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diff --git a/old/13154-8.txt b/old/13154-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5926ace --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13154-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8584 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature +and Science, 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: Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science + February, 1876, Vol. XVII, No. 98. + +Author: Various + +Release Date: August 10, 2004 [EBook #13154] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sandra Brown and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + +Note: The Table of Contents and the list of illustrations were added + by the transcriber. + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE OF POPULAR LITERATURE AND SCIENCE + +February, 1876. + +Vol. XVII, No. 98. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + THE CENTURY--ITS FRUITS AND ITS FESTIVAL. + II.--AMERICAN PROGRESS. + + UP THE THAMES. + CONCLUDING PAPER, by EDWARD C. BRUCE. + + THE POET'S PEN, by F.A. HILLARD. + + SKETCHES OF INDIA. + II. + + FRA ALOYSIUS, by EMMA LAZARUS. + + A FEW HOURS IN BOHEMIA. + + PROFESSOR AND TEACHER, by JAMES MORGAN HART. + + CONTRASTED MOODS, by CHARLOTTE F. BATES. + + THE ATONEMENT OF LEAM DUNDAS, by MRS. E. LYNN LINTON + CHAPTER XXI. CHANGES. + CHAPTER XXII. EDGAR HARROWBY. + CHAPTER XXIII. ON THE MOOR. + CHAPTER XXIV. THE CHILD FINA. + + LETTERS FROM SOUTH AFRICA, by LADY BARKER. + + ON SANKOTA HEAD, by ETHEL C. GALE. + + AT THE OLD PLANTATION. + TWO PAPERS.--II, by ROBERT WILSON. + + OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + A GERMAN AGRICULTURAL FAIR. + A PAIR OF WHEELS AND AN OLD PARASOL. + MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES, by R.A.F. PENROSE. + + OUR EARLY NEWSPAPERS. + + LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + _Books Received._ + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT BUILDING AT WASHINGTON. + THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON AND CARPENTERS' HALL, WHERE THE FIRST + COLONIAL CONGRESS MET. + HOE'S NEW PERFECTING PRINTING-PRESS, PRINTING 12,000 DOUBLE + IMPRESSIONS PER HOUR, AND THE OLD EPHRATA PRESS. + THE CITY OF TOKYO, THE LARGEST STEAMSHIP BUILT IN AMERICA, AND + FITCH'S STEAMBOAT, THE FIRST CONSTRUCTED. + THE COTTON GIN. + GRAIN ELEVATOR. + INTERIOR OF A POSTAL CAR. + PROF. S.F.B. MORSE, THE INVENTOR OF THE ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH. + THE SCHOOL-HOUSE OF THE PAST AND THE PRESENT. + WINDSOR CASTLE, FROM ETON. + MORTON CHURCH. + MILTON'S PEAR TREE. + GRAY. + BEACONSFIELD CHURCH. + TOMB OF BURKE. + HEDSOR AND COOKHAM CHURCHES. + ETON COLLEGE AND CHAPEL. + ETON COLLEGE, FROM NORTH TERRACE, WINDSOR. + STAINES CHURCH. + NORMAN GATE AND ROUND TOWER, WINDSOR. + HERNE'S OAK. + EAST FRONT, WINDSOR CASTLE. + QUEEN ELIZABETH'S BUILDING, WINDSOR. + EARL OF SURREY. + WINDSOR CASTLE, FROM BISHOPSGATE. + LOCK AT WINDSOR. + THE THAMES EMBANKMENT. + ELMS NEAR THE HERONRY. + HINDU TEMPLES NEAR POONA. + GÓNDS. + CENOTAPHS IN THE VALLEY OF THE TONSA. + THE GAUR, OR INDIAN BISON. + BANJARIS. + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE + +OF + +_POPULAR LITERATURE AND SCIENCE_. + +FEBRUARY, 1876. + + + + + +THE CENTURY--ITS FRUITS AND ITS FESTIVAL. + +II.--AMERICAN PROGRESS. + +[Illustration: POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT BUILDING AT WASHINGTON.] + +From showing the world's right to the epoch of '76, and sketching the +progress of the century in its wider aspect, a natural transition is +to the part played in illustrating the period by the people from whose +political birth it dates, and who have made the task of honoring it +their own. They have reached their first resting-place, and pardonably +enjoy the opportunity of looking back at the road they have traversed. +They pause to contemplate its gloomy beginning, the perilous +precipices along which it wound, and the sudden quagmires that often +interrupted it, all now softened by distance and by the consciousness +of success. Opening with a forest-path, it has broadened and +brightened into a highway of nations. + +So numerous and various were the influences, formative and impellent, +which combined to bring the colonies up to the precise ripening-point +of their independence, as to make it difficult to assign each its +proper force. In the concentric mass, however, they stand out sharp +and clear, and the conjoint effect seems preordained. That the event +should have come when it did, and not before or after, is as obvious +as any of history's predictions after the fact. Looking through the +glasses of to-day, we find it hard to realize that the Continental +Congress renewed its expressions of loyalty to the king three weeks +after the battle of Bunker Hill, so distinct before us rises the +completed and symmetrical edifice of separation ready for its +capstone, from its foundations growing steadily through the past. + +Thirteen years--one for each State--were occupied in the topping-off. +The Seven Years' War, that created the new central power of modern +Europe, had a great deal to do with creating the new American power. +It taught the colonies their strength, gave them several thousand +native soldiers, and sent them from over the water the material, +some of it completely wrought, for more in the German immigration +consequent upon it. Out of it grew the obnoxious enactments that +brought on the end. So closely simultaneous were these with the king's +proclamation of October 7, 1763, prohibiting all his subjects "from +making any purchases or settlements whatever, or taking possession of +any of the lands, beyond the sources of any of the rivers which fall +into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or north-west," as to support +the suspicion that the British ministry had a premonitory sense of the +coming struggle, and meant to prepare for it by checking the expansion +of the colonies. The pressure applied to front and rear was part of +one and the same movement; and is incompatible with the accepted +view that neither cabinet nor Parliament anticipated, in the first +instance, any American opposition to the Stamp Act and the system of +legislation to which it was the opening wedge. The England of that day +proposed to rule America after much the same fashion with Ireland, +the Alleghanies presenting themselves very conveniently for an +Indian Pale. This line of policy was in harmony with the ideas then +predominant in England, and was fully understood by the colonists. +They could not possibly have been blind to it, in view of the +continuous and repeated claims of absolute legislative supremacy +formally put forth, from the bill to that effect passed coincidently +with the repeal of the Stamp Act down to the alterations made in the +Massachusetts charter in 1774; the latter proceeding being in close +harmony, both in time and motive, with the extension of the province +of Quebec to the Ohio--one of the very rare evidences of sagacity and +foresight discernible in the course of the ministry; for, while it did +not avail to dam the westward flood, it certainly contributed, with +other concessions made at the same time to the Canadians, to save the +St. Lawrence to the Crown. + +As apropos to this point, we transcribe from the original +manuscript, written in the round, clear, unhesitating but steady hand +characteristic of all Washington's letters, the following to James +Wood of Winchester, afterward governor of Virginia, but then little +more than a stripling: + + "MOUNT VERNON, Feb'y 20th, 1774. + + "DEAR SIR: I have to thank you, for your obliging acc't of + your trip down the Mississippi, contained in a Letter of the + 18th of Octob'r from Winchester--the other Letter, therein + refer'd to, I have never yet receiv'd, nor did this come + to hand till some time in November, as I was returning from + Williamsburg. + + "The contradictory acc'ts given of the Lands upon the + Mississippi are really astonishing--some speak of the Country + as a terrestrial Paradise, whilst others represent it as + scarce fit for anything but Slaves and Brutes. I am well + satisfied, however, from your description of it, that I have + no cause to regret my disappointment:--The acc't of Lord + Hillsborough's sentiments of the Proclamation of 1763, I can + view in no other light than as one, among many other proofs, + of his Lordship's malignant disposition towards us poor + Americans, formed equally in malice, absurdity, and error; as + it would have puzzled this noble Peer, I am persuaded, to have + assigned any plausible reason in support of this opinion. + + "As I do not know but I may shortly see you in Frederick, and + assuredly shall before the Assembly, I shall add no more than + that, it will always give me pleasure to see you at this place + whenever it is convenient to you, and that with compliments + to your good Mother I remain, D'r Sir, Y'r most Obed't H'ble + Serv't, + + "G'o WASHINGTON." + +[Illustration: THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON AND CARPENTERS' HALL, WHERE +THE FIRST COLONIAL CONGRESS MET.] + +This private note, discussing casually and curtly the great river +of the West, and the minister who endeavored to make it a _flumen +clausum_ to the colonists, nearly equidistant in date between the +Boston Tea-party and the meeting of the Assembly which called the +first Continental Congress, has some public interest. The West +always possessed a peculiar attraction for Washington. He explored +it personally and through others, and lost no occasion of procuring +detailed information in regard to its capabilities. He acquired large +bodies of land along the Ohio at different points, from its affluents +at the foot of the Alleghany to the Great Kanawha and below. Now we +see him gazing farther, over the yet unreddened battle-grounds of +Boone and Lewis, to the magnificent province France and Spain were +carefully holding in joint trusteeship for the infant state he was to +nurse. The representative in the provincial legislature of a frontier +county stretching from the Potomac to the Ohio, we may fancy him +inspired, as he looked around from his post on the vertebral range of +the continent, with "something of prophetic strain." If so, he was +not long to have leisure for indulging it. Within eighteen months his +life's work was to summon him eastward to the sea-shore. The Dark and +Bloody Ground must wait. For its tillage other guess implements than +the plough were preparing--the same that beckoned him to Cambridge and +the new century. + +The slender driblet of population which at this juncture flowed +toward the Lower Mississippi was due to the anxiety of Spain to get a +home-supply of wheat, hemp and such-like indispensables of temperate +extraction for her broad tropical empire. A newspaper of August 20, +1773 gives news from New York of the arrival at that port of "the +sloop Mississippi, Capt. Goodrich, with the Connecticut Military +Adventurers from the Mississippi, but last from Pensacola, the 16th +inst." They had "laid out twenty-three townships at the Natchez," +where lands were in process of rapid occupation, the arrivals +numbering "above four hundred families within six weeks, down the Ohio +from Virginia and the Carolinas." The Connecticut men doubtless came +back prepared, a little later, to vindicate their martial cognomen; +and to aid them in that they were met by Transatlantic recruits in +unusual force. The same journal mentions the arrival at Philadelphia +of 1050 passengers in two ships from Londonderry; this valuable +infusion of Scotch-Irish brawn, moral, mental and muscular, being +farther supplemented by three hundred passengers and servants in the +ship Walworth from the same port for South Carolina. The cash value to +the country of immigrants was ascertainable by a much less circuitous +computation then than now; many of them being indentured for a term +of years at an annual rate that left a very fair sum for interest and +sinking fund on the one thousand dollars it is the practice of our +political economist of to-day to clap on each head that files +into Castle Garden. The German came with the Celt in almost equal +force--enough to more than balance their countrymen under Donop, +Riedesel and Knyphausen. The attention drawn to the colonies by the +ministerial aggressions thus contributed to strengthen them for the +contest. + +But with all these accessions in the nick of time, two millions and +a quarter of whites was a meagre outfit for stocking a virgin farm of +fifteen hundred miles square, to say nothing of its future police and +external defence against the wolves of the deep. It barely equaled the +original population, between the two oceans, of nomadic Indians, who +were, by general consent, too few to be counted or treated as owners +of the land. It fell far short of the numbers that had constituted, +two centuries earlier, the European republic from which our federation +borrowed its name. The task, too, of the occidental United States +was double. Instead of being condensed into a small, wealthy and +defensible territory, they had at once to win their independence +from a maritime power stronger than Spain, and to redeem from utter +crudeness and turn into food, clothing and the then recognized +appliances of civilized life the wilderness thus secured. The result +could not vary nor be doubted; but that the struggle, in war and in +peace, must be slow and wearing, was quite as certain. It is dreary to +look back upon its commencement now, and upon the earlier decades +of its progress; and we cannot wonder that those who had it to look +forward to half shrank from it. Among them there may have been a +handful who could scan the unshaped wilderness as the sculptor does +his block, and body forth in imagination the glory hidden within. That +which these may have faintly imagined stands before us palpable if not +yet perfected, the amorphous veil of the shapely figure hewn away, +and the long toil of drill and chisel only in too much danger of being +forgotten. + +Population, the most convenient gauge of national strength and +progress, is far from being a universally reliable one. We shall find +sometimes as wide a difference between two given millions as between +two given individuals. Either may grow without doing much else. They +may direct their energies to different fields. Compared with the +United States, France and Germany, for example, have advanced but +little in population. They have, however, done wonders for themselves +and the world by activities which we have, in comparison, neglected. +The old city of London gains in wealth as it loses in inhabitants. + +[Illustration: HOE'S NEW PERFECTING PRINTING-PRESS, PRINTING 12,000 +DOUBLE IMPRESSIONS PER HOUR, AND THE OLD EPHRATA PRESS.] + +Yet success in the multiplication of souls within their own +borders--depopulate as they may elsewhere--is eagerly coveted and +regularly measured by all the nations. Since 1790, when we set them +the example, they have one by one adopted the rule of numbering heads +every five, six or ten years, recognizing latterly as well, more and +more, the importance of numbering other things, until men, women and +children have come to be embedded in a medley of steam-engines, +pigs, newspapers, schools, churches and bolts of calico. For twenty +centuries this taking of stock by governments had been an obsolete +practice, until revived by the framers of the American Constitution +and made a vital part of that instrument. The right of the most--and +not of the richest, the best, the bravest, the cleverest, or the +oldest in blood--to rule being formally recognized and set down on +paper, it became necessary to ascertain at stated intervals who were +the most. The lords of the soil, instead of being inducted into power +on the death of their parents with great pother of ointment, Te Deum, +heraldry, drum and trumpet, were chosen every ten years by a corps of +humble knights of the pencil and schedule. + +To these disposers of empire, the enhancement and complication of +whose toil has been a labor of love with each decennial Congress, we +owe the knowledge that eighty years, out of the hundred, brought the +people of the Union up from a tally of 3,929,214 in 1790 to 38,558,371 +in 1870, and that down to the beginning of the last decade the rate of +increment adhered closely to 35 per cent. On that basis of growth the +latest return falls nearly four millions short. One of the causes of +this is "too obvious" (and too disagreeable) "to mention;" but it +is inadequate. The sharp demarcation of the western frontier by the +grasshopper and the hygrometer is another, which will continue to +operate until, by irrigation, tree-planting or some other device, a +new climate can be manufactured for the Plains. The teeming West, that +of old needed only to be tickled with a hoe to laugh with a harvest, +has disappeared. At least what is left of it has lost the power of +suction that was wont to reach across the ocean, pull Ballys and Dorfs +up by the roots and transplant them bodily to the Muskingum and +the Des Moines. A third cause, operating more especially within +the current decade, is attributable to another mode in which that +attractive power has been exerted--the absorption from the European +purse for the construction of railways of seven or eight times as much +as the thirty-five millions in specie it took to fight through the +Revolutionary war. For a while, Hans came with his thalers, but they +outfooted him--"fast and faster" behind came "unmerciful disaster," +and he was fain to turn his back on the land of promise and promises. +Similar set-backs, however, are interspersed through our previous +history, and the influence of the last one may be over-rated. + +In truth, the Old World's fund of humanity is not sufficiently ample +to keep up the pace; and the rate of natural increase is no longer +what it was when the country was all new, and cornfield and nursery +vied in fecundity. That the former source of augmentation is gaining +in proportion upon the latter is apparent from the last three returns. +The ratio of foreign-born inhabitants to the aggregate in 1850 was +9.68 per cent. in 1860, 13.16, and in 1870, 14.44. In the last-named +year, moreover, 10,892,015, or 28 per cent. of the entire population, +white and black, are credited with foreign parentage on one or both +sides. Excluding the colored element, ranked as all native, this +proportion rises to 32 per cent. + +Judged by the test of language, three-fifths of those who are of +foreign birth disappear from the roll of foreigners, 3,119,705 out +of 5,567,229 having come from the British Isles and British America. +Germany, including Bohemia, Holland and Switzerland, sums up +1,883,285; Scandinavia, 241,685; and France and Belgium, 128,955. The +Celtic influx from Ireland, and the Teutonic and Norse together, form +two currents of almost identical volume. Compared with either, +the contribution of the Latin or the Romance races sinks into +insignificance--an insignificance, however, that shows itself chiefly +in numbers, the traces of their character and influence being, +relatively to their numerical strength, marked. The immigrants from +Northern and Southern Europe have a disposition, in choosing their +new homes, to follow latitude, or rather the isotherms; the North-men +skirting the Canadian frontier and grouping themselves on the coldest +side of Lake Michigan, while the Italians, Spaniards and French drift +toward the Gulf States. The Irish and Germans are more cosmopolitan, +each in a like degree. They disperse with less regard to climate or +surroundings, and are more rapidly and imperceptibly absorbed and +blended, thus promoting rather than marring the homogeneity of the +American people. The Germans are, however, more prone to colonizing +than the Irish--a circumstance due in great measure to their differing +in language from the mass of their new neighbors. This cause of +isolation is gradually losing its weight, the recognition of the +German tongue by State legislatures, municipalities, etc. being less +common than formerly, notwithstanding the immense immigratior so +calculated to extend it. + +While assimilation has been growing more complete, and a fixed +resultant becoming more discernible, the ingredients of this ethnic +medley do not seem to have materially varied in their proportions +since the beginning of the century. They present a tolerably close +parallel to the like process in Northern France, where Celt and Teuton +combined in nearly equal numbers, with, as in our case, a limited +local infusion of the Norse. The result cannot, however, be identical, +the French lacking our Anglo-Saxon substratum, with its valuable +traditions and habitudes of political thought. The balance between +impulse and conservatism has never been, in this country, long or +seriously disturbed, and is probably as sound now as a hundred +years ago. In the discussions of the twenty years which embrace our +Revolutionary period we find abundance of theory, but they were never +carried by abstractions out of sight of the practical. Our publicists +were not misled by convictions of the "infinite perfectibility of +the human mind," the motive proclaimed by Condorcet, writing in sweet +obliviousness of the guillotine, as explaining "how much more pure, +accurate and profound are the principles upon which the constitution +and laws of France have been formed than those which directed the +Americans." The lack of this equilibrium among the pure, and, as we +may venture to term them, the untrained races, we have occasional +opportunities of noting on our own soil when for a passing cause they +resort to isolated action. + +[Illustration: THE CITY OF TOKYO, THE LARGEST STEAMSHIP BUILT IN +AMERICA, AND FITCH'S STEAMBOAT, THE FIRST CONSTRUCTED.] + +A race-question of a character that cannot be supplied by +differentiation within Caucasian limits haunts us as it has done from +the very birth of the colonies. Like the Wild Huntsman, we have had +the sable spectre close beside us through the whole run. But, more +fortunate than he, we see it begin to fade. At least its outlines are +contracting. The ratio of colored inhabitants to the aggregate, +in 1790 19.26 per cent., or one-fifth, fell in 1860 to 14.12, or +one-seventh, and in 1870 to 12.65, or an eighth. The next census will +beyond doubt point more strongly in the same direction. If, whilst +dwindling in magnitude, the dusky shape perplex us by assuming +suddenly a novel form, we may yet be assured that it is the same in +substance and in manageability. Its hue is whitening with the fleece +of five millions of cotton bales. The cloud has a silver lining--a +golden one in fact--for ours is pecuniarily a serviceable phantom to +the extent of adding to our annual income a sum equal to eight or ten +times the entire yearly export of the colonies. Should he lead us, +like the Land--und--Wild--Graf, into the pit of ruin, he will have +first bottomed it with an ample and soft cushion of lint whereon to +fall. + +Extremes meet, and modern culture, like ancient anarchy, drives its +people into cities. Such is the tendency on both sides of the ocean. +Improvement must result from associated effort, and of that cities are +the last expression. All the European towns are outgrowing the rural +districts. With us the change states itself in an advance, since 1790, +of the city population from 3.4 to 20.9 per cent. of the aggregate. +Broadcloth has gained on homespun in the proportion of six to one, +Giles having thus six mouths to fill where he formerly had but one. +We shall show farther on how gallantly he meets this draft. New York, +with its suburbs, contains more Germans than any German city save +Vienna and Berlin, more Irish than Dublin, and more English-speaking +inhabitants than Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and +Leeds together. All the colonial towns in a lump would scarce add a +twentieth to her numbers, and her militia embraces nearly twice as +many men as served, first and last, in the Continental army. + +[Illustration: THE COTTON GIN.] + +But the column that sums the souls does not state the complete life of +the cities. Man has in our day a host of allies that work with him and +at his command--slaves of iron, steel and brass wholly unknown to our +great--grand-fathers--fed also by the farmer, through the miner as an +intermediate. Steam-engines, to the number of 40,191, and of 1,215,711 +horse-power--all of the stationary variety, and exclusive of nearly +half as many that traverse the country and may be classed among the +rural population--have succeeded the websters and spinners who were +wont to clothe all the world and his wife, and who survive only in +the surnames of some of our statesmen and financiers. Not that they +confine their labors to textile fabrics. Their iron fingers are in +every pie, including that of the printer, who is answered, when he +calls the roll of his serfs of steam, by 691 whistles. And he is +one of the smallest of the slaveholders--a mere ten-bale man. +India-rubber, a product known a century ago only by some little black +lumps used by draughtsmen to erase pencil-marks, owns enough of them +to equal 4412 horses or 22,000 No. 1 field hands. Boots and shoes not +of the India-rubber variety employ 3212 horse-power or 15,000 steam +Crispins, over and above their Christian fellows who stick solitary +to the last, and who, it must be owned, produce an article more of the +Revolutionary type and more solid and durable. As a cord-wainer Steam +is a failure; but he works cheaply, and will continue to hammer on, +and disseminate his commodity of brown paper throughout the temperate +zone. Three-fourths of the population of the globe still runs unshod, +however, and it is obvious that this crying want cannot be met by +the old system. Steam will perforce keep pegging away till Cathay, +Xipangu, India and all the isles awaken to the absurdity of walking on +cotton or undressed human skin. Could one of our 299 fire-fed cobblers +have been set to work at Valley Forge, backed by one of the 1057 +makers of woolen that are similarly nourished! + +But we do Mr. Watt's lusty bantling injustice in assigning him +exclusively the tastes of a cit. He is not insensible to pastoral +charms, and often selects a home among the hemlocks and under the +broad-armed oaks, by bosky glen or open mead, wherever the brooklet +brawls or dreams, for he sticks to the waterside like a beaver. Here +he sits down, like an artist as he is, until he has got all the choice +bits of the grove. The large and bustling family of the sawyers, both +top and bottom, he has utterly banished from their ancient haunts. +'There would be needed a million and a half of them to take the places +of 11,199 steam-engines, of 314,774 horse-power, that are devastating +our forests. An equal number is replaced by the 16,559 water-wheels, +of 326,728 horse-power, engaged in the same field of havoc. Armed +with the handsaw, all the Revolutionary patriots and Tories together, +withdrawing their attention entirely from military affairs, as well as +from all other mundane concerns, would not have turned out one-sixth +of the quantity of lumber demanded by their descendants of a period +that boasts itself the age of iron, and has as little as possible +to do with wood. And if we place in the hands of the patriarchs the +ancestral axes, and tell them to get out charcoal for three millions +of tons of iron, to be hauled an average of a hundred miles to +market by oxen over roads whose highest type was the corduroy, the +imagination reels at the helplessness of the heroes. + +[Illustration: GRAIN ELEVATOR.] + +The paternal thoughtfulness of the home government employed itself in +relieving the colonist from such exhausting drafts upon his energies. +It sedulously prohibited his throwing himself away on the manufacture +of iron or anything else. In 1750 it placed him under a penalty of +£200 for erecting a rolling-mill, tilt-hammer or steel-furnace. Lest +the governor of the colony should fail to enforce this statute +and protect the pioneer from such a waste of time, it held that +functionary to a personal forfeit of £500 for failing, within thirty +days after presentment by two witnesses on oath, to abate as a +nuisance every such mill, engine, etc. As this mulct would have made a +serious inroad on the emoluments of the royal governors, even with the +addition of the inaugural douceur customarily given by the provincial +assemblies to each new incumbent--in Virginia regularly £500, doubled +in the instance of Fauquier in 1758, when it was desired to drive +the entering wedge of disestablishment and razee the parsons--we are +prepared to believe that the iron business was not flourishing. Under +a despotism tempered so very moderately by bribes, a similar blight +fell upon all other branches of manufacture. Among these, wool, flax, +paper, hats and leather are specified in a Parliamentary report as +interfering with "the trade, navigation and manufactures" of +the mother-country. An act of Parliament accordingly forbade the +exportation of hats to foreign countries, and even from one colony to +another. + +That, after such a course of repression, the country found itself +wholly unprepared on the attainment of independence to make any +headway in this field, is no matter of surprise. Thirty years elapsed +before the manufacturing statistics of the Union became presentable. +In 1810 they were reckoned at $198,613,471. This embraces every fruit +of handicraft, from a barrel of flour and a bushel of lime to a silk +dress. We had 122,647 spindles and 325,392 looms, made 53,908 tons of +pig iron, and refined about one pound of sugar for each head of the +population. In 1870, after sixty years of tossing between the +Scylla and Charybdis of tariffs, "black" and white, the yield of our +factories had mounted to the respectable sum of $4,232,325,442. They +employed 2,053,996 operatives. Of these, the average wages were $377, +against $289 in 1860 and $247 in 1850, yearly. The advance in the +product of refined sugar may be cited as illustrative of the progress +of the people in comfort and luxury. It reached a value of one hundred +and nine millions, representing nearly ten times as many pounds, or +twenty-eight pounds a head. This exemplification is but one in an +endless list. + +Manufactures have come to figure respectably in our exports. They +exceed in that list, by three or four to one, the entire exports of +all kinds in 1790; and they equal the average aggregate of the years +from 1815 to 1824. But the multiplication of the wants of a people +rapidly growing in numbers and refinement will, with the comparatively +high price of labor, scarcity of capital and distance of most of our +ports from the markets supplied by European manufactures, for a long +time to come make the home-supply the chief care of our artisans. They +have, for such and other reasons, in some points lost ground of +late. The revolution in the propulsion and construction of ships, for +instance, has not found them prepared to take the advantage they have +usually done of improvements. Not only do the British screw-steamers +take undisputed possession of our trade with their own country, but +they expel our once unrivaled craft from the harbors of other quarters +of the globe, and threaten to monopolize the most profitable part +of our carrying-trade with all countries. This result is more easily +explained than the inroads made on our more ordinary foreign traffic, +in sailing vessels, by the mercantile marine of second- and third-rate +powers. This is eloquently told by the annual government returns and +the daily shipping-list. While our coastwise tonnage increases, that +employed in foreign trade remains stationary or declines. The bearing +of this upon our naval future becomes an imperative question for +our merchants and legislators. The United States is benevolently and +gratuitously building up a marine for each of half a dozen European +states which possess little or no commerce of their own, and +multiplying the ships and sailors of our chief maritime rival. We have +long since ceased to import locomotives, and have, within the past two +years, almost ceased to import railroad iron. Our iron-workers obtain +coal at nearly or quite as low prices as do those of Birkenhead or the +Clyde. They have recently sent to sea some large screw-steamers that +perform well. No insurmountable difficulty appears to prevent the +launching of more until we have enough to serve at least our direct +trade with Europe and China. That determined, it may be possible +to ascertain whether we cannot assist Norway, Belgium and Sicily in +carrying our cotton, wheat and tobacco to the purchasers of it. + +[Illustration: INTERIOR OF A POSTAL CAR.] + +This decline in American tonnage is, it must be added, only relative, +whether the comparison be made with other countries or with our own +past. The returns show a carrying capacity in our ships more than +twentyfold that of 1789, and three times that of 1807; when, on the +other hand, it exceeded in the ratio of fourteen to twelve that of +1829, twenty-two years later. This interest is peculiarly subject to +fluctuations; some of which in the past have been less explicable than +the one it is now undergoing. Another decade may turn the tables, and +restore the flag of the old Liverpool liners to their fleeter but less +shapely supplanters. The steamer and the clipper are both American +inventions. Why not their combination ours as well? The centenary of +Rumsey's boat, not due till December 11, 1887, should not find its +descendants lording the ocean under another flag. + +The monthly Falmouth packet of a century ago, sufficient till within +the past two generations for the mail communication of the two +continents, has grown into six or eight steamships weekly, each +capable of carrying a pair of the old sloops in her hold, and making +the passage westwardly in a fifth and eastwardly in a third of the +time. Can it be but ninety years ago that the latest dates at New +York (February 14, 1786) from London (December 7, 1785) brought as a +leading item from Paris (November 20) the news that Philippe Égalité +had by his father's death just come into four millions of livres a +year, that six hundred thousand livres paid by the Crown to his father +thereupon devolved to Monsieur (afterward Louis XVIII.), and that the +latter had kept up the game of shuttlecock with the treasure of the +French by "a donation of all his estates to the duke of Normandy, the +younger son of their Majesties, preserving for himself the use and +profits thereof during his life"? That was a short winter-passage, +too--more speedy than the land-trip of a letter in the same journal +"from a gentleman in the Western country to his friend in Connecticut, +dated River Muskingum, November 5, 1785," describing a voyage down the +Ohio from Fort Pitt and the wonders of the country much as Livingstone +and Du Chaillu do those of Africa. The time is less now to Japan, and +about the same to New South Wales, with both which countries we have +postal conventions-i.e., a practically consolidated service--far +cheaper and more convenient than that maintained on the adoption of +the present Constitution between our own cities. Our foreign service +with leading countries is combined, moreover, with an institution +undreamed of in that day--the money-order system. Under this admirable +contrivance the post-offices of the world will ere long be so many +banks of deposit and exchange for the benefit of the masses, effecting +transfers mutually with much greater facility, rapidity and security +than the regular banks formerly attained. + +Still in its infancy, the international money-order system has already +reached importance in the magnitude of its operations. The sums sent +by means of it were, in 1874, $1,499,320 to Great Britain, $701,634 to +Germany, and to the little inland republic of Switzerland $72.287. + +The dimensions to which this new method of financial intercourse +between the different peoples of the globe is destined to reach may be +inferred from the growth of the domestic money--order service. In 1874 +the number of orders issued was 4,620,633, representing $74,424,854. +The erroneous payments having been but one in 59,677, it is plain that +this mode of remittance must make further inroads on the old routine +of cheque and draft, and become, among its other advantages, a +currency regulator of no trifling value. + +Our post-office may almost be said to head the development of the +century. The other lines of progress in some sense converge to it. The +advance of intelligence, of settlement, of transit by land and water +and of mechanical and philosophical discovery have all fostered +the post, while its return to them has been liberal. Thus aided +and spurred, its extension has approached the rate of geometrical +progression. Its development resembles that from the Annelids to the +Vertebrata, the simple canal which constitutes the internal anatomy of +the simplest animal forms finding a counterpart in the line of mails +vouchsafed by the British postmaster-general to the colonies in 1775 +from Falmouth to Savannah, "with as many cross-posts as he shall +see fit." Fifteen years of independence had caused the accretion +of wonderfully few ganglia on this primeval structure. In 1790 four +millions of inhabitants possessed but seventy-five post-offices +and 1875 miles of post-roads. The revenue of the department was +$37,935--little over a thousandth of what it is at present under rates +of postage but a fraction of the old. New York and Boston heard +from each other three times a week in summer and twice in winter. +Philadelphia and New York were more social and luxurious, and insisted +on a mail every week-day but one, hurrying it through in two days each +way, or a twentieth of the present speed. On the interior routes chaos +ruled supreme. Newspapers and business-men combined to employ riders +who meandered along the mud roads as it pleased Heaven. + +When the new government machine had smoothed down its bearings matters +rapidly improved. In 1800 we had 903 post-offices and 20,817 miles of +road. In 1820 these figures changed to 4500 and 92,492, and in 1870 +to 28,492 offices and 231,232 miles. Five years later 70,083 miles of +railway, 15,788 by steamboat and 192,002 of other routes represented +the web woven since the Falmouth and Savannah shuttle commenced its +weary way. Of course, neither the number of offices nor extent of +routes fully measures the change from past to present; mails having +become more frequent over the same route, and a new style of office, +the locomotive variety, having been added to the old. This innovation, +of mounting postmaster and post-office with the mailbags on wheels, +and hurling the whole through space at thirty or forty miles an hour, +already furnishes us with gigantic statistics. In 1875 there were +sixty-two lines of railway postal-cars covering 16,932 miles with +40,109 miles of daily service and 901 peripatetic clerks. These +gentlemen, under the demands of the fast mail-trains, will ere long +swell from a regiment into a brigade, and so into a division, till +poets and painters be called on to drop the theme of "waiting for the +mail." + +The greater portion of the fifty-odd thousand employés of the +department do not give it their whole time, many of the country +postmasters being engaged in other business. But the undivided efforts +of them all, with an auxiliary corps, would be demanded for the +handling of eight hundred and fifty millions of letters and cards, +and a greater bulk of other mail-matter, under the old plan of +rates varying according to distance and number of sheets, and not +weight--stamps unknown. The introduction of stamps, with coincident +reduction and unification of rates, has been the chief factor in the +extraordinary increase of correspondence within the past thirty years; +the number of letters passing through the mails having within that +period multiplied twenty-fold. The number transmitted in the British +Islands, then three times greater than in the United States, is +now but little in excess, having been in 1874 nine hundred and +sixty--seven millions. The immense difference between the two +countries in extent, and consequently in the average distance of +transportation, is enough to account for the contrast between the two +balance-sheets, our department showing a heavy annual deficit, while +in Great Britain this is replaced by a profit. As regards post-office +progress in the United States, the question is rather an abstract one; +for there is not the least probability of an advance in rates. The +discrepancy between receipts and expenses will be attacked rather +by seeking to reduce the latter at the same time that the former +are enhanced by natural growth and by improvement in the details of +service and administration. + +[Illustration: PROF. S.F.B. MORSE, THE INVENTOR OF THE +ELECTRO-MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.] + +Difficult as it is adequately to state or to measure the extension of +the mails within the century, it is far from telling the whole +story of the amplitude and celerity with which the people of our day +interchange intelligence. + +Only to the last third of the period under review has the electric +telegraph been known. It is now a necessity of the public and private +life of every civilized spot upon the globe. It traverses all lands +and all seas. The forty miles of wire with which it started from +Washington City have become many millions. Its length of line in the +United States is about the same with that of the mail-routes, and a +similar equality probably obtains in other parts of the world. We have +nearly as much line as all Europe together, though the extent of wire +may not be so great. It is little to say that this continent, so +dim to the founders of the Union, has been by the invention of Morse +compressed within whispering distance, the same advantage having been +conferred on other countries. It is the property of mankind, and +the comparison must be between present and past, not between any two +countries of the present. Strictly, a comparison is not possible, +nothing like magnetic communication having been known forty years +ago, unless to the half imagination, half realization of one or two +scientific experimenters. Steam and stamps wrought a difference in +degree--the telegraph one of kind. Against eighteen hundred miles of +wagon-road we set seventy-three thousand of railway; but two hundred +thousand miles of telegraph are opposed by nothing, unless by +Franklin's kite-string. Looked at along the perspective of poles, the +old days disappear entirely--the patriots become pre-historic. Yet +modern self-conceit is somewhat checked by the reflection that the +career of these two great agents of intercommunication has but just +opened; that their management even yet remains a puzzle to us; and +that the next generation may wonder how we happened to get hold of +implements whose use and capabilities we so poorly comprehended. +So far as prediction can now be ventured, a force and pathway more +economical than coal and the rail will not soon be forthcoming; nor +is Canton apt to "interview" New York at the rate of more words in a +minute over a single wire than she can now. Some day dynamite may be +harnessed to the balloon, which stands, or drifts, where it did with +Montgolfier, and we may all become long-range projectiles; but even +this age of hurry will contentedly wait a little for that. + +Possibly the Post-office Department would be less of a valetudinarian, +financially, had it confined itself to its legitimate occupation, the +speeding of intercourse and wafting of sighs, and not yielded to the +heavy temptation of disseminating shoes, pistols and *garden-seeds +over three millions of square miles. Newspapers are enough to test its +powers as a freight-agent. Where these and their literary kindred +of books, magazines, etc. used to be estimated by the dozen and the +ounce, the ton is becoming too small a unit. + +West of the Blue Ridge, or the front line of the Alleghany, so called +in most of its length, there was not a newspaper published in +1776. Ten years later, scarcely more than one--the _Pittsburg +Gazette_--existed west of the mountains. The few in the seaboard +towns kept alive the name, and little more. In 1850, '60 and '70 the +periodicals of the Union numbered, respectively, 2526, 4051 and 5871, +with an average circulation, at the three periods, of twenty-one +hundred, thirty-four hundred and thirty-six hundred copies each. The +circulation thus outgrew the numbers in the proportion of nearly +two to one. And both are largely in excess of the increase of the +population, that being in the twenty years but 65 percent. The number +of daily papers (254 in 1850 and 574 in 1870) must now be equal to the +entire number of periodicals in France outside of Paris (796 in 1875), +with an average issue less than half that of ours. The proportion of +readers to the population, certainly in this class of literature, thus +appears to be rapidly growing: and the change is most striking if we +take, for example, that group of periodicals which are most purely +literary and most remote from the mere chronicle. The returns for +the three periods place the monthlies at, respectively, 100, 280 and +622--an advance of sixfold. + +The magazine leads us to the door of the library; and here the exhibit +is still more marked, significant and gratifying. The census figures +are, for many reasons, extremely confused, but in the general result +they cannot be outrageously wrong, and they can mislead us only in +degree as to the immense multiplication of books in both public and +private libraries. The returns are manifestly far below the truth. +To give them here without the explanations accompanying them in +the census volumes would mislead; and those explanations, or a fair +synopsis of them, would occupy too much space, and would, after all, +leave the problem unsolved. That the supply of books has fully +kept pace with every other means of culture is patent enough. The +Congressional Library has risen in half the century from the shelves +of a closet to nearly four hundred thousand volumes--an accumulation +not surpassed in '76 by more than two libraries in Europe. It now +demands a separate edifice of its own, fit to stand by the side of +the fine structures which have within a generation recreated the +architectural aspect of the Federal metropolis with the most stately +government-offices in the world. Other public libraries, belonging to +colleges, schools, societies and independent endowments, show similar +progress. While none of them are equal, for reference, to some of the +great European establishments, they are generally better adapted to +the purposes of popular instruction. Their literary wealth is fresh +and available, little encumbered by lumber kept merely because old or +curious. Thus adjuncts, in some sort, of the newspaper and the common +school, their catalogues prove, as do the bookcases of private houses, +that the newest and deepest results of European thought and inquiry +are eagerly sought and used by our people. + +[Illustration: THE SCHOOL-HOUSE OF THE PAST AND THE PRESENT.] + +Our system of public schools, long classed among the "peculiar +institutions" of the country, is notably gaining in scope and +efficiency, be the English and Prussians right or not in their claim +of greater thoroughness and a higher curriculum. The different States +have engaged in a series of competitive experiments for the common +good, and cities and counties, in their sphere, labor to the same end. +Schools of higher grade are being multiplied, and the examination of +teachers, still lax enough, becomes more exact and faithful, as befits +the drill of an army of two hundred and forty thousand charged with +the intellectual police of eight millions of children--the number said +by the new "National Bureau of Education" to have been enrolled in +1875, against 7,209,938, 5,477,037 and 3,642,694 by the censuses of +1870, '60 and '50. Little more than half this number is estimated by +the Bureau to represent the average daily attendance, which is +quite compatible with the attendance, for the greater part of the +school-year, of nine-tenths of the whole number on the lists. A +comparison of the number enrolled and the entire supposed number +of children between six and sixteen leaves an excess of nearly two +millions and a half outside the public schools. Of these private +schools will account, and account well, for a large proportion. +These are fulfilling indispensable offices, one being that of normal +schools--a want likely to be inadequately satisfied for a long time to +come. + +In one respect our public schools are beyond, though not above, +comparison with those of the most advanced European states. An annual +outlay of a trifle less than seventy-five millions of dollars, with +an investment in buildings, ground, etc. of a hundred and sixty-six +millions, implies a determination that should be rewarded with the +most unexceptionable results. It reaches eighteen dollars yearly, +leaving out the interest on the fixed stock, for each child in +daily attendance. Such an expenditure, trebling, we believe, that +of Prussia, ought to secure better teachers and a higher range +of instruction. It must be said, however, that the duties of the +school-boards are as honestly and economically discharged as those of +any other public bodies; that the cost for each pupil is highest +where common schools have been longest established and most thoroughly +studied; and that the statistics certainly show a steady advance in +their efficiency. That is the truest test. Any pecuniary means are +justifiable by the end. If common schools, themselves a means to a +higher education, mental and moral, than they can directly afford, +take some part of the wealth we accumulate to prevent our men's +decaying, it is well used. It helps to purchase for us progress +more genuine than that whereof railways and cotton-factories are the +exponents. + +It is thus a guarantee of a brighter century even than the one just +closed that, in the wildest quarter of the still unkempt continent, +the school actually precedes the pioneer. Choose his homestead where +he may, the sixteenth section is staked out before it. From it the +rills of knowledge soon trickle along the first furrows, as strange +to the soil as its new products. It provides the modern settler +in advance with an equipment, mental and material, if not moral, +altogether superior to that of his colonial prototype, that enables +him in a shorter time to impart a higher stamp to his surroundings. He +attacks the prairie with a plough unimagined by his predecessor; +cuts his wheat with a cradle--or, given a neighbor or two, a +reaper--instead of a sickle; sends into the boundless pasture the +nucleus of a merino flock, and returns at evening to a home rugged +enough, in unison with its surroundings, but brightened by traits of +culture and intelligence which must adhere to any ménage of to-day +and were out of reach of any of the olden time. The civilization that +travels West now is a different thing from that which went West a +hundred years ago. + +Science has done much for the farmer, though not as much as he has +done for it and its hotbeds, the towns. In one point his shortcomings +are notable. He has not learned how to eat his cake and have it. He +works the virgin soil as the miner does the coal-seam. What Nature has +placed in it he takes out, and, until forced by the pressure of +his friends and enemies, the cities, returns no nest-egg of future +fertility. So it is that many portions of the rural East have to +be resettled and started afresh in the process of agricultural +redemption. A hundred years ago England grew fifteen bushels of wheat +to the acre. Her standard is now thirty-two. Within three-quarters of +the century New York has fallen from twenty-five to twelve; and +half that period, again, has brought Ohio and Indiana from thirty to +fifteen. But this process is a natural part of the sum of American +progress. Land was the only property of the country originally, and +subsequently of different parts of it in succession. It was used like +any other commodity, and worn out like leather or cloth. The original +cuticle of the continent has disappeared for ever. The task, now is +to induce the granulation of a new one. The restorative process may +be complete by the time we have four hundred souls to the square +mile, like England and Flanders. Meanwhile, the exporting of Iowa and +California in the shape of wheat is going on at what must be esteemed +a profitable rate; for our farmers, as a class, do not seem to be +losing ground. Their glebes have risen in value from thirty-two +hundred millions in 1850 to sixty-six hundred ten years later, +and ninety-three hundred in 1870. This has been accompanied by a +diminution of their average extent, the farm of 1870 covering a +hundred and fifty-three acres. This is small enough, considering +the capital necessary for stock in these days of improved and costly +implements, when a farmer can no longer pack his entire kit in a cart. +It matches closely the size of English holdings, where agricultural +science is at its height. The French peasant-farmers, with their plats +of three and four acres, are chained to the spade and hoe, and their +steading becomes a poultry-yard--a consummation we are not yet in +sight of, as is proved by the legions of pigs and beeves, barreled +or bellowing, that roll in from the ancient realms of Pontiac and +the Prophet with a smoothness and velocity unattained by the most +luxurious coach that carried a First Congressman. + +Everything that makes a nation, we are told, and the nation itself, +is the product of the soil. But the less immediate, finer and +most delicate fruits cannot usually be garnered until the soil is +thoroughly subdued. The mass of matter keeps the intellectual in +abeyance. Were Europe enlarged one-half, and her population reduced +to one-eighth what it actually is, the spectacle of culture she now +presents would be an impossibility. It is our merit that, thus brought +to American conditions, she would in no way compare with American +achievement. An offset wherewith we must at the same time be debited +is the aid we have, in so many forms, derived from her. Making every +allowance for this, it is a clear credit in our favor that one-tenth +of Christendom should have done so much more than a tenth of its +effective thinking simultaneously with taming the most savage half +of its domain. We have more than our share of laborers in the mental +vineyard, though fewer of them are master-workmen. We utilize for +Europe herself, and send back to her in its first available shape, +much of what her students produce. As between thought and substance, +the two continents interchange offices. We import the crude material +her philosophers harvest or mine, work it up and return it, just as +she takes the yield of our non-metaphorical fields and strata and +restores it manufactured. Much of the social, political and industrial +advancement of Europe within the century she may be said to owe to +the United States. Her governmental reforms certainly and confessedly +found here their germ. These gave birth to others of a social +character. In this manner, as well as more directly by our commerce, +inventions and example, we have stimulated her industry. We have +spread before her the two oceans, and taught her to traverse them with +a firm and masterful mien, no longer + + As one who in a lonely road doth walk in fear and dread. + +We have created cities upon her havens, Parliaments in her capitals, +and stronger hearts and quicker hands in her villages. No community on +her varied surface but is the better for America. That our people and +their labors have done it all it would be absurd to say; but the Old +World's progress in the period under review can be but very partially +accounted for by any internal force of its own. None of its rulers or +peoples adventure a reform of any kind without a preliminary, if often +only a half-conscious, glance of inquiry westward. Collectively as +members of a European republic of nations, and internally each +within itself, they have in this way learned, after many recalcitrant +struggles, to recognize and respect local independence. Municipal law +has gained new life. The commune has become an entity everywhere, and +the nations which it informs have established the right to readjust or +recast their constitutions without being hounded down as disturbers +of the peace. The contribution of the American Union to such results +would earn it honor at the hands of history were it to sink into +nothing to-morrow. Had no such tangible fruits hitherto ripened, some +portion of such honor would still accrue to it for having shown that a +people may grow from a handful to an empire without hereditary rulers, +without a privileged class, without a state Church, without a standing +army, without tumult in the largest cities and without stagnant +savagery in the remotest wilds. + + + + +UP THE THAMES. + +CONCLUDING PAPER. + +[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE, FROM ETON.] + +Let our demonstration to-day be on the monarchical citadel of England, +the core and nucleus of her kingly associations, her architectural +_eikon basiliké_, Windsor. To reach the famous castle it will not do +to lounge along the river. We must cut loose from the suburbs of the +suburbs, and launch into a more extended flight. Our destination +is nearly an hour distant by rail; and though it does not take us +altogether out of sight of the city, it leads us among real farms and +genuine villages, tilled and inhabited as they have been since the +Plantagenets, instead of market-gardens and villas. + +We go to Paddington and try the Great Western, the parent of the broad +gauges with no very numerous family, Erie being one of its unfortunate +children. That six-foot infant is not up to the horizontal stature of +its seven-foot progenitor, but has still sixteen inches too many +to fare well in the contest with its little, active, and above all +numerous, foes of the four-feet-eight-and-a-half-inch "persuasion." +The English and the American giants can sympathize with each other. +Both have drained the bitter cup that is tendered by a strong majority +to a weak minority. Neither the American nor the British constitution, +with their whole admirable array of checks and balances, has shielded +them from this evil. In the battle of the gauges both have gone to +the wall, and will stay there until they can muster strength enough to +reel over into the ranks of their enemies. + +This relative debility is, at the same time, more apparent to the +stockholders than to their customers. The superstructure and "plant" +of the Erie has lately stood interested inspection from abroad with +great credit, and that of the Great Western is unexceptionable. The +vote of travelers may be safely allotted to the broad gauge. They +have more elbow room. The carriages attain the requisite width without +unpleasantly, not to say dangerously, overhanging the centre of +gravity; and, other things equal, the movement is steadier. Nor is the +financial aspect of the question apt to impress gloomily the tourist +as he enters the Paddington station and looks around at its blaze of +polychrome and richness of decoration generally. As the coach doors +are slammed upon you, the guard steps into his "van," the vast +drivers, taller than your head plus the regulation stove-pipe, slowly +begin their whirl, and you roll majestically forth through a long +file of liveried servants of the company, drawn up or in action on the +platform, the sensation of patronizing a poverty-stricken corporation +is by no means likely to harass you. You cease to realize that the +Napoleon of engineers, Monsieur Brunel, made a disastrous mistake in +the design of this splendid highway, and that, as some will have it, +it was his Moscow. His error, if one there was, existed only in the +selection of the width of track. Whatever the demerits of the design +in that one particular, the execution is in all above praise. The road +was his pet. Once finished, it was his delight, as with the breeder of +a fine horse, to mount it and try its mettle. Over and again would +he occupy the footboard between London and Bristol, and rejoice as a +strong man in running his race at close to seventy miles an hour. He +and Stephenson were capital types of the Gaul and Briton, striving +side by side on the same field, as it will be good for the world that +they should ever do. + +[Illustration: MORTON CHURCH.] + +Combats of another character--in fact, of two other characters--recur +to our reflections as we find that we have shuffled off the coil +of bricks and mortar and are rattling across Wormwood Scrubs. More +fortunate than some who have been there before us, we have no call to +alight. Calls to this ancient field of glory, whether symbolized by +the gentlemanly pistol or the plebeian fist, have ceased to be in +vogue. Dueling and boxing are both frowned down effectually, one by +public opinion and the other by the police. It is only of late years +that they finally succumbed to those twin discouragers; but it seems +altogether improbable that the ordeal by combat in either shape +will again come to the surface in a land where tilting-spear and +quarter-staff were of old so rife. In France chivalry still asserts, +in a feeble way, the privilege of winking and holding out its iron, +and refuses to be comforted with a suit for damages. + +Southall, a station or two beyond, suggests sport of a less lethal +character, being an ancient meeting-place for the queen's stag-hounds. +John Leach may have collected here some of his studies of Cockney +equestrianism. The sportsmen so dear to his pencil furnished him +wealth of opportunities on their annual concourse at the cart's tail. +The unloading of the animal, his gathering himself up for a leisurely +canter across country, the various styles and degrees of horsemanship +among his lumbering followers, and the business-like replacing of +the quarry in his vehicle, to be hauled away for another day's sport, +served as the most complete travesty imaginable of the chase. It has +the compensation of placing a number of worthy men in the saddle at +least once in the year and compelling them to do some rough riding. +The English have always made it their boast that they are more at home +on horseback than any other European nation, and they claim to have +derived much military advantage from it. Lever's novels would lose +many of their best situations but for this national accomplishment and +the astounding development it reaches in his hands. + +[Illustration: MILTON'S PEAR TREE.] + +To the left lies the fine park of Osterley, once the seat of the +greatest of London's merchant princes, Sir Thomas Gresham. An +improvement proposed by Queen Bess, on a visit to Gresham in 1578, +does not speak highly for her taste in design. She remarked that in +her opinion the court in front of the house would look better split up +by a wall. Her host dutifully acceded to the idea, and surprised Her +Majesty next morning by pointing out the wall which he had erected +during the night, sending to London for masons and material for the +purpose. The conceit was a more ponderous one than that of Raleigh's +cloak--bricks and mortar _versus_ velvet. + +A greater than Gresham succeeded, after the death of his widow, to the +occupancy of Osterley--Chief-justice Coke. His compliment to Elizabeth +on the occasion of a similar visit to the same house took the more +available and acceptable shape of ten or twelve hundred pounds +sterling in jewelry. She had more than a woman's weakness for finery, +and Coke operated upon it very successfully. His gems outlasted +Gresham's wall, which has long since disappeared with the court it +disfigured. In place of both stands a goodly Ionic portico, through +which one may pass to a staircase that bears a representation by +Rubens of the apotheosis of Mr. Motley's hero, William the Silent. The +gallery offers a collection of other old pictures. Should we, however, +take time for even a short stop in this vicinity, it would probably be +for the credit of saying that we walked over Hounslow Heath intact in +purse and person. The gentlemen of the road live only in the classic +pages of Ainsworth, Reynolds and, if we may include Sam Weller in such +worshipful company, that bard of "the bold Tur_pin_." Another class +of highwaymen had long before them been also attracted by the fine +manoeuvring facilities of the heath, beginning with the army of the +Cæsars and ending with that of James II. Jonathan Wild and his merry +men were saints to Kirke and his lambs. + +Hurrying on, we skirt one of Pope's outlying manors, in his time the +seat of his friend Bathurst and the haunt of Addison, Prior, Congreve +and Gay, and leave southward, toward the Thames, Horton, the cradle of +Milton. A marble in its ivy-grown church is inscribed to the memory +of his mother, _ob_. 