St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-10-21


way, with only less interest in his task,
a great weight upon his soul, an awful
blank before his eyes. The man OF
wealth and leisure, like Lee Ransom,
has more woman'S experience. The
| lack of necessity of struggling for his
| daily bread reacts to his intense misery.
To revert to the homely figure before
| used, his is the experience OF a guillo-
tined hen, whose pain-racked body is
| denied the relief of dancing.
Just as expected" sighed Howard
| Warde one night, three years after he
had presented Lee Ransom to Mrs.
| Warren; ''She has made wreck of him,
| though he takes it differently from what
l had imagined. supposed he would
| shrek, gnaSh his teeth, tear his hair
and rave. Instead of that he is deadly
| calm-deadly calm, that's it precisely.
Such calm is unnatural, it's ominous, it
means eventual petrifactiUn of BODY
and soul. He tries to assume an interest
| in persons and things, but it is all sham,
and mighty poor sham at that. lie is
| bored to death-indifferen to life as an
Egyptian mummy. If were to point a
gun at him this minute he wouldn't
| take the trouble to stir an eyelid
against being shot. Too bad, too bad!
There was the making of good man in
him il he had fallen into better hands,"
Warde'S diagnosis of Ransom'S case
was correct. In the first of his awaken
ing he had violently rebelled against
| his fate and had known such hours OF
| frenzy as to realize what must be the
madman'S satisfaction to feel his brains
OoZing out from his crushed skull. But
at length ali that was changed. he told
| Warde one evening that he had grown
| tenderly sympathetic toward poor Mrs.
DOmbey. Il appreciate the pain it must
have cost her to know that a cruel and
eXacting world expected her to now and
| then make an effort"
Another time he said: II am living
| the life Of the snake that has had its
head taken of. but in obedience to some
law of its nature is denied the privilege
! of dying till the sun goes down."
When one mornings post brought
Mr.. Ransom an epiStle, written III lady-S
hand on the very cheapest note paper,
informing him that Jack Haines, an old
college chum, had lost his eyeSight, 1t
was feared forever, and telling him
that Brother Jack speaks often of you
and has begged me to ask you to make
a visit" RanSOm'S belief in special
providence received mOmentary reani-
nation.
'Jack, poor fellow!-the liveliest man
in our class Ransom rejected. ''What
a cross it must be for him to restrain
his impulSiye movements and feel his
way about in total darkness. Ha! Eve
read somewhere that every man has
vocation, at last have found mine. I'll
persuade Jack to dismiss the dog he no
doubt has to lead HIM about. and to let
me do the dogs duty-a task l am vain
enough to think | shall develop special
90 lTrnr~
the signature at the close of the letter
1.-THE sister of whom he used to speak,
/ suppose. l wonder what this style of
stationery means. Can they have lost
the money they inherited from their
father? That's no matter. I'll tele-
graph my reply and start for their place
tonight"
A pitiful cry of Jack. old fellow"
and warm clasp of the hand had been
the only expression Lee Ransom gave
to his grief on meeting his old friend,
blind. Later they were sitting side by
side on the broad veranda that sur
rounded the Haines homestead, when
Ransom said, Pm relieved on one
score. Jack. l somehow got the notion
that you had lost your money"
II wish to heaven | had, rather than
what ! have lost" said Jack bitterly.
The pOverty-stricken appearance of
the letter your sister sent me. BY the
way, where is She?"
An additional shade passed over
Jacks face as he answered, Tits some
times difficult to tell which is harder to
bear. my blindness or my sisters"
"Whatr exclaimed Ransom, ''you
don't mean to say she is afflicted this
way, toO?"
Not quite this way; she is mentally
blind"
"Imbecility or Insanity" questioned
Ransom.
Both, 1 think" said Jack. finding
rather sardonic delight in putting her
case thus to Ransom. Then after
short enjoyment of the puzzle he had
given Ransom he explained: "She is
only idiotic and insane as the early
Christian martyrs were. She is dis
ciple of Jesus Christ. TolStOi and every
other beacon light of self-sacrifice that
has shed its radiance upon humanity.
She goes looking like beggar, lives as
nearly like one as her unfortunate,
affiuent circumstances will permit, and
at this very moment is sweltering on
the eighth floor of factory down in the
town, working the machine of girl
whom she has sent off on vacation.
w nat 90 you Unlnk Oh ItldJ!
That charity begins at home" re-
piled Ransom decidedly, land that with
you in your condition her first duty is
to try to make your life endurable."
"But saints are far-Sighted, you
know" said Haines bitterly. They
fail to see misery under their feet, and
walk over it to reach more glorious
case that lies mile or two away"
''Jack," spoke quiet voice behind
the men, and Ransom, turning quickly,
saw poorly clad figure, so slight as to
be almost pathetic, white face that
now showed tense lines as of pain in
it, pair of large grey eyes and head
covered with little soft rings of nut
brown hair. 1t was Jacks sister, and
she had heard what her brother was
saying. Not from any allusiOn that she
made was the fact evident, but from
the expression of sadness and WEAKNESS
her face wore, as if her world seemed
very heavy to sustain. Jack" she
said, sit is Saturday, and l have come
home early. Shall you want me for
anything tonight"
What makes you always come creep
ing up to one like mouse, Fan?' was
her brothers petulant reply. mo, |
shall not want anything tonight. Ran
som has come, thank Godr' he eX-
claimed, as though he had sore need of
some one. Then, addressing Lee, he
said: "This is my sister, of whom
was speaking. Ransom"
Ransom, who moment previous
had denounced the pitiful little being
who stood before him, felt now like de-
nOuncing Jack as brute and begging
the child to sit down to rest. However,
he did nothing of the sort. He
stood locking more awkward than one
would usually imagine it possible for
him to look, and stiffiy told Miss Haines
that he was charmed to meet her. But
his embarrassment was only momentary;
soon he was critically examining