Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1892-12-28
THE THREE CHUMS.

When / was in college had two very
dear friends, Marsdep and Masterson.
We We're always together, despite the
fact that there could hardly have been
found anywhere in the world three men
whose ideas on most subjects so radically
differed. Perhaps il was the intellectual
pleasure We derived from debating
among ourselves, with an acrimony only
possible among the fastest Of friehtis, the
pros and cons Of every question that
came up that was the bond of our union.
Whatever the bond was. we were Ger.
tainly inseparable, and think. on that
last night in New Haven, when after
four years of most intimate association
we parted, each 10 walk alone his path
through life, there were three very tear
stained pillows beneath our respective
heads before Morpheus claimed our allie
glance. ! know that for one was com.
PEELED 10 change mine, so saturated did
II become with those salt evidences Of
sincere grief which We're copiously shed
by my eyes that night.
The parting between Marsden and
rather than spiritual. Marsden's lines
fell in the pleasant places of Boston;
Mastcrson's in those Of Baltimore, and
mine in New York. Marsden studied
medicine, Masterson became a professor
of psychology without chair, and
drifted through period Of misery as
student of law into literary, sharp shoot
ing; but through 1t all we kept up q
three cornered correspondence in which
the hopes and fears Of our lives were
freely confided, with the result, l think.
that we all took more cheerful view of
existence than would otherwise have
been possible. II was the perfect candor
of our intercourse that helped us. What
did not like about Marsden I frankly
told him, and when / disapproved Of
Masterson, Masterson was the first to
know it, and vice versa. 1t was helpful,
II was delightful. We lived in palace
Of truth, which, alas! is no more.
Five or six years was the duration Of
our post graduate alliance, which was
broken by death first, and then by that
which is worse than death-madness
and 10 all came about through the too
close application of Marsden and Master
son to their work. Marsden had always
been noted for his love of the mysterious
and morbid. In the old college days it
used to trouble Masterson and myself
not little to find how exceedingly fond
of the depressing things Of life Marsden
was-that is TO say, he liked to hear and
talk about them. He liked to read sto-
ries not only bordering upon but plung-
ing into the middle of the supernatural,
and while Masterson and / were compil-
ing scrapbooks of clippings showing how
easily Yale crews defeated Harvard
crews, and other matters Of alma mater
nal interest, Marsden was filing envel-
opes with horrors-stories of vampires,
tales of hallucination and other unnat-
ural things.
While Masterson and I were reading
such light and airy stories as pelham"
and "Pendennis," with Herrick as our
ideal poet Marsden would devote his
hours Of outside reading to Hoffman.
Poe and Monk Lewis, and any versifer
whose sentiment smacked Of malaria
could be his poet for the time being.
think the only point on which Master
son and ever really agreed was in re-
gard to Marsden's unhealthy passion for
the grotesque, and we were unremitting
In our efforts to bring him down to the
real sunshiny things of life, but can
not say that we were ever sanguine Of
the result of our efforts.
1t was Marsden's horrible addiction to
Oh kat Ial s..xo
study Of psychology and Marsden him
self into medicine, and If Marsden would
have gone at it in the coldly scientific
manner Of Masterson think he would
have been all right, although Masterson
carried his GOODNESS degree too far in
that he did not recognize the fact that
minds, like machines, speedily go to
pieces If not kept in repair. It was while
trying to comprehend Marsden's mind
that Masterson became interested in
mental science, and 1t was Marsden's
passion for the insane that decided him
to become physician, so that he might
come into actual contact with those who
suffered the things Of which he read.
Each succeeded in reaching his goal
Masterson at the age Of thirty found
himself an accepted authority on psyche
logical matters. Marsden at twenty nine
was actively connected with the medical
staff of an asylum for the insane in Mas
sachusetts, and then the end came. Mas
terson's candle had been burned at both
ends, and he was nigh unto death. Twas
the first to hear of it, because my duties
were such that / had been able to visit
Masterson at Baltimore-which Marsden,
owing TO his more or less confined duties,
could not very well do, and 80 was known
to Mastersons family, who Immediately
wired me of the precarious condition of
my old friend. The telegram received
ut y o'clock in the morning of Septem-
Der day and ! Immediately repeated it
to Marsden in Boston, adding that il WAS
my intention TO leave New York for Bal.
timore that night.
Two hours later received message
from Marsden saying: Wait for me. He
must not die"
This was more or less unsettling. To
wait for Marsden was the very thing II
would please me most 10 do. but TO have
him bring his message to close with
those four words grated on my nerves
They did not sound exactly right.
An hour later a second telegram ar.