Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1864-04-01
mr. smsta,

We find the following romance credited 10
"Opbeus C Ksrr," but it Is evidently By Victor
Hugo:
The frss of April You know the dsy. 4
point Of time, Gn unit Of twenty four hours,
with night on each side of It, and the sun laid
on top to keep it in its place. You have IN
douhtsdly passed the day in New EaglSnd at
some period Of your miserable life. You have
felt your coarse nature repulsed, too, when
sons weary and desolste little child has dream
ily pinned bit of paper to the hindermost
verge Of the garment men esll coat, snd then
called the attention OF pssssrs-bY to your ap-
pearsnce. You have dsspised thar little, WesTy,
hollOw-syed child for t. Beware how yOu
strike that child for tell you that ths child is
tie geTm Of the thing they call man. The germ
will develop twill grow broadly and largely
into the full entity Of manhood. In striking the
present child, you strike the future man Pom
der this thought well. lie. il tester in your
bosom.
John Smith sat at the lowest depths Of
dreamy coal mine, and helped himself 70 SONS
more pork and bssns. I know not what there
Tas way down in llIe blsekTecesses of the mans
| hidden soul 30 make him want SO much pork
and beans. look into my heart to fad an
answer to the question, but no answer comes.
Providence does not reveal sll things 10 us.
Is il not well il should be 50 =
Hs was 8 hard iEOn looking, sdaDantine man.
His eyes were glowing furnsce5 for the GrOei-
| bles Of thought. You felt that he sEw you when
| be looked a. ye1. His nose Ess like . red
| gothic tower built amidst broken singles of sui
! lied snow, snd his mouth was the cellar Of thai
| lower His hair was Of The sort that Iasists {
| comb YCu have seen the same s5It On Lh5
heads of men Of great thought L is The tan.
gled bush in which the goat Of thought losel
ITSELF
John Smith hiceupped, as hs helped himself
to some more polk and bssas, He did not no
tice that toe foot which be had semi-e0Hs eiously
| placed on pals, sickly child, was beginning &c
/ move Bat it did move, and there efaWled
/ from uudsr il tbe shape of diseased dwarf 81
womanhood. This iimid, psllid thing upliited
itself 10 its bleeding feet, and nestled 70 the
| side Of John Smith.
Y'o has been separated by unspeakabls
space from dis humble leells place fer some
/ hours longer than zis bosom could Hneomplain-
| ingly fhduIe-y'o have"
The child meant to say, in its coarse, brutal
unletlsTsd way, that the man had been absent
| too long.
| John Smith helped himself to some more pork
and besns. He was 3 man, you know, and
could not snswer without deep thought. He
took his knife and wiped it though'fIliy upon
her head, and then sawed off a siekiy yellow
curl When he placed that curl on the same
plate with the pork and beans, its coils seemed
! ike those Of sons golden snake.
'GTletta," he said, with ring of iron In hiG
nose, ''why is it that the beasts never want &
marryi God made them As he made US ye
they never ask priests TO make them slaves K
each other"
The sickly IGas wah cringsd closer to that
inac1 utable greA. heart that undeIlAid soul G
e.erssl questioning. She shuddeFed Ike
wounded dog, but could not answer. An in
WsId fever was devouring her
The nan took some more pork and beans.
'GiTleGts," he said, almost feTeely, 18th,
beasts teach me lessoni but viii not, dsri
not, shall not heed il. l want horse ny
heart demands some one to work for me Il
| support me / am weary Of labor, aud wan
I some one TO labor, and toll, and suffer with ne
and DO my washing. love you. Have me-"
The atom Of TOmankind contorted her dis
eased features into the pale twist Of agony, anC
her bosom bsaved with stormy wsvi1gs, lik
the side sf tortured and choking brute. Fall
ing TO the ground, she wTished and struggled
and kicked convulsiyely, SIS though seized witt
1 some inward pang. Then she rose slowly &
her shattered little feet, and drew an old cup
beard to the middle Of tho Wresehei cave, SnI
beat her head against it.
Il was the ehild's first taste of that grss
mystery Of perfect love which woman ia doom
ed to share with the thing called man.
'YO' air indulging In secrak exclamation, q
the expense of my ssir heart"
The child meant that he was laughing St her
John Smith hslped himself to some mere poTl
| and beans, and sat back in his stern, dark chair
What were his thoughts as he looked down Of
that miniature fragment of WomsDly humanity
Perhaps he thought that there might be angel
away I'D in heaven just like her BfiZb
sersphs, with ruby eyes, and silver WiHg5, an
| golden hGTps, and just such pale, haggaEd
.suant, sunken, blssred little fees.
"Girlesta," he said, 81 hereby make the
mine Take some of these pork and beans
She fell upon bis bosom.
There let US leave them. Do you think the
were any less hsppy, because they were wa
down in dreamy, rsyless coal mine, wher
+ man work their souls away to give olhes
warmth II You think 50, you have never fe
what true love is. Your degraded aud starles
nature has never had one true soul to Lean upel
When you lesn upon soul, you see sveEythir
through that soul, which giTes its own hue
everything. Mans love Is . pane in his bosom
aud through that psne the eye Of woman looh
forth 10 see the nav world. The medium is &
! ultimum. God gives us love that We may liz
| more eheaply and happily together than If v
! were separate. A bread padding is richer whe
. there are two hearts, than plum pudding is
I one alone. The world viii learn this yet, an
then the lion viii lie down with the lamb, an
even yoa viii be less dePisvod. The hIss
? April found John Smith unmarried, but q la
, him nearly welded Let Us think OF u
: / when the spring birds sing sgzin. Ii VII MAJ
> rs mers humane, more charitable, ana nsser
) be blest,