1637. At Horton were composed, or inspired, +_Lycidas, L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, Comus_ and others of his nominally +minor but really sweetest and most enjoyable poems. In this retirement +the Muse paid him her earliest visits, before he had thrown himself +away on politics or Canaanitish mythology. Peeping in upon his +handsome young face in its golden setting of blonde curls, + + Through the sweetbrier or the vine, + Or the twisted eglantine, + +she wooed him to better work than reporting the debates of the +archangels or calling the roll of Tophet. Had he confined himself to +this tenderer field, the world would have been the gainer. He might +not have "made the word Miltonic mean sublime," but we can spare a +little of the sublime to get some more of the beautiful. + +To reach Milton, however, we have run off of the track badly. His Eden +is no station on the Great Western. We shall balance this southward +divergence with a corresponding one to the north from Slough, the last +station ere reaching Windsor. We may give a go-by for the moment to +the halls of kings, do homage to him who treated them similarly, and +point, in preference, to where, + + in many a mouldering heap, + The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. + +They show Gray's tomb in Stoke Pogis church, and his house, West End +Cottage, half a mile distant. The ingredients of his _Elegy_--actually +the greatest, but in his judgment among the least, of his few +works--exist all around. "The rugged elm," "the ivy-mantled tower," +and "the yew tree's shade," the most specific among the simple +"properties" of his little spectacle, are common to so many places +that there are several competitors for the honor of having furnished +them. The cocks, ploughmen, herds and owls cannot, of course, at this +late day be identified. Gray could not have done it himself. He +drew from general memory, in his closet, and not bit by bit on +his thumb-nail from chance-met objects as he went along. Had +his conception and rendering of the theme been due to the direct +impression upon his mind of its several aspects and constituents, +he would have more thoroughly appreciated his work. He could not +understand its popularity, any more than Campbell could that of _Ye +Mariners of England_, which he pronounced "d----d drum-and-trumpet +verses." Gray used to say, "with a good deal of acrimony," that the +_Elegy_ "owed its popularity entirely to the subject, and the public +would have received it as well had it been written entirely in prose." +Had it been written in prose or in the inventory style of poetry, it +would have been forgotten long ago, like so much else of that kind. + +[Illustration: GRAY.] + +Not far hence is Beaconsfield, which gave a home to Burke and a title +to the wife of Disraeli, the nearest approach to a peerage that the +haughty Israelite, soured by a life of struggle against peers and +their prejudices, would deign to accept. We know it will be objected +to this remark that Disraeli is, and has been for most of his career, +associated with Toryism. But that was part of his game. A man of +culture, thought and fastidious taste, he would, had he been of the +_sangre azul_, have been the steadiest and sincerest of Conservatives. +Privilege would have been his gospel. As it is, it has only been his +weapon, to use in fighting for himself. "The time will come when you +shall listen to me," were his words when he was first coughed down. +The time has come. The most cynical of premiers, he governs England, +and he scorns to take a place among those who ruled her before him. + +Extending our divergence farther west toward "Cliefden's proud alcove, +the bower of wanton Shrewsbury and love," we find ourselves in a +luxuriant rolling country, rural and slumberous. Cookham parish, +which we should traverse, claims quite loudly American kinship on +the strength of its including an estate once the property of Henry +Washington, who is alleged, without sufficient ground, to have been +a relative of the general. But we are within the purlieus of Windsor. +The round tower has been looking down upon us these many miles, and we +cannot but yield to its magnetism. + +[Illustration: BEACONSFIELD CHURCH.] + +Eton, on the north bank, opposite Windsor, and really a continuous +town with that which nestles close to the castle walls, is on our way +from Slough. The red-brick buildings of the school, forming a fine +foil to the lighter-colored and more elegantly designed chapel, are on +our left, the principal front looking over a garden toward the river +and Windsor Home Park beyond. We become aware of a populace of boys, +the file-closers of England's nineteenth century worthies, and her +coming veterans of the twentieth. We may contemplatively view them in +that light, but it has little place in their reflections. Their ruddy +faces and somewhat cumbrous forms belong to the animal period of life +that links together boyhood, colthood and calfhood. Education of the +physique, consisting chiefly in the indulgence and employment of it in +the mere demonstration of its superabundant vitality, is a large +part of the curriculum at English schools. The playground and the +study-room form no unequal alliance. Rigid as, in some respects, the +discipline proper of the school may be, it does not compare with the +severity of that maintained by the older boys over the younger ones. +The code of the lesser, and almost independent, republic of the +dormitory and the green is as clear in its terms as that of the +unlimited monarchy of the school-room, and more potent in shaping the +character. The lads train themselves for the battle of the world, +with some help from the masters. It is a sound system on the whole, if +based, to appearance, rather too much on the principle of the weaker +to the wall. The tendency of the weaker inevitably is to the wall, and +if he is to contend against it effectively, it will be by finding +out his weakness and being made to feel it at the earliest possible +moment. + +[Illustration: TOMB OF BURKE.] + +Not on land only, but on the river, whereinto it so gradually blends, +does lush young England dissipate. Cricket and football order into +violent action both pairs of extremities, while the upper pair and the +organs of the thorax labor profitably at the oar. The Thames, in its +three bends from Senly Hall, the Benny Havens of Eton, down to Datchet +Mead, where Falstaff overflowed the buck-basket, belongs to the boys. +In this space it is split into an archipelago of aits. In and out of +the gleaming paths and avenues of silvery water that wind between them +glide the little boats. The young Britons take to the element like +young ducks. Many a "tall admiral" has commenced his "march over the +mountain wave" among these water-lilies and hedges of osier. + +Shall we leave the boys at play, and, renewing our youth, go +ourselves to school? Entering the great gate of the western of the two +quadrangles, we are welcomed by a bronze statue of the founder of the +institution, Henry VI. He endowed it in 1440. The first organization +comprised "a provost, four clerks, ten priests, six choristers, +twenty-five poor grammar-scholars, and twenty-five poor infirm men to +pray for the king." The prayers of these invalids were sorely needed +by the unhappy scion of Lancaster, but did him little good in a +temporal sense. The provost is always rector of the parish. Laymen are +non-eligible. Thus it happens that the list does not include two +names which would have illuminated it more than those of any of the +incumbents--Boyle the philosopher, "father of chemistry and brother +of the earl of Cork," and Waller the poet. The modern establishment +consists of a provost, vice-provost, six fellows, a master, +under-master, assistants, seventy foundation scholars, seven lay +clerks and ten choristers, with a cortege of "inferior officers and +servants"--a tolerably full staff. The pay-students, as they would be +termed in this country, numbering usually five to six hundred, do not +live in the college precincts, but at boarding-houses in the town, +whence their designation of oppidans, the seventy gowns-men only +having dormitories in the college. The roll of the alumni contains +such names as the first earl of Chatham, Harley, earl of Oxford, +Bolingbroke, Fox, Gray, Canning, Wellington and Hallam. That is enough +to say for Eton. The beauties of the chapel, the treasures of the +library and the other shows of the place become trivial by the side of +the record. + +[Illustration: HEDSOR AND COOKHAM CHURCHES.] + +Over the "fifteen-arch" bridge, which has but three or four arches, we +pass to the town of Windsor, which crouches, on the river-side, close +up to the embattled walls of the castle--so closely that the very +irregular pile of buildings included in the latter cannot at first +glance be well distinguished from the town. High over all swells the +round tower to a height above the water of two hundred and twenty +feet--no excessive altitude, if we deduct the eminence on which it +stands, yet enough, in this level country, to give it a prospect of +a score or two of miles in all directions. The Conqueror fell in love +with the situation at first sight, and gave a stolen monastery in +exchange for it. The home so won has provided a shelter--at times very +imperfect, indeed--to British sovereigns for eight centuries. From +the modest erection of William it has been steadily growing--with the +growth of the empire, we were near saying, but its chief enlargements +occurred before the empire entered upon the expansion of the past +three centuries. It is more closely associated with Edward III. than +with any other of the ancient line. He was born at Windsor, and +almost entirely rebuilt it, William of Wykeham being superintending +architect, with "a fee of one shilling a day whilst at Windsor, and +two shillings when he went elsewhere on the duties of his office," +three shillings a week being the pay of his clerk. It becomes at once +obvious that the margin for "rings" was but slender in those days. +The labor question gave not the least trouble. The law of supply +and demand was not consulted. "Three hundred and sixty workmen were +impressed, to be employed on the building at the king's wages; some +of whom having clandestinely left Windsor and engaged in other +employments to greater advantage, writs were issued prohibiting all +persons from employing them on pain of forfeiting all their goods and +chattels." In presence of so simple and effective a definition of the +rights of the workingman, strikes sink into nothingness. And Magna +Charta had been signed a hundred and fifty years before! That +document, however, in honor of which the free and enlightened Briton +of to-day is wont to elevate his hat and his voice, was only in the +name and on behalf of the barons. The English people derived under it +neither name, place nor right. English liberty is only incidental, a +foundling of untraced parentage, a _filius nullius_. True, its +growth was indirectly fostered by aught that checked the power of the +monarch, and the nobles builded more wisely than they knew or intended +when they brought Lackland to book, or to parchment, at Runnymede, +not far down the river and close to the edge of the royal park. The +memorable plain is still a meadow, kept ever green and inviolate of +the plough. A pleasant row it is for the Eton youngsters to this spot. +On Magna Charta island, opposite, they may take their rest and their +lunch, and refresh their minds as well with the memories of the place. +The task of reform is by no means complete. There is room and call +for further concessions in favor of the masses. These embryo statesmen +have work blocked out for them in the future, and this is a good place +for them to adjust to it the focus of their bright young optics. + +[Illustration: ETON COLLEGE AND CHAPEL.] + +The monarchical idea is certainly predominant in our present +surroundings. The Thames flows from the castle and the school under +two handsome erections named the Victoria and Albert bridges; and +when, turning our back upon Staines, just below Runnymede, with its +boundary-stone marking the limit of the jurisdiction of plebeian +London's fierce democracy, and inscribed "God preserve the City of +London, 1280," we strike west into the Great Park, we soon come plump +on George III, a great deal larger than life. The "best farmer that +ever brushed dew from lawn" is clad in antique costume with toga and +buskins. Bestriding a stout horse, without stirrups and with no bridle +to speak of, the old gentleman looks calmly into the distance while +his steed is in the act of stepping over a perpendicular precipice. +This preposterous effort of the glyptic art has the one merit of +serving as a finger-board. The old king points us to his palace, three +miles off, at the end of the famous Long Walk. He did not himself care +to live at the castle, but liked to make his home at an obscure lodge +in the park, the same from which, on his first attack of insanity, he +set out in charge of two of his household on that melancholy ride +to the retreat of Kew, more convenient in those days for medical +attendance from London, and to which he returned a few months later +restored for the time. Shortly after his recovery he undertook to +throw up one of the windows of the lodge, but found it nailed down. He +asked the cause, and was told, with inconsiderate bluntness, that +it had been done during his illness to prevent his doing himself an +injury. The perfect calmness and silence with which he received this +explanation was a sufficient evidence of his recovery. + +[Illustration: ETON COLLEGE, FROM NORTH TERRACE, WINDSOR.] + +Bidding the old man a final farewell, we accept the direction of +his brazen hand and take up the line of march, wherein all traveling +America has preceded us, to the point wherefrom we glanced off so +suddenly in obedience to the summons of Magna Charta. On either +hand, as we thread the Long Walk, open glades that serve as so many +emerald-paved courts to the monarchs of the grove, some of them older +than the whole Norman dynasty, with Saxon summers recorded in their +hearts. One of them, thirty-eight feet round, is called after the +Conqueror. Among these we shall not find the most noted of Windsor +trees. It was in the Home Park, on the farther or northern side of the +castle, that the fairies were used to perform their + + --dance of custom round about the oak + Of Herne the hunter. + +Whether the genuine oak was cut down at the close of the last century, +or was preserved, carefully fenced in and labeled, in an utterly +leafless and shattered state, to our generation, is a moot point. +Certain it is that the most ardent Shakespearean must abandon the hope +of securing for a bookmark to his _Merry Wives of Windsor_ one of the +leaves that rustled, while "Windsor bell struck twelve," over the head +of fat Jack. He has the satisfaction, however, of looking up at the +identical bell-tower of the sixteenth century, and may make tryst with +his imagination to await its midnight chime. Then he may cross the +graceful iron bridge--modern enough, unhappily--to Datchet, and +ascertain by actual experiment whether the temperature of the Thames +has changed since the dumping into it of Falstaff, "hissing hot." + +[Illustration: STAINES CHURCH.] + +Back at the castle, we must "do" it, after the set fashion. Reminders +meet us at the threshold that it is in form a real place of defence, +contemplative of wars and rumors of wars, and not a mere dwelling by +any means in original design. A roadway, crooked and raked by frowning +embrasures, leads up from the peaceful town to the particularly +inhospitable-looking twin towers of Henry VIII.'s gateway, in their +turn commanded by the round tower on the right, in full panoply of +artificial scarp and ditch. Sentinels in the scarlet livery that +has flamed on so many battlefields of all the islands and continents +assist in proving that things did not always go so easy with majesty +as they do now. But two centuries and more have elapsed since +there happened any justification for this frown of stone, steel and +feathers; Rupert's futile demonstration on it in 1642 having been +Windsor's last taste of war, its sternest office after that having +been the safe-keeping of Charles I., who here spent his "sorrowful and +last Christmas." Once inside the gate, visions of peace recur. The eye +first falls on the most beautiful of all the assembled structures, +St. George's Chapel. It, with the royal tomb house, the deanery and +Winchester tower, occupies the left or north side of the lower or +western ward. In the rear of the chapel of St. George are quartered in +cozy cloisters the canons of the college of that ilk--not great guns +in any sense, but old ecclesiastical artillery spiked after a more or +less noisy youth and laid up in varnished black for the rest of their +days. Watch and ward over these modern equipments is kept by Julius +Cæsar's tower, as one of the most ancient erections is of course +called. Still farther to our left as we enter are the quarters of +sundry other antiquated warriors, the Military Knights of Windsor. +These are a few favored veterans, mostly decayed officers of the army +and navy, who owe this shelter to royal favor and an endowment. The +Ivy tower, west of the entrance, is followed in eastward succession by +those of the gateway, Salisbury, Garter and Bell towers. + +[Illustration: NORMAN GATE AND ROUND TOWER, WINDSOR.] + +The fine exterior of St. George's is more than matched by the carving +and blazonry of the interior. The groined roof bears the devices of +half a dozen early kings, beginning with Edward the Confessor. Along +the choir stretch the stalls of the sovereign and knights-companions +of the order of the Garter, each hung with banner, mantle, sword and +helmet. Better than these is the hammered steel tomb of Edward IV., by +Quentin Matsys, the Flemish blacksmith. In the vaults beneath rest the +victim of Edward, Henry VI., Henry VIII., Jane Seymour and Charles I. +The account of the appearance of Charles' remains when his tomb was +examined in 1813 by Sir Henry Halford, accompanied by several of the +royal family, is worth quoting. "The complexion of the face was dark +and discolored. The forehead and temples had lost little or nothing of +their muscular substance. The cartilage of the nose was gone; but the +left eye, in the moment of first exposure, was open and full, +though it vanished almost immediately, and the pointed beard so +characteristic of the reign of King Charles was perfect. The shape +of the face was a long oval; many of the teeth remained; and the +left ear, in consequence of the interposition of some unctuous matter +between it and the cere-cloth, was found entire. The hair was thick at +the back part of the head, and in appearance nearly black. A portion +of it, which has since been cleaned and dried, is of a beautiful +dark-brown color. That of the beard was a reddish-brown. On the back +part of the head it was not more than an inch in length, and had +probably been cut so short for the convenience of the executioner, +or perhaps by the piety of friends after death in order to furnish +memorials of the unhappy king. On holding up the head to determine +the place of separation from the body, the muscles of the neck had +evidently contracted themselves considerably, and the fourth cervical +vertebra was found to be cut through its substance transversely, +leaving the face of the divided portions perfectly smooth and even--an +appearance which could have been produced only by a heavy blow +inflicted with a very sharp instrument, and which furnished the last +proof wanting to identify Charles I." + +[Illustration: HERNE'S OAK.] + +A highly-edifying spectacle this must have been to the prince regent +and his brother Cumberland. The certainties of the past and the +possibilities of the future were calculated to be highly suggestive. +A French sovereign had but a few years before shared the fate of +Charles, and a cloud of other kings were drifting about Europe with +no very flattering prospect of coming soon to anchor. Napoleon was +showing his banded foes a good double front in Germany and Spain. +His dethronement and the restoration of the Bourbons were not as yet +contemplated. The Spanish succession was whittled down to a girl--that +is, by Salic law, to nothing at all. The Hanoverian was in a similar +condition, or worse, none of the old sons of the crazy old king +having any legitimate children. The prince regent himself was highly +unpopular with the mass of his people; and the classes that formed +his principal support were more so, by reason of the arrogance and +exactions of the landed interest, the high price of grain and +other heavy financial burdens consequent on the war, the arbitrary +prosecutions and imprisonment of leaders of the people, and the +irregularities of his private life. + +But these sinister omens proved illusory. Leigh Hunt, Wraxall and the +rest made but ineffectual martyrs; the Bourbons straggled back into +France and Spain, with such results as we see; George IV. weathered, +by no merit of his own, a fresh series of storms at home; the clouds +that lowered upon his house were made glorious summer by the advent of +a fat little lady in 1819--the fat old lady of 1875; and we step from +the tomb of Charles in St. George's Chapel to that where George and +William slumber undisturbed in the tomb-house, elaborately decorated +by Wolsey. Wolsey's fixtures were sold by the thrifty patriots of +Cromwell's Parliament, and bought in by the republican governor of the +castle as "old brass." George was able, too, to add another story to +the stature of the round tower or keep that marks the middle ward +of the castle and looks down, on the rare occasion of a sufficiently +clear atmosphere, on prosperous and no longer disloyal London. This +same keep has quite a list of royal prisoners; John of France and +David II. and James I. of Scotland enjoyed a prolonged view of its +interior; so did the young earl of Surrey, a brother-poet, a century +removed, of James. + +Leaving behind us the atmosphere of shackles and dungeons, we emerge, +through the upper ward and the additions of Queen Bess, upon the ample +terrace, where nothing bounds us but the horizon. Together, the north, +east and south terraces measure some two thousand feet. The first +looks upon Eton, the lesser park of some five hundred acres which +fills a bend of the Thames and the country beyond for many miles. The +eastern platform, lying between the queen's private apartments and an +exquisite private garden, is not always free to visitors. The south +terrace presents to the eye the Great Park of thirty-eight hundred +acres, extending six miles, with a width of from half a mile to +two miles. The equestrian statue at the end of the Long Walk is a +conspicuous object. The prevailing mass of rolling woods is broken by +scattered buildings, glades and avenues, which take from it monotony +and give it life. Near the south end is an artificial pond called +Virginia Water, edged with causeless arches and ruins that never were +anything but ruins, Chinese temples and idle toys of various other +kinds, terrestrial and aquatic. The ancient trees, beeches and elms, +of enormous size, and often projected individually, are worth studying +near or from a distance. The elevation is not so great as to bring +out low-lying objects much removed. We see the summits of hills, each +having its name, as St. Leonard's, Cooper's, Highstanding, etc., and +glimpses of the river and of some country-seats. St. Anne's Hill was +the home of Fox; at St. Leonard's dwelt the father of his rival and +rival of his father, and at Binfield, Pope, of whom it is so hard +to conceive as having ever been young, "lisped in numbers, for the +numbers came," natural descriptions, ethical reflections, _vers de +societé_ and all, for around him here there was food for them all. To +descend from Pope in point of both time and romance, the view +includes the scenes of Prince Albert's agricultural experiments. Quite +successful many of them were. He was a thoroughly practical man--a +circumstance which carried him by several routes across ploughed +fields and through well-built streets, straight to the hearts of the +English people. His memory is more warmly cherished, and impressed +upon the stranger by more monuments, than that of any other of the +German strain. It might have been less so had he succeeded in the +efforts he is now known to have made soon after his marriage to attain +a higher nominal rank. He possessed, through the alliance of Leopold +and Stockmar and the devotion of Victoria, kingly power without the +name and the responsibility, and with that he became content. He used +it cautiously and well when he employed it at all. His position was a +trying one, but he steered well through its difficulties, and died +as generally trusted as he was at first universally watched. The +love-match of 1840 was every way a success. + +[Illustration: EAST FRONT, WINDSOR CASTLE.] + +Another figure, more rugged and less majestic, but not less +respectable, will be associated with Victoria in the memories, if not +the history proper, of her reign. This is John Brown, the canny and +impassive Scot, content, like the Rohans, to be neither prince nor +king, and, prouder than they, satisfied honestly to discharge the +office of a flunkey without the very smallest trace of the flunkey +spirit. He too has lived down envy and all uncharitableness. +Contemptuous and serene amid the hootings of the mob and the squibs +of the newspapers, he carries, as he has done for years, Her Majesty's +shawl and capacious India-rubbers, attends her tramps through the +Highlands and the Home Park, engineers her special trains and looks +after her personal comfort even to the extent of ordering her to +wear "mair claes" in a Scotch mist. The queen has embalmed him in +her books, and he will rank among the heroes of royal authors as his +namesake and countryman the Cameronian, by favor of very similar moral +qualities, does with those of more democratic proclivities. + +[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH'S BUILDING, WINDSOR.] + +We cannot apply literally to the view from Windsor Thackeray's lines +on "the castle towers of Bareacres:" + + I stood upon the donjon keep and viewed the country o'er; + I saw the lands of Bareacres for fifty miles or more. + +[Illustration: EARL OF SURREY.] + +We scan what was once embraced in Windsor Forest, where the Norman +laid his broad palm on a space a hundred and twenty miles round, and, +like the lion in the fable of the hunting-party, informed his subjects +that that was his share. The domain dwindled, as did other royal +appurtenances. Yet in 1807 the circuit was as much as seventy-seven +miles. In 1789 it embraced sixty thousand acres. The process of +contraction has since been accelerated, and but little remains outside +of the Great and Little Parks. Several villages of little note stand +upon it. Of these Wokingham has the distinction of an ancient hostelry +yclept the Rose; and the celebrity of the Rose is a beautiful daughter +of the landlord of a century and a half ago. This lady missed her +proper fame by the blunder of a merry party of poets who one evening +encircled the mahogany of her papa. It was as "fast" a festivity as +such names as Gay and Swift could make it. Their combined efforts +resulted in the burlesque of _Molly Mog_. These two and some others +contributed each a verse in honor of the fair waiter. But they mistook +her name, and the crown fell upon the less charming brow of her +sister, whose cognomen was depraved from Mary into Molly. Wiclif's Oak +is pointed out as a corner of the old forest, a long way east of the +park. Under its still spreading branches that forerunner of Luther +is said to have preached. Messrs. Moody and Sankey should have sought +inspiration under its shade. + +In the vast assemblage of the arboreal commonwealth that carpets the +landscape the centuries are represented one with another. It is a +leafy parliament that has never been dissolved or prorogued. One hoary +member is coeval with the Confessor. Another sheltered William Rufus, +tired from the chase. Under another gathered recruits bound with +Coeur de Lion for the Holy Land. Against the bole of this was set up +a practicing butt for the clothyard shafts that won Agincourt, and +beneath that bivouacked the pickets of Cromwell. As we look down upon +their topmost leaves there floats, high above our own level, "darkly +painted on the crimson sky," a member, not so old, of another +commonwealth quite as ancient that has flourished among their branches +from time immemorial. There flaps the solitary heron to the evening +tryst of his tribe. Where is the hawk? Will he not rise from some fair +wrist among the gay troop we see cantering across yonder glade? Only +the addition of that little gray speck circling into the blue is +needed to round off our illusion. But it comes not. In place of it +comes a spirt of steam from the railway viaduct, and the whistle of +an engine. Froissart is five hundred years dead again, and we turn to +Bradshaw. + +[Illustration: WINDSOR CASTLE, FROM BISHOPSGATE.] + +Yet we have a "view of an interior" to contemplate before facing the +lower Thames. And first, as the day is fading, we seek the dimmest +part. We dive into the crypt of the bell-tower, or the curfew-tower, +that used to send far and wide to many a Saxon cottage the hateful +warning that told of servitude. How old the base of this tower is +nobody seems to know, nor how far back it has served as a prison. +The oldest initials of state prisoners inscribed on its cells date +to 1600. The walls are twelve feet thick, and must have begotten a +pleasant feeling of perfect security in the breasts of the involuntary +inhabitants. They did not know of a device contrived for the security +of their jailers, which has but recently been discovered. This is a +subterranean and subaqueous passage, alleged to lead under the river +to Burnham Abbey, three miles off. The visitor will not be disposed to +verify this statement or to stay long in the comparatively airy crypt. +Damp as the British climate may be above ground, it is more so below. +We emerge to the fine range of state apartments above, and submit to +the rule of guide and guide-book. + +[Illustration: LOCK AT WINDSOR.] + +St. George's Hall, the Waterloo gallery, the council-chamber and the +Vandyck room are the most attractive, all of them for the historical +portraits they contain, and the first, besides, for its merit as an +example of a Gothic interior and its associations with the order of +the Garter, the knights of which society are installed in it. The +specialty of the Waterloo room is the series of portraits of the +leaders, civil and military, English and continental, of the last and +successful league against Napoleon. They are nearly all by Lawrence, +and of course admirable in their delineation of character. In that +essential of a good portrait none of the English school have excelled +Lawrence. We may rely upon the truth to Nature of each of the heads +before us; for air and expression accord with what history tells us +of the individuals, its verdict eked out and assisted by instructive +minutiæ of lineament and meaning detected, in the "off-guard" of +private intercourse, by the eye of a great painter and a lifelong +student of physiognomy. We glance from the rugged Blucher to the +wily Metternich, and from the philosophic Humboldt to the semi-savage +Platoff. The dandies George IV. and Alexander are here, but Brummel +is left out. The gem of the collection is Pius VII., Lawrence's +masterpiece, widely familiar by engravings. Raphael's Julius II. seems +to have been in the artist's mind, but that work is not improved on, +unless in so far as the critical eye of our day may delight in the +more intricate tricks of chiaroscuro and effect to which Lawrence has +recourse. "Brunswick's fated chieftain" will interest the votaries of +Childe Harold. Could he have looked forward to 1870, he would perhaps +have chosen a different side at Waterloo, as his father might at Jena, +and elected to figure in oils at Versailles rather than at Windsor. +Incomparably more destructive to the small German princes have been +the Hohenzollerns than the Bonapartes. + +[Illustration: THE THAMES EMBANKMENT.] + +We forget these nineteenth-century people in the council-chamber, +wherein reign Guido, Rembrandt, Claude, and even Da Vinci. If +Leonardo really executed all the canvases ascribed to him in English +collections, the common impressions of his habits of painting but +little, and not often finishing that, do him great injustice. Martin +Luther is here, by Holbein, and the countess of Desmond, the merry old +lady + + Who lived to the age of twice threescore and ten, + And died of a fall from a cherry tree then, + +is embalmed in the bloom of one hundred and twenty and the gloom of +Rembrandt. The two dozen pictures in this room form nearly as odd an +association as any like number of portraits could do. Guercino's Sibyl +figures with a cottage interior by Teniers, and Lely's Prince Rupert +looks down with lordly scorn on Jonah pitched into the sea by the +combined efforts of the two Poussins. The link between Berghem's cows +and Del Sarto's Holy Family was doubtless supplied to the minds of +the hanging committee by recollections of the manger. Our thrifty +Pennsylvanian, West, is assigned the vestibule. Five of his "ten-acre" +pictures illustrate the wars of Edward III. and the Black Prince. +The king's closet and the queen's closet are filled mostly by the +Flemings. Vandyck's room finally finishes the list. It has, besides +a portrait of himself and several more of the first Charles and his +family in every pose, some such queer, or worse than queer, commoners +as Tom Killigrew and Sir Kenelm Digby and Venetia his hopeful spouse, +so dear to novelists of a certain school. + +[Illustration: ELMS NEAR THE HERONRY.] + +Vast sums have been expended on the renovation and improvement of the +castle during the past half century. With Victoria it has been more +popular as a residence than with any of her predecessors since +the fourteenth century. What, however, with its greater practical +proximity to London, due to railways, and what with the queen's liking +for solitude since the death of her consort, the more secluded +homes of Osborne and Balmoral have measurably superseded it in her +affections. Five hundred miles of distance to the Dee preclude the +possibility of the dumping on her, by means of excursion trains, of +loyal cockneydom. She is as thoroughly protected from that inundation +in the Isle of Wight, the average Londoner having a fixed horror of +sea-sickness. The running down, by her private steamer, of a few more +inquisitive yachts in the Solent would be a hazardous experiment, if +temporarily effective in keeping home invaders at bay. Holding as her +right and left bowers those two sanctuaries at the opposite ends of +her island realm, she can play a strong hand in the way of personal +independence, and cease to feel that hers is a monarchy limited by the +rights of the masses. It is well for the country that she should be +left as far as possible to consult her own comfort, ease and health +at least as freely as the humblest of her subjects. The continuance +of her life is certainly a political desideratum. It largely aids in +maintaining a wholesome balance between conservatism and reform. So +long as she lives there will be no masculine will to exaggerate the +former or obstruct the latter, as notably happened under George +III. and William IV. Her personal bearing is also in her favor. Her +popularity, temporarily obscured a few years ago, is becoming as great +as ever. It has never been weakened by any misstep in politics, and so +long as that can be said will be exposed to no serious danger. + +We are far from being at the end of the upper Thames. Oxford, were +there no other namable place, is beyond us. But we have explored +the denser portion--the nucleus of the nebula of historic stars that +stretches into the western sky as seen from the metropolis. We lay +aside our little lorgnette. It has shown us as much as we can map in +these pages, and that we have endeavored to do with at least the merit +of accuracy. + +EDWARD C. BRUCE. + + + + +THE POET'S PEN. + + I am an idle reed; + I rustle in the whispering air; + I bear my stalk and seed + Through spring-time's glow and summer's glare. + + And in the fiercer strife + Which winter brings to me amain, + Sapless, I waste my life, + And, murmuring at my fate, complain. + + I am a worthless reed; + No golden top have I for crown, + No flower for beauty's meed, + No wreath for poet's high renown. + + Hollow and gaunt, my wand + Shrill whistles, bending in the gale; + Leafless and sad I stand, + And, still neglected, still bewail. + + O foolish reed! to wail! + A poet came, with downcast eyes, + And, wandering through the dale, + Saw thee and claimed thee for his prize. + + He plucked thee from the mire; + He pruned and made of thee a pen, + And wrote in words of fire + His flaming song to listening men; + + Till thou, so lowly bred, + Now wedded to a nobler state, + Utt'rest such pæans overhead + That angels listen at their gate. + + F.A. HILLARD. + + + + +SKETCHES OF INDIA. + +II. + + +I had now learned to place myself unreservedly in the hands of Bhima +Gandharva. When, therefore, on regaining the station at Khandallah, he +said, "The route by which I intend to show you India will immediately +take us quite away from this part of it; first, however, let us go and +see Poona, the old Mahratta capital, which lies but a little more than +thirty miles farther to the south-eastward by rail,"--I accepted the +proposition as a matter of course, and we were soon steaming down the +eastern declivity of the Gháts. As we moved smoothly down into the +treeless plains which surround Poona I could not resist a certain +feeling of depression. + +"Yes," said Bhima Gandharva when I mentioned it to him, "I understand +exactly what you mean. On reaching an unbroken expanse of level +country, after leaving the tops of mountains, I always feel as if my +soul had come bump against a solid wall of rock in the dark. I seem +to hear a dull _thud_ of discouragement somewhere back in my soul, as +when a man's body falls dead on the earth. Nothing, indeed, could +more heighten such a sensation than the contrast between this and +the Bombay side of the Gháts. There we had the undulating waters, +the lovely harbor with its wooded and hilly islands, the ascending +terraces of the Gháts: everything was energetic, the whole invitation +of Nature was toward air, light, freedom, heaven. But here one spot +is like another spot; this level ground is just the same level ground +there was a mile back; this corn stands like that corn; there is an +oppressive sense of bread-and-butter about; one somehow finds one's +self thinking of ventilation and economics. It is the sausage-grinding +school of poetry--of which modern art, by the way, presents several +examples--as compared with that general school represented by the +geniuses who arise and fly their own flight and sing at a great +distance above the heads of men and of wheat." + +Having arrived and refreshed ourselves at our hotel, whose proprietor +was, as usual, a Parsee, we sallied forth for a stroll about Poona. On +one side of us lay the English quarter, consisting of the houses and +gardens of the officers and government employés, and of the two or +three hundred other Englishmen residing here. On the other was the +town, extending itself along the banks of the little river Moota. +We dreamed ourselves along in the lovely weather through such of +the seven quarters of the town as happened to strike the fancy of my +companion. Occasionally we were compelled to turn out of our way +for the sacred cattle, which, in the enjoyment of their divine +prerogatives, would remain serenely lying across our path; but +we respected the antiquity, if not the reasonableness, of their +privileges, and murmured not. + +Each of the seven quarters of Poona is named after a day of the week. +As we strolled from Monday to Tuesday, or passed with bold anachronism +from Saturday back to Wednesday, I could not help observing how +these interweavings and reversals of time appeared to take an actual +embodiment in the scenes through which we slowly moved, particularly +in respect of the houses and the costumes which went to make up +our general view. From the modern-built European houses to the +mediæval-looking buildings of the Bhoodwar quarter, with their massive +walls and loop-holes and crenellations, was a matter of four or five +centuries back in a mere turn of the eye; and from these latter to +the Hindu temples here and there, which, whether or not of actual age, +always carry one straight into antiquity, was a further retrogression +to the obscure depths of time. So, too, one's glance would often sweep +in a twinkling from a European clothed in garments of the latest mode +to a Hindu whose sole covering was his _dhotee_, or clout about the +loins, taking in between these two extremes a number of distinct +stages in the process of evolution through which our clothes have +gone. In the evening we visited the _Sangam_, where the small streams +of the Moola and the Moota come together. It is filled with cenotaphs, +but, so far from being a place of weeping, the pleasant air was full +of laughter and of gay conversation from the Hindus, who delight to +repair here for the purpose of enjoying the cool breath of the evening +as well as the pleasures of social intercourse. + +[Illustration: HINDU TEMPLES NEAR POONA.] + +But I did not care to linger in Poona. The atmosphere always had to me +a certain tang of the assassinations, the intrigues, the treacheries +which marked the reign of that singular line of usurping ministers +whose capital was here. In the days when the Peishwas were in the +height of their glory Poona was a city of a hundred and fifty thousand +inhabitants, and great traffic was here carried on in jewelry and +such luxuries among the Mahratta nobles. The Mahrattas once, indeed, +possessed the whole of India practically; and their name is composed +of _Mahu_, a word meaning "great," and often to be met with in the +designations of this land, where so many things really _are_ great, +and _Rachtra_, "kingdom," the propriety of the appellation seeming to +be justified by the bravery and military character of the people. They +have been called the Cossacks of India from these qualities combined +with their horsemanship. But the dynasty of the usurping ministers had +its origin in iniquity; and the corruption of its birth quickly broke +out again under the stimulus of excess and luxury, until it culminated +in the destruction of the Mahratta empire in 1818. So, when we had +seen the palace of the Peishwa, from one of whose balconies the young +Peishwa Mahadeo committed suicide by leaping to the earth in the +year 1797 through shame at having been reproved by his minister +Nana Farnavese in presence of his court, and when we had visited the +Hira-Bâgh, or Garden of Diamonds, the summer retreat of the Peishwas, +with its elegant pavilion, its balconies jutting into the masses of +foliage, its cool tank of water, reposing under the protection of the +temple-studded Hill of Pararati, we took train again for Bombay. + +The Great Indian Peninsula Railway's main line leads out of Bombay +over the Gháts to Jabalpúr, six hundred miles; thence a railway of +some two hundred and twenty miles runs to Allahabad, connecting them +with the great line, known as the East Indian Railway, which extends +for more than a thousand miles north-westward from Calcutta _viâ_ +Patna, Benares, Allahabad, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Agra and Delhi. Our +journey, as marked out by Bhima Gandharva, was to be from Bombay +to Jabalpúr by rail; thence by some slow and easy conveyance across +country to Bhopal, and from Bhopal northward through Jhansi to Delhi +and the northern country, thence returning by rail to Calcutta. + +As one ascends the Western Gháts shortly after leaving Bombay one has +continual occasion to remark the extraordinary resources of modern +railway engineering. Perhaps the mechanical skill of our time has not +achieved any more brilliant illustrations of itself than here occur. +For many miles one is literally going up a flight of steps by rail. +The word Ghát indeed means the steps leading up from pools or rivers, +whose frequent occurrence in India attests the need of easy access +to water, arising from the important part which it plays both in the +civil and religious economies of the Hindu. The Gháts are so called +from their terraced ledges, rising one above another from the shores +of the ocean like the stairs leading up from a pool. In achieving the +ascent of these gigantic stairs all the expedients of road-makers have +been resorted to: the zigzag, the trestle, the tunnel, the curve, have +been pushed to their utmost applications; for five continuous miles +on the Thull Ghát Incline there is a grade of one in thirty-seven, +involving many trying curves, and on nineteen miles of the Bhore Ghát +Incline there are thirty tunnels. + +That which gives tone and character to a general view of the interior +of a railway-car in traveling is, from the nature of things, the +head-covering of the occupants, for it is this which mostly meets the +eye; and no one who has traveled in the United States, for example, +can have failed to observe the striking difference between the aspect +of a car in the South, where the felt slouch prevails, and of one +in the North, where the silk hat is more affected. But cars full +of turbans! There were turbans of silk, of muslin, of woolen; white +turbans, red, green and yellow turbans; turbans with knots, turbans +with ends hanging; neat turbans, baggy turbans, preternatural turbans, +and that curious spotted silk inexpressible mitre which the Parsee +wears. + +[Illustration: GÓNDS.] + +Bhima Gandharva was good enough to explain to me the turban; and +really, when within bounds, it is not so nonsensical a headdress as +one is apt at first to imagine. It is a strip of cloth from nine to +twelve inches wide, and from fifteen to twenty-five yards long. They +are known, however, of larger dimensions, reaching to a yard in width +and sixty yards in length. The most common color is white; next, +perhaps, red, and next yellow; though green, blue, purple and black +are worn, as are also buff, shot colors and gray, these latter being +usually of silk; but this does not exhaust the varieties, for there +are many turbans made of cotton cloth printed in various devices to +suit the fancies of the wearers. + +"The _puttee-dar_ (_pugri_, or turban)," continued my companion, "is +a neat compact turban, in general use by Hindus and Mohammedans; the +_joore-dar_ is like the _puttee-dar_, except that it has the addition +of a knot on the crown; the _khirkee-dar_ is the full-dress turban of +gentlemen attached to native courts; the _nustalik_ is a small turban +which fits closely to the head, and is worn for full dress at the +Mohammedan _durbars_ or royal receptions; the _mundeel_ is the +military turban, with stripes of gold and ends; the _séthi_ is +like the _nustalik_, and is worn by bankers; the _shumla_ is +a shawl-turban; and I fear you do not care to know the other +varieties--the _morassa_, the _umamu_, the _dustar_, the--" + +"Thank you," I said: "life is short, my dear Bhima, and I shall know +nothing but turbans if this goes on, which will be inconvenient, +particularly when I return to my home and my neighbor Smith asks me +that ghastly question, 'What do I think of India?'" + +"It is a more 'ghastly' question as to India than as to any other +country in the world," said the Hindu. "Some years ago, when Mr. +Dilke was traveling in this country, a witty officer of one of the +hill-stations remarked to him that _all general observations about +India were absurd_. This is quite true. How could it be otherwise? +Only consider, for example, the languages of India--the Assamese, with +its two branches of the Deccan-göl and the Uttar-göl; the Bengalee; +the Maithilee, Tirhutiya or Tirabhucti, spoken between the Coosy and +the Gunduck; the Orissan, of the regions around Cuttack; the Nepalese; +the Kosalese, about Almora; the Dogusee, between Almora and Cashmere; +the Cashmiran; the Panjabee; the Mooltanee, or Vuchee, on the middle +Indus; the two dialects of Sindhí, or Tatto, on the lower Indus; the +Cutché, on the west coast of the peninsula; the Guseraté, spoken +on the islands of Salsette and Bombay and the opposite coast of the +Coucan, as well as by the Parsees in the cities, where it is corrupted +with many words of other languages through the influence of commercial +relations; the Coucané, from Bombay to Goa and along the parallel +Gháts where it is called Ballagate; the Bikaneeré, the Marvaré, the +Jeyporé, the Udayaporé, of Rajpootana; the Vraja-bhasha (the cow-pen +language) of the Doab, between the Ganges and the Jumna, which is +probably the parent of Hindi (or Oordú); the Malooé, of the tableland +of Malwa; the Bundelakhandé, of the Bundelkhand; the Mogadhé, of +Behar; the Maharachtré, of the country south of the Vindhyas; the--" + +"It gives me pain to interrupt you, Bhima Gandharva," I said +(fervently hoping that this portion of my remark might escape the +attention of the recording angel); "but I think we are at Jabalpúr." + +_Apropos_ of Jubbulpoor, it is well enough to remark that by the rules +of Indian orthography which are now to be considered authentic, the +letter "a" without an accent has a sound equivalent to short "u," and +a vowel with an acute accent has what is usually called its long +sound in English. Accordingly, the word written "Jabalpúr" should +be pronounced as if retaining the "u" and the "oo" with which it was +formerly written, "Jubbulpoor". The termination _púr_, so common in +the designation of Indian places, is equivalent to that of _ville_ +in English, and means the same. The other common termination, _abad_, +means "dwelling" or "residence": e.g., Ahmedabad, the residence of +Ahmed. Jabalpúr is but about a mile from the right bank of the Nerbadá +(_Nerbudda_) River; and as I wished to see the famous Marble Rocks +of that stream, which are found a short distance from Jabalpúr, my +companion and I here left the railway, intending to see a little of +the valley of the Nerbadá, and then to strike across the Vindhyas, +along the valley of the Tonsa, to Bhopal, making our journey by such +slow, irregular and easy stages as should be compatible with that +serene and philosophic disposition into which the Hindu's beautiful +gravity had by this time quite converted my American tendencies toward +rushing through life at the killing pace. + +[Illustration: CENOTAPHS IN THE VALLEY OF THE TONSA.] + +It was a little past midday when we made our first journey along the +river between the Marble Rocks. Although the weather was as nearly +perfect as weather could be, the mornings being deliciously cool and +bracing and the nights cold enough to produce often a thin layer of +ice