The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1886-09-12

u | buubtTOhOs W III hO ~ ! NOb ne
Aftera.l, he meansit well, "Tom,"
IS say at last.
Q There must-at this distance of time
Q have not shade OF doubt OF it.
|, have been something radically wron,
with my head on the day of which
y am writing. Hardly have / sale
il "Tom" when / observe that the traiI
d Is in full mutton, that we are making
, and, to judge from the landscape, have
Q been making for some time, for the
!. north, in the slow but determine
style peculiar to German trains. 1t il
, painful and humiliating to see the
. effect .of my conduct on my cotrav.
, elerS. With the exception Of one
small boy, who siares at me through
, china blue eyes with the fear
/ less pertinacity OF childhood, and
! especially German childhood, they
, eli look more or less reared. One poor
old lady sits With her various belong
ing piled on her lap, having decided,
l can zee, to change the comp artment
at the next hating place. The rest Of
the company neither speak ncr move,
the prevailing idea being evidently
that anything might excits me, while
the mother Of the boy with the china
blue eyes directs furiive gazes at me
every time stir.
Well, 10 be thought q mailman at
large is bad, but to be thought dan
gerous mailman is worse. feel an
irrt pressible longing to explain to
these good people that l really am
quite harmless; ira, though, undenia.
bly,, l have partly tuccumbed to the
mental strain OF the last, cay twenty
four, hours and an suffering from
slight temporary alteration, shown in
the fact OF my addressing friend at a
distance Of several niles from me. l
have not the faintest intention Of as
saulting them.
Feeling, however, gloomily that
such a statement would be met with
complete II unexpies,ed credulity,
refrain from making it. and, by way of
giving to myself an air OF sanity. bury
mytelf in seeming perusal Of paper,
only too coon to learn through the
medium OF small shiil voice, Hes
holding 1t upside down"
Flesh and blood could not stand
this. give the misguided owner OF
the china bue eyes look meant to
freeze the marrow in his bones.
He returns it with wide, bland
stare.
After that / relinquish any idea of
re- es abllshing my character in the
railway carriage, and fall anew to
thinking.
"How pretty she looked as she stood
beside mel What hair! Why did she
stand at the window, and why did she
20 away? What q dear little hard she
bad How-Is that old lady going
TO have fit?" This somewhat irrelev-
ant question is suggested to me at this
point of my reflections by observing 10
this person the mes. curious social
contoTtions. / have, when lost 10
thought, an unhappy habit OF fixing
my Eyes riRidly on whatever happens |
to be exactly before ms, aud attribute
to this fact, combined with any pre-
ceding s,rsnRe conduct, the evident
terror OF the worthy old dame, at
whom, as my vis.d.viS, l have gszed
fixedly while indulping in the above
mental so,iliquy. 1t is a relief 10 see
her depart at the next station.
Friendship 81 l couiinue my
monolo9ue. "She offered me friend
ship, placing her hand in mine. The
CT III How could man OF
thirty, with his heart free, feel friend
ship for girl WI ON he had hurt and
who bad forgiven himP"
"Fiiendship! Was she mad? No,
IL was | who was mad. Could / ever
dare face her agaioP Gould l ever
dare face her fathtr?"
fancy / CRASHED my teeth at the
answer my heart gave me. / believe
men do gnash their tseth-some imes.
And so we or wled on to the north,
and in time | reached London; and
the minutes grew to hours, and the
hours grew TO days, and the days grew
to weeks, and the weeks grew to
monlhs-nothing changing Always
the same picture Of young bright
girl, with q glory OF red gold hair;
with a little white hand and-ah, that
was the worst of itl--with purple
brulse on one cheek and tears in her
eyes, because shs was 90 eoiry-it
must bs 80 dreadful for me.
This form l used to sea everywhere;
just as young Werther used to see
everywhere the b'ue eyes ot Some
ON the buttons Of her err
rand boy.
Poor y -upg Wertherl
should think in those days there
was very little difference between us,
and but for the penetration OF othet
blue eyes, supeTadded, perhaps, 10 a
certain amount OF common sense in
myself, sometimes fancy might at
This time have been found, like that
dismal young man, with bullet in
some vital part Of me, seated, life ex-
linct, at my deck.
"Phil, dearl"
The speaker--need 1t be said ?-wss
he owner Of the other blue eyes.
Chapter v.
YOU'RE NOT LAUGHING, ARE YOU,
NELLYf
snow, you know, Phil, you hear
me-" ..r.a.
l did hear her, but what in the ,
world was Ito reply2
Or don't, 'ould be presumin', !
lays an American poet; and I, for
inc, confess that my presumption has
never scared 30 high as to lead to my !
ending TO uuders and that enigma, {
woman. What did abe mean? What
nan would lean over ones shoulder
Ind say in a tone OF significance,
Phil, dearw or "Tom, dear" adding
40 remark whatsoever, and then feel |
lggrieved at your not bursting into ell.
Or was l to say in similar
one OF sweetness-long drawn out
"Nell ,dearl" !
For her name, OF course, is Nelly.
Half the sweetest women in the world
ire Nellys. This woman is my broth
RS wife. She is young, is pretty, is
,ood; and, while loving my brother
mmoderately, che confesses to mod
rate liking for me. '
10 reply TO hersecond speech You {
,uow, Phil, you hear NEIL repeat a {
Sind OF shrug with which l had au-
wered her first-one OF those, to the
masculine mini, intelligent gestures
which signify "go on; l am listening"
She proceeds: {