The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-08-21

this talk about the future was an un-
alloyed torment Il agitated and dis-
tressed him. He would come into the
postofficR OF an evening and we Woalo
gossip with fluent merriment without
prelude, one Of us would mention a con
who had been sent back on another
Jolt. All the whimsical light that usu-
ally played about his large, handsome
face would give place TO a a o.
gloom. The quick. faeile tongue would
nalt its whispering banter.
Ril Porter. the wag, became Bhi
Porter, the cynic. Fear OF the futnre
was like a poisonous serpent that had
coiled into his heart and lodged there,
It's fangs striking into the core OF his
happiness.
THE prison label is worse than the
brand OF CAIN he said many q time
If the world M sees II, you are
doomed. II shall not see Il on me. ]
Will not become an outcast.
The man who tries to u hinleelI
against the tide Of humanity Is sure
to be sucked down in the undertow. !
am going TO swim with the current.
Porter had less than a year more g
serve. He was already planning on his
re-entrance to the free world. For me
the question did not then exist. MY
sentence was life, hut ! felt that Por-
ter's position was false. | knew that II
would mean an u~nsheathed sword per
netuallv hanging over his head. The
fear of exposure saddened and limos
tragically bounded his life,
"Whe9 | get out. I will hurry the name
Of Bill Porter In the depths Of oblivion.
No one shall know that the Ohio peni.
tentiary ever furnished me with board
and bread"
IT will not and I could not endure the
slanting, doubtful scrutiny OF Ignorant
human doEs."
Porter was an enigma to me in those
days. There was no accounting for his
moods. He was the kindest and most
tolerant Of men and yet he would some
times launch into invective against hui
manity that seemed to come from a
heart charged with contemptuors anger
for his fellows. / learned to understand
him later. He liked men; he loathed
their shams.
The freemasonr' Of honest worth was
the only carte blanche to his friendship.
Porter would pick his companions from
the slums as readN as from the draw
ing rooms. He was an aristocrat In
his culture and his temperament, but
It was an aristocracy that paid no trib-
ute to the material credentials Of so
ciety.
Money. fine clothes, pose they could
not hoodwink him, He could not abide
snohbery or ~insincerlty. He wanted to
meet men and to make friends Of then,
not with their clothes n their bank
accounts. He knew an equal even when
1t was hidden in rags-a7d he could
scent an inferior underneath a wealth
OF purple and fine linen.
Porter dealt with the Fundamentals In
his human relations, He went down
under the skin. And so he scoffed al
conventional standards of ~apprAislnG
men and wornen He helittled the paltry
claims whAron the shallow minded based
their prestige.
Colonel" he would mock, IT have a
nroud ancestry, 1t runs back Thousands
and thousands OF years. Do YOU know
| can trace 1t clear back to Adam!
THE man I would like to meet Is the
one whose family tree does not take
root in the Garden OF Eden. What an
oddity he would have to be-a sort oi
spontaneous creation.
And, colonel. ~ the frat families
only looked far enough hack, they would
find their moor. miserable progenitors
seat
That any OF these descendants OF slime
should dare to look down upon him even
IN thought al intolerahle. He knew
himself to be the equal Of all men, His
fierce. honest indenendence would brook
patronage from none.
II won't he under an obligation tc
any one. When | get out from here
strike free and bold. No one shall
hold the club OF e~X-convict over me-"
Other men have said the same"
felt that Porter's attitude lacked cour
age. and there Is always some one
to hunt them down, You can't gel