Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-10-23
Continued From Last Saturday.
CHAPTER III.
Tine Music OF the World.

Tine Music of the World.
If a philosopher learned in the human
mind as Flamsteed in the courses of the
stars of the great Newton in the laws of
external nature were to take one possessed
by strong passion of love. bitter
grief, what ovcrpowCring emotion you
will, and Were to consider impartially and
with cold precision what Share of his time
in reality occupied by the thing which.
as We are in the habit of saying. filled his
thoughts or swayed his life or mastered his
intellect. the world might well smile. and
to my thinking had better smile than Weep.
at ghc issue of the investiga ton. When the
first brief shock was gone. how few out of
the solid twenty-four would be the hours
claimed by the dsspot. however much the
poets might call him insatiacle. There is
sleeping. and meat and drink. the putting
on and off of raime Mt ami the buying of it, III
a man be Of sound body there is his sport.
If he be sane. there are the interests of this
life and provision for the next. And If he
be youn5 there is natures Own joy in lIv-
ing that with patient, scornful smile sets
asils his protest that III is vowed TO mis-
cry and makes him. willy-nilly, laugh and
sing. So that if he does not drown himself
in week and thereby balk the inquiry, 1t
is odds that he Will compose himself IN a
month and by the end of 2 year VIII carry
no nj Ore marks OF MS misfortune IMAM VI
he he a man of sound nearD an added So
briefly and tenderness of spirit. Yet all this
does not injure the thing from returning,
on occasions given
In my own case-and if my story be fol-
lowed TO its close. l am persuaded that
shall nos be held 10 have been one who
took thu disease of love more lightly than
my fellOws-thiS process of convalescence,
most salutary. yet in a sense Illuminating,
vas aided by train of circumstances. in
which my mother saw the favor OF heaven
to our family and the vicar the working OIL
Betty Nasroths prophecy. Al uncle OF my
mother had some forty years before estab-
lished mandatory Of wool at Norwich,
and having kept always before his eyes the
truth that men must he clothed hoWsoeVer
they may think of matters of church and
state. and that it is d clothWeaVerS bus
mess to clothe them and not to think for
them. had lived quiet life through all the
disturbances. and had proSpered greatly IN
his trade For marriage. either time or IN
cIination had failed him. and, being now an
old man. he felt a favorable disposition
toward me. and declared the intention or
making me heir to considerable portion OF
his fortune, provided that showed myself
worthy Of such kindness. The proof ne
asked was not beyond reason. though L
found cause for great lamentdtlon In IL Tor
il was that. in lieu of seeking TO get 10
Lcndon. l should go to Norwich and i've
there with him. TO solaCe his last years,
and. although not engage in his trade,
learn by observation something OF the sefl-
Gus occupation of life, and of the CONDITION
OF my fellow men. of which things young
gentlemen, said ne, were Tor the must par
sadly ignorant
Indeed they were. and they Thought no
bette of 4 companion for being wiser 10
do anything or know anything that might
rebound to the benefit of man or the honor
Of God was not the mode in those days.
Nor do | say that the fashion has changed
greatly, no. nor that il Will change There
fcre TO Norwich l went, although reluct-
4 thgr Y .rQ N-FG
applying myself to the comforting OF my
Cncle's old age, and consolirS my leisure
with the diversions which that great and
important city afforded, and which. m
deed. were enough for any rational mind
But reason and youth are bad bedfeiowS,
and all the while l was like the Israciites
in the wilderness. My thoughts were set
upon The. promised land, and | endured my
probation hardly. To this mood l set down
the fact that little of my life at Norwich
lives in my memory, and TO that little
seldom. recur in thought; the time before
il and the time after ensross my back
ward sglances The end came with my I'M
cles death. whereat /. the recipient OF
great kindness from him, sincerely SrieVed,
and that with some remorse since | lad
caused him sorrow by refusing TO take up
his occupation as my own, preferriDg my
liberty and q moderate endowment 10 all
his fortune saGdled with the condition of
passing my days as Il cloth weaver. Had
/ chosen otherwise. / should have lived a
j do not repent; not riches. nor peace, but
the stir of the blood. the work of the hand
and the service of the brain make a life
that can look back on without
shame and with delight
i was nearing my twe1ty-second bir. hday
when / returned TO Hatchsteld with an air
and manner. | doubt not. sadly provinciah
but with a lining to my pocket for whose
sake many gallant would have surren-
dered some of his plunes and feathers
Three thousand pounds, invested in my
uncle's business and returning good and
punctual profit, made of Simon Dale a per-
son OF far greater Importance in the eyes
OF his family than he had been three years
ago 1t was competence on which Il gen.
tleman could live with discretion and mol
esty; it was a step from which his foot
could rise higher lIfe's ladder London
was in my power. all il held of promise
and possibility was not beyond the light
OF my soaring mind. Ny sisters exchanged
sharp admonitions for admiring Difference
and my mother feared nothing save that