Motography (Jan-Jun 1913)

56 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. IX, No. 2. years. It was there I learned to ride. When I was twelve years old, my father was called to Chicago on business and I was left in charge of the ranch and of my younger sister. Hazel. We had a housekeeper, though we girls had always kept house and cou1d cook as well as anybody. "The most awful experience I ever had occurred then, while my father was away. There was a cloudburst and it rained torrents for four hours, from five to nine, at night. The lightning split all the fence poles and there were six inches of water on the kitchen floor. To keep the house from floating away, we dug a ditch clear around it ; that was the only thing that saved us. "That same year we came East and I went to a boarding school at Monticello. I had always been crazy about dancing but everybody thought it was an awful desire, and I wasn't allowed to take lessons. But one summer the church was to have a program and wanted someone to dance and I volunteered. I resurrected an old pink silk dress, got a lady to play some Spanish music for me and made up my dance and practiced it. When the church program was over, a beautiful goddess in gray came to me and said, 'My child, you're a born dancer,' and I walked on air for the rest of the night. "That was five years ago ; I've practiced almost four hours a day since then, and have never taken a lesson. We have a big mirror in one of the rooms at our flat and in front of it, is where little Ruthie proceeds to perform. But there is no chance of my ever getting vain as my mother and sister, who are both very witty, comment freely on everything I do." The typewriter near us stopped its song of meaningful clicks ; the stout gentleman heaved ho ! and gravitated toward the doorway to find somebody to help him on with his coat ; the call of the inner man was heard by even Don Meaney, who disappeared studio-wards, to see that all was well. Plainly, 'twas noon. "But some day, I hope, somebody will want me and I can keep house and cook and do all the things I want to do. Some people believe that an actress or dancer never would be satisfied as a home-maker, but I know differently. I'll show them, too! "And I have a hope chest. I don't believe, though, in marrying a man you're loony about, for the glamor is sure to wear off and, then, where'll you be ? Nowhere." Miss Ruth's out-spread hands showed exactly where she'd be. "The man I'll marry is the man I can play with. If I want to talk baby talk, he can do it, too, or at least let me ramble on and he'll enjoy it ; if I want to build a block house, he can have fun building one too ; if he wants to read or talk philosophy, very well, I like to read and talk it too, at times. "For, above everything else, we must be pals. I don't believe in long engagements, but I do believe in people knowing each other, one, two, or three years ; long enough for them to be sure they are congenial. But the engagement — well, I'd like to be proposed to at five o'clock, married at six and leave on a honeymoon at seven. No weepy wedding or weepy funeral for me. When I die I want to be cremated and have my ashes put in a little rosewood box or scattered around the roots of a rose-bush to help it grow ; I think that would be lovely !" The idea was accompanied by a merry laugh, and the assurance that she meant it, every word. What wise little people some twenty-year olders are, anyway! Not all-wise, however, as Miss Ruth was perfectly unaware that the little picture of herself and sister, taken when "herself" was three and one-half years old, had come clear from Denver to accompany whatever Miss Ruth was to say at our stuido talk-fest, and that the little picture, itself, is already speeding on its safe return to the city of the west and Miss Ruth's father. The "youngest leading lady in motion pictures" was a gay hostess at the chafing-dish luncheon which followed and evidently had forgotten about the rose-wood box. I never cared much for rose-wood boxes and now, I know I never will. Improved Carbon Holder A picture machine operator requested me to make him some carbon holders more durable than the ones of cast brass, says D. A. Hampson in Popular Electricity. I suggested cold rolled steel, though doubting its worth (comparatively) because of its lower conductivity. However, they were made and tried .out and were found to //*"<Screur Ab./O Screur^ Improved Type of Carbon Holder. take no more current than the brass ones and instead of lasting three weeks they are evidently permanent, as the high heat has little or no effect on them and at that heat they are not brittle as is brass. The dimensions are all given on the drawing. Also an improved terminal is shown which carries the point of connection outside of the machine where it is easy to work while the arc is burning. Cuvillier Bill Provides for Matron At the request of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and other children's societies, Assemblyman Cuvillier of New York has prepared for introduction in the legislature a bill to admit children under the age of sixteen years to moving-picture shows and theaters without their parents or guardians, between 4 and 7 p. m., and on Saturdays, Sundays and school holidays between 1 and 7 p. m. "My bill," said Mr. Cuvillier in a statement issued recently, "makes provision that moving-picture shows or theaters must have a separate space set apart exclusively for children, which shall be in charge of a matron who shall be licensed by the proper local authorities. It also provides for the creation in each municipality of boards of censors, to consist of at least one doctor, which shall pass upon all pictures to be exhibited." Suggests Pictures for the Poor It is the intention of Governor Hunt to have the state engage in the moving picture show business, the Review of Bisbee, Ariz., suggests that while he is providing for this class of diversion and entertainment for the convicts confined in the state penitentiary that he also consider the poor of the state who are not able to indulge in this luxurious diversion. At every picture show at times may be found poor children in front of the entrance with sad faces and longing eyes as the crowd rushes in, who should be regarded on an equality with the prisoners at Florence in the matter of receiving the bounty of the state when it is ready to go into the business of providing free moving picture shows.