Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-12-13


| thought
"Dacre, your mother will miss Gwen
more than any of Us think, you have
no idea how upsetting a wedding is,
! you might come in very useful just
now. Won't the regiment survive if
you stay down for a few days."
/ Dacre wriggled on his seat.
"Mrs. Fellowes, l have to go back,
it is absolutely imperative"
! She laughed. $50 it seems by the
look Of your
| Look at that big fellow she
! thought, "who fears neither man.
death, nor the devil, nor God much
| to speak of, routed by one flash of
feeling from an unexpected quarter.
| The creatures can't stand the uneX-
pected at ALL they are intrinsically
! conventional! If that fool had glim-
mer of sense in him, he would have
| given the poor little woman a hug,
and have let her have a comfortab BILE
easy howl for once in her life. l sup
pose she is doing problems with the
! old fossil in the library instead"
Dacre felt his size frightfully, and
began to contrast it mentally with the
| Sevres cup in his hand. He set it
down, and towering huge above Mrs.
solemn asseveration as to the impos-
sibility of staying one day longer.
my dear boy, l am quite con-
vinced," she said, eff you did, your
country must infallibly burst up
"Mrs. Fellowes, that isn't fair!'
/ "No more it is! Sit down Dacre, I
| have to shout to make my voice reach
you up there, and yours comes down
on me like thousand bricks. What
, do you want me to do?''
| He gave a sigh Of relief and settled
down comfortably.
81 want you to go and see her, and
oh, you know best then what to do.
! Don't you think-I don't know, but
! perhaps if you were to take her out
| for walk or something.-Oh, good
/ bye, Mrs. Fellowes, and thanks,
, thanks, most awfully!'
Mrs. Fellowes watched him swing
along down the drive, then pull up
with a jerk to speak to her husband
who was coming up, then swing off
again out Of sight.
"Poor old Dacre! But why didn't
he kiss her, the fool? | suppose he
wasn't game"
! She put some fresh tea into the pot
! and set her kettle on the little spirit
lamp to boil up.
sHas Dacre been making you a
declaration of unlawful love?" said the
rector when he came in. "He had
precisely that air.
"Worse than that a thousand times.
His mother looked like crying, and
was on the point of breaking out into
sudden and condign maternal affection.
Dacre fled incontinently. He is going
to make a precipitate retreat to his
regiment, and he came to plant me in
the breach. The longer one lives, the
less one thinks of the courage of your
sex"
want of experience makes towards
of us. You couldn't expect the fellow
to face the unknownv'
''That's is, you are all tarred with
the same brush, you must have brutal
sight to steady your nerves. Now,
We
"You! You, my love, have intuition.
! Besides here is a quotation that might
apply, fools rush in"
+ do drink your tea, and don't try
to be funny. l feel awful"
| 81 feel rather off myself, l have just
been at the Park
/ ooh, oh! What were they at?''
"Waring was lost in some new spec
ulation, his wife was lost in a bad
, dream. I suppose this late awakening
of her nature is good for her, but it
seems cruel 1t hurts one to see her
! suffer in that still, patient way Of
! hers, ard it will play the deuce with
! Warnings way If life if it goes on. 1t
wasn't nature, of course, but that
absolute oneness Of their life was a
beautiful thing to watch. and quite
unique. I suppose I ought to be glad
that it has received this check, but
I I'm not
''Then you ought to be ashamed Of
yourself for wanting to perpetuate
such life-have you forgotten Gwen
! face?"
"Shall I ever forget it. Ruth? But
anything absolutely unusual in a sober
! married coupe, and in a Midland par
ish on clay soil. the carnal mind will
cling to like any burr. Let us put the
the moralities aside for a moment and
consider the subject with the pagan
mind. What would outside life be to
you Or to me in these SNUG levels
except for that delicious pair of
maniacs? We both know tow soggy
undiluted duty grows. how ones feet
stick and stumble in it, faithfully as
one tries to keep ones eyes on the
Everlasting hills how dreary and
! hopeless work often seems in scat
terel districts. with neither abject
| poverty nor active crime to fight
! against, to raise and keep alive in one
the inspiring battle greed. But to be
obliged to face a level life daily; to
spend ones soul in trying to raise
sodden dough; to galvanize half-dead
things, heavy, dull, sul1en hearts,
neither hot nor cold desiring Deither
good nor evil, knowing neither tears
nor laughter, but slogging on to the
grave in dreadful patience! And, in
spite of exceptions, this is the life of
! dozens Of country parsons, only we
hold our tongues about it, or else we
hunt and fatten ourselves, Or we have
L.