Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-11-11
A CHANGE OF VIEWS.

Al a sporting event and "A wicked gamb.
ling proceeding, the Derby is naturally
out Of my line. A serious writer, | am
well aware, should b careful how he con
teammates his pen with such a subject
and especially if he doesn't understand
it-but he may go some lengths if actu-
ated by moral purpose. This may be
seen any day in the way in which the
most respectable journals handle the most
disreputable topics. "They only touch
upon the matter in the interests OF moral
ity,n or "ior the purpose of holding it up
for public apprehension as though
a barn door should apologize for the pole
cat nailed upon it. !, however, have an
excuse for abiding to 50 sad thing as IA
race-course which is more than valid, the
two Derbys | have in my mind are
indissolubly connected with reverent if
not sacred subject, in the person OF the
Rev. Theodore PyX. On tine first occasion
when | stood beside him on Epson
Downs he was not, indeed a clergyman,
but he was very near It, He was not the
rose, but, so to speak, stood in the next
pot to it; for he had passed his "yolun-
tary," and was to be ''japanned" in fort
night That was the expression which, |
am grieyed to say, he used in those unre
generate days for the ceremony OF ordina-
ton.
We went together from London on a
drag with good many university men,
and PyX was not the gravest of the party
He had never been remarkable for gray
ity, and this was almost the last occasion
when he would be at liberty to indulge in
his natural instincts for liveliness and
larks. He called it. with touching
palhos, his last iling''-anL it was a tol-
erably high one There was nothing that
he did not do that Derby day that was to
be dOne-from throwing at his Aunt Sally
up to losing "the tennern which another
aunt had sent him (On hearing that he had
passed his Vor) in backing the first
favorite ! can see him now with his hat
stuck round with dolls, having his for.
tune told by a gypsy, who, with all his
talents for pervision and desire to prOph.
phesv smooth things, never dreamed Of
promising him that he should be one day
Archbishop of Canterbury; he looked 50
exceedingly unlikely even in the very
earliest tOrmation--the merest chrysalis-
of any development OF that nature. He
did not come back on the drag, but inside
of it, along with the empty hampers, by
reason of our sOliCitude for his personal
safety Though his equilibrium was out
Of gear, the native genlality Of his dispO-
sitiOn remained unimpaired and we
could hear him singing all the way un.
derneath US, no doubt at the top OF his
voice but melowed by distance and his
position 50 as TO resemble the Law of
humble-bee between two panes of glass.
The last ! saw of Theodore PyX that day
was his legs; he was taken ont head fore
most at his lodgings in Bury street St
James and put to bed by two charitable
und rgraduates, whom he entreated to
make an apology for him to Dr. Paley,
with whom, he said, he had made an en-
gagement TO sup that evening at Gre
morne In this impression he was OF
course mistaken; but | mention 1t in fair
ness to PyX, since it shows that his recent
course Of theological study had not been
obliterated though he just thea confused
it with matters of somewhat different
character
| had some slight acquaintance with
this gentleman during his college career,
where he had distinguished himself as a
good billiard player and a milliliuous and
hOwery speaker at the Union but We had
not much in common together He he
lOngcd 10 a fast set and rather looked
down upon me, as being only fast by fits
ana SIdTlS--as IN lhdl tAptul'lOn 10 the
Derby which was my first one, by the byy:
he had a knowledge, too, Of practical
mathematics, which enab cd him To maxi e
a book upon every great racing event of
the year-alhough 1t did not suffice To
make him win. A tall, ha usome young
fellow he was, and, though not Of an arts
tocratic type in other respects, he bad fine
white hands. which at that time We
thought little Of They were not noticed
much in dealing at Loo or Ningtet-un,
where it is ones own hanf only in which
one takes any particular interest; but
they afterwards served him IL some stead
TIE did not make much money by those
games believe, and had none Of his own
" start with; but those who knew him
oa-. Here wont - aver that Ihco1ore PyX
was q shrewd tellGw-an opinion which,
.A21sh I did not share it, | am bound to
nv Aas Hce been amply justified
A93at four years after | left the Uni.
,.-1'E / happened to be spen Ing a few
81 holiday at 4 certain seaside town
wy south G asst with an aunt of mine
WY. gus gwen 10 rtHalism She attended
.La,lls aHl Yesper- every Gay at the dis.
uIct church, ann Wa, ratt er seandalizrd
:, my pot accompanying her "a those
expeditions