Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1911-06-01

try; that he wanted above all other
things in life to enter the school OF
mines at the university.
He waited five days. The answer
came. The same night there were a
vacant room and a vacant bed in the
dormitory. Next morning came d
search. Under a table was found q
crumpled note that the tears of the
lad had blurred as he read. The letter
was taken to the president of the col.
lege. When this gray haired gentle.
man adjusted his spectacles he pressed
the paper fiat on his desk and read:
"If you do not continue your course
in theology l will cease to pay your
bills at college. Should you discon.
tlnue them you must return home,
where l will secure you u position us
bookkeeper at your uncle's store"
Signed to this eloquent, brief epistlc
was the name of the young mans ia
Their.
Several years have passed since that
crumpled letter was picked up from
the floor of the college students room.
Several years have passed since. an
aged couple, soon to exc out their
need of existence in a small country
town, have heard news from the son
who would not become a minister.
Several years have passed since a
young college student appeared PENN.
less and discouraged in a middle west
ern city and vainly walked the streets
for days. subsisting as best he might,
in search of any kind Of work that
strong hands and arms could perform.
So there should be tempered judg-
ment shown, say 1, in dwelling on
the present fate of Jimmy Valentine
when it is considered that he was the
ambitious lad who left the crumpled
note lying on the floor in his bedroom
and set out to fight the world single
handed.
That Jimmy should have lost in his
first grapple with life should afford
no reasonable person ground for re,
proach. Those of US who have not
lost as yet quite humanity perhaps in
cline toward comparisons which favor
our w acknowledged virtues, but
at the same time the environment of
our fellow beings at critical periods in
their lives should always be remem.
bered when the final estimate is made.
1t is human to have human emotions.
1t is human to have inhuman ideas
| anp1n,sI,inc n o,,n ne N,,p f,1lor, $500, ~
various times; but, after all, why not
adopt the optimistic philosophy of Jim.
my Valentine himself? For was it
not he who at the time "Frisco Eddie
bungled the "inside job" of a safe
looting expedition in Omaha sought tc
soothe the latter's feelings by saying
sympathetically:
"Nobody is a failure until he admits
it himself. You will never admit
you're a failure, Eddie, so cheer up
You, therefore, a never be one."
Consequently Jimmy Valentine must
be given a chance. His doctrine is the
doctrine Of hope. Give him a chance
to apply it to himself and await un
condemningly and dispassionately the
result.
If he succeeds in making a man OF
himself, a man such as his Creator in,
tended him to be, who is there to say
that his past has anything in it tc
concern a critical world? Or who is
there to deny to Jimmy Valentine his
birthright if he should miraculously
redeem it?
But should he fail in the great test
well, perhaps no word should just
now be sent regarding him to the ole
home in the little town, to the father
and the mother who would not under
stand.