The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-03-04
He WAS not to be refuse

greeable what, with reluctance, YOU
would refuse to the pleasing. Nor IS i,
possible to account for this anomaly
save on the ground of that secret be.
witchment which comes of rank evil 70
the soul. | think Catullus speaks OF
fascinating male lingua;" but there are
worse fasclnatons inherent 10 some
men than those which proceed from the
tongue.
L vas fascinated into saying Yes" to
my friend, and accordingly to the clois-
tiers we went
1t was the very witchinp hour of five,
which in winter time means coming
night, and shadows drear and fitful. The
Abbey was growing indistinct. As we
turned TO 90 my friend still poured on
me the stream of his labOrious com
ments.
This motley crowd of incongruous
monuments casts weird and sepulchral
look along those desola'e aisles. 1t is
difficult to ascertain whether one is real.
ly in church or in some Pagan mauso.
leum for the dead"
answered that | thought so.
"Ah,' he went on, "for men who
think, this is very humiliating spot. /
always feel inclined, whenever | come
here, to take pickax and a broom and
sweep all these monuments into the
Thames"
lobjected to this.
"What is more vulgar than marble
merit, more unmeaning than stone in.
memoriams:"
/ objected again.
81 See" he retorted, with some little
IA % e,
teenth century. ] am not | detest the
present and live altogether in the past"
1t struck me that | also "detested the
present" and would have been glad to
get on into the future | cannot tell
what it was that possessed me to accom-.
pany this gentleman to the cloisters, save
that curious and indefinable fascination
to which | have already alluded. The
sirens were tabled to attract poor mari,
ners by sweet voices to inevitable ship.
wreck, but this man had not sweet
voice. There is, too, an allusion in some
natural histories to the evil eve" of the
snake; though Mr.. Waterton SAYS this is
all nonsense, and that the eve of the
snake cannot move. Yet this man had
not an evil eye" There must, then. be
charms of the diabolic kind which ad-
NIT not of featured expression. You
are conscious in such charms of neither
pleasure nor harm; you are conscious OF
Of nothing but the charm. Ovid calls
certain kind of witchmeDt, which are not
of the virtuous kind, "jucundum ma
lum;' but then, though the "jucundum''
be present, and the nahum" come later
you are conscious of both from the be.
ginning Yet this man had neither
p" iucundum" nor NAHUM" at least in
his sensible attractiveness. | give il up
Certain il is that, in our Journey through
life, more influences for evil are without
clear expression than such as bear their
meaning on the front.
Might | venture to inquire" asked
my friend at this moment, when we were
just going out of the Abbey, eff it is no,
taking too great a liberty, uhtch univer,
sity you were att"
conceived the inquiry superfuous
the more so as nothing had been said
which brought the subject into parley.
Can. bridge" replied, rather shortly
Z" thought So" he answered. "Some
remarks which fell from you in respec,
to the monuments imp led the mathemat
ical mind. | was at Oxford myself
though previously at Dublin. | think
Oxford promotes theological turn, Cam
bridge rather rational"
did not Sc the drift of this particu.
lar comment, which my friend detiN rec
sententlously; but was pleased TO think
that ne was theological and that I was SC
ostensibly mathematical.
we mad now got out into the omen
The air was keen and frosty, the vino
was blowing from the east, and we boil
put our handkercLiefs up 10 our face,
as we issued from the great west door
Then, entering the archway which lead:
to Deans yard, we took the turn to the
lett and IN the course of a few moments
we stood on the threshold of the really
beautiful cloisters. The porter might
possibly be sanctuariZed in his own little
house hard by; but we saw no sign OF
life save the milk boy and a very ole
woman.
1t was just IN the interim between the
eclise of day and the lighting of the
lamps for the night The lampligbteI
would be round in few minutes. He
had not come yet. | should have hailed
his approach with pleasure. Nv friend
was exuberantly talky, and ran owe,
with profound cogitation. He was SC
glad to have me for a companion. Ar
intelligent acquaintance was such an in
finite treat in the world where one mel
so few.
" You have mind" he said warmly
A mind is the luxury of life, to other.
as well as to yourself. should prefer
your companionship to that of the can
ons who inhabit this comfortable close
lhey read Greek and drink port; bu,
mind, sir, mind is The Thing"
Could | doubt him to he a man of OBJ.
servation2
How domestic this seems" continued
my friend, as we stood at the entrance
to the cloisters. 1--WE can hardly i'm
agine that the home-loving clergy who
live IN these nests of repose are success.
sors of the men who prayed half the
night for the souls of the living and the
dead. Times change, like cities. Since
the night when, as the legend assures
US, the fishermen, fishing in the Thames,
caught sight of St. Peter and his com
panions and ferried them across the
river to consecrate the Abbey-which
then was but partially built-London is
not more changed in character and area
than her people in faith and habit"
ms was really too much for cold
afternoon. But before l had time to
suggest our return my friend proceeded
to rave:
Do you know Che had a constant
habit of saying "Do you know" as
though he would convey real sympathy
and an intuitive apprehension OF mel,
" whenever | come here | always regret
that did not live and die a monk. Nv
father was clergyman of the Church
OF England. He was rector of Broad
store, in Suffolk, and he wrote the lives of
some saints, which fused to read when a
boy, | always believed that to be a
monk was the most thoughtful and philo
sophlcal life; but | married when | was
only nineteen; so, you see, | was born to
be Benedict"
Like good many Others" Ireplied,
" who are monks in theory or sentiment.
you were eminently COZ nubial in fact.
Cellbacy is charming abstraction, but
1t not unfreQuently ends in twins"
" All, true, he continued MY brother
wrote book on the bles ings of celibacy.
out his wife was the prettiest woman 10
be found in the county of Dorset"
And then we stood still in the cloister
Nor can tell why | did not move AWAY.
| scarcely know what it was that
my suspicious in this very re-
narkahle man. He was gentleman,
aud evidently educated; but there was
unnatural about him. defv
man to act for three-quarier of an
hour without doing something that is
bid. He will stand still, or he will move.
when he should do just the contrary,
md he will speak his words without
soul. \ contrast that struck me in this
nan was the finish and ardor of his
language with a GOODNESS of eye and