A Pessimist in Theory and Practice

Оглавление

Frederic Mayer Bird. A Pessimist in Theory and Practice

I. WISDOM IN THE WOODS

II. WORSE YET

III. COMPLICATIONS

IV. A WILFUL PRINCESS

V. CONSULTATION

VI. PREPARATION

VII. INITIATION

VIII. INTRODUCTION

IX. AT NEWPORT

X. ON THE CLIFFS

XI. EXPLANATIONS

XII. AWAKENING

XIII. DOMESTIC CRITICISMS

XIV. OVER TWO CIGARS

XV. THE CATASTROPHE

XVI. FEMININE COUNSELS

XVII. CONSOLATION

XVIII. AGAINST EARNESTNESS

XIX. CONSPIRACY

XX. APOLOGY FOR LYING

XXI. JANE TO THE RESCUE

XXII. AN ORDEAL

XXIII. PLAN OF CAMPAIGN

XXIV. TO WAYBACK AGAIN

XXV. A WILD BROOK

XXVI. AN INTRACTABLE PATIENT

XXVII. SCENERY IMPROVED

XXVIII. DIPLOMACY

XXIX. SUBMISSION

XXX. WASTED ADVICE

XXXI. RESULTS REPORTED

XXXII. CONFESSION

XXXIII. A FAMILY CONCLAVE

XXXIV. TO PERSONS ABOUT TO MARRY

Отрывок из книги

Hartman had asked me to stay with him, but there is no use of overloading friendship, and I like to be my own master as well as he does. I might get tired of him, or he of me; and it's not well to be chained to your best friend for a solid week. Not that I am afraid of Hartman; he is not a lunatic, only a monomaniac; but I can cheer him up better when I have a good line of retreat open. He took me next morning to some superior pools, where the trout were fat and fierce; but I had not my usual skill. The truth is, Jim was on my mind; and after missing several big fish and taking a good deal of his chaff, I begged off – said I had letters to write – and so got to the tavern in time for dinner, which they have at the pagan hour of half-past eleven. Then I set to work thinking. I am not quite so dull as I may seem, but Hartman always had the ascendancy at college, and last night I fell into the old way of playing chorus to his high tragedy. This will not do, and I must assert myself. He was much the better student of course, but I have knocked about and seen more of the world than he has, shut up in these woods like a toad in a tree. He is too good a sort to go to seed with his confounded whimseys; so I determined to take a different tone with him. And I wrote to my wife about it: Mabel is a competent woman, and sometimes has very good ideas where mine fail – though of course I seldom let her see that. That evening I took him in hand.

"Jim," I said, "I've been thinking – about you."

.....

"Well, Hartman, if you had two or three kids, as I have, you'd see things differently. They would give you an interest in life."

"A tragically solemn one, no doubt. That responsibility at least can't be forced on a man. He can let his part of the curse die out with him."

.....