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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14526-0.txt b/14526-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6bda726 --- /dev/null +++ b/14526-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2629 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14526 *** + +The + +Little City of Hope + +A CHRISTMAS STORY + +BY + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + +1907 + + + + +_Copyright in the United States America, 1907_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +1. HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX 1 +2. HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE 19 +3. HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 35 +4. HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY 49 +5. HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF 63 +6. HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX 74 +7. HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY 87 +8. HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST 105 +9. HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE 116 + + + + +I + +HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX + + +"Hope is very cheap. There's always plenty of it about." + +"Fortunately for poor men. Good morning." + +With this mild retort and civil salutation John Henry Overholt rose and +went towards the door, quite forgetting to shake hands with Mr. +Burnside, though the latter made a motion to do so. Mr. Burnside always +gave his hand in a friendly way, even when he had flatly refused to do +what people had asked of him. It was cheap; so he gave it. + +But he was not pleased when they did not take it, for whatever he chose +to give seemed of some value to him as soon as it was offered; even his +hand. Therefore, when his visitor forgot to take it, out of pure absence +of mind, he was offended, and spoke to him sharply before he had time to +leave the private office. + +"You need not go away like that, Mr. Overholt, without shaking hands." + +The visitor stopped and turned back at once. He was thin and rather +shabbily dressed. I know many poor men who are fat, and some who dress +very well; but this was not that kind of poor man. + +"Excuse me," he said mildly. "I didn't mean to be rude. I quite forgot." + +He came back, and Mr. Burnside shook hands with becoming coldness, as +having just given a lesson in manners. He was not a bad man, nor a +miser, nor a Scrooge, but he was a great stickler for manners, +especially with people who had nothing to give him. Besides, he had +already lent Overholt money; or, to put it nicely, he had invested a +little in his invention, and he did not see any reason why he should +invest any more until it succeeded. Overholt called it selling shares, +but Mr. Burnside called it borrowing money. Overholt was sure that if he +could raise more funds, not much more, he could make a success of the +"Air-Motor"; Mr. Burnside was equally sure that nothing would ever come +of it. They had been explaining their respective points of view to each +other, and in sheer absence of mind Overholt had forgotten to shake +hands. + +Mr. Burnside had no head for mechanics, but Overholt had already made an +invention which was considered very successful, though he had got little +or nothing for it. The mechanic who had helped him in its construction +had stolen his principal idea before the device was patented, and had +taken out a patent for a cheap little article which every one at once +used, and which made a fortune for him. Overholt's instrument took its +place in every laboratory in the world; but the mechanic's labour-saving +utensil took its place in every house. It was on the strength of the +valuable tool of science that Mr. Burnside had invested two thousand +dollars in the Air-Motor without really having the smallest idea whether +it was to be a machine that would move the air, or was to be moved by +it. A number of business men had done the same thing. + +Then, at a political dinner in a club, three of the investors had dined +at the same small table, and in an interval between the dull speeches, +one of the three told the others that he had looked into the invention +and that there was nothing in Overholt's motor after all. Overholt was +crazy. + +"It's like this," he had said. "You know how a low-pressure engine acts; +the steam does a part of the work and the weight of the atmosphere does +the rest. Now this man Overholt thinks he can make the atmosphere do +both parts of the work with no steam at all, and as that's absurd, of +course, he won't get any more of my money. It's like getting into a +basket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles." + +Each of the two hearers repeated this simple demonstration to at least a +dozen acquaintances, who repeated it to dozens of others; and after that +John Henry Overholt could not raise another dollar to complete the +Air-Motor. + +Mr. Burnside's refusal had been definite and final, and he had been the +last to whom the investor had applied, merely because he was undoubtedly +the most close-fisted man of business of all who had invested in the +invention. + +Overholt saw failure before him at the very moment of success, with the +not quite indifferent accompaniment of starvation. Many a man as good as +he has been in the same straits, even more than once in life, and has +succeeded after all, and Overholt knew this quite well, and therefore +did not break down, nor despair, nor even show distinct outward signs of +mental distress. + +Metaphorically, he took Pandora's box to the Park, put it in a sunny +corner, and sat upon it, to keep the lid down, with Hope inside, while +he thought over the situation. + +It was not at all a pleasant one. It is one thing to have no money to +spare, but it is quite another to have none at all, and he was not far +from that. He had some small possessions, but those with which he was +willing to part were worth nothing, and those which would bring a little +money were the expensive tools and valuable materials with which he was +working. For he worked alone, profiting by his experience with the +mechanic who had robbed him of one of his most profitable patents. When +the idea of the Air-Motor had occurred to him he had gone into a +machine-shop and had spent nearly two years in learning the use of fine +tools. Then he had bought what he needed out of the money invested in +his idea, and had gone to work himself, sending models of such castings +as he required to different parts of the United States, that the pieces +might be made independently. + +He was not an accomplished workman, and he made slow progress with only +his little son to help him when the boy was not at school. Often, +through lack of skill, he wasted good material, and more than once he +spoiled an expensive casting, and was obliged to wait till it could be +made again and sent to him. Besides, he and the boy had to live, and +living is dear nowadays, even in a cottage in an out-of-the-way corner +of Connecticut; and he needed fire and light in abundance for his work, +besides something to eat and decent clothes to wear and somebody to cook +the dinner; and when he took out his diary note-book and examined the +figures on the page near the end, headed "Cash Account, November," he +made out that he had three hundred and eighteen dollars and twelve +cents to his credit, and nothing to come after that, and he knew that +the men who had believed in him had invested, amongst them, ten thousand +dollars in shares, and had paid him the money in cash in the course of +the past three years, but would invest no more; and it was all gone. + +One thousand more, clear of living expenses, would do it. He was +positively sure that it would be enough, and he and the boy could live +on his little cash balance, by great economy, for four months, at the +end of which time the Air-Motor would be perfected. But without the +thousand the end of the four months would be the end of everything that +was worth while in life. After that he would have to go back to teaching +in order to live, and the invention would be lost, for the work needed +all his time and thought. + +He was a mathematician, and a very good one, besides being otherwise a +man of cultivated mind and wide reading. Unfortunately for himself, or +the contrary, if the invention ever succeeded, he had given himself up +to higher mathematics when a young man, instead of turning his talent to +account in an architect's office, a shipbuilding yard, or a locomotive +shop. He could find the strain at any part of an iron frame building by +the differential and integral calculus to the millionth of an ounce, but +the everyday technical routine work with volumes of ready-made tables +was unfamiliar and uncongenial to him; he would rather have calculated +the tables themselves. The true science of mathematics is the most +imaginative and creative of all sciences, but the mere application of +mathematics to figures for the construction of engines, ships, or +buildings is the dullest sort of drudgery. + +Rather than that, he had chosen to teach what he knew and to dream of +great problems at his leisure when teaching was over for the day or for +the term. He had taught in a small college, and had known the rare +delight of having one or two pupils who were really interested. It had +been a good position, and he had married a clever New England girl, the +daughter of his predecessor, who had died suddenly. They had been very +happy together for years, and one boy had been born to them, whom his +father insisted on christening Newton. Then Overholt had thrown up his +employment for the sake of getting freedom to perfect his invention, +though much against his wife's advice, for she was a prudent little +woman, besides being clever, and she thought of the future of the two +beings she loved, and of her own, while her husband dreamed of hastening +the progress of science. + +Overholt came to New York because he could work better there than +elsewhere, and could get better tools made, and could obtain more easily +the materials he wanted. For a time everything went well enough, but +when the investors began to lose faith in him things went very badly. + +Then Mrs. Overholt told her husband that two could live where three +could not, especially when one was a boy of twelve; and as she would not +break his heart by teasing him into giving up the invention as a matter +of duty, she told him that she would support herself until it was +perfected or until he abandoned it of his own accord. She was very well +fitted to be a governess; she was thirty years old and as strong as a +pony, she said, and she had friends in New England who could find her a +situation. He should see her whenever it was possible, she added, but +there was no other way. + +Now it is not easy to find a thoroughly respectable married governess +of unexceptionably good manners, who comes of a good stock and is able +to teach young ladies. Such a person is a treasure to rich people who +need somebody to take charge of their girls while they fly round and +round the world in automobiles, seeking whom they may destroy. Therefore +Mrs. Overholt obtained a very good place before long, and when the +family in which she taught had its next attack of European fever and it +was decided that the girls must stay in Munich to improve their German +and their music, Mrs. Overholt was offered an increase of salary if she +would take them there and see to it, while their parents quartered +Germany, France, Spain, and Austria at the rate of forty miles an hour, +or even fifty and sixty where the roads were good. If the parents broke +their necks, Mrs. Overholt would take the children home; but this was +rather in the understanding than in the agreement. + +Such was the position when John Henry sat down upon the lid of Pandora's +box in a sunny corner of the Central Park and reflected on Mr. +Burnside's remark that "there was plenty of hope about." The inventor +thought that there was not much, but such as it was, he did not mean to +part with it on the ground that the man of business had called it +"cheap." + +He resolved his feelings into factors and simplified the form of each; +and this little mathematical operation showed that he was miserable for +three reasons. + +The first was that there was no money for the tangent balance of the +Air-Motor, which was the final part, on which he had spent months of +hard work and a hundred more than half sleepless nights. + +The second was that he had not seen his wife for nearly a year, and had +no idea how long it would be before he saw her again, and he was just as +much in love with her as he had been fourteen years ago, when he married +her. + +The third, and not the least, was that Christmas was coming, and he did +not see how in the world he was to make a Christmas out of nothing for +Newton, seeing that a thirteen-year-old boy wants everything under the +sun to cheer him up when he has no brothers and sisters, and school is +closed for the holidays, and his mother is away from home, and there is +nobody but a dear old tiresome father who has his nose over a lathe all +day long unless he is blinding himself with calculating quaternions for +some reason that no lad, and very few men, can possibly understand. John +Henry was obliged to confess that hope was not much of a Christmas +present for a boy in Newton's surroundings. + +For the surroundings would be dismal in the extreme. A rickety cottage +on an abandoned Connecticut farm that is waiting for a Bohemian emigrant +to make it pay is not a gay place, especially when two-thirds of the +house has been turned into a workshop that smells everlastingly of +smith's coal, brass filings, and a nauseous chemical which seemed to be +necessary to the life of the Air-Motor, and when the rest of the house +is furnished in a style that would make a condemned cell look attractive +by contrast. + +Besides, it would rain or snow, and it rarely snowed in a decent +Christian manner by Christmas. It snowed slush, as Newton expressed it. +A certain kind of snow-slush makes nice hard snowballs, it is true, just +like stones, but when there is no other boy to fight, it is no good. +Overholt had once offered to have a game of snow-balling with his son on +a Saturday afternoon in winter; and the invitation was accepted with +alacrity. But it was never extended again. The boy was a perfect terror +at that form of diversion. Yet so distressed was Overholt at the +prospect of a sad Christmas for his son that he even thought of +voluntarily giving up his thin body to the torment again on the 25th of +December, if that would amuse Newton and make it seem less dull for him. +Good-will towards men, and even towards children, could go no further +than that, even at Christmas time. At least Overholt could think of no +greater sacrifice that might serve. + +For what are toys to a boy of thirteen? He wants a gun and something to +kill, or he wants a boat in which he can really sail, or a live pony +with a real head, a real tail, and four real legs, one at each corner. +That had been Newton's definition of the desired animal when he was six +years old, and some one had given him a wooden one on rockers with the +legs painted on each side. Girls of thirteen can still play with dolls, +and John Henry had read that, far away in ancient times, girls +dedicated their dolls, with all the dolls' clothes, to Artemis on the +eve of their wedding-day. But no self-respecting boy of thirteen cares a +straw for anything that is not real, except an imaginary pain that will +keep him away from school without cutting down his rations; and in the +invention and presentation of such fictitious suffering he beats all the +doll-makers in Germany and all the playwrights and actors in the world. +You must have noticed that the pain is always as far from the stomach as +is compatible with probability. Toothache is a grand thing, for nobody +can blame a healthy boy for eating then, if he can only bear the pain. +And he can, and does, bear it nobly, though with awful faces. The little +beast knows that all toothaches do not make your cheek swell. Then there +is earache; that is a splendid invention; it goes through your head like +a red-hot corkscrew with a powerful brakeman at the other end, turning +it steadily--between meals. Only certain kinds of things really serve to +make him stop. Ice-cream is one, and it takes a great deal of it. It is +well known that ice will cool a red-hot corkscrew. + +But this is a digression, for no boy ever has any pain at Christmas; it +is only afterwards that it comes on; usually about ten days. + +After an hour Overholt came to the conclusion that he had better take +Pandora's box out to the cottage and sit on it there, since nothing +suggested itself to him, in spite of his immense good-will to accept any +suggestion which the spirit of coming Christmas might be kind enough to +offer; and if he could do nothing else, he could at least work at his +machine, and try to devise some means of constructing the +tangent-balance, with the materials he had left, and perhaps, by the +time he was thoroughly grimy and the workshop smelt like the Biblical +bottomless pit, something would occur to him for Newton. + +He could also write a letter to his wife, a sort of anticipatory +Christmas letter, and send her the book he had bought as a little gift, +wrapping it in nice white paper first, tied with a bit of pale green +ribband which she had left behind her, and which he had cherished nearly +a year, and marking it "to be opened on Christmas morning"; and the +parcel should then be done up securely in good brown grocer's paper and +addressed to her, and even registered, so that it could not possibly be +lost. It was a pretty book, and also a very excellent book, which he +knew she wanted and would read often, so it was as well to take +precautions. He wished that Newton wanted a book, or even two or three, +or magazines with gaily coloured pictures, or anything that older or +younger boys would have liked a little. But Newton was at that age which +comes sooner or later to every healthy boy, and the sight of a book +which he was meant to read and ought to read was infinitely worse than +the ugliest old toad that ever flops out of a hollow tree at dusk, +spitting poison and blinking his devilish little eyes at you when you +come too near him. + +Overholt had been brought up by people who lived in peace and good-will +towards men, in a city where the spirit of Christmas still dwells, and +sleeps most of the time, but wakens every year, like a giant of good +courage and good cheer, at the sound of the merry bells across the snow, +and to the sweet carol under the windows in the frosty night. The +Germans say that bad men have no songs; and we and all good fellows may +say that bad people have no Christmas, and though they copy the letter +they know not the spirit; and I say that a copied Christmas is no +Christmas at all, because Christmas is a feast of hearts and not of poor +bits of cut-down trees stuck up in sawdust and covered with lights and +tinsel, even if they are hung with the most expensive gewgaws and +gimcracks that ever are bought for gifts by people who are expected to +give, whether they like or not. But when the heart for Christmas is +there and is beating, then a very little tree will do, if there be none +better to the hand. + +Overholt thought so, while the train rumbled, creaked, and clattered and +jerked itself along, as only local trains can, probably because they are +old and rheumatic and stiff and weak in the joints, like superannuated +crocodiles, though they may have once been young express trains, sleek +and shiny, and quick and noiseless as bright snakes. + +Overholt thought so, too; but the trouble was that he saw not even the +least little mite of a tree in sight for his boy when the 25th of +December should come. And it was coming, and was only a month away; and +time is not a local train that stops at every station, and then kicks +itself on a bit to stop at the next; it is the "Fast Limited," and, what +is more, it is the only one we can go by; and we cannot get out, because +it never stops anywhere. + + + + +II + +HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE + + +Overholt's boy came home from school at the usual hour with his books +buckled together in an old skate strap, which had never been very good +because the leather was too soft and tore from one hole to the next; but +it served very well for the books, as no great strain was caused by an +arithmetic thumbed to mushiness, a history in the same state, and a +geography of which the binding gave in and doubled up from sheer +weariness, while the edges were so worn that the eastern coast of China +and Siberia had quite disappeared. + +He was a good-looking lad, not tall for his age, but as tough as a +street cat in hard training. He had short and thick brown hair, a clear +complexion, his father's energetically intellectual features, though +only half developed yet, a boldly-set mouth, and his mother's kindly, +practical blue eyes. For surely the eyes of practical people are always +quite different from those of all others; and not many people are +practical, though I never knew anybody who did not think he or she was, +except pinchbeck artists, writers, and players, who are sure that since +they must be geniuses, it is necessary to be Bohemians in order to show +it. The really big ones are always trying to be practical, like Sir +Isaac Newton when he ordered a good-sized hole to be cut in his barn +door for the cat, and a little one next it for the kitten. + +But Newton Overholt did not at all resemble his great namesake. He was a +practical young soul, and had not yet developed the American disease +which consists in thinking of two things at the same time. John Henry +had it badly, for he had been thinking of the tangent-balance, his wife, +his boy, and the coming Christmas, all together, since he had got home, +and the three problems had got mixed and had made his head ache. + +Nevertheless he looked up from his work-table and smiled when his son +came in. + +"Everything all right?" he asked, with an attempt to be cheerful. + +"Oh yes, fine," answered the boy, looking at the motionless model for +the five-hundredth time, and sticking his hands into his pockets. "I'm +only third in mathematics yet, but I'm head in everything else. I wish I +had your brains, father! I'd be at the head of the arithmetic class in +half a shake of a lamb's tail if I had your brains." + +So far as mathematics were concerned this sounded probable to John +Henry, who would have considered the speed of the tail to be a variable +function of lamb, depending on the value of mother, plus or minus milk. + +"Well," he said in an encouraging tone, "I never could remember +geography, so it makes us even." + +"I'd like to know how!" cried the boy in a tone of protest. "You could +do sums, and you grew up to be a great mathematician and inventor. But +what is the good of a geographician, anyway? They can only make +school-books. They never invent anything, do they? You can't invent +geography, can you? At least you can, and some boys do, but they go to +the bottom of the class like lead. It's safer to invent history than +geography, isn't it, father?" + +Overholt's clever mouth twitched. + +"It's much safer, my boy. Almost all historians have found it so." + +"There! I said so to-day, and now you say just the same thing. I don't +believe one word of ancient history. Not--one--word! They wrote it about +their own nations, didn't they? All right. Then you might just as well +expect them to tell what really happened, as think that I'd tell on +another boy in my own school. I must say it would be as mean as dog pie +of them if they did, but all the same that does not make history true, +does it?" + +Newton had a practical mind. His father, who had not, meditated with +unnecessary gravity on the boy's point of view and said nothing. + +"For instance," continued the lad, sitting down on the high stool before +the lathe Overholt was not using, "the charge of Balaclava's a true +story, because it's been told by both sides; but they all say that it +did no good, anyway, except to make poetry of. But Marathon! Nobody had +a chance to say a word about it except the Greeks themselves, and they +weren't going to allow that the Persians wiped up the floor with them, +were they? Why should they? And if Balaclava had happened then, those +Greek fellows would have told us that the Light Brigade carried the +Russian guns back with them across their saddles, wouldn't they? I say, +father!" + +"What is it?" asked Overholt, looking up, for he had gone back to his +work and was absorbed in it. + +"The boys are all beginning to talk about Christmas down at the school. +Now what are we going to do at Christmas? I've been wondering." + +"So have I!" responded the man, laying down the screw-plate with which +he was about to cut a fine thread on the end of a small brass rod for +the tangent-balance. "I've been thinking about it a good deal to-day, +and I haven't decided on anything." + +"Let's have turkey and cranberry sauce, anyway," said Newton +thoughtfully, for he had a practical mind. "And I suppose we can have +ice-cream if it freezes and we can get some ice. Snow does pretty well +if you pack it down tight enough with salt, and go on putting in more +when it melts. Barbara doesn't make ice-cream as well as they do in New +York. She puts in a lot of winter-green and too little cocoanut. But +it's not so bad. We can have it, can't we, father?" + +"Oh yes. Turkey, cranberry sauce, and ice-cream. But that isn't a whole +Christmas!" + +"I don't see what else you want, I'm sure," answered the boy +thoughtfully. "I mean if it's a big turkey and there's enough +ice-cream--cream-cakes, maybe. You get good cream-cakes at Bangs's, two +for five cents. They're not very big, but they're all right inside--all +gooey, you know. Can you think of anything else?" + +"Not to eat!" + +"Oh, well then, what's the matter with our Christmas? I can't see. No +school and heaps of good gobbles." + +"Good what?" Overholt looked at the boy with an inquiring glance, and +then understood. "I see! Is that the proper word?" + +"When there's lots, it is," answered Newton with conviction. "Of course, +there are all sorts of things I'd like to have, but it's no good +wishing you could lay Columbus's egg and hatch the American eagle, is +it?[Footnote: The writer acknowledges his indebtedness for this fact in +natural and national history to his aunt, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, to whom +it was recently revealed in the course of making an excellent speech.] +What would you like, father, if you could choose?" + +"Three things," answered Overholt promptly. "I should like to see that +wheel going round, softly and steadily, all Christmas Day. I should like +to see that door open and your mother coming in." + +"You bet I would too!" cried Newton, dropping from bold metaphor to +vulgar vernacular. "Well, what's the third thing? You said there were +three." + +"I should like you to have a real, old-fashioned, glorious Christmas, my +boy, such as you had when you were smaller, before we left the house +where you were born." + +"Oh well, you mustn't worry about me, father; if there's plenty of +turkey and ice-cream and the cream-cakes, I can stand it. Mother can't +come, anyhow, so that's settled, and it's no use to think about it. But +the motor--that's different. There's hope, anyway. The wheel may go +round. If you didn't hope so, you wouldn't go on fussing over it, would +you? You'd go and do something else. They always say hope's better than +nothing." + +"It's about all we shall have left for Christmas, so we may as well +build as much on it as we can." + +"I love building," said Newton. "I like to stand and watch a bricklayer +just putting one brick on another and making the wall grow." + +"Perhaps you'll turn out an architect." + +"I'd like to. I never showed you my city, did I?" He knew very well that +he had not, and his father looked at him inquiringly. "No. Oh well, you +won't care to see it." + +"Yes, I should! But I don't understand. What sort of a city do you +mean?" + +"Oh, it's nothing," answered the boy, affecting carelessness. "It's only +a little paper city on a board. I don't believe you'd care to see it, +father. Let's talk about Christmas." + +"No. I want to see what you have made. Where is it? I'll go with you." + +Newton laughed. + +"I'll bring it, if you really want me to. It's easy enough to carry. The +whole thing's only paper!" + +He left the workshop and returned before Overholt had finished cutting +the thread of the screw he was making. The man turned as the boy pushed +the door open with his foot, and came in carrying what had evidently +once been the top of a deal table. + +On the board he had built an ingenious model of a town, or part of one, +but it was not finished. It was entirely made of bits of cardboard, +chips of wood, the sides of match-boxes, and odds and ends of all sorts, +which he picked up wherever he saw them and brought home in his pocket +for his purpose. He had an immense supply of such stuff stored away, +much more than he could ever use. + +Overholt looked at it with admiration, but said nothing. It was the +college town where he had lived so happily and hoped to live again. It +was distinctly recognisable, and many of the buildings were not only +cleverly made, but were coloured very like the originals. He was so much +interested that he forgot to say anything. + +"It's a silly thing, anyway," said Newton, disappointed by his silence. +"It's like toys!" + +Overholt looked up, and the boy saw his pleased face. + +"It's very far from silly," he said. "I believe you're born to be a +builder, boy! It's not only not silly, but it's very well done indeed!" + +"I'll bet you can't tell what the place is," observed Newton, a secret +joy stealing through him at his father's words. + +"Know it? I should think I did, and I wish we were there now! Here's the +College, and there's our house in the street on the other side of the +common. The church is first-rate, it's really like it--and there's the +Roman Catholic Chapel and the Public Library in Main Street." + +"Why, you really do recognise the places!" cried Newton in delight. "I +didn't think anybody'd know them!" + +"One would have to be blind not to, if one knew the town," said +Overholt. "And there's the dear old lane!" He was absorbed in the model. +"And the three hickory trees, and even the little bench!" + +"Why, do you remember that bench, father?" + +Overholt looked up again, quickly and rather dreamily. + +"Yes. It was there that I asked your mother to marry me," he said. + +"Not really? Then I'm glad I put it in!" + +"So am I, for the dear old time's sake and for her sake, and for yours, +my boy. Tell me when you made this, and how you can remember it all so +well." + +The lad sat down on the high stool again before the lathe and looked +through the dingy window at the scraggy trees outside, beyond the +forlorn yard. + +"Oh, I don't know," he said. "I kind of remember it, I suppose, because +I liked it better than this. And when I first had the idea I was sitting +out there in the yard looking at this board. It belongs to a broken +table that had been thrown out there. And I carried it up to my room +when you were out. I thought you wouldn't mind my taking it. And I +picked up scraps that might be useful, and got some gum, and old Barbara +made me some flour paste. It's got green now, and it smells like +thunder, but it's good still. That's about all, I suppose. Now I'll take +it away again. I keep it in the dark closet behind my room, because that +doesn't leak when it rains." + +"Don't take it away," said Overholt suddenly. "I'll make room for it +here, and you can work at it while I'm busy, and in the evenings I'll +try and help you, and we'll finish it together." + +Newton was amazed. + +"Why, father, it's playing! How can you go to work at play? It would be +so funny! But, of course, if you really would help me a little--you've +got such lots of nice things!" + +He wistfully eyed a little coil of some very fine steel wire which would +make a beautiful telegraph. Newton even dreamt of making the trolley, +too, in the Main Street, but that would be a very troublesome job; and +as for the railway station, it was easy enough to build a shed and a +platform, but what is a railway station without a train? + +Overholt did not answer the boy at once, and when he spoke there was a +queer little quaver in his voice. + +"We'll call it our little City of Hope," he said, "and perhaps we can +'go to work to play,' as you call it, so hard that Hope will really come +and live in the City." + +"Well," said Newton, "I never thought you'd ever care to see it! Shall I +go up and get my stuff, and the gum and the flour paste, and bring them +down here, father? But the flour paste smells pretty bad--it might give +you a headache." + +"Bring it down, my boy. My headaches don't come from such things." + +"Don't they? It's true that stuff you use here's about as bad as +anything, till you get used to it. What is it, anyway?" + +Overholt gave him the almost unpronounceable name of some recently +discovered substance, and smiled at his expression as he listened. + +"If that's its name," said the boy gravely, "it sounds like the way it +smells. I wonder what a skunk's name is in science. But the flour +paste's pretty bad too. You'll see!" + +He went off, and his father finished cutting the little screw while he +was gone, and then turned to look at the model again, and became +absorbed in tracing the well-known streets and trying to recall the +shops and houses in each, and the places where his friends had lived, +and no doubt lived still, for college towns do not change as fast as +others. He was amazed at the memory the boy had shown for details; if +the lad had not yet developed any special talent, he had at least proved +that he possessed one of those natural gifts which are sometimes alone +enough to make success. The born builder's eye is like an ear for music, +a facility for languages, or the power of drawing from nature; all the +application in the world will not do in years what any one of these does +instantly, spontaneously, instinctively, without the smallest effort. +You cannot make talent out of a combination of taste and industry. You +cannot train a cart-horse to trot a mile in a little over a minute. + +Newton returned, bringing his materials, to describe which would be +profitless, if it were possible. He had everything littered together in +two battered deal candle-boxes, including the broken soup-plate +containing the flour paste, a loathely, mouldering little mess that +diffused a nauseous odour, distinctly perceptible through that of the +unpronounceable chemical on which the Air-Motor was to depend for its +existence. + +The light outside was failing in the murky November air, and Overholt +lit the big reflecting lamp that hung over the work-table. There was +another above the lathe, for no gas or electricity was to be had so far +from the town, and one of old Barbara's standing causes of complaint +against Overholt was his reckless use of kerosene--she thought it would +be better if he had more fat turkeys and rump-steaks and less light. + +So the man and the boy "went to work to play" at building the City of +Hope, for at least an hour before supper and half an hour after it, +almost every day; and with the boy's marvellous memory and the father's +skill, and the delicious profusion of fresh material which Newton kept +finding in every corner of the workshop, it grew steadily, till it was a +little work of art in its way. There were the ups and downs, the crooked +old roads and lanes and the straight new streets, the little wooden +cottages and the big brick houses, and there was the grassy common with +its trees and its tiny iron railing; and John Henry easily made posts to +carry the trolley wires, which had seemed an impossible dream to the +boy, beyond all realisation; and one day, when the inventor seemed +farther from the tangent-balance than ever, he spent a whole afternoon +in making a dozen little trolley-cars that ran on real wheels, made by +sawing off little sections from a lead pencil, which is the best thing +in the world for that, because the lead comes out and leaves nice round +holes for the axles. When the first car was painted red and yellow and +ran up and down Main Street, guided by the wire above and only needing +one little artificial push to send it either way, it looked so real that +the boy was in ecstasies of delight. + +"It's worth while to be a great inventor to be able to make things like +that!" he cried, and Overholt was as much pleased by the praise as an +opera singer is who is called out three times before the curtain after +the first act. + +So the little City of Hope grew, and they both felt that Hope herself +was soon coming to dwell therein, if she had not come already. + + + + +III + +HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW + + +But then something happened; for Overholt was tormented by the vague +consciousness of a coming idea, so that he had headaches and could not +sleep at night. It flashed upon him at last one evening when Newton was +in bed and he was sitting before his motor, wishing he had the thousand +dollars which would surely complete it, even if he used the most +expensive materials in the market. + +The idea which developed suddenly in all its clearness was that he had +made one of the most important parts of the machine exactly the converse +of what it should be; what was on the right should have been on the +left, and what was down should certainly have been up. Then the engine +would work, even if the tangent-balance were a very poor affair indeed. + +The particular piece of brass casting which was the foundation of that +part had been made in New York, and, owing to the necessity for its +being finished very accurately and machine planed and turned, it had +cost a great deal of money. Already it had been made and spoilt three +times over, and now it was perfectly clear that it must be cast over +again in a reversed form. It was quite useless to make the balance yet, +for it would be of no use till the right casting was finished; it would +have to be reversed too, and the tangent would apply to a reversed +curve. + +He had no money for the casting, but even before trying to raise the +cash it was necessary to make the wooden model. He could do that, and he +set to work to sketch the drawing within five minutes after the idea had +once flashed upon him. As his eye followed the lines made by his pencil, +he became more and more convinced that he was right. When the rough +sketch was done he looked up at the engine. Its familiar features seemed +to be drawn into a diabolical grimace of contempt at his stupidity, and +it looked as if it were conscious and wanted to throw the wrongly-made +piece at his head. But he was overwrought just then and could have +fancied any folly. + +He rose, shook himself, and then took a long pull at a black bottle that +always stood on a shelf. When a man puts a black bottle to his lips, +tips it up, and takes down several good pulls almost without drawing +breath, most people suppose that he is a person of vicious habits. In +Overholt's case most people would have been wrong. The black bottle +contained cold tea; it was strong, but it was only tea, and that is the +finest drink in the world for an inventor or an author to work on. When +I say an author I mean a poor writer of prose, for I have always been +told that all poets are either mad, or bad, or both. Many of them must +be bad, or they could not write such atrocious poems; but madness is +different; perhaps they read their own verses. + +When Overholt had swallowed his cold tea, he got out his drawing +materials, stretched a fresh sheet of thick draughtsman's paper on the +board, and sat down between the motor that would not move and the +little city in which Hope had taken lodgings for a while, and he went to +work with ruler, scale and dividers, and the hard wood template for +drawing the curves he had constructed for the tangent-balance by a very +abstruse mathematical calculation. That was right, at all events, only, +as it was to be reversed, he laid it on the paper with the under-side +up. + +He worked nearly all night to finish the drawing, slept two hours in a +battered Shaker rocking-chair by the fire, woke in broad daylight, drank +more cold tea, and went at once to his lathe, for the new piece was in +the nature of a cylinder, and a good deal of the work could be done by +turning. + +The chisel and the lathe seemed to be talking to each other over the +block of wood, and what they said rang like a tune in John Henry's head. + +"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw, bricks without straw," +repeated the lathe regularly, at each revolution, and when it said +"bricks" the treadle was up, and when it said "straw" the treadle was +down, for of course it was only a foot lathe, though a good one. +"Sh--sh--sh--ever so much better than no bricks at all--sh--sh--sh," +answered the sharp chisel as it pressed and bit the wood, and made a +little irregular clattering when it was drawn away, and then came +forward against the block again with a long hushing sound; and Overholt +was inclined to accept its opinion, and worked on as if an obliging +brassfounder were waiting outside to take the model away at once and +cast it for nothing, or at least on credit. + +But no such worthy and confiding manufacturer appeared, even on the +evening of the second day, when the wooden model was beautifully +finished and ready for the foundry. While the inventor was busy, Newton +had worked alone in a corner when he had time to spare from his lessons, +but he understood what was going on, and he did not accomplish much +beyond painting the front of the National Bank in the City of Hope and +planning a possible Wild West Show to be set up on the outskirts; the +tents would be easy to make, but the horses were beyond his skill, or +his father's; it would not be enough that they should have a leg at each +corner and a head and a tail. + +He understood well enough what was the matter, for he had seen similar +things happen before. A pessimist is defined to be a person who has +lived with an optimist, and every inventor is that. Poor Newton had seen +that particular part of the engine spoiled and made over three times, +and he understood perfectly that it was all wrong again and must be cast +once more. But he kept his reflections to himself and tried to think +about the City of Hope. + +"I wish," said John Henry, sitting down opposite the boy at last, and +looking at what he had done, "that the National Bank in Main Street were +real!" + +He eyed it wistfully. + +"Oh well," answered the boy, "we couldn't rob it, because that's +stealing, so I don't see what particular good it would do!" + +"Perhaps the business people in the City of Hope would be different from +the bankers in New York," observed Overholt, thoughtfully. + +"I don't believe it, father," Newton answered in a sceptical tone. "If +they were bankers they'd be rich, and you remember the sermon Sunday +before last, about it's being easier for the camel to get through the +rich man--no, which is it? I forget. It doesn't matter, anyway, because +we can imagine any kind of people we choose in our city, can't we? Say, +father, what's the matter? Are you going to cast that piece over again? +That'll be the fourth time, won't it?" + +"It would be, my boy, but it won't be. They won't cast it for nothing, +and I cannot raise the money. You cannot make bricks without straw." + +He looked steadily down at the tiny front of the Bank in Main Street, +and a hungry look came into his eyes. + +But Newton had a practical mind, even at thirteen. + +"I was thinking," he said presently. "It looks as if we were going to +get stuck some day. What are we going to do then, father? I was thinking +about it just now. How are we going to get anything to eat if we have no +money?" + +"I shall have to go back to teaching mathematics for a living, I +suppose." + +"And give up the Motor?" Newton had never yet heard him suggest such a +thing. + +"Yes," Overholt answered in a low tone; and that was all he said. + +"Oh, that's ridiculous. You'd just die, that's all!" + +Newton stared at the engine that was a failure. It looked as if it ought +to work, he thought, with its neat cylinders, its polished levers, its +beautifully designed gear. It stood under a big case made of thick glass +plates set in an iron frame with a solid top; a chain ran through two +cast-iron wheels overhead to a counterpoise in the corner, by which +device it was easily raised and lowered. The Motor was a very expensive +affair, and had to be carefully protected from dust and all injury, +though it was worth nothing at present except for old brass and iron, +unless the new part could be made. + +"Come, my boy, let's think of something more cheerful!" Overholt said, +making an effort to rouse himself and concentrated his attention on the +paper model. "Christmas is coming in three weeks, you know, and it will +come just the same in the little City. I'm sure the people will decorate +their houses and the church. Of course we cannot see the insides of the +houses, but in Boston they put wreaths in the windows. And we'll have a +snowstorm, just as we used to have, and we can clear it away afterwards! +Wasn't there a holly tree somewhere near the College? You haven't put +that in yet. You have no idea how cheerful it will look! To-morrow we'll +find a very small sprig with berries on it, and plant it just in the +right place. I'm sure you remember where it stood." + +"Real leaves would be too big," observed the boy. "They wouldn't look +right. Of course, one could cut the branches out of tin and paint 'em +green with red spots, and stick them into a twig for the trunk. But it's +rather hard to do." + +"Let's try," said Overholt. "I've got some fine chisels and some very +thin brass, but I don't think I could draw the branches as well as you +could." + +"Oh, I can draw them something like, if you'll only cut 'em out," the +boy answered cheerfully. "Come on, father! Who says we can't make bricks +without straw? I'll bet anything we can!" + +So they worked together steadily, and for an hour or two the inventor +was so busy in cutting out tiny branches of imaginary holly with a very +small chisel that he did not look once at the plate glass from which +his engine seemed to be grinning at him, in fiendish delight over his +misfortunes. There were times when he was angry with it, outright, as if +it knew what he was doing and did not mean to give in to him and let +itself be invented. + +But now the tune of the lathe and the chisel still ran on in his head, +for he had heard it through two whole days and could not get rid of it. + +"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw!" repeated the lathe +viciously. "Ever so much better than no bricks at all, sh--sh--sh!" +answered the chisel, gibbering and hissing like an idiot. + +"You will certainly be lying on straw before long, and then I suppose +you'll wish you had something else!" squeaked the little chisel with +which he was cutting out holly leaves, as it went through the thin +plates into the wood of the bench under each push of his hand. + +The things in the workshop all seemed to be talking to him together, and +made his head ache. + +"I had a letter from your mother to-day," he said, because it was +better to hear his own voice say anything than to listen to such +depressing imaginary conversations. "I'm sorry to say she sees no chance +of getting home before the spring." + +"I don't know where you'd put her if she came here," answered the +practical Newton. "Your room leaks when it rains, and so does mine. You +two would have to sleep in the parlour. I guess it'll be better if she +doesn't come now." + +"Oh, for her, far better," assented Overholt. "They've got a beautiful +flat in Munich, and everything they can possibly think of. Your mother's +only complaint, so far as that goes, is that those girls are completely +spoilt by too much luxury!" + +"What is luxury, exactly, father?" asked Newton, who always wanted to +know things. + +"I shall never know myself, and perhaps you never will either!" The +wretched inventor tried to laugh. "But that's no answer to your +question, is it? I suppose luxury means always having twice as much of +everything as you can possibly use, and having it about ten times as +fine and expensive as other people can afford." + +"I don't see any use in that," said the boy. "Now I know just how much +turkey and cranberry sauce and ice-cream I really need, and if I get +just a little more than that, it's Christmas. I don't mean much more, +but about half a helping. I know all about proverbs. Haven't I copied +millions of 'em in learning to write. One reason why it's so slow to +learn is that the things you have to write are perfect nonsense. 'Enough +is as good as a feast!' All I can say is, the man who made that proverb +never had a feast, or he'd have known better! This green paint doesn't +dry very quick, father. We'll have to wait till to-morrow before we put +in the red spots for the berries. I wish I had some little red beads. +They'd stick on the wet paint now, like one o'clock." + +There were no red beads, so he rose to go to bed. When he had said +good-night and had reached the door, he stopped and looked back again. + +"Say, father, haven't you anything you can sell to get some more money +for the Motor?" + +John Henry shook his weary head and smiled sadly. + +"Nothing that would bring nearly enough to pay for the casting," he +answered. "Don't worry about it, boy. Leave that to me--I'm used to it. +Go to bed and sleep, and you'll feel like an Air-Motor yourself in the +morning!" + +"That's the worst of it," returned the boy. "Just to sit there under a +glass case and have you take care of me and do nothing, like a girl. +That's the way I feel sometimes." + +He shook his young head quite as gravely as the inventor had shaken his +own, and went quietly to bed without saying anything more. + +"I don't know what to do, I'm sure," he said to himself as he got into +bed, "but I'm sure there's something. Maybe I'll dream it, and then I'll +do just the contrary and it'll come all right." + +But boys of practical minds and sound bodies do not dream at all, unless +it be after a feast, and most of them can stand even that without having +nightmare, unless two feasts come near together, like Christmas and a +birthday within the week. + +A great-uncle of mine was once taken for a clergyman at a public dinner +nearly a hundred years ago, and he was asked to say grace; he was a +good man, and also practical, and had a splendid appetite, but he was +not eloquent, and this is what he said:-- + +"The Lord give us appetites to enjoy, and strength to digest ALL the +good things set before us. Amen!" + +And everybody said "Amen" very cheerfully and fell to. + + + + +IV + +HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY + + +It rained in New York and it "snowed slush" in Connecticut, after its +manner, and the world was a very dreary place, especially all around the +dilapidated cottage where everything was going to pieces, including John +Henry Overholt's last hopes. + +If he had been alone in the world he would have taken his small cash +balance and his model to the foundry, quite careless as to whether he +ever got a meal again until the Motor worked. But there was the boy to +be thought of, and desperate as the unhappy inventor was, he would not +starve his son as well as himself. He was quite sure of his little +balance, though he had never had any head for figures of that sort. It +was an easy affair in his eyes to handle the differential calculus, +which will do anything, metaphorically speaking, from smashing a rock as +flat and thin as a postage stamp, to regulating an astronomical clock; +but to understand the complication of a pass-book and a bank account was +a matter of the greatest possible difficulty. Newton would have done it +much better, though he could not get to the head of his class in +arithmetic. That is the difference between being an inventor and having +a practical mind. As for Mrs. Overholt, she was perfectly wonderful at +keeping accounts; but then she had been taught a great many things, from +music and drawing to compound interest and double entry, and she had +been taught them all just so far as to be able to do them nicely without +understanding at all what she did; which is sound modern education, and +no mistake. The object of music is to make a cheerful noise, which can +be done very well without pencil and paper and the rules of harmony. + +But Overholt could neither make a cheerful noise, nor draw a holly leaf, +nor speak French, nor even understand a pass-book, though he had +invented an Air-Motor which would not work, but was a clear evidence of +genius. The only business idea he had was to make his little balance +last as long as possible, in spite of the terrible temptation to take it +and offer it to the founder as a cash advance, if only he might have his +piece of casting done. Where the rest of the money would come from he +did not know; probably out of the Motor. It looked so easy; but there +was the boy, and it might happen that there would be no dinner for +several days. + +On the first of December he cashed a cheque in the town, as usual; and +he paid Barbara's wages and the coal merchant, and the month's bill for +kerosene, and the butcher and the grocer, and the baker, and that was +practically all; and he went to bed that night feeling that whatever +happened there was a whole month before another first came round, and he +owed no one anything more for the present, and Newton would not starve, +and could have his Christmas turkey, if it was to be the last he ever +ate, poor boy. + +On the morning of December third it was still snowing slush, though it +was more like real snow now, and the air was much colder; and by and by, +when Overholt had read a letter that Barbara brought him, he felt so +terribly cold all at once that his teeth chattered, and then he was so +hot that the perspiration ran down his forehead, and he steadied himself +against the heavy glass case of the Motor a moment and then almost +tumbled into a sitting posture on the stool before his work-table, and +his head fell forward on his hands, as if he were fainting. + +The letter said that his account was overdrawn to the extent of three +hundred and fifty-two dollars and thirteen cents, including the cheque +he had drawn on the thirty-first, and would he please make a deposit at +his earliest convenience? + +It had been just a little mistake in arithmetic, that was all. He had +started with the wrong balance in his note-book, and what he thought was +credit was debit, but the bank where he had kept all the money that had +been put up for the Motor, had wished to be friendly and good-natured to +the great inventor and had not returned his cheques with N.G. on them; +and if his attention had already been called to his deficit, he must +have forgotten to open the letter. Like all men who are much talked of +in the newspapers, though they may be as poor as Job's turkey, he +received a great many circulars addressed by typewriter, and the only +letters he really cared for were from his wife, so that when he was very +hard at work or much preoccupied the others accumulated somewhere in the +workshop, and were often forgotten. + +What was perfectly clear this morning was that starvation was sitting on +the doorstep and that he had no moral right whatever to the dinner +Barbara was already beginning to cook, nor to another to-morrow, nor to +any more; for he was a proud man, and ashamed of debt, though he mixed +up debit and credit so disgracefully. + +He sat there half an hour, as he had let himself fall forward, only +moving a little, so that his forehead rested on his arm instead of his +hands, because that was a little more comfortable, and just then he did +not want to see anything, least of all the Motor. When he rose at last +the sleeve of his coat was all wet with the perspiration from his +forehead. He left the workshop, half shutting his eyes in order not to +see the Motor; he was sure the thing was grinning at him behind the +plate glass. It had two round brass valves near the top that looked +like yellow eyeballs, and a lever at the bottom with double arms and a +cross-bar, which made him think of an iron jaw when he was in one of his +fits of nervous depression. + +But John Henry Overholt was a man, and an honest one. He went straight +to the writing-table in the next room and sat down, and though his hand +shook, he wrote a clear and manly letter to the President of the College +where he had taught so well, stating his exact position, acknowledging +the failure of his invention, and asking help to find immediate +employment as a teacher, even in the humblest capacity which would +afford bread for his boy and himself. Presidents and principals of +colleges are in constant communication with other similar institutions, +and generally know of vacant positions. + +When he had written his letter and read it over carefully, Overholt +looked at his timetable, got his hat, coat, and umbrella, and trudged +off through the slushy snow to the station, on his way to New York. + +It was raining there, but it was not dismal; hurry, confusion, and noise +can never be that. He had not been in the city since the day when he +made his last attempt to raise money, and in his present state the +contrast was overwhelming. The shopkeepers would have told him that it +was a dull day for business, and that the rain was costing them hundreds +of dollars every hour, because there are a vast number of people who buy +things within the month before Christmas, if it is convenient and the +weather is fine, but will not take the trouble if the weather is bad; +and afterwards they are so glad to have saved their money that they buy +nothing of that sort till the following year. For Christmas shopping is +largely a matter of temptation on the one side and of weakness on the +other, and you cannot tempt a man to buy your wares if he will not even +go out and look at your shop window. At Christmas time every shopkeeper +turns into a Serpent, with a big S and a supply of apples varying, with +his capital, from a paper-bagful to a whole orchard, and though the +ladies are the more easily tempted, nine generous men out of ten show no +more sense just at that time than Eve herself did. The very air has +temptation in it when they see the windows full of pretty things and +think of their wives and their children and their old friends. Even +misers relax a little then, and a famous statesman, who was somewhat +close-fisted in his day, is reported to have given his young coloured +servant twenty-five cents on Christmas Eve, telling him to go out to +Mount Auburn Cemetery and see where the great men of New England lie +buried. And the man, I believe, went there; but he was an African, and +the spirit of Christmas was not in his race, for if it had moved him he +would have wasted that money on cream-cakes and cookies, reflecting that +the buried worthies of Massachusetts could not tell tales on him. + +Overholt went down town to the bank where he kept his account and +explained his little mistake very humbly, and asked for time to pay up. +The teller looked at him as if he were an escaped lunatic, but on +account of his great reputation as an inventor he was shown to the desk +of one of the partners, which stood in a corner of the vast place, where +one could converse confidentially if one did not speak above a whisper; +but the stenographer girl could hear even whispering distinctly, and +perhaps she sometimes took down what she heard, if the partner made a +signal to her by carelessly rolling his pencil across his table. + +The partner whom Overholt saw was not ill-natured, and besides, it was +near Christmas, and he had been poor himself when he was young. If +Overholt would kindly sign a note at sixty days for the overdraft it +would be all right. The banker was sorry he could not authorise him to +overdraw any further, but it was strictly against the rules, an +exception had been made because Mr. Overholt was such a well-known man, +and so forth. But the inventor explained that he had not meant to ask +any favour, and had come to explain how he had made such a strange +mistake. The banker, like the teller, thought that a man who could not +count money must be mad, but was too civil, or too good-natured, to say +so. + +Overholt signed the note, thanked him warmly, and went away. He and his +old umbrella looked very dejected as he left the building and dived into +the stream of men in the street, but if he had paid any attention to his +fellow-beings he would have seen here and there a number who looked +quite as unhappy as he did. He had come all the way from the country +expressly to explain his error, and had been in the greatest haste to +get down town and have the interview over. To go home with the prospect +of trying to eat a dinner that would be cold, and of sitting in his +workshop all the afternoon just to stare at his failure until Newton +came home, was quite another matter. If the weather had been less +disagreeable he would have gone to the Central Park, to sit in a quiet +corner and think matters over. + +As that seemed out of the question, he walked from the bank to +Forty-Second Street, taking an hour and a half over it. It was better to +go on foot than to sit in a car facing a dozen or twenty strangers, who +would wonder why he looked so miserable. Sensitive people always fancy +that everybody is looking at them and criticising them, when in fact no +one cares a straw how they look or what they do. + +Then, too, he was in such a morbid state of mind about his debt that it +looked positively wrong to spend five cents on a car-fare; even the +small change in his pocket was not his own, and that, and hundreds of +dollars besides, must be paid back in sixty days. Otherwise he supposed +he would be bankrupt, which, to his simple mind, meant disgrace as well +as ruin. + +It had stopped raining before he reached Grace Church, and as he crossed +Madison Square the sun shone out, the wind had veered to the west, and +the sky was clearing all round. The streets had seemed full before, but +they were positively choking with people now. The shops drew them in and +blew them out again with much less cash about them, as a Pacific whale +swallows water and spouts it out, catching the little fish by thousands +with his internal whalebone fishing-net. But, unlike the fishes, the +people were not a whit less pleased. On the contrary, there was +something in the faces of almost all that is only seen once a year in +New York, and then only for certain hours; and that is real good-will. +For whatever the most home-loving New Yorker may say of his own great +city, good-will to men is not its dominant characteristic, nor peace its +most remarkable feature. + +Even poor Overholt, half crazy with disappointment and trouble, could +not help noticing the difference between the expressions of the men he +had seen down town and of those who were thronging the shops and the +sidewalks in Fifth Avenue. In Wall Street and adjacent Broadway a great +many looked like more or less discontented birds of prey looking out for +the next meal, and a few might have been compared to replete vultures; +but here all those who were not alone were talking with their +companions, and many were smiling, and now and then a low laugh was +heard, which is a very rare thing in Fifth Avenue, though you may often +hear children laughing in the Park and sometimes in the cross streets +up-town. + +Then there was another eagerness in the faces, that was not for money, +but was the anticipation of giving pleasure before long, and of being +pleased too; and that is a great part of the Christmas spirit, if it is +not the spirit itself. It is doubtless more blessed to give than to +receive, but the receiving is very delightful, and it is cruel to teach +children that they must not look forward to having pretty presents. What +is Christmas Day to a happy child but a first glimpse of heaven on +earth? + +Overholt glanced at the faces of the passers-by with a sort of vague +surprise, wondering why they looked so happy; and then he remembered +what they were doing, and all at once his heart sank like lead. What was +to become of the turkey and the ice-cream on which Newton had built his +hopes for Christmas? Would there be any dinner at all? Or any one to +cook it? How could he go and get things which he would not be able to +pay for on the first of next month, exactly a week after the feast? His +imagination could glide lightly over three weeks of starvation, but at +the thought of his boy's disappointment everything went to pieces, the +present, the future, everything. He would have walked all the way down +town again to beg for a loan of only a few dollars, enough for that one +Christmas dinner; but he knew from the banker's face that such a request +would be refused, as such, and he dreaded in his misery lest the money +should be offered him as a charity. + +He got home at last, weary and wretched, and then for the first time he +remembered the letter he had written asking for employment as a teacher. +He had been a very good one, and the College had been sorry to lose +him; in two days he might get an answer; all hope was not gone yet, at +least not quite all, and his spirits revived a little. Besides, the +weather was fine now, even in Connecticut; there would be a sharp frost +in the night, and Newton would soon get some skating. + + + + +V + +HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF + + +Almost the worst part of it was that he had to tell his boy about his +dreadful mistake, and that it was all over with the Motor and with +everything, and that until he could get something to do they were +practically starving; and that he could not possibly see how there was +ever to be ice-cream for Christmas, let alone such an expensive joy as, +a turkey. + +He knew that Newton would not pucker up his mouth and screw his eyes to +keep the tears in, like a girl; and he was quite sure that the boy would +not reproach him for having been so careless. He might not seem to care +very much, but he would be terribly disappointed; that was the worst of +it all, next to owing money that he had no hope of paying. Indeed, he +hardly knew which hurt him more than the other, for the disgrace of +debt, as he called it, was all his own, but the bitter disappointment +was on Newton too. + +The latter listened in silence till his father had finished, and his +boyish face was preternaturally thoughtful. + +"I've seen boys make just such mistakes at the blackboard," he observed +in a tone of melancholy reflection. "And they generally catch it +afterwards too," he added. "It's natural." + +"I've 'caught it,'" Overholt answered. "You have too, my dear boy, +though you didn't make the mistake--that's not just." + +"Well, father, I don't know what we're going to do, but something has +got to be done right away, and we've got to find out what it is." + +"Thank goodness you're not a girl!" cried Overholt fervently. + +"I'm glad too; only, if I were one, I should most likely die young and +go to heaven, and you'd have me off your mind all right. The girls +always do in storybooks." + +He made this startling and general observation quite naturally. Of +course girls died and went to heaven when there was nothing to eat; he +secretly thought it would be better if more of them did, even without +starvation. + +"Let's work, anyhow," he added, as his father said nothing. "Maybe we'll +think of something while we're building that railroad depôt. Don't you +suppose that now you've got so far the Motor would keep while you +taught, and you could go at it again in the vacations? That's an idea, +father, come now!" + +He was already in his place before the board on which the little City +was built, and his eyes were fixed on the lines his father had drawn as +a plan for the station and the diverging tracks. But Overholt did not +sit down. His usual place was opposite the Motor, where he could see it, +but he did not want to look at it now. + +"Change seats with me, boy," he said. "I cannot stand the sight of it. I +suppose I'm imaginative. All this has upset me a good deal." + +He wished he had the lad's nerves, the solid nerves of hungry and +sleepy thirteen. Newton got up at once and changed places, and for a few +minutes Overholt tried to concentrate his mind on the little City, but +it was of no use. If he did not think of the Motor, he thought of what +was much worse, for the little streets and models of the familiar places +brought back the cruel memory of happier things so vividly that it was +torment. All his faculties of sensation were tense and vibrating; he +could hear his wife's gentle and happy voice, her young girl's voice, +when he looked at the little bench in the lane where he had asked her to +marry him, and an awful certainty came upon him that he was never to +hear her speak again on this side of the grave; there was the house they +had lived in; from that window he had looked out on a May morning at the +budding trees half an hour after his boy had been born; there, in the +pretty garden, the young mother had sat with her baby in the lovely June +days--it was full of her. Or if he looked at the College, he knew every +one of the steps, and the entrance, and the tall windows of the +lecture-rooms, where he had taught so contentedly, year after year, till +the terrible Motor had taken possession of him, the thing that was +driving him mad; and, strangely enough, what hurt him most and brought +drops of perspiration to his forehead was the National Bank in Main +Street; it made him remember his debt, and that he had no money at +all--nothing whatsoever but the few dollars in his pocket left after +paying the bills on the first of the month. + +"It's of no use!" he cried, suddenly rising and turning away. "I cannot +stand it. I'm sorry, but it's too awful!" + +Never before had he felt so thoroughly ashamed of himself. He was +breaking down before his son, to whom he knew he ought to be setting an +example of fortitude and common sense. He had forgotten the very names +of such qualities; the mere thought of Hope, whenever it crossed his +mind, mocked him maddeningly, and he hated the little City for the name +he had given it. Hope was his enemy since she had left him, and he was +hers; he could have found it in his heart to crush the poor little paper +town to pieces, and then to split up the very board itself for firewood. + +The years that had been so full of belief were all at once empty, and +the memory of them rang hollow and false, because Hope had cheated him, +luring him on, only to forsake him at the great moment. Every hour he +had spent on the work had been misspent; he saw it all now, and the most +perfect of his faultless calculations only proved that science was a +blatant fraud and a snare that had cost him all he had, his wife, his +boy's future, and his own self-respect. How could he ever look at his +wretched failure again? How could he sit down opposite the son he had +cheated, and who was going to starve with him, and play with a little +City of Hope, when Hope herself was the lying enemy that had coaxed him +to the destruction of his family and to his own disgrace? As for +teaching again, who ever got back a good place after he had voluntarily +given it up for a wild dream! Men who had such dreams were not fit to +teach young men in any case! That was the answer he would get by post in +a day or two. + +Newton watched his father anxiously, for he had heard that people +sometimes went mad from disappointment and anxiety. The pale +intellectual face wore a look of horror, as if the dark eyes saw some +dreadful sight; the thin figure moved nervously, the colourless lips +twitched, the lean fingers opened and shut spasmodically on nothing. It +was enough to scare the boy, who had always known his father gentle, +sweet-tempered, and hopeful even under failure; but Overholt was quite +changed now, and looked as if he were either very ill or very crazy. + +It is doubtful whether boys ever love their fathers as most of them love +their mothers at one time, or all their lives. The sort of attachment +there often is between father and son is very different from that, and +both feel that it is; there is more of alliance and friendship in it +than of anything like affection, even when it is at its best, with a +strong instinct to help one another and to stand by each other in a +fight. + +Newton Overholt did not feel any sympathetic thrill of pain for his +father's sufferings; not in the least; he would perhaps have said that +he was "sorry for him" without quite knowing what that meant. But he was +very strongly moved to help him in some way, seeing that he was +evidently getting the worst of it in a big fight. Newton soon became +entirely possessed by the idea that "something ought to be done," but +what it was he did not know. + +The lid of Pandora's box had flown open and had come off suddenly after +smashing the hinges, and Hope had flown out of the window. The boy +thought it was clearly his duty to catch her and get her into prison +again, and then to nail down the lid. He had not the smallest doubt that +this was what he ought to do, but the trouble lay in finding out how to +do it, a little difficulty that humanity has faced for a good many +thousand years. On the other hand, if he failed, as seemed probable, he +was almost sure that his father would fall ill and die, or go quite mad +in a few hours. He wished his mother were there; she would have known +how to cheer the desperate man, and could probably have made him smile +in a few minutes without really doing anything at all. Those were the +things women could do very well, the boy thought, and they ought always +to be at hand to do them when wanted. He himself could only sit there +and pretend to be busy, as children mostly do when they see their elders +in trouble. But that made him wild. + +"I say, father," he broke out suddenly, "can't I do anything? Try and +think!" + +"That's what I'm trying to do," answered Overholt, sitting down at last +on the stool before the work-bench and staring at the wall, with his +back turned to his son. "But I can't! There's something wrong with my +head." + +"You want to see a doctor," said the boy. "I'll go and see if I can get +one of them to come out here." He rose as if to go at once. + +"No! Don't!" cried Overholt, much distressed by the mere suggestion. "He +could only tell me to rest, and take exercise and sleep at night and not +worry!" He laughed rather wildly. "He would tell me not to worry! They +always say that! A doctor would tell a man 'not to worry' if he was to +be hanged the next morning!" + +"Well," said Newton philosophically, "I suppose a man who's going to be +hung needn't worry much, anyway. He's got the front seat at the show and +nothing particular to do!" + +This was sound, so far as it went, but insufficient as consolation. +Overholt either did not hear, or paid no heed to the boy. He left the +room a moment later without shutting the door, and threw himself down on +the old black horsehair sofa in the parlour. Presently the lad rose +again and covered up the City of Hope with the big brown paper case he +had made to fit down over the board and keep the dust off. + +"This isn't your day," he observed as he did so, and the remark was +certainly addressed to the model of the town. + +He went into the other room and stood beside his father, looking down at +his drawn face and damp forehead. + +"Say, father, really, isn't there anything I can do to help?" + +Overholt answered with an effort. "No, my boy, there's nothing, thank +you. You cannot find money to pay my debts, can you?" + +"Have you got no money at all?" asked Newton, very gravely. + +"Four or five dollars! That's all! That's all you and I have got left in +the world to live on, and even that's not mine!" + +His voice shook with agony, and he raised one hand to his forehead, not +dramatically, as many foreigners would do, but quietly and firmly, and +he pressed and kneaded the surface as if he were trying to push his +brains back into the right place, so that they would work, or at least +keep quiet. After that answer Newton was too sensible to ask any more +questions, and perhaps he was also a little afraid to, because questions +might make his father worse. + +"Well," he said vaguely, "if I can't work at the City I suppose I may as +well go out before it's dark and take a look at the pond. It's going to +freeze hard to-night, and maybe there'll be black ice that'll bear by +to-morrow." + +Overholt was glad to be left alone, for he could not help being ashamed +of having broken down so completely before the boy, and he felt that he +could not recover his self-control unless he were left to himself. + +He heard Newton go up the rickety stairs to his own room, where he +seemed to be rummaging about for some time, judging from the noises +overhead; then the strong shoes clattered on the staircase again, the +house door was opened and shut, and the boy was off. + + + + +VI + +HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX + + +Newton went to the pond, because he said he was going out for that +purpose, and it might be convenient to be able to swear that he had +really been down to the water's edge. As if to enjoy the pleasure of +anticipation, too, he had his skates with him in a green flannel bag, +though it was quite out of the question that the ice should bear +already, and it was not even likely that the water would be already +frozen over. However, he took the skates with him, a very good pair, of +a new model, which his father had given him towards the end of the +previous winter, so that he had not used them more than half a dozen +times. It was very cold, but of course the ice would not bear yet. The +sun had not set, and as he was already half-way to the town, the boy +apparently thought he might as well go on instead of returning at once +to the cottage, where he would have to occupy himself with his books +till supper-time, supposing that it occurred to his father to have any +supper in his present condition. The prospect was not wildly gay, and +besides, something must be done at once. Newton was possessed by that +idea. + +When Overholt had been alone for some time, he got up from the horsehair +sofa and crept up the stairs, leaning on the shaky bannister like an old +man. In his own room he plunged his face into icy cold water again and +again, as if it were burning, and the sharp chill revived his nerves a +little. There was no stove in the room, and before midnight the water +would be frozen in the pitcher. He sat down and rubbed his forehead and +wondered whether he was really any better, or was only imagining or even +pretending that he was, because he wanted to be. Our own reflections +about our own sensations are never so silly as at the greatest moments +in our lives, because the tremendous strain on the higher faculties +releases all the little ones, as in sleep, and they behave and reason as +idiotically as they do in dreams, which is saying a good deal. Perhaps +lunatics are only people who are perpetually asleep and dreaming with +one part of their brains while the other parts are awake. They certainly +behave as if that were the matter, and it seems a rational explanation +of ordinary insanity, curable or incurable. Did you ever talk to a +lunatic? On the subject on which he is insane he thinks and talks as you +do when you are dreaming; but he may be quite awake and sensible about +all other matters. He dreams he is rich, and he goes out and orders +cartloads of things from shops. Pray, have you never dreamt that you +were rich? Or he dreams that he is a poached egg, and must have a piece +of toast to sit down upon. I believe that well-known story of a lunatic +to be founded on fact. Have you never dreamt that you were somebody or +something quite different from yourself? Have you never dreamt that you +were an innocent man, persecuted, tried for a crime, and sentenced to +prison, or even death? And yet, at the same time, in your dream, you +were behaving with the utmost good sense about everything else. When +you are dreaming, you are a perfect lunatic; why may it not be true that +the waking lunatic is really dreaming all the time, with one part of his +brain? + +John Henry Overholt was apparently wide awake, but he had been morally +stunned that day; he was dreaming that he was going crazy, and he could +not, for the life of him, tell whether he really felt any better after +cooling his head in the basin than before, though it seemed immensely +important to find out, just then. Afterwards, when it was all over, and +things were settled again, he remembered only a blank time, which had +lasted from the moment when he had broken down before the little City +until he found himself sitting in the parlour alone before the supper +table with a bright lamp burning, and wondering why his boy did not come +home. The dream was over then; his head ached a good deal and he did not +feel hungry, but that was all; burning anxiety had cooled to leaden +care. He knew quite well that it was all over with the Motor, that his +friends at the College would find him some sort of employment, and that +in due time he would succeed in working off his debt to the bank, +dollar by dollar. He had got his soul back out of the claws of despair +that had nearly flown away with it. There was no hope, but he could live +without it because he must not only live himself, but keep his boy +alive. Somehow, he would get along on credit for a week or two, till he +could get work. At all events there were his tools to sell, and the +Motor must go for old brass, bronze, iron, and steel. He would see about +selling the stuff the next day, and with what it would bring he could at +least pay cash for necessaries, and the bank must wait. There was no +hope in that, but there was the plain sense of an honest man. He was not +a coward; he had only been brutally stunned, and now that he had +recovered from the blow he would do his duty. But an innocent man who +walks steadily to endure an undeserved death is not a man that hopes for +anything, and it was like death to Overholt to give up his invention. + +The door opened and Newton came in quietly. His face was flushed with +the cold and his eyes were bright. What was the weight of leaden care to +the glorious main-spring of healthy thirteen? Overholt was proud of his +boy, nevertheless, for facing the dreary prospect of no Christmas so +bravely. Then he had a surprise. + +"I've got a little money, father. It's not much, I know, but it's +something to go on with for a day or two. There it is." + +Newton produced three well-worn dollar bills and some small change, +which his father stared at in amazement. + +"There's three dollars and seventy cents," he said. "And you told me you +had four or five dollars left." + +Before he sat down he piled the change neatly on the bills beside his +father's plate; then he took his seat, very red indeed and looking at +the table-cloth. + +"Where on earth did you get it?" asked Overholt, leaning back in his +chair. + +"Well"--the boy hesitated and got redder still--"I didn't steal it, +anyway," he said. "It's mine all right. I mean it's yours." + +"Of course you didn't steal it!" cried John Henry. "But where did you +get it? You haven't had more than a few cents at a time for weeks and +weeks, so you can't have saved it!" + +"I didn't beg it either," Newton answered. + +"Or borrow it, my boy?" + +"No! I wasn't going to borrow money I couldn't pay! I'd rather not tell +you, all the same, father! At least, I earned twenty cents of it. That's +the odd twenty, that makes the three seventy. I don't mind telling you +that." + +"Oh, you earned twenty cents of it? Well, I'm glad of that, anyhow. What +did you do?" + +"I sort of hung round the depôt till the train came in, and I carried a +man's valise across to the hotel for him. He gave me ten cents. Some of +the boys do that, you know, but I thought you wouldn't care to have me +do it till I had to!" + +"That's all right. It does you credit. How about the other ten cents?" + +"Old Bangs saw me pass his shop, and he asked me to come in and said +he'd give me ten cents if I'd do some sums for him. I guess he's pretty +busy just now. He said he'd give me ten cents every day till Christmas +if I'd come in after school and do the sums. His boy's got mumps or +something, and can't. There's no harm in that, is there, father?" + +"Harm! I'm proud of you, my boy. You'll win through--some day!" + +It was the first relief from his misery the poor man had felt since he +had read the letter about the overdraft in the morning. + +"What I can't understand is the rest of the money," said Overholt. + +Newton looked very uncomfortable again, and moved uneasily on his chair. + +"Oh well, I suppose I've got to tell you," he said, looking down into +his plate and very busy with his knife and fork. "Say, you won't tell +mother, will you? She wouldn't like it." + +"I won't tell her." + +"Well"--the boy hesitated--"I sold some things," he said at last, in a +low voice. + +"Oh! There's no great harm in that, my boy. What did you sell?" + +"My skates and my watch," said Newton, just audibly. "You see I didn't +somehow feel as if I were going to skate much this winter--and I don't +really need to know what time it is if I start right by the clock to go +to school. I say, don't tell mother. She gave me the watch, you know, +last Christmas. Of course, you gave me the skates, but you'll +understand better than she would." + +Overholt was profoundly touched, for he knew what delight the good +skates meant in the cold weather, and the pride the boy had felt in the +silver watch that kept such excellent time. But he could not think of +much to say just then, for the sight of the poor little pile of dirty +money that was the sordid price of so much pleasure and satisfaction +half-choked him. + +"You're a brave boy," he said in a low tone. + +But Newton was indefinitely far from understanding that he had done +anything brave; he merely felt much better now, because he had confessed +and had the matter off his mind. + +"Oh well, you see, something had to be done quick," he said, "and I +couldn't think of anything else. But I'll go and earn that ten cents of +Bangs every afternoon, you bet! And I guess I can pick up a quarter at +the depôt now and then; that is, if you don't mind. It isn't much, I +know, but it'll help a little." + +"It's helped already, more than you have any idea," said Overholt. + +He remembered with bitter shame how he had completely broken down +before his son that afternoon, and how quietly the lad had gone off to +make his great sacrifice, pretending that he only wanted to see whether +the pond was freezing. + +"Well," said Newton, "I'm glad you don't think it was mean of me to go +and sell the watch mother gave me. And I'm glad you feel better. You do +feel a good deal better, don't you?" + +"A thousand times better!" answered Overholt, almost cheerfully. + +"I'm glad. Maybe you'll feel like working on the City a little after +supper." + +"I was afraid Hope had given us up to-day, and had flown away for good +and all," said the inventor. "But you've brought her home with you +again, bless you! Yes, we'll do some work after supper, and after you go +to bed I'll just have one more good evening with the Motor before I give +it up for ever." + +Newton looked up. + +"You aren't going to give it up for ever," he said in a tone