Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1890-09-06

hsD ""o Wv itoult Vi dfflufDtO or 1TTanQp-
ment: Anyway, we spent the day together.
ana maj q. was the precursor Of many pass
Ell IN each others society. Morning after
morning we sailed forth TO do our best TO
hsnsfer the same bits Of scenery to our
sketching-blocks. Evening after evening vo
returned to dine side by side, and afterwards
70 ak and smoke together, indoors or out
doors as the temperature advised OF our
wishes inclined.
Great friends we soon became-inseparable
as long as my short holiday lasted. IL was,
perhaps, pleasant for each 20 work In com
pany with an amateur like himself. Each
could ask the others opinion OF the merits of
the work done, and feel happy at the APP
proval duly gwen. An artists standard OF
excellence is too high for a non-professional.
When he praises your work he praises II but
as the work OF an outsider. You feel that
such commentator condemns It and dis
heartens YOU.
However, had Carriston cared 30 do so. I
think he might have fearlessly submitted his
productions TO any conscientious critic. His
drawings were immeasurably more artistic
and powerful than mine. lie had undoubt-
edly great talent, and | was much surprised
10 md that good as he was at landscape, he
was even better at the figure. He could,
with a firm, bold hand, draw rapidly the most
marvellous likenesses. SO spirited and true
were some OF the studies he showed me, that
| could without flattery advise him. provided
he could finish az he began, To keep entirely
to the higher branch of the art l have now
before me a series OF outline faces drawn by
him-many Of them from memory and as I
link af than thn nriufna1 Of nah nnpaaC ~
once before my eyes.
From the first / had been much interested
In the young man, and "a day BY day went
by, and the peculiarities Of his character were
revealed To me, my interest grew deeper and
deeper. / fiatter myself that ] am a keen
observer and skillful analyst of personal
character, and until now fancied that to write
a description OF its component parts was an
easy matter. Yet when | am put TO the proof
/ fnd IL no simple task TO convey In words a
proper idea OF Charles CarristOn's mental or
ganiZation.
soon discovered that he was, j may say,
afflicted by a peculiarly sensitive nature. Al
though strong, and apparently In good health,
the very changes of the weather seemed 10
affect him almost to. the same extent az they
affect a flower. Sweet as his disposition al
ways was, the tone of bis mind, his spirits,
his conversation. varied. as II were, with the
atmosphere. He was full Of imagination,
always rich, was at times weird, even gro
tesquely weird. Not for one moment did he
seem 20 doubt the stability OF the wild theo-
Ties he started, or the possibility of the poetic
Il dreams he dreamed being realized. He
had his faults, OF course; he was hasty and
impulslve; indeed 10 me one of the greatest
charms about the boy was that right or
wrong, each word he spoke came straight
from his heart.
So far as could Judge, the whole organiza-
ton OF his mind was too highly strung, too
finely wrought for everyday use. A note of
JOY, OF sorrow, even OF pity vibrated through
II too strongly for his comfort or well-being.
As yet IL had not been called upon 10 bear
the test of love, and fortunately use the
word overwhelmingly he was not, ac-
cording to the usual significance OF the word,
a religiousm an, or | should have thought itnot
unlikely that some day he would fall a victim
10 that religious mania so well known to my
professional brethren, and have developed
hysteria or melancholia. He might even
have fancied himself 4 messenger sent from
heaven for the regeneration Of mankind.
From natures like Carriston's are prophets
made.
In short, i may say that my exhaustive
study of my new friends character resulted
in a certain amount OF uneasiness as to his
future an uneasiness not entirely free from
professional curiosity.
Although the smile came readily and fire.
quently TO his lips, the general bent of his
disposition was sad, ever respondent and
morbid. And yet few young mems lives
promised 10 be so pleasant as Charles CARTS
tons.
/ was rallying him one day on his future
rank and It's responsibilities.
"You will, Of course, be disgustingly rich?'
raTiIston sighed. "Yes, II / live long
enough; but l don't suppose / shall"
Why in the world shouldn't you? You
look pale and thin, but are ia capital health.
Twelve long miles we have walked to-day
you never turned a hair"
Carriston made no reply. He seemed In
deep thought.
"Your friends ought to look after you and
get you a wife" l said.
II have no friends" he said sadly. mo
nearer relation than a cousin q good deal
older than i am, who looks upon Inc as one
who was born to rob him of what should be
his"
but by the law of primogeniture so sacred
to the upper ten thousand, he must know
you are entitled 10 IT,"
Yes; but for years and years / was always
going TO die. My life was not thought worth
six months purshase. All OF a sudden l got
well. Ever since then / have seemed, even
to myself, a kind of ~interloper."
1T must be unpleasant to have a man long
ing for ones death. All the more reason you
should marry, and put other lives between
him and the title.'
Il fancy l shall never marry" said CARTS
ton, looking at Inc with his soft dark eyes.
"You see, a boy who has waited for years ex-
pecting to die, doesn't grow up with exactly
the same feelings as other people. / don't
think i shall ever meet a j can care
for enough to make my wife. No, | expect
my cousin will be Sir Ralph yet"
1 tried to laugh him out OF his morbid ideas.
Those who live will see" l said. only
promise to ask me to YOU wedding, and bet
family doctor. II may prove the nucleus OF
that West End practice which 1t is the dream
of every doctor to establish"
Il nave aiIcdul hiluucu 10 TIC sudibc uSdu-
ty of Carriston's dark eyes. As o o as COM
partnership commenced between us those
eyes became to me, from scientific reasons,
objects of curiosity on account of the mysteri-
Gus expression which at times l detected in
them. Often and often they wore a look the
like to which, l imagine, is found only In the
eyes of a so~mnambulist-a look which one
feels certain Is intentiy fixed upon something,
yet upon something beyond the range Of ones
own vision. During the first wv or three
days Of our newborn intimacy, I found this
eccentricity Of Carriston's positively startling.
When now and then / turned to him, and
found him staring with all his might at moth
ing. my eyes were compelled TO follow the
direction In which his own were bent IL
was at first impossible to divest oneself of the
belief that something should be there to
justify so fixed q gaze. However, as the
rapid growth Of our friendly Intercourse soon
showed me that he was a boy of most ardent
poetic temperament-perhaps even more q
poet than n artist laid at the door of the
Muse these absent looks and recurring flights
into vacancy.
We were at the Fairy Glen one morning,
sketching, to the best Of our ability, the swirl
ing stream, the gray rocks, and the overhang-
ing trees, the last just growing brilliant with
Autumnal tints, So beautiful was everything