The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-10-14
"HOOT MON"

Inc circumstance surrounding IHe
death of Billy" Dowell make people
yet there are reasons why the subject
should be discussed. The career Of
this man, if rightly considered, not only
points a useful moral but adorns a ro-
mantle tale. Dowen was a man of
most remarkable intellectual attain
ments. He had learned and thrown
away two highly technical occupations
before he took up newspaper work and
entering that late in life, as lateness
tanned Immediately first rank as re-
porter. In his youth he displayed such
an aptness for music that he was sent
to the celebrated conservatory in Gin
cinnati, where he was graduated with
honors and was looked upon as one who
might make great mark as a must
clan. He did not keep up his practice
/ and gradually permitted his skill to be-
come more memory than fact, but
no one who ever heard him touch the
instrument but what was attracted by
the fact that he appeared to interpret
music rather than hammer it. He had
fcient. His love Of music was genuine
and his taste was SO good that he in
later years, when he knew that his skill
had departed largely thru lack of at
tention, refused to touch the instru-
ment at all. rr.
Dowell's second calling was that of
stenographer. In that he attained high
rank also. He was able to do this be-
cause he was well informed generally
and when he reported speech his notes
were an Ineligible reproduction rather
than bungled collection Of notes rep
l %oS, ool1 Soo1
but lacking the sense Of the perform.
Offices Of the Milwaukee road and
learned the railroad business SO well
that much Of the correspondence Of the
office was not dictated to him. The
heads of the letter were given and he
produced the necessary instructions
. from his own knowledge of the subject
He stood we'll with the office and ]
have often heard him say that at one
time nothing but whisky stood between
him and division SUPPLEMENTARY
From association with newspaper mer
Dowell naturally gravitated to the
newspaper business, and in it he founc
his real vocation When he was himsel1
he was quick to think, relentless il
pursuit Of news and never sighted al
assignment: On dull days he was thu
resource Of the office. He wrote read
skill in shorthand stood him often il
good stead. Once startlingly so: A
the execution Of Harry Hayward tn
. reporters were taken aback when tn
condemned assembled the scaffold an
, harangued the spectators. None o
t them grasped the situation as Dowe]
. did. He drew sheet of copy pape
. from his pocket, spread it on the bac!
Of the man in front of him and too!
Hayward verbatim. =. His report Of tina
'slast speech was as good beat as
n there had not been another reporter o
: the ground. Goodness and courage III
= der all professional difficulties charae
u terized him. And he had way Q
= approaching people which was inimits
BILE. He never wrote anything acrid c
o personal, tho he had strong persona
n likes and dislikes. He was essential
n a g booster" rather than "knocker.
In considering the career of DOVE
DR.. Shutter struck the right note whe
e he said neither the victories nor defeat
= Of this life are the measures Of success
n but the struggle Dowen certainly ha
3 a struggle with himself. Many time
g defeated, sometimes completely sui
merged, he came up again smiling an
hopeful. In his last two years he ha
d made distinct advances toward VIII:
might be termed good citizenship. Il
>: had begun to wear out his failings. Z
1t had acquired for the first time a sens
: Of location. =. He had begun to Apr
ciate the value Of money, to deny hir
+ self, to save and look forward to tin
when, as he pathetically phrased it,
u might be known as Zone of our sol
= citizens.'
Who shall judge him9 With the so
Of poet and an appreciation and u
derstanding of literature possessed /
few even among those who make i
study a profession, he linked the mo-
common failings Of our humanity.
Burns walking among men who WEI
scarcely tempted by the things whic
:. threw him completely off his baIanc
80 the lines Of the Scotch bard,
What's done we partly may compute
But know what's resisted,
,e might be applied in his case.
The moral Of Dowell s life, of cours
must be that intellectual brillianc
- gifts Of service and generosity Of n
~ ture are but portion of life. TT
ship must have a rudder as well as {
engine. 1t must have course as we
" as a cargo, in order that there may
a successful voyage. -.
$
it The familiar query-if you have CHI
dren between 8 and IL in the house y,
have been against it-"Why did n
OF Moses take bees into the ark7' su
gests a very clever psychological pro
1nr,3 -