The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1921-12-15

Almost from his babyhood he had
been a child Of one purpose: to in
crease by CHASTITY burlesque the suf-
ferings of unfortunate friends. If one
of them wept, Wallie necessarily pur-
sued him, yelping in hOrrid mimicry
if one were chastised, he could not
appear out-of-doors for days except to
encounter Wallie and a complete re-
hearsal of the recent agony. "Quit,
papa; pah-puh, quee-yet! I'll never
do it again, pah-puhl Oh, femme
alone, pah-puh !"
AS he grew older, his insatiate Gu
riosity enabled him to expose unnum
bered weaknesses, -indiscretions and
social misfortunes on the part of ac-
quaintances and schoolmates and to
every exposure his noise and energy
gave a hideous 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-
ciatingly at intervals throughout her
eleventh spring, because Wallie dis
covered that George Beck sent her a
valentine; and the humorist's many,
many %squealings of that valentines
affectIonate quatrain 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 Florence's circle there
was no more soldering threat than,
"I1l tell Wallie Torhin :" AS for
Henry Rooter and Herbert nlings-
worth Atwater, Jr., they would as sOon
have had a h%ead-hunter on their trail
as Wallie Torbin with anything in his
hands that could incriminate them
in an implication of love-or an ac-
knowledgement of their own beauty.
The fabric Of civilized life is inter
woven with blackmail eve some of
the nohlest people do favors for other
people who are depended upon not to
tell somebody something that the no
blest people have done. Blackmail is
born into us all, and u nurses teach
us more blackmail by threatening to
tell cur parents, if we won't do this
and that-and u parents threaten
TO tell the doctOr-and so we learn!
Blackmail is part of the daily life of
a child displeased, his first resort to
get his way with other children is a
threat to "telI'; but by-and-by his
experience discovers the mutual bene-
fit of honor among blackmailers.
Therefore, at eight it is no longer the
ticket to threaten to tell the teacher;
and, a little later, threatening to tell
any adult at all is considered some
thing of a breakdown in morals. No
~toriOusly, the code is more liable to
infraction by people of the physically
weaker sex, for the very reason, of
course, that their inferiOrity of mus
Gle so frequently compels such a sin,
if they are to have their way. But
for Florence there was now no such
temptation. Looking toward the de-
molition of Atwater & Rooter, an x
posure before adults of the results
of Truth would have been an effect
Of the sickliest pallor compared to
what might be accomplished by a
careful use of the catastrophe Wallie
Torbin.
All in all, it was a great Sunday
for Florence. On Sunday evening it
was her privileged custom to go to
the house of her fat, old great-uncle,
Joseph Atwater, and remain until nine
o'clock, in chatty companionship with
Uncle Joseph and Aunt Carrie, his
wife. and a few other relatives who
were in the habit of dropping in there
on Sunday evenings. In summer,
lemonade and cake were frequently
provided; in the autumn. n still
found cake. and perhans a pitcher OF