The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-04-30
THE PHILOSOPHERS BABY.


THE PHILOSOPHERS BABY.
had been considering for about q
year whether / should marry Wini-
fred Hanway, when heard that she
was engaged to the philosopher. Why
did she accept him? 1t Is true that
he Is both imaginative and critical /;
but faculties exercised In the form
alton of psychological hypothesis,
and the laborious destruction Of those
of ones neighbor, do not usually
rouse the sympathy of bright and
beautiful girl, who is more fit to live,
than to think about life. He Is GER
tainly handsome, but as certainly his
clothes are barbarous. His trowser
can not keep their shape for day |;
and his hats are never new. 1T he
notices the rain he opens an UNI
brella which might have served as an
Intellectual protection ut the time Of
deluge; If he finds out that 1t is cold,
he assumes garment which might
have been the everyday garment OF
Methuselah. His manners are as
StrdHSc d3 ilio uppcoiuhSC. iO "y
often be seen walking in the park at
the fashionable hour, with a far-off
look in his eyes, and his hat thrust
back as If to lessen the external pres
sure on his active brain; more rarely
YOU may hear him bursting into en-
fhusiasm In Piccadilly, though Picca-
dilly is the last place in which man
should allow himself to be enthusi-
astic. In short, though he is q true
friend, he is an uncomfortable ac-
ouaintance; and his volcanic utter
ances, after long periods of calm con-
Temptation, cause such shocks to ones
nerves as would be conveyed to the
Sunday citizen by an eruption OF
Primrose Hill. But, if it was odd
that the beautiful Winifred Hanway
should marry my friend, 1t was yet
more odd that he should marry any
one. There were no topics more GER
tain to excite an explosion in the
philosopher than the excessive pOpu-
fation Of the country, and the whole
some solitude of the thinker. "How,"
he would fiercely ask, "can a man
think effectually on fundamental
subjects who Is compelled by the
despicable circumstances of his life to
exhaust his analytical faculty In con.
sidering how to pay his butcher, and
when to buy Goals? I tell you, sir,
It Is better to starve with cold and
hunger than to debase ones noblest
part to a game of skill with a grasp
ing grocer" Again and again I had
heard him declare in this prepOster.
Gus fashion and, after all, he was
going to the altar like any other vic
finn. and would doubtless take q
house upon his back with the docility
of snail.
could not solve the problem; ]
would not give 1t up. So, full Of the
determination to drag Diogenes out OF
his tub, and the secret out Of DiOge-
nes, 1 stepped around the corner to
offer nv congratulations. My friend
was i'm his study, apparently writing,
really eating a quill pen. He rose
at me with q rush, wrung my hand
till 1t ached, and blushed rather un'
comfortably. Congratulations are
the curse OF the Briton. Whether he
Is offering them or receiving them
he is obliged to take refuge in inter
mittent Misunderstanding and groans.-
But on this occasion II was eviden
that the philosoper had something
ready to say, and was nervously anx
ious to say It. My dear fellow.
don't know when-I really am 81
awfully glad, Its In every way 80
such a satisfaction, you know
really do wish all possible, and al
that sort of thingyou know,"-wher
he burst In with speech 80 flu
emily delivered, that i knew j wa
not his earliest visitor that morning
"Ofcourse it's taken you by surprise,
he said, "as knew il Would; but til,
truth is that have been thinking Off
for a long time, and am sure / an
right" Here tried to put in an ex
preston of fwonder at his new notion G
his duty, but he was bent on being RI.
OF the matter, and hurried on to hi
reasons. "In the first place." said III
"I am sure that, instead of increasin
my domestic worries, my marriag
will transfer them In a body to m
wife; and, secondly, when 1 conside
the vast number Of fools who ever
day are born into the world, al
terrified by the picture of what tn
next generation will be, IL the thinl
ers OF this age are to be without SUI
cessors." Having discharged his re,
sons in this wise, the orator stoo
blinking at me as II he feared dissen
but I was too astounded at his ma
nificent audacity to reply. Slowly
look of peace stole back into his fac
q pleasant light dawned In his eye
and the promise of a smile ut the co
ners of his mouth. His remarkab
fiuency was gone, and indeed b
voice sounded quite choky when
said, Johnny, you don't know VIII
an angel she Is" A light broke
upon me. philosopher" / said,
believe you are going to get marie
because you fell In love 2" N"Perha
you are right" said the philosophe
After the wedding the philosoph
and his wife went abroad for an 1
definite period, and their frien
heard but little OF them. He wrote
nobody, and she did not write to m
Yet there were occasional rumo
Now they were breathing the ke
afr Of Engadine, now sinking to {
ohestnuts and vines Of Chiavenn