Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-26

variance with the incessant eloquence that seethed
from them during the early part of the trip. A GER
tain stony grimness settles upon them the wagon
creaks through the less inviting country, and the
ZealOtS fire has strangely faded from their eyes.
Like voyagers on long sea cruise: they seem. too,
to develop a. certain WEAKNESS for each others
society," and they begin to view each other bit
slantwise and boredly out of the of the eve
Two or three of them, away forward in the Wagon,
who still break into occasional talkatveness in the
old highresolved strain, get so little encouragement
that they Sulk. The others, in fact, yawn when
these upfrort get going, and few of those IN
the rear of the Wagon are heard to growl. under
their breath. law, cut it out!' or Tell it to
Sweeney" and Taking them all in all, the
Wagons passengers at this stage, to be some
what listless not to say bored The reaction from
good many days of high resolving has set in. and
the seeds of Settled Gloom appear to have been
sown, somehow and somewhere.
The Allurements of Wickedness
THE Water Wagon begins to find the going rather
rough
When as occasionally happens. the Water Wagon
creaks bv illuminated place of call,-wndow
lights harng echoes of lively song bursting through
the doors,-the passengers look wistful. and the
nimbus of recollection seems to enwrap them: How
ever. they strive to gaze straight ahead; but the
alurement of the roadhouses lights and the snatches
of music that sound above the rumbing OF the
Wagons wheels pull their heads sdewise, willy nilly
and they take quick. furtlve gances at the mellow
cleaning windows: whereupon. catching each other
it. they gaze straight ahead again and once more
resume their stony grnness
still more brackish the dersive groups of unregen
crates who gather round the Wagon and extend
their TASKS of Liquid Gehenna not reproached
by the passengers for their wicked weakness as be-
fore. The passengers merely take out their resent
ment in glazing down at the unreClaimed ones; but
they no longer attempt to point out the Way. Some
of them, in fact. regard the rendered TASKS with
of retrospective curiosity and of them even
absent mindedlv reaches hand if to accept
the proffer of the Bottled Ruin. But he quickly
pulls the hand back when he catches his Wagon
mates studying hum QuiZzlcaly.
The First Backs1ider
OOK sharp. Wagon! The road grows rutty!
II Although the journeys end is Yet long way
off the passengers begin to complain querulously Of
the dulness of the ride. It's duler'n ditch water!
they mutter There's variety in it. A few OF the
passengers even peevishly wonder why they started
out On such a fool cruise. There hadn't actually
been any necessity for it, they say. They hadn't
been SO bad They'd hit the Old Stuff up little
Bit of but plenty of other fellers had done
the same and they hadn't gone hiking off on any
bughouse Water Wagon expedition, either. They'd
been the victims they continue peevlshly, OF sort
of emotional self reforming idea. where nothing Of
the sort had been called for. They'd only imagined
that they'd reached the stage where they had cut
what little fun drifted their way. They'd been
too blamed conscientious about the thing, that's
what they had There is such a thing being
Confined poee IS