Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-07-30

me- sym pdLleLlCs hppFeClhIlFei DcuoNO-
/ lent. am made the confident OF all
manner of troubles and secrets. 1t is
my fate to be an adviser and mediator.
| Though I was born four years later
I than John and two years after Henry,
/ yet am older In my ways and external
/ feeling than either OF them. In this
/ my tWentY-eighth year my character
appears already fixed. And yet am
never without misgiving that this Is
not my real self-that the genuine
Frank Mainwaring has never yet been
revealed. am asleep. The hour Of
my awakening has never struck.
! OF course 1t will never strike. This
! perception OF latent possibilities is 40
/ doubt common, and the practical reali-
ties OF life gradually obliterate it. | am
an observer and stadent, but l have
never attempted to control circum-
stances. My acts have been obedient,
not aggressive. l have taken relief In
| imagination, but that will cool IN time.
only wish the whole thing did not
seem so like playacting. l fancy l
J should have been better-being what l
am-without that $50, 900 that my
/ fathers will gave me. l ought
TO have had the whole estate
or nothing. Henry did very well
with his $50, 900. AT least his desire
always was TO roam about the world,
I and his beQuest has enabled him TO do
| ii all these four years since father died,
| But Henry is as different from me
| from both my actual and my possible
| self-as a brother could be. He is a
restless, laWless Bohemian, uncOnVen-
tional in thought and act, mysterious,
unaccountable, lovabie and genius.
/ He can be happy anywhere, fer he en-
| Joys even his mseries. No one can help
serving him, for no one can help liking
him. For my part, though not OF q
gushing disposition, 1 am his willing
slave whenever he is within reach OF
me, and l have actually pined for him
during this long absence.
As regards John, ii was another mat
ter. He is the eldest, and as father
saw fit to maintain the English preju-
dice Of primogeniture-in fact, father al
ways remained English 10 the core,
/ though the last 35 years Of his life were
passed In America, and though be spoke
OF himself and thought OF himself as an
out and out Yankee-we were always
/ trained 20 regard John as the future
head of the family aud in some sort Of
another flesh and blood than we.
| Though a generous and very affection
ate fellow, John was naturally over
bearing and peremptOry, and his posi-
/ ton would tend to develOpe these
traits. respect him and something
more, but l care most for Henry. And
AN inclined to suspect that Henry is
mothers favorite. too, though she never
confessed as much and is too aristocra-
\ tic in her instincts TO adult it even to
/ herself.
Perhaps would better have taken a
/ leaf from Henry's book and have cut
! loose from the family homestead and
set up for myself when father died.
think l should have done so had been
/ left TO myself. But mother was accuS-
toned to my ministrations, and John
could hardly have dealt alone with the
matters consequent upon his accession.
And, TO confess the truth, am indo-
lent. lack ambition. lack II motive.
/ IN the opportunity or the stimulus come,
like to fancy / might do or be some
thing 10 the world-if, for instance,
l instead OF John had inherited Cedar
cliffe and SEQ, 600 year. But since in
order to do that both John and Henry
must die before me, and unmarried, my
stimulus and opportunity are not likely
to come to time. Heaven forbid they
should!
1t is rather singular, by the way, that
neither Of US three boys has ever seri-
ously thought Of marriage. John is
now 80 and getting set in his ways.
For his own sake. as we'll as for the
family, he ought not to delay much
longer, Father set his heart upon the
perpetuation of the Mainwaring line in
America, and he built this great stone
mansion and bought the 200 acres OF
ground Oh which IL stands with the
purpose that IL should be our home
stead forever. But John does not seem
to be attracted by women or to attract
them, apart from the fact that he is a
millionaire. l am not marrying man
either. / never was so much in love with
any girl as am with my cobra. Henry
Is the lady's man Of the family. He
was always cherishing romantic pas
sion for somebody, and had score OF
good chances OF becoming q Benedict
even before he went abroad. What he
may have done since l know not. But
he is as tickle as be is impresSiOnable,
and / doubt whether he will ever bring
himself to the point of calling any
woman his wife. What villainous
mischance IL would be If we were all TO
remain childleSs aud Cedarcliffe were
finally 10 90 10 some Of our unknown
English relatives! There is Edward
Forrestal, for instance, my mothers
brother. The last we heard OF him was
90 years ago, when he married and was
going to India. He may have dozen
children by this time who would come
in for share Of our spoils. 1t would
be toe bad.
Now that I have got my cobra In
tend to make some experimentsin snake
charming. l ought to succeed, for was
ALWAYS fond Of snakes, and they never
seemed inclined TO harm me. / hope 20
discover how the effects are produced
and to get at something like a scientific
formula for it. There must be further
use for serpents than has been yet re-
vealed. Since the time OF Adam they
are reDuted to have done much harm to
the human race. but believe that they
may be rendered as oenefcent as they
have hitherto been hostile. Probably
the ancients understood them better
than we do, and the Asiatics are still
far in advance OF Us in that respect.
But there may be something that no
one has yet detected, and l may be des-
tined TO hit upon it AT all events il
will be something to do and to think
about. and that is what am in want Of
at present. l shall get my Indian tonm-
ri and set to work tomorrow.