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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:44:46 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:44:46 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14530-0.txt b/14530-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5a64d7 --- /dev/null +++ b/14530-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7243 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14530 *** + +[Note: The Table of Contents was added by the transcriber. +Footnotes will be found at the end of the text.] + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + +AUGUST, 1885. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +ON THIS SIDE. by F.C. BAYLOR. + VIII. + +OUR VILLE. by MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. + +THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. by M.H. CATHERWOOD. + I. PARADISE. + II. FORBIDDEN FRUIT. + III. THE FLAMING SWORD. + +PROBATION. by FLORENCE EARLE COATES. + +THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. by EDMUND KIRKE. + TWO PAPERS. II. + +A PLEASANT SPIRIT. by MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. + +FISHING IN ELK RIVER. by TOBE HODGE. + +ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS. by + CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES. + +THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. by DAVID BENNETT KING. + +MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. by FRANK PARKE. + +THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. by MARY C. PECKHAM. + +A FOREST BEAUTY. by MAURICE THOMPSON. + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + Daniel Webster's "Moods." by F.C.M. + Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest. by J.A.M. + The Etymology of "Babe." by S.E.T. + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + +Recent Fiction. + +FOOTNOTES. + + + * * * * * + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + + +_AUGUST, 1885_. + + + * * * * * + + + + +ON THIS SIDE. + +VIII. + + +Not the least delightful of Sir Robert's qualities was his capacity for +enjoying most things that came in his way, and finding some interest in +all. When Mr. Ketchum joined him in the library, where he was jotting +down "the _sobriquets_ of the American States and cities," and told him +of the Niagara plan, his ruddy visage beamed with pleasure. + +"A delightful idea. Capital," he said. "I suppose I can read up a bit +about it before we start, and not go there with my eyes shut. +Ni-a-ga-rah,--monstrously soft and pretty name. Isn't there something on +your shelves that would give me the information I want? But we can come +to that presently. Just now I want to find out, if I can, how these +nicknames came to be given. They must have originated in some great +popular movement, eh? I thought I saw my way, as, for example, the +'Empire State' and the 'Crescent City' and some others, but this 'Sucker +State,' now, and 'Buckeye' business,--what may that mean in plain +English?" + +Mr. Ketchum shed what light he could on these interesting questions, and +Sir Robert thoughtfully ran his hands through his side-whiskers, while, +with an apologetic "One moment, I beg," or "Very odd, very; that must go +down verbatim," he entered the gist of Mr. Ketchum's queer remarks in +his note-book. + +On the following morning he rose with Niagara in his soul. He had more +questions to ask at the breakfast-table than anybody could answer, and +was eager to be off. Mr. Ketchum, who had that week made no less than +fifty thousand dollars by a lucky investment, was in high spirits. +Captain Kendall, who had been allowed to join the party, was vastly +pleased by the prospect of another week in Ethel's society. Mrs. Sykes +was tired of Fairfield, and longed to be "on the move" again, as she +frankly said. So that, altogether, it was a merry company that finally +set off. + +The very first view of "the ocean unbound" increased their pleasure to +enthusiasm. Mrs. Sykes, without reservation, admitted that it was "a +grand spot," and felt as though she were giving the place a certificate +when she added, "_Quite_ up to the mark." She was out on the Suspension +Bridge, making a sketch, as soon as she could get there; she took one +from every other spot about the place; and when tired of her pencil, she +stalked about with her hammer, chipping off bits of rock that promised +geological interest. But she found her greatest amusement in the brides +that "infested the place" (to quote from her letter to her sister +Caroline), indulged in much satirical comment on them, and, choosing one +foolish young rustic who was there as her text, wrote in her diary, +"American brides like to go from the altar to some large hotel, where +they can display their finery, wear their wedding-dresses every evening, +and attract as much attention as possible. The national passion for +display makes them delight in anything that renders them conspicuous, no +matter how vulgar that display may be. If one must have a fools' +paradise, generally known as a honeymoon, this is about as pleasant a +place as any other for it; and, as there are several runaway couples +stopping here, and the place is just on the border, this is doubtless +the American Gretna Green, where silly women and temporarily-infatuated +men can marry in haste, to repent at leisure." + +Mr. Heathcote gave his camera enough to do, as may be imagined. He and +Sir Robert traced the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and +photographed it at every turn, made careful estimates of its length, +breadth, depth, the flow of currents, scale of descent to the mile, wear +of precipice, and time necessary for the river to retire from the falls +business altogether and meander tranquilly along on a level like other +rivers. They arrayed themselves in oil-skin suits and spent an +unconscionable time at the back of the Horseshoe Fall, roaring out +observations about it that were rarely heard, owing to the deafening +din, and had more than one narrow escape from tumbling into the water in +these expeditions. They carefully bottled some of it, which they +afterward carefully sealed with red wax and duly labelled, intending to +add it to a collection of similar phials which Sir Robert had made of +famous waters in many countries. They went over the mills and factories +in the neighborhood, and Sir Robert had long confabs with the managers, +of whom he asked permission to "jot down" the interesting facts +developed in the course of their conversations, surprising them by his +knowledge of mechanics and the subjects in hand. + +"Man alive! what do you want with _those_?" said he to one of them, a +keen-faced young fellow, who was showing him the boiler-fires. He +pointed with his stick as he spoke, and rattled it briskly about the +brick-work by way of accompaniment as he went on: "Such a waste of +force, of money! downright stupidity! You don't want it. You don't need +it, any more than you need an hydraulic machine tacked to the back of +your trains. You have got water enough running past your very door to--" + +"I've told that old fool Glass that a thousand times," broke in the +young man; "but if he wants to try and warm and light the world with a +gas-stove when the sun is up I guess it's no business of mine, though it +does rile me to see the power thrown away and good coal wasted. If I had +the capital, here's what _I_'d do. Here." + +Seizing Sir Robert's stick, the enthusiast drew a fondly-loved ideal +mill in the coal-dust at his feet, while Sir Robert looked and listened, +differed, suggested, with keen interest, and Mr. Heathcote gave but +haughty and ignorant attention to the talk that followed. + +"Yes, that's the way of it; but Glass has lived all his life with his +head in a bag, and he can't see it. I am surprised to see you take an +interest in it. Ever worked at it?" said the man in conclusion. + +"A little," said Sir Robert affably, who could truthfully have said as +much of anything. "Who is this Glass?" + +"Oh, he's the man that owns all this; the stupidest owl that ever lived. +I wish he could catch on like you. I'd like very well to work with you," +was the reply. + +"A bumptious fellow, that," commented Mr. Heathcote when they left. +"He'd 'like to work with you,' indeed!" + +"A fellow with ideas. I'd like to work with him," replied his uncle; +"though he isn't burdened with respect for his employers." + +Miss Noel meanwhile tied on her large straw hat, took her cane, basket, +trowel, tin box, and, followed by Parsons with her sketching-apparatus, +went off to hunt plants or wash in sketches, a most blissfully occupied +and preoccupied old lady. + +To Mr. Ketchum's great amusement, Miss Noel, Mrs. Sykes, and Mr. +Heathcote all arrived at a particular spot within a few moments of each +other one morning, all alike prepared and determined to get the view it +commanded. + +Miss Noel had said to Job _en route,_ "Do you think that I shall be able +to get a fly and drive about the country a bit? I should so like it. Are +they to be had there?" + +And he had replied, "You will have some difficulty in _not_ taking 'a +fly' there, I guess. The hackmen would rather drive your dead body +around town for nothing than let you enjoy the luxury of walking about +unmolested. But I will see to all that." + +Accordingly, a carriage had been placed at their disposal, and they had +taken some charming drives, in the course of which Parsons, occupying +the box on one occasion, was seen to be peering very curiously about +her. + +"A great pity, is it not, Parsons, that we can't see all this in the +autumn, when the thickets of scarlet and gold are said to be so very +beautiful?" said Miss Noel, addressing her affably. + +"Yes, mem," agreed Parsons. "And, if you please, mem, where are the +estates of the gentry, as I 'ave been lookin' for ever since we came +hover?" + +"Not in this part," replied Miss Noel. "The red Indians were here not +very long since. You should really get a pin-cushion of their +descendants, those mild, dirty creatures that work in bark and beads. +Buy of one that has been baptized: one shouldn't encourage them to +remain heathens, you know. Your friends in England will like to see +something made by them; and they were once very powerful and spread all +over the country as far as--as--I really forget where; but I know they +were very wild and dreadful, and lived in wigwams, and wore moccasins." + +"Oh, indeed, mem!" responded Parsons, impressed by the extent of her +mistress's information. + +"A wigwam is three upright poles, such as the gypsies use for their +kettles, thatched with the leaves of the palm and the plantain," Miss +Noel went on. "Dear me! It is very odd! I certainly remember to have +read that; but perhaps I am getting back to the Southern Americans +again, which does so vex Robert. I wonder if one couldn't see a wigwam +for one's self? It can't be plantain, after all: there is none growing +about here." + +She asked Mabel about this that evening, and the latter told her husband +how Miss Noel was always mixing up the two continents. + +"I don't despair, Mabel. They will find this potato-patch of ours after +a while," he said good-humoredly. + +But he was less amiable when Mrs. Sykes said at dinner next day, "I +should like to try your maize. Quite simply boiled, and eaten with +butter and salt, I am told it is quite good, really. I have heard that +the Duke of Slumborough thought it excellent." + +"You don't say so! I am so glad to hear it! I shall make it generally +known as far as I can. Such things encourage us to go on trying to make +a nation of ourselves. It would have paralyzed all growth and +development in this country for twenty years if he had thought it +'nasty,'" said Job. "Foreigners can't be too particular how they express +their opinions about us. Over and over again we have come within an ace +of putting up the shutters and confessing that it was no use pretending +that we could go on independently having a country of our own, with +distinct institutions, peculiarities, customs, manners, and even +productions. It would be so much better and easier to turn ourselves +over to a syndicate of distinguished foreigners who would govern us +properly,--stamp out ice-water and hot rolls from the first, as unlawful +and not agreeing with the Constitution, give us cool summers, prevent +children from teething hard, make it a penal offence to talk through the +nose, and put a bunch of Bourbons in the White House, with a divine +right to all the canvas-back ducks in the country. There are so many +kings out of business now that they could easily give us a bankrupt one +to put on our trade dollar, or something really _sweet_ in emperors who +have seen better days. And a standing army of a hundred thousand men, +all drum-majors, in gorgeous uniforms, helmets, feathers, gold lace, +would certainly scare the Mexicans into caniptious and unconditional +surrender. The more I think of it, the more delightful it seems. It is +mere stupid obstinacy our people keeping up this farce of +self-government, when anybody can see that it is a perfect failure, and +that the country has no future whatever." + +"Oh, you talk in that way; but I don't think you would really like it," +said Mrs. Sykes. "Americans seem to think that they know everything: +they are above taking any hints from the Old World, and get as angry as +possible with me when I point out a few of the more glaring defects that +strike me." + +"I am surprised at that. Our great complaint is that we can't get any +advice from Europeans. If we only had a little, even, we might in time +loom up as a fifth-rate power. But no: they leave us over here in this +wilderness without one word of counsel or criticism, or so much as a +suggestion, and they ought not to be surprised that we are going to the +dogs. What else can they expect?" said Mr. Ketchum. + +"Husband, dear, you were very sharp with my cousin to-day, and it was +not like you to show temper,--at least, not temper exactly, but +vexation," said Mabel to him afterward in mild rebuke. "She has told me +that you quite detest the English, so that she wonders you should have +married me. And I said that you were far too intelligent and just to +cherish wrong feelings toward any people, much less my people." + +"Well, if _she_ represented England I should drop England quietly over +the rapids some day when I could no longer stand her infernal +patronizing, impertinent airs, and rid the world of a nuisance," said +Mr. Ketchum, with energy. "Excuse my warmth, but that woman would poison +a prairie for me. Fortunately, I happen to know that she only represents +a class which neither Church nor State there has the authority to shoot, +_yet_, and I am not going to cry down white wool because there are black +sheep. Look at Sir Robert, and Miss Noel, and all the rest of them, how +different they are." + +Captain Kendall certainly found Niagara delightful, for, owing to the +absorption of the party in their different pursuits, he was able to see +more of Ethel than he had ever done. He was so different from the men +she had known that he was a continual study to her. Instead of the +studied indifference, shy avoidance, shy advances, culminating in a +blunt and straightforward declaration of "intentions," which she would +have thought natural in an admirer, followed by transparent, honest +delight in the event of acceptance, or manly submission to the +inevitable in the event of rejection, Captain Kendall had surprised her +by liking her immediately, or at least by showing that he did, and +seeking her persistently, without any pretence of concealment. He talked +to her of politics, of social questions in the broadest sense, of books, +scientific discoveries, his travels, and the travels of others. He read +whole volumes of poetry to her. He discoursed by the hour on the manly +character, its faults, merits, peculiarities, and possibilities, and +then contrasted it with the womanly one, trait for trait, and it seemed +to her that women had never been praised so eloquently, +enthusiastically, copiously. At no time was he in the least choked by +his feelings or at a loss for a fresh word or sentiment. Such romance, +such ideality, such universality, as it were, she had never met. When +his admiration was most unbridled it seemed to be offered to her as the +representative of a sex entirely perfect and lovely. Everything in +heaven and earth, apparently, ministered to his passion and made him +talk all around the beloved subject with a wealth of simile and +suggestion that she had never dreamed of. But, if he gave full +expression to his agitated feelings in these ways, he was extremely +delicate, respectful, reserved, in others. He wrapped up his heart in so +many napkins, indeed, that, being a practical woman not extraordinarily +gifted in the matter of imagination, she frequently lost sight of it +altogether, and she sometimes failed to follow him in a broad road of +sentiment that (like the Western ones which Longfellow has described) +narrowed and narrowed until it disappeared, a mere thread, up a tree. If +he looked long, after one of these flights, at her sweet English face to +see what impression he had made, he was often forced to see that it was +not the one he had meant to make at all. + +"Is anything amiss?" she asked once, in her cool, level tone, fixing +upon him her sincerely honest eyes. "Are there blacks on my nose?" +Although she had distinctly refused him at Kalsing, as became a girl +destitute of vanity and coquetry and attached to some one else, she had +not found him the less fluent, omnipresent, persuasive, at Niagara. It +was diverting to see them seated side by side on Goat Island, he waving +his hand toward the blue sky, apostrophizing the water, the foliage, the +clouds, and what not, in prose and verse, quite content if he but got a +quiet glance and assenting word now and then, she listening demurely in +a state of protestant satisfaction, her fair hair very dazzling in the +sunshine, an unvarying apple-blossom tint in her calm face, her fingers +tatting industriously not to waste the time outright. It was very +agreeable in a way, she told herself, but something must really be done +to get rid of the man. And so, one morning when they chanced to be +alone, and he was being unusually ethereal and beautiful in his remarks, +telling her that, as Byron had said, she would be "the morning star of +memory" for him, she broke in squarely, "That is all very nice; very +pretty, I am sure. But I do hope you quite understand that I have not +the least idea of marrying you. There is no use in going on like this, +you know, and you would have a right to reproach me if I kept silent and +led you to think that I was being won over by your fine speeches. You +see, you don't really want a star at all. You want a wife; though +military men, as a rule, are better off single. I do thank you heartily +for liking me for myself, and all that, and I shall always remember the +kind things you have done, and our acquaintance, but you must put me +quite out of your head as a wife. I should not suit you at all. You +would have to leave the American service, and I should hate feeling I +had tied you down, and I couldn't contribute a penny toward the +household expenses, and, altogether, we are much better apart. It would +not answer at all. So, thank you again for the honor you have conferred +upon me, and be--be rather more--like other people, won't you, for the +future? Auntie fancies that I am encouraging you, and is getting very +vexed about it. Perhaps you had better go away? Yes, that would be best, +I think." + +Thus solicited, Captain Kendall went away, taking a mournfully-eloquent +farewell of Ethel, which she thought final; but in this she was +mistaken. + +Our party did not linger long after this. Sir Robert met a titled +acquaintance, who inflamed his mind so much about Manitoba that he +decided to go to Canada at once, taking Miss Noel, Ethel, and Mr. +Heathcote; Mrs. Sykes had taken up on her first arrival with some New +York people, who asked her to visit them in the central part of the +State,--which disposed of her; Mabel was secretly longing to get back to +her "American child," as Mrs. Sykes called little Jared Ponsonby; and +they separated, with the understanding that they should meet again +before the English guests left the country, and with a warm liking for +each other, the Sykes not being represented in the pleasant covenants of +friendship formed. + +"I am glad that we have not to bid Ketchum good-by here," said Sir +Robert. "Such a hearty, genial fellow! And how kind he has been to us! +His hospitality is the true one; not merely so much food and drink and +moneyed outlay for some social or selfish end, but the entertainment of +friends because they _are_ friends, with every possible care for their +pleasure and comfort, and the most unselfish willingness to do anything +that can contribute to either. I am afraid he would not find many such +hosts as himself with us. We entertain more than the Americans, but I do +not think we have as much of the real spirit of hospitality as a nation. +The relation between host and guest is less personal, there is little +sense of obligation, or rather sacredness, on either side, and the +convenience, interest, or amusement of the Amphitryon is more apt to be +considered, as a general thing, than the pleasure of the guest: at least +this has been growing more and more the case in the last twenty years, +as our society has broken away from old traditions and levelled all its +barriers, to the detriment of our social graces, not to speak of our +morals and manners. As for that charmingly gentle, sweet woman Mrs. +Ketchum, it is my opinion that we are not likely to improve on that type +of Englishwoman. A modest, simple, religious creature, a thorough +gentlewoman, and a devoted wife and mother. My cousin Guy Rathbone is +engaged to a specimen of a new variety,--one of the 'emancipated,' +forsooth; a woman who has a betting-book instead of a Bible and plays +cards all day Sunday. He tells me that she is wonderfully clever, and +that it is all he can do to keep her from running about the kingdom +delivering lectures on Agnosticism; as if one wanted one's wife to be a +trapesing, atheistical Punch-and-Judy! And the fellow seemed actually +pleased and flattered. He told me that she had 'an astonishing grasp of +such subjects' and was 'attracting a great deal of attention.' And I +told him that if I had a wife who attracted attention in such ways I +would lock her up until she came to her senses and the public had +forgotten her want of modesty and discretion. This ought to be called +the Age of Fireworks. The craze for notoriety is penetrating our very +almshouses, and every toothless old mumbler of ninety wants to get +himself palmed off as a centenarian in the papers and have a lot of +stuff printed about him." + +"I see what you mean, Robert," said Miss Noel, "and it certainly cannot +be wholesome for women to thirst for excitement, and one would think a +lady would shrink from being conspicuous in any way; but things are very +much changed, as you say. And I agree with you in your estimate of the +Ketchums. She is a sweet young thing, and I heartily like him. Only +think! his last act was to send a great basket of fine fruits up to my +room, and quite an armful of railway-novels for the journey. Such +beautiful thought for our comfort as they have shown!" + +"He is rather a good sort in some ways, but a very ignorant man. I +showed him some of my specimens the other day, and he thought them +granitic, when they were really Silurian mica schist of some kind," put +in Mrs. Sykes, who never could bear unqualified praise. "Still, on the +whole, the Americans are less ignorant than might have been expected." + +"_I_ consider Mr. Ketchum a most kind, gentlemanly, sociable, clever +man," said Miss Noel, with an emphatic nod of her head to each +adjective, "geology or no geology. And I must say that it is very +ungrateful of you to speak of him so sneeringly always." + +Sir Robert only waited to write the usual batch of letters, including a +last appeal to the editor of the "Columbia Eagle" to know whether he +intended to apologize for and publicly retract a certain article, and +asking "whether it was possible that any considerable or respectable +portion of the Americans could be so arbitrary, illiberal, and exclusive +as to wish to exclude the English from America." This done, he left for +Canada with his relatives. With his stay there we have nothing to do. It +consumed six weeks of exhaustive travel and study of Canadian conditions +and resources, resulting ultimately in the conclusion that Manitoba was +not the place he was looking for. The ladies, who had been left in +Montreal, were then taken for a short tour through the country, which +they all enjoyed, after which Sir Robert asked Miss Noel whether she +would be willing to take Ethel back to Niagara and wait there a +fortnight, or perhaps a little longer, while he and Mr. Heathcote came +back by way of New England and from there went down into Maryland and +Virginia, where, according to "a member of the Canadian Parliament," +lands were to be had for a song. + +"A fortnight? I could spend a twelve-month there," exclaimed she. "Had +it not been that I was ashamed to insist upon being let off this +journey, I should have stopped there as it was." + +To Niagara the aunt and niece and Parsons went, as agreed, and there +they found Mr. Bates wandering languidly about the place in chronic +discontent with everything for not being something else. He had burned a +good deal of incense on Ethel's shrine when she was at Kalsing, and now +hailed their advent with some approach to enthusiasm, and attached +himself to their suite, _vice_ Captain Kendall, retired. He liked to be +seen with them, thought the views from the Canadian side were "deucedly +fine," was cruelly affected by the advertisements in the neighborhood, +which he denounced as "dreadfully American," trickled out much feeble +criticism of and acid comment on his surroundings, gave utterance to +fervent wishes that he was "abrard," and in his own unpleasant way gave +Ethel to understand that she might make a fellow-countryman happy by +becoming Mrs. Samuel Bates if she liked to avail herself of a golden +opportunity. "I would live in England, you know. I am really far more at +home there than here," said the expatriated suitor. "I have been taken +for an Englishman as often as three times in one week, do you know. +Curious, isn't it? I ought to be down in Kent now, visiting Lady +Simpson, a great friend of mine, who has asked me there again and again. +You would like her if you knew her. She is quite the great lady down +there." + +"A foolish little man, and evidently a great snob, or else rather daft +upon some points," Ethel reported to her aunt. "And such a dull, +discontented creature, with all his money!" Ethel had some trials of her +own just then, and it was no great felicity to listen to Mr. Bates's +endless complaints, nor could she spare much sympathy for the sufferings +of the exile of Tecumseh, with his rose-leaf sensibilities, inanities, +absurdities. + +Meanwhile, the young gentleman who was indirectly responsible for many a +sad thought of two charming girls that we know of--and who shall say how +many more?--was enjoying as much happiness as ever fell to any man in +the capacity of ardent sportsman. He had joined the duke and his party +at St. Louis, and from there they had gone "well away from anywhere," as +he said in describing his adventures to Mr. Heathcote. He had at last +reached the ideal spot of all his wildest imaginations and most +cherished hopes,--"the wild part,"--really the great prairies, about two +hundred miles west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies. The dream +of his life was being fulfilled. He related, in a style not conspicuous +for literary merit, but very well suited to the simple annals of the +rich, how, having first procured guides, tents, ambulances, +camp-equipage, they had pushed on briskly to a military fort, where, +having made friends with "a pleasant, gentlemanly set of fellows," the +commanding officer, "a friendly old buffer," had courteously given them +an escort to protect them from "those dirty, treacherous brutes, the +Indians." Not a joy was wanting in this crowning bliss. The guide was "a +wonderful chap named Big-Foot Williams, so called by the Indians, good +all around from knocking over a rabbit to tackling a grizzly," with an +amazing knowledge of woodcraft, "a nose like a bloodhound, an eye as +cool as a toad's." No special mention was made of his ear; but the first +time he got off his horse and applied it to the earth, listening for +the tramp of distant hoofs in a hushed silence, one bosom could hardly +hold all the rapture that filled Mr. Ramsay's figurative cup up to the +brim. And the tales he told of savageness long drawn out were as dew to +the parched herb, greedily absorbed at every pore. A portrait of "Black +Eagle," a noted chief, was given when they got among the Indians,--"a +great hulking slugger of a savage, awfully interesting, long, reaching +step, magnificent muscles, snake eye, could thrash us all in turn if he +liked. The best of the lot." + +Even the noble red man was not insensible to the charms of this +graceful, handsome young athlete who smiled at them perpetually and +said, "_Amigo! amigo_!" at short intervals,--a phrase suggested by the +redoubtable Williams and varied occasionally by a prefix of his own, +"_Muchee amigo_!" The way in which he tested the elasticity of their +bows, inspected their guns, the game they had killed, the other natural +objects about them, aroused a certain sympathy, perhaps. At any rate, +they were soon teaching him their mode of using the most picturesquely +murderous of all weapons, and Black Eagle offered, through the +interpreter, to give him a mustang and a fine wolf-skin. The pony was +declined, the skin accepted, a _quid pro quo_ being bestowed on the +chief in the shape of one of Mr. Ramsay's breech-loaders, a gift that +made the snake eyes glitter. But what earthly return can be made for +some friendly offices? Could a thousand guns be considered as an +adequate payment for the delirious thrill that Mr. Ramsay felt when he +shot an arrow straight through the neck of a big buffalo, and, wheeling, +galloped madly away, like the hero of one of his favorite stories? Was +not the duke, who "knew a thing or two about shooting" and had hunted +the noble bison in Lithuania, almost as much delighted as though he had +done it himself? Is it any wonder that these intoxicating pleasures were +all-sufficient for the time to Mr. Ramsay? Perhaps Thekla would have +been forgotten by her Max, and Romeo would never have sighed and died +for love of Juliet, if those interesting lovers had ceased from wooing +and gone a-hunting of the buffalo instead. Not the most deadly and cruel +pangs of the most unfortunate attachment could have taken away all the +zest from such an occupation, provided they had had what the Mexican +journals call the "_corazon de los sportsmans_." Youth, strength, +courage, skill, exercised in a vagabondage that has all the nomadic +charm without any of its drawbacks, are apt to sponge the old figures +off the slate of life, leaving a teary smear, perhaps, to show where +they have been, and room for fresh problems. At night over the camp-fire +Mr. Ramsay gave a few pensive thoughts to the girl who regularly put two +handkerchiefs under her pillow to receive the tears that welled out +copiously when she was at last alone and unobserved after a day of +virtuous hypocrisy. Poor child! The pain was very real, and the tears +were bitter and salty enough, though they were to be dried in due time. +If he had known of them, perhaps he might have kept awake a little +longer; but when he wasn't sleepy he was hungry, and when he wasn't +hungry he was tired, and when he wasn't tired he was too actively +employed to think of anything but the business in hand. Happily, at +five-and-twenty it is perfectly possible to postpone being miserable +until a more convenient season; and, though he would have denied it +emphatically afterward, he certainly thought only occasionally of Bijou +at this period, and of Ethel not at all. + +Miss Noel heard very regularly from Mrs. Sykes all this while; and that +energetic traveller had not been idle. She had made her new friends +"take her about tremendously," she said. She had seen all the large +towns in that part of the country, and thought them "very ugly and +monotonously commonplace, but prosperous-looking,--like the +inhabitants." The scenery she had found "far too uninteresting to repay +the bother of sketching it." But she had made a few pictures of "the +views most cracked up in the White Mountains,"--where she had been,--"a +sort of second-hand Switzerland of a place; really nothing after the +Himalayas, but made a great fuss over by the Americans." She described +with withering scorn a drive she took there. + +"We came suddenly one day upon a party in a kind of Cheap-Jack van," she +wrote,--"gayly-dressed people, tricked off in smart finery, and larking +like a lot of Ramsgate tradesmen on the public road. One of the impudent +creatures made a trumpet of his great ugly fist and spelt out the name +of the hotel at which they were stopping, and then put his hand to his +ear, as if to listen for the response. Expecting _me_ to tell _them_ +anything about myself! But I flatter myself that I was a match for them. +I just got out my umbrella and shot it up in their very faces as we +passed, in a way not to be mistaken. And--would you believe it?--the +rude wretches called out, 'The shower is over now! and 'What's the price +of starch?' and roared with laughing." A highly-colored description of "a +visit to a great Dissenting stronghold, Marbury Park," followed: "I was +immensely curious to see one of these characteristic national +exhibitions of hysteria, ignorance, superstition, and immorality, called +a 'camp-meeting.' to which the Americans of all classes flock annually +by the thousands, so I quite insisted upon being taken to one, though my +friends would have got out of it if they could. I fancy they were very +ashamed of it; and they had need to be. I will not attempt to describe +it in detail here,--you will hear what I have said of it in my +diary,--but a more glaringly vulgar, intensely American performance you +can't fancy. I have made a number of sketches of the grounds, the tents +and tent-life, with the people bathing and dressing and all that in the +most exposed manner; of the pavilion, where the roaring and ranting is +done; and of the great revivalist who was holding forth when I got +there, and who had got such a red face and seemed so excited that it is +my belief he was _regularly screwed_, though my friends denied it, of +course. With such a preacher, you can 'realize,' as they say, what the +people were like. A regular Derby-day crowd having a religious +saturnalia,--that is what it is. It would not be allowed at home, I am +sure. Disgusting! One can't wonder at the state of society in America +when one sees what their religion is. An unpleasant incident occurred to +me while sketching in the pavilion, that shows what I have often pointed +out to you,--the radicalism and odious impertinence of this people. I +was just putting the finishing-touches to my picture of the Rev. (?) +'Galusha Wickers' (the revivalist: such names as these Americans have!), +when I heard a voice behind me saying, 'Lor! Why, that's splendid! +perfectly splendid! Well, I declare, you've got him to a t. Lemmy see.' +And, if you please, a hand was thrust over my shoulder and the sketch +seized, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Can you fancy a more +unwarrantable, insufferable liberty? But they are all alike over here. I +turned about, and saw a woman who was examining the reverend revivalist +with much satisfaction. 'Well, you _have_ got him, to be sure,' she +said, returning my angry glance with one of admiration, and quite +unabashed. 'What'll you take for it? I've sat under him for five years; +and for taking texteses from one end of the Bible to the other, and +leading in prayer, and filling the mourners' bench in five minutes, I +will say he hasn't got his equal in the universe. He's got a towering +intellect, I tell you. I'll give you fifty cents for this, if you'll +color it up nice for me and throw in a frame.' Of course I took the +picture away from the brazen creature and told her what I thought of her +conduct. 'Well, you air techy,' she said, and walked off leisurely." +Before closing her letter, Mrs. Sykes remarked of her hostess, "Quite +good for nothing physically, and absurdly romantic. She has been abroad +a good deal, and bores me dreadfully with her European reminiscences. +She is always talking in a foolish, rapturous sort of way about 'dear +Melrose,' or 'noble Tintern Abbey,' or 'enchanting Warwick Castle;' and +she has read simply libraries of books about England, and puts me +through a sort of examination about dozens of places and events, as +though I could carry all England about in my head. I really know less of +it than of most other countries: there is nothing to be got by running +about it. If one knew every foot of it, everybody would think it a +matter of course; but to be able to talk of Siam and the Fiji Islands, +Cambodia and Alaska, and the like, is really an advantage in society. +One gets the name of being a great traveller, and all that, and is asked +about tremendously and taken up to a wonderful extent. I know a man that +didn't wish to go to the trouble and expense of rambling all over the +world, and wanted the reputation of having done it, so he went into +lodgings at intervals near the British Museum and got all the books that +were to be had about a particular country, and, having read them, would +come back to the West End and give out that he had been there. It +answered beautifully for a while, and he was by way of being asked to +become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical, and was thought quite an +authority and wonderfully clever; but somehow he got found out, which +must have been a nuisance and spoiled everything. I can see that these +people consider it quite an honor to have me visit them, all because of +my having been around the world, I dare say. And of course I have let +them see that I know who is who and what is what. They are imploring me +to stay on; but I told them yesterday that it wouldn't suit my book at +all to stay over two weeks longer, when I had seen all there was to see. +That young Ramsay seems to be enjoying himself out there among those +nasty savages; and, as hunting is about the only thing he is fit for, he +had best stay out there altogether." + +The unwritten history of Mrs. Sykes's visit to Marbury Park would have +been more interesting than the account she gave. She took with her a +camp-chair, which she placed in any and every spot that suited her or +commanded the pictorial situations which she wished to make her own +permanently. To the horror and surprise of her friends, she plumped it +down immediately in front of Mr. Wickers (after marching past an immense +congregation), and, wholly unembarrassed by her conspicuous position, +settled herself comfortably, took out her block and pencil, and +proceeded to jot down that worthy's features line upon line, as though +he had been a newly-imported animal at the "Zoo" on exhibition, paying +no attention to the precept upon precept he was trying to impress upon +his audience. + +She walked all over the place repeatedly, went poking and prying into +such tents as she chanced to find empty, nor considered this an +essential requisite to the conferring of this honor. When less sociably +inclined, she established herself outside, close at hand, and in this +way made those valuable observations and spirited drawings which +subsequently enriched her diary and delighted a discerning British +public. But this is anticipating. When she tired of New York, she wrote +to Sir Robert that she wished to give as much time as possible to the +Mormons, and would leave at once for Salt Lake City, where she would +busy herself in laying bare the domestic system as it really existed, +and hold herself in readiness to join the party again when they should +arrive there _en route_ to the Yosemite. + +Sir Robert, being an heroic creature, felt that he could bear this +temporary separation with fortitude, and, being about to start for +Boston when he got the news, forthwith threw himself upon the New +England States in a frenzied search for all the information to be had +about them,--their exact geographical position, by whom discovered, when +settled, climate, productions, population, principal towns and rivers. +He studied three maps of the region as he rattled along in the +south-bound train, and devoted the rest of the time to getting an +outline of its history: so that his nephew found him but an indifferent +companion. + +"I suppose there are authorized maps and charts, geographical, +hydrographical, and topographical, issued by the government, and to be +seen at the libraries. I must get a look at them at once. These are +amateur productions, the work of irresponsible men, contradicting each +other in important particulars as to the relative positions of places, +and inaccurate in many respects, as I find by comparison," he said, +emerging from a prolonged study of his authorities. "You don't seem to +take much interest in all this. You should be at the pains to inform +yourself upon every possible point in connection with this country, or +any other in which you may find yourself; else why travel at all?" + +Mr. Heathcote, not having his uncle's thirst for information, was +reading a French novel at the time, and did not attempt to defend his +position, knowing it probably to be indefensible. + +Before getting to Boston the air turned very chill, and a fine, +penetrating rain set in that for a while disturbed the student of +American history with visions of rheumatism. "God bless my soul! I shall +be laid by the heels here for weeks. Damp is the one thing that I can't +stand up against. And I have not left my coat out!" he exclaimed, +tugging anxiously at his side-whiskers and annoyed to find how dependent +he had grown on his valet. "What shall I do? Ah! I have an idea. Damp. +What resists it and is practically water-proof? _Newspapers_!" With this +he stood up, seized the "Times" supplement, made a hole in the middle of +the central fold, and put it over his head. "Now I have improvised a +South-American _serape_" he observed, in a tone that betrayed the +pleasure it gave him to exercise his ingenuity. He then took two other +sheets and successively wrapped them around his legs, after the fashion +in vogue among gardeners intent upon protecting valuable plants from the +rigors of winter. This done, he smoothed down the _serape_, which showed +a volatile tendency to blow up a good deal, and, with a brief comment to +the effect that "oilskin or india-rubber could not be better," and no +staring about him to observe the effect of his action on the passengers, +replaced his hat, sat down, picked up his book again, readjusted his +eye-glasses, and went on with the episode he had been reading aloud to +his nephew, who, mildly bored by King Philip's war, was mildly amused by +the spectacle the baronet presented, and surprised to see that their +fellow-travellers thought it an excellent joke. A loud "Haw! haw!" and +many convulsive titters testified their appreciation of the absurd +contrast between Sir Robert's highly-respectable head, his grave, +absorbed air, and the remarkable way in which he was finished off below +the ears; but he read on and on, in his round, agreeable voice, +unconscious of the effect he was producing, until the train came to the +final stop, when Mr. Porter and a very dignified, rigid style of friend +came into the car to look for him. + +"My dear Porter, I am delighted to see you, and I shall be with you in +one moment. I shall then have ceased to be a grub and have become a most +beautiful butterfly, ready to fly away home with you as soon as ever you +like," he called out in greeting, and in a twinkling had torn off his +wrappers, and stood there a revealed acquaintance, carefully collecting +his "traps," and beaming cheerfully even upon the friend, who had not +come to a pantomime and showed that he disapproved of harlequins in +private life. + +Mr. Porter, however, was all cordiality, and very speedily transferred +his guests to his own house in the vicinity of Boston. + +The season was not the one for gaining a fair idea of the society of the +city and neighborhood; but if all the people who were away at the +sea-side and the mountains were half as charming as those left behind +and invited by Mr. Porter, to meet his friends, it is certain that Sir +Robert lost a great deal. On the other hand, it is equally certain that +if they had been at home Sir Robert would most likely be there now, and +this chronicle of his travels would end here. As it was, he found +something novel and agreeable at every step, a fresh interest every hour +of his stay. He began at the beginning, and promptly found out what kind +of soil the city was built on, went on to consider such questions as +drainage, elevation, water-supply, wharves, quays, bridges, and worked +up to libraries, museums, public and private collections of pictures, +and what not. He ordered three pictures of Boston artists,--two autumnal +scenes, and an interior, a negro cabin, with an hilarious sable group +variously employed, called "Christmas in the Quarters." Then the +questions of fisheries, maritime traffic, coast and harbor defences, +light-houses, the ship-building interests, life-saving associations, and +railway systems, pressed for investigation, to say nothing of the mills +and manufactories, wages of operatives, trades-unions, trade problems, +and all the pros and cons of free trade _versus_ protective tariff. Over +these he pondered and pored until all hours every night; and the diary +had now to be girt about with two stout rubber bands to keep it from +scattering instructive leaflets about promiscuously and prematurely. And +by day there were sites literary, historical, or generally interesting +to be visited, engagements with many friends to keep, endless +occupations apparently. + +There was so much to see and do that the place was delightful to him, +and he certainly made himself vastly agreeable in return to such of its +inhabitants as came in his way. + +"I have added to my circle some very valuable acquaintances, whom I +shall hope to retain as friends," he wrote to England, "notably a +medical man who confirms my germ-propagation theory of the 'vomito,' +which is now raging in the Southern part of the States (I had it, you +remember, on the west coast of Africa, and studied it in the +Barbadoes),--an exceptionally clever man, and, like all such men, +inclined to be eccentric. I think I was never more surprised than to +come upon him the other day in a side-street, where he was positively +having his boots polished _in public_ by a ragged gamin who offered to +'shine' me for a 'dime.' He behaved sensibly about it,--betrayed no +embarrassment, though he must have felt excessively annoyed, made no +apologies, and only remarked that he had been out in the country, and +did not wish to be taken for a miller in the town. + +"I was led to believe before coming here that I should not be able to +tell that Boston was not an English town. It did not so impress me on a +surface-view, but it was not long before I recognized that the warp and +woof of the social fabric is that of our looms, though the pattern is a +little different,--a good sort of stuff, I think, warranted _to wash_ +and wear. The variation, such as it is, tried by what I call my +differential nationometer, gives to the place its own peculiar, +delightful quality." The rigid gentleman, who was a great deal at the +Porters', was rather inclined to insist upon the great purity and beauty +of his English, to which he repeatedly invited attention, and, as Mr. +Ramsay would have said, "went in for" certain philological refinements +which Sir Robert had never heard before, and thoroughly disliked. But as +there are more Scotchmen in London than in Edinburgh, and better oranges +can be bought for less money in New York than in New Orleans, so it may +be that if you want to find really superior English you must leave +England altogether,--abandon it to its defective but firmly-rooted +_patois_, and seek in more classic shades for the well--spring of Saxon +undefiled. But Sir Robert was not inclined to do this. There were limits +to his liberality and spirit of investigation. When the rigid gentleman +instanced certain words to which he gave a pronunciation that made them +bear small resemblance to the same words as spoken by any class of +people laboring under the disadvantage of having been born and bred in +England, Sir Robert got impatient, and testily dismissed the subject +with, "Oh, come, now! I can stand a good deal, but I can't stand being +told that we don't know how to speak English in England." Something, +however, must be pardoned to a foreigner. If Sir Robert would not +consent to set Emerson a little higher than the angels, as some other +Bostonians could have wished, and had never so much as heard of Thoreau +and other American celebrities not wholly insignificant, he had an +immense admiration for Longfellow, and could spout "Hiawatha" or +"Evangeline" with the best, associated Hawthorne with something besides +his own hedges in the month of May, and was eager to be taken out to +Beverly Farms, that he might "do himself the honor to call upon" the +wisest, wittiest, least-dreaded, and best-loved of Autocrats. When the +day fixed for his departure came, he was still revelling in what the +Historical Society of Massachusetts had to show him, and actually +stayed over a day that he might see the finest collection of cacti in +the country, and at last tore himself away with much difficulty and +lively regrets, carrying with him a collection of Indian curiosities +given him by Mr. Porter, whom he considered to have behaved "most +handsomely" in making him such a present. "I can't rob you outright, my +dear fellow. I feel a cut-purse, almost, when I think of taking all +these valuable and deeply-interesting objects illustrative of the life +and civilization of the aborigines," he said. "Give me duplicates, if +you will be so generous, but nothing unique, I insist." He finally +accepted one gem in the collection,--a towering structure of feathers +that formed "a most delightful head-dress, quite irresistibly +fascinating," tried it on before a mirror that gave back faithfully the +comical reflection, and incidentally delivered a lecture on the +head-ornaments of many savage and civilized nations of every age, though +not at all in the style of the famous Mr. Barlow. + +Mr. Heathcote at least was not sorry to find that they were, as he said. +"booked for Baltimore." The image of the beautiful Miss Bascombe had not +been effaced. Perhaps he had photographed it by some private process on +his heart with the lover's camera, which takes rather idealized but very +charming pictures, some of which never fade. At all events, there it +was, very distinct and very lovely, and always hung on the line in his +mental picture-gallery. It was positively with trepidation that he +presented himself before her very soon after his arrival; and an +undeniable blush "mantled" his cheek--if a blush can be said with any +propriety to mantle the male cheek--- when he marched into the +drawing-room, where she was doing a dainty bit of embroidery, and with +much simplicity and directness said, "You said I might come, you know, +and I have come; and I begged of Ethel to come too, but she could not +leave my aunt," before he had so much as shaken hands. Of course no +well-regulated and well-bred young woman--and Miss Bascombe was +both--ever permits herself to remember any man until she is engaged to +him; but she need not forget one that has impressed her agreeably. Miss +Bascombe had not forgotten the handsome Englishman she had met at Jenny +De Witt's, nor the little lecture she had given him on the duties of +brothers to sisters, and it did not strike her that his inaugural +address was at all eccentric or mysterious. He had been told what he +ought to do; he had tried to do it, as was quite right and proper. He +deserved some reward. And he got it,--though only as an encouragement to +abstract virtue, of course. The young lady was pleased to be friendly, +gracious, charming. Her mother came in presently, was equally friendly +and gracious, and almost as charming. Her father came home to dinner, +and was friendly too, and hearty, and very hospitable. Her brothers were +friendliest of all. He knew quite well that he had no claim on them, +that he had not saved the life of any member of the family or laid them +under any sort of obligation, individually or collectively, and no +reception could have seemed more special and dangerously cordial, yet no +anxieties oppressed, no fears distracted him. The weight of excessive +eligibility suddenly slipped off him, like the albatross from the neck +of the Ancient Mariner, leaving him a thankful and a happy man, and in +a week he had established himself firmly at the Bascombes', declined to +accompany his uncle to Virginia, and definitely settled in his own mind +that he would take the step matrimonial,--the step from the sublime +to--well, not always the ridiculous. With this resolution he naturally +thought that the greatest obstacle to success had been removed; but he +was soon disillusionized. He had already come to see that American girls +were very much in the habit of being gracious to everybody, and saying +pretty and pleasant things, with no thought of an hereafter; also that +they did not live with St. George's, Hanover Square, or its