of +conviction. "You can't." + +Overholt explained calmly enough that he must sell the machine for old +metal the very next day, and sell the tools too. But the boy shook his +head. + +"You'll curl up and die if you do that," he said. "Besides, if mother +were here she wouldn't let you do it, so you oughtn't to. The reason why +she's gone to be a governess is because she wouldn't let you give up the +Motor, father. You know it is." + +"Yes. It's true--but--" he hesitated. + +"You simply can't do it, that's all. So I'm perfectly certain you won't! +I believe everything will come round all right, anyway, if you only +don't worry. That's what I believe, father." + +"It's a hopeful view, at all events. The only objection to it is that +it's a good deal like dreaming, and I've no right to dream any more. +When you see that I'm going to, you must make me sit up and mind my +lesson!" + +He even laughed a little, and it was not badly done, considering that he +did it on purpose to show how he meant to make the best of it all, +though Hope would not do anything for him. He ate something too, if only +to keep the hungry boy company. + +They went into the workshop, and found the bright moonlight streaming +through the window that looked east. It fell full on the motionless +Motor, under its plate-glass case, and turned all the steel and brass to +silver and gold, and from the clean snow that covered the desolateness +of the yard outside the moon sent a white reflection upwards that +mingled with the direct moonlight in a ghostly sort of way. Newton stood +still and looked at the machine, while Overholt felt about for matches. + +"If only it would begin to move now, just of itself!" + +The man knew that it would not, and wished that the boy would not even +suggest such a thing, and he sighed as he lit the lamp. But all the same +he meant to spend half the night in taking a last farewell of the +engine, and of all the parts on which he had spent months and years, +only to let them be broken up for old metal in the end. + +The two sat down on each side of the little City and went to work to +build the railway station; and after all, when Overholt looked at the +Common and the College and remembered how happy he had been there, he +began to feel that since dreams were nothing but dreams, except that +they were a great waste of time and money, and of energy and endurance, +he might possibly find some happiness again in the old life, if he could +only get back to it. + +So Hope came back, rather bedraggled and worn out after her long +excursion, and took a very humble lodging in the little City which had +once been all hers and the capital of her kingdom. But she was there, +all the same, peeping out of a small window to see whether she would be +welcome if she went out and took a little walk in the streets. + +For the blindest of all blind people are those who have quite made up +their minds not to see; and the most miserable of all the hopeless ones +are those that wilfully turn their backs on Hope when she stands at the +next corner holding out her hand rather timidly. + +But Overholt was not one of these, and he took it gladly when it was +offered, and stood ready to be led away by a new path, which was not the +road to fame or wealth, but which might bring him to a quiet little +place where he could live in peace with those he loved, and after all +that would be a great deal. + + + + +VII + +HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY + + +A fortnight earlier Mrs. Overholt had been much disturbed in her mind, +for she read each of her husband's letters over at least three times, +and Newton's fortnightly scrawls even oftener, because it was less easy +to make them out; but she had understood one thing very well, and that +was that there was no more money for the invention, and very little cash +for the man and the boy to live on. If she had known what a dreadful +mistake John Henry had made about debit and credit, the little woman +would have been terribly anxious; but as it was, she was quite unhappy +enough. + +Overholt had written repeatedly of his attempts to raise just a little +more money with which to finish the invention, and he had explained very +clearly what there was to do, and somehow she had always believed in the +idea, because he had invented that beautiful scientific instrument with +which his name was connected, but she was almost sure that in working +out his theory he was quite on the wrong track. She did not really +understand the engine at all, but she was quite certain that when a +thing was going to succeed, it succeeded from the first, without many +hitches or drawbacks. Most women are like that. + +She had never written this to her husband, because she would do anything +rather than discourage him; but she had almost made, up her mind to +write him a letter of good advice at last, begging him to go back to +teaching for the present, and only to work at the invention in his spare +time. Just then, however, she came across a paragraph in a German +newspaper in Munich which said that a great scientific man in Berlin had +completed an air-motor at last, after years of study, and that it worked +tolerably, enough to demonstrate the principle, but could never be of +any practical use because the chemical product on which it ultimately +depended was so enormously expensive. + +Now Mrs. Overholt knew one thing certainly about her husband's engine, +namely, that the chemical he meant to use cost next to nothing, so that +if the principle were sound, the Motor would turn out to be the cheapest +in existence; and she was a practical person, like her boy Newton. + +Moreover, she loved John Henry with all her heart and soul, and thought +him one of the greatest geniuses in the world, and she simply could not +bear the idea that he should not have a fair chance to finish the +machine and try it. + +Lastly, Christmas was coming; the girls she was educating talked of +nothing else, and counted the days, and sat up half the night on the +edges of each other's beds discussing the beautiful presents they were +sure to receive; and a great deal might be written about what they said, +but it has nothing to do with this story, except that their chatter +helped to fill the air with the Christmas spirit, and with thoughts of +giving as well as of receiving. Though they were rather spoiled +children, they were generous too, and they laid all sorts of little +traps in order to find out what their governess would like best from +each of them, for they were fond of her in their way. + +Also, Munich is one of the castles which King Christmas still holds in +absolute sway and calls his own, and long before he is really awake +after his long rest he begins to stir and laugh in his sleep, and the +jolly colour creeps up and spreads over his old cheeks before he thinks +of opening his eyes, much less of getting up and putting on his crown. +And now that he was waking, Helen Overholt felt the old loving longing +for her dear ones rising to her womanly heart, and she planned little +plans for another and a happier year to come, and meanwhile she bought +two or three little gifts to send to the cottage in far Connecticut. + +But when she had read about the Berlin professor and his motor and +thought of her own John Henry making bricks without straw and bearing up +bravely against disappointment, and still writing so cheerfully and +hopefully in spite of everything, she simply could not stand it another +day. As I have said, King Christmas turned over just before waking, and +he put out a big generous hand in his sleep and laid it on her heart. +Whenever he does that to anybody, man, woman, or child, a splendid +longing seizes them to give all they have to the one child, or woman, or +man that each loves best, or to the being of all others that is most in +need, or to help the work which seems to each of them the noblest and +the best, if they are grown up and are lonely. + +This is what happened to Helen Overholt, in spite of her good sense and +all her practical resolutions. As long as she had anything to give, John +Henry should have it and be happy, and succeed, if success were +possible. She had saved most of her salary for a long time past, +spending as little as she well could on herself. He should have it all, +for love's sake, and because she believed in him, and because Christmas +was waking up, and had laid his great affectionate old hand on her. + +So it came to pass that when Overholt was pottering over the beautiful +motionless Motor, late at night, sure that it would work if he had a +little more money, but still more sure that it must be sold for old +metal the next morning, to buy bread for the boy, even at that hour +help was near, and from the hand he loved best in the world, which would +make it ten thousand times sweeter when it reached him. + +It was going to be an awful wrench to give up the invention, for now, at +the moment of abandoning it, he saw, or thought he saw, that he was +right at last, and that it could not fail. It was useless to try it as +it was, yet he would, just once more. He adjusted the tangent-balance +and the valves; he put in the supply of the chemical with the long name +and screwed down the hermetic plug. With the small hand air-pump he +produced the first vacuum which was necessary; all was ready, every +joint and stuffing-box was lubricated, the spring of the balance was +adjusted to a nicety. But the engine would not start, though he turned +the fly-wheel with his hand again and again, as if to encourage it. Of +course it would not turn alone! He understood perfectly that the one +piece on which all depended must be made over again, exactly the other +way. That was all! + +There was the wooden model of it, all ready for the foundry that would +not cast it for nothing. If only the wooden piece would serve for a +moment's trial! But he knew that this was folly; it would not stand the +enormous strain an instant, and the joints could not possibly be made +air-tight. + +He was utterly worn out by all he had been through during the long day, +and he fell asleep in his chair towards morning, his head on his breast, +his feet struck out straight before him, one arm hanging down beside him +and his other hand thrust into his pocket. He looked more like a shabby +lay figure stuffed with sawdust than like a living man. If Newton had +come down and found him lying there under the lamplight he would have +started back and shuddered, and waited a while before he could find +courage to come nearer. + +But the man was only very sound asleep, and he did not wake till the +December dawn gleamed through the clear winter's sky and made the +artificial light look dim and smoky; and when he opened his eyes it was +he himself who started to find himself there in the cold before his +great failure, in broad daylight. + +Nevertheless, he had slept soundly, and felt better able to face all the +trouble that was in store for him. He stirred the embers in the stove, +put in some kindling and a supply of coal, and warmed himself, still +heavy with sleep, and glad to waken consciously, by degrees, and to feel +that his resolution was not going to break down. + +When he felt quite himself he left the room and went upstairs +cautiously, lest he should wake the boy, though it was really time to +get up, and Newton was already dressing. + +"I'll walk into town with you," said Overholt when they were at +breakfast in the parlour. "It will do me good to get some air, and I +must see about selling those things. There's no time to be lost." + +Newton swallowed his hominy and bread and butter and milk, and reflected +on the futility of the sacrifice he had made, since his father insisted +on selling everything for old metal; but he said nothing, because he was +dreadfully disappointed. + +Near the town they met the postman. As a rule Barbara got the mail when +she went to market, and Overholt was not even going to ask the man if +there were any letters for him. But the postman stopped him. There was +one from his wife, and it was registered. He signed the little receipt +for it, the man passed them on his rounds, and they slackened their +pace as Overholt broke the seal. + +He uttered a loud exclamation when he had glanced at the contents, and +he stood still in the road. Newton stared at him in surprise. + +"A thousand dollars!" he cried, overcome with amazement. "A thousand +dollars! Oh, Helen, Helen--you've saved my life!" + +He got to the side of the road and leaned against the fence, clutching +the letter and the draft in his hand, and gazing into his son's face, +half crazy with delight. + +"She's saved it all for me, boy. Do you understand? Your mother has +saved all her salary for the Motor, and here it is! Look at it, look at +it! It's success, it's fame, it's fortune for us all! Oh, if she were +only here!" + +Newton understood and rejoiced. He forgot his poor little attempt to +help, and his own disappointment, and everything except the present +glorious truth--not unadorned by the pleasant vision of the Christmas +turkey, vast now, and smoking, and flanked by perfect towers of stiff +cranberry jelly, ever so much better than mere liquid cranberry sauce; +in the middle distance, behind the noble dish, a noble pyramid of +ice-cream raised its height, and yellow cream-cakes rose beyond, like +many little suns on the far horizon. In that first moment of delight +there was almost a Christmas tree, and the mother's face beside it; but +that was too much; they faded, and the rest remained, no mean forecast +of a jolly time. + +"That's perfectly grand!" Newton cried when he got his breath after his +surprise at the announcement. "Besides, I told you so. What did I say? +She wouldn't let you give up the Motor! I knew she wouldn't! Who's right +now, father? That's something like what I call a mother! But then she +always was!" + +He was slightly incoherent, but that did not matter at all. Nothing +mattered. In his young beatific vision he saw the bright wheel going +round and round in a perfect storm of turkeys, and it was all his +mother's doing. + +Overholt only half heard, for he had been reading the letter; the letter +of a loving wife who believes in her husband and gives him all she has +for his work, with every hope, every encouragement, and every blessing +and Christmas wish. + +"There's no time to be lost!" Overholt said, repeating the words he had +spoken in a very different mood and tone half an hour earlier. "I won't +walk on with you, my boy, for I must go back and get the wooden model +for the foundry. They'll do it for me now, fast enough! And I can pay +what I owe at the bank, and there will be plenty left over for your +Christmas too!" + +"Oh, bother my Christmas, father!" answered Newton with a fine +indifference which he did not feel. "The Motor's the thing! I want to +see that wheel go round for a Christmas present!" + +"It will! It shall! It must! I promise you that!" The man was almost +beside himself with joy. + +No misgiving disturbed him. He had the faith that tosses mountains aside +like pebbles, now that the means were in his hand. He had the little +fulcrum for his lever, which was all Archimedes required to move the +world. He had in him the certainty of being right that has sent millions +of men to glory or destruction. + +That day was one of the happiest in all his life, either before or, +afterwards. He could have believed that he had fallen asleep at the +moment when he had quite broken down, and that a hundred years of change +had glided by, like a watch in the night, when he opened his wife's +letter and wakened in a blaze of joy and hope and glorious activity. +Nothing he could remember of that kind could compare with his pride and +honourable satisfaction when he walked into the bank two hours +afterwards, with his head high, and said he should be glad to take up +the note he had signed yesterday and have the balance of the cheque +placed to his credit; and few surprises which the partner who had +obliged him could recollect, had equalled that worthy gentleman's +amazement when the debt was paid so soon. + +"If you had only told me that you would be in funds so soon, Mr. +Overholt," he said, "I should not have thought of troubling you. Here is +your note. Will you kindly look at it and tear it up?" + +"I did not know," answered Overholt, doing as he was told. + +It is a curious fact that the little note lay in a locked drawer of the +partner's magnificent table, instead of being put away in the safe with +other and larger notes, where it belonged. It may seem still stranger +that, on the books, Overholt's account showed that it had been balanced +by a deposit exactly equal to the deficit, made by the partner himself, +instead of by crediting the amount of the note. But Overholt never knew +this, for a pass-book had always been a mystery to him, and made his +head ache. The banker had thought of his face some time after he had +gone out with his battered umbrella and his shabby shoulders rounded as +under a burden, and somehow the Christmas spirit must have come in +quietly and touched the rich man too, though even the stenographer did +not see what happened. For he had once been in terrible straits himself, +a quarter of a century ago, and some one had helped him just in time, +and he knew what it meant to slink out of a big bank, in shabby clothes, +his back bowed under the heavy weight of debt and failure. + +Overholt never knew; but he expressed his warm thanks for what now +seemed a small favour, and with his wooden model of the casting, done up +in brown paper, under his arm, he went off to the foundry in Long +Island. + +Much careful work had been done for him there, and the people were +willing to oblige him, and promised that the piece should certainly be +ready before Christmas Day, and as much earlier as possible, and should +be made with the greatest exactness which the most precise machinery and +the most careful work could ensure. + +This being settled, Overholt returned to New York and went to two or +three places in the Bowery, well known to him, where he bought certain +fine tools and pieces of the most perfectly turned steel spring, and +several other small objects, which he needed for the construction of the +new tangent-balance he had to make for the reversed curve. Finally, he +bought a silver watch like the one Newton had sold, and a new pair of +skates, presents which the boy certainly deserved, and which would make +a very good show at Christmas, when they were to be produced. He felt as +if he had come into a large fortune. + +Moreover, when he got out of the train at his own station he went into +the town, and ordered beforehand the good things for the feast, though +there were three weeks still, and he wanted to pay for them in advance, +because he felt inside of himself that no one could be quite sure of +what might happen in twenty-one days; but the dealers flatly refused to +take his money, though they told him what the things would cost. Then +Overholt did almost the only prudent thing he had done in his life, for +he took the necessary money and five dollars more and sealed it up in an +envelope, which he put away in a safe place. The only difficulty would +lie in remembering where the place was, so he told Newton about it, and +the boy wrote it down on a piece of paper which he pinned up in his own +room, where he could see it. There was nothing like making sure of that +turkey, he thought. And I may as well say at once that in this matter, +at least, no untoward accident occurred, and the money was actually +there at the appointed time. What happened was something quite +different, and much more unexpected, not to say extraordinary and even +amazing; and in spite of all that, it will not take very long to tell. + +Meanwhile, before it happened, Overholt and the boy were perfectly +happy. All day long the inventor worked at the tangent-balance, till he +had brought it to such perfection that it would be affected by a +variation of one-tenth of one second in the aggregate speed of ten +revolutions, and an increase or decrease of a tenth of a grain in the +weight of the volume of the compressed air. It was so sensitive that +John Henry and Newton trod cautiously on the floor of the workshop so as +not to set it vibrating under the glass clock-shade, where it was kept +safe from dust and dampness. + +After it had been placed there to wait for the casting, the inventor +took the engine to pieces and made the small changes that would be +necessary before finally putting it together again, which would probably +occupy two days. + +Meanwhile the little City of Hope grew rapidly, and was becoming an +important centre of civilisation and commerce, though it was only made +of paper and chips, and bits of matchboxes and odds and ends cleverly +put together with glue and painted; except the people in the street. For +it was inhabited now, and though the men and women did not move about, +they looked as if they might, if they were only bigger. Overholt had +seen the population in the window of a German toy-shop one day when he +was in New York to get a new crocusing wheel for polishing some of the +small parts of the engine. They were the smallest doll-people he had +ever seen, and were packed by dozens and dozens in Nuremberg toy-boxes, +and cost very little, so he bought a quantity of them. At first Newton +rather resented them, just because they were only toys, but his father +explained to him that models of human figures were almost necessary to +models of buildings, to give an idea of the population, and that when +architects make coloured sketches of projected houses, they generally +draw in one or two people for that reason; and this was perfectly +satisfactory to the boy, and saved his dignity from the slight it would +have suffered if he had been actually seen amusing himself with mere +playthings. + +Overholt was divinely happy in anticipation of the final success that +was so near, and in the daily work that was making it more and more a +certainty, as he thought; and then, when the day was over, he was just +as happy with the little City, which was being decorated for Christmas, +with wreaths in the windows of the houses, and a great many more +holly-trees than had at first been thought of, and numberless little +Christmas booths round the common, like those in Avenue A, south of +Tompkins Square, in New York, which make you fancy you are in Munich or +Prague if you go and see them at the right hour on Christmas Eve. + +Before long Overholt received a short note from the President of his old +College, simply saying that the latter knew of no opening at present, +but would bear him in mind. But that did not matter now. + +So the two spent their time very pleasantly during the next weeks; but +though Overholt was so hopeful and delighted with his work, he knew that +he was becoming nervous and overwrought by the great anticipation, and +that he could not stand such a strain very long. + +Then, two days before Christmas, he received a note saying that the new +piece was finished and had been sent to him by express. That was almost +too much happiness to bear, and when he found the heavy case at the +station the next morning, and got it put on a cart, his heart was doing +queer things, and he was as white as a sheet. + + + + +VIII + +HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST + + +The hush of Christmas Eve lay upon the tumble-down cottage, and on the +soft fresh snow outside, and the lamps were burning quietly in the +workshop, where father and son were sitting before the finished Motor. + +The little City was there too, but not between them now, though Newton +had taken off its brown paper cover in honour of the great event which +was about to take place. + +In order to be doubly sure of the result, and dreading even the +possibility of a little disappointment, Overholt had decided that he +would subject the only chemical substance which the machine consumed to +a final form of refinement by heat, melting, boiling and cooling it, all +of which would require an hour or more before it was quite ready. He +felt like a man who is going to risk his life over a precipice, trusting +to a single rope for safety; that one rope must not be even a little +chafed; if possible each strand must be perfect in itself, and all the +strands must be laid up without a fault. Of the rest, of the machine +itself, Overholt felt absolutely sure; yet although a slight impurity in +the chemical could certainly not hinder the whole from working, it might +interfere with the precision of the revolutions, or even cause the +engine to stop after a few hours instead of going on indefinitely, as +long as the supply of the substance produced the alternate disturbance +of equilibrium which was the main principle on which the machine +depended. + +That sweetly prophetic evening silence, before the great feast of Good +Will, does not come over everything each year, even in a lonely cottage +in an abandoned farm in Connecticut, than which you cannot possibly +imagine anything more silent or more remote from the noise of the world. +Sometimes it rains in torrents just on that night, sometimes it blows a +raging gale that twists the leafless birches and elms and hickory trees +like dry grass and bends the dark firs and spruces as if they were +feathers, and you can hardly be heard unless you shout, for the howling +and screaming and whistling of the blast. + +But now and then, once in four or five years perhaps, the feathery snow +lies a foot deep, fresh-fallen, on the still country-side and in the +woods; and the waxing moon sheds her large light on all, and Nature +holds her breath to wait for the happy day, and tries to sleep but +cannot, from sheer happiness and peace. Indoors the fire is glowing on +the wide hearth, a great bed of coals that will last all night, because +it is not bitter weather, but only clear and cold and still, as it +should be; or if there is only a poor stove, like Overholt's, the wide +door is open, and a comfortable and cheery red light shines out from +within upon the battered iron plate and the wooden floor beyond; and the +older people sit round it, not saying much, but thinking with their +hearts rather than with their heads; but small boys and girls know that +interesting things have been happening in the kitchen all the afternoon, +and are rather glad that the supper was not very good, because there +will be the more room for good things to-morrow; and the grown-ups and +the children have made up any little differences of opinion they may +have had before supper-time, because Good Will must reign, and reign +alone, like Alexander; so that there is nothing at all to regret, and +nothing hurts anybody any more, and they are all happy in just wishing +for King Christmas to open the door softly and make them all great +people in his kingdom. But if it is the right sort of house, he is +already looking in through the window, to be sure that every one is all +ready for him, and that nothing has been forgotten. + +Now, although Overholt's cottage was a miserable place for a professor +who had lived very comfortably and well in a College town, and although +the thirteen-year-old boy could remember several pretty trees, lighted +up with coloured candles and gleaming with tinsel and gilt apples, they +both felt that this was going to be the greatest Christmas in their +lives, because the motionless Motor was going to move, and that would +mean everything--most of all to both of them, the end of the mother's +exile, and her speedy home-coming. Therefore neither said anything for a +long time while the chemical stuff was slowly warming itself and +getting ready, inside a big iron pot, of which the cover was screwed on +with a high-temperature thermometer sealed in it, and which stood on the +top of the stove where Overholt could watch the scale. + +He would really have preferred to be alone for the first trial, but it +was utterly impossible to think of sending the boy to bed. He was sure +of success, it is true, yet he would far rather have been left to +himself till that success was no longer in the future, but present; then +at last, even if Newton had been asleep, he would have waked him and +brought him downstairs again to see his triumph. The lad's presence made +him nervous, and suggested a failure which was all but impossible. More +than once he was on the point of trying to explain this to Newton, but +when he glanced at the young face he could not find it in his heart to +speak. If he only asked the boy, as a kindness, to go into the next room +for five minutes while the machine was being started, he knew what would +happen. Newton would go quietly, without a word, and wait till he was +called; but half his Christmas would be spoilt by the disappointment he +would try hard to hide. Had they not suffered together, and had not the +boy sacrificed the best of his small possessions, dearly treasured, to +help in their joint distress? It would be nothing short of brutal to +deprive him of the first moment of triumphant surprise, that was going +to mean so much hereafter. Yet the inventor would have given anything to +be alone. He was overwrought by the long strain that had so often seemed +unbearable, and when the liquid that was heating had reached the right +temperature and the iron pot had to be taken off the stove, his hands +shook so that he nearly dropped it; but Newton did not see that. + +"It's wonderful how everything has come out just right!" the boy +exclaimed as he looked at the machine. "Out of your three wishes you'll +get two, father, for the wheel will go round and I'm going to have a +regular old patent, double-barrelled Christmas with a gilt edge!" His +similes were mixed, but effective in their way. "And you'll probably get +the other wish in half a shake now, for mother'll come right home, won't +she?" + +"If the trial succeeds," Overholt said, still instinctively seeking to +forestall a disappointment he did not expect. "Nothing is a fact until +it has happened, you know!" + +"Well," said Newton, "if I had anything to bet with, and somebody to bet +against, I'd bet, that's all. But I haven't. It's a pity too, now that +everything's coming out right. Do you remember how we were trying to +make bricks without straw less than a month ago, father? It didn't look +just then as if we were going to have a roaring old Christmas this year, +did it?" + +He chattered on happily, looking at the Motor all the time, and Overholt +tried to smile and answered him with a word or two now and then, though +he was becoming more and more nervous as the minutes passed and the +supreme moment came nearer. In his own mind he was going over the simple +operations he had to perform to start the engine; yet easy as they were +he was afraid that he might make some fatal mistake. He did not let +himself think of failure; he did not dare to wonder how he should tell +his wife if anything went wrong and all her hard-saved earnings were +lost in the general ruin that must follow if the thing would not move. +There was next to nothing left of what she had sent, now that +everything was paid for; it would support him and the boy for a month, +if so long, but certainly no more. + +He was ready at last, but, strange to say, he would gladly have put off +the great moment for half an hour now that there was no reason for +waiting another moment. He sat down again in his chair and folded his +hands. + +"Aren't you going to begin, father?" asked Newton. "What are you waiting +for?" + +Overholt pulled himself together, rose with a pale face, and laid his +shaking hands on the heavy plate-glass case. It moved upwards by its +chain and counterpoise, almost at a touch, till it was near the low +ceiling, quite clear of the machine. + +He was very slow in doing what was still necessary, and the boy watched +him in breathless suspense, for he had seen other trials that had +failed--more than two or three, perhaps half a dozen. Every one who has +lived with an inventor, even a boy, has learned to expect disappointment +as inevitable; only the seeker himself is confident up to a certain +point, and then his own hand trembles, when the moment of trial is +come. + +Overholt poured the chemical into the chamber at the base, screwed down +the air-tight plug, and opened the communication between the reservoir +and the machine. Then he took out his watch and waited four minutes, +that being twice the time he had ascertained to be necessary for a +sufficient quantity of the liquid to penetrate into the distributors +beyond. He next worked the hand air-pump, keeping his eye on the vacuum +gauge, and lastly, as soon as the needle marked the greatest exhaustion +he knew to be obtainable, he moved the starting lever to the proper +position, and then stepped back to watch the result. + +For a moment, in the joy of anticipation, a strange light illuminated +his face, his lips parted as in a foretasted wonder, and he forgot even +to drop the hand he had just withdrawn. The boy held his breath +unconsciously till he was nearly dizzy. + +Then a despairing cry burst from the wretched man's lips, he threw up +his hands as if he had been shot through the heart, and stumbled +backwards. + +The Motor stood still, motionless as ever, and gleaming under the +brightly shining lamps. + +"Oh, Helen! God forgive me!" + +With the words he fell heavily to the floor, and lay there, a nerveless, +breathless heap. Newton was kneeling beside him in an instant. + +"Father!" cried the boy in agony, bending over the still white face. +"Father! Speak to me! You can't be dead--you can't--" + +In his mortal terror the lad held each breath till it seemed as if his +head must burst, then breathed once and shut his lips again with all his +strength. Some instinct made him lay his ear to the man's chest to +listen for the beatings of his heart, but he could hear nothing. + +Half-suffocated with sudden mingled grief and fright, he straightened +himself on his knees and looked up at the cursed machine that had +wrought such awful destruction. + +Then he in turn uttered a cry, but it was low and full of wonder, long +drawn out and trembling as the call of a frightened young wild animal. + +The thing was moving, steadily, noiselessly moving in the bright light; +the double levers worked like iron jaws opening and shutting regularly, +the little valve-rods rose and sank, and the heavy wheel whirled round +and round. The boy was paralysed with amazement, and for ten seconds he +forgot that he was kneeling beside his father's fallen body on the +floor; then he felt it against him and it was no longer quite still. + +Overholt groaned and turned upon his side as his senses slowly came back +and his agony tortured him to life again. Instantly the boy bent over +him. + +"Father! It's going! Wake up, father! The wheel's going round at last!" + + + + +IX + +HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE + + +When Overholt understood what he heard, he opened his eyes and looked up +into his son's face, moving his head mournfully from side to side as it +lay on the boards. But suddenly he caught sight of the engine. He gasped +for breath, his jaw dropped, and his eyes were starting from their +sockets as he struggled to get up with the boy's help. + +His voice came with a sort of rasping scream that did not sound human, +and then broke into wild laughter, interrupted by broken words. + +"Mad!" he cried. "I knew it--it had to come--my boy--help me to get away +from that thing--I'm raving mad--I see it moving--" + +"But it really is moving, father! Wake up! Look at it! The wheel is +going round and round!" + +Then Overholt was silent, sitting up on the floor and leaning against +his arm. Slowly he realised that he was in his senses, and that the +dream of long years had come true. Not a sound broke the stillness, so +perfect was the machinery, except a kind of very soft hum made by the +heavy fly-wheel revolving in the air. + +"Are you sure, boy? Aren't we dreaming?" he asked in a low tone. + +"It's going like clock-work, as sure as you're born," the lad answered. +"I think your falling down shook it up and started it. That was all it +wanted." + +The inventor got up slowly, first upon his knees, at last to his feet, +never once taking his eyes from the beautiful engine. He went close to +it, and put out his hand, till he felt the air thrown off by the wheel, +and he gently touched the smooth, swift-turning rim with one finger, +incredulous still. + +"There's no doubt about it," he said at last, yielding to the evidence +of touch and sight. "It works, and it works to perfection. If it +doesn't stop soon, it will go on for twenty-four hours!" + +Almost as much overcome by joy as he had been by despair, he let himself +sink into his seat. + +"Get me that tea-bottle," he said unsteadily. "Quick! I feel as if I +were going to faint again!" + +The draught he swallowed steadied his nerves, and then he sat a long +time quite silent in his unutterable satisfaction, and Newton stood +beside him watching the moving levers, the rising and sinking valve +rods, and the steadily whirling wheel. + +"She did it, my boy," Overholt said at last, very softly. "Your mother +did it! Without her help the Motor would have been broken up for old +metal three weeks ago." + +"It's something like a Christmas present," Newton answered. "But then I +always said she wouldn't let you give it up. Do you know, father, when +you fell just now, I thought you were dead, you looked just awful! And +it was quite a long time before I saw that the Motor was moving. And +then, when I did see it, and thought you were dead--well, I can't tell +you--" + +"Poor little chap! But it's all right now, my boy, and I haven't spoilt +your Christmas, after all!" + +"Not quite!" + +Newton laughed joyfully, and, turning round, he saw the little City +smiling on its board in the strong light, with the tiny red and green +wreaths in the windows and the pretty booths, and the crowds of little +people buying Christmas presents at them. + +"They're going to have a pretty good time in the City too," the boy +observed. "They know just as well as we do that Hope has come to stay +now!" + +But Overholt did not hear. Silent and rapt he sat in his old Shaker +rocking-chair gazing steadily at the great success of his life, that was +moving ceaselessly before his eyes, where motionless failure had sat +mocking him but a few minutes ago; and as the wheel whirled steadily +round and round, throwing off a little breeze like a fan, the cruel past +was wafted away like a mist by a morning wind, and the bright future +floated in and filled its place altogether and more also, as daylight +shows the distance which was all hidden from us by the close darkness +we groped in before it rose. + +Overholt sat still, and saw, and wondered, and little by little the +wheel and the soft vision of near happiness hypnotised him, for his body +and brain were weary beyond words to tell, so that all at once his eyes +were shut and he was sleeping like a child, as happy in dreamland as he +had just been awake; and happier far, for there was a dear presence with +him now, a hand he loved lay quietly in his, and he heard a sweet low +voice that was far away. + +The boy saw, and understood, for ever since he had been very small he +had been taught that he must not wake his father, who slept badly at all +times, and little or not at all when he was anxious. So Newton would not +disturb him now, and at once formed a brave resolution to sit bolt +upright all night, if necessary, for fear of making any noise. Besides, +he did not feel at all sleepy. There was the Motor to look at, and there +was Christmas to think of, and it was bright and clear outside where the +snow was like silver, under the young moon. He could look out of the +window as he sat, or at his father, or at the beautiful moving engine, +or at the little City of Hope, all without doing more than just turning +his head. + +To tell the truth, it was not really a great sacrifice he was making, +for if there is anything that strikes a boy of thirteen as more wildly +exciting than anything else in the world, it is to sit up all night +instead of going to bed like a Christian child; moreover, the workshop +was warm, and his own room would be freezing cold, and he was so well +used to the vile odour of the chemical stuff, that he did not notice it +at all. It was even said to be healthy to breathe the fumes of it, as +the air of a tannery is good for the lungs, or even London coal smoke. + +But it is one thing to resolve to keep awake, even with many delightful +things to think about; it is quite another to keep one's eyes open when +they are quite sure that they ought to be shut, and that you ought to be +tucked up in bed. The boy found it so, and in less than half an hour his +arm had got across the back of the chair, his cheek was resting on it +quite comfortably, and he was in dreamland with his father, and quite as +perfectly happy. + +So the two slept in their chairs under the big bright lamps; and while +they rested the Air-Motor worked silently, hour after hour, and the +heavy wheel whirled steadily on its axle, and only its soft and drowsy +humming was heard in the still air. + +That was the most refreshing sleep Overholt remembered for a long time. +When he stirred at last and opened his eyes, he did not even know that +he had slept, and forgot that he had closed his eyes when he saw the +engine moving. He thought it was still nine o'clock in the evening, and +that the boy might as well finish his little nap where he was, before +going to bed. Newton might sleep till ten o'clock if he liked. + +The lamps burned steadily, for they held enough oil to last sixteen +hours when the winter darkness is longest, and they had not been lighted +till after supper. + +But all at once Overholt was aware of a little change in the colour of +things, and he slowly rubbed his eyes and looked about him, and towards +the window. The moon had set long ago; there was a grey light on the +snow outside and in the clear air, and Overholt knew that it was the +dawn. He looked at his watch then, and it was nearly seven o'clock; for +in New York and Connecticut, as you may see by your pocket calendar, the +sun rises at twenty-three minutes past seven on Christmas morning. + +He sprang to his feet in astonishment, and at the sound Newton awoke and +looked up in blank and sleepy surprise. + +"Merry Christmas, my boy!" cried Overholt, and he laughed happily. + +"Not yet," answered Newton in a disappointed tone, and rubbing his arm, +which was stiff. "I've got to go to bed first, I suppose." + +"Oh no! You and I have slept in our chairs all night and the sun is +rising, so it's merry Christmas in earnest! And the Motor is running +still, after nine or ten hours. What a sleep we've had!" + +The boy looked out of the window stupidly, and vaguely wished that his +father would not make fun of him. Then he saw the dawn, and jumped up in +wild delight. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Merry Christmas! Hurrah! hurrah!" If anything +could make that morning happier than it had promised to be, it was to +have actually cheated bed for the first time in his life. + +They were gloriously happy, as people have a right to be, and should +be, when they have been living in all sorts of trouble, with a great +purpose before them, and have won through and got all they hoped for, if +not quite all they could have wished--because there is absolutely no +limit to wishing if you let it go on. + +The people watched them curiously in church, for they looked so happy; +and for a long time the man's expression had always been anxious, if it +had no longer been sad of late, and the boy's young face had been +preternaturally grave; yet every one saw that neither of them even had a +new coat for Christmas Day, and that both needed one pretty badly. But +no one thought the worse of them for that, and in the generous Good Will +that was everywhere that morning everybody was glad to see that every +one else looked happy. + +In due time the two got home again; the Motor was still working to +perfection, as if nothing could ever stop it again, and Overholt oiled +the bearings carefully, passed a leather over the fixed parts, and +examined the whole machine minutely before sitting down to the feast, +while Newton stood beside him, looking on and hoping that he would not +be long. + +The boy had his new watch in his pocket, and it told him that it was +time for that turkey at last, and his new skates were in the parlour, +and there was splendid ice on the pond where the boys had cleared away +the snow, and it was the most perfect Christmas weather that ever was; +and in order to enjoy everything it would be necessary to get to work +soon. + +The two were before the Air-Motor, turning their backs to the door; and +they heard it open quietly, for old Barbara always came to call Overholt +to his meals, because he was very apt to forget them. + +"We are just coming," he said, without turning round. But the boy +turned, for he was hungry for the good things; and suddenly a perfect +yell of joy rent the air, and he dashed forward as Overholt turned sharp +round. + +"Mother!" + +"Helen!" + +And there she was, instead of in Munich. For the rich people she was +with had happily smashed their automobile without hurting themselves, +and had taken a fancy to spend Christmas at home; and, after the manner +of very rich people, they had managed everything in a moment, had picked +up their children and the governess, had just caught the fastest steamer +afloat at Cherbourg, and had arrived in New York late on Christmas Eve. +And Helen Overholt had taken the earliest train that she could manage to +get ready for, and had come out directly to surprise her two in their +lonely cottage. + +So John Henry Overholt had his three wishes after all on Christmas Day. +And everybody had helped to bring it all about, even Mr. Burnside, who +had said that Hope was cheap and that there was plenty of it to be had. + +But as for the little Christmas City in which Hope had dwelt and waited +so long, they all three put the last touches to it together, and carried +it with them when they went back to the College town, where they felt +that they would be happier than anywhere else in the world, even if they +were to grow very rich, which seems quite likely now. + +That is how it all happened. + + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +THE NOVELS OF + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + +_Crown 8vo. 6s._ + +ARETHUSA. +A LADY OF ROME. + +_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ + +MR. ISAACS: A TALE OF MODERN INDIA. +DR. CLAUDIUS: A TRUE STORY. +ROMAN SINGER. +ZOROASTER. +TALE OF A LONELY PARISH. +MARZIO'S CRUCIFIX. +PAUL PATOFF. +WITH THE IMMORTALS. +GREIFENSTEIN. +SANT' ILARIO. +CIGARETTE-MAKER'S ROMANCE. +KHALED: A TALE OF ARABIA. +WITCH OF PRAGUE. +THREE FATES. +DON ORSINO. +CHILDREN OF THE KING. + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + +THE NOVELS OF F. MARION CRAWFORD + + +_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ + +PIETRO GHISLERI. +MARION DARCHE: A STORY WITHOUT COMMENT. +KATHARINE LAUDERDALE. +RALSTONS. +CASA BRACCIO. +ADAM JOHNSTONE'S SON. +TAQUISARA. A NOVEL. +ROSE OF YESTERDAY. +CORLEONE. +VIA CRUCIS: A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE. +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING. +MARIETTA: A MAID OF VENICE. +CECILIA: A STORY OF MODERN ROME. +THE HEART OF ROME. +WHOSOEVER SHALL OFFEND... +SOPRANO: A PORTRAIT. + +_Pott 8vo. 2s. net._ + +MAN OVERBOARD! + + +_Fcap. 8vo. 2s._ + +LOVE IN IDLENESS. A BAR HARBOUR TALE. + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little City Of Hope, by F. Marion Crawford + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14526 *** diff --git a/14526-h/14526-h.htm b/14526-h/14526-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4aa382f --- /dev/null +++ b/14526-h/14526-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2705 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of ---, by F. Marion Crawford. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + span.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14526 ***</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The" id="The" />The</h2> + +<h1>Little City of Hope</h1> + +<h2>A CHRISTMAS STORY</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>F. MARION CRAWFORD</h2> + + + +<h4>MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED</h4> + +<h4>ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON</h4> + +<h4>1907</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Copyright_in_the_United_States_America_1907" id="Copyright_in_the_United_States_America_1907" /><i>Copyright in the United States America, 1907</i></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS" />CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<center> +<p> +<a href="#I"><b>I</b></a> HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX<br /> + <a href="#II"><b>II</b></a> HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE<br /> + <a href="#III"><b>III</b></a> HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW<br /> + <a href="#IV"><b>IV</b></a> HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY<br /> + <a href="#V"><b>V</b></a> HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF<br /> + <a href="#VI"><b>VI</b></a> HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX<br /> + <a href="#VII"><b>VII</b></a> HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY<br /> + <a href="#VIII"><b>VIII</b></a> HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST<br /> + <a href="#IX"><b>IX</b></a> HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE<br /> + </p> +</center> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I" />I</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> +<h2>HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX</h2> + + +<p>"Hope is very cheap. There's always plenty of it about."</p> + +<p>"Fortunately for poor men. Good morning."</p> + +<p>With this mild retort and civil salutation John Henry Overholt rose and +went towards the door, quite forgetting to shake hands with Mr. +Burnside, though the latter made a motion to do so. Mr. Burnside always +gave his hand in a friendly way, even when he had flatly refused to do +what people had asked of him. It was cheap; so he gave it.</p> + +<p>But he was not pleased when they did not take it, for whatever he chose +to give seemed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span>of some value to him as soon as it was offered; even his +hand. Therefore, when his visitor forgot to take it, out of pure absence +of mind, he was offended, and spoke to him sharply before he had time to +leave the private office.</p> + +<p>"You need not go away like that, Mr. Overholt, without shaking hands."</p> + +<p>The visitor stopped and turned back at once. He was thin and rather +shabbily dressed. I know many poor men who are fat, and some who dress +very well; but this was not that kind of poor man.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," he said mildly. "I didn't mean to be rude. I quite forgot."</p> + +<p>He came back, and Mr. Burnside shook hands with becoming coldness, as +having just given a lesson in manners. He was not a bad man, nor a +miser, nor a Scrooge, but he was a great stickler for manners, +especially with people who had nothing to give him. Besides, he had +already lent Overholt money; or, to put it nicely, he had invested a +little in his invention, and he did not see any reason why he should +invest any more until it succeeded. Overholt called it selling shares, +but Mr. Burnside called it borrowing money. Overholt was sure that if he +could raise more <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span>funds, not much more, he could make a success of the +"Air-Motor"; Mr. Burnside was equally sure that nothing would ever come +of it. They had been explaining their respective points of view to each +other, and in sheer absence of mind Overholt had forgotten to shake +hands.</p> + +<p>Mr. Burnside had no head for mechanics, but Overholt had already made an +invention which was considered very successful, though he had got little +or nothing for it. The mechanic who had helped him in its construction +had stolen his principal idea before the device was patented, and had +taken out a patent for a cheap little article which every one at once +used, and which made a fortune for him. Overholt's instrument took its +place in every laboratory in the world; but the mechanic's labour-saving +utensil took its place in every house. It was on the strength of the +valuable tool of science that Mr. Burnside had invested two thousand +dollars in the Air-Motor without really having the smallest idea whether +it was to be a machine that would move the air, or was to be moved by +it. A number of business men had done the same thing.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span>Then, at a political dinner in a club, three of the investors had dined +at the same small table, and in an interval between the dull speeches, +one of the three told the others that he had looked into the invention +and that there was nothing in Overholt's motor after all. Overholt was +crazy.</p> + +<p>"It's like this," he had said. "You know how a low-pressure engine acts; +the steam does a part of the work and the weight of the atmosphere does +the rest. Now this man Overholt thinks he can make the atmosphere do +both parts of the work with no steam at all, and as that's absurd, of +course, he won't get any more of my money. It's like getting into a +basket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles."</p> + +<p>Each of the two hearers repeated this simple demonstration to at least a +dozen acquaintances, who repeated it to dozens of others; and after that +John Henry Overholt could not raise another dollar to complete the +Air-Motor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Burnside's refusal had been definite and final, and he had been the +last to whom the investor had applied, merely because he was undoubtedly +the most close-fisted man <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span>of business of all who had invested in the +invention.</p> + +<p>Overholt saw failure before him at the very moment of success, with the +not quite indifferent accompaniment of starvation. Many a man as good as +he has been in the same straits, even more than once in life, and has +succeeded after all, and Overholt knew this quite well, and therefore +did not break down, nor despair, nor even show distinct outward signs of +mental distress.</p> + +<p>Metaphorically, he took Pandora's box to the Park, put it in a sunny +corner, and sat upon it, to keep the lid down, with Hope inside, while +he thought over the situation.</p> + +<p>It was not at all a pleasant one. It is one thing to have no money to +spare, but it is quite another to have none at all, and he was not far +from that. He had some small possessions, but those with which he was +willing to part were worth nothing, and those which would bring a little +money were the expensive tools and valuable materials with which he was +working. For he worked alone, profiting by his experience with the +mechanic who had robbed him of one of his most profitable patents. When +the idea of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span>the Air-Motor had occurred to him he had gone into a +machine-shop and had spent nearly two years in learning the use of fine +tools. Then he had bought what he needed out of the money invested in +his idea, and had gone to work himself, sending models of such castings +as he required to different parts of the United States, that the pieces +might be made independently.</p> + +<p>He was not an accomplished workman, and he made slow progress with only +his little son to help him when the boy was not at school. Often, +through lack of skill, he wasted good material, and more than once he +spoiled an expensive casting, and was obliged to wait till it could be +made again and sent to him. Besides, he and the boy had to live, and +living is dear nowadays, even in a cottage in an out-of-the-way corner +of Connecticut; and he needed fire and light in abundance for his work, +besides something to eat and decent clothes to wear and somebody to cook +the dinner; and when he took out his diary note-book and examined the +figures on the page near the end, headed "Cash Account, November," he +made out that he had three hundred and eighteen dollars and twelve +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span>cents to his credit, and nothing to come after that, and he knew that +the men who had believed in him had invested, amongst them, ten thousand +dollars in shares, and had paid him the money in cash in the course of +the past three years, but would invest no more; and it was all gone.</p> + +<p>One thousand more, clear of living expenses, would do it. He was +positively sure that it would be enough, and he and the boy could live +on his little cash balance, by great economy, for four months, at the +end of which time the Air-Motor would be perfected. But without the +thousand the end of the four months would be the end of everything that +was worth while in life. After that he would have to go back to teaching +in order to live, and the invention would be lost, for the work needed +all his time and thought.</p> + +<p>He was a mathematician, and a very good one, besides being otherwise a +man of cultivated mind and wide reading. Unfortunately for himself, or +the contrary, if the invention ever succeeded, he had given himself up +to higher mathematics when a young man, instead of turning his talent to +account in an architect's office, a shipbuilding yard, or a loco<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span>motive +shop. He could find the strain at any part of an iron frame building by +the differential and integral calculus to the millionth of an ounce, but +the everyday technical routine work with volumes of ready-made tables +was unfamiliar and uncongenial to him; he would rather have calculated +the tables themselves. The true science of mathematics is the most +imaginative and creative of all sciences, but the mere application of +mathematics to figures for the construction of engines, ships, or +buildings is the dullest sort of drudgery.</p> + +<p>Rather than that, he had chosen to teach what he knew and to dream of +great problems at his leisure when teaching was over for the day or for +the term. He had taught in a small college, and had known the rare +delight of having one or two pupils who were really interested. It had +been a good position, and he had married a clever New England girl, the +daughter of his predecessor, who had died suddenly. They had been very +happy together for years, and one boy had been born to them, whom his +father insisted on christening Newton. Then Overholt had thrown up his +employment for the sake of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span>getting freedom to perfect his invention, +though much against his wife's advice, for she was a prudent little +woman, besides being clever, and she thought of the future of the two +beings she loved, and of her own, while her husband dreamed of hastening +the progress of science.</p> + +<p>Overholt came to New York because he could work better there than +elsewhere, and could get better tools made, and could obtain more easily +the materials he wanted. For a time everything went well enough, but +when the investors began to lose faith in him things went very badly.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Overholt told her husband that two could live where three +could not, especially when one was a boy of twelve; and as she would not +break his heart by teasing him into giving up the invention as a matter +of duty, she told him that she would support herself until it was +perfected or until he abandoned it of his own accord. She was very well +fitted to be a governess; she was thirty years old and as strong as a +pony, she said, and she had friends in New England who could find her a +situation. He should see her whenever it was possible, she added, but +there was no other way.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span>Now it is not easy to find a thoroughly respectable married governess +of unexceptionably good manners, who comes of a good stock and is able +to teach young ladies. Such a person is a treasure to rich people who +need somebody to take charge of their girls while they fly round and +round the world in automobiles, seeking whom they may destroy. Therefore +Mrs. Overholt obtained a very good place before long, and when the +family in which she taught had its next attack of European fever and it +was decided that the girls must stay in Munich to improve their German +and their music, Mrs. Overholt was offered an increase of salary if she +would take them there and see to it, while their parents quartered +Germany, France, Spain, and Austria at the rate of forty miles an hour, +or even fifty and sixty where the roads were good. If the parents broke +their necks, Mrs. Overholt would take the children home; but this was +rather in the understanding than in the agreement.</p> + +<p>Such was the position when John Henry sat down upon the lid of Pandora's +box in a sunny corner of the Central Park and reflected on Mr. +Burnside's remark that "there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span>was plenty of hope about." The inventor +thought that there was not much, but such as it was, he did not mean to +part with it on the ground that the man of business had called it +"cheap."</p> + +<p>He resolved his feelings into factors and simplified the form of each; +and this little mathematical operation showed that he was miserable for +three reasons.</p> + +<p>The first was that there was no money for the tangent balance of the +Air-Motor, which was the final part, on which he had spent months of +hard work and a hundred more than half sleepless nights.</p> + +<p>The second was that he had not seen his wife for nearly a year, and had +no idea how long it would be before he saw her again, and he was just as +much in love with her as he had been fourteen years ago, when he married +her.</p> + +<p>The third, and not the least, was that Christmas was coming, and he did +not see how in the world he was to make a Christmas out of nothing for +Newton, seeing that a thirteen-year-old boy wants everything under the +sun to cheer him up when he has no brothers and sisters, and school is +closed for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span>the holidays, and his mother is away from home, and there is +nobody but a dear old tiresome father who has his nose over a lathe all +day long unless he is blinding himself with calculating quaternions for +some reason that no lad, and very few men, can possibly understand. John +Henry was obliged to confess that hope was not much of a Christmas +present for a boy in Newton's surroundings.</p> + +<p>For the surroundings would be dismal in the extreme. A rickety cottage +on an abandoned Connecticut farm that is waiting for a Bohemian emigrant +to make it pay is not a gay place, especially when two-thirds of the +house has been turned into a workshop that smells everlastingly of +smith's coal, brass filings, and a nauseous chemical which seemed to be +necessary to the life of the Air-Motor, and when the rest of the house +is furnished in a style that would make a condemned cell look attractive +by contrast.</p> + +<p>Besides, it would rain or snow, and it rarely snowed in a decent +Christian manner by Christmas. It snowed slush, as Newton expressed it. +A certain kind of snow-slush makes nice hard snowballs, it is true, just +like stones, but when there is no other boy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span>to fight, it is no good. +Overholt had once offered to have a game of snow-balling with his son on +a Saturday afternoon in winter; and the invitation was accepted with +alacrity. But it was never extended again. The boy was a perfect terror +at that form of diversion. Yet so distressed was Overholt at the +prospect of a sad Christmas for his son that he even thought of +voluntarily giving up his thin body to the torment again on the 25th of +December, if that would amuse Newton and make it seem less dull for him. +Good-will towards men, and even towards children, could go no further +than that, even at Christmas time. At least Overholt could think of no +greater sacrifice that might serve.</p> + +<p>For what are toys to a boy of thirteen? He wants a gun and something to +kill, or he wants a boat in which he can really sail, or a live pony +with a real head, a real tail, and four real legs, one at each corner. +That had been Newton's definition of the desired animal when he was six +years old, and some one had given him a wooden one on rockers with the +legs painted on each side. Girls of thirteen can still play with dolls, +and John Henry had read that, far away in ancient times, girls +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span>dedicated their dolls, with all the dolls' clothes, to Artemis on the +eve of their wedding-day. But no self-respecting boy of thirteen cares a +straw for anything that is not real, except an imaginary pain that will +keep him away from school without cutting down his rations; and in the +invention and presentation of such fictitious suffering he beats all the +doll-makers in Germany and all the playwrights and actors in the world. +You must have noticed that the pain is always as far from the stomach as +is compatible with probability. Toothache is a grand thing, for nobody +can blame a healthy boy for eating then, if he can only bear the pain. +And he can, and does, bear it nobly, though with awful faces. The little +beast knows that all toothaches do not make your cheek swell. Then there +is earache; that is a splendid invention; it goes through your head like +a red-hot corkscrew with a powerful brakeman at the other end, turning +it steadily—between meals. Only certain kinds of things really serve to +make him stop. Ice-cream is one, and it takes a great deal of it. It is +well known that ice will cool a red-hot corkscrew.</p> + +<p>But this is a digression, for no boy ever <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span>has any pain at Christmas; it +is only afterwards that it comes on; usually about ten days.</p> + +<p>After an hour Overholt came to the conclusion that he had better take +Pandora's box out to the cottage and sit on it there, since nothing +suggested itself to him, in spite of his immense good-will to accept any +suggestion which the spirit of coming Christmas might be kind enough to +offer; and if he could do nothing else, he could at least work at his +machine, and try to devise some means of constructing the +tangent-balance, with the materials he had left, and perhaps, by the +time he was thoroughly grimy and the workshop smelt like the Biblical +bottomless pit, something would occur to him for Newton.</p> + +<p>He could also write a letter to his wife, a sort of anticipatory +Christmas letter, and send her the book he had bought as a little gift, +wrapping it in nice white paper first, tied with a bit of pale green +ribband which she had left behind her, and which he had cherished nearly +a year, and marking it "to be opened on Christmas morning"; and the +parcel should then be done up securely in good brown grocer's paper and +addressed to her, and even <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span>registered, so that it could not possibly be +lost. It was a pretty book, and also a very excellent book, which he +knew she wanted and would read often, so it was as well to take +precautions. He wished that Newton wanted a book, or even two or three, +or magazines with gaily coloured pictures, or anything that older or +younger boys would have liked a little. But Newton was at that age which +comes sooner or later to every healthy boy, and the sight of a book +which he was meant to read and ought to read was infinitely worse than +the ugliest old toad that ever flops out of a hollow tree at dusk, +spitting poison and blinking his devilish little eyes at you when you +come too near him.</p> + +<p>Overholt had been brought up by people who lived in peace and good-will +towards men, in a city where the spirit of Christmas still dwells, and +sleeps most of the time, but wakens every year, like a giant of good +courage and good cheer, at the sound of the merry bells across the snow, +and to the sweet carol under the windows in the frosty night. The +Germans say that bad men have no songs; and we and all good fellows may +say that bad <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span>people have no Christmas, and though they copy the letter +they know not the spirit; and I say that a copied Christmas is no +Christmas at all, because Christmas is a feast of hearts and not of poor +bits of cut-down trees stuck up in sawdust and covered with lights and +tinsel, even if they are hung with the most expensive gewgaws and +gimcracks that ever are bought for gifts by people who are expected to +give, whether they like or not. But when the heart for Christmas is +there and is beating, then a very little tree will do, if there be none +better to the hand.</p> + +<p>Overholt thought so, while the train rumbled, creaked, and clattered and +jerked itself along, as only local trains can, probably because they are +old and rheumatic and stiff and weak in the joints, like superannuated +crocodiles, though they may have once been young express trains, sleek +and shiny, and quick and noiseless as bright snakes.</p> + +<p>Overholt thought so, too; but the trouble was that he saw not even the +least little mite of a tree in sight for his boy when the 25th of +December should come. And it was coming, and was only a month away; and +time is not a local train that stops at every <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span>station, and then kicks +itself on a bit to stop at the next; it is the "Fast Limited," and, what +is more, it is the only one we can go by; and we cannot get out, because +it never stops anywhere.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span>II</h2> + +<h2>HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE</h2> + + +<p>Overholt's boy came home from school at the usual hour with his books +buckled together in an old skate strap, which had never been very good +because the leather was too soft and tore from one hole to the next; but +it served very well for the books, as no great strain was caused by an +arithmetic thumbed to mushiness, a history in the same state, and a +geography of which the binding gave in and doubled up from sheer +weariness, while the edges were so worn that the eastern coast of China +and Siberia had quite disappeared.</p> + +<p>He was a good-looking lad, not tall for his age, but as tough as a +street cat in hard <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span>training. He had short and thick brown hair, a clear +complexion, his father's energetically intellectual features, though +only half developed yet, a boldly-set mouth, and his mother's kindly, +practical blue eyes. For surely the eyes of practical people are always +quite different from those of all others; and not many people are +practical, though I never knew anybody who did not think he or she was, +except pinchbeck artists, writers, and players, who are sure that since +they must be geniuses, it is necessary to be Bohemians in order to show +it. The really big ones are always trying to be practical, like Sir +Isaac Newton when he ordered a good-sized hole to be cut in his barn +door for the cat, and a little one next it for the kitten.</p> + +<p>But Newton Overholt did not at all resemble his great namesake. He was a +practical young soul, and had not yet developed the American disease +which consists in thinking of two things at the same time. John Henry +had it badly, for he had been thinking of the tangent-balance, his wife, +his boy, and the coming Christmas, all together, since he had got home, +and the three problems had got mixed and had made his head ache.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span>Nevertheless he looked up from his work-table and smiled when his son +came in.</p> + +<p>"Everything all right?" he asked, with an attempt to be cheerful.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, fine," answered the boy, looking at the motionless model for +the five-hundredth time, and sticking his hands into his pockets. "I'm +only third in mathematics yet, but I'm head in everything else. I wish I +had your brains, father! I'd be at the head of the arithmetic class in +half a shake of a lamb's tail if I had your brains."</p> + +<p>So far as mathematics were concerned this sounded probable to John +Henry, who would have considered the speed of the tail to be a variable +function of lamb, depending on the value of mother, plus or minus milk.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said in an encouraging tone, "I never could remember +geography, so it makes us even."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know how!" cried the boy in a tone of protest. "You could +do sums, and you grew up to be a great mathematician and inventor. But +what is the good of a geographician, anyway? They can only make +school-books. They never invent anything, do they? You can't invent +geography, can <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span>you? At least you can, and some boys do, but they go to +the bottom of the class like lead. It's safer to invent history than +geography, isn't it, father?"</p> + +<p>Overholt's clever mouth twitched.</p> + +<p>"It's much safer, my boy. Almost all historians have found it so."</p> + +<p>"There! I said so to-day, and now you say just the same thing. I don't +believe one word of ancient history. Not—one—word! They wrote it about +their own nations, didn't they? All right. Then you might just as well +expect them to tell what really happened, as think that I'd tell on +another boy in my own school. I must say it would be as mean as dog pie +of them if they did, but all the same that does not make history true, +does it?"</p> + +<p>Newton had a practical mind. His father, who had not, meditated with +unnecessary gravity on the boy's point of view and said nothing.</p> + +<p>"For instance," continued the lad, sitting down on the high stool before +the lathe Overholt was not using, "the charge of Balaclava's a true +story, because it's been told by both sides; but they all say that it +did no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span>good, anyway, except to make poetry of. But Marathon! Nobody had +a chance to say a word about it except the Greeks themselves, and they +weren't going to allow that the Persians wiped up the floor with them, +were they? Why should they? And if Balaclava had happened then, those +Greek fellows would have told us that the Light Brigade carried the +Russian guns back with them across their saddles, wouldn't they? I say, +father!"</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Overholt, looking up, for he had gone back to his +work and was absorbed in it.</p> + +<p>"The boys are all beginning to talk about Christmas down at the school. +Now what are we going to do at Christmas? I've been wondering."</p> + +<p>"So have I!" responded the man, laying down the screw-plate with which +he was about to cut a fine thread on the end of a small brass rod for +the tangent-balance. "I've been thinking about it a good deal to-day, +and I haven't decided on anything."</p> + +<p>"Let's have turkey and cranberry sauce, anyway," said Newton +thoughtfully, for he had a practical mind. "And I suppose we can have +ice-cream if it freezes and we can <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span>get some ice. Snow does pretty well +if you pack it down tight enough with salt, and go on putting in more +when it melts. Barbara doesn't make ice-cream as well as they do in New +York. She puts in a lot of winter-green and too little cocoanut. But +it's not so bad. We can have it, can't we, father?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes. Turkey, cranberry sauce, and ice-cream. But that isn't a whole +Christmas!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see what else you want, I'm sure," answered the boy +thoughtfully. "I mean if it's a big turkey and there's enough +ice-cream—cream-cakes, maybe. You get good cream-cakes at Bangs's, two +for five cents. They're not very big, but they're all right inside—all +gooey, you know. Can you think of anything else?"</p> + +<p>"Not to eat!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well then, what's the matter with our Christmas? I can't see. No +school and heaps of good gobbles."</p> + +<p>"Good what?" Overholt looked at the boy with an inquiring glance, and +then understood. "I see! Is that the proper word?"</p> + +<p>"When there's lots, it is," answered Newton with conviction. "Of course, +there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span>are all sorts of things I'd like to have, but it's no good +wishing you could lay Columbus's egg and hatch the American eagle, is +it?[<i>The writer acknowledges his indebtedness for this fact in +natural and national history to his aunt, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, to whom +it was recently revealed in the course of making an excellent speech.</i>] +What would you like, father, if you could choose?"</p> + +<p>"Three things," answered Overholt promptly. "I should like to see that +wheel going round, softly and steadily, all Christmas Day. I should like +to see that door open and your mother coming in."</p> + +<p>"You bet I would too!" cried Newton, dropping from bold metaphor to +vulgar vernacular. "Well, what's the third thing? You said there were +three."</p> + +<p>"I should like you to have a real, old-fashioned, glorious Christmas, my +boy, such as you had when you were smaller, before we left the house +where you were born."</p> + +<p>"Oh well, you mustn't worry about me, father; if there's plenty of +turkey and ice-cream and the cream-cakes, I can stand it. Mother can't +come, anyhow, so that's settled, and it's no use to think about it. But +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span>motor—that's different. There's hope, anyway. The wheel may go +round. If you didn't hope so, you wouldn't go on fussing over it, would +you? You'd go and do something else. They always say hope's better than +nothing."</p> + +<p>"It's about all we shall have left for Christmas, so we may as well +build as much on it as we can."</p> + +<p>"I love building," said Newton. "I like to stand and watch a bricklayer +just putting one brick on another and making the wall grow."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'll turn out an architect."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to. I never showed you my city, did I?" He knew very well that +he had not, and his father looked at him inquiringly. "No. Oh well, you +won't care to see it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should! But I don't understand. What sort of a city do you +mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's nothing," answered the boy, affecting carelessness. "It's only +a little paper city on a board. I don't believe you'd care to see it, +father. Let's talk about Christmas."</p> + +<p>"No. I want to see what you have made. Where is it? I'll go with you."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span>Newton laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'll bring it, if you really want me to. It's easy enough to carry. The +whole thing's only paper!"</p> + +<p>He left the workshop and returned before Overholt had finished cutting +the thread of the screw he was making. The man turned as the boy pushed +the door open with his foot, and came in carrying what had evidently +once been the top of a deal table.</p> + +<p>On the board he had built an ingenious model of a town, or part of one, +but it was not finished. It was entirely made of bits of cardboard, +chips of wood, the sides of match-boxes, and odds and ends of all sorts, +which he picked up wherever he saw them and brought home in his pocket +for his purpose. He had an immense supply of such stuff stored away, +much more than he could ever use.</p> + +<p>Overholt looked at it with admiration, but said nothing. It was the +college town where he had lived so happily and hoped to live again. It +was distinctly recognisable, and many of the buildings were not only +cleverly made, but were coloured very like the originals. He was so much +interested that he forgot to say anything.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span>It's a silly thing, anyway," said Newton, disappointed by his silence. +"It's like toys!"</p> + +<p>Overholt looked up, and the boy saw his pleased face.</p> + +<p>"It's very far from silly," he said. "I believe you're born to be a +builder, boy! It's not only not silly, but it's very well done indeed!"</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you can't tell what the place is," observed Newton, a secret +joy stealing through him at his father's words.</p> + +<p>"Know it? I should think I did, and I wish we were there now! Here's the +College, and there's our house in the street on the other side of the +common. The church is first-rate, it's really like it—and there's the +Roman Catholic Chapel and the Public Library in Main Street."</p> + +<p>"Why, you really do recognise the places!" cried Newton in delight. "I +didn't think anybody'd know them!"</p> + +<p>"One would have to be blind not to, if one knew the town," said +Overholt. "And there's the dear old lane!" He was absorbed in the model. +"And the three hickory trees, and even the little bench!"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span>Why, do you remember that bench, father?"</p> + +<p>Overholt looked up again, quickly and rather dreamily.</p> + +<p>"Yes. It was there that I asked your mother to marry me," he said.</p> + +<p>"Not really? Then I'm glad I put it in!"</p> + +<p>"So am I, for the dear old time's sake and for her sake, and for yours, +my boy. Tell me when you made this, and how you can remember it all so +well."</p> + +<p>The lad sat down on the high stool again before the lathe and looked +through the dingy window at the scraggy trees outside, beyond the +forlorn yard.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," he said. "I kind of remember it, I suppose, because +I liked it better than this. And when I first had the idea I was sitting +out there in the yard looking at this board. It belongs to a broken +table that had been thrown out there. And I carried it up to my room +when you were out. I thought you wouldn't mind my taking it. And I +picked up scraps that might be useful, and got some gum, and old Barbara +made me some flour paste. It's <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span>got green now, and it smells like +thunder, but it's good still. That's about all, I suppose. Now I'll take +it away again. I keep it in the dark closet behind my room, because that +doesn't leak when it rains."</p> + +<p>"Don't take it away," said Overholt suddenly. "I'll make room for it +here, and you can work at it while I'm busy, and in the evenings I'll +try and help you, and we'll finish it together."</p> + +<p>Newton was amazed.</p> + +<p>"Why, father, it's playing! How can you go to work at play? It would be +so funny! But, of course, if you really would help me a little—you've +got such lots of nice things!"</p> + +<p>He wistfully eyed a little coil of some very fine steel wire which would +make a beautiful telegraph. Newton even dreamt of making the trolley, +too, in the Main Street, but that would be a very troublesome job; and +as for the railway station, it was easy enough to build a shed and a +platform, but what is a railway station without a train?</p> + +<p>Overholt did not answer the boy at once, and when he spoke there was a +queer little quaver in his voice.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span>We'll call it our little City of Hope," he said, "and perhaps we can +'go to work to play,' as you call it, so hard that Hope will really come +and live in the City."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton, "I never thought you'd ever care to see it! Shall I +go up and get my stuff, and the gum and the flour paste, and bring them +down here, father? But the flour paste smells pretty bad—it might give +you a headache."</p> + +<p>"Bring it down, my boy. My headaches don't come from such things."</p> + +<p>"Don't they? It's true that stuff you use here's about as bad as +anything, till you get used to it. What is it, anyway?"</p> + +<p>Overholt gave him the almost unpronounceable name of some recently +discovered substance, and smiled at his expression as he listened.</p> + +<p>"If that's its name," said the boy gravely, "it sounds like the way it +smells. I wonder what a skunk's name is in science. But the flour +paste's pretty bad too. You'll see!"</p> + +<p>He went off, and his father finished cutting the little screw while he +was gone, and then turned to look at the model again, and became +absorbed in tracing the well-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span>known streets and trying to recall the +shops and houses in each, and the places where his friends had lived, +and no doubt lived still, for college towns do not change as fast as +others. He was amazed at the memory the boy had shown for details; if +the lad had not yet developed any special talent, he had at least proved +that he possessed one of those natural gifts which are sometimes alone +enough to make success. The born builder's eye is like an ear for music, +a facility for languages, or the power of drawing from nature; all the +application in the world will not do in years what any one of these does +instantly, spontaneously, instinctively, without the smallest effort. +You cannot make talent out of a combination of taste and industry. You +cannot train a cart-horse to trot a mile in a little over a minute.</p> + +<p>Newton returned, bringing his materials, to describe which would be +profitless, if it were possible. He had everything littered together in +two battered deal candle-boxes, including the broken soup-plate +containing the flour paste, a loathely, mouldering little mess that +diffused a nauseous odour, distinctly perceptible through that of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span>unpronounceable chemical on which the Air-Motor was to depend for its +existence.</p> + +<p>The light outside was failing in the murky November air, and Overholt +lit the big reflecting lamp that hung over the work-table. There was +another above the lathe, for no gas or electricity was to be had so far +from the town, and one of old Barbara's standing causes of complaint +against Overholt was his reckless use of kerosene—she thought it would +be better if he had more fat turkeys and rump-steaks and less light.</p> + +<p>So the man and the boy "went to work to play" at building the City of +Hope, for at least an hour before supper and half an hour after it, +almost every day; and with the boy's marvellous memory and the father's +skill, and the delicious profusion of fresh material which Newton kept +finding in every corner of the workshop, it grew steadily, till it was a +little work of art in its way. There were the ups and downs, the crooked +old roads and lanes and the straight new streets, the little wooden +cottages and the big brick houses, and there was the grassy common with +its trees and its tiny iron railing; and John Henry easily made posts to +carry the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span>trolley wires, which had seemed an impossible dream to the +boy, beyond all realisation; and one day, when the inventor seemed +farther from the tangent-balance than ever, he spent a whole afternoon +in making a dozen little trolley-cars that ran on real wheels, made by +sawing off little sections from a lead pencil, which is the best thing +in the world for that, because the lead comes out and leaves nice round +holes for the axles. When the first car was painted red and yellow and +ran up and down Main Street, guided by the wire above and only needing +one little artificial push to send it either way, it looked so real that +the boy was in ecstasies of delight.