The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-07-21
st. Sylucstre.
He Made Up His Mind
Too Late.


On. the night Of the 3lst OF Decembe
my friend Jacobus. after having dinet
In silence at the table d'hote Of thu
Golden Rose, retraced with quick step
Grangettes street, where his bachelor
lodgings were
The street was solitary and badly
lighted by a taroff gas jet. The NORTH
wind, blowing directly between the two
rows of black facades, cut Jacobus
visage and. Notwithstanding the close
" buttoned o%vercoat, made our friend
feel that the blood Of 40 years did moi
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.
It was the daughter Of the house,
Mile. Franceline Bigeard, who opened
to him. holding In n 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 frixzly 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 walt" said she to the shivering
ledger, 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 q
glass Of Fgnolette. At your service,
M. Jacobus." ... ...
THANKS" answers he. appearing In
q hurry. Thanks, mademoiselle."
II he refused. 1t was not that France.
lines company was displeasing to him,
on the contrary. But he kept himself
In reserve. fearing to place himself IN.
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 moi lnsensible 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 a cold bath, who dip m
foot In the water, then take It out
again and cannot decide to take a final
plunge. ......
Thanks" said he again on going up
the stairs. mo letters have come for
mel"
mo. NJ. Jacobus. the mail carrier has
brought nothing"
well, decidedly I'm forgotten" sad.
~ thought Jacobus rs 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 q At Of bad temper. This night
everything had gone wrong. The logs
on the fire smoked instead Of flaming;
his lamp 6Ickered without giving light;
q 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 Ia deucedH gloomy.
'This weakening Of the interior light
10 n Of the fatal consequences of cell
bacy. Maturity and celibacy! Two I'm.
healthy mediums which terminate and
start q lot Of bad seed that n thought
dead and that bring forth ugly flowers
with q bitter scent-tardy remorse,
sterile regrets, h~esitations and fear of
old age.
"Fear especially, a cowardly fear
which keeps u from acting, which
turns one from generous resolutions,
from all fructuous daring. remem.
Der IN the time OF my youth. at a mo,
ment when ] was about to climb an alb.
rupt cliff Of the Pyrenees, | met a man
ripe In years and already bent down,
and as ! Intercepted him as to the
road to follow he cried out to me:
"'Do not climb up there, The road
10 . yeritable foundry, You will get
out OF breath all to no avail"
~ 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
ny, ! know no how to dare or to
wlN' and ] retire to my bachelor cell re-
GREETING the chances that | let slip at
the time my twentieth year dourished
IN all its freshness"
At that moment the eclat OF young
voices came from below, and In this
gay noise Jacobus could distinguish
Franchises clear laugh,
"They are amusing themselves down
stalFsg thought be again, with a sigh,
"Thsy are drinking to the year that Ia
passing and 10 the n that win be
born,
"FoF them q year that passes away
md one that begins do not waken mel
sneholy thoAghts, They are not yet at
the aGe when the weeks and the
months seem TO 70 by with the rapidly
AuunAu1 an the r{nn Fnhar, lii