Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-01-21
POOR DICK WARRINGTON.


scholar. who had won honors at
Cambridge, and was regarded as one
of the bost men in college at that
time unusually rich IN promise lie
had Just seen one familiar companion
of his in the old days pass into new
Law Cathedral, outside whose gates
he was lounging. The famous Judge
gave A glance at the disreputable LOAF
er as he went by, but never recognized
him if he had done so he would prob
ably have spoken, for he was kind
lv hearted man. But this very fact
made the reprobate more bitter. Ii
his old friend had cut him there
would have been SOME ground Tor
declaim .ng against the hollowness ot
mankind. but Dick Warrington knew
well enough that he himself had sunk
out Of recognition, and ones oWh
worthlessness is not so cheering asuo-
iect of meditation as the worlhlessness
of other people.
He pondered over neither, but only
gazed moodily after the retreating tig-
ure his old comrsde, and then turned
and sauntered into Long Acre. lie
was nearing his lodgings; they lay IN
dlngy court half mile away, when
it occurred TO him that he had forgot
ten his mission. He had come out,
-~'sh the idle good nature that seldom
serted him, to buy wine for his land
.dy's husband - dying, the doctors
said, of consumption. Dicks GUAR
terly pay had just arrived from the
Social Hearth, Tor he contributed TO
that shady serial. which is base imi-
tation of the Family Herald, with
none OF its virtues and all its vices.
The Family Herald indeed,
has few vices; for il 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 you
with a wish that the editor of the
Family Herald were happily control
ling the destinies OF our empire in
stead of the two patriotic cliques who
control it at present. While. as for
the tales - but this is no place TO
rhapsodize, even over the Family Her
aid
Warrington was on the staff of the
Social Hearth, which is, as every body
knows, a foolish and vulgar periodical,
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. 1T was a
marvel how he with his talent could
write badly enough TO snit some Of
these editors, He said Il took prac-
tice, but on the whole he succeeded
admirably, and the stories and articles
he furnished Ia the public showed
better than anything else how far he
had fallen. And yet there was a bat
tered remnant of nobility IN him,
hardly conscious OF its own existence
AS some old picture may lie long in a
dark lumber room hidden behind
great masses of rubbish till o kind
hand opens the shutter, let's in the
fresh air and the sunshine, and dis
perses the piled-up lumber, a chance
touch shakes away the covering from
the forgotten picture, scatters It's dusty
vel, and hardly dimmed by years,
It's beauty CLEANS into light again.
Turner, Nelasquez, so the spiritual
virtuoso may come across strange
treasure trove, acts of chivalry, of
self-forgetfulness IN the most uneX-
pected quarter, dear TO his heart as
the Elzevir to the bibliomaulac. We
were human Ezevlrs once, maybe;
but, like the shabby volumes the book
hunter hngS aside with disdain, we
have been very much cut down.
Dick bought the wine and returned
leisusely to his lodgings. He stole
cautiously up the dark, crooked stairs
INTO the narrow passage and as he
traversed it a strange thing happened
Through the venerable, ancient air OF
a London lodging house that land
ladies always seem to fancy improves
with keeplng-and. indeed, it does
acquire a certain fine mellowness
wherein are combined the essences of
many different odors-there came to
him the scent Of hehotrope With il
returned the memory of a day when
his sister had been to visit him at col
lege, and with her one of her friends.
a beautiful light-hearted girl, whom
Dick had cared for with a transient.
bOylsh passion. He had bought bou-
quets for them, and among the flowers
he gave to his sisters friend was a
sprig of the dim, gray purple blossom.
he did not pause TO wonder why
the old scent came back to him in this
widely different atmosphere, bat pass.
ing on, entered the invalld's room.
Mrs. Hartley was not there, but he
saw, standing at the bedside, a girl
dressed in the garb OF private sister
hood, with cluster of flowers at her
brooch. Her tgHre was slender and
graceful, and he could see readily
enough that she was lady. His &C
qualntance included several women
who had taken the craze for human
lty and typhus fever as he irrever-
emily expressed it, and Iris Enderby's
presence did not astonish him, though
he noted her beauty with pleasure.
The hair was the deep brown that
has CLEANS of ruddier color. and her
aups ygnpn rlpsW onI hn,,nnt 80.