The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1895-11-21
A DUOLOGUE.

This is not problem story"
Neither does it discuss the advantages
or disadvantages of having new wo
men" in our midst.
It is true tale.
And it concerns a good man and q
bad woman.
They would never have met if the
London county council had come into
existence few years earlier than it did,
because he saw her at the Empire. The
exact date was Aug. %, and it was a
very hot night.
The curtain had fallen on the last
scene of the ballet. The man rose from
his seat and walked across the prom
enade toward the bar.
He passed several women, but he did
not pass her. He had no intention of
stopping, still less of speaking
Yet, when he saw her, he stopped,
and when she stopped he spoke.
, / do not remember what he said.
They sat down together at little
table. A waiter brought them a cup Of
black coffee and whisky and soda.
He drank the coffee.
They talked, but again I cannot re-
member what they said.
A man on the stage sang a comic
song. A woman on the promenade faint
ed and was carried away.
Then she said, "Well, are you COM
ing?''
NO." he replied. 81 don't know
why I stopped or why I spoke to you.
l am not 'one of the crowd here. I am
not performer in the Comedy Of
Life ] am only an onlooker.'' -
She stared at him. "Then Why
ST have told you I do not know.
Perhaps / thought you looked out Of
place-here. F."
Z. ST have been here every evening for
10 months. I ought not to look out of
place. -
'Why did you Gomez"
fDo you expect me to answer that
question in this building, surrounded
by these people?'
''I am sorry. OF course not. 1t would
resemble performance by The Inde-
pendent Theater society," / suppose?"
81 had better 60, then, if you do
not
mo; stay and talk. Are you happy?"
Hardly"
''Are you miserable?''
ST am not sure
"Did you ever love anything?"
eyes"
"What?''
''Life-the trees and fields; the wild
moorlands; the sea; the birds that
sing in the hedgerows; the cattle in
the fields; the horses and dogs at the
farms. Yes, loved life. loved to feel
the wind blowing in my face; loved
to smell the scent of the heather; loved
to hear the song Of the mountain
streams. Ha. hal I'm almost poeticl
PM
$50 on
''That is all. Did you ever love any.
thing?'
eyes"
"Who?"
'tNo one-I mean only dog"
''Ohl'
"But he is dead"
"Of course''
"Why of course?' "
because you loved him."
The man lit cigarette. ''Do you be-
lieve in heaven?'
mo; if 1 did, I should have been
dead long ago. I am afraid to die be-
cause don't know what comes after
death. SO long for-for peace-foI
something else-sometbing beautiful
something to love. Do not laugh"
'You are not bad woman"
eyes, am."
''Then you ought not to have been
one"
''True. That is the cruel part of it. I"
They watched the men and women
promenading before them. Then the
woman said, 1T is a strange world. "
The man did not answer. He was
thinking. She continued: "You are
g strange person. Where do you liver
What do you do? How do you amuse
yourself?''
"Oh, I live alone. quite alone, now
my dog is dead. Iwatoh people. listen
to what they say. and-I think
"What do you think?'
ST think that when he-whoever 'he'
is-created men and women he ought to
have made them altogether gods or al
together animals No one in the world
is happy, because no one is ever certain
whether he-or she-should live for the
real or for the ideal And therefore
men decided to seek for both, to be
sometimes good and sometimes bad, to
play at being gods once week and
beasts twice week-in fact, to live for
the real 61a days out Of the 2. And
some of us, you know, cannot, as the say
ing goes. do things by halves. We
must be wholly one thing or the other