Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1916-08-08
ATYPE OF THE COMPLETE FOOL.

"A TYPICAL case is lndl OOteQ III the
press reports of a trial lately concluded
| in a western Iowa county where a
farmer has been given back by the
courts part of certain realty that he
had decided to parties in Omaha. 1t is
a typical case of the farmer who seeks
the bright lights and in his later years
aspires to pose as faun leading a band
of nymphs with wine and garlands and
song and the fussy dalliance of the
primrose path.
This hard handed son of toll had &C
quired much land and some bank ac-
count He felt like the Count of Monte
Cristo when he dribbled those diamonds
of unvalued price thru his finger and
shouted the world is mine" Perhaps
as he had looked down interminable
corn rows and cursed old Tom and
Jerry in the sweat Of his brow thru long
years Of toll he had seen visions of
beauty. coolies or suds and held an
imaginary court wherein he was crown
ed king of jewellers. Anyway he went
forth seeking wine and song and Odal-
isques and excitement. a grZZled old
hired man at arms kidding himself into
the guise of a troubadour. In Omaha
he found ladies fair and kindred bold
spirits that chafed at toll to whom the
world was their oyster bed and the gen.
tleman from Iowa their oyster They
opened him. He shortly found himself
empty shells in the garbage can. He
had no more money than a rabbit His
lands had been decided away to the de-
signing and dead game. He had been
mistaken. He wasn't the Count of
Monte Cristo. He was just an old dub
who had fooled away all he had worked
hard for, had come back home broke
and discredited to hang around under
contempt where he had been a respect
able figure and had counted. He hadn't
been count of any kind unless a no
man who ought to be busted and whose
| misfortunes are food for smiles instead
of cause for sympathy.
All the fools are not young fools
some are old ones. There's no fool like
an old fool for two reasons, first he is
| the biggest and most foolish fool; sec
done. The young fool often gets hurt
sufficiently by his folly to straighten
him up. The old fool who runs to odal-
isques and the like is goner. When
an old mans foot slips he breaks his
neck. When a man who has reared a
family tries to play the faun he only
proclaims the fact that he is a satyr.
1t is all off with him. He might better
be an opium eater as regards his soul;
for he loses moral consciousness quick
err degenerates faster. goes all to pieces
at once. And the pieces can never be
reassembled. He's all in. Good night.
He gets no sympathy at home or
abroad. Men despise him. Decent
women shun him. Even indecent wom-
en- hold him in contempt and dismiss
him as soon as the cash Is gone and
the deeds are signed and acknowledged
He despises himself. Like the Ancient
Mariner he carries the putrefying bur-
den of his own sins about his neck. He
must live with it or suicide and usually
he fears death worse than life and
hangs around. idle, leprous, avoided,
unfriended until he dies and is thank
fully buried away out of sight
There's the type. Practically every
community has seen it. 1t exists in
numbers too large to escape notice. Sc
| lect your own example.