American +equivalent, Trinity Church, New York, stamped on the mental retina. Miss +Bascombe was "very nice" to him, he told himself, but she was quite as +nice to a dozen other men. She was uniformly kind, courteous, agreeable, +to every one who came to the house. Her cordiality to him meant nothing +whatever. Yes, he was quite free,--free as air; he saw that plainly, and +perversely longed to assume the fetters he had so long and so skilfully +avoided. What was the use of having serious intentions when not the +slightest notice was taken of the most compromising behavior? It was +true that he was perfectly at liberty to see more of Edith than an +Englishman ever does of any woman not related to him, and to say and do +a thousand things any one of which at home would have necessitated a +proposal or instant flight. But no importance whatever seemed to be +attached to them here, and he was utterly at a loss how to make his +seriousness felt. Yet it was quite clear that if there was to be any +wooing done, he would have to do it,--go every step of the way himself, +with no assistance from Miss Bascombe. "How on earth am I to show her +that I care for her?" he thought. "Other men send her dozens of +bouquets, and box after box of expensive sweets, and loads of books, and +music without end, and they come to see her continually, and take her +about everywhere, and are entirely devoted to her. I wonder what +fellows over here do when they are serious? How do they make themselves +understood when they go on in this way habitually? It is a most +extraordinary state of affairs! And neither party seems to feel in the +least compromised by it. There is that fellow Clinch, who fairly lives +at the Bascombes', and when I asked her if she was engaged to him she +said, 'Engaged to George Clinch? What an idea! _No_. What put that in +your head? He is a nice fellow, and I like him immensely, but there's +nothing of that sort between us. What made you think there was? And when +I explained, she said, 'Oh, _that's_ nothing! He is just as nice to lots +of other girls.' And when I suggested to him that he was attached to +her, he said, 'Edith Bascombe? Oh, no! She is a great friend of mine, +and a charming girl, but I have never thought of that, nor has she. I go +there a good deal, but I have never paid her any marked attention.' No +marked attention, indeed! Nothing seems to mean anything here: it is +worse than being in England, where everything means something. No, it +isn't, either. I vow that when I am at the Clintons' in Surrey I +scarcely dare offer the girls so much as a muffin, and if I ask the +carroty one, Beatrice, the simplest question, she blushes and stammers +as if I were proposing out of hand. But what am I to do? I can't sing +and take to serenading Edith on moonlit nights with a guitar and a blue +ribbon around my neck. I can't push her into the river that I may pull +her out again. I dare say there is nothing for it but to adopt the +American method,--enter with about fifty others for a sort of +sentimental steeple-chase, elbow or knock every other fellow out of the +way in the running, work awfully hard to please the girl, and get in by +half a length, if one wins at all. There is no feeling sure of her until +one is coming back from the altar, evidently." + +Some of his conversations with Edith were certainly anything but +encouraging. At other times he felt morally sure that she shared that +derangement of the bivalvular organ technically defined as "a muscular +viscus which is the primary instrument of the blood's motion," whose +worst pains are said to be worth more than the greatest pleasures. He +was very much in earnest, and entirely straightforward, There were no +balancing indecisions now, but the most downright affirmation of +preference. His little speeches were not veiled in rosy clouds of +metaphor and poetry and distant allusions, like Captain Kendall's, nor +did they flow out in an unfailing stream of romantic eloquence, like +that gifted warrior's. They were so honest and so clumsy, indeed, that +Edith could not help laughing at them merrily sometimes, to his great +discomfiture, consisting as they did chiefly of such statements as, "You +know that I am most awfully fond of you. I was tremendously hard hit +from the first. If you don't believe me, you can ask Ramsay. I told him +all about it. You aren't in the least like any other girl that I have +ever known, except Mrs. De Witt a little. I suppose you know that I +would have married her at the dropping of a hat if I could have done so. +But that is all over now. I care an awful lot for you now, and shall be +quite frightfully cut up if you won't have anything to say to me,--I +shall, really. I have got quite wrapped up in you, upon my word. And I +shall be intensely glad and proud if you will consent to be my wife." + +When Edith failed to take such speeches as these seriously, poor Mr. +Heathcote was quite beside himself, and, in reply to her bantering +accusations as to his being "a great flirt" and not "really meaning one +word that he said," opposed either burly negation or a deeply-vexed +silence. They looked at so many things differently that they found a +piquant interest in discussing every subject that came up. + +"There go May Dunbar and Fred Beach," she said to him one Sunday as they +were coming home from church. "Isn't he handsome? They have been engaged +_three years_. Did you ever hear of such constancy?" + +"Do you call that constancy? Why, if a fellow can't wait three years for +a lovely girl like that, he must be a poor stick. Why, my uncle +Montgomery was engaged to his wife seventeen years, while he went out to +India and shook the pagoda-tree, after which he came back, paid all his +father's debts, and they married and went into the house they had picked +out before he sailed," said Mr. Heathcote. + +"Good gracious! what a time! I hope the poor things were happy at last. +Were they?" asked Edith. + +"H-m--pretty well. He is a rather fiery, tyrannical old party. She +doesn't get her own way to hurt," he replied. + +"I have heard that Englishwomen give way to the men in everything and +are always, voluntarily or involuntarily, sacrificed to them. It must be +so bad for both," said Edith sweetly. + +"Oh, you go in for woman's rights and that sort of thing, I suppose," he +said, in a tone of annoyance. + +"Indeed I don't do anything of the kind," replied she, with warmth. "If +I did, I should be aping the men when I wasn't sneering at them. But I +respect your sex most when they most deserve to be respected, and I +don't see anything to admire in a selfish, tyrannical man that is always +imposing his will, opinions, and wishes upon the ladies of his household +and expects to be the first consideration from the cradle to the grave +because he happens to be a man." + +"But he is the head of his house. He ought to get his own way, if +anybody does, and, if he is not a coward, he will, too," said Mr. +Heathcote rather hotly. "Would you have a man a molly-coddle, tied to +his wife's apron-string, and not daring to call his soul his own?" + +"Not at all," replied Edith. "It is the cowards that are the tyrants. +'The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring,' as our +American poet says. And women have souls of their own, except in the +East. Why shouldn't _they_ be the first consideration and do as they +please, pray? They are the weaker, the more delicate and daintily bred. +If there is any pampering and spoiling to be done, they should be the +objects of it. And as to rights, there is no divine right of way given +to man, that I know of. I don't believe in that sort of thing at all. Of +course no reasonable woman wants or expects everybody to kootoo before +her and everything to give way to her." + +"And no gentleman fails to show a proper respect for his wife's wishes +and comfort, not to mention her happiness," said Mr. Heathcote. "But of +course that sort of thing is only to be found in America. Englishmen are +all selfish, and tyrants, and domestic monsters, I know." + +"I didn't say anything of the kind," replied Edith quickly, her cheeks +pink with excitement. "I don't know anything about Englishmen or the +domestic system of England, and I never expect to. But, if what I have +heard is true, it is a system that tends to make men mortally selfish; +and selfish people, whether they are men or women, and whether they know +it or not, are _all_ monsters. But I apologize for my remarks, and, as I +am not interested in the subject _in the least_, we will talk of +something else, if you please." + +This very feminine conclusion, delivered loftily and with sudden +reserve, left Mr. Heathcote in anything but an agreeable frame of mind, +and for an hour or two made him doubt the wisdom of international +marriages; but this mood passed away, and he remained a fixture at the +_maison_ Bascombe, where the very postman came to know him and +generously sympathized with the malady from which he was suffering. Nor +was this the only house in which he was made very welcome. Baltimore is +one of many American cities that suffer from the vague but painful +accusation of being "provincial;" but, admitting this dreadful charge, +it has social, gastronomic, and other charms of its own that ought to +compensate for the absence of that doubtful good, cosmopolitanism. Mr. +Heathcote certainly found no fault with it, and did not miss the +population, pauperism, or other institutions of Paris, London, or +Vienna. On the contrary, he took very kindly to the pretty place, and +heartily liked the people. There was nothing oppressive or ostentatious +in the attentions he received, but just the cordiality, grace, and charm +of an old-established society of most refined traditions, perfect +_savoir-vivre_, and chronic hospitality. + +"You are making a Baltimorean of me, you are so awfully kind to me," he +would say, pronouncing the _a_ in Bal as he would have done in sal; but +the truth was that he had become primarily a Bascomite and only very +incidentally a Baltimorean. The city counts hundreds of such converts +every year. He was so happy and entirely content that he would have +quite forgotten what it was to be bored just at this period but for +certain individuals,--a boastful, disagreeable Irishman, who fastened +upon him apparently for no other reason than that he might abuse England +at great length and talk of his own valor, accomplishments, and +"paddygree" (as he very properly called the record that established his +connection with Brian Boroo and Irish kings generally), and a lady who +seemed to take the most astounding, unquenchable interest in the English +nobility, as more than one lady had seemed to him to do, to his great +annoyance. + +"I don't know a bit about them, I assure you," he said to her; "but I +have the 'Peerage.' If you would like to see that, I will send it you +with pleasure." + +This only diverted her conversation into a different but equally +distasteful channel,--the great distinction and antiquity of her own +family. It really seemed as though she had a dread of Mr. Heathcote's +leaving the country with some wrong impression on this important subject +and was determined that he should be put in possession of all the +information she had or imagined herself to have about it. She talked to +him about it so much that the poor man was at incredible pains to keep +out of her way. + +"I don't care a brass copper about her," he complained to Edith; "and +if the family has been producing women like her as long as she says, and +is going on at it, all I can say is that it is a pity they have lasted +this long, and the sooner they die out the better. What do I care about +her family, pray? I never heard as much about family in all my life, I +give you my word, as I have done since I came to America. The stories +told me are something wonderful,--all about the two brothers that left +England, and all that, you know. They seem all to have come away in +pairs, like the animals in the ark. I said to one fellow that was +beginning with those two brothers, '_Couldn't you make it three_, don't +you think?' And you'll not believe me, but I speak quite without +exaggeration, when I say that one woman out in Raising assured me +gravely that she was descended from the houses of York and Lancaster!" + +"_She didn't!"_ exclaimed Edith. "That is, if she did, she must have +been _crazy_; and I won't have you going back to England and giving +false impressions of us by repeating such stories. Promise me that you +will never repeat it there." + +"Oh, that's all right," he replied soothingly. "It's an extreme case, I +grant, and I'll say no more about it if it vexes you, but it is a true +tale all the same. Howe was her name, I remember; and I felt like +saying,--I'll eat my hand if I understand Howe this can possibly +be,'--that's in the Bab Ballads,--but I didn't." + +Sir Robert had small opportunity of making acquaintance with Baltimore. +He was very eager to get down into Virginia, and stayed there but two +days. On the second of these he attended a gentleman's dinner-party, the +annual mile-stone of a military society composed of men who had worn the +gray and marked the well-known tendency of tempus to fugit in this +agreeable fashion. Their ex-enemies of the blue were also there, but not +in the original overwhelming numbers, and the battle was now to one +party, now to the other, the race to the best _raconteur_, rivers of +champagne flowed instead of brave blood, and the smoke of cannon was +exchanged for that of Havanas. Sir Robert's face beamed more and more +brightly as the evening wore on, and reminiscences, anecdotes, stories, +jests, songs, were fluently and cleverly poured out in rapid succession +by the hilarious company. The fun was at its height, when he suddenly +leaned forward with his body at an insinuating angle and smilingly +addressed an officer opposite: "You must really let me say that I have +been delighted by all that I have heard here to-night, and appreciate +the compliment you have paid me in permitting me to join you. And now I +am going to ask a great favor. Could you, would you, give me some idea +of 'the rebel yell,' as it was called? We heard so much about that. I am +most curious to hear it. It is always spoken of as perfectly terrifying, +almost unearthly." + +The gentleman whom he addressed looked down the table and rapped to call +attention to what he had to say: "Boys, this English gentleman is asking +whether we can't give him some idea of what the rebel yell is like. What +do you say? If our Federal friends are afraid, they can get under the +table, where they will be perfectly safe, and a good deal more +comfortable than they used to be behind trees or in baggage-wagons," he +called out. + + +A hearty laugh followed, and, their blood having got bubbles in it by +this time, a general assenting murmur was heard. + +The next instant a shriek, sky-rending, blood-curdling, savage beyond +description, went up,--a truly terrific yell in peace, and enough to +create a panic, one would think, in the Old Guard in time of war. + +"Thank you, thank you. _I am entirely satisfied"_ said Sir Robert, in a +comically rueful tone, as soon as he could say anything for the uproar. +"I never imagined anything like it, never. Where did you get it? Who +invented it? Is it an adaptation of some war-cry of the North American +Indians? It sounds like what one would fancy their cries might be, +doesn't it? It has got all the beasts of the forest in it; and I confess +that I for one, would have fled before it and stayed in the wagons as +long as there was the slightest danger of hearing it. By Jove! it must +have been heard in Boston when given in Virginia. It is curious how very +ancient the practice of--" + +But the company heard no more of curious practices, for their yell had +been heard, if not in Boston, in a far more remarkable quarter,--namely, +by the police, who now rushed in, prepared to club, arrest, and carry +off any and all disorderly and dreadful disturbers of the peace. + +If Sir Robert had been in any danger of being murdered, all experience +goes to show that no policeman could have been found before the +following morning, and then only in the remotest part of the city. As he +was merely being wined, dined, and amused, quite a formidable body of +these devoted but easily-misled guardians of respectability and +innocence poured into the room, where at first they could see nothing +for the smoke. Matters were explained, they were invited to "take +something" before they went, and took it, and, quite placated, filed out +into the passage again, and from thence into the street. + +Sir Robert sat up late that night, or rather began early on the +following day, to copy the stories he had most relished into the diary, +and do what justice he could to "the rebel yell," and, having added an +admirably discriminating chapter on "the present political situation in +the States," concluded with, "How striking is the good sense, the good +feeling, that both the conquerors and the conquered have shown, on the +whole! In other countries, how often has a war far less bloody and +protracted left in its wake evils far greater than the original one, in +guerilla warfare, murders, ceaseless revolt, and smouldering hatred +lasting for centuries on one side, and centuries of tyranny, oppression, +executions, confiscations, on the other! A brave and fine race this, not +made of the stuff that goes to keep up vendettas, shoot landlords, blow +up rulers, assassinate enemies. They can fight as well as any, and they +have shown that they can forgive better than most,--taken together, true +manliness. It may be that they are influenced by a consideration which +is said to be always present to an American,--'Will it pay?' and of +course so practical a people as this see that anarchy doesn't pay; but I +would rather attribute their conduct to nobler, more generous motives, +and in doing this seem to myself to be doing them no more than justice." + + F.C. BAYLOR. + +[TO BE CONCLUDED.] + + + + +OUR VILLE. + + +The picturesqueness of France in our day is confined almost exclusively +to its humble life. The Renaissance and the Revolution swept away in +most parts of the country moated castle, abbaye, grange, and chateau, to +replace them with luxurious but conventional piles and ruins humbly +restored and humbly inhabited. Many a farmhouse with unkempt _cour_ +and dishevelled _pelouse_ is the relic of a turreted château, +stables are often desecrated churches, seigneurial _colombiers_ +shelter swine, and battlemented portals to fortified walls serve, as +does the one of our ville, to house hideously-uniformed _douaniers_ +watching the luggage of arriving travellers. + +Our ville was never an aristocratic one, and to this day very few of our +names are preceded by the idealizing particle _de_. We have an +ancient history, however,--so ancient that all historians place our +origin at _un temps trèsrecule_. We had houses and walls when Rouen +yonder was a marsh, and we saw Havre spring up like a mushroom only two +little centuries and a half ago. Besieged and taken, burned and ravaged, +alternately by Protestant and Catholic, no wonder our ville has not even +ruins to show that we are older than the fifteen hundreds. Still, +ancient though we are, we have always been a ville of humble +folk,--hardy sailors, brave fishers, and thrifty bourgeois,--and to-day, +as always, our highest families buy and sell and build their philistine +homes back toward the _côte_, while our humble ones picturesquely +haunt the _quais_. + +The town is exquisitely situated at the foot of abrupt _côtes_, +just where the broad and tranquil river shudders with mysterious deep +heavings and meets its dolphin-hued death in the all-devouring sea. Away +off in the shimmering distance is the second seaport city of France. On +still days,--and our gray or golden Norman days are almost always +still,--faint muffled sounds of life, the throbbing of factories, the +farewell boom of cannon from ships setting forth across the Atlantic, +even the musical notes of the Angelus, float across the water to us as +dreamily vague as perhaps our earth-throbs and passion-pulses reach a +world beyond the clouds. This city is our metropolis, with which we are +connected by small steamers crossing to and fro with the tide, and where +all our shopping is done, our own ville being too thoroughly limited and +_roturier_ in taste to merit many of our shekels. + +In fact, such of our shopping as is done in our ville is in the quaint +marketplace, where black house-walls are beetling and bent, and +Sainte-Cathérine's ancient wooden tower stands the whole width of the +Place away from its Gothic church. Here we bargain and chaffer with +towering _bonnets blancs_ for peasant pottery and faïence, +paintable half-worn stuffs, and delicious ancestral odds and ends of +broken peasant households. + +We have many streets over which wide eaves meet, and within which +twilight dwells at noonday. Some of the hand-wide streets run straight +up the _côte_, and are a succession of steep stairs climbing beside +crouching, timber-skeletoned houses perforated by narrow windows opening +upon vistas of shadow. Others seem only to run down from the _côte_ +to the sea as steeply as black planks set against a high building. Upon +the very apex of the _côte_, visible miles away at sea, lives our +richest citizen. His house smiles serenely modern even if only +pseudo-classic contempt on all the quaint duskiness and irregularity +below, and is pillared, corniced, entablatured, and friezed, with lines +severely straight, although the building itself is as round as any +mediæval campanile and surmounted with a Gothic bell-turret, while the +entrance-gate is turreted, machicolated, castellated, like the +fortress-castles of the Goths. + +Lower down the _côte_, convent walls raise themselves above +red-tiled and lichen-grown roofs. In one of these convents, behind +eyeless grim walls, are hidden cloistered nuns; from others the Sisters +go freely forth upon errands of both business and mercy. The convent of +cloisters, Couvent des Augustines, is passing rich, and has houses and +lands to let. Once upon a time an _Américaine_ coveted one of these +picturesque houses. She entered the convent and interviewed the +business-manager, a veiled nun behind close bars. + +"Madame may occupy the house," said _ma Soeur_, "by paying five +hundred francs a year, by observing every fast and feast of the Church, +by attending either matins or vespers every day, and by attending +confession and partaking of the holy sacrament every month." + +Madame is a zealous Catholic, therefore the terms, although peculiar, +did not seem too severe. She was about to remove into the house, when, +lo! she received word that, it having come to the knowledge of the +convent that the husband of Madame was a heretic, he could not be +allowed to occupy any tenement of the Communauté. + +Although this cloistered sisterhood is vowed to perpetual seclusion, +once a year even heretics may gaze upon their pale faces. This annual +occasion is the prize-day of the school they teach, when the school-room +is decorated with white cloth and paper roses, the _curés_ of +neighboring parishes and the Maire of our ville, with invited +distinguished guests, occupy the platform, and the floor below is free +to everybody furnished with invitation-cards. + +I had always longed to enter these prison-like walls and gaze from my +tempestuous distance upon those peaceful lives set apart from earth's +rush and turmoil in a fair and blessed haven of the Lord. I longed to +see those pure visionaries, pale spouses of Christ, and read upon +illumined faces the unspeakable rapture of mystic union with the Lamb of +God. + +Monsieur le Docteur S----, our family physician, is also physician of +the convent. + +"You will see nobody," he said, remarking my sentimental curiosity +concerning cloistered nuns,--"you will see nobody but a lot of +lace-mending and stocking-knitting old maids who failed to get +husbands." + +I had already heard queer stories of our old doctor's forty years of +attendance upon the convent, and I was not so easily discouraged. I was +especially anxious to see the Mother Superior, having many times heard +the story of her flight in slippers and dressing-gown from the +breakfast-table to bury herself forever within the walls that have held +her now these twenty-five years. In all these years her unforgiving +father has never seen her face, nor she his, although they live within +stone's throw of each other. + +"Know about him? of course she does," answered Victoire to my question. +"She knows all about him, and more too. Do you suppose there is an item +of news in the whole town that those cloistered nuns do not hear? If you +had been educated by them, as we were, and pumped dry every day as to +what went on in our own and our neighbors' families, you would not ask +that question." + +Victoire and I penetrated into the convent that very same day. We +followed a crowd of women, _paysannes_ and _citoyennes_, into +a sunny court paved with large stones and arched by the noontide sky, +but unsoftened by tree or flower, and surrounded by the open windows of +dormitories. Over the threshold we had just crossed the nuns pass but +once after their vows,--pass outward, feet foremost, deaf and unseeing, +to a closer, darker home than even their cloistered one. Some of them +have seen nothing beyond their convent walls for forty years, while one +has here worn away sixty years. + +_Sixty years_ without one single glimpse of sweet dawn or fair +sunset, without one single vision of the sea in winter majesty of storm +or summer glory! _Sixty years_ without sound of lisping music +running through tall grass, without one single whisper of the æolian +pines, or glimpse of blooming orchards against pure skies! _Sixty +years_! + +Beside me in the school-room sat a buxom peasant-woman, who, as a little +girl crowned with a gaudy tinsel wreath descended from the platform, +confidentially informed me, "_C'est ma fille._ She has taken the +prize for good conduct, and there isn't a worse _coquine_ in our +whole commune." + +I saw the pale visionaries, a circle of black-robed figures, with +dead-white bands, like coffin-cerements, across their brows. I saw them +almost unanimously fat, with pendulous jowls and black and broken teeth, +as remote from any expression of mystic fervors and spiritual espousals +as could be well imagined, _"Vieilles commères_!" grunted my +_paysanne,_ who was evidently neither amiable nor saintly. + +Mother Mary-of-the-Angels, once Elise Gautier, was short, fat, and +bustling, with large round-eyed spectacles upon her nose, and the pasty +complexion and premature flaccid wrinkles that come with long seclusion +from sunshine and exercise. She marched about like one who had chosen +Martha's rather than Mary's manner of serving her Lord, and we saw her +chat a full half-hour with the wife of the Maire, bowing, smiling, +gesticulating meantime with all the florid grace of a French woman of +the world. + +"The Maire's wife was her former intimate friend," whispered Victoire. +"See how much younger and healthier she looks than the Mother Superior, +and how much happier. _On dit_ that it was chagrin at the marriage +of this friend that caused Élise Gautier to desert her widowed father +and dependent little brothers and sisters to bury herself in a convent." + +A more interesting story than Élise Gautier's is told in our ville. Some +years ago a nun left the Couvent des Augustines in open day, passing out +from the central door in her nun's garb, and meeting there a +foreign-looking man accompanied by a posse of gendarmes. The couple, +followed by a half-hooting, half-cheering mob, drove directly to the +hôtel-de-ville, where they were united in marriage. Then they went away +from our ville, where both were born, to the husband's home in Spain. +When those convent doors had closed upon her, a quarter of a century +before, and the lovers believed themselves eternally separated, she was +a lovely girl of twenty, he a bright youth of twenty-five. She passed +away from his despairing sight, fair and fresh as a spring flower, with +beautiful golden hair and violet eyes; she came out from that fatal +portal a woman of forty-five, stout, spectacled, with faded, thin hair +beneath her nun's cowl, to meet a portly gray-haired man of fifty, in +whom not even love's eye could detect the faintest vestige of the +slender bright-eyed lover of her youth. + +The unhappy Laure had been forced to unwilling vows to keep her from +this beggarly lover, and, when he fled to Spain, both became dead to our +ville for long years. Twenty-two years after Laure became Soeur Angelica +it was known in the convent that the machinery of the civil law, which +had only lately forbidden eternal religious vows, had been set in motion +to secure her release; but it remained a mystery who the spring of the +movement was, her parents having long been dead. Soeur Angelica herself +seemed almost more terrified than otherwise at the knowledge, for every +conventual influence was brought to bear upon her morbid conscience to +assure her that eternal damnation follows broken vows. It seems, +however, that amid all her spiritual stress she never confessed, even to +her spiritual director, what desecration had come upon that dovecote by +her constant correspondence with the lover of her youth, now a wealthy +wine-merchant in Spain. When she left the convent, some of these +love-letters were left behind; and to this day those scandalized doves, +to whom Soeur Angelica is forever a lost soul, wonder futilely how those +emissaries of Satan penetrated their holy walls. + +"How _did_ they, do you suppose?" I asked. + +Victoire and Clarice smiled curiously, while Émile, with an expression +savoring of paganism and pig-tails, squinted obliquely toward our +doctor. + +"_Nous n'en savons rien_" they answered me. + +The social amusements of our ville are few, as must naturally be the +case in a provincial town ruled by the Draconian law that a _jeune +fille à marier_ must be no more than an animated puppet, while +_jeunes gens_ must have their coarse fling before they are fit for +refined society. Occasionally an ambulant theatrical troupe gives an +entertainment in our little theatre. Once a year Talbot comes, during +vacation at the Francais, and gives us "L'Avare" or "Le Roi s'amuse;" +but such are small events, to our provincial taste, compared with the +vaulting and grimacing of the more frequent English and American circus +troupes in our Place Thiers. + +Perhaps the chief distraction of our young people is going to early +mass, whither our young ladies go accompanied by _bonnes_, Maman +having not yet emerged from the French mamma's chrysalis condition of +morning crimping-pins, petticoat and short gown, and list slippers. The +_bonnes_ who thus serve as chaperons are often as young as or even +younger than the demoiselles whose virginal modesty they are supposed to +protect. That they are anything more than a mere form of guardian, a +figment of the social fiction that a young French girl never leaves her +mother's side till she goes to her husband's, it is unnecessary to +observe. Human nature, especially French human nature, is human nature +all the world over, and Romeo will woo and Juliet be won during early +mass or twilight vespers as well as from a balcony, in spite of all the +Montagues and Capulets. Girl-chaperons are oftener in sympathy with +ardent daughters than with worldly mothers, while even the oldest and +most sedate of French _bonnes_ are malleable to other influences +than those of their legitimate employers. It was across our river, +yonder from whence the sound of the Angelus comes across the summer +water like the music of dreams, that Balzac's Modest Mignon carried on +her intrigues of hifalutin gush, by means of a facile _bonne_, with +a man whom she had never seen, and who deceived her by personating the +poet she wished him to be. Modest Mignons are not rare in our ville, and +the Gothic vaults of Saint-Léonard and the pillared aisles of +Sainte-Cathérine witness almost as many little intrigues, as many +heart-beats and blushes, as does "evenin' meetin'" in our own bucolic +regions. + +Désirée, our _femme-de-chambre,_ before she came to us, lived in a +wealthy _roturier_ family. + +"It was a good place, and I was sorry to lose it when Mademoiselle +Eugénie was married," said she. "The little gifts the _jeunes gens_ +slipped into my panier as I came with mademoiselle from mass almost +equalled my wages. Mademoiselle had a good _dot_ as well as beauty, +and _ces jeunes gens_ expected to lose nothing by what they gave +me. Mademoiselle herself often said, 'Désirée, walk a few steps behind +me, and, while I keep my eyes upon the pavement, tell me all the young +men who turn to look after me. If you hear any of them say, "_Comme +elle est jolie!_" (How pretty she is!) you shall have my _batiste +mouchoirs_.'" + +On Sunday afternoons all the bourgeois world of our ville disports +itself upon the jetty. Not only then do all the mothers of the town with +daughters "to marry" bring those daughters to the weekly matrimonial +mart, but many of the mothers and chaperons of the near country round +about come in from rural _propriété_ and rustic _chalet_ to +exhibit their candidates. The method of procedure is eminently French, +of course, and eminently naïve, as even the intrigues and machinations +of Balzac's _bourgeoisie_, although intended as marvels of finesse, +seem so often naïveté itself to our blunter and less-plotting minds. The +mothers and daughters, or chaperons and charges, walk slowly arm in arm +up and down one side the jetty, facing the counter-current of young men +and men not young who have not lost interest in feminine attractions. +Back and forth, back and forth, for hours, move the two separate +streams, never for one instant commingling, each discussing the other's +prospects, characters, appearance, and, above all, _dots_ and +_rentes_, till twilight falls and all the world goes home to +dinner. + +Once upon a time a retired man of business came to our ville, +accompanied by his son. He was one of the class known in England as +"Commys," and so obnoxious in France as _commis-voyageurs._ He +stopped at the Cheval Blanc, and in conversation with mine host inquired +if it might chance that some café-keeper in the town desired to sell his +café and marry his daughter. Monsieur Brissom mentioned to him our +café-keepers blessed with marriageable daughters, and "Commy" made the +rounds among them, announcing that he had a son whom he wished to marry +to some charming demoiselle _dot_ed with a café. One of the +café-keepers had "_précisément votre affaire_." It was arranged +that Mademoiselle Clothilde should be promenaded by her mother the next +Sunday on the jetty, where the young man should join the +counter-current, and thus each take observations of the other. + +As said, so done. Monsieur Henri and Mademoiselle Clothilde declared +themselves enchanted with each other. + +"_Très-bien_," said the reflective parents. "Now fall in love as +fast as ever you please." + +Monsieur and mademoiselle not only "fell," but plunged. + +Two weeks afterward, however, the papas fell out. Cafétier exacted more +than Commis could promise, and Commis declared Mademoiselle Clothilde +_pas grand' chose_: her eyebrows were too white, and her toes +turned in. + +The marriage was declared "off," and the young people were ordered to +fall out of love the quickest possible. + +"Too late!" they cried. + +"You have seen each other but four times." + +"Quite enough," declared the lovers. + +"You shall not marry," shouted the parents. + +"We _will_!" screamed their offspring. + +Nevertheless they could not, for the French law gives almost absolute +power to parents. Mademoiselle would have no _dot_ unless her +father chose to give her one, and no French marriage is legal without +paternal consent or the almost disgraceful expedient of _sommations +respectueuses_. Mademoiselle threatened to enter a convent. Cafétier +assured her that no convent opens cordial doors to _dot_less girls. + +Juliet was ready to defy all the Capulets when she had seen Romeo but +once; Corinne was ready to fling all her laurels at Oswald's feet at +their second interview; Rosamond Vincy planned her house-furnishing +during her second meeting with Lydgate; even Dorothea Brooke felt a +"trembling hope" the very next day after her first sight of Mr. +Casaubon. How, then, could one expect poor Clothilde to yield up her +undersized, thin-moustached, and very unheroic-looking Henri, having +seen him _four_ times? + +There was one way out of her troubles,--that to which Alphonse Daudet's +and André Theuriet's people gravitate as needles to their pole. She +walked one dark midnight upon the jetty alone. Nobody saw the end; but +the next Sunday, three weeks to a day from the one when the two had +countermarched in matrimonial procession, Mademoiselle Clothilde was +laid in her grave. + +The whole French social system revolves around the _dot_. + +"How dare you speak to my father so!" I once heard a daughter reproach +her mother. "How dare you, who brought him no _dot_!" + +"It is a pity Madame Marais has no more influence in her family," I +heard remarked in a social company. "It is a pity, for she is a good +woman, and her husband and sons are all going to the bad." + +"Yes, it is a pity," answered another; "but, then, what else can she +expect? She brought no _dot_ into the family." + +Once upon a time a young man made a friendly call upon a family in our +ville, he a distant relative of the family. He sat in the _salon_ +with mother and daughter, when suddenly the mother was called away a +moment. When she returned, not more than two minutes later,--horror! +_she could not enter the room!_ In closing the door she had somehow +disarranged the handles; screws had dropped out and could not be found; +the knob would not turn. What a situation! A young girl shut up in a +locked room with a young man! What a scandal if the story got out in the +town! and what could the poor, distracted mamma do to release her +daughter from that damning situation without the knowledge of the +servants? She dared not even summon a locksmith, for locksmith tongues +are free; and who would not shoot out the lip at poor Jeanne, hearing +the miserable story at breakfast-tables to-morrow? + +"You must marry Jeanne, _mon cousin_," cried mamma through the +keyhole. + +"Impossible, _ma cousine_. You know I am _fiancé_," laughed +he. + +Nevertheless he did! + +For when papa heard that Jeanne had remained two whole hours shut up +with Cousin Pierre in a brilliantly-lighted _salon_, with a frantic +mother at the keyhole and all the servants grinning upon their knees +searching for the missing screws, he added twenty thousand francs to her +_dot_ on the spot, and Pierre wrote to his other _fiancée_ that he had +"changed his intentions." + +"Mamma's _tapage_ was too funny," laughed Madame Pierre, telling me +this story herself. "Pierre and I laughed well on our side of the door, +although we were careful not to let maman hear us. For we had often been +alone together before when _nobody knew it_." + +Which makes all the difference in the world in our ville, as well as +elsewhere. + +Pierre's funny experience did not end with his betrothal. In relating +the adventure which follows, I wish it distinctly to be understood that +I do it in all respect, admiration, and reverence for the Church which +is the mother of all Churches calling themselves Christian. The Holy +Roman Catholic Church is no less holy that her servants are so often +base and vile and that her livery is so often stolen to serve evil in. +What wickedness and hypocrisy have we not in our own Protestant clergy, +and without even the tremendous excuse for it which the conditions of +European society give for the occasional levity of its priesthood! In +France the Church is a recognized profession, to which parents destine +and for which they educate their sons without waiting for them to +exhibit any special bias toward a religious life. In spite of +themselves, many young men are even forced into the priesthood, not only +by strong family influence, but through having been educated so as to be +absolutely unfitted for any other walk of life. With us the priesthood +is a matter of deliberate and perfectly voluntary choice, and he who +wears it as a cloak is ten thousand times the hypocrite his Catholic +brother is. + +It happened that our _curé_ of Saint-Étienne was a jolly good +fellow, somewhat given to wine-bibbing, and much given to Rabelaisian +stories. He was also hail-fellow-well-met with Pierre, and Pierre, like +most of the young men of France, prided himself upon his entire freedom +from the "superstitious." Père Duhaut lived by teaching and preaching. + +In France the church sacrament of marriage cannot be performed unless +both the contracting parties furnish certificates of having made +confession within three weeks. To secure his certificate it would be +necessary for Pierre to confess to the _curé_ of Saint-Étienne, +Père Duhaut. + +"_I_ confess to Duhaut!" he laughed in our house. "I'll +be--what's-his-named first. Old Duhaut might as well confess to me. I +shall simply give him six francs and get my certificate without any more +ado, just as the other fellows get theirs." + +That very afternoon Père Duhaut took tea with us, and Émile was mean +enough to betray Pierre's intentions. + +"We'll see," said our _curé_. + +The next day Pierre passed our windows. He bowed gayly, and called up +that he was going for his six francs' worth of ante-nuptial absolution. +An hour later he passed again, but he did not look up. In the evening +Père Duhaut came, bursting with laughter. + +"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," he guffawed. Then he told us +the story. Pierre, it seems, had offered the six francs, which offer the +confessor had rejected with scorn. + +"In to the confessional," he cried, "and make your confession like a +penitent!" + +"I'll make it fifteen," grinned Pierre. + +"Not for a thousand. In! _in_!" + +"Come, now, Duhaut, this is all humbug. You know I'm not penitent, and +I'll be---- if I'll confess to you." + +Without more words, the burly priest seized the recalcitrant and grabbed +him by the neck, trying to force him into the confession-box. Pierre +resisted, and, as the _curé_ told us bursting with laughter, the +two wrestled and waltzed half around the church. Finally Pierre was +brought to his knees. + +"_Eh bien, allez_! What am I to confess?" he grumbled. + +"Every sin you have committed since your last confession." + +How malicious was Père Duhaut in this! for he knew Pierre had not kept +the observances of the Church since he left home at seventeen, and had +not been an anchorite either. + +"I'll make it an even hundred," begged the now exasperated yet humbled +Pierre. "Come, now, do be reasonable; that's a jolly old boy." + +"Confess! confess!" roared the confessor, dealing the kneeling +impenitent a sounding cuff on the ear. + +"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," roared Père Duhaut. +"_Demandez-lui! Demandez-lui!_" + +But we never did. + +Until his grave received him, only a few weeks ago, a marked character +of our ville was a stooping old man, of a ghastly paleness, noted +through all the region for avarice and for speaking every one of his +many languages each with worse accent than the other. His Spanish +sounded like German, his German had the strongest possible American +accent, his English was vividly Teutonic, and after forty years of +marriage his Norman wife never ceased to mock at his atrociously-mouthed +French. He was wine-merchant and banker combined, and, though his social +position was among the best in our bourgeoise ville, all the world +smiled with the knowledge that the rich old _banquier_, whose nose +had a strong Hebraic curve, delivered his own merchandise at night from +under his long coat, in order to escape the tax on every bottle of wine +transported from one domicile to another. + +The stately gate-post of "Père S----'s" pretentious and philistine +mansion is decorated with the coats-of-arms of several nations. +England's is there, Germany's, Spain's, Portugal's, as well as our own +Eagle; while upon days when our own exiled hearts beat most proudly--4th +of July and 22d of February--our star-spangled banner floats from his +roof-top as well as from our own, the only two, of course, in our ville. +Our ville, so important to us, has scarcely an existence for our home +government, and administrative changes there float over us like clouds +of heaven, without touching us in their changefulness. Thus Père S----, +though so courteous and cordial to Americans, has been long years +forgotten at Washington, whence every living servitor of the +administration that appointed him our consul here has long since passed +away forever. He was born in Pennsylvania, of German parents, nearly +eighty years ago. He received his appointment in 1837, and held it +through fourteen administrations since Van Buren, without ever returning +to America, till he faded away one little month ago and was buried in +the parish cemetery of Saint-Léonard by a Lutheran pastor brought over +for the occasion from Havre. No church-bells tolled for his death, and +the street-children did not go on their way singing, as they always do, +to the sound of funeral bells. + +"_Viens, corps, ta fosse t'attend!_" for Pere S---- was a heretic, +and could not have slept in consecrated ground had he died before the +République Française removed religious restrictions from all +burial-places. All the consular corps in all the region round about +followed the old man to his long home, all our public buildings hung +their flags half-mast high, all our little world told queer stories of +the dead old man. But our own hearts grew tender with thoughts of this +life finished at fourscore years with its longing of almost half a +century unfulfilled. "Philip Nolan" we often called the old man, who +sometimes said to us, with yearning, pathetic voice,-- + +"I am an American; I am here only till I make my fortune. When I am rich +enough I shall go _Home_. I shall die and be buried at Home,--when +I am rich enough." + +Temperament is Fate. Père S----'s temperament of Harpagon fated him to +die as he had lived,--a man without a country. + + MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. + + + + +THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. + +I. + +PARADISE. + + +The island in Magog Lake was like a world by itself. Though there were +but fifteen or twenty acres of land in it, that land was so diversified +by dense woods, rocks, verdant open spots, and smooth shore-rims that it +seemed many places in one. + +Adam's tent was set in the arena of an amphitheatre of hills, upon +close, smooth sward sloping down to the lake-margin of milk-white sand. +Beyond the lake stood up a picture as heavenly to man's vision as the +New Jerusalem appearing in the clouds. + +This was a mountain bounded at the base by two spurs of the lake, and +clothed by a plumage of woods, except upon spaces near the centre of its +slope. Here green fields disclosed themselves and two farm-houses were +nested, basking in the light of a sky which deepened and deepened +through infinite blues. + +Though it was high noon, dew yet remained upon the abundance of ferns +and rock-mosses on those heights around the camp. The tent stood open at +both ends, framing a triangular bit of lake-water and shore. Within it +were a table piled with books, an oval mirror hung over a toilet-stand, +garments suspended along a line, a small square rug overlying the sward, +and camp-chairs. + +The two cots had been stripped of their blankets--which were out sunning +upon a pole--and set in the thickest shade, and upon one of these cots +Eva was stretched out, having a pillow under her head. Her dress was of +a green woollen stuff, and barely reached the instep of her low shoes. A +mighty bunch of trailing ferns, starred with furry azure flowers and +ox-eyed daisies, was fastened from her neck to her girdle. She had drawn +her broad sun-hat partly over the bewitching mystery of her eyes and +forehead, to keep the sky-glow at bay, but left space enough through +which to search the whole visible world, and her face was smiling with +pure joy. To be alive beside Lake Magog was sufficient; and she was both +alive and beloved. + +She thought within herself how indescribable all this beauty was. A +pleasant wind smelling of world-old fern-loam fanned her. There were +neither mosquitoes nor flies to sting, and, had there been, Adam was +provided with a bottle of pennyroyal oil, wherewith he would anoint her +face and hands, kissing any lump planted there before he came to the +rescue. + +Eva felt sure she never wanted to go back to civilization again. Days +and days of shining weather, fog-or dew-drenched in the morning, +wine-colored or opaline in the evening; cool, starry nights, so cool, so +dense with woods-shade that they drove her to hide her head in the +blankets under Adam's arm; glowing noons, when the world swam in +ecstasy; long pulls at the oars from point to point of this magic lake, +she holding the trolling-line at the stern of the boat, her husband +sometimes resting and leaning forward to get her smile at nearer range +upon his face; plunges into the warm lake-water in the afternoon when +time stood still in a trance of satisfaction:--what a honeymoon she was +having! Why should it ever end? There were responsible folks enough to +carry the world's work forward. Two people might be allowed to spend +their lives in paradise, if a change of seasons could only be prevented. +Anyhow, Eva was soaking up present joy. She half closed her eyes, and +whispered fragmentary words, feeling that her heart was a censer of +incense, swinging off clouds of thanksgiving at every beat. + +Adam came from the spring with a dripping pail. A fret-work of cool +drops stood all over the tin surface, even when he set the pail beside +his heated stove. That water had been filtered through moss and pebbles +and chilled by overlaced boughs until its nature was glacial. + +The cooking-stove stood quite apart from the tent, under a tree. Blue +woodsmoke escaped from its pipe and straight-way disappeared. A covered +pot was already steaming, and Adam filled and put the kettle to boil. +Not far from the stove was a stationary table, made of boards fastened +upon posts. The potato-cellar and the cold-chest were boxes sunk in the +ground. Some dippers, griddles, and pans hung upon nails driven in the +tree. + +Adam spread the table with a red cloth, brought chairs from the tent, +and came and leaned over Eva's cot. He was a sandy-haired, blue-eyed, +hardy-looking Scotchman, gentlemanly in his carriage, and bearing upon +his visible character the stamp of Edinbro' colleges and of Calvinistic +sincerity. He wore the Highland cap or bonnet, a belted blouse, +knickerbockers, long gray stockings, and heavy-soled shoes. + +"Well, Mrs. Macgregor," said Adam, giving the name a joyful burr in his +throat, "my sweethairt. I must have a look of your eyes before you taste +a bit of my baked muskalunge." + +"Well, Mr. Macgregor. And will I get up and set the table and help put +on dinner?" + +"No, my darling. It's all ready,--or all but a bit of fixing." + +"I am so happy," said Eva, "so lazy and happy, it doesn't seem fair to +the rest of the world." + +"There is at this time no rest of the world," responded Adam. "Nothing +has been created but an island and one man and woman. Do you belaive +me?" + +"I would if I didn't see those farm-houses, and the boats occasionally +coming and going on the lake; yes, and if you didn't have to row across +there for butter and milk, and to Magog village for other supplies." + +"That's a mere illusion. We live here on ambrosial distillations from +the rocks and muskalunge from the lake. I never came to Canada from old +Glazka town, and never saw Loch Achray, or Loch Lomond, or any body of +water save this, since I was created in God's image without any +knowledge of the catechism. And let me see a mon set foot on this +strond!" + +"Oh, you inhospitable creature!" + +"I but said let me see him." + +"Yes, but I know what you meant. You meant you didn't want anybody." + +"My wants are all satisfied, thank God," said Adam, lifting his cap. "I +have you, and the breath o' life, and the camp-outfit." + +"And the mountains, and the lake, and the rocks, and the woods," added +Eva. "I never could have believed there were such sublime things in the +world if I hadn't seen them." + +"Neither could I," owned the Scotchman. "Especially such a sublime thing +as me wife." + +Eva struck at him, restraining her palm from bringing more than a pat +upon his cheek. + +"How your little hand makes me tremble!" said Adam, drawing his breath +from chest-depths. "Will I ever grow to glimpse at you without having +the blood spurt quick from me hairt, or to touch you without this +faintness o' joy? And don't mock me wi' your eyes, bonnie wee one, for +it's bonnie wee one you'll be to me when you're a fat auld woman the +size of yonder mountain. And _that_ changes the laughter in your eyes." + +"I didn't suppose you ever _could_ call me a fat old woman." + +"I'll be an auld man then meself, me fiery locks powthered with ashes, +and my auld knees knocking one at the ither," laughed Adam. + + "But hand in hand we'll go," +sang Eva, + "And sleep thegither at the foot, + Joh--n Ander--son, my jo--o." + +"Oh, don't!" said Adam, with a sudden grasp on her wrist. "My God! one +must go first; and I could naither leave you nor close these eyes of +yours." He put his other hand across his eyelids, his lower features +wincing. "Sweetheart," said Adam, removing it, and taking her head +between his palms, "for what we have already received the Lord make us +duly thankful. And shut up about the rest. And there's grace said for +dinner: excepting I didn't uncover