The Washington herald., 1916-03-03

|. AS the days passed, however he grew not more
HAPPY but less happy The people that he met
different from himself and different from the
people he had been used to knowing. Instead of
liking them, he found himself troubled by them,
and disappointed. At home, in the streets, he had
dIsliked meeting so many men that he knew, and
ne had often lodged out of the way. Now he
would have been glad to meet some one that he
knew any one, even one of those men he had
avoided. But, of course, he assured himself the
chief trouble lay in the place. 1t depress-
ing that he would not be likely to have this pain
full experience twice.
But in the next place the experience repeated
itself After enduring it for a short time the man
went on to the third of the places Then from
place to pl lace he wandered, always disappointed,
always unhappy till at last he fell into despair.
Before he started out he had been better off, His
dreams had made him feel that his life was worth
living. With each disappointment dream had
been shattered Now he had not even a dream
LETT. Life had lost its last illusion
The man sat alone in his room. He felt so
wretched that he almost longed to die He asked
himself II there was anything in the world he had
TO live for. Then, to his astonishment he found
that there was something, the joy OF going back
ito the place where, for many years. he had lived
|dcspised.
The discovery caused him so much surprise that
II woke him up. He resolved to get at the mean
ing Of this mystery. For long time he made
Ia careful study of himself Could the trouble that
he believed to lie outside really lie within? At
those signs. But this time it sigh, not of
discomfort and pain, but of relief. He had found
out. He had been fool and coward and a fail
urc. The great woTld OF man he had tried to re-
duce to his own limitations. The weaknesses COM
mon to humanity at large he had exaggerated and
added to his special weaknesses. The tests
that mi ht have brought him victories he had
turned into defeats.
The man looked at himself in the mirror In
his face he traced the lines of resentment and suf
veloping the face Of weakling, of that didn't
know how to live He had been advertising him
self as the failure that he was and he had taken
himself to strange places with the notion that he
could deceive those who had not known him be-
fore by passing himself off as a victor And the
spirit that made him failure at home had made
him failure abroad. He closed his lips tightly,
in of himself Then he drew himself to-
gether and turned from that unsightly vision 1t
wasn't too late: He would go back. He would
begin over again.
Once in the street he had surprise The place
was longer detestable to him Nor were the
people uninterestng offensive. At least ono of
his dreams had come back and it had taken on
reality. perhaps the place hasn't anything to do
with it," he said to himself, and he smiled in en-
joyment OF his understanding
For an instant he was tempted to stay in this
place. to put it and himself the test. But there
was another test in another place that lurcd him
more strongly.
81 must 60 where l belong he said az must
learn how to live"
And such yearning seized him for the familiar
sights and sounds and for the intimate ties for all
the human relationships that gave meaning to life
that he couldn't wait another day