The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-07-10
MAKING AM ENDS.

/ was fsin to supplement my income,
pending the time when my learning,
eloauence and acute instructive grasp
of difficult cases in all their bearings,
should have brought the British solicl-
tor to my feet-with such literary work
asI could obtain.
Having an uncle an editor, and two
college friends successful Journalists,
nay efforts were not doomed to that dis
appointment which awaits the vast ma.
iority of young men and women, who
are tempted by some early magazine &C.
ceptarce to engage in that great, never
ending competitive examination, com
prised in the endeavor to earn a living
out of.periodical literature, and / got as
much occupation for my pen as l could
perform without neglecting my legal
studies and prospects. Among other
pickings, I received a guinea II week fol
an article in the Blank Review. Osten.
sibly it was the review of a book, but in
reality the said book was the excuse OF
text for an essay which was intended to
be witty, but was too often, I fear,
merely Aippant.
CT do not care for a dull account Of
the book you review; all I want is q
paper" said the editor. And I did my
bert.
One of my most facetious papers, ]
remember, was written apropos of a lit
tie volume of poems issued in the ortho'
dox green cover. and entitled Echoes
of the Hearth "Dora." I did not
take the trouble to read them, but just
dipped in here and there without even
cutting the leaves, to get points fol
funny "copy." I found one couplet,
for example, in, which girl was made tc
rhyme with curl, whereupon I spelled
girl, CURL, throughout the article.
called "Dora" a CURL, drew an imagin.
airy picture Of her as a gushing young
thing of fifty, with spectacles, and an
ink-stained thumb, and suggested that
her proper occupation was the artistic
cooking of a sleeps heart, rather than
writing nonsense about the echoes OF
her own. inquired how a heart can
have an echo, and insinuated that the
Curl of the Echoing Heart must be a
ventriloquist; with a great deal more
fippant stuff of the same kind, winding
up with an affectedly serious diatribe
against poetasters of both sexes, ano
the publishers who print their illusions:
q d~isgraceful article which was exactly
to the taste of the nil adnairari class,
from which the readers of the Blank
RevieW were principally recruited.
It was during this early period of my
career, and at the season when London
is dullest.A that I met my old college
friend Sinclair in the Strand and natur.
ally asked what brought him to town in
the autumn.
"I.have been ordering a dog-cart in
Long Acre." he replied, ''but why are
you not out for a holidayw $50
81 have nowhere particular to goto,
and no one to go with me. As has been
often said, London when empty has
nor people mi than any other place
has when FULL" said I. "Besides if ]
went out I should be paying for my
empty chambers all the time as well as
for my temporary lodgings"
"Look here" said Sinclair, after a
pause, ST wish you would come back
with me to Aitcham this evening""
SIS it far?"
ooh. no, near Pangbourne; we shall
RUIZ down in q couple of hours. 1t is
not any compliment to ask you, I own,
for we are monstrous dull. But you
have as good as owned that you have
nothing to keep you in London, and it
would be very good natured if you
would come and take an oar"
"Take an oar?"
eyes; L am rather tired Of sculling
those two about every afternoon by my
self. Some Of the girls in the neigh
borhood have taking to rowing them
selves, and letting their husbands,
brothers, etc., steer, but my women-folk
don't seem to see it."
"You speak in the plural"
"Yes; my wife. you know, must have
some one to speak to-" ...5.
he has you"
@Poohl it is easy to see that you have
no experience. Why, we have been
married nearly two years. I can't talk
OF furbelows, and my wife can't talk of
hunting She wants another woman to
talk to, and SO Miss Elmer is staying
with us. And I want a man to talk to,
and you will be he, won't yon? There
is a quiet little room opening out into
the garden, where you shall do any
reading and writing you want, undis-
turbed all the morning. Comet"
He led me to my chambers, made me
pack my portmanteau, and had me down
to the station and in a railway carriage
almost before I had quite made up nay
mind whether 7 would 60 or not.
You have not forgotten how to row,
have your" he asked, as we rushed
through the country.
"No, I fancy not; but I'm not in the
condition I was when We rowed in our
first boat during the May races. What
time do you dine, by the way?"
eve never dine"
stNoi'
"No. We breakfast and lunch, and
60 on the water when the latter meal has
been digested, and come back to a cold
spread when we have had enough mist
and moonlight. It is very romantic, I
assure you"
"No doubt" said I, thinking that I
would have a pressing engagement to
tear me back to town very
Wehad almost reached Sinclair's villa
before the sweet odors of grass and
flowers got fair hold of my senses, or
-fhe,strange stiffness of everything ceased
to confuse me.
It Vas a delicious place the house
was white and wide and low, and covered
with iessamine and honeysuckle, and
shaded or three sides by a broad veran-
da, upon which the French windows Of
the sitting room opened: The stables
and kitchen were out OF sight and smell
somewhere ; the lawn was cool with
trees, and the bright, swiftly. flowing
river shone at the bottom of it.
Alady sat in a zane camp-chair in the
veranda, reading the paper; she heard
our voices and rose, aud I was intro
duced to Mrs. Sinclair. My friend had
made q good selection !; she was hand
some, well-dressed. courteous, hospita-
BILE, without knowing it. By which, as
I cannot read peoples hearts, Iof course
mean. that she gave n the impression
of not knowing it. She rather patronized
me Is being a benighted bachelor, after
the manner of matrons of twenty.
It was about five o'clock in the after
noon. and she wanted to have dinner for
me in q couple of hou ), but, Of course,
I would not let them alter their domestic.
arrangements, SO I had a slight snack
then and there. after which I declared