River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1912-10-31
The COrrectOr of DeStinieS
Being Tales of Randolph Mason as Related by
His Private Secretary, CORTLAND Parks
THE DANSEUSE
Bv Melville DaviSSOn Post
Copyright by Edward J. Clode

predominating feature; in point Oh
dignifed manner, in point OF physical
impressiveness, ia point Of courtly
presentation of his case, he was cas-
lily first. He came attended by
retfnue. like a maharaja. He gave no
personal attention to Randolph Mason
beyond a certain stolid observation
cast in entering equally upon the
rows Of leather book backs, upon Pie
tro. upon the glitteTing ink-stand on
the table. Like a maharaja, he con-
Quoted his relations with others
through skilful attendants waiting con-
stantly on his person. One spoke for
him-a sort of regent. One In white,
a servant of an upper order, saw con-
stantly that no profaning hand touched
him, and another, Of a lower caste,
waited at the door with various ar
ticles of portable luggage.
He held, above all persons of my
knowledge, decided contempt for Gus
tom. | remember that he lunched
during the interview, that he eX-
pressed without restraint his annoy
ance at a beam of light which struck
him through an open shutter, and
once he sang monotonously the fore
words OF a ditty with endless repeti-
ton. like one comfortably at leisure
dwelling on a thought that pleased
him. Something Of his dress ought,
doubtless, to be described. He wore
sort Of yellow sandal, disclosing
white hose, ending four inches above
on his fat leg, plated frock, a coat
hand-embroidered in white silk, hat
buttoned together, having baggy
crown, a dropping rim-all OF French
pique In his right hand he carried a
dog-whip, although there was nowhere
in his retinue a dog, and, tucked UNI
der his left elbow, a man in minute
effigy named-as l presently observed
most curiously, How de-do," and
more curiously, / thought, referred to
by his master as baby"
Now | admit here upon this record
the superiority of st. George Fairfield
Porter in all qualities deemed excel
lent among men; but in the matter of
sight I am as good as any of Gods
creatures, and my gorge rises at the
word baby applied to such q beast as
this How-de-do. There was never on
this earth a more debauched, evilfea-
tured thug of middle age. The worst
strains in three alien races were hide
ously mixed In him. The negro kink
in his hair spoke of long pig eaten
halfraw by camp fires on the Congo;
his puffy, cruel, Turkish face, of
ghastIy-writhing sacks cast out Of pal
ace windows into the Bosphorus; his
slim Mexican body, deformed at the
extremities, of good priests buried
alive to the chin in the slime of the
Verde their faces smeared with
honey that the flies might devOur
them. If at the last door-post, by rea-
son of my sins, l am to meet the devil,
/ pray that he may not come upon me
in the mortal habillments of this How
de-do. / saw now the larger uses for
the dogwhip.
st. George Fairfield Porter was per-
haps two years old. He came accom-
panied by his mother, nurse and a
lesser servant. This mother was a
woman whose face impressed me; 1t
bore record of disaster without at
face seemed cIeansed by m1sfortunes,
us plate passed through acid She
spoke directly, without coloring her
words, without restraint and without
apology, as one speaks to the surgeon
before he strips for the knife. She
did not desire sympathy or verbal con-
ISOLATION. She wished merely that RAN
dolph Mason should have the object
Of her visit laid clearly before him.
She had consulted with an eminent
attorney in New York, who had sent
her to him. as the practicing physician
sends the difficult case to the expert
She was born in New York city, and
had been married three years before
to Charles Porter, an iron-broker of
that city. This man was a progress
sive, brilliant fellow. He had risen
swiftly from a subordinate position,
partly by reason of his excellent ad-
dress, but chiefly because he was the
most practical authority in America
on the manufacture Of pig-iron.
The era of industrial consolidation
arrived about the time of this mar
riage, and Charles Porter was the first
in the east to step into the open door.
He swiftly got optional control of the
iron mill whose product he was accus-
toned to sell, and materially assisted
to bring the larger business into one
gigantic combine under a New York
charter. This tremendous, giddy rise
was the mans ruin. Shot upward al
most in a night from the status OF a
middleman to a position of authority
in one of the greatest consolidated in
dustries of the world, he was wrenched
violently loose from every moral safe
guard He adopted, as an essential
element of this new station. the gilt
tering vices with which he was now
surrounded
A certain oriental, speaking from
rare knowledge of human nature,
feared that with riches one would for
get God. Had he been a monogamist,
he would equally have feared. the for
getting of ones wife and God. So long
as man can with difficulty carry out
but one plan of life he is apt to con-
duct himself as an honorable citizen.
Set on an instant where many paths
are open, he is equally apt to plunge
recklessiy into every possible expert
ence. The American lacked the fore
sight of King David; within a year he
had startled continent by his gam
bling at Monte Carlo; he had been
fined in every city of Italy for the
reckless driving of motor cars: he had
heen publicly elected from the Moulin