The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-06-28
 THE MAN .WHO ROSE AGA1N|
 
 ......by...... : JOSEPH ROCKING , Copyright, 1909, by George H. Doran s Company s
......by......

 had been embittered by the death of his wife; he had been embittered be- cause he could never obtain the suc- cess he coveted. He saw men who half the scholarship which he pos sessed, leap into fame, while he re- mained obscure. Perhaps this was because his theory of life was so ut terly hopeless, and his faith in men and women was so little. Young Radford was naturally influenced by his fathers views and his father S character, and thus by the time he was old enough to go to a public school, he was, like Shelley, an atheist
 Presently his father, who was ann bilious for his sons future, sent him to Oxford. He became a student at Magdalen College. where he obtain ed, not only a reputation as a scholar and debater, but he became notor- ious. He became more and more inn bued with the materialistic philosophy which was accepted by a certain sec ton of the men there; indeed, he be- came their leader and spokesman. He professed. an utter contempt for life. He regarded men and women as so many worthless things spawned up- on the shores of time, to be presently swept away into nothingness. He had little or no faith in the nobility of human nature. Men were mostly sordid, selfish, and base. Trace mems motives to their source, and they were in the main selfish. Women were, if possible, worse than men. When he was about twenty-four he altered his opinion for time. He fell in love with girl who fas- cinated him by her wit, her beauty, ness. For a time his love made him cast off his fathers hopeless philo- sophy. He formed plans for the fu- ture. Through his mother he pos sessed an income, which while not large, placed him in a position of af- fluence. It was large enough to en- a ble him, to enter Parliament, where he believed he could make for him. self a brilliant future.
 He proposed to the girl with whom he had become enamoured and was accepted. He had barely become a happy accepted lover, however, when a young barrister who had won a great deal of praise at the Bar, and had also entered Parliament, where great future, also proposed to her. Without hesitation this girl, Blanche Bridgetown by name, cast Leicester aside and accepted the man who had made a reputation, rather than keep her faith with one whose future was uncertain. In this decision Blanche Bridgetown was largely influenced by her mother.
 Radford Leicester soon recovered from the wound he had received in his heart, but he did not recover from the blow which was struck at his faith. All his old cynicism and hopelessness reasserted themselves. Whenever he spoke of women he spoke bitterly, his outlook on life be- came less cheerful than ever
 Then another element entered his life. Up to- this time he had not been hard thinker; but now the taste which he had inherited grew stronger. Drink made him forget his wounded pride; and confident in his boast that no distilled spirits could ever affect him outwardly, he in- dulged in this evil habit more and more freely.
 Still, pride was not dead. Profess ing, as he did, that life was miser- able sort of affair at the best, he still had ambition. He wanted to carve out for himself a place of posi- tion and power. His party had found a constituency for him, and he con- tested it. At the time of the contest however, the political opinions which Radford Leicester had adopted were not popular. His opponent won the seat.
 Again he was embittered, again his pride was wounded, and the habi, which had been gaining in strength now seemed to have obtained a com plete mastery over him. Thus Rad ford Leicester, who had never been known to be drunk, was drunkard
 He had no faith in man; he had nc faith in men.
 There was one power in his life however-ambition. He wanted tC be renowned He knew that he pos sessed unusual abilities; his career ir | Oxford had proved it in a hundred ways. Moreover, the vice which had mastered him had not degraded him in the eyes of men. Only a few knew that he was a hard thinker. He al ways dressed we'll, spoke clearly, and walked steadily. Of his cynicism he made no secret, of his repudiatior of the Christian story and of Chris tian morals he almost boasted; nev. ertheless, nearly every one spoke ot him as a man who would make 2 great name.
 Besides, to weaker men he had 8