The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-12-19
RAGE.
b BDMoNDo DE AM101s.

of the opposite house. DO you see that
man?'' ~
I locked. There was man seated in
s corner, with his arm lying along the
railing, but was unable to distinguish
his features
ssTkat man, 2 continued my friend,
sis so disagreeable to me that I have
more than once thought of changing
nv home, if for no other reason than
that Knight notsee him any more. You
viii naturally ask me why. have
never spoken to him. have never heard
his voice. do not know who he is OF
what he does. I do not know what he
looks like, asmy sight does not reach
so far, not even through a telescope.
That man IS repulave to me, because
every evening at this time he invaria-
bly rises from his meal and seats him.
self IN that corner, and every evening
he automatically folds one leg over the
other and lays one arm along the rail-
ing. It never happens that he moves
first the leg, then the arm, but he first
rests his arm and then crosses his legs
You will allow that he is detestable
enough merely ON this account, but this
is only trifle to the rest.
Every evening woman, who seems
to be his wife, before he rises, arranges
his chair, brings him his pipe, puts it
IN his hands, lights it for him, and ev-
cry evening he suffers himself to be
waited upem in this glorious and trium-
pl1ant manner without acknowledging IN
the slightest manner the services rem
dered. Then every moment he needs
something, and the woman rises and
rushes and gets whatever it maybe, and
he takes it, drinks it, if it happens to
be something to drink, furnishing his
mustache with an egotistic, sybaritic
sort of satisfaction, without even taking
the trouble to hand the glass back.
Then friends come to see him, and he
does not try to rise, and yet he can
stand and walk along the balcony as
well as anybody else. He does not look
up or down or around him. He never
bows Altogether he's to have been
built there, so that the world might
travel around him.
He is an idol He is born to be wait
ed upon And You laugh! These are
things that make me late man. ]
cannot help it. Another person would
not mind it, but feel it. I imagine !
know that man as well as know you.
Who is he? / never asked, but I can
tell You as though knew it all That
man''-and so saying he pointed his
finger toward the man, staring at him
fxedly, as though to draw from him his
secret that man is an everyday mer-
chant who is beginning to get rlch and
holds already within him the conceit
that is overcoming him as he prospers
more and more, and he has married
that woman in or6er to save the ex-
penses Of a clerk in the store and Of a
servant in the house.
s.He treats her worse than servant
and no better than a clerk. He is sor-
did. except to satisfy his own gluttony.
He might live on the third floor, but he
lives ON the fourth for economy's sake,
although he has no children and has no
desire for any. He despises everything
that is not shop. He calls ministers
thieves, asses all those who study, and
beggars all those who have less than
he has. Oh, you may laugh if you want
to. Do you not know that hatred Is a
good guesser? Indeed I should really
feel happy if I had chance to be rude
to him. I detest him. may be vision
ary, malignant, whatever you choose to
call me, but when my heart tells me
that that man is hard case can but
express my opinion frankly.
You ought to know this young man
Of 20, good hearted, restless and pas
sionate, and become accustomed to his
queer TRADES against the phantasms
that his own imagination creates. Then
you could readily understand that he
gave vent to this long grafton all IN one
breath and without even smiling.
was in the meantime looking at the
supposed merchant and at the woman
seated on the stool in front OF him, With
her arms crossed on her knees in an at
titude of dreamy contemplation. Ihave
better sight than my friend, and 1t
seemed to me that the man was about
40 and the woman little older, al
though ! could not distinguish the Tea
lures Of either one. I asked for the
telescope and pointed it toward the
woman. First I confusedly saw large
face. Then I distinguished her express
sion, the expression. of woman re-
signed to her fate-a life of sacrifice.
She had gray hair, forehead deeply
furrowed; large and melancholy eyes, a
certain grave and thoughtful look that
revealed complete resignation to suffer
ing.
To all appearances my friend has
guessed rightly thought, and l then