New-York tribune., 1922-02-04
Love Sneaks in
Holy Rollers
Laundry Door
Golden Haired Girl, Bend
ing Over Tub, Wooed by
Tongue-Tied Chore Boy
Till Elders Stop Romance
Swain Tries to End Life

court Voices Pity for Al.
flicted Youth Pining for
the North Bergen Maiden
Another scandal was revealed yester.
day al the Boulah Heights Mission Of
the Pcntecostal Church and Seminary
n North Bergen. Since the Holy
Rollers. as the irreverent call the
sanc;ified colony on the heights re-
covered from the custard pie war be-
tween the adherents of the Rev. Ernest
l.. Whitcoms and the Rev. Harold II.
Moss almost year ago, things have
been rolling along pretty smoothly.
1t was learned Yesterday. however.
that romance had stolen into the Holy
Rollers seminary by way of the laun
dry and had given the even course
Of events considerable bump. Any
worldly minded person who glanced
casually INTO the laundry when Grace
furbisn, a twenty-year- old student
from Old Orchard, Me, was bending
her flushed face, framed in curling
tendrils of gold. over the ironing board,
could have warned the elders and the
deacons that romance was bound for
Beuiah Heights on limited express.
Romantic Setting Revealed
But the elders and the deacons
glancing into the laundry, saw merely
an earnest spirit laboring in the vine
yard for the uplift of her soul, for
pretty Miss Furbish's exercise at the
ironing board helped to pay for her
TUT on and keep while she was being
instructed in holy rolling. When they
looked at Ralph Ballard, a chore boy
student who is afflicted by nervous
ailment that renders him almost dumb
at times, the elders and the deacons
:elt only pity and perhaps a slight
hope that the power he sought might
be vouchsafcd him.
Shy and silent as he was, Ralph
Ballard saw more when he looked into
the laundry than did the deacons and
the elders. What he saw fasc mated
him and the laundry steps always were
swept clean and the gravel in the
walks about the building always bore
the fresh marks Of Ralphs rake
His alteration had its reward. The
radiant spirit of the laundry conde-
scended to the inarticulate youth, and
In her miraculous presence he became
voluble. with his tongue and with his
eyes. Romance boiled up in the steam
Of the laundry. Incredible as It
seemed to the chore boy. the goddess
of the tubs regarded him kindly.
Their mutual attachment came to the
ears of the elders and the deacons.
which are far keener than their eyes.
Stern rebukes were administered and
laundry work and chores were so ar
ranged that hereafter they never might
coincide chronologically
Romance was at the boiling point,
however, and was not thus easily to be
subdued. Notes passed between Ralph
and Grace, notes which Ralph read and
reread until they we're in tatters and
which Grace kept beneath her pillow
She LETT them there one morning when
she started for the laundry and they
were discovered.
Deacons Horror Stricken
The e'ders and the deacons were
horror stricken. A formal meeting of
the entire Hoy Roller body was called,
ana before this solemn assembly was
summoned the laundress of the flower
like face and golden hair. 1t was re-
vealed that matters had come to
serious pass. that matrimony actually
was contemplated, to be followed by a
jcint missionary expedition to Japan.
For more than IN hour they lebored
with pretty Miss Furbish, and the
tumuit Of their prayerful and songful
attack upon her implety could be
heard beyond the bounds of Beulah
She had been a wicked girl, she said,
and had fixed her thoughts upon earth
ly happiness. She would do so no
more.
The chore boy had not been present
at the conclave, which took pace
Thursday. He heard about it yester-
day, and went straightway to a drug
store and bought bottle of iodine 1t
vas at his lips when his roommate
dashed it to the floor.
Ralph Tells the World
This. it was felt, was an affair be-
,ond the exhortations of the elders and
the 1cacons. The police were called
and Ralph was arrested. At the police
sta ton this typewritten note, addressed
ITO the World was found in his
pocket:
"The Joy of my heart is gone. The
one that helped me glory in Jesus has
failed. cannot live without her.
Therefore, without regard to eternity,
die with a broken hear"
There also was a letter from Ernest
s. Williams. head of the Highway Mis-
sion of the Holy Rollers in Philadel-
phia, who had sent Ralph to Beulah
Heights. MIR. Wells advised the youth
20 come TO a realization of the enor-
nifty of his offense and obey the regu-
atoms of the seminary. In all his
experience as Bible teacher, said Mr..
Williams. he never had heard of such
incorrigi gibility.
Mr.. Williams testified last night at
the hearing before Recorder Miles
when Ralph was arraigned on charge
OF attempting suicide. He said he had
saved the youth from suicide in the
subway, had cared for him
at his mission and sent him to Beulah
Heights for the good of his soul
Miss rurb.sh was there, too. 1t was
true. she said. that she had had an
affection for Ralph, born of sympathy
for his affection.
And is it wrong to feel such affec-
tion?' asked the Recorder.
Pretty Miss urbish hesitated only
We'll" she said, "where You seek to
keep your sins secret God will pro-
claim them from the housetops."
ut appears to me-" said Recorder
Miles. addressing Ralph. chat you are
q poor. unfortunate outcast, without a
friend in the world except for the pity
Of this little girl. | shall suspend SEN
tence upon you and parole you in the
custody Of the mission, whose authori-
ties. / understand, are willing to take
charge of you"
Ralph went back to his studies and
his chores