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diff --git a/13788-0.txt b/13788-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ddc43d --- /dev/null +++ b/13788-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6313 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13788 *** + + Note: The Table of Contents and the list of illustrations were added + by the transcriber. + + + + + McCLURE'S MAGAZINE + + FEBRUARY, 1896. + + VOL. VI. NO. 3. + + + + + TABLE OF CONTENTS + + ILLUSTRATIONS + ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Ida M. Tarbell. + Lincoln's Life at New Salem from 1832 to 1836. + Looking for Work. + Decides to Buy a Store. + He Begins to Study Law. + Berry and Lincoln Get a Tavern License. + The Firm Hires a Clerk. + Lincoln Appointed Postmaster. + A New Opening. + Surveying with a Grapevine. + Business Reverses. + The Kindness Shown Lincoln in New Salem. + Lincoln's Acquaintance in Sangamon County Is Extended. + He Finally Decides on a Legal Career. + Lincoln Enters the Illinois Assembly. + The Story of Ann Rutledge. + Abraham Lincoln at Twenty-six Years of Age. + A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL. By Ian Maclaren. + THE FASTEST RAILROAD RUN EVER MADE. By Harry Perry Robinson. + A CENTURY OF PAINTING. By Will H. Low. + THE TRAGEDY OF GARFIELD'S ADMINISTRATION. By Murat Halstead. + Garfield's Administration. + The Garfields in the White House. + Last Interview with President Garfield. + THE VICTORY OF THE GRAND DUKE OF MITTENHEIM. By Anthony Hope. + Chapter II. + CHAPTERS FROM A LIFE. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. + THE TOUCHSTONE. By Robert Louis Stevenson. + MAGAZINE NOTES. + Mrs. Humphry Ward--Dr. Jowett. + Three Hundred Thousand. + Our Own Printing Establishment. + Anthony Hope's New Novel. + The Life of Lincoln. + The Early Life of Lincoln. + Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. + "The Sabine Women"--A Correction. + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + THE EARLIEST PORTRAIT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + LINCOLN IN 1859. + LINCOLN IN THE SUMMER OF 1860. + LINCOLN EARLY IN 1861. + LINCOLN IN 1861. + THE STATE-HOUSE AT VANDALIA, ILLINOIS. + LINCOLN'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS. + FACSIMILE OF A TAVERN LICENSE ISSUED TO BERRY AND LINCOLN. + BERRY AND LINCOLN'S STORE IN 1895. + DANIEL GREEN BURNER, BERRY AND LINCOLN'S CLERK. + THE REV. JOHN M. CAMERON. + JAMES SHORT. + SQUIRE COLEMAN SMOOT. + SAMUEL HILL--AT WHOSE STORE LINCOLN KEPT THE POST-OFFICE. + MARY ANN RUTLEDGE, MOTHER OF ANN MAYES RUTLEDGE. + JOHN CALHOUN, UNDER WHOM LINCOLN LEARNED SURVEYING. + LINCOLN'S SADDLE-BAGS. + REPORT OF A ROAD SURVEY BY LINCOLN. + A MAP MADE BY LINCOLN OF A PIECE OF ROAD IN MENARD COUNTY. + A WAYSIDE WELL NEAR NEW SALEM, KNOWN AS "ANN RUTLEDGE'S WELL." + CONCORD CEMETERY. + STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. + MAJOR JOHN T. STUART. + JOSEPH DUNCAN, GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS DURING LINCOLN'S FIRST TERM. + GRAVE OF ANN RUTLEDGE IN OAKLAND CEMETERY. + "I WENT UP TO MR. PERKINS'S ROOM WITHOUT CEREMONY." + "HE HAD THE JOLLIEST LITTLE DINNER READY YOU EVER SAW." + VIEW BACK ON THE TRACK WHEN TRAIN WAS RUNNING AT ABOUT EIGHTY MPH. + JOHN NEWELL. + THE TEN-WHEEL ENGINE 564. + THE BROOKS ENGINE 599. + THE ENGINEERS WHO BROUGHT THE TRAIN FROM CHICAGO TO CLEVELAND. + J.R. GARNER, ENGINEER FROM CLEVELAND TO ERIE. + WILLIAM TUNKEY, ENGINEER FROM ERIE TO BUFFALO. + GEORGE ROMNEY, PAINTER OF "THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER." + THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER. + JOHN CONSTABLE. + FLATFORD MILL, ON THE RIVER STOUR. + THE HAY-WAIN. + THE "FIGHTING TEMERAIRE" TUGGED TO HER LAST BERTH. + JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER. + PEACE--BURIAL AT SEA OF THE BODY OF SIR DAVID WILKIE. + PORTRAIT OF A BOY. + JOHN HOPPNER. + PORTRAIT OF A LADY. + PORTRAIT OF A CHILD. + MRS. SIDDONS. + LADY BLESSINGTON. + SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. + MISS BARRON, AFTERWARDS MRS. RAMSEY. + PORTRAIT OF A BROTHER AND SISTER. + GARFIELD IN 1881, WHILE PRESIDENT. AGE 49. + GARFIELD IN 1863. + GARFIELD IN 1863. + GARFIELD IN 1867, WITH HIS DAUGHTER. + "FROM THE LONG GRASS BY THE RIVER'S EDGE A YOUNG MAN SPRANG UP." + "'YOU ARE THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD,' HE ANSWERED SMILING." + "'LISTEN!' SHE CRIED, SPRINGING TO HER FEET." + "HE LEANED FROM HIS SADDLE AS HE DASHED BY." + RALPH WALDO EMERSON. + PROFESSOR AUSTIN PHELPS, FATHER OF ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS. + PROFESSOR M. STUART PHELPS, ELDEST SON OF PROFESSOR AUSTIN. + "HE WAS A GRAVE MAN, AND BESIDE HIM STOOD HIS DAUGHTER." + "'MAID,' QUOTH HE, 'I WOULD FAIN MARRY YOU.'" + "ALL THAT DAY HE RODE, AND HIS MIND WAS QUIET." + + + + +McCLURE'S MAGAZINE + + +VOL. VI. FEBRUARY, 1896, NO. 3. + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +BY IDA M. TARBELL. + +LINCOLN'S LIFE AT NEW SALEM FROM 1832 TO 1836. + +BERRY AND LINCOLN'S GROCERY.--A SET OF BLACKSTONE'S +COMMENTARIES.--BERRY AND LINCOLN TAKE OUT A TAVERN LICENSE.--THE +POSTMASTER OF NEW SALEM IN 1833.--LINCOLN BECOMES DEPUTY +SURVEYOR.--THE FAILURE OF BERRY AND LINCOLN.--ELECTIONEERING IN +ILLINOIS.--LINCOLN CHOSEN ASSEMBLYMAN.--BEGINS TO STUDY +LAW.--THE ILLINOIS STATE LEGISLATURE IN 1834.--THE STORY OF ANN +RUTLEDGE.--ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF AGE. + +_Embodying special studies in Lincoln's life at New Salem by J. McCan +Davis._ + + +LOOKING FOR WORK. + +It was in August, 1832, that Lincoln made his unsuccessful canvass for +the Illinois Assembly. The election over, he began to look for work. +One of his friends, an admirer of his physical strength, advised him +to become a blacksmith, but it was a trade which would afford little +leisure for study, and for meeting and talking with men; and he had +already resolved, it is evident, that books and men were essential to +him. The only employment to be had in New Salem which seemed to offer +both support and the opportunities he sought, was clerking in a store; +and he applied for a place successively at all of the stores then +doing business in New Salem. But they were in greater need of +customers than of clerks. The business had been greatly overdone. In +the fall of 1832 there were at least four stores in New Salem. The +most pretentious was that of Hill and McNeill, which carried a large +line of dry goods. The three others, owned by the Herndon Brothers, +Reuben Radford, and James Rutledge, were groceries. + + +DECIDES TO BUY A STORE. + +Failing to secure employment at any of these establishments, Lincoln, +though without money enough to pay a week's board in advance, resolved +to _buy_ a store. He was not long in finding an opportunity to +purchase. James Herndon had already sold out his half interest in +Herndon Brothers' store to William F. Berry; and Rowan Herndon, not +getting along well with Berry, was only too glad to find a purchaser +of his half in the person of "Abe" Lincoln. Berry was as poor as +Lincoln; but that was not a serious obstacle, for their notes were +accepted for the Herndon stock of goods. They had barely hung out +their sign when something happened which threw another store into +their hands. Reuben Radford had made himself obnoxious to the Clary's +Grove Boys, and one night they broke in his doors and windows, +and overturned his counters and sugar barrels. It was too much +for Radford, and he sold out next day to William G. Green for a +four-hundred-dollar note signed by Green. At the latter's request, +Lincoln made an inventory of the stock, and offered him six hundred +and fifty dollars for it--a proposition which was cheerfully +accepted. Berry and Lincoln, being unable to pay cash, assumed the +four-hundred-dollar note payable to Radford, and gave Green their +joint note for two hundred and fifty dollars. The little grocery owned +by James Rutledge was the next to succumb. Berry and Lincoln bought +it at a bargain, their joint note taking the place of cash. The three +stocks were consolidated. Their aggregate cost must have been not less +than fifteen hundred dollars. Berry and Lincoln had secured a monopoly +of the grocery business in New Salem. Within a few weeks two penniless +men had become the proprietors of three stores, and had stopped +buying only because there were no more to purchase. + +[Illustration: THE EARLIEST PORTRAIT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN +(REPRINTED FROM McCLURE'S FOR NOVEMBER). + +From a daguerreotype in the possession of the Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, +taken before Lincoln was forty, and first published in the McCLURE'S +Life of Lincoln. Of the sixty or more portraits of Lincoln which will +be published in this series of articles, thirty, at least, will +be absolutely new to our readers; and of these thirty none is more +important than this early portrait. It is generally believed that +Lincoln was not over thirty-five years old when this daguerreotype was +taken, and it is certainly true that it is the face of Lincoln as a +young man. "About thirty would be the general verdict," says Mr. Murat +Halstead in an editorial in the Brooklyn "Standard-Union," "if it were +not that the daguerreotype was unknown when Lincoln was of that +age. It does not seem, however, that he could have been more than +thirty-five, and for that age the youthfulness of the portrait is +wonderful. This is a new Lincoln, and far more attractive, in a sense, +than anything the public has possessed. This is the portrait of a +remarkably handsome man.... The head is magnificent, the eyes deep +and generous, the mouth sensitive, the whole expression something +delicate, tender, pathetic, poetic. This was the young man with whom +the phantoms of romance dallied, the young man who recited poems and +was fanciful and speculative, and in love and despair, but upon +whose brow there already gleamed the illumination of intellect, the +inspiration of patriotism. There were vast possibilities in this young +man's face. He could have gone anywhere and done anything. He might +have been a military chieftain, a novelist, a poet, a philosopher, ah! +a hero, a martyr--and, yes, this young man might have been--he even +was Abraham Lincoln! This was he with the world before him. It is good +fortune to have the magical revelation of the youth of the man the +world venerates. This look into his eyes, into his soul--not before he +knew sorrow, but long before the world knew him--and to feel that it +is worthy to be what it is, and that we are better acquainted with him +and love him the more, is something beyond price."] + +[Illustration: LINCOLN IN 1859. + +From a photograph in the collection of H.W. Fay, De Kalb, Illinois. +The original was made by S.M. Fassett, of Chicago; the negative +was destroyed in the Chicago fire. This picture was made at the +solicitation of D.B. Cook, who says that Mrs. Lincoln pronounced it +the best likeness she had ever seen of her husband. Rajon used the +Fassett picture as the original of his etching, and Kruell has made a +fine engraving of it.] + +[Illustration: LINCOLN IN THE SUMMER OF 1860. + +From a copy (made by E.A. Bromley of the Minneapolis "Journal" staff) +of a photograph owned by Mrs. Cyrus Aldrich, whose husband, now dead, +was a congressman from Minnesota. In the summer of 1860 Mr. M.C. +Tuttle, a photographer of St. Paul, wrote to Mr. Lincoln requesting +that he have a negative taken and sent to him for local use in the +campaign. The request was granted, but the negative was broken in +transit. On learning of the accident, Mr. Lincoln sat again, and with +the second negative he sent a jocular note wherein he referred to the +fact, disclosed by the picture, that in the interval he had "got a +new coat." A few copies of the picture were made by Mr. Tuttle, and +distributed among the Republican editors of the State. It has never +before been reproduced. Mrs. Aldrich's copy was presented to her by +William H. Seward, when he was entertained at the Aldrich homestead +(now the Minneapolis City Hospital) in September, 1860. A fine copy +of this same photograph is in the possession of Mr. Ward Monroe, of +Jersey City, N.J.] + +William F. Berry, the partner of Lincoln, was the son of a +Presbyterian minister, the Rev. John Berry, who lived on Rock Creek, +five miles from New Salem. The son had strayed from the footsteps of +the father, for he was a hard drinker, a gambler, a fighter, and "a +very wicked young man." Lincoln cannot in truth be said to have chosen +such a partner, but rather to have accepted him from the force of +circumstances. It required only a little time to make it plain that +the partnership was wholly uncongenial. Lincoln displayed little +business capacity. He trusted largely to Berry; and Berry rapidly +squandered the profits of the business in riotous living. Lincoln +loved books as Berry loved liquor, and hour after hour he was +stretched out on the counter of the store or under a shade tree, +reading Shakespeare or Burns. + +[Illustration: LINCOLN EARLY IN 1861.--PROBABLY THE EARLIEST PORTRAIT +SHOWING HIM WITH A BEARD. + +From a photograph in the collection of H.W. Fay of De Kalb, Illinois, +taken probably in Springfield early in 1861. It is supposed to have +been the first, or at least one of the first, portraits made of Mr. +Lincoln after he began to wear a beard. As is well known, his face +was smooth until about the end of 1860; and when he first allowed his +beard to grow, it became a topic of newspaper comment, and even of +caricature. A pretty story relating to Lincoln's adoption of a beard +is more or less familiar. A letter written to the editor of the +present Life, under date of December 6, 1895, by Mrs. Grace Bedell +Billings, tells this story, of which she herself as a little girl was +the heroine, in a most charming way. The letter will be found printed +in full at the end of this article, on page 240.] + +His thorough acquaintance with the works of these two writers +dates from this period. In New Salem there was one of those curious +individuals sometimes found in frontier settlements, half poet, half +loafer, incapable of earning a living in any steady employment, yet +familiar with good literature and capable of enjoying it--Jack Kelso. +He repeated passages from Shakespeare and Burns incessantly over the +odd jobs he undertook or as he idled by the streams--for he was +a famous fisherman--and Lincoln soon became one of his constant +companions. The taste he formed in company with Kelso he retained +through life. William D. Kelley tells an incident which shows that +Lincoln had a really intimate knowledge of Shakespeare. Mr. Kelley +had taken McDonough, an actor, to call at the White House; and Lincoln +began the conversation by saying: + +[Illustration: LINCOLN IN 1861. + +From a photograph loaned by Mr. Frank A. Brown of Minneapolis, +Minnesota. This beautiful photograph was taken, probably early in +1861, by Alexander Hesler of Chicago. It was used by Leonard W. Volk, +the sculptor, in his studies of Lincoln, and closely resembles the +fine etching by T. Johnson.] + +"'I am very glad to meet you, Mr. McDonough, and am grateful to Kelley +for bringing you in so early, for I want you to tell me something +about Shakespeare's plays as they are constructed for the stage. You +can imagine that I do not get much time to study such matters, but I +recently had a couple of talks with Hackett--Baron Hackett, as they +call him--who is famous as Jack Falstaff, but from whom I elicited few +satisfactory replies, though I probed him with a good many questions.' + +"Mr. McDonough," continues Mr. Kelley, "avowed his willingness to give +the President any information in his possession, but protested that +he feared he would not succeed where his friend Hackett had failed. +'Well, I don't know,' said the President, 'for Hackett's lack of +information impressed me with a doubt as to whether he had ever +studied Shakespeare's text, or had not been content with the acting +edition of his plays.' He arose, went to a shelf not far from his +table, and having taken down a well-thumbed volume of the 'Plays +of Shakespeare,' resumed his seat, arranged his glasses, and having +turned to 'Henry VI.' and read with fine discrimination an extended +passage, said: 'Mr. McDonough, can you tell me why those lines +are omitted from the acting play? There is nothing I have read in +Shakespeare, certainly nothing in 'Henry VI.' or the 'Merry Wives of +Windsor,' that surpasses its wit and humor.' The actor suggested the +breadth of its humor as the only reason he could assign for omission, +but thoughtfully added that it was possible that if the lines were +spoken they would require the rendition of another or other passages +which might be objectionable. + +[Illustration: THE STATE-HOUSE AT VANDALIA, ILLINOIS--NOW USED AS A +COURT-HOUSE. + +Vandalia was the State capital of Illinois for twenty years, and three +different State-houses were built and occupied there. The first, +a two-story frame structure, was burned down December 9, 1823. The +second was a brick building, and was erected at a cost of $12,381.50, +of which the citizens of Vandalia contributed $3,000. The agitation +for the removal of the capital to Springfield began in 1833, and in +the summer of 1836 the people of Vandalia, becoming alarmed at the +prospect of their little city's losing its prestige as the seat of the +State government, tore down the old capitol (much complaint being made +about its condition), and put up a new one at a cost of $16,000. +The tide was too great to be checked; but after the "Long Nine" had +secured the passage of the bill taking the capital to Springfield, +the money which the Vandalia people had expended was refunded. The +State-house shown in this picture was the third and last one. In it +Lincoln served as a legislator. Ceasing to be the capitol July 4, +1839, it was converted into a court-house for Fayette County, and is +still so used.--_J. McCan Davis._] + +[Illustration: LINCOLN'S SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS--PHOTOGRAPHED FOR +McCLURE'S MAGAZINE. + +After Lincoln gave up surveying, he sold his instruments to John B. +Gum, afterward county surveyor of Menard County. Mr. Gum kept them +until a few years ago, when he presented the instruments to the +Lincoln Monument Association, and they are now on exhibition at the +monument in Springfield, Ill.] + +[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A TAVERN LICENSE ISSUED TO BERRY AND +LINCOLN MARCH 6, 1833, BY THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS' COURT OF SANGAMON +COUNTY. + +The only tavern in New Salem in 1833 was that kept by James +Rutledge--a two-story log-structure of five rooms, standing just +across the street from Berry and Lincoln's store. Here Lincoln +boarded. It seems entirely probable that he may have had an ambition +to get into the tavern business, and that he and Berry obtained a +license with that end in view, possibly hoping to make satisfactory +terms for the purchase of the Rutledge hostelry. The tavern of sixty +years ago, besides answering the purposes of the modern hotel, was the +dramshop of the frontier. The business was one which, in Illinois, the +law strictly regulated. Tavern-keepers were required to pay a license +fee, and to give bonds to insure their good behavior. Minors were not +to be harbored, nor did the law permit liquor to be sold to them; and +the sale to slaves of any liquors "or strong drink, mixed or unmixed, +either within or without doors," was likewise forbidden. Nor could the +poor Indian get any "fire-water" at the tavern or the grocery. If +a tavern-keeper violated the law, two-thirds of the fine assessed +against him went to the poor people of the county. The Rutledge tavern +was the only one at New Salem of which we have any authentic account. +It was kept by others besides Mr. Rutledge; for a time by Henry +Onstott the cooper, and then by Nelson Alley, and possibly there were +other landlords; but nothing can be more certain than that Lincoln +was not one of them. The few surviving inhabitants of the vanished +village, and of the country round about, have a clear recollection of +Berry and Lincoln's store--of how it looked, and of what things were +sold in it; but not one has been found with the faintest remembrance +of a tavern kept by Lincoln, or by Berry, or by both. Stage passengers +jolting into New Salem sixty-two years ago must, if Lincoln was an +inn-keeper, have partaken of his hospitality by the score; but if they +did, they all died many, many years ago, or have all maintained an +unaccountable and most perplexing silence.--_J. McCan Davis._] + +"'Your last suggestion,' said Mr. Lincoln, 'carries with it greater +weight than anything Mr. Hackett suggested, but the first is no reason +at all;' and after reading another passage, he said, 'This is not +withheld, and where it passes current there can be no reason for +withholding the other.'... And, as if feeling the impropriety of +preferring the player to the parson, [there was a clergyman in the +room] he turned to the chaplain and said: 'From your calling it is +probable that you do not know that the acting plays which people crowd +to hear are not always those planned by their reputed authors. Thus, +take the stage edition of "Richard III." It opens with a passage from +"Henry VI.," after which come portions of "Richard III.," then another +scene from "Henry VI.," and the finest soliloquy in the play, if we +may judge from the many quotations it furnishes, and the frequency +with which it is heard in amateur exhibitions, was never seen by +Shakespeare, but was written--was it not, Mr. McDonough?--after his +death, by Colley Cibber." + +"Having disposed, for the present, of questions relating to the stage +editions of the plays, he recurred to his standard copy, and, to +the evident surprise of Mr. McDonough, read or repeated from memory +extracts from several of the plays, some of which embraced a number of +lines. + +"It must not be supposed that Mr. Lincoln's poetical studies had +been confined to his plays. He interspersed his remarks with extracts +striking from their similarity to, or contrast with, something of +Shakespeare's, from Byron, Rogers, Campbell, Moore, and other English +poets."[1] + +[Illustration: BERRY AND LINCOLN'S STORE IN 1895. + +From a recent photograph by C.S. McCullough, Petersburg, Illinois. The +little frame store-building occupied by Berry and Lincoln at New Salem +is now standing at Petersburg, Illinois, in the rear of L.W. Bishop's +gun-shop. Its history after 1834 is somewhat obscure, but there is no +reason for doubting its identity. According to tradition it was bought +by Robert Bishop, the father of the present owner, about 1835, from +Mr. Lincoln himself; but it is difficult to reconcile this legend with +the sale of the store to the Trent brothers, unless, upon the flight +of the latter from the country and the closing of the store, the +building, through the leniency of creditors, was allowed to revert +to Mr. Lincoln, in which event he no doubt sold it at the first +opportunity and applied the proceeds to the payment of the debts of +the firm. When Mr. Bishop bought the store building, he removed it to +Petersburg. It is said that the removal was made in part by Lincoln +himself; that the job was first undertaken by one of the Bales, but +that, encountering some difficulty, he called upon Lincoln to assist +him, which Lincoln did. The structure was first set up adjacent to Mr. +Bishop's house, and converted into a gun-shop. Later it was removed to +a place on the public square; and soon after the breaking out of the +late war, Mr. Bishop, erecting a new building, pushed Lincoln's +store into the back-yard, and there it still stands. Soon after the +assassination of Mr. Lincoln, the front door was presented to some +one in Springfield, and has long since been lost sight of. It is +remembered by Mr. Bishop that in this door there was an opening for +the reception of letters--a circumstance of importance as tending to +establish the genuineness of the building, when it is remembered that +Lincoln was postmaster while he kept the store. The structure, as it +stands to-day, is about eighteen feet long, twelve feet in width, and +ten feet in height. The back room, however, has disappeared, so +that the building as it stood when occupied by Berry and Lincoln +was somewhat longer. Of the original building there only remain the +frame-work, the black-walnut weather-boarding on the front end and +the ceiling of sycamore boards. One entire side has been torn away by +relic-hunters. In recent years the building has been used as a sort +of store-room. Just after a big fire in Petersburg some time ago, +the city council condemned the Lincoln store building and ordered it +demolished. Under this order a portion of one side was torn down, when +Mr. Bishop persuaded the city authorities to desist, upon giving +a guarantee that if Lincoln's store ever caught fire he would be +responsible for any loss which might ensue.--_J. McCan Davis._] + + +HE BEGINS TO STUDY LAW. + +It was not only Burns and Shakespeare that interfered with the +grocery-keeping: Lincoln had begun seriously to read law. His first +acquaintance with the subject had been made when he was a mere lad in +Indiana, and a copy of the "Revised Statutes of Indiana" had fallen +into his hands. The very copy he used is still in existence and, +fortunately, in hands where it is safe. The book was owned by Mr. +David Turnham, of Gentryville, and was given in 1865 by him to Mr. +Herndon, who placed it in the Lincoln Memorial collection of Chicago. +In December, 1894, this collection was sold in Philadelphia, and +the "Statutes of Indiana" was bought by Mr. William Hoffman Winters, +Librarian of the New York Law Institute, and through his courtesy I +have been allowed to examine it. The book is worn, the title page is +gone and a few leaves from the end are missing. The title page of +a duplicate volume which Mr. Winters kindly showed me reads: "The +Revised Laws of Indiana adopted and enacted by the General Assembly +at their eighth session. To which are prefixed the Declaration of +Independence, the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution +of the State of Indiana, and sundry other documents connected with the +Political History of the Territory and State of Indiana. Arranged and +published by authority of the General Assembly. Corydon, Printed by +Carpenter and Douglass, 1824." + +[Illustration: DANIEL GREEN BURNER, BERRY AND LINCOLN'S CLERK. + +From a recent photograph. Mr. Burner was Berry and Lincoln's clerk. He +lived at New Salem from 1829 to 1834. Lincoln for many months lodged +with his father, Isaac Burner, and he and Lincoln slept in the same +bed. He now lives on a farm near Galesburg, Illinois, past eighty.] + +[Illustration: THE REV. JOHN M. CAMERON. + +From a photograph in the possession of the Hon. W.J. Orendorff, of +Canton, Illinois. John M. Cameron, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister, +and a devout, sincere, and courageous man, was held in the highest +esteem by his neighbors. Yet, according to Daniel Green Burner, Berry +and Lincoln's clerk--and the fact is mentioned merely as illustrating +a universal custom among the pioneers--"John Cameron always kept a +barrel of whiskey in the house." He was a powerful man physically, and +a typical frontiersman. He was born in Kentucky in 1791, and, with +his wife, moved to Illinois in 1815. He settled in Sangamon County in +1818, and in 1829 took up his abode in a cabin on a hill overlooking +the Sangamon River, and, with James Rutledge, founded the town of New +Salem. + +According to tradition, Lincoln, for a time, lived with the Camerons. +In the early thirties they moved to Fulton County, Illinois; then, +in 1841 or 1842, to Iowa; and finally, in 1849, to California. In +California they lived to a ripe old age--Mrs. Cameron dying in 1875, +and her husband following her three years later. They had twelve +children, eleven of whom were girls. In 1886 there were living nine +of these children, fifty grandchildren, and one hundred and one +great-grandchildren. Mr. Cameron is said to have officiated at the +funeral of Ann Rutledge in 1835.--_J. McCan Davis._] + +[Illustration: JAMES SHORT, WHO SAVED LINCOLN'S HORSE AND +SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS FROM A CREDITOR. + +From a photograph taken at Jacksonville, Illinois, about thirty years +ago. James Short lived on Sand Ridge, a few miles north of New Salem, +and Lincoln was a frequent visitor at his house. When Lincoln's horse +and surveying instruments were levied upon by a creditor and sold, +Mr. Short bought them in, and made Lincoln a present of them. Lincoln, +when President, made his old friend an Indian agent in California. Mr. +Short, in the course of his life, was happily married five times. He +died in Iowa many years ago. His acquaintance with Lincoln began in +rather an interesting way. His sister, who lived in New Salem, had +made Lincoln a pair of jeans trousers. The material supplied by +Lincoln was scant, and the trousers came out conspicuously short in +the legs. One day when James Short was visiting with his sister, he +pointed to a man walking down the street, and asked, "Who is that man +in the short breeches." "That is Lincoln," the sister replied; and Mr. +Short went out and introduced himself to Lincoln.--_J. McCan Davis._] + +[Illustration: SQUIRE COLEMAN SMOOT. + +Coleman Smoot was born in Virginia, February 13, 1794; removed to +Kentucky when a child; married Rebecca Wright March 17, 1817; came to +Illinois in 1831, and lived on a farm across the Sangamon River from +New Salem until his death, March 21, 1876. He accumulated an immense +fortune. Lincoln met him for the first time in Offutt's store in 1831. +"Smoot," said Lincoln, "I am disappointed in you; I expected to see +a man as ugly as old Probst," referring to a man reputed to be the +homeliest in the county. "And I am disappointed," replied Smoot; "I +had expected to see a good-looking man when I saw you." From that +moment they were warm friends. After Lincoln's election to the +legislature in 1834, he called on Smoot, and said, "I want to buy some +clothes and fix up a little, so that I can make a decent appearance +in the legislature; and I want you to loan me $200." The loan was +cheerfully made, and of course was subsequently repaid.--_J. McCan +Davis._] + +[Illustration: SAMUEL HILL--AT WHOSE STORE LINCOLN KEPT THE +POST-OFFICE. + +From an old daguerreotype. Samuel Hill was among the earliest +inhabitants of New Salem. He opened a general store there in +partnership with John McNeill,--the John McNeill who became betrothed +to Ann Rutledge, and whose real name was afterwards discovered to +be John McNamar. When McNeill left New Salem and went East, Mr. Hill +became sole proprietor of the store. He also owned the carding machine +at New Salem. Lincoln, after going out of the grocery business, +made his headquarters at Samuel Hill's store. There he kept the +post-office, entertained the loungers, and on busy days helped Mr. +Hill wait on customers. Mr. Hill is said to have once courted Ann +Rutledge himself, but he did not receive the encouragement which was +bestowed upon his partner, McNeill. In 1839 he moved his store to +Petersburg, and died there in 1857. In 1835 he married Miss Parthenia +W. Nance, who still lives at Petersburg.--_J. McCan Davis._] + +[Illustration: MARY ANN RUTLEDGE, MOTHER OF ANN MAYES RUTLEDGE. + +From an old tintype. Mary Ann Rutledge was the wife of James Rutledge +and the mother of Ann. She was born October 21, 1787, and reared +in Kentucky. She lived to be ninety-one years of age, dying in Iowa +December 26, 1878. The Rutledges left New Salem in 1833 or 1834, +moving to a farm a few miles northward. On this farm Ann Rutledge died +August 25, 1835; and here also, three months later (December 3, 1835), +died her father, broken-hearted, no doubt, by the bereavement. In the +following year the family moved to Fulton County, Illinois, and some +three years later to Birmingham, Iowa. Of James Rutledge there is no +portrait in existence. He was born in South Carolina, May 11, 1781. He +and his sons, John and David, served in the Black Hawk War.--_J. +McCan Davis._] + +[Illustration: JOHN CALHOUN, UNDER WHOM LINCOLN LEARNED SURVEYING. + +From a steel engraving in the possession of R.W. Diller, Springfield, +Illinois. John Calhoun was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 14, +1806; removed to the Mohawk Valley, New York, in 1821; was educated +at Canajoharie Academy, and studied law. In 1830 he removed to +Springfield, Illinois, and after serving in the Black Hawk War was +appointed Surveyor of Sangamon County. He was married there December +29, 1831, to Miss Sarah Cutter. He was a Democratic Representative in +1838; Clerk of the House in 1840; circuit clerk in 1842; Democratic +presidential elector in 1844; candidate for Governor before the +Democratic State convention in 1846; Mayor of Springfield in 1849, +1850, and 1851; a candidate for Congress in 1852, and in the same year +again a Democratic presidential elector. In 1854, President Pierce +appointed him Surveyor-General of Kansas, and he became conspicuous in +Kansas politics. He was president of the Lecompton Convention. He died +at St. Joseph, Missouri, October 25, 1859. Mr. Frederick Hawn, who was +his boyhood friend, and afterward married a sister of Calhoun's wife, +is now living at Leavenworth, Kansas, at the age of eighty-five years. +In an interesting letter to the writer, he says: "It has been related +that Calhoun induced Lincoln to study surveying in order to become +his deputy. Presuming that he was ready to graduate and receive his +commission, he called on Calhoun, then living with his father-in-law, +Seth R. Cutter, on Upper Lick Creek. After the interview was +concluded, Mr. Lincoln, about to depart, remarked: 'Calhoun, I am +entirely unable to repay you for your generosity at present. All that +I have you see on me, except a quarter of a dollar in my pocket.' This +is a family tradition. However, my wife, then a miss of sixteen, says, +while I am writing this sketch, that she distinctly remembers this +interview. After Lincoln was gone she says she and her sister, +Mrs. Calhoun, commenced making jocular remarks about his uncanny +appearance, in the presence of Calhoun, to which in substance he made +this rejoinder: 'For all that, he is no common man.' My wife believes +these were the exact words."--_J. McCan Davis._] + +We know from Dennis Hanks, from Mr. Turnham, to whom the book +belonged, and from other associates of Lincoln's at the time, that he +read this book intently and discussed its contents intelligently. It +was a remarkable volume for a thoughtful lad whose mind had been +fired already by the history of Washington; for it opened with that +wonderful document, the Declaration of Independence, a document +which became, as Mr. John G. Nicolay says, "his political chart +and inspiration." Following the Declaration of Independence was the +Constitution of the United States, the Act of Virginia passed in 1783 +by which the "Territory North Westward of the river Ohio" was conveyed +to the United States, and the Ordinance of 1787 for governing this +territory, containing that clause on which Lincoln in the future based +many an argument on the slavery question. This article, No. 6 of the +Ordinance, reads: "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary +servitude in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of +crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: provided +always, that any person escaping into the same, from whom labour or +service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, +such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person +claiming his or her labour or service, as aforesaid." + +[Illustration: LINCOLN'S SADDLE-BAGS--PHOTOGRAPHED FOR McCLURE'S +MAGAZINE. + +These saddle-bags, now in the Lincoln Monument at Springfield, are +said to have been used by Lincoln while he was a surveyor.] + +Following this was the Constitution and the Revised Laws of Indiana, +three hundred and seventy-five pages of five hundred words each of +statutes--enough law, if thoroughly digested, to make a respectable +lawyer. When Lincoln finished this book, as he had probably before +he was eighteen, we have reason to believe that he understood the +principles on which the nation was founded, how the State of Indiana +came into being, and how it was governed. His understanding of the +subject was clear and practical, and he applied it in his reading, +thinking, and discussion. + +[Illustration: REPORT OF A ROAD SURVEY BY LINCOLN--HITHERTO +UNPUBLISHED. + +Photographed for McCLURE'S MAGAZINE from the original, now on file +in the County Clerk's office, Springfield, Illinois. The survey +here reported was made in pursuance of an order of the County +Commissioners' Court, September 1, 1834, in which Lincoln was +designated as the surveyor.] + +It was after he had read the Laws of Indiana that Lincoln had free +access to the library of his admirer, Judge John Pitcher of Rockport, +Indiana, where undoubtedly he examined many law-books. But from the +time he left Indiana in 1830 he had no legal reading until one day +soon after the grocery was started, when there happened one of those +trivial incidents which so often turn the current of a life. It +is best told in Mr. Lincoln's own words.[2] "One day a man who was +migrating to the West drove up in front of my store with a wagon which +contained his family and household plunder. He asked me if I would +buy an old barrel, for which he had no room in his wagon, and which +he said contained nothing of special value. I did not want it, but to +oblige him I bought it, and paid him, I think, half a dollar for it. +Without further examination, I put it away in the store, and forgot +all about it. Some time after, in overhauling things, I came upon the +barrel, and emptying it upon the floor to see what it contained, I +found at the bottom of the rubbish a complete edition of Blackstone's +Commentaries. I began to read those famous works, and I had plenty +of time; for, during the long summer days, when the farmers were busy +with their crops, my customers were few and far between. The more +I read"--this he said with unusual emphasis--"the more intensely +interested I became. Never in my whole life was my mind so thoroughly +absorbed. I read until I devoured them." + +[Illustration: A MAP MADE BY LINCOLN OF A PIECE OF ROAD IN MENARD +COUNTY, ILLINOIS--HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED. + +Photographed from the original for McCLURE'S MAGAZINE. This map, +which, as here reproduced, is about one-half the size of the original, +accompanied Lincoln's report of the survey of a part of the road +between Athens and Sangamon town. For making this map, Lincoln +received fifty cents. The road evidently was located "on good ground," +and was "necessary and proper," as the report says, for it is still +the main travelled highway leading into the country south of Athens, +Menard County.] + + +BERRY AND LINCOLN GET A TAVERN LICENSE. + +But all this was fatal to business, and by spring it was evident that +something must be done to stimulate the grocery sales. + +On the 6th of March, 1833, the County Commissioners' Court of Sangamon +County granted the firm of Berry and Lincoln a license to keep a +tavern at New Salem. A copy of this license is here given: + + Ordered that William F. Berry, in the name of Berry and + Lincoln, have a license to keep a tavern in New Salem to + continue 12 months from this date, and that they pay one + dollar in addition to the six dollars heretofore paid as per + Treasurer's receipt, and that they be allowed the following + rates (viz.): + + French Brandy per 1/2 pt. 25 + Peach " " " . 18-3/4 + Apple " " " . 12 + Holland Gin " " . 18-3/4 + Domestic " " . 12-1/2 + Wine " " . 25 + Rum " " . 18-3/4 + Whisky " " . 12-1/2 + Breakfast, din'r or supper 25 + Lodging per night........ 12-1/2 + Horse per night.......... 25 + Single feed.............. 12-1/2 + Breakfast, dinner or supper + for Stage Passengers..... 