The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-01-18
INSPIRATION.

One of the many curses of our life out
here is the want of atmosphere in the
painters sense There are no half tints
worth noticing. Men stand out all crude
and raw, with nothing to tone them down
and nothing to scale them against. They
do their work and grow to think that
there Is nothing but their work and moth
ing like their work, and that they are the
real piyots ON which the administration
turns. Here Is an instance of this feeling
| A half caste clerk was ruling forms In a
pay Office. He said to me, "Do you know
what would happen II / added or took
away one single line on this sheet?" Then,
with the air of conspirator: "It would
disorganize the whole Of the treasury pay
ments throughout the whole of the presi-
dency circle. Think Of thatl
II men had not this delusion as to the
| ultra Importance of their own particular
employments, suppose that they would
sit down and kill themselves. But their
weakness is wearisome, particularly when
the listener knows that he himself COM
mits exactly the same sin.
Even the secretariat believes that 1t does
good when 1t asks an overdriven executive
officer to take census of wheat weevils
through district Of 5000 square miles.
There was man once In the foreign Of
fce-a man who had grown middle aged
In the department and was commonly said
by irreverent juniors to be able to repeat
Aitchison's Treaties and Sunnuds" back
ward in his sleep. What he did with his
stored knowledge only the secretary knew,
and he naturally would not publish the
news abroad. This mans name was Wress-
ley, and IL was the shibboleth, In those
days, to say, "Wressley knows more about
the central Indian states than any living
man." If you did not say this, you were
considered one of mean understanding.
And here the curse of Ahglo-Indian life
fell heavily When Wressley lifted up his
voice and spoke about such and such sue
cession to such and such throne, the for
eign Office was silent, and heads of de-
partments repeated the last two or three
words of Wressley's sentences and tackled
"Yes, yes, /" ON to them and knew that they
were assisting the empire to grapple with
serious political contingencies In most
big undertakings one or two men do the
work, while the rest sit near and talk till
the ripe decorations begin to fall.
Wressley was the working member Of
the foreign Office firm, and to keep him
up to his duties when he showed signs Of
tagging, he was made much of by his su-
periors and told what "a fine fellow he was.
He did not require coaxing because he
was Of tough build, but what he received
confirmed him In the belief that there was
no one quito SO absolutely and imperative
ly necessary to the stability Of India as
Wressley Of the foreign Office. There might
be other good men, but tho known, honor
ed and trusted man among men was Wress-
ley of the foreign office.
Upon day, between Office and Office,
great trouble came to Wressley-over-
whelmed him, knocked him down and left
| him gasping az though he had been lit
| tie schoolboy. Without reason, against
| prudence and at a moments notice he
| fell in love with "a frivolous, golden haired
| girl who used to tear about Simla mall on
a high, rough waller, with blue velvet
| jockey cap crammed over her eyes Her
name was VenDer-Tillie Wonderland
she was delightful. She took Wressley's
heart at hand gallop, and Wressley found
that 1t was not good for man to live alone,
| even with half the foreign Office records In
his presses.
Then Simla laughed, for Wressley in love
was slightly ridiculous. He did his best to
interest the girl In himself-that is to say,
his work-and she, after the manner Of
women, did her best to appear interested
In what, behind his back, she called "Mr.
Wressley's wajahs"-for she lisped very
| prettily. She did not understand one little
thing about them, but she acted as IL she
did Men have married on that sort Of
error before now.
Providence, however, had care of Wress-
ley. He was immensely struck with Miss
Venners intelligence. He would have
been moro impressed had he heard her pri-
vate and confidential accounts OF his calls
He held peculiar notions as to the wooing
Of girls. He said that the best work of a
mans career should be laid reverently at
their feet Ruskin writes something like
this somewhere, think, but In ordinary
life few kisses are better and save time.
About a month after he had lost his
heart to Miss Vcnner, and had been doing
his work vilely In consequence, the frs,
idea Of his Native Rule In Central India
struck Wressley and filled him with JOY.
Ii was, as he sketched II, a great thing
the work Of his life--a really comprehen-
siye survey Of most fascinating subject
TO he written with all the special and la
boriously acquired knowledge of Wressley
OF the foreign ofiice-a gift fit for an EN-.
press
He told Miss venner that he was going
TO take leave and hoped, on his return, t.
bring her present worthy OF her accept
ance. Would she waltz Certainly she would
Wressley drew / ZOO rupees month. She
would wait year for that. Her mamma
would help her TO wait
DO wressley took one years leave and ali
the available documents-about truck
load-that he could lay hands on, and went
down - central India with his notion no,
IN his head. He began his book In the land
he was writing Of. Too much Official cor
respondence had made him frigid work
man, and he must have guessed that hs
needed tho white light Of local color on
his palette. This In dangerous paint for
amateurs TO play with.
Heavens, how that man worked lie
] caught his rsjahs. analysed bis rajahs and
traced them up into the mists Of time and