The sun., 1909-01-31
THAT RUNNING WATER.
Nr. Flatdwelier Pits His VIII Pow er
Against a Nuisance Overhead.

This that I'm telling you, said Mr.
Flatdweller. lis a story of running water
1t ia not Of bubbling brooks running
through sunny fields and shady forests
no. suspect that all those must be frozer
up pretty solid now. No. it is not about
bubbling brooks it is about the water
running in the fiat overhead
Il think they must have a leaky faucet
up there-packing worn out maybe
or else there valve loose in pipe some
where. so that they can't stop the flow.
. II sounds as water does when you are
running it 10 fill a bathtub. muffled some
what by the intervening walls and floor;
and it has been coming to us like that
now with "A dull, steady. persistent roar
for hours.
For the first hour it didn't worry me
much, M then it began to get on my
nerves. Why did they let it run that
way? Why didn't they stop it? Was it
going to overflow and run down through
our ceiling? Why were they Indifferent
about it? Wasn't il disturbing to them ?
Didn't il worry them any to hear it run
ming so? II they couldn' Z fix II. why didn't
they, call the janitor? What was the
trouble anyway?
$50 the continued dull roar came to
be irksome to me and then almost dis
tressing; il began TO wear on me. You
know how things do when they are kept
up steadily, | couldn't read. ! couldn't
smoke. ! could only sit and listen TO that
low, steady, rumbling roar. Then i
thought of something.
Il started in this year with a firm re-
solve not to let anything worry me-not
anything. | would not only steel myself
TO bear with equanimity the slings and
arrows Of outrageous fortune but would
decline to be ruffled by little things.
would stand of and smile at the gnats and
mosquitoes Of life as we'll as the afore-
permit myself to be disturbed by so plea
yune. a thing as the perpetual sound OF
running water2
Ger tainly mott said to myself, just
like that. slow and deliberate and with
an emphasis on the not, and I lighted my
pipe again and took up my book and re-
sumed my smoke and my reading. reso-
lutely tranquil. with ears closed to all such
trivial things as the sound Of running
water.
And do you know I got away with tA
Yes, sir. You can do a heap OF things
IL you put your mind to II. and l did
this his did forgot the soShd' pS shut lI i out
did butt in; but got the shield up promptly
and finally closed il out entirely.
Then pretty soon there came a
deep silence; a deep and blessed silence
That water had stopped running Now
realized that, conqueror as / had
been, | must have been subconsciously
knowing Of it's running all the time, and.
as it was, its stopping was
a great relief.
1And do you know it seemed also to be
a sort of tribute to me? To the power Of
my will. Really it did. Really, by stop
ping. the water seemed to say TO me: We
can't resist you, old boy. you have surely
done nobly: we won't subject you longer
to the test. And do you know that that
fancy pleased me? That IL pleased me
greatly to think that had shut out the
sound and forgotten IL? That / had con-
quered? That ! had
But there goes the cataract again!
the running water rumbling down the
pike again and roaring now louder than
ever; and now I've got to close my ears,
exercise my will: and can do il all right
/ can shut II out; I'm not going TO let any
thing worry me. not blessed thing.
oan do IL. but
Il don't suppose it would be wise for me
to put too great a strain on my high
resolves 30 early In the year, before I've
got all my armor on and all riveted up:
and 20 II that water doesn't stop running
some time in the course of the night !
think I'll have TO 20 down and see the
ianitor about 1t in the morning.