37-1/2 + + who gave bond as required by law. + +It is probable that the license was procured to enable the firm to +retail the liquors which they had in stock, and not for keeping +a tavern. In a community in which liquor-drinking was practically +universal, at a time when whiskey was as legitimate an article of +merchandise as coffee or calico, when no family was without a jug, +when the minister of the gospel could take his "dram" without any +breach of propriety, it is not surprising that a reputable young +man should have been found selling whiskey. Liquor was sold at all +groceries, but it could not be lawfully sold in a smaller quantity +than one quart. The law, however, was not always rigidly observed, +and it was the custom of store-keepers to "set up" the drinks to their +patrons. Each of the three groceries which Berry and Lincoln acquired +had the usual supply of liquors, and the combined stock must have +amounted almost to a superabundance. It was only good business +that they should seek a way to dispose of the surplus quickly and +profitably--an end which could be best accomplished by selling it +over the counter by the glass. Lawfully to do this required a tavern +license; and it is a warrantable conclusion that such was the chief +aim of Berry and Lincoln in procuring a franchise of this character. +We are fortified in this conclusion by the coincidence that three +other grocers of New Salem--William Clary, Henry Sincoe, and George +Warberton--were among those who took out tavern licenses. To secure +the lawful privilege of selling whiskey by the "dram" was no doubt +their purpose; for their "taverns" were as mythical as the inn of +Berry and Lincoln. + +At the granting of a tavern license, the applicants therefor were +required by law to file a bond. The bond given in the case of Berry +and Lincoln was as follows: + + Know all men by these presents, we, William F. Berry, Abraham + Lincoln and John Bowling Green, are held and firmly bound unto + the County Commissioners of Sangamon County in the full sum + of three hundred dollars to which payment well and truly to + be made we bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and + administrators firmly by these presents, sealed with our seal + and dated this 6th day of March A.D. 1833. Now the condition + of this obligation is such that Whereas the said Berry & + Lincoln has obtained a license from the County Commissioners + Court to keep a tavern in the Town of New Salem to continue + one year. Now if the said Berry & Lincoln shall be of good + behavior and observe all the laws of this State relative to + tavern keepers--then this obligation to be void or otherwise + remain in full force. + + ABRAHAM LINCOLN [Seal] + WM. F. BERRY [Seal] + BOWLING GREEN [Seal] + +This bond appears to have been written by the clerk of the +Commissioners' Court; and Lincoln's name was signed by some one other +than himself, very likely by his partner Berry. + +[Illustration: A WAYSIDE WELL NEAR NEW SALEM, KNOWN AS "ANN RUTLEDGE'S +WELL."] + + +THE FIRM HIRES A CLERK. + +The license seems to have stimulated the business, for the firm +concluded to hire a clerk. The young man who secured this position was +Daniel Green Burner, son of Isaac Burner, at whose house Lincoln for +a time boarded. He is still living on a farm near Galesburg, Illinois, +and is in the eighty-second year of his age. "The store building of +Berry and Lincoln," says Mr. Burner, "was a frame building, not very +large, one story in height, and contained two rooms. In the little +back room Lincoln had a fireplace and a bed. There is where we slept. +I clerked in the store through the winter of 1834, up to the 1st of +March. While I was there they had nothing for sale but liquors. They +may have had some groceries before that, but I am certain they had +none then. I used to sell whiskey over their counter at six cents a +glass--and charged it, too. N.A. Garland started a store, and Lincoln +wanted Berry to ask his father for a loan, so they could buy out +Garland; but Berry refused, saying this was one of the last things he +would think of doing." + +Among the other persons yet living who were residents with Lincoln of +New Salem or its near neighborhood are Mrs. Parthenia W. Hill, aged +seventy-nine years, widow of Samuel Hill, the New Salem merchant; +James McGrady Rutledge, aged eighty-one years; John Potter, aged +eighty-seven years; and Thomas Watkins, aged seventy-one years--all +now living at Petersburg, Illinois. Mrs. Hill, a woman of more than +ordinary intelligence, did not become a resident of New Salem until +1835, the year in which she was married. Lincoln had then gone out +of business, but she knew much of his store. "Berry and Lincoln," +she says, "did not keep any dry goods. They had a grocery, and I have +always understood they sold whiskey." Mr. Rutledge, a nephew of James +Rutledge the tavern-keeper, has a vivid recollection of the store. +He says: "I have been in Berry and Lincoln's store many a time. The +building was a frame--one of the few frame buildings in New Salem. +There were two rooms, and in the small back room they kept their +whiskey. They had pretty much everything, except dry goods--sugar, +coffee, some crockery, a few pairs of shoes (not many), some farming +implements, and the like. Whiskey, of course, was a necessary part of +their stock. I remember one transaction in particular which I had with +them. I sold the firm a load of wheat, which they turned over to the +mill." Mr. Potter, who remembers the morning when Lincoln, then a +stranger on his way to New Salem, stopped at his father's house +and ate breakfast, knows less about the store, but says: "It was a +grocery, and they sold whiskey, of course." Thomas Watkins says that +the store contained "a little candy, tobacco, sugar, and coffee, and +the like;" though Mr. Watkins, being then a small boy, and living a +mile in the country, was not a frequent visitor at the store. + + +LINCOLN APPOINTED POSTMASTER. + +Business was not so brisk, however, in Berry and Lincoln's grocery, +even after the license was granted, that the junior partner did not +welcome an appointment as postmaster which he received in May, 1833. +The appointment of a Whig by a Democratic administration seems to have +been made without comment. "The office was too insignificant to make +his politics an objection," say the autobiographical notes. The duties +of the new office were not arduous, for letters were few, and their +comings far between. At that date the mails were carried by four-horse +post-coaches from city to city, and on horseback from central points +into the country towns. The rates of postage were high. A single-sheet +letter carried thirty miles or under cost six cents; thirty to eighty +miles, ten cents; eighty to one hundred and fifty miles, twelve and +one-half cents; one hundred and fifty to four hundred miles, eighteen +and one-half cents; over four hundred miles, twenty-five cents. A copy +of this magazine sent from New York to New Salem would have cost fully +twenty-five cents. The mail was irregular in coming as well as light +in its contents. Though supposed to arrive twice a week, it sometimes +happened that a fortnight or more passed without any mail. Under these +conditions the New Salem post-office was not a serious care. + +A large number of the patrons of the office lived in the country--many +of them miles away--but generally Lincoln delivered their letters at +their doors. These letters he would carefully place in the crown of +his hat, and distribute them from house to house. Thus it was in a +measure true that he kept the New Salem post-office in his hat. The +habit of carrying papers in his hat clung to Lincoln; for, many years +later, when he was a practising lawyer in Springfield, he apologized +for failing to answer a letter promptly, by explaining: "When I +received your letter I put it in my old hat, and buying a new one the +next day, the old one was set aside, and so the letter was lost sight +of for a time." + +But whether the mail was delivered by the postmaster himself, or the +recipient came to the store to inquire, "Anything for me?" it was the +habit "to stop and visit awhile." He who received a letter read it and +told the contents; if he had a newspaper, usually the postmaster could +tell him in advance what it contained, for one of the perquisites of +the early post-office was the privilege of reading all printed matter +before delivering it. Every day, then, Lincoln's acquaintance in New +Salem, through his position as postmaster, became more intimate. + + +A NEW OPENING. + +As the summer of 1833 went on, the condition of the store became more +and more unsatisfactory. As the position of postmaster brought in only +a small revenue, Lincoln was forced to take any odd work he could get. +He helped in other stores in the town, split rails, and looked after +the mill; but all this yielded only a scant and uncertain support, and +when in the fall he had an opportunity to learn surveying, he accepted +it eagerly. + +The condition of affairs in Illinois in the thirties made a demand for +the services of surveyors. The immigration had been phenomenal. There +were thousands of farms to be surveyed and thousands of "corners" to +be located. Speculators bought up large tracts, and mapped out +cities on paper. It was years before the first railroad was built +in Illinois, and as all inland travelling was on horseback or in the +stage-coach, each year hundreds of miles of wagon road were opened +through woods and swamps and prairies. As the county of Sangamon was +large and eagerly sought by immigrants, the county surveyor in 1833, +one John Calhoun, needed deputies; but in a country so new it was no +easy matter to find men with the requisite capacity. + +[Illustration: CONCORD CEMETERY. + +From a photograph by C.S. McCullough, Petersburg, Illinois. Concord +cemetery lies seven miles northwest of the old town of New Salem, in a +secluded place, surrounded by woods and pastures, away from the world. +In this lonely spot Ann Rutledge was at first laid to rest. Thither +Lincoln is said to have often come alone, and "sat in silence for +hours at a time;" and it was to Ann Rutledge's grave here that he +pointed and said: "There my heart lies buried." The old cemetery +suffered the melancholy fate of New Salem. It became a neglected, +deserted spot. The graves were lost in weeds, and a heavy growth of +trees kept out the sun and filled the place with gloom. A dozen years +ago this picture was taken. It was a blustery day in the autumn, +and the weeds and trees were swaying before a furious gale. No other +picture of the place, taken while Ann Rutledge was buried there, is +known to be in existence. A picture of a cemetery, with the name of +Ann Rutledge on a high, flat tombstone, has been published in two or +three books; but it is not genuine, the "stone" being nothing more +than a board improvised for the occasion. The grave of Ann Rutledge +was never honored with a stone until the body was taken up in 1890 +and removed to Oakland cemetery, a mile southwest of Petersburg.--_J. +McCan Davis._] + +With Lincoln, Calhoun had little, if any, personal acquaintance, for +they lived twenty miles apart. Lincoln, however, had made himself +known by his meteoric race for the legislature in 1832, and Calhoun +had heard of him as an honest, intelligent, and trustworthy young man. +One day he sent word to Lincoln by Pollard Simmons, who lived in the +New Salem neighborhood, that he had decided to appoint him a deputy +surveyor if he would accept the position. + +Going into the woods, Simmons found Lincoln engaged in his old +occupation of making rails. The two sat down together on a log, and +Simmons told Lincoln what Calhoun had said. It was a surprise to +Lincoln. Calhoun was a "Jackson man;" he was for Clay. What did he +know about surveying, and why should a Democratic official offer him +a position of any kind? He immediately went to Springfield, and had +a talk with Calhoun. He would not accept the appointment, he said, +unless he had the assurance that it involved no political obligation, +and that he might continue to express his political opinions as +freely and frequently as he chose. This assurance was given. The +only difficulty then in the way was the fact that he knew absolutely +nothing of surveying. But Calhoun, of course, understood this, and +agreed that he should have time to learn. + +With the promptness of action with which he always undertook anything +he had to do, he procured Flint and Gibson's treatise on surveying, +and sought Mentor Graham for help. At a sacrifice of some time, the +schoolmaster aided him to a partial mastery of the intricate subject. +Lincoln worked literally day and night, sitting up night after night +until the crowing of the cock warned him of the approaching dawn. +So hard did he study that his friends were greatly concerned at his +haggard face. But in six weeks he had mastered all the books +within reach relating to the subject--a task which, under ordinary +circumstances, would hardly have been achieved in as many months. +Reporting to Calhoun for duty (greatly to the amazement of that +gentleman), he was at once assigned to the territory in the northwest +part of the county, and the first work he did of which there is any +authentic record was in January, 1834. In that month he surveyed a +piece of land for Russell Godby, dating the certificate January 14, +1834, and signing it "J. Calhoun, S.S.C., by A. Lincoln." + +Lincoln was frequently employed in laying out public roads, being +selected for that purpose by the County Commissioners' Court. So +far as can be learned from the official records, the first road he +surveyed was "from Musick's Ferry on Salt Creek, via New Salem, to the +county line in the direction of Jacksonville." For this he was allowed +fifteen dollars for five days' service, and two dollars and fifty +cents for a plat of the new road. The next road he surveyed, according +to the records, was that leading from Athens to Sangamon town. This +was reported to the County Commissioners' Court November 4, 1834. +But road surveying was only a small portion of his work. He was more +frequently employed by private individuals. + + +SURVEYING WITH A GRAPEVINE. + +According to tradition, when he first took up the business he was too +poor to buy a chain, and, instead, used a long, straight grape-vine. +Probably this is a myth, though surveyors who had experience in the +early days say it may be true. The chains commonly used at that time +were made of iron. Constant use wore away and weakened the links, and +it was no unusual thing for a chain to lengthen six inches after a +year's use. "And a good grape-vine," to use the words of a veteran +surveyor, "would give quite as satisfactory results as one of those +old-fashioned chains." + +Lincoln's surveys had the extraordinary merit of being correct. Much +of the government work had been rather indifferently done, or the +government corners had been imperfectly preserved, and there were +frequent disputes between adjacent land-owners about boundary lines. +Frequently Lincoln was called upon in such cases to find the corner +in controversy. His verdict was invariably the end of the dispute, so +general was the confidence in his honesty and skill. Some of these +old corners located by him are still in existence. The people of +Petersburg proudly remember that they live in a town which was laid +out by Lincoln. This he did in 1836, and it was the work of several +weeks. + +Lincoln's pay as a surveyor was three dollars a day, more than he had +ever before earned. Compared with the compensation for like services +nowadays it seems small enough; but at that time it was really +princely. The Governor of the State received a salary of only one +thousand dollars a year, the Secretary of State six hundred dollars, +and good board and lodging could be obtained for one dollar a week. +But even three dollars a day did not enable him to meet all his +financial obligations. The heavy debts of the store hung over him. +The long distances he had to travel in his new employment had made it +necessary to buy a horse, and for it he had gone into debt. + +"My father," says Thomas Watkins of Petersburg, who remembers the +circumstances well, "sold Lincoln the horse, and my recollection is +that Lincoln agreed to pay him fifty dollars for it. Lincoln was a +little slow in making the payments, and after he had paid all but ten +dollars, my father, who was a high-strung man, became impatient, and +sued him for the balance. Lincoln, of course, did not deny the debt, +and raised the money and paid it. I do not often tell this," Mr. +Watkins adds, "because I have always thought there never was such a +man as Lincoln, and I have always been sorry father sued him." + + +BUSINESS REVERSES. + +Between his duties as deputy surveyor and postmaster, Lincoln had +little leisure for the store, and its management had passed into the +hands of Berry. The stock of groceries was on the wane. The numerous +obligations of the firm were maturing, with no money to meet them. +Both members of the firm, in the face of such obstacles, lost courage; +and when, early in 1834, Alexander and William Trent asked if the +store was for sale, an affirmative answer was eagerly given. A price +was agreed upon, and the sale was made. Now, neither Alexander Trent +nor his brother had any money; but as Berry and Lincoln had bought +without money, it seemed only fair that they should be willing to sell +on the same terms. Accordingly the notes of the Trent brothers were +accepted for the purchase price, and the store was turned over to the +new owners. But about the time their notes fell due the Trent brothers +disappeared. The few groceries in the store were seized by creditors, +and the doors were closed, never to be opened again. + +Misfortunes now crowded upon Lincoln. His late partner, Berry, soon +reached the end of his wild career; and one morning a farmer from the +Rock Creek neighborhood drove into New Salem with the news that he was +dead. + +The appalling debt which had accumulated was thrown upon Lincoln's +shoulders. It was then too common a fashion among men who became +deluged in debt to "clear out," in the expressive language of the +pioneer, as the Trents had done; but this was not Lincoln's way. He +quietly settled down among the men he owed, and promised to pay them. +For fifteen years he carried this burden--a load which he cheerfully +and manfully bore, but one so heavy that he habitually spoke of it +as the "national debt." Talking once of it to a friend, Lincoln said: +"That debt was the greatest obstacle I have ever met in life; I had no +way of speculating, and could not earn money except by labor, and to +earn by labor eleven hundred dollars, besides my living, seemed the +work of a lifetime. There was, however, but one way. I went to the +creditors, and told them that if they would let me alone, I would give +them all I could earn over my living, as fast as I could earn it." As +late as 1848, so we are informed by Mr. Herndon, Mr. Lincoln, then +a member of Congress, sent home money saved from his salary to be +applied on these obligations. All the notes, with interest at the high +rates then prevailing, were at last paid. + +With a single exception Lincoln's creditors seem to have been lenient. +One of the notes given by him came into the hands of a Mr. Van Bergen, +who, when it fell due, brought suit. The amount of the judgment was +more than Lincoln could pay, and his personal effects were levied +upon. These consisted of his horse, saddle and bridle, and surveying +instruments. James Short, a well-to-do farmer living on Sand Ridge a +few miles north of New Salem, heard of the trouble which had befallen +his young friend. Without advising Lincoln of his plans he attended +the sale, bought in the horse and surveying instruments for one +hundred and twenty dollars, and turned them over to their former +owner. + +[Illustration: STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. + +Lincoln's first meeting with Douglas occurred at the State capital, +Vandalia, in the winter of 1834-35, when Lincoln was serving his first +term in the legislature, and Douglas was an applicant for the office +of State attorney for the first judicial district of Illinois.] + +Lincoln never forgot a benefactor. He not only repaid the money with +interest, but nearly thirty years later remembered the kindness in a +most substantial way. After Lincoln left New Salem financial reverses +came to James Short, and he removed to the far West to seek his +fortune anew. Early in Lincoln's presidential term he heard that +"Uncle Jimmy" was living in California. One day Mr. Short received a +letter from Washington, D.C. Tearing it open, he read the gratifying +announcement that he had been commissioned an Indian agent. + + +THE KINDNESS SHOWN LINCOLN IN NEW SALEM. + +The kindness of Mr. Short was not exceptional in Lincoln's New +Salem career. When the store had "winked out," as he put it, and the +post-office had been left without headquarters, one of his neighbors, +Samuel Hill, invited the homeless postmaster into his store. There was +hardly a man or woman in the community who would not have been glad +to do as much. It was a simple recognition on their part of Lincoln's +friendliness to them. He was what they called "obliging"--a man who +instinctively did the thing which he saw would help another, no matter +how trivial or homely it was. In the home of Rowan Herndon, where he +had boarded when he first came to the town, he had made himself loved +by his care of the children. "He nearly always had one of them +around with him," says Mr. Herndon. In the Rutledge tavern, where he +afterwards lived, the landlord told with appreciation how, when his +house was full, Lincoln gave up his bed, went to the store, and slept +on the counter, his pillow a web of calico. If a traveller "stuck in +the mud" in New Salem's one street, Lincoln was always the first to +help pull out the wheel. The widows praised him because he "chopped +their wood;" the overworked, because he was always ready to give them +a lift. It was the spontaneous, unobtrusive helpfulness of the man's +nature which endeared him to everybody and which inspired a general +desire to do all possible in return. There are many tales told of +homely service rendered him, even by the hard-working farmers' wives +around New Salem. There was not one of them who did not gladly "put on +a plate" for Abe Lincoln when he appeared, or would not darn or mend +for him when she knew he needed it. Hannah Armstrong, the wife of the +hero of Clary's Grove, made him one of her family. "Abe would come out +to our house," she said, "drink milk, eat mush, cornbread and +butter, bring the children candy, and rock the cradle while I got him +something to eat.... Has stayed at our house two or three weeks at +a time." Lincoln's pay for his first piece of surveying came in the +shape of two buckskins, and it was Hannah who "foxed" them on his +trousers. + +His relations were equally friendly in the better homes of the +community; even at the minister's, the Rev. John Cameron's, he was +perfectly at home, and Mrs. Cameron was by him affectionately called +"Aunt Polly." It was not only his kindly service which made Lincoln +loved; it was his sympathetic comprehension of the lives and joys and +sorrows and interests of the people. Whether it was Jack Armstrong +and his wrestling, Hannah and her babies, Kelso and his fishing and +poetry, the schoolmaster and his books--with one and all he was at +home. He possessed in an extraordinary degree the power of entering +into the interests of others, a power found only in reflective, +unselfish natures endowed with a humorous sense of human foibles, +coupled with great tenderness of heart. Men and women amused Lincoln, +but so long as they were sincere he loved them and sympathized with +them. He was human in the best sense of that fine word. + + +LINCOLN'S ACQUAINTANCE IN SANGAMON COUNTY IS EXTENDED. + +Now that the store was closed and his surveying increased, Lincoln +had an excellent opportunity to extend his acquaintance, for he was +travelling about the country. Everywhere he won friends. The surveyor +naturally was respected for his calling's sake, but the new deputy +surveyor was admired for his friendly ways, his willingness to lend +a hand indoors as well as out, his learning, his ambition, his +independence. Throughout the county he began to be regarded as "a +right smart young man." Some of his associates appear even to have +comprehended his peculiarly great character and dimly to have foreseen +a splendid future. "Often," says Daniel Green Burner, Berry and +Lincoln's clerk in the grocery, "I have heard my brother-in-law, Dr. +Duncan, say he would not be surprised if some day Abe Lincoln got to +be Governor of Illinois. Lincoln," Mr. Burner adds, "was thought to +know a little more than anybody else among the young people. He was a +good debater, and liked it. He read much, and seemed never to forget +anything." + +Lincoln was fully conscious of his popularity, and it seemed to him +in 1834 that he could safely venture to try again for the legislature. +Accordingly he announced himself as a candidate, spending much of the +summer of 1834 in electioneering. It was a repetition of what he +had done in 1832, though on the larger scale made possible by wider +acquaintance. In company with the other candidates, he rode up and +down the county, making speeches in the public squares, in shady +groves, now and then in a log school-house. In his speeches he soon +distinguished himself by the amazing candor with which he dealt with +all questions, and by his curious blending of audacity and humility. +Wherever he saw a crowd of men he joined them, and he never failed +to adapt himself to their point of view in asking for votes. If the +degree of physical strength was their test for a candidate, he was +ready to lift a weight or wrestle with the country-side champion; if +the amount of grain a man could cradle would recommend him, he seized +the cradle and showed the swath he could cut. The campaign was well +conducted, for in August he was elected one of the four assemblymen +from Sangamon. The vote at this election stood: Dawson, 1390; Lincoln, +1376; Carpenter, 1170; Stuart, 1164.[3] + +[Illustration: MAJOR JOHN T. STUART, THE MAN WHO INDUCED LINCOLN TO +STUDY LAW. + +Born in Kentucky in 1807. At twenty-one, on being admitted to the bar, +he removed to Springfield, Illinois, and was soon prominent in his +profession. He was a member of the legislature from 1832 to 1836. +In 1838 he defeated Stephen A. Douglas for Congress, and served +two terms--as a Whig. In 1863 and 1864 he served a third term--as a +Democrat. He served also in the State Senate, and was a major in the +Black Hawk War. He died in 1885.] + + +HE FINALLY DECIDES ON A LEGAL CAREER. + +The best thing which Lincoln did in the canvass of 1834 was not +winning votes; it was coming to a determination to read law, not for +pleasure but as a business. In his autobiographical notes he says: +"During the canvass, in a private conversation Major John T. Stuart +(one of his fellow-candidates) encouraged Abraham to study law. After +the election he borrowed books of Stuart, took them home with him, and +went at it in good earnest. He never studied with anybody." He seems +to have thrown himself into the work with an almost impatient ardor. +As he tramped back and forth from Springfield, twenty miles away, to +get his law-books, he read sometimes forty pages or more on the way. +Often he was seen wandering at random across the fields, repeating +aloud the points in his last reading. The subject seemed never to be +out of his mind. It was the great absorbing interest of his life. The +rule he gave twenty years later to a young man who wanted to know how +to become a lawyer, seems to have been the one he practised.[4] + +Having secured a book of legal forms, he was soon able to write deeds, +contracts, and all sorts of legal instruments; and he was frequently +called upon by his neighbors to perform services of this kind. "In +1834," says Daniel Green Burner, Berry and Lincoln's clerk, "my +father, Isaac Burner, sold out to Henry Onstott, and he wanted a deed +written. I knew how handy Lincoln was that way, and suggested that we +get him. We found him sitting on a stump. 'All right,' said he, when +informed what we wanted. 'If you will bring me a pen and ink and a +piece of paper I will write it here.' I brought him these articles, +and, picking up a shingle and putting it on his knee for a desk, he +wrote out the deed." As there was no practising lawyer nearer than +Springfield, Lincoln was often employed to act the part of advocate +before the village squire, at that time Bowling Green. He realized +that this experience was valuable, and never, so far as known, +demanded or accepted a fee for his services in these petty cases. + +Justice was sometimes administered in a summary way in Squire Green's +court. Precedents and the venerable rules of law had little weight. +The "Squire" took judicial notice of a great many facts, often going +so far as to fill, simultaneously, the two functions of witness and +court. But his decisions were generally just. + +James McGrady Rutledge tells a story in which several of Lincoln's old +friends figure and which illustrates the legal practices of New Salem. +"Jack Kelso," says Mr. Rutledge, "owned or claimed to own a white +hog. It was also claimed by John Ferguson. The hog had often wandered +around Bowling Green's place, and he was somewhat acquainted with it. +Ferguson sued Kelso, and the case was tried before 'Squire' Green. The +plaintiff produced two witnesses who testified positively that the hog +belonged to him. Kelso had nothing to offer, save his own unsupported +claim. + +"'Are there any more witnesses?' inquired the court. + +"He was informed that there were no more. + +"'Well,' said 'Squire' Green, 'the two witnesses we have heard have +sworn to a ---- lie. I know this shoat, and I know it belongs to Jack +Kelso. I therefore decide this case in his favor.'" + +An extract from the record of the County Commissioners' Court +illustrates the nature of the cases that came before the justice +of the peace in Lincoln's day. It also shows the price put upon the +privilege of working on Sunday, in 1832: + + JANUARY 29, 1832.--Alexander Gibson found guilty of + Sabbath-breaking and fined 12-1/2 cents. Fine paid into court. + + "(Signed) EDWARD ROBINSON, J.P." + + +LINCOLN ENTERS THE ILLINOIS ASSEMBLY. + +The session of the ninth Assembly began December 1, 1834, and Lincoln +went to the capital, then Vandalia, seventy-five miles southeast of +New Salem, on the Kaskaskia River, in time for the opening. Vandalia +was a town which had been called into existence in 1820 especially +to give the State government an abiding-place. Its very name had been +chosen, it is said, because it "sounded well" for a State capital. As +the tradition goes, while the commissioners were debating what they +should call the town they were making, a wag suggested that it be +named Vandalia, in honor of the Vandals, a tribe of Indians which, +said he, had once lived on the borders of the Kaskaskia; this, he +argued, would conserve a local tradition while giving a euphonous +title. The commissioners, pleased with so good a suggestion, adopted +the name. When Lincoln first went to Vandalia it was a town of about +eight hundred inhabitants; its noteworthy features, according to +Peck's "Gazetteer" of Illinois for 1834, being a brick court-house, a +two-story brick edifice "used by State officers," "a neat framed house +of worship for the Presbyterian Society, with a cupola and bell," +"a framed meeting-house for the Methodist Society," three taverns, +several stores, five lawyers, four physicians, a land office, and two +newspapers. It was a much larger town than Lincoln had ever lived in +before, though he was familiar with Springfield, then twice as large +as Vandalia, and he had seen the cities of the Mississippi. + +The Assembly which he entered was composed of eighty-one +members,--twenty-six senators, fifty-five representatives. As a rule, +these men were of Kentucky, Tennessee, or Virginia origin, with here +and there a Frenchman. There were but few Eastern men, for there +was still a strong prejudice in the State against Yankees. The +close bargains and superior airs of the emigrants from New England +contrasted so unpleasantly with the open-handed hospitality and the +easy ways of the Southerners and French, that a pioneer's prospects +were blasted at the start if he acted like a Yankee. A history of +Illinois in 1837, published evidently to "boom" the State, cautioned +the emigrant that if he began his life in Illinois by "affecting +superior intelligence and virtue, and catechizing the people for their +habits of plainness and simplicity and their apparent want of those +things which he imagines indispensable to comfort," he must expect +to be forever marked as "a Yankee," and to have his prospects +correspondingly defeated. A "hard-shell" Baptist preacher of about +this date showed the feeling of the people when he said, in preaching +of the richness of the grace of the Lord: "It tuks in the isles of the +sea and the uttermust part of the yeth. It embraces the Esquimaux and +the Hottentots, and some, my dear brethering, go so far as to suppose +that it tuks in the poor benighted Yankees, but _I don't go that +fur_." When it came to an election of legislators, many of the people +"didn't go that fur" either. + +There was a preponderance of jean suits like Lincoln's in the +Assembly, and there were coonskin caps and buckskin trousers. +Nevertheless, more than one member showed a studied garb and a courtly +manner. Some of the best blood of the South went into the making of +Illinois, and it showed itself from the first in the Assembly. The +surroundings of the legislators were quite as simple as the attire +of the plainest of them. The court-house, in good old Colonial style, +with square pillars and belfry, was finished with wooden desks and +benches. The State furnished her law-makers no superfluities--three +dollars a day, a cork inkstand, a certain number of quills, and a +limited amount of stationery was all an Illinois legislator in 1834 +got from his position. Scarcely more could be expected from a State +whose revenues from December 1, 1834, to December 1, 1836, were only +about one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, with expenditures +during the same period amounting to less than one hundred and +sixty-five thousand dollars. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH DUNCAN, GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS DURING LINCOLN'S +FIRST TERM IN THE LEGISLATURE. + +Joseph Duncan, Governor of Illinois from 1834 to 1838, was born in +Kentucky in 1794. The son of an officer of the regular army, he, +at nineteen, became a soldier in the war of 1812, and did gallant +service. He removed to Illinois in 1818, and soon became prominent +in the State, serving as a major-general of militia, a State Senator, +and, from 1826 to 1834, as a member of Congress, resigning from +Congress to take the office of Governor. He was at first a Democrat, +but afterwards became a Whig. He was a man of the highest character +and public spirit. He died in 1844.] + +Lincoln thought little of these things, no doubt. To him the absorbing +interest was the men he met. To get acquainted with them, measure +them, compare himself with them, and discover wherein they were his +superiors and what he could do to make good his deficiency--this +was his chief occupation. The men he met were good subjects for such +study. Among them were Wm. L.D. Ewing, Jesse K. Dubois, Stephen T. +Logan, Theodore Ford, and Governor Duncan--men destined to play large +parts in the history of the State. One whom he met that winter in +Vandalia was destined to play a great part in the history of the +nation--the Democratic candidate for the office of State attorney for +the first judicial district of Illinois; a man four years younger than +Lincoln--he was only twenty-one at the time; a new-comer, too, in the +State, having arrived about a year before, under no very promising +auspices either, for he had only thirty-seven cents in his pockets, +and no position in view; but a man of metal, it was easy to see, for +already he had risen so high in the district where he had settled, +that he dared contest the office of State attorney with John J. +Hardin, one of the most successful lawyers of the State. This young +man was Stephen A. Douglas. He had come to Vandalia from Morgan County +to conduct his campaign, and Lincoln met him first in the halls of +the old court-house, where he and his friends carried on with success +their contest against Hardin. + +The ninth Assembly gathered in a more hopeful and ambitious mood than +any of its predecessors. Illinois was feeling well. The State was free +from debt. The Black Hawk War had stimulated the people greatly, for +it had brought a large amount of money into circulation. In fact, the +greater portion of the eight to ten million dollars the war had cost +had been circulated among the Illinois volunteers. Immigration, too, +was increasing at a bewildering rate. In 1835 the census showed a +population of 269,974. Between 1830 and 1835 two-fifths of this number +had come in. In the northeast Chicago had begun to rise. "Even for +Western towns" its growth had been unusually rapid, declared Peck's +"Gazetteer" of 1834; the harbor building there, the proposed Michigan +and Illinois canal, the rise in town lots--all promised to the State a +metropolis. To meet the rising tide of prosperity, the legislators of +1834 felt that they must devise some worthy scheme, so they chartered +a new State bank with a capital of one million five hundred thousand +dollars, and revived a bank which had broken twelve years before, +granting it a charter of three hundred thousand dollars. There was +no surplus money in the State to supply the capital; there were no +trained bankers to guide the concern; there was no clear notion of +how it was all to be done; but a banking capital of one million eight +hundred thousand dollars would be a good thing in the State, they were +sure; and if the East could be made to believe in Illinois as much as +her legislators believed in her, the stocks would go, and so the banks +were chartered. + +But even more important to the State than banks was a highway. For +thirteen years plans of the Illinois and Michigan canal had been +constantly before the Assembly. Surveys had been ordered, estimates +reported, the advantages extolled, but nothing had been done. Now, +however, the Assembly, flushed by the first thrill of the coming +"boom," decided to authorize a loan of a half-million on the credit of +the State. Lincoln favored both these measures. He did not, however, +do anything especially noteworthy for either of the bills, nor was the +record he made in other directions at all remarkable. He was placed +on the committee of public accounts and expenditures, and attended +meetings with great fidelity. His first act as a member was to give +notice that he would ask leave to introduce a bill limiting the +jurisdiction of justices of the peace--a measure which he succeeded in +carrying through. He followed this by a motion to change the rules, so +that it should not be in order to offer amendments to any bill after +the third reading, which was not agreed to; though the same rule, in +effect, was adopted some years later, and is to this day in force in +both branches of the Illinois Assembly. He next made a motion to take +from the table a report which had been submitted by his committee, +which met a like fate. His first resolution, relating to a State +revenue to be derived from the sales of the public lands, was denied +a reference, and laid upon the table. Neither as a speaker nor an +organizer did he make any especial impression on the body. + + +THE STORY OF ANN RUTLEDGE. + +In the spring of 1835 the young representative from Sangamon returned +to New Salem to take up his duties as postmaster and deputy surveyor, +and to resume his law studies. He exchanged his rather exalted +position for the humbler one with a light heart. New Salem held all +that was dearest in the world to him at that moment, and he went back +to the poor little town with a hope, which he had once supposed honor +forbade his acknowledging even to himself, glowing warmly in his +heart. He loved a young girl of that town, and now for the first time, +though he had known her since he first came to New Salem, was he free +to tell his love. + +One of the most prominent families of the settlement in 1831, when +Lincoln first appeared there, was that of James Rutledge. The head of +the house was one of the founders of New Salem, and at that time the +keeper of the village tavern. He was a high-minded man, of a warm and +generous nature, and had the universal respect of the community. He +was a South Carolinian by birth, but had lived many years in Kentucky +before coming to Illinois. Rutledge came of a distinguished family: +one of his ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence; another +was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States by +appointment of Washington, and another was a conspicuous leader in the +American Congress. + +The third of the nine children in the Rutledge household was a +daughter, Ann Mayes, born in Kentucky, January 7, 1813. When Lincoln +first met her she was nineteen years old, and as fresh as a flower. +Many of those who knew her at that time have left tributes to her +beauty and gentleness, and even to-day there are those living who talk +of her with moistened eyes and softened tones. "She was a beautiful +girl," says her cousin, James McGrady Rutledge, "and as bright as +she was pretty. She was well educated for that early day, a good +conversationalist, and always gentle and cheerful. A girl whose +company people liked." So fair a maid was not, of course, without +suitors. The most determined of those who sought her hand was one John +McNeill, a young man who had arrived in New Salem from New York soon +after the founding of the town. Nothing was known of his antecedents, +and no questions were asked. He was understood to be merely one of +the thousands who had come West in search of fortune. That he was +intelligent, industrious, and frugal, with a good head for business, +was at once apparent; for he and Samuel Hill opened a general store +and they soon doubled their capital, and their business continued +to