Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-07-13

proved cowboy style: sour-dough bis
cults made by a master hand, steaks
cut from freshly killed calf and fried
before toughness set in, pile OF
creamy mashed spuds. There was
LONELINESS about the meal that made
them eat in silence. They felt as
though for years they had been wor-
Shipping false culinary gods. The pile
Of steaks, the heaped potatoes, the hot
biscuit, were exetics, strayed into a
land Of pepper sauces and garlic. The
supper seemed to the three men to
take on a personality and to be i'll at
ease, but 1t was they that were Ill at
ease for the supper reminded them
that they were exiles.
The silence on the verenda that
night was even longer than usual. Ger
rvs mind went back to French book
that he had bought in desperation at
Pernambuco. He had ploughea through
half of 1t and with a catch in his
thoughts he remembered that it lay
open Oh the table when he left his lit
tie room in Piranhas on the morning
Of mornings that had broken life in
two. Some Of its phrases, conned
over and over again in his struggle
with the half-forgotten idiom, came
back to him. LA parole est du temps,
le silence de Peternite" He smiled to
himself at the twisted meaning the
long silence of his companions gave to
the words.
Then tie smile left his face. He re-
membered the argument. The instinct
we MI have for superhuman truths
tells US that 1t Is dangerous to be ST.
lent with those we would keep at
distance, for words pass and are for
gotten between men, but sflence-ac-
tive silence-is forever ineffaceable.
True life-the moments of life that
leave a tracts made up of silence.
Not passive silence; that is but anoth-
er name for sleep. But the active ST.
lence that breaks down barriers,
pierces walls and turns the life Of ev-
cry day into life where all is in
tense, where there is no ban-nOthing
fOrbidden-where laughter dare not
enter, where subsection is submerged
and where all-all, is remembered.
Gerry felt that this active silence
had come upon them. These men were
being borne into the silent sphere of
his own soul. He felt restless-afraid.
He decided to speak. He was on the
point Of speaking when Lieber let
down his chair softly, clasped his
hands and broke the silence.
Hpoo Md 4Lo
blast of a steamers horn and when I
woke up the cold sweat was on my
forehead because know that there is
no desert, no wilderness, so far from
the things you would forget that
dreams cannot follow you to It."
He stopped and silence fell upon
them again. Lieber stared straight In
front of him, out into the night. His
face worked as though he were strug-
Cling to keep his lips closed. When he
began to speak again, the words were
scarcely audible. 81 don't know why
I want to tell you two about why I am
here, unless 1t is that as we sat here
so quiet l felt that you knew it all
that you knew all that l know and
that was on the point Of knowing all
that you have known. The little lies
of life suddenly became big and hate
full and l saw in my life a monster lie
that the silence was exposing.
There are lots Of men with the be-
ginning of my story. It's common and
takes little telling. l was born in
Pennsylvania. We were mighty poor
farmers but l got all the schooling
there was within walking distance Of
home. My old man saw to that When
| was still boy our little bank took
me in. 1t wasn't doing much business
then but a couple of years later the
region struck oil and the banks busi-
ness scared by leaps and bounds. It
turned into as good a spouter as any
of the wells. The family that ran it
became rich and went to higher jobs
or out altogether The staff was
showed up and about the time I was OF
age | was handling more money than
I'd ever known was In the world. The
amount | stole was an even thirty
thousand and l got away with it. 1t
was easier to do thirty years ago than
it is today. got away with 1t and
then it got away with me. 1t lasted
| me year and four months and | saw
the end of it up the coast at Pernam-
| buco.
II date my birth from the day 1
spent the last dollar and woke up. l
worked. Nothing was too small or too
big for me to handle. l got something
TO risk and then | risked 1t. | risked
| 1t again and again. After ten years
| could draw my check for thirty thOus-
and plus interest and / did. l sent the
| check to the little bank back home. l
waited two months for the answer and
| then 1t came; my check torn across
and short letter saying that the loss
had already been met by a bankers
| surety association. / wrote the assoc
| citation a dozen letters and some or
them took some writing. In the last
| offered fourfold the theft. There had
bsen plenty of Bible In my bringing
up. They wrote back that 1t was no
use-that I could keep on climbing In
peace but 1t was their business to jail
me for fifteen years the first chance
they got and they'd do it the minute |
set foot where they could grab me.
! LOTT Fricr hn-