The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-04-29

, your time. Something uncommon mas
occurred. You must wipe out some
Of the lines you have drawn. You
You are still drawing yourself, but
somehow you have changed You are
not the same. Try to think OF your
self as not what you are, but as what
you are gradually making yourself 10
be ON the canvas,-with your eyes
closed. your arms folded, your head
resting against the back Of the chair.
Something has happened. You are
not using the tools any longer. You
have nothing in your hands. The place
in which you worked is not the same.
Nothing is the same. Wipe the canvas
clean and begin all over again.
When you began the picture you
failed to take into consideration the
possibility that you could be some
thing other than what you have al
ways been. You have never seen
yourself-you have not even thought
Of yourself-as anything but living,
vital, complacent individual, immune
because you are you. You have new.
er thought OF how you will look dead.
The picture is getting beyond you.
You are seeing yourself as you never
have seen yourself before.
There has been an explosion. Pic
ture yourself at your work, serenely
unconscious Of the thing that is about
to happen. You-you, the one person
in all the world who is absolutely ex-
empt from disaster-you are among
the killed.
Go on with tho picture. Keep your
eyes closed, your arms folded-and
go on with the picture you are draw
ing.
That crushed, twisted, shapeless
thing lying over there in the corner,
spattered with plaster and incredibly
still-put that in your picture. 1t is
you. Not the other mantle man
who is always being killed, who is
always lying dead before the plying
gaze OF those who stand and stare
not that man. This time 1t is you.
Picture yourself standing there in the
crowd, looking down upon the unfa-
miliar face. and saying to yourself:
why. that is me. That battered.
ugly thing is me. Those people are
looking at me. This figure am put
ting into the picture is not the other
man. All those bodies strewn about
the place are the other men-but
this one is mel"
Keep your eyes closed. your arms
folded, and draw this picture OF your
self. See yourself as others see you,
as you have seen others. It Is the
picture no artist can paint
And as you draw, let your mind re-
call the face and form of the man who
worked beside you-as a friend, a
comrade-but who, just before the
explosion occurred, skulked away,
empty-handed, and left you and all
the others in serene ignorance of
what he was about to do to you! Call
to mind the face of the man you had
known and trusted and helped in the
place where you worked with him.
A kindly. open, dependable face was
his-up to the very moment he SELF
ed upon to strike you and all the
others in the back. Get him into
your picture. Do not leave him out
Of It. He is the man you trusted and
did not find out until 1t was too late
to alter the picture you have drawn
He is the man who worked beside
you. and slew you. and went about
his business. He Is your friend, the
enemy!
And now that you have completed
this picture of yourself, open your
eyes. unfold your arms, and lift your
head from the back of your easy,
comfortable chair.