Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-12-25

SNSJ ~ " A&4 LAW &bAS ASASA "
spirit much stronger in us in youth than later
Oh, for the reason, perhaps, that We haven't
fully measured the strength of cur antagonist,
tho existing system Of things. J. was sincerely
anxious to thoroughly represent all worthy
local interests. To that end I secured Doom
willie night and day, and "wrote up" all sorts
OF things that never before had been described
Ly pen, or imnortalizel in type. l wanted
to wake up my fellow townsmcn and women
to tho Interests that lay close around them,
n Of all things I wanted them to properly
appreciate The Trumps3.
/ intended to issue q magnificent Christmas
number Of my beloved Journal, twice its
ordinary si:o and bri:n full of the most
alluring holiday matter 1 could create and
rake up. To perfect that number I almost
worked myself into u decline. Looking back
| upon it now, from tho stai:dpoi;t of what |
beg to be permitted to call mature common
sense, I commend myself heartily for tho i'll
dustry, zeal and confidence ! nursed into
| respectable development in til $50 old, hard
working, moncylcss daH1 on The Trumpet.
Among other attractive features for my
| Christmas paper | determined TO write up the
very poor Of Doonville. | could thus be the
means Of comforting two be1efactions-giy-
ing the rich a chance to taste Of the blessing
of Civ ing-for it is more blessed to give than
to lt>eive-and also oren tatn way for the
moor to he helped. And oa christmas, you
know all hearts are said to ia tcnderer and
more generous. and many ere clad CT an op-
poItuni!J to 4. sorneth;!.;; for ne needy.
D,~uvi!Ie was Il small rla.H. and so very
prOs,..rou, that scarcely i.:!yw whore to 60
to hunt people so poor rI&t ! dare intrude
upon them and tell their wa,li.; in my "valu-
able and widely circulata'l' ps.@r. MANY Of
its citizens were very rich, ami none whtm |
personally knew hail fallen below decent and
to.cruble poverty. But dow" below Doun's
mills, on the river Ea!k, were. solne broken
down houses about whose doors | had some
times seen very ragged and very dirty chill
drpn play ing. | determined to % thither and
investigate.
had this thought in my MIMI as l was 60
ing to Office no morning j. It tw) days
before Christmas. l determined to 60 out
that afternoon and begin the search. hadn't
gone far wien / met "Calarity" Parker.
That was what I called MIN when my speech
was without bride, for l held him in great
contempt.
lie was u tall, thin, broken down creature,
who posed as a gentleman and moved about
with Il solemn, unicalthiul Gait and dis
tribu:cd religious traits. He always seemed
to mo u fri.iitiul c.crcscence on society, al-
though he had tho discretion to say but little.
1t lrcttcd my progressive spirit to set him
crawling around tlrustin:, Ills weak lirera-
turo under moro intelligent and buster peo-
plo's eyes. "Iho day and generation arc be-
yond tracts,"I said to myself, land here Is
this t~hrcadbaro fraud keeping up this relic Of
fogyis.l." l despisel him so heartily l could
hardly speak a decent good morning as he
passed mo. I think he felt that l dis!iked
him; Lut he had cultivated tho u%nctuous af-
fectation of godlilcss and an appearance oc
patience and sweetness under sights and
taurts, and invariably returned n smile for u
frown. That very habit made lin detestablc
to me.
I began to think about hin as l went
along. IIc had only been in Doonvillc a
i couple Of years, and 1 hal never head OF his
doing anything but distribute tracts and
preach OIL tho street corners down by the
mills. l concluded that it we time lie was
abolished. Accordingly my first work on
reaching tho ci.ico was to write Il half
column editorial article q! RELIGIOUS
Frauds" in which tho r~ract:-e c. tact
distributing received Inerited ~!E,i.a.ion. I
drew u picture of the typical ie;;."; man, Of
which Parker was the model, which wasn't
calculated to mako lis pat, in Noo"viiio amy
smoother. This iMcisivc, and i may say
sable" ARTICLE, which was cclt&:::iy y tanning
sword Of righteous wrath against tho tract
fraternity, was TO ndorn tho Christmas num-
Der.
Then l started out in my search fer pow
erty in q self satisfied spirit. 1t il delightful
to do something t!lat wins ones own appro,
baton. found the row Of old bouscs all
locked and tenantlcss save ono, tho last one
and the worst one. 1t was in Il state Of
dilapiuarion SO hopeless that its owncr hadn't
even thought 1t worth while to slut it up.
The result was that IL was tcnaDtc.l without
his permission having been asked. ~ family
Of dull Lrai.icd, sallow skinned, caronically
INDECENT, half dead creatures who had been
crawling westward i'll worn out wagons
drawn by dying horses, had taken possession
of it by permission Of necessity. They had
reachcu Doonvil!o just as their horses sue
cunibed to tho memorable, and tac:o they
were, sick, freezing, starving and dying in
a state Of Gestitution uuspcalsab!c.
l saw through tho windows l:at Ito house
was inhabited, though the only figure I could
see moving about Was lno-c iAos;.:..,e than
human. On pvrtouso Of borrowing a match
l KNOCKED for aGl.1ittancc. ~ match! such !:
thing was Il far OF, u.ldrca:Mod of luxury to
the family within. There WIGS neither Ere
nor food il the house, and the Wild, the rain
and tho snow calae in at will through tlc
CLASHES windows. haven't you noticed the:
tho very clements corspiro with poverty to
mako his victims wrctcled!
A Skeleton man sick unto death lay on the
floor, lis lead Oh a bunalo CT dry leaves.
Two fanlis..ed children, i'll and feeble, were
on the scnblaMca of n i;cd i! smother corner
Of the roo.l. ~ very Old woman sat helpless
by the size CT tie SICK children: whose cmaci-
ated and miserable mother CROPPED about
fccbly trying; to give help to the others. The
only one WHO seemed to Lavo any life to
speak Of lift was 4 wan and ragged little cir!
with delicate features and big, old eyes.
l got Grc aIl food f~r them, and did oil r
could for their immediate relief. Then i
rushed TO tho Office OF Tho Trumpet and
wrote such an account Of them IS would be
sure to send The good people Of Doonvi.lo to
their door viii abundant relief. It was q
long and graphic article, and realistic to q
startling degree. We wcro ~: Illustrating
newspapers then as now, So 1 cou,d only pic
turc the sulIc. ing of tbs family il WORDS.
However, l gave the article tremendous hca!
lines and prominent place. Tho Trumpet
was listed Tie lcXt. day. which was the day
before Christmas, and it went forth on its
wo:.s OF c~rousing tho pity CT Doonvile for
1 &NN H~s1.. : 4 ~ =