Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1892-09-25


tel the second one has been kindIed; but
1 seem TO have no more sticks to light.
II am going to be married, though /
would much rather remain single. Ny
wife viii be the only girl I ever loved.
and Ike her still more than any
other girl know. Though shuddered
/ just now when I thought OF matrimony,
there can be little doubt that we shall
/ get on very we'll together.
81 should have preferred her to prove
as tickle as myself; but how true she has
remained to me! Not to me, for IL is
not the real Dick Abinger she cares for,
and so 1 don't know that NelPs love is
Of the kind to make man conceited. Is
] marriage q rash experiment when the
woman loves the man for qualities he
does not possess, and has not discovered
In years OF constant intercourse the little
that is really lovable in himP What
ever say to Nell is taken TO mean the
exact reverse Of what I do mean; she
reads my writings upside down, as one
might say; she cries if speak to her Of
anything more serious than flowers and
waltZes. but she thinks me divine when
treat her like an infant.
''Is IL weakness or strength that has
kept me what the world would call true
to Nell? Is man necessarily villain
because love dies out OF his heart, or
has his reason some right TO think the
affair over and show him where he
stands?
eyes, Nell, after all, gets the worst
OF the bargain. She will have for
husband a man who is evidently incapa-
BILE Of lasting affection for anybody.
That, I suppose, means that L ind my
self the only really interesting person L
know. Yet, 1 think, Richard, you
would at times rather be somebody else
anybody almost would do.
at is a little humiliating to remem-
Der that l have been lying TO Angus for
the last month or tWO-I, who always
thought 1 had such a noble admiration
for the truth. did IL very easily, too;
so l suppose there can be no doubt that
I really am a very poor sort Of creature.
/ wonder If it was for Mary'S sake lied,
or merely because it would have been
two troublesome to speak the truth?
Except by 6ts and starts, 1 have ceased
apparently to be interested in anything.
The only thing nowadays that rouses
my indignation is the attempt on any
ones part to draw me into an argument
on any subject under the sun. Here is
this Irish question; / can pump up an
article in three paragraphs on 1t, but L
don't really seem TO care whether IL is
ever settled or not. Should we have
republic? 1 don't mind; it is all
the same 10 me; but don't give me
the casting vote. Is Gladstone
a god? Is Gladstone the devil? They
say he is one or the other, and l am
content to let them fight it out. How
long is it since l gave thought OF re-
ligion? What am 1? There are men
who come into this room and announce
that they are agnostics, as II that were
a new profession. Am l an agnostic?
think not; and II l was l would keep
it to myself My soul does not trouble
me at all, except for five minutes or so
now aud again. On the whole, 1 seem
to be Indifferent as 10 whether l have
one, or what is to become OF it,"
Dick rose and paced the room, until
his face gave the lie TO everything he
had told himself. His lips Quivered
and his whole body shook. He stood
in agony against the mantel-piece with
his head in his hands, and. emotions
had possession of him compared
with which the emotions Of any other
person described in this book were
but children's fancies. By and by he
became calm and began to undress.
Suddenly he remembered something.
He rummaged for his keys in the pocket
OF the coat be had cast of, and, opening
his desk, wrote on slip OF paper that
he took from it, 'Scalping Knife
Man Frightened to Get Married (humor-
ous) %
"My God" he groaned, ST would
write an article, I think, on my mothers
coffin"