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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:07 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:36:07 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11155-0.txt b/11155-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fec1a77 --- /dev/null +++ b/11155-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8794 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11155 *** + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VII.--APRIL, 1861.--NO. XLII. + + + + + + + +APRIL DAYS. + + + "Can trouble dwell with April days?" + +_In Memoriam._ + + +In our methodical New England life, we still recognize some magic in +summer. Most persons reluctantly resign themselves to being decently +happy in June, at least. They accept June. They compliment its weather. +They complained of the earlier months as cold, and so spent them in +the city; and they will complain of the later months as hot, and so +refrigerate themselves on some barren sea-coast. God offers us yearly a +necklace of twelve pearls; most men choose the fairest, label it June, +and cast the rest away. It is time to chant a hymn of more liberal +gratitude. + +There are no days in the whole round year more delicious than those +which often come to us in the latter half of April. On these days one +goes forth in the morning, and an Italian warmth broods over all the +hills, taking visible shape in a glistening mist of silvered azure, with +which mingles the smoke from many bonfires. The sun trembles in his +own soft rays, till one understands the old English tradition, that he +dances on Easter-Day. Swimming in a sea of glory, the tops of the hills +look nearer than their bases, and their glistening watercourses seem +close to the eye, as is their liberated murmur to the ear. All across +this broad interval the teams are ploughing. The grass in the meadow +seems all to have grown green since yesterday. The blackbirds jangle +in the oak, the robin is perched upon the elm, the song-sparrow on the +hazel, and the bluebird on the apple-tree. There rises a hawk and sails +slowly, the stateliest of airy things, a floating dream of long and +languid summer-hours. But as yet, though there is warmth enough for a +sense of luxury, there is coolness enough for exertion. No tropics can +offer such a burst of joy; indeed, no zone much warmer than our Northern +States can offer a genuine spring. There can be none where there is no +winter, and the monotone of the seasons is broken only by wearisome +rains. Vegetation and birds being distributed over the year, there is no +burst of verdure nor of song. But with us, as the buds are swelling, the +birds are arriving; they are building their nests almost simultaneously; +and in all the Southern year there is no such rapture of beauty and of +melody as here marks every morning from the last of April onward. + +But days even earlier than these in April have a charm,--even days that +seem raw and rainy, when the sky is dull and a bequest of March-wind +lingers, chasing the squirrel from the tree and the children from the +meadows. There is a fascination in walking through these bare early +woods,--there is such a pause of preparation, winter's work is so +cleanly and thoroughly done. Everything is taken down and put away; +throughout the leafy arcades the branches show no remnant of last year, +save a few twisted leaves of oak and beech, a few empty seed-vessels of +the tardy witch-hazel, and a few gnawed nutshells dropped coquettishly +by the squirrels into the crevices of the bark. All else is bare, but +prophetic: buds everywhere, the whole splendor of the coming summer +concentrated in those hard little knobs on every bough; and clinging +here and there among them, a brown, papery chrysalis, from which shall +yet wave the superb wings of the Luna moth. An occasional shower patters +on the dry leaves, but it does not silence the robin on the outskirts of +the wood: indeed, he sings louder than ever, though the song-sparrow and +the bluebird are silent. + +Then comes the sweetness of the nights in latter April. There is as yet +no evening-primrose to open suddenly, no cistus to drop its petals; +but the May-flower knows the hour, and becomes more fragrant in the +darkness, so that one can then often find it in the woods without +aid from the eye. The pleasant night-sounds are begun; the hylas are +uttering their shrill _peep_ from the meadows, mingled soon with hoarser +toads, who take to the water at this season to deposit their spawn. The +tree-toads soon join them; but one listens in vain for bullfrogs, or +katydids, or grasshoppers, or whippoorwills, or crickets: we must wait +for them until the delicious June. + +The earliest familiar token of the coming season is the expansion of the +stiff catkins of the alder into soft, drooping tresses. These are so +sensitive, that, if you pluck them at almost any time during the winter, +a day's bright sunshine will make them open in a glass of water, and +thus they eagerly yield to every moment of April warmth. The blossom +of the birch is more delicate, that of the willow more showy, but the +alders come first. They cluster and dance everywhere upon the bare +boughs above the watercourses; the blackness of the buds is softened +into rich brown and yellow; and as this graceful creature thus comes +waving into the spring, it is pleasant to remember that the Norse Eddas +fabled the first woman to have been named Embla, because she was created +from an alder-bough. + +The first wild-flower of the spring is like land after sea. The two +which, throughout the Northern Atlantic States, divide this interest are +the _Epigaea repens_ (May-flower, ground-laurel, or trailing-arbutus) +and the _Hepatica triloba_ (liverleaf, liverwort, or blue anemone). Of +these two, the latter is perhaps more immediately exciting on first +discovery; because it does not, like the epigaea, exhibit its buds all +winter, but opens its blue eyes almost as soon as it emerges from the +ground. Without the rich and delicious odor of its compeer, it has +an inexpressibly fresh and earthy scent, that seems to bring all the +promise of the blessed season with it; indeed, that clod of fresh turf +with the inhalation of which Lord Bacon delighted to begin the day must +undoubtedly have been full of the roots of our little hepatica. Its +healthy sweetness belongs to the opening year, like Chaucer's poetry; +and one thinks that anything more potent and voluptuous would be less +enchanting,--until one turns to the May-flower. Then comes a richer +fascination for the senses. To pick the May-flower is like following in +the footsteps of some spendthrift army which has scattered the contents +of its treasure-chest among beds of scented moss. The fingers sink in +the soft, moist verdure, and make at each instant some superb discovery +unawares; again and again, straying carelessly, they clutch some new +treasure; and, indeed, all is linked together in bright necklaces by +secret threads beneath the surface, and where you grasp at one, you hold +many. The hands go wandering over the moss as over the keys of a piano, +and bring forth fragrance for melody. The lovely creatures twine and +nestle and lay their glowing faces to the very earth beneath withered +leaves, and what seemed mere barrenness becomes fresh and fragrant +beauty. So great is the charm of the pursuit, that the epigaea is really +the one wild-flower for which our country-people have a hearty passion. +Every village child knows its best haunts, and watches for it eagerly +in the spring; boys wreathe their hats with it, girls twine it in their +hair, and the cottage-windows are filled with its beauty. + +In collecting these early flowers, one finds or fancies singular natural +affinities. I flatter myself with being able always to find hepatica, if +there is any within reach, for I was brought up with it ("Cockatoo +he know me berry well"); but other persons, who were brought up +with May-flower, and remember searching for it with their almost +baby-fingers, can find that better. The most remarkable instance +of these natural affinities was in the case of L.T. and his double +anemones. L. had always a gift for wild-flowers, and used often to bring +to Cambridge the largest white anemones that ever were seen, from a +certain special hill in Watertown; they were not only magnificent in +size and whiteness, but had that exquisite blue on the outside of +the petals, as if the sky had bent down in ecstasy at last over its +darlings, and left visible kisses there. But even this success was +not enough, and one day he came with something yet choicer. It was a +rue-leaved anemone (_A. thalictraides_); and, if you will believe it, +each one of the three white flowers was _double,_ not merely with that +multiplicity of petals in the disk which is common with this species, +but technically and horticulturally double, like the double-flowering +almond or cherry,--the most exquisitely delicate little petals, seeming +like lace-work. He had three specimens,--gave one to the Autocrat of +Botany, who said it was almost or quite unexampled, and another to me. +As the man in the fable says of the chameleon,--"I have it yet, and can +produce it." + +Now comes the marvel. The next winter L. went to New York for a year, +and wrote to me, as spring drew near, with solemn charge to visit his +favorite haunt and find another specimen. Armed with this letter of +introduction, I sought the spot, and tramped through and through its +leafy corridors. Beautiful wood-anemones I found, to be sure, trembling +on their fragile stems, deserving all their pretty names,--Wind-flower, +Easter-flower, Pasque-flower, and homeopathic Pulsatilla; rue-leaved +anemones I found also, rising taller and straighter and firmer in stem, +with the whorl of leaves a little higher up on the stalk than one +fancies it ought to be, as if there were a supposed danger that the +flowers would lose their balance, and as if the leaves must be all ready +to catch them. These I found, but the special wonder was not there for +me. Then I wrote to L. that he must evidently come himself and search; +or that, perhaps, as Sir Thomas Browne avers that "smoke doth follow the +fairest," so his little treasures had followed him towards New York. +Judge of my surprise, when, on opening his next letter, out dropped, +from those folds of metropolitan paper, a veritable double anemone. He +had just been out to Hoboken, or some such place, to spend an afternoon, +and, of course, his pets were there to meet him; and from that day to +this, I have never heard of the thing happening to any one else. + +May-Day is never allowed to pass in this community without profuse +lamentations over the tardiness of our spring as compared with that +of England and the poets. Yet it is very common to exaggerate this +difference. Even so good an observer as Wilson Flagg is betrayed into +saying that the epigaea and hepatica "seldom make their appearance until +after the middle of April" in Massachusetts, and that "it is not unusual +for the whole month of April to pass away without producing more than +two or three species of wild-flowers." But I have formerly found the +hepatica in bloom at Mount Auburn, for three successive years, on the +twenty-seventh of March; and last spring it was actually found, farther +inland, where the season is later, on the seventeenth. The May-flower is +usually as early, though the more gradual expansion of the buds renders +it less easy to give dates. And there are nearly twenty species which I +have noted, for five or six years together, as found before May-Day, and +which may therefore be properly assigned to April. The list includes +bloodroot, cowslip, houstonia, saxifrage, dandelion, chickweed, +cinquefoil, strawberry, mouse-ear, bellwort, dog's-tooth violet, five +species of violet proper, and two of anemone. These are all common +flowers, and easily observed; and the catalogue might be increased by +rare ones, as the white corydalis, the smaller yellow violet, (_V. +rotundifolia_,) and the claytonia or spring-beauty. + +But in England the crocus and the snowdrop--neither being probably an +indigenous flower, since neither is mentioned by Chaucer--usually open +before the first of March; indeed, the snowdrop was formerly known by +the yet more fanciful name of "Fair Maid of February." Chaucer's daisy +comes equally early; and March brings daffodils, narcissi, violets, +daisies, jonquils, hyacinths, and marsh-marigolds. This is altogether in +advance of our season, so far as the flowers give evidence,--though we +have plucked snowdrops in February. But, on the other hand, it would +appear, that, though a larger number of birds winter in England than in +Massachusetts, yet the return of those which migrate is actually earlier +among us. From journals kept during sixty years in England, and an +abstract of which is printed in Hone's "Every-Day Book," it appears that +only two birds of passage revisit England before the fifteenth of April, +and only thirteen more before the first of May; while with us the +song-sparrow and the bluebird appear about the first of March, and quite +a number more by the middle of April. This is a peculiarity of the +English spring which I have never seen explained or even mentioned. + +After the epigaea and the hepatica have opened, there is a slight pause +among the wild-flowers,--these two forming a distinct prologue for their +annual drama, as the brilliant witch-hazel in October brings up its +separate epilogue. The truth is, Nature attitudinizes a little, liking +to make a neat finish with everything, and then to begin again with +_éclat_. Flowers seem spontaneous things enough, but there is evidently +a secret marshalling among them, that all may be brought out with due +effect. As the country-people say that so long as any snow is left on +the ground more snow may be expected, it must all vanish simultaneously +at last,--so every seeker of spring-flowers has observed how accurately +they seem to move in platoons, with little straggling. Each species +seems to burst upon us with a united impulse; you may search for them +day after day in vain, but the day when you find one specimen the spell +is broken and you find twenty. By the end of April all the margins +of the great poem of the woods are illuminated with these exquisite +vignettes. + +Most of the early flowers either come before the full unfolding of their +leaves or else have inconspicuous ones. Yet Nature always provides for +her bouquets the due proportion of green. The verdant and graceful +sprays of the wild raspberry are unfolded very early, long before its +time of flowering. Over the meadows spread the regular Chinese-pagodas +of the equisetum, (horsetail or scouring-rush,) and the rich coarse +vegetation of the veratrum, or American hellebore. In moist copses the +ferns and osmundas begin to uncurl in April, opening their soft coils +of spongy verdure, coated with woolly down, from which the humming-bird +steals the lining of her nest. + +The early blossoms represent the aboriginal epoch of our history: the +blood-root and the May-flower are older than the white man, older +perchance than the red man; they alone are the true Native Americans. Of +the later wild plants, many of the most common are foreign importations. +In our sycophancy we attach grandeur to the name _exotic_: we call +aristocratic garden-flowers by that epithet; yet they are no more exotic +than the humbler companions they brought with them, which have become +naturalized. The dandelion, the buttercup, duckweed, celandine, mullein, +burdock, yarrow, whiteweed, nightshade, and most of the thistles,--these +are importations. Miles Standish never crushed these with his heavy heel +as he strode forth to give battle to the savages; they never kissed the +daintier foot of Priscilla, the Puritan maiden. It is noticeable that +these are all of rather coarser texture than our indigenous flowers; the +children instinctively recognize this, and are apt to omit them, when +gathering the more delicate native blossoms of the woods. + +There is something touching in the gradual retirement before +civilization of these delicate aborigines. They do not wait for the +actual brute contact of red bricks and curbstones, but they feel the +danger miles away. The Indians called the low plantain "the white man's +footstep"; and these shy creatures gradually disappear, the moment +the red man gets beyond their hearing. Bigelow's delightful "Florula +Bostoniensis" is becoming a series of epitaphs. Too well we know it,--we +who in happy Cambridge childhood often gathered, almost within a stone's +throw of Professor Agassiz's new Museum, the arethusa and the gentian, +the cardinal-flower and the gaudy rhexia,--we who remember the last +secret hiding-place of the rhodora in West Cambridge, of the yellow +violet and the _Viola debilis_ in Watertown, of the _Convallaria +trifolia_ near Fresh Pond, of the _Hottonia_ beyond Wellington's Hill, +of the _Cornus florida_ in West Roxbury, of the _Clintonia_ and the +dwarf ginseng in Brookline,--we who have found in its one chosen nook +the sacred _Andromeda polyfolia_ of Linnaeus. Now vanished almost or +wholly from city-suburbs, these fragile creatures still linger in +more rural parts of Massachusetts; but they are doomed everywhere, +unconsciously, yet irresistibly; while others still more shy, as the +_Linnoea_, the yellow _Cypripedium_, the early pink _Azalea_, and the +delicate white _Corydalis_ or "Dutchman's breeches," are being chased +into the very recesses of the Green and the White Mountains. The relics +of the Indian tribes are supported by the legislature at Martha's +Vineyard, while these precursors of the Indian are dying unfriended +away. + +And with these receding plants go also the special insects which haunt +them. Who that knew that pure enthusiast, Dr. Harris, but remembers the +accustomed lamentations of the entomologist over the departure of these +winged companions of his lifetime? Not the benevolent Mr. John Beeson +more tenderly mourns the decay of the Indians than he the exodus of +these more delicate native tribes. In a letter which I happened to +receive from him a short time previous to his death, he thus renewed +the lament:--"I mourn for the loss of many of the beautiful plants +and insects that were once found in this vicinity. _Clethra, Rhodora, +Sanguinaria, Viola debilis, Viola acuta, Dracoena borealis, Rhexia, +Cypripedium, Corallorhiza verna, Orchis spectabilis_, with others of +less note, have been rooted out by the so-called hand of improvement. +_Cicindela rugifrons, Helluo proeusta, Sphoeroderus stenostomus, +Blethisa quadricollis, (Americana mî,) Carabus, Horia_, (which for +several years occurred in profusion on the sands beyond Mount Auburn,) +with others, have entirely disappeared from their former haunts, driven +away, or exterminated perhaps, by the changes effected therein. There +may still remain in your vicinity some sequestered spots, congenial +to these and other rarities, which may reward the botanist and the +entomologist who will search them carefully. Perhaps you may find there +the pretty coccinella-shaped, silver-margined _Omophron_, or the still +rarer _Panagoeus fasciatus_, of which I once took two specimens on +Wellington's Hill, but have not seen it since." Is not this indeed +handling one's specimens "gently as if you loved them," as Isaak Walton +bids the angler do with his worm? + +There is this merit, at least, among the coarser crew of imported +flowers, that they bring their own proper names with them, and we know +precisely whom we have to deal with. In speaking of our own native +flowers, we must either be careless and inaccurate, or else resort +sometimes to the Latin, in spite of the indignation of friends. There +is something yet to be said on this point. In England, where the old +household and monkish names adhere, they are sufficient for popular +and poetic purposes, and the familiar use of scientific names seems an +affectation. But here, where many native flowers have no popular names +at all, and others are called confessedly by wrong ones,--where +it really costs less trouble to use Latin names than English, the +affectation seems the other way. Think of the long list of wild-flowers +where the Latin name is spontaneously used by all who speak of +the flower: as, Arethusa, Aster, Cistus, ("after the fall of the +cistus-flower,") Clematis, Clethra, Geranium, Iris, Lobdia, Bhodora, +Spirtea, Tiarella, Trientalis, and so on. Even those formed from proper +names (the worst possible system of nomenclature) become tolerable at +last, and we forget the man in the more attractive flower. Are those +who pick the Houstonia to be supposed thereby to indorse the Texan +President? Or are the deluded damsels who chew Cassia-buds to be +regarded as swallowing the late Secretary of State? The names have long +since been made over to the flowers, and every questionable aroma has +vanished. When the godfather happens to be a botanist, there is a +peculiar fitness in the association; the Linaea, at least, would not +smell so sweet by any other name. + +In other cases the English name is a mere modification of the Latin +one, and our ideal associations have really a scientific basis: as with +Violet, Lily, Laurel, Gentian, Vervain. Indeed, our enthusiasm for +vernacular names is like that for Indian names, one-sided: we enumerate +only the graceful ones, and ignore the rest. It would be a pity to +Latinize Touch-me-not, or Yarrow, or Gold-Thread, or Self-Heal, or +Columbine, or Blue-Eyed-Grass,--though, to be sure, this last has an +annoying way of shutting up its azure orbs the moment you gather it, and +you reach home with a bare, stiff blade, which deserves no better +name than _Sisyrinchium anceps._ But in what respect is Cucumber-Root +preferable to Medeola, or Solomon's-Seal to Convallaria, or Rock-Tripe +to Umbilicaria, or Lousewort to Pedicularis? In other cases the merit +is divided: Anemone may dispute the prize of melody with Windflower, +Campanula with Harebell, Neottia with Ladies'-Tresses, Uvularia with +Bellwort and Strawbell, Potentilla with Cinquefoil, and Sanguinaria with +Bloodroot. Hepatica may be bad, but Liverleaf is worse. The pretty name +of May-flower is not so popular, after all, as that of Trailing-Arbutus, +where the graceful and appropriate adjective redeems the substantive, +which happens to be Latin and incorrect at the same time. It does seem a +waste of time to say _Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_ instead of Whiteweed; +though, if the long scientific name were an incantation to banish the +intruder, our farmers would gladly consent to adopt it. + +But the great advantage of a reasonable use of the botanical name is, +that it does not deceive us. Our primrose is not the English primrose, +any more than it was our robin who tucked up the babes in the wood; +our cowslip is not the English cowslip, it is the English +marsh-marigold,--Tennyson's "wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in +swamps and hollows gray." The pretty name of Azalea means something +definite; but its rural name of Honeysuckle confounds under that name +flowers without even an external resemblance,--Azalea, Diervilla, +Lonioera, Aquilegia,--just as every bird which sings loud in deep woods +is popularly denominated a thrush. The really rustic names of both +plants and animals are very few with us,--the different species are +many; and as we come to know them better and love them more, we +absolutely require some way to distinguish them from their half-sisters +and second-cousins. It is hopeless to try to create new popular +epithets, or even to revive those which are thoroughly obsolete. Miss +Cooper may strive in vain, with benevolent intent, to christen her +favorite spring-blossoms "May-Wings" and "Gay-Wings," and "Fringe-Cup" +and "Squirrel-Cup," and "Cool-Wort" and "Bead-Ruby"; there is no +conceivable reason why these should not be the familiar appellations, +except the irresistible fact that they are not. It is impossible to +create a popular name: one might as well attempt to invent a legend or +compose a ballad. _Nascitur, non fit_. + +As the spring comes on, and the densening outlines of the elm give daily +a new design for a Grecian urn,--its hue, first brown with blossoms, +then emerald with leaves,--we appreciate the vanishing beauty of the +bare boughs. In our favored temperate zone, the trees denude themselves +each year, like the goddesses before Paris, that we may see which +unadorned loveliness is the fairest. Only the unconquerable delicacy of +the beech still keeps its soft vestments about it: far into spring, when +worn to thin rags and tatters, they cling there still; and when they +fall, the new appear as by magic. It must be owned, however, that the +beech has good reasons for this prudishness, and possesses little beauty +of figure; while the elms, maples, chestnuts, walnuts, and even oaks, +have not exhausted all their store of charms for us, until we have seen +them disrobed. Only yonder magnificent pine-tree,--that pitch-pine, +nobler when seen in perfection than white-pine, or Norwegian, or Norfolk +Islander,--that pitch-pine, herself a grove, _una nemus_, holds her +unchanging beauty throughout the year, like her half-brother, the ocean, +whose voice she shares; and only marks the flowing of her annual tide of +life by the new verdure that yearly submerges all trace of last year's +ebb. + +How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no +winter in our year! Sometimes, in following up a watercourse among our +hills, in the early spring, one comes to a weird and desolate place, +where one huge wild grapevine has wreathed its ragged arms around a +whole thicket and brought it to the ground,--swarming to the tops of +hemlocks, clenching a dozen young maples at once and tugging them +downward, stretching its wizard black length across the underbrush, into +the earth and out again, wrenching up great stones in its blind, aimless +struggle. What a piece of chaos is this! Yet come here again, two months +hence, and you shall find all this desolation clothed with beauty +and with fragrance, one vast bower of soft green leaves and graceful +tendrils, while summer-birds chirp and flutter amid these sunny arches +all the livelong day. "Out of the strong cometh forth sweetness." + +To the end of April, and often later, one still finds remains of +snowbanks in sheltered woods, especially those consisting of evergreen +trees; and this snow, like that upon high mountains, has become hardened +by the repeated thawing and freezing of the surface, till it is more +impenetrable than ice. But the snow that actually falls during April is +usually only what Vermonters call "sugar-snow,"--falling in the night +and just whitening the surface for an hour or two, and taking its name, +not so much from its looks as from the fact that it denotes the +proper weather for "sugaring," namely, cold nights and warm days. Our +saccharine associations, however, remain so obstinately tropical, that +it seems almost impossible for the imagination to locate sugar in New +England trees; though it is known that not the maple only, but the birch +and the walnut even, afford it in appreciable quantities. + +Along our maritime rivers the people associate April, not with +"sugaring," but with "shadding." The pretty _Amelanchier Canadensis_ of +Gray--the _Aronia_ of Whittler's song--is called Shad-bush or Shad-blow +in Essex County, from its connection with this season; and there is a +bird known as the Shad-spirit, which I take to be identical with the +flicker or golden-winged woodpecker, whose note is still held to +indicate the first day when the fish ascend the river. Upon such slender +wings flits our New England romance! + +In April the creative process described by Thales is repeated, and the +world is renewed by water. The submerged creatures first feel the touch +of spring, and many an equivocal career, beginning in the ponds and +brooks, learns later to ignore this obscure beginning, and hops or +flutters in the dusty daylight. Early in March, before the first male +canker-moth appears on the elm-tree, the whirlwig beetles have begun to +play round the broken edges of the ice, and the caddis-worms to +crawl beneath it; and soon come the water-skater _(Gerris)_ and the +water-boatman _(Notonecta)_. Turtles and newts are in busy motion when +the spring-birds are only just arriving. Those gelatinous masses in +yonder wayside-pond are the spawn of water-newts or tritons: in the +clear transparent jelly are imbedded, at regular intervals, little +blackish dots; these elongate rapidly, and show symptoms of head and +tail curled up in a spherical cell; the jelly is gradually absorbed for +their nourishment, until on some fine morning each elongated dot gives +one vigorous wriggle, and claims thenceforward all the privileges +attendant on this dissolution of the union. The final privilege is often +that of being suddenly snapped up by a turtle or a snake: for Nature +brings forth her creatures liberally, especially the aquatic ones, +sacrifices nine-tenths of them as food for their larger cousins, and +reserves only a handful to propagate their race, on the same profuse +scale, next season. + +It is surprising, in the midst of our Museums and Scientific Schools, +how little we yet know of the common things before our eyes. Our +_savans_ still confess their inability to discriminate with certainty +the egg or tadpole of a frog from that of a toad; and it is strange that +these hopping creatures, which seem so unlike, should coincide so nearly +in their juvenile career, while the tritons and salamanders, which +border so closely on each other in their maturer state as sometimes to +be hardly distinguishable, yet choose different methods and different +elements for laying their eggs. The eggs of our salamanders or +land-lizards are deposited beneath the moss on some damp rock, without +any gelatinous envelope; they are but few in number, and the anxious +mamma may sometimes be found coiled in a circle around them, like the +symbolic serpent of eternity. + +The small number of birds yet present in early April gives a better +opportunity for careful study,--more especially if one goes armed with +that best of fowling-pieces, a small spy-glass: the best,--since how +valueless for purposes of observation is the bleeding, gasping, dying +body, compared with the fresh and living creature, as it tilts, +trembles, and warbles on the bough before you! Observe that robin in the +oak-tree's top: as he sits and sings, every one of the dozen different +notes which he flings down to you is accompanied by a separate flirt and +flutter of his whole body, and, as Thoreau says of the squirrel, "each +movement seems to imply a spectator," and to imply, further, that the +spectator is looking through a spy-glass. Study that song-sparrow: why +is it that he always goes so ragged in spring, and the bluebird so +neat? is it that the song-sparrow is a wild artist, absorbed in the +composition of his lay, and oblivious of ordinary proprieties, while the +smooth bluebird and his ash-colored mate cultivate their delicate warble +only as a domestic accomplishment, and are always nicely dressed before +sitting down to the piano? Then how exciting is the gradual arrival of +the birds in their summer-plumage! to watch it is as good as sitting at +the window on Easter Sunday to observe the new bonnets. Yonder, in that +clump of alders by the brook, is the delicious jargoning of the first +flock of yellow-birds; there are the little gentlemen in black and +yellow, and the little ladies in olive-brown; "sweet, sweet, sweet" is +the only word they say, and often they will so lower their ceaseless +warble, that, though almost within reach, the little minstrels seem far +away. There is the very earliest cat-bird, mimicking the bobolink before +the bobolink has come: what is the history of his song, then? is it a +reminiscence of last year? or has the little coquette been practising it +all winter, in some gay Southern society, where cat-birds and bobolinks +grow intimate, just as Southern fashionables from different States +may meet and sing duets at Saratoga? There sounds the sweet, low, +long-continued trill of the little hair-bird, or chipping-sparrow, a +suggestion of insect sounds in sultry summer, and produced, like them, +by a slight fluttering of the wings against the sides: by-and-by we +shall sometimes hear that same delicate rhythm burst the silence of the +June midnights, and then, ceasing, make stillness more still. Now watch +that woodpecker, roving in ceaseless search, travelling over fifty trees +in an hour, running from top to bottom of some small sycamore, pecking +at every crevice, pausing to dot a dozen inexplicable holes in a row +upon an apple-tree, but never once intermitting the low, querulous +murmur of housekeeping anxiety: now she stops to hammer with all her +little life at some tough piece of bark, strikes harder and harder +blows, throws herself back at last, flapping her wings furiously as she +brings down her whole strength again upon it; finally it yields, and +grub after grub goes down her throat, till she whets her beak after the +meal as a wild beast licks its claws, and off on her pressing business +once more. + +It is no wonder that there is so little substantial enjoyment of Nature +in the community, when we feed children on grammars and dictionaries +only, and take no pains to train them to see that which is before +their eyes. The mass of the community have "summered and wintered" the +universe pretty regularly, one would think, for a good many years; and +yet nine persons out of ten in the town or city, and two out of three +even in the country, seriously suppose, for instance, that the buds upon +trees are formed in the spring; they have had them before their eyes +all winter, and never seen them. As large a proportion suppose, in good +faith, that a plant grows at the base of the stem, instead of at the +top: that is, if they see a young sapling in which there is a crotch +at five feet from the ground, they expect to see it ten feet from the +ground by-and-by,--confounding the growth of a tree with that of a man +or animal. But perhaps the best of us could hardly bear the severe test +unconsciously laid down by a small child of my acquaintance. The boy's +father, a college-bred man, had early chosen the better part, and +employed his fine faculties in rearing laurels in his own beautiful +nursery-gardens, instead of in the more arid soil of court-rooms or +state-houses. Of course the young human scion knew the flowers by name +before he knew his letters, and used their symbols more readily; and +after he got the command of both, he was one day asked by his younger +brother what the word _idiot_ meant,--for somebody in the parlor had +been saying that somebody else was an idiot. "Don't you know?" quoth +Ben, in his sweet voice: "an idiot is a person who doesn't know an +arbor-vitae from a pine,--he doesn't know anything." When Ben grows up +to maturity, bearing such terrible tests in his unshrinking hands, who +of us will be safe? + +The softer aspects of Nature, especially, require time and culture +before man can enjoy them. To rude races her processes bring only +terror, which is very slowly outgrown. Humboldt has best exhibited the +scantiness of finer natural perceptions in Greek and Roman literature, +in spite of the grand oceanic anthology of Homer, and the delicate +water-coloring of the Greek Anthology and of Horace. The Oriental and +the Norse sacred books are full of fresh and beautiful allusions; but +the Greek saw in Nature only a framework for Art, and the Roman only +a camping-ground for men. Even Virgil describes the grotto of Aeneas +merely as a "black grove" with "horrid shade,"--"_Horrenti atrum +nemus imminet umbrâ_." Wordsworth points out, that, even in English +literature, the "Windsor Forest" of Anne, Countess of Winchelsea, was +the first poem which represented Nature as a thing to be consciously +enjoyed; and as she was almost the first English poetess, we might be +tempted to think that we owe this appreciation, like some other good +things, to the participation of woman in literature. But, on the other +hand, it must be remembered that the voluminous Duchess of Newcastle, in +her "Ode on Melancholy," describes among the symbols of hopeless gloom +"the still moonshine night" and "a mill where rushing waters run +about,"--the sweetest natural images. So woman has not so much to claim, +after all. In our own country, the early explorers seemed to find only +horror in its woods and waterfalls. Josselyn, in 1672, could only +describe the summer splendor of the White Mountain region as "dauntingly +terrible, being full of rocky hills, as thick as mole-hills in a meadow, +and full of infinite thick woods." Father Hennepin spoke of Niagara, +in the narrative still quoted in the guide-books, as a "frightful +cataract"; though perhaps his original French phrase was softer. And +even John Adams could find no better name than "horrid chasm" for the +gulf at Egg Rock, where he first saw the sea-anemone. + +But we are lingering too long, perhaps, with this sweet April of smiles +and tears. It needs only to add that all her traditions are beautiful. +Ovid says well, that she was not named from _aperire_, to open, as some +have thought, but from _Aphrodite_, goddess of beauty. April holds +Easter-time, St. George's Day, and the Eve of St. Mark's. She has not, +like her sister May in Germany, been transformed to a verb and made a +synonyme for joy,--"_Deine Seele maiet den trüben Herbst_"--but April +was believed in early ages to have been the birth-time of the world. +According to Venerable Bede, the point was first accurately determined +at a council held at Jerusalem about A.D. 200, when, after much profound +discussion, it was finally decided that the world's birthday occurred on +Sunday, April eighth,--that is, at the vernal equinox and the full moon. +But April is certainly the birth-time of the year, at least, if not of +the planet. Its festivals are older than Christianity, older than the +memory of man. No sad associations cling to it, as to the month of June, +in which month, says William of Malmesbury, kings are wont to go to +war,--"_Quando solent reges ad arma procedere_,"--but it holds the Holy +Week, and it is the Holy Month. And in April Shakspeare was born, and in +April he died. + + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE WHITE ASH. + + +When Helen returned to Elsie's bedside, it was with a new and still +deeper feeling of sympathy, such as the story told by Old Sophy might +well awaken. She understood, as never before, the singular fascination +and as singular repulsion which she had long felt in Elsie's presence. +It had not been without a great effort that she had forced herself to +become the almost constant attendant of the sick girl; and now she was +learning, but not for the first time, the blessed truth which so many +good women have found out for themselves, that the hardest duty bravely +performed soon becomes a habit, and tends in due time to transform +itself into a pleasure. + +The old Doctor was beginning to look graver, in spite of himself. The +fever, if such it was, went gently forward, wasting the young girl's +powers of resistance from day to day; yet she showed no disposition +to take nourishment, and seemed literally to be living on air. It was +remarkable that with all this her look was almost natural, and her +features were hardly sharpened so as to suggest that her life was +burning away. He did not like this, nor various other unobtrusive signs +of danger which his practised eye detected. A very small matter might +turn the balance which held life and death poised against each other. +He surrounded her with precautions, that Nature might have every +opportunity of cunningly shifting the weights from the scale of death +to the scale of life, as she will often do, if not rudely disturbed or +interfered with. + +Little tokens of good-will and kind remembrance were constantly coming +to her from the girls in the school and the good people in the village. +Some of the mansion-house people obtained rare flowers which they sent +her, and her table was covered with fruits--which tempted her in vain. +Several of the school-girls wished to make her a basket of their own +handiwork, and, filling it with autumnal flowers, to send it as a joint +offering. Mr. Bernard found out their project accidentally, and, wishing +to have his share in it, brought home from one of his long walks some +boughs full of variously tinted leaves, such as were still clinging +to the stricken trees. With these he brought also some of the already +fallen leaflets of the white ash, remarkable for their rich olive-purple +color, forming a beautiful contrast with some of the lighter-hued +leaves. It so happened that this particular tree, the white ash, did not +grow upon The Mountain, and the leaflets were more welcome for their +comparative rarity. So the girls made their basket, and the floor of it +they covered with the rich olive-purple leaflets. Such late flowers as +they could lay their hands upon served to fill it, and with many kindly +messages they sent it to Miss Elsie Venner at the Dudley mansion-house. + +Elsie was sitting up in her bed when it came, languid, but tranquil, and +Helen was by her, as usual, holding her hand, which was strangely cold, +Helen thought, for one who--was said to have some kind of fever. The +school-girls' basket was brought in with its messages of love and hopes +for speedy recovery. Old Sophy was delighted to see that it pleased +Elsie, and laid it on the bed before her. Elsie began looking at the +flowers and taking them from the basket, that she might see the leaves. +All at once she appeared to be agitated; she looked at the basket,--then +around, as if there were some fearful presence about her which she was +searching for with her eager glances. She took out the flowers, one +by one, her breathing growing hurried, her eyes staring, her hands +trembling,--till, as she came near the bottom of the basket, she flung +out all the rest with a hasty movement, looked upon the olive-purple +leaflets as if paralyzed for a moment, shrunk up, as it were, into +herself in a curdling terror, dashed the basket from her, and fell back +senseless, with a faint cry which chilled the blood of the startled +listeners at her bedside. + +"Take it away!--take it away!--quick!" said Old Sophy, as she hastened +to her mistress's pillow. "It's the leaves of the tree that was always +death to her,--take it away! She can't live wi' it in the room!" + +The poor old woman began chafing Elsie's hands, and Helen to try to +rouse her with hartshorn, while a third frightened attendant gathered up +the flowers and the basket and carried them out of the apartment. She +came to herself after a time, but exhausted and then wandering. In her +delirium, she talked constantly as if she were in a cave, with such +exactness of circumstance that Helen could not doubt at all that she had +some such retreat among the rocks of The Mountain, probably fitted up in +her own fantastic way, where she sometimes hid herself from all human +eyes, and of the entrance to which she alone possessed the secret. + +All this passed away, and left her, of course, weaker than before. But +this was not the only influence the unexplained paroxysm had left behind +it. From this time forward there was a change in her whole expression +and her manner. The shadows ceased flitting over her features, and the +old woman, who watched her from day to day and from hour to hour as a +mother watches her child, saw the likeness she bore to her mother coming +forth more and more, as the cold glitter died out of the diamond eyes, +and the scowl disappeared from the dark brows and low forehead. + +With all the kindness and indulgence her father had bestowed upon her, +Elsie had never felt that he loved her. The reader knows well enough +what fatal recollections and associations had frozen up the springs of +natural affection in his breast. There was nothing in the world he would +not do for Elsie. He had sacrificed his whole life to her. His very +seeming carelessness about restraining her was all calculated; he knew +that restraint would produce nothing but utter alienation. Just so +far as she allowed him, he shared her studies, her few pleasures, her +thoughts; but she was essentially solitary and uncommunicative. No +person, as was said long ago, could judge him,--because his task was not +merely difficult, but simply impracticable to human powers. A nature +like Elsie's had necessarily to be studied by itself, and to be followed +in its laws where it could not be led. + +Every day, at different hours, during the whole of his daughter's +illness, Dudley Venner had sat by her, doing all he could to soothe and +please her: always the same thin film of some emotional non-conductor +between them; always that kind of habitual regard and family-interest, +mingled with the deepest pity on one side and a sort of respect on the +other, which never warmed into outward evidences of affection. + +It was after this occasion, when she had been so profoundly agitated +by a seemingly insignificant cause, that her father and Old Sophy were +sitting, one at one side of her bed and one at the other. She had fallen +into a light slumber. As they were looking at her, the same thought came +into both their minds at the same moment. Old Sophy spoke for both, as +she said, in a low voice,-- + +"It's her mother's look,--it's her mother's own face right over +again,--she never look' so before,--the Lord's hand is on her! His will +be done!" + +When Elsie woke and lifted her languid eyes upon her father's face, she +saw in it a tenderness, a depth of affection, such as she remembered +at rare moments of her childhood, when she had won him to her by some +unusual gleam of sunshine in her fitful temper. + +"Elsie, dear," he said, "we were thinking how much your expression was +sometimes like that of your sweet mother. If you could but have seen +her, so as to remember her!" + +The tender look and tone, the yearning of the daughter's heart for the +mother she had never seen, save only with the unfixed, undistinguishing +eyes of earliest infancy, perhaps the under-thought that she might soon +rejoin her in another state of being,--all came upon her with a sudden +overflow of feeling which broke through all the barriers between her +heart and her eyes, and Elsie wept. It seemed to her father as if the +malign influence,--evil spirit it might almost be called,--which had +pervaded her being, had at last been driven forth or exorcised, and that +these tears were at once the sign and the pledge of her redeemed nature. +But now she was to be soothed, and not excited. After her tears she +slept again, and the look her face wore was peaceful as never before. + +Old Sophy met the Doctor at the door and told him all the circumstances +connected with the extraordinary attack from which Elsie had suffered. +It was the purple leaves, she said. She remembered that Dick once +brought home a branch of a tree with some of the same leaves on it, and +Elsie screamed and almost fainted then. She, Sophy, had asked her, after +she had got quiet, what it was in the leaves that made her feel so bad. +Elsie couldn't tell her,--didn't like to speak about it,--shuddered +whenever Sophy mentioned it. + +This did not sound so strangely to the old Doctor as it does to some +who listen to this narrative. He had known some curious examples of +antipathies, and remembered reading of others still more singular. +He had known those who could not bear the presence of a cat, and +recollected the story, often told, of a person's hiding one in a chest +when one of these sensitive individuals came into the room, so as not to +disturb him; but he presently began to sweat and turn pale, and cried +out that there must be a cat hid somewhere. He knew people who were +poisoned by strawberries, by honey, by different meats,--many who could +not endure cheese,--some who could not bear the smell of roses. If he +had known all the stories in the old books, he would have found that +some have swooned and become as dead men at the smell of a rose,--that +a stout soldier has been known to turn and run at the sight or smell of +rue,--that cassia and even olive-oil have produced deadly faintings in +certain individuals,--in short, that almost everything has seemed to be +a poison to somebody. + +"Bring me that basket, Sophy," said the old Doctor, "if you can find +it." + +Sophy brought it to him,--for he had not yet entered Elsie's apartment. + +"These purple leaves are from the white ash," he said. "You don't know +the notion that people commonly have about that tree, Sophy?" + +"I know they say the Ugly Things never go where the white ash grows," +Sophy answered. "Oh, Doctor dear, what I'm thinkin' of a'n't true, is +it?" + +The Doctor smiled sadly, but did not answer. He went directly to Elsie's +room. Nobody would have known by his manner that he saw any special +change in his patient. He spoke with her as usual, made some slight +alteration in his prescriptions, and left the room with a kind, cheerful +look. He met her father on the stairs. + +"Is it as I thought?" said Dudley Venner. + +"There is everything to fear," the Doctor said, "and not much, I am +afraid, to hope. Does not her face recall to you one that you remember, +as never before?" + +"Yes," her father answered,--"oh, yes! What is the meaning of this +change which has come over her features, and her voice, her temper, her +whole being? Tell me, oh, tell me, what is it? Can it be that the curse +is passing away, and my daughter is to be restored to me,--such as her +mother would have had her,--such as her mother was?" + +"Walk out with me into the garden," the Doctor said, "and I will tell +you all I know and all I think about this great mystery of Elsie's +life." + +They walked out together, and the Doctor began:-- + +"She has lived a twofold being, as it were,--the consequence of the +blight which fell upon her in the dim period before consciousness. You +can see what she might have been but for this. You know that for these +eighteen years her whole existence has taken its character from that +influence which we need not name. But you will remember that few of the +lower forms of life last as human beings do; and thus it might have been +hoped and trusted with some show of reason, as I have always suspected +you hoped and trusted, perhaps more confidently than myself, that the +lower nature which had become ingrafted on the higher would die out and +leave the real woman's life she inherited to outlive this accidental +principle which had so poisoned her childhood and youth. I believe it +is so dying out; but I am afraid,--yes, I must say it, I fear it has +involved the centres of life in its own decay. There is hardly any pulse +at Elsie's wrist; no stimulants seem to rouse her; and it looks as if +life were slowly retreating inwards, so that by-and-by she will sleep as +those who lie down in the cold and never wake." + +Strange as it may seem, her father heard all this not without deep +sorrow, and such marks of it as his thoughtful and tranquil nature, long +schooled by suffering, claimed or permitted, but with a resignation +itself the measure of his past trials. Dear as his daughter might become +to him, all he dared to ask of Heaven was that she might be restored to +that truer self which lay beneath her false and adventitious being. If +he could once see that the icy lustre in her eyes had become a soft, +calm light,--that her soul was at peace with all about her and with Him +above,--this crumb from the children's table was enough for him, as it +was for the Syro-Phoenician woman who asked that the dark spirit might +go out from her daughter. + +There was little change the next day, until all at once she said in a +clear voice that she should like to see her master at the school, +Mr. Langdon. He came accordingly, and took the place of Helen at her +bedside. It seemed as if Elsie had forgotten the last scene with him. +Might it be that pride had come in, and she had sent for him only to +show how superior she had grown to the weakness which had betrayed her +into that extraordinary request, so contrary to the instincts and usages +of her sex? Or was it that the singular change which had come over her +had involved her passionate fancy for him and swept it away with her +other habits of thought and feeling? Or perhaps, rather, that she felt +that all earthly interests were becoming of little account to her, and +wished to place herself right with one to whom she had displayed a +wayward movement of her unbalanced imagination? She welcomed Mr. +Bernard as quietly as she had received Helen Darley. He colored at the +recollection of that last scene, when he came into her presence; but +she smiled with perfect tranquillity. She did not speak to him of any +apprehension; but he saw that she looked upon herself as doomed. So +friendly, yet so calm did she seem through all their interview, that Mr. +Bernard could only look back upon her manifestation of feeling towards +him on their walk from the school as a vagary of a mind laboring +under some unnatural excitement, and wholly at variance with the true +character of Elsie Venner, as he saw her before him in her subdued, +yet singular beauty. He looked with almost scientific closeness of +observation into the diamond eyes; but that peculiar light which he knew +so well was not there. She was the same in one sense as on that first +day when he had seen her coiling and uncoiling her golden chain, yet how +different in every aspect which revealed her state of mind and emotion! +Something of tenderness there was, perhaps, in her tone towards him; +she would not have sent for him, had she not felt more than an ordinary +interest in him. But through the whole of his visit she never lost her +gracious self-possession. The Dudley race might well be proud of the +last of its daughters, as she lay dying, but unconquered by the feeling +of the present or the fear of the future. + +As for Mr. Bernard, he found it very hard to look upon her and listen to +her unmoved. There was nothing that reminded him of the stormy-browed, +almost savage girl he remembered in her fierce loveliness,--nothing of +all her singularities of air and of costume. Nothing? Yes, one thing. +Weak and suffering as she was, she had never parted with one particular +ornament, such as a sick person would naturally, as it might be +supposed, get rid of at once. The golden cord which she wore round her +neck at the great party was still there. A bracelet was lying by her +pillow; she had unclasped it from her wrist. + +Before Mr. Bernard left her, she said,--"I shall never see you again. +Some time or other, perhaps, you will mention my name to one whom you +love. Give her this from your scholar and friend Elsie." + +He took the bracelet, raised her hand to his lips, then turned his face +away; in that moment he was the weaker of the two. + +"Good-bye," she said; "thank you for coming." + +His voice died away in his throat, as he tried to answer her. She +followed him with her eyes as he passed from her sight through the door, +and when it closed after him sobbed tremulously once or twice,--but +stilled herself, and met Helen, as she entered, with a composed +countenance. + +"I have had a very pleasant visit from Mr. Langdon," Elsie said. "Sit +by me, Helen, awhile without speaking; I should like to sleep, if I +can,--and to dream." + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE GOLDEN CORD IS LOOSED. + + +The Reverend Chauncy Fairweather, hearing that his parishioner's +daughter, Elsie, was very ill, could do nothing less than come to the +mansion-house and tender such consolations as he was master of. It was +rather remarkable that the old Doctor did not exactly approve of his +visit. He thought that company of every sort might be injurious in her +weak state. He was of opinion that Mr. Fairweather, though greatly +interested in religious matters, was not the most sympathetic person +that could be found; in fact, the old Doctor thought he was too much +taken up with his own interests for eternity to give himself quite so +heartily to the need of other people as some persons got up on a rather +more generous scale (our good neighbor Dr. Honeywood, for instance) +could do. However, all these things had better be arranged to suit her +wants; if she would like to talk with a clergyman, she had a great +deal better see one as often as she liked, and run the risk of the +excitement, than have a hidden wish for such a visit and perhaps find +herself too weak to see him by-and-by. + +The old Doctor knew by sad experience that dreadful mistake against +which all medical practitioners should be warned. His experience may +well be a guide for others. Do not overlook the desire for spiritual +advice and consolation which patients sometimes feel, and, with the +frightful _mauvaise honte_ peculiar to Protestantism, alone among all +human beliefs, are ashamed to tell. As a part of medical treatment, it +is the physician's business to detect the hidden longing for the food of +the soul, as much as for any form of bodily nourishment. Especially in +the higher walks of society, where this unutterably miserable false +shame of Protestantism acts in proportion to the general acuteness of +the cultivated sensibilities, let no unwillingness to suggest the sick +person's real need suffer him to languish between his want and his +morbid sensitiveness. What an infinite advantage the Mussulmans and the +Catholics have over many of our more exclusively spiritual sects in the +way they keep their religion always by them and never blush for it! And +besides this spiritual longing, we should never forget that + + "On some fond breast the parting soul relies," + +and the minister of religion, in addition to the sympathetic nature +which we have a right to demand in him, has trained himself to the art +of entering into the feelings of others. + +The reader must pardon this digression, which introduces the visit of +the Reverend Chauncy Fairweather to Elsie Venner. It was mentioned +to her that he would like to call and see how she was, and she +consented,--not with much apparent interest, for she had reasons of her +own for not feeling any very deep conviction of his sympathy for persons +in sorrow. But he came, and worked the conversation round to religion, +and confused her with his hybrid notions, half made up of what he had +been believing and teaching all his life, and half of the new doctrines +which he had veneered upon the surface of his old belief. He got so +far as to make a prayer with her,--a cool, well-guarded prayer, which +compromised his faith as little as possible, and which, if devotion were +a game played against Providence, might have been considered a cautious +and sagacious move. + +When he had gone, Elsie called Old Sophy to her. + +"Sophy," she said, "don't let them send that cold-hearted man to me any +more. If your old minister comes to see you, I should like to hear him +talk. He looks as if he cared for everybody, and would care for me. And, +Sophy, if I should die one of these days, I should like to have that old +minister come and say whatever is to be said over me. It would comfort +Dudley more, I know, than to have that hard man here, when you're in +trouble: for some of you will be sorry when I'm gone,--won't you, +Sophy?" + +The poor old black woman could not stand this question. The cold +minister had frozen Elsie until she felt as if nobody cared for her or +would regret her,--and her question had betrayed this momentary feeling. + +"Don' talk so! don' talk so, darlin'!" she cried, passionately. "When +you go, Ol' Sophy'll go; 'n' where you go, Ol' Sophy'll go: 'n' we'll +both go t' th' place where th' Lord takes care of all his children, +whether their faces are white or black. Oh, darlin', darlin'! if th' +Lord should let me die fus', you shall fin' all ready for you when you +come after me. On'y don' go 'n' leave poor Ol' Sophy all 'lone in th' +world!" + +Helen came in at this moment and quieted the old woman with a look. Such +scenes were just what were most dangerous, in the state in which Elsie +was lying: but that is one of the ways in which an affectionate friend +sometimes unconsciously wears out the life which a hired nurse, thinking +of nothing but her regular duties and her wages, would have spared from +all emotional fatigue. + +The change which had come over Elsie's disposition was itself the cause +of new excitements. How was it possible that her father could keep away +from her, now that she was coming back to the nature and the very look +of her mother, the bride of his youth? How was it possible to refuse +her, when she said to Old Sophy that she should like to have her +minister come in and sit by her, even though his presence might perhaps +prove a new source of excitement? + +But the Reverend Doctor did come and sit by her, and spoke such soothing +words to her, words of such peace and consolation, that from that hour +she was tranquil as never before. All true hearts are alike in the +hour of need; the Catholic has a reserved fund of faith for his +fellow-creature's trying moment, and the Calvinist reread those springs +of human brotherhood and chanty in his soul which are only covered over +by the iron tables inscribed with the harder dogmas of his creed. It was +enough that the Reverend Doctor knew all Elsie's history. He could not +judge her by any formula, like those which have been moulded by past +ages out of their ignorance. He did not talk with her as if she were an +outside sinner, worse than himself. He found a bruised and languishing +soul, and bound up its wounds. A blessed office,--one which is confined +to no sect or creed, but which good men in all times, under various +names and with varying ministries, to suit the need of each age, of each +race, of each individual soul, have come forward to discharge for their +suffering fellow-creatures. + +After this there was little change in Elsie, except that her heart beat +more feebly every day,--so that the old Doctor himself, with all his +experience, could see nothing to account for the gradual failing of the +powers of life, and yet could find no remedy which seemed to arrest its +progress in the smallest degree. + +"Be very careful," he said, "that she is not allowed to make any +muscular exertion. Any such effort, when a person is so enfeebled, may +stop the heart in a moment; and if it stops, it will never move again." + +Helen enforced this rule with the greatest care. Elsie was hardly +allowed to move her hand or to speak above a whisper. It seemed to be +mainly the question now, whether this trembling flame of life would be +blown out by some light breath of air, or whether it could be so nursed +and sheltered by the hollow of these watchful hands that it would have a +chance to kindle to its natural brightness. + +--Her father came in to sit with her in the evening. He had never talked +so freely with her as during the hour he had passed at her bedside, +telling her little circumstances of her mother's life, living over with +her all that was pleasant in the past, and trying to encourage her with +some cheerful gleams of hope for the future. A faint smile played over +her face, but she did not answer his encouraging suggestions. The hour +came for him to leave her with those who watched by her. + +"Good-night, my dear child," he said, and, stooping down, kissed her +cheek. + +Elsie rose by a sudden effort, threw her arms round his neck, kissed +him, and said, "Good-night, my dear father!" + +The suddenness of her movement had taken him by surprise, or he would +have checked so dangerous an effort. It was too late now. Her arms +slid away from him like lifeless weights,--her head fell back upon her +pillow,--a long sigh breathed through her lips. + +"She is faint," said Helen, doubtfully; "bring me the hartshorn, Sophy." + +The old woman had started from her place, and was now leaning over her, +looking in her face, and listening for the sound of her breathing. + +"She's dead! Elsie's dead! My darlin' 's dead!" she cried aloud, filling +the room with her utterance of anguish. + +Dudley Venner drew her away and silenced her with a voice of authority, +while Helen and an assistant plied their restoratives. It was all in +vain. + +The solemn tidings passed from the chamber of death through the family. +The daughter, the hope of that old and honored house, was dead in the +freshness of her youth, and the home of its solitary representative was +hereafter doubly desolate. + +A messenger rode hastily out of the avenue. A little after this the +people of the village and the outlying farm-houses were startled by the +sound of a bell. + +One,--two,--three,--four,-- + +They stopped in every house, as far as the wavering vibrations reached, +and listened-- + +--five,--six,--seven,-- + +It was not the little child which had been lying so long at the point of +death; that could not be more than three or four years old-- + +--eight,--nine,--ten,--and so on to +fifteen,--sixteen,--seventeen,--eighteen---- + +The pulsations seemed to keep on,--but it was the brain, and not the +bell, that was throbbing now. + +"Elsie's dead!" was the exclamation at a hundred firesides. + +"Eighteen year old," said old Widow Peake, rising from her chair. +"Eighteen year ago I laid two gold eagles on her mother's eyes,--he +wouldn't have anything but gold touch her eyelids,--and now Elsie's to +be straightened,--the Lord have mercy on her poor sinful soul!" + +Dudley Venner prayed that night that he might be forgiven, if he had +failed in any act of duty or kindness to this unfortunate child of his, +now freed from all the woes born with her and so long poisoning her +soul. He thanked God for the brief interval of peace which had been +granted her, for the sweet communion they had enjoyed in these last +days, and for the hope of meeting her with that other lost friend in a +better world. + +Helen mingled a few broken thanks and petitions with her tears: thanks +that she had been permitted to share the last days and hours of this +poor sister in sorrow; petitions that the grief of bereavement might be +lightened to the lonely parent and the faithful old servant. + +Old Sophy said almost nothing, but sat day and night by her dead +darling. But sometimes her anguish would find an outlet in strange +sounds, something between a cry and a musical note,--such as none had +ever heard her utter before. These were old remembrances surging up from +her childish days,--coming through her mother from the cannibal chief, +her grandfather,--death-wails, such as they sing in the mountains of +Western Africa, when they see the fires on distant hill-sides and know +that their own wives and children are undergoing the fate of captives. + +The time came when Elsie was to be laid by her mother in the small +square marked by the white stone. + +It was not unwillingly that the Reverend Chauncy Fairweather had +relinquished the duty of conducting the service to the Reverend Doctor +Honeywood, in accordance with Elsie's request. He could not, by any +reasoning, reconcile his present way of thinking with a hope for the +future of his unfortunate parishioner. Any good old Roman Catholic +priest, born and bred to his faith and his business, would have found a +loop-hole into some kind of heaven for her, by virtue of his doctrine of +"invincible ignorance," or other special proviso; but a recent convert +cannot enter into the working conditions of his new creed. Beliefs must +be lived in for a good while, before they accommodate themselves to the +soul's wants, and wear loose enough to be comfortable. + +The Reverend Doctor had no such scruples. Like thousands of those who +are classed nominally with the despairing believers, he had never prayed +over a departed brother or sister without feeling and expressing a +guarded hope that there was mercy in store for the poor sinner, whom +parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters could not bear to give up +to utter ruin without a word,--and would not, as he knew full well, +in virtue of that human love and sympathy which nothing can ever +extinguish. And in this poor Elsie's history he could read nothing +which the tears of the recording angel might not wash away. As the good +physician of the place knew the diseases that assailed the bodies of men +and women, so he had learned the mysteries of the sickness of the soul. + +So many wished to look upon Elsie's face once more, that her father +would not deny them; nay, he was pleased that those who remembered her +living should see her in the still beauty of death. Helen and those with +her arrayed her for this farewell-view. All was ready for the sad or +curious eyes which were to look upon her. There was no painful change to +be concealed by any artifice. Even her round neck was left uncovered, +that she might be more like one who slept. Only the golden cord was left +in its place: some searching eye might detect a trace of that birth-mark +which it was whispered she had always worn a necklace to conceal. + +At the last moment, when all the preparations were completed, Old Sophy +stooped over her, and, with trembling hand, loosed the golden cord. She +looked intently, for some little space: there was no shade nor blemish +where the ring of gold had encircled her throat. She took it gently away +and laid it in the casket which held her ornaments. + +"The Lord be praised!" the old woman cried, aloud. "He has taken away +the mark that was on her; she's fit to meet his holy angels now!" + +So Elsie lay for hours in the great room, in a kind of state, with +flowers all about her,--her black hair braided, as in life,--her +brows smooth, as if they had never known the scowl of passion,--and +on her lips the faint smile with which she had uttered her last +"Good-night." The young girls from the school looked at her, one after +another, and passed on, sobbing, carrying in their hearts the picture +that would be with them all their days. The great people of the place +were all there with their silent sympathy. The lesser kind of gentry, +and many of the plainer folk of the village, half-pleased to find +themselves passing beneath the stately portico of the ancient +mansion-house, crowded in, until the ample rooms were overflowing. All +the friends whose acquaintance we have made were there, and many from +remoter villages and towns. + +There was a deep silence at last. The hour had come for the parting +words to be spoken over the dead. The good old minister's voice rose out +of the stillness, subdued and tremulous at first, but growing firmer and +clearer as he went on, until it reached the ears of the visitors who +were in the far, desolate chambers, looking at the pictured hangings and +the old dusty portraits. He did not tell her story in his prayer. He +only spoke of our dear departed sister as one of many whom Providence in +its wisdom has seen fit to bring under bondage from their cradles. It +was not for us to judge them by any standard of our own. He who made the +heart alone knew the infirmities it inherited or acquired. For all that +our dear sister had presented that was interesting and attractive in her +character we were to be grateful; for whatever was dark or inexplicable +we must trust that the deep shadow which rested on the twilight dawn of +her being might render a reason before the bar of Omniscience; for the +grace which had lightened her last days we should pour out our hearts in +thankful acknowledgment. From the life and the death of this our dear +sister we should learn a lesson of patience with our fellow-creatures in +their inborn peculiarities, of charity in judging what seem to us wilful +faults of character, of hope and trust, that, by sickness or affliction, +or such inevitable discipline as life must always bring with it, if by +no gentler means, the soul which had been left by Nature to wander into +the path of error and of suffering might be reclaimed and restored to +its true aim, and so led on by divine grace to its eternal welfare. He +closed his prayer by commending each member of the afflicted family to +the divine blessing. + +Then all at once rose the clear sound of the girls' voices, in the +sweet, sad melody of a funeral hymn,--one of those which Elsie had +marked, as if prophetically, among her own favorites. + +And so they laid her in the earth, and showered down flowers upon her, +and filled her grave, and covered it with green sods. By the side of it +was another oblong ridge, with a white stone standing at its head. Mr. +Bernard looked upon it, as he came close to the place where Elsie was +laid, and read the inscription,-- + + CATALINA + + WIFE TO DUDLEY VENNER + + DIED + + OCTOBER 13TH 1840 + + AGED XX YEARS. + +A gentle rain fell on the turf after it was laid. This was the beginning +of a long and dreary autumnal storm, a deferred "equinoctial," as many +considered it. The mountain-streams were all swollen and turbulent, and +the steep declivities were furrowed in every direction by new channels. +It made the house seem doubly desolate to hear the wind howling and the +rain beating upon the roofs. The poor relation who was staying at the +house would insist on Helen's remaining a few days: Old Sophy was in +such a condition, that it kept her in continual anxiety and there were +many cares which Helen could take off from her. + +The old black woman's life was buried in her darling's grave. She did +nothing but moan and lament for her. At night she was restless, and +would get up and wander to Elsie's apartment and look for her and call +her by name. At other times she would lie awake and listen to the wind +and the rain,--sometimes with such a wild look upon her face, and with +such sudden starts and exclamations, that it seemed, as if she heard +spirit-voices and were answering the whispers of unseen visitants. With +all this were mingled hints of her old superstition,--forebodings of +something fearful about to happen,--perhaps the great final catastrophe +of all things, according to the prediction current in the kitchens of +Rockland. + +"Hark!" Old Sophy would say,--"don' you hear th' crackin' 'n' th' +snappin' up in 'Th' Mountain, 'n' th' rollin' o' th' big stones? The' 's +somethin' stirrin' among th' rocks; I hear th' soun' of it in th' night, +when th' wind has stopped blowin'. Oh, stay by me a little while, Miss +Darlin'! stay by me! for it's th' Las' Day, may be, that's close on us, +'n' I feel as if I couldn' meet th' Lord all alone!" + +It was curious,--but Helen did certainly recognize sounds, during the +lull of the storm, which were not of falling rain or running streams, +--short snapping sounds, as of tense cords breaking,--long uneven +sounds, as of masses rolling down steep declivities. But the morning +came as usual; and as the others said nothing of these singular noises, +Helen did not think it necessary to speak of them. All day long she +and the humble relative of Elsie's mother, who had appeared, as poor +relations are wont to in the great crises of life, were busy in +arranging the disordered house, and looking over the various objects +which Elsie's singular tastes had brought together, to dispose of them +as her father might direct. They all met together at the usual hour for +tea. One of the servants came in, looking very blank, and said to the +poor relation,-- + +"The well is gone dry; we have nothing but rain-water." + +Dudley Venner's countenance changed; he sprang to his feet and went to +assure himself of the fact, and, if he could, of the reason of it. For +a well to dry up during such a rain-storm was extraordinary,--it was +ominous. + +He came back, looking very anxious. + +"Did any of you notice any remarkable sounds last night," he said,-- +"or this morning? Hark! do you hear anything now?" + +They listened in perfect silence for a few moments. Then there came a +short cracking sound, and two or three snaps, as of parting cords. + +Dudley Venner called all his household together. + +"We are in danger here, as I think, to-night," he said,--"not very +great danger, perhaps, but it is a risk I do not wish you to run. These +heavy rains have loosed some of the rocks above, and they may come down +and endanger the house. Harness the horses, Elbridge, and take all the +family away. Miss Darley will go to the Institute; the others will pass +the night at the Mountain House. I shall stay here, myself: it is not +at all likely that anything will come of these warnings; but if there +should, I choose to be here and take my chance." + +It needs little, generally, to frighten servants, and they were all +ready enough to go. The poor relation was one of the timid sort, and was +terribly uneasy to be got out of the house. This left no alternative, of +course, for Helen, but to go also. They all urged upon Dudley Venner to +go with them: if there was danger, why should he remain to risk it, when +he sent away the others? + +Old Sophy said nothing until the time came for her to go with the second +of Elbridge's carriage-loads. + +"Come, Sophy," said Dudley Venner, "get your things and go. They will +take good care of you at the Mountain House; and when we have made sure +that there is no real danger, you shall come back at once." + +"No, Massa!" Sophy answered. "I've seen Elsie into th' ground, 'n' I +a'n't goin' away to come back 'n' fin' Massa Venner buried under th' +rocks. My darlin' 's gone; 'n' now, if Massa goes, 'n' th' ol' place +goes, it's time for Ol' Sophy to go, too. No, Massa Venner, we'll both +stay in th' ol' mansion 'n' wait for th' Lord!" + +Nothing could change the old woman's determination; and her master, who +only feared, but did not really expect the long-deferred catastrophe, +was obliged to consent to her staying. The sudden drying of the well at +such a time was the most alarming sign; for he remembered that the same +thing had been observed just before great mountain-slides. This long +rain, too, was just the kind of cause which was likely to loosen the +strata of rock piled up in the ledges; if the dreaded event should ever +come to pass, it would be at such a time. + +He paced his chamber uneasily until long past midnight. If the morning +came without accident, he meant to have a careful examination made of +all the rents and fissures above, of their direction and extent, and +especially whether, in case of a mountain-slide, the huge masses would +be like to reach so far to the east and so low down the declivity as the +mansion. + +At two o'clock in the morning he was dozing in his chair. Old Sophy had +lain down on her bed, and was muttering in troubled dreams. + +All at once a loud crash seemed to rend the very heavens above them: a +crack as of the thunder that follows close upon the bolt,--a rending and +crushing as of a forest snapped through all its stems, torn, twisted, +splintered, dragged with all its ragged boughs into one chaotic ruin. +The ground trembled under them as in an earthquake; the old mansion +shuddered so that all its windows chattered in their casements; the +great chimney shook off its heavy cap-stones, which came down on the +roof with resounding concussions; and the echoes of The Mountain roared +and bellowed in long reduplication, as if its whole foundations were +rent, and this were the terrible voice of its dissolution. + +Dudley Venner rose from his chair, folded his arms, and awaited his +fate. There was no knowing where to look for safety; and he remembered +too well the story of the family that was lost by rushing out of the +house, and so hurrying into the very jaws of death. + +He had stood thus but for a moment, when he heard the voice of Old Sophy +in a wild cry of terror:-- + +"It's the Las' Day! It's the Las' Day! The Lord is comin' to take us +all!" + +"Sophy!" he called; but she did not hear him or heed him, and rushed out +of the house. + +The worst danger was over. If they were to be destroyed, it would +necessarily be in a few seconds from the first thrill of the terrible +convulsion. He waited in awful suspense, but calm. Not more than one or +two minutes could have passed before the frightful tumult and all its +sounding echoes had ceased. He called Old Sophy; but she did not answer. +He went to the western window and looked forth into the darkness. He +could not distinguish the outlines of the landscape, but the white stone +was clearly visible, and by its side the new-made mound. Nay, what was +that which obscured its outline, in shape like a human figure? He flung +open the window and sprang through. It was all that there was left of +poor Old Sophy, stretched out, lifeless, upon her darling's grave. + +He had scarcely composed her limbs and drawn the sheet over her, when +the neighbors began to arrive from all directions. Each was expecting to +hear of houses overwhelmed and families destroyed; but each came with +the story that his own household was safe. It was not until the morning +dawned that the true nature and extent of the sudden movement was +ascertained. A great seam had opened above the long cliff, and the +terrible Rattlesnake Ledge, with all its envenomed reptiles, its +dark fissures and black caverns, was buried forever beneath a mighty +incumbent mass of ruin. + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +MR. SILAS PECKHAM RENDERS HIS ACCOUNT. + + +The morning rose clear and bright. The long storm was over, and the calm +autumnal sunshine was now to return, with all its infinite repose and +sweetness. With the earliest dawn exploring parties were out in every +direction along the southern slope of The Mountain, tracing the ravages +of the great slide and the track it had followed. It proved to be not so +much a slide as the breaking off and falling of a vast line of cliff, +including the dreaded Ledge. It had folded over like the leaves of a +half-opened book when they close, crushing the trees below, piling its +ruins in a glacis at the foot of what had been the overhanging wall of +the cliff, and filling up that deep cavity above the mansion-house which +bore the ill-omened name of Dead Man's Hollow. This it was which had +saved the Dudley mansion. The falling masses, or huge fragments +breaking off from them, would have swept the house and all around it to +destruction but for this deep shelving dell, into which the stream of +ruin was happily directed. It was, indeed, one of Nature's conservative +revolutions; for the fallen masses made a kind of shelf, which +interposed a level break between the inclined planes above and below it, +so that the nightmare-fancies of the dwellers in the Dudley mansion, and +in many other residences under the shadow of The Mountain, need not keep +them lying awake hereafter to listen for the snapping of roots and the +splitting of the rocks above them. + +Twenty-four hours after the falling of the cliff, it seemed as if it had +happened ages ago. The new fact had fitted itself in with all the old +predictions, forebodings, fears, and acquired the solidarity belonging +to all events which have slipped out of the fingers of Time and +dissolved in the antecedent eternity. + +Old Sophy was lying dead in the Dudley mansion. If there were tears shed +for her, they could not be bitter ones; for she had lived out her full +measure of days, and gone--who could help fondly believing it?--to +rejoin her beloved mistress. They made a place for her at the foot of +the two mounds. It was thus she would have chosen to sleep, and not to +have wronged her humble devotion in life by asking to lie at the side of +those whom she had served so long and faithfully. There were very few +present at the simple ceremony. Helen Darley was one of these few. The +old black woman had been her companion in all the kind offices of which +she had been the ministering angel to Elsie. + +After it was all over, Helen was leaving with the rest, when Dudley +Venner begged her to stay a little, and he would send her back: it was +a long walk; besides, he wished to say some things to her, which he had +not had the opportunity of speaking. Of course Helen could not refuse +him; there must be many thoughts coming into his mind which he would +wish to share with her who had known his daughter so long and been with +her in her last days. + +She returned into the great parlor with the wrought cornices and the +medallion-portraits on the ceiling. + +"I am now alone in the world," Dudley Venner said. + +Helen must have known that before he spoke. But the tone in which he +said it had so much meaning, that she could not find a word to answer +him with. They sat in silence, which the old tall clock counted out in +long seconds; but it was a silence which meant more than any words they +had ever spoken. + +"Alone in the world! Helen, the freshness of my life is gone, and there +is little left of the few graces which in my younger days might have +fitted me to win the love of women. Listen to me,--kindly, if you can; +forgive me, at least. Half my life has been passed in constant fear and +anguish, without any near friend to share my trials. My task is done +now; my fears have ceased to prey upon me; the sharpness of early +sorrows has yielded something of its edge to time. You have bound me to +you by gratitude in the tender care you have taken of my poor child. +More than this. I must tell you all now, out of the depth of this +trouble through which I am passing. I have loved you from the moment +we first met; and if my life has anything left worth accepting, it is +yours. Will you take the offered gift?" + +Helen looked in his face, surprised, bewildered. + +"This is not for me,--not for me," she said. "I am but a poor faded +flower, not worth the gathering of such a one as you. No, no,--I have +been bred to humble toil all my days, and I could not be to you what +you ought to ask. I am accustomed to a kind of loneliness and +self-dependence. I have seen nothing, almost, of the world, such as you +were born to move in. Leave me to my obscure place and duties; I shall +at least have peace;--and you--you will surely find in due time some one +better fitted by Nature and training to make you happy." + +"No, Miss Darley!" Dudley Venner said, almost sternly. "You must not +speak to a man who has lived through my experiences of looking about for +a new choice after his heart has once chosen. Say that you can never +love me; say that I have lived too long to share your young life; say +that sorrow has left nothing in me for Love to find his pleasure in; but +do not mock me with the hope of a new affection for some unknown object. +The first look of yours brought me to your side. The first tone of your +voice sunk into my heart. From this moment my life must wither out or +bloom anew. My home is desolate. Come under my roof and make it bright +once more,--share my life with me,--or I shall give the halls of the old +mansion to the bats and the owls, and wander forth alone without a hope +or a friend!" + +To find herself with a man's future at the disposal of a single word of +hers!--a man like this, too, with a fascination for her against which +she had tried to shut her heart, feeling that he lived in another sphere +than hers, working as she was for her bread, a poor operative in the +factory of a hard master and jealous overseer, the salaried drudge of +Mr. Silas Peckham! Why, she had thought he was grateful to her as a +friend of his daughter; she had even pleased herself with the feeling +that he liked her, in her humble place, as a woman of some cultivation +and many sympathetic! points of relation with himself; but that he +_loved_ her,--that this deep, fine nature, in a man so far removed from +her in outward circumstance, should have found its counterpart in one +whom life had treated so coldly as herself,--that Dudley Venner should +stake his happiness on a breath of hers,--poor Helen Darley's,--it was +all a surprise, a confusion, a kind of fear not wholly fearful. Ah, me! +women know what it is,--that mist over the eyes, that trembling in the +limbs, that faltering of the voice, that sweet, shame-faced, unspoken +confession of weakness which does not wish to be strong, that sudden +overflow in the soul where thoughts loose their hold on each other and +swim single and helpless in the flood of emotion,--women know what it +is! + +No doubt she was a little frightened and a good deal bewildered, and +that her sympathies were warmly excited for a friend to whom she had +been brought so near, and whose loneliness she saw and pitied. She lost +that calm self-possession she had hoped to maintain. + +"If I thought that I could make you happy,--if I should speak from my +heart, and not my reason,--I am but a weak woman,--yet if I can be to +you--What can I say?" + +What more could this poor, dear Helen say? + + * * * * * + +"Elbridge, harness the horses and take Miss Darley back to the school." + +What conversation had taken place since Helen's rhetorical failure is +not recorded in the minutes from which this narrative is constructed. +But when the man who had been summoned had gone to get the carriage +ready, Helen resumed something she had been speaking of. + +"Not for the world! Everything must go on just as it has gone on, for +the present. There are proprieties to be consulted. I cannot be +hard with you, that out of your very affliction has sprung +this--this--well--you must name it for me,--but the world will never +listen to explanations. I am to be Helen Darley, lady assistant in Mr. +Silas Peckham's school, as long as I see fit to hold my office. And I +mean to attend to my scholars just as before; so that I shall have very +little time for visiting or seeing company. I believe, though, you are +one of the Trustees and a Member of the Examining Committee; so that, if +you should happen to visit the school, I shall try to be civil to you." + +Every lady sees, of course, that Helen was quite right; but perhaps here +and there one will think that Dudley Venner was all wrong,--that he was +too hasty,--that he should have been too full of his recent grief for +such a confession as he has just made, and the passion from which it +sprung. Perhaps they do not understand the sudden recoil of a strong +nature long compressed. Perhaps they have not studied the mystery of +_allotropism_ in the emotions of the human heart. Go to the nearest +chemist and ask him to show you some of the dark-red phosphorus which +will not burn, without fierce heating, but at 500°, Fahrenheit, changes +back again to the inflammable substance we know so well. Grief seems +more like ashes than like fire; but as grief has been love once, so it +may become love again. This is emotional allotropism. + +Helen rode back to the Institute and inquired for Mr. Peckham. She had +not seen him during the brief interval between her departure from the +mansion-house and her return to Old Sophy's funeral. There were various +questions about the school she wished to ask. + +"Oh, how's your haälth, Miss Darley?" Silas began. "We've missed you +consid'able. Glad to see you back at the post of dooty. Hope the Squire +treated you hahnsomely,--liberal pecooniary compensation,--hey? A'n't +much of a loser, I guess, by acceptin' his propositions?" + +Helen blushed at this last question, as if Silas had meant something by +it beyond asking what money she had received; but his own double-meaning +expression and her blush were too nice points for him to have taken +cognizance of. He was engaged in a mental calculation as to the amount +of the deduction he should make under the head of "damage to the +institootion,"--this depending somewhat on that of the "pecooniary +compensation" she might have received for her services as the friend of +Elsie Venner. + +So Helen slid back at once into her routine, the same faithful, patient +creature she had always been. But what was this new light which seemed +to have kindled in her eyes? What was this look of peace, which nothing +could disturb, which smiled serenely through all the little meannesses +with which the daily life of the educational factory surrounded +her,--which not only made her seem resigned, but overflowed all her +features with a thoughtful, subdued happiness? Mr. Bernard did not +know,--perhaps he did not guess. The inmates of the Dudley mansion were +not scandalized by any mysterious visits of a veiled or unveiled lady. +The vibrating tongues of the "female youth" of the Institute were not +set in motion by the standing of an equipage at the gate, waiting for +their lady teacher. The servants at the mansion did not convey numerous +letters with superscriptions in a bold, manly hand, sealed with the arms +of a well-known house, and directed to Miss Helen Darley; nor, on the +other hand, did Hiram, the man from the lean streak in New Hampshire, +carry sweet-smelling, rose-hued, many-layered, criss-crossed, +fine-stitch-lettered packages of note-paper directed to Dudley Venner, +Esq., and all too scanty to hold that incredible expansion of the famous +three words which a woman was born to say,--that perpetual miracle which +astonishes all the go-betweens who wear their shoes out in carrying a +woman's infinite variations on the theme, "I love you." + +But the reader must remember that there are walks in country-towns where +people are liable to meet by accident, and that the hollow of an old +tree has served the purpose of a post-office sometimes; so that he has +her choice (to divide the pronouns impartially) of various hypotheses to +account for the new glory of happiness which seemed to have irradiated +our poor Helen's features, as if her dreary life were awakening in the +dawn of a blessed future. + +With all the alleviations which have been hinted at, Mr. Dudley Venner +thought that the days and the weeks had never moved so slowly as through +the last period of the autumn that was passing. Elsie had been a +perpetual source of anxiety to him, but still she had been a companion. +He could not mourn for her; for he felt that she was safer with her +mother, in that world where there are no more sorrows and dangers, than +she could have been with him. But as he sat at his window and looked at +the three mounds, the loneliness of the great house made it seem more +like the sepulchre than these narrow dwellings where his beloved and her +daughter lay close to each other, side by side,--Catalina, the bride +of his youth, and Elsie, the child whom he had nurtured, with poor Old +Sophy, who had followed them like a black shadow, at their feet, under +the same soft turf, sprinkled with the brown autumnal leaves. It was not +good for him to be thus alone. How should he ever live through the long +months of November and December? + +The months of November and December did, in some way or other, get +rid of themselves at last, bringing with them the usual events of +village-life and a few unusual ones. Some of the geologists had been up +to look at the great slide, of which they gave those prolix accounts +which everybody remembers who read the scientific journals of the time. +The engineers reported that there was little probability of any further +convulsion along the line of rocks which overhung the more thickly +settled part of the town. The naturalists drew up a paper on the +"Probable Extinction of the _Crotalus Durissus_ in the Township of +Rockland." The engagement of the Widow Rowens to a Little Millionville +merchant was announced,--"Sudding 'n' onexpected," Widow Leech +said,--"waälthy, or she wouldn't ha' looked at him,--fifty year old, if +he is a day, _'n' ha'n't got a white hair in his head."_ The Reverend +Chauncy Fairweather had publicly announced that he was going to join the +Roman Catholic communion,--not so much to the surprise or consternation +of the religious world as he had supposed. Several old ladies forthwith +proclaimed their intention of following him; but, as one or two of them +were deaf, and another had been threatened with an attack of that mild, +but obstinate complaint, _dementia senilis_, many thought it was not so +much the force of his arguments as a kind of tendency to jump as the +bellwether jumps, well known in flocks not included in the Christian +fold. His bereaved congregation immediately began pulling candidates on +and off, like new boots, on trial. Some pinched in tender places; some +were too loose; some were too square-toed; some were too coarse, and +didn't please; some were too thin, and wouldn't last;--in short, they +couldn't possibly find a fit. At last people began to drop in to hear +old Doctor Honeywood. They were quite surprised to find what a human old +gentleman he was, and went back and told the others, that, instead of +being a case of confluent sectarianism, as they supposed, the good old +minister had been so well vaccinated with charitable virus that he was +now a true, open-souled Christian of the mildest type. The end of all +which was, that the liberal people went over to the old minister almost +in a body, just at the time that Deacon Shearer and the "Vinegar-Bible" +party split off, and that not long afterwards they sold their own +meeting-house to the malecontents, so that Deacon Soper used often to +remind Colonel Sprowle of his wish that "our little man and him [the +Reverend Doctor] would swop pulpits," and tell him it had "pooty nigh +come trew."--But this is anticipating the course of events, which were +much longer in coming about; for we have but just got through that +terribly long month, as Mr. Dudley Venner found it, of December. + +On the first of January, Mr. Silas Peckham was in the habit of settling +his quarterly accounts, and making such new arrangements as his +convenience or interest dictated. New-Year was a holiday at the +Institute. No doubt this accounted for Helen's being dressed so +charmingly,--always, to be sure, in her own simple way, but yet with +such a true lady's air that she looked fit to be the mistress of any +mansion in the land. + +She was in the parlor alone, a little before noon, when Mr. Peckham came +in. + +"I'm ready to settle my account with you now, Miss Darley," said Silas. + +"As you please, Mr. Peckham," Helen answered, very graciously. + +"Before payin' you your selary," the Principal continued, "I wish to +come to an understandin' as to the futur'. I consider that I've been +payin' high, very high, for the work you do. Women's wages can't be +expected to do more than feed and clothe 'em, as a gineral thing, with +a little savin', in case of sickness, and to bury 'em, if they +break daown, as all of 'em are liable to do at any time. If I a'n't +misinformed, you not only support yourself out of my establishment, but +likewise relatives of yours, who I don't know that I'm called upon to +feed and clothe. There is a young woman, not burdened with destitoot +relatives, has signified that she would be glad to take your dooties for +less pecooniary compensation, by a consid'able amaount, than you now +receive. I shall be willin', however, to retain your services at sech +redooced rate as we shall fix upon,--provided sech redooced rate be as +low or lower than the same services can be obtained elsewhere." + +"As you please, Mr. Peckham," Helen answered, with a smile so sweet that +the Principal (who of course had trumped up this opposition-teacher for +the occasion) said to himself she would stand being cut down a quarter, +perhaps a half, of her salary. + +"Here is your accaount, Miss Darley, and the balance doo you," +said Silas Peckham, handing her a paper and a small roll of +infectious-flavored bills wrapping six poisonous coppers of the old +coinage. + +She took the paper and began looking at it. She could not quite make up +her mind to touch the feverish bills with the cankering copper in them, +and left them airing themselves on the table. + +The document she held ran as follows: + + _Silas Peckham, Esq., Principal of the Apollinean Institute, + In Account with Helen Darley, Assist. Teacher._ + + _Dr._ + To Salary for quarter ending Jan. 1st, + @ $75 per quarter . . . . . . $75.00 + + ______ + $75.00 + + _Cr._ + By Deduction for absence, 1 week 8 + days . . . . . . . . . . $10.00 + " Board, lodging, etc., for 10 days, + @ 75 cts. per day . . . . . . 7.50 + " Damage to Institution by absence + of teacher from duties, say . . . 25.00 + " Stationery furnished . . . . . 43 + " Postage-stamp . . . . . . . 01 + " Balance due Helen Darley . . $32.06 + ______ + $75.00 + + ROCKLAND, Jan. 1st, 1859. + +Now Helen had her own private reasons for wishing to receive the +small sum which was due her at this time without any unfair +deduction,--reasons which we need not inquire into too particularly, +as we may be very sure that they were right and womanly. So, when she +looked over this account of Mr. Silas Peckham's, and saw that he had +contrived to pare down her salary to something less than half its +stipulated amount, the look which her countenance wore was as near to +that of righteous indignation as her gentle features and soft blue eyes +would admit of its being. + +"Why, Mr. Peckham," she said, "do you mean this? If I am of so much +value to you that you must take off twenty-five dollars for ten days' +absence, how is it that my salary is to be cut down to less than +seventy-five dollars a quarter, if I remain here?" + +"I gave you fair notice," said Silas. "I have a minute of it I took down +immed'ately after the intervoo." + +He lugged out his large pocket-book with the strap going all round it, +and took from it a slip of paper which confirmed his statement. + +"Besides," he added, slyly, "I presoom you have received a liberal +pecooniary compensation from Squire Venner for nussin' his daughter." + +Helen was looking over the bill while he was speaking. + +"Board and lodging for ten days, Mr. Peckham,--_whose_ board and +lodging, pray?" + +The door opened before Silas Peckham could answer, and Mr. Bernard +walked into the parlor. Helen was holding the bill in her hand, looking +as any woman ought to look who has been at once wronged and insulted. + +"The last turn of the thumbscrew!" said Mr. Bernard to himself. "What is +it, Helen? You look troubled." + +She handed him the account. + +He looked at the footing of it. Then he looked at the items. Then he +looked at Silas Peckham. + +At this moment Silas was sublime. He was so transcendency unconscious of +the emotions going on in Mr. Bernard's mind at the moment, that he had +only a single thought. + +"The accaount's correc'ly cast, I presoom;--if the' 's any mistake +of figgers or addin' 'em up, it'll be made all right. Everything's +accordin' to agreement. The minute written immed'ately after the +intervoo is here in my possession." + +Mr. Bernard looked at Helen. Just what would have happened to Silas +Peckham, as he stood then and there, but for the interposition of a +merciful Providence, nobody knows or ever will know; for at that moment +steps were heard upon the stairs, and Hiram threw open the parlor-door +for Mr. Dudley Venner to enter. + +He saluted them all gracefully with the good-wishes of the season, and +each of them returned his compliment,--Helen blushing fearfully, of +course, but not particularly noticed in her embarrassment by more than +one. + +Silas Peckham reckoned with perfect confidence on his Trustees, who had +always said what he told them to, and done what he wanted. It was a good +chance now to show off his power, and, by letting his instructors know +the unstable tenure of their offices, make it easier to settle his +accounts and arrange his salaries. There was nothing very strange in Mr. +Venner's calling; he was one of the Trustees, and this was New Year's +Day. But he had called just at the lucky moment for Mr. Peckham's +object. + +"I have thought some of makin' changes in the department of +instruction," he began. "Several accomplished teachers have applied to +me, who would be glad of sitooations. I understand that there never have +been so many fust-rate teachers, male and female, out of employment as +doorin' the present season. If I can make sahtisfahctory arrangements +with my present corpse of teachers, I shall be glad to do so; otherwise +I shell, with the permission of the Trustees, make sech noo arrangements +as circumstahnces compel." + +"You may make arrangements for a new assistant in my department, Mr. +Peckham," said Mr. Bernard, "at once,--this day,--this hour. I am not +safe to be trusted with your person five minutes out of this lady's +presence,--of whom I beg pardon for this strong language. Mr. Venner, I +must beg you, as one of the Trustees of this Institution, to look at the +manner in which its Principal has attempted to swindle this faithful +teacher, whose toils and sacrifices and self-devotion to the school +have made it all that it is, in spite of this miserable trader's +incompetence. Will you look at the paper I hold?" + +Dudley Venner took the account and read it through, without changing a +feature. Then he turned to Silas Peckham. + +"You may make arrangements for a new assistant in the branches this lady +has taught. Miss Helen Darley is to be my wife. I had hoped to announce +this news in a less abrupt and ungraceful manner. But I came to tell +you with my own lips what you would have learned before evening from my +friends in the village." + +Mr. Bernard went to Helen, who stood silent, with downcast eyes, and +took her hand warmly, hoping she might find all the happiness she +deserved. Then he turned to Dudley Venner, and said,-- + +"She is a queen, but has never found it out. The world has nothing +nobler than this dear woman, whom you have discovered in the disguise of +a teacher. God bless her and you!" + +Dudley Venner returned his friendly grasp, without answering a word in +articulate speech. + +Silas remained dumb and aghast for a brief space. Coming to himself +a little, he thought there might have been some mistake about the +items,--would like to have Miss Darley's bill returned,--would make it +all right,--had no idee that Squire Venner had a special int'rest in +Miss Darley,--was sorry he had given offence,--if he might take that +bill and look it over-- + +"No, Mr. Peckham," said Mr. Dudley Venner; "there will be a full meeting +of the Board next week, and the bill, and such evidence with reference +to the management of the Institution and the treatment of its +instructors as Mr. Langdon sees fit to bring forward, will be laid +before them." + +Miss Helen Darley became that very day the guest of Miss Arabella +Thornton, the Judge's daughter. Mr. Bernard made his appearance a week +or two later at the Lectures, where the Professor first introduced him +to the reader. + +He stayed after the class had left the room. + +"Ah, Mr. Langdon! how do you do? Very glad to see you back again. How +have you been since our correspondence on Fascination and other curious +scientific questions?" + +It was the Professor who spoke,--whom the reader will recognize as +myself, the teller of this story. + +"I have been well," Mr. Bernard answered, with a serious look which +invited a further question. + +"I hope you have had none of those painful or dangerous experiences you +seemed to be thinking of when you wrote; at any rate, you have escaped +having your obituary written." + +"I have seen some things worth remembering. Shall I call on you this +evening and tell you about them?" + +"I shall be most happy to see you." + + * * * * * + +This was the way in which I, the Professor, became acquainted with some +of the leading events of this story. They interested me sufficiently +to lead me to avail myself of all those other extraordinary methods of +obtaining information well known to writers of narrative. + +Mr. Langdon seemed to me to have gained in seriousness and strength of +character by his late experiences. He threw his whole energies into +his studies with an effect which distanced all his previous efforts. +Remembering my former hint, he employed his spare hours in writing for +the annual prizes, both of which he took by a unanimous vote of the +judges. Those who heard him read his Thesis at the Medical Commencement +will not soon forget the impression made by his fine personal appearance +and manners, nor the universal interest excited in the audience, as +he read, with his beautiful enunciation, that striking paper entitled +"Unresolved Nebulas in Vital Science." It was a general remark of the +Faculty,--and old Doctor Kittredge, who had come down on purpose to hear +Mr. Langdon, heartily agreed to it,--that there had never been a diploma +filled up, since the institution which conferred upon him the degree of +_Doctor Medicinae_ was founded, which carried with it more of promise to +the profession than that which bore the name of + +Bernardus Caryl Langdon + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CONCLUSION. + + +Mr. Bernard Langdon had no sooner taken his degree, than, in accordance +with the advice of one of his teachers whom he frequently consulted, he +took an office in the heart of the city where he had studied. He had +thought of beginning in a suburb or some remoter district of the city +proper. + +"No," said his teacher,--to wit, myself,--"don't do any such thing. You +are made for the best kind of practice; don't hamper yourself with an +outside constituency, such as belongs to a practitioner of the second +class. When a fellow like you chooses his beat, he must look ahead a +little. Take care of all the poor that apply to you, but leave the +half-pay classes to a different style of doctor,--the people who spend +one half their time in taking care of their patients, and the other half +in squeezing out their money. Go for the swell-fronts and south-exposure +houses; the folks inside are just as good as other people, and the +pleasantest, on the whole, to take care of. They must have somebody, and +they like a gentleman best. Don't throw yourself away. You have a +good presence and pleasing manners. You wear white linen by inherited +instinct. You can pronounce the word _view_. You have all the elements +of success; go and take it. Be polite and generous, but don't undervalue +yourself. You will be useful, at any rate; you may just as well be +happy, while you are about it. The highest social class furnishes +incomparably the best patients, taking them by and large. Besides, when +they won't get well and bore you to death, you can send 'em off to +travel. Mind me now, and take the tops of your sparrowgrass. Somebody +must have 'em,--why shouldn't you? If you don't take your chance, you'll +get the butt-ends as a matter of course." + +Mr. Bernard talked like a young man full of noble sentiments. He wanted +to be useful to his fellow-beings. Their social differences were nothing +to him. He would never court the rich,--he would go where he was called. +He would rather save the life of a poor mother of a family than that of +half a dozen old gouty millionnaires whose heirs had been yawning and +stretching these ten years to get rid of them. + +"Generous emotions!" I exclaimed. "Cherish 'em; cling to 'em till you +are fifty,--till you are seventy,--till you are ninety! But do as I tell +you,--strike for the best circle of practice, and you'll be sure to get +it!" + +Mr. Langdon did as I told him,--took a genteel office, furnished it +neatly, dressed with a certain elegance, soon made a pleasant circle +of acquaintances, and began to work his way into the right kind of +business. I missed him, however, for some days, not long after he had +opened his office. On his return, he told me he had been up at Rockland, +by special invitation, to attend the wedding of Mr. Dudley Venner and +Miss Helen Darley. He gave me a full account of the ceremony, which +I regret that I cannot relate in full. "Helen looked like an +angel,"--that, I am sure, was one of his expressions. As for her dress, +I should like to give the details, but am afraid of committing blunders, +as men always do, when they undertake to describe such matters. White +dress, anyhow,--that I am sure of,--with orange-flowers, and the most +wonderful lace veil that was ever seen or heard of. The Reverend Doctor +Honeywood performed the ceremony, of course. The good people seemed to +have forgotten they ever had had any other minister,--except Deacon +Shearer and his set of malecontents, who were doing a dull business in +the meeting-house lately occupied by the Reverend Mr. Fairweather. + +"Who was at the wedding?" + +"Everybody, pretty much. They wanted to keep it quiet, but it was of no +use. Married at church. Front pews, old Doctor Kittredge and all the +mansion-house people and distinguished strangers,--Colonel Sprowle and +family, including Matilda's young gentleman, a graduate of one of +the fresh-water colleges,--Mrs. Pickins (late Widow Rowens) and +husband,--Deacon Soper and numerous parishioners. A little nearer the +door, Abel, the Doctor's man, and Elbridge, who drove them to church in, +the family-coach. Father Fairweather, as they all call him now, came in +late, with Father McShane." + +"And Silas Peckham?" + +"Oh, Silas had left The School and Rockland. Cut up altogether too +badly in the examination instituted by the Trustees. Had moved over +to Tamarack, and thought of renting a large house and 'farming' the +town-poor." + + * * * * * + +Some time after this, as I was walking with a young friend along by the +swell-fronts and south-exposures, whom should I see but Mr. Bernard +Langdon, looking remarkably happy, and keeping step by the side of a +very handsome and singularly well-dressed young lady? He bowed and +lifted his hat as we passed. + +"Who is that pretty girl my young doctor has got there?" I said to my +companion. + +"Who is that?" he answered. "You don't know? Why, that is neither more +nor less than Miss Letitia Forester, daughter of--of--why, the great +banking-firm, you know, Bilyuns Brothers & Forester. Got acquainted with +her in the country, they say. There's a story that they're engaged, or +like to be, if the firm consents." + +"Oh!" I said. + +I did not like the look of it in the least. Too young,--too young. Has +not taken any position yet. No right to ask for the hand of Bilyuns +Brothers & Co.'s daughter. Besides, it will spoil him for practice, if +he marries a rich girl before he has formed habits of work. + +I looked in at his office the next day. A box of white kids was lying +open on the table. A three-cornered note, directed in a very delicate +lady's-hand, was distinguishable among a heap of papers. I was just +going to call him to account for his proceedings, when he pushed +the three-cornered note aside and took up a letter with a great +corporation-seal upon it. He had received the offer of a professor's +chair in an ancient and distinguished institution. + +"Pretty well for three-and-twenty, my boy," I said. "I suppose you'll +think you must be married one of these days, if you accept this office." + +Mr. Langdon blushed.--There had been stories about him, he knew. His +name had been mentioned in connection with that of a very charming young +lady. The current reports were not true. He had met this young lady, +and been much pleased with her, in the country, at the house of her +grandfather, the Reverend Doctor Honeywood,--you remember Miss Letitia +Forester, whom I have mentioned repeatedly? On coming to town, he found +his country-acquaintance in a social position which seemed to discourage +his continued intimacy. He had discovered, however, that he was a not +unwelcome visitor, and had kept up friendly relations with her. But +there was no truth in the current reports,--none at all. + +Some months had passed, after this visit, when I happened one evening to +stroll into a box in one of the principal theatres of the city. A small +party sat on the seats before me: a middle-aged gentleman and his lady, +in front, and directly behind them my young doctor and the same very +handsome young lady I had seen him walking with on the side-walk before +the swell-fronts and south-exposures. As Professor Langdon seemed to be +very much taken up with his companion, and both of them looked as if +they were enjoying themselves, I determined not to make my presence +known to my young friend, and to withdraw quietly after feasting my eyes +with the sight of them for a few minutes. + +"It looks as if something might come of it," I said to myself. + +At that moment the young lady lifted her arm accidentally, in such a way +that the light fell upon the clasp of a chain which encircled her wrist. +My eyes filled with tears as I read upon the clasp, in sharp-cut Italic +letters, _E.V._ They were tears at once of sad remembrance and of joyous +anticipation; for the ornament on which I looked was the double +pledge of a dead sorrow and a living affection. It was the golden +bracelet,--the parting-gift of Elsie Venner. + + * * * * * + + +BUBBLES. + + +I. + + I stood on the brink in childhood, + And watched the bubbles go + From the rock-fretted sunny ripple + To the smoother lymph below; + + And over the white creek-bottom, + Under them every one, + Went golden stars in the water, + All luminous with the sun. + + But the bubbles brake on the surface, + And under, the stars of gold + Brake, and the hurrying water + Flowed onward, swift and cold. + + +II. + + I stood on the brink in manhood, + And it came to my weary heart,-- + In my breast so dull and heavy, + After the years of smart,-- + + That every hollowest bubble + Which over my life had passed + Still into its deeper current + Some sky-sweet gleam had cast; + + That, however I mocked it gayly, + And guessed at its hollowness, + Still shone, with each bursting bubble, + One star in my soul the less. + + + + +CITIES AND PARKS: + +WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEW YORK CENTRAL PARK. + + +The first murderer was the first city-builder; and a good deal of +murdering has been carried on in the interest of city-building ever +since Cain's day. Narrow and crooked streets, want of proper sewerage +and ventilation, the absence of forethought in providing open spaces for +the recreation of the people, the allowance of intramural burials, +and of fetid nuisances, such as slaughter-houses and manufactories of +offensive stuffs, have converted cities into pestilential inclosures, +and kept Jefferson's saying--"Great cities are great sores"--true in its +most literal and mortifying sense. + +There is some excuse for the crowded and irregular character of +Old-World cities. They grew, and were not builded. Accumulations +of people, who lighted like bees upon a chance branch, they found +themselves hived in obdurate brick and mortar before they knew it; and +then, to meet the necessities of their cribbed, cabined, and confined +condition, they must tear down sacred landmarks, sacrifice invaluable +possessions, and trample on prescriptive rights, to provide +breathing-room for their gasping population. Besides, air, water, light, +and cleanliness are modern innovations. The nose seems to have acquired +its sensitiveness within a hundred years,--the lungs their objection to +foul air, and the palate its disgust at ditch-water like the Thames, +within a more recent period. Honestly dirty, and robustly indifferent to +what mortally offends our squeamish senses, our happy ancestors fattened +on carbonic acid gas, and took the exhalations of graveyards and gutters +with a placidity of stomach that excites our physiological admiration. +If they died, it was not for want of air. The pestilence carried, them +off,--and that was a providential enemy, whose home-bred origin nobody +suspected. + +It must seem to foreigners of all things the strangest, that, in a +country where land is sold at one dollar and twenty-five cents the acre +by the square mile, there should in any considerable part of it be a +want of room,--any necessity for crowding the population into pent-up +cities,--any narrowness of streets, or want of commons and parks. And +yet it is an undeniable truth that our American cities are all suffering +the want of ample thoroughfares, destitute of adequate parks and +commons, and too much crowded for health, convenience, or beauty. Boston +has for its main street a serpentine lane, wide enough to drive the cows +home from their pastures, but totally and almost fatally inadequate +to be the great artery of a city of two hundred thousand people. +Philadelphia is little better off with her narrow Chestnut Street, +which purchases what accommodation it affords by admitting the parallel +streets to nearly equal use, and thus sacrificing the very idea of a +metropolitan thoroughfare, in which the splendor and motion and life +of a metropolis ought to be concentrated. New York succeeds in making +Broadway what the Toledo, the Strand, the Linden Strasse, the Italian +Boulevards are; but the street is notoriously blocked and confused, and +occasions more loss of time and temper and life and limb than would +amply repay, once in five years, the widening of it to double its +present breadth. + +It is a great misfortune, that our commercial metropolis, the +predestined home of five millions of people, should not have a single +street worthy of the population, the wealth, the architectural ambition +ready to fill and adorn it. Wholesale trade, bankers, brokers, and +lawyers seek narrow streets. There must be swift communication between +the opposite sides, and easy recognition of faces across the way. But +retail trade requires no such conditions. The passers up and down on +opposite sides of Broadway are as if in different streets, and neither +expect to recognize each other nor to pass from one to the other without +set effort. It took a good while to make Broad and Canal Streets +attractive business-streets, and to get the importers and jobbers out +of Pearl Street; but the work is now done. The Bowery affords the only +remaining chance of building a magnificent metropolitan thoroughfare in +New York; and we anticipate the day--when Broadway will surrender its +pretensions to that now modest Cheapside. Already, about the confluence +of the Third and Fourth Avenues at Eighth Street are congregated some +of the chief institutions of the city,--the Bible House, the Cooper +Institute, the Astor Library, the Mercantile Library. Farther down, +the continuation of Canal Street affords the most commanding sites for +future public edifices; while the neighborhoods of Franklin and Chatham +Squares ought to be seized upon to embellish the city at imperial points +with its finest architectural piles. The capacities of New York, below +Union Square, for metropolitan splendor are entirely undeveloped; the +best points are still occupied by comparatively worthless buildings, and +the future will produce a now unlooked-for change in the whole character +of that great district. + +The huddling together of our American cities is due to the recentness +of the time when space was our greatest enemy and sparseness our chief +discouragement. Our founders hated room as much as a backwoods farmer +hates trees. The protecting walls, which narrowed the ways and cramped +the houses of the Old-World cities, did not put a severer compress +upon them, than the disgust of solitude and the craving for "the sweet +security of streets" threw about our city-builders. In the Western towns +now, they carefully give a city air to their villages by crowding the +few stores and houses of which they are composed into the likeliest +appearance of an absolute scarcity of space. + +They labor unconsciously to look crowded, and would sooner go into a +cellar to eat their oysters than have them in the finest saloon above +ground. And so, if a peninsula like Boston, or a miniature Mesopotamia +like New York, or a basin like Cincinnati, could be found to tuck away +a town in, in which there was a decent chance of covering over the +nakedness of the land within a thousand years, they rejoiced to seize +on it and warm their shivering imaginations in the idea of the possible +snugness which their distant posterity might enjoy. + +Boston owes its only park worth naming--the celebrated Common--to +the necessity of leaving a convenient cow-pasture for the babes and +sucklings of that now mature community. Forty acres were certainly +never more fortunately situated for their predestined service, nor more +providentially rescued for the higher uses of man. May the memory of the +weaning babes who pleaded for the spot where their "milky mothers" fed +be ever sacred in our Athens, and may the cows of Boston be embalmed +with the bulls of Egypt! A white heifer should be perpetually grazing, +at her tether, in the shadow of the Great Elm. Would it be wholly +unbecoming one born in full view of that lovely inclosure to suggest +that the straightness of the lines in which the trees are planted on +Boston Common, and the rapidly increasing thickness of their foliage, +destroy in the summer season the effect of breadth and liberty, hide +both the immediate and the distant landscape, stifle the breeze, and +diminish the attractiveness of the spot? Fewer trees, scattered in +clumps and paying little regard to paths, would vastly improve the +effect. The colonnades of the malls furnish all the shade desirable in +so small an inclosure. + +For the most part, the proper laying-out of cities is both a matter of +greater ease and greater importance in America than anywhere else. We +are much in the condition of those old Scriptural worthies, of whom it +could be so coolly said, "So he went and built a city," as if it were +a matter of not much greater account than "So be went and built a +log-house." Very likely some of those Biblical cities, extemporized +so tersely, were not much more finished than those we now and then +encounter in our Western and Southern tours, where a poor shed at four +cross-roads is dignified with the title. We believe it was Samuel +Dexter, the pattern of Webster, who, on hanging out his shingle in a +New England village, where a tavern, a schoolhouse, a church, and a +blacksmith's shop constituted the whole settlement, gave as a reason, +that, having to break into the world somewhere, he had chosen the +weakest place. He would have tried a new Western city, had they then +been in fashion, as a still softer spot in the social crust. But this +rage for cities in America is prophetic. The name is a spell; and most +of the sites, surveyed and distributed into town-lots with squares and +parks staked out, are only a century before their time, and will redound +to the future credit, however fatal to the immediate cash of their +projectors. Who can doubt that Cairo of Illinois--the standing joke of +tourists, (and the standing-water of the Ohio and Mississippi,) though +no joke to its founders--will one day rival its Egyptian prototype? +America runs to cities, and particularly in its Northern latitudes. +As cities have been the nurses of democratic institutions and ideas, +democratic nations, for very obvious reasons, tend to produce them. They +are the natural fruits of a democracy. And with no people are great +cities so important, or likely to be so increasingly populous, as with +a great agricultural and commercial nation like our own, covered with +a free and equal population. The vast wealth of such a people, evenly +distributed, and prevented from over-accumulation in special families by +the absence of primogeniture and entail,--their general education +and refined tastes,--the intense community of ideas, through the +all-pervading influence of a daily press reaching with simultaneous +diffusion over thousands of square miles,--the facilities of +locomotion,--all inevitably cooperate with commercial necessities to +create great cities,--not merely as the homes of the mercantile and +wealthy class, but as centres where the leisure, the tastes, the +pride, and the wants of the people at large repair more and more for +satisfaction. Free populations, educated in public schools and with an +open career for all, soon instinctively settle the high economies of +life. + +Many observers have ascribed the rapid change which for twenty years +past has been going on in the relative character of towns and villages +on the one hand, and cities on the other, to the mere operation of the +railroad-system. But that system itself grew out of higher instincts. +Equal communities demand equal privileges and advantages. They tend +to produce a common level. The country does not acquiesce in the +superiority of the city in manners, comforts, or luxuries. It demands +a market at its door,--first-rate men for its advisers in all medical, +legal, moral, and political matters. It demands for itself the +amusements, the refinements, the privileges of the city. This is to +be brought about only by the application, at any cost, of the most +immediate methods of communication with the city; and behold our +railroad system,--the Briarean shaking of hands which the country gives +the city! The growth of this system is a curious commentary on the +purely mercenary policy which is ordinarily supposed to govern the +investments of capital. The railroads of the United States are as much +the products of social rivalries and the fruits of an ineradicable +democratic instinct for popularizing all advantages, as of any +commercial emulation. The people have willingly bandaged their own eyes, +and allowed themselves to believe a profitable investment was made, +because their inclinations were so determined to have the roads, +profitable or not. Their wives and daughters _would_ shop in the city; +the choicest sights and sounds were there; there concentrated themselves +the intellectual and moral lights; there were the representative +splendors of the state or nation;--and a swift access to them was +essential to true equality and self-respect. + +One does not need to be a graybeard to recall the time when every +county-town in New England had, because it needs must have, its +first rate lawyer, its distinguished surgeon, its comprehensive +business-man,--and when a fixed and unchanging population gave to our +villages a more solid and a more elegant air than they now possess. The +Connecticut river-villages, with a considerable increase in population, +and a vast improvement in the general character of the dwellings, have +nevertheless lost their most characterizing features,--the large and +dignified residences of their founders, and the presence of the once +able and widely known men that were identified with their local +importance and pride. The railroads have concentrated the ability of all +the professions in the cities, and carried thither the wealth of all the +old families. To them, and not to the county-town, repair the people for +advice in all critical matters, for supplies in all important purchases, +for all their rarest pleasures, and all their most prized and memorable +opportunities. + +Cities, and the immediate neighborhood of cities, are rapidly becoming +the chosen residences of the enterprising, successful, and intelligent. +As might be supposed, the movement works both ways: the locomotive +facilities carry citizens into the country, as well as countrymen into +the city. But those who have once tasted the city are never wholly +weaned from it, and every citizen who moves into a village-community +sends two countrymen back to take his place. He infects the country with +civic tastes, and acts as a great conductor between the town and the +country. It is apparent, too, that the experience of ten years, during +which some strong reaction upon the centripetal tendencies of the +previous ten years drove many of the wealthy and the self-supposed +lovers of quietude and space into the country, has dispersed several +very natural prejudices, and returned the larger part of the truants +to their original ways. One of these prejudices was, that our ordinary +Northern climate was as favorable to the outdoor habits of the leisurely +class as the English climate; whereas, besides not having a leisurely +class, and never being destined to have any, under our wise +wealth-distributing customs, and not having any out-door habits, which +grow up only on estates and on hereditary fortunes, experience has +convinced most who have tried it that we have only six months when +out-of-doors allows any comfort, health, or pleasure away from the city. +The roads are sloughs; side-walks are wanting; shelter is gone with the +leaves; non-intercourse is proclaimed; companionship cannot be found; +leisure is a drug; books grow stupid; the country is a stupendous bore. +Another prejudice was the anticipated economy of the country. This has +turned out to be, as might have been expected, an economy to those who +fall in with its ways, which citizens are wholly inapt and unprepared to +do. It is very economical not to want city comforts and conveniences. +But it proves more expensive to those who go into the country to want +them there than it did to have them where they abound. They are not to +be had in the country at any price,--water, gas, fuel, food, attendance, +amusement, locomotion in all weathers; but such a moderate measure of +them as a city-bred family cannot live without involves so great an +expense, that the expected economy of life in the country to those not +actually brought up there turns out a delusion. The expensiveness of +life in the city comes of the generous and grand scale on which it there +proceeds, not from the superior cost of the necessaries or comforts of +life. They are undoubtedly cheaper in the city, all things considered, +than anywhere in the country. Where everything is to be had, in the +smallest or the largest quantities,--where every form of service can be +commanded at a moment's notice,--where the wit, skill, competition of a +country are concentrated upon the furnishing of all commodities at the +most taking rates,--there prices will, of course, be most reasonable; +and the expensiveness of such communities, we repeat, is entirely due to +the abundant wealth which makes such enormous demands and secures such +various comforts and luxuries;--in short, it is the high standard of +living, not the cost of the necessaries of life. This high standard +is, of course, an evil to those whose social ambition drives them to a +rivalry for which they are not prepared. But no special pity is due to +hardships self-imposed by pride and folly. The probability is, that, +proportioned to their income from labor, the cost of living in the city, +for the bulk of its population, is lighter, their degree of comfort +considered, than in the country. And for the wealthy class of society, +no doubt, on the whole, economy is served by living in the city. Our +most expensive class is that which lives in the country after the manner +of the city. + +A literary man, of talents and thorough respectability, lately informed +us, that, after trying all places, cities, villages, farmhouses, +boarding-houses, hotels, taverns, he had discovered that keeping house +in New York was the cheapest way to live,--vastly the cheapest, if +the amount of convenience and comfort was considered,--and absolutely +cheapest in fact. To be sure, being a bachelor, his housekeeping was +done in a single room, the back-room of a third-story, in a respectable +and convenient house and neighborhood. His rent was ninety-six dollars a +year. His expenses of every other kind, (clothing excepted,) one dollar +a week. He could not get his chop or steak cooked well enough, nor his +coffee made right, until he took them in hand himself,--nor his bed +made, nor his room cleaned. His conveniences were incredibly great. He +cooked by alcohol, and expected to warm himself the winter through on +two gallons of alcohol at seventy-five cents a gallon. This admirable +housekeeping is equalled in economy only by that of a millionnaire, a +New-Yorker, and a bachelor also, whose accounts, all accurately kept by +his own hand, showed, after death, that (1st) his own living, (2d) his +support of religion, (3d) his charities, (4th) his gifts to a favorite +niece, had not averaged, for twenty years, over five hundred dollars. +Truly, the city is a cheap place to live in, for those who know how! And +what place is cheap for those who do not? + +Contrary to the old notion, the more accurate statistics of recent times +have proved the city, as compared with the country, the more healthy, +the more moral, and the more religious place. What used to be considered +the great superiority of the country--hardship, absence of social +excitements and public amusements, simple food, freedom from moral +exposure--a better knowledge of the human constitution, considered +either physically or morally, has shown to be decidedly opposed to +health and virtue. More constitutions are broken down in the hardening +process than survive and profit by it. Cold houses, coarse food +unskilfully cooked, long winters, harsh springs, however favorable to +the heroism of the stomach, the lungs, and the spirits, are not found +conducive to longevity. In like manner, monotony, seclusion, lack of +variety and of social stimulus lower the tone of humanity, drive to +sensual pleasures and secret vices, and nourish a miserable pack of +mean and degrading immoralities, of which scandal, gossip, backbiting, +tale-bearing are the better examples. + +In the Old World, the wealth of states is freely expended in the +embellishment of their capitals. It is well understood, not only that +loyalty is never more economically secured than by a lavish appeal to +the pride of the citizen in the magnificence of the public buildings +and grounds which he identifies with his nationality, but that popular +restlessness is exhaled and dangerous passions drained off in the +roominess which parks and gardens afford the common people. In the +New World, it has not yet proved necessary to provide against popular +discontents or to bribe popular patriotism with spectacles and +state-parade; and if it were so, there is no government with an interest +of its own separate from that of the people to adopt this policy. It has +therefore been concluded that democratic institutions must necessarily +lack splendor and great public provision for the gratification of the +aesthetic tastes or the indulgence of the leisure of the common people. +The people being, then, our sovereigns, it has not been felt that they +would or could have the largeness of view, the foresight, the sympathy +with leisure, elegance, and ease, to provide liberally and expensively +for their own recreation and refreshment. A bald utility has been the +anticipated genius of our public policy. Our national Mercury was to be +simply the god of the post-office, or the sprite of the barometer,--our +Pan, to keep the crows from the corn-fields,--our Muses, to preside over +district-schools. It begins now to appear that the people are not likely +to think anything too good for themselves, or to higgle about the +expense of whatever ministers largely to their tastes and fancies,--that +political freedom, popular education, the circulation of newspapers, +books, engravings, pictures, have already created a public which +understands that man does not live by bread alone,--which demands +leisure, beauty, space, architecture, landscape, music, elegance, with +an imperative voice, and is ready to back its demands with the necessary +self-taxation. This experience our absolute faith in free institutions +enabled us to anticipate as the inevitable result of our political +system; but let us confess that the rapidity with which it has developed +itself has taken us by surprise. We knew, that, when the people truly +realized their sovereignty, they would claim not only the utilitarian, +but the artistic and munificent attributes of their throne,--and that +all the splendors and decorations, all the provisions for leisure, +taste, and recreation, which kings and courts have made, would be found +to be mere preludes and rehearsals to the grander arrangements and +achievements of the vastly richer and more legitimate sovereign, the +People, when he understood his own right and duty. As dynasties and +thrones have been predictions of the royalty of the people, so old +courts and old capitals, with all their pomp and circumstance, their +parks and gardens, galleries and statues, are but dim prefigurings of +the glories of architecture, the grandeur of the grounds, the splendor +and richness of the museums and conservatories with which the people +will finally crown their own self-respect and decorate their own +majesty. But we did not expect to see this sure prophecy turning itself +into history in our day. We thought the people were too busy with the +spade and the quill to care for any other sceptres at present. But it +is now plain that they have been dreaming princely dreams and thinking +royal thoughts all the while, and are now ready to put them into costly +expression. + +Passing by all other evidences of this, we come at once to the most +majestic and indisputable witness of this fact, the actual existence +of the Central Park in New York,--the most striking evidence of +the sovereignty of the people yet afforded in the history of free +institutions,--the best answer yet given to the doubts and fears which +have frowned on the theory of self-government,--the first grand proof +that the people do not mean to give up the advantages and victories of +aristocratic governments, in maintaining a popular one, but to engraft +the energy, foresight, and liberality of concentrated powers upon +democratic ideas, and keep all that has adorned and improved the past, +while abandoning what has impaired and disgraced it. That the American +people appreciate and are ready to support what is most elegant, +refined, and beautiful in the greatest capitals of Europe,--that they +value and intend to provide the largest and most costly opportunities +for the enjoyment of their own leisure, artistic tastes, and rural +instincts, is emphatically declared in the history, progress, and +manifest destiny of the Central Park; while their competency to use +wisely, to enjoy peacefully, to protect sacredly, and to improve +industriously the expensive, exposed, and elegant pleasure-ground they +have devised, is proved with redundant testimony by the year and more of +experience we have had in the use of the Park, under circumstances far +less favorable than any that can ever again arise. As a test of the +ability of the people to know their own higher wants, of the power of +their artistic instincts, their docility to the counsels of their most +judicious representatives, their superiority to petty economies, their +strength to resist the natural opposition of heavy tax-payers to +expensive public works, their gentleness and amenableness to just +authority in the pursuit of their pleasures, of their susceptibility to +the softening influences of elegance and beauty, of their honest pride +and rejoicing in their own splendor, of their superior fondness for what +is innocent and elevating over what is base and degrading, when +brought within equal reach, the Central Park has already afforded most +encouraging, nay, most decisive proof. + +The Central Park is an anomaly to those who have not deeply studied the +tendencies of popular governments. It is a royal work, undertaken and +achieved by the Democracy,--surprising equally themselves and their +skeptical friends at home and abroad,--and developing, both in its +creation and growth, in its use and application, new and almost +incredible tastes, aptitudes, capacities, and powers in the people +themselves. That the people should be capable of the magnanimity of +laying down their authority, when necessary to concentrate it in +the hands of energetic and responsible trustees requiring large +powers,--that they should be willing to tax themselves heavily for the +benefit of future generations,--that they should be wise enough to +distrust their own judgment and defer modestly to the counsels of +experts,--that they should be in favor of the most solid and substantial +work,--that they should be willing to have the better half of their +money under ground and out of sight, invested in drains and foundations +of roads,--that they should acquiesce cheerfully in all the restrictions +necessary to the achievement of the work, while admitted freely to the +use and enjoyment of its inchoate processes,--that their conduct and +manners should prove so unexceptionable,--their disposition to trespass +upon strict rules so small,--their use and improvement of the work so +free, so easy, and so immediately justificatory of all the cost of so +generous and grand an enterprise: these things throw light and cheer +upon the prospects of popular institutions, at a period when they are +seriously clouded from other quarters. + +We do not propose to enter into any description of the Central Park. +Those who have not already visited it will find a description, +accompanying a study for the plan submitted for competition in 1858, by +Messrs. Olmsted and Vaux, and published among the Documents of the New +York Senate, which will satisfy their utmost expectations. We wish +merely to throw out some replies to the leading objections we have met +in the papers and other quarters to the plan itself. We need hardly say +that the Central Park requires no advocate and no defence. Its great +proprietor, the Public, is perfectly satisfied with his purchase and his +agents. He thinks himself providentially guided in the choice of his +Superintendent, and does not vainly pique himself upon his sagacity in +selecting Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted for the post. This gentleman, in his +place, offsets at least a thousand square plugs in round holes. He is +precisely the man for the place,--and that is precisely the place for +the man. Among final causes, it would be difficult not to assign the +Central Park as the reason of his existence. To fill the duties of his +office as he has filled them,--to prove himself equally competent as +original designer, patient executor, potent disciplinarian, and model +police-officer,--to enforce a method, precision, and strictness, equally +marked in the workmanship, in the accounts, and in the police of the +Park,--to be equally studious of the highest possible use and enjoyment +of the work by the public of to-day, and of the prospects and privileges +of the coming generations,--to sympathize with the outside people, +while in the closest fellowship with the inside,--to make himself +equally the favorite and friend of the people and of the workmen: +this proves an original adaptation, most carefully improved, which we +seriously believe not capable of being paralleled in any other public +work, of similar magnitude, ever undertaken. The union of prosaic +sense with poetical feeling, of democratic sympathies with refined +and scholarly tastes, of punctilious respect for facts with tender +hospitality for ideas, has enabled him to appreciate and embody, both in +the conception and execution of the Park, the beau-ideal of a people's +pleasure-ground. If he had not borne, as an agriculturist, and as the +keenest, most candid, and instructive of all our writers on the moral +and political economy of our American Slavery, a name to be long +remembered, he might safely trust his reputation to the keeping of New +York city and all her successive citizens, as the author and achiever of +the Central Park,--which, when completed, will prove, we are confident, +the most splendid, satisfactory, and popular park in the world. + +Two grand assumptions have controlled the design from the inception. + +First, That the Park would be the only park deserving the name, for a +town of twice or thrice the present population of New York; that +this town would be built compactly around it (and in this respect +of centrality it would differ from any extant metropolitan park of +magnitude); and that it would be a town of greater wealth and more +luxurious demands than any now existing. + +Second, That, while in harmony with the luxury of the rich, the Park +should and would be used more than any existing park by people of +moderate wealth and by poor people, and that its use by these people +must be made safe, convenient, agreeable; that they must be expected +to have a pride and pleasure in using it rightly, in cherishing and +protecting it against all causes of injury and dilapidation, and that +this is to be provided for and encouraged. + +A want of appreciation of the first assumption is the cause of all +sincere criticism against the Transverse Roads. Some engineers +originally pronounced them impracticable of construction; but all their +grounds of apprehension have been removed by the construction of two of +them, especially by the completion of the tunnel under Vista Rock, and +below the foundation of the Reservoir embankment and wall. They were +planned for the future; they are being built solidly, massively, +permanently, for the future. Less thoroughly and expensively +constructed, they would need to be rebuilt in the future at enormously +increased cost, and with great interruption to the use of the Park; and +the grounds in their vicinity, losing the advantage of age, would need +to be remodelled and remade. An engineer, visiting the Park for the +first time, and hearing the criticism to which we refer applied to the +walls and bridges of the Transverse Roads, observed,--"People in this +country are so unaccustomed to see genuine substantial work, they do not +know what it means when they meet with it." We think he did not do the +people justice. + +The Transverse Roads passing through the Park will not be seen from +it; and although they will not be, when deep in the shadow of the +overhanging bridges and groves, without a very grand beauty, this will +be the beauty of utility and of permanence, not of imaginative grace. +The various bridges and archways of the Park proper, while equally +thorough in their mode of construction, and consequently expensive, +are in all cases embellished each with special decorations in form and +color. These decorations have the same quality of substantiality and +thorough good workmanship. Note the clean under-cutting of the leaves, +(of which there are more than fifty different forms in the decorations +of the Terrace arch,) and their consequent sharp and expressive shadows. +Admitting the need of these structures, and the economy of a method of +construction which would render them permanent, the additional cost of +their permanent decoration in this way could not have been rationally +grudged. + +Regard for the distant future has likewise controlled the planting; and +the Commissioners, in so far as they have resisted the clamor of the +day, that the Park must be immediately shaded, have done wisely. Every +horticulturist knows that this immediate shade would be purchased at an +expense of dwarfed, diseased, and deformed trees, with stinted shade, in +the future. No man has planted large and small trees together without +regretting the former within twenty years. The same consideration +answers an objection which has been made, that the trees are too much +arranged in masses of color. Imagine a growth of twenty years, with the +proper thinnings, and most of these masses will resolve each into one +tree, singled out, as the best individual of its mass, to remain. There +is a large scale in the planting, as in everything else. + +Regard to the convenience, comfort, and safety of those who cannot +afford to visit the Park in carriages has led to an unusual extent and +variety of character in the walks, and also to a peculiar arrangement by +which they are carried in many instances beneath and across the line of +the carriage-roads. Thus access can be had by pedestrians to all parts +of the Park at times when the roads are thronged with vehicles, without +any delays or dangers in crossing the roads, and without the humiliation +to sensitive democrats of being spattered or dusted, or looked down upon +from luxurious equipages. + +The great irregularity of the surface offers facilities for this +purpose,--the walks being carried through the heads of valleys which are +crossed by the carriage-ways upon arches of masonry. Now with regard to +these archways, if no purposes of convenience were to be served by them, +the Park would not, we may admit, be beautified by them. But we assume +that the population of New York is to be doubled; that, when it is so, +if not sooner, the walks and drives of the Park will often be densely +thronged; and, for the comfort of the people, when that shall be the +case, we consider that these archways will be absolutely necessary.[A] +Assuming further, then, that they are to be built, and, if ever, built +now,--since it would involve an entirely new-modelling of the Park to +introduce them in the future,--it was necessary to pay some attention to +make them agreeable and unmonotonous objects, or the general impression +of ease, freedom, and variety would be interfered with very materially. +It is not to make the Park architectural, as is commonly supposed, that +various and somewhat expensive _design_ is introduced; on the contrary, +it is the intention to plant closely in the vicinity of all the arches, +so that they may be unnoticed in the general effect, and be seen only +just at the time they are being used, when, of course, they must come +under notice. The charge is made, that the features of the natural +landscape have been disregarded in the plan. To which we answer, that on +the ground of the Lower Park there was originally no landscape, in the +artistic sense. There were hills, and hillocks, and rocks, and swampy +valleys. It would have been easy to flood the swamps into ponds, to +clothe the hillocks with grass and the hills with foliage, and leave the +rocks each unscathed in its picturesqueness. And this would have been a +great improvement; yet there would be no landscape: there would be +an unassociated succession of objects,--many nice "bits" of scenery, +appropriate to a villa-garden or to an artist's sketch-book, but no +scenery such as an artist arranges for his broad canvas, no composition, +no _park-like_ prospect. It would have afforded a good place for +loitering; but if this were all that was desirable, forty acres would +have done as well as a thousand, as is shown in the Ramble. Space, +breadth, objects in the distance, clear in outline, but obscure, +mysterious, exciting curiosity, in their detail, were wanting. + +[Footnote A: The length of roads, walks, etc., completed, will be found +in the last Annual Report, pp. 47-52. + +The length of the famous drive in Hyde Park (the King Road) is 2 1/2 +miles. There is another road, straight between two gates, 1 1/4 miles in +length. "Rotten Bow" (the Ride) is a trifle over a mile in length. + +The length of Drive in Central Park will be 9 1/3 miles; the length of +Bridle Roads, 5 1/3 miles; the length of Walks, 20 miles. + +Ten miles of walk, gravelled and substantially underlaid, are now +finished. + +Eighteen archways are planned, beside those of the Transverse Roads, +equal 1 to 46 acres. When the planting is well-grown, no two of the +archways will be visible from the same point.] + +To their supply there were hard limitations. On each side, within half +a mile of each other, there were to be lines of stone and brick houses, +cutting off any great lateral distance. Suppose one to have entered +the Park at the south end, and to have moved far enough within it to +dispossess his mind of the sentiments of the streets: he will have +threaded his way between hillocks and rocks, one after another, +differing in magnitude, but never opening a landscape having breadth or +distance. He ascends a hill and looks northward: the most distant +object is the hard, straight, horizontal line of the stone wall of the +Reservoir, flanked on one side by the peak of Vista Rock. It is a little +over a mile distant,--but, standing clear out against the horizon, +appears much less than that. Hide it with foliage, as well as the houses +right and left, and the limitation of distance is a mile in front and a +quarter of a mile upon each side. Low hills or ridges of rock in a great +degree cut off the intermediate ground from view: cross these, and the +same unassociated succession of objects might be visited, but no one of +them would have engaged the visitor's attention and attracted him onward +from a distance. The plan has evidently been to make a selection of +the natural features to form the leading ideas of the new scenery, to +magnify the most important quality of each of these, and to remove or +tone down all the irregularities of the ground between them, and by all +means to make the limit of vision undefined and obscure. Thus, in the +central portion of the Lower Park the low grounds have been generally +filled, and the high grounds reduced; but the two largest areas of low +ground have been excavated, the excavation being carried laterally into +the hills as far as was possible, without extravagant removal of rock, +and the earth obtained transferred to higher ground connecting hillocks +with hills. Excavations have also been made about the base of all the +more remarkable ledges and peaks of rock, while additional material has +been conveyed to their sides and summits to increase their size and +dignity. + +This general rule of the plan was calculated to give, in the first +place, breadth, and, in the second, emphasis, to any general prospect +of the Park. A want of unity, or rather, if we may use the word, of +assemblage, belonged to the ground; and it must have been one of the +first problems to establish some one conspicuous, salient idea which +should take the lead in the composition, and about which all minor +features should seem naturally to group as accessories. The straight, +evidently artificial, and hence distinctive and notable, Mall, with its +terminating Terrace, was the resolution of this problem. It will be, +when the trees are fully grown, a feature of the requisite importance, +--and will serve the further purpose of opening the view toward, and, as +it were, framing and keeping attention directed upon, Vista Rock, which +from the southern end of the Mall is the most distant object that can be +brought into view. + +For the same purpose, evidently, it was thought desirable to insist, +as far as possible, upon a pause at the point where, to the visitor +proceeding northward, the whole hill-side and glen before Vista Rock +first came under view, and where an effect of distance in that direction +was yet attainable. This is provided for by the Terrace, with its +several stairs and stages, and temptations to linger and rest. The +introduction of the Lake to the northward of the Terrace also obliges a +diversion from the direct line of proceeding; the visitor's attention is +henceforth directed laterally, or held by local objects, until at length +by a circuitous route he reaches and ascends (if he chooses) the summit +of Vista Rock, when a new landscape of entirely different character, and +one not within our control, is opened to him. Thus the apparent distance +of Vista Rock from the lower part of the Park (which is increased +by means which we have not thought it necessary to describe) is not +falsified by any experience of the visitor in his subsequent journey to +it. + +There was a fine and completely natural landscape in the Upper Park. The +plan only simplifies it,--removing and modifying those objects which +were incongruous with its best predominating character, and here and +there adding emphasis or shadow. + +The Park (with the extension) is two and three quarter miles in length +and nearly half a mile wide. It contains 843 acres, including the +Reservoir (136 acres). + + Original cost of land to 106th Street, $5,444,369.90 + Of this, assessed on adjoining property, 1,657,590.00 + ____________ + To be paid by corporation direct, 3,786,779.90 + Assessed value of extension land, (106th to 110th,) 1,400,000.00 + ____________ + Total cost of land, $6,800,000.00[B] + +[Footnote B: The amount thus far expended in construction and +maintenance is nearly $3,000,000. The plan upon which the work is +proceeding will require a further expenditure of $1,600,000. The +expenditure is not squandered. Much the larger part of it is paid for +day-labor. Account with laborers is kept by the hour, the rate of wages +being scarcely above the lowest contractor's rates, and 30 per cent. +below the rate of other public works of the city; always paid directly +into the laborer's hands,--in specie, however. + +The thorough government of the work, and the general efficiency of its +direction, are indicated by the remarkable good order and absence of +"accidents" which have characterized it. See p. 64 of Annual Report, +1860. For some particulars of cost, see pp. 61, 62, of same Report.] + +In all European parks, there is more or less land the only use of which +is to give a greater length to the roads which pass around it,--it being +out of sight, and, in American phrase, unimproved. There is not an acre +of land in Central Park, which, if not wanted for Park purposes, would +not sell for at least as much as the land surrounding the Park and +beyond its limits,--that is to say, for at least $60,000, the legal +annual interest of which is $4,200. This would be the ratio of the +annual waste of property in the case of any land not put to use; but, +in elaborating the plan, care has been taken that no part of the Park +should be without its special advantages, attractions, or valuable uses, +and that these should as far as possible be made immediately available +to the public. + +The comprehensiveness of purpose and the variety of detail of the plan +far exceed those of any other park in the world, and have involved, and +continue to involve, a greater amount of study and invention than has +ever before been given to a park. A consideration of this should enforce +an unusually careful method of maintenance, both in the gardening and +police departments. Sweeping with a broom of brush-wood once a week is +well enough for a hovel; but the floors of a palace must needs be daily +waxed and polished, to justify their original cost. We are unused to +thorough gardening in this country. There are not in all the United +States a dozen lawns or grass-plots so well kept as the majority of +tradesmen's door-yards in England or Holland. Few of our citizens have +ever seen a really well-kept ground. During the last summer, much of the +Park was in a state of which the Superintendent professed himself to be +ashamed; but it caused not the slightest comment with the public, so far +as we heard. As nearly all men in office, who have not a personal taste +to satisfy, are well content, if they succeed in satisfying the public, +we fear the Superintendent will be forced to "economize" on the keeping +of the Park, as he was the past year, to a degree which will be as far +from true economy as the cleaning of mosaic floors with birch brooms. +The Park is laid out in a manner which assumes and requires cleanly and +orderly habits in those who use it; much of its good quality will be +lost, if it be not very neatly kept; and such negligence in the keeping +will tend to negligence in the using. + +In the plan, there is taken for granted a generally good inclination, a +cleanly, temperate, orderly disposition, on the part of the public which +is to frequent the Park, and finally to be the governors of its keeping, +and a good, well-disposed, and well-disciplined police force, who would, +in spite of "the inabilities of a republic," adequately control the +cases exceptional to the assumed general good habits of that public,--at +the same time neglecting no precaution to facilitate the convenient +enforcement of the laws, and reduce the temptation to disorderly +practices to a minimum. + +How thoroughly justified has been this confidence in the people, taking +into account the novelty of a good public ground, of cleanliness in our +public places, and indeed the novelty of the whole undertaking, we have +already intimated. How much the privileges of the Park in its present +incomplete condition are appreciated, and how generally the requirements +of order are satisfied, the following summary, compiled from the +Park-keeper's reports of the first summer's use after the roads of the +Lower Park were opened, will inadequately show. + + Number of visitors in six months. Foot. Saddle. Carriages. + May, 184,450 8,017 26,500 + June, 294,300 9,050 31,300 + July, 71,035 2,710 4,945 + August, 63,800 875 14,905 + September, 47,433 2,645 20,708 + October, 160,187 3,014 26,813 + Usual number of visitors on a + fine summer's day, 2,000 90 1,200 + Usual number of visitors on a + fine Sunday, 35,000 60 1,500 + (Men 20,000, Women 13,000, Children 2,000.) + Sunday, May 29, entrances counted, 75,000 120 3,200 + Usual number of visitors, + fine Concert day, 7,500 180 2,500 + Saturday, Sept. 22, (Concert day,) + entrances counted, 13,000 225 4,650 + +During this time, (six months,) but thirty persons were detected upon +the Park tipsy. Of these, twenty-four were sufficiently drunk to justify +their arrest,--the remainder going quietly off the grounds, when +requested to do so. That is to say, it is not oftener than once a week +that a man is observed to be the worse for liquor while on the Park; and +this, while three to four thousand laboring men are at work within it, +are paid upon it, and grog-shops for their accommodation are all along +its boundaries. In other words, about one in thirty thousand of the +visitors to the Park has been under the influence of drink when induced +to visit it. + +On Christmas and New-Year's Days, it was estimated by many experienced +reporters that over 100,000 persons, each day, were on the Park, +generally in a frolicksome mood. Of these, but one (a small boy) was +observed by the keepers to be drunk; there was not an instance of +quarrelling, and no disorderly conduct, except a generally good-natured +resistance to the efforts of the police to maintain safety on the ice. + +The Bloomingdale Road and Harlem Lane, two famous trotting-courses, +where several hundred famously fast horses may be seen at the top of +their speed any fine afternoon, both touch an entrance to the Park. The +Park roads are, of course, vastly attractive to the trotters, and for +a few weeks there were daily instances of fast driving there: as soon, +however, as the law and custom of the Park, restricting speed to a +moderate rate, could be made generally understood, fast driving became +very rare,--more so, probably, than in Hyde Park or the Bois de +Boulogne. As far as possible, an arrest has been made in every case +of intentionally fast driving observed by the keepers: those arrested +number less than one to ten thousand of the vehicles entering the Park +for pleasure-driving. In each case a fine (usually three dollars) has +been imposed by the magistrate. + +In six months there have been sixty-four arrests for all sorts of +"disorderly conduct," including walking on the grass after being +requested to quit it, quarrelling, firing crackers, etc.,--one in +eighteen thousand visitors. So thoroughly established is the good +conduct of people on the Park, that many ladies walk daily in the Ramble +without attendance. + +A protest, as already intimated, is occasionally made against the +completeness of detail to which the Commissioners are disposed to +carry their work, on the ground that the habits of the masses of our +city-population are ill-calculated for its appreciation, and that loss +and damage to expensive work must often be the result. To which we +would answer, that, if the authorities of the city hitherto have so far +misapprehended or neglected their duty as to allow a large industrious +population to continue so long without the opportunity for public +recreations that it has grown up ignorant of the rights and duties +appertaining to the general use of a well-kept pleasure-ground, any +losses of the kind apprehended, which may in consequence occur, should +be cheerfully borne as a necessary part of the responsibility of a +good government. Experience thus far, however, does not justify these +apprehensions. + +To collect exact evidence showing that the Park is already exercising a +good influence upon the character of the people is not in the nature of +the case practicable. It has been observed that rude, noisy fellows, +after entering the more advanced or finished parts of the Park, become +hushed, moderate, and careful. Observing the generally tranquil and +pleased expression, and the quiet, sauntering movement, the frequent +exclamations of pleasure in the general view or in the sight of some +special object of natural beauty, on the part of the crowds of idlers in +the Ramble on a Sunday afternoon, and recollecting the totally opposite +character of feeling, thought, purpose, and sentiment which is expressed +by a crowd assembled anywhere else, especially in the public streets of +the city, the conviction cannot well be avoided that the Park already +exercises a beneficent influence of no inconsiderable value, and of a +kind which could have been gained in no other way. We speak of Sunday +afternoons and of a crowd; but the Park evidently does induce many a +poor family, and many a poor seamstress and journeyman, to take a day or +a half-day from the working-time of the week, to the end of retaining +their youth and their youthful relations with purer Nature, and to their +gain in strength, good-humor, safe citizenship, and--if the economists +must be satisfied--money-value to the commonwealth. Already, too, there +are several thousand men, women, and children who resort to the Park +habitually: some daily, before business or after business, and women +and children at regular hours during the day; some weekly; and some at +irregular, but certain frequent chances of their business. Mr. Astor, +when in town, rarely misses his daily ride; nor Mr. Bancroft; Mr. Mayor +Harper never his drive. And there are certain working-men with their +families equally sure to be met walking on Sunday morning or Sunday +afternoon; others on Saturday. The number of these _habitués_ constantly +increases. When we meet those who depend on the Park as on the butcher +and the omnibus, and the thousands who are again drawn by whatever +impulse and suggestion of the hour, we often ask, What would they have +done, where would they have been, to what sort of recreation would they +have turned, _if to any_, had there been no park? Of one sort the answer +is supplied by the keeper of a certain saloon, who came to the Park, as +he said, to see his old Sunday customers. The enjoyment of the ice had +made them forget their grog. + +Six or seven years ago, an opposition brought down the prices and +quadrupled the accommodations of the Staten Island ferry-boats. Clifton +Park and numerous German gardens were opened; and the consequence was +described, in common phrase, as the transformation of a portion of the +island, on Sunday, to a Pandemonium. We thought we would, like Dante, +have a cool look at it. We had read so much about it, and heard it +talked about and preached about so much, that we were greatly surprised +to find the throng upon the sidewalks quite as orderly and a great deal +more evidently good-natured than any we ever saw before in the United +States. We spent some time in what we had been led to suppose the +hottest place, Clifton Park, in which there was a band of music and +several thousand persons, chiefly Germans, though with a good sprinkling +of Irish servant-girls with their lovers and brothers, with beer +and ices; but we saw no rudeness, and no more impropriety, no more +excitement, no more (week-day) sin, than we had seen at the church in +the morning. Every face, however, was foreign. By-and-by came in three +Americans, talking loudly, moving rudely, proclaiming contempt for +"lager" and yelling for "liquor," bantering and offering fight, joking +coarsely, profane, noisy, demonstrative in any and every way, to the end +of attracting attention to themselves, and proclaiming that they were +"on a spree" and highly excited. They could not keep it up; they became +awkward, ill at ease, and at length silent, standing looking about them +in stupid wonder. Evidently they could not understand what it meant: +people drinking, smoking in public, on Sunday, and yet not excited, not +trying to make it a spree. It was not comprehensible. We ascertained +that one of the ferry-boat bars had disposed of an enormous stock of +lemonade, ginger-beer, and soda-water before three o'clock,--but, till +this was all gone, not half a dozen glasses of intoxicating drinks. +We saw no quarrelling, no drunkenness, and nothing like the fearful +disorder which had been described,--with a few such exceptions as we +have mentioned of native Americans who had no conception of enjoyment +free from bodily excitement. + +To teach and induce habits of orderly, tranquil, contemplative, or +social amusement, moderate exercises and recreation, soothing to the +nerves, has been the most needed "mission" for New York. We think we +see daily evidence that the Park accomplishes not a little in this way. +Unfortunately, the evidence is not of a character to be expressed in +Federal currency, else the Commissioners would not be hesitating about +taking the ground from One-Hundred-and-Sixth to One-Hundred-and-Tenth +Street, because it is to cost half a million more than was anticipated. +What the Park is worth to us to-day is, we trust, but a trifle to what +it will be worth when the bulk of our hard-working people, of our +over-anxious Marthas, and our gutter-skating children shall live nearer +to it, and more generally understand what it offers them,--when its +play-grounds are ready, its walks more shaded,--when cheap and wholesome +meals, to the saving, occasionally, of the dreary housewife's daily +pottering, are to be had upon it,--when its system of cheap cabs shall +have been successfully inaugurated,--and when a daily discourse of sweet +sounds shall have been made an essential part of its functions in the +body-politic. + +We shall not probably live to see "the gentility of Sir Philip Sidney +made universal," but we do hope that we shall live to know many +residents of towns of ten thousand population who will be ashamed to +subscribe for the building of new churches while no public play-ground +is being prepared for their people. + + + + +LIFE IN THE IRON-MILLS. + + "Is this the end? + O Life, as futile, then, as frail! + What hope of answer or redress?" + + +A cloudy day: do you know what that is in a town of iron-works? The sky +sank down before dawn, muddy, flat, immovable. The air is thick, clammy +with the breath of crowded human beings. It stifles me. I open the +window, and, looking out, can scarcely see through the rain the grocer's +shop opposite, where a crowd of drunken Irishmen are puffing Lynchburg +tobacco in their pipes. I can detect the scent through all the foul +smells ranging loose in the air. + +The idiosyncrasy of this town is smoke. It rolls sullenly in slow folds +from the great chimneys of the iron-foundries, and settles down in +black, slimy pools on the muddy streets. Smoke on the wharves, smoke on +the dingy boats, on the yellow river,--clinging in a coating of greasy +soot to the house-front, the two faded poplars, the faces of the +passers-by. The long train of mules, dragging masses of pig-iron through +the narrow street, have a foul vapor hanging to their reeking sides. +Here, inside, is a little broken figure of an angel pointing upward from +the mantel-shelf; but even its wings are covered with smoke, clotted +and black. Smoke everywhere! A dirty canary chirps desolately in a +cage beside me. Its dream of green fields and sunshine is a very old +dream,--almost worn out, I think. + +From the back-window I can see a narrow brick-yard sloping down to +the river-side, strewed with rain-butts and tubs. The river, dull and +tawny-colored, _(la belle rivière!)_ drags itself sluggishly along, +tired of the heavy weight of boats and coal-barges. What wonder? When I +was a child, I used to fancy a look of weary, dumb appeal upon the face +of the negro-like river slavishly bearing its burden day after day. +Something of the same idle notion comes to me to-day, when from the +street-window I look on the slow stream of human life creeping past, +night and morning, to the great mills. Masses of men, with dull, +besotted faces bent to the ground, sharpened here and there by pain +or cunning; skin and muscle and flesh begrimed with smoke and ashes; +stooping all night over boiling caldrons of metal, laired by day in +dens of drunkenness and infamy; breathing from infancy to death an air +saturated with fog and grease and soot, vileness for soul and body. What +do you make of a case like that, amateur psychologist? You call it an +altogether serious thing to be alive: to these men it is a drunken jest, +a joke,--horrible to angels perhaps, to them commonplace enough. My +fancy about the river was an idle one: it is no type of such a life. +What if it be stagnant and slimy here? It knows that beyond there waits +for it odorous sunlight,--quaint old gardens, dusky with soft, green +foliage of apple-trees, and flushing crimson with roses,--air, and +fields, and mountains. The future of the Welsh puddler passing just now +is not so pleasant. To be stowed away, after his grimy work is done, in +a hole in the muddy graveyard, and after that,--_not_ air, nor green +fields, nor curious roses. + +Can you see how foggy the day is? As I stand here, idly tapping the +window-pane, and looking out through the rain at the dirty back-yard and +the coal-boats below, fragments of an old story float up before me,--a +story of this old house into which I happened to come to-day. You may +think it a tiresome story enough, as foggy as the day, sharpened by no +sudden flashes of pain or pleasure.--I know: only the outline of a dull +life, that long since, with thousands of dull lives like its own, was +vainly lived and lost: thousands of them,--massed, vile, slimy lives, +like those of the torpid lizards in yonder stagnant water-butt.--Lost? +There is a curious point for you to settle, my friend, who study +psychology in a lazy, _dilettante_ way. Stop a moment. I am going to be +honest. This is what I want you to do. I want you to hide your disgust, +take no heed to your clean clothes, and come right down with me,--here, +into the thickest of the fog and mud and foul effluvia. I want you to +hear this story. There is a secret down here, in this nightmare fog, +that has lain dumb for centuries: I want to make it a real thing to you. +You, Egoist, or Pantheist, or Arminian, busy in making straight paths +for your feet on the hills, do not see it clearly,--this terrible +question which men here have gone mad and died trying to answer. I dare +not put this secret into words. I told you it was dumb. These men, going +by with drunken faces and brains full of unawakened power, do not ask it +of Society or of God. Their lives ask it; their deaths ask it. There is +no reply. I will tell you plainly that I have a great hope; and I bring +it to you to be tested. It is this: that this terrible dumb question is +its own reply; that it is not the sentence of death we think it, but, +from the very extremity of its darkness, the most solemn prophecy which +the world has known of the Hope to come. I dare make my meaning no +clearer, but will only tell my story. It will, perhaps, seem to you as +foul and dark as this thick vapor about us, and as pregnant with death; +but if your eyes are free as mine are to look deeper, no perfume-tinted +dawn will be so fair with promise of the day that shall surely come. + +My story is very simple,--only what I remember of the life of one +of these men,--a furnace-tender in one of Kirby & John's +rolling-mills,--Hugh Wolfe. You know the mills? They took the great +order for the Lower Virginia railroads there last winter; run usually +with about a thousand men. I cannot tell why I choose the half-forgotten +story of this Wolfe more than that of myriads of these furnace-hands. +Perhaps because there is a secret underlying sympathy between that story +and this day with its impure fog and thwarted sunshine,--or perhaps +simply for the reason that this house is the one where the Wolfes lived. +There were the father and son,--both hands, as I said, in one of Kirby +& John's mills for making railroad-iron,--and Deborah, their cousin, a +picker in some of the cotton-mills. The house was rented then to half +a dozen families. The Wolfes had two of the cellar-rooms. The old man, +like many of the puddlers and feeders of the mills, was Welsh,--had +spent half of his life in the Cornish tin-mines. You may pick the Welsh +emigrants, Cornish miners, out of the throng passing the windows, any +day. They are a trifle more filthy; their muscles are not so brawny; +they stoop more. When they are drunk, they neither yell, nor shout, nor +stagger, but skulk along like beaten hounds. A pure, unmixed blood, I +fancy: shows itself in the slight angular bodies and sharply-cut facial +lines. It is nearly thirty years since the Wolfes lived here. Their +lives were like those of their class: incessant labor, sleeping in +kennel-like rooms, eating rank pork and molasses, drinking--God and the +distillers only know what; with an occasional night in jail, to atone +for some drunken excess. Is that all of their lives?--of the portion +given to them and these their duplicates swarming the streets to-day? +--nothing beneath?