Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-06-15
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MY DEMON.

wv hen IOrsOOk the college walls OF
W, some years ago, | was possessed
of--of-"
"Of immense knowledge"
"No such thing, my friend"
Observation-Disclosures as musty?"
Nothing of the kind, I do assure
you"
Acquaintance, thorough, vast, va
ried, with men and things?"
Gar from it. If anything, rather
the reverse of this"
"Shades of the campus. You but
joke, my dear fellow. Posse'sed-and
of what, pray?"
"Of a demonw
"a demon?"
"a demon!"
"And that demon?'
"a desired"
My friend interested me; his story
was making me curious; but | exhib-
tied calm exterior aud unperturbed
countenance He was dealing in enig-
mas; l would show him the virtue of
laconics. | simply said:
"Indeed"
eyes" said he, 81 was possessed of
it continually. 1t haunted me all the
night and all the day. strove with it,
but puissant effort and superhuman ex-
ertion were alike puerile and ineffi-
cient"
Ismiled little, partly to encourage
my friend, and partly to cover the
growing interest felt in his story. Il
consider that no person ought ever to
get excited
Proceed" said l.
"The demon, / said was desire!
That desire, to encounter coquette;
to humble her naughty spirit, and sub
due her obdurate heart"
I nodded three times. Each nod
was given with elaboration. l eyed
him attentively as he continued:
"Look at that person, not tall, to be
sure, but we'll knit, full of grace and
Adonis-like.'
AS he said this, he rose from his chair
and, drawing his coat tight about him,
stood erect and turned quite around.
Sand those eyes, note them-large,
dark, luminous. Just imagine how
they shone and sparkled on that night
on the occasion"
imagined.
81 was the heir of my rich bachelor
uncle; and scarcely had entered upon
the possession of the wealth his demise
had left for my sole enjoyment, and
had time to arrange some business
matters in the little village which was
honored by his name, before the intel
ligence was conveyed to me that one of
the most beautiful girls, yet one of the
most arrant and tickle of coquettes,
was a resident of the place, and lived
in the white house just across the way.
81 can't begin to tell you how this
news delighted me. was superlative-
ly elated-edifed,"
'Sho appeared to be the theme of
every tongue. No one spoke Of the So
ciety of the town without giving her
name the preference of first mention.
Her beauty, her voice, her eloquence,
her education and accomplishments,
her standing, and, above all, her des-
perate airtstios, her audacious con-
quests, her cruelty. her"
"Stop a moment-take BREATH" said
I, interrupting what was like to be an
endless chain of substantives.
According to rumor," said my
friend, mo such tyrant WAS ever before
seen. No man ever approached her
but he went away with deadly arrow
cleaving to his side, and she laughing
at his anguish.
'.Ths was quite enough. desired
to know no more. 1t was bliss to me
ecstatic bliss. 1t sank down into the
we'll of my heart, and then, gushing up,
1t meandered every vein, nerve, fiber,
muscle. 1t permeatei my whole being.
| felt nice
"Tnen l drew myself up, every fea-
cure beaming with the one thought
vast, ilimitable it seem ed-and swore
by the ashes of my sizes and my de
missed bachelor uncle, and by that
guardian genius which never deserted
me in any emergency, that l would
teach this naughty and cruel tyrant
what it is to msltreat my sex-what 1t
is to fiout my kind-what it is to make
hermits and missnthropes of my fell
loW-men, and what, consequently, 1t Is
6 to cheat the census roll of its legitimate
a increase
q "The night OF the ftte came. I drew
on my low patent feathers, over pair
of immaculate silk stockings, shook
arnbrosial fragrance into my snowy
kercnleT, anu was on 10 meet ana SUD-
due the all-daDgerous siren.
n GAS | passed along the way thought
of nothing save the coquette, and the
triumph had in anticipation. l ar
gued to myself
ga party of illiterate country
ounces have been swelling her tri-
umphs with list Of unmeaning and
dishenorable captives, and hence her
fame. Doubtless she is some smooth
faced doll--some pert, forward miss,
full of airs. and smelling Of boarding
schools and bread and butter. Proud
of a bright complexion and a little