</p> + +<p>"It's worth while to be a great inventor to be able to make things like +that!" he cried, and Overholt was as much pleased by the praise as an +opera singer is who is called out three times before the curtain after +the first act.</p> + +<p>So the little City of Hope grew, and they both felt that Hope herself +was soon coming to dwell therein, if she had not come already.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span>III</h2> + +<h2>HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW</h2> + + +<p>But then something happened; for Overholt was tormented by the vague +consciousness of a coming idea, so that he had headaches and could not +sleep at night. It flashed upon him at last one evening when Newton was +in bed and he was sitting before his motor, wishing he had the thousand +dollars which would surely complete it, even if he used the most +expensive materials in the market.</p> + +<p>The idea which developed suddenly in all its clearness was that he had +made one of the most important parts of the machine exactly the converse +of what it should be; what was on the right should have been on the +left, and what was down should certainly have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span>been up. Then the engine +would work, even if the tangent-balance were a very poor affair indeed.</p> + +<p>The particular piece of brass casting which was the foundation of that +part had been made in New York, and, owing to the necessity for its +being finished very accurately and machine planed and turned, it had +cost a great deal of money. Already it had been made and spoilt three +times over, and now it was perfectly clear that it must be cast over +again in a reversed form. It was quite useless to make the balance yet, +for it would be of no use till the right casting was finished; it would +have to be reversed too, and the tangent would apply to a reversed +curve.</p> + +<p>He had no money for the casting, but even before trying to raise the +cash it was necessary to make the wooden model. He could do that, and he +set to work to sketch the drawing within five minutes after the idea had +once flashed upon him. As his eye followed the lines made by his pencil, +he became more and more convinced that he was right. When the rough +sketch was done he looked up at the engine. Its familiar features seemed +to be drawn into a diabolical grimace <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span>of contempt at his stupidity, and +it looked as if it were conscious and wanted to throw the wrongly-made +piece at his head. But he was overwrought just then and could have +fancied any folly.</p> + +<p>He rose, shook himself, and then took a long pull at a black bottle that +always stood on a shelf. When a man puts a black bottle to his lips, +tips it up, and takes down several good pulls almost without drawing +breath, most people suppose that he is a person of vicious habits. In +Overholt's case most people would have been wrong. The black bottle +contained cold tea; it was strong, but it was only tea, and that is the +finest drink in the world for an inventor or an author to work on. When +I say an author I mean a poor writer of prose, for I have always been +told that all poets are either mad, or bad, or both. Many of them must +be bad, or they could not write such atrocious poems; but madness is +different; perhaps they read their own verses.</p> + +<p>When Overholt had swallowed his cold tea, he got out his drawing +materials, stretched a fresh sheet of thick draughtsman's paper on the +board, and sat down between the motor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span>that would not move and the +little city in which Hope had taken lodgings for a while, and he went to +work with ruler, scale and dividers, and the hard wood template for +drawing the curves he had constructed for the tangent-balance by a very +abstruse mathematical calculation. That was right, at all events, only, +as it was to be reversed, he laid it on the paper with the under-side +up.</p> + +<p>He worked nearly all night to finish the drawing, slept two hours in a +battered Shaker rocking-chair by the fire, woke in broad daylight, drank +more cold tea, and went at once to his lathe, for the new piece was in +the nature of a cylinder, and a good deal of the work could be done by +turning.</p> + +<p>The chisel and the lathe seemed to be talking to each other over the +block of wood, and what they said rang like a tune in John Henry's head.</p> + +<p>"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw, bricks without straw," +repeated the lathe regularly, at each revolution, and when it said +"bricks" the treadle was up, and when it said "straw" the treadle was +down, for of course it was only a foot lathe, though a good one. +"Sh—sh—sh—ever so much <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span>better than no bricks at all—sh—sh—sh," +answered the sharp chisel as it pressed and bit the wood, and made a +little irregular clattering when it was drawn away, and then came +forward against the block again with a long hushing sound; and Overholt +was inclined to accept its opinion, and worked on as if an obliging +brassfounder were waiting outside to take the model away at once and +cast it for nothing, or at least on credit.</p> + +<p>But no such worthy and confiding manufacturer appeared, even on the +evening of the second day, when the wooden model was beautifully +finished and ready for the foundry. While the inventor was busy, Newton +had worked alone in a corner when he had time to spare from his lessons, +but he understood what was going on, and he did not accomplish much +beyond painting the front of the National Bank in the City of Hope and +planning a possible Wild West Show to be set up on the outskirts; the +tents would be easy to make, but the horses were beyond his skill, or +his father's; it would not be enough that they should have a leg at each +corner and a head and a tail.</p> + +<p>He understood well enough what was the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span>matter, for he had seen similar +things happen before. A pessimist is defined to be a person who has +lived with an optimist, and every inventor is that. Poor Newton had seen +that particular part of the engine spoiled and made over three times, +and he understood perfectly that it was all wrong again and must be cast +once more. But he kept his reflections to himself and tried to think +about the City of Hope.</p> + +<p>"I wish," said John Henry, sitting down opposite the boy at last, and +looking at what he had done, "that the National Bank in Main Street were +real!"</p> + +<p>He eyed it wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Oh well," answered the boy, "we couldn't rob it, because that's +stealing, so I don't see what particular good it would do!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the business people in the City of Hope would be different from +the bankers in New York," observed Overholt, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it, father," Newton answered in a sceptical tone. "If +they were bankers they'd be rich, and you remember the sermon Sunday +before last, about it's being easier for the camel to get through the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span>rich man—no, which is it? I forget. It doesn't matter, anyway, because +we can imagine any kind of people we choose in our city, can't we? Say, +father, what's the matter? Are you going to cast that piece over again? +That'll be the fourth time, won't it?"</p> + +<p>"It would be, my boy, but it won't be. They won't cast it for nothing, +and I cannot raise the money. You cannot make bricks without straw."</p> + +<p>He looked steadily down at the tiny front of the Bank in Main Street, +and a hungry look came into his eyes.</p> + +<p>But Newton had a practical mind, even at thirteen.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking," he said presently. "It looks as if we were going to +get stuck some day. What are we going to do then, father? I was thinking +about it just now. How are we going to get anything to eat if we have no +money?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have to go back to teaching mathematics for a living, I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"And give up the Motor?" Newton had never yet heard him suggest such a +thing.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Overholt answered in a low tone; and that was all he said.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span>Oh, that's ridiculous. You'd just die, that's all!"</p> + +<p>Newton stared at the engine that was a failure. It looked as if it ought +to work, he thought, with its neat cylinders, its polished levers, its +beautifully designed gear. It stood under a big case made of thick glass +plates set in an iron frame with a solid top; a chain ran through two +cast-iron wheels overhead to a counterpoise in the corner, by which +device it was easily raised and lowered. The Motor was a very expensive +affair, and had to be carefully protected from dust and all injury, +though it was worth nothing at present except for old brass and iron, +unless the new part could be made.</p> + +<p>"Come, my boy, let's think of something more cheerful!" Overholt said, +making an effort to rouse himself and concentrated his attention on the +paper model. "Christmas is coming in three weeks, you know, and it will +come just the same in the little City. I'm sure the people will decorate +their houses and the church. Of course we cannot see the insides of the +houses, but in Boston they put wreaths in the windows. And we'll <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span>have a +snowstorm, just as we used to have, and we can clear it away afterwards! +Wasn't there a holly tree somewhere near the College? You haven't put +that in yet. You have no idea how cheerful it will look! To-morrow we'll +find a very small sprig with berries on it, and plant it just in the +right place. I'm sure you remember where it stood."</p> + +<p>"Real leaves would be too big," observed the boy. "They wouldn't look +right. Of course, one could cut the branches out of tin and paint 'em +green with red spots, and stick them into a twig for the trunk. But it's +rather hard to do."</p> + +<p>"Let's try," said Overholt. "I've got some fine chisels and some very +thin brass, but I don't think I could draw the branches as well as you +could."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can draw them something like, if you'll only cut 'em out," the +boy answered cheerfully. "Come on, father! Who says we can't make bricks +without straw? I'll bet anything we can!"</p> + +<p>So they worked together steadily, and for an hour or two the inventor +was so busy in cutting out tiny branches of imaginary holly with a very +small chisel that he did not look <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span>once at the plate glass from which +his engine seemed to be grinning at him, in fiendish delight over his +misfortunes. There were times when he was angry with it, outright, as if +it knew what he was doing and did not mean to give in to him and let +itself be invented.</p> + +<p>But now the tune of the lathe and the chisel still ran on in his head, +for he had heard it through two whole days and could not get rid of it.</p> + +<p>"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw!" repeated the lathe +viciously. "Ever so much better than no bricks at all, sh—sh—sh!" +answered the chisel, gibbering and hissing like an idiot.</p> + +<p>"You will certainly be lying on straw before long, and then I suppose +you'll wish you had something else!" squeaked the little chisel with +which he was cutting out holly leaves, as it went through the thin +plates into the wood of the bench under each push of his hand.</p> + +<p>The things in the workshop all seemed to be talking to him together, and +made his head ache.</p> + +<p>"I had a letter from your mother to-day,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> he said, because it was +better to hear his own voice say anything than to listen to such +depressing imaginary conversations. "I'm sorry to say she sees no chance +of getting home before the spring."</p> + +<p>"I don't know where you'd put her if she came here," answered the +practical Newton. "Your room leaks when it rains, and so does mine. You +two would have to sleep in the parlour. I guess it'll be better if she +doesn't come now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, for her, far better," assented Overholt. "They've got a beautiful +flat in Munich, and everything they can possibly think of. Your mother's +only complaint, so far as that goes, is that those girls are completely +spoilt by too much luxury!"</p> + +<p>"What is luxury, exactly, father?" asked Newton, who always wanted to +know things.</p> + +<p>"I shall never know myself, and perhaps you never will either!" The +wretched inventor tried to laugh. "But that's no answer to your +question, is it? I suppose luxury means always having twice as much of +everything as you can possibly use, and having it about ten times as +fine and expensive as other people can afford."</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span>I don't see any use in that," said the boy. "Now I know just how much +turkey and cranberry sauce and ice-cream I really need, and if I get +just a little more than that, it's Christmas. I don't mean much more, +but about half a helping. I know all about proverbs. Haven't I copied +millions of 'em in learning to write. One reason why it's so slow to +learn is that the things you have to write are perfect nonsense. 'Enough +is as good as a feast!' All I can say is, the man who made that proverb +never had a feast, or he'd have known better! This green paint doesn't +dry very quick, father. We'll have to wait till to-morrow before we put +in the red spots for the berries. I wish I had some little red beads. +They'd stick on the wet paint now, like one o'clock."</p> + +<p>There were no red beads, so he rose to go to bed. When he had said +good-night and had reached the door, he stopped and looked back again.</p> + +<p>"Say, father, haven't you anything you can sell to get some more money +for the Motor?"</p> + +<p>John Henry shook his weary head and smiled sadly.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span>Nothing that would bring nearly enough to pay for the casting," he +answered. "Don't worry about it, boy. Leave that to me—I'm used to it. +Go to bed and sleep, and you'll feel like an Air-Motor yourself in the +morning!"</p> + +<p>"That's the worst of it," returned the boy. "Just to sit there under a +glass case and have you take care of me and do nothing, like a girl. +That's the way I feel sometimes."</p> + +<p>He shook his young head quite as gravely as the inventor had shaken his +own, and went quietly to bed without saying anything more.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to do, I'm sure," he said to himself as he got into +bed, "but I'm sure there's something. Maybe I'll dream it, and then I'll +do just the contrary and it'll come all right."</p> + +<p>But boys of practical minds and sound bodies do not dream at all, unless +it be after a feast, and most of them can stand even that without having +nightmare, unless two feasts come near together, like Christmas and a +birthday within the week.</p> + +<p>A great-uncle of mine was once taken for a clergyman at a public dinner +nearly a hundred years ago, and he was asked to say <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span>grace; he was a +good man, and also practical, and had a splendid appetite, but he was +not eloquent, and this is what he said:—</p> + +<p>"The Lord give us appetites to enjoy, and strength to digest ALL the +good things set before us. Amen!"</p> + +<p>And everybody said "Amen" very cheerfully and fell to.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span>IV</h2> + +<h2>HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY</h2> + + +<p>It rained in New York and it "snowed slush" in Connecticut, after its +manner, and the world was a very dreary place, especially all around the +dilapidated cottage where everything was going to pieces, including John +Henry Overholt's last hopes.</p> + +<p>If he had been alone in the world he would have taken his small cash +balance and his model to the foundry, quite careless as to whether he +ever got a meal again until the Motor worked. But there was the boy to +be thought of, and desperate as the unhappy inventor was, he would not +starve his son as well as himself. He was quite sure of his little +balance, though he had never had any head for figures of that sort. It +was an easy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span>affair in his eyes to handle the differential calculus, +which will do anything, metaphorically speaking, from smashing a rock as +flat and thin as a postage stamp, to regulating an astronomical clock; +but to understand the complication of a pass-book and a bank account was +a matter of the greatest possible difficulty. Newton would have done it +much better, though he could not get to the head of his class in +arithmetic. That is the difference between being an inventor and having +a practical mind. As for Mrs. Overholt, she was perfectly wonderful at +keeping accounts; but then she had been taught a great many things, from +music and drawing to compound interest and double entry, and she had +been taught them all just so far as to be able to do them nicely without +understanding at all what she did; which is sound modern education, and +no mistake. The object of music is to make a cheerful noise, which can +be done very well without pencil and paper and the rules of harmony.</p> + +<p>But Overholt could neither make a cheerful noise, nor draw a holly leaf, +nor speak French, nor even understand a pass-book, though he had +invented an Air-Motor which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span>would not work, but was a clear evidence of +genius. The only business idea he had was to make his little balance +last as long as possible, in spite of the terrible temptation to take it +and offer it to the founder as a cash advance, if only he might have his +piece of casting done. Where the rest of the money would come from he +did not know; probably out of the Motor. It looked so easy; but there +was the boy, and it might happen that there would be no dinner for +several days.</p> + +<p>On the first of December he cashed a cheque in the town, as usual; and +he paid Barbara's wages and the coal merchant, and the month's bill for +kerosene, and the butcher and the grocer, and the baker, and that was +practically all; and he went to bed that night feeling that whatever +happened there was a whole month before another first came round, and he +owed no one anything more for the present, and Newton would not starve, +and could have his Christmas turkey, if it was to be the last he ever +ate, poor boy.</p> + +<p>On the morning of December third it was still snowing slush, though it +was more like real snow now, and the air was much colder; and by and by, +when Overholt had read a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span>letter that Barbara brought him, he felt so +terribly cold all at once that his teeth chattered, and then he was so +hot that the perspiration ran down his forehead, and he steadied himself +against the heavy glass case of the Motor a moment and then almost +tumbled into a sitting posture on the stool before his work-table, and +his head fell forward on his hands, as if he were fainting.</p> + +<p>The letter said that his account was overdrawn to the extent of three +hundred and fifty-two dollars and thirteen cents, including the cheque +he had drawn on the thirty-first, and would he please make a deposit at +his earliest convenience?</p> + +<p>It had been just a little mistake in arithmetic, that was all. He had +started with the wrong balance in his note-book, and what he thought was +credit was debit, but the bank where he had kept all the money that had +been put up for the Motor, had wished to be friendly and good-natured to +the great inventor and had not returned his cheques with N.G. on them; +and if his attention had already been called to his deficit, he must +have forgotten to open the letter. Like all men who are much talked of +in the news<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span>papers, though they may be as poor as Job's turkey, he +received a great many circulars addressed by typewriter, and the only +letters he really cared for were from his wife, so that when he was very +hard at work or much preoccupied the others accumulated somewhere in the +workshop, and were often forgotten.</p> + +<p>What was perfectly clear this morning was that starvation was sitting on +the doorstep and that he had no moral right whatever to the dinner +Barbara was already beginning to cook, nor to another to-morrow, nor to +any more; for he was a proud man, and ashamed of debt, though he mixed +up debit and credit so disgracefully.</p> + +<p>He sat there half an hour, as he had let himself fall forward, only +moving a little, so that his forehead rested on his arm instead of his +hands, because that was a little more comfortable, and just then he did +not want to see anything, least of all the Motor. When he rose at last +the sleeve of his coat was all wet with the perspiration from his +forehead. He left the workshop, half shutting his eyes in order not to +see the Motor; he was sure the thing was grinning at him behind the +plate glass. It had two round <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span>brass valves near the top that looked +like yellow eyeballs, and a lever at the bottom with double arms and a +cross-bar, which made him think of an iron jaw when he was in one of his +fits of nervous depression.</p> + +<p>But John Henry Overholt was a man, and an honest one. He went straight +to the writing-table in the next room and sat down, and though his hand +shook, he wrote a clear and manly letter to the President of the College +where he had taught so well, stating his exact position, acknowledging +the failure of his invention, and asking help to find immediate +employment as a teacher, even in the humblest capacity which would +afford bread for his boy and himself. Presidents and principals of +colleges are in constant communication with other similar institutions, +and generally know of vacant positions.</p> + +<p>When he had written his letter and read it over carefully, Overholt +looked at his timetable, got his hat, coat, and umbrella, and trudged +off through the slushy snow to the station, on his way to New York.</p> + +<p>It was raining there, but it was not dismal; hurry, confusion, and noise +can never be that. He had not been in the city since the day <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span>when he +made his last attempt to raise money, and in his present state the +contrast was overwhelming. The shopkeepers would have told him that it +was a dull day for business, and that the rain was costing them hundreds +of dollars every hour, because there are a vast number of people who buy +things within the month before Christmas, if it is convenient and the +weather is fine, but will not take the trouble if the weather is bad; +and afterwards they are so glad to have saved their money that they buy +nothing of that sort till the following year. For Christmas shopping is +largely a matter of temptation on the one side and of weakness on the +other, and you cannot tempt a man to buy your wares if he will not even +go out and look at your shop window. At Christmas time every shopkeeper +turns into a Serpent, with a big S and a supply of apples varying, with +his capital, from a paper-bagful to a whole orchard, and though the +ladies are the more easily tempted, nine generous men out of ten show no +more sense just at that time than Eve herself did. The very air has +temptation in it when they see the windows full of pretty things and +think of their wives and their children and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span>their old friends. Even +misers relax a little then, and a famous statesman, who was somewhat +close-fisted in his day, is reported to have given his young coloured +servant twenty-five cents on Christmas Eve, telling him to go out to +Mount Auburn Cemetery and see where the great men of New England lie +buried. And the man, I believe, went there; but he was an African, and +the spirit of Christmas was not in his race, for if it had moved him he +would have wasted that money on cream-cakes and cookies, reflecting that +the buried worthies of Massachusetts could not tell tales on him.</p> + +<p>Overholt went down town to the bank where he kept his account and +explained his little mistake very humbly, and asked for time to pay up. +The teller looked at him as if he were an escaped lunatic, but on +account of his great reputation as an inventor he was shown to the desk +of one of the partners, which stood in a corner of the vast place, where +one could converse confidentially if one did not speak above a whisper; +but the stenographer girl could hear even whispering distinctly, and +perhaps she sometimes took down what she heard, if the partner made a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span>signal to her by carelessly rolling his pencil across his table.</p> + +<p>The partner whom Overholt saw was not ill-natured, and besides, it was +near Christmas, and he had been poor himself when he was young. If +Overholt would kindly sign a note at sixty days for the overdraft it +would be all right. The banker was sorry he could not authorise him to +overdraw any further, but it was strictly against the rules, an +exception had been made because Mr. Overholt was such a well-known man, +and so forth. But the inventor explained that he had not meant to ask +any favour, and had come to explain how he had made such a strange +mistake. The banker, like the teller, thought that a man who could not +count money must be mad, but was too civil, or too good-natured, to say +so.</p> + +<p>Overholt signed the note, thanked him warmly, and went away. He and his +old umbrella looked very dejected as he left the building and dived into +the stream of men in the street, but if he had paid any attention to his +fellow-beings he would have seen here and there a number who looked +quite as unhappy as he did. He had come all the way from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span>the country +expressly to explain his error, and had been in the greatest haste to +get down town and have the interview over. To go home with the prospect +of trying to eat a dinner that would be cold, and of sitting in his +workshop all the afternoon just to stare at his failure until Newton +came home, was quite another matter. If the weather had been less +disagreeable he would have gone to the Central Park, to sit in a quiet +corner and think matters over.</p> + +<p>As that seemed out of the question, he walked from the bank to +Forty-Second Street, taking an hour and a half over it. It was better to +go on foot than to sit in a car facing a dozen or twenty strangers, who +would wonder why he looked so miserable. Sensitive people always fancy +that everybody is looking at them and criticising them, when in fact no +one cares a straw how they look or what they do.</p> + +<p>Then, too, he was in such a morbid state of mind about his debt that it +looked positively wrong to spend five cents on a car-fare; even the +small change in his pocket was not his own, and that, and hundreds of +dollars besides, must be paid back in sixty days.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> Otherwise he supposed +he would be bankrupt, which, to his simple mind, meant disgrace as well +as ruin.</p> + +<p>It had stopped raining before he reached Grace Church, and as he crossed +Madison Square the sun shone out, the wind had veered to the west, and +the sky was clearing all round. The streets had seemed full before, but +they were positively choking with people now. The shops drew them in and +blew them out again with much less cash about them, as a Pacific whale +swallows water and spouts it out, catching the little fish by thousands +with his internal whalebone fishing-net. But, unlike the fishes, the +people were not a whit less pleased. On the contrary, there was +something in the faces of almost all that is only seen once a year in +New York, and then only for certain hours; and that is real good-will. +For whatever the most home-loving New Yorker may say of his own great +city, good-will to men is not its dominant characteristic, nor peace its +most remarkable feature.</p> + +<p>Even poor Overholt, half crazy with disappointment and trouble, could +not help noticing the difference between the expres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span>sions of the men he +had seen down town and of those who were thronging the shops and the +sidewalks in Fifth Avenue. In Wall Street and adjacent Broadway a great +many looked like more or less discontented birds of prey looking out for +the next meal, and a few might have been compared to replete vultures; +but here all those who were not alone were talking with their +companions, and many were smiling, and now and then a low laugh was +heard, which is a very rare thing in Fifth Avenue, though you may often +hear children laughing in the Park and sometimes in the cross streets +up-town.</p> + +<p>Then there was another eagerness in the faces, that was not for money, +but was the anticipation of giving pleasure before long, and of being +pleased too; and that is a great part of the Christmas spirit, if it is +not the spirit itself. It is doubtless more blessed to give than to +receive, but the receiving is very delightful, and it is cruel to teach +children that they must not look forward to having pretty presents. What +is Christmas Day to a happy child but a first glimpse of heaven on +earth?</p> + +<p>Overholt glanced at the faces of the passers-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span>by with a sort of vague +surprise, wondering why they looked so happy; and then he remembered +what they were doing, and all at once his heart sank like lead. What was +to become of the turkey and the ice-cream on which Newton had built his +hopes for Christmas? Would there be any dinner at all? Or any one to +cook it? How could he go and get things which he would not be able to +pay for on the first of next month, exactly a week after the feast? His +imagination could glide lightly over three weeks of starvation, but at +the thought of his boy's disappointment everything went to pieces, the +present, the future, everything. He would have walked all the way down +town again to beg for a loan of only a few dollars, enough for that one +Christmas dinner; but he knew from the banker's face that such a request +would be refused, as such, and he dreaded in his misery lest the money +should be offered him as a charity.</p> + +<p>He got home at last, weary and wretched, and then for the first time he +remembered the letter he had written asking for employment as a teacher. +He had been a very good one, and the College had been sorry to lose +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span>him; in two days he might get an answer; all hope was not gone yet, at +least not quite all, and his spirits revived a little. Besides, the +weather was fine now, even in Connecticut; there would be a sharp frost +in the night, and Newton would soon get some skating.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span>V</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF</h2> + + +<p>Almost the worst part of it was that he had to tell his boy about his +dreadful mistake, and that it was all over with the Motor and with +everything, and that until he could get something to do they were +practically starving; and that he could not possibly see how there was +ever to be ice-cream for Christmas, let alone such an expensive joy as, +a turkey.</p> + +<p>He knew that Newton would not pucker up his mouth and screw his eyes to +keep the tears in, like a girl; and he was quite sure that the boy would +not reproach him for having been so careless. He might not seem to care +very much, but he would be terribly disappointed; that was the worst of +it all, next to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span>owing money that he had no hope of paying. Indeed, he +hardly knew which hurt him more than the other, for the disgrace of +debt, as he called it, was all his own, but the bitter disappointment +was on Newton too.</p> + +<p>The latter listened in silence till his father had finished, and his +boyish face was preternaturally thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I've seen boys make just such mistakes at the blackboard," he observed +in a tone of melancholy reflection. "And they generally catch it +afterwards too," he added. "It's natural."</p> + +<p>"I've 'caught it,'" Overholt answered. "You have too, my dear boy, +though you didn't make the mistake—that's not just."</p> + +<p>"Well, father, I don't know what we're going to do, but something has +got to be done right away, and we've got to find out what it is."</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness you're not a girl!" cried Overholt fervently.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad too; only, if I were one, I should most likely die young and +go to heaven, and you'd have me off your mind all right. The girls +always do in storybooks."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span>He made this startling and general observation quite naturally. Of +course girls died and went to heaven when there was nothing to eat; he +secretly thought it would be better if more of them did, even without +starvation.</p> + +<p>"Let's work, anyhow," he added, as his father said nothing. "Maybe we'll +think of something while we're building that railroad depôt. Don't you +suppose that now you've got so far the Motor would keep while you +taught, and you could go at it again in the vacations? That's an idea, +father, come now!"</p> + +<p>He was already in his place before the board on which the little City +was built, and his eyes were fixed on the lines his father had drawn as +a plan for the station and the diverging tracks. But Overholt did not +sit down. His usual place was opposite the Motor, where he could see it, +but he did not want to look at it now.</p> + +<p>"Change seats with me, boy," he said. "I cannot stand the sight of it. I +suppose I'm imaginative. All this has upset me a good deal."</p> + +<p>He wished he had the lad's nerves, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span>solid nerves of hungry and +sleepy thirteen. Newton got up at once and changed places, and for a few +minutes Overholt tried to concentrate his mind on the little City, but +it was of no use. If he did not think of the Motor, he thought of what +was much worse, for the little streets and models of the familiar places +brought back the cruel memory of happier things so vividly that it was +torment. All his faculties of sensation were tense and vibrating; he +could hear his wife's gentle and happy voice, her young girl's voice, +when he looked at the little bench in the lane where he had asked her to +marry him, and an awful certainty came upon him that he was never to +hear her speak again on this side of the grave; there was the house they +had lived in; from that window he had looked out on a May morning at the +budding trees half an hour after his boy had been born; there, in the +pretty garden, the young mother had sat with her baby in the lovely June +days—it was full of her. Or if he looked at the College, he knew every +one of the steps, and the entrance, and the tall windows of the +lecture-rooms, where he had taught so contentedly, year after year, till +the terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> Motor had taken possession of him, the thing that was +driving him mad; and, strangely enough, what hurt him most and brought +drops of perspiration to his forehead was the National Bank in Main +Street; it made him remember his debt, and that he had no money at +all—nothing whatsoever but the few dollars in his pocket left after +paying the bills on the first of the month.</p> + +<p>"It's of no use!" he cried, suddenly rising and turning away. "I cannot +stand it. I'm sorry, but it's too awful!"</p> + +<p>Never before had he felt so thoroughly ashamed of himself. He was +breaking down before his son, to whom he knew he ought to be setting an +example of fortitude and common sense. He had forgotten the very names +of such qualities; the mere thought of Hope, whenever it crossed his +mind, mocked him maddeningly, and he hated the little City for the name +he had given it. Hope was his enemy since she had left him, and he was +hers; he could have found it in his heart to crush the poor little paper +town to pieces, and then to split up the very board itself for firewood.</p> + +<p>The years that had been so full of belief <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span>were all at once empty, and +the memory of them rang hollow and false, because Hope had cheated him, +luring him on, only to forsake him at the great moment. Every hour he +had spent on the work had been misspent; he saw it all now, and the most +perfect of his faultless calculations only proved that science was a +blatant fraud and a snare that had cost him all he had, his wife, his +boy's future, and his own self-respect. How could he ever look at his +wretched failure again? How could he sit down opposite the son he had +cheated, and who was going to starve with him, and play with a little +City of Hope, when Hope herself was the lying enemy that had coaxed him +to the destruction of his family and to his own disgrace? As for +teaching again, who ever got back a good place after he had voluntarily +given it up for a wild dream! Men who had such dreams were not fit to +teach young men in any case! That was the answer he would get by post in +a day or two.</p> + +<p>Newton watched his father anxiously, for he had heard that people +sometimes went mad from disappointment and anxiety. The pale +intellectual face wore a look of horror, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span>as if the dark eyes saw some +dreadful sight; the thin figure moved nervously, the colourless lips +twitched, the lean fingers opened and shut spasmodically on nothing. It +was enough to scare the boy, who had always known his father gentle, +sweet-tempered, and hopeful even under failure; but Overholt was quite +changed now, and looked as if he were either very ill or very crazy.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful whether boys ever love their fathers as most of them love +their mothers at one time, or all their lives. The sort of attachment +there often is between father and son is very different from that, and +both feel that it is; there is more of alliance and friendship in it +than of anything like affection, even when it is at its best, with a +strong instinct to help one another and to stand by each other in a +fight.</p> + +<p>Newton Overholt did not feel any sympathetic thrill of pain for his +father's sufferings; not in the least; he would perhaps have said that +he was "sorry for him" without quite knowing what that meant. But he was +very strongly moved to help him in some way, seeing that he was +evidently getting the worst of it in a big fight. Newton soon became +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span>entirely possessed by the idea that "something ought to be done," but +what it was he did not know.</p> + +<p>The lid of Pandora's box had flown open and had come off suddenly after +smashing the hinges, and Hope had flown out of the window. The boy +thought it was clearly his duty to catch her and get her into prison +again, and then to nail down the lid. He had not the smallest doubt that +this was what he ought to do, but the trouble lay in finding out how to +do it, a little difficulty that humanity has faced for a good many +thousand years. On the other hand, if he failed, as seemed probable, he +was almost sure that his father would fall ill and die, or go quite mad +in a few hours. He wished his mother were there; she would have known +how to cheer the desperate man, and could probably have made him smile +in a few minutes without really doing anything at all. Those were the +things women could do very well, the boy thought, and they ought always +to be at hand to do them when wanted. He himself could only sit there +and pretend to be busy, as children mostly do when they see their elders +in trouble. But that made him wild.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span>I say, father," he broke out suddenly, "can't I do anything? Try and +think!"</p> + +<p>"That's what I'm trying to do," answered Overholt, sitting down at last +on the stool before the work-bench and staring at the wall, with his +back turned to his son. "But I can't! There's something wrong with my +head."</p> + +<p>"You want to see a doctor," said the boy. "I'll go and see if I can get +one of them to come out here." He rose as if to go at once.</p> + +<p>"No! Don't!" cried Overholt, much distressed by the mere suggestion. "He +could only tell me to rest, and take exercise and sleep at night and not +worry!" He laughed rather wildly. "He would tell me not to worry! They +always say that! A doctor would tell a man 'not to worry' if he was to +be hanged the next morning!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton philosophically, "I suppose a man who's going to be +hung needn't worry much, anyway. He's got the front seat at the show and +nothing particular to do!"</p> + +<p>This was sound, so far as it went, but insufficient as consolation. +Overholt either <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span>did not hear, or paid no heed to the boy. He left the +room a moment later without shutting the door, and threw himself down on +the old black horsehair sofa in the parlour. Presently the lad rose +again and covered up the City of Hope with the big brown paper case he +had made to fit down over the board and keep the dust off.</p> + +<p>"This isn't your day," he observed as he did so, and the remark was +certainly addressed to the model of the town.</p> + +<p>He went into the other room and stood beside his father, looking down at +his drawn face and damp forehead.</p> + +<p>"Say, father, really, isn't there anything I can do to help?"</p> + +<p>Overholt answered with an effort. "No, my boy, there's nothing, thank +you. You cannot find money to pay my debts, can you?"</p> + +<p>"Have you got no money at all?" asked Newton, very gravely.</p> + +<p>"Four or five dollars! That's all! That's all you and I have got left in +the world to live on, and even that's not mine!"</p> + +<p>His voice shook with agony, and he raised one hand to his forehead, not +dramatically, as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span>many foreigners would do, but quietly and firmly, and +he pressed and kneaded the surface as if he were trying to push his +brains back into the right place, so that they would work, or at least +keep quiet. After that answer Newton was too sensible to ask any more +questions, and perhaps he was also a little afraid to, because questions +might make his father worse.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said vaguely, "if I can't work at the City I suppose I may as +well go out before it's dark and take a look at the pond. It's going to +freeze hard to-night, and maybe there'll be black ice that'll bear by +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Overholt was glad to be left alone, for he could not help being ashamed +of having broken down so completely before the boy, and he felt that he +could not recover his self-control unless he were left to himself.</p> + +<p>He heard Newton go up the rickety stairs to his own room, where he +seemed to be rummaging about for some time, judging from the noises +overhead; then the strong shoes clattered on the staircase again, the +house door was opened and shut, and the boy was off.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span>VI</h2> + +<h2>HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX</h2> + + +<p>Newton went to the pond, because he said he was going out for that +purpose, and it might be convenient to be able to swear that he had +really been down to the water's edge. As if to enjoy the pleasure of +anticipation, too, he had his skates with him in a green flannel bag, +though it was quite out of the question that the ice should bear +already, and it was not even likely that the water would be already +frozen over. However, he took the skates with him, a very good pair, of +a new model, which his father had given him towards the end of the +previous winter, so that he had not used them more than half a dozen +times. It was very cold, but of course the ice <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span>would not bear yet. The +sun had not set, and as he was already half-way to the town, the boy +apparently thought he might as well go on instead of returning at once +to the cottage, where he would have to occupy himself with his books +till supper-time, supposing that it occurred to his father to have any +supper in his present condition. The prospect was not wildly gay, and +besides, something must be done at once. Newton was possessed by that +idea.</p> + +<p>When Overholt had been alone for some time, he got up from the horsehair +sofa and crept up the stairs, leaning on the shaky bannister like an old +man. In his own room he plunged his face into icy cold water again and +again, as if it were burning, and the sharp chill revived his nerves a +little. There was no stove in the room, and before midnight the water +would be frozen in the pitcher. He sat down and rubbed his forehead and +wondered whether he was really any better, or was only imagining or even +pretending that he was, because he wanted to be. Our own reflections +about our own sensations are never so silly as at the greatest moments +in our lives, because the tremendous strain on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span>the higher faculties +releases all the little ones, as in sleep, and they behave and reason as +idiotically as they do in dreams, which is saying a good deal. Perhaps +lunatics are only people who are perpetually asleep and dreaming with +one part of their brains while the other parts are awake. They certainly +behave as if that were the matter, and it seems a rational explanation +of ordinary insanity, curable or incurable. Did you ever talk to a +lunatic? On the subject on which he is insane he thinks and talks as you +do when you are dreaming; but he may be quite awake and sensible about +all other matters. He dreams he is rich, and he goes out and orders +cartloads of things from shops. Pray, have you never dreamt that you +were rich? Or he dreams that he is a poached egg, and must have a piece +of toast to sit down upon. I believe that well-known story of a lunatic +to be founded on fact. Have you never dreamt that you were somebody or +something quite different from yourself? Have you never dreamt that you +were an innocent man, persecuted, tried for a crime, and sentenced to +prison, or even death? And yet, at the same time, in your dream, you +were behaving with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span>the utmost good sense about everything else. When +you are dreaming, you are a perfect lunatic; why may it not be true that +the waking lunatic is really dreaming all the time, with one part of his +brain?</p> + +<p>John Henry Overholt was apparently wide awake, but he had been morally +stunned that day; he was dreaming that he was going crazy, and he could +not, for the life of him, tell whether he really felt any better after +cooling his head in the basin than before, though it seemed immensely +important to find out, just then. Afterwards, when it was all over, and +things were settled again, he remembered only a blank time, which had +lasted from the moment when he had broken down before the little City +until he found himself sitting in the parlour alone before the supper +table with a bright lamp burning, and wondering why his boy did not come +home. The dream was over then; his head ached a good deal and he did not +feel hungry, but that was all; burning anxiety had cooled to leaden +care. He knew quite well that it was all over with the Motor, that his +friends at the College would find him some sort of employment, and that +in due time he would succeed in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span>working off his debt to the bank, +dollar by dollar. He had got his soul back out of the claws of despair +that had nearly flown away with it. There was no hope, but he could live +without it because he must not only live himself, but keep his boy +alive. Somehow, he would get along on credit for a week or two, till he +could get work. At all events there were his tools to sell, and the +Motor must go for old brass, bronze, iron, and steel. He would see about +selling the stuff the next day, and with what it would bring he could at +least pay cash for necessaries, and the bank must wait. There was no +hope in that, but there was the plain sense of an honest man. He was not +a coward; he had only been brutally stunned, and now that he had +recovered from the blow he would do his duty. But an innocent man who +walks steadily to endure an undeserved death is not a man that hopes for +anything, and it was like death to Overholt to give up his invention.</p> + +<p>The door opened and Newton came in quietly. His face was flushed with +the cold and his eyes were bright. What was the weight of leaden care to +the glorious main-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span>spring of healthy thirteen? Overholt was proud of his +boy, nevertheless, for facing the dreary prospect of no Christmas so +bravely. Then he had a surprise.</p> + +<p>"I've got a little money, father. It's not much, I know, but it's +something to go on with for a day or two. There it is."</p> + +<p>Newton produced three well-worn dollar bills and some small change, +which his father stared at in amazement.</p> + +<p>"There's three dollars and seventy cents," he said. "And you told me you +had four or five dollars left."</p> + +<p>Before he sat down he piled the change neatly on the bills beside his +father's plate; then he took his seat, very red indeed and looking at +the table-cloth.</p> + +<p>"Where on earth did you get it?" asked Overholt, leaning back in his +chair.</p> + +<p>"Well"—the boy hesitated and got redder still—"I didn't steal it, +anyway," he said. "It's mine all right. I mean it's yours."</p> + +<p>"Of course you didn't steal it!" cried John Henry. "But where did you +get it? You haven't had more than a few cents at a time for weeks and +weeks, so you can't have saved it!"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span>I didn't beg it either," Newton answered.</p> + +<p>"Or borrow it, my boy?"</p> + +<p>"No! I wasn't going to borrow money I couldn't pay! I'd rather not tell +you, all the same, father! At least, I earned twenty cents of it. That's +the odd twenty, that makes the three seventy. I don't mind telling you +that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you earned twenty cents of it? Well, I'm glad of that, anyhow. What +did you do?"</p> + +<p>"I sort of hung round the depôt till the train came in, and I carried a +man's valise across to the hotel for him. He gave me ten cents. Some of +the boys do that, you know, but I thought you wouldn't care to have me +do it till I had to!"</p> + +<p>"That's all right. It does you credit. How about the other ten cents?"</p> + +<p>"Old Bangs saw me pass his shop, and he asked me to come in and said +he'd give me ten cents if I'd do some sums for him. I guess he's pretty +busy just now. He said he'd give me ten cents every day till Christmas +if I'd come in after school and do the sums. His boy's got mumps or +something, and can't. There's no harm in that, is there, father?"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span>Harm! I'm proud of you, my boy. You'll win through—some day!"</p> + +<p>It was the first relief from his misery the poor man had felt since he +had read the letter about the overdraft in the morning.</p> + +<p>"What I can't understand is the rest of the money," said Overholt.</p> + +<p>Newton looked very uncomfortable again, and moved uneasily on his chair.</p> + +<p>"Oh well, I suppose I've got to tell you," he said, looking down into +his plate and very busy with his knife and fork. "Say, you won't tell +mother, will you? She wouldn't like it."</p> + +<p>"I won't tell her."</p> + +<p>"Well"—the boy hesitated—"I sold some things," he said at last, in a +low voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh! There's no great harm in that, my boy. What did you sell?"</p> + +<p>"My skates and my watch," said Newton, just audibly. "You see I didn't +somehow feel as if I were going to skate much this winter—and I don't +really need to know what time it is if I start right by the clock to go +to school. I say, don't tell mother. She gave me the watch, you know, +last Christmas.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> Of course, you gave me the skates, but you'll +understand better than she would."</p> + +<p>Overholt was profoundly touched, for he knew what delight the good +skates meant in the cold weather, and the pride the boy had felt in the +silver watch that kept such excellent time. But he could not think of +much to say just then, for the sight of the poor little pile of dirty +money that was the sordid price of so much pleasure and satisfaction +half-choked him.</p> + +<p>"You're a brave boy," he said in a low tone.</p> + +<p>But Newton was indefinitely far from understanding that he had done +anything brave; he merely felt much better now, because he had confessed +and had the matter off his mind.</p> + +<p>"Oh well, you see, something had to be done quick," he said, "and I +couldn't think of anything else. But I'll go and earn that ten cents of +Bangs every afternoon, you bet! And I guess I can pick up a quarter at +the depôt now and then; that is, if you don't mind. It isn't much, I +know, but it'll help a little."</p> + +<p>"It's helped already, more than you have any idea," said Overholt.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span>He remembered with bitter shame how he had completely broken down +before his son that afternoon, and how quietly the lad had gone off to +make his great sacrifice, pretending that he only wanted to see whether +the pond was freezing.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton, "I'm glad you don't think it was mean of me to go +and sell the watch mother gave me. And I'm glad you feel better. You do +feel a good deal better, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"A thousand times better!" answered Overholt, almost cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad. Maybe you'll feel like working on the City a little after +supper."</p> + +<p>"I was afraid Hope had given us up to-day, and had flown away for good +and all," said the inventor. "But you've brought her home with you +again, bless you! Yes, we'll do some work after supper, and after you go +to bed I'll just have one more good evening with the Motor before I give +it up for ever."</p> + +<p>Newton looked up.</p> + +<p>"You aren't going to give it up for ever," he said in a tone of +conviction. "You can't."</p> + +<p>Overholt explained calmly enough that he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span>must sell the machine for old +metal the very next day, and sell the tools too. But the boy shook his +head.</p> + +<p>"You'll curl up and die if you do that," he said. "Besides, if mother +were here she wouldn't let you do it, so you oughtn't to. The reason why +she's gone to be a governess is because she wouldn't let you give up the +Motor, father. You know it is."</p> + +<p>"Yes. It's true—but—" he hesitated.</p> + +<p>"You simply can't do it, that's all. So I'm perfectly certain you won't! +I believe everything will come round all right, anyway, if you only +don't worry. That's what I believe, father."</p> + +<p>"It's a hopeful view, at all events. The only objection to it is that +it's a good deal like dreaming, and I've no right to dream any more. +When you see that I'm going to, you must make me sit up and mind my +lesson!"</p> + +<p>He even laughed a little, and it was not badly done, considering that he +did it on purpose to show how he meant to make the best of it all, +though Hope would not do anything for him. He ate something too, if only +to keep the hungry boy company.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span>They went into the workshop, and found the bright moonlight streaming +through the window that looked east. It fell full on the motionless +Motor, under its plate-glass case, and turned all the steel and brass to +silver and gold, and from the clean snow that covered the desolateness +of the yard outside the moon sent a white reflection upwards that +mingled with the direct moonlight in a ghostly sort of way. Newton stood +still and looked at the machine, while Overholt felt about for matches.</p> + +<p>"If only it would begin to move now, just of itself!"</p> + +<p>The man knew that it would not, and wished that the boy would not even +suggest such a thing, and he sighed as he lit the lamp. But all the same +he meant to spend half the night in taking a last farewell of the +engine, and of all the parts on which he had spent months and years, +only to let them be broken up for old metal in the end.</p> + +<p>The two sat down on each side of the little City and went to work to +build the railway station; and after all, when Overholt looked at the +Common and the College and remembered how happy he had been there, he +began to feel that since dreams were nothing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span>but dreams, except that +they were a great waste of time and money, and of energy and endurance, +he might possibly find some happiness again in the old life, if he could +only get back to it.</p> + +<p>So Hope came back, rather bedraggled and worn out after her long +excursion, and took a very humble lodging in the little City which had +once been all hers and the capital of her kingdom. But she was there, +all the same, peeping out of a small window to see whether she would be +welcome if she went out and took a little walk in the streets.</p> + +<p>For the blindest of all blind people are those who have quite made up +their minds not to see; and the most miserable of all the hopeless ones +are those that wilfully turn their backs on Hope when she stands at the +next corner holding out her hand rather timidly.</p> + +<p>But Overholt was not one of these, and he took it gladly when it was +offered, and stood ready to be led away by a new path, which was not the +road to fame or wealth, but which might bring him to a quiet little +place where he could live in peace with those he loved, and after all +that would be a great deal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span>VII</h2> + +<h2>HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY</h2> + + +<p>A fortnight earlier Mrs. Overholt had been much disturbed in her mind, +for she read each of her husband's letters over at least three times, +and Newton's fortnightly scrawls even oftener, because it was less easy +to make them out; but she had understood one thing very well, and that +was that there was no more money for the invention, and very little cash +for the man and the boy to live on. If she had known what a dreadful +mistake John Henry had made about debit and credit, the little woman +would have been terribly anxious; but as it was, she was quite unhappy +enough.</p> + +<p>Overholt had written repeatedly of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span>attempts to raise just a little +more money with which to finish the invention, and he had explained very +clearly what there was to do, and somehow she had always believed in the +idea, because he had invented that beautiful scientific instrument with +which his name was connected, but she was almost sure that in working +out his theory he was quite on the wrong track. She did not really +understand the engine at all, but she was quite certain that when a +thing was going to succeed, it succeeded from the first, without many +hitches or drawbacks. Most women are like that.</p> + +<p>She had never written this to her husband, because she would do anything +rather than discourage him; but she had almost made, up her mind to +write him a letter of good advice at last, begging him to go back to +teaching for the present, and only to work at the invention in his spare +time. Just then, however, she came across a paragraph in a German +newspaper in Munich which said that a great scientific man in Berlin had +completed an air-motor at last, after years of study, and that it worked +tolerably, enough to demonstrate the principle, but could never <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span>be of +any practical use because the chemical product on which it ultimately +depended was so enormously expensive.</p> + +<p>Now Mrs. Overholt knew one thing certainly about her husband's engine, +namely, that the chemical he meant to use cost next to nothing, so that +if the principle were sound, the Motor would turn out to be the cheapest +in existence; and she was a practical person, like her boy Newton.</p> + +<p>Moreover, she loved John Henry with all her heart and soul, and thought +him one of the greatest geniuses in the world, and she simply could not +bear the idea that he should not have a fair chance to finish the +machine and try it.</p> + +<p>Lastly, Christmas was coming; the girls she was educating talked of +nothing else, and counted the days, and sat up half the night on the +edges of each other's beds discussing the beautiful presents they were +sure to receive; and a great deal might be written about what they said, +but it has nothing to do with this story, except that their chatter +helped to fill the air with the Christmas spirit, and with thoughts of +giving as well as of receiving. Though they were rather spoiled +children, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span>they were generous too, and they laid all sorts of little +traps in order to find out what their governess would like best from +each of them, for they were fond of her in their way.</p> + +<p>Also, Munich is one of the castles which King Christmas still holds in +absolute sway and calls his own, and long before he is really awake +after his long rest he begins to stir and laugh in his sleep, and the +jolly colour creeps up and spreads over his old cheeks before he thinks +of opening his eyes, much less of getting up and putting on his crown. +And now that he was waking, Helen Overholt felt the old loving longing +for her dear ones rising to her womanly heart, and she planned little +plans for another and a happier year to come, and meanwhile she bought +two or three little gifts to send to the cottage in far Connecticut.</p> + +<p>But when she had read about the Berlin professor and his motor and +thought of her own John Henry making bricks without straw and bearing up +bravely against disappointment, and still writing so cheerfully and +hopefully in spite of everything, she simply could not stand it another +day. As I have said, King Christmas turned over just before <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span>waking, and +he put out a big generous hand in his sleep and laid it on her heart. +Whenever he does that to anybody, man, woman, or child, a splendid +longing seizes them to give all they have to the one child, or woman, or +man that each loves best, or to the being of all others that is most in +need, or to help the work which seems to each of them the noblest and +the best, if they are grown up and are lonely.</p> + +<p>This is what happened to Helen Overholt, in spite of her good sense and +all her practical resolutions. As long as she had anything to give, John +Henry should have it and be happy, and succeed, if success were +possible. She had saved most of her salary for a long time past, +spending as little as she well could on herself. He should have it all, +for love's sake, and because she believed in him, and because Christmas +was waking up, and had laid his great affectionate old hand on her.</p> + +<p>So it came to pass that when Overholt was pottering over the beautiful +motionless Motor, late at night, sure that it would work if he had a +little more money, but still more sure that it must be sold for old +metal the next morning, to buy bread for the boy, even at that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span>hour +help was near, and from the hand he loved best in the world, which would +make it ten thousand times sweeter when it reached him.</p> + +<p>It was going to be an awful wrench to give up the invention, for now, at +the moment of abandoning it, he saw, or thought he saw, that he was +right at last, and that it could not fail. It was useless to try it as +it was, yet he would, just once more. He adjusted the tangent-balance +and the valves; he put in the supply of the chemical with the long name +and screwed down the hermetic plug. With the small hand air-pump he +produced the first vacuum which was necessary; all was ready, every +joint and stuffing-box was lubricated, the spring of the balance was +adjusted to a nicety. But the engine would not start, though he turned +the fly-wheel with his hand again and again, as if to encourage it. Of +course it would not turn alone! He understood perfectly that the one +piece on which all depended must be made over again, exactly the other +way. That was all!</p> + +<p>There was the wooden model of it, all ready for the foundry that would +not cast it for nothing. If only the wooden piece <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span>would serve for a +moment's trial! But he knew that this was folly; it would not stand the +enormous strain an instant, and the joints could not possibly be made +air-tight.</p> + +<p>He was utterly worn out by all he had been through during the long day, +and he fell asleep in his chair towards morning, his head on his breast, +his feet struck out straight before him, one arm hanging down beside him +and his other hand thrust into his pocket. He looked more like a shabby +lay figure stuffed with sawdust than like a living man. If Newton had +come down and found him lying there under the lamplight he would have +started back and shuddered, and waited a while before he could find +courage to come nearer.</p> + +<p>But the man was only very sound asleep, and he did not wake till the +December dawn gleamed through the clear winter's sky and made the +artificial light look dim and smoky; and when he opened his eyes it was +he himself who started to find himself there in the cold before his +great failure, in broad daylight.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he had slept soundly, and felt better able to face all the +trouble that was in store for him. He stirred the embers in the stove, +put in some kindling and a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span>supply of coal, and warmed himself, still +heavy with sleep, and glad to waken consciously, by degrees, and to feel +that his resolution was not going to break down.</p> + +<p>When he felt quite himself he left the room and went upstairs +cautiously, lest he should wake the boy, though it was really time to +get up, and Newton was already dressing.</p> + +<p>"I'll walk into town with you," said Overholt when they were at +breakfast in the parlour. "It will do me good to get some air, and I +must see about selling those things. There's no time to be lost."</p> + +<p>Newton swallowed his hominy and bread and butter and milk, and reflected +on the futility of the sacrifice he had made, since his father insisted +on selling everything for old metal; but he said nothing, because he was +dreadfully disappointed.</p> + +<p>Near the town they met the postman. As a rule Barbara got the mail when +she went to market, and Overholt was not even going to ask the man if +there were any letters for him. But the postman stopped him. There was +one from his wife, and it was registered. He signed the little receipt +for it, the man passed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span>them on his rounds, and they slackened their +pace as Overholt broke the seal.</p> + +<p>He uttered a loud exclamation when he had glanced at the contents, and +he stood still in the road. Newton stared at him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"A thousand dollars!" he cried, overcome with amazement. "A thousand +dollars! Oh, Helen, Helen—you've saved my life!"</p> + +<p>He got to the side of the road and leaned against the fence, clutching +the letter and the draft in his hand, and gazing into his son's face, +half crazy with delight.</p> + +<p>"She's saved it all for me, boy. Do you understand? Your mother has +saved all her salary for the Motor, and here it is! Look at it, look at +it! It's success, it's fame, it's fortune for us all! Oh, if she were +only here!"</p> + +<p>Newton understood and rejoiced. He forgot his poor little attempt to +help, and his own disappointment, and everything except the present +glorious truth—not unadorned by the pleasant vision of the Christmas +turkey, vast now, and smoking, and flanked by perfect towers of stiff +cranberry jelly, ever so much better than mere liquid cranberry sauce; +in the middle distance, behind the noble dish, a noble pyramid of +ice-cream raised its height, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span>and yellow cream-cakes rose beyond, like +many little suns on the far horizon. In that first moment of delight +there was almost a Christmas tree, and the mother's face beside it; but +that was too much; they faded, and the rest remained, no mean forecast +of a jolly time.</p> + +<p>"That's perfectly grand!" Newton cried when he got his breath after his +surprise at the announcement. "Besides, I told you so. What did I say? +She wouldn't let you give up the Motor! I knew she wouldn't! Who's right +now, father? That's something like what I call a mother! But then she +always was!"</p> + +<p>He was slightly incoherent, but that did not matter at all. Nothing +mattered. In his young beatific vision he saw the bright wheel going +round and round in a perfect storm of turkeys, and it was all his +mother's doing.</p> + +<p>Overholt only half heard, for he had been reading the letter; the letter +of a loving wife who believes in her husband and gives him all she has +for his work, with every hope, every encouragement, and every blessing +and Christmas wish.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span>There's no time to be lost!" Overholt said, repeating the words he had +spoken in a very different mood and tone half an hour earlier. "I won't +walk on with you, my boy, for I must go back and get the wooden model +for the foundry. They'll do it for me now, fast enough! And I can pay +what I owe at the bank, and there will be plenty left over for your +Christmas too!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother my Christmas, father!" answered Newton with a fine +indifference which he did not feel. "The Motor's the thing! I want to +see that wheel go round for a Christmas present!"</p> + +<p>"It will! It shall! It must! I promise you that!" The man was almost +beside himself with joy.</p> + +<p>No misgiving disturbed him. He had the faith that tosses mountains aside +like pebbles, now that the means were in his hand. He had the little +fulcrum for his lever, which was all Archimedes required to move the +world. He had in him the certainty of being right that has sent millions +of men to glory or destruction.</p> + +<p>That day was one of the happiest in all his life, either before or, +afterwards. He could <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span>have believed that he had fallen asleep at the +moment when he had quite broken down, and that a hundred years of change +had glided by, like a watch in the night, when he opened his wife's +letter and wakened in a blaze of joy and hope and glorious activity. +Nothing he could remember of that kind could compare with his pride and +honourable satisfaction when he walked into the bank two hours +afterwards, with his head high, and said he should be glad to take up +the note he had signed yesterday and have the balance of the cheque +placed to his credit; and few surprises which the partner who had +obliged him could recollect, had equalled that worthy gentleman's +amazement when the debt was paid so soon.</p> + +<p>"If you had only told me that you would be in funds so soon, Mr. +Overholt," he said, "I should not have thought of troubling you. Here is +your note. Will you kindly look at it and tear it up?"</p> + +<p>"I did not know," answered Overholt, doing as he was told.</p> + +<p>It is a curious fact that the little note lay in a locked drawer of the +partner's magnificent table, instead of being put away in the safe <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span>with +other and larger notes, where it belonged. It may seem still stranger +that, on the books, Overholt's account showed that it had been balanced +by a deposit exactly equal to the deficit, made by the partner himself, +instead of by crediting the amount of the note. But Overholt never knew +this, for a pass-book had always been a mystery to him, and made his +head ache. The banker had thought of his face some time after he had +gone out with his battered umbrella and his shabby shoulders rounded as +under a burden, and somehow the Christmas spirit must have come in +quietly and touched the rich man too, though even the stenographer did +not see what happened. For he had once been in terrible straits himself, +a quarter of a century ago, and some one had helped him just in time, +and he knew what it meant to slink out of a big bank, in shabby clothes, +his back bowed under the heavy weight of debt and failure.</p> + +<p>Overholt never knew; but he expressed his warm thanks for what now +seemed a small favour, and with his wooden model of the casting, done up +in brown paper, under his arm, he went off to the foundry in Long +Island.</p> + +<p>Much careful work had been done for him <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span>there, and the people were +willing to oblige him, and promised that the piece should certainly be +ready before Christmas Day, and as much earlier as possible, and should +be made with the greatest exactness which the most precise machinery and +the most careful work could ensure.</p> + +<p>This being settled, Overholt returned to New York and went to two or +three places in the Bowery, well known to him, where he bought certain +fine tools and pieces of the most perfectly turned steel spring, and +several other small objects, which he needed for the construction of the +new tangent-balance he had to make for the reversed curve. Finally, he +bought a silver watch like the one Newton had sold, and a new pair of +skates, presents which the boy certainly deserved, and which would make +a very good show at Christmas, when they were to be produced. He felt as +if he had come into a large fortune.</p> + +<p>Moreover, when he got out of the train at his own station he went into +the town, and ordered beforehand the good things for the feast, though +there were three weeks still, and he wanted to pay for them in advance, +because he felt inside of himself that no one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span>could be quite sure of +what might happen in twenty-one days; but the dealers flatly refused to +take his money, though they told him what the things would cost. Then +Overholt did almost the only prudent thing he had done in his life, for +he took the necessary money and five dollars more and sealed it up in an +envelope, which he put away in a safe place. The only difficulty would +lie in remembering where the place was, so he told Newton about it, and +the boy wrote it down on a piece of paper which he pinned up in his own +room, where he could see it. There was nothing like making sure of that +turkey, he thought. And I may as well say at once that in this matter, +at least, no untoward accident occurred, and the money was actually +there at the appointed time. What happened was something quite +different, and much more unexpected, not to say extraordinary and even +amazing; and in spite of all that, it will not take very long to tell.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, before it happened, Overholt and the boy were perfectly +happy. All day long the inventor worked at the tangent-balance, till he +had brought it to such perfection that it would be affected by a +variation <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span>of one-tenth of one second in the aggregate speed of ten +revolutions, and an increase or decrease of a tenth of a grain in the +weight of the volume of the compressed air. It was so sensitive that +John Henry and Newton trod cautiously on the floor of the workshop so as +not to set it vibrating under the glass clock-shade, where it was kept +safe from dust and dampness.</p> + +<p>After it had been placed there to wait for the casting, the inventor +took the engine to pieces and made the small changes that would be +necessary before finally putting it together again, which would probably +occupy two days.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the little City of Hope grew rapidly, and was becoming an +important centre of civilisation and commerce, though it was only made +of paper and chips, and bits of matchboxes and odds and ends cleverly +put together with glue and painted; except the people in the street. For +it was inhabited now, and though the men and women did not move about, +they looked as if they might, if they were only bigger. Overholt had +seen the population in the window of a German toy-shop one day when he +was in New York <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span>to get a new crocusing wheel for polishing some of the +small parts of the engine. They were the smallest doll-people he had +ever seen, and were packed by dozens and dozens in Nuremberg toy-boxes, +and cost very little, so he bought a quantity of them. At first Newton +rather resented them, just because they were only toys, but his father +explained to him that models of human figures were almost necessary to +models of buildings, to give an idea of the population, and that when +architects make coloured sketches of projected houses, they generally +draw in one or two people for that reason; and this was perfectly +satisfactory to the boy, and saved his dignity from the slight it would +have suffered if he had been actually seen amusing himself with mere +playthings.</p> + +<p>Overholt was divinely happy in anticipation of the final success that +was so near, and in the daily work that was making it more and more a +certainty, as he thought; and then, when the day was over, he was just +as happy with the little City, which was being decorated for Christmas, +with wreaths in the windows of the houses, and a great many more +holly-trees than had at first been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span>thought of, and numberless little +Christmas booths round the common, like those in Avenue A, south of +Tompkins Square, in New York, which make you fancy you are in Munich or +Prague if you go and see them at the right hour on Christmas Eve.</p> + +<p>Before long Overholt received a short note from the President of his old +College, simply saying that the latter knew of no opening at present, +but would bear him in mind. But that did not matter now.</p> + +<p>So the two spent their time very pleasantly during the next weeks; but +though Overholt was so hopeful and delighted with his work, he knew that +he was becoming nervous and overwrought by the great anticipation, and +that he could not stand such a strain very long.</p> + +<p>Then, two days before Christmas, he received a note saying that the new +piece was finished and had been sent to him by express. That was almost +too much happiness to bear, and when he found the heavy case at the +station the next morning, and got it put on a cart, his heart was doing +queer things, and he was as white as a sheet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span>VIII</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST</h2> + + +<p>The hush of Christmas Eve lay upon the tumble-down cottage, and on the +soft fresh snow outside, and the lamps were burning quietly in the +workshop, where father and son were sitting before the finished Motor.</p> + +<p>The little City was there too, but not between them now, though Newton +had taken off its brown paper cover in honour of the great event which +was about to take place.</p> + +<p>In order to be doubly sure of the result, and dreading even the +possibility of a little disappointment, Overholt had decided that he +would subject the only chemical substance which the machine consumed to +a final form of refinement by heat, melting, boiling and cooling it, all +of which would require an hour <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span>or more before it was quite ready. He +felt like a man who is going to risk his life over a precipice, trusting +to a single rope for safety; that one rope must not be even a little +chafed; if possible each strand must be perfect in itself, and all the +strands must be laid up without a fault. Of the rest, of the machine +itself, Overholt felt absolutely sure; yet although a slight impurity in +the chemical could certainly not hinder the whole from working, it might +interfere with the precision of the revolutions, or even cause the +engine to stop after a few hours instead of going on indefinitely, as +long as the supply of the substance produced the alternate disturbance +of equilibrium which was the main principle on which the machine +depended.</p> + +<p>That sweetly prophetic evening silence, before the great feast of Good +Will, does not come over everything each year, even in a lonely cottage +in an abandoned farm in Connecticut, than which you cannot possibly +imagine anything more silent or more remote from the noise of the world. +Sometimes it rains in torrents just on that night, sometimes it blows a +raging gale that twists the leafless birches and elms and hickory trees +like dry grass and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span>bends the dark firs and spruces as if they were +feathers, and you can hardly be heard unless you shout, for the howling +and screaming and whistling of the blast.</p> + +<p>But now and then, once in four or five years perhaps, the feathery snow +lies a foot deep, fresh-fallen, on the still country-side and in the +woods; and the waxing moon sheds her large light on all, and Nature +holds her breath to wait for the happy day, and tries to sleep but +cannot, from sheer happiness and peace. Indoors the fire is glowing on +the wide hearth, a great bed of coals that will last all night, because +it is not bitter weather, but only clear and cold and still, as it +should be; or if there is only a poor stove, like Overholt's, the wide +door is open, and a comfortable and cheery red light shines out from +within upon the battered iron plate and the wooden floor beyond; and the +older people sit round it, not saying much, but thinking with their +hearts rather than with their heads; but small boys and girls know that +interesting things have been happening in the kitchen all the afternoon, +and are rather glad that the supper was not very good, because there +will be the more room for good <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span>things to-morrow; and the grown-ups and +the children have made up any little differences of opinion they may +have had before supper-time, because Good Will must reign, and reign +alone, like Alexander; so that there is nothing at all to regret, and +nothing hurts anybody any more, and they are all happy in just wishing +for King Christmas to open the door softly and make them all great +people in his kingdom. But if it is the right sort of house, he is +already looking in through the window, to be sure that every one is all +ready for him, and that nothing has been forgotten.</p> + +<p>Now, although Overholt's cottage was a miserable place for a professor +who had lived very comfortably and well in a College town, and although +the thirteen-year-old boy could remember several pretty trees, lighted +up with coloured candles and gleaming with tinsel and gilt apples, they +both felt that this was going to be the greatest Christmas in their +lives, because the motionless Motor was going to move, and that would +mean everything—most of all to both of them, the end of the mother's +exile, and her speedy home-coming. Therefore neither said anything for a +long time while the chemical stuff was slowly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span>warming itself and +getting ready, inside a big iron pot, of which the cover was screwed on +with a high-temperature thermometer sealed in it, and which stood on the +top of the stove where Overholt could watch the scale.</p> + +<p>He would really have preferred to be alone for the first trial, but it +was utterly impossible to think of sending the boy to bed. He was sure +of success, it is true, yet he would far rather have been left to +himself till that success was no longer in the future, but present; then +at last, even if Newton had been asleep, he would have waked him and +brought him downstairs again to see his triumph. The lad's presence made +him nervous, and suggested a failure which was all but impossible. More +than once he was on the point of trying to explain this to Newton, but +when he glanced at the young face he could not find it in his heart to +speak. If he only asked the boy, as a kindness, to go into the next room +for five minutes while the machine was being started, he knew what would +happen. Newton would go quietly, without a word, and wait till he was +called; but half his Christmas would be spoilt by the disappointment he +would try hard to hide.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> Had they not suffered together, and had not the +boy sacrificed the best of his small possessions, dearly treasured, to +help in their joint distress? It would be nothing short of brutal to +deprive him of the first moment of triumphant surprise, that was going +to mean so much hereafter. Yet the inventor would have given anything to +be alone. He was overwrought by the long strain that had so often seemed +unbearable, and when the liquid that was heating had reached the right +temperature and the iron pot had to be taken off the stove, his hands +shook so that he nearly dropped it; but Newton did not see that.</p> + +<p>"It's wonderful how everything has come out just right!" the boy +exclaimed as he looked at the machine. "Out of your three wishes you'll +get two, father, for the wheel will go round and I'm going to have a +regular old patent, double-barrelled Christmas with a gilt edge!" His +similes were mixed, but effective in their way. "And you'll probably get +the other wish in half a shake now, for mother'll come right home, won't +she?"