grow marvellously. In four years from his first appearance in the +settlement, besides having a half-interest in the store, he owned a +large farm a few miles north of New Salem. His neighbors believed him +to be worth about twelve thousand dollars. + +John McNeill was an unmarried man--at least so he represented himself +to be--and very soon after becoming a resident of New Salem he formed +the acquaintance of Ann Rutledge, then a girl of seventeen. It was a +case of love at first sight, and the two soon became engaged, in spite +of the rivalry of Samuel Hill, McNeill's partner. But Ann was as yet +only a young girl; and it was thought very sensible in her and very +gracious and considerate in her lover that both acquiesced in the +wishes of Ann's parents that, for some time at least, the marriage be +postponed. + +Such was the situation when Lincoln appeared in New Salem. He +naturally soon became acquainted with the girl. She was a pupil in +Mentor Graham's school, where he frequently visited, and rumor says +that he first met her there. However that may be, it is certain that +in the latter part of 1832 he went to board at the Rutledge tavern and +there was thrown daily into her company. + +During the next year, 1833, John McNeill, in spite of his fair +prospects, became restless and discontented. He wanted to see his +people, he said, and before the end of the year he had decided to go +East for a visit. To secure perfect freedom from his business while +gone, he sold out his interest in his store. To Ann he said that he +hoped to bring back his father and mother, and to place them on his +farm. "This duty done," was his farewell word, "you and I will be +married." In the spring of 1834 McNeill started East. The journey +overland by foot and horse was in those days a trying one, and on the +way McNeill fell ill with chills and fever. It was late in the summer +before he reached his home, and wrote back to Ann, explaining his +silence. The long wait had been a severe strain on the girl, and +Lincoln had watched her anxiety with softened heart. It was to him, +the New Salem postmaster, that she came to inquire for letters. It was +to him she entrusted those she sent. In a way the postmaster must have +become the girl's confidant; and his tender heart, which never could +resist suffering, must have been deeply touched. After the long +silence was broken, and McNeill's first letter of explanation came, +the cause of anxiety seemed removed; but, strangely enough, other +letters followed only at long intervals, and finally they ceased +altogether. Then it was that the young girl told her friends a secret +which McNeill had confided to her before leaving New Salem. + +He had told her what she had never even suspected before, that John +McNeill was not his real name, but that it was John McNamar. Shortly +before he came to New Salem, he explained, his father had suffered a +disastrous failure in business. He was the oldest son; and in the hope +of retrieving the lost fortune, he resolved to go West, expecting +to return in a few years and share his riches with the rest of the +family. Anticipating parental opposition, he ran away from home; and, +being sure that he could never accumulate anything with so numerous a +family to support, he endeavored to lose himself by a change of name. +All this Ann had believed and not repeated; but now, worn out by +waiting, she took the story to her friends. + +With few exceptions they pronounced the story a fabrication and +McNamar an impostor. Why had he worn this mask? His excuse seemed +flimsy. At best, they declared, he was a mere adventurer; and was +it not more probable that he was a fugitive from justice--a thief, a +swindler, or a murderer? And who knew how many wives he might have? +With all New Salem declaring John McNamar false, Ann Rutledge +could hardly be blamed for imagining that he was either dead or had +transferred his affections. + +It was not until McNeill, or McNamar, had been gone many months, and +gossip had become offensive, that Lincoln ventured to show his love +for Ann, and then it was a long time before the girl would listen +to his suit. Convinced at last, however, that her former lover had +deserted her, she yielded to Lincoln's wishes and promised, in the +spring of 1835, soon after Lincoln's return from Vandalia, to +become his wife. But Lincoln had nothing on which to support a +family--indeed, he found it no trifling task to support himself. As +for Ann, she was anxious to go to school another year. It was decided +that in the autumn she should go with her brother to Jacksonville and +spend the winter there in an academy. Lincoln was to devote himself +to his law studies; and the next spring, when she returned from school +and he was a member of the bar, they were to be married. + +A happy spring and summer followed. New Salem took a cordial interest +in the two lovers and presaged a happy life for them, and all would +undoubtedly have gone well if the young girl could have dismissed the +haunting memory of her old lover. The possibility that she had wronged +him, that he might reappear, that he loved her still, though she now +loved another, that perhaps she had done wrong--a torturing conflict +of memory, love, conscience, doubt, and morbidness lay like a shadow +across her happiness, and wore upon her until she fell ill. Gradually +her condition became hopeless; and Lincoln, who had been shut from +her, was sent for. The lovers passed an hour alone in an anguished +parting, and soon after, on August 25, 1835, Ann died. + +The death of Ann Rutledge plunged Lincoln into the deepest gloom. That +abiding melancholy, that painful sense of the incompleteness of life +which had been his mother's dowry to him, asserted itself. It filled +and darkened his mind and his imagination, tortured him with its black +pictures. One stormy night Lincoln was sitting beside William Greene, +his head bowed on his hand, while tears trickled through his fingers; +his friend begged him to control his sorrow, to try to forget. "I +cannot," moaned Lincoln; "the thought of the snow and rain on her +grave fills me with indescribable grief." + +He was seen walking alone by the river and through the woods, +muttering strange things to himself. He seemed to his friends to be in +the shadow of madness. They kept a close watch over him; and at last +Bowling Green, one of the most devoted friends Lincoln then had, took +him home to his little log cabin, half a mile north of New Salem, +under the brow of a big bluff. Here, under the loving care of Green +and his good wife Nancy, Lincoln remained until he was once more +master of himself. + +But though he had regained self-control, his grief was deep and +bitter. Ann Rutledge was buried in Concord cemetery, a country +burying-ground seven miles northwest of New Salem. To this lonely +spot Lincoln frequently journeyed to weep over her grave. "My heart is +buried there," he said to one of his friends. + +When McNamar returned (for McNamar's story was true, and two months +after Ann Rutledge died he drove into New Salem with his widowed +mother and his brothers and sisters in the "prairie schooner" beside +him) and learned of Ann's death, he "saw Lincoln at the post-office," +as he afterward said, and "he seemed desolate and sorely distressed." + +McNamar's strange conduct toward Ann Rutledge is to this day a +mystery. Her death apparently produced upon him no deep impression. +He certainly experienced no such sorrow as Lincoln felt, for within a +year he married another woman. + +Many years ago a sister of Ann Rutledge, Mrs. Jeane Berry, told what +she knew of Ann's love affairs; and her statement has been preserved +in a diary kept by the Rev. R.D. Miller, now Superintendent of Schools +of Menard County, with whom she had the conversation. She declared +that Ann's "whole soul seemed wrapped up in Lincoln," and that they +"would have been married in the fall or early winter" if Ann had +lived. "After Ann died," said Mrs. Berry, "I remember that it was +common talk about how sad Lincoln was; and I remember myself how sad +he looked. They told me that every time he was in the neighborhood +after she died, he would go alone to her grave and sit there in +silence for hours." + +In later life, when his sorrow had become a memory, he told a friend +who questioned him: "I really and truly loved the girl and think often +of her now." There was a pause, and then the President added: + +"And I have loved the name of Rutledge to this day." + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN AT TWENTY-SIX YEARS OF AGE. + +When the death of Ann Rutledge came upon Lincoln, for a time +threatening to destroy his ambition and blast his life, he was in a +most encouraging position. Master of a profession in which he had an +abundance of work and earned fair wages, hopeful of being admitted +in a few months to the bar, a member of the State Assembly with every +reason to believe that, if he desired it, his constituency would +return him--few men are as far advanced at twenty-six as was Abraham +Lincoln. + +Intellectually he was far better equipped than he believed himself to +be, better than he has ordinarily been credited with being. True, +he had had no conventional college training, but he had by his own +efforts attained the chief result of all preparatory study, the +ability to take hold of a subject and assimilate it. The fact that in +six weeks he had acquired enough of the science of surveying to enable +him to serve as deputy surveyor shows how well-trained his mind was. +The power to grasp a large subject quickly and fully is never an +accident. The nights Lincoln spent in Gentryville lying on the floor +in front of the fire figuring on the fire-shovel, the hours he passed +in poring over the Statutes of Indiana, the days he wrestled with +Kirkham's Grammar, alone made the mastery of Flint and Gibson +possible. His struggle with Flint and Gibson made easier the volumes +he borrowed from Major Stuart's law library. + +[Illustration: GRAVE OF ANN RUTLEDGE IN OAKLAND CEMETERY. + +From a photograph made for McCLURE'S MAGAZINE by C.S. McCullough, +Petersburg, Illinois, in September, 1895. On the 15th of May, 1890, +the remains of Ann Rutledge were removed from the long-neglected grave +in the Concord grave-yard to a new and picturesque burying-ground a +mile southwest of Petersburg, called Oakland cemetery. The old grave, +though marked by no stone, was easily identified from the fact that +Ann was buried by the side of her younger brother, David, who died in +1842, upon the threshold of what promised to be a brilliant career +as a lawyer. The removal was made by Samuel Montgomery, a prominent +business man of Petersburg. He was accompanied to the grave by James +McGrady Rutledge and a few others, who located the grave beyond doubt. +In the new cemetery, the grave occupies a place somewhat apart from +others. A young maple tree is growing beside it, and it is marked +by an unpolished granite stone bearing the simple inscription "Ann +Rutledge."--_J. McCan Davis._] + +Lincoln had a mental trait which explains his rapid growth in +mastering subjects--seeing clearly was essential to him. He was +unable to put a question aside until he understood it. It pursued him, +irritated him until solved. Even in his Gentryville days his comrades +noted that he was constantly searching for reasons and that he +"explained so clearly." This characteristic became stronger with +years. He was unwilling to pronounce himself on any subject until he +understood it, and he could not let it alone until he had reached a +conclusion which satisfied him. + +This seeing clearly became a splendid force in Lincoln; because when +he once had reached a conclusion he had the honesty of soul to suit +his actions to it. No consideration could induce him to abandon the +course his reason told him was logical. Not that he was obstinate +and having taken a position, would not change it if he saw on further +study that he was wrong. In his first circular to the people of +Sangamon County is this characteristic passage: "Upon the subjects I +have treated, I have spoken as I thought. I may be wrong in any or +all of them; but, holding it a sound maxim that it is better only +sometimes to be right than at all times to be wrong, so soon as I +discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce +them." + +Joined to these strong mental and moral qualities was that power of +immediate action which so often explains why one man succeeds in life +while another of equal intelligence and uprightness fails. As soon +as Lincoln saw a thing to do he did it. He wants to know; here is a +book--it may be a biography, a volume of dry statutes, a collection of +verse; no matter, he reads and ponders it until he has absorbed all it +has for him. He is eager to see the world; a man offers him a position +as a "hand" on a Mississippi flatboat; he takes it without a moment's +hesitation over the toil and exposure it demands. John Calhoun +is willing to make him a deputy surveyor; he knows nothing of the +science; in six weeks he has learned enough to begin his labors. +Sangamon County must have representatives, why not he? and his +circular goes out. Ambition alone will not explain this power of +instantaneous action. It comes largely from that active imagination +which, when a new relation or position opens, seizes on all its +possibilities and from them creates a situation so real that one +enters with confidence upon what seems to the unimaginative the +rashest undertaking. Lincoln saw the possibilities in things and +immediately appropriated them. + +But the position he filled in Sangamon County in 1835 was not all +due to these qualities; much was due to his personal charm. By all +accounts he was big, awkward, ill-clad, shy--yet his sterling honor, +his unselfish nature, his heart of the true gentleman, inspired +respect and confidence. Men might laugh at his first appearance, but +they were not long in recognizing the real superiority of his nature. + +Such was Abraham Lincoln at twenty-six, when the tragic death of Ann +Rutledge made all that he had attained, all that he had planned, seem +fruitless and empty. He was too sincere and just, too brave a man, to +allow a great sorrow permanently to interfere with his activities. +He rallied his forces, and returned to his law, his surveying, +his politics. He brought to his work a new power, that insight and +patience which only a great sorrow can give. + +(_Begun in the November number 1895; to be continued_) + + + LINCOLN'S BEARD--THE LETTER OF MRS. BILLINGS REFERRED TO ON + PAGE 217. + + DELPHOS, KANSAS, _December 6, 1895_. + MISS TARBELL: + + In reply to your letter of recent date inquiring about the + incident of my childhood and connected with Mr. Lincoln, I + would say that at the time of his first nomination to the + Presidency I was a child of eleven years, living with my + parents in Chautauqua County, N.Y. + + My father was an ardent Republican, and possessed of a + profound admiration for the character of the grand man who + was the choice of his party. We younger children accepted his + opinions with unquestioning faith, and listened with great + delight to the anecdotes of his life current at that time, and + were particularly interested in reading of the difficulties he + encountered in getting an education; so much did it appeal to + our childish imaginations that _we_ were firmly persuaded that + if we could only study our lessons prone before the glow and + cheer of an open fire in a great fireplace, _we_ too might + rise to heights which now we could never attain. My father + brought to us, one day, a large poster, and my mind still + holds a recollection of its crude, coarse work and glaring + colors. About the edges were grouped in unadorned and + exaggerated ugliness the pictures of our former Presidents, + and in the midst of them were the faces of "Lincoln and + Hamlin," surrounded by way of a frame with a rail fence. + We are all familiar with the strong and rugged face of Mr. + Lincoln, the deep lines about the mouth, and the eyes have + much the same sorrowful expression in all the pictures I + have seen of him. I think I must have felt a certain + disappointment, for I said to my mother that he would look + much nicer if he wore whiskers, and straightway gave him the + benefit of my opinion in a letter, describing the poster and + hinting, rather broadly, that his appearance might be improved + if he would let his whiskers grow. Not wishing to wound his + feelings, I added that the rail fence around his picture + looked real pretty! I also asked him if he had any little + girl, and if so, and he was too busy to write and tell me what + he thought about it, if he would not let her do so; and ended + by assuring him I meant to try my best to induce two erring + brothers of the Democratic faith to cast their votes for him. + I think the circumstance would have speedily passed from my + mind but for the fact that I confided to an elder sister that + I had written to Mr. Lincoln, and had she not expressed a + doubt as to whether I had addressed him properly. To prove + that I had, and was not as ignorant as she thought me, I + re-wrote the address for her inspection: "_Hon. Abraham + Lincoln Esquire_." + + My mortification at the laughter and ridicule excited was + somewhat relieved by my mother's remarking that "there should + be no mistake as to whom the letter belonged." The reply to + my poor little letter came in due time, and the following is a + copy of the original, which is _still in my possession_. + + "_Private_. + "SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, _October 19, 1860_. + "MISS GRACE BEDELL. + + "_My Dear little Miss_:--Your very agreeable letter of the + 15th inst. is received. I regret the necessity of saying I + have no daughter. I have three sons; one seventeen, one + nine, and one seven years of age. They, with their mother, + constitute my whole family. As to the whiskers, having never + worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of + silly affectation if I were to begin wearing them now? Your + very sincere well-wisher, + + "A. LINCOLN." + + Probably the frankness of the child appealed to the humorous + side of his nature, for the suggestion was acted upon. + After the election, and on his journey from Springfield to + Washington, he inquired of Hon. G.W. Patterson, who was one of + the party who accompanied him on that memorable trip, and who + was a resident of our town, if he knew of a family bearing the + name of Bedell. Mr. Patterson replying in the affirmative, + Mr. Lincoln said he "had received a letter from a little girl + called Grace Bedell, advising me to wear whiskers, as she + thought it would improve my looks." He said the character + of the "letter was so unique and so different from the many + self-seeking and threatening ones he was daily receiving that + it came to him as a relief and a pleasure." When the train + reached Westfield, Mr. Lincoln made a short speech from + the platform of the car, and in conclusion said he had a + correspondent there, relating the circumstance and giving my + name, and if she were present he would like to see her. I + was present, but in the crowd had neither seen nor heard the + speaker; but a gentleman helped me forward, and Mr. Lincoln + stepped down to the platform where I stood, shook my hand, + kissed me, and said: "You see I let these whiskers grow for + you, Grace." The crowd cheered, Mr. Lincoln reentered the car, + and I ran quickly home, looking at and speaking to no one, + with a much dilapidated bunch of roses in my hand, which I + had hoped might be passed up to Mr. Lincoln with some other + flowers which were to be presented, but which in my confusion + I had forgotten. Gentle and genial, simple and warm-hearted, + how full of anxiety must have been his life in the days which + followed. These words seem to fitly describe him: "A man of + sorrows and acquainted with grief." Very sincerely, + + GRACE BEDELL BILLINGS. + + +[Footnote 1: William D. Kelley, in "Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln." +Edited by Allen Thorndike Rice, 1886.] + +[Footnote 2: This incident was told by Lincoln to Mr. A.J. Conant, the +artist, who in 1860 painted his portrait in Springfield. Mr. Conant, +in order to keep Mr. Lincoln's pleasant expression, had engaged him in +conversation, and had questioned him about his early life; and it was +in the course of their conversation that this incident came out. It +is to be found in a delightful and suggestive article entitled, "My +Acquaintance with Abraham Lincoln," contributed by Mr. Conant to the +"Liber Scriptorum," and by his permission quoted here.] + +[Footnote 3: With one exception the biographers of Lincoln have given +him the first place on the ticket in 1834. He really stood second +in order, Herndon gives the correct vote, although he is in error in +saying that the chief authority he quotes--a document owned by Dr. +A.W. French of Springfield, Ill.--is an "official return." It is +a copy of the official return made out in Lincoln's writing and +certified to by the county clerk. The official return is on file in +the Springfield court-house.] + +[Footnote 4: "Get books and read and study them carefully. Begin with +Blackstone's Commentaries, and after reading carefully through, say +twice, take up Chitty's Pleadings, Greenleaf's Evidence, and Story's +Equity in succession. Work, work, work, is the main thing." + + + + +A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL. + +BY IAN MACLAREN, + +AUTHOR OF "BESIDE THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH," ETC. + + +Never had I met any man so methodical in his habits, so neat in +his dress, so accurate in speech, so precise in manner as my +fellow-lodger. When he took his bath in the morning I knew it was +half-past seven, and when he rang for hot water, that it was a quarter +to eight. Until a quarter-past he moved about the room in his slow, +careful dressing, and then everything was quiet next door till +half-past eight, when the low murmur of the Lord's Prayer concluded +his devotions. Two minutes later he went downstairs--if he met +a servant one could hear him say "Good morning"--and read his +newspaper--he seldom had letters--till nine, when he rang for +breakfast. Twenty-past nine he went upstairs and changed his coat, +and he spent five minutes in the lobby selecting a pair of gloves, +brushing his hat, and making a last survey for a speck of dust. +One glove he put on opposite the hat-stand, and the second on the +door-step; and when he touched the pavement you might have set your +watch by nine-thirty. Once he was in the lobby at five-and-twenty +minutes to ten, distressed and flurried. + +"I cut my chin slightly when shaving," he explained, "and the wound +persists in bleeding. It has an untidy appearance, and a drop of blood +might fall on a letter." + +The walk that morning was quite broken; and before reaching the +corner, he had twice examined his chin with a handkerchief, and shaken +his head as one whose position in life was now uncertain. + +"It is nothing in itself," he said afterwards, with an apologetic +allusion to his anxiety, "and might not matter to another man. But any +little misadventure--a yesterday's collar or a razor-cut, or even an +inky finger--would render me helpless in dealing with people. They +would simply look at the weak spot, and one would lose all authority. +Some of the juniors smile when I impress on them to be very careful +about their dress--quiet, of course, as becomes their situation, but +unobjectionable. With more responsibility they will see the necessity +of such details. I will remember your transparent sticking-plaster--a +most valuable suggestion." + +His name was Frederick Augustus Perkins--so ran the card he left on my +table a week after I settled in the next rooms; and the problem of his +calling gradually became a standing vexation. It fell under the class +of conundrums, and one remembered from childhood that it is mean to +be told the answer; so I could not say to Mister Perkins--for it was +characteristic of the prim little man that no properly constituted +person could have said Perkins--"By the way, what is your line of +things?" or any more decorous rendering of my curiosity. + +Mrs. Holmes--who was as a mother to Mr. Perkins and myself, as well +as to two younger men of literary pursuits and irregular habits--had a +gift of charming irrelevance, and was able to combine allusions to Mr. +Perkins's orderly life and the amatory tendencies of a new cook in a +mosaic of enthralling interest. + +"No, Betsy Jane has 'ad her notice, and goes this day week; not that +her cookin's bad, but her brothers don't know when to leave. One was +'ere no later than last night, though if he was her born brother, +'e 'ad a different father and mother, or my name ain't 'Olmes. 'Your +brother, Betsy Jane,' says I, 'ought not to talk in a strange 'ouse on +family affairs till eleven o'clock.' + +"''E left at 'alf-past ten punctual,' says she, lookin' as hinnocent +as a child, 'for I 'eard Mr. Perkins go up to 'is room as I was +lettin' Jim out.' + +"'Betsy Jane,' I says, quite calm, 'where do you expeck to go to as +doesn't know wot truth is?'--for Mr. Perkins leaves 'is room has +the 'all clock starts on eleven, and 'e's in 'is bedroom at the last +stroke. If she 'adn't brought in Mr. Perkins, she might 'ave deceived +me--gettin' old and not bein' so quick in my 'earin' as I was; but +that settled her. + +"'Alf-past," went on Mrs. Holmes, scornfully; "and 'im never varied +two minutes the last ten years, except one night 'e fell asleep in 'is +chair, being bad with hinfluenza. + +"For a regular single gentleman as rises in the morning and goes out, +and comes in and takes 'is dinner, and goes to bed like the Medes and +Persians, I've never seen 'is equal; an' it's five-and-twenty +years since 'Olmes died, 'avin' a bad liver through takin' gin for +rheumatics; an' Lizbeth Peevey says to me, 'Take lodgers, Jemima; not +that they pays for the trouble, but it 'ill keep an 'ouse'.... + +"Mr. Perkins' business?"--it was shabby, but the temptation came as a +way of escape from the flow of Mrs. Holmes's autobiography--"now that +I couldn't put a name on, for why, 'e never speaks about 'is affairs; +just 'Good evening, Mrs. 'Olmes; I'll take fish for breakfast +to-morrow;' more than that, or another blanket on 'is bed on the first +of November, for it's by days, not cold, 'e goes...." + +It was evident that I must solve the problem for myself. + +[Illustration: "I WENT UP TO MR. PERKINS'S ROOM WITHOUT CEREMONY."] + +Mr. Perkins could not be a city man, for in the hottest June he never +wore a white waistcoat, nor had he the swelling gait of one who made +an occasional _coup_ in mines, and it went without saying that he did +not write--a man who went to bed at eleven, and whose hair made +no claim to distinction. One's mind fell back on the idea of +law--conveyancing seemed probable--but his face lacked sharpness, and +the alternative of confidential clerk to a firm of dry-salters was +contradicted by an air of authority that raised observations on the +weather to the level of a state document. The truth came upon me--a +flash of inspiration--as I saw Mr. Perkins coming home one evening. +The black frock-coat and waistcoat, dark gray trousers, spotless +linen, high, old-fashioned collar, and stiff stock, were a symbol, and +could only mean one profession. + +"By the way, Mr. Perkins," for this was all one now required to know, +"are you Income Tax or Stamps?" + +"Neither, although my duty makes me familiar with every department in +the Civil Service. I have the honor to be," and he cleared his throat +with dignity, "a first-class clerk in the Schedule Office. + +"Our work," he explained to me, "is very important, and in fact, +vital to the administration of affairs. The efficiency of practical +government depends on the accuracy of the forms issued, and every one +is composed in our office. + +"No, that is a common mistake," in reply to my shallow remark; "the +departments do not draw up their own forms, and, in fact, they are not +fit for such work. They send us a memorandum of what their officials +wish to ask, and we put it into shape. + +"It requires long experience and, I may say, some--ability, to compose +a really creditable schedule, one that will bring out every point +clearly and exhaustively; in fact, I have ventured to call it a +science"--here Mr. Perkins allowed himself to smile--"and it might be +defined Schedulology. + +"Yes, to see a double sheet of foolscap divided up into some +twenty-four compartments, each with a question and a blank space for +the answer, is pleasing to the eye--very pleasing indeed. + +"What annoys one," and Mr. Perkins became quite irritable, "is to +examine a schedule after it has been filled and to discover how it has +been misused--simply mangled. + +"It is not the public simply who are to blame; they are, of course, +quite hopeless, and have an insane desire to write their names all +over the paper, with family details; but members of the Civil Service +abuse the most admirable forms that ever came out of our office. + +"Numerous? Yes, naturally so; and as governmental machinery turns on +schedules, they will increase every year. Could you guess, now, the +number of different schedules under our charge?" + +"Several hundred, perhaps." + +Mr. Perkins smiled with much complacency. "Sixteen thousand four +hundred and four, besides temporary ones that are only used in +emergencies. One department has now reached twelve hundred and two; +it has been admirably organized, and its secretary could tell you the +subject of every form. + +"Well, it does not become me to boast, but I have had the honor +of contributing two hundred and twenty myself, and have composed +forty-two more that have not yet been accepted. + +"Well, yes," he admitted, with much modesty, "I have kept copies of +the original drafts;" and he showed me a bound volume of his works. + +"An author? It is very good of you to say so;" and Mr. Perkins seemed +much pleased with the idea, twice smiling to himself during the +evening, and saying as we parted, "It's my good fortune to have a +large and permanent circulation." + +All November Mr. Perkins was engaged with what he hoped would be one +of his greatest successes. + +"It's a sanitation schedule for the Education Department, and is, I +dare to say, nearly perfect. It has eighty-three questions, on every +point from temperature to drains, and will present a complete view of +the physical condition of primary schools. + +"You have no idea," he continued, "what a fight I have had with our +Head to get it through--eight drafts, each one costing three days' +labor--but now he has passed it. + +"'Perkins,' he said, 'this is the most exhaustive schedule you have +ever drawn up, and I'm proud it's come through the hands of the +drafting sub-department. Whether I can approve it as Head of the +publishing sub-department is very doubtful.'" + +"Do you mean that the same man would approve your paper in one +department to-day, and--" + +"Quite so. It's a little difficult for an outsider to appreciate the +perfect order, perhaps I might say symmetry, of the Civil Service;" +and Mr. Perkins spoke with a tone of condescension as to a little +child. "The Head goes himself to the one sub-department in the +morning and to the other in the afternoon, and he acts with absolute +impartiality. + +"Why, sir"--Mr. Perkins began to warm and grow enthusiastic--"I have +received a letter from the other sub-department, severely criticising +a draft he had highly commended in ours two days before, and I saw his +hand in the letter--distinctly; an able review, too, very able indeed. + +"'Very well put, Perkins,' he said to me himself; 'they've found the +weak points; we must send an amended draft;' and so we did, and got a +very satisfactory reply. It was a schedule about swine fever, 972 in +the Department of Agriculture. I have had the pleasure of reading it +in public circulation when on my holidays." + +"Does your Head sign the letters addressed to himself?" + +"Certainly; letters between departments are always signed by the chief +officer." Mr. Perkins seemed to have found another illustration +of public ignorance, and recognized his duty as a missionary of +officialism. "It would afford me much pleasure to give you any +information regarding our excellent system, which has been slowly +built up and will repay study; but you will excuse me this evening, as +I am indisposed--a tendency to shiver, which annoyed me in the office +to-day." + +Next morning I rose half an hour late, as Mr. Perkins did not take +his bath, and was not surprised when Mrs. Holmes came to my room, +overflowing with concern and disconnected speech. + +"'E's that regular in 'is ways, that when 'Annah Mariar says 'is +water's at 'is door at eight o'clock, I went up that 'urried that I +couldn't speak; and I 'ears 'im speakin' to 'isself, which is not what +you would expect of 'im, 'e bein' the quietest gentleman as ever--" + +"Is Mr. Perkins ill, do you mean?" for Mrs. Holmes seemed now in fair +breath, and was always given to comparative reviews. + +"So I knocks and says, 'Mr. Perkins, 'ow are you feelin'?' and all +I could 'ear was 'temperance;' it's little as 'e needs of that, for +excepting a glass of wine at his dinner, and it might be somethin' 'ot +before goin' to bed in winter-- + +"So I goes in," resumed Mrs. Holmes, "an' there 'e was sittin' up in +'is bed, with 'is face as red as fire, an' not knowin' me from Adam. +If it wasn't for 'is 'abits an' a catchin' of 'is breath you wud 'ave +said drink, for 'e says, 'How often have the drains been sluiced last +year?'" After which I went up to Mr. Perkins's room without ceremony. + +He was explaining, with much cogency, as it seemed to me, that unless +the statistics of temperature embraced the whole year, they would +afford no reliable conclusions regarding the sanitary condition of +Board Schools; but when I addressed him by name with emphasis, he came +to himself with a start. + +"Excuse me, sir, I must apologize--I really did not hear--in fact--" +And then, as he realized his situation, Mr. Perkins was greatly +embarrassed. + +"Did I forget myself so far as--to send for you?--I was not feeling +well. I have a slight difficulty in breathing, but I am quite able to +go to the office--in a cab. + +"You are most kind and obliging, but the schedule I am--it just comes +and goes--thank you, no more water--is important and--intricate; no +one--can complete it--except myself. + +"With your permission I will rise--in a few minutes. Ten o'clock, +dear me!--this is most unfortunate--not get down till eleven!--I must +really insist--" But the doctor had come, and Mr. Perkins obeyed on +one condition. + +"Yes, doctor, I prefer, if you please, to know; you see I am not a +young person--nor nervous--thank you very much--quite so; pneumonia is +serious--and double pneumonia dangerous, I understand.--No, it is not +that--one is not alarmed at my age, but--yes, I'll lie down--letter +must go to office--dictate it to my friend--certain form--leave of +absence, in fact--trouble you too much--medical certificate." + +He was greatly relieved after this letter was sent by special +messenger with the key of his desk, and quite refreshed when a clerk +came up with the chief's condolences. + +"My compliments to Mr. Lighthead--an excellent young official, very +promising indeed--and would he step upstairs for a minute--will excuse +this undress in circumstances--really I will not speak any more. + +"Those notes, Mr. Lighthead, will make my idea quite plain--and I hope +to revise final draft--if God will--my dutiful respect to the Board, +and kind regards to the chief clerk. It was kind of you to come--most +thoughtful." + +This young gentleman came into my room to learn the state of the case, +and was much impressed. + +"Really this kind of thing--Perkins gasping in bed and talking in his +old-fashioned way--knocks one out of time, don't you know? If he had +gone on much longer I should have bolted. + +"Like him in the office? I should think so. You should have seen the +young fellows to-day when they heard he was so ill. Of course we laugh +a bit at him--Schedule Perkins he's called--because he's so dry and +formal; but that's nothing. + +"With all his little cranks, he knows his business better than any man +in the department; and then he's a gentleman, d'y see? could not say +a rude word or do a mean thing to save his life--not made that way, in +fact. + +"Let me just give you one instance--show you his sort. Every one knew +that he ought to have been chief clerk, and that Rodway's appointment +was sheer influence. The staff was mad, and some one said Rodway need +not expect to have a particularly good time. + +"Perkins overheard him, and chipped in at once. 'Mr. Rodway'--you know +his dry manner, wagging his eyeglass all the time--'is our superior +officer, and we are bound to render him every assistance in our power, +or,' and then he was splendid, 'resign our commissions.' Rodway, they +say, has retired, but the worst of it is that as Perkins has been once +passed over he'll not succeed. + +"Perhaps it won't matter, poor chap. I say," said Lighthead, +hurriedly, turning his back and examining a pipe on the mantelpiece, +"do you think he is going to--I mean, has he a chance?" + +"Just a chance, I believe. Have you been long with him?" + +"That's not it--it's what he's done for a--for fellows. Strangers +don't know Perkins. You might talk to him for a year, and never hear +anything but shop. Then one day you get into a hole, and you would +find out another Perkins. + +"Stand by you?" and he wheeled round. "Rather, and no palaver either; +with money and with time and with--other things, that do a fellow more +good than the whole concern, and no airs. There's more than one man in +our office has cause to--bless Schedule Perkins. + +"Let me tell you how he got--one chap out of the biggest scrape he'll +ever fall into. Do you mind me smoking?" And then he made himself busy +with matches and a pipe that was ever going out for the rest of the +story. + +"Well, you see, this man, clerk in our office, had not been long up +from the country, and he was young. Wasn't quite bad, but he couldn't +hold his own with older fellows. + +"He got among a set that had suppers in their rooms, and gambled a +bit, and he lost and borrowed, and--in fact, was stone broke. + +"It's not very pleasant for a fellow to sit in his room a week before +Christmas, and know that he may be cashiered before the holidays, and +all through his own fault. + +"If it were only himself, why, he might take his licking and go to the +Colonies, but it was hard--on his mother--it's always going, out, this +pipe!--when he was her only son, and she rather--believed in him. + +"Didn't sleep much that night--told me himself afterwards--and he +concluded that the best way out was to buy opium in the city next day, +and take it--pretty stiff dose, you know--next night. + +"Cowardly rather, of course, but it might be easier for the mater down +in Devon--his mother, I mean--did I say he was Devon?--same county +as myself--affair would be hushed up, and she would have--his memory +clean. + +"As it happened, though, he didn't buy any opium next day--didn't get +the chance; for Perkins came round to his desk, and asked this young +chap to have a bit of dinner with him--aye, and made him come. + +[Illustration: "HE HAD THE JOLLIEST LITTLE DINNER READY YOU EVER +SAW."] + +"He had the jolliest little dinner ready you ever saw, and he +insisted, on the fellow smoking, though Perkins hates the very smell +of 'baccy, and--well, he got the whole trouble out of him, except the +opium. + +"D'y think he lectured and scolded? Not a bit--that's not Perkins--he +left the fool to do his own lecturing, and he did it stiff. I'll +tell you what he said: 'Your health must have been much tried by this +anxiety, so you must go down and spend Christmas with your mother, and +I would venture to suggest that you take her a suitable gift. + +"'With regard to your debt, you will allow me,' and Perkins spoke +as if he had been explaining a schedule, 'to take it over, on two +conditions--that you repay me by installments every quarter, and dine +with me every Saturday evening for six months.' + +"See what he was after? Wanted to keep--the fellow straight, and +cheer him up; and you've no idea how Perkins came out those +Saturdays--capital stories as ever you heard--and he declared that it +was a pleasure to him. + +"'I am rather lonely,' he used to say, 'and it is most kind of a young +man to sit with me.' Kind!" + +"What was the upshot with your friend? Did he turn over a new leaf?" + +"He'll never be the man that Perkins expects; but he's doing his level +best, and--is rising in the office. Perkins swears by him, and that's +made a man of the fellow. + +"He's paid up the cash now, but--he can never pay up the +kindness--confound those wax matches, they never strike--he told his +mother last summer the whole story. + +"She wrote to Perkins--of course I don't know what was in the +letter--but Perkins had the fellow into his room. 