Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1885-07-29

Cottle walked in silence by her side until
they had reached her dwelling. He could
not comprehend her utter want ofsentiment,
nor could she find any solution for his poe
try. At the door he turned to Ter once
more and said:
miss Green, is there no hope for me"
81 am afraid not" she answered, ''as
long as you cling to poetry"
"Then farewell"
He turned upon his heel and left her. The
light had gone out of his life, and he bitter
" lamented the day lie had first seen the
town of Noesis. Stunned by the blow which
had just fallen upon him, he wandered, not
knowing whittier he went, far beyond the
limits of the town. Out into the soft, green
fields he went like one bereft of senses The
sweet scent of the clover-blossoms, and the
twittering of the birds, and the soft MUIR
mur of the wind among the boughs of the
trees smote upon his Senses not with the
joyous melody Of old, but with new ring
OF pain. The voices of nature failed to
speak.to him as they had done in days gone
by. Yet the soothing influence of solitude
and beauty could not altogether be lost up
on him.
"What," he meditated, s'would the world
be without sentiment and poetry? Could
man live without them ?''
Then he smiled as he thought of the
vanity of his inquiry. Men lived without
them in NOesis, and women too. And they
appeared to be healthy and happy. Could
he bring himself to such state of mind p
Could he dissect the tender fancies of poe
try with the cruel scalpel of fact? Could
he analyze an idea as Hypatia had done
when he quoted to her, "Roll on, thou deep
and dark blue ocean, roll"
"What is the use. F." she asked, "of telling
the ocean to roll On Of course it will roll
on. 1t always has rolled on. and will con-
tinue to do so until it's waters are evaporat-
ed by the heat of the sun. Ten thousand
fleets sweep ever thee in vaiu. What non-
sense! Of course they sweep over it in vain.
They couldn't possibly do the ocean any
harm, could they? Now, if your poet had
stated the fact that each ship immersed in
the 'dark-blue' ocean-which every scientist
knows is green-lost a portion of it's weight
equal to the weight of liquid displaced, he
would have said something sensible"
AS these thoughts were coursing through
Cottle's heated and bewildered brain, in the
midst of the beautiful fields, he came upon
the only thing needed to drive him to utter
distraction-a class of girls from the Noesis
High School engaged in the practical study
of botany.
''Monootyledon! monoctyledonousp
That was what the girls were chanting in
a nasal chorus.
Enough! enougbn' shrieked Cottle, as
he rushed away.
His brain was in mad whirl, and the
blood was coursing through his veins like a
torrent of fire. Across the country he rush
ed like maniac, never pausing till he reach
ed the door of his lodging house. He sprang
up the stairs three steps at "a time and dash
ed into his room. In the solitary moment
of consciousness that remained there float
ed through his mind the dim remembrance
of stanza written by poet whom he loved
and initiated:
I'VE had grown as gods as ihe gods above,
Filled from the heart to the lips with love,
Held fast in his hands. clothed warm with his
wings,
love, my love. had you loved but mer
And then the four walls of his room faded
away, and in another moment Alfred Swim
burne Cottle had fallen prone upon the floor.
His good landlady, running up at the sound
Of the fall, found him there, laughing wild
ly, Physicians were summoned in hot
haste, and shook their heads ominously as
they muttered, "Brain-fev
Concluded in neat issue.