Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-05-15
WHAT the MAN SAID.


man and mighty useful citizen. lie
had the best chance Of any young man
Of my acquaintance Thus spake
Successful man and mighty useful
citizen" as another man approaching
middle age went by. Neither the person
speaking or the person to whom he
was talking took more notice than 10
glance at the man they referred to.
Neither of them greeted him. He just
went by.
1T seems pity the man said.
THAT fellow hasn't done a useful thinG
or earned his board and clothes since
knew him. His father is a good man
and a successful businessman. he
wanted his son to amount to some
thing. 1t breaks the old mans heart
to compare him with other fellows who
have had small comparative opportun-
ity and who are now honored citizens
and of whom their fathers and mothers
are pround. I'm sorry for him..
All of US sometimes, going over the
lost opportunities of our lives, see the
man we might have been shoulder high
above the men we are. Few of us have
lived up to our opportunities. Some
where along the road are wrecks that
we know of though nobody else may
know. None Of us are the men we
might have been. But thank the Lore
and the necessities that drove US, rev
are utterly worthless, sneakinsly vic
ious and pitiable as we walk the streets.
And there are few fathers who can
not find some reason OF pride and sat
istaction in their sons.
The young fellow who imasines mat
the spendthrift, selfish, immoral ana
currish youth whose foolish parents
supply him with money and relieve
him from all responsibility Is dead
game one" is making the mistake OF MS
life. Those fellows are none OF them
game" They are invariably sneaklns
and cowardly. They risk nothing, are
nothing. It Is a shame to apply that
adjective to them. Gameness Is an
admirable quality. 1t dares somewhat
faces difficulty without finching. NO
utterly selfish man is game. There was
never a game man who hadn't friends.
Never game man whom men de-
spised as he walked past them. Inc
fellows like the one the man spoke Oh
are simply mongrels. fouriiushers. They
aren't game They aren't even 'deao
game sports" and the dead game sport
of the yernacular is often very cur
IRISH individual when he goes up against
the real thing.
There is a class that has had oppor-
t,1nity to be successful men and
mighty useful citizens who nave been
pampered and protected, whose fathers
have sat up nights to pull them out OF
hole. while their mothers sat and
wept at home. They wear good clothes
and labor not, but somebody feeds them
and pays their laundry bills and wor-
ries over them. They might have been
citizens and have no mark OF citizen
ship except the right TO vote and the
country would be better if they lacked
that much. Men feel pity for their par
ents and relatives as they pass. NO
body ever thinks of asking them their
| opinion on public matters or their ala
| in public enterprise. Nobody would
! partner with them in a private busl-
ness. They Just live, idly, worthlesslE
| under silent protest Of the commun
| tiles they infest.
Take a slant at these fellows boys
as YOU 20 home from school. Listen &c
the way the men you respect SPEAK
Of them. Avoid them and their haunts
as YOU would smallpox patient OF
ouarantined house. Those fellows nave
infantile paralysis of the soul and in
telIect And it's catching.