over a pan of water left exposed till daybreak, yet the midday sun +was warm enough, especially after a walk, to make one long for leaves +and shade and the like. It would be difficult, therefore, to convey +the sensations with which we reclined at our ease in a flat-bottomed +punt while an attendant poled us up toward the "Fall of Smoke," where +the Nerbadá leaps out eagerly toward the low lands he is to fertilize, +like a young poet anxious to begin his work of grace in the world. On +each side of us rose walls of marble a hundred feet in height, whose +pure white was here and there striped with dark green or black: all +the colors which met the eye--the marmoreal whites, the bluish grays +of the recesses among the ledges, the green and black seams, the +limpid blue of the stream--were grateful, calm-toned, refreshing; we +inhaled the coolness as if it had been a mild aroma out of a distant +flower. This pleasant fragrance, which seemed to come up out of +all things, was presently intensified by a sort of spiritual +counterpart--a gentle breath that blew upon us from the mysterious +regions of death; for on a _ghát_ we saw a small company of Hindus +just launching the body of a pious relative into the waters of +Mother Nerbadá in all that freedom from grief, and even pleasant +contemplation, with which this singular people regard the transition +from present to future existence. These corpses, however, which are +thus committed to the wave, do not always chime so happily in with the +reveries of boating-parties on the Nerbadá. The Marble Rocks are often +resorted to by pic-nic parties in the moonlit evenings; and one can +easily fancy that to have a dusky dead body float against one's boat +and sway slowly round alongside in the midst of a gay jest or of a +light song of serenade, as is said to have happened not unfrequently +here, is not an occurrence likely to heighten the spirits of revelers. +Occasionally, also, the black, ugly double snout of the _magar_ (or +Nerbadá crocodile) may pop up from the surface, which may here serve +as a warning to the young lady who trails her hand in the water--and +I have yet to be in a boating-party where the young lady did not trail +her hand in the water--that on the Nerbadá it is perhaps as well to +resign an absent-minded hand to the young officer who sits by her in +the boat lest Magar should snap it off. + +Leaving the Nerbadá we now struck off northward toward the Tonsa, +intending to pass round by way of Dumoh, Sangor, Bhilsa and Sanchi +to Bhopal. We might have pursued a route somewhat more direct by +following directly down the valley of the Nerbadá to Hoshangabad, +and thence straight across to Bhopal, but my companion preferred +the circuitous route indicated, as embracing a greater variety of +interesting objects. He had procured for our conveyance a vehicle +which was in all respects suitable to the placidity of his temper; and +I make bold to confess that, American as I am--born on the railroad, +so to speak--I have never enjoyed traveling as I did in this novel +carriage. It was what is called a _chapaya_. It consisted of a body +nearly ten feet in length by more than five in breadth, and was +canopied by a top supported upon sculptured pillars of wood. +The wheels were massive and low. There were no springs; but this +deficiency was atoned for by the thick cushionment of the rear portion +of the vehicle, which allowed us to lie at full length in luxurious +ease as we rolled along. Four white bullocks, with humps and horns +running nearly straight back on the prolongation of the forehead line, +drew us along in a very stately manner at the rate of something like a +mile and a half an hour. + +We were now in the Góndwana, in some particulars one of the most +interesting portions of the country. Here are the Highlands of Central +India; here rise the Nerbadá and the Tapti--which flow to the westward +in a generally parallel direction, and empty into the Gulf of Cambaye, +the one at Broode and the other at Surat--as well as the Sôn, the +Keyn (or Cane) and the Tonsa, which flow northward into the Jumna. The +valley of the Keyn and that of the Tonsa here run across the Vindhyas, +which are known to the eastward of this as the Kyrmores, and afford +communication between Northern and Southern India. It is along the +depression of the latter stream that the railway has been built from +Jabalpúr to Allahabad. + +The eight hundred thousand Gónds of the Góndwana are supposed to be +members of the great autochthonal family of ancient India. These hills +of the Góndwana country appear to have been considered by the incoming +Aryans for a long time as a sort of uncanny land, whose savage +recesses were filled with demons and snakes: indeed, in the epics of +the Máhábháráta and Rámáyana this evil character is attributed to that +portion of India lying south of the Vindhyas. The forest of Spenser's +Fairy Queen, in which wandering knights meet with manifold beasts and +maleficent giants, and do valorous battles against them in the rescue +of damsels and the like--such seem to have been the Góndwana woods to +the ancient Hindu imagination. It was not distressed damsels, +however, whom they figured as being assisted by the arms of the errant +protectors, but religious devotees, who dwelt in the seclusion of the +forest, and who were protected from the pranks and machinations of the +savage denizens by opportune heroes of the northern race. It appears, +however, that the native demons of the Góndwana had fascinating +daughters; for presently we find the rajahs from the north coming +down and marrying them; and finally, in the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries, the keen urgency of the conquering Mohammedans sends great +numbers of Rajpúts down into the Góndwana, and a considerable mixture +of the two bloods takes place. With this incursion of Hindu peoples +come also the Hindu gods and tenets; and Mahadeo, the "great god," +whose home had been the Kailas of the Himalayas, now finds himself +domesticated in the mountains of Central India. In the Mahadeo +mountain is still a shrine of Siva, which is much visited by pilgrims +and worshipers. + +[Illustration: THE GAUR, OR INDIAN BISON.] + +The Gónd--he who lives back in the hills, far off from the +neighborhood of the extensive planting districts, which have attracted +many of those living near them to become at least half-civilized +laborers in harvest-time--is a primitive being enough. + +"Only look," said Bhima Gandharva, "at that hut if you desire to see +what is perhaps one of the most primitive houses since ever the banyan +tree gave to man (as is fabled) the idea of sheltering himself from +the elements artificially." It was simply made of stakes driven into +the ground, between which were wattled branches. This structure was +thatched with grass, and plastered with mud. + +The Gónd, like the American Indian, has his little patch of grain, +which he cultivates, however, in a fashion wholly his own. His sole +instrument of agriculture seems to be the axe. Selecting a piece of +ground which presents a growth of small and easily-cut saplings--and +perhaps, by the way, thus destroying in a few hours a whole cargo +of teak trees worth more than all the crops of his agricultural +lifetime--he hews down the growth, and in the dry season sets fire to +the fallen timber. The result is a bed of ashes over a space of two or +three acres. His soil is now ready. If the patch thus prepared happens +to be level, he simply flings out a few handfuls of grain, coarse +rice, kútki (ponicum) or kódon (paspalum), and the thing is done. The +rest is in the hands of the god who sends the rains. If the patch be +on a declivity, he places the grain at the upper part, where it will +be washed down by the rains over the balance of the field. Next year +he will burn some more wood--the first burning will have left many +charred stumps and trunks, which he supplements with a little wood +dragged from other parts of the forest--on the same spot, and so +the next year, by which time it will become necessary to begin a new +clearing, or _dhya_. The _dhya_ thus abandoned does not renew the +original growth which clothed it, like the pinelands of the Southern +United States, which, if allowed to run waste after having been +cleared and cultivated, clothe themselves either with oaks or with a +wholly different species of pine from the original growth. The waste +_dhya_, which may have perhaps nourished a splendid growth of teak, +becomes now only a dense jungle. + +The Gónd also raises pumpkins and beans; and this vegetable diet +he supplements with game ensnared in the _dhyas_, to which peafowl, +partridges, hares and the like resort. Many of the villages, however, +have a professional huntsman, who will display the most incredible +patience in waiting with his matchlock for the game to appear. + +Besides these articles of diet, the aborigines of the Góndwana have +their mhowa tree, which stands them in much the same multifarious +stead as the palm does to its beneficiaries. The flowers of the mhowa +fall and are eaten, or are dried and pressed, being much like raisins: +they also produce a wine by fermentation and the strong liquor of the +hill-people by distillation. Of the seed cakes are made, and an oil is +expressed from them which is an article of commerce. + +In addition, the poor Gónd appears to have a periodical godsend +resulting from a singular habit of one of the great Indian plants. +The bamboo is said to undergo a general seeding every thirty years: at +this period, although, in the mean time, many individual bamboos may +have passed through the process of reproduction, it is said that the +whole bamboo growth of a section will simultaneously drop its leaves +and put forth large panicles of flowers, after which come great +quantities of seeds much like rice. These are gathered for food by +the inhabitants with all the greater diligence in consequence of a +tradition--which, however, does not seem to be at all supported by +facts--that the general seeding of the bamboo portends a failure of +the regular crops. The liberal forests of the Góndwana furnish still +other edibles to their denizens. The ebony plums, the wild mango, +the seeds of the sál tree, the beans of the giant banhinia creeper, a +species of arrowroot, and a wild yam, are here found and eaten. + +[Illustration: BANJARIS.] + +It is not long since the Gónds had arrived at a melancholy condition +under the baleful influences of the kulars, or liquor-dealers, who +resided among them and created an extraordinary demand for their +intoxicating wares by paying for service and for produce in liquor. +The kulars have, however, been thrown into the background by wise +efforts toward their suppression, and matters have improved for the +poor autoch-thones. + +We spent our first night in our chapaya, my companion having so +arranged matters that we were quite independent of the bungaloos which +the Englishmen have erected at suitable distances along the great +roads for the convenience of travelers. The night was clear; betwixt +the corner pillars which upheld our canopy a thousand friendly +salutations from the stars streamed in upon us; the tranquil +countenance of my friend seemed, as he lay beside me, like the face of +the Past purified of old errors and calm with great wisdom got through +great tribulation, insomuch that betwixt the Hindu and the stars I +felt myself to be at once in communication with antiquity and with +eternity. + +Thus we pursued our ambulatory meditations through the Góndwana. If +we had been sportsmen, we should have found full as varied a field for +the bagging of game as for that more spiritual hunt after new ideas +and sensations in which we were engaged. Gray quail, gray partridges, +painted partridges (_Francolinus pictus_), snipe and many varieties +of water-fowl, the sambor, the black antelope, the Indian gazelle or +ravine deer, the gaur or Indian bison, chewing the cud in the midday +shade or drinking from a clear stream, troops of _nilgaé_ springing +out from the long grass and dwarf growth of polás and jujube trees +which covered the sites of abandoned villages and fields,--all +these revealed themselves to us in the most tempting situations. But +although I had been an ardent devotee of the double-barrel, the large +and manly tenderness which Bhima Gandharva invariably displayed toward +all animals, whether wild or tame, had wrought marvels upon me, and +I had grown fairly ashamed--nay, horrified--at the idea that anything +which a generous and brave man could call _sport_ should consist +wholly in the most keen and savage cruelties inflicted upon creatures +whom we fight at the most unknightly odds, we armed, they unarmed. +While I knew that our pleasures are by the divine order mostly +distillations from pain, I could not now help recognizing at the same +time that this circumstance was part of an enormous plan which the +slaughter of innocent creatures in the way of "sport" did in nowise +help to carry out. + +The truth is, although I had been for some days wavering upon the +brink of these conclusions in a quiet way, I found the old keen ardor +of the sportsman still burning too strongly, and I had started out +with a breech-loader, intent upon doing much of the Góndwana route gun +in hand. It was not long before a thoughtless shot operated to +bring my growing convictions sharply face to face with my decreasing +practice, and thus to quite frown the latter out of existence. It +happened in this wise: One day, not far from sunset, I was walking +idly along behind the chapaya, in which Bhima Gandharva was dreamily +reclining, when suddenly a pair of great _sáras_ cranes rose from the +low banks of a small stream and sailed directly across the road. Quick +as thought--indeed, quicker than thought; for if I _had_ thought, I +would not have done it--I fired, and brought down one of the monstrous +birds. As I started to approach it, Bhima Gandharva said, in a tone +just a trifle graver than usual, "Stop! wait a moment," and at the +same time halted the chapaya. The mate of the bird I had shot, seeing +him fall, alighted on the same spot, then flew up, then returned, +flew up again, returned again, with an exhibition of sad and lingering +affection of which I had not dreamed, and which penetrated me beyond +expression; so I stood half stolid outwardly and wholly ashamed +and grieved inwardly. "The sáras," said my friend, "is the type of +conjugal affection among the Hindus. The birds nearly always go +in pairs; and when one is killed, the other invariably makes those +demonstrations of tenderness which you have just seen." + +As we journeyed along in the dusk came notes from another pair of +feathered lovers, "chukwa, chukwi," "chukwa, chukwi," in a sort of +mournful alternation. They were the branning ducks, he on one side, +she on the other side of the stream, as is their habit, whence they +are fabled to be a pair of lovers who must yearn unavailingly through +the long nights from opposite banks of the river. + +That night, when Bhima Gandharva was asleep, I gently arose, took my +double-barrel--thou dear Manton! how often has not Jonesville admired +thee returning from the field at late evening slanting at a jaunty +angle high above my bagful of snipe or of quail as the case might +be!--yes, I took this love of a gun, together with the cartridges, +accoutrements and all other rights, members and appurtenances +thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining, and slid the whole +lot softly into a deep green pool of the very stream from which had +flown my sáras. + +The taste of gypsy life which I was now enjoying contributed to add +a sort of personal element to that general interest which hangs about +the curious Banjaris, whom we met constantly, with their families +and their bullocks, along our road. _Banjara_ is literally +"forest-wanderer." The women were especially notable for their tall +stature, shapely figures and erect carriage; which circumstances are +all the more wonderful from the life of hardship which they lead, +attending as they do at once to the foraging of the cattle, the +culinary preparations for the men and the cares of the children. From +the profusion of ornaments which they wore, one may imagine, however, +that they were well cared for by their lords in return for their +affectionate labors; and the general bearing of the tall Banjara who +bore a long two-handed sword gave evidence of a certain inward sense +of protection over his belongings which probably found vent in many an +affectionate gift of rings and bracelets to his graceful partner. It +must be confessed that the gypsying of these Eastern Bohemians is not +so free a life as is popularly supposed. The _naik_ or sovereign of +each _tanda_, or camp, seems to be possessed of absolute power, and in +this connection the long two-handed sword suggested much less gentle +reflections. The Banjara, however, though a nomad, is a serviceable +one, for he is engaged in trade. With his bullocks he is the carrier +of Central India, and is to be met with all over that section, +bringing salt and other commodities and returning with interior +produce. + + + + +FRA ALOYSIUS + + Fra Aloysius, vexed with skeptic fears, + Nigh crazed with thought to all the saints did pray + For faith in those mysterious words that say, + "One day is with the Lord a thousand years, + A thousand years with Him are as a day." + + An erudite and holy monk was he, + And yet his brethren trembled lest his brain + Should lose its poise, so long he dwelt in vain + On that perplexing verse to find its key, + And strove to make its hidden meaning plain. + + Racked by a sleepless night, one fresh spring morn + Forth from the cloister Aloysius strolled. + The wood was dewy-bright, clear beams of gold + Illumined it, and to his heart was borne + A sense of freedom, peace and joy untold. + + Beside a laughing brook he sat to rest, + Above whose wave did long-haired willows weep; + Midmost the dense green forest, still and deep, + Lulled by the trickling waters and possessed + By tranquil thoughts, the friar fell asleep. + + And, overworn, he slept the livelong day, + Nor waked until the twilight shadows fell, + That flung a brown night o'er that leafy dell. + Then up he rose refreshed and went his way, + And, half ashamed, he heard the vesper-bell. + + Back to the convent fared he; at the gate + A stranger gave him entrance, but he passed + Into the chapel with meek eyes downcast, + In truant guise returning home thus late, + And toward his wonted seat made seemly haste. + + Too late! a stranger filled it. Looking round, + Amazed, he could discern no face he knew. + The abbot's self had changed; his wonder grew, + When, after the familiar chant, he found + These crazy monks held him for crazy too. + + They gathered round with curious, eager eyes. + "What cloister's this?" he asked. They named its name: + The one he left that morning was the same. + His name he gave; with many a wild surmise + They guessed who he might be and whence he came. + + He asked them where the abbot was at last, + From whom he parted but the night before. + "He hath been dead three hundred years and more!" + They answered with a single voice, aghast. + Then spake a friar versed in monkish lore: + + "Brethren, a miracle! This man I know: + 'Tis Aloysius, who, as I have read, + Beset with doubts, forth from this convent fled, + And vanished, some three hundred years ago, + And all the world hath counted him as dead." + + Then Aloysius felt the blessed tears + Fulfill his eyes, whence dropped the scales away. + Kneeling, he cried, "Oh, brethren, let us pray. + One day is with the Lord a thousand years, + A thousand years with Him are as a day." + +EMMA LAZARUS. + + + + +A FEW HOURS IN BOHEMIA. + + +The beauty of this country is that no turbulent sea confines its +borders, nor are martello-towers needed to guard its coast: no jealous +neighbor threatens its frontier, no army oppresses its citizens, and +no king can usurp its throne. Its locality is hard to define: like the +Fata Morgana, it is here to-day and gone to-morrow, for its territory +is the mind of men, and in extent it is as boundless as thought. +Natives of every clime are enrolled among its freemen, and all lands +contain its representatives, but it is in the picturesque streets of +the older continental cities of Europe, where rambling lodgings and +cheap apartments are many, that the invisible mother-country founds +her colonies. I will tell you how I went and what I saw there. + +Afra was a cosmopolite, and consequently knew Bohemia, its byways and +thoroughfares. If any one could fill the office of guide thereto, +Afra could, and when one evening she rushed into my room saying, "Come +along if you want to go to Bohemia," I did not hesitate a moment, but +made ready for the journey, with the simple precaution of putting on +my bonnet and shawl. + +"A cab?" I asked as we moved from the door. + +"Who ever heard of entering Bohemia in a cab?" laughed Afra dryly. +"People have been known to drive _out_ in their own carriages, but +they always make their first appearance there on foot, or at best in +an omnibus." + +"As you please," I replied, trying to keep pace with her rapid step, +which showed constant practice. + +"I wonder you did not propose a balloon," she continued pettishly. +"The gods don't give everything to one person: now, they give us +brains, and they give other people--money." + +"If you would understand, I--" + +"No, you wouldn't. I sha'n't ride in cabs until I can pay for them +myself; meanwhile, I have gros sous enough in my pocket for an omnibus +fare, and if you have the same we will stop here." At this she entered +a bureau, and as I followed I saw her get some tickets from a man who +sat behind a small counter, and then composedly sit down on a bench +while she said, "We shall have some time to wait for our luxury:" then +showing me the tickets, "Twelve and thirteen: it is a full night, and +all these people ahead of us." + +"Is it a lottery?" I asked ignorantly. + +"Very much of a lottery," Afra replied grimly--"like all the ways of +Bohemia, remarkably uncertain. You get a ticket for something in the +giving of the Muses, and you wait until your number is called. The +worst of it is, the most unlikely people are called before you, and +some get disgusted and leave: there goes one out at the door at this +moment. Well, he may be better or he may be worse off than those who +finally win: who knows if any race is worth the running? Still, if you +have courage to hold on, I believe there is no doubt that every one +ultimately gets something." Seeing my perplexity, she twisted the +round tickets between her fingers and added, "Do not be alarmed: these +are only good for a seat in the first empty 'bus that comes up. The +conductor will call out the numbers in rotation, and if ours is among +them we shall go. It is frightful that you have never ridden in a 'bus +before. I wonder where we should get ideas if we shut ourselves up in +cabs and never walked or were hungry or tired, and thought only of our +own comfort from morning till night? You don't know what you miss, you +poor deluded, unfortunate rich people. I will tell you of something +I saw the other evening; and, as it is worthy of a name, it shall be +called 'The Romance of an Omnibus.' Listen! isn't that our numbers I +heard? Yes: come quick or we shall lose our chance." + +"Well," said I when we had successfully threaded the crowd and were +seated--"the romance." + +"You have no idea of the fitness of things. My story is pathetic: it +will look badly to see you drowned in tears--people will stare." + +"I promise not to cry." + +"Oh, if you are one of those stolid, unemotional beings who are never +moved, I sha'n't waste my tale upon you. Wait until to-morrow: we +will get Monsieur C---- to recount, and you shall hear something worth +listening to. He is a regular troubadour--has the same artless vanity +they were known to possess, their charming simplicity, their +gestures, and their power of investing everything with romance. One is +transported to the Middle Ages while he speaks: no book written on the +subject could so fully give you the flavor of the times. He recalls +Froissart. If you are not affected by C----'s stories, you had better +pretend to be. But that, I am sure, will not be necessary: a great +tragedian was lost when he became a great painter." + +"Might I ask how and when and where I am to meet this wonderful man?" + +"At the garden-party." + +"In what way am I to get there?" + +"By strategy. There is a little reunion to-night of what may be called +female Bohemians. They are going to settle the preliminaries of this +party, and if you happen to be present they will invite you; not that +they particularly care for your company, but because, as I said, you +happen to be there. Only don't get yourself into a mess by tramping on +any one's toes." + +"Have they corns?" + +"Yes, on every inch of surface: they are dreadfully thin-skinned. But +they hate sham even more than a hard knock, and are quicker than +a police-officer in detecting it; so be careful not to talk about +anything you are ignorant of." + +"Give me a few rules, and I promise to conduct myself properly." + +"Well, don't be snobbish and patronize them, and don't look shocked +at any strange opinions you hear, nor act as if you were at an animal +show and were wondering what would happen next. Be sure not to assent +when you see they wish to argue, and don't argue when they expect +acquiescence. If any of them speak in broken English, and you can't +for the life of you understand, don't ask them to repeat, but answer +immediately, for you can imagine when one has taken pains to learn a +foreign language one likes it to be appreciated, and don't--But here +we are. In short, make yourself at home, as if you had been there all +your life." + +"Afra," I said, laying my hand on her arm as she took to her swift +pace again, "perhaps I had better go home: I am afraid I can't--I +think--that is--" + +"Nonsense! as if you could not get on after all those hints! Anyway, +you cannot return alone, and I am unable to go with you. Make up your +mind to blunder, and do it. There was an amateur visited the studio +about three months ago: her absurdities have lasted us for laughing +material ever since. As she is getting rather stale, you can take her +place. This is the house: come in." + +With this doubtful prospect in view I followed my peremptory guide +from the narrow street into what appeared to be a spacious court, but +as the only light it received was from a blinking candle in the window +of the conciergerie, I could not determine. After exchanging some +cabalistic sentences with a toothless old woman, the proprietor of the +candle, Afra turned to the right, and walking a few steps came to a +door opening on a stairway, which we mounted. I can think of nothing +black enough for comparison with the darkness surrounding us. At last +a faint glimmer showed an old lamp standing in a corner of a hall bare +and carpetless. A series of doors flanked the place, looking to my +unaccustomed eyes all alike, but Afra without a moment's hesitation +went to one of them and knocked. It was opened by a lady, who smiled +and said, "Enter. You are just in time: school is over and the model +about going." + +I found myself in a high-ceiled room, at one end of which was +suspended a row of perhaps a dozen lamps. Here, at least, there was-no +lack of light: it required some moments to accustom our eyes to the +sudden contrast. The yellow blaze was directed by reflectors into the +space immediately beneath the lamps, which left the rest of the room +pleasantly tempered. Some easels, a few chairs and screens, plaster +casts on shelves, sketches in all stages of progress on the wall, +a tea-kettle singing over a bright fire in a stove, and a curtain +enclosing a corner used as a bedroom, completed the list of furniture. +It was a night-school for lady artists. The class had finished for the +evening, and a number of the students were moving about or seated near +the fire, talking in an unlimited number of languages. + +I was given several random introductions, and did my best to follow +Afra's directions; but there was an indescribable quaintness about the +appearance and manners of my new acquaintance that made it difficult +not to stare. I found, however, that little notice was taken of me, +as a lively discussion was being carried on over a study of an arm and +hand which one of them was holding up for inspection. + +"It is a style I should call the lantern," said she. "The redness of +the flesh can only be accounted for on the supposition that a light is +shining through it." + +"I should call it raw beef," remarked another. + +"It is a shame, mademoiselle!" began the model in an injured tone. +She had been tying on her bonnet before a bit of looking-glass she +had taken from her pocket. "Does my arm look like that?" Here she +indignantly drew up her sleeve and held out that dimpled member, +meanwhile gazing wrathfully at the sketch. "It ought not to be +allowed. The silver tones of my flesh are entirely lost; and see how +you have caricatured the elegance of my beautiful hand. Will not some +one help mademoiselle to put it right before my reputation is ruined?" + +"Jeanne, a model is not a critic," said the author of the drawing, +coming forward and grasping the canvas with no gentle hand.--"Ladies, +if you wish to find fault, turn to your own studies. That proportion +is frightful"--she pointed to different sketches as she spoke--"that +ear is too large; and, madame, if you take a crust of paint like yours +for freedom of touch, I pity you." + +This dispute was by no means the last during the evening. Opinions +seemed to be plentiful in Bohemia, each individual being furnished +with a set of her own on every subject broached; and as no diffidence +was shown in putting them forth, the company quarreled with great +good-nature and evident enjoyment. A pot of tea was then brewed by the +owner of the studio, who had been English before she became Bohemian, +and the beverage was handed round in tea-cups which, like the opinions +of the guests, differed widely from each other. In the silence that +attended this diversion Afra took the floor and said, "How about the +garden-party to the country? Who is going?" + +Several spoke, and one asked, "Shall we take lunch with us?" + +"No, something will be provided for us there." + +"So much the better. When are we to meet, and where?" + +"Twelve o'clock, midday, at ----." + +"What messieurs are going?" + +"Quite a number--a tenor from the Grand Opera, and the leader of the +orchestra, who is a magnificent violinist; that new Spanish painter +who plays the guitar divinely; a poet--that is, he has written some +pretty songs--besides plenty more." + +"That promises well." + +"You will bring your friend?" and the speaker nodded her head toward +me. + +"I shall be delighted: I am so curious to see those eccentric--" Here +a warning glance from Afra stopped me. + +But the lady only laughed and said, "You will see eccentricity enough +to-morrow, if that is what you want. People who devote their minds to +great objects have no time to think of little things. You had better +see that Afra has on her bonnet or she will go without one." + +"Nonsense!" replied Afra.--"Miss," this to the owner of the studio, +who was so called in honor of her English birth, "are you ever +troubled by the ghost of that young painter who hung himself up +there?" + +"Those who have occasion to commit suicide are not likely to come +back: they have had enough of this world," said the Englishwoman. + +"Did some one really die here?" I asked. + +"Yes, really;" and Afra mimicked my tone of horror. "You know, a +Bohemian is at home anywhere, so a change of country don't affect him +much. If we find a place disagreeable, we travel." + +"Was he insane?" + +"Not more than the rest of us, but _you_ can't understand the feeling +that would induce a man to do such a thing. This young fellow painted +a picture: he put his mind, his soul, himself, into it, and sent it to +the Exhibition. It was rejected--that is, he was rejected--and he came +here and died. They found him suspended from that beam where the lamps +hang now." + +"I thought your Bohemia was so gay?" + +"So it is, but the brightest light makes the deepest shadows." + +The conversation went on. These ladies discussed politics, literature, +art and society with absolute confidence. One of the topics was Alfred +de Musset. The Englishwoman was praising the English Alfred, when +a pale-faced girl, who up to this moment had been intently reading, +oblivious of all about her, closed her book with a snap (it was a +much-worn edition of one of the classics, bought for a few sous on the +quay) and broke out with--"Your Tennyson is childish. His King Arthur +puts me in mind of our Louis Philippe and his umbrella. Did you know +Louis carried an umbrella with him when he was obliged to fly from +Paris? One would have looked well held over Arthur's dragon helmet +that disagreeable night he left the queen to go and fight his nephew. +But perhaps Guinevere had lent it to Launcelot, and even the best +friends, alas! do not return umbrellas. Your poet writes in white +kid gloves, and thinks in them too. Imagine the magnificent rush and +struggle of those ancient days, the ecstasy of battle, the intensity +of life, and then read your Tennyson's milk-and-water tales, with +their modern English-ménage feelings. Arthur would have been much more +likely to give his wife a beating, as did the hero of the _Nibelungen +Lied_, than that high-flown lecture; and it would have done the +Guinevere of that time more good." + +"And what is your Alfred, Anita?" + +"He is divine." + +"After the heathen pattern. He dipped his pen in mire." + +"What is mire?--water and earth. What are we?--water and earth. Mire +is humanity, and holds in itself not only the roots of the tree, +but the germ of the flower. A poet who is too delicate to plant +his thought in earth must be content to give it but the life of a +parasite: it can have no separate existence of its own." + +"But one need not be bad to be great." + +"Nor need one be good to be great," returned Anita sarcastically. +"Alfred de Musset was a peculiar type of a peculiar time. He did not +imagine: he felt, he lived, he was himself, and was original, like a +new variety of flower or a new species of insect. Tennyson has gleaned +from everybody's fields: our Alfred gathered only from his own. The +one is made, the other is born." + +"Come away," said Afra impatiently: "no one can speak while Anita +is on her hobby. Besides, I must get home early to trim a bonnet for +to-morrow;" and without more leavetaking than a "Good-evening," which +included every one, we found ourselves in the street. + +"Who is Anita?" I asked. + +"She is nobody just now: what she will be remains to be seen. Her +family wish her to be an artist: she wishes to adopt the stage as a +profession, and is studying for it _sub rosa_. Did you ever see a more +tragic face?" + +"Poor thing!" I involuntarily exclaimed. + +"Don't pity her," said Afra, more seriously than she had yet spoken. +"The best gift that can be bestowed upon a mortal is a strong natural +inclination for any particular life and the opportunity of following +it. The man or woman who has that can use the wheel of Fate for a +spinning-wheel." + +The next morning at the appointed time I met Afra at the station. +"How do I look?" she asked, standing up for my inspection as soon as I +appeared in sight, at the same time regarding as much of her dress as +it was possible for her to see. But before I could reply the satisfied +expression of her face changed: an unpleasant discovery had been +made. "I have shoes on that are not mates," she exclaimed--"cloth and +leather: that looks rather queer, doesn't it? Do you think it will be +noticed? I could not decide which pair to wear, and put on one of each +to see the effect: afterward I forgot them. Now, I suppose that would +be thought eccentric, though any one might make the same mistake. It +shows I have two pairs of shoes," she added more cheerfully, "and they +are both black. How is my bonnet?" + +The bonnet was black velvet, and we were in midsummer. The material, +however, was skillfully draped with a veil, and a profusion of pink +flowers gave it a seasonable air. A crimson bow was also tied at +her neck; she complacently remarked that "pink and crimson harmonize +beautifully;" and others of the party arriving at that moment, I was +saved the trouble of making a polite answer. + +The ride through ripening grain-fields and moss-thatched hamlets +need not be described; suffice it to say, it was France and June. An +omnibus was waiting at the station where we dismounted: it carried us +near, but not to, our destination. After leaving it we walked through +the streets of a low-roofed village, then followed a path bordered +with wild mignonette and apple trees that wound up the side of a hill +covered with vineyards. A couple of chattering magpies ran before +us, an invisible cuckoo was heard between snatches of Italian melody +warbled by the tenor _sotto voce_ and the little company overflowed +with gayety. + +The house we arrived at looked as if it might be a castle in the air +materialized--pointed windows hidden in ivy, through which you saw +the chintz-covered walls of the interior; turrets on the roof and +a stair-tower; odd nooks for pigeons and cattle; the color a +weather-toned red, met by gray roofs, green trees and blue sky. We +passed through it to the quaint garden: rows of dwarf pears bordered +its paths, and trellises and walls supported nectarines and vines, +with sunshine and shadow caressing the half-ripe fruit. + +The shady spaces were occupied by guests who had arrived before us, +and we saw with pleasure that ceremony had not been invited to attend. +The host's kindly manner was sufficient to put the company at once +at ease. We wandered at will from group to group, listening or +conversing: introductions were sometimes given, but more often not. + +At one table some ladies and gentlemen were playing the artistic game +of "five points." A more difficult pastime was never invented. The +materials necessary are simply a piece of paper and a pencil: it is +their use that is extraordinary. A person puts five dots on the paper +in whatever position fancy may dictate: on this slight foundation +another is expected to design a figure, the puzzle being to include +all the marks given. One that I saw had four of the dots placed +unusually close together, and the fifth in a distant corner: +this latter, in the opinion of the lookers-on, would surely prove +refractory. After some moments of consideration, with pencil suspended +and eye attentive, the artist commenced drawing. In ten minutes the +sketch was finished. It was an angel: her upturned head took in the +highest of the group of dots; one hand hanging by her side the next; +a knee the third; and the flowing hem of her robe the fourth; but the +fifth in the corner--what could reach it? With a touch of the pencil +the angel's other hand appeared flinging up a censer attached to +a long chain, which struck the solitary dot like a shot amid +acclamations. To show that he did not consider the feat a _tour de +force_, the artist turned the paper, and taking the same marks drew +a devil in an entirely different attitude, the difficult point being +reached by his pitchfork. This gave rise to a learned discussion as +to whether the devil's emblematic pitchfork was not a descendant of +Neptune's trident, which I did not stay to hear, as Afra whispered she +wanted to present me to Monsieur C----, and I was taken to a gentleman +of no great height, but of such wondrous width that Nature must have +formed him in a most generous mood. + +"You are American?" said this wide man to me as I was introduced, and +without waiting for a reply went on: "I like your country-people: +they admire frankly. Show them a picture, they exclaim, 'Beautiful! +magnificent! lovely! exquisite! name your price;' and they buy it. +Here the public look and look. 'Not bad,' they say, 'but the color is +from Veronese, and that attitude is surely Raphael's. What a mine that +man's genius has been to ambitious but less gifted artists!' and so +they go on. I wish they would let the dead rest in peace. Are you +acquainted with Mr. B---- of New York?" + +I was obliged to say "No." + +"I wish to send a message to him," he continued grandly: "tell him +that I paint now for him alone." + +"You are court-painter to Mr. B----," I remarked laughingly. + +"Don't speak of courts," he exclaimed pettishly. "I was to have +painted the baptism of the prince imperial for the state: it gave me +no end of annoyance, and in the end was never finished." + +"I understood that you insisted on painting the little prince nude, +after the Rubens manner, and that was one ground of objection to the +design," said Afra. + +"The baby would have had on plenty of clothes: one of his dresses was +sent from the Tuileries for Monsieur C---- to paint, and I sewed a +rosette on it myself." This from the painter's wife. + +"A countryman of yours sat for the head of a young priest at the +ceremony. He had a fine countenance: he was studying art with me +at the time, and has since been professor of drawing at your Naval +Academy. Teaching is a sad trade--Pegasus dragging the plough." + +"At least, your other great picture brought you nothing but praise." + +"The public have since repented of being so good to me. Then, they +could not say enough in my favor: now, if a person asks what I am +doing, every one repeats like a parrot, 'C---- doesn't paint, C---- +doesn't paint.' I have heard it so often that I begin to believe +it myself, and when I am asked join the general cry, 'C---- doesn't +paint.'" + +I laughed, thinking this a joke, but I soon found that though +C---- might be cynical, sarcastic or bitter, though he might excite +unintentional laughter by his remarks, he was too sensitive a man to +take any but a serious view of life. The imperfections of the world +excited his disgust, his anger, never his mirth. + +"Ah but, monsieur," said Afra, "you should be satisfied, and leave +some little honor for the rest of us to gather. The stories one hears +of your youth are like fairy-tales." + +"And they are true," replied the artist with evident enjoyment. "In +those days I was pointed out to people when I walked the street; +which, by the way, gave rise to an odd incident. A gentleman thought +he had seen me in a crowd, but he had taken an older and taller man +for the great painter. He believed big pictures were painted by big +men, and I had not then my present circumference. This gentleman sent +me an invitation to dine with him. On the day appointed I arrived at +the house, and was met at the door by my host, a look of surprise and +annoyance on his face which he tried to conceal by a low bow, at the +same time asking politely, 'How is your father?'--'Very well, thank +you,' I returned, although I could not understand why my father's +health should be a matter of interest to him.--'You have come to +tell me of some catastrophe which prevents his attendance here +to-day?'--'Not at all: I have come to dine with you, according to this +invitation.' Here I pulled out the card, which I happened to have in +my pocket.--'Are you the person here addressed?' he said, staring at +me.--'I am'.--'I beg your pardon, there is a mistake: I meant it for +your father, the painter of the "Décadence des Romains."'--'I am the +painter of the "Décadence," but I am not my father.'--'You ought to +be an older man.'--'I should have been, monsieur, had I been born +sooner.'--At that moment a friend, overhearing the conversation and +divining the cause, came and explained to my wonder-struck host that I +was really the artist in question. With many apologies I was led into +a hall adorned with floral arches in my honor, next to a beautiful +salon, likewise decorated, and finally we reached the dining-room, +which was arranged to represent my picture. Columns wreathed with +flowers supported the roof; flowers festooned the white table-linen +and adorned the antique vessels that covered it; couches of different +colored silk were laid after the Roman fashion for the guests to +recline upon; and lovely women dressed in costly Roman costumes, their +heads crowned with flowers, were placed in the attitudes that you +will see on my celebrated canvas. Was it not a graceful tribute to my +genius?" + +"If a Frenchman wants to pay a compliment, he never uses one that has +done duty before, but invents something new," said Afra emphatically. + +"What are you painting now, monsieur?" I asked. + +"A series of pictures called 'Pierrot the Clown.' He succeeds in +tricking the world in every station of life. I am just finishing his +deathbed. All his friends are weeping about him: the doctor feels +his pulse and gives some learned name to the disease--doctors know so +much--while hidden everywhere around the room are empty bottles. The +drunken clown plays with even death for a mask." + +"I thought he painted such romantic pictures," said I to Afra as we +turned from the master. + +"So he does: there is one in his studio now. A girl clad in gray and +shadow--open-air shade which in his hands is so clear and luminous. +She walks along a garden-path, her head bent down, dreaming as she +goes, and unconsciously nearing a half-open gateway, through which the +sunshine is streaming. Above the rustic gate two doves are billing and +cooing. You feel sure the girl is about to pass through this typical, +sunshiny, invitingly half-open door; and--what is beyond?" + +Just then we were called to lunch, a plentiful but not luxurious +repast. There was no lack of lively repartees and anecdotes, and +we had speeches and songs afterward. I wonder if I ever heard "'Tis +better to laugh than be sighing" given with more zest than on that +day? One could easily imagine that it was such an occasion as this +that had inspired it. + +Lunch being over, Monsieur C---- was asked to relate one of his own +stories. I cannot give it entire, but the plot was this: A pilgrim, +whom he called poor Jacques, hearing much of heaven, set out to find +his way to the blessed abode, with only a little dog to accompany him +on the journey. As he went he met many of his contemporaries, who +had made what a walker would style but poor time. The allusions to +well-known peculiarities in the various people and their occupation in +the other life caused much amusement. For instance, Ingres the painter +was seated by the roadside playing Rossini's music on the violin, on +which instrument he was a great proficient. But he was known to detest +the Italian's music before he started heavenward: his taste must then +have grown _en route_. (Critics might object to this supposition.) +However, Jacques was anxious to push on, and spent little time +listening. But he was a good-hearted man, and, though he would +not delay for his own amusement, he could not refuse to stop when +fellow-pilgrims asked him for assistance. Little children were +continually straying from the path, and without Jacques and his little +dog would inevitably have been lost. Feeble old people were standing +looking with despair at some obstacle that without Jacques's friendly +arm they would have found it impossible to pass. Young men who never +looked where they were walking were continually calling on him for a +hand to help them out of the ditch where they had fallen; and young +girls--well, one would have supposed they had never been given feet +of their own to walk with, from the trouble they were to poor Jacques. +The worst of it was, that when all these good people were well over +their troubles they called Jacques a simpleton for his pains, and +refused to have any intercourse with him, giving him the worst side of +the road and laughing at his old-fashioned staff and scrip, and even +at his little dog, to which they gave many a sly kick. Nor was it +any wonder, for there were many in the company robed in silk, wearing +precious stones and with well-filled wallets by their sides. Jacques +was but human, and often he wished he had never set out for heaven at +all in such company; but even in their bitterest moods neither +Jacques nor the little dog could ever hear a cry of distress without +forgetting all unkindness and rushing at once to the rescue. + +These labors exhausted Jacques's strength: the little dog, too, was +worn to a shadow, and so timid from ill-treatment that it was only +when some great occasion called out his mettle that you saw what a +noble little dog-heart he had. He did his best to comfort his master, +but when Jacques's sandals were worn out and his cloak in rags, and +when he looked forward and saw nothing yet of the holy city in view, +though he still tried to go forward, Nature gave way: he sank to the +ground, and the little dog licked his hands in vain to awaken him. + +There is a band of angels who each night descend the holy mount +whereon is built the city, in search of such pilgrims as have failed +through fatigue to reach the gate. They are clothed in robes woven of +good deeds, which never lose their lustre, for they are renewed every +day. It was this company which found Jacques in his swoon by the +roadside. One gently touched his tired body, and more than the vigor +of youth leapt through his veins. Another whispered "Come," and he +rose and walked with them. As he moved on with eyes abashed, thinking +of the rents in his garments and regretting their poverty, he noticed +that they too were changed, and were as bright as those of his +companions. "Who has done this?" he said, venturing to address the +one that walked at his right hand. "You wore them always," he answered +with an angelic smile, "but it is this light which shows their +beauty;" and he pointed to that which streamed from the celestial +walls. + +There was much applause. I saw Afra wipe a tear from her eye; only, a +thin-faced individual who sat near me whispered that it was too long. +The delicacy and pathos of expression and language it is impossible +to give, and, though old in form, the story was skillfully new in +incident; nor must I forget that the little dog slipped through the +eternal gate with his master. Some one asked the troubadour why he +did not write it out. He shook his head and threw up his hands as +he replied, "I wrote one book and gave it to a literary man for +correction. You should have seen the manuscript when he sent it home: +not a page but was scarred and cut. He called that 'style.' Now, what +did I want with style? I wanted to write as I talked." + +"Certainly," said one. "What did you do?" + +"I quickly put Monsieur le Rédacteur's style out of my book; then +I published it. George Sand promised to write the preface, but some +busybody told her that I was attacking the whole world, so she would +have nothing to do with it. She was misled: I blamed nothing in my +book but what deserved censure." + +Having heard this excellent representation of the ancient minstrel, +we were shortly given a touch of the modern usurper of the name. A +gentleman was present who in the many turns of Fortune's wheel had +once found himself a follower of the burnt-cork persuasion. He gave us +a negro melody with a lively accompaniment on the guitar. A melancholy +Spanish song followed. The company again dispersed into congenial +groups, and in the long twilight you heard the murmur of voices broken +by occasional snatches of melody or the nightingale's song. + + * * * * * + +"And what do you think of Bohemia?" asked Afra as we returned that +night. + +"It is different from what I expected. They are refined, and, though +frank, never rude. I think--" + +Afra laughed: "You had unconsciously thought them a set of sharpers; +but there is a great difference between living by your brains and +living by your wits. My dear, you have broken bread with giants +to-day: such men live in another world that they may rule this one." + +ITA ANIOL PROKOP. + + + + +PROFESSOR AND TEACHER. + + +The two words that recur most frequently perhaps in the discussion of +matters of education are "teacher" and "professor;" yet there are +no two that are used so carelessly and loosely. It seems as if the +thought that they may not be synonymous seldom, if ever, occurs to +those using them. If one of our writers or speakers upon education +were suddenly called upon to state exactly what he meant by a +"professor" in distinction from a "teacher," he would be at a loss for +an answer. He might reply, after some hesitation, "Why, a teacher is +a man who teaches at a school or an academy, and a professor is a man +who teaches at a college." If he were pressed still more closely, and +asked to give the precise difference between a "school or an academy" +and a "college," it is safe to assume that he would find himself +nonplussed. There are colleges in the country, some large and others +small, some old and others young, some good and others poor; but aside +from the fact that they provide a curriculum of four years and teach +a certain amount of Latin, Greek and mathematics, they do not possess +features enough in common to enable us to define with exactness "a +college." It is not in the power of language to devise a formula so +elastic as to embrace Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Trinity, Cornell +and Michigan University, without at the same time ignoring the +characteristic features of one or the other. Even if we admit that +there is a vague ideal unity underlying the so-called college system, +by virtue of which it is a system and not a mere aggregate, we shall +not make much progress in our search after the proper definition +of the term "professor." The utmost that can be said of our college +system, as a system, is that it stands on a somewhat higher plane than +the schools, that it is supposed to finish a young man's education, +and consequently that the men whom it employs for such a purpose--its +professors--are, or at least ought to be, abler men than the teachers +proper. The difference, then, between professor and teacher is one of +degree, and not of kind. Both teach, and both teach in great part the +same subjects and in substantially the same way; that is, by means +of textbook and recitation. Herein lies the explanation of the +disposition evinced by some of our best schools to call their teachers +"professors." An institution like Phillips Exeter or Andover can +scarcely be said to assume more than it is entitled to in putting +itself on an equality with Hobart College or Racine. + +On turning to Germany, we observe no such laxity in the use of the +term "professor." He, and he only, is professor who "professes" to +have made himself eminent in his special branch, and whose claims have +been allowed officially by a university or by the government. He is +not even a teacher in the English or American sense. He is a scholar +and investigator who has produced results worthy of distinction, and +it is upon the strength of those results, and not because of his real +or supposed ability to impart knowledge and stimulate industry among +students, that he receives his call to a university chair.