I GET THE GOLD FEVER 123 



Mexican revolution broke out, and I was glad we 

 were back in the good old United States of 

 America. 



I remained in Abilene only a few days and 

 then journeyed on to Little Rock, Arkansas, 

 once more. There I remained about two weeks, 

 including four or five days I spent at a lumber 

 camp in the Fourche Mountains there. I made 

 this trip to the lumber camp for Doctor Merch- 

 ant, who had some patients there, receiving for 

 it five dollars per day. 



When I returned to Little Rock from this 

 lumber camp, I bought a ticket to Milwaukee, 

 arriving there on December 15, 1910, after an 

 absence of just about five years. And I was 

 broke again! 



This time I was pretty well disgusted with 

 myself and my condition. Here I was, a 

 grown-up man, twenty-eight years old, with not 

 a dollar of my own nor a place to lay my head. I 

 had made a failure of everything so far. But 

 just the same, I had hopes; I never gave up. I 

 knew that I could make good anywhere, if I 

 could settle down. My predicament now was 

 that I had quite a bit of settling up to do, also. 

 And then I found out that while a young lad is 

 given every opportunity and encouragement to 

 help him, when a fellow gets up near thirty and 

 cannot show anything for his efforts, people 

 fight shy of him ; they size him up as a no-account. 



