Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-06-01

W uat have myself hot suffered from
Jchh.~ lectures upon the Carrara
marllc-..
To hear l:;n talk. "a" would have
thought that the block ont Of which
that ricfN "'Wrc Was h"wn had been
endowed with moral writes
1t l. virgin white sir. without Il
stain. TIE marbl" uf P"ntclicu- i
nothing To- il.
DIR. loft, the crolo-i,t. who lives
in III" n"i;rhborhuud. cam" over To-
inspect It: but his remarks We're on
tie whole unfrienaly t. the mantle
piece He sad ~)methin- in Il drrr"
ciatory tone about IL not being the
fracture Of loaf sugar. which J"hh
resented exceedingly.
"iracturr5 and loaf sugar. l-
cried. pulling down hi- wai-troat and
settling his cravat: Il tell YOU its
equal to Parian.''
.Dehb's mantelpircr Wa, not only
equal to Parian. hut i'll one particular
greatly superior to it. for it had the
faculty. or at least the Satyr had. of
altering its expression. II ii had
been .jebb's statue that did this. II
would have been almost certain
taking the average Of the human face
diyine) to have ali Improvement. hut
in q mantel piece one prefers mOnut
ony | don't mean to say that the
Satyr "brcathcd and glowed i'll the
manner attributed to statuary by the
poet. but it really did begin to show
signs of animation
Jebb. himself. as was natural. since
he was never tired Of admirin~ the
stately pile lit was of immense dimcn-
sions., was the first to discover this
l happened to be at Fresco Castle
when the conviction was brought
home to him. and he did me the honor
to confide it to me.
My dear Jones" said he one morn
ing after breakfast. Il want Your
opinion upon the most astounding
circumstances that ever took place in
the history of the universe"
Then he took me into the great
hall, locked all the doors. and leading
me up to the mantelpiece pointed
with his finger to the very center of
it, and exclaimed in an awful voice,
Look at that. Jones" | thought he
had gone out of his mind. There was
nothing to be saen on the marble but
the Satyr's head with his odious grin.
and so l told him.
Look at it again. Jones; | tell you
it's alive
Well" saidl i, gently, lit is alive
in one sense; We all know tho line
about the living marble. but that's
metaphorical."
Its not a metaphor. it's reality"
whispered Jebb, hoarsely. Il have
watched 1t day by day and week by
week, and | am convinced that mar
bic perspires."
Gracious goodness! what does it
do that for?"
Il don't know; Ionly know it does.
Take the magnifying glass and look
where my finger points"
l looked, and it was true enough
that in the Satyr's eye there was a
place less white than its surroundings,
apparently covered with gentle ex
udation.
'Out, damp spot" was the quota
ton that naturally rose to my lips,
but in Jebb's perturbed state of
mind l felt it would be cruel land
might be dangerous) to make light of
his trouble. l accordingly muir
INJURED something about the effects of
shadow.
mo, no." he replied impatiently.
Il have tried to think that. of course,
but it's nothing of the kind; that spot
yonder grows darker and damper
every morning"
Perhaps it's the dew" / suggested;
but I felt that the observation was
scarcely worthy of serious attention.
He took no notice of it. but only muir
INJURED. I'm sure it's something alive;
I think shall send for the doctor"
This struck me as an excellent idea.
and that what would be a great i'm
provement on it would be to hint
that he should bring a strait waist
coat with him and a couple of keepers.
"You see, the doctor knows all
about marbles" he continued, land
this may be popularity of the Car
rara. Perhaps it comes and goes
Then l perceived it was the geolo-
gist DR.. loft, and not the physician,
that my host had in his mind.
As 1 felt sure loft would only
laugh at him, L dissuaded Jebb
from this course upon the ground
that the doctor had been always hos
tile to the mantelpiece, and we de-
cided to investigate the phenomenon
for ourselves. Every morning we
very literally sat down before it, ~
on two of the great high-backed hall
chairs, and stared and stared at the
damp spot till I hardly knew whether
it was there or not. Sometimes I
seemed to see it, and sometimes l
didn't. It began to have almost as
great fascination for Jebb himself.
One day a visitor called, and, while
admiring the mantelpiece, casually
observed, 1T strikes me that Just
hereabouts land he pointed to the
spot it would be all the better for a
little soap and water
Then we knew, of course. that we
were not the victims of imagination.
From that moment, as if it felt it
was discovered, the Carrara perspired
visibly without making the least
effort to conceal it; the spot grew and
grew, till it became the size of mans
hand and the color of a very dirty
hand. The Satyr, in fact. had an
enormous black eye, as if he had
made some satirical observation
upon somebody which had not been
taken in good part. fireplace, more
over, was no longer damp. but abso-
lutely wet-dripping.
The remarks of visitors upon the
subject grew SO unpleasant that they
We're excluded from the great hall al
together. where Jebb and often sat
alone together on the high-backed
chairs, watching PROCEEDINGS con-