Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1893-11-23
The GLOOMY SIDE,
SOME POINTS on TIE WOMEN wso
ooTE ON THE oREwsoME.

N, N'! was rlUlnS IN 4 street
car, There were II women and 8 mo,
IN the same quarters. We logged alonr
our way Us people do out of whose life
all interest had been taken bv n hot dav
as rude nurse snatches plavthinrs from
helpless children. Whether school kent
or not was matter of not the slightest
moment to any of us. Indeed hal rea.
son to hope that should never arain h,
confronted with bulletins rs TO the riso
and fall of that mythical educational
bureau whence we all draw more or less
OF knowledge fraught with bitter expA-
renee Its pupils are so stupid and its
mead preceptor so unreleuting that have
long been a-weary of its curriculum.
opposite in the car sat young woman
whom often meet and shall continue to
meet. suppose, until the sexton shoyels
a few feet of dust between our faces. II
she We're man, she would be in the ct-
tltude OF one who is spelling for n
hight" What is mere combativeness
IN men takes the form of insolence in
women and is harder to bear. This
Young person eyes my clothes. She
gloats over my shabbiness. She knows
exactly how many times day nv Door
old gown is groomed. She is coynizant
OF the fact that my off shoe has sprunr
leak ana as she tosSes her head and
smiles the smile that, passed from wom-
an to woman, means more than blow
seem to hear her say: "Ha, cumberer.
are you here YETI Last time met Won
thought | stared you down, but such
rubbish seems hard to kill! A trife
more ridicule, though, slightly veiled,
like poison in capsule, will Law vou
low, and ! shall have the pleasure Of
turning my battery upon somo other
God forsaken crank who appears to have
more brains than style!"
We were tumbling along in the old
street car, q tired and dirty lot of us,
bound for tho depot. AS we passed a
certain undertaker's shop on the way we
noticed that big crowd had collected
at Its doors-a hushed crowd. with whito
faces and bated breath. ~ police patrol
was drawn up to the curbstone and four
brawny officers wero lifting something
ont of the wagon anl carrying it within
the undertaker's open gate. The some
thing that lay beneath the old tarpaulia
was very still and outlined itself sharply
beneath the sable folds of the pail that
covered it. turned away from the
sight. for there is that within me that
revolts from such sights as the butterfly
does from the thistle or the swift run
ming boat from Il capful cf head wind.
| knew well enough what the some
thing" was. Ten minutes before rer-
haps it had been man. swinging like a
sailor on the uplifted ladder where the
painter pursues his craft. or careless
vagabOnd knocked down by passing
vehicle and straightway ushered into .lo
audience chamber of the great and only
King. or merry hearted boy spurned by
flying wheel. or n tired old woman
lifted high as heaven" by the tender
arms of death. knew very well that
the awful something was once breath
ing. laundering mortal like myself and
that sudden calamity had transferred
it into clay, how or in what terrible
manner | did not care to see. But ev-
cry woman in the car in which | rode
jumped from her seat to watch the
grewsome thing turned away from.
"Oh, ! wish the cover would fall off SO
that we could sect" cried one.
Lift Willie up SO that he can lookr'
exclaimed careful C) mother. making
room as she spoke for the nursegirl to
place the little boy in better position.
No sooner did all these women gain a
vantage point from where they could
best behold the dreadful burden which
the policemen bore without either ten.
derness or care into the waiting station
of the morgue than they began to trem.
BILE and to cry.
"Oh. dear. how dreadful" moaned
they in unison. while their fascinated
gaze was unaverted and their necks
were craned to see it all.
And then because am a philosopher
in my own poor fashion and can no more
help philosophizing than spider can
help spinning webs | said to myself
That is the way with all Of us! We seek
out our own discomforts and we cul
tivate them with our own tears. We
gloat over the very things that bring IL,
pain and take front seat to witness Oul
own tragedies. Given. the most of us. {
chance to spend an afternoon among tho
tombs or to 80 fishing for goldfish out
of crystal pond. and we will trot along
with the mourners every time. We ar,
always in the attitude (nlost of us) o
the Peterliin familyat the seaside. They
were continually looking OF shore fol
whales, and they saw whales and moth
ing but whales from seasons start e
seasons close! What we look for W,
find. what we SOW we reap. what w
dread we draw and what we expec
comes to us.
Take two girls and send them on
through the divine beauty Of these jun
woods with basket apiece. They ar,
after violets. we will say. although tn
purple drapery Of the dim spirit fowc
has been almost withdrawn from I'll,
woods already, like a curtain upliftet
by an eager hand. One of the girls 1
afraid of snakes and declares the sigh
of one would hill her on the spot How
she looks tor them! How eagerly sh
watches every tremor Of the under
brush! How she starts at floating tim
othy and shrieks when clover jostle
in the wind! And she sees snakes
plenty Of 'eml She goes home with al
empty basket and has to take n pow
der TO quiet her nerves The othc
girl keeps her mind on violets and nevc
sees a serpents trail. She goes bom
with basketful Of flowers aud dream
that she is setting sail for paradise in
purple boat with the tender green o