River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-07-25

consciously emphasized the terrors of
my situation by keeping me in long
curls and babyish attire long after the
other boys Of my age were habited
like miniature men. You can imagine
the humiliation to which ] was sub
jected, even had I not been cursed with
representative nerves.
"But underneath all my bashful-
ness had the temper of a demon.
The first time l discovered it | was
frightened nearly to death. 1t was
still in the period of my long curls
and girlish costumes.
"a big fellow who delighted in bully
ing, and who had made it his especial
delight to torment me because Of my
effeminate appearance and bashful
manner, brought his prosecutions to
climax by leading a crowd of
Schoolmates to catch me, throw me
down and pile on top of me. ! was
severely hurt, but my physical in
juries were insignificant compared
with the humiliation. And as l lay,
ground into the earth under that
wriggling mass of boys, the hot blood
surged through my head, carrying
with it sense of courage, and bit
ter hatred which l had never guessed
l was capable of possessing.
"When they piled off of me and let
me rise, limping and nearly smoth
cred while they ran away laughing, /
picked up big jagged stone and fol
lowed them. / remember it was
some hours before / succeeded in get
ting squarely in front of the big
Peter Werner, who had led the as
sault, and who had by this time for,
gotten it. / let drive my stone with
all the force / possessed, and l re-
member well the wild JOY which pos
sessed my soul when / saw the blood
squirt from his head, and beheld him
| lying unconscious on the ground. In
the days that followed while he lin
gered between life and death, / never
could be brought to see wherein
had done wrong, although after the
excitement had passed away, and my
bashfulness had feasserted itself, /
!
sion.
Only two or three times after that
was it aroused, but those few times
served to demonstr more clearly
my utter inability to restrain myself
when injustice or abuse set loose the
torrents of my temper. / went on
through boyhood and youth with my
sensitive, reserved and lonely nature.
/ had few pleasures and no compan-
ions after my mother died.
"The one bright ray that came into
my life, was Alice Wilson. AS boy
l worshiped her. AS youth | made
her the goddess of my dreams, and
| builded her into air castles which can
only come to persons who live the
lonely and companionless life that /
led. After / was we'll along into
young manhood, and had made some
thing of success in my vocation
after contact with the world had
brushed the gloss off my dreams and
! had blunted somewhat the edge of
my shrinking sensitiveness, | plucked
up courage to propose to her. She
refused me, but it was with tender
ness and with evident distress. She
told me that she had never dreamed
that ! admired her, and was fun of
! pity and regret. She was engaged to
Philip Sherry, she told me, and loved
him with all her heart.
/ "She married him, and I crawled
I no i,7fn
in my lonely life. Philip Sherry was
a rake and cur. He broke her heart,
dissipated what little fortune she had
and became involved in a notorious
scandal so badly that he was dragged
into court, in a divorce case brought
by another man against his wife.
Il happened to be in the Metropoli-
tan hotel one day, where | had been
summoned to figure on some changes
to be made in remodeling it, and be-
came the accidental and unseen wit
ness of an interview between Sherry
and his wife. 1t was in the public
parlor, but they thought themselves
quite alone. She was pleading with
him to leave the country and save
their children from further disgrace,
surely to be entailed by his presence
at the forthcoming suit. She was
dry-eyed and calm, but / pray God
will never let me see a face into
which is written a broken heart so
wildly as was in hers. He was some
what in liquor, brutal and sneering.
She did not talk angrily, but very
plainly. He became insolent, insult
ing and abusive. He said things that
filed me with horror that they should
be spoken to any woman, but most
of all to her.
"And then, governor and I walked
directly in front of the governor, and
looked him squarely in the eye, "he
struck her. Yes, as God is my Judge.
he struck her, and reeled out of the
room. With that blow | started for
ward from where / had stood trans
fixed during the brief interview. AS
she saw me she flushed deeply. and as
she caught the expression on my
face, cried out as / turned to leave
the room:
"'Mr. Drummond, be careful; oh,