Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1894-06-15
THE DISINHERITED.

THE DISINHER TIED
FooTSoRE THEY STUMBLE ALONG
TOWARD THE GREAT FATHER.
There Are Some Persons Who Do Not Yet
Understand the con to Washington
Movement Terrible Despair Still IN
/! der Control The Chicago Contingent.
Especial Correspondence
The commonweal movement, if it is
insignificant, - bound to be fizzle, /"
as said, still occupies considerable space
in every daily newspaper, with news
from different parts of the country where
various divisions are progressing re-
minding one of the war news SO eagerly
read 30 years ago-and editorials as to
the why's and wherefores of the ques-
tion. Still it is scarcely safe subject
to write about in anything but a daily.
Before this reaches your readers some
unlocked for and important event may
have transpired which will put a new
phase on the matter, or the legions, dis
couraged and disheartened with suffer-
ing, may be scattering, sinking away
from a prominent, collective, purpose
full misery to an obscure, isolated, de-
spairing one. But at this writing the
various contingencies are very active
and hopeful and more patient and en-
during than any moving body of men
since the days Of the crusades. Thought
Of those old, simple hearted devotees
starting on their vague mission, SO i'll
equipped, SO ignorant of the distance
and the dangers before them, when we
watched Randall's band of men silently
walking out of the city. Nothing more
impressive than that still, sad march
ever occurred here. Uniformed knights,
princesses with appropriately magni6-
cent foliowings, conquering heroes and
Worlds fair ceremonials have filled the
city with noise, motion and color, but
all these quickly pass from ones men,
DRY. That strange procession Of joyless
men-men with rugged faces and pa
thetic eyes, their very worn clothing
and broken shoes taking on sad dig
nifty, marching with sort Of hopeless
determination to meet they knew not
what, to a goal they can scarcely define,
without a tap of drum Or ringing note
of music to mark their steps. not
cheer or shout, only a quiet salute when
they passed the women who had be-
friended them-was a sight never to be
forgotten. Its memory will 60 with
few Of the spectators to deepen their
sympathies and devotion while they
live.
And elsewhere the deep determine
ton, the quiet endurance of every hard
fate which characterize these men are
making deep impression on the hearts
of the people. Instances of quiet heroism
already are numerous That third days
march of Randall 8 men-think of it, you
who hurry home to warm fire and dry
clothing, if caught in light shower
all day the steady tramp continued un-
der pouring rain, over heavy roads,
until every poor rag was drenched
through and through; then night on a
bleak hill sheltered by few stunted
oaks, with no supper, no fire, not dry
thread Of clothing or bedding, only a
resting place under the dark, weeping
skies, on the sodden earth! Men who
can uncomplainingly go on their way
after such an experience are either en-
dowed with dauntless courage and
purpose, or they know there is nothing
better to return to, and in either case
there il no answer that can be given
them.
Men laboriously moving along on
poorly constructed, open flatboats, men
marching sore footed through tedious
highways, men arrested for stealing the
use of q train, men thrown into Jail
for walking into town, leaders i'm
prisoned for stepping on grass and for
wearing a badge, peace soldiers forced
to camp in malarious marshes, armies
springing up everywhere and starting
empty handed toward one central point,
depending on misinformed, often pref
udiced, people for food to keep life
within them-this is the monotonous
situation as write. And no one knows
what a day may bring forth.
w uO OI WudG Was IL S0C tu1S CT0l1l0u-
dous ball rolling? The time was ripe
for it, or it would not have shaken the
poised rocks as it has. Was it not Joseph
r. Buchanan who first raised the cry of
ION to Washingtonp' cry that was
taken up here, there and everywhere
until the continent rang with the echoes!
While brave Coxey was the prime NOV
er, it was this cry that thrilled the
pulses of hopeless men from ocean to
ocean and set them all marching in q
crusade this modern world never expect
ed to see? After this it was too late to
call them back, to denounce the move.
ment as vain and impractical, to check
them with epithets and misrepresenta.
TONS .. u ~
The time had come when some move.
ment was necessary. Under the strong
tension in which people were waiting,
with struggles, strikes, idleness and
starvation on every hand, it was evident
that something must happen. Happily
that something was this, or it might