me head. Excuse me bonnet." + +"Take off your ridiculous bonnet," said Eva, emerging from the eclipse +of a long kiss, "and drag me out of my web. If I am to be your helpmeet, +make me help." + +"You naidn't lift a finger, my darling. I don't afford and won't have a +sairvant in the camp, so I should sairve you myself." + +Passing over this argument, Eva crept up on the stretcher and had him +lift her to the ground. Her shape was very slender and elegant, and when +the two passed each an arm across the other's back to walk together +school-girl fashion, Adam's grasp sloped far downward. She did not quite +reach his shoulder. + +They made coffee, and served up their dinner in various pieces of +pottery. The baked muskalunge was portioned upon two plates and +surrounded with stewed potato. Potatoes with scorched jackets, enclosing +their own utmost fragrance, also came out of the ashes. Adam poured +coffee for Eva into a fragile china cup, and coffee for himself into a +tin pint-measure. The sugar was in a glass fruit-jar, and the cream came +directly off a pan in the cold-box. They had pressed beef in slices, +chow-chow through the neck of the bottle, apricot jam in a little white +pot, baker's rolls, and a cracked platter heaped with wild strawberries. +Around the second point of Magog Island, down one whole stony hill-side, +those strawberries grew too thick for stepping. The hugest, most deadly +sweet of cultivated berries could not match them. You ate in them the +light of the sky and the ancient life of the mountain. + +"I never was so hungry at home," said Eva, accepting a finely-done bit +of fish with which her lord fed her as a nestling. "Perhaps things taste +better eaten out of unmatched crockery and under a roof of leaves. I +wouldn't have a plate different in the whole camp." + +"Nor would I," said Adam. + +She looked across at the mountain-panorama, for, though stationary, it +was also forever changing, and the light of intense and burning noon was +different from the humid veil of morning. + +"And yonder goes a sail," she tacked to the end of her +mountain-observations. + +"Heaven speed it!" responded Adam, carrying his cup for a second filling +to the coffee-pot on the stove. "Will ye have a drop more?" + +"Indeed, yes. I don't know how many drops more I shall drink. We get so +fierce and reckless about our victuals. Will it be the spirit of the old +counterfeiters who used to inhabit this island entering into us?" +suggested Eva, using the English-Canadian idiom of the western +provinces. + +"Without doot. It was their custom never to let a body leave this strond +alive, and they can only hairm us by making us eat oursels to death." + +"Nearly a hundred years ago, wasn't it, they lived here and made +counterfeit money and drew silly folks in to buy it of them? When I hear +the rocks all over this island sounding hollow like muffled drumming +under our feet, I scare myself thinking that gang may be hid hereabouts +yet and may come and peep into the tent some night." + +"Behind them all the army of bones they drowned in Magog watther or +buried in the island," laughed Adam. "It's not for a few old ghosts we'd +take up our pans and kettles and move out of the Gairden of Eden. I'll +keep you safe from the counterfeiters, my darling, never fear." + +"You said heaven speed that sail yonder; but the man has taken it down +and is rowing in here." + +"Then he's an impudent loon. Who asked him?" + +"The sight of our tent, very likely. And maybe it will be some friend of +ours, stopping at the Magog House. He wears a white helmet-hat; and +isn't that a yachting-suit of white flannel?" + +"He comes clothed as an angel of light," said Adam. + +They both watched the figure and the boat growing larger in perspective. +Features formed in the blur under the rower's hat; his individuality +sprung suddenly from a shape which a moment ago might have been any +man's. + +"Oh, Adam, it will be Louis Satanette from Toronto," exclaimed Eva. + +"And what's a Toronto man doing away up on Lake Magog?" + +"What will a Glasgow man be doing away off here on Lake Magog?" + +"Camping with his wife, and getting more religion than ever was taught +in the creeds." + +"I'm not so sure of that, then." + +"Because I don't love a Frenchman?" + +"A French-Canadian. And a member of Parliament, too. Think of that at +his age! They say in Toronto he is one of the most promising men in the +provinces." + +"Can he spear a salmon with a gaff, and does he know a pairch from a +lunge? And he couldn't be a Macgregor, anyhow, if he was first man in +Canada." + +Eva laughed, and, forming her lips into a kiss, slyly impressed the same +upon the air, as if it could reach Adam through some invisible pneumatic +tube. He was not ashamed to make a return in kind; and, the boat being +now within their bay, they went down to the sand to meet it. + + + + +II. + +FORBIDDEN FRUIT. + + +In spotless procession the days moved along until that morning on which +Adam dreamed his dream. He waked up trembling with joy and feeling the +tears run down his face. His watch ticked like the beating of a pulse +under his pillow, and he kept time to its rhythm with whispered words no +human ear would ever hear him utter with such rapture. + +He had dreamed of breasting oceans and groping through darkness after +his wife until he was ready to die. Then, while he lay helpless, she +came to him and lifted him up in her arms. There was perfect and +unearthly union between them. His happiness became awful. He woke up +shaken by it as by a hand of infinite power. + +Instead of turning toward her, he was still. Such experiences cannot be +told. The tongue falters and words limp when we try to repeat them to +the one beloved. A divine shame keeps us silent. Perhaps the glory of +that perfect love puts a halo around our common thoughts and actions for +days afterward, but no man or woman can fitly say, "I was in heaven with +you, my other soul, and the gladness was so mighty that I cried +helplessly long after I woke." + +Adam kept his sleeve across his eyes. He had risked his life in many an +adventure without changing a pulse-beat, but now he was an infant in the +grasp of emotion. + +When at last he cast a furtive glance at Eva's cot, she was not there. +She often slipped out in the early morning to drench herself with dew. +Once he had discovered her stooping on the sand, washing soiled clothes +in the lake. She clapped and rubbed the garments between soap and her +little fists. The sun was just coming up in the far northeast. Shapes of +mist gyrated slowly upward in the distance, and all the morning birds +were rushing about, full of eager business. Eva stopped her humming song +when she saw him, and laughed over her unusual employment. The first +time she ever washed clothes in her life she wanted to have Magog for +her tub and accomplish the labor on a vast and princess-like scale. Adam +helped her spread the wet things on bushes, and they both marvelled at +the bleached dazzle which the sun gave to those garments. + +He did not move from the cot, hoping awhile that she might come in, +dew-footed, and yet kiss him. That clear shining of the face which one +sometimes observes in pure-minded devotees, or in young mothers over +their firstborn, gave him a look of nobility in the pallid shadow of the +tent. + +He thought of all their days on the island, and, incidentally, of Louis +Satanette's frequent comings. The Frenchman was a beautiful, versatile +fellow. He sailed a boat, he swam, he fished knowingly, he sang like an +angel, leaning his head back against a tree to let the moonlight touch +up his ivory face and silky moustache and eyebrows. He had firm, +marble-white fingers, nicely veined, on which reckless exposure to sun +and wind had no effect, and the kindliest blue eyes that ever beamed +equal esteem upon man and woman. Sometimes this Satanette came in a +blue-flannel suit, the collar turned well back from the throat, and in a +broad straw hat wound with pink and white tarlatan. He looked like a +flower,--if any flower ever expressed along with its beauty the powerful +nerve of manliness. + +Frequently he sailed out from Magog House and stayed all night on the +island, slinging his own hammock between trees. Then he and Adam rose +early and trolled for lunge in deep water under the cliff. In the +afternoon they all plunged into the lake, Eva swimming like a +cardinal-flower afloat. Adam was careful to keep near her, and finally +to help her into the boat, where she sat with her scarlet bathing-dress +shining in the sun and her drenched hair curling in an arch around her +face. + +All these days flashed before Adam while he put a slow foot out on the +tent-rug. + +There was nobody about the camp when he had made his morning toilet and +unclosed the tent-flaps, so he built a fire in the stove, hung the +bedding to sun, and set out the cots. A blueness which was not humid +filtered itself through the air everywhere, and fold upon fold of it +seemed rising from invisible censers on the mainland. + +Eva hailed him from the lake. She came rowing across the sun's track. +The water was fresh and blue, glittering like millions of alternately +dull and burnished scales. + +Adam drew the boat in and lifted her out, more tenderly but with more +reticence than usual. + +"You don't know where I have been, laddie," exclaimed Eva. "Look at all +the fern and broken bushes in the boat; and I have my pocket sagged +down with gold-streaked quartz. I went around to the other side of the +island, where the counterfeiters' hole is, to look into it while the +morning sun on the lake threw a reflection." + +"There's nothing wonderful to be seen there." + +"How will we know that? The rocks sound hollow all about, and there may +be a great cavern full of counterfeiters' relics. Oh, Adam, I saw Louis +Satanette's sail!" + +"He comes early this morn." + +"I think he has been camping by himself over on the lake-shore. He says +we'll explore the counterfeiters' hole, and let us go directly after +breakfast." + +"What is it worth the exploring?" said Adam. "Four rocks set on end, and +you crawl in on your hands and knees, look at the dark, and back out +again. It's but a burrow, and ends against the hill's heart of rock. +I've to row across yonder for the eggs and butter and milk." + +The smoke rising from different points on the mainland kept sifting and +sifting until at high noon the air was pearl-gray. As if there was not +enough shadow betwixt him and the sun, Adam sat in his boat at the foot +of the cliff, where brown glooms never rose quite off the water. He +looked down until sight could pierce no farther, and, though a fish or +two glided in beautiful curves beneath his eye, he had no hook dropped +in as his excuse for loitering. + +The eggs and butter and milk for which he had rowed across the lake were +covered with green leaves under one of the boat-benches. + +Straight above him, mass on mass, rose those protruding ribs of the +earth, the rocks. He lay back in the boat's stern and gazed at their +summit of pinetrees and ferns. Bunches of gigantic ferns sprouted from +every crevice, and not a leaf of the array but was worth half a +lifetime's study. Yet Adam's eye wandered aimlessly over it all, as if +it gave him no pleasure. Nor did he seem to wish that a little figure +would bend from the summit, half swallowed in greenness and made a +vegetable mermaid from the waist downward, to call to him. He was so +haggard the freckles stood in bold relief upon his face and neck. + +The hiss of a boat and the sound of row-locks failed to move him from +his listless attitude. He did, however, turn his eyes and set his jaws +in the direction of the passing oarsman. Louis Satanette was all in +white flannel, and flush-faced like a cream-pink rose with pleasant +exhilaration. He held his oars poised and let his boat run slowly past +Adam. + +"What have you the matter?" he exclaimed, with sincere anxiety. + +"Oh, it's naught," said Adam. "I'm just weary, weary." + +"You have been gone a very, very long time," said Louis, using the +double Canadian adjective. "Mrs. Macgregor is on the lookout." + +Adam thought of her when she was _not_ on the lookout. He also thought +of her tidying things about the camp in the morning, and singing as he +pulled from the bay. Perhaps she was on another sort of lookout then. + +"I'll go in presently," he muttered. + +"Beg pardon?" said Louis Satanette, bending forward, and giving the +upward inflection to that graceful Canadian phrase which asks a +repetition while implying that the fault is with the hearer. + +"I said I'd go in presently. There's no hurry." + +"Allow me to take you in," said Louis. "You have approached too close +to the altars of the sylvan gods, and their sacrificial smoke has +overcome you. Don't you see it rising everywhere from the woods?" + +"The sylvan gods are none of my clan," remarked Adam, shifting his +position impatiently, "and it's little I know of them. There's a graat +dail of ignorance consailed aboot my pairson." + +Louis Satanette laughed with enjoyment: + +"Well, _au revoir_. I will put up my sail when I turn the points. It +will be a long run up the lakes, with this haze hanging and not wind +enough to lift it." + +"Good-day to ye," responded Adam. "We'll likely shift camp before you're +this way." + +"In so short a time?" exclaimed Louis. + +"In so lang a time. I'm soul-sick of it. It's lone; it's heavy. The +fine's too great for the pleasure of the feight. Look, now,--there were +two rough laddies up Glazka way, in my country, and they came to fists +aboot a sweethairt, the fools. But when they are stripped and ready, one +hits the table wi's hond, and says he, 'Ay, Georgie, I'm wullin' to +feight ye, but wha's goin' to pay the fine?'" + +Louis Satanette laughed again, but as if he did not know just what was +meant." + +"It's a cautious mon, is the Scotchmon," said Adam, "but no' so slow, +after all." + +"Oh, never slow!" said Louis. "Very, very fast indeed, to leave this +paradise in the midst of the summer." + +"'Farewell to lovely Loch Achray,'" sighed Adam: + "Where shall we find, in any land, + So lone a lake, so sweet a strand?" + +Louis made a sign of adieu and dipped his oars. + +"It's only _au revoir_," said he, shooting past. "Be very, very far from +parting with Magog too early." + +"'So lone a lake, so sweet a strand,'" repeated Adam, dropping his head +back against the stern. + +He did not move while the sound of the other's oars died away behind +him. He did not move while the afternoon shadows spread far over the +water. + +The long Canadian twilight advanced stage by stage. First, all Magog +flushed, as if a repetition of the old miracle had turned it to wine. +Then innumerable night-hawks uttered their four musical notes in endless +succession, upon the heights, down in the woods, from the mainland +mountain. The north star became discernible almost overhead. Then, with +slow and irregular strokes, Adam pulled away from the cliff, and brought +his keel to grate the sand in front of his tent. + +Eva was sitting there on a rock, huddling a shawl around her. + +"Oh, Adam Macgregor!" she began, in a low voice, "and do you condescend +to bring your wraith back to me at last?" + +"It's nothing but my wraith," said Adam, lifting his eggs and butter and +milk, and stepping from the boat. "The mon in me died aboot noon." + +Eva walked along by his side to the cool-box, where he deposited his +load. + +"What is the matter with you, laddie, that you look and talk so +strangely?" + +"Oh, naught," said Adam, turning and facing her. "I but saw you kissing +Louis Satanette on the hill to-day." + + + + +III. + + +THE FLAMING SWORD. + +The changes which passed over her face were half concealed by the +twilight. She was grieved, indignant, and frightened, but over all other +expressions lurked the mischievous mirth of a bad child. + +"I meant to tell you about it," she said. + +"Hearken," said Adam, with a fierce stare. "I've stayed out on the lake +all day, and I'm quiet. At first I wasn't. But when he came by I gave +him nothing but a good word." + +"I wish you'd scolded him instead of me," said Eva, propping her back +against the table and puckering her lips. + +"_He_ did naught," said Adam, "but what any man would do that got lave. +It's you that gave him lave that are to blame." + +"Don't be so serious about a little thing," put forth Eva. "We just +walked over to the counterfeiters' hole, and coming back we picked +strawberries, and he teased me like a girl, and caught hold of me and +kissed me. We've been such good friends in camp. I think it's this easy, +wild life made me do it." + +"She'll blame the very sky over her instead of taking blame to +herself," ground out Adam from between his jaws. "I sat in me boat +below and saw you arch your head and look at him ways that I remember. +My God! why did you make this woman so false, and yet so sweet that a +mon canna help loving her in spite o' his teeth?" + +"Because I'd die if folks didn't love me," burst out Eva, with a sob. +"And if men can't help loving me, what do you blame me for?" + +"What right have you to breathe such a word when you're married to me?" + +"But I'm not used to being married yet," pleaded Eva. "And I forgot, +this once." + +"It's once and for all," said Adam, "You'll never be to me what you were +before. Is it the English-Canadian way to bring up women to kiss every +comer?" + +"I didn't kiss anybody but Louis Satanette," maintained Eva, "and I +didn't really _want_ to kiss _him_" + +"Never mind," said Adam. "Don't trouble your butterfly soul about it." +And he turned away and walked toward the tent. + +"I'll not love you if you say such awful things to me," she flashed +after him. + +"Ye can't take the breeks off a Hielandman," he replied, facing about, +"Ye never loved me. Not as I loved you. And it's no loss I've met, if I +could but think it." + +"Oh, Adam!" Now she ran forward and caught him around the waist. "Don't +be so hard with me. I know I am very bad, but I didn't mean to be." + +Some faint perception of that coarse fibre within her was breaking with +horror through her face. She held to his hands after he had separated +her from his person and held her off. + +"All that you do still has its effect on me," said the man, gazing +sternly at her. "I love ye; but I despise myself for loving ye. This +morn I adored ye with reverence; this night you're as a bit o' that +earth." + +Eva let go his hands and sat down on the ground. As he made his +preparations in the tent he could not help seeing with compassion how +abjectly her figure drooped. All its flexible proud lines, were suddenly +gone. She was dazed by his treatment and by the light in which he put +her trifling. She sat motionless until Adam came out with one of the +cots in his arms. + +"I'm to sleep upon the hill in the pine woods to-night," said he. "Go +into the tent, and I'll fasten the flaps. You shan't be scared by +anything." + +"Let me get in the boat and leave the island, if you can't breathe the +same air with me," said Eva. staggering up. + +"No, I can't breathe the same air with ye to-night, but ye'll go into +the tent," said Adam, with authority. + +"I'll not stay there," she rebelled. "I'll follow you. You don't know +what may be on this island." + +"There can be nothing worse than what I've seen," said Adam; "and that's +done all the hairm it can do." + +"Oh, Adam, are we both crazy?" the small creature burst out, weeping as +if her heart would break. "Don't go away and leave me so. I am not real +bad in my heart, I know I am not; and if you would be a little patient +with me and help me, I shall get over my silly ways. There is something +in me, you can depend upon, if I _did_ do that foolish thing. And my +mother didn't live long enough to train me, Adam; remember that. Won't +you please kiss me? My heart is breaking." + +He put down the cot and took her by the shoulders, trembling as he did +so from head to foot: + +"My wife, I belaive what you say. I'd give all the days remaining to me +if I could strain ye against my breast with the feeling I had this morn. +But there comes that sight. I never shall see the hill again, I never +shall see a spot of this island again, without seeing your mouth kissing +another man. Go into the tent. God knows I'd die before hairm should +come to you. But not to-night can I stay beside you. Or kiss you." + +He carried her into the tent and put her on her bed. She had made all +the night-preparations herself, placing the pillows on both cots and +turning back the sun-sweetened blankets. + +Adam left her sobbing, buttoned the tent-flaps outside, and placed a +barricade of kettles and pans which could not be touched without +disturbing him on the hill. Then, taking up his own bed, he marched off +through the ferns, edging his burden among dense boughs as he ascended. + +When he had made the joints of his couch creak with many uneasy +turnings, had clinched at leaves, and started up to return to the tent, +only to check himself in the act as often as he started, he lost +consciousness in uneasy dreams rather than fell asleep. + +He was smothering, and yet could not open his lips to gasp for a breath +of air. Then he was drowning: he gulped in vast sheets of water upon his +lungs. An alarm sounded from Eva's barricade. He heard the pans and +kettles clanging and her own voice in screams which pierced him, yet he +could not move. A nightmare of heat enveloped him; the smothering +element pouring upon his lungs was not water, but smoke; and he knew if +no effort of will could move his body to her rescue he must be perishing +himself. + +After these brief sensations his existence was as blank as the empty +void outside the worlds, until his ears began to throb like drums, and +he felt water, like the tears he had shed in the morning, running all +over his face. Eva held him in her arms, and alternately kissed his head +and drenched it from the lake. + +Moreover, he was in the boat, outside the bay, and their island glowed +like a furnace before his dazzled eyes. + +Those pine woods where he had gone to sleep were roaring up toward +heaven in a column of fire. The tent was burning, all its interior +illuminated until every object showed its minutest lines. He thought he +saw some of Eva's dark hairs in an upturned hair-brush on the +wash-stand. + +Fire ran along the cliff-edge and dropped hissing brands into the lake. +Old moss logs and pine-trees dry as tinder sent out sickening heat. The +light ran like a flash up the tree over their stove, and in an instant +its crown was wavering with flames. The grass itself caught here and +there, and in whatever direction the eye turned, new fires as +instantaneously sprang out to meet it. + +Stumps blazed up like lighted altars, or like huge gas-jets suddenly +turned on. Adam saw one log lying endwise downhill, one side of which +was crumbling into coals of fierce and tremulous heat, while from the +other side still sprung unsinged a delicate tuft of ferns. + +The smoke was driving straight upward in a quivering current, and in +Lake Magog's depths another island seemed to be on fire. + +Sublime as the sight was, all these details impressed themselves on the +man in an instant, and he turned his face directly up toward the woman. + +"Darling, your face looks blistered," said Adam. + +"It feels blistered," replied Eva. "I'll put some water on it, now that +you've caught your breath again. I thought I could not get you out from +those burning trees." + +"But you dragged me down the hill?" + +"Yes, and then dipped you in the lake and pushed off with you in the +boat. I don't know how I did it. But here we are together." + +Adam bathed her face carefully himself, and held her tight in his arms. +The unspeakable love of which he had dreamed, and the heat of the +burning island, seemed welding them together without other sign than the +fact. + +Not a word was sighed out for forgiveness on either side. They held each +other and floated back into the lake. Adam took an oar and occasionally +paddled, without wholly releasing his hold of Eva. + +"Don't you remember our fish's nest?" she whispered beside his neck. "I +wonder if the slim little silver thing is swimming around over the +gravel hollow, frightened by all this glare? I hope those overhanging +bushes won't catch fire and drop coals on her; for she's a silly +thing,--she might not want to dart out in deep water and lose her +unhatched family." + +Adam smiled into his wife's eyes. He was quite singed, but did not know +it. + +"Ay, burn," he spoke out exultantly, apostrophizing the island. "Burn up +our first home and all. It's worth it. We're the other side o' the world +of fire now. We've passed through it, and are afloat on the sea of +glass." + + M. H. CATHERWOOD. + + + + +PROBATION. + + +Full slow to part with her best gifts is Fate: + The choicest fruitage comes not with the spring, +But still for summer's mellowing touch must wait, + For storms and tears that seasoned excellence bring; +And Love doth fix his joyfullest estate + In hearts that have been hushed 'neath Sorrow's brooding wing. +Youth sues to Fame: she coldly answers, "Toil!" + He sighs for Nature's treasures: with reserve +Responds the goddess, "Woo them from the soil." + Then fervently he cries, "Thee will I serve,-- +Thee only, blissful Love." With proud recoil + The heavenly boy replies, "To serve me well--deserve." + + FLORENCE EARLE COATES. + + + + +THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. + +TWO PAPERS. II. + + +The route of Robertson lay over the great Indian war-path, which led, in +a southwesterly direction, from the valley of Virginia to the Cherokee +towns on the lower Tennessee, not far from the present city of +Chattanooga. He would, however, turn aside at the Tellico and visit +Echota, which was the home of the principal chiefs. While he is pursuing +his perilous way, it may be as well to glance for a moment at the people +among whom he is going at so much hazard. + +The Cherokees were the mountaineers of aboriginal America, and, like +most mountaineers, had an intense love of country and a keen +appreciation of the beautiful in nature, as is shown by the poetical +names they have bequeathed to their rivers and mountains. They were +physically a fine race of men, tall and athletic, of great bravery and +superior natural intelligence. It was their military prowess alone that +enabled them to hold possession of the country they occupied against the +many warlike tribes by whom they were surrounded. + +They had no considerable cities, or even villages, but dwelt in +scattered townships in the vicinity of some stream where fish and game +were found in abundance. A number of these towns, bearing the musical +names of Tallassee, Tamotee, Chilhowee, Citico, Tennassee, and Echota, +were at this time located upon the rich lowlands lying between the +Tellico and Little Tennessee Rivers. These towns contained a population, +in men, women, and children, estimated at from seven to eight thousand, +of whom perhaps twelve hundred were warriors. These were known as the +Ottari (or "among the mountains") Cherokees. + +About the same number, near the head-waters of the Savannah, in the +great highland belt between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains, were +styled the Erati (or "in the valley") Cherokees. Another body (among +whom were many Creeks), nearly as large, and much more lawless than +either of the others, occupied towns lower down the Tennessee and in the +vicinity of Lookout Mountain. These, from their residence near the +stream of that name, were known as the Chickamaugas. + +These various bodies were one people, governed by an Archimagus, or +King, who, with a supreme council of chiefs, which sat at Echota, +decided all important questions in peace or war. Under him were the +half-or vice-king and the several chiefs who governed the scattered +townships and together composed the supreme council. In them was lodged +the temporal power. Spiritual authority was of a far more despotic form +and character. It was vested in one person, styled the Beloved man or +woman of the tribe, who, over a people so superstitious as the +Cherokees, held a control that was wellnigh absolute. This person was +generally of superior intelligence, who, like the famous Prophet of the +Shawnees, officiated as physician, prophet, and intercessor with the +invisible powers; and, by virtue of the supernatural authority which he +claimed, he often by a single word decided the most important questions, +even when opposed by the king and the principal chiefs. + +Echota was located on the northern bank of the Tellico, about five miles +from the ruins of Fort Loudon, and thirty southwest from the present +city of Knoxville. It was the Cherokee City of Refuge. Once within its +bounds, an open foe, or even a red-handed criminal, could dwell in peace +and security. The danger to an enemy was in going and returning. It is +related that an Englishman who, in self-defence, once slew a Cherokee, +fled to this sacred city to escape the vengeance of the kindred of his +victim. He was treated here with such kindness that after a time he +thought it safe to leave his asylum. The Indians warned him against the +danger, but he left, and on the following morning his body was found on +the outskirts of the town, pierced through and through with a score of +arrows. + +About two hundred cabins and wigwams, scattered, with some order but at +wide intervals, along the bank of the river, composed the village. The +cabins, like those of the white settlers, were square and built of logs; +the wigwams were conical, with a frame of slender poles gathered +together at the top and covered with buffalo-robes, dressed and smoked +to render them impervious to the weather. An opening at the side formed +the entrance, and over it was hung a buffalo-hide, which served as a +door. The fire was built in the centre of the lodge, and directly +overhead was an aperture to let out the smoke. Here the women performed +culinary operations, except in warm weather, when such employments were +carried on outside in the open air. At night the occupants of the lodge +spread their skins and buffalo-robes on the ground, and then men, women, +and children, stretching themselves upon them, went to sleep, with their +feet to the fire. By day the robes were rolled into mats and made to +serve as seats. A lodge of ordinary size would comfortably house a dozen +persons; but two families never occupied one domicile, and, the +Cherokees seldom having a numerous progeny, not more than five or six +persons were often tenants of a single wigwam. + +These rude dwellings were mostly strung along the two sides of a wide +avenue, which was shaded here and there with large oaks and poplars and +trodden hard with the feet of men and horses. At the back of each lodge +was a small patch of cleared land, where the women and the negro slaves +(stolen from the white settlers over the mountains) cultivated beans, +corn, and potatoes, and occasionally some such fruits as apples, pears, +and plums. All labor was performed by the women and slaves, as it was +considered beneath the dignity of an Indian brave to follow any +occupation but that of killing, either wild beasts in the hunt or +enemies in war. The house-lots were without fences, and not an enclosure +could be seen in the whole settlement, cattle and horses being left to +roam at large in the woods and openings. + +In the centre of Echota, occupying a wide opening, was a circular, +tower-shaped structure, some twenty feet high and ninety in +circumference. It was rudely built of stout poles, plastered with clay, +and had a roof of the same material sloping down to broad eaves, which +effectually protected the walls from moisture. It had a wide entrance, +protected by two large buffalo-hides hung so as to meet together in the +middle. There were no windows, but an aperture in the roof, shielded by +a flap of skins a few feet above the opening, let out the smoke and +admitted just enough light to dissipate a portion of the gloom that +always shrouded the interior. Low benches, neatly made of cane, were +ranged around the circumference of the room. This was the great +council-house of the Cherokees. Here they met to celebrate the +green-corn dance and their other national ceremonials; and here the king +and half-king and the princes and head-men of the various towns +consulted together on important occasions, such as making peace or +declaring war. + +At the time of which I write, several of the log cabins of Echota were +occupied by traders, adventurous white men who, tempted by the profit of +the traffic with the Cherokees, had been led to a more or less constant +residence among them. Their cabins contained their stock in +trade,--traps, guns, powder and lead, hatchets, looking-glasses, +"stroud," beads, scarlet cloth, and other trinkets, articles generally +of small cost, but highly prized by the red-men, and for which they gave +in exchange peltries of great value. The trade was one of slow returns, +but of great profits to the trader. And it was of about equal advantage +to the Indian; for with the trap or rifle he had gotten for a few skins +he was able to secure more game in a day than his bow and arrow and rude +"dead-fall" would procure for him in a month of toilsome hunting. The +traders were therefore held in high esteem among the Cherokees, who +encouraged their living and even marrying among them. In fact, such +alliances were deemed highly honorable, and were often sought by the +daughters of the most distinguished chiefs. Consequently, among the +trader's other chattels would often be found a dusky mate and a +half-dozen half-breed children; and this, too, when he had already a +wife and family somewhere in the white settlements. + +These traders were an important class in the early history of the +country. Of necessity well acquainted with the various routes traversing +the Indian territory, and with the state of feeling among the savages, +and passing frequently to and fro between the Indian towns and the white +settlements, they were often enabled to warn the whites of intended +attacks, and to guide such hostile parties as invaded the Cherokee +territory. Though often natives of North Carolina or Virginia, and in +sympathy with the colonists, they were, if prudent of speech and +behavior, allowed to remain unmolested in the Indian towns, even when +the warriors were singing the war-song and brandishing the war-club on +the eve of an intended massacre of the settlers. + +Living in Echota at this time was one of this class who, on account of +his great services to the colonists, is deserving of special mention. +His name was Isaac Thomas, and he is said to have been a native of +Virginia. He is described as a man about forty years of age, over six +feet in height, straight, long-limbed, and wiry, and with a frame so +steeled by twenty years of mountain-life that he could endure any +conceivable hardship. His features were strongly marked and regular, and +they wore an habitual expression of comic gravity; but on occasion his +dark, deep-set eye had been known to light up with a look of +unconquerable pluck and determination. He wore moccasins and +hunting-shirt of buckskin, and his face, neck, and hands, from long +exposure, had grown to be of the same color as that material. His +coolness and intrepidity had been shown on many occasions, and these +qualities, together with his immense strength, had secured him high +esteem among the Cherokees, who, like all uncivilized people, set the +highest value upon personal courage and physical prowess. It is related +that shortly before the massacre at Fort Loudon he interfered in a +desperate feud between two Cherokee braves who had drawn their tomahawks +to hew each other in pieces. Stepping between them, he wrenched the +weapons from their hands, and then, both setting upon him at once, he +cooled their heated valor by lifting one after the other into the air +and gently tossing him into the Tellico. Subsequently, one of these +braves saved his life at the Loudon massacre, at the imminent risk of +his own. If I were writing fiction, I might make of this man an +interesting character: as it is, it will be seen that facts hereinafter +related will fully justify the length of this description. + +A wigwam, larger and more pretentious than most of the others in Echota, +stood a little apart from the rest, and not far from the council-house. +Like the others, it had a frame of poles covered with tanned skins; but +it was distinguished from them by a singular "totem,"--an otter in the +coils of a water-snake. Its interior was furnished with a sort of rude +splendor. The floor was carpeted with buffalo-hides and panther-skins, +and round the walls were hung eagles' tails, and the peltries of the +fox, the wolf, the badger, the otter, and other wild animals. From a +pole in the centre was suspended a small bag,--the mysterious +medicine-bag of the occupant. She was a woman who to this day is held in +grateful remembrance by many of the descendants of the early settlers +beyond the Alleghanies. Her personal appearance is lost to tradition, +but it is said to have been queenly and commanding. She was more than +the queen, she was the prophetess and Beloved Woman, of the Cherokees. + +At this time she is supposed to have been about thirty-five years of +age. Her father was an English officer named Ward, but her mother was of +the "blood royal," a sister of the reigning half-king Atta-Culla-Culla. +The records we have of her are scanty, as they are of all her people, +but enough has come down to us to show that she had a kind heart and a +sense of justice keen enough to recognize the rights of even her +enemies. She must have possessed very strong traits of character to +exercise as she did almost autocratic control over the fierce and +wellnigh untamable Cherokees when she was known to sympathize with and +befriend their enemies the white settlers. Not long before the time of +which I am writing, she had saved the lives of two whites,--Jeremiah +Jack and William Rankin,--who had come into collision with a party of +Cherokees; and subsequently she performed many similar services to the +frontier people. + +Other wigwams as imposing as that of Nancy Ward, and not far from the +council-house, were the habitations of the head-king Oconostota, the +half-king Atta-Culla-Culla, and the prince of Echota, Savanuca, +otherwise called the Raven. Of these men it will be necessary to say +more hereafter: here I need only remark that they have now gathered in +the council-house, with many of the principal warriors and head-men of +the Ottari Cherokees, and that the present fate of civilization in the +Southwest is hanging on their deliberations. + +They are of a gigantic race, and none of those at this conclave, except +Atta-Culla-Culla, are less than six feet in height "without their +moccasins." Squatted as they are gravely around the council-fire, they +present a most picturesque appearance. Among them are the +Bread-Slave-Catcher, noted for his exploits in stealing negroes; the +Tennassee Warrior, prince of the town of that name; Noon-Day, a +wide-awake brave; Bloody Fellow, whose subsequent exploits will show the +appropriateness of his name; Old Tassell, a wise and reasonably just +old man, afterward Archimagus; and John Watts, a promising young +half-breed, destined to achieve eminence in slaughtering white people. + +As one after another of them rises to speak, the rest, with downcast +eyes and cloudy visages, listen with silent gravity, only now and then +expressing assent by a solitary "Ugh!" + +There is strong, though suppressed, passion among them; but it is +passion under the control of reason. Whatever they decide to do will be +done without haste, and after a careful weighing of all the +consequences. In the midst of their deliberations the rapid tread of a +horse's feet is heard coming up the long avenue. The horseman halts +before the council-house, and soon the buffalo-hide parts in twain, and +a tall young warrior, decorated with eagles' feathers and half clad in +the highest style of Cherokee fashion, enters the door-way. He stands +silent, motionless, not moving a pace beyond the entrance, till +Oconostota, raising his eyes and lifting his huge form into an erect +posture, bids him speak and make known his errand. + +The young brave explains that the chief of the pale-faces has come down +the great war-path to an outlying town to see the head-men of the +Ottari. The warriors have detained him till they can know the will of +their father the Archimagus. + +The answer is brief: "Let him come. Oconostota will hear him." + +And now an hour goes by, during which these grave chiefs sit as silent +and motionless as if keeping watch around a sepulchre. At its close the +tramp of a body of horsemen is heard, and soon Robertson, escorted by a +score of painted warriors, enters the council-chamber. Like the rest, +the new-comers are of fine physical proportions; and, as the others rise +to their feet and all form in a circle about him, Robertson, who stands +only five feet nine inches and is not so robust as in later years, seems +like a pygmy among giants. Yet he is as cool, as collected, as +apparently unconscious of danger, as if every one of those painted +savages (when aroused, red devils) was his near friend or +blood-relation. The chiefs glance at him, and then at one another, with +as much wonderment in their eyes as was ever seen in the eyes of a +Cherokee. They know he is but one man and they twelve hundred, and that +by their law of retaliation his life is forfeit; and yet he stands +there, a look of singular power on his face, as if not they but he were +master of the situation. They have seen physical bravery; but this is +moral courage, which, when a man has a great purpose, lifts him above +all personal considerations and makes his life no more to him than the +bauble he wears upon his finger. + +Robertson waits for the others to speak, and there is a short pause +before the old chief breaks the silence. Then, extending his hand to +Robertson, he says, "Our white brother is welcome. We have eaten of his +venison and drunk of his fire-water. He is welcome. Let him speak. +Oconostota will listen." + +The white man returns cordially the grasp of the Indian; and then, still +standing, while all about him seat themselves on the ground, he makes +known the object of his coming. I regret I cannot give here his exact +answer, for all who read this would wish to know the very words he used +on this momentous occasion. No doubt they were, like all he said, terse, +pithy, and in such scriptural phrase as was with him so habitual. I know +only the substance of what he said, and it was as follows: that the +young brave had been killed by one not belonging to the Watauga +community; that the murderer had fled, but when apprehended would be +dealt with as his crime deserved; and he added that he and his +companion-settlers had come into the country desiring to live in peace +with all men, but more especially with their near neighbors the brave +Cherokees, with whom they should always endeavor to cultivate relations +of friendliness and good-fellowship. + +The Indians heard him at first with silent gravity, but, as he went on, +their feelings warmed to him, and found vent in a few expressive +"Ughs!" and when he closed, the old Archimagus rose, and, turning to the +chiefs, said, "What our white brother says is like the truth. What say +my brothers? are not his words good?" + +The response was, "They are good." + +A general hand-shaking followed; and then they all pressed Robertson to +remain with them and partake of their hospitality. Though extremely +anxious to return at once with the peaceful tidings, he did so, and thus +converted possible enemies into positive friends; and the friendship +thus formed was not broken till the outbreak of the Revolution. + +While Robertson had been away, Sevier had not been idle. He had put +Watauga into the best possible state of defence. With the surprising +energy that was characteristic of him, he had built a fort and gathered +every white settler into it or safe within range of its muskets. His +force was not a hundred strong; but if Robertson had been safely out of +the savage hold, he might have enjoyed a visit from Oconostota and his +twelve hundred Ottari warriors. + +The fort was planned by Sevier, who had no military training except such +as he had received under his patron and friend Lord Dunmore. Though rude +and hastily built, it was a model of military architecture, and in the +construction of it Sevier displayed such a genius for war as readily +accounts for his subsequent achievements. + +It was located on Gap Creek, about half a mile northeast of the Watauga, +upon a gentle knoll, from about which the trees, and even stumps, were +carefully cleared, to prevent their sheltering a lurking enemy. The +buildings have now altogether crumbled away; but the spot is still +identified by a few graves and a large locust-tree,--then a slender +sapling, now a burly patriarch, which has remained to our day to point +out the spot where occurred the first conflict between civilization and +savagery in the new empire beyond the Alleghanies. For the conflict was +between those two forces; and the forts along the frontier--of which +this at Watauga was the original and model--were the forerunners of +civilization,--the "voice crying in the wilderness," announcing the +reign of peace which was to follow. + +The fort covered a parallelogram of about an acre, and was built of log +cabins placed at intervals along the four sides, the logs notched +closely together, so that the walls were bullet-proof. One side of the +cabins formed the exterior of the fort, and the spaces between them were +filled with palisades of heavy timber, eight feet long, sharpened at the +ends, and set firmly into the ground. At each of the angles was a +block-house, about twenty feet square and two stories high, the upper +story projecting about two feet beyond the lower, so as to command the +sides of the fort and enable the besieged to repel a close attack or any +attempt to set fire to the buildings. Port-holes were placed at suitable +distances. There were two wide gate-ways, constructed to open quickly to +permit a sudden sally or the speedy rescue of outside fugitives. On one +of these was a lookout station, which commanded a wide view of the +surrounding country. The various buildings would comfortably house two +hundred people, but on an emergency a much larger number might find +shelter within the enclosure. + +The fort was admirably adapted to its design, and, properly manned, +would repel any attack of fire-arms in the hands of such desultory +warriors as the Indians. In the arithmetic of the frontier it came to be +adopted as a rule that one white man behind a wall of logs was a match +for twenty-five Indians in the open field; and subsequent events showed +this to have been not a vainglorious reckoning. + +There were much older men at Watauga than either Sevier or +Robertson,--one of whom was now only twenty-eight and the other +thirty,--but they had from the first been recognized as natural leaders. +These two events--the building of the fort and the Cherokee mission, +which displayed Sevier's uncommon military genius and Robertson's +ability and address as a negotiator--elevated them still higher in the +regard of their associates, and at once the cares and responsibilities +of leadership in both civil and military affairs were thrust upon them. +But Sevier, with a modesty which he showed throughout his whole career, +whenever it was necessary that one should take precedence of the other, +always insisted upon Robertson's having the higher position; and so it +was that in the military company which was now formed Sevier, who had +served as a captain under Dunmore, was made lieutenant, while Robertson +was appointed captain. + +The Watauga community had been till now living under no organized +government. This worked very well so long as the newly-arriving +immigrants were of the class which is "a law unto itself;" but when +another class came in,--men fleeing from debt in the older settlements +or hoping on the remote and inaccessible frontier to escape the penalty +of their crimes,--some organization which should have the sanction of +the whole body of settlers became necessary. Therefore, speaking in the +language of Sevier, they, "by consent of the people, formed a court, +taking the Virginia laws as a guide, as near as the situation of affairs +would admit." + +The settlers met in convention at the fort, and selected thirteen of +their number to draft articles of association for the management of the +colony. From these thirteen, five (among whom were Sevier and Robertson) +were chosen commissioners, and to them was given power to adjudicate +upon all matters of controversy and to adopt and direct all measures +having a bearing upon the peace, safety, good order, and well-being of +the community. By them, in the language of the articles, "all things +were to be settled." + +These articles of association were the first compact of civil government +anywhere west of the Alleghanies. They were adopted in 1772, three years +prior to the association formed for Kentucky "under the great elm-tree +outside of the fort at Boonesboro." The simple government thus +established was sufficient to secure good order in the colony for +several years following. + +Now ensued four more years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity, during +which the settlement increased greatly in numbers and extended its +borders in all directions. The Indians, true to their pledges to +Robertson, continued friendly, though suffering frequently from the +depredations of lawless white men from the old settlements. These were +reckless, desperate characters, who had fled from the order and law of +established society to find freedom for unbridled license in the new +community. Driven out by the Watauga settlers, they herded together in +the wilderness, where they subsisted by hunting and fishing and preying +upon the now peaceable Cherokees. They were an annoyance to both the +peaceable white man and the red; but at length, when the Indians showed +feelings of hostility, they became a barrier between the savages and the +industrious cultivators of the soil, and thus unintentionally +contributed to the well-being of the Watauga community. + +No event materially affecting the interests of the colony occurred +during the four years following Robertson's visit to the Cherokees at +Echota. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought, but the +shot which was "heard round the world" did not echo till months +afterward in that secluded hamlet on the Watauga. But when it did +reverberate amid those old woods, every backwoodsman sprang to his feet +and asked to be enrolled to rush to the rescue of his countrymen on the +seaboard. His patriotism was not stimulated by British oppression, for +he was beyond the reach of the "king's minions." He had no grievances to +complain of, for he drank no tea, used no stamps, and never saw a +tax-gatherer. It was the "glorious cause of liberty," as Sevier +expressed it, which called them all to arms to do battle for freedom and +their countrymen. + +"A company of fine riflemen was accordingly enlisted, and embodied at +the expense and risque of their private fortunes, to act in defence of +the common cause on the sea-shore."