'You ought to have +regarded our transaction as confidential. I am grieved you mentioned +my name;' and then as I--I mean, as the fellow--was going out, 'I'll +keep that letter beside my commission,' said Perkins. + +"If Perkins dies"--young men don't do that kind of thing, or else one +would have thought--"it'll be--a beastly shame," which was a terrible +collapse, and Mr. Geoffrey Lighthead of the Schedule Department left +the house without further remark or even shaking hands. + +That was Wednesday, and on Friday morning he appeared, flourishing a +large blue envelope, sealed with an imposing device, marked "On Her +Majesty's Service," and addressed to + + "Frederick Augustus Perkins, Esq., + First Class Clerk in the Schedule Department, + Somerset House, + London," + +an envelope any man might be proud to receive, and try to live up to +for a week. + +"Rodway has retired," he shouted, "and we can't be sure in the office, +but the betting is four to one--I'm ten myself--that the Board has +appointed Perkins Chief Clerk;" and Lighthead did some steps of a +triumphal character. + +"The Secretary appeared this morning after the Board had met. 'There's +a letter their Honors wish taken at once to Mr. Perkins. Can any of +you deliver it at his residence?' Then the other men looked at me, +because--well, Perkins has been friendly with me; and that hansom came +very creditably indeed. + +"Very low, eh? Doctors afraid not last over the night--that's hard +lines--but I say, they did not reckon on this letter. Could not you +read it to him? You see this was his one ambition. He could never be +Secretary, not able enough, but he was made for Chief Clerk. Now he's +got it, or I would not have been sent out skimming with this letter. +Read it to him, and the dear old chap will be on his legs in a week." + +It seemed good advice; and this was what I read, while Perkins lay +very still and did his best to breathe:-- + + "DEAR MR. PERKINS: + + "I have the pleasure to inform you that the Board have + appointed you Chief Clerk in the Schedule Department in + succession to Gustavus Rodway, Esq., who retires, and their + Honors desire me further to express their appreciation of your + long and valuable service, and to express their earnest hope + that you may be speedily restored to health. + + "I am, + "Your obedient servant, + + "ARTHUR WRAXALL, + + "_Secretary_." + +For a little time it was too much for Mr. Perkins, and then he +whispered: + +"The one thing on earth I wished, and--more than I deserved--not +usual, personal references in Board letters--perhaps hardly +regular--but most gratifying--and--strengthening. + +"I feel better already--some words I would like to hear again--thank +you, where I can reach it--nurse will be so good as to read it." + +Mr. Perkins revived from that hour, having his tonic administered at +intervals, and astonished the doctors. On Christmas Eve he had made +such progress that Lighthead was allowed to see him for five minutes. + +"Heard about your calling three times a day--far too kind with +all your work--and the messages from the staff--touched me to +heart.--Never thought had so many friends--wished been more friendly +myself. + +"My promotion, too--hope may be fit for duty--can't speak much, +but think I'll be spared--Almighty very good to me--Chief Clerk of +Schedule Department--would you mind saying Lord's Prayer together--it +sums up everything." + +So we knelt one on each side of Perkins's bed, and I led with "Our +Father"--the other two being once or twice quite audible. The choir of +a neighboring church were singing a Christmas carol in the street, and +the Christ came into our hearts as a little child. + + + + +THE FASTEST RAILROAD RUN EVER MADE. + +DISTANCE, 510 MILES.--AVERAGE RUNNING TIME, 65.07 MILES AN +HOUR.--HIGHEST SPEED ATTAINED, 92.3 MILES AN HOUR. + +BY HARRY PERRY ROBINSON, + +Editor of "The Railway Age" and one of the official time-keepers on +the train. + + +[Illustration: VIEW BACK ON THE TRACK.--A SNAP-SHOT TAKEN BY MR. +ROBINSON FROM THE REAR PLATFORM OF THE LAST CAR WHEN THE TRAIN WAS +RUNNING AT ABOUT EIGHTY MILES AN HOUR.] + +When, on August 22d last, a train was run over what is known as the +West Coast line (of the London and Northwestern and the Caledonian +Railways) from London to Aberdeen, a distance of 540 miles, at an +average speed, while running, of 63.93 miles an hour, the English +press hailed with a jubilation which was almost clamorous the fact +that the world's record for long distance speed rested once more with +Great Britain. From the tone which the English newspapers adopted, it +appeared that they believed that the record then made was one which +could not be beaten in this country, but that the former records of +the New York Central represented the maximum speed obtainable on an +American railway with American engines. + +Undoubtedly the West Coast run was a remarkable one. But English +judges were mistaken as to the permanence of the record. It was left +unchallenged for just twenty days--or until September 11th, when the +cable carried to England the unpleasant news that the New York Central +had covered the 436.32 miles from New York to East Buffalo at +an average speed, when running, of 64.26 miles an hour--or about +one-third of a mile an hour faster than the English run. + +There was still left to the Englishmen, however, a loophole for escape +from confession of defeat. It will be noticed that the distance from +New York to Buffalo is rather more than 100 miles shorter than that +from London to Aberdeen. It was yet possible for the Englishmen to +say: "We are talking only of long distance speeds. We do not consider +anything under 500 miles a long distance." The record, in fact, for a +distance of over 500 miles was still with England. + +There are not many railways in the United States on which a sustained +high speed for a distance of over 500 miles would be possible. In +England the run is made, as already stated, over the connecting lines +of two companies. In this country, while not a few roads have over 500 +miles of first-class track in excellent condition, there is usually at +some point in that distance an obstacle (either steep grades to cross +a mountain range, or bad curves, or a river to be ferried) sufficient +to prevent the making of a record. On the Lake Shore and Michigan +Southern, from Chicago to Buffalo, there exists no such impediment, +and between the outskirts of the two cities the distance is 510.1 +miles. It was in an informal conversation between certain officers +of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway that the idea of +attempting to beat the record on this piece of track was first +suggested. + +In making comparison of different runs there are other matters to be +taken into consideration besides the mere distance covered and +the speed attained. It is not possible to exactly equalize all +conditions--as, for instance, those of wind and weather, or of the +physical character of the track in the matter of grades and curves. +Entire equality in all particulars could only be attained in the same +way that it is attained in horse-racing, viz., by having trains run +side by side on parallel tracks. + +Certain conditions there are, however, which are more important +and which can be equalized. One of these is the weight of the train +hauled. The English load was a light one--67 tons (English) or 147,400 +pounds. This was little more than one-quarter of the load hauled by +the New York Central engine on its magnificent run, when the weight +of the cars making the train was 565,000 pounds. With the types of +locomotive used on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern it was not +possible to haul at record-breaking speed any such load as this. It +was enough if the load should be about double that of the English +train. This was attained by putting together two heavy Wagner parlor +cars of 92,500 pounds each and Dr. Webb's private car "Elsmere," which +alone weighs 119,500 pounds--or more than three-fourths of the weight +of the entire English train. The total weight of the three Lake Shore +and Michigan Southern cars was 304,500 pounds. + +The last important condition to be taken into consideration is the +number of stops made. It should be explained that when speed is +reckoned "when running" or "exclusive of stops" (the phrases mean the +same thing), the time consumed in stops is deducted--the time, that +is, when the wheels are actually at rest. No deduction however, is +made for the loss of time in slowing up to a stop or in getting under +way again. On the run of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, for +instance, an irregular or unexpected stop was made when the train was +running at a speed of about 71 miles an hour. The train was actually +at rest for 2 minutes and 5 seconds. That allowance, therefore, was +made for the stop. It is unnecessary to say that the secondary loss of +time in bringing the train to a standstill and in regaining speed was +much greater; but for these (aggregating probably five or six minutes) +there was no allowance. It is evident, therefore, that the number +of times that a train has to slow down and get under way again is an +important factor in the average speed of a long run. In the English +run two stops were made. The schedule for the Lake Shore run provided +for four stops. A fifth stop, as has already been stated, was made, +which was not on the programme. + +[Illustration: JOHN NEWELL, LATE PRESIDENT OF THE LAKE SHORE AND +MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILWAY. + +From a photograph by Max Platz, Chicago. President Newell died August +24, l894, and is said to have fairly sacrificed his life to giving the +Lake Shore the best railway track in America. The proud record made, +in this speed run, is largely the fruit of his labor.] + +These, then, were the conditions under which the now famous run of +October 24, 1895, was accomplished: A train weighing twice as much as +the English train was to be hauled for a distance of over 500 miles, +making four stops _en route_, at a speed, when running, greater than +63.93 miles an hour. Incidentally it was hoped also that the New York +Central's speed of 64.26 miles an hour would be beaten. + +No public announcement was made of the undertaking in advance, for the +sufficient reason that the gentlemen in charge were well aware of the +difficulty of the task in which they were engaged and the many +chances of failure. They had no desire to have such a failure made +unnecessarily public. No one was informed of what was in hand except +the officials and employees of the Lake Shore road, whose coöperation +was necessary, one daily newspaper (the Chicago "Tribune"), the +Associated Press, and two gentlemen who were invited to attend as +official time-keepers, Messrs. H.P. Robinson and Willard A. Smith--the +former being the editor of "The Railway Age," and the latter the +ex-chief of the Transportation Department at the Chicago World's Fair. +General Superintendent Canniff of the Lake Shore was in charge of the +train in person. + +[Illustration: THE TEN-WHEEL ENGINE 564, WITH WHICH ENGINEER TUNKEY +MADE THE RUN FROM ERIE TO BUFFALO, ATTAINING A SPEED OF 92.3 MILES +AN HOUR.] + +It was at two o'clock of the morning of October 24th that the train, +which had been waiting since early in the evening on a side track +in the Lake Shore station at Chicago, slipped unostentatiously away +behind a switch engine which was to haul it as far as One Hundredth +Street, where the start was to be made. Here there was a wait of +nearly an hour until the time fixed for starting--half-past three. +There was plenty to be done at the last moment to occupy the time of +waiting, however. There were last messages to be sent back to +Chicago; last orders to be sent on ahead; telegrams containing weather +bulletins, which promised fair weather all the way to Buffalo, to be +read; and, finally, the preparations to be made for time-taking. + +One of the time-keepers, taking two stop-watches in his hand, started +the split-second-hands of both with one movement of his muscles, +exactly together. To one or other of these timepieces all the watches +on the train were set. + +In one of the parlor cars, as nearly as might be in the middle of the +length of the train, two tables were set, one on either side of the +aisle. The time-keepers had agreed to relieve each other at each stop +at the end of a division, one being always on duty, and the other +close at hand to verify any record on which a question might arise. +The time-keeper on duty sat at one of the tables, watch in hand. +Opposite to him was a representative of the railway company, with no +power to originate a record, but to check each stop in case an +error should occur. Across the aisle sat the official recorder, a +representative of the Wagner Palace Car Company, and opposite to him a +representative of the daily press. + +For two minutes before the time for starting, silence settled down +upon the car. The shades were pulled down over every window. Inside, +the car was brilliantly lighted with Pintsch gas; and the eyes of +every man were on the face of the watch which each held in his +hand, and his finger was ready to press the stop which splits the +second-hand. The two minutes passed slowly, and the silence was almost +painful as the watches showed that the moment was close at hand. +Suddenly the smallest perceptible jerk told that the wheels had +moved, and on the instant the split-hand of every watch in the car had +recorded the fact. "Three--twenty-nine--twenty-seven!" announced the +time-keeper. + +"Three--twenty-nine--twenty-seven!" echoed the representative of the +railway company. + +"Three--twenty-nine--twenty-seven!" called the recorder as he entered +the figures on the sheet before him. + +"Three--twenty-nine--twenty-seven!" said the member of the press. + +The start had been made thirty-three seconds ahead of time, and each +member of the party settled himself down to the work ahead. + +Over each division of the road the superintendent of that division +rode as "caller-off" of the stations as they were passed. It was +necessary, during the first hours of darkness especially, that some +one should do this who was familiar with every foot of the track--some +one who would not have to rely on eyesight alone, but to whose +accustomed senses every sway of the car as a curve was passed, and +every sound of the wheels on bridge or culvert, would be familiar. + +The first station, Whiting, is only three and one-half miles from +the starting-point. The night outside was intensely black, and it +was doubtful whether even the practised eye and ear of Superintendent +Newell would be able to catch the little station as it went by. With +one eye on our watches, therefore, we all had also one anxious eye on +him where he sat with his head hidden under the shade that was drawn +behind him, a blanket held over the crevices to shut out every ray +of light, and his face pressed close against the glass. The minutes +passed slowly--one, two, three, four, five! Whiting must be very near, +and--but just as we began to fear that he had missed the station, the +word came: + +"Ready for Whiting!" and the response, + +"Ready for Whiting!" + +A few short seconds of silence, and then: + +"Now!" + +Instantly the muscles of the waiting fingers throbbed on the +split-stop; but no quicker than the roar told that the car was already +passing the station. + +"Three--thirty-four--forty-five!" called the time-keeper. + +"Three--thirty-four--forty-five!" + +"Three--thirty-four--forty-five!" + +"Three--thirty-four--forty-five!" + +It was an immense relief to find that the system "worked." + +When the warning "Ready for Pine "--the next station, six miles +further on--came from behind the envelope of window-shade and blanket, +we were at our ease, and the record, "Three--forty-one--three," was +called and echoed and tossed across the car with confidence. + +[Illustration: THE BROOKS ENGINE 599, WHICH DREW THE TRAIN FROM +ELKHART TO TOLEDO. ALL BUT ONE (THE LAST) OF THE FIVE ENGINES USED ON +THE RUN WERE OF THIS TYPE.] + +By the time that Miller's--fifteen miles from the start--was passed, +the train was moving at a speed of over a mile a minute, and at every +mile the velocity increased. At La Porte, forty-five miles from the +start, the speed was 66 miles an hour; and fourteen miles further +on, at Terre Coupee, it reached to 70. It was fast running--while it +lasted; but it did not last long. The next station showed that the +speed was down to 67 miles an hour, and at the next it was barely +over sixty. A speed of a mile a minute, however, is high enough when +passing through the heart of a city like South Bend, Indiana. South +Bend is understood to have a city ordinance forbidding trains to run +within the city limits at a speed exceeding 15 miles an hour. But if +any good citizen of South Bend was shocked that morning at being waked +from his sleep by the roar of the flying train, it is to be hoped that +he forgot his resentment before evening. Then he knew that he had been +waked in a good cause, and that if the city ordinance had been broken +it was broken in good company--the world's record suffered with it. + +To those inside the cars nothing but their watches told them of the +rate of speed. Of the party on board every man was familiar with +railway affairs; but there was not one who was not surprised at the +smoothness of the track and the complete absence of uncomfortable +motion. Only by lifting a window shade and straining the eyes into the +blackness of the night, to see the red sparks streaming by or the dim +outlines of house and tree loom up and disappear, was it possible to +appreciate the velocity at which the train was moving. + +Fifteen miles from South Bend the first stop was made, at Elkhart, and +one-sixth of the run was over--87.4 miles in 85.4 minutes, or a speed +of 61.38 miles an hour. + +That was good work; but it was not breaking records. It had not been +expected, however, that the best speed would be made on this first +stretch; and if there was any disappointment among those on the +train, it did not yet amount to discouragement. It had been dark (and +breaking records in the dark is not as easy as in daylight), there +had been curves and grades to surmount, and, above all, it was now +discovered that a heavy frost lay on the rails. + +At Elkhart there was a change of engines, two minutes and eleven +seconds being consumed in the process, and at three minutes before +five o'clock (4 hours, 57 minutes, 4 seconds) the wheels were moving +again. + +The frost that was on the rails was felt inside the cars. It was not +an occasion when an engineer would have steam to spare for heating +cars; and the group that were huddled in the glare of the gaslight +were muffled in blankets and heavy overcoats. Outside, the dawn was +coming up from the east to meet us--as lovely a dawn as ever broke in +rose-color and flame. As the daylight grew, we were able to see how +complete the arrangements were for the safety of the run. At every +crossing, whether of railway, highway, or farm road, a man was +posted--1,300 men in all, it is said, along the 510 miles of line. +Apart from these solitary figures, no one was yet astir to see the +wonderful sight of the brilliantly lighted train--for the shades were +lifted now--rushing through the dawn. + +[Illustration: THE ENGINEERS WHO BROUGHT FROM CHICAGO TO CLEVELAND + +MARK FLOYD--FROM CHICAGO TO ELKHART. + +D.M. LUCE--FROM ELKHART TO TOLEDO. + +JAMES A. LATHROP--FROM TOLEDO TO CLEVELAND.] + +At Kendallville, 42 miles from Elkhart, the speed, in spite of an +adverse grade, was 67 miles an hour. Here--the highest point on the +line above the sea--the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad crosses the +Lake Shore track at right angles, and a train was standing waiting for +us to pass--the engine shrieking its good wishes to us as we flew by. +At Waterloo, twelve miles further on, a clump of early pedestrians +stood in the street to gaze, and two women--wives, doubtless, of +railway hands who had learned what was in progress--were out on the +porch of a cottage to see us pass. And it must have been a sight worth +seeing, for we were running at 70 miles an hour now, with 60 miles of +tangent ahead of us. At Butler, seven miles beyond, we passed a Wabash +train on a parallel track, which made great show of travelling fast. +Perhaps it was doing so--moving, perchance, at 40 miles an hour. But +we were running at 72, and the Wabash train slid backwards from us at +the rate of half a mile a minute; and still our pace quickened to 75 +miles an hour, and 78, and 79, and at last to 80. But that speed could +not be held for long. + +The sun was above the horizon now, and the long straight column of +smoke that we left behind us glowed rosy-red; and all the autumn +foliage of the woods was ablaze with color and light. But as the +sunlight struck the rails the frost began to melt; and a wet rail is +fatal to the highest speeds. The 80-mile-an-hour mark, touched only +for a few seconds, was not to be reached again on this division. +During the next 47 miles, to Toledo, 64, 65, and 66 miles were reached +at times; and when for the second time the train came to a standstill +it was one minute after seven, and the 133.4 miles from Elkhart had +been made in 124.5 minutes--or at 64.24 miles an hour. This was better +than the run to Elkhart--and good enough in itself to beat the English +figures. But it was not what had been expected of the "air line +division," with its 69 miles of tangent and favorable grades; and, +taking the two divisions together, 220 miles of the 510 were gone, and +we were as yet, thanks to the frost, below the record which we had to +beat. + +The time spent in changing engines at Toledo was 2 minutes and 28 +seconds, and at 7.04.07 the train was sliding out of the yards again. +Coming out of Toledo the railway runs over a drawbridge; and boats +on the river below have right of way. But not on such an occasion as +this; for there, waiting patiently, lay a tug tied up to a pier of the +bridge, with her tow swinging on the stream behind her. + +[Illustration: THE ENGINEERS WHO BROUGHT FROM CLEVELAND TO BUFFALO + +J.R. GARNER--FROM CLEVELAND TO ERIE. + +WILLIAM TUNKEY, WHOSE UNPRECEDENTED RUN FROM ERIE TO BUFFALO SAVED +THE DAY.] + +If the record was to be beaten for the first half of the run, the +speed for the next thirty miles would have to be nearly 70 miles an +hour. Each individual mile was anxiously timed, and at 12 miles from +Toledo the speed was already 66 miles an hour. Nor did it stop there, +but 10 miles further on a stretch of 3-1/2 miles showed a rate of +73.80 miles an hour, and the next 5-1/2 miles were covered at the rate +of 71.40. + +It would not take much of such running to put us safely ahead of +the record at the half-way point; but even as hope grew, there was a +sudden jar and grinding of the wheels which told of brakes suddenly +applied. What was the matter? It takes some little time to bring a +train to a standstill when it is running at over 70 miles an hour; and +there was still good headway on when we slid past a man who yet held a +red flag in his hand. Evidently he had signalled the engineer to stop. +But why? Windows were thrown up, and before the train had stopped, +heads were thrust out. The engineer climbed down from his cab. +From the rear platform the passengers poured out, until only the +time-keepers were left on the train, sitting watch in hand to catch +the exact record of the stop and the start. And already, before his +voice could be heard, the man with the flag was brandishing his arms +in the signal to "go ahead;" and no one cared to stop to question him. + +The stop was short--only a few seconds over two minutes, but the good +headway of 70 miles an hour was lost; and as the wheels moved again, +it was a sullen and dispirited party on the train. Just as the hope +of winning our uphill fight had begun to grow strong, precious minutes +had been lost; and for what reason none could guess. The common belief +on the train was that the man, in excess of enthusiasm at the speed +which the train was making, had lost his head, and waved his red flag +in token of encouragement. It subsequently transpired that he was +justified, an injury to a rail having been discovered which might have +made the passage at great speed dangerous; but, until that fact was +known, the poor trackman at Port Clinton was sufficiently abused. + +On the 70 miles that remained of this division there was no +possibility that such a speed could be made as would put the total for +the first half of the run above the record. Once it was necessary to +slow down to take water from the track, and once again for safety +in rounding the curve at Berea. Between these points there were +occasional bursts of speed when 68 and 70 miles an hour were reached; +and after Berea was passed, there remained only 13 miles to Cleveland. +But in those 13 miles was done the fastest running that had been made +that day; for 7 miles to Rockport were covered at the rate of 83.4 +miles an hour, and at Rockport itself the train must have been running +nearly a mile and a half in a minute. + +It was a gallant effort; and, but for "the man at Port Clinton," there +is no doubt that by that time the success of the run would have been +reasonably assured. As it was, Cleveland was reached at ten minutes to +nine (8.50.13), the 107 miles from Toledo having been covered in 109 +minutes--from which two minutes and five seconds were to be deducted +for the time in which the train was at rest at Port Clinton. In all, +so far, 328-1/2 miles had been run at a speed of 62.16 miles an hour. + +"It may be done yet," people told each other, but there was little +confidence in the voices which said it. + +The stop at Cleveland was a good omen, for the change of engines was +made in a minute and forty-five seconds, and it was soon evident that +Jacob Garner, the new engineer, understood that he had a desperate +case in hand. Before ten miles were covered the train was travelling +more than a mile in a minute. Twenty-eight miles from the start, in +spite of an adverse grade, six miles were covered at the rate of +74.40 miles an hour; and from there on mile after mile flew past, +and station after station, and still the speed showed 70 miles +and upwards. Through Ashtabula, haunted with the memory of railway +disaster, we burst, and on to Conneaut and Springfield; and, even +against hope, hope grew again. Twelve miles from Springfield is the +little town of Swanville, and here the high-water mark of 83.4 miles +at the end of the last division was beaten; for the 6.2 miles from +there to Dock Junction were made in 4.4 minutes--or at the speed of +84.54 miles an hour. + +As has been said, it was hoping only against hope. But to despair was +impossible in the face of such running; and when Erie, 8-1/2 miles +beyond Dock Junction, was reached, the 95-1/2 miles from Cleveland +had been done in 85-1/2 minutes, at an average speed of 67.01 miles +an hour. The average speed for the whole distance from Chicago was now +63.18 miles an hour, which was crawling close up to the record. But +424 miles had been covered, and only 86 miles remained. If the record +was to be beaten, the speed for those 86 miles would have to average +over 70 miles an hour. + +Was it possible to do such a thing? It never had been done, of course, +in all the world; but the essence and the object of the whole day's +run were that it should defy all precedent. There were few people, +however, of those on board who in their hearts dared harbor any hope; +especially as the engine which was to be tried at this crucial moment +was a doubtful quantity. + +All the engines used upon this run were built by the Brooks Locomotive +Works, of Dunkirk, N.Y., after designs by Mr. George W. Stevens, of +the Lake Shore road. The first four engines, which had hauled +the train as far as Erie, were of what is known as the American +type--eight-wheelers, comparatively light, but built for fast speeds. +These locomotives weighed only 52 tons, with 17 by 24-inch cylinders +and 72-inch driving-wheels. They had been doing admirable work in +service, having been built to haul the famous "Exposition Flyer" +in 1893; and that they were capable of very high speeds, for short +distances at least, even with a fairly heavy train, had been shown +in the earlier stages of this run, when all had reached a speed of 70 +miles an hour, and two had touched and held a speed of well over 80. + +The last engine was of a different type, and a type which among +experts has not been considered best adapted to extremely high speeds. +Somewhat heavier than its predecessors (weighing 56-1/2 tons in +working order), this engine was a ten-wheeler, with three pairs of +coupled drivers and a four-wheeled swivelling truck. It had the same +small cylinders (17 by 24 inches), and driving-wheels of only 68 +inches diameter. It was a bold experiment to put such an engine to +do such work; and nothing could well be devised for fast speeds more +unlike the magnificent engine "No. 999," which was built in the New +York Central Railroad shops at West Albany, and is the glory of the +New York Central road, or than the London and Northwestern compound +engine with its 88-inch driving-wheels, or the Caledonian locomotive +(which did the best running in the English races) with its 78-inch +drivers and cylinders 18 by 26 inches. + +It was now after ten o'clock in the morning; and at Erie crowds had +assembled at the station to see the train go out, for news of what was +being done had by this time gone abroad. The platforms, too, at every +station from Erie to Buffalo were thronged with people as we went +roaring by. In Dunkirk (through which we burst at 75 miles an hour) +crowds stood on the sidewalks and at every corner. To describe the run +for those 86 miles in detail would be impossible, or to put into words +the tension of the suppressed excitement among those on board the +train as miles flew by and we knew that we were travelling as men had +never travelled before. + +For those who had misgivings as to the possibilities of the type of +engine there was a surprise as soon as she picked up the train. She +must have reached a speed of a mile a minute within five miles from +the first movement of the wheels. The first eight miles were finished +in 8 minutes, 49 seconds. From there on there was never an instant of +slackening pace. From 60 miles an hour the velocity rose to 70; from +70 to 80; from 80, past the previous high-water marks, to 85 and 90, +and at last to over 92. + +Trains have been timed for individual miles at speeds of over 90 miles +before. There is even said to be on record an instance of a single +mile run at 112 miles an hour. But never before has an engine done +what the ten-wheeler did that day, when it reached 80 miles an hour +and held the speed for half an hour; reached 85 miles an hour and held +that for nearly ten minutes; reached 90 miles and held that for three +or four consecutive miles. A speed of 75 miles an hour (a mile and a +quarter a minute) was maintained for the whole hour, and the 75 miles +were actually covered in the 60 minutes. The entire 86 miles were done +in 70 minutes 46 seconds,--an average speed of 72.91 miles an hour. +In the English run, a speed of 68.40 miles was maintained for an even +hour, 69 miles being done in 60.5 minutes; and 141 miles were run at +an average speed of 67.20 miles an hour. + +To word it otherwise, the American train covered 7 miles more in its +fastest hour than did the English train. The speed which the English +engines held for 141 miles the American engines held for over 200--181 +miles being made at 69.67 miles an hour. + +The most remarkable figures in the American run are given in the +following table: + + A distance of 510.1 miles made at 65.07 miles an hour. + " " " 289.3 " " " 66.68 " " " + " " " 181.5 " " " 69.67 " " " + " " " 85 " " " 72.92 " " " + " " " 71 " " " 75.06 " " " + " " " 59 " " " 76.08 " " " + " " " 52 " " " 78.00 " " " + " " " 42 " " " 79.04 " " " + " " " 33 " " " 80.07 " " " + " " " 8 " " " 85.44 " " " + + + + +A single mile was also timed (unofficially) at the speed of 92.3 miles +an hour. + +Here is the schedule of the last division: + + Dis- Time of + tance. leaving. + + Erie (leave).............................-- 10-19-48 + Harbor Creek............................. 8 miles 10-28-37 + Moorhead................................. 3 " 10-31-06 + North East............................... 4 " 10-34-22 + State Line............................... 5 " 10-38-15 + Ripley................................... 3 " 10-40-22 + Westfield................................ 8 " 10-45-56 + Brocton.................................. 8 " 10-52-06 + Van Buren................................ 5 " 10-55-39 + Dunkirk.................................. 4 " 10-58-54 + Silver Creek............................. 9 " 11-06-05 + Fairhaven................................ 5 " 11-10-33 + Angola .................................. 5 " 11-14-14 + Lake View................................ 7 " 11-20-11 + Athol Springs............................ 4 " 11-24-39 + Buffalo Creek............................ 8 " 11-30-34 + + Total distance Erie to Buffalo + Creek................................86 " + Total time for the 86 miles.... 1-10-46 + + Average speed over division..............72.91 miles per hour + +So remarkable are these figures, considering the type of engine +used, that an English technical journal has, since the run was made, +scientifically demonstrated to its own satisfaction that it was an +impossibility. Well, it is the impossible which sometimes happens. + +Through all the running at these wonderful speeds the train moved with +singular smoothness. Moments there were of some anxiety, when the cars +swung round a curve or dashed through the streets of a town. At such +times there were those among the passengers who would perhaps +gladly have sacrificed a few seconds of the record. Except for those +occasions, however, there was nothing to tell of the extraordinary +speed--nothing unless one stood on the rear platform of the last car +and saw the swirling cloud of dust and leaves and bits of paper, even +of sticks and stones, that were sucked up into the vacuum behind, and +almost shut out the view of the rapidly receding track. It may be +(it certainly will be) that the average of 65.07 miles an hour for a +distance of 510 miles will be beaten before long. It is almost certain +that the same engines on the same road could beat it in another +trial--taking a slightly lighter train, running by daylight and over a +dry rail. It will be long, however, before such another run is made as +that over the last 86 miles by the ten-wheeler, with William Tunkey in +charge. Railway men alone, perhaps, understand the qualities which +are necessary in an engineer to enable him to make such a run; and the +name of Tunkey is one (however unheroic it may sound) which railway +men will remember for many years to come. An analysis of the figures +given above will show that it was not until within 20 miles of the end +of the run that there was any confidence that the record was broken; +and not until the run was actually finished and the watches stopped +for the last time, at 34 seconds after half-past eleven, that +confidence was changed to certainty. + +In addition to the mere speed, everything combined to make the run +supremely dramatic--the disappointment over the first divisions--the +growing hopes dashed by the unexpected flag--the increase of hope +again on the run to Erie--the misgivings as to the type of engine--all +culminating in the last tremendous burst of speed and the triumphant +rush into Buffalo station. + +And having left Chicago at half-past three in the morning, at half +past-ten that night I sat and watched Mr. John Drew on the stage of a +New York theatre. + + + + +A CENTURY OF PAINTING. + +NOTES DESCRIPTIVE AND CRITICAL.--A PROVINCIAL SCHOOL OF ART IN +ENGLAND.--THE PRECURSOR OF MODERN ART, CONSTABLE.--THE SOLITARY GENIUS +OF TURNER.--THE ENGLISH SCHOOL OF PORTRAITURE.