Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1914-10-30
With Scissors and Paste
MANnATTAN AIMING.

MNNHtIIAN AIMING.
When the London Spectator in the
midst Of the war excitement in Eng
land, wanted something 10 describe
the emotion that sufged through Lon
don under the cali To- arms against
Germany II made use Of Walt Whit
mans picture Of the electric shock
that ran through New York when
Fort sumter was fired on.
60 superb o Manhattan, my own,
my peerlessl
O strongest YOU in the hour Of dan
ger, In crisis
O truer than aeelD
How you sprang--how you threw off
the costumes OF peace with in
different hand.
How your soft opera music changed,
and the drum and fife were
heard In their stead.
How you led to the war Chat shall
serve for our prelude. songs of
soldiers,)
How Manhattan drum-taps led.
Forty years had in my city seen sol
diers parading.
Forty years as a pageant, till una
wares the lady of this teeming
and turbulent city,
Slecpless amid her ships. her houses,
her inealculable wealth.
With her million children around her
suddenly.
At dead OF night. at news from the
south.
lncensd struck with clinch'd hand
the pavement.
A shock electric. the night sustain'd it,
Till with ominous hum out hive at
daybreak pour'd out its myr
lads.
From the houses then and the work
shops and through all the door
ways
Lcapt they tumultuous, and 10! Man
haitian armng
UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH.
Ono, GG0G,' in American Magazne.) |
The long monotonous days dragged |
hy. We were glad each time !
night came, and yet begrudged the
lost day. Each day left one day less
Of night for us. We read magazines |
played checkers, tried novels. sang
with the other condemned men. but
no mental diversion ever removed the |
spccter that waited at the end of the
road we were an travelling SO swiftly |
remember one night was reading
An ahsorbingly interesting book 1T
was "Pere Goriot.' by Balzac. | read
On and on. my eyes following the
printed words on the pages. Ny cell
mate spoke TO me and | came out of
my dream, realizing that for many
pages HAD not scnsed one word
read, While my eyes travelled the
ines OF the book my mind had been
IN the chair. I was wondering wheth-
IT the cold, damp cap that was to be
'lamped over the shaven spot on my |
iead would send SILVER through me
hat would be mistaken for cowardice.
threw down the book in disgust.
pal" | said 70 my cellmate.
what's the use Of lying to ourselves?
Neither Of us mentions the chair
loud, Hut both Of MS are thinking |,
II 1t every minute we are awake and +
dreaming Of It when we are asleep !,
What do you say IL we quit pretend
ng ana talk about what's in our
minds II may help us to pass the
ime, /,
You're on he cried eagerly. I've 1
waited ia suggest Il. but didn't know II
low you would take IL
After that We spent hours debat-
ng every imaginable phase of our Ia
end. We recalled every
printed account Of an execution we
rad read. We argued the relative
'asc OF death by hanging. by q bullet, h
md by electricity we even made a I
iort of game Of It in this way; |,
| would say, What will happen K
t.5e0.o00 times Yet before we go9" Z
fou see, boys, | still remember even II
he figures after all these years, II Il
vas my cellmates task TO guess what h
referred to. In this case the answer $
vas eur heart beats Each of us We'd Ii
With the other in nventing and com i
,uting conundrums. Always we Sc "a
ected something In which the an Id
wer was some gigantic number. run Ii
ling into billions sometimes. It. Iii
eemed to push the chair farther back t
nto the future 70 have such an unac- In
ountable number of units OF any kind a