Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-05-29

Have you seen the people? Have you
seen mon out Of work? Families leav'
Ing their homes? Panic spreading
slowly but surely over . whole city,
These pleasures have bean denied
me-" said barrow blandly.
The girl looked 1t him with bright
angry eyes. Her cheeks were glow
Ing, and her whole figure expressed
q tense vibrant life in singular con.
trast to the apparent Incidence Of
tho mon 1t whom she was talking.
"You are insuRerable!" She fairly
stamped her foot In vexation. "You
are an egotist! You would play with
the welfare Of four million people ia
crafty your little personal desire to
get event."
STEADY, sis!" warned Jack
barrow had Strengthened, and his
indolent manner had fallen from him
II have said L would permit nc
harm to come to these people, and
mean it." said he.
| mo harm!" cried Helen. What
do you call this
Darrow turned to the window look
| ing out over the city.
9"This!",, he said. why, this ISM
harm! There isn't man out there
who IL not better on for what has
happened to him. He has lost lit
i! tie time, q little sleep. and he has
been given q new point. OF view, 9
new manhood. As "a city dweller he
was becoming a mollusk, creature
that could not exist without its shell
The city transported him, warmed
him. fed him, amused him, protect
ed him. He had nothing to do with Il
lid any way; he didn't even know how
1t was done. Deprived OF his push
buttons, he was - helpless 90 baby
Beyond the little stunt he did in bill
ONCE or his store. and beyond hia
ability to cross Q crowded street, he
was no good. He not only didnt
know how to do things, but he Wa
rapidly losing, through dtsusc, the
power to learn how to do things. The
modern city dweller, bred, born
brought up on this island, is about a.
helpless and useless man, consid
cred as four-sQuare, self-reliant in
dividual, as you can and on the broad
expanse Of the globe I've got no use
for man who can't take care OF
himself, who's got to have somebody
else to do 1t for him whenever
something to which he hasn't beer
accustomed rises up in front OF him!
!. His eye was fixed somberly on the
city stretching away into the haze Of
the autumn day.
f"You blame me for letting thit
thing rrnt" he went on "Of course
1t tickles me to death to see Eldridge
founder; but that isn't all. This Il
the best thing that could happen tc
them out there! I'm just patriotic
enough to wish them more Of It. 1T
good medicine! At last every man
jack Of them is up against something
he's got to decide for himself. The
police are useless: the hre depart
mont is useless; tho railroads and
street cars are crippled. II man ].
going to, take caro- Of his life and
property, he must do It himself. He'l
buying back his seif-reliance. Self
! reliance is q valuable property. HI
Ought to pay something for It. Gen
( erall. he has to pay war or insured
ton or bloody riot. In the present n
. stance he's getting on cheap.
He turned back from the oper
window. His. eye. travelled beyond
Helen's trim figure down the empty
hall. wait right here. Jack. he sho,
over, his shoulder, and rushed along
the hall and down the stairway be
fore tither the young man or his sis
ter could recover from their aston
| iShment