Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1915-07-01

discovery came disappointment. l had
realized that she had been dressing
mere lay-flgure in garments of ideal
lied manhood, and endowing an un.
known with panoply of the chival.
ric to which he could probably lay no
rightful claim. Still, 1t was discon-
certing to realize that he had, in the
flesh, contributed absolutely nothing
to the picture.
She had simply devised, from the
whole cloth of Imagination, a collab-
orative sum of Galahad the Pure, and
Richard the Lion-Hearted. She had
seen him only once-from the side
lines of Yale-Harvard football game.
He was playing with the Crimson, and
she was at the impressionable age.
There was the whole meager founda-
tion for his apotheosis.
She did not state the year, but she
gave the score, and by that identi-
fed the occasion.
"I devoutly pray" confided t,
young Mansfield" that she never meets
I hope she doesn't wake up"
Mansfield promptly took up the un-
known hero's defense. He invariably
held brief for the idealist.
"Why do you assume that he's
bounder?" he demanded, almost re-
sentfully. "IIe may be all she thinks"
81 don't assume anything" retort'
ed: "but happened to play on that
team myself, and l am compelled to
admit, though with chagrin, that we
had among us no knights from Ar
thurs Round Table. Warriors of fe-
rocity we had-young gentlemen who
played the game to the lasting glory
of John Harvard-but this letter-per-
feet type of chivalry, valor, and gen.
tleness-well, Pm afraid he failed to
make the team"
You remember the story of Bruce
and the spider? In his ermine, sur
rounded by his stalwart barons, Rob
ert would probably have learned no
lesson from the waving of gossamer
webs. Alone and in peril, 1t taught
him how to conquer
To us, alone and in peril, this diary
assumed an epochal importance EN-
tirely disproportionate to its face val
tie. I even came to the illogical belief
that the girl who had walked out of
Shepheard's Hotel as though the ter
race were cloudpaved was the same
as she who had written these things.
OF course there were manv topics
which we might have discussed TO di-
vert our minds from morbidly watch
ing the cloud of impending mutiny
spread and grow inky. But the cloud
was present and human, and the diary
was present and human, and we were
present and human.
Whether or not we were creatures
Of atrophied brains and distorted vi
sions is an academic question. The
fact remains. For us there was gen
vine relief in turning from the mias'
n of brooding which overhuus the
Wastrel to the rose-spicd fragrance
Of this self.revealed personality. 1t
was clean breeze into our asphyxia.
tion.
One steaming night, when darkness
had stopped our reading, the two OF
us were lying fiat on our backs-and
silent-in the enveloping shadows Of
the forward deck, near the capstan.
A group of men who were of watch
had gathered near us, seeking the
gratefulness of the uninterrupted
breeze. With no suspicion Of our
proximity, they fell into low pitched
but violent conference.
Hoax held the floor as spokesman,
and his deep, whispering voice was
raw with bitterness.
1--WE amt no bloomih' galley
slaves" he growled. "Blyme me,
say, let's make hend O. the ole
bloomin' mess, once and for hail."
"How?" came the natural question
from one of the more conservative.
"'Ow?" retorted the riugleader,
"w'at's the odds 'ow? Any way will
do. Rush the cabin. There's stand
of rifles at the for'ard bulkhead. Kill
off the bloody lot of hofficers. Navi-
gate the bloomin' old 'ooker back our
selves, and report whatever damn
thing we like.
"How about these passengers?"
They'd snitch," suggested the same
questioner.
"Aw, no." sarcastically assured
Hoax, "they won't snitch. They won't
ave no more charnce to snitch than
Coulter isself, damn i'm"
For a moment I felt a steaming
throb in my throat. Then came new
sensation; something like relief that
at last the clear outline of probabili-
ty was looming through the fog OF
maddening uncertainty. 1t did not
seem to matter SO much what the cer-
tainty was, 30 long as it brought an
end to the suspense.
There was some discussion in
hushed voices Caution had its adj