The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-08-01
st. syluestre.
Il. He Made Up His Mind
7 Too Late.
~~->-~>ANNN>

III olcACc at Tie ldDle uOle Ol Inc
Golden Rose, retraced with quick steps
Grangettes street, where his bachelor
lodgings were.
The street was solitary and badly
lighted by faroff gas jet The north
wind, blowing directly between the two
rows of black facades, cut Jacobus'
visage and, Notwithstanding the close
ly buttoned overcoat, made our friend
feel that the blood of 40 years did not
possess the warmth of prime youth.
[ Therefore did he agitate with an i'm
patient hand the hammer which deco
rated the landlady's door.
1t was the daughter of the house,
Mile. Franceline Bigeard, who opened
to him, holding in one hand the folds
of her apron, filed with chestnuts, and
in the other the lamp which lighted up
her face and her sparkling blue eyes.
Those blue eyes. the frizzly brown
hair and the bright smile of Mile.
.Franceline still gave an attractive pi-
quancy to her face, although she was
commencing to fade, having attained
her twenty-eighth year on St. Gather
ines day.
II beg your pardon for having made
you wait" said she to the shivering
lodger, but was in the act Of split
ting chestnuts. We have kept two of
my friends to supper, and tonight we
will end the year by roasting the chest
nuts and washing them down with a
glass of Fignolette. At your service.
M. Jacobus"
Thanks" answers he, appearing in
a hurry Thanks. mademoiselle.
If he refused, it was not that France
lines company was displeasing to him,
on the contrary. But he kept himself
in reserve, fearing to place himself un-
der obligation to this girl who wanted
to marry and not wishing that too
much familiarity should make him slip,
little by little. on dangerous ground.
He was not insensible to the blue
eyes and to the smile of the young
lady. but he was afraid of marriage.
He resembled those children who are
about to take cold bath, who dip one
foot in the water, then take it out
again and cannot decide to take final
plunge.
''Thanksr' said he again on going up
the stairs. mo letters have come for
me?"
mo, M. Jacobus. the mail carrier has
brought nothing"
dsVTol 60of1odIx, T1,,, forrro4+o,, <,n 4
~ thought Jacobus as he put the key
in the keyhole. 1.-THE entire world has
forgotten the way to my house."
Jacobus felt himself become, little by
little. in fit of bad temper This night
everything had gone wrong. The logs
on the fire smoked instead Of flaming;
his lamp fiickered without giving light;
a drafty wind passed under the door
and froze him to the marrow
"a thinker-Joubert, believe" muir
INJURED he as he lighted his pipe-'has
said that the evening of life brings its
lamp with it, Mine lights very badly,
and my crepuscle is deucedly gloomy.
This weakening of the interior light
is one of the fatal consequences of cell
bacy. Maturity and celibacy! Two I'M
healthy mediums which terminate and
start a lot Of bad seed that one thought
dead and that bring forth ugly flowers
with a bitter scent-tardy remorse,
sterile regrets. hesitations and fear Of
old age.
Fear especially, cowardly fear
which keeps one from acting, which
turns one from generous resolutions,
from all fructuous daring. remem-
Der in the time Of my youth, at mo-
ment when was about to climb an abb
rupt cliff of the Pyrenees, ! met man
ripe in years and already bent down,
and as l Intercepted him as to the
road to follow he cried out to me:
"'Do not climb up there. The road
is veritable foundry. You will get
out of breath all to no availY
81 shrugged my shoulders and kept
on my way. laughing at the pusillanim-
ity of that middle age. and this is what
/ have come to! The least pebble dis
turbs me, the most childish difficulty
takes the proportions of an impossible
lty. know no more how to dare or to
will, and retire to my bachelor cell re-
GREETING the chances that let slip at
the time my twentieth year 1ourished
In all it's freshness"
At that moment the eclat of young
voices came from below, and in this
gay noise Jacobus could distinguish
Franceline's clear laugh.
"They are amusing themselves down
stairsp' thought he again, with sigh.
''They are drinking to the year that is
passing and to the one that will be
born.
For them year that passes away
and one that begins do not waken mel
ancholy thoughts. They are not yet at
the age when the weeks and the
months seem to go by with the rapidity
of swallow on the wing. They will
come to it nevertheless, and to France
line as we'll as to the othersl She is
going on to her twenty eighth year and
has not yet found a husband Poor
girl! Little by little her cheeks viii
fade those blue eyes will lose their
brightness. her laugh will change those
clear notes for sharp and dry intona-
tons, anu sne also win know the lone
illness of a celibatist. the regret OF
chances that have flown away and the
fear of ripe age. Oh, the old maids! /
pity them even more than the old bach
elors!
"The prison of isolation. And for
them more obscure and more narrow.
The world is more severe. The quick
blood may groan in their heart as in a
walled up reservoir. They must smoth-
er it's bubbling. Thus charming girls
fade away, and that is what will hap
pen to Eranceline unless brave fellow
makes his appearance who is loving
enough and courageous enough to
transplant in a warm medium this
pretty plant
''But then, miserable one, since thou
understandest so well all these things,
why art not thou that brave fellow?
Thou art tired Of thy frozen foyer.
Why dost thou not make of her hap
by and joyous mate?
"Ah! There it is, precisely. do not
know any more how to dare"
While he was immersed in these
black and Disseminating ideas JacObus
was losing the notion of the exterior
phenomena. A chill which ran along
his back brought him back to reality.
He perceived that his fire was consum-
ed without throwing out any heat, that
his pipe had become cold and that his
window was badly closed. Just as he
was about rising to shut it hermetical-
ly new joyous rumors came from the
first floor, and new silvery laughter
from Franceline struck his ears. He
had still a moment of hesitation; then
the cold of this December night decid-
ed him. He blew out his lamp and de-
scended, feeling his way down the
e+o;rooca and or,xsdad l,xy tho louot+ov.