--all? So many a political reformer will tell +you,--and many a private reformer, too, who has gone among them with a +heart tender with Christ's charity, and come out outraged, hardened. + +One rainy night, about eleven o'clock, a crowd of half-clothed women +stopped outside of the cellar-door. They were going home from the +cotton-mill. + +"Good-night, Deb," said one, a mulatto, steadying herself against the +gas-post. She needed the post to steady her. So did more than one of +them. + +"Dah's a ball to Miss Potts' to-night. Ye'd best come." + +"Inteet, Deb, if hur 'll come, hur 'll hef fun," said a shrill Welsh +voice in the crowd. + +Two or three dirty hands were thrust out to catch the gown of the woman, +who was groping for the latch of the door. + +"No." + +"No? Where's Kit Small, then?" + +"Begorra! on the spools. Alleys behint, though we helped her, we dud. +An wid ye! Let Deb alone! It's ondacent frettin' a quite body. Be +the powers, an' we'll have a night of it! there'll be lashin's o' +drink,--the Vargent be blessed and praised for 't!" + +They went on, the mulatto inclining for a moment to show fight, and drag +the woman Wolfe off with them; but, being pacified, she staggered away. + +Deborah groped her way into the cellar, and, after considerable +stumbling, kindled a match, and lighted a tallow dip, that sent a yellow +glimmer over the room. It was low, damp,--the earthen floor covered with +a green, slimy moss,--a fetid air smothering the breath. Old Wolfe lay +asleep on a heap of straw, wrapped in a torn horse-blanket. He was a +pale, meek little man, with a white face and red rabbit-eyes. The woman +Deborah was like him; only her face was even more ghastly, her lips +bluer, her eyes more watery. She wore a faded cotton gown and a +slouching bonnet. When she walked, one could see that she was deformed, +almost a hunchback. She trod softly, so as not to waken him, and went +through into the room beyond. There she found by the half-extinguished +fire an iron saucepan filled with cold boiled potatoes, which she put +upon a broken chair with a pint-cup of ale. Placing the old candlestick +beside this dainty repast, she untied her bonnet, which hung limp and +wet over her face, and prepared to eat her supper. It was the first +food that had touched her lips since morning. There was enough of it, +however: there is not always. She was hungry,--one could see that easily +enough,--and not drunk, as most of her companions would have been found +at this hour. She did not drink, this woman,--her face told that, +too,--nothing stronger than ale. Perhaps the weak, flaccid wretch had +some stimulant in her pale life to keep her up,--some love or hope, it +might be, or urgent need. When that stimulant was gone, she would take +to whiskey. Man cannot live by work alone. While she was skinning the +potatoes, and munching them, a noise behind her made her stop. + +"Janey!" she called, lifting the candle and peering into the darkness. +"Janey, are you there?" + +A heap of ragged coats was heaved up, and the face of a young girl +emerged, staring sleepily at the woman. + +"Deborah," she said, at last, "I'm here the night." + +"Yes, child. Hur's welcome," she said, quietly eating on. + +The girl's face was haggard and sickly; her eyes were heavy with sleep +and hunger: real Milesian eyes they were, dark, delicate blue, glooming +out from black shadows with a pitiful fright. + +"I was alone," she said, timidly. + +"Where's the father?" asked Deborah, holding out a potato, which the +girl greedily seized. + +"He's beyant,--wid Haley,--in the stone house." (Did you ever hear the +word _jail_ from an Irish mouth?) "I came here. Hugh told me never to +stay me-lone." + +"Hugh?" + +"Yes." + +A vexed frown crossed her face. The girl saw it, and added quickly,-- + +"I have not seen Hugh the day, Deb. The old man says his watch lasts +till the mornin'." + +The woman sprang up, and hastily began to arrange some bread and flitch +in a tin pail, and to pour her own measure of ale into a bottle. Tying +on her bonnet, she blew out the candle. + +"Lay ye down, Janey dear," she said, gently, covering her with the old +rags. "Hur can eat the potatoes, if hur 's hungry." + +"Where are ye goin', Deb? The rain 's sharp." + +"To the mill, with Hugh's supper." + +"Let him hide till th' morn. Sit ye down." + +"No, no,"--sharply pushing her off. "The boy'll starve." + +She hurried from the cellar, while the child wearily coiled herself up +for sleep. The rain was falling heavily, as the woman, pail in hand, +emerged from the mouth of the alley, and turned down the narrow street, +that stretched out, long and black, miles before her. Here and there a +flicker of gas lighted an uncertain space of muddy footwalk and gutter; +the long rows of houses, except an occasional lager-bier shop, were +closed; now and then she met a band of mill-hands skulking to or from +their work. + +Not many even of the inhabitants of a manufacturing town know the vast +machinery of system by which the bodies of workmen are governed, that +goes on unceasingly from year to year. The hands of each mill are +divided into watches that relieve each other as regularly as the +sentinels of an army. By night and day the work goes on, the unsleeping +engines groan and shriek, the fiery pools of metal boil and surge. Only +for a day in the week, in half-courtesy to public censure, the fires are +partially veiled; but as soon as the clock strikes midnight, the great +furnaces break forth with renewed fury, the clamor begins with fresh, +breathless vigor, the engines sob and shriek like "gods in pain." + +As Deborah hurried down through the heavy rain, the noise of these +thousand engines sounded through the sleep and shadow of the city like +far-off thunder. The mill to which she was going lay on the river, a +mile below the city-limits. It was far, and she was weak, aching from +standing twelve hours at the spools. Yet it was her almost nightly walk +to take this man his supper, though at every square she sat down to +rest, and she knew she should receive small word of thanks. + +Perhaps, if she had possessed an artist's eye, the picturesque oddity +of the scene might have made her step stagger less, and the path seem +shorter; but to her the mills were only "summat deilish to look at by +night." + +The road leading to the mills had been quarried from the solid rock, +which rose abrupt and bare on one side of the cinder-covered road, while +the river, sluggish and black, crept past on the other. The mills for +rolling iron are simply immense tent-like roofs, covering acres of +ground, open on every side. Beneath these roofs Deborah looked in on a +city of fires, that burned hot and fiercely in the night. Fire in every +horrible form: pits of flame waving in the wind; liquid metal-flames +writhing in tortuous streams through the sand; wide caldrons filled with +boiling fire, over which bent ghastly wretches stirring the strange +brewing; and through all, crowds of half-clad men, looking like +revengeful ghosts in the red light, hurried, throwing masses of +glittering fire. It was like a street in Hell. Even Deborah muttered, as +she crept through, "'T looks like t' Devil's place!" It did,--in more +ways than one. + +She found the man she was looking for, at last, heaping coal on a +furnace. He had not time to eat his supper; so she went behind the +furnace, and waited. Only a few men were with him, and they noticed her +only by a "Hyur comes t' hunchback, Wolfe." + +Deborah was stupid with sleep; her back pained her sharply; and her +teeth chattered with cold, with the rain that soaked her clothes and +dripped from her at every step. She stood, however, patiently holding +the pail, and waiting. + +"Hout, woman! ye look like a drowned cat. Come near to the fire,"--said +one of the men, approaching to scrape away the ashes. + +She shook her head. Wolfe had forgotten her. He turned, hearing the man, +and came closer. + +"I did no' think; gi' me my supper, woman." + +She watched him eat with a painful eagerness. With a woman's quick +instinct, she saw that he was not hungry,--was eating to please her. +Her pale, watery eyes began to gather a strange light. + +"Is't good, Hugh? T'ale was a bit sour, I feared." + +"No, good enough." He hesitated a moment. "Ye're tired, poor lass! Bide +here till I go. Lay down there on that heap of ash, and go to sleep." + +He threw her an old coat for a pillow, and turned to his work. The +heap was the refuse of the burnt iron, and was not a hard bed; the +half-smothered warmth, too, penetrated her limbs, dulling their pain and +cold shiver. + +Miserable enough she looked, lying there on the ashes like a limp, +dirty rag,--yet not an unfitting figure to crown the scene of hopeless +discomfort and veiled crime: more fitting, if one looked deeper into the +heart of things,--at her thwarted woman's form, her colorless life, her +waking stupor that smothered pain and hunger,--even more fit to be a +type of her class. Deeper yet if one could look, was there nothing worth +reading in this wet, faded thing, half-covered with ashes? no story of a +soul filled with groping passionate love, heroic unselfishness, fierce +jealousy? of years of weary trying to please the one human being whom +she loved, to gain one look of real heart-kindness from him? If anything +like this were hidden beneath the pale, bleared eyes, and dull, +washed-out-looking face, no one had ever taken the trouble to read its +faint signs: not the half-clothed furnace-tender, Wolfe, certainly. Yet +he was kind to her: it was his nature to be kind, even to the very rats +that swarmed in the cellar: kind to her in just the same way. She knew +that. And it might be that very knowledge had given to her face its +apathy and vacancy more than her low, torpid life. One sees that +dead, vacant look steal sometimes over the rarest, finest of women's +faces,--in the very midst, it may be, of their warmest summer's day; and +then one can guess at the secret of intolerable solitude that lies hid +beneath the delicate laces and brilliant smile. There was no warmth, no +brilliancy, no summer for this woman; so the stupor and vacancy had time +to gnaw into her face perpetually. She was young, too, though no one +guessed it; so the gnawing was the fiercer. + +She lay quiet in the dark corner, listening, through the monotonous din +and uncertain glare of the works, to the dull plash of the rain in the +far distance,--shrinking back whenever the man Wolfe happened to look +towards her. She knew, in spite of all his kindness, that there was that +in her face and form which made him loathe the sight of her. She felt by +instinct, although she could not comprehend it, the finer nature of +the man, which made him among his fellow-workmen something unique, set +apart. She knew, that, down under all the vileness and coarseness of +his life, there was a groping passion for whatever was beautiful and +pure,--that his soul sickened with disgust at her deformity, even when +his words were kindest. Through this dull consciousness, which never +left her, came, like a sting, the recollection of the dark blue eyes and +lithe figure of the little Irish girl she had left in the cellar. The +recollection struck through even her stupid intellect with a vivid glow +of beauty and of grace. Little Janey, timid, helpless, clinging to Hugh +as her only friend: that was the sharp thought, the bitter thought, that +drove into the glazed eyes a fierce light of pain. You laugh at it? Are +pain and jealousy less savage realities down here in this place I am +taking you to than in your own house or your own heart,--your heart, +which they clutch at sometimes? The note is the same, I fancy, be the +octave high or low. + +If you could go into this mill where Deborah lay, and drag out from the +hearts of these men the terrible tragedy of their lives, taking it as a +symptom of the disease of their class, no ghost Horror would terrify +you more. A reality of soul-starvation, of living death, that meets you +every day under the besotted faces on the street,--I can paint nothing +of this, only give you the outside outlines of a night, a crisis in the +life of one man: whatever muddy depth of soul-history lies beneath you +can read according to the eyes God has given you. + +Wolfe, while Deborah watched him as a spaniel its master, bent over the +furnace with his iron pole, unconscious of her scrutiny, only stopping +to receive orders. Physically, Nature had promised the man but little. +He had already lost the strength and instinct vigor of a man, his +muscles were thin, his nerves weak, his face (a meek, woman's face) +haggard, yellow with consumption. In the mill he was known as one of the +girl-men: "Molly Wolfe" was his _sobriquet_. He was never seen, in +the cockpit, did not own a terrier, drank but seldom; when he did, +desperately. He fought sometimes, but was always thrashed, pommelled to +a jelly. The man was game enough, when his blood was up: but he was no +favorite in the mill; he had the taint of school-learning on him,--not +to a dangerous extent, only a quarter or so in the free-school in fact, +but enough to ruin him as a good hand in a fight. + +For other reasons, too, he was not popular. Not one of themselves, they +felt that, though outwardly as filthy and ash-covered; silent, with +foreign thoughts and longings breaking out through his quietness in +innumerable curious ways: this one, for instance. In the neighboring +furnace-buildings lay great heaps of the refuse from the ore after the +pig-metal is run. _Korl_ we call it here: a light, porous substance, of +a delicate, waxen, flesh-colored tinge. Out of the blocks of this korl, +Wolfe, in his off-hours from the furnace, had a habit of chipping and +moulding figures,--hideous, fantastic enough, but sometimes strangely +beautiful: even the mill-men saw that, while they jeered at him. It was +a curious fancy in the man, almost a passion. The few hours for rest he +spent hewing and hacking with his blunt knife, never speaking, until his +watch came again,--working at one figure for months, and, when it was +finished, breaking it to pieces perhaps, in a fit of disappointment. A +morbid, gloomy man, untaught, unled, left to feed his soul in grossness +and crime, and hard, grinding labor. + +I want you to come down and look at this Wolfe, standing there among the +lowest of his kind, and see him just as he is, that you may judge him +justly when you hear the story of this night. I want you to look back, +as he does every day, at his birth in vice, his starved infancy; to +remember the heavy years he has groped through as boy and man,--the +slow, heavy years of constant, hot work. So long ago he began, that he +thinks sometimes he has worked there for ages. There is no hope that it +will ever end. Think that God put into this man's soul a fierce thirst +for beauty,--to know it, to create it; to _be_--something, he knows not +what,--other than he is. There are moments when a passing cloud, the sun +glinting on the purple thistles, a kindly smile, a child's face, will +rouse him to a passion of pain,--when his nature starts up with a mad +cry of rage against God, man, whoever it is that has forced this vile, +slimy life upon him. With all this groping, this mad desire, a great +blind intellect stumbling through wrong, a loving poet's heart, the man +was by habit only a coarse, vulgar laborer, familiar with sights and +words you would blush to name. Be just; when I tell you about this +night, see him as he is. Be just,--not like man's law, which seizes on +one isolated fact, but like God's judging angel, whose clear, sad +eye saw all the countless cankering days of this man's life, all the +countless nights, when, sick with starving, his soul fainted in him, +before it judged him for this night, the saddest of all. + +I called this night the crisis of his life. If it was, it stole on him +unawares. These great turning-days of life cast no shadow before, slip +by unconsciously. Only a trifle, a little turn of the rudder, and the +ship goes to heaven or hell. + +Wolfe, while Deborah watched him, dug into the furnace of melting iron +with his pole, dully thinking only how many rails the lump would yield. +It was late,--nearly Sunday morning; another hour, and the heavy work +would be done,--only the furnaces to replenish and cover for the next +day. The workmen were growing more noisy, shouting, as they had to do, +to be heard over the deep clamor of the mills. Suddenly they grew less +boisterous,--at the far end, entirely silent. Something unusual had +happened. After a moment, the silence came nearer; the men stopped their +jeers and drunken choruses. Deborah, stupidly lifting up her head, +saw the cause of the quiet. A group of five or six men were slowly +approaching, stopping to examine each furnace as they came. Visitors +often came to see the mills after night: except by growing less noisy, +the men took no notice of them. The furnace where Wolfe worked was near +the bounds of the works; they halted there hot and tired: a walk over +one of these great foundries is no trifling task. The woman, drawing out +of sight, turned over to sleep. Wolfe, seeing them stop, suddenly roused +from his indifferent stupor, and watched them keenly. He knew some +of them: the overseer, Clarke,--a son of Kirby, one of the +mill-owners,--and a Doctor May, one of the town-physicians. The other +two were strangers. Wolfe came closer. He seized eagerly every chance +that brought him into contact with this mysterious class that shone down +on him perpetually with the glamour of another order of being. What made +the difference between them? That was the mystery of his life. He had +a vague notion that perhaps to-night he could find it out. One of the +strangers sat down on a pile of bricks, and beckoned young Kirby to his +side. + +"This _is_ hot, with a vengeance. A match, please?"--lighting his cigar. +"But the walk is worth the trouble. If it were not that you must have +heard it so often, Kirby, I would tell you that your works look like +Dante's Inferno." + +Kirby laughed. + +"Yes. Yonder is Farinata himself in the burning tomb,"--pointing to some +figure in the shimmering shadows. + +"Judging from some of the faces of your men," said the other, "they bid +fair to try the reality of Dante's vision, some day." + +Young Kirby looked curiously around, as if seeing the faces of his hands +for the first time. + +"They're bad enough, that's true. A desperate set, I fancy. Eh, Clarke?" + +The overseer did not hear him. He was talking of net profits just +then,--giving, in fact, a schedule of the annual business of the firm to +a sharp peering little Yankee, who jotted down notes on a paper laid on +the crown of his hat: a reporter for one of the city-papers, getting up +a series of reviews of the leading manufactories. The other gentlemen +had accompanied them merely for amusement. They were silent until the +notes were finished, drying their feet at the furnaces, and sheltering +their faces from the intolerable heat. At last the overseer concluded +with--"I believe that is a pretty fair estimate, Captain." + +"Here, some of you men!" said Kirby, "bring up those boards. We may as +well sit down, gentlemen, until the rain is over. It cannot last much +longer at this rate." + +"Pig-metal,"--mumbled the reporter,--"um!--coal facilities,--um!--hands +employed, twelve hundred,--bitumen,--um!--'all right, I believe, Mr. +Clarke;--sinking-fund,--what did you say was your sinking-fund?" + +"Twelve hundred hands?" said the stranger, the young man who had first +spoken. "Do you control their votes, Kirby?" + +"Control? No." The young man smiled complacently. "But my father brought +seven hundred votes to the polls for his candidate last November. No +force-work, you understand,--only a speech or two, a hint to form +themselves into a society, and a bit of red and blue bunting to make +them a flag. The Invincible Roughs,--I believe that is their name. I +forget the motto: 'Our country's hope,' I think." + +There was a laugh. The young man talking to Kirby sat with an amused +light in his cool gray eye, surveying critically the half-clothed +figures of the puddlers, and the slow swing of their brawny muscles. He +was a stranger in the city,--spending a couple of months in the +borders of a Slave State, to study the institutions of the South,--a +brother-in-law of Kirby's,--Mitchell. He was an amateur gymnast,--hence +his anatomical eye; a patron, in a _blasé_ way, of the prize-ring; a man +who sucked the essence out of a science or philosophy in an indifferent, +gentlemanly way; who took Kant, Novalis, Humboldt, for what they were +worth in his own scales; accepting all, despising nothing, in heaven, +earth, or hell, but one-idead men; with a temper yielding and brilliant +as summer water, until his Self was touched, when it was ice, though +brilliant still. Such men are not rare in the States. + +As he knocked the ashes from his cigar, Wolfe caught with a quick +pleasure the contour of the white hand, the blood-glow of a red ring he +wore. His voice, too, and that of Kirby's, touched him like music,--low, +even, with chording cadences. About this man Mitchell hung the +impalpable atmosphere belonging to the thorough-bred gentleman. Wolfe, +scraping away the ashes beside him, was conscious of it, did obeisance +to it with his artist sense, unconscious that he did so. + +The rain did not cease. Clarke and the reporter left the mills; the +others, comfortably seated near the furnace, lingered, smoking +and talking in a desultory way. Greek would not have been more +unintelligible to the furnace-tenders, whose presence they soon forgot +entirely. Kirby drew out a newspaper from his pocket and read aloud some +article, which they discussed eagerly. At every sentence, Wolfe listened +more and more like a dumb, hopeless animal, with a duller, more stolid +look creeping over his face, glancing now and then at Mitchell, marking +acutely every smallest sign of refinement, then back to himself, seeing +as in a mirror his filthy body, his more stained soul. + +Never! He had no words for such a thought, but he knew now, in all the +sharpness of the bitter certainty, that between them there was a great +gulf never to be passed. Never! + +The bell of the mills rang for midnight. Sunday morning had dawned. +Whatever hidden message lay in the tolling bells floated past these men +unknown. Yet it was there. Veiled in the solemn music ushering the risen +Saviour was a key-note to solve the darkest secrets of a world gone +wrong,--even this social riddle which the brain of the grimy puddler +grappled with madly to-night. + +The men began to withdraw the metal from the caldrons. The mills were +deserted on Sundays, except by the hands who fed the fires, and those +who had no lodgings and slept usually on the ash-heaps. The three +strangers sat still during the next hour, watching the men cover the +furnaces, laughing now and then at some jest of Kirby's. + +"Do you know," said Mitchell, "I like this view of the works better than +when the glare was fiercest? These heavy shadows and the amphitheatre +of smothered fires are ghostly, unreal. One could fancy these red +smouldering lights to be the half-shut eyes of wild beasts, and the +spectral figures their victims in the den." + +Kirby laughed. "You are fanciful. Come, let us get out of the den. The +spectral figures, as you call them, are a little too real for me to +fancy a close proximity in the darkness,--unarmed, too." + +The others rose, buttoning their overcoats, and lighting cigars. + +"Raining, still," said Doctor May, "and hard. Where did we leave the +coach, Mitchell?" + +"At the other side of the works.--Kirby, what's that?" + +Mitchell started back, half-frightened, as, suddenly turning a corner, +the white figure of a woman faced him in the darkness,--a woman, white, +of giant proportions, crouching on the ground, her arms flung out in +some wild gesture of warning. + +"Stop! Make that fire burn there!" cried Kirby, stopping short. + +The flame burst out, flashing the gaunt figure into bold relief. + +Mitchell drew a long breath. + +"I thought it was alive," he said, going up curiously. + +The others followed. + +"Not marble, eh?" asked Kirby, touching it. + +One of the lower overseers stopped. + +"Korl, Sir." + +"Who did it?" + +"Can't say. Some of the hands; chipped it out in off-hours." + +"Chipped to some purpose, I should say. What a flesh-tint the stuff has! +Do you see, Mitchell?" + +"I see." + +He had stepped aside where the light fell boldest on the figure, looking +at it in silence. There was not one line of beauty or grace in it: a +nude woman's form, muscular, grown coarse with labor, the powerful limbs +instinct with some one poignant longing. One idea: there it was in the +tense, rigid muscles, the clutching hands, the wild, eager face, like +that of a starving wolf's. Kirby and Doctor May walked around it, +critical, curious. Mitchell stood aloof, silent. The figure touched him +strangely. + +"Not badly done," said Doctor May. "Where did the fellow learn that +sweep of the muscles in the arm and hand? Look at them! They are +groping,--do you see?--clutching: the peculiar action of a man dying of +thirst." + +"They have ample facilities for studying anatomy," sneered Kirby, +glancing at the half-naked figures. + +"Look," continued the Doctor, "at this bony wrist, and the strained +sinews of the instep! A working-woman,--the very type of her class." + +"God forbid!" muttered Mitchell. + +"Why?" demanded May. "What does the fellow intend by the figure? I +cannot catch the meaning." + +"Ask him," said the other, dryly. "There he stands,"--pointing to Wolfe, +who stood with a group of men, leaning on his ash-rake. + +The Doctor beckoned him with the affable smile which kind-hearted men +put on, when talking to these people. + +"Mr. Mitchell has picked you out as the man who did this,--I'm sure I +don't know why. But what did you mean by it?" + +"She be hungry." + +Wolfe's eyes answered Mitchell, not the Doctor. + +"Oh-h! But what a mistake you have made, my fine fellow! You have given +no sign of starvation to the body. It is strong,--terribly strong. It +has the mad, half-despairing gesture of drowning." + +Wolfe stammered, glanced appealingly at Mitchell, who saw the soul of +the thing, he knew. But the cool, probing eyes were turned on himself +now,--mocking, cruel, relentless. + +"Not hungry for meat," the furnace-tender said at last. + +"What then? Whiskey?" jeered Kirby, with a coarse laugh. + +Wolfe was silent a moment, thinking. + +"I dunno," he said, with a bewildered look. "It mebbe. Summat to make +her live, I think,--like you. Whiskey ull do it, in a way." + +The young man laughed again. Mitchell flashed a look of disgust +somewhere,--not at Wolfe. + +"May," he broke out impatiently, "are you blind? Look at that woman's +face! It asks questions of God, and says, 'I have a right to know.' Good +God, how hungry it is!" + +They looked a moment; then May turned to the mill-owner:-- + +"Have you many such hands as this? What are you going to do with them? +Keep them at puddling iron?" + +Kirby shrugged his shoulders. Mitchell's look had irritated him. + +"_Ce n'est pas mon affaire_. I have no fancy for nursing infant +geniuses. I suppose there are some stray gleams of mind and soul among +these wretches. The Lord will take care of his own; or else they can +work out their own salvation. I have heard you call our American system +a ladder which any man can scale. Do you doubt it? Or perhaps you want +to banish all social ladders, and put us all on a flat table-land,--eh, +May?" + +The Doctor looked vexed, puzzled. Some terrible problem lay hid in this +woman's face, and troubled these men. Kirby waited for an answer, and, +receiving none, went on, warning with his subject. + +"I tell you, there's something wrong that no talk of '_Liberté_' or +'_Egalité_' will do away. If I had the making of men, these men who +do the lowest part of the world's work should be machines,--nothing +more,--hands. It would be kindness. God help them! What are taste, +reason, to creatures who must live such lives as that?" He pointed to +Deborah, sleeping on the ash-heap. "So many nerves to sting them to +pain. What if God had put your brain, with all its agony of touch, into +your fingers, and bid you work and strike with that?" + +"You think you could govern the world better?" laughed the Doctor. + +"I do not think at all." + +"That is true philosophy. Drift with the stream, because you cannot dive +deep enough to find bottom, eh?" + +"Exactly," rejoined Kirby. "I do not think. I wash my hands of all +social problems,--slavery, caste, white or black. My duty to my +operatives has a narrow limit,--the pay-hour on Saturday night. Outside +of that, if they cut korl, or cut each other's throats, (the more +popular amusement of the two,) I am not responsible." + +The Doctor sighed,--a good honest sigh, from the depths of his stomach. + +"God help us! Who is responsible?" + +"Not I, I tell you," said Kirby, testily. "What has the man who pays +them money to do with their souls' concerns, more than the grocer or +butcher who takes it?" + +"And yet," said Mitchell's cynical voice, "look at her! How hungry she +is!" + +Kirby tapped his boot with his cane. No one spoke. Only the dumb face of +the rough image looking into their faces with the awful question, "What +shall we do to be saved?" Only Wolfe's face, with its heavy weight of +brain, its weak, uncertain mouth, its desperate eyes, out of which +looked the soul of his class,--only Wolfe's face turned towards Kirby's. +Mitchell laughed,--a cool, musical laugh. + +"Money has spoken!" he said, seating himself lightly on a stone with the +air of an amused spectator at a play. "Are you answered?"--turning to +Wolfe his clear, magnetic face. + +Bright and deep and cold as Arctic air, the soul of the man lay tranquil +beneath. He looked at the furnace-tender as he had looked at a rare +mosaic in the morning; only the man was the more amusing study of the +two. + +"Are you answered? Why, May, look at him! '_De profundis clamavi_.' Or, +to quote in English, 'Hungry and thirsty, his soul faints in him.' And +so Money sends back its answer into the depths through you, Kirby! +Very clear the answer, too!--I think I remember reading the same words +somewhere:--washing your hands in Eau de Cologne, and saying, 'I am +innocent of the blood of this man. See ye to it!'" + +Kirby flushed angrily. + +"You quote Scripture freely." + +"Do I not quote correctly? I think I remember another line, which may +amend my meaning: 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, +ye did it unto me.' Deist? Bless you, man, I was raised on the milk of +the Word. Now, Doctor, the pocket of the world having uttered its +voice, what has the heart to say? You are a philanthropist, in a small +way,--_n'est ce pas_? Here, boy, this gentleman can show you how to cut +korl better,--or your destiny. Go on, May!" + +"I think a mocking devil possesses you to-night," rejoined the Doctor, +seriously. + +He went to Wolfe and put his hand kindly on his arm. Something of a +vague idea possessed the Doctor's brain that much good was to be done +here by a friendly word or two: a latent genius to be warmed into life +by a waited-for sunbeam. Here it was: he had brought it. So he went on +complacently:-- + +"Do you know, boy, you have it in you to be a great sculptor, a great +man?--do you understand?" (talking down to the capacity of his hearer: +it is a way people have with children, and men like Wolfe,)--"to live a +better, stronger life than I, or Mr. Kirby here? A man may make himself +anything he chooses. God has given you stronger powers than many +men,--me, for instance." + +May stopped, heated, glowing with his own magnanimity. And it was +magnanimous. The puddler had drunk in every word, looking through the +Doctor's flurry, and generous heat, and self-approval, into his will, +with those slow, absorbing eyes of his. + +"Make yourself what you will. It is your right." + +"I know," quietly. "Will you help me?" + +Mitchell laughed again. The Doctor turned now, in a passion,-- + +"You know, Mitchell, I have not the means. You know, if I had, it is in +my heart to take this boy and educate him for"---- + +"The glory of God, and the glory of John May." + +May did not speak for a moment; then, controlled, he said,-- + +"Why should one be raised, when myriads are left?--I have not the money, +boy," to Wolfe, shortly. + +"Money?" He said it over slowly, as one repeals the guessed answer to a +riddle, doubtfully. "That is it? Money?" + +"Yes, money,--that is it," said Mitchell, rising, and drawing his +furred coat about him. "You've found the cure for all the world's +diseases.--Come, May, find your good-humor, and come home. This damp +wind chills my very bones. Come and preach your Saint-Simonian doctrines +to-morrow to Kirby's hands. Let them have a clear idea of the rights of +the soul, and I'll venture next week they'll strike for higher wages. +That will be the end of it." + +"Will you send the coach-driver to this side of the mills?" asked Kirby, +turning to Wolfe. + +He spoke kindly: it was his habit to do so. Deborah, seeing the puddler +go, crept after him. The three men waited outside. Doctor May walked up +and down, chafed. Suddenly he stopped. + +"Go back, Mitchell! You say the pocket and the heart of the world speak +without meaning to these people. What has its head to say? Taste, +culture, refinement? Go!" + +Mitchell was leaning against a brick wall. He turned his head +indolently, and looked into the mills. There hung about the place a +thick, unclean odor. The slightest motion of his hand marked that he +perceived it, and his insufferable disgust. That was all. May said +nothing, only quickened his angry tramp. + +"Besides," added Mitchell, giving a corollary to his answer, "it would +be of no use. I am not one of them." + +"You do not mean"--said May, facing him. + +"Yes, I mean just that. Reform is born of need, not pity. No vital +movement of the people's has worked down, for good or evil; fermented, +instead, carried up the heaving, cloggy mass. Think back through +history, and you will know it. What will this lowest deep--thieves, +Magdalens, negroes--do with the light filtered through ponderous Church +creeds, Baconian theories, Goethe schemes? Some day, out of their bitter +need will be thrown up their own light-bringer,--their Jean Paul, their +Cromwell, their Messiah." + +"Bah!" was the Doctor's inward criticism. However, in practice, he +adopted the theory; for, when, night and morning, afterwards, he prayed +that power might be given these degraded souls to rise, he glowed at +heart, recognizing an accomplished duty. + +Wolfe and the woman had stood in the shadow of the works as the coach +drove off. The Doctor had held out his hand in a frank, generous way, +telling him to "take care of himself, and to remember it was his right +to rise." Mitchell had simply touched his hat, as to an equal, with a +quiet look of thorough recognition. Kirby had thrown Deborah some money, +which she found, and clutched eagerly enough. They were gone now, all +of them. The man sat down on the cinder-road, looking up into the murky +sky. + +"'T be late, Hugh. Wunnot hur come?" + +He shook his head doggedly, and the woman crouched out of his sight +against the wall. Do you remember rare moments when a sudden +light flashed over yourself, your world, God? when you stood on a +mountain-peak, seeing your life as it might have been, as it is? one +quick instant, when custom lost its force and every-day usage? when your +friend, wife, brother, stood in a new light? your soul was bared, and +the grave,--a foretaste of the nakedness of the Judgment-Day? So it came +before him, his life, that night. The slow tides of pain he had borne +gathered themselves up and surged against his soul. His squalid daily +life, the brutal coarseness eating into his brain, as the ashes into +his skin: before, these things had been a dull aching into his +consciousness; to-night, they were reality. He griped the filthy red +shirt that clung, stiff with soot, about him, and tore it savagely from +his arm. The flesh beneath was muddy with grease and ashes,--and the +heart beneath that! And the soul? God knows. + +Then flashed before his vivid poetic sense the man who had left +him,--the pure face, the delicate, sinewy limbs, in harmony with all he +knew of beauty or truth. In his cloudy fancy he had pictured a Something +like this. He had found it in this Mitchell, even when he idly scoffed +at his pain: a Man all-knowing, all-seeing, crowned by Nature, +reigning,--the keen glance of his eye falling like a sceptre on other +men. And yet his instinct taught him that he too--He! He looked at +himself with sudden loathing, sick, wrung his hands with a cry, and then +was silent. With all the phantoms of his heated, ignorant fancy, Wolfe +had not been vague in his ambitious. They were practical, slowly built +up before him out of his knowledge of what he could do. Through years +he had day by day made this hope a real thing to himself,--a clear, +projected figure of himself, as he might become. + +Able to speak, to know what was best, to raise these men and women +working at his side up with him: sometimes he forgot this defined hope +in the frantic anguish to escape,--only to escape,--out of the wet, the +pain, the ashes, somewhere, anywhere,--only for one moment of free air +on a hill-side, to lie down and let his sick soul throb itself out in +the sunshine. But to-night he panted for life. The savage strength of +his nature was roused; his cry was fierce to God for justice. + +"Look at me!" he said to Deborah, with a low, bitter laugh, striking his +puny chest savagely. "What am I worth, Deb? Is it my fault that I am no +better? My fault? My fault?" + +He stopped, stung with a sudden remorse, seeing her hunchback shape +writhing with sobs. For Deborah was crying thankless tears, according to +the fashion of women. + +"God forgi' me, woman! Things go harder wi' you nor me. It's a worse +share." + +He got up and helped her to rise; and they went doggedly down the muddy +street, side by side. + +"It's all wrong," he muttered, slowly,--"all wrong! I dunnot +understan'. But it'll end some day." + +"Come home, Hugh!" she said, coaxingly; for he had stopped, looking +around bewildered. + +"Home,--and back to the mill!" He went on saying this over to himself, +as if he would mutter down every pain in this dull despair. + +She followed him through the fog, her blue lips chattering with cold. +They reached the cellar at last. Old Wolfe had been drinking since she +went out, and had crept nearer the door. The girl Janey slept heavily In +the corner. He went up to her, touching softly the worn white arm with +his fingers. Some bitterer thought stung him, as he stood there. He +wiped the drops from his forehead, and went into the room beyond, livid, +trembling. A hope, trifling, perhaps, but very dear, had died just then +out of the poor puddler's life, as he looked at the sleeping, innocent +girl,--some plan for the future, in which she had borne a part. He gave +it up that moment, then and forever. Only a trifle, perhaps, to us: his +face grew a shade paler,--that was all. But, somehow, the man's soul, as +God and the angels looked down on it, never was the same afterwards. + +Deborah followed him into the inner room. She carried a candle, which +she placed on the floor, dosing the door after her. She had seen the +look on his face, as he turned away: her own grew deadly. Yet, as she +came up to him, her eyes glowed. He was seated on an old chest, quiet, +holding his face in his hands. + +"Hugh!" she said, softly. + +He did not speak. + +"Hugh, did hur hear what the man said,--him with the clear voice? Did +hur hear? Money, money,--that it wud do all?" + +He pushed her away,--gently, but he was worn out; her rasping tone +fretted him. + +"Hugh!" + +The candle flared a pale yellow light over the cobwebbed brick walls, +and the woman standing there. He looked at her. She was young, in deadly +earnest; her faded eyes, and wet, ragged figure caught from their +frantic eagerness a power akin to beauty. + +"Hugh, it is true! Money ull do it! Oh, Hugh, boy, listen till me! He +said it true! It is money!" + +"I know. Go back! I do not want you here." + +"Hugh, it is t' last time. I 'II never worrit hur again." + +There were tears in her voice now, but she choked them back. + +"Hear till me only to-night! If one of t' witch people wud come, them we +heard of t' home, and gif hur all hur wants, what then? Say, Hugh!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean money.". + +Her whisper shrilled through his brain. + +"If one of t' witch dwarfs wud come from t' lane moors to-night, and gif +hur money, to go out,--_out_, I say,--out, lad, where t' sun shines, and +t' heath grows, and t' ladies walk in silken gownds, and God stays all +t' time,--where t' man lives that talked to us to-night,--Hugh knows, +--Hugh could walk there like a king!" + +He thought the woman mad, tried to check her, but she went on, fierce in +her eager haste. + +"If _I_ were t' witch dwarf, if I had f money, wud hur thank me? Wud hur +take me out o' this place wid hur and Janey? I wud not come into the +gran' house hur wud build, to vex hur wid t' hunch,--only at night, when +t' shadows were dark, stand far off to see hur." + +Mad? Yes! Are many of us mad in this way? + +"Poor Deb! poor Deb!" he said, soothingly. + +"It is here," she said, suddenly jerking into his hand a small roll. +"I took it! I did it! Me, me!--not hur! I shall be hanged, I shall be +burnt in hell, if anybody knows I took it! Out of his pocket, as he +leaned against t' bricks. Hur knows?" + +She thrust it into his hand, and then, her errand done, began to gather +chips together to make a fire, choking down hysteric sobs. + +"Has it come to this?" + +That was all he said. The Welsh Wolfe blood was honest. The roll was a +small green pocket-book containing one or two gold pieces, and a check +for an incredible amount, as it seemed to the poor puddler. He laid it +down, hiding his face again in his hands. + +"Hugh, don't be angry wud me! It's only poor Deb,--hur knows?" + +He took the long skinny fingers kindly in his. + +"Angry? God help me, no! Let me sleep. I am tired." + +He threw himself heavily down on the wooden bench, stunned with pain and +weariness. She brought some old rags to cover him. + +It was late on Sunday evening before he awoke. I tell God's truth, when +I say he had then no thought of keeping this money. Deborah had hid it +in his pocket. He found it there. She watched him eagerly, as he took it +out. + +"I must gif it to him," he said, reading her face. + +"Hur knows," she said with a bitter sigh of disappointment. "But it is +hur right to keep it." + +His right! The word struck him. Doctor May had used the same. He washed +himself, and went out to find this man Mitchell. His right! Why did this +chance word cling to him so obstinately? Do you hear the fierce devils +whisper in his ear, as he went slowly down the darkening street? + +The evening came on, slow and calm. He seated himself at the end of +an alley leading into one of the larger streets. His brain was clear +to-night, keen, intent, mastering. It would not start back, cowardly, +from any hellish temptation, but meet it face to face. Therefore the +great temptation of his life came to him veiled by no sophistry, but +bold, defiant, owning its own vile name, trusting to one bold blow for +victory. + +He did not deceive himself. Theft! That was it. At first the word +sickened him; then he grappled with it. Sitting there on a broken +cart-wheel, the fading day, the noisy groups, the church-bells' tolling +passed before him like a panorama, while the sharp struggle went on +within. This money! He took it out, and looked at it. If he gave it +back, what then? He was going to be cool about it. + +People going by to church saw only a sickly mill-boy watching them +quietly at the alley's mouth. They did not know that he was mad, or they +would not have gone by so quietly: mad with hunger; stretching out his +hands to the world, that had given so much to them, for leave to live +the life God meant him to live. His soul within him was smothering to +death; he wanted so much, thought so much, and _knew_--nothing. There +was nothing of which he was certain, except the mill and things there. +Of God and heaven he had heard so little, that they were to him what +fairy-land is to a child: something real, but not here; very far off. +His brain, greedy, dwarfed, full of thwarted energy and unused powers, +questioned these men and women going by, coldly, bitterly, that night. +Was it not his right to live as they,--a pure life, a good, true-hearted +life, full of beauty and kind words? He only wanted to know how to use +the strength within him. His heart warmed, as he thought of it. He +suffered himself to think of it longer. If he took the money? + +Then he saw himself as he might be, strong, helpful, kindly. The night +crept on, as this one image slowly evolved itself from the crowd of +other thoughts and stood triumphant. He looked at it. As he might be! +What wonder, if it blinded him to delirium,--the madness that underlies +all revolution, all progress, and all fall? + +You laugh at the shallow temptation? You see the error underlying +its argument so clearly,--that to him a true life was one of full +development rather than self-restraint? that he was deaf to the higher +tone in a cry of voluntary suffering for truth's sake than in the +fullest flow of spontaneous harmony? I do not plead his cause. I only +want to show you the mote in my brother's eye: then you can see clearly +to take it out. + +The money,--there it lay on his knee, a little blotted slip of paper, +nothing in itself; used to raise him out of the pit; something straight +from God's hand. A thief! Well, what was it to be a thief? He met the +question at last, face to face, wiping the clammy drops of sweat +from his forehead. God made this money--the fresh air, too--for his +children's use. He never made the difference between poor and rich. The +Something who looked down on him that moment through the cool gray sky +had a kindly face, he knew,--loved his children alike. Oh, he knew that! + +There were times when the soft floods of color in the crimson and purple +flames, or the clear depth of amber in the water below the bridge, had +somehow given him a glimpse of another world than this,--of an infinite +depth of beauty and of quiet somewhere,--somewhere,--a depth of quiet +and rest and love. Looking up now, it became strangely real. The sun had +sunk quite below the hills, but his last rays struck upward, touching +the zenith. The fog had risen, and the town and river were steeped in +its thick, gray damp; but overhead, the sun-touched smoke-clouds opened +like a cleft ocean,--shifting, rolling seas of crimson mist, waves of +billowy silver reined with blood-scarlet, inner depths unfathomable of +glancing light. Wolfe's artist-eye grew drunk with color. The gates of +that other world! Fading, flashing before him now! What, in that world +of Beauty, Content, and Right, were the petty laws, the mine and thine, +of mill-owners and mill-hands? + +A consciousness of power stirred within him. He stood up. A man,--he +thought, stretching out his hands,--free to work, to live, to love! +Free! His right! He folded the scrap of paper in his hand. As his +nervous fingers took it in, limp and blotted, so his soul took in the +mean temptation, lapped it in fancied rights, in dreams of improved +existences, drifting and endless as the cloud-seas of color. Clutching +it, as if the tightness of his hold would strengthen his sense of +possession, he went aimlessly down the street. It was his watch at the +mill. He need not go, need never go again, thank God!--shaking off the +thought with unspeakable loathing. + +Shall I go over the history of the hours of that night? how the +man wandered from one to another of his old haunts, with a +half-consciousness of bidding them farewell,--lanes and alleys and +back-yards where the mill-hands lodged,--noting, with a new eagerness, +the filth and drunkenness, the pig-pens, the ash-heaps covered with +potato-skins, the bloated, pimpled women at the doors,--with a new +disgust, a new sense of sudden triumph, and, under all, a new, vague +dread, unknown before, smothered down, kept under, but still there? It +left him but once during the night, when, for the second time in his +life, he entered a church. It was a sombre Gothic pile, where the +stained light lost itself in far-retreating arches; built to meet the +requirements and sympathies of a far other class than Wolfe's. Yet it +touched, moved him uncontrollably. The distances, the shadows, the +still, marble figures, the mass of silent kneeling worshippers, the +mysterious music, thrilled, lifted his soul with a wonderful pain. Wolfe +forgot himself, forgot the new life he was going to live, the mean +terror gnawing underneath. The voice of the speaker strengthened the +charm; it was clear, feeling, full, strong. An old man, who had lived +much, suffered much; whose brain was keenly alive, dominant; whose heart +was summer-warm with charity. He taught it to-night. He held up Humanity +in its grand total; showed the great world-cancer to his people. Who +could show it better? He was a Christian reformer; he had studied the +age thoroughly; his outlook at man had been free, world-wide, over all +time. His faith stood sublime upon the Rock of Ages; his fiery zeal +guided vast schemes by which the gospel was to be preached to all +nations. How did he preach it to-night? In burning, light-laden words he +painted the incarnate Life, Love, the universal Man: words that became +reality in the lives of these people,--that lived again in beautiful +words and actions, trifling, but heroic. Sin, as he defied it, was a +real foe to them; their trials, temptations, were his. His words passed +far over the furnace-tender's grasp, toned to suit another class of +culture; they sounded in his ears a very pleasant song in an unknown +tongue. He meant to cure this world-cancer with a steady eye that +had never glared with hunger, and a hand that neither poverty nor +strychnine-whiskey had taught to shake. In this morbid, distorted heart +of the Welsh puddler he had failed. + +Wolfe rose at last, and turned from the church down the street. He +looked up; the night had come on foggy, damp; the golden mists had +vanished, and the sky lay dull and ash-colored. He wandered again +aimlessly down the street, idly wondering what had become of the +cloud-sea of crimson and scarlet. The trial-day of this man's life was +over, and he had lost the victory. What followed was mere drifting +circumstance,--a quicker walking over the path,--that was all. Do you +want to hear the end of it? You wish me to make a tragic story out of +it? Why, in the police-reports of the morning paper you can find a dozen +such tragedies: hints of ship-wrecks unlike any that ever befell on the +high seas; hints that here a power was lost to heaven,--that there a +soul went down where no tide can ebb or flow. Commonplace enough the +hints are,--jocose sometimes, done up in rhyme. + +Doctor May, a month after the night I have told you of, was reading to +his wife at breakfast from this fourth column of the morning-paper: an +unusual thing,--these police-reports not being, in general, choice +reading for ladies; but it was only one item he read. + +"Oh, my dear! You remember that man I told you of, that we saw at +Kirby's mill?--that was arrested for robbing Mitchell? Here he is; just +listen:--'Circuit Court. Judge Day, Hugh Wolfe, operative in Kirby & +John's Loudon Mills. Charge, grand larceny. Sentence, nineteen years +hard labor in penitentiary.'--Scoundrel! Serves him right! After all +our kindness that night! Picking Mitchell's pocket at the very time!" + +His wife said something about the ingratitude of that kind of people, +and then they began to talk of something else. + +Nineteen years! How easy that was to read! What a simple word for Judge +Day to utter! Nineteen years! Half a lifetime! + +Hugh Wolfe sat on the window-ledge of his cell, looking out. His ankles +were ironed. Not usual in such cases; but he had made two desperate +efforts to escape. "Well," as Haley, the jailer, said, "small blame +to him! Nineteen years' imprisonment was not a pleasant thing to look +forward to." Haley was very good-natured about it, though Wolfe had +fought him savagely. + +"When he was first caught," the jailer said afterwards, in telling the +story, "before the trial, the fellow was cut down at once,--laid there +on that pallet like a dead man, with his hands over his eyes. Never saw +a man so cut down in my life. Time of the trial, too, came the queerest +dodge of any customer I ever had. Would choose no lawyer. Judge gave him +one, of course. Gibson it was. He tried to prove the fellow crazy; but +it wouldn't go. Thing was plain as daylight: money found on him. 'Twas a +hard sentence,--all the law allows; but it was for 'xample's sake. These +mill-hands are gettin' onbearable. When the sentence was read, he just +looked up, and said the money was his by rights, and that all the world +had gone wrong. That night, after the trial, a gentleman came to see him +here, name of Mitchell,--him as he stole from. Talked to him for an +hour. Thought he came for curiosity, like. After he was gone, thought +Wolfe was remarkable quiet, and went into his cell. Found him very low; +bed all bloody. Doctor said he had been bleeding at the lungs. He was as +weak as a cat; yet, if ye'll b'lieve me, he tried to get a-past me and +get out. I just carried him like a baby, and threw him on the pallet. +Three days after, he tried it again: that time reached the wall. Lord +help you! he fought like a tiger,--giv' some terrible blows. Fightin' +for life, you see; for he can't live long, shut up in the stone crib +down yonder. Got a death-cough now. 'T took two of us to bring him down +that day; so I just put the irons on his feet. There he sits, in there. +Goin' to-morrow, with a batch more of 'em. That woman, hunchback, tried +with him,--you remember?--she's only got three years. 'Complice. But +_she's_ a woman, you know. He's been quiet ever since I put on irons: +giv' up, I suppose. Looks white, sick-lookin'. It acts different on 'em, +bein' sentenced. Most of 'em gets reckless, devilish-like. Some prays +awful, and sings them vile songs of the mills, all in a breath. That +woman, now, she's desper't'. Been beggin' to see Hugh, as she calls him, +for three days. I'm a-goin' to let her in. She don't go with him. Here +she is in this next cell. I'm a-goin' now to let her in." + +He let her in. Wolfe did not see her. She crept into a corner of the +cell, and stood watching him. He was scratching the iron bars of the +window with a piece of tin which he had picked up, with an idle, +uncertain, vacant stare, just as a child or idiot would do. + +"Tryin' to get out, old boy?" laughed Haley. "Them irons will need a +crowbar beside your tin, before you can open 'em." + +Wolfe laughed, too, in a senseless way. + +"I think I'll get out," he said. + +"I believe his brain's touched," said Haley, when he came out. + +The puddler scraped away with the tin for half an hour. Still Deborah +did not speak. At last she ventured nearer, and touched his arm. + +"Blood?" she said, looking at some spots on his coat with a shudder. + +He looked up at her. "Why, Deb!" he said, smiling,--such a bright, +boyish smile, that it went to poor Deborah's heart directly, and she +sobbed and cried out loud. + +"Oh, Hugh, lad! Hugh! dunnot look at me, when it wur my fault! To think +I brought hur to it! And I loved hur so! Oh, lad, I dud!" + +The confession, even in this wretch, came with the woman's blush through +the sharp cry. + +He did not seem to hear her,--scraping away diligently at the bars with +the bit of tin. + +Was he going mad? She peered closely into his face. Something she saw +there made her draw suddenly back,--something which Haley had not seen, +that lay beneath the pinched, vacant look it had caught since the trial, +or the curious gray shadow that rested on it. That gray shadow,--yes, +she knew what that meant. She had often seen it creeping over women's +faces for months, who died at last of slow hunger or consumption. That +meant death, distant, lingering: but this--Whatever it was the woman +saw, or thought she saw, used as she was to crime and misery, seemed to +make her sick with a new horror. Forgetting her fear of him, she caught +his shoulders, and looked keenly, steadily, into his eyes. + +"Hugh!" she cried, in a desperate whisper,--"oh, boy, not that! for +God's sake, not _that!_" + +The vacant laugh went off his face, and he answered her in a muttered +word or two that drove her away. Yet the words were kindly enough. +Sitting there on his pallet, she cried silently a hopeless sort of +tears, but did not speak again. The man looked up furtively at her now +and then. Whatever his own trouble was, her distress vexed him with a +momentary sting. + +It was market-day. The narrow window of the jail looked down directly on +the carts and wagons drawn up in a long line, where they had unloaded. +He could see, too, and hear distinctly the clink of money as it changed +hands, the busy crowd of whites and blacks shoving, pushing one another, +and the chaffering and swearing at the stalls. Somehow, the sound, more +than anything else had done, wakened him up,--made the whole real to +him. He was done with the world and the business of it. He let the tin +fall, and looked out, pressing his face close to the rusty bars. How +they crowded and pushed! And he,--he should never walk that pavement +again! There came Neff Sanders, one of the feeders at the mill, with +a basket on his arm. Sure enough, Neff was married the other week. He +whistled, hoping he would look up; but he did not. He wondered if Neff +remembered he was there,--if any of the boys thought of him up there, +and thought that he never was to go down that old cinder-road again. +Never again! He had not quite understood it before; but now he did. Not +for days or years, but never!--that was it. + +How clear the light fell on that stall in front of the market! and how +like a picture it was, the dark-green heaps of corn, and the crimson +beets, and golden melons! There was another with game: how the light +flickered on that pheasant's breast, with the purplish blood dripping +over the brown feathers! He could see the red shining of the drops, it +was so near. In one minute he could be down there. It was just a step. +So easy, as it seemed, so natural to go! Yet it could never be--not in +all the thousands of years to come--that he should put his foot on that +street again! He thought of himself with a sorrowful pity, as of some +one else. There was a dog down in the market, walking after his master +with such a stately, grave look!--only a dog, yet he could go backwards +and forwards just as he pleased: he had good luck! Why, the very vilest +cur, yelping there in the gutter, had not lived his life, had been free +to act out whatever thought God had put into his brain; while he--No, he +would not think of that! He tried to put the thought away, and to listen +to a dispute between a countryman and a woman about some meat; but it +would come back. He, what had he done to bear this? + +Then came the sudden picture of what might have been, and now. He knew +what it was to be in the penitentiary,--how it went with men there. He +knew how in these long years he should slowly die, but not Until soul +and body had become corrupt and rotten,--how, when he came out, if he +lived to come, even the lowest of the mill-hands would jeer him,--how +his hands would be weak, and his brain senseless and stupid. He believed +he was almost that now. He put his hand to his head, with a puzzled, +weary look. It ached, his head, with thinking. He tried to quiet +himself. It was only right, perhaps; he had done wrong. But was there +right or wrong for such as he? What was right'? And who had ever taught +him? He thrust the whole matter away. A dark, cold quiet crept through +his brain. It was all wrong; but let it be! It was nothing to him more +than the others. Let it be! + +The door grated, as Haley opened it. + +"Come, my woman! Must lock up for t'night. Come, stir yerself!" + +She went up and took Hugh's hand. + +"Good-night, Deb," he said, carelessly. + +She had not hoped he would say more; but the Sired pain on her mouth +just then was bitterer than death. She took his passive hand and kissed +it. + +"Hur 'll never see Deb again!" she ventured, her lips growing colder and +more bloodless. + +What did she say that for? Did he not know it'! Yet he would not +impatient with poor old Deb. She had trouble of her own, as well as he. + +"No, never again," he said, trying to be cheerful. + +She stood just a moment, looking at him. Do you laugh at her, standing +there, with her hunchback, her rags, her bleared, withered face, and the +great despised love tugging at her heart? + +"Come, you!" called Haley, impatiently. + +She did not move. + +"Hugh!" she whispered. + +It was to be her last word. What was it? + +"Hugh, boy, not THAT!" + +He did not answer. She wrung her hands, trying to be silent, looking in +his face in an agony of entreaty. He smiled again, kindly. + +"It is best, Deb. I cannot bear to be hurted any more." + +"Hur knows," she said, humbly. + +"Tell my father good-bye; and--and kiss little Janey." + +She nodded, saying nothing, looked in his face again, and went out of +the door. As she went, she staggered. + +"Drinkin' to-day?" broke out Haley, pushing her before him. "Where the +Devil did you get it? Here, in with ye!" and he shoved her into her +cell, next to Wolfe's, and shut the door. + +Along the wall of her cell there was a crack low down by the floor, +through which she could see the light from Wolfe's. She had discovered +it days before. She hurried in now, and, kneeling down by it, listened, +hoping to hear some sound. Nothing but the rasping of the tin on the +bars. He was at his old amusement again. Something in the noise jarred +on her ear, for she shivered as she heard it. Hugh rasped away at the +bars. A dull old bit of tin, not fit to cut korl with. + +He looked out of the window again. People were leaving the market now. +A tall mulatto girl, following her mistress, her basket on her head, +crossed the street just below, and looked up. She was laughing; but, +when she caught sight of the haggard face peering out through the bars, +suddenly grew grave, and hurried by. A free, firm step, a clear-cut +olive face, with a scarlet turban tied on one side, dark, shining eyes, +and on the head the basket poised, filled with fruit and flowers, under +which the scarlet turban and bright eyes looked out half-shadowed. The +picture caught his eye. It was good to see a face like that. He would +try to-morrow, and cut one like it. _To-morrow_! He threw down the tin, +trembling, and covered his face with his hands. When he looked up again, +the daylight was gone. + +Deborah, crouching near by on the other side of the wall, heard no +noise. He sat on the side of the low pallet, thinking. Whatever was the +mystery which the woman had seen on his face, it came out now slowly, in +the dark there, and became fixed,--a something never seen on his face +before. The evening was darkening fast. The market had been over for an +hour; the rumbling of the carts over the pavement grew more infrequent: +he listened to each, as it passed, because he thought it was to be for +the last time. For the same reason, it was, I suppose, that he strained +his eyes to catch a glimpse of each passer-by, wondering who they were, +what kind of homes they were going to, if they had children,--listening +eagerly to every chance word in the street, as if--(God be merciful to +the man! what strange fancy was this?)--as if he never should hear human +voices again. + +It was quite dark at last. The street was a lonely one. The last +passenger, he thought, was gone. No,--there was a quick step: Joe Hill, +lighting the I Joe was a good old chap; never passed a fellow without +some joke or other. He remembered once seeing the place where he lived +with his wife. "Granny Hill" the boys called her. Bedridden she was; but +so kind as Joe was to her! kept the room so clean!--and the old woman, +when he was there, was laughing at "some of t' lad's foolishness." The +step was far down the street; but he could see him place the ladder, run +up, and light the gas. A longing seized him to be spoken to once more. + +"Joe!" he called, out of the grating. "Good-bye, Joe!" + +The old man stopped a moment, listening uncertainly; then hurried on. +The prisoner thrust his hand out of the window, and called again, +louder; but Joe was too far down the street. It was a little thing; but +it hurt him,--this disappointment. + +"Good-bye, Joe!" he called, sorrowfully enough. + +"Be quiet!" said one of the jailers, passing the door, striking on it +with his club. + +Oh, that was the last, was it? + +There was an inexpressible bitterness on his face, as he lay down on the +bed, taking the bit of tin, which he had rasped to a tolerable degree +of sharpness, in his hand,--to play with, it may be. He bared his arms, +looking intently at their corded veins and sinews. Deborah, listening in +the next cell, heard a slight clicking sound, often repeated. She shut +her lips tightly, that she might not scream; the cold drops of sweat +broke over her, in her dumb agony. + +"Hur knows best," she muttered at last, fiercely clutching the boards +where she lay. + +If she could have seen Wolfe, there was nothing about him to frighten +her. He lay quite still, his arms outstretched, looking at the pearly +stream of moonlight coming into the window. I think in that one hour +that came then he lived back over all the years that had gone before. +I think that all the low, vile life, all his wrongs, all his starved +hopes, came then, and stung him with a farewell poison that made him +sick unto death. He made neither moan nor cry, only turned his worn face +now and then to the pure light, that seemed so far off, as one that +said, "How long, O Lord? how long?" + +The hour was over at last. The moon, passing over her nightly path, +slowly came nearer, and threw the light across his bed on his feet. He +watched it steadily, as it crept up, inch by inch, slowly. It seemed to +him to carry with it a great silence. He had been so hot and tired there +always in the mills! The years had been so fierce and cruel! There was +coming now quiet and coolness and sleep. His tense limbs relaxed, and +settled in a calm languor. The blood ran fainter and slow from his +heart. He did not think now with a savage anger of what might be and was +not; he was conscious only of deep stillness creeping over him. At first +he saw a sea of faces: the mill-men,--women he had known, drunken and +bloated,--Janeys timid and pitiful,--poor old Debs: then they floated +together like a mist, and faded away, leaving only the clear, pearly +moonlight. + +Whether, as the pure light crept up the stretched-out figure, it brought +with it calm and peace, who shall say? His dumb soul was alone with +God in judgment. A Voice may have spoken for it from far-off Calvary, +"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" Who dare say? +Fainter and fainter the heart rose and fell, slower and slower the moon +floated from behind a cloud, until, when at last its full tide of white +splendor swept over the cell, it seemed to wrap and fold into a deeper +stillness the dead figure that never should move again. Silence deeper +than the Night! Nothing that moved, save the black, nauseous stream of +blood dripping slowly from the pallet to the floor! + +There was outcry and crowd enough in the cell the next day. The coroner +and his jury, the local editors, Kirby himself, and boys with their +hands thrust knowingly into their pockets and heads on one side, jammed +into the corners. Coming and going all day. Only one woman. She came +late, and outstayed them all. A Quaker, or Friend, as they call +themselves. I think this woman was known by that name in heaven. A +homely body, coarsely dressed in gray and white. Deborah (for Haley had +let her in) took notice of her. She watched them all--sitting on the +end of the pallet, holding his head in her arms--with the ferocity of +a watch-dog, if any of them touched the body. There was no meekness, +sorrow, in her face; the stuff out of which murderers are made, instead. +All the time Haley and the woman were laying straight the limbs and +cleaning the cell, Deborah sat still, keenly watching the Quaker's face. +Of all the crowd there that day, this woman alone had not spoken to +her,--only once or twice had put some cordial to her lips. After they +all were gone, the woman, in the same still, gentle way, brought a vase +of wood-leaves and berries, and placed it by the pallet, then opened the +narrow window. The fresh air blew in, and swept the woody fragrance over +the dead face. Deborah looked up with a quick wonder. + +"Did hur know my boy wud like it? Did hur know Hugh?" + +"I know Hugh now." + +The white fingers passed in a slow, pitiful way over the dead, worn +face. There was a heavy shadow in the quiet eyes. + +"Did hur know where they'll bury Hugh?" said Deborah in a shrill tone, +catching her arm. + +This had been the question hanging on her lips all day. + +"In t' town-yard? Under t'mud and ash? T'lad 'll smother, woman! He wur +born on t'lane moor, where t'air is frick and strong. Take hur out, for +God's sake, take hur out where t'air blows!" + +The Quaker hesitated, but only for a moment. She put her strong arm +around Deborah and led her to the window. + +"Thee sees the hills, friend, over the river? Thee sees how the +light lies warm there, and the winds of God blow all the day? I live +there,--where the blue smoke is, by the trees. Look at me." She turned +Deborah's face to her own, clear and earnest. "Thee will believe me? I +will take Hugh and bury him there to-morrow." + +Deborah did not doubt her. As the evening wore on, she leaned against +the iron bars, looking at the hills that rose far off, through the thick +sodden clouds, like a bright, unattainable calm. As she looked, a shadow +of their solemn repose fell on her face: its fierce discontent faded +into a pitiful, humble quiet. Slow, solemn tears gathered in her eyes: +the poor weak eyes turned so hopelessly to the place where Hugh was to +rest, the grave heights looking higher and brighter and more solemn than +ever before. The Quaker watched her keenly. She came to her at last, and +touched her arm. + +"When thee comes back," she said, in a low, sorrowful tone, like one +who speaks from a strong heart deeply moved with remorse or pity, "thee +shall begin thy life again,--there on the hills. I came too late; but +not for thee,--by God's help, it may be." + +Not too late. Three years after, the Quaker began her work. I end my +story here. At evening-time it was light. There is no need to tire +you with the long years of sunshine, and fresh air, and slow, patient +Christ-love, needed to make healthy and hopeful this impure body and +soul. There is a homely pine house, on one of these hills, whose windows +overlook broad, wooded slopes and clover-crimsoned meadows,--niched into +the very place where the light is warmest, the air freest. It is the +Friends' meeting-house. Once a week they sit there, in their grave, +earnest way, waiting for the Spirit of Love to speak, opening their +simple hearts to receive His words. There is a woman, old, deformed, who +takes a humble place among them: waiting like them: in her gray dress, +her worn face, pure and meek, turned now and then to the sky. A woman +much loved by these silent, restful people; more silent than they, more +humble, more loving. Waiting: with her eyes turned to hills higher and +purer than these on which she lives,--dim and far off now, but to be +reached some day. There may be in her heart some latent hope to meet +there the love denied her here,--that she shall find him whom she lost, +and that then she will not be all-unworthy. Who blames her? Something +is lost in the passage of every soul from one eternity to the +other,--something pure and beautiful, which might have been and was not: +a hope, a talent, a love, over which the soul mourns, like Esau deprived +of his birthright. What blame to the meek Quaker, if she took her lost +hope to make the hills of heaven more fair? + +Nothing remains to tell that the poor Welsh puddler once lived, but this +figure of the mill-woman cut in korl. I have it here in a corner of my +library. I keep it hid behind a curtain,--it is such a rough, ungainly +thing. Yet there are about it touches, grand sweeps of outline, that +show a master's hand. Sometimes,--to-night, for instance,--the curtain is +accidentally drawn back, and I see a bare arm stretched out imploringly +in the darkness, and an eager, wolfish face watching mine: a wan, woful +face, through which the spirit of the dead korl-cutter looks out, with +its thwarted life, its mighty hunger, its unfinished work. Its pale, +vague lips seem to tremble with a terrible question, "Is this the End?" +they say,--"nothing beyond?--no more?" + +Why, you tell me you have seen that look in the eyes of dumb +brutes,--horses dying under the lash. I know. + +The deep of the night is passing while I write. The gas-light wakens +from the shadows here and there the objects which lie scattered through +the room: only faintly, though; for they belong to the open sunlight. As +I glance at them, they each recall some task or pleasure of the coming +day. A half-moulded child's head; Aphrodite; a bough of forest-leaves; +music; work; homely fragments, in which lie the secrets of all eternal +truth and beauty. Prophetic all! Only this dumb, woful face seems to +belong to and end with the night. I turn to look at it Has the power of +its desperate need commanded the darkness away? While the room is yet +steeped in heavy shadow, a cool, gray light suddenly touches its head +like a blessing hand, and its groping arm points through the broken +cloud to the far East, where, in the nickering, nebulous crimson, God +has set the promise of the Dawn. + + * * * * * + + +THE REIGN OF KING COTTON. + + +To every age and to all nations belong their peculiar maxims and +political or religious cries, which, if collected by some ingenious +philosopher, would make a striking compendium of universal history. +Sometimes a curious outward similarity exists between these condensed +national sentences of peoples dissimilar in every other respect. Thus, +to-day is heard in the senescent East the oft-repeated formula of the +Mussulman's faith, "There is no God but Allah, and Mahomet is his +Prophet," while in the youthful West a new cry, as fully believed, not +less devout, and scarcely less often repeated, arises from one great +and influential portion of the political and social thinkers of this +country,--the cry that "There is no King but Cotton, and the African is +its High-Priest." According to the creed of philosophy, philanthropy, +and economy in vogue among the sect whose views take utterance in this +formula, King Cotton has now reigned supreme over the temporal affairs +of the princes, potentates, and people of this earth for some thirty +years. Consequently, it is fair to presume that its reign has fully +developed its policy and tendencies and is producing its fruit for good +or evil, especially in the land of its disciples. It is well, therefore, +sometimes to withdraw a little from the dust and smoke of the battle, +which, with us at least, announces the spread of this potentate's power, +and to try to disentangle the real questions at issue in the struggle +from the eternal complications produced by short-sighted politicians and +popular issues. Looking at the policy and tendency of the reign of King +Cotton, as hitherto developed and indicated by its most confidential +advisers and apostles and by the lapse of time in the so-called Slave +States, to what end does it necessarily tend? to what results must it +logically lead? + +What is coarsely, but expressively, described in the political slang of +this country as "_The Everlasting Nigger Question_" might perhaps fairly +be considered exhausted as a topic of discussion, if ever a topic was. +Is it exhausted, however? Have not rather the smoke and sweat and dust +of the political battle in which we have been so long and so fiercely +engaged exercised a dimming influence on our eyes as to the true +difficulty and its remedy, as they have on the vision of other angry +combatants since the world began? It is easy to say, in days like these, +that men seem at once to lose their judgment and reason when they +approach this question,--to look hardly an arm's length before +them,--to become mere tools of their own passions; and all this is true, +and, in conceding it all, no more is conceded than that the men of the +present day are also mortal. How many voters in the last election, +before they went to the polls, had seriously thought out for themselves +the real issue of the contest, apart from party names and platforms and +popular cries and passionate appeals to the conscience and the purse? +In all parties, some doubtless were impelled by fanaticism,--many were +guided by instinct,--more by the voice of their leaders,--most by party +catchwords and material interests,--but how many by real reflection and +the exercise of reason? Was it every fifth man, or every tenth? Was it +every fiftieth? Let every one judge for himself. The history of the +reigning dynasty, its policy and tendency, are still open questions, the +discussion of which, though perhaps become tedious, is not exhausted, +and, if conducted in a fair spirit, will at least do no harm. What, +then, is all this thirty years' turmoil, of which the world is growing +sick, about? Are we indeed only fighting, as the party-leaders at the +North seem trying to persuade us, for the control, by the interests of +free labor or of slave-labor, of certain remaining national territories +into which probably slavery never could be made to enter?--or rather +is there not some deep innate principle,--some strong motive of +aggrandizement or preservation,--some real Enceladus,--the cause of this +furious volcano of destructive agitation? If, indeed, the struggle +be for the possession of a sterile waste in the heart of the +continent,--useless either as a slave-breeding or a slave-working +country,--clearly, whatever the politician might say to the contrary, +the patriot and the merchant would soon apply to the struggle the +principle, that sometimes the game is not worth the candle. If, however, +there be an underlying principle, the case is different, and the cost of +the struggle admits of no limit save the value of the motive principle. +He who now pretends to discuss this question should approach it neither +as a Whig, a Democrat, nor a Republican, but should look at it by the +light of political philosophy and economy, forgetful of the shibboleth +of party or appeals to passion. So far as may be, in this spirit it is +proposed to discuss it here. + +"By its fruits ye shall know it." Look, then, for a moment, at the +fruits of the Cotton dynasty, as hitherto developed in the working of +its policy and its natural tendency,--observe its vital essence and +logical necessities,--seek for the result of its workings, when brought +in contact with the vital spirits and life-currents of our original +policy as a people,--and then decide whether this contest in which we +are engaged is indeed an irrepressible and inextinguishable contest, +or whether all this while we have not been fighting with shadows. King +Cotton has now reigned for thirty years, be the same less or more. To +feel sure that we know what its policy has wrought in that time, we must +first seek for the conditions under which it originally began its work. + +Ever since Adam and Eve were forced, on their expulsion from Paradise, +to try the first experiment at self-government, their descendants have +been pursuing a course of homoeopathic treatment. It was the eating of +the fruit of the tree of knowledge which caused all their woes; and +in an increased consumption of the fruit of that tree they have +persistently looked for alleviation of them. Experience seems to prove +the wisdom of the treatment. The greater the consumption of the fruit, +the greater the happiness of man. Knowledge has at last become the basis +of all things,--of power, of social standing, of material prosperity, +and, finally, in America, of government itself. Until within a century +past, political philosophy in the creation of government began at the +wrong end. It built from the pinnacle downward. The stability of the +government depended on the apex,--the one or the few,--and not on the +base,--the foundation of the many. At length, in this country, fresh +from the hand of Nature, the astonished world saw a new experiment +tried,--a government systematically built up from the foundation of +the many,--a government drawing its being from, and dependent for its +continued existence on, the will and the intelligence of the governed. +The foundation had first been laid deep and strong, and on it a goodly +superstructure of government was erected. Yet, even to this day, the +very subjects of that government itself do not realize that they, and +not the government, are the sources of national prosperity. In times of +national emergency like the present,--amid clamors of secession and +of coercion,--angry threats and angrier replies,--wars and rumors of +wars,--what is more common than to hear sensible men--men whom the +people look to as leaders--picturing forth a dire relapse into barbarism +and anarchy as the necessary consequence of the threatened convulsions? +They forget, if they ever realized, that the people made this +government, and not the government the people. Destroy the intelligence +of the people, and the government could not exist for a day;--destroy +this government, and the people would create another, and yet another, +of no less perfect symmetry. While the foundations are firm, there need +be no fears of the superstructure, which may be renewed again and again; +but touch the foundations, and the superstructure must crumble at once. +Those who still insist on believing that this government made the people +are fond of triumphantly pointing to the condition of the States of +Mexico, as telling the history of our own future, let our present +government be once interrupted in its functions. Are Mexicans Yankees? +Are Spaniards Anglo-Saxons? Are Catholicism and religious freedom, the +Inquisition and common schools, despotism and democracy, synonymous +terms? Could a successful republic, on our model, be at once instituted +in Africa on the assassination of the King of Timbuctoo? Have two +centuries of education nothing to do with our success, or an eternity of +ignorance with Mexican failure? Was our government a lucky guess, and +theirs an unfortunate speculation? The one lesson that America is +destined to teach the world, or to miss her destiny in failing to teach, +has with us passed into a truism, and is yet continually lost sight of; +it is the magnificent result of three thousand years of experiment: the +simple truth, that no government is so firm, so truly conservative, and +so wholly indestructible, as a government founded and dependent for +support upon the affections and good-will of a moral, intelligent, and +educated community. In our politics, we hear much of State-rights and +centralization,--of distribution of power,--of checks and balances,--of +constitutions and their construction,--of patronage and its +distribution,--of banks, of tariffs, and of trade,--all of them subjects +of moment in their sphere; but their sphere is limited. Whether they be +decided one way or the other is of comparatively little consequence: +for, however they are decided, if the people are educated and informed, +the government will go on, and the community be prosperous, be they +decided never so badly,--and if decided badly, the decision will he +reversed; but let the people become ignorant and debased, and all the +checks and balances and wise regulations which the ingenuity of man +could in centuries devise would, at best, but for a short space defer +the downfall of a republic. A well-founded republic can, then, be +destroyed only by destroying its people,--its decay need be looked for +only in the decay of their intelligence; and any form of thought or +any institution tending to suppress education or destroy intelligence +strikes at the very essence of the government, and constitutes a treason +which no law can meet, and for which no punishment is adequate. + +Education, then, as universally diffused as the elements of God, is the +life-blood of our body politic. The intelligence of the people is the +one great fact of our civilization and our prosperity,--it is the +beating heart of our age and of our land. It is education alone which +makes equality possible without anarchy, and liberty without license. It +is this--which makes the fundamental principles of our Declaration of +Independence living realities in New England, while in France they still +remain the rhetorical statement of glittering generalities. From this +source flow all our possibilities. Without it, the equality of man is a +pretty figure of speech; with it, democracy is possible. This is a path +beaten by two hundred years of footprints, and while we walk it we are +safe and need fear no evil; but if we diverge from it, be it for never +so little, we stumble, and, unless we quickly retrace our steps, we fall +and are lost. The tutelary goddess of American liberty should be the +pure marble image of the Professor's Yankee school-mistress. Education +is the fundamental support of our system. It was education which made us +free, progressive, and conservative; and it is education alone which can +keep us so. + +With this fact clearly established, the next inquiry should be as to +the bearing and policy of the Cotton dynasty as touching this +question of general intelligence. It is a mere truism to say that the +cotton-culture is the cause of the present philosophical and economical +phase of the African question. Throughout the South, whether justly or +not, it is considered as well settled that cotton can be profitably +raised only by a forced system of labor. This theory has been denied by +some writers, and, in experience, is certainly subject to some marked +exceptions; but undoubtedly it is the creed of the Cotton dynasty, +and must here, therefore, be taken for true.[A] With this theory, the +Southern States are under a direct inducement, in the nature of a bribe, +to the amount of the annual profit on their cotton-crop, to see as +many perfections and as few imperfections as possible in the system of +African slavery, and to follow it out unflinchingly into all its logical +necessities. Thus, under the direct influence of the Cotton dynasty, the +whole Southern tone on this subject has undergone a change. Slavery is +no longer deplored as a necessary evil, but it is maintained as in +all respects a substantial good. One of the logical necessities of a +thorough slave-system is, in at least the slave-portion of the people, +extreme ignorance. Whatever theoretically may be desirable in this +respect among the master-class, ignorance, in its worst form,--ignorance +of everything except the use of the tools with which their work is to +be done,--is the necessary condition of the slaves. But it is said that +slaves are property, without voice or influence in the government, and +that the ignorance of the black is no obstacle to the intelligence +of the white. This possibly may be true; but a government founded on +ignorance, as the essential condition of one portion of its people, is +not likely long to regard education as its vital source and essence. +Still the assertion that the rule of education does not apply to slaves +must be allowed; for we must deal with facts as we find them; and +undoubtedly the slave has no rights which the master is bound to +respect; and in speaking of the policy of the Cotton dynasty, the +servile population must be regarded as it is, ignoring the question of +what it might be; it must be taken into consideration only as a terrible +inert mass of domesticated barbarism, and there left. The question +here is solely with the policy and tendency of the Cotton dynasty +as affecting the master-class, and the servile class is in that +consideration to be summarily disposed of as so much labor owned by so +much capital. + +[Footnote A: "In truth," the institution of slavery, as an agency for +cotton-cultivation, "is an expensive luxury, a dangerous and artificial +state, and, even in a-worldly point of view, an error. The cost of a +first-class negro in the United States is about £800, and the interest +on the capital invested in and the wear and tear of this human chattel +are equal to 10 per cent., which, with the cost of maintaining, +clothing, and doctoring him, or another 5 per cent, gives an annual cost +of £45; and the pampered Coolies in the best paying of all the tropical +settlements, Trinidad, receive wages that do not exceed on an average +on the year round 6s. per week, or about two-fifths, while in the East +Indies, with perquisites, they do not receive so much as two-thirds of +this. In Cuba, the Chinese emigrants do not receive so much even as +one-third of this."--_Cotton Trade of Great Britain_, by J.A. MANN. +--In India, labor is 80 per cent cheaper than in the United States.] + +The dynasty of Cotton is based on the monopoly of the cotton-culture in +the Cotton States of the Union; its whole policy is directed to the two +ends of making the most of and retaining that monopoly; and economically +it reduces everything to subserviency to the question of cotton-supply; +--thus Cotton is King. The result necessarily is, that the Cotton States +have turned all their energies to that one branch of industry. All other +branches they abandon or allow to languish. They have no commerce of +their own, few manufactories, fewer arts; and in their abandonment of +self in their devotion to their King, they do not even raise their +own hay or corn, dig their own coal, or fell their own timber; and at +present, Louisiana is abandoning the sugar-culture, one of the few +remaining exports of the South, to share more largely in the monopoly of +cotton. Thus the community necessarily loses its fair proportions; it +ceases to be self-sustaining; it exercises one faculty alone, until all +the others wither and become impotent for very lack of use. This intense +and all-pervading devotion to one pursuit, and that a pursuit to which +the existence of a servile class is declared essential, must, in a +republic more than in any other government, produce certain marked +politico-philosophical and economical effects on the master-class as a +whole. In a country conducted on a system of servile labor, as in one +conducted on free, the master-class must be divided into the two great +orders of the rich and poor,--those who have, and those who have not. +That the whole policy of the Cotton dynasty tends necessarily to making +broader the chasm between these orders is most apparent. It makes the +rich richer, and the poor poorer; for, as, according to the creed of the +dynasty, capital should own labor, and the labor thus owned can alone +successfully produce cotton, he who has must be continually increasing +his store, while he who has not can neither raise the one staple +recognized by the Cotton dynasty, nor turn his labor, his only property, +to other branches of industry; for such have, in the universal +abandonment of the community to cotton, been allowed to languish and +die. The economical tendency of the Cotton dynasty is therefore to +divide the master-class yet more distinctly into the two great opposing +orders of society. On the one hand we see the capitalist owning the +labor of a thousand slaves, and on the other the laboring white unable, +under the destructive influence of a profitable monopoly, to make any +use of that labor which is his only property. + +What influence, then, has the Cotton dynasty on that portion of the +master-class who are without capital? Its tendency has certainly +necessarily been to make their labor of little value; but they are still +citizens of a republic, free to come and go, and, in the eye of the law, +equal with the highest;--on them, in times of emergency, the government +must rest; their education and intelligence are its only sure +foundations. But, having made this class the vast majority of the +master-caste, what are the policy and tendency of the Cotton dynasty +as touching them? The story is almost too old to bear even the +shortest repetition. Philosophically, it is a logical necessity +of the Cotton dynasty that it should be opposed to universal +intelligence;--economically, it renders universal intelligence an +impossibility. That slavery is in itself a positive good to society is +a fundamental doctrine of the Cotton dynasty, and a proposition +not necessary to be combated here; but, unfortunately, universal +intelligence renders free discussion a necessity, and experience tells +us that the suppression of free discussion is necessary to the existence +of slavery. We are but living history over again. The same causes have +often existed before, and they have drawn after them the necessary +effects. Other peoples, at other times, as well as our Southern brethren +at present, have felt, that the suppression of general discussion was +necessary to the preservation of a prized and peculiar institution. +Spain, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland +have all, at different times, experienced the forced suppression of +some one branch of political or religious thought. Their histories have +recorded the effect of that suppression; and the rule to be deduced +therefrom is simply this: If the people among whom such suppression is +attempted are ignorant, and are kept so as part of a system, the attempt +may be successful, though in its results working destruction to +the community;--if, however, they are intelligent, and the system +incautiously admits into itself any plan of education, the attempt +at suppression will be abandoned, as the result either of policy or +violence. In this respect, then, on philosophical grounds, the Cotton +dynasty is not likely to favor the education of the masses. Again, it +is undoubtedly the interest of the man who has not, that all possible +branches of industry should be open to his labor, as rendering that +labor of greater value; but the whole tendency of the Cotton monopoly is +to blight all branches of industry in the Cotton States save only that +one. General intelligence might lead the poor white to suspect this fact +of an interest of his own antagonistic to the policy of the Cotton King, +and therefore general intelligence is not part of that monarch's policy. +This the philosophers of the Cotton dynasty fairly avow and class high +among those dangers against which it behooves them to be on their guard. +They theorize thus:-- + +"The great mass of our poor white population begin to understand that +they have rights, and that they, too, are entitled to some of the +sympathy which falls upon the suffering. They are fast learning that +there is an almost infinite world of industry opening before them, by +which they can elevate themselves and their families from wretchedness +and ignorance to competence and intelligence. It is this great upheaving +of our masses which we have to fear, so far as our institutions are +concerned."[B] + +[Footnote B: _De Bow's Review_, January, 1850. Quoted in Olmsted's _Back +Country_, p. 451.] + +Further, the policy of the Cotton King, however honestly in theory it +may wish to encourage it, renders general education and consequent +intelligence an impossibility. A system of universal education is made +for a laboring population, and can be sustained only among a laboring +population; but if that population consist of slaves, universal +education cannot exist. The reason is simple; for the children of all +must be educated, otherwise the scholars will not support the schools. +It is an absolute necessity of society that in agricultural districts +cultivated by slave-labor the free population should be too sparsely +scattered to support a system of schools, even on starvation wages for +the cheapest class of teachers. + +Finally, though it is a subject not necessary now to discuss, the effect +of the Cotton monopoly and dynasty in depressing the majority of the +whites into a species of labor competition in the same branch of +industry as the blacks, because the only branch open to all, can +hardly have a self-respect-inspiring influence on that portion of the +community, but should in its results rather illustrate old Falstaff's +remark,--that "there is a thing often heard of, and it is known to many +in our land, by the name of pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers do +report, doth defile: so doth the company thou keepest." + +Such, reason tells us, should be the effect on the intelligence and +education of the free masses of the South of the policy and dynasty of +King Cotton. That experience in this case verifies the conclusions +of reason who can doubt who has ever set foot in a thorough Slave +State,--or in Kansas, or in any Free State half-peopled by the poor +whites of the South?--or who can doubt it, that has ever even talked on +the subject with an intelligent and fair-minded Southern gentleman? Who +that knows them will deny that the poor whites of the South make the +worst population in the country? Who ever heard a Southern gentleman +speak of them, save in Congress or on the hustings, otherwise than with +aversion and contempt?[C] + +[Footnote C: Except when used by the accomplished statistician, there is +nothing more fallacious than the figures of the census. As the author of +this article is a disciple neither of Buckle nor De Bow, they have not +been used at all; but a few of the census figures are nevertheless +instructive, as showing the difference between the Free and the Servile +States in respect to popular education. According to the census of 1850, +the white population of the Slave States amounted to 6,184,477 souls, +and the colored population, free and slave, brought the total population +up to an aggregate of 9,612,979, of which the whole number of +school-pupils was 581,861. New York, with a population of 3,097,894 +souls, numbered 675,221 pupils, or 98,830 more than all the Slave +States. The eight Cotton States, from South Carolina to Arkansas, with +a population of 2,137,264 whites and a grand total of 3,970,337 human +beings, contained 141,032 pupils; the State of Massachusetts, with a +total population of 994,514, numbered 176,475, or 35,443 pupils more +than all the Cotton States. In popular governments the great sources +of general intelligence are newspapers and periodicals; in estimating +these, metropolitan New York should not be considered; but of these +the whole number, in 1850, issued annually in all the Slave States was +61,038,698, and the number in the not peculiarly enlightened State of +Pennsylvania was 84,898,672, or 3,859,974 more than in all the Slave +States. In the eight Cotton States, the whole number was 30,041,991; and +in the single State of Massachusetts, 64,820,564, or 34,778,573 more, +and in the single State of Ohio, 30,473,407, or 431,416 more, than in +all the above eight States.] + +Here, then, we come at once to the foundation of a policy and the cause +of this struggle. Whether it will or no, it is the inevitable tendency +of the Cotton dynasty to be opposed to general intelligence. It is +opposed to that, then, without which a republic cannot hope to exist; +it is opposed to and denies the whole results of two thousand years of +experience. The social system of which the government of to-day is +the creature is founded on the principle of a generally diffused +intelligence of the people; but if now Cotton be King, as is so boldly +asserted, then an influence has obtained control of the government of +which the whole policy is in direct antagonism with, the very elementary +ideas of that government. History tells us that eight bags of cotton +imported into England in 1784 were seized by the custom-house officers +at Liverpool, on the ground that so much cotton could not have been +produced in these States. In 1860, the cotton-crop was estimated at +3,851,481 bales. Thus King Cotton was born with this government, and +has strengthened with its strength; and to-day, almost the creature of +destiny, sent to work the failure of our experiment as a people, it has +led almost one-half of the Republic to completely ignore, if not to +reject, the one principle absolutely essential to that Republic's +continued existence. What two thousand years ago was said of Rome +applies to us:--"Those abuses and corruptions which in time destroy a +government are sown along with the very seeds of it and both grow up +together; and as rust eats away iron, and worms devour wood, and both +are a sort of plagues born and bred with the substance they destroy; so +with every form and scheme of government that man can invent, some vice +or corruption creeps in with the very institution, which grows up along +with and at last destroys it." No wonder, then, that the conflict +is irrepressible and hot; for two instinctive principles of +self-preservation have met in deadly conflict: the South, with the eager +loyalty of the Cavalier, rallies to the standard of King Cotton, while +the North, with the earnest devotion of the Puritan, struggles hard in +defence of the fundamental principles of its liberties and the ark of +its salvation. + +Thus over nearly half of the national domain and among a large minority +of the citizens of the Republic, the dynasty of Cotton has worked a +divergence from original principle. Wherever the sway of King Cotton +extends, the people have for the present lost sight of the most +essential of our national attributes. They are seeking to found a great +and prosperous republic on the cultivation of a single staple product, +and not on intelligence universally diffused: consequently they +have founded their house upon the sand. Among them, cotton, and +not knowledge, is power. When thus reduced to its logical +necessities,--brought down, as it were, to the hard pan,--the experience +of two thousand years convincingly proves that their experiment as a +democracy must fail. It is, then, a question of vital importance to +the whole people,--How can this divergence be terminated? Is there any +result, any agency, which can destroy this dynasty, and restore us as a +people to the firm foundations upon which our experiment was begun? Can +the present agitation effect this result? If it could, the country might +joyfully bid a long farewell to "the canker of peace," and "hail the +blood-red blossom of war with a heart of fire"; but the sad answer, that +it cannot, whether resulting in the successor Democrat or Republican, +seems almost too evident for discussion. The present conflict is good so +far as it goes, but it touches only the surface of things. It is well to +drive the Cotton dynasty from the control of the national government; +but the aims of the Republican party can reach no farther, even if it +meet with complete success in that. But even that much is doubtful. The +danger at this point is one ever recurring. Those Northern politicians, +who, in pursuit of their political objects and ambition, unreservedly +bind up their destinies with those of the Cotton dynasty,--the Issachars +of the North, whose strong backs are bowed to receive any burden,--the +men who in the present conflict will see nought but the result of the +maudlin sentimentality of fanatics and the empty cries of ambitious +demagogues,--are not mistaken in their calculations. While Cotton is +King, as it now is, nothing but time or its own insanity can permanently +shake its hold on the national policy. In moments of fierce convulsion, +as at present, the North, like a restive steed, may contest its +supremacy. Let the South, however, bend, not break, before the storm, +and history is indeed "a nurse's tale," if the final victory does not +rest with the party of unity and discipline. While the monopoly of +cotton exists with the South, and it is cultivated exclusively by native +African labor, the national government will as surely tend, in spite of +all momentarily disturbing influences, towards a united South as the +needle to the pole. But even if the government were permanently wrested +from its control, would the evil be remedied? Surely not. The disease +which is sapping the foundations of our liberty is not eradicated +because its workings are forced inward. What remedy is that which leaves +a false and pernicious policy--a policy in avowed war with the whole +spirit of our civilization and in open hostility to our whole experiment +as a government--in full working, almost a religious creed with near +one-half of our people? As a remedy, this would be but a quack medicine +at the best. The cure must be a more thorough one. The remedy we must +look for--the only one which can meet the exigencies of the case--must +be one which will restore to the South the attributes of a democracy. It +must cause our Southern brethren of their own free will to reverse their +steps,--to return from their divergence. It must teach them a purer +Christianity, a truer philosophy, a sounder economy. It must lead them +to new paths of industry. It must gently persuade them that a true +national prosperity is not the result of a total abandonment of +the community to the culture of one staple. It must make them +self-dependent, so that no longer they shall have to import their +corn from the Northwest, their lumber-men and hay from Maine, their +manufactures from Massachusetts, their minerals from Pennsylvania, and +to employ the shipping of the world. Finally, it must make it impossible +for one overgrown interest to plunge the whole community unresistingly +into frantic rebellion or needless war. They must learn that a +well-conditioned state is, so far as may be, perfect in itself,--and, +to be perfect in itself, must be intelligent and free. When these +lessons are taught to the South, then will their divergence cease, +and they will enter upon a new path of enjoyment, prosperity, and +permanence. The world at present pays them an annual bribe of some +$65,000,000 to learn none of these lessons. Their material interest +teaches them to bow down to the shrine of King Cotton. Here, then, lies +the remedy with the disease. The prosperity of the country in general, +and of the South in particular, demands that the reign of King Cotton +should cease,--that his dynasty should be destroyed. This result can +be obtained but in one way, and that seemingly ruinous. The present +monopoly in their great staple commodity enjoyed by the South must be +destroyed, and forever. This result every patriot and well-wisher of the +South should ever long for; and yet, by every Southern statesman and +philosopher, it is regarded as the one irremediable evil possible to +their country. What miserable economy! what feeble foresight! What +principle of political economy is better established than that a +monopoly is a curse to both producer and consumer? To the first it pays +a premium on fraud, sloth, and negligence; and to the second it supplies +the worst possible article, in the worst possible way, at the highest +possible price. In agriculture, in manufactures, in the professions, and +in the arts, it is the greatest bar to improvement with which any branch +of industry can be cursed. The South is now showing to the world an +example of a great people borne down, crushed to the ground, cursed, by +a monopoly. A fertile country of magnificent resources, inhabited by a +great race, of inexhaustible energy, is abandoned to one pursuit;--the +very riches of their position are as a pestilence to their prosperity. +In the presence of their great monopoly, science, art, manufactures, +mining, agriculture,--word, all the myriad branches of industry +essential to the true prosperity of a state,--wither and die, that +sanded cotton may be produced by the most costly of labor. For love of +cotton, the very intelligence of the community, the life-blood of their +polity, is disregarded and forgotten. Hence it is that the marble and +freestone quarries of New England alone are far more important sources +of revenue than all the subterranean deposits of the Servile States. +Thus the monopoly which is the apparent source of their wealth is in +reality their greatest curse; for it blinds them to the fact, that, with +nations as with individuals, a healthy competition is the one essential +to all true economy and real excellence. Monopolists are always blind, +always practise a false economy. Adam Smith tells us that "it is not +more than fifty years ago that some of the counties in the neighborhood +of London petitioned the Parliament against the extension of the +turnpike roads into the remoter counties. Those remoter counties, they +pretended, from the cheapness of labor, would be able to sell their +grass and corn cheaper in the London market than themselves, and would +thereby reduce their rents and ruin their cultivation." The great +economist significantly adds,--"Their rents, however, have risen, and +their cultivation has been improved, since that time." Finally, to-day, +would the cultivation of cereals in the Northwest be improved, if made +a monopoly? would its inhabitants be richer? would their economy be +better? Certainly not. Yet to-day they undersell the world, and, in +spite of competition, are far richer, far more contented and prosperous, +than their fellow-citizens in the South in the full enjoyment of their +boasted dynasty of Cotton. + +"Here," said Wellington, on the Eton football ground, "we won the battle +of Waterloo." Not in angry declamation and wordy debate, in threats of +secession and cries for coercion, amid the clash of party-politics, the +windy declamation of blatant politicians, or the dirty scramble for +office, is the destruction of the dynasty of King Cotton to be looked +for. The laws of trade must be the great teacher; and here, as +elsewhere, England, the noble nation of shopkeepers, must be the agent +for the fulfilment of those laws. It is safe to-day to say, that, +through the agency of England, and, in accordance with those laws, under +a continuance of the present profit on that staple, the dynasty of King +Cotton is doomed,--the monopoly which is now the basis of his power will +be a monopoly no more. If saved at all from the blight of this +monopoly, the South will be saved, not in New York or Boston, but in +Liverpool,--not by the thinkers of America, but by the merchants of +England. The real danger of the Cotton dynasty lies not in the hostility +of the North, but in the exigencies of the market abroad; they struggle +not against the varying fortunes of political warfare, but against the +irreversible decrees of Fate. It is the old story of the Rutulian hero; +and now, in the very crisis and agony of the battle, while the Cotton +King is summoning all his resources and straining every nerve to cope +successfully with its more apparent, but less formidable adversary, in +the noisy struggle for temporary power, if it would listen for a moment +to the voice of reason, and observe the still working of the laws of our +being, it, too, might see cause to abandon the contest, with the +angry lament, that, not by its opponent was it vanquished, but by the +hostility of Jupiter and the gods. The operation of the laws of +trade, as touching this monopoly, is beautifully simple. Already the +indications are sufficient to tell us, that, under the sure, but +silent working of those laws, the very profits of the Southern planter +foreshadow the destruction of his monopoly. His dynasty rests upon the +theory, that his negro is the only practical agency for the production +of his staple. But the supply of African labor is limited, and the +increased profit on cotton renders the cost of that labor heavier in +its turn,--the value of the negro rising one hundred dollars for every +additional cent of profit on a pound of cotton. The increased cost of +the labor increases the cost of producing the cotton. The result is +clear; and the history of the cotton-trade has twice verified it. The +increased profits on the staple tempt competition, and, in the increased +cost of production, render it possible. Two courses only are open to the +South: either to submit to the destruction of their monopoly, or to try +to retain it by a cheaper supply of labor. They now feel the pressure of +the dilemma; and hence the cry to reopen the slave-trade. According to +the iron policy of their dynasty, they must inundate their country with +freshly imported barbarism, or compete with the world. They cry out for +more Africans; and to their cry the voice of the civilized world returns +its veto. The policy of King Cotton forces them to turn from the +daylight of free labor now breaking in Texas. On the other hand, it is +not credible that all the land adapted to the growth of the cotton-plant +is confined to America; and, at the present value of the commodity, the +land adapted to its growth would be sought out and used, though buried +now in the jungles of India, the wellnigh impenetrable wildernesses of +Africa, the table-lands of South America, or the islands of the Pacific. +Already the organized energy of England has pushed its explorations, +under Livingstone, Barth, and Clegg, into regions hitherto unknown. +Already, under the increased consumption, one-third of the cotton +consumed at Liverpool is the product of climes other than our own. +Hundreds of miles of railroad in India are opening to the market vast +regions to share in our profits and break down our monopoly. To-day, +India, for home-consumption and exportation, produces twice the amount +of cotton produced in America; and, under the increased profit of late +years, the importation into England from that country has risen from +12,324,200 pounds in 1830, to 77,011,839 pounds in 1840, and, finally, +to 250,338,144 pounds in 1857, or nearly twenty per cent of the whole +amount imported, and more than one-fourth of the whole amount imported +from America. The staple there produced does not, indeed, compare in +quality with our own; but this remark does not apply to the staple +produced in Africa,--the original home of the cotton-plant, as of the +negro,--or to that of the cotton-producing islands of the Pacific. The +inexhaustible fertility of the valley of the Nile--producing, with a +single exception, the finest cotton of the world,--lying on the same +latitude as the cotton-producing States of America, and overflowing +with unemployed labor--will find its profit, at present prices, in the +abandonment of the cultivation of corn, its staple product since the +days of Joseph, to come in competition with the monopoly of the South. +Peru, Australia, Cuba, Jamaica, and even the Feejee Islands, all are +preparing to enter the lists. And, finally, the interior of Africa, the +great unknown and unexplored land, which for centuries has baffled the +enterprise of travellers, seems about to make known her secrets under +the persuasive arguments of trade, and to make her cotton, and not her +children, her staple export in the future. In the last fact is to be +seen a poetic justice. Africa, outraged, scorned, down-trodden, is, +perhaps, to drag down forever the great enslaver of her offspring. + +Thus the monopoly of King Cotton hangs upon a thread. Its profits must +fall, or it must cease to exist. If subject to no disturbing influence, +such as war, which would force the world to look elsewhere for its +supply, and thus unnaturally force production elsewhere, the growth of +this competition will probably be slow. Another War of 1812, or any +long-continued civil convulsions, would force England to look to other +sources of supply, and, thus forcing production, would probably be the +death-blow of the monopoly. Apart from all disturbing influences arising +from the rashness of his own lieges, or other causes, the reign of King +Cotton at present prices may be expected to continue some ten years +longer. For so long, then, this disturbing influence may be looked for +in American politics; and then we may hope that this tremendous material +influence, become subject, like others, to the laws of trade and +competition, will cease to threaten our liberties by silently sapping +their very foundation. As in the course of years competition gradually +increases, the effect of this competition on the South will probably be +most beneficial. The change from monopoly to competition, distributed +over many years, will come with no sudden and destructive shock, but +will take place imperceptibly. The fall of the dynasty will be gradual; +and with the dynasty must fall its policy. Its fruits must be eradicated +by time. Under the healing influence of time, the South, still young and +energetic, ceasing to think of one thing alone, will quickly turn its +attention to many. Education will be more sought for, as the policy +which resisted it, and made its diffusion impossible, ceases to exist. +With the growth of other branches of industry, labor will become +respectable and profitable, and laborers will flock to the country; and +a new, a purer, and more prosperous future will open upon the entire +Republic. Perhaps, also, it may in time be discovered that even +slave-labor is most profitable when most intelligent and best +rewarded,--that the present mode of growing cotton is the most wasteful +and extravagant, and one not bearing competition. Thus even the African +may reap benefit from the result, and in his increased self-respect and +intelligence may be found the real prosperity of the master. And thus +the peaceful laws of trade may do the work which agitation has attempted +in vain. Sweet concord may come from this dark chaos, and the world +receive another proof, that material interest, well understood, is +not in conflict, but in beautiful unison with general morality, +all-pervading intelligence, and the precepts of Christianity. Under +these influences, too, the very supply of cotton will probably be +immensely increased. Its cultivation, like the cultivation of their +staple products by the English counties mentioned by Smith, will +not languish, but flourish, under the influence of healthy +competition.--These views, though simply the apparently legitimate +result of principle and experience, are by no means unsupported by +authority. They are the same results arrived at from the reflections of +the most unprejudiced of observers. A shrewd Northern gentleman, who has +more recently and thoroughly than any other writer travelled through the +Southern States, in the final summary of his observations thus covers +all the positions here taken. "My conclusion," says Mr. Olmsted, "is +this,--that there is no physical obstacle in the way of our country's +supplying ten bales of cotton where it now does one. All that is +necessary for this purpose is to direct to the cotton-producing region +an adequate number of laborers, either black or white, or both. No +amalgamation, no association on equality, no violent disruption of +present relations is necessary. It is necessary that there should +be more objects of industry, more varied enterprises, more general +intelligence among the people,--and, especially, that they should +become, or should desire to become, richer, more comfortable, than they +are." + +It is not pleasant to turn from this, and view the reverse of the +picture. But, unless our Southern brethren, in obedience to some great +law of trade or morals, return from their divergence,--if, still being +a republic in form, the South close her ears to the great truth, that +education is democracy's first law of self-preservation,--if the dynasty +of King Cotton, unshaken by present indications, should continue +indefinitely, and still the South should bow itself down as now before +its throne,--it requires no gift of prophecy to read her future. As you +sow, so shall you reap; and communities, like individuals, who sow the +wind, must, in the fulness of time, look to reap the whirlwind. The +Constitution of our Federal Union guaranties to each member composing it +a republican form of government; but no constitution can guaranty that +universal intelligence of the people without which, soon or late, a +republican government must become, not only a form, but a mockery. Under +the Cotton dynasty, the South has undoubtedly lost sight of this great +principle; and unless she return and bind herself closely to it, her +fate is fixed. Under the present monopolizing sway of King Cotton,--soon +or late, in the Union, or out of the Union,--her government must +cease to be republican, and relapse into anarchy, unless previously, +abandoning the experiment of democracy in despair, she take refuge in a +government of force. The Northern States, the educational communities, +have apparently little to fear while they cling closely to the +principles inherent in their nature. With the Servile States, or away +from them, the experiment of a constitutional republic can apparently be +carried on with success through an indefinite lapse of time; but +though, with the assistance of an original impetus and custom, they +may temporarily drag along their stumbling brethren of the South, the +catastrophe is but deferred, not avoided. Out of the Union, the more +extreme Southern States--those in which King Cotton has already firmly +established his dynasty--are, if we may judge by passing events, ripe +for the result. The more Northern have yet a reprieve of fate, as having +not yet wholly forgotten the lessons of their origin. The result, +however, be it delayed for one year or for one hundred years, can hardly +admit of doubt. The emergency which is to try their system may not arise +for many years; but passing events warn us that it maybe upon them now. +The most philosophical of modern French historians, in describing the +latter days of the Roman Empire, tells us that "the higher classes of +a nation can communicate virtue and wisdom to the government, if they +themselves are virtuous and wise: but they can never give it strength; +for strength always comes from below; it always proceeds from the +masses." The Cotton dynasty pretends not only to maintain a government +where the masses are slaves, but a republican government where the vast +majority of the higher classes are ignorant. On the intelligence of the +mass of the whites the South must rely for its republican permanence, as +on their arms it must rely for its force; and here again, the words of +Sismondi, written of falling Rome, seem already applicable to the South: +--"Thus all that class of free cultivators, who more than any other +class feel the love of country, who could defend the soil, and who ought +to furnish the best soldiers, disappeared almost entirely. The number +of small farmers diminished to such a degree, that a rich man, a man of +noble family, had often to travel more than ten leagues before falling +in with an equal or a neighbor." The destruction of the republican form +of government is, then, almost the necessary catastrophe; but what will +follow that catastrophe it is not so easy to foretell. The Republic, +thus undermined, will fall; but what shall supply its place? The +tendency of decaying republics is to anarchy; and men take refuge from +the terrors of anarchy in despotism. The South least of all can indulge +in anarchy, as it would at once tend to servile insurrection. They +cannot long be torn by civil war, for the same reason. The ever-present, +all-pervading fear of the African must force them into some government, +and the stronger the better. The social divisions of the South, into the +rich and educated whites, the poor and ignorant whites, and the +servile class, would seem naturally to point to an aristocratic or +constitutional-monarchical form of government. But, in their transition +state, difficulties are to be met in all directions; and the +well-ordered social distinctions of a constitutional monarchy seem +hardly consistent with the time-honored licentious independence and +rude equality of Southern society. The reign of King Cotton, however, +conducted under the present policy, must inevitably tend to increase and +aggravate all the present social tendencies of the Southern system,-- +all the anti-republican affinities already strongly developed. It makes +deeper the chasm dividing the rich and the poor; it increases vastly the +ranks of the uneducated; and, finally, while most unnaturally forcing +the increase of the already threatening African infusion, it also tends +to make the servile condition more unendurable, and its burdens heavier. + +The modern Southern politician is the least far-seeing of all our +short-sighted classes of American statesmen. In the existence of a +nation, a generation should be considered but as a year in the life of +man, and a century but as a generation of citizens. Soon or late, in the +lives of this generation or of their descendants, in the Union or out +of the Union, the servile members of this Confederacy must, under the +results of the prolonged dynasty of Cotton, make their election either +to purchase their security, like Cuba, by dependence on the strong arm +of external force, or they must meet national exigencies, pass through +revolutions, and destroy and reconstruct governments, making every +movement on the surface of a seething, heaving volcano. All movements of +the present, looking only to the forms of government of the master, must +be carried on before the face of the slave, and the question of class +will ever be complicated by that of caste. What the result of the +ever-increasing tendencies of the Cotton dynasty will be it is therefore +impossible to more than dream. But is it fair to presume that the +immense servile population should thus see upturnings and revolutions, +dynasties rising and falling before their eyes, and ever remain quiet +and contented? "Nothing," said Jefferson, "is more surely written in the +Book of Fate than that this people must be free." Fit for freedom at +present they are not, and, under the existing policy of the Cotton +dynasty, never can be. "Whether under any circumstances they could +become so is not here a subject of discussion; but, surely, the day will +come when the white caste will wish the experiment had been tried. The +argument of the Cotton King against the alleviation of the condition of +the African is, that his nature does not admit of his enjoyment of true +freedom consistently with the security of the community, and therefore +he must have none. But certainly his school has been of the worst. Would +not, perhaps, the reflections applied to the case of the French peasants +of a century ago apply also to them?" It is not under oppression that +we learn how to use freedom. The ordinary sophism by which misrule is +defended is, when truly stilted, this: The people must continue in +slavery, because slavery has generated in them all the vices of slaves; +because they are ignorant, they must remain under a power which has made +and which keeps them ignorant; because they have been made ferocious by +misgovernment, they must be misgoverned forever. If the system under +which they live were so mild and liberal that under its operation they +had become humane and enlightened, it would be safe to venture on a +change; but, as this system has destroyed morality, and prevented the +development of the intellect,--as it has turned men, who might, under +different training, have formed a virtuous and happy community, into +savage and stupid wild beasts, therefore it ought to last forever. +Perhaps the counsellors of King Cotton think that in this case it will; +but all history teaches us another lesson. If there be one spark of love +for freedom in the nature of the African,--whether it be a love common +to him with the man or the beast, the Caucasian or the chimpanzee,--the +love of freedom as affording a means of improvement or an opportunity +for sloth,--the policy of King Cotton will cause it to work its way out. +It is impossible to say how long it will be in so doing, or what weight +the broad back of the African will first be made to bear; but, if the +spirit exist, some day it must out. This lesson is taught us by the +whole recorded history of the world. Moses leading the Children of +Israel up out of Egypt,--Spartacus at the gates of Rome,--the Jacquerie +in France,--Jack Cade and Wat Tyler in England,--Nana Sahib and the +Sepoys in India,--Toussaint l'Ouverture and the Haytiens,--and, finally, +the insurrection of Nat Turner in this country, with those in Guiana, +Jamaica, and St. Lucia: such examples, running through all history, +point the same moral. This last result of the Cotton dynasty may come at +any moment after the time shall once have arrived when, throughout any +great tract of country, the suppressing force shall temporarily, with +all the advantages of mastership, including intelligence and weapons, be +unequal to coping with the force suppressed. That time may still be far +off. Whether it be or not depends upon questions of government and +the events of the chapter of accidents. If the Union should now be +dissolved, and civil convulsions should follow, it may soon be upon us. +But the superimposed force is yet too great under any circumstances, and +the convulsion would probably be but temporary. At present, too, the +value of the slave insures him tolerable treatment; but, as numbers +increase, this value must diminish. Southern statesmen now assert that +in thirty years there will be twelve million slaves in the South; and +then, with increased numbers, why should not the philosophy of the +sugar-plantation prevail, and it become part of the economy of the +Cotton creed, that it is cheaper to work slaves to death and purchase +fresh ones than to preserve their usefulness by moderate employment? +Then the value of the slave will no longer protect him, and then the +end will be nigh. Is this thirty or fifty years off? Perhaps not for +a century hence will the policy of King Cotton work its legitimate +results, and the volcano at length come to its head and defy all +compression. + +In one of the stories of the "Arabian Nights" we are told of an Afrite +confined by King Solomon in a brazen vessel; and the Sultana tells +us, that, during the first century of his confinement, he said in his +heart,--"I will enrich whosoever will liberate me"; but no one liberated +him. In the second century he said,--"Whosoever will liberate me, I will +open to him the treasures of the earth"; but no one liberated him. And +four centuries more passed, and he said,--"Whosoever shall liberate me, +I will fulfil for him three wishes"; but still no one liberated him. +Then despair at his long bondage took possession of his soul, and, in +the eighth century, he swore,--"Whosoever shall liberate me, him will +I surely slay!" Let the Southern statesmen look to it well that the +breaking of the seal which confines our Afrite be not deferred till long +bondage has turned his heart, like the heart of the Spirit in the fable, +into gall and wormwood; lest, if the breaking of that seal be deferred +to the eighth or even the sixth century, it result to our descendants +like the breaking of the sixth seal of Revelation,--"And, lo! there was +a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and +the moon became as blood, and the heaven departed as a scroll, when it +is rolled together; and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and +the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every free +man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and +said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us, for the great +day of wrath is come'" On that day, at least, will end the reign of King +Cotton. + + * * * * * + + +GLIMPSES OF GARIBALDI. + + +FIRST GLIMPSE. + + +It is a sultry morning in October, and we are steaming in a small +Sardinian boat from Leghorn towards Naples. This city has fallen into +the power of Garibaldi, who is concentrating his forces before Capua, +while the King of Sardinia bears down with a goodly army from the North. + +The first object of special interest which comes into view, after we +pass the island of Elba, is Gaeta. Though care is taken not to run near +enough to invite a chase from the Neapolitan frigates, we are yet able +to obtain a distinct view of the last stronghold--the jumping-off place, +as we hope it will prove--of Francis II. The white walls of the fortress +rise grimly out of the sea, touching the land only upon one side, and +looking as though they might task well the resources of modern warfare +to reduce them. We soon make out the smoke of four or five steamers, +which we suppose to be armed vessels, heading towards Gaeta. + +About two o'clock we glide into the far-famed Bay of Naples, in company +with the cool sea-breeze which there each afternoon sends to refresh +the heated shore. As we swing round to our moorings, we pass numerous +line-of-battle-ships and frigates bearing the flags of England, +France, and Sardinia, but look in vain and with disappointment for the +star-spangled banner. A single floating representative of American +nationality is obliged to divide the favor of her presence between the +ports of both the Two Sicilies, and at this time she is at the island +portion of the kingdom. + +Our craft is at once beset by boats, their owners pushing, vociferating, +and chaffering for fares, as though Mammon, and not Moloch, were the +ruling spirit. Together with a chance companion of the voyage, Signor +Alvigini, _Intendente_ of Genoa, and his party, we are soon in the hands +of the _commissionnaire_ of the Hôtel de Rome. As we land, our passports +are received by the police of Victor Emmanuel, who have replaced those +of the late _régime_. + +As we enter our carriage, we expect to see streets filled with crowds of +turbulent people, or dotted with knots of persons conversing ominously +in suppressed tones; and streets deserted, with shops closed; and +streets barricaded. But in this matter we are agreeably disappointed. +The shops are all open, the street venders are quietly tending their +tables, people go about their ordinary affairs, and wear their +commonplace, every-day look. The only difference apparent to the eye +between the existing state of things and that which formerly obtained +is, that there are few street brawls and robberies, though every one +goes armed,--that the uniform of the soldiers of Francis II. is replaced +by the dark gray dress of the National Guard,--and that the Hag of +the Tyrant King no longer waves over the castle-prison of Sant' Elmo. +Garibaldi, on leaving Naples, had formally confided the city to the +National Guard; and they had nobly sustained the trust reposed in them. + +A letter of introduction to General Orsini, brought safely with us, +though not without adventure, through the Austrian dominions, gains +a courteous reception from General Turr, chief aide-de-camp to the +"Dictator," and a pass to the camp. General Turr, an Hungarian refugee, +is a person of distinguished appearance, not a little heightened by +his peculiar dress, which consists of the usual Garibaldian uniform +partially covered with a white military cloak, which hangs gracefully +over his elegant figure. + +After a brief, but pleasant, interview with this gentleman, we climb to +the Castle of Sant' Elmo, built on a high eminence commanding the town, +and with its guns mounted, not so as to defend it against an invading +enemy, but to hurl destruction on the devoted subjects of the Bourbon. +We are told that the people Lad set their hearts on seeing this +fortress, which they look upon as a standing menace, razed to the +ground, and its site covered with peaceful dwellings. And it is not +without regret that we have since learned that Victor Emmanuel has +thought it inexpedient to comply with this wish. Nor, in our ignorance, +can we divest ourselves entirely of the belief that it would have been a +wise as well as conciliatory policy to do so. + +We are politely shown over the castle by one of the National Guard, who +hold it in charge, and see lounging upon one of its terraces, carefully +guarded, but kindly allowed all practicable liberty, several officers of +the late power, prisoners where they had formerly held despotic sway. We +descend into the now empty dungeons, dark and noisome as they have been +described, where victims of political accusation or suspicion have pined +for years in dreary solitude. It produces a marked sensation in the +minds of our Italian companions in this sad tour of inspection, when +we tell them, through our guide Antonio, that these cells are the +counterpart of the dungeons of the condemned in the prison of the Doges +of Venice, as we had seen them a few days before,--save that the latter +were better, in their day, in so far as in them the cold stone was +originally lined and concealed by wooden casings, while in those before +us the helpless prisoner in his gropings could touch only the hard rock, +significant of the relentless despotism which enchained him. The walls +are covered with the inscriptions of former tenants. In One place we +discover a long line of marks in groups of fives,--like the tallies of +our boyish sports,--but here used for how different a purpose! Were +these the records of days, or weeks, or months? The only furniture of +the cells is a raised platform of wood, the sole bed of the miserable +inmate. The Italian visitors, before leaving, childishly vent their +useless rage at the sight of these places of confinement, by breaking to +pieces the windows and shutters, and scattering their fragments on the +floor. + +We have returned from Sant' Elmo, and, evening having arrived, are +sitting in the smoking-room of the Hotel de Grande Bretagne, conversing +with one of the English Volunteers, when our friend General J--n of the +British Army, one of the lookers-on in Naples, comes in, having just +returned from "the front." He brings the news of a smart skirmish which +has taken place during the day; of the English "Excursionists" being +ordered out in advance; of their rushing with alacrity into the thickest +of the fight, and bravely sustaining the conflict,--being, indeed, +with difficulty withheld by their officers from needlessly exposing +themselves. But this inspiring news is tinged with sadness. One of their +number, well known and much beloved, had fallen, killed instantly by a +bullet through the head. Military ardor, aroused by the report of +brave deeds, is for a few moments held in abeyance by grief, and +then rekindled by the desire of vengeance. Hot blood is up, and the +prevailing feeling is a longing for a renewal of the fight. We are told, +if we wish to see an action, to go to "the front" to-morrow. Accordingly +we decide to be there. + +The following day, our faithful _commissionnaire_, Antonio, places us +in a carriage drawn by a powerful pair of horses, and headed for the +Garibaldian camp. A hamper of provisions is not forgotten, and before +starting we cause Antonio to double the supplies: we have a presentiment +that we may find with whom to share them. + +There are twelve miles before us to the nearest point in the camp, which +is Caserta. Our chief object being to see the hero of Italy, if we do +not find him at Caserta, we shall push on four miles farther, to Santa +Maria; and, missing him there, ride still another four miles to Sant' +Angelo, where rests the extreme right of the army over against Capua. + +As we ride over the broad and level road from Naples to Caserta, +bordered with lines of trees through its entire length, we are surprised +to see not only husbandmen quietly tilling the fields, but laborers +engaged in public works upon the highway, as if in the employ of a long +established authority, and making it difficult to believe that we are +in the midst of civil war, and under a provisional government of a few +weeks' standing. But this and kindred wonders are fruits of the spell +wrought by Garibaldi, who wove the most discordant elements into +harmony, and made hostile factions work together for the common good, +for the sake of the love they bore to him. + +About mid-day we arrive at a redoubt which covers a part of the road, +leaving barely enough space for one vehicle to pass. We are of course +stopped, but are courteously received by the officer of the guard. +We show our pass from General Turr, giving us permission "freely to +traverse all parts of the camp," and being told to drive on, find +ourselves within the lines. As we proceed, we see laborers busily +engaged throwing up breastworks, soldiers reposing beneath the trees, +and on every side the paraphernalia of war. + +Garibaldi is not here, nor do we find him at Santa Maria. So we prolong +our ride to the twentieth mile by driving our reeking, but still +vigorous horses to Sant' Angelo. + +We are now in sight of Capua, where Francis II. is shut up with a strong +garrison. The place is a compact walled town, crowned by the dome of a +large and handsome church, and situated in a plain by the side of the +Volturno. Though, contrary to expectation, there is no firing to-day, we +see all about us the havoc of previous cannonadings. The houses we pass +are riddled with round shot thrown by the besieged, and the ground is +strewn with the limbs of trees severed by iron missiles. But where is +Garibaldi? No one knows. Yonder, however, is a lofty hill, and upon its +summit we descry three or four persons. It is there, we are told, that +the Commander-in-Chief goes to observe the enemy, and among the forms we +see is very probably the one we seek. + +We have just got into our carriage again, and are debating as to whither +we shall go next, when we are addressed from the road-side in English. +There, dressed in the red shirt, are three young men, all not far from +twenty years of age, members of the British regiment of "Excursionists." +They are out foraging for their mess, and ask a ride with us to Santa +Maria. We are only too glad of their company; and off we start, a +carriage-full. Then commences a running fire of question and response. +We find the society of our companions a valuable acquisition. They are +from London,--young men of education, and full of enthusiasm for +the cause of Italian liberty. One of them is a connection of our +distinguished countrywoman, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Before going to +Santa Maria, they insist on doing the honors, and showing the objects +of interest the vicinity. So they take us to their barrack, a large +farm-house, and thence to "the front." To the latter spot our coachman +declines driving, as his horses are not bullet-proof, and the enemy is +not warranted to abstain from firing during our visit. So, proceeding on +foot, we reach a low breastwork of sand-bags, with an orchard in advance +of it. Here, our companions tell us, was the scene of yesterday's +skirmish, in which they took an active part. The enemy had thrown out a +detachment of sharp-shooters, who had entered the wood, and approached +the breastwork. A battalion of the English Volunteers was ordered up. As +they marched eagerly forwards, a body of Piedmontese, stationed a little +from the road, shouted, "_Vivano gl' Inglesi! Vivano gl' Inglesi!_" +At the breastworks where we are standing, the word was given to break +ranks, and skirmish. Instantly they sprang over the wall, and took +position behind the trees, to shoot "wherever they saw a head." Each +soldier had his "covering man,"--a comrade stationed about ten feet +behind him, whose duty it was to keep his own piece charged ready to +kill any of the enemy who might attempt to pick off the leading man +while the latter was loading. One of my young friends had the hammer of +his rifle shot off in his hand. He kept his position till another weapon +was passed out to him. The action lasted till evening, when the enemy +drew off, there being various and uncertain reports as to their loss. +Our British cousins had some ten wounded, besides the one killed. +Fighting royalists, we will mention here, was no fancy-work about that +time, as the Neapolitans had an ugly trick of extinguishing the eyes of +their prisoners, and then putting their victims to death. + +We return to our carriage, drive into a sheltered spot, and give the +word of command to Antonio to open the hamper and deploy his supplies, +when hungry soldiers vie with the ravenous traveller in a knife-and-fork +skirmish. No fault was found with the _cuisine_ of the Hôtel de Grande +Bretagne. + +The rations disposed of, we set off again for Santa Maria. Arrived at +the village, at the request of our companions, we visit with them a +hospital, to see one of their comrades, wounded in the action of the +preceding day, and, as we are known to profess the healing art, to give +our opinion as to his condition. We enter a large court-yard surrounded +with farm-buildings, one wing of which is devoted to hospital purposes. +We find the wards clean and well ventilated, and wearing the look of +being well attended. This favorable condition is owing in great measure +to the interposition and supervision of several ladies, among whom are +specially mentioned the two daughters of an English clergyman, without +omitting the name of the Countess della Torres. The wounded comrade of +our friends had been struck by a ball, which had not been readied by the +probe, and was supposed to have entered the lung. The poor young fellow +draws his rapid breath with much pain, but is full of pluck, and meets +the encouraging assurances of his friends with a smile and words of +fortitude. Some time afterwards we learn that he is convalescent, though +in a disabled state. + +It now becomes necessary to say our mutual farewells, which we do as +cordially as though we had been old friends. We go our respective ways, +to meet once more in Italy, and to renew our acquaintance again in +London, where we subsequently spend a pleasant evening together by a +cheerful English fireside. + +Scarcely have we parted with these new-found friends of kindred blood +and common language, when we are provided with another companion. +An Italian officer asks a seat with us to Caserta. Our letter of +introduction to General Orsini being shown to him, he volunteers to +assist us in attaining our object, that of seeing the hero of Italy. +At five, we are before the palace of Caserta, now a barrack, and the +head-quarters of the Commander-in-Chief. The building is one of great +size and beauty of architecture. A lofty arch, sustained by elegant and +massive marble pillars, bisects the structure, and on either side one +may pass from the archway into open areas of spacious dimensions, from +which lead passages to the various offices. We approach a very splendid +marble staircase leading to the state apartments. A sentinel forbids us +to pass. This is, then, perhaps, the part of the building occupied by +the Commander-in-Chief. Not so. The state apartments are unoccupied, and +are kept sacred from intrusion, as the property of the nation to which +they are to belong. Garibaldi's apartments are among the humblest in the +palace. We go on to the end of the archway, and see, stretching as far +as the eye can reach, the Royal Drive, leading through a fine avenue of +trees, and reminding us of the "Long Walk" at Windsor Castle. Retracing +our steps, and crossing one of the court-yards, we ascend a modest +staircase, and are in the antechamber of the apartments of the +Commander-in-Chief. There are sentinels at the outer door, others at +the first landing, and a guard of honor, armed with halberds, in the +antechamber. Our courteous companion, by virtue of his official rank, +has passed us without difficulty by the sentries, and quits us to +discharge the duty which brought him to Caserta. + +We are now eagerly expectant of the arrival of him whose face we have so +long sought The hour is at hand when he joins his military family at an +unostentatious and very frugal dinner. In about half an hour there is +a sudden cessation in the hum of conversation, the guard is ordered to +stand to arms, and in a moment more, amid profound silence, Garibaldi +has passed through the antechamber, leaving the place, as it were, +pervaded by his presence. We had beheld an erect form, of rather low +stature, but broad and compact, a lofty brow, a composed and thoughtful +face, with decision and reserved force depicted on every line of it. +In the mien and carriage we had seen realized all that we had read and +heard of the air of one born to command. + +Our hero wore the characteristic red shirt and gray trousers, and, +thrown over them, a short gray cloak faced with red. When without the +cloak, there might be seen, hanging upon the back, and fastened around +the throat, the party-colored kerchief usually appertaining to priestly +vestments. + +Returning to Naples, and sitting that night at our window, with the most +beautiful of bays before us, we treasure up for perpetual recollection +the picture of Garibaldi at head-quarters. + + +GARIBALDI AT POMPEII. + + +It is Sunday, the 21st of October. We have to-day observed the people, +in the worst quarters of the city as well as in the best, casting their +ballots in an orderly and quiet manner, under the supervision of the +National Guard, for Victor Emmanuel as their ruler. To-morrow we have +set apart for exploring Pompeii, little dreaming what awaits us there. +Our friend, General J--n, of the British Army, learning that there is no +likelihood of active operations at "the front," proposes to join us in +our excursion. + +We are seated in the restaurant at the foot of the acclivity which +leads to the exhumed city, when suddenly Antonio appears and exclaims, +"Garibaldi!" We look in the direction he indicates, and, in an avenue +leading from the railway, we behold the Patriot-Soldier of Italy +advancing toward us, accompanied by the Countess Pallavicini, the wife +of the Prodictator of Naples, and attended by General Turr, with several +others of his staff. We go out to meet them. General J--n, a warm +admirer of Garibaldi, gives him a cordial greeting, and presents us as +an American. We say a few words expressive of the sympathy entertained +by the American people for the cause of Italy and its apostle. He whom +we thus address, in his reply, professes his happiness in enjoying the +good wishes of Americans, and, gracefully turning to our friend, adds, +"I am grateful also for the sympathy of the English." The party then +pass on, and we are left with the glowing thought that we have grasped +the hand of Garibaldi. + +Half an hour later, we are absorbed in examining one of the structures +of what was once Pompeii, when suddenly we hear martial music. We follow +the direction of the sound, and presently find ourselves in the ancient +forum. In the centre of the inclosure is a military band playing the +"Hymn of Garibaldi"; while at its northern extremity, standing, facing +us, between the columns of the temple of Jupiter, with full effect given +to the majesty of his bearing, is Garibaldi. Moved by the strikingly +contrasting associations of the time and the place, we turn to General +J--n, saying, "Behold around us the symbols of the death of Italy, and +there the harbinger of its resurrection." Our companion, fired with a +like enthusiasm, immediately advances to the base of the temple, and, +removing his hat, repeats the words in the presence of those there +assembled. + + +GARIBALDI AT "THE FRONT." + + +Once again we look in the eye of this wonderful man, and take him by the +hand. This time it is at "the front." On Saturday, the 27th of October, +we are preparing to leave Naples for Rome by the afternoon boat, when we +receive a message from General J--n that the bombardment of Capua is to +begin on the following day at ten o'clock, and inviting us to join his +party to the camp. Accordingly, postponing our departure for the North, +we get together a few surgical instruments, and take a military train +upon the railway in the afternoon for the field of action. + +Our party consists of General J--n, General W., of Virginia, Captain +G., a Scotch officer serving in Italy, and ourself. Arrived at Caserta, +Captain G., showing military despatches, is provided with a carriage, in +which we all drive to the advanced post at Sant' Angelo. We reach this +place at about eight o'clock, when we ride and walk through the camp, +which presents a most picturesque aspect, illuminated as it is by a +brilliant moon. We see clusters of white tents, with now and then the +general silence broken by the sound of singing wafted to us from among +them,--here and there tired soldiers lying asleep on the ground, covered +with their cloaks,--horses picketed in the fields,--camp-fires burning +brightly in various directions; while all seems to indicate the profound +repose of men preparing for serious work on the morrow. We pass and +repass a bridge, a short time before thrown across the Volturno. A +portion of the structure has broken down; but our English friends +congratulate themselves that the part built by their compatriots has +stood firm. We exchange greetings with Colonel Bourdonné, who is on duty +here for the night, superintending the repairs of the bridge, and who +kindly consigns us to his quarters. + +Arrived at the farm-house where Colonel Bourdonné has established +himself, and using his name, we are received with the utmost attention +by the servants. The only room at their disposal, fortunately a large +one, they soon arrange for our accommodation. To General J---n, the +senior of the party, is assigned the only bed; an Italian officer +occupies a sofa; while General W., Captain G., and ourself are ranged, +"all in a row," on bags of straw placed upon the floor. Of the +merriment, prolonged far into the night, and making the house resound +with peals of laughter,--not at all to the benefit, we fear, of several +wounded officers in a neighboring room,--we may not write. + +Sunday is a warm, clear, summer-like day, and our party climb the +principal eminence of Sant' Angelo to witness the expected bombardment. +We reach the summit at ten minutes before ten, the hour announced for +opening fire. We find several officers assembled there,--among them +General H., of Virginia. Low tone of conversation and a restrained +demeanor are impressed on all; for, a few paces off, conferring with +two or three confidential aids, is the man whose very presence is +dignity,--Garibaldi. + +Casting our eye over the field, we cannot realize that there are such +hosts of men under arms about us, till a military guide by our side +points out their distribution to us. + +"Look there!" says General H., pointing to an orchard beneath. "Under +those trees they are swarming thick as bees. There are ten thousand men, +at least, in that spot alone." + +With an opera-glass we can distinctly scan the walls of Capua, and +observe that they are not yet manned. But the besieged are throwing out +troops by thousands into the field before our lines. We remark one large +body drawn up in the shelter of the shadow cast by a large building. +Every now and then, from out this shadow, a piercing ray of light is +shot, reflected from the helm or sword-case of the commanding officer, +who is gallantly riding up and down before his men, and probably +haranguing them in preparation for the expected conflict. All these +things strike the attention with a force and meaning far different from +the impression produced by the holiday pageantry of mimic war. + +The Commander-in-Chief is now disengaged, and our party approach him +to pay their respects. By the advice of General J---n, we proffer our +medical services for the day; and we receive a pressure of the hand, a +genial look, and a bind acknowledgment of the offer. But we are told +there will be no general action to-day. Our report of these words, as +we rejoin our companions, is the first intimation given that the +bombardment is deferred. But, though, there is some disappointment, +their surprise is not extreme. For Garibaldi never informs even his +nearest aide-de-camp what he is about to do. In fact, he quaintly says, +"If his shirt knew his plans, he would take it off and burn it." Some +half-hour later, having descended from the eminence, we take our last +look of Garibaldi. He has retired with a single servant to a sequestered +place upon the mount, whither he daily resorts, and where his mid-day +repast is brought to him. Here he spends an hour or two secure from +interruption. What thoughts he ponders in his solitude the reader may +perhaps conjecture as well as his most intimate friend. But for us, with +the holy associations of a very high mountain before our mind, we can +but trust that a prayer, "uttered or unexpressed," invokes the divine +blessing upon the work to which Garibaldi devotes himself,--the +political salvation of his country. + + * * * * * + + +TWO OR THREE TROUBLES. + +[Concluded.] + + +Every day, and twice a day, came Mr. Sampson,--though I have not said +much about it; and now it was only a week before our marriage. This +evening he came in very weary with his day's work,--getting a wretched +man off from hanging, who probably deserved it richly. (It is said, +women are always for hanging: and that is very likely. I remember, when +there had been a terrible murder in our parlors, as it were, and it was +doubtful for some time whether the murderer would be convicted, Mrs. +Harris said, plaintively, "Oh, do hang somebody!") Mr. Sampson did +not think so, apparently, but sat on the sofa by the window, dull and +abstracted. + +If I had been his wife, I should have done as I always do now in such a +case: walked up to him, settled the sofa-cushion, and said,--"Here, now! +lie down, and don't speak a word for two hours. Meantime I will tell you +who has been here, and everything." Thus I should rest and divert him by +idle chatter, bathing his tired brain with good Cologne; and if, in the +middle of my best story and funniest joke, he fairly dropped off to +sleep, I should just fan him softly, keep the flies away, say in my +heart, "Bless him! there he goes! hands couldn't mend him!"--and then +look at him with as much more pride and satisfaction than, at any other +common wide-awake face as it is possible to conceive. + +However, not being married, and having a whole week more to be silly +in, I was both silly and suspicious. This was partly his fault. He was +reserved, naturally and habitually; and as he didn't tell me he was +tired and soul-weary, I never thought of that. Instead, as he sat on the +sofa, I took a long string of knitting-work and seated myself across the +room,--partly so that he might come to me, where there was a good seat. +Then, as he did not cross the room, but still sat quietly on the sofa, +I began to wonder and suspect. Did he work too hard? Did he dread +undertaking matrimony? Did he wish he could get off? Why did he not come +and speak to me? What had I done? Nothing! Nothing! + +Here Laura came in to say she was going to Mrs. Harris's to get the +newest news about sleeves. Mrs. Harris for sleeves; Mrs. Gore for +bonnets; and for housekeeping, recipes, and all that, who but Mrs. +Parker, who knew that, and a hundred other things? Many-sided are we +all: talking sentiment with this one, housekeeping with that, and to a +third saying what wild horses would not tear from us to the two first! + +Laura went. And presently he said, wearily, but _I_ thought drearily,-- + +"Delphine, are you all ready to be married?" + +The blood flushed from my heart to my forehead and back again. So, then, +he thought I was ready and waiting to drop like a ripe plum into his +mouth, without his asking me! Am I ready, indeed? And suppose I am +not? Perhaps I, too, may have my misgivings. A woman's place is not a +sinecure. Troubles, annoyances, as the sparks fly upward! Buttons to +begin with, and everything to end with! What did Mrs. Hemans say, poor +woman? + + "Her lot is on you! silent tears to weep, + And patient smiles to wear through suffering's hour, + And sumless riches from affection's deep + To pour on"--something--"a wasted shower!" + +Yes, wasted, indeed! I hadn't answered a word to his question. + +"It seems warm in this room," said he again, languidly; "shall we walk +on the piazza?" + +"I think not," I answered, curtly; "I am not warm." + +Even that, did not bring him to me. He still leaned his head on his hand +for a minute or two, and then rose from the sofa and sat by the window, +looking at the western sky, where the sun had long gone down. I could +see his profile against the outer light, however, and it did not look +placid. His brow was knit and mouth compressed. So, then, it was all +very likely! + +Having set out on my race of suspecting, my steeds did not lag. They +were winged already, and I goaded them continually with memories. There +was nothing I did not think of or accuse him of,--especially, the last +and worst sin of breaking off our engagement at the eleventh hour!--and +I, who had suffered silently, secretly, untold torments about that name +of his,--nobody, no man, could ever guess how keenly, because no man can +ever feel as a woman does about such things! Men,--they would as soon +marry Tabitha as Juliana. They could call her "Wife." It made no matter +to them. What did any man care, provided she chronicled small beer, +whether she had taste, feeling, sentiment, anything? Here I was wrong, +as most passionate people are at some time in their lives. Some men do +care. + +At the moment I had reached the top-most pinnacle of my wrath, and was +darting lightnings on all mankind, Polly showed in Lieutenant Herbert, +with his book of promised engravings. + +With a natural revulsion of temper, I descended rapidly from my +pinnacle, and, stepping half-way across the room, met the Lieutenant +with unusual cordiality. Mr. Sampson bowed slightly and sat still. I +drew two chairs towards the centre-table, lighted the argand, and seated +myself with the young officer to examine and admire the beautiful +forms in which the gifted artist has clothed the words rather than the +thoughts of the writer,--out of the coarse real, lifting the scenes into +the sweet ideal,--and out of the commonest, rudest New-England life, +bringing the purest and most charming idyllic song. We did not say this. + +I looked across at the window, where still sat the figure, motionless. +Not a word from him. I looked at Lieutenant Herbert. He was really very +handsome, with an imperial brow, and roseate lips like a girl's. Somehow +he made me think of Claverhouse,--so feminine in feature, so martial in +action! Then he talked,--talked really quite well,--reflected my own +ideas in an animated and eloquent manner. + +Why it was,--whether Herbert suspected we had had a lovers' quarrel,--or +whether his vanity was flattered at my attention to him, which was +entirely unusual,--or whether my own excited, nervous condition led me +to express the most joyous life and good-humor, and shut down all my +angry sorrow and indignant suspicions, while I smiled and danced over +their sepulchre,--however it was, I know not,--but a new sparkle +came into the blue eyes of the young militaire. He was positively +entertaining. Conscious that he was talking well, he talked better. He +recited poetry; he was even witty, or seemed so. With the magnetism of +cordial sympathy, I called out from his memory treasures new and old. He +became not only animated, but devoted. + +All this time the figure at the window sat calm and composed. It was +intensely, madly provoking. He was so very sure of me, it appeared, he +would not take the trouble to enter the lists to shiver a lance with +this elegant young man with the beautiful name, the beautiful lips, and +with, for the last half-hour at least, the beautiful tongue. He would +not trouble himself to entertain his future wife. He would not trouble +himself even to speak. Very well! Very well indeed! Did the Lieutenant +like music? If "he" did not care a jot for me, perhaps others did. My +heart beat very fast now; my cheeks burned, and my lips were parched. A +glass of water restored me to calmness, and I sat at the piano. Herbert +turned over the music, while I rattled off whatever came to my fingers' +ends,--I did not mind or know what. It was very fine, I dare say. He +whispered that it was "so beautiful!"--and I answered nothing, but kept +on playing, playing, playing, as the little girl in the Danish story +keeps on dancing, dancing, dancing, with the fairy red shoes on. Should +I play on forever? In the church,--out of it,--up the street,--down the +street,--out in the fields,--under the trees,--by the wood,--by the +water,--in cathedrals,--I heard something murmuring,--something softly, +softly in my ear. Still I played on and on, and still something murmured +softly, softly in my ear. I looked at the window. The head was leaned +down, and resting on both arms. Fast asleep, probably. Then I played +louder, and faster, and wilder. + +Then, for the first time, as deaf persons are said to hear well in +the noise of a crowded street, or in a rail-car, so did I hear in the +musical tumult, for the first time, the words of Herbert. They had been +whispered, and I had heard, but not perceived them, till this moment. + +I turned towards him, looked him full in the face, and dropped both +hands into my lap. Well might I be astonished! He started and blushed +violently, but said nothing. As for me, I was never more calm in my +life. In the face of a real mistake, all imaginary ones fell to the +ground, motionless as so many men of straw. With an instinct that went +before thought, and was born of my complete love and perfect reliance on +my future husband, I pushed back the music-stool, and walked straight +across the room to the window. + +His head was indeed leaned on his arms; but he was white and insensible. + +"Come here!" I said, sternly and commandingly, to Herbert, who stood +where I had left him. "Now, if you can, hold him, while I wheel this +sofa;--and now, ring the bell, if you please." + +We placed him on the couch, and Polly came running in. + +"Now, good-night, Sir; we can take care of him. With very many thanks +for your politeness," I added, coldly; "and I will send home the book +to-morrow." + +He muttered something about keeping it as long as I wished, and I turned +my back on him. + +"Oh! oh!--what had _he_ thought all this time?--what had he suffered? +How his heart must have been agonized!--how terribly he must have felt +the mortification,--the distress! Oh!" + +We recovered him at length from the dead faint into which he had fallen. +Polly, who thought but of the body, insisted on bringing him "a good +heavy-glass of Port-wine sangaree, with toasted crackers in it"; and +wouldn't let him speak till he had drunken and eaten. Then she went out +of the room, and left me alone with my justly incensed lover. + +I took a _brioche_, and sat down humbly at the head of the sofa. He held +out his hand, which I took and pressed in mine,--silently, to be +sure; but then no words could tell how I had felt, and now felt,--how +humiliated! how grieved! How wrongly I must have seemed to feel and to +act! how wrongly I must have acted,--though my conscience excused me +from feeling wrongly,--so to have deluded Herbert! + +At last I murmured something regretful and tearful about Lieutenant +Herbert--Herbert! how I had admired that name!--and now, this Ithuriel +touch, how it had changed it and him forever to me! What was in a +name?--sure enough! As I gazed on the pale face on the couch, I should +not have cared, if it had been named Alligator,--so elevated was I +beyond all I had thought or called trouble of that sort! so real was the +trouble that could affect the feelings, the sensitiveness, of the noble +being before me! + +At length he spoke, very calmly and quietly, setting down the empty +tumbler. I trembled, for I knew it must come. + +"I was so glad that fool came in, Del! For, to tell the truth, I felt +really too weak to talk. I haven't slept for two nights, and have been +on my feet and talking for four hours,--then I have had no dinner"-- + +"Oh!" + +"And a damned intelligent jury, (I beg your pardon, but it's a great +comfort to swear, sometimes,) that I can't humbug. But I must! I must, +to-morrow!" he exclaimed, springing up from the sofa and walking +hurriedly across the room. + +"Oh, do sit down, if you are so tired!" + +"I cannot sit down, unless you will let me stop thinking. I have but one +idea constantly." + +"But if the man is guilty, why do you want to clear him?" said I. + +Not a word had he been thinking of me or of Herbert all this time! But +then he had been thinking of a matter of life and death. How all, all my +foolish feelings took to flight! It was some comfort that my lover had +not either seen or suspected them. He thought he must have been nearly +senseless for some time. The last he remembered was, we were looking at +some pictures. + +Laura came in from Mrs. Harris's, and, hearing how the case was, +insisted on having a chicken broiled, and that he should eat some +green-apple tarts, of her own cooking,--not sentimental, nor even +wholesome, but they suited the occasion; and we sat, after that, all +three talking, till past twelve o'clock. No danger now, Laura said, of +bad dreams, if he did go to bed. + +"But why do you care so very much, if you don't get him off?--you +suppose him guilty, you say?" + +"Because, Delphine, his punishment is abominably disproportioned to his +offence. This letter of the law killeth. And then I would get him off, +if possible, for the sake of his son and the family. And besides all +that, Del, it is not for me to judge, you know, but to defend him." + +"Yes,--but if you do your best?" I inquired. + +"A lawyer never does his best," he replied, hastily, "unless he +succeeds. He must get his client's case, or get him off, I must get some +sleep to-night," he added, "and take another pull. There's a man on the +jury,--he is the only one who holds out. I know I don't get him. And I +know why. I see it in the cold steel of his eyes. His sister was left, +within a week of their marriage-day, by a scoundrel,--left, too, to +disgrace, as well as desertion,--and his heart is bitter towards all +offences of the sort. I must get that man somehow!" + +He was standing on the steps, as he spoke, and bidding me good-night; +but I saw his head and heart were both full of his case, _and nothing +else._ + +The words rang in my ear after he went away: "Within a week of their +marriage-day!" In a week we were to have been married. Thank Heaven, we +were still to be married in a week. And he had spoken of the man as "a +scoundrel," who left her. America, indeed! what matters it? Still, there +would be the same head, the same heart, the same manliness, strength, +nobleness,--all that a woman can truly honor and love. Not military, and +not a scoundrel; but plain, massive, gentle, direct. He would do. And a +sense of full happiness pressed up to my very lips, and bubbled over in +laughter. + +"You are a happy girl, Del. Mrs. Harris says the court and everybody is +talking of Mr. Sampson's great plea in that Shore case. Whether he gets +it or not, his fortune is made. They say there hasn't been such an +argument since Webster's time,--so irresistible. It took every body off +their feet." + +I did not answer a word,--only clothed my soul with sackcloth and ashes, +and called it good enough for me. + +We went to bed. But in the middle of the night I waked Laura. + +"What's the matter?" said she, springing out of bed. + +"Don't, Laura!--nothing," said I. + +"Oh, I thought you were ill! I've been sleeping with one eye open, and +just dropped away. What is it?" + +"Do lie down, then. I only wanted to ask you a question." + +"Oh, _do_ go to sleep! It's after three o'clock now. We never shall get +up. Haven't you been asleep yet?" + +"No,--I've been thinking all the time. But you are impatient. It's no +matter. Wait till to-morrow morning." + +"No. I am awake now. Tell me, and be done with it, Del." + +"But I shall want your opinion, you know." + +"Oh, _will_ you tell me, Del?" + +"Well, it is this. How do you think a handsome, a _very_ handsome +chess-table would do?" + +"Do!--for what?" + +"Why,--for my aunt's wedding-gift, you know." + +"Oh, that! And you have waked me up, at this time of night, from the +nicest dream! You cruel thing!" + +"I am so sorry, Laura! But now that you are awake, just tell me how you +like the idea;--I won't ask you another word." + +"Very well,--very good,--excellent," murmured Laura. + +In the course of the next ten minutes, however, I remembered that Laura +never played chess, and that I had heard Mr. Sampson say once that he +never played now,--that it was too easy for work, and too hard for +amusement. So I put the chess-table entirely aside, and began again. + +A position for sleep is, unluckily, the one that is sure to keep one +awake. Lying down, all the blood in my body kept rushing to my brain, +keeping up perpetual images of noun substantives. If I could have spent +my fifty dollars in verbs, in taking a journey, in giving a _fête +champêtre_! (Garden lighted with Chinese lanterns, of course,--house +covered inside and out with roses.) Things enough, indeed, there were to +be bought. But the right thing! + +A house, a park, a pair of horses, a curricle, a pony-phaëton. But how +many feet of ground would fifty dollars buy?--and scarcely the hoof of +a horse. + +There was a diamond ring. Not for me; because "he" had been too poor +to offer me one. But I could give it to him. No,--that wouldn't do. He +wouldn't wear it,--nor a pin of ditto. He had said, simplicity in dress +was good economy and always good taste. No. Then something else,--that +wouldn't wear, wouldn't tear, wouldn't lose, rust, break. + +As to clothes, to which I swung back in despair,--this very Aunt Allen +had always sent us all our clothes. So it would only be getting +more, and wouldn't seem to be anything. She was an odd kind of +woman,--generous in spots, as most people are, I believe. Laura and +I both said, (to each other,) that, if she would allow us a hundred +dollars a year each, we could dress well and suitably on it. But, +instead of that, she sent us every year, with her best love, a +trunk full of her own clothes, made for herself, and only a little +worn,--always to be altered, and retrimmed, and refurbished: so that, +although worth at first perhaps even more than two hundred dollars, +they came, by their unfitness and non-fitness, to be worth to us only +three-quarters of that sum; and Laura and I reckoned that we lost +exactly fifty dollars a year by Aunt Allen's queerness. So much for our +gratitude! Laura and I concluded it would be a good lesson to us about +giving; and she had whispered to me something of the same sort, when +I insisted on dressing Betsy Ann Hemmenway, a little mulatto, in an +Oriental caftan and trousers, and had promised her a red sash for her +waist. To be sure, Mrs. Hemmenway despised the whole thing, and said she +"wouldn't let Betsy Ann be dressed up like a circus-rider, for nobody"; +and that she should "wear a bonnet and mantilly, like the rest of +mankind." Which, indeed, she did,--and her bonnet rivalled the +_coiffures_ of Paris in brilliancy and procrastination; for it never +came in sight till long after its little mistress. However, of that +by-and-by. I was only too glad that Aunt Allen had not sent me another +silk gown "with her best love, and, as she was only seventy, perhaps it +might be useful." No,--here was the fifty-dollar note, thank Plutus! + +But then, what to do with it? Sleeping, that was the question. Waking, +that was the same. + +At twelve o'clock Mr. Sampson came to dine with us, and to say he was +the happiest of men. + +"That is, of course, I shall be, next week," said he, smiling and +correcting himself. "But I am rather happy now; for I've got my case, +and Shore has sailed for Australia. Good riddance, and may he never +touch _these_ shores any more!" + +He had been shaking hands with everybody, he said,--and was so glad to +be out of it! + +"Now that it is all over, I wish you would tell me why you are so glad, +when you honestly believe the man guilty," said I. + +"Oh, my child, you are supposing the law to be perfect. Suppose the old +English law to be in force now, making stealing a capital offence. You +wouldn't hang a starving woman or child who stole the baker's loaf from +your window-sill this morning before Polly had time to take it in, would +you? Yet this was the law until quite lately." + +"After all, I don't quite see either how you can bear to defend him, if +you think him guilty, or be glad to have him escape, if he is,--I mean, +supposing the punishment to be a fair one." + +"Because I am a frail and erring man, Delphine, and like to get my case. +If my client is guilty,--as we will suppose, for the sake of argument, +he is,--he will not be likely to stop his evil career merely because he +has got off now, and will be caught and hanged next time, possibly. +If he does stop sinning, why, so much the better to have time for +repentance, you know." + +"Don't laugh,--now be serious." + +"I am. Once, I made up my mind as to my client's guilt from what he told +and did not tell me, and went into court with a heavy heart. However, in +the course of the trial, evidence, totally unexpected to all of us, was +brought forward, and my client's innocence fully established. It was a +good lesson to me. I learned by experience that the business of counsel +is to defend or to prosecute, and not to judge. The judge and jury are +stereoscopic and see the whole figure." + +How wise and nice it sounded! Any way, I wasn't a stereoscope, for I saw +but one side,--the one "he" was on. + +Monday morning. And we were to be married in the evening,--by ourselves, +--nobody else. That was all the stipulation my lover made. + +"I will be married morning, noon, or night, as you say, and dress and +behave as you say; but not in a crowd of even three persons." + +"Not even Laura?" + +"Oh, yes! Laura." + +"Not even Polly?" + +"Oh, yes! the household." + +And then he said, softly, that, if I wanted to please him,--and he knew +his darling Del did,--I would dress in a white gown of some sort, and +put a tea-rose in my beautiful dark hair, and have nobody by but just +the family and old Mr. Price, the Boynton minister. + +"I know that isn't what you thought of, exactly. You thought of being +married in church"---- + +"Oh, dear, dear! old Mr. Price!"--but I did not speak. + +"But if you would be willing?"---- + +"I supposed it would be more convenient," I muttered. + +Visions of myself walking up the aisle, with a white silk on, tulle +veil, orange-flowers, of course, (so becoming!) house crowded with +friends, collation, walking under the trees,--all faded off with a +mournful cry. + +It was of no use talking. Whatever he thought best, I should do, if it +were to be married by the headsman, supposing there were such a person. +This was all settled, then, and had been for a week. + +Nobody need say that lovers, or even married lovers, have but one mind. +They have two minds always. And that is sometimes the best of it; since +the perpetual sacrifices made to each other are made no sacrifices, but +sweet triumphs, by their love. Still, just as much as green is composed +of yellow and blue, and purple of red and blue, the rays can any time +be separated, and they always have a conscious life of their own. Of +course, I had a sort of pleasure even in giving up my marriage in +church; but I kept my blue rays, for all that,--and told Laura I dreaded +the long, long prayer in that evening's service, and that I hoped in +mercy old Mr. Price would have his wits about him, and not preach a +funeral discourse. + +"Old Mr. Price is eighty-nine years old, Laura says," said I. + +"Yes. He was the minister who married my father and mother, and has +always been our minister," answered my lover. + +And so it was settled. + +Laura was rolling up tape, Monday morning, as quietly as if there were +to be no wedding. For my part, I wandered up and down, and could not set +myself about anything. + +"Old Mr. Price! and a great long prayer! And that is to be the end +of it! My wedding-dress all made, and not to be worn! Flowers ditto! +Nowhere to go, and so I shall stay at home. He has no house; so Taffy is +to come to mine!" + +And here I burst out laughing; for it was as well to laugh as cry; and +besides, I said a great many things on purpose to have Laura say what +she always did,--and which, after all, it was sweet to me to hear. Those +were silly days! + +"No, Del,--that is not the end of it,--only the beginning of it,--of a +happy, useful, good life,--your path growing brighter and broader every +year,--and--and--we won't talk of the garlands, dear; but your heart +will have bridal-blossoms, whether your head has or not." + +Laura kissed me, with tears in her sisterly eyes. She never talks fine, +and went directly out of the room after this. + +I thought that women shouldn't swear at all, or, if they did, should +break their oaths as gracefully as I did mine, when I whispered it was +"_so_ good of him, to be willing I should stay in the cottage where I +had always lived, and where every rose-tree and lilac knew me!" And that +was true, too. But not all the truth. What need to be telling truths all +the time? And what had women tongues for, but to hold them sometimes? +Perhaps "he," too, would have preferred a journey to Europe, and a house +on the Mill-Dam. + +Things gradually settled themselves. My troubles seemed coming to a +close by mechanical pressure. As to the name, it was better than Fire, +Famine, and Slaughter,--and I was to take it into consideration, any +way, and get used to it, if I could. The other trouble I put aside +for the moment. After it was concluded on that the wedding should be +strictly private, it was not necessary to buy my aunt's present under +a few days, and I could have the decided advantage, in that way, of +avoiding a duplicate. + +The Monday of my marriage sped away swiftly. Polly had come up early to +say to "Laury" (for Polly was a free and independent American girl of +forty-five) that "there'd be so much goin' to the door, and such, Betsy +Ann had best be handy by, to answer the bell. Fin'ly, she's down there +with her bunnet off, and goin' to stay." + +As usual, Polly's plans were excellent, and adopted. There would be all +the wedding-presents to arrive, congratulatory notes, etc. Everything to +arrange, and a thousand and one things that neither one nor three pairs +of hands could do. How I wished Betsy Ann would consent to dress like an +Oriental child, and look pretty and picturesque,--like a Barbary slave +bearing vessels of gold and silver chalices, instead of her silly +pointed waist and "mantilly," which she persisted in wearing, and which, +of course, gave the look only of a stranger and sojourner in the land! + +I hoped she was a careful child,--there were so many things which might +be spoiled, even if they came in boxes. Betsy Ann was instructed, on +pain of--almost death, to be very, very careful, and to put everything +on the table in the library. She was by no means to unpack an article, +not even a bouquet. Laura and myself preferred to arrange everything +ourselves. We proposed to place each of the presents, for that evening +only, in the library, and spread them out as usual; but the very next +day, we determined, they should all be put away, wherever they were to +go,--of course, we could not tell where, till we saw them. That was +Laura's taste, and had come, on reflection, to be mine. + +Laura said she should make me presents only of innumerable stitches: +which she had done. Polly, whom it is both impossible and irrelevant to +describe, took the opportunity to scrub the house from top to bottom. +Her own wedding-present to me, homely though it was, I wrapped in silver +paper, and showed it to her lying in state on the library-table, to her +infinite amusement. + +Like the North American Indian, the race of Pollies is fast going out +of American life. You read an advertisement of "an American servant who +wants a place in a genteel family," and visions of something common in +American households, when you were children, come up to your mind's eye. +Without considering the absurdity of an American girl calling herself by +such a name, your eyes fill with tears at the thought of the faithful +and loving service of years ago, when neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor +death itself separated the members of the household, but the nurse-maid +was the beloved friend, living and dying under the same roof that +witnessed her untiring and faithful devotion. + +So, when you look after this "American servant," you find alien blood, +lip-service, a surface-warmth that flatters, but does not delude,--a +fidelity that fails you in sickness, or increased toil, or the prospect +of higher wages; and you say to the "American servant,"-- + +"How long have you been in Boston?" + +"Born in Boston, Ma'm,--in Eliot Street, Ma'm." + +So was not Polly. Polly had lived with us always. She had a farm of her +own, and needn't have "lived out" five minutes, unless she had chosen. +But she did choose it, and chose to keep her place. And that was a true +friend,--in a humble position, possibly, yet one of her own choosing. +She rejoiced and wept with us, knew all about us,--corresponded +regularly with us when away, and wrote poetry. She had a fair +mind, great shrewdness, and kept a journal of facts. We loved her +dearly,--next to each other, and a hundred times better than we did Aunt +Allen or any of them. + +Of course, as the day wore on, and afternoon came, and then almost night +came, and still the bell had not once rung,--not once!--Polly was +not the person to express or to permit the least surprise. Not Caleb +Balderstone himself had a sharper eye to the "honor of the family." +_Why_ it was left to the doctrine of chances to decide. _That_ it was +grew clearer and clearer every hour, as every hour came slowly by, +unladen with box or package, even a bouquet. + +Betsy Ann had grinned a great many times, and asked Polly over and over, +"Where the presents all was?" and, "When I was to Miss Russell's, and +Miss Sally was merried, the things come in with a rush,--silver, and +gold, and money, ever so much!" + +However, here Polly snubbed her, and told her to "shet up her head +quick. Most of the presents was come long ago." + +"Such a piece of work as I hed to ghet up that critter's mouth!" said +Polly, laughing, as she assisted Laura in putting the last graces to my +simple toilet before tea. + +"There, now, Miss Sampson to be! I declare to man, you never looked +better. + + "'Roses red, violets blue, + Pinks is pootty, and so be you.'" + +"How did you shut it, Polly?" said Laura, who was very much surprised, +like myself, at the non-arrivals, and who constantly imagined she +heard the bell. Ten arrivals we had both counted on,--ten, +certainly,--fifteen, probably. + +"Well, I told her the presents was all locked up; and if she was a +clever, good child, and went to school regular, and got her learnin' +good, I'd certain show 'em to her some time. I told her," added Polly, +whisperingly, and holding her hand over her mouth to keep from loud +laughter,--"I told her I'd seen a couple on 'em done up in beautiful +silver paper!" + +The bell rang at last, and we all sprang as with an electric shock. It +was old Mr. Price, led in reverently by Mr. Sampson. Tea was ready; so +we all sat down to it. + +I don't know what other people think of, when they are going to be +married,--I mean at the moment. Books are eloquent on the subject. For +my part. I must confess, I thought of nothing. And let that encourage +the next bride, who will imagine herself a dunce, because she isn't +thinking of something fine and solemn. Perhaps I had so many ideas +pressing in, in all directions, that the mind itself couldn't act. Be +it as it may, I stood as if stupefied,--while old Mr. Price talked and +prayed, it seemed, an age. I was roused, however, and glad enough I +wasn't in church, when he called out,-- + +"_Ameriky!_ do you take this woman for your wedded wife?" and still more +rejoiced when he added, sternly,-- + +"_Delphiny!_" (using the long _i_,) "do you take _Ameriky?_" + +We both said "Yes." And then he commended us affectionately and +reverently to the protection and love of Him who had himself come to a +wedding. He then came to a close, to Polly's delight, who said she "had +expected nothin' but what the old gentleman would hold on an hour, +--missionaries to China, and all." + +Old Mr. Price took a piece of cake and a full glass of wine, and wished +us joy. He was fast passing away, and with him the old-class ministers, +now only traditional, who drank their half-mug of flip at funerals, went +to balls to look benignantly on the scene of pleasure, came home at ten +o'clock to write "the improvement" to their Sunday's sermon, took the +other half-mug, and went to bed peaceably and in charity with the whole +parish. They have gone, with the stagecoaches and country-newspapers; +and the places that knew them will know them no more. + +Betsy Ann, who was mercifully admitted to the wedding, pronounced +it without hesitation the "flattest thing she ever see,"--and was +straightway dismissed by Polly, with an extra frosted cake, and a charge +to "get along home with herself." Then Mr. Sampson walked slowly home +with Mr. Price, and Laura and myself were left looking at each other. + +"Delphiny!" said Laura. + +"Ameriky!" said I. + +"Well,--it's over now. If you had happened to be Mrs. Conant's daughter, +you know, your name would have been Keren-happuch!" + +"On the whole, I am glad it wasn't in church," said I. + +Mr. Sampson returned before we had finished talking of that. And then +Laura, said, suddenly,-- + +"But you _must_ decide on Aunt Allen's gift, Del. What shall it be? What +will be pretty?" + +"You shall decide," said I, amiably, turning to my husband. + +"Oh, I have no notion of what is pretty,--at least of but one +thing,--and that is not in Aunt Allen's gift." + +He laughed, and I blushed, of course, as he pointed the compliment +straight at me. + +"But you _must_ think. I cannot decide, I have thought of five hundred +things already." + +"Well, Laura,--what do you say?" said he. + +"I think a silver salver would be pretty, and useful, too." + +"Pretty and useful. Then let it be a silver salver, and be done with +it," said he. + +This notion of being "done with it" is so mannish! Here was my Gordian +knot cut at once! However, there was no help for it,--though now, more +than ever, since there was no danger of a duplicate, did I long for the +fifty thousand different beautiful things the fifty dollars would buy. + +Circumstances aided us, too, in coming to a conclusion. I was rather +tired of rocking on these billows of uncertainty, even with the chance +of plucking gems from the depths. And Mrs. Harris was coming the next +day to tea, and to go away early to see Piccolomini sing and sparkle. + +When we sat down that next day at the table, I poured the tea into a +cup, and placed it on the prettiest little silver tray, and Polly handed +it to Mrs. Harris as if she had done that particular thing all her life. + +"Beautiful!" said Mrs. Harris, as it sparkled along back; "one of your +wedding-gifts?" + +"Yes," I answered, carelessly,--"Aunt Allen's." + +So much was well got over. My hope was that Mrs. Harris, who talked +well, and was never weary of that sort of well-doing, would keep on her +own subjects of interest, to the exclusion of mine. Therefore, when she +said pleasantly, _en passant_,-- + +"By the way, Delphine, I see you have taken my advice about +wedding-presents. You know I always abominated that parading of gifts." + +Laura hastened to the rescue, saying,-- + +"Yes, we quite agree with you, and remember your decided opinions on +that subject. Did you say you had been to the Aquarial Gardens?" + +How I wished I had been self-possessed enough to tell the whole story, +with its ridiculous side out, and make a good laugh over it, as it +deserved!--for Mrs. Harris wouldn't stay in the Aquarial Gardens, which +she pronounced a disgusting exhibition of "Creep and Crawl," and that +it was all a set of little horrors; but swung back to wedding-gifts and +wedding-times. + + "'When I was young,--ah! woful _when!_-- + That I should say _when_ I was young!' + +"it wasn't fashionable, or, I should say, necessary, to buy something for +a bride," said Mrs. Harris, meditatively, and looking back--as we could +see by her eyes--a long way. + +For my part, I thought she had much better choose some other subject, +considering everything. Certainly she had been one of the ten I had +counted on. But she suddenly collected herself! + +"I never look at a great needle-book, ('housewife,' we used to call +it,) full of all possible and impossible contrivances and conveniences, +without recalling my Aunt Hovey's patient smile when she gave it to me. +She was rheumatic, and confined for twenty years to her chair; and these +'housewives' she made exquisitely, and each of her young friends on her +wedding-day might count on one. Then Sebiah Collins,--she brought me a +bag of holders,--poor old soul! And Aunt Patty Hobbs gave me a bundle of +rags! She said, 'Young housekeepers was allers a-wantin' rags, and, in +course, there wa'n't nothin' but what was bran'-new out of the store.' +Can I ever forget the Hill children, with their mysterious movements, +their hidings, and their unaccountable absences? and then the +work-basket on my toilet-table, on my wedding-morning! the little +pin-cushions and emery-sacks, the fantastic thimble-cases, and the +fish-shaped needle-books! all as nice as their handy little fingers +could make, and every stitch telling of their earnest love and bright +faces!--Every one of those children is dead. But I keep the work-basket +sacred. I don't know whether it is more pleasure or pain." + +She looked up again, as if before her passed a long procession. I had +often seen that expression in the eyes of old, and even of middle-aged +persons, who had had much mental vicissitude, but I had not interpreted +it till now. It was only for a moment; and she added, cheerfully,-- + +"The future is always pleasant; so we will look that way." + +Just then a gentleman wished to see Mr. Sampson on business, and they +two went into the library. + +Mrs. Harris talked on, and I led the way to the parlor. She said she +should be called for presently; and then Laura lighted the argand, and +dropped the muslin curtains. + +"Oh, isn't this sweet?" exclaimed Mrs. Harris, rapturously, approaching +the table. "How the best work of Art pales before Nature!" + +It was only a tall small vase of ground glass, holding a pond-lily, +fully opened. But it was perfect in its way, and I knew by the smile on +Laura's lips that it was her gift. + +"Mine is in that corner, Delphine," said Mrs. Harris. "I wouldn't have +it brought here till to-night, when I could see Laura, for fear you +should have a duplicate. So here is my Mercury, that I have looked at +till I love it. I wouldn't give you one that had only the odor of the +shop about it; but you will never look at this, Del, without thoughts of +our little cozy room and your old friend." + +"Beautiful! No, indeed! Always!" murmured I. + +She drew a little box from her pocket, and took out of it a taper-stand +of chased silver. + +"Mrs. Gore asked me to bring it to you, with her love. She wouldn't send +it yesterday, she said, because it would look so like nothing by the +side of costly gifts. Pretty, graceful little thing! isn't it? It is an +evening-primrose, I think,--'love's own light,'--hey, Delphine?" + +We had scarcely half admired the taper-stand and the Mercury when the +carriage came for Mrs. Harris, who insisted on taking away Laura with +her to the opera. + +"No matter whether you thought of going or not; and, happily, there's +no danger of Delphine being lonely. 'Two are company,' you know Emerson +says, 'but three are a congregation.' So they will be glad to spare you. +There, now! that is all you want,--and this shawl." + +After they went, I sat listening for nearly half an hour to the low +murmurs in the next room, and wishing the stranger would only go, so +that I might exhibit my new treasures. At last the strange gentleman +opened the door softly, talking all the way, across the room, through +the entry, and finally whispering himself fairly out-of-doors. When my +husband came in, I was eager to show him the Mercury, and the lily, and +the taper-stand. + +"And do you know, after all, I hadn't the real nobleness and +truthfulness and right-mindedness to tell Mrs. Harris that these and +Aunt Allen's gift were all I had received! I am ashamed of myself, to +have such a mean mortification about what is really of no importance. +Certainly, if my friends don't care enough for me to send me something, +I ought to be above caring for it." + +"I don't know that, Del. Your mortification is very natural. How can we +help caring? Do you like your Aunt Allen very much?" added he, abruptly. + +"Because she gave me fifty dollars? Yes, I begin to think I do," said I, +laughing. + +He looked at me quickly. + +"Your Aunt Allen is very rich, is she not?" + +"I believe so. Why? You look very serious. I neither respect nor love +her for her riches; and I haven't seen her these ten years." + +He looked sober and abstracted; but when I spoke, he smiled a little. + +"Do you remember Ella's chapter on Old China?" said he, sitting down on +the sofa, and--I don't mind saying--putting one arm round my waist. + +"Yes,--why?" + +"Do you remember Bridget's plaintive regret that they had no longer +the good old times when they were poor? and about the delights of the +shilling gallery?" + +"Yes,--what made you think of it?" + +"What a beautiful chapter that is!--their gentle sorrow that they could +no longer make nice bargains for books! and his wearing new, neat, black +clothes, alas! instead of the overworn suit that was made to hang on +a few weeks longer, that he might buy the old folio of Beaumont and +Fletcher! Do you remember it, Delphine?" + +"Yes, I do. And I think there is a deal of pleasure in considering and +contriving,--though it's prettier in a book"-- + +"For my part," interrupted my husband, as though he had not heard me +speak,--"for my part, I am sorry one cannot have such an exquisite +appreciation of pleasure but through pain; for--I am tired of +labor--and privation--and, in short, poverty. To work so hard, and so +constantly!--with such a long, weary vista before one!--and these petty +gains! Don't you think poverty is the one thing hateful, Delphine?" + +He sprang up suddenly, and began walking up and down the room,--up and +down,--up and down; and without speaking any more, or seeming to wish me +to answer. + +"Why, what is it? What do you mean?" said I, faintly; for my heart felt +like lead in my bosom. + +He did not answer at first, but walked towards me; then, turning +suddenly away, sprang out of the window at the side of the room, saying, +with a constrained laugh,-- + +"I shall be in again, presently. In the mean time I leave you to +meditations on the shilling gallery!" + +What a strange taunting sound his voice had! There was no insane blood +among the Sampsons, or I might have thought he had suddenly gone crazy. +Or if I had believed in demoniacal presences, I might have thought the +murmuring, whispering old man was some tempter. Some evil influence +certainly had been exerted over him. Scarcely less than deranged could I +consider him now, to be willing thus to address me. It was true, he was +poor,--that he had struggled with poverty. But had it not been my pride, +as I thought it was his, that his battle was bravely borne, and would be +bravely won? I could not, even to myself, express the cruel cowardice of +such words as he had used to his helpless wife. That he felt deeply and +gallingly his poverty was plain. Even in that there was a weakness which +induced more of contempt than pity for him; but was it not base to tell +me of it now? Now, when his load was doubled, he complained of the +burden! Why, I would have lain down and died far sooner than he should +have guessed it of me. And he had thought it--and--said it! + +There are emotions that seem to crowd and supersede each other, so +that the order of time is inverted. I came to the point of disdainful +composure, even before the struggle and distress began. I sat quietly +where my husband left me,--such a long, long time! It seemed hours. +I remembered how thoughtful I had determined to be of all our +expenses,--the little account-book in which I had already entered some +items; how I had thought of various ways in which I could assist him; +yes, even little I was to be the most efficient and helpful of wives. +Had I not taken writing-lessons secretly, and formed a thorough +business-hand, and would I not earn many half-eagles with my eagle's +quill? I remembered how I had thought, though I had not said it, (and +how glad now I was I had not!) that we would help each other in sickness +and health,--that we would toil up that weary hill where wealth stands +so lusciously and goldenly shining. But then, hand in hand we were +to have toiled,--hopefully, smilingly, lovingly,--not with this cold +recrimination, nor, hardest of all, with--reproach! + +Suddenly, a strange suspicion fell over me. It fell down on me like a +pall. I shuddered with the cold of it. + +I knew it wasn't so. I knew he loved me,--that Le meant nothing,--that +it was a passing discontent, a hateful feeling engendered by the sight +of the costly trifles before us. Yes,--I knew that. But, good heavens! +to tell his wife of it! + +I sat, with my head throbbing, and holding my hands, utterly tearless; +for tears were no expression of the distressful pain, and blank +disappointment of a life, that I felt. I said I felt this damp, dark +suspicion. It was there like a presence, but it was as indefinite as +dark; and I had a sort of control, in the midst of the tumult in my +brain and heart, as to what thoughts I would let come to me. Not that! +Faults there might be,--great ones,--but not that, the greatest! At +least, if I could not respect, I could forgive,--for he loved me. +Surely, surely, that must be true! + +It would come, that flash, like lightning, or the unwilling memories of +the drowning. I remembered the rich Miss Kate Stuart, who, they said, +liked him, and that her father would have been glad to have him for a +son-in-law. And I had asked him once about it, in the careless +gayety of happy love. He had said, he supposed it might have +happened--perhaps--who knows?--if he had not seen me. But he had seen +me! Could it be that he was thinking of? + +My calmness was giving way. As soon as I spoke, though it was only in a +word of ejaculation, my pity for myself broke all the flood-gates down, +and I fell on my face in a paroxysm of sobs. + +A very calm, loving voice, and a strong arm raising me, brought me back +at once from the wild ocean of passion on which I was tossing. I had not +heard him come in. I was too proud and grieved to speak or to weep. So I +dried my tears and sat stiffly silent. + +"You are tired, dear!" said my husband, tenderly. + +"No,--it's no matter." + +"Everything is matter to me that concerns you. You know that,--you +believe that, Delphine?" + +"Why, what a strange sound! just as it used to sound!" I said to myself, +whisperingly. + +I know not what possessed me; but I was determined to have the truth, +and the whole truth. I turned towards him and looked straight into his +eyes. + +"Tell me, truly, as you hope God will save you at your utmost need, _do_ +you love me? Did you marry me from any motive but that of pure, true +love?" + +"From no other," answered he, with a face of unutterable surprise; and +then added, solemnly, "And may God take me, Delphine, when you cease to +love me!" + +It was enough. There was truth in every breath, in every glance of his +deep eyes. A delicious languor took the place of the horrible tension +that had been every faculty,--a repose so sweet and perfect, that, if +reason had placed the clearest possible proofs of my husband's perfidy +before me, I should simply have smiled and fallen asleep on his true +heart, as I did. + +When I opened my eyes, I met his anxious look. + +"Why, what has come over you, Del? I did not know you were nervous." + +And then remembering, that, although I might be weakest among the weak, +yet that it was his wisdom that was to sustain and comfort me, I said,-- + +"By-and-by I will tell you all about it,--certainly I will. I must tell +you some time, but not to-night." + +"And--I had thought to keep a secret from you, to-night, Del; but, on +the whole, I shall feel better to tell you." + +"Yes,--perhaps,--perhaps." + +"Oh, yes! Secrets are safest, told. First, then, Del, I will tell you +this secret. I am very foolish. Don't tell of it, will you? See here!" + +He held up his closed hand before my face, laughingly. + +That man's name, Del, is Drake"---- + +"And not the Devil!" said I to myself. + +"Solitude Drake." + +"Really? Is that it, truly? What's in your hand?" + +"Truly,--really. He lives in Albany. He is the son of a queer man, and +is something of a humorist himself. I have seen one of his sons. He has +two. One's name is Paraclete, and the other Preserved. His daughter is +pretty, very, and her name is Deliverance. They call her Del, for short. +They do, on my word! Worse than Delphine, is it not?" + +"Why, don't you like my name?" stammered I, with astonishment. + +"Yes, very well. I don't care much about names. But I can tell you, +Uncle Zabdiel and Aunt Jerusha, 'from whom I have expectations,' Del, +think it is 'just about the poorest kind of a name that ever a girl +had.' And our Cousin Abijah thought you were named Delilah, and that +it was a good match for Sampson! I rectified him there; but he still +insists on your being called 'Finy,' in the family, to distinguish you +from the Midianitish woman." + +"And so Uncle _Zabdiel_ thinks I have a poor name?" said I, laughing +heartily. "The shield looks neither gold nor silver, from which side +soever we gaze. But I think _he_ might put up with _my_ name!" + +My husband never knew exactly what I was laughing at. And why should he? +I was fast overcoming my weakness about names, and thinking they were +nothing, compared to things, after all. + +When our laugh (for his was sympathetic) had subsided into a quiet +cheerfulness, he said, again holding up his hand,-- + +"Not at all curious, Del? You don't ask what Mr. Solitude Drake wanted?" + +"I don't think I care what he wanted: company, I suppose." + +And I went on making bad puns about solitude sweetened, and ducks and +drakes, as happy people do, whose hearts are quite at ease. + +"And you don't want to know at all, Del?" said he, laughing a little +nervously, and dropping from his hand an open paper into mine. "It shall +be my wedding-present to you. It is Mr. Drake's retainer. Pretty stout +one, is it not? This is what made me jump out of the window,--this and +one other thing." + +"Why, this is a draft for five hundred dollars!" said I, reading and +staring stupidly at the paper. + +"Yes, and I am retained in that great Albany land-case. It involves +millions of property. That is all, Del. But I was so glad, so happy, +that I was likely to do well at last, and that I could gratify all the +wishes, reasonable and unreasonable, of my darling!" + +"Is it a good deal?" said I, simply; for, after all, five hundred +dollars did not seem such an Arabian fortune. + +"Yes, Del, a good deal. Whichever way it is decided, it will make my +fortune. And now--the other thing. You are sure you are very calm, and +all this won't make you sleepless?" + +"Oh, no! I am calm as a clock." + +"Well, then,--your Aunt Allen is dead." + +"Dead! Is she? Did she leave us all her money?" + +"Why, no, you little cormorant. She has left it all about: Legacies, and +Antioch College, and Destitute Societies. But I believe you have some +clothes left to you and Laura. Any way, the will is in there, in the +library: Mr. Drake had a copy of it. And the best of all is, I am to be +the executor, which is enough better than residuary legatee." + +"It is very strange!" said I, thinking of the multitude of old gowns I +should have to alter over. + +"Yes, it is, indeed, very strange. One of the strangest things about +the matter is, that my good friend Solitude was so taken with 'my queer +name,' as he calls it, that he 'took a fancy to me out of hand.' To be +sure, he listened through my argument in the Shore case, and that may +have helped his opinion of me as a lawyer.--Here comes Laura. Who would +have thought it was one o'clock?" + +And who would have thought that my little ugly chrysalis of troubles +would have turned out such beautiful butterflies of blessings? + + * * * * * + + +MARION DALE. + + + Marion Dale, I remember you once, + In the days when you blushed like a rose half-blown, + Long ere that wealthy respectable dunce + Sponged up your beautiful name in his own. + + I remember you, Marion Dale, + Artless and cordial and modest and sweet: + You never walked in that glittering mail + That covers you now from your head to your feet. + + Well I remember your welcoming smile, + When Alice and Annie and Edward and I + Came over to see you;--you lived but a mile + From my uncle's old house, and the grove that stood nigh. + + I was no lover of yours, (pray, excuse me!)-- + Our minds were different in texture and hue: + I never gave you a chance to refuse me; + Already I loved one less changeful than you. + + Still it was ever a pride and a pleasure + Just to be near you,--the Rose of our vale. + Often I thought, "Who will own such a treasure? + Who win the rich love of our Marion Dale?" + + I wonder now if you ever remember, + Ever sigh over fifteen years ago,-- + Whether your June is all turned to December,-- + Whether your life now is happy or no. + + Gone are those winters of chats and of dances! + Gone are those summers of picnics and rides! + Gone the aroma of life's young romances! + Gone the swift flow of our passionate tides! + + Marion Dale,--no longer our Marion,-- + You have gone your way, and I have gone mine: + Lowly I've labored, while fashion's gay clarion + Trumpets your name through the waltz and the wine. + + And when I meet you, your smile it is colder; + Statelier, prouder your features have grown; + Rounder each white and magnificent shoulder; + (Rather too low-necked your waist, I must own.) + + Jewelled and muslined, your rich hair gold-netted, + Queenly 'mid flattering voices you move,-- + Half to your own native graces indebted, + Half to the station and fortune you love. + + "Marion" we called you; my wife you called "Alice"; + I was plain "Phil";--we were intimate all: + Strange, as we leave now our cards at your palace, + On Mrs. Prime Goldbanks of Bubblemere Hall! + + Six golden lackeys illumine the doorway: + Sure, one would think, by the glances they throw, + That we were fresh from the mountains of Norway, + And had forgotten to shake off the snow! + + They will permit us to enter, however; + Usher us into her splendid saloon: + There we sit waiting and waiting forever, + As one would watch for the rise of the moon. + + Or it may be to-day's not her "reception": + Still she's at home, and a little unbends,-- + Framing, while dressing, some harmless deception, + How she shall meet her "American" friends. + + Smiling you meet us,--but not quite sincerely; + Low-voiced you greet us,--but this is the _ton_: + This, we must feel it, is courtesy merely,-- + Not the glad welcome of days that are gone. + + You are in England,--the land where they freeze one, + When they've a mind to, with fashion and form: + Yet, if you choose, you can thoroughly please one: + Currents run through you still youthful and warm. + + So one would think, at least, seeing you moving, + Radiant and gay, at the Countess's _fête_. + Say, was that babble so sweeter than loving? + Where was the charm, that you lingered so late? + + Ah, well enough, as you dance on in joyance! + Still well enough, at your dinners and calls! + Fashion and riches will mask much annoyance. + Float on, fair lady, whatever befalls! + + Yet, Lady Marion, for hours and for hours + You are alone with your husband and lord. + There is a skeleton hid in yon flowers; + There is a spectre at bed and at board. + + Needs no confession to tell there is acting + Somewhere about you a tragedy grim. + All your bright rays have a sullen refracting; + Everywhere looms up the image of _him_: + + Him,--whom you love not, there is no concealing. + How _could_ you love him, apart from his gold? + Nothing now left but your fire-fly wheeling,-- + Flashing one moment, then pallid and cold! + + Yet you've accepted the life that he offers,-- + Sunk to his level,--not raised him to yours. + All your fair flowers have their roots in his coffers: + Empty the gold-dust, and then what endures? + + So, then, we leave you! Your world is not ours. + Alice and I will not trouble you more. + Almost too heavy the scent of these flowers + Down the broad stairway. Quick, open the door! + + Here, in the free air, we'll pray for you, lady! + You who are changed to us,--gone from us,--lost! + Soon the Atlantic shall part us, already + Parted by gulfs that can never be crossed! + + + + +CHARLESTON UNDER ARMS. + + +On Saturday morning, January 19, 1861, the steamer Columbia, from New +York, lay off the harbor of Charleston in full sight of Fort Sumter. It +is a circumstance which perhaps would never have reached the knowledge +of the magazine-reading world, nor have been of any importance to it, +but for the attendant fact that I, the writer of this article, was on +board the steamer. It takes two events to make a consequence, as well as +two parties to make a bargain. + +The sea was smooth; the air was warmish and slightly misty; the low +coast showed bare sand and forests of pines. The dangerous bar of the +port, now partially deprived of its buoys, and with its main channel +rendered perilous by the hulks of sunken schooners, revealed itself +plainly, half a mile ahead of us, in a great crescent of yellow water, +plainly distinguishable from the steel-gray of the outer ocean. Two +or three square-rigged vessels were anchored to the southward of us, +waiting for the tide or the tugs, while four or five pilot-boats tacked +up and down in the lazy breeze, watching for the cotton-freighters which +ought at this season to crowd the palmetto wharves. + +"I wish we could get the duties on those ships to pay some of our +military bills," said a genteel, clean-spoken Charlestonian, to a long, +green, kindly-faced youth, from I know not what Southern military +academy. + +We had arrived off the harbor about midnight, but had not entered, for +lack of a beacon whereby to shape our course. Now we must wait until +noon for the tide, standing off and on the while merely to keep up our +fires. A pilot came under our quarter in his little schooner, and told +us that the steamer Nashville had got out the day before with only a +hard bumping. No other news had he: Fort Sumter had not been taken, nor +assaulted; the independence of South Carolina had not been recognized; +various desirable events had not happened. In short, the political world +had remained during our voyage in that chaotic _status quo_ so loved by +President Buchanan. At twelve we stood for the bar, sounding our way +with extreme caution. Without accident we passed over the treacherous +bottom, although in places it could not have been more than eighteen +inches below our keel. The shores closed in on both sides as we passed +onward. To the south was the long, low, gray Morris Island, with its +extinguished lighthouse, its tuft or two of pines, its few dwellings, +and its invisible batteries. To the north was the long, low, gray +Sullivan's Island, a repetition of the other, with the distinctions of +higher sand-rolls, a village, a regular fort, and palmettos. We passed +the huge brown Moultrie House, in summer a gay resort, at present a +barrack; passed the hundred scattered cottages of the island, mostly +untenanted now, and looking among the sand-drifts as if they had been +washed ashore at random; passed the low walls of Fort Moultrie, +once visibly yellow, but now almost hidden by the new _glacis_, and +surmounted by piles of barrels and bags of sand, with here and there +palmetto stockades as a casing for the improvised embrasures; passed its +black guns, its solidly built, but rusty barracks, and its weather-worn +palmetto flag waving from a temporary flag-staff. On the opposite side +of the harbor was Fort Johnstone, a low point, exhibiting a barrack, a +few houses, and a sand redoubt, with three forty-two pounders. And +here, in the midst of all things, apparent master of all things, at the +entrance of the harbor proper, and nearly equidistant from either shore, +though nearest the southern, frowned Fort Sumter, a huge and lofty +and solid mass of brickwork with stone embrasures, all rising from +a foundation of ragged granite boulders washed by the tides. The +port-holes were closed; a dozen or so of monstrous cannon peeped from +the summit; two or three sentinels paced slowly along the parapet; the +stars and stripes blew out from the lofty flag-staff. The plan of Fort +Sumter may be briefly described as five-sided, with each angle just so +much truncated as to give room for one embrasure in every story. Its +whole air is massive, commanding, and formidable. + +Eighty or a hundred citizens, volunteers, cadets from the military +academy, policemen, and negroes, greeted the arrival of the Columbia at +her wharf. It was a larger crowd than usual, partly because a report had +circulated that we should be forced to bring to off Fort Sumter and give +an account of ourselves, and partly because many persons in Charleston +have lately been perplexed with an abundant leisure. As I drove to my +hotel, I noticed that the streets showed less movement of business +and population than when I knew them four years ago. The place seemed +dirtier, too,--worse paved, shabbier as to its brick-work and stucco, +and worse painted,--but whether through real deterioration, or by +comparison with the neatly finished city which I had lately left, I +cannot decide. There was surely not a third of the usual shipping, nor a +quarter of the accustomed cotton. Here and there were wharves perfectly +bare, not only of masting and of freight, but even of dust, as if they +had not been used for days, or possibly for weeks. + +My old hotel was as well kept, and its table as plentiful and excellent +as ever. I believe we are all aware by this time that Charleston has +not suffered from hunger; that beef has not sold at thirty-five cents a +pound, but rather at ten or fifteen; that its Minute Men have not +been accustomed to come down upon its citizens for forced dinners and +dollars; that the State loan was taken willingly by the banks, instead +of unwillingly by private persons; that the rich, so far from being +obliged to give a great deal for the cause of Secession, have generally +given very little; that the streets are well-policed, untrodden by mobs, +and as orderly as those of most cities; that, in short, the revolution +so far has been political, and not social. At the same time exports +and imports have nearly ceased; business, even in the retail form, is +stagnant; the banks have suspended; debts are not paid. + +After dinner I walked up to the Citadel square and saw a drill of the +Home Guard. About thirty troopers, all elderly men, and several with +white hair and whiskers, uniformed in long overcoats of homespun gray, +went through some of the simpler cavalry evolutions in spite of their +horses' teeth. The Home Guard is a volunteer police force, raised +because of the absence of so many of the young men of the city at the +islands, and because of the supposed necessity of keeping a strong hand +over the negroes. A malicious citizen assured me that it was in training +to take Fort Sumter by charging upon it at low water. On the opposite +side of the square from where I stood rose the Citadel, or military +academy, a long and lofty reddish-yellow building, stuccoed and +castellated, which, by the way, I have seen represented in one of our +illustrated papers as the United States Arsenal. Under its walls +were half a dozen iron cannon which I judged at that distance to be +twenty-four pounders. A few negroes, certainly the most leisurely part +of the population at this period, and still fewer white people, leaned +over the shabby fence and stared listlessly at the horsemen, with the +air of people whom habit had made indifferent to such spectacles. Near +me three men of the middle class of Charleston talked of those two +eternal subjects, Secession and Fort Sumter. One of them, a rosy-faced, +kindly-eyed, sincere, seedy, pursy gentleman of fifty, congratulated the +others and thanked God because of the present high moral stand of South +Carolina, so much loftier than if she had seized the key to her main +harbor, when she had the opportunity. Her honor was now unspotted; her +good faith and her love of the right were visible to the whole world; +while the position of the Federal Government was disgraced and sapped by +falsity. Better Sumter treacherously in the hands of the United States +than in the hands of South Carolina; better suffer for a time under +physical difficulties than forever under moral dishonor. + +Simple-hearted man, a fair type of his fellow-citizens, he saw but his +own side of the question, and might fairly claim in this matter to +be justified by his faith. His bald crown, sandy side-locks, reddish +whiskers, sanguineous cheeks, and blue eyes were all luminous with +confidence in the integrity of his State, and with scorn for the +meanness and wickedness of her enemies. No doubt had he that the fort +ought to be surrendered to South Carolina; no suspicion that the +Government could show a reason for holding it, aside from low +self-interest and malice. He was the honest mouthpiece of a most +peculiar people, local in its opinions and sentiments beyond anything +known at the North, even in self-poised Boston. Changing his subject, he +spoke with hostile, yet chivalrous, respect of the pluck of the Black +Republicans in Congress. They had never faltered; they had vouchsafed no +hint of concession; while, on the other hand, Southerners had shamed him +by their craven spirit. It grieved, it mortified him, to see such a man +as Crittenden on his knees to the North, begging, actually with tears, +for what he ought to demand as a right, with head erect and hands +clenched. He departed with a mysterious allusion to some secret of his +for taking Fort Sumter,--some disagreeably odorous chemical +preparation, I guessed, by the scientific terms in which he beclouded +himself,--something which he expected would soon be called for by the +Governor. May he never smell anything worse, even in the other world, +than his own compounds! Unionist, and perhaps Consolidationist, as I +am, I could not look upon his honest, persuaded face, and judge him a +traitor, at least not to any sentiment of right that was in his own +soul. + +Our hotel was full of legislators and volunteer officers, mostly +planters or sons of planters, and almost without exception men of +standing and property. South Carolina is an oligarchy in spirit, and +allows no plebeians in high places. Two centuries of plenteous feeding +and favorable climate showed their natural results in the _physique_ of +these people. I do not think that I exaggerate, when I say that they +averaged six feet or nearly in height, and one hundred and seventy +pounds or thereabouts in weight. One or two would have brought in money, +if enterprisingly heralded as Swiss or Belgian giants. The general +physiognomy was good, mostly high-featured, often commanding, sometimes +remarkable for massive beauty of the Jovian type, and almost invariably +distinguished by a fearless, open-eyed frankness, in some instances +running into arrogance and pugnacity. I remember one or two elderly +men, in particular, whose faces would help an artist to idealize a +Lacedaemonian general, or a baron of the Middle Ages. In dress somewhat +careless, and wearing usually the last fashion but one, they struck me +as less tidy than the same class when I saw it four years ago; and I +made a similar remark concerning the citizens of Charleston,--not only +men, but women,--from whom dandified suits and superb silks seem to have +departed during the present martial time. Indeed, I heard that economy +was the order of the day; that the fashionables of Charleston bought +nothing new, partly because of the money pressure, and partly because +the guns of Major Anderson might any day send the whole city into +mourning; that patrician families had discharged their foreign cooks and +put their daughters into the kitchen; that there were no concerts, no +balls, and no marriages. Even the volunteers exhibited little of the +pomp and vanity of war. The small French military cap was often the only +sign of their present profession. The uniform, when it appeared, was +frequently a coarse homespun gray, charily trimmed with red worsted, and +stained with the rains and earth of the islands. One young dragoon in +this sober dress walked into our hotel, trailing the clinking steel +scabbard of his sabre across the marble floor of the vestibule with a +warlike rattle which reminded me of the Austrian officers whom I used +to see, yes, and hear, stalking about the _cafe's_ of Florence. Half a +dozen surrounded him to look at and talk about the weapon. A portly, +middle-aged legislator must draw it and cut and thrust, with a smile of +boyish satisfaction between his grizzled whiskers, bringing the point so +near my nose, in his careless eagerness, that I had to fall back upon +a stronger, that is, a more distant position. Then half a dozen others +must do likewise, their eyes sparkling like those of children examining +a new toy. + +"It's not very sharp," said one, running his thumb carefully along the +edge of the narrow and rather light blade. + +"Sharp enough to cut a man's head open," averred the dragoon. + +"Well, it's a dam' shame that sixty-five men tharr in Sumter should make +such an expense to the State," declared a stout, blonde young rifleman, +speaking with a burr which proclaimed him from the up-country. "We +haven't even troyed to get 'em out. We ought at least to make a troyal." + +All strangers at Charleston walk to the Battery. It is the extreme point +of the city peninsula, its right facing on the Ashley, its left on the +Cooper, and its outlook commanding the entire harbor, with Fort Sumter, +Port Pinckney, Fort Moultrie, and Fort Johnstone in the distance. Plots +of thin clover, a perfect wonder in this grassless land; promenades, +neatly fenced, and covered with broken shells instead of gravel; a +handsome bronze lantern-stand, twenty-five feet high, meant for a +beacon; a long and solid stone quay, the finest sea-walk in the United +States; a background of the best houses in Charleston, three-storied and +faced with verandas: such are the features of the Battery. Lately +four large iron guns, mounted like field-pieces, form an additional +attraction to boys and soldierly-minded men. Nobody knew their calibre; +the policemen who watched them could not say; the idlers who gathered +about them disputed upon it: they were eighteen pounders; they were +twenty-fours; they were thirty-sixes. Nobody could tell what they were +there for. They were aimed at Fort Sumter, but would not carry half way +to it. They could hit Fort Pinckney, but that was not desirable. The +policeman could not explain; neither could the idlers; neither can I. +At last it got reported about the city that they were to sink any boats +which might come down the river to reinforce Anderson; though how the +boats were to get into the river, whether by railroad from Washington, +or by balloon from the Free States, nobody even pretended to guess. +Standing on this side of the Ashley, and looking across it, you +naturally see the other side. The long line of nearly dead level, with +its stretches of thin pine-forest and its occasional glares of open +sand, gives you an idea of nearly the whole country about Charleston, +except that in general you ought to add to the picture a number of noble +evergreen oaks bearded with pendent, weird Spanish moss, and occasional +green spikes of the tropical-looking Spanish bayonet. Of palmettos there +are none that I know of in this immediate region, save the hundred or +more on Sullivan's Island and the one or two exotics in the streets +of Charleston. In the middle of the Ashley, which is here more than a +quarter of a mile wide, lies anchored a topsail schooner, the nursery +of the South Carolina navy. I never saw it sail anywhere; but then my +opportunities of observation were limited. Quite a number of boys are on +board of it, studying maritime matters; and I can bear witness that they +are sufficiently advanced to row themselves ashore. Possibly they are +moored thus far up the stream to guard them from sea-sickness, which +might be discouraging to young sailors. However, I ought not to talk on +this subject, for I am the merest civilian and land-lubber. + +My first conversation in Charleston on Secession was with an estimable +friend, Northern-born, but drawing breath of Southern air ever since he +attained the age of manhood. After the first salutation, he sat down, +his hands on his knees, gazing on the floor, and shaking his head +soberly, if not sadly. + +"You have found us in a pretty fix,--in a pretty fix!" + +"But what are you going to do? Are you really going out? You are not a +politician, and will tell me the honest facts." + +"Yes, we are going out,'--there is no doubt of it, I have not been a +seceder,--I have even been called one of the disaffected; but I am +obliged to admit that secession is the will of the community. Perhaps +you at the North don't believe that we are honest in our professions and +actions. We are so. The Carolinians really mean to go out of the Union, +and don't mean to come back. They say that they _are_ out, and they +believe it. And now, what are you going to do with us? What is the +feeling at the North?" + +"The Union must and shall be preserved, at all hazards. That famous +declaration expresses the present Northern popular sentiment. When I +left, people were growing martial; they were joining military companies; +they wanted to fight; they were angry." + +"So I supposed. That agrees with what I hear by letter. Well, I am very +sorry for it. Our people here will not retreat; they will accept a war, +first. If you preserve the Union, it must be by conquest. I suppose you +can do it, if you try hard enough. The North is a great deal stronger +than the South; it can desolate it,--crush it. But I hope it won't be +done. I wish you would speak a good word for us, when you go back. You +can destroy us, I suppose. But don't you think it would be inhuman? +Don't you think it would be impolitic? Do you think it would result in +sufficient good to counterbalance the evident and certain evil?" + +"Why, people reason in this way. They say, that, even if we allow the +final independence of the seceding States, we must make it clear that +there is no such thing as the right of secession, but only that of +revolution or rebellion. We must fix a price for going out of the Union, +which shall be so high that henceforward no State will ever be willing +to pay it. We must kill, once for all, the doctrine of peaceable +secession, which is nothing else than national disintegration and ruin. +Lieutenant-Governor Morton of Indiana declares in substance that England +never spent blood and money to wiser purpose than when she laid down +fifty thousand lives and one hundred millions of pounds to prevent her +thirteen disaffected colonies from having their own way. No English +colony since has been willing to face the tremendous issue thus offered +it. Just so it is the interest, it is the sole safety of the Federal +Government, to try to hold in the Cotton States by force, and, if they +go out, to oblige them to pay an enormous price for the privilege. +Revolution is a troublesome luxury, and ought to be made expensive. That +is the way people talk at the North and at Washington. They reason thus, +you see, because they believe that this is not a league, but a nation." + +"And our people believe that the States are independent and have a right +to recede from the Confederation without asking its leave. With few +exceptions, all agree on that; it is honest, common public opinion. The +South Carolinians sincerely think that they are exercising a right, and +you may depend that they will not be reasoned nor frightened out of it; +and if the North tries coercion, there will be war. I don't say this +defiantly, but sadly, and merely because I want you to know the truth. +War is abhorrent to my feelings,--especially a war with our own +brethren: and then _we_ are so poorly prepared for it!" + +Such was the substance of several conversations. The reader may rely, I +think, on the justness of my friend's opinions, founded as they are on +his honesty of intellect, his moderation, and his opportunities for +studying his fellow-citizens. All told me the same story, but generally +with more passion, sometimes with defiance; defiance toward the +Government, I mean, and not toward me personally; for the better classes +of Charleston are eminently courteous. South Carolina had seceded +forever, defying all the hazards; she would accept nothing but +independence or destruction; she did not desire any supposable +compromise; she had altogether done with the Union. Yet her desire was +not for war; it was simply and solely for escape. She would forget all +her wrongs and insults, she would seek no revenge for the injurious +past, provided she were allowed to depart without a conflict. Nearly +every man with whom I talked began the conversation by asking if the +North meant coercion, and closed it by deprecating hostilities and +affirming the universal wish for _peaceable_ secession. In case of +compulsion, however, the State would accept the gage of battle; her +sister communities of the South would side with her, the moment they saw +her blood flow; Northern commerce would be devoured by privateers of all +nations under the Southern flag; Northern manufactures would perish for +lack of Southern raw material and Southern consumers; Northern banks +would suspend, and Northern finances go into universal insolvency; the +Southern ports would be opened forcibly by England and France, who must +have cotton; the South would flourish in the struggle, and the North +decay. + +"But why do you venture on this doubtful future?" I asked of one +gentleman. "What is South Carolina's grievance? The Personal-Liberty +Bills?" + +"Yes,--they constitute a grievance. And yet not much of one. Some of us +even--the men of the 'Mercury' school, I mean--do not complain of the +Union because of those bills. They say that it is the Fugitive-Slave Law +itself which is unconstitutional; that the rendition of runaways is +a State affair, in which the Federal Government has no concern; that +Massachusetts, and other States, were quite right in nullifying an +illegal and aggressive statute. Besides, South Carolina has lost very +few slaves." + +"Is it the Territorial Question which forces you to quit us?" + +"Not in its practical issues. The South needs no more territory; has not +negroes to colonize it. The doctrine of 'No more Slave States' is an +insult to us, but hardly an injury. The flow of population has settled +that matter. You have won all the Territories, not even excepting New +Mexico, where slavery exists nominally, but is sure to die out under the +hostile influences of unpropitious soil and climate. The Territorial +Question has become a mere abstraction. We no longer talk of it." + +"Then your great grievance is the election of Lincoln?" + +"Yes." + +"And the grievance is all the greater because he was elected according +to all the forms of law?" + +"Yes." + +"If he had been got into the Presidency by trickery, by manifest +cheating, your grievance would have been less complete?" + +"Yes." + +"Is Lincoln considered here to be a bad or dangerous man?" + +"Not personally. I understand that he is a man of excellent private +character, and I have nothing to say against him as a ruler, inasmuch as +he has never been tried. Mr. Lincoln is simply a sign to us that we are +in danger, and must provide for our own safety." + +"You secede, then, solely because you think his election proves that the +mass of the Northern people is adverse to you and your interests?" + +"Yes." + +"So Mr. Wigfall of Texas hit the nail on the head, when he said +substantially that the South cannot be at peace with the North until the +latter concedes that slavery is right?" + +"Well,--I admit it; that is precisely it." + +I desire the reader to note the loyal frankness, the unshrinking honesty +of these avowals, so characteristic of the South Carolina _morale_. +Whenever the native of that State does an act or holds an opinion, it is +his nature to confess it and avow the motives thereof, without quibbling +or hesitation. It is a persuaded, self-poised community, strikingly like +its negative pole on the Slavery Question, Massachusetts. All those +Charlestonians whom I talked with I found open-hearted in their +secession, and patient of my open-heartedness as an advocate of the +Union, although often astonished, I suspect, that any creature capable +of drawing a conclusion from two premises should think so differently +from themselves. + +"But have you looked at the platform of the Republicans?" I proceeded. +"It is not adverse to slavery in the States; it only objects to its +entrance into the Territories; it is not an Abolition platform." + +"We don't trust in the platform; we believe that it is an incomplete +expression of the party creed,--that it suppresses more than it utters. +The spirit which keeps the Republicans together is enmity to slavery, +and that spirit will never be satisfied until the system is extinct." + +"Finally,--yes; gradually and quietly and safely,--that is possible. I +suppose that the secret and generally unconscious _animus_ of the party +is one which will abolitionize it after a long while." + +"When will it begin to act in an abolition sense, do you think?" + +"I can't say: perhaps a hundred years from now; perhaps two hundred." + +There was a general laugh from the half-dozen persons who formed the +group. + +"What time do _you_ fix?" I inquired. + +"Two years. But for this secession of ours, there would have been bills +before Congress within two years, looking to the abolition of slavery in +the navy-yards, the District of Columbia, etc. That would be only the +point of the wedge, which would soon assume the dimensions of an attack +on slavery in the States. Look how aggressive the party has been in the +question of the Territories." + +"The questions are different. When Congress makes local laws for Utah, +it does not follow that it will do likewise for South Carolina. You +might as well infer, that, because a vessel sails from Liverpool to New +York in ten days, therefore it will sail overland to St. Louis in five +more." + +Incredulous laughter answered me again. The South has labored under two +delusions: first, that the Republicans are Abolitionists; second, that +the North can be frightened. Back of these, rendering them fatally +effective, lies that other delusion, the imagined right of peaceable +secession, founded on a belief in the full and unresigned sovereignty of +the States. Let me tell a story illustrative of the depth to which +this belief has penetrated. Years ago, a friend of mine, talking to a +Charleston boy about patriotism, asked him, "What is the name of your +country?" "South Carolina!" responded the eight-year-old, promptly and +proudly. What Northern boy, what Massachusetts boy even, would not have +replied, "The United States of America"? + +South Carolina, I am inclined to think, has long been a disunionist +community, or nearly so, deceived by the idea that the Confederation is +a bar rather than a help to her prosperity, and waiting only for a good +chance to quit it. Up to the election of Lincoln all timid souls were +against secession; now they are for it, because they think it less +dangerous than submission. For instance, when I asked one gentleman what +the South expected to gain by going out, he replied, "First, safety. +Our slaves have heard of Lincoln,--that he is a black man, or black +Republican, or black something,--that he is to become ruler of this +country on the fourth of March,--that he is a friend of theirs, and will +free them. We must establish our independence in order to make them +believe that they are beyond his help. We have had to hang some of them +in Alabama,--and we expect to be obliged to hang others, perhaps many." + +This was not the only statement of the sort which I heard in Charleston. +Other persons assured me of the perfect fidelity of the negroes, and +declared that they would even fight against Northern invaders, if +needful. Skepticism in regard to this last comfortable belief is, +however, not wanting. + +"If it comes to a war, you have one great advantage over us," said to me +a military gentleman, lately in the service of the United States. "Your +working-class is a fighting-class, and will constitute the rank and file +of your armies. Our working-class is not a fighting-class. Indeed, there +is some reason to fear, that, if it take up arms at all, it will be on +the wrong side." + +My impression is, that a prevalent, though not a universal fear, existed +lest the negroes should rise in partial insurrections on or about the +fourth of March. A Northern man, who had lived for several years in +the back-country of South Carolina, had married there, and had lately +travelled through a considerable portion of the South, informed me that +many of the villages were lately forming Home Guards, as a measure of +defence against the slave population. The Home Guard is frequently a +cavalry corps, and is always composed of men who have passed the usual +term of military service; for it is deemed necessary to reserve the +youth of the country to meet the "Northern masses," the "Federal +mercenaries," on the field of possible battle. By letters from +Montgomery, Alabama, I learn that unusual precautions have been common +during the last winter, many persons locking up their negroes over +night in the quarters, and most sleeping with arms at hand, ready for +nocturnal conflict. Whoever considers the necessarily horrible nature +of a servile insurrection will find in it some palliation for Southern +violence toward suspected incendiaries and Southern precipitation in +matters of secession, however strongly he may still maintain that +lynch-law should not usurp the place of justice, nor revolution the +place of regular government If you live in a powder-magazine, you +positively must feel inhospitably inclined towards a man who presents +himself with a cigar in his mouth. Even if he shows you that it is but a +tireless stump, it still makes you uneasy. And if you catch sight of +a multitude of smokers, distant as yet, but apparently intent on +approaching, you will be very apt to rush toward them, deprecate their +advance, forbid it, or possibly threaten armed resistance, even at the +risk of being considered aggressive. + +Are all the South Carolinians disunionists? It seemed so when I was +there in January, 1861, and yet it did not seem so when I was there in +1855 and '56. At that time you could find men in Charleston who held +that the right of secession was but the right of revolution, of +rebellion,--well enough, if successful, but inductive to hanging, if +unfortunate. Now those same men nearly all argue for the right of +peaceable secession, declaring that the State has a right to go out at +will, and that the Federal Government has no right to coerce or punish +it. These turncoats are the sympathetic, who are carried away by a +rush of popular enthusiasm, and the fearful or peaceable, who dread or +dislike violence. Let us see how a timid Unionist can be converted into +an advocate of the right of secession. Let us suppose a boat with three +men on board, which is hailed by a revenue-cutter, with a threat of +firing, if she does not come to. Two of these men believe that the +revenue-officer is performing a legal duty, and desire to obey him; but +the third, a reckless, domineering fellow, seizes the helm, lets the +sail fill, and attempts to run by, meantime declaring at the top of his +voice that the cutter has no business to stop his progress. The others +dare not resist him and cannot persuade him. Now, then, what position +will they take as to the right of the revenue-officer to fire? Ten to +one they will join their comrade whom they lately opposed; they will cry +out, that the pursuer was wrong in ordering them to stop, and ought not +to punish them for disobedience; in short, they will be converted by the +instinct of self-preservation into advocates of the right of peaceable +secession. I understand, indeed I know, that there are a few opponents +of disunion remaining In South Carolina; but, although they are wealthy +people and of good position, it is pretty certain that they have not an +atom of political influence. + +Secession peaceable! It is what is most particularly desired at +Charleston, and, I believe, throughout the Cotton States. Certainly, +when I was there, the war-party, the party of the "Mercury," was not in +the ascendant, unless in the sense of having been "hoist with its own +petard" when it cried out for immediate hostilities. Not only Governor +Pickens and his Council, but nearly all the influential citizens, were +opposed to bloodshed. They demanded independence and Fort Sumter, but +desired and hoped to get both by argument. They believed, or tried to +believe, that at last the Administration would hearken to reason and +grant to South Carolina what it seemed to them could not be denied her +with justice. The battle-cry of the "Mercury," urging precipitation +even at the expense of defeat, for the sake of uniting the South, was +listened to without enthusiasm, except by the young and thoughtless. + +"We shall never attack Fort Sumter," said one gentleman. "Don't you see +why? I have a son in the trenches, my next neighbor has one, everybody +in the city has one. Well, we shan't let our boys fight; we can't bear +to lose them. We don't want to risk our handsome, genteel, educated +young fellows against a gang of Irishmen, Germans, British deserters, +and New York roughs, not worth killing, and yet instructed to kill to +the best advantage. We can't endure it, and we shan't do it." + +This repugnance to stake the lives of South Carolina patricians against +the lives of low-born, mercenaries was a feeling that I frequently heard +expressed. It was betting guineas against pennies, and on a limited +stock of guineas. + +Other men, anti-secessionists even, assured me that war was inevitable, +that Fort Sumter would be attacked, that the volunteers were panting for +the strife, that Governor Pickens was excessively unpopular because of +his peaceful inclinations, and that he would soon be forced to give the +signal for battle. Once or twice I was seriously invited to stay a few +days longer, in order to witness the struggle and victory of South +Carolina. However, it was clear that the enthusiasm and confidence of +the people were no longer what they had been. Several dull and costly +weeks had passed since the passage of the secession ordinance. +Stump-speeches, torchlight-processions, fireworks, and other +jubilations, were among bygone things. The flags were falling to pieces, +and the palmettos withering, unnoticed except by strangers. Men had +begun to realize that a hurrah is not sufficient to carry out a great +revolution successfully; that the work which they had undertaken was +weightier, and the reward of it more distant, if not more doubtful, than +they had supposed. The political prophets had been forced, like the +Millerites, to ask an extension for their predictions. The anticipated +fleet of cotton-freighters had not arrived from Europe, and the expected +twelve millions of foreign gold had not refilled the collapsed banks. +The daily expenses were estimated at twenty thousand dollars; the +treasury was in rapid progress of depletion; and as yet no results. It +is not wonderful, that, under these circumstances, the most enthusiastic +secessionists were not gay, and that the general physiognomy of the city +was sober, not to say troubled. It must not be understood, however, +that there was any visible discontent or even discouragement. "We are +suffering in our affairs," said a business-man to me; "but you will +hear no grumbling." "We expect to be poor, very poor, for two or three +years," observed a lady; "but we are willing to bear it, for the sake of +the noble and prosperous end." "Our people do not want concessions, +and will never be tempted back into the Union," was the voice of every +private person, as well as of the Legislature. "I hope the Republicans +will offer no compromise," remarked one excellent person who has not +favored the revolution. "They would be sure to see it rejected: that +would humiliate them and anger them; then there would be more danger of +war." + +Hatred of Buchanan, mingled with contempt for him, I found almost +universal. If any Northerner should ever get into trouble in South +Carolina because of his supposed abolition tendencies, I advise him to +bestow a liberal cursing on our Old Public Functionary, assuring him +that he will thereby not only escape tar and feathers, but acquire +popularity. The Carolinians called the then President double-faced +and treacherous, hardly allowing him the poor credit of being a +well-intentioned imbecile. Why should they not consider him false? Up to +the garrisoning of Fort Sumter he favored the project of secession full +as decidedly as he afterwards crossed it. Did he think that he was +laying a train to blow the Republicans off their platform, and leave off +his labor in a fright, when he found that the powder-bags to be exploded +had been placed under the foundations of the Union? The man who could +explain Mr. Buchanan would have a better title than Daniel Webster to be +called The Great Expounder. + +During the ten days of my sojourn, Charleston was full of surprising +reports and painful expectations. If a door slammed, we stopped talking, +and looked at each other; and if the sound was repeated, we went to +the window and listened for Fort Sumter. Every strange noise was +metamorphosed by the watchful ear into the roar of cannon or the rush of +soldiery. Women trembled at the salutes which were fired in honor of the +secession of other States, fearing lest the struggle had commenced and +the dearly-loved son or brother in volunteer uniform was already under +the storm of the columbiads. One day, a reinforcement was coming to +Anderson, and the troops must attack him before it arrived; the next +day, Florida had assaulted Fort Pickens, and South Carolina was bound +to dash her bare bosom against Fort Sumter. The batteries were strong +enough to make a breach; and then again, the best authorities had +declared them not strong enough. A columbiad throwing a ball of one +hundred and twenty pounds, sufficient to crack the strongest embrasures, +was on its way from some unknown region. An Armstrong gun capable of +carrying ten miles had arrived or was about to arrive. No one inquired +whether Governor Pickens had suspended the law of gravitation in South +Carolina, in view of the fact that ordinarily an Armstrong gun will not +carry five miles,--nor whether, in such case, the guns of Fort Sumter +might not also be expected to double their range. Major Anderson was +a Southerner, who would surrender rather than shed the blood of +fellow-Southerners. Major Anderson was an army-officer, incapable by his +professional education of comprehending State rights, angry because he +had been charged with cowardice in withdrawing from Fort Moultrie, and +resolved to defend himself to the death. + +In the mean time, the city papers were strangely deficient in local news +concerning the revolution,--possibly from a fear of giving valuable +military information to the enemy at Washington. Uselessly did I study +them for particulars concerning the condition of the batteries, and +the number of guns and troops,--finding little in them but mention +of parades, soldierly festivities, offers of service by enthusiastic +citizens, and other like small business. I thought of visiting the +islands, but heard that strangers were closely watched there, and that +a permit from authority to enter the forts was difficult to obtain. +Fortune, or rather, misfortune, favored me in this matter. + +After passing six days in Charleston, hearing much that was +extraordinary, but seeing little, I left in the steamer Columbia for New +York. The main opening to the harbor, or Ship Channel, as it is called, +being choked with sunken vessels, and the Middle Channel little known, +our only resource for exit was Maffitt's Channel, a narrow strip of deep +water closely skirting Sullivan's Island. It was half-past six in the +morning, slightly misty and very quiet Passing Fort Sumter, then Fort +Moultrie, we rounded a low break-water, and attempted to take the +channel. I have heard a half-dozen reasons why we struck; but all I +venture to affirm is that we did strike. There was a bump; we hoped it +was the last:--there was another; we hoped again:--there was a third; we +stopped. The wheels rolled and surged, bringing the fine sand from +the bottom and changing the green waters to yellow; but the Columbia +remained inert under the gray morning sky, close alongside of the brown, +damp beach of Sullivan's Island. There was only a faint breeze, and a +mere ripple of a sea; but even those slight forces swung our stern far +enough toward the land to complete our helplessness. We lay broadside to +the shore, in the centre of a small crescent or cove, and, consequently, +unable to use our engines without forcing either bow or stern higher +up on the sloping bottom. The Columbia tried to advance, tried to back +water, and then gave up the contest, standing upright on her flat +flooring with no motion beyond an occasional faint bumping. The tugboat +Aid, half a mile ahead of us, cast off from the vessel which it was +taking out, and came to our assistance. Apparently it had been engaged +during the night in watching the harbor; for on deck stood a score of +volunteers in gray overcoats, while the naval-looking personage with +grizzled whiskers who seemed to command was the same Lieutenant Coste +who transferred the revenue-cutter Aiken from the service of the United +States to that of South Carolina. The Aid took hold of us, broke a large +new hawser after a brief struggle, and then went up to the city to +report our condition. + +The morning was lowery, with driving showers running through it from +time to time, and an atmosphere penetratingly damp and cheerless. On the +beach two companies of volunteers were drilling in the rain, no doubt +getting an appetite for breakfast. Without uniforms, their trousers +tucked into their boots, and here and there a white blanket fastened +shawl-like over the shoulders, they looked, as one of our passengers +observed, like a party of returned Californians. Their line was uneven, +their wheeling excessively loose, their evolutions of the simplest and +yet awkwardly executed. Evidently they were newly embodied, and from the +country; for the Charleston companies are spruce in appearance and well +drilled. Half a dozen of them, who had been on sentinel duty during the +night, discharged their guns in the air,--a daily process, rendered +necessary by the moist atmosphere of the harbor at this season; and +then, the exercise being over, there was a general scamper for the +shelter of a neighboring cottage, low-roofed and surrounded by a veranda +after the fashion of Sullivan's Island. Within half an hour they +reappeared in idle squads, and proceeded to kill the heavy time +by staring at us as we stared at them. One individual, learned in +sea-phrase, insulted our misfortune by bawling, "Ship ahoy!" A fellow +in a red shirt, who looked more like a Bowery _bhoy_ than like a +Carolinian, hailed the captain to know if he might come aboard; +whereupon he was surrounded by twenty others, who appeared to +question him and confound him until he thought it best to disappear +unostentatiously. I conjectured that he was a hero of Northern birth, +who had concluded to run away, if he could do it safely. + +When we tired of the volunteers, we looked at the harbor and its +inanimate surroundings. A ship from Liverpool, a small steamer from +Savannah, and a schooner or two of the coasting class passed by us +toward the city during the day, showing to what small proportions the +commerce of Charleston had suddenly shrunk. On shore there seemed to be +no population aside from the volunteers, Sullivan's Island is a summer +resort, much favored by Charlestonians in the hot season, because of its +coolness and healthfulness, but apparently almost uninhabited in winter, +notwithstanding that it boasts a village called Moultrieville. Its +hundred cottages are mostly of one model, square, low-roofed, a single +story in height, and surrounded by a veranda, a portion of which is in +some instances inclosed by blinds so as to add to the amount of shelter. +Paint has been sparingly used, when applied at all, and is seldom +renewed, when weather-stained. The favorite colors, at least those which +most strike the eye at a distance, are green and yellow. The yards are +apt to be full of sand-drifts, which are much prized by the possessors, +with whom it is an object to be secured from high tides and other +more permanent aggressions of the ocean. The whole island is but a +verdureless sand-drift, of which the outlines are constantly changing +under the influence of winds and waters. Fort Moultrie, once close to +the shore, as I am told, is now a hundred yards from it; while, half +a mile off, the sea flows over the site of a row of cottages not long +since washed away. Behind Fort Moultrie, where the land rises to its +highest, appears a continuous foliage of the famous palmettos, a low +palm, strange to the Northern eye, but not beautiful, unless to those +who love it for its associations. Compared with its brothers of the +East, it is short, contracted in outline, and deficient in waving grace. + +The chill mist and drizzling rain frequently drove us under +cover. "While enjoying my cigar in the little smoking-room on the +promenade-deck, I listened to the talk of four players of euchre, two of +them Georgians, one a Carolinian, and one a pro-slavery New-Yorker. + +"I wish the Cap'n would invite old Greeley on board his boat in New +York," said the Gothamite, "and then run him off to Charleston. I'd give +ten thousand dollars towards paying expenses; that is, if they could do +what they was a mind to with him." + +"I reckon a little more'n ten thousand dollars'd do it," grinned +Georgian First. + +"They'd cut him up into little bits," pursued the New-Yorker. + +"They'd worry him first like a cat does a mouse," added the Carolinian. + +"I'd rather serve Beecher or--what's his name?--Cheever, that trick," +observed Georgian Second. "It's the cussed parsons that's done all the +mischief. Who played that bower? Yours, eh? My deal." + +"I want to smash up some of these dam' Black Republicans," resumed the +New-Yorker. "I want to see the North suffer some. I don't care, if New +York catches it. I own about forty thousand dollars' worth of property +in ---- Street, and I want to see the grass growing all round it. +Blasted, if I can get a hand any way!" + +"I say, we should be in a tight place, if the forts went to firing now," +suggested the Carolinian. "Major Anderson would have a fair chance at +us, if he wanted to do us any harm." + +"Damn Major Anderson!" answered the New-Yorker. "I'd shoot him myself, +if I had a chance. I've heard about Bob Anderson till I'm sick of it." + +Of this fashion of conversation you may hear any desired amount at the +South, by going among the right sort of people. Let us take it for +granted, without making impertinent inquiry, that nothing of the kind +is ever uttered in any other country, whether in pot-house or parlor. +I suppose that such remarks seem very horrid to ladies and other +gentle-minded folk, who perhaps never heard the like in their lives, +and imagine, when they see the stuff on paper, that it is spoken with +scowling brows, through set teeth, and out of a heart of red-hot +passion. The truth is, that these ferocious phrases are generally +drawled forth in an _ex-officio_ tone, as if the speaker were rather +tired of that sort of thing, meant nothing very particular by it, and +talked thus only as a matter of fashion. It will be observed that the +most violent of these politicians was a New-Yorker. I am inclined to +pronounce, also, that the two Georgians were by birth New-Englanders. +The Carolinian was the most moderate of the company, giving his +attention chiefly to the game, and throwing out his one remark +concerning the worrying of Greeley with an air of simply civil assent +to the general meaning of the conversation, as an exchange of +anti-abolition sentiments. "If you will play that card," he seemed to +say, "I follow suit as a mere matter of course." + +There was a second attempt to haul us off at sunset, and a third in the +morning, both unsuccessful. Each tide, though stormless, carried the +Columbia a little higher up the beach; and the tugs, trying singly +to move her, only broke their hawsers and wasted precious time. +Fortunately, the sea continued smooth, so that the ship escaped a +pounding. On Saturday, at eleven, twenty-eight hours after we struck, +all hope of getting off without discharging cargo having been abandoned, +we passengers were landed on Sullivan's Island, to make our way back +to Charleston. Our baggage was forwarded to the ferry in carts, and +we followed at leisure on foot. In company with Georgian First and a +gentleman from Brooklyn, I strolled over the sand-rolls, damp and +hard now with a week's rain, passed one or two of the tenantless +summer-houses, and halted beside the _glacis_ of Fort Moultrie. I do not +wonder that Major Anderson did not consider his small force safe within +this fortification. It is overlooked by neighboring sand-hills and by +the houses of Moultrieville, which closely surround it on the land side, +while its ditch is so narrow and its rampart so low that a ladder of +twenty-five feet in length would reach from the outside of the former to +the summit of the latter. A fire of sharp-shooters from the commanding +points, and two columns of attack, would have crushed the feeble +garrison. No military movement could be more natural than the retreat to +Fort Sumter. What puzzles one, especially on the spot, and what nobody +in Charleston could explain to me, is the fact that this manoeuvre could +be executed unobserved by the people of Moultrieville, few as they are, +and by the guard-boats which patrolled the harbor. + +On the eastern side of the fort two or three dozen negroes were engaged +in filling canvas bags with sand, to be used in forming temporary +embrasures. One lad of eighteen, a dark mulatto, presented the very +remarkable peculiarity of chest-nut hair, only slightly curling. The +others were nearly all of the true field-hand type, aboriginal black, +with dull faces, short and thick forms, and an air of animal contentment +or at least indifference. They talked little, but giggled a great deal, +snatching the canvas bags from each other, and otherwise showing their +disbelief in the doctrine of all work and no play. When the barrows were +sufficiently filled to suit their weak ideal of a load, a procession of +them set off along a plank causeway leading into the fort, observing a +droll semblance of military precision and pomp, and forcing a passage +through lounging unmilitary buckras with an air of, "Out of de way, Ole +Dan Tucker!" We glanced at the yet unfinished ditch, half full of water, +and walked on to the gateway. A grinning, skipping negro drummer was +showing a new pair of shoes to the tobacco-chewing, jovial youth who +stood, or rather sat, sentinel. + +"How'd you get hold of _them?_" asked the latter, surveying the articles +admiringly. + +"Got a special order frum the Cap'm fur 'um. That ee way to do it. Won't +wet through, no matter how it rain. He, he! I'm all right now." + +Here he showed ivory to his ears, cut a caper, and danced into the fort. + +"D-a-m' nig-ger!" grinned the sentinel, approvingly, looking at us to +see if we also enjoyed the incident. Thus introduced to the temporary +guardian of the fort, we told him that we were from the Columbia, which +he was glad to bear of, wanting to know if she was damaged, how she went +ashore, whether she could get off, etc., etc. He was a fair specimen of +the average country Southerner, lounging, open to address, and fond of +talk. + +"I've no authority to let you in," he said, when we asked that favor; +"but I'll call the corporal of the guard." + +"If you please." + +"Corporal of the guard!" + +Appeared the corporal, who civilly heard us, and went for the lieutenant +of the guard. Presently a blonde young officer, with a pleasant face, +somewhat Irish in character, came out to us, raising his forefinger in +military salute. + +"We should like to go into the fort, if it is proper," I said. "We ask +hospitality the more boldly, because we are shipwrecked people." + +"It is against the regulations. However, I venture to take the +responsibility," was the obliging answer. + +We passed in, and wandered unwatched for half an hour about the +irregular, many-angled fortress. One-third of the interior is occupied +by two brick barracks, covered with rusty stucco, and by other brick +buildings, as yet incomplete, which I took to be of the nature of +magazines. On the walls, gaping landward as well as seaward, are thirty +or thirty-five iron cannon, all _en barbette_, but protected toward the +harbor by heavy piles of sand-bags, fenced up either with barrels of +sand or palmetto-logs driven firmly into the rampart. Four eight-inch +columbiads, carrying sixty-four pound balls, pointed at Fort Sumter. Six +other heavy pieces, Paixhans, I believe, faced the neck of the harbor. +The remaining armament of lighter calibre, running, I should judge, from +forty-twos down to eighteens. Only one gun lay on the ground destitute +of a carriage. The place will stand a great deal of battering; for the +walls are nearly bidden by the sand-covered _glacis_, which would catch +and smother four point-blank shots out of five, if discharged from a +distance. Against shells, however, it has no resource; and one mortar +would make it a most unwholesome residence. + +"What's this?" asked a volunteer, in homespun gray uniform, who, like +ourselves, had come in by courtesy. + +"That's the butt of the old flag-staff," answered a comrade. "Cap'n +Foster cut it down before he left the fort, damn him I It was a dam' +sneaking trick. I've a great mind to shave off a sliver and send it to +Lincoln." + +The idea of getting a bit of the famous staff as a memento struck +me, and I attempted to put it in practice; but the exceedingly tough +pitch-pine defied my slender pocket-knife. + +"Jim, cut the gentleman a piece," said one of the volunteers, Jim drew a +toothpick a foot long and did me the favor, for which I here repeat my +thanks to him. + +They were good-looking, healthy fellows, these two, like most of their +comrades, with a certain air of frank gentility and self-respect about +them, being probably the sons of well-to-do planters. It would be a +great mistake to suppose that the volunteers are drawn, to any extent +whatever, from the "poor white trash." The secession movement, like all +the political action of the State at all times, is independent of the +crackers, asks no aid nor advice of them, and, in short, ignores them +utterly. + +"I was here when the Star of the West was fired on," the Lieutenant told +us. "We only had powder for two hours. Anderson could have put us out in +a short time, if he had chosen." + +"How rapidly can these heavy guns be fired?" + +"About ten times an hour." + +"Do you think the defences will protect the garrison against a +bombardment?" + +"I think the palmetto stockades will answer. I don't know about that +enormous pile of barrels, however. If a shot hits the mass on the top, I +am afraid it will come down, bags and barrels together, bury the gun and +perhaps the gunners." + +"What if Sumter should open now?" I suggested. + +"We should be here to help," answered the Georgian. + +"We should be here to run away," amended my comrade from Brooklyn. + +"Well, I suppose we should be of mighty little use, and might as well +clear out," was the sober second-thought of the Georgian. + +Having satisfied our curiosity, we thanked the Lieutenant and left Fort +Moultrie. The story of our visit to it excited much surprise, when we +recounted it in the city. Members of the Legislature and other men high +in influence had desired the privilege, but had not applied for it, +expecting a repulse. + +A walk down a winding street, bordered by scattered cottages, inclosed +by brown board-fences or railings, and tracked by a horse-railroad built +for the Moultrie House, led us to the ferry-wharf, where we found our +baggage piled together, and our fellow-passengers wandering about in a +state of bored expectation. Sullivan's Island in winter is a good spot +for an economical man, inasmuch as it presents no visible opportunities +of spending money. There were houses of refreshment, as we could see +by their signs; but if they did business, it was with closed doors +and barred shutters. After we had paid a newsboy five cents for the +"Mercury," and five more for the "Courier," we were at the end of our +possibilities in the way of extravagance. At half-past one arrived the +ferry-boat with a few passengers, mostly volunteers, and a deck-load of +military stores, among which I noticed Boston biscuit and several dozen +new knapsacks. Then, from the other side, came the "dam' nigger," that +is to say, the drummer of the new shoes, beating his sheepskin at the +head of about fifty men of the Washington Artillery, who were on their +way back to town from Fort Moultrie. They were fine-looking young +fellows, mostly above the middle size of Northerners, with spirited and +often aristocratic faces, but somewhat more devil-may-care in expression +than we are accustomed to see in New England. They poured down the +gangway, trailed arms, ascended the promenade-deck, ordered arms, +grounded arms, and broke line. The drill struck me as middling, which +may be owing to the fact that the company has lately increased to about +two hundred members, thus diluting the old organization with a large +number of new recruits. Military service at the South is a patrician +exercise, much favored by men of "good family," more especially at this +time, when it signifies real danger and glory. + +Our rajpoots having entered the boat, we of lower caste were permitted +to follow. At two o'clock we were steaming over the yellow waters of the +harbor. The volunteers, like everybody else in Charleston, discussed +Secession and Fort Sumter, considering the former as an accomplished +fact, and the latter as a fact of the kind called stubborn. They talked +uniform, too, and equipments, and marksmanship, and drinks, and cigars, +and other military matters. Now and then an awkwardly folded blanket was +taken from the shoulders which it disgraced, refolded, packed carefully +in its covering of India-rubber, and strapped once more in its place, +two or three generally assisting in the operation. Presently a firing at +marks from the upper deck commenced. The favorite target was a conical +floating buoy, showing red on the sunlit surface of the harbor, some +four hundred yards away. With a crack and a hoarse whiz the minié-balls +flew towards it, splashing up the water where they first struck and then +taking two or three tremendous skips before they sank. A militiaman from +New York city, who was one of my fellow-passengers, told me that he +"never saw such good shooting." It seemed to me that every sixth ball +either hit the buoy full, or touched water but a few yards this side of +it, while not more than one in a dozen went wild. + +"It is good for a thousand yards," said a volunteer, slapping his +bright, new piece, proudly. + +A favorite subject of argument appeared to be whether Fort Sumter ought +to be attacked immediately or not. A lieutenant standing near me talked +long and earnestly regarding this matter with a civilian friend, +breaking out at last in a loud tone,-- + +"Why, good Heaven, Jim! do you want that place to go peaceably into the +hands of Lincoln?" + +"No, Fred, I do not. But I tell you, Fred, when that fort is attacked, +it will be the bloodiest day,--the bloodiest day!--the bloodiest----!!" + +And here, unable to express himself in words, Jim flung his arms wildly +about, ground his tobacco with excitement, spit on all sides, and walked +away, shaking his head, I thought, in real grief of spirit. + +We passed close to Fort Pinckney, our volunteers exchanging hurrahs with +the garrison. It is a round, two-storied, yellow little fortification, +standing at one end of a green marsh known as Shute's Folly Island. +What it was put there for no one knows: it is too close to the city to +protect it; too much out of the harbor to command that. Perhaps it might +keep reinforcements for Anderson from coming down the Ashley, just as +the guns on the Battery were supposed to be intended to deter them from +descending the Cooper. + +On the wharf of the ferry three drunken volunteers, the first that I had +seen in that condition, brushed against me. The nearest one, a handsome +young fellow of six feet two, half turned to stare back at me with a-- + +"How are ye, Cap'm? Gaw damn ye! Haw, haw, aw!"--and reeled onward, +brimful of spirituous good-nature. + +Four days more had I in Charleston, waiting from tide to tide for a +chance to sail to New York, and listening from hour to hour for the guns +of Fort Sumter. Sunday was a day of excitement, a report spreading that +the Floridians had attacked Fort Pickens, and the Charlestonians feeling +consequently bound in honor to fight their own dragon. Groups of earnest +men talked all day and late into the evening under the portico and in +the basement-rooms of the hotel, besides gathering at the corners and +strolling about the Battery. "We must act." "We cannot delay." "We ought +not to submit." Such were the phrases that fell upon the ear oftenest +and loudest. + +As I lounged, after tea, in the vestibule of the reading-room, an +eccentric citizen of Arkansas varied the entertainment. A short, thin +man, of the cracker type, swarthy, long-bearded, and untidy, he was +dressed in well-worn civilian costume, with the exception of an old +blue coat showing dim remnants of military garniture. Heeling up to a +gentleman who sat near me, he glared stupidly at him from beneath a +broad-brimmed hat, demanding a seat mutely, but with such eloquence of +oscillation that no words were necessary. The respectable person thus +addressed, not anxious to receive the stranger into his lap, rose and +walked away, with that air of not, having seen anything so common to +disconcerted people who wish to conceal their disturbance. Into the +vacant place dropped the stranger, stretching out his feet, throwing +his head back against the wall, and half closing his eyes with the +drunkard's own leer of self-sufficiency. During a few moments of +agonizing suspense the world waited. Then from those whiskey-scorched +and tobacco-stained lips came a long, shrill "Yee-p!" + +It was his exordium; it demanded the attention of the company; and +though he had it not, he continued:-- + +"I'm an Arkansas man, _I_ am. I'm a big su-gar planter, _I_ am. All +right! Go a'ead! I own fifty niggers, _I_ do. Yee-p!" + +He lifted both feet and slammed them on the floor energetically, pausing +for a reply. He had addressed all men; no one responded, and he went +on:-- + +"I'm for straightout, immedit shession, _I_ am. I go for 'staining +coursh of Sou' Car'lina, _I_ do. I'm ready to fight for Sou' Car'lina. +I'm a Na-po-le-on Bonaparte. All right! Go a'ead! Yee-p! Fellahs don't +know me here. I'm an Arkansas man, I am. Sou' Car'lina won't kill an +Arkansas man. I'm an immedit shessionist. Hurrah for Sou' Car'lina! All +right! Yee-p!" + +There was a lingering, caressing accent on his "_I_ am," which told how +dear to him was his individuality, drunk or sober. He looked at no one; +his hat was drawn over his eyes; his hands were deep in his pockets; +his feet did all needful gesturing. I stepped in front of him to get +a fuller view of his face, and the action aroused his attention. He +surveyed my gray Inverness wrapper and gave me a chuckling nod of +approbation. + +"How are ye, Bub? I like that blanket, _I_ do." + +In spite of this noble stranger's goodwill and prowess, we still found +Fort Sumter a knotty question. In a country which for eighty years has +not seen a shot fired in earnest, it is not wonderful that a good +deal of ignorance should exist concerning military matters, and +that second-class plans should be hatched for taking a first-class +fortification. While I was in Charleston, the most popular proposition +was to bombard continuously for two whole days and nights, thereby +demoralizing the garrison by depriving it of sleep and causing it to +surrender at the first attempt to escalade. Another plan, not in general +favor, was to smoke Anderson out by means of a raft covered with burning +mixtures of a chemical and bad-smelling nature. Still another, with +perhaps yet fewer adherents, was to advance on all sides in such a vast +number of row-boats that the fort could not sink them all, whereupon +the survivors should land on the wharf and proceed to take such further +measures as might be deemed expedient. The volunteers from the country +always arrived full of faith and defiance. "We want to get a squint at +that Fort Sumter," they would say to their city friends. "We are going +to take it. If we don't plant the palmetto on it, it's because there's +no such tree as the palmetto." Down the harbor they would go in the +ferry-boats to Morris or Sullivan's Island. The spy-glass would be +brought out, and one after another would peer through it at the object +of their enmity. Some could not sight it at all, confounded the +instrument, and fell back on their natural vision. Others, more lucky, +or better versed in telescopic observations, got a view of the fortress, +and perhaps burst out swearing at the evident massiveness of the walls +and the size of the columbiads. + +"Good Lord, what a gun!" exclaimed one man. "D'ye see that gun? What an +almighty thing! I'll be ----, if I ever put my head in front of it!" + +The difficulties of assault were admitted to be very great, considering +the bad footing, the height of the ramparts, and the abundant store of +muskets and grenades in the garrison. As to breaches, nobody seemed to +know whether they could be made or not. The besieging batteries were +neither heavy nor near, nor could they be advanced as is usual in +regular sieges, nor had they any advantage over the defence except in +the number of gunners, while in regard to position and calibre they were +inferior. To knock down a wall nearly forty feet high and fourteen feet +thick at a distance of more than half a mile seemed a tough undertaking, +even when unresisted. It was discovered also that the side of the +fortification towards Fort Johnstone, its only weak point, had been +strengthened so as to make it bomb-proof by means of interior masonry +constructed from the stones of the landing-place. Then nobody wanted to +knock Fort Sumter down, inasmuch as that involved either the labor +of building it up again, or the necessity of going without it as a +harbor-defence. Finally, suppose it should be attacked and not taken? +Really, we unlearned people in the art of war were vastly puzzled as we +thought tins whole matter over, and we sometimes doubted whether our +superiors were not almost equally bothered with ourselves. + +This fighting was a sober, sad subject; and yet at times it took a turn +toward the ludicrous. A gentleman told me that he was present when the +steamer Marion was seized with the intention of using her in pursuing +the Star of the West. A vehement dispute arose as to the fitness of the +vessel for military service. + +"Fill her with men, and put two or three eighteen-pounders in her," said +the advocates of the measure. + +"Where will you put your eighteen-pounders?" demanded the opposition. + +"On the promenade-deck, to be sure." + +"Yes, and the moment you fire one, you'll see it go through the bottom +of the ship, and then you'll have to go after it." + +During the two days previous to my second and successful attempt to quit +Charleston, the city was in full expectation that the fort would shortly +be attacked. News had arrived that Federal troops were on their way with +reinforcements. An armed steamer had been seen off the harbor, both by +night and day, making signals to Anderson. The Governor went down +to Sullivan's Island to inspect the troops and Fort Moultrie. The +volunteers, aided by negroes and even negro women, worked all night on +the batteries. Notwithstanding we were close upon race-week, when the +city is usually crowded, the streets had a deserted air, and nearly +every acquaintance I met told me he had been down to the islands to +see the preparations. Yet the whole excitement, like others which had +preceded, ended even short of smoke. News came that reinforcements had +not been sent to Anderson; and the destruction of that most inconvenient +person was once more postponed. People fell back on the old hope that +the Government would be brought to listen to reason,--that it would +give up to South Carolina what it could not keep from her with justice, +--that it would grant, in short, the incontrovertible right of peaceable +secession. For, in the midst of all these labors and terrors, this +expense and annoyance, no one talked of returning into the Union, and +all agreed in deprecating compromise. + +Once more, this time in the James Adger, I set sail from Charleston. The +boat lost one tide, and consequently one day, because at the last +moment the captain found himself obliged to take out a South Carolina +clearance. As I passed down the harbor, I counted fourteen square-rigged +vessels at the wharves, and one lying at anchor, while three others had +just passed the bar, outward-bound, and two were approaching from the +open sea. Deterred from the Ship Channel by the sunken schooners, and +from Maffitt's Channel by the fate of the Columbia, we tried the Middle +Channel, and glided over the bar without accident. + +"Sailing to Charleston is very much like going foreign," I said to a +middle-aged sea-captain whom we numbered among our passengers. "What +with heaving the lead, and doing without beacons, and lying off the +coast o' nights, it makes one think of trading to new countries." + +I had, it seems, unintentionally pulled the string which jerked him. +Springing up, he paced about excitedly for a few moments, and then broke +out with his story. + +"Yes,--I know it,--I know as much about it as anybody, I reckon. I lay +off there nine days in a nor'easter and lost my anchors; and here I am +going on to New York to buy some more; and all for those cursed Black +Republicans!" + +In South Carolina they see but one side of the shield,--which is quite +different, as we know, from the custom of the rest of mankind. + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +1. _Descriptive Ethnology._ By R.G. LATHAM. 2 vols. London. 1859. + +2. _Anthropologie der Naturvölker._ Von Dr. T. WAIZ. 2 Bänder. Leipzig. +1860. + +Some writers have the remarkable faculty of making the subject which +they may happen to treat forever more distasteful and wearisome to their +readers. Whether the cause be in the style, or the point of view, or +the method of treatment, or in all together, they seem able to force the +student away in disgust from the whole field on which they labor, with +vows never again to cross it. + +Such an author, it seems to us, is pre-eminently R.G. Latham, in his +treatment of Ethnology. Happy the man who has any such philosophic +interest in Human Races, that he can ever care to hear again of the +subject, after perusing Mr. Latham's various volumes on "Descriptive +Ethnology." We wonder that the whole English reading public; has not +consigned the science to the shelf of Encyclopedias of Useful Knowledge, +or of Year-Books of Fact, or any other equally philosophic and connected +works, after the treatment which this modern master of Ethnology has +given to the subject. + +Such disconnected masses of facts are heaped together in these works, +such incredible dulness is shown in presenting them, such careful +avoidance of any generalization or of any interesting particular, such +a bald and conceited style, and such a cockneyish and self-opinionated +view of human history, as our soul wearies even to think of. Mr. Latham +disdains any link of philosophy, or any classification, among his "ten +thousand facts," as being a fault of the "German School" (whatever that +may be) of Ethnology. It seems to him soundly "British" to disbelieve +all the best conclusions of modern scholarship, and to urge his own +fanciful or shallow theories. He treats all human superstitions and +mythologies as if he were standing in the Strand and judging them by the +ideas of modern London. His is a Cockney's view of antiquity. He cannot +imagine that a barbarous and infant people, groping in the mysteries of +the moral universe, might entertain some earnest and poetic views which +were not precisely in the line of thought of the Londoners of the +nineteenth century, and yet which might be worth investigating. To his +mind, there is no grand march of humanity, slow, but certain, towards +higher ideals, through the various lines of race,--but rather +innumerable ripples on the surface of history, which come and pass away +without connection and without purpose. + +The reader wades slowly through his books, and leaves them with a +feeling of intense disgust. Such a vast gathering of facts merely to +produce this melancholy confusion of details! You feel that his eminence +in the science must be from the circumstance that no one else is dull +enough and patient enough to gather such a museum of facts in regard +to human beings. The mind is utterly confused as to divisions of human +races, and is ready to conclude that there must be almost as many +varieties of man as there are tribes or dialects, and that Ethnology has +not yet reached the position of a science. + +The reader must pardon the bitterness of our feelings; but we are just +smarting from a prolonged perusal of all Mr. Latham's works, especially +the two volumes whose title is given above; and that we may have +sympathy, if only in a faint degree, from our friends, we quote a few +passages, taken at random, though we cannot possibly thus convey an +adequate conception of the infinite dulness of the work. + +The following is his elegant introduction:-- + + "I follow the Horatian rule, and plunge, at + once, _in medias res_. I am on the Indus, but + not on the Indian portion of it. I am on the + Himalayas, but not on their southern side. I + am on the northwestern ranges, with Tartary + on the north, Bokhara on the west, and Hindostan + on the south. I am in a neighborhood + where three great religions meet: Mahometanism, + Buddhism. Brahminism. I _must_ begin + somewhere; and here is my beginning."-- + Vol. i. p. 1. + +The following is his analysis of the beautiful Finnish Kalevala:-- + +"Wainamoinen is much of a smith, and more of a harper. Illmarinen is +most of a smith. Lemminkainen is much of a harper, and little of a +smith. The hand of the daughter of the mistress of Pohjola is what, each +and all, the three sons of Kalevala strive to win,--a hand which the +mother of the owner will give to any one who can make for her and +for Pohjola _Sampo_, Wainamoinen will not; but he knows of one who +will,--Illmarinen. Illmarinen makes it, and gains the mother's consent +thereby. But the daughter requires another service. He must hunt down +the elk of Tunela. We now see the way in which the actions of the heroes +are, at one and the same time, separate and connected. Wainamoinen +tries; Illmarinen tries (and eventually wins); Lemminkainen tries. There +are alternations of friendship and enmity. Sampo is made and presented. +It is then wanted back again. + +"'Give us,' says Wainamoinen, 'if not the whole, half.' + +"'Sampo,' says Louki, the mistress of Pohjola,' cannot be divided.' + +"'Then let us steal it,' says one of the three. + +"'Agreed,' say the other two. + +"So the rape of Sampo takes place. It is taken from Pohjola, whilst the +owners are sung to sleep by the harp of Lemminkainen; sung to sleep, +but not for so long a time as to allow the robbers to escape. They are +sailing Kalevalaward, when Louki comes after them on the wings of the +wind, and raises a storm. Sampo is broken, and thrown into the sea. Bad +days now come. There is no sun, no moon. Illmarinen makes them of silver +and gold. He had previously made his second wife (for he lost his first) +out of the same metals. However, Sampo is washed up, and made whole. +Good days come. The sun and moon shine as before, and the sons of +Kalevala possess Sampo."--Vol. i., pp. 433, 434. + +This, again, is Mr. Latham's profound and interesting view of +_Buddhism:--_ + +"Buddhism is one thing. Practices out of which Buddhism may be developed +are another. It has been already suggested that the ideas conveyed by +the terms _Sramanoe_ and _Gymnosophistoe_ are just as Brahminic as +Buddhist, and, _vice versâ_, just as Buddhist as Brahminic. + +"The earliest dates of specific Buddhism are of the same age as the +earliest dates of specific Brahminism. + +"Clemens of Alexandria mentions Buddhist pyramids, the Buddhist habit of +depositing certain bones in them, the Buddhist practice of foretelling +events, the Buddhist practice of continence, the Buddhist Semnai or holy +virgins. This, however, may he but so much asceticism. He mentions this +and more. He supplies the name Bouta; Bouta being honored as a god. + +"From Cyril of Jerusalem we learn that Samnaism was, more or less, +Manichaean,--Manichaeanism being, more or less, Samanist. Terebinthus, +the preceptor of Manes, took the name Baudas. In Epiphanius, Terebinthus +is the pupil of Scythianus. + +"Suidas makes Terebinthus a pupil of Baudda, who pretended to be the +son of a virgin. And here we may stop to remark, that the Mongol +Tshingiz-Khan is said to be virgin-born; that, word for word, Scythianus +is Sak; that Sakya Muni (compare it with Manes) is a name of Buddha. + +"Be this as it may, there was, before A.D. 300,-- + + "1. Action and reaction between Buddhism + and Christianity. + + "2. Buddhist buildings. + + "3. The same cultus in both Bactria and + India. + + "Whether this constitute Buddhism is another + question."--Vol. ii. p. 317. + +And more of an equally attractive and comprehensible character. + +We assure the reader that these extracts are but feeble exponents of the +peculiar power of Mr. Latham's works,--a power of unmitigated dulness. +What his views are on the great questions of the science--the origin +of races, the migrations, the crossings of varieties, and the like--no +mortal can remember, who has penetrated the labyrinth of his researches. + +An author of a very different kind is Professor Waiz, whose work on +Anthropology has just reached this country: a writer as philosophic as +Mr. Latham is disconnected; as pleasing and natural in style as the +other is affected; as simply open to the true and good in all customs or +superstitions of barbarous peoples as the Englishman is contemptuous of +everything not modern and European. Waiz seems to us the most careful +and truly scientific author in the field of Ethnology whom we have +had since Prichard, and with the wider scope which belongs to the +intellectual German. + +The bane of this science, as every one knows, has been its theorizing, +and its want of careful inductive reasoning from facts. The +classifications in it have been endless, varying almost with the fancies +of each new student; while every prominent follower of it has had some +pet hypothesis, to which he desired to suit his facts. Whether the +_a priori_ theory were of modern miraculous origin or of gradual +development, of unity or of diversity of parentage, of permanent and +absolute divisions of races or of a community of blood, it has equally +forced the author to twist his facts. + +Perhaps the basest of all uses to which theory has been put in this +science was in a well-known American work, where facts and fancies in +Ethnology were industriously woven together to form another withe about +the limbs of the wretched African slave. + +Waiz has reasoned slowly and carefully from facts, considering in +his view all possible hypotheses,--even, for instance, the +development-theory of Darwin,--and has formed his own conclusion on +scientific data, or has wisely avowed that no conclusion is possible. + +The classification to which he is forced is that which all profound +investigators are approaching,--that of language interpreted by history. +He is compelled to believe that no physiological evidences of race can +be considered as at all equal to the evidences from language. At the +same time, he is ready to admit that even this classification is +imperfect, as from the nature of the case it must be; for the source of +the confusion lies in the very unity of mankind. He rejects _in toto_ +Professor Agassiz's "realm-theory," as inconsistent with facts. The +hybrid-question, as put by Messrs. Gliddon and Nott, meets with a +searching and careful investigation, with the conclusion that nothing +in facts yet ascertained proves any want of vitality or power of +propagation in mulattoes or in crosses of any human races. + +The unity of origin and the vast antiquity of mankind are the two +important conclusions drawn. + +His second volume is entirely devoted to the negro races, and is the +most valuable treatise yet written on that topic. + +The whole work is mainly directed towards _Naturvölker_, or "Peoples in +a State of Nature," and therefore cannot be recommended for translation, +as a general text-book on the science of Ethnology,--a book which is +now exceedingly needed in all our higher schools and colleges; but as +a general treatise, with many new and important facts, scientifically +treated, it can be most highly commended to the general scholar. + + +_Il Politecnico. Repertorio Mensile di Studi applicati alia Prosperità e +Coltura Sociale._ Milano, 1860. New York: Charles B. Norton, Agent for +Libraries, 596, Broadway. + +Among the best first-fruits of Italian liberty are the free publication +and circulation of books; and it is a striking indication of the new +order of things in Lombardy, that the publishers at Milan of the monthly +journal, "Il Politecnico," should at once have established an American +agency in New York, and that in successive numbers of their periodical +during the present year they should have furnished lists of some of the +principal American publications which they are prepared to obtain for +Italian readers. It will be a fortunate circumstance for the people of +both countries, should a ready means be established for the interchange +of their contemporaneous works in literature and science. + +The "Politecnico" is not altogether a new journal. Seven volumes of it +bad been published, and had acquired for it a high reputation and a +considerable circulation, when political events put a stop to its +issue. The Austrian system of government after 1849 repressed alt free +expression of thought in Lombardy; and no encouragement was afforded for +the publication of any work not under the control of the administration. +With the beginning of the present year the "Politecnico" was +reëstablished, mainly through the influence and under the direction of +Dr. Carlo Cattaneo, who had been the chief promoter of the preceding +original series. The numbers of the new series give evidence of talent +and independence in its conductors and contributors, and contain +articles of intrinsic value, beside that which they possess as +indications of the present intellectual condition and tendencies of +Italy. The journal is wholly devoted to serious studies, its object +being the cultivation of the moral and physical sciences with the arts +depending on them, and their practical application to promote the +national prosperity. That it will carry out its design with ability is +guarantied by the character of Cattaneo. + +Carlo Cattaneo is a man of unquestioned power of intellect, of strong +character, and resolute energy. Already distinguished, not only as a +political economist, but as a forcible reasoner in applied politics, he +took a leading part in the struggle of 1848 in Milan, and, inspired by +ill-will towards Charles Albert and the Piedmontese, was one of the +promoters of the disastrous Lombard policy which defeated the hopes of +the opponents of Austria at that day. Though an Italian liberal, and +unquestionably honest in his patriotic intentions, he was virtually an +ally of Radetzky. When the Austrians retook Milan, he was compelled to +fly, and took refuge in Lugano, where he compiled three large volumes +on the affairs of Italy, from the accession of Pius IX. to the fall of +Venice, in which he exhibited his political views, endeavoring to show +that the misfortunes of Lombardy were due to the ambitious and false +policy of the unhappy Charles Albert. His distrust of the Piedmontese +has not diminished with the recent changes in the affairs of Italy; and +although Lombardy is now united to Piedmont, and the hope of freedom +seems to lie in a hearty and generous union of men of all parties in +support of the new government, Cattaneo, when in March last he was +elected a member of the National Parliament, refused to take his seat, +that he might not be obliged to swear allegiance to the King and the +Constitution. His political desire seems to be to see Italy not brought +under one rule, but composed of a union of states, each preserving +its special autonomy. He is a federalist, and does not share in the +unitarian view which prevails with almost all the other prominent +Italian statesmen, and which at this moment appears to be the only +system that can create a strong, united, independent Italy. It was to +him, perhaps, more than to any other single man, that the difficulties +which lately arose in the settling of the mode of annexation of Sicily +and Naples to the Sardinian kingdom were due; and the small party in +Parliament which recently refused to join in the vote of confidence in +the ministry of Cavour was led by Ferrari, the disciple of the Milanese +Doctor. + +But however impracticable Cattaneo may be, and however mistaken and +extravagant his political views, he is a man of such vigor of mind, that +a journal conducted by him becomes, from the fact of his connection with +it, one of the important organs of Italian thought. We trust that the +"Politecnico" will find subscribers among those in our country who +desire to keep up their knowledge of Italian affairs at a time of such +extraordinary interest as the present. + + +_Elsie Venner_. A Romance of Destiny. By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 2 vols. +Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1861. + +English literature numbers among its more or less distinguished authors +a goodly number of physicians. Sir Thomas Browne was, perhaps, the +last of the great writers of English prose whose mind and style were +impregnated with imagination. He wrote poetry without meaning it, as +many of his brother doctors have meant to write poetry without doing it, +in the classic style of + + "Inoculation, heavenly maid, descend!" + +Garth's "Dispensary" was long ago as fairly buried as any of his +patients; and Armstrong's "Health" enjoys the dreary immortality of +being preserved in the collections, like one of those queer things they +show you in a glass jar at the anatomical museums. Arbuthnot, a truly +genial humorist, has hardly had justice done him. People laugh over his +fun in the "Memoirs of Scriblerus," and are commonly satisfied to think +it Pope's. Smollett insured his literary life in "Humphrey Clinker"; +and we suppose his Continuation of Hume is still one of the pills which +ingenuous youth is expected to gulp before it is strong enough to +resist. Goldsmith's fame has steadily gained; and so has that of Keats, +whom we may also fairly reckon in our list, though he remained harmless, +having never taken a degree. On the whole, the proportion of doctors who +have positively succeeded in our literature is a large one, and we +have now another very marked and beautiful case in Dr. Holmes. Since +Arbuthnot, the profession has produced no such wit; since Goldsmith, no +author so successful. + +Five years ago it would have been only Dr. Holmes's intimate friends +that would have considered the remarkable success he has achieved not +only possible, but probable. They knew, that, if the fitting opportunity +should only come, he would soon show how much stuff he had in +him,--sterner stuff, too, than the world had supposed,--stuff not +merely to show off the iris of a brilliant reputation, but to block out +into the foundations of an enduring fame. It seems an odd thing to say +that Dr. Holmes had suffered by having given proof of too much wit; but +it is undoubtedly true. People in general have a great respect for those +who scare them or make them cry, but are apt to weigh lightly one who +amuses them. They like to be tickled, but they would hardly take the +advice of their tickler on any question they thought serious. We have +our doubts whether the majority of those who make up what is called "the +world" are fond of wit. It rather puts them out, as Nature did Fuseli: +They look on its crinkling play as men do at lightning; and while they +grant it is very fine, are teased with an uncomfortable wonder as to +where it is going to strike next. They would rather, on the whole, +it were farther off. They like well-established jokes, the fine old +smoked-herring sort, such as the clown offers them in the circus, +warranted never to spoil, if only kept dry enough. Your fresh wit +demands a little thought, perhaps, or at least a kind of negative wit, +in the recipient. It is an active, meddlesome--quality, forever putting +things in unexpected and somewhat startling relations to each other; +and such new relations are as unwelcome to the ordinary mind as poor +relations to a _nouveau riche_. Who wants to be all the time painfully +conceiving of the antipodes walking like flies on the ceiling? Yet wit +is related to some of the profoundest qualities of the intellect. It is +the reasoning faculty acting _per saltum_, the sense of analogy brought +to a focus; it is generalization in a flash, logic by the electric +telegraph, the sense of likeness in unlikeness, that lies at the root +of all discoveries; it is the prose imagination, common-sense at fourth +proof. All this is no reason why the world should like it, however; and +we fancy that the Question, _Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat?_ was +plaintively put in the primitive tongue by one of the world's gray +fathers to another without producing the slightest conviction. Of +course, there must be some reason for this suspicion of wit, as there +is for most of the world's deep-rooted prejudices. There is a kind of +surface-wit that is commonly the sign of a light and shallow nature. +It becomes habitual _persiflage_, incapable of taking a deliberate and +serious view of anything, or of conceiving the solemnities that environ +life. This has made men distrustful of all laughers; and they are apt to +confound in one sweeping condemnation with this that humor whose base +is seriousness, and which is generally the rebound of the mind from +over-sad contemplation. They do not see that the same qualities that +make Shakspeare the greatest of tragic poets make him also the deepest +of humorists. + +Dr. Holmes was already an author of more than a quarter of a century's +standing, and was looked on by most people as an _amusing_ writer +merely. He protested playfully and pointedly against this, once or +twice; but, as he could not help being witty, whether he would or no, +his audience laughed and took the protest as part of the joke. He felt +that he was worth a great deal more than he was vulgarly rated at, and +perhaps chafed a little; but his opportunity had not come. With the +first number of the "Atlantic" it came at last, and wonderfully he +profited by it. The public were first delighted, and then astonished. So +much wit, wisdom, pathos, and universal Catharine-wheeling of fun and +fancy was unexampled. "Why, good gracious," cried Madam Grundy, "we've +got a _genius_ among us fit last! I always knew what it would come to!" +"Got a fiddlestick!" says Mr. G.; "it's only rockets." And there was no +little watching and waiting for the sticks to come down. We are afraid +that many a respectable skeptic has a crick in his neck by this time; +for we are of opinion that these are a new kind of rocket, that go +without sticks, and _stay up_ against all laws of gravity. + +We expected a great deal from Dr. Holmes; we thought he had in him the +makings of the best magazinist in the country; but we honestly confess +we were astonished. We remembered the proverb, "'Tis the pace that +kills," and could scarce believe that such a two-forty gait could be +kept up through a twelvemonth. Such wind and bottom were unprecedented. +But this was Eclipse himself; and he came in as fresh as a May morning, +ready at a month's end for another year's run. And it was not merely +the perennial vivacity, the fun shading down to seriousness, and the +seriousness up to fun, in perpetual and charming vicissitude;--here was +the man of culture, of scientific training, the man who had thought as +well as felt, and who had fixed purposes and sacred convictions. No, the +Eclipse-comparison is too trifling. This was a stout ship under press +of canvas; and however the phosphorescent star-foam of wit and fancy, +crowding up under her bows or gliding away in subdued flashes of +sentiment in her wake, may draw the eye, yet she has an errand of duty; +she carries a precious freight, she steers by the stars, and all her +seemingly wanton zigzags bring her nearer to port. + +When children have made up their minds to like some friend of the +family, they commonly besiege him for a story. The same demand is made +by the public of authors, and accordingly it was made of Dr. Holmes. The +odds were heavy against him; but here again he triumphed. Like a good +Bostonian, he took for his heroine a _schoolma'am_, the Puritan Pallas +Athene of the American Athens, and made her so lovely that everybody was +looking about for a schoolmistress to despair after. Generally, the best +work in imaginative literature is done before forty; but Dr. Holmes +should seem not to have found out what a Mariposa grant Nature had made +him till after fifty. + +There is no need of our analyzing "Elsie Venner," for all our readers +know it as well as we do. But we cannot help saying that Dr. Holmes has +struck a new vein of New-England romance. The story is really a romance, +and the character of the heroine has in it an element of mystery; yet +the materials are gathered from every-day New-England life, and that +weird borderland between science and speculation where psychology and +physiology exercise mixed jurisdiction, and which rims New England as +it does all other lands. The character of Elsie is exceptional, but not +purely ideal, like Cristabel and Lamia. In Doctor Kittredge and his +"hired man," and in the Principal of the "Apollinean Institoot," Dr. +Holmes has shown his ability to draw those typical characters that +represent the higher and lower grades of average human nature; and in +calling his work a Romance he quietly justifies himself for mingling +other elements in the composition of Elsie and her cousin. Apart from +the merit of the book as a story, it is full of wit, and of sound +thought sometimes hiding behind a mask of humor. Admirably conceived are +the two clergymen, gradually changing sides almost without knowing it, +and having that persuasion of consistency which men always feel, because +they must always bring their creed into some sort of agreement with +their dispositions. + +There is something melancholy in the fact, that, the moment Dr. Holmes +showed that he felt a deep interest in the great questions which concern +this world and the next, and proved not only that he believed in +something, but thought his belief worth standing up for, the cry of +_Infidel_ should have been raised against him by people who believe in +nothing but an authorized version of Truth, they themselves being the +censors. For our own part, we do not like the smell of Smithfield, +whether it be Catholic or Protestant that is burning there; though, +fortunately, one can afford to smile at the Inquisition, so long as its +Acts of Faith are confined to the corners of sectarian newspapers. +But Dr. Holmes can well afford to possess his soul in patience. The +Unitarian John Milton has won and kept quite a respectable place in +literature, though he was once forced to say, bitterly, that "new +Presbyter was only old Priest writ large." One can say nowadays, _E pur +si muove_, with more comfort than Galileo could; the world does move +forward, and we see no great chance for any ingenious fellow-citizen to +make his fortune by a "Yankee Heretic-Baker," as there might have been +two centuries ago. + +Dr. Holmes has proved his title to be a wit in the earlier and higher +sense of the word, when it meant a man of genius, a player upon thoughts +rather than words. The variety, freshness, and strength which he has +lent to our pages during the last three years seem to demand of us that +we should add our expression of admiration to that which his countrymen +have been so eager and unanimous in rendering. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +History of the United Netherlands: from the Death of William the Silent +to the Synod of Dort. With a Full View of the English-Dutch Struggle +against Spain, and of the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish Armada. +By John Lothrop Motley, LL.D. New York. Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 8vo. +pp. 532, 563. $4.00. + +History of Latin Christianity, including that of the Popes to the +Pontificate of Nicolas V. By Henry Hart Milman. Vol. V. New York. +Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 530. $1.50. + +Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the +People. Parts XXIII. and XXIV. New York. D. 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A Discourse by Rev. +William Adams, D.D. New York. Rudd & Carleton. 18mo. paper, pp. 41. 15 +cts. + +A Popular Treatise on Steam, and its Application to the Useful Arts, +especially to Navigation; intended as an Instructor for Young Seamen, +Mechanics' Apprentices, etc. By J.H. Ward. New York. D. Van Nostrand. +8vo. pp. 120. $1.00. + +The Children's Bible Picture-Book. Illustrated. New York. Harper & +Brothers. 16mo. pp. 320. 75 cts. + +Mercedes of Castile; or, The Voyage to Cathay, by J. Fenimore Cooper. +Illustrated by Drawings by F.O.C. Darley. New York. W.A. Townsend & Co. +12mo. pp. 530. $1.50. + +Abridgment of the Debates of Congress, from 1789 to 1856. By the Author +of the "Thirty Years' View." Vol. XV. New York. D. Appleton & Co. 8vo. +pp. 676. $2.50. + +Flirtation, and What Comes of It. A Comedy, in Five Acts. By Frank B. +Goodrich. New York. Rudd & Carleton. 18mo. paper, pp. 92. 25 cts. + +Pampinea, and other Poems. By Thomas Bailey Aldrich. New York. 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Harper & Brothers. 24mo. pp. 290, +295. 40 cts. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11155 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c84cf0c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11155 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11155) diff --git a/old/11155-8.txt b/old/11155-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6f3753 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11155-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9222 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 7, Issue 42, April, +1861, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Volume 7, Issue 42, April, 1861 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 18, 2004 [eBook #11155] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOLUME 7, ISSUE +42, APRIL, 1861*** + + +E-text prepared by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VII.--APRIL, 1861.--NO. XLII. + + + + + + + +APRIL DAYS. + + + "Can trouble dwell with April days?" + +_In Memoriam._ + + +In our methodical New England life, we still recognize some magic in +summer. Most persons reluctantly resign themselves to being decently +happy in June, at least. They accept June. They compliment its weather. +They complained of the earlier months as cold, and so spent them in +the city; and they will complain of the later months as hot, and so +refrigerate themselves on some barren sea-coast. God offers us yearly a +necklace of twelve pearls; most men choose the fairest, label it June, +and cast the rest away. It is time to chant a hymn of more liberal +gratitude. + +There are no days in the whole round year more delicious than those +which often come to us in the latter half of April. On these days one +goes forth in the morning, and an Italian warmth broods over all the +hills, taking visible shape in a glistening mist of silvered azure, with +which mingles the smoke from many bonfires. The sun trembles in his +own soft rays, till one understands the old English tradition, that he +dances on Easter-Day. Swimming in a sea of glory, the tops of the hills +look nearer than their bases, and their glistening watercourses seem +close to the eye, as is their liberated murmur to the ear. All across +this broad interval the teams are ploughing. The grass in the meadow +seems all to have grown green since yesterday. The blackbirds jangle +in the oak, the robin is perched upon the elm, the song-sparrow on the +hazel, and the bluebird on the apple-tree. There rises a hawk and sails +slowly, the stateliest of airy things, a floating dream of long and +languid summer-hours. But as yet, though there is warmth enough for a +sense of luxury, there is coolness enough for exertion. No tropics can +offer such a burst of joy; indeed, no zone much warmer than our Northern +States can offer a genuine spring. There can be none where there is no +winter, and the monotone of the seasons is broken only by wearisome +rains. Vegetation and birds being distributed over the year, there is no +burst of verdure nor of song. But with us, as the buds are swelling, the +birds are arriving; they are building their nests almost simultaneously; +and in all the Southern year there is no such rapture of beauty and of +melody as here marks every morning from the last of April onward. + +But days even earlier than these in April have a charm,--even days that +seem raw and rainy, when the sky is dull and a bequest of March-wind +lingers, chasing the squirrel from the tree and the children from the +meadows. There is a fascination in walking through these bare early +woods,--there is such a pause of preparation, winter's work is so +cleanly and thoroughly done. Everything is taken down and put away; +throughout the leafy arcades the branches show no remnant of last year, +save a few twisted leaves of oak and beech, a few empty seed-vessels of +the tardy witch-hazel, and a few gnawed nutshells dropped coquettishly +by the squirrels into the crevices of the bark. All else is bare, but +prophetic: buds everywhere, the whole splendor of the coming summer +concentrated in those hard little knobs on every bough; and clinging +here and there among them, a brown, papery chrysalis, from which shall +yet wave the superb wings of the Luna moth. An occasional shower patters +on the dry leaves, but it does not silence the robin on the outskirts of +the wood: indeed, he sings louder than ever, though the song-sparrow and +the bluebird are silent. + +Then comes the sweetness of the nights in latter April. There is as yet +no evening-primrose to open suddenly, no cistus to drop its petals; +but the May-flower knows the hour, and becomes more fragrant in the +darkness, so that one can then often find it in the woods without +aid from the eye. The pleasant night-sounds are begun; the hylas are +uttering their shrill _peep_ from the meadows, mingled soon with hoarser +toads, who take to the water at this season to deposit their spawn. The +tree-toads soon join them; but one listens in vain for bullfrogs, or +katydids, or grasshoppers, or whippoorwills, or crickets: we must wait +for them until the delicious June. + +The earliest familiar token of the coming season is the expansion of the +stiff catkins of the alder into soft, drooping tresses. These are so +sensitive, that, if you pluck them at almost any time during the winter, +a day's bright sunshine will make them open in a glass of water, and +thus they eagerly yield to every moment of April warmth. The blossom +of the birch is more delicate, that of the willow more showy, but the +alders come first. They cluster and dance everywhere upon the bare +boughs above the watercourses; the blackness of the buds is softened +into rich brown and yellow; and as this graceful creature thus comes +waving into the spring, it is pleasant to remember that the Norse Eddas +fabled the first woman to have been named Embla, because she was created +from an alder-bough. + +The first wild-flower of the spring is like land after sea. The two +which, throughout the Northern Atlantic States, divide this interest are +the _Epigaea repens_ (May-flower, ground-laurel, or trailing-arbutus) +and the _Hepatica triloba_ (liverleaf, liverwort, or blue anemone). Of +these two, the latter is perhaps more immediately exciting on first +discovery; because it does not, like the epigaea, exhibit its buds all +winter, but opens its blue eyes almost as soon as it emerges from the +ground. Without the rich and delicious odor of its compeer, it has +an inexpressibly fresh and earthy scent, that seems to bring all the +promise of the blessed season with it; indeed, that clod of fresh turf +with the inhalation of which Lord Bacon delighted to begin the day must +undoubtedly have been full of the roots of our little hepatica. Its +healthy sweetness belongs to the opening year, like Chaucer's poetry; +and one thinks that anything more potent and voluptuous would be less +enchanting,--until one turns to the May-flower. Then comes a richer +fascination for the senses. To pick the May-flower is like following in +the footsteps of some spendthrift army which has scattered the contents +of its treasure-chest among beds of scented moss. The fingers sink in +the soft, moist verdure, and make at each instant some superb discovery +unawares; again and again, straying carelessly, they clutch some new +treasure; and, indeed, all is linked together in bright necklaces by +secret threads beneath the surface, and where you grasp at one, you hold +many. The hands go wandering over the moss as over the keys of a piano, +and bring forth fragrance for melody. The lovely creatures twine and +nestle and lay their glowing faces to the very earth beneath withered +leaves, and what seemed mere barrenness becomes fresh and fragrant +beauty. So great is the charm of the pursuit, that the epigaea is really +the one wild-flower for which our country-people have a hearty passion. +Every village child knows its best haunts, and watches for it eagerly +in the spring; boys wreathe their hats with it, girls twine it in their +hair, and the cottage-windows are filled with its beauty. + +In collecting these early flowers, one finds or fancies singular natural +affinities. I flatter myself with being able always to find hepatica, if +there is any within reach, for I was brought up with it ("Cockatoo +he know me berry well"); but other persons, who were brought up +with May-flower, and remember searching for it with their almost +baby-fingers, can find that better. The most remarkable instance +of these natural affinities was in the case of L.T. and his double +anemones. L. had always a gift for wild-flowers, and used often to bring +to Cambridge the largest white anemones that ever were seen, from a +certain special hill in Watertown; they were not only magnificent in +size and whiteness, but had that exquisite blue on the outside of +the petals, as if the sky had bent down in ecstasy at last over its +darlings, and left visible kisses there. But even this success was +not enough, and one day he came with something yet choicer. It was a +rue-leaved anemone (_A. thalictraides_); and, if you will believe it, +each one of the three white flowers was _double,_ not merely with that +multiplicity of petals in the disk which is common with this species, +but technically and horticulturally double, like the double-flowering +almond or cherry,--the most exquisitely delicate little petals, seeming +like lace-work. He had three specimens,--gave one to the Autocrat of +Botany, who said it was almost or quite unexampled, and another to me. +As the man in the fable says of the chameleon,--"I have it yet, and can +produce it." + +Now comes the marvel. The next winter L. went to New York for a year, +and wrote to me, as spring drew near, with solemn charge to visit his +favorite haunt and find another specimen. Armed with this letter of +introduction, I sought the spot, and tramped through and through its +leafy corridors. Beautiful wood-anemones I found, to be sure, trembling +on their fragile stems, deserving all their pretty names,--Wind-flower, +Easter-flower, Pasque-flower, and homeopathic Pulsatilla; rue-leaved +anemones I found also, rising taller and straighter and firmer in stem, +with the whorl of leaves a little higher up on the stalk than one +fancies it ought to be, as if there were a supposed danger that the +flowers would lose their balance, and as if the leaves must be all ready +to catch them. These I found, but the special wonder was not there for +me. Then I wrote to L. that he must evidently come himself and search; +or that, perhaps, as Sir Thomas Browne avers that "smoke doth follow the +fairest," so his little treasures had followed him towards New York. +Judge of my surprise, when, on opening his next letter, out dropped, +from those folds of metropolitan paper, a veritable double anemone. He +had just been out to Hoboken, or some such place, to spend an afternoon, +and, of course, his pets were there to meet him; and from that day to +this, I have never heard of the thing happening to any one else. + +May-Day is never allowed to pass in this community without profuse +lamentations over the tardiness of our spring as compared with that +of England and the poets. Yet it is very common to exaggerate this +difference. Even so good an observer as Wilson Flagg is betrayed into +saying that the epigaea and hepatica "seldom make their appearance until +after the middle of April" in Massachusetts, and that "it is not unusual +for the whole month of April to pass away without producing more than +two or three species of wild-flowers." But I have formerly found the +hepatica in bloom at Mount Auburn, for three successive years, on the +twenty-seventh of March; and last spring it was actually found, farther +inland, where the season is later, on the seventeenth. The May-flower is +usually as early, though the more gradual expansion of the buds renders +it less easy to give dates. And there are nearly twenty species which I +have noted, for five or six years together, as found before May-Day, and +which may therefore be properly assigned to April. The list includes +bloodroot, cowslip, houstonia, saxifrage, dandelion, chickweed, +cinquefoil, strawberry, mouse-ear, bellwort, dog's-tooth violet, five +species of violet proper, and two of anemone. These are all common +flowers, and easily observed; and the catalogue might be increased by +rare ones, as the white corydalis, the smaller yellow violet, (_V. +rotundifolia_,) and the claytonia or spring-beauty. + +But in England the crocus and the snowdrop--neither being probably an +indigenous flower, since neither is mentioned by Chaucer--usually open +before the first of March; indeed, the snowdrop was formerly known by +the yet more fanciful name of "Fair Maid of February." Chaucer's daisy +comes equally early; and March brings daffodils, narcissi, violets, +daisies, jonquils, hyacinths, and marsh-marigolds. This is altogether in +advance of our season, so far as the flowers give evidence,--though we +have plucked snowdrops in February. But, on the other hand, it would +appear, that, though a larger number of birds winter in England than in +Massachusetts, yet the return of those which migrate is actually earlier +among us. From journals kept during sixty years in England, and an +abstract of which is printed in Hone's "Every-Day Book," it appears that +only two birds of passage revisit England before the fifteenth of April, +and only thirteen more before the first of May; while with us the +song-sparrow and the bluebird appear about the first of March, and quite +a number more by the middle of April. This is a peculiarity of the +English spring which I have never seen explained or even mentioned. + +After the epigaea and the hepatica have opened, there is a slight pause +among the wild-flowers,--these two forming a distinct prologue for their +annual drama, as the brilliant witch-hazel in October brings up its +separate epilogue. The truth is, Nature attitudinizes a little, liking +to make a neat finish with everything, and then to begin again with +_éclat_. Flowers seem spontaneous things enough, but there is evidently +a secret marshalling among them, that all may be brought out with due +effect. As the country-people say that so long as any snow is left on +the ground more snow may be expected, it must all vanish simultaneously +at last,--so every seeker of spring-flowers has observed how accurately +they seem to move in platoons, with little straggling. Each species +seems to burst upon us with a united impulse; you may search for them +day after day in vain, but the day when you find one specimen the spell +is broken and you find twenty. By the end of April all the margins +of the great poem of the woods are illuminated with these exquisite +vignettes. + +Most of the early flowers either come before the full unfolding of their +leaves or else have inconspicuous ones. Yet Nature always provides for +her bouquets the due proportion of green. The verdant and graceful +sprays of the wild raspberry are unfolded very early, long before its +time of flowering. Over the meadows spread the regular Chinese-pagodas +of the equisetum, (horsetail or scouring-rush,) and the rich coarse +vegetation of the veratrum, or American hellebore. In moist copses the +ferns and osmundas begin to uncurl in April, opening their soft coils +of spongy verdure, coated with woolly down, from which the humming-bird +steals the lining of her nest. + +The early blossoms represent the aboriginal epoch of our history: the +blood-root and the May-flower are older than the white man, older +perchance than the red man; they alone are the true Native Americans. Of +the later wild plants, many of the most common are foreign importations. +In our sycophancy we attach grandeur to the name _exotic_: we call +aristocratic garden-flowers by that epithet; yet they are no more exotic +than the humbler companions they brought with them, which have become +naturalized. The dandelion, the buttercup, duckweed, celandine, mullein, +burdock, yarrow, whiteweed, nightshade, and most of the thistles,--these +are importations. Miles Standish never crushed these with his heavy heel +as he strode forth to give battle to the savages; they never kissed the +daintier foot of Priscilla, the Puritan maiden. It is noticeable that +these are all of rather coarser texture than our indigenous flowers; the +children instinctively recognize this, and are apt to omit them, when +gathering the more delicate native blossoms of the woods. + +There is something touching in the gradual retirement before +civilization of these delicate aborigines. They do not wait for the +actual brute contact of red bricks and curbstones, but they feel the +danger miles away. The Indians called the low plantain "the white man's +footstep"; and these shy creatures gradually disappear, the moment +the red man gets beyond their hearing. Bigelow's delightful "Florula +Bostoniensis" is becoming a series of epitaphs. Too well we know it,--we +who in happy Cambridge childhood often gathered, almost within a stone's +throw of Professor Agassiz's new Museum, the arethusa and the gentian, +the cardinal-flower and the gaudy rhexia,--we who remember the last +secret hiding-place of the rhodora in West Cambridge, of the yellow +violet and the _Viola debilis_ in Watertown, of the _Convallaria +trifolia_ near Fresh Pond, of the _Hottonia_ beyond Wellington's Hill, +of the _Cornus florida_ in West Roxbury, of the _Clintonia_ and the +dwarf ginseng in Brookline,--we who have found in its one chosen nook +the sacred _Andromeda polyfolia_ of Linnaeus. Now vanished almost or +wholly from city-suburbs, these fragile creatures still linger in +more rural parts of Massachusetts; but they are doomed everywhere, +unconsciously, yet irresistibly; while others still more shy, as the +_Linnoea_, the yellow _Cypripedium_, the early pink _Azalea_, and the +delicate white _Corydalis_ or "Dutchman's breeches," are being chased +into the very recesses of the Green and the White Mountains. The relics +of the Indian tribes are supported by the legislature at Martha's +Vineyard, while these precursors of the Indian are dying unfriended +away. + +And with these receding plants go also the special insects which haunt +them. Who that knew that pure enthusiast, Dr. Harris, but remembers the +accustomed lamentations of the entomologist over the departure of these +winged companions of his lifetime? Not the benevolent Mr. John Beeson +more tenderly mourns the decay of the Indians than he the exodus of +these more delicate native tribes. In a letter which I happened to +receive from him a short time previous to his death, he thus renewed +the lament:--"I mourn for the loss of many of the beautiful plants +and insects that were once found in this vicinity. _Clethra, Rhodora, +Sanguinaria, Viola debilis, Viola acuta, Dracoena borealis, Rhexia, +Cypripedium, Corallorhiza verna, Orchis spectabilis_, with others of +less note, have been rooted out by the so-called hand of improvement. +_Cicindela rugifrons, Helluo proeusta, Sphoeroderus stenostomus, +Blethisa quadricollis, (Americana mî,) Carabus, Horia_, (which for +several years occurred in profusion on the sands beyond Mount Auburn,) +with others, have entirely disappeared from their former haunts, driven +away, or exterminated perhaps, by the changes effected therein. There +may still remain in your vicinity some sequestered spots, congenial +to these and other rarities, which may reward the botanist and the +entomologist who will search them carefully. Perhaps you may find there +the pretty coccinella-shaped, silver-margined _Omophron_, or the still +rarer _Panagoeus fasciatus_, of which I once took two specimens on +Wellington's Hill, but have not seen it since." Is not this indeed +handling one's specimens "gently as if you loved them," as Isaak Walton +bids the angler do with his worm? + +There is this merit, at least, among the coarser crew of imported +flowers, that they bring their own proper names with them, and we know +precisely whom we have to deal with. In speaking of our own native +flowers, we must either be careless and inaccurate, or else resort +sometimes to the Latin, in spite of the indignation of friends. There +is something yet to be said on this point. In England, where the old +household and monkish names adhere, they are sufficient for popular +and poetic purposes, and the familiar use of scientific names seems an +affectation. But here, where many native flowers have no popular names +at all, and others are called confessedly by wrong ones,--where +it really costs less trouble to use Latin names than English, the +affectation seems the other way. Think of the long list of wild-flowers +where the Latin name is spontaneously used by all who speak of +the flower: as, Arethusa, Aster, Cistus, ("after the fall of the +cistus-flower,") Clematis, Clethra, Geranium, Iris, Lobdia, Bhodora, +Spirtea, Tiarella, Trientalis, and so on. Even those formed from proper +names (the worst possible system of nomenclature) become tolerable at +last, and we forget the man in the more attractive flower. Are those +who pick the Houstonia to be supposed thereby to indorse the Texan +President? Or are the deluded damsels who chew Cassia-buds to be +regarded as swallowing the late Secretary of State? The names have long +since been made over to the flowers, and every questionable aroma has +vanished. When the godfather happens to be a botanist, there is a +peculiar fitness in the association; the Linaea, at least, would not +smell so sweet by any other name. + +In other cases the English name is a mere modification of the Latin +one, and our ideal associations have really a scientific basis: as with +Violet, Lily, Laurel, Gentian, Vervain. Indeed, our enthusiasm for +vernacular names is like that for Indian names, one-sided: we enumerate +only the graceful ones, and ignore the rest. It would be a pity to +Latinize Touch-me-not, or Yarrow, or Gold-Thread, or Self-Heal, or +Columbine, or Blue-Eyed-Grass,--though, to be sure, this last has an +annoying way of shutting up its azure orbs the moment you gather it, and +you reach home with a bare, stiff blade, which deserves no better +name than _Sisyrinchium anceps._ But in what respect is Cucumber-Root +preferable to Medeola, or Solomon's-Seal to Convallaria, or Rock-Tripe +to Umbilicaria, or Lousewort to Pedicularis? In other cases the merit +is divided: Anemone may dispute the prize of melody with Windflower, +Campanula with Harebell, Neottia with Ladies'-Tresses, Uvularia with +Bellwort and Strawbell, Potentilla with Cinquefoil, and Sanguinaria with +Bloodroot. Hepatica may be bad, but Liverleaf is worse. The pretty name +of May-flower is not so popular, after all, as that of Trailing-Arbutus, +where the graceful and appropriate adjective redeems the substantive, +which happens to be Latin and incorrect at the same time. It does seem a +waste of time to say _Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_ instead of Whiteweed; +though, if the long scientific name were an incantation to banish the +intruder, our farmers would gladly consent to adopt it. + +But the great advantage of a reasonable use of the botanical name is, +that it does not deceive us. Our primrose is not the English primrose, +any more than it was our robin who tucked up the babes in the wood; +our cowslip is not the English cowslip, it is the English +marsh-marigold,--Tennyson's "wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in +swamps and hollows gray." The pretty name of Azalea means something +definite; but its rural name of Honeysuckle confounds under that name +flowers without even an external resemblance,--Azalea, Diervilla, +Lonioera, Aquilegia,--just as every bird which sings loud in deep woods +is popularly denominated a thrush. The really rustic names of both +plants and animals are very few with us,--the different species are +many; and as we come to know them better and love them more, we +absolutely require some way to distinguish them from their half-sisters +and second-cousins. It is hopeless to try to create new popular +epithets, or even to revive those which are thoroughly obsolete. Miss +Cooper may strive in vain, with benevolent intent, to christen her +favorite spring-blossoms "May-Wings" and "Gay-Wings," and "Fringe-Cup" +and "Squirrel-Cup," and "Cool-Wort" and "Bead-Ruby"; there is no +conceivable reason why these should not be the familiar appellations, +except the irresistible fact that they are not. It is impossible to +create a popular name: one might as well attempt to invent a legend or +compose a ballad. _Nascitur, non fit_. + +As the spring comes on, and the densening outlines of the elm give daily +a new design for a Grecian urn,--its hue, first brown with blossoms, +then emerald with leaves,--we appreciate the vanishing beauty of the +bare boughs. In our favored temperate zone, the trees denude themselves +each year, like the goddesses before Paris, that we may see which +unadorned loveliness is the fairest. Only the unconquerable delicacy of +the beech still keeps its soft vestments about it: far into spring, when +worn to thin rags and tatters, they cling there still; and when they +fall, the new appear as by magic. It must be owned, however, that the +beech has good reasons for this prudishness, and possesses little beauty +of figure; while the elms, maples, chestnuts, walnuts, and even oaks, +have not exhausted all their store of charms for us, until we have seen +them disrobed. Only yonder magnificent pine-tree,--that pitch-pine, +nobler when seen in perfection than white-pine, or Norwegian, or Norfolk +Islander,--that pitch-pine, herself a grove, _una nemus_, holds her +unchanging beauty throughout the year, like her half-brother, the ocean, +whose voice she shares; and only marks the flowing of her annual tide of +life by the new verdure that yearly submerges all trace of last year's +ebb. + +How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no +winter in our year! Sometimes, in following up a watercourse among our +hills, in the early spring, one comes to a weird and desolate place, +where one huge wild grapevine has wreathed its ragged arms around a +whole thicket and brought it to the ground,--swarming to the tops of +hemlocks, clenching a dozen young maples at once and tugging them +downward, stretching its wizard black length across the underbrush, into +the earth and out again, wrenching up great stones in its blind, aimless +struggle. What a piece of chaos is this! Yet come here again, two months +hence, and you shall find all this desolation clothed with beauty +and with fragrance, one vast bower of soft green leaves and graceful +tendrils, while summer-birds chirp and flutter amid these sunny arches +all the livelong day. "Out of the strong cometh forth sweetness." + +To the end of April, and often later, one still finds remains of +snowbanks in sheltered woods, especially those consisting of evergreen +trees; and this snow, like that upon high mountains, has become hardened +by the repeated thawing and freezing of the surface, till it is more +impenetrable than ice. But the snow that actually falls during April is +usually only what Vermonters call "sugar-snow,"--falling in the night +and just whitening the surface for an hour or two, and taking its name, +not so much from its looks as from the fact that it denotes the +proper weather for "sugaring," namely, cold nights and warm days. Our +saccharine associations, however, remain so obstinately tropical, that +it seems almost impossible for the imagination to locate sugar in New +England trees; though it is known that not the maple only, but the birch +and the walnut even, afford it in appreciable quantities. + +Along our maritime rivers the people associate April, not with +"sugaring," but with "shadding." The pretty _Amelanchier Canadensis_ of +Gray--the _Aronia_ of Whittler's song--is called Shad-bush or Shad-blow +in Essex County, from its connection with this season; and there is a +bird known as the Shad-spirit, which I take to be identical with the +flicker or golden-winged woodpecker, whose note is still held to +indicate the first day when the fish ascend the river. Upon such slender +wings flits our New England romance! + +In April the creative process described by Thales is repeated, and the +world is renewed by water. The submerged creatures first feel the touch +of spring, and many an equivocal career, beginning in the ponds and +brooks, learns later to ignore this obscure beginning, and hops or +flutters in the dusty daylight. Early in March, before the first male +canker-moth appears on the elm-tree, the whirlwig beetles have begun to +play round the broken edges of the ice, and the caddis-worms to +crawl beneath it; and soon come the water-skater _(Gerris)_ and the +water-boatman _(Notonecta)_. Turtles and newts are in busy motion when +the spring-birds are only just arriving. Those gelatinous masses in +yonder wayside-pond are the spawn of water-newts or tritons: in the +clear transparent jelly are imbedded, at regular intervals, little +blackish dots; these elongate rapidly, and show symptoms of head and +tail curled up in a spherical cell; the jelly is gradually absorbed for +their nourishment, until on some fine morning each elongated dot gives +one vigorous wriggle, and claims thenceforward all the privileges +attendant on this dissolution of the union. The final privilege is often +that of being suddenly snapped up by a turtle or a snake: for Nature +brings forth her creatures liberally, especially the aquatic ones, +sacrifices nine-tenths of them as food for their larger cousins, and +reserves only a handful to propagate their race, on the same profuse +scale, next season. + +It is surprising, in the midst of our Museums and Scientific Schools, +how little we yet know of the common things before our eyes. Our +_savans_ still confess their inability to discriminate with certainty +the egg or tadpole of a frog from that of a toad; and it is strange that +these hopping creatures, which seem so unlike, should coincide so nearly +in their juvenile career, while the tritons and salamanders, which +border so closely on each other in their maturer state as sometimes to +be hardly distinguishable, yet choose different methods and different +elements for laying their eggs. The eggs of our salamanders or +land-lizards are deposited beneath the moss on some damp rock, without +any gelatinous envelope; they are but few in number, and the anxious +mamma may sometimes be found coiled in a circle around them, like the +symbolic serpent of eternity. + +The small number of birds yet present in early April gives a better +opportunity for careful study,--more especially if one goes armed with +that best of fowling-pieces, a small spy-glass: the best,--since how +valueless for purposes of observation is the bleeding, gasping, dying +body, compared with the fresh and living creature, as it tilts, +trembles, and warbles on the bough before you! Observe that robin in the +oak-tree's top: as he sits and sings, every one of the dozen different +notes which he flings down to you is accompanied by a separate flirt and +flutter of his whole body, and, as Thoreau says of the squirrel, "each +movement seems to imply a spectator," and to imply, further, that the +spectator is looking through a spy-glass. Study that song-sparrow: why +is it that he always goes so ragged in spring, and the bluebird so +neat? is it that the song-sparrow is a wild artist, absorbed in the +composition of his lay, and oblivious of ordinary proprieties, while the +smooth bluebird and his ash-colored mate cultivate their delicate warble +only as a domestic accomplishment, and are always nicely dressed before +sitting down to the piano? Then how exciting is the gradual arrival of +the birds in their summer-plumage! to watch it is as good as sitting at +the window on Easter Sunday to observe the new bonnets. Yonder, in that +clump of alders by the brook, is the delicious jargoning of the first +flock of yellow-birds; there are the little gentlemen in black and +yellow, and the little ladies in olive-brown; "sweet, sweet, sweet" is +the only word they say, and often they will so lower their ceaseless +warble, that, though almost within reach, the little minstrels seem far +away. There is the very earliest cat-bird, mimicking the bobolink before +the bobolink has come: what is the history of his song, then? is it a +reminiscence of last year? or has the little coquette been practising it +all winter, in some gay Southern society, where cat-birds and bobolinks +grow intimate, just as Southern fashionables from different States +may meet and sing duets at Saratoga? There sounds the sweet, low, +long-continued trill of the little hair-bird, or chipping-sparrow, a +suggestion of insect sounds in sultry summer, and produced, like them, +by a slight fluttering of the wings against the sides: by-and-by we +shall sometimes hear that same delicate rhythm burst the silence of the +June midnights, and then, ceasing, make stillness more still. Now watch +that woodpecker, roving in ceaseless search, travelling over fifty trees +in an hour, running from top to bottom of some small sycamore, pecking +at every crevice, pausing to dot a dozen inexplicable holes in a row +upon an apple-tree, but never once intermitting the low, querulous +murmur of housekeeping anxiety: now she stops to hammer with all her +little life at some tough piece of bark, strikes harder and harder +blows, throws herself back at last, flapping her wings furiously as she +brings down her whole strength again upon it; finally it yields, and +grub after grub goes down her throat, till she whets her beak after the +meal as a wild beast licks its claws, and off on her pressing business +once more. + +It is no wonder that there is so little substantial enjoyment of Nature +in the community, when we feed children on grammars and dictionaries +only, and take no pains to train them to see that which is before +their eyes. The mass of the community have "summered and wintered" the +universe pretty regularly, one would think, for a good many years; and +yet nine persons out of ten in the town or city, and two out of three +even in the country, seriously suppose, for instance, that the buds upon +trees are formed in the spring; they have had them before their eyes +all winter, and never seen them. As large a proportion suppose, in good +faith, that a plant grows at the base of the stem, instead of at the +top: that is, if they see a young sapling in which there is a crotch +at five feet from the ground, they expect to see it ten feet from the +ground by-and-by,--confounding the growth of a tree with that of a man +or animal. But perhaps the best of us could hardly bear the severe test +unconsciously laid down by a small child of my acquaintance. The boy's +father, a college-bred man, had early chosen the better part, and +employed his fine faculties in rearing laurels in his own beautiful +nursery-gardens, instead of in the more arid soil of court-rooms or +state-houses. Of course the young human scion knew the flowers by name +before he knew his letters, and used their symbols more readily; and +after he got the command of both, he was one day asked by his younger +brother what the word _idiot_ meant,--for somebody in the parlor had +been saying that somebody else was an idiot. "Don't you know?" quoth +Ben, in his sweet voice: "an idiot is a person who doesn't know an +arbor-vitae from a pine,--he doesn't know anything." When Ben grows up +to maturity, bearing such terrible tests in his unshrinking hands, who +of us will be safe? + +The softer aspects of Nature, especially, require time and culture +before man can enjoy them. To rude races her processes bring only +terror, which is very slowly outgrown. Humboldt has best exhibited the +scantiness of finer natural perceptions in Greek and Roman literature, +in spite of the grand oceanic anthology of Homer, and the delicate +water-coloring of the Greek Anthology and of Horace. The Oriental and +the Norse sacred books are full of fresh and beautiful allusions; but +the Greek saw in Nature only a framework for Art, and the Roman only +a camping-ground for men. Even Virgil describes the grotto of Aeneas +merely as a "black grove" with "horrid shade,"--"_Horrenti atrum +nemus imminet umbrâ_." Wordsworth points out, that, even in English +literature, the "Windsor Forest" of Anne, Countess of Winchelsea, was +the first poem which represented Nature as a thing to be consciously +enjoyed; and as she was almost the first English poetess, we might be +tempted to think that we owe this appreciation, like some other good +things, to the participation of woman in literature. But, on the other +hand, it must be remembered that the voluminous Duchess of Newcastle, in +her "Ode on Melancholy," describes among the symbols of hopeless gloom +"the still moonshine night" and "a mill where rushing waters run +about,"--the sweetest natural images. So woman has not so much to claim, +after all. In our own country, the early explorers seemed to find only +horror in its woods and waterfalls. Josselyn, in 1672, could only +describe the summer splendor of the White Mountain region as "dauntingly +terrible, being full of rocky hills, as thick as mole-hills in a meadow, +and full of infinite thick woods." Father Hennepin spoke of Niagara, +in the narrative still quoted in the guide-books, as a "frightful +cataract"; though perhaps his original French phrase was softer. And +even John Adams could find no better name than "horrid chasm" for the +gulf at Egg Rock, where he first saw the sea-anemone. + +But we are lingering too long, perhaps, with this sweet April of smiles +and tears. It needs only to add that all her traditions are beautiful. +Ovid says well, that she was not named from _aperire_, to open, as some +have thought, but from _Aphrodite_, goddess of beauty. April holds +Easter-time, St. George's Day, and the Eve of St. Mark's. She has not, +like her sister May in Germany, been transformed to a verb and made a +synonyme for joy,--"_Deine Seele maiet den trüben Herbst_"--but April +was believed in early ages to have been the birth-time of the world. +According to Venerable Bede, the point was first accurately determined +at a council held at Jerusalem about A.D. 200, when, after much profound +discussion, it was finally decided that the world's birthday occurred on +Sunday, April eighth,--that is, at the vernal equinox and the full moon. +But April is certainly the birth-time of the year, at least, if not of +the planet. Its festivals are older than Christianity, older than the +memory of man. No sad associations cling to it, as to the month of June, +in which month, says William of Malmesbury, kings are wont to go to +war,--"_Quando solent reges ad arma procedere_,"--but it holds the Holy +Week, and it is the Holy Month. And in April Shakspeare was born, and in +April he died. + + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE WHITE ASH. + + +When Helen returned to Elsie's bedside, it was with a new and still +deeper feeling of sympathy, such as the story told by Old Sophy might +well awaken. She understood, as never before, the singular fascination +and as singular repulsion which she had long felt in Elsie's presence. +It had not been without a great effort that she had forced herself to +become the almost constant attendant of the sick girl; and now she was +learning, but not for the first time, the blessed truth which so many +good women have found out for themselves, that the hardest duty bravely +performed soon becomes a habit, and tends in due time to transform +itself into a pleasure. + +The old Doctor was beginning to look graver, in spite of himself. The +fever, if such it was, went gently forward, wasting the young girl's +powers of resistance from day to day; yet she showed no disposition +to take nourishment, and seemed literally to be living on air. It was +remarkable that with all this her look was almost natural, and her +features were hardly sharpened so as to suggest that her life was +burning away. He did not like this, nor various other unobtrusive signs +of danger which his practised eye detected. A very small matter might +turn the balance which held life and death poised against each other. +He surrounded her with precautions, that Nature might have every +opportunity of cunningly shifting the weights from the scale of death +to the scale of life, as she will often do, if not rudely disturbed or +interfered with. + +Little tokens of good-will and kind remembrance were constantly coming +to her from the girls in the school and the good people in the village. +Some of the mansion-house people obtained rare flowers which they sent +her, and her table was covered with fruits--which tempted her in vain. +Several of the school-girls wished to make her a basket of their own +handiwork, and, filling it with autumnal flowers, to send it as a joint +offering. Mr. Bernard found out their project accidentally, and, wishing +to have his share in it, brought home from one of his long walks some +boughs full of variously tinted leaves, such as were still clinging +to the stricken trees. With these he brought also some of the already +fallen leaflets of the white ash, remarkable for their rich olive-purple +color, forming a beautiful contrast with some of the lighter-hued +leaves. It so happened that this particular tree, the white ash, did not +grow upon The Mountain, and the leaflets were more welcome for their +comparative rarity. So the girls made their basket, and the floor of it +they covered with the rich olive-purple leaflets. Such late flowers as +they could lay their hands upon served to fill it, and with many kindly +messages they sent it to Miss Elsie Venner at the Dudley mansion-house. + +Elsie was sitting up in her bed when it came, languid, but tranquil, and +Helen was by her, as usual, holding her hand, which was strangely cold, +Helen thought, for one who--was said to have some kind of fever. The +school-girls' basket was brought in with its messages of love and hopes +for speedy recovery. Old Sophy was delighted to see that it pleased +Elsie, and laid it on the bed before her. Elsie began looking at the +flowers and taking them from the basket, that she might see the leaves. +All at once she appeared to be agitated; she looked at the basket,--then +around, as if there were some fearful presence about her which she was +searching for with her eager glances. She took out the flowers, one +by one, her breathing growing hurried, her eyes staring, her hands +trembling,--till, as she came near the bottom of the basket, she flung +out all the rest with a hasty movement, looked upon the olive-purple +leaflets as if paralyzed for a moment, shrunk up, as it were, into +herself in a curdling terror, dashed the basket from her, and fell back +senseless, with a faint cry which chilled the blood of the startled +listeners at her bedside. + +"Take it away!--take it away!