Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-06-11

ments, any conception OF moral conduct had
occurred to mankind, he was not stimulated
to further inquiries on these remote matters.
Yet he aspired to what he regarded as intel
lectual society, willingly entertained benefited
clergymen and bought books he heard spoken
of, arranging them carefully on the shelves
of what he called his library, and occasion
ally sitting alone In the same room with
them. But some minds seem well glazed by
nature against the admission of knowledge,
and Spikes was one of them. 1t was not,
however, entirely so with regard to politics.
form bill, and saw clearly that the large
trading towns ought to serd members. Por-
traits of the reform heroes hung framed and
glazed in his library; he prided himself on
being a liberal. In this last particular, as
well as In not giving benefactions and not
making loans without interest, he showed
unquestionable frmness. On the repeal of
the corn laws, again, he was thoroughly cen
vlnced. His mind was expansive toward
foreign markets and his imagination could
see that the people from whom we took
corn might be able to take the
cotton goods which they had luther
to dispensed with. On his conduct In
these political concerns his wife, otherwise
influential as a woman who belonged to
family with title in it, and who had conde-
scended in marrying him, could gain no hold;
she had to blush little at what was called
her husbands ''radcallsm'-an epithet
which was a very unfair impeachment of
Spike, who never went to the root of any
thing. But he understood his own trading
affairs, and in this way became a genuine,
constant political element If he had been
born little later he could have been ac-
cepted as an eligible member of parliament,
and if he had belonged to high family he
might have done for member of the gov
eminent.
Still more recognizable as a creature of the
epoch rather than of English or of American
social life especially is
MR.. MIxTUs, THE ''HALF-BREED."
Hence the lot of Mixtus affects me pa
thetically, Notwithstanding that he spends
his growing wealth with liberality and mani
fest enjoyment. To most observers he APP
pears to be simply ore of the fortunate and
also sharp commercial men who began with
meaning to be rich, and have become what
they meant to be; man never taken 10 be
well-born, but surprisingly better informed
than the well-born usually are and distin-
gulshed among ordinary commercial mag
mates by a personal kindness which prompts
him not only TO help the suffering in a mate
rial way through his wealth, but also by
direct ministration of his own; yet with all
this difusing, as it were, the odor of a man
delightedly conscious of mis- wealth as an
equivalent for the other social distinctions of
rank and intellect which he can thus admire
without envying. Hardly one among those
superficial observers can suspect that he
aims, or has ever aimed, at being writer;
still less can they imagine that his mind Is
often moved by strong currents of regret and
of the most unworldly sympathies from the
memories of youthful time when his chosen
associates were men and women whose only
distinction was religious, phllanthropic OF
.N,1l1 II IL
whose words his attention most hung was a
writer of minor religious literature, when he
was Il visitor and exhorter of the poor In the
alleys of great provincial town, and when
he attended the lectures given specially tc
young men by Mr.. Apollos, the eloquent
Congregational preacher, who had studied In
Germany and had liberal, advanced views
then far beyond the ordinary teaching of his
sect. At that time Mixtus thought himself q
young man of socially reforming ideas, Of
religious principles and religious yearnings
1t was within his prospects also to be rich, but
he looked forward to use of his riches chiefly
for reforming and religious purposes. HIS
opinions were Of a strongly democratic stamp,
eXceptthat even then, belonging to the class
Of employers, he was opposed to all demands
II the employed that would restrict the ex.
pansiveness of trade. He was the most
democratic in relation to the unreasonable
privileges of the aristocracy and landed in
terest, and he had also q religious sense OF
brotherhood with the poor. Altogether, he
was sincerely benevolent young map, inter
ested II ideas and renOunclng personal ease
for the sake of study, religious communion
and good works. If you had known him
then you would have expected him to marry
a highly serious and perhaps literary woman,
sharing his benevolent and religious habits
and likely to encourage his studles-a woman
who, along with himself would play dis
a,-I e Il
ened religious circles OF great provincial
capital. How is 1t that Mlxtus finds himself
in London mansion, and in society totally
unlike that which made the ideal of his
younger years? And whom did he marry
Why, he married Scintilla, who fascinated
him as she had fascinated others, by her
prettiGess, her liveliness and her music. II
is a common enough case, that of man be-
IN 2 suddenly caphvated by woman nearly
the opposite of his ideal; or if not wholly
captivated, at least effectively cap
tured 10y "a combination of circum-
stances along with an unwarily
manifested inclination which might other
wise have been transient. Mixtus was cap
tivated and then captured on the worldly
side of his disposition, which had been al
ways growing and HourishIng side by side
with his philanthropic and religious tastes.
He had ability Ia business, and he had early
meant to be rich; also, he was getting rich,
and the taste for such success was naturally
growing with the pleasure of rewarded ex-
ertion. It was during business soJourn in
London that ne met Scintllla, who, though
without fortune, associated with families OF
Greek merchants living in a style of splendor,
and with artists patronized by such wealthy
entertainers Mixtus on this occasion be-
came familiar with world In which wealth
seemed the key to d more brilliant sort OF
dominance than that of a religious patron In
the provincial circles Of X Would it not be
possible to unite the two kinds of sway? A
man bent on the most useful ends might with
a fortune large enough, make morality mag
nifcent and recommend religious principle
by showing it in combination with the best
kind of house and the most liberal of tables,
also with a wife whose graces, wit and accom-
plishments gave finish sometimes licking
even to establishments got up with that I'M
hesitating worldliness TO which high cost Is a
sufficient reason. Enough. Mixtus married
Seintilla. Now this lively lady knew moth
ing Of Nonconformists, except that they
were questionable; sne did not distinguish
one conventicle from another, and Mr.. Apol-
los, with his enlightened interpretations,
seemed to her as heavy bore, II not quite SO
ridiculous, as Mr.. Johns could have been
with his solemn twang at the Baptist chapel
in the lowest suburbs, or as local preacher
among the Methodist. In general, people
who appeared seriously to believe In any sort
of doctrine whether religious, social or philo-
sophical, seemed rather absurd to Scintilla
Ten to one, these theoretical people pro.
nounced oddly, had some reason or other for
saying that the most agreeable things were
wrong, wore Objectionable clothes, and
wanted you to subscribe for something. They
were, probably, ignorant of art and music
did not understand badinage, and, in fact
could talk of nothing amusing. Ia Scintilla'
eyes the majority of persons were ridlculou;
and deploraOly wanting in that keen percep-
ton of what was good taste, with which she
herself was blessed by nature and education
but the people understood to be religious, OF
otherwise theoretic, were the most ridiculous
of all, without being iproportionately anus.
ing and inevitable. Did Mixtus not discover
this view of ScintilIa's before their marriage
Or did he allow her TO remain in Ignorance
OF the habits and opinions which had
made half the occupation Of his youth When
man Is inclined to marry particular wo-
man, and has made any committal of him
self, this woman's opinions, however different
from his own, are readily regarded as part Of