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The circumstance that some of the gymnasium-teachers in +Germany have the title of "professor" does not affect the above view. +The title has been expressly conferred upon them by the government as +a mark of special distinction, either for long services or for unusual +scholarship--in most cases for the latter. Where schools of the +highest order are so numerous as they are in Germany, it is not +surprising that they should count among their teachers men of profound +scholarship. The official recognition paid to such men is only an +additional proof of the care with which the title is used. It is given +to the teacher, not so much because he is a good teacher, as because +he has done something over and above school-room work.] + +The words of one who is himself a leading professor in one of the +most renowned universities are so explicit upon this point that they +deserve to be translated and carefully studied. Heinrich von Sybel, in +his academic address delivered at Bonn in 1868, says: "The excellence +of our universities is to be found in the fact that they are not +mere institutions where instruction is given, but are workshops +of science[2]--that their vital principle is unceasing scientific +productivity. Hence it is that the state assembles the best men of +all Germany as professors at its universities, so that the phenomenon, +common enough in England and France, of a distinguished savant without +a university chair is with us a very unusual exception. Hence it is +that in appointing to such a chair the first and last demand is for +published evidences of such activity. As for the so-called ability to +teach _(Lehrtalent im formellen Sinne),_ we are satisfied if it is not +utterly and notoriously wanting. The question upon which everything +turns is, Has the candidate given evidence of his capacity for +original investigation and production? Whoever has this capacity +is sufficiently qualified, according to our German notions, for +fulfilling the essential function of university instruction." + +[Footnote 2: _Science_ is used here in the broad German sense to +denote any study, whether in the direction of natural phenomena, +history or philosophy, which is pursued systematically and with a view +to eliciting truth.] + +In other words, a German professor is a man who has devoted himself +to special and original research--to "science" as Von Sybel uses the +term--and whose discoveries and works give strength and increase of +dignity to the university with which he is connected. He is +appointed upon his merits as a discoverer or an author. The further +consideration--namely, whether he is what we Americans style a "good +teacher"--was not so much as an afterthought in the minds of those who +gave him his call. The explanation of this disregard of the personal +element in the professorial character is obvious. The professor is not +called upon to teach. It does not constitute any part of his vocation +to spur up the sluggish, to keep the idle busy, to give each student +enough to do, and make first principles perfectly clear to all. So far +from coming down to the level of the students, the professor expects +that the students will make every possible exertion to rise to his +level, while he himself can scarcely be said to lend a helping hand. +To the sentimentalist, then, he might appear a very selfish mortal. +But by going beneath the surface of the relation between professor and +student, and examining into its essence, we shall find that it is an +eminently healthful relation, because it is based upon the recognition +of mutual rights and duties. The professor, as a man of science, has a +right to the free direction of his talents. The student has the right +to develop what there is in him without supervision or interference. +He is to make a man of himself by seeking diligently after the truth +in a manly, independent spirit. All that the professor can do for him +is to point out the road to the truth. + +This view of the functions of a professor may appear obscure and +exaggerated to one who has not studied at a German university. But it +gives the clew to the entire German system of university education, +and accounts in great part for the high standard of scholarship. Only +in part, for the innate proneness of the German mind to research must +be credited with some share in the result. It is safe to say that +Germany, under any system, would be a land of erudition. + +However pleasant it might be to go into the details of the +professional position and character in Germany, it will be more +profitable, and certainly more practical, to compare this fundamental +German idea, as already given, with the salient features of +professional life in America. The American professor, then, is a +teacher. Unless he is the fortunate occupant of an exceptionally +favored chair, his chief, and even his sole, function in the college +body is to teach, in the strictest sense of the term. He has to +prescribe textbooks, assign and hear lessons, grade recitations, mark +examination-papers, submit carefully prepared term and annual reports +to the faculty. When the question of conditioning or dismissing a +student on the ground of defective scholarship comes up for decision, +his opinion must be given and weighed in connection with that of +others, in order that the faculty may strike a fair general average. +The number of hours that he is compelled, by the college curriculum, +to pass per week in the recitation-room is seldom less than fifteen, +and may be as high as twenty. The classes themselves are ill-sorted +and often troublesome, and are usually unwieldy by reason of their +size. The professor's mind must be continually on the watch to prevent +disorder and enforce attention. Besides, as every one knows full well +who has tried it, there is nothing so exhausting as to supply "brains" +to those who either have not received their portion from Nature or +else have squandered it for a mess of pottage. Every professor-teacher +can bear witness to the truism that one hour in the recitation-room +is fully equal, in its drain upon the vital energy, to two passed in +private study or authorship. The sense of responsibility, we might +say, is omnipresent. It does not cease with the recitation: it follows +him to his study, and haunts him with the recollection of absurd +blunders made by young men who should have done better--the +dispiriting reflection that despite his best efforts the stupid and +indifferent will not learn. If to this normal wear and tear and these +every-day annoyances we add the participation in what is +pleasingly styled enforcement of discipline--that is, protracted +faculty-meetings, interviews with anxious or irate parents, +exhortations to the vicious to mend their ways--we shall probably come +to the conclusion that the professor's burden is anything but light. +We all have heavy burdens. But while admitting the universality of the +adage, we are nevertheless at liberty to ascertain if we cannot make +the burden of a particular man or class easier to bear by fitting it +to the back. + +Editors, essayists, college presidents and reformers assure us that +we are on the verge of a change, and perhaps a great change, in our +system of higher education. They dilate upon the indisputable fact +that most of our older colleges have made rapid strides within +the past ten years, augmenting their endowments, erecting handsome +buildings, establishing new departments of study and increasing the +number of students. Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Amherst, Princeton, +Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, were never so well off, in +point of money and men, as they are at this day. The inference is, of +course, if so much has been done in ten years, what may we not expect +by the end of the century? The University of Virginia holds its own, +notwithstanding the desolation wrought by the late civil war, and Ann +Arbor and Cornell have shot up with extraordinary vigor. There can be +no doubt that our institutions of learning are full of robust life. +And it is no less certain that this growth of resources is due to +private enterprise. Our colleges have grown because graduates, and +even non-graduates, have taken an interest in them, and endowed them +with a munificence which seems incredible to a Frenchman or a German. +But in studying the aspect of higher education it behooves us not to +lose sight of the fundamental principle that education is something +spiritual in its nature, and that it cannot be gauged by buildings, +by endowments, by the trappings of wealth--in short, by anything +material. Endowments and buildings are only the means; unless the +end to which these means are subservient be clearly perceived and +persistently followed, the means themselves may prove a hindrance +rather than a help. Of this Oxford is a notable proof. + +Have, then, the end and aim, the method and agencies, of college +instruction changed essentially within the past fifteen years, or are +they likely to change essentially within the coming twenty-five? In +the year 1770 the greatest genius of Germany entered the walls of the +old university-town of Strasburg, there to complete his education. He +has bequeathed to us a faithful record of his studies, his amusements, +his daily life. Connecting this Strasburg experience with the previous +experience at Leipsic, we know what it meant in the eighteenth century +to be a German student. We know that the professors in those days were +pedagogues in the Anglo-American sense, and that university-life stood +little if at all higher than our own present college-life. But when +Goethe died, in 1832, the universities of Germany had reached their +prime. Since then they have made no gain. It may be doubted if the +professors, on the whole, rank quite so high to-day for originality +and vigor of research as did their predecessors forty years ago. +Wherein lies the secret, then, of this wonderful change wrought in +the brief span of two generations, between 1770 and 1830, and amid +the dire confusion of the great Revolution and the Napoleonic era? The +change was twofold. It consisted, first, in allowing to the professor +the free play of his individuality; second, in providing him with a +properly trained body of students. From the practical recognition +of these two principles, which have nothing to do with wealth and +buildings, proceed the power and glory of the German universities. +Viewed from the English, or even the American point, some of these +universities might be pronounced poor, not to say starvelings. The +buildings are old and out of repair, the professors are scantily paid, +the students are needy, there is a general atmosphere of want and +discomfort. But the work they do is noble, and its nobility consists +in its freedom, its heartiness, its strict devotion to truth. + +We are not concerned in this place with the study of the growth of the +German school system that prepares the German student. We have to do +with the professor. Although the gymnasium and the university are +not to be dissevered in actual practice, the one being the necessary +prelude to the other, still we can discuss either one of them +separately with a view to ascertaining its salient features. + +The German university allows to the professor the free play of his +individuality. By this is meant that each professor has his specialty, +which he teaches as a specialty and after his own fashion. He has been +appointed because of his specialty, and to the end that he may teach +it. His salary is paid to him, not so much for what he does as for +what he is. It is in a measure the reward for having made for himself +a name. His standing in the university is based, not so much upon the +number of students that he may attract to his lectures as upon the +quality of scholarship that he exhibits and his general repute in +the world of letters. He has the satisfaction of feeling that his +researches, even the most abstruse, can be brought to bear directly +upon his official intercourse with his students. A discovery that he +makes is usually communicated to them in the first instance, before it +finds its way into print. The neglect to take account of this element +of originality in the lectures of a German professor has led to an +unfair estimate of the lecture-system. Americans and English are apt +to regard it as merely the oral inculcation of established truths. +Were that the case, we might be right in questioning its superiority +over our method of teaching by textbook. But it is not the case. +The lecture is the vehicle for conveying the latest discoveries made +either by the professor himself or gleaned by him from the labors of +his colleagues. So far from merely repeating established truths, +it rather promulgates truths in process of establishment. German +university lectures, taken all in all, represent the most advanced +stage of thought. The instances are not infrequent where a professor +refrains from publishing his lectures, lest he should lose his +hearers, who are attracted to him by reports of his originality and +thoroughness. + +The evident tendency of such a system is to encourage productivity +and the highest degree of accuracy. A man who has to teach only one +subject, and teach it to such students only as are ready and anxious +to receive it, can afford to take the time for being thorough. The +tendency of the American system, on the other hand, is to beget a +spirit of routine and to check productivity. The professor falls +into a way of contenting himself with meeting the requirements of the +college curriculum. The effects of this curriculum upon the professors +are deeper and farther-reaching than is usually perceived. It is +in accordance with facts to call American professors, as a class, +unproductive. But it would be unjust and inconsiderate to ascribe this +want of productivity to the disposition called laziness. Laziness is +not a national fault of Americans. On the contrary, we are pushing, +active, restless: we yearn, Alexander-like, for something new to +overcome. Our professors are of the same stock as our business-men, +our lawyers, our doctors, our politicians. But the spirit of progress, +if we choose to call it by that name, has been repressed in them. The +spirit of emulation, of aggressive competition, which marks our trade, +our banking, our manufacturing interests, our railroads, and even our +professions, stops at the threshold of our colleges. There is rivalry, +true, between Harvard and Yale, for instance. If the former erects a +handsome dormitory, the latter must have one larger and finer. If the +former establishes a new professorship, the latter must do likewise. +The colleges compete among themselves. But we see no signs of +competition among the professors of a college, or between the +professors of different colleges--competition, be it observed, in the +sense that the individual professor regards his attainments and views +as a proper subject for comparison with the attainments and views of +another professor in the same branch. Once established in his chair, +his individuality is merged in the general character of the college. +His time, his knowledge and his energy are subordinated to the +curriculum. He can teach only so much as may be fitted into his share +of the time and may be suited to the capacities of a mixed audience. +It matters little whether the curriculum be good or bad, whether it +take in a wide or a narrow range of subjects, whether it be behind +or up to the times: so long as it is a real curriculum it tends to +prevent the full assertion of his individual excellence. He may study +for himself, but he cannot teach more than the regulations permit. +However advanced he may be in his specialty, however sincere and +earnest his wish to impart the choicest fruits of his research, he +must admit to himself that there is a point beyond which he is unable +to carry his students. They are borne off to something else; they have +no more time for him; they slip from his hold, perhaps at the very +moment when he flatters himself that he has acquired some formative +influence over them. + +If this view of the necessary effect of a curriculum is correct, +it will enable us to set a more accurate value upon the so-called +improvements that have been introduced of late years in our colleges. +These improvements, stripped of the éclat with which they are +invested, will be found to amount to little more than expansions +and slight modifications of a system which remains unaltered in +its fundamental features. New studies have been introduced, such as +physics, chemistry, geology, the share of attention assigned to +modern languages has been increased, a higher standard of admission is +enforced, and the salaries of professors have been raised. But in +all this there is no radical change of the method of instruction. The +establishment of a chair of physics, for instance, can scarcely be +said to enable the professor of Greek to exhibit his attainments +more fully. The professor of Latin does not perceive that his pupils, +because they are now instructed in physical geography, can be carried +by him to a more advanced stage of Latin scholarship. In fact, so far +as the older studies are concerned, those which made up the curriculum +thirty years ago, they seem to be slightly the worse for the recent +improvements. The college course of 1840 or 1850 was a comparatively +simple thing. It covered only a few studies, and those of a +general nature; it taught more thoroughly and with less pretence to +universality; in short, it did its work more after the fashion of a +good school. At the present day the curriculum embraces a much wider +range of subjects--we need only recall to our minds the introduction +of general history, chemistry, physiology and the modern +languages--but the time has not been lengthened by a single year. The +student's time is more broken up than before: the direct influence +exerted by the professor is less. Our recognition of these and kindred +facts, however, should be something more than a vain regret for the +good old past. All these changes are concessions made to the spirit +of the age. Our generation demands--and very rightfully, too--that the +sphere of knowledge be enlarged, that the sciences of Nature receive +sufficient attention. To attempt to undo what has been done, to +restore the curriculum to the antiquated cadre of Latin and Greek, +trigonometry, mental science and rhetoric, would be a reaction as +senseless as hopeless. + +Let us be just to ourselves and just to our colleges. We, the public, +clamored for new studies, and the colleges had to meet the demand, +because, by force of circumstances, they were the only places where +the changes could be effected. But in our praisworthy desire for +progress we have not considered sufficiently whether the colleges were +in truth the proper places for innovation; whether we were bringing +in our innovations in the right way and at the right time; whether +we were in a fair way of making our colleges what we seek to make +them--namely, centres of learning. To discuss all these points would +be equivalent to discussing the question of education in all its +phases, from the primary school to the university. For the present +we must limit ourselves to understanding and appreciating fairly the +position of our professors. + +That position is not only a trying, but a discouraging one. The +greater part of the professor's time is spent--from the point of +view of pure science we might almost say wasted--in teaching the same +things over and over again. After a few years' practice his round of +hours becomes mechanical. Familiarity with the textbooks and with the +uniformly-recurring blunders of each successive class begets a feeling +of weariness that is not remote from aversion and contempt. So far +as his prescribed official duties are concerned, he feels that he has +nothing more to learn. There being, then, no stimulus from without, he +is open to one of two temptations--either to rest on his past labors, +or, which is far more likely, to keep on studying for himself, but +to keep the results to himself. It is not only more soothing to our +pride, it is juster to our professors, to regard them thus as men who +have hid their lights under a bushel, and also to confess that we, our +institutions and ways of thinking, have made the bushel for them +and held it down over their heads. It is not every man who has the +persistency and stamina of Professor Whitney, for instance, who can +toil for years with beginning classes in French and German, never +losing sight of his real aim, never neglecting an opportunity of +bringing it forward, until at last he achieves the success he has +especially desired, and is acknowledged to be one of the foremost +comparative philologists and Sanskrit scholars in the world. Where a +Professor Whitney may succeed in spite of untoward circumstances, a +dozen will probably fail because of circumstances. We naturally look +to our colleges for the evidences of learning, of enlightenment and +culture. We think of the capital invested in them, of the part they +play in moulding the character of our young men, and we deem it a +matter of course that they should be continually producing something +original and independent. But when we compare them with the German +universities--and the comparison is forced upon us whenever one of our +graduates goes abroad to complete his studies or whenever we look into +a recent German publication--we are forced to exclaim, "What are our +colleges about? Are they incompetent, or asleep?" Neither one nor +the other. Most of our professors do the best they can. But they are +fettered by routine: they are not stimulated and sustained by +the consciousness that their private studies may be made directly +available in the classroom. They lead two lives, as it were--one +as professor, the other as thinker and reader--and there is not the +proper action and reaction between the two. + +The remedy is as easy to propose as it would be difficult to apply. +We have only to convert our colleges into universities, our college +instructors into professors after the German model. Let us relegate +all teaching, so called, to the schools, and let us give our +professors permission to expand into veritable scholars discoursing to +young men of kindred spirit. Any one can see at a glance that from +the wish to the accomplishment is a long way. Upon some of us the +consciousness is beginning to dawn that perhaps we have not even taken +the first decisive step. The best that can be said of our colleges is +that they are in a state of transition. We have increased the number +of studies, as well as the number of colleges; we have established +schools of law and schools of science, sometimes independent of, +sometimes co-ordinate with or subordinate to, the college. We have +also established post-graduate courses, in the hope of inducing our +young men to complete their studies at home. Yet every year we see a +larger number going abroad. In those days of golden memory, both for +Germany and for America, when Longfellow was gliding down the +Rhine with Freiligrath, and Bancroft and Bismarck were comrades at +Göttingen, an American in Germany was something of a rarity. In most +instances he was a man of wealth and high social standing, who +looked upon his semester or two as a romantic episode. But now every +outward-bound steamer carries with it one or more who, emerging from +obscurity and poverty, have saved up a few hundred dollars and are +bent upon plain, hard, practical business. "We go," they can be +imagined as saying, "because we can get in Germany what we cannot get +at home. Your schools of science and your post-graduate courses may be +well enough in their way, but they do not give us what we are after, +and we cannot afford to wait until they may be able to give it. Some +of the professors are first-rate men--perhaps just as good as any +we may meet in Germany--but what does their learning, their science, +avail us, so long as they are obliged to withhold from us the best +that they know? They trained themselves in Germany, and if we are ever +to rival them we must do the same." + +It is not pleasant to listen to such reasonings, much less to see them +carried into effect. But the defect which they bring to light will not +be cured by closing our eyes to it and trusting to time, the sovereign +healer. Time is a negative factor: it only enables the forces of +Nature to do their positive work. But schools and colleges are not the +product of the elemental forces of Nature: they are distinctively +the work of man as a free agent. If we are free to shape any of our +institutions to suit our needs, we are certainly free to shape our +educational institutions. By having a definite result in view, and +willing its attainment, we may succeed; but if we fail either in +clearness of vision or persistency of will, we cannot expect the +result to come of itself. The present university system of Germany, +which might seem to a careless observer the natural outgrowth +of German life, is the result of hard thinking and strenuous, +well-directed effort. We should not commit much of an exaggeration +were we to call it the deliberate creation of Frederick the Great, Von +Zedlitz and Wolf, who dragged with them Prussia, and the other +German states in her wake. They and their associates and followers, +Schleiermacher and William von Humboldt, clear-headed, iron-willed +men, perceived what was needed, and bent all their energies to the +task. They emancipated the schools from the control of the clergy, +and established the principle that teaching is a distinct vocation, +requiring special training, over which the state has supervision; +furthermore, that the state should pronounce who is fit and who is +not fit for university education, thereby abolishing +entrance-examinations, and putting an end to the ignoble practice on +the part of the universities of lowering the standard for the purpose +of increasing the number of students. They abolished the last vestiges +of the scholastic system by raising the faculty of philosophy from its +position as a quasi-preparatory course to the others, and placing it +on a footing of perfect equality with law, theology and medicine.[3] +They removed all restrictions from the _Lehrfreiheit_, or professional +freedom of instruction, while at the same time they preserved the +right of the state to control indirectly the quality of university +instruction by means of state-examinations for pastors, teachers, +lawyers, physicians and officeholders. Ever since then the university +system of Germany has rested upon a secure and lasting basis. + +[Footnote 3: The subordination of the philosophical faculty as a sort +of preparatory course to the others remained in force in Austria until +1850. It is not surprising, then, that Austria should have compared +so unfavorably with Germany in philology, history, philosophy and +literary criticism until within our own times.] + +Is the course pursued by Prussia to be regarded as a mere incident in +history, or may it serve as an example and model for us? Prussia is a +monarchy, clothed with some constitutional forms but at bottom a +state where the personal will of the sovereign has always made, +and continues to make, itself felt in the final instance. We are +a republic, or rather a cluster of republics under an imperfectly +centralized national government. It is evident that the agencies and +mode of reform with us must differ from those that have been employed +in Prussia and in the rest of Germany. But it does not follow that +the reform itself is impossible. What has elsewhere sprung from the +autocratic will of a single man and his cabinet may be effected here +through that other force, equally great and perhaps more pervasive, +to which we give the vague name of "popular opinion." We know that +popular opinion in our country is irresistible. It makes everything +bend to it. It broke up the Tweed Ring, seemingly impregnable, in a +single campaign. But this popular opinion is not a natural product: it +is the work of a few men who devote themselves to awakening the sense +of right and wrong and guiding the understanding of their fellows. +But for popular leaders like Mr. O'Conor and Governor Tilden, the +late Tweed Ring might be in power at this day. Education is not +so different from politics but that we can regard it as subject to +similar laws of cause and effect. Our present common-school system is +an off-spring of popular opinion, as that opinion was created and led +to action by a few men. And whether our common schools are to stand +or fall is again becoming a question of the day, and will be decided +according as popular opinion may be swayed by a few zealous friends or +enemies. Our colleges, it may be said, do not occupy the same +relation to the state that our schools do. They are nearly all private +corporations, enjoying vested rights which the state is powerless to +touch. Undoubtedly true, but it is no less true that what cannot be +done directly may be done indirectly. The state need not make so much +as the attempt to lay hands upon college property or to interfere with +college studies. It has only to say, "I, the state, exact such and +such qualifications of all who seek to practice law or medicine within +my limits or to become my officeholders. I establish my own free +colleges and schools of law and medicine, and I proceed to tax +all others at their full valuation." There is not a college in the +country, not even Harvard, that could compete upon such terms. The +state need not even express its sovereign will so precisely. It +can content itself with establishing a university of its own, and +facilitating the direct influence of this university over the public +and private schools. We see the operations of such a system very +plainly in Michigan. Not only does the university at Ann Arbor +overshadow completely the private colleges, but the "union schools," +administered under its auspices, are--to borrow the expression of one +of its graduates--"killing" the private schools. We may rest assured +that whatever the people of a State or of the United States is +earnestly bent upon having, will come. + +Whether all our States are to act as Michigan has done--whether we are +indeed ripe for thorough change--whether a change is to be effected +by direct State action or indirectly by the mere pressure of public +sentiment--whether we have real need of a body of professors and a set +of universities such as Germany possesses--whether we are to make +our higher as well as our primary education non-sectarian,--are all +questions which may rest in abeyance for a long time to come. It is +also possible that one or the other of them may, in legal phraseology, +be sprung upon us at any time. Not to be taken unawares, we have +to bear steadily in mind several fixed principles and to disabuse +ourselves of one misconception. + +The misconception is this: that what Germany accomplished in the +eighteenth century we cannot accomplish in the nineteenth, because +circumstances are so very different, chiefly because Germany is an old +country and we are a young country. The circumstances are not so very +different, and the difference, however great it may be estimated, is +in our favor. We are a union of thirty or forty States: in the Germany +of the eighteenth century there were three hundred. Ever since the +adoption of our Federal Constitution we have enjoyed common rights of +citizenship, common laws of commerce, common legal protection. Will +it be necessary to remind the student of history that the Germans have +acquired these blessings only within our own day? We are a nation of +forty millions, rich and prosperous, free to develop our resources. +The Germany of 1775 could count barely twenty millions, its soil was +poorly tilled, its mineral wealth undeveloped, manufactures in an +embryonic state, trade fettered in a thousand ways, the peasantry +brutally ignorant and servile, the national character--to all +appearance--ruined by cruel religious wars, the sense of national +unity blunted by the recollections of a hundred petty feuds reaching +back to the gloom of the Middle Ages, the national taste dominated by +poor French models to an extent that now seems incredible, learning +either dry pedantry or shallow cox-combry. We are indeed a young +country, but we are young in hope; Germany was old, but it was old in +weakness, in poverty, in despondency. Whoever doubts our ability to do +as much as Germany did one hundred years ago, fails to profit by the +teachings of history--overlooks the fact that Germany in 1840 was +only where she had been in 1618. That we should take Germany for our +standard of comparison, rather than England or France, is a postulate +which has one circumstance unmistakably in its favor. Although we are +connected with England by common descent, institutions and language, +although the politics and philosophy of France have exerted +considerable influence over our own, we do not observe our young +men going in numbers to England and France to receive their final +training. Their instinct leads them to Germany. For one American +graduate of Oxford or Cambridge or of the French _écoles_, it would +be easy to count ten doctors of Göttingen or Heidelberg. Our young +men are not attracted to the German universities by such factitious +considerations as cheapness of living or the acquisition of the +language, but by sympathy with German methods and academic liberty. + +Some of the most important fixed principles have been already touched +upon, but only one can be developed in this place. It is, that if +we are to establish a system of higher education, we must begin by +recognizing freely and fully the distinction between teacher and +professor. We must perceive the importance of having two sets of +men--the one to teach, the other to investigate; the one engaged in +training boys to learn, the other in showing young men how to think. +When and how this distinction is to be established, in what special +form it is to be embodied, is a secondary matter. The chief thing is +to admit that it is essential and feasible. The young man who returns +after a three years' absence in Germany, exhibiting with dignified +pride his well-earned doctor's diploma, looks of course upon the +institution that conferred it as the _ne plus ultra_. But riper +experience, contact with the sharp corners of American prejudices +and peculiarities, renewed familiarity with our social, political, +commercial and literary life, will gradually convince him that a +German university is not a thing to be plucked up by the roots and +transplanted bodily to American soil. We have rather to take our +native stock as we find it, and engraft upon it a slip from the +German. One trial may fail, another may succeed. Our first efforts +will be like those of a man groping about in the dark. More than +one department in a German university will be of little avail in an +American, and conversely we shall have to create some that do not +exist elsewhere. For instance, in view of the great power exerted by +the newspaper press, it might be desirable to have a course of study +for those who think of taking up journalism as a profession. In such +a course, political economy, constitutional and international law, +English and American history, and the modern languages and literatures +should constitute a full and serious discipline. It is not probable +that the study of philology will ever attract the same attention here +that it does abroad. Our needs lie in the direction of the natural +sciences rather than in the direction of history and linguistics. But +we should be derelict to our duty were we to sacrifice these sciences +of the spirit, as the Germans call them, to the sciences of Nature. +A culture without them would be the bleakest and most repulsive +materialism. + +The practical recognition of the difference between teacher and +professor would be a decided step. By the side of it those which +we have already taken would appear insignificant. The addition of +chemistry, geology, or physiology to the previous curriculum does +not change its character, so long as the professors of those branches +instruct after the fashion of the professors of Latin and Greek. The +advantage that the men of natural science have over their colleagues +is one which the nature of the subject brings with it. In order to +teach at all, they must come in close personal contact with their +pupils, and to escape falling behind in their department, where +new theories succeed one another with such rapid bounds, they must +continue a certain amount at least of original research. Supplementing +the present curriculum by post-graduate courses will hardly suffice. +Such courses are open to serious objections. If conducted by the +regular professors, they impose additional burdens upon men who have +already more than enough. If conducted by special professors, they +will tend to raise those professors at the expense of the regular +faculty. A lecturer to graduates must necessarily appear, in the eyes +of the undergraduate, superior to the man who hears recitations and +prepares term-reports. Besides, young men who have passed four years +at one college need "a change of air:" they will develop more rapidly +if brought into contact with new ideas and new instructors. Every +institution has an atmosphere of its own, which ceases after a time to +act upon the student as a stimulant. + +There is one additional point that should not be overlooked. A careful +discrimination between the functions of the professor and those of the +teacher would benefit both classes of men. Such has been the effect in +Germany. The gymnasium-teacher has a high sense of the dignity of +his vocation and a keen sense of its responsibilities, because he +perceives that he must bring his labors to a well-rounded conclusion. +He knows that the university does not supplement the gymnasium--that +the university professors do not undertake to make good his +shortcomings. The gymnasial course is a completed phase of training. +It aims at giving the pupil all the general knowledge that he requires +previous to his professional studies. What is lost or overlooked in +the gymnasium cannot be acquired at the university. Hence the peculiar +conscientiousness of the German teacher, his almost painful anxiety to +make sure that his pupils master every subject, his unwillingness to +let them go before they are "ripe." With us the change from school +to college is not an abrupt transition, like that from gymnasium to +university. The college course, certainly during the two lower years +at least, is a continuation of the school course: the same or +similar subjects are taught, and taught in the same way. Hence the +school-teacher is tempted to regulate his efforts according to the +college standard of admission. If he can only "get his men into +college," as the saying is, he thinks that he is doing enough. To say +this of all schools and all teachers would be flagrant injustice. +Not a few of our older schools compare favorably with the best German +gymnasiums, and in the large cities we find schools of even recent +origin that endeavor faithfully to give a well-rounded discipline. But +it remains nevertheless true that our schools, taken as a whole, give +no more than the colleges require, and that only too many of them +give less, trusting to the colleges to be lenient and eke out the +deficiency. Moreover, when we read in the daily papers advertisements +like the following, "Mr. Smith, a graduate of Harvard (or Yale or some +other college, as the case may be), prepares young men for college," +what inference are we to draw? Simply, that Mr. Smith, having gone +through Harvard or Yale, knows exactly what is required there, and +will undertake to "coach" any young man for admission in two or three +years. Such coaching, if the young man is dull or backward, will +consist in cramming him with required studies, to the neglect of +everything not required. Teaching is not easy work. In many respects +it is more difficult to be a good teacher than to be an original +investigator. Whatever operates to strengthen and elevate the +teacher's position, therefore, must be a gain. The highest +incentive would be the consciousness that his school is not a mere +stepping-stone to another school of larger growth, but the place where +he must in truth prepare the youthful mind for independent study. + +JAMES MORGAN HART. + + + + +CONTRASTED MOODS. + + WANT. + + Where is the power I fancied mine? + Can I have emptied my soul of thought? + In yesterday's fullness lay no sign + That to-day would be a time of drought. + What if thought fail me for evermore? + The world that awaits a well-filled plan + Must, railing, cry at my long-closed door, + "He cannot finish what he began." + + PLENTY. + + Thought dashes on thought within my soul: + Time will not serve for the bounding-line. + I think it would fail to mete the whole + If old Methuselah's years were mine. + Like the famous spring that is sometimes dry, + Then flows with a river's whelming might, + The current of thought now runs so high + It covers the earthy bed from sight. + +CHARLOTTE F. BATES. + + + + +THE ATONEMENT OF LEAM DUNDAS. + +BY MRS. E. LYNN LINTON, AUTHOR OF "PATRICIA KEMBALL." + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +CHANGES. + + +Four years had come and gone since Mr. Dundas had laid his second +wife in the grave beside his first, and the county had discussed +the immorality of taking cherry-water as a calmant. For it was to +an overdose of this that the verdict at the coroner's inquest had +assigned the cause of poor madame's awful and sudden death; though why +the medicine should have been found so loaded with prussic acid as +to have caused instant death on this special night, when it had been +taken so often before with impunity, was a mystery to which there was +no solution. Not a trace of poison was to be found anywhere in the +house, and no evidence was forthcoming to show how it might have been +bought or where procured. Alick Corfield, who understood it all, +was not called as a witness, and he told no one what he knew. On the +contrary, he burdened his soul with the, to him, unpardonable crime +of falsehood that he might shield Leam from detection; for when his +father, missing the sixty-minim bottle of hydrocyanic acid, asked him +what had become of it, Alick answered, with that wonderful coolness +of virtue descending to sin for the protection of the beloved which is +sometimes seen in the ingenuous, "I broke it by accident, father, and +forgot to tell you." + +As the boy had never been known to tell a falsehood in his life, he +reaped the reward of good repute, and his father, saying quietly, +"That was a bad job, my boy," laid the matter aside as a _caput +mortuum_ of no value. + +To be sure, he thought more than once that it was an odd coincidence, +but he could see no connection between the two circumstances +of madame's sudden death and Alick's fracture of that bottle of +hydrocyanic acid; and even if there should be any, he preferred not +to trace it. So the inquest was a mere show so far as getting at the +truth was concerned, and madame died and was buried in the mystery in +which she had lived. + +Meantime, Leam had been sent to school, whence she was expected +to return a little more like other English girls than she had been +hitherto, and Mr. Dundas shut up Ford House--he went back to the +original name after madame's death--and left England to shake off in +travel the deadly despair that had fallen like a sickness on him and +taken all the flavor out of his life. He had never cared to search out +the real history of that fair beloved woman. Enough had come to his +knowledge, in the bills which had poured in from several Sherrington +tradesmen on the announcement of her marriage and then of her death, +to convince him that he had been duped in facts if not in feeling. For +among these bills was one from the local geologist for "a beginner's +cabinet of specimens," delivered just about the time when he, +Sebastian, had spent so many pleasant hours in arranging the fragments +which madame said represented both her knowledge and her lost +happiness; also one from the fancy repository, which sold everything, +for sundry water-color drawings and illuminated texts, a Table of +the Ten Commandments illustrated, and the like, which sufficiently +explained all on this side, and settled for ever the dead woman's +claims to the artistic and scientific merit with which Mr. Dundas and +the rector had credited her. + +Also, certain ugly letters from a person of the name of Lowes, in +London, put him on the track, had he cared to follow it up, of a +deception even worse than that of pretended art or mock science. These +letters, written in the same handwriting as that wherein Julius de +Montfort, her brother-in-law, the present marquis, had told her of +the defalcations of the family solicitor and trustee, called Virginie, +Madame la Marquise de Montfort, plain Susan bluntly, and reminded her +of the screw that would be turned if the writer was not satisfied; +and were letters that demanded money, always money, as the price of +continued silence. + +But Sebastian had loved his second wife too well to seek to know the +truth, if that truth would be to her discredit. He preferred to +be deceived; and he had what he preferred. He stifled all doubts, +darkened all chinks by which the obtrusive light might penetrate, kept +his love if not his faith unshaken, caring only to remember her as +beautiful, seductive, soothing, and mourning her as deeply, doubtful +as she had proved herself to be, as he had loved her fondly when he +believed her honest. It was a curious mental condition for a man to +cherish, but it satisfied him, and his regret was not robbed of its +pathos by knowledge. + +Now that the four years were completed, the widower had to return to +his desolate home and make the best he could of the fragments of peace +and happiness left to him. Leam was nineteen: it was time for her to +be taken from school and given the protection of her father's house. +It went against the man's heart to have her, but he was compelled, if +he wished to stand well with his friends, and he hoped that the girl +would be found improved from these years of discipline and training, +and be rational and like other people. Wherefore he came home one +dry dull day in October, and the neighborhood welcomed him, if not as +their prodigal returned, yet as their lunatic restored to his right +mind. + +During these four years a few changes had taken place at North Aston. +Carry Fairbairn had married--not Frank Harrowby: he had found a rich +wife, not in the least to his personal taste, but greatly to his +profit; and Carry, after having cried a good deal for a month, had +consoled herself with a young clergyman from the North, whom she loved +quite as much as if she had never fancied Frank at all, and spoilt in +the first months by such submission as caused her to repent for all +the years of her life after. + +The things of the rectory were much in their old state. Little Fina, +madame's child, was there under Mrs. Birkett's motherly care; but +as the child was nearly six years old now, the good creature's +instinctive love for infants was wearing out, and she was often heard +to say how much she wished she could have kept Fina always a baby, +and, sighing, how difficult she was to manage! She was an exceedingly +pretty little girl, with fair skin, fair hair and dark eyes--willful +of course, and spoilt of course; the only one in the house who took +her in hand to correct being Adelaide. And as she took her in hand too +smartly, Mrs. Birkett generally interfered, and the servants combined +to screen her; the result being that the little one was mistress of +the situation, after the manner of willful children, and made every +one more or less anxious and uncomfortable as her return for their +care. + +Alick Corfield was the rector's curate. On the whole, this was the +most important of all the North Aston events which had taken place +during the last four years. Soon after madame's death and Leam's +transfer from home to school Alick had a strange and sudden illness. +No one knew what to make of it, nor how it came, nor what it was, but +the doctor called it cerebral fever, and when the families got hold +of the word they were content. Cerebral fever does as well as anything +else for an illness of which no one knows and no one seeks to know the +cause, and to the origin of which the patient himself gives no clew. +It was a peg, and a peg was all that was wanted. + +On his recovery he announced his intention of going to Oxford to read +for holy orders. His mother was piteously distressed, as might be +expected. She feared all sorts of evil for her boy, from damp sheets +and unmended linen to over-study, wine-parties and bold-faced minxes +weaving subtle webs of fascination. But for the first time in his life +Alick stood out against her insistance, and his will conquered hers. +The sequel of the struggle was, that he went to Oxford, took his +degree, read for orders, passed, and that Mr. Birkett gave him his +title as his curate. + +It could hardly be said that the relations were entirely harmonious +between the military-minded rector, who held to the righteousness of +helotry and the value of ignorance in the class beneath him, and the +young curate burning with zeal and oppressed with the desire to put +all the crooked things of life straight. The one pooh-poohed the +enthusiasm of the other, derided his belief in humanity and assured +him of failure: the other felt as if he had been taken behind the +scenes and shown the blue fire of which the awful lightning of his +youth was made. Mr. Birkett could not quite forbid the greater +faith, the more loving endeavor which the young man threw into his +ministrations, but he was the Sadducee who scoffed and made the +work heavy and uphill throughout. He gave a grudging assent to the +Bible-classes, the Wednesday evening services at the Sunday-school, +the lectures on great men on the first Monday in the month, which +Alick proposed and established. He thought it all weariness to the +flesh and a waste of time and energy; but the traditions of his order +were strong, if he himself did not share them, and he had to give way +in the end. He consoled himself with the reflection that the boy would +find out his mistake before long, and that then he would know who had +been right throughout. + +But even zeal and hope and diligence in his work could not lighten the +persistent sadness which was Alick's chief characteristic now. Gaunt +and silent, with the eyes of a man whose inner self is absent and +whose thoughts are not with his company, he looked as if he had passed +through the fire, and had not passed through unscathed. No one knew +what had happened to him, and, though many made conjectures, none came +near the truth. Meanwhile, he seemed as if he lived only to work, and, +the clearer-sighted might have added, to wait. + +For a further local change, Lionnet was tenanted again by a strange +and solitary man, who never went to church and did not visit in +the neighborhood. He was in consequence believed to be a forger, an +escaped convict in hiding, or, by the more charitable, a maniac as yet +not dangerous. North Aston held him in deeper horror than it had held +even Pepita, and his true personality exercised its wits more keenly +than had even the true personality of madame. In point of fact, he was +a quiet, inoffensive, amiable man, who gave his mind to Sanskrit for +work and to entomology for play, and did not trouble himself about his +own portrait as drawn in the local vernacular. Nevertheless, for all +his reserved habits and quiet ways, he had learnt the whole history of +the place and people before he had been at Lionnet a month. + +At the Hill things remained unchanged for the ladies, save for the +additional burden of years and the pleasant news that Edgar was +expected home daily. Adelaide, now twenty-four, took the news as a +personal grace, and blossomed into smiles and glad humor of which only +Josephine understood the source. But Josephine held her tongue, and +received the confidence of her young friend with discretion. As she +had never dispossessed her own old idol, she could feel for Adelaide, +and she was not disposed to look on her patient determination with +displeasure. The constancy of the two, however, was very different in +essential meaning. With Josephine it was the constancy that is born of +an affectionate disposition and the absence of rival Lotharios: with +Adelaide it was the result of calculation and decision. The one would +have worshiped Sebastian as she worshiped him now had he been ruined, +a cripple, a criminal even: the other would have shut out Edgar +inexorably from her very dreams had not his personality included +the Hill. With the one it was self-abasement--with the other +self-consideration; but it came to the same thing in the end, and the +men profited equally. + +All these changes Sebastian Dundas found to have taken place when he +returned to North Aston with gray hair instead of brown, his smooth, +fair skin tanned and roughened, and his weak, finely-cut, effeminate +mouth hidden by a moustache of a reddish tint, mingled with white. +Still, he was Sebastian; and after the first shock of his altered +appearance had been got over, Josephine carried her incense in the old +way, and found her worship as dear and as tantalizing as ever. + +Lastly, as the crowning change of all, Leam came home from school; +no longer the arrogant, embittered child, looking at life through the +false medium of pride and ignorance, saying rude things and doing odd +ones with the most perfect unconsciousness; but well-bred, graceful, +sufficiently instructed not to make patent mistakes, and more +beautiful by far than she had even promised to be. Her very eyes were +lovelier, lovely as they had always been: they had more variety of +expression, were more dewy and tender, and, if less tragic, were more +spiritual. That hard, dry, burning passion which had devoured her of +old time seemed to have gone, as also her savage Spanish pride. She +had rounded and softened in body too, as in mind. Her skin was fairer; +her lips were not so firmly closed, so rigid in line, so constricted +in motion; her brows were more flexible and not so often knit +together; and her slight, lithe figure was perfect in line and +movement. Still, she had enough of her former manner of being for +identity. Grave, quiet, laconic, direct, she was but a modification +of the former Leam as they had known her--Leam, Pepita's daughter, +and with blood in her veins that was not the ordinary blood of the +ordinary British miss. + +Her father's artistic perceptions were gratified as he met her at the +station and Leam turned her cheek to him voluntarily with tears in her +eyes. Turning her cheek was apparently her idea of kissing; but if not +too intense an expression of affection, it was at least an improvement +on the old hard repulsion, and Sebastian accepted it as the concession +it was meant to be. Indeed, they met somewhat as foes reconciled, or +rather seeking to be reconciled, and Mr. Dundas did not wish to keep +open old sores. Her cheek, turned to him somewhere about the ear, +represented to his mind a peace-offering: her eyes full of tears were +as a confession of past sins and a promise of amendment. Not that he +understood why she was so much more effusive than of old, but if it +augured a happier life together, he was glad. + +As they drove up to the door of the old home, crowded with memories +and associations, a shudder passed over the girl: she grasped her +father's hand in her own almost convulsively, and he heard her say +below her breath, "Poor papa!" + +He wondered why she pitied him. The place must surely be full of +memories of her mother for her: why did she say "Poor papa!" to him? +He did not see what she saw--that peaceful September evening, and the +bottle of cherry-water on the table, with the little phial of thirty +deaths in her hand; and now the contents emptied into the harmless +draught; and now madame pale and dead. The whole scene transacted +itself vividly before her, and she shuddered at her memories and her +past self, as always with a kind of vague wonder how she could have +been so wicked, and where did she get the force, the courage, for such +a cruel crime? + +For all these four years at school the shadow of that dreadful deed +had been ever in the background of her life; and as time went on, and +she came to a better understanding of morality, it grew clear to her +as a crime. Its consciousness of guilt had broken down her pride, and +thus had made her more malleable, more humble. She could no longer +harden herself in her belief that she was superior to every one else. +Those girls, her companions--they had not had an Andalusian mother, +truly; they did not pray to the saints, and the Holy Virgin took no +care of them; they were Protestants and English, frogs and pigs; but +they had not committed murder. If she should stand up in the middle +of the room and tell them what she had done, which of them would touch +her hand again? which of them speak to her? English and Protestants as +they were, how far superior in their innocence to her, an Andalusian +Catholic, in her guilt! But no one lives with remorse. It comes and +goes gustily, fitfully; but the things of the present are stronger +than the things of the past, else the man with a shameful secret in +his life would go mad. + +One of these gusty storms broke over Leam as she passed through the +gates of the old home, and for the moment she felt as if she must +confess the truth to her father and tell him what evil thing she had +done. Yet it passed, as other such storms had passed: the things of +the present took their natural place of prominence, and those of the +past sank again into the background, shadows that never faded quite +away, but that were not actualities pressing against her. + +The news of Leam's home-coming created quite a pleasurable excitement +in the neighborhood, and the families flocked to Ford House to +welcome her among them as one of themselves, all anxious to see if +the Ethiopian of North Aston had shed her skin, if the leopardess had +changed her spots. They were divided among themselves as to whether +she had or had not. Some said she was charming, and like any one else, +but others shook their heads, and, like experts in brain disease, +professed to see traces of the old lunacy, and to be doubtful as to +her cure. At the worst, however, here she was--one of themselves whom +they must receive; and common sense dictated that they should make the +best of her, and hope all things till they proved some. + +There was one among them whom Leam longed yet dreaded to meet. This +was Alick Corfield. She wondered what he knew, or rather what he +suspected, and she was anxious to have her ordeal over. But, +though Mrs. Corfield came, and was just the same as ever, bustling, +inquisitive, dogmatic, before ten minutes were over having put the +girl through her scholastic facings and got from her the whole of her +curriculum, yet Alick did not appear. He waited until after Sunday, +when he should see her first in church, and so nerve himself as it +were behind the barrier of his sacred office; but after Sunday had +passed and he had seen her in her old place, he called, and found her +alone. + +When they met, and she looked into his face and laid her hand in his, +she knew all. He shared her secret, and knew what she had done. It was +not that he was either distant or familiar, cold or disrespectful, +or anything but glad and reverent; nevertheless, he knew. He was no +longer the boy adorer, her slave, her dog: he was her friend, and +he wished to make her feel that she was safe with him--known, in his +power, but safe. + +"You are changed," he said awkwardly. + +He thought of her as Leam, heard her always called Leam, but he dared +not use the familiar name, and yet she was not "Miss Dundas" to him. + +"It is four years since you saw me," she said with a grave smile. "It +was time to change." + +"But you are your old self too," he returned eagerly. He would have +no disloyalty done to the queen of his boyish dreams: what worm soever +was at its root, his royal pomegranate flower should be always set +fair in the sun where he might be. + +"You seem much changed too," she said after a short pause--"graver and +older. Is that because you are a clergyman?" + +Alick turned his eyes away from the girl's face, and looked mournfully +out onto the autumn woods. "Partly," he said. + +"And the other part?" asked Leam, pressing to know the worst. + +"And the other part?" He looked at her, and his wan face grew paler. +"Well, never mind the other part. There are things which sometimes +come into a man's life and wither it for ever, as a fire passing over +a green tree, but we do not speak of them." + +"To no one?" + +"To no one." + +Leam sighed. No proclamation could have made the thing clearer between +them. Henceforth she was in Alick's power: let him be faithful, +chivalrous, loyal, devoted, what you will, she was no longer her own +unshared property. He knew what she was, and in so far was her master. + +Poor Alick! This was not the light in which he held his fatal secret. +True, he knew what she had done, and that his young queen, his ideal, +was a murderess, who, if the truth were made public, would be degraded +below the level of the poorest wretch that had kept an honest name; +but he felt himself more accursed than she, in that he had been the +means whereby she had gotten both her knowledge and the power to use +it. He was the doomed if innocent, as of old tragic times--the sinless +Cain guilty of murder, but guiltless in intent. It was for this, as +much as for the love and poetry of the boyish days, that he felt he +owed himself to Leam--that his life was hers, and all his energies +were to be devoted for her good. It was for this that he had prayed +with such intensity of earnestness it seemed to him sometimes as if +his soul had left his body, and had gone up to the Most High to pluck +by force of passionate entreaty the pardon he besought: "Pardon her, O +Lord! Turn her heart, enlighten her understanding, convince her of her +sin; but pardon her, pardon her, dear Lord! And with her, pardon me." + +The man's whole life was spent in this one wild, fervid prayer. All +that he did was tinged with the sentiment of winning grace for her and +pardon for both. In his own mind they stood hand in hand together; +and if he was the intercessor, they were both to benefit, and neither +would be saved without the other. And he believed in the value of his +prayers and in the objective reality of their influence. + +For the final changes in the ordering of home and society at North +Aston, the week after Leam returned Edgar Harrowby came from India, +and took up his position as the owner of the Hill estate; and the +child Fina was brought to Ford House, and formally invested with +her new name and condition as Miss Fina Dundas, Sebastian's younger +daughter. Mindful of the past, Mr. Dundas expected to have a stormy +scene with Leam when he told her his intentions respecting poor +madame's child; but Leam answered quietly, "Very well, papa," and +greeted Fina when she arrived benevolently, if not effusively. She was +not one of those born mothers who love babies from their early nursery +days, but she was kind to the child in her grave way, and seemed +anxious to do well by her. + +The ladies all bestowed on her their nursery recipes and systems +in rich abundance--especially Mrs. Birkett, who, though glad to be +relieved from the hourly task of watching and contending, was still +immensely interested in the little creature, and gave daily counsel +and superintendence. So that on the whole Leam was not left unaided +with her charge. On the contrary, she ran great risk of being +bewildered by her multiplicity of counselors, and of entering in +consequence on that zigzag course which covers much ground and makes +but little progress. