Bellefonte, Pa., July 27, 1928. LIFE’S TEST. Temptation whispers everywhere—- Wait now, and act tomorrow, To-day you have not time to spare, So from the future borrow. And bids you save your best endeavor To use some future time, And lose your hold upon the lever To make your life sublime, “It will do!” is a false, deceitful shirk, That will spoil one’s life forever, Unless by faithful, honest work You pull yourself together. And to each day’s task apply the test To make you truthfully proclaim, “It is my best, my very best,” Then naught your life can shame. —George E. Herrick. ——————— eee. THE MATRON’S REPORT. To the Board of Supervisors, Municipal Orphans’ Home. Ladies and Gentlemen: In re: Richard Lewis, age 16; na- tivity, unknown; history, foundling. This boy, an incorrigible, ran away from the Home on the night of Sept. 4, 1927, about 11.30 p. m. He took with him his Sunday outfit consisting of suit, shoes, underwear, shirt and cap, all donated by Mrs. Jackson, of 19 Oldham Place, Jan. 3, 1927, and valued at $16; and a violin donated by the Ohpheus Music Co., Oct. 14, 1902, valued at $4. Richard Lewis was to report to the Bland Wholesale Grocery Co., 1622 South Melrose Street, at 7 a. m. Sept. 5th, where employment as a packer had been obtained for him through Mr. Orson Levy. Mr. Levy has kind- ly consented to hold the place open a week. In the event Richard Lewis does not return the Matron respect- fully requests permission to substi- tute for him Waldo Thompson, a very deserving boy. Although Richard Lewis would have completed his legal stay at the Home on Sept. 5th, it should be not- ed that he is still a ward of the Board of Supervisors and the Matron rec- ommends that an order for his arrest and detention be given the police. Should he prove unamenable to fur- ther discipline, the Matron suggests that his case be referred to the Juv- enile Court. A term in the Reformatory would, the Matron believes, prove beneficial to this boy. He needs firm correc- tive measures at this formative per- iod in his life. The following descrip- tion may be forwarded to the police if the Board of Supervisors decide to take action: Hair, brown and curly; eyes, dark brown; size, large for his age; identification marks, has small scar under chin; manner, insolent and overbearing. If arrested in the near future, Richard Lewis would no doubt make many absurd and untrue statements concerning his treatment at the Home. The Matron, anticipating such’ action on the part of Richard Lewis, submits to the Board of Supervisors a full report on his case. It will ap- pear, the Matron is certain, that any charges uttered by this boy have no basis in fact. The Matron wishes to warn the Board of Supervisors at the start of her report that the name of a form- er inmate of the Home, to wit, Doro- thy May Chevis, must necessarily be used in a recital of the facts. It will be recalled that very recently Dorothy May Chevis was claimed by her fath- er, Mr. Albert B. Danforth, of Oma- ha, Nebraska. While the publicity given this af- fair in the newspapers is to be regret- ted, the Board of Supervisors may rest assured that no reflection was cast on the Home. Rather, it was through the careful preseravtion of the girl’s baby clothes when she came to the Home, a found- ling, that Mr. Danforth was able to identify his daughter. Richard Lewis had a bad influence on Dorothy May and his presumptu- ous devotion to the girl, fortunately kept entirely proper by the Matron’s watchfulness, led him from one ex- cess of insubordination to another. Dorothy May, now that she is safely away from the influence of Richard Lewis, will develop into a splendid young woman, the Matron is confi- dent. Incidentally, the Matron might men- tion that Mr. Danforth has assured her of his gratitude for the care giv- en his daughter at the Home and has become one of our Life Supporting Members. Later, the Matron be- lieves, his great wealth will lead him to make other expressions of his thankfulness. It might be well to emphasize again that wherever the name of Dorothy May Danforth appears in a seeming- ly unfavorable light in this report full blame for her behavior should rest upon Richard Lewis. He early took advantage of her essentially noble and endearing nature, dominating her in a most shameful fashion. So that the Board of Supervisors may be prepared for seemingly in- credible disclosures later on, the Ma- tron has set down the facts in chron- ological order. The report will cov- er the entire period from Jan. 17, 1911, when Richard Lewis entered the Home as a foundling. To do this the Matron has made an exhaustive scrutiny of the records of the Home prior to her own appointment, Dec. 11, 1916, covering the administrations of Mesdames Hallowell, Johnson and Trampton and Miss Munn. As early as August, 