THE DALLAS POST, DALLAS, PA, FRIDAY, JULY 26, 1935. ! CHAPTER ~ eomes . Farm, The arms are those rich young man, is at onee a mutual “looking after the titude toward him. ‘CHAPTER likes his conceited Walter Gerard and curious persons and parade, Chicot, an been Rod’s enemy. New York, Gerard arrives, ~ gomes a daily, Prue's home, where ‘sends Prue roses airplane. To keep the workers’ ¥ appears and robs pearls. Then Rod ~ ence home. its the scene. strong. From Jean, ‘what seems to her activities. out in the drunken Prudence and Milly ~ Many of the workers are hurt, but the fire .is finally got kitten, once. deep is her love for ance. waited. ‘mas tree! which shook her as THE STORY L—Prudence from New York to Prosperity inherited from her uncle, make a new life for herself and her other, David, whose health has been have been badly hurt had not strong young arms been there to catch “her: who lives at High ~ Ledges on ths neighboring farm. There ‘the two. Rod decides to stay at his home throughout the fall and winter, dence decides to maintain a cool at- since her sister's husband ran Soway with her brother's wife. fe II1.—Len rival of Rod Gerard, tries to buy the timber off Prue’s land, but she dis- x tracts with Rod to dispose of the trees. On the evening Prue is expecting David from New York she is visited by Mrs. “old daughter, Jean. CHAPTER V.—They go to the cir- cus, and while they are watching the ~ cidentally killed. He was the grand- father of Milly Gooch, one of the cir- | ous riders. Rod became friendly with Milly when she and her parents ‘spent a year on Prosperity Farm. Now her patents are dead. Calloway intimidates ~ the available laborers in the district so that they cannot be hired to cut i the timber for Rodney Gerard. ~ CHAPTER VIL—Milly Gooch broke 0. Chicot, Rod calls on ‘Milly to see if he can be of any help. -Prue hardens “herself still more against Rod when ~ she sees in the newspaper a flashlight Pplcture of him with Milly. : CHAPTER VIL—Rodney is forced to go to New York for timber cutters. David goes with him and helps select men from among the Rescue Mission hangers-on. After their departure for the ne’er-do-well Walter evidently wishing to borrow money from his. half-brother, CHAPTBR VIIIL.—Walter Gerard be- unwelcome, caller at is staying during Rod’s absence. arrival from Calloway, Prudence enters her timber tract with ~. Calloway on the pretense of bargain- ~ ing with him on the lumbering. 5 confines her in a cabin. “CHAPTER IX.—An escaped convict ‘a gun on Calloway and the convict, recovering the jewels. series of thrilling anti- -climaxes, ard orders. ‘Calloway to deliver the con- © viet to. the authorities, and takes Prud- On the way he assumes something of a domineering attitude, which the girl resents, and in a spirit of defiance she tells gaged to Jim Armstrong, closest friend, but they don’t want the engagement made public. ° CHAPTER X.—Twenty-five men are brought to the forest and put to work. Threé quit after the first day and two desert to the scheming Calloway. The work of cutting is proceeding smooth- ly two weeks later when Prudence vis- She. has been keeping aloof, fearing to face Rod after having ~ told him the falsehood that she was = engaged to marry his friend, Jim Arm- “tween Calloway and Walter Gerard to “handicap Rodney in his timber-cutting Knowing “meeting place, the girl hides there and witnesses a criminal transaction be- tween the two men. ~Gerard . for bringing a truckload of liquor to the timber workers’ quarters. CHAPTER XIL—Rod, Jim, and David “have. their hands full trying to quiet - the drunken, rioting men. Calloway is surprised when Milly Gooch says she broke her engagement with him, ~ for “Rod, but for Walter Gerard. Then ne hastens to the fire that has broken the drunken workers sobered. - z EE things got in such a mess that I put CHAPTER XIIL—Prudence, with her old friends, Si Puffer and his wife, at- tends a Christmas party Rodney gives in celebration of his successful job of timber cutting and his victory over the now repentant Calloway. Prudence has ~ fashioned a collar for small Jean's pet to be a Christmas gift from Rodney to his niece. ~ Armst:oong scolds her for her about their engagement and of course insists she tell Rodney the truth at Gerard makes it easy for the girl to explain her momentary foolish- ness, but she does not whole-hearted: ly enjoy the party. At home, with her thoughts, tations are interrupted by his appear- He has come, he says, for the collar he had ordered for his gift to ‘Jean, but in the hush of Christmas ‘Eve there comes perfect understandng, and happiness, to Prue of Prosperity Farm, and to Rodney Gerard. “He's always wanting you, David. ~ 1 don’t know where we would have + tucked you into the Puffer car had you Isn’t that music heavenly! I've never seen a more glorious Christ- Looking pretty snappy, aren't you?’ she approved gaily, to camouflage the surge of thanksgiving ~ apparently so strong, so well are not terribly hard to look at your- CHILLTOPS CLEAR: By Emilie Loring itu fl _ WLNUL. \ SERVICE Schuyler to of Rodney Gerard, | attraction between timber.” But Pru- She suspects men Calloway, a attitude and con- her thirteen-year- They are hateful, leave Prue rankled: Prudence Regarded Herself in the Long Mirror. self. Miss Mack is aoing her bit for the honor of the family. She is stiff with black glitter, and she is smiling. Shall we go down?” ~ From the stairs Prudence saw Jean and- Rodney Gerard greeting the ar- riving guests. Rodney looked up. The color mounted to his forehead as his eyes met Prue's. Her heart grew wings. He must have forgiven her, he must want to be friends again, or he wouldn't look at her like that. He crossed the hall and met her as she reached the lowest step. “K.«K. and T began to think you had passed up our party.” He dropped the hand he had seized. “Help make people feel at home, will you?’ he asked stiffly. “You'll find Jim in the next room,” he flung over his shoulder as he turned away. His voice had the effect of a shower of ice water. Anger burned away the chill. Was he afraid that she might expect him to devote himself to her if he showed even decent civility? He needn’t worry. With chin up she entered the room’ in which dancers were swinging and humming to the rhythm of the music. > “Come out to the sun porch, Pre" I want to talk to you.” The grimness of Armstrong's voice generated prickles in her veins. Had he found out what she had told Rod- ney? Was he furiously angry? Per- haps he would sue her for saying that she was engaged to him. That was a cheerful thought for this merry Christ- mastide. “Now what have I done?” she de- manded in mock terror, as they en- tered the enclosed porch gay with wicker and cretonnes and plants and colored lights. “This is what you've *done, Prue,— -we'll get down to facts at once. You are the finest, the best sport of any | girl IT know— “Thanks for them kind words, buf don’t try to soften the blow. What have I done that makes you sit there looking as grim as an executioner and —and twice as handsome?” He refused to be diverted by her gayety. “AN right, laugh, but do you realize that you have made me appear to double-cross my best friend? Why did you tell Rod that you were en- gaged to me?” “Did he tell you that?” “Hold on now, sit back in the seat and listen. Something went wrong between him and me the afternoon you and your brother dropped in on us at High Ledges. I felt it but I | couldn’t get hold of anything. Then old clown, is ac- ; he _be- After the accident his daughter, Jean, Rod ‘from the city by the knowledge of He Prudence of her arrives and holds And, after a Ger- him she is en- Rodney's Prudence learns of a plot hatched be- their appointed Calloway pays not laborer’s quarters. Gooch follow him. under control and Rod’s crabbedness down to worry over the lumbering. Remember when you collapsed the night of the fire?” “Remember! Of course I remember, I never fainted but once before in my life, and when.I think that I crashed when I might have helped more, morti- fication sends my blood pressure down, down, down.” \ “Don’t worry about that, The am- bulance surgeon says you may have a job with him any time you are ready for it. When you went to pieces that night, Rod nearly blew my head off be- cause I left you. Your brother and the doctor were with you; I was needed somewhere else. I stayed, though.” “Martyr,” Prudence jeered softly. Not that she felt like being flippant, but to assure hérself that her stiff lips would move, = “That night—or morning rather— when we got back from the fire the whole thing came out. You had told Rod that you werd engaged to me, and he accused me of underhand methods, At the party “fp” alone she realizes how Rodney. Her medi- Ledges he warned me that he intended fo marry you.” . “He did!” “He did. Your eyes look as if they saw the coming of the Lord! Why she looked at him, “You Don’t answer. | his voice. self. because the day I arrived at High I dig you tell him we were engaged? Tell Rod.” He cleared “Promise you will explain to Rodney Gerard; you owe that to me.” * “Sorry to interrupt this twosome, Jim, but Prue’s brother is looking for her,” announced Rodney Gerard be- hind him. Armstrong rose. “Great Scott, I had forgotten! This is my dance with the village beauty. Take Prue in, will you,-Rod?’ - .~ $ 3 Prudence made a vain effort to clutch his coat. At the door of the -| living room Gerard put his arm about her, “Easier to PR through this bunch, Do' you mind?” She shook her head. His touch set little pulses in her throat hammering, the blood in her veins leaping, her -body tingling with a fiery quality of life she never before had felt. He had told Jim that’he intended to marry her! She looked up. - « “I told you that I was engaged to Jim Armstrong. I wasnt. I don’t love him a bit.” Was that her voice, so pure, warm, and throbby, or was: another girl speaking? =. For an instant his eyes flamed with ‘amazement ; e him. savagely. “Is that true? N What a place to tell me! I can't—" He bent his head. “Rod!” Rod! Not here! Not—” Color rushed back to his face. “Think I was going to Kiss you? Didn’t I promise I wouldn't until—" A hand fell on his arm. A prosper- ous young farmer asked diffidently: “Dance with me, Miss Schuyler?’ With a look which set Prue’s heart clamoring, Gerard relinquished her: With the breathless sense that she was walking over a not too slumbering | volcano, Prudence laughed and chatted with her partner when the music stopped. Mrs. Walter Gerard, in the latest in platinum metallic hairdress- ing and a smart black frock, bore down upon her. “Dear Miss Schuyler, you are ravish- ing in that frosted green. It brings out your high color marvelously. You've been so kind to my darling daughter. She has a fascinating uncle, hasn't she?” To Prue’s indignant fancy the last sentence seemed to ring through the room as if magnificently amplified. Her response, she could not have told what it was, shook with anger. Al- “most she sympathized with Walter Gerard. How could a man live with a winking woman? She turned on her heel almost into the arms of Arm- strong. “What ArStrdiy deed are you con- templating?” he demanded, as gaily as if the conversation in the sun room never had taken place. “Your eyes are spitting sparks, you. look mad as a hatter.” “This is some party. Rod is doing himself proud. He and Jean are dis: tributing gifts. He sent me to look after you. Come on, let’s eat.” The middle of the long refectory table was banked with red roses; the supper was as varied and delectable as a noted caterer knew how to serve it. The guests’ eye§ were wide with admiration, their cheeks pink with repletion. Perched on one of the wide window sills, Prudence pretended to eat. “How is the lumbering eoming, Jim?” “It’s a cinch. The two men who de- serted to Calloway slunk back and asked for a job. We took one, but the crew rode Kusciko out of town.” ~ “Why 7” “He dumped the truck of liquor.” “] suppose he was doing the dirty work of someone higher up.” - “Of course—but he tried to knife Rod. That gets you, doesn’t it? Here, drink this punch. It will bring your color back. Don’t care much for old Rod, do you?’ 3 “Who are you to try to probe the secrets of a maiden’s heart.” Her eyes lost their laughter. “How is Cal- ‘Toway?” “Better.: He has made public con- fession that he was solely responsible for dumping that load of liquor in front of the cattle barn and that he will pay the bills. He did it to get even with Rod. When he found out that he was wrong—" 2 “He is such a just man,” Prudence interpolated erisply. “He is doing his darndest to be one now. He diverted the girder which would have finished Rod. I had turned away and didn’t see it coming.” Prudence shivered. “That’s the worst of the ‘horrors of that lurid night. Oh, let’s not-think of it. I must find the Puffers. They probably want to go home.” As Prudence came down the broad stairs in her green velvet wrap with its broad mink collar, Rodney Gerard was waiting. “Going? My party has been a knock-out, hasn't it?” his eyes was black, a hint of passion .underlay the laughter in his voice. “I don’t like to talk about myself, but,” Prue flouted gaily. If only her heart would stop thumping, she wished wildly. “You have immortalized your- Good-night.” She could feel the throb of his fin- ger-tips as he held the hand she of- fered. “Are you sure Si is waiting? Then I will leave you and speed my other guests.” ! “He didn’t say good-night!” Pru- dence told ferself over and over, as she squeezed in beside Mrs. Puffer on the back seat of the automobile. “Foolish for your brother to drive home alone,” Si protested, as he start- ed the car, *“Whatta