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +EDGAR HARROWBY. + + +Thirty-two years of age; tall, handsome, well set-up, and every inch +a soldier; manly in bearing, but also with that grace of gesture and +softness of speech which goes by the name of polished manner; a +bold sportsman, ignorant of physical fear, to whom England was the +culmination of the universe, and such men as he--gentlemen, officers, +squires--the culmination of humanity; a man who loved women as +creatures, but despised them as intelligences; who respected socially +the ladies of his own class, and demanded that they should be without +stain, as befits the wives and mothers and sisters of gentlemen, but +who thought women of a meaner grade fair game for the roving fowler; a +conservative, holding to elemental differences whence arise the value +of races, the dignity of family and the righteousness of caste; an +hereditary landowner, regarding landed property as a sacred possession +meant only for the few and not to be suffered to lapse into low-born +hands; a gentleman, incapable of falsehood, treachery, meanness, +social dishonor, but not incapable of injustice, tyranny, selfishness, +even cruelty, if such came in his way as the privilege of his +rank,--this was Edgar Harrowby as the world saw and his friends knew +him, and as North Aston had henceforth to know him. + +His return caused immense local excitement and great rejoicing. It +seemed to set the social barometer at "fair," and to promise a spell +of animation such as North Aston had been long wanting. And indeed +personally for himself it was time that Major Harrowby was at home and +at the head of his own affairs. Matters had been going rather badly on +the estate without him, and the need of a strong hand to keep agents +straight and tenants up to the mark had been making itself somewhat +disastrously felt during the last three or four years. Wherefore +he had sold out, broken all his ties in India handsomely, as he had +broken them in London handsomely once before, when, mad with jealousy, +he had fled like a thief in the night, burned his boats behind him, +and, as he thought, obliterated every trace by which that loved and +graceless woman could discover his real name or family holding; and +now had come home prepared to do his duty to society and himself. That +is, prepared to marry a nice girl of his own kind, keep the estate +well in hand, and set an example of respectability and orthodoxy, +family prayers and bold riding, according to the ideal of the English +country gentleman. + +But, above all, he must marry. And the wife provided for him by the +eternal fitness of things was Adelaide Birkett. Who else could be +found to suit the part so perfectly? She was well-born, well-mannered; +though not coarsely robust, yet healthy in the sense of purity +of blood; and she was decidedly pretty. So far to the good of the +Harrowby stock in the future. Neither was she too young, though by +reason of her quiet country life her twenty-four years did not count +more to her in wear and tear of feeling and the doubtful moulding of +experience than if she had lived through one London season. She was a +girl of acknowledged good sense, calm, equable, holding herself in the +strictest leash of ladylike reserve, and governing all her emotions +without trouble, patent or unconfessed. Hers was a character which +would never floreate into irregular beauties to give her friends +anxiety and crowd her life with embarrassing consequences. She +despised sentiment and ridiculed enthusiasm, thought skepticism both +wicked and disreputable, but at the same time fanaticism was silly, +and not nearly so respectable as that quiet, easy-going religion which +does nothing of which society would disapprove, but does not break its +heart in trying to found the kingdom of God on earth. + +All her relations with life and society would be blameless, orthodox, +ladylike and thoroughly English. As a wife she would preach submission +in public and practice domination and the moral repression belonging +to the superior being in private. As a mother she would take care +to have experienced nurses and well-bred governesses, who would look +after the children properly, when she would wash her hands of further +trouble and responsibility, save to teach them good manners at +luncheon and self-control in their evening visit to the drawing-room +for the "children's half hour" before dinner. As the mistress of an +establishment she would be strict, demanding perfect purity in the +morals of her servants, not suffering waste, nor followers, nor +kitchen amusements that she knew of, nor kitchen individuality anyhow. +Her servants would be her serfs, and she would assume to have bought +them by food and wages in soul as well as body, in mind as well as +muscle. She would give broken meat in moderation to the deserving +poor, but she would let those who are not deserving do the best they +could with want at home and inclemency abroad; and she would have +called it fostering vice had she fed the husbandless mother when +hungry or clothed the drunkard's children when naked. She would never +be talked about for extremes or eccentricities of any kind; and the +world would be forced to mention her with respect when it mentioned +her at all, having indeed no desire to do otherwise. For she was of +the kind dear to the heart of England--one of those who are called the +salt of the earth, and who are assumed to keep society safe and +pure. She was incredulous of science, contemptuous of superstition, +impatient of new ideas--appreciating art, but holding artists as +inferior creatures, like actors, acrobats and newspaper writers. She +was loyal to the queen and royal family, the nobility and Established +Church, bracketing republicans with atheists, and both with unpunished +felons; as also classing immorality, the facts of physiology and the +details of disease in a group together, as things horrible and not to +be spoken of before ladies. She was not slow to believe evil of her +neighbors, maintaining, indeed, that to be spoken of at all was proof +sufficient of undesirable conduct; but she would never investigate a +charge, preferring rather to accept it in its vile integrity than to +soil her hands by attempting to unweave its dirty threads; hence she +would be pitiless, repellent, but she would never make herself the +focus of gossip. She was a human being if you will, a Christian in +creed and name assuredly; but beyond and above all things she was +a well-mannered, well-conducted English lady, a person of spotless +morals and exquisite propriety, in the presence of whom humanity must +not be human, truth truthful, nor Nature natural. + +This was the wife for Edgar Harrowby as a country gentleman--the +woman whom Mrs. Harrowby would have chosen out of thousands to be her +daughter-in-law, whom his sisters would like, who would do credit to +his name and position; and whom he himself would find as good for his +purpose as any within the four seas. + +For when Edgar married he would marry on social and rational grounds: +he would not commit the mistake of fancying that he need love the +woman as he had loved some others. He would marry her, whoever +she might be, because she would be of a good family and reasonable +character, fairly handsome, unexceptionable in conduct, not tainted +with hereditary disease nor disgraced by ragged relatives, having +nothing to do with vice or poverty in the remotest link of her +connections--a woman fit to be the keeper of his house, the bearer +of his name, the mother of his children. But for love, passion, +enthusiasm, sentiment--Edgar thought all such emotional impedimenta +as these not only superfluous, but oftentimes disastrous in the grave +campaign of matrimony. + +It was for this marriage that Adelaide had saved herself. She believed +that any woman can marry any man if she only wills to do so; and from +the day when she was seventeen, and they had had a picnic at Dunaston, +she had made up her mind to marry Edgar Harrowby. When he came home +for good, unmarried and unengaged, she knew that she should succeed; +and Edgar knew it too. He knew it so well after he had been at home +about a week that if anything could have turned him against the wife +carved out for him by circumstance and fitness, it would have been the +almost fatal character of that fitness, as if Fortune had not left him +a choice in the matter. + +"And what do you think of Adelaide?" asked Mrs. Harrowby one day when +her son said that he had been to the rectory. "You have seen her twice +now: what is your impression of her?'" + +"She is prettier than ever--improved, I should say, all through," was +his answer. + +Mrs. Harrowby smiled. "She is a girl I like," she said. "She is so +sensible and has such nice feeling about things." + +"Yes," answered Edgar, "she is thoroughly well-bred." + +"We have seen a great deal of her of late years," Mrs. Harrowby +continued, angling dexterously. "She and the girls are fast friends, +especially she and Josephine, though there is certainly some slight +difference of age between them. But Adelaide prefers their society +to that of any one about the neighborhood. And I think that of itself +shows such good taste and nice feeling." + +"So it does," said Edgar with dutiful assent, not exactly seeing for +himself what constituted Adelaide's good taste and nice feeling in +this preference for his dull and doleful sisters over the brighter +companionship of the Fairbairns, say, or any other of the local +nymphs. To him those elderly maiden sisters of his were rather bores +than otherwise, but he was not displeased that Adelaide Birkett +thought differently. If it "ever came to anything," it would be better +that they satisfied her than that she should find them uncongenial. + +"She is coming up to dinner this evening," Mrs. Harrowby went on to +say; and Edgar smiled, pulled his moustaches and looked half puzzled +if wholly pleased. + +"She is a pretty girl," he said with the imbecility of a man who ought +to speak and who has nothing to say, also who has something that he +does not wish to say. + +"She is better than pretty--she is good," returned Mrs. Harrowby; +and Edgar, not caring to discuss Adelaide on closer ground with his +mother, strolled away into his private room, where he sat before the +fire smoking, meditating on his life in the past and his prospects +in the future, and wondering how he would like it when he had finally +abjured the freedom of bachelorhood and had taken up with matrimony +and squiredom for the remainder of his natural life. + +Punctually at seven Adelaide Birkett appeared. This, too, was one +of her minor virtues: she was exact. Mind, person, habits, all were +regulated with the nicest method, and she knew as little of hurry as +of delay, and as little of both as of passion. + +"You are such a dear, good punctual girl!" said Josephine +affectionately--Josephine, whose virtues had a few more, loose ends +and knots untied than had her friend's. + +"It is so vulgar to be unpunctual," said Adelaide with her calm +good-breeding. "It seems to me only another form of uncleanliness and +disorder." + +"And Edgar is so punctual too!" cried Josephine by way of commentary. + +Adelaide smiled, not broadly, not hilariously, only to the exact shade +demanded by conversational sympathy. "Then we shall agree in this," +she said quietly. + +"Oh I am sure you will agree, and in more than this," Josephine +returned, almost with enthusiasm. + +Had she not been the willing nurse of this affair from the +beginning?--if not the open confidante, yet secretly holding the key +to her younger friend's mind and actions? and was she not, like all +the kindly disappointed, intensely sympathetic with love-matters, +whether wise or foolish, hopeful or hopeless? + +"Who is it that you are sure will agree with Miss Adelaide, if any one +indeed could be found to disagree with her?" asked Edgar, standing in +the doorway. + +Josephine laughed with the silliness of a weak woman "caught." She +looked at Adelaide slyly. Adelaide turned her quiet face, unflushed, +unruffled, and neither laughed sillily nor looked slyly. + +"She was praising me for punctuality; and then she said that you were +punctual too," she explained cheerfully. + +"We learn that in the army," said Edgar. + +"But I have had to learn it without the army," she answered. + +"Which shows that you have by the grace of nature what I have attained +only by discipline and art," said Edgar gallantly. + +Adelaide smiled. She did not disdain the compliment. On the contrary, +she wished to impress it on Edgar that she accepted his praises +because they were her due. She knew that the world takes us if not +quite at our own valuation, yet as being the character we assume to +be. It all depends on our choice of a mask and to what ideal self we +dress. If we are clever and dress in keeping, without showing chinks +or discrepancies, no one will find out that it is only a mask; and +those of us are most successful in gaining the good-will of our +fellows who understand this principle the most clearly and act on it +the most consistently. + +The evening was a pleasant one for Adelaide, being an earnest of the +future for which, if she had not worked hard, she had controlled much. +Edgar sang solos to her accompaniment, and put in his rich baritone to +her pure if feeble soprano; he played chess with her for an hour, and +praised her play, as it deserved: naturally, not thinking it necessary +to make love to his sisters, he paid her almost exclusive attention, +and looked the admiration he felt. She really was a very pretty young +woman, and she had unexceptionable manners; and having cut himself +adrift from his ties and handsomely released himself from his +obligations, he was not disposed to take much trouble in looking far +afield for a wife when here was one ready-made to his hand. Still, +he was not so rash as to commit himself too soon. Fine play is never +precipitate; and even the most lordly lover, if an English gentleman, +thinks it seemly to pretend to woo the woman whom he means to take, +and who he knows will yield. + +And on her side Adelaide was too well-bred for the one part, and too +wise for the other, to clutch prematurely at the prize she had willed +should be hers. Her actions must be like her gestures, graceful, +rhythmic, rather slow than hurried, and bearing the stamp of purpose +and deliberation. When Edgar should make his offer, as she knew he +would, she would ask for time to reflect and make up her mind. This +would be doing the thing properly and with due regard to her own +dignity; for no husband of hers should ever have cause to think that +she held her marriage with him as a thing so undeniably advantageous +there was no doubt of her acceptance from the first. Every woman must +make herself difficult, thought Adelaide, if she wishes to be prized, +even the woman who for seven years has fixed her eyes steadily on one +point, and has determined that she will finally capture a certain man +and land him as her lifelong possession. + +Thus the evening passed, with a subtle undercurrent of concealed +resolves flowing beneath its surface admiration that gave it a +peculiar charm to the two people principally concerned--the one +feeling that she had advanced her game by an important move; the +other, that the eternal fitness of things 'was making itself more +and-more evident, and that it was manifest to all his senses +whom Providence had destined for his wife, and for what ultimate +matrimonial end he had been shaped and spared. + +A book of photographs was on the table. + +"Are you here?" asked Edgar, lowering his bright blue eyes on +Adelaide as she sat on a small chair at Mrs. Harrowby's feet, carrying +daughterly incense to that withered shrine. + +"Yes, I think so," she answered. + +He turned the pages carefully--passing over his sisters in wide +crinolines and spoon bonnets; his mother, photographed from an old +picture, in a low dress and long dropping bands of hair, like a +mouflon's ears, about her face; Fred and himself, both as boys in +Scotch suits, set stiffly against the table like dolls--with gradual +improvement in art and style, till he came to a page where Adelaide's +fair vignetted head of large size was placed side by side with +another, also vignetted and also large. + +"Ah! there you are; and what a capital likeness!" cried Edgar, with +the joyous look and accent of one meeting an old friend, giving that +gauge of interest which we all unconsciously give when we first see +the photograph of a well-known face. He looked at the portrait long +and critically. "Only not so pretty," he added gallantly. "Those +fellows cannot catch the spirit: they give only the outside forms, and +not always these correctly. Here is a striking face," he continued, +pointing to Adelaide's companion-picture--a girl with masses of dark +hair, dark eyes, large, mournful, heavily fringed with long lashes, +and a grave, sad face, that seemed listening rather than looking. "Who +is she? She looks foreign." + +Adelaide glanced at the page, as if she did not know it by heart. +"That? Oh! that is only Leam Dundas," she said with the faintest, +finest flavor of scorn in her voice. + +"Leam Dundas?" repeated Edgar--"the daughter of that awful woman?" + +"Yes, and nearly as odd as the mother," answered Adelaide, still in +the same cold manner and with the same accent of superior scorn. + +"At least she used to be, you mean, dear, but she is more like other +people now," said kindly Josephine, more just than politic. + +Adelaide looked at her calmly, indifferently. "Yes, I suppose she is +rather less savage than of old," was her reply, "but I do not see much +of her," + +"I do not remember to have ever seen her: she must have been a mere +child when I was here last," said Edgar. + +"She is nineteen now, I think," said Mrs. Harrowby. + +"Not more?" repeated Adelaide. "I imagined she was one-and-twenty at +the least. She looks so very much older than even this--five or six +and twenty, full; dark people age so quickly." + +"She seems to be superbly handsome," Edgar said, still looking at the +portrait. + +"For those who like that swarthy kind of beauty. For myself, I do not: +it always reminds me of negroes and Lascars." + +Adelaide leaned forward, and made pretence to examine Leam's portrait +with critical independence of judgment. She spoke as if this was the +first time she had seen it, and her words the thought of the moment +resulting. + +"There is no negroid taint here," Edgar answered gravely. "It is the +face of a sibyl, of a tragedian." + +"Do you think so? It is fine in outline certainly, but too monotonous +to please me, and too lugubrious; and the funny part of it is, +there is nothing in her. She looks like a sibyl, but she is the most +profoundly stupid person you can imagine." + +"Not now, Addy: she has wakened up a good deal," again interposed +Josephine with her love of justice and want of tact. + +"But do you not see the mother in her, Josephine? I do, painfully; and +the mother was such a horror! Leam is just like her. She will grow her +exact counterpart" + +"A bad model enough," said Edgar; "but this face is not bad. It has +more in it than poor old Pepita's. How fat she was!" + +"So will Leam be when she is as old," said Adelaide quietly. "And do +you think these dark people ever look clean? I don't," + +"That is a drawback certainly," laughed Edgar, running through the +remainder of the book. + +But he turned back again to the page which held Leam and Adelaide side +by side, and he spoke of the latter while he looked at the former. The +face of Leam Dundas, mournful, passionate, concentrated as it was, +had struck his imagination--struck it as none other had done since the +time when he had met that grand and graceful woman wandering, lost in +a fog, in St. James's Park, and had protected from possible annoyance +till he had landed her in St. John's Wood. He was glad that Leam +Dundas lived in North Aston, and that he should see her without +trouble or overt action; and as he handed Adelaide into her carriage +he noticed for the first time that her blue eyes were not quite even, +that her flaxen hair had not quite enough color, and that her face, if +pure and fair, was slightly insipid. + +"Poor, dear Adelaide!" he said when he returned to the drawing-room, +"how nice she is! but how tart she was about this Leam Dundas of +yours! Looks like jealousy; and very likely is. All you women are so +horribly jealous." + +"Not all of us," said Maria hastily. + +"And I do not think that Adelaide is," said Josephine. "She has no +cause; for though Leam is certainly very lovely, and seems to have +improved immensely for being at school, still she and Addy do not come +into collision any way, and I do not see why she should be jealous." + +"Perhaps Edgar admired her photograph too much," said Fanny, who +was the stupid one of the three, but on occasions made the shrewdest +remarks. + +Edgar laughed, not displeasedly. "That would be paying me too high a +compliment," he said. + +Whereat his three sisters echoed "Compliment!" in various tones of +deprecation, and Josephine added a meaning little laugh for her own +share, for which Edgar gave her a kiss, and said in a bantering kind +of voice, "Now, Joseph! mind what you are about!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ON THE MOOR. + + +It was a gray and gusty day in November, with heavy masses of +low-lying clouds rolling tumultuously overhead, and a general look +of damp and decay about the fields and banks--one of those melancholy +days of the late autumn which make one long for the more varied +circumstances of confessed winter, when the deep blue shadows in the +crisp snow suggest the glory of southern skies, and the sparkle of the +sun on the delicate tracery of the frosted branches has a mimicry of +life, such as we imagine strange elves and fairies might create. + +There was no point of color in the landscape save the brown foliage of +the shivering beech trees, a few coarse splashes of yellow weeds, and +here and there a trail of dying crimson leaves threading the barren +hedgerows. Everything was "sombre, lifeless, mournful", and even Edgar +Harrowby, though by no means sentimentally impressionable to outward +conditions, felt, as he rode through the deserted lanes and looked +abroad over the stagnant country, that life on the off-hunt days was +but a slow-kind of thing at North Aston, and that any incident which +should break the dead monotony of the scene would be welcome. + +He had been thinking a great deal of Adelaide for the last four or +five days, since she had dined at the Hill, and making up his mind to +take the final plunge before long. He was not in love with her, but +she suited, as has been said; and that was as good as love to +Edgar, who had now to take up his squiredom and country gentleman's +respectability, after having had his share of a young man's "fling" in +rather larger proportion than falls to the lot of most. All the same, +he wished that her face had more expression and that her eyes were +perfectly straight; and he wanted to see Leam Dundas. + +He had made a long round to-day, and was turning now homeward, when, +as he had almost crossed the moor, athwart which his road led, he saw +standing on a little hillock, away from the main track, the slight +figure of a woman sharply defined against the sky. She was alone, +doing nothing, not seeming to be looking at anything--just standing +there on the hillock, facing the north-west, as if for pleasure in the +rough freshness of the breeze. + +The wind blew back her dress, and showed her girlish form, supple, +flexible, graceful, fashioned like some nymph of olden time. From her +small feet, arched and narrow, gripping the ground like feet of steel, +to the slender throat on which her head was set with so much grace +of line, yet with no sense of over-weighting in its tender curves, an +expression of nervous energy underlying her fragile litheness of form, +a look of strength--not muscular nor the strength of bulk or weight, +but the strength of fibre, will, tenacity--seemed to mark her out as +something different from the herd. + +Edgar scarcely gave this vague impression words in his own mind, but +he was conscious of a new revelation of womanhood, and he scented an +adventure in this solitary figure facing the north-west wind on the +lonely moor. + +Her very dress, too, had a character of its own in harmony with the +rest--black all through, save for the scarlet feather in her hat, +which burnt like a flame against the gray background of the sky; +and her whole attitude had something of defiance in its profound +stillness, while standing so boldly against the strong blasts that +swept across the heights, which caught his imagination, at that +moment ready to be inflamed. All things depend on times and moods, and +Edgar's mood at this moment of first seeing Leam Dundas was favorable +for the reception of new impressions. + +For, of course, it was Leam--Leam, who, since her return from school, +alone and without companionship, was feverish often, and often +impelled to escape into the open country from something that oppressed +her down in the valley too painfully to be borne. She had never been +a confidential nor an expansive schoolfellow; not even an affectionate +one as girls count affection, seeing that she neither kissed nor +cried, nor quarreled nor made up--neither stood as a model of +fidelity nor changed her girl-lovers in anticipation of future +inconstancies--writing a love-letter to Ada to-day and a copy of +verses to Ethel to-morrow--but had kept with all the same quiet +gravity and gentle reticence which seemed to watch rather than share, +and to be more careful not to offend than solicitous to win. + +All the same, she missed her former comrades now that she had lost +them; but most of all she missed the wholesome occupation and mental +employment of her studies. Left as she was to herself, thoughts and +memories were gathering up from the background where they had lain +dormant if extant all these years, and through her solitude were +getting a vitality which made her stand still in a kind of breathless +agony, wondering where they would lead her and in what they would end. +At times such a burning sense of sin would flash over her that she +felt as if she must confess that hideous fact of her girlish past. It +seemed so shameful that she should be living there among the rest, a +criminal with the innocent, and not tell them what she was. Then the +instinct of self-preservation would carry it over her conscience, and +she would press back her thoughts and go out, as to-day, to cool her +feverish blood, and grow calm to bear and strong to hold the heavy +burden which she had fashioned by her own mad deed and laid for life +on her own hands. + +If only the ladies had not insisted so strongly on mamma's personality +in heaven! if only they had not lighted up her imagination, her +loyalty, by this tremendous torch of faith and love! How bitterly she +regretted the childish fanaticism which had made her imagine herself +the providence of that beloved memory, the avenger of those shadowy +wrongs! Oh, if she could undo the past and call madame back to life! +She would kiss her now, and even call her mamma if it would please her +and papa. So she stood on the hillock facing the north-west, thinking +these things and regretting in vain. + +As Edgar came riding by his large black hound dashed off to Leam and +barked furiously, all four paws planted on the ground as if preparing +for a spring. The beast had probably no malice, and might have meant +it merely as his method of saying, "Who are you?" but he looked +formidable, and Leam started back and cried, "Down, dog! go away!" in +a voice half angry and half afraid. + +Then Edgar saw the face, and knew who she was. He rode across the +turf, calling off his dog, and came up to her. It was an opportunity, +and Edgar Harrowby was a man who knew how to take advantage of +opportunities. It was in his creed to thank Providence for favorable +chances by making the most of them, and this was a chance of which it +would be manifestly ungrateful not to make the most. It was far more +picturesque to meet her for the first time, as now, on the wild moor +on a gusty gray November day, than in the gloomy old drawing-room at +the Hill. It gave a flavor of romance and the forbidden which was not +without its value in the beginning of an acquaintance with such a face +as Leam's. Nevertheless, in spite of the romance that hung about the +circumstance, his first words were common-place enough. "I hope my dog +has not alarmed you?" he said, lifting his hat. + +Leam looked at him with those wonderful eyes of hers, that seemed +somehow to look through him. She, standing on her hillock, was +slightly higher than Edgar sitting on his horse; and her head was bent +as she looked down on him, giving her attitude and gesture something +of a dignified assumption of superiority, more like the Leam of the +past than of the present. "No, I was not alarmed," she said. "But I +do not like to be barked at," she added, an echo of the old childish +sense of injury from circumstance that was so quaint and pretty in her +half-complaining voice. + +"I suppose not: how should you?" answered Edgar with sympathetic +energy. "Rover is a good-old fellow, but he has the troublesome trick +of giving tongue unnecessarily. He would not have hurt you, but I +should be very sorry to think he had frightened you. To heel, sir!" +angrily. + +"No, he did not frighten me." repeated Leam. + +Never loquacious, there was something about this man's face and +manner, his masterful spirit underneath his courteous bearing, his +look of masculine power and domination, his admiring eyes that fixed +themselves on her so unflinchingly--not with insolence, but as if he +had the prescriptive right of manhood to look at her, only a woman, as +he chose, he commanding and she obeying--that quelled and silenced +her even beyond her wont. He was the first gentleman of noteworthy +appearance who had ever spoken to her--not counting Alick, nor +the masters who had taught her at school, nor Mr. Birkett, nor Mr. +Fairbairn, as gentlemen of noteworthy appearance--and the first of all +things has a special influence over young minds. + +"You are brave to walk so far alone: you ought to have a dog like +Rover to protect you," Edgar said, still looking at her with those +unflinching eyes, which oppressed her even when she did not see them. + +"I am not brave, and I do not care for dogs. Besides, I do not often +walk so far as this; but I felt the valley stifling to-day," answered +Leam, in her matter-of-fact, categorical way. + +"All the same, you ought to have protection," Edgar said +authoritatively, and Leam did not reply. + +She only looked at him earnestly, wondering against what she should +be protected, having abandoned by this time her belief in banditti and +wild beasts. + +If his eyes oppressed her, hers half embarrassed him. There was such +a strange mixture of intensity and innocence in them, he scarcely knew +how to meet them. + +"It is absurd to pretend that we do not know each other," then said +Edgar after a short pause, smiling; and his smile was very sweet and +pleasant. "You are Miss Dundas--I am Edgar Harrowby." + +"Yes, I know," Leam answered. + +"How is that?" he asked, "_I_ knew _you_ from your photograph--once +seen not to be forgotten again," gallantly--"but how should you know +me?" + +Leam raised her eyes from the ground where she had cast them. Those +slow full looks, intense, tragic, fixed, had a startling effect of +which she was wholly unconscious. Edgar felt his own grow dark and +tender as he met hers. If the soul and mind within only answered to +the mask without, what queen or goddess could surpass this half-breed +Spanish girl, this country-born, unnoted, but glorious Leam Dundas? he +thought. + +"And I knew you from yours," she answered. + +"An honor beyond my deserts," said Edgar. + +Not that he thought the notice of a girl, even with such a face +as this, beyond his deserts. Indeed, if a queen or a goddess had +condescended to him, it would not have been a grace beyond his merits; +but it sounded pretty to say so, and served to make talk as well as +anything else. And to make talk was the main business on hand at this +present moment. + +"Why an honor?" asked Leam, ignorant of the elements of flirting. + +Edgar smiled again, and this time his smile without words troubled +her. It seemed the assertion of superior intelligence, contemptuous, +if half pitiful of her ignorance. Once so serenely convinced of her +superiority, Leam was now as suspicious of her shortcomings, and was +soon abashed. + +Edgar did not see that he had troubled her. Masterful and masculine +to an eminent degree, the timid doubts and fears of a young girl were +things he could not recognize. He had no point in his own nature with +which they came in contact, so that he should sympathize with them. +He knew the whole fence and foil of coquetry, the signs of silent +flattery, the sweet language of womanly self-conscious love, whether +wooing or being won; but the fluttering misgivings of youth and +absolute inexperience were dark to him. All of which he felt conscious +was that here was something deliciously fresh and original, and that +Leam was more beautiful to look at than Adelaide, and a great deal +more interesting to talk to. + +"If you will allow me, now that I have had the pleasure of meeting +you, I will see you safe for at least part of your way home," he said, +passing by her naïve query "Why an honor?" as a thing to be answered +only by that smile of superior wisdom. + +Flinging himself from his horse, he took the bridle in his hand and +turned toward home, looking to the girl to accompany him. Leam felt +that she could not refuse his escort offered as so much a matter of +course. Why should she? It was very pleasant to have some one to walk +with--some one not her father, with whom she still felt shy, if not +now absolutely estranged; nor yet Alick, in whose pale face she was +always reading the past, and who, though he was so good and kind +and tender, was her master and held her in his hand. This handsome, +courteous gentleman was different from either, and she liked his +society and superior ways. And as he began now to talk to her of +things not trenching on nor admitting of flirtation--chiefly of the +places he had visited, India, Egypt, Italy, Spain--she was not so much +abashed by his unflinching looks and masterful manner. + +When he entered on Spain and his recollections of what he had seen +there, the girl's heart throbbed, and her pale face grew whiter still +with the passionate thrill that stirred her. The old blood was in her +veins yet, and, though modified, and in some sense transformed, she +was still Pepita's daughter and the child of Andalusia. And here was +truth; not like that poor wretched madame's talk, which even she had +found out to be false and only making believe to know what she did not +know. Spain was the name of power with Learn, as it had been with her +mother, and she lifted her face, white with its passionate desires, +listening as if entranced to all that Edgar said. + +It was a good opening, and the handsome soldier-squire congratulated +himself on his lucky hit and serviceable memory. Presently he touched +on Andalusia, and Leam, who hitherto had been listening without +comment, now broke in eagerly. "That is my own country!" she cried. +"Mamma came from Andalusia, beautiful Andalusia! Ah! how I should like +to go there!" + +"Perhaps you will some day," Edgar answered a little significantly. + +Had she been more instructed in the kind of thing he meant, she would +have seen that he wished to convey the idea of a love-journey made +with him. + +She shook her head and her eyes grew moist and dewy. "Not now," she +said mournfully. "Poor mamma has gone, and there is no one now to take +me." + +"I will make up a party some day, and you shall be one of us," said +Edgar. + +She brightened all over. "Ah! that would be delightful!" she cried, +taking him seriously. "When do you think we shall go?" + +"I will talk about it," Edgar answered, though smiling again--Leam +wished he would not smile so often--a little aghast at her +literalness, and saying to himself in warning that he must be careful +of what he said to Leam Dundas. It was evident that she did not +understand either badinage or a joke. But her very earnestness pleased +him for all its oddity. It was so unlike the superficiality and +levity of the modern girl--that hateful Girl of the Period, in whose +existence he believed, and of whose influence he stood in almost +superstitious awe. He liked that grave, intense way of hers, which was +neither puritanical nor stolid, but, on the contrary, full of unspoken +passion, rich in latent concentrated power. + +"They are very beautiful, are they not?" Leam asked suddenly. + +"What? who?" was Edgar's answer. + +"The Andalusian women, and the men," returned Leam. + +"The men are fine-looking fellows enough," answered Edgar +carelessly--"a little too brutal for my taste, but well-grown men for +all that. But I have seen prettier women out of Spain than in it." + +"Mamma used to say they were so beautiful--the most beautiful of +all the women in the world; and the best." Leam said this with a +disappointed air and her old injured accent. + +Edgar laughed softly. "The prettiest Andalusian woman I have ever +seen has an English father," he answered, with a sudden flush on his +handsome face as he bent it a little nearer to hers. + +"How odd!" said Leam. "An English father? That is like me." + +Edgar looked at her, to read how much of this was real ingenuousness, +how much affected simplicity. He saw only a candid inquiring face with +a faint shade of surprise in its quiet earnestness, unquestionably not +affected. + +"Just so," he answered. "Exactly like you." + +His voice and manner made Leam blush uncomfortably. She was conscious +of something disturbing, without knowing what it was. She first looked +up into his face with the same expression of inquiry as before, then +down to the earth perplexedly, when suddenly the truth came upon her; +he meant herself--she was the prettiest Andalusian he had ever seen. + +She was intensely humiliated at her discovery. Not one of those girls +who study every feature, every gesture, every point, till there is +not a square inch of their personality of which they are not painfully +conscious, Leam had never taken herself into artistic consideration +at all. She had been proud of her Spanish blood, of her mantilla, her +high comb and her fan; but of herself as a woman among women she knew +nothing, nor whether she was plain or pretty. Indeed, had she had to +say offhand which, she would have answered plain. The revelation which +comes sooner or later to all women of the charms they possess had not +yet come to her; and Edgar's words, making the first puncture in +her ignorance, pained her more by the shock which they gave her +self-consciousness than they pleased her by their flattery. + +She said no more, but walked by his side with her head held very high +and slightly turned away. She was sorry that he had offended her. They +had been getting on together so well until he had said this foolish +thing, and now they were like friends who had quarreled. She was quite +sorry that he had been so foolish as to offend her, but she must not +forgive him--at least not just yet. It was very wrong of him to tell +her that she was prettier than the true children of the soil; and she +resented the slight to Spain and to her mother, as well as the wrong +done to herself, by his saying that which was not true. So she walked +with her little head held high, and Edgar could get nothing more out +of her. When Leam was offended coaxings to make her forget were of no +avail. She had to wear through an impression by herself, and it was +useless to try for a premature pardon. + +Edgar saw that he had overshot the mark, and that his best policy now +was absence; wherefore, after a few moments' silence, he remounted his +horse, looking penitent, handsome, full of admiration and downcast. + +"I hope we shall soon see you at the Hill, Miss Dundas," he said, +holding her hand in his for his farewell a little longer than was +quite necessary for good breeding or even cordiality. + +"I very seldom go to the Hill," answered Leam, looking past his head. + +"But you will come, and soon?" fervently. + +"Perhaps: I do not know," answered Leam, still looking past his head, +and embarrassed to a most uncomfortable extent. + +"Thank you," he said, as if he had been thanking her for the grace of +his life; and with a long look, lifting his hat again, he rode off, +just escaping by a few hundred yards the danger of being met walking +with Leam by his sisters and Adelaide Birkett. They were all driving +together in the phaeton, and the sisters were making much of their +young friend. + +At that moment Edgar preferred to be met alone and not walking with +Leam. He did not stop the carriage--simply nodded to them all with +familiar kindness, as a group of relatives not demanding extra +courtesy, flinging a few words behind him as he rode on smiling. Nor +did the ladies in their turn stop for Leam, whom they met soon after +walking slowly along the road; but Josephine said, as they passed, how +pretty Learn looked to-day, and how much softer her face was than it +used to be; and Maria, even Maria, agreed with kindly Joseph, and +was quite eulogistic on the object of her old disdain. Adelaide sat +silent, and did not join in their encomiums. + +It would have been a nice point to ascertain if the Misses Harrowby +would have praised the girl's beauty as they did had they known +that she had grown soft and dewy-eyed by talking of Spain with their +brother Edgar, though she had hardened a little afterward when he told +her that she was the prettiest Andalusian he had ever seen. + +During the dinner at the Hill, where Adelaide was one of the family +party, Edgar mentioned casually how that he had met Miss Dundas on the +moor, and had had to speak to her because of Rover's misbehavior. + +"Yes? and what do you think of her?" asked Mrs. Harrowby with a sharp +glance. + +"I scarcely know: I have hardly seen her as yet," he answered. + +"Did she say or do anything very extraordinary to-day?" asked +Adelaide with such an air of contemptuous curiosity as seemed to him +insufferably insolent. + +"No, nothing. Is she in the habit of saying or doing extraordinary +things?" he answered back, arching his eyebrows and speaking in a +well-affected tone of sincere inquiry. + +"At times she is more like a maniac than a sane person," said +Adelaide, breaking her bread with deliberation. "What can you expect +from such a parentage and education as hers?" + +Edgar looked down and smiled satirically. "Poor Pepita's sins lie +heavy on your mind," he answered. + +"Yes, I believe in race," was her reply. + +"Mother," then said Edgar after a short silence, "why do you not have +Miss Dundas to dine here with Adelaide? It would be more amusing +to her, for it must be dull"--turning to their guest and speaking +amiably, considerately--"I am afraid very dull--to be so often quite +alone with us." + +He did not add what he thought, that it was almost indelicate in her +to be here so often. He was out of humor with her to-day. + +"She is such an uncertain girl we never know how she may be. I had her +to stay here once, and I do not want to repeat the experiment," was +Mrs. Harrowby's answer. + +"But, mamma, that was before she went to school, when she was quite a +child. She is so much improved now," pleaded Josephine. + +"Good little soul!" said Edgar under his breath.--"Wine, Joseph?" +aloud, as his recognition of her good offices. + +"And I like coming alone best, thanks," said Adelaide with unruffled +calmness. "Leam has never been my friend; indeed, I do not like her, +and you all," to the sisters, with a gracious smile and prettily, +"have always been my favorite companions." + +"Still, she is very lonely, and it would be kind. Besides, she is good +to look at," said Edgar. + +"Do you think so?" said Mrs. Harrowby with crisp lips and +ill-concealed displeasure. + +"Do I think so, mother? I should have no eyes else. She is superb. I +have never seen such a face. She is the most beautiful creature I have +ever known of any nation." + +Adelaide's delicate pink cheeks turned pale, and then they flushed a +brilliant rose as she laid down her spoon and left her jelly untasted. + +There were no trials of skill at chess, no duets, no solos, this +evening. After dinner Edgar went to his own room and sat there +smoking. He felt revolted at the idea of spending two or three hours +with what he irreverently called "a lot of dull women," and preferred +his own thoughts to their talk. He sauntered into the drawing-room +about ten minutes before Adelaide had to leave, apologizing for his +absence on the man's easy plea of "business," saying he was sorry to +have missed her charming society, and he hoped they should see her +there soon again, and so on--all in the proper voice and manner, +but with a certain ring of insincerity in the tones which Adelaide +detected, if the others did not. But she accepted his excuses with the +most admirable tact, smiling to the sisters as she said, "Oh, we +have been very happy, Josephine, have we not? though," with a nice +admission of Edgar's claims, not too broadly stated nor too warmly +allowed, "of course it would have been very pleasant if you could have +come in too." + +"It has been my loss," said Edgar. + +She smiled "Yes" by eyes, lips and turn of her graceful head. In +speech she answered, "Of that, of course, you are the best judge for +yourself; but none of us here feel as some girls do, lost without +gentlemen to amuse them. We can get on very well by ourselves. Cannot +we, Joseph?" + +And Josephine said gallantly, "Yes," but her heart was more rueful +than her voice, and she thought that some gentlemen were very +nice, and that Sebastian Dundas especially made the dull time pass +pleasantly. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +THE CHILD FINA. + + +Nothing surprised the North Astonians more than what it was the +fashion to call "the admirable manner in which Leam behaved to +the child Fina." If the world which praised her had known all the +compelling circumstances, would it have called her admirable then? Yet +beyond those natural promptings of remorse which forced her to do +the best she could for the child whom her fatal crime had rendered +motherless, Leam did honestly behave well, if this means doing irksome +things without complaint and sacrificing self to a sense of right. And +this was all the more praiseworthy in that sympathy of nature between +these two young creatures there was none, and the girl's maternal +instinct was not of that universal kind which makes all children +pleasant, whatever they may be. Hence, she did nobly when she did her +duty with the uncompromising exactness characteristic of her; but then +it was only duty, it was not love. + +How should it be love? Her tenacity and reserve were ill matched with +Fina's native inconstancy of purpose and childish incontinence of +speech; her pride of race resented her father's adoption of a stranger +into the penetralia of the family; and to share the name she had +inherited from her mother with the daughter of that mother's rival +seemed to her a wrong done to both the living and the dead. Naturally +taciturn, unjoyful, and ever oppressed by that brooding consciousness +of guilt hanging like a cloud over her memory, formless, vague, but +never lifting, Fina's changeful temper and tumultuous vivacity were +intensely wearisome to her. Nevertheless, she was forbearing if not +loving, and the people said rightly when they said she was admirable. + +Her grave patience with the little one did more to open her father's +heart to her than did even her own wonderful beauty, which gratified +his paternal pride of authorship, or than her efforts after docility +to himself--efforts that would have been creditable to any one, and +that with her were heroic. For Mr. Dundas, being of those clinging, +clasping natures which must love some one, had taken poor madame's +child into his affections in the wholesale manner so emphatically his +own, now in these first days of his new paternity seeming to live only +for the little Fina, and never happy but when he had her with him. It +was the first time that he felt he had had a child of his own; and he +gave her the love which would have been Leam's had Pepita been less +of a savage than she was, and more discreet in the matter of +doll-dressing. + +The little round, fair-haired creature, with her picturesque +Gainsborough head and rose-red lips, pretty, pleasant, facile, easily +amused if easily made cross, divertible from her purpose if she was +but coaxed and caressed, and if the substitute offered was to her +liking--without tenacity, fluid, floating on the surface of things and +born of their froth; loving only those who ministered to her pleasure +and were in sight; forgetting yesterday's joys as though they had +never been, and her dearest the moment they were absent--a child +deliciously caressing because sensual by temperament and instinctively +diplomatic, with no latent greatness to be developed as time went on +and the flower set into the fruit. Epitomizing the characteristics of +the class of which her mother had been a typical example, she was the +pleasantest thing of his life to a man who cared mainly to be amused, +and who liked with a woman's liking to be loved. + +The strong love of children inherent in him, which had never been +satisfied till now, seemed now to have gathered tenfold strength, and +the love of the man, who had never cared for his own, for this his +little daughter by adoption was almost a passion. If Leam could have +been jealous where she did not love, she would have been jealous of +her father and Fina. But she was not. On the contrary, it seemed to +soften some of the bitterness of her self-reproach, and she was glad +that madame's motherless child was not deserted, but had found a +substitute for the protection which she had taken from her; for Leam, +criminal, was not ignoble. + +A few days after the meeting on the moor between Learn and Edgar, Mr. +Dundas drove to the Hill, carrying Fina with him. Leam had a fit of +shyness and refused to go: thus Sebastian had the child to himself, +and was not sorry to be without his elder and less congenial daughter. +He owned to himself that she was good, very good indeed, and a great +deal better than he ever expected she would be; yet for all that, with +her more than Oriental gravity and reserve, and that look of tragedy +haunting her face, she was not an amusing companion, and the little +one was. + +Mr. Dundas had begun to take up his old habits again with the +Harrowbys. He found the patient constancy of his friend Josephine not +a disagreeable salve for a wounded heart and broken life; albeit poor +dear Joseph was getting stout and matronly, and took off the keen edge +of courtship by a willingness too manifest for wisdom. Sebastian liked +to be loved, but he did not like to be bored by being made overmuch +love to. The things are different, and most men resent the latter, how +much soever they desire the former. + +Edgar was in the drawing-room when Mr. Dundas was announced. He was +booted and spurred, waiting his horse to be brought round. "What a +pretty little girl!" he said after a time. True to his type, he was +fond of children and animals, and children and animals liked him. +"Come and speak to me," he continued, holding out his hand to +Fina.--"Whose child is she?" vaguely to the company in general. + +"Mine," said Mr. Dundas emphatically--"my youngest daughter, Fina +Dundas." + +Edgar knew what he meant. He had often heard the story from his +sisters, and since his return home he had had Adelaide Birkett's +comments thereon. He looked then with even more interest on the +pretty little creature in dark-blue velvet and swansdown, careless, +unconscious, happy, as the child of a mystery and a tragedy in one. + +"Ah!" he said sympathetically. "Come to me, little one," again, +coaxingly. + +Fina, with her finger in her mouth, went up to him half shyly, half +boldly, and wholly prettily. She let him take her on his knee and kiss +her without remonstrance. She was of the kind to like being taken on +knees and kissed--especially by gentlemen who were strong and matronly +women who were soft--and she soon made friends. Not many minutes +elapsed before, kneeling upon his knees, she was stroking his tawny +beard and plaiting it in threes, pulling his long moustache, playing +with his watch-guard, and laughing in his face with the pretty +audacity of six. + +"What a dear little puss!" cried Edgar, caressing her. "Very like +you, Joseph, I should think, when you were her age, judging by your +picture. Is she not, mother?" + +"They say so, but I do not see it," answered Mrs. Harrowby primly. + +She did not like to hear about this resemblance. There was something +in it that annoyed her intensely, she scarcely knew why, and the more +so because it was true. + +"Poor madame used to say so: she saw it from the first, when Fina was +quite a little baby," said Josephine in a low voice. + +She was kneeling by her brother's side caressing Fina. She always made +love to the little girl: it was one of her methods of making love to +the father. + +"Is she like her mother?" asked Edgar in the same low tones, looking +at the child critically. + +"A little," answered Josephine--"not much. It is odd, is it not, that +she should be more like me?" + +Just then Fina laid her fresh sweet lips against Edgar's, and he +kissed her with a strange thrill of tenderness. + +"Why, Edgar, I never saw you take so to a child before," cried Mrs. +Harrowby, not quite pleasantly; and on Sebastian adding with his +nervous little laugh, which meant the thing it assumed only to play +at, "I declare I shall be quite jealous, Edgar, if you make love to +my little girl like this." Edgar, who had the Englishman's dislike +to observation, save when he offered himself for personal admiration, +laughed too and put Fina away. + +But the child had taken a fancy to him, and could scarcely be induced +to leave him. She clung to his hand still, and went reluctantly when +her stepfather called her. It was a very little matter, but men being +weak in certain directions, it delighted Edgar and annoyed Sebastian +beyond measure. + +"I hope your elder daughter is well," then said Edgar, emphasizing the +adjective, the vision of Leam as he first saw her, breasting the wind, +filling his eyes with a strange light. + +"Leam? Quite well, thanks. But how do you know anything about her?" +was Sebastian's reply. + +"I met her yesterday on the moor, and Rover introduced us," answered +Edgar laughing. + +"How close she is!" said her father fretfully. "She never told me a +word about it." + +"Perhaps she thought the incident too trifling," suggested Edgar, a +little chagrined. + +"Oh no, not at all! In a place like North Aston the least thing counts +as an adventure; and meeting for the first time one of the neighbors +is not an incident to be forgotten as if it were of no more value than +meeting a flock of sheep." + +Mr. Dundas spoke peevishly. To a man who liked to be amused and who +lived on crumbs this reserved companionship was disappointing and +tiresome. + +"Leam is at home making music," said Fina disdainfully. She had caught +the displeased accent of her adopted father, and echoed it. + +"Does she make much music?" asked Edgar with his hand under her chin, +turning up her face. + +The child shrugged her little shoulders. "She makes a noise," she +said; and those who heard her laughed. + +"That is not a very polite way of putting it," said Edgar a little +gravely. + +"No," said Josephine. + +"You should speak nicely of your sister, my little one," put in +Sebastian. + +Fina looked up into his face reproachfully. "You called it a noise +yourself, papa," she said, pouting. "You made her leave off yesterday +as soon as you came in, because you said she made your head ache with +her noise, and set your teeth--something, I don't know what." + +"Did I, dear?" he repeated carelessly. "Well, we need not discuss the +subject. I dare say it amuses her to make music, as you call it, and +so we need say no more about it." + +"But you did say it was a noise," persisted Fina, climbing on to his +knees and putting her arms round his neck. "And I think it a noise +too." + +"Poor Leam's music cannot be very first-rate," remarked Maria, who +was a proficient and played almost as well as a "professional." "Four +years ago she did not know her notes, and four years' practice cannot +be expected to make a perfect pianiste." + +"But a person may play very sweetly and yet not be what you call +perfect," said Edgar. + +"Do you think so?" Maria answered with a frosty smile. "I do not." Of +what use to have toiled for thirty years early and late at scales +and thorough-bass if a stupid girl like Leam could be allowed to play +sweetly after four years' desultory practice? "Adelaide Birkett, if +you will, plays well," she added; "but Leam, poor child! how should +she?" + +"I hope I shall have an opportunity of judging for myself," said +Edgar with his company manner.