The Bemidji pioneer., 1900-12-27


club building, even to the buffet, were
practically deserted because there was
but one day to intervene before Christ
mas.
The attendant in the refreshment
room yawned tediously as, perfunctor-
.ly polishing glass tumbler, he look
ed aimlessly out of the little window
into the area that shared the gloom Of
the coming evening with its friends,
the alley, which went off to the right
and left in search of folks.
In the card room the tables, the DOM
ino sets, chessmen and packs of cards
rested undisturbed; no noise of the
clicking billiard balls from the room
upstairs or OF rumbling spheres in the,
tenpin alley below foated UP toward
the Office, the reception room and the
library on the main floor. Even the
chairs and settees along the hallway
seemed weighted with ennui.
From one Of those aWay-off places
like the basement, the attic or the
stuffy coat room came the resonant
tones Of a conventional cuckoo thing
telling the hour Of eight. when down
the main stairs stepped Wilder Will
kins, bachelor, a man of the world,
a millionaire and . cynic.
Was your dinner all right, Mr.. Will
kins 2" asked the office man, and the
club members answer as he passed
through toward the reading room was
Very good, indeed.
Wilkins sat at one Of the tables, and
picking up paper imagined that he
was reading, but his deiusion was
broken within a minute by his arising
and looking through a window intR
the brilliantly lighted street. There's
life enough out there he murmured
TO himself, as he turned in tired sort
of way and looked in a hopeless fash
ion at the various portraits on the
walls Then he returned to the read
ing tables and lighting a cigar af-
fected deep interest in a book he had
taken up.
It's mighty strange, said he, after
a pause, that q mere sentiment can
send dozens OF ordinarily good fellows
off on certain day OF the year to fret
md worry and berate themselves over
storekeepers and clerks ,ten-pound tur-
xeys and 20-pound babies, when thers
is a comfortable, rational. available re-
sort like this one to which they may
make their escape Then he threw
@,,, :, b;r ~, r3 n; 90 :. ,, "A M n n
the strength of d firm resolution made
his way to the card room, where for
half an hour or more he applied him.
self to solitaire. IA
THAT beats the record" he said,
throwing down his cards and looking
1T his watch. 9 Half-past nine o'clock
and not a soul has entered the place
Presently will say something harsh
about Christmas At this juncture
his eye caught new lot Of notices on
the club bulletin and stepping across
the room he studied them, now and
then offering comments unfayorabie
upon what he had read
Surfeited by this species Of recrea-
.tion he visited the courtroom, and when
the boy who assisted him with hat and
coat asked: Are you going home SO
early, Mr.. Wilkins? 2" he responded:
H"You don't suppose would stay in
such place as this when i have the
alternative Of going to bed, do you?'
An hour later, utterly free from any
thing akin to appreciation OF the ele-,
gance of his apartments, and totally
blind to the mellowness of the light OF
human intercourse, Wilkins was in bed
telling himself that he was an absolute
idiot for. having been born with the
faculty. OF, acquiring money, and scold-
Ing any man, himself in particular who
had Judgment SO poor as to favor his
stomach in preference to his tired
eyelids. his tired head and his tired
heart. s
He simply could not sleep, and he
found himself listening to the rustic OF
the pillow beneath his head as he tried
to formulate the intangible patterns he
seemed to see even though his eyes
were closed. Just when it seemed to
him that he had conquered the sleep
god an u train over the Sixth avenue
caught a special stratum of clearness
in the atmosphere and aroused him
with it's noises. At this he rolled over
in bed, and pushing clinched fist un-
der his jaw, commanded: Here, now,
don't be a helpless imbecile, but so
to Sleep" And his answer was a
twinge in one Of his feet SO that his
next task was the recovery of the loos-
sned bedclothes.,
And then he went to sleep. That IS
to say, he thought he was asleep, and
so ventured to discover himself on the
outer circumference Of a vast globe
which was sailing swiftly through IL
limitable SPACE, while, in a frenzy OF
despair, he was keeping his position
on the whirling thing simply by force
T of bleeding fingers and bruised and
clinging legs set against the hard sur
face. His vision extended millions OF
miles, so that he saw clearly that
gradually ne was losing the hold which
was to send him down, down forever
into chaos.
At last his overstrained nature yield
ed the fingers let go, and he aWokt