Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-07-19

Cotfle lapseu ihto tiouBheihi ~"
lence. Day by day he improved, and
was soon convalcscent. HIS laudlady
was kindness itself, and he owed his
speedy advancement 10 her attentions.
One day when he was sitting by the
window she entered the room and said
"Mr. Cottle, you must be lonely.
Shall I read something to you?"
"Yes, if you like" he answered,
smiling.
She went to his bookshelf and took
down volume. Then seating herself
on the side of the bed she began to
| read:
There lived a singer In France OF Old.
BY the tideless dolorous, midland sea;
In . land Of sand and ruin and gold
There shone one woman and none but
She
"Stop! stop!" exclaimed SWIM
burne; what on earth are you read
ipgY"
"That's poetry"
ats rubbish" he said, emphati-
cally. "Put away that book; | don't
want to hear any more such nonsense
as thst."
"why, Mr.. Cottle," calculated the
good woman, "you love poetry.
You're poet yourself. Here's some
Of your own poetry"
And seizing another volume, she
read as follows:
"Oh. take me to thy crystal breast.
And bear me hence myriad miles,
TIL this year d.eih I'm the west,
And next year In the Orient smiles"
"Who wrote that stuff" he asked.
"You did. SIR"
"0k, nonsense never knew any
one with crystal breast"
"Wby, il means the ocean,"
"Pshaw The ocean is water, not
crystal; and il hasn't any breast at all.
If there's sny more such stuff there, ]
want you to take it down to the kitch-
en-. apply lighted match to it, and con-
vert it into oxide Of poetry"
"You mean to burn it?" gasped
the landlady.
81 de-" was the reply.
In utter establishment the good wo-
man gathered together his once-loved
volumes Of poetry and bore them away.
The brain-fever had done its fatal work.
Poetry was dead in Alfred Swinburne
Cottle, and in its stead there was
great hunger and thirst after chemistry.
Day by day the appetite grew upon
him. He watched the simplest chemi-
cal processes Of nature with intense in
terest, and ycarned to understand them.
lie cared naught for poetry. He hated
the very sound Of rhyme. His first
movement, when ne was able to leave
the house, was 70 60 straight to
Professor Nitrogel IS Pennyweight.
"Sir," said he, 81 am Oxidizing
with desire to know chemistry. |
have an affinity for it. ] am not a boy,
but know how to be a student. Will
you acceTt me as pupil?"
"Wili ~" was the reply; "should
so noble an ambition as yours remain
unsatisfied? No; from this moment
consider yourself my special care"
And so Alfred Swineburne Cottle,
once a poet and dreamer, was plunged
headlong into a seething vortex Of NCl
and co. For year he was hardly
ever heard Of in Noesis. Few persons
saw him as he rapidly passed between
his lodgings and Professor Penny
weights private laboratory, with pale
face, unkempt hair, and stained hands.
Several times he met Hypatia, but he
bowed and passed on, and she, per-
ceiving his strange appearance and de-
meanor, shook her head and marvelled
greatly as to what had come over him.
Rejected young men in Noesis never acted
strangely they always acted reasona-
bly,; and IL one could not get the girl
who was his first choice he tried to got
her who was his second. AS for Cot
tie, he looked upon Hypatia with utter
indifference. lie could not even real
ize that he had once felt a sentiment
toward her. More than that, so great
was the change in him, he could not
remember what sentiment was. Love
was to him a myth, and Hypatia SIM
ply a woman. People told him that
she was the greatest cook OF her age.
He was glad to hear it. He, too, in
tended to do something which should
make him great, but it would be a
chemical greatness.
At the end of his year of hard study
be was perfect master of the science
of chemistry. Nothing appeared too
difficult for him to master at a glance.
Professor Pennyweight declared that
such powers Of acquisition had never
been seen before. He vowed that AL
fred Swinburne Cottle now knew more
about chemistry than any man in Noe
sis. Upon the heels of this remarkable
statement followed the announce
ment that he had discovered a
method Of making beautiful emerald
coloring for wallpaper out Of the chic
rophyl Of plants, thus doing away with
the dangerous colors manufactured on
a metallic base. The discovery was
hailed with joy because the Noesians
knew that green was healthful color
for the eyes to rest upon, and had been
deferred from using wallpaper of that
tint only by the knowledge that
poisonous particles existed in it.
Cottle sprang into fame at a
single bound. By the advice
Of Professor Pennyweight he an
nounced that he would lecture in
the Town Hall on the uses of the
coloring matter Of plants. An i'm
mense audience greeted him. His lee
ture was listened to with breathless in
terest, and his experiments were ap-
plauded. He drew mathematical dia-
grams on the blackboard to please the
faculty Of the High School, and he
produced beautiful green light from
chlorophane to amuse the children.
Hypatia was there, of course. In
the midst Of bis discourse a great idea
came to her.. This man had once asked
her to be his wife, and she had refused.
But how he had changed! Was it too
late now? She would make the at
tempt. She felt that they would be
mated now, for he was worthy Of the
hand Of the best woman in Noesis.
ftar tba lacfura che ,,o.o,,.l.l -