If he heard of a Married Man going out Cab-Riding after Hours or playing
Hearts for Ten Cents a Heart or putting a Strange Woman on the Car, he
knew it was his Duty to edge around and slip the Information to some one
who would carry it to the Wife. He was such a Good Man himself that he
wanted all the other Men to wear long sable Belshazzars on the
Sub-Maxillary and come to him for Moral Guidance. If they would not do
it, the only Thing left for him to do was to Warn their Families now and
then and get them into Hot Water, thus demonstrating that the
Transgressor must expect Retribution to fall on him with quite a Crash.
Sometimes he would get behind a Board Fence to see the Wife of the
Postmaster break off a Yellow Rose and pass it over the Gate to the
Superintendent of the High School. Then he would Hustle out on his Beat
and ask People if they had heard the Talk that was Going Around. Of
course it Grieved him to be compelled to Peddle such Stories, but he had
to do it in the Interests of Morality. If Folks did not have a Pious
Protector to spot Worldly Sin and then get after it with a Sharp Stick,
the Community would probably go to the Dogs in less than no time.
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