Omaha daily bee., 1908-09-27

NV Thus spoke a member to one of the board of gov
ernors one evening, when the general prosperity of
the order of Ak-sarBen was under discussion, and
the great crowd of prominent citizens that filed the arena gave am
pe evidence II n popularity oil the king and his active chamberlain.
And the member of the board of governors looked thoughtful and
said:>
mo; we do not need a new Den"
One morning in the early spring Gus and myself sat together in
nc Dig arena. 1t was as empty as it ever gets. He was sitting on
a Dox, Whhe l occupied an upturned empty key, and we were plan
ming for the summer campaign. A few marks o N the floor. some
notes on a scrap of paper and a general. hazy vision of what was to
come nned our minds and the talk was pleasantly reminiscent and
equally pleasantly anticipated. The fun of the proposition was be-
ginning to creep in on u s as we planned and thought of how the plans
would work out. Various stunts" as Gus calls the maneuvers,
were discussed and discarded and order was coming out of a gener-
ally nebulous state of mind. Then Gus was called to the phone, and
o a rev moments 1 was left alone. Cigar and surroundings were
conducive to reflection and the reverie into which my thoughts wan
dered seemed as natural as the act of breathing. The cool depths
of the great building were lighted by vagrant rays from the sprine
sum- sitting in through the dustcovered skylights; soft airs stirred
now and again through the vast recesses. the rafters ami great truss
beams were bare. save for here and there a huttering shred Of last
years decoration. 1t was like a seat in a cathedral, whose mystic
stiffness has inspired great poems. Presently my thoughts began to
take on other shapes and a procession of events fitted through M
mind. 1t was an irresistible tide of reconecions and the emptiness
Of the Den vanished and l saw it people with great throngs.
My first visit to the Coliseum was when sent there to get a "storv"
about the bicycle race in progress between Jack Prince and Soldier"
Ned Reading. I found the huge building full. while twentieth
street in front was blocked as it had never been before or since.
Each Of that multitude was waiting for news from within and each
announcement of the progress of the riders was greeted with cheers
Omaha was bicycle-mad at the time and the racing man was king
How many can now name over the lst-Ashinger, Eek, Reading.
Prince. Morgan, MARTHA ventable host OF lustv voung men ub"
made the riding of the high" wheel a business and earned an un-
certain livelihood by grinding through souLtrying days and nights of
unceasing effort to cover more miles n three dovs or LII e. %
some other number. than had eve been covered before in the same
time. What acclaim would welcome them, or any one of them,
now? And at that time he was indeed a prince among his fellows
who strobe the wheel and pushed along his weary way, keeping in
with the bunch, no matter how desperate his chances or sore his
need. And with these were the ladies" of the game. Cannot
some of you recall the cheers that echoed in the tingling III OF
Lille Williams, when she finished ahead of Louise Armaindo and won
lei right to a place among the professionally" Lille laid down her
printers stick and rule in The Bee ONCE and went forth TO conquer,
and conquered Then came Beauty" Baldwin and others. who
created some slight havoc among the more imnressionahIo -, W. W.
a brief period OF conquest. But the flame was suffering low in the
lamp OF the indoor racing craze and the safety" was driving the or
binary out of the field. And. must it be said?-the sporting nubIic
was beginning to question the probity of the proceedings at the
Coliseum and some even had the enrontery to remark that the races
were not exactly contested on the track. So a change can over tba
spirit of the dream