The Hays free press. [volume] (Hays, Kan.) 1908-1924, 1916-08-19

How this country expect TO get its
work done If Quincy and all the other
old nanny-goats keep UP this biattin'!
So he says you got nervous exhaustion
induced by OTerwork and emotional
strain They always got to stick the
! work in IL they see chance! l reckon
you did have the emotional strain
and that's ais the matter with you.
You'll be over It soon's this woman's
gone. and works the very thing to
make you quit frettin' about her,
Did Quincy tell you / was fit to
work."
''Shut upr' Sheridan beloved. I'm
| SO sick O. that mans name | feel like
shoOtin' anybody that says it TO. me!'
He fumed and chafed. swearing indis-
| tinctIy. then came and stood before his
son. Look here; do you think you're
doin' the square thing by me? Do
you? How much you worth?'
I've got between seven and eight
thousand a year clear of my own. out
side the salary. That much is mine
whether | work or not"
st is? You could "a pulled it out
without me. 1 suppose you think. at
your age?"
mo. But it's mine. and it's enough
My Lord! It's about what a con-
gresham gets, and you want to quit
there! I suppose you think you'll get
the rest when l kick the bucket, and
all you have TO do is lay back and
wait! You let me tell you right here.
I you'll never see one cent Of it. You
go out O. business now. and what
would you know about handlin' 1T five
or ten or twenty years from now? Be
cause / intend to stay here a little
while yet, my boy! They'd either get
| it away from you or you'd sell for a
nickel and let it be split up and
He Whirled about. marched to the
other end of the room. and stood silent
a moment. Then he said. solemnly:
Listen. If you go out now. you leave
me in the lurch. with nothin' on God
| green earth to depend on but your
brother-and you know what he is.
I've depended on you for it all since
! Jim died. Now you've listened to that
| dam doctor. and he says maybe you
/ won't ever be as good a man as you
were. and that certainly you won't be
for year or sO-probably more. Now.
| that's all lie. Men don't break down
that way at your age. Look at me-
And / tell you, you can shake this
thing of. All you need is little get
up and a little gumptiOn. Men don't
go away for years and then come back
| into moving businesses like ours-they
| lose the strings. And If you could.
won't let yOu-if you lay down on me
| now. l won't-and that's because ii
you lay down you prove you amt the
man thought you were" He cleared
his throat and finished quietly: "Ros
coe, will you take months vacation
and come back and go to it?''
NO" said Roscoe. HstlessIy. I'm
through
''All right" said Sheridan. He picked
up the evening paper from a table
went to a chair by the fire and sal
down. his back to his son. "Goodby.'
Roscoe rose, his head hanging. but
| there was a dull relief in his eyes
BEST can do he muttered. seeming
about to depart, yet lingering. 81 fig
ure it out a good deal like this" be
said. 81 didn't know my job was ans
| strain, and 1 managed all right, but
| from what Gur-from what / hear.
| was just up to the limit Of my nerves
from overwork. and the-the trouble
at home was the extra strain that's
fixed me the way l am. l tried t.
brace, so l could stand the work and
the trouble too, on whisky-and thai
put the finish to me! I'm not hit
ting it as hard as / was for a while
and / reckon pretty soon if can ge
to feeling little more energy. bettel
try to quit entirely don't know
I'm all in-and the doctor says so.
thought / was running along fine VI
to a few months ago, but all the time
l was ready TO bust. and didn't know
it. Now, then, l don't want you Il
blame SibyI, and if I were you
wouldn't speak Of her as that won
an because she's your daughter-in
law and going to stay that way. Sh'
didn't do anything wicked. 1t was
shock to me, and 1 don't deny it, Il
find what she had done-encouragin
that fellow to hang around her afte
he began trying to dirt with her. ant
losing her head over him the way sh'
did. don't deny it was q shock ant
that it'll always be a hurt inside Of NJ
| L II hcf1@ get OfSE- Dull II was II.
fault; I didn't understand q woman
nature" Poor Roscoe spoke in tn
most profound and desolate earnest
"a woman Graves society. and gayety
and meeting attractive people. an
travelling. Well. can't give her tn
other things, but l can give her til
traveIing-real travelling. not just &C
ing to Atlantic City or New Orleans
the way she has. two, three times.
woman has to have something In he
life besides q business man. And that
all 1 was. I never understood till
heard her talking when she was s
sick, and 1 believe IL you'd heard he
then you wouldn't speak so hard
heartedly about her; 1 believe 20
might have forgiven her Ike I have