River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1889-10-24
HERO OR COWARD.
The Tragic End OF Paul Jennings
One Romance.

Nature had undoubtedly .lded
Paul Jennings for hero-a cou,- .used
hero, for he was but an insignificant
looking little man; an the more disas-
trOus was il. therefore. when one heroic
mOment came in his life and he failed
to act as heroes are commonly sup
posed TO act: all the more melancholy
was il that his name should be handed
down to pOsterity as that Of a coward.
Il needs but a step from the sublime
TO reveal the IudicrOus 50 narrowly are
antitheses divided. and in his case it
was not his fault. and scarcely to be
wondered at. that the world, failing TO
recognize in him the heroic. should fly
TO the other extreme. and stamp him a
coward by way Of sealing its own
blindness
lie was a hero in his own way, but
his was a kind of self-sacrifice to which
all were accustomed. and which needed
advertising before it could become
popular
Paul Jennings. barrister-at-law. was
a wealthy man. comparatively speak
ing. All wealth is comparative, and
that his was more than he wanted made
him rich. Jennings-little Jennings,
as MS friends patrOuizingly called him
had formerly had the creditOf being
r fool; that was in the old poverty
stricken days. though; now, in these
days Of his success, il was only the ex-
ira dull of comprehension who failed
TO see that his fOoIishness was but
vailed wisdom, that his Quietness came
not so much from lack Of. as from ST.
perabundance of. brains
He had not always been rich There
had been a time when a church mouse
would have cut him as a beGgar. He
had passed through one Of the bit
terest trials tina, poverty can impose
on the sons Ci men, and now. at five
anj-thirty. n stood as little Jennings.
hard working. earnest and sincere. A
man with his Whole life subordinated
to one liked belief-a hermit by in
cliuation, out never in the rear when
a duty lay ahead.
A. a man Of means he lad many ac-
Quaiutances, and but one living friend
Sydney Greg
sydney had been his first friend in
the old struggling days; they had come
together by the law Of opposites.
Sydney was a cynic and pessimist.
Paul an iiealist and an Opiimist: and
nov. to complete the contrast in ma
tcrial things. Paul ha become rich
while his friend remained poor, and
Clung to his poverty a. a convenient
soil ia which 20 nourish the roots of
cyuicisn-
Neither knew what it was that he
liked ia The other. Il Is doubtful, in
deed. whether either would have ac-
kuowIedged that there was any thing;
but from the day when they first met
aud had "a dispute, q friendship was
founded. aUd when later their feelings
fourd sent in the expressions ''Jen-
uiu-s. you're fool" and What a
ute you are, Greg that day the
friendship was ccmcutcd. lifelong aud
uHehauEinE-
They used 70 say then that Paul
Jennings was mad Every one knew
il and said so. sydney Greg was mad,
win this difference: no one recognized
1t. and no uuc said su Between these
tive forms az incipieut madness lay a
woelu of intermediate degrees, but
thev .ra~ped hands across il and 80
fo..ad life more tolerablo.
Twelve years ago Jennings then
newly awakened 80 the r. possibilities
al life. had found himself cast on the
world vith an invalid mother and four
sisters 20 keep, and profession which.
far from supporting him. needed sup
pot Itself Il was characteristic o.
him in those days that ne never looked
ahead 70 invent threatening future.
but lived IN each day with renewed
vjgor That was the happiest, and a
ths same time the most miserable,
period OF his life. for extremes always
run I'll pairs On the dark side there
was grinding poverty. needing his
every effort 10 fiELt against il; on the
bright side was Helen Forsyth.
When they became engaged. Helen
knew rs we'll as Paul that the prospect
of their being aole to get married was
exceedingly remote; but he. knowing
that he had her love fully aud uurs-
servedly. was content TO wait any time
wish unlimited confide nee in her lie
found nothing unbcIrl5le, and. viii
the knowledge that through al hi:
worries and troubles some one under
stood and was ever sympathetic. he
went his way unhesitatingly aud thank
fully. though, like tie rest OF The
world. he had his fits Of depression
and relapses. And He.en. she thought
very much the same; Il seemed 20 heI
then a privilege, which she scarcely
AAsarved- THAI one Little gentleman