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w. WLUSTRATED, BY( =~ .
DONALDE RILEY #7
’S GONE BEFORE
Remember Steddon comes West to
avoid revealing the result of an un-
fortunate love affair to her father.
The Rev. Dr. Steddon, a clergyman
of kind heart but narrow mind, who
attributes much of the evil of the
world to the ‘movies’ and constantly
inveighs against them. Mem, her
lover, Elwood Farnaby, ,having died in
an accident, at the advice of Dr.
Bretherick, gives her bad cough as an
“excuse to get to. Arizona and from
there writes home that she has met
and rnarried “Mr. Woodville,” a wholly
imaginary person. Later she writes
again to say that her “husband” has
died in the desert. She takes a job as
a domestic to avoid being a burden on
her parents. A fall-prevents her be-
coming a mother. In Arizona she had
met
‘Tom Holby, a leading man in a mo-
tion picture company, and through him
gets the opportunity to play a part in a
desert drama. With the company is
Robina Teele, a star, fond of Holby
and ;
Leva Lemaire, an extra woman.
After her accident, Mem becomes
friendly with
Mrs. Dack, a poor woman of Palm
Springs, Arizona, and takes an interest
in her bright little son, ,
Terry Dack, who has a great gift of
mimicry. Inspired by a letter from
TLéva., Mem plans to go to Los Angeles
to take a job in a film laboratory.
She gets a job in a film laboratory,
NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY
seemed wrong, wicked, cruel.
made to act.
She was
of ee A
On the lot Mem saw children, and
they were always happy. The mothers
with the little ones. Going to
work was going to play. They lived
an eternal fairy story.
She was told that five-year-old
Jackie Coogan had made his mother a
present of a big touring car costing
seven thousand dollars; that he had a
salary of seventeen hundred and fifty
dollars a week! ¢ ]
She thought of little Terry Dack and
his second-hand express wagon, help-
ing his mother to pack her bundled
wash home to bitter toil. She wrote
Terry’s mother, urging her to come to
Tos Angeles without delay; to bes,
borrow or steal the necessary funds;
to seize the chance to rescue the divine
child from poverty and oblivion, and
to earn luxury by giving the world the |
sunshine of his irresistible charm.
And the day after she tailed the
letter she lost her job.
The tide of hard times had engulfed
the studio where she was engaged. All
but two or three companies were laid
off. The laboratory force was reduced
to a skeleton.
And now the dark room that had
come to be a prison cell was as dear
a home as the shut cage of a canary
that cannot get in again.
Pay day came around no more. She
had debts to absolve for clothes no
longer fresh. She had tomorrow’s and
next week’s hunger dread. The girls
at her house were equally idle and
their hospitality lost its warmth for
lack of fuel.
They tried to make the best of idle-
ness. They wore the records to shreds
and danced together all day long to
pass the time away.
Young men who had no money to
spend on excursions came to the house
of evenings and helped to dance away
the tedium.
It became a commonplace for Mem
to fling about in young men’s arms.
She learned to dance. She learned to
play a little golf, a little tennis. She
went on her first beach picnic. And a
little later Mem might have been seen
in a bathing suit of popular brevity,
substituting a general coat of tan for
the forty blushpower she had aban-
doned.
Her soul and her body ‘were her own
now. No, they had gone beyond even
that. Her soul and body were the
public's. Beauty was community
property. She was committed to their
fullest development into such joyous
acrobatic agility and power that they
should give joy and a delightful sor-
row to the public. For which the
grateful public would" pay with grati-
tude and fame and much money. 2
‘One day in Westlake Park she sat
down on a bench and by and by was
hailed by a sturdy mid-western voice.
“Well, as I live and breathe! If it
ain't Miss Steddon!”
“Why, how do you do, Mrs. Sturgs.
It was a mid-aged woman who had
been a member of her father’s church |
and had come west because of her |
husband’s lungs.
Mem’s first impulse was to welcome |
anyone from home. Her second ‘was
to fear anyone from home. Mrs.
Sturgs’ life in this Babylon. had not
changed her small-town soul, body or
prejudices.