mean is, he might have come along with us. But perhaps there wouldn’t be room. I'm _always forgettin’, Mother, that you're not so slim as you were in the days when you and I went to the circus.” An “She went to pieces the night of the “her. then he crushed her to | crew at the bunk-house, sort of a .against still the world was! The blue of* “The dens! That reminds me, what happened to Milly Gooch?” Pru- dence inquired. Mrs. Si drew a long, troubled breath. fire, dearie. She had hysterics hang- ing on to Roddy - Gerard—guess if folks hadn't been scared to death thinking where those flames might go there would have een some whisper- ing.” x “’Twouldn’t have lasted, Mother. Len Calloway’s confession brought out the whole story of how Roddy’d helped Walt Gerard had better not set his foot in the village or he'll be tarred and feathered. ‘Here we are at your door, Miss * Prudence. » Prudence lingered outside the red brick house. Moonlight silvered the dormers. How low the stars seemed! They were like gold dust spangling indigo velvet. David was standing witote the fire, an arm on the evergreen-banked man- tel, when she entered the living room. He smiled as he met her eyes. Thank heaven, he could smile, : “T’ll call this a day,” he said. “It is So long since I have stepped out to an evening festivity that I am tired.” = “Oh, I thought we would talk it over before the fire, David. That’s half the fun of a "party.”. She slipped her hand under his arm and laid her cheek against’ his sleeve. “Of course you are tired, dear. Qo to bed. I will lock up.” “1 want to be full of pep. tomorrow. Gerard is havings a big tree for the house warming,” His arm tightened about her shoulders. “No matter how: dark and problem-logged the ' path, Prue, you bring life and gayety Li courage in -your train.” “Why, Dave! Dave!” Prudence hid her quivering his shoulder. His brought her heart to her throat. He laid his hand tenderly on her ruddy hair. “Didn’t expect your staid old brother to go sentimental, did you?’ He laughed. “Well, that’s my story and I stick to it. You're stunning in that frock, Prue. Good-night, dear.” “ ‘Good-night, good-night, beloved,’ she hummed in a husky undertone as she watched him cross the room. She started to bank the fire, threw on a log instead. She was wide awake, she couldn't sleep if she went to bed. She curled up in the wing chair. Why hadn’t Rodney said good-night? Per- haps just as she had discovered that she adored him, he didn’t like her any more. Why should he? She had been bitter and hateful. Now that love for him had slipped into her heart and- taken absolute possession, it had given life a new value, given her a new insight into her own needs and shortcomings. A vine outside tapped icy fingers against a window. A shutter rattled eerily. The fire purred. Her thoughts raced on and on. The banjo clock wheezed and ponderously struck “the hour. Prudence counted. lips Midnight. How What would old Santa say if he caught her sitting up for him? Silly, what a kid she was! Perhaps that was the reason Rodney didn’t like her any more—he—Some- one was watching her! Who had come in? She glanced furtively at the long mirror. Her heart stopped. Rodney! He didn’t move. Was he real? Her fascinated eyes clung to his in the | How he had mirror. - changed since A fA He Didnt Move—Was He Real? Her Fascinated Eyes Clung to His in the Mirror. the day she had plunged into his arms in the barn! Determination and the will to grapple obstacles had remod- eled his mouth; where it had been sensitive and mobile, it now set in a grim line. She had thought it too boyish. Now its sternness was like a knife in her heart; she didn’t want life to hurt him, she couldn’t bear it. Was she partly responsible? What would his mother think of the change if she knew ?. He moved, and the spell was broken. “Merry Christmas, Prue of Prosper- ity farm!” She stood up and caught at the back of the wing chair, The guarded ardor of his eyes took her breath; his mouth was no longer stern, it was young again, ; “Merry Christmas, Rodney.” “Don’t look at the clock, This isn’t late for the night before Christmas. Had to get the collar for. the kitten. I've left him in a basket in the hall. Planned to put him in Jean’s stocking in the morning. Dave okayed my com- ing.” praise |. Rodney. Was that why her brother had been too tired to stay downstairs? The light in the eyes watching her seemed to get in the way of her breath. She proposed eagerly: “Come into the shop. The collar is ready. I—I—thought perhaps you had forgotten it.” “Oh, yes?’ he