The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-07-22

| tnat exercise brings, nor 90 mean
the faint sensation Of discomfort
that comes when dinner is delayed.
l mean hungry! Not for an hour,
not for day, not for axweek; but
for month, two months, three
months! mean a hunger that is
a slow starvation, that is not con-
tent to melt the flesh and shrink
the muscles, but works fatal al
| chemy upon the heart and mind.
Perhaps you do not believe in
such an alchemy. Nevertheless you
will concede that the mind possesses
great dominion over the body. And
mistreated slaves Ioverturn their
harsh masters. Why should not the
body, then, mistreated, destroy the
mind that, ruling, has made no sue
cess Of its reign? l say that no
famished man will observe, after he
has conquered fear, the laws that
men with full stomachs have enact
ed. -
jured up before my mind! Honor,
fidelity, duty! Well, had won
honor on a certain bloody meadow
between two hills in France. Fidel-
ity? For thirty years had held the
faith implanted in me in childhood.
Duty? Well, in my pocket was a
paper proving that had been honor
ably discharged from the army of
does it matter which army? Does
it matter where l was born, who
were my parents, what had been,
| hot hn {n<t IN, IN
my education?
Let it be enough that called my
self gentleman. that still call
myself gentleman, and that scores,
even hundreds, N6f your so-called
best people term me such. But
was very hungry gentleman that
night, not SO long ago, when re-
turned to the shabby, even filthy
lodging house on Thompson Street,
that l called home.
My landlady was seated on a chair
in the ill-smelling hall She met
my entrance with frown. Even had
/ been the kind to shirk an issue, l
could not have avoided this one For
she rose from the rocking chair at
the rear Of the hall. For moment
she would remove her watchful eye
from the brood of half-grown chill
dren who played in the kitchen.
Sorry as l was for myself, / was
sorrier for her.
Looking at her, as she shuffled
her carpet-slippered feet over the
torn and stained oilcloth of the hall,
one found it hard to believe that she
had ever had youth, beauty and hap
piness. One seemed to know that
she had stepped from girlhood into
middle age, and that the step had
not. been the bounding stride of con-
fidence, but frightened, unplanned
leap compelled by fate.
Even the flesh that shook upon
her as she waddled toward me was
not the firm fat Of the well-fed, but
the gross flesh of those who live in
doors, who work too hard, and who
f, replenish their wasted tissues with
food fof the wrong nutrition value.
Without word she held out her
hand to me. could feel myself
coloring, and marveled that there
/ was enough red in my anemic sys-
| tenn to furnish my cheeks with
blush.
There is no humiliation more pain
full to gentleman than his inabil-
ity to pay his debt to persons de-
pendent for their livelihood upon
his financial integrity. Red with
shame, could only stammer: "Pm
sorry, Mrs. Cannon"
l suppose that years before power
ty apd worry and disease. had left
their indelible marks upon her body
and character, her mouth may have
been pleasant, even inviting. 1t
must have been kissable, for al
though / had never seen Mr.. Cannon,
and vaguely understood that he had
vanished from my landlady's. ken
few years ago, the. presence of so
many young Gannons argued the be-
| stowal of caresses upon my land
lady's lips.
But now her mouth was thin and
sharp, in violent contrast to the
overhanging cheeks and the double
chin. Years of contact with i'm
pecunious dodgers had made sheer
| of what might once have been a
| smile.
'Sorry?' she repeated, and her
shrlll voice cut my very soul. 81
can't pay my rent with sorrow, much
less secondhand sorrow that II
get from YOU" Her own witticism
amused her, but could see that it
did not soften her.
From the room at the end of the
hall onesof the brood saw me. He
raced toward US, stopping breath
lessly.
snake a penny disappear, Mr..
Ainsley!" he cried.
LET him make dollar appear"
Suggested his mother.
"Ain't you got penny, Mr.. Aims
| ley" asked the child.
l suppose that my shame appealed |
to Mrs. Cannon. Anyway, she
pushed the child away, harshly or
dering him to 60 back to the kit
chen. But pity for my humiliation
could not make her forget her own
needs. ~ 's rs.
"The rent for your room was due
yesterday, Mr.. Ainsley," she said.
Ppm always willing to give anyone a |
fair chance, but with plenty of peo-
pie waiting for rooms, people as is
able to pay for them, you can't ex-
pect me to let you have the room
Free"
She told the simple truth. Even
this grimy house had become at
tractive to me, because it afforded
me shelter from the elements, be-
cause, for all its degradation, it was
better than the hard benches of the
park. Mrs. Cannon would have no
difficulty in letting the room which
l occupied, the rent of which was
only dollar week, and yet a rem