Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-19
LOVE AND LEARNING.
A STORY NTH Il MORAL con-
CEkLED ON THE PREMISES.
,fr.onsmans Magaslne.l

II.onnman'e Mngazine.l
EPISODE I.--HE LOVES HER.
The town Of Nocsis was not built
upon q hill; neither was It's light hid
den under q bushcl. II stood in
calm and peaceful vale, into which the
sorrows Of great and wicked world
seldom penetrated. There was river
in the centre Of this vale and hills on
either side. One might have expected TO
find much beauty in the 70 sn Of Noes's
and surroundings, but one would have
: been sadly mistaken. Beauty was
not permitted 20 exist thsre. The
town was built, not only upon rock,
but also on strictly utilitarian princi-
pies. The river ran between artificial
banks, constructed wholly with view
20 so controlling its waters rs TO make
Their useial in running the saw-mills
and woollen. factories. There were
trees In Noesis, but they were there
simply for the purpose Of providing the
town with Lungs. They stood in straight
rows up and down the streets, each tree
whitewssbed TO height Of six feet
from the ground, and each precisely
the same shape and size rs its fellows.
There were three kinds of houses in
Notes.-The large house, the small
house, and the medium house. Ali
were precisely similar in style, and
were proportional with geometricsl eT-
actness. In fact. the influence OF geom-
etry was abroad in the town. Trigo-
nometry found warm spot IN
the soul OF every Noesian, and
ouaternions and determinants were to
them things Of beauty and joys
forever, For Noesis was the
Z home. Of reason, the domain OF pure
science, the kingdom OF utilitarianism.
Nothing ornamental was permitted TO
exist in the town; only the useful
found an sbiding-place there. The
sinuous, willowy windings OF the river
had been a delusion and snare. Inc
dreams of architects who saw in their
minds eyes great mullioned windows
and Handicapped towers had been
rudely dispelled. There was no place
In the town Of Noesis for them. Science
and mathematics reigDed supreme, and |
whatever was was right-sngled.
The day had gone by, said the
Noesians, when the minds Of men could |
be fed on such, dainty unsubstsntial food
rs Pope, Addison, Milton, Shakespeare,
Byron, or Tennyson. Not even Homer
in the original tongue, or Virgil in his
own stately hexsmeters, was considered
good for human brains. The NoeSians
reyelled in the exercise Of inductive
processes, leading, as their chief pro-
lessor expressed it, TO those general
conceptions Of the universe which have
bees forced upon us all by physical
science" The only musical instru-
ments used in the town were the mono
chord and the steam-whistle. The flow
ers of the field were interesting accord
ing as they were monocotyledonous or
polycotyledonous.
In this town dwelt Hypatia Green.
A loyelier creature the air never
breathed upon. Her hair was Of that
hue that turns to gold under
the magic touch of the sun. Her eyes
were deep, dark brown, so rich and
expressive that only the inhabitants Of
Noesis could look into them unmOved.
Her smooth, round cheeks were tinted
to q delicate pink with the warm, rich
blood that flowed beneath them, and
her two full lips always looked ready
to pout, had they not been restrained
by her strong will. Hypatia Green was
q daughter Of culture. She was pro-
fessor Of 4" Rational Torrefsction in
the Noesis High School. In palmer
speech, she taught scientific cooking. !
She had brought cooking to point of |
mathematical exactness. Every piece
of beef that she roasted was done just
as well as every other piece, and not
whit more or less. Her omelets were |
always Of precisely the same size, color,
and consistency. Her coffee was never |
clouded with grounds, and was never
too weak nor too strong. Her bread
was never heavy, her cake was never
damp. Nothing which Hypatia cooked
ever failed to come out precisely as her
recipe said it would. Is it to be Won
dered at that Hypatia had been much
sought after by the eligible young men
of Noesis? In such a town cooking
must, Of course, rank high as science.
The working capacity of man, indeed
his entire usefulness, depends upon the
condition Of his stomach, and for per-
lection in this he must look to his cook.
That Hypatia was as beautiful as
college boys first dream Of love never
occurred to any one. Beauty had no
part nor place in the town Of Noesis.
But men loved Hypatia for her cooking,
o gift that could not wither and grow
stale with the fight Of years. Hypatia,
however, remained fancy free. She was
wrapped up in her omelets, and she
cared not half SO much about the heart
Of q man as she did about the heart Of
An onion.
OF course Noesis was on the line Of
. great railway. So rational town
could not have existed elsewhere. A
dozen trains Numbered by its rectan-
gular station every day. Eight Of them
were express trains that did not stop,
and ordinary Noesisns, who sometimes
sauntered around wrapped in medits-
tion like other people, would pause and
gaze with scientific delight upon the
swift, movements Of the locomotives.
Those who are familiar with the science
Of subtraction will infer that the other
four trains did stop at Noesis. The
last one arrived there in the evening,
and on one particular evening in the
month Of May it brought Alfred Swim
burne Cottle.
As ono might imagine from his name,
this young man was poet. He looked
like one. He was more than hand
some, for there was in his face some
thing Of that ideal beauty which Helle-
mic sculptors wrought into the faces Of
their gods. Cottle lived in Utopia, a
town that was surrounded by an atmos-
phere Of dreams and supernatural
loneliness. There he had spent his
youth in fsshioning melodious verses
and sleeping his soul in the litera-
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