The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-12


| was not an event for a young man past
| twenty to celebrate. They had been all
! right once, birthdays had, but that was
/ before there had been so many of them
| John Savage was now twenty-five. Any
way, he had never been given to oelebra-
| tons, even when there was good reason
for them
Just now there decidedly was none. In
deed, as John figured 1t out-thinking Of
/ the morrow. which was his birthday-of
! all the twenty-five occurrences of that
anniversary which had passed since the
interesting epoch in his life when he
| mad been held up tenderly for the first
admiring gaze of his paternal progenitor
| the present was the dreariest dismaIest
! least cheerful and most melancholy
! He was sitting In his apartments the
! thoughts occurred to him, looking mood
! lily out of the window into the Pickering
light of the street lamp beneath. 1t had
Deen growing dark for some time but
ne felt no inclination to light the gas.
Presently he tired of looking out Then
| ne wished there were a fire in the CRATE.
| he was sentimental-or thought he was
and' gazing into the glowing e1nbers. he
! would build fantastic reveries from their
changing forms But the fireplace was
merely ornamental. had never contained
| fire in its life, and the weather was nm
| comfortably warm as II was
/ 1t Is true that John Savage had some
: cause to feel melancholy. But a year be-
lore the world had worn for him a diff
/ ferent guise. 1t was then his final term
| at the university. No serious cares had
! darkened the smooth and even way Of
J life The realities of existence. its strur-
| giles and turmoils, he had seen AT no
closer range than the casual examples
! chance brought to his notice where 9TH
! ers only We're concerned.
AS for himself. he knew not what
( trouble was. There had. it is true. been
htte disappointments of various degrees
Vi uilIilportance. He had compiled an es-
/ say on philosophy which seemed To him
, a little in advance of either Spencer or
Comte and which the professor. had. rom
! sioered rather poor. H had aspired TO
! the captaincy Of the football team ana
ms name had not even been prop0sed.
lhdeeu' on one occasion he had overheard
remark OF surprise that he had been
chosen for the first eleven at all He had
imagined himself In love with a charnlins.
creature. and the charming creature i'm
! rove with him, and In the midst of # an
had received an invitation to be Dresenr
on the occasion Of her marriage to some
I body else
But these were minor things. little tri--
IanCies which annoyed him for q dav
ana We're forgotten the next
Eight months since a moro serious
Thing occurred. His father. involved in
speculative ventures, had lost the last
dollar OF comfortable fortune ard John
/ found himself thrust rudelv forth uD,n
the world TO earn a livelihood as best ne
might JIG
Inc conditions were not favorable lis
university education had not possess d
MN with qualification read " c1nvertib.s
INTO the circulating med a Of dollars ana
cents be had passed in senior naathe-
/ mates, could solve the mos, fDtric7-o
problems Of the differential calculus and
emerge triumphant from the mvstifvir,
maze or geometr.c, algebraic and trfeo-
hometr1c problems, but could no. keen
set OF books in single entry with only
pam hgures his kn 1Wledge of cher1fs-
try did not qualify him as a drug ..IsIir.
MS acquaintance with phys .cs ana ge,'o-
Sy ala not make him a practical i4v-oIor.
nor coal merchant; Lis studies In bloc
BY would not set him up as a Dractic.r.o
taXiderm'st, nor his grounding i'm noIi+i7
cal economy constitute him ready-naga
statesman.
Under these circumstances he axDeri-
ehced d!1lculty in obtaining such en-
ployment as seemed to POSSESS tho Gle
ments Of present desiradiHty or to hold
OUT promise for the future. The economy
or the world was complete without him
mus ne found himself all at once he
come a cynic, soured prematurely against
the world around him. The friends who
mad failed his father in his hour 90
need he spurned from him-an easv mat
Ter, Tor they did not trouble him much
Win their presence-and when after MI
merous failures to Obtain satisfactory
employment, he received no reply from, y
publication to which he had Sent an az
ucle on which ne had expended consider
aUie pains, ne imagined the entire void
III league mad consipred against him
There was another episode in To5r
SaVage's life which contributed to the
making of his musings painful ON +br5
eve or MS tWenty-second birthday. For
more than year he had been na,,-ney
homage to beautiful young lady who.e
parents lived in one Of the fashionabIa
residences Of Madison avenue. Rsfore
MS tather's misfortunes and his own low
ereu station he had rather regarded The
young woman as somewhat the favore.
party in the prospective domestic ar
rangement between the families. II was
only since things had changed tnat he
had come to a meet realization of how
much he really loved Blanche ami win
the realization came the fear thar IN,
might now no longer find that favor m
her eyes that he had fanc.ed he b.JI
before -i'''
Certainly, so far as any evidence 30
tnat effect was concerned, Blanche had
contributed nothing. If there mad been
IalIlng Off in the frequency Of "a
visits or any diminution Of cordia1jf,J
Upon those occasions. it was of his own
DOING But, then, when a fellow has lost
falth In humanity and confidence in him
SELF he Is apt to harbor illusions and ia
Iancy tnat he Is singled out for the she.
clal vlsitations of an unpropitious f5te
which misanthrOpic condition of mind
by the way, it is astonishinglv easv IN
acquire II one have but a fairly sensi-
tive temperament. Some people have no
sentiment, and though they are 70 he
p1t1ed they are also to be envied.
For fully an hour John Savage sat I'm
the darkness and faxed vacantIy out of
tne window. A dozen times or more he
lit and relt his pipe, but let It go out
as oIten through absent mindedness.
AL length he got up, shook himself to-
gether, and proceeded to stride up ann
down the room. He endeavored to com
pose his thoughts. but the task was n
dlfhcult one. One thing finally ne decided
upon-he would call on Blanche that
night.
1t was just O'clock He struck q
match. lit the gas, and proceeded 70 ar
range his tie, brush his hair, and to mt
himself generally into presentable form
lie had dim, half-framed idea that he
would end off-hand at least one phase OF
the uncertainty which enveloped him by
asking Blanche point blank II she in
tended to marry him. CandidIy. he did
not believe that he would muster I'D the
courage to do this; but in the meantime
he rehearsed the part as he made the
preparations for the call.
A quarter past saw him on the
street making his way bravely enough
In the direction of the Madison avenue
residence Z wa