The Greeley tribune., 1904-01-07
New YearSCarniiva|

The sleepy man-who by the way
has had the misfortune OF being the
writer, for some thirty years-was
drea ming pleasantly at ll:5a the
evening of December 81, 1903, about
the quiet DAYS and still more quiet
nights he used to enjoy when as a
BOY he made his home among the tall
pines of Michigan. There was no
reason, so far as he was concerne l.,
why he shouldn't have continued to
live IN the tall timber, but the lum
hermen cleared the bush about him
and he emigrated TO Colorado. There
he occasionally still dreamed of his
sylvan home. AT 80 p. m. Decem-
Der 81, 1908, his last shadowy visit to
the Wolverine state occurred. Slow
ly, while he was still in Michigan,
the next solemn and sixty seconds
were added to the dead and musty
past. and as the last one OF their
number became ancient history some
thing broke loose in Greeley, 1t
might have been pack OF wolves
from his native forest, a boiler shop
in full operation, sixteen cathedrals,
two locomotives and a bunch of COW
boys mixing it up in a free for ali,
but investiga tion the next day showed
that of all these the locomotive alone
failed to prove an alibi. Only one
sick looking cowboy was found, half
frozen in a doorway and he tainted
at the mention Of shooting irons and
fight The coyotes and ,catherdal
were still more minus. -
But to return to the quiet of the
night and the dark room where the
sleepy man lay all unmindful Of the
fact that new year was about to
sneak in on him and hand him
big -? He would have been the
last person to suspect that thing 80
young as 1904 must have been at that
time, could come into town with so
much noise. No, he wouldn't have
suspected it, even had he been wide
awake and staring, which he was not
until e had been butfeted about
among the hardware and oak furni-
tnre of the apartment for several
minutes.
1t was hard to tell which really
began first, the new year or the noise.
The first toot must have come on the
down beat, like the lead cornet in a
country band, the other musicians
falling in as they discovered the tune
that was to be played. 1t started
the sleeper on his return trip to Colo
RADIO and when the big brass horn,
that sounded strangely like the sugar
factory whistle. and then large
voiced bell broke into the symphony
he did sort Of wounded bird hutter
over the b ais end OF his downy couch
and landed somewhere up near the
top OF the coldest stove it was ever
his hard luck TO bump up against in
a long and varied somnambulistic
career. 1t was not only cold-it
was hard. and some OF the black
spots not even soap and warm water
applied lateI-could induce to leave.
He was awakened by this just enough
to remember that sailors without a
compass who have lost the sense of
direction, usually look for the north
star TO guide them. Cpon this oc-
cason the north star seemed to be
out. AT least it couldn't be located,
but the next instant corner of the
book case supplied him with a whole
constellation of fixed and movable
planets with their attendant satel-
| lites in colors. The first one that
came out was one of those big yellow
squshy ones that look like a peeled
orange and feel worse. That is, when
Que begins to wonder if he will live
through it. Then came a half dozen
bright fellows with thorns on, that
look like magnifed sandburr on an
October morning. The greens, pinks,
and vermillions were just beginning
to appear when he moved away to
keep the pyrotechnioal display from
setting fire to the lace curtains.
This move developed the fact that
he had been travelling in the right
direction for the north star, for he
landed In the Arctic waters of his
ablution pitcher, with one hand and
arm thrust in to the elbow. By this
time one foot dpyplnned a reprahon-