Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1919-04-02
"GREATER GLORY"

bIHc anu insisted on WiCcn-ndZel ii
stead of bay-rum. Whiskers can
off. The man who dared carry
cane was either a very rich perso
or fool. We learned to take morr
ing baths, use safety-razors, spen
two hours at lunch and dress in Tus
edoes for dinner.
We ceased frying folks in the here
after; our young folks change
"What Shall We DO to be Saved?
into "What Shall We DO Tonight?
The less the child knew about tn
fundamentals of learning the bette
was it educated; we sent our boys t.
college to play half-back and lear
to wear clothes that made us laugl
ourselves to death. Our newspaper
dropped their easy Conversations
style and adopted headlines. Book
were produced with an eye to how
many reader could Ego through" il
season. Magazines went up tt
twenty cents and the more saucy the
stories the greater the circulation
Bicycle races no longer drew a grand
stand, someone came chugging down
Main street in contraption called a
hOrseless carriage that drew crowd
of local mechanics when it stopped
who squinted up underneath and
commented on how it worked; gaso-
lene went up to thirty cents and kero-
sene came down to eleven. We be-
came a nation of speed maniacs and
life insurance statistics on the insan-
ity rate were used to prove that we
were a great nation and that
folk who talked on "the good old
times' were either seedy individuals
who couldn't keep the pace or raveled
ends of has-been romances who had
failed to hook pair of trousers.
And while these changes were in
progress, what shall be said of our
townsfolk themselves and especially
the folk whose history we have fol-
lowed? All, there comes in the pa
thos. Where are the folk of yester-
year, indeed? Where are the faces
we once knew, the voices that were
so familiar? Scattered to the four
corners of the tired old earth, most
Of them or sleeping quietly in the
cemetery on the hill. And in their
places are strange folk, faces and
voices which we know and yet do not
know,-upstarts and usurpers, ac-
quaintances instead of friends, names
to fill the census and the telephone
directory and not human souls whose
joys were our joys and failures our
failures, whose successes were our
successes and their griefs our griefs.
Oh, the inconsistencies of it! Truly, :
the only permanent thing in life is
Change.
Yes indeed there have been new
days dawn and the sun of these days
looks down upon new people. Even
the people of our narrative are diff
ferent folk, alas, than we recognized
them yesteryear. We are on the
third and last part of our story now
the final lap toward home and the
Greater Glory. And in this last act
life's play the makeup of our ac-
rs ii.., .:ss: be changed.
We have seen Sam Hod young
wspapernan, very deliberate and
tecise in all he did, gravely deport-
lg himself, striving to build Il news
,aper which should be respected and
sworn by among all kinds and class
es everywhere. We look upon him
now with his hair gray, his moustache
ragged, his eyes old and philosophical
and tired. We have seen the people
of our Office young and careless and
thinking only of the good
time coming in the evening after
work. We look upon them now toll
worn and care-bent, with families and /
responsibilities, going down the hill
of life and hugging closer and closer |
in the evening hours to their easy ,
chairs and rockers. We have seen {
Jack Purse first young and open
faced lad with fine clear eyes and
D smile that showed his even teeth, /
with a dark-eyed girl in the t
after-glow. We have be- I
held him again as middle-aged man {
with the lines in his forehead grow '
ing deeper and his manner more ia J
,iturn as the worry Of his future and {
The welfare of his family grew upon ,
hin. Now we see him only as cray t
IN protrait hung on the north wall |
If the front room in the Poor Purse {
Place out on Cobb Hill, or the bitter ]
sweet memory in woman's heart, 7
forgotten by all but herself and God. $
We have seen Herb Truman an awk- q
ward lad with terrible cowlick driv- a
ny a smart little black mare through G
he village and tipping over t
,tatuary and furniture in any given /
DOM he entered-and we have seen v
Tim as fat, easy-going man of mid 7
lleage, drinking silently by himself =
Ind finally slipping away out of town
me summers dusk to stay away for a
wenty years. Now we must behold a
him as the two decades have changed
,im--for Herbert Truman one day
anne back. We have seen Mibb O
too,-a spit-fre of girl il
With notions in her head for which a
monstrosity of wife and mother
hould be tarredand feathered, marry il
ng Herbert and parading her tinsled u
inery before the eyes of a town that |,
vas not impressed at all. And we o
AVE seen her in middle life, a bit t.