The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-09-13


 Dombey, the pretty love story of Wal er and Florence, the wonderful re- marks of that best of mariners. Cap n tuttle--and this central story would Aill remain a great novel, Further Iiore. 1t would be a problem novel or modern as any of the modern ones that are so popular just now, except for one thing. It has simpie. human tears and human wickedness and human glory il 1t and shakes the reader like q siorm. instead of Being stated in the modern form of psychological formula. wherein the language of the alienist ctnvenientiy takes the place of the language of genius.
 When Mrs. Dombey died in giving birth to a son, MT. Dombey felt a snitural regret; but 1t was tempered bF the reflection that she had at last, tlough tardily. expiated her great fault i, delaying so long to provide a sue csssor for the house of Dombey and Son.
 The house of Dombey and Son had rassed from a father Dombey to son Dombey ever since the time of Mir. Paul Dombey's grandfather and in his eyes 1t would have been a crime beyond treason to break the chain. Mir. Dom ,. bey could have conceived the picture of Dombey and Son continuing to exist In glory without the British Empire; but he could not have imagined the British Empire as existing without Dombey and Son, who had business all around the world and reduced all its romantic and adventurous activities into dignified ledger accounts.
 1 All his relatives and worshipping ac- quaintances and humbly admiring em- ployes shared Mir Dombey's sense of the awful importance of keeping the great house alive Therefore Mrs. pombey who had made no great stir fiji the world while she was in it. went out of 1t, with even less The only one who mourned her sincerely was her daughter Florence, whom she had presented to Mir. Dombey in lieu of a son some few years before, much to that gentleman's indignation.
 After little Paul was born. Florence became still less of an important item in MT. Dombey's fife. She was retired into the acer of her nurse, Miss Susan Nipper. young person of strong con victions, who gradually became one constant and beligerent protest against the neglect with which her darling was treated.
 Not that Mfr. Dombey neglected her training or her dresses or her appear ance. The dignity that attached It. self to all his possessions attached it, ] self to her, too. He ordered and paid that she be brought up as befittej 8 Dombey, and then dismissed her from his mind. which had room alone for little Paul, the Son of Dombey and Son.
 He had balances struck oftener than before from. the day Paul was born. The books were kept even more close z ly- He took to walking in the docks to look at his, tall ships and wharves and cargoes and exult with ponderous dignity over the wealth that was to be the sons.
 Florence was years old when her evil star brought on her head & Dom- oeyan displeasure that involved not her alone. but also a lad who occupied the humble position of Dombey and Sons youngest clerk--Walter Gay. She became separated from her nurse on the streets and was snatched up by an old lady who described herself as nice old Goody Brown, and prompt ly took Florence to her hovel in an all ley, where she divested her of her fine garments and garbei her in rags taken from a junk heap. after which she turned the frightened child lose again.
 Walter Gay saw the weeping little raga muffin and spoke to her kindly When he discovered that she was Miss Dombey he hurried her home to the shop and residence of his uncle Sol Gills, who lived in skipper-like state among nautical instruments which were bought by so few customers that the wooden effigy of the dauntless It. tie midshipman before the door seem ed to be peering with the hopeless eagerness of a man on a sinking ship through his sextant for business that never came
 Old Sol Gills clutched his precise little Welsh wig and Knocked over a In trade when Walter entered with the pretty little girl and told his won- derful adventure. He called on an unnamed power to bless his soul and cut into huge leg of mutton as if he had been honored by the sudden visit of famished giant and wound up his chronometers and darkened the windows and pulled couch to the fire and altogether hustled about like q most lovable and amiable old ship suddenly called on to go into action.
 So soon. as Walter had seen Flor ence comfortably bestowed he hasten ed to Mir. Dombey's house to report MT. Domby had received the weeping Susan's news of Florence's loss with lively dissatisfaction that such an un- conventional and improper thing should have happened to Dombey. He re- ceivsd Walters news with annoyance that he should have been placed in a position of obligation toward an un- derling. When the lad departed with Miss Susan Ripper. he looked after him with sharp disfavor and such thoughts as he deigned to bestow on him af- ter he was gone followed him with no greater relish.
 MT. James Carker. the manager of Dombey G Son, viewed him with the same disapprobation. Mir. Carker was a gentleman of thirty eight, ten years younger than his employer. whom he treated with an immense respect and a carefully assumed independence that were as incense to the gratified Mir. Dombey. He had a horid complexion and two unbroken rows of glistening white teeth that he showed continually in wide smile--a smile that never ex- t, tended beyond his mouth. Mir. Carker marked Walter Gay from that day as a young person to be suppressed.
 Happily unconscious of the results of Walters adventure, old Sol Gills and his friend Captain Cutie indu1ged In beaming hopes and sat together in deep joy behind the vainly peering mldship- man to expatiate on their beloved boys wonderful luck and prospects,.
 The Captain purchased a ballad of extreme antiquity, which seemed to him to have a profound similaUty to the affair of Walter and Florence. This ballad he learned painfully by heart: and in the evenings. after sundry hoarse orders to Sol and Walter to stand by" he would roar through 1t in the little back parlor, beating time with the iron hook that served him in place of his right hand. A fine timber ike man was tho Captain. who never waa seen abroad or at home without bis hard glazed hat on, while his red