The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1900-12-21

her opinion. Altogether she spoke of
my desultory and purposeless career
as II 1t were the very thing she bad
been in search of. and she apologiZed
with great delcacy for venturing to of.
fer me position in which pecuniary
reward would not be at all equal to my
deserts. 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 i'm
which Miss Glendon was engaged. but
! am honest In the main, and this thing
was not possible. | told Miss Glendon
frankly that | was filter to be an in
mate of her home than the head of Il;
that | was utterly broken down and
prematurely In my second childhood
and that. In brief. the institution could
not fall into worse hands than mine II
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 needed was
little encouragement.
Accepting this view. Miss Glendon
proceeded to encourage me. She told
me how well | was looking. and, as a
matter of fact, | actually did look as
rugged as an OK. In earlier years |
was very strong. and the muscular
shell still stood. as the bark of tree
viii 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 a spasmodic ef-
fort remember where was and what
had happened, yet talked as straight
as tight string, as my friend inform.
ed me afterward. except" he added.
for that foolishncSs about your health"
The upshot of it was that became
the manager of that institution, and
my act was crime. | was no more tit
for it than a deaf man to lead an or
chcstra. However. the novelty of it
buoyed me up for n few days, so that
none of my subordinates knew that I
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, aud If had been only little
less battered and worn | would have
been fairly efficient person Even as
! 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, aud her plans for max.
ing it memorable In the home were
we'll considered. but exceedingly com.
prehcnsive. Moreover. she looked TO
me for suggestions. and | was bpcom.
ing increasingly eager to serve her
well.
But when mans mind Is in such n
condition that he cant depend upon re-
membcring his own name II asked for
ii I'm hurry there Is little use in OK.
pecting him to lay plans or even to car.
ry out those OF another person. hp
gan to worry about the matter, to
dream of II aud to talk aloud about Il,
to my own great shame
Then | resigned and was laughed nj
by Miss GIrndOn who assured me that
my success had PASSED her utmost eX.
pectationS SO nothing remained hut
To 80 on. II wooden nutOmnton that
must run its course ana then drop
where 1t stood.
Ana 1t dldn't want to break down!
Let me assure you that had no appe
tite for such Il performance, strove
hard against II ana wore out In striv
ing the very strength needed.
On Christmas day | was at my very
worst | 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.
aud they said pleasant conventional
things, as If they noticed nothing amiss
IN me.
And then, as 1t seemed to me sud