[001] But before the volunteers could +be despatched over the mountains it became apparent that their services +would be needed at home for the defence of the frontier against the +Indians. + +Through the trader Isaac Thomas it soon became known to the settlers +that Cameron, the British agent, was among the Cherokees, endeavoring to +incite them to hostilities against the Americans. At first the Indians +resisted the enticements--the hopes of spoil and plunder and the +recovery of their hunting-grounds--which Cameron held out to them. They +could not understand how men of the same race and language could be at +war with one another. It was never so known in Indian tradition. But +soon--late in 1775--an event occurred which showed that the virus spread +among them by the crafty Scotchman had begun to work, at least with the +younger braves, and that it might at any moment break out among the +whole nation. A trader named Andrew Grear, who lived at Watauga, had +been at Echota. He had disposed of his wares, and was about to return +with the furs he had taken in exchange, when he perceived signs of +hostile feeling among some of the young warriors, and on his return, +fearing an ambuscade on the great war-path, he left it before he reached +the crossing at the French Broad, and went homeward by a less-frequented +trail along the Nolachucky. Two other traders, named Boyd and Dagget, +who left Echota on the following day, pursued the usual route, and were +waylaid and murdered at a small stream which has ever since borne the +name of Boyd's Creek. In a few days their bodies were found, only half +concealed in the shallow water; and as the tidings flew among the +scattered settlements they excited universal alarm and indignation. + +The settlers had been so long at peace with the Cherokees that they had +been lulled into a false security; but, the savage having once tasted +blood, they knew his appetite would "grow by what it fed on," and they +prepared for a deadly struggle with an enemy of more than twenty times +their number. The fort at Watauga was at once put into a state of +efficient defence, smaller forts were erected in the centre of every +scattered settlement, and a larger one was built on the frontier, near +the confluence of the north and south forks of the Holston River, to +protect the more remote settlements. This last was called Fort Patrick +Henry, in honor of the patriotic governor of Virginia. The one at +Watauga received the name of Fort Lee. + +All the able-bodied males sixteen years of age and over were enrolled, +put under competent officers, and drilled for the coming struggle. But +the winter passed without any further act of hostility on the part of +the disaffected Cherokees. The older chiefs, true to their pledges to +Robertson, still held back, and were able to restrain the younger +braves, who thirsted for the conflict from a passion for the excitement +and glory they could find only in battle. + +Nancy Ward was in the secrets of the Cherokee leaders, and every word +uttered in their councils she faithfully repeated to the trader Isaac +Thomas, who conveyed the intelligence personally or by trusty messengers +to Sevier and Robertson at Watauga. Thus the settlers were enabled to +circumvent the machinations of Cameron until a more powerful enemy +appeared among the Cherokees in the spring of 1776. This was John +Stuart, British superintendent of Southern Indian affairs, a man of +great address and ability, and universally known and beloved among all +the Southwestern tribes. Fifteen years before, his life had been saved +at the Fort Loudon massacre by Atta-Culla-Culla, and a friendship had +then been contracted between them which now secured the influence of the +half-king in plunging the Cherokees into hostilities with the settlers. + +The plan of operations had been concerted between Stuart and the +British commander-in-chief, General Gage. It was for a universal rising +among the Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Shawnees, who were to +invade the frontiers of Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, while +simultaneously a large military and naval force under Sir Peter Parker +descended upon the Southern seaboard and captured Charleston. It was +also intended to enlist the co-operation of such inhabitants of the back +settlements as were known to be favorable to the British. Thus the +feeble colonists were to be not only encircled by a cordon of fire, but +a conflagration was to be lighted which should consume every patriot's +dwelling. It was an able but pitiless and bloodthirsty plan, for it +would let loose upon the settler every savage atrocity and make his +worst foes those of his own household. If successful, it would have +strangled in fire and blood the spirit of independence in the Southern +colonies. + +That it did not succeed seems to us, who know the means employed to +thwart it, little short of a miracle. Those means were the four hundred +and forty-five raw militia under Moultrie, who, behind a pile of +palmetto logs, on the 28th of June, 1776, repulsed Sir Peter Parker in +his attack on Sullivan's Island in the harbor of Charleston, South +Carolina, and the two hundred and ten "over-mountain men," under Sevier, +Robertson, and Isaac Shelby, who beat back, on the 20th and 21st of +July, the Cherokee invasion of the western frontier. + +As early as the 30th of May, Sevier and Robertson were apprised by their +faithful friend Nancy Ward of the intended attack, and at once they sent +messengers to Colonel Preston, of the Virginia Committee of Safety, for +an additional supply of powder and lead and a reinforcement of such men +as could be spared from home-service. One hundred pounds of powder and +twice as much lead, and one hundred militiamen, were despatched in +answer to the summons. The powder and lead were distributed among the +stations, and the hundred men were sent to strengthen the garrison of +Fort Patrick Henry, the most exposed position on the frontier. The +entire force of the settlers was now two hundred and ten, forty of whom +were at Watauga under Sevier and Robertson, the remainder at and near +Fort Patrick Henry under no less than six militia captains, no one of +whom was bound to obey the command of any of the others. This +many-headed authority would doubtless have worked disastrously to the +loosely-jointed force had there not been in it as a volunteer a young +man of twenty-five who in the moment of supreme danger seized the +absolute command and rallied the men to victory. His name was Isaac +Shelby, and this was the first act in a long career in the whole of +which "he deserved well of his country." + +Thus, from the 30th of May till the 11th of July the settlers slept with +their rifles in their hands, expecting every night to hear the Indian +war-whoop, and every day to receive some messenger from Nancy Ward with +tidings that the warriors were on the march for the settlements. At last +the messengers came,--four of them at once,--as we may see from the +following letter, in which Sevier announces their arrival to the +Committee of Safety of Fincastle County, Virginia: + + "FORT LEE, July 11, 1776. + + DEAR GENTLEMEN,--Isaac Thomas, William Falling, Jarot Williams, and + one more, have this moment come in, by making their escape from the + Indians, and say six hundred Indians and whites were to start for + this fort, and intend to drive the country up to New River before + they return. + + JOHN SEVIER." + +He says nothing of the feeble fort and his slender garrison of only +forty men; he shows no sign of fear, nor does he ask for aid in the +great peril. The letter is characteristic of the man, and it displays +that utter fearlessness which, with other great qualities, made him the +hero of the Border. The details of the information brought by Thomas to +Sevier and Robertson showed how truthfully Nancy Ward had previously +reported to them the secret designs of the Cherokees. The whole nation +was about to set out upon the war-path. With the Creeks they were to +make a descent upon Georgia, and with the Shawnees, Mingoes, and +Delawares upon Kentucky and the exposed parts of Virginia, while seven +hundred chosen Ottari warriors were to fall upon the settlers on the +Watauga, Holston, and Nolachucky. This last force was to be divided into +two bodies of three hundred and fifty each, one of which, under +Oconostota, was to attack Fort Watauga; the other, under Dragging-Canoe, +head-chief of the Chickamaugas, was to attempt the capture of Fort +Patrick Henry, which they supposed to be still defended by only about +seventy men. But the two bodies were to act together, the one supporting +the other in case it should be found that the settlers were better +prepared for defence than was anticipated. The preparation for the +expedition Thomas had himself seen: its object and the points of attack +he had learned from Nancy Ward, who had come to his cabin at midnight on +the 7th of July and urged his immediate departure. He had delayed +setting out till the following night, to impart his information to +William Falling and Jarot and Isaac Williams, men who could be trusted, +and who he proposed should set out at the same time, but by different +routes, to warn the settlements, so that in case one or more of them was +waylaid and killed the others might have a chance to get through in +safety. However, at the last moment the British agent Cameron had +himself disclosed the purpose of the expedition to Falling and the two +brothers Williams, and detailed them with a Captain Guest to go along +with the Indians as far as the Nolachucky, when they were to scatter +among the settlements and warn any "king's men" to join the Indians or +to wear a certain badge by which they would be known and protected in +any attack from the savages. These men had set out with the Indians, but +had escaped from them during the night of the 8th, and all had arrived +at Watauga in safety. + +Thomas and Falling were despatched at once with the tidings into +Virginia, the two Williamses were sent to warn the garrison at Fort +Patrick Henry, and then the little force at Watauga furbished up their +rifles and waited in grim expectation the coming of Oconostota. + +But the garrison at Fort Patrick Henry was the first to have tidings +from the Cherokees. Only a few men were at the fort, the rest being +scattered among the outlying stations, but all were within +supporting-distance. On the 19th of July the scouts came in and reported +that a large body of Indians was only about twenty miles away and +marching directly upon the garrison. Runners were at once despatched to +bring in the scattered forces, and by nightfall the one hundred and +seventy were gathered at the fort, ready to meet the enemy. Then a +council of war was held by the six militia captains to determine upon +the best plan of action. Some were in favor of awaiting the attack of +the savages behind the walls of the fort, but one of them, William +Cocke, who afterward became honorably conspicuous in the history of +Tennessee, proposed the bolder course of encountering the enemy in the +open field. If they did not, he contended that the Indians, passing them +on the flank, would fall on and butcher the defenceless women of the +settlements in their rear. + +It was a step of extreme boldness, for they supposed they would +encounter the whole body of seven hundred Cherokees; but it was +unanimously agreed to, and early on the following morning the little +army, with flankers and an advance guard of twelve men, marched out to +meet the enemy. They had not gone far when the advance guard came upon a +force of about twenty Indians. The latter fled, and the whites pursued +for several miles, the main body following close upon the heels of the +advance, but without coming upon any considerable force of the enemy. +Then, being in a country favorable to an ambuscade, and the evening +coming on, they held a council and decided to return to the fort. + +They had not gone upward of a mile when a large force of the enemy +appeared in their rear. The whites wheeled about at once, and were +forming into line, when the whole body of Indians rushed upon them with +great fury, shouting, "The Unacas are running! Come on! scalp them!" +They attacked simultaneously the centre and left flank of the whites; +and then was seen the hazard of going into battle with a many-headed +commander. For a moment all was confusion, and the companies in +attempting to form in the face of the impetuous attack were being +broken, when Isaac Shelby rushed to the front and ordered each company a +few steps to the rear, where they should reform, while he, with +Lieutenant Moore, Robert Edmiston, and John Morrison, and a private +named John Findlay,--in all five men,--should meet the onset of the +savages. Instantly the six captains obeyed the command, recognizing in +the volunteer of twenty-five their natural leader, and then the battle +became general. The Indians attacked furiously, and for a few moments +those five men bore the brunt of the assault. With his own hand Robert +Edmiston slew six of the more forward of the enemy, Morrison nearly as +many, and then Moore became engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand fight +with an herculean chieftain of the Cherokees. They were a few paces in +advance of the main body, and, as if by common consent, the firing was +partly suspended on both sides to await the issue of the conflict. +"Moore had shot the chief, wounding him in the knee, but not so badly as +to prevent him from standing. Moore advanced toward him, and the Indian +threw his tomahawk, but missed him. Moore sprung at him with his large +butcher-knife drawn, which the Indian caught by the blade and attempted +to wrest from the hand of his antagonist. Holding on with desperate +tenacity to the knife, both clinched with their left hands. A scuffle +ensued, in which the Indian was thrown to the ground, his right hand +being nearly dissevered, and bleeding profusely. Moore, still holding +the handle of his knife in the right hand, succeeded with the other in +disengaging his own tomahawk from his belt, and ended the strife by +sinking it in the skull of the Indian. Until this conflict was ended, +the Indians fought with unyielding spirit. After its issue became known, +they retreated."[002] "Our men pursued in a cautious manner, lest they +might be led into an ambuscade, hardly crediting their own senses that +so numerous a foe was completely routed. In this miracle of a battle we +had not a man killed, and only five wounded, who all recovered. But the +wounded of the enemy died till the whole loss in killed amounted to +upward of forty."[003] + +As soon as this conflict was over, a horseman was sent off to Watauga +with tidings of the astonishing victory. "A great day's work in the +woods," was Sevier's remark when speaking subsequently of this battle. + +Meanwhile, Oconostota, with his three hundred and fifty warriors, had +followed the trail along the Nolachucky, and on the morning of the 20th +had come upon the house of William Bean, the hospitable entertainer of +Robertson on his first visit to Watauga, Bean himself was at the fort, +to which had fled all the women and children in the settlement, but his +wife had preferred to remain at home. She had many friends among the +Indians, and she felt confident they would pass her without molestation. +She was mistaken. They took her captive, and removed her to their +station-camp on the Nolachucky. There a warrior pointed his rifle at +her, as if to fire; but Oconostota threw up the barrel and began to +question her as to the strength of the whites. She gave him misleading +replies, with which he appeared satisfied, for he soon told her she was +not to be killed, but taken to their towns to teach their women how to +manage a dairy. + +Those at the fort knew that Oconostota was near by on the Nolachucky, +but he had deferred the attack so long that they concluded the wary and +cautious old chief was waiting to be reinforced by the body under +Dragging-Canoe, which had gone to attack Fort Patrick Henry. News had +reached them of Shelby's victory, and, as it would be some time before +the broken Cherokees could rally and join Oconostota, they were in no +apprehension of immediate danger. Accordingly, they went about their +usual vocations, and so it happened that a number of the women ventured +outside the fort as usual to milk the cows on the morning of the 21st of +July. Among them was one who was destined to occupy for many years the +position of the "first lady in Tennessee." + +Her name was Catherine Sherrell, and she was the daughter of Samuel +Sherrell, one of the first settlers on the Watauga. In age she was +verging upon twenty, and she was tall, straight as an arrow, and lithe +as a hickory sapling. I know of no portrait of her in existence, but +tradition describes her as having dark eyes, flexible nostrils, regular +features, a clear, transparent skin, a neck like a swan, and a wealth of +wavy brown hair, which was a wonder to look at and was in striking +contrast to the whiteness of her complexion. A free life in the open air +had made her as supple as an eel and as agile as a deer. It was said +that, encumbered by her womanly raiment, she had been known to place one +hand upon a six-barred fence and clear it at a single bound. And now her +agility was to do her essential service. + +While she and the other women, unconscious of danger, were "coaxing the +snowy fluid from the yielding udders of the kine," suddenly the +war-whoop sounded through the woods, and a band of yelling savages +rushed out upon them. Quick as thought the women turned and darted for +the gate of the fort; but the savages were close upon them in a +neck-and-neck race, and Kate, more remote than the rest, was cut off +from the entrance. Seeing her danger, Sevier and a dozen others opened +the gate and were about to rush out upon the savages, hundreds of whom +were now in front of the fort; but Robertson held them back, saying they +could not rescue her, and to go out would insure their own destruction. +At a glance Kate took in the situation. She could have no help from her +friends, and the tomahawk and scalping-knife were close behind her. +Instantly she turned, and, fleeter than a deer, made for a point in the +stockade some distance from the entrance. The palisades were eight feet +high, but with one bound she reached the top, and with another was over +the wall, falling into the arms of Sevier, who for the first time called +her his "bonnie Kate," his "brave girl for a foot-race." The other women +reached the entrance of the fort in safety. + +Then the baffled savages opened fire, and for a full hour it rained +bullets upon the little enclosure. But the missiles fell harmless: not a +man was wounded. Driven by the light charges the Indians were accustomed +to use, the bullets simply bounded off from the thick logs and did no +damage. But it was not so with the fire of the besieged. The order was, +"Wait till you see the whites of your enemies' eyes, and then make sure +of your man." And so every one of those forty rifles did terrible +execution. + +For twenty days the Indians hung about the fort, returning again and +again to the attack; but not a man who kept within the walls was even +wounded. It was not so with a man and a boy who, emboldened by a few +days' absence of the Indians, ventured outside to go down to the river. +The man was scalped on the spot; the boy was taken prisoner, and +subjected to a worse fate in one of the Indian villages. His name was +Moore, and he was a younger brother of the lieutenant who fought so +bravely in the battle near Fort Patrick Henry. + +At last, baffled and dispirited, the Indians fell back to the Tellico. +They had lost about sixty killed and a larger number wounded, and they +had inflicted next to no damage upon the white settlers. They were +enraged beyond bounds and thirsting for vengeance. Only two prisoners +were in their power; but on them they resolved to wreak their extremest +tortures. Young Moore was taken to the village of his captor, high up in +the mountains, and there burned at a stake. A like fate was determined +upon for good Mrs. Bean, the kindly woman whose hospitable door had ever +been open to all, white man or Indian. Oconostota would not have her +die; but Dragging-Canoe insisted that she should be offered up as a +sacrifice to the _manes_ of his fallen warriors; and the head-king was +not powerful enough to prevent it. + +She was taken to the summit of one of the burial-mounds,--those relics +of a forgotten race which are so numerous along the banks of the +Tellico. She was tied to a stake, the fagots were heaped about her, and +the fire was about to be lighted, when suddenly Nancy Ward appeared +among the crowd of savages and ordered a stay of the execution. +Dragging-Canoe was a powerful brave, but not powerful enough to combat +the will of this woman. Mrs. Bean was not only liberated, but sent back +with an honorable escort to her husband. + +The village in which young Moore was executed was soon visited by Sevier +with a terrible retribution; and from that day for twenty years his name +was a terror among the Cherokees. + +Before many months there was a wedding in the fort at Watauga. It was +that of John Sevier and the "bonnie Kate," famous to this day for +leaping stockades and six-barred fences. He lived to be twelve years +governor of Tennessee and the idol of a whole people. She shared all his +love and all his honors; but in her highest estate she was never ashamed +of her lowly days, and never tired of relating her desperate leap at +Watauga; and, even in her old age, she would merrily add, "I would make +it again--every day in the week--for such a husband." + + EDMUND KIRKE. + + + + +A PLEASANT SPIRIT. + + +It was drawing toward nine o'clock, and symptoms of closing for the +night were beginning to manifest themselves in Mr. Pegram's store. The +few among the nightly loungers there who had still a remnant of domestic +conscience left had already risen from boxes and "kags," and gathered up +the pound packages of sugar and coffee which had served as the pretext +for their coming, but which would not, alas! sufficiently account for +the length of their stay. The older stagers still sat composedly in the +seats of honor immediately surrounding the red-hot stove, and a look of +disapproval passed over their faces as Mr. Pegram, opening the door and +thereby letting in a blast of cold air upon their legs, proceeded to put +up the outside shutters. + +"In a hurry to-night, ain't you, Pegram?" inquired Mr. Dickey, as the +proprietor returned, brushing flakes of snow from his coat and shivering +expressively. + +"Well, not particular," replied Mr. Pegram, with a deliberation which +confirmed his words, "but it's pretty nigh nine, and Sally she ast me +not to be later _than_ nine to-night, for our hired girl's gone +home for a spell, and that makes it kind of lonesome for Sally: the baby +don't count for much, only when he cries, and I'll do him the justice to +say that isn't often." + +"It's a new thing for Sally to be scary, ain't it?" queried Mr. +Crumlish, with an expression of mild surprise. + +"Well, yes, I may say it is," admitted Mr. Pegram; "but, you know, we +had a kind of a warning, before we moved in, that all wasn't quite as it +should be, and, as bad luck would have it, there was a Boston paper come +round her new coat, with a story in it that laid out to be true, of +noises and appearances, and one thing and another, in a house right +there to Boston, and Sally she says to me, 'If they believe in them +things to Boston, where they don't believe in nothing they can't see and +handle, if all we hear's true, there must be something in it, and I only +wish I'd read that piece before we took the house.' + +"I keep a-telling her we've neither seen nor heard nothing out of the +common, so far, but all she'll say to that is, 'That's no reason we +won't;' and sure enough it isn't, though I don't tell her so." + +"But surely," said Mr. Birchard, the young schoolmaster, who boarded +with Mr. Dickey, "you don't believe any such trash as that account of a +haunted house in Boston?" There was a non-committal silence, and he went +on impatiently, "I could give you a dozen instances in which mysteries +of this kind, when they were energetically followed up, were proved to +be the results of the most simple and natural causes." + +"Like enough, like enough, young man," said Uncle Jabez Snyder, in his +tremulous tones, "and mebbe some folks not a hunderd miles from here +could tell you another dozen that hadn't no natural causes." + +"I should like very much to hear them," replied the young man, with an +exasperatingly incredulous smile. + +"If Pegram here wasn't in such a durned hurry to turn us out and shet +up," said Mr. Dickey, with manifest irritation, "Uncle Jabez could tell +you all you want to hear." + +Mr. Pegram looked disturbed. It was with him a fixed principle never to +disoblige a customer, and he saw that he was disobliging at least half a +dozen. On the other hand, he was not prepared to face his wife should he +so daringly disregard her wishes as to keep the store open half an hour +later than usual. He pondered for a few moments, and then his face +suddenly brightened, and he said, "If one of you gentlemen that passes +my house on your way home would undertake to put coal on the fire, put +the lights out, lock the door, and bring me the key, the store's at your +disposal till ten o'clock; and I'm only sorry I can't stay myself." + +Two or three immediately volunteered, but as the schoolmaster and Mr. +Dickey were the only ones whose way lay directly past Mr. Pegram's door, +it was decided that they should divide the labors and honors between +them. + +"I'd like you not to stop later _than_ ten," said Mr. Pegram +deprecatingly, as he buttoned his great-coat and drew his hat down over +his eyes, "for I have to be up so early, since that boy cleared out, +that I need to go to bed sooner than I mostly do." + +Compliance with this modest request was readily promised, good-nights +were exchanged, and the lessened circle drew in more closely around the +stove, for several of the company had reluctantly decided that, all +things considered, it would be the better part of valor for them to go +when Mr. Pegram went. + +There was a few minutes' silence, and then Mr. Dickey said impatiently, +"We're all ready, Uncle Jabez. Why don't you fire away, so's to be +through by ten o'clock?" + +"I was a-thinkin' which one I'd best tell him," said Uncle Jabez mildly. +"They're all convincin' to a mind that's open to convincement, but I'd +like to pick out the one that's most so." + +"There's the one about Alviry Pratt's grandfather," suggested Mr. +Crumlish encouragingly. + +"No," mused the old man. "I've no doubt of that myself, but then it +didn't happen to me in person, and I've a notion he'd rather hear one +I've experienced than two I've heard tell of." + +"Of course I would, Uncle Jabez," said Mr. Birchard kindly, but with an +amused twinkle in his eyes. "You take your own time: it's only just +struck nine, and there's no hurry at all." + +"Supposin' I was to tell him that one about my first wife?" said the old +man presently, and with an inquiring look around the circle. + +Several heads were nodded approvingly, and Mr. Crumlish said, "The very +one I'd 'a' chosen myself if you'd ast me." + +Thus encouraged, Uncle Jabez, with a sort of deliberate promptness, +began: "We married very young, Lavina and me,--too young, some said, but +I never could see why, for I had a good farm, with health and strength +to carry it on, and she was a master-hand with butter and cheese. At any +rate, we thriv; and if we had plenty of children, there was plenty for +'em to eat, and they grew as fast as everything else did. She wasn't +what you'd fairly call handsome, Lavina wasn't, but she was +pleasant-appearin', very,--plump as a pa'tridge, with nice brown hair +and eyes and a clean-lookin' skin. But it was her smile in particular +that took me; and when she set in to laugh you couldn't no more' help +laughin' along with her than one bobolink can help laughin' back when he +hears another. She was the tenderest-hearted woman that ever breathed +the breath of life: she couldn't bear to hurt the feelin's of a cat, and +she'd go 'ithout a chicken-dinner any day sooner'n kill a chicken. As +time passed on and she begun to age a little, she grew stouter 'n' +stouter; but it didn't seem to worry her none. She'd puff and blow a +good bit when she went up-stairs, but she'd always laugh about it, and +say that when we was rich enough we'd put in an elevator, like they had +at a big hotel we saw once. It would suit her fine, she said, to set +down on a cushioned seat and be up-stairs afore she could git up again. +Now, you needn't think I'm wanderin' from the p'int," and Uncle Jabez +looked severely at Mr. Dickey, who was manifestly fidgeting. "All you +folks that have lived about here all your lives knew Lavina 'ithout my +tellin' you this; but Mr. Birchard he's a stranger in the neighborhood, +and it's needful to the understandin' of my story that he should know +just what sort of a woman she was,--or is, as I should say." + +Mr. Dickey subsided, while Mr. Birchard tried to throw still more of an +expression of the deepest interest and attention into his face. He must +have succeeded, for the old man, going on with his story, fixed his eyes +more and more frequently upon those of the young one. They were large, +gentle, appealing blue eyes, with a mildly surprised expression, which +Mr. Birchard found exceedingly attractive. Whether or not the fact that +the youngest of Uncle Jabez's children, a daughter, had precisely +similar eyes, in any way accounted for the attraction, I leave to minds +more astute than my own. + +"You may think," the narrator resumed, when he felt that he had settled +Mr. Dickey, "whether or not you'd miss a woman like that, when you'd +summered and wintered with her more'n forty year. She always said she +hoped she'd go sudden, for she was so heavy it would 'a' took three or +four of the common run of folks to lift her, and she dreaded a long +sickness. Well, she was took at her word. We was settin', as it might be +now, one on one side the fire, the other on t'other, in the big +easy-cheers that Samuel--that's our oldest son, and a good boy, if I do +say it--had sent us with the fust spare money he had. She'd been +laughin' and jokin', as she so often did, five minutes afore. +Gracie--she was a little thing then, and, bein' the youngest, a little +sassy and sp'iled, mebbe--had been on a trip to the city, and she'd +brought her ma a present of a shoe-buttoner with a handle a full foot +long. + +"'There, ma,' she says, laughin' up in her mother's face; 'you was +complainin' about the distance it seemed to be to your feet: here's a +kind of a telegraft-pole to shorten it a little.' + +"My, how we did laugh! And Lavina must needs try it right away, to +please Gracie; and she said it worked beautiful. But whether it was the +laughin' so much right on top of a hearty supper, or the bendin' down to +try her new toy, or both, she jest says, as natural as I'm speakin' now, +'Jabez, I'm a-goin'--' and then stopped. And when I looked up to see why +she didn't finish, she was gone, sure enough." + +His voice broke, and he stopped abruptly. Mr. Birchard, without in the +least intending to do it, grasped his hand, and held it with +affectionate warmth for a moment. + +"Thank you, young man, thank you kindly," said Uncle Jabez, recovering +his voice and shaking Mr. Birchard's hand heartily at the same moment. +"You've an uncommon feelin' heart for one so young. + +"To say I was lonesome after she went don't say much; but time evens +things out after a while, or we couldn't stand it as long as we do. +Gracie she settled into a little woman all at once, as you may say, and +seemed older for a while than she does now. The rest was all married and +gone, but one boy,--a good boy, too. But they came around me, comfortin' +and helpin', though each one of 'em mourned her nigh as much as I did +myself; and after a while, as I said, I got used, in a manner, to doin' +'ithout her." + +Here he made a long pause, with his eyes intently fixed upon the +darkness of the adjoining store-room. The heat from the stove had become +too great after the shutting of the shutters, and one of the men had +opened an inner door for ventilation. + +Now, as one pair of eyes after another followed those of the old man, +there was a sort of subdued stir around the circle, and the +schoolmaster, to his intense disgust, caught himself looking hastily +over his shoulder,--the door being behind him. + +Mr. Dickey broke the spell by suddenly rising, with the exclamation, "I +think we're cooled off about enough; and, as I'm a little rheumaticky +to-night, I'll shut that door, if you've none of you no objections." + +There was a subdued murmur of assent, the door was closed, and Uncle +Jabez returned to the thread of his discourse: + +"Lemme see: where was I? Oh, yes. You may think it a little strange, +now, but I didn't neither see nor hear tell of her for a full six +months. If I was makin' this story up, and anxious to make a _good_ +story of it, you can see, if you're fair-minded, that I'd say she came +back right away. Now, wouldn't I be most likely to? Say?" + +He appealed so directly to Mr. Birchard, pausing for a reply, that the +sceptic was obliged to answer in some way, and, with a curious sort of +reluctance, he said slowly, "Yes--I suppose--I'm sure you would." + +This seemed to satisfy Uncle Jabez, and he went on with his story: + +"I came home from town one stormy night, about six months after she +died, pretty well beat out,--entirely so, I may say. I'd been drivin' +some cattle into the city, and I'd had only a poor concern of a boy to +help me. The cattle was contrai-ry,--contrai-rier'n common; and I +remember thinkin', when the feller at the drove-yard handed me my check, +that I'd earned it pretty hard. That's the last about it I do remember. +I s'pose I must 'a' put it in my pocket-book, the same as usual; but I +rode home in a sort of a maze, I was so tired and drowsy, and I'd barely +sense enough to eat my supper and grease my boots afore I went to bed. I +had a bill to pay the next day, and I opened my pocket-book, quite +confident, to take out the check. It wasn't there. I always kep' a +number of papers in that pocket-book, and I thought at fust it had got +mislaid among 'em: so I turned everything out, and unfolded 'em one by +one, and poked my finger through a hole between the leather and the +linin', and made it a good deal bigger,--but that's neither here nor +there,--and before I was through I was certain sure of one thing,--- +that wherever else that check was, it wasn't in that pocket-book. Then I +tried my pockets, one after the other,--four in my coat, four in my +overcoat, three in my vest, two in my pants: no, it wasn't in any of +them, and I begun to feel pretty queer, I can tell you. It was my only +sale of cattle for the season; I was dependin' on it to pay a bill and +buy one or two things for Gracie; and, anyhow, it's no fun to lose a +hunderd-dollar check and feel as if it must have been bewitched away +from you. I rode back to the drove-yard, though I wasn't more'n half +rested from the day before, and they said they'd stop payment on the +check and give me a chance to look right good for it, and if I couldn't +find it they'd draw me another. You see, they knowed me right well, and +they wasn't afraid I was tryin' to play any sort of a game on 'em. +Still, it wasn't a pleasant thing to have happen, for, say the best you +could of it, it argued that I'd lost a considerable share of my wits. +So, when I come home, I felt so kind of worried and down-hearted that I +couldn't half eat my supper; and that worried Gracie,--she was a +thin-skinned little critter, and if I didn't eat the same as usual she'd +always take it into her head there was something wrong with the +victuals. I fell asleep in my cheer right after supper, and slept till +nine o'clock; and then Gracie woke me, and ast me if I didn't think I'd +better go to bed. I said yes, I s'posed I had; but by that time I was +hungry, and I ast her what she had good in the pantry. She brightened up +wonderful at that,--though when I come to look closer at her I see she'd +been cryin',--and she said there was doughnuts, fresh fried that day, +and the best half of a mince pie. I told her that was all right so far +as it went, but I'd like somethin' a little solider to begin with: so +she found me a few slices of cold pork and one of her cowcumber pickles, +and I eat a right good supper. She picked at a piece of pie, by way of +keepin' me company, but she didn't eat much. Now, I tell you this, which +you may think isn't revelant to the subject, to let you see I went to +bed comfortable. We laughed and talked over our little supper, and +pretended we was city-folks, on our way home from the theater, gettin' a +fancy supper at Delmonico's. And I forgot all about the check for the +time bein', as slick and clean as if I'd never had it nor lost it. But, +nevertheless, when I went to sleep I begun to dream about it, and was to +the full as much worried in my dream as I was when I was awake. I seemed +to myself to be huntin' all over the house, in every hole and corner I +could think of, and sometimes I'd come on pieces of paper that looked so +like it outside I'd make sure I'd found it, and then when I opened 'em +they'd be ridickilous rhymes, 'ithout any sense to 'em; when all of a +sudden I heard Lavina's voice, as plain as you hear mine now. It seemed +to come from a good ways off just at first, callin' 'Father,'--she +always called me 'Father,' partly because she didn't like the name of +Jabez, and it is a humbly name, I'm free to confess,--and then again +nearer, 'Father;' and then again, as if it was right at the foot of the +stairs. And this time it went on to say, loud and plain, so's 't I could +hear every word, 'You look in the little black teapot on the top shelf +of the pantry, where I kep' the missionary money, and see what you'll +find.' And with that I heard her laugh; and I'd know Lavina's laugh +among a thousand. I was too dazed like to do it right away, and I must +'a' fell asleep while I was thinkin' about it, for when I woke up it was +broad daylight and Gracie was callin' to me to get up. But I hadn't +forgot a word that Lavina'd said, and I went for that teapot as quick as +I was dressed, and there was the check, sure enough, in good order and +condition!" + +He paused to look round at his audience and see the effect of this +statement, and the schoolmaster took advantage of the pause to ask, +"Were you in the habit of putting money in that teapot for safe-keeping, +Uncle Jabez?" + +"Young man, I was not," said Uncle Jabez emphatically, and evidently +annoyed both by the question and by the tone in which it was uttered. +"It was a little notion of Lavina's, and I'd never meddled with it, one +way or the other. But I'd left it be there after she died, because I +liked to look at it. I'd no more 'a' dreamed of puttin' that check in it +than I would of puttin' it into Gracie's work-box. But there it was, and +how it come there it wasn't vouchsafed me to know. + +"I think it must have been a matter of three or four months after this, +though I wouldn't like to say too positive, that I fell into my first +and last lawsuit. A man I'd always counted a good neighbor made out he'd +found an old title-deed which give him a right to a smart slice off'n my +best meadow-land. It dated fifty years back, and old Peter Pinnell, that +was the only surveyor in the township at that time, made out he +recollected runnin' the lines; and when McKellop, the feller that +claimed the track, took old Pinnell over the ground, to see if he could +find any landmarks that would help to make the claim good, they found a +big pine-tree jest where they wanted to find it, and cut into it at the +right height to find a 'blaze,' if there was one. The rings was marked +as plain as the lines on a map, and when they'd cut through fifty, there +was the mark, sure enough, and McKellop's lawyer crowed ready to hurt +himself. I was a good deal cut down, I can tell you, for I could see +pretty well that it was goin' to turn the scale; and when supper-time +came, Gracie could hardly coax me to the table. I said no, I didn't feel +to be hungry; for I couldn't get that strip of meadow-land out of my +head. And it wasn't so much the value of the land, either, though I +couldn't well afford to lose it, as it was the idee of McKellop's +crowin' and cacklin' all over the neighborhood about it. But Gracie +looked so anxious and tired that I come to the table, jest to satisfy +her; and I found I was hungry, after all, for I'd been trampin' round +the farm most of the day, lookin' for some landmark or sign that would +prove my claim, that dated seventy years back. I recollect we had soused +pigs' feet for supper that night; and I don't think I ever tasted better +in my life. I eat pretty free of them, as I always did of anything I +liked, and we wound up with some of her canned peaches, that she'd got +out to coax me to eat, and cream on 'em 'most as thick as butter: she +had a skimmer with holes into it that she always skimmed the cream with +for our own use. She'd made as good a pot of coffee as I ever tasted. +And when I'd had all I wanted, I felt a good deal better, and I says to +her,--'I'll fret over it no more, Gracie: if it's his'n, let him take it +'ithout more words.' + +"She read me a story out of the paper that made us both laugh right +hearty, and then a chapter, as usual, and then we went to bed. And all +come round jest as it did afore. I thought I was roamin' about the farm, +as I had been pretty nigh all day; but things was changed round, +somehow, and the further I went the more mixed up they got, till, jest +as I'd found the pine-tree, I heard Lavina's voice, the same as I'd done +afore,--first far, and then near,--sayin', 'Father;' and the third time +she said it, when it sounded close to, she went on to say, 'He's done +his cuttin', now do you do yours. You cut through twenty more rings, and +you'll find the blaze that marks _your_ survey. And then thank him +kindly for givin' you the idee. The smartest of folks is too smart for +themselves once in a while.' And with that she laughed her own jolly, +hearty laugh; but that was the last she said; and I laid there wonderin' +and thinkin' for a while, and then dropped off to sleep. But it was all +as clear as a bell in my head in the morning, and I had McKellop and old +Peter at the pine-tree by eight o'clock. I'd sharpened my axe good, I +can tell you, and it didn't take me long to cut through twenty more +rings, and there, sure enough, was the blaze; and if ever you see a +blue-lookin' man, that man was McKellop; for as soon as old Peter see +the blaze he recollected hearin' his father tell about the survey; he +recollected it particular because the old man was a good judge of +apple-jack, and he'd said that _my_ father'd gi'n him some of the +best, that day the survey was made, that he'd ever tasted. And Peter +said he reckoned he could find something about it in his father's books +and among some loose papers he had in a box. And, sure enough, he found +enough to make my claim as clear as a bell and make McKellop's as flat +as a pancake. Now, what do you think of _that_, hey?" + +Once more the old man peered into Birchard's face, and the schoolmaster +answered one question with another, after the custom of the country: + +"Did you ever know anything about the blazed tree before McKellop found +the blaze?" + +"When I come to think it over, I found I did," said Uncle Jabez, falling +all unconscious into the trap set for him. "I hadn't no papers about it, +but my father had told me all the ins and outs of it when I was a boy, +and it had somehow gone out of my mind." + +"Ah!" said the schoolmaster. + +"I don't know what you mean by 'Ah' in this connection," said Uncle +Jabez, speaking with unwonted sharpness; "but if you're misdoubtin' what +I tell you I may as well shet up and go home." + +"I don't doubt your word in the least, Uncle Jabez; I assure you I +don't," Mr. Birchard hastened to say. "And I'm deeply interested. I hope +you will go on and tell me all your experiences of this kind. I've heard +and read a good many ghost-stories; but in all of them the ghosts were +malicious creatures, who seemed to come back chiefly for the fun of +scaring people out of their wits. Yours is the first really benevolent +and well-meaning ghost of which I have ever heard; and it interests me +immensely; for I never could see why a person who was all goodness and +generosity while he--or she--was alive should turn into an unmitigated +nuisance after dying. I should think, if they must needs come back, they +might just as well be pleasant about it and make people glad to see--or +hear--them." + +"That's exactly the view I've always taken," said Mr. Crumlish modestly; +"and one reason I've never felt to doubt any of Uncle Jabez's stories is +that all the ghosts he's ever seen or heard tell of have been +decent-behaving ghosts, that didn't come back just for the fun of +scaring people to death." + +"That's so; that's so," said the old man, entirely mollified, and +hearing no note of sarcasm in the schoolmaster's rapidly-uttered +eloquence. "If any one of 'em was to behave ugly," he continued, "it +would shake my faith in the whole thing considerable; for I couldn't +bring myself to believe that anybody I've ever knowed could be so far +given over as to want to be ugly after dyin'." + +"Well, now, I don't know," said Mr. Dickey argumentatively. "I +_hev_ knowed certain folks that it seems to me would stick to their +ugliness alive or dead, and, though I've never seen no appearances of +any kind, as I may say, I can believe jist as easy that some of 'em come +back for mischief as that others come back for good." + +There was a few minutes' constrained silence after this remark. Mr. +Dickey's first wife had been what is popularly known as "a Tartar," and +there was a generally current rumor that as the last shovelful of earth +was patted down on her grave he had been heard to murmur, "Thanks be to +praise, she's quiet at last." The idea of her reappearance in her wonted +haunts was indeed a dismaying one, especially as Mr. Dickey had recently +married again, and, if the gossips knew anything about it, was repeating +much of his former painful experience. The silence, which was becoming +embarrassing, was finally broken by the schoolmaster. + +"Had you any more experiences of the kind you have just related, Uncle +Jabez?" he asked, in tones of such deep respect and lively interest that +Uncle Jabez responded, with gratifying promptness,-- + +"Plenty, plenty, though perhaps them two that I've just told you was the +most strikin'. But it always seemed to me, after that first time, that +Lavina was on hand when anything went wrong or was likely to go wrong; +and ef I was to tell you all the scrapes she's kep' me out of and pulled +me out of, I should keep you settin' here all night. There was one +more," he continued, "that struck me a good deal at the time. It was +about money, like the fust one, in a different sort of way. It was +durin' those days when specie was so skurce and high that it was quite a +circumstance to get a piece of hard money. There come along a peddler in +a smart red wagon, with all sorts of women's trash packed into it, and +Gracie took it into her head to want some of his things. It happened to +be her birthday that day, and, as she didn't often pester me about +clothes, I told her to choose out what she wanted, up to five dollars' +worth, and, if the feller could change me a twenty-dollar note, I'd pay +for it. He jumped at it, sayin' he didn't count it any trouble at all to +give change, the way some storekeepers did, and that he always kep' a +lot on hand to oblige his customers. I will say for him that it seemed +to me he give Gracie an amazin' big five dollars' worth, and when he +come to make the change he handed out a ten-dollar gold piece, or what I +then took to be such, as easy as if he'd found it growin' on a bush, and +said nothin' whatever about the premium on it. Perhaps I'd ought to have +mentioned it, but it seemed to me it was his business more'n mine: so I +jest took it as if it was the most natural thing in life, and he went +off. I thought I might as well as not get the premium on it before it +went down the way folks said it was goin' to: so, after dinner, I +harnessed up, and drove down to the post-office,--it was kep' in the +drug-store then, the same as it is now,--and when I handed my gold piece +to the postmaster, which was also the druggist, and said I'd take a +quarter's worth of stamps, and I believed gold was worth a dollar +fifteen just now, he first smelt of it, and then bit it, and then poured +some stuff out'n a bottle onto it, and then handed it back to me with a +pityin' smile that somehow riled me more'n a little, and he says, says +he,-- + +"'Somebody's fooled you badly, Uncle Jabez. That coin's a counterfeit. +Do you happen to know where you got it?' + +"'I know well enough,' I says, and I expect I spoke pretty mad, for I +_felt_ mad. 'I got it of a travellin' peddler, that's far enough +away by this time, and if you're sure it's bad I'm that much out of +pocket.' He seemed right concerned about it, and ast me if I hadn't no +clue that I could track the peddler by; but I couldn't think of any, and +I went home a good deal down in the mouth. But Gracie chirked me up, as +she always does, bless her! and she made me a Welsh rabbit for supper, +and some corn muffins, and a pot of good rich chocolate, by way of a +change, and we agreed that, as she'd a pretty big five dollars worth and +as the rest of the change was good, we'd say no more about it, for it +would be like lookin' for a needle in a hay-stack to try to track him. + +"'Why, father,' she says, 'I don't so much as know his name: do you?' + +"I told her no, I didn't; that if I'd heard his name I disremembered it, +but that I didn't think I'd heard it. And then that very night come +another visit from mother, and she told me all about it. She come the +way she always did, and when she spoke the last time, close to, as you +may say, she says,-- + +"'I wouldn't give up that ten dollars so easy, if I was you, father. +That peddler's name is Hanigan,--Elwood Hanigan,--and he'll be at the +State Fair to-morrow. Now, do you go, and you'll find his red wagon with +no trouble at all; and jest be right down firm with him, and tell him +that if he doesn't give you good money in place of the bad he foisted +off on you you'll show him up to the whole fair, and you'll see how glad +he'll be to settle it.' + +"And with that she laughed jest as natural as life, and I heard no more +till Gracie knocked on my door in the morning." + +"And did you go to the fair and find him and get your money back?" asked +Birchard, who was interested in spite of his scepticism. + +"I did, jest that," replied Uncle Jabez. "I got off bright and early, +and, as luck would have it, I'd jest tied and blanketed my horse when +that wonderful smart red wagon come drivin' in at the gate. I waited +till he'd begun to pull his wares out and make a fine speech about 'em, +and then I jest walked up to him, cool and composed, and give him his +choice between payin' me good money for his bogus gold or hearin' +_me_ make a speech; and you may jest bet your best hat he paid up +quicker'n winkin'. Perhaps I'd ought to have warned folks ag'in' him as +it was, but I had a notion he'd save his tricks till he got to another +neighborhood; and it turned out I was right. He didn't give none of his +gold change out that day. But you can see for yourself that if it hadn't +been for Lavina he'd have come off winnin' horse in that race. That was +always the way when mother was about: she had more sense in her little +finger than I had in my whole body, and head too, for that matter." + +"And you found that you really had not known the man's name until it was +conveyed to you in the manner in which you have described?" asked the +schoolmaster deferentially. + +"Well, no," said Uncle Jabez. "When I saw his wagon the next day, I +remembered of readin' his name in gilt letters on the side, tacked to +some patent medicine he claimed to have invented; but I don't suppose +I'd ever thought of it again if mother hadn't told it to me so plain." + +The schoolmaster said nothing. He had his own neat little theories +concerning all the manifestations which had been mentioned, but somehow +the old man's guileless belief had touched him, and he had no longer any +desire to shake it, even had it been possible to do so. But he could not +help probing the subject a little further: so presently he asked, "And +you've never spoken to her, never asked her if it were not possible for +you to see as well as hear her?" + +"Young man," said Uncle Jabez kindly, but solemnly, "there's such a sin +as presumption, and there's some old sayin' or other about fools rushin' +in where angels fear to tread. If you try to grab too much at once, +you're apt to lose all. If it was meant for me to see mother as well as +hear her, I _should_ see her; and if I was to go to pryin' round +and tryin' to find out what's purposely hid from me, I make no doubt but +I should lose the little that's been vouchsafed to me. But I'd far +rather hear you ask questions like that than to have you throwin' doubt +on the whole business, as you seemed inclined to do at fust." + +"Look here," said Mr. Dickey briskly, "do you know it's well on to +half-past ten? and we were to have the key at Pegram's by ten. I think +we'd better do what there is to do, and clear out of this as quick as we +know how, and mebbe some of us will wish before an hour's gone that we +had Uncle Jabez's knack at makin' out a good story." + +"You speak for yourself, Dickey," said Mr. Crumlish good-naturedly. +"There's some of us that goes in and comes out, with nobody to care +which it is, nor how long we stay; but freedom has its drawbacks, as +well as other things." + +The schoolmaster laughed at himself for striking a match as he turned +the last light out, but he felt moving through his brain a vague wish +that Uncle Jabez would break himself of that trick he had of gazing +fixedly at nothing, and that other trick of stopping suddenly in the +middle of a sentence to cock his head, as if he were hearing some +far-away, uncertain sound. + + MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. + + + + +FISHING IN ELK RIVER. + + +When a man has once absorbed into his system a love for fishing or +hunting, he is under the influence of an invisible power greater than +that of vaccine matter or the virus of rabies. The sporting-fever is the +veritable malady of St. Vitus, holding its victim forever on the go, as +game-seasons come, and so long as back and legs, eye and ear, can +wrestle with Time's infirmities. It breeds ambition, boasting, and +"yarns" to a proverbial extent, with a general disbelief in the possible +veracity of a brother sportsman, and an irresistible; desire to talk of +new and privately discovered sporting-heavens. The gold-seeker stakes +his claim, the "wild-catting" oil-borer boards up his lot, the inventor +patents his invention, and the author copyrights his brain-fruit; but +the sportsman crazily tells all he knows. So the secret gets out, and +the discoverer is robbed of his treasure and forced to seek new fields +for his rod and gun. + +Colonel Bangem had enjoyed a year's sport among the unvisited preserves +of Elk River. Mrs. Bangem and Bess, their daughter, had shared his +pleasures and acquired his fondness for such of them as were within +feminine reach. Any ordinary man would have been perfectly satisfied +with such company and delights; but no, when the bass began to leap and +the salmon to flash their tails, the pressure was too great. His friends +the Doctor and the Professor were written to, and summoned to his find. +They came, the secret was too good to keep, and that is the way this +chronicle of their doings happens to be written. + +No sooner was the invitation received than the Doctor eased his +conscience and delighted his patients by the regular professional +subterfuge of sending such of them as had money to the sea-shore, and +telling those who had not that they needed no medicine at present; the +Professor turned his classes over to an assistant on pretext of a sudden +bronchial attack, for which a dose of mountain-air was the prescribed +remedy. And so the two were whirled away on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Railroad across the renowned valley of Virginia and the eastern valley +steps of the Alleghany summits, past the gigantic basins where boil and +bubble springs curative of all human ills, down the wild boulder-tossed +waters and magnificent cañons of New River, around mountain-bases, +through tunnels, and out into the broad, beautiful fertility of the +Kanawha Valley, until the spires of Charleston revealed the last stage +of their railroad journey. When their train stopped, stalwart porters +relieved them of their baggage and deafened them with self-introductions +in stentorian tones: "Yere's your Hale House porter!" "I's de man fer +St. Albert's!" + +"It's no wonder," said the Doctor, as he followed the sable guide from +the station to the river ferry, and looked across the Kanawha's busy +flow, covered with coal-barges, steamboats, and lumber-crafts, to +Charleston's long stretch of high-bank river front, "that Western rivers +get mad and rise against the deliberate insult of all the towns and +cities turning their backs to them. There is a mile of open front, +showing the cheerful faces of fine residences through handsome +shade-trees and over well-kept lawns; but here, where our ferry lands, +and where we see the city proper, stoops and kitchens, stove-pipes and +stairways, ash-piles and garbage-shoots, are stuck out in contempt of +the river's charms and the city's comeliness." + +"Stove-pipes and stairways have to be put somewhere," said the +matter-of-fact Professor. "And the best way to turn dirty things is +toward the water." + +The ferry-boat wheezed and coughed and sidled across the river to a +floating wharf, covered, as usual, with that portion of the population, +white and black, which has no interest in the arrival of trains, or +anything else, excepting meals at the time for them, but which manages +to live somehow by looking at other people working. + +"Give me," said the Professor, "the value of the time which men spend in +gazing at what does not concern them, and, according to my estimate, I +could build a submarine railroad from New York to Liverpool in two years +and three months. What are those fellows doing with their huge barrels +on wheels backed into the river?" + +"Dat is de Charleston water-works, boss," answered the grinning porter. +"Widout dem mules an' niggahs an' bar'ls dah wouldn't be 'nough water in +dis town to wet a chaw tobacky." + +A winding macadamized road leads up the river bank to the main street +running parallel with it. There is a short cut by a rickety stairway, +but, as some steep climbing has to be done before reaching the lower +step, it is seldom used. These formerly led directly to the Hale House, +a fine brick building, which faced the river, with a commodious portico, +and offered the further attractions of a pleasant interior and an +excellent table; but now a blackened space marked its site, as though a +huge tooth had been drawn from the city's edge, for one morning a +neighboring boiler blew up, carrying the Hale House and much valuable +property with it, but leaving the owners of the boiler. + +"Dat's where de Hale House was, boss, but it's done burned down. I's de +porter yit. When it's done builded ag'in I's gwine back dar. Dis time I +take you down to de St. Albert. I's used to yellin' Hale House porter so +many years dat St. Albert kind chokes me." + +So to the St. Albert went the Doctor and Professor, where they met with +a home-like greeting from its popular host. + +Wheeling was formerly the capital of West Virginia, but for good reasons +it was decided to move the seat of government from "that knot on the +Panhandle" to Charleston. A commodious building of brick and sandstone, +unchristened as to style of architecture, has been erected for the home +of the law-makers; and henceforth the city which started around the +little log fort built in 1786 by George Glendermon to afford protection +against Indians will be the seat of government for the great unfenced +State of West Virginia. Its business enterprise and thrift, its +excellent geographical and commercial position, its healthiness +notwithstanding its bad drainage, or rather no drainage, have induced a +growth almost phenomenal. Churches, factories, and commodious +storehouses have spread the town rapidly over the beautiful valley in +which it lies. The United States government has been lavish in its +expenditure upon a handsome building for court, custom, and post-office +purposes; and to it flock, especially when court is in session, as +motley an assortment of our race as ever assembled at legal mandate. +Moonshiners, and those who regard whiskey-making, selling, and drinking +as things that ought to be as free as the air of the mountain and +licenses as unheard-of impositions of a highly oppressive government, +that would "tax a feller for usin' up his own growin' uv corn," and +courts as "havin' a powerful sight uv curiosity, peekin' into other +fellers' business," afford ample opportunities for the exercise of +judicial authority. + +A long mountaineer was before a dignified judge of the United States +Court for selling liquor without a license. He had bought a gallon at a +still,--as to the locality of which he professed profound +ignorance,--carried it thirty miles, and peddled it out to his +long-suffering and thirsty neighbors. Every native being a natural +informer, the story was soon told: arrest followed, a march of fifty +miles over the mountains, and a lengthy imprisonment before trial. +Following the advice of his assigned counsel, he pleaded guilty. Being +too poor to pay a fine, and having an unlimited family dependent upon +their own exertions,--which comprises the sum of parental responsibility +among the natives,--the judge released him on his own bail-bond, and +told him to go home. He deliberately put on his hat, walked up to his +honor, and said, "I say, jedge, I reckon you fellers 'ill give me 'nough +money to ride hum an' pay fer my grub, 'cause 'tain't fair, noway. You +fetched me clar down yere, footin' it the hull way, an' now you're +lettin' me off an' tellin' me to foot it back. 'Tain't fair, noway. +You-uns oughter pay me fer it." And he went off highly indignant at +having his modest request refused. + +There is much of the primitive not outgrown as yet by Charleston: it has +put on a long-tailed coat over its round-about. The gossipy telephone +is ahead of the street-cars; gas-works supply private consumers, while +the citizens wade the unlighted streets by the glimmer of their own +lanterns; innumerable cows contest the right of pedestrians to the board +footways and what of pavement separates the mud-holes; an +ice-manufactory supplies coolness to water peddled about in barrels; the +officials outnumber the capacity of the jail; the ferry-facilities vary +from an unstable leaky bateau to a dirty, open-decked dynamite +steamboat, whose night-service is subject to the lung-capacity of the +traveller hallooing for it, and the fares to necessities and +circumstances; the fine brick improvements are flanked by frame +tinder-boxes; the offal of the city has not a single relieving sewer: +yet it is a beautiful, healthy place, and the chief city of the greatest +mineral-district in the world. + +Our travellers breakfasted on delicious mountain mutton and vegetables +fresh from surrounding farms. Their host secured three men and a canoe +to carry them up Elk River to Colonel Bangem's camp, at the cost of one +dollar a day and "grub," or one dollar and a quarter a day if they found +themselves, with the moderate charge of fifty cents a day for the canoe. + +When the time arrived for starting, the Professor was missing. Bells +were rung, servants were despatched to search the hotel for him, but he +was not to be found. The Doctor grew impatient, but restrained himself +until an uncoated countryman, who had just walked into town and was +ready for a talk, told him that he "seed a feller, thet wuz a stranger +in these parts, with a three-legged picter-gallery, chasin' a water-cart +a right smart ways back in the town, ez I come in." + +"That's he," said the Doctor. "He is crazy after pictures. I'll give you +a dollar if you bring him to the hotel alive." + +"Is he wicked?" asked the man. + +"Generally," answered the Doctor, whose eyes began to twinkle; "but you +get hold of his picture-gallery and run for the hotel: he will follow +you. I often have to manage him that way." + +"I'm minded to try coaxin' him in thet a-way fer a dollar. You jist take +keer uv my shoes, an' I'll hev him yer ez quick ez Tim Price kin foot +it, if he follers well an' hain't contrairy-like, holdin' back." + +Tim Price relieved his feet of their encumbrances, and started. When his +tall, gaunt figure had disappeared around the corner, the Doctor grew +red in the face from an internal convulsion, and then exploded past all +concealment of his joke. + +"If you gentlemen," he said to the by-standers, "want to see some fun, +just follow that man. I will stay here as judge whether the man brings +in the Professor or the Professor brings in the man." + +A good joke would stop a funeral in Charleston. The hotel was cleared of +men in an instant to follow Tim and enjoy the hunt. Tim sighted the +Professor about a quarter of a mile back in the town, A darky driving a +water-cart was standing up on the shafts, thrashing his mule with the +ends of his driving-lines, and urging it, by voice and gesture, to the +highest mule-speed: "Git up! git up! you lazy old no-go! Git up! Don't +you see dat picter-feller tryin' to took you an' me an' de bar'l? Git +up! Wag yer ears an' switch yer tail. You're not gwine ter stan' still +an' keep yer eyes on de instrement fer no gallery-man to took, 'less +you's fix' up fer Sunday. Git up, you ole long-eared corn-eater!" + +The Professor was keeping well up with the flying water-works. His hat +was stuck on the back of his head, he carried his camera with its tripod +spread ready for sudden action, and every step of his run was guided by +thoughts of proper distance, fixed focus, and determination to have the +water-works in his collection of instantaneous photographs. A turn in +the street gave the Professor his opportunity: he darted ahead, set his +camera, and took the whole show as it went galloping by, when he +reclined against a fence while making the street ring with his laugh. + +Tim Price, who was watching his chance, saw that it had come. He grabbed +the camera, gave a yell of triumph, and faced for the home-run. He had +not an instant to lose. The Professor sprang for his precious +instrument. Tim's long legs carried him across the street, over a fence +into a cross-cut lot, and away for the hotel at a mountaineer's speed. +The Professor was small, but active as a cat. Where Tim jumped fences, +the Professor squirmed through them; where Tim took one long stride, the +Professor scored three short ones. Tim lost his hat, and the Professor +threw off his coat as he ran. The main street was reached without +perceptible decrease of distance between them; but there the pavements +were something Tim's bare feet were not used to catching on, and the +people something he was not used to dodging: he upset several, but +dashed on, with his pursuer gaining on his heels. Men, women, dogs, and +darkies turned out to witness the race or follow it. "Stop thief!" "Go +it, Tim!" "You're catching him, stranger!" "Foot it, little one!" were +cries that speeded the running. The Doctor stood waiting at the hotel +door, laughing, shaking, and red as a veritable Bacchus. Tim Price +banged the camera into him, whirled round suddenly, caught the Professor +as he dashed at him, and held him in his powerful arms, squirming like +an eel. + +"Yere's your crazy man, stranger," said Tim, in slow, drawling tone. "I +tell you he kin jest p'intedly foot it. Thar hain't been such a run in +Kanoy County sence they stopped 'lectin' country fellers fer sheriff. I +reckon I've arned thet dollar. What shall I do with the leetle feller?" + +The Professor was powerless, but lay in Tim's arms biting, kicking, and +curled up like a yellow-jacket interested with an enemy. + +"Let him go," said the laughing Doctor. "He will stay with me now. He is +not dangerous when I am about. Set him on his feet." + +No sooner was the Professor deposited on the pavement than he dealt Tim +a stinging blow which staggered him, and stood ready with trained +muscles set for defence. + +"Look yere, leetle un," said Tim, coolly and with great self-restraint, +"'tain't fer the likes uv me to hit you, bein's you're a bit out in your +top, but I'll gin you another hug ef you do that ag'in; I will, +p'intedly." + +In the good humor of the crowd, the mirth of the Doctor, and the +latter's possession of the camera the Professor scented a joke, and at +once saw his friend's hand in it. He joined in the laugh at his expense, +and lengthened his friend's face by saying, "The Doctor having had his +fun, he will now pay the bill at the bar for all of you: he pays all my +expenses: so walk in, gentlemen." + +The laws of hospitality west of the Alleghanies do not permit any one to +decline an invitation, so the Doctor settled for the whole procession +and paid Tim Price his well-earned dollar. + +"Captain," said Tim to the hotel-proprietor, who had joined the crowd, +"ef two fellers comes here from the East, one uv 'em ez round ez a +punkin an' red ez a flannel shirt an' bald ez a land-tortle, an' t'other +ez brown ez a mud-catty an' poor ez a razor-back hog, tell 'em I'm yere +to pilot 'em up Elk to Colonel Bangem's caliker tents. He said they were +ez green ez frogs, an' didn't know nothin' noway, an' fer me to take +keer uv 'em. He don't reckon they'll come tell to-morrow. One uv 'em's a +hoss-doctor, an' t'other's a perfessor uv religion, Colonel Bangem +telled me. I dunno whether the feller's a circuit-rider er a rale +preacher." + +"That's the highly-illuminated pumpkin, my good man," said the +Professor, pointing to the Doctor, "and I am Colonel Bangem's spiritual +adviser. We got here a day sooner than we expected to." + +"You don't say? May I never! An' the colonel never telled me nothin' +nohow 'bout any one uv you bein' crazy. Howdee? How do you like these +parts? Right smart town we've got yere, hain't it? I'll take keer uv +you. There hain't no man on Elk River kin take keer uv you better nor +Tim Price, ary time. I hain't much up to moon men, though. Thar's one +feller up my way thet gits kinder skeery at the full uv the moon; but I +hain't never tended him. I reckon I kin l'arn the job,--ez the ole boy +said when his marm set him to mindin' fleas off the cat." + +Tim Price was the hunter, boatman, fisherman, yarn-spinner, and +character of his region, and Colonel Bangem's faithful ally in all his +sports: the latter had therefore sent him to meet his friends on their +arrival at Charleston, and he at once proceeded to take command of the +whole party as a matter of course. + +"I footed it over the mountains, and sent my boat the river way. Hit +oughter be yere now: so we'll pack you men's tricks to the boats an' +p'int 'em up-stream. It 'ill be sundown afore we git thar." + +The party started from the hotel, the procession followed to see them +off, and they were soon down the Kanawha and into the mouth of Elk at +the point of the town. Log rafts, huge barges, miles of railroad-ties, +laid-up steamers, peddling-boats, with their highly-colored storehouses, +fishermen's scows, floating homely cabins alive with bare-legged +children and idlers of the water-side, push-boats loaded to the edge of +the narrow gunwales with merchandise for delivery to stores and dwellers +far up the river, boats loaded with hoop-poles, grist, chickens, and the +"home-plunder" of some mover to civilization, coming down the river from +the mountain-clearing, and samples of every conceivable kind of the +river's outpour, were tied to the banks or lazily floating on the +currentless back-water from the Kanawha. + +An old steamboat-captain once said of Elk that "it was the all-firedest +river God ever made,--fer it rises at both ends and runs both ways to +wunst." This is true, and is caused by the Kanawha, when rising, pouring +its water into the mouth of Elk and reversing its current for many +miles, while at the same time rain falls in the mountains, increasing +the latter river's depth and velocity. Flour-mills, iron-foundries, +saw-mills, woollen-mills, and barrel-factories extend their long wooden +slides down to the river's edge, to gather material for their +consumption. A railroad spans it with an iron trussed bridge, and the +demands of wagon and foot-travel are met by an airy one suspended by +cables from tower-like abutments on either side, both bridges swung high +in the air, out of reach of flood and of the smoke-stacks of passing +steam-craft. + +A mile from the river's mouth, and just beyond the limits of Charleston, +is one of the finest sandstone-quarries in the world. The United States +government monopolizes most of its product in the construction of the +magnificent lock and shifting dams in course of erection on the Kanawha +to facilitate the transportation of coal from the immense deposits now +being mined to the great markets of the Ohio River. A little farther on, +the brown front of a timber dam and cribbed lock looks down upon a wild +swirl and rush of water; for through a cut gap in its centre Elk flows +unobstructed,--a penniless mob having made the opening one night that +their canoes might pass free and capitalists be encouraged to remove +such worthless stuff as money from the growing industries of the river. +Prior to this act of vandalism the water was backed by the dam for a +distance of fourteen miles, to Jarrett's Ford, making a halting-place +for rafts and logs, barges and floats, coming down from the vast forests +above when rains and snow-thaws raised the river and its tributaries; +but now a long stretch of boom catches what it can of Elk's commerce and +is a chartered parasite upon it. + +Here at the old dam the mountains close in tightly upon the narrow +valley. Log cabins and a few simple frame houses nestle upon diminutive +farms; the wild beauty of shoal and eddy, bouldered channel and +lake-like stretches of pool, rocky walls and timber-clad peaks, begins +to charm the stranger and draw him on and on through scenery as +attractive as grand toss of mountains and delve of river can make it. + +By dint of poling, pushing, rowing, and pulling, the boats were worked +over rapids and pools for almost a score of miles, to where the last +rays of the sun slid over a mountain-point and hit Colonel Bangem's hat +as it spun in the air by way of welcome, while the prows clove the water +of a lovely eddy lying in front of his camp. The meeting was that of old +friends, with the addition of a blush from Bess Bangem and its bright +reflection from the Professor's face. + +Tim Price took the colonel to one side mysteriously, and whispered, "I +took keer uv the Perfessor my own self: he guv me a power uv trouble, +though. Shell I hitch him now, er let him run loose?" + +"We'll turn him loose now, Tim; but if he takes to turning somersets, +catch him, loosen his collar, take off his boots, and throw him into the +river," was the colonel's sober reply. + +Scientists nowadays set up Energy as the ancestor of everything, measure +the value of its descendants by the quantity they possess of the family +trait, and spend their time in showing how to utilize it for the good of +mankind in general. Professor Yarren was an apostle of Energy: it +absorbed him, filled him. From the weight of the sun to boiled potatoes, +from the spring of a tiger to the jump of a flea, from the might of +chemical disembodiment to opening an oyster, he calculated, advised, and +dilated upon it. He himself, was the epitome of Energy: in his size he +economized space, in his diet he ate for power, not quantity. To him +eating and sleeping were Energy's warehousemen; idleness was dry-rot, +moth, and mildew; laughing, talking, whistling, singing, somersets, and +fishing, never-to-be-neglected and in-constant-use safety-valves. He +regarded himself as an assimilator of everything that went into him, be +it food, sight, sound, or scent, and his perfection as such in exact +ratio to the product he derived from them. So when next morning he said +"Come on" to the Doctor, and Colonel Bangem, Mrs. Colonel Bangem, Bess +Bangem, and Martha, the mountain-maid, who were all standing in front of +the camp rigged for a day's fishing, he meant that one of Energy's +safety-valves was ready to blow off, and that further delay might be +dangerous to him. + +In the Doctor, Energy was stored in bond as it were, subject to duties, +and only to be issued on certificate that it was wanted for use and +everything ready for it: therefore at the Professor's "Come on" he +calmly sat down on a log, filled his pipe, leisurely lighted it, and +good-humoredly remarked, "I am confident that one-half of what we call +life is spent in undoing what we have done, in lamenting the lack of +what we have forgotten, or going back after it: therefore I make it a +rule when everything seems ready for a start--especially when going +fishing--to sit five minutes in calm communion with my pipe, thinking +matters over. It insures against much discomfort from treacherous +memories and neglect." + +As the Doctor whiffed at his pipe, he inventoried guns, tackle, lunch, +hammocks, air-cushions, gigs, frog-spears, and all other necessaries for +a day's sport on the river. The result was as he had prophesied,--many +things had been omitted. "Now," said he, when the five minutes were up, +"we might venture down the bank, which, rest assured, each member of +this party will have to climb up again after something left behind." + +A motley little fleet awaited the party at the water's +edge,--square-ended, flat-bottomed punts, sharp-bowed bateaux, long, +graceful, dug-out canoes, and a commodious push-boat, with cabin and +awning, whose motive power was poles. Elk River craft are as abundant as +the log cabins on its banks, and their pilots are as numerous as the +inhabitants. Neither sex nor size is a disqualification, for, excepting +the trifling matter of being web-toed, all are provided from birth with +water-going properties, and, be it seed-time or harvest, the river has +the first claim upon them for all its varied sports and occupations. A +shot at mallard, black-head, butter-duck, loon, wild goose, or +blue-winged teal, as they follow the river's winds northward in the +spring-time, will stop the ploughs furrowing its fertile bottoms as far +as its echoes roll around mountain-juts, and cause the hands that held +the lines to grasp old-fashioned rifles for a chance at the winged +passers. When, later, woodcock seek its margins, gray snipe, kill-deer, +mud-hens, and plovers its narrow fens, the scythe will rest in the +half-mown field while its wielder "takes a crack at 'em." And when +autumn brings thousands of gray squirrels, flocks of wild pigeon and +water-fowl, to feed on its mast, no household obligation or out-door +profit will keep the natives from shooting, morning, noon, and night. + +Some day in the near future a railroad will be built "up Elk," and then, +while commerce and civilization will get a lift, the loveliest of rivers +will be scarred; her trout-streams, carp-runs, bass-pools, +salmon-swirls, deer-licks, bear-dens, partridge-nestles, and +pheasant-covers will be overrun by sports-men, her magnificent mountains +will be scratched bald-headed by lumbermen, her laughing tributaries +will be saddened with saw-dust, and her queer, quaint, original +boat-pullers and "seng-diggers" will wear shoes in summer-time and coats +in winter, weather-board their log cabins, put glass in the windows and +partitions across the one room inside. Woods-meetings will creep into +churches, square sousing in the river will degenerate to the gentle +baptismal sprinkle; no picnics or barbecues will delight the inhabitants +with flying horses and fights, open fireplaces and sparking-benches will +give way to stoves and chairs, riding double on horseback, with fair +arms not afraid to hold tight against all dangers real or fancied, will +be a joy of the past, "bean-stringin's," "apple-parin's," +"punkin-clippin's," "sass-bilin's," "sugar-camps," "cabin-raisin's," +"log-rollin's," "bluin's," "tar-and-feathering," and "hangin's," will be +out-civilized, and the whole country will be spoiled. + +"It looks like a good biting morning for bass," said Colonel Bangem, +while he was distributing the party properly among the boats. "But, in +spite of all signs, bass bite when they please. It is a sunny morning: +so use bright spoon-trolls, medium size. If the fish rise freely, +twenty-five feet of line is enough to have out on the stern lines; and, +as the ladies will use the poles, ten feet of line is enough for them. +Don't forget, Mrs. Bangem, to keep your troll spinning just outside the +swirl of the oar, and as near the surface of the water as possible. You +know you _will_ talk and forget all about it. Now we will start. If we +get separated and it grows cloudy, change your trolls for three-inch +'fairy minnows;' and if the wind ripples the water, let out from sixty +to eighty feet of line. Take the centre of the river, and you will haul +in salmon; for bass will not rise to a troll in the eddies when the +water is rough. Salmon will. Tim, take the lead with the Professor, that +the other men may see your stroke and course. In trolling, the oarsman +has as much to do with the success as the fisherman." + +Off they went, three to a boat, the fishers seated in bow and stern, the +ladies in front with their fishing-poles, and the oarsman in his proper +place, rowing a slow, steady stroke, dipping true and silently just +fifty feet from bank, or sedge, or shelf of rock, steering outside of +snags and drift and where overhanging trees buried their shadows in the +water. + +The boats had hardly reached their positions--two on each side of the +stream--when a shout from the Professor announced a catch, as hand over +hand he cautiously drew in the swerving line or held it taut, as the +diving fish sought the rocky bottom or the friendly refuge of a log +drift. With unvarying stroke Tim kept his boat in deep water, away from +entangling dangers. There was a flash in the air and a jingle of the +troll, as a fine bass shot out of the water to shake the barbs from his +open mouth; but the hooks held firm, and the taut line foiled the effort +to dislodge them. Down came the fish with a splash, to dart for the +boat at lightning speed and leap again for life; but this time no jingle +of troll announced his game. He leaped ahead to fall upon the line and +thus tear the hooks from their hold. Successful fishing depends upon two +things,--the presence of fish and knowing more than fish do. At the +instant of the fish's leap the Professor slackened his line: down came +the bass on a limber loop, defeated in his strategy and wearied by his +effort, to be hauled quickly to the boat's side and landed, wriggling +and tossing, at Tim Price's feet. + +"You've cotched bass afore, Perfesser. You ez up to their ways ez a +mus'rat to a mussel, er a kingfisher to a minner," exclaimed Tim +admiringly, as he loosened the troll from a two-pound bass. "Hit's +p'intedly a pity you're out uv your head 'bout picters." + +"Oh, I have one! I have one!--a fish! What kind is it?" screamed Bess +Bangem, who was the Professor's companion, as her light trout-pole bent +from a sudden tug, and the reel whirred as the line ran off. + +"Stop him, hold on to him, wind him in, and I will tell you," answered +the Professor, laughing. + +Bess was a practised hand, and loved the sport; but, woman-like, she +always paused to wonder what she had caught before proceeding to find +out. + +"It will be the subject of a lecture for you, whatever it is," replied +Bess, with a saucy shake of her head, as she wound in the line and +guided the playing fish with well-managed pole. Her fine face flushed +with the excitement of the run and leap of her prey, as it came nearer +and nearer, until Tim slipped the landing-net quietly under it and +landed a beauty in the boat. + +"Poor fellow! I wonder if I hurt him?" said Bess. + +"Not much, if any," remarked the Professor. "I never was a fish, and +consequently never was foolish enough to jump at a bunch of hooks; but, +as the cartilage of a fish's mouth is almost nerveless, there is but +little pain from a hook diet. Bass, salmon, pike, and other gamey fish +will often keep on biting after they have been badly hooked." + +"So will men," said Bess, as she threw her troll into the water to do +fresh duty. + +"You're p'intedly keerect," said Tim Price. "I got the sack four times, +an' hed right smart mittens, afore I cotched a stayin' holt on my old +woman." + +Shout after shout waked the mountain-echoes, as fish were held up in +triumph, and as the boats glided over the smooth water of the eddy. +Ahead was a mass of foam and a long dash of water down a shoal. + +"Yere's where me and the colonel catches 'em lively when I pull him," +said Martha to the Doctor. "They bite yere ez lively ez a stray pig in a +tater-patch. Whoop! I've got him! He pulls like a mule at a +hitchin'-rope. Keep your boat head to the current, Alec, an' pull hard, +er we'll drift down on him an' I'll lose him. Whoop! May I never! A +five-pounder! I'll slit him down the back an' brile him fer breakfast. +Whoop! In you come!" + +The boatmen pulled hard against the fierce current at the foot of the +shoal, crossed and recrossed, circled, and at it again, until a score or +more of noble bass were hooked from the swirl, and Colonel Bangem led +the way up the rapids. Then the oarsmen leaped into the water and towed +the boats through the wild current, until the eddy at the top of it +allowed them to take oars again. + +"Preacher, kin you paddle?" asked Tim Price of the Professor, as he +drained the water from his legs before getting into the boat. "Ef you +air a hand at it, take an oar an' paddle a bit astern: there'll be white +peerch an' red-hoss lyin' yere at the head uv the shore." + +The Professor took an oar and paddled, while Tim Price poised himself in +the boat, spear in hand and the long rope from its slender shaft coiled +at his feet. He peered intently into the water as the boat moved slowly +along. Presently every muscle of him was set: he bent backward for a +cast, pointed his spear with steady hands to a spot in the river, and +quick as a flash it pierced the water until its ten-foot shaft was seen +no more. As quickly was it recovered by Tim's active hands catching the +flying line to haul it in; and on its prongs squirmed a monstrous fish +of the sucker tribe,--a red-horse,--pinned through and through by his +unerring aim. + +Shoal and eddy, swirl and silent pool, yielded good sport and harvest, +as haunts of bass and salmon were entered and passed, until the inviting +mouth of Little Sandy Creek suggested rest for the boatmen and a stroll +for the fishers. A neat hotel, clean and well kept for so wild a region, +harbors lumbermen, rivermen, and those who love the rod and gun. There +are many such attractive centres along the banks of Elk, with charming +camping-grounds, where neighboring hospitality abounds, and chickens, +eggs, milk, corn, and bacon are abundant and cheap, and the finest +bass-and other fishing possible, from Queen's Shoal--four miles away--to +the old dam above Charleston. Above Queen's Shoal the region increases +in wildness and attractiveness for traveller or sportsman. Trout in +plenty find homes in the mountain-tributaries of Upper Elk; deer abound, +and all manner of smaller game. Where nature does her best work, man is +apt to do but little. Nature farms the Elk country. + +Bright moonlight, the early morning after the sun is up, and from a +couple of hours after mid-day until the mountain-shadows strike the +water in the evening, are the best times to troll for bass. If so +minded, they will rise to a fly at such times in the rapids; but no +allurement excepting the troll will bring them to the surface in still +water. When the river is rising, or the water is clouded with mud or +drift, bass scorn all surface-diet; but the live minnow or crawfish, +hellgramite or fish-worm, will capture them on trout-line or hook +attached to the soul-absorbing bob. A clothes-line wire cable, furnished +with well-assorted hooks baited with cotton, dough, and cheese well +mixed together, and stretched in eddy-water when the river is muddy, +will give fine reward in carp, white perch, catfish, turtles, garfish, +and sweet revenge on the bait-stealing guana. + +After nooning, lunch, and a quiet loaf, the party sped homeward with the +current, handling rods and trolls as salmon and bass demanded lively +attention. Shooting a rapid, and out into a deep pool at its foot, the +Doctor's boat struck a snag, and he, having a resisting power equal to +that of a billiard-ball, put his heels where his head had been, and +disappeared under the water, to pop up again instantly, sputtering and +spitting, like a jug full of yeast with a corn-cob stopper. + +"Oh, Hickey! Whoop!" exclaimed Martha, as she went off in wild screams +of laughter. "Kin you swim?" she asked, with the coolness of the +mountain-maiden she was. + +"No, no," sputtered the Doctor. + +"I reckon you'll tow good. Jest gimme your han', an' keep your feet +down, an' me an' Alec 'ill tow you ashore to dreen. Hit's like you're +purty wet." + +He was soon landed by the stalwart Martha and Alec, and, while he +attitudinized for draining, the Professor amused himself with taking an +instantaneous photograph. + +"By gum! he mought hev drownded," said Tim Price to the Professor. "The +Doctor hain't a good shape fer towin', but he floats higher than any +craft of his length I ever seed on Elk River." + +Just as the golden light of evening cast its sheen upon the river the +camp-tents came in sight, where a group of natives stood waiting the +arrival of the fishers to "hear what luck they'd hed." + +Colonel Bangem and Bess carried off equal honors in greatest +count,--sixty-two bass and five salmon each. Martha, with her +five-pounder, was weight champion. Mrs. Bangem had the only blue pike. +The Professor claimed that, besides his twoscore fish, he had +illustrations enough for a comic annual; and the Doctor asserted that he +knew more about bass than any of them, for he had been down where they +lived, and was of the opinion that he had swallowed a couple. + +Bess Bangem said to the Professor, as they went up the bank together, "I +had a great mind to count you in with my fish, to beat father; but I +caught you long ago, so it would not have been fair." + + TOBE HODGE. + + + + +ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS. + + +As Moscow's splendors trench on narrow lanes, + The wonder, brimming every traveller's eyes, +To disappointment's sudden darkness wanes + At finding meanness near such grandeur lies. + +O human city! built on Moscow's plan, + Thy great and little touch each other so, +Let me forbear, and, as an erring man, + Make my approaches wisely, from below, + +Hasting through all the narrow and the base + Before I stand where all is high and vast: +After the dark, let glory light my face, + Thy shining greatness break upon me _last_. + + CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES. + + + + +THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. + + +It is hard to dispel the halo which poetry and romance have thrown about +the Scottish Highlander and see him simply as he appears in every-day +life. And indeed, all fiction aside, there is in his history and +character much that is most admirable and noble. On many a terrible +battle-field his courage has been unsurpassed. His brave and tireless +struggle for existence where both climate and soil are unfriendly is +equally worthy of respect. Then, too, his sterling honesty and +independence in speech and action and his high moral and religious +qualities combine to make him a valuable citizen. + +Such considerations account in part for the interest which has been +excited in England by the claims of the Scottish crofters. There are, +however, other reasons why so much attention has of late been given to +their complaints. Their poverty and hardships have long been known in +England. The reports made by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by +Sir John McNeil a few years later contain accounts of miserably small +and unproductive holdings, of wretched hovels for dwellings, of lack of +enterprise and interest in making improvements, of curtailment of +pasture, of high rents and insecurity of tenure, very similar to those +found on the pages of the report of the late Royal Commission. While in +this interval the condition of the crofters has but slightly, if at all, +improved, there has been a very considerable improvement in the +condition of the middle and lower classes of the people in other parts +of Scotland and in England. The masses of the people have better houses, +better food and clothing, while with the development of the school +system and the newspaper press general intelligence has greatly +increased. The accounts of the poverty and wretchedness of the crofters +now reach the public much more quickly and make a much deeper impression +on all classes than they did forty years ago. While these small farmers +are not numerous,--there are probably not more than four thousand +families in need of relief,--many of their kinsmen elsewhere have +acquired wealth and influence and have been able to plead their cause +with good effect. In this country "The Scottish Land League" has issued +in "The Cry of the Crofter" an eloquent plea for help to carry on the +agitation to a successful issue. + +Another reason for the increased attention that has lately been given to +these claims is found in the rapidly-growing tendency to concede to the +landlord fewer and fewer and to the tenant more and more rights in the +land. The recent extension of the suffrage, giving votes to nearly two +millions of agricultural and other laborers, leads politicians to go as +far as possible in favoring new legislation in the interest of tenants +and laborers. The crofters' case has therefore come to be of special +interest as a part of the general land question which has of late +received so much attention from the English press and Parliament, and +which is pretty certain to be prominent for several years to come. + +Those who are familiar only with the relations existing between landlord +and tenant in this country are naturally surprised to find the crofter +demanding that his landlord shall (1) give him the use of more land, +(2) reduce his rent, (3) pay him on leaving his holding for all his +improvements, and (4) not accept in his stead another tenant, even +though the latter may be anxious to take the holding at a higher figure +or turn him out for any other reason. In addition to all this, the +crofters demand that the government shall advance them money to enable +them to build suitable houses and improve and stock their farms. An +American tenant who should make such demands would be considered insane. +No such view of the crofters' claims, however, is taken in England and +Scotland. + +What, then, are the grounds upon which these extensive claims are based? +Why should the crofter claim a right to have his holding enlarged and to +have the land at a lower rent than some one else may be willing to pay? +The reasons are to be found partly in his history, traditions, and +circumstances, and partly in the present tendency of the legislation and +discussions relating to the ownership and occupation of land. + +Under the old clan system, to which the crofter is accustomed to trace +his claims, the land was owned by the chief and clansmen in common, and +allotments and reallotments were made from time to time to individual +clansmen, each of whom had a right to some portion of the land, while +the commons were very extensive. Rent or service was paid to the chief, +who had more or less control over the clan lands and often possessed an +estate in severalty, with many personal dependants. In many cases the +power of the chief was great and tyrannical, and many of the clansmen +were in a somewhat servile condition; but the more influential clansmen +seem sometimes to have retained permanent possession of their +allotments. Long ago sub-letting became common, and hard services were +often exacted of the sub-tenants, whose lot was frequently a most +unhappy one. The modern cottar, as well as the squatter, had his +representative in the dependant of the chief, or clansman, or in the +outlaw or vagrant member of another clan who came to build his rude +cabin wherever he could find a sheltered and unoccupied spot. No doubt +many of the sub-tenants, even where they held originally by base and +uncertain services and at the will of their superior, came in time, like +the English copyholder, to have a generally-recognized right to the +permanent possession of their holdings, while custom tended to fix the +character and quantity of their services. The population was not +numerous, and it was probably not difficult for every man to secure a +plot of land of some sort. + +The crofters of to-day have lost for the most part the traditions of the +drawbacks and hardships of this ancient system, with its oppressive +services, to which many of their ancestors were subject, and have +commonly retained only the tradition of the right which every clansman +had to some portion of the clan lands. In 1745 the clan organizations +were abolished and the chiefs transformed into landlords and invested +with the fee-simple of the land. But, while changes were gradually made +on some estates in the direction of conformity to the English system, +most of the old customary rights of the people continued to be +recognized. The tenant was commonly allowed to occupy his holding from +year to year without interruption. Money rent gradually took the place +of service or rent in kind, but the amount exacted does not seem to have +been often increased arbitrarily. The rights of common, which were often +of great value, were respected. + +The descendants and successors, however, of the old Scotch lairds did +not always display the same regard for prescriptive rights and usages. +In some cases the extravagance and bankruptcy of the old owners caused +the titles to pass to Englishmen, while in others the inheritors of the +estates were more and more inclined to insist upon their legal rights +and to introduce in the management of their property rules similar to +those in use in England. Early in the present century sheep-farming was +found to be profitable, and many large areas of glen and mountain were +cleared of the greater part of their population and converted into +sheep-farms. Many of the mountainous parts of Scotland are of little use +for agricultural purposes. Formerly the crofters used large tracts as +summer pastures for their small herds of inferior stock. By and by the +proprietors found that large droves of better breeds of sheep could be +kept on these mountain-pastures. The crofters were too poor to undertake +the management of the large sheep-farms into which it was apparently +most profitable to divide these mountain-lands, and sheep-farmers from +the south became the tenants. By introducing sheep-farming on a large +scale the landlords were able, they claimed, to use hundreds of +thousands of acres which before were of comparatively little value. The +large flocks of sheep could not, however, be kept without having the +lower slopes of the mountains on which to winter. It was these slopes +that the crofters commonly used for pasture, below which, in the straths +and glens, were their holdings and dwellings. The ruins of cottages, or +patches of green here and there where cottages stood, mark the sites of +many little holdings from which the crofters and their families were +turned out many years ago in order to make room for sheep-farms. The +proprietors sometimes recognized the rights of these native tenants, and +gave them new holdings in exchange for the old ones. The new crofts were +often nearer the sea, where the land was less favorable for grazing and +where the rights of common were less valuable, but the occupants had +better opportunities for supplementing their incomes from the land by +fishing and by gathering sea-weed for kelp, from which iodine was made. +There were, however, great numbers who were not supplied with new +crofts, but turned away from their old homes and left to shift for +themselves. Some of these, too poor to go elsewhere, built rude huts +wherever they could find a convenient spot, and thus increased the ranks +of the squatters. Others were allowed to share the already too small +holdings of their more fortunate brethren, while others, again, found +their way to the lowlands and cities of the south or to America. The +traditions of the hardships and sufferings endured by some of these +evicted crofters are still kept alive in the prosperous homes of their +children and grandchildren on this side of the Atlantic. The process of +clearing off the crofters went on for many years. In 1849 Hugh Miller, +in trying to arouse public sentiment against it, declared that, "while +the law is banishing its tens for terms of seven and fourteen +years,--the penalty of deep-dyed crimes,--irresponsible and infatuated +power is banishing its thousands for no crime whatever." + +Lately, owing to foreign competition and the deterioration of the land +that has been used for many years as sheep-pastures, sheep-farming has +become much less profitable than formerly, and many large tenants have +in consequence given up their farms. The enthusiasm for deer-hunting +has, however, increased with the increase of wealth and leisure among +Englishmen, and immense tracts, amounting altogether to nearly two +millions of acres, have been turned into deer-forests, yielding, as a +rule, a slightly higher rent than was paid by the crofters and +sheep-farmers. Much of this land is either unfit for agricultural +purposes or could not at present be cultivated with profit. Some of it, +however, is fertile, or well suited for grazing, and greatly coveted by +the crofters. The deer and other game often destroy or injure the crops +of the adjoining holdings, and thus add to the troubles of the occupants +and increase their indignation at the land's being used to raise sheep +and "vermin" instead of men. Most Americans have had intimations of this +feeling through the accounts of the hostility that has been shown to our +countryman, Mr. Winans, whose deer-forest is said to cover two hundred +square miles. While evictions are much less common than they were two or +three generations ago, there has all along been a disposition on the +part of the proprietors to enclose in their sheep-farms and deer-forests +lands that were formerly tilled or used as commons by the crofters and +cottars. In comparison with the crofter of to-day the sub-tenant of a +hundred years ago had, as a rule, more land for tillage, a far wider +range of pasture for his stock, and "greater freedom in regard to the +natural produce of the river and moor." + +Many of the crofters belong to families which have lived on the same +holdings for generations. It is a common experience everywhere that +long-continued use begets and fosters the feeling of ownership. This is +especially true when, as in the crofter's case, there is so much in the +history and traditions of the people and the property that tends to +establish a right of possession. Besides, the crofter, or one of his +ancestors, has in most cases built the house and made other +improvements: sometimes he has reclaimed the land itself and changed a +barren waste into a garden. The labor and money which he and his +ancestors have expended in improving the place seem to him to give him +an additional right to occupy it always. It is his holding and his home, +the home of his fathers and of his family. While he may be unable to +resist the power of his landlord, and may have no legal security for his +rights and interests, he regards the curtailment of his privileges or +the increase of his rent as unjust, and eviction as a terrible outrage. +"The extermination of the Highlanders," says one of their kinsmen, "has +been carried on for many years as systematically and persistently as +that of the North-American Indians.... Who can withhold sympathy as +whole families have turned to take a last look at the heavens red with +their burning homes? The poor people shed no tears, for there was in +their hearts that which stifled such signs of emotion: they were +absorbed in despair. They were forced away from that which was dear to +their hearts, and their patriotism was treated with contemptuous +mockery.... There are various ways in which the crime of murder is +perpetrated. There are killings which are effected by the unjust and +cruel denying of lands to our fellow-creatures to enable them to obtain +food and raiment." + +The feeling of the crofters in regard to increase of rent and eviction +is very similar to that of the Irish tenantry. Very recently Mr. Parnell +uttered sentiments which both would accept as their own. "I trust," he +said, "that when any individual feels disposed to violate the divine +commandment by taking, under such circumstances, that which does not +belong to him, he will feel within him the promptings of patriotism and +religion, and that he will turn away from the temptation. Let him +remember that he is doing a great injustice to his country and his +class,--that though he may perhaps benefit materially for a while, yet +that ill-gotten gains will not prosper." Where crofters have been +evicted, or have had their privileges curtailed or their rent raised, +they and their descendants do not soon forget the grievance. Claims have +recently been made for lands which the crofters have not occupied for +two or three generations. + +The Scotch landlords are not, as a rule, cruel or unjust. On the +contrary, some of them are exceedingly kind and generous to their +tenants, and have spent large sums of money in making improvements which +add greatly to the prosperity and comfort of those who live on their +estates. Many of them recognize the right of their tenants to occupy +their holdings without interruption so long as the rent is paid +regularly. The natural tendency, however, to insist upon their legal +rights and to make the most they can out of their estates has led to not +a few cases of hardship and injustice. A few such instances in a +community are talked over for years, and often seriously interfere with +the contentment and industry of many families. The traditions and +recollections of the many evictions which have occurred during this +century have often caused the motives of the best landlords to be +suspected and their most benevolent acts to be misunderstood by their +tenants. The crofter system has been an extremely bad one in many +respects. There cannot be much interest in making improvements where the +tenant must build the houses, fences, stables, etc., but has no +guarantee that he will not be turned out of his holding or have his rent +so increased as practically to compel him to leave the place. The +kindness and humanity of the landlords have in many instances mitigated +the worst evils of the system; but, while human nature remains as it is, +no matter how just and generous individual landlords may be, general +prosperity and contentment are impossible under the present +arrangements. The discontent and discouragement caused by the action of +the less kind and considerate landlords and agents frequently extend to +crofters who have no just grounds of complaint, and troubles and +hardships resulting from idleness or improvidence or other causes are +often attributed to the injustice of the laws or the cruelty of the +landlords. + +The poverty of the crofter often renders his condition deplorable. His +holding and right of common have been curtailed by the landlord, or he +has sub-divided them among his sons or kinsmen, until it would be +impossible for the produce of the soil to sustain the population, even +if no rent whatever were charged. Some years ago he was able to increase +his income by gathering sea-weed for kelp; but latterly, since iodine +can be obtained more cheaply from other sources, the demand for this +product has ceased. In some places the fishing is valuable, enabling him +to supply his family with food for a part of the year, and bringing him +money besides. He is, however, often too poor to provide the necessary +boats and nets, while in many places the absence of good harbors and +landings is a most serious drawback to the fishing industry. Sometimes +he supplements his income by spending a few months of the year in the +low country and obtaining work there. In most cases, however, a large +part of his income must be derived from the land. If there were plenty +of employment to be had, the little holding would do very well as a +garden, and the stock which he could keep on the common would add +greatly to his comfort. As things now are, he must look chiefly to the +land both for his subsistence and his rent, and, with an unfruitful soil +and an unfriendly climate, he is often on the verge of want. + +Still more wretched is the condition of the cottars and squatters. The +latter are in some places numerous and have taken up considerable +portions of land formerly used as common, thus interfering with the +rights of the crofters. They appropriate land and possess and pasture +stock, but pay no rent, obey no control, and scarcely recognize any +authority. The dwellings of this class and of some of the poorer +crofters are wretched in the extreme. A single apartment, with walls of +stone and mud, a floor of clay, a thatched roof, no windows, no chimney, +one low door furnishing an entrance for the occupants and a means of +ventilation and of escape for the smoke which rolls up