Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1917-11-02
By EDGAR FRANKLIN

/ his grip and gone to stay With al
thony Fry, in that utter ultimate O
everything .impeccable and expensive
! in the way of bachelor apartments
the Hotel Lasandeand even ths
sight OF the fight tickets, when An
thongs invaluable Wilkins had re
turned with them, had only brought ;
fitting smile to Johnson Boiler.
Now they were watching the seconf
preliminary bout, and could he bu1
have traded one thousand of these
bouts for single hour with his be
loved Beatrice, Johson Boiler woult
gladly have
''In the MAN. said Anthony Fry
that absurd little chap up there typi
fies my whole conception Of opportun
|ity."
"Huh?" Johnson said.
"The chance for that fatal upper
cut is there-it was there a minute
ago and it will be there minute
hence, and probably two minutes
hence. Our Tornado hasn't seen il
yet; he may go to the end of the ten
rounds and never see it, and yet, un
less that Horrigan chap changes his
tactics, 1t will be repeated again and
again. Would he see it II the bout
ran twenty rounds?'
How the dickens should know
johnson Boiler muttered.
It'd be quite willing to wager" An
would see it!''
Johnson Boiler surveyed his friend
narrowly. It was obvious that An.
|thoney's attention had .strayed from
the alleged battle-and small wonder!
1t was equally obvious that Anthony s
mind was wandering off into abb
stract; and not infrequently these
little journeys-providing they went
not too far-were quite entertaining.
johnson Boiler, therefore, with an
impulse he was to regret bitterly in
the very near future, gave a prod to
discussion by smiling in his own I'm.
happy way and saying:
Whats the idea, Anthony? You're
wrong, but-what is it7'
my idea" said the proprietor of
Fry's Imperial Lniment slowly, "is
merely this, Johnson: that the whole
proposition of the man who is dire
failure, the man who is q tremendous
success, ii vastly exaggerated
"'Meaning?"
THAT failure does not of necessity
imply incapacity or ineptitude-or
success any tremendous capability, in
many cases, for that matter. Taken
by and large, we are all made of much
the same stuff, you know. The trouble
lies in the failure Of the plain, aver
age, reasonably stupid citizen to
recognize opportunity's one, solitary
knock" Anthony smiled, growing
himself. more interested by the sec.
ond. Nov, if opportunity were but
decent enough to knock twice, at
least double the number of striving
humans would recognize her nearness
and grasp her. II she could bring her
self to knock three times, say. our
successes would be tripled. If"
"And IL she knocked a thousand
millionaire johnson Boiler suggest
ed.
Something like that" smiled All.
thony. "The chap who does know op-
portunity, recognizes her mainly by
accident, honestly believe. Now. il
we could but take each man and place
before him and hold her
there until he fully understood that
she was present. the word failure
would be omitted from the dictionar-
les generation hence"
Anthony Fry winked rapidly, which
In itself was rather a bad sign be-
cause it indicated that the theorizing
portion of his cultured brain was
growing quite rapt. At another time.
very likely, Johnson Boiler would
have needed the warning and turned
attention gently back to
the fight; but tonight Boiler sought
refuge from the haunting loneliness
that Beatrice had left behind
II don't agree with you!" he said
hatly.
'Eh?'
Mix" said Johnson Boiler. ANY
guy who can come face to face with a
regular honest-to-goodness opportun-
ity, Anthony, and not know her inside
of one second, could have her tied to
his right leg for two hundred years
and never know she was there"
"You really believe that?"
ooh, / know it," said Johnson Boil
Ter. / have several millions of years
Of human experience to prove that
am right"
Anthony leaned closer, causing the
largest of the red-faced trio behind to
SHIFT for a view of the ring.
lie us assume, johnson, the indi-