The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-02-24
THE HISTORY OF A BOTTLE.
BY CLEMENT CARPENTER.

BY CLEMENT CARPENTER.
"And this our life, exempt from public
haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in running
brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything"
Six o'clock on summer afternoon,
IN a great city; bells ringing in the
churches, whistles sounding in the
factories, and the sidewalks echoing
the tramp of the homeWard and the
weary; alittle, narrow street crammed
with old houses, many of them built of
wood before fire ordinances, bolstered
and patched in every way imaginable,
many doorless, WindoWless, regular old
scarecrows, and monuments to the ira
pacity of landlords still, at the same
time, affording some comfort to the
hundreds of humans sWarming them
from cellar to garrett.
The steep, slanting roof of one of
the most miserable of these tenements
hides from the heavens q room that,
for barrenness and poverty, would al
most battle description. The sun shines
through the broken panes Of one lit
tie dormer window, bringing into
plain relief every corner and Granny;
the furniture, if this place ever had
any, has disappeared long since, saving
a table, an old chair, a pine cupboard
and a filthy mattress thrown on the
floor in a corner; the walls exhibit
their plaster through the cracks in the
dirty green paper which covers them;
on the floor are few scraps Of carpet
ing, some fragments of wood, and two
or three pieces of broken earthen ware
not tool, not a useful thing is in
sight, all is naked and desolate.
A young man of about thirty years
of age is sitting in an old chair, his
elbows resting on the table, his hands
supporting his bowed head; to all ap-
pearances he is in deep thought; sud-
denly he rises from his seat, walks
rapidly to the cupboard in the corner,
opens the door, and discloses to view
row of white pine shelves covered
with dust; falling on his knees, he
places his left hand upon the dirty
floor, and put his right far into the
recesses of the cupboard there is a
slight puff of dust, rustic of crisp old
paper, then he slowly rises to his feet,
with a dark colored bottle in his hand,
which he holds up a moment and then
carefully deposits upon the table. AS
he stands by the table, in the fading
light, we notice that he is quite tall
and slender; we also notice fore
head scanned with untimely wrinkles,
and features SCARED by disease and
relaxed by passion.
He wakes from one end to the
~ &c IN h r1<
regular steps, his hands in his pockets,
his eyes fixed upon the floor; piece
of looking-glass glistening in the sun
light attracts his attention; he per-
ceives in it a pale face, a narrow,
bony nose, thin lips, on which slight
smile is visible; with one blow of his
heel he brushes this important witness
into thousand fragments, then seats
himself again by the table and looks
long and steadily at the bottle; this is
of black glass, with a narrow neck and
and large body the spiders have woven
Il sort of gray envelope about it in
different places; the cork, much larger
than the neck, is fastened to it by
q kind of mechanism; the color of the
contents is hidden under thick coat
ing of dust. He takes up the bottle
again with grave air, raises it to the
height of his eyes, and holds it be-
tween himself and the light he passes
his hand slowly back and forth
along its neck in a caressing way /; the
cool sensation of the glass upon his
skin seems to please him; suddenly
the blood mounts to his cheeks, and
he passes his tongue rapidly back
and forth along the edge Of his dry
lips with a motion almost cat like in
quickness; the demon Desire is already
moving in him, and, like an old gour
mand, he is allowing himself to pass
through all the refnements of expect
alton before plunging into the real
tiles.
Night is coming on, and objects
everywhere begin to take on the gray
and vague tint Of twilight; he takes
from his pocket.a piece of candle--very
little and yelloW-ATwhich is lighted and
placed in the center of the table; the
flame crackles, heSitates an instant,
and finally throws out a trembling
light, which causes grotesque figures
to dance upon the wall. The bottle
is taken again in both his hands, and
the cork drawn and placed upon the
edge Of the table, from whence it falls,
rolling softly along the floor; he
places the mouth of the bottle to his
ncstrils, inhaling with evident delight
the strong and penetrating odor which
it exhales; it is but step to the cup
board, the door of which yet remains
open; from it he takes a little glass,
which in placing on the table rings
out a pure and crystal note, then care