The National tribune., 1892-03-03

for bite and sup at midnight He could gain
few minutes by going directly homo and eat
ing cold supper there. His duties for the
morning paper kept him in the office until
after 10 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 formally been
wont TO look in upon him, attracted by his
| cheerful, yirile. kindly personality.
His face grew slightly cadaverous and as
sumed hectic hue as time went on. Some
times his eye-lids were red edged; and the lines
beneath his eyes SINK deeper. Perpendicular
hnllows ascended the middle Of his forehead
The smile that had once been so radiant and
so quickly summoned WAS now slow 10 come.
and when il appeared it was melancholy. Form
erly so OhseTvant Of all external trifes worth
notice, and SO prompt to fiud amusement in
casual remarks aud incidents, he now hurried
through his luncheon abstractedly, sometimes
saying nothing.
As TO what pains nc endured at homo alone
he told no one. Some of the reporters and other
pen-laborers who ate at Moloni's cafe or drank
at the CanniSn Club chaHcd Corson about his
seltabsOrbed manner.
80 The detection that bcsets al married men,"
Ted Clark once observed, when COr5On'5 newly
acquired manner was being discussed.
" He's getting ready to astonish Us with n
magnum opus that nc has on the s.ccks"
opincd McDuT one night when Corson de-
clined to pas IN hour with Us in the Ralhskel-
Ter on the ground that he was in haste to get
home
Perhaps you haven't observed that he's
turning out lot Of good stuff these days" I
said.
Il have. lie is doing more and better work
than ever isn't hop"
That is what surprised me- The quality Of
CorsOn's productions for magazines aud news
paper syndicates had advanced with their
quantity.
" How do you keep up the standard so beau
tifully, old fellow" / asked him one day. in
short chat on n street corner.
By concentration and intensity of effort"
ne replied. You sec, cant aiio-i 20 grind
out unavailable matter. / simply have %
make everything 50 striking that il catches an
editors attention ut the start aud so fairly
good that he feels bound not to send it back
can't waste timo writing matter TO be rejected.
II do good thing questy Us because I've
learned how by sheer wi!i-powor to crowd an
hOuTiul OF thOaght into 20 mi uutcs.
But the reaction after this steam-engine
sort Of labor will bs fri.htfuI."
=" Ii can't be worse than fatal" he answered,
with doeful smile. and I've got to die any
how. Work won't kill as soon as any one Of
great many other things will"
/ have no doubt that COrson was sustained
by the conviction that his will power would
preserve his faculties until his purpose should
be accomplished. So his labor continued 10
was the subimation OF hack work.
His wife had bcc0mc alarmed for him in the
early stages o! his race. With her wOman's
power Of diviuatiDu she may have foreseen the
end. But at first she concealed her apprehen-
sions as well as she could, and gently but con-
stantly endeavoTei % make him abate his pace
| The time arrived, however, when she plead
with him TO take 4 rest
' Not just yet" lie said kissing her on the
forehead, that she might not see the look that
came suddenly into his face. fut / promise
you sOlemuly that I'll stop exactly three
months from today. Itll ba warm weather
then and we'll 20 OF 10 the sea somewhere.
Look up the Summer resort guide for some
quiet place on the New England coast-sOme
place where there asc cliffs, you know"
Ard So he passed tie last quarter pole and
rushed down the ho;nc-strctch. Toward tho
end his work began to deterOrate in quality
Some Of his offerings were declined by editors,
but the checks for articles that had long been
submitted were now pouring in.
On the lovelicst morning Of last june be re-
deemed his hnul prOmIssOry note. lie walked
home staggering wish clation.
The race is won, he gasped 10 mo at his
door and he cag zht his wife in mis- arms, almost
shouting: The home IS oars now, every cubic
| inch o! it,"
/ They were to start for the Maine coast on that
afternoon. When his wife went 70 finish pre-
| pairing the children for the departure be said
/ 10 me:
when the thing happens you tell her what
TO DO, old man. The two upper floors should
/ bring so a week IL all the rooms were taken.
She knows how TO economize. Pvestowed away
q supcrnuous few hundred for a starter I'm
30 happy."
He sat down on chair and underwent a
/ transformation. The race was over. the tension
was released. His arms hung limp his head
/ fei! forward, he brealhed aloud, the muscles Of
! his face twitcheh.
When his wife came TO tell him that the
trunks were ready he was dead.
Harbster said it was a first attack Of angina
pcctoris, the resnlt of mental strain. COrson
had cluded consumption at least Death had
resnrted to another stced.
4 few Of the boys AZ the Office and elsewhere
| found time 10 20 10 his funeral and to cover his
] body with flowers. The Cannikin Club passed
resolutions, and some one said over a foaming
stein at the Rathskeller that night:
He was clever enough to have left a name,
| If he hadn't always chased the immediate dol
lar. It's a bad thing 10 be too avariciOus.
They knew nothing OF that which perished
with him-the idea that was 10 have made him
fImOns-the work unwrought-the dream sue
rifced 20 love.
lie had chroncled no "brave surrender" :;
but TO have made one was perhaps the greater
work.