Nogales international., 1929-09-20
First Instalment


whinnied, "Nineveh~ and with
equal scorn. "The Spanish mission.
aries may have called it the City
of Angels; but the moving pictures
have changed It's name to Lo:
Diablos,! For it is the central fac.
tory of Satan and his minions, the
enemy of our homes, the corruptel
of our young men and women-the
school of crime. Unless it reforms
and soonl-surely, in Gods good
time, the ocean will rise and swal.
low itp
Though he was two thousand
miles or more away-the Reverend
Doctor Steddon was so convinced
by his own prophetic ire that he
would hardly have been surprised
to read in the Monday mornings
paper that a benevolent earthquake
had taken his hint and shrugged
the new Babylon off into the Pacific
ocean.
But Doctor Steddon, if he could
have seen the realm he objurgated
would have confessed that the devil
had a certain grace as a gardener
and that his minions were a hand
some, happy throng. AS it was
Doctor Steddon had never seen Los
Angeles and had never seen a
moving picture. He knew that the
world was going to wrack and ruin
AS usual-and he laid the blame
on the nearest novelty-as usual.
His daughter had heard him lay
the blame in previous years on
other activities. She wished he
wouldn't.
But then she had not escaped
blame herself, and she was in .
mortal dread now of a vast clout
of obloquy lowering above her an6
ominous with lightning.
Her father and mother had named
her Remember-after one of the
Mayfio0Uer gir1s-nearly three hun
dred years after. Her father otter
wished that she had been hker to
those Puritan maidens. But that
was because he did not know how
like she was to them, how much
they, too, had terrified their parents
with their love of fnery and
romantic experiment.
For it is only the styles, and not
the souls, that change. There are
chronicles enough to prove that the
same quota of the Remembers and
the Praisegods of Plymouth and the
other colonies suffered the same
bitter beatitudes and frantic be-
Wildcrments as Remember Steddor
and Elwood Farnaby endured wher
their elbows touched in the choir
loft of this mid Western village.
Miss Steddon felt sudden tremol
in Farnaby's elbow; then it was
gone from hers; she saw his thumb
nail whiten as it gripped the hymn
book hard. ~
Somehow in the words he
chanted seemed to stab him with a
sense of guilt. He felt it a ter
rible thing for her to stand before
that congregation and cry aloud
words of ecstacy over her redemp-
ton from sin.
Their secret, unknown and uncon-
fessed, was concealed by the very
clamor of its publication. And il
troubled Farnaby nightly to be
gaining all the advantage of lie by
singing the truth.
When the choir was not singing
openly and aboveboard, it was
usually busily whispering. Even
Elwood Farnaby had to lean over
tonight and whisper important news
to Remember. He was not per.
mitted to call at her house or tc
beau her home after the service
Singing beside her in the house oi
God-that was different. He told
her now what he had just learned
that the factory where he was EN-
ployed would close down the fol
lowing week because of hard times
Elwood was to have been promoted
to superintendent soon.
To Remember Steddon the news
that Elwood would have no Job in a
week and would know no place to
look for one had more than COM
mercial interest. 1t was the a1arum
of fate.
She had loved Elwood since they
were children-had loved him al
the more for the squalor of his
home. He was the son of the
towns most eminent drunkard, old
"Fa1ldown Farnaby."
Among the slipshod children oi
his family Elwood alone had man
aged to acquire ambition. He had
1atterly supported his mother and q
pack of brothers and sisters. He
had even been able to afford to &c
to the war and win the guerdon ot
wound that made him glorious in
Remember Steddon's eyes and q
little more 1ovable than ever.
Her father, however, had been
unable to tolerate the thought of his
daughters marrying the son of the
town sot. Doctor Steddon felt that
he was proving his love, his loving
wisdom toward his daughter, by
forbidding her even to meet young
Farnaby outside the choir loft. He
was sure that her love would wear
out.
He did not know his daughter
Who ever did?
<a
E1wood had expected that the bad
news would shock her. But he could
not understand the look Of ghastly