The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-05-05
JOE"

JOE
(Alfred b Williams, in Roanoke Times)
Joe" gentleman by birth, breeding and
stricken dog, because he began wrong and was
too game" to get right. He of the cream
of fine old New England stock and a lovable per-
son. gentle, generous. manly, accepting with I'M
complaining patience the punishments life gave
him, what was coming to him" as he said.
The Oldest Of his family he was sent to
Harvard, according to family tradition. His peo-
pie were not rich and he used to say bitterly
that he had been not only disappointment, but
heavy drain. Like many another young fool,
he thought it the correct thing to go with fast
set to "cut" this and "cut" that and engage in
every prank that was suggested for the annoyance
of the authorties-and he was not weak man.
either. He was sent away, in his second year,
and never went home. He romped into Park
Row, New York, uneducated and incompetent.
to retrieve himself. conquer the newspaper world
and see life, He saw it thoroughly enough from
the old Hoffman House and Delmonico's. up. all
the way down to Dolan's, where one could buy
corned beef and plate of beans for a dime, and
the places on the Row where for another dime,
might be obtained quart of mixed ale with
red pepper in 1t, after which there care
whether there were any more dimes in the world
or not. Part of his seeing life was to marry
girl who sang in chorus or did something like
that on the stage. II was part OF Joe's character
that however drunk he might be, he never al.
Iuded to this girl but in the most reticent and
respectful way; and that somehow or another
he always contrived to help support the child,
wherever it was He never told that For there
the child and the divorce usual In such cases,
and Joe" settled TO steady drinking of hard
drinks.
He had no ambitions and no hopes He knew
all about the prodigal son, but did not think
much of him, Zoe" used to say his sympathies
were with the brother who complained. He had
brother and sisters of his own. He had mar
rAed woman he could not take to their homo
without making them ashamed At the age Of
thirty he bloated and shabby and felt that
desire was to be with his family and community
as man who was not and never had been He
was sodden, quiet, patient newspaper drudge,
never too drunk, in office hours to do faithfully
his simple and illpaid work or. ont of hours,
to find his room; daring to get to bed sober
Everybody liked him. Everybody was ready to
help and advise him. He asked help and
took no advice He was not morose. Somehow
he seems to have gathered the belief that he had
committed the sin that could not be forgiven
and should not be. the conviction that he was
Of the damned and lost and the determination
to accept deserved fate with grimly cheerful
He would sit and drink and laugh
while he could find anybody to sit with him. |
and then drink with the bartender of an all |
night house until he in condition of stupe-
faction satisfactory to himself. Food was an in
caused maladies and sometimes he suffered
cruelty: but he took 1t as part Of what was
coming to him"
One night about six years ago--if he had not
been dead and by now forgot the Row this
true story of him would not have been written
he went home from work the last time. Nobody
in this world knows whether he had fixed for
himself some limit of time and had reached It,
or what his reasoning was. He was drunken
than usual that night He went to his room in
an obscure house and swallowed large and de-
csive dose Of carbolc acid, People In New York
lodging houses do not pay much attention to
each other. His body not found until four
days later, when kindly city editor sent n
man up to see whether he had quit his job He
had
The newspapers published brief but respectful
man