Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-05-21

7 and Bsgots and Elys and Godwins
and Laws and Bradfields. The names
! over the store fronts around the
Green told the story. There, just as
| they'd always been, YOU'D
think Of the newly polyglot, be-
wiideringly alien America OF the
! nineteen-twenties. you'd find the old
English Foxes and Lakes and Deans
and Edens and PooreS and Swans.
But however Of the new
/ forces old Ackland might have been
during their beginnings, that Gar
gantuan new America had reached
and changed the town. The age Of
had taste, back In the eighteen
/ eighties and ninetieS. touched II first.
A few bald brick structures stood
/ out like sore thumbs among the
gable-roofed. chimney-potted old
buildings around the Green.
The rebuilding Of Breckenridge's
drug store. a little later, had been
unfortunate. The new fire station
had a strident air. And though the
factory and tenement blight had
luckily skipped the Center 10 alight
az Ackland Corners. two or three
miles away. where there was a rail
Z way Junction. uoluAUE NpLlu HdNt
kent out the automobiles. They
swarmed in with the new century
like n plague Of beetles. bringing aft
er them macadamized roads and citi-
flied traffic policemen and filling sta
tions and hot dog stands and rum
runner and the new young sort OF
narcctic-fed criminals. and all the
mixed benefits and the ugly litter of
49, -. 81 #A.A,.A nn-mraau
The nerves Of anxious parents we're
stirred BY night parking along coun-
try lanes, and BY whispers Of a
spreading Generalization among the
young poole Of high school age. The
motion pictures got in. over a spirit
cd opposition, bringing a dubious
gospel Of senSatiOnaliSm. n new sort
Of talk about sex appeal. and a de-
bauchery Of sober taste that couldn't
be headed off. The radio followed,
with its disarmingly miraculous air.
thrusting jazz and the twanging jar
, gon of a cheaply restless age within
the four walls Of nearly every home
in town.
Old Ackland staggered. but carried
on as well as IL could. There ap-
peared TO be compcnsationy. The
swarming motorists spent money in
the town. Breckenridge's new soda
fountain was twice as big as the
old one. Jim Swan bought the Bea-
don property next door 70 the bak-
cry. and built an addition with q
white lunchroom on the street. Real
property values were looking up.
Old Joe Harmer. who wore a full
beard and smoked f~ifteen-cent cigars
and ran the coal and feed business
down BY the tracks and owned rom
siderable land and was head select
man, didn't appear 10 be worried. In
his quiet substantial way he talked
prosperity. and the grocers and but
cheers and druggists and hardware
men listened. And 50. swiftly, a
town that had been beautiful began
to look, in spots, flimsy and ugly.
In the general bewilderment only
the Age stood firm. For the flavor
and tons Of old Ackland. Young Ham
Pew. rising TO the situation with a
good deal Of the old mans courage
and wit, fought the new disorders
motion pictures, hot dog shacks,
tourist camps. commercial dance
halls-fought them all, and lost.
When, by way Of n sort Of climax,
a pair Of swarthy aliens from no.
where applied for = permit to open
a ~pretentious r~oadhouse actually
within the town. not two miles from
the Center. the historic editorial col
umn of the Age fairly Numbered
There were public hearings. in the
town hall. private arguments in
BreckenridRe's and In Sam Buttons
barber shop; much anxious commen,
in the seclusion of pleasantly digni-
fled homes.
In the course Of time the selectmen
gave those aliens a victualler's IL
cense: and a colonial mansion was
rebuilt, with glassed-in porches. in
a pine grove conveniently aside from
the state road.
The place. falkland, was opened
Liquor flowed. of course. Girls Of
the town were lured there. Motor.
lists from Boston, from Worcester
from God knew where. foregathered
Fights occurred. Nearly every Mon.
day brought reports OF drunken road
accidents.
Young Ham refused their adver.
Using ana hammered relentlessly on
Every week he hit out. But the
swarthy ones shrewdly bought their
provisions at the Center. This and
that citizen began 20 be heard Of a.
a frequenter of the place.
This r%oadhouse mas much 70 ia
with the story.
Young Ham seemed, when you met
him. a modern enough product. He'd
been 70 college. He came back from
France q captain ~ artillery. He'd
had contacts enough: knew the
world pretty well, indeed. lie