The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1929-03-14

"And now, when / call up the
old times, it is not the crassitude
of that period which attracts my
attention but it is the spirit of in
finite merriment which seemed to
pervade the entire community. ]
verify believe that there was more
fun to the square inch of Main
street than in any city the wide
world over. The fastidiously mind
ed may call it horseplay if they
choose. But it was invigorating.
For a sense of humor is a saving
grace. The possession of it pre-
vented Abraham Lincoln from be-
coming victim. of melancholy !.
The lack of it made John Calvin a
cruel man."
One of the characters DR.. Du
Bots recalls with pleasure was
"Old Man Mattson, one-time Meth
odist exhorter who had back-slid-
den and chad long been engaged in
using an emphatic vocabulary to
castigate the very sentiments he
had previously indorsed."
The doctor cites other incidents
which have helped to sweeten life
on Main street for him. The time,
for example, when Mr.. Mattson
and a defender of orthodoxy were
having religious argument which
some one ended with a firecracker.
There was the time, too, when Mr..
Oehl, village watch tinker and band
leader, was hoisted into the air
because the tails of his coat be-
came attached to the curtain in the
town op'ry house.
'Here are the joys and sorrows
of life," concludes the doctor after
having given examples of both.
Here is the pathos and here are
the tragedies. And the important
question bearing on the Main
streeter and on every one of us
pilgrims in the Great Journey is
how shall we appropriate and
make healthy use of the humor-
Gus incidents of our environment
and how bravely can we meet the
catastrophes and tragedies common
to our humanity"
81 sometimes question whether
an advancing civilization can yet
dispense with its Main street," DIR.
Dubois continued. SIN this won
derful era of the making of books
the lore of all the ages is on our
shelves. We can communicate
daily with the brightest intellects
of the past. But it is a rich diet
and l find myself inclining to the
opinion that it requires for the pre-
servation of our mental health a
dilution or thinning by the admix-
ture of somewhat of the coarse food
replete with it's vitamins, which is
supplied by the crudity and gross
ness of the common life as it exist
ed on Main street.
"And now, should I be asked if,
were it in my power, would blot
out or substitute for the Main
street which has been so large a
part of my life, the answer would
be an emphatic no. l shall always
have a kindly affection for it. My
experience of life has been some
what varied in the days gone by.
For / have softpedaled with felt
slippered shoes through a royal
palace; I have tripped the light
fantastic toe on the boulevards of
Paris; with solemn visage I have
SIMULTANEOUSLY threaded my way
through Westminster Abbey gaz-
ing upon the tombs of the great
with every emotion of envy, as Ad-
Olson said, dying within me.
con the invitation of certain
millionaires l have travelled with
them in their palatial cars from
coast to coast, drinking freely of
their champagne, and, in order not
to appear urgrateful not even utter
ing protest when they would crit
icize severely the pernicious habits
of the coal miners we saw at GER
tain points along the road as they
emerged from the infinite darkness