Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-11-07

rose rapidly to be a celebrity Of world
wide fame. He was one Of the greatest
plungers. probably, that the continent
has ever produced.
He died day before yesterday in
Rawhide. This is a very brief state
ment. You have the birth and the Pc
Rod Of the grave. Who can fill In the
interim? Who can speak Of his hopes
and fears? Who can solve the mystery
of his quiet hours that only himself
knew? I cannot 49,
He was born in the sunny south
land, where brooks and rivers run
musically through the luxuriant soil,
where the magnolia grandiflora, like
white stars, grow in a armament OF
green; where crystal lakes dot the
greensward and the softest summer
breezes dimple the wave-lips into
kisses for the lilies on the shore;
where the air Is resonant with the
warbled melody of a thousand sweet
voiced birds and redolent of the per-
fume OF many flowers. This was the
beginning. He died In Rawhide, where
in the shoulders Of the mountains are
wrapped in garments OF ice and in the
summer the blistering rays Of the sun
beat down upon the skeleton ribs OF
the desert.
when see the ambitions Of man
defeated; when I see him struggling
with mind and body in the only legiu-
mate prayer he can make to &C
complish some end; when see his
aim and purpose frustrated by fortm-
tolls combination of circumstances |
over which he has no control; when |
I see the oustretched hand Just about |
to grasp the flag Of victory, take In
stead the emblem Of defeat, I ask,
What Is life? Dreams, awakening and
death; a pendulum 'twixt smile and
a tear; a momentary halt within the
waste. and then the nothing we set
out from; tale told by an idiot, full
of sound and fury, signifying nothing;
a child-blown bubble that but reflects
the light and shadow Of its environ
ment and is gone; a mockery, lie,
fools vision; its happiness but Dead
Sea apples; its pain the crunching OF
a tyrants heel
A Dead Game" Sport
"He was q man whose exterior was
as placid and gentle as have ever
known. and yet, when we look back
over his meteoric past we can readily
understand that he was absolutely
invincible in spirit. If you viii allow
me I will use phrase most OF you are
with. He was dead
game sport" I say it not irreverentiy.
but fill the phrase as fun Of practical
human philosophy as 1t win hold, ana
1 believe that when you say one IS a
dead game sport" you have reached
the climax Of human philosophy III
Il know there are those who VIII
condemn him. There are those who
believe today that he is reaping the
reward Of a misspent life. There are
those who are dominated by medieval
creeds. To those I have no words TO
saw in regard to him. They are ruled
bv the skeleton hand Of the past, and
fail to see the moral beauty Of
character lived outside their own
ouritanical ideas. His goodness was not
Of the type that reached its highest
in any ceremonial
piety. His goodness, say, was not OF
that type, but Of the type that finds
expression In a word of cheer TO a
brother; the type that ,
finds expression in friendship, the
sweetest flower that grows along the
dusty highway Of life; the type that
finds expression In manhood.
HE lived in a world Of sport. 90 ,
not mince my words. am telling what
| believe to be true. In the world OF
;port-hilarity sometimes, and maybe
Eorse-he left the impress Of his
character on this world and through
he medium OF his financial power he
vas able with his money TO brighten
he lives Of its inhabitants. He wasted
t-so the world saysl
'But did It ever occur to you that
he most sinful men and women who
i've In this world are sti1 men and :
women? A little happiness brought
nto their lives means as much TO
hem as happiness brought into the
ives of the straight and good. II you !
an take one ray of sunlight into their
light life and thereby bring them one
Jingle hour Of happiness, believe you
ire a benefactor.
Riley Grammar may have wasted
ONE Of his money In this wayl
did you ever stop and think how :
sod does not put all His sunbeams b
nto corn. potatoes and flour7 Did you c
yer notice the prodigality with which
1e scatters these g1nbeams over the B
4