Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1916-08-17


son.
He would be the more truly his son
henceforth, though. as Sheridan said
Bibbs had not come downtown with
him meanly or half-heartedly. He had
given his word because be had wanted
the money. simply, for Mary vertrees
in her need. And he shivered with
horror of himself. thinking how he had
gone to her to offer 1t, asking her to
marry him--with his head on his
breast in shameful fear that she would
accept him! He had not known her;
the knowing had lost her to him. and
this had been his real awakening; for
he knew now how deep had been that
slumber wherein he dreamily celebrat-
ed the superiority of "fiiendship!" The
sleep-walker had Weakened to bitter
knowledge OF love and life. finding
himself a failure In both. He had
made burnt Offering of his drea ms.
and the sacrifice had been an unforgiv-
able hurt to Mary. All that was left
for him was the work he had chosen,
but at least he would not fail in that.
though 1t was indeed no more than
dust in his mouth" II there had been
anything ''to work for"
He went to the window. raised it.
and let In the uproar of the streets be-
low. He looked down at the blurred.
hurrying swarms = and he looked
across. over the roofs with their pant
ing jets of vapor. into the vast. foggy
heart of the smoke. Dizzy traceries of
steel were rising dimly against 1t, chat
tering with steel on steel. and screech-
ing in steam, while tiny figures of men
walked on threads in the dull sky.
Buildings would overtop the Sheridan
Bigness was being served
But what for? The old question
came to Bibbs with a new despair.
Here, where his eye fell. had once been
green fields and running brooks. and
how had the kind earth been despoiled
and disfigured! The pioneers had be-
gun the work, but in their old age their
orators had said for them that they
had toiled and risked and sacrificed
that their posterity might live in peace
and wisdom, enjoying the fruits OF the
earth. Well, their posterity was here
and there was only turmoil. Where
was the promised land? 1t had been
promised by the soldiers of all the
wars: it had been promised to this gem
Grafton by the pioneers; but here was
the very posterity to whom 1t had been
promised, toiling and rislSing and sac
riflcing in turn-for what?
The harsh roar Of the city came In
through the open window, continuously
beating upon Bibbs' ear until he began
to distinguish pulsation in tia bro
ken and irregular cadence. 1t seemed
to him that it was like titanic voice.
discordant. hoarse, rustily metallic
the voice of the god, Bigness. And the
voice summoned Bibbs as 1t summoned
all its servants.
"Come and work. It seemed to call,
"Come and work for Me. all men! By
your youth and your hope summon
you! By your age and your despair
| summon you to work for Me yet a
little, with what strength you have.
By your love Of home summon you,
By your love of woman / summon you.
By your hope of children summon
you!
"You shall be blind slaves of Mine.
blind to everything but Me, your Mas
ter and Driver! For your reward you
shall gaze only upon my ugliness. You
shall give your toll and your lives, you
shall go mad for love and worship OF
my ugliness You shall perish still
worshiping Me, and your children shall
perish knowing no other god!
And then, as Bibbs closed the win
dow down tight, he heard his fathers
voice booming in the next room; he
could not distinguish the words, but
the tone was exultant-and there came
the, thump! thump! of the MANNED
hand. Bibbs guessed that Sheridan
was Dragging of the city and of the
Bigness TO some visitor from out of
town.
And he thought how truly Sheridan
was the high priest of Bigness. But
with the old. old thought again. "What
for?" Bibbs caught gllmmer of far,
faint light. He saw that Sheridan had
all his life struggled and conquered.
and must all his life go on struggling
and inevitably conquering. as part OF
vast impulse not his own. Sheridan
served blindly-but was the impulse
blind? Blbbs asked himself IL it was
not he who had been In the greater
hurry, after all. The kiln must be
fired before the vase is glazed. and the
Acropolis was not crowned with
marble In a day.
Then the voice came to him again.
but there was a strain in 1t as of some
huge music struggling to be born of
the turmoil. Ugly | am" it seemed
to say to him, ''but never forget that
am a godw And the voice grew in
sonorousness and in dignity. THE
highest should serve, but so long as
you worship me for my own sake
will not serve you. 1t Is man who
makes me ugly, by his worship Of ne.
II man would let me serve him,
should be beautiful!'
Looking once more from the win
dow, Bibbs sculptured for himself
in vague contortions of the smoke and
fog above the roofs-a gigantic figure
with feet pedestaled upon the great
buildings and shoulders disappearing
in the clouds, colossus of steel and
wholly blackened with SCOT. But Bibbs
carried his fancy further-for there
was still a little poet lingering in the
back of his head-and he thought that
up over the clouds. unseen from below,
the giant labored with his hands In the
clean sunshine; and Bibhs had a