The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1874-03-19


That all is ordered well.
We know enough to trust that all Is best
Where Love and Wisdom dwell. ,,..n..,.,,
THE PHIL0SOPHER'S BABY.
l had been considering for about yea
whether should marry Winifred Hanway
when heard that she was engaged to til,
philosopher. Why did she accept him
1t is true that he is both imaginative anC
critical but faculties exercised in tn.
formation 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 nit to live than to think about
life. He is certainly handsome, but as
certainly his clothes are barbarous. His
trousers cannot keep their shape for day
ana his hats are never new. If he notices
the rain, he opens an umbrella which
might have served as an Intellectual prO
lection at the time of the deluge; if he
finds out that it is cold, he assumes q gar
ment which might have been the everyday
coat OF Methuselah. His manners are a.
strange as his appearance. He may often
be seen walking in the park ut the fash.
lonable hour with a far-off look in his
eyes, and his hat thrust back as if to lessen
the external pressure on his active brain
more rarely you may hear him bursting
INTO enthusiasm in Piccadilly, though
ilccadllly is the last place in which man
should allow himself to be enthusiastic.
In short, though he is true friend, he is
an uncomfortable acquaintance; and his
volcanic utterances, after long periods of
calm contemplation, cause such shocks
to ones nerves as would he conveyed to
the Sunday citizen by the eruption of
frlmrose Hill. But if it was odd that
the beautiful Winifred Hanway should
marry my friend, 1t was yet more odd
that he should marry anyone. There
were no topics more certain to excite an
explosion in the philosopher than the ex-
cessive population of the country, and
the wholesome solitude of the Thinker.
How" he would fiercely ask, "can a
man think effectually on fundamental
subjects who is compelled by the des-
picable circumstances of his life to ex-
haust his analytical faculty in consider.
ing how to pay his butcher, and when to
buy his Goals! tell you, sir, it's better
TO starve with cold and hunger than to
debase ones noblest part to game of
skill with grasping grocer" Again and
again had heard him declaim in this
preposterous fashion; and after all he
was going to the altar like any other
victim, and would doubtless take house
upon his back with the docility of a
snail.
could not solve the problem; would
not give 1t up. So, full of the determine
ton to drag Diogenes out of his tub, and
the secret out of Diogenes, I stepped
round the corner to offer my congratula.
tons. My friend was in his study, ap-
parently writing, really eating quill pen.
lie rose at me with rush, wrung my
hand till it ached, and blushed rather un.
comfortably. Congratulations are the
curse of the Briton. Whether he is offer.
ing them or receiving them he is general.
~ obliged to take refuge in intermittent
and.shaking, and most of his sentences
tail OF into grunts and groans. But on
this occasion 1t was evident that the phi.
losopher had something ready to say and
was nervously anxious to say it. Indeed,
! had hardly said more than My dear
fellow, l don't know when-I really am
S, awtully glad, Its in every way
do wis., all possible, and all that
sort of thing, you know''--when
he burst in with speech SO fluently
delivered that l knew was not his
earliest visitor that morning. "Of course
it's taken you by surprise" he said, las
knew it would; but the truth is, that
have been thinking of it for long time
and am sure am right" Here l tried
to get in an expression of wonder at his
new notion of his duty, but he was bent
on his being rid of the matter, and hur.
rled on to his reasons. "In the first
place." said he, II am sure that, instead
Ot increasing my domestic worries, my
marriage will transfer them in body to
my wife; and, secondly, when conside,
the vast number of fools who are every
Gay born into the world, am terrified BY
the picture Of what the next generation
will be, il the thinkers of this are to be
without successors" Having discharged
his reasons in this wise, the orator stood
blinking at me as if he feared dissent, but
was too astounded by his msgnifcen,
audacity to reply. Slowly q look
OF peace stole back into his face, q
pleasant light dawned in his eyes
and the promise OF q smile at the
corners of his mouth. His remarkable
fuency was gone, and indeed his voice
sounded quite choky when he said,
Johnny, you don't know what an angel
she is" A light broke in upon me-
philosopher" said, II believe you are
going to be marred because you fell in
lover" perhaps you are right" said
the. philosopher.
After the wedding the philosopher and
his wife went abroad for an indefinite pc
Rod, and their friends heard but little Of
them. He wrote to nobody, and she did
not write to me. Yet there were occs.
sionsl rumors. Now they were breath.
ing the keen air of the Engadine. now
sinking to the chestnuts and vines of Chi.
avenna; now he was lashing himself to
frenzy over the treasures OF Rome: now
she was gazing with sweet Northern eyes
across the glowing splendor of the Bay OF
Naples. Then they were in Germany,
and about to settle for life in Q university
town; but anon had fed from it in haste
after long nights dispute, in the course
of which my learned friend had well-nigh
come to blows with the university's mos,
celebrated professor.
At last heard that they were again in
London, and, full of enthusiasm, darted
round the corner to welcome them home
Nobody was with them but Mrs. Hanway
Winifred's mother. I would enter unan.
nounced, and surprise the philosopher.
entered unannounced, and was surprised
myself. Was this the effect of matrimony
or of foreign travelr Each occupant 81
the room was engaged in an exercise
wholly unconnected, % 1t seemed, with
those of the rest. Ny friends wife, the
lady whom had almost loved, queen Of
all grace and comeliness, was appearing
and disappearing like flash behind the
days Times, showing ct the moments 81
disclosure q face flushed with excitement
and lustrOus coils of hair tumbled into
the widest disorder, while she accompa
MED the whole performance with strange
and inarticulate sounds. Her mother, tie
same Mrs. Hanway who. was % perfect Z
model Of dress and carriage that many d