The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-09-03

ployes OF the house. But ne nnally anu oe-
cisvey declined.
He had met a number of his Springfield
acquaintance from Cook county. and, while
they seemed TO an unbiased and unsophisti-
Gated observer to be merely a drain upon
his pocketbook, Shacklett thought he saw
good financial returns in their company.
Through them he became acquainted with
some street-raiway men, some other cor
poration men. two or three members OF the
City Council, and several people in the
county building. He cultivated these new
acquaintance quietly and skillfully, but
assiduously and from some he got valua-
BILE information. which he stored for future
use, while with the corporation men he did
much of the talking himself and made an
impression upon them similar to that eu-
thanasia which comes over an editor when
he finds a really new lode in literature. All
this time spent in Chicago was TO bear
fruit later in Springfield. and Shacklett was
very content to allow the crop he was SOW
ing TO grow through the warm summer,
while he made frequent trips to Warsaw
on the Mississippi and cultivated there
tendril about which he was much more con-
cerned than he about the rotten logs
whirling in the maelstrom in Chicago.
He felt that his hold upon the heart of
Mary Stoddard was one upon which too
much dependence should not be placed. He
was so different from the ideal man who
had been held up to her as a model since
childhood that he was sure her regard for
him was some kind of queer reversal of
human nature; he had been accustomed to
build his solid house upon the permanent
characteristics of human nature in general,
so that he could not feel much confidence
in the stability OF his house built upon the
sands of what seemed to be a woman's
within contrary TO woman's nature.
He had three points i'm clear view-to
thoroughly understand Mary Stoddard; to
have her understand him, and at the same
time to keep her from lodging back in
alarm and disgust at some of his facets of
character; and especially to settle before
the summer was over whether they two
were mated and matched by heaven, or
were to float close together down stream
for while and then drift apart from a
growing natural repulsion between Presby-
terianism and politics.
These two, when together. spent most of
the time in talking. Sitting in silent COM
munion of souls did not harmonic with
sort. Each was continually searching the
other for new points of light, as the astron-
omer searches the sky for new stars. The
astronomer sometimes allows his eagerness
to cause him to mistake an old nebula for
new asteroid, and it must be confessed
that both Shacklett and Mary Stoddard
sometimes distorted little points of reflected
| light into star-brightness that was unde-
served. The strongest sentiment in the
| world is not in the schoolgirl fairly oozing
sentimentality, but is in the cool. calcu-
lating. intellectual. experienced student of
human nature, who at last finds warm
blood flowing through man or woman of
the kind admired. The deepest sentiment
to be found, in fact, is the love of thor
/ oughly practical man like Shacklett and a
calmly intellectual girl like Mary Stoddard,
when the practical man admires that kind
| of girl and the intellectual girl has that
kind of strong man for an ideal So there
was plenty of sentiment in their relations,
but II was deep sentiment and not strong
| sentimentality; 1t was manifested in con-
versation far removed from the courtshp
| dialogues handed down to us by novelists
of an early school, and 1t had little of the
silent sympathy of souls sending out voice
less messages in the moonlight to each
| other through an ether vibrating with love.
| The two grew together at great rate in
| the condolences of that summer, and both
| could feel that IL was good for them to be
| together and learn to make compromises
| while both were in compromising mood.
They sat on the river bluff at the Heights,
drove through the picturesque scenery
along the river, made excursions into the
Missouri country back of Alexandria and
across the ferry from Warsaw, drove to
Mount Moriah up the river road. and Wis
| tied friends in both Keokuk and Hamilton.
1t made the girl laugh when Shacklett
referred to his fear that he would have
no chance whatever in competition with the
Rev. Mr.. Bradbury after he found the lat
ter gentleman on the steamboat in the be-
ginning of the trip to ST. Paul.
There's more in his attitude than in his
strength" she said, land, while his atti-
tude is an excellent one. one wants more
than that. woman ought to be able to
teach attitude to a man who loves her, but
that is all she can do. She can't give him
more strength. or change his mental and
moral physique. but she can put strong
muscles into the best positions for most
effective use for good
But what If the man has been slouched
into attitudes for most effective use of his
muscles for bad?" asked Shacklett "And
what is the attitude for good, anyhow
You Presbyterians stand up to pray and
my Methodist mother always kneeled. She
said she could no more pray standing up
than she could knead bread sitting down.
l guess lover really did used to kneel
down to propose to a girl not very many
years ago, but what would girl do to that
kind of lover now? What's the use OF
bothering about attitudes anyhow" Shack
lett had found that such questions drew
out the girl, and he liked to hear her talk
seriously and deeply-or what to him was
deep philosophy-because IL gave him a
standard to work to himself.
There is something genuine in attitude
after ALL" she replied lit bubbles UP
spontaneously and is part Of human ma
ture, put there when the race was planned
together with the upward trend of man
kind. II can be seen every day, and has
a meaning of its own. 1t is really the
cause or UNCONVENTIONAL divisions in relig-
ion and it is as natural as water running
down hill or smoke rising from chimney
| /<-.ce