The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-02-28
miscellaneous.
AN OLD YOUNG MAN.

nv ~ II Il ~ u ~ ~ = ~ .
When l was telling you of the joke that
the worm played off on the senior subal-
tern, | promised Il somewhat similar tale,
but with all the jest left out. This is that
tale:
Dicky HIATT was kidnapped in his early,
early youth, neither by landlady's daugh-
ter, housemaid, barmaid nor cook, but by
girl SO nearly of his own caste that only
a woman could have said she was just the
least little bit in the world below it.
This happened month before he came
out TO India and five days after his one
and twentieth birthday. The girl was 10
six years older than Dicky, in the things
of this world, that is to say, and, for she
time, twice as foolish as he.
Excepting always falling off horse,
there is nothing more fatally easy than
marriage before the registrar. The ccrC-
mony costs less than 80 shillingS and is
remarkably like walking into a pawnshcp.
After the declarations of residence have
beon put in, four minutes will cover the
rest of the proceedings-fees, attCstation
aud all. Then the registrar slides tha
blotting pad over the names and says
grimly, with his pen between his teeth,
NOW NOll rs HAL anu WIG, anu IIl6 CUu-
pie walk out into the street, feeling as if
something were horribly illegal some
where.
But that ceremony holds and can drag
o man to his undoing just as thoroughly
Us the long as ye both shall live curse
from the altar rails with the bridesmaids
gig.ling behind and "Tho Voice That
Broathed Der Eden" lifting the roof off.
In, : ,iu ninlr1- lot l-ilpnnaI
and no considered it vastly fine, for he had
received an appointment in India which
carried magnificent salary from the
home point OF view. The marriage was
TO be kept secret FOR year. Then Mrs.
Dicky HIATT was to como out, and the rest
of life was TO be Il glorious golden mist
That was how they slictched it under tho
Addison Road station lamps, and after ono
short month came Gravesond, ard Dicky
steaming out To his new life, and the girl
crying in 30 shillin@s Il week bed and
living room in y back street off Montpelier
square, near the KnisItsbridge barrack.
But the country that Dicky came to was
a hard land, where ''meu" of 81 were
reckoncd very small boys, indeed, and life
was expensive. The salary that doomed sa
large 5000 miles away did not go far
particularly when Dicky divided il hy two
and remittcd more than the fair half ~
one sixth TO Montpelier square. Onv
hundred and thirty five rupees out of $50
is not much to live on, but it Was absurd
to suppose that Mrs. HAITI could exist for
ever ON the go held back by Dicky from
his outfit allowance. Dicky saw this and
Temittcd at once, always remembering
that 700 rupees were to be paid II months
later for u first class passage out for "a lady.
When You add to these triliing details the
natural instincts of !! boy beginning II
new lifo in a new country and longing to
go about and enjoy himself and the neces-
sity for graphing with strange work
which, properly speaking, should take up
boys undivided attcntion-you will see
that Dicky started handicapped. He saw
it himself for breath or two, but he did
not guess the full beauty of his future.
As the hot weather began the shacllles
settled on him and ate into his flesh.
First would come lcttcrs-big, crossed,
seven sheet lettcrs-from his wife, telling
him how she longed to see him, and what
a heaven upon earth would be their prop
erty when they mot. Then some boy of
the chummcry wherein Dicky lodged
would pound on the door of his bare little
room and tell him to come out to look at
a pony-the very thing to suit him.
Dicky could not afford ponies. He had to
explain this. Dicky could not afford
living in the chummcry, modest as it WIS.
He had to explain this before he moved to
d single room next the office where he
worked all dag. He kept house on IL
green oilcloth table cover, one chair, one
churpOy, one photograph, one t0UthgluSS,
very strong and thick; IA rupee eight
anna filter, and messing by contract at 81
rupees month, which last item was OK
tortion. He had no punkah, for punkah
costs ID rupees "a month, but he slept on
the roof of the Office, with all his wife's
letters under his pillow. Now and again
he was asked out to dinner, where he got
both a punkah and an iced drink. But
this was seldom, for people objected to
recognizing IA boy who had evidently the
instincts of Il Scotch tallow chandler, and
who lived in such 4 nasty fashion. Dicky
could not subscribe to any amusement, so
he found no amusement except the pleas
ure of turning over his handbook and
reading what it said about ''loans on ap-
proved security" That cost nothing. He
remittod through Bombay bank, by the
way, and the station knew nothing of his
private affairs.
Every month he sent home all he could
pOsSlDIl SlJtiTt lOf HIS W lli anu lDT AiiOlHtE
reason which was expected to explain itself
shortly and would require moro money.
About this time Dicky was ovortaken
with the nervous, haunting fear that besetS
married men when they are out of sorts.
He had nc pension to look to. What if he
should die suddenly and leave his wife
unprovided for? The thought used to lay
hold of him in the still, hot nights on the
roof till the shaking of his heart made
him think that he was going to die then
and there of heart disease. Now this is il
frame of mind which no boy has right
to know 1t is strong mans trouble,
but, coming when it did, it nearly drove
poor punkahless. pcrspiring Dicky HAITI
mad. He could tell no one about it.
A certain amount of 'sCrrw'' is as nee
eSSary for IA man ms for d billiard ball, 1t
makes them both do wonderful things.
Dicky needed money badly, and he worked
for it like IL horse But naturally the men
who owned him knew that Il hoy can live
svry comfortably on certain income.
Paw in India is matter of age, not merit,
YOU sec. and if their particular boy wished
to work like two boys business forbid that
they Should stop him. But business for
bid that they should give him an increase
of pay at his present rtdiculousiy immA-
ture age So Dicky won certain rises Of
salary-ample for Il boy, not enough for
wife and child--cortainly TOO little for the
7OO~upue passage that he and Mrs HAITI
had discussed so lightly once upon time.
And with this he was forced to be content
Somehow all his money seemed to fade
away in home drafts and the crushing eX-
change. and the tone of the home letters