The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-25
able friend-but he was a host in him

able friend-but he was a host in him
self
James Mavis was the recently-settled
minister of the Sheraton Orthodox
church. He was likewise my mothers
cousin, and had hoped to marry her
He lived in the parsonage with his
mother, dear, tender old soul, to
whom l owe the few indulgencies Of
my childhood. The news Of her niece's
misfortune no sooner became public
property than Aunt Caroline hastenei
to her. asserting that she came as her
sons ambassadors, to offer the protec-
ton and shelter Of his home to her
for so long a time as she should feel
disposed to accept them.
The proposition afforded Hobsor's
choice to the deSolate woman. F'ain
was she in her desperate strait to COM
ply with so happy suggestion; and
so 1t was that I, danseuse, Coincidence,
queen of opera-bouffe, came to be
born beneath the roof Of that direst
of all respecta abilities an Orthodox par
sOnage.
There I existed, I grew up. did
not live; I never lived until I got away
from those stunning, Gripping, paralys-
ing principles and traditions. No one
in that house, indeed, no one in the
whole village, understood me. There
was too much of the alien about me
lent but circumscribed souls. My
moods, impulses, instincts, astonished,
Disguised, and shocked them. They
would have had me follow the village
pattern; become a Stolid maiden Of
cut-and-dried ideas and inclinatiOns;
bound my aspirations by the most
rustic limitations, and tread with list
less, dragging feet the same pathway
Of deadly mUnOtOny their mothers had
trod. They reckoned without the for
eign quicksilver in my veins.
My mothers cousin was man pos
sessed Of abnormal virtue and no inl-
agination. However safe and excellent
q condition this for the person enjoy
ing it, Heaven help those of more vivid
temperament whom fate brings within
it's shadow! God help those Of san-
guine spirit who fall victims to its in
fuence! The atmosphere of the par
sOnage was as chaste as SnOW-and as
cold But for the occasional Out-crOp-
pings Of Aunt Caroline'S more genial
nature, even my warm southern VI
vacity must have been chilled and froz-
en- in it's very infancy. But these man.
ifestations for a ltvelier humor in the
mother were never greatly encouraged
by the son, and therefore they were
kept quite generally duly repressed,
much to my sorrow and regret, who
would have welcomed a constant eX-
hibition Of gaiety.
James Mavis set no chamber of his
mind free to the intrusion of humOr
He regarded life not only seriously,
but austerely; wholly as an opportuni-
ty. mercifully vouchsafed US, for the
saving of our souls. Any moment not
devoted to that purpose was precious
interval gone to waste. The act OF
salvation was constantly before his
eyes, draped, not in the beautiful man
tie of charity and Divine clemency
but in the forbidding habit of punish.
ment and rigor. Laughter was the
handmaiden of levity, levity that of
sin, and sin was corruption; so he
argued, and, so arguing, discouraged
all cause for merriment. But humor
is a spring, and will not wholly be re.
pressed, and those moments when 1t
dubbed to the surface of Aunt Caro-
lines spirit and found vent were the
festas of my early childhood.
The dear old soul never made the
most trifiing jest without keeping ar
anxious eye to windward. Not that
squat or tempest ever disturbed the
cold severity Of her sons face, which
had but a single expression for all the
varied events Of life-a look of stead
fast and impeccable virtue not self
complacent nor self-righteous, but self