The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-09-07
Most Of ms have seen Mont Blanc Ger.

crowding, the confusion! Better to be.
hold such marvellous natural scenes by
the minds eye only.
How different travel that takes no &C.
count of the cost! All! the mind is re-
freshed, the body invigorated then.
To lounge at will through foreign
picture galleries. to float idly in Condo.
las, to be in no hurry to reach en-.
chanted spots, under no obligation to
tear ones self away. The gist of travel
is surely here, to be able to take it as
we should take nature when we are in
the humor. Then he thought of an
other luxury.
He was a lover of books. He was
almost photographer to boot. But he
had never yet been able to indulge in
this taste except on the most limited
scale. There were books he had sighed
for as a girl sighs for a lover-nOt a,
all costly ones either-yet they had
seemed as far off yesterday as they had
done twenty years before. Again-and
any poor possessor of a library will
sympathize with him-the cover of 8
book was matter he had great respect
for. He hated to see good book i'll.
bound. He adored fine editions, but
where he could not have them, hand.
some bindings. 1t savored to him Of
disrespect to see grand old author out
at elbow, threadbare, and tumbling 70
pieces. What joy to have the faithful
| friends of SO many years at last be-
| digit as became them! 1t ever cost
him pang to see the great authors of
| mould 81 onpl;t;n,, hour oh
more so when they were his owni 1t
seemed a downright slight on his part.
Homer, Cervantes, Milton, Spenser,
should now all be superbly yet staidly
bound in that dark-blue morocco, with
silk lining, that so well became them;
his mind glowed with pleasure at this
perspective translation of his library.
He possessed a really handsome one,
but in terribly dilapidated condition
from sheer want of money. On the
whole, perhaps, this thought was more
animating than any other. A lonely
man, scholar, he had held more COM
munion with the dead than the living.
He had never envied his rich friends
their equipages, fine horses, parks and
establishments. but he had coveted their
libraries, especially those of non-read.
ing men. And it is all very well to
sermonize on Beranger's test, '.Voir,
c'est avoir;' more practical wisdom
lies in Touchstone's dictum, can ILL
favored thing, sir, but mine own" All
of us would fain own Horace's portion,
especially in the matter of books. In
his eagerness MIR. Dollar even took out
a notebook and began to put down the
names of those time-honored favorites
destined for binding, to cost a guinea
apiece. He was thus jutting one name
after another when the door was opened
with solemnity that could announce
one piece of news only.
The heart of the new-madc million
aire stood still.
1t was one of the physicians who had
been in attendance on the sick man.
He looked at Mr.. Dollar curiously and
paused.
Then lie said slowly and with touch
of meaning impossible to be misunder-
stood: IAN extraordinary, almost a
phenomenal change has happened. My
patient shows signs of returning con-
seriousness and vitality. For the mo-
ment, danger is overr'
He seemed hardly to expect an
answer, and his listener had none to
give. He added: "In this kind of dis
ease such changes are not unheard of,
though very rare. l have throughout
my professional career witnessed not
more than one or two such apparently
miraculous recoveries, never one more
startling than the present"
He was bent on apologizing for the
life thus snatched from the grave.
But no apology was needed. The
schoolmaster's cynicism stood him in
good stead. The irony of this circum.
stance was but one bitter touch more
added to his life.
He smiled somewhat grimly, but
with perfect aplomb, without the slight
est change of countenance, and made
reply:
''Then there can be no reason for the
prolOngation of my stay. 1 will take
the next train home"
"Your professional duties doubtless
claim you," said the physician, and as
there seemed nothing more to say he
went away, urging Dollar to ring for
hot coffee before starting.
:.All the household are astir," he
said; "and what a hurry our neighbors
are in to bury us! l have had to send
away half-a-dozen undertakers al
readyr
The cold wintry day had dawned
when Mr. Dollar reached the railway
station he had quilted barely twenty
four hours ago. What was his dismay
on being asked to show his ticket to
find it gone! Then he smiled grimly
once more. He had thrown the half of
his return ticket into the fire, with the
thought it was not in accordance with
the fitness of things that millionaire
should travel third-claSs.
So Rev. John Humphrey went back
to Ills school drudgery and his unbound
books, and the hale sexagenarian took
to himself young wife. And at the
end of twelve months a son and heir
was born to the rich man, and the poor
mans dream of millions vanished for
ever.
But not without leaving trace be-
hind. When the patient quite recovered
his health, and learned down to the
minutest particulars what had taken
place, his heart smote him. He ought
not to have come back to life again
He was touched in vulnerable place, as
he adored wealth moreover, john
Humphrey Dollar was his kinsman,
and, though a needy man, had never
come to him for farthing. The poor
fellow should no longer grind at school
work for two hundred year.
1t was, moreover, a respectable thing
to have relation in the Church. He
presented Rev. Mr.. Dollar, therefore,
with living in an agreeable Midland