Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-02-10

so that be had to spend n day at the
farm. The daughters Immediately ano
unanimously fell in love with him., WOO
4 ing him while he scorned them. Willie
l Means. as a knight OF the road, stopped
I to beg a meal and became infatuated
/ with the daughters Unfortunately, pur-
suing them with his attentions and suf-
( fering their rebuffs Throughout the two
2 acts.
There were four songs in each act; the
= hit of the first act was the final sung
by the six girls to Keith. 1t was called
Won't You Please Love Me a Little?'
In the second act Julie, as the youngest
daughter, won Kirk and ran away with
him, while the other five a the second
t hit of the piece: We're Waiting for q
Nice Young Man." to bring down the
curtain.
Blummer himself had the first song In
the first act. 1t was by way of welcome
to Kirk upon his arrival; and in tuneful
numbers he introduced the young man
: to each of his daughters, ~expatiating up
on their individual attractions. In line
with his policy of reducing lines to q
minimum, he had decided to ring up the
curtain this night on the blast Of an
automobile horn, himself, Mrs. Marni-
han, and the six daughters being revealed
upon the stage. Kirk was to make his
entrance at once.
What this bunch wants is music and
dancing" he had warned the girls. we'll
hop right into 1t. Keep every song going
as long as they'll take it, and dance as
long as you can kick. If we do a good
job tonight we can pack 'em in again to-
morrow"
He had had some misgivings as the hall
filled, for it was apparent that most of
the men had Leen drinking. He and
Willie Means and Kirk peered around the
screen which enclosed their dressing
quarters and studied the faces, and
Blummer tried to hearten himself by
pointing out how hilariously good hui
mored they were. The air became heavy
with the fumes Of the pipes the men
were smoking; the odor Of alcohol hung
like a cloud.
Willie had not had a drink for a week;
and he wished nightly for one in this
hour. The crowd grew more and more
restless, shouting for the show to begin.
and at length Blummer numbered onto
the stage, arranged himself and the girls,
and signaled to Willie to draw the cur
tain. Willie obeyed, then crouched out
Of sight to wait for whatever was to
come. He could see @ man in the front
row with a stained bandage around his
head, n his heart was sick with fear.
Mrs. Marnihan was on the stage when
the curtain was withdrawn. Out Of the
hoarse howl which greeted them words
became distinguishable, and she straight
ened Indignantly as she understood them
and understood they were addressed to
her. Some one audibly compared her to
one of the less respectable domesticated
beasts. and Mrs. Marnihan. with her head
high, stepped down from the platform
beside Willie and out of sight. Her eyes
we're blazing, and she said to Willie: For
two cents I'd go out there and give them
a piece Of my mind"
Willie nodded. They ought not to act
that way" he agreed. They ought not
to talk that way to a lady like you, Mrs.
Marnihan.'
I'm not going to stay, nor show my
self again." she told him. you tell
hummer he'll have to get along without
me. I'm going back to the hotel"
When she was gone Willie turned his
attention to what went forward. Blum
mer was singing. and the audience was
already becoming unruly. He was des-
perately afraid, n he might have es-
capped, but as Mrs. Marnihan had said,
there was q chance he would be needed
to look out for the girls. They needed
a gentleman's protection. So he watched
Blummer, and he listened nervously to
the outcries from the house.
Blummer, fondling his daughters as he
presented them to Kirk, had offended the
sensibilities Of the lumbermen. He was
SO bald n old and evil; the girls were
young and some Of them were pretty.
When Blummer put his arms around
Zara's shoulders some one shouted.
Keep your paws of of her." When he
chucked Rose under the chin another
voice advised her to slap his face; and
when he encircled jules waist a gi-
gantic figure in the front row threatened
to throw him off the stage II he didn't
leave her alone.
Willie trembled. So soon as Blum
mer's turn was lone he must go out on
the stage; n his knees shook at the
prospect OF confronting that bowling
mob.
But was an old hand. he
knew how to temper his performance to
the tastes Of his audience, and before he
finished his turn he had Modified the
crowd. Then Willie heard his cue, and
f~altered up on the stage and won a guf-
faw or two by the wistful dignity with
which he went through his antics. The
crowd sat good humoredly through the
lines that preceded the next song, which
the girls sang together, and which they
followed by the first dance number. This
WAS enormously successful. 1t would not
be accurate to say hat the girls were we'll
trained, but Oracle and cara were supple
n pretty, and Rose had a mischievous
abandonment at her command which
pleased them tremendously. They we're
forced to go through the dance over and
over again, while Willie sighed with re-
lief at the respite, and Kirk watched
from the side Of the stage and Blummer
from his dressing space whispered sharp
ly: Faster Fasteri" The audience in
sisted that Rose lance alone: they kept
her at 1t till Willie saw that she was ex-
hausted n improvised q dance Of his
own, burlesquing hers, which won her a
respite n carried them on to the next
number.
1t a become apparec. that the audi
ence wanted to watch the girls n would
tolerate Willie; Blummer they met with
rude remarks whenever he took the CEN
ter Of the stage. and Kirk had inspired
their dislike from the first. Now when
Kirk and Oracle had q dance together
he was shouted into retirement, while
Oracle went on alone; and a Frenchman
on the aisle bounded to the stage and
offered to dance with Oracle and Blum
mer had to interfere and persuade the
man to get down 30 that the show could
go n
h temper Of the crowd had been
good, but this seemed to ~disappoint
them; there were some growls and pro-
tests. Half a dozen voices yelled to the
Frenchman: go on, Jack. Show EN-
howl" The man took a numbering step
or two, but his spikes tripped him. Will
lie saw how the sharp points bit the
boards, n remembered how they had
crushed into his flesh, n shuddered
with reminfgcent main. hit his oUn ter