The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-08-24
ECCENTRIC MIR. CLARK.
BY JAMES VII ITcoMB RILEY.

l All who knew Mir Clark intimately. casually, or by sight alone, smiled al- ways, meeting him and thought, What an odd man he isl" Not that there was anything extremely or ridieulously obtru- sive in MT. clarks peculiarities either of feature dress or department, by which a graded estimate of his really quaint character might be apty defined; but rather perhaps, 1t was the curious combination of all these things that had gained for MT. Clark the transient cele- brity of being very eccentric man.
 And Mr. Clark, of all the odd inhabi- tants of the busy metropolis in which he lived. seemed least conscious of the fact of his local prominence. True 1t was that when familiarity addressed as Clark, old boy by sportive individu- als he never reeolleeted having seen be- fore. he would oftentimes stare blanSly in return, and with evident embarrass- ment; but as these actions may have been attributable to weak eyes, or to the confusion consequent upon being pub licly recognized by the quondam asso- ciate of bacchanalian hours, the sugges- tive facts only served to throw his ee- centriciues in new relief.
 And, in the minds of many, that MT C1.rl1 was somewhat given to dissipation, there was but little doubt; for although in no way. and at no time dereliet in the rigid duties imposed upon him as an ac- countant in wholesale liquor house on South John street q grand majority of friends had long ago conceded that cer- tain puffiness of flesh and a soiied-like l pallor of complexion were in no wise the l legitimate result of over-applcation sim i ply in the eounting-room of the estab- | lishment in which he found employment; 1 but as to the complcity Of MT. Clark's l direct associates 9n this belief. 1t Is only i justice to the gentlemen to state that by l them he was exonerated beyond all such i suspicion, from the gray-haired senior l of the firm. down to the pink-nosed por- i ter of the warerooms, who, upon every i available occasion, would point out the 1 eccentric Mir. Clark as the on'y man in ! the biznez at never sunk a thief CT l drunk a drop O goods O any kind, un- 1 der no consideration"
 And MT. Clark, himself, when playfully approached upon the subject, would quietly assert that never, under any cir cumstances, had the taste of intoxicating liquors passed his lips, though at such observations it was a noticeable fact that Mir Clarks complexion invariably | that h1s eyes, forever moist, grew dew fer and that his lips and tongue would seem covertly entering upon some lush conspiracy, which in it's incipiency he would be forced to smother with his hastily drawn handkerchief. Then the eccentric MT. Clark would laugh nerv- ously, and, bouncing on some subjest so vividly unlike the one just previous as to daze the listener, he would ripple ahead with a tide of eloquence that pos l itively oVerhowed and washed away all remembrance of the opening topic.
 i In point of age MT. Clark might have | been thirty thirty-1ve, or even forty | years were one to venture an opinion solely guided by outward appearances and under certain circumstances and sur
 roundings As for example when,
 dozen years ago, the writer of this sketch
 rode twenty miles in a freight-caboose
 with MT. Clark as the only other passen-
 ger, he seemed in age at first not less
 than thirty-five; but upon opening con-
 versation with him, in which he joined
 with wonderful Vivacty, a nearer View,
 and a prolonged and studious one as
 well, revealed the rather curious fact
 that at the very limit of all allowable supposition. his age could not possibly have exceeded twenty-five When it was in the man that struck me as eccentric at that time I have never been wholly | most trivial occurrences of our meeting and the very subiect-matter of our con Versation. I even remember the very words in which he declined a drink from my traveling-fask-for Its a raw day, " I said. by way of gratuitous excuse for offering 1t. "Yes," he said, smilingly mo- tioning the temptation aside it is Q raw day; but you're rather young In years tc ' be doctoring the weather-at least yout ' better change the treatment-they'n al be raw days for you after a whilei' , | confess that I even felt an inward pity
 for the man as I laughingly drained hi'
 health and returned the flask to my va
 lise. But when l asked him, ten minutes
 later, the nature of the business in whicl
 he was engaged, and he handed me- il | response and without comment the cart
 of a wholesale liquor house, with his owl
 name in crimson letters struck diagonallI
 across the surface, I wlnked naively tt
 myself and thought "Ah-ha' And. as f
 reading my very musings, he said; Why
 certainly. I carry a full line of samples
 but, my dear young friend don't imagin,
 for minute that l refuse your brand or
 that account. You can rest assured tha
 l have nothing better In my cases
 Whiskey is whiskey wherever it is found
 and there is no best whskey-not in al
 the world!'
 Truly, thought, this an odd source fol
 the emanation of temperance sentimentl
 then said aloud: And yet you engag,
 in business you dislike! Traffic in al
 article that you yourself condemn Do understand you?
 Might there not be such thing" h.
 said quietly, 'as inheriting a business 1. the same as inheriting an appetite However, one advances by gradations: shall sell no more. This Is my last tri s on the road in that capacity: I am com T ing In now to take charge of the firm = books. Would be glad to have you cal d on me any time you're In the city Good q | bye" And, as he swung off the slowly }, moving train. now entering the city an u l stood watching him from the open doc = of the caboose as he rapidly walked dow
 a suburban street, I was positive hi
 gait was anything but steady-that tn
 step-the figure the whole air of tn
 man was that of one then laboring unde
 the effects of partial ntoxcation.
 I have always liked peculiar people; n n matter where I met them, no matter wh l. they were; if once impressed with an e , centricity of character which I have req : son to believe purely unaffected. I neve a quite forget the person, name or place o our first meeting or where the interest !. ing party may be found again. And so r was in the customary order of thing
 that during hasty visits to the city,
 often called on the eccentric MT. Clarl . and. as he promised upon our first ac
 quaintance, he seemed always glad t
 see and welcome me in his new offic,
 The more I knew of him the more like
 him, but I think l never fully understoo l him. No one seemed to know him quit
 so well as that
 Once I had a little private talk regarf