Bright Star By Mary Schumann Copyright by Macras Smith Ceo. WNU Bervice SYNOPSIS Kezia Marsh, pretty, selfish and twenty, ar- rives home in Corinth from school and is met by her older brother, Hugh. He drives her to the Marsh home where her widowed mother, Fluvanna, a warm-hearted, self-sacrificing and understanding soul, welcomes her. Kezia's sis. ter, Margery, plump and matronly with the care of three children, is at lunch with them. CHAPTER I—Continued — Margery's dainty figure had grown plump, but there were con- tented lines about her eyes and mouth. She wasn't sorry for her- self tied down with three children under six. She didn't mind her vanishing prettiness. This was the life she had dreamed of ever since she had been a little girl and played with her family of dolls—a home, an adoring husband, and children to tend and scrub and dress attractively. “Margery precious!” Kezia came through the screen door, and ran toward her sister. Mrs. Marsh surveyed them from the head of the table, one by one. “Do you realize this together for years?” that before. With utmost tact she had made Dorrie and Will Platt, Margery's husband, welcome, but Hugh felt that it added to her pleasure today to have just them. It bridged the interlude since they had left her roof and become ab- suits, other persons. Margery forgot her role of digni- fied young matron, Hugh, his posi- tion as assistant to the president of the Brower Steel Works, Kezia, the sophisticated teachings of Lolly Masters, an older girl at school, and her desire to model herself on the lines of that seductive and fas- cinating person. “What are the headlines about the Cornithians, Marge? The births, the weddings, the deaths, the scandals particulariy the scandals! I love knowing the dirt about people! It makes you feel you're not so bad yourself!” cried Kezia over the coffee. “You would,” said Hugh. tweaked her ear as he rose. o'clock. He must get back to the office. “Put them on the spot— use machine guns!” Fluvanna followed Hugh to the door. ‘Give my love to Dorrie! She's a thoughtful child — she brought me a new book yesterday, a novel on China. Dear of her.” “She did?” Hugh's face bright- ened as it always did when Dor- rie was praised. Dorie hadn't mentioned the gift, but she had a queer respect and affection for his mother, a revealing admission. He spent the afternoon going over the cost sheets, and had a talk with Sloan, the president, over the price cutting of the Arrow Steel, which kept him until after five. He took his car from the park- ing shed under the bridge and slow- ly weve his way through the im- patient late-afternoon traffic. He ran into a gas station to fill up his tank. A boyhood friend, Doc Hiller, waved to him as he passed. He waved back. He had a shamed feeling of ingratitude at the sight of Doc. They should go to see the Hillers, have them for dinner. They had called, made so many friendly advances—and Doc was such a darn good fellow! But Dorrie had a cool way of ignoring debts she did not intend to pay. “Yes,” she would reply listlessly to his suggestion, ‘‘sometime we must have them. Don't feel up to it now. Perhaps next week.” He lived on a street which had been part of the fairway of a golf course before the town had spread westward. The small Colonial and English style houses were attrac- tive and well-kept, each with its hedge and evergreen shrubbery and driveway leading back to the garage. His own house was of tapestry brick with casement win- dows, green flower-boxes on the square porch at the side, green and henna awnings. He left the car in the drive. Perhaps Dorrie would want to go out after dinner. A bridge table in the living-room, with cards and scores littered on it, testified to recent activity. Then he saw Dorrie in a small sunny room just beyond, sitting relaxed, quiescent, her hands folded in her lap. The sun louched her bur- nished hair, accented the creamy pallor of her skin, her red mouth, the delicately moulded nose. Hugh stood still a moment while emotion burned through him. It came on him with a surprise, al most a choke. This lovely woman was his—his. He left her in the house each morning . . . she was He One his to return to at night. of his heart , , . “Dorrie.” She started a little as if recalled from distant visions, then rose and came toward him. Her sea-green eyes had an excited luminosity in their depths as if her thoughts had been pleasant ones. “Hello, Hugh.” “Didn't you hear me come in?" She smiled slowly up at him as his arms went around her. ‘No, didn't hear you.” “What were about?” She shook her head. “Don't know . . . day-dreaming, I guess.” The pith you thinking He kissed her, Her hand curled in his; a flush rose on her deli- | cate cheek. ‘Have a good game?” “So-so. Joan and Orinda—Les ley Gates for a fourth.” She board covers. loser.” Fluvanna awakened from a dream of Jim Marsh, her husband. She had the illusion he was bend- | “Lesley is a poor ing over, trying to tell her some- | thing, and all the sick, unruly as- | sociations that his memory brought | unfurled themselves and waved ex- citing banners. Presently, lying with her eyes wide open and see- ing the reassuring light of day, the sensation ebbed. Kezia was home—was right across the hall, sleeping in the green and gold bedroom. Kezia | was probably the reason she had dreamed of Jim. The child didn't look like him no, Hugh re- sembled his father in stature and feature, but Kezia’s whole person- | ality carried a haunting reminder. The expressions she had, the tricky way she raised her eyes and made them aspiring and wistful, her ca- joling