Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-03-23

7 bringing the tingling blood to his
healthy skin. Breakfast, with steak
and potatoes and pie and every
thing! And so, alert of mind and
body, contented OF soul, strong in
spirit, into the day and what it
might bring forth.
But that was then. And
now?
To raise a leaden head from a
miasmatic pillow, TO stand weak Of
stomach, wabbly of legs, trying to
collect his scattered senses so that
he could ascertain where lay the
bathroom door A cold shower that
left him weak and shivering under
the lOng-delayed reaction. A hungry
guIping of a proffered pick-me-up
An unWelcOme grapefruit; a for
, bidding egg; half a cup Of sinister
coffee. And so, uncertain OF
thought, shaky of body, into the de-
lirium of life of the Merely Rich,
that passes daily from the Morning
After into the Night Before, and
then back again-from Distress to
Delirium and from Delirium to Dis
tress, and so on, over and over
again.
1t is a life into which one may
slip very easily, and quickly, this
existence of the Merely Rich, if one
has much money. 1t is pretty to
look alike the blue scum that
one finds riding the waters of
swamp. It seems to be pleasant. 1t
gratifes the senses and stultifies
the character. Like a drug, it is;
f11Sn nf wall
being, exciting the nerves, titivat-
ing the appetite, whirling one here
and there in a delirium of counter
felt happiness until one finds ones
self living in a purple haze Of SEN
sual pleasures wherein nothing is
certain save uncertainty. . . And
it is as hard to escape from as
quicksand.
Our hero has been rich some
months now. Thus has he slipped;
and how far the Morning Horrors
may well show.
But again we wander.
Having thus begun to mobilize
his scattered forces against the
idea OF arising, our hero sits UP in
bed He looks about, duly.
That is, at first he looks duly
Then his eyes slowly widen; he
looks harder. Then he shuts his
eyes, and rubs them, preparatory to
beginning to look about him all
over again. For he has seen some
thing. At least he thinks he has
seen something He isn't quite
sure. Because he has heard it said
that If one partakes a great deal
of alcoholic beverages one some
times sees things that aren't there.
And he remembers that last night,
just before the fat man pushed the
fat woman into the fountain and
gave somebody else the idea Of
moonlight bathing with your
clothes on that he
Cautiously and a bit timorously
again he opens his eyes and looks.
And that which he sees, or thinks
he sees, is probably the the most
beautiful woman in the world.
And now I'm sorry. I know I'm
going to disappoint you. But truth
is mighty
It's our heroine. of course. And
how beautiful she is you and
know Wei because We have been
with her through so much. But TO
our hero, seeing her for the first
time, and under these circum-
stances, and looking out upon her
as upon the rest of life from the
blue mists of the Morning After, he
sees only a strong girl sitting in
his bedroom and thinks she has an
awful nerve.
And as for her? She sees a good |
looking. very blurred young man
whose visage is the abiding place
of admixed surprise. shock, resent
ment and uncertitude And that's |
about ALI
Instinctively. he takes immedi- |
ately a great dislike to her.
Intuitively. she takes immediate
" a much greater dislike To- him