Little Falls transcript., 1886-01-22
POOR DICK WARRINGTON.

POOR DICK w WARRINGTON.
He had been q gentleman once, and
q scholar, who had won honors at
Cambridge, and was regarded as one
en the best men in a college at that
time unusually rich in promise. He
had just seen one familiar companion
of his in the old days pass into the
New Law Cathedral, outside whose
gates he was lounging.$ The famous
Judge gave q glance at the disreputa-
BILE loafer as he went by, but never rec
,ognized him; if he had done SO, lie
would probably have spoken, for he
WAS a kindly hearted man. But this
very fact made the reprobate more
bitter. II his old friend had cut him,
there would have been some ground
dor declaiming against the hollow
ness Of mankind; but Dick Warrington
knew we'll enough that he himself had
sunk CRIT OF recognition, but ones own
Worthlessness is not SO cheeringa a sub
ject of meditation as the worthless
ness Of other people. j..
He pondered over neither, but only
gazed moodily after the retreating fig
ure of his old comrade, and then
turned and sauntered into Long Acre.
He was nearing mis- lodgings; they lay
in a dingy court hall q mile away,
when it occur1 ed to him that he had
forgotten his mission. He had come
out, with the idle good nature that
seldom deserted him, to buy wine for
his landlady's husband-dying the doc
tor ssaid ,ofconsumption. Dick squar-
terly pay had just arrived from the
Social Hearth, for he contributed to
that shady serial, which is q base
imitation of the Family Herald, with
none OF its virtues and with all it's
vices. The Family Herald, indeed,
has few vices; for it is an excellent
periodical, and you may obtain from
the editor, for nothing, advice on any
earthly subject you choose to consult
him upon, which advice will always be
terse and definite, and improving.
Also you may find essays on politics
and social science therein, if You are
intellectual--essays that inspire one
with a wish that the editor of the
Family Herald we're happily controll-
ing the destinies of our empire instead
OF the too patriotic cliques which con-
troll it at present. While, as for the
tales-but this is no place to. rhapso-
die, even over the Family Herald.
Warrington was on tho staff of the
Social Hearth, which is, as everybody
knows, a foolish and vulgar periodi-
cal, whose "criticism OF life' is not
worth twopence. 1t paid very badly;
but he contributed more or less to
several other journals; OF which Bow
Bells was the most respectable. It
was marvel how he with his talent
could write badly enough to suit
some of these editors. He said it took
practice; but on the whole he succeed
ed admirably, and the stories and ar
ticles he furnished to the public show
ed better than anything else how far
he had fallen. And yet there was a
battered remnant of nobility in him,
hardly conscious of it's own existence.
AS some old picture may lie long
in a. dark lumber room hidden behind
great masses OF rubbish, till q
kindly hand opens the shutter,
let's in the fresh air and the sunshine
and disperses the piled-up lumber, a
chance touch shakes away the cover
ing from the forgotten picture, scat
ters it's dusty veil, and, hardly dimmed
by years., It's beauty CLEANS into the
light again-a Turner, a Velasquez.
So the spiritual virtuoso may come
across strange treasure -trove, acts of
chivalry, of self-forgetfulness in the
most unexpected quarter, dear to his
heart as the Elzevirs to the biblioma-
MAC. sWe We're human Elzevirs once,
may be; but like the shabby4volumes
the book hunter filings aside with dis
dain, we have been very much, cut
down. ,,a...s,s.. .n,,.s... l...,.> -.
Dick bought the wine and returned
leisurely to his lodgings, Hestole eau
tiously up the dark, crooked stairs into
the marrow passage. and as he
5traversed it a strange thing hap
pened. Through the. venerable,
ancient air of a London lodg-
ing house that landladies always
seemto fancy improves with keeping
and indeed, it does require q certain
fine mellowness wherein are combined
the essence of many different odors-
there came to him the scent Of hello
trope. With it returned the memory
Of day when his sister had been to
visit him, and with her one Of her
friends, = beautiful light-hearted girl
whom Dick had cared for with tran
sient boyish passion. He had bought
bouquets for them, and among he f1ow-
ers he gave TO his sister friends was
q sprig Of the dim, gray purple bios
/ som. M u T. sss sFs
He did not pause to wonder why
the old scent came back to him in this
widely different atmosphere, but pass
ing on entered the invalid's g room.
Mrs. Hartley was not there, but he
saw, standing by the bedside, girl
dressed in the garb Of q private
sisterho cd With q cluster OF flow
ers at her brooch. Her figure was
slender and graceful, and he could zee
readily enough that she was q lady.
His acquaintance included several
b women who had taken the .scrazs for
humanity and typhus fever, 8 8 as he ir-
reverently expressed il; and Iris Ender-
by's presencO did not astoi1ish him,
though he noted her beauty with
pleasure. The hair was the deep
brown that had CLEANS of rpdd dier col
/ or, and her eyes were clear and honest.
and regarded one with q steady and
fearless glance. She turned her head
{ as Dick entered ]. and took him Id com
pletely, as lie fancied, III Il shout
8 second There was no hing inl;
3 pertinent iii her scrlitilfy bna
much that MAS peanut TO ~ mar
whose inner lifs had never been intend
I'd tos bear inyesti tion. Insight into
y Aipbiio NH the tlltts q