South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-01-02
The Monument Of Victory-By O. Henry


aged 29-whIch should enable you
20 guess the war. lie u.s. also princi-
pal merchant and postmaster OF
Cadiz. a little town over which the
brcezes from the Gulf OF Mexico
perpetually blow
Ben helped 10 hurI the Don from
hts stronghold in tho Greater An-
lilies; and then. hiking across half
the world, ne marched qs "a Corp0r-
sl-usher up and down the trOpic
aisles OF the open-alr college in
which the Filipino was schooled.
Now. with his bayonet beaten into
cheese sliccr. ne rallies his corporal
suard OF cronies On the shade OF his
well-whittled porch. instead Of in
the matted 5uUEles OF Mfudauao. AL
ways have his interest and choice
been for deeds rather than for
words; but the consideration and di-
sestion Of motives is not beyond
him. az this story. which Isl his. viii
attest.
What Is &c." he asked me one
moonlit eve. as we SAT- among his
boxes and barrels. that generally
makes men go through dangers. and
Gre. and trouble. and starvation and
battle. and such rcrOurses2 What
does a man CO il for2 Why does he
try TO Guido his feIow-humans. and
De Drawer and stronger and more
daring and SNOWY than even his best
friends are2 What's his game
What does he expect % get ont Of
it, He don't do b. just for the fresh
air and exercise. What would YOU
say. now, Bill. that an ordinary man
expects. generally speaking for his
efforts along the line of ambition
and extra ordinary hustling in the
marSet-p places. forums. shooting-gal-
leries lyceums, batuedelds. links.
paths and arenas Of the civ
llized and vice versa places or the
world o.
Well. Ben" said I. with judicial
seriousness. II think we might safe
~ limit the number Of motives OF
man who seeks fame TO three-tO
ambition which Is a desire for pop
ular applause; 20 avarice. which
looks 10 the material side Of sue
cess: and TO love Of some woman
whom he either possesses OF desires
to possess"
Ben pondered over my words
while a hooking bird on the top of
a mesquite by the porch trilled a
dozen bars
Il reckon" said ne, that your di-
cording 20 the rules laid down i'm the
copybooks and historical readers
But what I had IN mind was the case
OF Willie Robbins. a person I used TO
know I'll tell you about him be-
fore close UP the store if you don't
mind listening.
Willie was one Of our social set
up in San Augustine I was clerking
there then for Brady & Murchisou.
wholesale dry-gOods and ranch sup
plies. Willie and I belonged to the
same German club and athletic as
sociatiOn and military company. He
played the triangle in our serenad-
ing and quartet crowd that used to
ring the welkin three nights a week
somewhere in town.
Willie tibed with his name cor b
siderable. He weighed about as
much as a hundred pounds of veal i'm
his summer suiungs. and he had a
Where is Mary2 expression on his
features so plain that you could al
most see the wool growing on him
But what does this Willie do but
coax his heart out Of his boots and
lose at TO Myra Allison. the liveliest.
brightest. keenest smartest. and
prettiest girl in San Augustine. I
tell you, she had the blacklist eyes.
-he shiniest curls, and the most tam
taliZing-Oh, no, you're Off WASH {
n victim. i might have been, but ]
knew better. I kept out. Joe Gran
berry wac It from the start. He had
everybody else heat a couple of
leagues and thence east to a stake
and mound. But. anyhow. Myra
was a nine-pound. full-merino, fall
clip fleece. sacked and loaded on a
fOur-hCrse team for San Antoine
cream sociable at Mrs. Colonel
Spraggins'. in San Augustine We
fellows had n big room upstairs OPP
caed up for Us 70 put our hats and
things i'm. and 90 comb our hair and
put on the clean collars we brought
along inside the sweat-bands Of our
hats-in short a room 20 fisk up iu
just like they have everyv here ai
heightened doings A little farther
down the hall was the girls room
which they used to powder up iu
and so forth Downstairs we-that
is the San Augustine Social CotiI-
lion and Merrymakors' Ciub-had "a
stretcher put down I'm the parIor
where our dance was going on
Willie Robbins and me happened
To be up in Our-ClOak-roOm / be-
licve we called it-when Myra Ali
son skipped through the hall ON her
way downstairs from the girls
room. Willie was standing before
the mirror. deeply interested in
smoothing down the blond grass
plot on his head. which seemed ia
give him lots Of trouble. Nyra was
always full of life and devilment
She stopped and stuck her head i'm
our door. She certainly was good
looking But j knew how Joe Gran
berry stood with her So did Willie