manner which concealed her purposes, the will to have her own way, all hinted at the femi- nine counterpart of Jim. | She rose and drew up the shades. { The perfume of lilacs came up { from a bush beneath the window and brought back the spring of | long ago—lilacs, the murmur of growth, and two people under an | umbrella . Just a week after she met him. That had been a momentous night, a kind of prescience about it from the second the Clements had presented him. Fate did that sometimes. Usually it worked soundlessly, but once in a great while it spoke a single word to you—‘‘Now." Ella Clement had said: “This is our cousin, James Marsh, from Philadelphia. He is opening an | insurance agency here . " and Ella had gone on chattering in her | tangential way about the Marshes living near some park, and her visit to them once when she had met some Senator-—what was his name?—and the really very nice people who lived in Philadelphia. Later when they were alone for a moment, Jim had smiled with his enigmatic eyes—strange the pull of some eyes—and said: “They've told me about you. I've been wondering how you got your name, Fluvanna. I never heard it before, but it has a nice sound, like deep water flowing under a bridge." She had gone home that night with a disturbance in her heart— such as she had never known be- fore, and said to herself: “If he asks me, I shall marry him.” . . . Yes, it had been like that. She found a note under the knocker on Kezia's door. “Wake me at eight. I'm playing tennis.” It was five minutes to eight now. She rattled the knocker and heard | a sleepy response from Kezia, In the kitchen, Anna, a chunky | girl of Roumanian parentage, | turned from the stove with a liquid | shine of welcome in her long dark eyes. “G’'morning, Mis' Marsh.” | “Good-morning, Anna. Break-| fast almost ready?” “Ready in ten minutes or so. 1| haven't squeezed the oranges. Miss | Kezia be down?" i “Yes, she's getting up. She is | going to play tennis with some | friends. I'll go out to cut some | flowers for the table.” She went out to the garden. i Eric Olsen, a young man who | took care of the yard and the | car, was cutting the tender lush | grass. The mingled fragrance of | the lilacs, the shorn grass, the wild | crab, sent a tingling response | through her being. She gathered | a bouquet of dark blue iris, then | clipped an armful of fragile nod- | ding columbine. She wiped the | garden mould from her feet be- | fore the side door. “Hello, Cousin Fluvanna,” called | a youthful voice from inside. “I! just walked in—been wandering | about.” She held the screen open | for Fluvanna. “Ellen! . . . Been painting?” “l had to—this morning! Love | ly flowers—Ilet me take them.” Fluvanna thought: “If you could paint yourself among those flow- ers, Ellen!” Aloud she said: “Just in time for breakfast—you must stay. Kezia will be down in a min- ute. I'll call her—tell her you're here.” Ellen put out a detaining hand. “Not yet—not just yet. 1 have something to tell you.” Fluvanna smiled. “Nice?” “Very nice . . . I'm engaged.” “No!" “Yes, I am,” returned Ellen ec- statically. “It happened last night! «ss To Jerry!” “Dear-~dear!” murmured Flu. vanna. ‘“You told me quite a bit about him, brought him “sa still 1 didn’t think 80 soon (TO BE CONTINUED) * * * * * » * * » » i STAR DUST Movie + Radio * *%%kBy VIRGINIA VALE hk% ANDOLPH SCOTT'S mar- riage came as a surprise to Hollywood; rumor has had the handsome Randy about to pro- pose to one motion picture star So imagine the 3 20 2 2 20 20 20 20 20 2 20 2 X20 2 2 2 2 2 2% 2% His bride is a member of the and you may get some idea of how father was a rich man. So—fame one of the most eligible ones. seen be one of Fredric March's favorite Si pictures; he the role the best of any he'd had in a long time, and gave | a magnificent per- formance when the cameras turned. Judging from its early reception, the picture is going to be a favorite with film fans, too. The versatile March knows a “fat” part when he sees it. He demonstrated that in his portrayal of Bothwell in “Mary Queen of Scotland” in which Katharine Hepburn starred as the ill-fated monarch. —— A Olivia de Haviland’'s very beau- tiful Younger sister, Jean Fontaine, has been signed up for pictures by Jesse Lasky, the old star-maker (at the moment of this writing it's still So remember the name and look for the face, for it's dol- lars to doughnuts that she will be one of the big names in pictures be- fore very long. — — Fredric March Of course you've heard Peter Van Steeden’s band on the radio—now he declares that some day you may | hear his daughter play. She is | only a year and a half old, but she | likes her toy piano better than any- thing else, and he swears that she can play several notes of “The Mes ry Widow Waltz" on it. i — Edgar Guest is known far and wide as a poet; in fact, the name of | “Eddie Guest” is a household | word. But—he wishes that you knew | him as a musician. In the broad- casting studios he gazes wistfully at the flying fingers of the pianist | program; he said recently to a| friend “If I could only get out of | my typewriter what those fellows | get out of their instruments” —not | realizing that the poems he writes | are music to the ears of multitudes. | fn Robert Taylor is getting more fan | mail than anyone else on the Met- | ro lot—including Clark Gable. And | long-term | and espe- | Also, he is | still devoted to Barbara Stanwyck. fn Charles Boyer and his wife, Pat Patterson, paused a day in New York on their way to Europe: it | was one of the hottest days of a | contracts, big salaries, i i 3 | wore one too. They must have be- lieved what Californians say about New York weather. He very dip- lomatically said nothing about the making of “The Garden of Allah,” his latest picture. sir fine Fred Astaire made all arrange- ments for his new broadcasting se- ries before he hopped off for Eu- most of which will be spent with his sister and former dancing partner, Lady Cavendish. He'll begin broad- casting September 8, and Jack Benny will give him a send-off, just for luck. Movie fans are wondering what the next film vehicle of the dancing king oy his partner Ginger Rogers . tan Animals, Insects Carry On at Their Own Trades Nearly all animals carry on a regular business and in their va- riety represent various trades among men, says an article in a newspaper more than seventy-four years old, and reprinted by the New There are no better geometri- cians among men than bees. Their cells are so constructed that with the least quantity of material they have the largest sized spaces and the least possible interstices. The mole is meteorologist. The bird called the ninekiller is an arithme- tician; also the crow, the wild tur- key, and other birds. The torpedo, the day, and the electric eel are electricians. The nautilus is a navi- gator. He raises and lowers his sails, casts and weighs anchor and performs nautical feats. Whole tribes of birds are musicians. The beaver is an architect, build- er and wood-cutter, He cuts down trees and erects houses and dams. The marmot is a civil engineer. He but con- structs aqueducts and drains to The ant maintains a standing army. Wasps are paper manufacturers. Caterpillars are silk-spinners. The squirrel is a fer- ryman. With a chip or a piece of bark for a boat, and his tail for a sail, he crosses a stream. Dogs, wolves, jackals, and many others, are hunters. The black bear @hd heron are fishermen. The ants are day labor- ers. The monkey is a dandy and rope-dancer. There are also sloths and burglars and “black - legs” among animals, but they are not quite so bad as those found among regular Third-Eye Reptile A creature allied to the lizard is has been called ‘the living fossil,” for it is the sole living representa- tive of the ancient reptiles which roamed over this world millions of years ago. It retains traces of the | third eye which was a feature of | some of the terrible monsters of the past. The tuatara is supposed to be | the parent of all lizards. | Third Amendment Not Used No case in American history has | arisen under that clause of the | third amendment to the Constitu- | tion which reads, “No soldier shall, | i i i | | in time of peace, be quartered in any house without the consent,” ete. | But when drawn it was important | as a remembrance of British oc- | cupancy of private homes. Magnet Has the Power of Repulsion and Attraction The most peculiar property of iron seems to be its power of mag- netism, says Ireland's Own. The natural magnet is a ponderous iron stone of a blackish color. It is sup- posed to derive its magnetic power from the position in which it lay in the earth, for a bar of iron if suspended in a particular direction for some time becomes magnetic, If one of these natural magnets be broken into pieces each piece will have the property of attracting iron and communicating to it mag- netic power by friction—thus if a needle be rubbed from its eye to its point a few times over the North pole of a magnet and then stuck in a small cork to swim on water, the eye will veer towards the north and the point towards the south. In this way the Chinese in early days formed their mariners compass, a guide on which they could rely at all times with perfect safety The magnet has a power of repul- sion as well as of attraction. Each natural magnet has an attracting and a repelling pole, and the space between the poles will neither at- tract nor repel. In one of the palaces of Portugal was one of these natural magnets, of so large a size that it was capable of sus- taining a weight of two hundred pounds; it was a present from the Galapagos Tortoise Can Count Age by Centuries The early Spanish explorers named the Galapagos islands after the huge tortoises they found on the beaches. The islands lie some 700 miles west of Ecuador in the Pacific and were ports of call, first for pirate craft, then men of war and New England whalers, observes a writer in the Washington Star. The tortoises were tame, abun- dant and easily captured. hey lived for weeks below decks with- out feeding, and were a cheap source of fresh meat. Early his- torians said that as many as 100,000 of them were removed from the is- lands in a single year. The old papers of whalers out of Salem recorded that the officers fed at least a dozen varieties on the In the early days tortoises five feet long and weighing up to 400 pounds were common. The numbers of the tortoises also have been reduced by wild dogs and pigs, which feed on the eggs. vive while smaller members of their family thrive in many quarters of the world. Sign of Respect In Masal Land, East Africa, spitting is a token of respect. Before advanc- ing to shake hands he will expectorate freely into his palm. He spits before any important event, or at the com ing of a friend or superior. A CARTON OF ASSORTED MAZDA LAMPS ON HAND LAMPS burn out only when they are in use. Have a carton of assorted sizes on hand to replace them when you need them. Mazda Lamps at Lowest Prices Ever! watts 15¢ 20¢f 40 watts 60 watts 75 watts 25¢ AT ALL MAZDA LAMP DEALERS 100 watts 150 watts IN [Ive > ee | i ; J J
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers