Morris tribune., 1896-02-19

mysterious por-
tails during the day. All sorts and condi'
tons of men, from the depraved pick
pocket to the cultured millionaire; al
varieties of the daughters of Eve, from
the poor vulgar trull to the refined and
lovely queen of society. Here meet
youth and age, virtue and vice, industry
and idleness, wise and foolish, good and
evil Strange events are there brought
to light; life histories, fantastic, tragic,
comic, pathetic, romantic, Grimes start
ling or sordid; human passions are there
unfolded of every species-love, hate, re-
venge, avarice, self abnegation, ambition
and despair, which is the death of all
passion, good or bad. And what gal
lery of faces follow one another, in end
less succession, across the threshold
beautiful, hideous, sorrowful, joyful, con-
tented, wretched, cultivated, degraded,
spiritual, bestial. And all who come have
some story to tell, some accusation to
bring, some defense to oppose, some end
to gain. Having said their say they dis
perse again-some to liberty, some to
y
some to prisons, some to palaces. All the
contrasts of human existence, all its
lights and shadows, appear in the inspec-
tors room, and disappear again, while
you look on in your cap of invisibility.
And there, at his desk, sits the in
spector. examining, weighing, deciding,
investigating, advising, reproving, en-
couraging; cheerful or grave, as the case
may be, even tempered, firm, suave,
stern, penetrating. impenetrable; the de-
pository of all secrets, the revealer of
none; the man who is never hurried, yet
never behindhand; never idle, yet never
weary; always patient, and always
prompt. No position under the munich
pal government requires more tact than
his, more energy, more courage, more
experience. He must be plant, yet i'm
movable; subtle, yet straightforward
keen, yet blunt, He must know all the
frailties of human nature, and yet be not
too cynical to comprehend its goodness;
he must be an advocate, and at the same
time judge. In short, he must be a
chief of New York detectives; and, what
ever else his Office may be, it is certainly
no sinecure.
Of the countless dramas and episodes
that come to his knowledge, many can
not be told again; and many, if told,
would not be credited, SO different from
the strangeness of fiction is the strange
ness of real life. On the other hand, not
a few Of these tales can be repeated with
out indiscretion, and, in all substantial
respects, precisely as they actually came
to pass. Such narratives have one adj
agination. that they are record of facts,
not fancies, and carry the authority and
impressiveness of fact. But they also
labor under disadvantage which, per-
haps, more than balances the gain of
reality; for facts are stubborn, and ac-
commodate themselves but awkwardly
to the rules Of artistic construction and
symmetry. Like rocks in New Eng
land farm, they are continually cropping
up where they are least wanted. And
yet it will sometimes happen that nature
so nearly accommodates herself to art
that the story assumes tolerable grace
and proportion; and such one is con-
tanned in the. pages that follow. But,
although the sequence and character of
the events has been adhered to, the names
of the persons are changed; for the affair
took place but short while since, and
nearly all the actors in it are still alive,
and several of them moving in the best
society in New York.
Mr.. Bartemus Nolen was a representa-
tive of good New York family, and
was possessed Of comfortable means; by
profession he was lawyer. He was a
member of the Episcopalian church, and
he married, at the outset of his career, a
lady of the same persuasion, woman
of excellent education and gentle and
benevolent disposition. The first twenty
years of their married life passed hap
PLY and prosperously; two sons were
born to them, and a few years later
daughter, Pauline. Mr. NoIen achieved
honor and eminence in his profession;
the boys did well in school and after
ward at college, and the daughter gave
promise of singular intelligence and
beauty-a promise which was afterward
fulfilled
But at length the current of luck took
a turn, and began to set against the
honest lawyer. He was affected with a
cataract in one of his eyes. which had
not proceeded far when the other also
showed signs of being affected; this mis-
fortune was a serious drawback to his
practice, and finally compelled him to
abandon it almost entirely. Of course,
practice meant money, and the cessation
from it dinlinution of income. There
was still enough left, however, to live
upon with comfort, if not Iuxuriously;
but unfortunately Mr.. Nolen, being de-
prived of his customary mental employ
ment, took to thinking of other things: