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A Prospector’s
Story By GEORGE C. WILSON |
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On one of God’s mountains, there 1
went mad,
And slew all my hopes with a devil
club gad.
Pull forty odd years had they led me
about
By a will-o’-the-wisp that always went
out:
But the last futile grab shook all faith
that I had,
So I slew the damned hopes with a
devilclub gad.
Then I lay like a dead thing, nerveless
and spent,
The snow for a mattress, the sky for
a tent.
All was as nothing and nothing as
wfas—
Life’s mainspring seemed broken and
stopped seemed its laws
Since the last eager grab same as
usual missed bad
And I slew all my hopes with a devil
club gad.
How long 1 lay thus not a whit could
I tell,
When T heard a voice stern, withal
kindly as well:
“Courage,” it said, “thy hopes are not
dead,
“Hopes are eternal, ’tis thy false
hoods are fled.
“Arise, get thee back where the green
grasses grow;
“My snow mounts are holy, get thee
below.
“Ye have fought the good fight and
o’ercome that ye know,
“Let it suffice thee, now get thee
gone—go!”
Instantly 1 sprang to my snowshoe
bound feet
(Strength as suddenly restored as it
suddenly went)
And gazed all around me, tense and
intent.
Dumb desolation was all that I saw,
Yet seemed there an eloquence of sil
ence, of awe;
’Twas as if all the gods, of the all
out-of-doors,
From circling horizon to death's
dreamless shores,
Had effaced themselves ’fore the pres
ence of One
"Who knows no boundary in earth,
stars or sun.
.... Bedeviled and driven, and only
half sane
1 gat from that mountain and stood
in the plane.
There T ’bode in the brush two spans
and a spell
And fought all the demons of satan
and hell.
Then I wrestled with angels, like
Jacob of old.
And would not let go till they prom
ised me gold.
“Go to,” one said, “find an old river
bed
And sluice out its bottom with the
sweat from thy head.”
“Thou fool,” said some others, “have
done with thy troubles,
“Get thy fool gold where greed and
graft bubbles.”
“Poor mortal.” remarked one in less
ribald tone,
“Ye could have wisdom yet ye asketh
for stone.”
“Pease,” spoke a voice gentle, yet
full of command,
“He's an old sourdough, let him have
his demand.”
Then was 1 led to a wilderness indeed,
Where men preyed on men and greed
fought with greed:
A jungle of people and nations and
tongues,
AH in a tangle, hot air in their lungs;
Wretched and miserable, and poor,
and blind,
And knowing it not because of their
mind.
Heady, precocious, distrustful, fero
cious.
Dope-driven creatures with habits at
trocious;
Covetous, boastful, foolish with van
ity,
Mouths speaking blasphemy, hearts
fierce with anarchy;
Lustful, deceitful, souls without light,
Despisers of godliness, scorners ot
right.
All this did 1 not note by myself,
understand,
My angel guide showed it me, all o’er
the land.
Also showed he great business, rich
beyond ken,
Profiting in patriotism and the needs
of poor men.
With omnious hiss he called attention
to this,
Then touched up the nations, their
ways all amiss.
The churches, the courts, trade, so
ciety, sports,
All caught the fierce jolts of his fierce
thunderbolts.
“Gold is here,” he finished, “and
much silver forsooth,
“Set up thy stamp mills, crush out
and sluice.
“The pay,” he added, with a lift of
his wings,
“Lies in men’s passions, their bellies,
their sins.”
With this cryptic hint he took his de
parture,
And I saw him no more in that hell
of debaucher.
.Well, I got me in business, all
kinds and galore,
And fed men the fruits that their
souls lusted for—
Attractions, distractions, eats, drinks
and display—
And became a great man ’mongst the
great of the day.
Riches and honor, pelf, piffle and
power
Rained merrily on me—a veritable
-■U ~
OJ.1U V * i •
. . . . But at height of this mirth
came New Age into birth
And turned topsyturvy all things in
the earth.
The first became last and the last be
came first
In a whirl of disorder when New Era
burst.
Gold became valueless and money
was dirt,
A witness against you—a thing to
your hurt
Masters who thought themselves pow
erful, secure,
Found themselves servants, inconti
nent, poor.
.Then I prayed to return to
my old peaceful haunts,
Where I reveled in freedom and rub
bered for quartz.
. . . . God answered my prayer, for
I woke with a start
And found myself lying on snowy
Rampart—
On the very same mount where 1
went to the bad
And slew all my hopes with a devil
club gad.
