The Southern herald., 1911-05-19

says swift moving food Of hustliRg
humanity. iostled uneeremoAiously
By the careless. indifferent crowds.
discouraged from stemming further
he tide Of pushing. elbowing men aRd
Eomen who hurried ny and down the
great thoroughfAre. Howard Jenries.
tired and hungry and tharoughly dis
Tusted with himself. stood still at the
sorner Of Fulton street. cursing the
luck which had brought him to his
present plight.
1t was the noon hour, the important
time Of day when nature loudly claims
her due, when business affairs. no
matter how pressing, must be tenn
porarily interrupted so that the hH-
man machine may lay in q fresh store
Of nervous energy. From under the
portals OF precipitous ofies buildings,
mammoth hives OF human Industries,
which to right and left scared dizEily
lrom street to sky. swarmed thou
Bands OF employees Of both sexes
clerks, stenograshers. shop girls, mes
Ienger boys-sll moved by a common
Impulse 10 satisfy without further de-
lay the animal cravings of their phys
leal natures They strode along with
quick. nervous step, each chatting and
laughing with his fellow, interested
for the noRoe in the days work. ma
king plans for well-earned recreation
when Ave o'clock should come and
the uptown stampede for Harlem and
home begin.
The young man sulleniy watched
the scene, enVious Of the energy and
activity Of all about him. Each one
In these hurrying throngs, he thought
bitterly to himself, was a valuable
unit in the prosperity and welfare OF
the big town. No matter how humble
bis or her position, each played .
part In the business life Of the great
city, each was an unseen. unknown.
yet indispensable cog in the whirling.
complicated mechanism Of the vast
world metropolis. lntuitively he felt
that he was not one Of them, that he
had no right even to consider himself
their equal He was utterly useless
To anybody. He was without position
or money. He was destitute even Of =
shred Of selfrespect. Hadn't he
promised Annie not to touch liquor
again before he found a jobi Yet he
had already imbibed all the whisky
which the little money left in his
pocket would buy.
Involuntarily, instinctively, he
shrank back into the shadow Of =
doorway to let the crowds pass. The
pavements were now filed to over
flowing and each moment newcomers
from the side streets came to swell
the human stream. He tried to avoid
observation, fearing that some one
might recognize him, thinking all
could read on his face that he was
. sot, sslf-confessed failure, one of
ufe's incompetents. In his painful
Belf-consciousnsss he believed himself
the cynOsurs Of every eye and he
WINGED as he thought he detected on
certain faces side glances of curiosity,
eommiseration and contempt.
Nor was he altogether mistaken.
More than one passer-by turned to
look in his direction, attracted by
his peculiar appearance. His was a
type not seen every day in the COM
nercial district-the postgraduate
college man out at elbows He was
smooth-faced and apparently about rs
years Of age. His complexion was
fair and his face refined. It would
have been handsome but for 3 droop-
ing, irresolute mouth, which denoted
more than average weakness Of char
acter. The face was thin, chalk-like
In its lack Of color and deeply scanned
with the tsll-tale lines Of dissipation.
Dark circles under his eyes and q
peculiar watery look suggested late
hours and overfondness for alcoholic
refreshment His clothes had the cut
Of expensive tailors, but they were
shabby and needed pressing. His linen
was soiled and his necktie disar-
ranged. His whole appearance was
careless and suggested that reckless
ness Of mind which comes Of general
Generalization.
Howard Jeffries knew that he was .
failure, yet like most young men
mentally weak, he insisted that he
could not be held altogether to blame.
Secretly, too. he despised these sober.
Industrious people who seemed con-
tented with the crumbs OF comfort
thrown to them. What, he wondered
idly, was their secret Of getting ont
How were they able to lead such well
regulated lives when he, starting out
with fer greater advantages, had
failsdf Oh, he knew we'll where the
trouble lay--in his damnable weak.
ness Of character, his love for drink.
That was responsible for everything.
But was 1t his fault II he were born
wsakf These people who behaved
themselves and got on, he sneered,
were calm, commonplace tempera-
rnents who found no difficulty in cen
trolling their baser instincts. They
az right simply because they found
= eaazss tbaA to % wrong. ThsiT VIZ.