The independent., 1907-02-07


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Tc shettels these fond hopes of mine
By a fierce deluge for a While
Or winter, Minnesota style.
Look where you wil--on All below
Inere rests dazzling sheet of snow
-Four inches chick and cold enough
10 MAJ d preacher say things rough.
The mercury / must perforce
f.coD tf@6n OF IN its downward course,
Anu When Il reaches five or six
J2eiow, tnGt is too cold for Blk.
., Minnesota grand old state
Of earthly things refrigerate
You CAP all other sections queer
But it is not so warm down here
AS il naight De; we have a touch
Of cola an0 I'm not saying much
When it comes to tire matter of obii-
cation, society owes nothing to the leg
allied liquor traffic Intoxicating pev-
erages have wrought evil ana uemorai-
iZation from the day man first discov-
cred there was a fermcnt under the sun
that would make a man forget his mis-
cries until the next day. There isn't
money enough in the sum total OF enor-
nous profits realized from the sale of in
toXicants to reimburse those who suffer
from this curse for a 1.-THE of the dam
age inflicted And it isn't alone those
who live in the cities and villages who
thus suffer The yonng men from the
with venerable thirst-they are nee
essary adjunct to the great procession
of victims whose combined patronage is
necessary to the growth and prosperity
Of the booze business. The liquor traffic
Is under the ban If it were not so, so
ciety would not reach out its avaricious
hands for a divy of the spoils. Under
the present law responsibility for license
or otherwise rests solely with the resi-
dents of municipalities. The proposed
county option law throws the responsible
ty on the citizenship of the entire
county, where it belongs. The states
already having such law are we'll sat
isfied with results. Ii it has given the
brewing and distilling interests a trif1e
the worst of it, think how those inter
ests have given society the short end Of
it since men first tried the experiment
give tenable excuse for voting against
the county option bil-but he can't
AS a general thing people are the re-
cipients of blessings greater than they
deserve. Count the sunny days of the
year as compared with the gloomy ones
and note how numerous they are in COM
parison. The dark days come, but they
don't last long The clouds vanish in the
evening and the stars come out, sun
shine and shadow. bitter and sweet,
laughter and tears; these constitute the
experiences of life as the swift years
come and go.
Some claim that TO be happy should
be the chief object and aim of existence.
1t is all wrong. To be useful should be
the dominating desire of every heart. To
be good IS more desirable than to be
great. and to do is better than TO nave.
The aliurements of GfdUcnCe and ease
are entirely superficial. Nothing in either
poseful endeayor Is not without its heavy
Affections, or that seem heavy while they
have to be borne. 1t is the universal ex-
perience. and seems to be necessary In
the discipline of his preparatory school
through which we must pass to gain adj
mission TO the higher and better Glle over
yonder.
The --- family was il, very moderate
circumstances when the father was taken
away The eldest of the family was
J~hn sturdy lad OF fourteen, and there
were five younser brothers and a sister,
besides mother. to be taken care OF. After
the funeral, John Eel. that he was the
mead of tho rouse, ard bravely that no.
BILE boy undertook to shoulder the grave
responsibility. They owned little nome
in southern Michigan. but John thought
they ought t. move TO lever country
where more land could ~ secured, so
the widow disposed Of the home. which
was in Ter namo, tnd moved 10 north
western Iowa and purchased small farm
i'm the Des Moincs valley. Like the cou-
rageous hoy that he was john went 10
WORK 10 gitif uD thh thiAtNhNt NAf'N lai ~
and make the home mod \ one. harly
ard late he toiled keeping the younger
ones in school until they were older than
he was when the tasks OF farm work
first ,.evoivcd or him until at the age OF
twcntv-sx he was about ready 10 give
the farm over TO his brothers and go to
work to build up a home 0f his own.
Then he was smitten with typhoid fever
and for many weeks lowered between
life ard death with bit little apparent
Oh ~ HnHllk
came out % the deadly toxic stupar his
hody befow The waist was completely
paralyzed lie sobhed like a child when
the doctors sadly Informed him that he
never could walk again; hut after the
first great narnxysm ~ grief the spirit
" the text possessed him and II there
was ever afterward anything hut sun
shine tp hls heart. his friends never
knew n Fer twenty-five years he wheeled
himself about In an lnvalld'e ehalF. with
n smile and choeFy word for everybody,
BEFORE his sickness he was physical
athlete, ore ~ the stFoF Fmst young men