--quick!" said Old Sophy, as she hastened +to her mistress's pillow. "It's the leaves of the tree that was always +death to her,--take it away! She can't live wi' it in the room!" + +The poor old woman began chafing Elsie's hands, and Helen to try to +rouse her with hartshorn, while a third frightened attendant gathered up +the flowers and the basket and carried them out of the apartment. She +came to herself after a time, but exhausted and then wandering. In her +delirium, she talked constantly as if she were in a cave, with such +exactness of circumstance that Helen could not doubt at all that she had +some such retreat among the rocks of The Mountain, probably fitted up in +her own fantastic way, where she sometimes hid herself from all human +eyes, and of the entrance to which she alone possessed the secret. + +All this passed away, and left her, of course, weaker than before. But +this was not the only influence the unexplained paroxysm had left behind +it. From this time forward there was a change in her whole expression +and her manner. The shadows ceased flitting over her features, and the +old woman, who watched her from day to day and from hour to hour as a +mother watches her child, saw the likeness she bore to her mother coming +forth more and more, as the cold glitter died out of the diamond eyes, +and the scowl disappeared from the dark brows and low forehead. + +With all the kindness and indulgence her father had bestowed upon her, +Elsie had never felt that he loved her. The reader knows well enough +what fatal recollections and associations had frozen up the springs of +natural affection in his breast. There was nothing in the world he would +not do for Elsie. He had sacrificed his whole life to her. His very +seeming carelessness about restraining her was all calculated; he knew +that restraint would produce nothing but utter alienation. Just so +far as she allowed him, he shared her studies, her few pleasures, her +thoughts; but she was essentially solitary and uncommunicative. No +person, as was said long ago, could judge him,--because his task was not +merely difficult, but simply impracticable to human powers. A nature +like Elsie's had necessarily to be studied by itself, and to be followed +in its laws where it could not be led. + +Every day, at different hours, during the whole of his daughter's +illness, Dudley Venner had sat by her, doing all he could to soothe and +please her: always the same thin film of some emotional non-conductor +between them; always that kind of habitual regard and family-interest, +mingled with the deepest pity on one side and a sort of respect on the +other, which never warmed into outward evidences of affection. + +It was after this occasion, when she had been so profoundly agitated +by a seemingly insignificant cause, that her father and Old Sophy were +sitting, one at one side of her bed and one at the other. She had fallen +into a light slumber. As they were looking at her, the same thought came +into both their minds at the same moment. Old Sophy spoke for both, as +she said, in a low voice,-- + +"It's her mother's look,--it's her mother's own face right over +again,--she never look' so before,--the Lord's hand is on her! His will +be done!" + +When Elsie woke and lifted her languid eyes upon her father's face, she +saw in it a tenderness, a depth of affection, such as she remembered +at rare moments of her childhood, when she had won him to her by some +unusual gleam of sunshine in her fitful temper. + +"Elsie, dear," he said, "we were thinking how much your expression was +sometimes like that of your sweet mother. If you could but have seen +her, so as to remember her!" + +The tender look and tone, the yearning of the daughter's heart for the +mother she had never seen, save only with the unfixed, undistinguishing +eyes of earliest infancy, perhaps the under-thought that she might soon +rejoin her in another state of being,--all came upon her with a sudden +overflow of feeling which broke through all the barriers between her +heart and her eyes, and Elsie wept. It seemed to her father as if the +malign influence,--evil spirit it might almost be called,--which had +pervaded her being, had at last been driven forth or exorcised, and that +these tears were at once the sign and the pledge of her redeemed nature. +But now she was to be soothed, and not excited. After her tears she +slept again, and the look her face wore was peaceful as never before. + +Old Sophy met the Doctor at the door and told him all the circumstances +connected with the extraordinary attack from which Elsie had suffered. +It was the purple leaves, she said. She remembered that Dick once +brought home a branch of a tree with some of the same leaves on it, and +Elsie screamed and almost fainted then. She, Sophy, had asked her, after +she had got quiet, what it was in the leaves that made her feel so bad. +Elsie couldn't tell her,--didn't like to speak about it,--shuddered +whenever Sophy mentioned it. + +This did not sound so strangely to the old Doctor as it does to some +who listen to this narrative. He had known some curious examples of +antipathies, and remembered reading of others still more singular. +He had known those who could not bear the presence of a cat, and +recollected the story, often told, of a person's hiding one in a chest +when one of these sensitive individuals came into the room, so as not to +disturb him; but he presently began to sweat and turn pale, and cried +out that there must be a cat hid somewhere. He knew people who were +poisoned by strawberries, by honey, by different meats,--many who could +not endure cheese,--some who could not bear the smell of roses. If he +had known all the stories in the old books, he would have found that +some have swooned and become as dead men at the smell of a rose,--that +a stout soldier has been known to turn and run at the sight or smell of +rue,--that cassia and even olive-oil have produced deadly faintings in +certain individuals,--in short, that almost everything has seemed to be +a poison to somebody. + +"Bring me that basket, Sophy," said the old Doctor, "if you can find +it." + +Sophy brought it to him,--for he had not yet entered Elsie's apartment. + +"These purple leaves are from the white ash," he said. "You don't know +the notion that people commonly have about that tree, Sophy?" + +"I know they say the Ugly Things never go where the white ash grows," +Sophy answered. "Oh, Doctor dear, what I'm thinkin' of a'n't true, is +it?" + +The Doctor smiled sadly, but did not answer. He went directly to Elsie's +room. Nobody would have known by his manner that he saw any special +change in his patient. He spoke with her as usual, made some slight +alteration in his prescriptions, and left the room with a kind, cheerful +look. He met her father on the stairs. + +"Is it as I thought?" said Dudley Venner. + +"There is everything to fear," the Doctor said, "and not much, I am +afraid, to hope. Does not her face recall to you one that you remember, +as never before?" + +"Yes," her father answered,--"oh, yes! What is the meaning of this +change which has come over her features, and her voice, her temper, her +whole being? Tell me, oh, tell me, what is it? Can it be that the curse +is passing away, and my daughter is to be restored to me,--such as her +mother would have had her,--such as her mother was?" + +"Walk out with me into the garden," the Doctor said, "and I will tell +you all I know and all I think about this great mystery of Elsie's +life." + +They walked out together, and the Doctor began:-- + +"She has lived a twofold being, as it were,--the consequence of the +blight which fell upon her in the dim period before consciousness. You +can see what she might have been but for this. You know that for these +eighteen years her whole existence has taken its character from that +influence which we need not name. But you will remember that few of the +lower forms of life last as human beings do; and thus it might have been +hoped and trusted with some show of reason, as I have always suspected +you hoped and trusted, perhaps more confidently than myself, that the +lower nature which had become ingrafted on the higher would die out and +leave the real woman's life she inherited to outlive this accidental +principle which had so poisoned her childhood and youth. I believe it +is so dying out; but I am afraid,--yes, I must say it, I fear it has +involved the centres of life in its own decay. There is hardly any pulse +at Elsie's wrist; no stimulants seem to rouse her; and it looks as if +life were slowly retreating inwards, so that by-and-by she will sleep as +those who lie down in the cold and never wake." + +Strange as it may seem, her father heard all this not without deep +sorrow, and such marks of it as his thoughtful and tranquil nature, long +schooled by suffering, claimed or permitted, but with a resignation +itself the measure of his past trials. Dear as his daughter might become +to him, all he dared to ask of Heaven was that she might be restored to +that truer self which lay beneath her false and adventitious being. If +he could once see that the icy lustre in her eyes had become a soft, +calm light,--that her soul was at peace with all about her and with Him +above,--this crumb from the children's table was enough for him, as it +was for the Syro-Phoenician woman who asked that the dark spirit might +go out from her daughter. + +There was little change the next day, until all at once she said in a +clear voice that she should like to see her master at the school, +Mr. Langdon. He came accordingly, and took the place of Helen at her +bedside. It seemed as if Elsie had forgotten the last scene with him. +Might it be that pride had come in, and she had sent for him only to +show how superior she had grown to the weakness which had betrayed her +into that extraordinary request, so contrary to the instincts and usages +of her sex? Or was it that the singular change which had come over her +had involved her passionate fancy for him and swept it away with her +other habits of thought and feeling? Or perhaps, rather, that she felt +that all earthly interests were becoming of little account to her, and +wished to place herself right with one to whom she had displayed a +wayward movement of her unbalanced imagination? She welcomed Mr. +Bernard as quietly as she had received Helen Darley. He colored at the +recollection of that last scene, when he came into her presence; but +she smiled with perfect tranquillity. She did not speak to him of any +apprehension; but he saw that she looked upon herself as doomed. So +friendly, yet so calm did she seem through all their interview, that Mr. +Bernard could only look back upon her manifestation of feeling towards +him on their walk from the school as a vagary of a mind laboring +under some unnatural excitement, and wholly at variance with the true +character of Elsie Venner, as he saw her before him in her subdued, +yet singular beauty. He looked with almost scientific closeness of +observation into the diamond eyes; but that peculiar light which he knew +so well was not there. She was the same in one sense as on that first +day when he had seen her coiling and uncoiling her golden chain, yet how +different in every aspect which revealed her state of mind and emotion! +Something of tenderness there was, perhaps, in her tone towards him; +she would not have sent for him, had she not felt more than an ordinary +interest in him. But through the whole of his visit she never lost her +gracious self-possession. The Dudley race might well be proud of the +last of its daughters, as she lay dying, but unconquered by the feeling +of the present or the fear of the future. + +As for Mr. Bernard, he found it very hard to look upon her and listen to +her unmoved. There was nothing that reminded him of the stormy-browed, +almost savage girl he remembered in her fierce loveliness,--nothing of +all her singularities of air and of costume. Nothing? Yes, one thing. +Weak and suffering as she was, she had never parted with one particular +ornament, such as a sick person would naturally, as it might be +supposed, get rid of at once. The golden cord which she wore round her +neck at the great party was still there. A bracelet was lying by her +pillow; she had unclasped it from her wrist. + +Before Mr. Bernard left her, she said,--"I shall never see you again. +Some time or other, perhaps, you will mention my name to one whom you +love. Give her this from your scholar and friend Elsie." + +He took the bracelet, raised her hand to his lips, then turned his face +away; in that moment he was the weaker of the two. + +"Good-bye," she said; "thank you for coming." + +His voice died away in his throat, as he tried to answer her. She +followed him with her eyes as he passed from her sight through the door, +and when it closed after him sobbed tremulously once or twice,--but +stilled herself, and met Helen, as she entered, with a composed +countenance. + +"I have had a very pleasant visit from Mr. Langdon," Elsie said. "Sit +by me, Helen, awhile without speaking; I should like to sleep, if I +can,--and to dream." + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE GOLDEN CORD IS LOOSED. + + +The Reverend Chauncy Fairweather, hearing that his parishioner's +daughter, Elsie, was very ill, could do nothing less than come to the +mansion-house and tender such consolations as he was master of. It was +rather remarkable that the old Doctor did not exactly approve of his +visit. He thought that company of every sort might be injurious in her +weak state. He was of opinion that Mr. Fairweather, though greatly +interested in religious matters, was not the most sympathetic person +that could be found; in fact, the old Doctor thought he was too much +taken up with his own interests for eternity to give himself quite so +heartily to the need of other people as some persons got up on a rather +more generous scale (our good neighbor Dr. Honeywood, for instance) +could do. However, all these things had better be arranged to suit her +wants; if she would like to talk with a clergyman, she had a great +deal better see one as often as she liked, and run the risk of the +excitement, than have a hidden wish for such a visit and perhaps find +herself too weak to see him by-and-by. + +The old Doctor knew by sad experience that dreadful mistake against +which all medical practitioners should be warned. His experience may +well be a guide for others. Do not overlook the desire for spiritual +advice and consolation which patients sometimes feel, and, with the +frightful _mauvaise honte_ peculiar to Protestantism, alone among all +human beliefs, are ashamed to tell. As a part of medical treatment, it +is the physician's business to detect the hidden longing for the food of +the soul, as much as for any form of bodily nourishment. Especially in +the higher walks of society, where this unutterably miserable false +shame of Protestantism acts in proportion to the general acuteness of +the cultivated sensibilities, let no unwillingness to suggest the sick +person's real need suffer him to languish between his want and his +morbid sensitiveness. What an infinite advantage the Mussulmans and the +Catholics have over many of our more exclusively spiritual sects in the +way they keep their religion always by them and never blush for it! And +besides this spiritual longing, we should never forget that + + "On some fond breast the parting soul relies," + +and the minister of religion, in addition to the sympathetic nature +which we have a right to demand in him, has trained himself to the art +of entering into the feelings of others. + +The reader must pardon this digression, which introduces the visit of +the Reverend Chauncy Fairweather to Elsie Venner. It was mentioned +to her that he would like to call and see how she was, and she +consented,--not with much apparent interest, for she had reasons of her +own for not feeling any very deep conviction of his sympathy for persons +in sorrow. But he came, and worked the conversation round to religion, +and confused her with his hybrid notions, half made up of what he had +been believing and teaching all his life, and half of the new doctrines +which he had veneered upon the surface of his old belief. He got so +far as to make a prayer with her,--a cool, well-guarded prayer, which +compromised his faith as little as possible, and which, if devotion were +a game played against Providence, might have been considered a cautious +and sagacious move. + +When he had gone, Elsie called Old Sophy to her. + +"Sophy," she said, "don't let them send that cold-hearted man to me any +more. If your old minister comes to see you, I should like to hear him +talk. He looks as if he cared for everybody, and would care for me. And, +Sophy, if I should die one of these days, I should like to have that old +minister come and say whatever is to be said over me. It would comfort +Dudley more, I know, than to have that hard man here, when you're in +trouble: for some of you will be sorry when I'm gone,--won't you, +Sophy?" + +The poor old black woman could not stand this question. The cold +minister had frozen Elsie until she felt as if nobody cared for her or +would regret her,--and her question had betrayed this momentary feeling. + +"Don' talk so! don' talk so, darlin'!" she cried, passionately. "When +you go, Ol' Sophy'll go; 'n' where you go, Ol' Sophy'll go: 'n' we'll +both go t' th' place where th' Lord takes care of all his children, +whether their faces are white or black. Oh, darlin', darlin'! if th' +Lord should let me die fus', you shall fin' all ready for you when you +come after me. On'y don' go 'n' leave poor Ol' Sophy all 'lone in th' +world!" + +Helen came in at this moment and quieted the old woman with a look. Such +scenes were just what were most dangerous, in the state in which Elsie +was lying: but that is one of the ways in which an affectionate friend +sometimes unconsciously wears out the life which a hired nurse, thinking +of nothing but her regular duties and her wages, would have spared from +all emotional fatigue. + +The change which had come over Elsie's disposition was itself the cause +of new excitements. How was it possible that her father could keep away +from her, now that she was coming back to the nature and the very look +of her mother, the bride of his youth? How was it possible to refuse +her, when she said to Old Sophy that she should like to have her +minister come in and sit by her, even though his presence might perhaps +prove a new source of excitement? + +But the Reverend Doctor did come and sit by her, and spoke such soothing +words to her, words of such peace and consolation, that from that hour +she was tranquil as never before. All true hearts are alike in the +hour of need; the Catholic has a reserved fund of faith for his +fellow-creature's trying moment, and the Calvinist reread those springs +of human brotherhood and chanty in his soul which are only covered over +by the iron tables inscribed with the harder dogmas of his creed. It was +enough that the Reverend Doctor knew all Elsie's history. He could not +judge her by any formula, like those which have been moulded by past +ages out of their ignorance. He did not talk with her as if she were an +outside sinner, worse than himself. He found a bruised and languishing +soul, and bound up its wounds. A blessed office,--one which is confined +to no sect or creed, but which good men in all times, under various +names and with varying ministries, to suit the need of each age, of each +race, of each individual soul, have come forward to discharge for their +suffering fellow-creatures. + +After this there was little change in Elsie, except that her heart beat +more feebly every day,--so that the old Doctor himself, with all his +experience, could see nothing to account for the gradual failing of the +powers of life, and yet could find no remedy which seemed to arrest its +progress in the smallest degree. + +"Be very careful," he said, "that she is not allowed to make any +muscular exertion. Any such effort, when a person is so enfeebled, may +stop the heart in a moment; and if it stops, it will never move again." + +Helen enforced this rule with the greatest care. Elsie was hardly +allowed to move her hand or to speak above a whisper. It seemed to be +mainly the question now, whether this trembling flame of life would be +blown out by some light breath of air, or whether it could be so nursed +and sheltered by the hollow of these watchful hands that it would have a +chance to kindle to its natural brightness. + +--Her father came in to sit with her in the evening. He had never talked +so freely with her as during the hour he had passed at her bedside, +telling her little circumstances of her mother's life, living over with +her all that was pleasant in the past, and trying to encourage her with +some cheerful gleams of hope for the future. A faint smile played over +her face, but she did not answer his encouraging suggestions. The hour +came for him to leave her with those who watched by her. + +"Good-night, my dear child," he said, and, stooping down, kissed her +cheek. + +Elsie rose by a sudden effort, threw her arms round his neck, kissed +him, and said, "Good-night, my dear father!" + +The suddenness of her movement had taken him by surprise, or he would +have checked so dangerous an effort. It was too late now. Her arms +slid away from him like lifeless weights,--her head fell back upon her +pillow,--a long sigh breathed through her lips. + +"She is faint," said Helen, doubtfully; "bring me the hartshorn, Sophy." + +The old woman had started from her place, and was now leaning over her, +looking in her face, and listening for the sound of her breathing. + +"She's dead! Elsie's dead! My darlin' 's dead!" she cried aloud, filling +the room with her utterance of anguish. + +Dudley Venner drew her away and silenced her with a voice of authority, +while Helen and an assistant plied their restoratives. It was all in +vain. + +The solemn tidings passed from the chamber of death through the family. +The daughter, the hope of that old and honored house, was dead in the +freshness of her youth, and the home of its solitary representative was +hereafter doubly desolate. + +A messenger rode hastily out of the avenue. A little after this the +people of the village and the outlying farm-houses were startled by the +sound of a bell. + +One,--two,--three,--four,-- + +They stopped in every house, as far as the wavering vibrations reached, +and listened-- + +--five,--six,--seven,-- + +It was not the little child which had been lying so long at the point of +death; that could not be more than three or four years old-- + +--eight,--nine,--ten,--and so on to +fifteen,--sixteen,--seventeen,--eighteen---- + +The pulsations seemed to keep on,--but it was the brain, and not the +bell, that was throbbing now. + +"Elsie's dead!" was the exclamation at a hundred firesides. + +"Eighteen year old," said old Widow Peake, rising from her chair. +"Eighteen year ago I laid two gold eagles on her mother's eyes,--he +wouldn't have anything but gold touch her eyelids,--and now Elsie's to +be straightened,--the Lord have mercy on her poor sinful soul!" + +Dudley Venner prayed that night that he might be forgiven, if he had +failed in any act of duty or kindness to this unfortunate child of his, +now freed from all the woes born with her and so long poisoning her +soul. He thanked God for the brief interval of peace which had been +granted her, for the sweet communion they had enjoyed in these last +days, and for the hope of meeting her with that other lost friend in a +better world. + +Helen mingled a few broken thanks and petitions with her tears: thanks +that she had been permitted to share the last days and hours of this +poor sister in sorrow; petitions that the grief of bereavement might be +lightened to the lonely parent and the faithful old servant. + +Old Sophy said almost nothing, but sat day and night by her dead +darling. But sometimes her anguish would find an outlet in strange +sounds, something between a cry and a musical note,--such as none had +ever heard her utter before. These were old remembrances surging up from +her childish days,--coming through her mother from the cannibal chief, +her grandfather,--death-wails, such as they sing in the mountains of +Western Africa, when they see the fires on distant hill-sides and know +that their own wives and children are undergoing the fate of captives. + +The time came when Elsie was to be laid by her mother in the small +square marked by the white stone. + +It was not unwillingly that the Reverend Chauncy Fairweather had +relinquished the duty of conducting the service to the Reverend Doctor +Honeywood, in accordance with Elsie's request. He could not, by any +reasoning, reconcile his present way of thinking with a hope for the +future of his unfortunate parishioner. Any good old Roman Catholic +priest, born and bred to his faith and his business, would have found a +loop-hole into some kind of heaven for her, by virtue of his doctrine of +"invincible ignorance," or other special proviso; but a recent convert +cannot enter into the working conditions of his new creed. Beliefs must +be lived in for a good while, before they accommodate themselves to the +soul's wants, and wear loose enough to be comfortable. + +The Reverend Doctor had no such scruples. Like thousands of those who +are classed nominally with the despairing believers, he had never prayed +over a departed brother or sister without feeling and expressing a +guarded hope that there was mercy in store for the poor sinner, whom +parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters could not bear to give up +to utter ruin without a word,--and would not, as he knew full well, +in virtue of that human love and sympathy which nothing can ever +extinguish. And in this poor Elsie's history he could read nothing +which the tears of the recording angel might not wash away. As the good +physician of the place knew the diseases that assailed the bodies of men +and women, so he had learned the mysteries of the sickness of the soul. + +So many wished to look upon Elsie's face once more, that her father +would not deny them; nay, he was pleased that those who remembered her +living should see her in the still beauty of death. Helen and those with +her arrayed her for this farewell-view. All was ready for the sad or +curious eyes which were to look upon her. There was no painful change to +be concealed by any artifice. Even her round neck was left uncovered, +that she might be more like one who slept. Only the golden cord was left +in its place: some searching eye might detect a trace of that birth-mark +which it was whispered she had always worn a necklace to conceal. + +At the last moment, when all the preparations were completed, Old Sophy +stooped over her, and, with trembling hand, loosed the golden cord. She +looked intently, for some little space: there was no shade nor blemish +where the ring of gold had encircled her throat. She took it gently away +and laid it in the casket which held her ornaments. + +"The Lord be praised!" the old woman cried, aloud. "He has taken away +the mark that was on her; she's fit to meet his holy angels now!" + +So Elsie lay for hours in the great room, in a kind of state, with +flowers all about her,--her black hair braided, as in life,--her +brows smooth, as if they had never known the scowl of passion,--and +on her lips the faint smile with which she had uttered her last +"Good-night." The young girls from the school looked at her, one after +another, and passed on, sobbing, carrying in their hearts the picture +that would be with them all their days. The great people of the place +were all there with their silent sympathy. The lesser kind of gentry, +and many of the plainer folk of the village, half-pleased to find +themselves passing beneath the stately portico of the ancient +mansion-house, crowded in, until the ample rooms were overflowing. All +the friends whose acquaintance we have made were there, and many from +remoter villages and towns. + +There was a deep silence at last. The hour had come for the parting +words to be spoken over the dead. The good old minister's voice rose out +of the stillness, subdued and tremulous at first, but growing firmer and +clearer as he went on, until it reached the ears of the visitors who +were in the far, desolate chambers, looking at the pictured hangings and +the old dusty portraits. He did not tell her story in his prayer. He +only spoke of our dear departed sister as one of many whom Providence in +its wisdom has seen fit to bring under bondage from their cradles. It +was not for us to judge them by any standard of our own. He who made the +heart alone knew the infirmities it inherited or acquired. For all that +our dear sister had presented that was interesting and attractive in her +character we were to be grateful; for whatever was dark or inexplicable +we must trust that the deep shadow which rested on the twilight dawn of +her being might render a reason before the bar of Omniscience; for the +grace which had lightened her last days we should pour out our hearts in +thankful acknowledgment. From the life and the death of this our dear +sister we should learn a lesson of patience with our fellow-creatures in +their inborn peculiarities, of charity in judging what seem to us wilful +faults of character, of hope and trust, that, by sickness or affliction, +or such inevitable discipline as life must always bring with it, if by +no gentler means, the soul which had been left by Nature to wander into +the path of error and of suffering might be reclaimed and restored to +its true aim, and so led on by divine grace to its eternal welfare. He +closed his prayer by commending each member of the afflicted family to +the divine blessing. + +Then all at once rose the clear sound of the girls' voices, in the +sweet, sad melody of a funeral hymn,--one of those which Elsie had +marked, as if prophetically, among her own favorites. + +And so they laid her in the earth, and showered down flowers upon her, +and filled her grave, and covered it with green sods. By the side of it +was another oblong ridge, with a white stone standing at its head. Mr. +Bernard looked upon it, as he came close to the place where Elsie was +laid, and read the inscription,-- + + CATALINA + + WIFE TO DUDLEY VENNER + + DIED + + OCTOBER 13TH 1840 + + AGED XX YEARS. + +A gentle rain fell on the turf after it was laid. This was the beginning +of a long and dreary autumnal storm, a deferred "equinoctial," as many +considered it. The mountain-streams were all swollen and turbulent, and +the steep declivities were furrowed in every direction by new channels. +It made the house seem doubly desolate to hear the wind howling and the +rain beating upon the roofs. The poor relation who was staying at the +house would insist on Helen's remaining a few days: Old Sophy was in +such a condition, that it kept her in continual anxiety and there were +many cares which Helen could take off from her. + +The old black woman's life was buried in her darling's grave. She did +nothing but moan and lament for her. At night she was restless, and +would get up and wander to Elsie's apartment and look for her and call +her by name. At other times she would lie awake and listen to the wind +and the rain,--sometimes with such a wild look upon her face, and with +such sudden starts and exclamations, that it seemed, as if she heard +spirit-voices and were answering the whispers of unseen visitants. With +all this were mingled hints of her old superstition,--forebodings of +something fearful about to happen,--perhaps the great final catastrophe +of all things, according to the prediction current in the kitchens of +Rockland. + +"Hark!" Old Sophy would say,--"don' you hear th' crackin' 'n' th' +snappin' up in 'Th' Mountain, 'n' th' rollin' o' th' big stones? The' 's +somethin' stirrin' among th' rocks; I hear th' soun' of it in th' night, +when th' wind has stopped blowin'. Oh, stay by me a little while, Miss +Darlin'! stay by me! for it's th' Las' Day, may be, that's close on us, +'n' I feel as if I couldn' meet th' Lord all alone!" + +It was curious,--but Helen did certainly recognize sounds, during the +lull of the storm, which were not of falling rain or running streams, +--short snapping sounds, as of tense cords breaking,--long uneven +sounds, as of masses rolling down steep declivities. But the morning +came as usual; and as the others said nothing of these singular noises, +Helen did not think it necessary to speak of them. All day long she +and the humble relative of Elsie's mother, who had appeared, as poor +relations are wont to in the great crises of life, were busy in +arranging the disordered house, and looking over the various objects +which Elsie's singular tastes had brought together, to dispose of them +as her father might direct. They all met together at the usual hour for +tea. One of the servants came in, looking very blank, and said to the +poor relation,-- + +"The well is gone dry; we have nothing but rain-water." + +Dudley Venner's countenance changed; he sprang to his feet and went to +assure himself of the fact, and, if he could, of the reason of it. For +a well to dry up during such a rain-storm was extraordinary,--it was +ominous. + +He came back, looking very anxious. + +"Did any of you notice any remarkable sounds last night," he said,-- +"or this morning? Hark! do you hear anything now?" + +They listened in perfect silence for a few moments. Then there came a +short cracking sound, and two or three snaps, as of parting cords. + +Dudley Venner called all his household together. + +"We are in danger here, as I think, to-night," he said,--"not very +great danger, perhaps, but it is a risk I do not wish you to run. These +heavy rains have loosed some of the rocks above, and they may come down +and endanger the house. Harness the horses, Elbridge, and take all the +family away. Miss Darley will go to the Institute; the others will pass +the night at the Mountain House. I shall stay here, myself: it is not +at all likely that anything will come of these warnings; but if there +should, I choose to be here and take my chance." + +It needs little, generally, to frighten servants, and they were all +ready enough to go. The poor relation was one of the timid sort, and was +terribly uneasy to be got out of the house. This left no alternative, of +course, for Helen, but to go also. They all urged upon Dudley Venner to +go with them: if there was danger, why should he remain to risk it, when +he sent away the others? + +Old Sophy said nothing until the time came for her to go with the second +of Elbridge's carriage-loads. + +"Come, Sophy," said Dudley Venner, "get your things and go. They will +take good care of you at the Mountain House; and when we have made sure +that there is no real danger, you shall come back at once." + +"No, Massa!" Sophy answered. "I've seen Elsie into th' ground, 'n' I +a'n't goin' away to come back 'n' fin' Massa Venner buried under th' +rocks. My darlin' 's gone; 'n' now, if Massa goes, 'n' th' ol' place +goes, it's time for Ol' Sophy to go, too. No, Massa Venner, we'll both +stay in th' ol' mansion 'n' wait for th' Lord!" + +Nothing could change the old woman's determination; and her master, who +only feared, but did not really expect the long-deferred catastrophe, +was obliged to consent to her staying. The sudden drying of the well at +such a time was the most alarming sign; for he remembered that the same +thing had been observed just before great mountain-slides. This long +rain, too, was just the kind of cause which was likely to loosen the +strata of rock piled up in the ledges; if the dreaded event should ever +come to pass, it would be at such a time. + +He paced his chamber uneasily until long past midnight. If the morning +came without accident, he meant to have a careful examination made of +all the rents and fissures above, of their direction and extent, and +especially whether, in case of a mountain-slide, the huge masses would +be like to reach so far to the east and so low down the declivity as the +mansion. + +At two o'clock in the morning he was dozing in his chair. Old Sophy had +lain down on her bed, and was muttering in troubled dreams. + +All at once a loud crash seemed to rend the very heavens above them: a +crack as of the thunder that follows close upon the bolt,--a rending and +crushing as of a forest snapped through all its stems, torn, twisted, +splintered, dragged with all its ragged boughs into one chaotic ruin. +The ground trembled under them as in an earthquake; the old mansion +shuddered so that all its windows chattered in their casements; the +great chimney shook off its heavy cap-stones, which came down on the +roof with resounding concussions; and the echoes of The Mountain roared +and bellowed in long reduplication, as if its whole foundations were +rent, and this were the terrible voice of its dissolution. + +Dudley Venner rose from his chair, folded his arms, and awaited his +fate. There was no knowing where to look for safety; and he remembered +too well the story of the family that was lost by rushing out of the +house, and so hurrying into the very jaws of death. + +He had stood thus but for a moment, when he heard the voice of Old Sophy +in a wild cry of terror:-- + +"It's the Las' Day! It's the Las' Day! The Lord is comin' to take us +all!" + +"Sophy!" he called; but she did not hear him or heed him, and rushed out +of the house. + +The worst danger was over. If they were to be destroyed, it would +necessarily be in a few seconds from the first thrill of the terrible +convulsion. He waited in awful suspense, but calm. Not more than one or +two minutes could have passed before the frightful tumult and all its +sounding echoes had ceased. He called Old Sophy; but she did not answer. +He went to the western window and looked forth into the darkness. He +could not distinguish the outlines of the landscape, but the white stone +was clearly visible, and by its side the new-made mound. Nay, what was +that which obscured its outline, in shape like a human figure? He flung +open the window and sprang through. It was all that there was left of +poor Old Sophy, stretched out, lifeless, upon her darling's grave. + +He had scarcely composed her limbs and drawn the sheet over her, when +the neighbors began to arrive from all directions. Each was expecting to +hear of houses overwhelmed and families destroyed; but each came with +the story that his own household was safe. It was not until the morning +dawned that the true nature and extent of the sudden movement was +ascertained. A great seam had opened above the long cliff, and the +terrible Rattlesnake Ledge, with all its envenomed reptiles, its +dark fissures and black caverns, was buried forever beneath a mighty +incumbent mass of ruin. + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +MR. SILAS PECKHAM RENDERS HIS ACCOUNT. + + +The morning rose clear and bright. The long storm was over, and the calm +autumnal sunshine was now to return, with all its infinite repose and +sweetness. With the earliest dawn exploring parties were out in every +direction along the southern slope of The Mountain, tracing the ravages +of the great slide and the track it had followed. It proved to be not so +much a slide as the breaking off and falling of a vast line of cliff, +including the dreaded Ledge. It had folded over like the leaves of a +half-opened book when they close, crushing the trees below, piling its +ruins in a glacis at the foot of what had been the overhanging wall of +the cliff, and filling up that deep cavity above the mansion-house which +bore the ill-omened name of Dead Man's Hollow. This it was which had +saved the Dudley mansion. The falling masses, or huge fragments +breaking off from them, would have swept the house and all around it to +destruction but for this deep shelving dell, into which the stream of +ruin was happily directed. It was, indeed, one of Nature's conservative +revolutions; for the fallen masses made a kind of shelf, which +interposed a level break between the inclined planes above and below it, +so that the nightmare-fancies of the dwellers in the Dudley mansion, and +in many other residences under the shadow of The Mountain, need not keep +them lying awake hereafter to listen for the snapping of roots and the +splitting of the rocks above them. + +Twenty-four hours after the falling of the cliff, it seemed as if it had +happened ages ago. The new fact had fitted itself in with all the old +predictions, forebodings, fears, and acquired the solidarity belonging +to all events which have slipped out of the fingers of Time and +dissolved in the antecedent eternity. + +Old Sophy was lying dead in the Dudley mansion. If there were tears shed +for her, they could not be bitter ones; for she had lived out her full +measure of days, and gone--who could help fondly believing it?--to +rejoin her beloved mistress. They made a place for her at the foot of +the two mounds. It was thus she would have chosen to sleep, and not to +have wronged her humble devotion in life by asking to lie at the side of +those whom she had served so long and faithfully. There were very few +present at the simple ceremony. Helen Darley was one of these few. The +old black woman had been her companion in all the kind offices of which +she had been the ministering angel to Elsie. + +After it was all over, Helen was leaving with the rest, when Dudley +Venner begged her to stay a little, and he would send her back: it was +a long walk; besides, he wished to say some things to her, which he had +not had the opportunity of speaking. Of course Helen could not refuse +him; there must be many thoughts coming into his mind which he would +wish to share with her who had known his daughter so long and been with +her in her last days. + +She returned into the great parlor with the wrought cornices and the +medallion-portraits on the ceiling. + +"I am now alone in the world," Dudley Venner said. + +Helen must have known that before he spoke. But the tone in which he +said it had so much meaning, that she could not find a word to answer +him with. They sat in silence, which the old tall clock counted out in +long seconds; but it was a silence which meant more than any words they +had ever spoken. + +"Alone in the world! Helen, the freshness of my life is gone, and there +is little left of the few graces which in my younger days might have +fitted me to win the love of women. Listen to me,--kindly, if you can; +forgive me, at least. Half my life has been passed in constant fear and +anguish, without any near friend to share my trials. My task is done +now; my fears have ceased to prey upon me; the sharpness of early +sorrows has yielded something of its edge to time. You have bound me to +you by gratitude in the tender care you have taken of my poor child. +More than this. I must tell you all now, out of the depth of this +trouble through which I am passing. I have loved you from the moment +we first met; and if my life has anything left worth accepting, it is +yours. Will you take the offered gift?" + +Helen looked in his face, surprised, bewildered. + +"This is not for me,--not for me," she said. "I am but a poor faded +flower, not worth the gathering of such a one as you. No, no,--I have +been bred to humble toil all my days, and I could not be to you what +you ought to ask. I am accustomed to a kind of loneliness and +self-dependence. I have seen nothing, almost, of the world, such as you +were born to move in. Leave me to my obscure place and duties; I shall +at least have peace;--and you--you will surely find in due time some one +better fitted by Nature and training to make you happy." + +"No, Miss Darley!" Dudley Venner said, almost sternly. "You must not +speak to a man who has lived through my experiences of looking about for +a new choice after his heart has once chosen. Say that you can never +love me; say that I have lived too long to share your young life; say +that sorrow has left nothing in me for Love to find his pleasure in; but +do not mock me with the hope of a new affection for some unknown object. +The first look of yours brought me to your side. The first tone of your +voice sunk into my heart. From this moment my life must wither out or +bloom anew. My home is desolate. Come under my roof and make it bright +once more,--share my life with me,--or I shall give the halls of the old +mansion to the bats and the owls, and wander forth alone without a hope +or a friend!" + +To find herself with a man's future at the disposal of a single word of +hers!--a man like this, too, with a fascination for her against which +she had tried to shut her heart, feeling that he lived in another sphere +than hers, working as she was for her bread, a poor operative in the +factory of a hard master and jealous overseer, the salaried drudge of +Mr. Silas Peckham! Why, she had thought he was grateful to her as a +friend of his daughter; she had even pleased herself with the feeling +that he liked her, in her humble place, as a woman of some cultivation +and many sympathetic! points of relation with himself; but that he +_loved_ her,--that this deep, fine nature, in a man so far removed from +her in outward circumstance, should have found its counterpart in one +whom life had treated so coldly as herself,--that Dudley Venner should +stake his happiness on a breath of hers,--poor Helen Darley's,--it was +all a surprise, a confusion, a kind of fear not wholly fearful. Ah, me! +women know what it is,--that mist over the eyes, that trembling in the +limbs, that faltering of the voice, that sweet, shame-faced, unspoken +confession of weakness which does not wish to be strong, that sudden +overflow in the soul where thoughts loose their hold on each other and +swim single and helpless in the flood of emotion,--women know what it +is! + +No doubt she was a little frightened and a good deal bewildered, and +that her sympathies were warmly excited for a friend to whom she had +been brought so near, and whose loneliness she saw and pitied. She lost +that calm self-possession she had hoped to maintain. + +"If I thought that I could make you happy,--if I should speak from my +heart, and not my reason,--I am but a weak woman,--yet if I can be to +you--What can I say?" + +What more could this poor, dear Helen say? + + * * * * * + +"Elbridge, harness the horses and take Miss Darley back to the school." + +What conversation had taken place since Helen's rhetorical failure is +not recorded in the minutes from which this narrative is constructed. +But when the man who had been summoned had gone to get the carriage +ready, Helen resumed something she had been speaking of. + +"Not for the world! Everything must go on just as it has gone on, for +the present. There are proprieties to be consulted. I cannot be +hard with you, that out of your very affliction has sprung +this--this--well--you must name it for me,--but the world will never +listen to explanations. I am to be Helen Darley, lady assistant in Mr. +Silas Peckham's school, as long as I see fit to hold my office. And I +mean to attend to my scholars just as before; so that I shall have very +little time for visiting or seeing company. I believe, though, you are +one of the Trustees and a Member of the Examining Committee; so that, if +you should happen to visit the school, I shall try to be civil to you." + +Every lady sees, of course, that Helen was quite right; but perhaps here +and there one will think that Dudley Venner was all wrong,--that he was +too hasty,--that he should have been too full of his recent grief for +such a confession as he has just made, and the passion from which it +sprung. Perhaps they do not understand the sudden recoil of a strong +nature long compressed. Perhaps they have not studied the mystery of +_allotropism_ in the emotions of the human heart. Go to the nearest +chemist and ask him to show you some of the dark-red phosphorus which +will not burn, without fierce heating, but at 500°, Fahrenheit, changes +back again to the inflammable substance we know so well. Grief seems +more like ashes than like fire; but as grief has been love once, so it +may become love again. This is emotional allotropism. + +Helen rode back to the Institute and inquired for Mr. Peckham. She had +not seen him during the brief interval between her departure from the +mansion-house and her return to Old Sophy's funeral. There were various +questions about the school she wished to ask. + +"Oh, how's your haälth, Miss Darley?" Silas began. "We've missed you +consid'able. Glad to see you back at the post of dooty. Hope the Squire +treated you hahnsomely,--liberal pecooniary compensation,--hey? A'n't +much of a loser, I guess, by acceptin' his propositions?" + +Helen blushed at this last question, as if Silas had meant something by +it beyond asking what money she had received; but his own double-meaning +expression and her blush were too nice points for him to have taken +cognizance of. He was engaged in a mental calculation as to the amount +of the deduction he should make under the head of "damage to the +institootion,"--this depending somewhat on that of the "pecooniary +compensation" she might have received for her services as the friend of +Elsie Venner. + +So Helen slid back at once into her routine, the same faithful, patient +creature she had always been. But what was this new light which seemed +to have kindled in her eyes? What was this look of peace, which nothing +could disturb, which smiled serenely through all the little meannesses +with which the daily life of the educational factory surrounded +her,--which not only made her seem resigned, but overflowed all her +features with a thoughtful, subdued happiness? Mr. Bernard did not +know,--perhaps he did not guess. The inmates of the Dudley mansion were +not scandalized by any mysterious visits of a veiled or unveiled lady. +The vibrating tongues of the "female youth" of the Institute were not +set in motion by the standing of an equipage at the gate, waiting for +their lady teacher. The servants at the mansion did not convey numerous +letters with superscriptions in a bold, manly hand, sealed with the arms +of a well-known house, and directed to Miss Helen Darley; nor, on the +other hand, did Hiram, the man from the lean streak in New Hampshire, +carry sweet-smelling, rose-hued, many-layered, criss-crossed, +fine-stitch-lettered packages of note-paper directed to Dudley Venner, +Esq., and all too scanty to hold that incredible expansion of the famous +three words which a woman was born to say,--that perpetual miracle which +astonishes all the go-betweens who wear their shoes out in carrying a +woman's infinite variations on the theme, "I love you." + +But the reader must remember that there are walks in country-towns where +people are liable to meet by accident, and that the hollow of an old +tree has served the purpose of a post-office sometimes; so that he has +her choice (to divide the pronouns impartially) of various hypotheses to +account for the new glory of happiness which seemed to have irradiated +our poor Helen's features, as if her dreary life were awakening in the +dawn of a blessed future. + +With all the alleviations which have been hinted at, Mr. Dudley Venner +thought that the days and the weeks had never moved so slowly as through +the last period of the autumn that was passing. Elsie had been a +perpetual source of anxiety to him, but still she had been a companion. +He could not mourn for her; for he felt that she was safer with her +mother, in that world where there are no more sorrows and dangers, than +she could have been with him. But as he sat at his window and looked at +the three mounds, the loneliness of the great house made it seem more +like the sepulchre than these narrow dwellings where his beloved and her +daughter lay close to each other, side by side,--Catalina, the bride +of his youth, and Elsie, the child whom he had nurtured, with poor Old +Sophy, who had followed them like a black shadow, at their feet, under +the same soft turf, sprinkled with the brown autumnal leaves. It was not +good for him to be thus alone. How should he ever live through the long +months of November and December? + +The months of November and December did, in some way or other, get +rid of themselves at last, bringing with them the usual events of +village-life and a few unusual ones. Some of the geologists had been up +to look at the great slide, of which they gave those prolix accounts +which everybody remembers who read the scientific journals of the time. +The engineers reported that there was little probability of any further +convulsion along the line of rocks which overhung the more thickly +settled part of the town. The naturalists drew up a paper on the +"Probable Extinction of the _Crotalus Durissus_ in the Township of +Rockland." The engagement of the Widow Rowens to a Little Millionville +merchant was announced,--"Sudding 'n' onexpected," Widow Leech +said,--"waälthy, or she wouldn't ha' looked at him,--fifty year old, if +he is a day, _'n' ha'n't got a white hair in his head."_ The Reverend +Chauncy Fairweather had publicly announced that he was going to join the +Roman Catholic communion,--not so much to the surprise or consternation +of the religious world as he had supposed. Several old ladies forthwith +proclaimed their intention of following him; but, as one or two of them +were deaf, and another had been threatened with an attack of that mild, +but obstinate complaint, _dementia senilis_, many thought it was not so +much the force of his arguments as a kind of tendency to jump as the +bellwether jumps, well known in flocks not included in the Christian +fold. His bereaved congregation immediately began pulling candidates on +and off, like new boots, on trial. Some pinched in tender places; some +were too loose; some were too square-toed; some were too coarse, and +didn't please; some were too thin, and wouldn't last;--in short, they +couldn't possibly find a fit. At last people began to drop in to hear +old Doctor Honeywood. They were quite surprised to find what a human old +gentleman he was, and went back and told the others, that, instead of +being a case of confluent sectarianism, as they supposed, the good old +minister had been so well vaccinated with charitable virus that he was +now a true, open-souled Christian of the mildest type. The end of all +which was, that the liberal people went over to the old minister almost +in a body, just at the time that Deacon Shearer and the "Vinegar-Bible" +party split off, and that not long afterwards they sold their own +meeting-house to the malecontents, so that Deacon Soper used often to +remind Colonel Sprowle of his wish that "our little man and him [the +Reverend Doctor] would swop pulpits," and tell him it had "pooty nigh +come trew."--But this is anticipating the course of events, which were +much longer in coming about; for we have but just got through that +terribly long month, as Mr. Dudley Venner found it, of December. + +On the first of January, Mr. Silas Peckham was in the habit of settling +his quarterly accounts, and making such new arrangements as his +convenience or interest dictated. New-Year was a holiday at the +Institute. No doubt this accounted for Helen's being dressed so +charmingly,--always, to be sure, in her own simple way, but yet with +such a true lady's air that she looked fit to be the mistress of any +mansion in the land. + +She was in the parlor alone, a little before noon, when Mr. Peckham came +in. + +"I'm ready to settle my account with you now, Miss Darley," said Silas. + +"As you please, Mr. Peckham," Helen answered, very graciously. + +"Before payin' you your selary," the Principal continued, "I wish to +come to an understandin' as to the futur'. I consider that I've been +payin' high, very high, for the work you do. Women's wages can't be +expected to do more than feed and clothe 'em, as a gineral thing, with +a little savin', in case of sickness, and to bury 'em, if they +break daown, as all of 'em are liable to do at any time. If I a'n't +misinformed, you not only support yourself out of my establishment, but +likewise relatives of yours, who I don't know that I'm called upon to +feed and clothe. There is a young woman, not burdened with destitoot +relatives, has signified that she would be glad to take your dooties for +less pecooniary compensation, by a consid'able amaount, than you now +receive. I shall be willin', however, to retain your services at sech +redooced rate as we shall fix upon,--provided sech redooced rate be as +low or lower than the same services can be obtained elsewhere." + +"As you please, Mr. Peckham," Helen answered, with a smile so sweet that +the Principal (who of course had trumped up this opposition-teacher for +the occasion) said to himself she would stand being cut down a quarter, +perhaps a half, of her salary. + +"Here is your accaount, Miss Darley, and the balance doo you," +said Silas Peckham, handing her a paper and a small roll of +infectious-flavored bills wrapping six poisonous coppers of the old +coinage. + +She took the paper and began looking at it. She could not quite make up +her mind to touch the feverish bills with the cankering copper in them, +and left them airing themselves on the table. + +The document she held ran as follows: + + _Silas Peckham, Esq., Principal of the Apollinean Institute, + In Account with Helen Darley, Assist. Teacher._ + + _Dr._ + To Salary for quarter ending Jan. 1st, + @ $75 per quarter . . . . . . $75.00 + + ______ + $75.00 + + _Cr._ + By Deduction for absence, 1 week 8 + days . . . . . . . . . . $10.00 + " Board, lodging, etc., for 10 days, + @ 75 cts. per day . . . . . . 7.50 + " Damage to Institution by absence + of teacher from duties, say . . . 25.00 + " Stationery furnished . . . . . 43 + " Postage-stamp . . . . . . . 01 + " Balance due Helen Darley . . $32.06 + ______ + $75.00 + + ROCKLAND, Jan. 1st, 1859. + +Now Helen had her own private reasons for wishing to receive the +small sum which was due her at this time without any unfair +deduction,--reasons which we need not inquire into too particularly, +as we may be very sure that they were right and womanly. So, when she +looked over this account of Mr. Silas Peckham's, and saw that he had +contrived to pare down her salary to something less than half its +stipulated amount, the look which her countenance wore was as near to +that of righteous indignation as her gentle features and soft blue eyes +would admit of its being. + +"Why, Mr. Peckham," she said, "do you mean this? If I am of so much +value to you that you must take off twenty-five dollars for ten days' +absence, how is it that my salary is to be cut down to less than +seventy-five dollars a quarter, if I remain here?" + +"I gave you fair notice," said Silas. "I have a minute of it I took down +immed'ately after the intervoo." + +He lugged out his large pocket-book with the strap going all round it, +and took from it a slip of paper which confirmed his statement. + +"Besides," he added, slyly, "I presoom you have received a liberal +pecooniary compensation from Squire Venner for nussin' his daughter." + +Helen was looking over the bill while he was speaking. + +"Board and lodging for ten days, Mr. Peckham,--_whose_ board and +lodging, pray?" + +The door opened before Silas Peckham could answer, and Mr. Bernard +walked into the parlor. Helen was holding the bill in her hand, looking +as any woman ought to look who has been at once wronged and insulted. + +"The last turn of the thumbscrew!" said Mr. Bernard to himself. "What is +it, Helen? You look troubled." + +She handed him the account. + +He looked at the footing of it. Then he looked at the items. Then he +looked at Silas Peckham. + +At this moment Silas was sublime. He was so transcendency unconscious of +the emotions going on in Mr. Bernard's mind at the moment, that he had +only a single thought. + +"The accaount's correc'ly cast, I presoom;--if the' 's any mistake +of figgers or addin' 'em up, it'll be made all right. Everything's +accordin' to agreement. The minute written immed'ately after the +intervoo is here in my possession." + +Mr. Bernard looked at Helen. Just what would have happened to Silas +Peckham, as he stood then and there, but for the interposition of a +merciful Providence, nobody knows or ever will know; for at that moment +steps were heard upon the stairs, and Hiram threw open the parlor-door +for Mr. Dudley Venner to enter. + +He saluted them all gracefully with the good-wishes of the season, and +each of them returned his compliment,--Helen blushing fearfully, of +course, but not particularly noticed in her embarrassment by more than +one. + +Silas Peckham reckoned with perfect confidence on his Trustees, who had +always said what he told them to, and done what he wanted. It was a good +chance now to show off his power, and, by letting his instructors know +the unstable tenure of their offices, make it easier to settle his +accounts and arrange his salaries. There was nothing very strange in Mr. +Venner's calling; he was one of the Trustees, and this was New Year's +Day. But he had called just at the lucky moment for Mr. Peckham's +object. + +"I have thought some of makin' changes in the department of +instruction," he began. "Several accomplished teachers have applied to +me, who would be glad of sitooations. I understand that there never have +been so many fust-rate teachers, male and female, out of employment as +doorin' the present season. If I can make sahtisfahctory arrangements +with my present corpse of teachers, I shall be glad to do so; otherwise +I shell, with the permission of the Trustees, make sech noo arrangements +as circumstahnces compel." + +"You may make arrangements for a new assistant in my department, Mr. +Peckham," said Mr. Bernard, "at once,--this day,--this hour. I am not +safe to be trusted with your person five minutes out of this lady's +presence,--of whom I beg pardon for this strong language. Mr. Venner, I +must beg you, as one of the Trustees of this Institution, to look at the +manner in which its Principal has attempted to swindle this faithful +teacher, whose toils and sacrifices and self-devotion to the school +have made it all that it is, in spite of this miserable trader's +incompetence. Will you look at the paper I hold?" + +Dudley Venner took the account and read it through, without changing a +feature. Then he turned to Silas Peckham. + +"You may make arrangements for a new assistant in the branches this lady +has taught. Miss Helen Darley is to be my wife. I had hoped to announce +this news in a less abrupt and ungraceful manner. But I came to tell +you with my own lips what you would have learned before evening from my +friends in the village." + +Mr. Bernard went to Helen, who stood silent, with downcast eyes, and +took her hand warmly, hoping she might find all the happiness she +deserved. Then he turned to Dudley Venner, and said,-- + +"She is a queen, but has never found it out. The world has nothing +nobler than this dear woman, whom you have discovered in the disguise of +a teacher. God bless her and you!" + +Dudley Venner returned his friendly grasp, without answering a word in +articulate speech. + +Silas remained dumb and aghast for a brief space. Coming to himself +a little, he thought there might have been some mistake about the +items,--would like to have Miss Darley's bill returned,--would make it +all right,--had no idee that Squire Venner had a special int'rest in +Miss Darley,--was sorry he had given offence,--if he might take that +bill and look it over-- + +"No, Mr. Peckham," said Mr. Dudley Venner; "there will be a full meeting +of the Board next week, and the bill, and such evidence with reference +to the management of the Institution and the treatment of its +instructors as Mr. Langdon sees fit to bring forward, will be laid +before them." + +Miss Helen Darley became that very day the guest of Miss Arabella +Thornton, the Judge's daughter. Mr. Bernard made his appearance a week +or two later at the Lectures, where the Professor first introduced him +to the reader. + +He stayed after the class had left the room. + +"Ah, Mr. Langdon! how do you do? Very glad to see you back again. How +have you been since our correspondence on Fascination and other curious +scientific questions?" + +It was the Professor who spoke,--whom the reader will recognize as +myself, the teller of this story. + +"I have been well," Mr. Bernard answered, with a serious look which +invited a further question. + +"I hope you have had none of those painful or dangerous experiences you +seemed to be thinking of when you wrote; at any rate, you have escaped +having your obituary written." + +"I have seen some things worth remembering. Shall I call on you this +evening and tell you about them?" + +"I shall be most happy to see you." + + * * * * * + +This was the way in which I, the Professor, became acquainted with some +of the leading events of this story. They interested me sufficiently +to lead me to avail myself of all those other extraordinary methods of +obtaining information well known to writers of narrative. + +Mr. Langdon seemed to me to have gained in seriousness and strength of +character by his late experiences. He threw his whole energies into +his studies with an effect which distanced all his previous efforts. +Remembering my former hint, he employed his spare hours in writing for +the annual prizes, both of which he took by a unanimous vote of the +judges. Those who heard him read his Thesis at the Medical Commencement +will not soon forget the impression made by his fine personal appearance +and manners, nor the universal interest excited in the audience, as +he read, with his beautiful enunciation, that striking paper entitled +"Unresolved Nebulas in Vital Science." It was a general remark of the +Faculty,--and old Doctor Kittredge, who had come down on purpose to hear +Mr. Langdon, heartily agreed to it,--that there had never been a diploma +filled up, since the institution which conferred upon him the degree of +_Doctor Medicinae_ was founded, which carried with it more of promise to +the profession than that which bore the name of + +Bernardus Caryl Langdon + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CONCLUSION. + + +Mr. Bernard Langdon had no sooner taken his degree, than, in accordance +with the advice of one of his teachers whom he frequently consulted, he +took an office in the heart of the city where he had studied. He had +thought of beginning in a suburb or some remoter district of the city +proper. + +"No," said his teacher,--to wit, myself,--"don't do any such thing. You +are made for the best kind of practice; don't hamper yourself with an +outside constituency, such as belongs to a practitioner of the second +class. When a fellow like you chooses his beat, he must look ahead a +little. Take care of all the poor that apply to you, but leave the +half-pay classes to a different style of doctor,--the people who spend +one half their time in taking care of their patients, and the other half +in squeezing out their money. Go for the swell-fronts and south-exposure +houses; the folks inside are just as good as other people, and the +pleasantest, on the whole, to take care of. They must have somebody, and +they like a gentleman best. Don't throw yourself away. You have a +good presence and pleasing manners. You wear white linen by inherited +instinct. You can pronounce the word _view_. You have all the elements +of success; go and take it. Be polite and generous, but don't undervalue +yourself. You will be useful, at any rate; you may just as well be +happy, while you are about it. The highest social class furnishes +incomparably the best patients, taking them by and large. Besides, when +they won't get well and bore you to death, you can send 'em off to +travel. Mind me now, and take the tops of your sparrowgrass. Somebody +must have 'em,--why shouldn't you? If you don't take your chance, you'll +get the butt-ends as a matter of course." + +Mr. Bernard talked like a young man full of noble sentiments. He wanted +to be useful to his fellow-beings. Their social differences were nothing +to him. He would never court the rich,--he would go where he was called. +He would rather save the life of a poor mother of a family than that of +half a dozen old gouty millionnaires whose heirs had been yawning and +stretching these ten years to get rid of them. + +"Generous emotions!" I exclaimed. "Cherish 'em; cling to 'em till you +are fifty,--till you are seventy,--till you are ninety! But do as I tell +you,--strike for the best circle of practice, and you'll be sure to get +it!" + +Mr. Langdon did as I told him,--took a genteel office, furnished it +neatly, dressed with a certain elegance, soon made a pleasant circle +of acquaintances, and began to work his way into the right kind of +business. I missed him, however, for some days, not long after he had +opened his office. On his return, he told me he had been up at Rockland, +by special invitation, to attend the wedding of Mr. Dudley Venner and +Miss Helen Darley. He gave me a full account of the ceremony, which +I regret that I cannot relate in full. "Helen looked like an +angel,"--that, I am sure, was one of his expressions. As for her dress, +I should like to give the details, but am afraid of committing blunders, +as men always do, when they undertake to describe such matters. White +dress, anyhow,--that I am sure of,--with orange-flowers, and the most +wonderful lace veil that was ever seen or heard of. The Reverend Doctor +Honeywood performed the ceremony, of course. The good people seemed to +have forgotten they ever had had any other minister,--except Deacon +Shearer and his set of malecontents, who were doing a dull business in +the meeting-house lately occupied by the Reverend Mr. Fairweather. + +"Who was at the wedding?" + +"Everybody, pretty much. They wanted to keep it quiet, but it was of no +use. Married at church. Front pews, old Doctor Kittredge and all the +mansion-house people and distinguished strangers,--Colonel Sprowle and +family, including Matilda's young gentleman, a graduate of one of +the fresh-water colleges,--Mrs. Pickins (late Widow Rowens) and +husband,--Deacon Soper and numerous parishioners. A little nearer the +door, Abel, the Doctor's man, and Elbridge, who drove them to church in, +the family-coach. Father Fairweather, as they all call him now, came in +late, with Father McShane." + +"And Silas Peckham?" + +"Oh, Silas had left The School and Rockland. Cut up altogether too +badly in the examination instituted by the Trustees. Had moved over +to Tamarack, and thought of renting a large house and 'farming' the +town-poor." + + * * * * * + +Some time after this, as I was walking with a young friend along by the +swell-fronts and south-exposures, whom should I see but Mr. Bernard +Langdon, looking remarkably happy, and keeping step by the side of a +very handsome and singularly well-dressed young lady? He bowed and +lifted his hat as we passed. + +"Who is that pretty girl my young doctor has got there?" I said to my +companion. + +"Who is that?" he answered. "You don't know? Why, that is neither more +nor less than Miss Letitia Forester, daughter of--of--why, the great +banking-firm, you know, Bilyuns Brothers & Forester. Got acquainted with +her in the country, they say. There's a story that they're engaged, or +like to be, if the firm consents." + +"Oh!" I said. + +I did not like the look of it in the least. Too young,--too young. Has +not taken any position yet. No right to ask for the hand of Bilyuns +Brothers & Co.'s daughter. Besides, it will spoil him for practice, if +he marries a rich girl before he has formed habits of work. + +I looked in at his office the next day. A box of white kids was lying +open on the table. A three-cornered note, directed in a very delicate +lady's-hand, was distinguishable among a heap of papers. I was just +going to call him to account for his proceedings, when he pushed +the three-cornered note aside and took up a letter with a great +corporation-seal upon it. He had received the offer of a professor's +chair in an ancient and distinguished institution. + +"Pretty well for three-and-twenty, my boy," I said. "I suppose you'll +think you must be married one of these days, if you accept this office." + +Mr. Langdon blushed.--There had been stories about him, he knew. His +name had been mentioned in connection with that of a very charming young +lady. The current reports were not true. He had met this young lady, +and been much pleased with her, in the country, at the house of her +grandfather, the Reverend Doctor Honeywood,--you remember Miss Letitia +Forester, whom I have mentioned repeatedly? On coming to town, he found +his country-acquaintance in a social position which seemed to discourage +his continued intimacy. He had discovered, however, that he was a not +unwelcome visitor, and had kept up friendly relations with her. But +there was no truth in the current reports,--none at all. + +Some months had passed, after this visit, when I happened one evening to +stroll into a box in one of the principal theatres of the city. A small +party sat on the seats before me: a middle-aged gentleman and his lady, +in front, and directly behind them my young doctor and the same very +handsome young lady I had seen him walking with on the side-walk before +the swell-fronts and south-exposures. As Professor Langdon seemed to be +very much taken up with his companion, and both of them looked as if +they were enjoying themselves, I determined not to make my presence +known to my young friend, and to withdraw quietly after feasting my eyes +with the sight of them for a few minutes. + +"It looks as if something might come of it," I said to myself. + +At that moment the young lady lifted her arm accidentally, in such a way +that the light fell upon the clasp of a chain which encircled her wrist. +My eyes filled with tears as I read upon the clasp, in sharp-cut Italic +letters, _E.V._ They were tears at once of sad remembrance and of joyous +anticipation; for the ornament on which I looked was the double +pledge of a dead sorrow and a living affection. It was the golden +bracelet,--the parting-gift of Elsie Venner. + + * * * * * + + +BUBBLES. + + +I. + + I stood on the brink in childhood, + And watched the bubbles go + From the rock-fretted sunny ripple + To the smoother lymph below; + + And over the white creek-bottom, + Under them every one, + Went golden stars in the water, + All luminous with the sun. + + But the bubbles brake on the surface, + And under, the stars of gold + Brake, and the hurrying water + Flowed onward, swift and cold. + + +II. + + I stood on the brink in manhood, + And it came to my weary heart,-- + In my breast so dull and heavy, + After the years of smart,-- + + That every hollowest bubble + Which over my life had passed + Still into its deeper current + Some sky-sweet gleam had cast; + + That, however I mocked it gayly, + And guessed at its hollowness, + Still shone, with each bursting bubble, + One star in my soul the less. + + + + +CITIES AND PARKS: + +WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEW YORK CENTRAL PARK. + + +The first murderer was the first city-builder; and a good deal of +murdering has been carried on in the interest of city-building ever +since Cain's day. Narrow and crooked streets, want of proper sewerage +and ventilation, the absence of forethought in providing open spaces for +the recreation of the people, the allowance of intramural burials, +and of fetid nuisances, such as slaughter-houses and manufactories of +offensive stuffs, have converted cities into pestilential inclosures, +and kept Jefferson's saying--"Great cities are great sores"--true in its +most literal and mortifying sense. + +There is some excuse for the crowded and irregular character of +Old-World cities. They grew, and were not builded. Accumulations +of people, who lighted like bees upon a chance branch, they found +themselves hived in obdurate brick and mortar before they knew it; and +then, to meet the necessities of their cribbed, cabined, and confined +condition, they must tear down sacred landmarks, sacrifice invaluable +possessions, and trample on prescriptive rights, to provide +breathing-room for their gasping population. Besides, air, water, light, +and cleanliness are modern innovations. The nose seems to have acquired +its sensitiveness within a hundred years,--the lungs their objection to +foul air, and the palate its disgust at ditch-water like the Thames, +within a more recent period. Honestly dirty, and robustly indifferent to +what mortally offends our squeamish senses, our happy ancestors fattened +on carbonic acid gas, and took the exhalations of graveyards and gutters +with a placidity of stomach that excites our physiological admiration. +If they died, it was not for want of air. The pestilence carried, them +off,--and that was a providential enemy, whose home-bred origin nobody +suspected. + +It must seem to foreigners of all things the strangest, that, in a +country where land is sold at one dollar and twenty-five cents the acre +by the square mile, there should in any considerable part of it be a +want of room,--any necessity for crowding the population into pent-up +cities,--any narrowness of streets, or want of commons and parks. And +yet it is an undeniable truth that our American cities are all suffering +the want of ample thoroughfares, destitute of adequate parks and +commons, and too much crowded for health, convenience, or beauty. Boston +has for its main street a serpentine lane, wide enough to drive the cows +home from their pastures, but totally and almost fatally inadequate +to be the great artery of a city of two hundred thousand people. +Philadelphia is little better off with her narrow Chestnut Street, +which purchases what accommodation it affords by admitting the parallel +streets to nearly equal use, and thus sacrificing the very idea of a +metropolitan thoroughfare, in which the splendor and motion and life +of a metropolis ought to be concentrated. New York succeeds in making +Broadway what the Toledo, the Strand, the Linden Strasse, the Italian +Boulevards are; but the street is notoriously blocked and confused, and +occasions more loss of time and temper and life and limb than would +amply repay, once in five years, the widening of it to double its +present breadth. + +It is a great misfortune, that our commercial metropolis, the +predestined home of five millions of people, should not have a single +street worthy of the population, the wealth, the architectural ambition +ready to fill and adorn it. Wholesale trade, bankers, brokers, and +lawyers seek narrow streets. There must be swift communication between +the opposite sides, and easy recognition of faces across the way. But +retail trade requires no such conditions. The passers up and down on +opposite sides of Broadway are as if in different streets, and neither +expect to recognize each other nor to pass from one to the other without +set effort. It took a good while to make Broad and Canal Streets +attractive business-streets, and to get the importers and jobbers out +of Pearl Street; but the work is now done. The Bowery affords the only +remaining chance of building a magnificent metropolitan thoroughfare in +New York; and we anticipate the day--when Broadway will surrender its +pretensions to that now modest Cheapside. Already, about the confluence +of the Third and Fourth Avenues at Eighth Street are congregated some +of the chief institutions of the city,--the Bible House, the Cooper +Institute, the Astor Library, the Mercantile Library. Farther down, +the continuation of Canal Street affords the most commanding sites for +future public edifices; while the neighborhoods of Franklin and Chatham +Squares ought to be seized upon to embellish the city at imperial points +with its finest architectural piles. The capacities of New York, below +Union Square, for metropolitan splendor are entirely undeveloped; the +best points are still occupied by comparatively worthless buildings, and +the future will produce a now unlooked-for change in the whole character +of that great district. + +The huddling together of our American cities is due to the recentness +of the time when space was our greatest enemy and sparseness our chief +discouragement. Our founders hated room as much as a backwoods farmer +hates trees. The protecting walls, which narrowed the ways and cramped +the houses of the Old-World cities, did not put a severer compress +upon them, than the disgust of solitude and the craving for "the sweet +security of streets" threw about our city-builders. In the Western towns +now, they carefully give a city air to their villages by crowding the +few stores and houses of which they are composed into the likeliest +appearance of an absolute scarcity of space. + +They labor unconsciously to look crowded, and would sooner go into a +cellar to eat their oysters than have them in the finest saloon above +ground. And so, if a peninsula like Boston, or a miniature Mesopotamia +like New York, or a basin like Cincinnati, could be found to tuck away +a town in, in which there was a decent chance of covering over the +nakedness of the land within a thousand years, they rejoiced to seize +on it and warm their shivering imaginations in the idea of the possible +snugness which their distant posterity might enjoy. + +Boston owes its only park worth naming--the celebrated Common--to +the necessity of leaving a convenient cow-pasture for the babes and +sucklings of that now mature community. Forty acres were certainly +never more fortunately situated for their predestined service, nor more +providentially rescued for the higher uses of man. May the memory of the +weaning babes who pleaded for the spot where their "milky mothers" fed +be ever sacred in our Athens, and may the cows of Boston be embalmed +with the bulls of Egypt! A white heifer should be perpetually grazing, +at her tether, in the shadow of the Great Elm. Would it be wholly +unbecoming one born in full view of that lovely inclosure to suggest +that the straightness of the lines in which the trees are planted on +Boston Common, and the rapidly increasing thickness of their foliage, +destroy in the summer season the effect of breadth and liberty, hide +both the immediate and the distant landscape, stifle the breeze, and +diminish the attractiveness of the spot? Fewer trees, scattered in +clumps and paying little regard to paths, would vastly improve the +effect. The colonnades of the malls furnish all the shade desirable in +so small an inclosure. + +For the most part, the proper laying-out of cities is both a matter of +greater ease and greater importance in America than anywhere else. We +are much in the condition of those old Scriptural worthies, of whom it +could be so coolly said, "So he went and built a city," as if it were +a matter of not much greater account than "So be went and built a +log-house." Very likely some of those Biblical cities, extemporized +so tersely, were not much more finished than those we now and then +encounter in our Western and Southern tours, where a poor shed at four +cross-roads is dignified with the title. We believe it was Samuel +Dexter, the pattern of Webster, who, on hanging out his shingle in a +New England village, where a tavern, a schoolhouse, a church, and a +blacksmith's shop constituted the whole settlement, gave as a reason, +that, having to break into the world somewhere, he had chosen the +weakest place. He would have tried a new Western city, had they then +been in fashion, as a still softer spot in the social crust. But this +rage for cities in America is prophetic. The name is a spell; and most +of the sites, surveyed and distributed into town-lots with squares and +parks staked out, are only a century before their time, and will redound +to the future credit, however fatal to the immediate cash of their +projectors. Who can doubt that Cairo of Illinois--the standing joke of +tourists, (and the standing-water of the Ohio and Mississippi,) though +no joke to its founders--will one day rival its Egyptian prototype? +America runs to cities, and particularly in its Northern latitudes. +As cities have been the nurses of democratic institutions and ideas, +democratic nations, for very obvious reasons, tend to produce them. They +are the natural fruits of a democracy. And with no people are great +cities so important, or likely to be so increasingly populous, as with +a great agricultural and commercial nation like our own, covered with +a free and equal population. The vast wealth of such a people, evenly +distributed, and prevented from over-accumulation in special families by +the absence of primogeniture and entail,--their general education +and refined tastes,--the intense community of ideas, through the +all-pervading influence of a daily press reaching with simultaneous +diffusion over thousands of square miles,--the facilities of +locomotion,--all inevitably cooperate with commercial necessities to +create great cities,--not merely as the homes of the mercantile and +wealthy class, but as centres where the leisure, the tastes, the +pride, and the wants of the people at large repair more and more for +satisfaction. Free populations, educated in public schools and with an +open career for all, soon instinctively settle the high economies of +life. + +Many observers have ascribed the rapid change which for twenty years +past has been going on in the relative character of towns and villages +on the one hand, and cities on the other, to the mere operation of the +railroad-system. But that system itself grew out of higher instincts. +Equal communities demand equal privileges and advantages. They tend +to produce a common level. The country does not acquiesce in the +superiority of the city in manners, comforts, or luxuries. It demands +a market at its door,--first-rate men for its advisers in all medical, +legal, moral, and political matters. It demands for itself the +amusements, the refinements, the privileges of the city. This is to +be brought about only by the application, at any cost, of the most +immediate methods of communication with the city; and behold our +railroad system,--the Briarean shaking of hands which the country gives +the city! The growth of this system is a curious commentary on the +purely mercenary policy which is ordinarily supposed to govern the +investments of capital. The railroads of the United States are as much +the products of social rivalries and the fruits of an ineradicable +democratic instinct for popularizing all advantages, as of any +commercial emulation. The people have willingly bandaged their own eyes, +and allowed themselves to believe a profitable investment was made, +because their inclinations were so determined to have the roads, +profitable or not. Their wives and daughters _would_ shop in the city; +the choicest sights and sounds were there; there concentrated themselves +the intellectual and moral lights; there were the representative +splendors of the state or nation;--and a swift access to them was +essential to true equality and self-respect. + +One does not need to be a graybeard to recall the time when every +county-town in New England had, because it needs must have, its +first rate lawyer, its distinguished surgeon, its comprehensive +business-man,--and when a fixed and unchanging population gave to our +villages a more solid and a more elegant air than they now possess. The +Connecticut river-villages, with a considerable increase in population, +and a vast improvement in the general character of the dwellings, have +nevertheless lost their most characterizing features,--the large and +dignified residences of their founders, and the presence of the once +able and widely known men that were identified with their local +importance and pride. The railroads have concentrated the ability of all +the professions in the cities, and carried thither the wealth of all the +old families. To them, and not to the county-town, repair the people for +advice in all critical matters, for supplies in all important purchases, +for all their rarest pleasures, and all their most prized and memorable +opportunities. + +Cities, and the immediate neighborhood of cities, are rapidly becoming +the chosen residences of the enterprising, successful, and intelligent. +As might be supposed, the movement works both ways: the locomotive +facilities carry citizens into the country, as well as countrymen into +the city. But those who have once tasted the city are never wholly +weaned from it, and every citizen who moves into a village-community +sends two countrymen back to take his place. He infects the country with +civic tastes, and acts as a great conductor between the town and the +country. It is apparent, too, that the experience of ten years, during +which some strong reaction upon the centripetal tendencies of the +previous ten years drove many of the wealthy and the self-supposed +lovers of quietude and space into the country, has dispersed several +very natural prejudices, and returned the larger part of the truants +to their original ways. One of these prejudices was, that our ordinary +Northern climate was as favorable to the outdoor habits of the leisurely +class as the English climate; whereas, besides not having a leisurely +class, and never being destined to have any, under our wise +wealth-distributing customs, and not having any out-door habits, which +grow up only on estates and on hereditary fortunes, experience has +convinced most who have tried it that we have only six months when +out-of-doors allows any comfort, health, or pleasure away from the city. +The roads are sloughs; side-walks are wanting; shelter is gone with the +leaves; non-intercourse is proclaimed; companionship cannot be found; +leisure is a drug; books grow stupid; the country is a stupendous bore. +Another prejudice was the anticipated economy of the country. This has +turned out to be, as might have been expected, an economy to those who +fall in with its ways, which citizens are wholly inapt and unprepared to +do. It is very economical not to want city comforts and conveniences. +But it proves more expensive to those who go into the country to want +them there than it did to have them where they abound. They are not to +be had in the country at any price,--water, gas, fuel, food, attendance, +amusement, locomotion in all weathers; but such a moderate measure of +them as a city-bred family cannot live without involves so great an +expense, that the expected economy of life in the country to those not +actually brought up there turns out a delusion. The expensiveness of +life in the city comes of the generous and grand scale on which it there +proceeds, not from the superior cost of the necessaries or comforts of +life. They are undoubtedly cheaper in the city, all things considered, +than anywhere in the country. Where everything is to be had, in the +smallest or the largest quantities,--where every form of service can be +commanded at a moment's notice,--where the wit, skill, competition of a +country are concentrated upon the furnishing of all commodities at the +most taking rates,--there prices will, of course, be most reasonable; +and the expensiveness of such communities, we repeat, is entirely due to +the abundant wealth which makes such enormous demands and secures such +various comforts and luxuries;--in short, it is the high standard of +living, not the cost of the necessaries of life. This high standard +is, of course, an evil to those whose social ambition drives them to a +rivalry for which they are not prepared. But no special pity is due to +hardships self-imposed by pride and folly. The probability is, that, +proportioned to their income from labor, the cost of living in the city, +for the bulk of its population, is lighter, their degree of comfort +considered, than in the country. And for the wealthy class of society, +no doubt, on the whole, economy is served by living in the city. Our +most expensive class is that which lives in the country after the manner +of the city. + +A literary man, of talents and thorough respectability, lately informed +us, that, after trying all places, cities, villages, farmhouses, +boarding-houses, hotels, taverns, he had discovered that keeping house +in New York was the cheapest way to live,--vastly the cheapest, if +the amount of convenience and comfort was considered,--and absolutely +cheapest in fact. To be sure, being a bachelor, his housekeeping was +done in a single room, the back-room of a third-story, in a respectable +and convenient house and neighborhood. His rent was ninety-six dollars a +year. His expenses of every other kind, (clothing excepted,) one dollar +a week. He could not get his chop or steak cooked well enough, nor his +coffee made right, until he took them in hand himself,--nor his bed +made, nor his room cleaned. His conveniences were incredibly great. He +cooked by alcohol, and expected to warm himself the winter through on +two gallons of alcohol at seventy-five cents a gallon. This admirable +housekeeping is equalled in economy only by that of a millionnaire, a +New-Yorker, and a bachelor also, whose accounts, all accurately kept by +his own hand, showed, after death, that (1st) his own living, (2d) his +support of religion, (3d) his charities, (4th) his gifts to a favorite +niece, had not averaged, for twenty years, over five hundred dollars. +Truly, the city is a cheap place to live in, for those who know how! And +what place is cheap for those who do not? + +Contrary to the old notion, the more accurate statistics of recent times +have proved the city, as compared with the country, the more healthy, +the more moral, and the more religious place. What used to be considered +the great superiority of the country--hardship, absence of social +excitements and public amusements, simple food, freedom from moral +exposure--a better knowledge of the human constitution, considered +either physically or morally, has shown to be decidedly opposed to +health and virtue. More constitutions are broken down in the hardening +process than survive and profit by it. Cold houses, coarse food +unskilfully cooked, long winters, harsh springs, however favorable to +the heroism of the stomach, the lungs, and the spirits, are not found +conducive to longevity. In like manner, monotony, seclusion, lack of +variety and of social stimulus lower the tone of humanity, drive to +sensual pleasures and secret vices, and nourish a miserable pack of +mean and degrading immoralities, of which scandal, gossip, backbiting, +tale-bearing are the better examples. + +In the Old World, the wealth of states is freely expended in the +embellishment of their capitals. It is well understood, not only that +loyalty is never more economically secured than by a lavish appeal to +the pride of the citizen in the magnificence of the public buildings +and grounds which he identifies with his nationality, but that popular +restlessness is exhaled and dangerous passions drained off in the +roominess which parks and gardens afford the common people. In the +New World, it has not yet proved necessary to provide against popular +discontents or to bribe popular patriotism with spectacles and +state-parade; and if it were so, there is no government with an interest +of its own separate from that of the people to adopt this policy. It has +therefore been concluded that democratic institutions must necessarily +lack splendor and great public provision for the gratification of the +aesthetic tastes or the indulgence of the leisure of the common people. +The people being, then, our sovereigns, it has not been felt that they +would or could have the largeness of view, the foresight, the sympathy +with leisure, elegance, and ease, to provide liberally and expensively +for their own recreation and refreshment. A bald utility has been the +anticipated genius of our public policy. Our national Mercury was to be +simply the god of the post-office, or the sprite of the barometer,--our +Pan, to keep the crows from the corn-fields,--our Muses, to preside over +district-schools. It begins now to appear that the people are not likely +to think anything too good for themselves, or to higgle about the +expense of whatever ministers largely to their tastes and fancies,--that +political freedom, popular education, the circulation of newspapers, +books, engravings, pictures, have already created a public which +understands that man does not live by bread alone,--which demands +leisure, beauty, space, architecture, landscape, music, elegance, with +an imperative voice, and is ready to back its demands with the necessary +self-taxation. This experience our absolute faith in free institutions +enabled us to anticipate as the inevitable result of our political +system; but let us confess that the rapidity with which it has developed +itself has taken us by surprise. We knew, that, when the people truly +realized their sovereignty, they would claim not only the utilitarian, +but the artistic and munificent attributes of their throne,--and that +all the splendors and decorations, all the provisions for leisure, +taste, and recreation, which kings and courts have made, would be found +to be mere preludes and rehearsals to the grander arrangements and +achievements of the vastly richer and more legitimate sovereign, the +People, when he understood his own right and duty. As dynasties and +thrones have been predictions of the royalty of the people, so old +courts and old capitals, with all their pomp and circumstance, their +parks and gardens, galleries and statues, are but dim prefigurings of +the glories of architecture, the grandeur of the grounds, the splendor +and richness of the museums and conservatories with which the people +will finally crown their own self-respect and decorate their own +majesty. But we did not expect to see this sure prophecy turning itself +into history in our day. We thought the people were too busy with the +spade and the quill to care for any other sceptres at present. But it +is now plain that they have been dreaming princely dreams and thinking +royal thoughts all the while, and are now ready to put them into costly +expression. + +Passing by all other evidences of this, we come at once to the most +majestic and indisputable witness of this fact, the actual existence +of the Central Park in New York,--the most striking evidence of +the sovereignty of the people yet afforded in the history of free +institutions,--the best answer yet given to the doubts and fears which +have frowned on the theory of self-government,--the first grand proof +that the people do not mean to give up the advantages and victories of +aristocratic governments, in maintaining a popular one, but to engraft +the energy, foresight, and liberality of concentrated powers upon +democratic ideas, and keep all that has adorned and improved the past, +while abandoning what has impaired and disgraced it. That the American +people appreciate and are ready to support what is most elegant, +refined, and beautiful in the greatest capitals of Europe,--that they +value and intend to provide the largest and most costly opportunities +for the enjoyment of their own leisure, artistic tastes, and rural +instincts, is emphatically declared in the history, progress, and +manifest destiny of the Central Park; while their competency to use +wisely, to enjoy peacefully, to protect sacredly, and to improve +industriously the expensive, exposed, and elegant pleasure-ground they +have devised, is proved with redundant testimony by the year and more of +experience we have had in the use of the Park, under circumstances far +less favorable than any that can ever again arise. As a test of the +ability of the people to know their own higher wants, of the power of +their artistic instincts, their docility to the counsels of their most +judicious representatives, their superiority to petty economies, their +strength to resist the natural opposition of heavy tax-payers to +expensive public works, their gentleness and amenableness to just +authority in the pursuit of their pleasures, of their susceptibility to +the softening influences of elegance and beauty, of their honest pride +and rejoicing in their own splendor, of their superior fondness for what +is innocent and elevating over what is base and degrading, when +brought within equal reach, the Central Park has already afforded most +encouraging, nay, most decisive proof. + +The Central Park is an anomaly to those who have not deeply studied the +tendencies of popular governments. It is a royal work, undertaken and +achieved by the Democracy,--surprising equally themselves and their +skeptical friends at home and abroad,--and developing, both in its +creation and growth, in its use and application, new and almost +incredible tastes, aptitudes, capacities, and powers in the people +themselves. That the people should be capable of the magnanimity of +laying down their authority, when necessary to concentrate it in +the hands of energetic and responsible trustees requiring large +powers,--that they should be willing to tax themselves heavily for the +benefit of future generations,--that they should be wise enough to +distrust their own judgment and defer modestly to the counsels of +experts,--that they should be in favor of the most solid and substantial +work,--that they should be willing to have the better half of their +money under ground and out of sight, invested in drains and foundations +of roads,--that they should acquiesce cheerfully in all the restrictions +necessary to the achievement of the work, while admitted freely to the +use and enjoyment of its inchoate processes,--that their conduct and +manners should prove so unexceptionable,--their disposition to trespass +upon strict rules so small,--their use and improvement of the work so +free, so easy, and so immediately justificatory of all the cost of so +generous and grand an enterprise: these things throw light and cheer +upon the prospects of popular institutions, at a period when they are +seriously clouded from other quarters. + +We do not propose to enter into any description of the Central Park. +Those who have not already visited it will find a description, +accompanying a study for the plan submitted for competition in 1858, by +Messrs. Olmsted and Vaux, and published among the Documents of the New +York Senate, which will satisfy their utmost expectations. We wish +merely to throw out some replies to the leading objections we have met +in the papers and other quarters to the plan itself. We need hardly say +that the Central Park requires no advocate and no defence. Its great +proprietor, the Public, is perfectly satisfied with his purchase and his +agents. He thinks himself providentially guided in the choice of his +Superintendent, and does not vainly pique himself upon his sagacity in +selecting Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted for the post. This gentleman, in his +place, offsets at least a thousand square plugs in round holes. He is +precisely the man for the place,--and that is precisely the place for +the man. Among final causes, it would be difficult not to assign the +Central Park as the reason of his existence. To fill the duties of his +office as he has filled them,--to prove himself equally competent as +original designer, patient executor, potent disciplinarian, and model +police-officer,--to enforce a method, precision, and strictness, equally +marked in the workmanship, in the accounts, and in the police of the +Park,--to be equally studious of the highest possible use and enjoyment +of the work by the public of to-day, and of the prospects and privileges +of the coming generations,--to sympathize with the outside people, +while in the closest fellowship with the inside,--to make himself +equally the favorite and friend of the people and of the workmen: +this proves an original adaptation, most carefully improved, which we +seriously believe not capable of being paralleled in any other public +work, of similar magnitude, ever undertaken. The union of prosaic +sense with poetical feeling, of democratic sympathies with refined +and scholarly tastes, of punctilious respect for facts with tender +hospitality for ideas, has enabled him to appreciate and embody, both in +the conception and execution of the Park, the beau-ideal of a people's +pleasure-ground. If he had not borne, as an agriculturist, and as the +keenest, most candid, and instructive of all our writers on the moral +and political economy of our American Slavery, a name to be long +remembered, he might safely trust his reputation to the keeping of New +York city and all her successive citizens, as the author and achiever of +the Central Park,--which, when completed, will prove, we are confident, +the most splendid, satisfactory, and popular park in the world. + +Two grand assumptions have controlled the design from the inception. + +First, That the Park would be the only park deserving the name, for a +town of twice or thrice the present population of New York; that +this town would be built compactly around it (and in this respect +of centrality it would differ from any extant metropolitan park of +magnitude); and that it would be a town of greater wealth and more +luxurious demands than any now existing. + +Second, That, while in harmony with the luxury of the rich, the Park +should and would be used more than any existing park by people of +moderate wealth and by poor people, and that its use by these people +must be made safe, convenient, agreeable; that they must be expected +to have a pride and pleasure in using it rightly, in cherishing and +protecting it against all causes of injury and dilapidation, and that +this is to be provided for and encouraged. + +A want of appreciation of the first assumption is the cause of all +sincere criticism against the Transverse Roads. Some engineers +originally pronounced them impracticable of construction; but all their +grounds of apprehension have been removed by the construction of two of +them, especially by the completion of the tunnel under Vista Rock, and +below the foundation of the Reservoir embankment and wall. They were +planned for the future; they are being built solidly, massively, +permanently, for the future. Less thoroughly and expensively +constructed, they would need to be rebuilt in the future at enormously +increased cost, and with great interruption to the use of the Park; and +the grounds in their vicinity, losing the advantage of age, would need +to be remodelled and remade. An engineer, visiting the Park for the +first time, and hearing the criticism to which we refer applied to the +walls and bridges of the Transverse Roads, observed,--"People in this +country are so unaccustomed to see genuine substantial work, they do not +know what it means when they meet with it." We think he did not do the +people justice. + +The Transverse Roads passing through the Park will not be seen from +it; and although they will not be, when deep in the shadow of the +overhanging bridges and groves, without a very grand beauty, this will +be the beauty of utility and of permanence, not of imaginative grace. +The various bridges and archways of the Park proper, while equally +thorough in their mode of construction, and consequently expensive, +are in all cases embellished each with special decorations in form and +color. These decorations have the same quality of substantiality and +thorough good workmanship. Note the clean under-cutting of the leaves, +(of which there are more than fifty different forms in the decorations +of the Terrace arch,) and their consequent sharp and expressive shadows. +Admitting the need of these structures, and the economy of a method of +construction which would render them permanent, the additional cost of +their permanent decoration in this way could not have been rationally +grudged. + +Regard for the distant future has likewise controlled the planting; and +the Commissioners, in so far as they have resisted the clamor of the +day, that the Park must be immediately shaded, have done wisely. Every +horticulturist knows that this immediate shade would be purchased at an +expense of dwarfed, diseased, and deformed trees, with stinted shade, in +the future. No man has planted large and small trees together without +regretting the former within twenty years. The same consideration +answers an objection which has been made, that the trees are too much +arranged in masses of color. Imagine a growth of twenty years, with the +proper thinnings, and most of these masses will resolve each into one +tree, singled out, as the best individual of its mass, to remain. There +is a large scale in the planting, as in everything else. + +Regard to the convenience, comfort, and safety of those who cannot +afford to visit the Park in carriages has led to an unusual extent and +variety of character in the walks, and also to a peculiar arrangement by +which they are carried in many instances beneath and across the line of +the carriage-roads. Thus access can be had by pedestrians to all parts +of the Park at times when the roads are thronged with vehicles, without +any delays or dangers in crossing the roads, and without the humiliation +to sensitive democrats of being spattered or dusted, or looked down upon +from luxurious equipages. + +The great irregularity of the surface offers facilities for this +purpose,--the walks being carried through the heads of valleys which are +crossed by the carriage-ways upon arches of masonry. Now with regard to +these archways, if no purposes of convenience were to be served by them, +the Park would not, we may admit, be beautified by them. But we assume +that the population of New York is to be doubled; that, when it is so, +if not sooner, the walks and drives of the Park will often be densely +thronged; and, for the comfort of the people, when that shall be the +case, we consider that these archways will be absolutely necessary.[A] +Assuming further, then, that they are to be built, and, if ever, built +now,--since it would involve an entirely new-modelling of the Park to +introduce them in the future,--it was necessary to pay some attention to +make them agreeable and unmonotonous objects, or the general impression +of ease, freedom, and variety would be interfered with very materially. +It is not to make the Park architectural, as is commonly supposed, that +various and somewhat expensive _design_ is introduced; on the contrary, +it is the intention to plant closely in the vicinity of all the arches, +so that they may be unnoticed in the general effect, and be seen only +just at the time they are being used, when, of course, they must come +under notice. The charge is made, that the features of the natural +landscape have been disregarded in the plan. To which we answer, that on +the ground of the Lower Park there was originally no landscape, in the +artistic sense. There were hills, and hillocks, and rocks, and swampy +valleys. It would have been easy to flood the swamps into ponds, to +clothe the hillocks with grass and the hills with foliage, and leave the +rocks each unscathed in its picturesqueness. And this would have been a +great improvement; yet there would be no landscape: there would be +an unassociated succession of objects,--many nice "bits" of scenery, +appropriate to a villa-garden or to an artist's sketch-book, but no +scenery such as an artist arranges for his broad canvas, no composition, +no _park-like_ prospect. It would have afforded a good place for +loitering; but if this were all that was desirable, forty acres would +have done as well as a thousand, as is shown in the Ramble. Space, +breadth, objects in the distance, clear in outline, but obscure, +mysterious, exciting curiosity, in their detail, were wanting. + +[Footnote A: The length of roads, walks, etc., completed, will be found +in the last Annual Report, pp. 47-52. + +The length of the famous drive in Hyde Park (the King Road) is 2 1/2 +miles. There is another road, straight between two gates, 1 1/4 miles in +length. "Rotten Bow" (the Ride) is a trifle over a mile in length. + +The length of Drive in Central Park will be 9 1/3 miles; the length of +Bridle Roads, 5 1/3 miles; the length of Walks, 20 miles. + +Ten miles of walk, gravelled and substantially underlaid, are now +finished. + +Eighteen archways are planned, beside those of the Transverse Roads, +equal 1 to 46 acres. When the planting is well-grown, no two of the +archways will be visible from the same point.] + +To their supply there were hard limitations. On each side, within half +a mile of each other, there were to be lines of stone and brick houses, +cutting off any great lateral distance. Suppose one to have entered +the Park at the south end, and to have moved far enough within it to +dispossess his mind of the sentiments of the streets: he will have +threaded his way between hillocks and rocks, one after another, +differing in magnitude, but never opening a landscape having breadth or +distance. He ascends a hill and looks northward: the most distant +object is the hard, straight, horizontal line of the stone wall of the +Reservoir, flanked on one side by the peak of Vista Rock. It is a little +over a mile distant,--but, standing clear out against the horizon, +appears much less than that. Hide it with foliage, as well as the houses +right and left, and the limitation of distance is a mile in front and a +quarter of a mile upon each side. Low hills or ridges of rock in a great +degree cut off the intermediate ground from view: cross these, and the +same unassociated succession of objects might be visited, but no one of +them would have engaged the visitor's attention and attracted him onward +from a distance. The plan has evidently been to make a selection of +the natural features to form the leading ideas of the new scenery, to +magnify the most important quality of each of these, and to remove or +tone down all the irregularities of the ground between them, and by all +means to make the limit of vision undefined and obscure. Thus, in the +central portion of the Lower Park the low grounds have been generally +filled, and the high grounds reduced; but the two largest areas of low +ground have been excavated, the excavation being carried laterally into +the hills as far as was possible, without extravagant removal of rock, +and the earth obtained transferred to higher ground connecting hillocks +with hills. Excavations have also been made about the base of all the +more remarkable ledges and peaks of rock, while additional material has +been conveyed to their sides and summits to increase their size and +dignity. + +This general rule of the plan was calculated to give, in the first +place, breadth, and, in the second, emphasis, to any general prospect +of the Park. A want of unity, or rather, if we may use the word, of +assemblage, belonged to the ground; and it must have been one of the +first problems to establish some one conspicuous, salient idea which +should take the lead in the composition, and about which all minor +features should seem naturally to group as accessories. The straight, +evidently artificial, and hence distinctive and notable, Mall, with its +terminating Terrace, was the resolution of this problem. It will be, +when the trees are fully grown, a feature of the requisite importance, +--and will serve the further purpose of opening the view toward, and, as +it were, framing and keeping attention directed upon, Vista Rock, which +from the southern end of the Mall is the most distant object that can be +brought into view. + +For the same purpose, evidently, it was thought desirable to insist, +as far as possible, upon a pause at the point where, to the visitor +proceeding northward, the whole hill-side and glen before Vista Rock +first came under view, and where an effect of distance in that direction +was yet attainable. This is provided for by the Terrace, with its +several stairs and stages, and temptations to linger and rest. The +introduction of the Lake to the northward of the Terrace also obliges a +diversion from the direct line of proceeding; the visitor's attention is +henceforth directed laterally, or held by local objects, until at length +by a circuitous route he reaches and ascends (if he chooses) the summit +of Vista Rock, when a new landscape of entirely different character, and +one not within our control, is opened to him. Thus the apparent distance +of Vista Rock from the lower part of the Park (which is increased +by means which we have not thought it necessary to describe) is not +falsified by any experience of the visitor in his subsequent journey to +it. + +There was a fine and completely natural landscape in the Upper Park. The +plan only simplifies it,--removing and modifying those objects which +were incongruous with its best predominating character, and here and +there adding emphasis or shadow. + +The Park (with the extension) is two and three quarter miles in length +and nearly half a mile wide. It contains 843 acres, including the +Reservoir (136 acres). + + Original cost of land to 106th Street, $5,444,369.90 + Of this, assessed on adjoining property, 1,657,590.00 + ____________ + To be paid by corporation direct, 3,786,779.90 + Assessed value of extension land, (106th to 110th,) 1,400,000.00 + ____________ + Total cost of land, $6,800,000.00[B] + +[Footnote B: The amount thus far expended in construction and +maintenance is nearly $3,000,000. The plan upon which the work is +proceeding will require a further expenditure of $1,600,000. The +expenditure is not squandered. Much the larger part of it is paid for +day-labor. Account with laborers is kept by the hour, the rate of wages +being scarcely above the lowest contractor's rates, and 30 per cent. +below the rate of other public works of the city; always paid directly +into the laborer's hands,--in specie, however. + +The thorough government of the work, and the general efficiency of its +direction, are indicated by the remarkable good order and absence of +"accidents" which have characterized it. See p. 64 of Annual Report, +1860. For some particulars of cost, see pp. 61, 62, of same Report.] + +In all European parks, there is more or less land the only use of which +is to give a greater length to the roads which pass around it,--it being +out of sight, and, in American phrase, unimproved. There is not an acre +of land in Central Park, which, if not wanted for Park purposes, would +not sell for at least as much as the land surrounding the Park and +beyond its limits,--that is to say, for at least $60,000, the legal +annual interest of which is $4,200. This would be the ratio of the +annual waste of property in the case of any land not put to use; but, +in elaborating the plan, care has been taken that no part of the Park +should be without its special advantages, attractions, or valuable uses, +and that these should as far as possible be made immediately available +to the public. + +The comprehensiveness of purpose and the variety of detail of the plan +far exceed those of any other park in the world, and have involved, and +continue to involve, a greater amount of study and invention than has +ever before been given to a park. A consideration of this should enforce +an unusually careful method of maintenance, both in the gardening and +police departments. Sweeping with a broom of brush-wood once a week is +well enough for a hovel; but the floors of a palace must needs be daily +waxed and polished, to justify their original cost. We are unused to +thorough gardening in this country. There are not in all the United +States a dozen lawns or grass-plots so well kept as the majority of +tradesmen's door-yards in England or Holland. Few of our citizens have +ever seen a really well-kept ground. During the last summer, much of the +Park was in a state of which the Superintendent professed himself to be +ashamed; but it caused not the slightest comment with the public, so far +as we heard. As nearly all men in office, who have not a personal taste +to satisfy, are well content, if they succeed in satisfying the public, +we fear the Superintendent will be forced to "economize" on the keeping +of the Park, as he was the past year, to a degree which will be as far +from true economy as the cleaning of mosaic floors with birch brooms. +The Park is laid out in a manner which assumes and requires cleanly and +orderly habits in those who use it; much of its good quality will be +lost, if it be not very neatly kept; and such negligence in the keeping +will tend to negligence in the using. + +In the plan, there is taken for granted a generally good inclination, a +cleanly, temperate, orderly disposition, on the part of the public which +is to frequent the Park, and finally to be the governors of its keeping, +and a good, well-disposed, and well-disciplined police force, who would, +in spite of "the inabilities of a republic," adequately control the +cases exceptional to the assumed general good habits of that public,--at +the same time neglecting no precaution to facilitate the convenient +enforcement of the laws, and reduce the temptation to disorderly +practices to a minimum. + +How thoroughly justified has been this confidence in the people, taking +into account the novelty of a good public ground, of cleanliness in our +public places, and indeed the novelty of the whole undertaking, we have +already intimated. How much the privileges of the Park in its present +incomplete condition are appreciated, and how generally the requirements +of order are satisfied, the following summary, compiled from the +Park-keeper's reports of the first summer's use after the roads of the +Lower Park were opened, will inadequately show. + + Number of visitors in six months. Foot. Saddle. Carriages. + May, 184,450 8,017 26,500 + June, 294,300 9,050 31,300 + July, 71,035 2,710 4,945 + August, 63,800 875 14,905 + September, 47,433 2,645 20,708 + October, 160,187 3,014 26,813 + Usual number of visitors on a + fine summer's day, 2,000 90 1,200 + Usual number of visitors on a + fine Sunday, 35,000 60 1,500 + (Men 20,000, Women 13,000, Children 2,000.) + Sunday, May 29, entrances counted, 75,000 120 3,200 + Usual number of visitors, + fine Concert day, 7,500 180 2,500 + Saturday, Sept. 22, (Concert day,) + entrances counted, 13,000 225 4,650 + +During this time, (six months,) but thirty persons were detected upon +the Park tipsy. Of these, twenty-four were sufficiently drunk to justify +their arrest,--the remainder going quietly off the grounds, when +requested to do so. That is to say, it is not oftener than once a week +that a man is observed to be the worse for liquor while on the Park; and +this, while three to four thousand laboring men are at work within it, +are paid upon it, and grog-shops for their accommodation are all along +its boundaries. In other words, about one in thirty thousand of the +visitors to the Park has been under the influence of drink when induced +to visit it. + +On Christmas and New-Year's Days, it was estimated by many experienced +reporters that over 100,000 persons, each day, were on the Park, +generally in a frolicksome mood. Of these, but one (a small boy) was +observed by the keepers to be drunk; there was not an instance of +quarrelling, and no disorderly conduct, except a generally good-natured +resistance to the efforts of the police to maintain safety on the ice. + +The Bloomingdale Road and Harlem Lane, two famous trotting-courses, +where several hundred famously fast horses may be seen at the top of +their speed any fine afternoon, both touch an entrance to the Park. The +Park roads are, of course, vastly attractive to the trotters, and for +a few weeks there were daily instances of fast driving there: as soon, +however, as the law and custom of the Park, restricting speed to a +moderate rate, could be made generally understood, fast driving became +very rare,--more so, probably, than in Hyde Park or the Bois de +Boulogne. As far as possible, an arrest has been made in every case +of intentionally fast driving observed by the keepers: those arrested +number less than one to ten thousand of the vehicles entering the Park +for pleasure-driving. In each case a fine (usually three dollars) has +been imposed by the magistrate. + +In six months there have been sixty-four arrests for all sorts of +"disorderly conduct," including walking on the grass after being +requested to quit it, quarrelling, firing crackers, etc.,--one in +eighteen thousand visitors. So thoroughly established is the good +conduct of people on the Park, that many ladies walk daily in the Ramble +without attendance. + +A protest, as already intimated, is occasionally made against the +completeness of detail to which the Commissioners are disposed to +carry their work, on the ground that the habits of the masses of our +city-population are ill-calculated for its appreciation, and that loss +and damage to expensive work must often be the result. To which we +would answer, that, if the authorities of the city hitherto have so far +misapprehended or neglected their duty as to allow a large industrious +population to continue so long without the opportunity for public +recreations that it has grown up ignorant of the rights and duties +appertaining to the general use of a well-kept pleasure-ground, any +losses of the kind apprehended, which may in consequence occur, should +be cheerfully borne as a necessary part of the responsibility of a +good government. Experience thus far, however, does not justify these +apprehensions. + +To collect exact evidence showing that the Park is already exercising a +good influence upon the character of the people is not in the nature of +the case practicable. It has been observed that rude, noisy fellows, +after entering the more advanced or finished parts of the Park, become +hushed, moderate, and careful. Observing the generally tranquil and +pleased expression, and the quiet, sauntering movement, the frequent +exclamations of pleasure in the general view or in the sight of some +special object of natural beauty, on the part of the crowds of idlers in +the Ramble on a Sunday afternoon, and recollecting the totally opposite +character of feeling, thought, purpose, and sentiment which is expressed +by a crowd assembled anywhere else, especially in the public streets of +the city, the conviction cannot well be avoided that the Park already +exercises a beneficent influence of no inconsiderable value, and of a +kind which could have been gained in no other way. We speak of Sunday +afternoons and of a crowd; but the Park evidently does induce many a +poor family, and many a poor seamstress and journeyman, to take a day or +a half-day from the working-time of the week, to the end of retaining +their youth and their youthful relations with purer Nature, and to their +gain in strength, good-humor, safe citizenship, and--if the economists +must be satisfied--money-value to the commonwealth. Already, too, there +are several thousand men, women, and children who resort to the Park +habitually: some daily, before business or after business, and women +and children at regular hours during the day; some weekly; and some at +irregular, but certain frequent chances of their business. Mr. Astor, +when in town, rarely misses his daily ride; nor Mr. Bancroft; Mr. Mayor +Harper never his drive. And there are certain working-men with their +families equally sure to be met walking on Sunday morning or Sunday +afternoon; others on Saturday. The number of these _habitués_ constantly +increases. When we meet those who depend on the Park as on the butcher +and the omnibus, and the thousands who are again drawn by whatever +impulse and suggestion of the hour, we often ask, What would they have +done, where would they have been, to what sort of recreation would they +have turned, _if to any_, had there been no park? Of one sort the answer +is supplied by the keeper of a certain saloon, who came to the Park, as +he said, to see his old Sunday customers. The enjoyment of the ice had +made them forget their grog. + +Six or seven years ago, an opposition brought down the prices and +quadrupled the accommodations of the Staten Island ferry-boats. Clifton +Park and numerous German gardens were opened; and the consequence was +described, in common phrase, as the transformation of a portion of the +island, on Sunday, to a Pandemonium. We thought we would, like Dante, +have a cool look at it. We had read so much about it, and heard it +talked about and preached about so much, that we were greatly surprised +to find the throng upon the sidewalks quite as orderly and a great deal +more evidently good-natured than any we ever saw before in the United +States. We spent some time in what we had been led to suppose the +hottest place, Clifton Park, in which there was a band of music and +several thousand persons, chiefly Germans, though with a good sprinkling +of Irish servant-girls with their lovers and brothers, with beer +and ices; but we saw no rudeness, and no more impropriety, no more +excitement, no more (week-day) sin, than we had seen at the church in +the morning. Every face, however, was foreign. By-and-by came in three +Americans, talking loudly, moving rudely, proclaiming contempt for +"lager" and yelling for "liquor," bantering and offering fight, joking +coarsely, profane, noisy, demonstrative in any and every way, to the end +of attracting attention to themselves, and proclaiming that they were +"on a spree" and highly excited. They could not keep it up; they became +awkward, ill at ease, and at length silent, standing looking about them +in stupid wonder. Evidently they could not understand what it meant: +people drinking, smoking in public, on Sunday, and yet not excited, not +trying to make it a spree. It was not comprehensible. We ascertained +that one of the ferry-boat bars had disposed of an enormous stock of +lemonade, ginger-beer, and soda-water before three o'clock,--but, till +this was all gone, not half a dozen glasses of intoxicating drinks. +We saw no quarrelling, no drunkenness, and nothing like the fearful +disorder which had been described,--with a few such exceptions as we +have mentioned of native Americans who had no conception of enjoyment +free from bodily excitement. + +To teach and induce habits of orderly, tranquil, contemplative, or +social amusement, moderate exercises and recreation, soothing to the +nerves, has been the most needed "mission" for New York. We think we +see daily evidence that the Park accomplishes not a little in this way. +Unfortunately, the evidence is not of a character to be expressed in +Federal currency, else the Commissioners would not be hesitating about +taking the ground from One-Hundred-and-Sixth to One-Hundred-and-Tenth +Street, because it is to cost half a million more than was anticipated. +What the Park is worth to us to-day is, we trust, but a trifle to what +it will be worth when the bulk of our hard-working people, of our +over-anxious Marthas, and our gutter-skating children shall live nearer +to it, and more generally understand what it offers them,--when its +play-grounds are ready, its walks more shaded,--when cheap and wholesome +meals, to the saving, occasionally, of the dreary housewife's daily +pottering, are to be had upon it,--when its system of cheap cabs shall +have been successfully inaugurated,--and when a daily discourse of sweet +sounds shall have been made an essential part of its functions in the +body-politic. + +We shall not probably live to see "the gentility of Sir Philip Sidney +made universal," but we do hope that we shall live to know many +residents of towns of ten thousand population who will be ashamed to +subscribe for the building of new churches while no public play-ground +is being prepared for their people. + + + + +LIFE IN THE IRON-MILLS. + + "Is this the end? + O Life, as futile, then, as frail! + What hope of answer or redress?" + + +A cloudy day: do you know what that is in a town of iron-works? The sky +sank down before dawn, muddy, flat, immovable. The air is thick, clammy +with the breath of crowded human beings. It stifles me. I open the +window, and, looking out, can scarcely see through the rain the grocer's +shop opposite, where a crowd of drunken Irishmen are puffing Lynchburg +tobacco in their pipes. I can detect the scent through all the foul +smells ranging loose in the air. + +The idiosyncrasy of this town is smoke. It rolls sullenly in slow folds +from the great chimneys of the iron-foundries, and settles down in +black, slimy pools on the muddy streets. Smoke on the wharves, smoke on +the dingy boats, on the yellow river,--clinging in a coating of greasy +soot to the house-front, the two faded poplars, the faces of the +passers-by. The long train of mules, dragging masses of pig-iron through +the narrow street, have a foul vapor hanging to their reeking sides. +Here, inside, is a little broken figure of an angel pointing upward from +the mantel-shelf; but even its wings are covered with smoke, clotted +and black. Smoke everywhere! A dirty canary chirps desolately in a +cage beside me. Its dream of green fields and sunshine is a very old +dream,--almost worn out, I think. + +From the back-window I can see a narrow brick-yard sloping down to +the river-side, strewed with rain-butts and tubs. The river, dull and +tawny-colored, _(la belle rivière!)_ drags itself sluggishly along, +tired of the heavy weight of boats and coal-barges. What wonder? When I +was a child, I used to fancy a look of weary, dumb appeal upon the face +of the negro-like river slavishly bearing its burden day after day. +Something of the same idle notion comes to me to-day, when from the +street-window I look on the slow stream of human life creeping past, +night and morning, to the great mills. Masses of men, with dull, +besotted faces bent to the ground, sharpened here and there by pain +or cunning; skin and muscle and flesh begrimed with smoke and ashes; +stooping all night over boiling caldrons of metal, laired by day in +dens of drunkenness and infamy; breathing from infancy to death an air +saturated with fog and grease and soot, vileness for soul and body. What +do you make of a case like that, amateur psychologist? You call it an +altogether serious thing to be alive: to these men it is a drunken jest, +a joke,--horrible to angels perhaps, to them commonplace enough. My +fancy about the river was an idle one: it is no type of such a life. +What if it be stagnant and slimy here? It knows that beyond there waits +for it odorous sunlight,--quaint old gardens, dusky with soft, green +foliage of apple-trees, and flushing crimson with roses,--air, and +fields, and mountains. The future of the Welsh puddler passing just now +is not so pleasant. To be stowed away, after his grimy work is done, in +a hole in the muddy graveyard, and after that,--_not_ air, nor green +fields, nor curious roses. + +Can you see how foggy the day is? As I stand here, idly tapping the +window-pane, and looking out through the rain at the dirty back-yard and +the coal-boats below, fragments of an old story float up before me,--a +story of this old house into which I happened to come to-day. You may +think it a tiresome story enough, as foggy as the day, sharpened by no +sudden flashes of pain or pleasure.--I know: only the outline of a dull +life, that long since, with thousands of dull lives like its own, was +vainly lived and lost: thousands of them,--massed, vile, slimy lives, +like those of the torpid lizards in yonder stagnant water-butt.--Lost? +There is a curious point for you to settle, my friend, who study +psychology in a lazy, _dilettante_ way. Stop a moment. I am going to be +honest. This is what I want you to do. I want you to hide your disgust, +take no heed to your clean clothes, and come right down with me,--here, +into the thickest of the fog and mud and foul effluvia. I want you to +hear this story. There is a secret down here, in this nightmare fog, +that has lain dumb for centuries: I want to make it a real thing to you. +You, Egoist, or Pantheist, or Arminian, busy in making straight paths +for your feet on the hills, do not see it clearly,--this terrible +question which men here have gone mad and died trying to answer. I dare +not put this secret into words. I told you it was dumb. These men, going +by with drunken faces and brains full of unawakened power, do not ask it +of Society or of God. Their lives ask it; their deaths ask it. There is +no reply. I will tell you plainly that I have a great hope; and I bring +it to you to be tested. It is this: that this terrible dumb question is +its own reply; that it is not the sentence of death we think it, but, +from the very extremity of its darkness, the most solemn prophecy which +the world has known of the Hope to come. I dare make my meaning no +clearer, but will only tell my story. It will, perhaps, seem to you as +foul and dark as this thick vapor about us, and as pregnant with death; +but if your eyes are free as mine are to look deeper, no perfume-tinted +dawn will be so fair with promise of the day that shall surely come. + +My story is very simple,--only what I remember of the life of one +of these men,--a furnace-tender in one of Kirby & John's +rolling-mills,--Hugh Wolfe. You know the mills? They took the great +order for the Lower Virginia railroads there last winter; run usually +with about a thousand men. I cannot tell why I choose the half-forgotten +story of this Wolfe more than that of myriads of these furnace-hands. +Perhaps because there is a secret underlying sympathy between that story +and this day with its impure fog and thwarted sunshine,--or perhaps +simply for the reason that this house is the one where the Wolfes lived. +There were the father and son,--both hands, as I said, in one of Kirby +& John's mills for making railroad-iron,--and Deborah, their cousin, a +picker in some of the cotton-mills. The house was rented then to half +a dozen families. The Wolfes had two of the cellar-rooms. The old man, +like many of the puddlers and feeders of the mills, was Welsh,--had +spent half of his life in the Cornish tin-mines. You may pick the Welsh +emigrants, Cornish miners, out of the throng passing the windows, any +day. They are a trifle more filthy; their muscles are not so brawny; +they stoop more. When they are drunk, they neither yell, nor shout, nor +stagger, but skulk along like beaten hounds. A pure, unmixed blood, I +fancy: shows itself in the slight angular bodies and sharply-cut facial +lines. It is nearly thirty years since the Wolfes lived here. Their +lives were like those of their class: incessant labor, sleeping in +kennel-like rooms, eating rank pork and molasses, drinking--God and the +distillers only know what; with an occasional night in jail, to atone +for some drunken excess. Is that all of their lives?--of the portion +given to them and these their duplicates swarming the streets to-day? +--nothing beneath?--all? So many a political reformer will tell +you,--and many a private reformer, too, who has gone among them with a +heart tender with Christ's charity, and come out outraged, hardened. + +One rainy night, about eleven o'clock, a crowd of half-clothed women +stopped outside of the cellar-door. They were going home from the +cotton-mill. + +"Good-night, Deb," said one, a mulatto, steadying herself against the +gas-post. She needed the post to steady her. So did more than one of +them. + +"Dah's a ball to Miss Potts' to-night. Ye'd best come." + +"Inteet, Deb, if hur 'll come, hur 'll hef fun," said a shrill Welsh +voice in the crowd. + +Two or three dirty hands were thrust out to catch the gown of the woman, +who was groping for the latch of the door. + +"No." + +"No? Where's Kit Small, then?" + +"Begorra! on the spools. Alleys behint, though we helped her, we dud. +An wid ye! Let Deb alone! It's ondacent frettin' a quite body. Be +the powers, an' we'll have a night of it! there'll be lashin's o' +drink,--the Vargent be blessed and praised for 't!" + +They went on, the mulatto inclining for a moment to show fight, and drag +the woman Wolfe off with them; but, being pacified, she staggered away. + +Deborah groped her way into the cellar, and, after considerable +stumbling, kindled a match, and lighted a tallow dip, that sent a yellow +glimmer over the room. It was low, damp,--the earthen floor covered with +a green, slimy moss,--a fetid air smothering the breath. Old Wolfe lay +asleep on a heap of straw, wrapped in a torn horse-blanket. He was a +pale, meek little man, with a white face and red rabbit-eyes. The woman +Deborah was like him; only her face was even more ghastly, her lips +bluer, her eyes more watery. She wore a faded cotton gown and a +slouching bonnet. When she walked, one could see that she was deformed, +almost a hunchback. She trod softly, so as not to waken him, and went +through into the room beyond. There she found by the half-extinguished +fire an iron saucepan filled with cold boiled potatoes, which she put +upon a broken chair with a pint-cup of ale. Placing the old candlestick +beside this dainty repast, she untied her bonnet, which hung limp and +wet over her face, and prepared to eat her supper. It was the first +food that had touched her lips since morning. There was enough of it, +however: there is not always. She was hungry,--one could see that easily +enough,--and not drunk, as most of her companions would have been found +at this hour. She did not drink, this woman,--her face told that, +too,--nothing stronger than ale. Perhaps the weak, flaccid wretch had +some stimulant in her pale life to keep her up,--some love or hope, it +might be, or urgent need. When that stimulant was gone, she would take +to whiskey. Man cannot live by work alone. While she was skinning the +potatoes, and munching them, a noise behind her made her stop. + +"Janey!" she called, lifting the candle and peering into the darkness. +"Janey, are you there?" + +A heap of ragged coats was heaved up, and the face of a young girl +emerged, staring sleepily at the woman. + +"Deborah," she said, at last, "I'm here the night." + +"Yes, child. Hur's welcome," she said, quietly eating on. + +The girl's face was haggard and sickly; her eyes were heavy with sleep +and hunger: real Milesian eyes they were, dark, delicate blue, glooming +out from black shadows with a pitiful fright. + +"I was alone," she said, timidly. + +"Where's the father?" asked Deborah, holding out a potato, which the +girl greedily seized. + +"He's beyant,--wid Haley,--in the stone house." (Did you ever hear the +word _jail_ from an Irish mouth?) "I came here. Hugh told me never to +stay me-lone." + +"Hugh?" + +"Yes." + +A vexed frown crossed her face. The girl saw it, and added quickly,-- + +"I have not seen Hugh the day, Deb. The old man says his watch lasts +till the mornin'." + +The woman sprang up, and hastily began to arrange some bread and flitch +in a tin pail, and to pour her own measure of ale into a bottle. Tying +on her bonnet, she blew out the candle. + +"Lay ye down, Janey dear," she said, gently, covering her with the old +rags. "Hur can eat the potatoes, if hur 's hungry." + +"Where are ye goin', Deb? The rain 's sharp." + +"To the mill, with Hugh's supper." + +"Let him hide till th' morn. Sit ye down." + +"No, no,"--sharply pushing her off. "The boy'll starve." + +She hurried from the cellar, while the child wearily coiled herself up +for sleep. The rain was falling heavily, as the woman, pail in hand, +emerged from the mouth of the alley, and turned down the narrow street, +that stretched out, long and black, miles before her. Here and there a +flicker of gas lighted an uncertain space of muddy footwalk and gutter; +the long rows of houses, except an occasional lager-bier shop, were +closed; now and then she met a band of mill-hands skulking to or from +their work. + +Not many even of the inhabitants of a manufacturing town know the vast +machinery of system by which the bodies of workmen are governed, that +goes on unceasingly from year to year. The hands of each mill are +divided into watches that relieve each other as regularly as the +sentinels of an army. By night and day the work goes on, the unsleeping +engines groan and shriek, the fiery pools of metal boil and surge. Only +for a day in the week, in half-courtesy to public censure, the fires are +partially veiled; but as soon as the clock strikes midnight, the great +furnaces break forth with renewed fury, the clamor begins with fresh, +breathless vigor, the engines sob and shriek like "gods in pain." + +As Deborah hurried down through the heavy rain, the noise of these +thousand engines sounded through the sleep and shadow of the city like +far-off thunder. The mill to which she was going lay on the river, a +mile below the city-limits. It was far, and she was weak, aching from +standing twelve hours at the spools. Yet it was her almost nightly walk +to take this man his supper, though at every square she sat down to +rest, and she knew she should receive small word of thanks. + +Perhaps, if she had possessed an artist's eye, the picturesque oddity +of the scene might have made her step stagger less, and the path seem +shorter; but to her the mills were only "summat deilish to look at by +night." + +The road leading to the mills had been quarried from the solid rock, +which rose abrupt and bare on one side of the cinder-covered road, while +the river, sluggish and black, crept past on the other. The mills for +rolling iron are simply immense tent-like roofs, covering acres of +ground, open on every side. Beneath these roofs Deborah looked in on a +city of fires, that burned hot and fiercely in the night. Fire in every +horrible form: pits of flame waving in the wind; liquid metal-flames +writhing in tortuous streams through the sand; wide caldrons filled with +boiling fire, over which bent ghastly wretches stirring the strange +brewing; and through all, crowds of half-clad men, looking like +revengeful ghosts in the red light, hurried, throwing masses of +glittering fire. It was like a street in Hell. Even Deborah muttered, as +she crept through, "'T looks like t' Devil's place!" It did,--in more +ways than one. + +She found the man she was looking for, at last, heaping coal on a +furnace. He had not time to eat his supper; so she went behind the +furnace, and waited. Only a few men were with him, and they noticed her +only by a "Hyur comes t' hunchback, Wolfe." + +Deborah was stupid with sleep; her back pained her sharply; and her +teeth chattered with cold, with the rain that soaked her clothes and +dripped from her at every step. She stood, however, patiently holding +the pail, and waiting. + +"Hout, woman! ye look like a drowned cat. Come near to the fire,"--said +one of the men, approaching to scrape away the ashes. + +She shook her head. Wolfe had forgotten her. He turned, hearing the man, +and came closer. + +"I did no' think; gi' me my supper, woman." + +She watched him eat with a painful eagerness. With a woman's quick +instinct, she saw that he was not hungry,--was eating to please her. +Her pale, watery eyes began to gather a strange light. + +"Is't good, Hugh? T'ale was a bit sour, I feared." + +"No, good enough." He hesitated a moment. "Ye're tired, poor lass! Bide +here till I go. Lay down there on that heap of ash, and go to sleep." + +He threw her an old coat for a pillow, and turned to his work. The +heap was the refuse of the burnt iron, and was not a hard bed; the +half-smothered warmth, too, penetrated her limbs, dulling their pain and +cold shiver. + +Miserable enough she looked, lying there on the ashes like a limp, +dirty rag,--yet not an unfitting figure to crown the scene of hopeless +discomfort and veiled crime: more fitting, if one looked deeper into the +heart of things,--at her thwarted woman's form, her colorless life, her +waking stupor that smothered pain and hunger,--even more fit to be a +type of her class. Deeper yet if one could look, was there nothing worth +reading in this wet, faded thing, half-covered with ashes? no story of a +soul filled with groping passionate love, heroic unselfishness, fierce +jealousy? of years of weary trying to please the one human being whom +she loved, to gain one look of real heart-kindness from him? If anything +like this were hidden beneath the pale, bleared eyes, and dull, +washed-out-looking face, no one had ever taken the trouble to read its +faint signs: not the half-clothed furnace-tender, Wolfe, certainly. Yet +he was kind to her: it was his nature to be kind, even to the very rats +that swarmed in the cellar: kind to her in just the same way. She knew +that. And it might be that very knowledge had given to her face its +apathy and vacancy more than her low, torpid life. One sees that +dead, vacant look steal sometimes over the rarest, finest of women's +faces,--in the very midst, it may be, of their warmest summer's day; and +then one can guess at the secret of intolerable solitude that lies hid +beneath the delicate laces and brilliant smile. There was no warmth, no +brilliancy, no summer for this woman; so the stupor and vacancy had time +to gnaw into her face perpetually. She was young, too, though no one +guessed it; so the gnawing was the fiercer. + +She lay quiet in the dark corner, listening, through the monotonous din +and uncertain glare of the works, to the dull plash of the rain in the +far distance,--shrinking back whenever the man Wolfe happened to look +towards her. She knew, in spite of all his kindness, that there was that +in her face and form which made him loathe the sight of her. She felt by +instinct, although she could not comprehend it, the finer nature of +the man, which made him among his fellow-workmen something unique, set +apart. She knew, that, down under all the vileness and coarseness of +his life, there was a groping passion for whatever was beautiful and +pure,--that his soul sickened with disgust at her deformity, even when +his words were kindest. Through this dull consciousness, which never +left her, came, like a sting, the recollection of the dark blue eyes and +lithe figure of the little Irish girl she had left in the cellar. The +recollection struck through even her stupid intellect with a vivid glow +of beauty and of grace. Little Janey, timid, helpless, clinging to Hugh +as her only friend: that was the sharp thought, the bitter thought, that +drove into the glazed eyes a fierce light of pain. You laugh at it? Are +pain and jealousy less savage realities down here in this place I am +taking you to than in your own house or your own heart,--your heart, +which they clutch at sometimes? The note is the same, I fancy, be the +octave high or low. + +If you could go into this mill where Deborah lay, and drag out from the +hearts of these men the terrible tragedy of their lives, taking it as a +symptom of the disease of their class, no ghost Horror would terrify +you more. A reality of soul-starvation, of living death, that meets you +every day under the besotted faces on the street,--I can paint nothing +of this, only give you the outside outlines of a night, a crisis in the +life of one man: whatever muddy depth of soul-history lies beneath you +can read according to the eyes God has given you. + +Wolfe, while Deborah watched him as a spaniel its master, bent over the +furnace with his iron pole, unconscious of her scrutiny, only stopping +to receive orders. Physically, Nature had promised the man but little. +He had already lost the strength and instinct vigor of a man, his +muscles were thin, his nerves weak, his face (a meek, woman's face) +haggard, yellow with consumption. In the mill he was known as one of the +girl-men: "Molly Wolfe" was his _sobriquet_. He was never seen, in +the cockpit, did not own a terrier, drank but seldom; when he did, +desperately. He fought sometimes, but was always thrashed, pommelled to +a jelly. The man was game enough, when his blood was up: but he was no +favorite in the mill; he had the taint of school-learning on him,--not +to a dangerous extent, only a quarter or so in the free-school in fact, +but enough to ruin him as a good hand in a fight. + +For other reasons, too, he was not popular. Not one of themselves, they +felt that, though outwardly as filthy and ash-covered; silent, with +foreign thoughts and longings breaking out through his quietness in +innumerable curious ways: this one, for instance. In the neighboring +furnace-buildings lay great heaps of the refuse from the ore after the +pig-metal is run. _Korl_ we call it here: a light, porous substance, of +a delicate, waxen, flesh-colored tinge. Out of the blocks of this korl, +Wolfe, in his off-hours from the furnace, had a habit of chipping and +moulding figures,--hideous, fantastic enough, but sometimes strangely +beautiful: even the mill-men saw that, while they jeered at him. It was +a curious fancy in the man, almost a passion. The few hours for rest he +spent hewing and hacking with his blunt knife, never speaking, until his +watch came again,--working at one figure for months, and, when it was +finished, breaking it to pieces perhaps, in a fit of disappointment. A +morbid, gloomy man, untaught, unled, left to feed his soul in grossness +and crime, and hard, grinding labor. + +I want you to come down and look at this Wolfe, standing there among the +lowest of his kind, and see him just as he is, that you may judge him +justly when you hear the story of this night. I want you to look back, +as he does every day, at his birth in vice, his starved infancy; to +remember the heavy years he has groped through as boy and man,--the +slow, heavy years of constant, hot work. So long ago he began, that he +thinks sometimes he has worked there for ages. There is no hope that it +will ever end. Think that God put into this man's soul a fierce thirst +for beauty,--to know it, to create it; to _be_--something, he knows not +what,--other than he is. There are moments when a passing cloud, the sun +glinting on the purple thistles, a kindly smile, a child's face, will +rouse him to a passion of pain,--when his nature starts up with a mad +cry of rage against God, man, whoever it is that has forced this vile, +slimy life upon him. With all this groping, this mad desire, a great +blind intellect stumbling through wrong, a loving poet's heart, the man +was by habit only a coarse, vulgar laborer, familiar with sights and +words you would blush to name. Be just; when I tell you about this +night, see him as he is. Be just,--not like man's law, which seizes on +one isolated fact, but like God's judging angel, whose clear, sad +eye saw all the countless cankering days of this man's life, all the +countless nights, when, sick with starving, his soul fainted in him, +before it judged him for this night, the saddest of all. + +I called this night the crisis of his life. If it was, it stole on him +unawares. These great turning-days of life cast no shadow before, slip +by unconsciously. Only a trifle, a little turn of the rudder, and the +ship goes to heaven or hell. + +Wolfe, while Deborah watched him, dug into the furnace of melting iron +with his pole, dully thinking only how many rails the lump would yield. +It was late,--nearly Sunday morning; another hour, and the heavy work +would be done,--only the furnaces to replenish and cover for the next +day. The workmen were growing more noisy, shouting, as they had to do, +to be heard over the deep clamor of the mills. Suddenly they grew less +boisterous,--at the far end, entirely silent. Something unusual had +happened. After a moment, the silence came nearer; the men stopped their +jeers and drunken choruses. Deborah, stupidly lifting up her head, +saw the cause of the quiet. A group of five or six men were slowly +approaching, stopping to examine each furnace as they came. Visitors +often came to see the mills after night: except by growing less noisy, +the men took no notice of them. The furnace where Wolfe worked was near +the bounds of the works; they halted there hot and tired: a walk over +one of these great foundries is no trifling task. The woman, drawing out +of sight, turned over to sleep. Wolfe, seeing them stop, suddenly roused +from his indifferent stupor, and watched them keenly. He knew some +of them: the overseer, Clarke,--a son of Kirby, one of the +mill-owners,--and a Doctor May, one of the town-physicians. The other +two were strangers. Wolfe came closer. He seized eagerly every chance +that brought him into contact with this mysterious class that shone down +on him perpetually with the glamour of another order of being. What made +the difference between them? That was the mystery of his life. He had +a vague notion that perhaps to-night he could find it out. One of the +strangers sat down on a pile of bricks, and beckoned young Kirby to his +side. + +"This _is_ hot, with a vengeance. A match, please?"--lighting his cigar. +"But the walk is worth the trouble. If it were not that you must have +heard it so often, Kirby, I would tell you that your works look like +Dante's Inferno." + +Kirby laughed. + +"Yes. Yonder is Farinata himself in the burning tomb,"--pointing to some +figure in the shimmering shadows. + +"Judging from some of the faces of your men," said the other, "they bid +fair to try the reality of Dante's vision, some day." + +Young Kirby looked curiously around, as if seeing the faces of his hands +for the first time. + +"They're bad enough, that's true. A desperate set, I fancy. Eh, Clarke?" + +The overseer did not hear him. He was talking of net profits just +then,--giving, in fact, a schedule of the annual business of the firm to +a sharp peering little Yankee, who jotted down notes on a paper laid on +the crown of his hat: a reporter for one of the city-papers, getting up +a series of reviews of the leading manufactories. The other gentlemen +had accompanied them merely for amusement. They were silent until the +notes were finished, drying their feet at the furnaces, and sheltering +their faces from the intolerable heat. At last the overseer concluded +with--"I believe that is a pretty fair estimate, Captain." + +"Here, some of you men!" said Kirby, "bring up those boards. We may as +well sit down, gentlemen, until the rain is over. It cannot last much +longer at this rate." + +"Pig-metal,"--mumbled the reporter,--"um!--coal facilities,--um!--hands +employed, twelve hundred,--bitumen,--um!--'all right, I believe, Mr. +Clarke;--sinking-fund,--what did you say was your sinking-fund?" + +"Twelve hundred hands?" said the stranger, the young man who had first +spoken. "Do you control their votes, Kirby?" + +"Control? No." The young man smiled complacently. "But my father brought +seven hundred votes to the polls for his candidate last November. No +force-work, you understand,--only a speech or two, a hint to form +themselves into a society, and a bit of red and blue bunting to make +them a flag. The Invincible Roughs,--I believe that is their name. I +forget the motto: 'Our country's hope,' I think." + +There was a laugh. The young man talking to Kirby sat with an amused +light in his cool gray eye, surveying critically the half-clothed +figures of the puddlers, and the slow swing of their brawny muscles. He +was a stranger in the city,--spending a couple of months in the +borders of a Slave State, to study the institutions of the South,--a +brother-in-law of Kirby's,--Mitchell. He was an amateur gymnast,--hence +his anatomical eye; a patron, in a _blasé_ way, of the prize-ring; a man +who sucked the essence out of a science or philosophy in an indifferent, +gentlemanly way; who took Kant, Novalis, Humboldt, for what they were +worth in his own scales; accepting all, despising nothing, in heaven, +earth, or hell, but one-idead men; with a temper yielding and brilliant +as summer water, until his Self was touched, when it was ice, though +brilliant still. Such men are not rare in the States. + +As he knocked the ashes from his cigar, Wolfe caught with a quick +pleasure the contour of the white hand, the blood-glow of a red ring he +wore. His voice, too, and that of Kirby's, touched him like music,--low, +even, with chording cadences. About this man Mitchell hung the +impalpable atmosphere belonging to the thorough-bred gentleman. Wolfe, +scraping away the ashes beside him, was conscious of it, did obeisance +to it with his artist sense, unconscious that he did so. + +The rain did not cease. Clarke and the reporter left the mills; the +others, comfortably seated near the furnace, lingered, smoking +and talking in a desultory way. Greek would not have been more +unintelligible to the furnace-tenders, whose presence they soon forgot +entirely. Kirby drew out a newspaper from his pocket and read aloud some +article, which they discussed eagerly. At every sentence, Wolfe listened +more and more like a dumb, hopeless animal, with a duller, more stolid +look creeping over his face, glancing now and then at Mitchell, marking +acutely every smallest sign of refinement, then back to himself, seeing +as in a mirror his filthy body, his more stained soul. + +Never! He had no words for such a thought, but he knew now, in all the +sharpness of the bitter certainty, that between them there was a great +gulf never to be passed. Never! + +The bell of the mills rang for midnight. Sunday morning had dawned. +Whatever hidden message lay in the tolling bells floated past these men +unknown. Yet it was there. Veiled in the solemn music ushering the risen +Saviour was a key-note to solve the darkest secrets of a world gone +wrong,--even this social riddle which the brain of the grimy puddler +grappled with madly to-night. + +The men began to withdraw the metal from the caldrons. The mills were +deserted on Sundays, except by the hands who fed the fires, and those +who had no lodgings and slept usually on the ash-heaps. The three +strangers sat still during the next hour, watching the men cover the +furnaces, laughing now and then at some jest of Kirby's. + +"Do you know," said Mitchell, "I like this view of the works better than +when the glare was fiercest? These heavy shadows and the amphitheatre +of smothered fires are ghostly, unreal. One could fancy these red +smouldering lights to be the half-shut eyes of wild beasts, and the +spectral figures their victims in the den." + +Kirby laughed. "You are fanciful. Come, let us get out of the den. The +spectral figures, as you call them, are a little too real for me to +fancy a close proximity in the darkness,--unarmed, too." + +The others rose, buttoning their overcoats, and lighting cigars. + +"Raining, still," said Doctor May, "and hard. Where did we leave the +coach, Mitchell?" + +"At the other side of the works.--Kirby, what's that?" + +Mitchell started back, half-frightened, as, suddenly turning a corner, +the white figure of a woman faced him in the darkness,--a woman, white, +of giant proportions, crouching on the ground, her arms flung out in +some wild gesture of warning. + +"Stop! Make that fire burn there!" cried Kirby, stopping short. + +The flame burst out, flashing the gaunt figure into bold relief. + +Mitchell drew a long breath. + +"I thought it was alive," he said, going up curiously. + +The others followed. + +"Not marble, eh?" asked Kirby, touching it. + +One of the lower overseers stopped. + +"Korl, Sir." + +"Who did it?" + +"Can't say. Some of the hands; chipped it out in off-hours." + +"Chipped to some purpose, I should say. What a flesh-tint the stuff has! +Do you see, Mitchell?" + +"I see." + +He had stepped aside where the light fell boldest on the figure, looking +at it in silence. There was not one line of beauty or grace in it: a +nude woman's form, muscular, grown coarse with labor, the powerful limbs +instinct with some one poignant longing. One idea: there it was in the +tense, rigid muscles, the clutching hands, the wild, eager face, like +that of a starving wolf's. Kirby and Doctor May walked around it, +critical, curious. Mitchell stood aloof, silent. The figure touched him +strangely. + +"Not badly done," said Doctor May. "Where did the fellow learn that +sweep of the muscles in the arm and hand? Look at them! They are +groping,--do you see?--clutching: the peculiar action of a man dying of +thirst." + +"They have ample facilities for studying anatomy," sneered Kirby, +glancing at the half-naked figures. + +"Look," continued the Doctor, "at this bony wrist, and the strained +sinews of the instep! A working-woman,--the very type of her class." + +"God forbid!" muttered Mitchell. + +"Why?" demanded May. "What does the fellow intend by the figure? I +cannot catch the meaning." + +"Ask him," said the other, dryly. "There he stands,"--pointing to Wolfe, +who stood with a group of men, leaning on his ash-rake. + +The Doctor beckoned him with the affable smile which kind-hearted men +put on, when talking to these people. + +"Mr. Mitchell has picked you out as the man who did this,--I'm sure I +don't know why. But what did you mean by it?" + +"She be hungry." + +Wolfe's eyes answered Mitchell, not the Doctor. + +"Oh-h! But what a mistake you have made, my fine fellow! You have given +no sign of starvation to the body. It is strong,--terribly strong. It +has the mad, half-despairing gesture of drowning." + +Wolfe stammered, glanced appealingly at Mitchell, who saw the soul of +the thing, he knew. But the cool, probing eyes were turned on himself +now,--mocking, cruel, relentless. + +"Not hungry for meat," the furnace-tender said at last. + +"What then? Whiskey?" jeered Kirby, with a coarse laugh. + +Wolfe was silent a moment, thinking. + +"I dunno," he said, with a bewildered look. "It mebbe. Summat to make +her live, I think,--like you. Whiskey ull do it, in a way." + +The young man laughed again. Mitchell flashed a look of disgust +somewhere,--not at Wolfe. + +"May," he broke out impatiently, "are you blind? Look at that woman's +face! It asks questions of God, and says, 'I have a right to know.' Good +God, how hungry it is!" + +They looked a moment; then May turned to the mill-owner:-- + +"Have you many such hands as this? What are you going to do with them? +Keep them at puddling iron?" + +Kirby shrugged his shoulders. Mitchell's look had irritated him. + +"_Ce n'est pas mon affaire_. I have no fancy for nursing infant +geniuses. I suppose there are some stray gleams of mind and soul among +these wretches. The Lord will take care of his own; or else they can +work out their own salvation. I have heard you call our American system +a ladder which any man can scale. Do you doubt it? Or perhaps you want +to banish all social ladders, and put us all on a flat table-land,--eh, +May?" + +The Doctor looked vexed, puzzled. Some terrible problem lay hid in this +woman's face, and troubled these men. Kirby waited for an answer, and, +receiving none, went on, warning with his subject. + +"I tell you, there's something wrong that no talk of '_Liberté_' or +'_Egalité_' will do away. If I had the making of men, these men who +do the lowest part of the world's work should be machines,--nothing +more,--hands. It would be kindness. God help them! What are taste, +reason, to creatures who must live such lives as that?" He pointed to +Deborah, sleeping on the ash-heap. "So many nerves to sting them to +pain. What if God had put your brain, with all its agony of touch, into +your fingers, and bid you work and strike with that?" + +"You think you could govern the world better?" laughed the Doctor. + +"I do not think at all." + +"That is true philosophy. Drift with the stream, because you cannot dive +deep enough to find bottom, eh?" + +"Exactly," rejoined Kirby. "I do not think. I wash my hands of all +social problems,--slavery, caste, white or black. My duty to my +operatives has a narrow limit,--the pay-hour on Saturday night. Outside +of that, if they cut korl, or cut each other's throats, (the more +popular amusement of the two,) I am not responsible." + +The Doctor sighed,--a good honest sigh, from the depths of his stomach. + +"God help us! Who is responsible?" + +"Not I, I tell you," said Kirby, testily. "What has the man who pays +them money to do with their souls' concerns, more than the grocer or +butcher who takes it?" + +"And yet," said Mitchell's cynical voice, "look at her! How hungry she +is!" + +Kirby tapped his boot with his cane. No one spoke. Only the dumb face of +the rough image looking into their faces with the awful question, "What +shall we do to be saved?" Only Wolfe's face, with its heavy weight of +brain, its weak, uncertain mouth, its desperate eyes, out of which +looked the soul of his class,--only Wolfe's face turned towards Kirby's. +Mitchell laughed,--a cool, musical laugh. + +"Money has spoken!" he said, seating himself lightly on a stone with the +air of an amused spectator at a play. "Are you answered?"--turning to +Wolfe his clear, magnetic face. + +Bright and deep and cold as Arctic air, the soul of the man lay tranquil +beneath. He looked at the furnace-tender as he had looked at a rare +mosaic in the morning; only the man was the more amusing study of the +two. + +"Are you answered? Why, May, look at him! '_De profundis clamavi_.' Or, +to quote in English, 'Hungry and thirsty, his soul faints in him.' And +so Money sends back its answer into the depths through you, Kirby! +Very clear the answer, too!--I think I remember reading the same words +somewhere:--washing your hands in Eau de Cologne, and saying, 'I am +innocent of the blood of this man. See ye to it!'" + +Kirby flushed angrily. + +"You quote Scripture freely." + +"Do I not quote correctly? I think I remember another line, which may +amend my meaning: 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, +ye did it unto me.' Deist? Bless you, man, I was raised on the milk of +the Word. Now, Doctor, the pocket of the world having uttered its +voice, what has the heart to say? You are a philanthropist, in a small +way,--_n'est ce pas_? Here, boy, this gentleman can show you how to cut +korl better,--or your destiny. Go on, May!" + +"I think a mocking devil possesses you to-night," rejoined the Doctor, +seriously. + +He went to Wolfe and put his hand kindly on his arm. Something of a +vague idea possessed the Doctor's brain that much good was to be done +here by a friendly word or two: a latent genius to be warmed into life +by a waited-for sunbeam. Here it was: he had brought it. So he went on +complacently:-- + +"Do you know, boy, you have it in you to be a great sculptor, a great +man?--do you understand?" (talking down to the capacity of his hearer: +it is a way people have with children, and men like Wolfe,)--"to live a +better, stronger life than I, or Mr. Kirby here? A man may make himself +anything he chooses. God has given you stronger powers than many +men,--me, for instance." + +May stopped, heated, glowing with his own magnanimity. And it was +magnanimous. The puddler had drunk in every word, looking through the +Doctor's flurry, and generous heat, and self-approval, into his will, +with those slow, absorbing eyes of his. + +"Make yourself what you will. It is your right." + +"I know," quietly. "Will you help me?" + +Mitchell laughed again. The Doctor turned now, in a passion,-- + +"You know, Mitchell, I have not the means. You know, if I had, it is in +my heart to take this boy and educate him for"---- + +"The glory of God, and the glory of John May." + +May did not speak for a moment; then, controlled, he said,-- + +"Why should one be raised, when myriads are left?--I have not the money, +boy," to Wolfe, shortly. + +"Money?" He said it over slowly, as one repeals the guessed answer to a +riddle, doubtfully. "That is it? Money?" + +"Yes, money,--that is it," said Mitchell, rising, and drawing his +furred coat about him. "You've found the cure for all the world's +diseases.--Come, May, find your good-humor, and come home. This damp +wind chills my very bones. Come and preach your Saint-Simonian doctrines +to-morrow to Kirby's hands. Let them have a clear idea of the rights of +the soul, and I'll venture next week they'll strike for higher wages. +That will be the end of it." + +"Will you send the coach-driver to this side of the mills?" asked Kirby, +turning to Wolfe. + +He spoke kindly: it was his habit to do so. Deborah, seeing the puddler +go, crept after him. The three men waited outside. Doctor May walked up +and down, chafed. Suddenly he stopped. + +"Go back, Mitchell! You say the pocket and the heart of the world speak +without meaning to these people. What has its head to say? Taste, +culture, refinement? Go!" + +Mitchell was leaning against a brick wall. He turned his head +indolently, and looked into the mills. There hung about the place a +thick, unclean odor. The slightest motion of his hand marked that he +perceived it, and his insufferable disgust. That was all. May said +nothing, only quickened his angry tramp. + +"Besides," added Mitchell, giving a corollary to his answer, "it would +be of no use. I am not one of them." + +"You do not mean"--said May, facing him. + +"Yes, I mean just that. Reform is born of need, not pity. No vital +movement of the people's has worked down, for good or evil; fermented, +instead, carried up the heaving, cloggy mass. Think back through +history, and you will know it. What will this lowest deep--thieves, +Magdalens, negroes--do with the light filtered through ponderous Church +creeds, Baconian theories, Goethe schemes? Some day, out of their bitter +need will be thrown up their own light-bringer,--their Jean Paul, their +Cromwell, their Messiah." + +"Bah!" was the Doctor's inward criticism. However, in practice, he +adopted the theory; for, when, night and morning, afterwards, he prayed +that power might be given these degraded souls to rise, he glowed at +heart, recognizing an accomplished duty. + +Wolfe and the woman had stood in the shadow of the works as the coach +drove off. The Doctor had held out his hand in a frank, generous way, +telling him to "take care of himself, and to remember it was his right +to rise." Mitchell had simply touched his hat, as to an equal, with a +quiet look of thorough recognition. Kirby had thrown Deborah some money, +which she found, and clutched eagerly enough. They were gone now, all +of them. The man sat down on the cinder-road, looking up into the murky +sky. + +"'T be late, Hugh. Wunnot hur come?" + +He shook his head doggedly, and the woman crouched out of his sight +against the wall. Do you remember rare moments when a sudden +light flashed over yourself, your world, God? when you stood on a +mountain-peak, seeing your life as it might have been, as it is? one +quick instant, when custom lost its force and every-day usage? when your +friend, wife, brother, stood in a new light? your soul was bared, and +the grave,--a foretaste of the nakedness of the Judgment-Day? So it came +before him, his life, that night. The slow tides of pain he had borne +gathered themselves up and surged against his soul. His squalid daily +life, the brutal coarseness eating into his brain, as the ashes into +his skin: before, these things had been a dull aching into his +consciousness; to-night, they were reality. He griped the filthy red +shirt that clung, stiff with soot, about him, and tore it savagely from +his arm. The flesh beneath was muddy with grease and ashes,--and the +heart beneath that! And the soul? God knows. + +Then flashed before his vivid poetic sense the man who had left +him,--the pure face, the delicate, sinewy limbs, in harmony with all he +knew of beauty or truth. In his cloudy fancy he had pictured a Something +like this. He had found it in this Mitchell, even when he idly scoffed +at his pain: a Man all-knowing, all-seeing, crowned by Nature, +reigning,--the keen glance of his eye falling like a sceptre on other +men. And yet his instinct taught him that he too--He! He looked at +himself with sudden loathing, sick, wrung his hands with a cry, and then +was silent. With all the phantoms of his heated, ignorant fancy, Wolfe +had not been vague in his ambitious. They were practical, slowly built +up before him out of his knowledge of what he could do. Through years +he had day by day made this hope a real thing to himself,--a clear, +projected figure of himself, as he might become. + +Able to speak, to know what was best, to raise these men and women +working at his side up with him: sometimes he forgot this defined hope +in the frantic anguish to escape,--only to escape,--out of the wet, the +pain, the ashes, somewhere, anywhere,--only for one moment of free air +on a hill-side, to lie down and let his sick soul throb itself out in +the sunshine. But to-night he panted for life. The savage strength of +his nature was roused; his cry was fierce to God for justice. + +"Look at me!" he said to Deborah, with a low, bitter laugh, striking his +puny chest savagely. "What am I worth, Deb? Is it my fault that I am no +better? My fault? My fault?" + +He stopped, stung with a sudden remorse, seeing her hunchback shape +writhing with sobs. For Deborah was crying thankless tears, according to +the fashion of women. + +"God forgi' me, woman! Things go harder wi' you nor me. It's a worse +share." + +He got up and helped her to rise; and they went doggedly down the muddy +street, side by side. + +"It's all wrong," he muttered, slowly,--"all wrong! I dunnot +understan'. But it'll end some day." + +"Come home, Hugh!" she said, coaxingly; for he had stopped, looking +around bewildered. + +"Home,--and back to the mill!" He went on saying this over to himself, +as if he would mutter down every pain in this dull despair. + +She followed him through the fog, her blue lips chattering with cold. +They reached the cellar at last. Old Wolfe had been drinking since she +went out, and had crept nearer the door. The girl Janey slept heavily In +the corner. He went up to her, touching softly the worn white arm with +his fingers. Some bitterer thought stung him, as he stood there. He +wiped the drops from his forehead, and went into the room beyond, livid, +trembling. A hope, trifling, perhaps, but very dear, had died just then +out of the poor puddler's life, as he looked at the sleeping, innocent +girl,--some plan for the future, in which she had borne a part. He gave +it up that moment, then and forever. Only a trifle, perhaps, to us: his +face grew a shade paler,--that was all. But, somehow, the man's soul, as +God and the angels looked down on it, never was the same afterwards. + +Deborah followed him into the inner room. She carried a candle, which +she placed on the floor, dosing the door after her. She had seen the +look on his face, as he turned away: her own grew deadly. Yet, as she +came up to him, her eyes glowed. He was seated on an old chest, quiet, +holding his face in his hands. + +"Hugh!" she said, softly. + +He did not speak. + +"Hugh, did hur hear what the man said,--him with the clear voice? Did +hur hear? Money, money,--that it wud do all?" + +He pushed her away,--gently, but he was worn out; her rasping tone +fretted him. + +"Hugh!" + +The candle flared a pale yellow light over the cobwebbed brick walls, +and the woman standing there. He looked at her. She was young, in deadly +earnest; her faded eyes, and wet, ragged figure caught from their +frantic eagerness a power akin to beauty. + +"Hugh, it is true! Money ull do it! Oh, Hugh, boy, listen till me! He +said it true! It is money!" + +"I know. Go back! I do not want you here." + +"Hugh, it is t' last time. I 'II never worrit hur again." + +There were tears in her voice now, but she choked them back. + +"Hear till me only to-night! If one of t' witch people wud come, them we +heard of t' home, and gif hur all hur wants, what then? Say, Hugh!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean money.". + +Her whisper shrilled through his brain. + +"If one of t' witch dwarfs wud come from t' lane moors to-night, and gif +hur money, to go out,--_out_, I say,--out, lad, where t' sun shines, and +t' heath grows, and t' ladies walk in silken gownds, and God stays all +t' time,--where t' man lives that talked to us to-night,--Hugh knows, +--Hugh could walk there like a king!" + +He thought the woman mad, tried to check her, but she went on, fierce in +her eager haste. + +"If _I_ were t' witch dwarf, if I had f money, wud hur thank me? Wud hur +take me out o' this place wid hur and Janey? I wud not come into the +gran' house hur wud build, to vex hur wid t' hunch,--only at night, when +t' shadows were dark, stand far off to see hur." + +Mad? Yes! Are many of us mad in this way? + +"Poor Deb! poor Deb!" he said, soothingly. + +"It is here," she said, suddenly jerking into his hand a small roll. +"I took it! I did it! Me, me!--not hur! I shall be hanged, I shall be +burnt in hell, if anybody knows I took it! Out of his pocket, as he +leaned against t' bricks. Hur knows?" + +She thrust it into his hand, and then, her errand done, began to gather +chips together to make a fire, choking down hysteric sobs. + +"Has it come to this?" + +That was all he said. The Welsh Wolfe blood was honest. The roll was a +small green pocket-book containing one or two gold pieces, and a check +for an incredible amount, as it seemed to the poor puddler. He laid it +down, hiding his face again in his hands. + +"Hugh, don't be angry wud me! It's only poor Deb,--hur knows?" + +He took the long skinny fingers kindly in his. + +"Angry? God help me, no! Let me sleep. I am tired." + +He threw himself heavily down on the wooden bench, stunned with pain and +weariness. She brought some old rags to cover him. + +It was late on Sunday evening before he awoke. I tell God's truth, when +I say he had then no thought of keeping this money. Deborah had hid it +in his pocket. He found it there. She watched him eagerly, as he took it +out. + +"I must gif it to him," he said, reading her face. + +"Hur knows," she said with a bitter sigh of disappointment. "But it is +hur right to keep it." + +His right! The word struck him. Doctor May had used the same. He washed +himself, and went out to find this man Mitchell. His right! Why did this +chance word cling to him so obstinately? Do you hear the fierce devils +whisper in his ear, as he went slowly down the darkening street? + +The evening came on, slow and calm. He seated himself at the end of +an alley leading into one of the larger streets. His brain was clear +to-night, keen, intent, mastering. It would not start back, cowardly, +from any hellish temptation, but meet it face to face. Therefore the +great temptation of his life came to him veiled by no sophistry, but +bold, defiant, owning its own vile name, trusting to one bold blow for +victory. + +He did not deceive himself. Theft! That was it. At first the word +sickened him; then he grappled with it. Sitting there on a broken +cart-wheel, the fading day, the noisy groups, the church-bells' tolling +passed before him like a panorama, while the sharp struggle went on +within. This money! He took it out, and looked at it. If he gave it +back, what then? He was going to be cool about it. + +People going by to church saw only a sickly mill-boy watching them +quietly at the alley's mouth. They did not know that he was mad, or they +would not have gone by so quietly: mad with hunger; stretching out his +hands to the world, that had given so much to them, for leave to live +the life God meant him to live. His soul within him was smothering to +death; he wanted so much, thought so much, and _knew_--nothing. There +was nothing of which he was certain, except the mill and things there. +Of God and heaven he had heard so little, that they were to him what +fairy-land is to a child: something real, but not here; very far off. +His brain, greedy, dwarfed, full of thwarted energy and unused powers, +questioned these men and women going by, coldly, bitterly, that night. +Was it not his right to live as they,--a pure life, a good, true-hearted +life, full of beauty and kind words? He only wanted to know how to use +the strength within him. His heart warmed, as he thought of it. He +suffered himself to think of it longer. If he took the money? + +Then he saw himself as he might be, strong, helpful, kindly. The night +crept on, as this one image slowly evolved itself from the crowd of +other thoughts and stood triumphant. He looked at it. As he might be! +What wonder, if it blinded him to delirium,--the madness that underlies +all revolution, all progress, and all fall? + +You laugh at the shallow temptation? You see the error underlying +its argument so clearly,--that to him a true life was one of full +development rather than self-restraint? that he was deaf to the higher +tone in a cry of voluntary suffering for truth's sake than in the +fullest flow of spontaneous harmony? I do not plead his cause. I only +want to show you the mote in my brother's eye: then you can see clearly +to take it out. + +The money,--there it lay on his knee, a little blotted slip of paper, +nothing in itself; used to raise him out of the pit; something straight +from God's hand. A thief! Well, what was it to be a thief? He met the +question at last, face to face, wiping the clammy drops of sweat +from his forehead. God made this money--the fresh air, too--for his +children's use. He never made the difference between poor and rich. The +Something who looked down on him that moment through the cool gray sky +had a kindly face, he knew,--loved his children alike. Oh, he knew that! + +There were times when the soft floods of color in the crimson and purple +flames, or the clear depth of amber in the water below the bridge, had +somehow given him a glimpse of another world than this,--of an infinite +depth of beauty and of quiet somewhere,--somewhere,--a depth of quiet +and rest and love. Looking up now, it became strangely real. The sun had +sunk quite below the hills, but his last rays struck upward, touching +the zenith. The fog had risen, and the town and river were steeped in +its thick, gray damp; but overhead, the sun-touched smoke-clouds opened +like a cleft ocean,--shifting, rolling seas of crimson mist, waves of +billowy silver reined with blood-scarlet, inner depths unfathomable of +glancing light. Wolfe's artist-eye grew drunk with color. The gates of +that other world! Fading, flashing before him now! What, in that world +of Beauty, Content, and Right, were the petty laws, the mine and thine, +of mill-owners and mill-hands? + +A consciousness of power stirred within him. He stood up. A man,--he +thought, stretching out his hands,--free to work, to live, to love! +Free! His right! He folded the scrap of paper in his hand. As his +nervous fingers took it in, limp and blotted, so his soul took in the +mean temptation, lapped it in fancied rights, in dreams of improved +existences, drifting and endless as the cloud-seas of color. Clutching +it, as if the tightness of his hold would strengthen his sense of +possession, he went aimlessly down the street. It was his watch at the +mill. He need not go, need never go again, thank God!--shaking off the +thought with unspeakable loathing. + +Shall I go over the history of the hours of that night? how the +man wandered from one to another of his old haunts, with a +half-consciousness of bidding them farewell,--lanes and alleys and +back-yards where the mill-hands lodged,--noting, with a new eagerness, +the filth and drunkenness, the pig-pens, the ash-heaps covered with +potato-skins, the bloated, pimpled women at the doors,--with a new +disgust, a new sense of sudden triumph, and, under all, a new, vague +dread, unknown before, smothered down, kept under, but still there? It +left him but once during the night, when, for the second time in his +life, he entered a church. It was a sombre Gothic pile, where the +stained light lost itself in far-retreating arches; built to meet the +requirements and sympathies of a far other class than Wolfe's. Yet it +touched, moved him uncontrollably. The distances, the shadows, the +still, marble figures, the mass of silent kneeling worshippers, the +mysterious music, thrilled, lifted his soul with a wonderful pain. Wolfe +forgot himself, forgot the new life he was going to live, the mean +terror gnawing underneath. The voice of the speaker strengthened the +charm; it was clear, feeling, full, strong. An old man, who had lived +much, suffered much; whose brain was keenly alive, dominant; whose heart +was summer-warm with charity. He taught it to-night. He held up Humanity +in its grand total; showed the great world-cancer to his people. Who +could show it better? He was a Christian reformer; he had studied the +age thoroughly; his outlook at man had been free, world-wide, over all +time. His faith stood sublime upon the Rock of Ages; his fiery zeal +guided vast schemes by which the gospel was to be preached to all +nations. How did he preach it to-night? In burning, light-laden words he +painted the incarnate Life, Love, the universal Man: words that became +reality in the lives of these people,--that lived again in beautiful +words and actions, trifling, but heroic. Sin, as he defied it, was a +real foe to them; their trials, temptations, were his. His words passed +far over the furnace-tender's grasp, toned to suit another class of +culture; they sounded in his ears a very pleasant song in an unknown +tongue. He meant to cure this world-cancer with a steady eye that +had never glared with hunger, and a hand that neither poverty nor +strychnine-whiskey had taught to shake. In this morbid, distorted heart +of the Welsh puddler he had failed. + +Wolfe rose at last, and turned from the church down the street. He +looked up; the night had come on foggy, damp; the golden mists had +vanished, and the sky lay dull and ash-colored. He wandered again +aimlessly down the street, idly wondering what had become of the +cloud-sea of crimson and scarlet. The trial-day of this man's life was +over, and he had lost the victory. What followed was mere drifting +circumstance,--a quicker walking over the path,--that was all. Do you +want to hear the end of it? You wish me to make a tragic story out of +it? Why, in the police-reports of the morning paper you can find a dozen +such tragedies: hints of ship-wrecks unlike any that ever befell on the +high seas; hints that here a power was lost to heaven,--that there a +soul went down where no tide can ebb or flow. Commonplace enough the +hints are,--jocose sometimes, done up in rhyme. + +Doctor May, a month after the night I have told you of, was reading to +his wife at breakfast from this fourth column of the morning-paper: an +unusual thing,--these police-reports not being, in general, choice +reading for ladies; but it was only one item he read. + +"Oh, my dear! You remember that man I told you of, that we saw at +Kirby's mill?--that was arrested for robbing Mitchell? Here he is; just +listen:--'Circuit Court. Judge Day, Hugh Wolfe, operative in Kirby & +John's Loudon Mills. Charge, grand larceny. Sentence, nineteen years +hard labor in penitentiary.'--Scoundrel! Serves him right! After all +our kindness that night! Picking Mitchell's pocket at the very time!" + +His wife said something about the ingratitude of that kind of people, +and then they began to talk of something else. + +Nineteen years! How easy that was to read! What a simple word for Judge +Day to utter! Nineteen years! Half a lifetime! + +Hugh Wolfe sat on the window-ledge of his cell, looking out. His ankles +were ironed. Not usual in such cases; but he had made two desperate +efforts to escape. "Well," as Haley, the jailer, said, "small blame +to him! Nineteen years' imprisonment was not a pleasant thing to look +forward to." Haley was very good-natured about it, though Wolfe had +fought him savagely. + +"When he was first caught," the jailer said afterwards, in telling the +story, "before the trial, the fellow was cut down at once,--laid there +on that pallet like a dead man, with his hands over his eyes. Never saw +a man so cut down in my life. Time of the trial, too, came the queerest +dodge of any customer I ever had. Would choose no lawyer. Judge gave him +one, of course. Gibson it was. He tried to prove the fellow crazy; but +it wouldn't go. Thing was plain as daylight: money found on him. 'Twas a +hard sentence,--all the law allows; but it was for 'xample's sake. These +mill-hands are gettin' onbearable. When the sentence was read, he just +looked up, and said the money was his by rights, and that all the world +had gone wrong. That night, after the trial, a gentleman came to see him +here, name of Mitchell,--him as he stole from. Talked to him for an +hour. Thought he came for curiosity, like. After he was gone, thought +Wolfe was remarkable quiet, and went into his cell. Found him very low; +bed all bloody. Doctor said he had been bleeding at the lungs. He was as +weak as a cat; yet, if ye'll b'lieve me, he tried to get a-past me and +get out. I just carried him like a baby, and threw him on the pallet. +Three days after, he tried it again: that time reached the wall. Lord +help you! he fought like a tiger,--giv' some terrible blows. Fightin' +for life, you see; for he can't live long, shut up in the stone crib +down yonder. Got a death-cough now. 'T took two of us to bring him down +that day; so I just put the irons on his feet. There he sits, in there. +Goin' to-morrow, with a batch more of 'em. That woman, hunchback, tried +with him,--you remember?--she's only got three years. 'Complice. But +_she's_ a woman, you know. He's been quiet ever since I put on irons: +giv' up, I suppose. Looks white, sick-lookin'. It acts different on 'em, +bein' sentenced. Most of 'em gets reckless, devilish-like. Some prays +awful, and sings them vile songs of the mills, all in a breath. That +woman, now, she's desper't'. Been beggin' to see Hugh, as she calls him, +for three days. I'm a-goin' to let her in. She don't go with him. Here +she is in this next cell. I'm a-goin' now to let her in." + +He let her in. Wolfe did not see her. She crept into a corner of the +cell, and stood watching him. He was scratching the iron bars of the +window with a piece of tin which he had picked up, with an idle, +uncertain, vacant stare, just as a child or idiot would do. + +"Tryin' to get out, old boy?" laughed Haley. "Them irons will need a +crowbar beside your tin, before you can open 'em." + +Wolfe laughed, too, in a senseless way. + +"I think I'll get out," he said. + +"I believe his brain's touched," said Haley, when he came out. + +The puddler scraped away with the tin for half an hour. Still Deborah +did not speak. At last she ventured nearer, and touched his arm. + +"Blood?" she said, looking at some spots on his coat with a shudder. + +He looked up at her. "Why, Deb!" he said, smiling,--such a bright, +boyish smile, that it went to poor Deborah's heart directly, and she +sobbed and cried out loud. + +"Oh, Hugh, lad! Hugh! dunnot look at me, when it wur my fault! To think +I brought hur to it! And I loved hur so! Oh, lad, I dud!" + +The confession, even in this wretch, came with the woman's blush through +the sharp cry. + +He did not seem to hear her,--scraping away diligently at the bars with +the bit of tin. + +Was he going mad? She peered closely into his face. Something she saw +there made her draw suddenly back,--something which Haley had not seen, +that lay beneath the pinched, vacant look it had caught since the trial, +or the curious gray shadow that rested on it. That gray shadow,--yes, +she knew what that meant. She had often seen it creeping over women's +faces for months, who died at last of slow hunger or consumption. That +meant death, distant, lingering: but this--Whatever it was the woman +saw, or thought she saw, used as she was to crime and misery, seemed to +make her sick with a new horror. Forgetting her fear of him, she caught +his shoulders, and looked keenly, steadily, into his eyes. + +"Hugh!" she cried, in a desperate whisper,--"oh, boy, not that! for +God's sake, not _that!_" + +The vacant laugh went off his face, and he answered her in a muttered +word or two that drove her away. Yet the words were kindly enough. +Sitting there on his pallet, she cried silently a hopeless sort of +tears, but did not speak again. The man looked up furtively at her now +and then. Whatever his own trouble was, her distress vexed him with a +momentary sting. + +It was market-day. The narrow window of the jail looked down directly on +the carts and wagons drawn up in a long line, where they had unloaded. +He could see, too, and hear distinctly the clink of money as it changed +hands, the busy crowd of whites and blacks shoving, pushing one another, +and the chaffering and swearing at the stalls. Somehow, the sound, more +than anything else had done, wakened him up,--made the whole real to +him. He was done with the world and the business of it. He let the tin +fall, and looked out, pressing his face close to the rusty bars. How +they crowded and pushed! And he,--he should never walk that pavement +again! There came Neff Sanders, one of the feeders at the mill, with +a basket on his arm. Sure enough, Neff was married the other week. He +whistled, hoping he would look up; but he did not. He wondered if Neff +remembered he was there,--if any of the boys thought of him up there, +and thought that he never was to go down that old cinder-road again. +Never again! He had not quite understood it before; but now he did. Not +for days or years, but never!--that was it. + +How clear the light fell on that stall in front of the market! and how +like a picture it was, the dark-green heaps of corn, and the crimson +beets, and golden melons! There was another with game: how the light +flickered on that pheasant's breast, with the purplish blood dripping +over the brown feathers! He could see the red shining of the drops, it +was so near. In one minute he could be down there. It was just a step. +So easy, as it seemed, so natural to go! Yet it could never be--not in +all the thousands of years to come--that he should put his foot on that +street again! He thought of himself with a sorrowful pity, as of some +one else. There was a dog down in the market, walking after his master +with such a stately, grave look!--only a dog, yet he could go backwards +and forwards just as he pleased: he had good luck! Why, the very vilest +cur, yelping there in the gutter, had not lived his life, had been free +to act out whatever thought God had put into his brain; while he--No, he +would not think of that! He tried to put the thought away, and to listen +to a dispute between a countryman and a woman about some meat; but it +would come back. He, what had he done to bear this? + +Then came the sudden picture of what might have been, and now. He knew +what it was to be in the penitentiary,--how it went with men there. He +knew how in these long years he should slowly die, but not Until soul +and body had become corrupt and rotten,--how, when he came out, if he +lived to come, even the lowest of the mill-hands would jeer him,--how +his hands would be weak, and his brain senseless and stupid. He believed +he was almost that now. He put his hand to his head, with a puzzled, +weary look. It ached, his head, with thinking. He tried to quiet +himself. It was only right, perhaps; he had done wrong. But was there +right or wrong for such as he? What was right'? And who had ever taught +him? He thrust the whole matter away. A dark, cold quiet crept through +his brain. It was all wrong; but let it be! It was nothing to him more +than the others. Let it be! + +The door grated, as Haley opened it. + +"Come, my woman! Must lock up for t'night. Come, stir yerself!" + +She went up and took Hugh's hand. + +"Good-night, Deb," he said, carelessly. + +She had not hoped he would say more; but the Sired pain on her mouth +just then was bitterer than death. She took his passive hand and kissed +it. + +"Hur 'll never see Deb again!" she ventured, her lips growing colder and +more bloodless. + +What did she say that for? Did he not know it'! Yet he would not +impatient with poor old Deb. She had trouble of her own, as well as he. + +"No, never again," he said, trying to be cheerful. + +She stood just a moment, looking at him. Do you laugh at her, standing +there, with her hunchback, her rags, her bleared, withered face, and the +great despised love tugging at her heart? + +"Come, you!" called Haley, impatiently. + +She did not move. + +"Hugh!" she whispered. + +It was to be her last word. What was it? + +"Hugh, boy, not THAT!" + +He did not answer. She wrung her hands, trying to be silent, looking in +his face in an agony of entreaty. He smiled again, kindly. + +"It is best, Deb. I cannot bear to be hurted any more." + +"Hur knows," she said, humbly. + +"Tell my father good-bye; and--and kiss little Janey." + +She nodded, saying nothing, looked in his face again, and went out of +the door. As she went, she staggered. + +"Drinkin' to-day?" broke out Haley, pushing her before him. "Where the +Devil did you get it? Here, in with ye!" and he shoved her into her +cell, next to Wolfe's, and shut the door. + +Along the wall of her cell there was a crack low down by the floor, +through which she could see the light from Wolfe's. She had discovered +it days before. She hurried in now, and, kneeling down by it, listened, +hoping to hear some sound. Nothing but the rasping of the tin on the +bars. He was at his old amusement again. Something in the noise jarred +on her ear, for she shivered as she heard it. Hugh rasped away at the +bars. A dull old bit of tin, not fit to cut korl with. + +He looked out of the window again. People were leaving the market now. +A tall mulatto girl, following her mistress, her basket on her head, +crossed the street just below, and looked up. She was laughing; but, +when she caught sight of the haggard face peering out through the bars, +suddenly grew grave, and hurried by. A free, firm step, a clear-cut +olive face, with a scarlet turban tied on one side, dark, shining eyes, +and on the head the basket poised, filled with fruit and flowers, under +which the scarlet turban and bright eyes looked out half-shadowed. The +picture caught his eye. It was good to see a face like that. He would +try to-morrow, and cut one like it. _To-morrow_! He threw down the tin, +trembling, and covered his face with his hands. When he looked up again, +the daylight was gone. + +Deborah, crouching near by on the other side of the wall, heard no +noise. He sat on the side of the low pallet, thinking. Whatever was the +mystery which the woman had seen on his face, it came out now slowly, in +the dark there, and became fixed,--a something never seen on his face +before. The evening was darkening fast. The market had been over for an +hour; the rumbling of the carts over the pavement grew more infrequent: +he listened to each, as it passed, because he thought it was to be for +the last time. For the same reason, it was, I suppose, that he strained +his eyes to catch a glimpse of each passer-by, wondering who they were, +what kind of homes they were going to, if they had children,--listening +eagerly to every chance word in the street, as if--(God be merciful to +the man! what strange fancy was this?)--as if he never should hear human +voices again. + +It was quite dark at last. The street was a lonely one. The last +passenger, he thought, was gone. No,--there was a quick step: Joe Hill, +lighting the I Joe was a good old chap; never passed a fellow without +some joke or other. He remembered once seeing the place where he lived +with his wife. "Granny Hill" the boys called her. Bedridden she was; but +so kind as Joe was to her! kept the room so clean!