Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 275, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 November 1913 — JOHN RAWN PROMINIENT CITIZEN [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

JOHN RAWN PROMINIENT CITIZEN

PROMINENT CITIZEN

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X CHAPTER I. «? Certain Notable Details In Genesis. One John Rawn is to be the hero Ot this pleasing tale; no ordinary hero, as you might learn did you make inquiry of himself. John Rawn was born in Texas — and of Texas at the very spot where, had it been left to his own candid opinion, no John Rawn, no especial hero, ought ever to have been born The village he honored by his birth — one of seven which now contend over that claim to fame —was the very home of democratic equality; and how could the home of democratic equality be called typical environment for the production of a man believing in the divine light of a very few? Neither, had John Rawn been consulted in the matter, would he have indorsed the plans of fate in respect to his ancestry any more than he did the workings of the misguided stars in regard to his environment. By right he shoqld. have been the offspring of parents for long generations accustomed to rule, to command, to sway the destinies of others. - Yet far from this was the truth in our hero's case. It was rarely that ever a smile enlivened the somewhat heavy features of young John Rawn, even in the earliest stages of his babyhood. Rarely sid the mirth of any situation bring up in his face an answering dawn of appreciation. He was a serious chilg, as all admitted even from ’ the first. He grew to be a grave boy, a solemn youth. Curious persons might have found certain explanations for these traits in the calling, the temper and training of the father of John Rawn. In that time and place, a minister of the gospel was a man of whom all stood in awe. He was not much gainsaid, not much withstood, not much disapproved. His conclusions were announced for acceptance, not for argument. It is not known, nor is it important, whence Mrs. Rawn came, or how she happened to marry her lord, John Rawn, Senior, the Methodist preacher in the little Texas town. They were married when they arrived at this place, and had been for some years. John was the first child granted to them as answer to his father’s grumbling; the latter, very nobly and righteously, dreading what calamity the world must suffer did none come to perpetuate his race.

Using the outworn ministerial cloth in turn, she made also, in due time, the garments of the son and heir, even building for him a cap, with ear-lap-pets, for winter use. Her own garments might have been seen by the most casual eye to have been the product of her own hands. A certain interest attaches to a little event which nowhere else, save in some such village, would have been noted or could have been possible. The leading local merchant, in a burst of enterprise, had imported a couple of clusters of bananas from New Orleans, Hie first ever brought into the town. F'or a time none of the citizens purchased, and. indeed, it required the grudging gift of a banana or so to establish a local demand. Then—builded on the assurance of a wise and much-traveled citizen who had once eaten a banana at Fort Worth — the rumor of the bananas passed rap idly through the town. Swiftly it became an important thing to announce to a neighbor that one had eaten of this fruit. At this time young Mr. Rawn was six years of age, and by reason of his years and his social position at least as much entitled to bananas as any of his like thereabout. Yet, he had none. The tragedy of this wrung his mother’s soul. Was it to be thought that this, her son, should be denied any of the good things of life, that he should have less than equal enjoyment of life’s privileges In the company of his fellows? The climax came when young Mr. Rawn himßelf approached his mother’s knee, with wonder and surprise upon his face, inquiring why others had bananas, while he himself, the Lord’s anointed, and son of the

These necessary and essential preliminaries now all stand adjusted; and we are able finally to say that at least and at last was born, silently, quietly, with small rebellion on the part of his mother. He lay there in his first cradle, silentj a trifle red, a slight frown upon his face, a trace of‘gravity in his features as he ventured an introspective look within the confines of his couch, and for the first time discovered that wholly interesting, remarkable, indeed wonderful human being, Himself. . Having assured himself that he was here, John Rawn sighed, turned over in his cradle, and presently fell asleep, well assured that, although He had, selected Texas for this event, God after all was in His heaven, and that, in the circumstance, all in due time would be well with the world. Could any hero of his years have acted with a finer, a larger generosity? In his younger school days there was a way about young Mr. Rawn. He did not really care for plodding, yet he was aggrieved if not accorded rank among his fellow pupils. Even in these early days his features were in large mold, even then his abundant hair fell Across his brow. His eyes were blue and prominent, his nose distinct, his lower lip prominent, protruding and in times of great emotion semi-pendulous. Even thus early he seemed old, serious, foreordained. Much of this might have been remedied by kindly application of educational or parental rod, but young Mr. Rawn remained largely uncbastened. His parents did not care to punish him, and his teacher did dare tQ do so. Was he not the minister’sjaOn 7 If his mother had misgivings "they were well concealed. She herself only shuddered in her soul when she heard the orotund voice of the master of the house explain, in contemplation of his first born, “How much he is like me!" Yes, he was like. His mother knew how like At that time and in that part of the country this little western village might have been called almost a little world of itself. Estimates of men , and affairs were such only as might grow out of the soil. The great world beyond was a thing but vaguely sensed of any who dwelt here. The family was its own world. In large part it tilled its own fields and ran its own factories. Mrs. Rawn molded the candles which made the bedroom lights and those by which she sewed —though not that by which her husband rdad ana wrote —in a kettle in the back yafd at butchering times, when suet came the parson’s way. She made her husband's long black coats, building them upon some prehistoric pattern. She made, mend ed and washed his shirts, hemmed nJs stocks and darned his socks for him.