</p> + +<p>"If the trial succeeds," Overholt said, still instinctively seeking to +forestall a disappoint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span>ment he did not expect. "Nothing is a fact until +it has happened, you know!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton, "if I had anything to bet with, and somebody to bet +against, I'd bet, that's all. But I haven't. It's a pity too, now that +everything's coming out right. Do you remember how we were trying to +make bricks without straw less than a month ago, father? It didn't look +just then as if we were going to have a roaring old Christmas this year, +did it?"</p> + +<p>He chattered on happily, looking at the Motor all the time, and Overholt +tried to smile and answered him with a word or two now and then, though +he was becoming more and more nervous as the minutes passed and the +supreme moment came nearer. In his own mind he was going over the simple +operations he had to perform to start the engine; yet easy as they were +he was afraid that he might make some fatal mistake. He did not let +himself think of failure; he did not dare to wonder how he should tell +his wife if anything went wrong and all her hard-saved earnings were +lost in the general ruin that must follow if the thing would not move. +There was next to nothing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span>left of what she had sent, now that +everything was paid for; it would support him and the boy for a month, +if so long, but certainly no more.</p> + +<p>He was ready at last, but, strange to say, he would gladly have put off +the great moment for half an hour now that there was no reason for +waiting another moment. He sat down again in his chair and folded his +hands.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to begin, father?" asked Newton. "What are you waiting +for?"</p> + +<p>Overholt pulled himself together, rose with a pale face, and laid his +shaking hands on the heavy plate-glass case. It moved upwards by its +chain and counterpoise, almost at a touch, till it was near the low +ceiling, quite clear of the machine.</p> + +<p>He was very slow in doing what was still necessary, and the boy watched +him in breathless suspense, for he had seen other trials that had +failed—more than two or three, perhaps half a dozen. Every one who has +lived with an inventor, even a boy, has learned to expect disappointment +as inevitable; only the seeker himself is confident up to a certain +point, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span>then his own hand trembles, when the moment of trial is +come.</p> + +<p>Overholt poured the chemical into the chamber at the base, screwed down +the air-tight plug, and opened the communication between the reservoir +and the machine. Then he took out his watch and waited four minutes, +that being twice the time he had ascertained to be necessary for a +sufficient quantity of the liquid to penetrate into the distributors +beyond. He next worked the hand air-pump, keeping his eye on the vacuum +gauge, and lastly, as soon as the needle marked the greatest exhaustion +he knew to be obtainable, he moved the starting lever to the proper +position, and then stepped back to watch the result.</p> + +<p>For a moment, in the joy of anticipation, a strange light illuminated +his face, his lips parted as in a foretasted wonder, and he forgot even +to drop the hand he had just withdrawn. The boy held his breath +unconsciously till he was nearly dizzy.</p> + +<p>Then a despairing cry burst from the wretched man's lips, he threw up +his hands as if he had been shot through the heart, and stumbled +backwards.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span>The Motor stood still, motionless as ever, and gleaming under the +brightly shining lamps.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen! God forgive me!"</p> + +<p>With the words he fell heavily to the floor, and lay there, a nerveless, +breathless heap. Newton was kneeling beside him in an instant.</p> + +<p>"Father!" cried the boy in agony, bending over the still white face. +"Father! Speak to me! You can't be dead—you can't—"</p> + +<p>In his mortal terror the lad held each breath till it seemed as if his +head must burst, then breathed once and shut his lips again with all his +strength. Some instinct made him lay his ear to the man's chest to +listen for the beatings of his heart, but he could hear nothing.</p> + +<p>Half-suffocated with sudden mingled grief and fright, he straightened +himself on his knees and looked up at the cursed machine that had +wrought such awful destruction.</p> + +<p>Then he in turn uttered a cry, but it was low and full of wonder, long +drawn out and trembling as the call of a frightened young wild animal.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span>The thing was moving, steadily, noiselessly moving in the bright light; +the double levers worked like iron jaws opening and shutting regularly, +the little valve-rods rose and sank, and the heavy wheel whirled round +and round. The boy was paralysed with amazement, and for ten seconds he +forgot that he was kneeling beside his father's fallen body on the +floor; then he felt it against him and it was no longer quite still.</p> + +<p>Overholt groaned and turned upon his side as his senses slowly came back +and his agony tortured him to life again. Instantly the boy bent over +him.</p> + +<p>"Father! It's going! Wake up, father! The wheel's going round at last!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span>IX</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE</h2> + + +<p>When Overholt understood what he heard, he opened his eyes and looked up +into his son's face, moving his head mournfully from side to side as it +lay on the boards. But suddenly he caught sight of the engine. He gasped +for breath, his jaw dropped, and his eyes were starting from their +sockets as he struggled to get up with the boy's help.</p> + +<p>His voice came with a sort of rasping scream that did not sound human, +and then broke into wild laughter, interrupted by broken words.</p> + +<p>"Mad!" he cried. "I knew it—it had to come—my boy—help me to get away +from that thing—I'm raving mad—I see it moving—"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span>But it really is moving, father! Wake up! Look at it! The wheel is +going round and round!"</p> + +<p>Then Overholt was silent, sitting up on the floor and leaning against +his arm. Slowly he realised that he was in his senses, and that the +dream of long years had come true. Not a sound broke the stillness, so +perfect was the machinery, except a kind of very soft hum made by the +heavy fly-wheel revolving in the air.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure, boy? Aren't we dreaming?" he asked in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"It's going like clock-work, as sure as you're born," the lad answered. +"I think your falling down shook it up and started it. That was all it +wanted."</p> + +<p>The inventor got up slowly, first upon his knees, at last to his feet, +never once taking his eyes from the beautiful engine. He went close to +it, and put out his hand, till he felt the air thrown off by the wheel, +and he gently touched the smooth, swift-turning rim with one finger, +incredulous still.</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt about it," he said at last, yielding to the evidence +of touch and sight. "It works, and it works to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span>perfection. If it +doesn't stop soon, it will go on for twenty-four hours!"</p> + +<p>Almost as much overcome by joy as he had been by despair, he let himself +sink into his seat.</p> + +<p>"Get me that tea-bottle," he said unsteadily. "Quick! I feel as if I +were going to faint again!"</p> + +<p>The draught he swallowed steadied his nerves, and then he sat a long +time quite silent in his unutterable satisfaction, and Newton stood +beside him watching the moving levers, the rising and sinking valve +rods, and the steadily whirling wheel.</p> + +<p>"She did it, my boy," Overholt said at last, very softly. "Your mother +did it! Without her help the Motor would have been broken up for old +metal three weeks ago."</p> + +<p>"It's something like a Christmas present," Newton answered. "But then I +always said she wouldn't let you give it up. Do you know, father, when +you fell just now, I thought you were dead, you looked just awful! And +it was quite a long time before I saw that the Motor was moving. And +then, when I did see it, and thought you were dead—well, I can't tell +you—"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span>Poor little chap! But it's all right now, my boy, and I haven't spoilt +your Christmas, after all!"</p> + +<p>"Not quite!"</p> + +<p>Newton laughed joyfully, and, turning round, he saw the little City +smiling on its board in the strong light, with the tiny red and green +wreaths in the windows and the pretty booths, and the crowds of little +people buying Christmas presents at them.</p> + +<p>"They're going to have a pretty good time in the City too," the boy +observed. "They know just as well as we do that Hope has come to stay +now!"</p> + +<p>But Overholt did not hear. Silent and rapt he sat in his old Shaker +rocking-chair gazing steadily at the great success of his life, that was +moving ceaselessly before his eyes, where motionless failure had sat +mocking him but a few minutes ago; and as the wheel whirled steadily +round and round, throwing off a little breeze like a fan, the cruel past +was wafted away like a mist by a morning wind, and the bright future +floated in and filled its place altogether and more also, as daylight +shows the distance which was all hidden from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span>us by the close darkness +we groped in before it rose.</p> + +<p>Overholt sat still, and saw, and wondered, and little by little the +wheel and the soft vision of near happiness hypnotised him, for his body +and brain were weary beyond words to tell, so that all at once his eyes +were shut and he was sleeping like a child, as happy in dreamland as he +had just been awake; and happier far, for there was a dear presence with +him now, a hand he loved lay quietly in his, and he heard a sweet low +voice that was far away.</p> + +<p>The boy saw, and understood, for ever since he had been very small he +had been taught that he must not wake his father, who slept badly at all +times, and little or not at all when he was anxious. So Newton would not +disturb him now, and at once formed a brave resolution to sit bolt +upright all night, if necessary, for fear of making any noise. Besides, +he did not feel at all sleepy. There was the Motor to look at, and there +was Christmas to think of, and it was bright and clear outside where the +snow was like silver, under the young moon. He could look out of the +window as he sat, or at his father, or at the beautiful moving engine, +or at the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span>little City of Hope, all without doing more than just turning +his head.</p> + +<p>To tell the truth, it was not really a great sacrifice he was making, +for if there is anything that strikes a boy of thirteen as more wildly +exciting than anything else in the world, it is to sit up all night +instead of going to bed like a Christian child; moreover, the workshop +was warm, and his own room would be freezing cold, and he was so well +used to the vile odour of the chemical stuff, that he did not notice it +at all. It was even said to be healthy to breathe the fumes of it, as +the air of a tannery is good for the lungs, or even London coal smoke.</p> + +<p>But it is one thing to resolve to keep awake, even with many delightful +things to think about; it is quite another to keep one's eyes open when +they are quite sure that they ought to be shut, and that you ought to be +tucked up in bed. The boy found it so, and in less than half an hour his +arm had got across the back of the chair, his cheek was resting on it +quite comfortably, and he was in dreamland with his father, and quite as +perfectly happy.</p> + +<p>So the two slept in their chairs under the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span>big bright lamps; and while +they rested the Air-Motor worked silently, hour after hour, and the +heavy wheel whirled steadily on its axle, and only its soft and drowsy +humming was heard in the still air.</p> + +<p>That was the most refreshing sleep Overholt remembered for a long time. +When he stirred at last and opened his eyes, he did not even know that +he had slept, and forgot that he had closed his eyes when he saw the +engine moving. He thought it was still nine o'clock in the evening, and +that the boy might as well finish his little nap where he was, before +going to bed. Newton might sleep till ten o'clock if he liked.</p> + +<p>The lamps burned steadily, for they held enough oil to last sixteen +hours when the winter darkness is longest, and they had not been lighted +till after supper.</p> + +<p>But all at once Overholt was aware of a little change in the colour of +things, and he slowly rubbed his eyes and looked about him, and towards +the window. The moon had set long ago; there was a grey light on the +snow outside and in the clear air, and Overholt knew that it was the +dawn. He looked at his watch then, and it was nearly seven <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span>o'clock; for +in New York and Connecticut, as you may see by your pocket calendar, the +sun rises at twenty-three minutes past seven on Christmas morning.</p> + +<p>He sprang to his feet in astonishment, and at the sound Newton awoke and +looked up in blank and sleepy surprise.</p> + +<p>"Merry Christmas, my boy!" cried Overholt, and he laughed happily.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," answered Newton in a disappointed tone, and rubbing his arm, +which was stiff. "I've got to go to bed first, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Oh no! You and I have slept in our chairs all night and the sun is +rising, so it's merry Christmas in earnest! And the Motor is running +still, after nine or ten hours. What a sleep we've had!"</p> + +<p>The boy looked out of the window stupidly, and vaguely wished that his +father would not make fun of him. Then he saw the dawn, and jumped up in +wild delight.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Merry Christmas! Hurrah! hurrah!" If anything +could make that morning happier than it had promised to be, it was to +have actually cheated bed for the first time in his life.</p> + +<p>They were gloriously happy, as people <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span>have a right to be, and should +be, when they have been living in all sorts of trouble, with a great +purpose before them, and have won through and got all they hoped for, if +not quite all they could have wished—because there is absolutely no +limit to wishing if you let it go on.</p> + +<p>The people watched them curiously in church, for they looked so happy; +and for a long time the man's expression had always been anxious, if it +had no longer been sad of late, and the boy's young face had been +preternaturally grave; yet every one saw that neither of them even had a +new coat for Christmas Day, and that both needed one pretty badly. But +no one thought the worse of them for that, and in the generous Good Will +that was everywhere that morning everybody was glad to see that every +one else looked happy.</p> + +<p>In due time the two got home again; the Motor was still working to +perfection, as if nothing could ever stop it again, and Overholt oiled +the bearings carefully, passed a leather over the fixed parts, and +examined the whole machine minutely before sitting down to the feast, +while Newton stood <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span>beside him, looking on and hoping that he would not +be long.</p> + +<p>The boy had his new watch in his pocket, and it told him that it was +time for that turkey at last, and his new skates were in the parlour, +and there was splendid ice on the pond where the boys had cleared away +the snow, and it was the most perfect Christmas weather that ever was; +and in order to enjoy everything it would be necessary to get to work +soon.</p> + +<p>The two were before the Air-Motor, turning their backs to the door; and +they heard it open quietly, for old Barbara always came to call Overholt +to his meals, because he was very apt to forget them.</p> + +<p>"We are just coming," he said, without turning round. But the boy +turned, for he was hungry for the good things; and suddenly a perfect +yell of joy rent the air, and he dashed forward as Overholt turned sharp +round.</p> + +<p>"Mother!"</p> + +<p>"Helen!"</p> + +<p>And there she was, instead of in Munich. For the rich people she was +with had happily smashed their automobile without hurting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span>themselves, +and had taken a fancy to spend Christmas at home; and, after the manner +of very rich people, they had managed everything in a moment, had picked +up their children and the governess, had just caught the fastest steamer +afloat at Cherbourg, and had arrived in New York late on Christmas Eve. +And Helen Overholt had taken the earliest train that she could manage to +get ready for, and had come out directly to surprise her two in their +lonely cottage.</p> + +<p>So John Henry Overholt had his three wishes after all on Christmas Day. +And everybody had helped to bring it all about, even Mr. Burnside, who +had said that Hope was cheap and that there was plenty of it to be had.</p> + +<p>But as for the little Christmas City in which Hope had dwelt and waited +so long, they all three put the last touches to it together, and carried +it with them when they went back to the College town, where they felt +that they would be happier than anywhere else in the world, even if they +were to grow very rich, which seems quite likely now.</p> + +<p>That is how it all happened.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h5><i>Printed by</i> R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span></p> +<h2>THE NOVELS OF<br /> +<br /> +F. MARION CRAWFORD<br /></h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<p><i>Crown 8vo. 6s.</i><br /> +<br /> + +ARETHUSA.<br /> +A LADY OF ROME.<br /> + + +<i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i> + + +MR. ISAACS: A TALE OF MODERN INDIA.<br /> +DR. CLAUDIUS: A TRUE STORY.<br /> +ROMAN SINGER.<br /> +ZOROASTER.<br /> +TALE OF A LONELY PARISH.<br /> +MARZIO'S CRUCIFIX.<br /> +PAUL PATOFF.<br /> +WITH THE IMMORTALS.<br /> +GREIFENSTEIN.<br /> +SANT' ILARIO.<br /> +CIGARETTE-MAKER'S ROMANCE.<br /> +KHALED: A TALE OF ARABIA.<br /> +WITCH OF PRAGUE.<br /> +THREE FATES.<br /> +DON ORSINO.<br /> +CHILDREN OF THE KING.<br /> + + +<i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i> + +PIETRO GHISLERI.<br /> +MARION DARCHE: A STORY WITHOUT COMMENT.<br /> +KATHARINE LAUDERDALE.<br /> +RALSTONS.<br /> +CASA BRACCIO.<br /> +ADAM JOHNSTONE'S SON.<br /> +TAQUISARA. A NOVEL.<br /> +ROSE OF YESTERDAY.<br /> +CORLEONE.<br /> +VIA CRUCIS: A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE.<br /> +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING.<br /> +MARIETTA: A MAID OF VENICE.<br /> +CECILIA: A STORY OF MODERN ROME.<br /> +THE HEART OF ROME.<br /> +WHOSOEVER SHALL OFFEND...<br /> +SOPRANO: A PORTRAIT.<br /> + +<i>Pott 8vo. 2s. net.</i> + +MAN OVERBOARD! + + +<i>Fcap. 8vo. 2s.</i> + +LOVE IN IDLENESS. A BAR HARBOUR TALE. + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.</p> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14526 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3eb0665 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14526 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14526) diff --git a/old/14526-8.txt b/old/14526-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0532fac --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14526-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3019 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little City Of Hope, by F. Marion Crawford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little City Of Hope + A Christmas Story + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: December 30, 2004 [EBook #14526] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +The + +Little City of Hope + +A CHRISTMAS STORY + +BY + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + +1907 + + + + +_Copyright in the United States America, 1907_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +1. HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX 1 +2. HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE 19 +3. HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 35 +4. HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY 49 +5. HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF 63 +6. HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX 74 +7. HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY 87 +8. HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST 105 +9. HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE 116 + + + + +I + +HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX + + +"Hope is very cheap. There's always plenty of it about." + +"Fortunately for poor men. Good morning." + +With this mild retort and civil salutation John Henry Overholt rose and +went towards the door, quite forgetting to shake hands with Mr. +Burnside, though the latter made a motion to do so. Mr. Burnside always +gave his hand in a friendly way, even when he had flatly refused to do +what people had asked of him. It was cheap; so he gave it. + +But he was not pleased when they did not take it, for whatever he chose +to give seemed of some value to him as soon as it was offered; even his +hand. Therefore, when his visitor forgot to take it, out of pure absence +of mind, he was offended, and spoke to him sharply before he had time to +leave the private office. + +"You need not go away like that, Mr. Overholt, without shaking hands." + +The visitor stopped and turned back at once. He was thin and rather +shabbily dressed. I know many poor men who are fat, and some who dress +very well; but this was not that kind of poor man. + +"Excuse me," he said mildly. "I didn't mean to be rude. I quite forgot." + +He came back, and Mr. Burnside shook hands with becoming coldness, as +having just given a lesson in manners. He was not a bad man, nor a +miser, nor a Scrooge, but he was a great stickler for manners, +especially with people who had nothing to give him. Besides, he had +already lent Overholt money; or, to put it nicely, he had invested a +little in his invention, and he did not see any reason why he should +invest any more until it succeeded. Overholt called it selling shares, +but Mr. Burnside called it borrowing money. Overholt was sure that if he +could raise more funds, not much more, he could make a success of the +"Air-Motor"; Mr. Burnside was equally sure that nothing would ever come +of it. They had been explaining their respective points of view to each +other, and in sheer absence of mind Overholt had forgotten to shake +hands. + +Mr. Burnside had no head for mechanics, but Overholt had already made an +invention which was considered very successful, though he had got little +or nothing for it. The mechanic who had helped him in its construction +had stolen his principal idea before the device was patented, and had +taken out a patent for a cheap little article which every one at once +used, and which made a fortune for him. Overholt's instrument took its +place in every laboratory in the world; but the mechanic's labour-saving +utensil took its place in every house. It was on the strength of the +valuable tool of science that Mr. Burnside had invested two thousand +dollars in the Air-Motor without really having the smallest idea whether +it was to be a machine that would move the air, or was to be moved by +it. A number of business men had done the same thing. + +Then, at a political dinner in a club, three of the investors had dined +at the same small table, and in an interval between the dull speeches, +one of the three told the others that he had looked into the invention +and that there was nothing in Overholt's motor after all. Overholt was +crazy. + +"It's like this," he had said. "You know how a low-pressure engine acts; +the steam does a part of the work and the weight of the atmosphere does +the rest. Now this man Overholt thinks he can make the atmosphere do +both parts of the work with no steam at all, and as that's absurd, of +course, he won't get any more of my money. It's like getting into a +basket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles." + +Each of the two hearers repeated this simple demonstration to at least a +dozen acquaintances, who repeated it to dozens of others; and after that +John Henry Overholt could not raise another dollar to complete the +Air-Motor. + +Mr. Burnside's refusal had been definite and final, and he had been the +last to whom the investor had applied, merely because he was undoubtedly +the most close-fisted man of business of all who had invested in the +invention. + +Overholt saw failure before him at the very moment of success, with the +not quite indifferent accompaniment of starvation. Many a man as good as +he has been in the same straits, even more than once in life, and has +succeeded after all, and Overholt knew this quite well, and therefore +did not break down, nor despair, nor even show distinct outward signs of +mental distress. + +Metaphorically, he took Pandora's box to the Park, put it in a sunny +corner, and sat upon it, to keep the lid down, with Hope inside, while +he thought over the situation. + +It was not at all a pleasant one. It is one thing to have no money to +spare, but it is quite another to have none at all, and he was not far +from that. He had some small possessions, but those with which he was +willing to part were worth nothing, and those which would bring a little +money were the expensive tools and valuable materials with which he was +working. For he worked alone, profiting by his experience with the +mechanic who had robbed him of one of his most profitable patents. When +the idea of the Air-Motor had occurred to him he had gone into a +machine-shop and had spent nearly two years in learning the use of fine +tools. Then he had bought what he needed out of the money invested in +his idea, and had gone to work himself, sending models of such castings +as he required to different parts of the United States, that the pieces +might be made independently. + +He was not an accomplished workman, and he made slow progress with only +his little son to help him when the boy was not at school. Often, +through lack of skill, he wasted good material, and more than once he +spoiled an expensive casting, and was obliged to wait till it could be +made again and sent to him. Besides, he and the boy had to live, and +living is dear nowadays, even in a cottage in an out-of-the-way corner +of Connecticut; and he needed fire and light in abundance for his work, +besides something to eat and decent clothes to wear and somebody to cook +the dinner; and when he took out his diary note-book and examined the +figures on the page near the end, headed "Cash Account, November," he +made out that he had three hundred and eighteen dollars and twelve +cents to his credit, and nothing to come after that, and he knew that +the men who had believed in him had invested, amongst them, ten thousand +dollars in shares, and had paid him the money in cash in the course of +the past three years, but would invest no more; and it was all gone. + +One thousand more, clear of living expenses, would do it. He was +positively sure that it would be enough, and he and the boy could live +on his little cash balance, by great economy, for four months, at the +end of which time the Air-Motor would be perfected. But without the +thousand the end of the four months would be the end of everything that +was worth while in life. After that he would have to go back to teaching +in order to live, and the invention would be lost, for the work needed +all his time and thought. + +He was a mathematician, and a very good one, besides being otherwise a +man of cultivated mind and wide reading. Unfortunately for himself, or +the contrary, if the invention ever succeeded, he had given himself up +to higher mathematics when a young man, instead of turning his talent to +account in an architect's office, a shipbuilding yard, or a locomotive +shop. He could find the strain at any part of an iron frame building by +the differential and integral calculus to the millionth of an ounce, but +the everyday technical routine work with volumes of ready-made tables +was unfamiliar and uncongenial to him; he would rather have calculated +the tables themselves. The true science of mathematics is the most +imaginative and creative of all sciences, but the mere application of +mathematics to figures for the construction of engines, ships, or +buildings is the dullest sort of drudgery. + +Rather than that, he had chosen to teach what he knew and to dream of +great problems at his leisure when teaching was over for the day or for +the term. He had taught in a small college, and had known the rare +delight of having one or two pupils who were really interested. It had +been a good position, and he had married a clever New England girl, the +daughter of his predecessor, who had died suddenly. They had been very +happy together for years, and one boy had been born to them, whom his +father insisted on christening Newton. Then Overholt had thrown up his +employment for the sake of getting freedom to perfect his invention, +though much against his wife's advice, for she was a prudent little +woman, besides being clever, and she thought of the future of the two +beings she loved, and of her own, while her husband dreamed of hastening +the progress of science. + +Overholt came to New York because he could work better there than +elsewhere, and could get better tools made, and could obtain more easily +the materials he wanted. For a time everything went well enough, but +when the investors began to lose faith in him things went very badly. + +Then Mrs. Overholt told her husband that two could live where three +could not, especially when one was a boy of twelve; and as she would not +break his heart by teasing him into giving up the invention as a matter +of duty, she told him that she would support herself until it was +perfected or until he abandoned it of his own accord. She was very well +fitted to be a governess; she was thirty years old and as strong as a +pony, she said, and she had friends in New England who could find her a +situation. He should see her whenever it was possible, she added, but +there was no other way. + +Now it is not easy to find a thoroughly respectable married governess +of unexceptionably good manners, who comes of a good stock and is able +to teach young ladies. Such a person is a treasure to rich people who +need somebody to take charge of their girls while they fly round and +round the world in automobiles, seeking whom they may destroy. Therefore +Mrs. Overholt obtained a very good place before long, and when the +family in which she taught had its next attack of European fever and it +was decided that the girls must stay in Munich to improve their German +and their music, Mrs. Overholt was offered an increase of salary if she +would take them there and see to it, while their parents quartered +Germany, France, Spain, and Austria at the rate of forty miles an hour, +or even fifty and sixty where the roads were good. If the parents broke +their necks, Mrs. Overholt would take the children home; but this was +rather in the understanding than in the agreement. + +Such was the position when John Henry sat down upon the lid of Pandora's +box in a sunny corner of the Central Park and reflected on Mr. +Burnside's remark that "there was plenty of hope about." The inventor +thought that there was not much, but such as it was, he did not mean to +part with it on the ground that the man of business had called it +"cheap." + +He resolved his feelings into factors and simplified the form of each; +and this little mathematical operation showed that he was miserable for +three reasons. + +The first was that there was no money for the tangent balance of the +Air-Motor, which was the final part, on which he had spent months of +hard work and a hundred more than half sleepless nights. + +The second was that he had not seen his wife for nearly a year, and had +no idea how long it would be before he saw her again, and he was just as +much in love with her as he had been fourteen years ago, when he married +her. + +The third, and not the least, was that Christmas was coming, and he did +not see how in the world he was to make a Christmas out of nothing for +Newton, seeing that a thirteen-year-old boy wants everything under the +sun to cheer him up when he has no brothers and sisters, and school is +closed for the holidays, and his mother is away from home, and there is +nobody but a dear old tiresome father who has his nose over a lathe all +day long unless he is blinding himself with calculating quaternions for +some reason that no lad, and very few men, can possibly understand. John +Henry was obliged to confess that hope was not much of a Christmas +present for a boy in Newton's surroundings. + +For the surroundings would be dismal in the extreme. A rickety cottage +on an abandoned Connecticut farm that is waiting for a Bohemian emigrant +to make it pay is not a gay place, especially when two-thirds of the +house has been turned into a workshop that smells everlastingly of +smith's coal, brass filings, and a nauseous chemical which seemed to be +necessary to the life of the Air-Motor, and when the rest of the house +is furnished in a style that would make a condemned cell look attractive +by contrast. + +Besides, it would rain or snow, and it rarely snowed in a decent +Christian manner by Christmas. It snowed slush, as Newton expressed it. +A certain kind of snow-slush makes nice hard snowballs, it is true, just +like stones, but when there is no other boy to fight, it is no good. +Overholt had once offered to have a game of snow-balling with his son on +a Saturday afternoon in winter; and the invitation was accepted with +alacrity. But it was never extended again. The boy was a perfect terror +at that form of diversion. Yet so distressed was Overholt at the +prospect of a sad Christmas for his son that he even thought of +voluntarily giving up his thin body to the torment again on the 25th of +December, if that would amuse Newton and make it seem less dull for him. +Good-will towards men, and even towards children, could go no further +than that, even at Christmas time. At least Overholt could think of no +greater sacrifice that might serve. + +For what are toys to a boy of thirteen? He wants a gun and something to +kill, or he wants a boat in which he can really sail, or a live pony +with a real head, a real tail, and four real legs, one at each corner. +That had been Newton's definition of the desired animal when he was six +years old, and some one had given him a wooden one on rockers with the +legs painted on each side. Girls of thirteen can still play with dolls, +and John Henry had read that, far away in ancient times, girls +dedicated their dolls, with all the dolls' clothes, to Artemis on the +eve of their wedding-day. But no self-respecting boy of thirteen cares a +straw for anything that is not real, except an imaginary pain that will +keep him away from school without cutting down his rations; and in the +invention and presentation of such fictitious suffering he beats all the +doll-makers in Germany and all the playwrights and actors in the world. +You must have noticed that the pain is always as far from the stomach as +is compatible with probability. Toothache is a grand thing, for nobody +can blame a healthy boy for eating then, if he can only bear the pain. +And he can, and does, bear it nobly, though with awful faces. The little +beast knows that all toothaches do not make your cheek swell. Then there +is earache; that is a splendid invention; it goes through your head like +a red-hot corkscrew with a powerful brakeman at the other end, turning +it steadily--between meals. Only certain kinds of things really serve to +make him stop. Ice-cream is one, and it takes a great deal of it. It is +well known that ice will cool a red-hot corkscrew. + +But this is a digression, for no boy ever has any pain at Christmas; it +is only afterwards that it comes on; usually about ten days. + +After an hour Overholt came to the conclusion that he had better take +Pandora's box out to the cottage and sit on it there, since nothing +suggested itself to him, in spite of his immense good-will to accept any +suggestion which the spirit of coming Christmas might be kind enough to +offer; and if he could do nothing else, he could at least work at his +machine, and try to devise some means of constructing the +tangent-balance, with the materials he had left, and perhaps, by the +time he was thoroughly grimy and the workshop smelt like the Biblical +bottomless pit, something would occur to him for Newton. + +He could also write a letter to his wife, a sort of anticipatory +Christmas letter, and send her the book he had bought as a little gift, +wrapping it in nice white paper first, tied with a bit of pale green +ribband which she had left behind her, and which he had cherished nearly +a year, and marking it "to be opened on Christmas morning"; and the +parcel should then be done up securely in good brown grocer's paper and +addressed to her, and even registered, so that it could not possibly be +lost. It was a pretty book, and also a very excellent book, which he +knew she wanted and would read often, so it was as well to take +precautions. He wished that Newton wanted a book, or even two or three, +or magazines with gaily coloured pictures, or anything that older or +younger boys would have liked a little. But Newton was at that age which +comes sooner or later to every healthy boy, and the sight of a book +which he was meant to read and ought to read was infinitely worse than +the ugliest old toad that ever flops out of a hollow tree at dusk, +spitting poison and blinking his devilish little eyes at you when you +come too near him. + +Overholt had been brought up by people who lived in peace and good-will +towards men, in a city where the spirit of Christmas still dwells, and +sleeps most of the time, but wakens every year, like a giant of good +courage and good cheer, at the sound of the merry bells across the snow, +and to the sweet carol under the windows in the frosty night. The +Germans say that bad men have no songs; and we and all good fellows may +say that bad people have no Christmas, and though they copy the letter +they know not the spirit; and I say that a copied Christmas is no +Christmas at all, because Christmas is a feast of hearts and not of poor +bits of cut-down trees stuck up in sawdust and covered with lights and +tinsel, even if they are hung with the most expensive gewgaws and +gimcracks that ever are bought for gifts by people who are expected to +give, whether they like or not. But when the heart for Christmas is +there and is beating, then a very little tree will do, if there be none +better to the hand. + +Overholt thought so, while the train rumbled, creaked, and clattered and +jerked itself along, as only local trains can, probably because they are +old and rheumatic and stiff and weak in the joints, like superannuated +crocodiles, though they may have once been young express trains, sleek +and shiny, and quick and noiseless as bright snakes. + +Overholt thought so, too; but the trouble was that he saw not even the +least little mite of a tree in sight for his boy when the 25th of +December should come. And it was coming, and was only a month away; and +time is not a local train that stops at every station, and then kicks +itself on a bit to stop at the next; it is the "Fast Limited," and, what +is more, it is the only one we can go by; and we cannot get out, because +it never stops anywhere. + + + + +II + +HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE + + +Overholt's boy came home from school at the usual hour with his books +buckled together in an old skate strap, which had never been very good +because the leather was too soft and tore from one hole to the next; but +it served very well for the books, as no great strain was caused by an +arithmetic thumbed to mushiness, a history in the same state, and a +geography of which the binding gave in and doubled up from sheer +weariness, while the edges were so worn that the eastern coast of China +and Siberia had quite disappeared. + +He was a good-looking lad, not tall for his age, but as tough as a +street cat in hard training. He had short and thick brown hair, a clear +complexion, his father's energetically intellectual features, though +only half developed yet, a boldly-set mouth, and his mother's kindly, +practical blue eyes. For surely the eyes of practical people are always +quite different from those of all others; and not many people are +practical, though I never knew anybody who did not think he or she was, +except pinchbeck artists, writers, and players, who are sure that since +they must be geniuses, it is necessary to be Bohemians in order to show +it. The really big ones are always trying to be practical, like Sir +Isaac Newton when he ordered a good-sized hole to be cut in his barn +door for the cat, and a little one next it for the kitten. + +But Newton Overholt did not at all resemble his great namesake. He was a +practical young soul, and had not yet developed the American disease +which consists in thinking of two things at the same time. John Henry +had it badly, for he had been thinking of the tangent-balance, his wife, +his boy, and the coming Christmas, all together, since he had got home, +and the three problems had got mixed and had made his head ache. + +Nevertheless he looked up from his work-table and smiled when his son +came in. + +"Everything all right?" he asked, with an attempt to be cheerful. + +"Oh yes, fine," answered the boy, looking at the motionless model for +the five-hundredth time, and sticking his hands into his pockets. "I'm +only third in mathematics yet, but I'm head in everything else. I wish I +had your brains, father! I'd be at the head of the arithmetic class in +half a shake of a lamb's tail if I had your brains." + +So far as mathematics were concerned this sounded probable to John +Henry, who would have considered the speed of the tail to be a variable +function of lamb, depending on the value of mother, plus or minus milk. + +"Well," he said in an encouraging tone, "I never could remember +geography, so it makes us even." + +"I'd like to know how!" cried the boy in a tone of protest. "You could +do sums, and you grew up to be a great mathematician and inventor. But +what is the good of a geographician, anyway? They can only make +school-books. They never invent anything, do they? You can't invent +geography, can you? At least you can, and some boys do, but they go to +the bottom of the class like lead. It's safer to invent history than +geography, isn't it, father?" + +Overholt's clever mouth twitched. + +"It's much safer, my boy. Almost all historians have found it so." + +"There! I said so to-day, and now you say just the same thing. I don't +believe one word of ancient history. Not--one--word! They wrote it about +their own nations, didn't they? All right. Then you might just as well +expect them to tell what really happened, as think that I'd tell on +another boy in my own school. I must say it would be as mean as dog pie +of them if they did, but all the same that does not make history true, +does it?" + +Newton had a practical mind. His father, who had not, meditated with +unnecessary gravity on the boy's point of view and said nothing. + +"For instance," continued the lad, sitting down on the high stool before +the lathe Overholt was not using, "the charge of Balaclava's a true +story, because it's been told by both sides; but they all say that it +did no good, anyway, except to make poetry of. But Marathon! Nobody had +a chance to say a word about it except the Greeks themselves, and they +weren't going to allow that the Persians wiped up the floor with them, +were they? Why should they? And if Balaclava had happened then, those +Greek fellows would have told us that the Light Brigade carried the +Russian guns back with them across their saddles, wouldn't they? I say, +father!" + +"What is it?" asked Overholt, looking up, for he had gone back to his +work and was absorbed in it. + +"The boys are all beginning to talk about Christmas down at the school. +Now what are we going to do at Christmas? I've been wondering." + +"So have I!" responded the man, laying down the screw-plate with which +he was about to cut a fine thread on the end of a small brass rod for +the tangent-balance. "I've been thinking about it a good deal to-day, +and I haven't decided on anything." + +"Let's have turkey and cranberry sauce, anyway," said Newton +thoughtfully, for he had a practical mind. "And I suppose we can have +ice-cream if it freezes and we can get some ice. Snow does pretty well +if you pack it down tight enough with salt, and go on putting in more +when it melts. Barbara doesn't make ice-cream as well as they do in New +York. She puts in a lot of winter-green and too little cocoanut. But +it's not so bad. We can have it, can't we, father?" + +"Oh yes. Turkey, cranberry sauce, and ice-cream. But that isn't a whole +Christmas!" + +"I don't see what else you want, I'm sure," answered the boy +thoughtfully. "I mean if it's a big turkey and there's enough +ice-cream--cream-cakes, maybe. You get good cream-cakes at Bangs's, two +for five cents. They're not very big, but they're all right inside--all +gooey, you know. Can you think of anything else?" + +"Not to eat!" + +"Oh, well then, what's the matter with our Christmas? I can't see. No +school and heaps of good gobbles." + +"Good what?" Overholt looked at the boy with an inquiring glance, and +then understood. "I see! Is that the proper word?" + +"When there's lots, it is," answered Newton with conviction. "Of course, +there are all sorts of things I'd like to have, but it's no good +wishing you could lay Columbus's egg and hatch the American eagle, is +it?[Footnote: The writer acknowledges his indebtedness for this fact in +natural and national history to his aunt, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, to whom +it was recently revealed in the course of making an excellent speech.] +What would you like, father, if you could choose?" + +"Three things," answered Overholt promptly. "I should like to see that +wheel going round, softly and steadily, all Christmas Day. I should like +to see that door open and your mother coming in." + +"You bet I would too!" cried Newton, dropping from bold metaphor to +vulgar vernacular. "Well, what's the third thing? You said there were +three." + +"I should like you to have a real, old-fashioned, glorious Christmas, my +boy, such as you had when you were smaller, before we left the house +where you were born." + +"Oh well, you mustn't worry about me, father; if there's plenty of +turkey and ice-cream and the cream-cakes, I can stand it. Mother can't +come, anyhow, so that's settled, and it's no use to think about it. But +the motor--that's different. There's hope, anyway. The wheel may go +round. If you didn't hope so, you wouldn't go on fussing over it, would +you? You'd go and do something else. They always say hope's better than +nothing." + +"It's about all we shall have left for Christmas, so we may as well +build as much on it as we can." + +"I love building," said Newton. "I like to stand and watch a bricklayer +just putting one brick on another and making the wall grow." + +"Perhaps you'll turn out an architect." + +"I'd like to. I never showed you my city, did I?" He knew very well that +he had not, and his father looked at him inquiringly. "No. Oh well, you +won't care to see it." + +"Yes, I should! But I don't understand. What sort of a city do you +mean?" + +"Oh, it's nothing," answered the boy, affecting carelessness. "It's only +a little paper city on a board. I don't believe you'd care to see it, +father. Let's talk about Christmas." + +"No. I want to see what you have made. Where is it? I'll go with you." + +Newton laughed. + +"I'll bring it, if you really want me to. It's easy enough to carry. The +whole thing's only paper!" + +He left the workshop and returned before Overholt had finished cutting +the thread of the screw he was making. The man turned as the boy pushed +the door open with his foot, and came in carrying what had evidently +once been the top of a deal table. + +On the board he had built an ingenious model of a town, or part of one, +but it was not finished. It was entirely made of bits of cardboard, +chips of wood, the sides of match-boxes, and odds and ends of all sorts, +which he picked up wherever he saw them and brought home in his pocket +for his purpose. He had an immense supply of such stuff stored away, +much more than he could ever use. + +Overholt looked at it with admiration, but said nothing. It was the +college town where he had lived so happily and hoped to live again. It +was distinctly recognisable, and many of the buildings were not only +cleverly made, but were coloured very like the originals. He was so much +interested that he forgot to say anything. + +"It's a silly thing, anyway," said Newton, disappointed by his silence. +"It's like toys!" + +Overholt looked up, and the boy saw his pleased face. + +"It's very far from silly," he said. "I believe you're born to be a +builder, boy! It's not only not silly, but it's very well done indeed!" + +"I'll bet you can't tell what the place is," observed Newton, a secret +joy stealing through him at his father's words. + +"Know it? I should think I did, and I wish we were there now! Here's the +College, and there's our house in the street on the other side of the +common. The church is first-rate, it's really like it--and there's the +Roman Catholic Chapel and the Public Library in Main Street." + +"Why, you really do recognise the places!" cried Newton in delight. "I +didn't think anybody'd know them!" + +"One would have to be blind not to, if one knew the town," said +Overholt. "And there's the dear old lane!" He was absorbed in the model. +"And the three hickory trees, and even the little bench!" + +"Why, do you remember that bench, father?" + +Overholt looked up again, quickly and rather dreamily. + +"Yes. It was there that I asked your mother to marry me," he said. + +"Not really? Then I'm glad I put it in!" + +"So am I, for the dear old time's sake and for her sake, and for yours, +my boy. Tell me when you made this, and how you can remember it all so +well." + +The lad sat down on the high stool again before the lathe and looked +through the dingy window at the scraggy trees outside, beyond the +forlorn yard. + +"Oh, I don't know," he said. "I kind of remember it, I suppose, because +I liked it better than this. And when I first had the idea I was sitting +out there in the yard looking at this board. It belongs to a broken +table that had been thrown out there. And I carried it up to my room +when you were out. I thought you wouldn't mind my taking it. And I +picked up scraps that might be useful, and got some gum, and old Barbara +made me some flour paste. It's got green now, and it smells like +thunder, but it's good still. That's about all, I suppose. Now I'll take +it away again. I keep it in the dark closet behind my room, because that +doesn't leak when it rains." + +"Don't take it away," said Overholt suddenly. "I'll make room for it +here, and you can work at it while I'm busy, and in the evenings I'll +try and help you, and we'll finish it together." + +Newton was amazed. + +"Why, father, it's playing! How can you go to work at play? It would be +so funny! But, of course, if you really would help me a little--you've +got such lots of nice things!" + +He wistfully eyed a little coil of some very fine steel wire which would +make a beautiful telegraph. Newton even dreamt of making the trolley, +too, in the Main Street, but that would be a very troublesome job; and +as for the railway station, it was easy enough to build a shed and a +platform, but what is a railway station without a train? + +Overholt did not answer the boy at once, and when he spoke there was a +queer little quaver in his voice. + +"We'll call it our little City of Hope," he said, "and perhaps we can +'go to work to play,' as you call it, so hard that Hope will really come +and live in the City." + +"Well," said Newton, "I never thought you'd ever care to see it! Shall I +go up and get my stuff, and the gum and the flour paste, and bring them +down here, father? But the flour paste smells pretty bad--it might give +you a headache." + +"Bring it down, my boy. My headaches don't come from such things." + +"Don't they? It's true that stuff you use here's about as bad as +anything, till you get used to it. What is it, anyway?" + +Overholt gave him the almost unpronounceable name of some recently +discovered substance, and smiled at his expression as he listened. + +"If that's its name," said the boy gravely, "it sounds like the way it +smells. I wonder what a skunk's name is in science. But the flour +paste's pretty bad too. You'll see!" + +He went off, and his father finished cutting the little screw while he +was gone, and then turned to look at the model again, and became +absorbed in tracing the well-known streets and trying to recall the +shops and houses in each, and the places where his friends had lived, +and no doubt lived still, for college towns do not change as fast as +others. He was amazed at the memory the boy had shown for details; if +the lad had not yet developed any special talent, he had at least proved +that he possessed one of those natural gifts which are sometimes alone +enough to make success. The born builder's eye is like an ear for music, +a facility for languages, or the power of drawing from nature; all the +application in the world will not do in years what any one of these does +instantly, spontaneously, instinctively, without the smallest effort. +You cannot make talent out of a combination of taste and industry. You +cannot train a cart-horse to trot a mile in a little over a minute. + +Newton returned, bringing his materials, to describe which would be +profitless, if it were possible. He had everything littered together in +two battered deal candle-boxes, including the broken soup-plate +containing the flour paste, a loathely, mouldering little mess that +diffused a nauseous odour, distinctly perceptible through that of the +unpronounceable chemical on which the Air-Motor was to depend for its +existence. + +The light outside was failing in the murky November air, and Overholt +lit the big reflecting lamp that hung over the work-table. There was +another above the lathe, for no gas or electricity was to be had so far +from the town, and one of old Barbara's standing causes of complaint +against Overholt was his reckless use of kerosene--she thought it would +be better if he had more fat turkeys and rump-steaks and less light. + +So the man and the boy "went to work to play" at building the City of +Hope, for at least an hour before supper and half an hour after it, +almost every day; and with the boy's marvellous memory and the father's +skill, and the delicious profusion of fresh material which Newton kept +finding in every corner of the workshop, it grew steadily, till it was a +little work of art in its way. There were the ups and downs, the crooked +old roads and lanes and the straight new streets, the little wooden +cottages and the big brick houses, and there was the grassy common with +its trees and its tiny iron railing; and John Henry easily made posts to +carry the trolley wires, which had seemed an impossible dream to the +boy, beyond all realisation; and one day, when the inventor seemed +farther from the tangent-balance than ever, he spent a whole afternoon +in making a dozen little trolley-cars that ran on real wheels, made by +sawing off little sections from a lead pencil, which is the best thing +in the world for that, because the lead comes out and leaves nice round +holes for the axles. When the first car was painted red and yellow and +ran up and down Main Street, guided by the wire above and only needing +one little artificial push to send it either way, it looked so real that +the boy was in ecstasies of delight. + +"It's worth while to be a great inventor to be able to make things like +that!" he cried, and Overholt was as much pleased by the praise as an +opera singer is who is called out three times before the curtain after +the first act. + +So the little City of Hope grew, and they both felt that Hope herself +was soon coming to dwell therein, if she had not come already. + + + + +III + +HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW + + +But then something happened; for Overholt was tormented by the vague +consciousness of a coming idea, so that he had headaches and could not +sleep at night. It flashed upon him at last one evening when Newton was +in bed and he was sitting before his motor, wishing he had the thousand +dollars which would surely complete it, even if he used the most +expensive materials in the market. + +The idea which developed suddenly in all its clearness was that he had +made one of the most important parts of the machine exactly the converse +of what it should be; what was on the right should have been on the +left, and what was down should certainly have been up. Then the engine +would work, even if the tangent-balance were a very poor affair indeed. + +The particular piece of brass casting which was the foundation of that +part had been made in New York, and, owing to the necessity for its +being finished very accurately and machine planed and turned, it had +cost a great deal of money. Already it had been made and spoilt three +times over, and now it was perfectly clear that it must be cast over +again in a reversed form. It was quite useless to make the balance yet, +for it would be of no use till the right casting was finished; it would +have to be reversed too, and the tangent would apply to a reversed +curve. + +He had no money for the casting, but even before trying to raise the +cash it was necessary to make the wooden model. He could do that, and he +set to work to sketch the drawing within five minutes after the idea had +once flashed upon him. As his eye followed the lines made by his pencil, +he became more and more convinced that he was right. When the rough +sketch was done he looked up at the engine. Its familiar features seemed +to be drawn into a diabolical grimace of contempt at his stupidity, and +it looked as if it were conscious and wanted to throw the wrongly-made +piece at his head. But he was overwrought just then and could have +fancied any folly. + +He rose, shook himself, and then took a long pull at a black bottle that +always stood on a shelf. When a man puts a black bottle to his lips, +tips it up, and takes down several good pulls almost without drawing +breath, most people suppose that he is a person of vicious habits. In +Overholt's case most people would have been wrong. The black bottle +contained cold tea; it was strong, but it was only tea, and that is the +finest drink in the world for an inventor or an author to work on. When +I say an author I mean a poor writer of prose, for I have always been +told that all poets are either mad, or bad, or both. Many of them must +be bad, or they could not write such atrocious poems; but madness is +different; perhaps they read their own verses. + +When Overholt had swallowed his cold tea, he got out his drawing +materials, stretched a fresh sheet of thick draughtsman's paper on the +board, and sat down between the motor that would not move and the +little city in which Hope had taken lodgings for a while, and he went to +work with ruler, scale and dividers, and the hard wood template for +drawing the curves he had constructed for the tangent-balance by a very +abstruse mathematical calculation. That was right, at all events, only, +as it was to be reversed, he laid it on the paper with the under-side +up. + +He worked nearly all night to finish the drawing, slept two hours in a +battered Shaker rocking-chair by the fire, woke in broad daylight, drank +more cold tea, and went at once to his lathe, for the new piece was in +the nature of a cylinder, and a good deal of the work could be done by +turning. + +The chisel and the lathe seemed to be talking to each other over the +block of wood, and what they said rang like a tune in John Henry's head. + +"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw, bricks without straw," +repeated the lathe regularly, at each revolution, and when it said +"bricks" the treadle was up, and when it said "straw" the treadle was +down, for of course it was only a foot lathe, though a good one. +"Sh--sh--sh--ever so much better than no bricks at all--sh--sh--sh," +answered the sharp chisel as it pressed and bit the wood, and made a +little irregular clattering when it was drawn away, and then came +forward against the block again with a long hushing sound; and Overholt +was inclined to accept its opinion, and worked on as if an obliging +brassfounder were waiting outside to take the model away at once and +cast it for nothing, or at least on credit. + +But no such worthy and confiding manufacturer appeared, even on the +evening of the second day, when the wooden model was beautifully +finished and ready for the foundry. While the inventor was busy, Newton +had worked alone in a corner when he had time to spare from his lessons, +but he understood what was going on, and he did not accomplish much +beyond painting the front of the National Bank in the City of Hope and +planning a possible Wild West Show to be set up on the outskirts; the +tents would be easy to make, but the horses were beyond his skill, or +his father's; it would not be enough that they should have a leg at each +corner and a head and a tail. + +He understood well enough what was the matter, for he had seen similar +things happen before. A pessimist is defined to be a person who has +lived with an optimist, and every inventor is that. Poor Newton had seen +that particular part of the engine spoiled and made over three times, +and he understood perfectly that it was all wrong again and must be cast +once more. But he kept his reflections to himself and tried to think +about the City of Hope. + +"I wish," said John Henry, sitting down opposite the boy at last, and +looking at what he had done, "that the National Bank in Main Street were +real!" + +He eyed it wistfully. + +"Oh well," answered the boy, "we couldn't rob it, because that's +stealing, so I don't see what particular good it would do!" + +"Perhaps the business people in the City of Hope would be different from +the bankers in New York," observed Overholt, thoughtfully. + +"I don't believe it, father," Newton answered in a sceptical tone. "If +they were bankers they'd be rich, and you remember the sermon Sunday +before last, about it's being easier for the camel to get through the +rich man--no, which is it? I forget. It doesn't matter, anyway, because +we can imagine any kind of people we choose in our city, can't we? Say, +father, what's the matter? Are you going to cast that piece over again? +That'll be the fourth time, won't it?" + +"It would be, my boy, but it won't be. They won't cast it for nothing, +and I cannot raise the money. You cannot make bricks without straw." + +He looked steadily down at the tiny front of the Bank in Main Street, +and a hungry look came into his eyes. + +But Newton had a practical mind, even at thirteen. + +"I was thinking," he said presently. "It looks as if we were going to +get stuck some day. What are we going to do then, father? I was thinking +about it just now. How are we going to get anything to eat if we have no +money?" + +"I shall have to go back to teaching mathematics for a living, I +suppose." + +"And give up the Motor?" Newton had never yet heard him suggest such a +thing. + +"Yes," Overholt answered in a low tone; and that was all he said. + +"Oh, that's ridiculous. You'd just die, that's all!" + +Newton stared at the engine that was a failure. It looked as if it ought +to work, he thought, with its neat cylinders, its polished levers, its +beautifully designed gear. It stood under a big case made of thick glass +plates set in an iron frame with a solid top; a chain ran through two +cast-iron wheels overhead to a counterpoise in the corner, by which +device it was easily raised and lowered. The Motor was a very expensive +affair, and had to be carefully protected from dust and all injury, +though it was worth nothing at present except for old brass and iron, +unless the new part could be made. + +"Come, my boy, let's think of something more cheerful!" Overholt said, +making an effort to rouse himself and concentrated his attention on the +paper model. "Christmas is coming in three weeks, you know, and it will +come just the same in the little City. I'm sure the people will decorate +their houses and the church. Of course we cannot see the insides of the +houses, but in Boston they put wreaths in the windows. And we'll have a +snowstorm, just as we used to have, and we can clear it away afterwards! +Wasn't there a holly tree somewhere near the College? You haven't put +that in yet. You have no idea how cheerful it will look! To-morrow we'll +find a very small sprig with berries on it, and plant it just in the +right place. I'm sure you remember where it stood." + +"Real leaves would be too big," observed the boy. "They wouldn't look +right. Of course, one could cut the branches out of tin and paint 'em +green with red spots, and stick them into a twig for the trunk. But it's +rather hard to do." + +"Let's try," said Overholt. "I've got some fine chisels and some very +thin brass, but I don't think I could draw the branches as well as you +could." + +"Oh, I can draw them something like, if you'll only cut 'em out," the +boy answered cheerfully. "Come on, father! Who says we can't make bricks +without straw? I'll bet anything we can!" + +So they worked together steadily, and for an hour or two the inventor +was so busy in cutting out tiny branches of imaginary holly with a very +small chisel that he did not look once at the plate glass from which +his engine seemed to be grinning at him, in fiendish delight over his +misfortunes. There were times when he was angry with it, outright, as if +it knew what he was doing and did not mean to give in to him and let +itself be invented. + +But now the tune of the lathe and the chisel still ran on in his head, +for he had heard it through two whole days and could not get rid of it. + +"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw!" repeated the lathe +viciously. "Ever so much better than no bricks at all, sh--sh--sh!" +answered the chisel, gibbering and hissing like an idiot. + +"You will certainly be lying on straw before long, and then I suppose +you'll wish you had something else!" squeaked the little chisel with +which he was cutting out holly leaves, as it went through the thin +plates into the wood of the bench under each push of his hand. + +The things in the workshop all seemed to be talking to him together, and +made his head ache. + +"I had a letter from your mother to-day," he said, because it was +better to hear his own voice say anything than to listen to such +depressing imaginary conversations. "I'm sorry to say she sees no chance +of getting home before the spring." + +"I don't know where you'd put her if she came here," answered the +practical Newton. "Your room leaks when it rains, and so does mine. You +two would have to sleep in the parlour. I guess it'll be better if she +doesn't come now." + +"Oh, for her, far better," assented Overholt. "They've got a beautiful +flat in Munich, and everything they can possibly think of. Your mother's +only complaint, so far as that goes, is that those girls are completely +spoilt by too much luxury!" + +"What is luxury, exactly, father?" asked Newton, who always wanted to +know things. + +"I shall never know myself, and perhaps you never will either!" The +wretched inventor tried to laugh. "But that's no answer to your +question, is it? I suppose luxury means always having twice as much of +everything as you can possibly use, and having it about ten times as +fine and expensive as other people can afford." + +"I don't see any use in that," said the boy. "Now I know just how much +turkey and cranberry sauce and ice-cream I really need, and if I get +just a little more than that, it's Christmas. I don't mean much more, +but about half a helping. I know all about proverbs. Haven't I copied +millions of 'em in learning to write. One reason why it's so slow to +learn is that the things you have to write are perfect nonsense. 'Enough +is as good as a feast!' All I can say is, the man who made that proverb +never had a feast, or he'd have known better! This green paint doesn't +dry very quick, father. We'll have to wait till to-morrow before we put +in the red spots for the berries. I wish I had some little red beads. +They'd stick on the wet paint now, like one o'clock." + +There were no red beads, so he rose to go to bed. When he had said +good-night and had reached the door, he stopped and looked back again. + +"Say, father, haven't you anything you can sell to get some more money +for the Motor?" + +John Henry shook his weary head and smiled sadly. + +"Nothing that would bring nearly enough to pay for the casting," he +answered. "Don't worry about it, boy. Leave that to me--I'm used to it. +Go to bed and sleep, and you'll feel like an Air-Motor yourself in the +morning!" + +"That's the worst of it," returned the boy. "Just to sit there under a +glass case and have you take care of me and do nothing, like a girl. +That's the way I feel sometimes." + +He shook his young head quite as gravely as the inventor had shaken his +own, and went quietly to bed without saying anything more. + +"I don't know what to do, I'm sure," he said to himself as he got into +bed, "but I'm sure there's something. Maybe I'll dream it, and then I'll +do just the contrary and it'll come all right." + +But boys of practical minds and sound bodies do not dream at all, unless +it be after a feast, and most of them can stand even that without having +nightmare, unless two feasts come near together, like Christmas and a +birthday within the week. + +A great-uncle of mine was once taken for a clergyman at a public dinner +nearly a hundred years ago, and he was asked to say grace; he was a +good man, and also practical, and had a splendid appetite, but he was +not eloquent, and this is what he said:-- + +"The Lord give us appetites to enjoy, and strength to digest ALL the +good things set before us. Amen!" + +And everybody said "Amen" very cheerfully and fell to. + + + + +IV + +HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY + + +It rained in New York and it "snowed slush" in Connecticut, after its +manner, and the world was a very dreary place, especially all around the +dilapidated cottage where everything was going to pieces, including John +Henry Overholt's last hopes. + +If he had been alone in the world he would have taken his small cash +balance and his model to the foundry, quite careless as to whether he +ever got a meal again until the Motor worked. But there was the boy to +be thought of, and desperate as the unhappy inventor was, he would not +starve his son as well as himself. He was quite sure of his little +balance, though he had never had any head for figures of that sort. It +was an easy affair in his eyes to handle the differential calculus, +which will do anything, metaphorically speaking, from smashing a rock as +flat and thin as a postage stamp, to regulating an astronomical clock; +but to understand the complication of a pass-book and a bank account was +a matter of the greatest possible difficulty. Newton would have done it +much better, though he could not get to the head of his class in +arithmetic. That is the difference between being an inventor and having +a practical mind. As for Mrs. Overholt, she was perfectly wonderful at +keeping accounts; but then she had been taught a great many things, from +music and drawing to compound interest and double entry, and she had +been taught them all just so far as to be able to do them nicely without +understanding at all what she did; which is sound modern education, and +no mistake. The object of music is to make a cheerful noise, which can +be done very well without pencil and paper and the rules of harmony. + +But Overholt could neither make a cheerful noise, nor draw a holly leaf, +nor speak French, nor even understand a pass-book, though he had +invented an Air-Motor which would not work, but was a clear evidence of +genius. The only business idea he had was to make his little balance +last as long as possible, in spite of the terrible temptation to take it +and offer it to the founder as a cash advance, if only he might have his +piece of casting done. Where the rest of the money would come from he +did not know; probably out of the Motor. It looked so easy; but there +was the boy, and it might happen that there would be no dinner for +several days. + +On the first of December he cashed a cheque in the town, as usual; and +he paid Barbara's wages and the coal merchant, and the month's bill for +kerosene, and the butcher and the grocer, and the baker, and that was +practically all; and he went to bed that night feeling that whatever +happened there was a whole month before another first came round, and he +owed no one anything more for the present, and Newton would not starve, +and could have his Christmas turkey, if it was to be the last he ever +ate, poor boy. + +On the morning of December third it was still snowing slush, though it +was more like real snow now, and the air was much colder; and by and by, +when Overholt had read a letter that Barbara brought him, he felt so +terribly cold all at once that his teeth chattered, and then he was so +hot that the perspiration ran down his forehead, and he steadied himself +against the heavy glass case of the Motor a moment and then almost +tumbled into a sitting posture on the stool before his work-table, and +his head fell forward on his hands, as if he were fainting. + +The letter said that his account was overdrawn to the extent of three +hundred and fifty-two dollars and thirteen cents, including the cheque +he had drawn on the thirty-first, and would he please make a deposit at +his earliest convenience? + +It had been just a little mistake in arithmetic, that was all. He had +started with the wrong balance in his note-book, and what he thought was +credit was debit, but the bank where he had kept all the money that had +been put up for the Motor, had wished to be friendly and good-natured to +the great inventor and had not returned his cheques with N.G. on them; +and if his attention had already been called to his deficit, he must +have forgotten to open the letter. Like all men who are much talked of +in the newspapers, though they may be as poor as Job's turkey, he +received a great many circulars addressed by typewriter, and the only +letters he really cared for were from his wife, so that when he was very +hard at work or much preoccupied the others accumulated somewhere in the +workshop, and were often forgotten. + +What was perfectly clear this morning was that starvation was sitting on +the doorstep and that he had no moral right whatever to the dinner +Barbara was already beginning to cook, nor to another to-morrow, nor to +any more; for he was a proud man, and ashamed of debt, though he mixed +up debit and credit so disgracefully. + +He sat there half an hour, as he had let himself fall forward, only +moving a little, so that his forehead rested on his arm instead of his +hands, because that was a little more comfortable, and just then he did +not want to see anything, least of all the Motor. When he rose at last +the sleeve of his coat was all wet with the perspiration from his +forehead. He left the workshop, half shutting his eyes in order not to +see the Motor; he was sure the thing was grinning at him behind the +plate glass. It had two round brass valves near the top that looked +like yellow eyeballs, and a lever at the bottom with double arms and a +cross-bar, which made him think of an iron jaw when he was in one of his +fits of nervous depression. + +But John Henry Overholt was a man, and an honest one. He went straight +to the writing-table in the next room and sat down, and though his hand +shook, he wrote a clear and manly letter to the President of the College +where he had taught so well, stating his exact position, acknowledging +the failure of his invention, and asking help to find immediate +employment as a teacher, even in the humblest capacity which would +afford bread for his boy and himself. Presidents and principals of +colleges are in constant communication with other similar institutions, +and generally know of vacant positions. + +When he had written his letter and read it over carefully, Overholt +looked at his timetable, got his hat, coat, and umbrella, and trudged +off through the slushy snow to the station, on his way to New York. + +It was raining there, but it was not dismal; hurry, confusion, and noise +can never be that. He had not been in the city since the day when he +made his last attempt to raise money, and in his present state the +contrast was overwhelming. The shopkeepers would have told him that it +was a dull day for business, and that the rain was costing them hundreds +of dollars every hour, because there are a vast number of people who buy +things within the month before Christmas, if it is convenient and the +weather is fine, but will not take the trouble if the weather is bad; +and afterwards they are so glad to have saved their money that they buy +nothing of that sort till the following year. For Christmas shopping is +largely a matter of temptation on the one side and of weakness on the +other, and you cannot tempt a man to buy your wares if he will not even +go out and look at your shop window. At Christmas time every shopkeeper +turns into a Serpent, with a big S and a supply of apples varying, with +his capital, from a paper-bagful to a whole orchard, and though the +ladies are the more easily tempted, nine generous men out of ten show no +more sense just at that time than Eve herself did. The very air has +temptation in it when they see the windows full of pretty things and +think of their wives and their children and their old friends. Even +misers relax a little then, and a famous statesman, who was somewhat +close-fisted in his day, is reported to have given his young coloured +servant twenty-five cents on Christmas Eve, telling him to go out to +Mount Auburn Cemetery and see where the great men of New England lie +buried. And the man, I believe, went there; but he was an African, and +the spirit of Christmas was not in his race, for if it had moved him he +would have wasted that money on cream-cakes and cookies, reflecting that +the buried worthies of Massachusetts could not tell tales on him. + +Overholt went down town to the bank where he kept his account and +explained his little mistake very humbly, and asked for time to pay up. +The teller looked at him as if he were an escaped lunatic, but on +account of his great reputation as an inventor he was shown to the desk +of one of the partners, which stood in a corner of the vast place, where +one could converse confidentially if one did not speak above a whisper; +but the stenographer girl could hear even whispering distinctly, and +perhaps she sometimes took down what she heard, if the partner made a +signal to her by carelessly rolling his pencil across his table. + +The partner whom Overholt saw was not ill-natured, and besides, it was +near Christmas, and he had been poor himself when he was young. If +Overholt would kindly sign a note at sixty days for the overdraft it +would be all right. The banker was sorry he could not authorise him to +overdraw any further, but it was strictly against the rules, an +exception had been made because Mr. Overholt was such a well-known man, +and so forth. But the inventor explained that he had not meant to ask +any favour, and had come to explain how he had made such a strange +mistake. The banker, like the teller, thought that a man who could not +count money must be mad, but was too civil, or too good-natured, to say +so. + +Overholt signed the note, thanked him warmly, and went away. He and his +old umbrella looked very dejected as he left the building and dived into +the stream of men in the street, but if he had paid any attention to his +fellow-beings he would have seen here and there a number who looked +quite as unhappy as he did. He had come all the way from the country +expressly to explain his error, and had been in the greatest haste to +get down town and have the interview over. To go home with the prospect +of trying to eat a dinner that would be cold, and of sitting in his +workshop all the afternoon just to stare at his failure until Newton +came home, was quite another matter. If the weather had been less +disagreeable he would have gone to the Central Park, to sit in a quiet +corner and think matters over. + +As that seemed out of the question, he walked from the bank to +Forty-Second Street, taking an hour and a half over it. It was better to +go on foot than to sit in a car facing a dozen or twenty strangers, who +would wonder why he looked so miserable. Sensitive people always fancy +that everybody is looking at them and criticising them, when in fact no +one cares a straw how they look or what they do. + +Then, too, he was in such a morbid state of mind about his debt that it +looked positively wrong to spend five cents on a car-fare; even the +small change in his pocket was not his own, and that, and hundreds of +dollars besides, must be paid back in sixty days. Otherwise he supposed +he would be bankrupt, which, to his simple mind, meant disgrace as well +as ruin. + +It had stopped raining before he reached Grace Church, and as he crossed +Madison Square the sun shone out, the wind had veered to the west, and +the sky was clearing all round. The streets had seemed full before, but +they were positively choking with people now. The shops drew them in and +blew them out again with much less cash about them, as a Pacific whale +swallows water and spouts it out, catching the little fish by thousands +with his internal whalebone fishing-net. But, unlike the fishes, the +people were not a whit less pleased. On the contrary, there was +something in the faces of almost all that is only seen once a year in +New York, and then only for certain hours; and that is real good-will. +For whatever the most home-loving New Yorker may say of his own great +city, good-will to men is not its dominant characteristic, nor peace its +most remarkable feature. + +Even poor Overholt, half crazy with disappointment and trouble, could +not help noticing the difference between the expressions of the men he +had seen down town and of those who were thronging the shops and the +sidewalks in Fifth Avenue. In Wall Street and adjacent Broadway a great +many looked like more or less discontented birds of prey looking out for +the next meal, and a few might have been compared to replete vultures; +but here all those who were not alone were talking with their +companions, and many were smiling, and now and then a low laugh was +heard, which is a very rare thing in Fifth Avenue, though you may often +hear children laughing in the Park and sometimes in the cross streets +up-town. + +Then there was another eagerness in the faces, that was not for money, +but was the anticipation of giving pleasure before long, and of being +pleased too; and that is a great part of the Christmas spirit, if it is +not the spirit itself. It is doubtless more blessed to give than to +receive, but the receiving is very delightful, and it is cruel to teach +children that they must not look forward to having pretty presents. What +is Christmas Day to a happy child but a first glimpse of heaven on +earth? + +Overholt glanced at the faces of the passers-by with a sort of vague +surprise, wondering why they looked so happy; and then he remembered +what they were doing, and all at once his heart sank like lead. What was +to become of the turkey and the ice-cream on which Newton had built his +hopes for Christmas? Would there be any dinner at all? Or any one to +cook it? How could he go and get things which he would not be able to +pay for on the first of next month, exactly a week after the feast? His +imagination could glide lightly over three weeks of starvation, but at +the thought of his boy's disappointment everything went to pieces, the +present, the future, everything. He would have walked all the way down +town again to beg for a loan of only a few dollars, enough for that one +Christmas dinner; but he knew from the banker's face that such a request +would be refused, as such, and he dreaded in his misery lest the money +should be offered him as a charity. + +He got home at last, weary and wretched, and then for the first time he +remembered the letter he had written asking for employment as a teacher. +He had been a very good one, and the College had been sorry to lose +him; in two days he might get an answer; all hope was not gone yet, at +least not quite all, and his spirits revived a little. Besides, the +weather was fine now, even in Connecticut; there would be a sharp frost +in the night, and Newton would soon get some skating. + + + + +V + +HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF + + +Almost the worst part of it was that he had to tell his boy about his +dreadful mistake, and that it was all over with the Motor and with +everything, and that until he could get something to do they were +practically starving; and that he could not possibly see how there was +ever to be ice-cream for Christmas, let alone such an expensive joy as, +a turkey. + +He knew that Newton would not pucker up his mouth and screw his eyes to +keep the tears in, like a girl; and he was quite sure that the boy would +not reproach him for having been so careless. He might not seem to care +very much, but he would be terribly disappointed; that was the worst of +it all, next to owing money that he had no hope of paying. Indeed, he +hardly knew which hurt him more than the other, for the disgrace of +debt, as he called it, was all his own, but the bitter disappointment +was on Newton too. + +The latter listened in silence till his father had finished, and his +boyish face was preternaturally thoughtful. + +"I've seen boys make just such mistakes at the blackboard," he observed +in a tone of melancholy reflection. "And they generally catch it +afterwards too," he added. "It's natural." + +"I've 'caught it,'" Overholt answered. "You have too, my dear boy, +though you didn't make the mistake--that's not just." + +"Well, father, I don't know what we're going to do, but something has +got to be done right away, and we've got to find out what it is." + +"Thank goodness you're not a girl!" cried Overholt fervently. + +"I'm glad too; only, if I were one, I should most likely die young and +go to heaven, and you'd have me off your mind all right. The girls +always do in storybooks." + +He made this startling and general observation quite naturally. Of +course girls