Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1897-07-27
CHAPTER l.

ulelHoIleS OIL DeduLy anu fragrance
nothing more.
He inherited early in life good I'M
Outstanding, fine estate, famous cellar
of Madeira, and the handsomest legs in
America. These, in combination, fur
nished himself and his friends with an
abundance of meat, drink and enter
tainment. He spent his money like a
prince, and, wherever he went, scat
tered broadcast both dollars and jests.
Need I add that his purse grew lighter
than his laughter?-that he died full
of years and honors-a pauper?
A brilliant man of the world, he never
attempted to make money, because, as
he often observed, the catchpenny cares
of merchant or banker wore away, by
constant attrition, the bloom of high
breeding-that exquisite veneer which
distinguishes from the common herd
the gentleman of lineage, leisure and
culture.
My mother-sweet soul! lean scarce
recall her face-was a Schermerhorn;
her full-length portrait (by the younger
West) hangs to-day in the gallery of
Barabbas Boulde. The curious will
please note that it is fanked on the left
by a remarkable picture of sapphire
and diamond necklace, q masterpiece
Of AIeissonier (the great Frenchman
has paid but scant attention to the
coarse, putty-colored features of Mar
tina Boulde, rightly considering that
the gems, not the woman, deserved i'm
mortality, and on the right by a Ma
donna of Andrea del Sarto. Between
these two prescntments of things
material and things spiritual stands my
dear mother, who settled with the mic
est adjustment in her own lovely per-
son the conflicting claims of body and
soul. My father has said thousand
times that she loved him tenderly to the
day of her death-I was barely ten
years old when this great misfortune
befell me-and he swore fondly that of
all the women he had met she alone
had enshrined herself in his heart as
the kindest, the truest and the purest
of her sex.
So much for my elders and betters.
Before my father died, he gave me
some advice. He had little else to be-
stow.
Hugo" said he Il was named after
him), what are your plans for the fu-
ture?"
1.-THE future?" I replied, vaguely;
upon my soul, I've been so occupied
with the PRESENT. had just been
rrr.o tod Vo1o %1,,k f,,{,
has not had my consideration
"Hugo," said my father, gravely,
"you are young and ardent; and to
such the choice of profession is no
ha'penny matter"
''Hhere is the law"
"You would make sorry lawyer"
II might go west"
''The farmer, Hugo, is the historical
fool. Go east, if you wish to travel;
the Pierian spring is not to be found in
Colorado or California. If you were
an Englishman, 1 should advise the
army or navy; but you are too old, and
our officers play but a paltry role. AS q
money-grubber you would have to sac
rifice on the altar of N[ammon your
youth, your breeding, your conscience
Il quote my father verbatim, neither
indorsing nor condemning his words
land that precious thing, your LEISURE
What am to do2"
Make haste slowly, my dear lad
The small sum you inherit under your
mothers will is sufficient to carry you
afoot, all over Europe. Your face
name and wits should prove passports
10 decent society. Leave this question
of a profession sub judice; but don't
idle, and, wherever you may be, set
apart so many hours each day to seri.
GUS study"
Conccding that my father was man
OF prejudice, submit that his advice
was sound as Newton pippin, and
came not amiss. I believe in the con.
servation of energy, and his words
chimed tremendously with my own
nebulous ambitions. Accordingly
some two months after his funeral ]
decided to set forth upon my travels
being reasonably certain that he knew
me better than I knew myself, and
doubling nothing of his affection and
solicitude for my welfare.
THE Lord help you'll" said my moth.
er's cousin, famous banker, who had
offered me stool in his counting.
house. "You are bigger fool than
your father"
"Did you ever tell my father to his
face that you considered him fool?
looked him tiercely in the eye, and
he stammered out: "N-n-no."
st thought not. I have his whip in
my possession, sir, and know how tc
use it,
In this Cambyses vein l cut adrift
from an influential kinsman who had
good-naturedly flung me tow-line. Ii
his wake might have steered my barl
to fortune, lolling at ease in the stern
sheets; but l was no parasite, and my
dear fathers good name was my most
precious possession.
For two years logged cheerily along
the high roads of life, avoiding as much
as possible the by-paths, the Was tene.
brosa, and following the finger Of
Fancy, surely the most complaisan1
courier in the world. The dame, how
ever, amused herself at my expense
upon several occasions. I ate haggis
in Scotland, and some blutwurst In Ber-
lin; but, thanks to her, 1 listened to
Tannhauser at Bayreuth, saw the moon
rise out of the Adriatic at Venice, float
ed down the Danube from Vienna to Blu
charest-an enchanting voyage-trav-
eled across Norway in cariole, and
skated through Holland. Finally set
tied down in London to 1s months hard
work as a journalist.
But the tramp fever was in my veins
and the daughters of Themis had a. tan.