Lord’s anointed, had none. It was at that time that his mother somewhat furtively stole away down the village street It was at about this same time, also, that there chanced to pass by, on the sidewalk in front of the parsonage, two boys younger -than John Rawn himself. These he regarded intently, for he saw from a distance that each had some suspicious object in bis hand. His own*suspicions became certainties. Here was visible proof that, they, mere common persons, were owners of specimens of that fruit whose excellence was rumored throughout the town. They ate, or were about to eat, while he did not! They had luxuries while he had none! They had not asked his permission, yet they ate! Form this picture well in your mind, oh, gentle reader. It is that of John Rawn and ourselves. With great ‘gravity and dignity young Mr. Rawn stalked down the brick walk to the front gate of the parsonage yard. Calmly, with no word, but with uplifted hand —nay, merely by his stately dignity—he barred the progress of these two. They paused, uncertain. Then he held out his hand, and, with a growl of command, demanded of these others *that which they had regarded as their own. He took it as a matter of course thkt Caesar should have the things that were Caesar’s; and they who give tribute to our Caesars now, gave it then. Having possession of these bananas, which as yet remained unbroken of their owners, young Mr. Ra?n showed them that, although these fruits were unfamiliar to their former owners, thpy made no enigma to a person of his powers. As though he had done nothing else all his life, he broke open tbe tender skin and removed the soft interior contents. After this he handed back to each of his young friends the disrupted and now empty Bkius. Yet, with much kindness, he explained to both that at the bottom of each husk qr envelope there still remained some portion of edible contents which, with care upon,their part, might yet be rescued. They departed, wondering somewhat, but glad they had been shown how the thing was I done; even as you and-4 humbly thank our great men for robbing us today. Young Mr. Rawn, age six, turned now with much dignity back to the gallery from which he had with much . *• *

dignity come. He seated himself calmly upon tfce chair and began to eat that which had been given him of fate, that which had been brought to Caesar as a thing due to Caesar. He ate until at last, wearied with his labors, he fell asleep. * Note now our humble moral in this short and simple detail of our hero’s early years. He was at this moment more nearly full of bananas than any other human being in all the village at that time. Yet he had attained that success at no price save that of the exercise of the resources of his mind. That is genius. Let,us not smile at young Mr. >Rawn. His mother, stealing home by the back way with yet other cealed in her apron, presently came upop him and discovered that, after all, her solicitude had not been needful. Her son slept, his lower lip protruding, his features grave, his legs somewhat sprawled apart, his midbody somewhat distended, his head sunken forward, his hands drooping at his side. In one hand, clutched so tightly as to have become a somewhat worthless pulp, his mother discovered the bulk of several bananas; in short, thp full quota which had been assigned to two of his fellow-beings. It was genius! His mother looked upon him as he slept sprawled in his repletion and made no attempt to remove the uneaten fruit from his hands; indeed, made no query as to where he had obtained it. She did not disturb his slumbers. .‘‘How like his father he is,” she whispered to herself, mindful of certain lemons, certain beefsteaks, certain wedding fees, certain gone and wasted years. She did not say: “How dear h% is, how sweet, how manly, how brave, how decent, how chivalrous!” No, with a slight tightening of the lips as 6he turned oack to find her belated sewing, she spoke, as though to herself, and with no peculiar glorying in her voice, "How like he is to his father!” And so took up her burden.

