River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1904-01-14
After all, the hardest blow was the

AFTER all, the narQeSL dow was Llt
way the sons and daughters took it,
two sons and two daughters, not count
ing Archie (Archie never counted any
way, because of his inhrmity). All OF
the four were married and very well to
do, owing largely to the wise and liberal
provisions made by their father. AS
soon as the full meaning of the blow be-
came evident and they realized that the
catastrophe would involve every dollar
of their fathers estate and leave him
bankrupt, the affection of these four
sons and daughters and their consorts,
for their father and their interest In his
affairs as WELL cooled so perceptibly as
to make the white-haired unfortunate
vince, as even the aloofness OF some OF
the men, ION the street" whom he had
befriended. had not.
But when they approached him and
explained individually why they could
not, owing to various domestic reasons,
throw open their homes Or any OF them
to himself and their mother, and while
each and every one was most terribly
hard up for various reasons, yet they
would all deny themselves and con-
tribute enough to make up apittance
for the economical support of ina and
you," the old lion in him arose and he
drove them from his presence with all
the force and dignity of his best days.
eve can go to the poor house, Helen, =
he had said to his wife after it was over,
'but we cannot eat the bread OF be-
grudged charity from our own chill
dren."
1--WE were too lenient with them,
Homer" she said, simply. 1T is our
own fault"
This attitude of his children whom
he had denied nothing played on him
the most strongly. The idea that his
own flesh and blood could take such a
character seemed to take away his last
spark of courage.
There finally came dreadful night
after they had moved into three cheap
rooms over a store, and the bankruptcy
affair had been finally settled, that
Homer Warfeld came in and, bowling
his head in his hands, burst into tears.
"Helen, Helen" he said, II don't
know what to do. l have tried every
thing I can think of. I have Inundated
myself before men have always sum-
moned as lackeys, but cannot get even
minor position of any sort. l thought
surely | could get some sort of a clerk
ship at salary of 500 or $3.50 month,
with all my connections-but get moth
ing but a cold shoulder. And-and, l
haven't $40 in my pocket. | wouldn't
care, but for you and Archie-you, to
whom I owe everything, and Archie,
whom l robbed because, like fool, l
thought always would be able to care
for him. His well and sound brothers
and sisters were given to lavishly and
this poor cripple, without means'to care
for himself, is to be thrown into the
street to beg" and again the man burst
into tears
Helen comforted him and soothed as
only loving women can.
ooh, I can do something" the man
said, bitterly. 81 guess they would let
me run an elevator or drive a street cal"
Then suddenly-"where is Archie? /
haven't seen him for week or two ex-
cept at breakfast"
II don't know" replied the mother,
sadly. ''He used to tell me everything,
and to be always playing his violin.
For some weeks he has been avoiding
me. l don't know" and for the first
time in his life the husband saw tears
in the eyes of his wife, In his eyes
burned the light of insanity.
At this moment the door flew open and
Archie burst into the room-Archie, the
hunchback, the cripple, the misshapen.
He carried his violin case and his sunken
cheeks were flushed unnaturally.
Mother father" he cried, staggering
across the floor and dropping on his
knees with both hands on their clasped
ones. Listen. Oh, the great luck I've
had. I've been bursting to tell you for
over week, but I wanted to be sure
first. You've always been so good and
kind to me and spent so much on my
music and everything that I thought I
would try and see if it was really worth
anything now that you need help your
selves so much. And I went to Prof
Alrado and some others, and what do
you think? I have been engaged at the
Lyceum theater to play in the orchestra
for $25 week to start on and maybe
more later. oh, it's true. That's why I
didn't tell you before. wanted to SHOW
you. began a week ago and here is my
first weeks wages" and the excited boy
threw down five crisp five-dollar bills
Then in sheer. Mysteries the boy began
TO cry and the tears of the mother and
father joined his.
Then did they realize that what they
had considered their greatestfailure was
their greatest success, and that they had
given the world something worth while