1912, Mrs. Trampton, who was Matron at that time, reported trouble with the Lewis boy. On Aug. 10th of that year she noted on his case history the follow- ing: “Extremely difficult child. Refuses to eat porridge and feigns spasms at the slightest corrective measure.” Again in October of the same year on the 18th, 22nd and 23rd, Mrs. Trampton recorded wilful behavior. The Matron quotes from the record: “The little Lewis boy is the most difficult child in the Home. Refuses to play with clothes-pins like the oth- er children and when nursery games are started he hides in a corner. Has formed habit of running into yard unless watched continually. Chases birds. Ordered doses of cod- liver oil as punishment.” Mrs. Johnson, the next Matron, found on April 23, 1914, that it was necesary to send Richard Lewis to the dark room twice and take away his evening meal because—and here the Matron quotes her report verbatim: “For a child of three the Lewis boy shows precocious and wilful ways. Stole Minnie Sanborn’s sash. Said he wanted to make a rainbow. Was sent to (the dark room 20 minutes Monday and 45 minutes on Wednes- day. Upon refusal to express sorrow or penitence was given two doses of cod-liver oil.” The Matrons who followed Mrs. Johnson, namely Miss Munn and Mrs. Hallowell had similar experiences. Miss Munn noted—and again the Matron quotes from Richard Lewis’ case history—date Dec. 25, 1914: “The only child who seemed dis- pleased with his present was Richard Lewis. This little boy, Mrs. Johnson informed me, has long been a prob- lem. He made a scene today at the Christmas entertainment. I had tak- en special pains to pick out for him the least worn of the velveteen suits donated by Mrs. Pritchard. When the children were opening their parcels he threw himself on the floor and screamed. It appeared that he had set his heart on a mouth-organ from having heard one played by a negro boy who delivers groceries. For his action he was denied the orange and peanut candy given the other -chil- dren.” It was Mrs. Hallowell, the Matron fears, who unwittingly spoiled the Lewis boy. The Matron finds in the period from May 12. 1915, to Nov., 1916, when Mrs. Hallowell had charge of the Home, no entries showing that Richard Lewis was properly punished for his misbehavior. The Board of Supervisors will doubtless perceive from the following quotations in Mrs. Hallowell’s report that she adopted a sentimental attitude toward this child. (Sentimentalizing over children is | splendidly discussed in the June issue of the Social Service Worker by Miss Albertina Moss, D. S. Sc.) The Matron quotes several entries made by Mrs. Hallowell to indicate that the child in no way changed for the better, but was unfortunately bumored in his waywardness. “June 1, 1915. I think my prede- cessors misunderstood Richard. The child is delicate and sensitive and un- doubtedly not ordinary. Today he asked, ‘Why does the gentle Lord Jesus have to stay on Sunday-school cards? Doesn't he ever get out to walk on the grass?’ ” (During the present Matron’s ad- ministration Richard Lewis made sev- eral sacrilegious remarks of a similar nature and was punished.) “August 19, 1915. Richard has formed a friendship with Dorothy May Chevis. It is rather trying. He wants to give her his dessert and trots over with it to the girls’ table every evening. He seems fascinated by her hair which is a lovely yellow, but that has become a trial, too, be- cause he insists on putting his grub- by little hands on Dorothy May’s rib- bons.” The friendship between these chil- dren, it is the Matron’s opinion, caus- ed all the later trouble with the boy. He should not have been humored at the start. “November 8, 1915. Richard is go- ing to be a great musician some day. The Home should have facilities for training children like him. I gave him a harmonica but had to take it away, alas, as he carried it to bed with him and blew on it at unearth- ly hours.” An orphans’ home is not a music conservatory. “July 23, 1916. I want to enter this as a good mark for Richard. He has had enough black ones, poor little chap. He sang ‘Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild’ at the Lutheran Sunday school Sunday and did it splendidly. Although truth compels me to add that immediately afterward he got into a fight with one of the city chil- dren. He wouldn’t tell me what it was about, but Dorothy May, who helped him in the fight, said the other little boy called Richard an orphan.” : 2 Taking up her own report at this juncture—Mrs. Hallowell died in No- vember of that year—the Matron wishes to state that when she assum- ed charge at the Home, Dec. 11, 1916, she found Richard Lewis to be the worst child there. The Matron’s ideas concerning child training are well known to the Board of Supervisors. In accordance with those ideas, and