Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-08-04
9ai1n eagle
A CLERICAL WORLDLING.

A CLERlCAL WUkLULINU.
The shutters Of the rectory windows were
wide open This was very unlike the policy
Of the rector OF St AIMS, who invariably
prayed to he delivered from the flies, dust
and all disorderlinesS But there had come
. change In the life Of Rev. Arthur Dib-
bins, As there ever must be In mutable
things He had married wealth, and with
wealth, bondage 1t was the win Of Mrs
Dibbins that the shutters should henceforth
be open, and to this new state of affairs the
rector was reconciled by many compensa-
items
His Shades" had been torn down in q
frenzy, and were now usurped by beauti-
fully fashioned screens Of fine brass links,
purchased in Egypt There was drapery
from Persia, and q revolving fan, like q
slave in attendance, over Mr. Dibbins'
brown head where he sat Hortense, a
Frenchwoman, removed every particle Of
dust before it had settled His papers were
fled and docketed with q system that he
could only wonder and admire. He was
clad IN a jacket Of imported stuff, and
crossed his slippered feet-albeit eighths-
on q fender Of extraordinary workman.
ship
Ah yes! Heaven had sent compensa-
tions He had married Miss Rachel Plymp-
ton with the full consent and approval of
her parents-for, although himself penni-
less Ibis salary Of s., 600 a year counted as
nothing from the Plympton standpoint he
was master of a degree of popularity and
clerical eminence which constituted q fine
stock in trade.
He was handsome man, past 40, with a
dark, sallow complexion, good eyes, and
hair and mustache of youthful cut HIS
manner was nervous and self-conscious, yet
saturated with the aroma of culture which
years Of uninterrupted prosperity exhale
For the Rev. Arthur Dibbins to fall down
or stumble up, was a horrid anomaly; it
produced at once laughter and a shock.
The wedding festivities over, the bridal
couple had sailed for Europe. They were
very i'll on the voyage, but recovered their
strength and dignity in cathedral aisles and
galleries of art They summered on the
Alps, and wintered in the Riviera; sailed up
the Nj and down the Rhine; crossed the
glaciers and penetrated jungles; the products
Of all which were shipped to Liverpool in
ponderous boxes and conveyed thence for
the transformation Of the rectory, which
was being torn almost from its founda-
tons
They had had delightful trip. But were
capable of enjoying those inner secrets
known only to the tourist who reads and
imagines between the lines of his Badeker.
1t had rained occasionally when they had
wished to be out of DOORS and shey had ex-
perienced the usual-one might say, the cor
rect fluctuations which follow in the wake.
of cabmen and couriers The former had
outraged them and the latter had thwarted
their fondest desires
On the whole, however, that intangible
perfume of manner which is SO quickly dis
sipated with gross forms Of adversely, had,
in the person of Rev. Arthur Dibbins suf-
fered no loss
Seated in the breakfast room of the rec
tory-the return voyage over-he was en-
abled to live again in the objects around
him. the charmed existence of the past
fourteen months Rachel in Paris "crea-
ton" smiled from behind the urn like an
Aurora sprung from the canvas She had
superintendent the execution of his favorite
dishes-for it must be confessed that Ar
thurs palate as well as his soul, had under
gone cultivation abroad-which were now
steaming with gentle invitation from Dres-
den receptacles before him There were
flowers in crystal vases on the cloth, and as
he leisurely slipped his chocolate, his left
hand held open the leaves of an embeilished
volume.
The great archdeacon was to perform in
the rectory drawing-room that morning, the
entertainment consisting Of his lecture
upon Dante, for an elect few Mr.. and
Mrs Dibbins had been immersed for days
in biographies and criticisms of the poet
The rector was familiar with every origi-
nal line of Dante; he followed him ador-
tory, paradise and hell He had a portrait
fore which he poised his slender finger and
commented, for the benefit of his guests,
upon the griefworn face. He could ex-
tract mouth, brow and eyes, separately,
and trace their expression to certain we'll
defined phases of spiritual throes. He cursed
Florence and apotheosized the wide world
which had fostered such great genius
There were many people" he said, ito
whom Providence had ordained that the
world should be unkind. To interfere with
this intention was dangerous matter, the
loss, perhaps, of our greatest poets and
painters.
On the morning in question he turned the
leaves OF the volume before him with reviv-
ing interest Now and then read passage
aloud to his wife, as:
"The people of Venora, when they saw
him on the street, used to say: 'Eccovi I
uom CHI state all Inferno'-See, there is
man that was in hell-ah. yes; he had been
in hell; I'm hell enough, in long, severe sor-
row and struggle; as the like of him is pretty
sure to have been. Commedias that come
out divine are not accomplished otherwise"
Mr. Dibbins' mind seized acutely upon
word pictures of this character. He appre-
ciated them, he even believed that he was
ono of them, for there is an intellectual
grasp upon such things with which the
heart has nothing to do
"How true" he remarked to Rachel,
sthat suffering is the school Of our sweetest
graces the arena out of which our greatest
achiev ements our divine comedies, if one
may SO speak, invariably issue" He began
another passage: "Dante burns like pure
star" when a signal passed silently from the
outer door to the butler, who was languidy,
and with but partial approval, surveying a
Titan over the fireplace.
"Person outside to see you, sir, said the
critic, without removing his eyes from the
canvas MIR. Dibbins shut the book with
snap The ethereal aroma was threatened.
Il suppose it's that tiresome man,
Springer, come to get me to bury his wife"
b observed
Springer was a gaunt, red haired man,
with a cast in one eye No object could
have been better calculated to jar upon q
tourist who had just come from inspecting
the French and Italian schools His gaze
slanted obliquely away from the rector
toward an Angora cat on a rug, and he
communicated his errand with what was
pitiably like a hair lip-two intirmities to
which MIR. Dibbins was peculiarly sensi-
tive
II was as he had surmised Mrs Springer
was dead, and must have Christian burial
The rector drew out his notebook ofRus-
sian leather and jotted down an item:
MAN named Springer wants wife buried
No Alanrhus row. Bad specimen Sprin-