St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1892-06-23


tn next night, l asked him if Cor
tons case was as grave as Corson
thought it.
Exactly, if not more so. 1t came
on him insidiously, you know. with
out hamoptysis or prominent chest
symptoms
"Please cut technical terms"
well, he ascribed his fever and
throat troubles and dyspeptic indi-
cations to local and temporary
causes. Phthisic had its clutches on
him before he suspected it. He may
live two years, he may live four; the
time depends on the circumstances.
"And his heart trouble ?"
"Oh, there's really little to fear
from that"
Wont he shorten his life more by
keeping that manuscript factory go
ing in his brain ?"
''Yes-but perhaps no. You see,
he knows he's doomed, and reason
able amount of work won't hurt him
as much as anxiety would. If he
gave up work he'd fret about the
payment of his debts. That would
bring insomnia, while toll begets ia
tigue, which produces sleep"
Hes paid a good sum on his
house already. The man who holds
his note might let it go at that"
1 saw Corson almost daily, usually
at luncheon hour. No longer did he
appear at the cafe for bite and
sup at midnight He could gain a
few minutes by going directly home
and eating a cold supper there. His
duties for the morning paper kept
him in the office until after twelve at
night. Most of his 'outside' work
was done at home. There he was
not liable to interruption from Jack
Elsinor and the many others on the
paper who had formerly been wont
to look in upon him, attracted by
his cheerful, virile, kindly personality.
His face grew slightly cadaverous
and assumed hectic hue as time
went on. Sometimes his eyelids
were red-edged, and the lines below
his eyes sank deeper. Perpendicular
hollows assembled the middle of his
forehead. The smile that had once
been so radiant and so quickly sum-
moned was now slow to come, and
when it appeared it was melancholy
Formerly so observant Of a II external
trif1es worth notice, and ready to find
amusement in casual remarks and in
cidents, he now hnrried through his
Luncheon abstractedly, sometimes
saying nothing.
AS to what pain he endured at
home alone he told no one. Some of
the reporters and other pen laborers
who ate at Maloni's cafe or drank
at Cannikin Club chafed Corson
about his self-absorbed manner
"The detection that besets all mar
ried men," Ted Clark once observed,
when Corson's newly-acquired man
ner was being discussed.
HE is getting ready to surprise
US with magnum opus that he has
on the stocks" opinioned McDuff,
one night, when Corson declined to
pass an hour with us at Rathskeller,
on the ground that he was in haste
to get home.
Perhaps you haven't noticed that
he's turning out a lot Of good stuff,
these days" said
II have. He's doing more and
better work than ever isn't he ?"
That is what surprised me. The
quality of Corson's productions for
magazines and newspaper syndica ties
had advanced with their quantity
How do you keep up the stand
ard so beautifully, old fellow? ?"
asked him one day, in a short chat
on street corner.
by the concentration and intensi-
ty of effort" he replied. You see
can't afford to grind out unavaila-
BILE matter. 1 simply have to make
everything so striking that it catch
es the editors attention at the start,
and so fairly good that he feels bound
not to send it back. Ican't waste time
writing matter to be rejected. If l
do a good thing quickly it's because
I've learned how by sheer will power
to crowd an hour full of thought in
to twenty minutes"
But the reaction after this steam
engine sort of labor will be frightful :"
ut can't be worse than fatal" he
answered with a doleful smile, land
l have got to die anyhow. Work
won't kill as soon as any one of a
great many other things will
His wife had become alarmed for
him in the early stage of his race.
With her woman's power of divina-
ton she may have foreseen the end.
But at first she concealed her appre-
hension as we'll as she could, and
gently but constantly endeavored to
make him abate his pace. The time
arrived when she pleaded with him
to take rest.
Not just yet" he said kissing her
on the forehead, that she might not
see the look that came into his face.
But promise you solemnly that
I'll stop exactly three weeks from to-
dav. It'll be warm weather then
and we'll go off to the sea some
where. Look up the summer resort
guide for some quiet place on the
New England cOaSt-SOme quiet