because discipline at the Home was not what it should have been, the Matron instituted a plan to give every child some particular | work to do each day in addition to | studies. Only children under five were exempt. It was the duty of Richard Lewis and eleven other boys of approxi- mately the same age to polish all the door-knobs in the Home each morn- ing. The older boys had duties wash- ing floors and windows and working in the yard and garden. The girls washed dishes and made the beds and swept the floors. Richard was as- signed to the Visitors’ Room which had been very handsomely furnished by Mrs. Morton Alloway as a mem- erial to her little son, Charles. There were only three door-knobs in this room, certainly not an ardu- ous task. The boy shirked this duty wilfully and maliciously. Once, Miss Hawkins caught him asleep on the expensive sofa. On another occasion he marred the front of the piano trying to get it open. When the Matron arrived at the Home, Richard Lewis and Dorothy May Chevis were inseparable play- mates. The Matron put a stop to this by issuing strict orders that the boys and girls were not to speak to each other or play together except dur our 30 minute social period at 4:80 p. m, Tuesday, Thursday and Satur- day. The Matron does not approve of the lax regulations existing in I some institutions as to the mingling ! of male and female children. | The records show that the Lewis 1boy repeatedly violated this rule. | Four times, the Matron finds from her reports for 1917, Richard Lewis ‘was caught talking to Dorothy May | Chevis in the dining-room and pun- ‘ished By whippings. Discovering that | such infractions brought speedy pun- | ishment, the boy formed the habit of { running away at school recess to an | appointed meeting place in the yard ' where he enticed Dorothy May to talk |to him. He set up the defense, when I caught at this, that they did not actu- ally speak to each other, but merely looked at the sky and listened to the birds! : It should be noted that this tend- ency to lie is an incipient incorrigi- bility, a symptom found in all delin- quents. With Richard Lewis it was exaggerated to a degree. In 1918, 1919 and 1920, my records show a total of 28 whippings, 17 being for falsehoods. A few notations will in- dicate the depravity of the boy's mind: “April 12, 1918. Overheard by Miss Maginis telling Dorothy May Chevis that orphan babies belong to angels who drop them out of the sky by accident, and that they are pick- ed up and left on door-steps by milk- men.” “March, 1919. Overheard by Miss Streett telling boys in dormitory that when the wind makes a noise in the shutters it is the mother of an orphan crying for her child.” “February 9, 1920. Overheard by Matron telling Dorothy May Crevis that his mother was a princess over the sea and pretty soon would send a boat for him, and he would take her along. Also, that Dorothy May's complexion was like the glow of a firefly on a pearl.” “July 10, 1920. Denied that he had brought a dog into boys’ dormitory when dog was found hidden in pillow case on his cot.” Aside from these prevarications which steadily grew more fanciful, in his twelfth year Richard Lewis be- gan, according to records, to meddle brazenly in the affairs of the Home. Dorothy May had become a pretty child and was considered by several couples who visited the home in search of a little girl to adopt. The Matron made a notation on his case history in January, 1923, showing that Richard Lewis was locked in the dark room on bread and water for three days. This severe punishment was warranted, the Matron feels, by the gravity of his transgression. A Mr. and Mrs. Jones, worthy peo- ple had about decided to adopt Doro- thy May. The Lewis boy instructed Dorothy May to fly into a tantrum, kick Mr. Jones on the shins and make faces at his wife. This she did and they changed their minds about adopting her. When Miss Morgan havior Richard Lewis, who had been watching from the hall, ran in and Saratcred Miss Morgan and pulled her air. Impudently this boy set himself up as the arbiter of what persons should adopt various children in the home. 1924 Dorothy May, egged on by Richard Lewis acted like a little fiend when visitors looked at her. This spirit spread to the other children, making them unusually sensitive to- ward visitors. A Mr. and Mrs. Sow- alsky, well recommended, backed out on adopting the Jensen baby because Richard Lewis told them the baby threw fits. The Matron wishes to point out that every possible chance was given the buy ic mend his ways. A good home was found for him in a nice neighborhood with a Mr. and Mrs. Huddleston. Mr. Huddleston wanted a boy to help him in his butcher shop after school. He had to be carried forcibly to Mr. Huddleston’s truck, and he had so inflamed the impres- sionable