The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1870-03-12


half way down the eighth page, and
never a sheet or a postscript.
made note of the fact to her, and
she pleaded lack of time, and
stretched her handwriting IN the
next letter so that it covered an extra
sheet.
By and by there came letter from
q friend whose mission 1t was to IN
dertake disagreeable truths. L was
struck as I opened 1t with the recur-
renee Of that odious name, Sammy
Sloper, on every page. Sammy had
returned to New York, a few weeks
beEore | went to Yale. learned now
that he had come back, and was going
into business with Mary Jane s father,
in new mining enterprise. He was
constantly at Mary James fathers,
the letter went on to say, and was very
devoted to the daughter. Thereafter
followed list of their incomings and
outgoings. which, to my distorted WIS.,
ion, was highly condemnatory, and to
this was added the commentary Of the
village gossip. / enclosed the letter
in one to Mary Jane, and demanded
an explanation.
She replied thatshe was utterly sick
of such constant surveillance.
wrote that if she persisted In ignor-
ing the relations between herself and
me, In all her intercourse with soci-
ETY. it was better that no such relations
should exist. She Immediately res
pended that [ had exactly expressed
her own feelings on the subject
Would l please to return her letters
at once2
The package that | sent her by ex-
press was very large one; the one
which l received from her made a
large pile of ashes in the CRATE. /
caught the fragrance of violet about
it as l tossed it into the fire, and that
was all. l turned to the study of ju-
risprudence.
Three months more and they wrote
me that she was married. | don't re-
member to have had very many dis
tinct thoughts about it; but | know
that after the first hasty glance at the
letter, / read it over word by word
three or four times, and then dropped
it IN the fire. I don't know what /
did during the next three or four
hours, but | remember joining party
of students in the evening; that /
played my first card for money: that
drank more that evening than | had
ever before done in my life; that I
was assisted home between 2 and 3
o'clock AN, and awoke the next
morning with a binding headache,
and wish that | had never been born.
all very unherOie but quite human.
A well dressed man of two hundred
pounds weight; man who might have
been kept on beef roasts and turtle
soups ali his life; with a rosy, good
natured face; English cut side whis-
kers, bright eye, hair unstreaked by
gray, lines about the mouth gradually
softening-this is portrait of myself,
aged fifty, a judge in the Superior
Court and a member of Congress.
A finely shaped woman of arts to-
cratic bearing, with a competition
which is the rose leaf fairness of six
teen healthily matured; handsome
eyes, pleasing mouth and well pre-
served teeth, hiGeous hundred dollar
ehignon, loug eurls, and frizzles very
prettily arranged, shapely hands taste
fully jeweled, toilets that aspire to
Partisan perfection, in sum very at
tractive woman of society-this is the
portrait of Mrs. Samuel Sloper, aged
forty eight, who is nothing to me.
1t is fitting that portrait Of Sam
uel Sloper himself should be placed
beside that of Mrs. Sloper; therefore
/ shall give a rough charcoal sketch
of him on the wall, and hope not to
be inspired by such baseness as to
purposely fail In doing him Justice,
because he once ri7aled me success
fully. He is a large man. like my
self, but his cOrpulency is of little
different kind; in some way it re-
minds one of puff paste, though not
too puffy perhaps. He wears mus
tache and Whiskers, has small spot
on the top of his head, from which
the blonde hair has fallen away, a
nose too large by half, and eyes as
much too small, very pleasant and
frequent laugh, which is a good thing
for Mary Jane, no doubt For exer-
else he prefers riding to walking, and,
as formerly, likes to drive fast horses:
he owns the horses that he drives
now, however. He is connoiseur of
Havanas, a good hand at billiards,
and, setting aside all early prejudices,
| acknowledged him a very agreeable
|
n an.
My wife's maiden name was Flora
Elizabeth Stiles. and without entering
into the minutia of description,
say to any feminine friend looking
over these pictures, that she is stylish /;
and, Furthermore, a very fine woman.
| am senior partner in a firmly es
tablished and widely reputed law firm
| In a city whose name | do not chose
to reveal. The world worships sue
cess, and the worlds worship insures
further success, whether or not that
be good thing leave to moralists.
| am also something of. statesman
most people would say politician, but
| do assert that [ am an honest man,
therefore l prefer to use the term
statesman. Here, also, am success
full, for | do not aspire to be Presi-
dent, and if one will limit his aspira-
tons by his gifts, and take
things coolly, even In politics,
nay, rather In craftsmanship. he may
be successful. / am wealthy. / in
tended to be wealthy when boy. to
be sure, but as nine and a quarter
tsnths of American youth have the
same intention, and q small portion
of that complex fraction fall short of
it, my having attained the goal may
be worthy of observation. My resi-
dence in the city is quite elegant. ]
have plenty of company, plenty OF
servants, plenty of money, and all
that it brings. That is all. That is
enough, | suppose. A man of fifty
years who can't be content with that
probably wouldn't be with anything
My wife presides there with great dig
nifty, and I aim to do likewise when