The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1885-04-04
A LOCK OF HAIR.
DR.. Hammond Relates an Incident 10 the
Life of a Physician.
Meeting at a Fashionable Dinner Party
in New York-The Story of Beautiful
lxan


Nm. H. Hammond in the Phila Sunday Press.
twas midnight by the clock of Egyp-
tan design that stood on the mantel-
piece Of my library. l had been to a
dinner party, at which there were sew
eral intellectual men and two or three
lovely women, and had on my return
thrown myself into the most luxurious
chair in the room. Then | had lighted
cigar and had composed myself to
think for half an hour before going to
bed. l had a good deal with which to
occupy my thoughts. | was writing a
book on an abstruse subject connected
with the mind. A patient in whom l
was greatly interested had not respond
ed as decidedly as was desirable to the
remedies | was giving him, and then
and truth compels me to say that this
was pre- eminent-the young lady l had
escorted to the dining room would not
get out of my mental vision, although |
honestly tried my best to Danish her.
Finally | gave up the attempt, and
allowed my imagination to run loose
with all sorts of cratic ideas, of which
she formed a prominent feature l
began then to think that was in love,
and if SO it was the first time that the
faintest CLEAN of the tender passion had
ever shone in my heart. | was an old
bachelor-so called-though under
fifty. Many assaults, SO l had been
told, had been made on my celibacy
by designing mammas working in the
interests Of their daughters, but l had
CALAMITY held the citade of my afec-
tons against them all and had about
reached the conclusion that l should
remain single all my life. Society
seemed to have arrived at the opinion
that | was not marrying man," and
hence when l went to receptions and
dinners and balls, as l did very often,
it fell to my lot usually to look after the
dowagers and wall-howers. l was al
ways willing to make myself useful in
this way, and, therefore, l was well
come guest wherever | went. l was
well-to-do as the world looks at mat
tiers, my practice was excellent, l held
professorship i'll noted medical col
lege and had written several works
that had been well received by the pro-
fession. Besides | had snug little
fortune that my father had left me.
But was in love with my profession,
and when a physician gets into that
state in which he finds something more
in his studies than his "bread and but
ter" he is not very apt to be led astray
by the Establishments of women, no
matter how attractive they may be for
mankind in general, or how assiduously
they may make use of their charms.
Now,so far as | knew,I was in love, and
that, too, with a woman that l had
never seen before that night, of whom
| had no other knowledge than that
derived from three hours conversation
and observation, and of whose antece-
dents was altogether ignorant, except
that meeting her in good society, Twas
bound to take it for granted that she
was lady. l had always prided my
self on my knowledge of women, and
if knew anything at all l knew that
no one of the sex reveals her true ma
ture to man during the first three
hours of her acquaintance with him. l
was conscious, therefore, that l was
making fool of myself, and acting in
opposition to some of my most cher
ished principles in being caught in this
ignominious manner. True, she had
made no effort, SO far as l could per-
ceive, to capture me. | had fallen into
the pit solely through my own mishap,
and that made it all the worse. l was
old enough to have known better.
Well, many wiser than l had been
caught in the same way.
had not thought her particularly
attractive, as we talked together in the
drawing room before going into dinner.
She had, it is true, a beautiful face and
figure, but, though l was an old fool,
probably, was not such big one as
to be caught by allurements of that
kind. She had not talked much, and
what she had said was of very little
consequence. l was not quite sure
that she was not weak minded, for
|
there was certain degree Of abstrac-
ton in her manner that had prevented
her replying at once to my remarks.
She had appeared to me to be in kind
of reverie, or rather of mental inaction,
from which she had to rouse herself be-
fore she could gather her thoughts to-
| gether, so as to comprehend my
speeches and frame suitable responses.
Her brain had struck me as being one
of those slow-working ones SO often
met with in persons, who, without be-
ing absolute idiots, are nevertheless not
far removed from imbecility ; in whom
some extraordinary excltation is nee
essary to start them going.
She was beautiful, but, as | said,
mere facial beauty did not 60 for much
with me. | was constantly on the look
out for expression in the faces of the
men and women that came in nv wav.
J and hers was not of the kind that
z,0