mind of Dorothy May over their separation that she had a cry- ing spell and the next day ran away in an effort to find Richard Lewfs. The police brought her back in a state of exhaustion, and after four days Mr. Huddleston returned Richard to the Home as impossible. Quick to seize upon this victory, Richard and Dorothy May established themselves as leaders of the other children. They held what they call- ed a “secret meeting” one recess and swore sacrilegious oaths written by Richard Lewis to stand in open rebel- lion against the authority of the Ma- tron and her assistants. Richard Lewis had the audacity to complain of the food in a written ul- 'timatum to the Matron, threatening | to write to the Board of Supervisors. ! It appeared that he had taken a dis- lise to rice pudding and cream of ' wheat. The Matron ordered him kept lin the dark room for a week with nothing to eat but rice pudding and cereal and water. In spite of his actions, the Matron made an earnest effort to give him every advantage possible. He was al- lowed to sell papers before and after school. most of his time reading them. He !tor’s Room and was very properly refused. He then demanded to use | the violin which had been stored in the attic. When it was pointed out to him that the Home had no funds with which to buy strings for the in- strument, he stole the violin and in- duced Dorothy May to lend him mon- ey from her savings-bank. She had earned the money looking after children in the neighborhood. The Matron had impressed upon her the virtue of thrift and had institut- ed a very beneficial rule requiring each child to earn and save enough | money to buy its outfit when it left the Home at sixteen to go to work. Yet so under the influence of this wicked boy she was that she used all her savings to fix up this stolen violin and to buy him music sheets. The Matron learned of their aqe- ceitfulness the night of June 4, 1925, when the Lewis boy took the violin from a place of concealment and at 11:45 p. m. left the boys’ dormitory. When discovered by the Matron, he , was in the yard below a window of ' { slapped Dorothy May for her be- | On nine distinct occasions in 19238 #@nd- It developed that he spent’ asked use of the piano in the Visi- | send her to the Detention Home I'll ,—kill ‘you.” the girls’ dormitory playing an im- proper Spanish love-song. He had grown so large neither the Matron nor Miss Gowan could longer punish him properly. The next day the Matron instructed Mr. Adams, the gardener, to thrash him. The violin was confiscated. This most severe punishment fail- ed to have the desired result. He de- manded in an insolent tirade to the Matron the return of the violin. The Matron warned him in a quiet tone that if he mentioned the subject again the violin would be burned. He wait- ed—and this illustrates the guile of the boy—until the following Sunday morning, and then organized a strike of the children. He had got the no- tion, apparently, from reading the newspapers. The children were be- ing marched to Sunday school when suddenly Dorothy May Chevis whis- tled, and they all ran from Miss Go- wan and Miss Maginnis. They ran to Davis Park and scattered. Miss Gowan and Miss Maginnis reported that it was impossible to assemble ! them. ! It was the Matron’s first intention to call the Truant Officers and the po- lice. However, to avoid unseemly publicity, the Matron herself went to Davis Park and demanded that the i children return to the Home. Rich- ‘ard Lewis and Dorothy May Chevis ‘had instructed the others to hide ‘while they presumed to parley with the Matron. They did this in inten- i tionally rude and loud voices while seated in a rowboat on the lagoon. | A crowd had collected and the Ma- !tron’s sorrow and mortification can be imagined. | The Matron was obliged to promise the return of the violin and abroga- tion of the rule forbidding Richard | Lewis to talk to Dorothy May Chevis. i As they had broken the rule persist- | ently, anyway, the Matron made the i best of the situation and consented. Whereupon, Dorothy May whistled to the other children and they con- gregated about the rowboat. To heap indignity on the Matron of the Home, Richard Lewis made a speech of an inflammatory nature and was ap- plauded by several ruffians in the crowd. The children then marched to the Home without further dis- order. Knowing that Richard Lewis was past control, the Matron on Jan. 1, 1926, respectfully requested the Board of Supervisors to transfer him to some other orphanage. The Board of Supervisors will remember that the | boy and Dorothy May Chevis appear- !ed before them with what the Matron | always will consider was a shrewdly i fabricated appeal to sentimentalism. | "1 Richard Loals loved ve cvadren lat the Home and their love was the | only love he had ever had, as he