responded enigmati- cally, and followed her with the rustling basket in his hand. dence picked up the collar from the bench, ~ “Take the kitten out and hold him tight while I put it on. There! Do you like it?” ~ “It’s great!” With the squirming ‘kitten clutched in one arm, Rodney seized her hand and held it against his lips. “Darling, did you think I would go through this night without a show- down with you? I kept away after that dance. I didn’t dare trust myself. Why did you tell me you were en- ged to Jim Armstrong? Why—" The kitten squirmed and elawed and jumped. He sprang to the back of a chair. Contracted to a black ball With a bound landed on the high top of the bookcase. His green eyes | turned ruby red as he peered over the edge. The man and girl stared back at him. “Darn! Stop laughing, Rodney Ger- ard, you'll waken Dave and bring Jane Mack, down on the double-quick for another burglar,” Prudence warned In | a hoarse whisper. “Get that cane in the corner and poke the kitten down. The black imp! 4 Perhaps you can reach him if you stand on something.” Gerard balanced precariously the arm of a chair and poked vigorous- ly. At each thrust the quarry re- treated. At the imminent risk of breaking his neck—if not the kitten’s —~Gerard lunged with the cane. “What the dickens is going on here?’ David Schuyler demanded from the threshold, as he knotted the eord of his brocaded dressing gown. Jane Mack, still in her glittering black frock, peered over his shoulder. Ger- ard jumped to the floor. ‘That snooty kitten walked out on us.” “Oh, was that it? Macky and I ‘thought you had corralled her burglar at last.” Jane Mack twisted gnarled hands. “I was the real burglar, Prue,” said “I had asked Miss Mack to get the emerald and diamonds for me because—" Jane Mack eagerly interrupted him. “Mr. Rodney didn’t want you to know he had them. I sneaked ’em from the safe that morning you caught us three coming out of this room. Mr. David knew about it. Every time you took out those packages I nearly lost my mind for fear you would miss the emerald. Finally I couldn’t stand the strain any longer, so I just worked up that yell and burglar story, to ac- count for them not being there.” David Schuyler slipped his hand under Jane Mack's arm. “Come on, they don’t need us, Macky. Gerard is the only one who can explain.” He looked back and smiled as he crossed the threshold, Prudence waited till the voices on the stairs were still, be- fore she asked: “Why did you want those stones?” Rodney Gerard held out his hand. | On the palm glittered a ring. “Grandmother’s emerald! Set in my design! What marvelous baguettes! Ww hy did you do it?” STs it splashy enough? You said you wanted the stones set, didn’t you, —Gorgeous? I would like all my life to give you what you want.’ You know I love you, don’t you? You know that I've been mad about you from the moment I held you in my arms in the barn. Why did you tell me you were engaged to Jim?” He dropped the ring to the’ bench and caught fer shoulders. “Don’t turn away. We'll fight it out if I stay here all night. Answer my question.” “I didn’t want to love you.” “Why—because of Milly Gooch? Calloway told me that he had poisoned your mind against me. There was not a shred of truth—" “Please—please don’t tell me that. I know it. In my heart I have al- ways known it.” The whiteness of his face frightened her. His ardent eyes confused her, She touched the ring. “Now that the emerald is set, what are you going to do with it?” » Color rushed back into his face, youth and gayety and laughter to his lips. “Watch me, Gorgeous, just watch me while I make my wish come true!” He caught her left hand and slipped the ring on the third finger. “All right with you? This means marriage, you know—for always.” “For always,” she whispered. He looked at her without speaking. His eyes seemed to draw her heart from her breast. She pressed her .cheek against the gardenia on his coat, and challenged with unsteady gayety: “Something tells me that you .are letting that silly promise—" He crushed her 80 close in his arms that she had barely breath left to add: “Don’t you usually kiss a lady when you ask her to marry you? Perhaps, though, it isn’t being done-—perhaps —Rod!” The quickly smothered ery, half laugh, half sob, roused the dozing Kkit- ten. He peered over the top of the bookcase. Yawned, Sneezed. Mewed ingratiatingly. © As neither girl nor man looked up, he jumped to the high back of a chair. Always with watch- ful green eyes on the two humans by the bench, the amber pendant on the silver collar glowing, he