The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-01-15
HIS SPECTACLES.
They Created a New World Full Ct
Details.

Tie anu NOtSC0 S1Ao J" Si Sd
me. What the voices meant, how the
spot they came from looked (what
expression was on the speakers face,
as the cant phrase has it) were ques-
tions for intuition to answer. | lived
in a world Of vague suggestion.
got almost more information from
the touch of mans hands than from
the look of his eyes. And yet I knew
the general meaning Of faces quite
we'll when they were near me-bet-
ter, perhaps, than I do now. Lon
don! You can imagine what London
was like, evening London above all.
It swan in a haze of romance, won
,derful masses of cab, bus and man,
aglow with diffused light, loomed out
of mist and vanished into it. Chatter
of unseen feet echoed up to my very
ears. Life was perpetual surprise,
an adventure. Who knew what faces
would suddenly take form out of the
void?
l put on the glasses and looked at
the opticians young man and beheld
that he was wrinkled.
Horribly wrinkled. He was all
wrinkles. His face was nothing but
innumerable ugly lines and splotches.
Expression there was none that I
could focus-lines and splotches were
all that could be seen.
Would keep them on? Or should
he put them in the case? The lines
punched themselves up into hideous
questioning creases.
I would keep them on so as to get
used to them, muttered, subcon-
scious of complete loathing.
The oblivious young man agreed.
Eyes, you'd better give your eyes
bit of practice before you start
reading, sir. Good evening, sir"
with more creasesl.
I stepped out stupidity into the
street. shying at the doorpost, into
the concentrated glare of electric
!, lights that danced and flashed on the
lenses of my spectacles.
After a moment or two of dazzle
I began to see. To see with terrible
.distinctness. The eyes began to ac-
.cept this new universe. So awfully
new! There was no background
now. no picture, no atmosphere. Iso-
lated men and things to the furthest
limit OF vision stood out, rounded,
raw and palpable. l could put my
eyes on three sides of them. There
was no street of soft-blending shad-
ow and gleam; there were only
houses, lamp-posts, electric globes,
vehicles, passengers. There were no
men, only hats, coats, trousers, boots,
jerking ridiculously. No faces
only features-and when they got
nearer, labyrinths of CHASTITY twitch-
ing lines. No concrete thing at all
only irrelevant details of things
which the painful vision kept pur-
suing with more and more minute
ness.
And yet my eyes had feeling of
pridc--pride that they could see so
far, that these dots of men slouch-
ing under lamppost before the Man
sion House should vibrate so clear
an image to Cornhill. They began,
with something of an effort. to dis
regard these insistent neighboring in
.dividuals and to shoot off into vast
perspectives, to daily with details
hundreds Of yards away. This was a
much larger world I had got. If it
would only adjust itself, would be-
DIT 81
poseless; every object was detached
from its fellows. The old harmony
was gone. Things no longer fitted
in Details thrust themselves upon
me. I lost q glance at the soul of
the passer through watching the
twitch Of his lips.
Then the faces began to simplify
lines assumed their proper subordi-
nation. I perceived men still had
expressions. 1 perceived that they
had eyes. fearful eyes, thousands OF
eyes. surrounding me, looking at me.
l was betrayed. I felt utterly en-
barrassed; almost l blushed at this
infinite critical inspection. Every
button and stitch of me knew itself
for laughter. I felt that my hat
was too small, my hair too long. that
my boots we're unpublished. hastened
to re-hat, clip and polish myself.
/ had come out of my chrysalis
For the first time I was markedly
within handstrike of the world.
The novelty was interesting. One
was afraid of it all, but attracted by
It. III this world one was in constant
danger Of attack. A militant world
Every man away down the street
walked with his hand on his sword
hit. A brief fit OF shivering, and my
spirit rose to the challenge Of it.
I walked the pavement thrilling tC
the glance Of these innumerable
identities.
Nothing has altered. The objects
I look at are just the same. My eyes
are the same. Only now two little
pieces of convex pebble are fixel be-
tween the eyes and the objects. One
takes off the spectacles and ey
amines them for solution to the
mystery. Absurd What easy vic
tins are our senses OF their instru
mentSi
1t makes one uneasy. Tangible
matter ceases to be the steadfast
thing we had imagined it. How car
I be sure that what these pebble:
show me is truer than my old vision
"A little difference in the curving o