--ROMNEY, OPIE, HOPPNER, +AND LAWRENCE. + +BY WILL H. LOW. + + +At the period when in France David and his followers had resuscitated +a dead and gone art, and by dint of governmental patronage had infused +into it a semblance of life, across the Channel, in a provincial town +of England, a little group of painters were quietly doing work which, +if it did not in itself change the face of modern art, was at least +indicative of the change soon to be accomplished by the advent of +Constable. + +The leader of this group, which has been of late years in the hands +of zealous amateurs and dealers elevated to the rank of "school," was +John Crome, born at Norwich, December 22, 1768. The son of a publican, +he was first an errand boy to a local physician and afterwards +apprenticed to a sign painter. Without instruction, hampered by +an early marriage, he forsook his occupation, and sought to paint +landscapes; meanwhile finding in the houses of the neighboring gentry +pupils in drawing. The lessons gave him a living; and in the houses +where he taught were many Dutch pictures which he carefully studied, +so that he is in a sense a follower of the Holland school. But his +greatest and best teacher was the quiet Norfolk country; and the +environs of Norwich, from which he seldom strayed, found in him an +earnest student. + +[Illustration: GEORGE ROMNEY, PAINTER OF "THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER," +SHOWN ON PAGE 257. FROM A MEDALLION BY THOMAS HALEY.] + +In 1805, in conjunction with his son (the younger Crome) and Cotman, +Stark, and Vincent, Crome founded at Norwich an artists' club, where +the members exhibited their pictures and had a large studio in common. +Some of the members of the Norwich "school," a title to which none of +them in their own time pretended, left their native town, and went to +London; but its founder remained true to the city of his birth, where +he died April 22, 1821. Late in life he visited Paris, where the +Louvre still held the treasures of Europe, garnered after every +campaign by Napoleon; and his enthusiasm for the great Dutch painters +found fresh nourishment. + +It is by this link in the great chain of art that Crome gained his +first consideration in the world's esteem; but more important to us of +to-day is the fact that he was the first of his century to return to +nature. No evil that the frivolous eighteenth century had wrought, +or that the classicism of the early years of the nineteenth had +perpetuated in art, was so great as the substitution of a conventional +type of picture instead of that directly inspired by nature; and +this artificial standard, which diverted figure painting from its +legitimate field, bore even more heavily on the art of landscape +painting. + +Crome, by his isolation at Norwich, escaped this tendency. The Norwich +painters, however, were, to a certain degree, an accident. In the +London of their time, the almost total cessation of intercourse with +continental Europe, due to the war with France, had not prevented the +academical standard from penetrating and taking root. The independence +of Hogarth in the preceding century had been without result; and Sir +Joshua Reynolds, in principle if not always in practice, had preached +the doctrine of submission to accepted formulas. Benjamin West, who +had succeeded him as president of the Royal Academy, was little but an +academic formula himself; and landscape (whose greatest representative +had been, until his death in 1782, Richard Wilson, a painter of +merit, who had united to a charming sense of color an adherence to +the strictest classical influence) was wallowing in the mire of +conventionality. + +[Illustration: THE PARSON'S DAUGHTER. FROM A PAINTING BY GEORGE ROMNEY +IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON. + +This portrait, from an unknown model, gives Romney with all his charm +and more than his usual sincerity.] + +To the London of 1800, however, were to be given two landscape +painters who may fairly claim the honor of placing their art on a +higher pinnacle than it had ever before reached. One of them, +John Constable, remains to-day the direct source from which all +representation of the free open air is derived, be the painter Saxon, +Gallic, or Teuton. The other, Joseph Mallord William Turner, may be +said to reach greater heights than his contemporary; but, unlike him, +his art is so based on qualities peculiar to himself that he stands +alone, though having many imitators who have never achieved more than +a superficial resemblance to his work. + +Constable, founding his work on nature with close observance of +natural laws, was able to exert an influence by which all painters +have since profited. When he came to London, at the age of +twenty-three, to study in the school of the Royal Academy, he +attracted the attention of Sir George Beaumont, an amateur painter +who, by his taste and social position, was all-powerful in the +artistic circles of the metropolis. It was he who asked the young +painter the famous question, "Where do you place your brown tree?" +this freak of vegetation being one of the essential component parts +of the properly constructed academical landscape of the period. For +a year or two the youth placed brown trees, submissively enough, in +landscapes painfully precise in detail and deficient in atmosphere. +Then he did that which to a common, sensible mind would seem the most +obvious thing for a landscape painter to do, but which had been done +so rarely that the simple act was the boldest of innovations. He took +his colors out of doors, and painted from nature. + +[Illustration: JOHN CONSTABLE. FROM AN ENGRAVING BY LUCAS, AFTER A +PORTRAIT BY C.E. LESLIE + +Reproduced, by the courtesy of W.H. Fuller, from "Memoirs of the Life +of John Constable, Esq., R.A., Composed Chiefly of his Letters, by +C.R. Leslie, R.A." Quarto, London, 1843. This noble memoir, which +makes one love the man as one admires the painter, is unfortunately +out of print.] + +Of the dreary waste of "historical" and arbitrarily composed +landscapes, even in the simpler honest productions of the Dutch +preceding this century, nearly all were painted from drawings; color +had been applied according to recipe; the brown tree was rampant +through all the seasons represented, from primavernal spring to +golden autumn. At the most, only studies in colors were made out of +doors--unrelated portions of pictures, stained rather than painted, +with timid desire to enregister details. These were then transported +to the studio, where they underwent a process of arrangement, of +"cookery," as the typically just French expression puts it; from +which the picture came out steeped in a "brown sauce," conventional, +artificial, and monotonous, but pleasing to the Academy-ridden public +of the time. The young "miller of Bergholt"--for it was there in the +county of Suffolk that young Constable first saw the light, on June +11, 1776--determined in 1803 to have done with convention. He writes +to a friend, one Dunthorne, who had had much influence on his early +life and was his first teacher: "For the last two years I have been +running after pictures and seeking truth at second hand;" adding that +he would hereafter study nature alone, convinced that "there is [was] +room enough for a natural painter." + +[Illustration: FLATFORD MILL, ON THE RIVER STOUR. FROM A PAINTING BY +JOHN CONSTABLE, NOW IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON. + +This picture was given to the National Gallery by the painter's +children. It is possibly one of three pictures on which Constable +obtained the gold medal of the Paris Salon in 1822--the one which in +the Salon catalogue is entitled "A Canal." The other two were "The +Hay-Wain" (shown on the next page) and "Hampstead Heath," both now in +the National Gallery.] + +This was henceforth the aim of his life; and from constant study +out of doors he learned that natural objects exist to our sight not +isolated, but in relation one to another; that the whole is more +important than a part; and that the bark of a tree, a minutely defined +plant, or a conscientiously geologically studied rock, may mar the +effect of a whole picture, while the scene to be represented has a +character of its own more subtle, more evanescent, but also infinitely +more true than any single element of which it is composed. More than +that, through living on such intimate terms with Mother Nature, he +learned to value the smiles of her sunshine, and to cunningly adjust +her cloud-veils when she frowned. His object was no longer that of the +earlier painters, who--and along with others even faithful Crome--had +aimed to paint a "view" for its topographical value, suppressing +or altering, like mediocre portrait painters, any feature which was +thought to be displeasing. Constable painted the moods of nature; the +simplest subjects seen under ever-varying effects of light were his +choice; and though his pictures bear the names of various places, and +divers existing features of these places are portrayed, it is always +the beauty of the scene, or that of the moment of the day or night, +which affects the spectator. + +[Illustration: THE HAY-WAIN. FROM A PAINTING BY JOHN CONSTABLE, NOW IN +THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON. + +This picture was first exhibited in the Royal Academy of 1821. It +is also one of three exhibited by Constable in the Paris Salon the +following year. It is one of Constable's best known pictures. The +thoroughly English character of the scene, painted with truth and +simplicity, makes it, after a lapse of seventy-five years, as modern +as though it were painted yesterday.] + +By a public which was used to the conventional tones of the older +painters, and which understood or was interested in Turner's daring +variations on the theme of classical landscape, these fresh, simple +pictures which to-day look so natural to us were regarded with +distrust. Not even the shepherd, much less the warrior or the demigod, +inhabited these quiet scenes. A picture which any rural gentleman +could see from his front door, smacked too little of art for the +modish town. Moreover, Constable, no doubt sighing for something +lighter and more brilliant, was accustomed, in a vain effort to rival +the clear light of out-of-doors, to use the lightest colors of his +palette. On a varnishing day at the Royal Academy, the word was passed +around among the astonished painters that in portions of his picture +of the year Constable had actually used pure white! + +In 1829, however, the world moving, Constable was elected to +membership in the Royal Academy. The most notable triumph of his +life, though, befell seven years earlier, in 1822, when he sent three +pictures to be exhibited in the Salon in Paris. The Hay-Wain, and +Hampstead Heath, both at present in the National Gallery, London, were +of the three, and excited the greatest enthusiasm among the group of +young painters who, with Delacroix at their head, were warring against +the academic rule imposed by David. Constable's work thenceforward was +the dominant influence in France, and from it can be directly traced +the great group of landscape painters which we to-day miscall the +"Barbizon" school. + +It is pleasant to recall that official honor--the first which he +received--came to Constable by the award of the great gold medal of +the Salon at this time. For a number of years after this he sent his +work to the successive Salons. Pecuniary success, such as fell to the +lot of Turner, was never his; the first painter who looked at nature +in the open air "through his temperament," as Zola aptly expresses it, +was perforce contented to live a modest life at Hampstead, happy in +his work, grateful to nature who disclosed so many of her secrets to +him. + +[Illustration: THE "FIGHTING TEMERAIRE" TUGGED TO HER LAST BERTH. FROM +A PAINTING BY J.M.W. TURNER. + +The "Fighting Téméraire" was a line-of-battle ship of ninety-eight +guns which Lord Nelson captured from the French at the battle of the +Nile, August 1, 1798. In the battle of Trafalgar, October 21, 1805, +she fought next to the "Victory"--the ship from which Nelson commanded +the battle, and aboard which, in the course of it, he was killed. She +was sold out of the service in 1838, and towed to Rotherhithe to be +broken up. Turner's painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy +of 1839. His picture touched the popular heart, and though no +reproduction in black and white can approach the splendor of color in +the original, the engraving renders faithfully the sentiment of the +picture.] + +"I love," he said, "every stile and stump and lane in the village; as +long as I am able to hold a brush, I shall never cease to paint them." +He ceased to "hold a brush" on the 30th of March, 1837. + +Turner, who was born a year before Constable, on April 23, 1775, was, +unlike the miller's son of Bergholt, a child of the city. He was +born in London, in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, where his father was a +hair-dresser; and when only fourteen entered the Royal Academy schools +as a student. The next year he exhibited a drawing of Lambeth Palace; +and in 1799 was made an associate, and in 1802 a member, of the Royal +Academy. His career was probably more successful than that of any +other artist of modern times. Of his life the more that is said in +charity the better; for as the sun rises oftentimes from a fog bank, +so the luminous dreams of color by which we know Turner emanated from +an apparently sour, prosaic cockney. A bachelor implicated in low +intrigues, dying under the assumed name of "Puggy Booth" in a dreary +lodging in Chelsea, after a long career of miserly observance and +rapacious bickering--of his life naught became him like the leaving. +He died December 19, 1851. His will directed that his pictures--three +hundred and sixty paintings and nearly two thousand drawings--should +become the property of the nation, the only condition attached being +that two of the pictures should be placed between two paintings by +Claude Lorraine in the National Gallery. Twenty thousand pounds were +left to the Royal Academy for the benefit of superannuated artists; +and one thousand pounds were appropriated for a monument in St. +Paul's, where this curious old man knew the English people would be +proud to lay him. + +For many years Turner had refused to sell certain of his pictures; +while for others, and for the published engravings after his work, +he had exacted prices of a character and in a manner that smacked of +dishonesty. But as in obscure and dingy lodgings his brain had evolved +the splendor of sunset and mirage, so, undoubtedly, his imagination +had foreshadowed the noble monument which the Turner room at the +National Gallery has created to his memory. + +[Illustration: JOSEPH MALLORD WILLIAM TURNER. FROM A DRAWING BY SIR +JOHN GILBERT. + +This portrait, made many years ago, is a sketch from life, and +realizes the crabbed, sturdy painter, Turner, as we may imagine him.] + +Turner's work, as has been said before, is peculiarly his own. It is +true that in the earlier pictures the influence of Claude Lorraine is +evident; but upon this root is engrafted an audacity in the conception +of color, a research of luminosity in comparison with which nearly all +painting is eclipsed. That this refulgence is tinged now and then +with exaggeration, with a forcing of effect that destroys the sense +of weight and solidity in depicted objects where this sense should +prevail, is certain. But it is not the least of his merits that he was +endowed with a sureness of taste which enabled him to avoid the rock +on which all his imitators have split--his work is never spectacular. +It is perhaps at its best when he has the simple elements of sea +and sky as his theme. Here, with the intangible qualities of air and +light, textureless and diaphanous, he is most at home. When it becomes +a question of the representation of earth, buildings, or trees, one +feels the lack of loving subservience to nature; the spirit against +which the art of Constable is eloquent lurks here too much. + +[Illustration: PEACE--BURIAL AT SEA OF THE BODY OF SIR DAVID WILKIE. +FROM A PAINTING BY J.M.W. TURNER IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY. + + "The midnight torch gleamed o'er the steamer's side, + And merit's corse was yielded to the tide." + + --_Fallacies of Hope._ + +The "Fallacies of Hope" was an imaginary poem from which Turner +professed to quote whenever he wanted a line or a couplet to +explain his pictures, the avowed quotation being really of his own +composition. Sir David Wilkie, the distinguished painter, died at sea +on his way home from the Orient, June 1, 1841. His body was consigned +to the sea at midnight of that day. The picture was exhibited at the +Royal Academy in 1842.] + +The stone-pines of Italy are seen through the distortion of +convention, the palaces of Venice were never builded by the hand of +man; and we lose by this the contrast which nature provides between +solid earth and filmy cloud. The onlooker must indeed be devoid of +imagination, however, if he can stand before those pictures of Turner +where the limitless sky is reflected in the waters, without profound +emotion. They may not seem _natural_ in such sense as one finds works +of more realistic aim; but one must at least agree with Turner, in the +time-worn story of the lady who taxed him with violation of natural +law, saying that she had never seen a sky like one in the picture +before them. "Possibly," growled the unruffled painter; "but don't you +wish you could?" + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A BOY. FROM A PAINTING BY JOHN OPIE, IN THE +NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON. + +This is believed to be a portrait of the painter's younger brother, +William Opie.] + +Another phase of art--English, like that of Constable and Turner--rose +to its greatest popularity at about the same time. It had an origin +more easily traceable--the presence of Vandyke in England in the +seventeenth century having given an impulsion to portrait painting +which had been maintained by Reynolds and Gainsborough in the +century preceding our own. George Romney, who was born at Dalton, in +Lancashire, December 15, 1734, divided with these last two painters +the patronage of the great and wealthy of his time. He was but +eleven years younger than Reynolds, and seven years the junior of +Gainsborough; but by the fact of his living until November 15, 1802, +he may be considered in connection with the painters of this century. +He possessed great facility of brush, which led him occasionally into +careless drawing, and he lacked the refined grace of Reynolds and the +simple charm of Gainsborough. Nevertheless, a superabundance of the +qualities which go to make up a painter were his, and his art is less +affected by influences foreign to his native soil than that of any +painter of his time. + +Romney was preëminently a painter of women, as were the majority +of his followers--English art at that time being possessed of more +sweetness than force. Lady Hamilton, the Circe who succeeded in +ensnaring the English Ulysses, Nelson, was a frequent model for +Romney, and the list of notable names of the fair women whose beauty +he perpetuated would be a long one. His life offers one of the most +curious examples of the engrossing nature of a painter's work, if we +accept this as the explanation of his strange conduct. Having come to +London from Kendal in 1762, leaving his wife and family behind him +in Lancashire, he remained in the metropolis for thirty-seven years, +making, during this time, but two visits to the place which he never +ceased to consider his home. It does not appear that anything but +absorption in work was the cause of this neglect. His wife and +children remained all the time in their northern home. In 1799, three +years before his death, the husband and father awoke to a realization +of their existence, and returned to live with them. + +[Illustration: JOHN HOPPNER. FROM A DRAWING BY GEORGE DANCE, NOVEMBER +10, 1793.] + +John Opie, known as the "Cornish genius" when his first works, +executed at the age of twenty, were exhibited in the Royal Academy, +was a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was born at Truro in May, 1761, +the son of a carpenter. His precocity attracted the notice of Dr. +Wolcot ("Peter Pindar"), who introduced him to Reynolds. + +Opie is thoroughly English in his manner, having, however, more +affiliation to Hogarth and the earlier painters of his century than +to his master. A certain hardness and lack of color are his principal +defects; but, on the other hand, his work is sincere to a degree which +none of the other painters of his time show, preoccupied as were even +the best of them by a somewhat conventional type of beauty. He was +appointed professor of painting at the Royal Academy in 1805, but +delivered only one course of lectures, dying, at the age of forty-six, +April 9, 1807. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A LADY. FROM A PAINTING KNOWN AS "THE CORAL +NECKLACE," BY JOHN HOPPNER. + +From the collection of George A. Hearn of New York, by whose courtesy +it appears here. Quaint and charming as a picture, of great beauty of +color in the original, this is an admirable example of this painter. +The original painting is at present on exhibition at the Metropolitan +Museum, New York.] + +During the last quarter of the eighteenth century and the first years +of the nineteenth, the fashionable portrait painters of London were +John Hoppner and Sir Thomas Lawrence. The latter, living twenty years +longer than Hoppner, was able to generously say of him, in a letter +written shortly after Hoppner's death: "You will believe that I +sincerely feel the loss of a brother artist from whose works I have +often gained instruction, and who has gone by my side in the race +these eighteen years." + +Born in Whitechapel, London, April 4, 1758, Hoppner's first vocation +was that of chorister in the Chapel Royal. By lucky accident his first +efforts at painting attracted the attention of the king, George III., +who granted him a small allowance which enabled him to study in the +Royal Academy, where, in 1782, he gained the medal for oil painting. +He first exhibited in 1780, and for some years devoted himself +to landscape. Gradually changing to portraiture, he was appointed +portrait painter to the Prince of Wales in 1789, and in 1793 he was +made an associate of the Academy, receiving full membership in +1795. For twenty years and until his death, January 23, 1810, he was +extremely successful, and his productions, though less in number than +those of Reynolds, or his contemporary, Lawrence, were numerous. In +the course of thirty years he contributed one hundred and sixty-six +works to the Academy exhibitions. These were chiefly portraits +of women and children, and are marked by unaffected grace and +appreciation of character. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A CHILD. FROM A PAINTING BY SIR THOMAS +LAWRENCE. + +This picture, in the National Gallery, London, has inscribed on the +canvas: "Lady Giorgiana Fane; 1800. Æt 5." It shows Lawrence's method +of treating a child's portrait, in the style dear to our ancestors, +as a "fancy" portrait. It is also typical of his pronounced mannerism, +which would lead one to believe that before the days of photography +sitters were easily contented on the score of resemblance. The head +in this picture, for instance, is almost identical with that of +Napoleon's son in the "Roi de Rome," executed fifteen years later.] + +[Illustration: MRS. SIDDONS. FROM A PAINTING BY SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. + +The greatest of all English actresses, at least in tragic parts--is +the common judgment on Mrs. Siddons. She was almost born and reared on +the stage, her father, Roger Kemble, being the manager of a travelling +company of actors, with one of whom, William Siddons, she had married +when she was eighteen. She was born at Brecon, in Wales, July 5, 1755, +and had already attained to some distinction as an actress in 1775, +when she made her first appearance in London. From then until her +retirement in 1812 her career was a succession of triumphs. She died +in London, June 8, 1831. Naturally, she was a favorite subject with +the portrait painters of her time. The sweet-faced girl shown in +the above portrait has as little resemblance to the stately lady of +Gainsborough, or the "Tragic Muse" of Sir Joshua Reynolds, as it has +to our imagination of what a "tragic queen" should be. The picture is, +nevertheless, a portrait of _the_ Mrs. Siddons, and was presented to +the National Gallery, London, where it now is, by her daughter, Mrs. +Cecelia Combe, in 1868.] + + +Time has enhanced the value of Hoppner's work somewhat at the expense +of his great rival, Lawrence. While the latter remains, from youth +to comparative old age, a most astonishing example of facile and +brilliant execution, the less obtrusive, possibly more timid, attitude +of Hoppner in the presence of nature gives him a greater claim to our +sympathy to-day. He was apparently preoccupied above all in rendering +the individual characteristics of his sitter; and there are many +instances in his work where a painter can see that he has chosen to +retain certain qualities of resemblance, rather than risk their loss +by an exhibition of _bravura_ painting. Sir Thomas Lawrence is one, +on the contrary, before whose pictures it is felt that the principal +question has been to make it first of all a typical example of his +work. + +[Illustration: LADY BLESSINGTON. FROM A PAINTING BY SIR THOMAS +LAWRENCE. + +This portrait of the gifted and brilliant woman who, as Lady +Blessington, and the intimate friend of Count d'Orsay, alternately +shocked and ruled the literary London of Byron's time, is +representative of Lawrence's extreme mannerism; but, despite its +"keepsake" prettiness, has great charm. Besides her distinguished +beauty, Lady Blessington offered much, in her life and surroundings, +to inspire a painter. Born in Ireland in 1789, she was forced at +fourteen into marrying one Captain Farmer. She could not live with +him, and they separated after three months. Farmer was killed in 1817, +and the next year she married the Earl of Blessington. Then began that +brilliant social career by virtue of which her fame now most survives. +Her house became the resort of the most distinguished people of +the time; and she herself, by her remarkable grace, cleverness, and +vivacity, ever kept pace with the best of her company. She derived a +large estate from her husband at his death, in 1829; and besides, +for nearly twenty years she had ten thousand dollars a year from her +novels (for she was also an author); but she lived most profusely, +and had finally, in company with Count d'Orsay, to flee from her +creditors. She died in Paris, June 4, 1849.] + +Lawrence, born at Bristol, May 4, 1769, was the son of the landlord of +the Black Bear Inn at Devizes; and the child was not yet in his teens +when some chalk drawings of his father's customers gave him a local +reputation. We are told that "at the age of ten he set up as a +portrait painter in crayons at Oxford; and soon after took a house at +Bath, the then fashionable watering-place, where he immediately met +with much employment and extraordinary success." When seventeen, his +success called him to London, where in 1791, though under the age +required by the laws of the Academy, he was elected as associate when +twenty-two. The year before, he had painted the portraits of the king +and queen; in 1794 he was made Academician, in 1815 was knighted, in +1820 was unanimously elected President of the Royal Academy, and in +1825 was created chevalier of the Legion of Honor in France. + +This list of official honors is but little in comparison with the +success which he had socially. Of a charming personality, he was +admitted to the intimacy of all that Europe boasted of aristocracy and +royalty. In 1815 he went to the congress at Aix-la-Chapelle, where his +facile brush portrayed the august features of the allied sovereigns +assembled there. He contributed, from 1787 to 1830 inclusive, three +hundred and eleven pictures to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy. + +It goes without saying that production of this quantity cannot be +in every instance of the first quality. But the average merit of +Lawrence's work is nevertheless of a high order. Of feminine charm +(like many of his time and many of his predecessors) he was a master; +no one has ever succeeded better in giving a certain aristocratic +bearing to his sitters than he. It can be accounted a fault that this +becomes somewhat stereotyped--that we feel that, were it wanting in +the person before him, the amiable Sir Thomas could easily supply it. +The English race has not changed so much in the short period which has +elapsed since his time that the demeasurably large and liquid eyes, +the swan-like necks, and the sloping shoulders, which mark it as his +own in Lawrence's work, should be to-day of more rare occurrence. With +this great and important limitation, among the pictures of Lawrence +can be found a certain number of canvases, not always the most +typical, of exceeding merit. Few men have ever conveyed better the +impression of the depth and living quality of an eye, nor have many +painters succeeded in giving to every part of their canvas the same +qualities of color and brilliancy of execution as he. + +[Illustration: SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. AFTER A PAINTING BY CHARLES +LANDSEER.] + +[Illustration: MISS BARRON, AFTERWARDS MRS. RAMSEY. FROM A PAINTING BY +SIR THOMAS LAWRENCE. + +This picture, owned by R.H. McCormick of Chicago, by whose courtesy it +is here reproduced, represents Lawrence in his least mannered aspect. +The simplicity of young girlhood is well expressed, the head is drawn +and modelled with great subtlety, and we are fortunate to have so good +an example of Lawrence's work in this country.] + +Lawrence died in his beautiful house on Russell Square in London, +surrounded by rare works of art which he had collected, on January +7, 1830. Nine years later Sir William Beechey, born at Burford in +Oxfordshire in 1753, died in London at the age of eighty-six. He had +come to London in 1772; and in 1798, having acquired consideration and +a lucrative practice as a portrait painter, and after having painted a +picture, now at Hampton Court, representing the king, George III., the +Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York at a review, he was knighted. +The same year saw his election to the Academy, of which he had been an +associate since 1793. + +One of Beechey's distinctions is to have outnumbered even Lawrence in +his contributions to the Academy, as three hundred and sixty-two +of his works appeared on its walls. Of hasty execution or too great +dependence on a dangerous facility, there is, however, little trace +in his work. He was occupied exclusively with painting; he lived more +than twenty years longer than Lawrence, and was never diverted by +the claims of society upon his time. With his healthy, English color, +recalling Reynolds, a sober style not devoid of charm, he is fairly +typical of his time; and may fitly close this brief review of the +earlier English portraitists. Their task has never been taken up by +their successors in art, English portraiture to-day having much the +same qualities and defects which mark the contemporaneous painters of +all nations. + +[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF A BROTHER AND SISTER. FROM A PAINTING BY +SIR WILLIAM BEECHEY. + +The original painting is now in the museum of the Louvre, and is a +picture charming in color--the warm white of the dress, and the rich +surroundings, in the manner of Reynolds, making an admirable foil to +the children's heads.] + +The exclusive choice of feminine portraits in this article has been +dictated by a desire to show, in the space at command, the painting +most typical of the time and people. While all these painters produced +portraits of men, their work in this field was, as a rule, inferior to +the art of France. Lawrence is perhaps an exception; as it would +seem that occasionally in the presence of a masculine sitter he rose +superior to his manner and, painting with all sincerity, gave his +remarkable gifts full play. The lack, however, of serious training in +drawing, the over-reliance on charm of color and sentiment, give to +the English work a degree of weakness as compared with the thorough +command of form and austere fidelity to resemblance that was preached +to the French with "drawing is the probity of art" for a text. + + + + +[Illustration: GARFIELD IN 1881, WHILE PRESIDENT. AGE 49. + +From a photograph by Handy, Washington.] + + + + +THE TRAGEDY OF GARFIELD'S ADMINISTRATION. + +PERSONAL REMINISCENCES AND RECORDS OF CONVERSATIONS. + +BY MURAT HALSTEAD. + + +James A. Garfield, twentieth President of the United States, had the +good fortune to be a boy long after he reached the years of manhood. +This fact is the key to his character and the explanation of his +career. His boyishness was not lack of manhood; it was a lingering +youthfulness of spirit, a keen susceptibility of impression, +an elasticity of mind, a hearty enjoyment of his strong life, a +tenderness and freshness of heart, an openness to friend and foe, +something of deference to others, and of diffidence, not without +understanding of and confidence in his own powers. He was youthful +with the noble youth of the fields and schools and churches, of +the farms and villages of the West, when he became a member of the +legislature of Ohio, from which he passed into the army, that was like +a university to him. As a soldier he was typically a big, brave boy, +powerful, ardent, amiable, rejoicing in his strength. In eastern +Kentucky he led his regiment in its first fight. He found out where +the enemy were, and pulling off his coat--the regulation country style +of preparing for battle--headed a foot-race straight for "the rebs," +and routed them. It was literally a case of "come on, boys." Those +opposed, so to speak, thought the devil possessed the robust young man +in his shirt-sleeves. + +[Illustration: GARFIELD IN 1863, THE YEAR IN WHICH, AT THE AGE OF 32, +AND WITH THE RANK OF MAJOR-GENERAL, HE RETIRED FROM THE ARMY TO BECOME +A MEMBER OF CONGRESS. + +From a photograph by Handy, Washington.] + +When Garfield was President, he was asked whether he ever thought, +before his nomination for the office, that he was likely to fill +it, and his answer was curious and characteristic of his manner of +expression. He said he supposed all American young men reflected on +that subject, and he had done so--not with any serious concern, but as +a remote possibility. And he added, "I have fancied the great public +personified and looking with an immense, a rolling, intense eye, over +the millions of the nation, to pick out future Presidents, and thought +as it swept along the ranks the eye might give me a glance, and that +perhaps the meaning of it was: I may want you--some time." + +It was my theory, as the editor of an important journal in Ohio during +the time General Garfield served in Congress, that he needed a good +deal of admonition; that he had a tendency to sentimentalism in +politics that called for correction; that he required paragraphs to +brace him up in various affairs; that he lacked a little in worldly +wisdom, and maybe had a dangerous tendency to giving and taking too +much confidence; and that he was disposed to dwell upon a mountain, +and would be the better off for an occasional taking-down with a shade +of good-humored sarcasm. He was still boyish about some things, and +the speculative men in public life sought to beguile him. He was +growing all the time, though. He was a student, and was brainy and +generous, and laughed at "able articles" even if they had stings in +them. + +[Illustration: GARFIELD IN 1863 + +From a photograph by Handy, Washington.] + +Cincinnati knew him best as the Christian orator--follower of +Alexander Campbell--who preached with a big voice and great +earnestness at the corner of Walnut and Eighth Streets. This was when +he was a grand young man, sure enough. Some time after, Congress found +it out. After a while the public knew Garfield as one of the half +dozen strongest men in the country. Next to John Sherman he stood the +most commanding figure in Ohio politics, and was elected Senator of +the United States, his term commencing on the day on which, as it +happened, he was inaugurated President. He was just realizing +his ability, having had it measured for him in the House of +Representatives, and knew he was a force in affairs. He enjoyed his +dinners and dressed well, and was of imposing presence: a good-natured +giant--no posing--no troublesome sense of grandeur--none of the pomp +affected by public men too conscious of importance. + +[Illustration: GARFIELD IN 1867, WITH HIS DAUGHTER. AT THIS TIME HE +WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE ON MILITARY AFFAIRS, IN THE LOWER HOUSE +OF CONGRESS. + +From a photograph by Handy, Washington.] + +He suffered under the petty charge that he had been influenced by a +scrap of stock whose value might be affected by Congressional action; +and those who knew him well were aware that his innocence of knowledge +to do what he was charged with doing, was absurd and itself proof that +he was sound. He was, by virtue of superior capacity, at the head of +the Ohio delegation to the Republican National Convention of 1880, +and was charged with the management of the candidacy of John Sherman, +Secretary of the Treasury, for the Presidency--the most competent man +in the country for the office. + +It had been thought for a time that the combination of important men +for a third term of General Grant would succeed, as the glory of the +General was very great and those who wanted him for President again +were able and resolute. Blaine had hesitated for a moment whether to +take the field; but learning that Sherman would be in the race whether +there was or was not any other man a candidate in opposition to Grant, +he made the fight, and he and Sherman were the representative leaders +against the third term. + +Their feeling was that they were not making war upon General Grant, +but upon those who sought to use his fame for their own purpose, and +they meant particularly Senator Conkling. General Grant, at Galena, +wrote a letter to Senator Cameron, and gave it to John Russell Young, +who handed it to Mr. Cameron, and it disappeared. This letter was a +frank and serious statement that he desired not to be considered +a candidate, and no doubt his preference was the nomination of Mr. +Conkling. + +The interest of the great convention early centred in the two tall +men on the floor, the undoubted champions of the contending forces, +Conkling and Garfield; and the latter got the first decided advantage +in breaking the third term line when Conkling demanded that the +majority of the delegation of a State should cast the entire vote. +This was the famous unit rule, the defeat of which was the first event +of the convention. Garfield and Conkling were foremost in the fray +because they were the most masterful men of the vast assembly--nearly +twenty thousand people under the roof. + +The advocates of the Old Commander for a third term were in heavy +force, and knew exactly what they wanted; and whenever the convention +met, as Senator Conkling usually walked in late, he had a tumultuous +reception. The opposition saw it was necessary to counteract this +personal demonstration, and managed to hold Garfield back so that he +should be later than Conkling, and then they gave him salutations of +unheard-of exuberance far resounding; and this was the beginning +of the end. Garfield, because he was in person, position, and +transcending talent a leader, was transformed into a colossus before +the eyes of the convention, and was an appeal to the imagination. +When the nominating addresses were made, none was heard by the whole +multitude but those by Conkling and Garfield. They stood on tables +of reporters, and their voices rang clear, through their splendid +speeches, carrying every word to the remotest corners; and the rivalry +between the two men became emphasized. Each had the sense to admire +the effort of the other, Conkling saying to the delegate by his side: +"It is bright in Garfield to speak from that place," and it was a +good deal for him to say. More and more Garfield loomed as the man who +stood against Grant. + +There had been a good many persons meantime saying that neither Blaine +nor Sherman could beat Grant, and that Garfield was the man to do +it. All who are familiar with our political methods are aware of the +frantic desire of the average office-seeker, or practical politician, +no matter what he wants, to find out early all the possibilities of +the next Presidency; and it is esteemed a superb achievement to be +among the first to pick the man. The number of far-sighted citizens +on the subject of the eligibility of Garfield, as the convention +progressed, grew large. Governor Foster of Ohio did not conceal his +impression that the nomination of Garfield was certain. In his opinion +Sherman was not in the race, and perhaps his judgment to that effect +assisted the formation of the current that finally flooded the +convention. One man, a delegate from Pennsylvania, voted for Garfield +on every ballot, and kept him before the people. I had telegrams from +correspondents of the Cincinnati "Commercial," at Chicago, several +days before the nomination, evidently reflecting Governor Foster's +opinions, and frequently repeated, until the event justified them, +saying Garfield would be the nominee. I was that time slow to +understand the situation, and protested, against putting the +"nonsense" on the wires, in telegrams that after the event were held +to signify lack of sagacity about Garfield. + +The first man who held decidedly Garfield would be nominated was Mr. +Starin of New York, who travelled with Senator Conkling in a special +car from the national capital to the convention, and said on the way +the nomination of Grant was not to be, and that Blaine and Sherman +could not carry off the prize, and that therefore Garfield was to +be the man. He made this point to the Hon. Thomas L. James, the +Postmaster-General in Garfield's cabinet, between Harrisburg and +Chicago. Mr. Blaine regarded beating Grant at Chicago as no loss to +the General and no reflection on him, but rather as the best thing for +him; and that the true policy and purpose was to beat Conkling, who +committed the error in strategy, however gallant the sentiment that +inspired him, of committing himself irretrievably to Grant--and though +the contested votes were all against him, he was unchangeable. +"No angle-worm nomination will take place to-day"--meaning nothing +feeble--was Mr. Conkling's oracular remark the morning of the day when +the Presidential destiny of the occasion was determined. + +The drift toward Garfield was in so many ways announced before the +decisive hour that he could not be insensible of its existence, and he +was greatly disturbed. He said he would "rather be shot with musketry +than nominated" and have Sherman think he had been unfaithful to his +obligations as leader of the forces for him. That Senator Sherman was +offended is well known; but so far as he felt that Garfield had been +to blame, it was due to the gossip, widely disseminated, that Garfield +was personally concerned in working his own "boom." All that was well +threshed out long ago, and there is nothing tangible in it to-day. +The fact is, Garfield could not have worked a personal scheme. He must +have been defeated if he had tried it. A movement on his part of that +kind would have been fatal. On the other hand, if he had got up to +decline to be a candidate, it would have been easy to say that he +was making a nominating speech for himself. It was not particularly +difficult to call Garfield a "traitor," and the temptation to do +it was because he was so sensitive regarding that imputation in +politics--whatever hurts goes. He had no idea of concealing anything, +and told such queer stories as this: + +The morning of his nomination--the fact that this was from Garfield +himself is certain--one of his relatives from Michigan saw him and +said: "Jim, you are going to be nominated to-day. I had a dream about +you last night, and thought I was in the hall and there was something +happening, I could not tell what, when suddenly on every side the +standards of the States [names of the States on staffs locating the +delegations] were pulled from their places, and men ran to where you +were sitting, and waved them over your head." Garfield stated that +this was certainly told him on the way to his breakfast; and after the +nomination the dreamer reappeared and said: "What did I tell you, +Jim? Why, the very thing I saw in my dream last night, I saw in the +convention to-day." + +The inside truth about the nomination was freely given by Mr. Blaine, +who, as the convention progressed, was studying the proceedings with +the surprisingly clear vision he possessed for the estimation of +passing events. He soon made up his mind that his nomination could +not happen, and that Sherman also was impossible. They could not unite +forces without losses. Evidently there was a crisis at hand. There is +something in a convention that always tells the competent observer, +near or far, that decisive action is about to be taken. The evidence +appears of an intolerant impatience. Mr. Conkling was relying upon +the absolute solidity of his three hundred and five. Mr. Blaine was a +wiser man about the force of a tempest in a convention, and would have +preferred Sherman to Conkling. But Conkling was quite as bitter toward +Sherman as regarding Blaine, even more so in his invective; and this +grew out of the custom-house difficulty that ultimately so deeply +affected General Arthur's fortunes. There had to be a break +somewhere--to Grant from Sherman and Blaine, or from him to them, or +a rush to Conkling, or to Garfield, whose conspicuity had constantly +suggested it; and Blaine resolved that the chance to rout the +third-termers was to sweep the convention by going for Garfield, and +overwhelming him with the rest, thus winning a double victory over +Conkling. + +It is a fact, and the one that makes certain the proposition that +Sherman could not have been nominated, that the majority of the Blaine +men from New York, turned loose by breaking the unit rule--there were +nineteen of them--preferred Grant to Sherman. If the break by Blaine +from himself had been attempted, for Sherman, Grant would have been +nominated if one ballot had been decisive. But Blaine was able to +transfer every vote cast for him to Garfield, with the exception +of that of a colored delegate from Virginia; and this movement was +managed so as to overthrow all who strove to stand against it. Grant +was in the lead for thirty-four ballots, but on the thirty-fourth +there were seventeen votes for Garfield. On the thirty-fifth ballot +Garfield had three hundred and ninety-nine votes, twenty-one majority +over all. Blaine by telegraph had outgeneralled Conkling, present and +commanding in person. + +The course of the proceedings of the convention from the first was +a preparation for the final scenes, the putting of Garfield against +Conkling and working up a rivalry between them having a marked effect; +and this was not so much for Garfield as against Conkling. Garfield +grieved to think Sherman would misunderstand him, and was apprehensive +as to the feeling of the New York delegation. "How do your people feel +about this?" Garfield asked a New Yorker, when he had returned to his +hotel the nominee. + +"Well, they feel badly and bitterly," was the reply. + +"Yes," said Garfield, "I suppose they do. It is as Wellington +said, 'next to the sadness of defeat, the saddest moment is that of +victory.'" This remark was quite in Garfield's method and manner. + +Mr. Sherman's failure was made inevitable in this, as in other +conventions, by the strange absence, always observable in New York, of +appreciation of the unparalleled services to the country of his public +labors culminating in the resumption of specie payments. That is the +real secret and chief fault of the convention. + +Ex-Governor Dennison of Ohio appeared at the headquarters of the New +York delegation after the Garfield nomination, and Senator Conkling +greeted him cordially. There Dennison said, so that the whole +delegation heard, that he was the bearer of a message from the +delegation of Ohio, that they would give a solid vote for any man New +York would be pleased to name for Vice-President. "Even," said Senator +Conkling promptly, in his finest cynical way, "if that man should be +Chester A. Arthur?" + +Dennison's answer was, after a moment, "Yes;" and Conkling put the +question of supporting Arthur to a vote, making a motion that he +was the choice of the delegation for the Vice-Presidency, and it was +carried immediately. This was understood to be pretty hard on the Ohio +people, including especially Sherman and Garfield. Of course, under +the lead of New York and Ohio, the convention ratified the motion +of Conkling, and the ticket was Garfield and Arthur. And so ample +preparation was made for the bitterness of the coming time--for the +troubled administration of Garfield and its tragic close. + + +GARFIELD'S ADMINISTRATION. + +There have been limitations upon the candor of all persons who have +undertaken to write the story of the tragedy of the administration of +Garfield, and partisanism in personalities has had too much attention. +Mr. Conkling seemed to be the storm centre, and it was difficult to +deal with him and not to offend him. It is well remembered that in his +speech placing Grant in nomination he quoted Miles O'Reilly: + + If asked what State he hails from, + Our sole reply shall be-- + He comes from Appomattox + And the famous apple tree. + +On the way home, Governor Foster of Ohio, called out at Fort Wayne, +paraphrased the Senator thus: + + If asked what State he hails from, + Our sole reply shall be-- + He comes from old Ohio + And his name is General G. + +This was not startling in any way, but Mr. Conkling had the reputation +of being very much offended by the parody. + +It happens often in war, and sometimes in peace, that newspaper +correspondents send the real news privately to the editor in charge, +and give things as they ought to be in "copy" for the printers. There +are before me private letters written by one well informed of that +which was going on in the capital city of Ohio immediately after the +nomination of Garfield, and a few extracts will turn the light on the +inside of the affairs of the Republicans of the nominee's State at +that time--the news then being too strong for newspapers. + +"July 10.