The Oklahoma City times. [volume] (Oklahoma City, Okla.) 1908-1984, 1917-08-28

had slipped out and away from me through a hole in my
pocket. made a quick exit as the ticket seller gave me the
With a sickening thud my feet hit the pavements. My
fists were %clinched: The nails brought blood from my palms;
Down the lone Main street made my way as tears streamed
down my cheeks; | could feel them, red hot, as they left my
heart on their little journey to my eyes.
That day I had given the very best ! had S,r in me-or the
worst, didn't know which. There was SOMETHING wrong;
where it was, or what is was, | didn't know. l@hought that
maybe there was a God who watched and believed. Maybe
couldn't. Maybe, if there was a God, He knew. ! didn't.
was at the end of the street, standing on a hill looking
over the little town. The stars marched in silent procession
sombreros rising in the air, shuffled their feet along the dreary
street and prowled in and out the dark alleyways leading to
dance halls, gambling houses, and saloons. Darkness had
enveloped the village, and every sign Of life and movement
magnified the miserableness of my position.
Life had been long, dusty road to me, and nobody In Il:
and here | stood at the end of that road- FAILURE and
ALONE. N.Y. body %shook--my brain burned-ny heart
What was the use in going back to Los Angeles? I had
nothing there. Nothing but DEBT-and | knew what dodg-
ing hote! clerks meant. What was the use in staying in Glen
dora? ! had called on and talked AT every prospect in the
town: There was nothing ELSE | could do THERE; l was
THROUGH-that was all.
And as | stood there. I looked away out there somewhere
God knows where. And l saw that something, that indie
scrbable something, that has rekindled the fire of determine
His Own Mother. And for hours and hours | talked with her,
and she talked to me, through Gods Great Dream-Phone-
The Vision Of the Past.
to come into MYSELF. There, while no one listened save
God, | stood face to face with my soul,self and had to choose
me ROAD "a o 10 DetteT Oh worse. began 10 see tnat le
was what | made it! began to realize that everything
WORTH WHILE was right and that | was the fellow who was
WRONG; that the proposition was RIGHT, but the way |
had been selling it was WRONG. | had been listening to the
wise guys who could tell the house how to run their business.
had been sitting around hotel lobbies, sappins up my vitality
and mentality by talking to and listening to a lot Of "hog-
and-hominy' ORDER TAKERS-traveling men whose main
business it was to TRAVEL, until the house found out their
caliber and handed them the slide. | had become a PART
of these ne err do-wells, and every day | had been getting
closer and closer to the toboggan. | had handled money as |
handled mysef-spent any amount l had, on anybody met,
any time | met them!
l BELIEVE ABSOLUTELY THAT IF EVERY SALES
MAN WHO READS THIS LITTLE MESSAGE WOULD
SPEND ONE SINGLE HOUR IN HIS w ROOM-BEFORE
HIS MIRROR-AND COLD-BLOODEDLY ANALYZE HIM
SELF, THAI HIS SALES WOULD BE INCREASED A HUN
DRED PERCENT-AND THE PROGRESS OF THIS OLD
WORED MATERIALLY ADVANCED.
Making good, business. is a fight-just like lfe-a con-
tinual struggle. Struggle there always has been and always
will be-there must be. Depend upon 1t, and prepare yourself
for it, the struggle will be always. Life is activity. When