...'?. A dream, you opine! Well, per
haps ; I don’t know.
But dream or no dream I’m a thank
ful sourdough.
REAL IDENTIFICATION
LOS ANGELES* Cal., Aug. 25 (by
Associated Press).—Photographs and
thumb prints, as well as signatures,
will be required hereafter of Los
Angeles city employes when they
cash their pay checks. The photo
graphs and the thumb-prints will be
carried on identification cards, with
which, the city council has just ruled,
every municipal employe must be
equipped.
Read the Daily Times for the latest
and most reliable world news.
ENGLISH STEEL SELLS
AT HIGHER PRICES THAN
AMERICAN PRODUCT
LONDON, July 15 (Correspondence
of Associated Press).—Steadily in
creasing production costs, due to in
creased labor and higher prices for
raw materials, have developed the
fear in England that British export
trade is to suffer a severe jolt, if not
serious injury. Comparisons are con
stantly being made with foreign costs
but it is noted that most men fear
American competition more than any
other.
Sir Auckland Geddes, discussing in
the house of commons the effects of
increased coal prices, compared Brit
ish iron and steel prices with those
prevailing in the United States.
Steel rails in England, he said, cost
$85 a ton while in the United States
they were $50, and steel plates for
shipbuilding $87.50, and in the United
States $70. Crown bars were $110 a
ton as compared with the American
price of $57.50. The spread in pig
iron, he pointed out, was $10 a ton,
the British cost being $40 to the
American $30.
Home portraits of quality. Agency
Cordova drug store. Scarborough, pho
tographer. 14-tf
Electric irons, 3 pounds to 6 1-2
pounds. Prices $3.50 to $6.50 at the
Northwestern Hardware Company.
Your eyes fitted. Compound and
Btigmatic lenses replaced. See Os
borne.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
SERVES ONLY NEAR BEER
VANCOUVER, B. C., Aug. 25 (by
Associated Press).—Thirsty travel
ers coming here from the “dry”
United States find themselves able
to push open a swinging door, walk
into a regular saloon, put their foot
on the rail and order beer, which,
although of the 2% per cent variety,
still, according to some, tastes much
like it did down in “the States” be
fore July 1.
And, often to the surprise of the
stranger customers, the bartender or
barmaid serves the beer for the old
price of five cents a glass, without
war taxes.
“Hard” liquors, under the British
Columbia prohibition act, are han
dled in the larger cities at govern
ment “liquor dispensaries,” where
they are sold on doctors’ prescrip
tions.
Try the Club Billiard^Hall for
golden, silver and royal fizzes. 23-tf
ARCTIC BOARDING HOUSE
Second St., Next Door to Times
Office
Now Open—Convenient to All
Board by Day, Week or Month.
Breakfast, 25c and up
Dinner, 60c and up
Supper, 60c and up
Breakfast—6:30 to 8. Dinner,
11:30 to 1:30. Supper, 5:30 to 7.
MRS. VICTOR RIVERS and
MRS. BEN SHERMAN Proprietors
I TwiceWelcome whenTbu
Bring Victor Records
No matter how entertaining you are, you link
yourself with the greatest of all entertainers when B
you bring with you some records for the Yictrola.
Everybody likes to hear new Victor Records
because they bring the art of the world’s greatest
singers and instrumentalists into the home. Your
thoughtfulness and good taste will be appreciated
and the records will give permanent pleasure.
Drop in the next time you pass
this way and let us play records that will
please you and your friends. We have a
very fine stock and it will be a pleasure
to serve you. C
i
NORTHERN IRUG CO.
“THE DRUG STORE OF ALASKA”
“SERVICE” is our motto
tonight
SHOW
8 P. M.
LAST TIME TONIGHT
Norma
Talmadge
IN
“PANTHEA”
TOMORROW--—--\
1 s
l Pauline Frederick!
“Mrs. Dane’s
Defense” |
DO you like an
easy-running,
durable and
convenient type
writer? Of course!
Then you should
use The Silent
Smith—ball-bear
ing, long-wearing.
WRITE FOR BOOKLET TO E. S. HEWITT & COMPANY
BE SENT ON FIRST BOAT JUNEAU
_______I
STEAM HEAT ELECTRIC LIGHTS
I '
i
i
MRS. J. W. KENNEDY
Chitina, Alaska
POOL TABLE IN CONNECTION
BCIST BRANDS OF CIGARS KEPT
- ----■ -■ mm.■■-— ■ ----- - - -----..
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