Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-10-17
BEN BOLTS BAD CHARACTER.
As Indicated by the First Stanza of
Trilby'S Chef-D'Oeuvre.

"n"ts Den boll 10 you, or you 10
Ben Bolt?''
Il think" said the discontented man.
that the first stanza, which is all of
the song that l have ever heard. is
false and commonplace in sentiment.
and l don't like to see the whole pub
lie so excited over such an unpleasant
person TO get along With as this Sweet
Alice. Why, only think, She wept
with delight when you gave her a
SMILE that is, when Ben Bolt gave her
a smile, and trembled with fear at
your frown,' that is, Ben Bolts frowm.
Now, what is a man TO do with a girl
like that? Evidently he must school
himself TO keep his face perfectly ex-
preSSionletSS, or he will have her either
weeping OF trembling all the time.
Then, again, L don't like to see a sen
Sible Cir throw herself away on a
brutal sailor, who will seldom be at
home TO look after her, and will i'll
treat her when he is, while all the
time there are so many good, kind and
generous men who are willing to stay
on shore and look after their families"
Well said the complacent man,
that ought not to disturb you i'll this
case, for You don't seem to give Alice
credit for being a sensible girl
No, L don't, but that wouldn't make
any difference; she would do just the
same if she were sensible as senSlb BILE,
that is, as girls ever are. They're all
alike in that respect. They won't
look at the decent fellows, and then
they take up with these beast of sail
ors, who beat them and then desert
them
but aren't you going a little TOO
fast even now? If you have never
heard amy more than the tiltSt stanza
of the song, how do you know Ben
Bolt was a sailor at all?''
How do l know he was a sailor!
Why because his name was Ben. Isn't
, a man named Ben in a song always
a sailor, and isn't nearly every sailor
in a song named Ben! The last name
helps it out, too. l can't tell just why,
but you can't hear the name Ben Bot
without thinking of sailor. Ii hiis
name had been Benjamin Bolt he
might have been bank president or
a car-driver or anything else, but not
with such a name as Ben Bolt"
Very we'll, even granting that he
was a sailor, he need not necessarily
have been brutal"
He need not, of course, but he was.
NV o.
fear at his froWn? We know, o.
course, that she was a morbidly sen
sitiye person, anyway, ana 80 she
might be expected at Ben BOiCs
frown to tremble with anxiety or with
sympathy or with sorrow, but no wOm-
an trembles with fear at the frown
of a man whom she knows well, I'M
less her experience has taught her
that his frown is a thing to be feared.
On the other hand, it is clear that he
seldom gave her a smile, else she
would not have Wept with delight
when he did. Even in Alice's morbid
condition, a woman does not actually
weep with delight at pleasure which
she experiences constantly and regu-
LARRY. The passage is perfectly easy
to interpret, and it shows clearly that
AIS a general thing Sweet Alice was
il!-treated by Ben Bolt.
Again, | object to the statement
that Alice's hair was so brown About
how brown does the supposed speaker
or singer wish us to believe that it
was? Is not hair brown when it is
brown, and is not that the end Of it!
The fact is, believe, that Alice's hair
was so brown simply because she
trembled at Ben Bolts frOWn. If she
had trembled at his wink her hair
would have had to be so pink. And
while we are talking about things
that were 50 much whatever color
they were, there is that slab of the
granite so gray which was fitted in
the old church-yard, obscure and
alone for Alice to lie under. Now
granite is not any grayer than most
other stones, and besides did you ever
see slab of granite in an old coun-
try church-yard Granite is a very
hard stone and difficult to work. 1t
might be used in a region where it
abounds, but slate has always been
preferred in all the old church-yards
that | have ever Seen. / suspect Ben
Bolts friends really did not know the
difference between granite and slate.
And then, what force is there in his
telling Ben Bolt that she was buried
obscure and aloneT Does he wish
to imply that the neighbors were in
a conspiracy to wrong and Cypress
her even after she was dead? In an /
ordinary country church-yard, her
granite slab, instead Of being obscure,
would be one of the sights Of the |
town, just because it was granite" |
You have made a mistake" said |
the complacent man, Sin never read |!
ing the song through. The last stanza ,
is far the best. Listen to it:
There is change in the things l loved, ,
Ben Bolt,
They have changed from the old to !
the new;
But I feel in the core of my spirit the
truth,
There never was change in you.
Twelve months twenty have passed,
Ben Bolt,
Since first we We're friends, yet l hail
Thy presence a blessing, thy friend
ship truth
Ben Bolt, of the salt sea gale.