The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1898-11-05

piece OF PIE WITH glass OF milk, ana
the woman will actually buy things
when she goes shopping. That sort OF
thing needs an income.
In the matter of swell clothes, also,
you will find that one gorgeous even
ing toilet requires another, for other
wise the wearer will become known as
''the woman with the pink silk" and
that is worse than death. Arthur Nc
Henry learned this fact in natural his
tory very soon and then he learned q
fact in arithmetic to match it; name
ly, that you can't subtract 800 from
geo and leave a balance in the bayx.
About. that time, however, a-Iittle
good luck helped Arthur out, and he
thought that affairs were always GO
ing to run that way. So he bought a
few more diamonds for Anne; but they
didn't produce quite the usual effect
they were not large enough.
He avenged himself with "The Mod
ern Lucullus." AS his imagination
began to tire, he visited the libraries,
and studied the records of the magnifi-
cent 1iberality with which princes
have spent the money wrung from
peasants, and spendthrifts have scat
tered to the four winds the accumu-
lations of the prudent. There is con-
siderable literature on the subject, and
Arthur was surprised to find it ex-
tremely fascinating. The literary 'at-
mosphere" which he had sought was
easy to get and it chung to him in his
daily life, making extravagancesp pleas
ant and follies the signs of an elevated
nature.
Presently, however, this sort of thing
brought him up with a round turn.
Between the first and the fifteenth of
a certain month he saw more bills
than he had ever seen before, and had
less sleep. Then, indeed, he knew
which way he was drifting.
Many years ago there was a man
who bit an apple that he should have
Stunned, and meanly cast the blame
upon another. There was enough of
the old Adam in Arthur to make him
repeat the words that were spoken in
the garden: This woman that thou
gavest me-"
So he read few more chapters of
"The Modern Lucullus" to Anne, and
was basely pleased to note that they
tormented her soul. She talked in her
sleep about banquet which he had
described, where the illumination
came from tiny incandescent lamps,
each one inserted into the heart of q
diamond.
Arthur began to take foolish pride
in the effect which this story produced
upon the most difficult" critic that he
had ever encountered. He devoted
more time to it; he turned away from
other work that would have brought
him money, and put his best energy
into this monstrous concoction. He
had to stifle his judgment and chloro-
form his conscience in order to write
such stuff, but he did it; and with such
persistency that at last the day came
when he had not penny in the bank
nor story in any publishers hands.
Even his small royalties were drawn
upon in advance; and he had borrowed
from every man who would lend him D.
dollar.
And on the evening of the day when
the realization of this situation came to
him, Anne announced that Mrs. VIM
ston had bought a sealskin coat for
$500. The retort this time did not take
the form of fiction; instead it was hard
fact. Arthur told his wife, with
frankness that spared no detail, just
exactly what kind of hole they were
in. They had weird and terrible even
ing; and the next morning was worse,
for Arthur was unable to lift his head
from his pillow, and had the general
appearance. of a man who is
going to be laid up long time. And
between them they hadn't ready money
enough to pay the grocer's bill for q
week.
The doctor who attended Arthurwas
of the opinion that the active and earn
est malaria germ was at the root of
the trouble, but Anne laid it to worry,
and she had one of those experiences
with her conscience which are the sal
walton of many woman.
When the young author recovered.
about a month later, he learned that
his wife had pawned most of her dia-
monds to pay his debts, and the cur
rent expenses of the house. This
thought filled him with despair, for he
had an especial horror of the pawn
shop; besides he knew how Anne had
valued these trinkets--and she had been
very good to him while he had been i'll.
He made the most desperate resolu-
tons regarding work, but unfortunate
ly he had nothing to start with except
''The Modern Lucullus." This he knew
to be dreadful stuff, and he felt like
wearing a mask when he took it to a
publisher; but necessity permits no
scruples.
The rest of the story is matter of