--and the old woman, +when he was there, was laughing at "some of t' lad's foolishness." The +step was far down the street; but he could see him place the ladder, run +up, and light the gas. A longing seized him to be spoken to once more. + +"Joe!" he called, out of the grating. "Good-bye, Joe!" + +The old man stopped a moment, listening uncertainly; then hurried on. +The prisoner thrust his hand out of the window, and called again, +louder; but Joe was too far down the street. It was a little thing; but +it hurt him,--this disappointment. + +"Good-bye, Joe!" he called, sorrowfully enough. + +"Be quiet!" said one of the jailers, passing the door, striking on it +with his club. + +Oh, that was the last, was it? + +There was an inexpressible bitterness on his face, as he lay down on the +bed, taking the bit of tin, which he had rasped to a tolerable degree +of sharpness, in his hand,--to play with, it may be. He bared his arms, +looking intently at their corded veins and sinews. Deborah, listening in +the next cell, heard a slight clicking sound, often repeated. She shut +her lips tightly, that she might not scream; the cold drops of sweat +broke over her, in her dumb agony. + +"Hur knows best," she muttered at last, fiercely clutching the boards +where she lay. + +If she could have seen Wolfe, there was nothing about him to frighten +her. He lay quite still, his arms outstretched, looking at the pearly +stream of moonlight coming into the window. I think in that one hour +that came then he lived back over all the years that had gone before. +I think that all the low, vile life, all his wrongs, all his starved +hopes, came then, and stung him with a farewell poison that made him +sick unto death. He made neither moan nor cry, only turned his worn face +now and then to the pure light, that seemed so far off, as one that +said, "How long, O Lord? how long?" + +The hour was over at last. The moon, passing over her nightly path, +slowly came nearer, and threw the light across his bed on his feet. He +watched it steadily, as it crept up, inch by inch, slowly. It seemed to +him to carry with it a great silence. He had been so hot and tired there +always in the mills! The years had been so fierce and cruel! There was +coming now quiet and coolness and sleep. His tense limbs relaxed, and +settled in a calm languor. The blood ran fainter and slow from his +heart. He did not think now with a savage anger of what might be and was +not; he was conscious only of deep stillness creeping over him. At first +he saw a sea of faces: the mill-men,--women he had known, drunken and +bloated,--Janeys timid and pitiful,--poor old Debs: then they floated +together like a mist, and faded away, leaving only the clear, pearly +moonlight. + +Whether, as the pure light crept up the stretched-out figure, it brought +with it calm and peace, who shall say? His dumb soul was alone with +God in judgment. A Voice may have spoken for it from far-off Calvary, +"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" Who dare say? +Fainter and fainter the heart rose and fell, slower and slower the moon +floated from behind a cloud, until, when at last its full tide of white +splendor swept over the cell, it seemed to wrap and fold into a deeper +stillness the dead figure that never should move again. Silence deeper +than the Night! Nothing that moved, save the black, nauseous stream of +blood dripping slowly from the pallet to the floor! + +There was outcry and crowd enough in the cell the next day. The coroner +and his jury, the local editors, Kirby himself, and boys with their +hands thrust knowingly into their pockets and heads on one side, jammed +into the corners. Coming and going all day. Only one woman. She came +late, and outstayed them all. A Quaker, or Friend, as they call +themselves. I think this woman was known by that name in heaven. A +homely body, coarsely dressed in gray and white. Deborah (for Haley had +let her in) took notice of her. She watched them all--sitting on the +end of the pallet, holding his head in her arms--with the ferocity of +a watch-dog, if any of them touched the body. There was no meekness, +sorrow, in her face; the stuff out of which murderers are made, instead. +All the time Haley and the woman were laying straight the limbs and +cleaning the cell, Deborah sat still, keenly watching the Quaker's face. +Of all the crowd there that day, this woman alone had not spoken to +her,--only once or twice had put some cordial to her lips. After they +all were gone, the woman, in the same still, gentle way, brought a vase +of wood-leaves and berries, and placed it by the pallet, then opened the +narrow window. The fresh air blew in, and swept the woody fragrance over +the dead face. Deborah looked up with a quick wonder. + +"Did hur know my boy wud like it? Did hur know Hugh?" + +"I know Hugh now." + +The white fingers passed in a slow, pitiful way over the dead, worn +face. There was a heavy shadow in the quiet eyes. + +"Did hur know where they'll bury Hugh?" said Deborah in a shrill tone, +catching her arm. + +This had been the question hanging on her lips all day. + +"In t' town-yard? Under t'mud and ash? T'lad 'll smother, woman! He wur +born on t'lane moor, where t'air is frick and strong. Take hur out, for +God's sake, take hur out where t'air blows!" + +The Quaker hesitated, but only for a moment. She put her strong arm +around Deborah and led her to the window. + +"Thee sees the hills, friend, over the river? Thee sees how the +light lies warm there, and the winds of God blow all the day? I live +there,--where the blue smoke is, by the trees. Look at me." She turned +Deborah's face to her own, clear and earnest. "Thee will believe me? I +will take Hugh and bury him there to-morrow." + +Deborah did not doubt her. As the evening wore on, she leaned against +the iron bars, looking at the hills that rose far off, through the thick +sodden clouds, like a bright, unattainable calm. As she looked, a shadow +of their solemn repose fell on her face: its fierce discontent faded +into a pitiful, humble quiet. Slow, solemn tears gathered in her eyes: +the poor weak eyes turned so hopelessly to the place where Hugh was to +rest, the grave heights looking higher and brighter and more solemn than +ever before. The Quaker watched her keenly. She came to her at last, and +touched her arm. + +"When thee comes back," she said, in a low, sorrowful tone, like one +who speaks from a strong heart deeply moved with remorse or pity, "thee +shall begin thy life again,--there on the hills. I came too late; but +not for thee,--by God's help, it may be." + +Not too late. Three years after, the Quaker began her work. I end my +story here. At evening-time it was light. There is no need to tire +you with the long years of sunshine, and fresh air, and slow, patient +Christ-love, needed to make healthy and hopeful this impure body and +soul. There is a homely pine house, on one of these hills, whose windows +overlook broad, wooded slopes and clover-crimsoned meadows,--niched into +the very place where the light is warmest, the air freest. It is the +Friends' meeting-house. Once a week they sit there, in their grave, +earnest way, waiting for the Spirit of Love to speak, opening their +simple hearts to receive His words. There is a woman, old, deformed, who +takes a humble place among them: waiting like them: in her gray dress, +her worn face, pure and meek, turned now and then to the sky. A woman +much loved by these silent, restful people; more silent than they, more +humble, more loving. Waiting: with her eyes turned to hills higher and +purer than these on which she lives,--dim and far off now, but to be +reached some day. There may be in her heart some latent hope to meet +there the love denied her here,--that she shall find him whom she lost, +and that then she will not be all-unworthy. Who blames her? Something +is lost in the passage of every soul from one eternity to the +other,--something pure and beautiful, which might have been and was not: +a hope, a talent, a love, over which the soul mourns, like Esau deprived +of his birthright. What blame to the meek Quaker, if she took her lost +hope to make the hills of heaven more fair? + +Nothing remains to tell that the poor Welsh puddler once lived, but this +figure of the mill-woman cut in korl. I have it here in a corner of my +library. I keep it hid behind a curtain,--it is such a rough, ungainly +thing. Yet there are about it touches, grand sweeps of outline, that +show a master's hand. Sometimes,--to-night, for instance,--the curtain is +accidentally drawn back, and I see a bare arm stretched out imploringly +in the darkness, and an eager, wolfish face watching mine: a wan, woful +face, through which the spirit of the dead korl-cutter looks out, with +its thwarted life, its mighty hunger, its unfinished work. Its pale, +vague lips seem to tremble with a terrible question, "Is this the End?" +they say,--"nothing beyond?--no more?" + +Why, you tell me you have seen that look in the eyes of dumb +brutes,--horses dying under the lash. I know. + +The deep of the night is passing while I write. The gas-light wakens +from the shadows here and there the objects which lie scattered through +the room: only faintly, though; for they belong to the open sunlight. As +I glance at them, they each recall some task or pleasure of the coming +day. A half-moulded child's head; Aphrodite; a bough of forest-leaves; +music; work; homely fragments, in which lie the secrets of all eternal +truth and beauty. Prophetic all! Only this dumb, woful face seems to +belong to and end with the night. I turn to look at it Has the power of +its desperate need commanded the darkness away? While the room is yet +steeped in heavy shadow, a cool, gray light suddenly touches its head +like a blessing hand, and its groping arm points through the broken +cloud to the far East, where, in the nickering, nebulous crimson, God +has set the promise of the Dawn. + + * * * * * + + +THE REIGN OF KING COTTON. + + +To every age and to all nations belong their peculiar maxims and +political or religious cries, which, if collected by some ingenious +philosopher, would make a striking compendium of universal history. +Sometimes a curious outward similarity exists between these condensed +national sentences of peoples dissimilar in every other respect. Thus, +to-day is heard in the senescent East the oft-repeated formula of the +Mussulman's faith, "There is no God but Allah, and Mahomet is his +Prophet," while in the youthful West a new cry, as fully believed, not +less devout, and scarcely less often repeated, arises from one great +and influential portion of the political and social thinkers of this +country,--the cry that "There is no King but Cotton, and the African is +its High-Priest." According to the creed of philosophy, philanthropy, +and economy in vogue among the sect whose views take utterance in this +formula, King Cotton has now reigned supreme over the temporal affairs +of the princes, potentates, and people of this earth for some thirty +years. Consequently, it is fair to presume that its reign has fully +developed its policy and tendencies and is producing its fruit for good +or evil, especially in the land of its disciples. It is well, therefore, +sometimes to withdraw a little from the dust and smoke of the battle, +which, with us at least, announces the spread of this potentate's power, +and to try to disentangle the real questions at issue in the struggle +from the eternal complications produced by short-sighted politicians and +popular issues. Looking at the policy and tendency of the reign of King +Cotton, as hitherto developed and indicated by its most confidential +advisers and apostles and by the lapse of time in the so-called Slave +States, to what end does it necessarily tend? to what results must it +logically lead? + +What is coarsely, but expressively, described in the political slang of +this country as "_The Everlasting Nigger Question_" might perhaps fairly +be considered exhausted as a topic of discussion, if ever a topic was. +Is it exhausted, however? Have not rather the smoke and sweat and dust +of the political battle in which we have been so long and so fiercely +engaged exercised a dimming influence on our eyes as to the true +difficulty and its remedy, as they have on the vision of other angry +combatants since the world began? It is easy to say, in days like these, +that men seem at once to lose their judgment and reason when they +approach this question,--to look hardly an arm's length before +them,--to become mere tools of their own passions; and all this is true, +and, in conceding it all, no more is conceded than that the men of the +present day are also mortal. How many voters in the last election, +before they went to the polls, had seriously thought out for themselves +the real issue of the contest, apart from party names and platforms and +popular cries and passionate appeals to the conscience and the purse? +In all parties, some doubtless were impelled by fanaticism,--many were +guided by instinct,--more by the voice of their leaders,--most by party +catchwords and material interests,--but how many by real reflection and +the exercise of reason? Was it every fifth man, or every tenth? Was it +every fiftieth? Let every one judge for himself. The history of the +reigning dynasty, its policy and tendency, are still open questions, the +discussion of which, though perhaps become tedious, is not exhausted, +and, if conducted in a fair spirit, will at least do no harm. What, +then, is all this thirty years' turmoil, of which the world is growing +sick, about? Are we indeed only fighting, as the party-leaders at the +North seem trying to persuade us, for the control, by the interests of +free labor or of slave-labor, of certain remaining national territories +into which probably slavery never could be made to enter?--or rather +is there not some deep innate principle,--some strong motive of +aggrandizement or preservation,--some real Enceladus,--the cause of this +furious volcano of destructive agitation? If, indeed, the struggle +be for the possession of a sterile waste in the heart of the +continent,--useless either as a slave-breeding or a slave-working +country,--clearly, whatever the politician might say to the contrary, +the patriot and the merchant would soon apply to the struggle the +principle, that sometimes the game is not worth the candle. If, however, +there be an underlying principle, the case is different, and the cost of +the struggle admits of no limit save the value of the motive principle. +He who now pretends to discuss this question should approach it neither +as a Whig, a Democrat, nor a Republican, but should look at it by the +light of political philosophy and economy, forgetful of the shibboleth +of party or appeals to passion. So far as may be, in this spirit it is +proposed to discuss it here. + +"By its fruits ye shall know it." Look, then, for a moment, at the +fruits of the Cotton dynasty, as hitherto developed in the working of +its policy and its natural tendency,--observe its vital essence and +logical necessities,--seek for the result of its workings, when brought +in contact with the vital spirits and life-currents of our original +policy as a people,--and then decide whether this contest in which we +are engaged is indeed an irrepressible and inextinguishable contest, +or whether all this while we have not been fighting with shadows. King +Cotton has now reigned for thirty years, be the same less or more. To +feel sure that we know what its policy has wrought in that time, we must +first seek for the conditions under which it originally began its work. + +Ever since Adam and Eve were forced, on their expulsion from Paradise, +to try the first experiment at self-government, their descendants have +been pursuing a course of homoeopathic treatment. It was the eating of +the fruit of the tree of knowledge which caused all their woes; and +in an increased consumption of the fruit of that tree they have +persistently looked for alleviation of them. Experience seems to prove +the wisdom of the treatment. The greater the consumption of the fruit, +the greater the happiness of man. Knowledge has at last become the basis +of all things,--of power, of social standing, of material prosperity, +and, finally, in America, of government itself. Until within a century +past, political philosophy in the creation of government began at the +wrong end. It built from the pinnacle downward. The stability of the +government depended on the apex,--the one or the few,--and not on the +base,--the foundation of the many. At length, in this country, fresh +from the hand of Nature, the astonished world saw a new experiment +tried,--a government systematically built up from the foundation of +the many,--a government drawing its being from, and dependent for its +continued existence on, the will and the intelligence of the governed. +The foundation had first been laid deep and strong, and on it a goodly +superstructure of government was erected. Yet, even to this day, the +very subjects of that government itself do not realize that they, and +not the government, are the sources of national prosperity. In times of +national emergency like the present,--amid clamors of secession and +of coercion,--angry threats and angrier replies,--wars and rumors of +wars,--what is more common than to hear sensible men--men whom the +people look to as leaders--picturing forth a dire relapse into barbarism +and anarchy as the necessary consequence of the threatened convulsions? +They forget, if they ever realized, that the people made this +government, and not the government the people. Destroy the intelligence +of the people, and the government could not exist for a day;--destroy +this government, and the people would create another, and yet another, +of no less perfect symmetry. While the foundations are firm, there need +be no fears of the superstructure, which may be renewed again and again; +but touch the foundations, and the superstructure must crumble at once. +Those who still insist on believing that this government made the people +are fond of triumphantly pointing to the condition of the States of +Mexico, as telling the history of our own future, let our present +government be once interrupted in its functions. Are Mexicans Yankees? +Are Spaniards Anglo-Saxons? Are Catholicism and religious freedom, the +Inquisition and common schools, despotism and democracy, synonymous +terms? Could a successful republic, on our model, be at once instituted +in Africa on the assassination of the King of Timbuctoo? Have two +centuries of education nothing to do with our success, or an eternity of +ignorance with Mexican failure? Was our government a lucky guess, and +theirs an unfortunate speculation? The one lesson that America is +destined to teach the world, or to miss her destiny in failing to teach, +has with us passed into a truism, and is yet continually lost sight of; +it is the magnificent result of three thousand years of experiment: the +simple truth, that no government is so firm, so truly conservative, and +so wholly indestructible, as a government founded and dependent for +support upon the affections and good-will of a moral, intelligent, and +educated community. In our politics, we hear much of State-rights and +centralization,--of distribution of power,--of checks and balances,--of +constitutions and their construction,--of patronage and its +distribution,--of banks, of tariffs, and of trade,--all of them subjects +of moment in their sphere; but their sphere is limited. Whether they be +decided one way or the other is of comparatively little consequence: +for, however they are decided, if the people are educated and informed, +the government will go on, and the community be prosperous, be they +decided never so badly,--and if decided badly, the decision will he +reversed; but let the people become ignorant and debased, and all the +checks and balances and wise regulations which the ingenuity of man +could in centuries devise would, at best, but for a short space defer +the downfall of a republic. A well-founded republic can, then, be +destroyed only by destroying its people,--its decay need be looked for +only in the decay of their intelligence; and any form of thought or +any institution tending to suppress education or destroy intelligence +strikes at the very essence of the government, and constitutes a treason +which no law can meet, and for which no punishment is adequate. + +Education, then, as universally diffused as the elements of God, is the +life-blood of our body politic. The intelligence of the people is the +one great fact of our civilization and our prosperity,--it is the +beating heart of our age and of our land. It is education alone which +makes equality possible without anarchy, and liberty without license. It +is this--which makes the fundamental principles of our Declaration of +Independence living realities in New England, while in France they still +remain the rhetorical statement of glittering generalities. From this +source flow all our possibilities. Without it, the equality of man is a +pretty figure of speech; with it, democracy is possible. This is a path +beaten by two hundred years of footprints, and while we walk it we are +safe and need fear no evil; but if we diverge from it, be it for never +so little, we stumble, and, unless we quickly retrace our steps, we fall +and are lost. The tutelary goddess of American liberty should be the +pure marble image of the Professor's Yankee school-mistress. Education +is the fundamental support of our system. It was education which made us +free, progressive, and conservative; and it is education alone which can +keep us so. + +With this fact clearly established, the next inquiry should be as to +the bearing and policy of the Cotton dynasty as touching this +question of general intelligence. It is a mere truism to say that the +cotton-culture is the cause of the present philosophical and economical +phase of the African question. Throughout the South, whether justly or +not, it is considered as well settled that cotton can be profitably +raised only by a forced system of labor. This theory has been denied by +some writers, and, in experience, is certainly subject to some marked +exceptions; but undoubtedly it is the creed of the Cotton dynasty, +and must here, therefore, be taken for true.[A] With this theory, the +Southern States are under a direct inducement, in the nature of a bribe, +to the amount of the annual profit on their cotton-crop, to see as +many perfections and as few imperfections as possible in the system of +African slavery, and to follow it out unflinchingly into all its logical +necessities. Thus, under the direct influence of the Cotton dynasty, the +whole Southern tone on this subject has undergone a change. Slavery is +no longer deplored as a necessary evil, but it is maintained as in +all respects a substantial good. One of the logical necessities of a +thorough slave-system is, in at least the slave-portion of the people, +extreme ignorance. Whatever theoretically may be desirable in this +respect among the master-class, ignorance, in its worst form,--ignorance +of everything except the use of the tools with which their work is to +be done,--is the necessary condition of the slaves. But it is said that +slaves are property, without voice or influence in the government, and +that the ignorance of the black is no obstacle to the intelligence +of the white. This possibly may be true; but a government founded on +ignorance, as the essential condition of one portion of its people, is +not likely long to regard education as its vital source and essence. +Still the assertion that the rule of education does not apply to slaves +must be allowed; for we must deal with facts as we find them; and +undoubtedly the slave has no rights which the master is bound to +respect; and in speaking of the policy of the Cotton dynasty, the +servile population must be regarded as it is, ignoring the question of +what it might be; it must be taken into consideration only as a terrible +inert mass of domesticated barbarism, and there left. The question +here is solely with the policy and tendency of the Cotton dynasty +as affecting the master-class, and the servile class is in that +consideration to be summarily disposed of as so much labor owned by so +much capital. + +[Footnote A: "In truth," the institution of slavery, as an agency for +cotton-cultivation, "is an expensive luxury, a dangerous and artificial +state, and, even in a-worldly point of view, an error. The cost of a +first-class negro in the United States is about £800, and the interest +on the capital invested in and the wear and tear of this human chattel +are equal to 10 per cent., which, with the cost of maintaining, +clothing, and doctoring him, or another 5 per cent, gives an annual cost +of £45; and the pampered Coolies in the best paying of all the tropical +settlements, Trinidad, receive wages that do not exceed on an average +on the year round 6s. per week, or about two-fifths, while in the East +Indies, with perquisites, they do not receive so much as two-thirds of +this. In Cuba, the Chinese emigrants do not receive so much even as +one-third of this."--_Cotton Trade of Great Britain_, by J.A. MANN. +--In India, labor is 80 per cent cheaper than in the United States.] + +The dynasty of Cotton is based on the monopoly of the cotton-culture in +the Cotton States of the Union; its whole policy is directed to the two +ends of making the most of and retaining that monopoly; and economically +it reduces everything to subserviency to the question of cotton-supply; +--thus Cotton is King. The result necessarily is, that the Cotton States +have turned all their energies to that one branch of industry. All other +branches they abandon or allow to languish. They have no commerce of +their own, few manufactories, fewer arts; and in their abandonment of +self in their devotion to their King, they do not even raise their +own hay or corn, dig their own coal, or fell their own timber; and at +present, Louisiana is abandoning the sugar-culture, one of the few +remaining exports of the South, to share more largely in the monopoly of +cotton. Thus the community necessarily loses its fair proportions; it +ceases to be self-sustaining; it exercises one faculty alone, until all +the others wither and become impotent for very lack of use. This intense +and all-pervading devotion to one pursuit, and that a pursuit to which +the existence of a servile class is declared essential, must, in a +republic more than in any other government, produce certain marked +politico-philosophical and economical effects on the master-class as a +whole. In a country conducted on a system of servile labor, as in one +conducted on free, the master-class must be divided into the two great +orders of the rich and poor,--those who have, and those who have not. +That the whole policy of the Cotton dynasty tends necessarily to making +broader the chasm between these orders is most apparent. It makes the +rich richer, and the poor poorer; for, as, according to the creed of the +dynasty, capital should own labor, and the labor thus owned can alone +successfully produce cotton, he who has must be continually increasing +his store, while he who has not can neither raise the one staple +recognized by the Cotton dynasty, nor turn his labor, his only property, +to other branches of industry; for such have, in the universal +abandonment of the community to cotton, been allowed to languish and +die. The economical tendency of the Cotton dynasty is therefore to +divide the master-class yet more distinctly into the two great opposing +orders of society. On the one hand we see the capitalist owning the +labor of a thousand slaves, and on the other the laboring white unable, +under the destructive influence of a profitable monopoly, to make any +use of that labor which is his only property. + +What influence, then, has the Cotton dynasty on that portion of the +master-class who are without capital? Its tendency has certainly +necessarily been to make their labor of little value; but they are still +citizens of a republic, free to come and go, and, in the eye of the law, +equal with the highest;--on them, in times of emergency, the government +must rest; their education and intelligence are its only sure +foundations. But, having made this class the vast majority of the +master-caste, what are the policy and tendency of the Cotton dynasty +as touching them? The story is almost too old to bear even the +shortest repetition. Philosophically, it is a logical necessity +of the Cotton dynasty that it should be opposed to universal +intelligence;--economically, it renders universal intelligence an +impossibility. That slavery is in itself a positive good to society is +a fundamental doctrine of the Cotton dynasty, and a proposition +not necessary to be combated here; but, unfortunately, universal +intelligence renders free discussion a necessity, and experience tells +us that the suppression of free discussion is necessary to the existence +of slavery. We are but living history over again. The same causes have +often existed before, and they have drawn after them the necessary +effects. Other peoples, at other times, as well as our Southern brethren +at present, have felt, that the suppression of general discussion was +necessary to the preservation of a prized and peculiar institution. +Spain, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland +have all, at different times, experienced the forced suppression of +some one branch of political or religious thought. Their histories have +recorded the effect of that suppression; and the rule to be deduced +therefrom is simply this: If the people among whom such suppression is +attempted are ignorant, and are kept so as part of a system, the attempt +may be successful, though in its results working destruction to +the community;--if, however, they are intelligent, and the system +incautiously admits into itself any plan of education, the attempt +at suppression will be abandoned, as the result either of policy or +violence. In this respect, then, on philosophical grounds, the Cotton +dynasty is not likely to favor the education of the masses. Again, it +is undoubtedly the interest of the man who has not, that all possible +branches of industry should be open to his labor, as rendering that +labor of greater value; but the whole tendency of the Cotton monopoly is +to blight all branches of industry in the Cotton States save only that +one. General intelligence might lead the poor white to suspect this fact +of an interest of his own antagonistic to the policy of the Cotton King, +and therefore general intelligence is not part of that monarch's policy. +This the philosophers of the Cotton dynasty fairly avow and class high +among those dangers against which it behooves them to be on their guard. +They theorize thus:-- + +"The great mass of our poor white population begin to understand that +they have rights, and that they, too, are entitled to some of the +sympathy which falls upon the suffering. They are fast learning that +there is an almost infinite world of industry opening before them, by +which they can elevate themselves and their families from wretchedness +and ignorance to competence and intelligence. It is this great upheaving +of our masses which we have to fear, so far as our institutions are +concerned."[B] + +[Footnote B: _De Bow's Review_, January, 1850. Quoted in Olmsted's _Back +Country_, p. 451.] + +Further, the policy of the Cotton King, however honestly in theory it +may wish to encourage it, renders general education and consequent +intelligence an impossibility. A system of universal education is made +for a laboring population, and can be sustained only among a laboring +population; but if that population consist of slaves, universal +education cannot exist. The reason is simple; for the children of all +must be educated, otherwise the scholars will not support the schools. +It is an absolute necessity of society that in agricultural districts +cultivated by slave-labor the free population should be too sparsely +scattered to support a system of schools, even on starvation wages for +the cheapest class of teachers. + +Finally, though it is a subject not necessary now to discuss, the effect +of the Cotton monopoly and dynasty in depressing the majority of the +whites into a species of labor competition in the same branch of +industry as the blacks, because the only branch open to all, can +hardly have a self-respect-inspiring influence on that portion of the +community, but should in its results rather illustrate old Falstaff's +remark,--that "there is a thing often heard of, and it is known to many +in our land, by the name of pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers do +report, doth defile: so doth the company thou keepest." + +Such, reason tells us, should be the effect on the intelligence and +education of the free masses of the South of the policy and dynasty of +King Cotton. That experience in this case verifies the conclusions +of reason who can doubt who has ever set foot in a thorough Slave +State,--or in Kansas, or in any Free State half-peopled by the poor +whites of the South?--or who can doubt it, that has ever even talked on +the subject with an intelligent and fair-minded Southern gentleman? Who +that knows them will deny that the poor whites of the South make the +worst population in the country? Who ever heard a Southern gentleman +speak of them, save in Congress or on the hustings, otherwise than with +aversion and contempt?[C] + +[Footnote C: Except when used by the accomplished statistician, there is +nothing more fallacious than the figures of the census. As the author of +this article is a disciple neither of Buckle nor De Bow, they have not +been used at all; but a few of the census figures are nevertheless +instructive, as showing the difference between the Free and the Servile +States in respect to popular education. According to the census of 1850, +the white population of the Slave States amounted to 6,184,477 souls, +and the colored population, free and slave, brought the total population +up to an aggregate of 9,612,979, of which the whole number of +school-pupils was 581,861. New York, with a population of 3,097,894 +souls, numbered 675,221 pupils, or 98,830 more than all the Slave +States. The eight Cotton States, from South Carolina to Arkansas, with +a population of 2,137,264 whites and a grand total of 3,970,337 human +beings, contained 141,032 pupils; the State of Massachusetts, with a +total population of 994,514, numbered 176,475, or 35,443 pupils more +than all the Cotton States. In popular governments the great sources +of general intelligence are newspapers and periodicals; in estimating +these, metropolitan New York should not be considered; but of these +the whole number, in 1850, issued annually in all the Slave States was +61,038,698, and the number in the not peculiarly enlightened State of +Pennsylvania was 84,898,672, or 3,859,974 more than in all the Slave +States. In the eight Cotton States, the whole number was 30,041,991; and +in the single State of Massachusetts, 64,820,564, or 34,778,573 more, +and in the single State of Ohio, 30,473,407, or 431,416 more, than in +all the above eight States.] + +Here, then, we come at once to the foundation of a policy and the cause +of this struggle. Whether it will or no, it is the inevitable tendency +of the Cotton dynasty to be opposed to general intelligence. It is +opposed to that, then, without which a republic cannot hope to exist; +it is opposed to and denies the whole results of two thousand years of +experience. The social system of which the government of to-day is +the creature is founded on the principle of a generally diffused +intelligence of the people; but if now Cotton be King, as is so boldly +asserted, then an influence has obtained control of the government of +which the whole policy is in direct antagonism with, the very elementary +ideas of that government. History tells us that eight bags of cotton +imported into England in 1784 were seized by the custom-house officers +at Liverpool, on the ground that so much cotton could not have been +produced in these States. In 1860, the cotton-crop was estimated at +3,851,481 bales. Thus King Cotton was born with this government, and +has strengthened with its strength; and to-day, almost the creature of +destiny, sent to work the failure of our experiment as a people, it has +led almost one-half of the Republic to completely ignore, if not to +reject, the one principle absolutely essential to that Republic's +continued existence. What two thousand years ago was said of Rome +applies to us:--"Those abuses and corruptions which in time destroy a +government are sown along with the very seeds of it and both grow up +together; and as rust eats away iron, and worms devour wood, and both +are a sort of plagues born and bred with the substance they destroy; so +with every form and scheme of government that man can invent, some vice +or corruption creeps in with the very institution, which grows up along +with and at last destroys it." No wonder, then, that the conflict +is irrepressible and hot; for two instinctive principles of +self-preservation have met in deadly conflict: the South, with the eager +loyalty of the Cavalier, rallies to the standard of King Cotton, while +the North, with the earnest devotion of the Puritan, struggles hard in +defence of the fundamental principles of its liberties and the ark of +its salvation. + +Thus over nearly half of the national domain and among a large minority +of the citizens of the Republic, the dynasty of Cotton has worked a +divergence from original principle. Wherever the sway of King Cotton +extends, the people have for the present lost sight of the most +essential of our national attributes. They are seeking to found a great +and prosperous republic on the cultivation of a single staple product, +and not on intelligence universally diffused: consequently they +have founded their house upon the sand. Among them, cotton, and +not knowledge, is power. When thus reduced to its logical +necessities,--brought down, as it were, to the hard pan,--the experience +of two thousand years convincingly proves that their experiment as a +democracy must fail. It is, then, a question of vital importance to +the whole people,--How can this divergence be terminated? Is there any +result, any agency, which can destroy this dynasty, and restore us as a +people to the firm foundations upon which our experiment was begun? Can +the present agitation effect this result? If it could, the country might +joyfully bid a long farewell to "the canker of peace," and "hail the +blood-red blossom of war with a heart of fire"; but the sad answer, that +it cannot, whether resulting in the successor Democrat or Republican, +seems almost too evident for discussion. The present conflict is good so +far as it goes, but it touches only the surface of things. It is well to +drive the Cotton dynasty from the control of the national government; +but the aims of the Republican party can reach no farther, even if it +meet with complete success in that. But even that much is doubtful. The +danger at this point is one ever recurring. Those Northern politicians, +who, in pursuit of their political objects and ambition, unreservedly +bind up their destinies with those of the Cotton dynasty,--the Issachars +of the North, whose strong backs are bowed to receive any burden,--the +men who in the present conflict will see nought but the result of the +maudlin sentimentality of fanatics and the empty cries of ambitious +demagogues,--are not mistaken in their calculations. While Cotton is +King, as it now is, nothing but time or its own insanity can permanently +shake its hold on the national policy. In moments of fierce convulsion, +as at present, the North, like a restive steed, may contest its +supremacy. Let the South, however, bend, not break, before the storm, +and history is indeed "a nurse's tale," if the final victory does not +rest with the party of unity and discipline. While the monopoly of +cotton exists with the South, and it is cultivated exclusively by native +African labor, the national government will as surely tend, in spite of +all momentarily disturbing influences, towards a united South as the +needle to the pole. But even if the government were permanently wrested +from its control, would the evil be remedied? Surely not. The disease +which is sapping the foundations of our liberty is not eradicated +because its workings are forced inward. What remedy is that which leaves +a false and pernicious policy--a policy in avowed war with the whole +spirit of our civilization and in open hostility to our whole experiment +as a government--in full working, almost a religious creed with near +one-half of our people? As a remedy, this would be but a quack medicine +at the best. The cure must be a more thorough one. The remedy we must +look for--the only one which can meet the exigencies of the case--must +be one which will restore to the South the attributes of a democracy. It +must cause our Southern brethren of their own free will to reverse their +steps,--to return from their divergence. It must teach them a purer +Christianity, a truer philosophy, a sounder economy. It must lead them +to new paths of industry. It must gently persuade them that a true +national prosperity is not the result of a total abandonment of +the community to the culture of one staple. It must make them +self-dependent, so that no longer they shall have to import their +corn from the Northwest, their lumber-men and hay from Maine, their +manufactures from Massachusetts, their minerals from Pennsylvania, and +to employ the shipping of the world. Finally, it must make it impossible +for one overgrown interest to plunge the whole community unresistingly +into frantic rebellion or needless war. They must learn that a +well-conditioned state is, so far as may be, perfect in itself,--and, +to be perfect in itself, must be intelligent and free. When these +lessons are taught to the South, then will their divergence cease, +and they will enter upon a new path of enjoyment, prosperity, and +permanence. The world at present pays them an annual bribe of some +$65,000,000 to learn none of these lessons. Their material interest +teaches them to bow down to the shrine of King Cotton. Here, then, lies +the remedy with the disease. The prosperity of the country in general, +and of the South in particular, demands that the reign of King Cotton +should cease,--that his dynasty should be destroyed. This result can +be obtained but in one way, and that seemingly ruinous. The present +monopoly in their great staple commodity enjoyed by the South must be +destroyed, and forever. This result every patriot and well-wisher of the +South should ever long for; and yet, by every Southern statesman and +philosopher, it is regarded as the one irremediable evil possible to +their country. What miserable economy! what feeble foresight! What +principle of political economy is better established than that a +monopoly is a curse to both producer and consumer? To the first it pays +a premium on fraud, sloth, and negligence; and to the second it supplies +the worst possible article, in the worst possible way, at the highest +possible price. In agriculture, in manufactures, in the professions, and +in the arts, it is the greatest bar to improvement with which any branch +of industry can be cursed. The South is now showing to the world an +example of a great people borne down, crushed to the ground, cursed, by +a monopoly. A fertile country of magnificent resources, inhabited by a +great race, of inexhaustible energy, is abandoned to one pursuit;--the +very riches of their position are as a pestilence to their prosperity. +In the presence of their great monopoly, science, art, manufactures, +mining, agriculture,--word, all the myriad branches of industry +essential to the true prosperity of a state,--wither and die, that +sanded cotton may be produced by the most costly of labor. For love of +cotton, the very intelligence of the community, the life-blood of their +polity, is disregarded and forgotten. Hence it is that the marble and +freestone quarries of New England alone are far more important sources +of revenue than all the subterranean deposits of the Servile States. +Thus the monopoly which is the apparent source of their wealth is in +reality their greatest curse; for it blinds them to the fact, that, with +nations as with individuals, a healthy competition is the one essential +to all true economy and real excellence. Monopolists are always blind, +always practise a false economy. Adam Smith tells us that "it is not +more than fifty years ago that some of the counties in the neighborhood +of London petitioned the Parliament against the extension of the +turnpike roads into the remoter counties. Those remoter counties, they +pretended, from the cheapness of labor, would be able to sell their +grass and corn cheaper in the London market than themselves, and would +thereby reduce their rents and ruin their cultivation." The great +economist significantly adds,--"Their rents, however, have risen, and +their cultivation has been improved, since that time." Finally, to-day, +would the cultivation of cereals in the Northwest be improved, if made +a monopoly? would its inhabitants be richer? would their economy be +better? Certainly not. Yet to-day they undersell the world, and, in +spite of competition, are far richer, far more contented and prosperous, +than their fellow-citizens in the South in the full enjoyment of their +boasted dynasty of Cotton. + +"Here," said Wellington, on the Eton football ground, "we won the battle +of Waterloo." Not in angry declamation and wordy debate, in threats of +secession and cries for coercion, amid the clash of party-politics, the +windy declamation of blatant politicians, or the dirty scramble for +office, is the destruction of the dynasty of King Cotton to be looked +for. The laws of trade must be the great teacher; and here, as +elsewhere, England, the noble nation of shopkeepers, must be the agent +for the fulfilment of those laws. It is safe to-day to say, that, +through the agency of England, and, in accordance with those laws, under +a continuance of the present profit on that staple, the dynasty of King +Cotton is doomed,--the monopoly which is now the basis of his power will +be a monopoly no more. If saved at all from the blight of this +monopoly, the South will be saved, not in New York or Boston, but in +Liverpool,--not by the thinkers of America, but by the merchants of +England. The real danger of the Cotton dynasty lies not in the hostility +of the North, but in the exigencies of the market abroad; they struggle +not against the varying fortunes of political warfare, but against the +irreversible decrees of Fate. It is the old story of the Rutulian hero; +and now, in the very crisis and agony of the battle, while the Cotton +King is summoning all his resources and straining every nerve to cope +successfully with its more apparent, but less formidable adversary, in +the noisy struggle for temporary power, if it would listen for a moment +to the voice of reason, and observe the still working of the laws of our +being, it, too, might see cause to abandon the contest, with the +angry lament, that, not by its opponent was it vanquished, but by the +hostility of Jupiter and the gods. The operation of the laws of +trade, as touching this monopoly, is beautifully simple. Already the +indications are sufficient to tell us, that, under the sure, but +silent working of those laws, the very profits of the Southern planter +foreshadow the destruction of his monopoly. His dynasty rests upon the +theory, that his negro is the only practical agency for the production +of his staple. But the supply of African labor is limited, and the +increased profit on cotton renders the cost of that labor heavier in +its turn,--the value of the negro rising one hundred dollars for every +additional cent of profit on a pound of cotton. The increased cost of +the labor increases the cost of producing the cotton. The result is +clear; and the history of the cotton-trade has twice verified it. The +increased profits on the staple tempt competition, and, in the increased +cost of production, render it possible. Two courses only are open to the +South: either to submit to the destruction of their monopoly, or to try +to retain it by a cheaper supply of labor. They now feel the pressure of +the dilemma; and hence the cry to reopen the slave-trade. According to +the iron policy of their dynasty, they must inundate their country with +freshly imported barbarism, or compete with the world. They cry out for +more Africans; and to their cry the voice of the civilized world returns +its veto. The policy of King Cotton forces them to turn from the +daylight of free labor now breaking in Texas. On the other hand, it is +not credible that all the land adapted to the growth of the cotton-plant +is confined to America; and, at the present value of the commodity, the +land adapted to its growth would be sought out and used, though buried +now in the jungles of India, the wellnigh impenetrable wildernesses of +Africa, the table-lands of South America, or the islands of the Pacific. +Already the organized energy of England has pushed its explorations, +under Livingstone, Barth, and Clegg, into regions hitherto unknown. +Already, under the increased consumption, one-third of the cotton +consumed at Liverpool is the product of climes other than our own. +Hundreds of miles of railroad in India are opening to the market vast +regions to share in our profits and break down our monopoly. To-day, +India, for home-consumption and exportation, produces twice the amount +of cotton produced in America; and, under the increased profit of late +years, the importation into England from that country has risen from +12,324,200 pounds in 1830, to 77,011,839 pounds in 1840, and, finally, +to 250,338,144 pounds in 1857, or nearly twenty per cent of the whole +amount imported, and more than one-fourth of the whole amount imported +from America. The staple there produced does not, indeed, compare in +quality with our own; but this remark does not apply to the staple +produced in Africa,--the original home of the cotton-plant, as of the +negro,--or to that of the cotton-producing islands of the Pacific. The +inexhaustible fertility of the valley of the Nile--producing, with a +single exception, the finest cotton of the world,--lying on the same +latitude as the cotton-producing States of America, and overflowing +with unemployed labor--will find its profit, at present prices, in the +abandonment of the cultivation of corn, its staple product since the +days of Joseph, to come in competition with the monopoly of the South. +Peru, Australia, Cuba, Jamaica, and even the Feejee Islands, all are +preparing to enter the lists. And, finally, the interior of Africa, the +great unknown and unexplored land, which for centuries has baffled the +enterprise of travellers, seems about to make known her secrets under +the persuasive arguments of trade, and to make her cotton, and not her +children, her staple export in the future. In the last fact is to be +seen a poetic justice. Africa, outraged, scorned, down-trodden, is, +perhaps, to drag down forever the great enslaver of her offspring. + +Thus the monopoly of King Cotton hangs upon a thread. Its profits must +fall, or it must cease to exist. If subject to no disturbing influence, +such as war, which would force the world to look elsewhere for its +supply, and thus unnaturally force production elsewhere, the growth of +this competition will probably be slow. Another War of 1812, or any +long-continued civil convulsions, would force England to look to other +sources of supply, and, thus forcing production, would probably be the +death-blow of the monopoly. Apart from all disturbing influences arising +from the rashness of his own lieges, or other causes, the reign of King +Cotton at present prices may be expected to continue some ten years +longer. For so long, then, this disturbing influence may be looked for +in American politics; and then we may hope that this tremendous material +influence, become subject, like others, to the laws of trade and +competition, will cease to threaten our liberties by silently sapping +their very foundation. As in the course of years competition gradually +increases, the effect of this competition on the South will probably be +most beneficial. The change from monopoly to competition, distributed +over many years, will come with no sudden and destructive shock, but +will take place imperceptibly. The fall of the dynasty will be gradual; +and with the dynasty must fall its policy. Its fruits must be eradicated +by time. Under the healing influence of time, the South, still young and +energetic, ceasing to think of one thing alone, will quickly turn its +attention to many. Education will be more sought for, as the policy +which resisted it, and made its diffusion impossible, ceases to exist. +With the growth of other branches of industry, labor will become +respectable and profitable, and laborers will flock to the country; and +a new, a purer, and more prosperous future will open upon the entire +Republic. Perhaps, also, it may in time be discovered that even +slave-labor is most profitable when most intelligent and best +rewarded,--that the present mode of growing cotton is the most wasteful +and extravagant, and one not bearing competition. Thus even the African +may reap benefit from the result, and in his increased self-respect and +intelligence may be found the real prosperity of the master. And thus +the peaceful laws of trade may do the work which agitation has attempted +in vain. Sweet concord may come from this dark chaos, and the world +receive another proof, that material interest, well understood, is +not in conflict, but in beautiful unison with general morality, +all-pervading intelligence, and the precepts of Christianity. Under +these influences, too, the very supply of cotton will probably be +immensely increased. Its cultivation, like the cultivation of their +staple products by the English counties mentioned by Smith, will +not languish, but flourish, under the influence of healthy +competition.--These views, though simply the apparently legitimate +result of principle and experience, are by no means unsupported by +authority. They are the same results arrived at from the reflections of +the most unprejudiced of observers. A shrewd Northern gentleman, who has +more recently and thoroughly than any other writer travelled through the +Southern States, in the final summary of his observations thus covers +all the positions here taken. "My conclusion," says Mr. Olmsted, "is +this,--that there is no physical obstacle in the way of our country's +supplying ten bales of cotton where it now does one. All that is +necessary for this purpose is to direct to the cotton-producing region +an adequate number of laborers, either black or white, or both. No +amalgamation, no association on equality, no violent disruption of +present relations is necessary. It is necessary that there should +be more objects of industry, more varied enterprises, more general +intelligence among the people,--and, especially, that they should +become, or should desire to become, richer, more comfortable, than they +are." + +It is not pleasant to turn from this, and view the reverse of the +picture. But, unless our Southern brethren, in obedience to some great +law of trade or morals, return from their divergence,--if, still being +a republic in form, the South close her ears to the great truth, that +education is democracy's first law of self-preservation,--if the dynasty +of King Cotton, unshaken by present indications, should continue +indefinitely, and still the South should bow itself down as now before +its throne,--it requires no gift of prophecy to read her future. As you +sow, so shall you reap; and communities, like individuals, who sow the +wind, must, in the fulness of time, look to reap the whirlwind. The +Constitution of our Federal Union guaranties to each member composing it +a republican form of government; but no constitution can guaranty that +universal intelligence of the people without which, soon or late, a +republican government must become, not only a form, but a mockery. Under +the Cotton dynasty, the South has undoubtedly lost sight of this great +principle; and unless she return and bind herself closely to it, her +fate is fixed. Under the present monopolizing sway of King Cotton,--soon +or late, in the Union, or out of the Union,--her government must +cease to be republican, and relapse into anarchy, unless previously, +abandoning the experiment of democracy in despair, she take refuge in a +government of force. The Northern States, the educational communities, +have apparently little to fear while they cling closely to the +principles inherent in their nature. With the Servile States, or away +from them, the experiment of a constitutional republic can apparently be +carried on with success through an indefinite lapse of time; but +though, with the assistance of an original impetus and custom, they +may temporarily drag along their stumbling brethren of the South, the +catastrophe is but deferred, not avoided. Out of the Union, the more +extreme Southern States--those in which King Cotton has already firmly +established his dynasty--are, if we may judge by passing events, ripe +for the result. The more Northern have yet a reprieve of fate, as having +not yet wholly forgotten the lessons of their origin. The result, +however, be it delayed for one year or for one hundred years, can hardly +admit of doubt. The emergency which is to try their system may not arise +for many years; but passing events warn us that it maybe upon them now. +The most philosophical of modern French historians, in describing the +latter days of the Roman Empire, tells us that "the higher classes of +a nation can communicate virtue and wisdom to the government, if they +themselves are virtuous and wise: but they can never give it strength; +for strength always comes from below; it always proceeds from the +masses." The Cotton dynasty pretends not only to maintain a government +where the masses are slaves, but a republican government where the vast +majority of the higher classes are ignorant. On the intelligence of the +mass of the whites the South must rely for its republican permanence, as +on their arms it must rely for its force; and here again, the words of +Sismondi, written of falling Rome, seem already applicable to the South: +--"Thus all that class of free cultivators, who more than any other +class feel the love of country, who could defend the soil, and who ought +to furnish the best soldiers, disappeared almost entirely. The number +of small farmers diminished to such a degree, that a rich man, a man of +noble family, had often to travel more than ten leagues before falling +in with an equal or a neighbor." The destruction of the republican form +of government is, then, almost the necessary catastrophe; but what will +follow that catastrophe it is not so easy to foretell. The Republic, +thus undermined, will fall; but what shall supply its place? The +tendency of decaying republics is to anarchy; and men take refuge from +the terrors of anarchy in despotism. The South least of all can indulge +in anarchy, as it would at once tend to servile insurrection. They +cannot long be torn by civil war, for the same reason. The ever-present, +all-pervading fear of the African must force them into some government, +and the stronger the better. The social divisions of the South, into the +rich and educated whites, the poor and ignorant whites, and the +servile class, would seem naturally to point to an aristocratic or +constitutional-monarchical form of government. But, in their transition +state, difficulties are to be met in all directions; and the +well-ordered social distinctions of a constitutional monarchy seem +hardly consistent with the time-honored licentious independence and +rude equality of Southern society. The reign of King Cotton, however, +conducted under the present policy, must inevitably tend to increase and +aggravate all the present social tendencies of the Southern system,-- +all the anti-republican affinities already strongly developed. It makes +deeper the chasm dividing the rich and the poor; it increases vastly the +ranks of the uneducated; and, finally, while most unnaturally forcing +the increase of the already threatening African infusion, it also tends +to make the servile condition more unendurable, and its burdens heavier. + +The modern Southern politician is the least far-seeing of all our +short-sighted classes of American statesmen. In the existence of a +nation, a generation should be considered but as a year in the life of +man, and a century but as a generation of citizens. Soon or late, in the +lives of this generation or of their descendants, in the Union or out +of the Union, the servile members of this Confederacy must, under the +results of the prolonged dynasty of Cotton, make their election either +to purchase their security, like Cuba, by dependence on the strong arm +of external force, or they must meet national exigencies, pass through +revolutions, and destroy and reconstruct governments, making every +movement on the surface of a seething, heaving volcano. All movements of +the present, looking only to the forms of government of the master, must +be carried on before the face of the slave, and the question of class +will ever be complicated by that of caste. What the result of the +ever-increasing tendencies of the Cotton dynasty will be it is therefore +impossible to more than dream. But is it fair to presume that the +immense servile population should thus see upturnings and revolutions, +dynasties rising and falling before their eyes, and ever remain quiet +and contented? "Nothing," said Jefferson, "is more surely written in the +Book of Fate than that this people must be free." Fit for freedom at +present they are not, and, under the existing policy of the Cotton +dynasty, never can be. "Whether under any circumstances they could +become so is not here a subject of discussion; but, surely, the day will +come when the white caste will wish the experiment had been tried. The +argument of the Cotton King against the alleviation of the condition of +the African is, that his nature does not admit of his enjoyment of true +freedom consistently with the security of the community, and therefore +he must have none. But certainly his school has been of the worst. Would +not, perhaps, the reflections applied to the case of the French peasants +of a century ago apply also to them?" It is not under oppression that +we learn how to use freedom. The ordinary sophism by which misrule is +defended is, when truly stilted, this: The people must continue in +slavery, because slavery has generated in them all the vices of slaves; +because they are ignorant, they must remain under a power which has made +and which keeps them ignorant; because they have been made ferocious by +misgovernment, they must be misgoverned forever. If the system under +which they live were so mild and liberal that under its operation they +had become humane and enlightened, it would be safe to venture on a +change; but, as this system has destroyed morality, and prevented the +development of the intellect,--as it has turned men, who might, under +different training, have formed a virtuous and happy community, into +savage and stupid wild beasts, therefore it ought to last forever. +Perhaps the counsellors of King Cotton think that in this case it will; +but all history teaches us another lesson. If there be one spark of love +for freedom in the nature of the African,--whether it be a love common +to him with the man or the beast, the Caucasian or the chimpanzee,--the +love of freedom as affording a means of improvement or an opportunity +for sloth,--the policy of King Cotton will cause it to work its way out. +It is impossible to say how long it will be in so doing, or what weight +the broad back of the African will first be made to bear; but, if the +spirit exist, some day it must out. This lesson is taught us by the +whole recorded history of the world. Moses leading the Children of +Israel up out of Egypt,--Spartacus at the gates of Rome,--the Jacquerie +in France,--Jack Cade and Wat Tyler in England,--Nana Sahib and the +Sepoys in India,--Toussaint l'Ouverture and the Haytiens,--and, finally, +the insurrection of Nat Turner in this country, with those in Guiana, +Jamaica, and St. Lucia: such examples, running through all history, +point the same moral. This last result of the Cotton dynasty may come at +any moment after the time shall once have arrived when, throughout any +great tract of country, the suppressing force shall temporarily, with +all the advantages of mastership, including intelligence and weapons, be +unequal to coping with the force suppressed. That time may still be far +off. Whether it be or not depends upon questions of government and +the events of the chapter of accidents. If the Union should now be +dissolved, and civil convulsions should follow, it may soon be upon us. +But the superimposed force is yet too great under any circumstances, and +the convulsion would probably be but temporary. At present, too, the +value of the slave insures him tolerable treatment; but, as numbers +increase, this value must diminish. Southern statesmen now assert that +in thirty years there will be twelve million slaves in the South; and +then, with increased numbers, why should not the philosophy of the +sugar-plantation prevail, and it become part of the economy of the +Cotton creed, that it is cheaper to work slaves to death and purchase +fresh ones than to preserve their usefulness by moderate employment? +Then the value of the slave will no longer protect him, and then the +end will be nigh. Is this thirty or fifty years off? Perhaps not for +a century hence will the policy of King Cotton work its legitimate +results, and the volcano at length come to its head and defy all +compression. + +In one of the stories of the "Arabian Nights" we are told of an Afrite +confined by King Solomon in a brazen vessel; and the Sultana tells +us, that, during the first century of his confinement, he said in his +heart,--"I will enrich whosoever will liberate me"; but no one liberated +him. In the second century he said,--"Whosoever will liberate me, I will +open to him the treasures of the earth"; but no one liberated him. And +four centuries more passed, and he said,--"Whosoever shall liberate me, +I will fulfil for him three wishes"; but still no one liberated him. +Then despair at his long bondage took possession of his soul, and, in +the eighth century, he swore,--"Whosoever shall liberate me, him will +I surely slay!" Let the Southern statesmen look to it well that the +breaking of the seal which confines our Afrite be not deferred till long +bondage has turned his heart, like the heart of the Spirit in the fable, +into gall and wormwood; lest, if the breaking of that seal be deferred +to the eighth or even the sixth century, it result to our descendants +like the breaking of the sixth seal of Revelation,--"And, lo! there was +a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and +the moon became as blood, and the heaven departed as a scroll, when it +is rolled together; and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and +the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every free +man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and +said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us, for the great +day of wrath is come'" On that day, at least, will end the reign of King +Cotton. + + * * * * * + + +GLIMPSES OF GARIBALDI. + + +FIRST GLIMPSE. + + +It is a sultry morning in October, and we are steaming in a small +Sardinian boat from Leghorn towards Naples. This city has fallen into +the power of Garibaldi, who is concentrating his forces before Capua, +while the King of Sardinia bears down with a goodly army from the North. + +The first object of special interest which comes into view, after we +pass the island of Elba, is Gaeta. Though care is taken not to run near +enough to invite a chase from the Neapolitan frigates, we are yet able +to obtain a distinct view of the last stronghold--the jumping-off place, +as we hope it will prove--of Francis II. The white walls of the fortress +rise grimly out of the sea, touching the land only upon one side, and +looking as though they might task well the resources of modern warfare +to reduce them. We soon make out the smoke of four or five steamers, +which we suppose to be armed vessels, heading towards Gaeta. + +About two o'clock we glide into the far-famed Bay of Naples, in company +with the cool sea-breeze which there each afternoon sends to refresh +the heated shore. As we swing round to our moorings, we pass numerous +line-of-battle-ships and frigates bearing the flags of England, +France, and Sardinia, but look in vain and with disappointment for the +star-spangled banner. A single floating representative of American +nationality is obliged to divide the favor of her presence between the +ports of both the Two Sicilies, and at this time she is at the island +portion of the kingdom. + +Our craft is at once beset by boats, their owners pushing, vociferating, +and chaffering for fares, as though Mammon, and not Moloch, were the +ruling spirit. Together with a chance companion of the voyage, Signor +Alvigini, _Intendente_ of Genoa, and his party, we are soon in the hands +of the _commissionnaire_ of the Hôtel de Rome. As we land, our passports +are received by the police of Victor Emmanuel, who have replaced those +of the late _régime_. + +As we enter our carriage, we expect to see streets filled with crowds of +turbulent people, or dotted with knots of persons conversing ominously +in suppressed tones; and streets deserted, with shops closed; and +streets barricaded. But in this matter we are agreeably disappointed. +The shops are all open, the street venders are quietly tending their +tables, people go about their ordinary affairs, and wear their +commonplace, every-day look. The only difference apparent to the eye +between the existing state of things and that which formerly obtained +is, that there are few street brawls and robberies, though every one +goes armed,--that the uniform of the soldiers of Francis II. is replaced +by the dark gray dress of the National Guard,--and that the Hag of +the Tyrant King no longer waves over the castle-prison of Sant' Elmo. +Garibaldi, on leaving Naples, had formally confided the city to the +National Guard; and they had nobly sustained the trust reposed in them. + +A letter of introduction to General Orsini, brought safely with us, +though not without adventure, through the Austrian dominions, gains +a courteous reception from General Turr, chief aide-de-camp to the +"Dictator," and a pass to the camp. General Turr, an Hungarian refugee, +is a person of distinguished appearance, not a little heightened by +his peculiar dress, which consists of the usual Garibaldian uniform +partially covered with a white military cloak, which hangs gracefully +over his elegant figure. + +After a brief, but pleasant, interview with this gentleman, we climb to +the Castle of Sant' Elmo, built on a high eminence commanding the town, +and with its guns mounted, not so as to defend it against an invading +enemy, but to hurl destruction on the devoted subjects of the Bourbon. +We are told that the people Lad set their hearts on seeing this +fortress, which they look upon as a standing menace, razed to the +ground, and its site covered with peaceful dwellings. And it is not +without regret that we have since learned that Victor Emmanuel has +thought it inexpedient to comply with this wish. Nor, in our ignorance, +can we divest ourselves entirely of the belief that it would have been a +wise as well as conciliatory policy to do so. + +We are politely shown over the castle by one of the National Guard, who +hold it in charge, and see lounging upon one of its terraces, carefully +guarded, but kindly allowed all practicable liberty, several officers of +the late power, prisoners where they had formerly held despotic sway. We +descend into the now empty dungeons, dark and noisome as they have been +described, where victims of political accusation or suspicion have pined +for years in dreary solitude. It produces a marked sensation in the +minds of our Italian companions in this sad tour of inspection, when +we tell them, through our guide Antonio, that these cells are the +counterpart of the dungeons of the condemned in the prison of the Doges +of Venice, as we had seen them a few days before,--save that the latter +were better, in their day, in so far as in them the cold stone was +originally lined and concealed by wooden casings, while in those before +us the helpless prisoner in his gropings could touch only the hard rock, +significant of the relentless despotism which enchained him. The walls +are covered with the inscriptions of former tenants. In One place we +discover a long line of marks in groups of fives,--like the tallies of +our boyish sports,--but here used for how different a purpose! Were +these the records of days, or weeks, or months? The only furniture of +the cells is a raised platform of wood, the sole bed of the miserable +inmate. The Italian visitors, before leaving, childishly vent their +useless rage at the sight of these places of confinement, by breaking to +pieces the windows and shutters, and scattering their fragments on the +floor. + +We have returned from Sant' Elmo, and, evening having arrived, are +sitting in the smoking-room of the Hotel de Grande Bretagne, conversing +with one of the English Volunteers, when our friend General J--n of the +British Army, one of the lookers-on in Naples, comes in, having just +returned from "the front." He brings the news of a smart skirmish which +has taken place during the day; of the English "Excursionists" being +ordered out in advance; of their rushing with alacrity into the thickest +of the fight, and bravely sustaining the conflict,--being, indeed, +with difficulty withheld by their officers from needlessly exposing +themselves. But this inspiring news is tinged with sadness. One of their +number, well known and much beloved, had fallen, killed instantly by a +bullet through the head. Military ardor, aroused by the report of +brave deeds, is for a few moments held in abeyance by grief, and +then rekindled by the desire of vengeance. Hot blood is up, and the +prevailing feeling is a longing for a renewal of the fight. We are told, +if we wish to see an action, to go to "the front" to-morrow. Accordingly +we decide to be there. + +The following day, our faithful _commissionnaire_, Antonio, places us +in a carriage drawn by a powerful pair of horses, and headed for the +Garibaldian camp. A hamper of provisions is not forgotten, and before +starting we cause Antonio to double the supplies: we have a presentiment +that we may find with whom to share them. + +There are twelve miles before us to the nearest point in the camp, which +is Caserta. Our chief object being to see the hero of Italy, if we do +not find him at Caserta, we shall push on four miles farther, to Santa +Maria; and, missing him there, ride still another four miles to Sant' +Angelo, where rests the extreme right of the army over against Capua. + +As we ride over the broad and level road from Naples to Caserta, +bordered with lines of trees through its entire length, we are surprised +to see not only husbandmen quietly tilling the fields, but laborers +engaged in public works upon the highway, as if in the employ of a long +established authority, and making it difficult to believe that we are +in the midst of civil war, and under a provisional government of a few +weeks' standing. But this and kindred wonders are fruits of the spell +wrought by Garibaldi, who wove the most discordant elements into +harmony, and made hostile factions work together for the common good, +for the sake of the love they bore to him. + +About mid-day we arrive at a redoubt which covers a part of the road, +leaving barely enough space for one vehicle to pass. We are of course +stopped, but are courteously received by the officer of the guard. +We show our pass from General Turr, giving us permission "freely to +traverse all parts of the camp," and being told to drive on, find +ourselves within the lines. As we proceed, we see laborers busily +engaged throwing up breastworks, soldiers reposing beneath the trees, +and on every side the paraphernalia of war. + +Garibaldi is not here, nor do we find him at Santa Maria. So we prolong +our ride to the twentieth mile by driving our reeking, but still +vigorous horses to Sant' Angelo. + +We are now in sight of Capua, where Francis II. is shut up with a strong +garrison. The place is a compact walled town, crowned by the dome of a +large and handsome church, and situated in a plain by the side of the +Volturno. Though, contrary to expectation, there is no firing to-day, we +see all about us the havoc of previous cannonadings. The houses we pass +are riddled with round shot thrown by the besieged, and the ground is +strewn with the limbs of trees severed by iron missiles. But where is +Garibaldi? No one knows. Yonder, however, is a lofty hill, and upon its +summit we descry three or four persons. It is there, we are told, that +the Commander-in-Chief goes to observe the enemy, and among the forms we +see is very probably the one we seek. + +We have just got into our carriage again, and are debating as to whither +we shall go next, when we are addressed from the road-side in English. +There, dressed in the red shirt, are three young men, all not far from +twenty years of age, members of the British regiment of "Excursionists." +They are out foraging for their mess, and ask a ride with us to Santa +Maria. We are only too glad of their company; and off we start, a +carriage-full. Then commences a running fire of question and response. +We find the society of our companions a valuable acquisition. They are +from London,--young men of education, and full of enthusiasm for +the cause of Italian liberty. One of them is a connection of our +distinguished countrywoman, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Before going to +Santa Maria, they insist on doing the honors, and showing the objects +of interest the vicinity. So they take us to their barrack, a large +farm-house, and thence to "the front." To the latter spot our coachman +declines driving, as his horses are not bullet-proof, and the enemy is +not warranted to abstain from firing during our visit. So, proceeding on +foot, we reach a low breastwork of sand-bags, with an orchard in advance +of it. Here, our companions tell us, was the scene of yesterday's +skirmish, in which they took an active part. The enemy had thrown out a +detachment of sharp-shooters, who had entered the wood, and approached +the breastwork. A battalion of the English Volunteers was ordered up. As +they marched eagerly forwards, a body of Piedmontese, stationed a little +from the road, shouted, "_Vivano gl' Inglesi! Vivano gl' Inglesi!_" +At the breastworks where we are standing, the word was given to break +ranks, and skirmish. Instantly they sprang over the wall, and took +position behind the trees, to shoot "wherever they saw a head." Each +soldier had his "covering man,"--a comrade stationed about ten feet +behind him, whose duty it was to keep his own piece charged ready to +kill any of the enemy who might attempt to pick off the leading man +while the latter was loading. One of my young friends had the hammer of +his rifle shot off in his hand. He kept his position till another weapon +was passed out to him. The action lasted till evening, when the enemy +drew off, there being various and uncertain reports as to their loss. +Our British cousins had some ten wounded, besides the one killed. +Fighting royalists, we will mention here, was no fancy-work about that +time, as the Neapolitans had an ugly trick of extinguishing the eyes of +their prisoners, and then putting their victims to death. + +We return to our carriage, drive into a sheltered spot, and give the +word of command to Antonio to open the hamper and deploy his supplies, +when hungry soldiers vie with the ravenous traveller in a knife-and-fork +skirmish. No fault was found with the _cuisine_ of the Hôtel de Grande +Bretagne. + +The rations disposed of, we set off again for Santa Maria. Arrived at +the village, at the request of our companions, we visit with them a +hospital, to see one of their comrades, wounded in the action of the +preceding day, and, as we are known to profess the healing art, to give +our opinion as to his condition. We enter a large court-yard surrounded +with farm-buildings, one wing of which is devoted to hospital purposes. +We find the wards clean and well ventilated, and wearing the look of +being well attended. This favorable condition is owing in great measure +to the interposition and supervision of several ladies, among whom are +specially mentioned the two daughters of an English clergyman, without +omitting the name of the Countess della Torres. The wounded comrade of +our friends had been struck by a ball, which had not been readied by the +probe, and was supposed to have entered the lung. The poor young fellow +draws his rapid breath with much pain, but is full of pluck, and meets +the encouraging assurances of his friends with a smile and words of +fortitude. Some time afterwards we learn that he is convalescent, though +in a disabled state. + +It now becomes necessary to say our mutual farewells, which we do as +cordially as though we had been old friends. We go our respective ways, +to meet once more in Italy, and to renew our acquaintance again in +London, where we subsequently spend a pleasant evening together by a +cheerful English fireside. + +Scarcely have we parted with these new-found friends of kindred blood +and common language, when we are provided with another companion. +An Italian officer asks a seat with us to Caserta. Our letter of +introduction to General Orsini being shown to him, he volunteers to +assist us in attaining our object, that of seeing the hero of Italy. +At five, we are before the palace of Caserta, now a barrack, and the +head-quarters of the Commander-in-Chief. The building is one of great +size and beauty of architecture. A lofty arch, sustained by elegant and +massive marble pillars, bisects the structure, and on either side one +may pass from the archway into open areas of spacious dimensions, from +which lead passages to the various offices. We approach a very splendid +marble staircase leading to the state apartments. A sentinel forbids us +to pass. This is, then, perhaps, the part of the building occupied by +the Commander-in-Chief. Not so. The state apartments are unoccupied, and +are kept sacred from intrusion, as the property of the nation to which +they are to belong. Garibaldi's apartments are among the humblest in the +palace. We go on to the end of the archway, and see, stretching as far +as the eye can reach, the Royal Drive, leading through a fine avenue of +trees, and reminding us of the "Long Walk" at Windsor Castle. Retracing +our steps, and crossing one of the court-yards, we ascend a modest +staircase, and are in the antechamber of the apartments of the +Commander-in-Chief. There are sentinels at the outer door, others at +the first landing, and a guard of honor, armed with halberds, in the +antechamber. Our courteous companion, by virtue of his official rank, +has passed us without difficulty by the sentries, and quits us to +discharge the duty which brought him to Caserta. + +We are now eagerly expectant of the arrival of him whose face we have so +long sought The hour is at hand when he joins his military family at an +unostentatious and very frugal dinner. In about half an hour there is +a sudden cessation in the hum of conversation, the guard is ordered to +stand to arms, and in a moment more, amid profound silence, Garibaldi +has passed through the antechamber, leaving the place, as it were, +pervaded by his presence. We had beheld an erect form, of rather low +stature, but broad and compact, a lofty brow, a composed and thoughtful +face, with decision and reserved force depicted on every line of it. +In the mien and carriage we had seen realized all that we had read and +heard of the air of one born to command. + +Our hero wore the characteristic red shirt and gray trousers, and, +thrown over them, a short gray cloak faced with red. When without the +cloak, there might be seen, hanging upon the back, and fastened around +the throat, the party-colored kerchief usually appertaining to priestly +vestments. + +Returning to Naples, and sitting that night at our window, with the most +beautiful of bays before us, we treasure up for perpetual recollection +the picture of Garibaldi at head-quarters. + + +GARIBALDI AT POMPEII. + + +It is Sunday, the 21st of October. We have to-day observed the people, +in the worst quarters of the city as well as in the best, casting their +ballots in an orderly and quiet manner, under the supervision of the +National Guard, for Victor Emmanuel as their ruler. To-morrow we have +set apart for exploring Pompeii, little dreaming what awaits us there. +Our friend, General J--n, of the British Army, learning that there is no +likelihood of active operations at "the front," proposes to join us in +our excursion. + +We are seated in the restaurant at the foot of the acclivity which +leads to the exhumed city, when suddenly Antonio appears and exclaims, +"Garibaldi!" We look in the direction he indicates, and, in an avenue +leading from the railway, we behold the Patriot-Soldier of Italy +advancing toward us, accompanied by the Countess Pallavicini, the wife +of the Prodictator of Naples, and attended by General Turr, with several +others of his staff. We go out to meet them. General J--n, a warm +admirer of Garibaldi, gives him a cordial greeting, and presents us as +an American. We say a few words expressive of the sympathy entertained +by the American people for the cause of Italy and its apostle. He whom +we thus address, in his reply, professes his happiness in enjoying the +good wishes of Americans, and, gracefully turning to our friend, adds, +"I am grateful also for the sympathy of the English." The party then +pass on, and we are left with the glowing thought that we have grasped +the hand of Garibaldi. + +Half an hour later, we are absorbed in examining one of the structures +of what was once Pompeii, when suddenly we hear martial music. We follow +the direction of the sound, and presently find ourselves in the ancient +forum. In the centre of the inclosure is a military band playing the +"Hymn of Garibaldi"; while at its northern extremity, standing, facing +us, between the columns of the temple of Jupiter, with full effect given +to the majesty of his bearing, is Garibaldi. Moved by the strikingly +contrasting associations of the time and the place, we turn to General +J--n, saying, "Behold around us the symbols of the death of Italy, and +there the harbinger of its resurrection." Our companion, fired with a +like enthusiasm, immediately advances to the base of the temple, and, +removing his hat, repeats the words in the presence of those there +assembled. + + +GARIBALDI AT "THE FRONT." + + +Once again we look in the eye of this wonderful man, and take him by the +hand. This time it is at "the front." On Saturday, the 27th of October, +we are preparing to leave Naples for Rome by the afternoon boat, when we +receive a message from General J--n that the bombardment of Capua is to +begin on the following day at ten o'clock, and inviting us to join his +party to the camp. Accordingly, postponing our departure for the North, +we get together a few surgical instruments, and take a military train +upon the railway in the afternoon for the field of action. + +Our party consists of General J--n, General W., of Virginia, Captain +G., a Scotch officer serving in Italy, and ourself. Arrived at Caserta, +Captain G., showing military despatches, is provided with a carriage, in +which we all drive to the advanced post at Sant' Angelo. We reach this +place at about eight o'clock, when we ride and walk through the camp, +which presents a most picturesque aspect, illuminated as it is by a +brilliant moon. We see clusters of white tents, with now and then the +general silence broken by the sound of singing wafted to us from among +them,--here and there tired soldiers lying asleep on the ground, covered +with their cloaks,--horses picketed in the fields,--camp-fires burning +brightly in various directions; while all seems to indicate the profound +repose of men preparing for serious work on the morrow. We pass and +repass a bridge, a short time before thrown across the Volturno. A +portion of the structure has broken down; but our English friends +congratulate themselves that the part built by their compatriots has +stood firm. We exchange greetings with Colonel Bourdonné, who is on duty +here for the night, superintending the repairs of the bridge, and who +kindly consigns us to his quarters. + +Arrived at the farm-house where Colonel Bourdonné has established +himself, and using his name, we are received with the utmost attention +by the servants. The only room at their disposal, fortunately a large +one, they soon arrange for our accommodation. To General J---n, the +senior of the party, is assigned the only bed; an Italian officer +occupies a sofa; while General W., Captain G., and ourself are ranged, +"all in a row," on bags of straw placed upon the floor. Of the +merriment, prolonged far into the night, and making the house resound +with peals of laughter,--not at all to the benefit, we fear, of several +wounded officers in a neighboring room,--we may not write. + +Sunday is a warm, clear, summer-like day, and our party climb the +principal eminence of Sant' Angelo to witness the expected bombardment. +We reach the summit at ten minutes before ten, the hour announced for +opening fire. We find several officers assembled there,--among them +General H., of Virginia. Low tone of conversation and a restrained +demeanor are impressed on all; for, a few paces off, conferring with +two or three confidential aids, is the man whose very presence is +dignity,--Garibaldi. + +Casting our eye over the field, we cannot realize that there are such +hosts of men under arms about us, till a military guide by our side +points out their distribution to us. + +"Look there!" says General H., pointing to an orchard beneath. "Under +those trees they are swarming thick as bees. There are ten thousand men, +at least, in that spot alone." + +With an opera-glass we can distinctly scan the walls of Capua, and +observe that they are not yet manned. But the besieged are throwing out +troops by thousands into the field before our lines. We remark one large +body drawn up in the shelter of the shadow cast by a large building. +Every now and then, from out this shadow, a piercing ray of light is +shot, reflected from the helm or sword-case of the commanding officer, +who is gallantly riding up and down before his men, and probably +haranguing them in preparation for the expected conflict. All these +things strike the attention with a force and meaning far different from +the impression produced by the holiday pageantry of mimic war. + +The Commander-in-Chief is now disengaged, and our party approach him +to pay their respects. By the advice of General J---n, we proffer our +medical services for the day; and we receive a pressure of the hand, a +genial look, and a bind acknowledgment of the offer. But we are told +there will be no general action to-day. Our report of these words, as +we rejoin our companions, is the first intimation given that the +bombardment is deferred. But, though, there is some disappointment, +their surprise is not extreme. For Garibaldi never informs even his +nearest aide-de-camp what he is about to do. In fact, he quaintly says, +"If his shirt knew his plans, he would take it off and burn it." Some +half-hour later, having descended from the eminence, we take our last +look of Garibaldi. He has retired with a single servant to a sequestered +place upon the mount, whither he daily resorts, and where his mid-day +repast is brought to him. Here he spends an hour or two secure from +interruption. What thoughts he ponders in his solitude the reader may +perhaps conjecture as well as his most intimate friend. But for us, with +the holy associations of a very high mountain before our mind, we can +but trust that a prayer, "uttered or unexpressed," invokes the divine +blessing upon the work to which Garibaldi devotes himself,--the +political salvation of his country. + + * * * * * + + +TWO OR THREE TROUBLES. + +[Concluded.] + + +Every day, and twice a day, came Mr. Sampson,--though I have not said +much about it; and now it was only a week before our marriage. This +evening he came in very weary with his day's work,--getting a wretched +man off from hanging, who probably deserved it richly. (It is said, +women are always for hanging: and that is very likely. I remember, when +there had been a terrible murder in our parlors, as it were, and it was +doubtful for some time whether the murderer would be convicted, Mrs. +Harris said, plaintively, "Oh, do hang somebody!") Mr. Sampson did +not think so, apparently, but sat on the sofa by the window, dull and +abstracted. + +If I had been his wife, I should have done as I always do now in such a +case: walked up to him, settled the sofa-cushion, and said,--"Here, now! +lie down, and don't speak a word for two hours. Meantime I will tell you +who has been here, and everything." Thus I should rest and divert him by +idle chatter, bathing his tired brain with good Cologne; and if, in the +middle of my best story and funniest joke, he fairly dropped off to +sleep, I should just fan him softly, keep the flies away, say in my +heart, "Bless him! there he goes! hands couldn't mend him!"--and then +look at him with as much more pride and satisfaction than, at any other +common wide-awake face as it is possible to conceive. + +However, not being married, and having a whole week more to be silly +in, I was both silly and suspicious. This was partly his fault. He was +reserved, naturally and habitually; and as he didn't tell me he was +tired and soul-weary, I never thought of that. Instead, as he sat on the +sofa, I took a long string of knitting-work and seated myself across the +room,--partly so that he might come to me, where there was a good seat. +Then, as he did not cross the room, but still sat quietly on the sofa, +I began to wonder and suspect. Did he work too hard? Did he dread +undertaking matrimony? Did he wish he could get off? Why did he not come +and speak to me? What had I done? Nothing! Nothing! + +Here Laura came in to say she was going to Mrs. Harris's to get the +newest news about sleeves. Mrs. Harris for sleeves; Mrs. Gore for +bonnets; and for housekeeping, recipes, and all that, who but Mrs. +Parker, who knew that, and a hundred other things? Many-sided are we +all: talking sentiment with this one, housekeeping with that, and to a +third saying what wild horses would not tear from us to the two first! + +Laura went. And presently he said, wearily, but _I_ thought drearily,-- + +"Delphine, are you all ready to be married?" + +The blood flushed from my heart to my forehead and back again. So, then, +he thought I was ready and waiting to drop like a ripe plum into his +mouth, without his asking me! Am I ready, indeed? And suppose I am +not? Perhaps I, too, may have my misgivings. A woman's place is not a +sinecure. Troubles, annoyances, as the sparks fly upward! Buttons to +begin with, and everything to end with! What did Mrs. Hemans say, poor +woman? + + "Her lot is on you! silent tears to weep, + And patient smiles to wear through suffering's hour, + And sumless riches from affection's deep + To pour on"--something--"a wasted shower!" + +Yes, wasted, indeed! I hadn't answered a word to his question. + +"It seems warm in this room," said he again, languidly; "shall we walk +on the piazza?" + +"I think not," I answered, curtly; "I am not warm." + +Even that, did not bring him to me. He still leaned his head on his hand +for a minute or two, and then rose from the sofa and sat by the window, +looking at the western sky, where the sun had long gone down. I could +see his profile against the outer light, however, and it did not look +placid. His brow was knit and mouth compressed. So, then, it was all +very likely! + +Having set out on my race of suspecting, my steeds did not lag. They +were winged already, and I goaded them continually with memories. There +was nothing I did not think of or accuse him of,--especially, the last +and worst sin of breaking off our engagement at the eleventh hour!--and +I, who had suffered silently, secretly, untold torments about that name +of his,--nobody, no man, could ever guess how keenly, because no man can +ever feel as a woman does about such things! Men,--they would as soon +marry Tabitha as Juliana. They could call her "Wife." It made no matter +to them. What did any man care, provided she chronicled small beer, +whether she had taste, feeling, sentiment, anything? Here I was wrong, +as most passionate people are at some time in their lives. Some men do +care. + +At the moment I had reached the top-most pinnacle of my wrath, and was +darting lightnings on all mankind, Polly showed in Lieutenant Herbert, +with his book of promised engravings. + +With a natural revulsion of temper, I descended rapidly from my +pinnacle, and, stepping half-way across the room, met the Lieutenant +with unusual cordiality. Mr. Sampson bowed slightly and sat still. I +drew two chairs towards the centre-table, lighted the argand, and seated +myself with the young officer to examine and admire the beautiful +forms in which the gifted artist has clothed the words rather than the +thoughts of the writer,--out of the coarse real, lifting the scenes into +the sweet ideal,--and out of the commonest, rudest New-England life, +bringing the purest and most charming idyllic song. We did not say this. + +I looked across at the window, where still sat the figure, motionless. +Not a word from him. I looked at Lieutenant Herbert. He was really very +handsome, with an imperial brow, and roseate lips like a girl's. Somehow +he made me think of Claverhouse,--so feminine in feature, so martial in +action! Then he talked,--talked really quite well,--reflected my own +ideas in an animated and eloquent manner. + +Why it was,--whether Herbert suspected we had had a lovers' quarrel,--or +whether his vanity was flattered at my attention to him, which was +entirely unusual,--or whether my own excited, nervous condition led me +to express the most joyous life and good-humor, and shut down all my +angry sorrow and indignant suspicions, while I smiled and danced over +their sepulchre,--however it was, I know not,--but a new sparkle +came into the blue eyes of the young militaire. He was positively +entertaining. Conscious that he was talking well, he talked better. He +recited poetry; he was even witty, or seemed so. With the magnetism of +cordial sympathy, I called out from his memory treasures new and old. He +became not only animated, but devoted. + +All this time the figure at the window sat calm and composed. It was +intensely, madly provoking. He was so very sure of me, it appeared, he +would not take the trouble to enter the lists to shiver a lance with +this elegant young man with the beautiful name, the beautiful lips, and +with, for the last half-hour at least, the beautiful tongue. He would +not trouble himself to entertain his future wife. He would not trouble +himself even to speak. Very well! Very well indeed! Did the Lieutenant +like music? If "he" did not care a jot for me, perhaps others did. My +heart beat very fast now; my cheeks burned, and my lips were parched. A +glass of water restored me to calmness, and I sat at the piano. Herbert +turned over the music, while I rattled off whatever came to my fingers' +ends,--I did not mind or know what. It was very fine, I dare say. He +whispered that it was "so beautiful!"--and I answered nothing, but kept +on playing, playing, playing, as the little girl in the Danish story +keeps on dancing, dancing, dancing, with the fairy red shoes on. Should +I play on forever? In the church,--out of it,--up the street,--down the +street,--out in the fields,--under the trees,--by the wood,--by the +water,--in cathedrals,--I heard something murmuring,--something softly, +softly in my ear. Still I played on and on, and still something murmured +softly, softly in my ear. I looked at the window. The head was leaned +down, and resting on both arms. Fast asleep, probably. Then I played +louder, and faster, and wilder. + +Then, for the first time, as deaf persons are said to hear well in +the noise of a crowded street, or in a rail-car, so did I hear in the +musical tumult, for the first time, the words of Herbert. They had been +whispered, and I had heard, but not perceived them, till this moment. + +I turned towards him, looked him full in the face, and dropped both +hands into my lap. Well might I be astonished! He started and blushed +violently, but said nothing. As for me, I was never more calm in my +life. In the face of a real mistake, all imaginary ones fell to the +ground, motionless as so many men of straw. With an instinct that went +before thought, and was born of my complete love and perfect reliance on +my future husband, I pushed back the music-stool, and walked straight +across the room to the window. + +His head was indeed leaned on his arms; but he was white and insensible. + +"Come here!" I said, sternly and commandingly, to Herbert, who stood +where I had left him. "Now, if you can, hold him, while I wheel this +sofa;--and now, ring the bell, if you please." + +We placed him on the couch, and Polly came running in. + +"Now, good-night, Sir; we can take care of him. With very many thanks +for your politeness," I added, coldly; "and I will send home the book +to-morrow." + +He muttered something about keeping it as long as I wished, and I turned +my back on him. + +"Oh! oh!--what had _he_ thought all this time?--what had he suffered? +How his heart must have been agonized!--how terribly he must have felt +the mortification,--the distress! Oh!" + +We recovered him at length from the dead faint into which he had fallen. +Polly, who thought but of the body, insisted on bringing him "a good +heavy-glass of Port-wine sangaree, with toasted crackers in it"; and +wouldn't let him speak till he had drunken and eaten. Then she went out +of the room, and left me alone with my justly incensed lover. + +I took a _brioche_, and sat down humbly at the head of the sofa. He held +out his hand, which I took and pressed in mine,--silently, to be +sure; but then no words could tell how I had felt, and now felt,--how +humiliated! how grieved! How wrongly I must have seemed to feel and to +act! how wrongly I must have acted,--though my conscience excused me +from feeling wrongly,--so to have deluded Herbert! + +At last I murmured something regretful and tearful about Lieutenant +Herbert--Herbert! how I had admired that name!--and now, this Ithuriel +touch, how it had changed it and him forever to me! What was in a +name?--sure enough! As I gazed on the pale face on the couch, I should +not have cared, if it had been named Alligator,--so elevated was I +beyond all I had thought or called trouble of that sort! so real was the +trouble that could affect the feelings, the sensitiveness, of the noble +being before me! + +At length he spoke, very calmly and quietly, setting down the empty +tumbler. I trembled, for I knew it must come. + +"I was so glad that fool came in, Del! For, to tell the truth, I felt +really too weak to talk. I haven't slept for two nights, and have been +on my feet and talking for four hours,--then I have had no dinner"-- + +"Oh!" + +"And a damned intelligent jury, (I beg your pardon, but it's a great +comfort to swear, sometimes,) that I can't humbug. But I must! I must, +to-morrow!" he exclaimed, springing up from the sofa and walking +hurriedly across the room. + +"Oh, do sit down, if you are so tired!" + +"I cannot sit down, unless you will let me stop thinking. I have but one +idea constantly." + +"But if the man is guilty, why do you want to clear him?" said I. + +Not a word had he been thinking of me or of Herbert all this time! But +then he had been thinking of a matter of life and death. How all, all my +foolish feelings took to flight! It was some comfort that my lover had +not either seen or suspected them. He thought he must have been nearly +senseless for some time. The last he remembered was, we were looking at +some pictures. + +Laura came in from Mrs. Harris's, and, hearing how the case was, +insisted on having a chicken broiled, and that he should eat some +green-apple tarts, of her own cooking,--not sentimental, nor even +wholesome, but they suited the occasion; and we sat, after that, all +three talking, till past twelve o'clock. No danger now, Laura said, of +bad dreams, if he did go to bed. + +"But why do you care so very much, if you don't get him off?--you +suppose him guilty, you say?" + +"Because, Delphine, his punishment is abominably disproportioned to his +offence. This letter of the law killeth. And then I would get him off, +if possible, for the sake of his son and the family. And besides all +that, Del, it is not for me to judge, you know, but to defend him." + +"Yes,--but if you do your best?" I inquired. + +"A lawyer never does his best," he replied, hastily, "unless he +succeeds. He must get his client's case, or get him off, I must get some +sleep to-night," he added, "and take another pull. There's a man on the +jury,--he is the only one who holds out. I know I don't get him. And I +know why. I see it in the cold steel of his eyes. His sister was left, +within a week of their marriage-day, by a scoundrel,--left, too, to +disgrace, as well as desertion,--and his heart is bitter towards all +offences of the sort. I must get that man somehow!" + +He was standing on the steps, as he spoke, and bidding me good-night; +but I saw his head and heart were both full of his case, _and nothing +else._ + +The words rang in my ear after he went away: "Within a week of their +marriage-day!" In a week we were to have been married. Thank Heaven, we +were still to be married in a week. And he had spoken of the man as "a +scoundrel," who left her. America, indeed! what matters it? Still, there +would be the same head, the same heart, the same manliness, strength, +nobleness,--all that a woman can truly honor and love. Not military, and +not a scoundrel; but plain, massive, gentle, direct. He would do. And a +sense of full happiness pressed up to my very lips, and bubbled over in +laughter. + +"You are a happy girl, Del. Mrs. Harris says the court and everybody is +talking of Mr. Sampson's great plea in that Shore case. Whether he gets +it or not, his fortune is made. They say there hasn't been such an +argument since Webster's time,--so irresistible. It took every body off +their feet." + +I did not answer a word,--only clothed my soul with sackcloth and ashes, +and called it good enough for me. + +We went to bed. But in the middle of the night I waked Laura. + +"What's the matter?" said she, springing out of bed. + +"Don't, Laura!--nothing," said I. + +"Oh, I thought you were ill! I've been sleeping with one eye open, and +just dropped away. What is it?" + +"Do lie down, then. I only wanted to ask you a question." + +"Oh, _do_ go to sleep! It's after three o'clock now. We never shall get +up. Haven't you been asleep yet?" + +"No,--I've been thinking all the time. But you are impatient. It's no +matter. Wait till to-morrow morning." + +"No. I am awake now. Tell me, and be done with it, Del." + +"But I shall want your opinion, you know." + +"Oh, _will_ you tell me, Del?" + +"Well, it is this. How do you think a handsome, a _very_ handsome +chess-table would do?" + +"Do!--for what?" + +"Why,--for my aunt's wedding-gift, you know." + +"Oh, that! And you have waked me up, at this time of night, from the +nicest dream! You cruel thing!" + +"I am so sorry, Laura! But now that you are awake, just tell me how you +like the idea;--I won't ask you another word." + +"Very well,--very good,--excellent," murmured Laura. + +In the course of the next ten minutes, however, I remembered that Laura +never played chess, and that I had heard Mr. Sampson say once that he +never played now,--that it was too easy for work, and too hard for +amusement. So I put the chess-table entirely aside, and began again. + +A position for sleep is, unluckily, the one that is sure to keep one +awake. Lying down, all the blood in my body kept rushing to my brain, +keeping up perpetual images of noun substantives. If I could have spent +my fifty dollars in verbs, in taking a journey, in giving a _fête +champêtre_! (Garden lighted with Chinese lanterns, of course,--house +covered inside and out with roses.) Things enough, indeed, there were to +be bought. But the right thing! + +A house, a park, a pair of horses, a curricle, a pony-phaëton. But how +many feet of ground would fifty dollars buy?--and scarcely the hoof of +a horse. + +There was a diamond ring. Not for me; because "he" had been too poor +to offer me one. But I could give it to him. No,--that wouldn't do. He +wouldn't wear it,--nor a pin of ditto. He had said, simplicity in dress +was good economy and always good taste. No. Then something else,--that +wouldn't wear, wouldn't tear, wouldn't lose, rust, break. + +As to clothes, to which I swung back in despair,--this very Aunt Allen +had always sent us all our clothes. So it would only be getting +more, and wouldn't seem to be anything. She was an odd kind of +woman,--generous in spots, as most people are, I believe. Laura and +I both said, (to each other,) that, if she would allow us a hundred +dollars a year each, we could dress well and suitably on it. But, +instead of that, she sent us every year, with her best love, a +trunk full of her own clothes, made for herself, and only a little +worn,--always to be altered, and retrimmed, and refurbished: so that, +although worth at first perhaps even more than two hundred dollars, +they came, by their unfitness and non-fitness, to be worth to us only +three-quarters of that sum; and Laura and I reckoned that we lost +exactly fifty dollars a year by Aunt Allen's queerness. So much for our +gratitude! Laura and I concluded it would be a good lesson to us about +giving; and she had whispered to me something of the same sort, when +I insisted on dressing Betsy Ann Hemmenway, a little mulatto, in an +Oriental caftan and trousers, and had promised her a red sash for her +waist. To be sure, Mrs. Hemmenway despised the whole thing, and said she +"wouldn't let Betsy Ann be dressed up like a circus-rider, for nobody"; +and that she should "wear a bonnet and mantilly, like the rest of +mankind." Which, indeed, she did,--and her bonnet rivalled the +_coiffures_ of Paris in brilliancy and procrastination; for it never +came in sight till long after its little mistress. However, of that +by-and-by. I was only too glad that Aunt Allen had not sent me another +silk gown "with her best love, and, as she was only seventy, perhaps it +might be useful." No,--here was the fifty-dollar note, thank Plutus! + +But then, what to do with it? Sleeping, that was the question. Waking, +that was the same. + +At twelve o'clock Mr. Sampson came to dine with us, and to say he was +the happiest of men. + +"That is, of course, I shall be, next week," said he, smiling and +correcting himself. "But I am rather happy now; for I've got my case, +and Shore has sailed for Australia. Good riddance, and may he never +touch _these_ shores any more!" + +He had been shaking hands with everybody, he said,--and was so glad to +be out of it! + +"Now that it is all over, I wish you would tell me why you are so glad, +when you honestly believe the man guilty," said I. + +"Oh, my child, you are supposing the law to be perfect. Suppose the old +English law to be in force now, making stealing a capital offence. You +wouldn't hang a starving woman or child who stole the baker's loaf from +your window-sill this morning before Polly had time to take it in, would +you? Yet this was the law until quite lately." + +"After all, I don't quite see either how you can bear to defend him, if +you think him guilty, or be glad to have him escape, if he is,--I mean, +supposing the punishment to be a fair one." + +"Because I am a frail and erring man, Delphine, and like to get my case. +If my client is guilty,--as we will suppose, for the sake of argument, +he is,--he will not be likely to stop his evil career merely because he +has got off now, and will be caught and hanged next time, possibly. +If he does stop sinning, why, so much the better to have time for +repentance, you know." + +"Don't laugh,--now be serious." + +"I am. Once, I made up my mind as to my client's guilt from what he told +and did not tell me, and went into court with a heavy heart. However, in +the course of the trial, evidence, totally unexpected to all of us, was +brought forward, and my client's innocence fully established. It was a +good lesson to me. I learned by experience that the business of counsel +is to defend or to prosecute, and not to judge. The judge and jury are +stereoscopic and see the whole figure." + +How wise and nice it sounded! Any way, I wasn't a stereoscope, for I saw +but one side,--the one "he" was on. + +Monday morning. And we were to be married in the evening,--by ourselves, +--nobody else. That was all the stipulation my lover made. + +"I will be married morning, noon, or night, as you say, and dress and +behave as you say; but not in a crowd of even three persons." + +"Not even Laura?" + +"Oh, yes! Laura." + +"Not even Polly?" + +"Oh, yes! the household." + +And then he said, softly, that, if I wanted to please him,--and he knew +his darling Del did,--I would dress in a white gown of some sort, and +put a tea-rose in my beautiful dark hair, and have nobody by but just +the family and old Mr. Price, the Boynton minister. + +"I know that isn't what you thought of, exactly. You thought of being +married in church"---- + +"Oh, dear, dear! old Mr. Price!"--but I did not speak. + +"But if you would be willing?"---- + +"I supposed it would be more convenient," I muttered. + +Visions of myself walking up the aisle, with a white silk on, tulle +veil, orange-flowers, of course, (so becoming!) house crowded with +friends, collation, walking under the trees,--all faded off with a +mournful cry. + +It was of no use talking. Whatever he thought best, I should do, if it +were to be married by the headsman, supposing there were such a person. +This was all settled, then, and had been for a week. + +Nobody need say that lovers, or even married lovers, have but one mind. +They have two minds always. And that is sometimes the best of it; since +the perpetual sacrifices made to each other are made no sacrifices, but +sweet triumphs, by their love. Still, just as much as green is composed +of yellow and blue, and purple of red and blue, the rays can any time +be separated, and they always have a conscious life of their own. Of +course, I had a sort of pleasure even in giving up my marriage in +church; but I kept my blue rays, for all that,--and told Laura I dreaded +the long, long prayer in that evening's service, and that I hoped in +mercy old Mr. Price would have his wits about him, and not preach a +funeral discourse. + +"Old Mr. Price is eighty-nine years old, Laura says," said I. + +"Yes. He was the minister who married my father and mother, and has +always been our minister," answered my lover. + +And so it was settled. + +Laura was rolling up tape, Monday morning, as quietly as if there were +to be no wedding. For my part, I wandered up and down, and could not set +myself about anything. + +"Old Mr. Price! and a great long prayer! And that is to be the end +of it! My wedding-dress all made, and not to be worn! Flowers ditto! +Nowhere to go, and so I shall stay at home. He has no house; so Taffy is +to come to mine!" + +And here I burst out laughing; for it was as well to laugh as cry; and +besides, I said a great many things on purpose to have Laura say what +she always did,--and which, after all, it was sweet to me to hear. Those +were silly days! + +"No, Del,--that is not the end of it,--only the beginning of it,--of a +happy, useful, good life,--your path growing brighter and broader every +year,--and--and--we won't talk of the garlands, dear; but your heart +will have bridal-blossoms, whether your head has or not." + +Laura kissed me, with tears in her sisterly eyes. She never talks fine, +and went directly out of the room after this. + +I thought that women shouldn't swear at all, or, if they did, should +break their oaths as gracefully as I did mine, when I whispered it was +"_so_ good of him, to be willing I should stay in the cottage where I +had always lived, and where every rose-tree and lilac knew me!" And that +was true, too. But not all the truth. What need to be telling truths all +the time? And what had women tongues for, but to hold them sometimes? +Perhaps "he," too, would have preferred a journey to Europe, and a house +on the Mill-Dam. + +Things gradually settled themselves. My troubles seemed coming to a +close by mechanical pressure. As to the name, it was better than Fire, +Famine, and Slaughter,--and I was to take it into consideration, any +way, and get used to it, if I could. The other trouble I put aside +for the moment. After it was concluded on that the wedding should be +strictly private, it was not necessary to buy my aunt's present under +a few days, and I could have the decided advantage, in that way, of +avoiding a duplicate. + +The Monday of my marriage sped away swiftly. Polly had come up early to +say to "Laury" (for Polly was a free and independent American girl of +forty-five) that "there'd be so much goin' to the door, and such, Betsy +Ann had best be handy by, to answer the bell. Fin'ly, she's down there +with her bunnet off, and goin' to stay." + +As usual, Polly's plans were excellent, and adopted. There would be all +the wedding-presents to arrive, congratulatory notes, etc. Everything to +arrange, and a thousand and one things that neither one nor three pairs +of hands could do. How I wished Betsy Ann would consent to dress like an +Oriental child, and look pretty and picturesque,--like a Barbary slave +bearing vessels of gold and silver chalices, instead of her silly +pointed waist and "mantilly," which she persisted in wearing, and which, +of course, gave the look only of a stranger and sojourner in the land! + +I hoped she was a careful child,--there were so many things which might +be spoiled, even if they came in boxes. Betsy Ann was instructed, on +pain of--almost death, to be very, very careful, and to put everything +on the table in the library. She was by no means to unpack an article, +not even a bouquet. Laura and myself preferred to arrange everything +ourselves. We proposed to place each of the presents, for that evening +only, in the library, and spread them out as usual; but the very next +day, we determined, they should all be put away, wherever they were to +go,--of course, we could not tell where, till we saw them. That was +Laura's taste, and had come, on reflection, to be mine. + +Laura said she should make me presents only of innumerable stitches: +which she had done. Polly, whom it is both impossible and irrelevant to +describe, took the opportunity to scrub the house from top to bottom. +Her own wedding-present to me, homely though it was, I wrapped in silver +paper, and showed it to her lying in state on the library-table, to her +infinite amusement. + +Like the North American Indian, the race of Pollies is fast going out +of American life. You read an advertisement of "an American servant who +wants a place in a genteel family," and visions of something common in +American households, when you were children, come up to your mind's eye. +Without considering the absurdity of an American girl calling herself by +such a name, your eyes fill with tears at the thought of the faithful +and loving service of years ago, when neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor +death itself separated the members of the household, but the nurse-maid +was the beloved friend, living and dying under the same roof that +witnessed her untiring and faithful devotion. + +So, when you look after this "American servant," you find alien blood, +lip-service, a surface-warmth that flatters, but does not delude,--a +fidelity that fails you in sickness, or increased toil, or the prospect +of higher wages; and you say to the "American servant,"-- + +"How long have you been in Boston?" + +"Born in Boston, Ma'm,--in Eliot Street, Ma'm." + +So was not Polly. Polly had lived with us always. She had a farm of her +own, and needn't have "lived out" five minutes, unless she had chosen. +But she did choose it, and chose to keep her place. And that was a true +friend,--in a humble position, possibly, yet one of her own choosing. +She rejoiced and wept with us, knew all about us,--corresponded +regularly with us when away, and wrote poetry. She had a fair +mind, great shrewdness, and kept a journal of facts. We loved her +dearly,--next to each other, and a hundred times better than we did Aunt +Allen or any of them. + +Of course, as the day wore on, and afternoon came, and then almost night +came, and still the bell had not once rung,--not once!--Polly was +not the person to express or to permit the least surprise. Not Caleb +Balderstone himself had a sharper eye to the "honor of the family." +_Why_ it was left to the doctrine of chances to decide. _That_ it was +grew clearer and clearer every hour, as every hour came slowly by, +unladen with box or package, even a bouquet. + +Betsy Ann had grinned a great many times, and asked Polly over and over, +"Where the presents all was?" and, "When I was to Miss Russell's, and +Miss Sally was merried, the things come in with a rush,--silver, and +gold, and money, ever so much!" + +However, here Polly snubbed her, and told her to "shet up her head +quick. Most of the presents was come long ago." + +"Such a piece of work as I hed to ghet up that critter's mouth!" said +Polly, laughing, as she assisted Laura in putting the last graces to my +simple toilet before tea. + +"There, now, Miss Sampson to be! I declare to man, you never looked +better. + + "'Roses red, violets blue, + Pinks is pootty, and so be you.'" + +"How did you shut it, Polly?" said Laura, who was very much surprised, +like myself, at the non-arrivals, and who constantly imagined she +heard the bell. Ten arrivals we had both counted on,--ten, +certainly,--fifteen, probably. + +"Well, I told her the presents was all locked up; and if she was a +clever, good child, and went to school regular, and got her learnin' +good, I'd certain show 'em to her some time. I told her," added Polly, +whisperingly, and holding her hand over her mouth to keep from loud +laughter,--"I told her I'd seen a couple on 'em done up in beautiful +silver paper!" + +The bell rang at last, and we all sprang as with an electric shock. It +was old Mr. Price, led in reverently by Mr. Sampson. Tea was ready; so +we all sat down to it. + +I don't know what other people think of, when they are going to be +married,--I mean at the moment. Books are eloquent on the subject. For +my part. I must confess, I thought of nothing. And let that encourage +the next bride, who will imagine herself a dunce, because she isn't +thinking of something fine and solemn. Perhaps I had so many ideas +pressing in, in all directions, that the mind itself couldn't act. Be +it as it may, I stood as if stupefied,--while old Mr. Price talked and +prayed, it seemed, an age. I was roused, however, and glad enough I +wasn't in church, when he called out,-- + +"_Ameriky!_ do you take this woman for your wedded wife?" and still more +rejoiced when he added, sternly,-- + +"_Delphiny!_" (using the long _i_,) "do you take _Ameriky?_" + +We both said "Yes." And then he commended us affectionately and +reverently to the protection and love of Him who had himself come to a +wedding. He then came to a close, to Polly's delight, who said she "had +expected nothin' but what the old gentleman would hold on an hour, +--missionaries to China, and all." + +Old Mr. Price took a piece of cake and a full glass of wine, and wished +us joy. He was fast passing away, and with him the old-class ministers, +now only traditional, who drank their half-mug of flip at funerals, went +to balls to look benignantly on the scene of pleasure, came home at ten +o'clock to write "the improvement" to their Sunday's sermon, took the +other half-mug, and went to bed peaceably and in charity with the whole +parish. They have gone, with the stagecoaches and country-newspapers; +and the places that knew them will know them no more. + +Betsy Ann, who was mercifully admitted to the wedding, pronounced +it without hesitation the "flattest thing she ever see,"--and was +straightway dismissed by Polly, with an extra frosted cake, and a charge +to "get along home with herself." Then Mr. Sampson walked slowly home +with Mr. Price, and Laura and myself were left looking at each other. + +"Delphiny!" said Laura. + +"Ameriky!" said I. + +"Well,--it's over now. If you had happened to be Mrs. Conant's daughter, +you know, your name would have been Keren-happuch!" + +"On the whole, I am glad it wasn't in church," said I. + +Mr. Sampson returned before we had finished talking of that. And then +Laura, said, suddenly,-- + +"But you _must_ decide on Aunt Allen's gift, Del. What shall it be? What +will be pretty?" + +"You shall decide," said I, amiably, turning to my husband. + +"Oh, I have no notion of what is pretty,--at least of but one +thing,--and that is not in Aunt Allen's gift." + +He laughed, and I blushed, of course, as he pointed the compliment +straight at me. + +"But you _must_ think. I cannot decide, I have thought of five hundred +things already." + +"Well, Laura,--what do you say?" said he. + +"I think a silver salver would be pretty, and useful, too." + +"Pretty and useful. Then let it be a silver salver, and be done with +it," said he. + +This notion of being "done with it" is so mannish! Here was my Gordian +knot cut at once! However, there was no help for it,--though now, more +than ever, since there was no danger of a duplicate, did I long for the +fifty thousand different beautiful things the fifty dollars would buy. + +Circumstances aided us, too, in coming to a conclusion. I was rather +tired of rocking on these billows of uncertainty, even with the chance +of plucking gems from the depths. And Mrs. Harris was coming the next +day to tea, and to go away early to see Piccolomini sing and sparkle. + +When we sat down that next day at the table, I poured the tea into a +cup, and placed it on the prettiest little silver tray, and Polly handed +it to Mrs. Harris as if she had done that particular thing all her life. + +"Beautiful!" said Mrs. Harris, as it sparkled along back; "one of your +wedding-gifts?" + +"Yes," I answered, carelessly,--"Aunt Allen's." + +So much was well got over. My hope was that Mrs. Harris, who talked +well, and was never weary of that sort of well-doing, would keep on her +own subjects of interest, to the exclusion of mine. Therefore, when she +said pleasantly, _en passant_,-- + +"By the way, Delphine, I see you have taken my advice about +wedding-presents. You know I always abominated that parading of gifts." + +Laura hastened to the rescue, saying,-- + +"Yes, we quite agree with you, and remember your decided opinions on +that subject. Did you say you had been to the Aquarial Gardens?" + +How I wished I had been self-possessed enough to tell the whole story, +with its ridiculous side out, and make a good laugh over it, as it +deserved!--for Mrs. Harris wouldn't stay in the Aquarial Gardens, which +she pronounced a disgusting exhibition of "Creep and Crawl," and that +it was all a set of little horrors; but swung back to wedding-gifts and +wedding-times. + + "'When I was young,--ah! woful _when!_-- + That I should say _when_ I was young!' + +"it wasn't fashionable, or, I should say, necessary, to buy something for +a bride," said Mrs. Harris, meditatively, and looking back--as we could +see by her eyes--a long way. + +For my part, I thought she had much better choose some other subject, +considering everything. Certainly she had been one of the ten I had +counted on. But she suddenly collected herself! + +"I never look at a great needle-book, ('housewife,' we used to call +it,) full of all possible and impossible contrivances and conveniences, +without recalling my Aunt Hovey's patient smile when she gave it to me. +She was rheumatic, and confined for twenty years to her chair; and these +'housewives' she made exquisitely, and each of her young friends on her +wedding-day might count on one. Then Sebiah Collins,--she brought me a +bag of holders,--poor old soul! And Aunt Patty Hobbs gave me a bundle of +rags! She said, 'Young housekeepers was allers a-wantin' rags, and, in +course, there wa'n't nothin' but what was bran'-new out of the store.' +Can I ever forget the Hill children, with their mysterious movements, +their hidings, and their unaccountable absences? and then the +work-basket on my toilet-table, on my wedding-morning! the little +pin-cushions and emery-sacks, the fantastic thimble-cases, and the +fish-shaped needle-books! all as nice as their handy little fingers +could make, and every stitch telling of their earnest love and bright +faces!--Every one of those children is dead. But I keep the work-basket +sacred. I don't know whether it is more pleasure or pain." + +She looked up again, as if before her passed a long procession. I had +often seen that expression in the eyes of old, and even of middle-aged +persons, who had had much mental vicissitude, but I had not interpreted +it till now. It was only for a moment; and she added, cheerfully,-- + +"The future is always pleasant; so we will look that way." + +Just then a gentleman wished to see Mr. Sampson on business, and they +two went into the library. + +Mrs. Harris talked on, and I led the way to the parlor. She said she +should be called for presently; and then Laura lighted the argand, and +dropped the muslin curtains. + +"Oh, isn't this sweet?" exclaimed Mrs. Harris, rapturously, approaching +the table. "How the best work of Art pales before Nature!" + +It was only a tall small vase of ground glass, holding a pond-lily, +fully opened. But it was perfect in its way, and I knew by the smile on +Laura's lips that it was her gift. + +"Mine is in that corner, Delphine," said Mrs. Harris. "I wouldn't have +it brought here till to-night, when I could see Laura, for fear you +should have a duplicate. So here is my Mercury, that I have looked at +till I love it. I wouldn't give you one that had only the odor of the +shop about it; but you will never look at this, Del, without thoughts of +our little cozy room and your old friend." + +"Beautiful! No, indeed! Always!" murmured I. + +She drew a little box from her pocket, and took out of it a taper-stand +of chased silver. + +"Mrs. Gore asked me to bring it to you, with her love. She wouldn't send +it yesterday, she said, because it would look so like nothing by the +side of costly gifts. Pretty, graceful little thing! isn't it? It is an +evening-primrose, I think,--'love's own light,'--hey, Delphine?" + +We had scarcely half admired the taper-stand and the Mercury when the +carriage came for Mrs. Harris, who insisted on taking away Laura with +her to the opera. + +"No matter whether you thought of going or not; and, happily, there's +no danger of Delphine being lonely. 'Two are company,' you know Emerson +says, 'but three are a congregation.' So they will be glad to spare you. +There, now! that is all you want,--and this shawl." + +After they went, I sat listening for nearly half an hour to the low +murmurs in the next room, and wishing the stranger would only go, so +that I might exhibit my new treasures. At last the strange gentleman +opened the door softly, talking all the way, across the room, through +the entry, and finally whispering himself fairly out-of-doors. When my +husband came in, I was eager to show him the Mercury, and the lily, and +the taper-stand. + +"And do you know, after all, I hadn't the real nobleness and +truthfulness and right-mindedness to tell Mrs. Harris that these and +Aunt Allen's gift were all I had received! I am ashamed of myself, to +have such a mean mortification about what is really of no importance. +Certainly, if my friends don't care enough for me to send me something, +I ought to be above caring for it." + +"I don't know that, Del. Your mortification is very natural. How can we +help caring? Do you like your Aunt Allen very much?" added he, abruptly. + +"Because she gave me fifty dollars? Yes, I begin to think I do," said I, +laughing. + +He looked at me quickly. + +"Your Aunt Allen is very rich, is she not?" + +"I believe so. Why? You look very serious. I neither respect nor love +her for her riches; and I haven't seen her these ten years." + +He looked sober and abstracted; but when I spoke, he smiled a little. + +"Do you remember Ella's chapter on Old China?" said he, sitting down on +the sofa, and--I don't mind saying--putting one arm round my waist. + +"Yes,--why?" + +"Do you remember Bridget's plaintive regret that they had no longer +the good old times when they were poor? and about the delights of the +shilling gallery?" + +"Yes,--what made you think of it?" + +"What a beautiful chapter that is!--their gentle sorrow that they could +no longer make nice bargains for books! and his wearing new, neat, black +clothes, alas! instead of the overworn suit that was made to hang on +a few weeks longer, that he might buy the old folio of Beaumont and +Fletcher! Do you remember it, Delphine?" + +"Yes, I do. And I think there is a deal of pleasure in considering and +contriving,--though it's prettier in a book"-- + +"For my part," interrupted my husband, as though he had not heard me +speak,--"for my part, I am sorry one cannot have such an exquisite +appreciation of pleasure but through pain; for--I am tired of +labor--and privation--and, in short, poverty. To work so hard, and so +constantly!--with such a long, weary vista before one!--and these petty +gains! Don't you think poverty is the one thing hateful, Delphine?" + +He sprang up suddenly, and began walking up and down the room,--up and +down,--up and down; and without speaking any more, or seeming to wish me +to answer. + +"Why, what is it? What do you mean?" said I, faintly; for my heart felt +like lead in my bosom. + +He did not answer at first, but walked towards me; then, turning +suddenly away, sprang out of the window at the side of the room, saying, +with a constrained laugh,-- + +"I shall be in again, presently. In the mean time I leave you to +meditations on the shilling gallery!" + +What a strange taunting sound his voice had! There was no insane blood +among the Sampsons, or I might have thought he had suddenly gone crazy. +Or if I had believed in demoniacal presences, I might have thought the +murmuring, whispering old man was some tempter. Some evil influence +certainly had been exerted over him. Scarcely less than deranged could I +consider him now, to be willing thus to address me. It was true, he was +poor,--that he had struggled with poverty. But had it not been my pride, +as I thought it was his, that his battle was bravely borne, and would be +bravely won? I could not, even to myself, express the cruel cowardice of +such words as he had used to his helpless wife. That he felt deeply and +gallingly his poverty was plain. Even in that there was a weakness which +induced more of contempt than pity for him; but was it not base to tell +me of it now? Now, when his load was doubled, he complained of the +burden! Why, I would have lain down and died far sooner than he should +have guessed it of me. And he had thought it--and--said it! + +There are emotions that seem to crowd and supersede each other, so +that the order of time is inverted. I came to the point of disdainful +composure, even before the struggle and distress began. I sat quietly +where my husband left me,--such a long, long time! It seemed hours. +I remembered how thoughtful I had determined to be of all our +expenses,--the little account-book in which I had already entered some +items; how I had thought of various ways in which I could assist him; +yes, even little I was to be the most efficient and helpful of wives. +Had I not taken writing-lessons secretly, and formed a thorough +business-hand, and would I not earn many half-eagles with my eagle's +quill? I remembered how I had thought, though I had not said it, (and +how glad now I was I had not!) that we would help each other in sickness +and health,--that we would toil up that weary hill where wealth stands +so lusciously and goldenly shining. But then, hand in hand we were +to have toiled,--hopefully, smilingly, lovingly,--not with this cold +recrimination, nor, hardest of all, with--reproach! + +Suddenly, a strange suspicion fell over me. It fell down on me like a +pall. I shuddered with the cold of it. + +I knew it wasn't so. I knew he loved me,--that Le meant nothing,--that +it was a passing discontent, a hateful feeling engendered by the sight +of the costly trifles before us. Yes,--I knew that. But, good heavens! +to tell his wife of it! + +I sat, with my head throbbing, and holding my hands, utterly tearless; +for tears were no expression of the distressful pain, and blank +disappointment of a life, that I felt. I said I felt this damp, dark +suspicion. It was there like a presence, but it was as indefinite as +dark; and I had a sort of control, in the midst of the tumult in my +brain and heart, as to what thoughts I would let come to me. Not that! +Faults there might be,--great ones,--but not that, the greatest! At +least, if I could not respect, I could forgive,--for he loved me. +Surely, surely, that must be true! + +It would come, that flash, like lightning, or the unwilling memories of +the drowning. I remembered the rich Miss Kate Stuart, who, they said, +liked him, and that her father would have been glad to have him for a +son-in-law. And I had asked him once about it, in the careless +gayety of happy love. He had said, he supposed it might have +happened--perhaps--who knows?--if he had not seen me. But he had seen +me! Could it be that he was thinking of? + +My calmness was giving way. As soon as I spoke, though it was only in a +word of ejaculation, my pity for myself broke all the flood-gates down, +and I fell on my face in a paroxysm of sobs. + +A very calm, loving voice, and a strong arm raising me, brought me back +at once from the wild ocean of passion on which I was tossing. I had not +heard him come in. I was too proud and grieved to speak or to weep. So I +dried my tears and sat stiffly silent. + +"You are tired, dear!" said my husband, tenderly. + +"No,--it's no matter." + +"Everything is matter to me that concerns you. You know that,--you +believe that, Delphine?" + +"Why, what a strange sound! just as it used to sound!" I said to myself, +whisperingly. + +I know not what possessed me; but I was determined to have the truth, +and the whole truth. I turned towards him and looked straight into his +eyes. + +"Tell me, truly, as you hope God will save you at your utmost need, _do_ +you love me? Did you marry me from any motive but that of pure, true +love?" + +"From no other," answered he, with a face of unutterable surprise; and +then added, solemnly, "And may God take me, Delphine, when you cease to +love me!" + +It was enough. There was truth in every breath, in every glance of his +deep eyes. A delicious languor took the place of the horrible tension +that had been every faculty,--a repose so sweet and perfect, that, if +reason had placed the clearest possible proofs of my husband's perfidy +before me, I should simply have smiled and fallen asleep on his true +heart, as I did. + +When I opened my eyes, I met his anxious look. + +"Why, what has come over you, Del? I did not know you were nervous." + +And then remembering, that, although I might be weakest among the weak, +yet that it was his wisdom that was to sustain and comfort me, I said,-- + +"By-and-by I will tell you all about it,--certainly I will. I must tell +you some time, but not to-night." + +"And--I had thought to keep a secret from you, to-night, Del; but, on +the whole, I shall feel better to tell you." + +"Yes,--perhaps,--perhaps." + +"Oh, yes! Secrets are safest, told. First, then, Del, I will tell you +this secret. I am very foolish. Don't tell of it, will you? See here!" + +He held up his closed hand before my face, laughingly. + +That man's name, Del, is Drake"---- + +"And not the Devil!" said I to myself. + +"Solitude Drake." + +"Really? Is that it, truly? What's in your hand?" + +"Truly,--really. He lives in Albany. He is the son of a queer man, and +is something of a humorist himself. I have seen one of his sons. He has +two. One's name is Paraclete, and the other Preserved. His daughter is +pretty, very, and her name is Deliverance. They call her Del, for short. +They do, on my word! Worse than Delphine, is it not?" + +"Why, don't you like my name?" stammered I, with astonishment. + +"Yes, very well. I don't care much about names. But I can tell you, +Uncle Zabdiel and Aunt Jerusha, 'from whom I have expectations,' Del, +think it is 'just about the poorest kind of a name that ever a girl +had.' And our Cousin Abijah thought you were named Delilah, and that +it was a good match for Sampson! I rectified him there; but he still +insists on your being called 'Finy,' in the family, to distinguish you +from the Midianitish woman." + +"And so Uncle _Zabdiel_ thinks I have a poor name?" said I, laughing +heartily. "The shield looks neither gold nor silver, from which side +soever we gaze. But I think _he_ might put up with _my_ name!" + +My husband never knew exactly what I was laughing at. And why should he? +I was fast overcoming my weakness about names, and thinking they were +nothing, compared to things, after all. + +When our laugh (for his was sympathetic) had subsided into a quiet +cheerfulness, he said, again holding up his hand,-- + +"Not at all curious, Del? You don't ask what Mr. Solitude Drake wanted?" + +"I don't think I care what he wanted: company, I suppose." + +And I went on making bad puns about solitude sweetened, and ducks and +drakes, as happy people do, whose hearts are quite at ease. + +"And you don't want to know at all, Del?" said he, laughing a little +nervously, and dropping from his hand an open paper into mine. "It shall +be my wedding-present to you. It is Mr. Drake's retainer. Pretty stout +one, is it not? This is what made me jump out of the window,--this and +one other thing." + +"Why, this is a draft for five hundred dollars!" said I, reading and +staring stupidly at the paper. + +"Yes, and I am retained in that great Albany land-case. It involves +millions of property. That is all, Del. But I was so glad, so happy, +that I was likely to do well at last, and that I could gratify all the +wishes, reasonable and unreasonable, of my darling!" + +"Is it a good deal?" said I, simply; for, after all, five hundred +dollars did not seem such an Arabian fortune. + +"Yes, Del, a good deal. Whichever way it is decided, it will make my +fortune. And now--the other thing. You are sure you are very calm, and +all this won't make you sleepless?" + +"Oh, no! I am calm as a clock." + +"Well, then,--your Aunt Allen is dead." + +"Dead! Is she? Did she leave us all her money?" + +"Why, no, you little cormorant. She has left it all about: Legacies, and +Antioch College, and Destitute Societies. But I believe you have some +clothes left to you and Laura. Any way, the will is in there, in the +library: Mr. Drake had a copy of it. And the best of all is, I am to be +the executor, which is enough better than residuary legatee." + +"It is very strange!" said I, thinking of the multitude of old gowns I +should have to alter over. + +"Yes, it is, indeed, very strange. One of the strangest things about +the matter is, that my good friend Solitude was so taken with 'my queer +name,' as he calls it, that he 'took a fancy to me out of hand.' To be +sure, he listened through my argument in the Shore case, and that may +have helped his opinion of me as a lawyer.--Here comes Laura. Who would +have thought it was one o'clock?" + +And who would have thought that my little ugly chrysalis of troubles +would have turned out such beautiful butterflies of blessings? + + * * * * * + + +MARION DALE. + + + Marion Dale, I remember you once, + In the days when you blushed like a rose half-blown, + Long ere that wealthy respectable dunce + Sponged up your beautiful name in his own. + + I remember you, Marion Dale, + Artless and cordial and modest and sweet: + You never walked in that glittering mail + That covers you now from your head to your feet. + + Well I remember your welcoming smile, + When Alice and Annie and Edward and I + Came over to see you;--you lived but a mile + From my uncle's old house, and the grove that stood nigh. + + I was no lover of yours, (pray, excuse me!)-- + Our minds were different in texture and hue: + I never gave you a chance to refuse me; + Already I loved one less changeful than you. + + Still it was ever a pride and a pleasure + Just to be near you,--the Rose of our vale. + Often I thought, "Who will own such a treasure? + Who win the rich love of our Marion Dale?" + + I wonder now if you ever remember, + Ever sigh over fifteen years ago,-- + Whether your June is all turned to December,-- + Whether your life now is happy or no. + + Gone are those winters of chats and of dances! + Gone are those summers of picnics and rides! + Gone the aroma of life's young romances! + Gone the swift flow of our passionate tides! + + Marion Dale,--no longer our Marion,-- + You have gone your way, and I have gone mine: + Lowly I've labored, while fashion's gay clarion + Trumpets your name through the waltz and the wine. + + And when I meet you, your smile it is colder; + Statelier, prouder your features have grown; + Rounder each white and magnificent shoulder; + (Rather too low-necked your waist, I must own.) + + Jewelled and muslined, your rich hair gold-netted, + Queenly 'mid flattering voices you move,-- + Half to your own native graces indebted, + Half to the station and fortune you love. + + "Marion" we called you; my wife you called "Alice"; + I was plain "Phil";--we were intimate all: + Strange, as we leave now our cards at your palace, + On Mrs. Prime Goldbanks of Bubblemere Hall! + + Six golden lackeys illumine the doorway: + Sure, one would think, by the glances they throw, + That we were fresh from the mountains of Norway, + And had forgotten to shake off the snow! + + They will permit us to enter, however; + Usher us into her splendid saloon: + There we sit waiting and waiting forever, + As one would watch for the rise of the moon. + + Or it may be to-day's not her "reception": + Still she's at home, and a little unbends,-- + Framing, while dressing, some harmless deception, + How she shall meet her "American" friends. + + Smiling you meet us,--but not quite sincerely; + Low-voiced you greet us,--but this is the _ton_: + This, we must feel it, is courtesy merely,-- + Not the glad welcome of days that are gone. + + You are in England,--the land where they freeze one, + When they've a mind to, with fashion and form: + Yet, if you choose, you can thoroughly please one: + Currents run through you still youthful and warm. + + So one would think, at least, seeing you moving, + Radiant and gay, at the Countess's _fête_. + Say, was that babble so sweeter than loving? + Where was the charm, that you lingered so late? + + Ah, well enough, as you dance on in joyance! + Still well enough, at your dinners and calls! + Fashion and riches will mask much annoyance. + Float on, fair lady, whatever befalls! + + Yet, Lady Marion, for hours and for hours + You are alone with your husband and lord. + There is a skeleton hid in yon flowers; + There is a spectre at bed and at board. + + Needs no confession to tell there is acting + Somewhere about you a tragedy grim. + All your bright rays have a sullen refracting; + Everywhere looms up the image of _him_: + + Him,--whom you love not, there is no concealing. + How _could_ you love him, apart from his gold? + Nothing now left but your fire-fly wheeling,-- + Flashing one moment, then pallid and cold! + + Yet you've accepted the life that he offers,-- + Sunk to his level,--not raised him to yours. + All your fair flowers have their roots in his coffers: + Empty the gold-dust, and then what endures? + + So, then, we leave you! Your world is not ours. + Alice and I will not trouble you more. + Almost too heavy the scent of these flowers + Down the broad stairway. Quick, open the door! + + Here, in the free air, we'll pray for you, lady! + You who are changed to us,--gone from us,--lost! + Soon the Atlantic shall part us, already + Parted by gulfs that can never be crossed! + + + + +CHARLESTON UNDER ARMS. + + +On Saturday morning, January 19, 1861, the steamer Columbia, from New +York, lay off the harbor of Charleston in full sight of Fort Sumter. It +is a circumstance which perhaps would never have reached the knowledge +of the magazine-reading world, nor have been of any importance to it, +but for the attendant fact that I, the writer of this article, was on +board the steamer. It takes two events to make a consequence, as well as +two parties to make a bargain. + +The sea was smooth; the air was warmish and slightly misty; the low +coast showed bare sand and forests of pines. The dangerous bar of the +port, now partially deprived of its buoys, and with its main channel +rendered perilous by the hulks of sunken schooners, revealed itself +plainly, half a mile ahead of us, in a great crescent of yellow water, +plainly distinguishable from the steel-gray of the outer ocean. Two +or three square-rigged vessels were anchored to the southward of us, +waiting for the tide or the tugs, while four or five pilot-boats tacked +up and down in the lazy breeze, watching for the cotton-freighters which +ought at this season to crowd the palmetto wharves. + +"I wish we could get the duties on those ships to pay some of our +military bills," said a genteel, clean-spoken Charlestonian, to a long, +green, kindly-faced youth, from I know not what Southern military +academy. + +We had arrived off the harbor about midnight, but had not entered, for +lack of a beacon whereby to shape our course. Now we must wait until +noon for the tide, standing off and on the while merely to keep up our +fires. A pilot came under our quarter in his little schooner, and told +us that the steamer Nashville had got out the day before with only a +hard bumping. No other news had he: Fort Sumter had not been taken, nor +assaulted; the independence of South Carolina had not been recognized; +various desirable events had not happened. In short, the political world +had remained during our voyage in that chaotic _status quo_ so loved by +President Buchanan. At twelve we stood for the bar, sounding our way +with extreme caution. Without accident we passed over the treacherous +bottom, although in places it could not have been more than eighteen +inches below our keel. The shores closed in on both sides as we passed +onward. To the south was the long, low, gray Morris Island, with its +extinguished lighthouse, its tuft or two of pines, its few dwellings, +and its invisible batteries. To the north was the long, low, gray +Sullivan's Island, a repetition of the other, with the distinctions of +higher sand-rolls, a village, a regular fort, and palmettos. We passed +the huge brown Moultrie House, in summer a gay resort, at present a +barrack; passed the hundred scattered cottages of the island, mostly +untenanted now, and looking among the sand-drifts as if they had been +washed ashore at random; passed the low walls of Fort Moultrie, +once visibly yellow, but now almost hidden by the new _glacis_, and +surmounted by piles of barrels and bags of sand, with here and there +palmetto stockades as a casing for the improvised embrasures; passed its +black guns, its solidly built, but rusty barracks, and its weather-worn +palmetto flag waving from a temporary flag-staff. On the opposite side +of the harbor was Fort Johnstone, a low point, exhibiting a barrack, a +few houses, and a sand redoubt, with three forty-two pounders. And +here, in the midst of all things, apparent master of all things, at the +entrance of the harbor proper, and nearly equidistant from either shore, +though nearest the southern, frowned Fort Sumter, a huge and lofty +and solid mass of brickwork with stone embrasures, all rising from +a foundation of ragged granite boulders washed by the tides. The +port-holes were closed; a dozen or so of monstrous cannon peeped from +the summit; two or three sentinels paced slowly along the parapet; the +stars and stripes blew out from the lofty flag-staff. The plan of Fort +Sumter may be briefly described as five-sided, with each angle just so +much truncated as to give room for one embrasure in every story. Its +whole air is massive, commanding, and formidable. + +Eighty or a hundred citizens, volunteers, cadets from the military +academy, policemen, and negroes, greeted the arrival of the Columbia at +her wharf. It was a larger crowd than usual, partly because a report had +circulated that we should be forced to bring to off Fort Sumter and give +an account of ourselves, and partly because many persons in Charleston +have lately been perplexed with an abundant leisure. As I drove to my +hotel, I noticed that the streets showed less movement of business +and population than when I knew them four years ago. The place seemed +dirtier, too,--worse paved, shabbier as to its brick-work and stucco, +and worse painted,--but whether through real deterioration, or by +comparison with the neatly finished city which I had lately left, I +cannot decide. There was surely not a third of the usual shipping, nor a +quarter of the accustomed cotton. Here and there were wharves perfectly +bare, not only of masting and of freight, but even of dust, as if they +had not been used for days, or possibly for weeks. + +My old hotel was as well kept, and its table as plentiful and excellent +as ever. I believe we are all aware by this time that Charleston has +not suffered from hunger; that beef has not sold at thirty-five cents a +pound, but rather at ten or fifteen; that its Minute Men have not +been accustomed to come down upon its citizens for forced dinners and +dollars; that the State loan was taken willingly by the banks, instead +of unwillingly by private persons; that the rich, so far from being +obliged to give a great deal for the cause of Secession, have generally +given very little; that the streets are well-policed, untrodden by mobs, +and as orderly as those of most cities; that, in short, the revolution +so far has been political, and not social. At the same time exports +and imports have nearly ceased; business, even in the retail form, is +stagnant; the banks have suspended; debts are not paid. + +After dinner I walked up to the Citadel square and saw a drill of the +Home Guard. About thirty troopers, all elderly men, and several with +white hair and whiskers, uniformed in long overcoats of homespun gray, +went through some of the simpler cavalry evolutions in spite of their +horses' teeth. The Home Guard is a volunteer police force, raised +because of the absence of so many of the young men of the city at the +islands, and because of the supposed necessity of keeping a strong hand +over the negroes. A malicious citizen assured me that it was in training +to take Fort Sumter by charging upon it at low water. On the opposite +side of the square from where I stood rose the Citadel, or military +academy, a long and lofty reddish-yellow building, stuccoed and +castellated, which, by the way, I have seen represented in one of our +illustrated papers as the United States Arsenal. Under its walls +were half a dozen iron cannon which I judged at that distance to be +twenty-four pounders. A few negroes, certainly the most leisurely part +of the population at this period, and still fewer white people, leaned +over the shabby fence and stared listlessly at the horsemen, with the +air of people whom habit had made indifferent to such spectacles. Near +me three men of the middle class of Charleston talked of those two +eternal subjects, Secession and Fort Sumter. One of them, a rosy-faced, +kindly-eyed, sincere, seedy, pursy gentleman of fifty, congratulated the +others and thanked God because of the present high moral stand of South +Carolina, so much loftier than if she had seized the key to her main +harbor, when she had the opportunity. Her honor was now unspotted; her +good faith and her love of the right were visible to the whole world; +while the position of the Federal Government was disgraced and sapped by +falsity. Better Sumter treacherously in the hands of the United States +than in the hands of South Carolina; better suffer for a time under +physical difficulties than forever under moral dishonor. + +Simple-hearted man, a fair type of his fellow-citizens, he saw but his +own side of the question, and might fairly claim in this matter to +be justified by his faith. His bald crown, sandy side-locks, reddish +whiskers, sanguineous cheeks, and blue eyes were all luminous with +confidence in the integrity of his State, and with scorn for the +meanness and wickedness of her enemies. No doubt had he that the fort +ought to be surrendered to South Carolina; no suspicion that the +Government could show a reason for holding it, aside from low +self-interest and malice. He was the honest mouthpiece of a most +peculiar people, local in its opinions and sentiments beyond anything +known at the North, even in self-poised Boston. Changing his subject, he +spoke with hostile, yet chivalrous, respect of the pluck of the Black +Republicans in Congress. They had never faltered; they had vouchsafed no +hint of concession; while, on the other hand, Southerners had shamed him +by their craven spirit. It grieved, it mortified him, to see such a man +as Crittenden on his knees to the North, begging, actually with tears, +for what he ought to demand as a right, with head erect and hands +clenched. He departed with a mysterious allusion to some secret of his +for taking Fort Sumter,--some disagreeably odorous chemical +preparation, I guessed, by the scientific terms in which he beclouded +himself,--something which he expected would soon be called for by the +Governor. May he never smell anything worse, even in the other world, +than his own compounds! Unionist, and perhaps Consolidationist, as I +am, I could not look upon his honest, persuaded face, and judge him a +traitor, at least not to any sentiment of right that was in his own +soul. + +Our hotel was full of legislators and volunteer officers, mostly +planters or sons of planters, and almost without exception men of +standing and property. South Carolina is an oligarchy in spirit, and +allows no plebeians in high places. Two centuries of plenteous feeding +and favorable climate showed their natural results in the _physique_ of +these people. I do not think that I exaggerate, when I say that they +averaged six feet or nearly in height, and one hundred and seventy +pounds or thereabouts in weight. One or two would have brought in money, +if enterprisingly heralded as Swiss or Belgian giants. The general +physiognomy was good, mostly high-featured, often commanding, sometimes +remarkable for massive beauty of the Jovian type, and almost invariably +distinguished by a fearless, open-eyed frankness, in some instances +running into arrogance and pugnacity. I remember one or two elderly +men, in particular, whose faces would help an artist to idealize a +Lacedaemonian general, or a baron of the Middle Ages. In dress somewhat +careless, and wearing usually the last fashion but one, they struck me +as less tidy than the same class when I saw it four years ago; and I +made a similar remark concerning the citizens of Charleston,--not only +men, but women,--from whom dandified suits and superb silks seem to have +departed during the present martial time. Indeed, I heard that economy +was the order of the day; that the fashionables of Charleston bought +nothing new, partly because of the money pressure, and partly because +the guns of Major Anderson might any day send the whole city into +mourning; that patrician families had discharged their foreign cooks and +put their daughters into the kitchen; that there were no concerts, no +balls, and no marriages. Even the volunteers exhibited little of the +pomp and vanity of war. The small French military cap was often the only +sign of their present profession. The uniform, when it appeared, was +frequently a coarse homespun gray, charily trimmed with red worsted, and +stained with the rains and earth of the islands. One young dragoon in +this sober dress walked into our hotel, trailing the clinking steel +scabbard of his sabre across the marble floor of the vestibule with a +warlike rattle which reminded me of the Austrian officers whom I used +to see, yes, and hear, stalking about the _cafe's_ of Florence. Half a +dozen surrounded him to look at and talk about the weapon. A portly, +middle-aged legislator must draw it and cut and thrust, with a smile of +boyish satisfaction between his grizzled whiskers, bringing the point so +near my nose, in his careless eagerness, that I had to fall back upon +a stronger, that is, a more distant position. Then half a dozen others +must do likewise, their eyes sparkling like those of children examining +a new toy. + +"It's not very sharp," said one, running his thumb carefully along the +edge of the narrow and rather light blade. + +"Sharp enough to cut a man's head open," averred the dragoon. + +"Well, it's a dam' shame that sixty-five men tharr in Sumter should make +such an expense to the State," declared a stout, blonde young rifleman, +speaking with a burr which proclaimed him from the up-country. "We +haven't even troyed to get 'em out. We ought at least to make a troyal." + +All strangers at Charleston walk to the Battery. It is the extreme point +of the city peninsula, its right facing on the Ashley, its left on the +Cooper, and its outlook commanding the entire harbor, with Fort Sumter, +Port Pinckney, Fort Moultrie, and Fort Johnstone in the distance. Plots +of thin clover, a perfect wonder in this grassless land; promenades, +neatly fenced, and covered with broken shells instead of gravel; a +handsome bronze lantern-stand, twenty-five feet high, meant for a +beacon; a long and solid stone quay, the finest sea-walk in the United +States; a background of the best houses in Charleston, three-storied and +faced with verandas: such are the features of the Battery. Lately +four large iron guns, mounted like field-pieces, form an additional +attraction to boys and soldierly-minded men. Nobody knew their calibre; +the policemen who watched them could not say; the idlers who gathered +about them disputed upon it: they were eighteen pounders; they were +twenty-fours; they were thirty-sixes. Nobody could tell what they were +there for. They were aimed at Fort Sumter, but would not carry half way +to it. They could hit Fort Pinckney, but that was not desirable. The +policeman could not explain; neither could the idlers; neither can I. +At last it got reported about the city that they were to sink any boats +which might come down the river to reinforce Anderson; though how the +boats were to get into the river, whether by railroad from Washington, +or by balloon from the Free States, nobody even pretended to guess. +Standing on this side of the Ashley, and looking across it, you +naturally see the other side. The long line of nearly dead level, with +its stretches of thin pine-forest and its occasional glares of open +sand, gives you an idea of nearly the whole country about Charleston, +except that in general you ought to add to the picture a number of noble +evergreen oaks bearded with pendent, weird Spanish moss, and occasional +green spikes of the tropical-looking Spanish bayonet. Of palmettos there +are none that I know of in this immediate region, save the hundred or +more on Sullivan's Island and the one or two exotics in the streets +of Charleston. In the middle of the Ashley, which is here more than a +quarter of a mile wide, lies anchored a topsail schooner, the nursery +of the South Carolina navy. I never saw it sail anywhere; but then my +opportunities of observation were limited. Quite a number of boys are on +board of it, studying maritime matters; and I can bear witness that they +are sufficiently advanced to row themselves ashore. Possibly they are +moored thus far up the stream to guard them from sea-sickness, which +might be discouraging to young sailors. However, I ought not to talk on +this subject, for I am the merest civilian and land-lubber. + +My first conversation in Charleston on Secession was with an estimable +friend, Northern-born, but drawing breath of Southern air ever since he +attained the age of manhood. After the first salutation, he sat down, +his hands on his knees, gazing on the floor, and shaking his head +soberly, if not sadly. + +"You have found us in a pretty fix,--in a pretty fix!" + +"But what are you going to do? Are you really going out? You are not a +politician, and will tell me the honest facts." + +"Yes, we are going out,'--there is no doubt of it, I have not been a +seceder,--I have even been called one of the disaffected; but I am +obliged to admit that secession is the will of the community. Perhaps +you at the North don't believe that we are honest in our professions and +actions. We are so. The Carolinians really mean to go out of the Union, +and don't mean to come back. They say that they _are_ out, and they +believe it. And now, what are you going to do with us? What is the +feeling at the North?" + +"The Union must and shall be preserved, at all hazards. That famous +declaration expresses the present Northern popular sentiment. When I +left, people were growing martial; they were joining military companies; +they wanted to fight; they were angry." + +"So I supposed. That agrees with what I hear by letter. Well, I am very +sorry for it. Our people here will not retreat; they will accept a war, +first. If you preserve the Union, it must be by conquest. I suppose you +can do it, if you try hard enough. The North is a great deal stronger +than the South; it can desolate it,--crush it. But I hope it won't be +done. I wish you would speak a good word for us, when you go back. You +can destroy us, I suppose. But don't you think it would be inhuman? +Don't you think it would be impolitic? Do you think it would result in +sufficient good to counterbalance the evident and certain evil?" + +"Why, people reason in this way. They say, that, even if we allow the +final independence of the seceding States, we must make it clear that +there is no such thing as the right of secession, but only that of +revolution or rebellion. We must fix a price for going out of the Union, +which shall be so high that henceforward no State will ever be willing +to pay it. We must kill, once for all, the doctrine of peaceable +secession, which is nothing else than national disintegration and ruin. +Lieutenant-Governor Morton of Indiana declares in substance that England +never spent blood and money to wiser purpose than when she laid down +fifty thousand lives and one hundred millions of pounds to prevent her +thirteen disaffected colonies from having their own way. No English +colony since has been willing to face the tremendous issue thus offered +it. Just so it is the interest, it is the sole safety of the Federal +Government, to try to hold in the Cotton States by force, and, if they +go out, to oblige them to pay an enormous price for the privilege. +Revolution is a troublesome luxury, and ought to be made expensive. That +is the way people talk at the North and at Washington. They reason thus, +you see, because they believe that this is not a league, but a nation." + +"And our people believe that the States are independent and have a right +to recede from the Confederation without asking its leave. With few +exceptions, all agree on that; it is honest, common public opinion. The +South Carolinians sincerely think that they are exercising a right, and +you may depend that they will not be reasoned nor frightened out of it; +and if the North tries coercion, there will be war. I don't say this +defiantly, but sadly, and merely because I want you to know the truth. +War is abhorrent to my feelings,--especially a war with our own +brethren: and then _we_ are so poorly prepared for it!" + +Such was the substance of several conversations. The reader may rely, I +think, on the justness of my friend's opinions, founded as they are on +his honesty of intellect, his moderation, and his opportunities for +studying his fellow-citizens. All told me the same story, but generally +with more passion, sometimes with defiance; defiance toward the +Government, I mean, and not toward me personally; for the better classes +of Charleston are eminently courteous. South Carolina had seceded +forever, defying all the hazards; she would accept nothing but +independence or destruction; she did not desire any supposable +compromise; she had altogether done with the Union. Yet her desire was +not for war; it was simply and solely for escape. She would forget all +her wrongs and insults, she would seek no revenge for the injurious +past, provided she were allowed to depart without a conflict. Nearly +every man with whom I talked began the conversation by asking if the +North meant coercion, and closed it by deprecating hostilities and +affirming the universal wish for _peaceable_ secession. In case of +compulsion, however, the State would accept the gage of battle; her +sister communities of the South would side with her, the moment they saw +her blood flow; Northern commerce would be devoured by privateers of all +nations under the Southern flag; Northern manufactures would perish for +lack of Southern raw material and Southern consumers; Northern banks +would suspend, and Northern finances go into universal insolvency; the +Southern ports would be opened forcibly by England and France, who must +have cotton; the South would flourish in the struggle, and the North +decay. + +"But why do you venture on this doubtful future?" I asked of one +gentleman. "What is South Carolina's grievance? The Personal-Liberty +Bills?" + +"Yes,--they constitute a grievance. And yet not much of one. Some of us +even--the men of the 'Mercury' school, I mean--do not complain of the +Union because of those bills. They say that it is the Fugitive-Slave Law +itself which is unconstitutional; that the rendition of runaways is +a State affair, in which the Federal Government has no concern; that +Massachusetts, and other States, were quite right in nullifying an +illegal and aggressive statute. Besides, South Carolina has lost very +few slaves." + +"Is it the Territorial Question which forces you to quit us?" + +"Not in its practical issues. The South needs no more territory; has not +negroes to colonize it. The doctrine of 'No more Slave States' is an +insult to us, but hardly an injury. The flow of population has settled +that matter. You have won all the Territories, not even excepting New +Mexico, where slavery exists nominally, but is sure to die out under the +hostile influences of unpropitious soil and climate. The Territorial +Question has become a mere abstraction. We no longer talk of it." + +"Then your great grievance is the election of Lincoln?" + +"Yes." + +"And the grievance is all the greater because he was elected according +to all the forms of law?" + +"Yes." + +"If he had been got into the Presidency by trickery, by manifest +cheating, your grievance would have been less complete?" + +"Yes." + +"Is Lincoln considered here to be a bad or dangerous man?" + +"Not personally. I understand that he is a man of excellent private +character, and I have nothing to say against him as a ruler, inasmuch as +he has never been tried. Mr. Lincoln is simply a sign to us that we are +in danger, and must provide for our own safety." + +"You secede, then, solely because you think his election proves that the +mass of the Northern people is adverse to you and your interests?" + +"Yes." + +"So Mr. Wigfall of Texas hit the nail on the head, when he said +substantially that the South cannot be at peace with the North until the +latter concedes that slavery is right?" + +"Well,--I admit it; that is precisely it." + +I desire the reader to note the loyal frankness, the unshrinking honesty +of these avowals, so characteristic of the South Carolina _morale_. +Whenever the native of that State does an act or holds an opinion, it is +his nature to confess it and avow the motives thereof, without quibbling +or hesitation. It is a persuaded, self-poised community, strikingly like +its negative pole on the Slavery Question, Massachusetts. All those +Charlestonians whom I talked with I found open-hearted in their +secession, and patient of my open-heartedness as an advocate of the +Union, although often astonished, I suspect, that any creature capable +of drawing a conclusion from two premises should think so differently +from themselves. + +"But have you looked at the platform of the Republicans?" I proceeded. +"It is not adverse to slavery in the States; it only objects to its +entrance into the Territories; it is not an Abolition platform." + +"We don't trust in the platform; we believe that it is an incomplete +expression of the party creed,--that it suppresses more than it utters. +The spirit which keeps the Republicans together is enmity to slavery, +and that spirit will never be satisfied until the system is extinct." + +"Finally,--yes; gradually and quietly and safely,--that is possible. I +suppose that the secret and generally unconscious _animus_ of the party +is one which will abolitionize it after a long while." + +"When will it begin to act in an abolition sense, do you think?" + +"I can't say: perhaps a hundred years from now; perhaps two hundred." + +There was a general laugh from the half-dozen persons who formed the +group. + +"What time do _you_ fix?" I inquired. + +"Two years. But for this secession of ours, there would have been bills +before Congress within two years, looking to the abolition of slavery in +the navy-yards, the District of Columbia, etc. That would be only the +point of the wedge, which would soon assume the dimensions of an attack +on slavery in the States. Look how aggressive the party has been in the +question of the Territories." + +"The questions are different. When Congress makes local laws for Utah, +it does not follow that it will do likewise for South Carolina. You +might as well infer, that, because a vessel sails from Liverpool to New +York in ten days, therefore it will sail overland to St. Louis in five +more." + +Incredulous laughter answered me again. The South has labored under two +delusions: first, that the Republicans are Abolitionists; second, that +the North can be frightened. Back of these, rendering them fatally +effective, lies that other delusion, the imagined right of peaceable +secession, founded on a belief in the full and unresigned sovereignty of +the States. Let me tell a story illustrative of the depth to which +this belief has penetrated. Years ago, a friend of mine, talking to a +Charleston boy about patriotism, asked him, "What is the name of your +country?" "South Carolina!" responded the eight-year-old, promptly and +proudly. What Northern boy, what Massachusetts boy even, would not have +replied, "The United States of America"? + +South Carolina, I am inclined to think, has long been a disunionist +community, or nearly so, deceived by the idea that the Confederation is +a bar rather than a help to her prosperity, and waiting only for a good +chance to quit it. Up to the election of Lincoln all timid souls were +against secession; now they are for it, because they think it less +dangerous than submission. For instance, when I asked one gentleman what +the South expected to gain by going out, he replied, "First, safety. +Our slaves have heard of Lincoln,--that he is a black man, or black +Republican, or black something,--that he is to become ruler of this +country on the fourth of March,--that he is a friend of theirs, and will +free them. We must establish our independence in order to make them +believe that they are beyond his help. We have had to hang some of them +in Alabama,--and we expect to be obliged to hang others, perhaps many." + +This was not the only statement of the sort which I heard in Charleston. +Other persons assured me of the perfect fidelity of the negroes, and +declared that they would even fight against Northern invaders, if +needful. Skepticism in regard to this last comfortable belief is, +however, not wanting. + +"If it comes to a war, you have one great advantage over us," said to me +a military gentleman, lately in the service of the United States. "Your +working-class is a fighting-class, and will constitute the rank and file +of your armies. Our working-class is not a fighting-class. Indeed, there +is some reason to fear, that, if it take up arms at all, it will be on +the wrong side." + +My impression is, that a prevalent, though not a universal fear, existed +lest the negroes should rise in partial insurrections on or about the +fourth of March. A Northern man, who had lived for several years in +the back-country of South Carolina, had married there, and had lately +travelled through a considerable portion of the South, informed me that +many of the villages were lately forming Home Guards, as a measure of +defence against the slave population. The Home Guard is frequently a +cavalry corps, and is always composed of men who have passed the usual +term of military service; for it is deemed necessary to reserve the +youth of the country to meet the "Northern masses," the "Federal +mercenaries," on the field of possible battle. By letters from +Montgomery, Alabama, I learn that unusual precautions have been common +during the last winter, many persons locking up their negroes over +night in the quarters, and most sleeping with arms at hand, ready for +nocturnal conflict. Whoever considers the necessarily horrible nature +of a servile insurrection will find in it some palliation for Southern +violence toward suspected incendiaries and Southern precipitation in +matters of secession, however strongly he may still maintain that +lynch-law should not usurp the place of justice, nor revolution the +place of regular government If you live in a powder-magazine, you +positively must feel inhospitably inclined towards a man who presents +himself with a cigar in his mouth. Even if he shows you that it is but a +tireless stump, it still makes you uneasy. And if you catch sight of +a multitude of smokers, distant as yet, but apparently intent on +approaching, you will be very apt to rush toward them, deprecate their +advance, forbid it, or possibly threaten armed resistance, even at the +risk of being considered aggressive. + +Are all the South Carolinians disunionists? It seemed so when I was +there in January, 1861, and yet it did not seem so when I was there in +1855 and '56. At that time you could find men in Charleston who held +that the right of secession was but the right of revolution, of +rebellion,--well enough, if successful, but inductive to hanging, if +unfortunate. Now those same men nearly all argue for the right of +peaceable secession, declaring that the State has a right to go out at +will, and that the Federal Government has no right to coerce or punish +it. These turncoats are the sympathetic, who are carried away by a +rush of popular enthusiasm, and the fearful or peaceable, who dread or +dislike violence. Let us see how a timid Unionist can be converted into +an advocate of the right of secession. Let us suppose a boat with three +men on board, which is hailed by a revenue-cutter, with a threat of +firing, if she does not come to. Two of these men believe that the +revenue-officer is performing a legal duty, and desire to obey him; but +the third, a reckless, domineering fellow, seizes the helm, lets the +sail fill, and attempts to run by, meantime declaring at the top of his +voice that the cutter has no business to stop his progress. The others +dare not resist him and cannot persuade him. Now, then, what position +will they take as to the right of the revenue-officer to fire? Ten to +one they will join their comrade whom they lately opposed; they will cry +out, that the pursuer was wrong in ordering them to stop, and ought not +to punish them for disobedience; in short, they will be converted by the +instinct of self-preservation into advocates of the right of peaceable +secession. I understand, indeed I know, that there are a few opponents +of disunion remaining In South Carolina; but, although they are wealthy +people and of good position, it is pretty certain that they have not an +atom of political influence. + +Secession peaceable! It is what is most particularly desired at +Charleston, and, I believe, throughout the Cotton States. Certainly, +when I was there, the war-party, the party of the "Mercury," was not in +the ascendant, unless in the sense of having been "hoist with its own +petard" when it cried out for immediate hostilities. Not only Governor +Pickens and his Council, but nearly all the influential citizens, were +opposed to bloodshed. They demanded independence and Fort Sumter, but +desired and hoped to get both by argument. They believed, or tried to +believe, that at last the Administration would hearken to reason and +grant to South Carolina what it seemed to them could not be denied her +with justice. The battle-cry of the "Mercury," urging precipitation +even at the expense of defeat, for the sake of uniting the South, was +listened to without enthusiasm, except by the young and thoughtless. + +"We shall never attack Fort Sumter," said one gentleman. "Don't you see +why? I have a son in the trenches, my next neighbor has one, everybody +in the city has one. Well, we shan't let our boys fight; we can't bear +to lose them. We don't want to risk our handsome, genteel, educated +young fellows against a gang of Irishmen, Germans, British deserters, +and New York roughs, not worth killing, and yet instructed to kill to +the best advantage. We can't endure it, and we shan't do it." + +This repugnance to stake the lives of South Carolina patricians against +the lives of low-born, mercenaries was a feeling that I frequently heard +expressed. It was betting guineas against pennies, and on a limited +stock of guineas. + +Other men, anti-secessionists even, assured me that war was inevitable, +that Fort Sumter would be attacked, that the volunteers were panting for +the strife, that Governor Pickens was excessively unpopular because of +his peaceful inclinations, and that he would soon be forced to give the +signal for battle. Once or twice I was seriously invited to stay a few +days longer, in order to witness the struggle and victory of South +Carolina. However, it was clear that the enthusiasm and confidence of +the people were no longer what they had been. Several dull and costly +weeks had passed since the passage of the secession ordinance. +Stump-speeches, torchlight-processions, fireworks, and other +jubilations, were among bygone things. The flags were falling to pieces, +and the palmettos withering, unnoticed except by strangers. Men had +begun to realize that a hurrah is not sufficient to carry out a great +revolution successfully; that the work which they had undertaken was +weightier, and the reward of it more distant, if not more doubtful, than +they had supposed. The political prophets had been forced, like the +Millerites, to ask an extension for their predictions. The anticipated +fleet of cotton-freighters had not arrived from Europe, and the expected +twelve millions of foreign gold had not refilled the collapsed banks. +The daily expenses were estimated at twenty thousand dollars; the +treasury was in rapid progress of depletion; and as yet no results. It +is not wonderful, that, under these circumstances, the most enthusiastic +secessionists were not gay, and that the general physiognomy of the city +was sober, not to say troubled. It must not be understood, however, +that there was any visible discontent or even discouragement. "We are +suffering in our affairs," said a business-man to me; "but you will +hear no grumbling." "We expect to be poor, very poor, for two or three +years," observed a lady; "but we are willing to bear it, for the sake of +the noble and prosperous end." "Our people do not want concessions, +and will never be tempted back into the Union," was the voice of every +private person, as well as of the Legislature. "I hope the Republicans +will offer no compromise," remarked one excellent person who has not +favored the revolution. "They would be sure to see it rejected: that +would humiliate them and anger them; then there would be more danger of +war." + +Hatred of Buchanan, mingled with contempt for him, I found almost +universal. If any Northerner should ever get into trouble in South +Carolina because of his supposed abolition tendencies, I advise him to +bestow a liberal cursing on our Old Public Functionary, assuring him +that he will thereby not only escape tar and feathers, but acquire +popularity. The Carolinians called the then President double-faced +and treacherous, hardly allowing him the poor credit of being a +well-intentioned imbecile. Why should they not consider him false? Up to +the garrisoning of Fort Sumter he favored the project of secession full +as decidedly as he afterwards crossed it. Did he think that he was +laying a train to blow the Republicans off their platform, and leave off +his labor in a fright, when he found that the powder-bags to be exploded +had been placed under the foundations of the Union? The man who could +explain Mr. Buchanan would have a better title than Daniel Webster to be +called The Great Expounder. + +During the ten days of my sojourn, Charleston was full of surprising +reports and painful expectations. If a door slammed, we stopped talking, +and looked at each other; and if the sound was repeated, we went to +the window and listened for Fort Sumter. Every strange noise was +metamorphosed by the watchful ear into the roar of cannon or the rush of +soldiery. Women trembled at the salutes which were fired in honor of the +secession of other States, fearing lest the struggle had commenced and +the dearly-loved son or brother in volunteer uniform was already under +the storm of the columbiads. One day, a reinforcement was coming to +Anderson, and the troops must attack him before it arrived; the next +day, Florida had assaulted Fort Pickens, and South Carolina was bound +to dash her bare bosom against Fort Sumter. The batteries were strong +enough to make a breach; and then again, the best authorities had +declared them not strong enough. A columbiad throwing a ball of one +hundred and twenty pounds, sufficient to crack the strongest embrasures, +was on its way from some unknown region. An Armstrong gun capable of +carrying ten miles had arrived or was about to arrive. No one inquired +whether Governor Pickens had suspended the law of gravitation in South +Carolina, in view of the fact that ordinarily an Armstrong gun will not +carry five miles,--nor whether, in such case, the guns of Fort Sumter +might not also be expected to double their range. Major Anderson was +a Southerner, who would surrender rather than shed the blood of +fellow-Southerners. Major Anderson was an army-officer, incapable by his +professional education of comprehending State rights, angry because he +had been charged with cowardice in withdrawing from Fort Moultrie, and +resolved to defend himself to the death. + +In the mean time, the city papers were strangely deficient in local news +concerning the revolution,--possibly from a fear of giving valuable +military information to the enemy at Washington. Uselessly did I study +them for particulars concerning the condition of the batteries, and +the number of guns and troops,--finding little in them but mention +of parades, soldierly festivities, offers of service by enthusiastic +citizens, and other like small business. I thought of visiting the +islands, but heard that strangers were closely watched there, and that +a permit from authority to enter the forts was difficult to obtain. +Fortune, or rather, misfortune, favored me in this matter. + +After passing six days in Charleston, hearing much that was +extraordinary, but seeing little, I left in the steamer Columbia for New +York. The main opening to the harbor, or Ship Channel, as it is called, +being choked with sunken vessels, and the Middle Channel little known, +our only resource for exit was Maffitt's Channel, a narrow strip of deep +water closely skirting Sullivan's Island. It was half-past six in the +morning, slightly misty and very quiet Passing Fort Sumter, then Fort +Moultrie, we rounded a low break-water, and attempted to take the +channel. I have heard a half-dozen reasons why we struck; but all I +venture to affirm is that we did strike. There was a bump; we hoped it +was the last:--there was another; we hoped again:--there was a third; we +stopped. The wheels rolled and surged, bringing the fine sand from +the bottom and changing the green waters to yellow; but the Columbia +remained inert under the gray morning sky, close alongside of the brown, +damp beach of Sullivan's Island. There was only a faint breeze, and a +mere ripple of a sea; but even those slight forces swung our stern far +enough toward the land to complete our helplessness. We lay broadside to +the shore, in the centre of a small crescent or cove, and, consequently, +unable to use our engines without forcing either bow or stern higher +up on the sloping bottom. The Columbia tried to advance, tried to back +water, and then gave up the contest, standing upright on her flat +flooring with no motion beyond an occasional faint bumping. The tugboat +Aid, half a mile ahead of us, cast off from the vessel which it was +taking out, and came to our assistance. Apparently it had been engaged +during the night in watching the harbor; for on deck stood a score of +volunteers in gray overcoats, while the naval-looking personage with +grizzled whiskers who seemed to command was the same Lieutenant Coste +who transferred the revenue-cutter Aiken from the service of the United +States to that of South Carolina. The Aid took hold of us, broke a large +new hawser after a brief struggle, and then went up to the city to +report our condition. + +The morning was lowery, with driving showers running through it from +time to time, and an atmosphere penetratingly damp and cheerless. On the +beach two companies of volunteers were drilling in the rain, no doubt +getting an appetite for breakfast. Without uniforms, their trousers +tucked into their boots, and here and there a white blanket fastened +shawl-like over the shoulders, they looked, as one of our passengers +observed, like a party of returned Californians. Their line was uneven, +their wheeling excessively loose, their evolutions of the simplest and +yet awkwardly executed. Evidently they were newly embodied, and from the +country; for the Charleston companies are spruce in appearance and well +drilled. Half a dozen of them, who had been on sentinel duty during the +night, discharged their guns in the air,--a daily process, rendered +necessary by the moist atmosphere of the harbor at this season; and +then, the exercise being over, there was a general scamper for the +shelter of a neighboring cottage, low-roofed and surrounded by a veranda +after the fashion of Sullivan's Island. Within half an hour they +reappeared in idle squads, and proceeded to kill the heavy time +by staring at us as we stared at them. One individual, learned in +sea-phrase, insulted our misfortune by bawling, "Ship ahoy!" A fellow +in a red shirt, who looked more like a Bowery _bhoy_ than like a +Carolinian, hailed the captain to know if he might come aboard; +whereupon he was surrounded by twenty others, who appeared to +question him and confound him until he thought it best to disappear +unostentatiously. I conjectured that he was a hero of Northern birth, +who had concluded to run away, if he could do it safely. + +When we tired of the volunteers, we looked at the harbor and its +inanimate surroundings. A ship from Liverpool, a small steamer from +Savannah, and a schooner or two of the coasting class passed by us +toward the city during the day, showing to what small proportions the +commerce of Charleston had suddenly shrunk. On shore there seemed to be +no population aside from the volunteers, Sullivan's Island is a summer +resort, much favored by Charlestonians in the hot season, because of its +coolness and healthfulness, but apparently almost uninhabited in winter, +notwithstanding that it boasts a village called Moultrieville. Its +hundred cottages are mostly of one model, square, low-roofed, a single +story in height, and surrounded by a veranda, a portion of which is in +some instances inclosed by blinds so as to add to the amount of shelter. +Paint has been sparingly used, when applied at all, and is seldom +renewed, when weather-stained. The favorite colors, at least those which +most strike the eye at a distance, are green and yellow. The yards are +apt to be full of sand-drifts, which are much prized by the possessors, +with whom it is an object to be secured from high tides and other +more permanent aggressions of the ocean. The whole island is but a +verdureless sand-drift, of which the outlines are constantly changing +under the influence of winds and waters. Fort Moultrie, once close to +the shore, as I am told, is now a hundred yards from it; while, half +a mile off, the sea flows over the site of a row of cottages not long +since washed away. Behind Fort Moultrie, where the land rises to its +highest, appears a continuous foliage of the famous palmettos, a low +palm, strange to the Northern eye, but not beautiful, unless to those +who love it for its associations. Compared with its brothers of the +East, it is short, contracted in outline, and deficient in waving grace. + +The chill mist and drizzling rain frequently drove us under +cover. "While enjoying my cigar in the little smoking-room on the +promenade-deck, I listened to the talk of four players of euchre, two of +them Georgians, one a Carolinian, and one a pro-slavery New-Yorker. + +"I wish the Cap'n would invite old Greeley on board his boat in New +York," said the Gothamite, "and then run him off to Charleston. I'd give +ten thousand dollars towards paying expenses; that is, if they could do +what they was a mind to with him." + +"I reckon a little more'n ten thousand dollars'd do it," grinned +Georgian First. + +"They'd cut him up into little bits," pursued the New-Yorker. + +"They'd worry him first like a cat does a mouse," added the Carolinian. + +"I'd rather serve Beecher or--what's his name?