Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-03-05

/
wishing him "Good evening" Thii
quickened his plans.
"You know the cloisters?" he asked
me with eagerness--wit tone implied
"Gf you don't l should be extremely de
lighted TO show them"
/ did not know the cloisters. haC
never been In them in my life. ! had nc
wish whatever TO enter them, least of al
on this chill winters eve, with the ther
mometer down below zero. The wind
too, was blowing from the east, and there
was nothing outside TO invite one.
therefore replied that | would now re
turn home, and ] made some excuse
about family"
He was not to be refused.
"I know all these places by heart" he
objected; "I have made them the study
of my life. 1t will not take us five min.
utes TO walk round. Do comep
There is fascination IN some men in
the inverse proportion Of their gifts of
attractiveness and merit You may
often be unable 10 refuse TO the disa.
greeable what, with reluctance, you
would refuse to the pleasing. Nor is il
possible TO account for this anomaly,
save on the ground of that secret be.
witchment which comes of rank evil to
bilO bOul l. blluh OubulluS kDtukH OI
fascinating male lingua;" but there are
worse fascmations Inherent 70 some
men than those which proceed from the
tongue.
was fascinated into saying Yes" to
my friend, and accordingly to the clois-
ters we went.
II was the very wltching hour of five,
which in winter time means coming
night, and shadows drear and fitful. The
Abbey was growing indistinct As we
turned to go 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. II 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 n pickaN and q broom and
sweep all these monuments into the
Thames"
lobjected to this
"What is n ore vulgar than marble
merit, more unmeaniug than stone in.
memoriamsP"
l objected again.
"I see," he rctortcd, with some little
contempt, "you are q mal of the nine
teenth century. am not ] detest the
present and live altogether in the past"
1t struck me that also dctestod the
present" and would hcve been glad to
get on into the future. I cannot tell
what 1t was that possessed me to accom-
pany this gentleman to the ciOisters, 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 a sweet
voice. There is too, an allusion in some
natural histories to the "evil eyen of the
snake; though Mr.. Waterton SAYS this is
all nonsense, and that the eye 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 witchment, which are not
of the virtuous kind, "iucundum ma
lum;" but then, though the "jucundum"
be present, and the "malum" come later,
you are conscious of both from the be-
ginning. Yet this man had neither
iucundum" nor NAHUM" at least in
his sensible attractiveness. | give it up.
Certain II 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, "if it is not
taking too great liberty, ,ohiM univer-
sity you were at?"
conceived the inquiry superfluous;
the more so as nothing had been said
which brought the subject into parley.
Cambridge" replied, rather shortly.
g. thought So" he answered "Some
remarks which fell from you in respect
to the monuments implied the mathemat-
ical mind. l was at oxford myself,
though previously at Dublin. l think
Oxford promotes theological turn, Cam
bridge rather rational"
did not see the drift of this particil-
lar comment, which my friend delivered
sententiously; but | was pleased to think
that he was theological and that I was so
ostensibly mathematical.
We had now got out into the open.
The air was keen and frosty, the wind
was blowing from the east, and we both
put our handkerchiefs up TO our faces
as we issued from the great west door.
Then, entering the archway which leads
to Deans yard, we took the turn to the
left and in the course of a few moments
we stood on the threshold of the really
beautiful cloisters. The porter might
possibly be sanctuarzed in his own little
hnnGn hard hu. ht1t 81; oc
life save the milk-boy and very old
woman.
1t was just in the interim between the
eclise of day and the lighting of the
lamps for the night The lamplighter
would be round in few minutes. He
had not come yet. / should have hailed
his approach with pleasure. My friend
was exuberantly talky, and ran over
with profound cOgitation. He was so
glad to have me for companion. An
intelligent acquaintance was such an in
finite treat in the world where one met
so few.
You have mind" he said warmly.
A mind is the luxury of life, to others
as we'll as to yourself. / should prefer
your companionship to that of the can
ons who inhabit this comfortable close.
They read Greek and drink port; but
mind, sir, mind is the hing"
Could doubt him to be a man of OBJ
"How domestic this seems" continued
my friend, as we stood at the entrance
to the cloisters. ave 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"
This was really too much for a cold
afternoon. But before had time 10
suggest our return my friend proceeded
to rave;
90 DO VOt1 kpouO (ha hod a CONSTANT