black and thick +from the peat fire, furniture of the rudest imaginable sort, the +inhabitants--the human beings, the cows, the pigs, the sheep, and the +poultry--all crowded together in the miserable and filthy hut, make up a +picture which the most romantic and poetic associations can hardly +render pleasing to one accustomed to the comforts and refinements of +modern civilization. Of course many of the crofters live in greater +comfort, and some of the cottages are by no means unattractive. But the +Royal Commissioners say that the crofter's habitation is usually "of a +character that would imply physical and moral degradation in the eyes of +those who do not know how much decency, courtesy, virtue, and even +refinement survive amidst the sordid surroundings of a Highland hovel." +An Englishman who, on seeing these "sordid surroundings," was disposed +to compare the social and moral condition of the people to "the +barbarism of Egypt," was told that if he would ask one of the crofters, +in Gaelic or English, "What is the chief end of man?" he would soon see +the difference. + +With such a history, such traditions, grievances, conditions, and +hardships, it is not strange that the crofter should be ready to join an +agitation that promised a remedy. Some of his grievances and claims have +been so similar to those of the Irish tenant that the legislation which +followed the violent agitation in Ireland has led him to hope for +relief-measures similar to those enacted for the Irish tenantry. The +Irish Land Act of 1870 recognized the tenant's right to the permanent +possession of his holding and to his improvements, by providing that on +being turned out by his landlord he should have compensation for +disturbance and for his improvements. It did not, however, secure him +against the landlord's so increasing his rent as practically to +appropriate his improvements and even force him to leave his holding +without any compensation. The Land Act of 1881 secured his interests by +establishing a court which should fix a fair rent, by giving him a right +to compensation for disturbance and for his improvements, and by +allowing him to sell his interests for the best price he can get for +them. It also enabled him to borrow from the government, at a low rate +of interest, three-fourths of the money necessary to purchase his +landlord's interest in the holding. This legal recognition and guarantee +of the Irish tenant's interests have led the crofter to hope that his +claims, based on better grounds, may also be conceded. + +The changes recently made in the land laws of England and Scotland, and +the activity of the advocates of further and more radical changes, have +increased this hope. Progressive English statesmen have long looked with +disfavor upon entails and settlements, and there have been a number of +enactments providing for cutting off entails and increasing the power of +limited owners. The last and most important of these, the Settled +Estates Act, passed in 1882, gives the tenant for life power to sell any +portion of the estate except the family mansion, and thus thoroughly +undermines the principle upon which primogeniture and entails are +founded. Much land which has hitherto been so tied up that the limited +owners were either unable or unwilling to develop it can now be sold and +improved. New measures have been proposed to increase still further the +power of limited owners and to make the sale and transfer of land easier +and less expensive. Many able statesmen are advocates of these measures. +Mr. Goschen in a recent speech at Edinburgh urged the need of a +land-register by which transfers of land might be made almost as cheaply +and easily as transfers of consols. By such an arrangement, it is held, +many farmers of small capital will be enabled to buy their farms, and +the land of the country will thus be dispersed among a much larger +number of owners. There has also been a very marked tendency to enlarge +the rights and the authority of the tenant farmer. The Agricultural +Holdings Act of 1883 gives the tenant a right to compensation for +temporary and, on certain conditions, for permanent improvements, and +permits him in most cases, where he cannot have compensation, to remove +fixtures or buildings which he has erected, contrary to the old doctrine +that whatever is fixed to the soil becomes the property of the landlord. +The landlord's power to distrain for rent is greatly reduced: formerly +he could distrain for six years' rent, now he can distrain only for the +rent of one year, and he is required to give the tenant twelve instead +of six months' notice to quit. The tenant is therefore more secure than +formerly in the possession of his farm and in spending money and labor +in making improvements that will render it more productive. Other +changes are proposed, which will give him still more rights, greater +freedom in the management of the farm, and additional encouragement to +adopt the best methods of farming and invest his labor and money in +improvements. Many of the land reformers advocate the adoption of +measures similar to those that have been enacted for Ireland. It has for +some time been one of the declared purposes of the Farmers' Alliance to +secure a system of judicial rents for the tenant farmers of England. An +important conference lately held at Aberdeen and participated in by +representatives of both the English and Scottish Farmers' Alliances +adopted an outline of a land bill for England and Scotland, providing +for the establishment of a land court, fixing fair rents, fuller +compensation for improvements, and the free sale of the tenant's +interests. + +The wretched condition of the dwellings of the agricultural laborers in +many parts of the country has attracted much attention, and plans for +bettering their condition have frequently been urged. Lately the +interest in the subject has increased, prominent statesmen on both sides +having espoused the cause. In view of the political power which the +recent extension of the suffrage has given to the agricultural laborers, +there is a general expectation that a measure will shortly be enacted +requiring the owner or occupier of the farm to give each laborer a plot +of ground "of a size that he and his family can cultivate without +impairing his efficiency as a wage-earner," at a rent fixed by +arbitration, and providing for a loan of money by the state for the +erection of a proper dwelling. The provisions of the Irish Land Act and +its amendment relating to laborers' cottages and allotments suggest the +lines along which legislation for the improvement of laborers' dwellings +in England and Scotland is likely to proceed. + +Then there is the scheme for nationalizing the land, the state paying +the present owners no compensation, or a very small amount, and assuming +the chief functions now exercised by the landlords. No statesman has yet +ventured to advocate this scheme, but it has called forth a great deal +of discussion on the platform and in the newspapers and reviews, and has +captivated most of those who are inclined to adopt socialistic theories +of property. Mr. George himself has preached his favorite doctrine to +the crofters, whose views of their own rights in the land have led them +to look upon the plan with more favor than the English tenants. Others, +too, who have plans to advocate for giving tenants and laborers greater +rights have taken special pains to have their views presented to the +crofters, since the claims of the latter against the landlords seem to +rest upon so much stronger grounds than those of the English tenant. + +The agitations for the reform of the land laws in Ireland and England, +and the utterances of the advocates of the various plans for increasing +the rights and privileges of the tenant, have led the crofters to dwell +upon their grievances until they have become thoroughly aroused. They +have in many cases refused to pay rent, have resisted eviction and +driven away officers who attempted to serve writs, have offered violence +to the persons or property of some of those who have ventured to take +the crofts of evicted tenants, and in some instances have taken forcible +possession of lands which they thought ought to be added to their +crofts. The government found it necessary a short time ago to send +gunboats with marines and extra police to some of the islands and +districts to restore the authority of the law. The crofters and their +friends are thoroughly organized, and seem likely to insist upon their +claims with the persistency that is characteristic of their race. It is +now generally conceded that some remedy must be provided for their +grievances and hardships. + +The remedy that has been most frequently suggested, the only one +recommended by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by Sir John +McNeil in 1852, is emigration. The crofting system, it has often been +urged, belongs to a bygone age; it survives only because of its +remoteness from the centres of civilization and the ruggedness of the +country; the implements used by the crofters are of the most primitive +sort, while their agricultural methods are "slovenly and unskilful to +the last degree." It is impossible for these small farmers, with their +crude implements and methods, to compete with the large farmers, who +have better land and use the most improved implements and methods. +Besides, many of the crofters are, and their ancestors for many +generations have been, "truly laborers, living chiefly by the wages of +labor, and holding crofts and lots for which they pay rents, not from +the produce of the land, but from wages." If they cannot find employment +within convenient distance of their present homes, the best and kindest +thing for them is to help them to go where there is a good demand for +labor and better opportunities for earning a decent livelihood. To +encourage them to stay on their little crofts, where they are frequently +on the verge of want, is unkind and very bad policy. One who has seen +the wretched hovels in which some of these crofter families live, the +small patches of unproductive land on which they try to subsist, the +hardships which they sometimes suffer, and the lack of opportunities for +bettering their condition in their native Highlands or islands, and who +knows how much has been accomplished by the enterprise and energy of +Highlanders in other parts of the world, can hardly help wishing that +they might all be helped to emigrate to countries where their industry +and economy would more certainly be rewarded, and where they would have +a fairer prospect for success in the struggle for life and advancement. +Many of them would undoubtedly be far better off if they could emigrate +under favorable conditions. The descendants of many of those who were +forced to leave their homes by "cruel and heartless Highland lairds," +and who suffered terrible hardships in getting to this country and +founding new homes, have now attained such wealth and influence as they +could not possibly have acquired among their ancestral hills. The Royal +Commissioners recommended that the state should aid those who may be +willing to emigrate from certain islands and districts where the +population is apparently too great for the means of subsistence. + +The crofters are, however, strongly attached to their native hills and +glens, and they claim that such laws can and ought to be enacted as will +enable them to live in comfort where they are. The present, it is urged, +is a particularly favorable time to establish prosperous small farmers +in many parts of the Highlands where sheep-farming has proved a failure. +The inhabitants of the coasts and islands are largely a seafaring +people. There is quite as much Norse as Celtic blood in the veins of +many of them, and the Norseman's love of the sea leads them naturally to +fishing or navigation. The herring-fisheries, with liberal encouragement +on the part of the government, might be made far more profitable to the +fishermen and to the nation. Besides, the seafaring people of the +Highlands and islands "constitute a natural basis for the naval defence +of the country, a sort of defence which cannot be extemporized, and +which in possible emergencies can hardly be overrated." At the present +time they "contribute four thousand four hundred and thirty-one men to +the Royal Naval Reserve,--a number equivalent to the crews of seven +armored war-steamers of the first class." It is surely desirable to +foster a population which has been a "nursery of good citizens and good +workers for the whole empire," and of the best sailors and soldiers for +the British navy and army. Public policy demands that every legitimate +means be used to better the condition of the crofters and cottars, and +to encourage them to remain in and develop the industries of their own +country, instead of abandoning it to sheep and deer. Private interests +must be made subordinate to the public good. Parliament may therefore +interfere with the rights of landed property when the interests of the +people and of the nation demand it, as they do in this case. + +It was on some such grounds that the Royal Commissioners recommended +that restrictions be placed upon the further extension of deer-forests, +that the fishing interests should be aided by the government, that the +proprietors should be required to restore to the crofters lands formerly +used as common pastures, and to give them, under certain restrictions, +the use of more land, enlarging their holdings, and that in certain +cases they should be compelled to grant leases at rents fixed by +arbitration, and to give compensation for improvements. The government +is already helping the fishermen by constructing a new harbor and by +improving means of communication and transportation, and proposes to +greatly lighten taxation in the near future. + +The bill which the late government introduced into Parliament does not +undertake to provide for aid to those who may wish to emigrate, or for +the compulsory restoration of common pasture, or for the enlargement of +the holdings. It does, however, propose to lend money on favorable terms +for stocking and improving enlarged or new holdings. As a convention of +landlords which was held at Aberdeen last January, and which represented +a large amount of land, resolved to increase the size of crofters' +holdings as suitable opportunities offered and when the tenants could +profitably occupy and stock the same, the demand for more land seems +likely to be conceded in many cases without compulsory legislation. The +bill defines a crofter to be a tenant from year to year of a holding of +which the rent is less than fifty pounds a year, and which is situated +in a crofting-parish. Every such crofter is to have security of tenure +so long as he pays his rent and complies with certain other conditions; +his rent is to be fixed by an official valuer or by arbitration, if he +and his landlord cannot agree in regard to it; he is to have +compensation, on quitting his holding, for all his improvements which +are suitable for the holding; and his heirs may inherit his interests, +although he may not sell or assign them. Such propositions seem radical +and calculated to interfere greatly with proprietary rights and the +freedom of contract. They are, however, but little more than statements +of the customs that already exist on some of the best estates. Just as +the government by the Irish Land Law Act (1881) took up the Ulster +tenant-right customs, gave them the force of law, and extended them to +all Ireland, it is proposed by this bill to give the sanction of law to +those customary rights which the crofters claim to have inherited from +former generations, and which have long been conceded by some of the +landlords. + +Such a measure of relief will not make all the crofters contented and +prosperous. It will, however, give them security against being turned +out of their homes and against excessively high rents, and will +encourage them to spend their labor and money in improving their +holdings. If some assistance could be given to those who may wish to +emigrate from overcrowded districts, and if the government would make +liberal advances of money to promote the fishing industry, the prospect +that the discontent and destitution would disappear would be much +better. The relief proposed will, however, be thankfully received by +many of the crofters and their friends. + + DAVID BENNETT KING. + + + + +MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. + + +Since his own days at the university George Randall had always had a +friend or two among the students who came after him. I remember how in +my Freshman year I used to see Tom Wayward going up the stairs in the +Academy of Music building to his office, and how I used to envy Billy +Wylde when I met him arm in arm with George on one of the campus malls. +It was occasionally whispered about that Randall's influence on these +young men was not of the very best, and that he used to have a +never-empty bottle of remarkably smooth whiskey in his closet, along +with old letter-files and brief-books; and it is undoubtedly true that +Perry Tomson and I used to consider George's friends as models in the +manner of smoking a pipe, or ordering whiskey-and-soda at Bertrand's to +give us an appetite for our mutton-chops or our _bifteck aux +pommes_, and in the delightful self-sufficiency with which in the +pleasant spring days they would cut recitations and loll on the grass +smoking cigarettes right under the nose, almost, of the professor. But +they are both married now, and settled down to respectable conventional +success; and Billy Wylde, as I happen to know, has repaid the money +which George lent him wherewith to finish his education in Germany. The +estimable matrons of Lincoln who made so much ado over George's ruining +these young men,--who had such bright intellects and might have been +expected to do something but for that dreadfully well read lawyer's +awful influence,--these women do not consider it worth their while now, +in the face of the facts as they have turned out, to remember their +predictions, but confine themselves to making their dismal prophecies +anew in regard to the three young fellows whom George has of late taken +up. But then I remember how they went on about Perry Tomson and me in +the early part of our Junior year, when we began to enjoy the favor of +George's friendship; and if their miserable croaking never does any +good, I fancy it will never work any very great harm: so one might as +well let them croak in peace. In fact, one would more easily dam the +waters of Niagara than stop them, and George, I know, doesn't care the +cork of an empty beer-bottle what they say of him. + +I have never tried to analyze the influence for good George had over us, +or account for it in any way, nor do I care to. I have always considered +his friendship for me as one of the pleasantest and most profitable +experiences of my life in Lincoln. Perry and I were always more close +and loving friends, and cared for George with a silent but abiding sense +of gratitude in addition to the other sources of our affection for him, +after he showed us the boyish foolishness of our quarrel about Lucretia +Knowles. Of course I ought not to have grown angry at Perry's +good-natured cynicism; for how could he have imagined that I cared for +her? Though I sometimes think, even now, that Perry was indeed anxious +lest I should fall in love with her, and wanted to ridicule me out of +the notion, and I fear, in spite of his acquaintance, that he +disapproves of our engagement. I wonder if he will ever get over his +prejudice against women. The dear old fellow! if he would only consent +to know Lucretia better I am sure he would. + +One night in the winter before we graduated, Perry and I went with +George to the Third House, which is a mock session of the legislature +that the political wags of the State take advantage of to display their +wit and quickness at repartee and ability to make artistic fools of +themselves. If it happens to be a year for the election of a senator, as +it was in this case, the different candidates are in turn made fun of +and held up to ridicule or approval; and the chief issues of the time +are handled without gloves in a way that is always amusing and often +worth while in showing the ridiculous nature of some of them. The Third +House is usually held on some evening during the first or second week of +the session, and is opened by the Speaker calling the house to order +with a thundering racket of the gavel--"made from the wood of trees +grown on the prairies of the State"--and announcing the squatter +governor. Since the State was a territory, this announcement, after due +formalities, has been followed by the statement that, as the squatter +governor is somewhat illiterate, his message will be read by his private +secretary. After this personage has read his score or more pages of +jokes, sarcastic allusions, and ridiculous recommendations, the +discussion of the message takes place, during which any one who thinks +of a bright remark may get up and fire it at the gallery; and many very +lame attempts pass for good wit, and much private spite goes for +harmless fooling. + +George got us seats in the gallery next to old Billy Gait, the +bald-headed bachelor, who owns half a dozen houses which he rents for +fifty dollars a month each, and who lives on six hundred a year, +investing the surplus of his income every now and then in another house. +William, as usual, had a pretty girl at his elbow, and we heard him +telling her how he could never get interested in George Eliot's novels, +and how it beat him to know why he ever wrote such tedious books. The +young lady smiled over her fan at Randall, and said that she supposed +Mr. Eliot had a great deal of spare time on his hands, but of course he +had no business to employ it in writing tiresome novels. + +George, who knew everybody, had a kindly greeting for all who were +within its reach, even for the tired-looking little school-teacher, who +had come out with her landlady's fifteen-year-old son as an escort and +in a little while had settled down to quiet enjoyment of the squatter +governor's message, approving with a quiet smile the grin that +occasionally spread over Perry's good-humored face. As for me, I was +made miserable from the start by seeing Lucretia Knowles in one of the +best seats on the floor, with a conceited fool of a +newspaper-correspondent at her side, whispering nonsense in her ear at +such a rate that she did nothing but laugh and turn her pretty head back +to speak with Mamie Jennings, her _fidus Achates_, and never once cast +her eyes toward the gallery. She has said since that she knew I was +there all the time, and that she didn't dare look at me, because I was +such a frightful picture of jealousy, with my fingers in my hair and my +elbow on the gallery railing, staring down on the floor as if I should +like to drop a bomb and annihilate the entire lot. It is all very well +to look back now and laugh and feel sorry for the curly-locked +journalist, who is writing letters from Mexico and trying to get over +the disappointment which the knowledge of our engagement gave him, but +it was very little fun for me at the time. + +I turned away a dozen times, and swore inwardly that I wouldn't look +that way again, and after each resolve I would find my eyes glancing +from one person to another in Lu's vicinity, until finally they would +rest again on her. When I had declared for the thirteenth time that I +wouldn't contemplate her heartless flirting, I noticed George bow to +some one who had just come in at the gallery door. A young man from one +of the western counties was making a satirical speech in favor of the +woman's suffrage amendment, misquoting Tennyson's "Princess" and making +the gallery shake with laughter, at the time; but I noticed George's +face light up and his eyes sparkle with pleasure at the sight of the +new-comer. She was a beautiful lady, over thirty, I should say, with the +sweetest face, for a sad one, I had ever seen. Of course, in a certain +way I like Lucretia's style of beauty better; but Mrs. Herbert was +beautiful in a way, so far as the women I have ever seen are concerned, +peculiar to herself. She was rather slender, and had a calm, graceful +bearing that I somehow at once associated with purity and nobleness. She +was quite simply dressed, and had on a small widow's bonnet, with the +ribbons tied under her chin, while a charming little girl, whose hair +curled obstinately over her forehead, had hold of her hand. + +I was somewhat surprised--I will not say disappointed exactly--to see +her lips break into a glad smile, though it made her face look all the +lovelier and sweeter, in reply to George's greeting; and when she came +toward us, as he beckoned her to do, every one immediately and gladly +made room for her to pass. Perry and I gave our seats to Mrs. Herbert +and her little girl; and I found myself speculating, as I leaned against +one of the pillars, on the difference of expression in the eyes of the +two, which were otherwise so much alike,--the same deep shade of brown, +the same soft look, the same lashes, and yet what a vast difference when +one thought of the combined effect of all these similar details. I spoke +to Perry of it, and he good-naturedly poked fun at me, saying I was +forever trying to see a romance or a history in people's eyes. + +"Well, I suppose you will say she isn't even lovely," I exclaimed, with +impatience. + +"I'm no judge," he replied, with exasperating carelessness; "but a +little too pale, I should say. I wish George hadn't introduced her to +me." + +"Why?" + +"Oh, it made me feel cheap to have to back into old Billy Gait's bony +legs and try to bow and shake hands before everybody,--in the eyes of +the assembled community, as Charley McWenn would say." + +McWenn was the stupid block of a journalist,--for I do think him a +stupid block, in spite of his cleverness,--and I realized then that I +had forgotten for a moment all about Lucretia. I could not see her from +my new position, so I amused myself by imagining how she was carrying +on. + +At last George and Mrs. Herbert rose up to go, and the former, as he +asked our forgiveness for leaving us, told us to come to his office when +we had enough of the Third House, and, if he wasn't there, to wait for +him. "We'll go over to Bertrand's and have some oysters," he said, with +his confidence-inspiring smile. I have always thought that if George had +not had so pleasant a smile and such a soulful laugh we should never +have been such friends. + +We found him waiting for us at the foot of the Academy of Music stairs, +with a cigar in his mouth and one for each of us in his hand, and we +knew from experience that his case was filled with a reserve. + +"It's a pleasant night, boys, isn't it?" he said, looking up at the +stars (wonderfully bright they were in the clear, cold atmosphere) as we +went, crunching the snow under our feet, along the deserted streets to +the little back-entrance we knew of to Bertrand's. + +"Yes," said Perry; "but you missed the best thing of the whole circus by +leaving before Colonel Bouteille made his speech in favor of the +prohibition amendment." And he gave a _résumé_ of the colonel's +laughable sophistry for George's benefit,--and for mine as well, for I +had paid no attention to the old toper's remarks. + +We could see the glimmer of lights behind the shutters of the faro-room +over Sudden's saloon and hear the rattle of the ivory counters as we +passed. + +"Do you ever go up there?" asked George, interrupting Perry. + +"Why, yes; sometimes," we answered. + +"Play a little now and then? I suppose?" + +"We don't like to loaf around such a place," said Perry rather grandly, +considering our circumstances, "without putting down a few dollars." + +"That's all right," said George; "but once or twice is enough, boys. +After you have seen what the thing is like, keep away from the tiger. +She is a greedy beast, and always hungry; and of course you can't think +of sitting down at a poker-table with the professional players." + +Direct advice was rather a new strain for Randall, and we were not +surprised when he dropped it abruptly as we filed into a little private +room at the restaurant. + +"Yes, I fancy old Bouteille might have made a humorous speech," he said, +after ordering the oysters. "Three?" he added, looking at me, "or four?" + +"Quarts?" I asked in reply. + +George nodded. + +"Two, I should say." + +"Oh, bother!" exclaimed Perry. "We should only have to trouble the +waiter again." + +So George ordered four bottles of beer. + +"It's after ten o'clock, sir," said the waiter doubtfully. It is +needless to say that he was a new one. + +"That's the reason we came here," answered George, with a calm manner of +assumption that dissipated the waiter's doubts while it evidently filled +him with remorse. "Where's Auguste?" + +"He's gone to bed, sir; but I guess 'twill be all right." And the waiter +started to fetch the beer. + +"I should think so," growled Perry. + +"I suppose it is not good form to drink beer with oysters," I suggested +mildly. + +"I don't know, I'm sure," said George. + +"I suppose not," said Perry; "they go so well together. I hope it isn't, +at any rate: I like to do things that are bad form." + +So I relapsed into silence, and my speculations about George's outbreak +against gambling, and Mrs. Herbert's beautiful face and sad eyes, and +Lucretia Knowles's wicked light-heartedness. + +When we had finished eating and had opened the last bottle of beer, I +asked George, as he stopped his talk with Perry for a moment to relight +his cigar, who Mrs. Herbert was. + +"She is the noblest and most unfortunate woman in the world," he +replied, "I will tell you her story some time, perhaps." + +"Let us hear it now," I cried, looking at Perry with triumph. + +"Yes, let us," said Perry, nothing to my surprise, for I knew his heart +was in the right place, if his ways were a little rough and +unimpressionable-like. "We have no recitations, no lectures, no +anything, to-morrow, and there is no one else in the restaurant but the +waiter, and he is asleep." + +And, in fact, we could hear him snoring. + +"No, I would rather not tell it here," George said simply; "but if you +will come with me to the office you shall hear it." And when we had +heard it we respected the feeling that had prompted him to consider even +the walls of such a place as unfit listeners. To be sure, it was a very +comfortable restaurant, where the waiters were always attentive and +skilful and the mutton-chops irreproachable, and many a pleasant evening +had we three had there over our cigars and Milwaukee, and sometimes a +bottle or two of claret. But so had Tom Hagard, the faro-dealer, and +Frank Sauter, who played poker over Sudden's, and Dick Bander, who got +his money from Madame Blank because he happened to be a swashing +slugger, and many another Tom, Dick, and Harry whose reputations were, +to say the least, questionable. Of course we never associated with such +characters, and plenty of estimable people besides ourselves frequented +Bertrand's. The place was not in bad odor at all, but merely a little +miscellaneous, and suited our plebeian fancies all the more on that +account. If young fellows want to be really comfortable in life, we +thought, and see a little at first hand just what sort of people make up +the world, they must not be too particular. So we used to sit down at +the next table to one where a gambler or a horse-jockey would perhaps be +seated, or a man of worse fame, and order our humble repast with a quiet +conscience and a strengthened determination never to become one among +such people. We would even see the gay flutter of skirts sometimes, as +the waiter entered one of the private rooms with an armful of dishes, +and hear the chatter and laughter of the wearers. + +We did not wonder, therefore, at George's preference for his own office, +whose four walls had never looked down upon anything but innocent young +fellows smoking and talking whatever harmless nonsense came into their +heads, or playing chess or penny-ante, or upon his own generous thoughts +and solitary contemplations, or hard work on some intricate lawsuit. So +we aroused the sleeping waiter, and walked back to the Academy of Music +building in silence. + +"It is rather a long story," said George, when we had at last made +ourselves comfortable, "and I have never told it before. I don't know +why I should tell it now, but somehow I want to. I felt this evening +after I left the Capitol that I would, and I asked leave of Mrs. Herbert +while we were walking to her home together. I knew she would let me: I +am the only friend, I suppose,--the only real friend, I mean, whom she +trusts and treats as an intimate friend,--that she has in the world. I +know I am the only person who knows the whole story of her sad life. + +"When I was in the university," he slowly continued, holding his cigar +in the gas-jet and turning it over and over between his fingers, with an +evident air of collating his reminiscences, "Phil Kendall and I were +great friends. I don't know how we ever came to be so: it was natural, I +suppose, for us to like each other. I used to notice that he did not +associate much with the other fellows; and yet he was the best runner +and boxer in the class. He was the only fellow in the university who +could do the giant swing on the bar, and, though he had never taken +lessons, it was next to impossible for any one but Wayland, the +sub-professor in chemistry, to touch him with the foils. Somehow we were +drawn together, and before long were hardly ever apart. We used to get +out our Horace together, he with the pony and text and I with the +lexicon, for he was too impatient to hunt up the words. I believe you +study differently now." + +"We still have the pony," said Perry. + +"And we used to puzzle our heads together over Mechanics, for we didn't +have election as you do, and take long walks, and play chess, and get up +spreads in our room for nobody but us two. Not such elaborate affairs as +are called spreads now, but I warrant you they were fully as much +enjoyed. I fancy we were rather sentimental. We used to hold imaginary +conversations in the person of some favorite characters in fiction; but +we were very young and boyish." + +Perry glanced at me sheepishly, but George went on without noticing: + +"Phil's father lived here, and was proprietor of the only wholesale +grocery-store the town then boasted of. He had been captain of a +volunteer company in the war, and, I fancy, had a romance too. At any +rate, his wife had been dead since Phil was a little fellow in +knickerbockers; and not very long after her death a certain Mrs. Preston +had sent a little girl, about a year older than Phil, with a dying +charge to the captain to care for the friendless orphan for the sake of +their early love. No one but Grace could ever get anything out of the +old gentleman about her mother, and she never learned much. Mrs. Preston +had been unhappy at least, and perhaps miserable, in her marriage. We +always thought she had forsaken Mr. Kendall in their youth and made a +hasty marriage; but never a word was uttered by him about Grace's +father. + +"I used to imagine Mr. Kendall cared more for his adopted daughter than +for his son, from what I saw of them, and I was at the house a good deal +with Phil. I am sure they were very affectionate; and it was only +natural that the melancholy old man--that is the way he always struck +me--should have loved the daughter of the woman who had deserted him and +then turned toward him in her hour of supreme need. It showed that her +trust and belief in him and his goodness had never really left her. And, +besides, Grace was always so airy and light-hearted,--nothing could put +her out of humor,--so kind and gentle, and as lovely as a flower. She is +a splendid-looking woman yet, but one can have no idea of what she was +in those days, from the sad-eyed Mrs. Herbert who smiles so rarely on +any one but her little girl. Nannie is going to make much such a young +lady as her mother was, but I don't believe she will ever be quite so +beautiful. + +"Well, I was not long in discovering that Phil was in love with his +father's adopted daughter. I was never quite sure whether he knew it +himself at the time or not, but I could see easily enough that she +didn't dream of such a thing, nor the old captain either. They were so +much like brother and sister it used to make me feel wofully sorry for +Phil to see her throw her arms around his neck and kiss him for some +little kindness or other that he was always doing her: the difference of +mood in which the caress would be given from that in which Phil would +receive it was somehow always painful to me. Phil would never offer to +kiss her on his own account; and it is still a mystery to me why she +never discovered how he felt toward her until he became jealous. The +tenderness and gentle considerateness of his bearing were always so +marked that to a less innocent and pure nature, I fancy, it would have +been noticeable at once. + +"When we were Juniors, Phil took her to a party one night, just after +Easter. The captain was a scrupulous Churchman, and Grace was always by +him in the pew. She had not been confirmed, however, and never said a +word to Phil and me about our persistency in staying away from church, +though the captain used to lecture Phil quite soberly about it. This +party was given at the house of one of the vestrymen, and they had +refreshments, and, after the rector had gone home, dancing. They called +it a sociable, and took up a collection for the ladies' aid society just +after the cake and coffee and whipped cream had been served. There was +where Grace first met George Herbert. He was a handsome young fellow, +well educated, a graduate of some Eastern college, clever and talented, +and his family in Rochester, New York, were considered very good people. +He had come to Lincoln to take a place on the 'Gazette,' and every one +thought him a young man of good parts and fair prospects. + +"He made up to Grace from the start. They were laughing and talking +together all the evening on a little sofa, just large enough for two, +that stood in the bow-window. There was a little crowd of young people +around the two most of the time, and she was saying bright things to +them all, but never, I noticed, at the expense of young Herbert, who +made most of his remarks so low that no one but Grace could hear them. +She always smiled and often broke out into her musical laugh at what he +said; and when Phil, who had been trapped into a game of whist with some +old fogies, finally came back into the parlor and made his way to where +Grace was having such a happy time, she even launched a shaft or two of +her wit at him. + +"I saw that the poor fellow was hurt: he turned away without answering, +though, and, coming over to where I was, sat down and began looking at +an album, trying hard all the time to hide his feelings. But in a moment +Grace was hanging over his shoulder, oblivious of her surroundings, and +lovingly begging his pardon if she had hurt him. I have sometimes +thought that Phil then fully realized for the first time how he cared +for her. The way in which her affection disregarded the presence of the +crowd smote him, I imagine, with something like despair. I saw him turn +pale and catch his breath, and I knew his laugh too well to be deceived, +as Grace was, when he made light of her self-accusations and declared +that than taking offence at her words nothing had been further from his +thoughts. This was in a sense true, of course, for ordinarily he would +have answered as light-heartedly almost as Grace herself; and it was +only the feeling of jealousy, unconscious perhaps, at any rate +irresistible, that gave her words undue--no, not that exactly, but +unusual influence over his feelings. + +"For a while Phil acted as considerately as ever, and made himself +thoroughly agreeable to several young ladies, whereat Grace was highly +pleased and soon took up again her mood of gayety. But when Phil brought +her a plate and napkin and some things to eat, and found her and Herbert +already served and with mock gravity breaking a piece of cake together +on the stairs,--'they were only doing it,' Phil declared to me +afterward, 'that they might touch each other's hands,'--he lost his +head. He must have spoken very bitterly, else he would never have +aroused Grace's anger. I don't know what he said, except that he +complained about having come to such a thing as a church sociable, which +he despised, and, inasmuch as he had done it for the sake of her +enjoyment and pleasure, she might at least have shown him the same +politeness she would have accorded to any of the insufferable prigs whom +she seemed delighted to honor. + +"Herbert started to reply, but Grace silenced him by a look, and said, +'We have been as brother and sister since childhood.' It was probably +well for Herbert's handsome face that he did not enter into a discussion +with Phil. They were both hot-tempered, and Phil had no scruples against +asking him out of doors, and would have been as cool in his manner and +as terrible in his strength as an iceberg. + +"Grace led Phil away, and tried to tell him how she had not supposed he +would care; that she had imagined he would prefer to serve the young +lady with whom he had been talking; how she had never known him to put +such store by trivialities before; how 'at least we,' Phil told me, +bitterly quoting her words, 'at least we ought to be sure of each +other's hearts,' and did everything to pacify him. But he would listen +to nothing, and, coming to me, asked me to walk home with Grace, as he +was going away immediately. I imagined the trouble, and got him to admit +that he and Grace had said unkind words to each other. But he would say +nothing more about the matter till I found him in my room after it was +all over, when he raved about Grace until near morning, and cursed the +fate that had turned the bread of her kind affection for him into a +stone. 'How can I ever hope to win her love when she thinks that way of +me?' he would ask sorrowfully, after telling of some pure and loving +freedom she had taken. I was full of pity for the miserable fellow, but +I felt as if I ought to do all I could to discourage him. I was sure he +was right; he never could hope to, and I thought the sooner he learned +this, and to submit to it, the better it would be for him. + +"I persuaded him not to leave the party in the height of his resentment, +though, and he was so quiet before the dancing that I began to hope he +would beg Grace's pardon and take her home repentantly and in peace. But +he insisted on my going and offering to dance with her the first set in +his place. She had already promised, she said, to dance it with Mr. +Herbert, and it was in vain that I told her she must look upon me as +acting for Phil, and advised her for his sake to excuse herself to +Herbert and dance with either Phil or myself. 'If Phil should come and +ask me himself on his knees I would not do it,' she declared, with +superb grandeur, 'He has acted wrong, and imputed to me the worst +motives for trivial things which I did unthinkingly even, and, heaven +knows, without deliberate calculation.' + +"I saw it was no use to talk with her, and that in her present mood even +entreaty, to which she was usually so yielding, would be of no avail. I +felt very helpless and miserable about it, but I could do nothing. I saw +that Phil had made a grave mistake by accusing her of partiality for +Herbert, and that her acquaintance with him might possibly be forced +into a closer relation by Phil's jealousy. I kept away from him for a +while, and almost made Miss Scrawney think I had fallen in love with +her, in order to keep Phil from getting a word with me. At last, +however, just as the music began, he pulled my sleeve and asked in a +whisper if I wasn't going to take Grace out and dance with her. + +"'She was already engaged,' I answered. + +"'To whom?' said Phil. 'But there is no need to ask.' And at the moment, +indeed, almost as if in answer to his question, Grace entered the room +from the hall on Herbert's arm. I was afraid for an instant that Phil +would make a scene. The veins on his forehead swelled, and he started +forward as they passed within a few feet of where we were standing, +Grace smiling and talking to Herbert, apparently as oblivious of us as +if we had not been within a thousand miles of her; but he mastered the +impulse, whatever it was, and I have often speculated as to whether it +was to upbraid Grace or to strike Herbert. + +"'Look at her, George,' he said, with a calmness that was belied by the +look in his eyes. 'You wouldn't think that three hours ago she had never +known him, would you? nor that we had lived in the same house since we +were no higher than that. Her mother, I know, did her best to break my +old man's heart, and I warrant you it was for some such worthless fool +as that, who wasn't fit to black the dear old fellow's boots. Poor old +dad! we shall be together in the boat: when I begin to handle hams and +barrelled sugar we will write ourselves 'Kendall & Son' with a +flourish.' And as we went up the stairs to get his coat and hat he told +me to stay and offer to go home with Grace. 'It wouldn't do for me to +leave her unless you do, George,' he said; 'but if she wants to go with +Herbert, let her; but she shall not say I went away and left her without +an escort.' + +"I promised readily enough, and even hurried him away. There was no good +in his staying; in fact, I thought it better that he should leave; and +after he had gone I went to Grace. I managed the matter rather badly, +but I suppose the most consummate tact on my part would not have changed +things. I should have waited until I saw her alone, or until the party +was breaking up; but I went directly I saw they had stopped dancing. She +was leaning on the piano and letting Herbert fan her, and looking almost +too beautiful for real life as she turned her face toward him, flushed +with her exercise and beaming with excitement. There was something grand +to me in the expression of individuality and proud insistence that had +come to her so suddenly. It was no factitious strife of her nature +against the dependence of her position as an adopted daughter, I knew, +for she had never felt in the least but that she was perfectly free; it +was no caprice or stubbornness; it was merely her womanly assertion of +self and her unconscious protest against what she thought injustice. She +would not have believed from any one but Phil himself that he was in +love with her and jealous. + +"'Phil has gone away,' I said bluntly, interrupting their talk. She +looked at me for a moment and raised her eyebrows slightly. + +"'Has he?' was all she asked. + +"'Yes: he was feeling badly,' I went on. 'He asked me to walk home with +you when you were ready to go. I thought I would tell you now, so you +would not be at a loss in case you should want to leave before the party +breaks up.' + +"'You are very kind, I am sure, Mr. Kendall' (she usually called me +George), 'but I shall not want to go for ever so long yet. It was +needless for Phil to trouble you; he knew I should get home all +right,--but it was like him. I am awfully sorry to keep you waiting: I +know you are anxious to get back to your pipe and books.' + +"Here Herbert said something with the appearance of speaking to us both; +but she only could hear what it was. I, however, imagined readily +enough. + +"'Will you?' she answered him, in a pleased tone, and I fancied her +smile was grateful. 'Mr. Herbert is going to stay and dance a while +longer,' she went on, turning to me, 'and if he takes me home it will +not seem as if I were troubling any one too much, and--' + +"'Very well, Miss Preston,' I interrupted, making my best bow; 'as you +like.' And when I saw the smile on Herbert's face I didn't wonder much +at the way Phil had felt. 'Let me bid you good-night,' I said, bowing +again, and started off. + +"Grace followed me rapidly into the hall. 'Now, please don't you be +angry too, George,' she said, laying her hand on my arm. + +"'I am not angry,' I said. + +"'Do you think it right, George,' she asked earnestly,--and there was a +pleading look in her eyes,--'or manly to desert one's friends in +trouble?' + +"'I am doing the best I know how,' said I, 'to be true to my friend.' + +"'Oh, George, I am so sorry!' Her voice trembled, and all her +queenliness had gone. 'You must not go off this way. You don't blame me +as Phil does, do you? Wait, I will get my things, and you shall walk +home with me now. I will see Phil and tell him--' + +"'He has gone to my room,' I said. + +"'Well, I will wait till you bring him home. You must tell him I forgive +him,--or no, tell him I am sorry and ask his forgiveness. Oh, George, we +cannot be this way. Only think how sad it would make his father--and--' +There were tears on her lashes, and her lips were trembling piteously. +She put her hand to her throat and could not go on. God forgive me if I +was wrong,--and I know I was,--but I couldn't help it then,--I asked, +almost with a sneer, if she didn't dislike to slight her estimable +friend Mr. Herbert's kindness; and she turned away without a word, as if +regretting, from my unworthiness, the emotion she had shown. + +"I was in very nearly as bad a state as Phil for a while. I told him +just how I had acted, and he was rather pleased than otherwise at my +cruelty. We tried hard to make ourselves believe that Grace had deserved +it, and to a certain extent succeeded. + +"'She probably thought it was too high a price,' said Phil, 'when she +saw both of us going off offended, and she concluded not to give it. +But, then, it was just like her,' he added, in a kindlier spirit than +the natural interpretation of his words seemed to indicate. + +"It was a month before either of us went to the house. The old captain +thought at first that we were going to the dogs, and, I think, kept up a +kind of watch over our movements. He came in one morning, after he had +concluded his suspicions were wrong, and made a sort of expiatory call. +He tried to tell us how he had judged us too harshly, but couldn't quite +bring himself to it, and, after a good many half-uttered remarks that +did honor to the old gentleman's heart, if they didn't prove him a cool +hand in such matters, he left us with an unspoken blessing and some +homely, sound advice to do as we liked, so long as we were manly and +honest. + +"Within a week he was stricken with apoplexy on receiving news of some +serious losses, and was taken home without speaking. He died the next +morning just at sunrise, and Grace and Phil mingled their tears at his +bedside. He tried in vain to speak to them, and the pleased light in his +eyes as they took each other's hands and laid them, joined together, in +his, was the only sign he gave of having known there had been a +difference between them. + +"Poor Grace! she was very miserable and lonely after that. Phil could +never bear to be with her after he had spoken. Her true kindness and +gentle, loving pity were misery to him. He made a noble effort to stay +by and watch over her, but he was hardly fit to take care of himself. +She never knew how small a share of what little was left of his father's +money he took with him to the mountains, but she realized why he went +without waiting for his degree, and sadly approved his resolution. She +always kept the growing attachment between her and Herbert from grating +on Phil as much as was in her power, but he could not help seeing it. +Though he never said anything even to me, it was plain that he had a +poor opinion of the young journalist; and Grace was very thankful to him +for all he did and suffered. + +"She must have felt very much alone in the world after Phil left, and +the house certainly seemed empty and sad when I used to go there to see +her. There was no one but Grace and the housekeeper and an old +gentleman, a clerk in one of the State departments, to whom she had +rented rooms, partly for the money and partly to have a man in the +house. Herbert was with her whenever his work would permit, and there +was some talk about their intimacy among people who, even if they had +known her, were too base to have appreciated the fineness and truth and +purity of Grace's nature. + +"I couldn't blame her for marrying Herbert,--which she did the fall +after I graduated. They certainly were very much in love, and Herbert +had borne himself creditably in every way. No one could have foreseen +that he would turn out so badly; and for a year or more after their +marriage they were as happy as birds in May. Grace was never +light-hearted, as when I first knew her,--no woman of worth and +tenderness would have been,--but still she was happily and sweetly +contented, completely bound up in her husband, thinking almost of +nothing but him, and caring for nothing but his love. + +"When I came back from the law-school, I went to see them as soon as I +was settled. They had sold the house, and were living in a rented +cottage out in East Lincoln. Nannie, their baby, was quite if not more +than a year old then; and, though I had known that Grace would be a fond +mother, I was unprepared to see the way in which she seemed absolutely +to worship the child. I immediately asked myself if it meant that she +was not so happy with Herbert as she had been. I met him at tea, to +which Grace insisted on my staying. His dress was as neat and as +carefully arranged as ever, and he was cordial enough toward me; but he +did not kiss Grace when he came in, and hardly looked at the baby. He +laughed a good deal, and told several amusing incidents of his newspaper +experience. I noticed that his old habit of looking at one's chin or +cravat instead of at one's eyes when he spoke to one had grown upon him. +He excused himself soon after tea on the ground of having to be at the +office, and went away smoking a cigarette. + +"Grace complained of the way in which his work kept him up nights. He +was never home until after midnight, she said, and sometimes not before +morning. She was afraid it was telling upon his health. 'You must come +and see me often. George.' she said, as she gave me her hand at parting. +'I see very little of my husband now, and, if it were not for Nannie, I +feel as if I should be almost unhappy. Then he would have to do some +other work, though he likes journalism so well.' That was the nearest +she ever came to complaining to me, though I soon knew that she had +plenty of cause. She was not entirely deceived by Herbert's assertions +and excuses. I learned before long, for I made a point of finding out, +that he was never obliged to be at the office after nine o'clock, that +he gambled and drank, and was looked on with unpleasant suspicions by +his employers, so that he might at any time find himself without a +position. He owned no property, and Grace's little patrimony had +disappeared, even to the money they had received for the house, without +leaving the slightest trace. Herbert's ill reputation was common +property in the town, and he and Grace went nowhere together. She had +even given up going to church, that she might be with him for a few +hours on Sundays; and now and then if he took her for a walk and pushed +the baby-carriage through the Capitol-grounds for an hour, she cared +more for it than for a whole stack of Mr. Gittner's sermons. She had no +friends at all, and but few acquaintances, and altogether had much to +bear up under. Right nobly she did it, too; never a word of complaint to +any one: I believe not even to herself would she admit that she was +treated basely. + +"They kept on in this way for a year after I opened my office. I heard +from Phil now and then,--brief notes that he was alive and well,--and on +the 11th of June, the date of the old captain's death, Grace always +received a long letter from him, full of references to their childhood, +but telling little of himself. Herbert's reputation became worse and +worse, and he deserved all the evil that was said of him. The tradesmen +refused him credit, and the carpets and furniture of their little +cottage grew old and thread-bare and were not replaced. I have seen him +play pool at Sudden's for half a day at a dollar a game, and perhaps +lose his week's wages. He was hand in glove with the set that lurked +about the 'club-room' over the saloon, and almost any night could be +seen at the faro-table fingering his chips and checking off the cards on +his tally-sheet. Nobody but strangers would sit down to a game of poker +or casino with him: he had grown much too skilful. He was what they +called a 'very smooth player:' though I never heard of his being openly +accused of cheating. + +"One of my first cases of consequence was to recover some money which +had been paid to some sharpers by an innocent young fellow from the East +for a worthless mine in Colorado. In connection with it I went to +Denver. Charlie Wayland, a brother of the chemistry professor, happened +to be on the same train. He owns the planing-mill down on Sixth Street +now, you know; but he was a wild young fellow then, and knew everything +that was going on. He intended to have a time, he said, while he was in +Denver; that was what he was going for. He went with me to the St. +James, where I had written Phil to meet me, if he could come down from +Boulder. + +"Young Wayland had his time in the city, and I had finished my business +and was going to start back and leave him to enjoy by himself his trip +to Pike's Peak and the other sights of the State, considerably +disappointed at not having seen Phil, when he came in on us as I was +packing my grip-sack. He was rough and hardy as a bear, and had grown a +tremendous black beard: his heavy hand closed over mine till my knuckles +cracked. We were glad enough to see each other, and had plenty to talk +about. Of course I stayed over another day, and Wayland put off his trip +to Pike's Peak to keep us company, though we didn't care so much for his +presence as he seemed to think we did. But he gave us a little dinner at +Charpiot's, and I forgave his talkativeness for the sake of the +champagne, until he became excited by drinking too much of it and began +to talk about George Herbert. He was stating his system of morality, +which was, in effect,--and Charlie had acted up to it pretty well,--that +a fellow should go it when he was young, but when he was married he +ought to settle down. + +"'Now, I can't stand a fellow like that Herbert,' he said; and for all +my kicks under the table he went on, 'It may be well enough for the +French, but I say in this country it's a devilish shame. He is a young +fellow in Lincoln, Mr. Kendall,--got a splendid wife, and a little baby, +one of the nicest women in the world, and thinks the world of him, and +he goes it with the boys as if he was one of 'em. He never goes home, +though, unless he is sober enough to keep himself straight; but I've +seen him bowling full many a time. Wine, women, and song, you know, and +all that; it may be well enough for us young bloods, but in a fellow of +his circumstances I say it's wrong, damn it! and he oughtn't to do it.' + +"Now, I had told Phil that Grace was well and fairly happy. I had +thought it but just to sink my opinion and give Grace's own account of +herself and deliver her simple message without comment. 'Give Phil my +love,' she had said as I left her the night before I came away. + +"'And how does this Herbert's wife take all this?' asked Phil of +Wayland. + +"'Oh, she doesn't know all, I suppose. If she did, it would probably +kill her. My brother's wife says that if it were not for her child she +doesn't believe Mrs. Herbert would live very long, as it is.' + +"'Her trouble is common talk, then?' observed Phil, sipping his wine and +avoiding my eyes. + +"'Why, yes, to a certain extent; though she doesn't parade it, by any +means. In fact, she lives very much alone; no one ever sees her, hardly, +but George here, who is an old friend, you know. Maybe you used to know +her,' he added suddenly, coming to himself a little. 'Well, if you did,' +he went on, as Phil did not answer, 'you wouldn't know her now, they +say, for the lively, careless girl she was five or six years ago.' And +then he began to talk about the condition of the Chinese in Denver, and +how he had that morning seen one of them kicked off the sidewalk without +having given the least provocation. + +"Phil said nothing further about the Herberts all evening, but just +before we separated for the night he asked me if I could let him have +some money. I unsuspectingly thanked my stars that I could, and told him +so. + +"'Well, then,' he declared, 'I am going back to Lincoln with you +to-morrow.' And, in spite of all I could say, he did. He had his beard +shaved off, bought himself some civilized clothes, and made his +appearance with me on the streets of Lincoln as naturally as if he had +gone away but the day before. His life in the mountains had given him an +air of decision, a certain quiet energy and determination which +impressed one immediately with the sense of his being a man of strong +character, with a powerful will under perfect control. I grew to have so +much confidence in him that I thought his coming would somehow be a +benefit to Grace, though I could not see how; in fact, when I tried to +reason about it, I told myself exactly the contrary. But Phil seemed to +have such implicit confidence in himself, to be so self-sufficient and +so ready for any emergency, and altogether such a perfect man of action, +that he inspired belief and confidence in others. + +"We met Herbert on our way up from the station: he was standing in front +of the 'Gazette' office, laughing and talking with Sudden's barkeeper. +He greeted Phil with cordiality, in spite of the latter's distant +bearing, and told him Grace would be greatly pleased at his arrival. + +"'I suppose she will be glad to see me,' said Phil, as we passed on. And +she was glad, very glad, to see him, but she was far from being made +happy by his coming. I sent a note out to her, and Phil and I followed +shortly after. I did not watch their meeting,--I thought, somehow, that +no one ought to see it,--but I knew he took her in his arms; and when +she came out on the porch to bring me in there were tears in her eyes. + +"We all sat and talked for a long while, Grace with her hand in Phil's +and her eyes on his face, when she was not looking anxiously after my +awkward attempts at caring for her baby; for of course Nannie had been +brought out almost the first thing. I think, from the way in which she +carefully avoided asking him his reasons for coming back, that she +divined what they were. I imagined that she blamed me as being the prime +cause; but there was nothing I could say to undeceive her. In fact, I +thought it better for her to believe so than to know the truth. + +"'She is miserably unhappy, George,' said Phil gloomily, as we walked +away. 'But you were right not to tell me. I can do nothing to help her: +I cannot even openly sympathize with her. It would have been better to +have kept on thinking she was happy: there was a bitter kind of +satisfaction to me in that, but still it was a satisfaction.' + +"Nevertheless Phil did not go back to the mountains. He stayed on here +for a month or more, dividing his time pretty equally between my office +and Grace's little parlor. He very seldom met Herbert. Now and then they +would be together at the cottage for half an hour, if Herbert happened +to come home while he was there, and when they met on the street they +would merely pass the time of day. + +"One evening before going to supper I waited until after seven o'clock +for Phil to come in, and just as I had given him up, and was starting +away alone, he entered the office, looking pale as a ghost, and +evidently in great distress of spirit. + +"'For God's sake, Phil, what is the matter?' I exclaimed, as he sank +upon the sofa and covered his face with his hands. + +"'Go away, George: go away and leave me,' was all he said; then he got +up and began walking violently up and down the room. At last he came +near me and put his hand on my shoulder. 'I've killed her, George, I am +afraid; At least I have killed him right before her eyes, and she may +never get over it. I didn't mean to, George, you know that; but he came +home drunk, and I had gone to bid Grace good-by,--for I had made up my +mind, George, to leave to-morrow,--and he came in. We had been talking +of father, and Grace was very sad and wretched, and there were tears in +her eyes when she kissed me, just as he came in and saw us. She was +frightened at his brutality, and clung to me in terror, when he began +swearing in a torrent of passion and calling her the vilest of names. He +struck at us with his cane. If he had struck me he might yet have been +alive; but when I saw the great red welt on Grace's neck and heard her +cry out, I was wild, George. For an instant, I believe, I could have +stamped him into bits, and if it had been my last act on earth I could +not have helped striking him.' + +"While he spoke, Phil stood with his hand on my shoulder, looking into +my eyes, as if he wanted me to judge him, as if he would read in my very +look whether I blamed him or not. I took his hand. + +"'I thought you would understand,' he went on. 'I did not know I was +going to kill him, but I think I tried to: I struck him with all my +might, Grace threw herself between us and begged me not to hurt him +after he had fallen down, and took hold of my arm as if to hold me. But +when she saw the blood running from his temple, where he had struck it +on the window-sill, and how still and motionless he lay, she tried to go +to him, but could not for weakness and fainting. I carried her into Mrs. +Stanley's, and have not seen her since, but the doctor says she is very +ill. Herbert was dead when they went into the room after I told them +what had happened; and I suppose I had better give myself up to the +law.' + +"You can have no idea how I felt to see my dearest friend in such a +position. And poor Grace!--it was much worse for her. I thought with +Phil that she might never survive the shock and misery of it all. But +she did, and came out, weak and broken down as she was, to give her +testimony at Phil's trial. We had no trouble in getting a jury to acquit +him, and he went back to Colorado without bidding Grace good-by, +although she would have seen him and was even anxious to do so. Some +persons here, mostly women, pretended to think that there had been more +cause for Herbert's jealousy than was generally supposed; but they +belonged to the sanctimonious, hypocritical custom-worshippers. All +really good people remembered what Herbert had been, and refused to see +in him a martyr or even a wronged man. + +"After that Grace supported herself by dress-making and teaching music; +and some two years ago, when we heard that Phil had been killed by a +mine's caving in, and that he had left a little fortune to her and +Nannie, I, as his executor and her friend, induced her to take and use +it,--which she did, with simplicity and thankfulness and with her heart +full of pity and love for poor Phil. Yes, poor Phil! those five or six +years must have been full of misery to him, and he was probably thankful +when the end came. We never heard from him until after his death. There +was a letter that came to me with the will, that had been written long +before. None but they two know what was in it; and I, for one, do not +want to inquire." + +George sat for a long while in silence, looking at the glowing coals in +the huge reservoir stove. Neither Perry nor I cared to interrupt his +revery. At last he roused himself. + +"Well, boys," he said, "it is late: I think we had better go. It is all +over now, and life has gone on calmly for years. Other people have +forgotten that there ever were such persons as Phil or Herbert." + +When Perry and I reached our room we found it was almost three o'clock. +George had walked with us to the door, and very little had been said +between us. I took a cigarette and lay down on the bed. "Perry," I said, +as he was lighting the gas. + +"Sur to you," he answered, in a way he had of imitating a certain +barkeeper of our acquaintance. + +"What do you think of George?" + +"You know what I think of him as well as I do." + +"Yes; but I mean in connection with this that he has told us." + +"I think he acted just like himself all the way through." + +"Don't you think he has been in love with Mrs. Herbert from the first?" + +"Am I in the habit of imagining such nonsense?" + +"You may think it nonsense," I answered, with the quiet fervor of +conviction, "but I am sure it is nothing but the real state of the +case." + +"Bosh!" exclaimed Perry, throwing his boots into a corner; and therewith +the discussion closed. + +About a week ago I had a letter from him, though, in which he recalled +this circumstance and acknowledged that I had been in the right. "They +are going to be married in the fall," he wrote. "I hope they may be +happy, and I suppose they will be; but I don't think Mrs. Herbert ought +to marry him unless she loves him; and I am fearful that she only thinks +to reward long years of faithful affection. George deserves more than +that." This was a good deal for Perry to manage to say. He usually keeps +as far away from such subjects as he well can,--which is partly the +reason, I think, that his opinion thereon is not greatly to be trusted. +As for me, I am sure George's wife will love him as much as he +deserves,--though this is almost an infinite amount,--and that she has +not been far from loving him from the beginning. I have bought a pair of +vases to send them; and I expect that Miss Lucretia Knowles will say, +when she learns how much they cost, that I was very extravagant. Not +that Lu is close or stingy at all; but she has promised to wait until I +have made a start in life, and is naturally impatient for me to get on +as rapidly as possible. + + FRANK PARKE. + + + + +THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. + + +Lover of solitude, + Poet and priest of nature's mysteries, +If but a step intrude, + Thy oracle is mute, thy music dies. + +Oft have I lightly wooed + Sweet Poesy to give me pause of pain, +Oft in her singing mood + Sought to surprise her haunt, and sought in vain. + +And thou art shy as she, + But mortal, or I had not found thy shrine, +To listen breathlessly + If I may make thy hoarded secret mine. + +Thy tender mottled breast, + Dappled the color of our primal sod, +Now quick and song-possessed, + Doth seem to hold the very joy of God,-- + +Joy hid from mortal quest + Of bosky loves on silver-moonéd eves, +And the high-hearted best + That swells thy throat with joy among the leaves. + +Like the Muezzin's call + From some high minaret when day is done, +Among the beeches tall + Thy voice proclaims, "There is no God but one." + +And but one Beauty, too, + Of whose sweet synthesis we ever fail: +She flies if we pursue, + Like thy swift wing down some dim intervale. + +For thou art lightly gone; + Gone is the flute-like note, the yearning strain, +And all the air forlorn + Is breathless till it hear thy voice again. + +But thou wilt not return; + Thou hast the secret of thy joy to keep, +And other hearts must learn + Thy tuneful message, ere the world may sleep,-- + +Sleep lulled by many a dream + Of sylvan sounds that woo the ear in vain, +While still thy numbers seem + To voice the pain of bliss, the bliss of pain. + + MARY C. PECKHAM. + + + + +A FOREST BEAUTY. + + +Last spring, or possibly it was early in June, I was walking, in company +with an intelligent farmer, through a bit of heavy forest that bordered +some fields of corn and wheat, when a golden, flame-like gleam from the +midst of the last year's leaves and twigs on the ground at my feet +attracted my sight. I stooped and picked up a large fragment of a flower +of the _Liriodendron Tulipifera_ which had been let fall by some +foraging squirrel from the dark-green and fragrant top of the giant tree +nearest us. Strange to say, my farmer friend, who owned the rich Indiana +soil in which the tree grew, did not know, until I told him, that the +"poplar," as he called the tulip-tree, bears flowers. For twenty years +he had owned this farm, during which time he had cut down acres of +forest for rails and lumber, without ever having discovered the gorgeous +blossom which to me is the finest mass of form and color to be seen in +our American woods. As I had a commission from an artist to procure a +spray of these blooms for her, I at once began to search the tree-top +with my eyes. The bole, or stem, rose sixty feet, tapering but slightly, +to where some heavy and gnarled limbs put forth, their extremities lost +in masses of peculiarly dark, rich foliage. At first I could distinguish +no flowers, but at length here and there a suppressed glow of orange +shot with a redder tinge showed through the dusky gloom of the leaves. +Lo! there they were, hundreds of them, over three inches in diameter, +bold, gaudy, rich, the best possible examples of nature's pristine +exuberance of force and color. Two gray squirrels were frisking about +among the highest sprays, and it was my good fortune that my friend +carried on his shoulder a forty-four-calibre rifle; for, though it was +death to the nimble little animals, it proved to be the instrument with +which I procured my coveted flowers. It suggested the probability that, +if bullets could fetch down squirrels from that tree-top, they might +also serve to clip off and let fall some of the finest clusters or +sprays of tulip. The experiment was tried, with excellent result. I made +the little artist glad with some of the grandest specimens I have ever +seen. + +The tulip-tree is of such colossal size and it branches so high above +ground that it is little wonder few persons, even of those most used to +the woods, ever see its bloom, which is commonly enveloped in a mass of +large, dark leaves. These leaves are peculiarly outlined, having short +lobes at the sides and a truncated end, while the stem is slender, long, +and wire-like. The flower has six petals and three transparent sepals. +In its centre rises a pale-green cone surrounded by from eighteen to +thirty stamens. Sap-green, yellow of various shades, orange-vermilion, +and vague traces of some inimitable scarlet, are the colors curiously +blended together within and without the grand cup-shaped corolla. It is +Edgar Fawcett who draws an exquisite poetic parallel between the oriole +and the tulip,--albeit he evidently did not mean the flower of our +Liriodendron, which is nearer the oriole colors. The association of the +bird with the flower goes further than color, too; for the tulip-tree is +a favorite haunt of the orioles. Audubon, in the plates of his great +ornithological work, recognizes this by sketching the bird and some +rather flat and weak tulip-sprays together on the same sheet. I have +fancied that nature in some way favors this massing of colors by placing +the food of certain birds where their plumage will show to best +advantage on the one hand, or serve to render them invisible, on the +other, while they are feeding. The golden-winged woodpecker, the downy +woodpecker, the red-bellied woodpecker, and that grand bird the pileated +woodpecker, all seem to prefer the tulip-tree for their nesting-place, +pecking their holes into the rotten boughs, sometimes even piercing an +outer rim of the fragrant green wood in order to reach a hollow place. I +remember, when I was a boy, lying in a dark old wood in Kentucky and +watching a pileated woodpecker at work on a dead tulip-bough that seemed +to afford a great number of dainty morsels of food. There were streaks +of hard wood through the rotten, and whenever his great horny beak +struck one of these it would sound as loud and clear as the blow of a +carpenter's hammer. This fine bird is almost extinct now, having totally +disappeared from nine-tenths of the area of its former habitat. I never +see a tulip-tree without recollecting the wild, strangely-hilarious cry +of the _Hylotomus pileatus_; and I cannot help associating the +giant bloom, its strength of form and vigor of color, with the scarlet +crest and king-like bearing of the bird. The big trees of California +excepted, our tulip-bearing Liriodendron is the largest growth of the +North-American forests; for, while the plane-tree and the +liquidambar-(sweet-gum) tree sometimes measure more in diameter near the +ground, they are usually hollow, and consequently bulged there, while +the tulip springs boldly out of the ground a solid shaft of clear, +clean, and sweetly-fragrant wood, sixty or seventy feet of the bole +being often entirely without limbs, with an average diameter of from +three to five feet. I found a stump in Indiana nearly eight feet in +diameter (measured three feet above the ground), and a tree in Clarke +County, Kentucky, of about the same girth, tapering slowly to the first +branch, fifty-eight feet from the root. + +In nearly all the Western and Southern States the tulip is generally +called poplar, and the lumber manufactured from it goes by the same +name, while in the East it is known as white-wood. The bark is very +thick and cork-like, exhaling an odor peculiarly pungent and agreeable; +the buds and tender twigs in the spring have a taste entirely individual +and unique, very pleasant to some persons, but quite repellent to +others. Gray squirrels and the young of the fox-squirrel eat the buds +and flowers as well as the cone-shaped fruit. Humming-birds and +bumble-bees in the blossoming-time make a dreamy booming among the +shadowy sprays. A saccharine, sticky substance, not unlike honey-dew, +may often be found in the hollows of the immense petals, in search of +which large black ants make pilgrimages from the root to the top of the +largest tulip-trees, patiently toiling for two or three hours over the +rough bark, among the bewildering wrinkles of which it is, a wonder how +the way is kept with such unerring certainty. I have calculated that in +making such a journey the ant does what is equivalent to a man's +pedestrian tour from New York City to the Adirondacks by the roughest +route, and all for a smack of wild honey! But the ant makes his long +excursion with neither alpenstock nor luncheon, and without sleeping or +even resting on the way. + +The tulip-tree grows best in warm loam in which there is a mixture of +sand and vegetable mould superposed on clay and gravel. About its roots +you may find the lady-slipper and the dog-tooth violet, each in its +season. Its bark often bears the rarest lichens, and, near the ground, +short green moss as soft and thick as velvet. The poison-ivy and the +beautiful Virginia creeper like to clamber up the rough trunk, sometimes +clothing the huge tree from foot to top in a mantle of brown feelers and +glossy leaves. Seen at a distance, the tulip-tree and the +black-walnut-tree look very much alike; but upon approaching them the +superior symmetry and beauty of the former are at once discovered. The +leaves of the walnut are gracefully arranged, but they admit too much +light; while the tulip presents grand masses of dense foliage upheld by +knotty, big-veined branches, the perfect embodiment of vigor. + +In the days of bee-hunting in the West, I may safely say that a majority +of bee-trees were tulips. I have found two of these wild Hyblas since I +began my studies for this paper; but the trees have become so valuable +that the bees are left unmolested with their humming and their honey. It +seems that no more appropriate place for a nest of these wild +nectar-brewers could be chosen than the hollow bough of a giant +tulip,--a den whose door is curtained with leaves and washed round with +odorous airs, where the superb flowers, with their wealth of golden +pollen and racy sweets, blaze out from the cool shadows above and +beneath. But the sly old 'coon, that miniature Bruin of our Western +woods, is a great lover of honey, and not at all a respecter of the +rights of wild bees. He is tireless in his efforts to reach every +deposit of waxy comb and amber distillation within the range of his keen +power of scent. The only honey that escapes him is that in a hollow too +small for him to enter and too deep for his fore-paws to reach the +bottom. + +Poe, in his story of the Gold-Bug, falls into one of his characteristic +errors of conscience. The purposes of his plot required that a very +large and tall tree should be climbed, and, to be picturesque, a tulip +was chosen. But, in order to give a truthful air to the story, the +following minutely incorrect description is given: "In youth the +tulip-tree, or _Liriodendron Tulipiferum_, the most magnificent of +American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a +great height without lateral branches; but in its riper age the bark +becomes gnarled and uneven, while _many short limbs make their +appearance on the stem_" The italics are mine, and the sentence +italicized contains an unblushing libel upon the most beautiful of all +trees. Short branches never "appear on the stems" of old tulip-trees. +The bark, however, does grow rough and deeply seamed with age. I have +seen pieces of it six inches thick, which, when cut, showed a fine grain +with cloudy waves of rich brown color, not unlike the darkest mahogany. +But Poe, no matter how unconscionable his methods of art, had the true +artistic judgment, and he made the tulip-tree serve a picturesque turn +in the building of his fascinating story; though one would have had more +confidence in his descriptions of foliage if it had been May instead of +November. + +The growth of the tulip-tree, under favorable circumstances, is strong +and rapid, and, when not crowded or shaded by older trees, it begins +flowering when from eighteen to twenty-five years old. The +blooming-season, according to the exigences of weather, begins from May +20 to June 10 in Indiana, and lasts about a week. The fruit following +the flower is a cone an inch and a half long and nearly an inch in +diameter at the base, of a greenish--yellow color, very pungent and +odorous, and full of germs like those of a pine-cone. The tree is easily +grown from the seed. Its roots are long, flexible, and tough, and when +young are pale yellow and of bitterish taste, but slightly flavored with +the stronger tulip individuality which characterizes the juice and sap +of the buds and the bark of the twigs. The leaves, as I have said, are +dark and rich, but their shape and color are not the half of their +beauty. There is a charm in their motion, be the wind ever so light, +that is indescribable. The rustle they make is not "sad" or "uncertain," +but cheerful and forceful. The garments of some young giantess, such as +Baudelaire sings of, might make that rustling as she would run past one +in a land of colossal persons and things. + +I have been surprised to find so little about the tulip-tree in our +literature. Our writers of prose and verse have not spared the magnolia +of the South, which is far inferior, both tree and flower, to our gaudy, +flaunting giantess of the West. Indeed, if I were an aesthete, and were +looking about me for a flower typical of a robust and perfect sentiment +of art, I should greedily seize upon the bloom of the tulip-tree. What a +"craze" for tulip borders and screens, tulip wallpapers and tulip +panel-carvings, I would set going in America! The colors, old gold, +orange, vermilion, and green,--the forms, gentle curves and classical +truncations, and all new and American, with a woodsy freshness and +fragrance in them. The leaves and flowers of the tulip-tree are so +simple and strong of outline that they need not be conventionalized for +decorative purposes. During the process of growth the leaves often take +on accidental shapes well suited to the variations required by the +designer. A wise artist, going into the woods to educate himself up to +the level of the tulip, could not fail to fill his sketch-books with +studies of the birds that haunt the tree, and especially such brilliant +ones as the red tanager, the five or six species of woodpecker, the +orioles, and the yellow-throated warbler. The Japanese artists give us +wonderful instances of the harmony between birds, flowers, and foliage; +not direct instances, it is true, but rather suggested ones, from which +large lessons might be learned by him who would carry the thought into +our woods with him in the light of a pure and safely-educated taste. +Take, for instance, the yellow-bellied woodpecker, with its red fore-top +and throat, its black and white lines, and its bright eyes, together +with its pale yellow shading of back and belly, and how well it would +"work in" with the tulip-leaves and flowers! Even its bill and feet +harmonize perfectly with the bark of the older twigs. So the +golden-wing, the tanager, and the orioles would bear their colors +harmoniously into any successful tulip design. + +South of the Alleghany Mountains I have not found as fine specimens of +this tree as I have in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Everywhere the +saw-mills are fast making sad havoc. The walnut and the tulip are soon +to be no more as "trees with the trees in the forest." Those growing in +the almost inaccessible "pockets" of the Kentucky and Tennessee +mountains may linger for a half-century yet, but eventually all will be +gone from wherever a man and a saw can reach them. + +The oak of England and the pine of Norway are not more typical than the +tulip-tree. The symmetry, vigor, and rich colors of our tree might +represent the force, freedom, and beauty of our government and our +social influences. If the American eagle is the bird of freedom, the +tulip is the tree of liberty,--strong, fragrant, giant-flowered, +flaunting, defiant, yet dignified and steadfast. + +A very intelligent old man, who in his youth was a great bear- and +panther-hunter, has often told me how the black bear and the tawny +catamount used to choose the ample "forks" of the tulip-tree for their +retreats when pursued by his dogs. The raccoon has superseded the larger +game, and it was but a few weeks ago that I found one lying, like a +striped, fluffy ball of fur, in a crotch ninety feet above ground. "Our +white-wood" lumber has grown so valuable that no land-owner will allow +the trees to be cut by the hunter, and hence the old-fashioned +'coon-hunt has fallen among the things of the past, for it seems that +the 'coon is quite wise enough to choose for the place of his indwelling +the costliest tulip of the woods. I have already casually mentioned the +fact that the tulip-tree's bloom is scarcely known to exist by even +intelligent and well-informed Americans. Every one has heard of the +mimosa, the dogwood, the red-bud, and the magnolia, but not of the +tulip-bearing tree, with its incomparably bold, dashing, giantesque +flower, once so common in the great woods of our Western and Middle +States. I have not been able to formulate a good reason for this. Every +one whose attention is called to the flower at once goes into raptures +over its wild beauty and force of coloring, and wonders why poems have +not been written about it and legends built upon it. It is a grander +bloom than that which once, under the same name, nearly bankrupted +kingdoms, though it cannot be kept in pots and greenhouses. Its colors +are, like the idiosyncrasies of genius, as inimitable as they are +fascinating and elusive. Audubon was something of an artist, but his +tulip-blooms are utter failures. He could color an oriole, but not the +corolla of this queen of the woods. The most sympathetic and experienced +water-colorist will find himself at fault with those amber-rose, +orange-vermilion blushes, and those tender cloudings of yellow and +green. The stiff yet sensitive and fragile petals, the transparent +sepals, with their watery shades and delicate washing of olive-green, +the strong stamens and peculiarly marked central cone, are scarcely less +difficult. All the colors elude and mock the eager artist. While the +gamut of promising tints is being run, he looks, and, lo! the grand +tulip has shrivelled and faded. Again and again a fresh spray is fetched +in, but when the blooming-season is over he is still balked and +dissatisfied. The wild, Diana-like purity and the half-savage, +half-æsthetic grace have not wholly escaped him, but the color,--ah I +there is the disappointment. + +I have always nursed a fancy that there is something essential to +perfect health in the bitters and sweets of buds and roots and gums and +resins of the primeval woods. Why does the bird keep, even in old age, +the same brilliancy of plumage and the same clearness of eye? Is it +because it gets the _elixir vitæ_ from the hidden reservoir of +nature? Be this as it may, there are times when I sincerely long for a +ball of liquidambar or a mouthful of pungent spring buds. The inner bark +of the tulip-tree has the wildest of all wild tastes, a peculiarly +grateful flavor when taken infinitesimally, something more savage than +sassafras or spice-wood, and full of all manner of bitter hints and +astringent threatenings: it has long been used as the very best +appetizer for horses in the early spring, and it is equally good for +man. The yellow-bellied woodpecker knows its value, taking it with head +jauntily awry and quiet wing-tremblings of delight. The squirrels get +the essence of it as they munch the pale leaf-buds, or later when they +bite the cones out of the flowers. The humming-birds and wild bees are +the favored ones, however, for they get the ultimate distillation of all +the racy and fragrant elements from root to bloom. + +The Indians knew the value of the tulip-tree as well as its beauty. +Their most graceful pirogues were dug from its bole, and its odorous +bark served to roof their rude houses. No boat I have ever tried runs so +lightly as a well-made tulip pirogue, or dug-out, and nothing under +heaven is so utterly crank and treacherous. Many an unpremeditated +plunge into cold water has one caused me while out fishing or +duck-shooting on the mountain-streams of North Georgia. If you dare +stand up in one, the least waver from a perfect balance will send the +sensitive, skittish thing a rod from under your feet, which of course +leaves you standing on the water without the faith to keep you from +going under; and usually it is your head that you are standing on. But, +to return to our tree, I would like to see its merits as an ornamental +and shade tree duly recognized. If grown in the free air and sunlight, +it forms a heavy and beautifully-shaped top, on a smooth, bright bole, +and I think it might be forced to bloom about the fifteenth year. The +flowers of young, thrifty trees that have been left standing in open +fields are much larger, brighter, and more graceful than those of old +gnarled forest-trees, but the finest blooms I ever saw were on a giant +tulip in a thin wood of Indiana. A storm blew the tree down in the midst +of its flowering, and I chanced to see it an hour later. The whole great +top was yellow with the gaudy cups, each gleaming "like a flake of +fire," as Dr. Holmes says of the oriole. Some of them were nearly four +inches across. Last year a small tree, growing in a garden near where I +write, bloomed for the first time. It was about twenty years old. Its +flowers were paler and shallower than those gathered at the same time in +the woods. It may be that transplanting, or any sort of forcing or +cultivation, may cause the blooms to deteriorate in both shape and +color, but I am sure that plenty of light and air is necessary to their +best development. + +In one way the tulip-tree is closely connected with the most picturesque +and interesting period of American development. I mean the period of +"hewed-log" houses. Here and there among the hills of Indiana, Ohio, +Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, there remains one of those low, +heavy, lime-chinked structures, the best index of the first change from +frontier-life, with all its dangers and hardships, to the peace and +contentment of a broader liberty and an assured future. In fact, to my +mind, a house of hewed tulip-logs, with liberal stone chimneys and heavy +oaken doors, embowered in an old gnarled apple-and cherry-orchard, +always suggests a sort of simple honesty and hospitality long since +fallen into desuetude, but once the most marked characteristic of the +American people. It is hard to imagine any meanness or illiberality +being generated in such a house. Patriotism, domestic fidelity, and +spotless honesty used to sit before those broad fireplaces wherein the +hickory logs melted to snowy ashes. The men who hewed those logs "hewed +to the line" in more ways than one. Their words, like the bullets from +their flint-locked rifles, went straight to the point. The women, too, +they of the "big wheel" and the "little wheel," who carded and spun and +wove, though they may have been a trifle harsh and angular, were +diamond-pure and the mothers of vigorous offspring. + +I often wonder if there may not be a perfectly explainable connection +between the decay or disappearance of the forests and the evaporation, +so to speak, of man's rugged sincerity and earnestness. Why should not +the simple ingredients that make up the worldly part of our souls and +bodies be found in all their purity where nature's reservoir has never +been disturbed or its contents tainted? Why may not the subtile force +that develops the immense tulip-tree and clothes it with such a starry +mantle have power also to invigorate and intensify the life of man? "I +was rocked in a poplar trough," was the politician's boast a generation +ago. Such a declaration might mean a great deal if the sturdy, towering +strength of the tree out of which the trough was dug could have been +absorbed by the embryo Congressman. The "oldest inhabitant" of every +Western neighborhood recollects the "sugar-trough" used in the +maple-sap-gathering season, ere the genuine "sugar-camp" had been +abandoned. Young tulip-trees about fifteen inches in diameter were cut +down and their boles sawed into lengths of three feet. These were split +in two, and made into troughs by hollowing the faces and charring them +over a fire. During the bright spring days of sugar-making the young +Western mother would wrap her sturdy babe in its blanket and put it in a +dry sugar-trough to sleep while she tended the boiling syrup. A man born +sixty years ago in the region of tulip-trees and sugar-camps was +probably cradled in a "poplar" trough; and there were those born who +would now be sixty years old if they had not in unwary infancy tumbled +into the enormous rainwater-troughs with which every well-regulated +house was furnished. I have seen one or two of these having a capacity +of fifty barrels dug from a single tulip bole. In such a pitfall some +budding Washington or Lincoln may have been whelmed without causing so +much as a ripple on the surface of history. + +But, turning to take leave of my stately and blooming Western beauty, I +see that she is both a blonde and a brunette. She has all the dreamy, +languid grace of the South combined with the _verve_ and force of +the North. She is dark and she is fair, with blushing cheeks and dewy +lips, sound-hearted, strong, lofty, self-reliant, a true queen of the +woods, more stately than Diana, and more vigorous than Maid Marian. + + MAURICE THOMPSON. + + + + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + +Daniel Webster's "Moods." + + +A late magazine-article treating of one of America's illustrious +dead--Daniel Webster--alluded to his well-known sombre moods, and the +gentle suasion by which his accomplished wife was enabled to shorten +their duration or dispel them entirely. + +On an occasion well remembered, though the "chiel takin' notes" was but +a simple child, I myself was present when the grim, moody reticence of +the great orator converted fully twoscore ardent admirers into personal +foes. + +During the summer of 1837, Mr. Webster, in pursuit of a Presidential +nomination, executed his famous tour through the Great West, at that +time embracing only the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and +Illinois. The first infant railway of the continent being yet in +swaddling-clothes, the journey was accomplished by private conveyance, +and the bumps and bruises stoically endured in probing bottomless pits +of prairie-mud, diversified by joltings over rude log-ways and intrusive +stumps, were but a part of the cruel price paid for a glittering prize +which in the end vanished before the aspirant like fairy gold. At +stations within reach of their personal influence, local politicians +flew to the side of the brilliant statesman with the beautiful fidelity +of steel to magnet: hence he was environed by a self-appointed escort of +obsequious men, constantly changing as he progressed. + +"Our member" spared neither whip nor spur, and joined the triumphal +march at Chicago. Mr. Webster was then on the home-stretch, and it was +shortly after this date that the incident I describe occurred. It was a +time of wild Western speculation; towns and cities sprung into being as +buoyantly as soap-bubbles, and often proved as perishing. Major Morse +was president of a company which, perceiving a promising site for harbor +and town on the shore of Michigan, where yet the Indian charmed the +deer, secured a tract of land and proceeded to lay out an inviting town +of--corner-lots. The major's family occupied temporarily a wide log +house, with a rough "lean-to" of bright pine boards freshly cut at the +mill below. Outside, the dwelling was merely a hut of primitive pattern +nestling under the shade of a tall tree; inside, it presented a large +room divided by curtains into cooking-and sleeping-apartments, +surmounted by a stifling loft reached by the rungs of a permanent +perpendicular ladder. Savory odors of wild fowl and venison daily +drifted up the charred throat of its clay-daubed chimney, and by the +same route, whenever the rolling smoke permitted, children sitting about +the hearth took observations of the clouds and heavenly bodies, +according to the time of day. A narrow passage cut through the heart of +the old logs led into the fragrant "lean-to," where against the wall +rested a massive sideboard of dark mahogany, its top alight with glitter +of glass and silver, its inmost recesses redolent of the creature +comforts which the hospitality of the times demanded. Vases and meaner +crockery overflowed everywhere with the gorgeousness of blossoms daily +plucked from sandy slopes or the verge of the adjacent marsh. Bright +carpeting kindly hid the splintered floor, and pictures did like service +for the rough walls, while the whitest of muslin festooned the tiny +windows. + +On the morning of the Occasion, cheerful sunshine filtered through the +quivering leaves of the big tree near the house, glorifying a late +breakfast-table, around which the family were gathering, when horses +driven in hot haste were reined up at the door. Stepping quickly forth, +the major found his hand clasped by "our member," who begged the +hospitalities of the house for the great Daniel Webster and suite, just +at hand. Despite political differences, the desired welcome was heartily +accorded, and with crucified appetites the family retired to give place +to the unbidden guests, who filed into the room bandying compliments +with their gay host. A kingly head, grandly set above powerful +shoulders, easily marked the man in whom the interest of the hour +centred. Strangely quiet amid the noisy group, he moved alone, nor waked +responsive even to his host, until a brighter sally than usual provoked +a grim kind of laughter. Then he suddenly aroused himself to new life, +joining with a burst of humor in the pleasantries of the feast. The +unexpected brightness of the cosy room was not lost on Mr. Webster, who, +on entering, paused at the threshold and glanced around in an +appreciative manner, while a deep, restful sigh escaped his weary soul. +The dreary drive through the wilderness lent an added charm to the +little oasis of civilized comfort thus encountered in the lonely +backwoods of a Western quarter-section. + +News of the distinguished arrival speedily flew among the laborers +running the mill and constructing dwellings for the in-rushing +population. Tom and Bill of the hammer, and Mike and Patsey of the +spade, alike forsook their tools in order to witness the exit of a hero +from the major's door. They even hoped to receive some expression of +wisdom in golden words from lips used to the flow of stirring thought +and burning eloquence. Lounging patiently under the trees, the expectant +men listened to the clink and clatter of serving and the bursts of +merriment within. At the conclusion of the breakfast and the subsequent +chat, Mr. Webster asked for his hostess, to whom with great courtesy he +expressed his sense of "the kindness extended to the stranger in a +strange land," and, adieus being over, he approached the open door-way, +and looked strangely annoyed at the sight of a double line of +white-sleeved stalwart men who stood with bared heads awaiting his +appearance. Then a great _mood_ fell upon the _man_, with +never a gentle soul at hand to charm it away. Not a feature stirred in +recognition of the, voluntary homage rendered by the throng of humble +men,--men controlling the ballots so ardently desired and sought. With +hat pressed firmly over an ominously lowering brow, looking straight +before him with cavernous, tired eyes which seemed to observe nothing +whereon they rested, Webster walked through the hushed lines in grave +stateliness. The crowd was only waiting for a spark of encouragement to +shout itself hoarse in enthusiastic huzzahs. Eyes shone with suppressed +excitement, and strong hearts swelled with pride in the towering man +whose fame had surged like a tidal wave over the land. Yet with insolent +deliberation he mounted the step and seated himself in the waiting +carriage, giving no sign of having even noticed the flattering +demonstration made in his honor. The smiles, nods, and hand-clasps +expected of the chief were lavishly dispensed by his mortified +satellites, all of which availed not to smother the curses, loud and +deep, splitting the summer air, as the wheels disappeared in the forest. + +"Begorra, thin," bawled Patsey, "it's mesilf ut'll niver vote fur this +big Yankee 'ristocrat, _inne_how. Ef he wuz a foine Irish jintleman, +now, er even a r'yal prince av the blud, there'd be no sinse in his +airs, bedad!" + +Tom and Bill were less noisy in their just wrath, but it ran equally +deep: "He belongs to the party. But when Daniel comes up for +office--look out! We'll score a hard day's work against him, party or no +party!" + +The major rose to the occasion. Being a bit of a politician and an +old-school Democrat, he could not resist the opportunity presented. With +a humorous air he sprang to the nearest stump and improvised an electric +little speech which sent the men back to labor, _madder_ if not +wiser voters. + +With other living witnesses of the events narrated, often wondering over +the strangeness of the scene of long ago, I am truly glad at the +eleventh hour to find the solution of the problem in _moods_, +rather than in a snobbish pride unbefitting the greatness of the man. + + F.C.M. + + + + +Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest. + + +A great deal has been said and written lately about feuds and lynch-law +in the districts around the lower Mississippi. The reports of recent +lynching there have probably been very much exaggerated; and it would +certainly be unfair to form a positive opinion about the matter without +a thorough knowledge of all the circumstances. + +No one who visited that part of the country before the war could return +to it now without noticing the higher degree of order and the numerous +evidences of progress. But lynching law-breakers and resorting to the +knife or pistol to settle private disputes were once ordinary +occurrences there, and they were usually marked by a businesslike +coolness which gave them a distinctive character. + +In the winter of 1853-54 I was clerk of a steamer owned in Wheeling. The +steamer was obliged to wait some time at Napoleon for a rise in the +Arkansas River to enable it to pass over the bar at the confluence of +that river with the Mississippi. Napoleon then had between three and +four hundred inhabitants, and was considered the worst place on the +Mississippi except Natchez-under-the-Hill. Some of the dwellings were of +considerable size, and, judging from their exterior, were kept in good +order. They were the residences of the few who belonged to the better +class, and who, to a certain extent, exercised control over their less +reputable townsmen. + +We were treated very kindly by the citizens, and they declined any +return for their hospitality. We soon noticed that we were never invited +to visit any of them at their dwellings. At their places of business we +were cordially welcomed, and they seemed to take a great deal of +pleasure in giving us information and affording us any amusement in +their power. + +Having some canned oysters among our stores, we twice invited a number +of our friends to an oyster-supper. Although our invitations included +their families, none but male guests attended. This, together with the +fact that we rarely saw any ladies on the street, seemed very strange to +us; but we made no comments, for we discovered very soon after our +arrival that it would not be prudent to ask questions about matters that +did not concern us. At church one Sunday night we noticed that all the +ladies present--composing nearly the whole of the congregation--were +dressed in black, and many of them were in deep mourning. This gave us +some idea as to the reason for their exclusiveness. Soon afterward a +murder occurred almost within my own sight. Two friends were standing on +the street and talking pleasantly to each other, when they were +approached by a man whom they did not know. Suddenly a second man came +close to the stranger, and, without saying a word, drew a pistol and +shot him dead. The murderer was instantly seized, bound, and placed in +the jail. + +The jail was a square pen about thirty feet high, built of hewn logs, +without any opening except in the roof. This opening was only large +enough to admit one person at a time, and was protected by a heavy door. +The prisoner was forced by his captors to mount the roof by means of a +ladder, and then was lowered with a rope to the ground inside. The rope +was withdrawn, the door securely fastened, and he was caged, without any +possible means of escape, to await the verdict and sentence of the jury +summoned by "Judge Lynch." + +The trial was very short. The facts were proven, and the verdict was +that the murderer should be severely whipped and made to leave the town +forthwith. The whipping was administered, and he left immediately +afterward. + +Of course there was a good deal of excitement over this matter, and all +the male inhabitants collected to talk about it. The discussion extended +to some similar cases of recent occurrence and soon gave rise to angry +disputes. In a very short time pistols and knives were produced, +invitations to fight were given, and it seemed that blood would soon be +shed. By the interference, however, of some of the older and more +influential citizens, quiet was restored, and no one was injured. We +were afterward told that there was hardly a man in the crowd who had not +lost a father, brother, or near male relative by knife or pistol, either +in a supposed fair fight or by foul means. + +At that time the hatred of negroes from "free States" was intense, while +those from "slave States" were treated kindly and regarded merely as +persons of an inferior race. + +Some time before our arrival, a steamer belonging to Pittsburg had +stopped at Napoleon, and the colored steward went on shore to buy +provisions. While bargaining for them he became involved in a quarrel +with a white man and struck him. He was instantly seized, and would no +doubt have paid for his temerity with his life if some one in the crowd +had not exclaimed, "A live nigger's worth twenty dead ones! Let's sell +him!" This suggestion was adopted. In a very short time the unfortunate +steward was bound, mounted on a swift horse, and hurried away toward the +interior of the State. He was guarded by a party of mounted men, and in +less than a week's time he was working on a plantation as a slave for +life, with no prospect of communicating with his relatives or friends. + +One morning the captain of the steamer and I saw a crowd collect, and on +approaching it we found a debate going on as to what should be done with +a large and well-dressed colored man, evidently under the influence of +liquor, who was seated on the ground with his arms and legs bound. He +had knocked one white man down and struck several others while they were +attempting to secure him. The crowd was undecided whether to give him a +good whipping for his offence or to send for his master (who lived on +the other side of the river, in Mississippi) and let him inflict the +punishment. Finally, the master was sent for. He soon appeared, and +stated that he had given his "_boy_" permission to come over to +Napoleon, and had also given him money to buy some things he wanted. He +was "a good boy," and had never been in trouble before, and if the +citizens of Napoleon would forgive him this time he, the master, would +guarantee that the boy should never visit Napoleon again. The master +also stated he would "stand drinks" for the whole crowd. This gave +general satisfaction. The drinks were taken, and the master and his +slave were enthusiastically escorted to their dug-out on the shore. Much +hand-shaking took place, in which the "boy" participated, and many +invitations were given to both to visit Napoleon again; after which they +rowed contentedly to their home. + + J.A.M. + + + + +The Etymology of "Babe." + + +In the latest English etymological dictionary, that by the Rev. W.W. +Skeat, we read under the word _babe_, "Instead of _babe_ being +formed from the infantine sound _ba_, it has been modified from +_maqui_, probably by infantine influences. _Baby_ is a diminutive +form." + +_Maqui_ is Early Welsh for _son_, and those to whom Mr. +Skeat's modified _maqui_ seems absurd will be pleased to find its +absurdity indicated, if not proved, by a Greek author of the sixth +century. + +The following passage in the seventy-sixth section of Damascius's "Life +of Isidorus" has escaped the notice of English etymologists generally: + +"Hermias had a son (the elder of his philosopher sons) by Ædesia, and +one day, when the child was seven months old, Ædesia was playing with +him, as mothers do, calling him _bábion_ and _paidÃon_, +speaking in diminutives. But Hermias overheard her, and was vexed, and +censured these childish diminutives, pronouncing an articulate +reprimand.... Now the Syrians, and especially those who dwell in +Damascus, call newborn children, and even those that have passed the +period of childhood, _bábia_, from the goddess _BabÃa_, whom +they worship." + +What is _bábion_ but the English _baby_, what _bábia_ but +the English _babies?