Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1909-12-04
ATHEf fMAK1NG16f
A NEW YORKER
By o. HENRY.

only an elllptlcal way of say
ing that he was q philosopher an art
ist, a traveller, naturalist and dis
coverer. But, most Of all, he was
poet In all his life he never wrote
line Of verse. He lived his poetry. His
Odyssey would have been a limerick
had 1t been written. But, to lingcr
with the primary proposition. Raggles
was poet
Raggles' specially had he been driv-
en- to ink and paper would have been
sonnets to the cities He studied cities
as women study their reflections In
mirrors, as children study the glue and
sawdust of disloCated doll, as the
men who write about wild animals
study the cages In the zoo. A city to
Ragglcs was not merely a pile of bricks
and mortar peopled by certain num-
ber of inhabitants. 1t was thing with
Individual cOnglomeration of life, with
its own peculiar essence. flavor and
feeling Two thousand miles to the
north and south, east and west Rag
giles wandered In poetic fervOr. taking
the cities to his breast He footed It
on dusty roads or sped magnlticently
In freight cars. counting time rs OF no
account And when he had found the
heart of n city and listened to its Sc
cret confession he strayed on, restless.
to another. Fickle Raggles! But per
haps he had not met the civic corpora
tion that could engage and hold his
critical fancy.
Through the ancient poets we have
learned that the cities are feminine.
SO they were to Poet Raggles, and his
mind carried concrete and clear con
ception OF the figure that symbolizcd
and typlfied each one that he had
wooed
Chicago seemed to swOop down upon
him with a breezy suggestion Of Mrs.
Partington, plumes and patchouli. and
to disturb his rest with soaring and
beautiful song of future promise But
RaggleS would awake to sense Of
shivering cold and haunting impress
sion of ideals lost in depressing aura
of potato salad and fish.
Thus Chicago affected him. Per
haps there are vagueness and inac
curacy In the description, but that is
Ragglcs' fault. He should have record
ed his sensations in magazine poems.
Pittsburg impressed him as the play
OF "Othello" performed In the Russian
language in q railroad station by Dock
stader's mlnstrels. A royal and gen,
erous lady this Pittsburg. though.
homely, hearty, with flushed face,
washing the dishes In a silk dress and
white kid slippers and bidding Rag
giles sit before the roaring fireplace and
drink champagne with his pigs feet
and fried potatoes.
New Orleans had simply gaZed down
upon him from n balcony. He could
see her pensive, starry eyes and catch
the tlutter of her fan, and that was all
Only once he came face to face with
her 1t was Mt dawn, when she was
flushing the red bricks Of the ban
Quette with a pail of water She
laughed and hummed a chansonnette
and filled Raggles' shoes with ice cold
water. Allons!
Boston construed herself to the poetic
Raggles In an erratic and singular
way 1t seemed to him that he I'd
drunk cold tea and that the ci,y was
white, cold cloth that had been bound
tightly around his brow to spur him
to some unknown but tremendous men-
tai effort. And, after all, he came to
shovel snow for a livelihood, and the
cloth, becoming wet, tightened its knots
and could not be removed.
Indefinite and unintelllgible ideas,
you will say, but your disapprobation
should be tempered with gratitude, for
these are poets fancies-and suppose
you had come upon them In verse!
One day Raggles came and laid siege
to the heart Of the great city of Man
haitian. She was the greatest OF all,
and he wanted TO learn her note in the
scale, to taste and appraise and classi-
fy and solve and label her and ar
range her with the other cities that
had given him up the secret of their
individuality. And here we cease to
be Raggles translator and become his
chronicler.
morning and walked into the core Of
the town with the blase air OF cos
mopolite. He was dressed with care
to play the role Of an unidentified
man" No country, race, class, clique,
union. party, clan or bowling asso-
ciation could have claimed him. His
clothing, which had been donated to
him piecemeal by citizens OF different
height, but same number OF inches
around the heart, was not yet rs I'M
comfortable to his figure as those speci-
mems of raiment, self measured, that
are railrOaded to you by transcOnti
mental tallors with n suit case. suepend-
ers. silk handkerchief and pearl studs
rs bonus. Without money. as a
poet should be, but with the ardor Of
an astronomer discovering n new star
In the chorus of the Milky way or
man who has seen ink suddenly flow
from his fountain pen. Raggles wan
dered into the great city.
Late In the afternoon he drew out of
the roar and commotiOn with look
of dumb terror on his cOuntenance.
He was defeated, puzzled. discounted,
frightened. Other cities had been to
him as long primer to read, as country
maidens quickly to fathOm, as send
price of subscription with answer re-
buses to solve, as oyster cocktails to
swallow, but here was one as cold.
glittering. serene. impossible as four
carat diamond In 4 window to a lover