The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-02

90 9hS ~ NIlllCIS6 Tic r.
MIS-. BoWser was duly crushed and
turned to her book. MI. Bowser reluc-
family acknowledged to himself that
he might have got things a triie mix
ed, he scratched out the incomplete
ed verse and tried again. He did not
intend to give her another chance. but
at the end of the third line again he
found himself stuck. 1t wouldn't do to
admit 1t, and SO he said:
s many beautiful thoughts come
rushing in on me that | hardly know
which to use. Just for the fun of the
thing let me ask how you would end
this verse:
81 wander alone, with my soul at peace:
l muse In the t%ruculent dell;
My lubricant soul. like a golden bowl
Il should end it," replied Mrs. Bow
ser, with making dell rhyme with
the bad place."
by thunder. woman, but do you
mean to insult me to my face?"
"Of course not. You asked me how /
would end it, and I told you. There are
one or two other things 1 want to
speak Of. You refer to a '~truculent
DELL Do you a peaceful one?"
"Any idiot could tell that I do"
well, II you will turn to the die
tionary, you will find that ~'truculenf'
means wild-ierce-savage."
What in the name Of seven bobtail-
ed cats do l care for what the diction-
airy says? Was old Webster a poet?
Did he know poetry from pumpkins?"
Perhaps not, but he tells US how to
pronounce words and gives us the
meaning Of them. What do you mean
when you speak of your lubricant
soul?"
None of your business"
"a lubricant is an oil, you know.
o lubricate the machinery of a saw
mill. When you grease a bucksaw
with a pork rind you lubricate it. That
verse would read beautifully as:
Il wander alone. with my soul at peace;
1 muse in the truculent dell;
My lubricant soul. like a golden bowl,
1t slips on it's way with a yell"
"By john" gasped Mr.. Bowser as he
sat and stared at her while the red
flushed his face.
IF 1 am disturbing you I beg par
DON" she answered. 3
by John, by John, but the idea Of
your talking to me like that. Am l
awake or dreaming? Woman
81 don't see anything to get excited
about" she interrupted. Il simply re-
ferred you to the dictionary to show
you that you had misused a word or
two. If your lubricant soul had gone
into the Burns club it might have at
fected your standing there. l should
change it to innocent SOUL for you
have an innocent soul, Mr.. Bowser."
Mr.. Bowser got up and choked and
gaSped and cOughed, but the words he
was fishing for would not come. The
cat had returned after his victorious
scrap; but, though be offered a fair
mark, he was not kicked at. There was
a long minute of direst suspense, and
then Mr.. Bowser flung himself down
the hall and out of doors, taking his
two incompleted verses with him. He
didn't know who to go to, but he was
determined to find out about that ''lu-
bricant soul" Fortune favored him.
He met his coal man almost at the
gate, and, after s%alutations had passed,
he asked:
"Say, Jones, did you ever write any
poetry"
"Tons and tons of it, but I never
gave more than 1900 pounds for a
ton"
"And you are up on Words"
"Clear to the top"
"Well, what is the meaning of a lu-
bricant soul?
"a lubricant soul? That's dead easy.
It means a soul that has just been
creased up with lard?"
"You are an Internal old liar" shout
ed Mr.. Bowser.
"And you are a jackass! Good night!!'
Half an hour later Mrs. BOwser went
to the front window and saw Mr.. Bow
ser huddled up on the steps. Two old
tramps stood at the gate looking at him
and wondering whether be was drunk
or asleep, but his lubricant soul needed
them not-heeded not the March winds,
the cold stone steps, the %truculent peo-
pie who hurried on their turgid way.
He had come down with a thud.
Nj. QUAD.