Little Falls herald., 1900-12-14

her opinion. Altogether she spoke Of
my desultory and purposeless career
as if it were the very thing she had
been in search of. and she apologized
with great delicacy for venturing to Of
fer me position in which pecuniary
reward would not be at all equal to my
heserts. Then she named really
handsome salary and paused for my re-
ply.
Now, the fact Is that would have
welcomed such haven, and, above all,
l would have sacrificed much for the
sake of sharing any sort of work in
which Miss Glendon was engaged, but
l am honest in the main, and this thing
was not possible. l told Miss Glendon
frankly that l was filter to be an ill.,
mate Of her nome than the head Of it;
that l was utterly broken down and
prematurely in my second childhood
not fall into worse hands than mine if
the manager were chosen by chance
out Of the directory.
1t appeared that my friend had pre-
pared her for this reply. He had told
her that was bit the worse for past
anxiety and unwisely worried about
my health, but that there was really
nothing the matter. All l needed was
a little encouragement
Accepting this view, Miss Glendon
proceeded to encourage me. She told
me how we'll l was looking, and, as q
matter Of fact, actually did look as
rugged as All OK. LII earlier years l
was very strong, and the muscular ,
shell still stood, us the bark Of tree
will sometimes stand when the heart
Of it is dust. Fifty times while she
was talking to me had to shake my
wits together and with spasmodic ef-
fort remember where l was and what !
had happened yet talked as straight
as tight string, as my friend inform
ed ME afterward, Except" he added,
''for that foolishness about your health
The upshot Of it was that l became !
the manager of that institution, and
my act was crime. ! was no more tit |
for it than q deaf man to lead an or
chestra. However. the novelty Of it |
buoyed me up for few days, so that |
none of my subordinates knew that |
was out of my wits.
The work was really extremely at |
tractive to one who had come out de- |
feated from the selfish strife Of money
winning, and if had been only little |
less battered and worn ! would have
been fairly efficient person. Even as
l was, the force within me might have |
proved sufficient but for the increasing |
rush of work incident to the coming
holidays.
Miss Glendon had high ideas Of the !
Christmas time, and her plans for max
ing it memorable in the home were
we'll considered, but exceedingly CON-
prehensive. Moreover, she looked to
me for suggestions, and | was becom-
ing increasingly eager to serve her
well.
But when a mans mind is in such a
condition that he can't depend upon re-
menbering his own name If asked for
It in hurry there is little use in ex-
pecting him to lay plans or even to car
~ out those of another person. be-
gan to worry about the matter, to
dream of it and to talk aloud about it,
to my own great shame.
Then l resigned and was laughed at
by Miss Glendon, who assured me that
my success had passed her utmost ex-
pectations. So nothing remained but
to go on, wooden automaton that
must run it's course and then drop
where it stood.
And it didn't want to break down!
Let me assure you that had no appe-
tite for such a performance. l strove
hard against it and wore out in striv-
ing the very strength needed.
On Christmas day was at my very
worst l wandered from room to room,
giving orders that others seemed to
think were rational, though had little
understanding of them myself. We
had many visitors, and greeted them,
and they said pleasant conventional
things, as If they noticed nothing amiss
In me. :. -. ,.---- i
And then, as it seemed to me sud.