CHAPTER 11. In Love Successful. “But, my dear —but Laura, you don’t stop to think!” exclaimed a certain young man to a certain young woman, at a somewhat interesting and important moment of their lives. “You certainly do not mean to say—to tell me —to tell me! Why—!” He ceased, a gasp in his throat at the unbelievable effrontery of the woman who faced him in this situation. All he had asked of her was to marry him. And she had hesitated. It was a thing Incredible! It was Mr. Rawn, our hero. It could have been almost no one else who could have sustained precisely this attitude at precisely such a time. As to the young woman herself, who now turned a somewhat pale face to one side as she left her hand In his, she might have been any one of many thousand others in that city. Her hair was brown, her features regular enough, her complexion nondescript, her garb non-committal. Not a person of ancient lineage, you would have said, or of much education in the world’s ways, or of much worldly goods—these things do not always come to a saleswoman of twenty-five, whose salary is six dollars a week, i'et hes face had in it now a very sweet sort of womanliness, her mouth a tender droop to it. He leaned again toward her, insistent, frowning, imperious. This was as she had planned. What, then, lacked? If she had sought for some strong man to sweep her from her calm, why was she now so calm? “You surely do not stop to consider,” he renewed. “Why, look at me!” Laura Johnson did stop to consider. She wanted to be a wife, loved, cherished, supported, comforted and protected. And certainly she could choose only among the opportunities offered her. This was her first opportunity. It might be her last. She sighed a trifle as she .laid aside the garment of her girlhood, which had kept her sweet and clean for five and years. She folded both her worn and rather bony hands, put them both in his, and said, with a little smile that ought to have wrung his heart, “Well, John, if —if it must be!” John Rawn, then, married Laura Johnson, and they lived unhappily ever after. That is to say, she did. As for her lord, he did not notice his wife to any great extent after once they had settled down together, but came to regard her as one of those in.cidentß of life which classify with food, clothing, the need of sleep.

He was a solemn man in his home, or at least for the most part: silent He ate all the beefsteak there was on the table when there was but enough for one, which latter often was the case, for his wife had need to be frugal. At times he would purchase a solitary ticket to the theater and go alone. Yet he was generous, and always after hiß return home he would with fine feeling tell his wife what he bad seen. After the birth of Grace Rawn, their daughter, which occurred within the first year of their wedded life, Laura Rawn had something to interest her for the remainder of their days. Her horizon widened now Immeasurably; indeed to the extent of giving her a world of her own wherein she could dwell apart quite comfortably; one in which her husband had no part. Simple and just in her way of thought, she accepted the truth that without married life, without her husband, this new world could not have been her own. As to the child herself, she grew steadily and normally into young girlhood, in time into young womanhood, not given to much display, reserved of; judgment as well as of speech, ofttimes sullen in mood, yet withal a step or so higher than her mother-on the ladder of feminine charm. She had a clean, good family rearing, and a good grammar school education. At about the time her father came to be a mau of middle age, Grace fell into her place in the clerical machine of the railway office where he worked; for very naturally, being an American, girl of small means, she took up shorthand, and was licensed to do violence. The head of this family, as he attained additional solidity of figure, grew even heavier of brow, trod with even stateliness about his appointed duties. At forty-seven years of age his salary was but one hundred and twenty-five dollars a month. That showed only the lack of wisdom of others, not unfitness in himself. And yet all this time success was lying in ambush, as it sometimes does, ready to spring forth at the appointed hour. It was this, focused suddenly and unexpectedly by the lens of accident into a burning point of certainty. which marked the air and attitude of John Rawn one evening on his return to his home at the conclusion of his day’s w|ork. “Laura,” said he, “Laura, it’s come! I’ve got the idea. It’s going to win. We’re going to be ricln I’ve believed it all along, and I know it now! Laura, look at me—didn’t I always tell you so—didn’t I know?" For some time Mrs. Rawn said nothing in answer to her husband’s declaration. She had known such things before. But today there was something so sincere in his air as to take her beyond her own forced insincerity with herself. “What is it, John?” she demanded. “You can’t understand it, Laura; but listen. Give the people something they haven’t had; get them so they have to have it. We can’t go fast enough. But we’re going faster. We’ll go twice as fast. “That’s my business. That's my invention. That’s how I’m going to get rich. “Laura, I’m going to make it possible to gear up our national life, to double its present speed,” he went on savagely. ’N! She leaned back in her chair, sighing. “Do you think I could have a silk dress. John?” she said at length, her mind overleaping vast intermediate details. “My God, woman!” She sat, trying to rise to the pitch of such ambition, but succeeded only in remaining ‘commonplace. "How did you come across it, John?” she asked after a little. “The truth is, I picked it up from a word or s(* I heard in a chance versation—two young fellows from the engineering department were talking something ovef. That young chap named Halsey, just out of some college, full of fads, you know.” “I thought you said this was your own idea?” “It is my own. What is thrown away deliberately, and picked up. is mine, if I see the value of it. Young Halsey didn’t know. He’s just a visionary.” “Halsey—Charley Halsey of the offices? He’s been here—l think Grace —ydu see, the Personal Injury office, where she works, is just across the hall from the Engineering—” “Well, it’9 no difference. I’m going to take care of the affair mySelf.” (TO BE CONTINUED.)

Leaned Again Toward Her, Insistent, Frowning, Imperious.