THE HESPETCTAN
ibering 'it all as a chain of jpe'tty 'events dn
'a world's 'history.
Since Appomattox, life has run in a
comedy of lighter vein. My profession
has taken me from the Hudson's banks
to the Cascades and the Alaska rivers. I
have cursed blarney- mouthed contractors
on western mountains, the groat prairies,
and in Northern forests.
1 have mot old class-mates occasionally
have occasionally read of their deaths.
'Once I went back to "Washington and
iLee, and, Grod help me, I will never visit
'tihe old campus again.
I have no wife. There is an old rot
'ting plantation house in Virginia; and
near the flower garden undor a great old
oak, is a marble slab; carved thereon is
girlish name that is dear to me smother
ed now in myrtle and protected by an
ivy-covered wall of granite.
Sometimes, I have a longing, I sup
pose it comes from man's gregarious
instinct, to write for others stories of life
and love; but my stories would be un
padded and unmastorful. They would
fae as trivial to others as they are tragical
'to mo.
1 have seen, felt, livod; and have spent
my energy earning bread and butter
money. 1 have not been niggardly; for
.although I have a little hoard, 1 have
'been as free or freer than the average
man is with his gold.
On the whole, I believe my life Juts
given me more respect for honest men,
more reverence for womanhood and the
character of Jesus Christ than 1 had as a
boy.
Yet, J am unable to show all this to
tohoso whom J would. Others musttroad
on thorns and learn what J could tell
them ; for I can not express strong feel
ings of comradeship. J can only send
back a few faint notes of solicitude. I
have not beautified my soul-expression.
'Havel paid for iny -night. on .oiinffli, or
ihave (titoiled for vo'tiliing Hjut uny biead
and lodging, like a working 'horse?
Joseph Axdhews Sahgent.
On the Verge of Politics,
If I wore a man I should be a patriot,
road the nowspapers, and talk politics
the livelong day. 1 should read politics
rather than eat. Beefsteak and potatoes
are ephemeral, but politics is eternal.
Pudding and pie are but inspiration to
the flesh, but politics is food for the
soul. 1 should train my wife to know
this. She should realize that 'breakfast
dinner and supper were secondary mat
tors while I was improving my mind.
If 1 wore a boy 1 should meekly heed
the admonitions of my elders and eschew
politics as a trade, only dabbling in it a
an art. I should follow Klrictly the order
of precedence advised by the wiseacres,
viz: foot-ball first; scholarship, second;
politics, last. Oh, 1 should be calm.
While my country is in the midst of
struggle, I should never feel a quiver of
emotion. I should play foot-ball to get
rid of the excess of energy produced on
my father's sixty bushels to the acre,
eight cents a bushel corn field this sum
mer. And at the end of the semester I
should know my 'Greek gramraer by
heart, and Oh, what a scholar I should
be.
Being nothing Ijut a girl whatcan I do
anyway? T-ho wise men have directod
all their maxims at the brave youths,
lliey said no word to me about politics
or loot-ball. They even wisely showed
no solicitude as to my scholarship. What
am 1 here for? Just to ontortain twelve
big strapping fellows and keep out of
politics, out of footr-ball, out of mischief
m general' Twelve boys to one girl,
they say. What a picnic! The girls
wi go to a premium. Verity, the boys
'Will have something to scrap over 'besides
politics. Andltisleap yctti- ;too. The
'wiHoimonimaydleqp well.
