Judge — February 1935 — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

water sunk in the ground. On the lad- der was a sign that read: TO-NIGHT! TO-NIGHT! ‘THE ARROW’ WILL DIVE AT 8 P.M. “The little darkie gaped up to the lad- der’s sky-scraping heights. Then he looked at the pic pool. ‘My Gawsh! he murmured, ‘I wouldn't dive off dat platform fo’ a million dollars!” Just then somebody touched him on the vulder. micros Soy,’ said a voice, “If you want twenty buck Arrow sick ton make the grand dive. Y nd color. ing suit, to m, is yu're just her You put on her bath- and a wig I'll get you, and take the dive tonight, and I'll give you twenty dollars.” size—a “'Me dive off that place?’ Little Roscoe looked up the spindly ladder. ‘Mister, | wouldn't dive off there for twenty mullion dollars !’" “Well, they dickered back 1 forth and it was final greed that, for five dollars, the little darkie would imper- sonate that great colored diveuse, The Arrow. He would put on the suit and some padding, and when the climb the ladder slowly and at the top. Then he would y clutch his side as though he That would be better than no show at all. So just at eight o'clock, the band came to a climax, there was a ruffle of drums, and little Roscoe elbowed his way through the huge black throng gathered wig, time came, make a bov sudc had a cramp, and come back down i for the big event of the evening. As | he put his foot on the lowest rung and started the impressive climb to the ac- companiment of the drums, he suddenly spied in the surrounding crowd his old friend and ex-partner who had gypped him at the track that afternoon. “Recognition was mutual—Clarence penetrated the disguise, and he winked knowingly to Roscoe who was gingerly ing up the shaky ladder. Knowing | Roscoe was too yellow to dive off a kitchen chair, he turned to the man next to him, In a voice loud enough for Roscoe to hear, he said: ‘Brother, I got fifteen dollars heah which says The Arrow don’t dive tonight!’ oo HE stranger, watching The Ar- row’s deliberate progress toward the heights, promptly took the bet. Clarence turned to the man on the other side and made another bet. Before he | got through, he had a bet with every spectator on the lot that had fifty cents or more. And still The Arrow con- tinued the interminable climb, nervously clutching at the rungs at every step. Finally, as he reached the very top, he stepped dramatically to the edge of the platform and took a bow. The crowd applauded vigorously. The band played a quick-step. “Then Roscoe carefully leaned over the edge and called to his friend: ‘You got you’ book all made, Cla’ence? ue , replied Clarence. ‘It’s all set!’ “Well, then,’ shouted little Roscoe, ‘pay out, you double crossin’ so and so, | "cause heah—goes—The Arrow! THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE SEVERAL years ago, the worst slect | storm in telephone history swept north from Texas almost to the Great Lakes and ravaged a section 150 miles wide. Telephone com- munication, like many other services, was interrupted. To restore the service quickly was beyond the power of the local tele- phone companies, Instead, the full resources of the Bell System were thrown into the breach. From the Southwest, from New York, Penn- sylvania, Ohio and the Northwest, men, materials, and repair trucks started rolling into the stricken areas, It was only because of standard- ized material and methods that the emergency was met, and service promptly restored, Telephone service as you know it today would he impossi- ble without the nation- wide, unified Bell System. Bell Telephone System comicbooks.com