Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1889-07-04
Little Leun,gs,, wfio SssYsd the iddle, a

Little Lounges, wFo Sssysd the fddle.
lew, wns1a fashion at that tinresunsnl
them, but he resolutely turned the cole
shoulder to poor Cohen, who, believe
deeply resented this In his heart, and
lost an opportunity of hurting bitterness
at his compatriot
A desire to stand well in one another
eyes, to make brave show before ONT
another, is, / have observed, marked
characteristic of the Jewish people.
As for little Leuniger, he went his way
and contented himself with saying that
Cohen's family were not people that one
''knew."
On the subject of his family, Cohen him.
self, at times savagely reserved, At Others
appallingly frank, volunteered little ineOr-
nation, though on one occasion he had
touched in with few vivid strokes the
background of his life.
But, naturally enough, It was an indi-
vidual, not as the member of the family,
that Cohen cared to discuss himself
There was, indeed, force, an exuber-
anoe, a robustness about his individuality
that atoned-to the curious observer, at
least-for the presence of certain Of the
elements which helped to compose 1t. His
unbounded arrogance, his enormous pre-
tensions, alternating with and tempered by
a bitter self-depreciation, overfowing at
times into self-reviling, impressed me, even
while amusing and disgusting me.
1t seems that frustrated sense of pow
er, disturbing consciousness of some
blind force which sought an outlet, lurked
within him and allowed him no rest.
On his failure at his work he spoke often
enough, scoffing at academic standards, yet
writhing at his own inability to come up
to them.
"On my honor" he said to me once, 81
can't do better, and that's the truth. OF
course you don't believe it; no one believes
it It's talk of wasted opportunities,
sQuandered talents-but, before God, that
part of my brain which won the scholar
ship is clean gone"
pointed out to him that his way of life
was not exactly calculated to encourage
the working mood.
"Moodv' he shouted with loud, exas-
perated laugh. Mood! tell you there's
a devil in my brain and in my blood, and
heaven knows where it is leading me-"
1t led him this way and that at all hours
of the day and night.
The end of the matter was not difficult
to foresee, and told him so plainly.
This sobered him little, and he was
quiet for three days, lying on the grass
with lexicon and pile of Oxford clas-
sizes.
On the fourth the old mood was upon
him, and he rushed about like hunted
thing from dawn to sunset winding up
with an entertainment which threatened
his position as a member of the university.
He got off this time, however, but shall
never forgot his face the next morning as he
clustered loudly past Norwood and Blount
in Trinity.
If he neglected his own work, he did, as
far as could be seen, no other, unless fits
of voracious and promlscuous reading may
be allowed to count as such. l suspected
him of writing verses, but on this matter
of writing he always maintained, curiously
enough, a profound reserve.
What had for some time foreseen as
inevitable at length came to pass. Cohen
disappeared at short notice from the
university, no choice being given in the
matter.
l went off to his lodgings directly the
news of his sentence reached me, but the
bird had already flown, leaving no trace
behind of Its whereabouts.
As l stood in the dismantled little room,
always untidy, but now Uttered from end
to end with torn and dusty papers, there
arose before my mind the vision of Cohen
with the bulrushes in his hand, the book
beneath his arm, and on his face, which
reflected the sunset, the radiance of secret
joy.
did not see ''Gubernator" till it was in
Its fourth edition, some three months after
its publication and five years after the ex,
pusion of Cohen from Trinity.
The name, Alfred Lazarus Cohen,
printed In full ON the title page, revealed
what had never before occurred to me, the
identity of the author of that much-talked,
Of book with my unfortunate college
acquaintance. turned over the leave;
with a new curiosity, and, it must bt
added, new distrust. By and by ceased
from this cursory, tentative inspection;
began at the beginning and finished thu
book at a sitting.
Every one knows ''Gubernator" now
and have no intention of describing it
Half poem, half essay, wholly unclassifa
bic, with a force, q fire, vision, vigo
and felicity of phrase that carried yo1
through its most glaring inequalities, 1t
most appalling lapse of taste, the bool
fairly took the reader by storm.