--Cheever, that trick," +observed Georgian Second. "It's the cussed parsons that's done all the +mischief. Who played that bower? Yours, eh? My deal." + +"I want to smash up some of these dam' Black Republicans," resumed the +New-Yorker. "I want to see the North suffer some. I don't care, if New +York catches it. I own about forty thousand dollars' worth of property +in ---- Street, and I want to see the grass growing all round it. +Blasted, if I can get a hand any way!" + +"I say, we should be in a tight place, if the forts went to firing now," +suggested the Carolinian. "Major Anderson would have a fair chance at +us, if he wanted to do us any harm." + +"Damn Major Anderson!" answered the New-Yorker. "I'd shoot him myself, +if I had a chance. I've heard about Bob Anderson till I'm sick of it." + +Of this fashion of conversation you may hear any desired amount at the +South, by going among the right sort of people. Let us take it for +granted, without making impertinent inquiry, that nothing of the kind +is ever uttered in any other country, whether in pot-house or parlor. +I suppose that such remarks seem very horrid to ladies and other +gentle-minded folk, who perhaps never heard the like in their lives, +and imagine, when they see the stuff on paper, that it is spoken with +scowling brows, through set teeth, and out of a heart of red-hot +passion. The truth is, that these ferocious phrases are generally +drawled forth in an _ex-officio_ tone, as if the speaker were rather +tired of that sort of thing, meant nothing very particular by it, and +talked thus only as a matter of fashion. It will be observed that the +most violent of these politicians was a New-Yorker. I am inclined to +pronounce, also, that the two Georgians were by birth New-Englanders. +The Carolinian was the most moderate of the company, giving his +attention chiefly to the game, and throwing out his one remark +concerning the worrying of Greeley with an air of simply civil assent +to the general meaning of the conversation, as an exchange of +anti-abolition sentiments. "If you will play that card," he seemed to +say, "I follow suit as a mere matter of course." + +There was a second attempt to haul us off at sunset, and a third in the +morning, both unsuccessful. Each tide, though stormless, carried the +Columbia a little higher up the beach; and the tugs, trying singly +to move her, only broke their hawsers and wasted precious time. +Fortunately, the sea continued smooth, so that the ship escaped a +pounding. On Saturday, at eleven, twenty-eight hours after we struck, +all hope of getting off without discharging cargo having been abandoned, +we passengers were landed on Sullivan's Island, to make our way back +to Charleston. Our baggage was forwarded to the ferry in carts, and +we followed at leisure on foot. In company with Georgian First and a +gentleman from Brooklyn, I strolled over the sand-rolls, damp and +hard now with a week's rain, passed one or two of the tenantless +summer-houses, and halted beside the _glacis_ of Fort Moultrie. I do not +wonder that Major Anderson did not consider his small force safe within +this fortification. It is overlooked by neighboring sand-hills and by +the houses of Moultrieville, which closely surround it on the land side, +while its ditch is so narrow and its rampart so low that a ladder of +twenty-five feet in length would reach from the outside of the former to +the summit of the latter. A fire of sharp-shooters from the commanding +points, and two columns of attack, would have crushed the feeble +garrison. No military movement could be more natural than the retreat to +Fort Sumter. What puzzles one, especially on the spot, and what nobody +in Charleston could explain to me, is the fact that this manoeuvre could +be executed unobserved by the people of Moultrieville, few as they are, +and by the guard-boats which patrolled the harbor. + +On the eastern side of the fort two or three dozen negroes were engaged +in filling canvas bags with sand, to be used in forming temporary +embrasures. One lad of eighteen, a dark mulatto, presented the very +remarkable peculiarity of chest-nut hair, only slightly curling. The +others were nearly all of the true field-hand type, aboriginal black, +with dull faces, short and thick forms, and an air of animal contentment +or at least indifference. They talked little, but giggled a great deal, +snatching the canvas bags from each other, and otherwise showing their +disbelief in the doctrine of all work and no play. When the barrows were +sufficiently filled to suit their weak ideal of a load, a procession of +them set off along a plank causeway leading into the fort, observing a +droll semblance of military precision and pomp, and forcing a passage +through lounging unmilitary buckras with an air of, "Out of de way, Ole +Dan Tucker!" We glanced at the yet unfinished ditch, half full of water, +and walked on to the gateway. A grinning, skipping negro drummer was +showing a new pair of shoes to the tobacco-chewing, jovial youth who +stood, or rather sat, sentinel. + +"How'd you get hold of _them?_" asked the latter, surveying the articles +admiringly. + +"Got a special order frum the Cap'm fur 'um. That ee way to do it. Won't +wet through, no matter how it rain. He, he! I'm all right now." + +Here he showed ivory to his ears, cut a caper, and danced into the fort. + +"D-a-m' nig-ger!" grinned the sentinel, approvingly, looking at us to +see if we also enjoyed the incident. Thus introduced to the temporary +guardian of the fort, we told him that we were from the Columbia, which +he was glad to bear of, wanting to know if she was damaged, how she went +ashore, whether she could get off, etc., etc. He was a fair specimen of +the average country Southerner, lounging, open to address, and fond of +talk. + +"I've no authority to let you in," he said, when we asked that favor; +"but I'll call the corporal of the guard." + +"If you please." + +"Corporal of the guard!" + +Appeared the corporal, who civilly heard us, and went for the lieutenant +of the guard. Presently a blonde young officer, with a pleasant face, +somewhat Irish in character, came out to us, raising his forefinger in +military salute. + +"We should like to go into the fort, if it is proper," I said. "We ask +hospitality the more boldly, because we are shipwrecked people." + +"It is against the regulations. However, I venture to take the +responsibility," was the obliging answer. + +We passed in, and wandered unwatched for half an hour about the +irregular, many-angled fortress. One-third of the interior is occupied +by two brick barracks, covered with rusty stucco, and by other brick +buildings, as yet incomplete, which I took to be of the nature of +magazines. On the walls, gaping landward as well as seaward, are thirty +or thirty-five iron cannon, all _en barbette_, but protected toward the +harbor by heavy piles of sand-bags, fenced up either with barrels of +sand or palmetto-logs driven firmly into the rampart. Four eight-inch +columbiads, carrying sixty-four pound balls, pointed at Fort Sumter. Six +other heavy pieces, Paixhans, I believe, faced the neck of the harbor. +The remaining armament of lighter calibre, running, I should judge, from +forty-twos down to eighteens. Only one gun lay on the ground destitute +of a carriage. The place will stand a great deal of battering; for the +walls are nearly bidden by the sand-covered _glacis_, which would catch +and smother four point-blank shots out of five, if discharged from a +distance. Against shells, however, it has no resource; and one mortar +would make it a most unwholesome residence. + +"What's this?" asked a volunteer, in homespun gray uniform, who, like +ourselves, had come in by courtesy. + +"That's the butt of the old flag-staff," answered a comrade. "Cap'n +Foster cut it down before he left the fort, damn him I It was a dam' +sneaking trick. I've a great mind to shave off a sliver and send it to +Lincoln." + +The idea of getting a bit of the famous staff as a memento struck +me, and I attempted to put it in practice; but the exceedingly tough +pitch-pine defied my slender pocket-knife. + +"Jim, cut the gentleman a piece," said one of the volunteers, Jim drew a +toothpick a foot long and did me the favor, for which I here repeat my +thanks to him. + +They were good-looking, healthy fellows, these two, like most of their +comrades, with a certain air of frank gentility and self-respect about +them, being probably the sons of well-to-do planters. It would be a +great mistake to suppose that the volunteers are drawn, to any extent +whatever, from the "poor white trash." The secession movement, like all +the political action of the State at all times, is independent of the +crackers, asks no aid nor advice of them, and, in short, ignores them +utterly. + +"I was here when the Star of the West was fired on," the Lieutenant told +us. "We only had powder for two hours. Anderson could have put us out in +a short time, if he had chosen." + +"How rapidly can these heavy guns be fired?" + +"About ten times an hour." + +"Do you think the defences will protect the garrison against a +bombardment?" + +"I think the palmetto stockades will answer. I don't know about that +enormous pile of barrels, however. If a shot hits the mass on the top, I +am afraid it will come down, bags and barrels together, bury the gun and +perhaps the gunners." + +"What if Sumter should open now?" I suggested. + +"We should be here to help," answered the Georgian. + +"We should be here to run away," amended my comrade from Brooklyn. + +"Well, I suppose we should be of mighty little use, and might as well +clear out," was the sober second-thought of the Georgian. + +Having satisfied our curiosity, we thanked the Lieutenant and left Fort +Moultrie. The story of our visit to it excited much surprise, when we +recounted it in the city. Members of the Legislature and other men high +in influence had desired the privilege, but had not applied for it, +expecting a repulse. + +A walk down a winding street, bordered by scattered cottages, inclosed +by brown board-fences or railings, and tracked by a horse-railroad built +for the Moultrie House, led us to the ferry-wharf, where we found our +baggage piled together, and our fellow-passengers wandering about in a +state of bored expectation. Sullivan's Island in winter is a good spot +for an economical man, inasmuch as it presents no visible opportunities +of spending money. There were houses of refreshment, as we could see +by their signs; but if they did business, it was with closed doors +and barred shutters. After we had paid a newsboy five cents for the +"Mercury," and five more for the "Courier," we were at the end of our +possibilities in the way of extravagance. At half-past one arrived the +ferry-boat with a few passengers, mostly volunteers, and a deck-load of +military stores, among which I noticed Boston biscuit and several dozen +new knapsacks. Then, from the other side, came the "dam' nigger," that +is to say, the drummer of the new shoes, beating his sheepskin at the +head of about fifty men of the Washington Artillery, who were on their +way back to town from Fort Moultrie. They were fine-looking young +fellows, mostly above the middle size of Northerners, with spirited and +often aristocratic faces, but somewhat more devil-may-care in expression +than we are accustomed to see in New England. They poured down the +gangway, trailed arms, ascended the promenade-deck, ordered arms, +grounded arms, and broke line. The drill struck me as middling, which +may be owing to the fact that the company has lately increased to about +two hundred members, thus diluting the old organization with a large +number of new recruits. Military service at the South is a patrician +exercise, much favored by men of "good family," more especially at this +time, when it signifies real danger and glory. + +Our rajpoots having entered the boat, we of lower caste were permitted +to follow. At two o'clock we were steaming over the yellow waters of the +harbor. The volunteers, like everybody else in Charleston, discussed +Secession and Fort Sumter, considering the former as an accomplished +fact, and the latter as a fact of the kind called stubborn. They talked +uniform, too, and equipments, and marksmanship, and drinks, and cigars, +and other military matters. Now and then an awkwardly folded blanket was +taken from the shoulders which it disgraced, refolded, packed carefully +in its covering of India-rubber, and strapped once more in its place, +two or three generally assisting in the operation. Presently a firing at +marks from the upper deck commenced. The favorite target was a conical +floating buoy, showing red on the sunlit surface of the harbor, some +four hundred yards away. With a crack and a hoarse whiz the minié-balls +flew towards it, splashing up the water where they first struck and then +taking two or three tremendous skips before they sank. A militiaman from +New York city, who was one of my fellow-passengers, told me that he +"never saw such good shooting." It seemed to me that every sixth ball +either hit the buoy full, or touched water but a few yards this side of +it, while not more than one in a dozen went wild. + +"It is good for a thousand yards," said a volunteer, slapping his +bright, new piece, proudly. + +A favorite subject of argument appeared to be whether Fort Sumter ought +to be attacked immediately or not. A lieutenant standing near me talked +long and earnestly regarding this matter with a civilian friend, +breaking out at last in a loud tone,-- + +"Why, good Heaven, Jim! do you want that place to go peaceably into the +hands of Lincoln?" + +"No, Fred, I do not. But I tell you, Fred, when that fort is attacked, +it will be the bloodiest day,--the bloodiest day!--the bloodiest----!!" + +And here, unable to express himself in words, Jim flung his arms wildly +about, ground his tobacco with excitement, spit on all sides, and walked +away, shaking his head, I thought, in real grief of spirit. + +We passed close to Fort Pinckney, our volunteers exchanging hurrahs with +the garrison. It is a round, two-storied, yellow little fortification, +standing at one end of a green marsh known as Shute's Folly Island. +What it was put there for no one knows: it is too close to the city to +protect it; too much out of the harbor to command that. Perhaps it might +keep reinforcements for Anderson from coming down the Ashley, just as +the guns on the Battery were supposed to be intended to deter them from +descending the Cooper. + +On the wharf of the ferry three drunken volunteers, the first that I had +seen in that condition, brushed against me. The nearest one, a handsome +young fellow of six feet two, half turned to stare back at me with a-- + +"How are ye, Cap'm? Gaw damn ye! Haw, haw, aw!"--and reeled onward, +brimful of spirituous good-nature. + +Four days more had I in Charleston, waiting from tide to tide for a +chance to sail to New York, and listening from hour to hour for the guns +of Fort Sumter. Sunday was a day of excitement, a report spreading that +the Floridians had attacked Fort Pickens, and the Charlestonians feeling +consequently bound in honor to fight their own dragon. Groups of earnest +men talked all day and late into the evening under the portico and in +the basement-rooms of the hotel, besides gathering at the corners and +strolling about the Battery. "We must act." "We cannot delay." "We ought +not to submit." Such were the phrases that fell upon the ear oftenest +and loudest. + +As I lounged, after tea, in the vestibule of the reading-room, an +eccentric citizen of Arkansas varied the entertainment. A short, thin +man, of the cracker type, swarthy, long-bearded, and untidy, he was +dressed in well-worn civilian costume, with the exception of an old +blue coat showing dim remnants of military garniture. Heeling up to a +gentleman who sat near me, he glared stupidly at him from beneath a +broad-brimmed hat, demanding a seat mutely, but with such eloquence of +oscillation that no words were necessary. The respectable person thus +addressed, not anxious to receive the stranger into his lap, rose and +walked away, with that air of not, having seen anything so common to +disconcerted people who wish to conceal their disturbance. Into the +vacant place dropped the stranger, stretching out his feet, throwing +his head back against the wall, and half closing his eyes with the +drunkard's own leer of self-sufficiency. During a few moments of +agonizing suspense the world waited. Then from those whiskey-scorched +and tobacco-stained lips came a long, shrill "Yee-p!" + +It was his exordium; it demanded the attention of the company; and +though he had it not, he continued:-- + +"I'm an Arkansas man, _I_ am. I'm a big su-gar planter, _I_ am. All +right! Go a'ead! I own fifty niggers, _I_ do. Yee-p!" + +He lifted both feet and slammed them on the floor energetically, pausing +for a reply. He had addressed all men; no one responded, and he went +on:-- + +"I'm for straightout, immedit shession, _I_ am. I go for 'staining +coursh of Sou' Car'lina, _I_ do. I'm ready to fight for Sou' Car'lina. +I'm a Na-po-le-on Bonaparte. All right! Go a'ead! Yee-p! Fellahs don't +know me here. I'm an Arkansas man, I am. Sou' Car'lina won't kill an +Arkansas man. I'm an immedit shessionist. Hurrah for Sou' Car'lina! All +right! Yee-p!" + +There was a lingering, caressing accent on his "_I_ am," which told how +dear to him was his individuality, drunk or sober. He looked at no one; +his hat was drawn over his eyes; his hands were deep in his pockets; +his feet did all needful gesturing. I stepped in front of him to get +a fuller view of his face, and the action aroused his attention. He +surveyed my gray Inverness wrapper and gave me a chuckling nod of +approbation. + +"How are ye, Bub? I like that blanket, _I_ do." + +In spite of this noble stranger's goodwill and prowess, we still found +Fort Sumter a knotty question. In a country which for eighty years has +not seen a shot fired in earnest, it is not wonderful that a good +deal of ignorance should exist concerning military matters, and +that second-class plans should be hatched for taking a first-class +fortification. While I was in Charleston, the most popular proposition +was to bombard continuously for two whole days and nights, thereby +demoralizing the garrison by depriving it of sleep and causing it to +surrender at the first attempt to escalade. Another plan, not in general +favor, was to smoke Anderson out by means of a raft covered with burning +mixtures of a chemical and bad-smelling nature. Still another, with +perhaps yet fewer adherents, was to advance on all sides in such a vast +number of row-boats that the fort could not sink them all, whereupon +the survivors should land on the wharf and proceed to take such further +measures as might be deemed expedient. The volunteers from the country +always arrived full of faith and defiance. "We want to get a squint at +that Fort Sumter," they would say to their city friends. "We are going +to take it. If we don't plant the palmetto on it, it's because there's +no such tree as the palmetto." Down the harbor they would go in the +ferry-boats to Morris or Sullivan's Island. The spy-glass would be +brought out, and one after another would peer through it at the object +of their enmity. Some could not sight it at all, confounded the +instrument, and fell back on their natural vision. Others, more lucky, +or better versed in telescopic observations, got a view of the fortress, +and perhaps burst out swearing at the evident massiveness of the walls +and the size of the columbiads. + +"Good Lord, what a gun!" exclaimed one man. "D'ye see that gun? What an +almighty thing! I'll be ----, if I ever put my head in front of it!" + +The difficulties of assault were admitted to be very great, considering +the bad footing, the height of the ramparts, and the abundant store of +muskets and grenades in the garrison. As to breaches, nobody seemed to +know whether they could be made or not. The besieging batteries were +neither heavy nor near, nor could they be advanced as is usual in +regular sieges, nor had they any advantage over the defence except in +the number of gunners, while in regard to position and calibre they were +inferior. To knock down a wall nearly forty feet high and fourteen feet +thick at a distance of more than half a mile seemed a tough undertaking, +even when unresisted. It was discovered also that the side of the +fortification towards Fort Johnstone, its only weak point, had been +strengthened so as to make it bomb-proof by means of interior masonry +constructed from the stones of the landing-place. Then nobody wanted to +knock Fort Sumter down, inasmuch as that involved either the labor +of building it up again, or the necessity of going without it as a +harbor-defence. Finally, suppose it should be attacked and not taken? +Really, we unlearned people in the art of war were vastly puzzled as we +thought tins whole matter over, and we sometimes doubted whether our +superiors were not almost equally bothered with ourselves. + +This fighting was a sober, sad subject; and yet at times it took a turn +toward the ludicrous. A gentleman told me that he was present when the +steamer Marion was seized with the intention of using her in pursuing +the Star of the West. A vehement dispute arose as to the fitness of the +vessel for military service. + +"Fill her with men, and put two or three eighteen-pounders in her," said +the advocates of the measure. + +"Where will you put your eighteen-pounders?" demanded the opposition. + +"On the promenade-deck, to be sure." + +"Yes, and the moment you fire one, you'll see it go through the bottom +of the ship, and then you'll have to go after it." + +During the two days previous to my second and successful attempt to quit +Charleston, the city was in full expectation that the fort would shortly +be attacked. News had arrived that Federal troops were on their way with +reinforcements. An armed steamer had been seen off the harbor, both by +night and day, making signals to Anderson. The Governor went down +to Sullivan's Island to inspect the troops and Fort Moultrie. The +volunteers, aided by negroes and even negro women, worked all night on +the batteries. Notwithstanding we were close upon race-week, when the +city is usually crowded, the streets had a deserted air, and nearly +every acquaintance I met told me he had been down to the islands to +see the preparations. Yet the whole excitement, like others which had +preceded, ended even short of smoke. News came that reinforcements had +not been sent to Anderson; and the destruction of that most inconvenient +person was once more postponed. People fell back on the old hope that +the Government would be brought to listen to reason,--that it would +give up to South Carolina what it could not keep from her with justice, +--that it would grant, in short, the incontrovertible right of peaceable +secession. For, in the midst of all these labors and terrors, this +expense and annoyance, no one talked of returning into the Union, and +all agreed in deprecating compromise. + +Once more, this time in the James Adger, I set sail from Charleston. The +boat lost one tide, and consequently one day, because at the last +moment the captain found himself obliged to take out a South Carolina +clearance. As I passed down the harbor, I counted fourteen square-rigged +vessels at the wharves, and one lying at anchor, while three others had +just passed the bar, outward-bound, and two were approaching from the +open sea. Deterred from the Ship Channel by the sunken schooners, and +from Maffitt's Channel by the fate of the Columbia, we tried the Middle +Channel, and glided over the bar without accident. + +"Sailing to Charleston is very much like going foreign," I said to a +middle-aged sea-captain whom we numbered among our passengers. "What +with heaving the lead, and doing without beacons, and lying off the +coast o' nights, it makes one think of trading to new countries." + +I had, it seems, unintentionally pulled the string which jerked him. +Springing up, he paced about excitedly for a few moments, and then broke +out with his story. + +"Yes,--I know it,--I know as much about it as anybody, I reckon. I lay +off there nine days in a nor'easter and lost my anchors; and here I am +going on to New York to buy some more; and all for those cursed Black +Republicans!" + +In South Carolina they see but one side of the shield,--which is quite +different, as we know, from the custom of the rest of mankind. + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +1. _Descriptive Ethnology._ By R.G. LATHAM. 2 vols. London. 1859. + +2. _Anthropologie der Naturvölker._ Von Dr. T. WAIZ. 2 Bänder. Leipzig. +1860. + +Some writers have the remarkable faculty of making the subject which +they may happen to treat forever more distasteful and wearisome to their +readers. Whether the cause be in the style, or the point of view, or +the method of treatment, or in all together, they seem able to force the +student away in disgust from the whole field on which they labor, with +vows never again to cross it. + +Such an author, it seems to us, is pre-eminently R.G. Latham, in his +treatment of Ethnology. Happy the man who has any such philosophic +interest in Human Races, that he can ever care to hear again of the +subject, after perusing Mr. Latham's various volumes on "Descriptive +Ethnology." We wonder that the whole English reading public; has not +consigned the science to the shelf of Encyclopedias of Useful Knowledge, +or of Year-Books of Fact, or any other equally philosophic and connected +works, after the treatment which this modern master of Ethnology has +given to the subject. + +Such disconnected masses of facts are heaped together in these works, +such incredible dulness is shown in presenting them, such careful +avoidance of any generalization or of any interesting particular, such +a bald and conceited style, and such a cockneyish and self-opinionated +view of human history, as our soul wearies even to think of. Mr. Latham +disdains any link of philosophy, or any classification, among his "ten +thousand facts," as being a fault of the "German School" (whatever that +may be) of Ethnology. It seems to him soundly "British" to disbelieve +all the best conclusions of modern scholarship, and to urge his own +fanciful or shallow theories. He treats all human superstitions and +mythologies as if he were standing in the Strand and judging them by the +ideas of modern London. His is a Cockney's view of antiquity. He cannot +imagine that a barbarous and infant people, groping in the mysteries of +the moral universe, might entertain some earnest and poetic views which +were not precisely in the line of thought of the Londoners of the +nineteenth century, and yet which might be worth investigating. To his +mind, there is no grand march of humanity, slow, but certain, towards +higher ideals, through the various lines of race,--but rather +innumerable ripples on the surface of history, which come and pass away +without connection and without purpose. + +The reader wades slowly through his books, and leaves them with a +feeling of intense disgust. Such a vast gathering of facts merely to +produce this melancholy confusion of details! You feel that his eminence +in the science must be from the circumstance that no one else is dull +enough and patient enough to gather such a museum of facts in regard +to human beings. The mind is utterly confused as to divisions of human +races, and is ready to conclude that there must be almost as many +varieties of man as there are tribes or dialects, and that Ethnology has +not yet reached the position of a science. + +The reader must pardon the bitterness of our feelings; but we are just +smarting from a prolonged perusal of all Mr. Latham's works, especially +the two volumes whose title is given above; and that we may have +sympathy, if only in a faint degree, from our friends, we quote a few +passages, taken at random, though we cannot possibly thus convey an +adequate conception of the infinite dulness of the work. + +The following is his elegant introduction:-- + + "I follow the Horatian rule, and plunge, at + once, _in medias res_. I am on the Indus, but + not on the Indian portion of it. I am on the + Himalayas, but not on their southern side. I + am on the northwestern ranges, with Tartary + on the north, Bokhara on the west, and Hindostan + on the south. I am in a neighborhood + where three great religions meet: Mahometanism, + Buddhism. Brahminism. I _must_ begin + somewhere; and here is my beginning."-- + Vol. i. p. 1. + +The following is his analysis of the beautiful Finnish Kalevala:-- + +"Wainamoinen is much of a smith, and more of a harper. Illmarinen is +most of a smith. Lemminkainen is much of a harper, and little of a +smith. The hand of the daughter of the mistress of Pohjola is what, each +and all, the three sons of Kalevala strive to win,--a hand which the +mother of the owner will give to any one who can make for her and +for Pohjola _Sampo_, Wainamoinen will not; but he knows of one who +will,--Illmarinen. Illmarinen makes it, and gains the mother's consent +thereby. But the daughter requires another service. He must hunt down +the elk of Tunela. We now see the way in which the actions of the heroes +are, at one and the same time, separate and connected. Wainamoinen +tries; Illmarinen tries (and eventually wins); Lemminkainen tries. There +are alternations of friendship and enmity. Sampo is made and presented. +It is then wanted back again. + +"'Give us,' says Wainamoinen, 'if not the whole, half.' + +"'Sampo,' says Louki, the mistress of Pohjola,' cannot be divided.' + +"'Then let us steal it,' says one of the three. + +"'Agreed,' say the other two. + +"So the rape of Sampo takes place. It is taken from Pohjola, whilst the +owners are sung to sleep by the harp of Lemminkainen; sung to sleep, +but not for so long a time as to allow the robbers to escape. They are +sailing Kalevalaward, when Louki comes after them on the wings of the +wind, and raises a storm. Sampo is broken, and thrown into the sea. Bad +days now come. There is no sun, no moon. Illmarinen makes them of silver +and gold. He had previously made his second wife (for he lost his first) +out of the same metals. However, Sampo is washed up, and made whole. +Good days come. The sun and moon shine as before, and the sons of +Kalevala possess Sampo."--Vol. i., pp. 433, 434. + +This, again, is Mr. Latham's profound and interesting view of +_Buddhism:--_ + +"Buddhism is one thing. Practices out of which Buddhism may be developed +are another. It has been already suggested that the ideas conveyed by +the terms _Sramanoe_ and _Gymnosophistoe_ are just as Brahminic as +Buddhist, and, _vice versâ_, just as Buddhist as Brahminic. + +"The earliest dates of specific Buddhism are of the same age as the +earliest dates of specific Brahminism. + +"Clemens of Alexandria mentions Buddhist pyramids, the Buddhist habit of +depositing certain bones in them, the Buddhist practice of foretelling +events, the Buddhist practice of continence, the Buddhist Semnai or holy +virgins. This, however, may he but so much asceticism. He mentions this +and more. He supplies the name Bouta; Bouta being honored as a god. + +"From Cyril of Jerusalem we learn that Samnaism was, more or less, +Manichaean,--Manichaeanism being, more or less, Samanist. Terebinthus, +the preceptor of Manes, took the name Baudas. In Epiphanius, Terebinthus +is the pupil of Scythianus. + +"Suidas makes Terebinthus a pupil of Baudda, who pretended to be the +son of a virgin. And here we may stop to remark, that the Mongol +Tshingiz-Khan is said to be virgin-born; that, word for word, Scythianus +is Sak; that Sakya Muni (compare it with Manes) is a name of Buddha. + +"Be this as it may, there was, before A.D. 300,-- + + "1. Action and reaction between Buddhism + and Christianity. + + "2. Buddhist buildings. + + "3. The same cultus in both Bactria and + India. + + "Whether this constitute Buddhism is another + question."--Vol. ii. p. 317. + +And more of an equally attractive and comprehensible character. + +We assure the reader that these extracts are but feeble exponents of the +peculiar power of Mr. Latham's works,--a power of unmitigated dulness. +What his views are on the great questions of the science--the origin +of races, the migrations, the crossings of varieties, and the like--no +mortal can remember, who has penetrated the labyrinth of his researches. + +An author of a very different kind is Professor Waiz, whose work on +Anthropology has just reached this country: a writer as philosophic as +Mr. Latham is disconnected; as pleasing and natural in style as the +other is affected; as simply open to the true and good in all customs or +superstitions of barbarous peoples as the Englishman is contemptuous of +everything not modern and European. Waiz seems to us the most careful +and truly scientific author in the field of Ethnology whom we have +had since Prichard, and with the wider scope which belongs to the +intellectual German. + +The bane of this science, as every one knows, has been its theorizing, +and its want of careful inductive reasoning from facts. The +classifications in it have been endless, varying almost with the fancies +of each new student; while every prominent follower of it has had some +pet hypothesis, to which he desired to suit his facts. Whether the +_a priori_ theory were of modern miraculous origin or of gradual +development, of unity or of diversity of parentage, of permanent and +absolute divisions of races or of a community of blood, it has equally +forced the author to twist his facts. + +Perhaps the basest of all uses to which theory has been put in this +science was in a well-known American work, where facts and fancies in +Ethnology were industriously woven together to form another withe about +the limbs of the wretched African slave. + +Waiz has reasoned slowly and carefully from facts, considering in +his view all possible hypotheses,--even, for instance, the +development-theory of Darwin,--and has formed his own conclusion on +scientific data, or has wisely avowed that no conclusion is possible. + +The classification to which he is forced is that which all profound +investigators are approaching,--that of language interpreted by history. +He is compelled to believe that no physiological evidences of race can +be considered as at all equal to the evidences from language. At the +same time, he is ready to admit that even this classification is +imperfect, as from the nature of the case it must be; for the source of +the confusion lies in the very unity of mankind. He rejects _in toto_ +Professor Agassiz's "realm-theory," as inconsistent with facts. The +hybrid-question, as put by Messrs. Gliddon and Nott, meets with a +searching and careful investigation, with the conclusion that nothing +in facts yet ascertained proves any want of vitality or power of +propagation in mulattoes or in crosses of any human races. + +The unity of origin and the vast antiquity of mankind are the two +important conclusions drawn. + +His second volume is entirely devoted to the negro races, and is the +most valuable treatise yet written on that topic. + +The whole work is mainly directed towards _Naturvölker_, or "Peoples in +a State of Nature," and therefore cannot be recommended for translation, +as a general text-book on the science of Ethnology,--a book which is +now exceedingly needed in all our higher schools and colleges; but as +a general treatise, with many new and important facts, scientifically +treated, it can be most highly commended to the general scholar. + + +_Il Politecnico. Repertorio Mensile di Studi applicati alia Prosperità e +Coltura Sociale._ Milano, 1860. New York: Charles B. Norton, Agent for +Libraries, 596, Broadway. + +Among the best first-fruits of Italian liberty are the free publication +and circulation of books; and it is a striking indication of the new +order of things in Lombardy, that the publishers at Milan of the monthly +journal, "Il Politecnico," should at once have established an American +agency in New York, and that in successive numbers of their periodical +during the present year they should have furnished lists of some of the +principal American publications which they are prepared to obtain for +Italian readers. It will be a fortunate circumstance for the people of +both countries, should a ready means be established for the interchange +of their contemporaneous works in literature and science. + +The "Politecnico" is not altogether a new journal. Seven volumes of it +bad been published, and had acquired for it a high reputation and a +considerable circulation, when political events put a stop to its +issue. The Austrian system of government after 1849 repressed alt free +expression of thought in Lombardy; and no encouragement was afforded for +the publication of any work not under the control of the administration. +With the beginning of the present year the "Politecnico" was +reëstablished, mainly through the influence and under the direction of +Dr. Carlo Cattaneo, who had been the chief promoter of the preceding +original series. The numbers of the new series give evidence of talent +and independence in its conductors and contributors, and contain +articles of intrinsic value, beside that which they possess as +indications of the present intellectual condition and tendencies of +Italy. The journal is wholly devoted to serious studies, its object +being the cultivation of the moral and physical sciences with the arts +depending on them, and their practical application to promote the +national prosperity. That it will carry out its design with ability is +guarantied by the character of Cattaneo. + +Carlo Cattaneo is a man of unquestioned power of intellect, of strong +character, and resolute energy. Already distinguished, not only as a +political economist, but as a forcible reasoner in applied politics, he +took a leading part in the struggle of 1848 in Milan, and, inspired by +ill-will towards Charles Albert and the Piedmontese, was one of the +promoters of the disastrous Lombard policy which defeated the hopes of +the opponents of Austria at that day. Though an Italian liberal, and +unquestionably honest in his patriotic intentions, he was virtually an +ally of Radetzky. When the Austrians retook Milan, he was compelled to +fly, and took refuge in Lugano, where he compiled three large volumes +on the affairs of Italy, from the accession of Pius IX. to the fall of +Venice, in which he exhibited his political views, endeavoring to show +that the misfortunes of Lombardy were due to the ambitious and false +policy of the unhappy Charles Albert. His distrust of the Piedmontese +has not diminished with the recent changes in the affairs of Italy; and +although Lombardy is now united to Piedmont, and the hope of freedom +seems to lie in a hearty and generous union of men of all parties in +support of the new government, Cattaneo, when in March last he was +elected a member of the National Parliament, refused to take his seat, +that he might not be obliged to swear allegiance to the King and the +Constitution. His political desire seems to be to see Italy not brought +under one rule, but composed of a union of states, each preserving +its special autonomy. He is a federalist, and does not share in the +unitarian view which prevails with almost all the other prominent +Italian statesmen, and which at this moment appears to be the only +system that can create a strong, united, independent Italy. It was to +him, perhaps, more than to any other single man, that the difficulties +which lately arose in the settling of the mode of annexation of Sicily +and Naples to the Sardinian kingdom were due; and the small party in +Parliament which recently refused to join in the vote of confidence in +the ministry of Cavour was led by Ferrari, the disciple of the Milanese +Doctor. + +But however impracticable Cattaneo may be, and however mistaken and +extravagant his political views, he is a man of such vigor of mind, that +a journal conducted by him becomes, from the fact of his connection with +it, one of the important organs of Italian thought. We trust that the +"Politecnico" will find subscribers among those in our country who +desire to keep up their knowledge of Italian affairs at a time of such +extraordinary interest as the present. + + +_Elsie Venner_. A Romance of Destiny. By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 2 vols. +Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1861. + +English literature numbers among its more or less distinguished authors +a goodly number of physicians. Sir Thomas Browne was, perhaps, the +last of the great writers of English prose whose mind and style were +impregnated with imagination. He wrote poetry without meaning it, as +many of his brother doctors have meant to write poetry without doing it, +in the classic style of + + "Inoculation, heavenly maid, descend!" + +Garth's "Dispensary" was long ago as fairly buried as any of his +patients; and Armstrong's "Health" enjoys the dreary immortality of +being preserved in the collections, like one of those queer things they +show you in a glass jar at the anatomical museums. Arbuthnot, a truly +genial humorist, has hardly had justice done him. People laugh over his +fun in the "Memoirs of Scriblerus," and are commonly satisfied to think +it Pope's. Smollett insured his literary life in "Humphrey Clinker"; +and we suppose his Continuation of Hume is still one of the pills which +ingenuous youth is expected to gulp before it is strong enough to +resist. Goldsmith's fame has steadily gained; and so has that of Keats, +whom we may also fairly reckon in our list, though he remained harmless, +having never taken a degree. On the whole, the proportion of doctors who +have positively succeeded in our literature is a large one, and we +have now another very marked and beautiful case in Dr. Holmes. Since +Arbuthnot, the profession has produced no such wit; since Goldsmith, no +author so successful. + +Five years ago it would have been only Dr. Holmes's intimate friends +that would have considered the remarkable success he has achieved not +only possible, but probable. They knew, that, if the fitting opportunity +should only come, he would soon show how much stuff he had in +him,--sterner stuff, too, than the world had supposed,--stuff not +merely to show off the iris of a brilliant reputation, but to block out +into the foundations of an enduring fame. It seems an odd thing to say +that Dr. Holmes had suffered by having given proof of too much wit; but +it is undoubtedly true. People in general have a great respect for those +who scare them or make them cry, but are apt to weigh lightly one who +amuses them. They like to be tickled, but they would hardly take the +advice of their tickler on any question they thought serious. We have +our doubts whether the majority of those who make up what is called "the +world" are fond of wit. It rather puts them out, as Nature did Fuseli: +They look on its crinkling play as men do at lightning; and while they +grant it is very fine, are teased with an uncomfortable wonder as to +where it is going to strike next. They would rather, on the whole, +it were farther off. They like well-established jokes, the fine old +smoked-herring sort, such as the clown offers them in the circus, +warranted never to spoil, if only kept dry enough. Your fresh wit +demands a little thought, perhaps, or at least a kind of negative wit, +in the recipient. It is an active, meddlesome--quality, forever putting +things in unexpected and somewhat startling relations to each other; +and such new relations are as unwelcome to the ordinary mind as poor +relations to a _nouveau riche_. Who wants to be all the time painfully +conceiving of the antipodes walking like flies on the ceiling? Yet wit +is related to some of the profoundest qualities of the intellect. It is +the reasoning faculty acting _per saltum_, the sense of analogy brought +to a focus; it is generalization in a flash, logic by the electric +telegraph, the sense of likeness in unlikeness, that lies at the root +of all discoveries; it is the prose imagination, common-sense at fourth +proof. All this is no reason why the world should like it, however; and +we fancy that the Question, _Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat?_ was +plaintively put in the primitive tongue by one of the world's gray +fathers to another without producing the slightest conviction. Of +course, there must be some reason for this suspicion of wit, as there +is for most of the world's deep-rooted prejudices. There is a kind of +surface-wit that is commonly the sign of a light and shallow nature. +It becomes habitual _persiflage_, incapable of taking a deliberate and +serious view of anything, or of conceiving the solemnities that environ +life. This has made men distrustful of all laughers; and they are apt to +confound in one sweeping condemnation with this that humor whose base +is seriousness, and which is generally the rebound of the mind from +over-sad contemplation. They do not see that the same qualities that +make Shakspeare the greatest of tragic poets make him also the deepest +of humorists. + +Dr. Holmes was already an author of more than a quarter of a century's +standing, and was looked on by most people as an _amusing_ writer +merely. He protested playfully and pointedly against this, once or +twice; but, as he could not help being witty, whether he would or no, +his audience laughed and took the protest as part of the joke. He felt +that he was worth a great deal more than he was vulgarly rated at, and +perhaps chafed a little; but his opportunity had not come. With the +first number of the "Atlantic" it came at last, and wonderfully he +profited by it. The public were first delighted, and then astonished. So +much wit, wisdom, pathos, and universal Catharine-wheeling of fun and +fancy was unexampled. "Why, good gracious," cried Madam Grundy, "we've +got a _genius_ among us fit last! I always knew what it would come to!" +"Got a fiddlestick!" says Mr. G.; "it's only rockets." And there was no +little watching and waiting for the sticks to come down. We are afraid +that many a respectable skeptic has a crick in his neck by this time; +for we are of opinion that these are a new kind of rocket, that go +without sticks, and _stay up_ against all laws of gravity. + +We expected a great deal from Dr. Holmes; we thought he had in him the +makings of the best magazinist in the country; but we honestly confess +we were astonished. We remembered the proverb, "'Tis the pace that +kills," and could scarce believe that such a two-forty gait could be +kept up through a twelvemonth. Such wind and bottom were unprecedented. +But this was Eclipse himself; and he came in as fresh as a May morning, +ready at a month's end for another year's run. And it was not merely +the perennial vivacity, the fun shading down to seriousness, and the +seriousness up to fun, in perpetual and charming vicissitude;--here was +the man of culture, of scientific training, the man who had thought as +well as felt, and who had fixed purposes and sacred convictions. No, the +Eclipse-comparison is too trifling. This was a stout ship under press +of canvas; and however the phosphorescent star-foam of wit and fancy, +crowding up under her bows or gliding away in subdued flashes of +sentiment in her wake, may draw the eye, yet she has an errand of duty; +she carries a precious freight, she steers by the stars, and all her +seemingly wanton zigzags bring her nearer to port. + +When children have made up their minds to like some friend of the +family, they commonly besiege him for a story. The same demand is made +by the public of authors, and accordingly it was made of Dr. Holmes. The +odds were heavy against him; but here again he triumphed. Like a good +Bostonian, he took for his heroine a _schoolma'am_, the Puritan Pallas +Athene of the American Athens, and made her so lovely that everybody was +looking about for a schoolmistress to despair after. Generally, the best +work in imaginative literature is done before forty; but Dr. Holmes +should seem not to have found out what a Mariposa grant Nature had made +him till after fifty. + +There is no need of our analyzing "Elsie Venner," for all our readers +know it as well as we do. But we cannot help saying that Dr. Holmes has +struck a new vein of New-England romance. The story is really a romance, +and the character of the heroine has in it an element of mystery; yet +the materials are gathered from every-day New-England life, and that +weird borderland between science and speculation where psychology and +physiology exercise mixed jurisdiction, and which rims New England as +it does all other lands. The character of Elsie is exceptional, but not +purely ideal, like Cristabel and Lamia. In Doctor Kittredge and his +"hired man," and in the Principal of the "Apollinean Institoot," Dr. +Holmes has shown his ability to draw those typical characters that +represent the higher and lower grades of average human nature; and in +calling his work a Romance he quietly justifies himself for mingling +other elements in the composition of Elsie and her cousin. Apart from +the merit of the book as a story, it is full of wit, and of sound +thought sometimes hiding behind a mask of humor. Admirably conceived are +the two clergymen, gradually changing sides almost without knowing it, +and having that persuasion of consistency which men always feel, because +they must always bring their creed into some sort of agreement with +their dispositions. + +There is something melancholy in the fact, that, the moment Dr. Holmes +showed that he felt a deep interest in the great questions which concern +this world and the next, and proved not only that he believed in +something, but thought his belief worth standing up for, the cry of +_Infidel_ should have been raised against him by people who believe in +nothing but an authorized version of Truth, they themselves being the +censors. For our own part, we do not like the smell of Smithfield, +whether it be Catholic or Protestant that is burning there; though, +fortunately, one can afford to smile at the Inquisition, so long as its +Acts of Faith are confined to the corners of sectarian newspapers. +But Dr. Holmes can well afford to possess his soul in patience. The +Unitarian John Milton has won and kept quite a respectable place in +literature, though he was once forced to say, bitterly, that "new +Presbyter was only old Priest writ large." One can say nowadays, _E pur +si muove_, with more comfort than Galileo could; the world does move +forward, and we see no great chance for any ingenious fellow-citizen to +make his fortune by a "Yankee Heretic-Baker," as there might have been +two centuries ago. + +Dr. Holmes has proved his title to be a wit in the earlier and higher +sense of the word, when it meant a man of genius, a player upon thoughts +rather than words. The variety, freshness, and strength which he has +lent to our pages during the last three years seem to demand of us that +we should add our expression of admiration to that which his countrymen +have been so eager and unanimous in rendering. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +History of the United Netherlands: from the Death of William the Silent +to the Synod of Dort. With a Full View of the English-Dutch Struggle +against Spain, and of the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish Armada. +By John Lothrop Motley, LL.D. New York. Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 8vo. +pp. 532, 563. $4.00. + +History of Latin Christianity, including that of the Popes to the +Pontificate of Nicolas V. By Henry Hart Milman. Vol. V. New York. +Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 530. $1.50. + +Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the +People. Parts XXIII. and XXIV. New York. D. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/11155-8.zip b/old/11155-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..34c0901 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11155-8.zip diff --git a/old/11155.txt b/old/11155.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a765beb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11155.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9222 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 7, Issue 42, April, +1861, by Various + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Atlantic Monthly, Volume 7, Issue 42, April, 1861 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 18, 2004 [eBook #11155] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ATLANTIC MONTHLY, VOLUME 7, ISSUE +42, APRIL, 1861*** + + +E-text prepared by Joshua Hutchinson, Tonya Allen, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + +THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + +A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. + +VOL. VII.--APRIL, 1861.--NO. XLII. + + + + + + + +APRIL DAYS. + + + "Can trouble dwell with April days?" + +_In Memoriam._ + + +In our methodical New England life, we still recognize some magic in +summer. Most persons reluctantly resign themselves to being decently +happy in June, at least. They accept June. They compliment its weather. +They complained of the earlier months as cold, and so spent them in +the city; and they will complain of the later months as hot, and so +refrigerate themselves on some barren sea-coast. God offers us yearly a +necklace of twelve pearls; most men choose the fairest, label it June, +and cast the rest away. It is time to chant a hymn of more liberal +gratitude. + +There are no days in the whole round year more delicious than those +which often come to us in the latter half of April. On these days one +goes forth in the morning, and an Italian warmth broods over all the +hills, taking visible shape in a glistening mist of silvered azure, with +which mingles the smoke from many bonfires. The sun trembles in his +own soft rays, till one understands the old English tradition, that he +dances on Easter-Day. Swimming in a sea of glory, the tops of the hills +look nearer than their bases, and their glistening watercourses seem +close to the eye, as is their liberated murmur to the ear. All across +this broad interval the teams are ploughing. The grass in the meadow +seems all to have grown green since yesterday. The blackbirds jangle +in the oak, the robin is perched upon the elm, the song-sparrow on the +hazel, and the bluebird on the apple-tree. There rises a hawk and sails +slowly, the stateliest of airy things, a floating dream of long and +languid summer-hours. But as yet, though there is warmth enough for a +sense of luxury, there is coolness enough for exertion. No tropics can +offer such a burst of joy; indeed, no zone much warmer than our Northern +States can offer a genuine spring. There can be none where there is no +winter, and the monotone of the seasons is broken only by wearisome +rains. Vegetation and birds being distributed over the year, there is no +burst of verdure nor of song. But with us, as the buds are swelling, the +birds are arriving; they are building their nests almost simultaneously; +and in all the Southern year there is no such rapture of beauty and of +melody as here marks every morning from the last of April onward. + +But days even earlier than these in April have a charm,--even days that +seem raw and rainy, when the sky is dull and a bequest of March-wind +lingers, chasing the squirrel from the tree and the children from the +meadows. There is a fascination in walking through these bare early +woods,--there is such a pause of preparation, winter's work is so +cleanly and thoroughly done. Everything is taken down and put away; +throughout the leafy arcades the branches show no remnant of last year, +save a few twisted leaves of oak and beech, a few empty seed-vessels of +the tardy witch-hazel, and a few gnawed nutshells dropped coquettishly +by the squirrels into the crevices of the bark. All else is bare, but +prophetic: buds everywhere, the whole splendor of the coming summer +concentrated in those hard little knobs on every bough; and clinging +here and there among them, a brown, papery chrysalis, from which shall +yet wave the superb wings of the Luna moth. An occasional shower patters +on the dry leaves, but it does not silence the robin on the outskirts of +the wood: indeed, he sings louder than ever, though the song-sparrow and +the bluebird are silent. + +Then comes the sweetness of the nights in latter April. There is as yet +no evening-primrose to open suddenly, no cistus to drop its petals; +but the May-flower knows the hour, and becomes more fragrant in the +darkness, so that one can then often find it in the woods without +aid from the eye. The pleasant night-sounds are begun; the hylas are +uttering their shrill _peep_ from the meadows, mingled soon with hoarser +toads, who take to the water at this season to deposit their spawn. The +tree-toads soon join them; but one listens in vain for bullfrogs, or +katydids, or grasshoppers, or whippoorwills, or crickets: we must wait +for them until the delicious June. + +The earliest familiar token of the coming season is the expansion of the +stiff catkins of the alder into soft, drooping tresses. These are so +sensitive, that, if you pluck them at almost any time during the winter, +a day's bright sunshine will make them open in a glass of water, and +thus they eagerly yield to every moment of April warmth. The blossom +of the birch is more delicate, that of the willow more showy, but the +alders come first. They cluster and dance everywhere upon the bare +boughs above the watercourses; the blackness of the buds is softened +into rich brown and yellow; and as this graceful creature thus comes +waving into the spring, it is pleasant to remember that the Norse Eddas +fabled the first woman to have been named Embla, because she was created +from an alder-bough. + +The first wild-flower of the spring is like land after sea. The two +which, throughout the Northern Atlantic States, divide this interest are +the _Epigaea repens_ (May-flower, ground-laurel, or trailing-arbutus) +and the _Hepatica triloba_ (liverleaf, liverwort, or blue anemone). Of +these two, the latter is perhaps more immediately exciting on first +discovery; because it does not, like the epigaea, exhibit its buds all +winter, but opens its blue eyes almost as soon as it emerges from the +ground. Without the rich and delicious odor of its compeer, it has +an inexpressibly fresh and earthy scent, that seems to bring all the +promise of the blessed season with it; indeed, that clod of fresh turf +with the inhalation of which Lord Bacon delighted to begin the day must +undoubtedly have been full of the roots of our little hepatica. Its +healthy sweetness belongs to the opening year, like Chaucer's poetry; +and one thinks that anything more potent and voluptuous would be less +enchanting,--until one turns to the May-flower. Then comes a richer +fascination for the senses. To pick the May-flower is like following in +the footsteps of some spendthrift army which has scattered the contents +of its treasure-chest among beds of scented moss. The fingers sink in +the soft, moist verdure, and make at each instant some superb discovery +unawares; again and again, straying carelessly, they clutch some new +treasure; and, indeed, all is linked together in bright necklaces by +secret threads beneath the surface, and where you grasp at one, you hold +many. The hands go wandering over the moss as over the keys of a piano, +and bring forth fragrance for melody. The lovely creatures twine and +nestle and lay their glowing faces to the very earth beneath withered +leaves, and what seemed mere barrenness becomes fresh and fragrant +beauty. So great is the charm of the pursuit, that the epigaea is really +the one wild-flower for which our country-people have a hearty passion. +Every village child knows its best haunts, and watches for it eagerly +in the spring; boys wreathe their hats with it, girls twine it in their +hair, and the cottage-windows are filled with its beauty. + +In collecting these early flowers, one finds or fancies singular natural +affinities. I flatter myself with being able always to find hepatica, if +there is any within reach, for I was brought up with it ("Cockatoo +he know me berry well"); but other persons, who were brought up +with May-flower, and remember searching for it with their almost +baby-fingers, can find that better. The most remarkable instance +of these natural affinities was in the case of L.T. and his double +anemones. L. had always a gift for wild-flowers, and used often to bring +to Cambridge the largest white anemones that ever were seen, from a +certain special hill in Watertown; they were not only magnificent in +size and whiteness, but had that exquisite blue on the outside of +the petals, as if the sky had bent down in ecstasy at last over its +darlings, and left visible kisses there. But even this success was +not enough, and one day he came with something yet choicer. It was a +rue-leaved anemone (_A. thalictraides_); and, if you will believe it, +each one of the three white flowers was _double,_ not merely with that +multiplicity of petals in the disk which is common with this species, +but technically and horticulturally double, like the double-flowering +almond or cherry,--the most exquisitely delicate little petals, seeming +like lace-work. He had three specimens,--gave one to the Autocrat of +Botany, who said it was almost or quite unexampled, and another to me. +As the man in the fable says of the chameleon,--"I have it yet, and can +produce it." + +Now comes the marvel. The next winter L. went to New York for a year, +and wrote to me, as spring drew near, with solemn charge to visit his +favorite haunt and find another specimen. Armed with this letter of +introduction, I sought the spot, and tramped through and through its +leafy corridors. Beautiful wood-anemones I found, to be sure, trembling +on their fragile stems, deserving all their pretty names,--Wind-flower, +Easter-flower, Pasque-flower, and homeopathic Pulsatilla; rue-leaved +anemones I found also, rising taller and straighter and firmer in stem, +with the whorl of leaves a little higher up on the stalk than one +fancies it ought to be, as if there were a supposed danger that the +flowers would lose their balance, and as if the leaves must be all ready +to catch them. These I found, but the special wonder was not there for +me. Then I wrote to L. that he must evidently come himself and search; +or that, perhaps, as Sir Thomas Browne avers that "smoke doth follow the +fairest," so his little treasures had followed him towards New York. +Judge of my surprise, when, on opening his next letter, out dropped, +from those folds of metropolitan paper, a veritable double anemone. He +had just been out to Hoboken, or some such place, to spend an afternoon, +and, of course, his pets were there to meet him; and from that day to +this, I have never heard of the thing happening to any one else. + +May-Day is never allowed to pass in this community without profuse +lamentations over the tardiness of our spring as compared with that +of England and the poets. Yet it is very common to exaggerate this +difference. Even so good an observer as Wilson Flagg is betrayed into +saying that the epigaea and hepatica "seldom make their appearance until +after the middle of April" in Massachusetts, and that "it is not unusual +for the whole month of April to pass away without producing more than +two or three species of wild-flowers." But I have formerly found the +hepatica in bloom at Mount Auburn, for three successive years, on the +twenty-seventh of March; and last spring it was actually found, farther +inland, where the season is later, on the seventeenth. The May-flower is +usually as early, though the more gradual expansion of the buds renders +it less easy to give dates. And there are nearly twenty species which I +have noted, for five or six years together, as found before May-Day, and +which may therefore be properly assigned to April. The list includes +bloodroot, cowslip, houstonia, saxifrage, dandelion, chickweed, +cinquefoil, strawberry, mouse-ear, bellwort, dog's-tooth violet, five +species of violet proper, and two of anemone. These are all common +flowers, and easily observed; and the catalogue might be increased by +rare ones, as the white corydalis, the smaller yellow violet, (_V. +rotundifolia_,) and the claytonia or spring-beauty. + +But in England the crocus and the snowdrop--neither being probably an +indigenous flower, since neither is mentioned by Chaucer--usually open +before the first of March; indeed, the snowdrop was formerly known by +the yet more fanciful name of "Fair Maid of February." Chaucer's daisy +comes equally early; and March brings daffodils, narcissi, violets, +daisies, jonquils, hyacinths, and marsh-marigolds. This is altogether in +advance of our season, so far as the flowers give evidence,--though we +have plucked snowdrops in February. But, on the other hand, it would +appear, that, though a larger number of birds winter in England than in +Massachusetts, yet the return of those which migrate is actually earlier +among us. From journals kept during sixty years in England, and an +abstract of which is printed in Hone's "Every-Day Book," it appears that +only two birds of passage revisit England before the fifteenth of April, +and only thirteen more before the first of May; while with us the +song-sparrow and the bluebird appear about the first of March, and quite +a number more by the middle of April. This is a peculiarity of the +English spring which I have never seen explained or even mentioned. + +After the epigaea and the hepatica have opened, there is a slight pause +among the wild-flowers,--these two forming a distinct prologue for their +annual drama, as the brilliant witch-hazel in October brings up its +separate epilogue. The truth is, Nature attitudinizes a little, liking +to make a neat finish with everything, and then to begin again with +_eclat_. Flowers seem spontaneous things enough, but there is evidently +a secret marshalling among them, that all may be brought out with due +effect. As the country-people say that so long as any snow is left on +the ground more snow may be expected, it must all vanish simultaneously +at last,--so every seeker of spring-flowers has observed how accurately +they seem to move in platoons, with little straggling. Each species +seems to burst upon us with a united impulse; you may search for them +day after day in vain, but the day when you find one specimen the spell +is broken and you find twenty. By the end of April all the margins +of the great poem of the woods are illuminated with these exquisite +vignettes. + +Most of the early flowers either come before the full unfolding of their +leaves or else have inconspicuous ones. Yet Nature always provides for +her bouquets the due proportion of green. The verdant and graceful +sprays of the wild raspberry are unfolded very early, long before its +time of flowering. Over the meadows spread the regular Chinese-pagodas +of the equisetum, (horsetail or scouring-rush,) and the rich coarse +vegetation of the veratrum, or American hellebore. In moist copses the +ferns and osmundas begin to uncurl in April, opening their soft coils +of spongy verdure, coated with woolly down, from which the humming-bird +steals the lining of her nest. + +The early blossoms represent the aboriginal epoch of our history: the +blood-root and the May-flower are older than the white man, older +perchance than the red man; they alone are the true Native Americans. Of +the later wild plants, many of the most common are foreign importations. +In our sycophancy we attach grandeur to the name _exotic_: we call +aristocratic garden-flowers by that epithet; yet they are no more exotic +than the humbler companions they brought with them, which have become +naturalized. The dandelion, the buttercup, duckweed, celandine, mullein, +burdock, yarrow, whiteweed, nightshade, and most of the thistles,--these +are importations. Miles Standish never crushed these with his heavy heel +as he strode forth to give battle to the savages; they never kissed the +daintier foot of Priscilla, the Puritan maiden. It is noticeable that +these are all of rather coarser texture than our indigenous flowers; the +children instinctively recognize this, and are apt to omit them, when +gathering the more delicate native blossoms of the woods. + +There is something touching in the gradual retirement before +civilization of these delicate aborigines. They do not wait for the +actual brute contact of red bricks and curbstones, but they feel the +danger miles away. The Indians called the low plantain "the white man's +footstep"; and these shy creatures gradually disappear, the moment +the red man gets beyond their hearing. Bigelow's delightful "Florula +Bostoniensis" is becoming a series of epitaphs. Too well we know it,--we +who in happy Cambridge childhood often gathered, almost within a stone's +throw of Professor Agassiz's new Museum, the arethusa and the gentian, +the cardinal-flower and the gaudy rhexia,--we who remember the last +secret hiding-place of the rhodora in West Cambridge, of the yellow +violet and the _Viola debilis_ in Watertown, of the _Convallaria +trifolia_ near Fresh Pond, of the _Hottonia_ beyond Wellington's Hill, +of the _Cornus florida_ in West Roxbury, of the _Clintonia_ and the +dwarf ginseng in Brookline,--we who have found in its one chosen nook +the sacred _Andromeda polyfolia_ of Linnaeus. Now vanished almost or +wholly from city-suburbs, these fragile creatures still linger in +more rural parts of Massachusetts; but they are doomed everywhere, +unconsciously, yet irresistibly; while others still more shy, as the +_Linnoea_, the yellow _Cypripedium_, the early pink _Azalea_, and the +delicate white _Corydalis_ or "Dutchman's breeches," are being chased +into the very recesses of the Green and the White Mountains. The relics +of the Indian tribes are supported by the legislature at Martha's +Vineyard, while these precursors of the Indian are dying unfriended +away. + +And with these receding plants go also the special insects which haunt +them. Who that knew that pure enthusiast, Dr. Harris, but remembers the +accustomed lamentations of the entomologist over the departure of these +winged companions of his lifetime? Not the benevolent Mr. John Beeson +more tenderly mourns the decay of the Indians than he the exodus of +these more delicate native tribes. In a letter which I happened to +receive from him a short time previous to his death, he thus renewed +the lament:--"I mourn for the loss of many of the beautiful plants +and insects that were once found in this vicinity. _Clethra, Rhodora, +Sanguinaria, Viola debilis, Viola acuta, Dracoena borealis, Rhexia, +Cypripedium, Corallorhiza verna, Orchis spectabilis_, with others of +less note, have been rooted out by the so-called hand of improvement. +_Cicindela rugifrons, Helluo proeusta, Sphoeroderus stenostomus, +Blethisa quadricollis, (Americana mi,) Carabus, Horia_, (which for +several years occurred in profusion on the sands beyond Mount Auburn,) +with others, have entirely disappeared from their former haunts, driven +away, or exterminated perhaps, by the changes effected therein. There +may still remain in your vicinity some sequestered spots, congenial +to these and other rarities, which may reward the botanist and the +entomologist who will search them carefully. Perhaps you may find there +the pretty coccinella-shaped, silver-margined _Omophron_, or the still +rarer _Panagoeus fasciatus_, of which I once took two specimens on +Wellington's Hill, but have not seen it since." Is not this indeed +handling one's specimens "gently as if you loved them," as Isaak Walton +bids the angler do with his worm? + +There is this merit, at least, among the coarser crew of imported +flowers, that they bring their own proper names with them, and we know +precisely whom we have to deal with. In speaking of our own native +flowers, we must either be careless and inaccurate, or else resort +sometimes to the Latin, in spite of the indignation of friends. There +is something yet to be said on this point. In England, where the old +household and monkish names adhere, they are sufficient for popular +and poetic purposes, and the familiar use of scientific names seems an +affectation. But here, where many native flowers have no popular names +at all, and others are called confessedly by wrong ones,--where +it really costs less trouble to use Latin names than English, the +affectation seems the other way. Think of the long list of wild-flowers +where the Latin name is spontaneously used by all who speak of +the flower: as, Arethusa, Aster, Cistus, ("after the fall of the +cistus-flower,") Clematis, Clethra, Geranium, Iris, Lobdia, Bhodora, +Spirtea, Tiarella, Trientalis, and so on. Even those formed from proper +names (the worst possible system of nomenclature) become tolerable at +last, and we forget the man in the more attractive flower. Are those +who pick the Houstonia to be supposed thereby to indorse the Texan +President? Or are the deluded damsels who chew Cassia-buds to be +regarded as swallowing the late Secretary of State? The names have long +since been made over to the flowers, and every questionable aroma has +vanished. When the godfather happens to be a botanist, there is a +peculiar fitness in the association; the Linaea, at least, would not +smell so sweet by any other name. + +In other cases the English name is a mere modification of the Latin +one, and our ideal associations have really a scientific basis: as with +Violet, Lily, Laurel, Gentian, Vervain. Indeed, our enthusiasm for +vernacular names is like that for Indian names, one-sided: we enumerate +only the graceful ones, and ignore the rest. It would be a pity to +Latinize Touch-me-not, or Yarrow, or Gold-Thread, or Self-Heal, or +Columbine, or Blue-Eyed-Grass,--though, to be sure, this last has an +annoying way of shutting up its azure orbs the moment you gather it, and +you reach home with a bare, stiff blade, which deserves no better +name than _Sisyrinchium anceps._ But in what respect is Cucumber-Root +preferable to Medeola, or Solomon's-Seal to Convallaria, or Rock-Tripe +to Umbilicaria, or Lousewort to Pedicularis? In other cases the merit +is divided: Anemone may dispute the prize of melody with Windflower, +Campanula with Harebell, Neottia with Ladies'-Tresses, Uvularia with +Bellwort and Strawbell, Potentilla with Cinquefoil, and Sanguinaria with +Bloodroot. Hepatica may be bad, but Liverleaf is worse. The pretty name +of May-flower is not so popular, after all, as that of Trailing-Arbutus, +where the graceful and appropriate adjective redeems the substantive, +which happens to be Latin and incorrect at the same time. It does seem a +waste of time to say _Chrysanthemum leucanthemum_ instead of Whiteweed; +though, if the long scientific name were an incantation to banish the +intruder, our farmers would gladly consent to adopt it. + +But the great advantage of a reasonable use of the botanical name is, +that it does not deceive us. Our primrose is not the English primrose, +any more than it was our robin who tucked up the babes in the wood; +our cowslip is not the English cowslip, it is the English +marsh-marigold,--Tennyson's "wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in +swamps and hollows gray." The pretty name of Azalea means something +definite; but its rural name of Honeysuckle confounds under that name +flowers without even an external resemblance,--Azalea, Diervilla, +Lonioera, Aquilegia,--just as every bird which sings loud in deep woods +is popularly denominated a thrush. The really rustic names of both +plants and animals are very few with us,--the different species are +many; and as we come to know them better and love them more, we +absolutely require some way to distinguish them from their half-sisters +and second-cousins. It is hopeless to try to create new popular +epithets, or even to revive those which are thoroughly obsolete. Miss +Cooper may strive in vain, with benevolent intent, to christen her +favorite spring-blossoms "May-Wings" and "Gay-Wings," and "Fringe-Cup" +and "Squirrel-Cup," and "Cool-Wort" and "Bead-Ruby"; there is no +conceivable reason why these should not be the familiar appellations, +except the irresistible fact that they are not. It is impossible to +create a popular name: one might as well attempt to invent a legend or +compose a ballad. _Nascitur, non fit_. + +As the spring comes on, and the densening outlines of the elm give daily +a new design for a Grecian urn,--its hue, first brown with blossoms, +then emerald with leaves,--we appreciate the vanishing beauty of the +bare boughs. In our favored temperate zone, the trees denude themselves +each year, like the goddesses before Paris, that we may see which +unadorned loveliness is the fairest. Only the unconquerable delicacy of +the beech still keeps its soft vestments about it: far into spring, when +worn to thin rags and tatters, they cling there still; and when they +fall, the new appear as by magic. It must be owned, however, that the +beech has good reasons for this prudishness, and possesses little beauty +of figure; while the elms, maples, chestnuts, walnuts, and even oaks, +have not exhausted all their store of charms for us, until we have seen +them disrobed. Only yonder magnificent pine-tree,--that pitch-pine, +nobler when seen in perfection than white-pine, or Norwegian, or Norfolk +Islander,--that pitch-pine, herself a grove, _una nemus_, holds her +unchanging beauty throughout the year, like her half-brother, the ocean, +whose voice she shares; and only marks the flowing of her annual tide of +life by the new verdure that yearly submerges all trace of last year's +ebb. + +How many lessons of faith and beauty we should lose, if there were no +winter in our year! Sometimes, in following up a watercourse among our +hills, in the early spring, one comes to a weird and desolate place, +where one huge wild grapevine has wreathed its ragged arms around a +whole thicket and brought it to the ground,--swarming to the tops of +hemlocks, clenching a dozen young maples at once and tugging them +downward, stretching its wizard black length across the underbrush, into +the earth and out again, wrenching up great stones in its blind, aimless +struggle. What a piece of chaos is this! Yet come here again, two months +hence, and you shall find all this desolation clothed with beauty +and with fragrance, one vast bower of soft green leaves and graceful +tendrils, while summer-birds chirp and flutter amid these sunny arches +all the livelong day. "Out of the strong cometh forth sweetness." + +To the end of April, and often later, one still finds remains of +snowbanks in sheltered woods, especially those consisting of evergreen +trees; and this snow, like that upon high mountains, has become hardened +by the repeated thawing and freezing of the surface, till it is more +impenetrable than ice. But the snow that actually falls during April is +usually only what Vermonters call "sugar-snow,"--falling in the night +and just whitening the surface for an hour or two, and taking its name, +not so much from its looks as from the fact that it denotes the +proper weather for "sugaring," namely, cold nights and warm days. Our +saccharine associations, however, remain so obstinately tropical, that +it seems almost impossible for the imagination to locate sugar in New +England trees; though it is known that not the maple only, but the birch +and the walnut even, afford it in appreciable quantities. + +Along our maritime rivers the people associate April, not with +"sugaring," but with "shadding." The pretty _Amelanchier Canadensis_ of +Gray--the _Aronia_ of Whittler's song--is called Shad-bush or Shad-blow +in Essex County, from its connection with this season; and there is a +bird known as the Shad-spirit, which I take to be identical with the +flicker or golden-winged woodpecker, whose note is still held to +indicate the first day when the fish ascend the river. Upon such slender +wings flits our New England romance! + +In April the creative process described by Thales is repeated, and the +world is renewed by water. The submerged creatures first feel the touch +of spring, and many an equivocal career, beginning in the ponds and +brooks, learns later to ignore this obscure beginning, and hops or +flutters in the dusty daylight. Early in March, before the first male +canker-moth appears on the elm-tree, the whirlwig beetles have begun to +play round the broken edges of the ice, and the caddis-worms to +crawl beneath it; and soon come the water-skater _(Gerris)_ and the +water-boatman _(Notonecta)_. Turtles and newts are in busy motion when +the spring-birds are only just arriving. Those gelatinous masses in +yonder wayside-pond are the spawn of water-newts or tritons: in the +clear transparent jelly are imbedded, at regular intervals, little +blackish dots; these elongate rapidly, and show symptoms of head and +tail curled up in a spherical cell; the jelly is gradually absorbed for +their nourishment, until on some fine morning each elongated dot gives +one vigorous wriggle, and claims thenceforward all the privileges +attendant on this dissolution of the union. The final privilege is often +that of being suddenly snapped up by a turtle or a snake: for Nature +brings forth her creatures liberally, especially the aquatic ones, +sacrifices nine-tenths of them as food for their larger cousins, and +reserves only a handful to propagate their race, on the same profuse +scale, next season. + +It is surprising, in the midst of our Museums and Scientific Schools, +how little we yet know of the common things before our eyes. Our +_savans_ still confess their inability to discriminate with certainty +the egg or tadpole of a frog from that of a toad; and it is strange that +these hopping creatures, which seem so unlike, should coincide so nearly +in their juvenile career, while the tritons and salamanders, which +border so closely on each other in their maturer state as sometimes to +be hardly distinguishable, yet choose different methods and different +elements for laying their eggs. The eggs of our salamanders or +land-lizards are deposited beneath the moss on some damp rock, without +any gelatinous envelope; they are but few in number, and the anxious +mamma may sometimes be found coiled in a circle around them, like the +symbolic serpent of eternity. + +The small number of birds yet present in early April gives a better +opportunity for careful study,--more especially if one goes armed with +that best of fowling-pieces, a small spy-glass: the best,--since how +valueless for purposes of observation is the bleeding, gasping, dying +body, compared with the fresh and living creature, as it tilts, +trembles, and warbles on the bough before you! Observe that robin in the +oak-tree's top: as he sits and sings, every one of the dozen different +notes which he flings down to you is accompanied by a separate flirt and +flutter of his whole body, and, as Thoreau says of the squirrel, "each +movement seems to imply a spectator," and to imply, further, that the +spectator is looking through a spy-glass. Study that song-sparrow: why +is it that he always goes so ragged in spring, and the bluebird so +neat? is it that the song-sparrow is a wild artist, absorbed in the +composition of his lay, and oblivious of ordinary proprieties, while the +smooth bluebird and his ash-colored mate cultivate their delicate warble +only as a domestic accomplishment, and are always nicely dressed before +sitting down to the piano? Then how exciting is the gradual arrival of +the birds in their summer-plumage! to watch it is as good as sitting at +the window on Easter Sunday to observe the new bonnets. Yonder, in that +clump of alders by the brook, is the delicious jargoning of the first +flock of yellow-birds; there are the little gentlemen in black and +yellow, and the little ladies in olive-brown; "sweet, sweet, sweet" is +the only word they say, and often they will so lower their ceaseless +warble, that, though almost within reach, the little minstrels seem far +away. There is the very earliest cat-bird, mimicking the bobolink before +the bobolink has come: what is the history of his song, then? is it a +reminiscence of last year? or has the little coquette been practising it +all winter, in some gay Southern society, where cat-birds and bobolinks +grow intimate, just as Southern fashionables from different States +may meet and sing duets at Saratoga? There sounds the sweet, low, +long-continued trill of the little hair-bird, or chipping-sparrow, a +suggestion of insect sounds in sultry summer, and produced, like them, +by a slight fluttering of the wings against the sides: by-and-by we +shall sometimes hear that same delicate rhythm burst the silence of the +June midnights, and then, ceasing, make stillness more still. Now watch +that woodpecker, roving in ceaseless search, travelling over fifty trees +in an hour, running from top to bottom of some small sycamore, pecking +at every crevice, pausing to dot a dozen inexplicable holes in a row +upon an apple-tree, but never once intermitting the low, querulous +murmur of housekeeping anxiety: now she stops to hammer with all her +little life at some tough piece of bark, strikes harder and harder +blows, throws herself back at last, flapping her wings furiously as she +brings down her whole strength again upon it; finally it yields, and +grub after grub goes down her throat, till she whets her beak after the +meal as a wild beast licks its claws, and off on her pressing business +once more. + +It is no wonder that there is so little substantial enjoyment of Nature +in the community, when we feed children on grammars and dictionaries +only, and take no pains to train them to see that which is before +their eyes. The mass of the community have "summered and wintered" the +universe pretty regularly, one would think, for a good many years; and +yet nine persons out of ten in the town or city, and two out of three +even in the country, seriously suppose, for instance, that the buds upon +trees are formed in the spring; they have had them before their eyes +all winter, and never seen them. As large a proportion suppose, in good +faith, that a plant grows at the base of the stem, instead of at the +top: that is, if they see a young sapling in which there is a crotch +at five feet from the ground, they expect to see it ten feet from the +ground by-and-by,--confounding the growth of a tree with that of a man +or animal. But perhaps the best of us could hardly bear the severe test +unconsciously laid down by a small child of my acquaintance. The boy's +father, a college-bred man, had early chosen the better part, and +employed his fine faculties in rearing laurels in his own beautiful +nursery-gardens, instead of in the more arid soil of court-rooms or +state-houses. Of course the young human scion knew the flowers by name +before he knew his letters, and used their symbols more readily; and +after he got the command of both, he was one day asked by his younger +brother what the word _idiot_ meant,--for somebody in the parlor had +been saying that somebody else was an idiot. "Don't you know?" quoth +Ben, in his sweet voice: "an idiot is a person who doesn't know an +arbor-vitae from a pine,--he doesn't know anything." When Ben grows up +to maturity, bearing such terrible tests in his unshrinking hands, who +of us will be safe? + +The softer aspects of Nature, especially, require time and culture +before man can enjoy them. To rude races her processes bring only +terror, which is very slowly outgrown. Humboldt has best exhibited the +scantiness of finer natural perceptions in Greek and Roman literature, +in spite of the grand oceanic anthology of Homer, and the delicate +water-coloring of the Greek Anthology and of Horace. The Oriental and +the Norse sacred books are full of fresh and beautiful allusions; but +the Greek saw in Nature only a framework for Art, and the Roman only +a camping-ground for men. Even Virgil describes the grotto of Aeneas +merely as a "black grove" with "horrid shade,"--"_Horrenti atrum +nemus imminet umbra_." Wordsworth points out, that, even in English +literature, the "Windsor Forest" of Anne, Countess of Winchelsea, was +the first poem which represented Nature as a thing to be consciously +enjoyed; and as she was almost the first English poetess, we might be +tempted to think that we owe this appreciation, like some other good +things, to the participation of woman in literature. But, on the other +hand, it must be remembered that the voluminous Duchess of Newcastle, in +her "Ode on Melancholy," describes among the symbols of hopeless gloom +"the still moonshine night" and "a mill where rushing waters run +about,"--the sweetest natural images. So woman has not so much to claim, +after all. In our own country, the early explorers seemed to find only +horror in its woods and waterfalls. Josselyn, in 1672, could only +describe the summer splendor of the White Mountain region as "dauntingly +terrible, being full of rocky hills, as thick as mole-hills in a meadow, +and full of infinite thick woods." Father Hennepin spoke of Niagara, +in the narrative still quoted in the guide-books, as a "frightful +cataract"; though perhaps his original French phrase was softer. And +even John Adams could find no better name than "horrid chasm" for the +gulf at Egg Rock, where he first saw the sea-anemone. + +But we are lingering too long, perhaps, with this sweet April of smiles +and tears. It needs only to add that all her traditions are beautiful. +Ovid says well, that she was not named from _aperire_, to open, as some +have thought, but from _Aphrodite_, goddess of beauty. April holds +Easter-time, St. George's Day, and the Eve of St. Mark's. She has not, +like her sister May in Germany, been transformed to a verb and made a +synonyme for joy,--"_Deine Seele maiet den trueben Herbst_"--but April +was believed in early ages to have been the birth-time of the world. +According to Venerable Bede, the point was first accurately determined +at a council held at Jerusalem about A.D. 200, when, after much profound +discussion, it was finally decided that the world's birthday occurred on +Sunday, April eighth,--that is, at the vernal equinox and the full moon. +But April is certainly the birth-time of the year, at least, if not of +the planet. Its festivals are older than Christianity, older than the +memory of man. No sad associations cling to it, as to the month of June, +in which month, says William of Malmesbury, kings are wont to go to +war,--"_Quando solent reges ad arma procedere_,"--but it holds the Holy +Week, and it is the Holy Month. And in April Shakspeare was born, and in +April he died. + + + + +THE PROFESSOR'S STORY. + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE WHITE ASH. + + +When Helen returned to Elsie's bedside, it was with a new and still +deeper feeling of sympathy, such as the story told by Old Sophy might +well awaken. She understood, as never before, the singular fascination +and as singular repulsion which she had long felt in Elsie's presence. +It had not been without a great effort that she had forced herself to +become the almost constant attendant of the sick girl; and now she was +learning, but not for the first time, the blessed truth which so many +good women have found out for themselves, that the hardest duty bravely +performed soon becomes a habit, and tends in due time to transform +itself into a pleasure. + +The old Doctor was beginning to look graver, in spite of himself. The +fever, if such it was, went gently forward, wasting the young girl's +powers of resistance from day to day; yet she showed no disposition +to take nourishment, and seemed literally to be living on air. It was +remarkable that with all this her look was almost natural, and her +features were hardly sharpened so as to suggest that her life was +burning away. He did not like this, nor various other unobtrusive signs +of danger which his practised eye detected. A very small matter might +turn the balance which held life and death poised against each other. +He surrounded her with precautions, that Nature might have every +opportunity of cunningly shifting the weights from the scale of death +to the scale of life, as she will often do, if not rudely disturbed or +interfered with. + +Little tokens of good-will and kind remembrance were constantly coming +to her from the girls in the school and the good people in the village. +Some of the mansion-house people obtained rare flowers which they sent +her, and her table was covered with fruits--which tempted her in vain. +Several of the school-girls wished to make her a basket of their own +handiwork, and, filling it with autumnal flowers, to send it as a joint +offering. Mr. Bernard found out their project accidentally, and, wishing +to have his share in it, brought home from one of his long walks some +boughs full of variously tinted leaves, such as were still clinging +to the stricken trees. With these he brought also some of the already +fallen leaflets of the white ash, remarkable for their rich olive-purple +color, forming a beautiful contrast with some of the lighter-hued +leaves. It so happened that this particular tree, the white ash, did not +grow upon The Mountain, and the leaflets were more welcome for their +comparative rarity. So the girls made their basket, and the floor of it +they covered with the rich olive-purple leaflets. Such late flowers as +they could lay their hands upon served to fill it, and with many kindly +messages they sent it to Miss Elsie Venner at the Dudley mansion-house. + +Elsie was sitting up in her bed when it came, languid, but tranquil, and +Helen was by her, as usual, holding her hand, which was strangely cold, +Helen thought, for one who--was said to have some kind of fever. The +school-girls' basket was brought in with its messages of love and hopes +for speedy recovery. Old Sophy was delighted to see that it pleased +Elsie, and laid it on the bed before her. Elsie began looking at the +flowers and taking them from the basket, that she might see the leaves. +All at once she appeared to be agitated; she looked at the basket,--then +around, as if there were some fearful presence about her which she was +searching for with her eager glances. She took out the flowers, one +by one, her breathing growing hurried, her eyes staring, her hands +trembling,--till, as she came near the bottom of the basket, she flung +out all the rest with a hasty movement, looked upon the olive-purple +leaflets as if paralyzed for a moment, shrunk up, as it were, into +herself in a curdling terror, dashed the basket from her, and fell back +senseless, with a faint cry which chilled the blood of the startled +listeners at her bedside. + +"Take it away!--take it away!--quick!" said Old Sophy, as she hastened +to her mistress's pillow. "It's the leaves of the tree that was always +death to her,--take it away! She can't live wi' it in the room!" + +The poor old woman began chafing Elsie's hands, and Helen to try to +rouse her with hartshorn, while a third frightened attendant gathered up +the flowers and the basket and carried them out of the apartment. She +came to herself after a time, but exhausted and then wandering. In her +delirium, she talked constantly as if she were in a cave, with such +exactness of circumstance that Helen could not doubt at all that she had +some such retreat among the rocks of The Mountain, probably fitted up in +her own fantastic way, where she sometimes hid herself from all human +eyes, and of the entrance to which she alone possessed the secret. + +All this passed away, and left her, of course, weaker than before. But +this was not the only influence the unexplained paroxysm had left behind +it. From this time forward there was a change in her whole expression +and her manner. The shadows ceased flitting over her features, and the +old woman, who watched her from day to day and from hour to hour as a +mother watches her child, saw the likeness she bore to her mother coming +forth more and more, as the cold glitter died out of the diamond eyes, +and the scowl disappeared from the dark brows and low forehead. + +With all the kindness and indulgence her father had bestowed upon her, +Elsie had never felt that he loved her. The reader knows well enough +what fatal recollections and associations had frozen up the springs of +natural affection in his breast. There was nothing in the world he would +not do for Elsie. He had sacrificed his whole life to her. His very +seeming carelessness about restraining her was all calculated; he knew +that restraint would produce nothing but utter alienation. Just so +far as she allowed him, he shared her studies, her few pleasures, her +thoughts; but she was essentially solitary and uncommunicative. No +person, as was said long ago, could judge him,--because his task was not +merely difficult, but simply impracticable to human powers. A nature +like Elsie's had necessarily to be studied by itself, and to be followed +in its laws where it could not be led. + +Every day, at different hours, during the whole of his daughter's +illness, Dudley Venner had sat by her, doing all he could to soothe and +please her: always the same thin film of some emotional non-conductor +between them; always that kind of habitual regard and family-interest, +mingled with the deepest pity on one side and a sort of respect on the +other, which never warmed into outward evidences of affection. + +It was after this occasion, when she had been so profoundly agitated +by a seemingly insignificant cause, that her father and Old Sophy were +sitting, one at one side of her bed and one at the other. She had fallen +into a light slumber. As they were looking at her, the same thought came +into both their minds at the same moment. Old Sophy spoke for both, as +she said, in a low voice,-- + +"It's her mother's look,--it's her mother's own face right over +again,--she never look' so before,--the Lord's hand is on her! His will +be done!" + +When Elsie woke and lifted her languid eyes upon her father's face, she +saw in it a tenderness, a depth of affection, such as she remembered +at rare moments of her childhood, when she had won him to her by some +unusual gleam of sunshine in her fitful temper. + +"Elsie, dear," he said, "we were thinking how much your expression was +sometimes like that of your sweet mother. If you could but have seen +her, so as to remember her!" + +The tender look and tone, the yearning of the daughter's heart for the +mother she had never seen, save only with the unfixed, undistinguishing +eyes of earliest infancy, perhaps the under-thought that she might soon +rejoin her in another state of being,--all came upon her with a sudden +overflow of feeling which broke through all the barriers between her +heart and her eyes, and Elsie wept. It seemed to her father as if the +malign influence,--evil spirit it might almost be called,--which had +pervaded her being, had at last been driven forth or exorcised, and that +these tears were at once the sign and the pledge of her redeemed nature. +But now she was to be soothed, and not excited. After her tears she +slept again, and the look her face wore was peaceful as never before. + +Old Sophy met the Doctor at the door and told him all the circumstances +connected with the extraordinary attack from which Elsie had suffered. +It was the purple leaves, she said. She remembered that Dick once +brought home a branch of a tree with some of the same leaves on it, and +Elsie screamed and almost fainted then. She, Sophy, had asked her, after +she had got quiet, what it was in the leaves that made her feel so bad. +Elsie couldn't tell her,--didn't like to speak about it,--shuddered +whenever Sophy mentioned it. + +This did not sound so strangely to the old Doctor as it does to some +who listen to this narrative. He had known some curious examples of +antipathies, and remembered reading of others still more singular. +He had known those who could not bear the presence of a cat, and +recollected the story, often told, of a person's hiding one in a chest +when one of these sensitive individuals came into the room, so as not to +disturb him; but he presently began to sweat and turn pale, and cried +out that there must be a cat hid somewhere. He knew people who were +poisoned by strawberries, by honey, by different meats,--many who could +not endure cheese,--some who could not bear the smell of roses. If he +had known all the stories in the old books, he would have found that +some have swooned and become as dead men at the smell of a rose,--that +a stout soldier has been known to turn and run at the sight or smell of +rue,--that cassia and even olive-oil have produced deadly faintings in +certain individuals,--in short, that almost everything has seemed to be +a poison to somebody. + +"Bring me that basket, Sophy," said the old Doctor, "if you can find +it." + +Sophy brought it to him,--for he had not yet entered Elsie's apartment. + +"These purple leaves are from the white ash," he said. "You don't know +the notion that people commonly have about that tree, Sophy?" + +"I know they say the Ugly Things never go where the white ash grows," +Sophy answered. "Oh, Doctor dear, what I'm thinkin' of a'n't true, is +it?" + +The Doctor smiled sadly, but did not answer. He went directly to Elsie's +room. Nobody would have known by his manner that he saw any special +change in his patient. He spoke with her as usual, made some slight +alteration in his prescriptions, and left the room with a kind, cheerful +look. He met her father on the stairs. + +"Is it as I thought?" said Dudley Venner. + +"There is everything to fear," the Doctor said, "and not much, I am +afraid, to hope. Does not her face recall to you one that you remember, +as never before?" + +"Yes," her father answered,--"oh, yes! What is the meaning of this +change which has come over her features, and her voice, her temper, her +whole being? Tell me, oh, tell me, what is it? Can it be that the curse +is passing away, and my daughter is to be restored to me,--such as her +mother would have had her,--such as her mother was?" + +"Walk out with me into the garden," the Doctor said, "and I will tell +you all I know and all I think about this great mystery of Elsie's +life." + +They walked out together, and the Doctor began:-- + +"She has lived a twofold being, as it were,--the consequence of the +blight which fell upon her in the dim period before consciousness. You +can see what she might have been but for this. You know that for these +eighteen years her whole existence has taken its character from that +influence which we need not name. But you will remember that few of the +lower forms of life last as human beings do; and thus it might have been +hoped and trusted with some show of reason, as I have always suspected +you hoped and trusted, perhaps more confidently than myself, that the +lower nature which had become ingrafted on the higher would die out and +leave the real woman's life she inherited to outlive this accidental +principle which had so poisoned her childhood and youth. I believe it +is so dying out; but I am afraid,--yes, I must say it, I fear it has +involved the centres of life in its own decay. There is hardly any pulse +at Elsie's wrist; no stimulants seem to rouse her; and it looks as if +life were slowly retreating inwards, so that by-and-by she will sleep as +those who lie down in the cold and never wake." + +Strange as it may seem, her father heard all this not without deep +sorrow, and such marks of it as his thoughtful and tranquil nature, long +schooled by suffering, claimed or permitted, but with a resignation +itself the measure of his past trials. Dear as his daughter might become +to him, all he dared to ask of Heaven was that she might be restored to +that truer self which lay beneath her false and adventitious being. If +he could once see that the icy lustre in her eyes had become a soft, +calm light,--that her soul was at peace with all about her and with Him +above,--this crumb from the children's table was enough for him, as it +was for the Syro-Phoenician woman who asked that the dark spirit might +go out from her daughter. + +There was little change the next day, until all at once she said in a +clear voice that she should like to see her master at the school, +Mr. Langdon. He came accordingly, and took the place of Helen at her +bedside. It seemed as if Elsie had forgotten the last scene with him. +Might it be that pride had come in, and she had sent for him only to +show how superior she had grown to the weakness which had betrayed her +into that extraordinary request, so contrary to the instincts and usages +of her sex? Or was it that the singular change which had come over her +had involved her passionate fancy for him and swept it away with her +other habits of thought and feeling? Or perhaps, rather, that she felt +that all earthly interests were becoming of little account to her, and +wished to place herself right with one to whom she had displayed a +wayward movement of her unbalanced imagination? She welcomed Mr. +Bernard as quietly as she had received Helen Darley. He colored at the +recollection of that last scene, when he came into her presence; but +she smiled with perfect tranquillity. She did not speak to him of any +apprehension; but he saw that she looked upon herself as doomed. So +friendly, yet so calm did she seem through all their interview, that Mr. +Bernard could only look back upon her manifestation of feeling towards +him on their walk from the school as a vagary of a mind laboring +under some unnatural excitement, and wholly at variance with the true +character of Elsie Venner, as he saw her before him in her subdued, +yet singular beauty. He looked with almost scientific closeness of +observation into the diamond eyes; but that peculiar light which he knew +so well was not there. She was the same in one sense as on that first +day when he had seen her coiling and uncoiling her golden chain, yet how +different in every aspect which revealed her state of mind and emotion! +Something of tenderness there was, perhaps, in her tone towards him; +she would not have sent for him, had she not felt more than an ordinary +interest in him. But through the whole of his visit she never lost her +gracious self-possession. The Dudley race might well be proud of the +last of its daughters, as she lay dying, but unconquered by the feeling +of the present or the fear of the future. + +As for Mr. Bernard, he found it very hard to look upon her and listen to +her unmoved. There was nothing that reminded him of the stormy-browed, +almost savage girl he remembered in her fierce loveliness,--nothing of +all her singularities of air and of costume. Nothing? Yes, one thing. +Weak and suffering as she was, she had never parted with one particular +ornament, such as a sick person would naturally, as it might be +supposed, get rid of at once. The golden cord which she wore round her +neck at the great party was still there. A bracelet was lying by her +pillow; she had unclasped it from her wrist. + +Before Mr. Bernard left her, she said,--"I shall never see you again. +Some time or other, perhaps, you will mention my name to one whom you +love. Give her this from your scholar and friend Elsie." + +He took the bracelet, raised her hand to his lips, then turned his face +away; in that moment he was the weaker of the two. + +"Good-bye," she said; "thank you for coming." + +His voice died away in his throat, as he tried to answer her. She +followed him with her eyes as he passed from her sight through the door, +and when it closed after him sobbed tremulously once or twice,--but +stilled herself, and met Helen, as she entered, with a composed +countenance. + +"I have had a very pleasant visit from Mr. Langdon," Elsie said. "Sit +by me, Helen, awhile without speaking; I should like to sleep, if I +can,--and to dream." + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE GOLDEN CORD IS LOOSED. + + +The Reverend Chauncy Fairweather, hearing that his parishioner's +daughter, Elsie, was very ill, could do nothing less than come to the +mansion-house and tender such consolations as he was master of. It was +rather remarkable that the old Doctor did not exactly approve of his +visit. He thought that company of every sort might be injurious in her +weak state. He was of opinion that Mr. Fairweather, though greatly +interested in religious matters, was not the most sympathetic person +that could be found; in fact, the old Doctor thought he was too much +taken up with his own interests for eternity to give himself quite so +heartily to the need of other people as some persons got up on a rather +more generous scale (our good neighbor Dr. Honeywood, for instance) +could do. However, all these things had better be arranged to suit her +wants; if she would like to talk with a clergyman, she had a great +deal better see one as often as she liked, and run the risk of the +excitement, than have a hidden wish for such a visit and perhaps find +herself too weak to see him by-and-by. + +The old Doctor knew by sad experience that dreadful mistake against +which all medical practitioners should be warned. His experience may +well be a guide for others. Do not overlook the desire for spiritual +advice and consolation which patients sometimes feel, and, with the +frightful _mauvaise honte_ peculiar to Protestantism, alone among all +human beliefs, are ashamed to tell. As a part of medical treatment, it +is the physician's business to detect the hidden longing for the food of +the soul, as much as for any form of bodily nourishment. Especially in +the higher walks of society, where this unutterably miserable false +shame of Protestantism acts in proportion to the general acuteness of +the cultivated sensibilities, let no unwillingness to suggest the sick +person's real need suffer him to languish between his want and his +morbid sensitiveness. What an infinite advantage the Mussulmans and the +Catholics have over many of our more exclusively spiritual sects in the +way they keep their religion always by them and never blush for it! And +besides this spiritual longing, we should never forget that + + "On some fond breast the parting soul relies," + +and the minister of religion, in addition to the sympathetic nature +which we have a right to demand in him, has trained himself to the art +of entering into the feelings of others. + +The reader must pardon this digression, which introduces the visit of +the Reverend Chauncy Fairweather to Elsie Venner. It was mentioned +to her that he would like to call and see how she was, and she +consented,--not with much apparent interest, for she had reasons of her +own for not feeling any very deep conviction of his sympathy for persons +in sorrow. But he came, and worked the conversation round to religion, +and confused her with his hybrid notions, half made up of what he had +been believing and teaching all his life, and half of the new doctrines +which he had veneered upon the surface of his old belief. He got so +far as to make a prayer with her,--a cool, well-guarded prayer, which +compromised his faith as little as possible, and which, if devotion were +a game played against Providence, might have been considered a cautious +and sagacious move. + +When he had gone, Elsie called Old Sophy to her. + +"Sophy," she said, "don't let them send that cold-hearted man to me any +more. If your old minister comes to see you, I should like to hear him +talk. He looks as if he cared for everybody, and would care for me. And, +Sophy, if I should die one of these days, I should like to have that old +minister come and say whatever is to be said over me. It would comfort +Dudley more, I know, than to have that hard man here, when you're in +trouble: for some of you will be sorry when I'm gone,--won't you, +Sophy?" + +The poor old black woman could not stand this question. The cold +minister had frozen Elsie until she felt as if nobody cared for her or +would regret her,--and her question had betrayed this momentary feeling. + +"Don' talk so! don' talk so, darlin'!" she cried, passionately. "When +you go, Ol' Sophy'll go; 'n' where you go, Ol' Sophy'll go: 'n' we'll +both go t' th' place where th' Lord takes care of all his children, +whether their faces are white or black. Oh, darlin', darlin'! if th' +Lord should let me die fus', you shall fin' all ready for you when you +come after me. On'y don' go 'n' leave poor Ol' Sophy all 'lone in th' +world!" + +Helen came in at this moment and quieted the old woman with a look. Such +scenes were just what were most dangerous, in the state in which Elsie +was lying: but that is one of the ways in which an affectionate friend +sometimes unconsciously wears out the life which a hired nurse, thinking +of nothing but her regular duties and her wages, would have spared from +all emotional fatigue. + +The change which had come over Elsie's disposition was itself the cause +of new excitements. How was it possible that her father could keep away +from her, now that she was coming back to the nature and the very look +of her mother, the bride of his youth? How was it possible to refuse +her, when she said to Old Sophy that she should like to have her +minister come in and sit by her, even though his presence might perhaps +prove a new source of excitement? + +But the Reverend Doctor did come and sit by her, and spoke such soothing +words to her, words of such peace and consolation, that from that hour +she was tranquil as never before. All true hearts are alike in the +hour of need; the Catholic has a reserved fund of faith for his +fellow-creature's trying moment, and the Calvinist reread those springs +of human brotherhood and chanty in his soul which are only covered over +by the iron tables inscribed with the harder dogmas of his creed. It was +enough that the Reverend Doctor knew all Elsie's history. He could not +judge her by any formula, like those which have been moulded by past +ages out of their ignorance. He did not talk with her as if she were an +outside sinner, worse than himself. He found a bruised and languishing +soul, and bound up its wounds. A blessed office,--one which is confined +to no sect or creed, but which good men in all times, under various +names and with varying ministries, to suit the need of each age, of each +race, of each individual soul, have come forward to discharge for their +suffering fellow-creatures. + +After this there was little change in Elsie, except that her heart beat +more feebly every day,--so that the old Doctor himself, with all his +experience, could see nothing to account for the gradual failing of the +powers of life, and yet could find no remedy which seemed to arrest its +progress in the smallest degree. + +"Be very careful," he said, "that she is not allowed to make any +muscular exertion. Any such effort, when a person is so enfeebled, may +stop the heart in a moment; and if it stops, it will never move again." + +Helen enforced this rule with the greatest care. Elsie was hardly +allowed to move her hand or to speak above a whisper. It seemed to be +mainly the question now, whether this trembling flame of life would be +blown out by some light breath of air, or whether it could be so nursed +and sheltered by the hollow of these watchful hands that it would have a +chance to kindle to its natural brightness. + +--Her father came in to sit with her in the evening. He had never talked +so freely with her as during the hour he had passed at her bedside, +telling her little circumstances of her mother's life, living over with +her all that was pleasant in the past, and trying to encourage her with +some cheerful gleams of hope for the future. A faint smile played over +her face, but she did not answer his encouraging suggestions. The hour +came for him to leave her with those who watched by her. + +"Good-night, my dear child," he said, and, stooping down, kissed her +cheek. + +Elsie rose by a sudden effort, threw her arms round his neck, kissed +him, and said, "Good-night, my dear father!" + +The suddenness of her movement had taken him by surprise, or he would +have checked so dangerous an effort. It was too late now. Her arms +slid away from him like lifeless weights,--her head fell back upon her +pillow,--a long sigh breathed through her lips. + +"She is faint," said Helen, doubtfully; "bring me the hartshorn, Sophy." + +The old woman had started from her place, and was now leaning over her, +looking in her face, and listening for the sound of her breathing. + +"She's dead! Elsie's dead! My darlin' 's dead!" she cried aloud, filling +the room with her utterance of anguish. + +Dudley Venner drew her away and silenced her with a voice of authority, +while Helen and an assistant plied their restoratives. It was all in +vain. + +The solemn tidings passed from the chamber of death through the family. +The daughter, the hope of that old and honored house, was dead in the +freshness of her youth, and the home of its solitary representative was +hereafter doubly desolate. + +A messenger rode hastily out of the avenue. A little after this the +people of the village and the outlying farm-houses were startled by the +sound of a bell. + +One,--two,--three,--four,-- + +They stopped in every house, as far as the wavering vibrations reached, +and listened-- + +--five,--six,--seven,-- + +It was not the little child which had been lying so long at the point of +death; that could not be more than three or four years old-- + +--eight,--nine,--ten,--and so on to +fifteen,--sixteen,--seventeen,--eighteen---- + +The pulsations seemed to keep on,--but it was the brain, and not the +bell, that was throbbing now. + +"Elsie's dead!" was the exclamation at a hundred firesides. + +"Eighteen year old," said old Widow Peake, rising from her chair. +"Eighteen year ago I laid two gold eagles on her mother's eyes,--he +wouldn't have anything but gold touch her eyelids,--and now Elsie's to +be straightened,--the Lord have mercy on her poor sinful soul!" + +Dudley Venner prayed that night that he might be forgiven, if he had +failed in any act of duty or kindness to this unfortunate child of his, +now freed from all the woes born with her and so long poisoning her +soul. He thanked God for the brief interval of peace which had been +granted her, for the sweet communion they had enjoyed in these last +days, and for the hope of meeting her with that other lost friend in a +better world. + +Helen mingled a few broken thanks and petitions with her tears: thanks +that she had been permitted to share the last days and hours of this +poor sister in sorrow; petitions that the grief of bereavement might be +lightened to the lonely parent and the faithful old servant. + +Old Sophy said almost nothing, but sat day and night by her dead +darling. But sometimes her anguish would find an outlet in strange +sounds, something between a cry and a musical note,--such as none had +ever heard her utter before. These were old remembrances surging up from +her childish days,--coming through her mother from the cannibal chief, +her grandfather,--death-wails, such as they sing in the mountains of +Western Africa, when they see the fires on distant hill-sides and know +that their own wives and children are undergoing the fate of captives. + +The time came when Elsie was to be laid by her mother in the small +square marked by the white stone. + +It was not unwillingly that the Reverend Chauncy Fairweather had +relinquished the duty of conducting the service to the Reverend Doctor +Honeywood, in accordance with Elsie's request. He could not, by any +reasoning, reconcile his present way of thinking with a hope for the +future of his unfortunate parishioner. Any good old Roman Catholic +priest, born and bred to his faith and his business, would have found a +loop-hole into some kind of heaven for her, by virtue of his doctrine of +"invincible ignorance," or other special proviso; but a recent convert +cannot enter into the working conditions of his new creed. Beliefs must +be lived in for a good while, before they accommodate themselves to the +soul's wants, and wear loose enough to be comfortable. + +The Reverend Doctor had no such scruples. Like thousands of those who +are classed nominally with the despairing believers, he had never prayed +over a departed brother or sister without feeling and expressing a +guarded hope that there was mercy in store for the poor sinner, whom +parents, wives, children, brothers and sisters could not bear to give up +to utter ruin without a word,--and would not, as he knew full well, +in virtue of that human love and sympathy which nothing can ever +extinguish. And in this poor Elsie's history he could read nothing +which the tears of the recording angel might not wash away. As the good +physician of the place knew the diseases that assailed the bodies of men +and women, so he had learned the mysteries of the sickness of the soul. + +So many wished to look upon Elsie's face once more, that her father +would not deny them; nay, he was pleased that those who remembered her +living should see her in the still beauty of death. Helen and those with +her arrayed her for this farewell-view. All was ready for the sad or +curious eyes which were to look upon her. There was no painful change to +be concealed by any artifice. Even her round neck was left uncovered, +that she might be more like one who slept. Only the golden cord was left +in its place: some searching eye might detect a trace of that birth-mark +which it was whispered she had always worn a necklace to conceal. + +At the last moment, when all the preparations were completed, Old Sophy +stooped over her, and, with trembling hand, loosed the golden cord. She +looked intently, for some little space: there was no shade nor blemish +where the ring of gold had encircled her throat. She took it gently away +and laid it in the casket which held her ornaments. + +"The Lord be praised!" the old woman cried, aloud. "He has taken away +the mark that was on her; she's fit to meet his holy angels now!" + +So Elsie lay for hours in the great room, in a kind of state, with +flowers all about her,--her black hair braided, as in life,--her +brows smooth, as if they had never known the scowl of passion,--and +on her lips the faint smile with which she had uttered her last +"Good-night." The young girls from the school looked at her, one after +another, and passed on, sobbing, carrying in their hearts the picture +that would be with them all their days. The great people of the place +were all there with their silent sympathy. The lesser kind of gentry, +and many of the plainer folk of the village, half-pleased to find +themselves passing beneath the stately portico of the ancient +mansion-house, crowded in, until the ample rooms were overflowing. All +the friends whose acquaintance we have made were there, and many from +remoter villages and towns. + +There was a deep silence at last. The hour had come for the parting +words to be spoken over the dead. The good old minister's voice rose out +of the stillness, subdued and tremulous at first, but growing firmer and +clearer as he went on, until it reached the ears of the visitors who +were in the far, desolate chambers, looking at the pictured hangings and +the old dusty portraits. He did not tell her story in his prayer. He +only spoke of our dear departed sister as one of many whom Providence in +its wisdom has seen fit to bring under bondage from their cradles. It +was not for us to judge them by any standard of our own. He who made the +heart alone knew the infirmities it inherited or acquired. For all that +our dear sister had presented that was interesting and attractive in her +character we were to be grateful; for whatever was dark or inexplicable +we must trust that the deep shadow which rested on the twilight dawn of +her being might render a reason before the bar of Omniscience; for the +grace which had lightened her last days we should pour out our hearts in +thankful acknowledgment. From the life and the death of this our dear +sister we should learn a lesson of patience with our fellow-creatures in +their inborn peculiarities, of charity in judging what seem to us wilful +faults of character, of hope and trust, that, by sickness or affliction, +or such inevitable discipline as life must always bring with it, if by +no gentler means, the soul which had been left by Nature to wander into +the path of error and of suffering might be reclaimed and restored to +its true aim, and so led on by divine grace to its eternal welfare. He +closed his prayer by commending each member of the afflicted family to +the divine blessing. + +Then all at once rose the clear sound of the girls' voices, in the +sweet, sad melody of a funeral hymn,--one of those which Elsie had +marked, as if prophetically, among her own favorites. + +And so they laid her in the earth, and showered down flowers upon her, +and filled her grave, and covered it with green sods. By the side of it +was another oblong ridge, with a white stone standing at its head. Mr. +Bernard looked upon it, as he came close to the place where Elsie was +laid, and read the inscription,-- + + CATALINA + + WIFE TO DUDLEY VENNER + + DIED + + OCTOBER 13TH 1840 + + AGED XX YEARS. + +A gentle rain fell on the turf after it was laid. This was the beginning +of a long and dreary autumnal storm, a deferred "equinoctial," as many +considered it. The mountain-streams were all swollen and turbulent, and +the steep declivities were furrowed in every direction by new channels. +It made the house seem doubly desolate to hear the wind howling and the +rain beating upon the roofs. The poor relation who was staying at the +house would insist on Helen's remaining a few days: Old Sophy was in +such a condition, that it kept her in continual anxiety and there were +many cares which Helen could take off from her. + +The old black woman's life was buried in her darling's grave. She did +nothing but moan and lament for her. At night she was restless, and +would get up and wander to Elsie's apartment and look for her and call +her by name. At other times she would lie awake and listen to the wind +and the rain,--sometimes with such a wild look upon her face, and with +such sudden starts and exclamations, that it seemed, as if she heard +spirit-voices and were answering the whispers of unseen visitants. With +all this were mingled hints of her old superstition,--forebodings of +something fearful about to happen,--perhaps the great final catastrophe +of all things, according to the prediction current in the kitchens of +Rockland. + +"Hark!" Old Sophy would say,--"don' you hear th' crackin' 'n' th' +snappin' up in 'Th' Mountain, 'n' th' rollin' o' th' big stones? The' 's +somethin' stirrin' among th' rocks; I hear th' soun' of it in th' night, +when th' wind has stopped blowin'. Oh, stay by me a little while, Miss +Darlin'! stay by me! for it's th' Las' Day, may be, that's close on us, +'n' I feel as if I couldn' meet th' Lord all alone!" + +It was curious,--but Helen did certainly recognize sounds, during the +lull of the storm, which were not of falling rain or running streams, +--short snapping sounds, as of tense cords breaking,--long uneven +sounds, as of masses rolling down steep declivities. But the morning +came as usual; and as the others said nothing of these singular noises, +Helen did not think it necessary to speak of them. All day long she +and the humble relative of Elsie's mother, who had appeared, as poor +relations are wont to in the great crises of life, were busy in +arranging the disordered house, and looking over the various objects +which Elsie's singular tastes had brought together, to dispose of them +as her father might direct. They all met together at the usual hour for +tea. One of the servants came in, looking very blank, and said to the +poor relation,-- + +"The well is gone dry; we have nothing but rain-water." + +Dudley Venner's countenance changed; he sprang to his feet and went to +assure himself of the fact, and, if he could, of the reason of it. For +a well to dry up during such a rain-storm was extraordinary,--it was +ominous. + +He came back, looking very anxious. + +"Did any of you notice any remarkable sounds last night," he said,-- +"or this morning? Hark! do you hear anything now?" + +They listened in perfect silence for a few moments. Then there came a +short cracking sound, and two or three snaps, as of parting cords. + +Dudley Venner called all his household together. + +"We are in danger here, as I think, to-night," he said,--"not very +great danger, perhaps, but it is a risk I do not wish you to run. These +heavy rains have loosed some of the rocks above, and they may come down +and endanger the house. Harness the horses, Elbridge, and take all the +family away. Miss Darley will go to the Institute; the others will pass +the night at the Mountain House. I shall stay here, myself: it is not +at all likely that anything will come of these warnings; but if there +should, I choose to be here and take my chance." + +It needs little, generally, to frighten servants, and they were all +ready enough to go. The poor relation was one of the timid sort, and was +terribly uneasy to be got out of the house. This left no alternative, of +course, for Helen, but to go also. They all urged upon Dudley Venner to +go with them: if there was danger, why should he remain to risk it, when +he sent away the others? + +Old Sophy said nothing until the time came for her to go with the second +of Elbridge's carriage-loads. + +"Come, Sophy," said Dudley Venner, "get your things and go. They will +take good care of you at the Mountain House; and when we have made sure +that there is no real danger, you shall come back at once." + +"No, Massa!" Sophy answered. "I've seen Elsie into th' ground, 'n' I +a'n't goin' away to come back 'n' fin' Massa Venner buried under th' +rocks. My darlin' 's gone; 'n' now, if Massa goes, 'n' th' ol' place +goes, it's time for Ol' Sophy to go, too. No, Massa Venner, we'll both +stay in th' ol' mansion 'n' wait for th' Lord!" + +Nothing could change the old woman's determination; and her master, who +only feared, but did not really expect the long-deferred catastrophe, +was obliged to consent to her staying. The sudden drying of the well at +such a time was the most alarming sign; for he remembered that the same +thing had been observed just before great mountain-slides. This long +rain, too, was just the kind of cause which was likely to loosen the +strata of rock piled up in the ledges; if the dreaded event should ever +come to pass, it would be at such a time. + +He paced his chamber uneasily until long past midnight. If the morning +came without accident, he meant to have a careful examination made of +all the rents and fissures above, of their direction and extent, and +especially whether, in case of a mountain-slide, the huge masses would +be like to reach so far to the east and so low down the declivity as the +mansion. + +At two o'clock in the morning he was dozing in his chair. Old Sophy had +lain down on her bed, and was muttering in troubled dreams. + +All at once a loud crash seemed to rend the very heavens above them: a +crack as of the thunder that follows close upon the bolt,--a rending and +crushing as of a forest snapped through all its stems, torn, twisted, +splintered, dragged with all its ragged boughs into one chaotic ruin. +The ground trembled under them as in an earthquake; the old mansion +shuddered so that all its windows chattered in their casements; the +great chimney shook off its heavy cap-stones, which came down on the +roof with resounding concussions; and the echoes of The Mountain roared +and bellowed in long reduplication, as if its whole foundations were +rent, and this were the terrible voice of its dissolution. + +Dudley Venner rose from his chair, folded his arms, and awaited his +fate. There was no knowing where to look for safety; and he remembered +too well the story of the family that was lost by rushing out of the +house, and so hurrying into the very jaws of death. + +He had stood thus but for a moment, when he heard the voice of Old Sophy +in a wild cry of terror:-- + +"It's the Las' Day! It's the Las' Day! The Lord is comin' to take us +all!" + +"Sophy!" he called; but she did not hear him or heed him, and rushed out +of the house. + +The worst danger was over. If they were to be destroyed, it would +necessarily be in a few seconds from the first thrill of the terrible +convulsion. He waited in awful suspense, but calm. Not more than one or +two minutes could have passed before the frightful tumult and all its +sounding echoes had ceased. He called Old Sophy; but she did not answer. +He went to the western window and looked forth into the darkness. He +could not distinguish the outlines of the landscape, but the white stone +was clearly visible, and by its side the new-made mound. Nay, what was +that which obscured its outline, in shape like a human figure? He flung +open the window and sprang through. It was all that there was left of +poor Old Sophy, stretched out, lifeless, upon her darling's grave. + +He had scarcely composed her limbs and drawn the sheet over her, when +the neighbors began to arrive from all directions. Each was expecting to +hear of houses overwhelmed and families destroyed; but each came with +the story that his own household was safe. It was not until the morning +dawned that the true nature and extent of the sudden movement was +ascertained. A great seam had opened above the long cliff, and the +terrible Rattlesnake Ledge, with all its envenomed reptiles, its +dark fissures and black caverns, was buried forever beneath a mighty +incumbent mass of ruin. + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +MR. SILAS PECKHAM RENDERS HIS ACCOUNT. + + +The morning rose clear and bright. The long storm was over, and the calm +autumnal sunshine was now to return, with all its infinite repose and +sweetness. With the earliest dawn exploring parties were out in every +direction along the southern slope of The Mountain, tracing the ravages +of the great slide and the track it had followed. It proved to be not so +much a slide as the breaking off and falling of a vast line of cliff, +including the dreaded Ledge. It had folded over like the leaves of a +half-opened book when they close, crushing the trees below, piling its +ruins in a glacis at the foot of what had been the overhanging wall of +the cliff, and filling up that deep cavity above the mansion-house which +bore the ill-omened name of Dead Man's Hollow. This it was which had +saved the Dudley mansion. The falling masses, or huge fragments +breaking off from them, would have swept the house and all around it to +destruction but for this deep shelving dell, into which the stream of +ruin was happily directed. It was, indeed, one of Nature's conservative +revolutions; for the fallen masses made a kind of shelf, which +interposed a level break between the inclined planes above and below it, +so that the nightmare-fancies of the dwellers in the Dudley mansion, and +in many other residences under the shadow of The Mountain, need not keep +them lying awake hereafter to listen for the snapping of roots and the +splitting of the rocks above them. + +Twenty-four hours after the falling of the cliff, it seemed as if it had +happened ages ago. The new fact had fitted itself in with all the old +predictions, forebodings, fears, and acquired the solidarity belonging +to all events which have slipped out of the fingers of Time and +dissolved in the antecedent eternity. + +Old Sophy was lying dead in the Dudley mansion. If there were tears shed +for her, they could not be bitter ones; for she had lived out her full +measure of days, and gone--who could help fondly believing it?--to +rejoin her beloved mistress. They made a place for her at the foot of +the two mounds. It was thus she would have chosen to sleep, and not to +have wronged her humble devotion in life by asking to lie at the side of +those whom she had served so long and faithfully. There were very few +present at the simple ceremony. Helen Darley was one of these few. The +old black woman had been her companion in all the kind offices of which +she had been the ministering angel to Elsie. + +After it was all over, Helen was leaving with the rest, when Dudley +Venner begged her to stay a little, and he would send her back: it was +a long walk; besides, he wished to say some things to her, which he had +not had the opportunity of speaking. Of course Helen could not refuse +him; there must be many thoughts coming into his mind which he would +wish to share with her who had known his daughter so long and been with +her in her last days. + +She returned into the great parlor with the wrought cornices and the +medallion-portraits on the ceiling. + +"I am now alone in the world," Dudley Venner said. + +Helen must have known that before he spoke. But the tone in which he +said it had so much meaning, that she could not find a word to answer +him with. They sat in silence, which the old tall clock counted out in +long seconds; but it was a silence which meant more than any words they +had ever spoken. + +"Alone in the world! Helen, the freshness of my life is gone, and there +is little left of the few graces which in my younger days might have +fitted me to win the love of women. Listen to me,--kindly, if you can; +forgive me, at least. Half my life has been passed in constant fear and +anguish, without any near friend to share my trials. My task is done +now; my fears have ceased to prey upon me; the sharpness of early +sorrows has yielded something of its edge to time. You have bound me to +you by gratitude in the tender care you have taken of my poor child. +More than this. I must tell you all now, out of the depth of this +trouble through which I am passing. I have loved you from the moment +we first met; and if my life has anything left worth accepting, it is +yours. Will you take the offered gift?" + +Helen looked in his face, surprised, bewildered. + +"This is not for me,--not for me," she said. "I am but a poor faded +flower, not worth the gathering of such a one as you. No, no,--I have +been bred to humble toil all my days, and I could not be to you what +you ought to ask. I am accustomed to a kind of loneliness and +self-dependence. I have seen nothing, almost, of the world, such as you +were born to move in. Leave me to my obscure place and duties; I shall +at least have peace;--and you--you will surely find in due time some one +better fitted by Nature and training to make you happy." + +"No, Miss Darley!" Dudley Venner said, almost sternly. "You must not +speak to a man who has lived through my experiences of looking about for +a new choice after his heart has once chosen. Say that you can never +love me; say that I have lived too long to share your young life; say +that sorrow has left nothing in me for Love to find his pleasure in; but +do not mock me with the hope of a new affection for some unknown object. +The first look of yours brought me to your side. The first tone of your +voice sunk into my heart. From this moment my life must wither out or +bloom anew. My home is desolate. Come under my roof and make it bright +once more,--share my life with me,--or I shall give the halls of the old +mansion to the bats and the owls, and wander forth alone without a hope +or a friend!" + +To find herself with a man's future at the disposal of a single word of +hers!--a man like this, too, with a fascination for her against which +she had tried to shut her heart, feeling that he lived in another sphere +than hers, working as she was for her bread, a poor operative in the +factory of a hard master and jealous overseer, the salaried drudge of +Mr. Silas Peckham! Why, she had thought he was grateful to her as a +friend of his daughter; she had even pleased herself with the feeling +that he liked her, in her humble place, as a woman of some cultivation +and many sympathetic! points of relation with himself; but that he +_loved_ her,--that this deep, fine nature, in a man so far removed from +her in outward circumstance, should have found its counterpart in one +whom life had treated so coldly as herself,--that Dudley Venner should +stake his happiness on a breath of hers,--poor Helen Darley's,--it was +all a surprise, a confusion, a kind of fear not wholly fearful. Ah, me! +women know what it is,--that mist over the eyes, that trembling in the +limbs, that faltering of the voice, that sweet, shame-faced, unspoken +confession of weakness which does not wish to be strong, that sudden +overflow in the soul where thoughts loose their hold on each other and +swim single and helpless in the flood of emotion,--women know what it +is! + +No doubt she was a little frightened and a good deal bewildered, and +that her sympathies were warmly excited for a friend to whom she had +been brought so near, and whose loneliness she saw and pitied. She lost +that calm self-possession she had hoped to maintain. + +"If I thought that I could make you happy,--if I should speak from my +heart, and not my reason,--I am but a weak woman,--yet if I can be to +you--What can I say?" + +What more could this poor, dear Helen say? + + * * * * * + +"Elbridge, harness the horses and take Miss Darley back to the school." + +What conversation had taken place since Helen's rhetorical failure is +not recorded in the minutes from which this narrative is constructed. +But when the man who had been summoned had gone to get the carriage +ready, Helen resumed something she had been speaking of. + +"Not for the world! Everything must go on just as it has gone on, for +the present. There are proprieties to be consulted. I cannot be +hard with you, that out of your very affliction has sprung +this--this--well--you must name it for me,--but the world will never +listen to explanations. I am to be Helen Darley, lady assistant in Mr. +Silas Peckham's school, as long as I see fit to hold my office. And I +mean to attend to my scholars just as before; so that I shall have very +little time for visiting or seeing company. I believe, though, you are +one of the Trustees and a Member of the Examining Committee; so that, if +you should happen to visit the school, I shall try to be civil to you." + +Every lady sees, of course, that Helen was quite right; but perhaps here +and there one will think that Dudley Venner was all wrong,--that he was +too hasty,--that he should have been too full of his recent grief for +such a confession as he has just made, and the passion from which it +sprung. Perhaps they do not understand the sudden recoil of a strong +nature long compressed. Perhaps they have not studied the mystery of +_allotropism_ in the emotions of the human heart. Go to the nearest +chemist and ask him to show you some of the dark-red phosphorus which +will not burn, without fierce heating, but at 500 deg., Fahrenheit, changes +back again to the inflammable substance we know so well. Grief seems +more like ashes than like fire; but as grief has been love once, so it +may become love again. This is emotional allotropism. + +Helen rode back to the Institute and inquired for Mr. Peckham. She had +not seen him during the brief interval between her departure from the +mansion-house and her return to Old Sophy's funeral. There were various +questions about the school she wished to ask. + +"Oh, how's your haaelth, Miss Darley?" Silas began. "We've missed you +consid'able. Glad to see you back at the post of dooty. Hope the Squire +treated you hahnsomely,--liberal pecooniary compensation,--hey? A'n't +much of a loser, I guess, by acceptin' his propositions?" + +Helen blushed at this last question, as if Silas had meant something by +it beyond asking what money she had received; but his own double-meaning +expression and her blush were too nice points for him to have taken +cognizance of. He was engaged in a mental calculation as to the amount +of the deduction he should make under the head of "damage to the +institootion,"--this depending somewhat on that of the "pecooniary +compensation" she might have received for her services as the friend of +Elsie Venner. + +So Helen slid back at once into her routine, the same faithful, patient +creature she had always been. But what was this new light which seemed +to have kindled in her eyes? What was this look of peace, which nothing +could disturb, which smiled serenely through all the little meannesses +with which the daily life of the educational factory surrounded +her,--which not only made her seem resigned, but overflowed all her +features with a thoughtful, subdued happiness? Mr. Bernard did not +know,--perhaps he did not guess. The inmates of the Dudley mansion were +not scandalized by any mysterious visits of a veiled or unveiled lady. +The vibrating tongues of the "female youth" of the Institute were not +set in motion by the standing of an equipage at the gate, waiting for +their lady teacher. The servants at the mansion did not convey numerous +letters with superscriptions in a bold, manly hand, sealed with the arms +of a well-known house, and directed to Miss Helen Darley; nor, on the +other hand, did Hiram, the man from the lean streak in New Hampshire, +carry sweet-smelling, rose-hued, many-layered, criss-crossed, +fine-stitch-lettered packages of note-paper directed to Dudley Venner, +Esq., and all too scanty to hold that incredible expansion of the famous +three words which a woman was born to say,--that perpetual miracle which +astonishes all the go-betweens who wear their shoes out in carrying a +woman's infinite variations on the theme, "I love you." + +But the reader must remember that there are walks in country-towns where +people are liable to meet by accident, and that the hollow of an old +tree has served the purpose of a post-office sometimes; so that he has +her choice (to divide the pronouns impartially) of various hypotheses to +account for the new glory of happiness which seemed to have irradiated +our poor Helen's features, as if her dreary life were awakening in the +dawn of a blessed future. + +With all the alleviations which have been hinted at, Mr. Dudley Venner +thought that the days and the weeks had never moved so slowly as through +the last period of the autumn that was passing. Elsie had been a +perpetual source of anxiety to him, but still she had been a companion. +He could not mourn for her; for he felt that she was safer with her +mother, in that world where there are no more sorrows and dangers, than +she could have been with him. But as he sat at his window and looked at +the three mounds, the loneliness of the great house made it seem more +like the sepulchre than these narrow dwellings where his beloved and her +daughter lay close to each other, side by side,--Catalina, the bride +of his youth, and Elsie, the child whom he had nurtured, with poor Old +Sophy, who had followed them like a black shadow, at their feet, under +the same soft turf, sprinkled with the brown autumnal leaves. It was not +good for him to be thus alone. How should he ever live through the long +months of November and December? + +The months of November and December did, in some way or other, get +rid of themselves at last, bringing with them the usual events of +village-life and a few unusual ones. Some of the geologists had been up +to look at the great slide, of which they gave those prolix accounts +which everybody remembers who read the scientific journals of the time. +The engineers reported that there was little probability of any further +convulsion along the line of rocks which overhung the more thickly +settled part of the town. The naturalists drew up a paper on the +"Probable Extinction of the _Crotalus Durissus_ in the Township of +Rockland." The engagement of the Widow Rowens to a Little Millionville +merchant was announced,--"Sudding 'n' onexpected," Widow Leech +said,--"waaelthy, or she wouldn't ha' looked at him,--fifty year old, if +he is a day, _'n' ha'n't got a white hair in his head."_ The Reverend +Chauncy Fairweather had publicly announced that he was going to join the +Roman Catholic communion,--not so much to the surprise or consternation +of the religious world as he had supposed. Several old ladies forthwith +proclaimed their intention of following him; but, as one or two of them +were deaf, and another had been threatened with an attack of that mild, +but obstinate complaint, _dementia senilis_, many thought it was not so +much the force of his arguments as a kind of tendency to jump as the +bellwether jumps, well known in flocks not included in the Christian +fold. His bereaved congregation immediately began pulling candidates on +and off, like new boots, on trial. Some pinched in tender places; some +were too loose; some were too square-toed; some were too coarse, and +didn't please; some were too thin, and wouldn't last;--in short, they +couldn't possibly find a fit. At last people began to drop in to hear +old Doctor Honeywood. They were quite surprised to find what a human old +gentleman he was, and went back and told the others, that, instead of +being a case of confluent sectarianism, as they supposed, the good old +minister had been so well vaccinated with charitable virus that he was +now a true, open-souled Christian of the mildest type. The end of all +which was, that the liberal people went over to the old minister almost +in a body, just at the time that Deacon Shearer and the "Vinegar-Bible" +party split off, and that not long afterwards they sold their own +meeting-house to the malecontents, so that Deacon Soper used often to +remind Colonel Sprowle of his wish that "our little man and him [the +Reverend Doctor] would swop pulpits," and tell him it had "pooty nigh +come trew."--But this is anticipating the course of events, which were +much longer in coming about; for we have but just got through that +terribly long month, as Mr. Dudley Venner found it, of December. + +On the first of January, Mr. Silas Peckham was in the habit of settling +his quarterly accounts, and making such new arrangements as his +convenience or interest dictated. New-Year was a holiday at the +Institute. No doubt this accounted for Helen's being dressed so +charmingly,--always, to be sure, in her own simple way, but yet with +such a true lady's air that she looked fit to be the mistress of any +mansion in the land. + +She was in the parlor alone, a little before noon, when Mr. Peckham came +in. + +"I'm ready to settle my account with you now, Miss Darley," said Silas. + +"As you please, Mr. Peckham," Helen answered, very graciously. + +"Before payin' you your selary," the Principal continued, "I wish to +come to an understandin' as to the futur'. I consider that I've been +payin' high, very high, for the work you do. Women's wages can't be +expected to do more than feed and clothe 'em, as a gineral thing, with +a little savin', in case of sickness, and to bury 'em, if they +break daown, as all of 'em are liable to do at any time. If I a'n't +misinformed, you not only support yourself out of my establishment, but +likewise relatives of yours, who I don't know that I'm called upon to +feed and clothe. There is a young woman, not burdened with destitoot +relatives, has signified that she would be glad to take your dooties for +less pecooniary compensation, by a consid'able amaount, than you now +receive. I shall be willin', however, to retain your services at sech +redooced rate as we shall fix upon,--provided sech redooced rate be as +low or lower than the same services can be obtained elsewhere." + +"As you please, Mr. Peckham," Helen answered, with a smile so sweet that +the Principal (who of course had trumped up this opposition-teacher for +the occasion) said to himself she would stand being cut down a quarter, +perhaps a half, of her salary. + +"Here is your accaount, Miss Darley, and the balance doo you," +said Silas Peckham, handing her a paper and a small roll of +infectious-flavored bills wrapping six poisonous coppers of the old +coinage. + +She took the paper and began looking at it. She could not quite make up +her mind to touch the feverish bills with the cankering copper in them, +and left them airing themselves on the table. + +The document she held ran as follows: + + _Silas Peckham, Esq., Principal of the Apollinean Institute, + In Account with Helen Darley, Assist. Teacher._ + + _Dr._ + To Salary for quarter ending Jan. 1st, + @ $75 per quarter . . . . . . $75.00 + + ______ + $75.00 + + _Cr._ + By Deduction for absence, 1 week 8 + days . . . . . . . . . . $10.00 + " Board, lodging, etc., for 10 days, + @ 75 cts. per day . . . . . . 7.50 + " Damage to Institution by absence + of teacher from duties, say . . . 25.00 + " Stationery furnished . . . . . 43 + " Postage-stamp . . . . . . . 01 + " Balance due Helen Darley . . $32.06 + ______ + $75.00 + + ROCKLAND, Jan. 1st, 1859. + +Now Helen had her own private reasons for wishing to receive the +small sum which was due her at this time without any unfair +deduction,--reasons which we need not inquire into too particularly, +as we may be very sure that they were right and womanly. So, when she +looked over this account of Mr. Silas Peckham's, and saw that he had +contrived to pare down her salary to something less than half its +stipulated amount, the look which her countenance wore was as near to +that of righteous indignation as her gentle features and soft blue eyes +would admit of its being. + +"Why, Mr. Peckham," she said, "do you mean this? If I am of so much +value to you that you must take off twenty-five dollars for ten days' +absence, how is it that my salary is to be cut down to less than +seventy-five dollars a quarter, if I remain here?" + +"I gave you fair notice," said Silas. "I have a minute of it I took down +immed'ately after the intervoo." + +He lugged out his large pocket-book with the strap going all round it, +and took from it a slip of paper which confirmed his statement. + +"Besides," he added, slyly, "I presoom you have received a liberal +pecooniary compensation from Squire Venner for nussin' his daughter." + +Helen was looking over the bill while he was speaking. + +"Board and lodging for ten days, Mr. Peckham,--_whose_ board and +lodging, pray?" + +The door opened before Silas Peckham could answer, and Mr. Bernard +walked into the parlor. Helen was holding the bill in her hand, looking +as any woman ought to look who has been at once wronged and insulted. + +"The last turn of the thumbscrew!" said Mr. Bernard to himself. "What is +it, Helen? You look troubled." + +She handed him the account. + +He looked at the footing of it. Then he looked at the items. Then he +looked at Silas Peckham. + +At this moment Silas was sublime. He was so transcendency unconscious of +the emotions going on in Mr. Bernard's mind at the moment, that he had +only a single thought. + +"The accaount's correc'ly cast, I presoom;--if the' 's any mistake +of figgers or addin' 'em up, it'll be made all right. Everything's +accordin' to agreement. The minute written immed'ately after the +intervoo is here in my possession." + +Mr. Bernard looked at Helen. Just what would have happened to Silas +Peckham, as he stood then and there, but for the interposition of a +merciful Providence, nobody knows or ever will know; for at that moment +steps were heard upon the stairs, and Hiram threw open the parlor-door +for Mr. Dudley Venner to enter. + +He saluted them all gracefully with the good-wishes of the season, and +each of them returned his compliment,--Helen blushing fearfully, of +course, but not particularly noticed in her embarrassment by more than +one. + +Silas Peckham reckoned with perfect confidence on his Trustees, who had +always said what he told them to, and done what he wanted. It was a good +chance now to show off his power, and, by letting his instructors know +the unstable tenure of their offices, make it easier to settle his +accounts and arrange his salaries. There was nothing very strange in Mr. +Venner's calling; he was one of the Trustees, and this was New Year's +Day. But he had called just at the lucky moment for Mr. Peckham's +object. + +"I have thought some of makin' changes in the department of +instruction," he began. "Several accomplished teachers have applied to +me, who would be glad of sitooations. I understand that there never have +been so many fust-rate teachers, male and female, out of employment as +doorin' the present season. If I can make sahtisfahctory arrangements +with my present corpse of teachers, I shall be glad to do so; otherwise +I shell, with the permission of the Trustees, make sech noo arrangements +as circumstahnces compel." + +"You may make arrangements for a new assistant in my department, Mr. +Peckham," said Mr. Bernard, "at once,--this day,--this hour. I am not +safe to be trusted with your person five minutes out of this lady's +presence,--of whom I beg pardon for this strong language. Mr. Venner, I +must beg you, as one of the Trustees of this Institution, to look at the +manner in which its Principal has attempted to swindle this faithful +teacher, whose toils and sacrifices and self-devotion to the school +have made it all that it is, in spite of this miserable trader's +incompetence. Will you look at the paper I hold?" + +Dudley Venner took the account and read it through, without changing a +feature. Then he turned to Silas Peckham. + +"You may make arrangements for a new assistant in the branches this lady +has taught. Miss Helen Darley is to be my wife. I had hoped to announce +this news in a less abrupt and ungraceful manner. But I came to tell +you with my own lips what you would have learned before evening from my +friends in the village." + +Mr. Bernard went to Helen, who stood silent, with downcast eyes, and +took her hand warmly, hoping she might find all the happiness she +deserved. Then he turned to Dudley Venner, and said,-- + +"She is a queen, but has never found it out. The world has nothing +nobler than this dear woman, whom you have discovered in the disguise of +a teacher. God bless her and you!" + +Dudley Venner returned his friendly grasp, without answering a word in +articulate speech. + +Silas remained dumb and aghast for a brief space. Coming to himself +a little, he thought there might have been some mistake about the +items,--would like to have Miss Darley's bill returned,--would make it +all right,--had no idee that Squire Venner had a special int'rest in +Miss Darley,--was sorry he had given offence,--if he might take that +bill and look it over-- + +"No, Mr. Peckham," said Mr. Dudley Venner; "there will be a full meeting +of the Board next week, and the bill, and such evidence with reference +to the management of the Institution and the treatment of its +instructors as Mr. Langdon sees fit to bring forward, will be laid +before them." + +Miss Helen Darley became that very day the guest of Miss Arabella +Thornton, the Judge's daughter. Mr. Bernard made his appearance a week +or two later at the Lectures, where the Professor first introduced him +to the reader. + +He stayed after the class had left the room. + +"Ah, Mr. Langdon! how do you do? Very glad to see you back again. How +have you been since our correspondence on Fascination and other curious +scientific questions?" + +It was the Professor who spoke,--whom the reader will recognize as +myself, the teller of this story. + +"I have been well," Mr. Bernard answered, with a serious look which +invited a further question. + +"I hope you have had none of those painful or dangerous experiences you +seemed to be thinking of when you wrote; at any rate, you have escaped +having your obituary written." + +"I have seen some things worth remembering. Shall I call on you this +evening and tell you about them?" + +"I shall be most happy to see you." + + * * * * * + +This was the way in which I, the Professor, became acquainted with some +of the leading events of this story. They interested me sufficiently +to lead me to avail myself of all those other extraordinary methods of +obtaining information well known to writers of narrative. + +Mr. Langdon seemed to me to have gained in seriousness and strength of +character by his late experiences. He threw his whole energies into +his studies with an effect which distanced all his previous efforts. +Remembering my former hint, he employed his spare hours in writing for +the annual prizes, both of which he took by a unanimous vote of the +judges. Those who heard him read his Thesis at the Medical Commencement +will not soon forget the impression made by his fine personal appearance +and manners, nor the universal interest excited in the audience, as +he read, with his beautiful enunciation, that striking paper entitled +"Unresolved Nebulas in Vital Science." It was a general remark of the +Faculty,--and old Doctor Kittredge, who had come down on purpose to hear +Mr. Langdon, heartily agreed to it,--that there had never been a diploma +filled up, since the institution which conferred upon him the degree of +_Doctor Medicinae_ was founded, which carried with it more of promise to +the profession than that which bore the name of + +Bernardus Caryl Langdon + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +CONCLUSION. + + +Mr. Bernard Langdon had no sooner taken his degree, than, in accordance +with the advice of one of his teachers whom he frequently consulted, he +took an office in the heart of the city where he had studied. He had +thought of beginning in a suburb or some remoter district of the city +proper. + +"No," said his teacher,--to wit, myself,--"don't do any such thing. You +are made for the best kind of practice; don't hamper yourself with an +outside constituency, such as belongs to a practitioner of the second +class. When a fellow like you chooses his beat, he must look ahead a +little. Take care of all the poor that apply to you, but leave the +half-pay classes to a different style of doctor,--the people who spend +one half their time in taking care of their patients, and the other half +in squeezing out their money. Go for the swell-fronts and south-exposure +houses; the folks inside are just as good as other people, and the +pleasantest, on the whole, to take care of. They must have somebody, and +they like a gentleman best. Don't throw yourself away. You have a +good presence and pleasing manners. You wear white linen by inherited +instinct. You can pronounce the word _view_. You have all the elements +of success; go and take it. Be polite and generous, but don't undervalue +yourself. You will be useful, at any rate; you may just as well be +happy, while you are about it. The highest social class furnishes +incomparably the best patients, taking them by and large. Besides, when +they won't get well and bore you to death, you can send 'em off to +travel. Mind me now, and take the tops of your sparrowgrass. Somebody +must have 'em,--why shouldn't you? If you don't take your chance, you'll +get the butt-ends as a matter of course." + +Mr. Bernard talked like a young man full of noble sentiments. He wanted +to be useful to his fellow-beings. Their social differences were nothing +to him. He would never court the rich,--he would go where he was called. +He would rather save the life of a poor mother of a family than that of +half a dozen old gouty millionnaires whose heirs had been yawning and +stretching these ten years to get rid of them. + +"Generous emotions!" I exclaimed. "Cherish 'em; cling to 'em till you +are fifty,--till you are seventy,--till you are ninety! But do as I tell +you,--strike for the best circle of practice, and you'll be sure to get +it!" + +Mr. Langdon did as I told him,--took a genteel office, furnished it +neatly, dressed with a certain elegance, soon made a pleasant circle +of acquaintances, and began to work his way into the right kind of +business. I missed him, however, for some days, not long after he had +opened his office. On his return, he told me he had been up at Rockland, +by special invitation, to attend the wedding of Mr. Dudley Venner and +Miss Helen Darley. He gave me a full account of the ceremony, which +I regret that I cannot relate in full. "Helen looked like an +angel,"--that, I am sure, was one of his expressions. As for her dress, +I should like to give the details, but am afraid of committing blunders, +as men always do, when they undertake to describe such matters. White +dress, anyhow,--that I am sure of,--with orange-flowers, and the most +wonderful lace veil that was ever seen or heard of. The Reverend Doctor +Honeywood performed the ceremony, of course. The good people seemed to +have forgotten they ever had had any other minister,--except Deacon +Shearer and his set of malecontents, who were doing a dull business in +the meeting-house lately occupied by the Reverend Mr. Fairweather. + +"Who was at the wedding?" + +"Everybody, pretty much. They wanted to keep it quiet, but it was of no +use. Married at church. Front pews, old Doctor Kittredge and all the +mansion-house people and distinguished strangers,--Colonel Sprowle and +family, including Matilda's young gentleman, a graduate of one of +the fresh-water colleges,--Mrs. Pickins (late Widow Rowens) and +husband,--Deacon Soper and numerous parishioners. A little nearer the +door, Abel, the Doctor's man, and Elbridge, who drove them to church in, +the family-coach. Father Fairweather, as they all call him now, came in +late, with Father McShane." + +"And Silas Peckham?" + +"Oh, Silas had left The School and Rockland. Cut up altogether too +badly in the examination instituted by the Trustees. Had moved over +to Tamarack, and thought of renting a large house and 'farming' the +town-poor." + + * * * * * + +Some time after this, as I was walking with a young friend along by the +swell-fronts and south-exposures, whom should I see but Mr. Bernard +Langdon, looking remarkably happy, and keeping step by the side of a +very handsome and singularly well-dressed young lady? He bowed and +lifted his hat as we passed. + +"Who is that pretty girl my young doctor has got there?" I said to my +companion. + +"Who is that?" he answered. "You don't know? Why, that is neither more +nor less than Miss Letitia Forester, daughter of--of--why, the great +banking-firm, you know, Bilyuns Brothers & Forester. Got acquainted with +her in the country, they say. There's a story that they're engaged, or +like to be, if the firm consents." + +"Oh!" I said. + +I did not like the look of it in the least. Too young,--too young. Has +not taken any position yet. No right to ask for the hand of Bilyuns +Brothers & Co.'s daughter. Besides, it will spoil him for practice, if +he marries a rich girl before he has formed habits of work. + +I looked in at his office the next day. A box of white kids was lying +open on the table. A three-cornered note, directed in a very delicate +lady's-hand, was distinguishable among a heap of papers. I was just +going to call him to account for his proceedings, when he pushed +the three-cornered note aside and took up a letter with a great +corporation-seal upon it. He had received the offer of a professor's +chair in an ancient and distinguished institution. + +"Pretty well for three-and-twenty, my boy," I said. "I suppose you'll +think you must be married one of these days, if you accept this office." + +Mr. Langdon blushed.