The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-04-09

stood waiting for the next ascend
ing elevator which should lift him to
the altitude of DR.. Perevin's chambers,
his life had been as umeventful as his
mothers solicitude could make it.
There had been no invigorating heights
to scale and no nerve-trying depths to
explore. In his college course, and in
the choice of a profession, he had fol-
lowed in the footsteps of his father, TAX
ing the one and choosing the other for
no better reason than that both were
selected for him by his parents. Summed
up, the young man who waited for the
elevator was a very fair example of
the neutralizing effect of prearrange-
ment in domestic affairs; a logical
product of cut-and-dried system of
home training which makes no allow
ance for individual needs in the SUBJ
ject.
And if Thorndyke had been given no
voice in the matter of his bringing
up, he had had quite as little to say
about his engagement to Helen Nor
risson. She was the only daughter of
his fathers law partner, and the al
lance of the two families in the persons
of their respective heirs was treaty
which had been discussed, ratified, en-
crossed, docketed, and filed among the
partnership archives long before the
persons most nearly concerned were old
enough to be consulted. Contrary to all
precedent, the young people made no
difficulties. On the part of the young
girl, the loyal friendship of childhood
had grown with her stature into very
real and earnest love for the man who
was her betrothed. And if Philips ac-
ceptaEce of the part assigned to him
was not sufficiently demonstrative to
please his mother, it was due quite as
much to the fact that the two had
grown up together as to any underlined
inclination on the part of the young man
to rebel against the conditions which
had forestalled the growth of his in
dividuality. In tranquil and dispas-
young woman of his mothers choice;
but his love for Helen was rather the
outgrowth of an obedient sense of the
fitness of things, urged On by a just
appreciation of Helen's beauty and
goodness, than the spontaneous and
compelling passion which is no more
amenable to reason than it is subordi
nate to a sense of duty.
From passive Indifference to active
discomfort is but step in life from
which the objects Of legitimate ambi-
tion had been removed. The dead level
of an existence in which the trivialities
of the daily social round are the only
mile-stones stretches away before the
weary pilgrim into limitless and arid
region whose sandy wastes forbid the
growth of any sturdy tree of effort.
Thorndyke had been journeying
through some such desert of boredom
on the day of his visit to DR.. Perevin,
and one of the vagrant thoughts which
followed him to the doctors door
turned upon the well-worn question
as to whether, after all, life were real
ly worth the effort. The answer was
deferred, but the suggestion was dis
tlnctly negative. An hour later, when
he stood before the .atticed door of the
same elevator waiting to be shot down
to the level of the street, the point of
view nav NCSlCI 81 lis W leave
him gasping like an exhausted swimmer
under whose feet there had lately been
the decks of the stanchest of vessels.
For the first time in his experience
with elevators, the swift rush down the
shaft made him dizzy, and he had to
sit down at the cigar stand in the vesti-
bule minute before going out into
the street. A line of periodicals was
pinned to a string in front of the cigar
vender's counter, and Philip saw the
word "Allacoochee" in staring capitals
on the title page of one of them. He
bought o copy of the paper and read
the advertisement.
ALLACOOCHEE.
The Future Commercial and Industrial
Capital of the New South The most Equa-
BILE climate in Alabama. Fine Natural
Medicinal Springs, Charming and Pictur-
esque Scenery. Inexhaustible Beds of Coal
and Iron; Limitless Field for Improve
ment
A carefully prepared prospectus cf Ala
coochee may be found at the banking house
of Messrs. Tompkyns & Ryder where the
subscription books of the Allacoochee Land
Manufacturing {; Improvement company
will be opened for the sale of a limited num-
Der of shares on the 9Th inst.
An acquaintance looked over his
shoulder as he read, "Hello, Thorn
dyke" he said; "going south to make
fortune?"
Philip folded the paper and put it
into his pocket. II hadn't thought
much about making the fortune, but
perhaps l shall go south for awhile.
Do you know anything about this
placer"
Nothing more than the scare 'ad.'
tells; but l fancy it's another bait for
gudgeons. 1 shouldn't put any money
into it, if were YOU"
II had no intention of doing So"
They lad reached the street, and
Philip shook hands with his friend be-
fore turning to cross the square to the
elevated station.
"Good-by, old man; may be off be-
fore l see you again." said Philip; and
the faintness came back with the
thought that he should probably never
see the man again-and this was the
first of series of leave-takings which
should be for all time.
.