died and went to heaven when there was nothing to eat; he +secretly thought it would be better if more of them did, even without +starvation. + +"Let's work, anyhow," he added, as his father said nothing. "Maybe we'll +think of something while we're building that railroad depôt. Don't you +suppose that now you've got so far the Motor would keep while you +taught, and you could go at it again in the vacations? That's an idea, +father, come now!" + +He was already in his place before the board on which the little City +was built, and his eyes were fixed on the lines his father had drawn as +a plan for the station and the diverging tracks. But Overholt did not +sit down. His usual place was opposite the Motor, where he could see it, +but he did not want to look at it now. + +"Change seats with me, boy," he said. "I cannot stand the sight of it. I +suppose I'm imaginative. All this has upset me a good deal." + +He wished he had the lad's nerves, the solid nerves of hungry and +sleepy thirteen. Newton got up at once and changed places, and for a few +minutes Overholt tried to concentrate his mind on the little City, but +it was of no use. If he did not think of the Motor, he thought of what +was much worse, for the little streets and models of the familiar places +brought back the cruel memory of happier things so vividly that it was +torment. All his faculties of sensation were tense and vibrating; he +could hear his wife's gentle and happy voice, her young girl's voice, +when he looked at the little bench in the lane where he had asked her to +marry him, and an awful certainty came upon him that he was never to +hear her speak again on this side of the grave; there was the house they +had lived in; from that window he had looked out on a May morning at the +budding trees half an hour after his boy had been born; there, in the +pretty garden, the young mother had sat with her baby in the lovely June +days--it was full of her. Or if he looked at the College, he knew every +one of the steps, and the entrance, and the tall windows of the +lecture-rooms, where he had taught so contentedly, year after year, till +the terrible Motor had taken possession of him, the thing that was +driving him mad; and, strangely enough, what hurt him most and brought +drops of perspiration to his forehead was the National Bank in Main +Street; it made him remember his debt, and that he had no money at +all--nothing whatsoever but the few dollars in his pocket left after +paying the bills on the first of the month. + +"It's of no use!" he cried, suddenly rising and turning away. "I cannot +stand it. I'm sorry, but it's too awful!" + +Never before had he felt so thoroughly ashamed of himself. He was +breaking down before his son, to whom he knew he ought to be setting an +example of fortitude and common sense. He had forgotten the very names +of such qualities; the mere thought of Hope, whenever it crossed his +mind, mocked him maddeningly, and he hated the little City for the name +he had given it. Hope was his enemy since she had left him, and he was +hers; he could have found it in his heart to crush the poor little paper +town to pieces, and then to split up the very board itself for firewood. + +The years that had been so full of belief were all at once empty, and +the memory of them rang hollow and false, because Hope had cheated him, +luring him on, only to forsake him at the great moment. Every hour he +had spent on the work had been misspent; he saw it all now, and the most +perfect of his faultless calculations only proved that science was a +blatant fraud and a snare that had cost him all he had, his wife, his +boy's future, and his own self-respect. How could he ever look at his +wretched failure again? How could he sit down opposite the son he had +cheated, and who was going to starve with him, and play with a little +City of Hope, when Hope herself was the lying enemy that had coaxed him +to the destruction of his family and to his own disgrace? As for +teaching again, who ever got back a good place after he had voluntarily +given it up for a wild dream! Men who had such dreams were not fit to +teach young men in any case! That was the answer he would get by post in +a day or two. + +Newton watched his father anxiously, for he had heard that people +sometimes went mad from disappointment and anxiety. The pale +intellectual face wore a look of horror, as if the dark eyes saw some +dreadful sight; the thin figure moved nervously, the colourless lips +twitched, the lean fingers opened and shut spasmodically on nothing. It +was enough to scare the boy, who had always known his father gentle, +sweet-tempered, and hopeful even under failure; but Overholt was quite +changed now, and looked as if he were either very ill or very crazy. + +It is doubtful whether boys ever love their fathers as most of them love +their mothers at one time, or all their lives. The sort of attachment +there often is between father and son is very different from that, and +both feel that it is; there is more of alliance and friendship in it +than of anything like affection, even when it is at its best, with a +strong instinct to help one another and to stand by each other in a +fight. + +Newton Overholt did not feel any sympathetic thrill of pain for his +father's sufferings; not in the least; he would perhaps have said that +he was "sorry for him" without quite knowing what that meant. But he was +very strongly moved to help him in some way, seeing that he was +evidently getting the worst of it in a big fight. Newton soon became +entirely possessed by the idea that "something ought to be done," but +what it was he did not know. + +The lid of Pandora's box had flown open and had come off suddenly after +smashing the hinges, and Hope had flown out of the window. The boy +thought it was clearly his duty to catch her and get her into prison +again, and then to nail down the lid. He had not the smallest doubt that +this was what he ought to do, but the trouble lay in finding out how to +do it, a little difficulty that humanity has faced for a good many +thousand years. On the other hand, if he failed, as seemed probable, he +was almost sure that his father would fall ill and die, or go quite mad +in a few hours. He wished his mother were there; she would have known +how to cheer the desperate man, and could probably have made him smile +in a few minutes without really doing anything at all. Those were the +things women could do very well, the boy thought, and they ought always +to be at hand to do them when wanted. He himself could only sit there +and pretend to be busy, as children mostly do when they see their elders +in trouble. But that made him wild. + +"I say, father," he broke out suddenly, "can't I do anything? Try and +think!" + +"That's what I'm trying to do," answered Overholt, sitting down at last +on the stool before the work-bench and staring at the wall, with his +back turned to his son. "But I can't! There's something wrong with my +head." + +"You want to see a doctor," said the boy. "I'll go and see if I can get +one of them to come out here." He rose as if to go at once. + +"No! Don't!" cried Overholt, much distressed by the mere suggestion. "He +could only tell me to rest, and take exercise and sleep at night and not +worry!" He laughed rather wildly. "He would tell me not to worry! They +always say that! A doctor would tell a man 'not to worry' if he was to +be hanged the next morning!" + +"Well," said Newton philosophically, "I suppose a man who's going to be +hung needn't worry much, anyway. He's got the front seat at the show and +nothing particular to do!" + +This was sound, so far as it went, but insufficient as consolation. +Overholt either did not hear, or paid no heed to the boy. He left the +room a moment later without shutting the door, and threw himself down on +the old black horsehair sofa in the parlour. Presently the lad rose +again and covered up the City of Hope with the big brown paper case he +had made to fit down over the board and keep the dust off. + +"This isn't your day," he observed as he did so, and the remark was +certainly addressed to the model of the town. + +He went into the other room and stood beside his father, looking down at +his drawn face and damp forehead. + +"Say, father, really, isn't there anything I can do to help?" + +Overholt answered with an effort. "No, my boy, there's nothing, thank +you. You cannot find money to pay my debts, can you?" + +"Have you got no money at all?" asked Newton, very gravely. + +"Four or five dollars! That's all! That's all you and I have got left in +the world to live on, and even that's not mine!" + +His voice shook with agony, and he raised one hand to his forehead, not +dramatically, as many foreigners would do, but quietly and firmly, and +he pressed and kneaded the surface as if he were trying to push his +brains back into the right place, so that they would work, or at least +keep quiet. After that answer Newton was too sensible to ask any more +questions, and perhaps he was also a little afraid to, because questions +might make his father worse. + +"Well," he said vaguely, "if I can't work at the City I suppose I may as +well go out before it's dark and take a look at the pond. It's going to +freeze hard to-night, and maybe there'll be black ice that'll bear by +to-morrow." + +Overholt was glad to be left alone, for he could not help being ashamed +of having broken down so completely before the boy, and he felt that he +could not recover his self-control unless he were left to himself. + +He heard Newton go up the rickety stairs to his own room, where he +seemed to be rummaging about for some time, judging from the noises +overhead; then the strong shoes clattered on the staircase again, the +house door was opened and shut, and the boy was off. + + + + +VI + +HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX + + +Newton went to the pond, because he said he was going out for that +purpose, and it might be convenient to be able to swear that he had +really been down to the water's edge. As if to enjoy the pleasure of +anticipation, too, he had his skates with him in a green flannel bag, +though it was quite out of the question that the ice should bear +already, and it was not even likely that the water would be already +frozen over. However, he took the skates with him, a very good pair, of +a new model, which his father had given him towards the end of the +previous winter, so that he had not used them more than half a dozen +times. It was very cold, but of course the ice would not bear yet. The +sun had not set, and as he was already half-way to the town, the boy +apparently thought he might as well go on instead of returning at once +to the cottage, where he would have to occupy himself with his books +till supper-time, supposing that it occurred to his father to have any +supper in his present condition. The prospect was not wildly gay, and +besides, something must be done at once. Newton was possessed by that +idea. + +When Overholt had been alone for some time, he got up from the horsehair +sofa and crept up the stairs, leaning on the shaky bannister like an old +man. In his own room he plunged his face into icy cold water again and +again, as if it were burning, and the sharp chill revived his nerves a +little. There was no stove in the room, and before midnight the water +would be frozen in the pitcher. He sat down and rubbed his forehead and +wondered whether he was really any better, or was only imagining or even +pretending that he was, because he wanted to be. Our own reflections +about our own sensations are never so silly as at the greatest moments +in our lives, because the tremendous strain on the higher faculties +releases all the little ones, as in sleep, and they behave and reason as +idiotically as they do in dreams, which is saying a good deal. Perhaps +lunatics are only people who are perpetually asleep and dreaming with +one part of their brains while the other parts are awake. They certainly +behave as if that were the matter, and it seems a rational explanation +of ordinary insanity, curable or incurable. Did you ever talk to a +lunatic? On the subject on which he is insane he thinks and talks as you +do when you are dreaming; but he may be quite awake and sensible about +all other matters. He dreams he is rich, and he goes out and orders +cartloads of things from shops. Pray, have you never dreamt that you +were rich? Or he dreams that he is a poached egg, and must have a piece +of toast to sit down upon. I believe that well-known story of a lunatic +to be founded on fact. Have you never dreamt that you were somebody or +something quite different from yourself? Have you never dreamt that you +were an innocent man, persecuted, tried for a crime, and sentenced to +prison, or even death? And yet, at the same time, in your dream, you +were behaving with the utmost good sense about everything else. When +you are dreaming, you are a perfect lunatic; why may it not be true that +the waking lunatic is really dreaming all the time, with one part of his +brain? + +John Henry Overholt was apparently wide awake, but he had been morally +stunned that day; he was dreaming that he was going crazy, and he could +not, for the life of him, tell whether he really felt any better after +cooling his head in the basin than before, though it seemed immensely +important to find out, just then. Afterwards, when it was all over, and +things were settled again, he remembered only a blank time, which had +lasted from the moment when he had broken down before the little City +until he found himself sitting in the parlour alone before the supper +table with a bright lamp burning, and wondering why his boy did not come +home. The dream was over then; his head ached a good deal and he did not +feel hungry, but that was all; burning anxiety had cooled to leaden +care. He knew quite well that it was all over with the Motor, that his +friends at the College would find him some sort of employment, and that +in due time he would succeed in working off his debt to the bank, +dollar by dollar. He had got his soul back out of the claws of despair +that had nearly flown away with it. There was no hope, but he could live +without it because he must not only live himself, but keep his boy +alive. Somehow, he would get along on credit for a week or two, till he +could get work. At all events there were his tools to sell, and the +Motor must go for old brass, bronze, iron, and steel. He would see about +selling the stuff the next day, and with what it would bring he could at +least pay cash for necessaries, and the bank must wait. There was no +hope in that, but there was the plain sense of an honest man. He was not +a coward; he had only been brutally stunned, and now that he had +recovered from the blow he would do his duty. But an innocent man who +walks steadily to endure an undeserved death is not a man that hopes for +anything, and it was like death to Overholt to give up his invention. + +The door opened and Newton came in quietly. His face was flushed with +the cold and his eyes were bright. What was the weight of leaden care to +the glorious main-spring of healthy thirteen? Overholt was proud of his +boy, nevertheless, for facing the dreary prospect of no Christmas so +bravely. Then he had a surprise. + +"I've got a little money, father. It's not much, I know, but it's +something to go on with for a day or two. There it is." + +Newton produced three well-worn dollar bills and some small change, +which his father stared at in amazement. + +"There's three dollars and seventy cents," he said. "And you told me you +had four or five dollars left." + +Before he sat down he piled the change neatly on the bills beside his +father's plate; then he took his seat, very red indeed and looking at +the table-cloth. + +"Where on earth did you get it?" asked Overholt, leaning back in his +chair. + +"Well"--the boy hesitated and got redder still--"I didn't steal it, +anyway," he said. "It's mine all right. I mean it's yours." + +"Of course you didn't steal it!" cried John Henry. "But where did you +get it? You haven't had more than a few cents at a time for weeks and +weeks, so you can't have saved it!" + +"I didn't beg it either," Newton answered. + +"Or borrow it, my boy?" + +"No! I wasn't going to borrow money I couldn't pay! I'd rather not tell +you, all the same, father! At least, I earned twenty cents of it. That's +the odd twenty, that makes the three seventy. I don't mind telling you +that." + +"Oh, you earned twenty cents of it? Well, I'm glad of that, anyhow. What +did you do?" + +"I sort of hung round the depôt till the train came in, and I carried a +man's valise across to the hotel for him. He gave me ten cents. Some of +the boys do that, you know, but I thought you wouldn't care to have me +do it till I had to!" + +"That's all right. It does you credit. How about the other ten cents?" + +"Old Bangs saw me pass his shop, and he asked me to come in and said +he'd give me ten cents if I'd do some sums for him. I guess he's pretty +busy just now. He said he'd give me ten cents every day till Christmas +if I'd come in after school and do the sums. His boy's got mumps or +something, and can't. There's no harm in that, is there, father?" + +"Harm! I'm proud of you, my boy. You'll win through--some day!" + +It was the first relief from his misery the poor man had felt since he +had read the letter about the overdraft in the morning. + +"What I can't understand is the rest of the money," said Overholt. + +Newton looked very uncomfortable again, and moved uneasily on his chair. + +"Oh well, I suppose I've got to tell you," he said, looking down into +his plate and very busy with his knife and fork. "Say, you won't tell +mother, will you? She wouldn't like it." + +"I won't tell her." + +"Well"--the boy hesitated--"I sold some things," he said at last, in a +low voice. + +"Oh! There's no great harm in that, my boy. What did you sell?" + +"My skates and my watch," said Newton, just audibly. "You see I didn't +somehow feel as if I were going to skate much this winter--and I don't +really need to know what time it is if I start right by the clock to go +to school. I say, don't tell mother. She gave me the watch, you know, +last Christmas. Of course, you gave me the skates, but you'll +understand better than she would." + +Overholt was profoundly touched, for he knew what delight the good +skates meant in the cold weather, and the pride the boy had felt in the +silver watch that kept such excellent time. But he could not think of +much to say just then, for the sight of the poor little pile of dirty +money that was the sordid price of so much pleasure and satisfaction +half-choked him. + +"You're a brave boy," he said in a low tone. + +But Newton was indefinitely far from understanding that he had done +anything brave; he merely felt much better now, because he had confessed +and had the matter off his mind. + +"Oh well, you see, something had to be done quick," he said, "and I +couldn't think of anything else. But I'll go and earn that ten cents of +Bangs every afternoon, you bet! And I guess I can pick up a quarter at +the depôt now and then; that is, if you don't mind. It isn't much, I +know, but it'll help a little." + +"It's helped already, more than you have any idea," said Overholt. + +He remembered with bitter shame how he had completely broken down +before his son that afternoon, and how quietly the lad had gone off to +make his great sacrifice, pretending that he only wanted to see whether +the pond was freezing. + +"Well," said Newton, "I'm glad you don't think it was mean of me to go +and sell the watch mother gave me. And I'm glad you feel better. You do +feel a good deal better, don't you?" + +"A thousand times better!" answered Overholt, almost cheerfully. + +"I'm glad. Maybe you'll feel like working on the City a little after +supper." + +"I was afraid Hope had given us up to-day, and had flown away for good +and all," said the inventor. "But you've brought her home with you +again, bless you! Yes, we'll do some work after supper, and after you go +to bed I'll just have one more good evening with the Motor before I give +it up for ever." + +Newton looked up. + +"You aren't going to give it up for ever," he said in a tone of +conviction. "You can't." + +Overholt explained calmly enough that he must sell the machine for old +metal the very next day, and sell the tools too. But the boy shook his +head. + +"You'll curl up and die if you do that," he said. "Besides, if mother +were here she wouldn't let you do it, so you oughtn't to. The reason why +she's gone to be a governess is because she wouldn't let you give up the +Motor, father. You know it is." + +"Yes. It's true--but--" he hesitated. + +"You simply can't do it, that's all. So I'm perfectly certain you won't! +I believe everything will come round all right, anyway, if you only +don't worry. That's what I believe, father." + +"It's a hopeful view, at all events. The only objection to it is that +it's a good deal like dreaming, and I've no right to dream any more. +When you see that I'm going to, you must make me sit up and mind my +lesson!" + +He even laughed a little, and it was not badly done, considering that he +did it on purpose to show how he meant to make the best of it all, +though Hope would not do anything for him. He ate something too, if only +to keep the hungry boy company. + +They went into the workshop, and found the bright moonlight streaming +through the window that looked east. It fell full on the motionless +Motor, under its plate-glass case, and turned all the steel and brass to +silver and gold, and from the clean snow that covered the desolateness +of the yard outside the moon sent a white reflection upwards that +mingled with the direct moonlight in a ghostly sort of way. Newton stood +still and looked at the machine, while Overholt felt about for matches. + +"If only it would begin to move now, just of itself!" + +The man knew that it would not, and wished that the boy would not even +suggest such a thing, and he sighed as he lit the lamp. But all the same +he meant to spend half the night in taking a last farewell of the +engine, and of all the parts on which he had spent months and years, +only to let them be broken up for old metal in the end. + +The two sat down on each side of the little City and went to work to +build the railway station; and after all, when Overholt looked at the +Common and the College and remembered how happy he had been there, he +began to feel that since dreams were nothing but dreams, except that +they were a great waste of time and money, and of energy and endurance, +he might possibly find some happiness again in the old life, if he could +only get back to it. + +So Hope came back, rather bedraggled and worn out after her long +excursion, and took a very humble lodging in the little City which had +once been all hers and the capital of her kingdom. But she was there, +all the same, peeping out of a small window to see whether she would be +welcome if she went out and took a little walk in the streets. + +For the blindest of all blind people are those who have quite made up +their minds not to see; and the most miserable of all the hopeless ones +are those that wilfully turn their backs on Hope when she stands at the +next corner holding out her hand rather timidly. + +But Overholt was not one of these, and he took it gladly when it was +offered, and stood ready to be led away by a new path, which was not the +road to fame or wealth, but which might bring him to a quiet little +place where he could live in peace with those he loved, and after all +that would be a great deal. + + + + +VII + +HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY + + +A fortnight earlier Mrs. Overholt had been much disturbed in her mind, +for she read each of her husband's letters over at least three times, +and Newton's fortnightly scrawls even oftener, because it was less easy +to make them out; but she had understood one thing very well, and that +was that there was no more money for the invention, and very little cash +for the man and the boy to live on. If she had known what a dreadful +mistake John Henry had made about debit and credit, the little woman +would have been terribly anxious; but as it was, she was quite unhappy +enough. + +Overholt had written repeatedly of his attempts to raise just a little +more money with which to finish the invention, and he had explained very +clearly what there was to do, and somehow she had always believed in the +idea, because he had invented that beautiful scientific instrument with +which his name was connected, but she was almost sure that in working +out his theory he was quite on the wrong track. She did not really +understand the engine at all, but she was quite certain that when a +thing was going to succeed, it succeeded from the first, without many +hitches or drawbacks. Most women are like that. + +She had never written this to her husband, because she would do anything +rather than discourage him; but she had almost made, up her mind to +write him a letter of good advice at last, begging him to go back to +teaching for the present, and only to work at the invention in his spare +time. Just then, however, she came across a paragraph in a German +newspaper in Munich which said that a great scientific man in Berlin had +completed an air-motor at last, after years of study, and that it worked +tolerably, enough to demonstrate the principle, but could never be of +any practical use because the chemical product on which it ultimately +depended was so enormously expensive. + +Now Mrs. Overholt knew one thing certainly about her husband's engine, +namely, that the chemical he meant to use cost next to nothing, so that +if the principle were sound, the Motor would turn out to be the cheapest +in existence; and she was a practical person, like her boy Newton. + +Moreover, she loved John Henry with all her heart and soul, and thought +him one of the greatest geniuses in the world, and she simply could not +bear the idea that he should not have a fair chance to finish the +machine and try it. + +Lastly, Christmas was coming; the girls she was educating talked of +nothing else, and counted the days, and sat up half the night on the +edges of each other's beds discussing the beautiful presents they were +sure to receive; and a great deal might be written about what they said, +but it has nothing to do with this story, except that their chatter +helped to fill the air with the Christmas spirit, and with thoughts of +giving as well as of receiving. Though they were rather spoiled +children, they were generous too, and they laid all sorts of little +traps in order to find out what their governess would like best from +each of them, for they were fond of her in their way. + +Also, Munich is one of the castles which King Christmas still holds in +absolute sway and calls his own, and long before he is really awake +after his long rest he begins to stir and laugh in his sleep, and the +jolly colour creeps up and spreads over his old cheeks before he thinks +of opening his eyes, much less of getting up and putting on his crown. +And now that he was waking, Helen Overholt felt the old loving longing +for her dear ones rising to her womanly heart, and she planned little +plans for another and a happier year to come, and meanwhile she bought +two or three little gifts to send to the cottage in far Connecticut. + +But when she had read about the Berlin professor and his motor and +thought of her own John Henry making bricks without straw and bearing up +bravely against disappointment, and still writing so cheerfully and +hopefully in spite of everything, she simply could not stand it another +day. As I have said, King Christmas turned over just before waking, and +he put out a big generous hand in his sleep and laid it on her heart. +Whenever he does that to anybody, man, woman, or child, a splendid +longing seizes them to give all they have to the one child, or woman, or +man that each loves best, or to the being of all others that is most in +need, or to help the work which seems to each of them the noblest and +the best, if they are grown up and are lonely. + +This is what happened to Helen Overholt, in spite of her good sense and +all her practical resolutions. As long as she had anything to give, John +Henry should have it and be happy, and succeed, if success were +possible. She had saved most of her salary for a long time past, +spending as little as she well could on herself. He should have it all, +for love's sake, and because she believed in him, and because Christmas +was waking up, and had laid his great affectionate old hand on her. + +So it came to pass that when Overholt was pottering over the beautiful +motionless Motor, late at night, sure that it would work if he had a +little more money, but still more sure that it must be sold for old +metal the next morning, to buy bread for the boy, even at that hour +help was near, and from the hand he loved best in the world, which would +make it ten thousand times sweeter when it reached him. + +It was going to be an awful wrench to give up the invention, for now, at +the moment of abandoning it, he saw, or thought he saw, that he was +right at last, and that it could not fail. It was useless to try it as +it was, yet he would, just once more. He adjusted the tangent-balance +and the valves; he put in the supply of the chemical with the long name +and screwed down the hermetic plug. With the small hand air-pump he +produced the first vacuum which was necessary; all was ready, every +joint and stuffing-box was lubricated, the spring of the balance was +adjusted to a nicety. But the engine would not start, though he turned +the fly-wheel with his hand again and again, as if to encourage it. Of +course it would not turn alone! He understood perfectly that the one +piece on which all depended must be made over again, exactly the other +way. That was all! + +There was the wooden model of it, all ready for the foundry that would +not cast it for nothing. If only the wooden piece would serve for a +moment's trial! But he knew that this was folly; it would not stand the +enormous strain an instant, and the joints could not possibly be made +air-tight. + +He was utterly worn out by all he had been through during the long day, +and he fell asleep in his chair towards morning, his head on his breast, +his feet struck out straight before him, one arm hanging down beside him +and his other hand thrust into his pocket. He looked more like a shabby +lay figure stuffed with sawdust than like a living man. If Newton had +come down and found him lying there under the lamplight he would have +started back and shuddered, and waited a while before he could find +courage to come nearer. + +But the man was only very sound asleep, and he did not wake till the +December dawn gleamed through the clear winter's sky and made the +artificial light look dim and smoky; and when he opened his eyes it was +he himself who started to find himself there in the cold before his +great failure, in broad daylight. + +Nevertheless, he had slept soundly, and felt better able to face all the +trouble that was in store for him. He stirred the embers in the stove, +put in some kindling and a supply of coal, and warmed himself, still +heavy with sleep, and glad to waken consciously, by degrees, and to feel +that his resolution was not going to break down. + +When he felt quite himself he left the room and went upstairs +cautiously, lest he should wake the boy, though it was really time to +get up, and Newton was already dressing. + +"I'll walk into town with you," said Overholt when they were at +breakfast in the parlour. "It will do me good to get some air, and I +must see about selling those things. There's no time to be lost." + +Newton swallowed his hominy and bread and butter and milk, and reflected +on the futility of the sacrifice he had made, since his father insisted +on selling everything for old metal; but he said nothing, because he was +dreadfully disappointed. + +Near the town they met the postman. As a rule Barbara got the mail when +she went to market, and Overholt was not even going to ask the man if +there were any letters for him. But the postman stopped him. There was +one from his wife, and it was registered. He signed the little receipt +for it, the man passed them on his rounds, and they slackened their +pace as Overholt broke the seal. + +He uttered a loud exclamation when he had glanced at the contents, and +he stood still in the road. Newton stared at him in surprise. + +"A thousand dollars!" he cried, overcome with amazement. "A thousand +dollars! Oh, Helen, Helen--you've saved my life!" + +He got to the side of the road and leaned against the fence, clutching +the letter and the draft in his hand, and gazing into his son's face, +half crazy with delight. + +"She's saved it all for me, boy. Do you understand? Your mother has +saved all her salary for the Motor, and here it is! Look at it, look at +it! It's success, it's fame, it's fortune for us all! Oh, if she were +only here!" + +Newton understood and rejoiced. He forgot his poor little attempt to +help, and his own disappointment, and everything except the present +glorious truth--not unadorned by the pleasant vision of the Christmas +turkey, vast now, and smoking, and flanked by perfect towers of stiff +cranberry jelly, ever so much better than mere liquid cranberry sauce; +in the middle distance, behind the noble dish, a noble pyramid of +ice-cream raised its height, and yellow cream-cakes rose beyond, like +many little suns on the far horizon. In that first moment of delight +there was almost a Christmas tree, and the mother's face beside it; but +that was too much; they faded, and the rest remained, no mean forecast +of a jolly time. + +"That's perfectly grand!" Newton cried when he got his breath after his +surprise at the announcement. "Besides, I told you so. What did I say? +She wouldn't let you give up the Motor! I knew she wouldn't! Who's right +now, father? That's something like what I call a mother! But then she +always was!" + +He was slightly incoherent, but that did not matter at all. Nothing +mattered. In his young beatific vision he saw the bright wheel going +round and round in a perfect storm of turkeys, and it was all his +mother's doing. + +Overholt only half heard, for he had been reading the letter; the letter +of a loving wife who believes in her husband and gives him all she has +for his work, with every hope, every encouragement, and every blessing +and Christmas wish. + +"There's no time to be lost!" Overholt said, repeating the words he had +spoken in a very different mood and tone half an hour earlier. "I won't +walk on with you, my boy, for I must go back and get the wooden model +for the foundry. They'll do it for me now, fast enough! And I can pay +what I owe at the bank, and there will be plenty left over for your +Christmas too!" + +"Oh, bother my Christmas, father!" answered Newton with a fine +indifference which he did not feel. "The Motor's the thing! I want to +see that wheel go round for a Christmas present!" + +"It will! It shall! It must! I promise you that!" The man was almost +beside himself with joy. + +No misgiving disturbed him. He had the faith that tosses mountains aside +like pebbles, now that the means were in his hand. He had the little +fulcrum for his lever, which was all Archimedes required to move the +world. He had in him the certainty of being right that has sent millions +of men to glory or destruction. + +That day was one of the happiest in all his life, either before or, +afterwards. He could have believed that he had fallen asleep at the +moment when he had quite broken down, and that a hundred years of change +had glided by, like a watch in the night, when he opened his wife's +letter and wakened in a blaze of joy and hope and glorious activity. +Nothing he could remember of that kind could compare with his pride and +honourable satisfaction when he walked into the bank two hours +afterwards, with his head high, and said he should be glad to take up +the note he had signed yesterday and have the balance of the cheque +placed to his credit; and few surprises which the partner who had +obliged him could recollect, had equalled that worthy gentleman's +amazement when the debt was paid so soon. + +"If you had only told me that you would be in funds so soon, Mr. +Overholt," he said, "I should not have thought of troubling you. Here is +your note. Will you kindly look at it and tear it up?" + +"I did not know," answered Overholt, doing as he was told. + +It is a curious fact that the little note lay in a locked drawer of the +partner's magnificent table, instead of being put away in the safe with +other and larger notes, where it belonged. It may seem still stranger +that, on the books, Overholt's account showed that it had been balanced +by a deposit exactly equal to the deficit, made by the partner himself, +instead of by crediting the amount of the note. But Overholt never knew +this, for a pass-book had always been a mystery to him, and made his +head ache. The banker had thought of his face some time after he had +gone out with his battered umbrella and his shabby shoulders rounded as +under a burden, and somehow the Christmas spirit must have come in +quietly and touched the rich man too, though even the stenographer did +not see what happened. For he had once been in terrible straits himself, +a quarter of a century ago, and some one had helped him just in time, +and he knew what it meant to slink out of a big bank, in shabby clothes, +his back bowed under the heavy weight of debt and failure. + +Overholt never knew; but he expressed his warm thanks for what now +seemed a small favour, and with his wooden model of the casting, done up +in brown paper, under his arm, he went off to the foundry in Long +Island. + +Much careful work had been done for him there, and the people were +willing to oblige him, and promised that the piece should certainly be +ready before Christmas Day, and as much earlier as possible, and should +be made with the greatest exactness which the most precise machinery and +the most careful work could ensure. + +This being settled, Overholt returned to New York and went to two or +three places in the Bowery, well known to him, where he bought certain +fine tools and pieces of the most perfectly turned steel spring, and +several other small objects, which he needed for the construction of the +new tangent-balance he had to make for the reversed curve. Finally, he +bought a silver watch like the one Newton had sold, and a new pair of +skates, presents which the boy certainly deserved, and which would make +a very good show at Christmas, when they were to be produced. He felt as +if he had come into a large fortune. + +Moreover, when he got out of the train at his own station he went into +the town, and ordered beforehand the good things for the feast, though +there were three weeks still, and he wanted to pay for them in advance, +because he felt inside of himself that no one could be quite sure of +what might happen in twenty-one days; but the dealers flatly refused to +take his money, though they told him what the things would cost. Then +Overholt did almost the only prudent thing he had done in his life, for +he took the necessary money and five dollars more and sealed it up in an +envelope, which he put away in a safe place. The only difficulty would +lie in remembering where the place was, so he told Newton about it, and +the boy wrote it down on a piece of paper which he pinned up in his own +room, where he could see it. There was nothing like making sure of that +turkey, he thought. And I may as well say at once that in this matter, +at least, no untoward accident occurred, and the money was actually +there at the appointed time. What happened was something quite +different, and much more unexpected, not to say extraordinary and even +amazing; and in spite of all that, it will not take very long to tell. + +Meanwhile, before it happened, Overholt and the boy were perfectly +happy. All day long the inventor worked at the tangent-balance, till he +had brought it to such perfection that it would be affected by a +variation of one-tenth of one second in the aggregate speed of ten +revolutions, and an increase or decrease of a tenth of a grain in the +weight of the volume of the compressed air. It was so sensitive that +John Henry and Newton trod cautiously on the floor of the workshop so as +not to set it vibrating under the glass clock-shade, where it was kept +safe from dust and dampness. + +After it had been placed there to wait for the casting, the inventor +took the engine to pieces and made the small changes that would be +necessary before finally putting it together again, which would probably +occupy two days. + +Meanwhile the little City of Hope grew rapidly, and was becoming an +important centre of civilisation and commerce, though it was only made +of paper and chips, and bits of matchboxes and odds and ends cleverly +put together with glue and painted; except the people in the street. For +it was inhabited now, and though the men and women did not move about, +they looked as if they might, if they were only bigger. Overholt had +seen the population in the window of a German toy-shop one day when he +was in New York to get a new crocusing wheel for polishing some of the +small parts of the engine. They were the smallest doll-people he had +ever seen, and were packed by dozens and dozens in Nuremberg toy-boxes, +and cost very little, so he bought a quantity of them. At first Newton +rather resented them, just because they were only toys, but his father +explained to him that models of human figures were almost necessary to +models of buildings, to give an idea of the population, and that when +architects make coloured sketches of projected houses, they generally +draw in one or two people for that reason; and this was perfectly +satisfactory to the boy, and saved his dignity from the slight it would +have suffered if he had been actually seen amusing himself with mere +playthings. + +Overholt was divinely happy in anticipation of the final success that +was so near, and in the daily work that was making it more and more a +certainty, as he thought; and then, when the day was over, he was just +as happy with the little City, which was being decorated for Christmas, +with wreaths in the windows of the houses, and a great many more +holly-trees than had at first been thought of, and numberless little +Christmas booths round the common, like those in Avenue A, south of +Tompkins Square, in New York, which make you fancy you are in Munich or +Prague if you go and see them at the right hour on Christmas Eve. + +Before long Overholt received a short note from the President of his old +College, simply saying that the latter knew of no opening at present, +but would bear him in mind. But that did not matter now. + +So the two spent their time very pleasantly during the next weeks; but +though Overholt was so hopeful and delighted with his work, he knew that +he was becoming nervous and overwrought by the great anticipation, and +that he could not stand such a strain very long. + +Then, two days before Christmas, he received a note saying that the new +piece was finished and had been sent to him by express. That was almost +too much happiness to bear, and when he found the heavy case at the +station the next morning, and got it put on a cart, his heart was doing +queer things, and he was as white as a sheet. + + + + +VIII + +HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST + + +The hush of Christmas Eve lay upon the tumble-down cottage, and on the +soft fresh snow outside, and the lamps were burning quietly in the +workshop, where father and son were sitting before the finished Motor. + +The little City was there too, but not between them now, though Newton +had taken off its brown paper cover in honour of the great event which +was about to take place. + +In order to be doubly sure of the result, and dreading even the +possibility of a little disappointment, Overholt had decided that he +would subject the only chemical substance which the machine consumed to +a final form of refinement by heat, melting, boiling and cooling it, all +of which would require an hour or more before it was quite ready. He +felt like a man who is going to risk his life over a precipice, trusting +to a single rope for safety; that one rope must not be even a little +chafed; if possible each strand must be perfect in itself, and all the +strands must be laid up without a fault. Of the rest, of the machine +itself, Overholt felt absolutely sure; yet although a slight impurity in +the chemical could certainly not hinder the whole from working, it might +interfere with the precision of the revolutions, or even cause the +engine to stop after a few hours instead of going on indefinitely, as +long as the supply of the substance produced the alternate disturbance +of equilibrium which was the main principle on which the machine +depended. + +That sweetly prophetic evening silence, before the great feast of Good +Will, does not come over everything each year, even in a lonely cottage +in an abandoned farm in Connecticut, than which you cannot possibly +imagine anything more silent or more remote from the noise of the world. +Sometimes it rains in torrents just on that night, sometimes it blows a +raging gale that twists the leafless birches and elms and hickory trees +like dry grass and bends the dark firs and spruces as if they were +feathers, and you can hardly be heard unless you shout, for the howling +and screaming and whistling of the blast. + +But now and then, once in four or five years perhaps, the feathery snow +lies a foot deep, fresh-fallen, on the still country-side and in the +woods; and the waxing moon sheds her large light on all, and Nature +holds her breath to wait for the happy day, and tries to sleep but +cannot, from sheer happiness and peace. Indoors the fire is glowing on +the wide hearth, a great bed of coals that will last all night, because +it is not bitter weather, but only clear and cold and still, as it +should be; or if there is only a poor stove, like Overholt's, the wide +door is open, and a comfortable and cheery red light shines out from +within upon the battered iron plate and the wooden floor beyond; and the +older people sit round it, not saying much, but thinking with their +hearts rather than with their heads; but small boys and girls know that +interesting things have been happening in the kitchen all the afternoon, +and are rather glad that the supper was not very good, because there +will be the more room for good things to-morrow; and the grown-ups and +the children have made up any little differences of opinion they may +have had before supper-time, because Good Will must reign, and reign +alone, like Alexander; so that there is nothing at all to regret, and +nothing hurts anybody any more, and they are all happy in just wishing +for King Christmas to open the door softly and make them all great +people in his kingdom. But if it is the right sort of house, he is +already looking in through the window, to be sure that every one is all +ready for him, and that nothing has been forgotten. + +Now, although Overholt's cottage was a miserable place for a professor +who had lived very comfortably and well in a College town, and although +the thirteen-year-old boy could remember several pretty trees, lighted +up with coloured candles and gleaming with tinsel and gilt apples, they +both felt that this was going to be the greatest Christmas in their +lives, because the motionless Motor was going to move, and that would +mean everything--most of all to both of them, the end of the mother's +exile, and her speedy home-coming. Therefore neither said anything for a +long time while the chemical stuff was slowly warming itself and +getting ready, inside a big iron pot, of which the cover was screwed on +with a high-temperature thermometer sealed in it, and which stood on the +top of the stove where Overholt could watch the scale. + +He would really have preferred to be alone for the first trial, but it +was utterly impossible to think of sending the boy to bed. He was sure +of success, it is true, yet he would far rather have been left to +himself till that success was no longer in the future, but present; then +at last, even if Newton had been asleep, he would have waked him and +brought him downstairs again to see his triumph. The lad's presence made +him nervous, and suggested a failure which was all but impossible. More +than once he was on the point of trying to explain this to Newton, but +when he glanced at the young face he could not find it in his heart to +speak. If he only asked the boy, as a kindness, to go into the next room +for five minutes while the machine was being started, he knew what would +happen. Newton would go quietly, without a word, and wait till he was +called; but half his Christmas would be spoilt by the disappointment he +would try hard to hide. Had they not suffered together, and had not the +boy sacrificed the best of his small possessions, dearly treasured, to +help in their joint distress? It would be nothing short of brutal to +deprive him of the first moment of triumphant surprise, that was going +to mean so much hereafter. Yet the inventor would have given anything to +be alone. He was overwrought by the long strain that had so often seemed +unbearable, and when the liquid that was heating had reached the right +temperature and the iron pot had to be taken off the stove, his hands +shook so that he nearly dropped it; but Newton did not see that. + +"It's wonderful how everything has come out just right!" the boy +exclaimed as he looked at the machine. "Out of your three wishes you'll +get two, father, for the wheel will go round and I'm going to have a +regular old patent, double-barrelled Christmas with a gilt edge!" His +similes were mixed, but effective in their way. "And you'll probably get +the other wish in half a shake now, for mother'll come right home, won't +she?" + +"If the trial succeeds," Overholt said, still instinctively seeking to +forestall a disappointment he did not expect. "Nothing is a fact until +it has happened, you know!" + +"Well," said Newton, "if I had anything to bet with, and somebody to bet +against, I'd bet, that's all. But I haven't. It's a pity too, now that +everything's coming out right. Do you remember how we were trying to +make bricks without straw less than a month ago, father? It didn't look +just then as if we were going to have a roaring old Christmas this year, +did it?" + +He chattered on happily, looking at the Motor all the time, and Overholt +tried to smile and answered him with a word or two now and then, though +he was becoming more and more nervous as the minutes passed and the +supreme moment came nearer. In his own mind he was going over the simple +operations he had to perform to start the engine; yet easy as they were +he was afraid that he might make some fatal mistake. He did not let +himself think of failure; he did not dare to wonder how he should tell +his wife if anything went wrong and all her hard-saved earnings were +lost in the general ruin that must follow if the thing would not move. +There was next to nothing left of what she had sent, now that +everything was paid for; it would support him and the boy for a month, +if so long, but certainly no more. + +He was ready at last, but, strange to say, he would gladly have put off +the great moment for half an hour now that there was no reason for +waiting another moment. He sat down again in his chair and folded his +hands. + +"Aren't you going to begin, father?" asked Newton. "What are you waiting +for?" + +Overholt pulled himself together, rose with a pale face, and laid his +shaking hands on the heavy plate-glass case. It moved upwards by its +chain and counterpoise, almost at a touch, till it was near the low +ceiling, quite clear of the machine. + +He was very slow in doing what was still necessary, and the boy watched +him in breathless suspense, for he had seen other trials that had +failed--more than two or three, perhaps half a dozen. Every one who has +lived with an inventor, even a boy, has learned to expect disappointment +as inevitable; only the seeker himself is confident up to a certain +point, and then his own hand trembles, when the moment of trial is +come. + +Overholt poured the chemical into the chamber at the base, screwed down +the air-tight plug, and opened the communication between the reservoir +and the machine. Then he took out his watch and waited four minutes, +that being twice the time he had ascertained to be necessary for a +sufficient quantity of the liquid to penetrate into the distributors +beyond. He next worked the hand air-pump, keeping his eye on the vacuum +gauge, and lastly, as soon as the needle marked the greatest exhaustion +he knew to be obtainable, he moved the starting lever to the proper +position, and then stepped back to watch the result. + +For a moment, in the joy of anticipation, a strange light illuminated +his face, his lips parted as in a foretasted wonder, and he forgot even +to drop the hand he had just withdrawn. The boy held his breath +unconsciously till he was nearly dizzy. + +Then a despairing cry burst from the wretched man's lips, he threw up +his hands as if he had been shot through the heart, and stumbled +backwards. + +The Motor stood still, motionless as ever, and gleaming under the +brightly shining lamps. + +"Oh, Helen! God forgive me!" + +With the words he fell heavily to the floor, and lay there, a nerveless, +breathless heap. Newton was kneeling beside him in an instant. + +"Father!" cried the boy in agony, bending over the still white face. +"Father! Speak to me! You can't be dead--you can't--" + +In his mortal terror the lad held each breath till it seemed as if his +head must burst, then breathed once and shut his lips again with all his +strength. Some instinct made him lay his ear to the man's chest to +listen for the beatings of his heart, but he could hear nothing. + +Half-suffocated with sudden mingled grief and fright, he straightened +himself on his knees and looked up at the cursed machine that had +wrought such awful destruction. + +Then he in turn uttered a cry, but it was low and full of wonder, long +drawn out and trembling as the call of a frightened young wild animal. + +The thing was moving, steadily, noiselessly moving in the bright light; +the double levers worked like iron jaws opening and shutting regularly, +the little valve-rods rose and sank, and the heavy wheel whirled round +and round. The boy was paralysed with amazement, and for ten seconds he +forgot that he was kneeling beside his father's fallen body on the +floor; then he felt it against him and it was no longer quite still. + +Overholt groaned and turned upon his side as his senses slowly came back +and his agony tortured him to life again. Instantly the boy bent over +him. + +"Father! It's going! Wake up, father! The wheel's going round at last!" + + + + +IX + +HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE + + +When Overholt understood what he heard, he opened his eyes and looked up +into his son's face, moving his head mournfully from side to side as it +lay on the boards. But suddenly he caught sight of the engine. He gasped +for breath, his jaw dropped, and his eyes were starting from their +sockets as he struggled to get up with the boy's help. + +His voice came with a sort of rasping scream that did not sound human, +and then broke into wild laughter, interrupted by broken words. + +"Mad!" he cried. "I knew it--it had to come--my boy--help me to get away +from that thing--I'm raving mad--I see it moving--" + +"But it really is moving, father! Wake up! Look at it! The wheel is +going round and round!" + +Then Overholt was silent, sitting up on the floor and leaning against +his arm. Slowly he realised that he was in his senses, and that the +dream of long years had come true. Not a sound broke the stillness, so +perfect was the machinery, except a kind of very soft hum made by the +heavy fly-wheel revolving in the air. + +"Are you sure, boy? Aren't we dreaming?" he asked in a low tone. + +"It's going like clock-work, as sure as you're born," the lad answered. +"I think your falling down shook it up and started it. That was all it +wanted." + +The inventor got up slowly, first upon his knees, at last to his feet, +never once taking his eyes from the beautiful engine. He went close to +it, and put out his hand, till he felt the air thrown off by the wheel, +and he gently touched the smooth, swift-turning rim with one finger, +incredulous still. + +"There's no doubt about it," he said at last, yielding to the evidence +of touch and sight. "It works, and it works to perfection. If it +doesn't stop soon, it will go on for twenty-four hours!" + +Almost as much overcome by joy as he had been by despair, he let himself +sink into his seat. + +"Get me that tea-bottle," he said unsteadily. "Quick! I feel as if I +were going to faint again!" + +The draught he swallowed steadied his nerves, and then he sat a long +time quite silent in his unutterable satisfaction, and Newton stood +beside him watching the moving levers, the rising and sinking valve +rods, and the steadily whirling wheel. + +"She did it, my boy," Overholt said at last, very softly. "Your mother +did it! Without her help the Motor would have been broken up for old +metal three weeks ago." + +"It's something like a Christmas present," Newton answered. "But then I +always said she wouldn't let you give it up. Do you know, father, when +you fell just now, I thought you were dead, you looked just awful! And +it was quite a long time before I saw that the Motor was moving. And +then, when I did see it, and thought you were dead--well, I can't tell +you--" + +"Poor little chap! But it's all right now, my boy, and I haven't spoilt +your Christmas, after all!" + +"Not quite!" + +Newton laughed joyfully, and, turning round, he saw the little City +smiling on its board in the strong light, with the tiny red and green +wreaths in the windows and the pretty booths, and the crowds of little +people buying Christmas presents at them. + +"They're going to have a pretty good time in the City too," the boy +observed. "They know just as well as we do that Hope has come to stay +now!" + +But Overholt did not hear. Silent and rapt he sat in his old Shaker +rocking-chair gazing steadily at the great success of his life, that was +moving ceaselessly before his eyes, where motionless failure had sat +mocking him but a few minutes ago; and as the wheel whirled steadily +round and round, throwing off a little breeze like a fan, the cruel past +was wafted away like a mist by a morning wind, and the bright future +floated in and filled its place altogether and more also, as daylight +shows the distance which was all hidden from us by the close darkness +we groped in before it rose. + +Overholt sat still, and saw, and wondered, and little by little the +wheel and the soft vision of near happiness hypnotised him, for his body +and brain were weary beyond words to tell, so that all at once his eyes +were shut and he was sleeping like a child, as happy in dreamland as he +had just been awake; and happier far, for there was a dear presence with +him now, a hand he loved lay quietly in his, and he heard a sweet low +voice that was far away. + +The boy saw, and understood, for ever since he had been very small he +had been taught that he must not wake his father, who slept badly at all +times, and little or not at all when he was anxious. So Newton would not +disturb him now, and at once formed a brave resolution to sit bolt +upright all night, if necessary, for fear of making any noise. Besides, +he did not feel at all sleepy. There was the Motor to look at, and there +was Christmas to think of, and it was bright and clear outside where the +snow was like silver, under the young moon. He could look out of the +window as he sat, or at his father, or at the beautiful moving engine, +or at the little City of Hope, all without doing more than just turning +his head. + +To tell the truth, it was not really a great sacrifice he was making, +for if there is anything that strikes a boy of thirteen as more wildly +exciting than anything else in the world, it is to sit up all night +instead of going to bed like a Christian child; moreover, the workshop +was warm, and his own room would be freezing cold, and he was so well +used to the vile odour of the chemical stuff, that he did not notice it +at all. It was even said to be healthy to breathe the fumes of it, as +the air of a tannery is good for the lungs, or even London coal smoke. + +But it is one thing to resolve to keep awake, even with many delightful +things to think about; it is quite another to keep one's eyes open when +they are quite sure that they ought to be shut, and that you ought to be +tucked up in bed. The boy found it so, and in less than half an hour his +arm had got across the back of the chair, his cheek was resting on it +quite comfortably, and he was in dreamland with his father, and quite as +perfectly happy. + +So the two slept in their chairs under the big bright lamps; and while +they rested the Air-Motor worked silently, hour after hour, and the +heavy wheel whirled steadily on its axle, and only its soft and drowsy +humming was heard in the still air. + +That was the most refreshing sleep Overholt remembered for a long time. +When he stirred at last and opened his eyes, he did not even know that +he had slept, and forgot that he had closed his eyes when he saw the +engine moving. He thought it was still nine o'clock in the evening, and +that the boy might as well finish his little nap where he was, before +going to bed. Newton might sleep till ten o'clock if he liked. + +The lamps burned steadily, for they held enough oil to last sixteen +hours when the winter darkness is longest, and they had not been lighted +till after supper. + +But all at once Overholt was aware of a little change in the colour of +things, and he slowly rubbed his eyes and looked about him, and towards +the window. The moon had set long ago; there was a grey light on the +snow outside and in the clear air, and Overholt knew that it was the +dawn. He looked at his watch then, and it was nearly seven o'clock; for +in New York and Connecticut, as you may see by your pocket calendar, the +sun rises at twenty-three minutes past seven on Christmas morning. + +He sprang to his feet in astonishment, and at the sound Newton awoke and +looked up in blank and sleepy surprise. + +"Merry Christmas, my boy!" cried Overholt, and he laughed happily. + +"Not yet," answered Newton in a disappointed tone, and rubbing his arm, +which was stiff. "I've got to go to bed first, I suppose." + +"Oh no! You and I have slept in our chairs all night and the sun is +rising, so it's merry Christmas in earnest! And the Motor is running +still, after nine or ten hours. What a sleep we've had!" + +The boy looked out of the window stupidly, and vaguely wished that his +father would not make fun of him. Then he saw the dawn, and jumped up in +wild delight. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Merry Christmas! Hurrah! hurrah!" If anything +could make that morning happier than it had promised to be, it was to +have actually cheated bed for the first time in his life. + +They were gloriously happy, as people have a right to be, and should +be, when they have been living in all sorts of trouble, with a great +purpose before them, and have won through and got all they hoped for, if +not quite all they could have wished--because there is absolutely no +limit to wishing if you let it go on. + +The people watched them curiously in church, for they looked so happy; +and for a long time the man's expression had always been anxious, if it +had no longer been sad of late, and the boy's young face had been +preternaturally grave; yet every one saw that neither of them even had a +new coat for Christmas Day, and that both needed one pretty badly. But +no one thought the worse of them for that, and in the generous Good Will +that was everywhere that morning everybody was glad to see that every +one else looked happy. + +In due time the two got home again; the Motor was still working to +perfection, as if nothing could ever stop it again, and Overholt oiled +the bearings carefully, passed a leather over the fixed parts, and +examined the whole machine minutely before sitting down to the feast, +while Newton stood beside him, looking on and hoping that he would not +be long. + +The boy had his new watch in his pocket, and it told him that it was +time for that turkey at last, and his new skates were in the parlour, +and there was splendid ice on the pond where the boys had cleared away +the snow, and it was the most perfect Christmas weather that ever was; +and in order to enjoy everything it would be necessary to get to work +soon. + +The two were before the Air-Motor, turning their backs to the door; and +they heard it open quietly, for old Barbara always came to call Overholt +to his meals, because he was very apt to forget them. + +"We are just coming," he said, without turning round. But the boy +turned, for he was hungry for the good things; and suddenly a perfect +yell of joy rent the air, and he dashed forward as Overholt turned sharp +round. + +"Mother!" + +"Helen!" + +And there she was, instead of in Munich. For the rich people she was +with had happily smashed their automobile without hurting themselves, +and had taken a fancy to spend Christmas at home; and, after the manner +of very rich people, they had managed everything in a moment, had picked +up their children and the governess, had just caught the fastest steamer +afloat at Cherbourg, and had arrived in New York late on Christmas Eve. +And Helen Overholt had taken the earliest train that she could manage to +get ready for, and had come out directly to surprise her two in their +lonely cottage. + +So John Henry Overholt had his three wishes after all on Christmas Day. +And everybody had helped to bring it all about, even Mr. Burnside, who +had said that Hope was cheap and that there was plenty of it to be had. + +But as for the little Christmas City in which Hope had dwelt and waited +so long, they all three put the last touches to it together, and carried +it with them when they went back to the College town, where they felt +that they would be happier than anywhere else in the world, even if they +were to grow very rich, which seems quite likely now. + +That is how it all happened. + + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +THE NOVELS OF + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + +_Crown 8vo. 6s._ + +ARETHUSA. +A LADY OF ROME. + +_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ + +MR. ISAACS: A TALE OF MODERN INDIA. +DR. CLAUDIUS: A TRUE STORY. +ROMAN SINGER. +ZOROASTER. +TALE OF A LONELY PARISH. +MARZIO'S CRUCIFIX. +PAUL PATOFF. +WITH THE IMMORTALS. +GREIFENSTEIN. +SANT' ILARIO. +CIGARETTE-MAKER'S ROMANCE. +KHALED: A TALE OF ARABIA. +WITCH OF PRAGUE. +THREE FATES. +DON ORSINO. +CHILDREN OF THE KING. + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + +THE NOVELS OF F. MARION CRAWFORD + + +_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ + +PIETRO GHISLERI. +MARION DARCHE: A STORY WITHOUT COMMENT. +KATHARINE LAUDERDALE. +RALSTONS. +CASA BRACCIO. +ADAM JOHNSTONE'S SON. +TAQUISARA. A NOVEL. +ROSE OF YESTERDAY. +CORLEONE. +VIA CRUCIS: A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE. +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING. +MARIETTA: A MAID OF VENICE. +CECILIA: A STORY OF MODERN ROME. +THE HEART OF ROME. +WHOSOEVER SHALL OFFEND... +SOPRANO: A PORTRAIT. + +_Pott 8vo. 2s. net._ + +MAN OVERBOARD! + + +_Fcap. 8vo. 2s._ + +LOVE IN IDLENESS. A BAR HARBOUR TALE. + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little City Of Hope, by F. Marion Crawford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE *** + +***** This file should be named 14526-8.txt or 14526-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/2/14526/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Marion Crawford. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span {display: block; margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + span.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little City Of Hope, by F. Marion Crawford + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little City Of Hope + A Christmas Story + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: December 30, 2004 [EBook #14526] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="The" id="The" />The</h2> + +<h1>Little City of Hope</h1> + +<h2>A CHRISTMAS STORY</h2> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>F. MARION CRAWFORD</h2> + + + +<h4>MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED</h4> + +<h4>ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON</h4> + +<h4>1907</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h4><a name="Copyright_in_the_United_States_America_1907" id="Copyright_in_the_United_States_America_1907" /><i>Copyright in the United States America, 1907</i></h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS" />CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<center> +<p> +<a href="#I"><b>I</b></a> HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX<br /> + <a href="#II"><b>II</b></a> HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE<br /> + <a href="#III"><b>III</b></a> HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW<br /> + <a href="#IV"><b>IV</b></a> HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY<br /> + <a href="#V"><b>V</b></a> HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF<br /> + <a href="#VI"><b>VI</b></a> HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX<br /> + <a href="#VII"><b>VII</b></a> HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY<br /> + <a href="#VIII"><b>VIII</b></a> HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST<br /> + <a href="#IX"><b>IX</b></a> HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE<br /> + </p> +</center> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I" />I</h2> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> +<h2>HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX</h2> + + +<p>"Hope is very cheap. There's always plenty of it about."</p> + +<p>"Fortunately for poor men. Good morning."</p> + +<p>With this mild retort and civil salutation John Henry Overholt rose and +went towards the door, quite forgetting to shake hands with Mr. +Burnside, though the latter made a motion to do so. Mr. Burnside always +gave his hand in a friendly way, even when he had flatly refused to do +what people had asked of him. It was cheap; so he gave it.</p> + +<p>But he was not pleased when they did not take it, for whatever he chose +to give seemed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span>of some value to him as soon as it was offered; even his +hand. Therefore, when his visitor forgot to take it, out of pure absence +of mind, he was offended, and spoke to him sharply before he had time to +leave the private office.</p> + +<p>"You need not go away like that, Mr. Overholt, without shaking hands."</p> + +<p>The visitor stopped and turned back at once. He was thin and rather +shabbily dressed. I know many poor men who are fat, and some who dress +very well; but this was not that kind of poor man.</p> + +<p>"Excuse me," he said mildly. "I didn't mean to be rude. I quite forgot."</p> + +<p>He came back, and Mr. Burnside shook hands with becoming coldness, as +having just given a lesson in manners. He was not a bad man, nor a +miser, nor a Scrooge, but he was a great stickler for manners, +especially with people who had nothing to give him. Besides, he had +already lent Overholt money; or, to put it nicely, he had invested a +little in his invention, and he did not see any reason why he should +invest any more until it succeeded. Overholt called it selling shares, +but Mr. Burnside called it borrowing money. Overholt was sure that if he +could raise more <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span>funds, not much more, he could make a success of the +"Air-Motor"; Mr. Burnside was equally sure that nothing would ever come +of it. They had been explaining their respective points of view to each +other, and in sheer absence of mind Overholt had forgotten to shake +hands.</p> + +<p>Mr. Burnside had no head for mechanics, but Overholt had already made an +invention which was considered very successful, though he had got little +or nothing for it. The mechanic who had helped him in its construction +had stolen his principal idea before the device was patented, and had +taken out a patent for a cheap little article which every one at once +used, and which made a fortune for him. Overholt's instrument took its +place in every laboratory in the world; but the mechanic's labour-saving +utensil took its place in every house. It was on the strength of the +valuable tool of science that Mr. Burnside had invested two thousand +dollars in the Air-Motor without really having the smallest idea whether +it was to be a machine that would move the air, or was to be moved by +it. A number of business men had done the same thing.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span>Then, at a political dinner in a club, three of the investors had dined +at the same small table, and in an interval between the dull speeches, +one of the three told the others that he had looked into the invention +and that there was nothing in Overholt's motor after all. Overholt was +crazy.</p> + +<p>"It's like this," he had said. "You know how a low-pressure engine acts; +the steam does a part of the work and the weight of the atmosphere does +the rest. Now this man Overholt thinks he can make the atmosphere do +both parts of the work with no steam at all, and as that's absurd, of +course, he won't get any more of my money. It's like getting into a +basket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles."</p> + +<p>Each of the two hearers repeated this simple demonstration to at least a +dozen acquaintances, who repeated it to dozens of others; and after that +John Henry Overholt could not raise another dollar to complete the +Air-Motor.</p> + +<p>Mr. Burnside's refusal had been definite and final, and he had been the +last to whom the investor had applied, merely because he was undoubtedly +the most close-fisted man <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span>of business of all who had invested in the +invention.</p> + +<p>Overholt saw failure before him at the very moment of success, with the +not quite indifferent accompaniment of starvation. Many a man as good as +he has been in the same straits, even more than once in life, and has +succeeded after all, and Overholt knew this quite well, and therefore +did not break down, nor despair, nor even show distinct outward signs of +mental distress.</p> + +<p>Metaphorically, he took Pandora's box to the Park, put it in a sunny +corner, and sat upon it, to keep the lid down, with Hope inside, while +he thought over the situation.</p> + +<p>It was not at all a pleasant one. It is one thing to have no money to +spare, but it is quite another to have none at all, and he was not far +from that. He had some small possessions, but those with which he was +willing to part were worth nothing, and those which would bring a little +money were the expensive tools and valuable materials with which he was +working. For he worked alone, profiting by his experience with the +mechanic who had robbed him of one of his most profitable patents. When +the idea of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span>the Air-Motor had occurred to him he had gone into a +machine-shop and had spent nearly two years in learning the use of fine +tools. Then he had bought what he needed out of the money invested in +his idea, and had gone to work himself, sending models of such castings +as he required to different parts of the United States, that the pieces +might be made independently.</p> + +<p>He was not an accomplished workman, and he made slow progress with only +his little son to help him when the boy was not at school. Often, +through lack of skill, he wasted good material, and more than once he +spoiled an expensive casting, and was obliged to wait till it could be +made again and sent to him. Besides, he and the boy had to live, and +living is dear nowadays, even in a cottage in an out-of-the-way corner +of Connecticut; and he needed fire and light in abundance for his work, +besides something to eat and decent clothes to wear and somebody to cook +the dinner; and when he took out his diary note-book and examined the +figures on the page near the end, headed "Cash Account, November," he +made out that he had three hundred and eighteen dollars and twelve +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span>cents to his credit, and nothing to come after that, and he knew that +the men who had believed in him had invested, amongst them, ten thousand +dollars in shares, and had paid him the money in cash in the course of +the past three years, but would invest no more; and it was all gone.</p> + +<p>One thousand more, clear of living expenses, would do it. He was +positively sure that it would be enough, and he and the boy could live +on his little cash balance, by great economy, for four months, at the +end of which time the Air-Motor would be perfected. But without the +thousand the end of the four months would be the end of everything that +was worth while in life. After that he would have to go back to teaching +in order to live, and the invention would be lost, for the work needed +all his time and thought.</p> + +<p>He was a mathematician, and a very good one, besides being otherwise a +man of cultivated mind and wide reading. Unfortunately for himself, or +the contrary, if the invention ever succeeded, he had given himself up +to higher mathematics when a young man, instead of turning his talent to +account in an architect's office, a shipbuilding yard, or a loco<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span>motive +shop. He could find the strain at any part of an iron frame building by +the differential and integral calculus to the millionth of an ounce, but +the everyday technical routine work with volumes of ready-made tables +was unfamiliar and uncongenial to him; he would rather have calculated +the tables themselves. The true science of mathematics is the most +imaginative and creative of all sciences, but the mere application of +mathematics to figures for the construction of engines, ships, or +buildings is the dullest sort of drudgery.</p> + +<p>Rather than that, he had chosen to teach what he knew and to dream of +great problems at his leisure when teaching was over for the day or for +the term. He had taught in a small college, and had known the rare +delight of having one or two pupils who were really interested. It had +been a good position, and he had married a clever New England girl, the +daughter of his predecessor, who had died suddenly. They had been very +happy together for years, and one boy had been born to them, whom his +father insisted on christening Newton. Then Overholt had thrown up his +employment for the sake of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span>getting freedom to perfect his invention, +though much against his wife's advice, for she was a prudent little +woman, besides being clever, and she thought of the future of the two +beings she loved, and of her own, while her husband dreamed of hastening +the progress of science.</p> + +<p>Overholt came to New York because he could work better there than +elsewhere, and could get better tools made, and could obtain more easily +the materials he wanted. For a time everything went well enough, but +when the investors began to lose faith in him things went very badly.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Overholt told her husband that two could live where three +could not, especially when one was a boy of twelve; and as she would not +break his heart by teasing him into giving up the invention as a matter +of duty, she told him that she would support herself until it was +perfected or until he abandoned it of his own accord. She was very well +fitted to be a governess; she was thirty years old and as strong as a +pony, she said, and she had friends in New England who could find her a +situation. He should see her whenever it was possible, she added, but +there was no other way.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span>Now it is not easy to find a thoroughly respectable married governess +of unexceptionably good manners, who comes of a good stock and is able +to teach young ladies. Such a person is a treasure to rich people who +need somebody to take charge of their girls while they fly round and +round the world in automobiles, seeking whom they may destroy. Therefore +Mrs. Overholt obtained a very good place before long, and when the +family in which she taught had its next attack of European fever and it +was decided that the girls must stay in Munich to improve their German +and their music, Mrs. Overholt was offered an increase of salary if she +would take them there and see to it, while their parents quartered +Germany, France, Spain, and Austria at the rate of forty miles an hour, +or even fifty and sixty where the roads were good. If the parents broke +their necks, Mrs. Overholt would take the children home; but this was +rather in the understanding than in the agreement.</p> + +<p>Such was the position when John Henry sat down upon the lid of Pandora's +box in a sunny corner of the Central Park and reflected on Mr. +Burnside's remark that "there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span>was plenty of hope about." The inventor +thought that there was not much, but such as it was, he did not mean to +part with it on the ground that the man of business had called it +"cheap."</p> + +<p>He resolved his feelings into factors and simplified the form of each; +and this little mathematical operation showed that he was miserable for +three reasons.</p> + +<p>The first was that there was no money for the tangent balance of the +Air-Motor, which was the final part, on which he had spent months of +hard work and a hundred more than half sleepless nights.</p> + +<p>The second was that he had not seen his wife for nearly a year, and had +no idea how long it would be before he saw her again, and he was just as +much in love with her as he had been fourteen years ago, when he married +her.</p> + +<p>The third, and not the least, was that Christmas was coming, and he did +not see how in the world he was to make a Christmas out of nothing for +Newton, seeing that a thirteen-year-old boy wants everything under the +sun to cheer him up when he has no brothers and sisters, and school is +closed for <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span>the holidays, and his mother is away from home, and there is +nobody but a dear old tiresome father who has his nose over a lathe all +day long unless he is blinding himself with calculating quaternions for +some reason that no lad, and very few men, can possibly understand. John +Henry was obliged to confess that hope was not much of a Christmas +present for a boy in Newton's surroundings.</p> + +<p>For the surroundings would be dismal in the extreme. A rickety cottage +on an abandoned Connecticut farm that is waiting for a Bohemian emigrant +to make it pay is not a gay place, especially when two-thirds of the +house has been turned into a workshop that smells everlastingly of +smith's coal, brass filings, and a nauseous chemical which seemed to be +necessary to the life of the Air-Motor, and when the rest of the house +is furnished in a style that would make a condemned cell look attractive +by contrast.</p> + +<p>Besides, it would rain or snow, and it rarely snowed in a decent +Christian manner by Christmas. It snowed slush, as Newton expressed it. +A certain kind of snow-slush makes nice hard snowballs, it is true, just +like stones, but when there is no other boy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span>to fight, it is no good. +Overholt had once offered to have a game of snow-balling with his son on +a Saturday afternoon in winter; and the invitation was accepted with +alacrity. But it was never extended again. The boy was a perfect terror +at that form of diversion. Yet so distressed was Overholt at the +prospect of a sad Christmas for his son that he even thought of +voluntarily giving up his thin body to the torment again on the 25th of +December, if that would amuse Newton and make it seem less dull for him. +Good-will towards men, and even towards children, could go no further +than that, even at Christmas time. At least Overholt could think of no +greater sacrifice that might serve.</p> + +<p>For what are toys to a boy of thirteen? He wants a gun and something to +kill, or he wants a boat in which he can really sail, or a live pony +with a real head, a real tail, and four real legs, one at each corner. +That had been Newton's definition of the desired animal when he was six +years old, and some one had given him a wooden one on rockers with the +legs painted on each side. Girls of thirteen can still play with dolls, +and John Henry had read that, far away in ancient times, girls +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span>dedicated their dolls, with all the dolls' clothes, to Artemis on the +eve of their wedding-day. But no self-respecting boy of thirteen cares a +straw for anything that is not real, except an imaginary pain that will +keep him away from school without cutting down his rations; and in the +invention and presentation of such fictitious suffering he beats all the +doll-makers in Germany and all the playwrights and actors in the world. +You must have noticed that the pain is always as far from the stomach as +is compatible with probability. Toothache is a grand thing, for nobody +can blame a healthy boy for eating then, if he can only bear the pain. +And he can, and does, bear it nobly, though with awful faces. The little +beast knows that all toothaches do not make your cheek swell. Then there +is earache; that is a splendid invention; it goes through your head like +a red-hot corkscrew with a powerful brakeman at the other end, turning +it steadily—between meals. Only certain kinds of things really serve to +make him stop. Ice-cream is one, and it takes a great deal of it. It is +well known that ice will cool a red-hot corkscrew.</p> + +<p>But this is a digression, for no boy ever <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span>has any pain at Christmas; it +is only afterwards that it comes on; usually about ten days.</p> + +<p>After an hour Overholt came to the conclusion that he had better take +Pandora's box out to the cottage and sit on it there, since nothing +suggested itself to him, in spite of his immense good-will to accept any +suggestion which the spirit of coming Christmas might be kind enough to +offer; and if he could do nothing else, he could at least work at his +machine, and try to devise some means of constructing the +tangent-balance, with the materials he had left, and perhaps, by the +time he was thoroughly grimy and the workshop smelt like the Biblical +bottomless pit, something would occur to him for Newton.