Evening star., 1925-02-01

Z
Dreams" Behind him, all the grand
hopes, the splendid ambitions, the
! shining ideals of youth streamed
away to a far horizon. There they
lay, resplendent, magnificent, a glori-
! Gus panoply, woven of cloth of gold
on the precious loom of youth. all
ablaze with the brilliance. the bloom
and the %eauty of the days when his
life was young. And It was fading
fast. His frightened eyes saw 1t
receding hour by hour, dimming and
fiattening to a dull, dead monotone
OF memory. Like the glorious, golden
confidence Of youth, Il was dying; In
a little while 1t would be gone-gone
beyond all dreaming and desiring. 1t
became a dreadfully silent procession
of shattered illusions. hollow am
billions and broken ideals, slipping
back inexorably into the shadows.
And ahead lay the sunset. Full and
square in the path he must tread, the
great plain went falling away, un-
checked, remorseless, to where the
red embers Of the dying fires lit up
the journeys end. He stood gazing
wild-eyed at the tragedy Of life.
And destiny hugged' itself at the
spectacle, destiny being privileged to
see the funny side Of the man stand
ing in the bordedland of 40.
GO to, old fool!" It Uttered what
are you but old? Hair gone. teeth
gone, vigor gone, digestion going,
rheumatism coming. you'll be an old
'un in no time. Don't stare at me like
that-hundreds and thousands OF
myriad millions have fought their
way up that side OF the hill, and they
all shy at the sunset Death? why.
man, there are so many countless
impis of dead In the soil that the
bread you ate this morning was
grown in the dust of the dead. That
Cocky little devil who called you Old
Pogarty' just now-he will be a back
number himself almost before he
knows what's what. That's the only
little bit of satisfaction you get out
of this business.
Excuse me laughing, won't you,
but you do look q silly fish standing
there with your mouth open. But
there. they all do. Right down
through the ages I've stood here.
watching the millions pass. Armies
of them, legions of them, all fighting
and struggling like mad to get look
over the top of that hill. And they
all rear up and plunge like startled
borses when they get their first sight
of the sunset. Tee heel Pass along
there, old fool; make way for the mil
lions yet to come. This is where you
wish"
MR.. POGARTY'S hat completed
A'A its journey. He stood and started
at it for moment, not quite certain
as to how 1T got there. Then he sat
down very gingerly to think things
out. Man is by nature selfish ami
NAL. At crisis he is apt to think
In terms of personal possessions. Mr..
Pogarty did. Somewhat to his own
surprise, he found that nine-tenths of
his were abstract. Even so, they were
beyond price.
Twenty years OF faithful service in the
throne rooms of cash and credit. few
hundreds put by for the rainy day that
came along every now and then to re-
mind him OF others coming. a bril-
liantly yet unconsciously established
reputation for absolute dependability
honesty and sobriety. A bachelorhood
equally solidly founded. A meticulous
brain. A perfect knowledge of every
phase and facet of the working system
Of the bank. A board that might, or
might not, bestow on him ''some little
token OF appreciation, some little me-
mento of the high esteem, admiration
and regard in which the whole Of the
directorate had always held him,
through the long years of his, etc,
etc., when the time came for them to
kick him little farther down the road
to the sunset.
There was a lot more, too; such as
horror Of genteel poverty
1t was at that moment that Mr.
Pogarty's criminal complex functioned.
AS criminal, he passed from the po-
tential TO the intentional. The idea Of
committing one magnificent declension,
which until then had been wholly sub
conscious and subservient, suddenly be-
came definite. 1t became a reality, one
of his personal possessions
Mr.. Pogarty was not a little per-
turbed at the brutal casualness Of it.
His amazed brain demanded a reaction
n touch OF the humdrum, to bring It to
earth. He found himself signing his
name on pile of letters and docu-
ments. They had been placed on his
desk for that purpose. That had been
his first job In the morning for years
and years, putting his signature to a
great sheaf of papers and things. They
were all perfectly in order, of course.
They always were. The secretaries
saw to that. A long mechanical sue