St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1860-02-09
From Sharpes London Magazine.
1.-THE MAN OVER THE WAY"
BY ALFRED W. COLE.

to attend to, it is notorious that he IS very
fond of meddling with his neighbor's S.
Old halfpay officers, naval or military, un-
married ladies Of uncertain age and small
means, widows without encumbranEe-
these, and FEW others, are the greatest
meddlers and busy bodies in creation.-
Young men of small fortune and tio.profes-
sion are less inclined to sin III this respect;
but they can scarcely be said to have moth
ing to do, because they generally have a
frightful amount Of mischief on their hands
to perpetrate; and this keeps them so well
occupied (ill occupied we should say that
they have not so much time to attend to
other peoples affairs as light be imagined.
When I avow that I belong to the class
of bachelors I have mentioned, a charitable
reader will naturally conclude that I am
what the French call mauvais syet.-
Such is far from the case. Positively I
am not aware of any particular amount of
iniquity that can be laid at my door. I
neither game, drink, keep bad hours, or
commit other pecadilloes which 60 to swell
the list of sins usually booked to an idle
mans account. Perhaps l ought not to
take too much credit to myself for my ex-
emption from these little bachelor inirmi-
ties-becausc I am dreadfully in love-
Absorbed as I am in this passion, have
no thoughts to give to dissipation-the
idol Of my heart possesses them altogether.
Lovers are proverbially selfish; they think
of no one but themselves. I form no ex-
ccption to the rule, saving in one instance
II have long had terrible curiosity to
know all about "The Man over the Way;"
but / must be little more explicit. I
live in lodgings, as nineteen bachelors out
of twenty do, unless they have chambers
in the Temple. The house in which my
rooms are: stands in narrow street in the
neighborhood Of Hyde Park. Exactly op-
posite, occupying first floor like my self,
lis the gentleman concerning whom my Gu
riosity is excited, end whom have named
E'The Man over the Way"
He is apparently a man of fifty or sixty
years Of age, sunburnt in face, and with
iron grey hair: He is dressed always in a
long brown coat. grey trousers and waist
coat, and black neckerchief of the old
style-that is to say, two OF three yards of
silk swathed round his throat, as an Egyp-
tan mummy is wrapped in linen. There
is nothing very remarkable in the mans s
appearance, and yet he. possesses strange
fascination for me. I cannot help think
ing of him, and looking at him, and won-
dering what he is, and who he is, and
whether he has anything to do with my
fate -; for, ridiculous as the last may seem,
/ cannot divest myself Of the idea that this
man is bound up in some mysterious way
with my history. 1t is perfectly useless to
reason with myself on the supposition, and
point out it's absurdity; I believe it, and I
cannot shake my faith by any process Of
logical induction.
In consequence of this idea, I am be:
come as curious ESQ far as this individual
is concerned, as any Of the old half pays,
or maiden ladies, or unencumbered widows
I have mentioned. If I see butcher boy
with meat in his tray going near the house,
I watch to see if he calls there, and won.
der whether the meat is for the dinner o1
"The Man over the Way" 1t see the
Man himself reading, wonder what book
he has, and what he thinks of it. But be.
yond everything, wonder what he thinks
of me, and what he desig to do regarding
mo; for I am perfectly certain that he
watches me almost as much as I do him
self. - ~~
And yet the reader must not suppose
that think of ''The Man over the Way
so exclusively as to make me forget my
adored Julia-far from it; l write to he1
every day, and the bakers man delivers my
letter to the cook, and the cook gives it to
the lady's maid and she gives it to
Julia herself: The penny post would be
more expeditions, no doubt, but also there
would be no secrecy about it; and our
course of true love runs not smooth, as d
curmudgeon of a father has forbidden rue
the house, and commanded Julia never to
think of me again. How foolish these old
gentlcmen are! Mr.. Singles (that's the
papa in question: by his absurdly unrea-
sonable conduct, gives pain to Julia and
myself: and forces our correspondence to
pass through. three hands--the maid, the
cook, and the baker instead Of the
more natural and proper one of the post
man alone. AS for making Julia forget
me-talk Of making the Ganges remount
Ito its source, or Mont Blanc dwindle to an
ant-hill, and you would be about as rea-
sonable as in supposing that anything
could shake the constancy Of that angelic
1girl. III Z s..'*.2 =. .s..s=s !"
! And why is she to forget me? What
have / done to deserve such a sentence
The very head and front of my offending
is thatI have but two hundred and twenty
pounds year private fortune, and don't
belong to any profession. Mr.. Singles
declares that it is monstrous to think of