said, {then he certainly did not show this {by his actions. He made them all { miserable by morbid juvenile maun- jderings over their condition of life. i Dorothy May helped in this business | by sneaking in improper novels which i she and Richard Lewis read. Richard Lewis’ reaction to the kind- ness of the Board of Supervisors in permitting him to remain against the recommendation of the Matron was one of bitter vindictiveness. On the night ‘of Aug. 21, 1926, about 2:10 a. m. he climbed to the coping of the Home above the front entrance, aid- ed and abetted by Dorothy May Chev- is. By means of a chisel and hammer stolen from the tool-shed he chisel- ed in the stone the following absurd statement. Chevis have this day plighted their troth—August 21, 1926.” The Matron, it will be recalled, has twice recommended sand-blasting to remove the marks. boy to the Matron and the Home oc- curred March 19, 1927, when he ap- peared in the Matron’s office to pro- test against the assignment of Doro- thy May Chevis to a position with the New Era Wet Wash Laundry, when her legal stay at the Home ex- pired on Aug. 31, 1927. It was not known then, of course, that Dorothy May Chevis was the daughter of Mr. Danforth. She occupied identically the same position as any of the other girls at the Home for whom the Ma- tron out of kindness to them was ob- taining positions. The Matron quotes the text of her conversation with Richard Lewis at this time, written from memory immediately after: Richard Lewis: “Dorothy May tells me you are going to make her work in a laundry.” ard. She is to operate an ironer at the New Era Wet Wash Laundry. They also do finish work.” . Richard Lewis: (Overbearingly.) “I ‘won’t permit it. A laundry is no place , for Dorothy May. It would kill her.” ! The Matron: (Keeping her temper.) “I do not care to discuss that with | you, Richard.” | Richard Lewis: (Arrogantly.) “We will discuss it. You will discuss it. { Dorothy May is too sweet to work in ‘a laundry. She’s not the sort to work in a laundry. She's different from these other girls. Ill try to find some other kind of work for her to do un- until I can take care of her myself.” The Matron: (In calm tones.) “You ‘will please leave this office at once. I hardly think you are a fit one to look after Dorothy May. You will have all you can stand up to, young -man, at the wholesale grocery.” Richard Lewis: “Nothing can hurt me. I’m a man. I can look after my- self. But Dorothy May is just a girl. L See here, Mrs. Crouch, we've had our differences, but you shouldn’t take out your spite against me on Dorothy May. Send me to a coal-mine. don’t care. But you've just got to find Dorothy May a decent place to work. That's all.” The Matron: “You are a presump- | tuous incorrigible. Get out. Dorothy May works where I assign her or she goes to the Girls’ Detention Home as a delinquent.” Richard Lewis. (Viciously.) “If you were a man you’d have to thrash me here and now. I give you good fair warning. Dorothy May isn’t go- ing to work in a laundry. And if you 1 The Matron: (Calmly.) “Leave “Richard Lewis and Dorothy May The gravest affront offered by this ; The Matron: “That is correct, Rich- this room at once or I shall call the police. I do not fear your threats, you horrid boy.” At this, Richard Lewis scowled like a mad-man, whirled and left the room, banging the door, which was against the rules. ; The Board of Supervisors will note that the last speech uttered by Rich- ard Lewis was a threat against the Matron’s life. It only illustrated the depraved mind of this boy. The Ma- tron was not at all frightened by his words and determined to be unswerv- ing in her duty. The Matron might add that Miss Spink, social service ' worker for the Board of Charities and Corrections, had made a favorable re- port on the New Era Wet Wash Laundry, stating that conditions there were as good as could be expected. As spring came on Richard Lewis and Dorothy May Chevis were to- gether oftener than the Matron ap- proved, but hoping to avert another clash with the incorrigible, the Ma- tron allowed them unusual liberties. Richard Lewis was permitted to walk with Dorothy May Chevis when she took the twins of Mr. and Mrs. Klip- stein to the park as was her duty every afternoon. He was allowed to talk with her through the wire screen separating the corridors of the boys’ and girls’ dormitory as late as 8.00 o’clock in the evening. The effect of this leniency, instead of bringing out some good in the heart of Richard Lewis, moved him to what might have been a holocaust of unbridled license. On the night of August 20, 1927, at 9:45 p. m. the Matron ordered the fire alarm to be rung for a practice drill. The chil- dren had retired and were instructed to dress partially before marching fo the outside walks. Attached to this report are