Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1897-09-02
Bard VS.. BOXER.

Ferdinand de Cruza was, in his own
opinion, the greatest man of the day
in right of being the most illustrious
living poet. Neither part of this
modest definition was entirely endor-
sed by the world at large, though to
some degree it ran current in a GER
tain literary circle.
Ferdinand de Cruza was a decadent
poet. Like Agag, he walked delicate
ly, but the same manner was not OBJ
servable in his compositions. Real
ism was what he delighted in. His
enemies described his soulful yearn-
ings as "decompositions. In APP
pearance he was large and heavy in
build. He wore his hair tangling over
his collar in the true poetic style. AL
so, his eyes were big and black, like
plums, and under the influence of
what he wished to be taken for extreme
emotion he would roll them with start
ling effect.
Ferdinand was once described as a
young man with talent for converse
ton. Oh, how he would talk And
the subjects which were ever most in
his mouth were himself, his works,
his eminence. He had curious
knack of spreading himself out like
peacock's tail as he spoke, until he
seemed to dominate the entire room.
He had theory that the world will
only take one at half ones own valua
ton, and that, therefore, it is as well
to pitch the estimate high. Certainly
he never erred on this point, and there
were those who said that the process
of self-puffery produced some curious
internal expansion as well. Poets of
this calibre have usually a consid
cradle feminine following. Nor was
Ferdinand any exception to this rule.
Lank damsels languished metaphor
cally at his feet and lent eager ears to
his utterances with soulful squirmings.
Large ladies of exalted rank but less
exalted taste listened with much laugh
ter to his brilliant dialogue" "Mr.
de Cruza is so amusing" they said,
by which they meant that he told Of
fensive anecdotes well.
The homage of the fair sex was sweet
to Ferdinand, Specially delicious,
moreover, was the alteration of a wo-
man like Lady Laelia Disdebar, the
daughter of the Earl of Harrogate,
and the widow of old George Holo-
fernes Disdebar, who made huge
fortune, don't you know, out of coal
tar, and was for some years Chancellor
of the Exchequer. Lady Laelia was
old Georges second wife whom he
had married some time after the
coal tar episode, and within few
years of his death. There were no
fewer than forty years between the
pair; and it was said at the time that
Lady Laelia had been led like lamb
to the altar solely by the indomitable
will of her careful parent. AS it turn
ed out old George died four years af-
ter the wedding, and Lady Laelia was
left a widow of twenty with
very handsome jointure to begin life
over again with the view of getting
some enjoyment out of it.
AS the wife of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer she had been bored to
death by serious people ut an age
when she was utterably incapable of
appreciating them. When she was
free, she few to the opposite extreme.
Ferdinand de Cruza may be regarded
as one of the symbols of this revolt.
He gave her new and pleasurable SEN
sations which she only half under
stood, which were delightful to her.
He had sufficient acuteness not to
descend too low in her presence. She
openly declared that she was devoted
to dear Mr.. de Cruza."
Now Ferdinand, in spite of his POI
etic temperament and habit of railing
at the sordid practice of money-grub-
bling, was a capital man of business.
It occurred to him that Lady Laelia,
with her large jointure, would be an
excellent Investment. At the same
time, her beauty was not only CRATE
full to his senses, but would constitute
her a trophy of no uncomfortable
value to his self esteem. Also it would
be far preferable to be master in a
house which he could style his own
than to continue. the social free lance
with the duty of earning his dinner.
These circumstances may account
for the fact that little Lord Hounslow,
who was calling on Lady Laelia, was
by no means pleased when the door
opened and Mr. de Cruza was an
nounced.
Little Lord Hounslow was honestly
in love with Lady Laelia. He would
have married her il she had not had a
penny in the world. He had stated
his sentiments to her with as much
fervor of expression as he could COM
inand. She had replied coldly that
she did not intend to marry again,
and tbs. IL she did, she should not
MARI a little man. She added. graf
uitc usly, that she thought that 6 wo-
man ought not to marry man whom
abe could not look up to and respect.
At this she drew herself up to her full
height and lowered head and should
ers above him. Also she declared
that she liked him very much as .