The Republican journal., 1881-09-08
The Chances Of War and How Ono was
Missed.

The Chances Of War and How Ono was
Missed
There were certain conditions in the
life OF my hero, whom | shall call Rex,
which made it easy for him to live out a
certain romance that came to him when
he was just twenty-five.
These conditions were an adorcd and
adoring mother, and widowed sister
with two small people who felt as free to
borrow his knife and suggest their favor
ite sweetmeats to him as if they had been
his own. SO his family was quite com
plete. 1t filled his days with cheerful
work, and his evenings were not at all
those Of the typical bachelor. His home
was as merry and noisy and turbulent,
and his nights just ''as devoid OF ease,
as If he had been a Benedick. For his
sister had come home before his nephew
and namesake, little Rex, had Weathered
through his first three months OF collie
and many a night had be risen from his
comfortable bed in response to the walls
that came from his sisters room, and he
and little Rex had made a procession OF
themselves, the good uncle sturdily sing
ing, "Wherc, oh, where, is good old
Daniel ~ his dangling slspenders flap
ping soberly above his slippered feet, as
he trudged contentedIy up and down the
hall. The conquered Rex junior would
finally sink heavily and more heavily
against his shoulder, unIil, when just
about to learn the fate OF the Hebrew
children, he would succumb to the com
bincd effect of warm tlannclS. the charms
OF music, and the solace of camomile,
and with a weary final wall pass into
that happy oblivion where collie is un-
known.
Sometimes on these night marchs his
old soldering days would come back to
him with great ViNidness, and with them
his romance At such times Rex junior
would be treated to a long walk. 50 long.
indeed, that his mother would sink into
such a profound slunbcr that when she
was awakened to have him returned to
her, she always reused up to the firm
conviction that Rex senior was Il burglar
intent upon stealing her precious boy.
AS If any burglar in his right mind would
steal three -months-o old baby, when there
were spoons or anything else in the house
to he taken. Ills romance he had never
told in words, but somehow his mother
and sister knew there had been one, and
they arranged it to suit themselves. He
was treated with additional tenderness
because it had failed, and so, doubtless,
were they. Often one or the other said.
''POor Rex, wonder who she was
what Il pity = but in her deceitful heart
she did not think it a pity, for this dream
Of his did not disturb their hold on him.
and realization of it might have done
50. Altogether it was much nicer fol
things to be Just as they We're. The ten
der mystery which shrouded a certain
time Of his life offered an excuse for the
tide of motherly and sisterly love to ebl
and flow in constant waves, the rajsOll
detfc for the ebb being only to gather
fresh strength for the flow.
Eve no doubt that they invested the
romance with more magnitude than il
deserved. They even at times detected
a sad shade lingering around their hero's
admirable mouth, or giving a far off look
to his eyes, as he sank into the easy -chail
which his adoring small relatives tugget
forward for him. Later, when these
small relatives. who had battened upon
CORY giant stories from their uncle'S lips
until they were appeased, and afraid OF
their own shadows, were being put t.
bed, the daughter would say, suggestive
ly, to her mother, "Poor dear Rex looks
tired Tonight; then, severely, to hen
children ''Iou children have no mercy
upon your uncle. You are always riding
him when he is in the house. do Wisl
You would not forever worry him tOl
stories. | could tell YOU lust as nice
ones"
This would raise a derisivc laugh ;nC
backed up by the fact that there was not
only a lamp burning brightly, but moth
| er and u grandmother in the room, Tho
IQudaclous small ones would suggest tt
each other topics for ''mothers stories,
which, after the substantial fare in thai
line which their uncle had accustomed
them to, they regarded as a very veal
diet indeed.
eyes, the dear boy is not in his best
Ninhing. | must hurry back to him, 81
he will not be too lonely, poor fellow"
1t had come to have a perfectly cleal
meaning to those good ladies when either
of them accused this interesting man O
having "been thinking" and was in nc
wise an intimation that, save periodically
he existed without thought. They sim
ply meant that natural regrets were fill
ing his mind and expressing his heart
1t is true that, as he walked home from
his office the very night in question, he
had "been thinking" but his thoughts
ran something in this fashion: "If
could see through the game Sharp an(
Swindle are playing, Fd feel better
That stupid old Fresh, to let himself be
trapped so. If clients only knew how
much gold there is in silence, their law
yers wouldn't find out so often how mucl
there is in their pockets" And his minG
had flown back to these legal worries
when the niece and nephew, ceasing t,
act as counter irritants, had flown to bed
But when his mother re- entered the room
and he caught her look of sympathy, he
threw his cares to the wind once more
and dispelled her solicitude by saying
checrfully, "Well, mother which Of us is
to beat at chess tonight 2"
"The dear unselfsh soul makes sucl
an effort to be gay" she had consequent
ly remarked to her daughter.
If Rex had set about writing out this
experience, which was supposed to have
altered his whole life, being one of the
concise lawyers, he would very probably
have put it all into six lines. But he
never had written it out he had only
thought about it very often. At first the
recollection had been full of n tantalizine
regret, because it seemed to him un-
necessary that the episode should have
been left unfinished. When he first ha(
! come to know why he had been so ruth