the sworn affidavits of Miss Morris and Miss Gowan as to the scene they witnessed in the yard of the Home at 9:53 p. m. It will be seen from these affidavits that Richard Lewis, clad in pajamas and outer trousers, and Dorothy May Chevis, also improperly clad, hid themselves from the other children in the southeast corner of the yard. It is further related that they remain- ed after the other children had re- turned to their beds and that Richard Lewis played Beethoven’s “Minuet in G” on the violin while Dorothy May Chevis, her limbs immodestly display- ed, danced on the lawn. The affidavits are substantiated in part by the Matron herself, who heard and recognized the violin tune. Miss Gowan and Miss Morris prompt- ly put a stop to the disgraceful affair and locked Dorothy May Chevis in the dark room for the remainder of the night. The Matron had determined to start Dorothy May to work at the laundry the next day, but upon her promise of good behavior in the future placed her on probation. Richard Lewis was given a thrashing by Mr. Adams, the gardener, and John Mills, a negro, whom he called in to assist him. There was no more trouble with Richard Lewis until Danforth arrived at the Home to search for his child. Richard Lewis overheard them describing the cage to me and demanded that he be al- lowed to examine his baby clothes which were on file with other found- lings’ clothing in the Record Room. The Matron under the rules could not refuse this request, as she had allow- ed this boy to look at his baby clothes several times previously. The Board of Supervisors will re- call the details of the Danforth baby case from the unfortunate newspaper publicity. They need only to be re- told here briefly in their relation to the actions of Richard Lewis. ! In 1911, Mr. Danforth. a rich manu- facturer, was living with his wife in Omaha. She was expecting a child rand had prepared an outfit of baby clothes, giving them all a distinctive marking clearly remembered by Mr. Danforth. He and Mrs. Danforth quarreled and she, a wilful head- dered more distraught by her condi- tion, ran away. Mr. Danforth never heard from her again. Through years of searching and at enormous expense he traced her to this city. He located her grave in the potters’ field early in July, 1927, and then, after taking her ashes back to Omaha, returned to search for his child. Detectives made a systematic search of hospitals and orphan asy- | lums, hoping to diseover baby clothes , bearing the mark put on them by Mrs. Danforth while she was prepar- ing the layette. It was a silk-em- | broidered crescent. When the detectives came to the Home the Matron consented to allow them to make a search of its files of foundlings’ clothing. The Matron did this as her public duty while in no way condoning sensational searches of this nature. The arrival of the detectives at the Home had a very! bad effect upon all the children. Or- phan children, the Matron has ob- served, harbor two false hopes which should never be encouraged by Home authorities. One is that their parents may yet be alive and will return to claim them; the other is that they may some day be adopted by kind and wealthy foster-parents. There was much untoward excite- ment as the detectives and Mr. Dan- forth, who arrived in a handsome car belonging to a friend in the city, pre- pared to look over the records. Knowing the evil nature of Richard ewis it was a mistake to have al- lowed him to enter the Record Room to look at his baby clothes before the Matron and Mr. Danforth completed their examination. He got there first, however, and when the Matron and Mr. Danforth entered, the Matron’s worst fears were realized. : Richard Lewis not only had opened his own file box but he had pried the lid off the file box in which the baby clothes of Dorothy May Chevis were kept. It is the Matron’s belief that Rich- ard Lewis, impelled by a criminal im- pulse, was just about to place his baby clothes in Dorothy May’s box and put Dorothy May’s in his box, | when interrupted in his terrible de- , signs ‘by the arrival of the Matron. | Both boxes were standing opened August 30th, when detectives employed by Mr. Tand Richard Lewis stood before them. The Matron, at once realizing the full horror of the thing which this crim- inal was about to do, rushed to him and covered the poxes with her hands. Forgetting herself, the Matron did give way to a natural cry of repug- nance and did call Richard Lewis’ a “horrible sneak.” The boy hung his head and flushed guiltily. Mr. Danforth snatched up the baby clothes from Dorothy May’s box and cried: “I’ve found her. I've found my little girl. Where is Dorothy May Chevis? She is my little girl!” The Matron informed him that Dorothy May was upstairs in the schoolroom. He rushed out with the detectives. Richard Lewis in