Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-22

vorite of fortune, can get a cream
bed and ife-sustaining food and thus save
his self-respect by escaping commingling
with buns and ouscasts in the rookeries oil
the slums.
In such a place the human documents are
as plentiful as the guests. These docu-
ments range through all the passions from
comedy to tragedy. Only two are seldom
seen there. They are hope and ambition.
But. of them all, tragedy reigns supreme.
1t is not the stirring tragedy of romance
that makes event after event follow in
quick succession, to lead to a death we'll
worth the dying. 1t is the tragedy oil
blasted hopes and sacred ambition; 1t Is
the most pitiful of all tragedies, for there
nothing ever happens. 1t is the great
waiting place for the end.
All day long these men sit around and
play checkers and dominOes. The lounging
rooms are crowded with tables, and, from
morning till night, the tables are crowded
with the derelicts, all intent on one thing
killing time-forgetting.
Men who have been there for months
have played their favorite game every day
and night in all that time. With most of
them, it is all they have to do; with many,
it has become their one salvation to keep
them from thinking too much until some
thing happens in their lives.
For that is all these men are doing
waiting for something to happen. The
curse of drink is seen on every side, The
curse of gambling stalks the halls and
corridors but, worse than all, the curse of
lost ambition has laid its heavy hand on
nearly every man and crushed every hope
and dream he may have had.
Men who planned to govern men now
fight their only battles on a checker board.
NAoa uhn nnno dronnnnI nf uvaolth and
power and the right to command now click
their dominoes on the table and talk for
days of how they won a hard played game.
And, crowded all about them, two and
three deep, are other men, sitting or stand
ing, but all intent on the one interest that
life now holds for them-the nightly games
in those bare, dreary rooms.
Two men took chairs in the corner of the
western court. One did not belong in the
hotel, that was evident. His step was
buoyant, his eyes bright and hopeful. The
older man might have looked that way six
months before, but now he was a guest of
the House OF the Gray Lives, and hope was
gone from his eyes and his step was heavy.
81 don't know how you found me- he
said, but / want you to promise me one
thing. You must not tell any one where
am. 1t is not that I mind the disgrace
But there is no disgrace" interrupted
his companion. That's Just what | came
to tell you. The whole thing was a mistake
from beginning to end, and you can go
back now a hero instead of the criminal
you let people believe you were"
The older man shook his head.
81 don't understand it, he said. Maybe
it's all right, but SO long as people have
given me the blame there is no use now
confessing it was you. You know IL would
kill mother II she knew it. You were al
ways her favorite. That was why l hushed
up the investigation and took the blame
myself"
Put, can't you understand" protested
the younger man. II tell you, nobody Is
to blame. 1t was all a mistake, and il
you had let the investigation go on you
would have found it out. Why didn't you
cable me?"
Il thought you had gone away to escape
the disgrace"
And so you took the blame yourself?
1t was mighty good of you, Billy. But it's
all right, and you must go with he to your
wife and we'll tell her So"
The older man did not move. He was
leaning back in his chair, looking up al
the walls.
NO" he said, at last, 81 can't 90 to.
night. I've got to play a game Of checkers
with one OF the men here.
You needn't look surprised. l tell you
this thing has got into my bones and
don't know whether ! want to go back hom,
or not. Give me time to think it over. Oh
it's good news, of course, butt dom
knOw-it would mean a lot of explainin,
and questioning, and then l should have L
get into business again, and / don't know
hat l want to do that. I'm comfortable
MadiCaI Theory in India