Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-05-28
CHAPTER XVII.

AT seven O'CLOCK on the ldSt HOTH'
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 no
found himself alone in his office, and,
having little leisure, remembered the
bits of manuscript, took them out. and
glanced at them. Having satisfied
himself that Bibbs scribblngs were
only a sample of the kind Of writing
his son preferred to the machine shop,
he decided, innocently enough, that he
would be justified in reading them.
It appears that 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 mummy to it's promulgator
she will inquire out of 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 q
sensible reply very difficult-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
10 hos
over him; he breathes sweet air; he walks
in his April orchard under roof of flow
crs. He must die. violently perhaps, but
quickly. Is Midas cancer 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 dependent: he depends
upon the farmer and the weather. Midas
IL 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
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 II 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 ball, depOs.
iting it with vigor) in wastebasket
beside him; then. rising, he consulted a
Cyclopedia of Names, which 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, exhalina
the breath Of contempt. Dam foolv
be mumbled.
He felt very lonely. and this was
daily, his hardest hour. For a Ions
time he and Jim had lunched together
habitually at small restaurant neal
the Sheridan building, where they
spent twenty minutes in the consump
ton of food, and twenty in talk, witt
cigars. But now Sheridan remained
alone in his Office; he had not gone on
to lunch since Jim's death, nor did h,
have anything sent to him-he faste(
until evening.
1t was the time he missed Jim per
sonally the most-the voice and eye
| and handshake, all brisk and alert, al
businesslike. But Sheridan's sense o
loss went far deeper. Jim was the on,
who would have been surest to keel
The great property growing greater
year BY year. Sheridan had fallss