Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-07-13
A DEFEATED AMBITION.
Copyright 1891. by The United Press.l
JOHN T. ARNOLD.
BY CURTIS KRGLAKR.

Copyright 1891. by The United Press.l
 The man who was known on earth as Sidney Orton had been dead nearly one hundred years. Whenever he thought of this he smiled in an amused way. Time passes so quickly in the spirit land! He had roamed about the universe for almost 8 century, exploring new worlds and re- 5oicing in the freedom that is begotten when the aeshly body is laid aside, as the butterfly abandons the decaying chrysalis
 Sidney Orton he still called himself and once in awhile in his flights through space he would meet some fellow-spirit who, in the old days on earth, he had known and loved. He remembered wildly poem he had once admired that in his later knowl- edge seemed absurd. It ran thus:
 Somewhere in desolate. wind-swept space, In twilight land, in no-man's land
 Two hurrying shapes met face to face
 And bade each other stand.
 And who are you? cried one agape,
 shuddering in the gloaming light.
 T know not said the second shape.
 l only died last night.
 "How little they realize on earth" Sid ney Orton used to remark, as he quoted the poem to some sympathetic spirit, that death is only transition and that our individuality remains to us for all time. This nameleSS ghost of Aldrich-I think that was the poets name-had been dead for few hours and did not remem- Der who he was. You and can understand the nonsense of all this. Come, let's take 8 look at Mars. They were having strike on the canals there when 1 was up there last. I am rather anxious to see what the situation is now"
 The two congenial spirits hailed pass ing cloud, and, reclining luxuriously on the 1eecy touches, sailed upward toward the planet named above.
 Sidney Orton was one of the most popu- lar spirits in the realm of space. He was | always ready to go to the ends of the uni verse, and his conviction that the final col lapse of all creation could have no evil ef- feet upon the myriads of beings who had l abandoned their bodily form was tonic | to more pessimistic ghosts who feared that some day the attraction of gravita- | tion would become repulsion and that the spirit world would suffer as severely as the material.
 After his visit to Mars, Sidney Orton be- | came thoughtful. q wonder" he re- marked to his companion, quiet, con- l genial spirit who had once occupied the | form of beautiful woman on one of the 1 luxurious luminaries in the belt of Orion q wonder if I am still remembered on thai l dismal planet they call the Earth. recol l lect that in former times was very ambi. 1 tious. was clever and industrious and | was desirous of placing my name high or | what those funny mortals call the scroll oi 1 fame. Thus it was that, while I piled my l pen on newspaper and produced ephem | eral stuff that I despised, devoted my | leisure hours to fiction and poetry. wrote l novels and poems that made great sen- l sation at the time. I suppose that, al | though century has passed, still have | famous name among the writers of my 1 generation. If you don't mind we'll return
 to Earth for few hours and see how m!
 record stands"
 "As you wish, my affinity" whispered
 the gentle spirit at his side.
 Down, down, they went, and after tim
 struck our planet just as the>city of New
 York hove into sight. Assuming for awhil l an earthly shape our hero and his com panion walked the streets that only one o
 them had ever known. Buying an eyenin.
 newspaper with coin made from the re
 mains of small asteroid, Sidney Ortol
 read the following item:
 "Algernon Augustus Orton of this cit. l died yesterday. He was one of the inea
 descendants of Sidney Orton who, @ cen
 tury ago, was the funny man on loca
 newspaper"
 Come" said Sidney to his companion
 "let's go back to the realm where justic
 prevails"
 A cloud seemed to cross the sky for mo
 ment, and sigh as though a mighty win
 was passing somewhere through bound
 less space startled the men of earth.