surly shame snatched his box away from the Ma- tron and shut the lid on it. The Ma- tron tried to make him’ understand the enormity of the crime which he had been about to commit and receiv- ed only an insolent stare of bravado. It is a sad commentary on the in- sidious influence this creature had ex- ercised over the smaller boys at the Home that two of the younger boys, Thomas Peters and James Hogan, came forward to lie for Richard Lew- is. They had the effrontery to as- sure the Matron that they had watch- ed Richard Lewis from the doorway and had seen him put his baby clothes in Dorothy May’s box and put hers in his. Even the Lewis boy, as de- praved as he is, had the grace to re- buke them for their falsehood. The Matron can only reflect on the irony of such a lie. Poor Mrs. Dan- forth could never have borne such a child as Richard Lewis. In conclusion the Matron wishes to piont out that Richard Lewis, far from feeling penitence for his plot to rob Dorothy May Danforth of her birthright, had the audacity to create a scene the morning Dorothy May left the Home with her father. Be- fore the Matron could halt him, he ran to the door of the automobile and embraced Dorothy May, crying: “Oh, remember me, Dorothy May. Oh, re- member me!” Dorothy May allowed herself to suffer a kiss from this criminal. Had the Matron in the excitement remem- bered to tell her of his duplicity, she would have shrunk from him in hor- ror. During his last days at the Home Richard Lewis was glum, morose and brooding. The Matron neglected to mention at the start of this report that in addition to the violin, Richard Lewis carried away with him, the night he left, the box containing his baby clothes. He told one of the girls, with lying bravado, that he was tak- ing them to remember Dorothy May by. A likely story, but quite in keep- ing with other prevarications told by this boy. Respectfully submitted, Nellie M. Crouch, Matron. —From Hearst’s International Cos- mopolitan. Smith and Hoover Graze Presidential Age Limits, Alfred Smith and Herbert Hoover just graze the upper age limit which custom has ordained for candidates for the office of President of the United States, according to a writer in “Barron’s Financial Weekly.” Smith is 56, Hoover 55. Were the former older by one year and the latter older by two years, they would be, if not legallly too old, at least. beyond the age which many genera- tions of Americans have unconscious- ly decreed shall be the borderline be- yond which no man can step and hope: to become a candidate for the Presi- dency. “In the inauguration of William Henry Harrison at the age of 68, who was dead in exactly one month,” points out Barron’s, “a lesson was learned which has not been forgotten. Of the fifteen Presidents inaugurated since Buchanan, not one was over 56 at the date of his inauguration, and four of these were in the forties. strong woman of violent temper ren- ! “Here, then, is a well established rule which says, in effect, that a can- didate elected for the first time shall be well within the fifties so that he may have the enormous adavntage of being renominated when he is still in vigorous manhood. Charles E. Hughes was prominently mentioned before the convention. But he would have been 67 at the time of is inaugu- Fation and 71 if he had succeeded him- self. Doping of Healthy Animals Worth- less. “Nothing is to be gained bv dosing and doping apparently healthy ani-- mals, including poultry, with unneces- sary and ill-advised stock condition- ers,” today asserted Dr. T. E. Munce, director of the bureau of animal in- dustry, of Pennsylvania department of agriculture This statement was made after re- ceipt of inquiries about a manufac- turer of a so-called stock conditioner, who offers free veterinary service to his regular customers. “Sick animals and poultry should be examined and treated by a local veterinarian,” Dr. Munce added. “Re- member that someone must pay for the so-called free service and a care- ful analysis should enable any busi- ness man to determine that in the end the owner of the animals pay the bill. “Owners should strive to keep their animals and poultry healthy by feed- ing them a properly balanced ration and through proper housing, care and handling.” —————— A —————— One Lone Pheasant Cost $512.50. One pheasant cost seven bold Lack: awanna huntsmen $512.50, = that amount being the fine imposed on the party of seven. The pheasant was shot on Sunday by the party, who de- “cided that the fields and forests should {yield the provender for an annual feast. Unfortunately, it happened to tbe closed season for pheasant and the: quarry they selected for their initial shot was a hen, always protected from pursuit. ——The Watchman gives all the ‘news while it is news.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers