The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1926-12-30
The Love of the
Highbrows
b. H. IRVING ZINC

IT WAS delightful to see how per-
4 fectly Minerva Martin and William
Minturn got on together-how perfect
ly they understood each other; just as
two young people engaged--or as good
as engaged-ought to. But then Min
erva and William were not ordinary
people; far from it. They were both
superior" no sentimental and emo
tional nonsense about those two young
highbrows-they dwelt in an atmos-
phere of pure reason and brought in
tellect to bear upon all the relations
of life.
AS to marriage, they were agreed
after prolonged discussion--that
while 1t was rather an antique in
stitution it was well to preserve 1t as
an antique. William had once col
Iected old china; antiques had their
place In life. Yes, the institution of
marriage should be continued-as they
proposed to continue it-calmIy and
deliberately.
How they laughed at the novelists
and poets of the Scott and Byron era,
and pitied the simple and uniformed
writer's of the Victorian era. Once Min
erva caught William reading Byron.
He looked as guilty as a New England
boy of the last century caught read
ing a "dime novel;" and explained
| with a blush that he was only trying
to see to what depths of sentimental
slush the human mind could descend.
But William had his revenge; he
caught Minerva reading Tennyson, and
she had to explain that she had simply
| been amusing herself with the appal-
ling shallowness of the Victorian mind.
Matters went along in this pleas
ant and highly satisfactory manner
for-oh, long time. Then, somehow,
Pure Reason slipped cog-and there
was a disagreement. It is no matter
what they quarreled over; 1t was
some intensely complicated and pro-
found subject which the reader would
not understood if it were mentioned
any more than William and Minerva
understood it. Suffice it that they
parted, each disappointed in the intel
!ectual capacity of the other. But
they had so long been used to each
others society, so long accustomed to
that they were both intensely IN
| happy.
ut is that Internal Tennyson that
| caught her reading" thought Will
liam, that has weakened the fiber
of her strong and lucid mind"
tits that awful Byron saw him
with that has ruined the symmetry
of his once perfect intellect" sighed
| Minerva. Then William got a volume
of Tennyson and began to read 1t,
seeking to discover the virus hidden
therein that he might perfect an anti
toxin for it and restore Minerals
mind to normally. And she did about
/ the same with regard to Byron. Meth
er had any idea that they themselves
might become infected. And it would
not have made any difference if they
! had realized the danger. They were
| hero and heroine. 1t is highly proper
| to take some risk for the sake of the
person you want to maryland each
felt they could not get along through
tA1C WllllOuL TIC OlACAs
After about two weeks of Tenny-
son-picking out the poems with the
most love in them and reading them
over and over-Willlam suddenly one
day had new idea. Jimmy crick-
cts !" cried he his culture slipping
from him like bathrobe, Il really be
Iieve there is such thing as love
II. n
tainly has nothing to do with it."
1t was at just about the same time
| that Minerva caught herself repeat
ing those lines of Byron. "Oh, Love-
what is 1t in this world of ours that
makes it fatal to be overland
stopped with gasp of apprehension
Love? oh, if William had not been so
obstinate about that little matter of
sociology how he might help her to
comprehend, through his clear, cool
mind, what was puzzling her so. She
was alarmed at her own mental con
dition She found herself unconscious,
ly regarding love as an actually
when any schoolgirl could see that II
was absolutely opposed to Pure Rea-
son.
Yes, in spite Of their little differ
ence she must have the benefit of
Williams assistance in considering
this matter-and she wrote to him
very prim letter SO stating. She had
come to the conclusion. she said, that
there was a possibility of such a
thing as love existing. and she would
be obliged if William would write her
an essay stating now, II he considered
such a thing to be possible, the said
actually called love could be recon
ciled with Pure Reason.
4 Williams answer was brief and to
the point: 1T can't be-" he wrote,
and that is the beauty of it. am
coming round to see you tonight"
NOlO and Then
Because she would insist on eating
a