Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1900-05-19
The Book That He Married
By Aaron Mason.
A OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES

A I FORTY, Prof. Blackburn was
n the first authority in England
on the women of Shakespeare, yet he
had never had love affair.
1t'was not that he disliked women;
but they did not interest him. After
Rosalind, they seemed too tame; after
Desdemona, too easily comprehended;
after Portia, utterly undesirable.
If he went out, it was to some meet
ing of Shakespeare club, or to WOO
and win some first edition from a
grasping bookseller.
So eager was he in his conquests that
he found, Mt last, that his collection fell
but one volume short of completeness,
and that volume was the impossible
the first Shakespeare.
For that am edition of Shakespeare's
plays had been published before any of
those yet eXtant seemed probable to
Prof. Blackburn; and his patient re-
searches of Elizabethan and Jacobite
records seemed 10 prove that he was
not mistaken.
There had BEEN" he reasoned, "a
collection OF the plays printed, the
proofs of which had been corrected by
the dramatist himself. Then an order
had come from James court, and the
whole edition had been destroyed, with
the exception of the authors copy"
The professors colleagues pooh
poohed this theory The more the pro-
fessor argued with them, the broader
their smiles became.
I The skeptics were still unconvinced
when the professor took rooms for a
month of the long vacation in the pref
dy village of Wroxham. BE wished to
dosome botanizing, and the valley near
the river was a fine natural laboratory
for him.
So engrossed was ne in his work that
three weeks of his month were gone be-
fore he really knew the people in the
same house with him.
For the same reason he hardly no.
,ticed the little bookshelf in the darkest
corner of his sitting-room. Omit were
a dozen or more volumes, a family
Bible, Pilgrims Progress" the '.Holy
War;" and Buffers Analogy"-titles
which led the professor 20 guess at the
character of the others.
In an idle moment one afternoon he
took down the Bishops treatise and
examined the title page. He was sur
prised to find it first edition. He
put the Bishop in his stall and took
down the next volume. 1t was an edi-
ton of Shakespeare's plays. He had
only opened it when there was a rap
on the door.
Come in" he called with college
'brusqueness; and the hostess and her
daughter stood before him.
what can do for you, Mrs. Hall ?''
he asked.
The girl answered for her mother.
I'VE are going our rounds, sir, to visit
The poor. There are so many old peo-
pie in this parish, and the vicar can't
do much. We try to help him as we
can, and we thought you might like to
contribute little to the fund-just a
little"
Would couple of sovereigns help
you?" asked the professor, boyishly.
20, thank youi" said the girl, sur
.prised at his generosity. To tell the
truth, the professors clothes were a
little seedy.
Perhaps might come with you and
see these happy poor?" he questioned,
Tor the first time in his life, perhaps,
paying woman a compliment.
They all started out across the mea-
dows toward the village. She was so
pretty, this farmers daughter, that
Prof. Blackburn found her almost in
teresting.
But as she prattled on childishly of
her little cares and pleasures, of her
quaint superstitions, his mind began to
wander off to his work. A sentence
from her brought him back suddenly.
You must know, sir" she was say
ing, shat my father is very proud of
his blood. He is Hall of Stratford-a
descendant of Shakespeare"
YES" put in her mother, ''aAid the
two things in the world he sets most
store by are Elsie and that old book in
the parlor."
"a book Of plays added Elsie, shat
belonged to Shakespeare. himself. And
/ believe father would rather lose me
than that book"
he win lose you with 1t, my
child" replied the mother, ''for he has
always said that it is to be yours on
your wedding day, just as it was
given to him by his father when we