Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-06-06

anu a stoOp in his Shoulders-Whos0
a%yocation seemed to be neal at hand,
by he punctual return to meals at
stated hours in the day. With this
young man l was fated, alas! too soon
to become acquainted.
r One evening, a little before nv din
ner, Mrs. Maudle waited on me with an
air of meek mystery to ask it her SOL
might "step up by-and-b by" and speak
to me, if SO be that l hadno objection.
His name, his mother told me, was
Cincinnatus; he was rather low-spirited,
and had, in fact, something on his
mind. IL .ssA.% S~Sss .==a -. :.
.'Dear mel" I said, "poor fellow! any
trouble? Nothing serious, I hopeP"
.'"Oh, dear, no, sir-leastwise, moth
ing wrong. Gins as innocent as the
babe unborn, rs to evil ways, sir; no..
it's the mind, that's where it ISL (mys-
teriously) ''he's got soarin' mind, sir,
and the worlds too little for him."
".ndeedg" said l.. mentally regret
ting that the young gentleman had Sc
lected me as the confidant of his men
tai trials: but, alas! neutrality-suspicious.
was to come. Scarcely was the cloth
removed When a modest rap announced
my new acquaintance, and ,Cincinnatus
entered, sbearing a huge brown paper
parcel, which he deposited with "a Jerk
on the table, violently shaking back q
long wisp of hair which kept falling re-
%belliously into his eyes, and sinking
Immediately into the first chair near,
with an air of profound detection.
This young man had a large nose of
the solid Roman type, very red eyelids,
and a sonorous voice with q twang in
it. He told me he was in an attorneys
office, but that the work was very dis
tasteful to him, and he had thoughts of
giving it up and turning author.
He had begun several works of i'm
portance, one of which CHS "chef
douver," he called it) he had brought
up with him.
"Blank verse mostly, SIR" he ex-
planned; Sin ten books. revealing the
mysteries of a human soul to the moon,
who is supposed to be listening-poeti-
cal cal License cen th Of c1 purse understand
"Isn't it a risk" interrupted /.
shrinking from the prospect Of being
pressed into the same service as the
moon, and resolved to be rs practical.as
possible, "isn't. it = risk to give up
steady workfor an uncertainty in litera-
ture?"
"'Well, sir, mother talks like that,
and she's right, and you're right in one
point of vieW," said the youth, meekly;
'but when you've a soul, and when
your soul mounts beyond the Office
stool, where are you then?"a
He waved his hand descriptively, as
it were, of an aerial flight; his nails were
inky, and very long.
"Well, 1 don't KNOW" saidI, "but
hadn't you better?
But he had risen, and hurridly COM
menced undoing the brown paper, with
drawing from it about fifty sheets of
foolscap, we'll written over.
"Listen" he cried oracularly, and
slowly recited as follows:
Hail! cold, unfeeling orb, tho thy bright ray
Mocks the absorbing madness of my soul!
Soon, soon thy last quarter will draw nigh;
But sooner Still for me the funeral bel shall
toll!
.'That's the opening lines" saddle
'sthe next"
.My FRIEND" I said, II am afraid
you will find the public hard. to satisfy;
you must look for disappointment"
''That's all I look for" he interrupt
ed, shat and an early grave" he
| added, with a certain air Of satisfac-
ton. "And as mother and father
aren't as we'll off as they were, I dare
say there won't even be a recordin''
marble to tell the world Cincinnatus
Maudle lies BLOWOUT that's of no
consequence"
He sighed.
"Aren't you a little out of health?"
I asked at this point.
"Oh, yes, sir" I'm journeying to
the tomb. I've no sort of. a doubt
about it myself, but the cold world will
| pass needless by and think nothing of
It. The worlds SO very sublunary!
Don't you find it SO, sir?"
"WAl, yes; l supposed is that" 1
said, never having had cause to doubt
it as a fact. Eyes, l suppose it is. But
now let me advise you as a friend"
He looked up softly.
81 knew you would" he cried;
s'that's just it, you will assist me, and
I'll,step up OF evenings and Well go
through it together gradual like. Yes,
I felt sure you'd be the friend to do it !;
when mother said Gin. that's our
first floor going OUT l felt as if I could
open my heart to you like a'brother ; 1
did, indeed, sir"
'.Look here" I said, when he paused
and shook back the excited wisp of
whitey-brown hair, with joyful vehem-
ence ; 'look here, I'll let you know
when to bring it up. The fact is, I'm
awfully busy just now; I haven't a
minute to spare for study or the de-
lights of the muse"
I smiled grimly as I almost pushed
him outof the door, bearing his precious
brown paper parcel and overwhelming
me with undeserved thanks. Inwardly
I resolved never to have five minutes
leisure to listen to those revelations to
the NOON which would henceforth
haunt my waking and sleeping hours,
even should the meek Cincinnatus SINK
into his early grave the sooner, for lack
of brotherly sympathy.
The next morning when F entered
my sitting-room Sophonisba Ann was
there, a Ettle belated, l concluded, as
she was finishing the operation of dust
ino- which I never observed to produce