Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-09-21
CHAPTER XVII.

At seven o'clock on the last morn
ing of that month, Sheridan, passing
through the upper hall, found cou-
pie of scrubbed sheets of note paper
lying on the floor. He recognized the
handwriting and put the sheets in his
coat pocket, intending to give them
to George or Jackson for return to the
owner, but he forgot and carried them
downtown with him. At noon he
found himself alone in his Office, and,
having a little leisure, remembered the
bits of manuscript, took them out, and
glanced at them. Having satisfied
himself that Bibbs' scribblings were
only a sample of the kind of writing
his son preferred to the machine shop,
he decided, tnnocently enough, that he
would be justified in reading them.
It appears that a lady will nod pleas
antly upon some windy generalization of
a companion and will wear the most
agreeable expression of accepting it as
the law, and then-days afterWard, when
the thing is a mummy to It's prOmulgator
she will inquire out of a clear sky:
"Why did you say that the people down
town have nothing in life that chicken
hasn't? What did you mean" And she
may say it in a manner that makes a
sensible reply very dificult-you Will be
so full of wonder that she remembered
so seriously.
Yet what does the rooster lack? He
has food and shelter; he is warm in win
ter; his wives raise not one fine family
for him, but dozens. He has q clear sky
over him: he breathes sweet air; he walks
CCf Of
erg He must die, violently perhaps, but
quickly. Is Midas cancer a better way?
The ROSTERS wives and children must die.
Are those of Midas immortal? His life is
shorter than the life of Midas, but Midas
life is only a sixth as long as that of the
Galapagos tortoise.
The rooster Is a dependent; he depends
upon the farmer and the weather. Midas
is a dependent: he depends upon the
farmer and the weather. The rooster
thinks only of the moment; Midas pro-
vides for tomorrow. What does he pro-
vide for tomorrow? Nothing that the
rooster will not have without providing.
The rooster and the prosperous worker:
they are born, they grub they love; they
grub and love grubbing; they grub and
they die. Neither knows beauty; neither
knows knowledge. And after all, when
Midas and the rooster dies, there is one
thing Midas has had and rooster has not.
Midas has had the excitement of accumu-
lating what he has grubbed, and that has
been his life and his love and his god. He
cannot take that god with him when he
dies. I wonder if the worthy gods are
those we can take with US.
Midas must teach all to be as Midas;
the young must be raised in his religion
The manuscript ended there, and
Sheridan was not anxious for more. He
crumpled the sheets into a ball, depos-
iting it with vigor) in a wastebasket
beside him; then, rising, he consulted a
Cyclopedia Of Names, which a book
agent had somehow sold to him years
before: a volume now first put to use
for the location of Midas" Having
read the legend, Sheridan walked up
and down the spacious office, exhaling
the breath Of contempt. Dam fooIr'
he mumbled.
He felt very lonely, and this was,
daily, his hardest hour. For a long
time he and Jim had lunched together
hal -IaIly at q small restaurant near
the Sheridan building, where they
spent twenty minutes in the consump-
ton Of food, and twenty in talk, with
cigars. But now Sheridan remained
alone in his office; he had not gone out
to lunch since Jims death, nor did he
have anything sent to him-he tasted
until evening.
1t was the time he missed Jim per-
sonally the most-the voice and eyes
and handshake, all brisk and alert. all
businesslike. But Sheridan's sense Of
loss went far deeper. Jim was the one
who would have been surest to keep
the great property growing greater,
year by year. Sheridan had fallen
asleep, night after night, picturing
what the growth would be under Jim.
He had believed that Jim was abso-
lutely certain to be one Of the biggest
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