Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-01-12
THE "GAWK.

of the people call merry childhood OF
a joyous youth. My ather "a low
church clergyman = honestly believed
that to be cheerful was the first ster
to sin, and that virtue was to wear a
solemn mien and an unsmiling face. To
do him justice, he conscientiously lived
up to that conviction, and, as far as was
in his power, compelled others to do the
same.
| He had not exposed me to the con
tamination a public school; my few
companions had only been classmates
at a private tutors, to whom I was sent
as a daily pupil, and as I had to walk
several miles to reach my destination l
was unable to enjoy the ordinary relax
alton Of the English schoolboy in the
shape of football or cricket
| An only son, mOtnerIess from my
cradle, I had accepted with the sub
mission and possibly with the content
ment of ignorance the code of morals
and mode OF life which it had pleased
/ my father to impose upon me, and
which would have seemed better suited
to the most shrinking and delicate girl
than to a strong, healthy, stoutly grown
and active lad. Perhaps the real secret
of my passihe and unresisting acquies-
cence lay in the act that [ was consti-
tutionally averse to society of any kind.
and that especially the presence Of any
member of the other sex filled me with
an unreasoning awe that amounted to
actual pain. A feminine being-child,
| girl or W0man-immediately made fifty
| times more awkward shan I naturally
was; she elected au unbecoming shy
ness which at other times was quite
| foreign to my nature, and which i'm
| pressed the cause of these emotions
with a cOntemptuOus dislike Of me.
/ Harry Millner is a perfect gawkr'
/ once heard the pretty daughter of one
| of our nearest neighbOrs say to an elder
sister, when, my school days being fin
| ally over, had been sent by my father
to walk with her in the vicarage garden,
and had ANONYMOUSLY ended the in
terview by running away and hiding
myself in an arbor, whence I could hear
her comments on my conduct.
Harry Millner is a poor, miserable
| creature" calmly remarked this dis
| passionate maiden. But you know,
| Helen. that he is as poor as a rat, so be
will never have to make love to any
girl thank GOd!' she added piously.
Yes 1 was gawk at twenty, as I had
been at any other period of my life.
| Yes, I was a miserable creature, in spite
| of my five feet ten inches and my
broad shoulders. Yes, we were wretch
! edly poor, and at my fathers death ali
l could claim as my own would be a
moderately good education, the perfect
health I always enjoyed, and an abso-
| lutte ignorance of the ways of the world,
for good or evil, and the means of earn
| ing my daily bread therein. 1t had
been part of the wears conscientious
carrying out of his particular views to
keep me persistently at his side, in bis
| widowed, solitary home, and not to
send me to meet temptation or, as he
styled it, perditiOn, by allowing me to
mix with the unregenerate and the un-
godly, whose path lies among the pit
falls of frivolity and unhallowed di-
versions.
| Not very long after my pretty neigh
| arybor Helen had passed her uncOmpli-
| mentary nerdict upon me my father
died. A distant relation wound up his
affairs; a hundred pounds were placed
London and 'see what I could do
there" 1t is needless to dwell on the
time thus spent; suffice it to say that
worked hard and inefficiently, and that
L remained as strictly ungregarious,
| solitary, moral and virtuous as / had
ever been at the vicarage. Women still
| looked upon me with intense disfavor,
| and I upon them with continued awe
at least in the flesh-for I must confess
that at times, in my dreams, I con-
ceiyed that it might be pleasant to hear
soft voice call me Harry" and a
| white hand linger in my palm. But
when I awoke in the morning it was to
returning consciousness that 1 was a
gawk, and that if by some wild accident
| the feminine hand was resting in my
grasp or the feminine voice sounding
| in my ears I should not know how to
answer the one or clasp the other.
Then suddenly unexpectedly, found
myself rich-not moderately or COM
fortably rich, but wealthy beyond my
most fatuous conception of the term.
An unsuspected inheritance had fallen
to my lot; there were no difficulties
raised against my title; everything was
| plain, simple and correct, so that
within three months of the day when I
received the first intimation Of my good
fortune I was informed by the lawyers
that I could now draw on my bankers
for what was practically to me an un-
! limited amount, and take possession of
a big house in Mayfair and an equally
| imposing mansion in Worcestershire,
with a sllitableestablishment ready to
receive me in each as master. / visited
| both residences, found them almost as
awe inspiring as a woman, and myself
as big a gawk in these superbly appoint
ed houses as 1 had been in the country
or in the city office.
Puzzled and disturbed, 1 resolved to
leave England, to trane COR awhile and
! endeavor to shake off "A new surround
ings the aWkwardness which I believe
was only in rusticity, and the nissan
thropy that sat so queerly on young
mans temperament. I wanted the re-
| generating process to take place away
| from the gaze of my countrymen and
moreover, 1 was secretly anxious to put
| the sea between me and the overpower.
ing attentions and invitations showered
upon me through the medium of count