proceeded to remove the dust from his sleek black paws. [THE END.] “Pru- on | | MARKETING ‘By T. J. Delohery FRUIT JUICES, JELLIES, JAMS, IN DEMAND and dairy products which William H. Brinton raised on his 35-acre farm near Parkersburg, Penn. was hauled to town and offered to wholesalers. What he didn’t sell was taken back home and Mrs. Brinton put it up in cans and glass jars. Now Brinton only takes ‘to: market 4 what products are not good enough’ for his wife to can; and Mrs. Brinton buys many things from neighboring farmers in order to supply the demand from hundreds of people who come to their roadside market and from cus- (tomers living in other states who or- der by -mail, The experience of this farm woman ers who sell canned meats, fruit juices, Jams, jellies and preserves direct to consumers or who place them in local stores on a commission basis to be sold in competition with high-class factory- made products. + °F { comprising 85 acres, was in danger of | being foreclosed until the owner, Mrs. | Iona Ester, happened to offér a batch | of homemade grape juice and jelly to |, passing motorists. It was in sheer desperation that Mrs. Ester placed the fruit juice and jelly on a table in front of her home. In‘less than an hour it was gone “It looked like we had found a way to make money,” said jovial Mrs. Es- ter, “but I wasn’t any hand at jelly making. But I talked it over with mother and we rummaged the attic and old trunks until we found a cook book which contained recipes for jams. and jellies, some of which were one hundred years old, I guess. “The house was an uproar that night. Every available pot, pan and kettle was going. We worked all night making jellies and grape juice, and when dawn broke, I thought we had made enough stuff to last a year. But we had hardly gotten in bed when Mr. BE. D. Young, a friend, who was taking care of the sales, roused us with the news that we needed more stock—we had sold out the second time. 3 “Dead tired, we went at it again. And every day after that, until the tourist season closed, we were going at top speed. That winter, when we talked over our success and the possi- bilities of the future, we felt convinced that we had the makings of a business which would be profitable. “We guessed ' it right. Business was better the next year and it has kept on growing. We process all of our own fruit and what we buy of neighbors. And our selling season doesn’t end with tourists leaving the road. It continues through te the hol- idays, many people now using our as- sorted package of jellies and jams as Christmas gifts.” W. S. Farnsworth, for 40 years one of the prominent fruit growers in Ohio. was unable to find a satisfactory Inviting the Thirsty. market for his apples, and other fruits until he changed his method of sell- ing. When marketing was put in the hands of his son-in-law, Mr, Young, he immediately advertised in local and surrounding town newspapers. Then he contacted retailers who, seeing the- publicity, the quality fruit and the possibility of sales, put Farns- worth apples on display. Sales boomed, then dropped as suddenly. Young, with characteristic enterprise, changed the package, using a colored basket and covering the apples with netting to keep out the insects and dirt. More advertising. The package; which is known as “Farnsworth Fam- ily Pack,” was featured in window: displays and again the demand picked up. Clear cider, too, was brought to the retailers. Bottled and labeled it moved into consuming channels rapid- ly, even where cider sales had there- tofore been sluggish. When newspaper advertising showed its worth, Young thought it might help the demand for Farnsworth fruit and fruit. products if he had a market building on the farm and invited peo- ple out to visit the place. ly, space was bought in the motor. club magazine, the ad consisting of an in- vitation to visit the home of “Farns- worth’s Family Pack,” and a map showing how the orchards could be: reached by motor. Visitors were treated to samples of fruit, cider and apple butter and shown the market houses, where rows: of baskets of apples, jugs and bottles: of cider and jars of golden apple buts ter all properly labeled and arranged so as to make a most attractive dis- play, were. Naturally, but in no case were prices below those in the retail stores. This policy was adopted to protect the retailers. ©, 1933. Western Newspaper Union. ROADSIDE | ALL of the small fruit, vegetable has been duplicated by scores of. oth- Dixie Farms, near Mattewan, Mich., According- sales followed, 3 Ves