</p> + +<p>He could also write a letter to his wife, a sort of anticipatory +Christmas letter, and send her the book he had bought as a little gift, +wrapping it in nice white paper first, tied with a bit of pale green +ribband which she had left behind her, and which he had cherished nearly +a year, and marking it "to be opened on Christmas morning"; and the +parcel should then be done up securely in good brown grocer's paper and +addressed to her, and even <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span>registered, so that it could not possibly be +lost. It was a pretty book, and also a very excellent book, which he +knew she wanted and would read often, so it was as well to take +precautions. He wished that Newton wanted a book, or even two or three, +or magazines with gaily coloured pictures, or anything that older or +younger boys would have liked a little. But Newton was at that age which +comes sooner or later to every healthy boy, and the sight of a book +which he was meant to read and ought to read was infinitely worse than +the ugliest old toad that ever flops out of a hollow tree at dusk, +spitting poison and blinking his devilish little eyes at you when you +come too near him.</p> + +<p>Overholt had been brought up by people who lived in peace and good-will +towards men, in a city where the spirit of Christmas still dwells, and +sleeps most of the time, but wakens every year, like a giant of good +courage and good cheer, at the sound of the merry bells across the snow, +and to the sweet carol under the windows in the frosty night. The +Germans say that bad men have no songs; and we and all good fellows may +say that bad <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span>people have no Christmas, and though they copy the letter +they know not the spirit; and I say that a copied Christmas is no +Christmas at all, because Christmas is a feast of hearts and not of poor +bits of cut-down trees stuck up in sawdust and covered with lights and +tinsel, even if they are hung with the most expensive gewgaws and +gimcracks that ever are bought for gifts by people who are expected to +give, whether they like or not. But when the heart for Christmas is +there and is beating, then a very little tree will do, if there be none +better to the hand.</p> + +<p>Overholt thought so, while the train rumbled, creaked, and clattered and +jerked itself along, as only local trains can, probably because they are +old and rheumatic and stiff and weak in the joints, like superannuated +crocodiles, though they may have once been young express trains, sleek +and shiny, and quick and noiseless as bright snakes.</p> + +<p>Overholt thought so, too; but the trouble was that he saw not even the +least little mite of a tree in sight for his boy when the 25th of +December should come. And it was coming, and was only a month away; and +time is not a local train that stops at every <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span>station, and then kicks +itself on a bit to stop at the next; it is the "Fast Limited," and, what +is more, it is the only one we can go by; and we cannot get out, because +it never stops anywhere.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="II" id="II" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span>II</h2> + +<h2>HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE</h2> + + +<p>Overholt's boy came home from school at the usual hour with his books +buckled together in an old skate strap, which had never been very good +because the leather was too soft and tore from one hole to the next; but +it served very well for the books, as no great strain was caused by an +arithmetic thumbed to mushiness, a history in the same state, and a +geography of which the binding gave in and doubled up from sheer +weariness, while the edges were so worn that the eastern coast of China +and Siberia had quite disappeared.</p> + +<p>He was a good-looking lad, not tall for his age, but as tough as a +street cat in hard <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span>training. He had short and thick brown hair, a clear +complexion, his father's energetically intellectual features, though +only half developed yet, a boldly-set mouth, and his mother's kindly, +practical blue eyes. For surely the eyes of practical people are always +quite different from those of all others; and not many people are +practical, though I never knew anybody who did not think he or she was, +except pinchbeck artists, writers, and players, who are sure that since +they must be geniuses, it is necessary to be Bohemians in order to show +it. The really big ones are always trying to be practical, like Sir +Isaac Newton when he ordered a good-sized hole to be cut in his barn +door for the cat, and a little one next it for the kitten.</p> + +<p>But Newton Overholt did not at all resemble his great namesake. He was a +practical young soul, and had not yet developed the American disease +which consists in thinking of two things at the same time. John Henry +had it badly, for he had been thinking of the tangent-balance, his wife, +his boy, and the coming Christmas, all together, since he had got home, +and the three problems had got mixed and had made his head ache.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span>Nevertheless he looked up from his work-table and smiled when his son +came in.</p> + +<p>"Everything all right?" he asked, with an attempt to be cheerful.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, fine," answered the boy, looking at the motionless model for +the five-hundredth time, and sticking his hands into his pockets. "I'm +only third in mathematics yet, but I'm head in everything else. I wish I +had your brains, father! I'd be at the head of the arithmetic class in +half a shake of a lamb's tail if I had your brains."</p> + +<p>So far as mathematics were concerned this sounded probable to John +Henry, who would have considered the speed of the tail to be a variable +function of lamb, depending on the value of mother, plus or minus milk.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said in an encouraging tone, "I never could remember +geography, so it makes us even."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to know how!" cried the boy in a tone of protest. "You could +do sums, and you grew up to be a great mathematician and inventor. But +what is the good of a geographician, anyway? They can only make +school-books. They never invent anything, do they? You can't invent +geography, can <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span>you? At least you can, and some boys do, but they go to +the bottom of the class like lead. It's safer to invent history than +geography, isn't it, father?"</p> + +<p>Overholt's clever mouth twitched.</p> + +<p>"It's much safer, my boy. Almost all historians have found it so."</p> + +<p>"There! I said so to-day, and now you say just the same thing. I don't +believe one word of ancient history. Not—one—word! They wrote it about +their own nations, didn't they? All right. Then you might just as well +expect them to tell what really happened, as think that I'd tell on +another boy in my own school. I must say it would be as mean as dog pie +of them if they did, but all the same that does not make history true, +does it?"</p> + +<p>Newton had a practical mind. His father, who had not, meditated with +unnecessary gravity on the boy's point of view and said nothing.</p> + +<p>"For instance," continued the lad, sitting down on the high stool before +the lathe Overholt was not using, "the charge of Balaclava's a true +story, because it's been told by both sides; but they all say that it +did no <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span>good, anyway, except to make poetry of. But Marathon! Nobody had +a chance to say a word about it except the Greeks themselves, and they +weren't going to allow that the Persians wiped up the floor with them, +were they? Why should they? And if Balaclava had happened then, those +Greek fellows would have told us that the Light Brigade carried the +Russian guns back with them across their saddles, wouldn't they? I say, +father!"</p> + +<p>"What is it?" asked Overholt, looking up, for he had gone back to his +work and was absorbed in it.</p> + +<p>"The boys are all beginning to talk about Christmas down at the school. +Now what are we going to do at Christmas? I've been wondering."</p> + +<p>"So have I!" responded the man, laying down the screw-plate with which +he was about to cut a fine thread on the end of a small brass rod for +the tangent-balance. "I've been thinking about it a good deal to-day, +and I haven't decided on anything."</p> + +<p>"Let's have turkey and cranberry sauce, anyway," said Newton +thoughtfully, for he had a practical mind. "And I suppose we can have +ice-cream if it freezes and we can <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span>get some ice. Snow does pretty well +if you pack it down tight enough with salt, and go on putting in more +when it melts. Barbara doesn't make ice-cream as well as they do in New +York. She puts in a lot of winter-green and too little cocoanut. But +it's not so bad. We can have it, can't we, father?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes. Turkey, cranberry sauce, and ice-cream. But that isn't a whole +Christmas!"</p> + +<p>"I don't see what else you want, I'm sure," answered the boy +thoughtfully. "I mean if it's a big turkey and there's enough +ice-cream—cream-cakes, maybe. You get good cream-cakes at Bangs's, two +for five cents. They're not very big, but they're all right inside—all +gooey, you know. Can you think of anything else?"</p> + +<p>"Not to eat!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well then, what's the matter with our Christmas? I can't see. No +school and heaps of good gobbles."</p> + +<p>"Good what?" Overholt looked at the boy with an inquiring glance, and +then understood. "I see! Is that the proper word?"</p> + +<p>"When there's lots, it is," answered Newton with conviction. "Of course, +there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span>are all sorts of things I'd like to have, but it's no good +wishing you could lay Columbus's egg and hatch the American eagle, is +it?[<i>The writer acknowledges his indebtedness for this fact in +natural and national history to his aunt, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, to whom +it was recently revealed in the course of making an excellent speech.</i>] +What would you like, father, if you could choose?"</p> + +<p>"Three things," answered Overholt promptly. "I should like to see that +wheel going round, softly and steadily, all Christmas Day. I should like +to see that door open and your mother coming in."</p> + +<p>"You bet I would too!" cried Newton, dropping from bold metaphor to +vulgar vernacular. "Well, what's the third thing? You said there were +three."</p> + +<p>"I should like you to have a real, old-fashioned, glorious Christmas, my +boy, such as you had when you were smaller, before we left the house +where you were born."</p> + +<p>"Oh well, you mustn't worry about me, father; if there's plenty of +turkey and ice-cream and the cream-cakes, I can stand it. Mother can't +come, anyhow, so that's settled, and it's no use to think about it. But +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span>motor—that's different. There's hope, anyway. The wheel may go +round. If you didn't hope so, you wouldn't go on fussing over it, would +you? You'd go and do something else. They always say hope's better than +nothing."</p> + +<p>"It's about all we shall have left for Christmas, so we may as well +build as much on it as we can."</p> + +<p>"I love building," said Newton. "I like to stand and watch a bricklayer +just putting one brick on another and making the wall grow."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you'll turn out an architect."</p> + +<p>"I'd like to. I never showed you my city, did I?" He knew very well that +he had not, and his father looked at him inquiringly. "No. Oh well, you +won't care to see it."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I should! But I don't understand. What sort of a city do you +mean?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's nothing," answered the boy, affecting carelessness. "It's only +a little paper city on a board. I don't believe you'd care to see it, +father. Let's talk about Christmas."</p> + +<p>"No. I want to see what you have made. Where is it? I'll go with you."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span>Newton laughed.</p> + +<p>"I'll bring it, if you really want me to. It's easy enough to carry. The +whole thing's only paper!"</p> + +<p>He left the workshop and returned before Overholt had finished cutting +the thread of the screw he was making. The man turned as the boy pushed +the door open with his foot, and came in carrying what had evidently +once been the top of a deal table.</p> + +<p>On the board he had built an ingenious model of a town, or part of one, +but it was not finished. It was entirely made of bits of cardboard, +chips of wood, the sides of match-boxes, and odds and ends of all sorts, +which he picked up wherever he saw them and brought home in his pocket +for his purpose. He had an immense supply of such stuff stored away, +much more than he could ever use.</p> + +<p>Overholt looked at it with admiration, but said nothing. It was the +college town where he had lived so happily and hoped to live again. It +was distinctly recognisable, and many of the buildings were not only +cleverly made, but were coloured very like the originals. He was so much +interested that he forgot to say anything.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span>It's a silly thing, anyway," said Newton, disappointed by his silence. +"It's like toys!"</p> + +<p>Overholt looked up, and the boy saw his pleased face.</p> + +<p>"It's very far from silly," he said. "I believe you're born to be a +builder, boy! It's not only not silly, but it's very well done indeed!"</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you can't tell what the place is," observed Newton, a secret +joy stealing through him at his father's words.</p> + +<p>"Know it? I should think I did, and I wish we were there now! Here's the +College, and there's our house in the street on the other side of the +common. The church is first-rate, it's really like it—and there's the +Roman Catholic Chapel and the Public Library in Main Street."</p> + +<p>"Why, you really do recognise the places!" cried Newton in delight. "I +didn't think anybody'd know them!"</p> + +<p>"One would have to be blind not to, if one knew the town," said +Overholt. "And there's the dear old lane!" He was absorbed in the model. +"And the three hickory trees, and even the little bench!"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span>Why, do you remember that bench, father?"</p> + +<p>Overholt looked up again, quickly and rather dreamily.</p> + +<p>"Yes. It was there that I asked your mother to marry me," he said.</p> + +<p>"Not really? Then I'm glad I put it in!"</p> + +<p>"So am I, for the dear old time's sake and for her sake, and for yours, +my boy. Tell me when you made this, and how you can remember it all so +well."</p> + +<p>The lad sat down on the high stool again before the lathe and looked +through the dingy window at the scraggy trees outside, beyond the +forlorn yard.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I don't know," he said. "I kind of remember it, I suppose, because +I liked it better than this. And when I first had the idea I was sitting +out there in the yard looking at this board. It belongs to a broken +table that had been thrown out there. And I carried it up to my room +when you were out. I thought you wouldn't mind my taking it. And I +picked up scraps that might be useful, and got some gum, and old Barbara +made me some flour paste. It's <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span>got green now, and it smells like +thunder, but it's good still. That's about all, I suppose. Now I'll take +it away again. I keep it in the dark closet behind my room, because that +doesn't leak when it rains."</p> + +<p>"Don't take it away," said Overholt suddenly. "I'll make room for it +here, and you can work at it while I'm busy, and in the evenings I'll +try and help you, and we'll finish it together."</p> + +<p>Newton was amazed.</p> + +<p>"Why, father, it's playing! How can you go to work at play? It would be +so funny! But, of course, if you really would help me a little—you've +got such lots of nice things!"</p> + +<p>He wistfully eyed a little coil of some very fine steel wire which would +make a beautiful telegraph. Newton even dreamt of making the trolley, +too, in the Main Street, but that would be a very troublesome job; and +as for the railway station, it was easy enough to build a shed and a +platform, but what is a railway station without a train?</p> + +<p>Overholt did not answer the boy at once, and when he spoke there was a +queer little quaver in his voice.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span>We'll call it our little City of Hope," he said, "and perhaps we can +'go to work to play,' as you call it, so hard that Hope will really come +and live in the City."</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton, "I never thought you'd ever care to see it! Shall I +go up and get my stuff, and the gum and the flour paste, and bring them +down here, father? But the flour paste smells pretty bad—it might give +you a headache."</p> + +<p>"Bring it down, my boy. My headaches don't come from such things."</p> + +<p>"Don't they? It's true that stuff you use here's about as bad as +anything, till you get used to it. What is it, anyway?"</p> + +<p>Overholt gave him the almost unpronounceable name of some recently +discovered substance, and smiled at his expression as he listened.</p> + +<p>"If that's its name," said the boy gravely, "it sounds like the way it +smells. I wonder what a skunk's name is in science. But the flour +paste's pretty bad too. You'll see!"</p> + +<p>He went off, and his father finished cutting the little screw while he +was gone, and then turned to look at the model again, and became +absorbed in tracing the well-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span>known streets and trying to recall the +shops and houses in each, and the places where his friends had lived, +and no doubt lived still, for college towns do not change as fast as +others. He was amazed at the memory the boy had shown for details; if +the lad had not yet developed any special talent, he had at least proved +that he possessed one of those natural gifts which are sometimes alone +enough to make success. The born builder's eye is like an ear for music, +a facility for languages, or the power of drawing from nature; all the +application in the world will not do in years what any one of these does +instantly, spontaneously, instinctively, without the smallest effort. +You cannot make talent out of a combination of taste and industry. You +cannot train a cart-horse to trot a mile in a little over a minute.</p> + +<p>Newton returned, bringing his materials, to describe which would be +profitless, if it were possible. He had everything littered together in +two battered deal candle-boxes, including the broken soup-plate +containing the flour paste, a loathely, mouldering little mess that +diffused a nauseous odour, distinctly perceptible through that of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span>unpronounceable chemical on which the Air-Motor was to depend for its +existence.</p> + +<p>The light outside was failing in the murky November air, and Overholt +lit the big reflecting lamp that hung over the work-table. There was +another above the lathe, for no gas or electricity was to be had so far +from the town, and one of old Barbara's standing causes of complaint +against Overholt was his reckless use of kerosene—she thought it would +be better if he had more fat turkeys and rump-steaks and less light.</p> + +<p>So the man and the boy "went to work to play" at building the City of +Hope, for at least an hour before supper and half an hour after it, +almost every day; and with the boy's marvellous memory and the father's +skill, and the delicious profusion of fresh material which Newton kept +finding in every corner of the workshop, it grew steadily, till it was a +little work of art in its way. There were the ups and downs, the crooked +old roads and lanes and the straight new streets, the little wooden +cottages and the big brick houses, and there was the grassy common with +its trees and its tiny iron railing; and John Henry easily made posts to +carry the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span>trolley wires, which had seemed an impossible dream to the +boy, beyond all realisation; and one day, when the inventor seemed +farther from the tangent-balance than ever, he spent a whole afternoon +in making a dozen little trolley-cars that ran on real wheels, made by +sawing off little sections from a lead pencil, which is the best thing +in the world for that, because the lead comes out and leaves nice round +holes for the axles. When the first car was painted red and yellow and +ran up and down Main Street, guided by the wire above and only needing +one little artificial push to send it either way, it looked so real that +the boy was in ecstasies of delight.</p> + +<p>"It's worth while to be a great inventor to be able to make things like +that!" he cried, and Overholt was as much pleased by the praise as an +opera singer is who is called out three times before the curtain after +the first act.</p> + +<p>So the little City of Hope grew, and they both felt that Hope herself +was soon coming to dwell therein, if she had not come already.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="III" id="III" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span>III</h2> + +<h2>HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW</h2> + + +<p>But then something happened; for Overholt was tormented by the vague +consciousness of a coming idea, so that he had headaches and could not +sleep at night. It flashed upon him at last one evening when Newton was +in bed and he was sitting before his motor, wishing he had the thousand +dollars which would surely complete it, even if he used the most +expensive materials in the market.</p> + +<p>The idea which developed suddenly in all its clearness was that he had +made one of the most important parts of the machine exactly the converse +of what it should be; what was on the right should have been on the +left, and what was down should certainly have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span>been up. Then the engine +would work, even if the tangent-balance were a very poor affair indeed.</p> + +<p>The particular piece of brass casting which was the foundation of that +part had been made in New York, and, owing to the necessity for its +being finished very accurately and machine planed and turned, it had +cost a great deal of money. Already it had been made and spoilt three +times over, and now it was perfectly clear that it must be cast over +again in a reversed form. It was quite useless to make the balance yet, +for it would be of no use till the right casting was finished; it would +have to be reversed too, and the tangent would apply to a reversed +curve.</p> + +<p>He had no money for the casting, but even before trying to raise the +cash it was necessary to make the wooden model. He could do that, and he +set to work to sketch the drawing within five minutes after the idea had +once flashed upon him. As his eye followed the lines made by his pencil, +he became more and more convinced that he was right. When the rough +sketch was done he looked up at the engine. Its familiar features seemed +to be drawn into a diabolical grimace <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span>of contempt at his stupidity, and +it looked as if it were conscious and wanted to throw the wrongly-made +piece at his head. But he was overwrought just then and could have +fancied any folly.</p> + +<p>He rose, shook himself, and then took a long pull at a black bottle that +always stood on a shelf. When a man puts a black bottle to his lips, +tips it up, and takes down several good pulls almost without drawing +breath, most people suppose that he is a person of vicious habits. In +Overholt's case most people would have been wrong. The black bottle +contained cold tea; it was strong, but it was only tea, and that is the +finest drink in the world for an inventor or an author to work on. When +I say an author I mean a poor writer of prose, for I have always been +told that all poets are either mad, or bad, or both. Many of them must +be bad, or they could not write such atrocious poems; but madness is +different; perhaps they read their own verses.</p> + +<p>When Overholt had swallowed his cold tea, he got out his drawing +materials, stretched a fresh sheet of thick draughtsman's paper on the +board, and sat down between the motor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span>that would not move and the +little city in which Hope had taken lodgings for a while, and he went to +work with ruler, scale and dividers, and the hard wood template for +drawing the curves he had constructed for the tangent-balance by a very +abstruse mathematical calculation. That was right, at all events, only, +as it was to be reversed, he laid it on the paper with the under-side +up.</p> + +<p>He worked nearly all night to finish the drawing, slept two hours in a +battered Shaker rocking-chair by the fire, woke in broad daylight, drank +more cold tea, and went at once to his lathe, for the new piece was in +the nature of a cylinder, and a good deal of the work could be done by +turning.</p> + +<p>The chisel and the lathe seemed to be talking to each other over the +block of wood, and what they said rang like a tune in John Henry's head.</p> + +<p>"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw, bricks without straw," +repeated the lathe regularly, at each revolution, and when it said +"bricks" the treadle was up, and when it said "straw" the treadle was +down, for of course it was only a foot lathe, though a good one. +"Sh—sh—sh—ever so much <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span>better than no bricks at all—sh—sh—sh," +answered the sharp chisel as it pressed and bit the wood, and made a +little irregular clattering when it was drawn away, and then came +forward against the block again with a long hushing sound; and Overholt +was inclined to accept its opinion, and worked on as if an obliging +brassfounder were waiting outside to take the model away at once and +cast it for nothing, or at least on credit.</p> + +<p>But no such worthy and confiding manufacturer appeared, even on the +evening of the second day, when the wooden model was beautifully +finished and ready for the foundry. While the inventor was busy, Newton +had worked alone in a corner when he had time to spare from his lessons, +but he understood what was going on, and he did not accomplish much +beyond painting the front of the National Bank in the City of Hope and +planning a possible Wild West Show to be set up on the outskirts; the +tents would be easy to make, but the horses were beyond his skill, or +his father's; it would not be enough that they should have a leg at each +corner and a head and a tail.</p> + +<p>He understood well enough what was the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span>matter, for he had seen similar +things happen before. A pessimist is defined to be a person who has +lived with an optimist, and every inventor is that. Poor Newton had seen +that particular part of the engine spoiled and made over three times, +and he understood perfectly that it was all wrong again and must be cast +once more. But he kept his reflections to himself and tried to think +about the City of Hope.</p> + +<p>"I wish," said John Henry, sitting down opposite the boy at last, and +looking at what he had done, "that the National Bank in Main Street were +real!"</p> + +<p>He eyed it wistfully.</p> + +<p>"Oh well," answered the boy, "we couldn't rob it, because that's +stealing, so I don't see what particular good it would do!"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the business people in the City of Hope would be different from +the bankers in New York," observed Overholt, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"I don't believe it, father," Newton answered in a sceptical tone. "If +they were bankers they'd be rich, and you remember the sermon Sunday +before last, about it's being easier for the camel to get through the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span>rich man—no, which is it? I forget. It doesn't matter, anyway, because +we can imagine any kind of people we choose in our city, can't we? Say, +father, what's the matter? Are you going to cast that piece over again? +That'll be the fourth time, won't it?"</p> + +<p>"It would be, my boy, but it won't be. They won't cast it for nothing, +and I cannot raise the money. You cannot make bricks without straw."</p> + +<p>He looked steadily down at the tiny front of the Bank in Main Street, +and a hungry look came into his eyes.</p> + +<p>But Newton had a practical mind, even at thirteen.</p> + +<p>"I was thinking," he said presently. "It looks as if we were going to +get stuck some day. What are we going to do then, father? I was thinking +about it just now. How are we going to get anything to eat if we have no +money?"</p> + +<p>"I shall have to go back to teaching mathematics for a living, I +suppose."</p> + +<p>"And give up the Motor?" Newton had never yet heard him suggest such a +thing.</p> + +<p>"Yes," Overholt answered in a low tone; and that was all he said.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span>Oh, that's ridiculous. You'd just die, that's all!"</p> + +<p>Newton stared at the engine that was a failure. It looked as if it ought +to work, he thought, with its neat cylinders, its polished levers, its +beautifully designed gear. It stood under a big case made of thick glass +plates set in an iron frame with a solid top; a chain ran through two +cast-iron wheels overhead to a counterpoise in the corner, by which +device it was easily raised and lowered. The Motor was a very expensive +affair, and had to be carefully protected from dust and all injury, +though it was worth nothing at present except for old brass and iron, +unless the new part could be made.</p> + +<p>"Come, my boy, let's think of something more cheerful!" Overholt said, +making an effort to rouse himself and concentrated his attention on the +paper model. "Christmas is coming in three weeks, you know, and it will +come just the same in the little City. I'm sure the people will decorate +their houses and the church. Of course we cannot see the insides of the +houses, but in Boston they put wreaths in the windows. And we'll <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span>have a +snowstorm, just as we used to have, and we can clear it away afterwards! +Wasn't there a holly tree somewhere near the College? You haven't put +that in yet. You have no idea how cheerful it will look! To-morrow we'll +find a very small sprig with berries on it, and plant it just in the +right place. I'm sure you remember where it stood."</p> + +<p>"Real leaves would be too big," observed the boy. "They wouldn't look +right. Of course, one could cut the branches out of tin and paint 'em +green with red spots, and stick them into a twig for the trunk. But it's +rather hard to do."</p> + +<p>"Let's try," said Overholt. "I've got some fine chisels and some very +thin brass, but I don't think I could draw the branches as well as you +could."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can draw them something like, if you'll only cut 'em out," the +boy answered cheerfully. "Come on, father! Who says we can't make bricks +without straw? I'll bet anything we can!"</p> + +<p>So they worked together steadily, and for an hour or two the inventor +was so busy in cutting out tiny branches of imaginary holly with a very +small chisel that he did not look <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span>once at the plate glass from which +his engine seemed to be grinning at him, in fiendish delight over his +misfortunes. There were times when he was angry with it, outright, as if +it knew what he was doing and did not mean to give in to him and let +itself be invented.</p> + +<p>But now the tune of the lathe and the chisel still ran on in his head, +for he had heard it through two whole days and could not get rid of it.</p> + +<p>"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw!" repeated the lathe +viciously. "Ever so much better than no bricks at all, sh—sh—sh!" +answered the chisel, gibbering and hissing like an idiot.</p> + +<p>"You will certainly be lying on straw before long, and then I suppose +you'll wish you had something else!" squeaked the little chisel with +which he was cutting out holly leaves, as it went through the thin +plates into the wood of the bench under each push of his hand.</p> + +<p>The things in the workshop all seemed to be talking to him together, and +made his head ache.</p> + +<p>"I had a letter from your mother to-day,"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> he said, because it was +better to hear his own voice say anything than to listen to such +depressing imaginary conversations. "I'm sorry to say she sees no chance +of getting home before the spring."</p> + +<p>"I don't know where you'd put her if she came here," answered the +practical Newton. "Your room leaks when it rains, and so does mine. You +two would have to sleep in the parlour. I guess it'll be better if she +doesn't come now."</p> + +<p>"Oh, for her, far better," assented Overholt. "They've got a beautiful +flat in Munich, and everything they can possibly think of. Your mother's +only complaint, so far as that goes, is that those girls are completely +spoilt by too much luxury!"</p> + +<p>"What is luxury, exactly, father?" asked Newton, who always wanted to +know things.</p> + +<p>"I shall never know myself, and perhaps you never will either!" The +wretched inventor tried to laugh. "But that's no answer to your +question, is it? I suppose luxury means always having twice as much of +everything as you can possibly use, and having it about ten times as +fine and expensive as other people can afford."</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span>I don't see any use in that," said the boy. "Now I know just how much +turkey and cranberry sauce and ice-cream I really need, and if I get +just a little more than that, it's Christmas. I don't mean much more, +but about half a helping. I know all about proverbs. Haven't I copied +millions of 'em in learning to write. One reason why it's so slow to +learn is that the things you have to write are perfect nonsense. 'Enough +is as good as a feast!' All I can say is, the man who made that proverb +never had a feast, or he'd have known better! This green paint doesn't +dry very quick, father. We'll have to wait till to-morrow before we put +in the red spots for the berries. I wish I had some little red beads. +They'd stick on the wet paint now, like one o'clock."</p> + +<p>There were no red beads, so he rose to go to bed. When he had said +good-night and had reached the door, he stopped and looked back again.</p> + +<p>"Say, father, haven't you anything you can sell to get some more money +for the Motor?"</p> + +<p>John Henry shook his weary head and smiled sadly.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span>Nothing that would bring nearly enough to pay for the casting," he +answered. "Don't worry about it, boy. Leave that to me—I'm used to it. +Go to bed and sleep, and you'll feel like an Air-Motor yourself in the +morning!"</p> + +<p>"That's the worst of it," returned the boy. "Just to sit there under a +glass case and have you take care of me and do nothing, like a girl. +That's the way I feel sometimes."</p> + +<p>He shook his young head quite as gravely as the inventor had shaken his +own, and went quietly to bed without saying anything more.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what to do, I'm sure," he said to himself as he got into +bed, "but I'm sure there's something. Maybe I'll dream it, and then I'll +do just the contrary and it'll come all right."</p> + +<p>But boys of practical minds and sound bodies do not dream at all, unless +it be after a feast, and most of them can stand even that without having +nightmare, unless two feasts come near together, like Christmas and a +birthday within the week.</p> + +<p>A great-uncle of mine was once taken for a clergyman at a public dinner +nearly a hundred years ago, and he was asked to say <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span>grace; he was a +good man, and also practical, and had a splendid appetite, but he was +not eloquent, and this is what he said:—</p> + +<p>"The Lord give us appetites to enjoy, and strength to digest ALL the +good things set before us. Amen!"</p> + +<p>And everybody said "Amen" very cheerfully and fell to.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IV" id="IV" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span>IV</h2> + +<h2>HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY</h2> + + +<p>It rained in New York and it "snowed slush" in Connecticut, after its +manner, and the world was a very dreary place, especially all around the +dilapidated cottage where everything was going to pieces, including John +Henry Overholt's last hopes.</p> + +<p>If he had been alone in the world he would have taken his small cash +balance and his model to the foundry, quite careless as to whether he +ever got a meal again until the Motor worked. But there was the boy to +be thought of, and desperate as the unhappy inventor was, he would not +starve his son as well as himself. He was quite sure of his little +balance, though he had never had any head for figures of that sort. It +was an easy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span>affair in his eyes to handle the differential calculus, +which will do anything, metaphorically speaking, from smashing a rock as +flat and thin as a postage stamp, to regulating an astronomical clock; +but to understand the complication of a pass-book and a bank account was +a matter of the greatest possible difficulty. Newton would have done it +much better, though he could not get to the head of his class in +arithmetic. That is the difference between being an inventor and having +a practical mind. As for Mrs. Overholt, she was perfectly wonderful at +keeping accounts; but then she had been taught a great many things, from +music and drawing to compound interest and double entry, and she had +been taught them all just so far as to be able to do them nicely without +understanding at all what she did; which is sound modern education, and +no mistake. The object of music is to make a cheerful noise, which can +be done very well without pencil and paper and the rules of harmony.</p> + +<p>But Overholt could neither make a cheerful noise, nor draw a holly leaf, +nor speak French, nor even understand a pass-book, though he had +invented an Air-Motor which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span>would not work, but was a clear evidence of +genius. The only business idea he had was to make his little balance +last as long as possible, in spite of the terrible temptation to take it +and offer it to the founder as a cash advance, if only he might have his +piece of casting done. Where the rest of the money would come from he +did not know; probably out of the Motor. It looked so easy; but there +was the boy, and it might happen that there would be no dinner for +several days.</p> + +<p>On the first of December he cashed a cheque in the town, as usual; and +he paid Barbara's wages and the coal merchant, and the month's bill for +kerosene, and the butcher and the grocer, and the baker, and that was +practically all; and he went to bed that night feeling that whatever +happened there was a whole month before another first came round, and he +owed no one anything more for the present, and Newton would not starve, +and could have his Christmas turkey, if it was to be the last he ever +ate, poor boy.</p> + +<p>On the morning of December third it was still snowing slush, though it +was more like real snow now, and the air was much colder; and by and by, +when Overholt had read a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span>letter that Barbara brought him, he felt so +terribly cold all at once that his teeth chattered, and then he was so +hot that the perspiration ran down his forehead, and he steadied himself +against the heavy glass case of the Motor a moment and then almost +tumbled into a sitting posture on the stool before his work-table, and +his head fell forward on his hands, as if he were fainting.</p> + +<p>The letter said that his account was overdrawn to the extent of three +hundred and fifty-two dollars and thirteen cents, including the cheque +he had drawn on the thirty-first, and would he please make a deposit at +his earliest convenience?</p> + +<p>It had been just a little mistake in arithmetic, that was all. He had +started with the wrong balance in his note-book, and what he thought was +credit was debit, but the bank where he had kept all the money that had +been put up for the Motor, had wished to be friendly and good-natured to +the great inventor and had not returned his cheques with N.G. on them; +and if his attention had already been called to his deficit, he must +have forgotten to open the letter. Like all men who are much talked of +in the news<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span>papers, though they may be as poor as Job's turkey, he +received a great many circulars addressed by typewriter, and the only +letters he really cared for were from his wife, so that when he was very +hard at work or much preoccupied the others accumulated somewhere in the +workshop, and were often forgotten.</p> + +<p>What was perfectly clear this morning was that starvation was sitting on +the doorstep and that he had no moral right whatever to the dinner +Barbara was already beginning to cook, nor to another to-morrow, nor to +any more; for he was a proud man, and ashamed of debt, though he mixed +up debit and credit so disgracefully.</p> + +<p>He sat there half an hour, as he had let himself fall forward, only +moving a little, so that his forehead rested on his arm instead of his +hands, because that was a little more comfortable, and just then he did +not want to see anything, least of all the Motor. When he rose at last +the sleeve of his coat was all wet with the perspiration from his +forehead. He left the workshop, half shutting his eyes in order not to +see the Motor; he was sure the thing was grinning at him behind the +plate glass. It had two round <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span>brass valves near the top that looked +like yellow eyeballs, and a lever at the bottom with double arms and a +cross-bar, which made him think of an iron jaw when he was in one of his +fits of nervous depression.</p> + +<p>But John Henry Overholt was a man, and an honest one. He went straight +to the writing-table in the next room and sat down, and though his hand +shook, he wrote a clear and manly letter to the President of the College +where he had taught so well, stating his exact position, acknowledging +the failure of his invention, and asking help to find immediate +employment as a teacher, even in the humblest capacity which would +afford bread for his boy and himself. Presidents and principals of +colleges are in constant communication with other similar institutions, +and generally know of vacant positions.</p> + +<p>When he had written his letter and read it over carefully, Overholt +looked at his timetable, got his hat, coat, and umbrella, and trudged +off through the slushy snow to the station, on his way to New York.</p> + +<p>It was raining there, but it was not dismal; hurry, confusion, and noise +can never be that. He had not been in the city since the day <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span>when he +made his last attempt to raise money, and in his present state the +contrast was overwhelming. The shopkeepers would have told him that it +was a dull day for business, and that the rain was costing them hundreds +of dollars every hour, because there are a vast number of people who buy +things within the month before Christmas, if it is convenient and the +weather is fine, but will not take the trouble if the weather is bad; +and afterwards they are so glad to have saved their money that they buy +nothing of that sort till the following year. For Christmas shopping is +largely a matter of temptation on the one side and of weakness on the +other, and you cannot tempt a man to buy your wares if he will not even +go out and look at your shop window. At Christmas time every shopkeeper +turns into a Serpent, with a big S and a supply of apples varying, with +his capital, from a paper-bagful to a whole orchard, and though the +ladies are the more easily tempted, nine generous men out of ten show no +more sense just at that time than Eve herself did. The very air has +temptation in it when they see the windows full of pretty things and +think of their wives and their children and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span>their old friends. Even +misers relax a little then, and a famous statesman, who was somewhat +close-fisted in his day, is reported to have given his young coloured +servant twenty-five cents on Christmas Eve, telling him to go out to +Mount Auburn Cemetery and see where the great men of New England lie +buried. And the man, I believe, went there; but he was an African, and +the spirit of Christmas was not in his race, for if it had moved him he +would have wasted that money on cream-cakes and cookies, reflecting that +the buried worthies of Massachusetts could not tell tales on him.</p> + +<p>Overholt went down town to the bank where he kept his account and +explained his little mistake very humbly, and asked for time to pay up. +The teller looked at him as if he were an escaped lunatic, but on +account of his great reputation as an inventor he was shown to the desk +of one of the partners, which stood in a corner of the vast place, where +one could converse confidentially if one did not speak above a whisper; +but the stenographer girl could hear even whispering distinctly, and +perhaps she sometimes took down what she heard, if the partner made a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span>signal to her by carelessly rolling his pencil across his table.</p> + +<p>The partner whom Overholt saw was not ill-natured, and besides, it was +near Christmas, and he had been poor himself when he was young. If +Overholt would kindly sign a note at sixty days for the overdraft it +would be all right. The banker was sorry he could not authorise him to +overdraw any further, but it was strictly against the rules, an +exception had been made because Mr. Overholt was such a well-known man, +and so forth. But the inventor explained that he had not meant to ask +any favour, and had come to explain how he had made such a strange +mistake. The banker, like the teller, thought that a man who could not +count money must be mad, but was too civil, or too good-natured, to say +so.</p> + +<p>Overholt signed the note, thanked him warmly, and went away. He and his +old umbrella looked very dejected as he left the building and dived into +the stream of men in the street, but if he had paid any attention to his +fellow-beings he would have seen here and there a number who looked +quite as unhappy as he did. He had come all the way from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span>the country +expressly to explain his error, and had been in the greatest haste to +get down town and have the interview over. To go home with the prospect +of trying to eat a dinner that would be cold, and of sitting in his +workshop all the afternoon just to stare at his failure until Newton +came home, was quite another matter. If the weather had been less +disagreeable he would have gone to the Central Park, to sit in a quiet +corner and think matters over.</p> + +<p>As that seemed out of the question, he walked from the bank to +Forty-Second Street, taking an hour and a half over it. It was better to +go on foot than to sit in a car facing a dozen or twenty strangers, who +would wonder why he looked so miserable. Sensitive people always fancy +that everybody is looking at them and criticising them, when in fact no +one cares a straw how they look or what they do.</p> + +<p>Then, too, he was in such a morbid state of mind about his debt that it +looked positively wrong to spend five cents on a car-fare; even the +small change in his pocket was not his own, and that, and hundreds of +dollars besides, must be paid back in sixty days.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> Otherwise he supposed +he would be bankrupt, which, to his simple mind, meant disgrace as well +as ruin.</p> + +<p>It had stopped raining before he reached Grace Church, and as he crossed +Madison Square the sun shone out, the wind had veered to the west, and +the sky was clearing all round. The streets had seemed full before, but +they were positively choking with people now. The shops drew them in and +blew them out again with much less cash about them, as a Pacific whale +swallows water and spouts it out, catching the little fish by thousands +with his internal whalebone fishing-net. But, unlike the fishes, the +people were not a whit less pleased. On the contrary, there was +something in the faces of almost all that is only seen once a year in +New York, and then only for certain hours; and that is real good-will. +For whatever the most home-loving New Yorker may say of his own great +city, good-will to men is not its dominant characteristic, nor peace its +most remarkable feature.</p> + +<p>Even poor Overholt, half crazy with disappointment and trouble, could +not help noticing the difference between the expres<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span>sions of the men he +had seen down town and of those who were thronging the shops and the +sidewalks in Fifth Avenue. In Wall Street and adjacent Broadway a great +many looked like more or less discontented birds of prey looking out for +the next meal, and a few might have been compared to replete vultures; +but here all those who were not alone were talking with their +companions, and many were smiling, and now and then a low laugh was +heard, which is a very rare thing in Fifth Avenue, though you may often +hear children laughing in the Park and sometimes in the cross streets +up-town.</p> + +<p>Then there was another eagerness in the faces, that was not for money, +but was the anticipation of giving pleasure before long, and of being +pleased too; and that is a great part of the Christmas spirit, if it is +not the spirit itself. It is doubtless more blessed to give than to +receive, but the receiving is very delightful, and it is cruel to teach +children that they must not look forward to having pretty presents. What +is Christmas Day to a happy child but a first glimpse of heaven on +earth?</p> + +<p>Overholt glanced at the faces of the passers-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span>by with a sort of vague +surprise, wondering why they looked so happy; and then he remembered +what they were doing, and all at once his heart sank like lead. What was +to become of the turkey and the ice-cream on which Newton had built his +hopes for Christmas? Would there be any dinner at all? Or any one to +cook it? How could he go and get things which he would not be able to +pay for on the first of next month, exactly a week after the feast? His +imagination could glide lightly over three weeks of starvation, but at +the thought of his boy's disappointment everything went to pieces, the +present, the future, everything. He would have walked all the way down +town again to beg for a loan of only a few dollars, enough for that one +Christmas dinner; but he knew from the banker's face that such a request +would be refused, as such, and he dreaded in his misery lest the money +should be offered him as a charity.</p> + +<p>He got home at last, weary and wretched, and then for the first time he +remembered the letter he had written asking for employment as a teacher. +He had been a very good one, and the College had been sorry to lose +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span>him; in two days he might get an answer; all hope was not gone yet, at +least not quite all, and his spirits revived a little. Besides, the +weather was fine now, even in Connecticut; there would be a sharp frost +in the night, and Newton would soon get some skating.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="V" id="V" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span>V</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF</h2> + + +<p>Almost the worst part of it was that he had to tell his boy about his +dreadful mistake, and that it was all over with the Motor and with +everything, and that until he could get something to do they were +practically starving; and that he could not possibly see how there was +ever to be ice-cream for Christmas, let alone such an expensive joy as, +a turkey.</p> + +<p>He knew that Newton would not pucker up his mouth and screw his eyes to +keep the tears in, like a girl; and he was quite sure that the boy would +not reproach him for having been so careless. He might not seem to care +very much, but he would be terribly disappointed; that was the worst of +it all, next to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span>owing money that he had no hope of paying. Indeed, he +hardly knew which hurt him more than the other, for the disgrace of +debt, as he called it, was all his own, but the bitter disappointment +was on Newton too.</p> + +<p>The latter listened in silence till his father had finished, and his +boyish face was preternaturally thoughtful.</p> + +<p>"I've seen boys make just such mistakes at the blackboard," he observed +in a tone of melancholy reflection. "And they generally catch it +afterwards too," he added. "It's natural."</p> + +<p>"I've 'caught it,'" Overholt answered. "You have too, my dear boy, +though you didn't make the mistake—that's not just."</p> + +<p>"Well, father, I don't know what we're going to do, but something has +got to be done right away, and we've got to find out what it is."</p> + +<p>"Thank goodness you're not a girl!" cried Overholt fervently.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad too; only, if I were one, I should most likely die young and +go to heaven, and you'd have me off your mind all right. The girls +always do in storybooks."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span>He made this startling and general observation quite naturally. Of +course girls died and went to heaven when there was nothing to eat; he +secretly thought it would be better if more of them did, even without +starvation.</p> + +<p>"Let's work, anyhow," he added, as his father said nothing. "Maybe we'll +think of something while we're building that railroad depôt. Don't you +suppose that now you've got so far the Motor would keep while you +taught, and you could go at it again in the vacations? That's an idea, +father, come now!"</p> + +<p>He was already in his place before the board on which the little City +was built, and his eyes were fixed on the lines his father had drawn as +a plan for the station and the diverging tracks. But Overholt did not +sit down. His usual place was opposite the Motor, where he could see it, +but he did not want to look at it now.</p> + +<p>"Change seats with me, boy," he said. "I cannot stand the sight of it. I +suppose I'm imaginative. All this has upset me a good deal."</p> + +<p>He wished he had the lad's nerves, the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span>solid nerves of hungry and +sleepy thirteen. Newton got up at once and changed places, and for a few +minutes Overholt tried to concentrate his mind on the little City, but +it was of no use. If he did not think of the Motor, he thought of what +was much worse, for the little streets and models of the familiar places +brought back the cruel memory of happier things so vividly that it was +torment. All his faculties of sensation were tense and vibrating; he +could hear his wife's gentle and happy voice, her young girl's voice, +when he looked at the little bench in the lane where he had asked her to +marry him, and an awful certainty came upon him that he was never to +hear her speak again on this side of the grave; there was the house they +had lived in; from that window he had looked out on a May morning at the +budding trees half an hour after his boy had been born; there, in the +pretty garden, the young mother had sat with her baby in the lovely June +days—it was full of her. Or if he looked at the College, he knew every +one of the steps, and the entrance, and the tall windows of the +lecture-rooms, where he had taught so contentedly, year after year, till +the terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> Motor had taken possession of him, the thing that was +driving him mad; and, strangely enough, what hurt him most and brought +drops of perspiration to his forehead was the National Bank in Main +Street; it made him remember his debt, and that he had no money at +all—nothing whatsoever but the few dollars in his pocket left after +paying the bills on the first of the month.</p> + +<p>"It's of no use!" he cried, suddenly rising and turning away. "I cannot +stand it. I'm sorry, but it's too awful!"</p> + +<p>Never before had he felt so thoroughly ashamed of himself. He was +breaking down before his son, to whom he knew he ought to be setting an +example of fortitude and common sense. He had forgotten the very names +of such qualities; the mere thought of Hope, whenever it crossed his +mind, mocked him maddeningly, and he hated the little City for the name +he had given it. Hope was his enemy since she had left him, and he was +hers; he could have found it in his heart to crush the poor little paper +town to pieces, and then to split up the very board itself for firewood.</p> + +<p>The years that had been so full of belief <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span>were all at once empty, and +the memory of them rang hollow and false, because Hope had cheated him, +luring him on, only to forsake him at the great moment. Every hour he +had spent on the work had been misspent; he saw it all now, and the most +perfect of his faultless calculations only proved that science was a +blatant fraud and a snare that had cost him all he had, his wife, his +boy's future, and his own self-respect. How could he ever look at his +wretched failure again? How could he sit down opposite the son he had +cheated, and who was going to starve with him, and play with a little +City of Hope, when Hope herself was the lying enemy that had coaxed him +to the destruction of his family and to his own disgrace? As for +teaching again, who ever got back a good place after he had voluntarily +given it up for a wild dream! Men who had such dreams were not fit to +teach young men in any case! That was the answer he would get by post in +a day or two.</p> + +<p>Newton watched his father anxiously, for he had heard that people +sometimes went mad from disappointment and anxiety. The pale +intellectual face wore a look of horror, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span>as if the dark eyes saw some +dreadful sight; the thin figure moved nervously, the colourless lips +twitched, the lean fingers opened and shut spasmodically on nothing. It +was enough to scare the boy, who had always known his father gentle, +sweet-tempered, and hopeful even under failure; but Overholt was quite +changed now, and looked as if he were either very ill or very crazy.</p> + +<p>It is doubtful whether boys ever love their fathers as most of them love +their mothers at one time, or all their lives. The sort of attachment +there often is between father and son is very different from that, and +both feel that it is; there is more of alliance and friendship in it +than of anything like affection, even when it is at its best, with a +strong instinct to help one another and to stand by each other in a +fight.</p> + +<p>Newton Overholt did not feel any sympathetic thrill of pain for his +father's sufferings; not in the least; he would perhaps have said that +he was "sorry for him" without quite knowing what that meant. But he was +very strongly moved to help him in some way, seeing that he was +evidently getting the worst of it in a big fight. Newton soon became +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span>entirely possessed by the idea that "something ought to be done," but +what it was he did not know.</p> + +<p>The lid of Pandora's box had flown open and had come off suddenly after +smashing the hinges, and Hope had flown out of the window. The boy +thought it was clearly his duty to catch her and get her into prison +again, and then to nail down the lid. He had not the smallest doubt that +this was what he ought to do, but the trouble lay in finding out how to +do it, a little difficulty that humanity has faced for a good many +thousand years. On the other hand, if he failed, as seemed probable, he +was almost sure that his father would fall ill and die, or go quite mad +in a few hours. He wished his mother were there; she would have known +how to cheer the desperate man, and could probably have made him smile +in a few minutes without really doing anything at all. Those were the +things women could do very well, the boy thought, and they ought always +to be at hand to do them when wanted. He himself could only sit there +and pretend to be busy, as children mostly do when they see their elders +in trouble. But that made him wild.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span>I say, father," he broke out suddenly, "can't I do anything? Try and +think!"</p> + +<p>"That's what I'm trying to do," answered Overholt, sitting down at last +on the stool before the work-bench and staring at the wall, with his +back turned to his son. "But I can't! There's something wrong with my +head."</p> + +<p>"You want to see a doctor," said the boy. "I'll go and see if I can get +one of them to come out here." He rose as if to go at once.</p> + +<p>"No! Don't!" cried Overholt, much distressed by the mere suggestion. "He +could only tell me to rest, and take exercise and sleep at night and not +worry!" He laughed rather wildly. "He would tell me not to worry! They +always say that! A doctor would tell a man 'not to worry' if he was to +be hanged the next morning!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton philosophically, "I suppose a man who's going to be +hung needn't worry much, anyway. He's got the front seat at the show and +nothing particular to do!"</p> + +<p>This was sound, so far as it went, but insufficient as consolation. +Overholt either <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span>did not hear, or paid no heed to the boy. He left the +room a moment later without shutting the door, and threw himself down on +the old black horsehair sofa in the parlour. Presently the lad rose +again and covered up the City of Hope with the big brown paper case he +had made to fit down over the board and keep the dust off.</p> + +<p>"This isn't your day," he observed as he did so, and the remark was +certainly addressed to the model of the town.</p> + +<p>He went into the other room and stood beside his father, looking down at +his drawn face and damp forehead.</p> + +<p>"Say, father, really, isn't there anything I can do to help?"</p> + +<p>Overholt answered with an effort. "No, my boy, there's nothing, thank +you. You cannot find money to pay my debts, can you?"</p> + +<p>"Have you got no money at all?" asked Newton, very gravely.</p> + +<p>"Four or five dollars! That's all! That's all you and I have got left in +the world to live on, and even that's not mine!"</p> + +<p>His voice shook with agony, and he raised one hand to his forehead, not +dramatically, as <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span>many foreigners would do, but quietly and firmly, and +he pressed and kneaded the surface as if he were trying to push his +brains back into the right place, so that they would work, or at least +keep quiet. After that answer Newton was too sensible to ask any more +questions, and perhaps he was also a little afraid to, because questions +might make his father worse.</p> + +<p>"Well," he said vaguely, "if I can't work at the City I suppose I may as +well go out before it's dark and take a look at the pond. It's going to +freeze hard to-night, and maybe there'll be black ice that'll bear by +to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Overholt was glad to be left alone, for he could not help being ashamed +of having broken down so completely before the boy, and he felt that he +could not recover his self-control unless he were left to himself.</p> + +<p>He heard Newton go up the rickety stairs to his own room, where he +seemed to be rummaging about for some time, judging from the noises +overhead; then the strong shoes clattered on the staircase again, the +house door was opened and shut, and the boy was off.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VI" id="VI" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span>VI</h2> + +<h2>HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX</h2> + + +<p>Newton went to the pond, because he said he was going out for that +purpose, and it might be convenient to be able to swear that he had +really been down to the water's edge. As if to enjoy the pleasure of +anticipation, too, he had his skates with him in a green flannel bag, +though it was quite out of the question that the ice should bear +already, and it was not even likely that the water would be already +frozen over. However, he took the skates with him, a very good pair, of +a new model, which his father had given him towards the end of the +previous winter, so that he had not used them more than half a dozen +times. It was very cold, but of course the ice <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span>would not bear yet. The +sun had not set, and as he was already half-way to the town, the boy +apparently thought he might as well go on instead of returning at once +to the cottage, where he would have to occupy himself with his books +till supper-time, supposing that it occurred to his father to have any +supper in his present condition. The prospect was not wildly gay, and +besides, something must be done at once. Newton was possessed by that +idea.</p> + +<p>When Overholt had been alone for some time, he got up from the horsehair +sofa and crept up the stairs, leaning on the shaky bannister like an old +man. In his own room he plunged his face into icy cold water again and +again, as if it were burning, and the sharp chill revived his nerves a +little. There was no stove in the room, and before midnight the water +would be frozen in the pitcher. He sat down and rubbed his forehead and +wondered whether he was really any better, or was only imagining or even +pretending that he was, because he wanted to be. Our own reflections +about our own sensations are never so silly as at the greatest moments +in our lives, because the tremendous strain on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span>the higher faculties +releases all the little ones, as in sleep, and they behave and reason as +idiotically as they do in dreams, which is saying a good deal. Perhaps +lunatics are only people who are perpetually asleep and dreaming with +one part of their brains while the other parts are awake. They certainly +behave as if that were the matter, and it seems a rational explanation +of ordinary insanity, curable or incurable. Did you ever talk to a +lunatic? On the subject on which he is insane he thinks and talks as you +do when you are dreaming; but he may be quite awake and sensible about +all other matters. He dreams he is rich, and he goes out and orders +cartloads of things from shops. Pray, have you never dreamt that you +were rich? Or he dreams that he is a poached egg, and must have a piece +of toast to sit down upon. I believe that well-known story of a lunatic +to be founded on fact. Have you never dreamt that you were somebody or +something quite different from yourself? Have you never dreamt that you +were an innocent man, persecuted, tried for a crime, and sentenced to +prison, or even death? And yet, at the same time, in your dream, you +were behaving with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span>the utmost good sense about everything else. When +you are dreaming, you are a perfect lunatic; why may it not be true that +the waking lunatic is really dreaming all the time, with one part of his +brain?</p> + +<p>John Henry Overholt was apparently wide awake, but he had been morally +stunned that day; he was dreaming that he was going crazy, and he could +not, for the life of him, tell whether he really felt any better after +cooling his head in the basin than before, though it seemed immensely +important to find out, just then. Afterwards, when it was all over, and +things were settled again, he remembered only a blank time, which had +lasted from the moment when he had broken down before the little City +until he found himself sitting in the parlour alone before the supper +table with a bright lamp burning, and wondering why his boy did not come +home. The dream was over then; his head ached a good deal and he did not +feel hungry, but that was all; burning anxiety had cooled to leaden +care. He knew quite well that it was all over with the Motor, that his +friends at the College would find him some sort of employment, and that +in due time he would succeed in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span>working off his debt to the bank, +dollar by dollar. He had got his soul back out of the claws of despair +that had nearly flown away with it. There was no hope, but he could live +without it because he must not only live himself, but keep his boy +alive. Somehow, he would get along on credit for a week or two, till he +could get work. At all events there were his tools to sell, and the +Motor must go for old brass, bronze, iron, and steel. He would see about +selling the stuff the next day, and with what it would bring he could at +least pay cash for necessaries, and the bank must wait. There was no +hope in that, but there was the plain sense of an honest man. He was not +a coward; he had only been brutally stunned, and now that he had +recovered from the blow he would do his duty. But an innocent man who +walks steadily to endure an undeserved death is not a man that hopes for +anything, and it was like death to Overholt to give up his invention.</p> + +<p>The door opened and Newton came in quietly. His face was flushed with +the cold and his eyes were bright. What was the weight of leaden care to +the glorious main-<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span>spring of healthy thirteen? Overholt was proud of his +boy, nevertheless, for facing the dreary prospect of no Christmas so +bravely. Then he had a surprise.</p> + +<p>"I've got a little money, father. It's not much, I know, but it's +something to go on with for a day or two. There it is."</p> + +<p>Newton produced three well-worn dollar bills and some small change, +which his father stared at in amazement.</p> + +<p>"There's three dollars and seventy cents," he said. "And you told me you +had four or five dollars left."</p> + +<p>Before he sat down he piled the change neatly on the bills beside his +father's plate; then he took his seat, very red indeed and looking at +the table-cloth.</p> + +<p>"Where on earth did you get it?" asked Overholt, leaning back in his +chair.</p> + +<p>"Well"—the boy hesitated and got redder still—"I didn't steal it, +anyway," he said. "It's mine all right. I mean it's yours."</p> + +<p>"Of course you didn't steal it!" cried John Henry. "But where did you +get it? You haven't had more than a few cents at a time for weeks and +weeks, so you can't have saved it!"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span>I didn't beg it either," Newton answered.</p> + +<p>"Or borrow it, my boy?"</p> + +<p>"No! I wasn't going to borrow money I couldn't pay! I'd rather not tell +you, all the same, father! At least, I earned twenty cents of it. That's +the odd twenty, that makes the three seventy. I don't mind telling you +that."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you earned twenty cents of it? Well, I'm glad of that, anyhow. What +did you do?"</p> + +<p>"I sort of hung round the depôt till the train came in, and I carried a +man's valise across to the hotel for him. He gave me ten cents. Some of +the boys do that, you know, but I thought you wouldn't care to have me +do it till I had to!"</p> + +<p>"That's all right. It does you credit. How about the other ten cents?"</p> + +<p>"Old Bangs saw me pass his shop, and he asked me to come in and said +he'd give me ten cents if I'd do some sums for him. I guess he's pretty +busy just now. He said he'd give me ten cents every day till Christmas +if I'd come in after school and do the sums. His boy's got mumps or +something, and can't. There's no harm in that, is there, father?"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span>Harm! I'm proud of you, my boy. You'll win through—some day!"</p> + +<p>It was the first relief from his misery the poor man had felt since he +had read the letter about the overdraft in the morning.</p> + +<p>"What I can't understand is the rest of the money," said Overholt.</p> + +<p>Newton looked very uncomfortable again, and moved uneasily on his chair.</p> + +<p>"Oh well, I suppose I've got to tell you," he said, looking down into +his plate and very busy with his knife and fork. "Say, you won't tell +mother, will you? She wouldn't like it."</p> + +<p>"I won't tell her."</p> + +<p>"Well"—the boy hesitated—"I sold some things," he said at last, in a +low voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh! There's no great harm in that, my boy. What did you sell?"</p> + +<p>"My skates and my watch," said Newton, just audibly. "You see I didn't +somehow feel as if I were going to skate much this winter—and I don't +really need to know what time it is if I start right by the clock to go +to school. I say, don't tell mother. She gave me the watch, you know, +last Christmas.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> Of course, you gave me the skates, but you'll +understand better than she would."</p> + +<p>Overholt was profoundly touched, for he knew what delight the good +skates meant in the cold weather, and the pride the boy had felt in the +silver watch that kept such excellent time. But he could not think of +much to say just then, for the sight of the poor little pile of dirty +money that was the sordid price of so much pleasure and satisfaction +half-choked him.</p> + +<p>"You're a brave boy," he said in a low tone.</p> + +<p>But Newton was indefinitely far from understanding that he had done +anything brave; he merely felt much better now, because he had confessed +and had the matter off his mind.</p> + +<p>"Oh well, you see, something had to be done quick," he said, "and I +couldn't think of anything else. But I'll go and earn that ten cents of +Bangs every afternoon, you bet! And I guess I can pick up a quarter at +the depôt now and then; that is, if you don't mind. It isn't much, I +know, but it'll help a little."</p> + +<p>"It's helped already, more than you have any idea," said Overholt.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span>He remembered with bitter shame how he had completely broken down +before his son that afternoon, and how quietly the lad had gone off to +make his great sacrifice, pretending that he only wanted to see whether +the pond was freezing.</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton, "I'm glad you don't think it was mean of me to go +and sell the watch mother gave me. And I'm glad you feel better. You do +feel a good deal better, don't you?"</p> + +<p>"A thousand times better!" answered Overholt, almost cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"I'm glad. Maybe you'll feel like working on the City a little after +supper."</p> + +<p>"I was afraid Hope had given us up to-day, and had flown away for good +and all," said the inventor. "But you've brought her home with you +again, bless you! Yes, we'll do some work after supper, and after you go +to bed I'll just have one more good evening with the Motor before I give +it up for ever."</p> + +<p>Newton looked up.</p> + +<p>"You aren't going to give it up for ever," he said in a tone of +conviction. "You can't."</p> + +<p>Overholt explained calmly enough that he <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span>must sell the machine for old +metal the very next day, and sell the tools too. But the boy shook his +head.</p> + +<p>"You'll curl up and die if you do that," he said. "Besides, if mother +were here she wouldn't let you do it, so you oughtn't to. The reason why +she's gone to be a governess is because she wouldn't let you give up the +Motor, father. You know it is."</p> + +<p>"Yes. It's true—but—" he hesitated.</p> + +<p>"You simply can't do it, that's all. So I'm perfectly certain you won't! +I believe everything will come round all right, anyway, if you only +don't worry. That's what I believe, father."</p> + +<p>"It's a hopeful view, at all events. The only objection to it is that +it's a good deal like dreaming, and I've no right to dream any more. +When you see that I'm going to, you must make me sit up and mind my +lesson!"</p> + +<p>He even laughed a little, and it was not badly done, considering that he +did it on purpose to show how he meant to make the best of it all, +though Hope would not do anything for him. He ate something too, if only +to keep the hungry boy company.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span>They went into the workshop, and found the bright moonlight streaming +through the window that looked east. It fell full on the motionless +Motor, under its plate-glass case, and turned all the steel and brass to +silver and gold, and from the clean snow that covered the desolateness +of the yard outside the moon sent a white reflection upwards that +mingled with the direct moonlight in a ghostly sort of way. Newton stood +still and looked at the machine, while Overholt felt about for matches.</p> + +<p>"If only it would begin to move now, just of itself!"</p> + +<p>The man knew that it would not, and wished that the boy would not even +suggest such a thing, and he sighed as he lit the lamp. But all the same +he meant to spend half the night in taking a last farewell of the +engine, and of all the parts on which he had spent months and years, +only to let them be broken up for old metal in the end.</p> + +<p>The two sat down on each side of the little City and went to work to +build the railway station; and after all, when Overholt looked at the +Common and the College and remembered how happy he had been there, he +began to feel that since dreams were nothing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span>but dreams, except that +they were a great waste of time and money, and of energy and endurance, +he might possibly find some happiness again in the old life, if he could +only get back to it.</p> + +<p>So Hope came back, rather bedraggled and worn out after her long +excursion, and took a very humble lodging in the little City which had +once been all hers and the capital of her kingdom. But she was there, +all the same, peeping out of a small window to see whether she would be +welcome if she went out and took a little walk in the streets.</p> + +<p>For the blindest of all blind people are those who have quite made up +their minds not to see; and the most miserable of all the hopeless ones +are those that wilfully turn their backs on Hope when she stands at the +next corner holding out her hand rather timidly.</p> + +<p>But Overholt was not one of these, and he took it gladly when it was +offered, and stood ready to be led away by a new path, which was not the +road to fame or wealth, but which might bring him to a quiet little +place where he could live in peace with those he loved, and after all +that would be a great deal.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VII" id="VII" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span>VII</h2> + +<h2>HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY</h2> + + +<p>A fortnight earlier Mrs. Overholt had been much disturbed in her mind, +for she read each of her husband's letters over at least three times, +and Newton's fortnightly scrawls even oftener, because it was less easy +to make them out; but she had understood one thing very well, and that +was that there was no more money for the invention, and very little cash +for the man and the boy to live on. If she had known what a dreadful +mistake John Henry had made about debit and credit, the little woman +would have been terribly anxious; but as it was, she was quite unhappy +enough.</p> + +<p>Overholt had written repeatedly of his <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span>attempts to raise just a little +more money with which to finish the invention, and he had explained very +clearly what there was to do, and somehow she had always believed in the +idea, because he had invented that beautiful scientific instrument with +which his name was connected, but she was almost sure that in working +out his theory he was quite on the wrong track. She did not really +understand the engine at all, but she was quite certain that when a +thing was going to succeed, it succeeded from the first, without many +hitches or drawbacks. Most women are like that.</p> + +<p>She had never written this to her husband, because she would do anything +rather than discourage him; but she had almost made, up her mind to +write him a letter of good advice at last, begging him to go back to +teaching for the present, and only to work at the invention in his spare +time. Just then, however, she came across a paragraph in a German +newspaper in Munich which said that a great scientific man in Berlin had +completed an air-motor at last, after years of study, and that it worked +tolerably, enough to demonstrate the principle, but could never <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span>be of +any practical use because the chemical product on which it ultimately +depended was so enormously expensive.</p> + +<p>Now Mrs. Overholt knew one thing certainly about her husband's engine, +namely, that the chemical he meant to use cost next to nothing, so that +if the principle were sound, the Motor would turn out to be the cheapest +in existence; and she was a practical person, like her boy Newton.</p> + +<p>Moreover, she loved John Henry with all her heart and soul, and thought +him one of the greatest geniuses in the world, and she simply could not +bear the idea that he should not have a fair chance to finish the +machine and try it.</p> + +<p>Lastly, Christmas was coming; the girls she was educating talked of +nothing else, and counted the days, and sat up half the night on the +edges of each other's beds discussing the beautiful presents they were +sure to receive; and a great deal might be written about what they said, +but it has nothing to do with this story, except that their chatter +helped to fill the air with the Christmas spirit, and with thoughts of +giving as well as of receiving. Though they were rather spoiled +children, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span>they were generous too, and they laid all sorts of little +traps in order to find out what their governess would like best from +each of them, for they were fond of her in their way.</p> + +<p>Also, Munich is one of the castles which King Christmas still holds in +absolute sway and calls his own, and long before he is really awake +after his long rest he begins to stir and laugh in his sleep, and the +jolly colour creeps up and spreads over his old cheeks before he thinks +of opening his eyes, much less of getting up and putting on his crown. +And now that he was waking, Helen Overholt felt the old loving longing +for her dear ones rising to her womanly heart, and she planned little +plans for another and a happier year to come, and meanwhile she bought +two or three little gifts to send to the cottage in far Connecticut.</p> + +<p>But when she had read about the Berlin professor and his motor and +thought of her own John Henry making bricks without straw and bearing up +bravely against disappointment, and still writing so cheerfully and +hopefully in spite of everything, she simply could not stand it another +day. As I have said, King Christmas turned over just before <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span>waking, and +he put out a big generous hand in his sleep and laid it on her heart. +Whenever he does that to anybody, man, woman, or child, a splendid +longing seizes them to give all they have to the one child, or woman, or +man that each loves best, or to the being of all others that is most in +need, or to help the work which seems to each of them the noblest and +the best, if they are grown up and are lonely.</p> + +<p>This is what happened to Helen Overholt, in spite of her good sense and +all her practical resolutions. As long as she had anything to give, John +Henry should have it and be happy, and succeed, if success were +possible. She had saved most of her salary for a long time past, +spending as little as she well could on herself. He should have it all, +for love's sake, and because she believed in him, and because Christmas +was waking up, and had laid his great affectionate old hand on her.</p> + +<p>So it came to pass that when Overholt was pottering over the beautiful +motionless Motor, late at night, sure that it would work if he had a +little more money, but still more sure that it must be sold for old +metal the next morning, to buy bread for the boy, even at that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span>hour +help was near, and from the hand he loved best in the world, which would +make it ten thousand times sweeter when it reached him.</p> + +<p>It was going to be an awful wrench to give up the invention, for now, at +the moment of abandoning it, he saw, or thought he saw, that he was +right at last, and that it could not fail. It was useless to try it as +it was, yet he would, just once more. He adjusted the tangent-balance +and the valves; he put in the supply of the chemical with the long name +and screwed down the hermetic plug. With the small hand air-pump he +produced the first vacuum which was necessary; all was ready, every +joint and stuffing-box was lubricated, the spring of the balance was +adjusted to a nicety. But the engine would not start, though he turned +the fly-wheel with his hand again and again, as if to encourage it. Of +course it would not turn alone! He understood perfectly that the one +piece on which all depended must be made over again, exactly the other +way. That was all!</p> + +<p>There was the wooden model of it, all ready for the foundry that would +not cast it for nothing. If only the wooden piece <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span>would serve for a +moment's trial! But he knew that this was folly; it would not stand the +enormous strain an instant, and the joints could not possibly be made +air-tight.</p> + +<p>He was utterly worn out by all he had been through during the long day, +and he fell asleep in his chair towards morning, his head on his breast, +his feet struck out straight before him, one arm hanging down beside him +and his other hand thrust into his pocket. He looked more like a shabby +lay figure stuffed with sawdust than like a living man. If Newton had +come down and found him lying there under the lamplight he would have +started back and shuddered, and waited a while before he could find +courage to come nearer.</p> + +<p>But the man was only very sound asleep, and he did not wake till the +December dawn gleamed through the clear winter's sky and made the +artificial light look dim and smoky; and when he opened his eyes it was +he himself who started to find himself there in the cold before his +great failure, in broad daylight.