Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1902-01-30
THE ICONOCLAST
BY Barry Pain.

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If he couldn't stop" said the small boy
when the Rev. James Dilwater had
left. And it's always the same kind
Of thing-a long story TO show what
little boy can do. And he doesn't know
the difference between boy and ba-
by. He doesn't know the difference be-
tween Soccer and Rugger. He doesn't
know single blessed thing, except
Greek and rot of that kind. He said
1t was a fine thing to have a good
game in the open air with ball or a
hoop or a skipping rope. Fact, he did.
It won't do, you know. What's he take
me forT
What else did he sayY inquired the
interviewer.
"Oh, the log cabin to White House
kind of thing. He's hot on heroes. If
you ask me, think heroes are n good
deal too much cracked up. If l got the
chance to be hero tomorrow, /
wouldn't. l know chaps that would
but not me-
why not?'
"Well, take instances. Know any
Roman history? No? Lucky beggar!
Wish / didn't have to know any my
self. In Roman history there was
hero called Curtius-jumped down n
hole and did for himself There was
another called Decius that went and
got himself killed by the enemy. That
would be all right If you could come to
life again, but you can't And when
you're dead it doesn't seem to me to
matter much whether people are cheer
ing you and praising you and crack
ing you up or whether they're not.
Besides, you can't go on with any
thing else When you're dead, you
stop so. When | do anything good,
l want something good for it and no
rotten heroism. And l believe every
man of sense thinks the same. Some
time ago l swallowed a threepenny bit
because q boy said ] daren't. You see,
/ was a good deal more of n kid than
am now. 1t was rather silly of me, and
1t was silly of the other boy, too, be-
cause it was his threepence. And IL
wasn't properly his threepence, because
It had been given him for the offertory.
The offertory had TO do without 1t.
However, as | was saying, swallowed
It. That got me bit looked up to by
other chaps. If you aren't afraid Of
swallowing a threepenny bit, then fel-
lows are careful how they get trying
larks with you. One of the big chaps
came up to me and asked If l did 1t,
and when | said Yes he said, Silly
young devil" He's spoken to me again
since then, and he's chap who practi-
cally never speaks to kids"
The interviewer suggested that he
roes did not always die in the act
"NO; suppose they don't. | believe
It would be better If they did They
can't keep it up to that level. They
can't do the heroic every dav. They've
got to get into rows and 60 short of
money, just like anybody else, then
they're disappointed. You don't hear
much about that in the books or from
the Rev. James Dilwater, but you can
see for yourself that's how 1t would be.
Herolsm's like lot of other things. If
you've not got 1t, you don't want 1t. If
you've ever had it, you can't do without
1t. It's so with smoking. There was a
time when I'd never tried it and didn't |
care to try IT."
The interviewer felt it his duty to ex-
press a pious hope that that time still |
existed
Look here! I've had half an hour of
Mr.. Dilwater. Don't you begin too. |
It's just occasionally when l feel the
need Of 1t. | don't brag about 1t as
some boys do, boys that have never |
smoked the whole of cigarette all at
one time But we weren't talking about |
that"
NO. with regard to heroiSm"-
Yes, there's another thing. If boys |
get to be awfully good at anything and |
are tremendously praised for it, they |
generally get SO cOcky there's no do |
ing anything with them. 1t must be
the same with heroes, though the books
take Jolly good care to keep that dark.
Nice sort of man Horatius must have |
been after he'd kept the bridge in the
brave days of old. OF course he put |
on some. He couldn't help it. Nobody |
could. If the truth were known, L be- |
lieve there's lots Of people owe their |
ruin TO an act of herolsm. You'd new
er guess that from the way Mr.. Dill |
water talks, but | keep my eyes open |
and think out things for myself"
Surely" said the interviewer, "this |
IS principally hypothesis. AS matter |
of fact
whats hypothesis? And there's
another thing. l shouldn't like my |
pure minded and noble example to be !
rammed down the throats of a lot OF !
other boys that had never done any
thing TO me. When Il thing gets rub
bed into you too much, you hate it.
That's how 1t is with NE and heroism.
What with the books MY aunts give me
on my birthday and at Christmas and !
what with Mr.. Dilwater's interesting
illustrations of what little boy can
do Eve had too much heroism. You
won't catch me standing on any burn
ing deck when all but me had fed.
Don't expect IT, I've got too much re-
gard for other boys. They don't want
to have me slung into poetry for them
to be made to learn by heart. No fear!
They don't want to have me preached
ut them either. Well, goOdby.'-B Black
and White.
The Perfect BOY.
Il never heard Of but one perfect
boy" said Johnnie pensively as he sat
I'm the corner doing penanCe.
"And who was that?" asked mamma.
Papa when he was little" was the
answer
And silence relgned for the space Of
five minutes.
How to Clean Gold Lace.
To clean gold lace pound some rock
ammonia finely and apply with a fan
mel To the lace rnhhing hriSklY After