The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-05-31
CHAPTER v


The Sea Siren was already begin
ming to fill up when Clay descended
three steps to cellar and was warily
admitted. A near-Hawaiian orchestra
was strumming out dance tune and
few couples were on the floor. Wait
resses got up as Loreleis, were NOV
Ing about among the guests delivering
orders for refreshments.
The westerner sat down in corner
and looked about him. The walls were
decorated with crude purple crayons
Of underfed sirens. A statue Of a nude
woman distressed Clay. He did not
mind the missing clothes, bue she was
so dreadfully emaciated that he
thought it wise; for her to cling to the
yellow.and.red draped barber pole
that. rose from the pedestal. On the
base was the legend, "The Weeping
Lady" After he had tasted the Sen
Siren fare the man from Arizona sus-
pected that both her grief and her
anaemia arose from the fact tnat she
had been, fed on it.
A man in artists velveteens, minus
a haircut, with large. fat. pasty face.
sat at an adjoining table and dis
coursed to his friends. Presently, dur
ing an intermission Of the music, he
rose and took the rest Of those present
into his confidence.
Bourgeois to the CORE" he an
nounced, speaking Of the United
States. "What are the idols we wor-
ship?- Law. the chain which binds an
enslaved people, thrift, born Of childish
fear; love Of country, which Is another
name for Grass provinciallsm. IL am
a Cosmopolite, not an American. b.
hemia is my land, and all free souls
IRE my brothers. Why should I get
wrinkles because Germany sunk the
Lusitania a month or two ago? That's
her business, not mlne."
Clay leaned forward on search for
information. Excuse me for buttin'
In, and me stranger. But isn't 1t yore
business when she murders American
women and children?"
The pasty-faced man looked ut him
with thinly disguised contempt. "You
wouldn't understand IL explained"
"Nlebbeso I wouldn't. hut you take
a whirl Mt it and I'll listen high, wide,
and handsome"
The man In velveteens unexpectedly
found himself doing as he was told.
There was q suggestion Of compulslon
about the gray-h'ua eyes fnstcNpd on
his, somethin. In the "lran OF Nh"
strong jaw that brought him up fol
q moment against stark reality.
1.-THE intelligentsia Of country
know that there can be no freedom
until there Is no law. Every mans
duty is to disregard duty. So. by far
Ing far on the wings of desire, he helps
break down the slavery that binds u.s.
Obey the Cosmic Urge Of your soul re
CARELESS Of where it leads you, young
man. ss4 lH-}% 1
g. It was unfortunate for the poet OF
Bohemia that ut this precise moment
Kitty Mason, dressed in sandals and "a
lilac-patterned smock, stood before
him With q tray Of cigarettes asking
for his trade. The naive appeal In hel
soft eyes had its weight with the poet
What Is the use Of living In Bohemia
If one cannot be free to follow i'm
pulse? He slipped an arm about TIN
girl and kissed the crimson lips up
turned to him. ~
Kitty started back with little or!
=. of distress.
The freedom taken by the near-poe
was instantly avenged.
4 "A Cosmic Urge beat in the veins o
the savage from Arizona. He took tn
poets advice and followed his Law
less Impulse where 1t led. Across tn
4 table long arm reached. Sinew
fingers closed upon the flowing neck
wear Of the fat-faced orator AM
dragged him forward. leaving over
turned glasses in the wake OF hi
course. - -. $50 : - .--------