The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-12
The Trail of the Ridiculous.

If Christina Christofel had been weigh
| ed in the balance she would not have
| been found wanting. Indeed, she would
have been found to be overprovided.
! Christina was large baby when she
was born-so large that the nurse had
! to split open the sleeves of the little
shirts to get them on the dimpled arms.
and to put strings in the necybands of
| the embroidered frocks. At the age of .,
Tiny, as she was inconsistency called,
was as large and robust as most children
/ Of 3. At Is she had her full growth and
was ashamed TO be seen with the little
girls in her grade at school.
| Her 18th year was a distressing period
! for Tiny. for she made the miserable dis
| covery that she was ridiculous. She had
suspected it for some time. but remarks
| which she overheard, and the unwilling
ness of certain trig girls she knew to be
seen with her. confirmed her in the sus-
| picion. Moreover, she began TO study
| her mirror. There was no doubt about
1.-THE large neck, with its pink-tinted
creases of flesh, the soft, double chin
the big arms and over-conspicuous bust,
the great waist girth, and the heavy hips
were distinctly ridiculous. The night that
Tiny actually realized it she wept It
was a beautiful night, as it happened,
and she was sitting by her window. The
moon flooded the world with a sort of
bulish light. Only a few stars were seen,
pale and Intellectual in the midst of the
chastened splendor. The trees were IN
real and shaGowy, the breath Of the wind
fndescribably caressing. Something in
the glory of this night filed poor Tiny
with a longing and regret to which she
could give no name. She realized dimly,
as a child might. that the great joys
- =
lover would ever creep out of the blue
moonshine to murmur beneath her ball
cony-prividing she had one. She could
never be dignified, nor impressive, nor
fascinating. 1t was her destiny to be
simply fat. She was doomed to drag
about fatiguing burden of flesh, which
would be her shame and hindrance. She
looked at her softly tinted flesh with
loathing. She felt she would have en-
dured any torture to have got rid of it.
Seven years later, after Tiny had been
graduated from the State University and
had returned to her home, she happened
to be called upon to entertain one Of her
brothers friends for an entire evening
The friend, who was named Quinton
Sherry, had come to spend a fortnight
with her brother James, and James, being
out of town upon the evening of young
u.
She had hated to meet him, for she al
ways disliked to have men look at her.
She was particularly embarrassed when
she met Sherry, for he was an uncom-
monty small man. She was almost a
head taller than he and fully twice his
width. She wanted TO yell with laughter
as they sat facing each other in the draw
ing-room.
For the next fortnight she was almost
at peace. The world seemed for the time
being to be made up not Of material
things, but of ideas. unsupported beau
ties came to light in her thoughts; she.
who had always hated herself, began to
enjoy herself presented to herself as she
was by her lovers appreciation and fiat
terry. For they were lovers. There was
no doubt about it. He told her so one
night when the moon burned blue, Just
as it had that night five years before
when she discovered sorrow, and she
stopped over and kissed him. She had
to stoop quite a way Then, suddenly
al lher fabric Of joy tottered and fell IN
a ridiculous ruin about her feet. She
laughed harshly and snatched her hand
from his and fed to her room The next
morning he received a cruel note.
ST will not be made a spectacle Of"
II said. I'VE would be ludicrous if we
married. We cannot afford to furnish
material for the jests Of our friends. We
have no business even to suffer-only the
beautiful and interesting have a right
TO suffer. Please never let me see you
again. Where has your sense Of humor
been while you have been making love
to me? I shall laugh to my last day,
thing of it"
The letter was really cry Of pain,
but Sherry was too hurt to realize it.
He did as ne was told. He went away
and never saw her again.
In the course of years she had a great
many beautiful thoughts, bit she never
looked as If she did. She seemed to grow
larger every year. If she entered street
car people stared; at church the children
glggled; she could not be induced to go
to party or a dinner. She especially
objected to dinners.
'I shall be suspected Of being greedy"
she said. So she staid by herself and
found her friends in books. She tried not
to grow bitter but she did, and then her
complexion got sallow. She took little
exercise. She let time go by and was
painfully conscious Of its passage.
One day she died of sudden difficulty
Of the heart, and even in death she could
not manage to look dgniied. There was
no shroud large enough to fit her, and
three sewing women came and gossiped
and snckered. and measured. and basted.
and stitched and with the aid Of the IN
dertaker and his assistant got her into
it. The coffin came too short and had 70
be sent back and made over, and the
grave had TO be heightened a bit at the
last moment When at last she was safe
~ laid away little sardonic wind start
ed among the bushes and made a rasp-
ing laughter. 1t was the comment Of
nature upon her preposterous daughter.
Later, when the night came, the moon
light which she loved streamed over her
grave; the lake intoned with solemnlty.
A peace and loveliness brooded over ev-
erything. II is possible that through the
spaces which the moonlight sweeps, 4
soul liberated from hampering flesh.
darted with ecstasy. It could enter Gods
presence clothed in its inherent majesty.
It was released from the thrall Of the
ridiculous.-The Chicago Tribune
III