The record-union., 1898-01-23
BESELEAA'S PRATTLE.


to be-" said the woman with soulful
eyes, which somehow had the trick of
making other people believe she saw
things not seen by ordinary mortals,
and who was an avowed devotee of the
sunflower. NO" she sighed, the
modern trend of thought is all diverg-.
ing from estheticism; it's not the soul
that's being cultivated nowadays; it's
the
Common sense side of u.s. inter
rupted the woman who writes, with
sly twinkle in her eye. Whenever l.
hear" she continued, "of the so-called
cultivation of the soul it invariably re-
minds me of a little experience l once
had Would you like to her the story
And being a good story-teller her list
eners eagerly assented:
When l first met the gentleman in
question he was like hundreds OF other
young men in this city who work hard
and earn a modest competency In the
course of time, again. like the average
young man, he took unto himself
wife, and would, no doubt, have set
tied down into a modern Darby and
Joan existence had the lady in the case
not been possessed of an inordinate am
bition. She wanted nothing more nor
less than to get into society. The good.
ordinary people whom her husband S
position brought her in contact With did
not please her: she wanted to rub ell
! bows with the 400. She was a clever
woman and lost no time in recognizing
the fact that as the wife of poor,
struggling clerk the odds would be
against her. Then, again, she was not
a pretty woman: had she even reason
able amount of good looks the task she
had set herslef out to accomplish would
not have appeared such a herculean
one. Again, she had no particular tai
ent Nature had made of her just a
plain, ordinary little woman, and fash
/ ioned hundreds of others on the same
mold.
/ Without beauty and devoid of tall
ent, what then was she to do? Many a
wakeful night she pondered over the
problem and she finally decided that the
only thing she could do that wouio
bring about the desired result and not
SAVIOR too strongly Of mediocrity would
| be estheticisn. Her husband, she re-
| solved, should be esthetic, too. To him
/ she unfolded her plans, and being a
peaceable man he ended by accepting
] them
| In the course of. time they sold out
/ their effects and left for New York, and
| for years l lost all trace of them. One
day / happened to be passing certain
! prominent book store, and my eye be-
| ing attracted to a somewhat fantaSical-
| ly gotten up book in the window, | en-
tered the store and asked permission to
| look at the volume. Judge of my sur
/ prise when / saw adorning the title
| page the name of my esthetic friend,
and a photograph of his wife and hiin>
self opposite. He was pictured as
gracefully reclining cn white fur rug,
and his soul" for such he now tender
| ly called his wife, hovered over him.
! Her dress resemble "a" (the woman
who writes hesitated an instant out of
respect for the only representative of
the male sex present, but only for an
! instant and then went on DravelU
well, a nightdress.
"A short time after this I heard that
the swell society of Gotham was wor-
| shipping at their shrine, and that the
doors of the most ultra fashionable set
were flung wide open 10 receive them
The ambition of the obscure clerks wife
/ had at last been realized. About this
| time, while they We're enjoying the
zenith of their popularity, l had occa
sion to visit New York and more out Of
curiosity than anything else, / took &C.
Casion 10 visit them. To their credit be
il said i found them both unspoiled by
| their popularity, and more than de-
| lighted TO see me.
II shall atfeTnnt n SyiNa y r. o.
scription of the almost barbaric splendor
| in which they lived. He received fab
olous sums for lectures on estheticism
Unlike his wife he was fairly good look
| ing, had a pleading voice that carried
conviction with il, and whatever n
| said was tremendously popular. The
women simply Went mad over him.
she had cultivated many faos one
| III particular, that Of going about con-
stantly veiied. whether in the house, or
enough to say that they thought it a
/ wise pTecaution on her part She af-
| fected corduroy gowns for the street
and upon her head a small bonnet which
resembled flattened pancake.
After leaving New York. | drifted
around the Eastern States for while
t. visit a certain male relative Of mine
| who for certain reasons best known to
myself. / found it advisable to keep on
| the right side Of. This relative of mine
was an eccentric old chap, who lived in
| Gothic cottage resembling q church
ard spent the greater part Of his time
| IN bed composing what he Pleased to call
poetry, which never found publisher
In. hay
to indulge mis- hobby.
| Among the things he delighted to Go
was 10 entertain people who did things
m matter whether the person was cir
Gus clown, a tragedy queen / had
not been with my relative long When
my aesthetic friends arrived upon the
scene They were on their way around
/ the world on lecturing tour. To all
outward signs and appearances they
scre devotion Itself and thought to
myself with some degree Of satisfaction
| that even If they We're a couple Of
harmless cranks. their domestic re-
iationsi.p had not been disturbed in the
| least.
! One Gay we were eli in the garden al
miring the poets flowers when acting
under sudden impulse stopped and
! ~ NttAs, 81 itSc ffui oil titt IL ~ liy dSS-
thetie friend Never shall | forget the
! look Of horror which came over his
ccuntenance as he waved the rose bud
away and said in voice. quivering
with suppressed emotion:
F." Never. never viii his breast of m ne
be decorated with anything possessing
q soult | WAS somewhat nettled and
answered quickly. But hom comes II
that you are now wearing in your buttoa
hnln 1t.r.as q u rlnfa % Annd ho