The Johnson City comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1916-1917, 1916-09-28
MAN sHUMANITY TO MAN
The story nuns Ike this:

Thirty years ago a stranger APP
peared in a progressive California
He sough work, attended to his
business. prospered and won friends.
He did not talk of his past, and no
questions were asked him. He con-
Quoted himself well and was accepted
on his merits, after the frank, breezy
fashion of the west.
Two years went by, and then there
come to the same town two other men
who talked frankly of their old homes.
In the social and business life of the
town they soon met the first conner.
A whole tragedy lay. behind the meet
ing, for the new arrivals had known
the other man back in the home tom
of Minnesota, but known him by a
different name. The Everett of Cali
fornia had been the Cowie of Mime
sofa, and he was burying himself
from the crucifying consequences or
a missteu in the honor paths of life.
The newcomers knew the facts, but
never revealed them.
Year by year, for % years, tho
three met face to face, mingled in tic
same company, became prominent fig
ures in the town life, and not one OF
them ever referred to the fact THAI
Everett had been known to the other
two anywhere else. They found hirl
respected by his neighbors, and tn "
held their peace. And he, standi e
~Squarely on the grave of his old life.
with a new standard and a new name.
accepted their silence, and held his
own tongue.
Here is a situation with which a
Sardou might conjure. Between the
lines we read the mans fear at first.
with a passionate resentment of a
coming revelation of his dual person
atty. There were at stake the good
will of his fellow townsmen and the
NAAO
love of the woman he had lust mar
rled. Farther on we read, still writ
ten between the lines, the almost dare
devil courage with which he faced
his former acquaintance and silently
denied old affiliations, and practically
defied accusations. Then we catch
III
the eVer-increasing relief that came
of their silence, and finally the CRATE
full acceptance of that silence as a
sign of forgiveness and
ment.
Twenty-eight years of this life went
by; then a few months ago Everett
died. Those two men who could
have struck him to the earth with
name and degradation let him live
out his new life in honor and peace.
Was ever a finer story told of mans
humanity to man?
And then. with swift transition. he
thought comes:
suppose the offender had been d
woman; how would she have Jared
at the hands of the knowing ones >
would they have been animated nv
he same fine sense of Justice. the
same beautiful spirit of human char
lily? As often as not the m in
a story like this, is innocent. but is
Vletimized by circumstances, but in
the general trampling and condemna.
tlon nobody stops to consider this.
Those two pen in that California
town have administered a startling
reproof to the evil tongued gossips
OF the continent. 1t was not through
them rat Everett's old life was laic
bare to tn eworld and to the aged
women who had believed herself to be
his wife for mor than a quarter of
a century. The insurance
contesting his policy because he had
q wife back in Minnesota" laid open
the ugly facts. In death the gray
shadow of his early mistake crept
back upon him. But those two men
who kept his secret must have a keen
sense of personal satisfaction in that
they gave him a fighting chance to
work on his redemption.
Tina mercy | to others show. that
mercy show to me-" is a flawless
gauge by which to measure life.