Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-10-05

self a shake. and fell into a dozen
pieces. He had no sooner ceased
speaking than a cigar stump thus adj
dressed me:
My unfortunate friend. cease COM
planning. i once held n more elevated
J position in the estimation OF man than
you. | was fondled and caressed with
the hands and the lips of one OF the
most prominent men-in fact / be-
lieve he was a congressman. He en-
joyed me for q few minutes, and while
l was congratulating myself over the
Importance Of my position. and the
conspicuous figure | was making in
the world. ] suddenly found myself in
this slum and filth, the most dirty and
disgusting of objects But let that
pass. DO you know, my dear stump
OF a match, that such is life with man.
kind? You have not yet seer all OF
our associates Of the gutter. Wait
but a little while. and perhaps you will
see G and maybe women our COM
panions in this filthy abode
The cigar stump ceased speaking.
n was wondering at his strange re-
marks, when, with an oath and a
splash. "A man fell into our midst and
threw me with great violence on his
back. soon became composed. how
ever, and began at once to view my
! change Of scene. l noticed that the
mans clothing was coarse, threadbare
and dirty; that his hair was long.
matted and unclean; that his trousers
were ragged and greasy. and that his
shoes were rusty and full Of holes.
The cigar stump nestled under one of
his arms; the cork shoppers wabbled
about his face; the struggling guilds of
tobacco found lodging in his hair, and
&c cheese pairing chung behind one OF
his ears.
This is strange said I to myself.
is this man, too l soliloquized a
castaway? Has he answered the pur-
pose OF some ones qualification, and
when he became OF no further use,
has he been cast off? Whose work
was this? Did the man. of his own
free choice, select this unusual bed?
Did others help him to it? Or did
some other power, far beyond my
humble ken, precipitate him TO the
level of o brute@-for hogs and men
were of all the animal creation. the
only creatures l had ever beheld, wal
Lowing in the gutter
Perhaps he too. was as much
changed from his original state as an
insignificant half. burnt match or cigar
stump. So snugly lay the huge,
hDnn+n1 h,,tlS 20 nuw t.,l~& Ala A.
passers-by at night could not well
have distinguished him from the gen
eral offensive, Shiny mass
Although my own state was de-
graded and wretched. l now took q
more cheerful view OF my fallen con-
dition- / had been made simply for
mans use. and held Il very insignit-
cant position, but here was one of the
lords of creation who had fallen far
beneath my humble degradation. He,
too, like myself, had no doubt been, at
some time or other, the instrument of
another's pleasure. profit, ambition or
revenge.
The more / looked at the man, and
the more | reflected upon his condi-
ton. the less ] lamented my own.
This man., l thought to myself. was
once the joy Of q mother's-the
pride of a fathers heart And is this
the harvest of that JOY and pride, to
find their erstwhile chubby-faced babe
besotted. bedraggled. ragged and
dirty, lying in rhe slum and filth of
the street,
After the man had lain in deep
stupor for several hours, he began to
move ~restlessly, and soon his Keeling
form moved on, and l was once more
thrown into the gutter. Since then,
i have see many other men tumbling
in upon us. Some would often stag
ger through our midst, but would OBJ
tain sufficient equilibrium to prevent
them from falling. They were of all
ages, young. m~iddle-aged and old men
men of ali stations in life; men Of
all grades OF intellect and virtue"
Thus ended the tale of the match.
/ leave it to the reader to extract the
moral. If it contains one. -Arkansaw
Traveller.