--There had been stories about him, he knew. His +name had been mentioned in connection with that of a very charming young +lady. The current reports were not true. He had met this young lady, +and been much pleased with her, in the country, at the house of her +grandfather, the Reverend Doctor Honeywood,--you remember Miss Letitia +Forester, whom I have mentioned repeatedly? On coming to town, he found +his country-acquaintance in a social position which seemed to discourage +his continued intimacy. He had discovered, however, that he was a not +unwelcome visitor, and had kept up friendly relations with her. But +there was no truth in the current reports,--none at all. + +Some months had passed, after this visit, when I happened one evening to +stroll into a box in one of the principal theatres of the city. A small +party sat on the seats before me: a middle-aged gentleman and his lady, +in front, and directly behind them my young doctor and the same very +handsome young lady I had seen him walking with on the side-walk before +the swell-fronts and south-exposures. As Professor Langdon seemed to be +very much taken up with his companion, and both of them looked as if +they were enjoying themselves, I determined not to make my presence +known to my young friend, and to withdraw quietly after feasting my eyes +with the sight of them for a few minutes. + +"It looks as if something might come of it," I said to myself. + +At that moment the young lady lifted her arm accidentally, in such a way +that the light fell upon the clasp of a chain which encircled her wrist. +My eyes filled with tears as I read upon the clasp, in sharp-cut Italic +letters, _E.V._ They were tears at once of sad remembrance and of joyous +anticipation; for the ornament on which I looked was the double +pledge of a dead sorrow and a living affection. It was the golden +bracelet,--the parting-gift of Elsie Venner. + + * * * * * + + +BUBBLES. + + +I. + + I stood on the brink in childhood, + And watched the bubbles go + From the rock-fretted sunny ripple + To the smoother lymph below; + + And over the white creek-bottom, + Under them every one, + Went golden stars in the water, + All luminous with the sun. + + But the bubbles brake on the surface, + And under, the stars of gold + Brake, and the hurrying water + Flowed onward, swift and cold. + + +II. + + I stood on the brink in manhood, + And it came to my weary heart,-- + In my breast so dull and heavy, + After the years of smart,-- + + That every hollowest bubble + Which over my life had passed + Still into its deeper current + Some sky-sweet gleam had cast; + + That, however I mocked it gayly, + And guessed at its hollowness, + Still shone, with each bursting bubble, + One star in my soul the less. + + + + +CITIES AND PARKS: + +WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE NEW YORK CENTRAL PARK. + + +The first murderer was the first city-builder; and a good deal of +murdering has been carried on in the interest of city-building ever +since Cain's day. Narrow and crooked streets, want of proper sewerage +and ventilation, the absence of forethought in providing open spaces for +the recreation of the people, the allowance of intramural burials, +and of fetid nuisances, such as slaughter-houses and manufactories of +offensive stuffs, have converted cities into pestilential inclosures, +and kept Jefferson's saying--"Great cities are great sores"--true in its +most literal and mortifying sense. + +There is some excuse for the crowded and irregular character of +Old-World cities. They grew, and were not builded. Accumulations +of people, who lighted like bees upon a chance branch, they found +themselves hived in obdurate brick and mortar before they knew it; and +then, to meet the necessities of their cribbed, cabined, and confined +condition, they must tear down sacred landmarks, sacrifice invaluable +possessions, and trample on prescriptive rights, to provide +breathing-room for their gasping population. Besides, air, water, light, +and cleanliness are modern innovations. The nose seems to have acquired +its sensitiveness within a hundred years,--the lungs their objection to +foul air, and the palate its disgust at ditch-water like the Thames, +within a more recent period. Honestly dirty, and robustly indifferent to +what mortally offends our squeamish senses, our happy ancestors fattened +on carbonic acid gas, and took the exhalations of graveyards and gutters +with a placidity of stomach that excites our physiological admiration. +If they died, it was not for want of air. The pestilence carried, them +off,--and that was a providential enemy, whose home-bred origin nobody +suspected. + +It must seem to foreigners of all things the strangest, that, in a +country where land is sold at one dollar and twenty-five cents the acre +by the square mile, there should in any considerable part of it be a +want of room,--any necessity for crowding the population into pent-up +cities,--any narrowness of streets, or want of commons and parks. And +yet it is an undeniable truth that our American cities are all suffering +the want of ample thoroughfares, destitute of adequate parks and +commons, and too much crowded for health, convenience, or beauty. Boston +has for its main street a serpentine lane, wide enough to drive the cows +home from their pastures, but totally and almost fatally inadequate +to be the great artery of a city of two hundred thousand people. +Philadelphia is little better off with her narrow Chestnut Street, +which purchases what accommodation it affords by admitting the parallel +streets to nearly equal use, and thus sacrificing the very idea of a +metropolitan thoroughfare, in which the splendor and motion and life +of a metropolis ought to be concentrated. New York succeeds in making +Broadway what the Toledo, the Strand, the Linden Strasse, the Italian +Boulevards are; but the street is notoriously blocked and confused, and +occasions more loss of time and temper and life and limb than would +amply repay, once in five years, the widening of it to double its +present breadth. + +It is a great misfortune, that our commercial metropolis, the +predestined home of five millions of people, should not have a single +street worthy of the population, the wealth, the architectural ambition +ready to fill and adorn it. Wholesale trade, bankers, brokers, and +lawyers seek narrow streets. There must be swift communication between +the opposite sides, and easy recognition of faces across the way. But +retail trade requires no such conditions. The passers up and down on +opposite sides of Broadway are as if in different streets, and neither +expect to recognize each other nor to pass from one to the other without +set effort. It took a good while to make Broad and Canal Streets +attractive business-streets, and to get the importers and jobbers out +of Pearl Street; but the work is now done. The Bowery affords the only +remaining chance of building a magnificent metropolitan thoroughfare in +New York; and we anticipate the day--when Broadway will surrender its +pretensions to that now modest Cheapside. Already, about the confluence +of the Third and Fourth Avenues at Eighth Street are congregated some +of the chief institutions of the city,--the Bible House, the Cooper +Institute, the Astor Library, the Mercantile Library. Farther down, +the continuation of Canal Street affords the most commanding sites for +future public edifices; while the neighborhoods of Franklin and Chatham +Squares ought to be seized upon to embellish the city at imperial points +with its finest architectural piles. The capacities of New York, below +Union Square, for metropolitan splendor are entirely undeveloped; the +best points are still occupied by comparatively worthless buildings, and +the future will produce a now unlooked-for change in the whole character +of that great district. + +The huddling together of our American cities is due to the recentness +of the time when space was our greatest enemy and sparseness our chief +discouragement. Our founders hated room as much as a backwoods farmer +hates trees. The protecting walls, which narrowed the ways and cramped +the houses of the Old-World cities, did not put a severer compress +upon them, than the disgust of solitude and the craving for "the sweet +security of streets" threw about our city-builders. In the Western towns +now, they carefully give a city air to their villages by crowding the +few stores and houses of which they are composed into the likeliest +appearance of an absolute scarcity of space. + +They labor unconsciously to look crowded, and would sooner go into a +cellar to eat their oysters than have them in the finest saloon above +ground. And so, if a peninsula like Boston, or a miniature Mesopotamia +like New York, or a basin like Cincinnati, could be found to tuck away +a town in, in which there was a decent chance of covering over the +nakedness of the land within a thousand years, they rejoiced to seize +on it and warm their shivering imaginations in the idea of the possible +snugness which their distant posterity might enjoy. + +Boston owes its only park worth naming--the celebrated Common--to +the necessity of leaving a convenient cow-pasture for the babes and +sucklings of that now mature community. Forty acres were certainly +never more fortunately situated for their predestined service, nor more +providentially rescued for the higher uses of man. May the memory of the +weaning babes who pleaded for the spot where their "milky mothers" fed +be ever sacred in our Athens, and may the cows of Boston be embalmed +with the bulls of Egypt! A white heifer should be perpetually grazing, +at her tether, in the shadow of the Great Elm. Would it be wholly +unbecoming one born in full view of that lovely inclosure to suggest +that the straightness of the lines in which the trees are planted on +Boston Common, and the rapidly increasing thickness of their foliage, +destroy in the summer season the effect of breadth and liberty, hide +both the immediate and the distant landscape, stifle the breeze, and +diminish the attractiveness of the spot? Fewer trees, scattered in +clumps and paying little regard to paths, would vastly improve the +effect. The colonnades of the malls furnish all the shade desirable in +so small an inclosure. + +For the most part, the proper laying-out of cities is both a matter of +greater ease and greater importance in America than anywhere else. We +are much in the condition of those old Scriptural worthies, of whom it +could be so coolly said, "So he went and built a city," as if it were +a matter of not much greater account than "So be went and built a +log-house." Very likely some of those Biblical cities, extemporized +so tersely, were not much more finished than those we now and then +encounter in our Western and Southern tours, where a poor shed at four +cross-roads is dignified with the title. We believe it was Samuel +Dexter, the pattern of Webster, who, on hanging out his shingle in a +New England village, where a tavern, a schoolhouse, a church, and a +blacksmith's shop constituted the whole settlement, gave as a reason, +that, having to break into the world somewhere, he had chosen the +weakest place. He would have tried a new Western city, had they then +been in fashion, as a still softer spot in the social crust. But this +rage for cities in America is prophetic. The name is a spell; and most +of the sites, surveyed and distributed into town-lots with squares and +parks staked out, are only a century before their time, and will redound +to the future credit, however fatal to the immediate cash of their +projectors. Who can doubt that Cairo of Illinois--the standing joke of +tourists, (and the standing-water of the Ohio and Mississippi,) though +no joke to its founders--will one day rival its Egyptian prototype? +America runs to cities, and particularly in its Northern latitudes. +As cities have been the nurses of democratic institutions and ideas, +democratic nations, for very obvious reasons, tend to produce them. They +are the natural fruits of a democracy. And with no people are great +cities so important, or likely to be so increasingly populous, as with +a great agricultural and commercial nation like our own, covered with +a free and equal population. The vast wealth of such a people, evenly +distributed, and prevented from over-accumulation in special families by +the absence of primogeniture and entail,--their general education +and refined tastes,--the intense community of ideas, through the +all-pervading influence of a daily press reaching with simultaneous +diffusion over thousands of square miles,--the facilities of +locomotion,--all inevitably cooperate with commercial necessities to +create great cities,--not merely as the homes of the mercantile and +wealthy class, but as centres where the leisure, the tastes, the +pride, and the wants of the people at large repair more and more for +satisfaction. Free populations, educated in public schools and with an +open career for all, soon instinctively settle the high economies of +life. + +Many observers have ascribed the rapid change which for twenty years +past has been going on in the relative character of towns and villages +on the one hand, and cities on the other, to the mere operation of the +railroad-system. But that system itself grew out of higher instincts. +Equal communities demand equal privileges and advantages. They tend +to produce a common level. The country does not acquiesce in the +superiority of the city in manners, comforts, or luxuries. It demands +a market at its door,--first-rate men for its advisers in all medical, +legal, moral, and political matters. It demands for itself the +amusements, the refinements, the privileges of the city. This is to +be brought about only by the application, at any cost, of the most +immediate methods of communication with the city; and behold our +railroad system,--the Briarean shaking of hands which the country gives +the city! The growth of this system is a curious commentary on the +purely mercenary policy which is ordinarily supposed to govern the +investments of capital. The railroads of the United States are as much +the products of social rivalries and the fruits of an ineradicable +democratic instinct for popularizing all advantages, as of any +commercial emulation. The people have willingly bandaged their own eyes, +and allowed themselves to believe a profitable investment was made, +because their inclinations were so determined to have the roads, +profitable or not. Their wives and daughters _would_ shop in the city; +the choicest sights and sounds were there; there concentrated themselves +the intellectual and moral lights; there were the representative +splendors of the state or nation;--and a swift access to them was +essential to true equality and self-respect. + +One does not need to be a graybeard to recall the time when every +county-town in New England had, because it needs must have, its +first rate lawyer, its distinguished surgeon, its comprehensive +business-man,--and when a fixed and unchanging population gave to our +villages a more solid and a more elegant air than they now possess. The +Connecticut river-villages, with a considerable increase in population, +and a vast improvement in the general character of the dwellings, have +nevertheless lost their most characterizing features,--the large and +dignified residences of their founders, and the presence of the once +able and widely known men that were identified with their local +importance and pride. The railroads have concentrated the ability of all +the professions in the cities, and carried thither the wealth of all the +old families. To them, and not to the county-town, repair the people for +advice in all critical matters, for supplies in all important purchases, +for all their rarest pleasures, and all their most prized and memorable +opportunities. + +Cities, and the immediate neighborhood of cities, are rapidly becoming +the chosen residences of the enterprising, successful, and intelligent. +As might be supposed, the movement works both ways: the locomotive +facilities carry citizens into the country, as well as countrymen into +the city. But those who have once tasted the city are never wholly +weaned from it, and every citizen who moves into a village-community +sends two countrymen back to take his place. He infects the country with +civic tastes, and acts as a great conductor between the town and the +country. It is apparent, too, that the experience of ten years, during +which some strong reaction upon the centripetal tendencies of the +previous ten years drove many of the wealthy and the self-supposed +lovers of quietude and space into the country, has dispersed several +very natural prejudices, and returned the larger part of the truants +to their original ways. One of these prejudices was, that our ordinary +Northern climate was as favorable to the outdoor habits of the leisurely +class as the English climate; whereas, besides not having a leisurely +class, and never being destined to have any, under our wise +wealth-distributing customs, and not having any out-door habits, which +grow up only on estates and on hereditary fortunes, experience has +convinced most who have tried it that we have only six months when +out-of-doors allows any comfort, health, or pleasure away from the city. +The roads are sloughs; side-walks are wanting; shelter is gone with the +leaves; non-intercourse is proclaimed; companionship cannot be found; +leisure is a drug; books grow stupid; the country is a stupendous bore. +Another prejudice was the anticipated economy of the country. This has +turned out to be, as might have been expected, an economy to those who +fall in with its ways, which citizens are wholly inapt and unprepared to +do. It is very economical not to want city comforts and conveniences. +But it proves more expensive to those who go into the country to want +them there than it did to have them where they abound. They are not to +be had in the country at any price,--water, gas, fuel, food, attendance, +amusement, locomotion in all weathers; but such a moderate measure of +them as a city-bred family cannot live without involves so great an +expense, that the expected economy of life in the country to those not +actually brought up there turns out a delusion. The expensiveness of +life in the city comes of the generous and grand scale on which it there +proceeds, not from the superior cost of the necessaries or comforts of +life. They are undoubtedly cheaper in the city, all things considered, +than anywhere in the country. Where everything is to be had, in the +smallest or the largest quantities,--where every form of service can be +commanded at a moment's notice,--where the wit, skill, competition of a +country are concentrated upon the furnishing of all commodities at the +most taking rates,--there prices will, of course, be most reasonable; +and the expensiveness of such communities, we repeat, is entirely due to +the abundant wealth which makes such enormous demands and secures such +various comforts and luxuries;--in short, it is the high standard of +living, not the cost of the necessaries of life. This high standard +is, of course, an evil to those whose social ambition drives them to a +rivalry for which they are not prepared. But no special pity is due to +hardships self-imposed by pride and folly. The probability is, that, +proportioned to their income from labor, the cost of living in the city, +for the bulk of its population, is lighter, their degree of comfort +considered, than in the country. And for the wealthy class of society, +no doubt, on the whole, economy is served by living in the city. Our +most expensive class is that which lives in the country after the manner +of the city. + +A literary man, of talents and thorough respectability, lately informed +us, that, after trying all places, cities, villages, farmhouses, +boarding-houses, hotels, taverns, he had discovered that keeping house +in New York was the cheapest way to live,--vastly the cheapest, if +the amount of convenience and comfort was considered,--and absolutely +cheapest in fact. To be sure, being a bachelor, his housekeeping was +done in a single room, the back-room of a third-story, in a respectable +and convenient house and neighborhood. His rent was ninety-six dollars a +year. His expenses of every other kind, (clothing excepted,) one dollar +a week. He could not get his chop or steak cooked well enough, nor his +coffee made right, until he took them in hand himself,--nor his bed +made, nor his room cleaned. His conveniences were incredibly great. He +cooked by alcohol, and expected to warm himself the winter through on +two gallons of alcohol at seventy-five cents a gallon. This admirable +housekeeping is equalled in economy only by that of a millionnaire, a +New-Yorker, and a bachelor also, whose accounts, all accurately kept by +his own hand, showed, after death, that (1st) his own living, (2d) his +support of religion, (3d) his charities, (4th) his gifts to a favorite +niece, had not averaged, for twenty years, over five hundred dollars. +Truly, the city is a cheap place to live in, for those who know how! And +what place is cheap for those who do not? + +Contrary to the old notion, the more accurate statistics of recent times +have proved the city, as compared with the country, the more healthy, +the more moral, and the more religious place. What used to be considered +the great superiority of the country--hardship, absence of social +excitements and public amusements, simple food, freedom from moral +exposure--a better knowledge of the human constitution, considered +either physically or morally, has shown to be decidedly opposed to +health and virtue. More constitutions are broken down in the hardening +process than survive and profit by it. Cold houses, coarse food +unskilfully cooked, long winters, harsh springs, however favorable to +the heroism of the stomach, the lungs, and the spirits, are not found +conducive to longevity. In like manner, monotony, seclusion, lack of +variety and of social stimulus lower the tone of humanity, drive to +sensual pleasures and secret vices, and nourish a miserable pack of +mean and degrading immoralities, of which scandal, gossip, backbiting, +tale-bearing are the better examples. + +In the Old World, the wealth of states is freely expended in the +embellishment of their capitals. It is well understood, not only that +loyalty is never more economically secured than by a lavish appeal to +the pride of the citizen in the magnificence of the public buildings +and grounds which he identifies with his nationality, but that popular +restlessness is exhaled and dangerous passions drained off in the +roominess which parks and gardens afford the common people. In the +New World, it has not yet proved necessary to provide against popular +discontents or to bribe popular patriotism with spectacles and +state-parade; and if it were so, there is no government with an interest +of its own separate from that of the people to adopt this policy. It has +therefore been concluded that democratic institutions must necessarily +lack splendor and great public provision for the gratification of the +aesthetic tastes or the indulgence of the leisure of the common people. +The people being, then, our sovereigns, it has not been felt that they +would or could have the largeness of view, the foresight, the sympathy +with leisure, elegance, and ease, to provide liberally and expensively +for their own recreation and refreshment. A bald utility has been the +anticipated genius of our public policy. Our national Mercury was to be +simply the god of the post-office, or the sprite of the barometer,--our +Pan, to keep the crows from the corn-fields,--our Muses, to preside over +district-schools. It begins now to appear that the people are not likely +to think anything too good for themselves, or to higgle about the +expense of whatever ministers largely to their tastes and fancies,--that +political freedom, popular education, the circulation of newspapers, +books, engravings, pictures, have already created a public which +understands that man does not live by bread alone,--which demands +leisure, beauty, space, architecture, landscape, music, elegance, with +an imperative voice, and is ready to back its demands with the necessary +self-taxation. This experience our absolute faith in free institutions +enabled us to anticipate as the inevitable result of our political +system; but let us confess that the rapidity with which it has developed +itself has taken us by surprise. We knew, that, when the people truly +realized their sovereignty, they would claim not only the utilitarian, +but the artistic and munificent attributes of their throne,--and that +all the splendors and decorations, all the provisions for leisure, +taste, and recreation, which kings and courts have made, would be found +to be mere preludes and rehearsals to the grander arrangements and +achievements of the vastly richer and more legitimate sovereign, the +People, when he understood his own right and duty. As dynasties and +thrones have been predictions of the royalty of the people, so old +courts and old capitals, with all their pomp and circumstance, their +parks and gardens, galleries and statues, are but dim prefigurings of +the glories of architecture, the grandeur of the grounds, the splendor +and richness of the museums and conservatories with which the people +will finally crown their own self-respect and decorate their own +majesty. But we did not expect to see this sure prophecy turning itself +into history in our day. We thought the people were too busy with the +spade and the quill to care for any other sceptres at present. But it +is now plain that they have been dreaming princely dreams and thinking +royal thoughts all the while, and are now ready to put them into costly +expression. + +Passing by all other evidences of this, we come at once to the most +majestic and indisputable witness of this fact, the actual existence +of the Central Park in New York,--the most striking evidence of +the sovereignty of the people yet afforded in the history of free +institutions,--the best answer yet given to the doubts and fears which +have frowned on the theory of self-government,--the first grand proof +that the people do not mean to give up the advantages and victories of +aristocratic governments, in maintaining a popular one, but to engraft +the energy, foresight, and liberality of concentrated powers upon +democratic ideas, and keep all that has adorned and improved the past, +while abandoning what has impaired and disgraced it. That the American +people appreciate and are ready to support what is most elegant, +refined, and beautiful in the greatest capitals of Europe,--that they +value and intend to provide the largest and most costly opportunities +for the enjoyment of their own leisure, artistic tastes, and rural +instincts, is emphatically declared in the history, progress, and +manifest destiny of the Central Park; while their competency to use +wisely, to enjoy peacefully, to protect sacredly, and to improve +industriously the expensive, exposed, and elegant pleasure-ground they +have devised, is proved with redundant testimony by the year and more of +experience we have had in the use of the Park, under circumstances far +less favorable than any that can ever again arise. As a test of the +ability of the people to know their own higher wants, of the power of +their artistic instincts, their docility to the counsels of their most +judicious representatives, their superiority to petty economies, their +strength to resist the natural opposition of heavy tax-payers to +expensive public works, their gentleness and amenableness to just +authority in the pursuit of their pleasures, of their susceptibility to +the softening influences of elegance and beauty, of their honest pride +and rejoicing in their own splendor, of their superior fondness for what +is innocent and elevating over what is base and degrading, when +brought within equal reach, the Central Park has already afforded most +encouraging, nay, most decisive proof. + +The Central Park is an anomaly to those who have not deeply studied the +tendencies of popular governments. It is a royal work, undertaken and +achieved by the Democracy,--surprising equally themselves and their +skeptical friends at home and abroad,--and developing, both in its +creation and growth, in its use and application, new and almost +incredible tastes, aptitudes, capacities, and powers in the people +themselves. That the people should be capable of the magnanimity of +laying down their authority, when necessary to concentrate it in +the hands of energetic and responsible trustees requiring large +powers,--that they should be willing to tax themselves heavily for the +benefit of future generations,--that they should be wise enough to +distrust their own judgment and defer modestly to the counsels of +experts,--that they should be in favor of the most solid and substantial +work,--that they should be willing to have the better half of their +money under ground and out of sight, invested in drains and foundations +of roads,--that they should acquiesce cheerfully in all the restrictions +necessary to the achievement of the work, while admitted freely to the +use and enjoyment of its inchoate processes,--that their conduct and +manners should prove so unexceptionable,--their disposition to trespass +upon strict rules so small,--their use and improvement of the work so +free, so easy, and so immediately justificatory of all the cost of so +generous and grand an enterprise: these things throw light and cheer +upon the prospects of popular institutions, at a period when they are +seriously clouded from other quarters. + +We do not propose to enter into any description of the Central Park. +Those who have not already visited it will find a description, +accompanying a study for the plan submitted for competition in 1858, by +Messrs. Olmsted and Vaux, and published among the Documents of the New +York Senate, which will satisfy their utmost expectations. We wish +merely to throw out some replies to the leading objections we have met +in the papers and other quarters to the plan itself. We need hardly say +that the Central Park requires no advocate and no defence. Its great +proprietor, the Public, is perfectly satisfied with his purchase and his +agents. He thinks himself providentially guided in the choice of his +Superintendent, and does not vainly pique himself upon his sagacity in +selecting Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted for the post. This gentleman, in his +place, offsets at least a thousand square plugs in round holes. He is +precisely the man for the place,--and that is precisely the place for +the man. Among final causes, it would be difficult not to assign the +Central Park as the reason of his existence. To fill the duties of his +office as he has filled them,--to prove himself equally competent as +original designer, patient executor, potent disciplinarian, and model +police-officer,--to enforce a method, precision, and strictness, equally +marked in the workmanship, in the accounts, and in the police of the +Park,--to be equally studious of the highest possible use and enjoyment +of the work by the public of to-day, and of the prospects and privileges +of the coming generations,--to sympathize with the outside people, +while in the closest fellowship with the inside,--to make himself +equally the favorite and friend of the people and of the workmen: +this proves an original adaptation, most carefully improved, which we +seriously believe not capable of being paralleled in any other public +work, of similar magnitude, ever undertaken. The union of prosaic +sense with poetical feeling, of democratic sympathies with refined +and scholarly tastes, of punctilious respect for facts with tender +hospitality for ideas, has enabled him to appreciate and embody, both in +the conception and execution of the Park, the beau-ideal of a people's +pleasure-ground. If he had not borne, as an agriculturist, and as the +keenest, most candid, and instructive of all our writers on the moral +and political economy of our American Slavery, a name to be long +remembered, he might safely trust his reputation to the keeping of New +York city and all her successive citizens, as the author and achiever of +the Central Park,--which, when completed, will prove, we are confident, +the most splendid, satisfactory, and popular park in the world. + +Two grand assumptions have controlled the design from the inception. + +First, That the Park would be the only park deserving the name, for a +town of twice or thrice the present population of New York; that +this town would be built compactly around it (and in this respect +of centrality it would differ from any extant metropolitan park of +magnitude); and that it would be a town of greater wealth and more +luxurious demands than any now existing. + +Second, That, while in harmony with the luxury of the rich, the Park +should and would be used more than any existing park by people of +moderate wealth and by poor people, and that its use by these people +must be made safe, convenient, agreeable; that they must be expected +to have a pride and pleasure in using it rightly, in cherishing and +protecting it against all causes of injury and dilapidation, and that +this is to be provided for and encouraged. + +A want of appreciation of the first assumption is the cause of all +sincere criticism against the Transverse Roads. Some engineers +originally pronounced them impracticable of construction; but all their +grounds of apprehension have been removed by the construction of two of +them, especially by the completion of the tunnel under Vista Rock, and +below the foundation of the Reservoir embankment and wall. They were +planned for the future; they are being built solidly, massively, +permanently, for the future. Less thoroughly and expensively +constructed, they would need to be rebuilt in the future at enormously +increased cost, and with great interruption to the use of the Park; and +the grounds in their vicinity, losing the advantage of age, would need +to be remodelled and remade. An engineer, visiting the Park for the +first time, and hearing the criticism to which we refer applied to the +walls and bridges of the Transverse Roads, observed,--"People in this +country are so unaccustomed to see genuine substantial work, they do not +know what it means when they meet with it." We think he did not do the +people justice. + +The Transverse Roads passing through the Park will not be seen from +it; and although they will not be, when deep in the shadow of the +overhanging bridges and groves, without a very grand beauty, this will +be the beauty of utility and of permanence, not of imaginative grace. +The various bridges and archways of the Park proper, while equally +thorough in their mode of construction, and consequently expensive, +are in all cases embellished each with special decorations in form and +color. These decorations have the same quality of substantiality and +thorough good workmanship. Note the clean under-cutting of the leaves, +(of which there are more than fifty different forms in the decorations +of the Terrace arch,) and their consequent sharp and expressive shadows. +Admitting the need of these structures, and the economy of a method of +construction which would render them permanent, the additional cost of +their permanent decoration in this way could not have been rationally +grudged. + +Regard for the distant future has likewise controlled the planting; and +the Commissioners, in so far as they have resisted the clamor of the +day, that the Park must be immediately shaded, have done wisely. Every +horticulturist knows that this immediate shade would be purchased at an +expense of dwarfed, diseased, and deformed trees, with stinted shade, in +the future. No man has planted large and small trees together without +regretting the former within twenty years. The same consideration +answers an objection which has been made, that the trees are too much +arranged in masses of color. Imagine a growth of twenty years, with the +proper thinnings, and most of these masses will resolve each into one +tree, singled out, as the best individual of its mass, to remain. There +is a large scale in the planting, as in everything else. + +Regard to the convenience, comfort, and safety of those who cannot +afford to visit the Park in carriages has led to an unusual extent and +variety of character in the walks, and also to a peculiar arrangement by +which they are carried in many instances beneath and across the line of +the carriage-roads. Thus access can be had by pedestrians to all parts +of the Park at times when the roads are thronged with vehicles, without +any delays or dangers in crossing the roads, and without the humiliation +to sensitive democrats of being spattered or dusted, or looked down upon +from luxurious equipages. + +The great irregularity of the surface offers facilities for this +purpose,--the walks being carried through the heads of valleys which are +crossed by the carriage-ways upon arches of masonry. Now with regard to +these archways, if no purposes of convenience were to be served by them, +the Park would not, we may admit, be beautified by them. But we assume +that the population of New York is to be doubled; that, when it is so, +if not sooner, the walks and drives of the Park will often be densely +thronged; and, for the comfort of the people, when that shall be the +case, we consider that these archways will be absolutely necessary.[A] +Assuming further, then, that they are to be built, and, if ever, built +now,--since it would involve an entirely new-modelling of the Park to +introduce them in the future,--it was necessary to pay some attention to +make them agreeable and unmonotonous objects, or the general impression +of ease, freedom, and variety would be interfered with very materially. +It is not to make the Park architectural, as is commonly supposed, that +various and somewhat expensive _design_ is introduced; on the contrary, +it is the intention to plant closely in the vicinity of all the arches, +so that they may be unnoticed in the general effect, and be seen only +just at the time they are being used, when, of course, they must come +under notice. The charge is made, that the features of the natural +landscape have been disregarded in the plan. To which we answer, that on +the ground of the Lower Park there was originally no landscape, in the +artistic sense. There were hills, and hillocks, and rocks, and swampy +valleys. It would have been easy to flood the swamps into ponds, to +clothe the hillocks with grass and the hills with foliage, and leave the +rocks each unscathed in its picturesqueness. And this would have been a +great improvement; yet there would be no landscape: there would be +an unassociated succession of objects,--many nice "bits" of scenery, +appropriate to a villa-garden or to an artist's sketch-book, but no +scenery such as an artist arranges for his broad canvas, no composition, +no _park-like_ prospect. It would have afforded a good place for +loitering; but if this were all that was desirable, forty acres would +have done as well as a thousand, as is shown in the Ramble. Space, +breadth, objects in the distance, clear in outline, but obscure, +mysterious, exciting curiosity, in their detail, were wanting. + +[Footnote A: The length of roads, walks, etc., completed, will be found +in the last Annual Report, pp. 47-52. + +The length of the famous drive in Hyde Park (the King Road) is 2 1/2 +miles. There is another road, straight between two gates, 1 1/4 miles in +length. "Rotten Bow" (the Ride) is a trifle over a mile in length. + +The length of Drive in Central Park will be 9 1/3 miles; the length of +Bridle Roads, 5 1/3 miles; the length of Walks, 20 miles. + +Ten miles of walk, gravelled and substantially underlaid, are now +finished. + +Eighteen archways are planned, beside those of the Transverse Roads, +equal 1 to 46 acres. When the planting is well-grown, no two of the +archways will be visible from the same point.] + +To their supply there were hard limitations. On each side, within half +a mile of each other, there were to be lines of stone and brick houses, +cutting off any great lateral distance. Suppose one to have entered +the Park at the south end, and to have moved far enough within it to +dispossess his mind of the sentiments of the streets: he will have +threaded his way between hillocks and rocks, one after another, +differing in magnitude, but never opening a landscape having breadth or +distance. He ascends a hill and looks northward: the most distant +object is the hard, straight, horizontal line of the stone wall of the +Reservoir, flanked on one side by the peak of Vista Rock. It is a little +over a mile distant,--but, standing clear out against the horizon, +appears much less than that. Hide it with foliage, as well as the houses +right and left, and the limitation of distance is a mile in front and a +quarter of a mile upon each side. Low hills or ridges of rock in a great +degree cut off the intermediate ground from view: cross these, and the +same unassociated succession of objects might be visited, but no one of +them would have engaged the visitor's attention and attracted him onward +from a distance. The plan has evidently been to make a selection of +the natural features to form the leading ideas of the new scenery, to +magnify the most important quality of each of these, and to remove or +tone down all the irregularities of the ground between them, and by all +means to make the limit of vision undefined and obscure. Thus, in the +central portion of the Lower Park the low grounds have been generally +filled, and the high grounds reduced; but the two largest areas of low +ground have been excavated, the excavation being carried laterally into +the hills as far as was possible, without extravagant removal of rock, +and the earth obtained transferred to higher ground connecting hillocks +with hills. Excavations have also been made about the base of all the +more remarkable ledges and peaks of rock, while additional material has +been conveyed to their sides and summits to increase their size and +dignity. + +This general rule of the plan was calculated to give, in the first +place, breadth, and, in the second, emphasis, to any general prospect +of the Park. A want of unity, or rather, if we may use the word, of +assemblage, belonged to the ground; and it must have been one of the +first problems to establish some one conspicuous, salient idea which +should take the lead in the composition, and about which all minor +features should seem naturally to group as accessories. The straight, +evidently artificial, and hence distinctive and notable, Mall, with its +terminating Terrace, was the resolution of this problem. It will be, +when the trees are fully grown, a feature of the requisite importance, +--and will serve the further purpose of opening the view toward, and, as +it were, framing and keeping attention directed upon, Vista Rock, which +from the southern end of the Mall is the most distant object that can be +brought into view. + +For the same purpose, evidently, it was thought desirable to insist, +as far as possible, upon a pause at the point where, to the visitor +proceeding northward, the whole hill-side and glen before Vista Rock +first came under view, and where an effect of distance in that direction +was yet attainable. This is provided for by the Terrace, with its +several stairs and stages, and temptations to linger and rest. The +introduction of the Lake to the northward of the Terrace also obliges a +diversion from the direct line of proceeding; the visitor's attention is +henceforth directed laterally, or held by local objects, until at length +by a circuitous route he reaches and ascends (if he chooses) the summit +of Vista Rock, when a new landscape of entirely different character, and +one not within our control, is opened to him. Thus the apparent distance +of Vista Rock from the lower part of the Park (which is increased +by means which we have not thought it necessary to describe) is not +falsified by any experience of the visitor in his subsequent journey to +it. + +There was a fine and completely natural landscape in the Upper Park. The +plan only simplifies it,--removing and modifying those objects which +were incongruous with its best predominating character, and here and +there adding emphasis or shadow. + +The Park (with the extension) is two and three quarter miles in length +and nearly half a mile wide. It contains 843 acres, including the +Reservoir (136 acres). + + Original cost of land to 106th Street, $5,444,369.90 + Of this, assessed on adjoining property, 1,657,590.00 + ____________ + To be paid by corporation direct, 3,786,779.90 + Assessed value of extension land, (106th to 110th,) 1,400,000.00 + ____________ + Total cost of land, $6,800,000.00[B] + +[Footnote B: The amount thus far expended in construction and +maintenance is nearly $3,000,000. The plan upon which the work is +proceeding will require a further expenditure of $1,600,000. The +expenditure is not squandered. Much the larger part of it is paid for +day-labor. Account with laborers is kept by the hour, the rate of wages +being scarcely above the lowest contractor's rates, and 30 per cent. +below the rate of other public works of the city; always paid directly +into the laborer's hands,--in specie, however. + +The thorough government of the work, and the general efficiency of its +direction, are indicated by the remarkable good order and absence of +"accidents" which have characterized it. See p. 64 of Annual Report, +1860. For some particulars of cost, see pp. 61, 62, of same Report.] + +In all European parks, there is more or less land the only use of which +is to give a greater length to the roads which pass around it,--it being +out of sight, and, in American phrase, unimproved. There is not an acre +of land in Central Park, which, if not wanted for Park purposes, would +not sell for at least as much as the land surrounding the Park and +beyond its limits,--that is to say, for at least $60,000, the legal +annual interest of which is $4,200. This would be the ratio of the +annual waste of property in the case of any land not put to use; but, +in elaborating the plan, care has been taken that no part of the Park +should be without its special advantages, attractions, or valuable uses, +and that these should as far as possible be made immediately available +to the public. + +The comprehensiveness of purpose and the variety of detail of the plan +far exceed those of any other park in the world, and have involved, and +continue to involve, a greater amount of study and invention than has +ever before been given to a park. A consideration of this should enforce +an unusually careful method of maintenance, both in the gardening and +police departments. Sweeping with a broom of brush-wood once a week is +well enough for a hovel; but the floors of a palace must needs be daily +waxed and polished, to justify their original cost. We are unused to +thorough gardening in this country. There are not in all the United +States a dozen lawns or grass-plots so well kept as the majority of +tradesmen's door-yards in England or Holland. Few of our citizens have +ever seen a really well-kept ground. During the last summer, much of the +Park was in a state of which the Superintendent professed himself to be +ashamed; but it caused not the slightest comment with the public, so far +as we heard. As nearly all men in office, who have not a personal taste +to satisfy, are well content, if they succeed in satisfying the public, +we fear the Superintendent will be forced to "economize" on the keeping +of the Park, as he was the past year, to a degree which will be as far +from true economy as the cleaning of mosaic floors with birch brooms. +The Park is laid out in a manner which assumes and requires cleanly and +orderly habits in those who use it; much of its good quality will be +lost, if it be not very neatly kept; and such negligence in the keeping +will tend to negligence in the using. + +In the plan, there is taken for granted a generally good inclination, a +cleanly, temperate, orderly disposition, on the part of the public which +is to frequent the Park, and finally to be the governors of its keeping, +and a good, well-disposed, and well-disciplined police force, who would, +in spite of "the inabilities of a republic," adequately control the +cases exceptional to the assumed general good habits of that public,--at +the same time neglecting no precaution to facilitate the convenient +enforcement of the laws, and reduce the temptation to disorderly +practices to a minimum. + +How thoroughly justified has been this confidence in the people, taking +into account the novelty of a good public ground, of cleanliness in our +public places, and indeed the novelty of the whole undertaking, we have +already intimated. How much the privileges of the Park in its present +incomplete condition are appreciated, and how generally the requirements +of order are satisfied, the following summary, compiled from the +Park-keeper's reports of the first summer's use after the roads of the +Lower Park were opened, will inadequately show. + + Number of visitors in six months. Foot. Saddle. Carriages. + May, 184,450 8,017 26,500 + June, 294,300 9,050 31,300 + July, 71,035 2,710 4,945 + August, 63,800 875 14,905 + September, 47,433 2,645 20,708 + October, 160,187 3,014 26,813 + Usual number of visitors on a + fine summer's day, 2,000 90 1,200 + Usual number of visitors on a + fine Sunday, 35,000 60 1,500 + (Men 20,000, Women 13,000, Children 2,000.) + Sunday, May 29, entrances counted, 75,000 120 3,200 + Usual number of visitors, + fine Concert day, 7,500 180 2,500 + Saturday, Sept. 22, (Concert day,) + entrances counted, 13,000 225 4,650 + +During this time, (six months,) but thirty persons were detected upon +the Park tipsy. Of these, twenty-four were sufficiently drunk to justify +their arrest,--the remainder going quietly off the grounds, when +requested to do so. That is to say, it is not oftener than once a week +that a man is observed to be the worse for liquor while on the Park; and +this, while three to four thousand laboring men are at work within it, +are paid upon it, and grog-shops for their accommodation are all along +its boundaries. In other words, about one in thirty thousand of the +visitors to the Park has been under the influence of drink when induced +to visit it. + +On Christmas and New-Year's Days, it was estimated by many experienced +reporters that over 100,000 persons, each day, were on the Park, +generally in a frolicksome mood. Of these, but one (a small boy) was +observed by the keepers to be drunk; there was not an instance of +quarrelling, and no disorderly conduct, except a generally good-natured +resistance to the efforts of the police to maintain safety on the ice. + +The Bloomingdale Road and Harlem Lane, two famous trotting-courses, +where several hundred famously fast horses may be seen at the top of +their speed any fine afternoon, both touch an entrance to the Park. The +Park roads are, of course, vastly attractive to the trotters, and for +a few weeks there were daily instances of fast driving there: as soon, +however, as the law and custom of the Park, restricting speed to a +moderate rate, could be made generally understood, fast driving became +very rare,--more so, probably, than in Hyde Park or the Bois de +Boulogne. As far as possible, an arrest has been made in every case +of intentionally fast driving observed by the keepers: those arrested +number less than one to ten thousand of the vehicles entering the Park +for pleasure-driving. In each case a fine (usually three dollars) has +been imposed by the magistrate. + +In six months there have been sixty-four arrests for all sorts of +"disorderly conduct," including walking on the grass after being +requested to quit it, quarrelling, firing crackers, etc.,--one in +eighteen thousand visitors. So thoroughly established is the good +conduct of people on the Park, that many ladies walk daily in the Ramble +without attendance. + +A protest, as already intimated, is occasionally made against the +completeness of detail to which the Commissioners are disposed to +carry their work, on the ground that the habits of the masses of our +city-population are ill-calculated for its appreciation, and that loss +and damage to expensive work must often be the result. To which we +would answer, that, if the authorities of the city hitherto have so far +misapprehended or neglected their duty as to allow a large industrious +population to continue so long without the opportunity for public +recreations that it has grown up ignorant of the rights and duties +appertaining to the general use of a well-kept pleasure-ground, any +losses of the kind apprehended, which may in consequence occur, should +be cheerfully borne as a necessary part of the responsibility of a +good government. Experience thus far, however, does not justify these +apprehensions. + +To collect exact evidence showing that the Park is already exercising a +good influence upon the character of the people is not in the nature of +the case practicable. It has been observed that rude, noisy fellows, +after entering the more advanced or finished parts of the Park, become +hushed, moderate, and careful. Observing the generally tranquil and +pleased expression, and the quiet, sauntering movement, the frequent +exclamations of pleasure in the general view or in the sight of some +special object of natural beauty, on the part of the crowds of idlers in +the Ramble on a Sunday afternoon, and recollecting the totally opposite +character of feeling, thought, purpose, and sentiment which is expressed +by a crowd assembled anywhere else, especially in the public streets of +the city, the conviction cannot well be avoided that the Park already +exercises a beneficent influence of no inconsiderable value, and of a +kind which could have been gained in no other way. We speak of Sunday +afternoons and of a crowd; but the Park evidently does induce many a +poor family, and many a poor seamstress and journeyman, to take a day or +a half-day from the working-time of the week, to the end of retaining +their youth and their youthful relations with purer Nature, and to their +gain in strength, good-humor, safe citizenship, and--if the economists +must be satisfied--money-value to the commonwealth. Already, too, there +are several thousand men, women, and children who resort to the Park +habitually: some daily, before business or after business, and women +and children at regular hours during the day; some weekly; and some at +irregular, but certain frequent chances of their business. Mr. Astor, +when in town, rarely misses his daily ride; nor Mr. Bancroft; Mr. Mayor +Harper never his drive. And there are certain working-men with their +families equally sure to be met walking on Sunday morning or Sunday +afternoon; others on Saturday. The number of these _habitues_ constantly +increases. When we meet those who depend on the Park as on the butcher +and the omnibus, and the thousands who are again drawn by whatever +impulse and suggestion of the hour, we often ask, What would they have +done, where would they have been, to what sort of recreation would they +have turned, _if to any_, had there been no park? Of one sort the answer +is supplied by the keeper of a certain saloon, who came to the Park, as +he said, to see his old Sunday customers. The enjoyment of the ice had +made them forget their grog. + +Six or seven years ago, an opposition brought down the prices and +quadrupled the accommodations of the Staten Island ferry-boats. Clifton +Park and numerous German gardens were opened; and the consequence was +described, in common phrase, as the transformation of a portion of the +island, on Sunday, to a Pandemonium. We thought we would, like Dante, +have a cool look at it. We had read so much about it, and heard it +talked about and preached about so much, that we were greatly surprised +to find the throng upon the sidewalks quite as orderly and a great deal +more evidently good-natured than any we ever saw before in the United +States. We spent some time in what we had been led to suppose the +hottest place, Clifton Park, in which there was a band of music and +several thousand persons, chiefly Germans, though with a good sprinkling +of Irish servant-girls with their lovers and brothers, with beer +and ices; but we saw no rudeness, and no more impropriety, no more +excitement, no more (week-day) sin, than we had seen at the church in +the morning. Every face, however, was foreign. By-and-by came in three +Americans, talking loudly, moving rudely, proclaiming contempt for +"lager" and yelling for "liquor," bantering and offering fight, joking +coarsely, profane, noisy, demonstrative in any and every way, to the end +of attracting attention to themselves, and proclaiming that they were +"on a spree" and highly excited. They could not keep it up; they became +awkward, ill at ease, and at length silent, standing looking about them +in stupid wonder. Evidently they could not understand what it meant: +people drinking, smoking in public, on Sunday, and yet not excited, not +trying to make it a spree. It was not comprehensible. We ascertained +that one of the ferry-boat bars had disposed of an enormous stock of +lemonade, ginger-beer, and soda-water before three o'clock,--but, till +this was all gone, not half a dozen glasses of intoxicating drinks. +We saw no quarrelling, no drunkenness, and nothing like the fearful +disorder which had been described,--with a few such exceptions as we +have mentioned of native Americans who had no conception of enjoyment +free from bodily excitement. + +To teach and induce habits of orderly, tranquil, contemplative, or +social amusement, moderate exercises and recreation, soothing to the +nerves, has been the most needed "mission" for New York. We think we +see daily evidence that the Park accomplishes not a little in this way. +Unfortunately, the evidence is not of a character to be expressed in +Federal currency, else the Commissioners would not be hesitating about +taking the ground from One-Hundred-and-Sixth to One-Hundred-and-Tenth +Street, because it is to cost half a million more than was anticipated. +What the Park is worth to us to-day is, we trust, but a trifle to what +it will be worth when the bulk of our hard-working people, of our +over-anxious Marthas, and our gutter-skating children shall live nearer +to it, and more generally understand what it offers them,--when its +play-grounds are ready, its walks more shaded,--when cheap and wholesome +meals, to the saving, occasionally, of the dreary housewife's daily +pottering, are to be had upon it,--when its system of cheap cabs shall +have been successfully inaugurated,--and when a daily discourse of sweet +sounds shall have been made an essential part of its functions in the +body-politic. + +We shall not probably live to see "the gentility of Sir Philip Sidney +made universal," but we do hope that we shall live to know many +residents of towns of ten thousand population who will be ashamed to +subscribe for the building of new churches while no public play-ground +is being prepared for their people. + + + + +LIFE IN THE IRON-MILLS. + + "Is this the end? + O Life, as futile, then, as frail! + What hope of answer or redress?" + + +A cloudy day: do you know what that is in a town of iron-works? The sky +sank down before dawn, muddy, flat, immovable. The air is thick, clammy +with the breath of crowded human beings. It stifles me. I open the +window, and, looking out, can scarcely see through the rain the grocer's +shop opposite, where a crowd of drunken Irishmen are puffing Lynchburg +tobacco in their pipes. I can detect the scent through all the foul +smells ranging loose in the air. + +The idiosyncrasy of this town is smoke. It rolls sullenly in slow folds +from the great chimneys of the iron-foundries, and settles down in +black, slimy pools on the muddy streets. Smoke on the wharves, smoke on +the dingy boats, on the yellow river,--clinging in a coating of greasy +soot to the house-front, the two faded poplars, the faces of the +passers-by. The long train of mules, dragging masses of pig-iron through +the narrow street, have a foul vapor hanging to their reeking sides. +Here, inside, is a little broken figure of an angel pointing upward from +the mantel-shelf; but even its wings are covered with smoke, clotted +and black. Smoke everywhere! A dirty canary chirps desolately in a +cage beside me. Its dream of green fields and sunshine is a very old +dream,--almost worn out, I think. + +From the back-window I can see a narrow brick-yard sloping down to +the river-side, strewed with rain-butts and tubs. The river, dull and +tawny-colored, _(la belle riviere!)_ drags itself sluggishly along, +tired of the heavy weight of boats and coal-barges. What wonder? When I +was a child, I used to fancy a look of weary, dumb appeal upon the face +of the negro-like river slavishly bearing its burden day after day. +Something of the same idle notion comes to me to-day, when from the +street-window I look on the slow stream of human life creeping past, +night and morning, to the great mills. Masses of men, with dull, +besotted faces bent to the ground, sharpened here and there by pain +or cunning; skin and muscle and flesh begrimed with smoke and ashes; +stooping all night over boiling caldrons of metal, laired by day in +dens of drunkenness and infamy; breathing from infancy to death an air +saturated with fog and grease and soot, vileness for soul and body. What +do you make of a case like that, amateur psychologist? You call it an +altogether serious thing to be alive: to these men it is a drunken jest, +a joke,--horrible to angels perhaps, to them commonplace enough. My +fancy about the river was an idle one: it is no type of such a life. +What if it be stagnant and slimy here? It knows that beyond there waits +for it odorous sunlight,--quaint old gardens, dusky with soft, green +foliage of apple-trees, and flushing crimson with roses,--air, and +fields, and mountains. The future of the Welsh puddler passing just now +is not so pleasant. To be stowed away, after his grimy work is done, in +a hole in the muddy graveyard, and after that,--_not_ air, nor green +fields, nor curious roses. + +Can you see how foggy the day is? As I stand here, idly tapping the +window-pane, and looking out through the rain at the dirty back-yard and +the coal-boats below, fragments of an old story float up before me,--a +story of this old house into which I happened to come to-day. You may +think it a tiresome story enough, as foggy as the day, sharpened by no +sudden flashes of pain or pleasure.--I know: only the outline of a dull +life, that long since, with thousands of dull lives like its own, was +vainly lived and lost: thousands of them,--massed, vile, slimy lives, +like those of the torpid lizards in yonder stagnant water-butt.--Lost? +There is a curious point for you to settle, my friend, who study +psychology in a lazy, _dilettante_ way. Stop a moment. I am going to be +honest. This is what I want you to do. I want you to hide your disgust, +take no heed to your clean clothes, and come right down with me,--here, +into the thickest of the fog and mud and foul effluvia. I want you to +hear this story. There is a secret down here, in this nightmare fog, +that has lain dumb for centuries: I want to make it a real thing to you. +You, Egoist, or Pantheist, or Arminian, busy in making straight paths +for your feet on the hills, do not see it clearly,--this terrible +question which men here have gone mad and died trying to answer. I dare +not put this secret into words. I told you it was dumb. These men, going +by with drunken faces and brains full of unawakened power, do not ask it +of Society or of God. Their lives ask it; their deaths ask it. There is +no reply. I will tell you plainly that I have a great hope; and I bring +it to you to be tested. It is this: that this terrible dumb question is +its own reply; that it is not the sentence of death we think it, but, +from the very extremity of its darkness, the most solemn prophecy which +the world has known of the Hope to come. I dare make my meaning no +clearer, but will only tell my story. It will, perhaps, seem to you as +foul and dark as this thick vapor about us, and as pregnant with death; +but if your eyes are free as mine are to look deeper, no perfume-tinted +dawn will be so fair with promise of the day that shall surely come. + +My story is very simple,--only what I remember of the life of one +of these men,--a furnace-tender in one of Kirby & John's +rolling-mills,--Hugh Wolfe. You know the mills? They took the great +order for the Lower Virginia railroads there last winter; run usually +with about a thousand men. I cannot tell why I choose the half-forgotten +story of this Wolfe more than that of myriads of these furnace-hands. +Perhaps because there is a secret underlying sympathy between that story +and this day with its impure fog and thwarted sunshine,--or perhaps +simply for the reason that this house is the one where the Wolfes lived. +There were the father and son,--both hands, as I said, in one of Kirby +& John's mills for making railroad-iron,--and Deborah, their cousin, a +picker in some of the cotton-mills. The house was rented then to half +a dozen families. The Wolfes had two of the cellar-rooms. The old man, +like many of the puddlers and feeders of the mills, was Welsh,--had +spent half of his life in the Cornish tin-mines. You may pick the Welsh +emigrants, Cornish miners, out of the throng passing the windows, any +day. They are a trifle more filthy; their muscles are not so brawny; +they stoop more. When they are drunk, they neither yell, nor shout, nor +stagger, but skulk along like beaten hounds. A pure, unmixed blood, I +fancy: shows itself in the slight angular bodies and sharply-cut facial +lines. It is nearly thirty years since the Wolfes lived here. Their +lives were like those of their class: incessant labor, sleeping in +kennel-like rooms, eating rank pork and molasses, drinking--God and the +distillers only know what; with an occasional night in jail, to atone +for some drunken excess. Is that all of their lives?--of the portion +given to them and these their duplicates swarming the streets to-day? +--nothing beneath?--all? So many a political reformer will tell +you,--and many a private reformer, too, who has gone among them with a +heart tender with Christ's charity, and come out outraged, hardened. + +One rainy night, about eleven o'clock, a crowd of half-clothed women +stopped outside of the cellar-door. They were going home from the +cotton-mill. + +"Good-night, Deb," said one, a mulatto, steadying herself against the +gas-post. She needed the post to steady her. So did more than one of +them. + +"Dah's a ball to Miss Potts' to-night. Ye'd best come." + +"Inteet, Deb, if hur 'll come, hur 'll hef fun," said a shrill Welsh +voice in the crowd. + +Two or three dirty hands were thrust out to catch the gown of the woman, +who was groping for the latch of the door. + +"No." + +"No? Where's Kit Small, then?" + +"Begorra! on the spools. Alleys behint, though we helped her, we dud. +An wid ye! Let Deb alone! It's ondacent frettin' a quite body. Be +the powers, an' we'll have a night of it! there'll be lashin's o' +drink,--the Vargent be blessed and praised for 't!" + +They went on, the mulatto inclining for a moment to show fight, and drag +the woman Wolfe off with them; but, being pacified, she staggered away. + +Deborah groped her way into the cellar, and, after considerable +stumbling, kindled a match, and lighted a tallow dip, that sent a yellow +glimmer over the room. It was low, damp,--the earthen floor covered with +a green, slimy moss,--a fetid air smothering the breath. Old Wolfe lay +asleep on a heap of straw, wrapped in a torn horse-blanket. He was a +pale, meek little man, with a white face and red rabbit-eyes. The woman +Deborah was like him; only her face was even more ghastly, her lips +bluer, her eyes more watery. She wore a faded cotton gown and a +slouching bonnet. When she walked, one could see that she was deformed, +almost a hunchback. She trod softly, so as not to waken him, and went +through into the room beyond. There she found by the half-extinguished +fire an iron saucepan filled with cold boiled potatoes, which she put +upon a broken chair with a pint-cup of ale. Placing the old candlestick +beside this dainty repast, she untied her bonnet, which hung limp and +wet over her face, and prepared to eat her supper. It was the first +food that had touched her lips since morning. There was enough of it, +however: there is not always. She was hungry,--one could see that easily +enough,--and not drunk, as most of her companions would have been found +at this hour. She did not drink, this woman,--her face told that, +too,--nothing stronger than ale. Perhaps the weak, flaccid wretch had +some stimulant in her pale life to keep her up,--some love or hope, it +might be, or urgent need. When that stimulant was gone, she would take +to whiskey. Man cannot live by work alone. While she was skinning the +potatoes, and munching them, a noise behind her made her stop. + +"Janey!" she called, lifting the candle and peering into the darkness. +"Janey, are you there?" + +A heap of ragged coats was heaved up, and the face of a young girl +emerged, staring sleepily at the woman. + +"Deborah," she said, at last, "I'm here the night." + +"Yes, child. Hur's welcome," she said, quietly eating on. + +The girl's face was haggard and sickly; her eyes were heavy with sleep +and hunger: real Milesian eyes they were, dark, delicate blue, glooming +out from black shadows with a pitiful fright. + +"I was alone," she said, timidly. + +"Where's the father?" asked Deborah, holding out a potato, which the +girl greedily seized. + +"He's beyant,--wid Haley,--in the stone house." (Did you ever hear the +word _jail_ from an Irish mouth?) "I came here. Hugh told me never to +stay me-lone." + +"Hugh?" + +"Yes." + +A vexed frown crossed her face. The girl saw it, and added quickly,-- + +"I have not seen Hugh the day, Deb. The old man says his watch lasts +till the mornin'." + +The woman sprang up, and hastily began to arrange some bread and flitch +in a tin pail, and to pour her own measure of ale into a bottle. Tying +on her bonnet, she blew out the candle. + +"Lay ye down, Janey dear," she said, gently, covering her with the old +rags. "Hur can eat the potatoes, if hur 's hungry." + +"Where are ye goin', Deb? The rain 's sharp." + +"To the mill, with Hugh's supper." + +"Let him hide till th' morn. Sit ye down." + +"No, no,"--sharply pushing her off. "The boy'll starve." + +She hurried from the cellar, while the child wearily coiled herself up +for sleep. The rain was falling heavily, as the woman, pail in hand, +emerged from the mouth of the alley, and turned down the narrow street, +that stretched out, long and black, miles before her. Here and there a +flicker of gas lighted an uncertain space of muddy footwalk and gutter; +the long rows of houses, except an occasional lager-bier shop, were +closed; now and then she met a band of mill-hands skulking to or from +their work. + +Not many even of the inhabitants of a manufacturing town know the vast +machinery of system by which the bodies of workmen are governed, that +goes on unceasingly from year to year. The hands of each mill are +divided into watches that relieve each other as regularly as the +sentinels of an army. By night and day the work goes on, the unsleeping +engines groan and shriek, the fiery pools of metal boil and surge. Only +for a day in the week, in half-courtesy to public censure, the fires are +partially veiled; but as soon as the clock strikes midnight, the great +furnaces break forth with renewed fury, the clamor begins with fresh, +breathless vigor, the engines sob and shriek like "gods in pain." + +As Deborah hurried down through the heavy rain, the noise of these +thousand engines sounded through the sleep and shadow of the city like +far-off thunder. The mill to which she was going lay on the river, a +mile below the city-limits. It was far, and she was weak, aching from +standing twelve hours at the spools. Yet it was her almost nightly walk +to take this man his supper, though at every square she sat down to +rest, and she knew she should receive small word of thanks. + +Perhaps, if she had possessed an artist's eye, the picturesque oddity +of the scene might have made her step stagger less, and the path seem +shorter; but to her the mills were only "summat deilish to look at by +night." + +The road leading to the mills had been quarried from the solid rock, +which rose abrupt and bare on one side of the cinder-covered road, while +the river, sluggish and black, crept past on the other. The mills for +rolling iron are simply immense tent-like roofs, covering acres of +ground, open on every side. Beneath these roofs Deborah looked in on a +city of fires, that burned hot and fiercely in the night. Fire in every +horrible form: pits of flame waving in the wind; liquid metal-flames +writhing in tortuous streams through the sand; wide caldrons filled with +boiling fire, over which bent ghastly wretches stirring the strange +brewing; and through all, crowds of half-clad men, looking like +revengeful ghosts in the red light, hurried, throwing masses of +glittering fire. It was like a street in Hell. Even Deborah muttered, as +she crept through, "'T looks like t' Devil's place!" It did,--in more +ways than one. + +She found the man she was looking for, at last, heaping coal on a +furnace. He had not time to eat his supper; so she went behind the +furnace, and waited. Only a few men were with him, and they noticed her +only by a "Hyur comes t' hunchback, Wolfe." + +Deborah was stupid with sleep; her back pained her sharply; and her +teeth chattered with cold, with the rain that soaked her clothes and +dripped from her at every step. She stood, however, patiently holding +the pail, and waiting. + +"Hout, woman! ye look like a drowned cat. Come near to the fire,"--said +one of the men, approaching to scrape away the ashes. + +She shook her head. Wolfe had forgotten her. He turned, hearing the man, +and came closer. + +"I did no' think; gi' me my supper, woman." + +She watched him eat with a painful eagerness. With a woman's quick +instinct, she saw that he was not hungry,--was eating to please her. +Her pale, watery eyes began to gather a strange light. + +"Is't good, Hugh? T'ale was a bit sour, I feared." + +"No, good enough." He hesitated a moment. "Ye're tired, poor lass! Bide +here till I go. Lay down there on that heap of ash, and go to sleep." + +He threw her an old coat for a pillow, and turned to his work. The +heap was the refuse of the burnt iron, and was not a hard bed; the +half-smothered warmth, too, penetrated her limbs, dulling their pain and +cold shiver. + +Miserable enough she looked, lying there on the ashes like a limp, +dirty rag,--yet not an unfitting figure to crown the scene of hopeless +discomfort and veiled crime: more fitting, if one looked deeper into the +heart of things,--at her thwarted woman's form, her colorless life, her +waking stupor that smothered pain and hunger,--even more fit to be a +type of her class. Deeper yet if one could look, was there nothing worth +reading in this wet, faded thing, half-covered with ashes? no story of a +soul filled with groping passionate love, heroic unselfishness, fierce +jealousy? of years of weary trying to please the one human being whom +she loved, to gain one look of real heart-kindness from him? If anything +like this were hidden beneath the pale, bleared eyes, and dull, +washed-out-looking face, no one had ever taken the trouble to read its +faint signs: not the half-clothed furnace-tender, Wolfe, certainly. Yet +he was kind to her: it was his nature to be kind, even to the very rats +that swarmed in the cellar: kind to her in just the same way. She knew +that. And it might be that very knowledge had given to her face its +apathy and vacancy more than her low, torpid life. One sees that +dead, vacant look steal sometimes over the rarest, finest of women's +faces,--in the very midst, it may be, of their warmest summer's day; and +then one can guess at the secret of intolerable solitude that lies hid +beneath the delicate laces and brilliant smile. There was no warmth, no +brilliancy, no summer for this woman; so the stupor and vacancy had time +to gnaw into her face perpetually. She was young, too, though no one +guessed it; so the gnawing was the fiercer. + +She lay quiet in the dark corner, listening, through the monotonous din +and uncertain glare of the works, to the dull plash of the rain in the +far distance,--shrinking back whenever the man Wolfe happened to look +towards her. She knew, in spite of all his kindness, that there was that +in her face and form which made him loathe the sight of her. She felt by +instinct, although she could not comprehend it, the finer nature of +the man, which made him among his fellow-workmen something unique, set +apart. She knew, that, down under all the vileness and coarseness of +his life, there was a groping passion for whatever was beautiful and +pure,--that his soul sickened with disgust at her deformity, even when +his words were kindest. Through this dull consciousness, which never +left her, came, like a sting, the recollection of the dark blue eyes and +lithe figure of the little Irish girl she had left in the cellar. The +recollection struck through even her stupid intellect with a vivid glow +of beauty and of grace. Little Janey, timid, helpless, clinging to Hugh +as her only friend: that was the sharp thought, the bitter thought, that +drove into the glazed eyes a fierce light of pain. You laugh at it? Are +pain and jealousy less savage realities down here in this place I am +taking you to than in your own house or your own heart,--your heart, +which they clutch at sometimes? The note is the same, I fancy, be the +octave high or low. + +If you could go into this mill where Deborah lay, and drag out from the +hearts of these men the terrible tragedy of their lives, taking it as a +symptom of the disease of their class, no ghost Horror would terrify +you more. A reality of soul-starvation, of living death, that meets you +every day under the besotted faces on the street,--I can paint nothing +of this, only give you the outside outlines of a night, a crisis in the +life of one man: whatever muddy depth of soul-history lies beneath you +can read according to the eyes God has given you. + +Wolfe, while Deborah watched him as a spaniel its master, bent over the +furnace with his iron pole, unconscious of her scrutiny, only stopping +to receive orders. Physically, Nature had promised the man but little. +He had already lost the strength and instinct vigor of a man, his +muscles were thin, his nerves weak, his face (a meek, woman's face) +haggard, yellow with consumption. In the mill he was known as one of the +girl-men: "Molly Wolfe" was his _sobriquet_. He was never seen, in +the cockpit, did not own a terrier, drank but seldom; when he did, +desperately. He fought sometimes, but was always thrashed, pommelled to +a jelly. The man was game enough, when his blood was up: but he was no +favorite in the mill; he had the taint of school-learning on him,--not +to a dangerous extent, only a quarter or so in the free-school in fact, +but enough to ruin him as a good hand in a fight. + +For other reasons, too, he was not popular. Not one of themselves, they +felt that, though outwardly as filthy and ash-covered; silent, with +foreign thoughts and longings breaking out through his quietness in +innumerable curious ways: this one, for instance. In the neighboring +furnace-buildings lay great heaps of the refuse from the ore after the +pig-metal is run. _Korl_ we call it here: a light, porous substance, of +a delicate, waxen, flesh-colored tinge. Out of the blocks of this korl, +Wolfe, in his off-hours from the furnace, had a habit of chipping and +moulding figures,--hideous, fantastic enough, but sometimes strangely +beautiful: even the mill-men saw that, while they jeered at him. It was +a curious fancy in the man, almost a passion. The few hours for rest he +spent hewing and hacking with his blunt knife, never speaking, until his +watch came again,--working at one figure for months, and, when it was +finished, breaking it to pieces perhaps, in a fit of disappointment. A +morbid, gloomy man, untaught, unled, left to feed his soul in grossness +and crime, and hard, grinding labor. + +I want you to come down and look at this Wolfe, standing there among the +lowest of his kind, and see him just as he is, that you may judge him +justly when you hear the story of this night. I want you to look back, +as he does every day, at his birth in vice, his starved infancy; to +remember the heavy years he has groped through as boy and man,--the +slow, heavy years of constant, hot work. So long ago he began, that he +thinks sometimes he has worked there for ages. There is no hope that it +will ever end. Think that God put into this man's soul a fierce thirst +for beauty,--to know it, to create it; to _be_--something, he knows not +what,--other than he is. There are moments when a passing cloud, the sun +glinting on the purple thistles, a kindly smile, a child's face, will +rouse him to a passion of pain,--when his nature starts up with a mad +cry of rage against God, man, whoever it is that has forced this vile, +slimy life upon him. With all this groping, this mad desire, a great +blind intellect stumbling through wrong, a loving poet's heart, the man +was by habit only a coarse, vulgar laborer, familiar with sights and +words you would blush to name. Be just; when I tell you about this +night, see him as he is. Be just,--not like man's law, which seizes on +one isolated fact, but like God's judging angel, whose clear, sad +eye saw all the countless cankering days of this man's life, all the +countless nights, when, sick with starving, his soul fainted in him, +before it judged him for this night, the saddest of all. + +I called this night the crisis of his life. If it was, it stole on him +unawares. These great turning-days of life cast no shadow before, slip +by unconsciously. Only a trifle, a little turn of the rudder, and the +ship goes to heaven or hell. + +Wolfe, while Deborah watched him, dug into the furnace of melting iron +with his pole, dully thinking only how many rails the lump would yield. +It was late,--nearly Sunday morning; another hour, and the heavy work +would be done,--only the furnaces to replenish and cover for the next +day. The workmen were growing more noisy, shouting, as they had to do, +to be heard over the deep clamor of the mills. Suddenly they grew less +boisterous,--at the far end, entirely silent. Something unusual had +happened. After a moment, the silence came nearer; the men stopped their +jeers and drunken choruses. Deborah, stupidly lifting up her head, +saw the cause of the quiet. A group of five or six men were slowly +approaching, stopping to examine each furnace as they came. Visitors +often came to see the mills after night: except by growing less noisy, +the men took no notice of them. The furnace where Wolfe worked was near +the bounds of the works; they halted there hot and tired: a walk over +one of these great foundries is no trifling task. The woman, drawing out +of sight, turned over to sleep. Wolfe, seeing them stop, suddenly roused +from his indifferent stupor, and watched them keenly. He knew some +of them: the overseer, Clarke,--a son of Kirby, one of the +mill-owners,--and a Doctor May, one of the town-physicians. The other +two were strangers. Wolfe came closer. He seized eagerly every chance +that brought him into contact with this mysterious class that shone down +on him perpetually with the glamour of another order of being. What made +the difference between them? That was the mystery of his life. He had +a vague notion that perhaps to-night he could find it out. One of the +strangers sat down on a pile of bricks, and beckoned young Kirby to his +side. + +"This _is_ hot, with a vengeance. A match, please?"--lighting his cigar. +"But the walk is worth the trouble. If it were not that you must have +heard it so often, Kirby, I would tell you that your works look like +Dante's Inferno." + +Kirby laughed. + +"Yes. Yonder is Farinata himself in the burning tomb,"--pointing to some +figure in the shimmering shadows. + +"Judging from some of the faces of your men," said the other, "they bid +fair to try the reality of Dante's vision, some day." + +Young Kirby looked curiously around, as if seeing the faces of his hands +for the first time. + +"They're bad enough, that's true. A desperate set, I fancy. Eh, Clarke?" + +The overseer did not hear him. He was talking of net profits just +then,--giving, in fact, a schedule of the annual business of the firm to +a sharp peering little Yankee, who jotted down notes on a paper laid on +the crown of his hat: a reporter for one of the city-papers, getting up +a series of reviews of the leading manufactories. The other gentlemen +had accompanied them merely for amusement. They were silent until the +notes were finished, drying their feet at the furnaces, and sheltering +their faces from the intolerable heat. At last the overseer concluded +with--"I believe that is a pretty fair estimate, Captain." + +"Here, some of you men!" said Kirby, "bring up those boards. We may as +well sit down, gentlemen, until the rain is over. It cannot last much +longer at this rate." + +"Pig-metal,"--mumbled the reporter,--"um!--coal facilities,--um!--hands +employed, twelve hundred,--bitumen,--um!--'all right, I believe, Mr. +Clarke;--sinking-fund,--what did you say was your sinking-fund?" + +"Twelve hundred hands?" said the stranger, the young man who had first +spoken. "Do you control their votes, Kirby?" + +"Control? No." The young man smiled complacently. "But my father brought +seven hundred votes to the polls for his candidate last November. No +force-work, you understand,--only a speech or two, a hint to form +themselves into a society, and a bit of red and blue bunting to make +them a flag. The Invincible Roughs,--I believe that is their name. I +forget the motto: 'Our country's hope,' I think." + +There was a laugh. The young man talking to Kirby sat with an amused +light in his cool gray eye, surveying critically the half-clothed +figures of the puddlers, and the slow swing of their brawny muscles. He +was a stranger in the city,--spending a couple of months in the +borders of a Slave State, to study the institutions of the South,--a +brother-in-law of Kirby's,--Mitchell. He was an amateur gymnast,--hence +his anatomical eye; a patron, in a _blase_ way, of the prize-ring; a man +who sucked the essence out of a science or philosophy in an indifferent, +gentlemanly way; who took Kant, Novalis, Humboldt, for what they were +worth in his own scales; accepting all, despising nothing, in heaven, +earth, or hell, but one-idead men; with a temper yielding and brilliant +as summer water, until his Self was touched, when it was ice, though +brilliant still. Such men are not rare in the States. + +As he knocked the ashes from his cigar, Wolfe caught with a quick +pleasure the contour of the white hand, the blood-glow of a red ring he +wore. His voice, too, and that of Kirby's, touched him like music,--low, +even, with chording cadences. About this man Mitchell hung the +impalpable atmosphere belonging to the thorough-bred gentleman. Wolfe, +scraping away the ashes beside him, was conscious of it, did obeisance +to it with his artist sense, unconscious that he did so. + +The rain did not cease. Clarke and the reporter left the mills; the +others, comfortably seated near the furnace, lingered, smoking +and talking in a desultory way. Greek would not have been more +unintelligible to the furnace-tenders, whose presence they soon forgot +entirely. Kirby drew out a newspaper from his pocket and read aloud some +article, which they discussed eagerly. At every sentence, Wolfe listened +more and more like a dumb, hopeless animal, with a duller, more stolid +look creeping over his face, glancing now and then at Mitchell, marking +acutely every smallest sign of refinement, then back to himself, seeing +as in a mirror his filthy body, his more stained soul. + +Never! He had no words for such a thought, but he knew now, in all the +sharpness of the bitter certainty, that between them there was a great +gulf never to be passed. Never! + +The bell of the mills rang for midnight. Sunday morning had dawned. +Whatever hidden message lay in the tolling bells floated past these men +unknown. Yet it was there. Veiled in the solemn music ushering the risen +Saviour was a key-note to solve the darkest secrets of a world gone +wrong,--even this social riddle which the brain of the grimy puddler +grappled with madly to-night. + +The men began to withdraw the metal from the caldrons. The mills were +deserted on Sundays, except by the hands who fed the fires, and those +who had no lodgings and slept usually on the ash-heaps. The three +strangers sat still during the next hour, watching the men cover the +furnaces, laughing now and then at some jest of Kirby's. + +"Do you know," said Mitchell, "I like this view of the works better than +when the glare was fiercest? These heavy shadows and the amphitheatre +of smothered fires are ghostly, unreal. One could fancy these red +smouldering lights to be the half-shut eyes of wild beasts, and the +spectral figures their victims in the den." + +Kirby laughed. "You are fanciful. Come, let us get out of the den. The +spectral figures, as you call them, are a little too real for me to +fancy a close proximity in the darkness,--unarmed, too." + +The others rose, buttoning their overcoats, and lighting cigars. + +"Raining, still," said Doctor May, "and hard. Where did we leave the +coach, Mitchell?" + +"At the other side of the works.--Kirby, what's that?" + +Mitchell started back, half-frightened, as, suddenly turning a corner, +the white figure of a woman faced him in the darkness,--a woman, white, +of giant proportions, crouching on the ground, her arms flung out in +some wild gesture of warning. + +"Stop! Make that fire burn there!" cried Kirby, stopping short. + +The flame burst out, flashing the gaunt figure into bold relief. + +Mitchell drew a long breath. + +"I thought it was alive," he said, going up curiously. + +The others followed. + +"Not marble, eh?" asked Kirby, touching it. + +One of the lower overseers stopped. + +"Korl, Sir." + +"Who did it?" + +"Can't say. Some of the hands; chipped it out in off-hours." + +"Chipped to some purpose, I should say. What a flesh-tint the stuff has! +Do you see, Mitchell?" + +"I see." + +He had stepped aside where the light fell boldest on the figure, looking +at it in silence. There was not one line of beauty or grace in it: a +nude woman's form, muscular, grown coarse with labor, the powerful limbs +instinct with some one poignant longing. One idea: there it was in the +tense, rigid muscles, the clutching hands, the wild, eager face, like +that of a starving wolf's. Kirby and Doctor May walked around it, +critical, curious. Mitchell stood aloof, silent. The figure touched him +strangely. + +"Not badly done," said Doctor May. "Where did the fellow learn that +sweep of the muscles in the arm and hand? Look at them! They are +groping,--do you see?--clutching: the peculiar action of a man dying of +thirst." + +"They have ample facilities for studying anatomy," sneered Kirby, +glancing at the half-naked figures. + +"Look," continued the Doctor, "at this bony wrist, and the strained +sinews of the instep! A working-woman,--the very type of her class." + +"God forbid!" muttered Mitchell. + +"Why?" demanded May. "What does the fellow intend by the figure? I +cannot catch the meaning." + +"Ask him," said the other, dryly. "There he stands,"--pointing to Wolfe, +who stood with a group of men, leaning on his ash-rake. + +The Doctor beckoned him with the affable smile which kind-hearted men +put on, when talking to these people. + +"Mr. Mitchell has picked you out as the man who did this,--I'm sure I +don't know why. But what did you mean by it?" + +"She be hungry." + +Wolfe's eyes answered Mitchell, not the Doctor. + +"Oh-h! But what a mistake you have made, my fine fellow! You have given +no sign of starvation to the body. It is strong,--terribly strong. It +has the mad, half-despairing gesture of drowning." + +Wolfe stammered, glanced appealingly at Mitchell, who saw the soul of +the thing, he knew. But the cool, probing eyes were turned on himself +now,--mocking, cruel, relentless. + +"Not hungry for meat," the furnace-tender said at last. + +"What then? Whiskey?" jeered Kirby, with a coarse laugh. + +Wolfe was silent a moment, thinking. + +"I dunno," he said, with a bewildered look. "It mebbe. Summat to make +her live, I think,--like you. Whiskey ull do it, in a way." + +The young man laughed again. Mitchell flashed a look of disgust +somewhere,--not at Wolfe. + +"May," he broke out impatiently, "are you blind? Look at that woman's +face! It asks questions of God, and says, 'I have a right to know.' Good +God, how hungry it is!" + +They looked a moment; then May turned to the mill-owner:-- + +"Have you many such hands as this? What are you going to do with them? +Keep them at puddling iron?" + +Kirby shrugged his shoulders. Mitchell's look had irritated him. + +"_Ce n'est pas mon affaire_. I have no fancy for nursing infant +geniuses. I suppose there are some stray gleams of mind and soul among +these wretches. The Lord will take care of his own; or else they can +work out their own salvation. I have heard you call our American system +a ladder which any man can scale. Do you doubt it? Or perhaps you want +to banish all social ladders, and put us all on a flat table-land,--eh, +May?" + +The Doctor looked vexed, puzzled. Some terrible problem lay hid in this +woman's face, and troubled these men. Kirby waited for an answer, and, +receiving none, went on, warning with his subject. + +"I tell you, there's something wrong that no talk of '_Liberte_' or +'_Egalite_' will do away. If I had the making of men, these men who +do the lowest part of the world's work should be machines,--nothing +more,--hands. It would be kindness. God help them! What are taste, +reason, to creatures who must live such lives as that?" He pointed to +Deborah, sleeping on the ash-heap. "So many nerves to sting them to +pain. What if God had put your brain, with all its agony of touch, into +your fingers, and bid you work and strike with that?" + +"You think you could govern the world better?" laughed the Doctor. + +"I do not think at all." + +"That is true philosophy. Drift with the stream, because you cannot dive +deep enough to find bottom, eh?" + +"Exactly," rejoined Kirby. "I do not think. I wash my hands of all +social problems,--slavery, caste, white or black. My duty to my +operatives has a narrow limit,--the pay-hour on Saturday night. Outside +of that, if they cut korl, or cut each other's throats, (the more +popular amusement of the two,) I am not responsible." + +The Doctor sighed,--a good honest sigh, from the depths of his stomach. + +"God help us! Who is responsible?" + +"Not I, I tell you," said Kirby, testily. "What has the man who pays +them money to do with their souls' concerns, more than the grocer or +butcher who takes it?" + +"And yet," said Mitchell's cynical voice, "look at her! How hungry she +is!" + +Kirby tapped his boot with his cane. No one spoke. Only the dumb face of +the rough image looking into their faces with the awful question, "What +shall we do to be saved?" Only Wolfe's face, with its heavy weight of +brain, its weak, uncertain mouth, its desperate eyes, out of which +looked the soul of his class,--only Wolfe's face turned towards Kirby's. +Mitchell laughed,--a cool, musical laugh. + +"Money has spoken!" he said, seating himself lightly on a stone with the +air of an amused spectator at a play. "Are you answered?"--turning to +Wolfe his clear, magnetic face. + +Bright and deep and cold as Arctic air, the soul of the man lay tranquil +beneath. He looked at the furnace-tender as he had looked at a rare +mosaic in the morning; only the man was the more amusing study of the +two. + +"Are you answered? Why, May, look at him! '_De profundis clamavi_.' Or, +to quote in English, 'Hungry and thirsty, his soul faints in him.' And +so Money sends back its answer into the depths through you, Kirby! +Very clear the answer, too!--I think I remember reading the same words +somewhere:--washing your hands in Eau de Cologne, and saying, 'I am +innocent of the blood of this man. See ye to it!'" + +Kirby flushed angrily. + +"You quote Scripture freely." + +"Do I not quote correctly? I think I remember another line, which may +amend my meaning: 'Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these, +ye did it unto me.' Deist? Bless you, man, I was raised on the milk of +the Word. Now, Doctor, the pocket of the world having uttered its +voice, what has the heart to say? You are a philanthropist, in a small +way,--_n'est ce pas_? Here, boy, this gentleman can show you how to cut +korl better,--or your destiny. Go on, May!" + +"I think a mocking devil possesses you to-night," rejoined the Doctor, +seriously. + +He went to Wolfe and put his hand kindly on his arm. Something of a +vague idea possessed the Doctor's brain that much good was to be done +here by a friendly word or two: a latent genius to be warmed into life +by a waited-for sunbeam. Here it was: he had brought it. So he went on +complacently:-- + +"Do you know, boy, you have it in you to be a great sculptor, a great +man?--do you understand?" (talking down to the capacity of his hearer: +it is a way people have with children, and men like Wolfe,)--"to live a +better, stronger life than I, or Mr. Kirby here? A man may make himself +anything he chooses. God has given you stronger powers than many +men,--me, for instance." + +May stopped, heated, glowing with his own magnanimity. And it was +magnanimous. The puddler had drunk in every word, looking through the +Doctor's flurry, and generous heat, and self-approval, into his will, +with those slow, absorbing eyes of his. + +"Make yourself what you will. It is your right." + +"I know," quietly. "Will you help me?" + +Mitchell laughed again. The Doctor turned now, in a passion,-- + +"You know, Mitchell, I have not the means. You know, if I had, it is in +my heart to take this boy and educate him for"---- + +"The glory of God, and the glory of John May." + +May did not speak for a moment; then, controlled, he said,-- + +"Why should one be raised, when myriads are left?--I have not the money, +boy," to Wolfe, shortly. + +"Money?" He said it over slowly, as one repeals the guessed answer to a +riddle, doubtfully. "That is it? Money?" + +"Yes, money,--that is it," said Mitchell, rising, and drawing his +furred coat about him. "You've found the cure for all the world's +diseases.--Come, May, find your good-humor, and come home. This damp +wind chills my very bones. Come and preach your Saint-Simonian doctrines +to-morrow to Kirby's hands. Let them have a clear idea of the rights of +the soul, and I'll venture next week they'll strike for higher wages. +That will be the end of it." + +"Will you send the coach-driver to this side of the mills?" asked Kirby, +turning to Wolfe. + +He spoke kindly: it was his habit to do so. Deborah, seeing the puddler +go, crept after him. The three men waited outside. Doctor May walked up +and down, chafed. Suddenly he stopped. + +"Go back, Mitchell! You say the pocket and the heart of the world speak +without meaning to these people. What has its head to say? Taste, +culture, refinement? Go!" + +Mitchell was leaning against a brick wall. He turned his head +indolently, and looked into the mills. There hung about the place a +thick, unclean odor. The slightest motion of his hand marked that he +perceived it, and his insufferable disgust. That was all. May said +nothing, only quickened his angry tramp. + +"Besides," added Mitchell, giving a corollary to his answer, "it would +be of no use. I am not one of them." + +"You do not mean"--said May, facing him. + +"Yes, I mean just that. Reform is born of need, not pity. No vital +movement of the people's has worked down, for good or evil; fermented, +instead, carried up the heaving, cloggy mass. Think back through +history, and you will know it. What will this lowest deep--thieves, +Magdalens, negroes--do with the light filtered through ponderous Church +creeds, Baconian theories, Goethe schemes? Some day, out of their bitter +need will be thrown up their own light-bringer,--their Jean Paul, their +Cromwell, their Messiah." + +"Bah!" was the Doctor's inward criticism. However, in practice, he +adopted the theory; for, when, night and morning, afterwards, he prayed +that power might be given these degraded souls to rise, he glowed at +heart, recognizing an accomplished duty. + +Wolfe and the woman had stood in the shadow of the works as the coach +drove off. The Doctor had held out his hand in a frank, generous way, +telling him to "take care of himself, and to remember it was his right +to rise." Mitchell had simply touched his hat, as to an equal, with a +quiet look of thorough recognition. Kirby had thrown Deborah some money, +which she found, and clutched eagerly enough. They were gone now, all +of them. The man sat down on the cinder-road, looking up into the murky +sky. + +"'T be late, Hugh. Wunnot hur come?" + +He shook his head doggedly, and the woman crouched out of his sight +against the wall. Do you remember rare moments when a sudden +light flashed over yourself, your world, God? when you stood on a +mountain-peak, seeing your life as it might have been, as it is? one +quick instant, when custom lost its force and every-day usage? when your +friend, wife, brother, stood in a new light? your soul was bared, and +the grave,--a foretaste of the nakedness of the Judgment-Day? So it came +before him, his life, that night. The slow tides of pain he had borne +gathered themselves up and surged against his soul. His squalid daily +life, the brutal coarseness eating into his brain, as the ashes into +his skin: before, these things had been a dull aching into his +consciousness; to-night, they were reality. He griped the filthy red +shirt that clung, stiff with soot, about him, and tore it savagely from +his arm. The flesh beneath was muddy with grease and ashes,--and the +heart beneath that! And the soul? God knows. + +Then flashed before his vivid poetic sense the man who had left +him,--the pure face, the delicate, sinewy limbs, in harmony with all he +knew of beauty or truth. In his cloudy fancy he had pictured a Something +like this. He had found it in this Mitchell, even when he idly scoffed +at his pain: a Man all-knowing, all-seeing, crowned by Nature, +reigning,--the keen glance of his eye falling like a sceptre on other +men. And yet his instinct taught him that he too--He! He looked at +himself with sudden loathing, sick, wrung his hands with a cry, and then +was silent. With all the phantoms of his heated, ignorant fancy, Wolfe +had not been vague in his ambitious. They were practical, slowly built +up before him out of his knowledge of what he could do. Through years +he had day by day made this hope a real thing to himself,--a clear, +projected figure of himself, as he might become. + +Able to speak, to know what was best, to raise these men and women +working at his side up with him: sometimes he forgot this defined hope +in the frantic anguish to escape,--only to escape,--out of the wet, the +pain, the ashes, somewhere, anywhere,--only for one moment of free air +on a hill-side, to lie down and let his sick soul throb itself out in +the sunshine. But to-night he panted for life. The savage strength of +his nature was roused; his cry was fierce to God for justice. + +"Look at me!" he said to Deborah, with a low, bitter laugh, striking his +puny chest savagely. "What am I worth, Deb? Is it my fault that I am no +better? My fault? My fault?" + +He stopped, stung with a sudden remorse, seeing her hunchback shape +writhing with sobs. For Deborah was crying thankless tears, according to +the fashion of women. + +"God forgi' me, woman! Things go harder wi' you nor me. It's a worse +share." + +He got up and helped her to rise; and they went doggedly down the muddy +street, side by side. + +"It's all wrong," he muttered, slowly,--"all wrong! I dunnot +understan'. But it'll end some day." + +"Come home, Hugh!" she said, coaxingly; for he had stopped, looking +around bewildered. + +"Home,--and back to the mill!" He went on saying this over to himself, +as if he would mutter down every pain in this dull despair. + +She followed him through the fog, her blue lips chattering with cold. +They reached the cellar at last. Old Wolfe had been drinking since she +went out, and had crept nearer the door. The girl Janey slept heavily In +the corner. He went up to her, touching softly the worn white arm with +his fingers. Some bitterer thought stung him, as he stood there. He +wiped the drops from his forehead, and went into the room beyond, livid, +trembling. A hope, trifling, perhaps, but very dear, had died just then +out of the poor puddler's life, as he looked at the sleeping, innocent +girl,--some plan for the future, in which she had borne a part. He gave +it up that moment, then and forever. Only a trifle, perhaps, to us: his +face grew a shade paler,--that was all. But, somehow, the man's soul, as +God and the angels looked down on it, never was the same afterwards. + +Deborah followed him into the inner room. She carried a candle, which +she placed on the floor, dosing the door after her. She had seen the +look on his face, as he turned away: her own grew deadly. Yet, as she +came up to him, her eyes glowed. He was seated on an old chest, quiet, +holding his face in his hands. + +"Hugh!" she said, softly. + +He did not speak. + +"Hugh, did hur hear what the man said,--him with the clear voice? Did +hur hear? Money, money,--that it wud do all?" + +He pushed her away,--gently, but he was worn out; her rasping tone +fretted him. + +"Hugh!" + +The candle flared a pale yellow light over the cobwebbed brick walls, +and the woman standing there. He looked at her. She was young, in deadly +earnest; her faded eyes, and wet, ragged figure caught from their +frantic eagerness a power akin to beauty. + +"Hugh, it is true! Money ull do it! Oh, Hugh, boy, listen till me! He +said it true! It is money!" + +"I know. Go back! I do not want you here." + +"Hugh, it is t' last time. I 'II never worrit hur again." + +There were tears in her voice now, but she choked them back. + +"Hear till me only to-night! If one of t' witch people wud come, them we +heard of t' home, and gif hur all hur wants, what then? Say, Hugh!" + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean money.". + +Her whisper shrilled through his brain. + +"If one of t' witch dwarfs wud come from t' lane moors to-night, and gif +hur money, to go out,--_out_, I say,--out, lad, where t' sun shines, and +t' heath grows, and t' ladies walk in silken gownds, and God stays all +t' time,--where t' man lives that talked to us to-night,--Hugh knows, +--Hugh could walk there like a king!" + +He thought the woman mad, tried to check her, but she went on, fierce in +her eager haste. + +"If _I_ were t' witch dwarf, if I had f money, wud hur thank me? Wud hur +take me out o' this place wid hur and Janey? I wud not come into the +gran' house hur wud build, to vex hur wid t' hunch,--only at night, when +t' shadows were dark, stand far off to see hur." + +Mad? Yes! Are many of us mad in this way? + +"Poor Deb! poor Deb!" he said, soothingly. + +"It is here," she said, suddenly jerking into his hand a small roll. +"I took it! I did it! Me, me!--not hur! I shall be hanged, I shall be +burnt in hell, if anybody knows I took it! Out of his pocket, as he +leaned against t' bricks. Hur knows?" + +She thrust it into his hand, and then, her errand done, began to gather +chips together to make a fire, choking down hysteric sobs. + +"Has it come to this?" + +That was all he said. The Welsh Wolfe blood was honest. The roll was a +small green pocket-book containing one or two gold pieces, and a check +for an incredible amount, as it seemed to the poor puddler. He laid it +down, hiding his face again in his hands. + +"Hugh, don't be angry wud me! It's only poor Deb,--hur knows?" + +He took the long skinny fingers kindly in his. + +"Angry? God help me, no! Let me sleep. I am tired." + +He threw himself heavily down on the wooden bench, stunned with pain and +weariness. She brought some old rags to cover him. + +It was late on Sunday evening before he awoke. I tell God's truth, when +I say he had then no thought of keeping this money. Deborah had hid it +in his pocket. He found it there. She watched him eagerly, as he took it +out. + +"I must gif it to him," he said, reading her face. + +"Hur knows," she said with a bitter sigh of disappointment. "But it is +hur right to keep it." + +His right! The word struck him. Doctor May had used the same. He washed +himself, and went out to find this man Mitchell. His right! Why did this +chance word cling to him so obstinately? Do you hear the fierce devils +whisper in his ear, as he went slowly down the darkening street? + +The evening came on, slow and calm. He seated himself at the end of +an alley leading into one of the larger streets. His brain was clear +to-night, keen, intent, mastering. It would not start back, cowardly, +from any hellish temptation, but meet it face to face. Therefore the +great temptation of his life came to him veiled by no sophistry, but +bold, defiant, owning its own vile name, trusting to one bold blow for +victory. + +He did not deceive himself. Theft! That was it. At first the word +sickened him; then he grappled with it. Sitting there on a broken +cart-wheel, the fading day, the noisy groups, the church-bells' tolling +passed before him like a panorama, while the sharp struggle went on +within. This money! He took it out, and looked at it. If he gave it +back, what then? He was going to be cool about it. + +People going by to church saw only a sickly mill-boy watching them +quietly at the alley's mouth. They did not know that he was mad, or they +would not have gone by so quietly: mad with hunger; stretching out his +hands to the world, that had given so much to them, for leave to live +the life God meant him to live. His soul within him was smothering to +death; he wanted so much, thought so much, and _knew_--nothing. There +was nothing of which he was certain, except the mill and things there. +Of God and heaven he had heard so little, that they were to him what +fairy-land is to a child: something real, but not here; very far off. +His brain, greedy, dwarfed, full of thwarted energy and unused powers, +questioned these men and women going by, coldly, bitterly, that night. +Was it not his right to live as they,--a pure life, a good, true-hearted +life, full of beauty and kind words? He only wanted to know how to use +the strength within him. His heart warmed, as he thought of it. He +suffered himself to think of it longer. If he took the money? + +Then he saw himself as he might be, strong, helpful, kindly. The night +crept on, as this one image slowly evolved itself from the crowd of +other thoughts and stood triumphant. He looked at it. As he might be! +What wonder, if it blinded him to delirium,--the madness that underlies +all revolution, all progress, and all fall? + +You laugh at the shallow temptation? You see the error underlying +its argument so clearly,--that to him a true life was one of full +development rather than self-restraint? that he was deaf to the higher +tone in a cry of voluntary suffering for truth's sake than in the +fullest flow of spontaneous harmony? I do not plead his cause. I only +want to show you the mote in my brother's eye: then you can see clearly +to take it out. + +The money,--there it lay on his knee, a little blotted slip of paper, +nothing in itself; used to raise him out of the pit; something straight +from God's hand. A thief! Well, what was it to be a thief? He met the +question at last, face to face, wiping the clammy drops of sweat +from his forehead. God made this money--the fresh air, too--for his +children's use. He never made the difference between poor and rich. The +Something who looked down on him that moment through the cool gray sky +had a kindly face, he knew,--loved his children alike. Oh, he knew that! + +There were times when the soft floods of color in the crimson and purple +flames, or the clear depth of amber in the water below the bridge, had +somehow given him a glimpse of another world than this,--of an infinite +depth of beauty and of quiet somewhere,--somewhere,--a depth of quiet +and rest and love. Looking up now, it became strangely real. The sun had +sunk quite below the hills, but his last rays struck upward, touching +the zenith. The fog had risen, and the town and river were steeped in +its thick, gray damp; but overhead, the sun-touched smoke-clouds opened +like a cleft ocean,--shifting, rolling seas of crimson mist, waves of +billowy silver reined with blood-scarlet, inner depths unfathomable of +glancing light. Wolfe's artist-eye grew drunk with color. The gates of +that other world! Fading, flashing before him now! What, in that world +of Beauty, Content, and Right, were the petty laws, the mine and thine, +of mill-owners and mill-hands? + +A consciousness of power stirred within him. He stood up. A man,--he +thought, stretching out his hands,--free to work, to live, to love! +Free! His right! He folded the scrap of paper in his hand. As his +nervous fingers took it in, limp and blotted, so his soul took in the +mean temptation, lapped it in fancied rights, in dreams of improved +existences, drifting and endless as the cloud-seas of color. Clutching +it, as if the tightness of his hold would strengthen his sense of +possession, he went aimlessly down the street. It was his watch at the +mill. He need not go, need never go again, thank God!--shaking off the +thought with unspeakable loathing. + +Shall I go over the history of the hours of that night? how the +man wandered from one to another of his old haunts, with a +half-consciousness of bidding them farewell,--lanes and alleys and +back-yards where the mill-hands lodged,--noting, with a new eagerness, +the filth and drunkenness, the pig-pens, the ash-heaps covered with +potato-skins, the bloated, pimpled women at the doors,--with a new +disgust, a new sense of sudden triumph, and, under all, a new, vague +dread, unknown before, smothered down, kept under, but still there? It +left him but once during the night, when, for the second time in his +life, he entered a church. It was a sombre Gothic pile, where the +stained light lost itself in far-retreating arches; built to meet the +requirements and sympathies of a far other class than Wolfe's. Yet it +touched, moved him uncontrollably. The distances, the shadows, the +still, marble figures, the mass of silent kneeling worshippers, the +mysterious music, thrilled, lifted his soul with a wonderful pain. Wolfe +forgot himself, forgot the new life he was going to live, the mean +terror gnawing underneath. The voice of the speaker strengthened the +charm; it was clear, feeling, full, strong. An old man, who had lived +much, suffered much; whose brain was keenly alive, dominant; whose heart +was summer-warm with charity. He taught it to-night. He held up Humanity +in its grand total; showed the great world-cancer to his people. Who +could show it better? He was a Christian reformer; he had studied the +age thoroughly; his outlook at man had been free, world-wide, over all +time. His faith stood sublime upon the Rock of Ages; his fiery zeal +guided vast schemes by which the gospel was to be preached to all +nations. How did he preach it to-night? In burning, light-laden words he +painted the incarnate Life, Love, the universal Man: words that became +reality in the lives of these people,--that lived again in beautiful +words and actions, trifling, but heroic. Sin, as he defied it, was a +real foe to them; their trials, temptations, were his. His words passed +far over the furnace-tender's grasp, toned to suit another class of +culture; they sounded in his ears a very pleasant song in an unknown +tongue. He meant to cure this world-cancer with a steady eye that +had never glared with hunger, and a hand that neither poverty nor +strychnine-whiskey had taught to shake. In this morbid, distorted heart +of the Welsh puddler he had failed. + +Wolfe rose at last, and turned from the church down the street. He +looked up; the night had come on foggy, damp; the golden mists had +vanished, and the sky lay dull and ash-colored. He wandered again +aimlessly down the street, idly wondering what had become of the +cloud-sea of crimson and scarlet. The trial-day of this man's life was +over, and he had lost the victory. What followed was mere drifting +circumstance,--a quicker walking over the path,--that was all. Do you +want to hear the end of it? You wish me to make a tragic story out of +it? Why, in the police-reports of the morning paper you can find a dozen +such tragedies: hints of ship-wrecks unlike any that ever befell on the +high seas; hints that here a power was lost to heaven,--that there a +soul went down where no tide can ebb or flow. Commonplace enough the +hints are,--jocose sometimes, done up in rhyme. + +Doctor May, a month after the night I have told you of, was reading to +his wife at breakfast from this fourth column of the morning-paper: an +unusual thing,--these police-reports not being, in general, choice +reading for ladies; but it was only one item he read. + +"Oh, my dear! You remember that man I told you of, that we saw at +Kirby's mill?--that was arrested for robbing Mitchell? Here he is; just +listen:--'Circuit Court. Judge Day, Hugh Wolfe, operative in Kirby & +John's Loudon Mills. Charge, grand larceny. Sentence, nineteen years +hard labor in penitentiary.'--Scoundrel! Serves him right! After all +our kindness that night! Picking Mitchell's pocket at the very time!" + +His wife said something about the ingratitude of that kind of people, +and then they began to talk of something else. + +Nineteen years! How easy that was to read! What a simple word for Judge +Day to utter! Nineteen years! Half a lifetime! + +Hugh Wolfe sat on the window-ledge of his cell, looking out. His ankles +were ironed. Not usual in such cases; but he had made two desperate +efforts to escape. "Well," as Haley, the jailer, said, "small blame +to him! Nineteen years' imprisonment was not a pleasant thing to look +forward to." Haley was very good-natured about it, though Wolfe had +fought him savagely. + +"When he was first caught," the jailer said afterwards, in telling the +story, "before the trial, the fellow was cut down at once,--laid there +on that pallet like a dead man, with his hands over his eyes. Never saw +a man so cut down in my life. Time of the trial, too, came the queerest +dodge of any customer I ever had. Would choose no lawyer. Judge gave him +one, of course. Gibson it was. He tried to prove the fellow crazy; but +it wouldn't go. Thing was plain as daylight: money found on him. 'Twas a +hard sentence,--all the law allows; but it was for 'xample's sake. These +mill-hands are gettin' onbearable. When the sentence was read, he just +looked up, and said the money was his by rights, and that all the world +had gone wrong. That night, after the trial, a gentleman came to see him +here, name of Mitchell,--him as he stole from. Talked to him for an +hour. Thought he came for curiosity, like. After he was gone, thought +Wolfe was remarkable quiet, and went into his cell. Found him very low; +bed all bloody. Doctor said he had been bleeding at the lungs. He was as +weak as a cat; yet, if ye'll b'lieve me, he tried to get a-past me and +get out. I just carried him like a baby, and threw him on the pallet. +Three days after, he tried it again: that time reached the wall. Lord +help you! he fought like a tiger,--giv' some terrible blows. Fightin' +for life, you see; for he can't live long, shut up in the stone crib +down yonder. Got a death-cough now. 'T took two of us to bring him down +that day; so I just put the irons on his feet. There he sits, in there. +Goin' to-morrow, with a batch more of 'em. That woman, hunchback, tried +with him,--you remember?--she's only got three years. 'Complice. But +_she's_ a woman, you know. He's been quiet ever since I put on irons: +giv' up, I suppose. Looks white, sick-lookin'. It acts different on 'em, +bein' sentenced. Most of 'em gets reckless, devilish-like. Some prays +awful, and sings them vile songs of the mills, all in a breath. That +woman, now, she's desper't'. Been beggin' to see Hugh, as she calls him, +for three days. I'm a-goin' to let her in. She don't go with him. Here +she is in this next cell. I'm a-goin' now to let her in." + +He let her in. Wolfe did not see her. She crept into a corner of the +cell, and stood watching him. He was scratching the iron bars of the +window with a piece of tin which he had picked up, with an idle, +uncertain, vacant stare, just as a child or idiot would do. + +"Tryin' to get out, old boy?" laughed Haley. "Them irons will need a +crowbar beside your tin, before you can open 'em." + +Wolfe laughed, too, in a senseless way. + +"I think I'll get out," he said. + +"I believe his brain's touched," said Haley, when he came out. + +The puddler scraped away with the tin for half an hour. Still Deborah +did not speak. At last she ventured nearer, and touched his arm. + +"Blood?" she said, looking at some spots on his coat with a shudder. + +He looked up at her. "Why, Deb!" he said, smiling,--such a bright, +boyish smile, that it went to poor Deborah's heart directly, and she +sobbed and cried out loud. + +"Oh, Hugh, lad! Hugh! dunnot look at me, when it wur my fault! To think +I brought hur to it! And I loved hur so! Oh, lad, I dud!" + +The confession, even in this wretch, came with the woman's blush through +the sharp cry. + +He did not seem to hear her,--scraping away diligently at the bars with +the bit of tin. + +Was he going mad? She peered closely into his face. Something she saw +there made her draw suddenly back,--something which Haley had not seen, +that lay beneath the pinched, vacant look it had caught since the trial, +or the curious gray shadow that rested on it. That gray shadow,--yes, +she knew what that meant. She had often seen it creeping over women's +faces for months, who died at last of slow hunger or consumption. That +meant death, distant, lingering: but this--Whatever it was the woman +saw, or thought she saw, used as she was to crime and misery, seemed to +make her sick with a new horror. Forgetting her fear of him, she caught +his shoulders, and looked keenly, steadily, into his eyes. + +"Hugh!" she cried, in a desperate whisper,--"oh, boy, not that! for +God's sake, not _that!_" + +The vacant laugh went off his face, and he answered her in a muttered +word or two that drove her away. Yet the words were kindly enough. +Sitting there on his pallet, she cried silently a hopeless sort of +tears, but did not speak again. The man looked up furtively at her now +and then. Whatever his own trouble was, her distress vexed him with a +momentary sting. + +It was market-day. The narrow window of the jail looked down directly on +the carts and wagons drawn up in a long line, where they had unloaded. +He could see, too, and hear distinctly the clink of money as it changed +hands, the busy crowd of whites and blacks shoving, pushing one another, +and the chaffering and swearing at the stalls. Somehow, the sound, more +than anything else had done, wakened him up,--made the whole real to +him. He was done with the world and the business of it. He let the tin +fall, and looked out, pressing his face close to the rusty bars. How +they crowded and pushed! And he,--he should never walk that pavement +again! There came Neff Sanders, one of the feeders at the mill, with +a basket on his arm. Sure enough, Neff was married the other week. He +whistled, hoping he would look up; but he did not. He wondered if Neff +remembered he was there,--if any of the boys thought of him up there, +and thought that he never was to go down that old cinder-road again. +Never again! He had not quite understood it before; but now he did. Not +for days or years, but never!--that was it. + +How clear the light fell on that stall in front of the market! and how +like a picture it was, the dark-green heaps of corn, and the crimson +beets, and golden melons! There was another with game: how the light +flickered on that pheasant's breast, with the purplish blood dripping +over the brown feathers! He could see the red shining of the drops, it +was so near. In one minute he could be down there. It was just a step. +So easy, as it seemed, so natural to go! Yet it could never be--not in +all the thousands of years to come--that he should put his foot on that +street again! He thought of himself with a sorrowful pity, as of some +one else. There was a dog down in the market, walking after his master +with such a stately, grave look!--only a dog, yet he could go backwards +and forwards just as he pleased: he had good luck! Why, the very vilest +cur, yelping there in the gutter, had not lived his life, had been free +to act out whatever thought God had put into his brain; while he--No, he +would not think of that! He tried to put the thought away, and to listen +to a dispute between a countryman and a woman about some meat; but it +would come back. He, what had he done to bear this? + +Then came the sudden picture of what might have been, and now. He knew +what it was to be in the penitentiary,--how it went with men there. He +knew how in these long years he should slowly die, but not Until soul +and body had become corrupt and rotten,--how, when he came out, if he +lived to come, even the lowest of the mill-hands would jeer him,--how +his hands would be weak, and his brain senseless and stupid. He believed +he was almost that now. He put his hand to his head, with a puzzled, +weary look. It ached, his head, with thinking. He tried to quiet +himself. It was only right, perhaps; he had done wrong. But was there +right or wrong for such as he? What was right'? And who had ever taught +him? He thrust the whole matter away. A dark, cold quiet crept through +his brain. It was all wrong; but let it be! It was nothing to him more +than the others. Let it be! + +The door grated, as Haley opened it. + +"Come, my woman! Must lock up for t'night. Come, stir yerself!" + +She went up and took Hugh's hand. + +"Good-night, Deb," he said, carelessly. + +She had not hoped he would say more; but the Sired pain on her mouth +just then was bitterer than death. She took his passive hand and kissed +it. + +"Hur 'll never see Deb again!" she ventured, her lips growing colder and +more bloodless. + +What did she say that for? Did he not know it'! Yet he would not +impatient with poor old Deb. She had trouble of her own, as well as he. + +"No, never again," he said, trying to be cheerful. + +She stood just a moment, looking at him. Do you laugh at her, standing +there, with her hunchback, her rags, her bleared, withered face, and the +great despised love tugging at her heart? + +"Come, you!" called Haley, impatiently. + +She did not move. + +"Hugh!" she whispered. + +It was to be her last word. What was it? + +"Hugh, boy, not THAT!" + +He did not answer. She wrung her hands, trying to be silent, looking in +his face in an agony of entreaty. He smiled again, kindly. + +"It is best, Deb. I cannot bear to be hurted any more." + +"Hur knows," she said, humbly. + +"Tell my father good-bye; and--and kiss little Janey." + +She nodded, saying nothing, looked in his face again, and went out of +the door. As she went, she staggered. + +"Drinkin' to-day?" broke out Haley, pushing her before him. "Where the +Devil did you get it? Here, in with ye!" and he shoved her into her +cell, next to Wolfe's, and shut the door. + +Along the wall of her cell there was a crack low down by the floor, +through which she could see the light from Wolfe's. She had discovered +it days before. She hurried in now, and, kneeling down by it, listened, +hoping to hear some sound. Nothing but the rasping of the tin on the +bars. He was at his old amusement again. Something in the noise jarred +on her ear, for she shivered as she heard it. Hugh rasped away at the +bars. A dull old bit of tin, not fit to cut korl with. + +He looked out of the window again. People were leaving the market now. +A tall mulatto girl, following her mistress, her basket on her head, +crossed the street just below, and looked up. She was laughing; but, +when she caught sight of the haggard face peering out through the bars, +suddenly grew grave, and hurried by. A free, firm step, a clear-cut +olive face, with a scarlet turban tied on one side, dark, shining eyes, +and on the head the basket poised, filled with fruit and flowers, under +which the scarlet turban and bright eyes looked out half-shadowed. The +picture caught his eye. It was good to see a face like that. He would +try to-morrow, and cut one like it. _To-morrow_! He threw down the tin, +trembling, and covered his face with his hands. When he looked up again, +the daylight was gone. + +Deborah, crouching near by on the other side of the wall, heard no +noise. He sat on the side of the low pallet, thinking. Whatever was the +mystery which the woman had seen on his face, it came out now slowly, in +the dark there, and became fixed,--a something never seen on his face +before. The evening was darkening fast. The market had been over for an +hour; the rumbling of the carts over the pavement grew more infrequent: +he listened to each, as it passed, because he thought it was to be for +the last time. For the same reason, it was, I suppose, that he strained +his eyes to catch a glimpse of each passer-by, wondering who they were, +what kind of homes they were going to, if they had children,--listening +eagerly to every chance word in the street, as if--(God be merciful to +the man! what strange fancy was this?)--as if he never should hear human +voices again. + +It was quite dark at last. The street was a lonely one. The last +passenger, he thought, was gone. No,--there was a quick step: Joe Hill, +lighting the I Joe was a good old chap; never passed a fellow without +some joke or other. He remembered once seeing the place where he lived +with his wife. "Granny Hill" the boys called her. Bedridden she was; but +so kind as Joe was to her! kept the room so clean!--and the old woman, +when he was there, was laughing at "some of t' lad's foolishness." The +step was far down the street; but he could see him place the ladder, run +up, and light the gas. A longing seized him to be spoken to once more. + +"Joe!" he called, out of the grating. "Good-bye, Joe!" + +The old man stopped a moment, listening uncertainly; then hurried on. +The prisoner thrust his hand out of the window, and called again, +louder; but Joe was too far down the street. It was a little thing; but +it hurt him,--this disappointment. + +"Good-bye, Joe!" he called, sorrowfully enough. + +"Be quiet!" said one of the jailers, passing the door, striking on it +with his club. + +Oh, that was the last, was it? + +There was an inexpressible bitterness on his face, as he lay down on the +bed, taking the bit of tin, which he had rasped to a tolerable degree +of sharpness, in his hand,--to play with, it may be. He bared his arms, +looking intently at their corded veins and sinews. Deborah, listening in +the next cell, heard a slight clicking sound, often repeated. She shut +her lips tightly, that she might not scream; the cold drops of sweat +broke over her, in her dumb agony. + +"Hur knows best," she muttered at last, fiercely clutching the boards +where she lay. + +If she could have seen Wolfe, there was nothing about him to frighten +her. He lay quite still, his arms outstretched, looking at the pearly +stream of moonlight coming into the window. I think in that one hour +that came then he lived back over all the years that had gone before. +I think that all the low, vile life, all his wrongs, all his starved +hopes, came then, and stung him with a farewell poison that made him +sick unto death. He made neither moan nor cry, only turned his worn face +now and then to the pure light, that seemed so far off, as one that +said, "How long, O Lord? how long?" + +The hour was over at last. The moon, passing over her nightly path, +slowly came nearer, and threw the light across his bed on his feet. He +watched it steadily, as it crept up, inch by inch, slowly. It seemed to +him to carry with it a great silence. He had been so hot and tired there +always in the mills! The years had been so fierce and cruel! There was +coming now quiet and coolness and sleep. His tense limbs relaxed, and +settled in a calm languor. The blood ran fainter and slow from his +heart. He did not think now with a savage anger of what might be and was +not; he was conscious only of deep stillness creeping over him. At first +he saw a sea of faces: the mill-men,--women he had known, drunken and +bloated,--Janeys timid and pitiful,--poor old Debs: then they floated +together like a mist, and faded away, leaving only the clear, pearly +moonlight. + +Whether, as the pure light crept up the stretched-out figure, it brought +with it calm and peace, who shall say? His dumb soul was alone with +God in judgment. A Voice may have spoken for it from far-off Calvary, +"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" Who dare say? +Fainter and fainter the heart rose and fell, slower and slower the moon +floated from behind a cloud, until, when at last its full tide of white +splendor swept over the cell, it seemed to wrap and fold into a deeper +stillness the dead figure that never should move again. Silence deeper +than the Night! Nothing that moved, save the black, nauseous stream of +blood dripping slowly from the pallet to the floor! + +There was outcry and crowd enough in the cell the next day. The coroner +and his jury, the local editors, Kirby himself, and boys with their +hands thrust knowingly into their pockets and heads on one side, jammed +into the corners. Coming and going all day. Only one woman. She came +late, and outstayed them all. A Quaker, or Friend, as they call +themselves. I think this woman was known by that name in heaven. A +homely body, coarsely dressed in gray and white. Deborah (for Haley had +let her in) took notice of her. She watched them all--sitting on the +end of the pallet, holding his head in her arms--with the ferocity of +a watch-dog, if any of them touched the body. There was no meekness, +sorrow, in her face; the stuff out of which murderers are made, instead. +All the time Haley and the woman were laying straight the limbs and +cleaning the cell, Deborah sat still, keenly watching the Quaker's face. +Of all the crowd there that day, this woman alone had not spoken to +her,--only once or twice had put some cordial to her lips. After they +all were gone, the woman, in the same still, gentle way, brought a vase +of wood-leaves and berries, and placed it by the pallet, then opened the +narrow window. The fresh air blew in, and swept the woody fragrance over +the dead face. Deborah looked up with a quick wonder. + +"Did hur know my boy wud like it? Did hur know Hugh?" + +"I know Hugh now." + +The white fingers passed in a slow, pitiful way over the dead, worn +face. There was a heavy shadow in the quiet eyes. + +"Did hur know where they'll bury Hugh?" said Deborah in a shrill tone, +catching her arm. + +This had been the question hanging on her lips all day. + +"In t' town-yard? Under t'mud and ash? T'lad 'll smother, woman! He wur +born on t'lane moor, where t'air is frick and strong. Take hur out, for +God's sake, take hur out where t'air blows!" + +The Quaker hesitated, but only for a moment. She put her strong arm +around Deborah and led her to the window. + +"Thee sees the hills, friend, over the river? Thee sees how the +light lies warm there, and the winds of God blow all the day? I live +there,--where the blue smoke is, by the trees. Look at me." She turned +Deborah's face to her own, clear and earnest. "Thee will believe me? I +will take Hugh and bury him there to-morrow." + +Deborah did not doubt her. As the evening wore on, she leaned against +the iron bars, looking at the hills that rose far off, through the thick +sodden clouds, like a bright, unattainable calm. As she looked, a shadow +of their solemn repose fell on her face: its fierce discontent faded +into a pitiful, humble quiet. Slow, solemn tears gathered in her eyes: +the poor weak eyes turned so hopelessly to the place where Hugh was to +rest, the grave heights looking higher and brighter and more solemn than +ever before. The Quaker watched her keenly. She came to her at last, and +touched her arm. + +"When thee comes back," she said, in a low, sorrowful tone, like one +who speaks from a strong heart deeply moved with remorse or pity, "thee +shall begin thy life again,--there on the hills. I came too late; but +not for thee,--by God's help, it may be." + +Not too late. Three years after, the Quaker began her work. I end my +story here. At evening-time it was light. There is no need to tire +you with the long years of sunshine, and fresh air, and slow, patient +Christ-love, needed to make healthy and hopeful this impure body and +soul. There is a homely pine house, on one of these hills, whose windows +overlook broad, wooded slopes and clover-crimsoned meadows,--niched into +the very place where the light is warmest, the air freest. It is the +Friends' meeting-house. Once a week they sit there, in their grave, +earnest way, waiting for the Spirit of Love to speak, opening their +simple hearts to receive His words. There is a woman, old, deformed, who +takes a humble place among them: waiting like them: in her gray dress, +her worn face, pure and meek, turned now and then to the sky. A woman +much loved by these silent, restful people; more silent than they, more +humble, more loving. Waiting: with her eyes turned to hills higher and +purer than these on which she lives,--dim and far off now, but to be +reached some day. There may be in her heart some latent hope to meet +there the love denied her here,--that she shall find him whom she lost, +and that then she will not be all-unworthy. Who blames her? Something +is lost in the passage of every soul from one eternity to the +other,--something pure and beautiful, which might have been and was not: +a hope, a talent, a love, over which the soul mourns, like Esau deprived +of his birthright. What blame to the meek Quaker, if she took her lost +hope to make the hills of heaven more fair? + +Nothing remains to tell that the poor Welsh puddler once lived, but this +figure of the mill-woman cut in korl. I have it here in a corner of my +library. I keep it hid behind a curtain,--it is such a rough, ungainly +thing. Yet there are about it touches, grand sweeps of outline, that +show a master's hand. Sometimes,--to-night, for instance,--the curtain is +accidentally drawn back, and I see a bare arm stretched out imploringly +in the darkness, and an eager, wolfish face watching mine: a wan, woful +face, through which the spirit of the dead korl-cutter looks out, with +its thwarted life, its mighty hunger, its unfinished work. Its pale, +vague lips seem to tremble with a terrible question, "Is this the End?" +they say,--"nothing beyond?--no more?" + +Why, you tell me you have seen that look in the eyes of dumb +brutes,--horses dying under the lash. I know. + +The deep of the night is passing while I write. The gas-light wakens +from the shadows here and there the objects which lie scattered through +the room: only faintly, though; for they belong to the open sunlight. As +I glance at them, they each recall some task or pleasure of the coming +day. A half-moulded child's head; Aphrodite; a bough of forest-leaves; +music; work; homely fragments, in which lie the secrets of all eternal +truth and beauty. Prophetic all! Only this dumb, woful face seems to +belong to and end with the night. I turn to look at it Has the power of +its desperate need commanded the darkness away? While the room is yet +steeped in heavy shadow, a cool, gray light suddenly touches its head +like a blessing hand, and its groping arm points through the broken +cloud to the far East, where, in the nickering, nebulous crimson, God +has set the promise of the Dawn. + + * * * * * + + +THE REIGN OF KING COTTON. + + +To every age and to all nations belong their peculiar maxims and +political or religious cries, which, if collected by some ingenious +philosopher, would make a striking compendium of universal history. +Sometimes a curious outward similarity exists between these condensed +national sentences of peoples dissimilar in every other respect. Thus, +to-day is heard in the senescent East the oft-repeated formula of the +Mussulman's faith, "There is no God but Allah, and Mahomet is his +Prophet," while in the youthful West a new cry, as fully believed, not +less devout, and scarcely less often repeated, arises from one great +and influential portion of the political and social thinkers of this +country,--the cry that "There is no King but Cotton, and the African is +its High-Priest." According to the creed of philosophy, philanthropy, +and economy in vogue among the sect whose views take utterance in this +formula, King Cotton has now reigned supreme over the temporal affairs +of the princes, potentates, and people of this earth for some thirty +years. Consequently, it is fair to presume that its reign has fully +developed its policy and tendencies and is producing its fruit for good +or evil, especially in the land of its disciples. It is well, therefore, +sometimes to withdraw a little from the dust and smoke of the battle, +which, with us at least, announces the spread of this potentate's power, +and to try to disentangle the real questions at issue in the struggle +from the eternal complications produced by short-sighted politicians and +popular issues. Looking at the policy and tendency of the reign of King +Cotton, as hitherto developed and indicated by its most confidential +advisers and apostles and by the lapse of time in the so-called Slave +States, to what end does it necessarily tend? to what results must it +logically lead? + +What is coarsely, but expressively, described in the political slang of +this country as "_The Everlasting Nigger Question_" might perhaps fairly +be considered exhausted as a topic of discussion, if ever a topic was. +Is it exhausted, however? Have not rather the smoke and sweat and dust +of the political battle in which we have been so long and so fiercely +engaged exercised a dimming influence on our eyes as to the true +difficulty and its remedy, as they have on the vision of other angry +combatants since the world began? It is easy to say, in days like these, +that men seem at once to lose their judgment and reason when they +approach this question,--to look hardly an arm's length before +them,--to become mere tools of their own passions; and all this is true, +and, in conceding it all, no more is conceded than that the men of the +present day are also mortal. How many voters in the last election, +before they went to the polls, had seriously thought out for themselves +the real issue of the contest, apart from party names and platforms and +popular cries and passionate appeals to the conscience and the purse? +In all parties, some doubtless were impelled by fanaticism,--many were +guided by instinct,--more by the voice of their leaders,--most by party +catchwords and material interests,--but how many by real reflection and +the exercise of reason? Was it every fifth man, or every tenth? Was it +every fiftieth? Let every one judge for himself. The history of the +reigning dynasty, its policy and tendency, are still open questions, the +discussion of which, though perhaps become tedious, is not exhausted, +and, if conducted in a fair spirit, will at least do no harm. What, +then, is all this thirty years' turmoil, of which the world is growing +sick, about? Are we indeed only fighting, as the party-leaders at the +North seem trying to persuade us, for the control, by the interests of +free labor or of slave-labor, of certain remaining national territories +into which probably slavery never could be made to enter?--or rather +is there not some deep innate principle,--some strong motive of +aggrandizement or preservation,--some real Enceladus,--the cause of this +furious volcano of destructive agitation? If, indeed, the struggle +be for the possession of a sterile waste in the heart of the +continent,--useless either as a slave-breeding or a slave-working +country,--clearly, whatever the politician might say to the contrary, +the patriot and the merchant would soon apply to the struggle the +principle, that sometimes the game is not worth the candle. If, however, +there be an underlying principle, the case is different, and the cost of +the struggle admits of no limit save the value of the motive principle. +He who now pretends to discuss this question should approach it neither +as a Whig, a Democrat, nor a Republican, but should look at it by the +light of political philosophy and economy, forgetful of the shibboleth +of party or appeals to passion. So far as may be, in this spirit it is +proposed to discuss it here. + +"By its fruits ye shall know it." Look, then, for a moment, at the +fruits of the Cotton dynasty, as hitherto developed in the working of +its policy and its natural tendency,--observe its vital essence and +logical necessities,--seek for the result of its workings, when brought +in contact with the vital spirits and life-currents of our original +policy as a people,--and then decide whether this contest in which we +are engaged is indeed an irrepressible and inextinguishable contest, +or whether all this while we have not been fighting with shadows. King +Cotton has now reigned for thirty years, be the same less or more. To +feel sure that we know what its policy has wrought in that time, we must +first seek for the conditions under which it originally began its work. + +Ever since Adam and Eve were forced, on their expulsion from Paradise, +to try the first experiment at self-government, their descendants have +been pursuing a course of homoeopathic treatment. It was the eating of +the fruit of the tree of knowledge which caused all their woes; and +in an increased consumption of the fruit of that tree they have +persistently looked for alleviation of them. Experience seems to prove +the wisdom of the treatment. The greater the consumption of the fruit, +the greater the happiness of man. Knowledge has at last become the basis +of all things,--of power, of social standing, of material prosperity, +and, finally, in America, of government itself. Until within a century +past, political philosophy in the creation of government began at the +wrong end. It built from the pinnacle downward. The stability of the +government depended on the apex,--the one or the few,--and not on the +base,--the foundation of the many. At length, in this country, fresh +from the hand of Nature, the astonished world saw a new experiment +tried,--a government systematically built up from the foundation of +the many,--a government drawing its being from, and dependent for its +continued existence on, the will and the intelligence of the governed. +The foundation had first been laid deep and strong, and on it a goodly +superstructure of government was erected. Yet, even to this day, the +very subjects of that government itself do not realize that they, and +not the government, are the sources of national prosperity. In times of +national emergency like the present,--amid clamors of secession and +of coercion,--angry threats and angrier replies,--wars and rumors of +wars,--what is more common than to hear sensible men--men whom the +people look to as leaders--picturing forth a dire relapse into barbarism +and anarchy as the necessary consequence of the threatened convulsions? +They forget, if they ever realized, that the people made this +government, and not the government the people. Destroy the intelligence +of the people, and the government could not exist for a day;--destroy +this government, and the people would create another, and yet another, +of no less perfect symmetry. While the foundations are firm, there need +be no fears of the superstructure, which may be renewed again and again; +but touch the foundations, and the superstructure must crumble at once. +Those who still insist on believing that this government made the people +are fond of triumphantly pointing to the condition of the States of +Mexico, as telling the history of our own future, let our present +government be once interrupted in its functions. Are Mexicans Yankees? +Are Spaniards Anglo-Saxons? Are Catholicism and religious freedom, the +Inquisition and common schools, despotism and democracy, synonymous +terms? Could a successful republic, on our model, be at once instituted +in Africa on the assassination of the King of Timbuctoo? Have two +centuries of education nothing to do with our success, or an eternity of +ignorance with Mexican failure? Was our government a lucky guess, and +theirs an unfortunate speculation? The one lesson that America is +destined to teach the world, or to miss her destiny in failing to teach, +has with us passed into a truism, and is yet continually lost sight of; +it is the magnificent result of three thousand years of experiment: the +simple truth, that no government is so firm, so truly conservative, and +so wholly indestructible, as a government founded and dependent for +support upon the affections and good-will of a moral, intelligent, and +educated community. In our politics, we hear much of State-rights and +centralization,--of distribution of power,--of checks and balances,--of +constitutions and their construction,--of patronage and its +distribution,--of banks, of tariffs, and of trade,--all of them subjects +of moment in their sphere; but their sphere is limited. Whether they be +decided one way or the other is of comparatively little consequence: +for, however they are decided, if the people are educated and informed, +the government will go on, and the community be prosperous, be they +decided never so badly,--and if decided badly, the decision will he +reversed; but let the people become ignorant and debased, and all the +checks and balances and wise regulations which the ingenuity of man +could in centuries devise would, at best, but for a short space defer +the downfall of a republic. A well-founded republic can, then, be +destroyed only by destroying its people,--its decay need be looked for +only in the decay of their intelligence; and any form of thought or +any institution tending to suppress education or destroy intelligence +strikes at the very essence of the government, and constitutes a treason +which no law can meet, and for which no punishment is adequate. + +Education, then, as universally diffused as the elements of God, is the +life-blood of our body politic. The intelligence of the people is the +one great fact of our civilization and our prosperity,--it is the +beating heart of our age and of our land. It is education alone which +makes equality possible without anarchy, and liberty without license. It +is this--which makes the fundamental principles of our Declaration of +Independence living realities in New England, while in France they still +remain the rhetorical statement of glittering generalities. From this +source flow all our possibilities. Without it, the equality of man is a +pretty figure of speech; with it, democracy is possible. This is a path +beaten by two hundred years of footprints, and while we walk it we are +safe and need fear no evil; but if we diverge from it, be it for never +so little, we stumble, and, unless we quickly retrace our steps, we fall +and are lost. The tutelary goddess of American liberty should be the +pure marble image of the Professor's Yankee school-mistress. Education +is the fundamental support of our system. It was education which made us +free, progressive, and conservative; and it is education alone which can +keep us so. + +With this fact clearly established, the next inquiry should be as to +the bearing and policy of the Cotton dynasty as touching this +question of general intelligence. It is a mere truism to say that the +cotton-culture is the cause of the present philosophical and economical +phase of the African question. Throughout the South, whether justly or +not, it is considered as well settled that cotton can be profitably +raised only by a forced system of labor. This theory has been denied by +some writers, and, in experience, is certainly subject to some marked +exceptions; but undoubtedly it is the creed of the Cotton dynasty, +and must here, therefore, be taken for true.[A] With this theory, the +Southern States are under a direct inducement, in the nature of a bribe, +to the amount of the annual profit on their cotton-crop, to see as +many perfections and as few imperfections as possible in the system of +African slavery, and to follow it out unflinchingly into all its logical +necessities. Thus, under the direct influence of the Cotton dynasty, the +whole Southern tone on this subject has undergone a change. Slavery is +no longer deplored as a necessary evil, but it is maintained as in +all respects a substantial good. One of the logical necessities of a +thorough slave-system is, in at least the slave-portion of the people, +extreme ignorance. Whatever theoretically may be desirable in this +respect among the master-class, ignorance, in its worst form,--ignorance +of everything except the use of the tools with which their work is to +be done,--is the necessary condition of the slaves. But it is said that +slaves are property, without voice or influence in the government, and +that the ignorance of the black is no obstacle to the intelligence +of the white. This possibly may be true; but a government founded on +ignorance, as the essential condition of one portion of its people, is +not likely long to regard education as its vital source and essence. +Still the assertion that the rule of education does not apply to slaves +must be allowed; for we must deal with facts as we find them; and +undoubtedly the slave has no rights which the master is bound to +respect; and in speaking of the policy of the Cotton dynasty, the +servile population must be regarded as it is, ignoring the question of +what it might be; it must be taken into consideration only as a terrible +inert mass of domesticated barbarism, and there left. The question +here is solely with the policy and tendency of the Cotton dynasty +as affecting the master-class, and the servile class is in that +consideration to be summarily disposed of as so much labor owned by so +much capital. + +[Footnote A: "In truth," the institution of slavery, as an agency for +cotton-cultivation, "is an expensive luxury, a dangerous and artificial +state, and, even in a-worldly point of view, an error. The cost of a +first-class negro in the United States is about L800, and the interest +on the capital invested in and the wear and tear of this human chattel +are equal to 10 per cent., which, with the cost of maintaining, +clothing, and doctoring him, or another 5 per cent, gives an annual cost +of L45; and the pampered Coolies in the best paying of all the tropical +settlements, Trinidad, receive wages that do not exceed on an average +on the year round 6s. per week, or about two-fifths, while in the East +Indies, with perquisites, they do not receive so much as two-thirds of +this. In Cuba, the Chinese emigrants do not receive so much even as +one-third of this."--_Cotton Trade of Great Britain_, by J.A. MANN. +--In India, labor is 80 per cent cheaper than in the United States.] + +The dynasty of Cotton is based on the monopoly of the cotton-culture in +the Cotton States of the Union; its whole policy is directed to the two +ends of making the most of and retaining that monopoly; and economically +it reduces everything to subserviency to the question of cotton-supply; +--thus Cotton is King. The result necessarily is, that the Cotton States +have turned all their energies to that one branch of industry. All other +branches they abandon or allow to languish. They have no commerce of +their own, few manufactories, fewer arts; and in their abandonment of +self in their devotion to their King, they do not even raise their +own hay or corn, dig their own coal, or fell their own timber; and at +present, Louisiana is abandoning the sugar-culture, one of the few +remaining exports of the South, to share more largely in the monopoly of +cotton. Thus the community necessarily loses its fair proportions; it +ceases to be self-sustaining; it exercises one faculty alone, until all +the others wither and become impotent for very lack of use. This intense +and all-pervading devotion to one pursuit, and that a pursuit to which +the existence of a servile class is declared essential, must, in a +republic more than in any other government, produce certain marked +politico-philosophical and economical effects on the master-class as a +whole. In a country conducted on a system of servile labor, as in one +conducted on free, the master-class must be divided into the two great +orders of the rich and poor,--those who have, and those who have not. +That the whole policy of the Cotton dynasty tends necessarily to making +broader the chasm between these orders is most apparent. It makes the +rich richer, and the poor poorer; for, as, according to the creed of the +dynasty, capital should own labor, and the labor thus owned can alone +successfully produce cotton, he who has must be continually increasing +his store, while he who has not can neither raise the one staple +recognized by the Cotton dynasty, nor turn his labor, his only property, +to other branches of industry; for such have, in the universal +abandonment of the community to cotton, been allowed to languish and +die. The economical tendency of the Cotton dynasty is therefore to +divide the master-class yet more distinctly into the two great opposing +orders of society. On the one hand we see the capitalist owning the +labor of a thousand slaves, and on the other the laboring white unable, +under the destructive influence of a profitable monopoly, to make any +use of that labor which is his only property. + +What influence, then, has the Cotton dynasty on that portion of the +master-class who are without capital? Its tendency has certainly +necessarily been to make their labor of little value; but they are still +citizens of a republic, free to come and go, and, in the eye of the law, +equal with the highest;--on them, in times of emergency, the government +must rest; their education and intelligence are its only sure +foundations. But, having made this class the vast majority of the +master-caste, what are the policy and tendency of the Cotton dynasty +as touching them? The story is almost too old to bear even the +shortest repetition. Philosophically, it is a logical necessity +of the Cotton dynasty that it should be opposed to universal +intelligence;--economically, it renders universal intelligence an +impossibility. That slavery is in itself a positive good to society is +a fundamental doctrine of the Cotton dynasty, and a proposition +not necessary to be combated here; but, unfortunately, universal +intelligence renders free discussion a necessity, and experience tells +us that the suppression of free discussion is necessary to the existence +of slavery. We are but living history over again. The same causes have +often existed before, and they have drawn after them the necessary +effects. Other peoples, at other times, as well as our Southern brethren +at present, have felt, that the suppression of general discussion was +necessary to the preservation of a prized and peculiar institution. +Spain, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, England, and Scotland +have all, at different times, experienced the forced suppression of +some one branch of political or religious thought. Their histories have +recorded the effect of that suppression; and the rule to be deduced +therefrom is simply this: If the people among whom such suppression is +attempted are ignorant, and are kept so as part of a system, the attempt +may be successful, though in its results working destruction to +the community;--if, however, they are intelligent, and the system +incautiously admits into itself any plan of education, the attempt +at suppression will be abandoned, as the result either of policy or +violence. In this respect, then, on philosophical grounds, the Cotton +dynasty is not likely to favor the education of the masses. Again, it +is undoubtedly the interest of the man who has not, that all possible +branches of industry should be open to his labor, as rendering that +labor of greater value; but the whole tendency of the Cotton monopoly is +to blight all branches of industry in the Cotton States save only that +one. General intelligence might lead the poor white to suspect this fact +of an interest of his own antagonistic to the policy of the Cotton King, +and therefore general intelligence is not part of that monarch's policy. +This the philosophers of the Cotton dynasty fairly avow and class high +among those dangers against which it behooves them to be on their guard. +They theorize thus:-- + +"The great mass of our poor white population begin to understand that +they have rights, and that they, too, are entitled to some of the +sympathy which falls upon the suffering. They are fast learning that +there is an almost infinite world of industry opening before them, by +which they can elevate themselves and their families from wretchedness +and ignorance to competence and intelligence. It is this great upheaving +of our masses which we have to fear, so far as our institutions are +concerned."[B] + +[Footnote B: _De Bow's Review_, January, 1850. Quoted in Olmsted's _Back +Country_, p. 451.] + +Further, the policy of the Cotton King, however honestly in theory it +may wish to encourage it, renders general education and consequent +intelligence an impossibility. A system of universal education is made +for a laboring population, and can be sustained only among a laboring +population; but if that population consist of slaves, universal +education cannot exist. The reason is simple; for the children of all +must be educated, otherwise the scholars will not support the schools. +It is an absolute necessity of society that in agricultural districts +cultivated by slave-labor the free population should be too sparsely +scattered to support a system of schools, even on starvation wages for +the cheapest class of teachers. + +Finally, though it is a subject not necessary now to discuss, the effect +of the Cotton monopoly and dynasty in depressing the majority of the +whites into a species of labor competition in the same branch of +industry as the blacks, because the only branch open to all, can +hardly have a self-respect-inspiring influence on that portion of the +community, but should in its results rather illustrate old Falstaff's +remark,--that "there is a thing often heard of, and it is known to many +in our land, by the name of pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers do +report, doth defile: so doth the company thou keepest." + +Such, reason tells us, should be the effect on the intelligence and +education of the free masses of the South of the policy and dynasty of +King Cotton. That experience in this case verifies the conclusions +of reason who can doubt who has ever set foot in a thorough Slave +State,--or in Kansas, or in any Free State half-peopled by the poor +whites of the South?--or who can doubt it, that has ever even talked on +the subject with an intelligent and fair-minded Southern gentleman? Who +that knows them will deny that the poor whites of the South make the +worst population in the country? Who ever heard a Southern gentleman +speak of them, save in Congress or on the hustings, otherwise than with +aversion and contempt?[C] + +[Footnote C: Except when used by the accomplished statistician, there is +nothing more fallacious than the figures of the census. As the author of +this article is a disciple neither of Buckle nor De Bow, they have not +been used at all; but a few of the census figures are nevertheless +instructive, as showing the difference between the Free and the Servile +States in respect to popular education. According to the census of 1850, +the white population of the Slave States amounted to 6,184,477 souls, +and the colored population, free and slave, brought the total population +up to an aggregate of 9,612,979, of which the whole number of +school-pupils was 581,861. New York, with a population of 3,097,894 +souls, numbered 675,221 pupils, or 98,830 more than all the Slave +States. The eight Cotton States, from South Carolina to Arkansas, with +a population of 2,137,264 whites and a grand total of 3,970,337 human +beings, contained 141,032 pupils; the State of Massachusetts, with a +total population of 994,514, numbered 176,475, or 35,443 pupils more +than all the Cotton States. In popular governments the great sources +of general intelligence are newspapers and periodicals; in estimating +these, metropolitan New York should not be considered; but of these +the whole number, in 1850, issued annually in all the Slave States was +61,038,698, and the number in the not peculiarly enlightened State of +Pennsylvania was 84,898,672, or 3,859,974 more than in all the Slave +States. In the eight Cotton States, the whole number was 30,041,991; and +in the single State of Massachusetts, 64,820,564, or 34,778,573 more, +and in the single State of Ohio, 30,473,407, or 431,416 more, than in +all the above eight States.] + +Here, then, we come at once to the foundation of a policy and the cause +of this struggle. Whether it will or no, it is the inevitable tendency +of the Cotton dynasty to be opposed to general intelligence. It is +opposed to that, then, without which a republic cannot hope to exist; +it is opposed to and denies the whole results of two thousand years of +experience. The social system of which the government of to-day is +the creature is founded on the principle of a generally diffused +intelligence of the people; but if now Cotton be King, as is so boldly +asserted, then an influence has obtained control of the government of +which the whole policy is in direct antagonism with, the very elementary +ideas of that government. History tells us that eight bags of cotton +imported into England in 1784 were seized by the custom-house officers +at Liverpool, on the ground that so much cotton could not have been +produced in these States. In 1860, the cotton-crop was estimated at +3,851,481 bales. Thus King Cotton was born with this government, and +has strengthened with its strength; and to-day, almost the creature of +destiny, sent to work the failure of our experiment as a people, it has +led almost one-half of the Republic to completely ignore, if not to +reject, the one principle absolutely essential to that Republic's +continued existence. What two thousand years ago was said of Rome +applies to us:--"Those abuses and corruptions which in time destroy a +government are sown along with the very seeds of it and both grow up +together; and as rust eats away iron, and worms devour wood, and both +are a sort of plagues born and bred with the substance they destroy; so +with every form and scheme of government that man can invent, some vice +or corruption creeps in with the very institution, which grows up along +with and at last destroys it." No wonder, then, that the conflict +is irrepressible and hot; for two instinctive principles of +self-preservation have met in deadly conflict: the South, with the eager +loyalty of the Cavalier, rallies to the standard of King Cotton, while +the North, with the earnest devotion of the Puritan, struggles hard in +defence of the fundamental principles of its liberties and the ark of +its salvation. + +Thus over nearly half of the national domain and among a large minority +of the citizens of the Republic, the dynasty of Cotton has worked a +divergence from original principle. Wherever the sway of King Cotton +extends, the people have for the present lost sight of the most +essential of our national attributes. They are seeking to found a great +and prosperous republic on the cultivation of a single staple product, +and not on intelligence universally diffused: consequently they +have founded their house upon the sand. Among them, cotton, and +not knowledge, is power. When thus reduced to its logical +necessities,--brought down, as it were, to the hard pan,--the experience +of two thousand years convincingly proves that their experiment as a +democracy must fail. It is, then, a question of vital importance to +the whole people,--How can this divergence be terminated? Is there any +result, any agency, which can destroy this dynasty, and restore us as a +people to the firm foundations upon which our experiment was begun? Can +the present agitation effect this result? If it could, the country might +joyfully bid a long farewell to "the canker of peace," and "hail the +blood-red blossom of war with a heart of fire"; but the sad answer, that +it cannot, whether resulting in the successor Democrat or Republican, +seems almost too evident for discussion. The present conflict is good so +far as it goes, but it touches only the surface of things. It is well to +drive the Cotton dynasty from the control of the national government; +but the aims of the Republican party can reach no farther, even if it +meet with complete success in that. But even that much is doubtful. The +danger at this point is one ever recurring. Those Northern politicians, +who, in pursuit of their political objects and ambition, unreservedly +bind up their destinies with those of the Cotton dynasty,--the Issachars +of the North, whose strong backs are bowed to receive any burden,--the +men who in the present conflict will see nought but the result of the +maudlin sentimentality of fanatics and the empty cries of ambitious +demagogues,--are not mistaken in their calculations. While Cotton is +King, as it now is, nothing but time or its own insanity can permanently +shake its hold on the national policy. In moments of fierce convulsion, +as at present, the North, like a restive steed, may contest its +supremacy. Let the South, however, bend, not break, before the storm, +and history is indeed "a nurse's tale," if the final victory does not +rest with the party of unity and discipline. While the monopoly of +cotton exists with the South, and it is cultivated exclusively by native +African labor, the national government will as surely tend, in spite of +all momentarily disturbing influences, towards a united South as the +needle to the pole. But even if the government were permanently wrested +from its control, would the evil be remedied? Surely not. The disease +which is sapping the foundations of our liberty is not eradicated +because its workings are forced inward. What remedy is that which leaves +a false and pernicious policy--a policy in avowed war with the whole +spirit of our civilization and in open hostility to our whole experiment +as a government--in full working, almost a religious creed with near +one-half of our people? As a remedy, this would be but a quack medicine +at the best. The cure must be a more thorough one. The remedy we must +look for--the only one which can meet the exigencies of the case--must +be one which will restore to the South the attributes of a democracy. It +must cause our Southern brethren of their own free will to reverse their +steps,--to return from their divergence. It must teach them a purer +Christianity, a truer philosophy, a sounder economy. It must lead them +to new paths of industry. It must gently persuade them that a true +national prosperity is not the result of a total abandonment of +the community to the culture of one staple. It must make them +self-dependent, so that no longer they shall have to import their +corn from the Northwest, their lumber-men and hay from Maine, their +manufactures from Massachusetts, their minerals from Pennsylvania, and +to employ the shipping of the world. Finally, it must make it impossible +for one overgrown interest to plunge the whole community unresistingly +into frantic rebellion or needless war. They must learn that a +well-conditioned state is, so far as may be, perfect in itself,--and, +to be perfect in itself, must be intelligent and free. When these +lessons are taught to the South, then will their divergence cease, +and they will enter upon a new path of enjoyment, prosperity, and +permanence. The world at present pays them an annual bribe of some +$65,000,000 to learn none of these lessons. Their material interest +teaches them to bow down to the shrine of King Cotton. Here, then, lies +the remedy with the disease. The prosperity of the country in general, +and of the South in particular, demands that the reign of King Cotton +should cease,--that his dynasty should be destroyed. This result can +be obtained but in one way, and that seemingly ruinous. The present +monopoly in their great staple commodity enjoyed by the South must be +destroyed, and forever. This result every patriot and well-wisher of the +South should ever long for; and yet, by every Southern statesman and +philosopher, it is regarded as the one irremediable evil possible to +their country. What miserable economy! what feeble foresight! What +principle of political economy is better established than that a +monopoly is a curse to both producer and consumer? To the first it pays +a premium on fraud, sloth, and negligence; and to the second it supplies +the worst possible article, in the worst possible way, at the highest +possible price. In agriculture, in manufactures, in the professions, and +in the arts, it is the greatest bar to improvement with which any branch +of industry can be cursed. The South is now showing to the world an +example of a great people borne down, crushed to the ground, cursed, by +a monopoly. A fertile country of magnificent resources, inhabited by a +great race, of inexhaustible energy, is abandoned to one pursuit;--the +very riches of their position are as a pestilence to their prosperity. +In the presence of their great monopoly, science, art, manufactures, +mining, agriculture,--word, all the myriad branches of industry +essential to the true prosperity of a state,--wither and die, that +sanded cotton may be produced by the most costly of labor. For love of +cotton, the very intelligence of the community, the life-blood of their +polity, is disregarded and forgotten. Hence it is that the marble and +freestone quarries of New England alone are far more important sources +of revenue than all the subterranean deposits of the Servile States. +Thus the monopoly which is the apparent source of their wealth is in +reality their greatest curse; for it blinds them to the fact, that, with +nations as with individuals, a healthy competition is the one essential +to all true economy and real excellence. Monopolists are always blind, +always practise a false economy. Adam Smith tells us that "it is not +more than fifty years ago that some of the counties in the neighborhood +of London petitioned the Parliament against the extension of the +turnpike roads into the remoter counties. Those remoter counties, they +pretended, from the cheapness of labor, would be able to sell their +grass and corn cheaper in the London market than themselves, and would +thereby reduce their rents and ruin their cultivation." The great +economist significantly adds,--"Their rents, however, have risen, and +their cultivation has been improved, since that time." Finally, to-day, +would the cultivation of cereals in the Northwest be improved, if made +a monopoly? would its inhabitants be richer? would their economy be +better? Certainly not. Yet to-day they undersell the world, and, in +spite of competition, are far richer, far more contented and prosperous, +than their fellow-citizens in the South in the full enjoyment of their +boasted dynasty of Cotton. + +"Here," said Wellington, on the Eton football ground, "we won the battle +of Waterloo." Not in angry declamation and wordy debate, in threats of +secession and cries for coercion, amid the clash of party-politics, the +windy declamation of blatant politicians, or the dirty scramble for +office, is the destruction of the dynasty of King Cotton to be looked +for. The laws of trade must be the great teacher; and here, as +elsewhere, England, the noble nation of shopkeepers, must be the agent +for the fulfilment of those laws. It is safe to-day to say, that, +through the agency of England, and, in accordance with those laws, under +a continuance of the present profit on that staple, the dynasty of King +Cotton is doomed,--the monopoly which is now the basis of his power will +be a monopoly no more. If saved at all from the blight of this +monopoly, the South will be saved, not in New York or Boston, but in +Liverpool,--not by the thinkers of America, but by the merchants of +England. The real danger of the Cotton dynasty lies not in the hostility +of the North, but in the exigencies of the market abroad; they struggle +not against the varying fortunes of political warfare, but against the +irreversible decrees of Fate. It is the old story of the Rutulian hero; +and now, in the very crisis and agony of the battle, while the Cotton +King is summoning all his resources and straining every nerve to cope +successfully with its more apparent, but less formidable adversary, in +the noisy struggle for temporary power, if it would listen for a moment +to the voice of reason, and observe the still working of the laws of our +being, it, too, might see cause to abandon the contest, with the +angry lament, that, not by its opponent was it vanquished, but by the +hostility of Jupiter and the gods. The operation of the laws of +trade, as touching this monopoly, is beautifully simple. Already the +indications are sufficient to tell us, that, under the sure, but +silent working of those laws, the very profits of the Southern planter +foreshadow the destruction of his monopoly. His dynasty rests upon the +theory, that his negro is the only practical agency for the production +of his staple. But the supply of African labor is limited, and the +increased profit on cotton renders the cost of that labor heavier in +its turn,--the value of the negro rising one hundred dollars for every +additional cent of profit on a pound of cotton. The increased cost of +the labor increases the cost of producing the cotton. The result is +clear; and the history of the cotton-trade has twice verified it. The +increased profits on the staple tempt competition, and, in the increased +cost of production, render it possible. Two courses only are open to the +South: either to submit to the destruction of their monopoly, or to try +to retain it by a cheaper supply of labor. They now feel the pressure of +the dilemma; and hence the cry to reopen the slave-trade. According to +the iron policy of their dynasty, they must inundate their country with +freshly imported barbarism, or compete with the world. They cry out for +more Africans; and to their cry the voice of the civilized world returns +its veto. The policy of King Cotton forces them to turn from the +daylight of free labor now breaking in Texas. On the other hand, it is +not credible that all the land adapted to the growth of the cotton-plant +is confined to America; and, at the present value of the commodity, the +land adapted to its growth would be sought out and used, though buried +now in the jungles of India, the wellnigh impenetrable wildernesses of +Africa, the table-lands of South America, or the islands of the Pacific. +Already the organized energy of England has pushed its explorations, +under Livingstone, Barth, and Clegg, into regions hitherto unknown. +Already, under the increased consumption, one-third of the cotton +consumed at Liverpool is the product of climes other than our own. +Hundreds of miles of railroad in India are opening to the market vast +regions to share in our profits and break down our monopoly. To-day, +India, for home-consumption and exportation, produces twice the amount +of cotton produced in America; and, under the increased profit of late +years, the importation into England from that country has risen from +12,324,200 pounds in 1830, to 77,011,839 pounds in 1840, and, finally, +to 250,338,144 pounds in 1857, or nearly twenty per cent of the whole +amount imported, and more than one-fourth of the whole amount imported +from America. The staple there produced does not, indeed, compare in +quality with our own; but this remark does not apply to the staple +produced in Africa,--the original home of the cotton-plant, as of the +negro,--or to that of the cotton-producing islands of the Pacific. The +inexhaustible fertility of the valley of the Nile--producing, with a +single exception, the finest cotton of the world,--lying on the same +latitude as the cotton-producing States of America, and overflowing +with unemployed labor--will find its profit, at present prices, in the +abandonment of the cultivation of corn, its staple product since the +days of Joseph, to come in competition with the monopoly of the South. +Peru, Australia, Cuba, Jamaica, and even the Feejee Islands, all are +preparing to enter the lists. And, finally, the interior of Africa, the +great unknown and unexplored land, which for centuries has baffled the +enterprise of travellers, seems about to make known her secrets under +the persuasive arguments of trade, and to make her cotton, and not her +children, her staple export in the future. In the last fact is to be +seen a poetic justice. Africa, outraged, scorned, down-trodden, is, +perhaps, to drag down forever the great enslaver of her offspring. + +Thus the monopoly of King Cotton hangs upon a thread. Its profits must +fall, or it must cease to exist. If subject to no disturbing influence, +such as war, which would force the world to look elsewhere for its +supply, and thus unnaturally force production elsewhere, the growth of +this competition will probably be slow. Another War of 1812, or any +long-continued civil convulsions, would force England to look to other +sources of supply, and, thus forcing production, would probably be the +death-blow of the monopoly. Apart from all disturbing influences arising +from the rashness of his own lieges, or other causes, the reign of King +Cotton at present prices may be expected to continue some ten years +longer. For so long, then, this disturbing influence may be looked for +in American politics; and then we may hope that this tremendous material +influence, become subject, like others, to the laws of trade and +competition, will cease to threaten our liberties by silently sapping +their very foundation. As in the course of years competition gradually +increases, the effect of this competition on the South will probably be +most beneficial. The change from monopoly to competition, distributed +over many years, will come with no sudden and destructive shock, but +will take place imperceptibly. The fall of the dynasty will be gradual; +and with the dynasty must fall its policy. Its fruits must be eradicated +by time. Under the healing influence of time, the South, still young and +energetic, ceasing to think of one thing alone, will quickly turn its +attention to many. Education will be more sought for, as the policy +which resisted it, and made its diffusion impossible, ceases to exist. +With the growth of other branches of industry, labor will become +respectable and profitable, and laborers will flock to the country; and +a new, a purer, and more prosperous future will open upon the entire +Republic. Perhaps, also, it may in time be discovered that even +slave-labor is most profitable when most intelligent and best +rewarded,--that the present mode of growing cotton is the most wasteful +and extravagant, and one not bearing competition. Thus even the African +may reap benefit from the result, and in his increased self-respect and +intelligence may be found the real prosperity of the master. And thus +the peaceful laws of trade may do the work which agitation has attempted +in vain. Sweet concord may come from this dark chaos, and the world +receive another proof, that material interest, well understood, is +not in conflict, but in beautiful unison with general morality, +all-pervading intelligence, and the precepts of Christianity. Under +these influences, too, the very supply of cotton will probably be +immensely increased. Its cultivation, like the cultivation of their +staple products by the English counties mentioned by Smith, will +not languish, but flourish, under the influence of healthy +competition.--These views, though simply the apparently legitimate +result of principle and experience, are by no means unsupported by +authority. They are the same results arrived at from the reflections of +the most unprejudiced of observers. A shrewd Northern gentleman, who has +more recently and thoroughly than any other writer travelled through the +Southern States, in the final summary of his observations thus covers +all the positions here taken. "My conclusion," says Mr. Olmsted, "is +this,--that there is no physical obstacle in the way of our country's +supplying ten bales of cotton where it now does one. All that is +necessary for this purpose is to direct to the cotton-producing region +an adequate number of laborers, either black or white, or both. No +amalgamation, no association on equality, no violent disruption of +present relations is necessary. It is necessary that there should +be more objects of industry, more varied enterprises, more general +intelligence among the people,--and, especially, that they should +become, or should desire to become, richer, more comfortable, than they +are." + +It is not pleasant to turn from this, and view the reverse of the +picture. But, unless our Southern brethren, in obedience to some great +law of trade or morals, return from their divergence,--if, still being +a republic in form, the South close her ears to the great truth, that +education is democracy's first law of self-preservation,--if the dynasty +of King Cotton, unshaken by present indications, should continue +indefinitely, and still the South should bow itself down as now before +its throne,--it requires no gift of prophecy to read her future. As you +sow, so shall you reap; and communities, like individuals, who sow the +wind, must, in the fulness of time, look to reap the whirlwind. The +Constitution of our Federal Union guaranties to each member composing it +a republican form of government; but no constitution can guaranty that +universal intelligence of the people without which, soon or late, a +republican government must become, not only a form, but a mockery. Under +the Cotton dynasty, the South has undoubtedly lost sight of this great +principle; and unless she return and bind herself closely to it, her +fate is fixed. Under the present monopolizing sway of King Cotton,--soon +or late, in the Union, or out of the Union,--her government must +cease to be republican, and relapse into anarchy, unless previously, +abandoning the experiment of democracy in despair, she take refuge in a +government of force. The Northern States, the educational communities, +have apparently little to fear while they cling closely to the +principles inherent in their nature. With the Servile States, or away +from them, the experiment of a constitutional republic can apparently be +carried on with success through an indefinite lapse of time; but +though, with the assistance of an original impetus and custom, they +may temporarily drag along their stumbling brethren of the South, the +catastrophe is but deferred, not avoided. Out of the Union, the more +extreme Southern States--those in which King Cotton has already firmly +established his dynasty--are, if we may judge by passing events, ripe +for the result. The more Northern have yet a reprieve of fate, as having +not yet wholly forgotten the lessons of their origin. The result, +however, be it delayed for one year or for one hundred years, can hardly +admit of doubt. The emergency which is to try their system may not arise +for many years; but passing events warn us that it maybe upon them now. +The most philosophical of modern French historians, in describing the +latter days of the Roman Empire, tells us that "the higher classes of +a nation can communicate virtue and wisdom to the government, if they +themselves are virtuous and wise: but they can never give it strength; +for strength always comes from below; it always proceeds from the +masses." The Cotton dynasty pretends not only to maintain a government +where the masses are slaves, but a republican government where the vast +majority of the higher classes are ignorant. On the intelligence of the +mass of the whites the South must rely for its republican permanence, as +on their arms it must rely for its force; and here again, the words of +Sismondi, written of falling Rome, seem already applicable to the South: +--"Thus all that class of free cultivators, who more than any other +class feel the love of country, who could defend the soil, and who ought +to furnish the best soldiers, disappeared almost entirely. The number +of small farmers diminished to such a degree, that a rich man, a man of +noble family, had often to travel more than ten leagues before falling +in with an equal or a neighbor." The destruction of the republican form +of government is, then, almost the necessary catastrophe; but what will +follow that catastrophe it is not so easy to foretell. The Republic, +thus undermined, will fall; but what shall supply its place? The +tendency of decaying republics is to anarchy; and men take refuge from +the terrors of anarchy in despotism. The South least of all can indulge +in anarchy, as it would at once tend to servile insurrection. They +cannot long be torn by civil war, for the same reason. The ever-present, +all-pervading fear of the African must force them into some government, +and the stronger the better. The social divisions of the South, into the +rich and educated whites, the poor and ignorant whites, and the +servile class, would seem naturally to point to an aristocratic or +constitutional-monarchical form of government. But, in their transition +state, difficulties are to be met in all directions; and the +well-ordered social distinctions of a constitutional monarchy seem +hardly consistent with the time-honored licentious independence and +rude equality of Southern society. The reign of King Cotton, however, +conducted under the present policy, must inevitably tend to increase and +aggravate all the present social tendencies of the Southern system,-- +all the anti-republican affinities already strongly developed. It makes +deeper the chasm dividing the rich and the poor; it increases vastly the +ranks of the uneducated; and, finally, while most unnaturally forcing +the increase of the already threatening African infusion, it also tends +to make the servile condition more unendurable, and its burdens heavier. + +The modern Southern politician is the least far-seeing of all our +short-sighted classes of American statesmen. In the existence of a +nation, a generation should be considered but as a year in the life of +man, and a century but as a generation of citizens. Soon or late, in the +lives of this generation or of their descendants, in the Union or out +of the Union, the servile members of this Confederacy must, under the +results of the prolonged dynasty of Cotton, make their election either +to purchase their security, like Cuba, by dependence on the strong arm +of external force, or they must meet national exigencies, pass through +revolutions, and destroy and reconstruct governments, making every +movement on the surface of a seething, heaving volcano. All movements of +the present, looking only to the forms of government of the master, must +be carried on before the face of the slave, and the question of class +will ever be complicated by that of caste. What the result of the +ever-increasing tendencies of the Cotton dynasty will be it is therefore +impossible to more than dream. But is it fair to presume that the +immense servile population should thus see upturnings and revolutions, +dynasties rising and falling before their eyes, and ever remain quiet +and contented? "Nothing," said Jefferson, "is more surely written in the +Book of Fate than that this people must be free." Fit for freedom at +present they are not, and, under the existing policy of the Cotton +dynasty, never can be. "Whether under any circumstances they could +become so is not here a subject of discussion; but, surely, the day will +come when the white caste will wish the experiment had been tried. The +argument of the Cotton King against the alleviation of the condition of +the African is, that his nature does not admit of his enjoyment of true +freedom consistently with the security of the community, and therefore +he must have none. But certainly his school has been of the worst. Would +not, perhaps, the reflections applied to the case of the French peasants +of a century ago apply also to them?" It is not under oppression that +we learn how to use freedom. The ordinary sophism by which misrule is +defended is, when truly stilted, this: The people must continue in +slavery, because slavery has generated in them all the vices of slaves; +because they are ignorant, they must remain under a power which has made +and which keeps them ignorant; because they have been made ferocious by +misgovernment, they must be misgoverned forever. If the system under +which they live were so mild and liberal that under its operation they +had become humane and enlightened, it would be safe to venture on a +change; but, as this system has destroyed morality, and prevented the +development of the intellect,--as it has turned men, who might, under +different training, have formed a virtuous and happy community, into +savage and stupid wild beasts, therefore it ought to last forever. +Perhaps the counsellors of King Cotton think that in this case it will; +but all history teaches us another lesson. If there be one spark of love +for freedom in the nature of the African,--whether it be a love common +to him with the man or the beast, the Caucasian or the chimpanzee,--the +love of freedom as affording a means of improvement or an opportunity +for sloth,--the policy of King Cotton will cause it to work its way out. +It is impossible to say how long it will be in so doing, or what weight +the broad back of the African will first be made to bear; but, if the +spirit exist, some day it must out. This lesson is taught us by the +whole recorded history of the world. Moses leading the Children of +Israel up out of Egypt,--Spartacus at the gates of Rome,--the Jacquerie +in France,--Jack Cade and Wat Tyler in England,--Nana Sahib and the +Sepoys in India,--Toussaint l'Ouverture and the Haytiens,--and, finally, +the insurrection of Nat Turner in this country, with those in Guiana, +Jamaica, and St. Lucia: such examples, running through all history, +point the same moral. This last result of the Cotton dynasty may come at +any moment after the time shall once have arrived when, throughout any +great tract of country, the suppressing force shall temporarily, with +all the advantages of mastership, including intelligence and weapons, be +unequal to coping with the force suppressed. That time may still be far +off. Whether it be or not depends upon questions of government and +the events of the chapter of accidents. If the Union should now be +dissolved, and civil convulsions should follow, it may soon be upon us. +But the superimposed force is yet too great under any circumstances, and +the convulsion would probably be but temporary. At present, too, the +value of the slave insures him tolerable treatment; but, as numbers +increase, this value must diminish. Southern statesmen now assert that +in thirty years there will be twelve million slaves in the South; and +then, with increased numbers, why should not the philosophy of the +sugar-plantation prevail, and it become part of the economy of the +Cotton creed, that it is cheaper to work slaves to death and purchase +fresh ones than to preserve their usefulness by moderate employment? +Then the value of the slave will no longer protect him, and then the +end will be nigh. Is this thirty or fifty years off? Perhaps not for +a century hence will the policy of King Cotton work its legitimate +results, and the volcano at length come to its head and defy all +compression. + +In one of the stories of the "Arabian Nights" we are told of an Afrite +confined by King Solomon in a brazen vessel; and the Sultana tells +us, that, during the first century of his confinement, he said in his +heart,--"I will enrich whosoever will liberate me"; but no one liberated +him. In the second century he said,--"Whosoever will liberate me, I will +open to him the treasures of the earth"; but no one liberated him. And +four centuries more passed, and he said,--"Whosoever shall liberate me, +I will fulfil for him three wishes"; but still no one liberated him. +Then despair at his long bondage took possession of his soul, and, in +the eighth century, he swore,--"Whosoever shall liberate me, him will +I surely slay!" Let the Southern statesmen look to it well that the +breaking of the seal which confines our Afrite be not deferred till long +bondage has turned his heart, like the heart of the Spirit in the fable, +into gall and wormwood; lest, if the breaking of that seal be deferred +to the eighth or even the sixth century, it result to our descendants +like the breaking of the sixth seal of Revelation,--"And, lo! there was +a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and +the moon became as blood, and the heaven departed as a scroll, when it +is rolled together; and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and +the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every free +man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and +said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us, for the great +day of wrath is come'" On that day, at least, will end the reign of King +Cotton. + + * * * * * + + +GLIMPSES OF GARIBALDI. + + +FIRST GLIMPSE. + + +It is a sultry morning in October, and we are steaming in a small +Sardinian boat from Leghorn towards Naples. This city has fallen into +the power of Garibaldi, who is concentrating his forces before Capua, +while the King of Sardinia bears down with a goodly army from the North. + +The first object of special interest which comes into view, after we +pass the island of Elba, is Gaeta. Though care is taken not to run near +enough to invite a chase from the Neapolitan frigates, we are yet able +to obtain a distinct view of the last stronghold--the jumping-off place, +as we hope it will prove--of Francis II. The white walls of the fortress +rise grimly out of the sea, touching the land only upon one side, and +looking as though they might task well the resources of modern warfare +to reduce them. We soon make out the smoke of four or five steamers, +which we suppose to be armed vessels, heading towards Gaeta. + +About two o'clock we glide into the far-famed Bay of Naples, in company +with the cool sea-breeze which there each afternoon sends to refresh +the heated shore. As we swing round to our moorings, we pass numerous +line-of-battle-ships and frigates bearing the flags of England, +France, and Sardinia, but look in vain and with disappointment for the +star-spangled banner. A single floating representative of American +nationality is obliged to divide the favor of her presence between the +ports of both the Two Sicilies, and at this time she is at the island +portion of the kingdom. + +Our craft is at once beset by boats, their owners pushing, vociferating, +and chaffering for fares, as though Mammon, and not Moloch, were the +ruling spirit. Together with a chance companion of the voyage, Signor +Alvigini, _Intendente_ of Genoa, and his party, we are soon in the hands +of the _commissionnaire_ of the Hotel de Rome. As we land, our passports +are received by the police of Victor Emmanuel, who have replaced those +of the late _regime_. + +As we enter our carriage, we expect to see streets filled with crowds of +turbulent people, or dotted with knots of persons conversing ominously +in suppressed tones; and streets deserted, with shops closed; and +streets barricaded. But in this matter we are agreeably disappointed. +The shops are all open, the street venders are quietly tending their +tables, people go about their ordinary affairs, and wear their +commonplace, every-day look. The only difference apparent to the eye +between the existing state of things and that which formerly obtained +is, that there are few street brawls and robberies, though every one +goes armed,--that the uniform of the soldiers of Francis II. is replaced +by the dark gray dress of the National Guard,--and that the Hag of +the Tyrant King no longer waves over the castle-prison of Sant' Elmo. +Garibaldi, on leaving Naples, had formally confided the city to the +National Guard; and they had nobly sustained the trust reposed in them. + +A letter of introduction to General Orsini, brought safely with us, +though not without adventure, through the Austrian dominions, gains +a courteous reception from General Turr, chief aide-de-camp to the +"Dictator," and a pass to the camp. General Turr, an Hungarian refugee, +is a person of distinguished appearance, not a little heightened by +his peculiar dress, which consists of the usual Garibaldian uniform +partially covered with a white military cloak, which hangs gracefully +over his elegant figure. + +After a brief, but pleasant, interview with this gentleman, we climb to +the Castle of Sant' Elmo, built on a high eminence commanding the town, +and with its guns mounted, not so as to defend it against an invading +enemy, but to hurl destruction on the devoted subjects of the Bourbon. +We are told that the people Lad set their hearts on seeing this +fortress, which they look upon as a standing menace, razed to the +ground, and its site covered with peaceful dwellings. And it is not +without regret that we have since learned that Victor Emmanuel has +thought it inexpedient to comply with this wish. Nor, in our ignorance, +can we divest ourselves entirely of the belief that it would have been a +wise as well as conciliatory policy to do so. + +We are politely shown over the castle by one of the National Guard, who +hold it in charge, and see lounging upon one of its terraces, carefully +guarded, but kindly allowed all practicable liberty, several officers of +the late power, prisoners where they had formerly held despotic sway. We +descend into the now empty dungeons, dark and noisome as they have been +described, where victims of political accusation or suspicion have pined +for years in dreary solitude. It produces a marked sensation in the +minds of our Italian companions in this sad tour of inspection, when +we tell them, through our guide Antonio, that these cells are the +counterpart of the dungeons of the condemned in the prison of the Doges +of Venice, as we had seen them a few days before,--save that the latter +were better, in their day, in so far as in them the cold stone was +originally lined and concealed by wooden casings, while in those before +us the helpless prisoner in his gropings could touch only the hard rock, +significant of the relentless despotism which enchained him. The walls +are covered with the inscriptions of former tenants. In One place we +discover a long line of marks in groups of fives,--like the tallies of +our boyish sports,--but here used for how different a purpose! Were +these the records of days, or weeks, or months? The only furniture of +the cells is a raised platform of wood, the sole bed of the miserable +inmate. The Italian visitors, before leaving, childishly vent their +useless rage at the sight of these places of confinement, by breaking to +pieces the windows and shutters, and scattering their fragments on the +floor. + +We have returned from Sant' Elmo, and, evening having arrived, are +sitting in the smoking-room of the Hotel de Grande Bretagne, conversing +with one of the English Volunteers, when our friend General J--n of the +British Army, one of the lookers-on in Naples, comes in, having just +returned from "the front." He brings the news of a smart skirmish which +has taken place during the day; of the English "Excursionists" being +ordered out in advance; of their rushing with alacrity into the thickest +of the fight, and bravely sustaining the conflict,--being, indeed, +with difficulty withheld by their officers from needlessly exposing +themselves. But this inspiring news is tinged with sadness. One of their +number, well known and much beloved, had fallen, killed instantly by a +bullet through the head. Military ardor, aroused by the report of +brave deeds, is for a few moments held in abeyance by grief, and +then rekindled by the desire of vengeance. Hot blood is up, and the +prevailing feeling is a longing for a renewal of the fight. We are told, +if we wish to see an action, to go to "the front" to-morrow. Accordingly +we decide to be there. + +The following day, our faithful _commissionnaire_, Antonio, places us +in a carriage drawn by a powerful pair of horses, and headed for the +Garibaldian camp. A hamper of provisions is not forgotten, and before +starting we cause Antonio to double the supplies: we have a presentiment +that we may find with whom to share them. + +There are twelve miles before us to the nearest point in the camp, which +is Caserta. Our chief object being to see the hero of Italy, if we do +not find him at Caserta, we shall push on four miles farther, to Santa +Maria; and, missing him there, ride still another four miles to Sant' +Angelo, where rests the extreme right of the army over against Capua. + +As we ride over the broad and level road from Naples to Caserta, +bordered with lines of trees through its entire length, we are surprised +to see not only husbandmen quietly tilling the fields, but laborers +engaged in public works upon the highway, as if in the employ of a long +established authority, and making it difficult to believe that we are +in the midst of civil war, and under a provisional government of a few +weeks' standing. But this and kindred wonders are fruits of the spell +wrought by Garibaldi, who wove the most discordant elements into +harmony, and made hostile factions work together for the common good, +for the sake of the love they bore to him. + +About mid-day we arrive at a redoubt which covers a part of the road, +leaving barely enough space for one vehicle to pass. We are of course +stopped, but are courteously received by the officer of the guard. +We show our pass from General Turr, giving us permission "freely to +traverse all parts of the camp," and being told to drive on, find +ourselves within the lines. As we proceed, we see laborers busily +engaged throwing up breastworks, soldiers reposing beneath the trees, +and on every side the paraphernalia of war. + +Garibaldi is not here, nor do we find him at Santa Maria. So we prolong +our ride to the twentieth mile by driving our reeking, but still +vigorous horses to Sant' Angelo. + +We are now in sight of Capua, where Francis II. is shut up with a strong +garrison. The place is a compact walled town, crowned by the dome of a +large and handsome church, and situated in a plain by the side of the +Volturno. Though, contrary to expectation, there is no firing to-day, we +see all about us the havoc of previous cannonadings. The houses we pass +are riddled with round shot thrown by the besieged, and the ground is +strewn with the limbs of trees severed by iron missiles. But where is +Garibaldi? No one knows. Yonder, however, is a lofty hill, and upon its +summit we descry three or four persons. It is there, we are told, that +the Commander-in-Chief goes to observe the enemy, and among the forms we +see is very probably the one we seek. + +We have just got into our carriage again, and are debating as to whither +we shall go next, when we are addressed from the road-side in English. +There, dressed in the red shirt, are three young men, all not far from +twenty years of age, members of the British regiment of "Excursionists." +They are out foraging for their mess, and ask a ride with us to Santa +Maria. We are only too glad of their company; and off we start, a +carriage-full. Then commences a running fire of question and response. +We find the society of our companions a valuable acquisition. They are +from London,--young men of education, and full of enthusiasm for +the cause of Italian liberty. One of them is a connection of our +distinguished countrywoman, Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Before going to +Santa Maria, they insist on doing the honors, and showing the objects +of interest the vicinity. So they take us to their barrack, a large +farm-house, and thence to "the front." To the latter spot our coachman +declines driving, as his horses are not bullet-proof, and the enemy is +not warranted to abstain from firing during our visit. So, proceeding on +foot, we reach a low breastwork of sand-bags, with an orchard in advance +of it. Here, our companions tell us, was the scene of yesterday's +skirmish, in which they took an active part. The enemy had thrown out a +detachment of sharp-shooters, who had entered the wood, and approached +the breastwork. A battalion of the English Volunteers was ordered up. As +they marched eagerly forwards, a body of Piedmontese, stationed a little +from the road, shouted, "_Vivano gl' Inglesi! Vivano gl' Inglesi!_" +At the breastworks where we are standing, the word was given to break +ranks, and skirmish. Instantly they sprang over the wall, and took +position behind the trees, to shoot "wherever they saw a head." Each +soldier had his "covering man,"--a comrade stationed about ten feet +behind him, whose duty it was to keep his own piece charged ready to +kill any of the enemy who might attempt to pick off the leading man +while the latter was loading. One of my young friends had the hammer of +his rifle shot off in his hand. He kept his position till another weapon +was passed out to him. The action lasted till evening, when the enemy +drew off, there being various and uncertain reports as to their loss. +Our British cousins had some ten wounded, besides the one killed. +Fighting royalists, we will mention here, was no fancy-work about that +time, as the Neapolitans had an ugly trick of extinguishing the eyes of +their prisoners, and then putting their victims to death. + +We return to our carriage, drive into a sheltered spot, and give the +word of command to Antonio to open the hamper and deploy his supplies, +when hungry soldiers vie with the ravenous traveller in a knife-and-fork +skirmish. No fault was found with the _cuisine_ of the Hotel de Grande +Bretagne. + +The rations disposed of, we set off again for Santa Maria. Arrived at +the village, at the request of our companions, we visit with them a +hospital, to see one of their comrades, wounded in the action of the +preceding day, and, as we are known to profess the healing art, to give +our opinion as to his condition. We enter a large court-yard surrounded +with farm-buildings, one wing of which is devoted to hospital purposes. +We find the wards clean and well ventilated, and wearing the look of +being well attended. This favorable condition is owing in great measure +to the interposition and supervision of several ladies, among whom are +specially mentioned the two daughters of an English clergyman, without +omitting the name of the Countess della Torres. The wounded comrade of +our friends had been struck by a ball, which had not been readied by the +probe, and was supposed to have entered the lung. The poor young fellow +draws his rapid breath with much pain, but is full of pluck, and meets +the encouraging assurances of his friends with a smile and words of +fortitude. Some time afterwards we learn that he is convalescent, though +in a disabled state. + +It now becomes necessary to say our mutual farewells, which we do as +cordially as though we had been old friends. We go our respective ways, +to meet once more in Italy, and to renew our acquaintance again in +London, where we subsequently spend a pleasant evening together by a +cheerful English fireside. + +Scarcely have we parted with these new-found friends of kindred blood +and common language, when we are provided with another companion. +An Italian officer asks a seat with us to Caserta. Our letter of +introduction to General Orsini being shown to him, he volunteers to +assist us in attaining our object, that of seeing the hero of Italy. +At five, we are before the palace of Caserta, now a barrack, and the +head-quarters of the Commander-in-Chief. The building is one of great +size and beauty of architecture. A lofty arch, sustained by elegant and +massive marble pillars, bisects the structure, and on either side one +may pass from the archway into open areas of spacious dimensions, from +which lead passages to the various offices. We approach a very splendid +marble staircase leading to the state apartments. A sentinel forbids us +to pass. This is, then, perhaps, the part of the building occupied by +the Commander-in-Chief. Not so. The state apartments are unoccupied, and +are kept sacred from intrusion, as the property of the nation to which +they are to belong. Garibaldi's apartments are among the humblest in the +palace. We go on to the end of the archway, and see, stretching as far +as the eye can reach, the Royal Drive, leading through a fine avenue of +trees, and reminding us of the "Long Walk" at Windsor Castle. Retracing +our steps, and crossing one of the court-yards, we ascend a modest +staircase, and are in the antechamber of the apartments of the +Commander-in-Chief. There are sentinels at the outer door, others at +the first landing, and a guard of honor, armed with halberds, in the +antechamber. Our courteous companion, by virtue of his official rank, +has passed us without difficulty by the sentries, and quits us to +discharge the duty which brought him to Caserta. + +We are now eagerly expectant of the arrival of him whose face we have so +long sought The hour is at hand when he joins his military family at an +unostentatious and very frugal dinner. In about half an hour there is +a sudden cessation in the hum of conversation, the guard is ordered to +stand to arms, and in a moment more, amid profound silence, Garibaldi +has passed through the antechamber, leaving the place, as it were, +pervaded by his presence. We had beheld an erect form, of rather low +stature, but broad and compact, a lofty brow, a composed and thoughtful +face, with decision and reserved force depicted on every line of it. +In the mien and carriage we had seen realized all that we had read and +heard of the air of one born to command. + +Our hero wore the characteristic red shirt and gray trousers, and, +thrown over them, a short gray cloak faced with red. When without the +cloak, there might be seen, hanging upon the back, and fastened around +the throat, the party-colored kerchief usually appertaining to priestly +vestments. + +Returning to Naples, and sitting that night at our window, with the most +beautiful of bays before us, we treasure up for perpetual recollection +the picture of Garibaldi at head-quarters. + + +GARIBALDI AT POMPEII. + + +It is Sunday, the 21st of October. We have to-day observed the people, +in the worst quarters of the city as well as in the best, casting their +ballots in an orderly and quiet manner, under the supervision of the +National Guard, for Victor Emmanuel as their ruler. To-morrow we have +set apart for exploring Pompeii, little dreaming what awaits us there. +Our friend, General J--n, of the British Army, learning that there is no +likelihood of active operations at "the front," proposes to join us in +our excursion. + +We are seated in the restaurant at the foot of the acclivity which +leads to the exhumed city, when suddenly Antonio appears and exclaims, +"Garibaldi!" We look in the direction he indicates, and, in an avenue +leading from the railway, we behold the Patriot-Soldier of Italy +advancing toward us, accompanied by the Countess Pallavicini, the wife +of the Prodictator of Naples, and attended by General Turr, with several +others of his staff. We go out to meet them. General J--n, a warm +admirer of Garibaldi, gives him a cordial greeting, and presents us as +an American. We say a few words expressive of the sympathy entertained +by the American people for the cause of Italy and its apostle. He whom +we thus address, in his reply, professes his happiness in enjoying the +good wishes of Americans, and, gracefully turning to our friend, adds, +"I am grateful also for the sympathy of the English." The party then +pass on, and we are left with the glowing thought that we have grasped +the hand of Garibaldi. + +Half an hour later, we are absorbed in examining one of the structures +of what was once Pompeii, when suddenly we hear martial music. We follow +the direction of the sound, and presently find ourselves in the ancient +forum. In the centre of the inclosure is a military band playing the +"Hymn of Garibaldi"; while at its northern extremity, standing, facing +us, between the columns of the temple of Jupiter, with full effect given +to the majesty of his bearing, is Garibaldi. Moved by the strikingly +contrasting associations of the time and the place, we turn to General +J--n, saying, "Behold around us the symbols of the death of Italy, and +there the harbinger of its resurrection." Our companion, fired with a +like enthusiasm, immediately advances to the base of the temple, and, +removing his hat, repeats the words in the presence of those there +assembled. + + +GARIBALDI AT "THE FRONT." + + +Once again we look in the eye of this wonderful man, and take him by the +hand. This time it is at "the front." On Saturday, the 27th of October, +we are preparing to leave Naples for Rome by the afternoon boat, when we +receive a message from General J--n that the bombardment of Capua is to +begin on the following day at ten o'clock, and inviting us to join his +party to the camp. Accordingly, postponing our departure for the North, +we get together a few surgical instruments, and take a military train +upon the railway in the afternoon for the field of action. + +Our party consists of General J--n, General W., of Virginia, Captain +G., a Scotch officer serving in Italy, and ourself. Arrived at Caserta, +Captain G., showing military despatches, is provided with a carriage, in +which we all drive to the advanced post at Sant' Angelo. We reach this +place at about eight o'clock, when we ride and walk through the camp, +which presents a most picturesque aspect, illuminated as it is by a +brilliant moon. We see clusters of white tents, with now and then the +general silence broken by the sound of singing wafted to us from among +them,--here and there tired soldiers lying asleep on the ground, covered +with their cloaks,--horses picketed in the fields,--camp-fires burning +brightly in various directions; while all seems to indicate the profound +repose of men preparing for serious work on the morrow. We pass and +repass a bridge, a short time before thrown across the Volturno. A +portion of the structure has broken down; but our English friends +congratulate themselves that the part built by their compatriots has +stood firm. We exchange greetings with Colonel Bourdonne, who is on duty +here for the night, superintending the repairs of the bridge, and who +kindly consigns us to his quarters. + +Arrived at the farm-house where Colonel Bourdonne has established +himself, and using his name, we are received with the utmost attention +by the servants. The only room at their disposal, fortunately a large +one, they soon arrange for our accommodation. To General J---n, the +senior of the party, is assigned the only bed; an Italian officer +occupies a sofa; while General W., Captain G., and ourself are ranged, +"all in a row," on bags of straw placed upon the floor. Of the +merriment, prolonged far into the night, and making the house resound +with peals of laughter,--not at all to the benefit, we fear, of several +wounded officers in a neighboring room,--we may not write. + +Sunday is a warm, clear, summer-like day, and our party climb the +principal eminence of Sant' Angelo to witness the expected bombardment. +We reach the summit at ten minutes before ten, the hour announced for +opening fire. We find several officers assembled there,--among them +General H., of Virginia. Low tone of conversation and a restrained +demeanor are impressed on all; for, a few paces off, conferring with +two or three confidential aids, is the man whose very presence is +dignity,--Garibaldi. + +Casting our eye over the field, we cannot realize that there are such +hosts of men under arms about us, till a military guide by our side +points out their distribution to us. + +"Look there!" says General H., pointing to an orchard beneath. "Under +those trees they are swarming thick as bees. There are ten thousand men, +at least, in that spot alone." + +With an opera-glass we can distinctly scan the walls of Capua, and +observe that they are not yet manned. But the besieged are throwing out +troops by thousands into the field before our lines. We remark one large +body drawn up in the shelter of the shadow cast by a large building. +Every now and then, from out this shadow, a piercing ray of light is +shot, reflected from the helm or sword-case of the commanding officer, +who is gallantly riding up and down before his men, and probably +haranguing them in preparation for the expected conflict. All these +things strike the attention with a force and meaning far different from +the impression produced by the holiday pageantry of mimic war. + +The Commander-in-Chief is now disengaged, and our party approach him +to pay their respects. By the advice of General J---n, we proffer our +medical services for the day; and we receive a pressure of the hand, a +genial look, and a bind acknowledgment of the offer. But we are told +there will be no general action to-day. Our report of these words, as +we rejoin our companions, is the first intimation given that the +bombardment is deferred. But, though, there is some disappointment, +their surprise is not extreme. For Garibaldi never informs even his +nearest aide-de-camp what he is about to do. In fact, he quaintly says, +"If his shirt knew his plans, he would take it off and burn it." Some +half-hour later, having descended from the eminence, we take our last +look of Garibaldi. He has retired with a single servant to a sequestered +place upon the mount, whither he daily resorts, and where his mid-day +repast is brought to him. Here he spends an hour or two secure from +interruption. What thoughts he ponders in his solitude the reader may +perhaps conjecture as well as his most intimate friend. But for us, with +the holy associations of a very high mountain before our mind, we can +but trust that a prayer, "uttered or unexpressed," invokes the divine +blessing upon the work to which Garibaldi devotes himself,--the +political salvation of his country. + + * * * * * + + +TWO OR THREE TROUBLES. + +[Concluded.] + + +Every day, and twice a day, came Mr. Sampson,--though I have not said +much about it; and now it was only a week before our marriage. This +evening he came in very weary with his day's work,--getting a wretched +man off from hanging, who probably deserved it richly. (It is said, +women are always for hanging: and that is very likely. I remember, when +there had been a terrible murder in our parlors, as it were, and it was +doubtful for some time whether the murderer would be convicted, Mrs. +Harris said, plaintively, "Oh, do hang somebody!") Mr. Sampson did +not think so, apparently, but sat on the sofa by the window, dull and +abstracted. + +If I had been his wife, I should have done as I always do now in such a +case: walked up to him, settled the sofa-cushion, and said,--"Here, now! +lie down, and don't speak a word for two hours. Meantime I will tell you +who has been here, and everything." Thus I should rest and divert him by +idle chatter, bathing his tired brain with good Cologne; and if, in the +middle of my best story and funniest joke, he fairly dropped off to +sleep, I should just fan him softly, keep the flies away, say in my +heart, "Bless him! there he goes! hands couldn't mend him!"--and then +look at him with as much more pride and satisfaction than, at any other +common wide-awake face as it is possible to conceive. + +However, not being married, and having a whole week more to be silly +in, I was both silly and suspicious. This was partly his fault. He was +reserved, naturally and habitually; and as he didn't tell me he was +tired and soul-weary, I never thought of that. Instead, as he sat on the +sofa, I took a long string of knitting-work and seated myself across the +room,--partly so that he might come to me, where there was a good seat. +Then, as he did not cross the room, but still sat quietly on the sofa, +I began to wonder and suspect. Did he work too hard? Did he dread +undertaking matrimony? Did he wish he could get off? Why did he not come +and speak to me? What had I done? Nothing! Nothing! + +Here Laura came in to say she was going to Mrs. Harris's to get the +newest news about sleeves. Mrs. Harris for sleeves; Mrs. Gore for +bonnets; and for housekeeping, recipes, and all that, who but Mrs. +Parker, who knew that, and a hundred other things? Many-sided are we +all: talking sentiment with this one, housekeeping with that, and to a +third saying what wild horses would not tear from us to the two first! + +Laura went. And presently he said, wearily, but _I_ thought drearily,-- + +"Delphine, are you all ready to be married?" + +The blood flushed from my heart to my forehead and back again. So, then, +he thought I was ready and waiting to drop like a ripe plum into his +mouth, without his asking me! Am I ready, indeed? And suppose I am +not? Perhaps I, too, may have my misgivings. A woman's place is not a +sinecure. Troubles, annoyances, as the sparks fly upward! Buttons to +begin with, and everything to end with! What did Mrs. Hemans say, poor +woman? + + "Her lot is on you! silent tears to weep, + And patient smiles to wear through suffering's hour, + And sumless riches from affection's deep + To pour on"--something--"a wasted shower!" + +Yes, wasted, indeed! I hadn't answered a word to his question. + +"It seems warm in this room," said he again, languidly; "shall we walk +on the piazza?" + +"I think not," I answered, curtly; "I am not warm." + +Even that, did not bring him to me. He still leaned his head on his hand +for a minute or two, and then rose from the sofa and sat by the window, +looking at the western sky, where the sun had long gone down. I could +see his profile against the outer light, however, and it did not look +placid. His brow was knit and mouth compressed. So, then, it was all +very likely! + +Having set out on my race of suspecting, my steeds did not lag. They +were winged already, and I goaded them continually with memories. There +was nothing I did not think of or accuse him of,--especially, the last +and worst sin of breaking off our engagement at the eleventh hour!--and +I, who had suffered silently, secretly, untold torments about that name +of his,--nobody, no man, could ever guess how keenly, because no man can +ever feel as a woman does about such things! Men,--they would as soon +marry Tabitha as Juliana. They could call her "Wife." It made no matter +to them. What did any man care, provided she chronicled small beer, +whether she had taste, feeling, sentiment, anything? Here I was wrong, +as most passionate people are at some time in their lives. Some men do +care. + +At the moment I had reached the top-most pinnacle of my wrath, and was +darting lightnings on all mankind, Polly showed in Lieutenant Herbert, +with his book of promised engravings. + +With a natural revulsion of temper, I descended rapidly from my +pinnacle, and, stepping half-way across the room, met the Lieutenant +with unusual cordiality. Mr. Sampson bowed slightly and sat still. I +drew two chairs towards the centre-table, lighted the argand, and seated +myself with the young officer to examine and admire the beautiful +forms in which the gifted artist has clothed the words rather than the +thoughts of the writer,--out of the coarse real, lifting the scenes into +the sweet ideal,--and out of the commonest, rudest New-England life, +bringing the purest and most charming idyllic song. We did not say this. + +I looked across at the window, where still sat the figure, motionless. +Not a word from him. I looked at Lieutenant Herbert. He was really very +handsome, with an imperial brow, and roseate lips like a girl's. Somehow +he made me think of Claverhouse,--so feminine in feature, so martial in +action! Then he talked,--talked really quite well,--reflected my own +ideas in an animated and eloquent manner. + +Why it was,--whether Herbert suspected we had had a lovers' quarrel,--or +whether his vanity was flattered at my attention to him, which was +entirely unusual,--or whether my own excited, nervous condition led me +to express the most joyous life and good-humor, and shut down all my +angry sorrow and indignant suspicions, while I smiled and danced over +their sepulchre,--however it was, I know not,--but a new sparkle +came into the blue eyes of the young militaire. He was positively +entertaining. Conscious that he was talking well, he talked better. He +recited poetry; he was even witty, or seemed so. With the magnetism of +cordial sympathy, I called out from his memory treasures new and old. He +became not only animated, but devoted. + +All this time the figure at the window sat calm and composed. It was +intensely, madly provoking. He was so very sure of me, it appeared, he +would not take the trouble to enter the lists to shiver a lance with +this elegant young man with the beautiful name, the beautiful lips, and +with, for the last half-hour at least, the beautiful tongue. He would +not trouble himself to entertain his future wife. He would not trouble +himself even to speak. Very well! Very well indeed! Did the Lieutenant +like music? If "he" did not care a jot for me, perhaps others did. My +heart beat very fast now; my cheeks burned, and my lips were parched. A +glass of water restored me to calmness, and I sat at the piano. Herbert +turned over the music, while I rattled off whatever came to my fingers' +ends,--I did not mind or know what. It was very fine, I dare say. He +whispered that it was "so beautiful!"--and I answered nothing, but kept +on playing, playing, playing, as the little girl in the Danish story +keeps on dancing, dancing, dancing, with the fairy red shoes on. Should +I play on forever? In the church,--out of it,--up the street,--down the +street,--out in the fields,--under the trees,--by the wood,--by the +water,--in cathedrals,--I heard something murmuring,--something softly, +softly in my ear. Still I played on and on, and still something murmured +softly, softly in my ear. I looked at the window. The head was leaned +down, and resting on both arms. Fast asleep, probably. Then I played +louder, and faster, and wilder. + +Then, for the first time, as deaf persons are said to hear well in +the noise of a crowded street, or in a rail-car, so did I hear in the +musical tumult, for the first time, the words of Herbert. They had been +whispered, and I had heard, but not perceived them, till this moment. + +I turned towards him, looked him full in the face, and dropped both +hands into my lap. Well might I be astonished! He started and blushed +violently, but said nothing. As for me, I was never more calm in my +life. In the face of a real mistake, all imaginary ones fell to the +ground, motionless as so many men of straw. With an instinct that went +before thought, and was born of my complete love and perfect reliance on +my future husband, I pushed back the music-stool, and walked straight +across the room to the window. + +His head was indeed leaned on his arms; but he was white and insensible. + +"Come here!" I said, sternly and commandingly, to Herbert, who stood +where I had left him. "Now, if you can, hold him, while I wheel this +sofa;--and now, ring the bell, if you please." + +We placed him on the couch, and Polly came running in. + +"Now, good-night, Sir; we can take care of him. With very many thanks +for your politeness," I added, coldly; "and I will send home the book +to-morrow." + +He muttered something about keeping it as long as I wished, and I turned +my back on him. + +"Oh! oh!--what had _he_ thought all this time?--what had he suffered? +How his heart must have been agonized!--how terribly he must have felt +the mortification,--the distress! Oh!" + +We recovered him at length from the dead faint into which he had fallen. +Polly, who thought but of the body, insisted on bringing him "a good +heavy-glass of Port-wine sangaree, with toasted crackers in it"; and +wouldn't let him speak till he had drunken and eaten. Then she went out +of the room, and left me alone with my justly incensed lover. + +I took a _brioche_, and sat down humbly at the head of the sofa. He held +out his hand, which I took and pressed in mine,--silently, to be +sure; but then no words could tell how I had felt, and now felt,--how +humiliated! how grieved! How wrongly I must have seemed to feel and to +act! how wrongly I must have acted,--though my conscience excused me +from feeling wrongly,--so to have deluded Herbert! + +At last I murmured something regretful and tearful about Lieutenant +Herbert--Herbert! how I had admired that name!--and now, this Ithuriel +touch, how it had changed it and him forever to me! What was in a +name?--sure enough! As I gazed on the pale face on the couch, I should +not have cared, if it had been named Alligator,--so elevated was I +beyond all I had thought or called trouble of that sort! so real was the +trouble that could affect the feelings, the sensitiveness, of the noble +being before me! + +At length he spoke, very calmly and quietly, setting down the empty +tumbler. I trembled, for I knew it must come. + +"I was so glad that fool came in, Del! For, to tell the truth, I felt +really too weak to talk. I haven't slept for two nights, and have been +on my feet and talking for four hours,--then I have had no dinner"-- + +"Oh!" + +"And a damned intelligent jury, (I beg your pardon, but it's a great +comfort to swear, sometimes,) that I can't humbug. But I must! I must, +to-morrow!" he exclaimed, springing up from the sofa and walking +hurriedly across the room. + +"Oh, do sit down, if you are so tired!" + +"I cannot sit down, unless you will let me stop thinking. I have but one +idea constantly." + +"But if the man is guilty, why do you want to clear him?" said I. + +Not a word had he been thinking of me or of Herbert all this time! But +then he had been thinking of a matter of life and death. How all, all my +foolish feelings took to flight! It was some comfort that my lover had +not either seen or suspected them. He thought he must have been nearly +senseless for some time. The last he remembered was, we were looking at +some pictures. + +Laura came in from Mrs. Harris's, and, hearing how the case was, +insisted on having a chicken broiled, and that he should eat some +green-apple tarts, of her own cooking,--not sentimental, nor even +wholesome, but they suited the occasion; and we sat, after that, all +three talking, till past twelve o'clock. No danger now, Laura said, of +bad dreams, if he did go to bed. + +"But why do you care so very much, if you don't get him off?--you +suppose him guilty, you say?" + +"Because, Delphine, his punishment is abominably disproportioned to his +offence. This letter of the law killeth. And then I would get him off, +if possible, for the sake of his son and the family. And besides all +that, Del, it is not for me to judge, you know, but to defend him." + +"Yes,--but if you do your best?" I inquired. + +"A lawyer never does his best," he replied, hastily, "unless he +succeeds. He must get his client's case, or get him off, I must get some +sleep to-night," he added, "and take another pull. There's a man on the +jury,--he is the only one who holds out. I know I don't get him. And I +know why. I see it in the cold steel of his eyes. His sister was left, +within a week of their marriage-day, by a scoundrel,--left, too, to +disgrace, as well as desertion,--and his heart is bitter towards all +offences of the sort. I must get that man somehow!" + +He was standing on the steps, as he spoke, and bidding me good-night; +but I saw his head and heart were both full of his case, _and nothing +else._ + +The words rang in my ear after he went away: "Within a week of their +marriage-day!" In a week we were to have been married. Thank Heaven, we +were still to be married in a week. And he had spoken of the man as "a +scoundrel," who left her. America, indeed! what matters it? Still, there +would be the same head, the same heart, the same manliness, strength, +nobleness,--all that a woman can truly honor and love. Not military, and +not a scoundrel; but plain, massive, gentle, direct. He would do. And a +sense of full happiness pressed up to my very lips, and bubbled over in +laughter. + +"You are a happy girl, Del. Mrs. Harris says the court and everybody is +talking of Mr. Sampson's great plea in that Shore case. Whether he gets +it or not, his fortune is made. They say there hasn't been such an +argument since Webster's time,--so irresistible. It took every body off +their feet." + +I did not answer a word,--only clothed my soul with sackcloth and ashes, +and called it good enough for me. + +We went to bed. But in the middle of the night I waked Laura. + +"What's the matter?" said she, springing out of bed. + +"Don't, Laura!--nothing," said I. + +"Oh, I thought you were ill! I've been sleeping with one eye open, and +just dropped away. What is it?" + +"Do lie down, then. I only wanted to ask you a question." + +"Oh, _do_ go to sleep! It's after three o'clock now. We never shall get +up. Haven't you been asleep yet?" + +"No,--I've been thinking all the time. But you are impatient. It's no +matter. Wait till to-morrow morning." + +"No. I am awake now. Tell me, and be done with it, Del." + +"But I shall want your opinion, you know." + +"Oh, _will_ you tell me, Del?" + +"Well, it is this. How do you think a handsome, a _very_ handsome +chess-table would do?" + +"Do!--for what?" + +"Why,--for my aunt's wedding-gift, you know." + +"Oh, that! And you have waked me up, at this time of night, from the +nicest dream! You cruel thing!" + +"I am so sorry, Laura! But now that you are awake, just tell me how you +like the idea;--I won't ask you another word." + +"Very well,--very good,--excellent," murmured Laura. + +In the course of the next ten minutes, however, I remembered that Laura +never played chess, and that I had heard Mr. Sampson say once that he +never played now,--that it was too easy for work, and too hard for +amusement. So I put the chess-table entirely aside, and began again. + +A position for sleep is, unluckily, the one that is sure to keep one +awake. Lying down, all the blood in my body kept rushing to my brain, +keeping up perpetual images of noun substantives. If I could have spent +my fifty dollars in verbs, in taking a journey, in giving a _fete +champetre_! (Garden lighted with Chinese lanterns, of course,--house +covered inside and out with roses.) Things enough, indeed, there were to +be bought. But the right thing! + +A house, a park, a pair of horses, a curricle, a pony-phaeton. But how +many feet of ground would fifty dollars buy?--and scarcely the hoof of +a horse. + +There was a diamond ring. Not for me; because "he" had been too poor +to offer me one. But I could give it to him. No,--that wouldn't do. He +wouldn't wear it,--nor a pin of ditto. He had said, simplicity in dress +was good economy and always good taste. No. Then something else,--that +wouldn't wear, wouldn't tear, wouldn't lose, rust, break. + +As to clothes, to which I swung back in despair,--this very Aunt Allen +had always sent us all our clothes. So it would only be getting +more, and wouldn't seem to be anything. She was an odd kind of +woman,--generous in spots, as most people are, I believe. Laura and +I both said, (to each other,) that, if she would allow us a hundred +dollars a year each, we could dress well and suitably on it. But, +instead of that, she sent us every year, with her best love, a +trunk full of her own clothes, made for herself, and only a little +worn,--always to be altered, and retrimmed, and refurbished: so that, +although worth at first perhaps even more than two hundred dollars, +they came, by their unfitness and non-fitness, to be worth to us only +three-quarters of that sum; and Laura and I reckoned that we lost +exactly fifty dollars a year by Aunt Allen's queerness. So much for our +gratitude! Laura and I concluded it would be a good lesson to us about +giving; and she had whispered to me something of the same sort, when +I insisted on dressing Betsy Ann Hemmenway, a little mulatto, in an +Oriental caftan and trousers, and had promised her a red sash for her +waist. To be sure, Mrs. Hemmenway despised the whole thing, and said she +"wouldn't let Betsy Ann be dressed up like a circus-rider, for nobody"; +and that she should "wear a bonnet and mantilly, like the rest of +mankind." Which, indeed, she did,--and her bonnet rivalled the +_coiffures_ of Paris in brilliancy and procrastination; for it never +came in sight till long after its little mistress. However, of that +by-and-by. I was only too glad that Aunt Allen had not sent me another +silk gown "with her best love, and, as she was only seventy, perhaps it +might be useful." No,--here was the fifty-dollar note, thank Plutus! + +But then, what to do with it? Sleeping, that was the question. Waking, +that was the same. + +At twelve o'clock Mr. Sampson came to dine with us, and to say he was +the happiest of men. + +"That is, of course, I shall be, next week," said he, smiling and +correcting himself. "But I am rather happy now; for I've got my case, +and Shore has sailed for Australia. Good riddance, and may he never +touch _these_ shores any more!" + +He had been shaking hands with everybody, he said,--and was so glad to +be out of it! + +"Now that it is all over, I wish you would tell me why you are so glad, +when you honestly believe the man guilty," said I. + +"Oh, my child, you are supposing the law to be perfect. Suppose the old +English law to be in force now, making stealing a capital offence. You +wouldn't hang a starving woman or child who stole the baker's loaf from +your window-sill this morning before Polly had time to take it in, would +you? Yet this was the law until quite lately." + +"After all, I don't quite see either how you can bear to defend him, if +you think him guilty, or be glad to have him escape, if he is,--I mean, +supposing the punishment to be a fair one." + +"Because I am a frail and erring man, Delphine, and like to get my case. +If my client is guilty,--as we will suppose, for the sake of argument, +he is,--he will not be likely to stop his evil career merely because he +has got off now, and will be caught and hanged next time, possibly. +If he does stop sinning, why, so much the better to have time for +repentance, you know." + +"Don't laugh,--now be serious." + +"I am. Once, I made up my mind as to my client's guilt from what he told +and did not tell me, and went into court with a heavy heart. However, in +the course of the trial, evidence, totally unexpected to all of us, was +brought forward, and my client's innocence fully established. It was a +good lesson to me. I learned by experience that the business of counsel +is to defend or to prosecute, and not to judge. The judge and jury are +stereoscopic and see the whole figure." + +How wise and nice it sounded! Any way, I wasn't a stereoscope, for I saw +but one side,--the one "he" was on. + +Monday morning. And we were to be married in the evening,--by ourselves, +--nobody else. That was all the stipulation my lover made. + +"I will be married morning, noon, or night, as you say, and dress and +behave as you say; but not in a crowd of even three persons." + +"Not even Laura?" + +"Oh, yes! Laura." + +"Not even Polly?" + +"Oh, yes! the household." + +And then he said, softly, that, if I wanted to please him,--and he knew +his darling Del did,--I would dress in a white gown of some sort, and +put a tea-rose in my beautiful dark hair, and have nobody by but just +the family and old Mr. Price, the Boynton minister. + +"I know that isn't what you thought of, exactly. You thought of being +married in church"---- + +"Oh, dear, dear! old Mr. Price!"--but I did not speak. + +"But if you would be willing?"---- + +"I supposed it would be more convenient," I muttered. + +Visions of myself walking up the aisle, with a white silk on, tulle +veil, orange-flowers, of course, (so becoming!) house crowded with +friends, collation, walking under the trees,--all faded off with a +mournful cry. + +It was of no use talking. Whatever he thought best, I should do, if it +were to be married by the headsman, supposing there were such a person. +This was all settled, then, and had been for a week. + +Nobody need say that lovers, or even married lovers, have but one mind. +They have two minds always. And that is sometimes the best of it; since +the perpetual sacrifices made to each other are made no sacrifices, but +sweet triumphs, by their love. Still, just as much as green is composed +of yellow and blue, and purple of red and blue, the rays can any time +be separated, and they always have a conscious life of their own. Of +course, I had a sort of pleasure even in giving up my marriage in +church; but I kept my blue rays, for all that,--and told Laura I dreaded +the long, long prayer in that evening's service, and that I hoped in +mercy old Mr. Price would have his wits about him, and not preach a +funeral discourse. + +"Old Mr. Price is eighty-nine years old, Laura says," said I. + +"Yes. He was the minister who married my father and mother, and has +always been our minister," answered my lover. + +And so it was settled. + +Laura was rolling up tape, Monday morning, as quietly as if there were +to be no wedding. For my part, I wandered up and down, and could not set +myself about anything. + +"Old Mr. Price! and a great long prayer! And that is to be the end +of it! My wedding-dress all made, and not to be worn! Flowers ditto! +Nowhere to go, and so I shall stay at home. He has no house; so Taffy is +to come to mine!" + +And here I burst out laughing; for it was as well to laugh as cry; and +besides, I said a great many things on purpose to have Laura say what +she always did,--and which, after all, it was sweet to me to hear. Those +were silly days! + +"No, Del,--that is not the end of it,--only the beginning of it,--of a +happy, useful, good life,--your path growing brighter and broader every +year,--and--and--we won't talk of the garlands, dear; but your heart +will have bridal-blossoms, whether your head has or not." + +Laura kissed me, with tears in her sisterly eyes. She never talks fine, +and went directly out of the room after this. + +I thought that women shouldn't swear at all, or, if they did, should +break their oaths as gracefully as I did mine, when I whispered it was +"_so_ good of him, to be willing I should stay in the cottage where I +had always lived, and where every rose-tree and lilac knew me!" And that +was true, too. But not all the truth. What need to be telling truths all +the time? And what had women tongues for, but to hold them sometimes? +Perhaps "he," too, would have preferred a journey to Europe, and a house +on the Mill-Dam. + +Things gradually settled themselves. My troubles seemed coming to a +close by mechanical pressure. As to the name, it was better than Fire, +Famine, and Slaughter,--and I was to take it into consideration, any +way, and get used to it, if I could. The other trouble I put aside +for the moment. After it was concluded on that the wedding should be +strictly private, it was not necessary to buy my aunt's present under +a few days, and I could have the decided advantage, in that way, of +avoiding a duplicate. + +The Monday of my marriage sped away swiftly. Polly had come up early to +say to "Laury" (for Polly was a free and independent American girl of +forty-five) that "there'd be so much goin' to the door, and such, Betsy +Ann had best be handy by, to answer the bell. Fin'ly, she's down there +with her bunnet off, and goin' to stay." + +As usual, Polly's plans were excellent, and adopted. There would be all +the wedding-presents to arrive, congratulatory notes, etc. Everything to +arrange, and a thousand and one things that neither one nor three pairs +of hands could do. How I wished Betsy Ann would consent to dress like an +Oriental child, and look pretty and picturesque,--like a Barbary slave +bearing vessels of gold and silver chalices, instead of her silly +pointed waist and "mantilly," which she persisted in wearing, and which, +of course, gave the look only of a stranger and sojourner in the land! + +I hoped she was a careful child,--there were so many things which might +be spoiled, even if they came in boxes. Betsy Ann was instructed, on +pain of--almost death, to be very, very careful, and to put everything +on the table in the library. She was by no means to unpack an article, +not even a bouquet. Laura and myself preferred to arrange everything +ourselves. We proposed to place each of the presents, for that evening +only, in the library, and spread them out as usual; but the very next +day, we determined, they should all be put away, wherever they were to +go,--of course, we could not tell where, till we saw them. That was +Laura's taste, and had come, on reflection, to be mine. + +Laura said she should make me presents only of innumerable stitches: +which she had done. Polly, whom it is both impossible and irrelevant to +describe, took the opportunity to scrub the house from top to bottom. +Her own wedding-present to me, homely though it was, I wrapped in silver +paper, and showed it to her lying in state on the library-table, to her +infinite amusement. + +Like the North American Indian, the race of Pollies is fast going out +of American life. You read an advertisement of "an American servant who +wants a place in a genteel family," and visions of something common in +American households, when you were children, come up to your mind's eye. +Without considering the absurdity of an American girl calling herself by +such a name, your eyes fill with tears at the thought of the faithful +and loving service of years ago, when neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor +death itself separated the members of the household, but the nurse-maid +was the beloved friend, living and dying under the same roof that +witnessed her untiring and faithful devotion. + +So, when you look after this "American servant," you find alien blood, +lip-service, a surface-warmth that flatters, but does not delude,--a +fidelity that fails you in sickness, or increased toil, or the prospect +of higher wages; and you say to the "American servant,"-- + +"How long have you been in Boston?" + +"Born in Boston, Ma'm,--in Eliot Street, Ma'm." + +So was not Polly. Polly had lived with us always. She had a farm of her +own, and needn't have "lived out" five minutes, unless she had chosen. +But she did choose it, and chose to keep her place. And that was a true +friend,--in a humble position, possibly, yet one of her own choosing. +She rejoiced and wept with us, knew all about us,--corresponded +regularly with us when away, and wrote poetry. She had a fair +mind, great shrewdness, and kept a journal of facts. We loved her +dearly,--next to each other, and a hundred times better than we did Aunt +Allen or any of them. + +Of course, as the day wore on, and afternoon came, and then almost night +came, and still the bell had not once rung,--not once!--Polly was +not the person to express or to permit the least surprise. Not Caleb +Balderstone himself had a sharper eye to the "honor of the family." +_Why_ it was left to the doctrine of chances to decide. _That_ it was +grew clearer and clearer every hour, as every hour came slowly by, +unladen with box or package, even a bouquet. + +Betsy Ann had grinned a great many times, and asked Polly over and over, +"Where the presents all was?" and, "When I was to Miss Russell's, and +Miss Sally was merried, the things come in with a rush,--silver, and +gold, and money, ever so much!" + +However, here Polly snubbed her, and told her to "shet up her head +quick. Most of the presents was come long ago." + +"Such a piece of work as I hed to ghet up that critter's mouth!" said +Polly, laughing, as she assisted Laura in putting the last graces to my +simple toilet before tea. + +"There, now, Miss Sampson to be! I declare to man, you never looked +better. + + "'Roses red, violets blue, + Pinks is pootty, and so be you.'" + +"How did you shut it, Polly?" said Laura, who was very much surprised, +like myself, at the non-arrivals, and who constantly imagined she +heard the bell. Ten arrivals we had both counted on,--ten, +certainly,--fifteen, probably. + +"Well, I told her the presents was all locked up; and if she was a +clever, good child, and went to school regular, and got her learnin' +good, I'd certain show 'em to her some time. I told her," added Polly, +whisperingly, and holding her hand over her mouth to keep from loud +laughter,--"I told her I'd seen a couple on 'em done up in beautiful +silver paper!" + +The bell rang at last, and we all sprang as with an electric shock. It +was old Mr. Price, led in reverently by Mr. Sampson. Tea was ready; so +we all sat down to it. + +I don't know what other people think of, when they are going to be +married,--I mean at the moment. Books are eloquent on the subject. For +my part. I must confess, I thought of nothing. And let that encourage +the next bride, who will imagine herself a dunce, because she isn't +thinking of something fine and solemn. Perhaps I had so many ideas +pressing in, in all directions, that the mind itself couldn't act. Be +it as it may, I stood as if stupefied,--while old Mr. Price talked and +prayed, it seemed, an age. I was roused, however, and glad enough I +wasn't in church, when he called out,-- + +"_Ameriky!_ do you take this woman for your wedded wife?" and still more +rejoiced when he added, sternly,-- + +"_Delphiny!_" (using the long _i_,) "do you take _Ameriky?_" + +We both said "Yes." And then he commended us affectionately and +reverently to the protection and love of Him who had himself come to a +wedding. He then came to a close, to Polly's delight, who said she "had +expected nothin' but what the old gentleman would hold on an hour, +--missionaries to China, and all." + +Old Mr. Price took a piece of cake and a full glass of wine, and wished +us joy. He was fast passing away, and with him the old-class ministers, +now only traditional, who drank their half-mug of flip at funerals, went +to balls to look benignantly on the scene of pleasure, came home at ten +o'clock to write "the improvement" to their Sunday's sermon, took the +other half-mug, and went to bed peaceably and in charity with the whole +parish. They have gone, with the stagecoaches and country-newspapers; +and the places that knew them will know them no more. + +Betsy Ann, who was mercifully admitted to the wedding, pronounced +it without hesitation the "flattest thing she ever see,"--and was +straightway dismissed by Polly, with an extra frosted cake, and a charge +to "get along home with herself." Then Mr. Sampson walked slowly home +with Mr. Price, and Laura and myself were left looking at each other. + +"Delphiny!" said Laura. + +"Ameriky!" said I. + +"Well,--it's over now. If you had happened to be Mrs. Conant's daughter, +you know, your name would have been Keren-happuch!" + +"On the whole, I am glad it wasn't in church," said I. + +Mr. Sampson returned before we had finished talking of that. And then +Laura, said, suddenly,-- + +"But you _must_ decide on Aunt Allen's gift, Del. What shall it be? What +will be pretty?" + +"You shall decide," said I, amiably, turning to my husband. + +"Oh, I have no notion of what is pretty,--at least of but one +thing,--and that is not in Aunt Allen's gift." + +He laughed, and I blushed, of course, as he pointed the compliment +straight at me. + +"But you _must_ think. I cannot decide, I have thought of five hundred +things already." + +"Well, Laura,--what do you say?" said he. + +"I think a silver salver would be pretty, and useful, too." + +"Pretty and useful. Then let it be a silver salver, and be done with +it," said he. + +This notion of being "done with it" is so mannish! Here was my Gordian +knot cut at once! However, there was no help for it,--though now, more +than ever, since there was no danger of a duplicate, did I long for the +fifty thousand different beautiful things the fifty dollars would buy. + +Circumstances aided us, too, in coming to a conclusion. I was rather +tired of rocking on these billows of uncertainty, even with the chance +of plucking gems from the depths. And Mrs. Harris was coming the next +day to tea, and to go away early to see Piccolomini sing and sparkle. + +When we sat down that next day at the table, I poured the tea into a +cup, and placed it on the prettiest little silver tray, and Polly handed +it to Mrs. Harris as if she had done that particular thing all her life. + +"Beautiful!" said Mrs. Harris, as it sparkled along back; "one of your +wedding-gifts?" + +"Yes," I answered, carelessly,--"Aunt Allen's." + +So much was well got over. My hope was that Mrs. Harris, who talked +well, and was never weary of that sort of well-doing, would keep on her +own subjects of interest, to the exclusion of mine. Therefore, when she +said pleasantly, _en passant_,-- + +"By the way, Delphine, I see you have taken my advice about +wedding-presents. You know I always abominated that parading of gifts." + +Laura hastened to the rescue, saying,-- + +"Yes, we quite agree with you, and remember your decided opinions on +that subject. Did you say you had been to the Aquarial Gardens?" + +How I wished I had been self-possessed enough to tell the whole story, +with its ridiculous side out, and make a good laugh over it, as it +deserved!--for Mrs. Harris wouldn't stay in the Aquarial Gardens, which +she pronounced a disgusting exhibition of "Creep and Crawl," and that +it was all a set of little horrors; but swung back to wedding-gifts and +wedding-times. + + "'When I was young,--ah! woful _when!_-- + That I should say _when_ I was young!' + +"it wasn't fashionable, or, I should say, necessary, to buy something for +a bride," said Mrs. Harris, meditatively, and looking back--as we could +see by her eyes--a long way. + +For my part, I thought she had much better choose some other subject, +considering everything. Certainly she had been one of the ten I had +counted on. But she suddenly collected herself! + +"I never look at a great needle-book, ('housewife,' we used to call +it,) full of all possible and impossible contrivances and conveniences, +without recalling my Aunt Hovey's patient smile when she gave it to me. +She was rheumatic, and confined for twenty years to her chair; and these +'housewives' she made exquisitely, and each of her young friends on her +wedding-day might count on one. Then Sebiah Collins,--she brought me a +bag of holders,--poor old soul! And Aunt Patty Hobbs gave me a bundle of +rags! She said, 'Young housekeepers was allers a-wantin' rags, and, in +course, there wa'n't nothin' but what was bran'-new out of the store.' +Can I ever forget the Hill children, with their mysterious movements, +their hidings, and their unaccountable absences? and then the +work-basket on my toilet-table, on my wedding-morning! the little +pin-cushions and emery-sacks, the fantastic thimble-cases, and the +fish-shaped needle-books! all as nice as their handy little fingers +could make, and every stitch telling of their earnest love and bright +faces!--Every one of those children is dead. But I keep the work-basket +sacred. I don't know whether it is more pleasure or pain." + +She looked up again, as if before her passed a long procession. I had +often seen that expression in the eyes of old, and even of middle-aged +persons, who had had much mental vicissitude, but I had not interpreted +it till now. It was only for a moment; and she added, cheerfully,-- + +"The future is always pleasant; so we will look that way." + +Just then a gentleman wished to see Mr. Sampson on business, and they +two went into the library. + +Mrs. Harris talked on, and I led the way to the parlor. She said she +should be called for presently; and then Laura lighted the argand, and +dropped the muslin curtains. + +"Oh, isn't this sweet?" exclaimed Mrs. Harris, rapturously, approaching +the table. "How the best work of Art pales before Nature!" + +It was only a tall small vase of ground glass, holding a pond-lily, +fully opened. But it was perfect in its way, and I knew by the smile on +Laura's lips that it was her gift. + +"Mine is in that corner, Delphine," said Mrs. Harris. "I wouldn't have +it brought here till to-night, when I could see Laura, for fear you +should have a duplicate. So here is my Mercury, that I have looked at +till I love it. I wouldn't give you one that had only the odor of the +shop about it; but you will never look at this, Del, without thoughts of +our little cozy room and your old friend." + +"Beautiful! No, indeed! Always!" murmured I. + +She drew a little box from her pocket, and took out of it a taper-stand +of chased silver. + +"Mrs. Gore asked me to bring it to you, with her love. She wouldn't send +it yesterday, she said, because it would look so like nothing by the +side of costly gifts. Pretty, graceful little thing! isn't it? It is an +evening-primrose, I think,--'love's own light,'--hey, Delphine?" + +We had scarcely half admired the taper-stand and the Mercury when the +carriage came for Mrs. Harris, who insisted on taking away Laura with +her to the opera. + +"No matter whether you thought of going or not; and, happily, there's +no danger of Delphine being lonely. 'Two are company,' you know Emerson +says, 'but three are a congregation.' So they will be glad to spare you. +There, now! that is all you want,--and this shawl." + +After they went, I sat listening for nearly half an hour to the low +murmurs in the next room, and wishing the stranger would only go, so +that I might exhibit my new treasures. At last the strange gentleman +opened the door softly, talking all the way, across the room, through +the entry, and finally whispering himself fairly out-of-doors. When my +husband came in, I was eager to show him the Mercury, and the lily, and +the taper-stand. + +"And do you know, after all, I hadn't the real nobleness and +truthfulness and right-mindedness to tell Mrs. Harris that these and +Aunt Allen's gift were all I had received! I am ashamed of myself, to +have such a mean mortification about what is really of no importance. +Certainly, if my friends don't care enough for me to send me something, +I ought to be above caring for it." + +"I don't know that, Del. Your mortification is very natural. How can we +help caring? Do you like your Aunt Allen very much?" added he, abruptly. + +"Because she gave me fifty dollars? Yes, I begin to think I do," said I, +laughing. + +He looked at me quickly. + +"Your Aunt Allen is very rich, is she not?" + +"I believe so. Why? You look very serious. I neither respect nor love +her for her riches; and I haven't seen her these ten years." + +He looked sober and abstracted; but when I spoke, he smiled a little. + +"Do you remember Ella's chapter on Old China?" said he, sitting down on +the sofa, and--I don't mind saying--putting one arm round my waist. + +"Yes,--why?" + +"Do you remember Bridget's plaintive regret that they had no longer +the good old times when they were poor? and about the delights of the +shilling gallery?" + +"Yes,--what made you think of it?" + +"What a beautiful chapter that is!--their gentle sorrow that they could +no longer make nice bargains for books! and his wearing new, neat, black +clothes, alas! instead of the overworn suit that was made to hang on +a few weeks longer, that he might buy the old folio of Beaumont and +Fletcher! Do you remember it, Delphine?" + +"Yes, I do. And I think there is a deal of pleasure in considering and +contriving,--though it's prettier in a book"-- + +"For my part," interrupted my husband, as though he had not heard me +speak,--"for my part, I am sorry one cannot have such an exquisite +appreciation of pleasure but through pain; for--I am tired of +labor--and privation--and, in short, poverty. To work so hard, and so +constantly!--with such a long, weary vista before one!--and these petty +gains! Don't you think poverty is the one thing hateful, Delphine?" + +He sprang up suddenly, and began walking up and down the room,--up and +down,--up and down; and without speaking any more, or seeming to wish me +to answer. + +"Why, what is it? What do you mean?" said I, faintly; for my heart felt +like lead in my bosom. + +He did not answer at first, but walked towards me; then, turning +suddenly away, sprang out of the window at the side of the room, saying, +with a constrained laugh,-- + +"I shall be in again, presently. In the mean time I leave you to +meditations on the shilling gallery!" + +What a strange taunting sound his voice had! There was no insane blood +among the Sampsons, or I might have thought he had suddenly gone crazy. +Or if I had believed in demoniacal presences, I might have thought the +murmuring, whispering old man was some tempter. Some evil influence +certainly had been exerted over him. Scarcely less than deranged could I +consider him now, to be willing thus to address me. It was true, he was +poor,--that he had struggled with poverty. But had it not been my pride, +as I thought it was his, that his battle was bravely borne, and would be +bravely won? I could not, even to myself, express the cruel cowardice of +such words as he had used to his helpless wife. That he felt deeply and +gallingly his poverty was plain. Even in that there was a weakness which +induced more of contempt than pity for him; but was it not base to tell +me of it now? Now, when his load was doubled, he complained of the +burden! Why, I would have lain down and died far sooner than he should +have guessed it of me. And he had thought it--and--said it! + +There are emotions that seem to crowd and supersede each other, so +that the order of time is inverted. I came to the point of disdainful +composure, even before the struggle and distress began. I sat quietly +where my husband left me,--such a long, long time! It seemed hours. +I remembered how thoughtful I had determined to be of all our +expenses,--the little account-book in which I had already entered some +items; how I had thought of various ways in which I could assist him; +yes, even little I was to be the most efficient and helpful of wives. +Had I not taken writing-lessons secretly, and formed a thorough +business-hand, and would I not earn many half-eagles with my eagle's +quill? I remembered how I had thought, though I had not said it, (and +how glad now I was I had not!) that we would help each other in sickness +and health,--that we would toil up that weary hill where wealth stands +so lusciously and goldenly shining. But then, hand in hand we were +to have toiled,--hopefully, smilingly, lovingly,--not with this cold +recrimination, nor, hardest of all, with--reproach! + +Suddenly, a strange suspicion fell over me. It fell down on me like a +pall. I shuddered with the cold of it. + +I knew it wasn't so. I knew he loved me,--that Le meant nothing,--that +it was a passing discontent, a hateful feeling engendered by the sight +of the costly trifles before us. Yes,--I knew that. But, good heavens! +to tell his wife of it! + +I sat, with my head throbbing, and holding my hands, utterly tearless; +for tears were no expression of the distressful pain, and blank +disappointment of a life, that I felt. I said I felt this damp, dark +suspicion. It was there like a presence, but it was as indefinite as +dark; and I had a sort of control, in the midst of the tumult in my +brain and heart, as to what thoughts I would let come to me. Not that! +Faults there might be,--great ones,--but not that, the greatest! At +least, if I could not respect, I could forgive,--for he loved me. +Surely, surely, that must be true! + +It would come, that flash, like lightning, or the unwilling memories of +the drowning. I remembered the rich Miss Kate Stuart, who, they said, +liked him, and that her father would have been glad to have him for a +son-in-law. And I had asked him once about it, in the careless +gayety of happy love. He had said, he supposed it might have +happened--perhaps--who knows?--if he had not seen me. But he had seen +me! Could it be that he was thinking of? + +My calmness was giving way. As soon as I spoke, though it was only in a +word of ejaculation, my pity for myself broke all the flood-gates down, +and I fell on my face in a paroxysm of sobs. + +A very calm, loving voice, and a strong arm raising me, brought me back +at once from the wild ocean of passion on which I was tossing. I had not +heard him come in. I was too proud and grieved to speak or to weep. So I +dried my tears and sat stiffly silent. + +"You are tired, dear!" said my husband, tenderly. + +"No,--it's no matter." + +"Everything is matter to me that concerns you. You know that,--you +believe that, Delphine?" + +"Why, what a strange sound! just as it used to sound!" I said to myself, +whisperingly. + +I know not what possessed me; but I was determined to have the truth, +and the whole truth. I turned towards him and looked straight into his +eyes. + +"Tell me, truly, as you hope God will save you at your utmost need, _do_ +you love me? Did you marry me from any motive but that of pure, true +love?" + +"From no other," answered he, with a face of unutterable surprise; and +then added, solemnly, "And may God take me, Delphine, when you cease to +love me!" + +It was enough. There was truth in every breath, in every glance of his +deep eyes. A delicious languor took the place of the horrible tension +that had been every faculty,--a repose so sweet and perfect, that, if +reason had placed the clearest possible proofs of my husband's perfidy +before me, I should simply have smiled and fallen asleep on his true +heart, as I did. + +When I opened my eyes, I met his anxious look. + +"Why, what has come over you, Del? I did not know you were nervous." + +And then remembering, that, although I might be weakest among the weak, +yet that it was his wisdom that was to sustain and comfort me, I said,-- + +"By-and-by I will tell you all about it,--certainly I will. I must tell +you some time, but not to-night." + +"And--I had thought to keep a secret from you, to-night, Del; but, on +the whole, I shall feel better to tell you." + +"Yes,--perhaps,--perhaps." + +"Oh, yes! Secrets are safest, told. First, then, Del, I will tell you +this secret. I am very foolish. Don't tell of it, will you? See here!" + +He held up his closed hand before my face, laughingly. + +That man's name, Del, is Drake"---- + +"And not the Devil!" said I to myself. + +"Solitude Drake." + +"Really? Is that it, truly? What's in your hand?" + +"Truly,--really. He lives in Albany. He is the son of a queer man, and +is something of a humorist himself. I have seen one of his sons. He has +two. One's name is Paraclete, and the other Preserved. His daughter is +pretty, very, and her name is Deliverance. They call her Del, for short. +They do, on my word! Worse than Delphine, is it not?" + +"Why, don't you like my name?" stammered I, with astonishment. + +"Yes, very well. I don't care much about names. But I can tell you, +Uncle Zabdiel and Aunt Jerusha, 'from whom I have expectations,' Del, +think it is 'just about the poorest kind of a name that ever a girl +had.' And our Cousin Abijah thought you were named Delilah, and that +it was a good match for Sampson! I rectified him there; but he still +insists on your being called 'Finy,' in the family, to distinguish you +from the Midianitish woman." + +"And so Uncle _Zabdiel_ thinks I have a poor name?" said I, laughing +heartily. "The shield looks neither gold nor silver, from which side +soever we gaze. But I think _he_ might put up with _my_ name!" + +My husband never knew exactly what I was laughing at. And why should he? +I was fast overcoming my weakness about names, and thinking they were +nothing, compared to things, after all. + +When our laugh (for his was sympathetic) had subsided into a quiet +cheerfulness, he said, again holding up his hand,-- + +"Not at all curious, Del? You don't ask what Mr. Solitude Drake wanted?" + +"I don't think I care what he wanted: company, I suppose." + +And I went on making bad puns about solitude sweetened, and ducks and +drakes, as happy people do, whose hearts are quite at ease. + +"And you don't want to know at all, Del?" said he, laughing a little +nervously, and dropping from his hand an open paper into mine. "It shall +be my wedding-present to you. It is Mr. Drake's retainer. Pretty stout +one, is it not? This is what made me jump out of the window,--this and +one other thing." + +"Why, this is a draft for five hundred dollars!" said I, reading and +staring stupidly at the paper. + +"Yes, and I am retained in that great Albany land-case. It involves +millions of property. That is all, Del. But I was so glad, so happy, +that I was likely to do well at last, and that I could gratify all the +wishes, reasonable and unreasonable, of my darling!" + +"Is it a good deal?" said I, simply; for, after all, five hundred +dollars did not seem such an Arabian fortune. + +"Yes, Del, a good deal. Whichever way it is decided, it will make my +fortune. And now--the other thing. You are sure you are very calm, and +all this won't make you sleepless?" + +"Oh, no! I am calm as a clock." + +"Well, then,--your Aunt Allen is dead." + +"Dead! Is she? Did she leave us all her money?" + +"Why, no, you little cormorant. She has left it all about: Legacies, and +Antioch College, and Destitute Societies. But I believe you have some +clothes left to you and Laura. Any way, the will is in there, in the +library: Mr. Drake had a copy of it. And the best of all is, I am to be +the executor, which is enough better than residuary legatee." + +"It is very strange!" said I, thinking of the multitude of old gowns I +should have to alter over. + +"Yes, it is, indeed, very strange. One of the strangest things about +the matter is, that my good friend Solitude was so taken with 'my queer +name,' as he calls it, that he 'took a fancy to me out of hand.' To be +sure, he listened through my argument in the Shore case, and that may +have helped his opinion of me as a lawyer.--Here comes Laura. Who would +have thought it was one o'clock?" + +And who would have thought that my little ugly chrysalis of troubles +would have turned out such beautiful butterflies of blessings? + + * * * * * + + +MARION DALE. + + + Marion Dale, I remember you once, + In the days when you blushed like a rose half-blown, + Long ere that wealthy respectable dunce + Sponged up your beautiful name in his own. + + I remember you, Marion Dale, + Artless and cordial and modest and sweet: + You never walked in that glittering mail + That covers you now from your head to your feet. + + Well I remember your welcoming smile, + When Alice and Annie and Edward and I + Came over to see you;--you lived but a mile + From my uncle's old house, and the grove that stood nigh. + + I was no lover of yours, (pray, excuse me!)-- + Our minds were different in texture and hue: + I never gave you a chance to refuse me; + Already I loved one less changeful than you. + + Still it was ever a pride and a pleasure + Just to be near you,--the Rose of our vale. + Often I thought, "Who will own such a treasure? + Who win the rich love of our Marion Dale?" + + I wonder now if you ever remember, + Ever sigh over fifteen years ago,-- + Whether your June is all turned to December,-- + Whether your life now is happy or no. + + Gone are those winters of chats and of dances! + Gone are those summers of picnics and rides! + Gone the aroma of life's young romances! + Gone the swift flow of our passionate tides! + + Marion Dale,--no longer our Marion,-- + You have gone your way, and I have gone mine: + Lowly I've labored, while fashion's gay clarion + Trumpets your name through the waltz and the wine. + + And when I meet you, your smile it is colder; + Statelier, prouder your features have grown; + Rounder each white and magnificent shoulder; + (Rather too low-necked your waist, I must own.) + + Jewelled and muslined, your rich hair gold-netted, + Queenly 'mid flattering voices you move,-- + Half to your own native graces indebted, + Half to the station and fortune you love. + + "Marion" we called you; my wife you called "Alice"; + I was plain "Phil";--we were intimate all: + Strange, as we leave now our cards at your palace, + On Mrs. Prime Goldbanks of Bubblemere Hall! + + Six golden lackeys illumine the doorway: + Sure, one would think, by the glances they throw, + That we were fresh from the mountains of Norway, + And had forgotten to shake off the snow! + + They will permit us to enter, however; + Usher us into her splendid saloon: + There we sit waiting and waiting forever, + As one would watch for the rise of the moon. + + Or it may be to-day's not her "reception": + Still she's at home, and a little unbends,-- + Framing, while dressing, some harmless deception, + How she shall meet her "American" friends. + + Smiling you meet us,--but not quite sincerely; + Low-voiced you greet us,--but this is the _ton_: + This, we must feel it, is courtesy merely,-- + Not the glad welcome of days that are gone. + + You are in England,--the land where they freeze one, + When they've a mind to, with fashion and form: + Yet, if you choose, you can thoroughly please one: + Currents run through you still youthful and warm. + + So one would think, at least, seeing you moving, + Radiant and gay, at the Countess's _fete_. + Say, was that babble so sweeter than loving? + Where was the charm, that you lingered so late? + + Ah, well enough, as you dance on in joyance! + Still well enough, at your dinners and calls! + Fashion and riches will mask much annoyance. + Float on, fair lady, whatever befalls! + + Yet, Lady Marion, for hours and for hours + You are alone with your husband and lord. + There is a skeleton hid in yon flowers; + There is a spectre at bed and at board. + + Needs no confession to tell there is acting + Somewhere about you a tragedy grim. + All your bright rays have a sullen refracting; + Everywhere looms up the image of _him_: + + Him,--whom you love not, there is no concealing. + How _could_ you love him, apart from his gold? + Nothing now left but your fire-fly wheeling,-- + Flashing one moment, then pallid and cold! + + Yet you've accepted the life that he offers,-- + Sunk to his level,--not raised him to yours. + All your fair flowers have their roots in his coffers: + Empty the gold-dust, and then what endures? + + So, then, we leave you! Your world is not ours. + Alice and I will not trouble you more. + Almost too heavy the scent of these flowers + Down the broad stairway. Quick, open the door! + + Here, in the free air, we'll pray for you, lady! + You who are changed to us,--gone from us,--lost! + Soon the Atlantic shall part us, already + Parted by gulfs that can never be crossed! + + + + +CHARLESTON UNDER ARMS. + + +On Saturday morning, January 19, 1861, the steamer Columbia, from New +York, lay off the harbor of Charleston in full sight of Fort Sumter. It +is a circumstance which perhaps would never have reached the knowledge +of the magazine-reading world, nor have been of any importance to it, +but for the attendant fact that I, the writer of this article, was on +board the steamer. It takes two events to make a consequence, as well as +two parties to make a bargain. + +The sea was smooth; the air was warmish and slightly misty; the low +coast showed bare sand and forests of pines. The dangerous bar of the +port, now partially deprived of its buoys, and with its main channel +rendered perilous by the hulks of sunken schooners, revealed itself +plainly, half a mile ahead of us, in a great crescent of yellow water, +plainly distinguishable from the steel-gray of the outer ocean. Two +or three square-rigged vessels were anchored to the southward of us, +waiting for the tide or the tugs, while four or five pilot-boats tacked +up and down in the lazy breeze, watching for the cotton-freighters which +ought at this season to crowd the palmetto wharves. + +"I wish we could get the duties on those ships to pay some of our +military bills," said a genteel, clean-spoken Charlestonian, to a long, +green, kindly-faced youth, from I know not what Southern military +academy. + +We had arrived off the harbor about midnight, but had not entered, for +lack of a beacon whereby to shape our course. Now we must wait until +noon for the tide, standing off and on the while merely to keep up our +fires. A pilot came under our quarter in his little schooner, and told +us that the steamer Nashville had got out the day before with only a +hard bumping. No other news had he: Fort Sumter had not been taken, nor +assaulted; the independence of South Carolina had not been recognized; +various desirable events had not happened. In short, the political world +had remained during our voyage in that chaotic _status quo_ so loved by +President Buchanan. At twelve we stood for the bar, sounding our way +with extreme caution. Without accident we passed over the treacherous +bottom, although in places it could not have been more than eighteen +inches below our keel. The shores closed in on both sides as we passed +onward. To the south was the long, low, gray Morris Island, with its +extinguished lighthouse, its tuft or two of pines, its few dwellings, +and its invisible batteries. To the north was the long, low, gray +Sullivan's Island, a repetition of the other, with the distinctions of +higher sand-rolls, a village, a regular fort, and palmettos. We passed +the huge brown Moultrie House, in summer a gay resort, at present a +barrack; passed the hundred scattered cottages of the island, mostly +untenanted now, and looking among the sand-drifts as if they had been +washed ashore at random; passed the low walls of Fort Moultrie, +once visibly yellow, but now almost hidden by the new _glacis_, and +surmounted by piles of barrels and bags of sand, with here and there +palmetto stockades as a casing for the improvised embrasures; passed its +black guns, its solidly built, but rusty barracks, and its weather-worn +palmetto flag waving from a temporary flag-staff. On the opposite side +of the harbor was Fort Johnstone, a low point, exhibiting a barrack, a +few houses, and a sand redoubt, with three forty-two pounders. And +here, in the midst of all things, apparent master of all things, at the +entrance of the harbor proper, and nearly equidistant from either shore, +though nearest the southern, frowned Fort Sumter, a huge and lofty +and solid mass of brickwork with stone embrasures, all rising from +a foundation of ragged granite boulders washed by the tides. The +port-holes were closed; a dozen or so of monstrous cannon peeped from +the summit; two or three sentinels paced slowly along the parapet; the +stars and stripes blew out from the lofty flag-staff. The plan of Fort +Sumter may be briefly described as five-sided, with each angle just so +much truncated as to give room for one embrasure in every story. Its +whole air is massive, commanding, and formidable. + +Eighty or a hundred citizens, volunteers, cadets from the military +academy, policemen, and negroes, greeted the arrival of the Columbia at +her wharf. It was a larger crowd than usual, partly because a report had +circulated that we should be forced to bring to off Fort Sumter and give +an account of ourselves, and partly because many persons in Charleston +have lately been perplexed with an abundant leisure. As I drove to my +hotel, I noticed that the streets showed less movement of business +and population than when I knew them four years ago. The place seemed +dirtier, too,--worse paved, shabbier as to its brick-work and stucco, +and worse painted,--but whether through real deterioration, or by +comparison with the neatly finished city which I had lately left, I +cannot decide. There was surely not a third of the usual shipping, nor a +quarter of the accustomed cotton. Here and there were wharves perfectly +bare, not only of masting and of freight, but even of dust, as if they +had not been used for days, or possibly for weeks. + +My old hotel was as well kept, and its table as plentiful and excellent +as ever. I believe we are all aware by this time that Charleston has +not suffered from hunger; that beef has not sold at thirty-five cents a +pound, but rather at ten or fifteen; that its Minute Men have not +been accustomed to come down upon its citizens for forced dinners and +dollars; that the State loan was taken willingly by the banks, instead +of unwillingly by private persons; that the rich, so far from being +obliged to give a great deal for the cause of Secession, have generally +given very little; that the streets are well-policed, untrodden by mobs, +and as orderly as those of most cities; that, in short, the revolution +so far has been political, and not social. At the same time exports +and imports have nearly ceased; business, even in the retail form, is +stagnant; the banks have suspended; debts are not paid. + +After dinner I walked up to the Citadel square and saw a drill of the +Home Guard. About thirty troopers, all elderly men, and several with +white hair and whiskers, uniformed in long overcoats of homespun gray, +went through some of the simpler cavalry evolutions in spite of their +horses' teeth. The Home Guard is a volunteer police force, raised +because of the absence of so many of the young men of the city at the +islands, and because of the supposed necessity of keeping a strong hand +over the negroes. A malicious citizen assured me that it was in training +to take Fort Sumter by charging upon it at low water. On the opposite +side of the square from where I stood rose the Citadel, or military +academy, a long and lofty reddish-yellow building, stuccoed and +castellated, which, by the way, I have seen represented in one of our +illustrated papers as the United States Arsenal. Under its walls +were half a dozen iron cannon which I judged at that distance to be +twenty-four pounders. A few negroes, certainly the most leisurely part +of the population at this period, and still fewer white people, leaned +over the shabby fence and stared listlessly at the horsemen, with the +air of people whom habit had made indifferent to such spectacles. Near +me three men of the middle class of Charleston talked of those two +eternal subjects, Secession and Fort Sumter. One of them, a rosy-faced, +kindly-eyed, sincere, seedy, pursy gentleman of fifty, congratulated the +others and thanked God because of the present high moral stand of South +Carolina, so much loftier than if she had seized the key to her main +harbor, when she had the opportunity. Her honor was now unspotted; her +good faith and her love of the right were visible to the whole world; +while the position of the Federal Government was disgraced and sapped by +falsity. Better Sumter treacherously in the hands of the United States +than in the hands of South Carolina; better suffer for a time under +physical difficulties than forever under moral dishonor. + +Simple-hearted man, a fair type of his fellow-citizens, he saw but his +own side of the question, and might fairly claim in this matter to +be justified by his faith. His bald crown, sandy side-locks, reddish +whiskers, sanguineous cheeks, and blue eyes were all luminous with +confidence in the integrity of his State, and with scorn for the +meanness and wickedness of her enemies. No doubt had he that the fort +ought to be surrendered to South Carolina; no suspicion that the +Government could show a reason for holding it, aside from low +self-interest and malice. He was the honest mouthpiece of a most +peculiar people, local in its opinions and sentiments beyond anything +known at the North, even in self-poised Boston. Changing his subject, he +spoke with hostile, yet chivalrous, respect of the pluck of the Black +Republicans in Congress. They had never faltered; they had vouchsafed no +hint of concession; while, on the other hand, Southerners had shamed him +by their craven spirit. It grieved, it mortified him, to see such a man +as Crittenden on his knees to the North, begging, actually with tears, +for what he ought to demand as a right, with head erect and hands +clenched. He departed with a mysterious allusion to some secret of his +for taking Fort Sumter,--some disagreeably odorous chemical +preparation, I guessed, by the scientific terms in which he beclouded +himself,--something which he expected would soon be called for by the +Governor. May he never smell anything worse, even in the other world, +than his own compounds! Unionist, and perhaps Consolidationist, as I +am, I could not look upon his honest, persuaded face, and judge him a +traitor, at least not to any sentiment of right that was in his own +soul. + +Our hotel was full of legislators and volunteer officers, mostly +planters or sons of planters, and almost without exception men of +standing and property. South Carolina is an oligarchy in spirit, and +allows no plebeians in high places. Two centuries of plenteous feeding +and favorable climate showed their natural results in the _physique_ of +these people. I do not think that I exaggerate, when I say that they +averaged six feet or nearly in height, and one hundred and seventy +pounds or thereabouts in weight. One or two would have brought in money, +if enterprisingly heralded as Swiss or Belgian giants. The general +physiognomy was good, mostly high-featured, often commanding, sometimes +remarkable for massive beauty of the Jovian type, and almost invariably +distinguished by a fearless, open-eyed frankness, in some instances +running into arrogance and pugnacity. I remember one or two elderly +men, in particular, whose faces would help an artist to idealize a +Lacedaemonian general, or a baron of the Middle Ages. In dress somewhat +careless, and wearing usually the last fashion but one, they struck me +as less tidy than the same class when I saw it four years ago; and I +made a similar remark concerning the citizens of Charleston,--not only +men, but women,--from whom dandified suits and superb silks seem to have +departed during the present martial time. Indeed, I heard that economy +was the order of the day; that the fashionables of Charleston bought +nothing new, partly because of the money pressure, and partly because +the guns of Major Anderson might any day send the whole city into +mourning; that patrician families had discharged their foreign cooks and +put their daughters into the kitchen; that there were no concerts, no +balls, and no marriages. Even the volunteers exhibited little of the +pomp and vanity of war. The small French military cap was often the only +sign of their present profession. The uniform, when it appeared, was +frequently a coarse homespun gray, charily trimmed with red worsted, and +stained with the rains and earth of the islands. One young dragoon in +this sober dress walked into our hotel, trailing the clinking steel +scabbard of his sabre across the marble floor of the vestibule with a +warlike rattle which reminded me of the Austrian officers whom I used +to see, yes, and hear, stalking about the _cafe's_ of Florence. Half a +dozen surrounded him to look at and talk about the weapon. A portly, +middle-aged legislator must draw it and cut and thrust, with a smile of +boyish satisfaction between his grizzled whiskers, bringing the point so +near my nose, in his careless eagerness, that I had to fall back upon +a stronger, that is, a more distant position. Then half a dozen others +must do likewise, their eyes sparkling like those of children examining +a new toy. + +"It's not very sharp," said one, running his thumb carefully along the +edge of the narrow and rather light blade. + +"Sharp enough to cut a man's head open," averred the dragoon. + +"Well, it's a dam' shame that sixty-five men tharr in Sumter should make +such an expense to the State," declared a stout, blonde young rifleman, +speaking with a burr which proclaimed him from the up-country. "We +haven't even troyed to get 'em out. We ought at least to make a troyal." + +All strangers at Charleston walk to the Battery. It is the extreme point +of the city peninsula, its right facing on the Ashley, its left on the +Cooper, and its outlook commanding the entire harbor, with Fort Sumter, +Port Pinckney, Fort Moultrie, and Fort Johnstone in the distance. Plots +of thin clover, a perfect wonder in this grassless land; promenades, +neatly fenced, and covered with broken shells instead of gravel; a +handsome bronze lantern-stand, twenty-five feet high, meant for a +beacon; a long and solid stone quay, the finest sea-walk in the United +States; a background of the best houses in Charleston, three-storied and +faced with verandas: such are the features of the Battery. Lately +four large iron guns, mounted like field-pieces, form an additional +attraction to boys and soldierly-minded men. Nobody knew their calibre; +the policemen who watched them could not say; the idlers who gathered +about them disputed upon it: they were eighteen pounders; they were +twenty-fours; they were thirty-sixes. Nobody could tell what they were +there for. They were aimed at Fort Sumter, but would not carry half way +to it. They could hit Fort Pinckney, but that was not desirable. The +policeman could not explain; neither could the idlers; neither can I. +At last it got reported about the city that they were to sink any boats +which might come down the river to reinforce Anderson; though how the +boats were to get into the river, whether by railroad from Washington, +or by balloon from the Free States, nobody even pretended to guess. +Standing on this side of the Ashley, and looking across it, you +naturally see the other side. The long line of nearly dead level, with +its stretches of thin pine-forest and its occasional glares of open +sand, gives you an idea of nearly the whole country about Charleston, +except that in general you ought to add to the picture a number of noble +evergreen oaks bearded with pendent, weird Spanish moss, and occasional +green spikes of the tropical-looking Spanish bayonet. Of palmettos there +are none that I know of in this immediate region, save the hundred or +more on Sullivan's Island and the one or two exotics in the streets +of Charleston. In the middle of the Ashley, which is here more than a +quarter of a mile wide, lies anchored a topsail schooner, the nursery +of the South Carolina navy. I never saw it sail anywhere; but then my +opportunities of observation were limited. Quite a number of boys are on +board of it, studying maritime matters; and I can bear witness that they +are sufficiently advanced to row themselves ashore. Possibly they are +moored thus far up the stream to guard them from sea-sickness, which +might be discouraging to young sailors. However, I ought not to talk on +this subject, for I am the merest civilian and land-lubber. + +My first conversation in Charleston on Secession was with an estimable +friend, Northern-born, but drawing breath of Southern air ever since he +attained the age of manhood. After the first salutation, he sat down, +his hands on his knees, gazing on the floor, and shaking his head +soberly, if not sadly. + +"You have found us in a pretty fix,--in a pretty fix!" + +"But what are you going to do? Are you really going out? You are not a +politician, and will tell me the honest facts." + +"Yes, we are going out,'--there is no doubt of it, I have not been a +seceder,--I have even been called one of the disaffected; but I am +obliged to admit that secession is the will of the community. Perhaps +you at the North don't believe that we are honest in our professions and +actions. We are so. The Carolinians really mean to go out of the Union, +and don't mean to come back. They say that they _are_ out, and they +believe it. And now, what are you going to do with us? What is the +feeling at the North?" + +"The Union must and shall be preserved, at all hazards. That famous +declaration expresses the present Northern popular sentiment. When I +left, people were growing martial; they were joining military companies; +they wanted to fight; they were angry." + +"So I supposed. That agrees with what I hear by letter. Well, I am very +sorry for it. Our people here will not retreat; they will accept a war, +first. If you preserve the Union, it must be by conquest. I suppose you +can do it, if you try hard enough. The North is a great deal stronger +than the South; it can desolate it,--crush it. But I hope it won't be +done. I wish you would speak a good word for us, when you go back. You +can destroy us, I suppose. But don't you think it would be inhuman? +Don't you think it would be impolitic? Do you think it would result in +sufficient good to counterbalance the evident and certain evil?" + +"Why, people reason in this way. They say, that, even if we allow the +final independence of the seceding States, we must make it clear that +there is no such thing as the right of secession, but only that of +revolution or rebellion. We must fix a price for going out of the Union, +which shall be so high that henceforward no State will ever be willing +to pay it. We must kill, once for all, the doctrine of peaceable +secession, which is nothing else than national disintegration and ruin. +Lieutenant-Governor Morton of Indiana declares in substance that England +never spent blood and money to wiser purpose than when she laid down +fifty thousand lives and one hundred millions of pounds to prevent her +thirteen disaffected colonies from having their own way. No English +colony since has been willing to face the tremendous issue thus offered +it. Just so it is the interest, it is the sole safety of the Federal +Government, to try to hold in the Cotton States by force, and, if they +go out, to oblige them to pay an enormous price for the privilege. +Revolution is a troublesome luxury, and ought to be made expensive. That +is the way people talk at the North and at Washington. They reason thus, +you see, because they believe that this is not a league, but a nation." + +"And our people believe that the States are independent and have a right +to recede from the Confederation without asking its leave. With few +exceptions, all agree on that; it is honest, common public opinion. The +South Carolinians sincerely think that they are exercising a right, and +you may depend that they will not be reasoned nor frightened out of it; +and if the North tries coercion, there will be war. I don't say this +defiantly, but sadly, and merely because I want you to know the truth. +War is abhorrent to my feelings,--especially a war with our own +brethren: and then _we_ are so poorly prepared for it!" + +Such was the substance of several conversations. The reader may rely, I +think, on the justness of my friend's opinions, founded as they are on +his honesty of intellect, his moderation, and his opportunities for +studying his fellow-citizens. All told me the same story, but generally +with more passion, sometimes with defiance; defiance toward the +Government, I mean, and not toward me personally; for the better classes +of Charleston are eminently courteous. South Carolina had seceded +forever, defying all the hazards; she would accept nothing but +independence or destruction; she did not desire any supposable +compromise; she had altogether done with the Union. Yet her desire was +not for war; it was simply and solely for escape. She would forget all +her wrongs and insults, she would seek no revenge for the injurious +past, provided she were allowed to depart without a conflict. Nearly +every man with whom I talked began the conversation by asking if the +North meant coercion, and closed it by deprecating hostilities and +affirming the universal wish for _peaceable_ secession. In case of +compulsion, however, the State would accept the gage of battle; her +sister communities of the South would side with her, the moment they saw +her blood flow; Northern commerce would be devoured by privateers of all +nations under the Southern flag; Northern manufactures would perish for +lack of Southern raw material and Southern consumers; Northern banks +would suspend, and Northern finances go into universal insolvency; the +Southern ports would be opened forcibly by England and France, who must +have cotton; the South would flourish in the struggle, and the North +decay. + +"But why do you venture on this doubtful future?" I asked of one +gentleman. "What is South Carolina's grievance? The Personal-Liberty +Bills?" + +"Yes,--they constitute a grievance. And yet not much of one. Some of us +even--the men of the 'Mercury' school, I mean--do not complain of the +Union because of those bills. They say that it is the Fugitive-Slave Law +itself which is unconstitutional; that the rendition of runaways is +a State affair, in which the Federal Government has no concern; that +Massachusetts, and other States, were quite right in nullifying an +illegal and aggressive statute. Besides, South Carolina has lost very +few slaves." + +"Is it the Territorial Question which forces you to quit us?" + +"Not in its practical issues. The South needs no more territory; has not +negroes to colonize it. The doctrine of 'No more Slave States' is an +insult to us, but hardly an injury. The flow of population has settled +that matter. You have won all the Territories, not even excepting New +Mexico, where slavery exists nominally, but is sure to die out under the +hostile influences of unpropitious soil and climate. The Territorial +Question has become a mere abstraction. We no longer talk of it." + +"Then your great grievance is the election of Lincoln?" + +"Yes." + +"And the grievance is all the greater because he was elected according +to all the forms of law?" + +"Yes." + +"If he had been got into the Presidency by trickery, by manifest +cheating, your grievance would have been less complete?" + +"Yes." + +"Is Lincoln considered here to be a bad or dangerous man?" + +"Not personally. I understand that he is a man of excellent private +character, and I have nothing to say against him as a ruler, inasmuch as +he has never been tried. Mr. Lincoln is simply a sign to us that we are +in danger, and must provide for our own safety." + +"You secede, then, solely because you think his election proves that the +mass of the Northern people is adverse to you and your interests?" + +"Yes." + +"So Mr. Wigfall of Texas hit the nail on the head, when he said +substantially that the South cannot be at peace with the North until the +latter concedes that slavery is right?" + +"Well,--I admit it; that is precisely it." + +I desire the reader to note the loyal frankness, the unshrinking honesty +of these avowals, so characteristic of the South Carolina _morale_. +Whenever the native of that State does an act or holds an opinion, it is +his nature to confess it and avow the motives thereof, without quibbling +or hesitation. It is a persuaded, self-poised community, strikingly like +its negative pole on the Slavery Question, Massachusetts. All those +Charlestonians whom I talked with I found open-hearted in their +secession, and patient of my open-heartedness as an advocate of the +Union, although often astonished, I suspect, that any creature capable +of drawing a conclusion from two premises should think so differently +from themselves. + +"But have you looked at the platform of the Republicans?" I proceeded. +"It is not adverse to slavery in the States; it only objects to its +entrance into the Territories; it is not an Abolition platform." + +"We don't trust in the platform; we believe that it is an incomplete +expression of the party creed,--that it suppresses more than it utters. +The spirit which keeps the Republicans together is enmity to slavery, +and that spirit will never be satisfied until the system is extinct." + +"Finally,--yes; gradually and quietly and safely,--that is possible. I +suppose that the secret and generally unconscious _animus_ of the party +is one which will abolitionize it after a long while." + +"When will it begin to act in an abolition sense, do you think?" + +"I can't say: perhaps a hundred years from now; perhaps two hundred." + +There was a general laugh from the half-dozen persons who formed the +group. + +"What time do _you_ fix?" I inquired. + +"Two years. But for this secession of ours, there would have been bills +before Congress within two years, looking to the abolition of slavery in +the navy-yards, the District of Columbia, etc. That would be only the +point of the wedge, which would soon assume the dimensions of an attack +on slavery in the States. Look how aggressive the party has been in the +question of the Territories." + +"The questions are different. When Congress makes local laws for Utah, +it does not follow that it will do likewise for South Carolina. You +might as well infer, that, because a vessel sails from Liverpool to New +York in ten days, therefore it will sail overland to St. Louis in five +more." + +Incredulous laughter answered me again. The South has labored under two +delusions: first, that the Republicans are Abolitionists; second, that +the North can be frightened. Back of these, rendering them fatally +effective, lies that other delusion, the imagined right of peaceable +secession, founded on a belief in the full and unresigned sovereignty of +the States. Let me tell a story illustrative of the depth to which +this belief has penetrated. Years ago, a friend of mine, talking to a +Charleston boy about patriotism, asked him, "What is the name of your +country?" "South Carolina!" responded the eight-year-old, promptly and +proudly. What Northern boy, what Massachusetts boy even, would not have +replied, "The United States of America"? + +South Carolina, I am inclined to think, has long been a disunionist +community, or nearly so, deceived by the idea that the Confederation is +a bar rather than a help to her prosperity, and waiting only for a good +chance to quit it. Up to the election of Lincoln all timid souls were +against secession; now they are for it, because they think it less +dangerous than submission. For instance, when I asked one gentleman what +the South expected to gain by going out, he replied, "First, safety. +Our slaves have heard of Lincoln,--that he is a black man, or black +Republican, or black something,--that he is to become ruler of this +country on the fourth of March,--that he is a friend of theirs, and will +free them. We must establish our independence in order to make them +believe that they are beyond his help. We have had to hang some of them +in Alabama,--and we expect to be obliged to hang others, perhaps many." + +This was not the only statement of the sort which I heard in Charleston. +Other persons assured me of the perfect fidelity of the negroes, and +declared that they would even fight against Northern invaders, if +needful. Skepticism in regard to this last comfortable belief is, +however, not wanting. + +"If it comes to a war, you have one great advantage over us," said to me +a military gentleman, lately in the service of the United States. "Your +working-class is a fighting-class, and will constitute the rank and file +of your armies. Our working-class is not a fighting-class. Indeed, there +is some reason to fear, that, if it take up arms at all, it will be on +the wrong side." + +My impression is, that a prevalent, though not a universal fear, existed +lest the negroes should rise in partial insurrections on or about the +fourth of March. A Northern man, who had lived for several years in +the back-country of South Carolina, had married there, and had lately +travelled through a considerable portion of the South, informed me that +many of the villages were lately forming Home Guards, as a measure of +defence against the slave population. The Home Guard is frequently a +cavalry corps, and is always composed of men who have passed the usual +term of military service; for it is deemed necessary to reserve the +youth of the country to meet the "Northern masses," the "Federal +mercenaries," on the field of possible battle. By letters from +Montgomery, Alabama, I learn that unusual precautions have been common +during the last winter, many persons locking up their negroes over +night in the quarters, and most sleeping with arms at hand, ready for +nocturnal conflict. Whoever considers the necessarily horrible nature +of a servile insurrection will find in it some palliation for Southern +violence toward suspected incendiaries and Southern precipitation in +matters of secession, however strongly he may still maintain that +lynch-law should not usurp the place of justice, nor revolution the +place of regular government If you live in a powder-magazine, you +positively must feel inhospitably inclined towards a man who presents +himself with a cigar in his mouth. Even if he shows you that it is but a +tireless stump, it still makes you uneasy. And if you catch sight of +a multitude of smokers, distant as yet, but apparently intent on +approaching, you will be very apt to rush toward them, deprecate their +advance, forbid it, or possibly threaten armed resistance, even at the +risk of being considered aggressive. + +Are all the South Carolinians disunionists? It seemed so when I was +there in January, 1861, and yet it did not seem so when I was there in +1855 and '56. At that time you could find men in Charleston who held +that the right of secession was but the right of revolution, of +rebellion,--well enough, if successful, but inductive to hanging, if +unfortunate. Now those same men nearly all argue for the right of +peaceable secession, declaring that the State has a right to go out at +will, and that the Federal Government has no right to coerce or punish +it. These turncoats are the sympathetic, who are carried away by a +rush of popular enthusiasm, and the fearful or peaceable, who dread or +dislike violence. Let us see how a timid Unionist can be converted into +an advocate of the right of secession. Let us suppose a boat with three +men on board, which is hailed by a revenue-cutter, with a threat of +firing, if she does not come to. Two of these men believe that the +revenue-officer is performing a legal duty, and desire to obey him; but +the third, a reckless, domineering fellow, seizes the helm, lets the +sail fill, and attempts to run by, meantime declaring at the top of his +voice that the cutter has no business to stop his progress. The others +dare not resist him and cannot persuade him. Now, then, what position +will they take as to the right of the revenue-officer to fire? Ten to +one they will join their comrade whom they lately opposed; they will cry +out, that the pursuer was wrong in ordering them to stop, and ought not +to punish them for disobedience; in short, they will be converted by the +instinct of self-preservation into advocates of the right of peaceable +secession. I understand, indeed I know, that there are a few opponents +of disunion remaining In South Carolina; but, although they are wealthy +people and of good position, it is pretty certain that they have not an +atom of political influence. + +Secession peaceable! It is what is most particularly desired at +Charleston, and, I believe, throughout the Cotton States. Certainly, +when I was there, the war-party, the party of the "Mercury," was not in +the ascendant, unless in the sense of having been "hoist with its own +petard" when it cried out for immediate hostilities. Not only Governor +Pickens and his Council, but nearly all the influential citizens, were +opposed to bloodshed. They demanded independence and Fort Sumter, but +desired and hoped to get both by argument. They believed, or tried to +believe, that at last the Administration would hearken to reason and +grant to South Carolina what it seemed to them could not be denied her +with justice. The battle-cry of the "Mercury," urging precipitation +even at the expense of defeat, for the sake of uniting the South, was +listened to without enthusiasm, except by the young and thoughtless. + +"We shall never attack Fort Sumter," said one gentleman. "Don't you see +why? I have a son in the trenches, my next neighbor has one, everybody +in the city has one. Well, we shan't let our boys fight; we can't bear +to lose them. We don't want to risk our handsome, genteel, educated +young fellows against a gang of Irishmen, Germans, British deserters, +and New York roughs, not worth killing, and yet instructed to kill to +the best advantage. We can't endure it, and we shan't do it." + +This repugnance to stake the lives of South Carolina patricians against +the lives of low-born, mercenaries was a feeling that I frequently heard +expressed. It was betting guineas against pennies, and on a limited +stock of guineas. + +Other men, anti-secessionists even, assured me that war was inevitable, +that Fort Sumter would be attacked, that the volunteers were panting for +the strife, that Governor Pickens was excessively unpopular because of +his peaceful inclinations, and that he would soon be forced to give the +signal for battle. Once or twice I was seriously invited to stay a few +days longer, in order to witness the struggle and victory of South +Carolina. However, it was clear that the enthusiasm and confidence of +the people were no longer what they had been. Several dull and costly +weeks had passed since the passage of the secession ordinance. +Stump-speeches, torchlight-processions, fireworks, and other +jubilations, were among bygone things. The flags were falling to pieces, +and the palmettos withering, unnoticed except by strangers. Men had +begun to realize that a hurrah is not sufficient to carry out a great +revolution successfully; that the work which they had undertaken was +weightier, and the reward of it more distant, if not more doubtful, than +they had supposed. The political prophets had been forced, like the +Millerites, to ask an extension for their predictions. The anticipated +fleet of cotton-freighters had not arrived from Europe, and the expected +twelve millions of foreign gold had not refilled the collapsed banks. +The daily expenses were estimated at twenty thousand dollars; the +treasury was in rapid progress of depletion; and as yet no results. It +is not wonderful, that, under these circumstances, the most enthusiastic +secessionists were not gay, and that the general physiognomy of the city +was sober, not to say troubled. It must not be understood, however, +that there was any visible discontent or even discouragement. "We are +suffering in our affairs," said a business-man to me; "but you will +hear no grumbling." "We expect to be poor, very poor, for two or three +years," observed a lady; "but we are willing to bear it, for the sake of +the noble and prosperous end." "Our people do not want concessions, +and will never be tempted back into the Union," was the voice of every +private person, as well as of the Legislature. "I hope the Republicans +will offer no compromise," remarked one excellent person who has not +favored the revolution. "They would be sure to see it rejected: that +would humiliate them and anger them; then there would be more danger of +war." + +Hatred of Buchanan, mingled with contempt for him, I found almost +universal. If any Northerner should ever get into trouble in South +Carolina because of his supposed abolition tendencies, I advise him to +bestow a liberal cursing on our Old Public Functionary, assuring him +that he will thereby not only escape tar and feathers, but acquire +popularity. The Carolinians called the then President double-faced +and treacherous, hardly allowing him the poor credit of being a +well-intentioned imbecile. Why should they not consider him false? Up to +the garrisoning of Fort Sumter he favored the project of secession full +as decidedly as he afterwards crossed it. Did he think that he was +laying a train to blow the Republicans off their platform, and leave off +his labor in a fright, when he found that the powder-bags to be exploded +had been placed under the foundations of the Union? The man who could +explain Mr. Buchanan would have a better title than Daniel Webster to be +called The Great Expounder. + +During the ten days of my sojourn, Charleston was full of surprising +reports and painful expectations. If a door slammed, we stopped talking, +and looked at each other; and if the sound was repeated, we went to +the window and listened for Fort Sumter. Every strange noise was +metamorphosed by the watchful ear into the roar of cannon or the rush of +soldiery. Women trembled at the salutes which were fired in honor of the +secession of other States, fearing lest the struggle had commenced and +the dearly-loved son or brother in volunteer uniform was already under +the storm of the columbiads. One day, a reinforcement was coming to +Anderson, and the troops must attack him before it arrived; the next +day, Florida had assaulted Fort Pickens, and South Carolina was bound +to dash her bare bosom against Fort Sumter. The batteries were strong +enough to make a breach; and then again, the best authorities had +declared them not strong enough. A columbiad throwing a ball of one +hundred and twenty pounds, sufficient to crack the strongest embrasures, +was on its way from some unknown region. An Armstrong gun capable of +carrying ten miles had arrived or was about to arrive. No one inquired +whether Governor Pickens had suspended the law of gravitation in South +Carolina, in view of the fact that ordinarily an Armstrong gun will not +carry five miles,--nor whether, in such case, the guns of Fort Sumter +might not also be expected to double their range. Major Anderson was +a Southerner, who would surrender rather than shed the blood of +fellow-Southerners. Major Anderson was an army-officer, incapable by his +professional education of comprehending State rights, angry because he +had been charged with cowardice in withdrawing from Fort Moultrie, and +resolved to defend himself to the death. + +In the mean time, the city papers were strangely deficient in local news +concerning the revolution,--possibly from a fear of giving valuable +military information to the enemy at Washington. Uselessly did I study +them for particulars concerning the condition of the batteries, and +the number of guns and troops,--finding little in them but mention +of parades, soldierly festivities, offers of service by enthusiastic +citizens, and other like small business. I thought of visiting the +islands, but heard that strangers were closely watched there, and that +a permit from authority to enter the forts was difficult to obtain. +Fortune, or rather, misfortune, favored me in this matter. + +After passing six days in Charleston, hearing much that was +extraordinary, but seeing little, I left in the steamer Columbia for New +York. The main opening to the harbor, or Ship Channel, as it is called, +being choked with sunken vessels, and the Middle Channel little known, +our only resource for exit was Maffitt's Channel, a narrow strip of deep +water closely skirting Sullivan's Island. It was half-past six in the +morning, slightly misty and very quiet Passing Fort Sumter, then Fort +Moultrie, we rounded a low break-water, and attempted to take the +channel. I have heard a half-dozen reasons why we struck; but all I +venture to affirm is that we did strike. There was a bump; we hoped it +was the last:--there was another; we hoped again:--there was a third; we +stopped. The wheels rolled and surged, bringing the fine sand from +the bottom and changing the green waters to yellow; but the Columbia +remained inert under the gray morning sky, close alongside of the brown, +damp beach of Sullivan's Island. There was only a faint breeze, and a +mere ripple of a sea; but even those slight forces swung our stern far +enough toward the land to complete our helplessness. We lay broadside to +the shore, in the centre of a small crescent or cove, and, consequently, +unable to use our engines without forcing either bow or stern higher +up on the sloping bottom. The Columbia tried to advance, tried to back +water, and then gave up the contest, standing upright on her flat +flooring with no motion beyond an occasional faint bumping. The tugboat +Aid, half a mile ahead of us, cast off from the vessel which it was +taking out, and came to our assistance. Apparently it had been engaged +during the night in watching the harbor; for on deck stood a score of +volunteers in gray overcoats, while the naval-looking personage with +grizzled whiskers who seemed to command was the same Lieutenant Coste +who transferred the revenue-cutter Aiken from the service of the United +States to that of South Carolina. The Aid took hold of us, broke a large +new hawser after a brief struggle, and then went up to the city to +report our condition. + +The morning was lowery, with driving showers running through it from +time to time, and an atmosphere penetratingly damp and cheerless. On the +beach two companies of volunteers were drilling in the rain, no doubt +getting an appetite for breakfast. Without uniforms, their trousers +tucked into their boots, and here and there a white blanket fastened +shawl-like over the shoulders, they looked, as one of our passengers +observed, like a party of returned Californians. Their line was uneven, +their wheeling excessively loose, their evolutions of the simplest and +yet awkwardly executed. Evidently they were newly embodied, and from the +country; for the Charleston companies are spruce in appearance and well +drilled. Half a dozen of them, who had been on sentinel duty during the +night, discharged their guns in the air,--a daily process, rendered +necessary by the moist atmosphere of the harbor at this season; and +then, the exercise being over, there was a general scamper for the +shelter of a neighboring cottage, low-roofed and surrounded by a veranda +after the fashion of Sullivan's Island. Within half an hour they +reappeared in idle squads, and proceeded to kill the heavy time +by staring at us as we stared at them. One individual, learned in +sea-phrase, insulted our misfortune by bawling, "Ship ahoy!" A fellow +in a red shirt, who looked more like a Bowery _bhoy_ than like a +Carolinian, hailed the captain to know if he might come aboard; +whereupon he was surrounded by twenty others, who appeared to +question him and confound him until he thought it best to disappear +unostentatiously. I conjectured that he was a hero of Northern birth, +who had concluded to run away, if he could do it safely. + +When we tired of the volunteers, we looked at the harbor and its +inanimate surroundings. A ship from Liverpool, a small steamer from +Savannah, and a schooner or two of the coasting class passed by us +toward the city during the day, showing to what small proportions the +commerce of Charleston had suddenly shrunk. On shore there seemed to be +no population aside from the volunteers, Sullivan's Island is a summer +resort, much favored by Charlestonians in the hot season, because of its +coolness and healthfulness, but apparently almost uninhabited in winter, +notwithstanding that it boasts a village called Moultrieville. Its +hundred cottages are mostly of one model, square, low-roofed, a single +story in height, and surrounded by a veranda, a portion of which is in +some instances inclosed by blinds so as to add to the amount of shelter. +Paint has been sparingly used, when applied at all, and is seldom +renewed, when weather-stained. The favorite colors, at least those which +most strike the eye at a distance, are green and yellow. The yards are +apt to be full of sand-drifts, which are much prized by the possessors, +with whom it is an object to be secured from high tides and other +more permanent aggressions of the ocean. The whole island is but a +verdureless sand-drift, of which the outlines are constantly changing +under the influence of winds and waters. Fort Moultrie, once close to +the shore, as I am told, is now a hundred yards from it; while, half +a mile off, the sea flows over the site of a row of cottages not long +since washed away. Behind Fort Moultrie, where the land rises to its +highest, appears a continuous foliage of the famous palmettos, a low +palm, strange to the Northern eye, but not beautiful, unless to those +who love it for its associations. Compared with its brothers of the +East, it is short, contracted in outline, and deficient in waving grace. + +The chill mist and drizzling rain frequently drove us under +cover. "While enjoying my cigar in the little smoking-room on the +promenade-deck, I listened to the talk of four players of euchre, two of +them Georgians, one a Carolinian, and one a pro-slavery New-Yorker. + +"I wish the Cap'n would invite old Greeley on board his boat in New +York," said the Gothamite, "and then run him off to Charleston. I'd give +ten thousand dollars towards paying expenses; that is, if they could do +what they was a mind to with him." + +"I reckon a little more'n ten thousand dollars'd do it," grinned +Georgian First. + +"They'd cut him up into little bits," pursued the New-Yorker. + +"They'd worry him first like a cat does a mouse," added the Carolinian. + +"I'd rather serve Beecher or--what's his name?--Cheever, that trick," +observed Georgian Second. "It's the cussed parsons that's done all the +mischief. Who played that bower? Yours, eh? My deal." + +"I want to smash up some of these dam' Black Republicans," resumed the +New-Yorker. "I want to see the North suffer some. I don't care, if New +York catches it. I own about forty thousand dollars' worth of property +in ---- Street, and I want to see the grass growing all round it. +Blasted, if I can get a hand any way!" + +"I say, we should be in a tight place, if the forts went to firing now," +suggested the Carolinian. "Major Anderson would have a fair chance at +us, if he wanted to do us any harm." + +"Damn Major Anderson!" answered the New-Yorker. "I'd shoot him myself, +if I had a chance. I've heard about Bob Anderson till I'm sick of it." + +Of this fashion of conversation you may hear any desired amount at the +South, by going among the right sort of people. Let us take it for +granted, without making impertinent inquiry, that nothing of the kind +is ever uttered in any other country, whether in pot-house or parlor. +I suppose that such remarks seem very horrid to ladies and other +gentle-minded folk, who perhaps never heard the like in their lives, +and imagine, when they see the stuff on paper, that it is spoken with +scowling brows, through set teeth, and out of a heart of red-hot +passion. The truth is, that these ferocious phrases are generally +drawled forth in an _ex-officio_ tone, as if the speaker were rather +tired of that sort of thing, meant nothing very particular by it, and +talked thus only as a matter of fashion. It will be observed that the +most violent of these politicians was a New-Yorker. I am inclined to +pronounce, also, that the two Georgians were by birth New-Englanders. +The Carolinian was the most moderate of the company, giving his +attention chiefly to the game, and throwing out his one remark +concerning the worrying of Greeley with an air of simply civil assent +to the general meaning of the conversation, as an exchange of +anti-abolition sentiments. "If you will play that card," he seemed to +say, "I follow suit as a mere matter of course." + +There was a second attempt to haul us off at sunset, and a third in the +morning, both unsuccessful. Each tide, though stormless, carried the +Columbia a little higher up the beach; and the tugs, trying singly +to move her, only broke their hawsers and wasted precious time. +Fortunately, the sea continued smooth, so that the ship escaped a +pounding. On Saturday, at eleven, twenty-eight hours after we struck, +all hope of getting off without discharging cargo having been abandoned, +we passengers were landed on Sullivan's Island, to make our way back +to Charleston. Our baggage was forwarded to the ferry in carts, and +we followed at leisure on foot. In company with Georgian First and a +gentleman from Brooklyn, I strolled over the sand-rolls, damp and +hard now with a week's rain, passed one or two of the tenantless +summer-houses, and halted beside the _glacis_ of Fort Moultrie. I do not +wonder that Major Anderson did not consider his small force safe within +this fortification. It is overlooked by neighboring sand-hills and by +the houses of Moultrieville, which closely surround it on the land side, +while its ditch is so narrow and its rampart so low that a ladder of +twenty-five feet in length would reach from the outside of the former to +the summit of the latter. A fire of sharp-shooters from the commanding +points, and two columns of attack, would have crushed the feeble +garrison. No military movement could be more natural than the retreat to +Fort Sumter. What puzzles one, especially on the spot, and what nobody +in Charleston could explain to me, is the fact that this manoeuvre could +be executed unobserved by the people of Moultrieville, few as they are, +and by the guard-boats which patrolled the harbor. + +On the eastern side of the fort two or three dozen negroes were engaged +in filling canvas bags with sand, to be used in forming temporary +embrasures. One lad of eighteen, a dark mulatto, presented the very +remarkable peculiarity of chest-nut hair, only slightly curling. The +others were nearly all of the true field-hand type, aboriginal black, +with dull faces, short and thick forms, and an air of animal contentment +or at least indifference. They talked little, but giggled a great deal, +snatching the canvas bags from each other, and otherwise showing their +disbelief in the doctrine of all work and no play. When the barrows were +sufficiently filled to suit their weak ideal of a load, a procession of +them set off along a plank causeway leading into the fort, observing a +droll semblance of military precision and pomp, and forcing a passage +through lounging unmilitary buckras with an air of, "Out of de way, Ole +Dan Tucker!" We glanced at the yet unfinished ditch, half full of water, +and walked on to the gateway. A grinning, skipping negro drummer was +showing a new pair of shoes to the tobacco-chewing, jovial youth who +stood, or rather sat, sentinel. + +"How'd you get hold of _them?_" asked the latter, surveying the articles +admiringly. + +"Got a special order frum the Cap'm fur 'um. That ee way to do it. Won't +wet through, no matter how it rain. He, he! I'm all right now." + +Here he showed ivory to his ears, cut a caper, and danced into the fort. + +"D-a-m' nig-ger!" grinned the sentinel, approvingly, looking at us to +see if we also enjoyed the incident. Thus introduced to the temporary +guardian of the fort, we told him that we were from the Columbia, which +he was glad to bear of, wanting to know if she was damaged, how she went +ashore, whether she could get off, etc., etc. He was a fair specimen of +the average country Southerner, lounging, open to address, and fond of +talk. + +"I've no authority to let you in," he said, when we asked that favor; +"but I'll call the corporal of the guard." + +"If you please." + +"Corporal of the guard!" + +Appeared the corporal, who civilly heard us, and went for the lieutenant +of the guard. Presently a blonde young officer, with a pleasant face, +somewhat Irish in character, came out to us, raising his forefinger in +military salute. + +"We should like to go into the fort, if it is proper," I said. "We ask +hospitality the more boldly, because we are shipwrecked people." + +"It is against the regulations. However, I venture to take the +responsibility," was the obliging answer. + +We passed in, and wandered unwatched for half an hour about the +irregular, many-angled fortress. One-third of the interior is occupied +by two brick barracks, covered with rusty stucco, and by other brick +buildings, as yet incomplete, which I took to be of the nature of +magazines. On the walls, gaping landward as well as seaward, are thirty +or thirty-five iron cannon, all _en barbette_, but protected toward the +harbor by heavy piles of sand-bags, fenced up either with barrels of +sand or palmetto-logs driven firmly into the rampart. Four eight-inch +columbiads, carrying sixty-four pound balls, pointed at Fort Sumter. Six +other heavy pieces, Paixhans, I believe, faced the neck of the harbor. +The remaining armament of lighter calibre, running, I should judge, from +forty-twos down to eighteens. Only one gun lay on the ground destitute +of a carriage. The place will stand a great deal of battering; for the +walls are nearly bidden by the sand-covered _glacis_, which would catch +and smother four point-blank shots out of five, if discharged from a +distance. Against shells, however, it has no resource; and one mortar +would make it a most unwholesome residence. + +"What's this?" asked a volunteer, in homespun gray uniform, who, like +ourselves, had come in by courtesy. + +"That's the butt of the old flag-staff," answered a comrade. "Cap'n +Foster cut it down before he left the fort, damn him I It was a dam' +sneaking trick. I've a great mind to shave off a sliver and send it to +Lincoln." + +The idea of getting a bit of the famous staff as a memento struck +me, and I attempted to put it in practice; but the exceedingly tough +pitch-pine defied my slender pocket-knife. + +"Jim, cut the gentleman a piece," said one of the volunteers, Jim drew a +toothpick a foot long and did me the favor, for which I here repeat my +thanks to him. + +They were good-looking, healthy fellows, these two, like most of their +comrades, with a certain air of frank gentility and self-respect about +them, being probably the sons of well-to-do planters. It would be a +great mistake to suppose that the volunteers are drawn, to any extent +whatever, from the "poor white trash." The secession movement, like all +the political action of the State at all times, is independent of the +crackers, asks no aid nor advice of them, and, in short, ignores them +utterly. + +"I was here when the Star of the West was fired on," the Lieutenant told +us. "We only had powder for two hours. Anderson could have put us out in +a short time, if he had chosen." + +"How rapidly can these heavy guns be fired?" + +"About ten times an hour." + +"Do you think the defences will protect the garrison against a +bombardment?" + +"I think the palmetto stockades will answer. I don't know about that +enormous pile of barrels, however. If a shot hits the mass on the top, I +am afraid it will come down, bags and barrels together, bury the gun and +perhaps the gunners." + +"What if Sumter should open now?" I suggested. + +"We should be here to help," answered the Georgian. + +"We should be here to run away," amended my comrade from Brooklyn. + +"Well, I suppose we should be of mighty little use, and might as well +clear out," was the sober second-thought of the Georgian. + +Having satisfied our curiosity, we thanked the Lieutenant and left Fort +Moultrie. The story of our visit to it excited much surprise, when we +recounted it in the city. Members of the Legislature and other men high +in influence had desired the privilege, but had not applied for it, +expecting a repulse. + +A walk down a winding street, bordered by scattered cottages, inclosed +by brown board-fences or railings, and tracked by a horse-railroad built +for the Moultrie House, led us to the ferry-wharf, where we found our +baggage piled together, and our fellow-passengers wandering about in a +state of bored expectation. Sullivan's Island in winter is a good spot +for an economical man, inasmuch as it presents no visible opportunities +of spending money. There were houses of refreshment, as we could see +by their signs; but if they did business, it was with closed doors +and barred shutters. After we had paid a newsboy five cents for the +"Mercury," and five more for the "Courier," we were at the end of our +possibilities in the way of extravagance. At half-past one arrived the +ferry-boat with a few passengers, mostly volunteers, and a deck-load of +military stores, among which I noticed Boston biscuit and several dozen +new knapsacks. Then, from the other side, came the "dam' nigger," that +is to say, the drummer of the new shoes, beating his sheepskin at the +head of about fifty men of the Washington Artillery, who were on their +way back to town from Fort Moultrie. They were fine-looking young +fellows, mostly above the middle size of Northerners, with spirited and +often aristocratic faces, but somewhat more devil-may-care in expression +than we are accustomed to see in New England. They poured down the +gangway, trailed arms, ascended the promenade-deck, ordered arms, +grounded arms, and broke line. The drill struck me as middling, which +may be owing to the fact that the company has lately increased to about +two hundred members, thus diluting the old organization with a large +number of new recruits. Military service at the South is a patrician +exercise, much favored by men of "good family," more especially at this +time, when it signifies real danger and glory. + +Our rajpoots having entered the boat, we of lower caste were permitted +to follow. At two o'clock we were steaming over the yellow waters of the +harbor. The volunteers, like everybody else in Charleston, discussed +Secession and Fort Sumter, considering the former as an accomplished +fact, and the latter as a fact of the kind called stubborn. They talked +uniform, too, and equipments, and marksmanship, and drinks, and cigars, +and other military matters. Now and then an awkwardly folded blanket was +taken from the shoulders which it disgraced, refolded, packed carefully +in its covering of India-rubber, and strapped once more in its place, +two or three generally assisting in the operation. Presently a firing at +marks from the upper deck commenced. The favorite target was a conical +floating buoy, showing red on the sunlit surface of the harbor, some +four hundred yards away. With a crack and a hoarse whiz the minie-balls +flew towards it, splashing up the water where they first struck and then +taking two or three tremendous skips before they sank. A militiaman from +New York city, who was one of my fellow-passengers, told me that he +"never saw such good shooting." It seemed to me that every sixth ball +either hit the buoy full, or touched water but a few yards this side of +it, while not more than one in a dozen went wild. + +"It is good for a thousand yards," said a volunteer, slapping his +bright, new piece, proudly. + +A favorite subject of argument appeared to be whether Fort Sumter ought +to be attacked immediately or not. A lieutenant standing near me talked +long and earnestly regarding this matter with a civilian friend, +breaking out at last in a loud tone,-- + +"Why, good Heaven, Jim! do you want that place to go peaceably into the +hands of Lincoln?" + +"No, Fred, I do not. But I tell you, Fred, when that fort is attacked, +it will be the bloodiest day,--the bloodiest day!--the bloodiest----!!" + +And here, unable to express himself in words, Jim flung his arms wildly +about, ground his tobacco with excitement, spit on all sides, and walked +away, shaking his head, I thought, in real grief of spirit. + +We passed close to Fort Pinckney, our volunteers exchanging hurrahs with +the garrison. It is a round, two-storied, yellow little fortification, +standing at one end of a green marsh known as Shute's Folly Island. +What it was put there for no one knows: it is too close to the city to +protect it; too much out of the harbor to command that. Perhaps it might +keep reinforcements for Anderson from coming down the Ashley, just as +the guns on the Battery were supposed to be intended to deter them from +descending the Cooper. + +On the wharf of the ferry three drunken volunteers, the first that I had +seen in that condition, brushed against me. The nearest one, a handsome +young fellow of six feet two, half turned to stare back at me with a-- + +"How are ye, Cap'm? Gaw damn ye! Haw, haw, aw!"--and reeled onward, +brimful of spirituous good-nature. + +Four days more had I in Charleston, waiting from tide to tide for a +chance to sail to New York, and listening from hour to hour for the guns +of Fort Sumter. Sunday was a day of excitement, a report spreading that +the Floridians had attacked Fort Pickens, and the Charlestonians feeling +consequently bound in honor to fight their own dragon. Groups of earnest +men talked all day and late into the evening under the portico and in +the basement-rooms of the hotel, besides gathering at the corners and +strolling about the Battery. "We must act." "We cannot delay." "We ought +not to submit." Such were the phrases that fell upon the ear oftenest +and loudest. + +As I lounged, after tea, in the vestibule of the reading-room, an +eccentric citizen of Arkansas varied the entertainment. A short, thin +man, of the cracker type, swarthy, long-bearded, and untidy, he was +dressed in well-worn civilian costume, with the exception of an old +blue coat showing dim remnants of military garniture. Heeling up to a +gentleman who sat near me, he glared stupidly at him from beneath a +broad-brimmed hat, demanding a seat mutely, but with such eloquence of +oscillation that no words were necessary. The respectable person thus +addressed, not anxious to receive the stranger into his lap, rose and +walked away, with that air of not, having seen anything so common to +disconcerted people who wish to conceal their disturbance. Into the +vacant place dropped the stranger, stretching out his feet, throwing +his head back against the wall, and half closing his eyes with the +drunkard's own leer of self-sufficiency. During a few moments of +agonizing suspense the world waited. Then from those whiskey-scorched +and tobacco-stained lips came a long, shrill "Yee-p!" + +It was his exordium; it demanded the attention of the company; and +though he had it not, he continued:-- + +"I'm an Arkansas man, _I_ am. I'm a big su-gar planter, _I_ am. All +right! Go a'ead! I own fifty niggers, _I_ do. Yee-p!" + +He lifted both feet and slammed them on the floor energetically, pausing +for a reply. He had addressed all men; no one responded, and he went +on:-- + +"I'm for straightout, immedit shession, _I_ am. I go for 'staining +coursh of Sou' Car'lina, _I_ do. I'm ready to fight for Sou' Car'lina. +I'm a Na-po-le-on Bonaparte. All right! Go a'ead! Yee-p! Fellahs don't +know me here. I'm an Arkansas man, I am. Sou' Car'lina won't kill an +Arkansas man. I'm an immedit shessionist. Hurrah for Sou' Car'lina! All +right! Yee-p!" + +There was a lingering, caressing accent on his "_I_ am," which told how +dear to him was his individuality, drunk or sober. He looked at no one; +his hat was drawn over his eyes; his hands were deep in his pockets; +his feet did all needful gesturing. I stepped in front of him to get +a fuller view of his face, and the action aroused his attention. He +surveyed my gray Inverness wrapper and gave me a chuckling nod of +approbation. + +"How are ye, Bub? I like that blanket, _I_ do." + +In spite of this noble stranger's goodwill and prowess, we still found +Fort Sumter a knotty question. In a country which for eighty years has +not seen a shot fired in earnest, it is not wonderful that a good +deal of ignorance should exist concerning military matters, and +that second-class plans should be hatched for taking a first-class +fortification. While I was in Charleston, the most popular proposition +was to bombard continuously for two whole days and nights, thereby +demoralizing the garrison by depriving it of sleep and causing it to +surrender at the first attempt to escalade. Another plan, not in general +favor, was to smoke Anderson out by means of a raft covered with burning +mixtures of a chemical and bad-smelling nature. Still another, with +perhaps yet fewer adherents, was to advance on all sides in such a vast +number of row-boats that the fort could not sink them all, whereupon +the survivors should land on the wharf and proceed to take such further +measures as might be deemed expedient. The volunteers from the country +always arrived full of faith and defiance. "We want to get a squint at +that Fort Sumter," they would say to their city friends. "We are going +to take it. If we don't plant the palmetto on it, it's because there's +no such tree as the palmetto." Down the harbor they would go in the +ferry-boats to Morris or Sullivan's Island. The spy-glass would be +brought out, and one after another would peer through it at the object +of their enmity. Some could not sight it at all, confounded the +instrument, and fell back on their natural vision. Others, more lucky, +or better versed in telescopic observations, got a view of the fortress, +and perhaps burst out swearing at the evident massiveness of the walls +and the size of the columbiads. + +"Good Lord, what a gun!" exclaimed one man. "D'ye see that gun? What an +almighty thing! I'll be ----, if I ever put my head in front of it!" + +The difficulties of assault were admitted to be very great, considering +the bad footing, the height of the ramparts, and the abundant store of +muskets and grenades in the garrison. As to breaches, nobody seemed to +know whether they could be made or not. The besieging batteries were +neither heavy nor near, nor could they be advanced as is usual in +regular sieges, nor had they any advantage over the defence except in +the number of gunners, while in regard to position and calibre they were +inferior. To knock down a wall nearly forty feet high and fourteen feet +thick at a distance of more than half a mile seemed a tough undertaking, +even when unresisted. It was discovered also that the side of the +fortification towards Fort Johnstone, its only weak point, had been +strengthened so as to make it bomb-proof by means of interior masonry +constructed from the stones of the landing-place. Then nobody wanted to +knock Fort Sumter down, inasmuch as that involved either the labor +of building it up again, or the necessity of going without it as a +harbor-defence. Finally, suppose it should be attacked and not taken? +Really, we unlearned people in the art of war were vastly puzzled as we +thought tins whole matter over, and we sometimes doubted whether our +superiors were not almost equally bothered with ourselves. + +This fighting was a sober, sad subject; and yet at times it took a turn +toward the ludicrous. A gentleman told me that he was present when the +steamer Marion was seized with the intention of using her in pursuing +the Star of the West. A vehement dispute arose as to the fitness of the +vessel for military service. + +"Fill her with men, and put two or three eighteen-pounders in her," said +the advocates of the measure. + +"Where will you put your eighteen-pounders?" demanded the opposition. + +"On the promenade-deck, to be sure." + +"Yes, and the moment you fire one, you'll see it go through the bottom +of the ship, and then you'll have to go after it." + +During the two days previous to my second and successful attempt to quit +Charleston, the city was in full expectation that the fort would shortly +be attacked. News had arrived that Federal troops were on their way with +reinforcements. An armed steamer had been seen off the harbor, both by +night and day, making signals to Anderson. The Governor went down +to Sullivan's Island to inspect the troops and Fort Moultrie. The +volunteers, aided by negroes and even negro women, worked all night on +the batteries. Notwithstanding we were close upon race-week, when the +city is usually crowded, the streets had a deserted air, and nearly +every acquaintance I met told me he had been down to the islands to +see the preparations. Yet the whole excitement, like others which had +preceded, ended even short of smoke. News came that reinforcements had +not been sent to Anderson; and the destruction of that most inconvenient +person was once more postponed. People fell back on the old hope that +the Government would be brought to listen to reason,--that it would +give up to South Carolina what it could not keep from her with justice, +--that it would grant, in short, the incontrovertible right of peaceable +secession. For, in the midst of all these labors and terrors, this +expense and annoyance, no one talked of returning into the Union, and +all agreed in deprecating compromise. + +Once more, this time in the James Adger, I set sail from Charleston. The +boat lost one tide, and consequently one day, because at the last +moment the captain found himself obliged to take out a South Carolina +clearance. As I passed down the harbor, I counted fourteen square-rigged +vessels at the wharves, and one lying at anchor, while three others had +just passed the bar, outward-bound, and two were approaching from the +open sea. Deterred from the Ship Channel by the sunken schooners, and +from Maffitt's Channel by the fate of the Columbia, we tried the Middle +Channel, and glided over the bar without accident. + +"Sailing to Charleston is very much like going foreign," I said to a +middle-aged sea-captain whom we numbered among our passengers. "What +with heaving the lead, and doing without beacons, and lying off the +coast o' nights, it makes one think of trading to new countries." + +I had, it seems, unintentionally pulled the string which jerked him. +Springing up, he paced about excitedly for a few moments, and then broke +out with his story. + +"Yes,--I know it,--I know as much about it as anybody, I reckon. I lay +off there nine days in a nor'easter and lost my anchors; and here I am +going on to New York to buy some more; and all for those cursed Black +Republicans!" + +In South Carolina they see but one side of the shield,--which is quite +different, as we know, from the custom of the rest of mankind. + + + + +REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. + + +1. _Descriptive Ethnology._ By R.G. LATHAM. 2 vols. London. 1859. + +2. _Anthropologie der Naturvoelker._ Von Dr. T. WAIZ. 2 Baender. Leipzig. +1860. + +Some writers have the remarkable faculty of making the subject which +they may happen to treat forever more distasteful and wearisome to their +readers. Whether the cause be in the style, or the point of view, or +the method of treatment, or in all together, they seem able to force the +student away in disgust from the whole field on which they labor, with +vows never again to cross it. + +Such an author, it seems to us, is pre-eminently R.G. Latham, in his +treatment of Ethnology. Happy the man who has any such philosophic +interest in Human Races, that he can ever care to hear again of the +subject, after perusing Mr. Latham's various volumes on "Descriptive +Ethnology." We wonder that the whole English reading public; has not +consigned the science to the shelf of Encyclopedias of Useful Knowledge, +or of Year-Books of Fact, or any other equally philosophic and connected +works, after the treatment which this modern master of Ethnology has +given to the subject. + +Such disconnected masses of facts are heaped together in these works, +such incredible dulness is shown in presenting them, such careful +avoidance of any generalization or of any interesting particular, such +a bald and conceited style, and such a cockneyish and self-opinionated +view of human history, as our soul wearies even to think of. Mr. Latham +disdains any link of philosophy, or any classification, among his "ten +thousand facts," as being a fault of the "German School" (whatever that +may be) of Ethnology. It seems to him soundly "British" to disbelieve +all the best conclusions of modern scholarship, and to urge his own +fanciful or shallow theories. He treats all human superstitions and +mythologies as if he were standing in the Strand and judging them by the +ideas of modern London. His is a Cockney's view of antiquity. He cannot +imagine that a barbarous and infant people, groping in the mysteries of +the moral universe, might entertain some earnest and poetic views which +were not precisely in the line of thought of the Londoners of the +nineteenth century, and yet which might be worth investigating. To his +mind, there is no grand march of humanity, slow, but certain, towards +higher ideals, through the various lines of race,--but rather +innumerable ripples on the surface of history, which come and pass away +without connection and without purpose. + +The reader wades slowly through his books, and leaves them with a +feeling of intense disgust. Such a vast gathering of facts merely to +produce this melancholy confusion of details! You feel that his eminence +in the science must be from the circumstance that no one else is dull +enough and patient enough to gather such a museum of facts in regard +to human beings. The mind is utterly confused as to divisions of human +races, and is ready to conclude that there must be almost as many +varieties of man as there are tribes or dialects, and that Ethnology has +not yet reached the position of a science. + +The reader must pardon the bitterness of our feelings; but we are just +smarting from a prolonged perusal of all Mr. Latham's works, especially +the two volumes whose title is given above; and that we may have +sympathy, if only in a faint degree, from our friends, we quote a few +passages, taken at random, though we cannot possibly thus convey an +adequate conception of the infinite dulness of the work. + +The following is his elegant introduction:-- + + "I follow the Horatian rule, and plunge, at + once, _in medias res_. I am on the Indus, but + not on the Indian portion of it. I am on the + Himalayas, but not on their southern side. I + am on the northwestern ranges, with Tartary + on the north, Bokhara on the west, and Hindostan + on the south. I am in a neighborhood + where three great religions meet: Mahometanism, + Buddhism. Brahminism. I _must_ begin + somewhere; and here is my beginning."-- + Vol. i. p. 1. + +The following is his analysis of the beautiful Finnish Kalevala:-- + +"Wainamoinen is much of a smith, and more of a harper. Illmarinen is +most of a smith. Lemminkainen is much of a harper, and little of a +smith. The hand of the daughter of the mistress of Pohjola is what, each +and all, the three sons of Kalevala strive to win,--a hand which the +mother of the owner will give to any one who can make for her and +for Pohjola _Sampo_, Wainamoinen will not; but he knows of one who +will,--Illmarinen. Illmarinen makes it, and gains the mother's consent +thereby. But the daughter requires another service. He must hunt down +the elk of Tunela. We now see the way in which the actions of the heroes +are, at one and the same time, separate and connected. Wainamoinen +tries; Illmarinen tries (and eventually wins); Lemminkainen tries. There +are alternations of friendship and enmity. Sampo is made and presented. +It is then wanted back again. + +"'Give us,' says Wainamoinen, 'if not the whole, half.' + +"'Sampo,' says Louki, the mistress of Pohjola,' cannot be divided.' + +"'Then let us steal it,' says one of the three. + +"'Agreed,' say the other two. + +"So the rape of Sampo takes place. It is taken from Pohjola, whilst the +owners are sung to sleep by the harp of Lemminkainen; sung to sleep, +but not for so long a time as to allow the robbers to escape. They are +sailing Kalevalaward, when Louki comes after them on the wings of the +wind, and raises a storm. Sampo is broken, and thrown into the sea. Bad +days now come. There is no sun, no moon. Illmarinen makes them of silver +and gold. He had previously made his second wife (for he lost his first) +out of the same metals. However, Sampo is washed up, and made whole. +Good days come. The sun and moon shine as before, and the sons of +Kalevala possess Sampo."--Vol. i., pp. 433, 434. + +This, again, is Mr. Latham's profound and interesting view of +_Buddhism:--_ + +"Buddhism is one thing. Practices out of which Buddhism may be developed +are another. It has been already suggested that the ideas conveyed by +the terms _Sramanoe_ and _Gymnosophistoe_ are just as Brahminic as +Buddhist, and, _vice versa_, just as Buddhist as Brahminic. + +"The earliest dates of specific Buddhism are of the same age as the +earliest dates of specific Brahminism. + +"Clemens of Alexandria mentions Buddhist pyramids, the Buddhist habit of +depositing certain bones in them, the Buddhist practice of foretelling +events, the Buddhist practice of continence, the Buddhist Semnai or holy +virgins. This, however, may he but so much asceticism. He mentions this +and more. He supplies the name Bouta; Bouta being honored as a god. + +"From Cyril of Jerusalem we learn that Samnaism was, more or less, +Manichaean,--Manichaeanism being, more or less, Samanist. Terebinthus, +the preceptor of Manes, took the name Baudas. In Epiphanius, Terebinthus +is the pupil of Scythianus. + +"Suidas makes Terebinthus a pupil of Baudda, who pretended to be the +son of a virgin. And here we may stop to remark, that the Mongol +Tshingiz-Khan is said to be virgin-born; that, word for word, Scythianus +is Sak; that Sakya Muni (compare it with Manes) is a name of Buddha. + +"Be this as it may, there was, before A.D. 300,-- + + "1. Action and reaction between Buddhism + and Christianity. + + "2. Buddhist buildings. + + "3. The same cultus in both Bactria and + India. + + "Whether this constitute Buddhism is another + question."--Vol. ii. p. 317. + +And more of an equally attractive and comprehensible character. + +We assure the reader that these extracts are but feeble exponents of the +peculiar power of Mr. Latham's works,--a power of unmitigated dulness. +What his views are on the great questions of the science--the origin +of races, the migrations, the crossings of varieties, and the like--no +mortal can remember, who has penetrated the labyrinth of his researches. + +An author of a very different kind is Professor Waiz, whose work on +Anthropology has just reached this country: a writer as philosophic as +Mr. Latham is disconnected; as pleasing and natural in style as the +other is affected; as simply open to the true and good in all customs or +superstitions of barbarous peoples as the Englishman is contemptuous of +everything not modern and European. Waiz seems to us the most careful +and truly scientific author in the field of Ethnology whom we have +had since Prichard, and with the wider scope which belongs to the +intellectual German. + +The bane of this science, as every one knows, has been its theorizing, +and its want of careful inductive reasoning from facts. The +classifications in it have been endless, varying almost with the fancies +of each new student; while every prominent follower of it has had some +pet hypothesis, to which he desired to suit his facts. Whether the +_a priori_ theory were of modern miraculous origin or of gradual +development, of unity or of diversity of parentage, of permanent and +absolute divisions of races or of a community of blood, it has equally +forced the author to twist his facts. + +Perhaps the basest of all uses to which theory has been put in this +science was in a well-known American work, where facts and fancies in +Ethnology were industriously woven together to form another withe about +the limbs of the wretched African slave. + +Waiz has reasoned slowly and carefully from facts, considering in +his view all possible hypotheses,--even, for instance, the +development-theory of Darwin,--and has formed his own conclusion on +scientific data, or has wisely avowed that no conclusion is possible. + +The classification to which he is forced is that which all profound +investigators are approaching,--that of language interpreted by history. +He is compelled to believe that no physiological evidences of race can +be considered as at all equal to the evidences from language. At the +same time, he is ready to admit that even this classification is +imperfect, as from the nature of the case it must be; for the source of +the confusion lies in the very unity of mankind. He rejects _in toto_ +Professor Agassiz's "realm-theory," as inconsistent with facts. The +hybrid-question, as put by Messrs. Gliddon and Nott, meets with a +searching and careful investigation, with the conclusion that nothing +in facts yet ascertained proves any want of vitality or power of +propagation in mulattoes or in crosses of any human races. + +The unity of origin and the vast antiquity of mankind are the two +important conclusions drawn. + +His second volume is entirely devoted to the negro races, and is the +most valuable treatise yet written on that topic. + +The whole work is mainly directed towards _Naturvoelker_, or "Peoples in +a State of Nature," and therefore cannot be recommended for translation, +as a general text-book on the science of Ethnology,--a book which is +now exceedingly needed in all our higher schools and colleges; but as +a general treatise, with many new and important facts, scientifically +treated, it can be most highly commended to the general scholar. + + +_Il Politecnico. Repertorio Mensile di Studi applicati alia Prosperita e +Coltura Sociale._ Milano, 1860. New York: Charles B. Norton, Agent for +Libraries, 596, Broadway. + +Among the best first-fruits of Italian liberty are the free publication +and circulation of books; and it is a striking indication of the new +order of things in Lombardy, that the publishers at Milan of the monthly +journal, "Il Politecnico," should at once have established an American +agency in New York, and that in successive numbers of their periodical +during the present year they should have furnished lists of some of the +principal American publications which they are prepared to obtain for +Italian readers. It will be a fortunate circumstance for the people of +both countries, should a ready means be established for the interchange +of their contemporaneous works in literature and science. + +The "Politecnico" is not altogether a new journal. Seven volumes of it +bad been published, and had acquired for it a high reputation and a +considerable circulation, when political events put a stop to its +issue. The Austrian system of government after 1849 repressed alt free +expression of thought in Lombardy; and no encouragement was afforded for +the publication of any work not under the control of the administration. +With the beginning of the present year the "Politecnico" was +reestablished, mainly through the influence and under the direction of +Dr. Carlo Cattaneo, who had been the chief promoter of the preceding +original series. The numbers of the new series give evidence of talent +and independence in its conductors and contributors, and contain +articles of intrinsic value, beside that which they possess as +indications of the present intellectual condition and tendencies of +Italy. The journal is wholly devoted to serious studies, its object +being the cultivation of the moral and physical sciences with the arts +depending on them, and their practical application to promote the +national prosperity. That it will carry out its design with ability is +guarantied by the character of Cattaneo. + +Carlo Cattaneo is a man of unquestioned power of intellect, of strong +character, and resolute energy. Already distinguished, not only as a +political economist, but as a forcible reasoner in applied politics, he +took a leading part in the struggle of 1848 in Milan, and, inspired by +ill-will towards Charles Albert and the Piedmontese, was one of the +promoters of the disastrous Lombard policy which defeated the hopes of +the opponents of Austria at that day. Though an Italian liberal, and +unquestionably honest in his patriotic intentions, he was virtually an +ally of Radetzky. When the Austrians retook Milan, he was compelled to +fly, and took refuge in Lugano, where he compiled three large volumes +on the affairs of Italy, from the accession of Pius IX. to the fall of +Venice, in which he exhibited his political views, endeavoring to show +that the misfortunes of Lombardy were due to the ambitious and false +policy of the unhappy Charles Albert. His distrust of the Piedmontese +has not diminished with the recent changes in the affairs of Italy; and +although Lombardy is now united to Piedmont, and the hope of freedom +seems to lie in a hearty and generous union of men of all parties in +support of the new government, Cattaneo, when in March last he was +elected a member of the National Parliament, refused to take his seat, +that he might not be obliged to swear allegiance to the King and the +Constitution. His political desire seems to be to see Italy not brought +under one rule, but composed of a union of states, each preserving +its special autonomy. He is a federalist, and does not share in the +unitarian view which prevails with almost all the other prominent +Italian statesmen, and which at this moment appears to be the only +system that can create a strong, united, independent Italy. It was to +him, perhaps, more than to any other single man, that the difficulties +which lately arose in the settling of the mode of annexation of Sicily +and Naples to the Sardinian kingdom were due; and the small party in +Parliament which recently refused to join in the vote of confidence in +the ministry of Cavour was led by Ferrari, the disciple of the Milanese +Doctor. + +But however impracticable Cattaneo may be, and however mistaken and +extravagant his political views, he is a man of such vigor of mind, that +a journal conducted by him becomes, from the fact of his connection with +it, one of the important organs of Italian thought. We trust that the +"Politecnico" will find subscribers among those in our country who +desire to keep up their knowledge of Italian affairs at a time of such +extraordinary interest as the present. + + +_Elsie Venner_. A Romance of Destiny. By OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. 2 vols. +Boston: Ticknor & Fields. 1861. + +English literature numbers among its more or less distinguished authors +a goodly number of physicians. Sir Thomas Browne was, perhaps, the +last of the great writers of English prose whose mind and style were +impregnated with imagination. He wrote poetry without meaning it, as +many of his brother doctors have meant to write poetry without doing it, +in the classic style of + + "Inoculation, heavenly maid, descend!" + +Garth's "Dispensary" was long ago as fairly buried as any of his +patients; and Armstrong's "Health" enjoys the dreary immortality of +being preserved in the collections, like one of those queer things they +show you in a glass jar at the anatomical museums. Arbuthnot, a truly +genial humorist, has hardly had justice done him. People laugh over his +fun in the "Memoirs of Scriblerus," and are commonly satisfied to think +it Pope's. Smollett insured his literary life in "Humphrey Clinker"; +and we suppose his Continuation of Hume is still one of the pills which +ingenuous youth is expected to gulp before it is strong enough to +resist. Goldsmith's fame has steadily gained; and so has that of Keats, +whom we may also fairly reckon in our list, though he remained harmless, +having never taken a degree. On the whole, the proportion of doctors who +have positively succeeded in our literature is a large one, and we +have now another very marked and beautiful case in Dr. Holmes. Since +Arbuthnot, the profession has produced no such wit; since Goldsmith, no +author so successful. + +Five years ago it would have been only Dr. Holmes's intimate friends +that would have considered the remarkable success he has achieved not +only possible, but probable. They knew, that, if the fitting opportunity +should only come, he would soon show how much stuff he had in +him,--sterner stuff, too, than the world had supposed,--stuff not +merely to show off the iris of a brilliant reputation, but to block out +into the foundations of an enduring fame. It seems an odd thing to say +that Dr. Holmes had suffered by having given proof of too much wit; but +it is undoubtedly true. People in general have a great respect for those +who scare them or make them cry, but are apt to weigh lightly one who +amuses them. They like to be tickled, but they would hardly take the +advice of their tickler on any question they thought serious. We have +our doubts whether the majority of those who make up what is called "the +world" are fond of wit. It rather puts them out, as Nature did Fuseli: +They look on its crinkling play as men do at lightning; and while they +grant it is very fine, are teased with an uncomfortable wonder as to +where it is going to strike next. They would rather, on the whole, +it were farther off. They like well-established jokes, the fine old +smoked-herring sort, such as the clown offers them in the circus, +warranted never to spoil, if only kept dry enough. Your fresh wit +demands a little thought, perhaps, or at least a kind of negative wit, +in the recipient. It is an active, meddlesome--quality, forever putting +things in unexpected and somewhat startling relations to each other; +and such new relations are as unwelcome to the ordinary mind as poor +relations to a _nouveau riche_. Who wants to be all the time painfully +conceiving of the antipodes walking like flies on the ceiling? Yet wit +is related to some of the profoundest qualities of the intellect. It is +the reasoning faculty acting _per saltum_, the sense of analogy brought +to a focus; it is generalization in a flash, logic by the electric +telegraph, the sense of likeness in unlikeness, that lies at the root +of all discoveries; it is the prose imagination, common-sense at fourth +proof. All this is no reason why the world should like it, however; and +we fancy that the Question, _Ridentem dicere verum quid vetat?_ was +plaintively put in the primitive tongue by one of the world's gray +fathers to another without producing the slightest conviction. Of +course, there must be some reason for this suspicion of wit, as there +is for most of the world's deep-rooted prejudices. There is a kind of +surface-wit that is commonly the sign of a light and shallow nature. +It becomes habitual _persiflage_, incapable of taking a deliberate and +serious view of anything, or of conceiving the solemnities that environ +life. This has made men distrustful of all laughers; and they are apt to +confound in one sweeping condemnation with this that humor whose base +is seriousness, and which is generally the rebound of the mind from +over-sad contemplation. They do not see that the same qualities that +make Shakspeare the greatest of tragic poets make him also the deepest +of humorists. + +Dr. Holmes was already an author of more than a quarter of a century's +standing, and was looked on by most people as an _amusing_ writer +merely. He protested playfully and pointedly against this, once or +twice; but, as he could not help being witty, whether he would or no, +his audience laughed and took the protest as part of the joke. He felt +that he was worth a great deal more than he was vulgarly rated at, and +perhaps chafed a little; but his opportunity had not come. With the +first number of the "Atlantic" it came at last, and wonderfully he +profited by it. The public were first delighted, and then astonished. So +much wit, wisdom, pathos, and universal Catharine-wheeling of fun and +fancy was unexampled. "Why, good gracious," cried Madam Grundy, "we've +got a _genius_ among us fit last! I always knew what it would come to!" +"Got a fiddlestick!" says Mr. G.; "it's only rockets." And there was no +little watching and waiting for the sticks to come down. We are afraid +that many a respectable skeptic has a crick in his neck by this time; +for we are of opinion that these are a new kind of rocket, that go +without sticks, and _stay up_ against all laws of gravity. + +We expected a great deal from Dr. Holmes; we thought he had in him the +makings of the best magazinist in the country; but we honestly confess +we were astonished. We remembered the proverb, "'Tis the pace that +kills," and could scarce believe that such a two-forty gait could be +kept up through a twelvemonth. Such wind and bottom were unprecedented. +But this was Eclipse himself; and he came in as fresh as a May morning, +ready at a month's end for another year's run. And it was not merely +the perennial vivacity, the fun shading down to seriousness, and the +seriousness up to fun, in perpetual and charming vicissitude;--here was +the man of culture, of scientific training, the man who had thought as +well as felt, and who had fixed purposes and sacred convictions. No, the +Eclipse-comparison is too trifling. This was a stout ship under press +of canvas; and however the phosphorescent star-foam of wit and fancy, +crowding up under her bows or gliding away in subdued flashes of +sentiment in her wake, may draw the eye, yet she has an errand of duty; +she carries a precious freight, she steers by the stars, and all her +seemingly wanton zigzags bring her nearer to port. + +When children have made up their minds to like some friend of the +family, they commonly besiege him for a story. The same demand is made +by the public of authors, and accordingly it was made of Dr. Holmes. The +odds were heavy against him; but here again he triumphed. Like a good +Bostonian, he took for his heroine a _schoolma'am_, the Puritan Pallas +Athene of the American Athens, and made her so lovely that everybody was +looking about for a schoolmistress to despair after. Generally, the best +work in imaginative literature is done before forty; but Dr. Holmes +should seem not to have found out what a Mariposa grant Nature had made +him till after fifty. + +There is no need of our analyzing "Elsie Venner," for all our readers +know it as well as we do. But we cannot help saying that Dr. Holmes has +struck a new vein of New-England romance. The story is really a romance, +and the character of the heroine has in it an element of mystery; yet +the materials are gathered from every-day New-England life, and that +weird borderland between science and speculation where psychology and +physiology exercise mixed jurisdiction, and which rims New England as +it does all other lands. The character of Elsie is exceptional, but not +purely ideal, like Cristabel and Lamia. In Doctor Kittredge and his +"hired man," and in the Principal of the "Apollinean Institoot," Dr. +Holmes has shown his ability to draw those typical characters that +represent the higher and lower grades of average human nature; and in +calling his work a Romance he quietly justifies himself for mingling +other elements in the composition of Elsie and her cousin. Apart from +the merit of the book as a story, it is full of wit, and of sound +thought sometimes hiding behind a mask of humor. Admirably conceived are +the two clergymen, gradually changing sides almost without knowing it, +and having that persuasion of consistency which men always feel, because +they must always bring their creed into some sort of agreement with +their dispositions. + +There is something melancholy in the fact, that, the moment Dr. Holmes +showed that he felt a deep interest in the great questions which concern +this world and the next, and proved not only that he believed in +something, but thought his belief worth standing up for, the cry of +_Infidel_ should have been raised against him by people who believe in +nothing but an authorized version of Truth, they themselves being the +censors. For our own part, we do not like the smell of Smithfield, +whether it be Catholic or Protestant that is burning there; though, +fortunately, one can afford to smile at the Inquisition, so long as its +Acts of Faith are confined to the corners of sectarian newspapers. +But Dr. Holmes can well afford to possess his soul in patience. The +Unitarian John Milton has won and kept quite a respectable place in +literature, though he was once forced to say, bitterly, that "new +Presbyter was only old Priest writ large." One can say nowadays, _E pur +si muove_, with more comfort than Galileo could; the world does move +forward, and we see no great chance for any ingenious fellow-citizen to +make his fortune by a "Yankee Heretic-Baker," as there might have been +two centuries ago. + +Dr. Holmes has proved his title to be a wit in the earlier and higher +sense of the word, when it meant a man of genius, a player upon thoughts +rather than words. The variety, freshness, and strength which he has +lent to our pages during the last three years seem to demand of us that +we should add our expression of admiration to that which his countrymen +have been so eager and unanimous in rendering. + + + + +RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS + +RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS OF THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. + + +History of the United Netherlands: from the Death of William the Silent +to the Synod of Dort. With a Full View of the English-Dutch Struggle +against Spain, and of the Origin and Destruction of the Spanish Armada. +By John Lothrop Motley, LL.D. New York. Harper & Brothers. 2 vols. 8vo. +pp. 532, 563. $4.00. + +History of Latin Christianity, including that of the Popes to the +Pontificate of Nicolas V. By Henry Hart Milman. Vol. V. New York. +Sheldon & Co. 16mo. pp. 530. $1.50. + +Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the +People. Parts XXIII. and XXIV. New York. D. 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