The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-05-13

Odiupdtc Muuuldiu, Will d pcIlOTdLlOQ
in my hat"
Mr.. Bland shivered. I'm going back
to bed he said in disgust.
"First," went on the gentleman with
the perforated derby, permit me to
introduce myself. l am Professor
Thaddeus Bolton, and hold the chair
OF comparative literature in big east
ern university"
Mr.. Magee took the mittened hand
of the professor.
Glad to see you, I'm Sure,' he said.
"My name is Magee. This is Mr.. Bland
he is impetuous, but estimable. 1
trust you will forgive his first salute.
What's bullet among gentlemen? 1t
seems to me that as explanations may
be lengthy and this room is very cold,
we would do we'll to so up to my room,
where there is fire.
"Delighted," cried the old man. "a
fire. l long to see one. Let us go to
your room by all means"
Mr.. Bland sulkily stalked to his mat
tress and secured a gayly cOlored bed
quilt, which he wound about his thin
form.
"This is positively the last experience
meeting attend tonight" he growled.
They ascended to No. Z. The pro-
fessor removed, along with other i'm
pedimenta, his ear tabs, which were
connected by rubber cord. He waved
them like frisky detached ears before
him.
IAN old mans weakness" he re-
marked. "FOolish they may seem to
you. But l assure you found them
useful companions in climbing Bald
pate mountain at this hour.
But l am not here to apologize for
my apparel, am l? Hardly. You are
saying to yourselves why is he here"
Yes. that is the question that disturbs
you. What has brought this domes-
ticated college professor scampering
from the Pagan renaissance to Bald
pate inn? For answer, must ask
you to go back with me q weeks time
and gaze at picture from the rather
dreary academic kaleidoscope that is
my life.
II am seated back Of q desk on a
platform in bare yellow room. In
front Of me, tier on tier, sit hundred
young men in various attitudes of in
attention. am trying to tell them
something of the ideal poetry that
marked the rebirth Of the Saxon gen.
ius. They are bored. I-well, gentle
men, in confidence, even the mind of
a college professor has been known to
wander at times from the subject in
hand. And then-I begin to read a
pOem-a poem descriptive Of a woman
dead GOO years and more. All, gentle
men,
He sat erect on the edge Of his great
chair. Back Of the thick lenses of his
spectacles he had eyes that still could
fash.
'"This is not an era Of romance" he
said. "Our people grub in the dirt for
the dollar. Their visions perish. Their
souls grow stale. Yet now and then,
at most inopportune times, comes the
flash that reveals to us the glories that
might be-"
Mr.. Bland wrapped his gay quilt
more securely about him. Mr.. Magee
smiled encouragement on the newest
racOnteur
II shall be brief" continued Profes.
sor Bolton. Heaven knows that ped
agogic room was no place for visions,
nor were those athletic young men fit
companions for soul gone giddy. Yet
Il lost my head. AS I read on there
returned to my heart glow l had not
known in forty years. The bard spoke
Of her hair:
Her yellow lscks. crisped like golden wyre
About her shoulders were loosely shed
And saw, as in a dream-ahem, I can
trust you, gentlemen-a girl supposed
l had forever forgotten in the mold
and dust OF my later years. will not
go further into the matter. My wife's
hair is black.
"And reading on, but losing the
thread OF the poets eulogy in the gold
en- Fabric of my resurrected dream, it
came to me to compare that maid I
knew in the long ago with the women
l know today. All, gentlemen! Lips
made but for smiling fling weighty ar.
guments on the unoffending atmOs-
phere. Eyes made to light with that
light that never was by land or sea,
blaze instead with what they call the
injustice Of wOman's servitude. White
hands made to find their way to the
hands of some young man in the moon
light carry banners in the dusty streets.
1t seemed 1 saw the blue eyes of that
girl OF long ago turned, sad, rebuking,
on her sisters Of today. AS | finished
reading my heart was awhirl. said
to the young men before me:
""There was a woman, gentlemen-a
woman worth million suffragettes.'
"They applauded. The fire in me
died down. Soon was my old meek,
academic self The vision had left no
trace. l dismissed my class and went
| homo / khoA