Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1925)

MARCH 1925 like finding thirty-three dollars. And he was by that much nearer to his goal; that much sooner would he be released from bondage; thirty-three dollars sooner could he look Gashwiler in the eye and say what he thought of him and his emporium. In his nightly prayer he did not neglect to render thanks for this He dressed the next morning with a new elation. He must be more careful about keeping tab on his money, but also it was wonderful to tind more than you expected. He left the store-room that reeked of kerosene and (>assed into the emporium to replace his treasure in its hiding-place. The big room was dusky behind the drawn front curtains, but all the smells were there : the smell of ground coffee and spices at the grocery counter; farther on, the smothering smell of prints and woollens and new leather. Pe dummies, waiting down by the door to be put outside, regarded each other in blank solemnity. A few big flies droned lazily about their still forms. Merton eyed the dusty floor, the gleaming counters, the curtains that shielded the shelves, with a new disdain. Sooner than he had thought he would bid them a last farewell. And to-day, at least, he was free of them — free to be on the lot at two, to shoot Western stuff. Let to-morrow, with its old round of degrading tasks, take care of itself. At 10.30 he was in church. He was not as attentive to the sermon as he should have been, for it now occurred to him that he had no stills of himself in the garb of a clergyman. This was worth considering, because he was not going to be one of those one-part actors. He would have a wide range of roles. He would be able to play anything. He wondered how the Rev. Otto Carmichael would take the request for a brief loan of one of his pulpit suits. Perhaps he was not so old as he looked ; perhaps he might remember that he, too, had once been young and fired with high ideals. It would be worth trying. And the things could be returned after a brief studio session with Lowell Hardy. He saw himself cast in such a part, the handsome young clergyman, exponent of a muscular Christianity. He comes to the toughest cattle town in all the great South-west, determined to make honest men and good women of its sinning derelicts. He wins the hearts of these rugged but misguided souls. Though at first they treat him rough, they learn to resnect him, and they call him the fighting parson. Eventually he wins the hand in marriage of the youngest of the dancehall denizens, a sweet young girl who despite her evil surroundings has remained as pure and good as she is beautiful. Anyway, if he had those clothes for an hour or two while the artist made a few studies of him he would have something else to show directors in search of fresh talent. After church he ate a lonely meal served by Metta Judson at the Gashwiler residence. The Gashwilers were on their accustomed Sabbath visit to the distant farm of Mrs. Gashwiler's father. But as he ate he became conscious that the Gashwiler influence was not wholly withdrawn. From above the mantel he was sternly regarded by a tinted enlargement of his employer's face entitled Photographic Study, by Lowell Hardy. Lowell never took photographs merely. He made Pictures and Pic t\j reaver photographic studies, .md die specimen •'< hand was one oi bis must dating rllorts. Merton glared at it in tree hostility — a Clod, with ideals as l.iUc as (lie artist's pink on his leathery cheeks I lie hurried bis meal, glad to be relieved I rum the inimical scrutiny. He was riad to be tree from this Utd from the determined recital by Mett.i Judson of small town happenings What eared be that Gus GiddtngS had been lined ten dollars and costs by Sc|iiirc Belcher tor his low escapade, or that Gus's father had sworn to lick him within au inch of bis life it be ever ketched him touching stimmilints again? He went to the barn, climbed to the hayloft, and undid tin bundle containing his Buck Benson outfit. This was fresh from the mail-order house in Chit He took out almost reverently a pair of high-heeled boots, with purple tops, u pair of spurs, a gay shirt, a gayer neckerchief, a broad-brimmed hat, a leather holster, and — most impressive of all — a pair of goatskin chaps dyed a violent maroon. All these he excitedly donned, the spurs last. Then he clambered down the ladder from the loft, somewhat impeded by the spurs and went into the kitchen. Motta Judson, washing dishes, gave a little cry of alarm. Nothing like this had ever before invaded the Gashwiler home by front door or back. " Why, Mert' Gill, whatever you dressed up like that for? My stars, you look like a cowboy or something ! Well, I must say!" " Say, Metta, do me a favour. I want to see how these things look in a glass. It's a cowboy outfit for when I play regular Buck Benson parts, and everything's got to be just so or the audience writes to the magazines about it and makes fun of you." "/"^o ahead," said Metta. 'sYou can git a ^>-* fine look at yourself in the tall glass in the old lady's bedroom." Forthwith he went, profaning a sanctuary, to survey himself in a glass that had never reflected anything but the discreet arraying of his employer's lady He looked long and earnestly. The effect was qjitc all he had hoped. He "lowered the front of the broad-brimmed hat the least bit, tightened his belt another notch and moved the holster to a better line. He looked again. From feet to head he was perfect. Then, slightly crouching, he drew his revolver from the holster and held it forward from the hip, wrist and forearm rigidly straight. "Throw up your hands!" He uttered the grim words in a low tone, but one facing him would not have been deceived by low tones. Steely-eyed, grim of face, relentless in all his bearing, the most desperate adversary would have quailed. Probably even Gashwiler himself would have quailed. When Buck Benson looked and spoke thus he meant it. He held it a long, breathless moment before relaxing. Then he tiptoed softly from the hallowed confines of a good woman's boudoir and clattered down the back stairs to the kitchen. He was thinking, " I certainly got to get me another gun if I'm ever going to do Two-Gun Benson parts, and I got to get the draw down better. I ain't quick enough yet." (To be continued). JLa%sJlodern 'Toilet Guide By PHILIP II. MASON Author o/ Face Mintage." "The Hair." A FREE COPY With the Author', Compliment*. CONTENTS. 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