The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1916-08-24

- NJ -@
cided that a walk would make then
as good. 1t was a MINDLESS white
morning, with an inch of crisp snov
over the ground. SO they walked, an,
for the most part they were silent, bu
on their way home. after they ha,
turned back at noon, they began to b
laxative again.
MARY" said Bibbs, after q time
IAN I a sleep-walker?"
She laughed a little, then LOOKED
grave. Does your father say yol
are?"
"Yes-when he's in a mood to fiatte,
me. Other times, other names. III,
has quite a list"
You mustn't mind" she said, gently
Hes been getting some pretty sever,
shocks. What you've told me make
me pretty sorry for him, Bibbs. Nv.
always been sur he's very big"
Yes. Big and-blind. He's like 8
Hercules without eyes and without any
consciousness except that Of hi,
strength and Of his purpose to grow
stronger. Stronger for what? Fol
nothing"
Are you sure, Bibbs? 1t can't be
for nothing; it must be stronger for
something, ever though he doesn't
know what it is. Perhaps what he
and his kind are struggling for is some
thing 30 great they couldn't see it
so great none OF us could see it."
"No, he's just like some blind, IN.
conscious thing heaving under,
ground"
It'll he breaks through and leaps
out into the daylight" she finished for
him, cheerily.
Into the smoke" said Bibbs. "Look
at the powder of coal-dust already dir.
tying the decent snow, even though
It's Sunday, That's from the little
pigs; the big ones aren't so bad, on
Sunday! There's a feck Of SCOT on
your cheek. Some pig sent 1t out into
the air; he might as well have thrown
it on you. 1t would have been drawer.
for then he'd have taken his chance
OF my whipping him for 1t IL l could"
as there SCOT on my cheek, Bibbs?
Is there?"
rs there? There are SCOT on your
cheeks, Mary-a feck on each. One
landed since | mentioned the first" =
She halted Immediately, giving him
her handkerchief, and he succeeded in
transferring most of the black from
hor foaa IN thu coynhr;o 1.boy
entirely matter-of-course about it.
An elderly couple, 1t CHANGED, had
been walking behind Bibbs and Mary
for the last block or so, and passed
ahead during the removal of the SCOT.
"Therev said the elderly wife. You're
always wrong when you begin guess
ing about strangers. Those two young
people aren't honeymooners at all
they've been married for years. A
blind man could see that"
II wish l knew who threw that SCOT
on you," said Bibbs. looking up at the
neighboring chimneys. as they went
on. They arrest children for throw
Ing snowballs at the street cars, but
"But they don't arrest street cars for
shaking all the pictures In the houses
crooked every time they so by. Nor
for the uproar they make. l wonder
what's the cost in nerves for the noise
Of the city each year. Yes, we pay
the price for living In a growing
town. whether we have money Il pay
or none."'
"Who is 1t gets the pay?' said Bibbs.
"Not Ir' she laughed.
Nobody gets it. There isn't any
pay; there's only money. And only
some Of the men down town get much
OF that. That's what my father wants
me to get"
YES" she said. smiling to him, and
nodding. And you don't want it. and
you don't need It,"
But you don't think I'm a sleep
walker, Mary?" He had told her OF his
fathers new plans for him, though he
had not described the vigor and pic
turesqueness of their setting forth.
"You think I'm right?"
"A thousand times.' she cried.
There aren't so many happy people in
this world, I think-and you say
you've found what makes you happy.
IL it's q dream-keep i'll"
"The thought of going down there
Into the money shuffie-I hate 1t as !
never hated the shop" he said. "I
hate 1t! And the city itself, the city
that the money shuttle has ~made-just
look at It! And the dirt and the ugli-
ness and the rush and the noise aren't
the worst Of It; It's what the dirt and
ugllness and rush and noise mean
that's the worst! The outward thugs
are insufferable. but they're only the
expression of a splrit-a blind embryo
of a spirit. not yet a soul-oa, Just
greed! And this go ahead nonsense!
Oughtn't 1t all to be a fellowship I
shouldn't want to get ahead II I could
I'D want to help the other fellow to
keep up with me-"
81 read something the other day and
remembered 1t for you" said Mary.
1T was something Burne-Jones said of
n picture he was going to paint: In
the 1rst picture l shall make q man
walking In The street of Q great city.