--"When will you come and dine here, +Dundas?--to-morrow? You and your elder daughter: we shall be very glad +to see you." + +He looked to his mother. Mrs. Harrowby had drawn her lips tight, and +wore an injured air doing its best to be resigned. This was +Edgar's first essay in domestic mastership, and it pained her, not +unnaturally. + +"Thanks," said Sebastian. "Willingly, if--" looking to Mrs. Harrowby. + +"I have no engagement, and Edgar is master now," said that lady. + +"And mind that Leam comes too," said Josephine, sharing her favorite +brother's action by design. + +"And me," cried Fina. + +Whereat they all laughed, which made Fina cry, to be consoled only by +some sweetmeats which Josephine found in her work-basket. + +It was agreed, then, that the next day Leam and her father should dine +at the Hill. + +"Only ourselves," Edgar said, wanting the excuse of her "being the +only lady" to devote himself to Leam. It was strange that he should +be so anxious to see her nearer, and in company with his sisters and +mother; for after all, why should he? What was she to him, either near +or afar off, alone or in the inner circle of his family? + +But when the next day came Mr. Dundas appeared alone. Leam had been +taken with a fit of shyness, pride--who shall say?--and refused to +accept her share of the invitation. Her father made the stereotyped +excuse of "headache;" but headaches occur too opportunely to be +always real, and Leam's to-night was set down to the fancy side of +the account, and not believed in by the hearers any more than by the +bearer. + +Edgar raged against her in his heart, and decided that she was not +worth a second thought, while the ladies said in an undertone from +each to each, "How rude!" Maria adding, "How like Leam!" the chain +of condemnation receiving no break till it came to Josephine, whose +patient soul refrained from wrath, and gave as her link, "Poor Leam! +perhaps she is shy or has really a headache." + +In spite of his decision that she was not worth a second thought, +the impression which Leam had made on Edgar deepened with his +disappointment, and he became restless and unpleasant in his temper, +casting about for means whereby he might see her again. He cast +about in vain. This fit of shyness, pride, reluctance--who knows +what?--continued with Leam for many days after this. If she went out +at all, she went where she knew she should not be met; and if Edgar +called at Ford House, she was not to be found. She mainly devoted +herself to Fina and some books lent her by Alick, and kept the house +with strange persistency. Perhaps this was because the weather was +bad, for Leam, who could bear wind and frost and noonday sun, could +not bear wet. When it rained she shut herself up in her own room, and +pitied herself for the ungenial skies as she had pitied herself for +some other things before now. + +Sitting thus reading one miserably dark, cold, misty day, the child +Fina came in to her with her lessons, which she repeated well. They +were very small and insignificant little lessons, for Leam had a +fellow-feeling for the troubles of ignorance, and laid but a light +hand on the frothy mind inside that curly head. When they were +finished the little one said coaxingly, "Now play with me, Leam! You +never play with me." + +"What can I do, Fina?" poor Leam replied. + +She had never learnt to play when she was a child: she had never built +towers and towns, made railway trains and coaches with the sofa and +chairs, played at giants through the dark passages and screamed when +she was caught. She had only sat still when mamma was asleep, or when +she was awake played on the zambomba, or listened to her when she told +her of the things of Spain, and made up stories with her dolls that +were less edifying than those of Mother Bunch. She could scarcely, +however, unpack that old box full of waxen puppets, with the one +dressed in scarlet and black, with fishbone horns and a worsted tail, +and a queer clumped kind of foot made of folds of leather, cleft in +the middle, that used to go by the name of "El señor papa." What could +she do? + +"Shall I tell you a story?" she then said in a mild fit of +desperation, for story-telling was as little in her way as anything +else. + +"Yes, yes, tell me a story!" Fina clapped her chubby hands together +and climbed up into Leam's lap. + +"What shall it be about--bears or tigers, or what?" asked Leam +dutifully. + +"Tell me about mamma, my own mamma, not Aunty Birkett," said Fina. + +Leam shuddered from head to foot. This was the first time the little +girl had mentioned her mother's name to her. Indeed, she did not know +that she had ever heard of her at all--ever known that she had had +a mother; but the servants had talked, and the child's curiosity was +aroused. The dead mother is as much a matter of wondering inquiry +as the angels and the stars; and Fina's imagination was beginning to +bestir itself on the mysteries of childish life. + +"I have nothing to tell you about her," said Leam, controlling +herself, though she still shivered. + +"Yes, you have--everything," insisted Fina. "Was mamma pretty?" +playing with a corner of her sister's ribbon. + +"People said so," answered Leam. + +"As pretty as Cousin Addy?" she asked. + +"About," said Leam, who thought neither supreme. + +"Prettier than you?" + +"I don't know: how can I tell?" she answered a little impatiently. + +The mother's blood that ran in her, the mother's mould in which she +had been formed, forbade her to put herself below madame in anything; +but, as she was neither vain nor conscious, she found Fina's question +difficult to answer. + +"Oh," cried Fina, in a tone of disappointment, "then she could not +have been very pretty." + +"I dare say she was, but I do not know," returned Leam. + +"And she died?" continued Fina, yawning in a childishly indifferent +manner. + +"Yes, she died." + +"Why? Who killed her? Did papa?" asked Fina. + +Leam's face was very white: "No, not papa." + +"Did God?" + +"I cannot tell you, Fina," said Leam, to whom falsehoods were +abhorrent and the truth impossible. + +"Did you?" persisted Fina with childish obstinacy. + +"Now go," said Leam, putting her off her lap and rising from her chair +in strange disorder. "You are troublesome and ask too many questions." + +Fina began to cry loudly, and Mr. Dundas, from his library below, +heard her. He came up stairs with his fussy, restless kindness, and +opened the door of the room where his two daughters, of nature and by +adoption, were. + +"Heyday! what's all this about?" he cried. "What's the matter, my +little Fina? what are you crying for? Tut, tut! you should not cry +like this, darling; and, Leam," severely, "you should really keep the +child better amused and happy. She is as good as gold with me: with +you there is always something wrong." + +Fina ran into his arms sobbing. "Leam is cross," she said. "She will +not tell me who killed mamma." + +The man's ruddy face, reddened and roughened with travel, grew white +and pitiful. "God took her away, my darling," he said with a sob. +"She was too good for me, and He took her to live with the angels in +heaven," + +"And Leam's mamma? Is she in heaven too with the angels?" asked Fina, +opening her eyes wide through their tears, + +"I hope so," Sebastian answered in an altered voice. + +Leam covered her face in her hands; then lifting it up, she said +imploringly, "Papa, do not talk to her of mamma. It is sacrilege." + +"I agree with you, Leam," said Mr, Dundas in a steady voice. "We meet +at the same point, but perhaps by different methods." + +[TO BE CONTINUED.] + + + + +LETTERS FROM SOUTH AFRICA + +BY LADY BARKER. + + + CAPE TOWN, October 16, 1875. + + Safe, safe at last, after twenty-four days of nothing but sea + and sky, of white-crested waves--which made no secret of their + intention of coming on board whenever they could or of tossing + the good ship Edinburgh Castle hither and thither like a + child's plaything--and of more deceitful sluggish rolling + billows, looking tolerably calm to the unseafaring eye, but + containing a vast amount of heaving power beneath their slow, + undulating water-hills and valleys. Sometimes sky and sea + have been steeped in dazzling haze of golden glare, sometimes + brightened to blue of a sapphire depth. Again, a sudden change + of wind has driven up serried clouds from the south and east, + and all has been gray and cold and restful to eyes wearied + with radiance and glitter of sun and sparkling water. + + Never has there been such exceptional weather, although the + weather of my acquaintance invariably _is_ exceptional. No + sooner had the outlines of Madeira melted and blended into + the soft darkness of a summer night than we appeared to sail + straight into tropic heat and a sluggish vapor, brooding on + the water like steam from a giant geyser. This simmering, + oily, exhausting temperature carried us close to the line. + "What is before us," we asked each other languidly, "if it be + hotter than this? How can mortal man, woman, still less child, + endure existence?" Vain alarms! Yet another shift of the + light wind, another degree passed, and we are all shivering in + winter wraps. The line was crossed in greatcoats and shawls, + and the only people whose complexion did not resemble a + purple plum were those lucky ones who had strength of mind + and steadiness of body to lurch up and down the deck all + day enjoying a strange method of movement which they called + walking. + + The exceptional weather pursued us right into the very + dock. Table Mountain ought to be seen--and very often is + seen--seventy miles away. I am told it looks a fine bold bluff + at that distance, Yesterday we had blown off our last pound of + steam and were safe under its lee before we could tell + there was a mountain there at all, still less an almost + perpendicular cliff more than three thousand feet high. Robben + Island looked like a dun-colored hillock as we shot past it + within a short distance, and a more forlorn and discouraging + islet I don't think I have ever beheld. When I expressed + something of this impression to a cheery fellow-voyager, he + could only urge in its defence that there were a great many + rabbits on it. If he had thrown the lighthouse into the + bargain, I think he would have summed up all its attractive + features. Unless Langalibalele is of a singularly + unimpressionable nature, he must have found his sojourn on + it somewhat monotonous, but he always says he was very + comfortable there. + + And now for the land. We are close alongside of a wharf, + and still a capital and faithful copy of a Scotch mist wraps + houses, trees and sloping uplands in a fibry fantastic veil, + and the cold drizzle seems to curdle the spirits and energies + of the few listless Malays and half-caste boys and men who are + lounging about. Here come hansom cabs rattling up one after + the other, all with black drivers in gay and fantastic head + and shoulder gear; but their hearts seem precisely as + the hearts of their London brethren, and they single out + new-comers at a glance, and shout offers to drive them a + hundred yards or so for exorbitant sums, or yell laudatory + recommendations of sundry hotels. You must bear in mind that + in a colony every pot-house is a hotel, and generally rejoices + in a name much too imposing to fit across its frontage. These + hansoms are all painted white with the name of some ship in + bright letters on the side, and are a great deal cleaner, + roomier and more comfortable than their London "forbears." The + horses are small and shabby, but rattle along at a good pace; + and soon each cab has its load of happy home-comers and swings + rapidly away to make room for fresh arrivals hurrying up for + fares. Hospitable suggestions come pouring in, and it is as + though it were altogether a new experience when one steps + cautiously on the land, half expecting it to dip away + playfully from under one's feet. A little boy puts my thoughts + into words when he exclaims, "How steady the ground is!" + and becomes a still more faithful interpreter of a wave-worn + voyager's sensations when, a couple of hours later, he demands + permission to get _out_ of his delicious little white bed + that he may have the pleasure of getting _into_ it again. The + evening is cold and raw and the new picture is all blurred and + soft and indistinct, and nothing seems plain except the + kindly grace of our welcome and the + never-before-sufficiently-appreciated delights of space and + silence. + + OCTOBER 17. + + How pleasant is the process familiarly known as "looking + about one," particularly when performed under exceptionally + favorable circumstances! A long and happy day commenced with a + stroll through the botanic gardens, parallel with which runs, + on one side, a splendid oak avenue just now in all the + vivid freshness of its young spring leaves. The gardens are + beautifully kept, and are valuable as affording a sort of + experimental nursery in which new plants and trees can be + brought up on trial and their adaptability to the soil and + climate ascertained. For instance, the first thing that caught + my eye was the gigantic trunk of an Australian blue-gum tree, + which had attained to a girth and height not often seen in its + own land. The flora of the Cape Colony is exceptionally varied + and beautiful, but one peculiarity incidentally alluded to by + my charming guide struck me as very noticeable. It is that + in this dry climate and porous soil all the efforts of + uncultivated nature are devoted to the _stems_ of the + vegetation: on their sap-retaining power depends the life of + the plant, so blossom and leaf, though exquisitely indicated, + are fragile and incomplete compared to the solidity and + bulbous appearance of the stalk. Everything is sacrificed to + the practical principle of keeping life together, and it is + not until these stout-stemmed plants are cultivated and + duly sheltered and watered, and can grow, as it were, with + confidence, that they are able to do justice to the inherent + beauty of penciled petal and veined leaf. Then the stem + contracts to ordinary dimensions, and leaf and blossom expand + into things which may well be a joy to the botanist's eye. + A thousand times during that shady saunter did I envy my + companions their scientific acquaintance with the beautiful + green things of earth, and that intimate knowledge of a + subject which enhances one's appreciation of its charms as + much as bringing a lamp into a darkened picture-gallery. There + are the treasures of form and color, but from ignorant eyes + more than half their charms and wonders are held back. + + A few steps beyond the garden stand the library and natural + history museum. The former is truly a credit to the Colony. + Spacious, handsome, rich in literary treasures, It would + bear comparison with similar institutions in far older and + wealthier places. But I have often noticed in colonies how + much importance is attached to the possession of a good public + library, and how fond, as a rule, colonists are of books. In + a new settlement other shops may be ill supplied, but there + is always a good bookseller's, and all books are to be bought + there at pretty nearly the same prices as in England. Here + each volume costs precisely the same as it would in London, + and it would puzzle ever so greedy a reader to name a book + which would not be instantly handed to him. + + The museum is well worth a visit of many more hours than we + could afford minutes, and, as might be expected, contains + numerous specimens of the _Bok_ family, whose tapering horns + and slender legs are to be seen at every turn of one's head. + Models are there also of the largest diamonds, and especially + well copied is the famous "Star of South Africa," a + magnificent brilliant of purest water, sold here originally + for something like twelve thousand pounds, and resold for + double that sum three or four years back. In these few hours I + perceive, or think I perceive, a certain soreness, if one + may use the word, on the part of the Cape Colonists about the + unappreciativeness of the English public toward their produce + and possessions. For Instance, an enormous quantity of wine is + annually exported, which reaches London by a devious route and + fetches a high price, as it is fairly entitled to do from its + excellence. If that same wine were sent direct to a London + merchant and boldly sold as Cape wine, it is said that the + profit on it would be a very different affair. The same + prejudice exists against Cape diamonds. Of course, as in other + things, a large proportion of inferior stones are forced into + the market and serve to give the diamonds that bad name which + we all know is so fatal to a dog. But it is only necessary to + pretend that a really fine Cape diamond has come from Brazil + to ensure its fetching a handsome price, and in that way even + jewelers themselves have been known to buy and give a good + round sum, too, for stones they would otherwise have looked + upon with suspicion. Already I have seen a straw-colored + diamond from "Du Zoit's pan" in the diamond-fields cut in + Amsterdam and set in London, which could hold its own for + purity, radiance and color against any other stone of the same + rare tint, without fear or favor; but of course such gems are + not common, and fairly good diamonds cost as much here as in + any other part of the world. + + The light morning mists from that dampness of yesterday have + rolled gradually away as the beautiful sunshine dried the + atmosphere, and by midday the table-cloth, as the colonists + affectionately call the white, fleece-like vapor which so + often rests on their pet mountain, has been folded up and laid + aside in Cloudland for future use. I don't know what picture + other people may have made to their own minds of the shape and + size of Table Mountain, but it was quite a surprise and the + least little bit in the world of a disappointment to me to + find that it cuts the sky (and what a beautiful sky it is!) + with a perfectly straight and level line. A gentle, undulating + foreground broken into ravines, where patches of green _velts_ + or fields, clumps of trees and early settlers' houses nestle + cosily down, guides the eye half-way up the mountain. There + the rounder forms abruptly cease, and great granite cliffs + rise, bare and straight, up to the level line stretching ever + so far along. "It is so characteristic," and "You grow to be + so fond of that mountain," are observations I have heard made + in reply to the carping criticisms of travelers, and already + I begin to understand the meaning of the phrases. But you + need to see the mountain from various points of view and under + different influences of sun and cloud before you can take in + its striking and peculiar charms. + + On each side of the straight line which is emphatically Table + Mountain, but actually forming part of it, is a bold headland + of the shape one is usually accustomed to in mountains. The + "Devil's Peak" is uncompromising enough for any one's taste, + whilst the "Lion's Head" charms the eye by its bluff form + and deep purple fissures. These grand promontories are not, + however, half so beloved by Cape Colonists as their own Table + Mountain, and it is curious and amusing to notice how the + influence of this odd straight ridge, ever before their eyes, + has unconsciously guided and influenced their architectural + tastes. All the roofs of the houses are straight--straight + as the mountain; a gable is almost unknown, and even the few + steeples are dwarfed to an imperceptible departure from the + prevailing straight line. The very trees which shade the + Parade-ground and border the road in places have their tops + blown absolutely straight and flat, as though giant shears + had trimmed them; but I must confess, in spite of a + natural anxiety to carry out my theory, that the violent + "sou'-easters" are the "straighteners" in their case. + + Cape Town is so straggling that it is difficult to form any + idea of its real size, but the low houses are neat and the + streets are well kept and look quaint and lively enough to my + new eyes this morning. There are plenty of people moving about + with a sociable, business-like air; lots of different shades + of black and brown Malays, with pointed hats on the men's + heads: the women encircle their dusky, smiling faces with a + gay cotton handkerchief and throw another of a still brighter + hue over their shoulders. When you add to this that they + wear a full, flowing, stiffly-starched cotton gown of a third + bright color, you can perhaps form some idea of how they + enliven the streets. Swarms of children everywhere, romping + and laughing and showing their white teeth in broadest + of grins. The white children strike me at once as looking + marvelously well--such chubby cheeks, such sturdy fat + legs--and all, black or white, with that amazing air of + independence peculiar to baby-colonists. Nobody seems to mind + them and nothing seems to harm them. Here are half a dozen + tiny boys shouting and laughing at one side of the road, and + half a dozen baby-girls at the other (they all seem to play + separately): they are all driving each other, for "horses" is + the one game here. By the side of a pond sit two toddles of + about three years old, in one garment apiece and pointed hats: + they are very busy with string and a pin; but who is taking + care of them and why don't they tumble in? They are as fat as + ortolans and grin at us in the most friendly fashion. + + We must remember that this chances to be the very best moment + of the whole year in which to see the Cape and the dwellers + thereat. The cold weather has left its bright roses on the + children's cheeks, and the winter rains exceptionally having + this year made every blade of grass and leaf of tree to laugh + and sing in freshest green. After the dry, windy summer I am + assured there is hardly a leaf and never a blade of grass to + be seen in Cape Town, and only a little straggling verdure + under the shelter of the mountain. The great want of this + place is water. No river, scarcely a brook, refreshes one's + eye for many and many a league inward. The necessary water for + the use of the town is brought down by pipes from the numerous + springs which trickle out of the granite cliffs of Table + Mountain, but there is never a sufficiency to spare for + watering roads or grassplots. This scarcity is a double loss + to residents and visitors, for one misses it both for use and + beauty. + + Everybody who comes here rides or drives round the "Kloof." + That may be; but what I maintain is that very few do it so + delightfully as I did this sunny afternoon with a companion + who knew and loved every turn of the romantic road, who could + tell me the name of every bush or flower, of every distant + stretch of hills, and helped me to make a map in my head of + the stretching landscape and curving bay. Ah! how delicious it + was, the winding, climbing road, at whose every angle a fresh + fair landscape fell away from beneath our feet or a shining + stretch of sea, whose transparent green and purple shadows + broke in a fringe of feathery spray at the foot of bold, rocky + cliffs, or crept up to a smooth expanse of silver sand in a + soft curling line of foam! "Kloof" means simply cleft, and is + the pass between the Table Mountain and the Lion's Head, The + road first rises, rises, rises, until one seems half-way up + the great mountain, and the little straight--roofed white + houses, the green velts or fields and the parallel lines of + the vineyards have sunk below one's feet far, far away. The + mountain gains in grandeur as one approaches it, for the + undulating spurs which run from it down to the sea-shore take + away from the height looking upward. But when these are left + beneath, the perpendicular Walls of granite, rising sheer + and straight up to the bold sky-line, and the rugged, massive + strength of the buttress-like cliffs, begin to gain something + of their true value to the stranger's eye. The most beautiful + part of the road, however, to my taste, is the descent, when + the shining expanse of Camp's Bay lies shimmering in the warm + afternoon haze with a thousand lights and shadows from cloud + and cliff touching and passing over the crisp water-surface. + By many a steep zigzag we round the Lion's Head, and drop once + more on a level road running parallel to the sea-shore, and so + home in the balmy and yet bracing twilight. The midday sun is + hot and scorching even at this time of year, but it is always + cool in the shade, and no sooner do the afternoon shadows grow + to any length than the air freshens into sharpness, and by + sundown one is glad of a good warm shawl. + + + OCTOBER 18. + + Another bright, ideal day, and the morning passed in a + delicious flower-filled room looking over old books and + records and listening to odd, quaint little scraps from the + old Dutch records. But directly after luncheon (and how hungry + we all are, and how delicious everything tastes on shore!) the + open break with four capital horses comes to the door, and we + start for a long, lovely drive. Half a mile or so takes us + out on a flat red road with Table Mountain rising straight up + before it, but on the left stretches away a most enchanting + panorama. It is all so soft in coloring and tone, distinct and + yet not hard, and exquisitely beautiful! + + The Blue-Berg range of mountains stretch beyond the great bay, + which, unless a "sou'-easter" is tearing over it, lies glowing + in tranquil richness. This afternoon it is colored like an + Italian lake. Here are lines of chrysoprase, green-fringed, + white with little waves, and beyond lie dark, translucent, + purple depths, which change with every passing cloud. Beyond + these amethystic shoals again stretches the deep blue water, + and again beyond, and bluer still, rise the five ranges + of "Hottentots' Holland," which encircle and complete the + landscape, bringing the eye round again to the nearer cliffs + of the Devil's Peak. When the Dutch came here some two hundred + years ago, they seized upon this part of the coast and called + it Holland, driving the Hottentots beyond the neighboring + range and telling them that was to be their Holland--a name it + keeps to this day. Their consciences must have troubled them + after this arbitrary division of the soil, for up the highest + accessible spurs of their own mountain they took the + trouble to build several queer little square houses called + "block-houses," from which they could keep a sharp look-out + for foes coming over the hills from Hottentots' Holland. + The foes never came, however, and the roofs and walls of + the block-houses have gradually tumbled in, and the + gun-carriages--for they managed to drag heavy ordnance up the + steep hill-side--have rotted away, whilst the old-fashioned + cannon lie, grim and rusty, amid a tangled profusion of wild + geranium, heath and lilies, I scrambled up to one of the + nearest block-houses, and found the date on the dismounted gun + to be more than a hundred years old. The view was beautiful + and the air fresh and fragrant with scent of flowers. + + But to return to our drive. I could gaze and gaze for ever at + this lovely panorama, but am told this is the ugliest part of + the road. The road itself is certainly not pretty just here, + and is cloudy with a fine red dust, but this view of sea and + distant hills is enchanting. Soon we get under the lee of + the great mountain, and then its sheltering arms show their + protective power; for splendid oak avenues begin to border the + road all the way, and miniature forests of straight-stemmed + pines and shimmering belts of the ghostly silver tree run up + all the mountain-clefts. Stem and leaf of the silver tree are + all of purest white; and when one gets a gleam of sunlight + on a distant patch of these trees, the effect is quite + indescribable, contrasting, as they do, with green of field + and vineyard. The vines all about here and towards Constantia, + thirteen miles off, are dwarf-plants, and only grow to the + height of gooseberry-bushes. It is a particular species, which + is found to answer best as requiring less labor to train and + cultivate, and is less likely to be blown out of the ground + by the violent "sou'-easters" which come sweeping over the + mountain. These gales are evidently the greatest annoyance + which Cape Colonists have to endure; and although everybody + kindly suggests that I _ought_ to see one, just to understand + what it is like, I am profoundly thankful that I only know it + from their description and my own distinct recollection of the + New Zealand "nor'-westers." Those were hot winds, scorching + and curling up everything, whereas this is rather a cold + breeze, although it blows chiefly in summer. It whirls along + clouds of dust from the red clay roads and fields which + penetrates and clings to everything in the most extraordinary + manner. All along the road the stems and lower branches of the + trees are dyed a deep brick-dust color, and I hear moving and + pathetic stories of how it ruins clothes, not only utterly + spoiling black silk dresses, but staining white petticoats and + children's frocks and pinafores with a border of color exactly + like the ruddle with which sheep are branded. Especially is + it the terror of sailors, rendering the navigation along the + coast dangerous and difficult; for it blends land and water + into one indistinct whirl of vaporous cloud, confusing and + blurring everything until one cannot distinguish shore from + sea. + + The vineyards of Constantia originally took their pretty name + from the fair daughter of one of the early Dutch governors, + but now it has grown into a generic word, and you see + "Cloete's Constantia," "Von Reybeck Constantia," written upon + great stone gateways leading by long avenues into the various + vine-growing plantations. It was to the former of these + constantias, which was also the farthest off, that we were + bound that pleasant summer afternoon, and from the time we got + out of the carriage until the moment we re-entered it--all + too soon, but it is a long drive back in the short cold + twilight--I felt as though I had stepped through a magic + portal into the scene of one of Washington Irving's + stories. It was all so simple and homely, so quaint and so + inexpressibly picturesque. The house had stood there for a + couple of hundred years, and looks as though it might last for + ever, with its air of cool, leisurely repose and comfort and + strength. + + In the flagged hall stands a huge stalactite some ten feet + high, brought a hundred years ago from caves far away in the + distant ranges. It is shaped something like a Malay's hat, + only the peak tapers to a point about eight feet high. The + drawing-room--though it seems a profanation to call that + venerable stately room by so flippant and modern a name--is + large, ceiled with great beams of cedar, and lighted by lofty + windows, which must contain many scores of small panes of + glass. There were treasures of rarest old china and delfware, + and curious old carved stands for fragile dishes. A wealth of + swinging-baskets of flowers and ferns and bright girl-faces + lighted up the solemn, shady old room, in which we must not + linger, for there is much to see outside. First to the cellar, + as it is called, though it is far from being under ground, + and is, in fact, a spacious stone building with an + elaborately-carved pediment. Here are rows and rows of giant + casks, stretching on either hand into avenues in the black + distance, but these are mere children in the nursery, compared + to those we are going to see. First we must pause in a middle + room full of quaintest odds and ends--crossbows, long whips of + hippopotamus hide, strange rusty old swords and firearms--to + look at a map of South Africa drawn somewhere about 1640. It + hangs on the wall and is hardly to be touched, for the paint + and varnish crack and peel off at a breath. It is a marvel of + accurate geographical knowledge, and is far better filled + in than the maps of yesterday. All poor Livingstone's great + geographical discoveries are marked on it as being--perhaps + only from description--known or guessed at all that long time + ago. It was found impossible to photograph it on account of + the dark shade which age has laid over the original yellow + varnish, but a careful tracing has been made and, I believe, + sent home to the Geographical Society. It is in the long + corridor beyond this that the "stuck-vats" live--puncheons + which hold easily some thousand gallons or so, and are of a + solemn rotundity calculated to strike awe into the beholder's + heart. Here is white constantia, red constantia, young + constantia, middle-aged constantia, and constantia so old as + to be a liqueur almost beyond price. When it has been kept + all these years, the sweetness by which it is distinguished + becomes so absorbed and blended as to be hardly perceptible. + + Presently one of the party throws a door suddenly open, and, + behold, we are standing right over a wild wooded glen with a + streamlet running through it, and black washerwomen beating + heaps of white clothes on the strips of shingle. Turtle-doves + are cooing, and one might almost fancy one was back again on + the wild Scotch west coast, until some one else says calmly, + "Look at the ostriches!" Here they come, with a sort of + dancing step, twisting their long necks and snake-like heads + from side to side in search of a tempting pebble or trifle of + hardware. Their wings are slightly raised, and the long fringe + of white feathers rustles softly as they trot easily and + gracefully past us. They are young male birds, and in a few + months more their plumage, which now resembles that of a + turkey-cock, will be jet black, except the wing-feathers. A + few drops of rain are falling, so we hurry back to where the + carriage is standing under some splendid oak trees, swallow a + sort of stirrup-cup of delicious hot tea, and so home again as + fast as we can go. + + + OCTOBER 19. + + It is decided that I must take a drive in a Cape cart; so + directly after breakfast a smart workman-like-looking vehicle, + drawn by a pair of well-bred iron-gray cobs, dashes up under + the portico. There are capital horses here, but they fetch + a good price, and such a pair as these would easily find + purchasers at one hundred and fifty pounds. The cart itself + is very trim and smart, with a framework sort of head, which + falls back at pleasure, and it holds four people easily. It + is a capital vehicle, light and strong and uncommonly + comfortable, but I am warned not to imagine that all Cape + carts are as easy as this one. Away we go at a fine pace + through the delicious sparkling morning sunshine and crisp + air, soon turning off the red high-road into a sandy, marshy + flat with a sort of brackish back-water standing in pools here + and there. We are going to call on Langalibalele, and his + son, Malambuli, who are located at Uitvlugt on the Cape + downs, about four miles from the town. It is a sort of + farm-residence; and considering that the chief has hitherto + lived in a reed hut, he is not badly off, for he has plenty + of room out of doors as well as a good house over his head. We + bump over some strange and rough bits of sandy road and climb + up and down steep banks in a manner seldom done on wheels. + There is a wealth of lovely flowers blooming around, but I + can't help fixing my eyes on the pole of the cart, which is + sometimes sticking straight up in the air, its silver hook + shining merrily in the sun, or else it has disappeared + altogether, and I can only see the horses' haunches. That + is when we are going _down_ hill, and I think it is a more + terrible sensation than when we are playfully scrambling up + some sandy hillock as a cat might. + + Here is the location at last, thank Heaven! and there is + Langalibalele sitting in the verandah stoep (pronounced + "stoup") on his haunches on a brick. He looks as comfortable + as if he were in an arm-chair, but it must be a difficult + thing to do if you think seriously of it. The etiquette seems + to be to take no notice of him as we pass into the parlor, + where we present our pass and the people in authority satisfy + themselves that we are quite in rule. Then the old chief walks + quietly in, takes off his soft felt hat and sits himself + down in a Windsor arm-chair with grave deliberation. He is + uncommonly ugly; but when one remembers that he is nearly + seventy years of age, it is astonishing to see how young + he looks. Langalibalele is not a true Kafir at all: he is a + Fingor, a half-caste tribe contemptuously christened by the + Kafirs "dogs." His wool grows in distinct and separate clumps + like hassocks of grass all over his head. He is a large and + powerful man and looks the picture of sleek contentment, as + well he may. Only one of his sons, a good-natured, fine + young man, black as ebony, is with him, and the chief's one + expressed grievance is that none of his wives will come to + him. In vain he sends commands and entreaties to these dusky + ladies to come and share his solitude. They return for answer + that "they are working for somebody else;" for, alas! the only + reason their presence is desired is that they may cultivate + some of the large extent of ground placed at the old chief's + disposal. Neither he nor his stalwart son would dream for + a moment of touching spade or hoe; but if the ladies of the + family could only be made to see their duty, an honest penny + might easily be turned by oats or rye. I gave him a large + packet of sugar-plums, which he seized with childish delight + and hid away exactly like the big monkeys at the Zoo. + + By way of a joke, Malambuli pretended to want to take them + away, and the chattering and laughing which followed was + almost deafening. But by and by a gentleman of the party + presented a big parcel of the best tobacco, and the chuckling + old chief made over at once all my sweetmeats "jintly" to + his son, and proceeded to hide away his new treasure. He + was dressed exactly like a dissenting minister, and declared + through the interpreter he was perfectly comfortable. The + impression here seems to be that he is a restless, intriguing + and mischief-making old man, who may consider himself as + having come out of the hornets' nest he tried to stir up + uncommonly well. + + We don't want to bump up and down the sandy plain again, so + a lively conversation goes on in Dutch about the road between + one of my gentlemen and somebody who looks like a "stuck-vat" + upon short legs. The dialogue is fluent and lively, beginning + with "Ja, ja!" and ending with "All right!" but it leads to + our hitting off the right track exactly, and coming out at a + lovely little cottage-villa under the mountain, where we rest + and lunch and then stroll about up the hill spurs, through + myrtle hedges and shady oak avenues. Then, before the + afternoon shadows grow too long, we drive off to "Groote + Schuur," the ancient granary of the first settlers, which is + now turned into a roomy, comfortable country-house, perfect + as a summer residence, and securely sheltered from the + "sou'-easters." We approach it through a double avenue of tall + Italian pines, and after a little while go out once more for + a ramble up some quaint old brick steps, and so through a + beautiful glen all fringed and feathered with fresh young + fronds of maiden-hair ferns, and masses of hydrangea bushes, + which must be beautiful as a poet's dream when they are + covered with their great bunches of pale blue blossom. That + will not be until Christmas-tide, and, alas! I shall not be + here to see, for already my three halcyon days of grace are + ended and over, and this very evening we must steam away + from a great deal yet unvisited of what is interesting + and picturesque, and from friends who three days ago were + strangers, but who have made every moment since we landed + stand out as a bright and pleasant landmark on life's highway. + + + + +ON SANKOTA HEAD. + + +"Yay, Jim, there ain't no doubt but Sairy Macy's a mighty nice gal, +but, thee sees, what I'm a-contendin' fur is that she's tew nice fur +thee--that is, not tew nice egzackly, but a leetle tew fine-feathered. +No, not that egzackly, nuther; but she's a leetle tew fine in the +feelin's, an' I don't b'lieve that in the long run thee an' she'll +sort well tugether. Shell git eout o' conceit with thy ways--thee +_ain't_ the pootiest-mannered feller a gal ever see--an' thee'll git +eout o' conceit with hern. Thee'll think she's a-gittin' stuck up, an' +she'll think thee's a-gittin'low-minded. Neow, Jim, my 'dvice is +good; an' ef thee'll take it, an' not go on with this thing no furder, +thee'll both be glad on it arterwa'ds. 'Spesh'ly 's she ain't very +rugged, an' sickly gals had oughter hev rich husbands." + +"But, father, Sairy an' me loves o' 'nother." + +"Oh, wal, then it's tew late ter say nothin'," said the old man with +a mingled sigh and smile as, raising his basket of quahaugs to his +shoulder, he walked off, pressing his bare feet into the yielding sand +with the firm but clumsy tread of vigorous old age. The rough hat +of plaited straw was pushed back from a brow that with a cultivated +nature would have been considered as evidence of considerable +intellectual power, but, as it was, only showed the probable truth +of the opinion of his neighbors, that "Stephen Starbuck was a shrewd, +common-sense ole feller." + +Jim was of a little finer grade than his father, having inherited some +of the traits of his gentle mother, but the young Hercules could by no +means have been mistaken for an Apollo; neither did his somewhat heavy +features bear the expression of unselfish loyalty which would have +given better promise than any mere refinement of features or manner +for the future happiness of Sarah Macy. But she found nothing wanting +in her lover as she stood on the cliff-head gazing down upon him. +Sarah knew that the man she loved was not considered her equal, but +because she loved him she believed him capable of becoming all that +she or others could desire. There is in the world no faith so absolute +as that of a woman in the possibilities of the man she loves. Had +Sarah read of Sir Galahad--but this was in 1779, and the fame of the +search for the Holy Grail had not reached the popular ear--she would +have said to herself, "My Jim is just so pure and holy." Had "her Jim" +been a Royalist during the English Revolution, Prince Rupert's laurels +would not have been unshared. Had Jim been a Puritan--though the +little Quaker maiden did not love Puritans over well, and did not +fancy her Jim as fighting on that side--England's Protector would +not have borne the name of Cromwell. Or if Jim were not one of the +peace-loving Friends, and would enlist in the present struggle for +liberty, the fame of Commodore James Starbuck should soon eclipse that +of Paul Jones. + +Not for the world would Sarah have given voice to the heretical +desire, but in her inmost heart was even now a wish that her dear Jim +held religious opinions that would not interfere with his showing +to the country how talented, noble and valiant he was; while the +fair-haired, sunburnt, indolent young Hercules idly gazing out to sea +was fired with no higher ambition for himself than to be able soon +to erect on the Head another small house like that of his father, to +which he might bring "the sweet little girl who loved him, so much." +For Sarah had committed the common mistake of loving women, and had +let Jim see how dear he was to her. So now, instead of dwelling on his +love for her and scheming how he might be worthy of her heart, he was +fully satisfied with himself, and inclined to grumble at Fortune for +not at once bestowing the trifle he asked at her hands. + +"Jim, how long's thee goin' ter stan' there? If the water _is_ pretty, +thee can see it any day, so 't ain't worth while to look at it all day +ter a time." + +As, the sweet tones floated down the cliff Jim turned lazily to smile +up at the speaker, and, raising his heavy basket of quahaugs, came +leisurely up the steep sand-path, which seemed to shrink from his +weight at every step: "Wal', Sairy, I wa'n't a-thinkin' much o' the +water: I was a-thinkin' o' thee, an' o' what fayther said a little +spell ago." + +"What was that, Jim?" Sarah's tone was a little anxious, for she knew +that there was a jealousy among some of the islanders of the facts +that her father had brought with him a few heavy articles of "real +mahogany furnitur," and that her stepmother had always been able to +hire others to do her spinning and weaving, and even to "help her at +odd spells with the heft o' the housework." + +"Oh, nothin'," replied Jim, passing his free arm carelessly round the +girl's waist--"othin', undly th' old story 'beout heow we'd best not +merry, 'cause by'm-by thee'll git ter feelin' better nor me." + +"But thee don't believe him, Jim? Thee knows better. Thee knows," +adding this with the sweet and sincere but often sadly mistaken +humility of love--"thee knows thou art better than me. Thou art so +grand and so noble! If folks only knew thee better they would wonder +at thee fur puttin' up wi' me. I wish I could make thee a better wife. +But, Jim, if I ain't very strong, I'm pretty good at contrivin', an' +I don't believe but what I can manage so's to git along a'most as well +as them that's tougher." + +"Git along? O' course thee'll git along," answered Jim patronizingly. +"I telled mother th'other day that I didn't cafe ef thee wa'n't 's +strong as Mary Allen: thee was a good deal smarter, an' I'd be willin' +tu resk but what I'd hev as little waitin' on ter dew fur thee 's fur +her. Besides"--and here a gleam of real if shallow affection sprang +from Jim's eyes as he looked down at the loving creature by his +side--"besides, I'd _like_ to take care o' thee, Sairy--I would +indeed." + +It is said that the sky has no color of its own--that the deep blue +we think so beautiful is only owing to the atmosphere through which we +view it. To Sarah this very slight expression of her lover's care +for her bore more weight than the most passionate protestations of +affection could have done to a colder nature, for it was colored by +the glowing tints of her own warm love; and when the two parted that +day she carried with her a sweet, satisfying sense of being beloved by +the "best man on the earth" even as she loved him; while he whistled +cheerily over his net-mending, thinking "what a sweet little thing it +was!" "how pretty its eyes were!" and "how kitten-like its ways!" and +only checked his whistling once in a while to wonder whether the day +would ever really come when "Sairy would feel herself better than +him," and to think it also a little hard that old Thomas Macy was "so +sot agin' the match" that he would give his daughter no portion but an +outfit of clothes and household linen. "He might jest's well's not," +reasoned Jim to himself, "give us a little lift: I guess he would if +Sairy's own mother was alive; but them step-mothers never wants to +give nothin' ter the fust wives' childern." In which opinion Jim did +the second Mrs. Macy much injustice, for it was owing solely to her +influence that Sarah's father had consented to provide his daughter +with even a new dress in which to be married to "that big, lazy boy +o'old Steve Starbuck's." + +Meantime, sad, gentle old Mrs. Starbuck had been turning over +many things in her mind. She felt her son's defects; she knew that +warm-hearted, imaginative Sarah Macy would be doing a foolish thing to +marry Jim--as foolish a thing as in her inmost heart she felt, rather +than acknowledged, that she herself had done when she married Jim's +father. But the mother-heart longed that her son should grow to be +what she desired (and what poor Sarah thought he already was), and she +hoped much from the elevating influence of so good a wife. + +So, as she sat knitting, while Jim and his father sat, hats on heads +and pipes in mouths, mending their nets, old Mrs. Starbuck had "made a +plan." "Father," said, she at last, "I've be'n thinkin'--" + +"Yay," replied the old man gruffly but not unkindly--"yay, I 'spect +so. Thee's pooty nigh allus a-thinkin' o' suthin. What is it neow? +Eout with it!" + +"I've be'n thinkin' that Jim's all the child we've got--" + +"Wal, yay. Hain't had no other--not's I knows on. What o' that?" + +"Well, I was a-thinkin' that, that bein' so, an' Jim an' Sairy +thinkin' so much o' 'nother, it wa'n't o' no use fur them ter keep +waitin' along year eout an' year in fur a chance tu keep house by +'emselves. They'd best git married right off an' come an' live along +o' us." + +"W'y, ole woman!" + +"W'y, mother!" + +"Yay; I hear both on ye," said the gentle old mother with a half +smile. "I s'posed likely ye'd think strange on't at fust; but ye +h'ain't no need ter, fur it's a sens'ble thing ter dew, an' yell see't +so when ye've thought on't a spell: see if ye don't." + +So well was the proposal liked that very soon the simple ceremony of +the Friends made James and Sarah husband and wife; and for a while all +seemed happiness in the humble cottage on the cliff--cottage so humble +that it scarcely deserved even that lowly name. + +Sarah Macy's father owned one of the largest dwellings on Nantucket--a +two-story "double house" with two rooms on each side of a broad hall +running through the house from front to rear. On one side of this hall +was the "best bedroom," ghostly with tightly-closed white shutters +and long white dimity curtains to the "four-poster" and shining white +sanded floor, and the "best-room," terrible in its grandeur of cold +white walls, straight hard sofa, "spider-legged" table, grenadier-like +chairs and striped woolen carpet underlaid with straw. In the rear, on +the other side of the hall, was the kitchen with its big brick oven, +its yawning fireplace overhung with corpulent iron pots or shining +copper kettles depending from numerous gallows-like cranes; with its +glittering copper, brass and pewter utensils arrayed on snowy-shelves; +with its spotless tables, Its freshly-sanded floor and its +heavily-beamed, whitewashed ceiling, from which hung many a bunch of +savory herbs or string of red pepper-pods or bunch of seed-corn, or +perhaps even a round-backed ham, to get a little browner in the smoke +that would sometimes pour out from the half-ignited mass of peat. In +front of the kitchen was the "living-room," in one corner of which +stood a carved high-post bedstead--glory of the Macys and envy of +their neighbors--with its curtains of big figured chintz, brown +sunflowers sprawling over a white ground, drawn aside in the daytime +to display the marvelous patchwork of the quilt beneath. Fuel was +scarce even then on the sandy isle; and economy compelled Mr. and +Mrs. Macy to make use of this living-room as a bedchamber also, since +Thomas Macy confessed to "bein rather tender," and to liking a warm +room to sleep In, though his neighbors often insinuated that he was +killing himself by the Indulgence. And indeed the heat must have been +stifling when we consider the size of the fireplace, nine feet wide by +four deep, with a yawning throat, through which the rain poured freely +down on stormy nights, putting out the best arranged mass of coals, +ashes and peat, and, in spite of the little gutter purposely made +round the broad brick hearth, sometimes overflowing and drenching +a portion of the neat rag carpet, in which, with true Quaker +consistency, no gay-colored fragment had been allowed a place. + +In striking contrast to all this magnificence was the lowly home to +which James Starbuck brought his happy bride. This little house was +"double" also--that Is, it was entered in the centre by a small square +passage just big enough for the outer door to swing in. On one side +of this entry was a tiny parlor, as dismal as rag carpet, fireless +hearth, dingy paper and dark-green paper shades to the small windows +could make it. On the other side of the entry was the tiny and cold +bedroom of the senior Starbucks. In the centre of the house rose a +massive chimney, big enough to retain all the heat from a dozen fires. +Across the rear of parlor, chimney and bedroom ran the long, low +sunshiny kitchen. At one end of this certain ladder-like stairs +conducted to the loft, which had served Jim for a "roosting-place" +ever since he had grown big enough to be trusted o' nights so far +away from his mother. On Sarah's advent into the family the +dismal "best-room" was made habitable by the addition of a +"four-poster"--which Mrs. Starbuck senior regretted was only of +cherry-wood and not carved--and by sundry little feminine contrivances +of Sarah's own. + +I said that for a time all seemed to go on happily in this humble +home. And the seeming would have been reality had Jim possessed the +faith in his wife which she had in him. True, he loved and believed in +her after his fashion, and his mother was a strong ally on his wife's +side; but Jim had one fatal weakness of character. He resented the +slightest look that was anything but simple admiration on the part of +his wife. A strong nature is not afraid of censure, but a weak one, +pleading sensitiveness, is easily roused to small retaliations, +repaying what is good in intention with what is evil. Jim, as his +father had truly told him, was "not the pootiest-mannered feller a gal +ever see," and in the daily home-life this became apparent to Sarah +as it had never been in all the years they had been near neighbors. +Naturally, she wished her husband to be pleasing to her father, and at +last ventured to hint, as delicately as she could, at various little +points in which improvements might be made. At first Jim did not seem +very restless under such reproofs, given, as they were, with many +a loving kiss and winsome look; but as months went on his wife's +caresses were more carelessly received, and her hinted corrections +with more of resentment. One evening stately old Thomas Macy had +"happened in," and Jim had greatly grieved his wife by his curt, +uncivil manner to her father. After he had gone Sarah spoke in a low +tone and kindly as always, but with more spirit than she had ever +before manifested or felt, of her husband's disrespectful ways to the +aged. + +For a moment after his wife had ceased, Jim sat with his hat +pulled closely over his eyes, fiercely biting into the apple he was +eating--biting and throwing the bits into the glowing mass of peat on +the hearth. Then he sprang to his feet, exclaiming, "I see! It's all +come true, what ev'rybody said. Thee thinks thee an' thy folks is +better'n me an' my folks, an' keeps all the time a-naggin' on me. I +wish I'd merried Mary Allen! I won't stan' no more o' this talk. If I +ain't to be maaster o' my own house I won't stay in't." (The house was +his father's, but angry men never think of such trifles.) And waxing +pitiful of himself, he continued in a broken and injured tone, "The +bed o' the sea's the bes' place fur a man whose own wife's got tew big +feelin' ter put up wi' his ways." + +With this dignified burst of eloquence the angry fellow flung himself +out of the house, letting in at the door as he went a dash of cold, +sleety rain and a gust of wind that put out the flickering tallow dip +that was enabling Sarah to take the last stitches in the tiny +white slip that now fell from her fingers. Too sorely wounded for +resentment, too fond of her husband to wish even his parents to see +him in the light in which he was now revealed to her, Sarah silently +stooped to recover her work, and as she did so her hand was met under +the table by a sympathizing pressure from that of her mother-in-law. +This was too much, and, laying her head in the elder woman's lap, +poor Sarah wept without restraint; while the mother sorrowfully and +tenderly stroked her soft brown tresses. The father, quietly puffing +at his pipe, seemed to take no notice, only now and then glancing with +kindly eye covertly from under his hat-brim at the two grieving women. + +Silently, but for the roaring of the wind and surf and fitful dashing +of the rain, the hours passed on till the high clock in the kitchen +corner sharply struck eleven. This was a late hour for those times, +and a faint fear began to come upon them all. Could it be that Jim had +really meant what he said? "Had he--" And the two women looked blankly +at each other. Not a word had been uttered, but each felt the other's +dread. + +The father rose and said with a well-affected yawn, "Guess likely +Jim's went deown ter Uncle Will'amses, an' they thought as 't's so +stormy he'd bes' not come back. So guess I'll jest go eout ter the +shed and git some more peat, fur ter keep the fire." + +Thus leaving the mother and wife partially reassured, the old +father slipped out and down the track, cut deeply in the sand by the +one-horse carts, to "Uncle Will'amses," as fast as the storm would +permit. But no Jim had been seen there; and still more anxiously the +stout old man fought his way back against winds that seemed strong" +enough to blow him like a feather over the cliff's edge, and against +the spray which shot up from the beach below, smitten by the sounding +surf, clear over the high top of Sankota Head. + +Reaching his door during a brief lull in the wind, he heard faintly +but distinctly the booming of guns fired by a ship in distress. "It +mus' be some vessil on the shoals, an' mos' likely Jim's heard her an' +got some o' th' other boys, an' 's went off in 's boat ter help her. +Poor soul!" With this comforting reflection the father cheered the +watchers inside, who had grown fearfully anxious, as the clock had +long ago struck for midnight. + +"We mus' build a fire on the Head ter light 'em," said the old man. +"There hed oughter be a light'us here, but 's there ain't none, we +mus' dew the bes' we kin," + +So saying, he harnessed the horse--almost as old as himself--and with +the aid of the two women loaded the sled with dry wood and started +with it to the cliff, while the mother and daughter followed behind as +best they might, struggling to keep alive without being set on fire +by the coals in the iron pot which they carried between them. It was +a weary half mile, wind, spray and rain all contending against the +feeble folk who had come out to help back to land and home the brave +fellows who had gone to succor the distressed. They made all the more +sure that this was the case, because Jim's new boat, the pride and joy +of his life, was not to be found at the spot where he had only that +day drawn, it high above the reach of even such a storm as this, ready +for building over it on the morrow its winter house of pine-boughs and +turf. + +At last a fire was kindled; and leaving the women to watch it, old +Stephen took several weary trips back to the cottage after fuel, +making serious inroads upon a stock at the best not too large to meet +the demands of the coming winter. The flame, fanned by the blast even +more than dashed by the spray and rain, sprang upward, casting its +ruddy lances of light backward over the sandy downs, destitute even +then of tree or shrub to break the force of the gale, and forward over +the frothing white tops and deep, black troughs of waves that seemed +to the excited eyes of the watching women like so many separate fiends +leaping upward and stretching out white hands to clutch helpless +victims and hurry them to the hell beneath. And all the while the +surf thundered at the foot of the trembling cliff. No form could be +discovered through the darkness beyond the near neighborhood of the +shore; and but for the flash of the gun, which was seen continually, +though its sound was but seldom heard above the surf and the wind, the +watchers would have thought there was no ship near. + +By and by the rain ceased, but there was no moon, and impenetrable +wind-clouds still hid the stars. Out through the blackness of the +night the flame-light quivered in long, bright streams over the +endless lines of ever-advancing waves, but revealed to the watchers +no ship, no boat, no tokens even of wreck, only the ceaseless reaching +upward of the beckoning white hands; and the wind bore no sound, save +at intervals the dull distant boom of the cannon. But ever the solemn +surf thundered on the beach below, and the sand-cliff trembled and +crumbled beneath its resounding blows. + +The old man, who, with a seaman's owl-like eyesight, kneeled intently +gazing out through the darkness in the direction of the flash, +suddenly exclaimed, "I don't un'erstan' it! That air ship hadn't +oughter be in 'stress off where she is. She ain't on no shoal, nor +nothin'. She's jest a-lyin' tew. An' I don't see no signs o' no boats +nuther; an's fur's I kin see, them folks is a firin' off that air gun +jest fur the musicalness on't. Blast 'em! Come, gals: we mought as +well be walkin' along hum as ter stop a-yawpin' here in the wind an' +spray, a-burnin' up the winter's kindlin' fur folks 'at's a-foolin' on +us. 