But scarcely had
he tasted the weed when he sprang out
of the chair as though catapulted by
springs.
Good graciousw he burst out,
standing in the center of the room
and looking at the printed page held
under his nose. Listen to this:
Matte Sheldon, candidate for prose
cutting attorney Whoever heard of
such a ridiculous proposition? A
woman running for prosecuting at
torney--and against the man who ex-
pccted to marry her. All, yes, here's
my announcement, buried at the bot
tom of the page. It's Il wonder they
didn't hook the two stories together
and make a big splash. But this will
never do. Just because Matte fin
ished law school and was admitted to
the bar Is no reason she should go
after public Office like that. She
never had chance in her life, and
never intended to. It's just a whim
with her, this study of law
"Yes, sir" agreed small voice, and
Cyril looked from his paper to discover
that, in voicing his sentiments aloud,
he had been addressing the tousle-
haired office boy, who stood in the door
way.
Glarlng at the boy, Cyril hurriedly
donned coat and hat and left the
office, making his way to Matte Shell
don's home.
Matte had frank way of going
about things. She loved Cyril and
had let him know It, but at the same
time she had not tried to veneer his
shortcomings, one of which was n "too
easy-gong" nature.
congratulations" she said by way
of greeting, smiling with pretty red
mouth and hazel eyes. AT last
you've harnessed your ambition and
are going after something. But you're
too Int. With women voting In the
Of show OF being nominated. How
ever, to make matters easier for me
think You ought to withdraw. 1t
would be the gallant, gentlemanly
thing to do
Cyril's eyes wfdened in astonish-
ment
"That would be finer" he ejaculat-
ed. Il just came over to ask the
ANNA thine nf ,nn Hara youiva haap
urging me to do something, and when
take your advice and get ambitious
you set yourself In my path as an OBJ
stacle. But that isn't the big point.
The prosecuting attorneys Office is no
place for you. Admitted you're capa-
BILE of taking care of it, you have no
business in such position. Women
should leave such matters alone.
Insist that you drop out of the race.
The one that stays in is bound to win
the nomination, and that means the
election, because the other party
hasn't a show In this town."
There followed m argument that
consumed fully an hour, with each
contendiDg that the other should
abandon the campaign for nomina-
ton as prosecuting, attorney. When
Matte brought out fOrceful point
in her favor Cyril met 1t quickly with
cOunter-argument. and when he
bolstered his case with what looked
like q strong prop she promptly
knocked 1t over.
Although neither realized 1t, they
were both using their training in law
school, and were arguing the case like
two attorneys addressing their ap-
peals to jury. And IL there had been
twelve good men and true. to render
q verdict in this parlor political trial
they would have experienced consider
able difficulty in arriving at a decision.
for neither Matte nor Cyril appeared
to have the better of the oratorical
tuSsle.
They strobe back and forth across
the floor, gesticulating to emphasize
their remarks, for all the world like
two debaters settling the fate of the
world, until suddenly the funny side
Of the situation dawned on them ST.
multaneously and both broke out
laughing.
~ forgot where ! was" Cyril said
anoloppticolly