For the sake of this story, we will say his name was Pat. Now Pat was a
good Irishman and had attended mass at the same church for twenty-five
years.
In the good old days, when a “slug” was 10 cents and a “schooner” a
5-cent piece, Pat was always visiting Casey’s saloon for a wee nip.
On this particular Sunday morning, Pat found himself in church with only
a 5-cent piece and a five dollar gold piece in his pocket. During the
offertory of the mass, he made the mistake of dropping in the gold piece.
After service, following his custom of many years, he slipped into the
back door of Casey’s for his morning’s drink.
“Have one with me, Mr. Casey,” said Patrick. They both had their drink
and Pat reached in his pocket and laid the nickel on the bar.
“Come again,” said Casey, “you haven’t even enough to pay for your own
drink.”
Pat then told of his mistake of putting the gold piece in the collection
box. Casey promptly urged him to go at once to Father Monahan, explain
his error and get back his gold piece.
On his way to the priest he kept repeating to himself: “I hate to do
this; oh, I hate to do this, but I will, I need the money.” He was just
about to push the bell at Father Monahan’s home, when he hesitated and
again said:
“Oh, I hate to do this; in fact, I can’t do it, and I won’t do it. I gave
that money to the good Father and to hell with it.”
_Chaplin’s New Love_
_Enter now the halcyon days of romance for our noted picture
entertainer! Charles Chaplin has lived down the shattered
memory of Mildred Harris and is now romancing with a girl of
seventeen; Mary Pickford is a victim of gossips; “Midsummer
Madness” breaks record for naughty films, and the story of
comedienne assaulted by picture director comes to light. These
newsy nuggets sum up our monthly gossip from the inside circles
of Hollywood and Universal City._