'Spesh'ly as I think she's a Britisher. Blast her!" + +The old Quaker was not accustomed to use strong language of any sort, +but evidently the human nature in him was so powerful in this instance +that he could not help indulging in the most emphatic admissible +invective. + +But the mother and wife were not so easily satisfied. In their eyes +the strange ship and all on board her were not of as much consequence +as the unworthy missing Jim, whose fate they associated with it. +Jim's boat, they said, was gone. No one could have taken her but Jim +himself. He would never have put out on such a night as this save to +go to the help of the distressed ship; and if he was on the water, the +light burning on Sankota Head would guide him safely back. So, in the +midst of spray and wind, the three kneeled on the cliff and kept the +blaze alight till the rising dawn made it useless, when, to the dismay +of the watchers, the ship hoisted sail and bore away. She showed no +colors, but the old islander, once a whaler, declared that she was a +British man-o'-war. + +But where was Jim? The unanswering surf still boomed at the foot of +the cliff, though the height of the waves was rapidly diminishing, and +the water was gradually assuming the peculiarly bland expression that +often comes after a storm, reminding one of the cat that has "eaten +the canary," but there was no sign of incoming boat or men. + +Chilled to the bone with the wind and cold sea-spray of the November +night, and to the heart with sorrow and disappointment, the three +returned to the lonely house. Running to meet them came Mary Allen, +breathlessly crying, "Where's Eben and Jim?" + +Poor Sarah could not answer, but the brave old mother, a veteran in +sorrows, replied with trembling lips, "We don't know anythin' o' thy +brother, Mary; an' Jim hain't b'en hum sence las' night. His boat's +gone, an' we thought he might ha' went out to help the ship that was +a-firin' all night. But she's sailed off this mornin' all right; an' +father, he says she was a Britisher an' undly a-firin' ter fool us +folks. So I don't know nothin' about it," uttering the last words in a +drearily hopeless tone that gave them exceeding pathos. + +For a moment Mary stood in dismay; then she cried wildly, "Oh, they're +drowned, they're drowned! Jim come deown ter eour heouse las' night +a-sayin' he'd heard the firin' o' a ship in 'stress, an' askin' Eb +ter go with him an' help him git his boat eout, an' telled me ter run +along deown to Zack Tumnaydoo's An' ax Zack an' Ellery ter go with +'em. An' I did, an' that's the las' anybody's seen o' any one on 'em. +Oh dear! oh dear!" And wringing her hands, the sobbing girl ran back +as quickly as she had come to impart to her mother and sisters the +full extent of her evil tidings. + +The cold, sad, desolate weeks and months that now rolled slowly on +are to this day remembered on Nantucket as those of the "hard winter." +Provisions were scarce, fuel was difficult to obtain, the harbor +was frozen over, so that few fish could be taken there, and all +communication with "the main" was cut off by British cruisers. In +January the cherished old horse was killed because there was no longer +hay to feed him, and even oats were "too precious to be fed to dumb +beasts." In February the stalwart old Stephen lay grimly down to die, +saying pityingly, "It's time, gals: I can't dew ye no more good by +stayin'; an' I'm so tired." + +The day succeeding the silent funeral, where two women had dropped the +few tears that were left them to shed, good old Thomas Macy came and +took his daughter and her mother to his own home. And in windy, still +frozen March the wail of a tiny baby was heard in the house. + +Under all the trouble the two brave women made no moan. Silently +clinging together, never losing sight of each other for more than a +few moments at a time, they yet said nothing of their greatest grief, +that Jim should have disappeared with such unworthy words on his lips +and thoughts in his heart, until, a few days after the baby's birth, +Sarah said to her mother, "I know he's not dead. If he'd ha' died, +he'd ha' come back and told me he was sorry. Fur I dew think he'd be +sorry. Don't thee, mother?" And the mother nodded assent and smiled +through her tears. + +But, in truth, they had a more substantial reason than poor Sarah's +wistful fancy for thinking that Jim was living. When the ice broke up, +his boat was found in a little cove, where it had floated right-side +up, without any serious injury except the carrying away of the sails. +Of course this discovery roused new hopes in the homes of the missing +men. It did not "stand to reason" that four big strong, temperate +young fellows, brought up to the hardy, amphibious island-life, had +all fallen overboard, any more than it "stood to sense" that the boat +had upset and then righted of itself. Besides, "none of the boy's +corpuses had ever floated up." So the Tucketers took courage and +felt sure that, whatever had become of the missing men, they were not +drowned. + +But still the slow months came and went, till the summer and autumn +and another winter had passed by; and patient old Rachel Starbuck grew +daily a little quieter and a little grayer; and the brave young wife +grew a little stronger to bear, but not a whit less loving or prone to +suffer, and stately old Thomas Macy grew daily more gentle and pitying +in his ways as he looked long at the winsome face of the happy, wee +grandchild, that throve and crowed and tried to utter sweet little +hesitating words as gayly as if the world had never a sin, a sorrow or +a weakness in it. + +One day Sarah and her mother had carried the baby down to the small +cottage at the back of the cliff, whither they went to attend to +some little household matter; for, although they did not mention the +subject, even to themselves, they still kept all there in readiness +against Jim's coming home. Here, in the soft May sunshine, the +red-frocked baby was sitting on the green turf step, playing with +some "daffies," first of the season, which Sarah had plucked from the +little garden in the rear. The mother and daughter were in the house, +when both were alarmed by a scream from the usually merry child. A man +had it closely clasped in his arms, kissing it and calling it between +half-choked sobs his "own pretty, pretty baby." The man was thin, +pock-marked, bald, and clad in a ragged uniform of a British sailor, +but to the faithful, longing eyes of mother and wife there was no +mistaking their Jim. + +It was long ere the story could be told, but at last they learned that +on that sad November night Jim and his companions had gone out to the +relief of the signaling ship. She was, as old Stephen had conjectured, +a British man-o'-war. Being short of hands, and having on board as +pilot a renegade native of the island, who knew where a ship could +"lay-to" in safety, she had taken advantage of the storm to attract +strong men within the range of her guns, then to command them to +surrender, and thus to impress them into "His Majesty's service" as +"able seamen." + +For a long time Jim had managed to keep alive his resentful feelings +toward his wife, accusing of being the source of all his misfortunes +the poor little woman who was loving and longing so sincerely for him. +But when illness came he could hold out no longer. "I made up my mind +then," said he, "that if ever I got hum agin, I'd go deown on my knees +an' ax pardin' o' my Sairy." + +But she had never been angry, and was now only too thankful that Jim +and his friends had escaped safely. + +"Ah!" said Jim in telling his adventures, "we hed a clus run on 't, +Sairy, but thee'd better believe that air British navy's a fust-rate +place fur larnin' a feller ter know when he's well off. An' Sairy, +when I longed so fur thee an' mother, an' thought o' what a wretch I +was to speak so ter the dearest little woman in the world, I c'u'd see +that I hadn't knowed when I was well off." + +Jim's was not an unselfish kind of repentance, but it was the best it +was in his nature to offer, and Sarah had long ago learned that her +Jim was not the saint and hero she had once dreamed, but only a weak +and common-place man; and she asked for nothing higher from him. To +his best she had a right, and with that she was content, smiling on +her husband with eyes full of a love as tender and true as when in the +old days she had gazed down upon her lover from the cliff-head, while +the mother laid her hand softly on his scanty hair, and said solemnly, +"May God keep thee thus, my son!" adding, after a moment's pause, +"But I wish thy fayther was here to see." And a tender silence for +the memory of the rough but kindly-natured old man fell over them all; +while the baby, reconciled to the stranger, poked her little fingers +in the marks on his face, and cried because she could not get them +off. + +ETHEL C. GALE. + + + + +AT THE OLD PLANTATION. + +TWO PAPERS.--II. + + +The eastern sky is just beginning to assume that strange neutral tint +which tells of the approaching dawn when we open the heavy hall door +and step out into the crisp, frosty air. No moonlight hunting for me, +with the cold, deceitful light making phantom pools of every white +sand-patch in the road, and ghostly logs and boulders of every +wavering shadow. You are always gathering up your reins for leaps +over imaginary fence-panels, which your horse goes through like a +nightmare, and always unprepared for the real ones, which he clears +when you are least expecting it. If the cry bears down on you, and you +rein up for a view, the fox is sure to dodge by invisibly under cover +of some dark little bay, and you get home too late for a morning nap +and too early for the breakfast, which you have been longing after for +the last two hours. Then, too, your horse has lost his night's rest, +and will be jaded for two days in consequence. No: the time to throw +the dogs off for a fox-hunt is that weird hour which the negroes +significantly call "gray-day:" it is the surest time to strike a +trail, and by the time Reynard begins to dodge and double there will +be plenty of light to ride by and to get a good view. If the fox gets +away or the cover is drawn without a find, you are always sure of +having your spirits raised by the cheerful sunrise: by the time you +get home, tired and spattered, the ladies are down stairs ready to +make pretty exclamations over the brush or to chaff you pleasantly +for your want of success; and then there is just time to get your hair +brushed and your clothes changed before the mingled aromas of fried +sausage and old Java put the keen edge on your already whetted +appetite. + +A ride across country after a rattling pack of English hounds on +a thoroughbred hunter with a field of red-coated squires is an +experience which few hunters on this side of the water have ever +enjoyed, but with the incidents of which every reader of English +novels is familiar. The chase of the red fox in Maryland or Virginia +has some features in common with the British national sport, but that +of the gray fox in the more southern States differs materially from +both. The latter animal is smaller and possessed of less speed and +endurance than his more northern brother, but he is far more common +and quite as cunning. He makes shorter runs, but over very different +ground, always keeping in the woods and dodging about like a rabbit, +so that a different style of horse and a different method of riding +are required for his capture. There is no risk of breaking your neck +over a five-barred gate or a stone wall, but you may be hung in a +grapevine, or knocked out of the saddle by a low limb, or have your +knee scraped against a tree-trunk. It is true you may catch your fox +in twenty minutes, and three hours is an extraordinary run, but then +you may catch four or five between daylight and ten o'clock of an +autumn morning. + +The horses stretch their necks toward the stables and whinny as they +think of the bundles of untasted fodder: the dogs require no notes +of the horn to rouse them, for they know the signs and are already +capering about in eager merriment, throwing their heads into the air +occasionally to utter a long and musical bay. This wakes up the +curs about the negro-yard, and their barking stirs up the geese, the +combined chorus rousing all the cocks in the various poultry-houses, +so that we ride off amid a hub-bub of howling, cackling, neighing and +crowing which would awaken the Seven Sleepers. We are first at the +meet, and the old woods ring with the mellow, winding notes of +our horns--no twanging brass reeds in the mouth-pieces, but honest +cow-horn bugles, which none but a true hunter can blow. The hounds +grow wild at the cheering sound, and howl through every note of the +canine gamut; the echoes catch the strain and fling it from brake to +bay; the dying cadence strengthens into an answering blast, and the +party is soon increased to half a dozen bold riders and twenty eager +dogs. Venus, the beautiful "flag-star of heaven," is just toning her +brilliancy into harmony with the pale light which creeps slowly up +from the eastern horizon, and some wakeful crow in the pine-thicket +gives an answering caw to the goblin laugh of the barred owl in the +cypress, as we leap our horses into a field of sedge and cheer on the +dogs to their work. For half an hour we ride in silence save the +words of encouragement to the hounds, which are snuffing about +unsuccessfully and whipping the hoar-frost with their tails from the +dry yellow stems of the grass. Now and then some eager young dog opens +on the trail of a rabbit which has started from its form, but the +crack of a whip restrains him, and the other hounds pay no attention +to him. Suddenly a sharp, quick yelp comes from the farthest corner of +the field, and the older dogs stop instantly and raise their heads +to listen. Hark to old Blucher! There he is again, and the whole pack +give tongue and dash off to the call which never deceives them. We +catch a glimpse of the old fellow's white throat as he trots about in +a zigzag course, poking his tan muzzle into every clump of tall grass +and giving tongue occasionally as he sniffs the cold trail. Presently +a long, quavering cry comes from old Firefly; again and again Blucher +opens more and more eagerly; another and another dog takes it up, and +the trot quickens into a lope. The trail grows warmer as they follow +the line of fence, and just as we settle ourselves in the saddle for +a run it all stops and the dogs are at fault. But Blucher is hard to +puzzle and knows every trick of his cunning game. Running a few panels +down the fence, he rears up on it and snuffs the top rail, and then, +with a yell of triumph, dashes over it into the woods, with the whole +pack in full cry at his heels. A ringing cheer announces that the +fox has "jumped," and the field scatters in pursuit. Two only, the +subscriber being one, follow the dogs with a flying leap. Some dash +off in search of a low panel, others to head off the cry through the +distant gate, while others stop to pull the rails and make a gap. +For ten minutes we keep well behind the hounds, with a tight rein and +heads bent to avoid the hanging oak limbs. But the fox has turned and +plunged into a brake which no horse can go through, and we draw up +and listen to decide where we can head him off with the greatest +certainty; then turn in different directions and spur through the +young black-jacks. Ah! there he goes, with dragging brush and open +mouth, and the pack, running close enough together to be covered by +a table-cloth, not sixty yards behind him. I am in at the death this +time, for he cannot run a hundred yards farther, and the brush is +mine, for there's no one else in sight. With a savage burst the dogs +dash after him into the thicket and then--dead silence, not a yelp, +as they scatter and run backward and forward, nosing under every dead +leaf and up the trunk of every tree. The fault is complete, and the +young dogs give it up and lie down panting, while the older hounds try +every expedient to puzzle out the trail and take up the scent again. +He certainly has not treed, there is neither earth nor hollow to hide +him, and yet the scent has gone! And it never came back. If any reader +can tell what became of that fox, he is a wiser man than I. Certain +it is that we never heard of him again; and for aught I know to the +contrary, he may have been that identical Japanese animal which turns +into tea-kettles and vanishes in puffs of smoke. It does not take +long, however, to make another find, and we go home after a three +hours' chase with two fine brushes and appetites which would ruin any +hotel-keeper in a week. + +After breakfast a walk to the cotton-houses would be in order, for the +successful planter is he who trusts nothing to the overseer which can +have his personal supervision, and he must excuse himself to such of +his guests as prefer a cigar by the library fire to an hour spent in +observing the details of plantation work. In the days of which I write +horse-power was preferred to steam, and negro-power to both; and few +planters of the fine black-seed cotton could be convinced that any +"power-gin" could be invented which would not injure the long, silky +"staple" or fibre of the lint. The old-time "foot-gins" were used +exclusively, and the gin-house was a place of curious interest to all +visitors. In one end of the long room was the huge pile of seed-cotton +which was to pass through the rollers as the first step toward +its preparation for the market. How simply does a sudden stroke of +inventive genius solve a problem which wise men have regarded as +insoluble! Not much more than a century ago a commission of practical +English _savans_ discouraged the cultivation of a textile fabric +which "might be useful but for the impossibility of clearing it of the +seeds!" But the foot-gin appeared on the scene, and indigo went down +before cotton. Ranged along the walls of the room are some twenty +rough wooden frames, looking like a compromise between a straw-cutter +and a sewing-machine, each furnished with two strong rollers operated +by a treadle and acting precisely like those of a clothes-wringer. +Behind each of these machines stands a man or woman with one +ever-moving foot upon the treadle-board, feeding the seed-cotton from +a large bag to the greedy rollers, which seize it and pass the lint +in fleecy rolls into another bag prepared for it, while the seed, like +shirt-buttons touched by the afore-mentioned wringer, rolls off from +the hither side to form a pile upon the floor. Thence it will be +carted to the seed-house to be rotted into manure for the next crop, +there being no better fertilizer for cotton than a compost of which +it forms the base. A portion of it, however, will be reserved to +be boiled with cow-peas and fed to the milch-cattle, no food being +superior to its rich, oily kernel in milk-producing qualities. The +negro mothers use it largely in decoction as a substitute for cocoa, +and the white mothers under similar circumstances having it parched +and ground like coffee, when it makes an exceedingly palatable and +nutritious beverage. The "green-seed" or short-staple variety is far +inferior to the black for this purpose, and produces white, sticky, +cottony-looking butter; indeed, most dairywomen insist that "you +can pick the lint out of it." The ginned cotton is carried to the +platforms, where it is "specked" by the women--leaves, dirt and other +impurities being picked out by hand--and spread out to dry and bleach +in the sun; thence we follow it to the "moting-room," where it is +thoroughly and finally overhauled, every minute particle of dirt or +other foreign matter and every flock of stained and discolored cotton +being picked out. This room is always in the second story, and at one +end of it a circular hole is cut in the floor; through this hole hangs +the bag of strong, close gunny-cloth, very different from the coarse +covering which suffices for the lower grades of "short-staple," +supported by a stout iron hoop larger by some inches than the hole +in the floor, and to which the end of the bag is securely sewed. The +cotton is thrown into this bag and packed with an iron rammer by a man +who stands in it, his weight assisting in the packing, each bag being +made to contain upward of four hundred pounds. + +Everything seeming to go on as it ought and all the necessary orders +and directions being given, we walk out to take a look at the poultry. +There are fowls in abundance and superabundance, but our kind host +is most proud of his flock of three hundred white turkeys; and a +beautiful sight they are, scattered over the grassy lawn. Ranging, as +these fine birds will, over a mile or two of woods abounding in their +wild brethren, convenient mistakes were often made by the pineland +gunners, whose rifles were always ready to pick off a stray gobbler +without waiting to know whether he was wild or tame, and so the old +gentleman introduced the white stock to prevent the possibility of +such errors. For a similar reason no ducks were raised except those +which wear top-knots. It is no unusual thing for wild gobblers and +mallards to come up with the tame stock to the poultry-yard, and +the bronze feathers and shy habits of many of the young turkeys show +evidence of their free parentage. + +It is just impossible for a city man to remain indoors in the country +with the broad fields, the shady woods, the bright blue sky and +the merry pipe of birds calling him out to active exercise and +unaccustomed sport. He is sure to think himself a sportsman, even if +uncertain whether the shot or powder should first enter the gun; +and if an old hand at the trigger, his uneasiness while in the house +becomes almost painful. Every article of hunting-gear is +overhauled again and again; boots are greased, shot-pouches filled, +powder-charges remeasured, guns cleaned and ramrods oiled; and I +once had a fine Manton--as sweet a piece as ever came to the +shoulder--almost ruined by an eager friend, who, after going through +all this during a stormy morning, insisted on taking off the locks +and triggers, just to while away the time. The introduction of the +breech-loader most happily obviates all this, since such lagging hours +may now be occupied in charging and crimping cartridges. But there is +nothing to detain us longer to-day: the "Bob Whites" are waiting for +us among the pea-vines, and the snipe among the tussocky grass of the +old rice-field. Di and Sancho have caught sight of the guns, and are +capering about in the wildest excitement, for it is a long time since +they have seen anything more "gamey" than a city pigeon. Birding over +good dogs is the very poetry of field-sports. The silken-haired setter +and the lithe pointer are as far the superiors of the half-savage +hound as the Coldstream Guards are of the Comanches. The hound has no +affection and but little intelligence, and the qualities which make +him valuable are purely those of instinct. The long, hungry cry with +which he follows the deer and the sharp, angry yelp which he utters +when chasing the fox tell plainly that the motives which prompt him +thus to use his delicate nose and unwearying powers of endurance are +precisely those which carry the Indian to the hunt or on the war-path. +He hunts for any master who will cheer him on, has no tactics but to +stick to the trail and give tongue as long as the scent will lie, and +must be whipped off the game when caught to prevent his devouring +it on the spot. The setter, on the other hand, is intelligent, +affectionate and faithful. If properly trained and reared, he loves +his master and will hunt for no one else, learns to understand human +language to an astonishing degree and exhibits reasoning powers of no +mean order. He hunts purely for sport, understands the habits of his +game, and regulates his tactics accordingly, and delivers the birds +uninjured to his master, sometimes controlling his appetite and +carrying the game long distances for this purpose. I have frequently +discovered that my dogs, brought up in the house, understood words +which had never been taught them. My old favorite Di always answers +the dinner-bell and stands near my chair for odd scraps. Being +somewhat annoyed one day by her eagerness, I said playfully, "Go to +the kitchen and tell Annie to feed you." She at once rushed off and +scratched the kitchen door until the girl opened it, and then stood by +the tray of scraps looking at her and wagging her tail. Wanting one of +my little sons one evening, I said, "Di, go find the boys!" She rushed +off, looking and smelling about their usual haunts, but returned +unsuccessful. I scolded and sent her a second and third time, with the +same result: a few minutes after she came quietly behind me with the +_hat_ of my youngest boy in her mouth: she had taken it from a table +in the passage, and her wagging tail said plainly, "Will this answer? +It's the best I can do." The same dog will creep carefully upon +partridges, and stand as if cut in marble lest they should fly, but +will chase turkeys at full speed, giving tongue like a hound, and then +lie still for hours while they are called up and shot, nor will she +ever confound the different habits of the two birds or the different +methods of hunting them. + +Such are the highly-bred and intelligent animals which are eagerly +waiting for us to-day--Di, with her white coat, soft as wavy silk, her +chestnut ears and one spot on the back alone marring its snowy purity; +Sancho, jet black, with "featherings" like a King Charles spaniel. +They are over the fence already, and tearing about the field so +recklessly in the exuberance of their joy that they must certainly +startle any game which may be there. The timid little field-buntings +glide away on silent wing through the grass; the meadow-larks rise +with gentle flappings and sail off with that easy flight so tempting +to very young wing-shots; now and then a flock of doves whistle off +too far for a certain shot, and clouds of crow-blackbirds rise with +hoarse chirps and seek less public feeding-grounds; a rabbit dashes +off from a brier-patch and both dogs rush pell-mell at his heels, but +a single note from the whistle brings them to a sudden halt and makes +them look thoroughly ashamed of themselves. Off they go again, as +wild as deer; but suddenly Di's whole action changes: crouching to the +ground and beating her sides rapidly with her tail, she runs hither +and thither, snuffing eagerly in the grass. Now Sancho comes up and +catches the cold trail, for a covey has certainly been in that place +to-day. Most probably they rose from the spot, frightened by the swoop +of a hawk, and made for the nearest cover, for the dogs can do nothing +with the scent. But that little whiff of the exciting effluvia has +brought them down to their work, and a beautiful sight it is as they +quarter the ground with quickly-beating tails and noses high in the +air, crossing and recrossing the wind in zigzag lines and concentric +circles, hunting the ground so closely that no trail, however cold, +can escape their keen sense of smell. A wave of the hand to Sancho, +and the sagacious fellow is off toward the far corner of the field, +when suddenly Di stops in mid-career with a jerk that must try every +sinew in her frame. The birds are right under her nose, and she dares +not move a muscle, but stands as if changed into stone, her eyes +starting with excitement, her nostrils expanded, her feathery stern +quivering stiffly out behind and every line of her figure standing out +like whipcord. "Toho!" The black dog catches the sound and turns his +head: he sees her rigid form, and backs her where he stands as firmly +as if he too had the scent. There is no hurry, for the dogs are true +as steel and will stand there as long as the frightened birds lie, +while the latter, obedient to the instinct of sudden terror, will +cower where they are for an hour, with their heads drawn back, their +mottled breasts pressed to the earth and their legs gathered under +them, ready to spring into the air. We cock our guns, agree to shoot +respectively at the birds which go right or left or straight before +us, and then advance to flush the covey ourselves. The staunch dog +never winces as we pass her: two paces, three, a sudden rush and whirr +as of many wings, five sharp reports in quick succession and four +birds down! Another, wild with fright, rises straight up for twenty +feet and darts off behind us, but his beautiful head droops as the +crack of my last barrel resounds on the air and a cloud of feathers +floats downward. The shot has struck him in the line of flight, and he +goes to the ground with a bounce, some thirty yards away, as if hurled +there by a vigorous arm. The well-trained dogs come to the "Down! +charge!" while we reload our guns, and then seek the dead birds and +bring them carefully in to us. + +Leaving the broken covey to be worked up on our return, we push on to +another part of the large pea-field, where, perched upon the topmost +limb of a tall dead pine, we see a red-tailed hawk engaged in quiet +observation. There is no surer sign of birds, but it takes close +hunting to find them, for they dare not move about while their savage +enemy is on the watch. As we approach the hawk stretches out his neck, +jerks his wings two or three times and oscillates his ungainly body, +and then, with a loud scream of angry disappointment, he is off. The +tree stands in a little piece of sedge, not far from a dense growth of +pine-saplings, and we know that the moment the hawk left his perch the +birds started for the cover, and our only chance for shooting is to +head them off and turn them. The dogs have struck the running trail, +and their action is totally different from what it was with the first +covey. Crouching flat to the ground, they glide after the startled +birds with a snake-like movement, now stopping, now running swiftly +in. Suddenly Di leaves the trail and dashes off at full speed to the +right. Making a wide circuit, she skirts the pines, and, turning short +round, comes to a firm stand in the very face of the retreating covey, +while Sancho lies prone with his nose between his paws. It is an +old trick of hers thus to "huddle" running birds, and we follow her +example, come up behind her, and get six with four barrels as the +birds rise in a bunch. + +But if the reader follows us too closely, he will have all the fatigue +of a long tramp without the compensation of healthful excitement +and full game-pockets. Thirty-five fine birds in a pile on the +pantry-table offer a capital _raison d'être_ for weary feet and soiled +fingers when we reach home just in time for the supper-bell. There +have been some arrivals while we were gone, for Christmas is near at +hand, and the old house is filling up with guests. To-morrow the "St. +John's Hunting-Club" has its monthly deer-hunt and dinner at Black +Oak, and we need a good night's rest to prepare us for an experience +the omission of which would render imperfect any truthful reminiscence +of life at the old plantation. + +During the months spent at the plantation there is little social +visiting among the gentlemen, and, except on Sundays and occasions +of public meetings, the various local clubs offer their only +opportunities for seeing each other, Another object--at least, under +the old _régime_--was to bring together those who occupied somewhat +different social positions. Formerly the clubs were strictly +exclusive, and, indeed, this feature was never lost, but in every +community there would be some _novi homines_, clever men many of them, +whom the old gentry were quite willing to recognize, though a marked +difference in culture prevented family visiting. These could be +admitted to membership, and at the club-house could be met on equal +terms. The hunting feature was always preserved, though few of the +older members ever joined in the sport. Under the rules there was a +place, a day and an hour for the weekly meet; and I remember when it +was a safe thing to be at "the White Bridge" on the Santee Canal any +Saturday morning at nine o'clock. Somebody was sure to be there with +dogs and driver, prepared for a "wallet-hunt"--i.e., an all-day hunt +with wallets at the crupper well filled with hunter's cheer. Once a +month the club met for dinner, each member "finding" in turn, and +on that day a single drive, or at most two, was all that could be +enjoyed. The club-house was a plain frame building in the woods, with +a huge fireplace at each end, heavy stationary pine table extending +the length of the room, and broad soft-pine benches. The dishes, +wines, liquors and cigars were all specified in the rules, the +finder being allowed two extra dishes at will, and supplying all the +crockery, cutlery and glass. The kitchen was a rough shed close to the +cool and shaded spring of pure, clear water. Being myself but a guest, +I have not the privilege of extending an invitation to the reader; +so, by his leave, we will drop the present tense and I will assume the +part of _raconteur_. How vividly do the scenes of that day come back +through the highways of memory, crowded as they are with experiences +of more than twenty varied years! As I rode up to the bridge on that +bright December morning I found a party which promised rare sport. +There was Kit Gillam with his crooked nose, and Tom Clifton with his +deadly Manton and fine cry of dogs, and cheery Jack Parker, who hunted +only for the good company, and whose gun was as likely as not to be +unloaded when the deer came out to him. Two drives were decided on +which might be relied on for shooting, and yet were small enough to +give ample time for reaching the club-house before dinner. + +As we rode toward our stands I thought it a good chance to settle +a point which had long excited my curiosity. "Kit," said I, "I have +often wondered how your nose got out of plumb. What caused it?" + +"When I was a little bit of a boy I fell down and stepped on it." + +This very satisfactory explanation brought us to our ground, and +we were soon at our respective stands and listening eagerly for the +trail-notes of the old hounds. The deer have regular runs, from which +they rarely deviate, and which do not vary in the course of years. +These are guarded by the standers while the game is driven down +from the opposite direction. A large drive may have a dozen of these +stands, by one of which the deer will almost certainly pass, but which +one nobody knows. Quiet is absolutely necessary and a cigar is fatal +to sport, but concealment is useless, as these animals see imperfectly +in daylight. + +I had not to wait long before I caught the distant cheering and +hand-clapping of the drivers as they encouraged the dogs to hunt. +In the quiet of the sombre woods every sound was distinctly audible. +Suddenly three or four quick, sharp yelps brought my gun to the +"ready," and the hammers clicked as a burst of music followed. But +above the clamor of the hounds came the crack of the driver's whip, +and his voice, mellowed by distance, was heard in angry tones: "Come +back yah, you good-for-nuttin', wutless lee' rabbit-dog, you! I sway +maussa ha' for shoot da' puppy 'fore he spile ebery dog in de pack!" + +Soon, however, came another open, deep and musical, and there was no +mistaking old Drummer's trail-note: then Killbuck joined in, and then +the cry became general. For a while the broken, quavering tongue tells +that the dogs are only trailing and the deer is still cowering in his +bed, or perhaps has sneaked out of the drive at the first sound of the +horn. Hark! what a burst! They had "started" within two hundred yards +of me. The next moment there was a rustle of leaves, and a yearling +doe dashed by. I am not a dead shot, and have nothing to say about +that first barrel, but the second sent her down and over with a roll +that almost broke her neck. The dogs were stopped and the deer +thrown over the pommel of one of the boys, and we rode on to try the +Brunswick swamp. The boy had assured us that "One pow'ful big buck bin +in day (there) las' night. I see all he track gwine in, an' I nebber +see none come out." + +We were soon strung along the narrow dam across which the game was to +be forced by the drivers, who had to make their way through an ugly +bog among cypress "knees" and dense brier-patches. Jack Parker stood +next to me, fidgeting about uneasily, because it was against rules to +talk on stand. Jack's prominent feature was his nose, and he had +an incorrigible trick of blowing it "out loud" whenever there was a +particular reason for keeping perfectly quiet. The dogs had begun +to open, and their loose, scattering trail-notes indicated turkeys. +Looking directly before me, I saw seven noble gobblers stepping +cautiously toward my stand. Their glossy breasts glittered with +coppery lustre in the straggling sunbeams as, with drooping wings and +expanded tails, they advanced, looking fearfully about and uttering +their low alarm-notes, "Quit! quit! quit!" Three more steps will make +a certain shot, and--out rang Jack's nasal clarion, loud and clear as +the _morte_ at a fox-chase. I looked round in horror, and there +stood my hunter complacently eying me and flourishing his white silk +handkerchief, while his gun leaned against a tree ten paces distant: +"Expect I'd better go back to my stand, eh? Are those dogs barking at +a deer?" + +I jumped to my feet for a snap-shot at the old gobbler which flew over +me, making a clear miss. Bang! bang! went two more guns; a woodcock +whistled up from the bog and two swamp-rabbits dashed into the +brier. The dogs came out, shaking the water from their coats, and the +spattered drivers rode through the creek. There was not a feather to +show, and of course everybody was "down" on Jack, but with an air of +deep injury he put it off on me with the question, "Why didn't you +tell me the turkeys were coming? How can a fellow help having a cold?" + +We reached the club-house just in time to take our seats as dinner was +served, and were in capital condition to enjoy the rich mutton, the +fat turkey, the juicy home-cured ham and the rare old madeira which +graced the board. This last was a specialty with the gentlemen of +those days, and probably no cellars in the world could boast choicer +vintage than the "Newton & Gordon" and "Old Leacock" which cheered the +table of that "hunting-club." There were stronger liquors, too, though +these were chiefly used as appetizers before dinner. The moderate use +of brandy was universal, but the drunkenness which blots these days of +prohibitory laws was comparatively rare. Few ever left the club-house +"disguised" by liquor except the young men, who then, as now and +always, would occasionally indulge in a "frolic." With the clearing of +the board came the regular and volunteer toasts, and then an hour of +"crop-talk" and "horse-talk" and hunting-stories over the wine and +cigars. With the departure of the older members came the inevitable +quarter-race, with its accompaniment of riding feats which would have +done credit to a Don Cossack. The equestrian performance was commenced +by Kit Gillam (who now dismounts and leads over every little +ditch) forcing his active chestnut up the wooden steps and into +the club-room, and rearing him on the dining-table. Then came a +leaping-match over a ten-railed fence, resulting in the barking of +some shins and the demolition of sundry panels of rail. Joe Keating, +the wildest rider I ever knew, had emptied his tumbler too often, and +insisted on running his horse home through the woods. An hour after +he was overtaken trudging along the road, perfectly sober, with the +saddle on his shoulders and the bridle over his arm. + +"Why, Joe, where's your horse?" + +"Dead!" was the laconic reply. + +Sure enough. He had run full against a huge pine, and the horse had +gone down with a broken skull. He never tried it again. + +Christmas Eve has come at last, and the old plantation is in all its +glory. Carriage after carriage has deposited its freight of blooming +girls and merry-eyed children at the broad, open hall-door. There is +not a vacant stall in the stables, nor an unoccupied bedroom among all +the seventeen of the spacious mansion. The broad dinner-table is +set diagonally in the long dining-room, and to-morrow, at least, the +guests will have to take two turns at filling its twenty seats, while +the children go through the same manoeuvre in the pantry. Where they +will all sleep to-night is a mystery which none can unravel save the +busy, hospitable "lady of the manor;" but it makes little +difference, for there will be little sleeping done. The day passes +in riding-parties and rowing-parties and similar amusements, as +each freely follows the bent of his inclination. "Brass," the negro +fiddler, has been summoned, and "Newport" comes with his stirrup and +steel for the "triangle" accompaniment, and the merry feet of the +dancers are soon keeping time to the homely but inspiriting music. The +"German" and the "Boston" have not usurped the places of the old-time +cotillon, quadrille and Virginia reel, and the dance is often varied +by romping games of "Blindman's Buff," "Move-House" and "Stage-Coach," +in which old and young unite with equal zest. + +But this is not the limit of the fun. From time immemorial Christmas +Eve has been licensed for the performance of all sorts of tricks, +and demure little faces are flitting about convulsed by the effort to +conceal the merry sense of mischief. The stockings are duly hung for +Saint Nicholas, and the holly, with its glossy leaves and scarlet +berries, stands ready to be planted in the parlor, to bloom to-morrow +into all kinds of rich flowers and gift-fruit. At nine o'clock the +work of arranging the Christmas tree begins. The ladies retire, and +after a quiet smoke by the roaring hall-fire the gentlemen follow +suit. To bed, but not to sleep. Jack Parker is the first man ready, +and bounces into the best bed to secure the softest place; but the +bars have been skillfully removed, and he is the centre of a rather +mixed pile on the floor. I feel another, to be sure that all is right, +and slip cozily between the sheets, but some graceless little wretch +has placed a walking-cane "athwart-ships," which nearly breaks my +back. None escape. Some find their sheets strewed with chaff or +cockle-burs, some find no sheets at all. At midnight a fearful roar +comes from the girls' room, followed by pretty shrieks and terrible +confusion; but it is only the old Cochin rooster, which was slyly shut +up in the empty chimney-place before they retired, indulging in his +first crow. + +Daylight puts an end to all sleep, for the boys are on the piazza +ready to welcome Christmas with innumerable packages of fire-crackers. +We rise to find our pantaloons sewed up, our boots stuffed with wet +cotton, our tooth-brushes dusted with quinine and our _café noir_ +sweetened with salt. These practical jokes are all taken in good +part and made to contribute to the jollity of the season. At +the breakfast-table lumps of cracked marble serve admirably for +loaf-sugar, except that the hottest coffee will not dissolve them, and +boiled eggs tempt the appetite only to disappoint with their sawdust +filling. Then all assemble on the piazza to witness the merriment +of the crowd of negroes who have assembled to claim little gifts of +tobacco and sugar and to receive the annual glass of whisky which a +time-honored custom bestows. The liquor is served in a wine-glass, and +swallowed eagerly by men, women and boys from ten years old upward. +Then they disperse to get their portion of the Christmas beef which +has been slaughtered for their special benefit, and we prepare for +service at the parish church, which stands among the shadows of the +old forest oaks an easy walk from the house. There the solemn services +temper and soften, but do not check or lessen, the joy and good-will +which so well become the season, and which find their appropriate +manifestation in all kinds of innocent amusement. The religious and +the social observances of the day react each upon the other, and +harmonize most admirably in the impressions which they produce. The +interchange of gifts and tokens around the Christmas tree follows +most appropriately, and the Christmas feast is marked by profuse +hospitality and keen enjoyment unmarred by riot or excess. + +Ah, well! there are piles of dusty memories in the old cockloft still +untouched, but I shall rummage no more to-night. The scenes which have +floated past me with the wreathing smoke of my cigar are green and +fragrant to me with a freshness which time can never blight, but they +never can harden into reality again for any mortal experience. They +have gone into the irretrievable past with a state of things which +some may regret and others rejoice in, and well will it be if the new +_régime_ shall supply their places with other pictures which twenty +years hence it may be no less pleasant to remember. + +ROBERT WILSON. + + + + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + +A GERMAN AGRICULTURAL FAIR. + + +From the 27th to the 30th of September all Stuttgart flocks to +Cannstatt for the _Volksfest_; and this year every good Würtemberger +was bound to feel an additional interest in the fête on account of +the opening ceremony, the inauguration of a statue to the late king, +Wilhelm I.--and "well beloved," one is tempted to add from the way +in which his people still speak of him. "The old king" and "this one" +they say with an inflection of voice anything but flattering to +the latter. Our landlady assures us that let the weather look as +threatening as it would, the sun always contrived to burst out when in +former times the late king rode into the arena to give the prizes; and +she is evidently by no means certain it will not pour all three days +of the fair this year. However, to judge from the skies, "this one" is +not so bad as he might be: the sun shines propitious on him too, and +consequently on us as we set forth to see what we can see. The second +is the great day, as the prizes are then distributed; but already on +Monday the booths and shows were on the field, and Cannstatt was gay +with banners and wreaths and garlands of green. The carpenters were +still hard at work hammering at seats for us to occupy next day, +but the wonderful triumphal arch stood quite completed and worthy of +sincere admiration. No one knows who has not seen it worked into an +architectural design how beautiful a string of onions can be, how +gorgeous a row of vegetable-marrows, how delicate a cluster of +turnips. It sounds puerile, but it was lovely nevertheless. Imagine a +temple-like construction all composed of odorous pine, with an arched +portal on either hand, and then every line and curve, every niche and +pillar and balustrade, defined with glowing fruit. It was looped in +festoons and hung in tassels of red and white and gold: the arms of +Würtemberg even were traced in yellow corn, while above it all rose +a graceful column, a mosaic from base to summit of every fruit that +autumn can bring to perfection. + +That was the great show: after that, mammoth cucumbers and carrots or +rows of agricultural implements did not detain us long. The next best +thing was to see the booths and the crowd on the outskirts of the +exhibition. There the circus was in full blast, and triumphant, +brazen-throated opposition to all smaller attractions that had +ventured into that neighborhood. The performing dogs in red petticoats +were reduced to making an appearance before their tent to entice +spectators, and Harlequin and Columbine had to shout themselves hoarse +inviting people to come in and split with laughter for sixpence. Those +who did not aspire to a seat under painted canvas gathered round a +melancholy bear dancing a _pas seul_ on the grass with heartbroken +gravity. Then came the _Schützhallen_, where the marksmen stationed +themselves three feet from the target and cracked away at it with no +other visible effect than that produced on a monkey doing its tricks +close by: at every shot the poor little creature stopped fiddling and +looked over its shoulder with a distressed air of "If I'm not hit this +time!" Hand-organs, penny trumpets and rattles quite drowned the voice +of a street-songstress with a large assortment of vocal music before +her, from which she was giving the public a selection. Whether the +songs had any reference to the pictures that formed her background we +did not discover, but, at all events, the latter were tragic in the +extreme. "The twenty-four-year-old murderer of his mother and six +brothers and sisters" was there portrayed in a neat suit of black, +with a hatchet in his hand and a very irresolute expression of +countenance, while the various members of his family, seen through +the open bedroom doors, awaited their fate in peaceful slumber. The +booths, with toys, gingerbread, sausages, cheese and light literature +tastefully intermingled, went on and on like the restaurants that +lined each side of the long avenue. Around primitive tables family +parties clinked foaming glasses and hailed with demonstrative +hospitality any stray cousin who chanced that way. In one of the last +of these improvised _Trinkhallen_ we came upon a young man and maiden +who had the place quite to themselves. Her brown parasol kept the +sun off them both, and it was of no sort of consequence that they had +nothing more interesting than the back of a shed to look at. Future +prospects were the only ones they cared for: the present had no need +of anything but a faint beeriness, conducive to day-dreaming. + +As we get into the carriage again our coachman says we must see the +new statue. Accordingly, we drive through the town and halt before it +in the square. It is very fine, glowing like gold from the mint. +The king sits his charger well, and gazes majestically at nothing in +particular: still, one must be a little critical, and we imagine the +horse's tail is not quite right. But then is not the whisk of a tail +in bronze almost impossible to conceive of? If the artist suffers no +severer censure than that, he will probably call himself a happy +man. The inscription on the pedestal of the statue reads, "From his +grateful people." High and low have contributed to it, and gladly. +"That was a man!" says our driver. He was a soldier under him, and +knows. And in fact the old king seems to have been always doing +something for the country, so that the gratitude is not without a +cause. The inhabitants of Cannstatt have special reason to remember +him kindly: he himself was grateful to them and showed it. In the +troublous times of 1848 he was sadly in need of money: Ludwigsburg +(another satellite of Stuttgart) refused it, while Cannstatt came +up to the mark handsomely. The royal creditor never forgot that. He +instituted the _Volksfest_ as a sort of memorial, and Cannstatt is +proud and prosperous, while Ludwigsburg is like a city of the dead. +So the coachman affirms; and once conversation is opened between us it +flows without intermission. His head is over his shoulder all the way +as we roll back to the city under the beautiful trees of the palace +grounds. "If the old king had been living, Würtemberg would never have +joined in the last war: he would have told Prussia to fight it out by +herself." Apropos of the war, we ask what he thinks of Bismarck. +He evidently thinks a great deal of him, though not perhaps in the +generally accepted sense of that expression. He states as a fact that +there _are_ limits, leaving it to us to understand that the chancellor +of the empire has overstepped them. He declares further that a +Prussian, and especially a Berliner, is always to him an obnoxious +member of society through his insisting on knowing everything (except +his own place) better than anybody else. "Now, there was the Prussian +general before this last one," he continues, changing from politics +to court-gossip (naturally, since 1870, military matters in Würtemberg +flourish under Prussian auspices): "the first ball he went to at the +palace he asked the queen to dance! _Our_ queen!! And then he took his +whole family, and they sat in chairs that never were meant for them, +so that the king had to say to him next day, "Mr. General, first come +I, and then my ministers, and then this one, and then that one, and +_then_ you." He went back to Berlin soon after. It is pleasanter to +sit one's self down where one doesn't belong than to be set down +by somebody else." Our driver chuckles, and then bursts out afresh, +"Asking the _queen_ to dance!" He certainly has perfect faith in his +own stories. + +We saw the successor of that presumptuous military man next day +among the greater and lesser lights that revolve around the throne of +Würtemberg. We ourselves were stationary, crowded into the foremost of +the tiers of seats that rose surrounding the immense enclosure, and +in the best place for observation, close by the royal pavilion. +The hills, bright in the sun and velvet in shadow, made a natural +amphitheatre beyond, a little church with its pretty tower looked +picturesquely down from a neighboring height, and the whole place +was gay with flags and branches, glittering uniforms and gorgeous +liveries. We were to see the _hohe Herrschaften_ come in at the +farthest entrance and drive around directly before our seats. As the +trumpets flourish and the first magnificence sweeps by we hear all +about us, "The princess Vera," and "No, the duchess of Uhra," and "Is +it?" "Isn't it?" "Which is it?" till we finally settle down to the +serene conclusion that it is either one or the other. There is no +mistaking the queen, however, with the outriders, six superb black +horses and postilions in scarlet and gold. The Majesty herself looks +pale and resigned, bending to the right and left in answer to the +bows and _hochs._ Our neighbors "the Weimars" come in full force. A +superfluous prince of that family appears to have drifted to these +regions, and makes our street aristocratic for us. Young Weimar looks +uncommonly well in his hussar uniform, and the old prince and his wife +and daughter are resplendent. We met them later that same day in town, +but they had taken off their best clothes, and truth compels us sadly +to admit that we should hardly have known them. + +In the course of time, after various false alarms on our part, the +band confidently strikes up "God Save the King!" and there is a +flashing and prancing in the distance that creates a great stir. The +citizen guard, a stately body of burghers, rides out with the king on +this day of all the year, and comes caracoling by in fine style, he in +the midst bowing and smiling. And now, after the _Herrschaften--hohe_ +and _höchste_--come the animals. First, horses haughtily stepping, +and then splendid bulls with wreaths on their horns and garlands round +their--waists shall we say?