Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1910-11-18
CHAPTER XIV.

Once In a lifetime for every young
ling climbing the facile or difficult slope
of the years there comes a day of real
iZation, of a sudden extension of vision,
of Rubicon-crossing from the hither
shore of joyous n irresponsible adol-
escence to that further one of con-
scious grapplings with the adult fact.
For Thomas Jefferson, grinding ten
aciously in the Boston technical school,
whittier he had gone late in the win
ter of Beersheban discomfort, the
stream-crossing fell in the spring of
the panic year 1893, what time he was
Fl, a quarterback on his college elev-
en-, fit, hardy, studious and athletic; a
pace-setter for his fellows and the
pride of the faculty, but still little more
than an o~vergrown, care-free boy In
his outlook on life. Glimpses there had
been over into the Promised Land of
manhood, but the trimming cup of COL
lege work and play quaffed in health
giving heartiness Is the elixir Of youth.
The speculative habit of the boy slept
in the college undergraduate. The days
were full, each of the things of itself,
and II Tom looked forward to the
workaday future-as he did by times
the boyish Impotence to be at it was
gone. Chiawassee Consolidated was
moderately prosperous; the home let
ters were mere chronicles of sleepy
Paradise. The skies were clear, and
the present was acutely present. Tom
studied hard and played hard; ate like
a. ogre and slept like a log. And when
he finally awoke to find himself STUN
bling bewildered on the bank of the
epoch-making Rubicon, he was over
and across before he could realize how
so narrow a stream should fill so vast
a chasm.
Tom received a letter from his faith
er telling Of the financial crisis, his
fear for the Chiawasse Consolidated
and asking his advice.
Tom found this letter in his mail
box one evening after a strenuous day
in the laboratory; and that night he
sat up with the corpse of his later
%boyhood, though he was far enough
from putting it that way. His father
was in trouble, and the letter was a
call for help. 1t seemed vastly incred-
ible. Thomas Jefferson's ideal of steady
courage, of invincible human puts
sance, was formed on the model of the
stout-hearted old soldier who had
fought under Stonewall Jackson. Wha;
a trumpet blast of alarm must have
sounded to make such a man turn to a
raw recruit for help!
tits up to me-" he unused, and rs
like to know what I've been thinking 81
all this time. Why, pappy's old! he
was 40 before I was born. And I've
been here taking 1t easy and having
all sorts of a good time, while he's
been playing Sindbad to Duxbury Far
ley's Old Man of the Sea. Coming
pappy!" he shouted; and forthwith
flung himself down at the table to
write a letter that was to put new life
into a weary old man who was fighting
! against odds in the far-away South.
land.
The lone soldier was to take hear
Of grace, remembering that he had Z
son; remembering also that the sor
was now a man grown, stout of arm
steady of head, and otherwise fighting
fit. If the storm should come, tn,
watchword must be to hold on all
keeping steerage-way on the Chiawas,
see Consolidated craft at all hazards
The June examinations were not ia.
J off, and these disposed of, the man
> son would be ready to lay hold. Mean
} while, let Caleb Gordon, in his capacit,
of principal minor st~ockholder, insis
on a full and exact statement of tn
company's affairs, and-here the new
/ manhood asserted itself boldly-let tina
statement, or a copy Of 1t, come t.
[ Boston by the first mail.
, To this letter there was a grateful
reply in which Tom read with a smil
his fathers half -bewildered attempt I
g get over to the new point Of view. I
q began, Dear Buddy" and ended, You
9 affectionate pappy," but there wa
o man-to-man matter between the salu