The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1914-11-26
ASATURDAY
&sR NIGHT
4 SERMONS
BIZ
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
THE NAV OF THE MONSTER.

my Bible through and | see city after
recorded as the hotbed of crime and
sin. the place where young life is soil
ed and damned As journalist. lee
turer and traveller | look outside my
Bible, view the Christian centuries and
the same apparently holds true, from
the city which Cain built to New York.
Chicago and San Francisco
Men seem always waiting to build
cities. Possibly that gresarious In,
stinct is true one God makes the
country: man builds the city, God put
him first III Il garden: not long till he
Is u vagabond and builds city The
city Is fascinating because of Its hn
man interest. Its atmosphere is far.
reaching Beyond its smoky horizon
the moral breath Of q great center of
population is carried by currents Great
ed by newspaper, magazine and per
sonal contact. An odor. sweet or foul
is carried on the wings Of the wind to
village and farm. The country initiates
the city as a younger lad an older
Mode of dress. variety Of amusement
social custom is introduced largely by
city to country.
Tho Nav Of the Monster.
Were you raised in the country? Do
you remember your first Impressions
You saw houses instead of hills.
streets instead of streams. D1en in.
stead Of meadows. You commented
that the city grew nothing but men.
You remember the unpleasant thrill
when your city cousins said, The soil
Of the city Is not as fertile as that Of
the country. but 1t is better adapted to
the sowing of wild oats You tried
to smile at his witticism. but it was
forced Human history repeats itself
because 1t Is human The old Greek
tradition Of the doomed youths and
maidens who were every year chosen
by lot from the city of Athens to be
sent as tribute to the Minotaur, who
deyoured them. is living history to
day. The modern city pays its toll.
and the toll is always in young and
precious human lives. who must per.
ish in the nav OF the monster. The
Minotaur. who asked only fourteen
lives. was mercy itself compared with
the nav of modern metropolis. The
city seems at times an insensate mon
ster ready to devour and crush all
that life holds of sweetness and beau
tn To thu hnn rtc
Of men and women, making them AS
hard as the pavement they tread 1t
seems to turn existence into a strug-
gle for survival. In which the woltish
eye. straining body and mind are ruled
by a fierce passion to clutch desper,
ate advantage above the heads OF the
crowd. The law of the crowd Is the
law Of the jungle. whereby the weak
must run and hide or else be preyed
upon Might makes right. and no sense
Of kinship or neighborliness stands in
the way of the domineering overload
ship of the strong, occupying. unchal-
Ienged. the seats OF the mighty.
The City Streets.
Men may sleep. but the city Is sleep
less All night long there is an indie
terminate roar and rumble. separate
sounds fused and blended in one.
yelling to a climax in early morning.
dying again at shutdown, never wholly
still. like the seas unending in
quietude. To one in the mood it is
only the City of the Dreadful Night.
never the City of Beautiful Day One
murmurs:
Could but wander
Home. away yonder.
Far from your fretting noises and heats,
Sweeter than o(den
April dreams golden
Would be forgetting you. city streets
The history Of the street is the his.
tory of the day. Different in different
hours as in different years AT j
O'Clock milk wagons rattle by: at $3.50
the humber toilers hurry by with pale
unrefreshed faces: at 8 the roar Of
traffic is trumpetlike. There is a rusl,
and clang Of cars. and an army is
pressing forward. At noon there is ID
lull: the multitude is feeding. At 3
rubber tires are where groaning wheels
have been. Incidence. luxury and re
pose are on the way to river drive
and park. At the crowd. like food
returned. surges through the street
The toilers are hurrying home.
The Great White Way.
Street crowd psychology is subtle.
II in that fierce struggle of the day
one feels a lost sense of individuality,
feels his personality non est. leaf in
forest. grain Of sand by the shore.
drop in a great river. each hour in
creasins the sense of loneliness. help
lessness and submergence, night
changes ALL Aladdin has rubbed his
wondrous lamp. After dinner lights
are blinking: theaters are gathering
their devotees: glimpses of lace and
jewels: beauty hares its breast to
ravished eyes. Ostentation Of wealth.
bewildering in its profuSion staggering
in its effrontery. Shop windows dis
play products of commerce created by
vanity and voluptuousness That
makes 1t impossible to distinguish
women OF fashion and women Of the
street Wickedness Is rampant. but
well clad. Forbidden fruit is frankly
forced forward. There is dedication
Of the bizarre and suggestive. That
which shocks the simple scarcely jars
the jaded. The monster is serpent
Mt night. sleek. shining. sinister For
IL Is d Gettysburg or Waterloo