--are led before the king, standing at the +foot of the steps and handing the prizes to the farmers, who present +themselves, ducking and scraping. It seems a shame to tie up the +creatures' legs so, and put rings through their noses: some have +even a cloth bound over their heads; and if all these precautionary +measures are necessary, it ought to be a relief when the procession of +mild cows begins, They look out amiably from under the floral crowns +that have slipped low on their brows, or turn with half-conscious +pride to the handsome little calves that trot beside them. The sheep, +seeking to attract too early the notice of royalty, dash out in a +flock, and are driven back with jeering and hooting, as they deserve +to be. Then the pigs stagger by: their garlands are excessively +unbecoming. Such of the family of swine as are too young to stagger +are wheeled in handcarts in the rear; and so the ceremonies are +closed, except for a couple of races which take place immediately, and +with no great éclat. The burgher races these are called, while on the +third and last day are the officers' races. The rain prevented our +attending them, and we consoled ourselves, hearing it intimated by +those who had been at Ascot and Longchamps that we had not lost a +great deal. + +G.H.P. + + + + +A PAIR OF WHEELS AND AN OLD PARASOL. + + +The threads from which the tissue of history is being woven are ever +in unceasing and rapid motion in the hands of the Fates. But these +deities for the most part love to work unseen, like the bees. It is +only when the spinning is going on with exceptional rapidity and +vigor that the movements of the threads and the characteristics of the +operation can be observed on the surface of social life, Such is +the case in these days at Rome, and it is not necessary to watch the +actions of governments or listen to the discussions of legislative +chambers in order to assure one's self of the fact. One cannot walk +the streets without having the phenomena which are the outward and +visible signs of it thrust in a thousand ways on the observation +of our senses. The other day I read a whole chapter of contemporary +history compressed into the appearance of a pair of wheels engaged in +their ordinary daily duty in the streets. It was in that central and +crowded part of the city which is between the church of the Gesù and +the Farnese palace, a labyrinth of tortuous streets and lanes, +not often visited by foreigners unless when bent on some special +expedition of sight-seeing. There are no sidewalks for foot-passengers +in these streets. They are narrow, very tortuous and very crowded. +Foot-passengers and vehicles of all sorts find their way along as best +they may in one confused mass. It was there I saw the historic pair +of wheels in question. They were attached to the barrow of a +coster-monger, who was retailing a stock of onions, carrots and +"cavolo Romano" which he had just purchased at the neighboring market +of the "Campo de' Fiori." His wares, I fear, had been selected from +the refuse of the market, and he and his barrow were in a state of +dilapidated shabbiness that matched his stock in trade. But not so the +wheels on which his barrow was supported. They were wheels of the most +gorgeous description. The spokes and the circumference were painted +of the most brilliant scarlet, and the entire nave was gilded so as +to have the appearance of a solid mass of gold. It is impossible to +imagine anything more _bizarre_ than the effect of these magnificent +wheels doing the work of carrying such an equipage. Nevertheless, +the apparition seemed to attract very little attention in the crowded +street. The grand scarlet and gilded wheels flamed along among the +crowd of shabby men and shabby vehicles with their load of onions and +cabbages, and scarcely anybody turned his head to stare at them. I +suppose the denizens of the district were used to the apparition of +them. To me they looked as if they had been the originals from +which Guido Reni painted those of the car in which he has placed the +celebrated Aurora of his world-famous fresco. They were solidly and +heavily built wheels--very barbarous an English carriage-builder would +have considered them in their heavy and clumsy magnificence--but they +were very gorgeous. What could be the meaning of their appearance in +public under such circumstances? I was walking with an Italian friend +at the time, who saw my state of amazement at so strange a phenomenon, +and explained it all by a single remark. + +"Yes," said he, "there go a pair of His Eminence's wheels. They are +sharing the fortunes of their late master in a manner that is at once +dramatic and historical." + +The wheels from a cardinal's carriage! Of course they were. How was +it possible that such wheels should be mistaken for any other in the +world? A few years ago, when pope and cardinals had not yet suffered +the horrible eclipse which has overtaken them, one of the most notable +features of the Roman streets and suburban roads used to consist +of the carriages of the members of the Sacred College taking their +diurnal drive. It was not etiquette for a cardinal to walk in the +streets, or indeed anywhere else, without his carriage following him. +There was no mistaking these barbarously gorgeous vehicles. They were +all exactly like each other, and unlike any other carriages to be +seen in the nineteenth century--heavy, clumsy, coarsely built and +gorgeously painted of the most flaming scarlet, and largely gilded. +They were drawn by long-tailed black horses covered with heavy harness +richly plated with silver, or something that looked like it, and +driven by a coachman whose livery, always as shabby as magnificent, +was as heavily laden with huge masses of worsted lace of the kind that +used to be placed on carriage-linings some five-and-twenty years ago. +Two similarly bedizened footmen always stood on the monkey-board +at the rear, who descended and walked behind His Eminence and +his chaplain when the cardinal left his carriage to get his +constitutional. Ichabod! Ichabod! The glory has departed! Such +cavalcades are no longer to be seen crawling along the Via Appia, +or following His Eminence on a fine and sunny afternoon about four +o'clock as he walks on the footpath between the Porta Pia and the +Basilica of St. Agnes in search of an appetite for his dinner. The +world will never see such carriages and such servants any more. _Fuit +Ilium!_ I thought of the old lines on the "high--mettled racer," and +of "imperial Cæsar, dead and turned to clay, stopping a hole to keep +the wind away." To see such splendor reduced to the service of such +vile uses! Yes, as my Italian friend said, "There go the cardinal's +wheels," and it is impossible not to feel sure that the phenomenon +is symbolical of the way the cardinal is going himself. When an +institution, a dignity, a social arrangement of any sort, has grown +to be purely ornamental, has become so splendid that its splendor has +come to be the essence of it, it will no longer be able to exist shorn +of its splendor, however much it may in its origin have been adapted +for use rather than for show. The wheels were heavy, cumbrous and +ill put together; they were not well adapted for the costermonger's +purpose, and will probably fall to pieces before long. Their fate is +a type of that of their once master. That ornamental individual, shorn +of his ornamental character, is useless. His _raison d'être_ is gone +as entirely as Othello's occupation was. And it will probably not be +long before the fate of the cardinal's wheels overtakes the cardinal +himself. + +The second little bit of street incident which recently occurred to me +was in itself less striking, but seemed to me to symbolize changes of +yet higher moment and wider significance. This time what I saw was in +the Ghetto. Many of my readers probably know what the Ghetto at Rome +is, but untraveled stayers-at-home may very excusably never have heard +of it. The Ghetto is the Jews' quarter in Rome--the district in which +they were for many generations compelled to reside and to be locked +in by night, and where from habit the greater part, especially of the +poorer members of the Jewish community, still live. As will be easily +believed, it is the worst and most wretched quarter of the city--the +lowest physically as well as morally--and inundated with tolerable +certainty every year by the rising of the Tiber. The dilapidated and +filthy streets of the other parts of old papal Rome used to look +clean and spruce by comparison with the lurid and darksome dens of +the Ghetto. There are Ghettos in London--streets where the children of +Israel congregate, not in obedience to any law old or new, but drawn +together by mutual attraction and similarity of occupation. And the +occupations there are very much of the same nature as those pursued +in the Ghetto of Rome--the buying and selling of old clothes and +second-hand property of all sorts, the preparation and distribution of +fried fish, and here and there a little usury. But the _genius loci_ +here impresses on the trade in discarded odds and ends a peculiar +character of its own. A much larger number of old pictures figure +among the hoards of useless "property" than would be the case +elsewhere. The constant decay of noble and once wealthy families +furnishes to the second-hand market a much more abundant supply of +the remains of articles that were once rich and rare in their day--old +damask hangings torn from walls that have witnessed the princely +revelry of many a generation; rich brocades and stuffs that have made +part of the moving pageant in the same saloons; lace of the finest +and rarest from the vestments of deceased prelates, whose heirs, as +regards such property, have probably been their serving-men; purple +and scarlet articles from the wardrobes of cardinals and princes of +the Church; and odds and ends of various sorts widely different in +kind from aught that could be found in similar repositories in other +cities. And another specialty of the Roman Ghetto is that it is not +altogether easy to obtain a sight of the miscellaneous treasures of +this rag-fair. Partly because the low-lying and narrow lanes of the +Ghetto are too murky and filthy to permit of the advantageous exposure +of the merchandise in question; partly, probably, from an habitual +consciousness on the part of the dealers that the details of their +traffic in all its particulars are not of a nature to be safely +submitted to the public eye; partly from that secretiveness which is +the natural result of living for many generations from father to son +under the tyranny of an alien race, whose bitterly hostile prejudices +were but little restrained by law or justice; and partly also, no +doubt, from the genuine Roman laziness, which in its perfection is +capable of overriding even Jewish keenness of trade,--the Jew brokers +of the Ghetto are often unwilling to show their hidden stores to the +first comer. Some amount of diplomacy and some show of the probability +of effecting an advantageous deal must be had recourse to in order to +attain the purpose of the explorer. + +On the recent occasion to which I have referred these difficulties had +been overcome, and I had made my way into the interior of one of +the dens I have described in the company of a lady friend who is a +confirmed and irreclaimable lace-hunter, and who in pursuit of her +game would have confronted worse obstacles than any that we had +to encounter. For, in truth, the exterior appearance and the +entrance-chambers are the worst part of the Ghetto dwellings. One is +curiously reminded of the old mediæval stories of Jewish dwellings, +where the utmost squalor and poverty of exterior was a mere blind for +an interior gorgeous with every manifestation of wealth and luxury. I +will not say that much of the latter is to be found in the dwellings +of the Ghetto, but a degree of comfortable decency and indications +of the possession of capital may be met with which the exterior +appearances would not have led one to anticipate. Well, we had reached +the third floor of one of these sinister-looking abodes, conducted by +a fat old Jewess with a pair of huge black eyes, a large smooth face +as yellow as a guinea, and a vast development of bust clad in dirty +white wrappers of some sort. A door on the landing-place jealously +locked with two huge keys admitted us into a suite of three good-sized +rooms crammed from floor to ceiling with a collection of articles more +heterogeneous than can easily be conceived--far more so than can be +described. + +Those who have ever accompanied a lady lace-hunter when she has struck +a promising trail know that the business in hand is likely to be a +somewhat long one. My companion on the present occasion very soon +convinced the Jewess that she knew quite as much about the matter as +she, the dealer, did. But I presume that some of the old yellow stores +produced were "the real thing;" for my friend and the old Jewess soon +became immersed in an eager and, as it seemed to me interminable, +discussion as to qualities, condition and values. Meantime, I had to +amuse myself as best I might by looking at the multifarious objects. +I must content myself with mentioning one article, the appearance +of which in such a place struck me as strange and not a little +significant. It was simply an old parasol, very much faded and a +little tattered, but not such a parasol as your fair hands ever +carried, my dear madam, nor such as the once equally fair hands of any +generation of your ancestors ever carried. The article in question was +more like the shelter which we see represented in Chinese paintings as +carried over the heads of persons of high rank among the Celestials. +It was very large, not much curved into the shape of a dome when +expanded, very clumsily and coarsely put together, but of gorgeous +magnificence of material. It was made of a very thick and rich damask +silk, additionally ornamented by embroidery in gold and silver thread, +and the handle and points of the supports were richly gilt. In a word, +I perceived at once, not being a novice in such matters, that the +article before me was one of the canopies used for holding over the +"Host" when the holy sacrament is carried by the priest through the +streets to a dying person. It needs but a moment's reflection on the +Roman Catholic theory of the sacrament of the "Last Supper" to be +aware of the extremely sacred nature of the uses to which this parasol +had been put, and of the associations connected with it. Nevertheless, +I found this bit of sacred church property in the hands of a Jew +broker, exposed to sale for a few francs to the first comer, heretic, +scoffer or infidel, that might take a fancy to buy it. This would +hardly have been the case when the pope was absolute master of Rome +and of all in it. The thing could not have happened save by the +dishonesty and cynical disbelief of some priest, and indeed probably +of more than one. And, upon the whole, it struck me as a second +curious indication of the somewhat breakneck speed with which the +threads of history are spinning themselves in these days and in these +latitudes. + +T.A.T. + + + + +MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES. + + +A great deal of discussion has recently taken place on the subject of +medical education in the United States. To a foreigner, or to one not +acquainted with the influences that have led to and have kept up this +discussion, it might seem to be the result of a spontaneous outburst +of popular feeling, earnestly demanding much-needed progress. Really, +however, the very reverse is the case; and the revolutionists are +those whose _kind_ and _sympathetic_ interest in the welfare of the +community is prompted solely by selfish considerations. The changes +urged by these self-condemning philanthropists are not demanded by the +medical profession nor by the public; neither have they been, nor will +they be, sustained by both or by either. This assertion is clearly +proved by the experience of the University of Pennsylvania, In 1846 +the American Medical Association recommended to all medical colleges +certain changes and improvements in their courses of instruction. +In consequence of this recommendation the University of Pennsylvania +extended its session to six months: not a _single medical college in +the country followed_ its progressive lead, and after continuing the +experiment for six years at great pecuniary loss, it was reluctantly +obliged to retrace its steps, and to return to the old standard as to +length of session. During the period of this advance the classes of +the University fell off greatly, and the classes of other medical +schools correspondingly increased. Even medical men sent their sons +to other medical schools, to save the time and money necessary for the +longer course. Indeed, medical men, as a rule, have sought to evade +the restrictions as to length of time of study, etc. more than any +other class; and the statement, that the "student usually dates his +medical studies from the time he buys his first _Chemistry_" applies +more frequently to the sons of _physicians_ than to any others. Hence, +I declare that these proposed changes are not demanded by the medical +profession nor by the public. + +The writer of a recent article in _Lippincott's Magazine_ (Dr. H.C. +Wood) on "Medical Education in the United States" seems to have +been so lost in admiration at the methods of instruction followed in +European medical colleges as to be utterly blind to the good in the +system of medical education as it exists in this country--a system the +_necessary_ result of our political, social, financial and territorial +conditions; a system which, though in the abstract may not be the +best, is certainly, judging from its results, the best _possible_ +under our peculiar circumstances. This much abused system of +medical education (only greatly improved in its extent and +thoroughness--improvements developed by the constant advances in +knowledge) is the same system which has produced the great medical +men of the United States during the past seventy-five years--medical +practitioners whose success has been surpassed by none in Europe; +surgeons whose skill has been, and is, world-wide in reputation; +authors whose works are standard authorities everywhere. It is the +same system of medical instruction--I quote verbatim (italics mine) +from this article that holds it up to scorn--which "accomplished such +_splendid results_ during the late rebellion." The writer says: "The +great resources of the medical profession were proved during the +civil war, when there was created in a few months a service which +for magnitude and efficiency has rarely if ever been equaled. Indeed, +military medicine was raised by it to a point _never reached before +that time in Europe_ and the results achieved have, in many points, +_worked a revolution in science_." After this frank declaration of the +inestimable value and glorious results of American medical education, +the writer draws the _logical_(?) sequence that it (American medical +education) is responsible for a case of most heartrending malpractice, +which he relates, compared to which the Japanese hari-kari were +merciful mildness, and approaching more nearly the tortures by +crucifixion as administered by this same _kind-hearted_ people. With +about as much reason and justice might he conclude that the _American +system_ of Sunday-school education is lamentably inferior to that of +Great Britain, _because_(!) Jesse Pomeroy was a possibility in that +most respectable town of Boston. + +Dr. Wood alludes to the ignorance of the American medical student, +and makes a statement "not founded on the authority of official +publication," in which he endeavors to show that from "six to ten +per cent." of American medical students have an ignorance of vulgar +fractions and rudimentary astronomy that would exclude them from an +ordinary infant-school. Every one familiar with the students attending +our first-class American medical colleges knows perfectly well that +in origin and in culture they compare favorably with the young men +engaged in the study of law and divinity, or with those entering upon +mercantile or manufacturing pursuits. True, there are some imperfectly +educated, but certainly not "six or ten per cent." destitute of +that knowledge taught even in _American_ infant-schools, and without +knowing, and without the statement "being founded on the authority of +any official publication," I _infer_ that in _Europe_, owing to their +"better methods," similar knowledge is communicated to the average +European child many months _before its birth_. + +Next follows a comment on the poverty of the American medical student. +Dr. Wood says: "Even worse than this, however, is the fact that the +summer between the winter courses is often not spent in study, but +in idleness, or, not rarely, in acquiring in the school-room or +harvest-field the pecuniary means of spending the subsequent winter in +the city." Alas! this _is_ too true. Providence seems to have ordained +that our young _American_ doctors are not always reared in the lap of +luxury and wealth as the fittest preparation for the trials, hardships +and self-denials of their future lives. It is also true that some +_other_ young American professional men have been compelled "in the +school-room or harvest-field" to acquire the means to prosecute their +professional studies. Daniel Webster, the son of a New England farmer, +taught school at Fryeburg, Maine, "upon a salary of about one dollar +per diem." "His salary was all saved ... as a fund for his _own +professional_ education and to help his brother through college." +"During his residence at Fryeburg, Mr. Webster borrowed (he was too +poor to buy) Blackstone's _Commentaries_." Mr. Webster's great rival, +Henry Clay, also was compelled to resort to the "school-room and +harvest-field to obtain the pecuniary means," etc. etc. etc. The son +of the poor widow with seven children "applied himself to the labor of +the field with alacrity and diligence;" "and there yet live those who +remember to have seen him oftentimes riding his sorry horse, with a +rope bridle, no saddle, and a bag of grain." "By the familiar name +of the Mill-boy of the Slashes do these men ... perpetuate the +remembrance of his lowly yet dutiful and unrepining employments." +American biography is so filled with similar instances, showing how +the great characters of her great men acquired their development and +strength in the stern gymnasium of poverty, even in "the school-room +and harvest-field," that I could fill volumes with the glowing +records. The youngest American school-boy recognizes Abraham Lincoln +and Henry Wilson in this _American_ galaxy. Whose heart has not been +stirred by the life-story of the great Hugh Miller, the stonecutter's +pick earning for him humble means, thereby enabling him to acquire +that learning which made his name a household word even in America. +Truth, then, as I have remarked, obliges me to admit that we have in +our medical colleges some young men who labor "in harvest-fields and +school-rooms" in order that they may honorably pay their way, rather +than eat the bread or accept the gratuities of pauperism. + +Last March there graduated at the medical department of the University +of Pennsylvania one of these self-supporting young men. He was the son +of a missionary clergyman: the father was poor in pocket, but the son +was not poor in spirit. During the interval between his winter courses +of lectures, rather than be a burden to his father, rather than accept +gratuitous instruction from the school, he went into the coal regions +of Pennsylvania and worked in a coal-mine, as a common miner, to +procure funds to enable him to complete his professional studies; +and, _strange_ as it may seem, this young miner passed an excellent +examination, and received the unanimous vote of the medical faculty +for his degree. I mention this case, but every year there are several +similar; and we always find that the school-teachers and miners are by +no means at the foot of the graduating class. + +Concerning clinical teaching, we have the following statement: +"The clinical teaching in an American hospital is comprised in the +following routine: Once or twice a week, from one to five hundred men +being congregated in an amphitheatre, the professor lectures upon a +case brought into the arena, perhaps operates, and when the hour has +expired the class is dismissed. Evidently, under such circumstances +there cannot be the training of the senses, the acquiring of a +knowledge of the hourly play of symptoms of disease and of familiarity +with the proper handling of the sick and wounded, which is of such +vital importance, and which can be the outcome only of daily contact +with patients." What can the writer of this sentence mean? Certainly, +no one knows better than he does that such _is not_ the practice in +the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, in Bellevue and in +many other large hospitals, where clinics and dispensary services +are held for _several hours daily_ throughout the year, and where the +student has furnished him abundant opportunities four "acquiring a +knowledge of the ... symptoms of disease, ... of handling the sick and +wounded," etc. etc. That the American medical student profits by these +opportunities, and learns his clinic lessons well, is proved by the +unexpected and evidently unintended testimony which occurs toward the +close of the article, where Dr. Wood says, "The great resources of the +medical profession in America were proved during the civil war, when +there was created in a _few months_ a service which for _magnitude_ +and _efficiency_ has _rarefy if ever been equaled_. Indeed, military +medicine was raised by it to a point _never reached before_ that time +_in Europe_, and the results achieved have in many points worked a +_revolution in science_." The italics in this quotation are mine, as +they also are in those which follow. + +But (says the article under review) "the largest proportion of our +prominent physicians have educated themselves after graduation." As +if this were an extraordinary or unusual circumstance! Certainly, +they have; and so have all prominent men in all professions and all +pursuits of life, in every age and every country, not even excepting +the much-lauded men of Great Britain and the continent of Europe. What +young lawyer is entrusted with an important cause immediately after +admission to the Bar? And as the young doctor (according to the +aforesaid showing) "gains his first practical knowledge while serving +as a hospital resident, under the supervision of experienced men," +so the young lawyer, _even in Great Britain_, must gain _his_ first +practical knowledge by constant attention at the courts, and by +diligently following the proceedings of his preceptor's and other +offices. Even the young clergyman, whose business it is to save +_souls_, has to do very much as the young doctor does, and, like him, +is often "thrown at once on his own resources, gaining his experience +without supervision, and at the _expense_ of the _poorer classes_, +who _naturally_ fall to his charge, and whose ignorance precludes them +from an even approximately correct estimate of" his fitness. "It is +one of the saddest features of our system that the famed skill of our +best" _(clergymen)_ "should so often be acquired at such a cost." + +What can be more unphilosophical and illogical than to compare the +young doctor, or any other young professional man, to a new piece of +machinery, fresh from the manufactory, complete and perfect in all +its parts? And yet something like this is _attempted_ in the article +before us. Even as Minerva sprang from the brain of Jove the complete +and perfect goddess of learning, so would our Utopian writer have +the young doctors to come from the brains of their medical professors +complete and perfect; only, if his idea be correct, their medical +professors have so little brains that the annual graduating medical +classes of the United States would be immediately reduced from +the frightful army of three thousand "legalized murderers" to the +comparatively small and easily counted number of _one graduate_ (of +course, springing from one head). No; the young doctor, at graduation, +cannot be compared to a new, complete and perfect machine fresh from +the manufactory; rather, let him be compared to the young marsupial +creature at birth, extremely rudimentary, whose natural, and hence +fittest, place is the parental pouch, but which in due time becomes +the vigorous and well-developed specimen. I suppose, if I compare +the young doctor to the young marsupial, I should also say that _his_ +protecting parental pouch, in which he acquires growth and vigor, is +the hospital where he goes after graduation, or the practice which he +sees under his preceptor's supervision. + +The article continues: "The remarks which follow do not apply to +the medical department of Harvard College or to _one or two other +schools_" (the italics are mine); and farther on it continues: "In +other words, Harvard has copied the European plan of medical teaching +in some of its essential features, and as a consequence its medical +diploma is the _only one_ issued by _any prominent medical American_ +college which is a _guarantee_ that its possessor has been well +educated in the science and practice of medicine." Where can we +find meekness and modesty like this?--modesty as becoming as it +is unexpected and surprising, seeing that the writer fills _two_ +professorships in the University of Pennsylvania, Does he hang his +head so low in his--I was about to say _singular_--self-abasement +(but, considering, the _two_ professorships, I suppose I should say +_doubled_ self-abasement) that he cannot see? or are his eyes so +blinded by the effulgence of "Harvard" and "European" plans that he +fails to recognize and appreciate the immense advantages offered by +his own home institutions? I do not propose to make any invidious +remarks concerning Harvard, but I maintain that an _honest_ and _just_ +comparison of the schools, of their requirements, of the character of +their teachings and the facilities they furnish their students, _must_ +show that modesty alone prevented Professor "H.C. Wood, Jr., M.D.," +also excepting from his sweeping denunciations the two great schools +of Philadelphia, though I only speak for and defend the medical +department of the University of Pennsylvania from an attack unjust, +uncalled-for and untrue. + +R.A.F. PENROSE. + + +The party opposed to any reforms in medical education has, of course, +a right to be heard, and Dr. Penrose is well entitled to represent it +both by his position and by the evident heartiness with which he is +prepared to defend the existing system at every point. In impugning +the motives of those who have attacked it he lays himself open to an +obvious retort; but it is sufficient to remark that the contest is +not of a nature to call for or justify the use of personalities, which +could serve only to divert attention from the real issues. + +The arguments put forward by Dr. Penrose may be summarized as follows: +1st, that the proposed changes are not demanded either by the public +or by the profession; 2d, that the present system is the best possible +in a nation constituted like ours; 3d, that the preparatory education +of our medical students is equal to that of law or divinity students, +or of young men entering upon mercantile or manufacturing pursuits; +4th, that in certain cases obstacles in the way of a regular and +thorough training have been overcome and success achieved in spite of +them; and 5th, that it is unavoidable and proper that medical men, as +well as members of other professions, should educate themselves after +graduation. + +It will be observed that none of these arguments except the last, +which is based on a mere verbal ambiguity, touches the two subjects +discussed in Dr. Wood's article--namely, the _need_ of reform and the +_methods_ by which, if practicable, it is to be effected. Dr. Penrose +does not venture to assert that the existing system is perfect, or +to deny that the suggested changes are in the nature of improvements. +What he wishes us to believe is that the system, whatever its defects, +is as good a one as Americans have a right to demand, and that it is +so closely interwoven with our political and social institutions as to +admit of no separate handling. Similar arguments are frequently urged +against the desire to raise the standard and widen the avenues of the +"higher education." We are thus taught to regard ourselves as a poor +and struggling nation with no claim to the possession of intellectual +luxuries, or as having bound ourselves to forego any aspirations to an +equality with other nations in respect of culture when we secured the +advantages of popular government and its social concomitants. It would +seem, however, to be a sounder, as it is certainly a more gratifying +belief, that precisely because we have attained these advantages +it will be easier for us to appropriate all the benefits which +civilization has to offer--possible for us to make more rapid strides +than have been made by other nations, impeded by a diversity of +interests and conflicts between the government and the people. No +doubt the comparative youthfulness of the nation will account for +our backward condition in certain respects; but surely it is time to +abandon this and every similar plea as an argument against any attempt +at progress. + +We have not space, and for the reasons indicated we see no necessity, +to discuss Dr. Penrose's positions in detail. It will be sufficient +to notice generally what seems to us their inherent weakness. His +assertion that no changes are _now_ demanded by the public or the +profession is, he thinks, "clearly proved" by the fact that thirty +years ago some that were introduced in the University of Pennsylvania +at the suggestion of the American Medical Association ended in +failure. But what this experience really proves is, that the defects +of the system were even then admitted, while the remedies are still to +be applied. At Harvard this has been done; and the question for other +medical schools is whether they are to follow the example or to +be deterred by a bugbear--whether, for example, the University of +Pennsylvania, after raising her scientific and art departments to +a higher level, shall be content to let her medical school remain +stationary. It is the opinion of intelligent physicians who are not +parties to this controversy that the experiment which failed in 1846 +would succeed now. The new plan adopted at Harvard, which exacts +three years of study, and embraces lectures, recitations, clinical +conferences and written examinations of the most stringent character, +has, we are informed, attracted a class of very superior men. Compared +with the effort made here in 1846, this change may be described as a +revolution, and it has proved a success. + +We are at a loss to understand what Dr. Penrose wishes to prove by his +citation of cases in which eminence has been reached--chiefly, it +is to be noticed, in politics or the law--by persons who have +had insufficient opportunities for study. If the disadvantage was +imaginary, where was the merit of overcoming it? If it was real, as +most people would admit, what is the objection to insisting on it as +such? In the great majority of cases it is _not_ overcome, and the +result is, that the country is overstocked with men engaged in the +practice of professions for which they are inadequately qualified. As +to the skill that is gained by practice, the ripe knowledge that may +result from experience, this cannot without a confusion of terms +be described as "education." It will in general be most surely and +rapidly acquired by those who have received the best training, and +the great object of our higher educational institutions should be +to provide such training--not, by maintaining a low standard, to +facilitate the efforts of those who, from whatever cause, would find +it difficult to meet the demands of a higher one. Such persons may +have a claim to encouragement and assistance in their endeavors to +reach the mark; but they have no right to expect that the distance +shall be regulated to suit their convenience. + +Dr. Wood's admissions in regard to the excellence of the army medical +service during the war are seized upon with natural exultation by his +opponent, who draws from them a legitimate inference in favor of the +general status of medical skill and knowledge throughout the country. +If Dr. Wood really intended to say--what his language, we confess, +would seem to imply--that the service attained its high state of +efficiency in a few months, we do not well see how he is to resist the +conclusion thus pressed upon him. But we conceive the truth to be that +either his phraseology or his recollection of the facts was at fault. +It is well known that at the beginning of the war it was impossible to +find competent surgeons in anything like the number that was +needed, and that the examining boards were consequently forced to be +ridiculously lenient. We know of an able surgeon who after a battle +found that he had not a single assistant in his corps who could be +trusted to perform an operation. This state of matters was the direct +result of the imperfect education given in the schools. Not one man in +ten who leaves them has ever been practically exercised in operations +on the cadaver, and the proportion was still smaller before the war. +It is easy therefore to understand, while it would be painful to +recall, the circumstances under which the great bulk of our army +surgeons acquired the requisite proficiency. The ultimate success +of our medical service, like the final triumph of our armies, was +preceded by many woeful blunders and mishaps, and, like that, was due +in great measure to a lavish outlay which would scarcely have been +possible in any European war, and to the general devotion and united +efforts which drew out all the resources of the country, of whatever +kind, and directed them to the furtherance of a single aim. + + + + +OUR EARLY NEWSPAPERS. + + +In looking over the contents of the old newspapers of this country, of +which there was a considerable number as early as the year 1730, one +is specially struck by the number of advertisements of slave sales and +of runaway slaves, apprentices and servants. The following are common +examples: + +"To be sold, a very likely Negro woman about 30 years of Age, has been +in this city about 10. She is a fine Cook, has been brought up to all +sorts of House Work, and speaks very good English. She has had the +small Pox, and has now a Young Child. Enquire further concerning +her and the Conditions of Sale of Mary Kippen, or the Printer +hereof."--_New York Weekly Journal_, May 9, 1735. + +"Just arrived from _Great Britain_, and are to be Sold on board the +Ship Alice and Elizabeth, Capt. _Paine_ Commander several likely +_Welch_ and _English_ Servant Men, most of them Tradesmen. Whoever +inclines to purchase any of them may agree with said Commander, or Mr. +_Thomas Noble_, Merchant, at Mr. Hazard's, in New York; where also +is to be Sold several Negro Girls and a Negro Boy, and likewise good +_Cheshire_ Cheese."--_New York Gazette_, Sept. 11, 1732. + +Here is a notice from the same paper, date 1735, which shows very +clearly the position of the apprentice one hundred and forty years +ago: + +"Run away on the 5th. Instant from John Bell of the city of New York +Carpenter, an Apprentice Boy named James Harding, aged about 19 years, +being a tall well-set Lad of a Fresh Complexion, he wears a Wig, he +is spley-footed and shuffles with his feet as he Walks, has a Copper +coloured Kersey Coat with large flat white Mettle Buttons, a grey +Duroy Coat lined with Silk, it is pretty much faded by wearing, a +broad blue striped Waistcoat and Breeches and a pair of blue striped +Tickin Breeches, in warm weather he often bleeds at the nose." +Then follows the offer of forty shillings to any one who will give +information whereby his master, John Bell, can regain possession of +the runaway. + +That the women of that time were strong-minded, or at least that they +were disposed to assist in the reformation of bad husbands, is shown +by the following from the same journal, date December 31, 1733. The +subject, or victim, was one William Drinkwater, living near New York, +who had proved quarrelsome with his neighbors and abusive to his wife: +"The good Women of the Place took the Matter into Consideration and +laid hold of an Opportunity, to get him tied to a Cart, and there with +Rods belaboured him on his Back, till, in striveing to get away, he +pulled one of his Arms out of Joint, and then they unti'd him. Mr. +_Drinkwater_ Complained to Sundrie Magistrates of this useage, but all +he got by it was to be Laughed at; Whereupon he removed to New Milford +where we hear he proves a good Neighhour and a loving Husband. _A +Remarkable Reformation ariseing from the Justice of the good Women._" + +Another advertisement indicates a toilet article now out of fashion: + +"To be Sold by _Peter Lynch_, near Mr. _Rutgers_ Brewhouse, very good +Orange Butter, it is excellent for Gentlewomen to comb up their Hair +with, it also cures Children's sore Heads." + +The next sounds quite as odd: + +"_James Munden_ Partner with _Thomas Butwell_ from London, Maketh +Gentlewomens Stays and Childrens Coats in the Newest Fashion, that +Crooked Women and Children will appear strait," Same paper, date +February, 1735. + +It is a curious fact that the deaths at that time, both in the New +York and New England papers, were announced not by the names of the +deceased, but by the churches to which they belonged. For example: +"Buried in the city last week, _viz._, Church of England 26, Dutch 24, +Lutheran 2, French 1, Presbyterians 3. The number of Blacks we +refer till Next Week."--_New England Weekly Journal_, Nov. 1, 1731. +Sometimes the number is recorded as four or five, or even less: +therefore the record must be very imperfect, and there seems to have +been no notice taken of those who were not buried from any church. + +M.H. + + + + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + + + Dante and his Circle; with the Italian Poets preceding him. + Edited and translated in the original Metres by Dante Gabriel + Rossetti. Revised and rearranged edition, Boston: Roberts + Bros. + +Dante is so great a figure in Italian literature that he hides from +sight the host of minor poets who preceded him, and throws his own +contemporaries so into the shade that we are apt to think that Italian +poetry began with him, and that its second exponent is Petrarch. Such +a view is to be regretted, not only because it overlooks much that +is in itself valuable, but because it attributes to a period of +slow development a phenomenal character. There were many poets worth +listening to before the great Florentine wrote the _New Life_ or the +_Divine Comedy_, and many whom he listened to and praised, although +his prophetic foresight told him that he would one day bear their +glory from them. + +It was to make us acquainted with these forgotten singers that Mr. +Rossetti wrote some years ago his charming book. _The Early Italian +Poets_, which, after being long out of print, he now presents to us in +a revised and rearranged edition. The author's wish is not merely to +give us a glimpse of the quaint conceits of a school that continued in +Italy the waning influence of the Troubadours, but to open to us the +intimate social life of the literary men of that period as reflected +in their vague Platonic rhapsodies, their friendly letters, their +jests and quarrels, their joy and sadness. Interwoven with all this +are stately _canzoni_, and dainty sonnets full of quaint conceits, +like that wherein Jacopo da Lentino (1250) sings _Of his Lady in +Heaven_: + + I have it in my heart to serve God so + That into Paradise I shall repair-- + The holy place through the which everywhere + I have heard say that joy and solace flow. + Without my lady I were loath to go-- + She who has the bright face and the bright hair-- + Because if she were absent, I being there, + My pleasure would be less than naught, I know. + Look you, I say not this to such intent + As that I there would deal in any sin: + I only would behold her gracious mien, + And beautiful soft eyes, and lovely face, + That so it should be my complete content + To see my lady joyful in her place. + +We seem, in turning over these pages, to see the brilliant, +ever-changing current of Italian thirteenth and fourteenth century +life--from Palermo, where Frederick II. held an almost Oriental +court, to the communes of Central Italy, the best type of which is +the merchant-city of the Arno, whose sons in those days could fight as +well as wield the yardstick, and sing in strains that have rarely +been equaled. In the first division of the work the great poet and his +friends are brought vividly before us from the time when, a sensitive +child, his eyes first beheld Beatrice and his new life began, to the +painful hours of bereavement and exile. The poet, it is known, made +a curious sonnet out of a dream he had after his first meeting with +Beatrice, and, in accordance with the fashion of the day, sent it to +various well-known poets, asking them to interpret his vision. The +answers are all given here; and among those whose attention was thus +attracted to the precocious youth was one whom he calls his "first +friend," Guido Cavalcanti--after Dante one of the most interesting +literary personages of the day. Rash and chivalrous, we can follow him +in his poems from the time he made his pilgrimage to the shrine of St. +James, and fell in love on the way with Mandetta of Toulouse, to the +turbulent days of Florentine party strife, when he rides down Messer +Corso Donati, "the baron," and wounds him with his javelin, and then +goes into exile at Sarzana, where he sings his dying song and sends +it to his lady, "who," he says, "of her noble grace shall show thee +courtesy." All the poets were not as constant as their own lines +would have us believe. Dante reproaches the famous Cino da Pistoja +for fickleness, and the latter confesses the charge, and declares he +cannot get "free from Love's pitiless aim." Guido Cavalcanti rebukes +Dante himself for his way of life after the death of Beatrice; and +this valuable sonnet should be read in connection with the beautiful +passage in the _Purgatory_ (xxx. 55-75) where Beatrice herself +upbraids the tearful poet. + +In the second part, comprising _Poets chiefly before Dante_, we have +specimens of the Sicilian school--a _canzone_ by the great Frederick, +and a sonnet by his luckless son Enzo, who died in prison at Bologna +after a confinement of nearly twenty-three years. Of more importance +are the poems of Guido Guinicelli, of which the philosophical one +entitled "Of the Gentle Heart" was a nine days' wonder, but which, +even in Rossetti's elegant version, seems cold and formal. The +most natural and pleasing pieces among much that is artificial and +conventional are a ballad and two "catches" by Sacchetti, who died +just after 1400, and properly does not belong to Dante's circle. +Mr. Rossetti's readers will, however, be grateful to him for his +delightful versions of the two catches, one "On a Fine Day," the other +"On a Wet Day," giving the experiences of a band of young girls who +have gone to spend the afternoon in the fields and are overtaken by a +shower. + +Poems like these, unfortunately, are rare. The range is a limited +one--Platonic love in its conventional form, or the still more +conventional form of chivalric love, imported bodily from the +Troubadours. Scattered here and there are some noble poems; as, for +instance, the one attributed to Fazio degli Uberti on his lady's +portrait, which begins-- + + I look at the crisp golden-threaded hair, + Whereof, to thrall my heart, Love twists a net; + Using at times a string of pearls for bait, + And sometimes with a single rose therein. + +Mr. Rossetti has performed his task in a way to deserve the warmest +praise. The difficulties he has overcome are very great, consisting +not merely of intricate rhyme and assonance, which he has faithfully +reproduced, but a text often corrupt and meaning often obscure. +He says himself in his preface that "The life-blood of rhythmical +translation is this commandment--that a good poem shall not be turned +into a bad one;" and this commandment, as far as we can see, he has +not broken in a single case, while in some instances, we are bold +enough to say, the translation is better than the original. + + History of the Army of the Cumberland, its Organization, + Campaigns and Battles. Written at the request of Maj.-Gen. + George H. Thomas, chiefly from his private military journal + and other official documents furnished by him. By Thomas B. + Van Horne, U.S. Army. Illustrated with campaign and + battle maps compiled by Edward Ruger, late Superintendent + Topographical Engineer Office, Head quarters Department of the + Cumberland. 2 vols. and atlas. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co. + +It was natural that General Thomas should make choice of some one to +whom he could entrust the task of writing his military history. For +that purpose he chose Mr. T.B. Van Home, a chaplain in the regular +army, and the work, which was begun in 1865 and finished in 1872, was +subject to Thomas's own examination. The result is now, after this +long delay, presented to the public in a shape that does great credit +to the publishers, whose imprint is almost synonymous with good +workmanship. Of the literary skill, or want of it, on the part of the +author not much need be said: he is evidently zealous in his anxiety +to do honor to the memory of General Thomas, and to do justice to all +who served with him; but he is sadly lacking in the art of suitably +clothing his ideas with fitting words, and much of his elaborate +composition is badly wasted in trying to find extravagant language +for the recital of important events. In some cases, where the official +reports printed at the close of each chapter recite in simple words +the actual occurrences, the text of the book is overlaid with unusual +words and involved sentences, in which the statement of the same facts +is lost in a cloud of phraseology of a very curious and original kind. +"Primal success," "the expression of a stride," "the belligerence of +the two armies," "philosophy of the victory," "palpable co-operation," +"the expression of an insurrection,"--these are some of the odd +inventions of the author; and for instances of passages just as odd, +but too long for citation, we refer to the description of the battle +of Shiloh--a weak imitation of Kinglake's worst style--where we +are told that "change is the prophecy of unexpected conditions." +Fortunately, the second volume is much less marred by such faults, and +the great event of Thomas's career, the battle of Nashville, is told +with clearness and in full detail. + +Although Thomas is the hero of the book from the time when he took +command at Camp Dick Robinson in August of 1861, it was not till +October, 1863, which brings us to page 394 of the first volume, that +he succeeded to the command of the Army of the Cumberland, after +Rosecrans, who had followed Buell and Sherman and Anderson. Under the +other generals Thomas had served with marked ability and fidelity, and +his dealing with them is fairly reflected by the author of this work, +for he rarely criticises either of Thomas's commanding officers--for +the most part merely records the operations of the army, and puts in +most prominence Thomas's own services, just as his military journal no +doubt supplied the material. Of all that long and dreary marching and +countermarching through Kentucky and Tennessee the account is full and +clear, and we find Buell and Halleck saying that they know nothing of +any plan of campaign in the very midst of their operations. At last +with Halleck, and still more with Grant in authority, there were +movements ordered that had some relation to each other and a general +plan of operations, and then the overwhelming strength of the North +began to turn the scale. Thomas was called on by Rosecrans, as he had +been by Buell, for advice, but he was obliged to act independently +too; and then, as at Stone River, he showed an energy and a capacity +that ought to have secured his earlier promotion. At Chickamauga he +was actually left in command by Rosecrans, and while the latter +was looking for new help elsewhere, Thomas at the front saved the +shattered army and led it safely back to Chattanooga, where it +underwent its famous long siege. The measures for its relief were +planned by Rosecrans, approved by Grant, and executed by Thomas, with +large assistance from "Baldy" Smith, whose skill as an engineer was +fully attested then. When Thomas did at last succeed to the command +of the Army of the Cumberland, he showed his superiority to his +predecessors by marked improvement in his method of securing supplies, +in his use of cavalry, and in the increased efficiency of his +infantry. When Johnston, thanks to Davis's unwise interference with +the Confederate armies, gave way to Hood, the latter almost at once +gave token of his inferior skill by being defeated by the Army of the +Cumberland--by less than half of it, in fact--in an attack intended to +destroy three armies of more than five times the number of the Union +force actually engaged. Thomas was in command at this battle of +Peach-tree Creek, one of the sharpest and most significant actions +of the campaign, though no official report is found at the end of +the chapter in which it is described. The events that led up to the +victory of Nashville are always worth the telling, and the account +given in this work may be looked upon as in some respects Thomas's own +version of them. A brief chapter by Colonel Merrill of the Engineers +gives a very good description of three of the leading features of the +work done by that corps in the Army of the Cumberland. To cross great +rivers there was need of pontoon-bridges; to protect the long lines +of railroads it was necessary to provide block-houses; to go through +a country that was often a trackless forest, and always badly provided +with real high-roads, it was all-important to have maps, and to +reproduce them rapidly and plentifully. Colonel Merrill's chapter +is pithy, pointed and to the purpose, showing how well our technical +troops did their share of work, and how large and important that share +was in securing the general result. The maps are also well done, and +therefore useful in enabling a reader to follow out the details of the +narrative. + + + + +_BOOKS RECEIVED._ + + +Dissertations and Discussions; Political, Philosophical and +Historical. By John Stuart Mill. Vol. V. New York: Henry Holt & Co. + +From Everglade to Canon with the Second Dragoons, 1836-75, Compiled by +Theo. F. Rodenbough. New York: D. Van Nostrand. + +Grand'ther Baldwin's Thanksgiving, with other Ballads and Poems. By +Horatio Alger, Jr. Boston: Loring. + +Shakespeare Hermeneutics; or, The Still Lion. By C.M. Ingleby, M.A., +LL.D. London: Trübner & Co. + +Minutes of the Ohio State Archæological Convention. Columbus: Printed +for the Society by Paul & Thrall. + +Strength of Beams under Transverse Loads. By Prof. W. Allan. New York: +D. Van Nostrand. + +The Illustrated Catholic Family Almanac for 1876. New York: Catholic +Publication Society. + +Report of the Commissioner of Education for 1874. Washington: +Government Printing-office. + +Our Poetical Favorites. Second Series. By Aschel C. Kendrick. New +York: Sheldon &Co. + +Camp-Life in Florida. By Charles Hallock. New York: Forest and Stream +Publishing Co. + +Lectures on Art. Second Series. By H. Taine. New York: Henry Holt & +Co. + +Pretty Miss Bellew. By Theo. Gift. New York: Henry Holt & Co. + +Drawn from. Life. By Charles Dickens. New York: E.J. Hale & Son. + +The Conquest of Europe: A Poem of the Future. By Confucius. + +Cartoons. By Margaret J. Preston. Boston: Roberts Brothers. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lippincott's Magazine of Popular +Literature and Science, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE *** + +***** This file should be named 13154-8.txt or 13154-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/1/5/13154/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sandra Brown and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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