St. Landry democrat., 1886-05-08

|
stick-and one of many prophecies ant
notices clung. 1t set forth that what
soever good or evil the Tregarthens en-
dured should come to them by the Cat
| Of the Sea-a conclusion someWha
obvious, since, unless by balloon O.
earthquake, there was no other way o
approaching their dwelling-place. |
the Cornish couplet be faithfully trans
lated, ii prophesies as much for char
acter as for fortune
What evil or good we have Or be
Shall come to you all by the Gate of thu
Sea-
Now in the days when full cellar, :
roughly generous larder and a chance
of hard knocks and loot could tempt
| adventurous souls to follow freeboot
ing gentleman, Tregarthen house
might have been a pleasurable place tc
live in for those whose fancy lay that
| way. But for an almost companionless
youngster, who had just learned one OF
the worlds bitterest lessons, it was as
| unwholesome a residence as might any
| where have been found. Tregarthen
companionship; but he had long been
| an orphan, and he had neither brother
nor sister. He was not absolutely
wealthy, but he had more money than
he wanted, and there were few things
which could have been of more use to
him than the spur of poverty.
1t is easy in the hot days of youth for
the mind to persuade itself to anything.
Tregarthen persuaded himself that he
had done with the world for good and
al, that it should occupy him no more
and that he would live for his studies
and no other earthly thing. His studies
began to lead him in direction which
it was somewhat odd that a young gen.
tleman of the nineteenth century should
take. Some ancestors of his had col
lected all the works of that crowd of
impostors, quacks, self-deceivers, en-
thusiasts and martyrs to science who
have written on the transmutation of
metals, the divining rod. the elixir vitae,
the powers and properties of the stars,
and so forth-all the works, that is to
say, that he could in one short lifetime
lay hands On. Tregarthen began to
grope among the dark sayings of these
gentry, at first with an amused interest
and then with a singular growth of
doubt. There might be something in
the doctrine of transmutation after all.
When man begins even to doubt on
question like that he is pretty far
gone on a road which has led oftener
than not to mere madness. Tregarthen
saw the danger, but the study drew
him, and absorbed him more and more,
until he began to find in it compensa-
ton for all things. Ii man could find
the philosopher stone! Let any man
in his sane and sober senses surrender
himself to the fancy for a moment, and
where are the glories of the cave into
which the magician dropped Aladdin,
or the valley into which the roe carried
Sinbad? They are no more than a
billiard ball in comparison with Saturn.
But be touched with doubt as to the
bare possibility of its actual discovery,
and the poor mind is dazzled, stag
gered, overawed by the magnifcence |
Of its own fancies. Tregarthen began
TO dream these dreams.
He lived almost alone through the |
wild winter and the clustering spring.
Early summer found him more and
more ready to surrender himself to the
ntoxication of this singular madness.
Perhaps it needs that certain strain
If greatness shall lie in mans nature
before he can go mad in that particular
way. The compact small creature
whose faculties are all of size is as
afe as the compact great creature
whose powers are equally well bal
need.
Happily for most of us, the world is
90 much with us to allow us to develop
0 complete fullness of eccentr CITY:
to Jupiter, the human
ace might find elbow room enough to
row into huge asylum of crazy hui
norists; but our crowded civilization
cts upon us as close shelter acts on the
rees in a plantation-the outer lines
row q little twisted, perhaps. but in
he middle of the wood the stems are
traight and uniform. Tregarthen, in
is island castle off the Cornish coast,
Vas still little sheltered. By and by.
shelter he had not hoped for began to
row about him.
The clustering spring had passed.
nd here was a day in mid-June with
sky of sapphire and pearl, and
reeze OF warm spice and balm. Ire
rathen wandered, smok ng and lost in
lie meditation, to the cliffs on the right
de OF the sea-gate, and there cast him
elf full length on the warm and scent
d heritage. The splendor of the day
as nothing to him just then; and
lough his bodily eyes took cognizance
one of the finest reaches of rock |
ound coast England can show. he had
0 conscious pleasure in it. He pulled
is soft hat over his eyes and surren- {
cred himself to his pipes and his
reams. Everything was wonder ]
lily still. He could hear the plash