Mem’s wits scurried in vain to bring
up protecting lies. Mrs. Sturgs was
too full of her own opinions and ad-
ventures to ask any embarrassing
questions beyond a hasty take-off for
her own biography: ‘“‘And how’s your
father and your mother and your
whole family? Well, as I was sayin’
yest’day, everybody on earth gets to
Los Angeles sooner Or later. It's a
nice city, too, full of good, honest,
plain—o’course those awful ‘moving
picture people have given the town a—
«Such stories as they do tell about
their— Why, that Hollywood is just
a, plague spot on the earth! And the
women—Ilittle pink ninnies that don’t
know enough to come when it—they
get fortunes for just making eyes at
the camera, and they rent nice respect- |
able homes and hold—well, orgies is the
only word—orgies is just what they
are. |
“t's a sin and a shame, and if some-
thing isn't done about it—why, young
girls flock there in droves, and sell
their souls for—it's simply ternible.
Every one of them has to pay the
Price to get there at all.
“I declare, it makes my blood run
cold just to—don’t it yours?”
She had heard a vast amount of gos-
“I don’t believe it,” said Mem.
sip, but she had not heard of anybody
paying such an initiation fee. She had
seen no vice at all.
Mrs. Sturgs flared up. There is
nothing one defends more zealously
than one’s pet horrors.
“Don’t believe it? Why, it’s true as
gospel! Thay sell their souls for
bread. Any girl that’s too honest to
pay the Price don’t get engaged—that's
all—she just don’t get engaged. Oh,
dear! that's my car.”
* * *
Next day the mail brought her a
shock in a letter from Mrs. Dack. It
said:
Dear Mrs. Woodville: I was
awful glad to get your letter.
Been meaning to answer it but
trying to fix up my affairs sos I
and Terry could come up to your
city. Yesday I was to Mrs. Red-
dicks and she said she had a telle-
gram for you but had no address
and so could not forward it. It
said your mother was so worrit
not having an anser to her letters
she was comeing out on the first
train and would reach Palm
Springs day after tomorrow. HoD-
ping to see you soon ether there or
here. Mrs. P. Dask.
P. S.—Both I and Terry send you
lots of love.
Mem was petrified. Nothing could
stop her mother from coming. The
first blaze of joy ate the thought of the
reunion was quenched in the flood of
impossible situations her presence
would create!
Mrs. Steddon had raised a family
and been habited to a mother’s slum-
ber, light and broken with frequent
dashes to bedsides troubled by bad
dreams or imagined burglars or mere
thirst or a cough. If her hasty feet
found both her slippers or one or
neither, she hastened as she was. She
would not have paused for a wolf, an
Indian, a murderer, a fire or an earth-
quake.
Mem was still her bady in the dark,
and it did not matter whether she lay
needful and terrified in the next room
or beyond the deserts or the seven
seas. The mother’s one business was
to get her. Her telegram was her old
night ery: “I’m coming, honey. Don’t
worry. Mamma’s coming to her baby.”
She shot this cry across the continent
and called Mem “baby,” although Mem
felt as old as night.
When Remember learned that her
mother was already on the train, she
could devise no plan for turning her
back. Somehow she had to be met and
provided for.
Every one of the women of Mem's
Hollywood household was out of work.
She who had savings was lending them-
to her who had not. ’
And now her mother!
(With a few dollars from Leva's wan-
ing resources Mem took the train to
Palm Springs.
With Mrs. Dack and her boy she stood
on the platform of the little desert
town waiting for the up train, and
when Mrs. Steddon dropped off the
steps Mem put her right back on
again!
Mrs. Steddon had been prepared to
find a scared and sickly child in a
shack in Palm Springs. She had come
as a rescuing angel. She found that
her wings and halo were old-fashioned.
When they reached Los Angeles they
left Mrs. Dack and Terry at the home
of a cousin, then sped on to the bung-
alow, where Leva made Mrs. Steddon
welcome. y \
* * *
And now Mem recalled Mrs. Sturgs
and her statement (so glibly did she
substitute faith facts) that “every one
of them has to pay the Price!”
Mem grey grim as she meditated.
“The Price”’—it was only a vague
phrase. But she was ready to pay it,
whatever it was! The question was,
to whom?
She brooded a long while before she
thought of a shop to visit. She smiled
sardonically as she remembered The
Woman’s Exchange at home where
women sold what they rmade—painted
china, hammered brass, knit goods,
cakes and candies.
Well, she would sell what God had
made of her for what man might make
of her!
‘At the studio she had met the cast-
ing director, Arthur Tirrey. It was he
who said to this one or that one,
“Here is a part; play it, and the com-
pany will give you so much a week.”
He was the St. Peter of the movie
heaven, empowered to admit or to
deny. He was the man for her to
seek. He had seemed a decent enough
man, and he had looked at Mem with-
out insolence. But you can never tell!
