The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-06-29

~ YRS was not q stony farm with run
down soil. and there was no mort
gage against 1t. It consisted Of 100
acres Of rich middle west prairie, all
paid for. Our barn was one Of the
biggest and the reddest in the county. and
our windmill lowered high above q willow
windbreak that shut on unkindly winter
winds and gave us shade on summer days.
But was II years old and none Of these
features looked good to me. I wanted to get
away from 1t. bad
cite my case. not because II Is exceptional.
but because 1t has SO many duplicates. I
had seen waving cornields from the time
! had first been able TO observe anything
and to me there was no charm whatever
about them. The little county seat town
with its 1000 inhabitants ten miles away
ali. that was different! There was glamour
about that town. The young men in 1t wore
good clothes and ioafed in billiard halls and
went to dances and never had TO do chores.
II was not that hated to work. was
not lazy. But felt that the town boys
had 1t on me-" They knew the latest slang
and the newest songs-they formed sort Of q
clique from which I was peculiarly barred.
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Envied Restaurant Job.
II did not matter to me that the fathers Of
these boys. most Of them. were struggling
along on meager clerkships or with BUSH
nesses from which there was small revenue
only know that from my viewpoint there
was romance IN loafing in a pool hall-none
At all In riding on q corn pillow all day and
milking ten cows after supper. Ny ambition
was to have a job like Harry Crawford or
Art Lawson. Harry was a short order cook
in the Little Gem" restaurant and Art
racked up the balls in the pool hall They
were where they came in contact with the
outside world. can see Harry now as he
used to stand back Of the lunch counter and
deity roll q cirgaret.
I aid not classify the unrest in my being
At the time as an appeal Of the romantic.
At the time was only aware OF an ache
and a resentment because Harry and Art
were living and was merely existing Does
this sound foolish? Very well then. for an
answer. Just make a study OF the number
Of middle west boys raised on a big. paid
for farm and its opportunities who have been
eager enough to desert 1t for a job like Harry
Crawfords and Art Lawson's.
1 never talked over my unrest with my
parents. Ny mother seldom spoke except in
her foreign tongue and my father seemed
wholly absorbed in getting the crops put
into the ground and in due time getting them
cultivated and harvested. I was raised TO ,
be obedient and unquestioning. But secretly
/ was all athrill to drive into the county seat
on Saturday afternoon. while to them II was
nothing more than mere place to do neces-
sary trading.
Crisis Bound to Come.
with my increasing strength and years the
crisis was bound to come eventually. It
was through trivial matter. We had driven
in town for the county fair, and for the one
night / wanted TO stay in 10 the dance at
the opera house instead Of going home and
helping with the chores. Well meaning as
my father was and much as came to ap-
preciate him In later years, his different
viewpoint caused him to do me an injustice.
In the first place he could see no earthly rea-
son why I should desire to stay In to the
dance and IN the second place he thought
NV spending a dollar for the event the wild
est extravaganza.
There was no one to tell him where he was
wrong and no one to tell me where was
wrong. We argued briefly in monosyllablts.
and it ended by my informing him that was
not going back home at all. I was going to
stay and revel at the dance and continue
-evelins. was going to be like Harry Craw.-
lord and Art Lawson
It was years afterward. when had given
ny unskilled hands a test, when I had learned
of competitive business, when I ,
lad obtained a perspective to see existence
rom sane point of view. that saw my ,
ather in his true light and appreciated him
saw him as boy in a crowded north Eu-
opean country without the remotest chance ,
a the world to ever be the owner Of a foot :
{ land. 1 realized the courage possessed by I
imseif and my mother when they took
teerage passage and babe good-by forever .
D relatives and friends. I saw them in the
ew west. where land was cheap but civiliza-
on scant. and saw the struggle that had
,ssened up about the time that came upon
ne scene.
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A Generation Between.
But as say. all this realization came to me I