Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-06-13

no choice, no right and wrong, no
conscience2 In loving woman, we
love the human quality in ourselves
the person that each of us is, and
that burns to subjugate and Guido all
rival persons. Were it not for her, we
should forget our separateness as in
dividuals, and relapse into the univer-
sal man, who knows no difference be-
tween himself and that which sur
rounds him. Now, hold that the
love, yea, the worship of self, is at the
root Of all great achievement, and
therefore that the union with or alb
sorption into myself of a woman har-
moniously endowed would strengthen
and not weaken my faculties and
designs Those imbeciles, indeed, who
permit the woman TO draw them away
from the pursuit of their proper ends,
and to bewilder them with mere sensu-
Gus beauty and charm-of them
speak not. But he who knows how to
aggrandize his own being to the extent
Of that of the woman, he surely may
invite her with confidence and enjoy
her with profit.
/ had arrived at this conclusion be-
fore / met Irene, and so could not
have been influenced to it by any con-
sideration of the freshness and SPLEEN
dor of her loneliness. No woman more
nearly perfect in all feminine charms
could have existed; from the arch of
her brow to the curve of her foot, ]
found no flaw in her. We were natur-
ally mated, too, as tongue to thought;
for was tall and strong, and of grace
full symmetry, with dark features,
straight and fine; and she, though
slender, was rounded in every part,
supple and active, yet withal stately as
the Greek Artemis, whose ideal Inca
ments hers resembled. In her blue
eyes there were both softness and fire,
and her clear voice vibrated in the lis
tener's soul. We formed the perfect
whole of male and female-the intag
Ito and the seal. In her recognized
the softer ranges of my own nature,
and to her / might stand as the inn
pregnable mountain wall within whose
embrace the fertile and enchanted
valley of her womanhood could ex-
pand itself, secure and fortunate.
To induce her to identify herself
wholly with me was my first care. /
pointed out to her the heights to
which / meant to soar; depths which
purposed to search out: the obstacles
that l was preparing to overthrow,
But she would rest her eyes on mine
in a long look, until felt the great
things grasped at were but the shad-
ows of misunderstanding which i
should yet have nothing, but ever be
led on to other shadows, which, in
turn dissolving, would reveal still
others endlessly. And then my self
hood would seem to dwindle and wax
unsubstantial, and in my heart quiet
but mighty impulse, like the flowing
of the tide, urged me to cast all at her
gracious feet, and find in her greater
recompense than the conquest of the
world itself and its secret. 1t was an
impulse that babe me declare myself
nothing, and to forsake all ambition
save to win her acceptance of my HON
age. This l read in her eyes, or seemed
to read; to forsake my own exaltation
and find exaltation in her; TO make il
my honor to honor her; SO to live as
to make her life lovely. This only
would be real and immortal; all else
was builded of death, and death would
be the end of it.
Disturbed by these misgivings, /
would go forth from the spell of her
presence, and walk in the garden until
the moon climbed above the dark
masses of the yew trees, and the howl
of the gray wolf rode on the air like
the cry of q demon. Then would i
draw near to him, and cast myself on
the stony ground where he crouched
and snarled, and, resting my chin upon
my hands, l would peer into the glare
of his yellow eyes, and mark the hun
cry grin of his teeth and the thick
hair bristling round his neck. Wild
and hideous in truth he was; but at
length, as watched him, the delight
of the beast would begin to course
through my pulses, and my breath
came short and thick, and undula-
tons, red like blood, quivered before
my sight.
The spirit Of the wolf spoke in my
mind, saying that life was battle and
murder, and that he who was tiercest
and sternest was the survivor and the
master. The only enduring monu-
ments of human greatness were those
whose stones were cemented with hui
man blood-the blood of weak and
credulous hearts. Read in the souls
of those whose memory posterity has
worshiped, and you shall find in their
depths the record of merciless and saw
age deeds that the world calls crimes,
but which the wise know to be the in
evitable steps whereby the mount of
vision may be assembled. The indolent
and aimleSs multitude beguile them
selves with piety and patience-empty
words to disguise their cowardice and
impotence. The few who have the
courage to look existence in the face
and measure it, and the fortitude to
trample under foot all the tender de-
lusions of romance, charity and mercy
to them, and TO them alone, is the
triumph and the fame. So the spirit
of the wolf entered into me and spoke,
till CRASHED my teeth as he CRASHED
his. and felt the Unsuitable thirst for
blood burning at my entrails.
One day Irene and sat on the ter
race overlooking the garden, and as
we sat she put out her hand and laid
it in mine. She was beautiful beyond
the wont even of her beauty, and
there was a kind of sacredness in her
neighborhood like music on noun
tain, or the purity of flowers at dawn.
Yet at that time ! was in the mood of
the gray WOLF. and while ! softly
pressed her hand felt longing 10
leap upon her and tear her white flesh
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