Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1917-04-05

OS1~ ~ ~ LII rs"
Consequently, the capital re-
garded Smith with all the interest
and all the admiration that would
have been given him elsewhere
possibly with more, for the people
of Washington know the really
great from the sham, and reward
it instantly. The Washington
atmosphere" responds to bril-
liancy just as any other "atmos-
phere" must do. Members Of con
gress, particularly, now that their
vanguard was coming slowly hack
for thc'new session, stopped in the
corridors of the capitol and on
street corners to comment on the
effectiveness with which this
young MAJ had not only appealed
to the country but had also COM
PEELED the country to answer his
call.
1t was true. His work was I'm.
precedented in many ways-in it's
volume, its far-reaching influence,
its immensely of detail, it's large
ness of program. And to all of it
he gave his flaming, imperious at
tention. The arrangement of the
bands, the placing of the big
choral clubs and singing societies,
the laying out of the line of march,
the placing Of the state delegations
all passed through his hands and
were bettered, altered, or ap-
proved.
He personally felt a consuming
passion for the work. He never
tired, consciously. Often he found
himself fearing that he was driv-
ing his fellow workers too hard.
His enthusiasm made him feel that
he could throw his hat against the
stars-and his enthusiasm was so
great because his desire to win the
fight was so intense. He was de-
termined that nothing should stop
him and the movement which
recognized him as its necessary
leader. If anybody questioned his
powers of endurance, he merely
laughed, His strength, he told
himself, could not be exhausted.
But Waller, watching him with
hawklike attentiveness, thought he
detected in him little signs of
WEAKNESS, trifing evidences of
the terrific strain. And the news
paper man, having seen all man
ner of men in all kinds of work,
hit on his own solution Of the
leaders, trouble. It was not the
work that bothered him. It was
another labor, a different kind of
strain. 1t was his overmastering
longing to win to that position
where he could go to Edith Mallon
and ask her to marry him.
His pride is being hurt" Wal
Ter thought. "He will not go to
her now. He figures that, if he
wins out in this thing, his position
will be such that he can more
properly ask her to marry him.
But even Walters analysis of
the situation was incomplete. The
iron that had gone into John
Smith S soul was that he could not
know whether he was in a posi-
ton to marry any woman. And
yet, he practically was convinced
that he could. His thoughts, his
ideals, his dreams, concerning
Edith were enough to convince
him that, whatever might have
been in his past life, real love for
a4woman had never figured in it.
Most of the time his work alb
sorbed him utterly. This had to
be SO, for his own sake and for the
sake of the work itself. But,
whenever his thoughts went to
her, he became a king Of romance
the kind Of romance which is in
the heart of every man who fares
forth to win the one woman. IT
was an lmperlous thing. He could
recognize, even in his darkest mo-
ments, no insuperable obstacle in
the way of winning her. "A con-
fdence that at the same time was
blind and yet definite held him up.
Only, there we're times in the
early morning hours when he
clenched his hands and thought:
can overcome whisky in the
mass, for the benefit Of the whole
people, but what it did to me /
cannot remedy. The sightless
years, the days that will not come
back to me, the things / have
done! "A stone wall, the wall Of
my ignorance Of myself, keeps
me from her. What hope-what
possible hope is there for me-or.
for herf
Then, with the great will that
was his, he compelled consolation
for himself with the thought:
There must be q way out.