Mem studied herself a long while in
the mirror, since her eyes and her
smile must be her chief. wardrobe, her
siren equipment. She practiced such
expressions as she supposed to repre-
't invitation. They were silly and
they made her rather ill.
She reached Tirrey’ office and found
him idly swapping stories with his as-
sistant. He spoke to her courteously,
motioned her into his office, closed the
door, and took his own place behind
the desk.
The telephone rang. He called into
it: “Sorry, Miss Waite, that part has
been filled. The company couldn't
make your salary. I begged you to
take the cut, but you wouldn't. Times
are hard and you'd better listen to
reason. Sorry, good-bye!”
This was a discouraging background
for Mem’s siren scenario. But she de-
termined to carry out her theory and,
in all self-loathing, adjusted herself in
her big chair to what she imagined
was a Cleopatran sinuosity. She
thought of her best lines; secretly
twitched up her skirts and thrust her
ankles well into view.
She turned upon Mr. Tirrey her most
lanquishing eyes, and tried to pour en-
ticement into them was into bowls of
fire.
She pursed her lips and set them
full. She widened her breast with
deep sighs. x
Tirrey seemed to recognize that she
was deploying herself. He grew a
little uneasy. But he was as polite to
Mem as if she had been Robina Teele.
“What can I do for you?”
“I want a chance to act.”
“What experience have you had?’
he asked.
Mem was suddenly confronted with
the fact that all actors must offer
themselves for sale—not the pretty
women only, but the old men, too, and
the character women.
Actors are much abused for talking
of themselves. Few of them do when
business is not involved, but when it
is they must discuss the goods they
are trying to sell. Shoe merchants,
shoes; railroad presidents, railroads;
politicians, politics; ;clergymen, salva-
tion. Each salesman must recommend
his own stock and talk it up.
So Mem had to grope for experience
and dress her window with it. And
she had had so little she lied a little,
as one does who tries to sell anything:
‘I was with the company that Tom
Holby and Robina Teele played in. I
took the part of an Arabian woman.
Mr. Folger, the director—er—praised
my—er—work.” k
“Well, he knows,” said Tirrey, “but
he’s not with this company, you know.
Have we your name and address and a
photograph outside in our files?”
“No?
“Well, if yowll ‘give them to Mr. |
Dobbs, with your height, weight, color |
of eyes and hair, andd experience,
we'll let you know when anything oc- |
curs. I'll introduce you to Mr. Dobbs |
and he—"
He moved toward the door to escape
from the cruelty of his office, but a
frenzy moved her to seize his arm in a
pierce clutch.
(Continued on Page 6) |
TURDAY, SEPTEMB
ER 28, 1929
omeroy's Golden
Harvest Sale
begins
‘Tuesday - October 1st
Bringing a Harvest of Rare Values
in every department of the store
|
Big Savings in Fall and Winter
Merchandise
An 11 day Value -- Event Oct. 1 to
Oct 12. Dont miss these Golden
Harvest Opportunities
- Pomeroy’s
New Issue
Dated June 1, 1929
communities.
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Convertible 6% Gold Debentures (this issue)*....
Preferred Stock (no par value) issuable in series............
Participating Clas~ { Stock (no par value)
Common Stock (vn par value)
3 Subject to divisional liens of $1,176,800.
—- Further issuance of Debentures is limited under the conservative restrictions of the Debenture Agreement.
130,000 shares reserved for conversion of Debentures.
This ixform-2i _ acd eo ctati~tics, while not guaranteed by us, have all been examined and
ado rAatoataiah. hod hd hh AAA A fata ha a aia ate aE Send
$3,250,000.
INLAND UTILITIES, Inc.
5-Year Convertible 6% Gold Debentures
Due June 1, 1934
Interest payable semi-annually June 1 and December 1 at the principal office of the Trustee in New York, without deduction for Federal Income
Tax not in excess of 2%, which may be lawfuil
$500, registerable as to principal only Redeemable as a whole or in part at any time on 30 days’ notice at 100 and accrued interest
remium of 3 of 1% for each full year of unexpir.d term. The Company agrees to reimburse Debenture holders residing in Pennsyl vania,
alifornia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts,
* District of Columbia or Virginia for certain personal property and/or income taxes levied by said States or District on the Debentures or
income derived therefrom, properly paid by such holders, to the extent and on the conditions set forth in the Debenture Agreement.
ped at the source. Coupon Debentures in interchangeable denominations of 31,000 and
us a
INTERSTATE TRUST COMPANY, Trustee
Conversion Privilege
These Debentures are convertible at the option of the holder at any time after June 1, 1930, and up to and
including the 10th day prior to maturity, or, if called for redemption, at any time up to and including the
10th day prior to the redemption date, into Participating Class A Stock ($1.70 Cumulative Dividend) at the
rate of 40 shares for each $1,000 De*enture, subject to the pertinent provisions of the Debenture Agreement.
