The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-07-06

center OF the Serai. spe was Hlckinx the
water ont of the spout in regular cadenced
jerks.
There are ways and ways OF cleaning
samovar. II you knew why she was do
ing her work In that peculiar fashion You
would know what the Spanish monk meant
when he said:
the Trinity illustrate,
Drinking wafered orange pulp
In three sips the Aryan Illustrate
while he drains his At one gulp-
and many other things which now are hid
den from your eyes. However, Mrs. Nc
lntcsh has prepared dinner Let US come
and eat after the fashion of the people of
the country. of whom, by the way. you
know nothing"
The native woman dipped her hand in
the dish with US. This was wrong. The
wife should always wait until the husband
has eaten. Mcintosh Jeilaludin apollo
gized, saying:
at is an English prejudice which have
not been able 10 overcome; and she loves
me. Why, have never been able to I'M
derstand. l foregathered with her at JUL
undur. three years ago. and she has re-
manned with me ever since. l believe her
to be moral, and know her to be skilled in
cookery"
He patted the woman's head as he spoke,
and she cooed softly. She was not pretty
to look at.
mClHIO5n never t0iQ lie WIFI pOSttlOu 4o
had held before his fall. He was. when
sober, q scholar and a gentleman. When
drunk, he was rather more of the first than
the second. He used to get drunk about
once week for two days. On these occa-
sions the native woman tended him while
he raved in all tongues except his own.
One day. indeed, he began reciting Alta
lanta in Calydon." and went through it to
the end. beating time to the swing OF the
verse with q bedstead leg. But he did most
OF his rawlings in Greek or German. The
mans mind was perfect rag-bag of use
less things, Once, when he was beginning
to get sober. he told me that was the only
rational being in the Inferno into which he
bad descended-a Virgil in the shades. he
said-and that, in return for my tobacco he
would. before he died, give me the material
of new Inferno that should make me
greater than Dante. Then he fell asleep on
a horse blanket and woke up quite calm.
MAN." said he, when you have reached
the uttermost depths of degradation. little
incidents which would vex higher life are
to you of no consequence. Last night my
doubt that my bestial body was writhing
down here in the garbage"
You were abominably drunk, If that's
what you mean," said.
81 was drunk-fithily drunk. l who am
the son of a man with whom you have no
concern-i who was once fellow of a col
lege whose buttery-hatch you have not
seen. l was loathsomely drunk. But con-
slider how lightly am touched. 1t is moth
ing TO me. Less than nothing, for do not
even feel the headaches which should be
my portion. Now in q higher life, how
CHASTITY would have been my punishment,
how bitter my repentance Believe me,
my friend with the neglected education.
the highest is as the lowest-always suppos-
ing each degree extreme"
He turned round on the blanket, put his
head between his fists and continued:
"On the soul which / have lost and en-
the conscience which have killed, / tell
you that cannot feel am as the gods.
knowing good and evil. but untouched by
either. Is this enviable or is it not?''
When man has lost the warning of
bad state, answered. looking at Mcintosh
on the blanket, with his hair over his eyes
and his lips blue-white, that / did not
think the insensibility good enough.
For PHYS sake. don't say that! / tell
you, it is good and most enviable. Think
of my consultations"
Have you so many, them mcintosh 2"
Certainly. Your attempts at sarcasm,
which is essentially the weapon of a Gull
tured man, are crude. First, my attain
ments my classic and literary knowledge,
blurred, perhaps by immoderate drinking
which reminds me that before my soul
went to the gods last night sold the Pick
ering Horace you so kindly lent me- Ditta
Null, the clothesman, has it. It fetched ten
annas and may be redeemed for a rupee
but still infinitely superior to yours. Sec
ondly, the abiding affection of Mrs. McIn-
tosh, best of wives. Thirdly, monument
more enduring than brass, which / have
built up in the seven years of my degrade
tiOn."
He stopped here and crawled across the
room for drink OF water. He was very
shaky and sick.
He referred several times to his streas-
ure"-some great possession that he owned
but held this to be the raving of drink.
He was as poor and as proud as he could
be. His manner was not pleasant, but he
knew enough about the natives, among
whom seven years of his life had been
spent, to make his acquaintance worth
having. He used actually to laugh at
Strickland as an ignorant man-''ignorant
west and east"-he said. His boast was.
first, that he was an Oxford man of rare
and shining parts, which may or may not
have been true-I did not know enough to
check his statements-and, secondly, that
he had his hand on the pulse of native
hie"-which was q fact. AS an Oxford
man, he struck me as a prig; he was
ALWAYS throwing his education about As
Mohammedan faGuir-as Mcintosh Jella-
ludin-he was all that wanted for my own
ends. He smoked several pounds of nv
tobacco, and taught me several ounces OF
things worth knowing; but he would never
accept any gifts. not even when the cold
weather came, and gripped the poor thin
chest under the poor thin alpaca ccat He
grew very angry, and said that 1 had in
suited him, and that he was not going into
hospital. He had lived like beast and he
would die nationally, like man. As a
matter of fact, he died of pneumonia, and
on the night of his death sent over grubby
note asking me to come and help him to
die.
The native woman was weeping by the
side of the bed. Mcintosh, wrapped in a
cotton cloth, was too weak to resent q fur
coat being thrown over him. He was very
active as far as his mind was concerned,
and his eyes were blazing. When he had
abused the doctor who came with me. so
foully that the indignant old fellow left. he
cursed me for few minutes and Gained
down.
Then he told his wife to fetch out "The
Book" from hole in the wall. She brought
out big bundle, wrapped in the tail OF
petticoat, of old sheets of miscellaneous
note paper, all numbered and covered with
fine cramped writing Mcintosh ploughed
his hand through the rubbish and stirred it
up lovingly.
This, |" he said, sis my work and book
of Mcintosh Jellaludin, showing what he
saw and how he lived. and what befell him
and others; being also an account of the
life and sins and death OF Mother Maturin.
What Mira Murad Ali Beg's book is 10 all
other books on native life, will my work be
TO Mira Murad Ali Beg'sin
This, as will be conceded by anyone who
knows Mira Murad Ali Beg's book, was .
sweeping statement. The papers did not
look specially valuable; but Mcintosh
handled them as ii they were currancv