New Britain herald., 1916-02-05
THEM THAT IS PREPARED. :"

| of the human heart. One moment it can be in the depths of despair,
 the next on the heights of hilarity.
 It is only step from sorrow to joy,
 from tears to laughter, from the
 sublime to the ridiculous. And it is good that this is so, for were human hearts given to travel in but one direc ton life at best would become
 monotonous existence Even sun
 shine would not be appreciated with ! out an occasional lapse into dark ness, nor would comedy have a value
 unless relieved by an occasional tragedy.
 It is. indeed wonderful, the way various things act on different na- tures Hardly two people are alike. For evidence of this take the Presi-
 dents preparedness program. While
 great many, and possibly majority,
 of the people in the United States are
 in accord with the general idea, they
 will mostly all disagree as to the exact
 details. Every man has his own idea
 about how the thing should be worked
 out. as he has on other subjects. And
 the emotion can be worked up on
 preparedness as we'll as on any other
 argument. It is no difficult matter
 to start something on the prepared
 ness policy. Take the case of w. T.
 Brain, publisher of '"The Gladiator,
 at Atoka, Oklahoma. Brain really
 went into a storm over the prepared
 ness policy. He-but we can do no
 better than print his own version or
 how it effected him as set forth in
 letter to his Congressman, "Alfalta
 Bill' Murray. Here it is:--
 q read the Presidents note on pre-
 paredness, and I have also hearo some sly hints taken from the papers about what you have to say Tn regard to the same Yours and the Presl- dents ideas had wonderful effect on me. They buoyed me up, and thought preparedness was the one lOvable thing. l was down, ana everything was lovely and the goose hung high I went home and armed myself with two big guns. They weig he'd thirty-five pounds each and believing that I was then cock of the walk I went back to town and gave a Tecumseh warwhoop.
 "In a few seconds I was surround ed by the Sheriff's force, city police and many citizens. They all wanted to know what I meant. I told them that I was prepared Then I found out that they were prepared also and the thing came off, This morning, he day after the battle, seven nearses stand in front of seven of the pest homes in town, and I am in jail with one eye shot out, a broken leg, and my skull crushed in on the left i side So much for being prepared.'
 Poor Brain He worried himself | into fever. He became added. | And now if we are to believe him, ! he is paying the penalty for his sins ! of preparedness. But there is a good l
 
 would not call it brain-less,- ! and it must not be taken too much ! to heart On the face of it, there i seems to be contained in this epistle 1 a good argument against prepared ness But anyone who knows the Western country, and especially this region wherein the publisher of "The Gladiator holds forth, will readily realize Brain did not live up to his name when he came down Main Street with only two guns. lie didn't even have @ start on preparedness, and had he really done what he says he did, instead of losing an eye, it would have been his life. They are always prepared for such rampages in the oldtime wild and WoOley.