--The plan to have Garfield go through New York to Saratoga +with Logan, Foster, and others has been given up.... Logan and Cameron +are all right, but Conkling refuses to be pacified or conciliated, +unless Garfield will make promises; and that he refuses to do. +Conkling said he'd 'rather had to support Blaine.' Conkling never +called upon Garfield, or returned Garfield's call, or answered +Garfield's note. Sherman has been in cordial consultation with the +committee, and promised to do all he can honorably in his position +[Secretary of the Treasury]. Garfield appears well under fire, and is +a more manly character than ever before. He says no man could be in a +better position for defeat, if he has to get it. His behavior has won +the respect of the workers since the convention." + +"July 11.--They all stand around and watch Conkling as little dogs +watch their master when he is in a bad mood--waiting for him to +graciously smile, and they will jump about with effusive joy. A strong +letter was written urging Conkling, in the most flattering way, +and appealing to him in the most humble manner, to come to Ohio and +deliver a speech in the Cincinnati Music Hall, and promising no end of +thousands of people and bands and guns and things, till you couldn't +rest. I opposed sending such a missive, advocating such a simple +and cordial invitation as it is customary to extend to a leader and +honest, earnest party man. But they looked upon me (probably rightly, +too) as a fool who would rush in where angels fear to tread. And now +Jewell writes that he has not dared to give the letter to Conkling +yet, as he has not 'deemed any moment yet as opportune.' Meanwhile +Conkling and Arthur have gone off on a two or three weeks' fishing +trip. Dorsey humbly and piously hopes Conkling can be induced to make +a speech in Vermont, and if the Almighty happens to take the right +course with him, he may condescend to come to Ohio." + +This is a true picture of the way the campaign opened. Mr. Sherman +said something in an interview that was less cordial than was expected +and caused some temper, but the fault found was not that he was +accusative but reserved. Colonel Dick Thompson made a ringing speech +pledging the Hayes administration without reserve; and that gave +encouragement, and was said to be for a time the only inspiration the +Republicans got to go for Garfield with good will and confidence. + +It was arranged to have General Garfield appear in New York City, and +it was expected that he would there meet Mr. Conkling. There was to be +a consultation of Republicans, and the plan of the campaign perfected. +The question of special exertion in the Southern States was up. The +conference came off, and Mr. Conkling did not attend it. Mr. Arthur +seemed very much grieved about that. Mr. Logan was unwilling to speak +in the presence of reporters, and Mr. Blaine said he would be very +much disappointed if his speech was not reported. Thurlow Weed made +the speech of the occasion. The real object of the meeting was to +bring Garfield and Conkling together without making the fact too +obvious; and the disturbance of the candidate was manifest in his +references to the absent Senator as "my Lord Roscoe." + +"I have," said Garfield next day, "an invitation to make a trip to +Coney Island, and it means that I may there have a pocket interview +with my Lord Roscoe; but if the Presidency is to turn on that, I do +not want the office badly enough to go;" and he did not go. The words +are precisely Garfield's; and the next thing was the journey over the +Erie line, and speeches by Garfield, accompanied by General Harrison +and Governor Kirkwood, at every important place from Paterson to +Jamestown. That the General was capable of warm resentment, this +letter testifies: + + MENTOR, OHIO, _September 20, 1880_. + + I notice ---- is parading through the country devoting himself + to personal assaults upon me. Why do not our people republish + his letter, which a few years ago drove him in disgrace + from the stump, and compelled the Democracy to recall every + appointment then pending? Of all the black sheep that have + been driven from our flock, I know of none blacker than he, + and less entitled to assail any other man's character. + + Very truly yours, + + J.A. GARFIELD. + +The speaking on the line of the Erie road by Garfield, Harrison, and +Kirkwood was of a very high and effective character. The man who did +more to make peace than any other was General Grant. Conkling had a +genuine affection for him, and consented to go with him to Mentor; +and yet there was some trifle always in the way of a complete +understanding with the old guard of the Third-Term Crusaders. + +Garfield was very sensible of and grateful for the work done by Grant +and Conkling, and did not stint expression of his feeling. The State +of New York was carried by the Republicans, and Garfield indisputably +elected President of the United States. There was a vast amount of +worry in making up the cabinet, and Mr. Conkling's hand appeared, +but not with a gesture of conciliation. He and Garfield were of +incompatible temper. Each had mannerisms that irritated the other; and +when they seemed to try to agree, the effort was not a success. + +As soon as the administration was moving the President was under two +fires: one in respect to the attempted reforms in the postal service, +and the other about the New York appointments. Mr. Conkling did not +seem able to understand that anything could be done that was not +according to his pleasure, without personal offence toward himself. +He was a giant, and that was his weakness. It was Garfield's ardent +desire to be friendly with the senior New York Senator; but one +position he avowedly maintained. It was that he was not to blame for +being President of the United States; that he had taken the oath +of office, and was the man responsible to the people for the +administration, and he could not, dare not, shift that obligation; +and, more than that, he must give the "recognition" due friends to +the men who had aided him in breaking down Mr. Conkling's policy at +Chicago. If that was a crime he was a criminal. He was President, and +he would be true to his friends; and surely he should not be expected +to serve another man's purpose by humiliating himself. + +Conkling had taken part in the campaign at last, but that was his duty +at first. It is needless to refer to questions of veracity--to what +practical politicians call "promises." A polite phrase is twisted, +by the many seized with fury to be officers, to mean what is desired, +though it may be but a mere civility--the more marked probably because +the President knows he has only good words to give! There are always +such issues when there is patronage to be distributed, for, of course, +there is dissatisfaction. Everybody cannot be made happy, with or +without civil service reform; and it is no effort, when the President +says "Good morning," and seems to be obliging, and says he will take a +recommendation into consideration and if possible read the papers, +and adds, "I shall be glad to see you again," to say, when he appoints +another to the coveted place, that he has falsified. + +Mr. Conkling's friends relate that he was about to go to the White +House and hold a consultation in which Mr. Arthur and Mr. Platt were +to participate, when he received a telegram in cipher from Governor +Cornell which, when translated, turned out to be an urgent request +that the Senator should vote to confirm Robertson; and that this was +regarded as insulting, and Mr. Conkling refused to go to the White +House, with a burst of scorn about the dispensation of offices! This +is not consistent with the accusations that Garfield was influenced to +be perfidious. There are those who think there would have been peace +if it had not been for that Cornell telegram; but they are of the +manner of mind of the peacemakers of 1861, who thought another +conference would heal all wounded susceptibilities. The source +of discordance was not near the surface; it was in the system of +"patronage" and "recognition," and deep in the characteristics of the +individuals. + +It is not true that Mr. Blaine was fierce for war upon Conkling; he +thought a fight was inevitable, and that the time for the President +to assert himself was at the beginning; and said so. "Fight now if at +all," said Blaine then to Garfield, "for your administration tapers!" +As to his personal wishes, he was often overruled in the cabinet, +and took it complacently. But he was warlike on the point that the +President was entitled to be friendly with his friends, and must not +be personally oppressed. + +One day Mr. Conkling in the Senate had one of the New York +appointments pleasing to him taken up and confirmed, leaving half a +dozen others, about evenly divided between his own and the President's +favorites. Then came a crisis; and it was represented to the President +that he should pull those appointments out of the Senate at once, +before Conkling's power was further exhibited; and that if he did not, +the bootblacks at Willard's would know that the Senator, and not the +President, was first in affairs. The appointments were withdrawn, and +it was perfectly understood that this withdrawal signified that the +President would not allow men to be discriminated against because they +were opposed to Conkling at Chicago. A letter came from General Grant +in Mexico, addressed to Senator Jones of Nevada, and was published, +reflecting upon Garfield's course; and at once the President wrote +to the Old Commander defending his administration. This was done as a +matter of personal respect. General Grosvenor of Ohio happened to be +in the President's room when he mailed a copy of his letter to +General Grant, and read the duplicate that was reserved. It was a very +respectful and decisive statement. This letter was personal to General +Grant, and the rush of events caused it to be reserved and finally +forgotten, except by the few who knew enough of it to value it as an +historical document. + +There were but a few days of the four months between the inauguration +of President Garfield and his assassination that he could be said to +have had any enjoyment out of the great office. It brought him only +bitter cares, venomous criticisms, lurking malice, covert threats +ambushed in demands that were unreasonable if not irrational. He felt +keenly the accusation that he had been nominated when his duty was due +another; and he was aware that friends had given color to accusation +by a zeal that was unseemly. He was pathetic in his anxiety to be very +right; and only the assurance that Conkling was implacable took the +sting out of the haughty presumption he encountered in that severe +gentleman, whose egotism was so lofty it was ever imposing, when it +would have been absurd in any one else. + +During the summer and autumn of the campaign and the winter following, +President Garfield was subject to attacks of acute indigestion that +were distressing; and it was remembered with concern that he had at +Atlantic City suffered from a sunstroke while bathing, and fallen into +an insensible condition for a quarter of an hour. The question whether +his physical condition might not be one of frailty was serious. Then +Mrs. Garfield became ill, and the situation was gloomy. + + +THE GARFIELDS IN THE WHITE HOUSE. + +There was one evening at the White House--just when Mrs. Garfield's +indisposition was at first manifested, and then was only apparent in +a slight chill, that caused a rather unseasonable wood fire to be +lighted--that none of those present can have forgotten; for there +were not many bright hours in the midst of the dismal shadowing of +the drama hastening to the tragic close. Mrs. Garfield was, with the +privilege of an invalid, whose chilly sensation was supposed to +be trivial, seated before the fire, the warmth of which was to her +pleasant; and she was pale but animated, surrounded by a group among +whom were several very dear to her. General Sherman arrived, and +was--as always when his vivacity was kindly, and it was never +otherwise with ladies--fascinating. The scene was brilliant, and had +a charming domestic character. The President was detained for half an +hour beyond the time when he was expected, and came in with a quick +step and hearty manner, and there was soon a flush of pleasure upon +his face, that had been touched with the lines of fatigue, as he saw +how agreeable the company were. A lady, who had never before seen him, +voiced the sentiment of all present, saying in a whisper: "Why, he is +the ideal President! How grand he is! How can they speak about him so? +What a magnificent gentleman he is! Talk about your canal boys!" +He was well dressed, of splendid figure, his coat buttoned over his +massive chest, his dome-like head erect, adequately supported +by immense shoulders, and he looked the President indeed, and an +embodiment of power. He was feeling that the dark days were behind +him, that he was equal to his high fortune, that the world was wide +and fair before him. It was a supreme hour--and only an hour--for the +occasion was informal, and there was a feeling that the lady of the +White House should not be detained from her rest; and the good-night +words were trustful that she would be well next morning; but then she +was in a fever, and after some weeks was taken to Long Branch, and +returned to her husband, called, to find him stricken unto death. + +It happened on the last day of June, 1881, that I stopped in +Washington on the way to New York; and in the evening--it was +Thursday--walked from the Arlington to the White House, and sent my +card to the President, who was out. Then I strolled, passing through +Lafayette Square and sitting awhile there, thoughtful over the +President's troubles, and recalling the long letters I had written to +him at Mentor, urging that Levi P. Morton should be Secretary of the +Treasury, wondering whether things would have been better if that had +been done; for a good deal of the tempest that broke over Garfield was +because he sustained Thomas L. James in postal reforms. The testimony +taken during the trial of Guiteau shows that he was that night in that +square; and, knowing the President had left the White House, was on +the look-out, with intent to murder him. The incarnate sneak was lying +in wait, a horrible burlesque, to take his revenge because he thought +he had been slighted, and was so malignant a fool he believed public +opinion might applaud the deed. One of the dusky figures on the +benches was probably his. + +At the Arlington, a few minutes after ten o'clock, I met +Postmaster-General James; and when told that I was going to New York +in the morning, he asked: "Have you seen the President?" + +I had not, and General James said quite earnestly: "Go over and see +him now;" and he added: "The President, you know, is going to Williams +College the day after to-morrow, and I know he is not going to bed +early, and is not very busy, and will be glad to see you. He and I +have been out dining with Secretary Hunt; and the President left me +here a few minutes ago. Go over and see him. He has had a good deal of +disagreeable business this afternoon relating to my department, and +I am sure he would be glad to talk with you, and have something very +interesting to say." + + +LAST INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT GARFIELD. + +Returning to the White House, arriving there about a quarter before +eleven, after I had waited a few minutes in one of the small parlors, +the President came down the stairs rapidly, and I took note that his +movements were very alert. I had not seen him since the night when +Mrs. Garfield had notice of the illness that had become alarming, and +from which she was now convalescent, and said first: "Mrs. Garfield is +much better?" + +"Yes, much better," said the President, "and getting health out of the +sea air. She has enjoyed it intensely, and will be able to join me day +after to-morrow at Jersey City, on the way to Williams College--the +sweetest old place in the world. Come and go with us; several of the +cabinet are going, and we shall have a rare time; come and go with us. +Have you ever seen the lovely country there?" + +I answered, "No, I have not seen it; and, thanking you for the +invitation, shall not go; have too much to do. You will have a +vacation?" + +"Yes," the President said, "and I am feeling like a schoolboy about +it. You should go. You were along with Harrison, Kirkwood, and me to +Chautauqua, you know. That was a great day's ride. Do you remember +those watermelons? They would have been first-rate if they had been on +ice a few hours." + +"You had a hard day of it," I said; "forty speeches, weren't there? +And you will have another lot of speeches to make." + +He said he did not mind the speeches. + +"And how is your health," I asked; "any more indigestion? Ever try +Billy Florence's remedy, Valentine's meat juice, made in Richmond, +Virginia--great reputation abroad, little at home?" + +He said he had never tried it, had forgotten it. Then, turning with an +air half comic, but with something of earnestness, he said, naming me +by way of start: "You have been holding a sort of autopsy over me ever +since I tumbled over at Atlantic City. I exposed myself there too long +both in the water and in the sun, but it was not so bad as you think." + +I said he might pardon a degree of solicitude, under all the +circumstances, and he said he did not want any premature autopsies +held over him; and I put it that they had much better be premature. +Then the President said, with the greatest earnestness: "I am in +better health--indeed, quite well. It is curious, isn't it? My wife's +sickness cured me. I got so anxious about her I ceased to think about +myself. Both ends of the house were full of trouble. My wife's illness +was alarming, and I thought no more of the pit of my stomach and +the base of my brain and the top of my head; and when she was out of +danger, and my little troubles occurred to me--why, they were gone, +and I have not noticed them since. And so," said the President, +uttering the short words with deliberation, and picking them with +care, "and so, if one could, so to say, unself one's self, what a cure +all that would be!" + +"The other end of the White House is better, is it not?" I asked. + +"Not so much change there," said the President; "but one becomes +accustomed to heavy weather." + +"Lord Roscoe is feeling happier, I hope," said I. + +The President answered, dropping the "Lord Roscoe" comicality, and +speaking rapidly and seriously, with a flush of excitement: "Conkling, +after ten years of absolute despotism in New York--for Grant +did everything for him, and Hayes tried to comfort him--got the +elephantiasis of conceit. We read that gentlemen in Oriental +countries, having that disease in its advanced stage, need a +wheelbarrow or small wagon to aid their locomotion when they go out +to walk--and the population think there is something divine in it. +Conkling thought if he should go on parade in New York, and place the +developments of his vanity fully on exhibition, the whole people would +fall down and worship the phenomenon. But he was mistaken, for they +soon saw it was a plain, old-fashioned case of sore-head." + +Then the President, having exhausted the elephantiasis as a divine +manifestation, expressed regrets that there had been such contentions +among those who should be friends of the administration; and repeated +his view of that which was due to the actual trust the people had +placed in him, and of which he could not honorably divest himself. He +thought the people already understood the case fairly well and would +be more and more of the opinion that he had tried to do the things +that were right, "with malice toward none and charity for all." We +talked until midnight. It was a Friday morning, and the President was +doomed to be shot the next day. The assassin had been on his path that +night. The President had gone out dining for the last time. + +"And you will not go to Williams College with me?" he said. + +I said: "Mr. President, you have forgotten you were assailed for being +in my company to Chautauqua; and I have been so fortunate since as to +gather a fresh crop of enemies, and do not want them to jump on to you +on my account--for there are enough upon you already." + +That, the President said, was "curious and interesting," and he +laughed about my "fresh crop," and said something about cutting hay; +and I told him I had been invited to meet him Saturday night at Cyrus +W. Field's country place, where a dinner party was appointed; and +jumping up, hurried away. The light in the hall shone down on the +President's pale, high forehead, as he walked toward the stairway +leading to his apartments, and I saw him no more. + +Something familiar struck me in the appearance of the watchman at +the door of the White House, and stopping, I said: "Did you hold this +position here in Lincoln's time?" + +"Yes," said he, "I did." + +"And did you not look after his safety sometimes?" + +"I did, indeed," was the answer; "many a time I kept myself between +him and the trees there," pointing to them, "as we walked over to the +War Department to get the news from the armies. I did not know who +might be hidden in the trees, and I would not let him go alone." + +"Did it ever occur to you," I asked, "that it would be worth while to +have a care that no harm happened here?" + +"What, now?" + +"Yes, now." + +"Oh, it is different now--no war now." + +"No," said I, "no war, but people are about who are queer; and there +are ugly excitements; think of it." + +Of course, this conversation at the door of the White House the +midnight morning of the day before the President was shot, is +accounted for by the sensibility that there was a half-suppressed +public uneasiness that could mean some fashion of mischief, and +it might be of a deadly sort to the President, because he was so +formidably conspicuous. Nearly a year afterward, walking by General +Sherman's residence, I saw him sitting under a strong light, with his +back to the street, writing--doors and windows all open. I walked in, +saying: "General, I wouldn't sit with my back to an open window late +at night, under a light like this, if I were you. Some fool will come +along with a bull-dog pistol and the idea that death loves a shining +mark." + +"Pooh!" said the old soldier. "Nobody interested in killing me. They +will let me well alone with their bull-dog pistols." + +The White House shone like marble in the green trees as I drove +from the Arlington to the Potomac depot, July 1st, to take the train +corresponding to the one that had the President's car attached on the +following morning, when he meant to have a holiday of which he had +the most delightful anticipation, as one throwing off a brood of +nightmares. He was going back the President to the scene of his +struggles in early manhood for an education, going to what he called +the "sweetest place in the world," having reached the summit of +ambition, confident in himself, assured of the public good will, happy +to meet his wife restored to health, himself robust and to be, he +thought, hag-ridden no more; rejoicing to meet the dearest of old +friends, kindling with the realization of his superb and commanding +position, glowing with his just pride of place; no heart beating +higher, no imagination that exalted this mighty country more than his, +no brain that conceived with greater splendor the glory of the nation +than his, no American patriotism more true, brighter, broader, deeper, +more abounding than his; and all was shattered at a stroke by a +creature like a crawling serpent with a deadly sting. + +All over the land the flags flew at half mast, and the woful news was +told: "The President is shot!" The man had fallen who, when Lincoln +was murdered, spoke the memorable words from the Treasury building, on +the spot where Washington was inaugurated: "The President is dead--but +God reigns and the Republic lives." There were nearly three months of +torture reserved for the second martyred President, and he bore +them with marvellous fortitude; and then, on a September night, the +throbbing of the bells from Scotland to California told, that the dark +curtain of death had fallen on the tragic drama of the Presidency of +Garfield. + + + + +THE VICTORY OF THE GRAND DUKE OF MITTENHEIM. + +THE LAST ROMANCE OF THE PRINCESS OSRA. + +BY ANTHONY HOPE, + +Author of "The Prisoner of Zenda," "The Dolly Dialogues," etc. + + +King Rudolf, being in the worst of humors, had declared in the +presence of all the court that women were born to plague men and for +no other purpose whatsoever under heaven. Hearing this discourteous +speech, the Princess Osra rose, and said that, for her part, she would +go walking alone by the river outside the city gates, where she +would at least be assailed by no more reproaches. For since she was +irrevocably determined to live and die unmarried, of what use or +benefit was it to trouble her with embassies, courtings, or proposals, +either from the Grand Duke of Mittenheim or anybody else? She was +utterly weary of this matter of love--and her mood would be unchanged, +though this new suitor were as exalted as the King of France, as rich +as Croesus himself, and as handsome as the god Apollo. She did not +desire a husband, and there was an end of it. Thus she went out, while +the queen sighed, and the king fumed, and the courtiers and +ladies said to one another that these dissensions made life very +uncomfortable at Strelsau, the ladies further adding that he would +be a bold man who married Osra, although doubtless she was not +ill-looking. + +To the banks of the river outside the walls then Osra went; and as she +went she seemed to be thinking of nothing at all in the world, least +of all of whom she might chance to meet there on the banks of the +river, where in those busy hours of the day few came. Yet there was a +strange new light in her eyes, and there seemed a new understanding in +her mind; and when a young peasant-wife came by, her baby in her arms, +Osra stopped her, and kissed the child and gave money, and then ran on +in unexplained confusion, laughing and blushing as though she had done +something which she did not wish to be seen. Then, without reason, her +eyes filled with tears; but she dashed them away, and burst suddenly +into singing. And she was still singing when, from the long grass by +the river's edge, a young man sprang up, and, with a very low bow, +drew aside to let her pass. He had a book in his hand, for he was a +student at the University, and came there to pursue his learning in +peace. His plain brown clothes spoke of no wealth or station, though +certainly they set off a stalwart straight shape, and seemed to match +well with his bright brown hair and hazel eyes. Very low this young +man bowed, and Osra bent her head. The pace of her walk slackened, +grew quicker, slackened again; she was past him, and with a great sigh +he lay down again. She turned, he sprang up; she spoke coldly, yet +kindly. + +"Sir," said she, "I cannot but notice that you lie every day here by +the river, with your book, and that you sigh. Tell me your trouble, +and if I can I will relieve it." + +"I am reading, madam," he answered, "of Helen of Troy, and I am +sighing because she is dead." + +"It is an old grief by now," said Osra, smiling. "Will no one serve +you but Helen of Troy?" + +"If I were a prince," said he, "I need not mourn." + +"No, sir?" + +"No, madam," he said, with another bow. + +"Farewell, sir." + +"Madam, farewell." + +So she went on her way, and saw him no more till the next day, nor +after that till the next day following; and then came an interval when +she saw him not, and the interval was no less than twenty-four hours; +yet still he read of Helen of Troy, and still sighed that she was dead +and he no prince. At last he tempted the longed-for question from her +shy, smiling lips. + +"Why would you not mourn, sir, if you were a prince?" said she. "For +princes and princesses have their share of sighs." And with a very +plaintive sigh Osra looked at the rapid-running river, as she waited +for the answer. + +"Because I would then go to Strelsau, and so forget her." + +[Illustration: "FROM THE LONG GRASS BY THE RIVER'S EDGE A YOUNG MAN +SPRANG UP, AND, WITH A VERY LOW BOW, DREW ASIDE TO LET HER PASS."] + +"But you are at Strelsau now!" she cried with wonderful surprise. + +"Ah, but I am no prince, madam!" said he. + +"Can princes alone--forget in Strelsau?" + +"How should a poor student dare to--forget in Strelsau?" And as he +spoke he made bold to step near her, and stood close, looking down +into her face. Without a word she turned and left him, going with a +step that seemed to dance through the meadow and yet led her to her +own chamber, where she could weep in quiet. + +"I know it now, I know it now!" she whispered softly that night to +the tree that rose by her window. "Heigh-ho, what am I to do? I cannot +live; no, and now I cannot die. Ah me! what am I to do? I wish I were +a peasant-girl--but then perhaps he would not--Ah yes, but he would!" +And her low, long laugh rippled in triumph through the night, and +blended with the rustling of the leaves under a summer breeze, and +she stretched her white arms to heaven, imploring the kind God with +prayers that she dared not speak even to His pitiful ear. + +"Love knows no princesses, my princess." It was that she heard as she +fled from him next day. She should have rebuked him. But for that she +must have stayed, and to stay she had not dared. Yet she must rebuke +him. She must see him again in order to rebuke him. Yet all this while +she must be pestered with the court of the Grand Duke of Mittenheim! +And when she would not name a day on which the embassy should come, +the king flew into a passion, and declared that he would himself set +a date for it. Was his sister mad, he asked, that she would do nothing +but walk every day by the river's bank? + +"Surely I must be mad," thought Osra, "for no sane being could be at +once so joyful and so piteously unhappy." + +Did he know what it was he asked? He seemed to know nothing of it. He +did not speak any more now of princesses, only of his princess; nor of +queens, save of his heart's queen; and when his eyes asked love, they +asked as though none would refuse and there could be no cause for +refusal. He would have wooed his neighbor's daughter thus, and thus +he wooed the sister of King Rudolf. "Will you love me?" was his +question--not, "Though you love, yet dare you own you love?" He seemed +to shut the whole world from her, leaving nothing but her and him; +and in a world that held none but her and him she could love unblamed, +untroubled, and with no trembling. + +"You forget who I am," she faltered once. + +"You are the beauty of the world," he answered smiling, and he kissed +her hand--a matter about which she could make no great ado, for it was +not the first time that he had kissed it. + +But the embassy from the Grand Duke was to come in a week, and to +be received with great pomp. The ambassador was already on the way, +carrying proposals and gifts. Therefore Osra went pale and sad down +to the river bank that day, having declared again to the king that she +would live and die unmarried. But the king had laughed again. Surely +she needed kindness and consolation that sad day; but Fate had kept +by her a crowning sorrow, for she found him also almost sad. At least, +she could not tell whether he were sad or not; for he smiled and +yet seemed ill at ease, like a man who ventures a fall with fortune, +hoping and fearing. And he said to her: + +"Madam, in a week I return to my own country." + +She looked at him in silence with lips just parted. For her life she +could not speak; but the sun grew dark, and the river changed its +merry tune to mournful dirges. + +"So the dream ends," said he. "So comes the awakening. But if life +were all a dream!" And his eyes sought hers. + +"Yes," she whispered, "if life were all a dream, sir?" + +"Then I should dream of two dreamers whose dream was one, and in that +dream I should see them ride together at break of day from Strelsau." + +"Whither?" she murmured. + +"To Paradise," said he. "But the dream ends. If it did not end--" He +paused. + +"If it did not end?" a breathless longing whisper echoed. + +"If it did not end now, it should not end even with death," said he. + +"You see them in your dream? You see them riding--" + +"Aye, swiftly, side by side, they two alone, through the morning. None +is near, none knows." + +He seemed to be searching her face for something that yet he scarcely +hoped to find. + +"And their dream," said he, "brings them at last to a small cottage, +and there they live--" + +"They live?" + +[Illustration: "'YOU ARE THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD,' HE ANSWERED +SMILING, AND HE KISSED HER HAND."] + +"And work," he added. "For she keeps his home while he works." + +"What does she do?" asked Osra, with smiling, wondering eyes. + +"She gets his food for him when he comes home weary in the evening, +and makes a bright fire, and--" + +"Ah, and she runs to meet him at the door--oh, further than the door!" + +"But she has worked hard and is weary." + +"No, she is not weary," cried Osra. "It is for him!" + +"The wise say this is silly talk," said he. + +"The wise are fools, then!" cried Osra. + +"So the dream would please you, madam?" he asked. + +She had come not to know how she left him. Somehow, while he still +spoke, she would suddenly escape by flight. He did not pursue, but +let her go. So now she returned to the city, her eyes filled with +that golden dream, and she entered her home as though it had been some +strange palace decked with new magnificence, and she an alien in it. +For her true home seemed now rather in the cottage of the dream, and +she moved unfamiliarly through the pomp that had been hers from birth. +Her soul was gone from it, while her body rested there; and life +stopped for her till she saw him again by the banks of the river. + +"In five days now I go," said he; and he smiled at her. She hid her +face in her hands. Still he smiled; but suddenly he sprang forward, +for she had sobbed. The summons had sounded, he was there; and who +could sob again when he was there and his sheltering arm warded away +all grief? She looked up at him with shining eyes, whispering: + +"Do you go alone?" + +A great joy blazed confidently in his eyes as he whispered in answer: + +"I think I shall not go alone." + +"But how, how?" + +"I have two horses." + +"You! You have two horses?" + +"Yes. Is it not riches? But we will sell them when we get to the +cottage." + +"To the cottage! Two horses!" + +"I would I had but one for both of us." + +"Yes." + +"But we should not go quick enough." + +"No." + +He took his hand from her waist, and stood away from her. + +"You will not come?" he said. + +"If you doubt of my coming, I will not come. Ah, do not doubt of my +coming! For there is a great horde of fears and black thoughts beating +at the door, and you must not open it." + +"And what can keep it shut, my princess?" + +"I think your arm, my prince," said she; and she flew to him. + +That evening King Rudolf swore that if a man were only firm enough, +and kept his temper (which, by the way, the king had not done, though +none dared say no), he could bring any foolish girl to reason in good +time. For in the softest voice, and with the strangest smile flitting +to her face, the Princess Osra was pleased to bid the embassy come on +the fifth day from then. + +"And they shall have their answer then," said she, flushing and +smiling. + +"It is as much as any lady could say," the court declared; and it was +reported through all Strelsau that the match was as good as made, and +that Osra was to be Grand Duchess of Mittenheim. + +"She is a sensible girl, after all," cried Rudolf, all his anger gone. + +The dream began, then, before they came to the cottage. Those days she +lived in its golden mists that shut out all the cold world from her, +moving through space that held but one form, and time that stood still +waiting for one divine unending moment. And the embassy drew near to +Strelsau. + +It was night, the dead of night, and all was still in the palace. But +the sentinel by the little gate was at his post, and the gate-warden +stood by the western gate of the city. Each was now alone, but to +each, an hour ago, a man had come, stealthily and silently through +the darkness, and each was richer by a bag of gold than he had been +before. The gold was Osra's--how should a poor student, whose whole +fortune was two horses, scatter bags of gold? And other gold Osra had, +aye, five hundred crowns. Would not that be a brave surprise for the +poor student? And she, alone of all awake, stood looking round her +room, entranced with the last aspect of it. Over the city also she +looked, but in the selfishness of her joy did no more than kiss a +hasty farewell to the good city folk who loved her. Once she thought +that maybe some day he and she would steal together back to Strelsau, +and, sheltered by some disguise, watch the king ride in splendor +through the streets. But if not--why, what was Strelsau and the people +and the rest? Ah, how