Class A Stock Provisions
The Class A Stock into which these Debentures are convertible is of no par value, and is entitled to cumulative dividends at the rate of $1.70 per share per annum, in
priority to any dividends on the Common Stock;
in and for such calendar year after dividends are declared on the Common Stock in amount up to one-half of the aggregate amount of the Class A Stock cumulative divi-
dends paid or set apart for such calendar year. Redeemable as a whole or in part at any time on thirty days’ notice at $100 per share,
to date of redemption. The Board of Directors has announced a policy, which is subject to change, of permitting the holders of
apply cuch cash dividends toward the purchase of Class A Stock at the quarterly rate of one-fortieth of a share of such stock
annual rate of 109% in Class A Stock.
Mr. Robert Hall Craig, President of the Company, summarizes from his letter to the bankers as follows:
Bus ness and Territory: Inland Utilities, Inc., organized under the laws of the State of Delaware, supplies,
in addition, it shall participate equally with the Common Stock, class for class, in any additional dividends declared
lus accrued and unpaid dividends
lass A Stock at their option to
for each share held, being at the
through its constituent companies, one or more classes of service to a population
estimated to be in excess of 225,000. Water or manufactured or natural gas for domestic and industrial pur-
poses is supplied to 15 centralized communities in Pennsylvania and 16 centralized communities in the
Kanawha Valley and Coal River districts of West Virginia, together with certain rural territories surround-
ing the communities mentioned above. The water reservoirs have a capacity estimated to be in excess of
278,000,000 gallons ; and the gas and water systems supply their respective services through more than 150
miles of 4 inch to 20 inch mains. Water is supplied to approximately 6,610 retail consumers, manufactured
gas to approximately 1,230 retail consumers, and natural gas to approximately 2,520 retail consumers. Sub-
sidiaries own 136 producing gas wells, and have 13,541 developed acres under lease in the long-lived West
Virginia and Kentucky fields with an estimated reserve of 53 billion cubic feet.
also are supplied to a number of wholesale consumers, natural gas in particular being supplied in large quan-
tities under favorable contracts.
Martinsburg, W. Va., and Charlottesville and Fredericksburg, Va., together with a number of surrounding
Various classes of service
Ice service and refrigeration service are furnished to Hagerstown, Md.,
Capitalization
Authorized
dk
100,000 shs.
500,000 shs.*#*
340,000 shs.
Outstanding
$3,250,000
87,000 shs.
340,000 shs.
Ceecsecresesene
terest es stresses sss ees
Security: These Debentures are, in the opinion of counsel, the direct obligation of the Company, and con-
: stitute its sole funded debt, subject only to divisional liens in theamount of $1,176,800. The con-
solidated balance sheet, giving effect to the present financing, discloses total assets of $7,744,482.82, which,
>
after allowing for divisional liens, and outstanding minority interests in subsidiary companies, is equivalent to
more than $2,000 for each $1,000 Debenture.
Earnings: The consolidated annual net earnings of the properties for 1928 after operating expenses, interest
——— — on divisional liens, maintenance, depletion and depreciation, but before Income Taxes were, as
more particularly set forth in the bankers’ circular describing 0
interest requirements on these Debentures.
e issue, equivalent to 2.57 times the annual
Price 9815 and Accrued Interest to Yield Dver 6.35%
Abpraisals of gas properties by Clark & Krebs, Inc., and all other appraisals by Ford, Bacon & Davis, Inc. Legal details incident to th:
issue have been passwd or. by Messrs. Chapman and Cutler, and Edward H. Tatum, Esq. of New York. Audits by Messrs. Lybrand,
Ross Bros. © Montgomery, Certified Public Accountants.
E.R. DIGGS & CO.
INCORPORATED
ESTABLISHED 1914
46 CEDAR STREET NEW YORK
Scranton Representative, Mr. G. R. Lawler, 512 Brooks Building, Scranton
81. LOUIS BALTIMORE KANSAS CITY NEWARK HARTFORD
approved for publication by an official of the Company issuing these Debentures,
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