Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-08-04

6 :: : !: !: !: !: :; !: ::
EX4 1HA lXI0 Deen q source VI
Vim III vast amount of gossip
Il 3kNXM and speculation. The
E @SM facts of his case are
n n UMY known to me alone,
and I now intend to
make them public. partly to relieve my
self of q weighty secret, and partly to
open the eyes Of scientists to a great discov-
cry.
At the age of 30 Marcus Rodney was what
the world calls "a failure" Although he
was in perfect health, cultured, energetic
and in mental attainments a many-sided
man, society looked at his thread-bare coat,
his stern, forbidding countenance, learned
that he lived in cheap lodgings and had ''nO
visible means of support" and at once
placed him outside its own narrow limits
and left him severely alone. 1t is true that
Rodney was entitled by birth to a standing
in the community very different from the
one he held. He had, however, become
somewhat soured by his inability to acquire
money, and made no effort to claim from the
friends of his youth the consideration due
him. He had invented various electrical
contrivances, and had patented an improved
sight for rifles, but his lack of tact and his
unpleasing personality had made it difficult
for him to interest capitalists in his de-
signs.
He was q queer fellow in many ways,
abrupt in speech and, at times, very sarcas-
tic. I remember a remark he once made to
me which, to some extent, illustrated his
character. He had been sitting for q long
time, his huge head resting upon his hand
and his ungainly body reclining upon a
sofa. sold man." he exclaimed, at length,
turning his large, gray eyes full upon me,
when die want you to place upon my
gravestone this epitaph-'Q. E. d." The
very essence of modern tatalism lay in his
words.
One night, not many years ago, had left
my luxurious quarters on Fifth avenue to
visit my old friend IN his dingy room on the
East Side. 1t was warm evening in July,
and as entered his apartment, he was sit
tingsat an open window smoking pipe.
The cries of countless ragged children filled
the air, and the odor of an uncleanly and
over-populated neighborhood offended the
senses. Little did suspect at the moment
that upon our conversation that night would
hinge the fate of Marcus Rodney. He was
in q more talkative mood than usual, but
his lOqudclty ulu NOT sctu W pt bne result
of cheerful spirits. Never before had
heard him so bitterly bewall his lack of
success, but he freed his overburdened heart
to me in words of touching earnestness.
Why should he, man of ability, a scien-
tist, a student, a worker, progressive
thinker, be condemned to- poverty and
neglect, while the world poured its treasures
into the lap of fools? What was his weak
ness? Where had he failed to take advan-
'tage of his opportunities? He put these
questions to me spitefuliy, almost desperate
ly. Finally he said:
"The truth is, my friend, I repel men.
There is something about me which sntago-
nizes the very people 1 want to attract
There is not child in the street there who
would approach me. I have lived II this
populous house for three years, and no man
or woman has ever wfAhed me good day.
I believe am the only man in the city
who was never, besought by q beggar.
When I enter an Office to talk business with
q stranger, I seem to chill my victim by a
single glance. Good God, sirl Am 1
leper or scoundrel? Have / the small
pox? Am I the Wandering Jew or the
Prince of Darkness? Why should my fel-
low-men detest me?"
After q moment he became calmer and
continued: "All this has had an evil effect
feeling may once have had for mankind
hastbeen destroyed. Hereafter I shall let
no sympathetic throb agitate my heart.
From this time forward I shall take my
way through the world coldly, unpityingly,
remorselessly."
He arose, lighted candle, and going to a
bookshelf brought a much -thumbed volume
to the window. Placing the light advan-
tageously, he said: 81 have been reading a
book by Hamerton entitled, Human Inter
course have been much struck by his
opening sentences. Listen: "A book on hu-
man intercourse might be written in a va
riety of ways, and among them might be an
attempt to treat the subject in scientific
manner, so as to elucidate those natural
laps by which intercourse between human
beings must be regulated. If we knew
quite perfectly what those laws are we
should enjoy the great convenience of being
able 10 predict with certainty which men
and women would be able to associate with
pleasure, and which would be constrained
or repressed in each others society. Human
intercourse would then be as much posi-
tive science as chemistry, in which the
effect of bringing substances together can be
foretold with the utmost accuracy Again
later on, the author says: Sympathy and
mpatibility-these' are the two powers
that decide for us whether intercourse is to
be possible or not, but the causes of them
are dark mysteries that lie undiscovered far
down in the abysmal deeps of personality"
He was silent for q time, and, relighting
his pipe, puffed away nervously. / let him |
indulge his dreams for awhile, though was
anxious to learn the cause of his interest in |
the words of the English writer. ] realized, |
however, that it was best to permit him to |
take his own course in the conversation, as
be was one Of those eccentric men who can |
not be hurried. My selfrestraint was re-
warded.
sympathy and incompatibility," he re-
peated after a time. "Those are terms un-
known to exact science. They may satisfy |
IN artist, like Hamerton, but they mean
nothing TO me-"
Here he arose and paced up and down the
narrow room.
"But I understand him." interposed.
Il have long believed that the indifference
,f one individual toward another Is an i'm
possibility. was never presented for the
irst time to man or woman that / did not
eel either drawn to or repelled by that per-
ION. Sometimes the feeling for or against
IS slight, sometimes intense. but negative
condition of the emotions is impossible at
'uch time. Another curious fact is that
his feeling of attraction or repulsion Is
sometimes reversed upon second or third
meeting with the individual in question"
Doubtless that is all true" he returned
petulently; "but it is simply
Itatement OF phenomena. What want is
/ scientific explanation of the facts you men,