long the hours were before those two horses +stood by the little gate, and the sentry and the gate-warden earned +their bags of gold! So she passed the hours--the last long lingering +hours. + +There was a little tavern buried in the narrowest, oldest street of +the city. Here the poor student had lodged; here in the back room a +man sat at a table, and two others stood before him. These two seemed +gentlemen, and their air spoke of military training. They stroked long +mustaches, and smiled with an amusement that deference could not hide. +Both were booted and wore spurs, and the man sitting at the table gave +them orders. + +"You will meet the embassy," he said to one, "about ten o'clock. Bring +it to the place I have appointed, and wait there. Do not fail." + +The officer addressed bowed and retired. A minute later his horse's +hoofs clattered through the streets. Perhaps he also had a bag of +gold, for the gate-warden opened the western gate for him, and he rode +at a gallop along the river banks, till he reached the great woods +that stretch to within ten miles of Strelsau. + +"An hour after we are gone," said the man at the table to the other +officer, "go warily, find one of the king's servants, and give him the +letter. Give no account of how you came by it, and say nothing of who +you are. All that is necessary is in the letter. When you have given +it, return here, and remain in close hiding till you hear from me +again." + +The second officer bowed. The man at the table rose, and went out into +the street. He took his way to where the palace rose, and then skirted +along the wall of its gardens till he came to the little gate. Here +stood two horses and at their heads a man. + +"It is well. You can go," said the student; and he was left alone +with the horses. They were good horses for a student to possess. The +thought perhaps crossed their owner's mind, for he laughed softly as +he looked at them. Then he also fell to thinking that the hours were +long; and a fear came suddenly upon him that she would not come. It +was in these last hours that doubts crept in, and she was not there to +drive them away. Would the great trial fail? Would she shrink at the +last? But he would not think it of her, and he was smiling again, when +the clock of the cathedral struck two, and told him that no more than +one hour now parted her from him. For she would come; the princess +would come to him, the student, led by the vision of that cottage in +the dream. + +Would she come? She would come; she had risen from her knees, and +moved to and fro, in cautious silence, making her last preparations. +She had written a word of farewell for the brother she loved--for some +day, of course, Rudolf would forgive her--and she had ready all that +she took with her--the five hundred crowns, one ring that she would +give her lover, some clothes to serve till his loving labor furnished +more. That night she had wept, and she had laughed; but now she +neither wept nor laughed, but there was a great pride in her face and +gait. And she opened the door of her room, and walked down the great +staircase, under the eyes of crowned kings who hung framed upon the +walls. And as she went she seemed indeed their daughter. For her head +was erect and her eye set firm in haughty dignity. Who dared to say +that she did anything that a king's daughter should not do? Should not +a woman love? Love should be her diadem. And so with this proud step +she came through the gardens of the palace, looking neither to right +nor left nor behind, but with her face set straight for the little +gate, and she walked as she had been accustomed to walk when all +Strelsau looked on her and hailed her as its glory and its darling. + +The sentry slept, or seemed to sleep. Her face was not even veiled +when she opened the little gate. She would not veil her proud face. +It was his to look on now when he would; and thus she stood for an +instant in the gateway, while he sprang to her, and, kneeling, carried +her hand to his lips. + +"You are come?" he cried; for though he had believed, yet he wondered. + +"I am come," she smiled. "Is not the word of a princess sure? Ah, how +could I not come?" + +"See, love," said he, rising, "day dawns in royal purple for you, and +golden love for me." + +"The purple is for my king, and the love for me," she whispered, as he +led her to her horse. "Your fortune!" said she, pointing to them. +"But I also have brought a dowry--fancy, five hundred crowns!" and +her mirth and happiness burst out in a laugh. It was so deliciously +little, five hundred crowns! + +She was mounted now, and he stood by her. + +"Will you turn back?" he said. + +"You shall not make me angry," said she. "Come, mount." + +"Aye, I must mount," said he. "For if we were found here the king +would kill me." + +For the first time the peril of their enterprise seemed to strike, +into her mind, and turned her cheek pale. + +"Ah, I forgot! In my happiness I forgot. Mount, mount! Oh, if he found +you!" + +He mounted. Once they clasped hands; then they rode swiftly for the +western gate. + +"Veil your face," he said; and since he bade her, she obeyed, saying: + +"But I can see you through the veil." + +The gate stood open, and the gate-warden was not there. They were out +of the city; the morning air blew cold and pure from the meadows along +the river. The horses stretched into an eager gallop. And Osra tore +her veil from her face, and turned on him eyes of radiant triumph. + +"It is done," she cried; "it is done!" + +"Yes, it is done, my princess," said he. + +"And--and it is begun, my prince," said she. + +"Yes, and it is begun," said he. + +She laughed aloud in absolute joy, and for a moment he also laughed. + +But then his face grew grave, and he said: + +"I pray you may never grieve for it." + +She looked at him with eyes wide in wonder; for an instant she seemed +puzzled, but then she fell again to laughing. + +"Grieve for it!" said she between her merry laughs. + +King Rudolf was a man who lay late in the morning; and he was not well +pleased to be roused when the clock had but just struck four. Yet he +sat up in his bed readily enough, for he imagined that the embassy +from the Grand Duke of Mittenheim must be nearer than he had thought, +and, sooner than fail in any courtesy towards the prince whose +alliance he ardently desired, he was ready to submit to much +inconvenience. But his astonishment was great when, instead of any +tidings from the embassy, one of his gentlemen handed him a +letter, saying that a servant had received it from a stranger with +instructions to carry it at once to the king. When asked if any answer +were desired from his majesty, the stranger had answered, "Not through +me," and at once turned away, and quickly disappeared. The king, with +a peevish oath at having been roused for such a trifle, broke the seal +and fastenings of the letter, and opened it; and he read: + +"Sire--Your sister does not wait for the embassy, but chooses her own +lover. She has met a student of the University every day for the last +three weeks by the river bank." (The king started.) "This morning she +has fled with him on horseback along the western road. If you desire a +student for a brother-in-law, sleep again. If not, up and ride. Do not +doubt these tidings." + +There was no signature to the letter; yet the king, knowing his +sister, cried: + +"See whether the princess is in the palace. And in the meanwhile +saddle my horse, and let a dozen of the guard be at the gate." + +The princess was not in the palace; but her woman found the letter +that she had left, and brought it to the king. And the king read: +"Brother, whom I love best of all men in the world save one, I have +left you to go with that one. You will not forgive me now, but some +day forgive me. Nay, it is not I who have done it, but my love which +is braver than I. He is the sweetest gentleman alive, brother, and +therefore he must be my lord. Let me go, but still love me--Osra." + +"It is true," said the king. "And the embassy will be here to-day." +And for a moment he seemed dazed. Yet he spoke nothing to anybody of +what the letters contained, but sent word to the queen's apartments +that he went riding for pleasure. And he took his sword and his +pistols; for he swore that by his own hand, and that of no other man, +this sweetest gentleman alive should meet his death. But all, knowing +that the princess was not in the palace, guessed that the king's +sudden haste concerned her; and great wonder and speculation rose in +the palace, and presently, as the morning advanced, spread from the +palace to its environs, and from the environs to the rest of the city. +For it was reported that a sentinel that had stood guard that night +was missing, and that the gate-warden of the western gate was nowhere +to be found, and that a mysterious letter had come by an unknown hand +to the king, and lastly, that Princess Osra--their princess--was +gone; whether by her own will or by some bold plot of seizure and +kidnapping, none knew. Thus a great stir grew in all Strelsau, and men +stood about the street gossiping when they should have gone to work, +while women chattered in lieu of sweeping their houses and dressing +their children. So that when the king rode out of the courtyard of the +palace at a gallop, with twelve of the guard behind, he could hardly +make his way through the streets for the people who crowded round him, +imploring him to tell them where the princess was. When the king saw +that the matter had thus become public, his wrath was greater still, +and he swore again that the student of the University should pay the +price of life for his morning ride with the princess. And when he +darted through the gate, and set his horse straight along the western +road, many of the people, neglecting all their business, as folk will +for excitement's sake, followed him as they best could, agog to see +the thing to its end. + +"The horses are weary," said the student to the princess, "we must let +them rest; we are now in the shelter of the wood." + +"But my brother may pursue you," she urged; "and if he came up with +you--ah, heaven forbid!" + +[Illustration: "'LISTEN!' SHE CRIED, SPRINGING TO HER FEET. 'THEY ARE +HORSES' HOOFS'.... AND SHE CAUGHT HIM BY THE HAND, AND PULLED HIM TO +HIS FEET."] + +"He will not know you have gone for another three hours," smiled he. +"And here is a green bank where we can rest." + +So he aided her to dismount; then, saying he would tether the horses, +he led them away some distance, so that she could not see where he had +posted them; and he returned to her, smiling still. Then he took +from his pocket some bread, and, breaking the loaf in two, gave her +one-half, saying: + +"There is a spring just here; so we shall have a good breakfast." + +"Is this your breakfast?" she asked, with a wondering laugh. Then +she began to eat, and cried directly, "How delicious this bread is! +I would have nothing else for breakfast;" and at this the student +laughed. + +Yet Osra ate little of the bread she liked so well; and presently she +leaned against her lover's shoulder, and he put his arm round her; and +they sat for a little while in silence, listening to the soft sounds +that filled the waking woods as day grew to fulness and the sun beat +warm through the sheltering foliage. + +"Don't you hear the trees?" Osra whispered to her lover. "Don't you +hear them? They are whispering for me what I dare not whisper." + +"What is it they whisper, sweet?" he asked; and he himself did no more +than whisper. + +"The trees whisper, 'Love, love, love.' And the wind--don't you hear +the wind murmuring, 'Love, love, love'? And the birds sing, 'Love, +love, love.' Aye, all the world to-day is softly whispering, 'Love, +love, love!' What else should the great world whisper but my love? For +my love is greater than the world." And she suddenly hid her face in +her hands; and he could kiss no more than her hands, though her eyes +gleamed at him from between slim white fingers. + +But suddenly her hands dropped, and she leaned forward as though she +listened. + +"What is that sound?" she asked, apprehension dawning in her eyes. + +"It is but another whisper, love!" said he. + +"Nay, but it sounds to me like--ah, like the noise of horses +galloping." + +"It is but the stream, beating over stones." + +"Listen, listen, listen!" she cried, springing to her feet. "They are +horses' hoofs. Ah, merciful God, it is the king!" And she caught him +by the hand, and pulled him to his feet, looking at him with a face +pale and alarmed. + +"Not the king," said he; "he would not know yet. It is some one else. +Hide your face, dear lady, and all will be well." + +"It is the king," she cried. "Hark how they gallop on the road! It is +my brother. Love, he will kill you; love, he will kill you!" + +"If it is the king," said he, "I have been betrayed." + +"The horses, the horses!" she cried. "By your love for me, the +horses!" + +He nodded his head, and, turning, disappeared among the trees. She +stood with clasped hands, heaving breast, and fearful eyes, awaiting +his return. Minutes passed, and he came not. She flung herself on her +knees, beseeching heaven for his life. At last he came along alone, +and he bent over her, taking her hand. + +"My love," said he, "the horses are gone." + +"Gone!" she cried, gripping his hand. + +"Aye. This love, my love, is a wonderful thing. For I forgot to tie +them, and they are gone. Yet what matter? For the king--yes, sweet, I +think now it is the king--will not be here for some minutes yet, and +those minutes I have still for love and life." + +"He will kill you!" she said. + +"Yes," said he. + +She looked long in his eyes; then she threw her arms about his neck, +and, for the first time unasked, covered his face with kisses. + +"Kiss me, kiss me," said she; and he kissed her. Then she drew back +a little, but took his arm and set it round her waist. And she drew a +little knife from her girdle, and showed it him. + +"If the king will not pardon us and let us love one another, I also +will die," said she; and her voice was quiet and happy. "Indeed, my +love, I should not grieve. Ah, do not tell me to live without you!" + +"Would you obey?" he asked. + +"Not in that," said she. + +And thus they stood silent, while the sound of the hoofs drew very +near. But she looked up at him, and he looked at her; then she looked +at the point of the little dagger, and she whispered: + +"Keep your arm round me till I die." + +He bent his head, and kissed her once again, saying: + +"My princess, it is enough." + +And she, though she did not know why he smiled, yet smiled back at +him. For although life was sweet that day, yet such a death, with him +and to prove her love for him, seemed well-nigh as sweet. And thus +they awaited the coming of the king. + + + + +II. + + +King Rudolf and his guards far out-stripped the people who pursued +them from the city; and when they came to the skirts of the wood, +they divided themselves into four parties, since, if they went all +together, they might easily miss the fugitives whom they sought. Of +these four parties, one found nothing; another found the two horses +which the student himself, who had hidden them, failed to find; the +third party had not gone far before they caught sight of the lovers, +though the lovers did not see them; and two of them remained to watch +and, if need be, to intercept any attempted flight, while the third +rode off to find the king and bring him where Osra and the student +were, as he had commanded. + +But the fourth party, with which the king was, though it did not find +the fugitives, found the embassy from the Grand Duke of Mittenheim; +and the ambassador, with all his train, was resting by the roadside, +seeming in no haste at all to reach Strelsau. When the king suddenly +rode up at great speed and came upon the embassy, an officer +that stood by the ambassador--whose name was Count Sergius of +Antheim--stooped down and whispered in his excellency's ear, upon +which he rose and advanced towards the king, uncovering his head and +bowing profoundly. For he chose to assume that the king had ridden to +meet him out of excessive graciousness and courtesy towards the Grand +Duke; so that he began, to the impatient king's infinite annoyance, to +make a very long and stately speech, assuring his majesty of the great +hope and joy with which his master awaited the result of the embassy; +for, said he, since the king was so zealous in his cause, his master +could not bring himself to doubt of success, and therefore most +confidently looked to win for his bride the most exalted and lovely +lady in the world, the peerless Princess Osra, the glory of the court +of Strelsau, and the brightest jewel in the crown of the king, her +brother. And having brought this period to a prosperous conclusion, +Count Sergius took breath, and began another that promised to be fully +as magnificent and not a whit less long. So that, before it was well +started, the king smote his hand on his thigh and roared: + +"Heavens, man, while you're making speeches, that rascal is carrying +off my sister!" + +Count Sergius, who was an elderly man of handsome presence and great +dignity, being thus rudely and strangely interrupted, showed great +astonishment and offence; but the officer by him covered his mouth +with his hand to hide a smile. For the moment that the king had spoken +these impetuous words he was himself overwhelmed with confusion; for +the last thing that he wished the Grand Duke's ambassador to know was +that the princess whom his master courted had run away that morning +with a student of the University of Strelsau. Accordingly he began, +very hastily, and with more regard for prudence than for truth, to +tell Count Sergius how a noted and bold criminal had that morning +swooped down on the princess as she rode unattended outside the city, +and carried her off--which seemed to the ambassador a very strange +story. But the king told it with great fervor, and he besought the +count to scatter his attendants all through the wood, and seek the +robber. Yet he charged them not to kill the man themselves, but to +keep him till he came. "For I have sworn to kill him with my own +hand," he cried. + +Now Count Sergius, however much astonished he might be, could do +nothing but accede to the king's request, and he sent off all his +men to scour the woods, and, mounting his horse, himself set off with +them, showing great zeal in the king's service, but still thinking the +king's story a very strange one. Thus the king was left alone with his +two guards and with the officer who had smiled. + +"Will you not go also, sir?" asked the king. + +But at this moment a man galloped up at furious speed, crying: + +"We have found them, sire, we have found them!" + +"Then he hasn't five minutes to live!" cried the king in fierce joy; +and he lugged out his sword, adding: "The moment I set my eyes on him, +I will kill him. There is no need for words between me and him." + +At this speech the face of the officer grew suddenly grave and +alarmed; and he put spurs to his horse, and hastened after the king, +who had at once dashed away in the direction in which the man had +pointed. But the king had got a start and kept it; so that the officer +seemed terribly frightened, and muttered to himself: + +"Heaven send that he does not kill him before he knows!" And he added +some very impatient words concerning the follies of princes, and, +above all, of princes in love. + +Thus, while the ambassador and his men searched high and low for +the noted robber, and the king's men hunted for the student of the +University, the king, followed by two of his guard at a distance +of about fifty yards (for his horse was better than theirs), came +straight to where Osra and her lover stood together. And a few yards +behind the guards came the officer; and he also had by now drawn his +sword. But he rode so eagerly that he overtook and passed the king's +guards, and got within thirty yards of the king by the time that the +king was within twenty of the lovers. But the king let him get no +nearer, for he dug his spurs again into his horse's side, and the +horse bounded forward, while the king cried furiously to his sister, +"Stand away from him!" The princess did not heed, but stood in front +of her lover (for the student was wholly unarmed), holding up the +little dagger in her hand. The king laughed scornfully and angrily, +thinking that Osra menaced him with the weapon, and not supposing that +it was herself for whom she destined it. And, having reached them, the +king leaped from his horse and ran at them, with his sword raised to +strike. Osra gave a cry of terror. "Mercy!" she cried. "Mercy!" But +the king had no thought of mercy, and he would certainly then and +there have killed her lover had not the officer, gaining a moment's +time by the king's dismounting, at this very instant come galloping +up; and, there being no time for any explanation, he leaned from his +saddle as he dashed by, and, putting out his hand, snatched the king's +sword away from him, just as the king was about to thrust it through +his sister's lover. + +But the officer's horse was going so furiously that he could not stop +it for hard on forty yards, and he narrowly escaped splitting his head +against a great bough that hung low across the grassy path; and +he dropped first his own sword and then the king's; but at last he +brought the horse to a standstill, and, leaping down, ran back towards +where the swords lay. But at the moment the king also ran towards +them; for the fury that he had been in before was as nothing to that +which now possessed him. After his sword was snatched from him he +stood in speechless anger for a full minute, but then had turned to +pursue the man who had dared to treat him with such insult. And +now, in his desire to be at the officer, he had come very near to +forgetting the student. Just as the officer came to where the king's +sword lay, and picked it up, the king, in his turn, reached the +officer's sword and picked up that. The king came with a rush at the +officer, who, seeing that the king was likely to kill him, or he the +king, if he stood his ground, turned tail and sped away at the top of +his speed through the forest. But as he went, thinking that the time +had come for plain speaking, he looked back over his shoulder and +shouted: + +"Sire, it's the Grand Duke himself!" + +The king stopped short in sudden amazement. + +"Is the man mad?" he asked. "Who is the Grand Duke?" + +"It's the Grand Duke, sir, who is with the princess. And you would +have killed him if I had not snatched your sword," said the officer; +and he also came to a halt, but he kept a very wary eye on King +Rudolf. + +"I should certainly have killed him, let him be who he will," said the +king. "But why do you call him the Grand Duke?" + +The officer very cautiously approached the king, and, seeing that the +king made no threatening motion, he at last trusted himself so close +that he could speak to the king in a very low voice; and what he +said seemed to astonish, please, and amuse the king immensely. For he +clapped the officer on the back, laughed heartily, and cried: + +"A pretty trick! On my life, a pretty trick!" + +Now Osra and her lover had not heard what the officer had shouted to +the king, and when Osra saw her brother returning from among the trees +alone and with his sword, she still supposed that her lover must die; +and she turned and flung her arms round his neck, and clung to him for +a moment, kissing him. Then she faced the king, with a smile on her +face and the little dagger in her hand. But the king came up, wearing +a scornful smile, and he asked her: + +"What is the dagger for, my wilful sister?" + +"For me, if you kill him," said she. + +"You would kill yourself, then, if I killed him?" + +"I would not live a moment after he was dead." + +"Faith, it is wonderful!" said the king with a shrug. "Then plainly, +if you cannot live without him, you must live with him. He is to be +your husband, not mine. Therefore, take him, if you will." + +When Osra heard this, which indeed for joy and wonder she could hardly +believe, she dropped her knife, and, running forward, fell on her +knees before her brother, and, catching his hand, she covered it with +kisses, and her tears mingled with her kisses. But the king let her go +on, and stood over her, laughing and looking at the student. Presently +the student began to laugh also, and he had just advanced a step +towards King Rudolf, when Count Sergius of Antheim, the Grand Duke's +ambassador, came out from among the trees, riding hotly and with +great zeal after the noted robber. But no sooner did the count see the +student than he stopped his horse, leaped down with a cry of wonder, +and, running up to the student, bowed very low and kissed his hand. +So that when Osra looked round from her kissing of her brother's hand, +she beheld the Grand Duke's ambassador kissing the hand of her lover. +She sprang to her feet in wonder. + +"Who are you?" she cried to the student, running in between him and +the ambassador. + +"Your lover and servant," said he. + +"And besides?" she said. + +"Why, in a month, your husband," laughed the king, taking her lover by +the hand. + +He clasped the king's hand, but turned at once to her, and said +humbly: + +"Alas, I have no cottage!" + +"Who are you?" she whispered to him. + +"The man for whom you were ready to die, my princess. Is it not +enough?" + +"Yes, it is enough," said she; and she did not repeat her question. +But the king, with a short laugh, turned on his heel, and took Count +Sergius by the arm and walked off with him; and presently they met the +officer and learned fully how the Grand Duke had come to Strelsau, and +how he had contrived to woo and win the Princess Osra, and finally to +carry her off from the palace. + +It was an hour later when the whole of the two companies, that of the +king and that of the ambassador, were all gathered together again, and +had heard the story; so that when the king went to where Osra and +the Grand Duke walked together among the trees, and, taking each by +a hand, led them out, they were greeted with a great cheer; and they +mounted their horses, which the Grand Duke now found without any +difficulty--although when the need of them seemed far greater the +student could not contrive to come upon them--and the whole company +rode together out of the wood and along the road towards Strelsau, the +king being full of jokes and hugely delighted with a trick that suited +his merry fancy. But before they had ridden far, they met the great +crowd which had come out from Strelsau to learn what had happened to +the Princess Osra. And the king cried out that the Grand Duke was to +marry the princess, while his guards who had been with him and the +ambassador's people spread themselves among the crowd and told the +story. And when they heard it, the Strelsau folk were nearly beside +themselves with amusement and delight, and thronged round Osra, +kissing her hands and blessing her. But the king drew back, and let +her and the Grand Duke ride alone together, while he followed with +Count Sergius. Thus, moving at a very slow pace, they came in the +forenoon to Strelsau; but some one had galloped on ahead with the +news, and the cathedral bells had been set ringing, the streets were +full, and the whole city given over to excitement and rejoicing. All +the men were that day in love with Princess Osra; and, what is more, +they told their sweethearts so, and these found no other revenge than +to blow kisses and fling flowers at the Grand Duke as he rode past +with Osra by his side. Thus they came back to the palace whence they +had fled in the early gleams of that morning's light. + +It was evening, and the moon rose, fair and clear, over Strelsau. In +the streets there were sounds of merriment and rejoicing; for every +house was bright with light, and the king had sent out meat and +wine for every soul in the city, that none might be sad or hungry or +thirsty in all the city that night; so that there was no small +uproar. The king himself sat in his armchair, toasting the bride and +bride-groom in company with Count Sergius of Antheim, whose dignity, +somewhat wounded by the trick his master had played upon him, was +healing quickly under the balm of King Rudolf's graciousness. And the +king said to Count Sergius: + +"My lord, were you ever in love?" + +"I was, sire," said the count. + +"So was I," said the king. "Was it with the countess, my lord?" + +Count Sergius's eyes twinkled demurely; but he answered: + +"I take it, sire, that it must have been with the countess." + +"And I take it," said the king, "that it must have been with the +queen." + +Then they both laughed, and then they both sighed; and the king, +touching the count's elbow, pointed out to the terrace of the palace, +on to which the room where they were opened. For Princess Osra and her +lover were walking up and down together on this terrace. And the two +shrugged their shoulders, smiling. + +[Illustration: "HE LEANED FROM HIS SADDLE AS HE DASHED BY, AND ... +SNATCHED THE KING'S SWORD AWAY FROM HIM, JUST AS THE KING WAS ABOUT TO +THRUST IT THROUGH HIS SISTER'S LOVER."] + +"With him," remarked the king, "it will have been with--" + +"The countess, sire," discreetly interrupted Count Sergius of Antheim. + +"Why, yes, the countess," said the king; and, with a laugh, they +turned bank to their wine. + +But the two on the terrace also talked. + +"I do not yet understand it," said Princess Osra. "For on the first +day I loved you, and on the second I loved you, and on the third, and +the fourth, and every day I loved you. Yet the first day was not like +the second, nor the second like the third, nor any day like any other. +And to-day, again, is unlike them all. Is love so various and full of +changes?" + +"Is it not?" he asked with a smile. "For while you were with the +queen, talking of I know not what--" + +"Nor I, indeed," said Osra hastily. + +"I was with the king, and he, saying that forewarned was forearmed, +told me very strange and pretty stories. Of some a report had reached +me before--" + +"And yet you came to Strelsau?" + +"While of others, I had not heard." + +"Or you would not have come to Strelsau?" + +The Grand Duke, not heeding these questions, proceeded to his +conclusion: + +"Love, therefore," said he, "is very various. For M. de Mérosailles--" + +"These are old stories," cried Osra, pretending to stop her ears. + +"Loved in one way, and Stephen the Smith in another, and--the Miller +of Hofbau in a third." + +"I think," said Osra, "that I have forgotten the Miller of Hofbau. But +can one heart love in many different ways? I know that different men +love differently." + +"But cannot one heart love in different ways?" he smiled. + +"May be," said Osra thoughtfully, "one heart can have loved." But then +she suddenly looked up at him with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. +"No, no," she cried; "it was not love. It was--" + +"What was it?" + +"The courtiers entertained me till the king came," she said with a +blushing laugh. And looking up at him again, she whispered: "Yet I am +glad that you lingered for a little." + +At this moment she saw the king come out on to the terrace, and +with him was the Bishop of Modenstein; and after the bishop had been +presented to the Grand Duke, the king began to talk with the Grand +Duke, while the bishop kissed Osra's hand and wished her joy. + +"Madam," said he, "once you asked me if I could make you understand +what love was. I take it you have no need for my lessons now. Your +teacher has come." + +"Yes, he has come," she said gently, looking on the bishop with great +friendliness. "But tell me, will he always love me?" + +"Surely he will," answered the bishop. + +"And tell me," said Osra, "shall I always love him?" + +"Surely," said the bishop again, most courteously. "Yet, indeed, +madam," he continued, "it would seem almost enough to ask of Heaven to +love now and now to be loved. For the years roll on, and youth goes, +and even the most incomparable beauty will yield its blossoms when +the season wanes; yet that sweet memory may ever be fresh and young, +a thing a man can carry to his grave and raise as her best monument on +his lady's tomb." + +"Ah, you speak well of love," said she. "I marvel that you speak so +well of love. For it is as you say; and to-day in the wood it seemed +to me that I had lived enough, and that even Death was but Love's +servant as Life is, both purposed solely for his better ornament." + +"Men have died because they loved you, madam, and some yet live who +love you," said the bishop. + +"And shall I grieve for both, my lord--or for which?" + +"For neither, madam; for the dead have gained peace, and they who live +have escaped forgetfulness." + +"But would they not be happier for forgetting?" + +"I do not think so," said the bishop; and, bowing low to her again, he +stood back, for he saw the king approaching with the Grand Duke; and +the king took him by the arm, and walked on with him; but Osra's face +lost the brief pensiveness that had come upon it as she talked with +the bishop, and, turning to her lover, she stretched out her hands to +him, saying: + +"I wish there was a cottage, and that you worked for bread, while I +made ready for you at the cottage, and then ran far, far, far, down +the road to watch and wait for your coming." + +"Since a cottage was not too small, a palace will not be too large," +said he, catching her in his arms. + +Thus the heart of Princess Osra found its haven and its rest; for a +month later she was married to the Grand Duke of Mittenheim in the +cathedral of Strelsau, having utterly refused to take any other place +for her wedding. And again she and he rode forth together through the +western gate; and the king rode with them on their way till they came +to the woods. Here he paused, and all the crowd that accompanied him +stopped also; and they all waited till the sombre depths of the glades +hid Osra and her lover from their sight. Then, leaving them thus +riding together to their happiness, the people returned home, sad for +the loss of their darling princess. But, for consolation, and that +their minds might less feel her loss, they had her name often on their +lips; and the poets and story-tellers composed many stories about +her, not always grounded on fact, but the fabric of idle imaginings, +wrought to please the fancy of lovers or to wake the memories of older +folk. So that, if a stranger goes now to Strelsau, he may be pardoned +if it seem to him that all mankind was in love with Princess Osra. +Nay, and those stories so pass all fair bounds that, if you listened +to them, you would come near to believing that the princess also had +found some love for all the men who had given her their love. Thus to +many she is less a woman that once lived and breathed than some sweet +image under whose name they fondly group all the virtues and the +charms of her whom they love best, each man fashioning for himself +from his own chosen model her whom he calls his princess. Yet it +may be that for some of them who so truly loved her, her heart had a +moment's tenderness. Who shall tell all the short-lived dreams that +come and go, the promptings and stirrings of a vagrant inclination? +And who would pry too closely into these secret matters? May we not +more properly give thanks to heaven that the thing is as it is? For +surely it makes greatly for the increase of joy and entertainment +in the world, and of courtesy and true tenderness, that the heart of +Princess Osra--or of what lady you may choose, sir, to call by her +name--should flutter in pretty hesitation here and there and to and +fro a little, before it flies on a straight swift wing to its destined +and desired home. And if you be not the prince for your princess, why, +sir, your case is a sad one. + + + + +CHAPTERS FROM A LIFE. + +BY ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS, + +Author of "The Gates Ajar," "The Madonna of the Tubs," etc + +EMERSON IN ANDOVER.--RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY RELIGIOUS TRAINING.--THE +STUDIES OF A PROFESSOR'S DAUGHTER.--THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR. + + +Perhaps no one has ever denied, or more definitely, has ever wished +to deny, that Andover society consisted largely of people with obvious +religious convictions; and that her visitors were chiefly of the +Orthodox Congregational turn of mind. I do not remember that we ever +saw any reason for regret in this "feature" of the Hill. It is true, +however, that a dash of the world's people made their way among us. + +I remember certain appearances of Ralph Waldo Emerson. If I am correct +about it, he had been persuaded by some emancipated and daring mind to +give us several lectures. + +He was my father's guest on one of these occasions, and I met him for +the first time then. Emerson was--not to speak disrespectfully--in +a much muddled state of his distinguished mind, on Andover Hill. His +blazing seer's gaze took us all in, politely; it burned straight on, +with its own philosophic fire; but it wore, at moments, a puzzled +softness. + +His clear-cut, sarcastic lips sought to assume the well-bred curves of +conformity to the environment of entertainers who valued him so far +as to demand a series of his own lectures; but the cynic of his +temperamental revolt from us, or, to be exact, from the thing which he +supposed us to be, lurked in every line of his memorable face. + +By the way, what a look of the eagle it had! + +[Illustration: RALPH WALDO EMERSON.] + +The poet--I was about to say the pagan poet--quickly recognized, to +a degree, that he was not among a group of barbarians; and I remember +the marked respect with which he observed my father's noble head and +countenance, and the attention with which he listened to the low, +perfectly modulated voice of his host. But Mr. Emerson was accustomed +to do the talking himself; this occasion proved no exception; and +here his social divination or experience failed him a little. Quite +promptly, I remember, he set adrift upon the sea of Alcott. + +Now, we had heard of Mr. Alcott in Andover, it is true, but we did not +look upon him exactly through Mr. Emerson's marine-glass; and, though +the Professor did his hospitable best to sustain his end of the +conversation, it swayed off gracefully into monologue. We listened +deferentially while the philosopher pronounced Bronson Alcott the +greatest mind of our day--I think he said the greatest since Plato. +He was capable of it, in moments of his own exaltation. I thought I +detected a twinkle in my father's blue eye; but the fine curve of his +lips remained politely closed; and our distinguished guest spoke on. + +There was something noble about this ardent way of appreciating his +friends, and Emerson was distinguished for it, among those who knew +him well. + +Publishers understood that his literary judgment was touchingly warped +by his personal admirations. He would offer some impossible MS. as the +work of dawning genius; it would be politely received, and filed in +the rejected pigeon-holes. Who knows what the great man thought when +his friend's poem failed to see the light of the market? + +On this particular occasion, the conversation changed to Browning. +Now, the Professor, although as familiar as he thought it necessary to +be with the latest poetic idol, was not a member of a Browning +class; and here, again, his attitude towards the subject was one of +well-mannered respect, rather than of abandoned enthusiasm. (Had +it only been Wordsworth!) A lady was present, young, and of the +Browningesque temperament. Mr. Emerson expressed himself finely to +the effect that there was something outside of ourselves about +Browning--that we might not always grasp him--that he seemed, at +times, to require an extra sense. + +"Is it not because he touches our extra moods?" asked the lady. The +poet's face turned towards her quickly; he had not noticed her before; +a subtle change touched his expression, as if he would have liked +to say: For the first time since this subject was introduced in this +Calvinistic drawing-room, I find myself understood. + +It chanced that we had a Chaucer Club in Andover at that time; a small +company, severely selected, not to flirt or to chat, but to work. We +had studied hard for a year, and most of us had gone Chaucer mad. +This present writer was the unfortunate exception to that idolatrous +enthusiasm, and--meeting Mr. Emerson at another time--took modest +occasion in answer to a remark of his to say something of the sort. + +"Chaucer interests me, certainly, but I cannot make myself feel as the +others do. He does not take hold of my nature. He is too far back. I +am afraid I am too much of a modern. It is a pity, I know." + +"It _is_ a pity," observed Mr. Emerson sarcastically. "What would +you read? The 'Morning Advertiser'?" The Chaucer Club glared at me in +what, I must say, I felt to be unholy triumph. + +Not a glance of sympathy reached me, where I sat, demolished before +the rebuke of the great man. I distinctly heard a chuckle from a +feminine member. Yet, what had the dissenter done, or tried to do? To +be quite honest, only, in a little matter where affectation would +have been the flowery way; and I must say that I have never loved the +Father of English Poetry any better for this episode. + +The point, however, at which I am coming is the effect wrought upon +Mr. Emerson's mind by the history of that club. It seemed to us +disproportionate to the occasion that he should feel and manifest so +much surprise at our existence. This he did, more than once, and with +a genuineness not to be mistaken. + +That an organization for the study of Chaucer could subsist on Andover +Hill, he could not understand. What he thought us, or thought about +us, who can say? He seemed as much taken aback as if he had found a +tribe of Cherokees studying onomatopoeia in English verse. + +"A _Chaucer_ club! In _Andover_?" he repeated. The seer was perplexed. + +Of course, whenever we found ourselves in forms of society not in +harmony with our religious views, we were accustomed, in various ways, +to meet with a similar predisposition. As a psychological study this +has always interested me, just as one is interested in the attitude of +mind exhibited by the Old School physician towards the Homoeopathist +with whom he graduated at the Harvard Medical School. Possibly that +graduate may have distinguished himself with the honors of the school; +but as soon as he prescribes on the principles of Hahnemann, he is +not to be adjudged capable of setting a collar-bone. By virtue of +his therapeutic views he has become disqualified for professional +recognition. So, by virtue of one's religious views, the man or +woman of orthodox convictions, whatever one's proportion of personal +culture, is regarded with a gentle superiority, as being of a class +still enslaved in superstition, and therefore _per se_ barbaric. + +Put in undecorated language, this is about the sum and substance of +a state of feeling which all intelligent evangelical Christians +recognize perfectly in those who have preempted for themselves the +claims belonging to what are called the liberal faiths. + +On the other hand, one who is regarded as a little of a heretic from +the sterner sects, may make the warmest friendships of a lifetime +among "the world's people"--whom far be it from me to seem to +dispossess of any of their manifold charms. + +This brings me closely to a question which I am so often asked, either +directly or indirectly, that I cannot easily pass this Andover chapter +by without some recognition of it. + +What was, in very truth, the effect of such a religious training as +Andover gave her children? + +Curious impressions used to be afloat about us among people of easier +faiths; often, I think, we were supposed to spend our youth paddling +about in a lake of blue fire, or in committing the genealogies to +memory, or in gasping beneath the agonies of religious revivals. + +To be quite honest, I should say that I have not retained _all_ +the beliefs which I was taught--who does? But I have retained the +profoundest respect for the way in which I was taught them; and I +would rather have been taught what I was, _as_ I was, and run whatever +risks were involved in the process, than to have been taught much +less, little, or nothing. + +An excess of religious education may have its unfortunate aspects. But +a deficiency of it has worse. + +It is true that, for little people, our little souls were a good deal +agitated on the question of eternal salvation. We were taught that +heaven and hell followed life and death; that the one place was "a +desirable location," and the other too dreadful to be mentioned in +ears polite; and that what Matthew Arnold calls "conduct" was the +deciding thing. Not that we heard much, until we grew old enough to +read for ourselves, about Matthew Arnold; but we did hear a great +deal about plain behaviour--unselfishness, integrity, honor, sweet +temper--the simple good morals of childhood. + +We were taught, too, to respect prayer and the Christian Bible. In +this last particular we never had at all an oppressive education. + +My Sunday-school reminiscences are few and comfortable, and left me, +chiefly, with the impression that Sunday-schools always studied Acts; +for I do not recall any lessons given me by strolling theologues in +any other--certainly none in any severer--portions of the Bible. + +It was all very easy and pleasant, if not feverishly stimulating; and +I am quite willing to match my Andover Sunday-school experiences with +that of a Boston free-thinker's little daughter who came home and +complained to her mother: + +"There is a dreadful girl put into our Sunday-school. I think, mamma, +she is bad society for me. She says the Bible is exaggerated, and then +she tickles my legs!" + +I have said that we were taught to think something about our own +"salvation;" and so we were, but not in a manner calculated to burden +the good spirits of any but a very sensitive or introspective child. +Personally, I may have dwelt on the idea, at times, more than was +good for my happiness; but certainly no more than was good for my +character. The idea of character was at the basis of everything we +did, or dreamed, or learned. + +There is a scarecrow which "liberal" beliefs put together, hang in +the field of public terror or ridicule, and call it Orthodoxy. Of this +misshapen creature we knew nothing in Andover. + +Of hell we heard sometimes, it is true, for Andover Seminary believed +in it--though, be it said, much more comfortably in the days before +this iron doctrine became the bridge of contention in the recent +serious, theological battle which has devastated Andover. In my own +case, I do not remember to have been shocked or threatened by this +woful doctrine. I knew that my father believed in the everlasting +misery of wicked people who could be good if they wanted to, but +would not; and I was, of course, accustomed to accept the beliefs of +a parent who represented everything that was tender, unselfish, pure, +and noble, to my mind--in fact, who sustained to me the ideal of a +fatherhood which gave me the best conception I shall ever get, in this +world, of the Fatherhood of God. My father presented the interesting +anomaly of a man holding, in one dark particular, a severe faith, but +displaying in his private character rare tenderness and sweetness of +heart. He would go out of his way to save a crawling thing from death, +or any sentient thing from pain. He took more trouble to give comfort +or to prevent distress to every breathing creature that came within +his reach, than any other person whom I have ever known. He had not +the heart to witness heartache. It was impossible for him to endure +the sight of a child's suffering. His sympathy was an extra sense, +finer than eyesight, more exquisite than touch. + +Yet, he did believe that absolute perversion of moral character went +to its "own place," and bore the consequence of its own choice. + +Once I told a lie (I was seven years old), and my father was a +broken-hearted man. He told me _then_ that liars went to hell. I +do not remember to have heard any such personal application of the +doctrine of eternal punishment before or since; and the fact made a +life-long impression, to which I largely owe a personal preference for +veracity. Yet, to analyze the scene strictly, I must say that it was +not fear of torment which so moved me; it was the sight of that broken +face. For my father wept--only when death visited the household did +I ever see him cry again--and I stood melted and miserable before +his anguish and his love. The devil and all his angels could not have +punished into me the noble shame of that moment. + +[Illustration: PROFESSOR AUSTIN PHELPS, FATHER OF ELIZABETH STUART +PHELPS. From a photograph by Warren, Boston.] + +I have often been aware of being pitied by outsiders for the +theological discipline which I was supposed to have received in +Andover; but I must truthfully say that I have never been conscious of +needing compassion in this respect. I was taught that God is Love, and +Christ His Son is our Saviour; that the important thing in life was +to be that kind of woman for which there is really, I find, no better +word than Christian, and that the only road to this end was to be +trodden by way of character. The ancient Persians (as we all know) +were taught to hurl a javelin, ride a horse, and speak the truth. + +I was taught that I should speak the truth, say my prayers, and +consider other people; it was a wholesome, right-minded, invigorating +training that we had, born of tenderness, educated conscience, and +good sense, and I have lived to bless it in many troubled years. + +What if we did lend a little too much romance now and then to our +religious "experience"? It was better for us than some other kinds +of romance to which we were quite as liable. What if I did "join the +church" (entirely of my own urgent will, not of my father's preference +or guiding) at the age of twelve, when the great dogmas to which I was +expected to subscribe could not possibly have any rational meaning for +me? I remember how my father took me apart, and gently explained to me +beforehand the clauses of the rather simple and truly beautiful +chapel creed which he himself, I believe, had written to modernize and +clarify the old one--I wonder if it were done at that very time? And +I remember that it all seemed to me very easy and happy--signifying +chiefly, that one meant to be a good girl, if possible. What if one +did conduct a voluminous religious correspondence with the other +Professor's daughter, who put notes under the fence which divided our +homes? We were none the worse girls for that. And we outgrew it, when +the time came. + +[Illustration: PROFESSOR M. STUART PHELPS, ELDEST SON OF PROFESSOR +AUSTIN PHELPS, AND BROTHER OF ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS. + +Professor M. Stuart Phelps died in 1883, at the age of 34. He was +professor of philosophy in Smith College, was called by those entitled +to judge, the most promising young psychologist in this country, and a +brilliant future was prophesied for him. The above portrait is from a +photograph by Pach Brothers, New York.] + +One thing, supremely, I may say that I learned from the Andover life, +or, at least, from the Andover home. That was an everlasting scorn of +worldliness--I do not mean in the religious sense of the word. That +tendency to seek the lower motive, to do the secondary thing, to +confuse sounds or appearances with values, which is covered by the +word as we commonly use it, very early came to seem to me a way of +looking at life for which I know no other term than underbred. + +There is no better training for a young person than to live in the +atmosphere of a study--we did not call it a library, in my father's +home. People of leisure who read might have libraries. People who +worked among their books had studies. + +The life of a student, with its gracious peace, its beauty, its +dignity, seemed to me, as the life of social preoccupation or success +may seem to children born to that penumbra, the inevitable thing. + +As one grew to think out life for one's self, one came to perceive +a width and sanctity in the choice of work--whether rhetoric or art, +theology or sculpture, hydraulics or manufacture--but to _work_, to +work hard, to see work steadily, and see it whole, was the way to be +reputable. I think I always respected a good blacksmith more than a +lady of leisure. + +I know it took me a while to recover from a very youthful and amusing +disinclination to rich people, which was surely never trained into +me, but grew like the fruit of the horse-chestnut trees, ruggedly, +of nature, and of Andover Hill; and which dropped away when its time +came--just about as useless as the big brown nuts which we cut into +baskets and carved into Trustees' faces for a mild November day, and +then threw away. + +When I came in due time to observe that property and a hardened +character were not identical, and that families of ease in which one +might happen to visit were not deficient in education because their +incomes were large--I think it was at first with a certain sense of +surprise. It is impossible to convey to one differently reared the +delicious _naïveté_ of this state of mind. + +Whatever the "personal peculiarities" of our youthful conceptions of +life, as acquired at Andover, one thing is sure--that we grew into +love of reality as naturally as the Seminary elms shook out their +long, green plumes in May, and shed their delicate, yellow leaves in +October. + +I can remember no time when we did not instinctively despise a sham, +and honor a genuine person, thing, or claim. In mere social pretension +not built upon character, intelligence, education, or gentle birth, +we felt no interest. I do not remember having been taught this, in so +many words. It came without teaching. + +My father taught me most things without text-books or lessons. By far +the most important portion of what one calls education, I owe to him; +yet he never preached, or prosed, or played the pedagogue. He talked +a great deal, not to us, but with us; we began to have conversation +while we were still playing marbles and dolls. I remember hours of +discussion with him on some subject so large that the littleness +of his interlocutor must have tried him sorely. Time and eternity, +theology and science, literature and art, invention and discovery +came each in its turn; and, while I was still making burr baskets, or +walking fences, or coasting (standing up) on what I was proud to +claim as the biggest sled in town, down the longest hills, and on the +fastest local record--I was fascinated with the wealth and variety +which seem to have been the conditions of thought with him. I have +never been more _interested_ by anything in later life than I was in +my father's conversation. + +I never attended a public school of any kind--unless we except the +Sunday-school that studied Acts--and when it came time for me to +pass from the small to the large private schools of Andover, the same +paternal comradeship continued to keep step with me. There was no +college diploma for girls of my kind in my day; but we came as near to +it as we could. + +There was a private school in Andover, of wide reputation in its time, +known to the irreverent as the "Nunnery," but bearing in professional +circles the more stately name of Mrs. Edwards's School for Young +Ladies. Two day-scholars, as a marked favor to their parents, were +admitted with the boarders elect; and of these two I was one. If +I remember correctly, Professor Park and my father were among the +advisers whose opinions had weight with the selection of our course +of study, and I often wonder how, with their rather feudal views of +women, these two wise men of Andover managed to approve so broad a +curriculum. + +Possibly the quiet and modest learned lady, our principal, had ideas +of her own which no one could have suspected her of obtruding against +the current of her times and environment; like other strong and +gentle women she may have had her "way" when nobody thought so. At +all events, we were taught wisely and well, in directions to which the +fashionable girls' schools of the day did not lift an eye-lash. + +I was an out-of-door girl, always into every little mischief of snow +or rainfall, flower, field, or woods or ice; but in spite of skates +and sleds and tramps and all the west winds from Wachusett that blew +through me, soul and body, I was not strong; and my father found it +necessary to oversee my methods of studying. Incidentally, I think, he +influenced the choice of some of our text-books, and I remember that, +with the exception of Greek and trigonometry--thought, in those days, +to be beyond the scope of the feminine intellect--we pursued the same +curriculum that our brothers did at college. In some cases we had +teachers who were then, or afterwards, college professors in their +specialties; in all departments I think we were faithfully taught, and +that our tastes and abilities were electively recognized. + +I was not allowed, I remember, to inflict my musical talents upon the +piano for more than one hour a day; my father taking the ground that, +as there was only so much of a girl, if she had not unusual musical +gift and had less than usual physical vigor, she had better give the +best of herself to her studies. I have often blessed him for this +daring individualism; for, while the school "practice" went on about +me, in the ordinary way, so many precious hours out of a day that +was all too short for better things--I was learning my lessons quite +comfortably, and getting plenty of fresh air and exercise between +whiles. + +I hasten to say that I was not at all a remarkable scholar. I +cherished a taste for standing near the top of the class, somewhere, +and always preferred rather to answer a question than to miss it; but +this, I think, was pure pride, rather than an absorbing, intellectual +passion. It was a wholesome pride, however, and served me a good turn. + +At one epoch of history, so far back that I cannot date it, I remember +to have been a scholar at Abbott Academy long enough to learn how to +spell. Perhaps one ought to give the honor of this achievement where +honor is due. When I observe the manner in which the superior sex +is often turned out by masculine diplomas upon the world with the +life-long need of a vest-pocket dictionary or a spelling-book, I +cherish a respect for the method in which I was compelled to spell +the English language. It was severe, no doubt. We stood in a class of +forty, and lost our places for the misfit of a syllable, a letter, a +definition, or even a stumble in elocution. I remember once losing the +head of the class for saying: L-u-ux--Lux. It was a terrible blow, and +I think of it yet with burning mortification on my cheeks. + +In the "Nunnery" we were supposed to have learned how to spell. We +studied what we called Mental Philosophy, to my unmitigated delight; +and Butler's Analogy, which I considered a luxury; and Shakespeare, +whom I distantly but never intimately adored; Latin, to which dead +language we gave seven years apiece, out of our live girlhood; +Picciola and Undine we dreamed over, in the grove and the orchard; +English literature is associated with the summer-house and the grape +arbor, with flecks of shade and glints of light, and a sense of +unmistakable privilege. There was physiology, which was scarcely work, +and astronomy, which I found so exhilarating that I fell ill over it. +Alas, truth compels me to add that Mathematics, with a big _M_ and +stretching on through the books of Euclid, darkened my young +horizon with dull despair; and that chemistry--but the facts are too +humiliating to relate. My father used to say that all he ever got out +of the pursuit of this useful science in his college days--and he was +facile valedictorian--was the impression that there was a sub-acetate +of something dissolved in a powder at the bottom. + +All that I am able to recall of the study of "my brother's +text-books," in this department, is that there was once a frightful +odor in the laboratory for which Professor Hitchcock and a glass jar +and a chemical were responsible, and that I said, "At least, the name +of _this_ will remain with me to my dying hour." But what _was_ the +name of it? "Ask me no more." + +In the department of history I can claim no results more calculated +to reflect credit upon the little student who hated a poor recitation +much, but facts and figures more. To the best of my belief, I can be +said to have retained but two out of the long list of historic dates +with which my quivering memory was duly and properly crowded. + +I _do_ know when America was discovered; because the year is inscribed +over a spring in the seaside town where I have spent twenty summers, +and I have driven past it on an average once a day, for that period +of time. And I can tell when Queen Elizabeth left this world, because +Macaulay wrote a stately sentence: + +"In 1603 the Great Queen died." + +It must have been the year when my father read De Quincey and +Wordsworth to me on winter evenings that I happened for myself on +Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The first little event opened for me, as +distinctly as if I had never heard of it before, the world of letters +as a Paradise from which no flaming sword could ever exile me; but the +second revealed to me my own nature. + +The Andover sunsets blazed behind Wachusett, and between the one +window of my little room and the fine head of the mountain nothing +intervened. The Andover elms held above lifted eyes arch upon arch +of exquisite tracery, through which the far sky looked down like some +noble thing that one could spend all one's life in trying to reach, +and be happy just because it existed, whether one reached it or not. +The paths in my father's great gardens burned white in the summer +moonlights, and their shape was the shape of a mighty cross. The June +lilies, yellow and sweet, lighted their soft lamps beside the cross--I +was sixteen, and I read Aurora Leigh. + +A grown person may smile--but, no; no gentle-minded man or woman +smiles at the dream of a girl. What has life to offer that is nobler +in enthusiasm, more delicate, more ardent, more true to the unseen +and the unsaid realities which govern our souls, or leave us sadder +forever because they do not? There may be greater poems in our +language than Aurora Leigh, but it was many years before it was +possible for me to suppose it; and none that ever saw the hospitality +of fame could have done for that girl what that poem did at that time. +I had never a good memory--but I think I could have repeated a large +portion of it; and know that I often stood the test of hap-hazard +examinations on the poem from half-scoffing friends, sometimes of the +masculine persuasion. Each to his own; and what Shakespeare or the +Latin Fathers might have done for some other impressionable girl, Mrs. +Browning--forever bless her strong and gentle name!--did for me. + +I owe to her, distinctly, the first visible aspiration (ambition is +too low a word) to do some honest, hard work of my own, in the World +Beautiful, and for it. + +It is April, and it is the year 1861. It is a dull morning at school. +The sky is gray. The girls are not in spirits--no one knows just +why. The morning mail is late, and the Boston papers are tardily +distributed. The older girls get them, and are reading the head-lines +lazily, as girls do; not, in truth, caring much about a newspaper, but +aware that one must be well-informed. + +Suddenly, in the recitation room, where I am refreshing my +accomplishments in some threatening lesson, I hear low murmurs and +exclamations. Then a girl, very young and very pretty, catches the +paper and whirls it overhead. With a laugh which tinkles through my +ears to this day, she dances through the room and cries: + +"War's begun! _War's begun!_" + +An older girl utters a cry of horror, and puts her hand upon the +little creature's thoughtless lips. + +"Oh, how _can_ you?" so I hear the older +girl. "Hush, hush, _hush_!" + + + + +THE TOUCHSTONE. + +BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +The King was a man that stood well before the world; his smile was +sweet as clover, but his soul withinsides was as little as a pea. He +had two sons; and the younger son was a boy after his heart, but the +elder was one whom he feared. It befell one morning that the drum +sounded in the dun before it was yet day; and the King rode with his +two sons, and a brave army behind them. They rode two hours, and came +to the foot of a brown mountain that was very steep. + +"Where do we ride?" said the elder son. + +"Across this brown mountain," said the King, and smiled to himself. + +"My father knows what he is doing," said the younger son. + +And they rode two hours more, and came to the sides of a black river +that was wondrous deep. + +"And where do we ride?" asked the elder son. + +"Over this black river," said the King, and smiled to himself. + +"My father knows what he is doing," said the younger son. + +And they rode all that day, and about the time of the sun-setting came +to the side of a lake, where was a great dun. + +"It is here we ride," said the King; "to a King's house, and a +priest's, and a house where you will learn much." + +At the gates of the dun, the King who was a priest met them, and he +was a grave man, and beside him stood his daughter, and she was as +fair as the morn, and one that smiled and looked down. + +"These are my two sons," said the first King. + +"And here is my daughter," said the King who was a priest. + +"She is a wonderful fine maid," said the first King, "and I like her +manner of smiling." + +"They are wonderful well-grown lads," said the second, "and I like +their gravity." + +And then the two Kings looked at each other, and said, "The thing may +come about." + +And in the meanwhile the two lads looked upon the maid, and the one +grew pale and the other red; and the maid looked upon the ground +smiling. + +"Here is the maid that I shall marry," said the elder. "For I think +she smiled upon me." + +But the younger plucked his father by the sleeve. "Father," said he, +"a word in your ear. If I find favor in your sight, might not I wed +this maid, for I think she smiles upon me?" + +"A word in yours," said the King his father. "Waiting is good hunting, +and when the teeth are shut the tongue is at home." + +[Illustration: "HE WAS A GRAVE MAN, AND BESIDE HIM STOOD HIS +DAUGHTER."] + +Now they were come into the dun, and feasted; and this was a great +house, so that the lads were astonished; and the King that was a +priest sat at the end of the board and was silent, so that the lads +were filled with reverence; and the maid served them, smiling, with +downcast eyes, so that their hearts were enlarged. + +Before it was day, the elder son arose, and he found the maid at her +weaving, for she was a diligent girl. "Maid," quoth he, "I would fain +marry you." + +"You must speak with my father," said she, and she looked upon the +ground smiling, and became like the rose. + +"Her heart is with me," said the elder son, and he went down to the +lake and sang. + +A little after came the younger son. "Maid," quoth he, "if our fathers +were agreed, I would like well to marry you." + +"You can speak to my father," said she, and looked upon the ground and +smiled and grew like the rose. + +"She is a dutiful daughter," said the younger son, "she will make +an obedient wife." And then he thought, "What shall I do?" and he +remembered the King her father was a priest, so he went into the +temple and sacrificed a weasel and a hare. + +Presently the news got about; and the two lads and the first King were +called into the presence of the King who was a priest, where he sat +upon the high seat. + +"Little I reck of gear," said the King who was a priest, "and little +of power. For we live here among the shadows of things, and the heart +is sick of seeing them. And we stay here in the wind like raiment +drying, and the heart is weary of the wind. But one thing I love, and +that is truth; and for one thing will I give my daughter, and that is +the trial stone. For in the light of that stone the seeming goes, +and the being shows, and all things besides are worthless. Therefore, +lads, if ye would wed my daughter, out foot, and bring me the stone of +touch, for that is the price of her." + +"A word in your ear," said the younger son to his father. "I think we +do very well without this stone." + +"A word in yours," said his father. "I am of your way of thinking; but +when the teeth are shut the tongue is at home." And he smiled to the +King that was a priest. + +[Illustration: "'MAID,' QUOTH HE, 'I WOULD FAIN MARRY YOU.'"] + +But the elder son got to his feet, and called the King that was a +priest by the name of father. "For whether I marry the maid or no, I +will call you by that word for the love of your wisdom; and even now +I will ride forth and search the world for the stone of touch." So he +said farewell and rode into the world. + +"I think I will go, too," said the younger son, "if I can have your +leave. For my heart goes out to the maid." + +"You will ride home with me," said his father. + +So they rode home, and when they came to the dun, the King had his +son into his treasury. "Here," said he, "is the touchstone which shows +truth; for there is no truth but plain truth; and if you will look in +this, you will see yourself as you are." + +And the younger son looked in it, and saw his face as it were the face +of a beardless youth, and he was well enough pleased; for the thing +was a piece of a mirror. + +"Here is no such great thing to make a work about," said he; "but if +it will get me the maid, I shall never complain. But what a fool is my +brother to ride into the world, and the thing all the while at home." + +So they rode back to the other dun, and showed the mirror to the King +that was a priest; and when he had looked in it, and seen himself +like a King, and his house like a King's house, and all things like +themselves, he cried out and blessed God. "For now I know," said +he, "there is no truth but the plain truth; and I am a King indeed, +although my heart misgave me." And he pulled down his temple and built +a new one; and then the younger son was married to the maid. + +In the meantime the elder son rode into the world to find the +touchstone of the trial of truth; and whenever he came to a place of +habitation, he would ask the men if they had heard of it. And in every +place the men answered: "Not only have we heard of it, but we alone +of all men possess the thing itself, and it hangs in the side of our +chimney to this day." Then would the elder son be glad, and beg for a +sight of it. And sometimes it would be a piece of mirror, that showed +the seeming of things, and then he would say: "This can never be, for +there should be more than seeming." And sometimes it would be a lump +of coal, which showed nothing; and then he would say: "This can never +be, for at least there is the seeming." And sometimes it would be a +touchstone indeed, beautiful in hue, adorned with polishing, the light +inhabiting its sides; and when he found this, he would beg the thing, +and the persons of that place would give it him, for all men were very +generous of that gift; so that at the last he had his wallet full of +them, and they chinked together when he rode; and when he halted by +the side of the way, he would take them out and try them, till his +head turned like the sails upon a windmill. + +"A murrain upon this business!" said the elder son, "for I perceive no +end to it. Here I have the red, and here the blue and the green; and +to me they seem all excellent, and yet shame each other. A murrain on +the trade! If it were not for the King that is a priest, and whom I +have called my father, and if it were not for the fair maid of the dun +that makes my mouth to sing and my heart enlarge, I would even tumble +them all into the salt sea, and go home and be a King like other +folk." + +But he was like the hunter that has seen a stag upon a mountain, so +that the night may fall, and the fire be kindled, and the lights shine +in his house, but desire of that stag is single in his bosom. + +Now after many years the elder son came upon the sides of the salt +sea; and it was night, and a savage place, and the clamor of the sea +was loud. There he was aware of a house, and a man that sat there by +the light of a candle, for he had no fire. Now the elder son came in +to him, and the man gave him water to drink, for he had no bread; and +wagged his head when he was spoken to, for he had no words. + +"Have you the touchstone of truth?" asked the elder son; and when the +man had wagged his head, "I might have known that," cried the elder +son; "I have here a wallet full of them!" And with that he laughed, +although his heart was weary. + +And with that the man laughed too, and with the fuff of his laughter +the candle went out. + +"Sleep," said the man, "for now I think you have come far enough; and +your quest is ended, and my candle is out." + +Now, when the morning came, the man gave him a clear pebble in his +hand, and it had no beauty and no color, and the elder son looked upon +it scornfully and shook his head, and he went away, for it seemed a +small affair to him. + +All that day he rode, and his mind was quiet, and the desire of the +chase allayed. "How if this poor pebble be the touchstone, after all?" +said he; and he got down from his horse, and emptied forth his wallet +by the side of the way. Now, in the light of each other, all the +touchstones lost their hue and fire, and withered like stars at +morning; but in the light of the pebble, their beauty remained, only +the pebble was the most bright. And the elder son smote upon his brow. +"How if this be the truth," he cried, "that all are a little true?" +And he took the pebble, and turned its light upon the heavens, and +they deepened above him like the pit; and he turned it on the hills, +and the hills were cold and rugged, but life ran in their sides so +that his own life bounded; and he turned it on the dust, and he beheld +the dust with joy and terror; and he turned it on himself, and kneeled +down and prayed. + +"Now thanks be to God," said the elder son, "I have found the +touchstone; and now I may turn my reins, and ride home to the King +and to the maid of the dun that makes my mouth to sing and my heart +enlarge." + +Now, when he came to the dun, he saw children playing by the gate +where the King had met him in the old days, and this stayed his +pleasure; for he thought in his heart, "It is here my children should +be playing." And when he came into the hall, there was his brother on +the high seat, and the maid beside him; and at that his anger rose, +for he thought in his heart, "It is I that should be sitting there, +and the maid beside me." + +"Who are you?" said his brother. "And what make you in the dun?" + +"I am your elder brother," he replied. "And I am come to marry the +maid, for I have brought the touchstone of truth." + +[Illustration: "ALL THAT DAY HE RODE, AND HIS MIND WAS QUIET.... 'HOW +IF THIS POOR PEBBLE BE THE TOUCHSTONE, AFTER ALL?' SAID HE."] + +Then the younger brother laughed aloud. "Why," said he, "I have found +the touchstone years ago, and married the maid, and there are our +children playing at the gate." + +Now at this the elder brother grew as gray as the dawn. "I pray you +have dealt justly," said he, "for I perceive my life is lost." + +"Justly?" quoth the younger brother. "It becomes you ill, that are +a restless man and a runagate, to doubt my justice or the King my +father's, that are sedentary folk and known in the land." + +"Nay," said the elder brother; "you have all else, have patience also, +and suffer me to say the world is full of touchstones, and it appears +not easily which is true." + +"I have no shame of mine," said the younger brother. "There it is, and +look in it." + +So the elder brother looked in the mirror, and he was sore amazed; for +he was an old man, and his hair was white upon his head; and he sat +down in the hall and wept aloud. + +"Now," said the younger brother, "see what a fool's part you have +played, that ran over all the world to seek what was lying in our +father's treasury, and came back an old carle for the dogs to bark at, +and without chick or child. And I that was dutiful and wise sit here +crowned with virtues and pleasures, and happy in the light of my +hearth." + +"Methinks you have a cruel tongue," said the elder brother; and he +pulled out the clear pebble, and turned its light on his brother; and +behold, the man was lying; his soul was shrunk into the smallness of a +pea, and his heart was a bag of little fears like scorpions, and love +was dead in his bosom. And at that the elder brother cried out aloud, +and turned the light of the pebble on the maid, and lo! she was but a +mask of a woman, and withinsides she was quite dead, and she smiled as +a clock ticks, and knew not wherefore. + +"Oh, well," said the elder brother, "I perceive there is both good and +bad. So fare ye all as well as ye may in the dun; but I will go forth +into the world with my pebble in my pocket." + + + + +MAGAZINE NOTES. + + +MRS. HUMPHRY WARD--DR. JOWETT. + +The late Dr. Jowett is reported to have once said to Mrs. Humphry +Ward: "We shall come in the future to teach almost entirely by +biography. We shall begin with the life that is most familiar to +us, 'The Life of Christ,' and we shall more and more put before our +children the great examples of persons' lives so that they shall have +from the beginning heroes and friends in their thoughts." + +The editors of this magazine thoroughly agree with Dr. Jowett. It has +been, for a long time, their great desire to publish in these pages +a "Life of Christ" which shall be, to quote Mr. Hall Caine's words in +the December MCCLURE'S, "as vivid and as personal from the standpoint +of belief as Renan's was from the standpoint of unbelief." + + +THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND. + +It is hard to realize the meaning of these figures, which represent +the present circulation of MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE. Three years ago +five magazines--"The Century," "Harper's," "Scribner's," "The +Cosmopolitan," and "Munsey's"--apparently occupied the whole magazine +field. But their total circulation was not over five hundred thousand +copies. The circulation of MCCLURE'S is now equal to three-fifths of +the combined circulation of all its rivals at the time it started. + +"Harper's Magazine" and "The Century" for many years supplied the need +of the American people for great illustrated monthlies. One imagines +that every intelligent family in the United States takes one or the +other, or both, of these magazines. "Harper's" is over half a century +old, and "The Century" has just completed twenty-five years of +splendid life. + +MCCLURE'S has a circulation equal to both these giants of the magazine +world. + +We mention these facts, not for the mere sake of comparison, but +simply to enable our friends to understand what a circulation of three +hundred thousand means. + +And while we are speaking about ourselves we might mention that for +three months--October, November, and December--we had, month by month, +more paid advertising than any other magazine, while our December +number had more pages of paid advertising than any other magazine at +any time in the history of the world. + +Another interesting fact is that during the two months of November +and December, MCCLURE'S MAGAZINE made greater strides in permanent +circulation than any other magazine ever made. + + +OUR OWN PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT. + +We have been compelled by the large circulation of the MAGAZINE +to purchase a complete printing and binding plant. This we hope to +install before the first of March. The capacity of the plant will +be not less than five hundred thousand copies a month, and, under +pressure, we can print six hundred thousand copies. + +We have secured the best and most modern presses, and, with proper +pressmen, shall be able to print as beautiful a magazine as can be +made anywhere. + + +ANTHONY HOPE'S NEW NOVEL + +begins in our April number. It is a spirited story of adventure. It +is his first novel since "The Prisoner of Zenda," and has even more +action than that splendid story. + + +THE LIFE OF LINCOLN + +will increase in interest as the history comes nearer our own time. +Every chapter will contain much that is new, and every number of the +magazine will have several portraits of Lincoln. + + +THE EARLY LIFE OF LINCOLN. + +We have collected the first four Lincoln articles, added new matter +both in text and pictures, and shall, in a few days, issue a volume +with the above title. It will contain twenty portraits of Lincoln, +and over one hundred other pictures, and will deal with the first +twenty-six years of Lincoln's life. + + +ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS + +in the next two numbers tells about the writing of "The Gates Ajar." +She was then only twenty years old. The effect of the book on the +public, the correspondence it brought her, and the acquaintances it +secured her, will be amply dwelt upon. These are two remarkable papers +in literary autobiography. + + +COLONEL ELLSWORTH, BY COLONEL JOHN HAY. + +Ellsworth's death at Alexandria--"the first conspicuous victim of the +war"--although he was only twenty-four, was the dramatic end of a most +romantic and picturesque career; and no one knows its details so well +as Colonel Hay. Ellsworth "was one of the dearest of the friends of my +youth," says Colonel Hay. Moreover, he was a particular favorite +and _protégé_ of President Lincoln's when Colonel Hay was Lincoln's +private secretary. Colonel Hay's paper, therefore, is one of quite +extraordinary interest. There will be published with it some very +interesting pictures. + + +"THE SABINE WOMEN"--A CORRECTION. + +Changes made in Mr. Low's article in the January number at the +very moment of going to press, occasioned a mistake which should be +corrected, though, no doubt, most of our readers have detected it for +themselves. In the note to David's picture of "The Sabine Women," the +picture was described as portraying the seizure of the Sabine women +by the Romans, whereas it portrays the interposition of the women in a +battle following the seizure. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of McClure's Magazine, Volume VI, No. 3. +February 1896, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13788 *** |