Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1916-10-19
Look DOWN
the Long Road =
BY ADA PATTERSON.

The chief difference between the
wise man and the fool is the matter
OF looking ahead. The wise man
looks far down the road, shielding his
eyes by placing his hand above them,
from the illusions and glamors of the
present. The fool follows his bent
wherever it leads. Is
One looks down the long road to
its, far vanishing point The other
closes his eyes, or seeing, refuses to
read the signs on the guide posts.
The name OF the long road is Con-
sequences. Some cast their eyes,
with the keen, measuring gaze of the
trained surveyor, down the track, cal
culating whittier it leads. Others gal
lop down the course and cry out when
their mount throws them or when
they collide with a stone wall.
Nothing happens without cause and
there is no event without its result.
Every act, as every person, casts a
shadow.
We ovcrdraw our account at the
bank and there is protest. Our
credit suffers. We eat too much and
our bodies are heavy and inert, pois-
oned by their own salf-manufactur-
ed toxins. We sleep too little and
our nerves are traitorous, our tempers
uncertain, our judgment faulty. We
think too much about ourselves and
our lives narrow, and we grow critic
al and unproductive of ideas, bitter
and disconnected. We drink too much
and our appetites apply the lash for
more and stronger stimulants. We
speak, and our words come echoing
back to us in anothers good or bad
deeds.
Every act is a start on the road of
Consequences. 1t behooves US to
look long, often and thoughtfully
down that road before starting upon
it, for along its track no one may re-
turn.
A girl looking out from car win
dow at the crowds pouring into the
Broadway cafes, frowned, sighed and
said:
Your eyes have asked me about
these black clothes OF mine. Il will
tell you about them. have Just
come back from the funeral of a
relative of mine. She was Just past
middle age. She was tired of life
and glad to go. She had worked
hard all her life and had no play, She
was alone and her life was growing
narrower every day. Those laughing,
over-dressed girls going into the cafes
are living, If only for little while,
Every girl can choose between these
two kinds OF life. As for me-" she
nodded her pretty head framed in
brown curls, lust now ! incline to-
ward the cafes"
! knew the girls temptations. They
we're glittering and offered from a
high place. | did not say, Don't"
Human nature is such that saying
Don't" is often equivalent in effect
to saying DO" said:
Have you looked down the long
road?'
The long road" she repeated.
THE road of Consequences"
answered. Il knew a girl who stood
just where you do. She didn't look
down the road, They sent for me
when she had been run over in the
street and was placed in the alcoholic
ward at Bellevue. There was plan
to take her to Wards Island, where
the city's insane are kept. knowledge
Of this plan and the shame and horror
It signified seeped into her burning
brain. She whispered a telephone
number. Ring him up. Tell him |
am. in great trouble she implored.
The man, often seen on Broadway,
answered, I am too busy to be both
cred about her Two days later she
died on Wards Island. Are you
willing to pay that pricel"
The girls eyes Nwidened as she
watched the crowds pouring into the
cafes.
Il know another girl who stood
where you do. She looked down the
long road, far down. She thought Of
what she saw. She said to the temp
ter, No She has turned fer back
upon the brief, feverish gaiety of such
life as this, She chose the deep, tran
gull happiness that follows true, con-
secrated marriage. She has three
children. She has that fathomless
content that springs from a life with
calm center, because she looked
down the long road