Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-05-24

AO"'ooi, ncuCc AM away up mere out VI
your reach. l can almost respect mere
ordinary sort Of fool; but yo,-pah!"
woula have given anything, then, TO be
| heavy hearted, so that could get this per-
| son down from there and take his life, but
l could no more be heavy hearted over such
desire than l could have sorrowed over its
accomplishment. SO | could only look
longingly up al my master, and rave at the ILL.,
luck that denied me heavy conscience the one
| only time that had ever wanted such thing
in my life. By and By got to musing over the
hours strange adventure, and OF course my
human curiosity began to work. | set my
self to framing in my mind some questions
| FOR this fiend to answer. just then one Of
my boys entered, leaving the door open be-
| hind him. and exclaimed:
My! what has been going on here! The
| book case is all one riddle Of"
| sprang up in CONSERVATION, and shouted:
Ont Of this! Harry! it mp! Fly Shut the
door! Quick, or my Conscience will get
awayw
| The door slammed to- and I locked it. /
| glanced up and was grateful, to the bottom
of my heart, to see that my owner WAS still
my prisoner. said:
| Hang you, | might have lost you! Chill
| dreA are the heedlessest creatures. But look
here, friend, the boy did not seem to notice
! you at all; how is thatg"
Fora very good reason. I am invisible
| to all but you"
| / made mental note OF that piece Of infor-
nation with good deal of satisfaction. |
| could Kill this msereant now, if | got
chance and no one would know it. But this
very reflection made me so light hearted that
my Conscience could hardly keep his seat,
but Was like to float aloft toward the ceiling
like toy balloon. | said presently:
Come, my Conscience, let us he friendly.
| Let us fly flag OF trace for a while. | am
| suffering to ask Won some nuestiOnsh
Very well. Begin"
"Well, then, in the first place, why were
! you never visible to me before!"
Because you never asked to see me be-
| fore; that is, you never asked in the right
| spirit and the proper form before You were
| just in the right spirit this time, and when
| you called for your most pitiless enemy wss
| that person by very large majority, though
| you did not suspect it."
Well, did thar remark Of mine turn you
| into flesh and blood ~
No. 1t only made me visible to you. I
| am unsubstantial, just as other spirits are"
This remark prodded me with sharp mis-
giving. If he was unsubstantial, how was I
going to kill him? But | dssembled, and
said persuasivey:
Conscience, it isn't sociable of you to
keep at such distance. Come down and
take another smoke"
This was answered with a look that was
| full OF derision, and with this observation
| added:
Come where you can get at me and kill
me? The invitation is declined with thanks"
"All right" said 10 myself; so it seems
| spirit can be killed, after all; there will be
one spirit lacking in this world, presently,
or lose my guess" Then l said aloud
"Friend"----
! am your enemy; am not your equal, l am
your master. Call me my lord If you
please. You are too familiar"
a" / don't like such titles. | I'm willing to
call you sir. That is ss far as
I'VE will have no argument about this.
Just obey; that is all. Go on with your
chatter
VERY well, my lord-since nothing but
my lord WI suit you'll was going to ask
you how io:,g you will be visible to me:'
"Alwsysm
| broke out with strong indignation:
This is simply an outrage. This is what /
think of it. You have logged, and dogged,
aud dog0ed me, all the days of my life, invis-
ible. That vas misery enough; now TO have
such looking thing rs you tagging after me
like another shadow all the rest of my days
Is an intolerable prospect. You have my
opinion, my lord; make the most OF it,
" My lad, there was never so pleased con-
science in this world as was when you Gsade
rae visible II gives me an inconcelvable ad-
TIE eye, and cah you names, and leer at you,
jeer at you, sneer at you; and you know what
elequence there Is in visible gesture ana ex-
preston, more especially when the etlecb is
heightened by agdibe speech. | shall always
address you henceforth in your own s-n-i-y-
eli n-g r-a-w-A-baby!N
I let fly with tbs coalhod. No result. My
lord said
''Come, comet Remember the flag of
truaem
"Ahl forgot that will try to be civil;
and you try 1t, too, FOR novelty. The idea
of a c,gii conscience 1t is a good joke. an
exc silent joke All the conscience | have
ever heard OF were nagging, badgering, fault
tindng, cxecrable savages Yes; and al
ways in asweat about some poor little insig-
nihcant tribe or Characterization catch the
lot of them, say | would trade mine for
the snail. pox and seven Kinds Of consamp-
ton and be glad Of the chance. Now tell
me, Why Is 1t that b science can't hSn a
man over the Goals once, sor al ofcnse, and
then lei him alone Why is il that it ~ants
To Keep on peggiag at him, day and night
and sdSht and day, week III aud week out,
forever and ever, about the same old thing
TheFe is 10 sense in that, and no reason in
il. | think conscience that will at like
,hL. is meaner than the very dirt tsef.T
We'll, ire like it; that suffices"
=" Do YOU do it Sith the honest intent 30 i'm
prove MANI"
That question produced sarcastic smile
and this repbs
No, sir. Excuse me We do It simply
because it is business 1t is our trade
The purpose of it is TO improve the man, but
trs are merely dlsintsres ed agents. We are
appointed by authority, and haven't any
thing to say 10 the matter. We obey orders
and leave the consequences where they be-
long. But | am wiling to admit this much:
We do crowd the orders trlise when We get
a chance, which is most of the time. We en-
I Joy IT, We are Instructed 10 remind man d
| few times ri an error; and | don't mind ac-
know lodging that we Try 10 give pretty good
measure. And when We get hold of man
OF a peculiarly sensitive nature, oh, but we
do haze him, | have known copsceuces to
come all tue way from China aud Russia 10