Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-10-12
wanted him to LOOK Bibbs over before

had talk. He's mighty disa greeable
man; he rubbed 1t in on me what he
said about Bibbs havin' brains il he
ever woke up. Then l thought he must
want to get something out o. me, he
got so fattering-for a minute! 'Bibbs
couldn't help havin' business brains,'
he says, 'bein' your son. Don't be sur
prised,' he says-'don't be surprised at
his maxim a success he says. He
couldn't get over his heredity; he
couldn't help bein' a business success
once you got him into It. It's In his
blood. Yes, SIR he says, 1T doesn't
need much brains,' he says, AN only
third-rate brains, at that he says, but
it does need a special kind o. brains,'
he says, to be a millionaire. l mean
he says, when mans given start.
If nobody gives him a start, why,
course he's got to have luck and the
right kind O. brains. The only mir
acle about Bibbs,' he says, SIS where he
got the other kind o. brains-the brains
you made him quit usin' and throw
away"
But what d he say about his
health?" Mrs. Sheridan demanded i'm
patiently, as George placed cup OF
coffee before her husband. Sheridan
helped himself to cream and sugar,
and began to sip the coffee
I'm comm to that" he returned,
placidly. "See how easy manage this
cup with my left hand. mamma?"
"You been doin' that all winter.
What did"
To almost all alike that service stood
as the most important thing In life, ex-
cept on occasion of some such vital,
brief tnterregnum as the dangerous Ill
ness Of a wife or child In the way of
relaxation" some Of the servers teok
golf; some took fishing; some took
"shows"-a mixture Of infantile and
negroid humor, stockings, and tin mu-
sic; some took an occasional debauch;
some took trips; some took cards; and
some took nothing. The high priests
were vigilant to watch that no "reIaxa-
ton" should affect the service. When
a man attended to anything outside
his business, eyes were upon him; his
credit was in danger-that is, his life
was in danger. And the old priests
were as ardent as the young ones; the
million was as eager to be bigger as
the thousand; seventy was as busy as
seventeen. They strove nightly
against one another, and the old priests
were the most wary, the most plaus-
ible and the most dangerous. Bibbs
learned he must walk charity among
these-he must wear a thousand eyes
and beware of spiders indeed!
And outside the temple itself were
the pretenders, the sWarming thieves
and sharpers and fieecers, the sly ras-
Gals and the open rascals; but these
were feeble folk, not dangerous once
he knew them, and he had good guide
to point them out to him. They were
useful sometimes, he learned, and
many of them served as gO-betWeens
in matters where business must touch
politics. He learned also how brew
cries and "tractio companies and
banks and other institutions fought
one another for the political control of
the city. The newspapers he discov-
cred, had lost their ancient political in
fluence, especially with the knowing,
who looked upon them with a skep-
teal humor, believing the journals
either to be retained partisans, like
lawyers, or else striving to forward
the personal ambitions of their owners.
The control of the city lay not with
them, but was usually obtained by Civ
ing the floating voters" gin money,
and by other largesses. The revenues
Of the people were then distributed as
fairly as possible among a great num-
Der Of men who had assisted the win
ming side Names and titles of Of
fees went with many of the prizes,
and most of these title holders were
expected to present busy appearance
at times; and, indeed, some among
them did work honestly and faithfully.
Bibbs had been very ignorant. All
these simple things, so we'll known and
customary, astonished him at first, and
once-in a brief moment of forgetting
that he was done with writing-he
thought that if he had known them
and written Of them, how like a satire
the plainest relation Of them must
have seemed! Strangest of all to him
was the vehement and sincere patriot
ism. On every side he heard IT; 1t was
a permeation; the newest schooIchild
caught it, though just from Hungary
ana learning to stammer q few words
or the local language. Everywhere the
people shouted of the power, the size,
the riches and the growth Of their city.
Not only that, they said that the people
Of their city were the greatest, the
finest" the strongest, the Biggest
people on earth. They cited no au-
thorities, and felt the need Of none,
being themselves the people thus cele-
brated. And If the thing was ques-
TONED, or If 1t was limited that there
might be one small virtue in which
they were not perfect and supreme,
they wasted no time examining them
selves to see If what the critic said
was true, but fell upon him and boot
ed him and cursed him, for they were
sensitive. So Bibbs, learning their
ways and walking with them, heark-
ened to the voice Of the people and
served Bigness with them. For the
voice Of the people Is the voice Of their
god.