The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-03-15
.'i...:*
:. THE ROMANCE OF :: !,
: MAURICE COHEN. :: !:
.."..!."..! -.

Maurice Cohen walked up and down
his study and dictated to his secretary:
And peace and truth will work out in
the end. Men and women, too, will have
justice shown to them; only we must
wait for these as for other things and
possess our souls in patience" Mr.. Co
hen was writing for Jewish paper that
liked it's periods well rounded. Then he
stopped and looked at his secretary, and
she raised her head and looked at him
alphabetically, because there was at
that moment the little vibration in Mr..
Cohen's voice that always appealed to
her. She was rather difficile young
woman. She was without much thought
or sympathy for anything but modern
ambitions and ideals, to which she had
herself only just awakened. She played
with emotion like child, who, being
hungry, doesn't wait for solid food, but
eats little bits of cake and so wastes it's
appetite.
Maurice Cohen was not at all the Jew
of the city or our imaginations. 1t is
true he had the broad, white hand of 4
Jew, with the little hollow in the palm
that doesn't easily let go that which it
once possesses, but his eyes had the in
herited pathos of centuries of suffering,
the hopeless regret perhaps for that cry.
But We would not For the rest of
him, well, Rose Halls herself, describing
him to friend in the first days of their
acquaintance, said that his head was
sometimes almost beautiful, but that his
legs were put on as if they were
thumbs But that was a year ago!
For one moment sometimes, some one
or something blesses our life and the
Then he caught her eyes and read the
look in them and said, with a laugh:
bah! It's all nonsense, really. There
are many other ways which answer the
purpose just as well, but it pays to write
these things"
Don't" she said, smiling at him. "It's
horrid. When you talk like that, you
make things feel so 'glary,' as if you had
swished on the electric light on life in
general and no more pink hazes were
possible. And pink hazes are much more
comfortable to live in, she finished.
ITO rest in" he corrected. Money is
generally not well made that is not made
in Il glare"
"And money" she said scornfully, econ
Stitutes your sum of life" He looked at
her for moment: then he said:
isn't that rather hackneyed taunt
from Christian Jew?' And she had
the grace to look little confused Talk
ing to him she always felt that there
We're number of small points. hedged
round by little fences, into which it was
best not to intrude. And a woman is
born a trespasser.
Come into the garden" he said
1t was one of the radiant days which
summer sometimes slips by mistake into
the winter bundle.
"Even the cabbages are glorified," said
Rose. with a gay little laugh, as they
paced the narrow walk behind the privet
hedge. "and feel about 49," she added.
"And you look
FLUSH! Even modern woman OBJ
jects to having her age discussed" she
interrupted.
Every well.'s he said. "But am AZ"
$50 shall I be, too, some time," she
consoled him. "Ony when l am shall
certainly feel it to be one of the occasions
on which truth is too sacred to go abroad
; unveiled"
Let us talk about your books" she
said. IAN author is like an engaged
man. quite easy to talk to. There is al
ways the beloved object as a subject
ready made
like spider; he spins his web of life out
of his own soul"
"Only we don't know that spider has
a SOUL" she observed. Gwen Sir John
I! Lubbock does not go SO far as that with
his bees"
81 haven't written decent line now
for a week." he said. II couldn't be-
cause
web given out" she asked. cor soul?''
Rose" he said gravely, 81 love you,
dear"
J A Jew always uses the extremity of
language. Then she grew grave at once
II love you,'' he said again and took
her hands as she faced round
"You are a, jew" she said.
| "Yes," he answered, "but am man
| first. believe as my fathers believed.
| Surely to you, too, it means something to
think as your father did?"
II don't remember my father" she
said slowly. The name doesn't mean
very much to me. l always think of him
! as my mothers husband more than as
my father"
There was little pause as they stood
! in the sunlight
"Tell it me-" she whispered.
Dear, you know it all, but there is not
AucA 10 Say. IL GU are just the WnOle OF
my life. Rose! 1t sounds so easy to
say and to hear
"Ahv' she said, with little sigh of
content "Did you love the other woman,
the first woman. like this" But he did
not answer. There are some men who
refuse to break their old idols even at the
feet of their new deity.
But you are jew" she said again.
He was not at all tragic figure as he
stood there. But she did not think of
that.
my dear" he said gently and held her
tightly, think what it means. It's your
life and mine.'
Yes, yes, l know" she said. ooh, let
me go! Let me go! Let me Think"
And, with little moan, she broke away
from him.
Piccadilly at is brightest and it's best
all the sin and sorrow of it laid aside for
a little. swept into the back streets, and
only the healthy, clean side of life left. A
pretty woman stopped to buy bunch of
violets; man said, "Town is getting
FULL" hanson came round the corner