Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1895-01-10
q yellow Qster.
BY 10TH.

guard she walked with who levanted
with a cook, so it's censoriOus to
grudge her a drop of comfort. But to
think of those pearly tints grown
frowsyr' he murmured,' to sell that
coloring for a greasy mess Of pottage!
The folly of man is inscrutable!-
Strange, you want desert air, your
skin has lost toner
Season, my good boy, what can you
expect?''
II wonder if it's all season. thought
the fellow, and an unaccountable cold
ness ran down his spine.
81 wonder if he's made a mistake
toor'
How are you getting on. as to
work."
81 have to speak of something else
myself, l prefer fresh air for twill
you stroll round"
81 should like to see the picture
first" said Strange One Of his Old
bushes mounted to Brydon's cheeks.
''Wait till afterward, if you don't
mind,' he said.
'Took at the light from that gin
palace on the red head of that child!''
he went on, as they turned the corner,
cts funny what glorious effects one
gets from the filthiest combinations!
There is no light more bewildering
and lovely than the phosphoric blue
flicker from a graveyard.
'"rhat effect now, those reeking gin
lights on that beastly dirty head, and
the corpse lights are like a lot of writ
ers' work, no one can pass at by, 1t
has a power to grasp and hold you,
that cleaner things don't have, and
such power means genius, don't you
think? Power strong enough, | mean,
to stocp a fellows mird and nose low
enough to batten on corruption? If
the corruption wasn't made worth eX-
amining, one would only pass on. with
kick at the seething mass. Instead
of that, enc looks and splits, and looks
and splits again, but keeps looking and
finally settles down to enjoy ones self
and then a fellow gets enervated and
unnamed before he knows what he
is about. He sees the pitiless truth
of things, of course, but he loses very
thing else-the result is very limiting
when one thinks of it Rattening Oh
certain books" went on Brydon after
pause" was the beginning of it. I
think. then rottenness smells sweet
after q time, and fellow gets curious
and wants to exploit on his own ac-
count I did all sorts of things first,
tried trees, sun, shade, moonlight;
1 walked blisters on my feet, I worked
in the sweat of my brow, but nothing
would still the brutal throbbing, and
I went mad one day in that maddening
city. Art wasn't worth a straw to
save me- I made a beast of myself,
the cheap sort of beast that 1 had
funds for, and-here is the resultr'
"Well, you're a sorry object, it must
be coEfessed!''
but that's not the worst either
do you know | have altogether lost the
way to work; | can do nothing. Now
some fellows can go down in the gut
ter one day and mount up amongst
the gods the next without turning a
hair: it beats me-"
Its a coed deal a question of ma
tionality.'' said Strange, "EngliShmen
as rule can't do complete work while
they're mud-larking; French fellows
often can: just as no decent bourgeois
John Bull has it in him to write tons
of magnificent filth on sort of princi-
pie. The fact is. no fellow of your
temperament has any business to wal
low in modern French realism, you
haven't tone enough. | felt certain
this would happen. but you had to
take your chance with your hetters.
and no doubt the experience hasn't
been all loss. I am sorry for you ali
the same; you'll find your repentance
a darned sight bitterer than the de-
lirium was sweet. That is my expert
ence anyway, and it will go harder
with you; your health, you see, can't
stand it."
"It can't, which makes me the bigger
fool. To think of my work being
knocked in the head, and to so little
purpose! Especially" he added naive
ly, "when one has to do that sort Of
thing on the cheap"
"Fellows like you feel that sort Of
thing always, even if they have a
pocket full of coin. You see, you are
too fastidious and sensitive to enjoy
vice properly; and yet the queer thing
is, it debases you sooner than it does
men of coarser make, unless it kills
you right off the reel, as it mostly does
Stronger men have things to keep
them up. you fellows haven't; they get
brutalized if you like, but it is the
EQUALIZATION of men, not of women"
Here Brydon WINGED, possibly
Strange saw him-he took notice, how
ever, but went on cody:
"They don't get rotten-soft, and cor
rupt. Another thing that's against
you; your fathers a parson, and his
father before him, and your mother
IS a parsons daughter"
"Yes-what ON earth has that to do
with it?''
"A lot With inherited conscience
and spiritual feelings, and a sneaking
regard for hell fire in every drop of
your blood, things We're sure to be
made pretty hot for you in next to
no time. Small wonder. your work
went to the devil.'
II suppose it's all the brutal truth, -
said Brydon.
did you expect this?" he asked with
sudden shyness. Are you disap-
pointed?"
Il am too old to be disappointed in