The Washington times., 1927-06-06

her. I feel, however, that Il may
matter much what makes Ruth Sny-
ders and what becomes. OF them
and what contributes to their prog.
ress and their fan.
Dramatists, suppose, have that
faculty for viewing characters as
characters rejecting groups or
classes, rather than. like profess
sional reporters, viewing each sub
ject" as a lone, entire incident, to
be started off when a story
breaks" and to be forgotten when
that story dies
II there IL to be any value at all
TO the immense amount the State
has spent in Inanpower, wear and
tear on its machinery, supporting
me all these weeks and finally Civ.
ing me it's last outlay by way OF
electric current. feel that Il should
at least serve to point a moral,
teach q lesson, or give to science
some knowledge that may be Of
use after have passed.
The whole Snyder-G Gray triangle"
will be wiped out. Peace be to
their ashes. That disposes Of them,
three misguided, unfortunate-two
of them or all of them perhaps
very wicked-grains of sand in the
eternal desert of this human sphere.
Few will care at all and none will
care long.
Punishment Fails to Prevent
But that would be too bad. BY
what they all have suffered and by
what they all will have paid they
should have left something behind
them more than the briefly bor-
rowed clay returning where it
came from.
There have been too many crimes
through all the ages for me TO be.
lieve that the bare fact Of our
punishment will hold back others
yet to come. Enough people had
been punished before we were born,
before we were tempted, before we
sinned-but though we knew that
as well - you know Of our pen.
alties, It didn't seem to stop US
from going through TO ruin.
1t must be more than that. be-
cause, though we all know that the
wages Of sin is death and the way
Of the transgressor is hard. there
IL that within each Of US that keeps
ON saying, "Oh. / know all about
that-but they won't get ME. ]
know the odds against me, but
they're not too heavy for ME-"
No. It must be brought closer
home than that to do any good, to
deter any who are or may be can
didates for perdition.
A Typical American Girl
Ruth Brown was an American.
born girl, graduated from the public
schools, q churchgoer, reared in q
respectable Christian home; fairly
pretty but not ravishing, lively but
not siddy. comfortable but neither
rich nor poor-in short, what for
purposes Of discussion and analysis
might safely be taken a. q cynical"
daughter Of the United States.
She ended, with the lapse Of only
rev years, q notorious freak, All
awry, sentenced to die in the cleo
trio chair for an atrocIous murder.
Something must have brought
that about--either something that
was sleeping in her all the time
that she came and went, unframed
ana harmless, or else something
must have entered her composition
at some stage which entirely al
tered her.
Never Went With Fast Set
1t was not environment" It
was not bad company"-unless
you call Judd Gray bad company,
or unless you can blame Il on nv
having gone to lunch one day with
q married friend who was ill.ad.
viSed enough to introduce ma to
a stranger who would introduce
me to another stranger, Judd Gray.
mean never Travelled with
any fast SET" My companions as
. rule were very much like myself,
In the same financial and social and
moraf atmosphere, not prudish or
intensely good, but not alarmingly
bad or loose.
1t was probably not "heredity.
As far as / have ever been able TO
learn Of all my ancestors on both
sides, and from all 1 know Of all
my kin on both sides, near and far,