Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1912-03-07
CHAPTER XIX.

Daylight awoke with the familiar
tparched mouth and lips and throat,
took a long drink of water from the
pitcher beside his bed, and gathered
up the train of thought where he had
left it the night before He reviewed
the easement of the financial strain.
Things were mending at last. While
the going was still rough, the greatest
dangers were already past.
His mind moved on to the incident
at the corner of the bar of the Par
thenon, when the young athlete had
turned his hand down. He was no
longer stunned by the event, but he
was shocked and grieved as only a
strong man can be, at this passing OF
his strength. He had always looked
upon this strength of his as perman-
ent. and here, for years, it had been
steadily oozing from him. AS he had
diagnosed it, he had come in from I'M
der the stars to roost in the coops of
cities. He had almost forgotten how
to walk He had lifted up his feet
and been ridden around in automo-
biles, cabs and carriages, and electric
cars. He had not exercised, and he
had dry-rotted his muscles with alco-
hol And was it worth it? What did
all his money mean after all? Dede
was right 1t could buy him no more
than one bed at time, and at the
same time it had made him the AFFECT
est of slaves. 1t tied him fast Which
was better? he asked himself. All
what she had meant when she prayed
he would go broke He held UP his
offending right arm. 1t wasn't the
same old arm. OF course she could
not love that arm and that body as
she had loved the strong, clean arm
and body Of years Before. He didn't
like that arm and body himself. A
young whippersnapper had been able
to take liberties with it. 1t had gone
back on him. He sat up suddenly.
No, he had gone back on it, He had
gone back on himself. He had gone
back on Dede. She was right, thou
sand times right, and she had sense
ShOhol w NM" ~, ShOAGi w
refuse to marry money-slave with
whisky-rotted carcass.
He got out of bed and looked at
himself in the long mirror on the
wardrobe door. He wasn't pretty The
oldtime lean cheeks were gone. These
were heavy, seeming to hang down by
their own weight He looked for the
lines of cruelty Dede had spoken of,
and he found them, and he found the
harshness in the eyes as we'll, the
eyes that were muddy now after all
the cocktails of the night before, and
of the months and years before. He
looked at the clearly defined pouches
that showed under his eyes, and they
shocked him. He rolled up the sleeve
of his pajamas. No wonder the ham,
mer-thrower had put his hand down
Those weren't muscles. a rising tide
of fat had submerged them. He
stripped off the pajama coat. Again |!
he was shocked, this time by the bulk
of his body. 1t wasn't pretty. The |
lean stomach had become a pauncfi. !
Thevigid muscles of chest and shout
Gers ard abdomen had broken down
into rdlis of flesh And this was age.
Then there drifted across the field OF
vision ots4ds minds eye the old man
ne had encountered at Glen Ellen,
coming up The hillside through the
nres OF sunset, white-feaded AND
eighty,four, in his hand
me pail of foaming milk and in his
lace all the warm glow and content
u the passing SUMMER day. That had
'een age. Yes Stree eighty-foGr, and
pryer than most" he could hear the
I'D man say.
Next he remembered Ferguson, the
title man who had scuttled into the
Dad like a rabbit, the one.timeN man
ging editor of great newspaper,
no, was content to live In the chapar-
81 along with his spring of mountain
alter and his hand-reared and mani
Ired fruit trees. Ferguson had solved
problem. A weakling and an alco-
Ollie, he had run away from the doc
,rs and the chicken-coop of a city, \
nd soaked up health like a thirsty
1onge. He sat down suddenly on the
ed, Startled by the greatness of the
~ ,Aat had come to him. He did
+ sQng, Ills mind. working in its
way, ike a steel trap, can
,ssad the idea N all its bearings. 1t
as big-bigger than anything ne had
ced before. And he faced it square.
picked It up in his two hands and !
,rned it over and around and looked I
. Il The simplicity of 1t delighted /
inn He chuckled over it, reached his
acision. and began to dress. Midway !
the dressing he stopped In oroer ~ G
Sc the telephone. q
Dede was the first he called up.