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, he had slept soundly, and felt better able to face all the +trouble that was in store for him. He stirred the embers in the stove, +put in some kindling and a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span>supply of coal, and warmed himself, still +heavy with sleep, and glad to waken consciously, by degrees, and to feel +that his resolution was not going to break down.</p> + +<p>When he felt quite himself he left the room and went upstairs +cautiously, lest he should wake the boy, though it was really time to +get up, and Newton was already dressing.</p> + +<p>"I'll walk into town with you," said Overholt when they were at +breakfast in the parlour. "It will do me good to get some air, and I +must see about selling those things. There's no time to be lost."</p> + +<p>Newton swallowed his hominy and bread and butter and milk, and reflected +on the futility of the sacrifice he had made, since his father insisted +on selling everything for old metal; but he said nothing, because he was +dreadfully disappointed.</p> + +<p>Near the town they met the postman. As a rule Barbara got the mail when +she went to market, and Overholt was not even going to ask the man if +there were any letters for him. But the postman stopped him. There was +one from his wife, and it was registered. He signed the little receipt +for it, the man passed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span>them on his rounds, and they slackened their +pace as Overholt broke the seal.</p> + +<p>He uttered a loud exclamation when he had glanced at the contents, and +he stood still in the road. Newton stared at him in surprise.</p> + +<p>"A thousand dollars!" he cried, overcome with amazement. "A thousand +dollars! Oh, Helen, Helen—you've saved my life!"</p> + +<p>He got to the side of the road and leaned against the fence, clutching +the letter and the draft in his hand, and gazing into his son's face, +half crazy with delight.</p> + +<p>"She's saved it all for me, boy. Do you understand? Your mother has +saved all her salary for the Motor, and here it is! Look at it, look at +it! It's success, it's fame, it's fortune for us all! Oh, if she were +only here!"</p> + +<p>Newton understood and rejoiced. He forgot his poor little attempt to +help, and his own disappointment, and everything except the present +glorious truth—not unadorned by the pleasant vision of the Christmas +turkey, vast now, and smoking, and flanked by perfect towers of stiff +cranberry jelly, ever so much better than mere liquid cranberry sauce; +in the middle distance, behind the noble dish, a noble pyramid of +ice-cream raised its height, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span>and yellow cream-cakes rose beyond, like +many little suns on the far horizon. In that first moment of delight +there was almost a Christmas tree, and the mother's face beside it; but +that was too much; they faded, and the rest remained, no mean forecast +of a jolly time.</p> + +<p>"That's perfectly grand!" Newton cried when he got his breath after his +surprise at the announcement. "Besides, I told you so. What did I say? +She wouldn't let you give up the Motor! I knew she wouldn't! Who's right +now, father? That's something like what I call a mother! But then she +always was!"</p> + +<p>He was slightly incoherent, but that did not matter at all. Nothing +mattered. In his young beatific vision he saw the bright wheel going +round and round in a perfect storm of turkeys, and it was all his +mother's doing.</p> + +<p>Overholt only half heard, for he had been reading the letter; the letter +of a loving wife who believes in her husband and gives him all she has +for his work, with every hope, every encouragement, and every blessing +and Christmas wish.</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span>There's no time to be lost!" Overholt said, repeating the words he had +spoken in a very different mood and tone half an hour earlier. "I won't +walk on with you, my boy, for I must go back and get the wooden model +for the foundry. They'll do it for me now, fast enough! And I can pay +what I owe at the bank, and there will be plenty left over for your +Christmas too!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother my Christmas, father!" answered Newton with a fine +indifference which he did not feel. "The Motor's the thing! I want to +see that wheel go round for a Christmas present!"</p> + +<p>"It will! It shall! It must! I promise you that!" The man was almost +beside himself with joy.</p> + +<p>No misgiving disturbed him. He had the faith that tosses mountains aside +like pebbles, now that the means were in his hand. He had the little +fulcrum for his lever, which was all Archimedes required to move the +world. He had in him the certainty of being right that has sent millions +of men to glory or destruction.</p> + +<p>That day was one of the happiest in all his life, either before or, +afterwards. He could <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span>have believed that he had fallen asleep at the +moment when he had quite broken down, and that a hundred years of change +had glided by, like a watch in the night, when he opened his wife's +letter and wakened in a blaze of joy and hope and glorious activity. +Nothing he could remember of that kind could compare with his pride and +honourable satisfaction when he walked into the bank two hours +afterwards, with his head high, and said he should be glad to take up +the note he had signed yesterday and have the balance of the cheque +placed to his credit; and few surprises which the partner who had +obliged him could recollect, had equalled that worthy gentleman's +amazement when the debt was paid so soon.</p> + +<p>"If you had only told me that you would be in funds so soon, Mr. +Overholt," he said, "I should not have thought of troubling you. Here is +your note. Will you kindly look at it and tear it up?"</p> + +<p>"I did not know," answered Overholt, doing as he was told.</p> + +<p>It is a curious fact that the little note lay in a locked drawer of the +partner's magnificent table, instead of being put away in the safe <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span>with +other and larger notes, where it belonged. It may seem still stranger +that, on the books, Overholt's account showed that it had been balanced +by a deposit exactly equal to the deficit, made by the partner himself, +instead of by crediting the amount of the note. But Overholt never knew +this, for a pass-book had always been a mystery to him, and made his +head ache. The banker had thought of his face some time after he had +gone out with his battered umbrella and his shabby shoulders rounded as +under a burden, and somehow the Christmas spirit must have come in +quietly and touched the rich man too, though even the stenographer did +not see what happened. For he had once been in terrible straits himself, +a quarter of a century ago, and some one had helped him just in time, +and he knew what it meant to slink out of a big bank, in shabby clothes, +his back bowed under the heavy weight of debt and failure.</p> + +<p>Overholt never knew; but he expressed his warm thanks for what now +seemed a small favour, and with his wooden model of the casting, done up +in brown paper, under his arm, he went off to the foundry in Long +Island.</p> + +<p>Much careful work had been done for him <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span>there, and the people were +willing to oblige him, and promised that the piece should certainly be +ready before Christmas Day, and as much earlier as possible, and should +be made with the greatest exactness which the most precise machinery and +the most careful work could ensure.</p> + +<p>This being settled, Overholt returned to New York and went to two or +three places in the Bowery, well known to him, where he bought certain +fine tools and pieces of the most perfectly turned steel spring, and +several other small objects, which he needed for the construction of the +new tangent-balance he had to make for the reversed curve. Finally, he +bought a silver watch like the one Newton had sold, and a new pair of +skates, presents which the boy certainly deserved, and which would make +a very good show at Christmas, when they were to be produced. He felt as +if he had come into a large fortune.</p> + +<p>Moreover, when he got out of the train at his own station he went into +the town, and ordered beforehand the good things for the feast, though +there were three weeks still, and he wanted to pay for them in advance, +because he felt inside of himself that no one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span>could be quite sure of +what might happen in twenty-one days; but the dealers flatly refused to +take his money, though they told him what the things would cost. Then +Overholt did almost the only prudent thing he had done in his life, for +he took the necessary money and five dollars more and sealed it up in an +envelope, which he put away in a safe place. The only difficulty would +lie in remembering where the place was, so he told Newton about it, and +the boy wrote it down on a piece of paper which he pinned up in his own +room, where he could see it. There was nothing like making sure of that +turkey, he thought. And I may as well say at once that in this matter, +at least, no untoward accident occurred, and the money was actually +there at the appointed time. What happened was something quite +different, and much more unexpected, not to say extraordinary and even +amazing; and in spite of all that, it will not take very long to tell.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, before it happened, Overholt and the boy were perfectly +happy. All day long the inventor worked at the tangent-balance, till he +had brought it to such perfection that it would be affected by a +variation <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span>of one-tenth of one second in the aggregate speed of ten +revolutions, and an increase or decrease of a tenth of a grain in the +weight of the volume of the compressed air. It was so sensitive that +John Henry and Newton trod cautiously on the floor of the workshop so as +not to set it vibrating under the glass clock-shade, where it was kept +safe from dust and dampness.</p> + +<p>After it had been placed there to wait for the casting, the inventor +took the engine to pieces and made the small changes that would be +necessary before finally putting it together again, which would probably +occupy two days.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the little City of Hope grew rapidly, and was becoming an +important centre of civilisation and commerce, though it was only made +of paper and chips, and bits of matchboxes and odds and ends cleverly +put together with glue and painted; except the people in the street. For +it was inhabited now, and though the men and women did not move about, +they looked as if they might, if they were only bigger. Overholt had +seen the population in the window of a German toy-shop one day when he +was in New York <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span>to get a new crocusing wheel for polishing some of the +small parts of the engine. They were the smallest doll-people he had +ever seen, and were packed by dozens and dozens in Nuremberg toy-boxes, +and cost very little, so he bought a quantity of them. At first Newton +rather resented them, just because they were only toys, but his father +explained to him that models of human figures were almost necessary to +models of buildings, to give an idea of the population, and that when +architects make coloured sketches of projected houses, they generally +draw in one or two people for that reason; and this was perfectly +satisfactory to the boy, and saved his dignity from the slight it would +have suffered if he had been actually seen amusing himself with mere +playthings.</p> + +<p>Overholt was divinely happy in anticipation of the final success that +was so near, and in the daily work that was making it more and more a +certainty, as he thought; and then, when the day was over, he was just +as happy with the little City, which was being decorated for Christmas, +with wreaths in the windows of the houses, and a great many more +holly-trees than had at first been <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span>thought of, and numberless little +Christmas booths round the common, like those in Avenue A, south of +Tompkins Square, in New York, which make you fancy you are in Munich or +Prague if you go and see them at the right hour on Christmas Eve.</p> + +<p>Before long Overholt received a short note from the President of his old +College, simply saying that the latter knew of no opening at present, +but would bear him in mind. But that did not matter now.</p> + +<p>So the two spent their time very pleasantly during the next weeks; but +though Overholt was so hopeful and delighted with his work, he knew that +he was becoming nervous and overwrought by the great anticipation, and +that he could not stand such a strain very long.</p> + +<p>Then, two days before Christmas, he received a note saying that the new +piece was finished and had been sent to him by express. That was almost +too much happiness to bear, and when he found the heavy case at the +station the next morning, and got it put on a cart, his heart was doing +queer things, and he was as white as a sheet.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span>VIII</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST</h2> + + +<p>The hush of Christmas Eve lay upon the tumble-down cottage, and on the +soft fresh snow outside, and the lamps were burning quietly in the +workshop, where father and son were sitting before the finished Motor.</p> + +<p>The little City was there too, but not between them now, though Newton +had taken off its brown paper cover in honour of the great event which +was about to take place.</p> + +<p>In order to be doubly sure of the result, and dreading even the +possibility of a little disappointment, Overholt had decided that he +would subject the only chemical substance which the machine consumed to +a final form of refinement by heat, melting, boiling and cooling it, all +of which would require an hour <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span>or more before it was quite ready. He +felt like a man who is going to risk his life over a precipice, trusting +to a single rope for safety; that one rope must not be even a little +chafed; if possible each strand must be perfect in itself, and all the +strands must be laid up without a fault. Of the rest, of the machine +itself, Overholt felt absolutely sure; yet although a slight impurity in +the chemical could certainly not hinder the whole from working, it might +interfere with the precision of the revolutions, or even cause the +engine to stop after a few hours instead of going on indefinitely, as +long as the supply of the substance produced the alternate disturbance +of equilibrium which was the main principle on which the machine +depended.</p> + +<p>That sweetly prophetic evening silence, before the great feast of Good +Will, does not come over everything each year, even in a lonely cottage +in an abandoned farm in Connecticut, than which you cannot possibly +imagine anything more silent or more remote from the noise of the world. +Sometimes it rains in torrents just on that night, sometimes it blows a +raging gale that twists the leafless birches and elms and hickory trees +like dry grass and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span>bends the dark firs and spruces as if they were +feathers, and you can hardly be heard unless you shout, for the howling +and screaming and whistling of the blast.</p> + +<p>But now and then, once in four or five years perhaps, the feathery snow +lies a foot deep, fresh-fallen, on the still country-side and in the +woods; and the waxing moon sheds her large light on all, and Nature +holds her breath to wait for the happy day, and tries to sleep but +cannot, from sheer happiness and peace. Indoors the fire is glowing on +the wide hearth, a great bed of coals that will last all night, because +it is not bitter weather, but only clear and cold and still, as it +should be; or if there is only a poor stove, like Overholt's, the wide +door is open, and a comfortable and cheery red light shines out from +within upon the battered iron plate and the wooden floor beyond; and the +older people sit round it, not saying much, but thinking with their +hearts rather than with their heads; but small boys and girls know that +interesting things have been happening in the kitchen all the afternoon, +and are rather glad that the supper was not very good, because there +will be the more room for good <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span>things to-morrow; and the grown-ups and +the children have made up any little differences of opinion they may +have had before supper-time, because Good Will must reign, and reign +alone, like Alexander; so that there is nothing at all to regret, and +nothing hurts anybody any more, and they are all happy in just wishing +for King Christmas to open the door softly and make them all great +people in his kingdom. But if it is the right sort of house, he is +already looking in through the window, to be sure that every one is all +ready for him, and that nothing has been forgotten.</p> + +<p>Now, although Overholt's cottage was a miserable place for a professor +who had lived very comfortably and well in a College town, and although +the thirteen-year-old boy could remember several pretty trees, lighted +up with coloured candles and gleaming with tinsel and gilt apples, they +both felt that this was going to be the greatest Christmas in their +lives, because the motionless Motor was going to move, and that would +mean everything—most of all to both of them, the end of the mother's +exile, and her speedy home-coming. Therefore neither said anything for a +long time while the chemical stuff was slowly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span>warming itself and +getting ready, inside a big iron pot, of which the cover was screwed on +with a high-temperature thermometer sealed in it, and which stood on the +top of the stove where Overholt could watch the scale.</p> + +<p>He would really have preferred to be alone for the first trial, but it +was utterly impossible to think of sending the boy to bed. He was sure +of success, it is true, yet he would far rather have been left to +himself till that success was no longer in the future, but present; then +at last, even if Newton had been asleep, he would have waked him and +brought him downstairs again to see his triumph. The lad's presence made +him nervous, and suggested a failure which was all but impossible. More +than once he was on the point of trying to explain this to Newton, but +when he glanced at the young face he could not find it in his heart to +speak. If he only asked the boy, as a kindness, to go into the next room +for five minutes while the machine was being started, he knew what would +happen. Newton would go quietly, without a word, and wait till he was +called; but half his Christmas would be spoilt by the disappointment he +would try hard to hide.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> Had they not suffered together, and had not the +boy sacrificed the best of his small possessions, dearly treasured, to +help in their joint distress? It would be nothing short of brutal to +deprive him of the first moment of triumphant surprise, that was going +to mean so much hereafter. Yet the inventor would have given anything to +be alone. He was overwrought by the long strain that had so often seemed +unbearable, and when the liquid that was heating had reached the right +temperature and the iron pot had to be taken off the stove, his hands +shook so that he nearly dropped it; but Newton did not see that.</p> + +<p>"It's wonderful how everything has come out just right!" the boy +exclaimed as he looked at the machine. "Out of your three wishes you'll +get two, father, for the wheel will go round and I'm going to have a +regular old patent, double-barrelled Christmas with a gilt edge!" His +similes were mixed, but effective in their way. "And you'll probably get +the other wish in half a shake now, for mother'll come right home, won't +she?"</p> + +<p>"If the trial succeeds," Overholt said, still instinctively seeking to +forestall a disappoint<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span>ment he did not expect. "Nothing is a fact until +it has happened, you know!"</p> + +<p>"Well," said Newton, "if I had anything to bet with, and somebody to bet +against, I'd bet, that's all. But I haven't. It's a pity too, now that +everything's coming out right. Do you remember how we were trying to +make bricks without straw less than a month ago, father? It didn't look +just then as if we were going to have a roaring old Christmas this year, +did it?"</p> + +<p>He chattered on happily, looking at the Motor all the time, and Overholt +tried to smile and answered him with a word or two now and then, though +he was becoming more and more nervous as the minutes passed and the +supreme moment came nearer. In his own mind he was going over the simple +operations he had to perform to start the engine; yet easy as they were +he was afraid that he might make some fatal mistake. He did not let +himself think of failure; he did not dare to wonder how he should tell +his wife if anything went wrong and all her hard-saved earnings were +lost in the general ruin that must follow if the thing would not move. +There was next to nothing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span>left of what she had sent, now that +everything was paid for; it would support him and the boy for a month, +if so long, but certainly no more.</p> + +<p>He was ready at last, but, strange to say, he would gladly have put off +the great moment for half an hour now that there was no reason for +waiting another moment. He sat down again in his chair and folded his +hands.</p> + +<p>"Aren't you going to begin, father?" asked Newton. "What are you waiting +for?"</p> + +<p>Overholt pulled himself together, rose with a pale face, and laid his +shaking hands on the heavy plate-glass case. It moved upwards by its +chain and counterpoise, almost at a touch, till it was near the low +ceiling, quite clear of the machine.</p> + +<p>He was very slow in doing what was still necessary, and the boy watched +him in breathless suspense, for he had seen other trials that had +failed—more than two or three, perhaps half a dozen. Every one who has +lived with an inventor, even a boy, has learned to expect disappointment +as inevitable; only the seeker himself is confident up to a certain +point, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span>then his own hand trembles, when the moment of trial is +come.</p> + +<p>Overholt poured the chemical into the chamber at the base, screwed down +the air-tight plug, and opened the communication between the reservoir +and the machine. Then he took out his watch and waited four minutes, +that being twice the time he had ascertained to be necessary for a +sufficient quantity of the liquid to penetrate into the distributors +beyond. He next worked the hand air-pump, keeping his eye on the vacuum +gauge, and lastly, as soon as the needle marked the greatest exhaustion +he knew to be obtainable, he moved the starting lever to the proper +position, and then stepped back to watch the result.</p> + +<p>For a moment, in the joy of anticipation, a strange light illuminated +his face, his lips parted as in a foretasted wonder, and he forgot even +to drop the hand he had just withdrawn. The boy held his breath +unconsciously till he was nearly dizzy.</p> + +<p>Then a despairing cry burst from the wretched man's lips, he threw up +his hands as if he had been shot through the heart, and stumbled +backwards.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span>The Motor stood still, motionless as ever, and gleaming under the +brightly shining lamps.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Helen! God forgive me!"</p> + +<p>With the words he fell heavily to the floor, and lay there, a nerveless, +breathless heap. Newton was kneeling beside him in an instant.</p> + +<p>"Father!" cried the boy in agony, bending over the still white face. +"Father! Speak to me! You can't be dead—you can't—"</p> + +<p>In his mortal terror the lad held each breath till it seemed as if his +head must burst, then breathed once and shut his lips again with all his +strength. Some instinct made him lay his ear to the man's chest to +listen for the beatings of his heart, but he could hear nothing.</p> + +<p>Half-suffocated with sudden mingled grief and fright, he straightened +himself on his knees and looked up at the cursed machine that had +wrought such awful destruction.</p> + +<p>Then he in turn uttered a cry, but it was low and full of wonder, long +drawn out and trembling as the call of a frightened young wild animal.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span>The thing was moving, steadily, noiselessly moving in the bright light; +the double levers worked like iron jaws opening and shutting regularly, +the little valve-rods rose and sank, and the heavy wheel whirled round +and round. The boy was paralysed with amazement, and for ten seconds he +forgot that he was kneeling beside his father's fallen body on the +floor; then he felt it against him and it was no longer quite still.</p> + +<p>Overholt groaned and turned upon his side as his senses slowly came back +and his agony tortured him to life again. Instantly the boy bent over +him.</p> + +<p>"Father! It's going! Wake up, father! The wheel's going round at last!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="IX" id="IX" /><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span>IX</h2> + +<h2>HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE</h2> + + +<p>When Overholt understood what he heard, he opened his eyes and looked up +into his son's face, moving his head mournfully from side to side as it +lay on the boards. But suddenly he caught sight of the engine. He gasped +for breath, his jaw dropped, and his eyes were starting from their +sockets as he struggled to get up with the boy's help.</p> + +<p>His voice came with a sort of rasping scream that did not sound human, +and then broke into wild laughter, interrupted by broken words.</p> + +<p>"Mad!" he cried. "I knew it—it had to come—my boy—help me to get away +from that thing—I'm raving mad—I see it moving—"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span>But it really is moving, father! Wake up! Look at it! The wheel is +going round and round!"</p> + +<p>Then Overholt was silent, sitting up on the floor and leaning against +his arm. Slowly he realised that he was in his senses, and that the +dream of long years had come true. Not a sound broke the stillness, so +perfect was the machinery, except a kind of very soft hum made by the +heavy fly-wheel revolving in the air.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure, boy? Aren't we dreaming?" he asked in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"It's going like clock-work, as sure as you're born," the lad answered. +"I think your falling down shook it up and started it. That was all it +wanted."</p> + +<p>The inventor got up slowly, first upon his knees, at last to his feet, +never once taking his eyes from the beautiful engine. He went close to +it, and put out his hand, till he felt the air thrown off by the wheel, +and he gently touched the smooth, swift-turning rim with one finger, +incredulous still.</p> + +<p>"There's no doubt about it," he said at last, yielding to the evidence +of touch and sight. "It works, and it works to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span>perfection. If it +doesn't stop soon, it will go on for twenty-four hours!"</p> + +<p>Almost as much overcome by joy as he had been by despair, he let himself +sink into his seat.</p> + +<p>"Get me that tea-bottle," he said unsteadily. "Quick! I feel as if I +were going to faint again!"</p> + +<p>The draught he swallowed steadied his nerves, and then he sat a long +time quite silent in his unutterable satisfaction, and Newton stood +beside him watching the moving levers, the rising and sinking valve +rods, and the steadily whirling wheel.</p> + +<p>"She did it, my boy," Overholt said at last, very softly. "Your mother +did it! Without her help the Motor would have been broken up for old +metal three weeks ago."</p> + +<p>"It's something like a Christmas present," Newton answered. "But then I +always said she wouldn't let you give it up. Do you know, father, when +you fell just now, I thought you were dead, you looked just awful! And +it was quite a long time before I saw that the Motor was moving. And +then, when I did see it, and thought you were dead—well, I can't tell +you—"</p> + +<p>"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span>Poor little chap! But it's all right now, my boy, and I haven't spoilt +your Christmas, after all!"</p> + +<p>"Not quite!"</p> + +<p>Newton laughed joyfully, and, turning round, he saw the little City +smiling on its board in the strong light, with the tiny red and green +wreaths in the windows and the pretty booths, and the crowds of little +people buying Christmas presents at them.</p> + +<p>"They're going to have a pretty good time in the City too," the boy +observed. "They know just as well as we do that Hope has come to stay +now!"</p> + +<p>But Overholt did not hear. Silent and rapt he sat in his old Shaker +rocking-chair gazing steadily at the great success of his life, that was +moving ceaselessly before his eyes, where motionless failure had sat +mocking him but a few minutes ago; and as the wheel whirled steadily +round and round, throwing off a little breeze like a fan, the cruel past +was wafted away like a mist by a morning wind, and the bright future +floated in and filled its place altogether and more also, as daylight +shows the distance which was all hidden from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span>us by the close darkness +we groped in before it rose.</p> + +<p>Overholt sat still, and saw, and wondered, and little by little the +wheel and the soft vision of near happiness hypnotised him, for his body +and brain were weary beyond words to tell, so that all at once his eyes +were shut and he was sleeping like a child, as happy in dreamland as he +had just been awake; and happier far, for there was a dear presence with +him now, a hand he loved lay quietly in his, and he heard a sweet low +voice that was far away.</p> + +<p>The boy saw, and understood, for ever since he had been very small he +had been taught that he must not wake his father, who slept badly at all +times, and little or not at all when he was anxious. So Newton would not +disturb him now, and at once formed a brave resolution to sit bolt +upright all night, if necessary, for fear of making any noise. Besides, +he did not feel at all sleepy. There was the Motor to look at, and there +was Christmas to think of, and it was bright and clear outside where the +snow was like silver, under the young moon. He could look out of the +window as he sat, or at his father, or at the beautiful moving engine, +or at the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span>little City of Hope, all without doing more than just turning +his head.</p> + +<p>To tell the truth, it was not really a great sacrifice he was making, +for if there is anything that strikes a boy of thirteen as more wildly +exciting than anything else in the world, it is to sit up all night +instead of going to bed like a Christian child; moreover, the workshop +was warm, and his own room would be freezing cold, and he was so well +used to the vile odour of the chemical stuff, that he did not notice it +at all. It was even said to be healthy to breathe the fumes of it, as +the air of a tannery is good for the lungs, or even London coal smoke.</p> + +<p>But it is one thing to resolve to keep awake, even with many delightful +things to think about; it is quite another to keep one's eyes open when +they are quite sure that they ought to be shut, and that you ought to be +tucked up in bed. The boy found it so, and in less than half an hour his +arm had got across the back of the chair, his cheek was resting on it +quite comfortably, and he was in dreamland with his father, and quite as +perfectly happy.</p> + +<p>So the two slept in their chairs under the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span>big bright lamps; and while +they rested the Air-Motor worked silently, hour after hour, and the +heavy wheel whirled steadily on its axle, and only its soft and drowsy +humming was heard in the still air.</p> + +<p>That was the most refreshing sleep Overholt remembered for a long time. +When he stirred at last and opened his eyes, he did not even know that +he had slept, and forgot that he had closed his eyes when he saw the +engine moving. He thought it was still nine o'clock in the evening, and +that the boy might as well finish his little nap where he was, before +going to bed. Newton might sleep till ten o'clock if he liked.</p> + +<p>The lamps burned steadily, for they held enough oil to last sixteen +hours when the winter darkness is longest, and they had not been lighted +till after supper.</p> + +<p>But all at once Overholt was aware of a little change in the colour of +things, and he slowly rubbed his eyes and looked about him, and towards +the window. The moon had set long ago; there was a grey light on the +snow outside and in the clear air, and Overholt knew that it was the +dawn. He looked at his watch then, and it was nearly seven <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span>o'clock; for +in New York and Connecticut, as you may see by your pocket calendar, the +sun rises at twenty-three minutes past seven on Christmas morning.</p> + +<p>He sprang to his feet in astonishment, and at the sound Newton awoke and +looked up in blank and sleepy surprise.</p> + +<p>"Merry Christmas, my boy!" cried Overholt, and he laughed happily.</p> + +<p>"Not yet," answered Newton in a disappointed tone, and rubbing his arm, +which was stiff. "I've got to go to bed first, I suppose."</p> + +<p>"Oh no! You and I have slept in our chairs all night and the sun is +rising, so it's merry Christmas in earnest! And the Motor is running +still, after nine or ten hours. What a sleep we've had!"</p> + +<p>The boy looked out of the window stupidly, and vaguely wished that his +father would not make fun of him. Then he saw the dawn, and jumped up in +wild delight.</p> + +<p>"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Merry Christmas! Hurrah! hurrah!" If anything +could make that morning happier than it had promised to be, it was to +have actually cheated bed for the first time in his life.</p> + +<p>They were gloriously happy, as people <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span>have a right to be, and should +be, when they have been living in all sorts of trouble, with a great +purpose before them, and have won through and got all they hoped for, if +not quite all they could have wished—because there is absolutely no +limit to wishing if you let it go on.</p> + +<p>The people watched them curiously in church, for they looked so happy; +and for a long time the man's expression had always been anxious, if it +had no longer been sad of late, and the boy's young face had been +preternaturally grave; yet every one saw that neither of them even had a +new coat for Christmas Day, and that both needed one pretty badly. But +no one thought the worse of them for that, and in the generous Good Will +that was everywhere that morning everybody was glad to see that every +one else looked happy.</p> + +<p>In due time the two got home again; the Motor was still working to +perfection, as if nothing could ever stop it again, and Overholt oiled +the bearings carefully, passed a leather over the fixed parts, and +examined the whole machine minutely before sitting down to the feast, +while Newton stood <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span>beside him, looking on and hoping that he would not +be long.</p> + +<p>The boy had his new watch in his pocket, and it told him that it was +time for that turkey at last, and his new skates were in the parlour, +and there was splendid ice on the pond where the boys had cleared away +the snow, and it was the most perfect Christmas weather that ever was; +and in order to enjoy everything it would be necessary to get to work +soon.</p> + +<p>The two were before the Air-Motor, turning their backs to the door; and +they heard it open quietly, for old Barbara always came to call Overholt +to his meals, because he was very apt to forget them.</p> + +<p>"We are just coming," he said, without turning round. But the boy +turned, for he was hungry for the good things; and suddenly a perfect +yell of joy rent the air, and he dashed forward as Overholt turned sharp +round.</p> + +<p>"Mother!"</p> + +<p>"Helen!"</p> + +<p>And there she was, instead of in Munich. For the rich people she was +with had happily smashed their automobile without hurting <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span>themselves, +and had taken a fancy to spend Christmas at home; and, after the manner +of very rich people, they had managed everything in a moment, had picked +up their children and the governess, had just caught the fastest steamer +afloat at Cherbourg, and had arrived in New York late on Christmas Eve. +And Helen Overholt had taken the earliest train that she could manage to +get ready for, and had come out directly to surprise her two in their +lonely cottage.</p> + +<p>So John Henry Overholt had his three wishes after all on Christmas Day. +And everybody had helped to bring it all about, even Mr. Burnside, who +had said that Hope was cheap and that there was plenty of it to be had.</p> + +<p>But as for the little Christmas City in which Hope had dwelt and waited +so long, they all three put the last touches to it together, and carried +it with them when they went back to the College town, where they felt +that they would be happier than anywhere else in the world, even if they +were to grow very rich, which seems quite likely now.</p> + +<p>That is how it all happened.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h5><i>Printed by</i> R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, <i>Edinburgh</i>.</h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span></p> +<h2>THE NOVELS OF<br /> +<br /> +F. MARION CRAWFORD<br /></h2> +<br /> +<br /> +<p><i>Crown 8vo. 6s.</i><br /> +<br /> + +ARETHUSA.<br /> +A LADY OF ROME.<br /> + + +<i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i> + + +MR. ISAACS: A TALE OF MODERN INDIA.<br /> +DR. CLAUDIUS: A TRUE STORY.<br /> +ROMAN SINGER.<br /> +ZOROASTER.<br /> +TALE OF A LONELY PARISH.<br /> +MARZIO'S CRUCIFIX.<br /> +PAUL PATOFF.<br /> +WITH THE IMMORTALS.<br /> +GREIFENSTEIN.<br /> +SANT' ILARIO.<br /> +CIGARETTE-MAKER'S ROMANCE.<br /> +KHALED: A TALE OF ARABIA.<br /> +WITCH OF PRAGUE.<br /> +THREE FATES.<br /> +DON ORSINO.<br /> +CHILDREN OF THE KING.<br /> + + +<i>Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d.</i> + +PIETRO GHISLERI.<br /> +MARION DARCHE: A STORY WITHOUT COMMENT.<br /> +KATHARINE LAUDERDALE.<br /> +RALSTONS.<br /> +CASA BRACCIO.<br /> +ADAM JOHNSTONE'S SON.<br /> +TAQUISARA. A NOVEL.<br /> +ROSE OF YESTERDAY.<br /> +CORLEONE.<br /> +VIA CRUCIS: A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE.<br /> +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING.<br /> +MARIETTA: A MAID OF VENICE.<br /> +CECILIA: A STORY OF MODERN ROME.<br /> +THE HEART OF ROME.<br /> +WHOSOEVER SHALL OFFEND...<br /> +SOPRANO: A PORTRAIT.<br /> + +<i>Pott 8vo. 2s. net.</i> + +MAN OVERBOARD! + + +<i>Fcap. 8vo. 2s.</i> + +LOVE IN IDLENESS. A BAR HARBOUR TALE. + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.</p> + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little City Of Hope, by F. Marion Crawford + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE *** + +***** This file should be named 14526-h.htm or 14526-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/2/14526/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Little City Of Hope + A Christmas Story + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: December 30, 2004 [EBook #14526] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Melissa Er-Raqabi and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +The + +Little City of Hope + +A CHRISTMAS STORY + +BY + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + +1907 + + + + +_Copyright in the United States America, 1907_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + +1. HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX 1 +2. HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE 19 +3. HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW 35 +4. HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY 49 +5. HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF 63 +6. HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX 74 +7. HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY 87 +8. HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST 105 +9. HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE 116 + + + + +I + +HOW JOHN HENRY OVERHOLT SAT ON PANDORA'S BOX + + +"Hope is very cheap. There's always plenty of it about." + +"Fortunately for poor men. Good morning." + +With this mild retort and civil salutation John Henry Overholt rose and +went towards the door, quite forgetting to shake hands with Mr. +Burnside, though the latter made a motion to do so. Mr. Burnside always +gave his hand in a friendly way, even when he had flatly refused to do +what people had asked of him. It was cheap; so he gave it. + +But he was not pleased when they did not take it, for whatever he chose +to give seemed of some value to him as soon as it was offered; even his +hand. Therefore, when his visitor forgot to take it, out of pure absence +of mind, he was offended, and spoke to him sharply before he had time to +leave the private office. + +"You need not go away like that, Mr. Overholt, without shaking hands." + +The visitor stopped and turned back at once. He was thin and rather +shabbily dressed. I know many poor men who are fat, and some who dress +very well; but this was not that kind of poor man. + +"Excuse me," he said mildly. "I didn't mean to be rude. I quite forgot." + +He came back, and Mr. Burnside shook hands with becoming coldness, as +having just given a lesson in manners. He was not a bad man, nor a +miser, nor a Scrooge, but he was a great stickler for manners, +especially with people who had nothing to give him. Besides, he had +already lent Overholt money; or, to put it nicely, he had invested a +little in his invention, and he did not see any reason why he should +invest any more until it succeeded. Overholt called it selling shares, +but Mr. Burnside called it borrowing money. Overholt was sure that if he +could raise more funds, not much more, he could make a success of the +"Air-Motor"; Mr. Burnside was equally sure that nothing would ever come +of it. They had been explaining their respective points of view to each +other, and in sheer absence of mind Overholt had forgotten to shake +hands. + +Mr. Burnside had no head for mechanics, but Overholt had already made an +invention which was considered very successful, though he had got little +or nothing for it. The mechanic who had helped him in its construction +had stolen his principal idea before the device was patented, and had +taken out a patent for a cheap little article which every one at once +used, and which made a fortune for him. Overholt's instrument took its +place in every laboratory in the world; but the mechanic's labour-saving +utensil took its place in every house. It was on the strength of the +valuable tool of science that Mr. Burnside had invested two thousand +dollars in the Air-Motor without really having the smallest idea whether +it was to be a machine that would move the air, or was to be moved by +it. A number of business men had done the same thing. + +Then, at a political dinner in a club, three of the investors had dined +at the same small table, and in an interval between the dull speeches, +one of the three told the others that he had looked into the invention +and that there was nothing in Overholt's motor after all. Overholt was +crazy. + +"It's like this," he had said. "You know how a low-pressure engine acts; +the steam does a part of the work and the weight of the atmosphere does +the rest. Now this man Overholt thinks he can make the atmosphere do +both parts of the work with no steam at all, and as that's absurd, of +course, he won't get any more of my money. It's like getting into a +basket and trying to lift yourself up by the handles." + +Each of the two hearers repeated this simple demonstration to at least a +dozen acquaintances, who repeated it to dozens of others; and after that +John Henry Overholt could not raise another dollar to complete the +Air-Motor. + +Mr. Burnside's refusal had been definite and final, and he had been the +last to whom the investor had applied, merely because he was undoubtedly +the most close-fisted man of business of all who had invested in the +invention. + +Overholt saw failure before him at the very moment of success, with the +not quite indifferent accompaniment of starvation. Many a man as good as +he has been in the same straits, even more than once in life, and has +succeeded after all, and Overholt knew this quite well, and therefore +did not break down, nor despair, nor even show distinct outward signs of +mental distress. + +Metaphorically, he took Pandora's box to the Park, put it in a sunny +corner, and sat upon it, to keep the lid down, with Hope inside, while +he thought over the situation. + +It was not at all a pleasant one. It is one thing to have no money to +spare, but it is quite another to have none at all, and he was not far +from that. He had some small possessions, but those with which he was +willing to part were worth nothing, and those which would bring a little +money were the expensive tools and valuable materials with which he was +working. For he worked alone, profiting by his experience with the +mechanic who had robbed him of one of his most profitable patents. When +the idea of the Air-Motor had occurred to him he had gone into a +machine-shop and had spent nearly two years in learning the use of fine +tools. Then he had bought what he needed out of the money invested in +his idea, and had gone to work himself, sending models of such castings +as he required to different parts of the United States, that the pieces +might be made independently. + +He was not an accomplished workman, and he made slow progress with only +his little son to help him when the boy was not at school. Often, +through lack of skill, he wasted good material, and more than once he +spoiled an expensive casting, and was obliged to wait till it could be +made again and sent to him. Besides, he and the boy had to live, and +living is dear nowadays, even in a cottage in an out-of-the-way corner +of Connecticut; and he needed fire and light in abundance for his work, +besides something to eat and decent clothes to wear and somebody to cook +the dinner; and when he took out his diary note-book and examined the +figures on the page near the end, headed "Cash Account, November," he +made out that he had three hundred and eighteen dollars and twelve +cents to his credit, and nothing to come after that, and he knew that +the men who had believed in him had invested, amongst them, ten thousand +dollars in shares, and had paid him the money in cash in the course of +the past three years, but would invest no more; and it was all gone. + +One thousand more, clear of living expenses, would do it. He was +positively sure that it would be enough, and he and the boy could live +on his little cash balance, by great economy, for four months, at the +end of which time the Air-Motor would be perfected. But without the +thousand the end of the four months would be the end of everything that +was worth while in life. After that he would have to go back to teaching +in order to live, and the invention would be lost, for the work needed +all his time and thought. + +He was a mathematician, and a very good one, besides being otherwise a +man of cultivated mind and wide reading. Unfortunately for himself, or +the contrary, if the invention ever succeeded, he had given himself up +to higher mathematics when a young man, instead of turning his talent to +account in an architect's office, a shipbuilding yard, or a locomotive +shop. He could find the strain at any part of an iron frame building by +the differential and integral calculus to the millionth of an ounce, but +the everyday technical routine work with volumes of ready-made tables +was unfamiliar and uncongenial to him; he would rather have calculated +the tables themselves. The true science of mathematics is the most +imaginative and creative of all sciences, but the mere application of +mathematics to figures for the construction of engines, ships, or +buildings is the dullest sort of drudgery. + +Rather than that, he had chosen to teach what he knew and to dream of +great problems at his leisure when teaching was over for the day or for +the term. He had taught in a small college, and had known the rare +delight of having one or two pupils who were really interested. It had +been a good position, and he had married a clever New England girl, the +daughter of his predecessor, who had died suddenly. They had been very +happy together for years, and one boy had been born to them, whom his +father insisted on christening Newton. Then Overholt had thrown up his +employment for the sake of getting freedom to perfect his invention, +though much against his wife's advice, for she was a prudent little +woman, besides being clever, and she thought of the future of the two +beings she loved, and of her own, while her husband dreamed of hastening +the progress of science. + +Overholt came to New York because he could work better there than +elsewhere, and could get better tools made, and could obtain more easily +the materials he wanted. For a time everything went well enough, but +when the investors began to lose faith in him things went very badly. + +Then Mrs. Overholt told her husband that two could live where three +could not, especially when one was a boy of twelve; and as she would not +break his heart by teasing him into giving up the invention as a matter +of duty, she told him that she would support herself until it was +perfected or until he abandoned it of his own accord. She was very well +fitted to be a governess; she was thirty years old and as strong as a +pony, she said, and she had friends in New England who could find her a +situation. He should see her whenever it was possible, she added, but +there was no other way. + +Now it is not easy to find a thoroughly respectable married governess +of unexceptionably good manners, who comes of a good stock and is able +to teach young ladies. Such a person is a treasure to rich people who +need somebody to take charge of their girls while they fly round and +round the world in automobiles, seeking whom they may destroy. Therefore +Mrs. Overholt obtained a very good place before long, and when the +family in which she taught had its next attack of European fever and it +was decided that the girls must stay in Munich to improve their German +and their music, Mrs. Overholt was offered an increase of salary if she +would take them there and see to it, while their parents quartered +Germany, France, Spain, and Austria at the rate of forty miles an hour, +or even fifty and sixty where the roads were good. If the parents broke +their necks, Mrs. Overholt would take the children home; but this was +rather in the understanding than in the agreement. + +Such was the position when John Henry sat down upon the lid of Pandora's +box in a sunny corner of the Central Park and reflected on Mr. +Burnside's remark that "there was plenty of hope about." The inventor +thought that there was not much, but such as it was, he did not mean to +part with it on the ground that the man of business had called it +"cheap." + +He resolved his feelings into factors and simplified the form of each; +and this little mathematical operation showed that he was miserable for +three reasons. + +The first was that there was no money for the tangent balance of the +Air-Motor, which was the final part, on which he had spent months of +hard work and a hundred more than half sleepless nights. + +The second was that he had not seen his wife for nearly a year, and had +no idea how long it would be before he saw her again, and he was just as +much in love with her as he had been fourteen years ago, when he married +her. + +The third, and not the least, was that Christmas was coming, and he did +not see how in the world he was to make a Christmas out of nothing for +Newton, seeing that a thirteen-year-old boy wants everything under the +sun to cheer him up when he has no brothers and sisters, and school is +closed for the holidays, and his mother is away from home, and there is +nobody but a dear old tiresome father who has his nose over a lathe all +day long unless he is blinding himself with calculating quaternions for +some reason that no lad, and very few men, can possibly understand. John +Henry was obliged to confess that hope was not much of a Christmas +present for a boy in Newton's surroundings. + +For the surroundings would be dismal in the extreme. A rickety cottage +on an abandoned Connecticut farm that is waiting for a Bohemian emigrant +to make it pay is not a gay place, especially when two-thirds of the +house has been turned into a workshop that smells everlastingly of +smith's coal, brass filings, and a nauseous chemical which seemed to be +necessary to the life of the Air-Motor, and when the rest of the house +is furnished in a style that would make a condemned cell look attractive +by contrast. + +Besides, it would rain or snow, and it rarely snowed in a decent +Christian manner by Christmas. It snowed slush, as Newton expressed it. +A certain kind of snow-slush makes nice hard snowballs, it is true, just +like stones, but when there is no other boy to fight, it is no good. +Overholt had once offered to have a game of snow-balling with his son on +a Saturday afternoon in winter; and the invitation was accepted with +alacrity. But it was never extended again. The boy was a perfect terror +at that form of diversion. Yet so distressed was Overholt at the +prospect of a sad Christmas for his son that he even thought of +voluntarily giving up his thin body to the torment again on the 25th of +December, if that would amuse Newton and make it seem less dull for him. +Good-will towards men, and even towards children, could go no further +than that, even at Christmas time. At least Overholt could think of no +greater sacrifice that might serve. + +For what are toys to a boy of thirteen? He wants a gun and something to +kill, or he wants a boat in which he can really sail, or a live pony +with a real head, a real tail, and four real legs, one at each corner. +That had been Newton's definition of the desired animal when he was six +years old, and some one had given him a wooden one on rockers with the +legs painted on each side. Girls of thirteen can still play with dolls, +and John Henry had read that, far away in ancient times, girls +dedicated their dolls, with all the dolls' clothes, to Artemis on the +eve of their wedding-day. But no self-respecting boy of thirteen cares a +straw for anything that is not real, except an imaginary pain that will +keep him away from school without cutting down his rations; and in the +invention and presentation of such fictitious suffering he beats all the +doll-makers in Germany and all the playwrights and actors in the world. +You must have noticed that the pain is always as far from the stomach as +is compatible with probability. Toothache is a grand thing, for nobody +can blame a healthy boy for eating then, if he can only bear the pain. +And he can, and does, bear it nobly, though with awful faces. The little +beast knows that all toothaches do not make your cheek swell. Then there +is earache; that is a splendid invention; it goes through your head like +a red-hot corkscrew with a powerful brakeman at the other end, turning +it steadily--between meals. Only certain kinds of things really serve to +make him stop. Ice-cream is one, and it takes a great deal of it. It is +well known that ice will cool a red-hot corkscrew. + +But this is a digression, for no boy ever has any pain at Christmas; it +is only afterwards that it comes on; usually about ten days. + +After an hour Overholt came to the conclusion that he had better take +Pandora's box out to the cottage and sit on it there, since nothing +suggested itself to him, in spite of his immense good-will to accept any +suggestion which the spirit of coming Christmas might be kind enough to +offer; and if he could do nothing else, he could at least work at his +machine, and try to devise some means of constructing the +tangent-balance, with the materials he had left, and perhaps, by the +time he was thoroughly grimy and the workshop smelt like the Biblical +bottomless pit, something would occur to him for Newton. + +He could also write a letter to his wife, a sort of anticipatory +Christmas letter, and send her the book he had bought as a little gift, +wrapping it in nice white paper first, tied with a bit of pale green +ribband which she had left behind her, and which he had cherished nearly +a year, and marking it "to be opened on Christmas morning"; and the +parcel should then be done up securely in good brown grocer's paper and +addressed to her, and even registered, so that it could not possibly be +lost. It was a pretty book, and also a very excellent book, which he +knew she wanted and would read often, so it was as well to take +precautions. He wished that Newton wanted a book, or even two or three, +or magazines with gaily coloured pictures, or anything that older or +younger boys would have liked a little. But Newton was at that age which +comes sooner or later to every healthy boy, and the sight of a book +which he was meant to read and ought to read was infinitely worse than +the ugliest old toad that ever flops out of a hollow tree at dusk, +spitting poison and blinking his devilish little eyes at you when you +come too near him. + +Overholt had been brought up by people who lived in peace and good-will +towards men, in a city where the spirit of Christmas still dwells, and +sleeps most of the time, but wakens every year, like a giant of good +courage and good cheer, at the sound of the merry bells across the snow, +and to the sweet carol under the windows in the frosty night. The +Germans say that bad men have no songs; and we and all good fellows may +say that bad people have no Christmas, and though they copy the letter +they know not the spirit; and I say that a copied Christmas is no +Christmas at all, because Christmas is a feast of hearts and not of poor +bits of cut-down trees stuck up in sawdust and covered with lights and +tinsel, even if they are hung with the most expensive gewgaws and +gimcracks that ever are bought for gifts by people who are expected to +give, whether they like or not. But when the heart for Christmas is +there and is beating, then a very little tree will do, if there be none +better to the hand. + +Overholt thought so, while the train rumbled, creaked, and clattered and +jerked itself along, as only local trains can, probably because they are +old and rheumatic and stiff and weak in the joints, like superannuated +crocodiles, though they may have once been young express trains, sleek +and shiny, and quick and noiseless as bright snakes. + +Overholt thought so, too; but the trouble was that he saw not even the +least little mite of a tree in sight for his boy when the 25th of +December should come. And it was coming, and was only a month away; and +time is not a local train that stops at every station, and then kicks +itself on a bit to stop at the next; it is the "Fast Limited," and, what +is more, it is the only one we can go by; and we cannot get out, because +it never stops anywhere. + + + + +II + +HOW A MAN AND A BOY FOUNDED THE LITTLE CITY OF HOPE + + +Overholt's boy came home from school at the usual hour with his books +buckled together in an old skate strap, which had never been very good +because the leather was too soft and tore from one hole to the next; but +it served very well for the books, as no great strain was caused by an +arithmetic thumbed to mushiness, a history in the same state, and a +geography of which the binding gave in and doubled up from sheer +weariness, while the edges were so worn that the eastern coast of China +and Siberia had quite disappeared. + +He was a good-looking lad, not tall for his age, but as tough as a +street cat in hard training. He had short and thick brown hair, a clear +complexion, his father's energetically intellectual features, though +only half developed yet, a boldly-set mouth, and his mother's kindly, +practical blue eyes. For surely the eyes of practical people are always +quite different from those of all others; and not many people are +practical, though I never knew anybody who did not think he or she was, +except pinchbeck artists, writers, and players, who are sure that since +they must be geniuses, it is necessary to be Bohemians in order to show +it. The really big ones are always trying to be practical, like Sir +Isaac Newton when he ordered a good-sized hole to be cut in his barn +door for the cat, and a little one next it for the kitten. + +But Newton Overholt did not at all resemble his great namesake. He was a +practical young soul, and had not yet developed the American disease +which consists in thinking of two things at the same time. John Henry +had it badly, for he had been thinking of the tangent-balance, his wife, +his boy, and the coming Christmas, all together, since he had got home, +and the three problems had got mixed and had made his head ache. + +Nevertheless he looked up from his work-table and smiled when his son +came in. + +"Everything all right?" he asked, with an attempt to be cheerful. + +"Oh yes, fine," answered the boy, looking at the motionless model for +the five-hundredth time, and sticking his hands into his pockets. "I'm +only third in mathematics yet, but I'm head in everything else. I wish I +had your brains, father! I'd be at the head of the arithmetic class in +half a shake of a lamb's tail if I had your brains." + +So far as mathematics were concerned this sounded probable to John +Henry, who would have considered the speed of the tail to be a variable +function of lamb, depending on the value of mother, plus or minus milk. + +"Well," he said in an encouraging tone, "I never could remember +geography, so it makes us even." + +"I'd like to know how!" cried the boy in a tone of protest. "You could +do sums, and you grew up to be a great mathematician and inventor. But +what is the good of a geographician, anyway? They can only make +school-books. They never invent anything, do they? You can't invent +geography, can you? At least you can, and some boys do, but they go to +the bottom of the class like lead. It's safer to invent history than +geography, isn't it, father?" + +Overholt's clever mouth twitched. + +"It's much safer, my boy. Almost all historians have found it so." + +"There! I said so to-day, and now you say just the same thing. I don't +believe one word of ancient history. Not--one--word! They wrote it about +their own nations, didn't they? All right. Then you might just as well +expect them to tell what really happened, as think that I'd tell on +another boy in my own school. I must say it would be as mean as dog pie +of them if they did, but all the same that does not make history true, +does it?" + +Newton had a practical mind. His father, who had not, meditated with +unnecessary gravity on the boy's point of view and said nothing. + +"For instance," continued the lad, sitting down on the high stool before +the lathe Overholt was not using, "the charge of Balaclava's a true +story, because it's been told by both sides; but they all say that it +did no good, anyway, except to make poetry of. But Marathon! Nobody had +a chance to say a word about it except the Greeks themselves, and they +weren't going to allow that the Persians wiped up the floor with them, +were they? Why should they? And if Balaclava had happened then, those +Greek fellows would have told us that the Light Brigade carried the +Russian guns back with them across their saddles, wouldn't they? I say, +father!" + +"What is it?" asked Overholt, looking up, for he had gone back to his +work and was absorbed in it. + +"The boys are all beginning to talk about Christmas down at the school. +Now what are we going to do at Christmas? I've been wondering." + +"So have I!" responded the man, laying down the screw-plate with which +he was about to cut a fine thread on the end of a small brass rod for +the tangent-balance. "I've been thinking about it a good deal to-day, +and I haven't decided on anything." + +"Let's have turkey and cranberry sauce, anyway," said Newton +thoughtfully, for he had a practical mind. "And I suppose we can have +ice-cream if it freezes and we can get some ice. Snow does pretty well +if you pack it down tight enough with salt, and go on putting in more +when it melts. Barbara doesn't make ice-cream as well as they do in New +York. She puts in a lot of winter-green and too little cocoanut. But +it's not so bad. We can have it, can't we, father?" + +"Oh yes. Turkey, cranberry sauce, and ice-cream. But that isn't a whole +Christmas!" + +"I don't see what else you want, I'm sure," answered the boy +thoughtfully. "I mean if it's a big turkey and there's enough +ice-cream--cream-cakes, maybe. You get good cream-cakes at Bangs's, two +for five cents. They're not very big, but they're all right inside--all +gooey, you know. Can you think of anything else?" + +"Not to eat!" + +"Oh, well then, what's the matter with our Christmas? I can't see. No +school and heaps of good gobbles." + +"Good what?" Overholt looked at the boy with an inquiring glance, and +then understood. "I see! Is that the proper word?" + +"When there's lots, it is," answered Newton with conviction. "Of course, +there are all sorts of things I'd like to have, but it's no good +wishing you could lay Columbus's egg and hatch the American eagle, is +it?[Footnote: The writer acknowledges his indebtedness for this fact in +natural and national history to his aunt, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, to whom +it was recently revealed in the course of making an excellent speech.] +What would you like, father, if you could choose?" + +"Three things," answered Overholt promptly. "I should like to see that +wheel going round, softly and steadily, all Christmas Day. I should like +to see that door open and your mother coming in." + +"You bet I would too!" cried Newton, dropping from bold metaphor to +vulgar vernacular. "Well, what's the third thing? You said there were +three." + +"I should like you to have a real, old-fashioned, glorious Christmas, my +boy, such as you had when you were smaller, before we left the house +where you were born." + +"Oh well, you mustn't worry about me, father; if there's plenty of +turkey and ice-cream and the cream-cakes, I can stand it. Mother can't +come, anyhow, so that's settled, and it's no use to think about it. But +the motor--that's different. There's hope, anyway. The wheel may go +round. If you didn't hope so, you wouldn't go on fussing over it, would +you? You'd go and do something else. They always say hope's better than +nothing." + +"It's about all we shall have left for Christmas, so we may as well +build as much on it as we can." + +"I love building," said Newton. "I like to stand and watch a bricklayer +just putting one brick on another and making the wall grow." + +"Perhaps you'll turn out an architect." + +"I'd like to. I never showed you my city, did I?" He knew very well that +he had not, and his father looked at him inquiringly. "No. Oh well, you +won't care to see it." + +"Yes, I should! But I don't understand. What sort of a city do you +mean?" + +"Oh, it's nothing," answered the boy, affecting carelessness. "It's only +a little paper city on a board. I don't believe you'd care to see it, +father. Let's talk about Christmas." + +"No. I want to see what you have made. Where is it? I'll go with you." + +Newton laughed. + +"I'll bring it, if you really want me to. It's easy enough to carry. The +whole thing's only paper!" + +He left the workshop and returned before Overholt had finished cutting +the thread of the screw he was making. The man turned as the boy pushed +the door open with his foot, and came in carrying what had evidently +once been the top of a deal table. + +On the board he had built an ingenious model of a town, or part of one, +but it was not finished. It was entirely made of bits of cardboard, +chips of wood, the sides of match-boxes, and odds and ends of all sorts, +which he picked up wherever he saw them and brought home in his pocket +for his purpose. He had an immense supply of such stuff stored away, +much more than he could ever use. + +Overholt looked at it with admiration, but said nothing. It was the +college town where he had lived so happily and hoped to live again. It +was distinctly recognisable, and many of the buildings were not only +cleverly made, but were coloured very like the originals. He was so much +interested that he forgot to say anything. + +"It's a silly thing, anyway," said Newton, disappointed by his silence. +"It's like toys!" + +Overholt looked up, and the boy saw his pleased face. + +"It's very far from silly," he said. "I believe you're born to be a +builder, boy! It's not only not silly, but it's very well done indeed!" + +"I'll bet you can't tell what the place is," observed Newton, a secret +joy stealing through him at his father's words. + +"Know it? I should think I did, and I wish we were there now! Here's the +College, and there's our house in the street on the other side of the +common. The church is first-rate, it's really like it--and there's the +Roman Catholic Chapel and the Public Library in Main Street." + +"Why, you really do recognise the places!" cried Newton in delight. "I +didn't think anybody'd know them!" + +"One would have to be blind not to, if one knew the town," said +Overholt. "And there's the dear old lane!" He was absorbed in the model. +"And the three hickory trees, and even the little bench!" + +"Why, do you remember that bench, father?" + +Overholt looked up again, quickly and rather dreamily. + +"Yes. It was there that I asked your mother to marry me," he said. + +"Not really? Then I'm glad I put it in!" + +"So am I, for the dear old time's sake and for her sake, and for yours, +my boy. Tell me when you made this, and how you can remember it all so +well." + +The lad sat down on the high stool again before the lathe and looked +through the dingy window at the scraggy trees outside, beyond the +forlorn yard. + +"Oh, I don't know," he said. "I kind of remember it, I suppose, because +I liked it better than this. And when I first had the idea I was sitting +out there in the yard looking at this board. It belongs to a broken +table that had been thrown out there. And I carried it up to my room +when you were out. I thought you wouldn't mind my taking it. And I +picked up scraps that might be useful, and got some gum, and old Barbara +made me some flour paste. It's got green now, and it smells like +thunder, but it's good still. That's about all, I suppose. Now I'll take +it away again. I keep it in the dark closet behind my room, because that +doesn't leak when it rains." + +"Don't take it away," said Overholt suddenly. "I'll make room for it +here, and you can work at it while I'm busy, and in the evenings I'll +try and help you, and we'll finish it together." + +Newton was amazed. + +"Why, father, it's playing! How can you go to work at play? It would be +so funny! But, of course, if you really would help me a little--you've +got such lots of nice things!" + +He wistfully eyed a little coil of some very fine steel wire which would +make a beautiful telegraph. Newton even dreamt of making the trolley, +too, in the Main Street, but that would be a very troublesome job; and +as for the railway station, it was easy enough to build a shed and a +platform, but what is a railway station without a train? + +Overholt did not answer the boy at once, and when he spoke there was a +queer little quaver in his voice. + +"We'll call it our little City of Hope," he said, "and perhaps we can +'go to work to play,' as you call it, so hard that Hope will really come +and live in the City." + +"Well," said Newton, "I never thought you'd ever care to see it! Shall I +go up and get my stuff, and the gum and the flour paste, and bring them +down here, father? But the flour paste smells pretty bad--it might give +you a headache." + +"Bring it down, my boy. My headaches don't come from such things." + +"Don't they? It's true that stuff you use here's about as bad as +anything, till you get used to it. What is it, anyway?" + +Overholt gave him the almost unpronounceable name of some recently +discovered substance, and smiled at his expression as he listened. + +"If that's its name," said the boy gravely, "it sounds like the way it +smells. I wonder what a skunk's name is in science. But the flour +paste's pretty bad too. You'll see!" + +He went off, and his father finished cutting the little screw while he +was gone, and then turned to look at the model again, and became +absorbed in tracing the well-known streets and trying to recall the +shops and houses in each, and the places where his friends had lived, +and no doubt lived still, for college towns do not change as fast as +others. He was amazed at the memory the boy had shown for details; if +the lad had not yet developed any special talent, he had at least proved +that he possessed one of those natural gifts which are sometimes alone +enough to make success. The born builder's eye is like an ear for music, +a facility for languages, or the power of drawing from nature; all the +application in the world will not do in years what any one of these does +instantly, spontaneously, instinctively, without the smallest effort. +You cannot make talent out of a combination of taste and industry. You +cannot train a cart-horse to trot a mile in a little over a minute. + +Newton returned, bringing his materials, to describe which would be +profitless, if it were possible. He had everything littered together in +two battered deal candle-boxes, including the broken soup-plate +containing the flour paste, a loathely, mouldering little mess that +diffused a nauseous odour, distinctly perceptible through that of the +unpronounceable chemical on which the Air-Motor was to depend for its +existence. + +The light outside was failing in the murky November air, and Overholt +lit the big reflecting lamp that hung over the work-table. There was +another above the lathe, for no gas or electricity was to be had so far +from the town, and one of old Barbara's standing causes of complaint +against Overholt was his reckless use of kerosene--she thought it would +be better if he had more fat turkeys and rump-steaks and less light. + +So the man and the boy "went to work to play" at building the City of +Hope, for at least an hour before supper and half an hour after it, +almost every day; and with the boy's marvellous memory and the father's +skill, and the delicious profusion of fresh material which Newton kept +finding in every corner of the workshop, it grew steadily, till it was a +little work of art in its way. There were the ups and downs, the crooked +old roads and lanes and the straight new streets, the little wooden +cottages and the big brick houses, and there was the grassy common with +its trees and its tiny iron railing; and John Henry easily made posts to +carry the trolley wires, which had seemed an impossible dream to the +boy, beyond all realisation; and one day, when the inventor seemed +farther from the tangent-balance than ever, he spent a whole afternoon +in making a dozen little trolley-cars that ran on real wheels, made by +sawing off little sections from a lead pencil, which is the best thing +in the world for that, because the lead comes out and leaves nice round +holes for the axles. When the first car was painted red and yellow and +ran up and down Main Street, guided by the wire above and only needing +one little artificial push to send it either way, it looked so real that +the boy was in ecstasies of delight. + +"It's worth while to be a great inventor to be able to make things like +that!" he cried, and Overholt was as much pleased by the praise as an +opera singer is who is called out three times before the curtain after +the first act. + +So the little City of Hope grew, and they both felt that Hope herself +was soon coming to dwell therein, if she had not come already. + + + + +III + +HOW THEY MADE BRICKS WITHOUT STRAW + + +But then something happened; for Overholt was tormented by the vague +consciousness of a coming idea, so that he had headaches and could not +sleep at night. It flashed upon him at last one evening when Newton was +in bed and he was sitting before his motor, wishing he had the thousand +dollars which would surely complete it, even if he used the most +expensive materials in the market. + +The idea which developed suddenly in all its clearness was that he had +made one of the most important parts of the machine exactly the converse +of what it should be; what was on the right should have been on the +left, and what was down should certainly have been up. Then the engine +would work, even if the tangent-balance were a very poor affair indeed. + +The particular piece of brass casting which was the foundation of that +part had been made in New York, and, owing to the necessity for its +being finished very accurately and machine planed and turned, it had +cost a great deal of money. Already it had been made and spoilt three +times over, and now it was perfectly clear that it must be cast over +again in a reversed form. It was quite useless to make the balance yet, +for it would be of no use till the right casting was finished; it would +have to be reversed too, and the tangent would apply to a reversed +curve. + +He had no money for the casting, but even before trying to raise the +cash it was necessary to make the wooden model. He could do that, and he +set to work to sketch the drawing within five minutes after the idea had +once flashed upon him. As his eye followed the lines made by his pencil, +he became more and more convinced that he was right. When the rough +sketch was done he looked up at the engine. Its familiar features seemed +to be drawn into a diabolical grimace of contempt at his stupidity, and +it looked as if it were conscious and wanted to throw the wrongly-made +piece at his head. But he was overwrought just then and could have +fancied any folly. + +He rose, shook himself, and then took a long pull at a black bottle that +always stood on a shelf. When a man puts a black bottle to his lips, +tips it up, and takes down several good pulls almost without drawing +breath, most people suppose that he is a person of vicious habits. In +Overholt's case most people would have been wrong. The black bottle +contained cold tea; it was strong, but it was only tea, and that is the +finest drink in the world for an inventor or an author to work on. When +I say an author I mean a poor writer of prose, for I have always been +told that all poets are either mad, or bad, or both. Many of them must +be bad, or they could not write such atrocious poems; but madness is +different; perhaps they read their own verses. + +When Overholt had swallowed his cold tea, he got out his drawing +materials, stretched a fresh sheet of thick draughtsman's paper on the +board, and sat down between the motor that would not move and the +little city in which Hope had taken lodgings for a while, and he went to +work with ruler, scale and dividers, and the hard wood template for +drawing the curves he had constructed for the tangent-balance by a very +abstruse mathematical calculation. That was right, at all events, only, +as it was to be reversed, he laid it on the paper with the under-side +up. + +He worked nearly all night to finish the drawing, slept two hours in a +battered Shaker rocking-chair by the fire, woke in broad daylight, drank +more cold tea, and went at once to his lathe, for the new piece was in +the nature of a cylinder, and a good deal of the work could be done by +turning. + +The chisel and the lathe seemed to be talking to each other over the +block of wood, and what they said rang like a tune in John Henry's head. + +"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw, bricks without straw," +repeated the lathe regularly, at each revolution, and when it said +"bricks" the treadle was up, and when it said "straw" the treadle was +down, for of course it was only a foot lathe, though a good one. +"Sh--sh--sh--ever so much better than no bricks at all--sh--sh--sh," +answered the sharp chisel as it pressed and bit the wood, and made a +little irregular clattering when it was drawn away, and then came +forward against the block again with a long hushing sound; and Overholt +was inclined to accept its opinion, and worked on as if an obliging +brassfounder were waiting outside to take the model away at once and +cast it for nothing, or at least on credit. + +But no such worthy and confiding manufacturer appeared, even on the +evening of the second day, when the wooden model was beautifully +finished and ready for the foundry. While the inventor was busy, Newton +had worked alone in a corner when he had time to spare from his lessons, +but he understood what was going on, and he did not accomplish much +beyond painting the front of the National Bank in the City of Hope and +planning a possible Wild West Show to be set up on the outskirts; the +tents would be easy to make, but the horses were beyond his skill, or +his father's; it would not be enough that they should have a leg at each +corner and a head and a tail. + +He understood well enough what was the matter, for he had seen similar +things happen before. A pessimist is defined to be a person who has +lived with an optimist, and every inventor is that. Poor Newton had seen +that particular part of the engine spoiled and made over three times, +and he understood perfectly that it was all wrong again and must be cast +once more. But he kept his reflections to himself and tried to think +about the City of Hope. + +"I wish," said John Henry, sitting down opposite the boy at last, and +looking at what he had done, "that the National Bank in Main Street were +real!" + +He eyed it wistfully. + +"Oh well," answered the boy, "we couldn't rob it, because that's +stealing, so I don't see what particular good it would do!" + +"Perhaps the business people in the City of Hope would be different from +the bankers in New York," observed Overholt, thoughtfully. + +"I don't believe it, father," Newton answered in a sceptical tone. "If +they were bankers they'd be rich, and you remember the sermon Sunday +before last, about it's being easier for the camel to get through the +rich man--no, which is it? I forget. It doesn't matter, anyway, because +we can imagine any kind of people we choose in our city, can't we? Say, +father, what's the matter? Are you going to cast that piece over again? +That'll be the fourth time, won't it?" + +"It would be, my boy, but it won't be. They won't cast it for nothing, +and I cannot raise the money. You cannot make bricks without straw." + +He looked steadily down at the tiny front of the Bank in Main Street, +and a hungry look came into his eyes. + +But Newton had a practical mind, even at thirteen. + +"I was thinking," he said presently. "It looks as if we were going to +get stuck some day. What are we going to do then, father? I was thinking +about it just now. How are we going to get anything to eat if we have no +money?" + +"I shall have to go back to teaching mathematics for a living, I +suppose." + +"And give up the Motor?" Newton had never yet heard him suggest such a +thing. + +"Yes," Overholt answered in a low tone; and that was all he said. + +"Oh, that's ridiculous. You'd just die, that's all!" + +Newton stared at the engine that was a failure. It looked as if it ought +to work, he thought, with its neat cylinders, its polished levers, its +beautifully designed gear. It stood under a big case made of thick glass +plates set in an iron frame with a solid top; a chain ran through two +cast-iron wheels overhead to a counterpoise in the corner, by which +device it was easily raised and lowered. The Motor was a very expensive +affair, and had to be carefully protected from dust and all injury, +though it was worth nothing at present except for old brass and iron, +unless the new part could be made. + +"Come, my boy, let's think of something more cheerful!" Overholt said, +making an effort to rouse himself and concentrated his attention on the +paper model. "Christmas is coming in three weeks, you know, and it will +come just the same in the little City. I'm sure the people will decorate +their houses and the church. Of course we cannot see the insides of the +houses, but in Boston they put wreaths in the windows. And we'll have a +snowstorm, just as we used to have, and we can clear it away afterwards! +Wasn't there a holly tree somewhere near the College? You haven't put +that in yet. You have no idea how cheerful it will look! To-morrow we'll +find a very small sprig with berries on it, and plant it just in the +right place. I'm sure you remember where it stood." + +"Real leaves would be too big," observed the boy. "They wouldn't look +right. Of course, one could cut the branches out of tin and paint 'em +green with red spots, and stick them into a twig for the trunk. But it's +rather hard to do." + +"Let's try," said Overholt. "I've got some fine chisels and some very +thin brass, but I don't think I could draw the branches as well as you +could." + +"Oh, I can draw them something like, if you'll only cut 'em out," the +boy answered cheerfully. "Come on, father! Who says we can't make bricks +without straw? I'll bet anything we can!" + +So they worked together steadily, and for an hour or two the inventor +was so busy in cutting out tiny branches of imaginary holly with a very +small chisel that he did not look once at the plate glass from which +his engine seemed to be grinning at him, in fiendish delight over his +misfortunes. There were times when he was angry with it, outright, as if +it knew what he was doing and did not mean to give in to him and let +itself be invented. + +But now the tune of the lathe and the chisel still ran on in his head, +for he had heard it through two whole days and could not get rid of it. + +"Bricks without straw, bricks without straw!" repeated the lathe +viciously. "Ever so much better than no bricks at all, sh--sh--sh!" +answered the chisel, gibbering and hissing like an idiot. + +"You will certainly be lying on straw before long, and then I suppose +you'll wish you had something else!" squeaked the little chisel with +which he was cutting out holly leaves, as it went through the thin +plates into the wood of the bench under each push of his hand. + +The things in the workshop all seemed to be talking to him together, and +made his head ache. + +"I had a letter from your mother to-day," he said, because it was +better to hear his own voice say anything than to listen to such +depressing imaginary conversations. "I'm sorry to say she sees no chance +of getting home before the spring." + +"I don't know where you'd put her if she came here," answered the +practical Newton. "Your room leaks when it rains, and so does mine. You +two would have to sleep in the parlour. I guess it'll be better if she +doesn't come now." + +"Oh, for her, far better," assented Overholt. "They've got a beautiful +flat in Munich, and everything they can possibly think of. Your mother's +only complaint, so far as that goes, is that those girls are completely +spoilt by too much luxury!" + +"What is luxury, exactly, father?" asked Newton, who always wanted to +know things. + +"I shall never know myself, and perhaps you never will either!" The +wretched inventor tried to laugh. "But that's no answer to your +question, is it? I suppose luxury means always having twice as much of +everything as you can possibly use, and having it about ten times as +fine and expensive as other people can afford." + +"I don't see any use in that," said the boy. "Now I know just how much +turkey and cranberry sauce and ice-cream I really need, and if I get +just a little more than that, it's Christmas. I don't mean much more, +but about half a helping. I know all about proverbs. Haven't I copied +millions of 'em in learning to write. One reason why it's so slow to +learn is that the things you have to write are perfect nonsense. 'Enough +is as good as a feast!' All I can say is, the man who made that proverb +never had a feast, or he'd have known better! This green paint doesn't +dry very quick, father. We'll have to wait till to-morrow before we put +in the red spots for the berries. I wish I had some little red beads. +They'd stick on the wet paint now, like one o'clock." + +There were no red beads, so he rose to go to bed. When he had said +good-night and had reached the door, he stopped and looked back again. + +"Say, father, haven't you anything you can sell to get some more money +for the Motor?" + +John Henry shook his weary head and smiled sadly. + +"Nothing that would bring nearly enough to pay for the casting," he +answered. "Don't worry about it, boy. Leave that to me--I'm used to it. +Go to bed and sleep, and you'll feel like an Air-Motor yourself in the +morning!" + +"That's the worst of it," returned the boy. "Just to sit there under a +glass case and have you take care of me and do nothing, like a girl. +That's the way I feel sometimes." + +He shook his young head quite as gravely as the inventor had shaken his +own, and went quietly to bed without saying anything more. + +"I don't know what to do, I'm sure," he said to himself as he got into +bed, "but I'm sure there's something. Maybe I'll dream it, and then I'll +do just the contrary and it'll come all right." + +But boys of practical minds and sound bodies do not dream at all, unless +it be after a feast, and most of them can stand even that without having +nightmare, unless two feasts come near together, like Christmas and a +birthday within the week. + +A great-uncle of mine was once taken for a clergyman at a public dinner +nearly a hundred years ago, and he was asked to say grace; he was a +good man, and also practical, and had a splendid appetite, but he was +not eloquent, and this is what he said:-- + +"The Lord give us appetites to enjoy, and strength to digest ALL the +good things set before us. Amen!" + +And everybody said "Amen" very cheerfully and fell to. + + + + +IV + +HOW THERE WAS A FAMINE IN THE CITY + + +It rained in New York and it "snowed slush" in Connecticut, after its +manner, and the world was a very dreary place, especially all around the +dilapidated cottage where everything was going to pieces, including John +Henry Overholt's last hopes. + +If he had been alone in the world he would have taken his small cash +balance and his model to the foundry, quite careless as to whether he +ever got a meal again until the Motor worked. But there was the boy to +be thought of, and desperate as the unhappy inventor was, he would not +starve his son as well as himself. He was quite sure of his little +balance, though he had never had any head for figures of that sort. It +was an easy affair in his eyes to handle the differential calculus, +which will do anything, metaphorically speaking, from smashing a rock as +flat and thin as a postage stamp, to regulating an astronomical clock; +but to understand the complication of a pass-book and a bank account was +a matter of the greatest possible difficulty. Newton would have done it +much better, though he could not get to the head of his class in +arithmetic. That is the difference between being an inventor and having +a practical mind. As for Mrs. Overholt, she was perfectly wonderful at +keeping accounts; but then she had been taught a great many things, from +music and drawing to compound interest and double entry, and she had +been taught them all just so far as to be able to do them nicely without +understanding at all what she did; which is sound modern education, and +no mistake. The object of music is to make a cheerful noise, which can +be done very well without pencil and paper and the rules of harmony. + +But Overholt could neither make a cheerful noise, nor draw a holly leaf, +nor speak French, nor even understand a pass-book, though he had +invented an Air-Motor which would not work, but was a clear evidence of +genius. The only business idea he had was to make his little balance +last as long as possible, in spite of the terrible temptation to take it +and offer it to the founder as a cash advance, if only he might have his +piece of casting done. Where the rest of the money would come from he +did not know; probably out of the Motor. It looked so easy; but there +was the boy, and it might happen that there would be no dinner for +several days. + +On the first of December he cashed a cheque in the town, as usual; and +he paid Barbara's wages and the coal merchant, and the month's bill for +kerosene, and the butcher and the grocer, and the baker, and that was +practically all; and he went to bed that night feeling that whatever +happened there was a whole month before another first came round, and he +owed no one anything more for the present, and Newton would not starve, +and could have his Christmas turkey, if it was to be the last he ever +ate, poor boy. + +On the morning of December third it was still snowing slush, though it +was more like real snow now, and the air was much colder; and by and by, +when Overholt had read a letter that Barbara brought him, he felt so +terribly cold all at once that his teeth chattered, and then he was so +hot that the perspiration ran down his forehead, and he steadied himself +against the heavy glass case of the Motor a moment and then almost +tumbled into a sitting posture on the stool before his work-table, and +his head fell forward on his hands, as if he were fainting. + +The letter said that his account was overdrawn to the extent of three +hundred and fifty-two dollars and thirteen cents, including the cheque +he had drawn on the thirty-first, and would he please make a deposit at +his earliest convenience? + +It had been just a little mistake in arithmetic, that was all. He had +started with the wrong balance in his note-book, and what he thought was +credit was debit, but the bank where he had kept all the money that had +been put up for the Motor, had wished to be friendly and good-natured to +the great inventor and had not returned his cheques with N.G. on them; +and if his attention had already been called to his deficit, he must +have forgotten to open the letter. Like all men who are much talked of +in the newspapers, though they may be as poor as Job's turkey, he +received a great many circulars addressed by typewriter, and the only +letters he really cared for were from his wife, so that when he was very +hard at work or much preoccupied the others accumulated somewhere in the +workshop, and were often forgotten. + +What was perfectly clear this morning was that starvation was sitting on +the doorstep and that he had no moral right whatever to the dinner +Barbara was already beginning to cook, nor to another to-morrow, nor to +any more; for he was a proud man, and ashamed of debt, though he mixed +up debit and credit so disgracefully. + +He sat there half an hour, as he had let himself fall forward, only +moving a little, so that his forehead rested on his arm instead of his +hands, because that was a little more comfortable, and just then he did +not want to see anything, least of all the Motor. When he rose at last +the sleeve of his coat was all wet with the perspiration from his +forehead. He left the workshop, half shutting his eyes in order not to +see the Motor; he was sure the thing was grinning at him behind the +plate glass. It had two round brass valves near the top that looked +like yellow eyeballs, and a lever at the bottom with double arms and a +cross-bar, which made him think of an iron jaw when he was in one of his +fits of nervous depression. + +But John Henry Overholt was a man, and an honest one. He went straight +to the writing-table in the next room and sat down, and though his hand +shook, he wrote a clear and manly letter to the President of the College +where he had taught so well, stating his exact position, acknowledging +the failure of his invention, and asking help to find immediate +employment as a teacher, even in the humblest capacity which would +afford bread for his boy and himself. Presidents and principals of +colleges are in constant communication with other similar institutions, +and generally know of vacant positions. + +When he had written his letter and read it over carefully, Overholt +looked at his timetable, got his hat, coat, and umbrella, and trudged +off through the slushy snow to the station, on his way to New York. + +It was raining there, but it was not dismal; hurry, confusion, and noise +can never be that. He had not been in the city since the day when he +made his last attempt to raise money, and in his present state the +contrast was overwhelming. The shopkeepers would have told him that it +was a dull day for business, and that the rain was costing them hundreds +of dollars every hour, because there are a vast number of people who buy +things within the month before Christmas, if it is convenient and the +weather is fine, but will not take the trouble if the weather is bad; +and afterwards they are so glad to have saved their money that they buy +nothing of that sort till the following year. For Christmas shopping is +largely a matter of temptation on the one side and of weakness on the +other, and you cannot tempt a man to buy your wares if he will not even +go out and look at your shop window. At Christmas time every shopkeeper +turns into a Serpent, with a big S and a supply of apples varying, with +his capital, from a paper-bagful to a whole orchard, and though the +ladies are the more easily tempted, nine generous men out of ten show no +more sense just at that time than Eve herself did. The very air has +temptation in it when they see the windows full of pretty things and +think of their wives and their children and their old friends. Even +misers relax a little then, and a famous statesman, who was somewhat +close-fisted in his day, is reported to have given his young coloured +servant twenty-five cents on Christmas Eve, telling him to go out to +Mount Auburn Cemetery and see where the great men of New England lie +buried. And the man, I believe, went there; but he was an African, and +the spirit of Christmas was not in his race, for if it had moved him he +would have wasted that money on cream-cakes and cookies, reflecting that +the buried worthies of Massachusetts could not tell tales on him. + +Overholt went down town to the bank where he kept his account and +explained his little mistake very humbly, and asked for time to pay up. +The teller looked at him as if he were an escaped lunatic, but on +account of his great reputation as an inventor he was shown to the desk +of one of the partners, which stood in a corner of the vast place, where +one could converse confidentially if one did not speak above a whisper; +but the stenographer girl could hear even whispering distinctly, and +perhaps she sometimes took down what she heard, if the partner made a +signal to her by carelessly rolling his pencil across his table. + +The partner whom Overholt saw was not ill-natured, and besides, it was +near Christmas, and he had been poor himself when he was young. If +Overholt would kindly sign a note at sixty days for the overdraft it +would be all right. The banker was sorry he could not authorise him to +overdraw any further, but it was strictly against the rules, an +exception had been made because Mr. Overholt was such a well-known man, +and so forth. But the inventor explained that he had not meant to ask +any favour, and had come to explain how he had made such a strange +mistake. The banker, like the teller, thought that a man who could not +count money must be mad, but was too civil, or too good-natured, to say +so. + +Overholt signed the note, thanked him warmly, and went away. He and his +old umbrella looked very dejected as he left the building and dived into +the stream of men in the street, but if he had paid any attention to his +fellow-beings he would have seen here and there a number who looked +quite as unhappy as he did. He had come all the way from the country +expressly to explain his error, and had been in the greatest haste to +get down town and have the interview over. To go home with the prospect +of trying to eat a dinner that would be cold, and of sitting in his +workshop all the afternoon just to stare at his failure until Newton +came home, was quite another matter. If the weather had been less +disagreeable he would have gone to the Central Park, to sit in a quiet +corner and think matters over. + +As that seemed out of the question, he walked from the bank to +Forty-Second Street, taking an hour and a half over it. It was better to +go on foot than to sit in a car facing a dozen or twenty strangers, who +would wonder why he looked so miserable. Sensitive people always fancy +that everybody is looking at them and criticising them, when in fact no +one cares a straw how they look or what they do. + +Then, too, he was in such a morbid state of mind about his debt that it +looked positively wrong to spend five cents on a car-fare; even the +small change in his pocket was not his own, and that, and hundreds of +dollars besides, must be paid back in sixty days. Otherwise he supposed +he would be bankrupt, which, to his simple mind, meant disgrace as well +as ruin. + +It had stopped raining before he reached Grace Church, and as he crossed +Madison Square the sun shone out, the wind had veered to the west, and +the sky was clearing all round. The streets had seemed full before, but +they were positively choking with people now. The shops drew them in and +blew them out again with much less cash about them, as a Pacific whale +swallows water and spouts it out, catching the little fish by thousands +with his internal whalebone fishing-net. But, unlike the fishes, the +people were not a whit less pleased. On the contrary, there was +something in the faces of almost all that is only seen once a year in +New York, and then only for certain hours; and that is real good-will. +For whatever the most home-loving New Yorker may say of his own great +city, good-will to men is not its dominant characteristic, nor peace its +most remarkable feature. + +Even poor Overholt, half crazy with disappointment and trouble, could +not help noticing the difference between the expressions of the men he +had seen down town and of those who were thronging the shops and the +sidewalks in Fifth Avenue. In Wall Street and adjacent Broadway a great +many looked like more or less discontented birds of prey looking out for +the next meal, and a few might have been compared to replete vultures; +but here all those who were not alone were talking with their +companions, and many were smiling, and now and then a low laugh was +heard, which is a very rare thing in Fifth Avenue, though you may often +hear children laughing in the Park and sometimes in the cross streets +up-town. + +Then there was another eagerness in the faces, that was not for money, +but was the anticipation of giving pleasure before long, and of being +pleased too; and that is a great part of the Christmas spirit, if it is +not the spirit itself. It is doubtless more blessed to give than to +receive, but the receiving is very delightful, and it is cruel to teach +children that they must not look forward to having pretty presents. What +is Christmas Day to a happy child but a first glimpse of heaven on +earth? + +Overholt glanced at the faces of the passers-by with a sort of vague +surprise, wondering why they looked so happy; and then he remembered +what they were doing, and all at once his heart sank like lead. What was +to become of the turkey and the ice-cream on which Newton had built his +hopes for Christmas? Would there be any dinner at all? Or any one to +cook it? How could he go and get things which he would not be able to +pay for on the first of next month, exactly a week after the feast? His +imagination could glide lightly over three weeks of starvation, but at +the thought of his boy's disappointment everything went to pieces, the +present, the future, everything. He would have walked all the way down +town again to beg for a loan of only a few dollars, enough for that one +Christmas dinner; but he knew from the banker's face that such a request +would be refused, as such, and he dreaded in his misery lest the money +should be offered him as a charity. + +He got home at last, weary and wretched, and then for the first time he +remembered the letter he had written asking for employment as a teacher. +He had been a very good one, and the College had been sorry to lose +him; in two days he might get an answer; all hope was not gone yet, at +least not quite all, and his spirits revived a little. Besides, the +weather was fine now, even in Connecticut; there would be a sharp frost +in the night, and Newton would soon get some skating. + + + + +V + +HOW THE CITY WAS BESIEGED AND THE LID OF PANDORA'S BOX CAME OFF + + +Almost the worst part of it was that he had to tell his boy about his +dreadful mistake, and that it was all over with the Motor and with +everything, and that until he could get something to do they were +practically starving; and that he could not possibly see how there was +ever to be ice-cream for Christmas, let alone such an expensive joy as, +a turkey. + +He knew that Newton would not pucker up his mouth and screw his eyes to +keep the tears in, like a girl; and he was quite sure that the boy would +not reproach him for having been so careless. He might not seem to care +very much, but he would be terribly disappointed; that was the worst of +it all, next to owing money that he had no hope of paying. Indeed, he +hardly knew which hurt him more than the other, for the disgrace of +debt, as he called it, was all his own, but the bitter disappointment +was on Newton too. + +The latter listened in silence till his father had finished, and his +boyish face was preternaturally thoughtful. + +"I've seen boys make just such mistakes at the blackboard," he observed +in a tone of melancholy reflection. "And they generally catch it +afterwards too," he added. "It's natural." + +"I've 'caught it,'" Overholt answered. "You have too, my dear boy, +though you didn't make the mistake--that's not just." + +"Well, father, I don't know what we're going to do, but something has +got to be done right away, and we've got to find out what it is." + +"Thank goodness you're not a girl!" cried Overholt fervently. + +"I'm glad too; only, if I were one, I should most likely die young and +go to heaven, and you'd have me off your mind all right. The girls +always do in storybooks." + +He made this startling and general observation quite naturally. Of +course girls died and went to heaven when there was nothing to eat; he +secretly thought it would be better if more of them did, even without +starvation. + +"Let's work, anyhow," he added, as his father said nothing. "Maybe we'll +think of something while we're building that railroad depot. Don't you +suppose that now you've got so far the Motor would keep while you +taught, and you could go at it again in the vacations? That's an idea, +father, come now!" + +He was already in his place before the board on which the little City +was built, and his eyes were fixed on the lines his father had drawn as +a plan for the station and the diverging tracks. But Overholt did not +sit down. His usual place was opposite the Motor, where he could see it, +but he did not want to look at it now. + +"Change seats with me, boy," he said. "I cannot stand the sight of it. I +suppose I'm imaginative. All this has upset me a good deal." + +He wished he had the lad's nerves, the solid nerves of hungry and +sleepy thirteen. Newton got up at once and changed places, and for a few +minutes Overholt tried to concentrate his mind on the little City, but +it was of no use. If he did not think of the Motor, he thought of what +was much worse, for the little streets and models of the familiar places +brought back the cruel memory of happier things so vividly that it was +torment. All his faculties of sensation were tense and vibrating; he +could hear his wife's gentle and happy voice, her young girl's voice, +when he looked at the little bench in the lane where he had asked her to +marry him, and an awful certainty came upon him that he was never to +hear her speak again on this side of the grave; there was the house they +had lived in; from that window he had looked out on a May morning at the +budding trees half an hour after his boy had been born; there, in the +pretty garden, the young mother had sat with her baby in the lovely June +days--it was full of her. Or if he looked at the College, he knew every +one of the steps, and the entrance, and the tall windows of the +lecture-rooms, where he had taught so contentedly, year after year, till +the terrible Motor had taken possession of him, the thing that was +driving him mad; and, strangely enough, what hurt him most and brought +drops of perspiration to his forehead was the National Bank in Main +Street; it made him remember his debt, and that he had no money at +all--nothing whatsoever but the few dollars in his pocket left after +paying the bills on the first of the month. + +"It's of no use!" he cried, suddenly rising and turning away. "I cannot +stand it. I'm sorry, but it's too awful!" + +Never before had he felt so thoroughly ashamed of himself. He was +breaking down before his son, to whom he knew he ought to be setting an +example of fortitude and common sense. He had forgotten the very names +of such qualities; the mere thought of Hope, whenever it crossed his +mind, mocked him maddeningly, and he hated the little City for the name +he had given it. Hope was his enemy since she had left him, and he was +hers; he could have found it in his heart to crush the poor little paper +town to pieces, and then to split up the very board itself for firewood. + +The years that had been so full of belief were all at once empty, and +the memory of them rang hollow and false, because Hope had cheated him, +luring him on, only to forsake him at the great moment. Every hour he +had spent on the work had been misspent; he saw it all now, and the most +perfect of his faultless calculations only proved that science was a +blatant fraud and a snare that had cost him all he had, his wife, his +boy's future, and his own self-respect. How could he ever look at his +wretched failure again? How could he sit down opposite the son he had +cheated, and who was going to starve with him, and play with a little +City of Hope, when Hope herself was the lying enemy that had coaxed him +to the destruction of his family and to his own disgrace? As for +teaching again, who ever got back a good place after he had voluntarily +given it up for a wild dream! Men who had such dreams were not fit to +teach young men in any case! That was the answer he would get by post in +a day or two. + +Newton watched his father anxiously, for he had heard that people +sometimes went mad from disappointment and anxiety. The pale +intellectual face wore a look of horror, as if the dark eyes saw some +dreadful sight; the thin figure moved nervously, the colourless lips +twitched, the lean fingers opened and shut spasmodically on nothing. It +was enough to scare the boy, who had always known his father gentle, +sweet-tempered, and hopeful even under failure; but Overholt was quite +changed now, and looked as if he were either very ill or very crazy. + +It is doubtful whether boys ever love their fathers as most of them love +their mothers at one time, or all their lives. The sort of attachment +there often is between father and son is very different from that, and +both feel that it is; there is more of alliance and friendship in it +than of anything like affection, even when it is at its best, with a +strong instinct to help one another and to stand by each other in a +fight. + +Newton Overholt did not feel any sympathetic thrill of pain for his +father's sufferings; not in the least; he would perhaps have said that +he was "sorry for him" without quite knowing what that meant. But he was +very strongly moved to help him in some way, seeing that he was +evidently getting the worst of it in a big fight. Newton soon became +entirely possessed by the idea that "something ought to be done," but +what it was he did not know. + +The lid of Pandora's box had flown open and had come off suddenly after +smashing the hinges, and Hope had flown out of the window. The boy +thought it was clearly his duty to catch her and get her into prison +again, and then to nail down the lid. He had not the smallest doubt that +this was what he ought to do, but the trouble lay in finding out how to +do it, a little difficulty that humanity has faced for a good many +thousand years. On the other hand, if he failed, as seemed probable, he +was almost sure that his father would fall ill and die, or go quite mad +in a few hours. He wished his mother were there; she would have known +how to cheer the desperate man, and could probably have made him smile +in a few minutes without really doing anything at all. Those were the +things women could do very well, the boy thought, and they ought always +to be at hand to do them when wanted. He himself could only sit there +and pretend to be busy, as children mostly do when they see their elders +in trouble. But that made him wild. + +"I say, father," he broke out suddenly, "can't I do anything? Try and +think!" + +"That's what I'm trying to do," answered Overholt, sitting down at last +on the stool before the work-bench and staring at the wall, with his +back turned to his son. "But I can't! There's something wrong with my +head." + +"You want to see a doctor," said the boy. "I'll go and see if I can get +one of them to come out here." He rose as if to go at once. + +"No! Don't!" cried Overholt, much distressed by the mere suggestion. "He +could only tell me to rest, and take exercise and sleep at night and not +worry!" He laughed rather wildly. "He would tell me not to worry! They +always say that! A doctor would tell a man 'not to worry' if he was to +be hanged the next morning!" + +"Well," said Newton philosophically, "I suppose a man who's going to be +hung needn't worry much, anyway. He's got the front seat at the show and +nothing particular to do!" + +This was sound, so far as it went, but insufficient as consolation. +Overholt either did not hear, or paid no heed to the boy. He left the +room a moment later without shutting the door, and threw himself down on +the old black horsehair sofa in the parlour. Presently the lad rose +again and covered up the City of Hope with the big brown paper case he +had made to fit down over the board and keep the dust off. + +"This isn't your day," he observed as he did so, and the remark was +certainly addressed to the model of the town. + +He went into the other room and stood beside his father, looking down at +his drawn face and damp forehead. + +"Say, father, really, isn't there anything I can do to help?" + +Overholt answered with an effort. "No, my boy, there's nothing, thank +you. You cannot find money to pay my debts, can you?" + +"Have you got no money at all?" asked Newton, very gravely. + +"Four or five dollars! That's all! That's all you and I have got left in +the world to live on, and even that's not mine!" + +His voice shook with agony, and he raised one hand to his forehead, not +dramatically, as many foreigners would do, but quietly and firmly, and +he pressed and kneaded the surface as if he were trying to push his +brains back into the right place, so that they would work, or at least +keep quiet. After that answer Newton was too sensible to ask any more +questions, and perhaps he was also a little afraid to, because questions +might make his father worse. + +"Well," he said vaguely, "if I can't work at the City I suppose I may as +well go out before it's dark and take a look at the pond. It's going to +freeze hard to-night, and maybe there'll be black ice that'll bear by +to-morrow." + +Overholt was glad to be left alone, for he could not help being ashamed +of having broken down so completely before the boy, and he felt that he +could not recover his self-control unless he were left to himself. + +He heard Newton go up the rickety stairs to his own room, where he +seemed to be rummaging about for some time, judging from the noises +overhead; then the strong shoes clattered on the staircase again, the +house door was opened and shut, and the boy was off. + + + + +VI + +HOW A SMALL BOY DID A BIG THING AND NAILED DOWN THE LID OF THE BOX + + +Newton went to the pond, because he said he was going out for that +purpose, and it might be convenient to be able to swear that he had +really been down to the water's edge. As if to enjoy the pleasure of +anticipation, too, he had his skates with him in a green flannel bag, +though it was quite out of the question that the ice should bear +already, and it was not even likely that the water would be already +frozen over. However, he took the skates with him, a very good pair, of +a new model, which his father had given him towards the end of the +previous winter, so that he had not used them more than half a dozen +times. It was very cold, but of course the ice would not bear yet. The +sun had not set, and as he was already half-way to the town, the boy +apparently thought he might as well go on instead of returning at once +to the cottage, where he would have to occupy himself with his books +till supper-time, supposing that it occurred to his father to have any +supper in his present condition. The prospect was not wildly gay, and +besides, something must be done at once. Newton was possessed by that +idea. + +When Overholt had been alone for some time, he got up from the horsehair +sofa and crept up the stairs, leaning on the shaky bannister like an old +man. In his own room he plunged his face into icy cold water again and +again, as if it were burning, and the sharp chill revived his nerves a +little. There was no stove in the room, and before midnight the water +would be frozen in the pitcher. He sat down and rubbed his forehead and +wondered whether he was really any better, or was only imagining or even +pretending that he was, because he wanted to be. Our own reflections +about our own sensations are never so silly as at the greatest moments +in our lives, because the tremendous strain on the higher faculties +releases all the little ones, as in sleep, and they behave and reason as +idiotically as they do in dreams, which is saying a good deal. Perhaps +lunatics are only people who are perpetually asleep and dreaming with +one part of their brains while the other parts are awake. They certainly +behave as if that were the matter, and it seems a rational explanation +of ordinary insanity, curable or incurable. Did you ever talk to a +lunatic? On the subject on which he is insane he thinks and talks as you +do when you are dreaming; but he may be quite awake and sensible about +all other matters. He dreams he is rich, and he goes out and orders +cartloads of things from shops. Pray, have you never dreamt that you +were rich? Or he dreams that he is a poached egg, and must have a piece +of toast to sit down upon. I believe that well-known story of a lunatic +to be founded on fact. Have you never dreamt that you were somebody or +something quite different from yourself? Have you never dreamt that you +were an innocent man, persecuted, tried for a crime, and sentenced to +prison, or even death? And yet, at the same time, in your dream, you +were behaving with the utmost good sense about everything else. When +you are dreaming, you are a perfect lunatic; why may it not be true that +the waking lunatic is really dreaming all the time, with one part of his +brain? + +John Henry Overholt was apparently wide awake, but he had been morally +stunned that day; he was dreaming that he was going crazy, and he could +not, for the life of him, tell whether he really felt any better after +cooling his head in the basin than before, though it seemed immensely +important to find out, just then. Afterwards, when it was all over, and +things were settled again, he remembered only a blank time, which had +lasted from the moment when he had broken down before the little City +until he found himself sitting in the parlour alone before the supper +table with a bright lamp burning, and wondering why his boy did not come +home. The dream was over then; his head ached a good deal and he did not +feel hungry, but that was all; burning anxiety had cooled to leaden +care. He knew quite well that it was all over with the Motor, that his +friends at the College would find him some sort of employment, and that +in due time he would succeed in working off his debt to the bank, +dollar by dollar. He had got his soul back out of the claws of despair +that had nearly flown away with it. There was no hope, but he could live +without it because he must not only live himself, but keep his boy +alive. Somehow, he would get along on credit for a week or two, till he +could get work. At all events there were his tools to sell, and the +Motor must go for old brass, bronze, iron, and steel. He would see about +selling the stuff the next day, and with what it would bring he could at +least pay cash for necessaries, and the bank must wait. There was no +hope in that, but there was the plain sense of an honest man. He was not +a coward; he had only been brutally stunned, and now that he had +recovered from the blow he would do his duty. But an innocent man who +walks steadily to endure an undeserved death is not a man that hopes for +anything, and it was like death to Overholt to give up his invention. + +The door opened and Newton came in quietly. His face was flushed with +the cold and his eyes were bright. What was the weight of leaden care to +the glorious main-spring of healthy thirteen? Overholt was proud of his +boy, nevertheless, for facing the dreary prospect of no Christmas so +bravely. Then he had a surprise. + +"I've got a little money, father. It's not much, I know, but it's +something to go on with for a day or two. There it is." + +Newton produced three well-worn dollar bills and some small change, +which his father stared at in amazement. + +"There's three dollars and seventy cents," he said. "And you told me you +had four or five dollars left." + +Before he sat down he piled the change neatly on the bills beside his +father's plate; then he took his seat, very red indeed and looking at +the table-cloth. + +"Where on earth did you get it?" asked Overholt, leaning back in his +chair. + +"Well"--the boy hesitated and got redder still--"I didn't steal it, +anyway," he said. "It's mine all right. I mean it's yours." + +"Of course you didn't steal it!" cried John Henry. "But where did you +get it? You haven't had more than a few cents at a time for weeks and +weeks, so you can't have saved it!" + +"I didn't beg it either," Newton answered. + +"Or borrow it, my boy?" + +"No! I wasn't going to borrow money I couldn't pay! I'd rather not tell +you, all the same, father! At least, I earned twenty cents of it. That's +the odd twenty, that makes the three seventy. I don't mind telling you +that." + +"Oh, you earned twenty cents of it? Well, I'm glad of that, anyhow. What +did you do?" + +"I sort of hung round the depot till the train came in, and I carried a +man's valise across to the hotel for him. He gave me ten cents. Some of +the boys do that, you know, but I thought you wouldn't care to have me +do it till I had to!" + +"That's all right. It does you credit. How about the other ten cents?" + +"Old Bangs saw me pass his shop, and he asked me to come in and said +he'd give me ten cents if I'd do some sums for him. I guess he's pretty +busy just now. He said he'd give me ten cents every day till Christmas +if I'd come in after school and do the sums. His boy's got mumps or +something, and can't. There's no harm in that, is there, father?" + +"Harm! I'm proud of you, my boy. You'll win through--some day!" + +It was the first relief from his misery the poor man had felt since he +had read the letter about the overdraft in the morning. + +"What I can't understand is the rest of the money," said Overholt. + +Newton looked very uncomfortable again, and moved uneasily on his chair. + +"Oh well, I suppose I've got to tell you," he said, looking down into +his plate and very busy with his knife and fork. "Say, you won't tell +mother, will you? She wouldn't like it." + +"I won't tell her." + +"Well"--the boy hesitated--"I sold some things," he said at last, in a +low voice. + +"Oh! There's no great harm in that, my boy. What did you sell?" + +"My skates and my watch," said Newton, just audibly. "You see I didn't +somehow feel as if I were going to skate much this winter--and I don't +really need to know what time it is if I start right by the clock to go +to school. I say, don't tell mother. She gave me the watch, you know, +last Christmas. Of course, you gave me the skates, but you'll +understand better than she would." + +Overholt was profoundly touched, for he knew what delight the good +skates meant in the cold weather, and the pride the boy had felt in the +silver watch that kept such excellent time. But he could not think of +much to say just then, for the sight of the poor little pile of dirty +money that was the sordid price of so much pleasure and satisfaction +half-choked him. + +"You're a brave boy," he said in a low tone. + +But Newton was indefinitely far from understanding that he had done +anything brave; he merely felt much better now, because he had confessed +and had the matter off his mind. + +"Oh well, you see, something had to be done quick," he said, "and I +couldn't think of anything else. But I'll go and earn that ten cents of +Bangs every afternoon, you bet! And I guess I can pick up a quarter at +the depot now and then; that is, if you don't mind. It isn't much, I +know, but it'll help a little." + +"It's helped already, more than you have any idea," said Overholt. + +He remembered with bitter shame how he had completely broken down +before his son that afternoon, and how quietly the lad had gone off to +make his great sacrifice, pretending that he only wanted to see whether +the pond was freezing. + +"Well," said Newton, "I'm glad you don't think it was mean of me to go +and sell the watch mother gave me. And I'm glad you feel better. You do +feel a good deal better, don't you?" + +"A thousand times better!" answered Overholt, almost cheerfully. + +"I'm glad. Maybe you'll feel like working on the City a little after +supper." + +"I was afraid Hope had given us up to-day, and had flown away for good +and all," said the inventor. "But you've brought her home with you +again, bless you! Yes, we'll do some work after supper, and after you go +to bed I'll just have one more good evening with the Motor before I give +it up for ever." + +Newton looked up. + +"You aren't going to give it up for ever," he said in a tone of +conviction. "You can't." + +Overholt explained calmly enough that he must sell the machine for old +metal the very next day, and sell the tools too. But the boy shook his +head. + +"You'll curl up and die if you do that," he said. "Besides, if mother +were here she wouldn't let you do it, so you oughtn't to. The reason why +she's gone to be a governess is because she wouldn't let you give up the +Motor, father. You know it is." + +"Yes. It's true--but--" he hesitated. + +"You simply can't do it, that's all. So I'm perfectly certain you won't! +I believe everything will come round all right, anyway, if you only +don't worry. That's what I believe, father." + +"It's a hopeful view, at all events. The only objection to it is that +it's a good deal like dreaming, and I've no right to dream any more. +When you see that I'm going to, you must make me sit up and mind my +lesson!" + +He even laughed a little, and it was not badly done, considering that he +did it on purpose to show how he meant to make the best of it all, +though Hope would not do anything for him. He ate something too, if only +to keep the hungry boy company. + +They went into the workshop, and found the bright moonlight streaming +through the window that looked east. It fell full on the motionless +Motor, under its plate-glass case, and turned all the steel and brass to +silver and gold, and from the clean snow that covered the desolateness +of the yard outside the moon sent a white reflection upwards that +mingled with the direct moonlight in a ghostly sort of way. Newton stood +still and looked at the machine, while Overholt felt about for matches. + +"If only it would begin to move now, just of itself!" + +The man knew that it would not, and wished that the boy would not even +suggest such a thing, and he sighed as he lit the lamp. But all the same +he meant to spend half the night in taking a last farewell of the +engine, and of all the parts on which he had spent months and years, +only to let them be broken up for old metal in the end. + +The two sat down on each side of the little City and went to work to +build the railway station; and after all, when Overholt looked at the +Common and the College and remembered how happy he had been there, he +began to feel that since dreams were nothing but dreams, except that +they were a great waste of time and money, and of energy and endurance, +he might possibly find some happiness again in the old life, if he could +only get back to it. + +So Hope came back, rather bedraggled and worn out after her long +excursion, and took a very humble lodging in the little City which had +once been all hers and the capital of her kingdom. But she was there, +all the same, peeping out of a small window to see whether she would be +welcome if she went out and took a little walk in the streets. + +For the blindest of all blind people are those who have quite made up +their minds not to see; and the most miserable of all the hopeless ones +are those that wilfully turn their backs on Hope when she stands at the +next corner holding out her hand rather timidly. + +But Overholt was not one of these, and he took it gladly when it was +offered, and stood ready to be led away by a new path, which was not the +road to fame or wealth, but which might bring him to a quiet little +place where he could live in peace with those he loved, and after all +that would be a great deal. + + + + +VII + +HOW A LITTLE WOMAN DID A GREAT DEED TO SAVE THE CITY + + +A fortnight earlier Mrs. Overholt had been much disturbed in her mind, +for she read each of her husband's letters over at least three times, +and Newton's fortnightly scrawls even oftener, because it was less easy +to make them out; but she had understood one thing very well, and that +was that there was no more money for the invention, and very little cash +for the man and the boy to live on. If she had known what a dreadful +mistake John Henry had made about debit and credit, the little woman +would have been terribly anxious; but as it was, she was quite unhappy +enough. + +Overholt had written repeatedly of his attempts to raise just a little +more money with which to finish the invention, and he had explained very +clearly what there was to do, and somehow she had always believed in the +idea, because he had invented that beautiful scientific instrument with +which his name was connected, but she was almost sure that in working +out his theory he was quite on the wrong track. She did not really +understand the engine at all, but she was quite certain that when a +thing was going to succeed, it succeeded from the first, without many +hitches or drawbacks. Most women are like that. + +She had never written this to her husband, because she would do anything +rather than discourage him; but she had almost made, up her mind to +write him a letter of good advice at last, begging him to go back to +teaching for the present, and only to work at the invention in his spare +time. Just then, however, she came across a paragraph in a German +newspaper in Munich which said that a great scientific man in Berlin had +completed an air-motor at last, after years of study, and that it worked +tolerably, enough to demonstrate the principle, but could never be of +any practical use because the chemical product on which it ultimately +depended was so enormously expensive. + +Now Mrs. Overholt knew one thing certainly about her husband's engine, +namely, that the chemical he meant to use cost next to nothing, so that +if the principle were sound, the Motor would turn out to be the cheapest +in existence; and she was a practical person, like her boy Newton. + +Moreover, she loved John Henry with all her heart and soul, and thought +him one of the greatest geniuses in the world, and she simply could not +bear the idea that he should not have a fair chance to finish the +machine and try it. + +Lastly, Christmas was coming; the girls she was educating talked of +nothing else, and counted the days, and sat up half the night on the +edges of each other's beds discussing the beautiful presents they were +sure to receive; and a great deal might be written about what they said, +but it has nothing to do with this story, except that their chatter +helped to fill the air with the Christmas spirit, and with thoughts of +giving as well as of receiving. Though they were rather spoiled +children, they were generous too, and they laid all sorts of little +traps in order to find out what their governess would like best from +each of them, for they were fond of her in their way. + +Also, Munich is one of the castles which King Christmas still holds in +absolute sway and calls his own, and long before he is really awake +after his long rest he begins to stir and laugh in his sleep, and the +jolly colour creeps up and spreads over his old cheeks before he thinks +of opening his eyes, much less of getting up and putting on his crown. +And now that he was waking, Helen Overholt felt the old loving longing +for her dear ones rising to her womanly heart, and she planned little +plans for another and a happier year to come, and meanwhile she bought +two or three little gifts to send to the cottage in far Connecticut. + +But when she had read about the Berlin professor and his motor and +thought of her own John Henry making bricks without straw and bearing up +bravely against disappointment, and still writing so cheerfully and +hopefully in spite of everything, she simply could not stand it another +day. As I have said, King Christmas turned over just before waking, and +he put out a big generous hand in his sleep and laid it on her heart. +Whenever he does that to anybody, man, woman, or child, a splendid +longing seizes them to give all they have to the one child, or woman, or +man that each loves best, or to the being of all others that is most in +need, or to help the work which seems to each of them the noblest and +the best, if they are grown up and are lonely. + +This is what happened to Helen Overholt, in spite of her good sense and +all her practical resolutions. As long as she had anything to give, John +Henry should have it and be happy, and succeed, if success were +possible. She had saved most of her salary for a long time past, +spending as little as she well could on herself. He should have it all, +for love's sake, and because she believed in him, and because Christmas +was waking up, and had laid his great affectionate old hand on her. + +So it came to pass that when Overholt was pottering over the beautiful +motionless Motor, late at night, sure that it would work if he had a +little more money, but still more sure that it must be sold for old +metal the next morning, to buy bread for the boy, even at that hour +help was near, and from the hand he loved best in the world, which would +make it ten thousand times sweeter when it reached him. + +It was going to be an awful wrench to give up the invention, for now, at +the moment of abandoning it, he saw, or thought he saw, that he was +right at last, and that it could not fail. It was useless to try it as +it was, yet he would, just once more. He adjusted the tangent-balance +and the valves; he put in the supply of the chemical with the long name +and screwed down the hermetic plug. With the small hand air-pump he +produced the first vacuum which was necessary; all was ready, every +joint and stuffing-box was lubricated, the spring of the balance was +adjusted to a nicety. But the engine would not start, though he turned +the fly-wheel with his hand again and again, as if to encourage it. Of +course it would not turn alone! He understood perfectly that the one +piece on which all depended must be made over again, exactly the other +way. That was all! + +There was the wooden model of it, all ready for the foundry that would +not cast it for nothing. If only the wooden piece would serve for a +moment's trial! But he knew that this was folly; it would not stand the +enormous strain an instant, and the joints could not possibly be made +air-tight. + +He was utterly worn out by all he had been through during the long day, +and he fell asleep in his chair towards morning, his head on his breast, +his feet struck out straight before him, one arm hanging down beside him +and his other hand thrust into his pocket. He looked more like a shabby +lay figure stuffed with sawdust than like a living man. If Newton had +come down and found him lying there under the lamplight he would have +started back and shuddered, and waited a while before he could find +courage to come nearer. + +But the man was only very sound asleep, and he did not wake till the +December dawn gleamed through the clear winter's sky and made the +artificial light look dim and smoky; and when he opened his eyes it was +he himself who started to find himself there in the cold before his +great failure, in broad daylight. + +Nevertheless, he had slept soundly, and felt better able to face all the +trouble that was in store for him. He stirred the embers in the stove, +put in some kindling and a supply of coal, and warmed himself, still +heavy with sleep, and glad to waken consciously, by degrees, and to feel +that his resolution was not going to break down. + +When he felt quite himself he left the room and went upstairs +cautiously, lest he should wake the boy, though it was really time to +get up, and Newton was already dressing. + +"I'll walk into town with you," said Overholt when they were at +breakfast in the parlour. "It will do me good to get some air, and I +must see about selling those things. There's no time to be lost." + +Newton swallowed his hominy and bread and butter and milk, and reflected +on the futility of the sacrifice he had made, since his father insisted +on selling everything for old metal; but he said nothing, because he was +dreadfully disappointed. + +Near the town they met the postman. As a rule Barbara got the mail when +she went to market, and Overholt was not even going to ask the man if +there were any letters for him. But the postman stopped him. There was +one from his wife, and it was registered. He signed the little receipt +for it, the man passed them on his rounds, and they slackened their +pace as Overholt broke the seal. + +He uttered a loud exclamation when he had glanced at the contents, and +he stood still in the road. Newton stared at him in surprise. + +"A thousand dollars!" he cried, overcome with amazement. "A thousand +dollars! Oh, Helen, Helen--you've saved my life!" + +He got to the side of the road and leaned against the fence, clutching +the letter and the draft in his hand, and gazing into his son's face, +half crazy with delight. + +"She's saved it all for me, boy. Do you understand? Your mother has +saved all her salary for the Motor, and here it is! Look at it, look at +it! It's success, it's fame, it's fortune for us all! Oh, if she were +only here!" + +Newton understood and rejoiced. He forgot his poor little attempt to +help, and his own disappointment, and everything except the present +glorious truth--not unadorned by the pleasant vision of the Christmas +turkey, vast now, and smoking, and flanked by perfect towers of stiff +cranberry jelly, ever so much better than mere liquid cranberry sauce; +in the middle distance, behind the noble dish, a noble pyramid of +ice-cream raised its height, and yellow cream-cakes rose beyond, like +many little suns on the far horizon. In that first moment of delight +there was almost a Christmas tree, and the mother's face beside it; but +that was too much; they faded, and the rest remained, no mean forecast +of a jolly time. + +"That's perfectly grand!" Newton cried when he got his breath after his +surprise at the announcement. "Besides, I told you so. What did I say? +She wouldn't let you give up the Motor! I knew she wouldn't! Who's right +now, father? That's something like what I call a mother! But then she +always was!" + +He was slightly incoherent, but that did not matter at all. Nothing +mattered. In his young beatific vision he saw the bright wheel going +round and round in a perfect storm of turkeys, and it was all his +mother's doing. + +Overholt only half heard, for he had been reading the letter; the letter +of a loving wife who believes in her husband and gives him all she has +for his work, with every hope, every encouragement, and every blessing +and Christmas wish. + +"There's no time to be lost!" Overholt said, repeating the words he had +spoken in a very different mood and tone half an hour earlier. "I won't +walk on with you, my boy, for I must go back and get the wooden model +for the foundry. They'll do it for me now, fast enough! And I can pay +what I owe at the bank, and there will be plenty left over for your +Christmas too!" + +"Oh, bother my Christmas, father!" answered Newton with a fine +indifference which he did not feel. "The Motor's the thing! I want to +see that wheel go round for a Christmas present!" + +"It will! It shall! It must! I promise you that!" The man was almost +beside himself with joy. + +No misgiving disturbed him. He had the faith that tosses mountains aside +like pebbles, now that the means were in his hand. He had the little +fulcrum for his lever, which was all Archimedes required to move the +world. He had in him the certainty of being right that has sent millions +of men to glory or destruction. + +That day was one of the happiest in all his life, either before or, +afterwards. He could have believed that he had fallen asleep at the +moment when he had quite broken down, and that a hundred years of change +had glided by, like a watch in the night, when he opened his wife's +letter and wakened in a blaze of joy and hope and glorious activity. +Nothing he could remember of that kind could compare with his pride and +honourable satisfaction when he walked into the bank two hours +afterwards, with his head high, and said he should be glad to take up +the note he had signed yesterday and have the balance of the cheque +placed to his credit; and few surprises which the partner who had +obliged him could recollect, had equalled that worthy gentleman's +amazement when the debt was paid so soon. + +"If you had only told me that you would be in funds so soon, Mr. +Overholt," he said, "I should not have thought of troubling you. Here is +your note. Will you kindly look at it and tear it up?" + +"I did not know," answered Overholt, doing as he was told. + +It is a curious fact that the little note lay in a locked drawer of the +partner's magnificent table, instead of being put away in the safe with +other and larger notes, where it belonged. It may seem still stranger +that, on the books, Overholt's account showed that it had been balanced +by a deposit exactly equal to the deficit, made by the partner himself, +instead of by crediting the amount of the note. But Overholt never knew +this, for a pass-book had always been a mystery to him, and made his +head ache. The banker had thought of his face some time after he had +gone out with his battered umbrella and his shabby shoulders rounded as +under a burden, and somehow the Christmas spirit must have come in +quietly and touched the rich man too, though even the stenographer did +not see what happened. For he had once been in terrible straits himself, +a quarter of a century ago, and some one had helped him just in time, +and he knew what it meant to slink out of a big bank, in shabby clothes, +his back bowed under the heavy weight of debt and failure. + +Overholt never knew; but he expressed his warm thanks for what now +seemed a small favour, and with his wooden model of the casting, done up +in brown paper, under his arm, he went off to the foundry in Long +Island. + +Much careful work had been done for him there, and the people were +willing to oblige him, and promised that the piece should certainly be +ready before Christmas Day, and as much earlier as possible, and should +be made with the greatest exactness which the most precise machinery and +the most careful work could ensure. + +This being settled, Overholt returned to New York and went to two or +three places in the Bowery, well known to him, where he bought certain +fine tools and pieces of the most perfectly turned steel spring, and +several other small objects, which he needed for the construction of the +new tangent-balance he had to make for the reversed curve. Finally, he +bought a silver watch like the one Newton had sold, and a new pair of +skates, presents which the boy certainly deserved, and which would make +a very good show at Christmas, when they were to be produced. He felt as +if he had come into a large fortune. + +Moreover, when he got out of the train at his own station he went into +the town, and ordered beforehand the good things for the feast, though +there were three weeks still, and he wanted to pay for them in advance, +because he felt inside of himself that no one could be quite sure of +what might happen in twenty-one days; but the dealers flatly refused to +take his money, though they told him what the things would cost. Then +Overholt did almost the only prudent thing he had done in his life, for +he took the necessary money and five dollars more and sealed it up in an +envelope, which he put away in a safe place. The only difficulty would +lie in remembering where the place was, so he told Newton about it, and +the boy wrote it down on a piece of paper which he pinned up in his own +room, where he could see it. There was nothing like making sure of that +turkey, he thought. And I may as well say at once that in this matter, +at least, no untoward accident occurred, and the money was actually +there at the appointed time. What happened was something quite +different, and much more unexpected, not to say extraordinary and even +amazing; and in spite of all that, it will not take very long to tell. + +Meanwhile, before it happened, Overholt and the boy were perfectly +happy. All day long the inventor worked at the tangent-balance, till he +had brought it to such perfection that it would be affected by a +variation of one-tenth of one second in the aggregate speed of ten +revolutions, and an increase or decrease of a tenth of a grain in the +weight of the volume of the compressed air. It was so sensitive that +John Henry and Newton trod cautiously on the floor of the workshop so as +not to set it vibrating under the glass clock-shade, where it was kept +safe from dust and dampness. + +After it had been placed there to wait for the casting, the inventor +took the engine to pieces and made the small changes that would be +necessary before finally putting it together again, which would probably +occupy two days. + +Meanwhile the little City of Hope grew rapidly, and was becoming an +important centre of civilisation and commerce, though it was only made +of paper and chips, and bits of matchboxes and odds and ends cleverly +put together with glue and painted; except the people in the street. For +it was inhabited now, and though the men and women did not move about, +they looked as if they might, if they were only bigger. Overholt had +seen the population in the window of a German toy-shop one day when he +was in New York to get a new crocusing wheel for polishing some of the +small parts of the engine. They were the smallest doll-people he had +ever seen, and were packed by dozens and dozens in Nuremberg toy-boxes, +and cost very little, so he bought a quantity of them. At first Newton +rather resented them, just because they were only toys, but his father +explained to him that models of human figures were almost necessary to +models of buildings, to give an idea of the population, and that when +architects make coloured sketches of projected houses, they generally +draw in one or two people for that reason; and this was perfectly +satisfactory to the boy, and saved his dignity from the slight it would +have suffered if he had been actually seen amusing himself with mere +playthings. + +Overholt was divinely happy in anticipation of the final success that +was so near, and in the daily work that was making it more and more a +certainty, as he thought; and then, when the day was over, he was just +as happy with the little City, which was being decorated for Christmas, +with wreaths in the windows of the houses, and a great many more +holly-trees than had at first been thought of, and numberless little +Christmas booths round the common, like those in Avenue A, south of +Tompkins Square, in New York, which make you fancy you are in Munich or +Prague if you go and see them at the right hour on Christmas Eve. + +Before long Overholt received a short note from the President of his old +College, simply saying that the latter knew of no opening at present, +but would bear him in mind. But that did not matter now. + +So the two spent their time very pleasantly during the next weeks; but +though Overholt was so hopeful and delighted with his work, he knew that +he was becoming nervous and overwrought by the great anticipation, and +that he could not stand such a strain very long. + +Then, two days before Christmas, he received a note saying that the new +piece was finished and had been sent to him by express. That was almost +too much happiness to bear, and when he found the heavy case at the +station the next morning, and got it put on a cart, his heart was doing +queer things, and he was as white as a sheet. + + + + +VIII + +HOW THE WHEELS WENT ROUND AT LAST + + +The hush of Christmas Eve lay upon the tumble-down cottage, and on the +soft fresh snow outside, and the lamps were burning quietly in the +workshop, where father and son were sitting before the finished Motor. + +The little City was there too, but not between them now, though Newton +had taken off its brown paper cover in honour of the great event which +was about to take place. + +In order to be doubly sure of the result, and dreading even the +possibility of a little disappointment, Overholt had decided that he +would subject the only chemical substance which the machine consumed to +a final form of refinement by heat, melting, boiling and cooling it, all +of which would require an hour or more before it was quite ready. He +felt like a man who is going to risk his life over a precipice, trusting +to a single rope for safety; that one rope must not be even a little +chafed; if possible each strand must be perfect in itself, and all the +strands must be laid up without a fault. Of the rest, of the machine +itself, Overholt felt absolutely sure; yet although a slight impurity in +the chemical could certainly not hinder the whole from working, it might +interfere with the precision of the revolutions, or even cause the +engine to stop after a few hours instead of going on indefinitely, as +long as the supply of the substance produced the alternate disturbance +of equilibrium which was the main principle on which the machine +depended. + +That sweetly prophetic evening silence, before the great feast of Good +Will, does not come over everything each year, even in a lonely cottage +in an abandoned farm in Connecticut, than which you cannot possibly +imagine anything more silent or more remote from the noise of the world. +Sometimes it rains in torrents just on that night, sometimes it blows a +raging gale that twists the leafless birches and elms and hickory trees +like dry grass and bends the dark firs and spruces as if they were +feathers, and you can hardly be heard unless you shout, for the howling +and screaming and whistling of the blast. + +But now and then, once in four or five years perhaps, the feathery snow +lies a foot deep, fresh-fallen, on the still country-side and in the +woods; and the waxing moon sheds her large light on all, and Nature +holds her breath to wait for the happy day, and tries to sleep but +cannot, from sheer happiness and peace. Indoors the fire is glowing on +the wide hearth, a great bed of coals that will last all night, because +it is not bitter weather, but only clear and cold and still, as it +should be; or if there is only a poor stove, like Overholt's, the wide +door is open, and a comfortable and cheery red light shines out from +within upon the battered iron plate and the wooden floor beyond; and the +older people sit round it, not saying much, but thinking with their +hearts rather than with their heads; but small boys and girls know that +interesting things have been happening in the kitchen all the afternoon, +and are rather glad that the supper was not very good, because there +will be the more room for good things to-morrow; and the grown-ups and +the children have made up any little differences of opinion they may +have had before supper-time, because Good Will must reign, and reign +alone, like Alexander; so that there is nothing at all to regret, and +nothing hurts anybody any more, and they are all happy in just wishing +for King Christmas to open the door softly and make them all great +people in his kingdom. But if it is the right sort of house, he is +already looking in through the window, to be sure that every one is all +ready for him, and that nothing has been forgotten. + +Now, although Overholt's cottage was a miserable place for a professor +who had lived very comfortably and well in a College town, and although +the thirteen-year-old boy could remember several pretty trees, lighted +up with coloured candles and gleaming with tinsel and gilt apples, they +both felt that this was going to be the greatest Christmas in their +lives, because the motionless Motor was going to move, and that would +mean everything--most of all to both of them, the end of the mother's +exile, and her speedy home-coming. Therefore neither said anything for a +long time while the chemical stuff was slowly warming itself and +getting ready, inside a big iron pot, of which the cover was screwed on +with a high-temperature thermometer sealed in it, and which stood on the +top of the stove where Overholt could watch the scale. + +He would really have preferred to be alone for the first trial, but it +was utterly impossible to think of sending the boy to bed. He was sure +of success, it is true, yet he would far rather have been left to +himself till that success was no longer in the future, but present; then +at last, even if Newton had been asleep, he would have waked him and +brought him downstairs again to see his triumph. The lad's presence made +him nervous, and suggested a failure which was all but impossible. More +than once he was on the point of trying to explain this to Newton, but +when he glanced at the young face he could not find it in his heart to +speak. If he only asked the boy, as a kindness, to go into the next room +for five minutes while the machine was being started, he knew what would +happen. Newton would go quietly, without a word, and wait till he was +called; but half his Christmas would be spoilt by the disappointment he +would try hard to hide. Had they not suffered together, and had not the +boy sacrificed the best of his small possessions, dearly treasured, to +help in their joint distress? It would be nothing short of brutal to +deprive him of the first moment of triumphant surprise, that was going +to mean so much hereafter. Yet the inventor would have given anything to +be alone. He was overwrought by the long strain that had so often seemed +unbearable, and when the liquid that was heating had reached the right +temperature and the iron pot had to be taken off the stove, his hands +shook so that he nearly dropped it; but Newton did not see that. + +"It's wonderful how everything has come out just right!" the boy +exclaimed as he looked at the machine. "Out of your three wishes you'll +get two, father, for the wheel will go round and I'm going to have a +regular old patent, double-barrelled Christmas with a gilt edge!" His +similes were mixed, but effective in their way. "And you'll probably get +the other wish in half a shake now, for mother'll come right home, won't +she?" + +"If the trial succeeds," Overholt said, still instinctively seeking to +forestall a disappointment he did not expect. "Nothing is a fact until +it has happened, you know!" + +"Well," said Newton, "if I had anything to bet with, and somebody to bet +against, I'd bet, that's all. But I haven't. It's a pity too, now that +everything's coming out right. Do you remember how we were trying to +make bricks without straw less than a month ago, father? It didn't look +just then as if we were going to have a roaring old Christmas this year, +did it?" + +He chattered on happily, looking at the Motor all the time, and Overholt +tried to smile and answered him with a word or two now and then, though +he was becoming more and more nervous as the minutes passed and the +supreme moment came nearer. In his own mind he was going over the simple +operations he had to perform to start the engine; yet easy as they were +he was afraid that he might make some fatal mistake. He did not let +himself think of failure; he did not dare to wonder how he should tell +his wife if anything went wrong and all her hard-saved earnings were +lost in the general ruin that must follow if the thing would not move. +There was next to nothing left of what she had sent, now that +everything was paid for; it would support him and the boy for a month, +if so long, but certainly no more. + +He was ready at last, but, strange to say, he would gladly have put off +the great moment for half an hour now that there was no reason for +waiting another moment. He sat down again in his chair and folded his +hands. + +"Aren't you going to begin, father?" asked Newton. "What are you waiting +for?" + +Overholt pulled himself together, rose with a pale face, and laid his +shaking hands on the heavy plate-glass case. It moved upwards by its +chain and counterpoise, almost at a touch, till it was near the low +ceiling, quite clear of the machine. + +He was very slow in doing what was still necessary, and the boy watched +him in breathless suspense, for he had seen other trials that had +failed--more than two or three, perhaps half a dozen. Every one who has +lived with an inventor, even a boy, has learned to expect disappointment +as inevitable; only the seeker himself is confident up to a certain +point, and then his own hand trembles, when the moment of trial is +come. + +Overholt poured the chemical into the chamber at the base, screwed down +the air-tight plug, and opened the communication between the reservoir +and the machine. Then he took out his watch and waited four minutes, +that being twice the time he had ascertained to be necessary for a +sufficient quantity of the liquid to penetrate into the distributors +beyond. He next worked the hand air-pump, keeping his eye on the vacuum +gauge, and lastly, as soon as the needle marked the greatest exhaustion +he knew to be obtainable, he moved the starting lever to the proper +position, and then stepped back to watch the result. + +For a moment, in the joy of anticipation, a strange light illuminated +his face, his lips parted as in a foretasted wonder, and he forgot even +to drop the hand he had just withdrawn. The boy held his breath +unconsciously till he was nearly dizzy. + +Then a despairing cry burst from the wretched man's lips, he threw up +his hands as if he had been shot through the heart, and stumbled +backwards. + +The Motor stood still, motionless as ever, and gleaming under the +brightly shining lamps. + +"Oh, Helen! God forgive me!" + +With the words he fell heavily to the floor, and lay there, a nerveless, +breathless heap. Newton was kneeling beside him in an instant. + +"Father!" cried the boy in agony, bending over the still white face. +"Father! Speak to me! You can't be dead--you can't--" + +In his mortal terror the lad held each breath till it seemed as if his +head must burst, then breathed once and shut his lips again with all his +strength. Some instinct made him lay his ear to the man's chest to +listen for the beatings of his heart, but he could hear nothing. + +Half-suffocated with sudden mingled grief and fright, he straightened +himself on his knees and looked up at the cursed machine that had +wrought such awful destruction. + +Then he in turn uttered a cry, but it was low and full of wonder, long +drawn out and trembling as the call of a frightened young wild animal. + +The thing was moving, steadily, noiselessly moving in the bright light; +the double levers worked like iron jaws opening and shutting regularly, +the little valve-rods rose and sank, and the heavy wheel whirled round +and round. The boy was paralysed with amazement, and for ten seconds he +forgot that he was kneeling beside his father's fallen body on the +floor; then he felt it against him and it was no longer quite still. + +Overholt groaned and turned upon his side as his senses slowly came back +and his agony tortured him to life again. Instantly the boy bent over +him. + +"Father! It's going! Wake up, father! The wheel's going round at last!" + + + + +IX + +HOW THE KING OF HEARTS MADE A FEAST IN THE CITY OF HOPE + + +When Overholt understood what he heard, he opened his eyes and looked up +into his son's face, moving his head mournfully from side to side as it +lay on the boards. But suddenly he caught sight of the engine. He gasped +for breath, his jaw dropped, and his eyes were starting from their +sockets as he struggled to get up with the boy's help. + +His voice came with a sort of rasping scream that did not sound human, +and then broke into wild laughter, interrupted by broken words. + +"Mad!" he cried. "I knew it--it had to come--my boy--help me to get away +from that thing--I'm raving mad--I see it moving--" + +"But it really is moving, father! Wake up! Look at it! The wheel is +going round and round!" + +Then Overholt was silent, sitting up on the floor and leaning against +his arm. Slowly he realised that he was in his senses, and that the +dream of long years had come true. Not a sound broke the stillness, so +perfect was the machinery, except a kind of very soft hum made by the +heavy fly-wheel revolving in the air. + +"Are you sure, boy? Aren't we dreaming?" he asked in a low tone. + +"It's going like clock-work, as sure as you're born," the lad answered. +"I think your falling down shook it up and started it. That was all it +wanted." + +The inventor got up slowly, first upon his knees, at last to his feet, +never once taking his eyes from the beautiful engine. He went close to +it, and put out his hand, till he felt the air thrown off by the wheel, +and he gently touched the smooth, swift-turning rim with one finger, +incredulous still. + +"There's no doubt about it," he said at last, yielding to the evidence +of touch and sight. "It works, and it works to perfection. If it +doesn't stop soon, it will go on for twenty-four hours!" + +Almost as much overcome by joy as he had been by despair, he let himself +sink into his seat. + +"Get me that tea-bottle," he said unsteadily. "Quick! I feel as if I +were going to faint again!" + +The draught he swallowed steadied his nerves, and then he sat a long +time quite silent in his unutterable satisfaction, and Newton stood +beside him watching the moving levers, the rising and sinking valve +rods, and the steadily whirling wheel. + +"She did it, my boy," Overholt said at last, very softly. "Your mother +did it! Without her help the Motor would have been broken up for old +metal three weeks ago." + +"It's something like a Christmas present," Newton answered. "But then I +always said she wouldn't let you give it up. Do you know, father, when +you fell just now, I thought you were dead, you looked just awful! And +it was quite a long time before I saw that the Motor was moving. And +then, when I did see it, and thought you were dead--well, I can't tell +you--" + +"Poor little chap! But it's all right now, my boy, and I haven't spoilt +your Christmas, after all!" + +"Not quite!" + +Newton laughed joyfully, and, turning round, he saw the little City +smiling on its board in the strong light, with the tiny red and green +wreaths in the windows and the pretty booths, and the crowds of little +people buying Christmas presents at them. + +"They're going to have a pretty good time in the City too," the boy +observed. "They know just as well as we do that Hope has come to stay +now!" + +But Overholt did not hear. Silent and rapt he sat in his old Shaker +rocking-chair gazing steadily at the great success of his life, that was +moving ceaselessly before his eyes, where motionless failure had sat +mocking him but a few minutes ago; and as the wheel whirled steadily +round and round, throwing off a little breeze like a fan, the cruel past +was wafted away like a mist by a morning wind, and the bright future +floated in and filled its place altogether and more also, as daylight +shows the distance which was all hidden from us by the close darkness +we groped in before it rose. + +Overholt sat still, and saw, and wondered, and little by little the +wheel and the soft vision of near happiness hypnotised him, for his body +and brain were weary beyond words to tell, so that all at once his eyes +were shut and he was sleeping like a child, as happy in dreamland as he +had just been awake; and happier far, for there was a dear presence with +him now, a hand he loved lay quietly in his, and he heard a sweet low +voice that was far away. + +The boy saw, and understood, for ever since he had been very small he +had been taught that he must not wake his father, who slept badly at all +times, and little or not at all when he was anxious. So Newton would not +disturb him now, and at once formed a brave resolution to sit bolt +upright all night, if necessary, for fear of making any noise. Besides, +he did not feel at all sleepy. There was the Motor to look at, and there +was Christmas to think of, and it was bright and clear outside where the +snow was like silver, under the young moon. He could look out of the +window as he sat, or at his father, or at the beautiful moving engine, +or at the little City of Hope, all without doing more than just turning +his head. + +To tell the truth, it was not really a great sacrifice he was making, +for if there is anything that strikes a boy of thirteen as more wildly +exciting than anything else in the world, it is to sit up all night +instead of going to bed like a Christian child; moreover, the workshop +was warm, and his own room would be freezing cold, and he was so well +used to the vile odour of the chemical stuff, that he did not notice it +at all. It was even said to be healthy to breathe the fumes of it, as +the air of a tannery is good for the lungs, or even London coal smoke. + +But it is one thing to resolve to keep awake, even with many delightful +things to think about; it is quite another to keep one's eyes open when +they are quite sure that they ought to be shut, and that you ought to be +tucked up in bed. The boy found it so, and in less than half an hour his +arm had got across the back of the chair, his cheek was resting on it +quite comfortably, and he was in dreamland with his father, and quite as +perfectly happy. + +So the two slept in their chairs under the big bright lamps; and while +they rested the Air-Motor worked silently, hour after hour, and the +heavy wheel whirled steadily on its axle, and only its soft and drowsy +humming was heard in the still air. + +That was the most refreshing sleep Overholt remembered for a long time. +When he stirred at last and opened his eyes, he did not even know that +he had slept, and forgot that he had closed his eyes when he saw the +engine moving. He thought it was still nine o'clock in the evening, and +that the boy might as well finish his little nap where he was, before +going to bed. Newton might sleep till ten o'clock if he liked. + +The lamps burned steadily, for they held enough oil to last sixteen +hours when the winter darkness is longest, and they had not been lighted +till after supper. + +But all at once Overholt was aware of a little change in the colour of +things, and he slowly rubbed his eyes and looked about him, and towards +the window. The moon had set long ago; there was a grey light on the +snow outside and in the clear air, and Overholt knew that it was the +dawn. He looked at his watch then, and it was nearly seven o'clock; for +in New York and Connecticut, as you may see by your pocket calendar, the +sun rises at twenty-three minutes past seven on Christmas morning. + +He sprang to his feet in astonishment, and at the sound Newton awoke and +looked up in blank and sleepy surprise. + +"Merry Christmas, my boy!" cried Overholt, and he laughed happily. + +"Not yet," answered Newton in a disappointed tone, and rubbing his arm, +which was stiff. "I've got to go to bed first, I suppose." + +"Oh no! You and I have slept in our chairs all night and the sun is +rising, so it's merry Christmas in earnest! And the Motor is running +still, after nine or ten hours. What a sleep we've had!" + +The boy looked out of the window stupidly, and vaguely wished that his +father would not make fun of him. Then he saw the dawn, and jumped up in +wild delight. + +"Hurrah!" he shouted. "Merry Christmas! Hurrah! hurrah!" If anything +could make that morning happier than it had promised to be, it was to +have actually cheated bed for the first time in his life. + +They were gloriously happy, as people have a right to be, and should +be, when they have been living in all sorts of trouble, with a great +purpose before them, and have won through and got all they hoped for, if +not quite all they could have wished--because there is absolutely no +limit to wishing if you let it go on. + +The people watched them curiously in church, for they looked so happy; +and for a long time the man's expression had always been anxious, if it +had no longer been sad of late, and the boy's young face had been +preternaturally grave; yet every one saw that neither of them even had a +new coat for Christmas Day, and that both needed one pretty badly. But +no one thought the worse of them for that, and in the generous Good Will +that was everywhere that morning everybody was glad to see that every +one else looked happy. + +In due time the two got home again; the Motor was still working to +perfection, as if nothing could ever stop it again, and Overholt oiled +the bearings carefully, passed a leather over the fixed parts, and +examined the whole machine minutely before sitting down to the feast, +while Newton stood beside him, looking on and hoping that he would not +be long. + +The boy had his new watch in his pocket, and it told him that it was +time for that turkey at last, and his new skates were in the parlour, +and there was splendid ice on the pond where the boys had cleared away +the snow, and it was the most perfect Christmas weather that ever was; +and in order to enjoy everything it would be necessary to get to work +soon. + +The two were before the Air-Motor, turning their backs to the door; and +they heard it open quietly, for old Barbara always came to call Overholt +to his meals, because he was very apt to forget them. + +"We are just coming," he said, without turning round. But the boy +turned, for he was hungry for the good things; and suddenly a perfect +yell of joy rent the air, and he dashed forward as Overholt turned sharp +round. + +"Mother!" + +"Helen!" + +And there she was, instead of in Munich. For the rich people she was +with had happily smashed their automobile without hurting themselves, +and had taken a fancy to spend Christmas at home; and, after the manner +of very rich people, they had managed everything in a moment, had picked +up their children and the governess, had just caught the fastest steamer +afloat at Cherbourg, and had arrived in New York late on Christmas Eve. +And Helen Overholt had taken the earliest train that she could manage to +get ready for, and had come out directly to surprise her two in their +lonely cottage. + +So John Henry Overholt had his three wishes after all on Christmas Day. +And everybody had helped to bring it all about, even Mr. Burnside, who +had said that Hope was cheap and that there was plenty of it to be had. + +But as for the little Christmas City in which Hope had dwelt and waited +so long, they all three put the last touches to it together, and carried +it with them when they went back to the College town, where they felt +that they would be happier than anywhere else in the world, even if they +were to grow very rich, which seems quite likely now. + +That is how it all happened. + + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +THE NOVELS OF + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + + +_Crown 8vo. 6s._ + +ARETHUSA. +A LADY OF ROME. + +_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ + +MR. ISAACS: A TALE OF MODERN INDIA. +DR. CLAUDIUS: A TRUE STORY. +ROMAN SINGER. +ZOROASTER. +TALE OF A LONELY PARISH. +MARZIO'S CRUCIFIX. +PAUL PATOFF. +WITH THE IMMORTALS. +GREIFENSTEIN. +SANT' ILARIO. +CIGARETTE-MAKER'S ROMANCE. +KHALED: A TALE OF ARABIA. +WITCH OF PRAGUE. +THREE FATES. +DON ORSINO. +CHILDREN OF THE KING. + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + +THE NOVELS OF F. MARION CRAWFORD + + +_Crown 8vo. 3s. 6d._ + +PIETRO GHISLERI. +MARION DARCHE: A STORY WITHOUT COMMENT. +KATHARINE LAUDERDALE. +RALSTONS. +CASA BRACCIO. +ADAM JOHNSTONE'S SON. +TAQUISARA. A NOVEL. +ROSE OF YESTERDAY. +CORLEONE. +VIA CRUCIS: A ROMANCE OF THE SECOND CRUSADE. +IN THE PALACE OF THE KING. +MARIETTA: A MAID OF VENICE. +CECILIA: A STORY OF MODERN ROME. +THE HEART OF ROME. +WHOSOEVER SHALL OFFEND... +SOPRANO: A PORTRAIT. + +_Pott 8vo. 2s. net._ + +MAN OVERBOARD! + + +_Fcap. 8vo. 2s._ + +LOVE IN IDLENESS. A BAR HARBOUR TALE. + + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Little City Of Hope, by F. 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