The Iola register., 1902-08-08
HIS OPINION OF BROWNING.
Sister Led Him Into strange
Fields.

leu hhAO
Fields.
The man of 40 had somehow been
drawn into the afternoon tea--that
is, not literally, you know, but his
sister had enticcd him within the gath
ering of the now superior sex because
really, he was forgetting how to talk
TO women, and positively he was los
ing his polish. Why, before he real
lied it he wouldn't know how to come
into a room or leave one or how to sit
down or what to do with his hands
and feet, seys the Kansas City Star.
So the man fell a prey to the fear
full prophecy, and, after his sister had
told him the color of the cravat he
must wear and how dreadful it would
be If he wore laced shoes instead of
buttoned ones, and what girls he must
make himself agreeable to-why, then
he set about renewing his youth with
some approach to fortitude. There
was one thing that the man prided
himself on, and that was his adapta-
bility.
So, once within the feminine pre-
cincte, he plucked up his courage and
prepared to make talk on everything,
from the latest novel, which he had
not read, to the newest conception of
Nirvana, as to which he was a trine
ha2y.
Fate assigned him temporarily to a
"bud." With a mighty effort he was
trying to recall the sisterly Ollcndorf
for this occasion, but was much re-
lieved TO find that he was merely ex-
| pGcted to look pleasant and answer
! questions. His sister had forgotten to
tell him what she was afterward
careful TO impress upon him, that
only one man in hundred in society
has anything to say for himself and
that he needn't mind appearing stupid.
Perhaps 1t was his eXpanse of fore
head-due as much premature bald
ness, he would have told you, as to
the outcropping of n luminous intel
lect. At any rate, the young person
CHANGED to remark: "You know your
Browning, of course" said the young
person, earnestly. She was evidntly
fresh from Smith or Bryn Mawr, and
she was certainly very pretty. Can
you blame him?
"Oh. no mere man of action" he
said, lying with an ease which aston
ished him, "can afford to ignore the
poets--Browning least of all What
a good thing is life-the mere living!' "
lie declaimed this impressively, hav-
ing but recently read IL on the title
page of Roosevelt's "Ranch Life"
Then he tried to say something about
basketball.
But the.young person was too alert.
GLOW perfectly splendid" she said,
"And so apt. You would so enjoy
what Prof. Griggs says about the per-
fected relations of Pompiia. to Capou-
sacchi. Don't you just dote on The
Ring and the Book?'"
"There are poems of Browning's
with which l am more familiar" adj
mitted the man, with some hesitation
"and particularly rejoice in anything
which expresses action. by the way,
have you noticed that ping-pong has
been taken up in Paris?"
This seemed to him n clever side
step, but the young person only said:
what particular poems by Browning
do You like best? Are you not inter.
ested in his fundamental conception OF
human life as an endless process OF
growth? Are you musician enough tc
trace the harmony Of the imagery and
metrical structure Of 'Abt Nogler' with
the message Of the poet?"
"Music?" said the man, rising might.
lily to the occasion. Eyes, l think
like the musical poems best" Memory
seemed to rush in to save him. After
quarter of u century the schoo
readers rose before him. Yes, caI
never forget the haunting music oil
The Pied Piper of Hamelin.'"
And then he could almost have
sworn that the gifted young person
said "Rats!" under her breath. Yet
being in polite society, he only be
came vaguely aware that his sister
was right, and that he had forgotten
what to do with his hands. Or was
it his feet?
Gout in the United states