Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-08-20

llIOulu anu d uuSe IuluDleT DIT HIS ell
bow, deep in big armchair, the ex-
Lancer would deliver an autobiog-
raphical sketch, full of incident and
nicely seasoned to the palate of his
listeners. He seemed to have been ev-
rywhere, to have known everybody and
to have done everything. His capacity
for enjoyment had increased rather
than diminished with advancing years.
1t was colossal, Rabelaisian
Towards the close of this memorable
evening. the Major described a kan
CARGO hunt with corroborative detail
due to vivid and infamed magma
ton, rather than a memory admitted
ly the worse for wear At the end of
the narrative, he said:
Rather rum thing happened next
day, | ran across Wilverly. You boys
don't remember 'Duffer' Wilverley. He
was at Harrow with me and went into
the Brigade. Amazin' chap! A thun-
derin' cricketer, and as clever as they
make EN-. We called him the 'Duffer'
because he was such mailer at ev
erything. Good lookin, too, tall, fair
cove, not very unlike you, Hugo, my
boy. There wasn't a more popular fell
INV III t1du LIE DuuGI. I1S
brought off a queer double event; won
the National on his own gee and pub
lished a poem! I'm not a judge of poe
try but fellows in the know told me
it was bit of all right Then he dis
appeared, dropped out entirely.
Broke? Not bit of it. He got what the
Yankees call cold feet He told me
all about it over my camp fire. He was
fed UP with this sort Of thing the
Major waved an all-including arm.
Call Of the Wild" suggested one OF
the company.
That's it in one. So he cut loose
found him on his own station, fit as
fiddle and as happy as tomtit. He
told me solemnly he was never com
ing back"
Half of the young fellows present
said emphatically that they were
damned The Major muttered:
'Straonary thing very" and lit his
fifth cigar.
Hugo returned to his fiat late. Be
fore he went to bed he looked at his
mothers portrait. Again he found him
self wondering: did she know"
Then he Laughter, thinking of Wilver-
iSy. III tliS Aul letlC lily lHS W DidSIl-
cate Cyprus beef, for instance, he had
anticipated with pleasure this first
night in town; the plunge into the
pleasure of the old life. And now he
had made the appalling discovery that
it bored him to tears. The fun of May
fair was no longer fun for him.
Why?
With vague feeling of irritation
he stared at his mothers picture. She
conjured up q vision of Cynthia Char
teris Then, quite plainly he saw JOY,
and then, at the last, Joy melted from
his sight and the inlportunate FoppeL
held up her mouth to be kissed.
Angela did not reach London upon
the following day. Hugo spent the
morning in the Geological Gardens,
being Fellow of the Society, and well
known to several of the keepers. AS
boy, nothing amused him more than
tc stand opposite some magnificent
beast and select the exact spot where
he would try to place bullet if the
animal were charging. Since those
days he had shot some splendid spec
linens, and more than one had come
within an inch or two of killing him.
Recalling these escapes he wondered
grimly whether the filter animal had
survived.
For a couple Of hours he watched
the restless creatures pacing up and
down their ill-smelling dens. The po-
lar bears, in particular, challenged his
pity. One monster reared himself up
and blinked at Hugo with uncanhy
III, f,,l 1ypN hot
are accustomed to- he seemed to say
Isn't this sort of thing an outrage on
your ridiculous civilization" The
eagles stared at him fercely. Of all
the unfortunate prisoners herded to
gether their lot appeared to be the
most unhappy and cruel Certainly, il
would be kindness to fetch a gun
and despatch these lords of the air
condemned to sit forever gazing into
sunlit spaces where once they had
held undisputed sway.
| Hugo searched in vain for leopard
presented by him to the Society.
keeper told him that it was dead
''Im glad to hear it," said Hugo
cheerfully That's the best bit of news
I've had today"
The man touched his hat, agape
with astonishment.
"Id like to kill EN- all" said Hugo
still smiling.
Again the keeper touched his hat
but as Hugo moved on, he muttered:
''The bloodthirsty loonatic, reglal
butcher"
Hugo went home, sent in his resig
nation to the Society, and wrote a let
ter to the Times. In it he suggested
that the public might study zoology
from subjects stuffed and classified, a.
in the Natural History Museums. The
Gardens, being an inferno worthy o
the Dark Ages, ought to be put doWr
by act of parliament. 1t occurred t.
him as happy thought that the den'
might be kept for wife-beaters, vivi
sectionists, sweaters Of cheap labo
and Stun landlords. The one reason
which justified the existence Of thu
gardens towit: it's claim to be con
sidered as a place of popular enter
tainment-would justify also its met
amorphosis into an open air prison TO
the criminals he had named. The low
err classes and all the dear little one