The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-03-28
CONVERSION OF PROF. NAss.

Just so far as the civilized world ex- tended, just exactly so jar extended the of Professor Nabs. He was one of England's brides, holding as he did a professorship in an English university; and one of Sco,land's brides, tso-for of course he was Scotch. Two-thirds of the half-daft geniuses upon the face of this earth are Scotch.
 His scientific works had begun by set Gng all the learned scientific people and British Isles thrilling with excitement. Then fierce quarrels ragged up and down the country, during which Professor Nabs" in extra sized types 6gured upon the bills of all ths newspapers, until at last nearly all the world had got hold of this somehow: Professor Nabs is a great md a wicked man.
 Of course, that he was wicked very few indeed would have cared to deny. For in the first place, his works were the very .ssence of wickedne 's-or so it was said |; secondly was he not the bosom crony of such sinners as Marlow the philosopher, Spence the geoiogist, Kingston the astron- omer? thirdly, he never went to church, and, fourthly, 1t was well known that he did such things upon a Sunday as no man who was not a sinner would ever dare to do.
 AS to his appearance, the reputation of 1t was almost as wide as the reputation of his learning. He was very ugly as well as very wicked man. He was exces- sively sm Ill and excessively thin, and he had little round, fat face, with mon strous mouth, the false teeth of which were perpetually tumbling together with a gurgle and click; and he h ad a way of pressing up his lips SO that they re- minded one of the shape of new moon. Two deep, wavering furrows, like black, clouds, guarded each side of his little inn pertinent chin. His eyes were imperti- nent too, very black and ridiculossly large, and crowned by massive brow as white as snow, which was, of course, the strong point of his face. He walked with a little mincing step, like dancing-mas- ter's, and, summer and winter, his small form was shrouded down to the knees by faded brown overcoat.
 Chumbleton proper lay in valley. At the outskirts of the town stood St. Peter S, the fashionable church of the place, and from the door of St. Peters a straight country road, called Cliff Road, bordered by two green banks, led up a hill to where colony of villas and semi-detached houses had sprung up of late years, Professor Nabs' house, a fine rambling old place, overlooked one of these green banks, midway betwixt S,. Peters and the villas, and beautiful old-fashioned garden stretched away tor several acres to the right of it.
 Now it so happened that Professor Nabs had mania for architecture; and as his three learned friends, like the sinners they were, generally chose Sunday for running down to see him, it was not an uncommon thing for the righteous wor- shipers of St. Peters to be disturbed by an atrocious Scotch accent bursting in through the half-open windows with such PSofaGs snatChes as " heedlous gallerie-. J meeserable buttresses," which were surely enough to put even saints beside themselves.
 In addition to his mania for architect ure, he had mania for the pianoforte which was still more frightful for he was exceedingly fond of noise, and had voice which was nothing if it was not loud. Thus it was yet less uncommon thing for the same worshipers, on theil way home to the colony of villas from the "heedjous galleries " of St. Peters, to be made to turn red or blue, according to their complexion, and angry or amused according to their dispositions as they passed the open win dows of Professor Nabs, by the sound of pair of arms go' ing like sledge-hammers and a pair oi pedals creaking up and down, and occa. sionaLly let fly with bang, and voice like fog-horn, all hard at work upon some secular song which happened to be popular at the moment.
 And yet so great was Professor Nsbs and so overwhelming is the power o greatness, that the elite of Chumbleton walking arm and arm along High stree with the elite of somewhere else, did not on discerning strange object on the ho rizon, see something to interest them or the other side ot the street, but on tho contrary bowed respectfully to the object and remarked, with a certain amount O awe and pride: "Did you notice tha person who lifted his hat to me just now that's Professor Nabs."
 The Hospital for lncurables of Chum bieton stood in one of the dullest out skirts of the town-a low, rather damy house, with tannery on one side, and Salvation Army hall on the other. was not an agreeable place of residenc, for incurables or any one else.
 Upon the afternoon of the ash April lS-, six females, ali more or less young were sitting around table in one of th dingiest rooms of this dingy house. was the meeting of the Flower Mission
 The first thing that struck one upon cursory glance at this meeting was tn. extreme earnestness of its members. A the present moment great hush of nor than usually intense seriousness ha, fallen over them. Suddenly a small wo man at one end of the table rose ap, spoke.
 Ladies, ," she said, " we now proeee, to something which is even more impor tant to each and all of us than the be loved work of distributing swees-smellin blossoms to our beloved incurables.