The Washington critic., 1889-01-21
WASHINGTON CRITIC
THE pAWNED CHARACTER.
AFrEn svAropLuK TEon.

rule. lncy are 700 eNtrHVaVHnt aU least,
in the portrayal of the habits of their
heroes. Not perhaps to the extent Of
Disraeli, who, with oriental magnifcence
made Coningsby light his cigar with
hundred pound bank notes. But still
the hero is ever luxurious, liberal and
profuse.
If you take book of even three vol
umes you will often find that the hero
lives MS a millionaire, although he is not
u man of affairs, and you are ever left in
the dark as to the source whence he de-
rives his income. which Is always
princelv. When he travels he goes to
the crack hotels, takes the very best on
the carte, drinks good wine, smokes but
genuine Havnnas and tips the walters in
royal generosity. If he feels inclined to
ride in the darkness of night, the
horse is saddled nearly as quickly rs the
order is mentioned. He runs from one
capital to another, and having exhausted
in his sybaritic manner London, Paris
and Berlin, he travels through America.
and if he becomes tired of America he
departs for Europe.
When we have followed him through
two volumes leading this restless and
spendthrift life we expect to hear that
he has run through with his money, but
nevertheless, assure you, VIC find him
in the third to be just as extravagant as
he showed himself in the second that
he still has lots of money to dispose of,
and that he now spends it in wild orgies
to forget the women who left him for
another and tries to down his sad memo
ries in floods of champagne. No, in
deed our authors do not know the value
of money. Small incomes for their
heroes the authors do not like. If they
mention an income. then, as a rule, they
speak of millions or hundreds of thous-
ands year--less cannot satisfy the de-
mand. Have you ever heard of Henry
or John living on S25 month?
And they never tell how the incomes
are made unless they are stolen in one
way or another. In that case the author
tells us, for that gives piquancy to his
hero They describe figure, hair, nose,
eyes, dress and character, they tell us
about the hero's wardrobe and secret
thoughts, but they never show us how
his purse is filled. And this they
ought to do first of all. We would then
know at once with whom we had the
honor of making acquaintance.
| will try to do this in the following
story. The hero is Mr.. James Brown,
and / shall now have the pleasure of
presenting to you his purse. Now lookl
You will find that there are several com
partments in 1t, and that there is nothing
in them. We turn the purse upwards,
downwards, shake 1t, but nothing falls
out, and as to his own appearance need
but say q few words.
A well-formed body, pale and mel
ancholy countenance. a bitter smile ever
on his lips and head filed with revo-
1,.t.@ 20 hAr In
his feet you will find pair of old slip
pers, on his body pair of shabby
trousers and three-quarters of an old
threadbare coat, in his hand pipe from
which he blows small sighs in the form
of blue clouds of smoke. These cloud s
follow each other in rapid succession. as
do his thoughts, and as the latter they
grow ever DINNER and DINNER until like
Eneas' mother they vanish in the air.
His thoughts have now ceased; the
smoke has vanished; his pipe and his
head have both become cold. But in a
few minutes n reverie is upon him, and
in it he sees the picture of beautiful
girl who could have made him, but who
decided to mar him with the small word
mo-" She, too, in her turn disappears,
and his misery is now complete as ma
lignant fate could make 1t.
has come, but there is sufficient light sc
that one can see the empty corners of the
room. The door of the wardrobe is wide
open and reveals disconsolate empti
ness. The bed dreams pretty dream oi
soft cushions and white blankets, but
alas! only dream. On the bookstand
there is not a single book, not even 8
prayerbook to be found. Distress grins
from all corners as if it would say; "He
he the world has left you; she whom
you loved despised you, but shall nevel
leave you, my dear boy p
A moment later and some one raps al
the door. James becomes fully awake
and jumps to his feet. Shall he open
1t must be some one who is mistaken.
None of his friends would come as they
all knew he could not lend them cen
or do them O favor. He opened the door
only little ashamed of showing hi
shabby trousers and empty room.
Nevertheless small man managed t,
make his way through the narrow open
ing, and his whole appearance with hi
greedy look and dirty fingers were il
harmony with the words with which h,
introduced himself.
"Cast-off clothes, old under wear, sir
Aaron pays well, very well, sir. Aarol
buys anything"
James smiled bitterly.
81 have not anything" he replied Il
the Jew.
But Aaron did not leave him, on the
contrary he advanced one step further
into the room.
ooh, we will find something" he said
with grin, "old boots, old books
Aaron buys anything.
"Well, look for your SELF" replied
James. "There is the wardrobe ther
the book-stand and there"
"God knows that here is not much,
said the Jew. "One would think the
blizzard had called upon you, sir. Pity
young man; great pityl Aaron pay
well, very we'll as you know, and h
buys anythingv'
He took small purse from his pocke
and shook IL so that one could hear tn,
clear, rattling sound of the metal, tina
sound which is more tempting than ever
the voice of siren. Nay is it not tn
voice os siren? James was rendere,
uneasy by the sound of the gold an,
ooked greedily toward the purse.
The expression of the jews face wa
full OF satisfaction and contempt.
aaron pays well, young man, ant
Aaron buys anything" he said, an,
tossed the purse to and fro In the air.
"You see, have nothing to sell, " re
air