The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1895-03-22

He Was More Of Man Than He
Got Credit for Being.


1t was great cross to Mr. and Mrs.
Bartlett that Roger was apparently
quite devoid of any worthy ambition.
Their two older boys were SO utterly
different. Fred had been graduated
from Yale with the highest honors and
Horace was making remarkabl prog
ress at the scientific school; in fact,
they were both exceptionally tine stu
dents. which made the contrast all the
more striking.
For Roger was sadly unlike his broth
ers. lie seemed to labor under the i'm
preston that he had been sent to col
lege simply AMI solely for the purpose
OF learning to play football. Appar-
emily nothing else had power to kindle
the slightest enthusiasm in his slug
gish breast, and his father and moth
er argued and expostulated with him in
vain.
You are frittering away your valua-
BILE time they argued again and
again, land are letting slip golden OPP
portunities, which, once gone, never
will come back to you; and what have
you to show for it all but a broken
nose and a fractured collar bone?"
SIS there any prospective benefit to
be derived from these hours spent in
scrabbling after football?" his father
questioned, severely; to which Roger
merely responded in his usual Off-hand
style: who knows but | may be
elected captain of the varsity team
next year?''
''Is that the height of your ambi-
tion?" his parent returned bitterly. Il
am terribly disappointed in you, sir;
are you to go on playing football for
ever and ever, or what do you propose
to make of your life? Perhaps you
think that your reputation as a foot
ball player will prove an open Sc
same to all desirable positions. Do
you suppose that anyone wants a fell
low who has willfully wasted his best
opportunities? | had hoped to make a
professional man OF you, not pro-
fessional athlete, and had even as
PRED to seeing you some day in our
leading law office with my old friend
Wilkinson Smalley: bit it's no use,
Smalley wants only young men of the
highest promise" and Mr.. Bartlett
sighed YEARLY.
1T does no good to talk to Roger
he confided to his wife afterward ''for
hardly ten minutes had elapsed after
had been demonstrating with him
about the evils of football before he
inquired if wouldn't bring you down
to see the game on Saturday, and in
formed me that he had saved two
tickets for us.
Mrs. Bartlett regarded her husband
helplessly What did you say to him
them" She queried
II told him certainly not" Mr..
BARTLETT exclaimed warmly land l ex-
pressed my surprise at his daring to
suggest such Il thing Show me some
lasting benefit. or any abiding good.
that is to be derived from this ridicul-
Gus game. told him, and tIHn come
to me to abet you in sucn folly but not
till then"
And so Mr.. and Mrs. Bartlett failed
to witness that memorable gamNir
which their youngest son gained FOL
himself such cnvia BILE laurelS Once il
the field. Roger was like one trans
formed Keen. alert, cool, rising
splendidly to every emergency, no on
would have known him for the same
slow, Indifferent, easy-going specimen
of humanity who grieved the ambi
tious souls of his parents by his small
aptitude for Greek.
Not that Roger vas by any means
Ounce, for his class standing wa
fairly good, but what panied hi
father and mother was the recognition
of what he might have accomplishe
had it not been for that arch enemy
football.
The great game over, the victoriou
team FASTENED back to their gymna
sium with all possible speed they ha
some little distance to go, as the gym
nasium was not very near the bal
grounds. SO that in order to reach
they were obliged to traverse the cen
ter of the town and cross the railroa
tracks.
Roger, who had been detained me
ment or SO longer than the others
reached the station short time afte
they had crossed, and found the plat
form crowded with people who wer
returning from the game. mingle,
with those who were alighting from
incoming trains. AS he stepped upol
the platform he became conscious tina
something unusual was going on. an,
he Immediately perceived that tn
eyes of the multitude were riveted ur
on figure halfway across the tracks
atigure pansing there in bewilderment
There's a train coming each way,
somebody gasped. why doesn't h
get Off the track?"
The station agent and one or tw
other officials were shouting loudl,
but the man, who was old and yer
deaf, appeared thoroughly dazed; a
he was prepared to step upon til
track nearest him he had caught sigh
of one train coming down upon hin
and he now staggered back and wa
about to plunge in front of the othe
down-coming express when suddenl
something very unexpected hal
pened.
AS the crowd of bystanders shran
back with horror-stricken faces, col
WINGED that they were about to wi
hess the terrible fate which must i,
stantly overtake the old man, a figul
in a much-begrimed canvas Jack,
sprang out from among them, an
clearing the tracks at bound aligh
ed beside the swaying form of til
other.
A shudder and wave of pitiful r
greet swept over the motionless crow,
"lie can never drag him back in time
they breathed; 'sthey will both |
killed-oh, the pity of it!''
But our football man had no though
OF dragging the unsteady figure i
front of either approaching engin,
In an instant he had tackled the ma