Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-08-06

] anu sCI COAlSAI, nave AOuuu
something new"' Massinger smiled Gym
! icaIIy
The idea is nigh as old as the
! ground we tread. Read your classics.
/ Marlborough. There were philosophers
/ in those days who dared to leave a
world that disguised them-and plenty
of them. 1t is only today when art
and philosophy have given place to sor-
4 didness and commerce that men cling
on to the frail thread of life like a set
/ OF drowning vermin. BAH
/ He threw his cigar away with e ges-
/ ture of contempt, and suddenly laid
his hand upon the others shoulders.
/ Come" he said; the night is young
and we are neither, take it, very
much in the humor for the society of
civilized beings. Let US take a look
at the seamy side-dig under the sur
face little and see what an accident of
4 birth the possession of a few gold
pieces, divides us from. l am in the
mind to play showman, Come with
me and I will show you Londcn."
Anywhere! Anywhere away from
the faces of the men l know and who
know me, answered Lord Marlborough.
/ bitterly. I'm in your hand, Massin-
ger; don't leave me just yet
A slight driZziing rain was covering
the pavement and blurring the gas
! lamps. Massinger stopped and looked
around. There was a hanson following
them close behind, the driver attracted
/ by the sight Of the two gentlemen in
evening clothes and without an UNI
brella. They ste 1ped it and got in
MassingeT stayed behind for moment
to give his instructions to the driver.
Where are we going to-" Lord Har-
borough asked as the apron fell to and
they drove off smartly.
Never mind, was the grim answer.
IF | told you you would be none the
wiser 1t is not geography we are in
terested in tonight. I am going TO
show you parable.
To Lord Marlborough that lone. drive
seemed in after years more like a
vague, shadOwy nightmare than an ex-
cursIOn really planned and undertaken.
so long as their nanSOm formed one Of
the countless stream Of vehicles pass
ing over the broad bosom of WelI-tC-do
London his companion leaned back in
his corner andsspoke not a word. But
by and by they penetrated into a diff
ferent region. The roar of PiccadiIly
and Regent streets lay far behind. The
streets had become narrow and the
paving worse. There were still Deo
pie passing and repassing, but people
OF different class, people in a different
style of clothing, with curiously altered
bearing. Pleasure-seekers a good many
OF them, for the hour was late, but
pleasure-seekers with white faces and
hurrying footsteps. Massinger leaned
forward and laughed softly.
Behold, Lord Marlborough he ex-
claimed, waving his hand out of the
cab and with his deep-set eyes intentIy
fixed upon the others face; behold the
Utopia of the city club and drudge, the
paradise OF middle-class, suburban
London. See the new streets and the
miles of new houses-faugh! How
they smell Of mortar and the watering
can. This is the refuge of the man
VINO wears black cOat-the man who
has come down in the world. 1t is to
breathe this air and mix with Ills So
clety that he hugs his responsibility.
Dimes at vegetarian restaurant for six
pence and walks backward and forward
to the city. There goes the type. See
how his coat shines, how wan and pale
are his cheeks, They have kept him
late at the office, and he is hurrying
home. See, then, it is that dingy lit
tie house with the broken gate No
lights, you see, no fire with Goals a
% shillings ton; perhaps a little
Dutch cheese and a crust of dry bread
for supper. If he has a wife, depend
upon it she is as thin and worn as he
is, and lacking every feminine grace.
Want will crush them one by one as
surely as day follows day. She prob
ably has a tongue and for certain a
temper. She has had a great many
more children than she had any right
to, and the last shred of grace and the
last vestige of good looks have gone
with the last baby. The gentility that
was in her dies out like an unfed fire
She becomes a sloven and a scold, and
her children, destroyed by the curse of
cheap education, simply multiply the
breed. See, there is another. The
pitiful scraping, the toll by day and
his miserable bare home at night have
driven him to the public house Now
he has to sneak in home and bear the
storm as well as he may! Poor devil!
Poor devils, all of themr'
Amen" echoed Lord Marlborough,
with a shudder How on earth did
you get to know all about those people
and their lives?"
Massinger laughed cynically.
In my small way; | am an inter-
ested observec of mon and their lives"
he said Il think that | have a sense
of the dramatic! Man struggling
against fate fascinates me! Some day
l think l shall write novel. If l do,
promise you that it will not be popu-
lar
Lord Marlborough shrugged his
shoulders.
You are a rank pessimist," he de-
clared.
All men with a single grain of phil
Osophy are pessimists. The more one
knows of man and appreciates his cow
ardly fear Of death, the deeper grows
ones scorn of him. Look at this
wilderness; think of the thousands and
thousands Of heart-broken men cling
! i,-Cr 70 +a