The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-09-12
CURSE DE HUMOR
Bn tAa

70 whom ne may even dare to exp ess
his mind without offense. Many of his
profession will converse only on one
condition-that they state what they
believe 10 be true, and that the matter
De then considered as closed; and IL
upon this papal bull any mere layman
ventures to dissent, the good men,
and often, as it appears, in proportion
% their goodness-wlH arch their backs
and fun very u~npleasantly. One is
careful after a few scratches to avoid
every subject on which there can be
two opinions, and n makes every al
lowance for this supersensitiveness. If
4 plant be reared under glass, it takes
I'll with q brisk. healthy northwester;
and Il a man lives constantly in a circle
Of admiring Gas well as charming)
young ladies, or with old ladies Of the
male sex in the shape Of ecclesiastical
lnymen, he would be more than human
Il he were not offended by the indie
pendence of men who are accustomed
to think for themselves and will even
say what they think. My friend had
the singular advantage, from my out
side standpoint, of not having been iso-
lated among people of the religious pro
fession from his youth, and of having
kept himself afterwards in touch with
the world. He had therefore no shock
ing point in the matter of opinion, and
would give a candid hearing to my
heresy one might ventilate. 1t struck
me that he did not lose by this tolera-
tion and sympathy, for there arc at
Nonok ~s-- @,,Aes1nr- esw,, v11 - - II, - H.
Areligious civilization. who worship at
vt. ORIGINS. Fletcher delighted TO de-
Ne himself as an evangelical high
lad churchman, which many pro-
raced Every unsatisfactory'-sug-
Ing a vagrant who Travelled any
+hinSo long as he found some good
wb@ksnd who had no legal address
nSr Asummons could be served upon
him. HA threw himself into each sub
1ect he tfeated with such unguarded
enthusiasmAth THAT / trembled in my dis
tant seat, and was quite prepared to
hear that conventional people called
him names, tiAb he had acquired almost
the complete stock of religious abuse.
One day he waxed eloquent on foreign
missions, and wentsout of his way to
pay q tribute to Xavier. A year after
wards it was still hinted that the rec
tor Of ST. ORIGINS wasAa Jesuit. He
must needs hold up the Salvation Army
TO admiration for their immense sac
rihces, and was freely spoken of as a
ranter for weeks at certain dinner
tables. When he declared that the Uni
tartan faith had produced some af the
finest ethical types in England, q lady
called next day-who had long suspect
ed the fact, and only wished to have it
confirmed from his own lips-and asked
the rector whether he was indeed n
6ocinians
"No, madam" he replied; although
you shrewdly suspect that 1 am not
an Anglican, it happens that 1 have
never quite seen my way to become a
Socinian. I am a Swedenborgian, with
leanings to Northumberland"
This was a very foolish speech in
deed. as 1 told Fletcher, and brought
its just punishment. One of that ex-
eellent woman's peculiarities was a
hopeless incapacity Of giving an ac-
curate account of anything she had
either seen or heard, and the evening
Of the same day she told Inc, between
the soup and the fish, that the truth
had come out at last about the rector
Of St. ORIGINS.
II put it to him plainly. and he adj
united that he was an atheist, but I
do not remember which denomination p
and he has hardly scraped off that label
to this day.
When he dropped in last evening and
flung himself into his favorite chair,
anticipated some new canard.
"Are you really an IrvingiteT' he
gan.
'No, no, it's nothing OF that kind Just
now. I am the victim of a malignant
spirit which is going to ruin me" and
then he denounced humor up hill and
down dale, declaring it to be an unnlit-
igated curse, and affirming that he
would ~cheerfully barter any share he
had for the ~irrelevancy of that good
woman
@H is well enough for you to laugh,
but il you were in my shoes you would
take another view. Twice this week
have I disgraced myself before COM
panies Of religious respectables, and 1
do not see how / can recover the scandal.
Last Monday, as begged for details,
was so foolish as to attend a drawing
room in aid Of the Door-to-Door Vista
tion society. and found myself with so
Of the most solemn-looking people eve
gathered under one roof.
lyon are a Celt, so Of course you will
not despise the idea of presentiments.
I was haunted with a sense of calamity
all day, and it deepened in the room.
When the secretary, a young man with
an INDISPENSABLE air Of dissatisfaction,
began to read extracts from the visitors
letters. I ought to have risen and left.
# ! had only had the courage to walk
out before that report = y n" And
Fletcher took q turn Of regret on the
h~earth-rug.
What was it? Oh. nothing rernarka-
biei you can hear such things every day,
but it found Ine: Calleda at 191 Jemima
street. Mother and boy aged six in
house. Boy had nothing on except a
few small boilss Mother said she was