"Oh, Dorry dear, I do love you, and often when I have
thought of you in your beautiful home surrounded by luxury,
and then remembered that I have asked you to leave it all
and cast your fortunes with a chap whose fortunes depend on
the whim of the public and the fancy of the art editor, it
has made me feel so guilty that I have more than once put
into those letters I didn't send something about letting you
take it all back and not allowing you to make such a
sacrifice for me, even though you are true and noble and
willing.
"And then I didn't send those letters, and I'm glad now that
I didn't, for the hard days are going to be over soon, and I
feel that I shall be able to offer you comforts that will,
perhaps, keep you from regretting altogether those you have
left behind. I am glad you are so enthusiastic too, now,
about the paper, though you didn't feel just that way at the
start, and after I got your first letter I had to talk the
scheme all over again with Barry and Perny and Van to get
back my courage and to be sure the Bible premium was all
right.
"You know, Dorry, that money is a great thing, or at least
you don't know, because you never had to do without it, but
it is, and especially here where it is so hard to get, and
where it takes so much of it to live even respectably. All
that you have so often said about the bohemian life is fine
and beautiful, and true in a way, too, but there are
unpleasant phases of it as well. The struggle is very hard
sometimes, and even Perny and Van, who do not need much
money, and who will never be anything different from what
they are now, even they are glad that they will be worth a
million at least by this time next year.
"Perny has some property out West that he'll be able to hire
somebody to take off his hands then, and Van wants to buy
another old bureau that we saw yesterday at an antique-shop,
though he already has two, and nothing in them except
fishing-tackle that he gets every spring before it is time
to go, and never uses. Then, Van thinks he'd like a house to
keep his bureaus in, too, and Perny wants a place where he
can have whatever he likes to eat, and a lot of people to
help him eat it, while he recites his poetry to them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account