Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-07-29

without murmur or a thought of resistance
to it. IN the course of years she would nave
become almost as ordinary, as petty-minded as
the deceased Mrs. ellsworth. But contact with
Miss Durham had startled her out Of this intel
lectual donkeydom. She saw in the American
girl vivacity of interest, breadth OF view, =
sparkle Of intelligence, recepttvity Tor mover
ideas, and knowledge of the world and OF the
things IN the world-the currents that circo-
lated in it. the forces that propelled its waves
and directed its tides, to which she had been
completely strange And this stimulated In
her the desire to know. An American gentie-
man once said to the writer, I'VE have no
pre1udices, therefore we are always learning.
That is the secret of American success In every
branch of activity Self-conceit breeds pig
headedness. which raises mountains OF pre1u-
dice in our way, preventing us from seeing, as
the Germans have it, that there are men De-
yond these mountains. Salome had notlceo
that Miss Durham was able at once, and with
out effort, to arrest the interest and enchain
the attention of Philip, and this she attributed
to the possession of qualities in the Chicago
girl which were dormant If not non-existent In
herself. She had the snrewdness to per-
ceive. and the good sense to acknowl-
edge, her own ignorance and inability to take
part in conversation when it turned on politics.
natural history, on music, art or social ques-
tions of the day. She could talk about recipes
for tapioca and semolina puddings, what pro-
portion of water should be put with milk for
baby the delinquencies of servants, the ser
mons she heard. the hymns she sang in church,
the cutting out and style of a dress, but not on
much beyond. Being humble minded she was
ready to take to heart what she recognized, and
she studied Miss Durham with attention, to as
certain the points in which she was accom-
plished above her own requirements.
When ale in bottle turns fat housewives put
in raisin, and this at once restores the efferv-
escence. A prudent spouse should have re-
serve of raisins ever by her to pop into her hus-
bands spirits whenever they are down. Some
wives, however, act on the reverse principle,
and perforate the corks, or knock off the necks
of all the sparkling liquors in the cellars of
their husbands hearts They cannot endure to
see their good men CHEEKY, sanguine, interest
ed, hopeful; they reduce them all to the state OF
lymph and lnsipidity. Such wives when they
find their husbands strung to concert pitch
play the domestic accompaniment semitone
lower SO that the daily music of the household
is discord. They take the edge off their hus-
bands wit with a sneer, overshadow his spirits
when they sparkle, lash him to anger when he
is pleased, and goad and spur him to madness,
when they find him jaded and desrous of re-
pose. By native perversity they seek to be
always at cross purposes, with their husbands,
and then grumble because their victims do not
smile and sing on the bed of nettles they have
strewn for them.
But Salome was not one who could degener-
ate into such mar-peace as this In her lowly
mind she acknowledged her deficiencies, and
as she was endowed with energy and with ex-
celent abilities, she determined to sremedy
these shortcomings in herself, and had the ca
pacity to accomplish what she resolved.
The forethought of jeremiah Pennycome-
quick came to her aid opportunely. He also.
by his holiday of two years, had been thrown
out of his drum. and had found that there was
another and brighter world than that of the
tread mill. He had discovered. late in life, that
and not a dull boy only but a cantankerous
one.
Man is lantern, and the vivid intellect
within is the light; by nature he is lantern
with many sides. through all of which the
interior light streams, irradiating, and bring
ing into prominence a thousand surrounding
objects. But the pressure of modern life forces
him to blacken over one after another of these
sides, and to line each with reflector, so as to
focus the light. and cast it through single
lens The stress of competition, the strain of the
social struggle combine to make of each man
a bull's-eye lantern. 1t is true that the light
SO concentrated illumines such objects as fall
within the radius of the beam with superior
brillancy. but it leaves everything else in more
profound darkness. What is gained in
intensity is lost in the periphery. jeremiah
had discovered this, and more than this. He
more kindly interest in Others, to be pitiful