_ We can hardly suppose that our English words +are derived from Syriac words in use fourteen centuries ago, or that the +latter were "modified from _maqui_" by "infantine" or other +influences. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that they were +alike "formed from the infantine sound _ba_," unless we accept +Damascius's derivation from _BabÃa_. + +Unfortunately, we know no more concerning this goddess than did the +learned John Selden, who, writing two hundred and twenty-odd years ago, +"De Dis Syris," says, on page 296 of that work, "I cannot conjecture +whether _BabÃa,_ who seems to have been reverenced among the +Syrians as goddess of childhood and youth, is identical with the Syrian +Venus or not, and I do not remember to have met with any mention of this +deity except in Damascius's Life of Isidorus." + +Selden's memory was not at fault: the words _bábion, bábia_, and +_BabÃa_ occur only in the passage above quoted. + +In the absence of other evidence than Damascius's own, we may well +question whether he has not inverted the etymological relation between +the goddess and the babies. Most divinities owe their names to the +attributes or functions imputed to them by their worshippers. It seems, +therefore, more probable that the Syrian protectress of babies owes her +name to the _bábia_ than that they were called _bábia_ in her +honor. If, however, we accept Damascius's theory of their relation, what +forbids us to conjecture that the goddess's name was itself "formed from +the infantine sound _ba_"? In any case, the little domestic scene +between the priggish father and the dandling mother is amusing and +instructive to parents as well as to etymologists. + + S.E.T. + + + + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + + +"The Russian Revolt: its Causes, Condition, and Prospects." + By Edmund Noble. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + +The internal condition of Russia, though a matter of more than +speculative interest to its immediate neighbors, is not likely to become +what that of France has so often been,--a European question. The +institutions of other states will not be endangered by revolutionary +proceedings in the dominions of the Czar, nor will any oppression +exercised over his subjects be thought to justify foreign intervention. +Even Polish insurrections never led to any more active measures on the +part of the Western powers than delusive expressions of sympathy and +equally vain remonstrances. In these days, not Warsaw, but St. +Petersburg, is the centre of disaffection, and the ramifications extend +inland, their action stimulated, it may be, to some extent from external +sources, but incapable of sending back any impulse in return. Nihilism, +being based on the absence, real or supposed, of any political +institutions worth preserving in Russia, cannot spread to the +discontented populations of other countries. Even German socialism +cannot borrow weapons or resources from a nation which has no large +proletariat and whose industries are still in their infancy. In the +nature of its government, the character of its people, and the problems +it is called upon to solve, Russia stands, as she has always stood, +alone, neither furnishing examples to other nations nor able, +apparently, to copy those which other nations have set. The great +peculiarity of the revolutionary movement is not simply that it does not +proceed from the mass of the people,--which is a common case +enough,--but that it runs counter to their instincts and their needs and +rouses not their sympathy but their aversion. The peasants, who +constitute four-fifths of the population, have no motive for seeking to +overturn the government. Their material condition, since the abolition +of serfdom, is superior to that of the Italian peasantry, who enjoy the +fullest political rights. As members of the village communities, they +hold possession and will ultimately obtain absolute ownership of more +than half the soil of the country, excluding the domains of the state. +In the same capacity they exercise a degree of local autonomy greater +than that which is vested in the communes of France. They are separated +from the other classes by differences of education, of habits, and of +interests, while the autocracy that rules supreme over all is regarded +by them as the protecting power that is to redress their grievances and +fulfil all their aspirations. The discontent which has bred so many +conspiracies, and which aims at nothing less than the subversion of the +monarchy, is confined to a portion of the educated classes, and proceeds +from causes that affect only those classes. Among them alone is there +any perception of the wide and ever-increasing difference between the +Russian system of government and that of every other European country, +any craving for the exercise of political rights and the activity of +political life, any experience of the restrictions imposed on thought +and speech and the obstacles to the advancement and diffusion of +knowledge and ideas, any consciousness that the corrupt, vexatious, and +oppressive bureaucracy by which all affairs are administered is a direct +outgrowth of unlimited and irresponsible power. Nor are they united in +desiring to destroy, or even to modify, this system. Apart from those +who find in it the means of satisfying their personal interests and +ambitions, and the larger number in whom indolence and the love of ease +stifle all thought and aspiration, there are many who believe, with +reason, that the country is not ripe for the adoption of European +institutions, that the foundations on which to construct them do not yet +exist, and that any attempt to introduce them would lead only to +calamitous results; while there is even a large party which contends +that, far from needing them, Russia is happily situated in being exempt +from the struggles and the storms, the wars of classes and of factions, +that have attended the course of Western civilization, and in being left +free to work out her own development by original and more peaceful +methods. No doubt the great majority of thinking people feel the +necessity for some large measures of reform and look forward to the +establishment of a constitutional system and the gradual extension of +political freedom to the mass of the nation. But there is no evidence +that the revolutionary spirit has spread or excited sympathy in any such +degree as its audacity, its resoluteness, and the terror created by its +sinister achievements have seemed at times to indicate. The active +members of the propaganda are almost exclusively young persons, living +apart from their families, of scanty means and without conspicuous +ability. They belong to the lower ranks of the nobility, the rising +_bourgeois_ class, and, above all, that large body of necessitous +students, including many of the children of the ill-paid clergy, whom M. +Leroy-Beaulieu styles the "intellectual proletariat." Classical studies, +German metaphysics, and the scientific theories and discoveries of +recent years have had much to do with the fermentation that has led to +so many violent explosions, the universities have been the chief +_foci_ of agitation, and in the attempts to suppress it the +government has laid itself open to the reproach of making war upon +learning and seeking to stifle intellectual development. + +Such is the view presented by recent French and English writers who have +made the condition of Russia a subject of minute investigation. Mr. +Noble deals more in generalizations than in details, and sets forth a +theory which it is difficult to reconcile with the facts and conclusions +derived from other sources. According to him, Russia is, and has been +from the first establishment of the imperial rule, in a state of chronic +revolt. This revolt is "the protest of eighty millions of people against +their continued employment as a barrier in the path of peaceful human +progress and national development." "It is not the educated classes +alone, but the masses,--peasant and artisan, land-owner and student,--of +whose aspirations, at least, it may be said, as it was said of the +earliest and freest Russians, '_Neminem ferant imperatorem_.'" +Before the rise of the empire "the Russians lived as freemen and happy." +They "enjoyed what, in a political sense, we are fairly entitled to +regard as the golden age of their national existence." The _veché_, +or popular assembly, "was from a picturesque point of view the grandest, +from an administrative point of view the simplest, and from a moral +point of view the most equitable form of government ever devised by +man." The autocracy, established by force, has encountered at all +periods a steady, if passive, opposition, as exemplified in the Raskol, +or separation of the "Old Believers" from the Orthodox Church, and in +the resistance offered to the innovations of Peter the Great: "in the +one as in the other case the popular revolt was against authority and +all that it represented." It is admitted that "among the peasants the +revolt must long remain in its passive stage.... Yet year by year, +partly owing to educational processes, partly owing to propaganda, even +the peasants are being won over to the growing battalions of +discontent." The autocracy is "doomed." "The forces that undermine it +are cumulative and relentless." Its "true policy is to spread its +dissolution--after the manner of certain financial operations--over a +number of years." "The method of the change is really not of importance. +The vital matter is that the reform shall at once concede and +practically apply the principle of popular self-government, granting at +the same time the fullest rights of free speech and public assembly." +Finally, "the Tsar and his advisers" are bidden to "beware," since "the +spectacle of this frightfully unequal struggle ... is not lost upon +Europe, or even upon America." + +The horrible crudity, as we are fain to call it, of the notions thus +rhetorically set forth must be obvious to every reader acquainted with +the history of the rise and growth of states in general, however little +attention he may have given to those of Russia in particular. The +institutions of Russia differ fundamentally from those of other European +states. But the difference lies in historical conditions and +development, not in the principles underlying all human society. No +people has ever had a permanent government of its own resting solely or +chiefly on force. Wherever autocracy has acquired a firm footing, it has +done so by suppressing anarchy, establishing order and authority, and +securing national unity and independence. Nowhere has it fulfilled these +conditions more completely than in Russia. It grew up when the country +was lying prostrate under the Tartar domination, and it supplied the +impulse and the means by which that yoke was thrown off. It absorbed +petty principalities, extinguished their conflicting ambitions, and +consolidated their resources; checked the migrations of a nomad +population, and brought discordant races under a common rule; repelled +invasions to which, in its earlier disintegrated condition, the nation +must have succumbed, and built up an empire hardly less remarkable for +its cohesion and its strength than for the vastness of its territory. In +a word, it performed, more rapidly and thoroughly, the same work which +was accomplished by monarchy between the eighth and the fifteenth +century in Western Europe. If its methods were more analogous to those +of Eastern despotisms than of European sovereignties, if its excesses +were unrestrained and its power uncurbed, this is only saying that +Russia, instead of sharing in the heritage of Roman civilization and in +the mutual intercourse and common discipline through which the Western +communities were developed, was cut off from association with its more +fortunate kindred and subjected to influences from which they were, for +the most part, exempt. To hold up the crude democracy and turbulent +assemblies common in a primitive state of society as evidence that the +Russian people possessed at an early period of its history a beautifully +organized constitutional system; to contend that the most absolute +monarchy in existence has maintained itself for centuries, without +encountering a single serious insurrection, in a nation whose +distinguishing characteristic is its inability to endure a ruler; to +treat the introduction of a totally different and far more complex +system of government, the product elsewhere of elements that have no +existence in Russia, and of long struggles supplemented by violent +revolutions, as a thing that may be effected without danger or +difficulty, the "method" being "really not of importance,"--all this +strikes us as evincing a condition of mind that can only be regarded as +a survival from the period when the theories and illusions of the +eighteenth-century _philosophes_ had not yet been dissipated by the +French Revolution. + + + + +"A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago: + A Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883." + By Henry O. Forbes, F.R.G.S. + New York: Harper & Brothers. + + +Although a long succession of naturalists have done their best to +familiarize readers with the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Mr. +Forbes's book is full not only of freshly-adjusted and classified facts, +but of curious and valuable details of his own discoveries. Even the +best-known islands of the group are so inexhaustible in every form of +animal and vegetable life that much remains for the patient gleaner +after Darwin and Wallace, who found here some of the most striking +illustrations of their deductions and theories, It is well known that +startling contrasts in the distribution of plants and animals are met +with in these islands, even when they lie side by side; and in no other +part of the world is the history of mutations of climate, of the law of +migrations, and of the changes of sea and land, so open and palpable to +the scientific observer. Mr. Forbes's object seems to have been to visit +those islands which offer the most striking deviations from the more +general type. His earlier explorations were made alone, but during the +last eighteen months he was accompanied by a brave woman who came out +from England to Batavia to be married to him at the close of 1881. It is +painful to read of the deadly ordeals of climate and the excessive +discomforts and privations to which this lady was exposed. Her diary, +kept at Dilly during her husband's absence, while she was ill, utterly +deserted, and in danger of a lonely and agonizing death, makes a +singular contrast to the record of Miss Bird and others of her sex who +seem to have triumphed over all the vicissitudes possible to women. To +the general reader Mr. Forbes's travels in Java, Sumatra, and the +Keeling Islands are far more satisfactory than in those less familiar, +like Timor and Buru. In the light of the terrible events of 1883, +everything connected with the islands lying on either side of the +Straits of Sunda is of the highest interest. Those appalling disasters +which swept away part of Sumatra and Java and altered the configuration +of the whole volcanic group surrounding Krakatoa took place only a few +weeks after Mr. and Mrs. Forbes sailed for home. This widespread +destruction seemed to the inhabitants the culmination of a series of +calamitous years of drought, wet, blight, bovine pestilence, and fever. +It was Mr. Forbes's fortune to be in Java during these bad seasons, +which, from combined causes, made it impossible for flowers to perfect +themselves and fructify. This circumstance was, however, useful to the +naturalist, offering him an opportunity for experiments in the +fertilization of orchids and other plants. The account of the Dutch +cinchona-plantations, which now furnish quinine of the best quality, is +full of interest. + +Mr. Forbes's visit to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, in the Indian Ocean, +cannot be passed over. He was eager to visit a coral-reef, and this +atoll, stocked and planted only by the flotsam and jetsam of the seas, +the winds, and migrating birds, offers to the naturalist a most +delightful study; for here, progressing almost under his eyes, are the +phenomena which have made Bermuda and other coral groups. Little as the +Keeling Islands seem to offer in the way of secure habitation, they have +a population of some hundreds of people, presided over by their +energetic proprietor, Mr. Ross, who has planted the atoll thickly with +cocoanut palms. Gathering the nuts and expressing the oil is the chief +industry of the inhabitants, who are all taught to work and support +themselves in some useful way. No money is in circulation on the island: +a system of exchange and barter with agents in Batavia for necessary +products takes its place. This thriving little community has, however, +terrible forces to contend against. Darwin recounts the effects of an +earthquake which took place two years before his visit to the islands in +1836; a fierce cyclone brought ruin and devastation in 1862; and in 1876 +a terrible experience of cyclone and earthquake almost swept away the +whole settlement. This was followed by a most singular phenomenon. +"About thirty-six hours after the cyclone," writes Mr. Forbes, "the +water on the eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be rising up +from below of a dark color. The color was of an inky hue, and its smell +'like that of rotten eggs.' ... Within twenty-four hours every fish, +coral, and mollusc in the part impregnated with this discoloring +substance--probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid died. So great was +the number of fish thrown on the beach, that it took three weeks of hard +work to bury them in a vast trench dug in the sand." Wherever this water +touched the growing coral-reef, it was blighted and killed. Darwin saw +similar "patches" of dead coral, and attributed them to some great fall +of the tide which had left the insects exposed to the light of the sun. +But it is probable that a similar submarine eruption had taken place +after the earthquake which preceded his visit to the Keeling Islands in +1836. + + + + +"Birds in the Bush." + By Bradford Torrey. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + +We like the name of Mr. Torrey's book, which seems to carry with it a +practical reversal of the proverb that a bird in the hand is worth two +in the bush. For although in many ways it is a good and pleasant sign to +note the increase of amateur naturalists among us, we yet feel a dread +of an incursion of those lovers of classified collections, "each with +its Latin label on," who believe that in gaining stuffed specimens they +may best arrive at the charm and the mystery of that exquisite +phenomenon which we call bird-life. Mr. Torrey has no puerile ambitions +for birds in the hand, and a bird in the bush makes to his perception +holy ground, where he takes the shoes from off his feet and watches and +waits, feeling a delightful surprise in each piquant caprice of the +little songster. He tells the story of his experiences and impressions +simply and pleasantly, often utters a good thing without too much +emphasis, and yet more often says true things, which is more difficult +still. He is nowhere bookish, although he has read and can quote well if +need be. He reminds one occasionally of Emerson, oftener of Thoreau, +while his method is that of John Burroughs. His most careful studies are +perhaps of the birds on Boston Common and about Boston, but he writes +pleasantly and suggestively of those in the White Mountains. One likes +to be reminded that there are still bobolinks in the world, for they +have deserted many spots which they once favored. There used to be +meadows full of rocks, in each crevice of which nodded a scarlet +columbine, surrounded by grassy borders where wild strawberries grew +thickly, with hedge-rows running riot with blackberry, sumach, and +alder,--all reckless of utility and given over to lovely waste,--that +were vocal on June mornings with bobolinks, but where in these times one +might wait the whole day through and not hear a single note of the old +refrain. Our author finds them plentiful, however, at North Conway, +where, as he describes it, their "song dropped from above" while he sat +perched on a fence-rail looking at the snow-crowned Mount Washington +range. + + + + +"The Cruise of the Brooklyn. + A Journal of the principal events of a three years' cruise in + the U. S. Flag-Ship Brooklyn, in the South Atlantic Station, + extending south of the Equator from Cape Horn east to the limits + in the Indian Ocean on the seventieth meridian of east + longitude. Descriptions of places in South America, Africa, and + Madagascar, with details of the peculiar customs and industries + of their inhabitants. The cruises of the other vessels of the + American squadron, from November, 1881, to November, 1884." + By W.H. Beehler, Lieut. U. S. Navy. + Illustrated. + Press of J.B. Lippincott Co. Philadelphia. 1885. + + +The copious information given on the title-page leaves little to be +supplied in regard to the subject-matter of this volume. The same +thoroughness is displayed in the narrative and descriptions, as well of +the incidents of the voyage and the details of shipboard life as of the +history, productions, and scenery of the various places visited. They +include, of course, no events or operations such as belong to the annals +of naval enterprise or maritime discovery, but, besides the ordinary +phases of service on foreign stations,--the interchange of courtesies +with the authorities, the routine of duty and discipline, and the +scarcely less regular round of amusements and festivities,--we have +interesting episodes, such as an account of the observations of the +transit of Venus at Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, the "Brooklyn" having been +detailed to take charge of the expedition sent out under Messrs. Very +and Wheeler. A visit to some of the ports of Madagascar soon after the +bombardment of Hovas gives occasion for a readable relation of the +internal revolutions and the transactions with European powers that have +given a pretext, if such it can be called, for the French claim to +exercise a protectorate over a portion of the island, the enforcement of +which will require, in our author's opinion, "an army of at least fifty +thousand men." Cape Town was a place of stay for several weeks on both +the outward and the homeward voyage, and in this connection the history +of the South African states and colonies, including the English wars and +imbroglios with the Boers and the Zulus, is given in detail; while the +necessity for touching at St. Helena furnished an opportunity for +repeating the tale of Napoleon's captivity, with particulars preserved +among "the traditions of the old inhabitants, not generally known." + +It will be seen that Lieutenant Beehler made good use both of the means +of observation and of the leisure for study afforded by the "cruise." He +writes agreeably, and seems to have been careful in regard to the +sources from which he has gathered information. The book is beautifully +printed, and the illustrations are faithful but artistic renderings of +photographic views. + + + + +Recent Fiction. + + +"At the Red Glove." + New York: Harper & Brothers. + +"Upon a Cast." + By Charlotte Dunning. +New York: Harper & Brothers. + +"Down the Ravine." + By Charles Egbert Craddock. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +"By Shore and Sedge." + By Bret Harte. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +"At Love's Extremes." + By Maurice Thompson. + New York: Cassell & Co. + + +Although the scene of "At the Red Glove" is laid in Berne, it is a +typical French story of French people with French ideas and +characteristics, and it is French as well in the symmetry of its +arrangements and effects and its admirable technique. In point of fact, +Berne is a city where a German dialect is spoken, but among the lively +groups of _bourgeois_ who carry on this effective little drama a +prettier and politer language is in vogue. Madame Carouge, whose +personality is the pivot upon which the story revolves, is a native of +southern France, and is the proprietor of the Hôtel Beauregard. Her +husband, who married her as a mere child and carried her away from a +life of poverty and neglect, has died before the opening of the story +and bequeathed all his property to his young and handsome wife. "Ah, but +I do not owe him much," the beautiful woman said: "he has wasted my +youth. I am eight-and-twenty, and I have not yet begun to live." Thus +Madame Carouge as a widow sets out to realize the dreams she has dreamed +in the dull apathetic days of her long bondage. Although she is bent on +love and happiness, she is yet sensible and discreet, and manages the +Hôtel Beauregard with skill and tact, while secluding herself from +common eyes. Destiny, however, as if eager at last to work in her favor, +throws in her way a handsome young Swiss, Rudolf Engemann by name, a +bank-clerk, with whom she falls deeply in love. Everything is +progressing to Madame's content, when a little convent-girl, Marie +Peyrolles, comes to Berne to live with her old aunt, a glove-seller, +whose sign in the Spitalgasse gives the name to the story. It would be a +difficult matter to find a prettier piece of comedy than that which +ensues upon Marie's advent. It is all simple, spontaneous, and, on the +part of the actors, entirely serious, yet the effect is delightfully +humorous. Berne, with its quaint arcaded streets, its Alpine views, and +its suburban resorts, makes a capital background, and gives the group +free play to meet with all sorts of picturesque opportunities. The story +is told without any straining after climaxes, but with many felicitous +touches that enhance the effect of every picture and incident. In scene, +characters, and plot, "At the Red Glove" offers a brilliant opportunity +to the dramatist, and one is tempted to think that the story must have +been originally conceived and planned with reference to the stage. + +"Upon a Cast" is also a very amusing little story, and turns on the +experiences of a couple of ladies who, with a longing for a quiet life, + + The world forgetting, by the world forgot, + +settle on the North River in a town which, though called Newbroek, might +easily be identified as Poughkeepsie. Little counting upon this niche +outside the world becoming a centre of interest or a theatre of events, +the necessity of presenting their credentials to the social magnates of +the place does not occur to these ladies,--one the widow of a Prussian +officer, and the other her niece, who have returned to America after a +long residence abroad. They prefer to remain, as it were, incognito; +and, pried; into as the seclusion of the new-comers is by all the +curious, this reticence soon causes misconstructions and scandals. The +petty gossip, the solemnities of self-importance, and the Phariseeism of +a country neighborhood are very well portrayed, and, we fear, without +any especial exaggeration. The story is told with unflagging spirit, and +shows quick perceptions and a lively feeling for situations. Carol +Lester's friendship for Oliver Floyd while she is ignorant of the +existence of his wife is a flaw in the pleasantness; but "Upon a Cast" +is well worthy of a high place in the list of summer novels. + +Although "Down the Ravine" belongs to the category of books for young +people, the story is too true to life in characters and incidents, and +too artistically handled, not to find appreciative readers of all ages. +In fact, we are inclined to discover in the book stronger indications of +the author's powers as a novelist than in anything she has hitherto +published. "Where the Battle was Fought," in spite of all its fine +scenes, had not the same sustained interest nor the same spontaneity. +The plot of the present story is excellent, and the characters act and +react on each other in a simple and natural way. The youthful Diceys, +with the faithful, loyal Birt at their head, are a capital study; and +from first to last the author has nowhere erred in truth or failed in +humor. + +Taking into consideration the ease with which Mr. Bret Harte won his +laurels, and the belief which all his early admirers shared that here at +last was the great American novelist, who was to hold a distinctive +place in the world's literature, he has perhaps not fulfilled +expectations nor answered the demands upon his powers. The very +individuality of his work, its characteristic bias, has been, in point +of fact, a hinderance and an impediment. The unexpectedness of his first +stories, the enchanted surprise, like that of a new and delicious +vintage or a wonderful undiscovered chord in music,--these effects are +not easily made to recur with undiminished strength and charm. However, +one may generally find some bubbles of the old delightful elixir in Mr. +Harte's stories, and in this little group of them, regathered, we +believe, from English magazines, each is interesting in its way, and +each true to the author's typical idea, which is to discover to his +readers some heroic quality in unheroic human beings which transforms +their whole lives before our eyes. + +Mr. Thompson on his title-page announces himself as the author of two +novels, "A Tallahassee Girl" and "His Second Campaign," both of which we +read with pleasure, and this impression led us to turn hopefully to a +third by the same hand. "At Love's Extremes" does not, however, take our +fancy. If the author undertook to discuss a complex problem seriously, +he has failed to make it clear or vital to the reader; and if the +various episodes of Colonel Reynolds's life are to be passed over as +mere slight deviations from the commonplace, we can only say that we +consider them too unpleasant and abhorrent to good taste to be imposed +upon us so lightly. There are also points of the story which seem to +mock the good sense of the reader. Has the author considered the state +of mind of a young widow who has heard that her husband has been +murdered in a street-brawl in Texas, who has mourned him for years, and +then, after yielding to the solicitations of a new suitor and promising +to marry him, learns from his own lips that it was his hand (although +the act was one of self-defence) which sent her husband to his tragic +death? Mr. Thompson seems to violate the sanctities and the proprieties +of womanhood in allowing the widow, after a faint interval of shock, to +pass over this fact as unimportant. This situation has, of course, its +famous precedent in the scene in which Gloster wooes and wins the Lady +Anne beside her murdered husband's bier; but that is tragedy, and we +moderns are, besides, more squeamish than the people of those mediæval +times. In this story the situation becomes more logical, even if more +absurd, after the return of the husband who was supposed to have been +murdered. With a good deal of effort to show powerful feeling, the +characters in the book are all automatons, who say and do nothing with +real thought or real passion. The vernacular of the mountaineers seems +to have been carefully studied, and is so thoroughly outlandish and so +devoid of fine expressions that we are inclined to believe it more +accurate than the poetic and musical dialects which it is the fashion to +impose upon our credulity. But it must be confessed that, with only his +own rude and pointless _patois_ in which to express himself, the +Southern cracker becomes painfully devoid of interest, to say nothing of +charm. + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +[001] John Sevier's Memorial to the North Carolina Legislature. + +[002] J.G.M. Ramsay, "Annals of Tennessee." + +[003] Haywood. + + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14530 *** diff --git a/14530-h/14530-h.htm b/14530-h/14530-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a67a010 --- /dev/null +++ b/14530-h/14530-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7386 @@ +<!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> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= + "text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. - + AUGUST, 1885. + </title> +<style type="text/css"> + /*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + h1 {margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em} + h2 {margin-top: 4em; margin-bottom: 2em} + h3 {margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em} + pre {font-size: 0.7em;} + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + hr.short {text-align: center; width: 20%;} + html>body hr.short {margin-right: 40%; margin-left: 40%; width: 20%;} + .note + {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + span.pagenum + {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; font-size: 8pt;} + .blockquot + {margin-left:3%; margin-right:3%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: justify;} + .poem + {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + .poem p.i18 {margin-left: 9em;} + + .poem_1 {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto; margin-bottom: 1em; + text-align: center; width: 400px;} + .poem_1 .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem_1 p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem_1 p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + .poem_1 p.i4 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem_1 p.i6 {margin-left: 3em;} + .poem_1 p.i8 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem_1 p.i10 {margin-left: 5em;} + .poem_1 p.i18 {margin-left: 9em;} + .figure, .figcenter, .figright, .figleft + {padding: 1em; margin: 0; text-align: center;} + .figure img, .figcenter img, .figright img, .figleft img + {border: none;} + .figure p, .figcenter p, .figright p, .figleft p + {margin: 0; text-indent: 1em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto;} + .figright {float: right;} + .figleft {float: left;} + .inline {border: none; vertical-align: middle;} + .footnote {font-size: 0.9em; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 10%;} + .letter_1 {margin-left: 2.5em; margin-right:auto; margin-bottom: 1em; + text-align: center; width: 400px;} + .side { float:right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left:10px; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 10px; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + div.trans-note {border-style : solid; border-width : 1px; + margin : 3em 15%; padding : 1em; text-align : center;} + .illustrations { margin : 0.5em 10%; + font-size : 0.9em;} + .toc {margin : 0 10%; + text-align : left; + font-size : 0.9em; font-weight : bold;} + .toc p {margin : 0.5em 0; } + .toc p.i4 {margin-left : 2em;} + span.TOCpagenum + {position: absolute; left: 81%; right: 87%;} + p.address {text-align: right; margin-right : 5%; } + p.author {text-align: right; margin-right : 5%; } + p.center {text-align : center; } + a:link {color: blue; text-decoration: none} + link {color: blue; text-decoration: none} + a:visited {color: blue; text-decoration: none} + a:hover {color: red} + --> + /*]]>*/ +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14530 ***</div> + + <div class="trans-note"> + Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents was added by the + transcriber. Footnotes will be found at the end of the text. + </div> + <h1> + LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + </h1> + <hr class="short" /> + <h3> + <i>AUGUST, 1885.</i> + </h3> + <hr class="short" /> + <div class="toc"><p> + <b>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</b><span class= + "TOCpagenum"><b>Page</b></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + ON THIS SIDE. by F.C. BAYLOR.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">VIII.</span> <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#ON_THIS_SIDE">113</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + OUR VILLE. by MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#OUR_VILLE">131</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. by M.H. CATHERWOOD.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. + PARADISE.</span><span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#PARADISE">138</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. FORBIDDEN + FRUIT.</span><span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#FORBIDDEN_FRUIT">141</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">III. THE + FLAMING SWORD.</span> <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#THE_FLAMING_SWORD">144</a></span><br /> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + PROBATION. by FLORENCE EARLE COATES.<span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#PROBATION">146</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p>THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. by EDMUND KIRKE.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">TWO PAPERS.</span> + <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#TWO_PAPERS">147</a></span></p> + <p> </p> + <p> + A PLEASANT SPIRIT. by MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#A_PLEASANT_SPIRIT">159</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + FISHING IN ELK RIVER. by TOBE HODGE. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#FISHING_IN_ELK_RIVER">167</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p>ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES.</span> + <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#ON_A_NOBLE_CHARACTER_MARRED_BY_LITTLENESS">176</a></span></p> + <p> </p> + <p> + THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. by DAVID BENNETT KING. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#THE_SCOTTISH_CROFTERS">177</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. by FRANK PARKE. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#MY_FRIEND_GEORGE_RANDALL">185</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. by MARY C. PECKHAM. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#THE_WOOD_THRUSH_AT_SUNSET">199</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + A FOREST BEAUTY. by MAURICE THOMPSON. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#A_FOREST_BEAUTY">200</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p>OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daniel Webster's "Moods." by + F.C.M.</span><span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#Daniel_Websters_quot">206</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Feuds and Lynch-Law in the + Southwest. by J.A.M.</span> <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#Feuds_and_Lynch_Law_in_the_Southwest">208</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Etymology of "Babe." by + S.E.T.</span> <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#The_Etymology_of_Babequot">210</a></span></p> + <p> </p> + <p> + LITERATURE OF THE DAY. <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#LITERATURE_OF_THE_DAY">210</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + Recent Fiction. <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#Recent_Fiction">215</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p><a href="#FOOTNOTES"> + FOOTNOTES.</a> + </p></div> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h2><a name="ON_THIS_SIDE" id="ON_THIS_SIDE" />ON THIS SIDE.</h2> + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span>Not the least delightful of Sir Robert's qualities was his capacity for +enjoying most things that came in his way, and finding some interest in +all. When Mr. Ketchum joined him in the library, where he was jotting +down "the <i>sobriquets</i> of the American States and cities," and told him +of the Niagara plan, his ruddy visage beamed with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"A delightful idea. Capital," he said. "I suppose I can read up a bit +about it before we start, and not go there with my eyes shut. +Ni-a-ga-rah,—monstrously soft and pretty name. Isn't there something on +your shelves that would give me the information I want? But we can come +to that presently. Just now I want to find out, if I can, how these +nicknames came to be given. They must have originated in some great +popular movement, eh? I thought I saw my way, as, for example, the +'Empire State' and the 'Crescent City' and some others, but this 'Sucker +State,' now, and 'Buckeye' business,—what may that mean in plain +English?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Ketchum shed what light he could on these interesting questions, and +Sir Robert thoughtfully ran his hands through his side-whiskers, while, +with an apologetic "One moment, I beg," or "Very odd, very; that must go +down verbatim," he entered the gist of Mr. Ketchum's queer remarks in +his note-book.</p> + +<p>On the following morning he rose with Niagara in his soul. He had more +questions to ask at the breakfast-table than anybody could answer, and +was eager to be off. Mr. Ketchum, who had that week made no less than +fifty thousand dollars by a lucky investment, was in high spirits. +Captain Kendall, who had been allowed to join the party, was vastly +pleased by the prospect of another week in Ethel's society. Mrs. Sykes +was tired of Fairfield, and longed to be "on the move" again, as she +frankly said. So that, altogether, it was a merry company that finally +set off.</p> + +<p>The very first view of "the ocean unbound" increased their pleasure to +enthusiasm. Mrs. Sykes, without reservation, admitted that it was "a +grand spot," and felt as though she were giving the place a certificate +when she added, "<i>Quite</i> up to the mark." She was out on the Suspension +Bridge, making a sketch, as soon as she could get there; she took one +from every other spot about the place; and when tired of her pencil, she +stalked about with her hammer, chipping off bits of rock that promised +geological interest. But she found her greatest amusement in the brides +that "infested the place" (to quote from her letter to her sister +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span>Caroline), indulged in much satirical comment on them, and, +choosing one foolish young rustic who was there as her text, wrote in +her diary, "American brides like to go from the altar to some large +hotel, where they can display their finery, wear their wedding-dresses +every evening, and attract as much attention as possible. The national +passion for display makes them delight in anything that renders them +conspicuous, no matter how vulgar that display may be. If one must have +a fools' paradise, generally known as a honeymoon, this is about as +pleasant a place as any other for it; and, as there are several runaway +couples stopping here, and the place is just on the border, this is +doubtless the American Gretna Green, where silly women and +temporarily-infatuated men can marry in haste, to repent at leisure."</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote gave his camera enough to do, as may be imagined. He and +Sir Robert traced the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and +photographed it at every turn, made careful estimates of its length, +breadth, depth, the flow of currents, scale of descent to the mile, wear +of precipice, and time necessary for the river to retire from the falls +business altogether and meander tranquilly along on a level like other +rivers. They arrayed themselves in oil-skin suits and spent an +unconscionable time at the back of the Horseshoe Fall, roaring out +observations about it that were rarely heard, owing to the deafening +din, and had more than one narrow escape from tumbling into the water in +these expeditions. They carefully bottled some of it, which they +afterward carefully sealed with red wax and duly labelled, intending to +add it to a collection of similar phials which Sir Robert had made of +famous waters in many countries. They went over the mills and factories +in the neighborhood, and Sir Robert had long confabs with the managers, +of whom he asked permission to "jot down" the interesting facts +developed in the course of their conversations, surprising them by his +knowledge of mechanics and the subjects in hand.</p> + +<p>"Man alive! what do you want with <i>those</i>?" said he to one of them, a +keen-faced young fellow, who was showing him the boiler-fires. He +pointed with his stick as he spoke, and rattled it briskly about the +brick-work by way of accompaniment as he went on: "Such a waste of +force, of money! downright stupidity! You don't want it. You don't need +it, any more than you need an hydraulic machine tacked to the back of +your trains. You have got water enough running past your very door to—"</p> + +<p>"I've told that old fool Glass that a thousand times," broke in the +young man; "but if he wants to try and warm and light the world with a +gas-stove when the sun is up I guess it's no business of mine, though it +does rile me to see the power thrown away and good coal wasted. If I had +the capital, here's what <i>I</i>'d do. Here."</p> + +<p>Seizing Sir Robert's stick, the enthusiast drew a fondly-loved ideal +mill in the coal-dust at his feet, while Sir Robert looked and listened, +differed, suggested, with keen interest, and Mr. Heathcote gave but +haughty and ignorant attention to the talk that followed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the way of it; but Glass has lived all his life with his +head in a bag, and he can't see it. I am surprised to see you take an +interest in it. Ever worked at it?" said the man in conclusion.</p> + +<p>"A little," said Sir Robert affably, who could truthfully have said as +much of anything. "Who is this Glass?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's the man that owns all this; the stupidest owl that ever lived. +I wish he could catch on like you. I'd like very well to work with you," +was the reply.</p> + +<p>"A bumptious fellow, that," commented Mr. Heathcote when they left. +"He'd 'like to work with you,' indeed!"</p> + +<p>"A fellow with ideas. I'd like to work with him," replied his uncle; +"though he isn't burdened with respect for his employers."</p> + +<p>Miss Noel meanwhile tied on her large straw hat, took her cane, basket, +trowel, tin box, and, followed by Parsons <span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span>with her +sketching-apparatus, went off to hunt plants or wash in sketches, a most +blissfully occupied and preoccupied old lady.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Ketchum's great amusement, Miss Noel, Mrs. Sykes, and Mr. +Heathcote all arrived at a particular spot within a few moments of each +other one morning, all alike prepared and determined to get the view it +commanded.</p> + +<p>Miss Noel had said to Job <i>en route,</i> "Do you think that I shall be able +to get a fly and drive about the country a bit? I should so like it. Are +they to be had there?"</p> + +<p>And he had replied, "You will have some difficulty in <i>not</i> taking 'a +fly' there, I guess. The hackmen would rather drive your dead body +around town for nothing than let you enjoy the luxury of walking about +unmolested. But I will see to all that."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, a carriage had been placed at their disposal, and they had +taken some charming drives, in the course of which Parsons, occupying +the box on one occasion, was seen to be peering very curiously about +her.</p> + +<p>"A great pity, is it not, Parsons, that we can't see all this in the +autumn, when the thickets of scarlet and gold are said to be so very +beautiful?" said Miss Noel, addressing her affably.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mem," agreed Parsons. "And, if you please, mem, where are the +estates of the gentry, as I 'ave been lookin' for ever since we came +hover?"</p> + +<p>"Not in this part," replied Miss Noel. "The red Indians were here not +very long since. You should really get a pin-cushion of their +descendants, those mild, dirty creatures that work in bark and beads. +Buy of one that has been baptized: one shouldn't encourage them to +remain heathens, you know. Your friends in England will like to see +something made by them; and they were once very powerful and spread all +over the country as far as—as—I really forget where; but I know they +were very wild and dreadful, and lived in wigwams, and wore moccasins."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed, mem!" responded Parsons, impressed by the extent of her +mistress's information.</p> + +<p>"A wigwam is three upright poles, such as the gypsies use for their +kettles, thatched with the leaves of the palm and the plantain," Miss +Noel went on. "Dear me! It is very odd! I certainly remember to have +read that; but perhaps I am getting back to the Southern Americans +again, which does so vex Robert. I wonder if one couldn't see a wigwam +for one's self? It can't be plantain, after all: there is none growing +about here."</p> + +<p>She asked Mabel about this that evening, and the latter told her husband +how Miss Noel was always mixing up the two continents.</p> + +<p>"I don't despair, Mabel. They will find this potato-patch of ours after +a while," he said good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>But he was less amiable when Mrs. Sykes said at dinner next day, "I +should like to try your maize. Quite simply boiled, and eaten with +butter and salt, I am told it is quite good, really. I have heard that +the Duke of Slumborough thought it excellent."</p> + +<p>"You don't say so! I am so glad to hear it! I shall make it generally +known as far as I can. Such things encourage us to go on trying to make +a nation of ourselves. It would have paralyzed all growth and +development in this country for twenty years if he had thought it +'nasty,'" said Job. "Foreigners can't be too particular how they express +their opinions about us. Over and over again we have come within an ace +of putting up the shutters and confessing that it was no use pretending +that we could go on independently having a country of our own, with +distinct institutions, peculiarities, customs, manners, and even +productions. It would be so much better and easier to turn ourselves +over to a syndicate of distinguished foreigners who would govern us +properly,—stamp out ice-water and hot rolls from the first, as unlawful +and not agreeing with the Constitution, give us cool summers, prevent +children from teething hard, make it a penal offence to talk through the +nose, and put a bunch of Bourbons in <span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span>the White House, with a +divine right to all the canvas-back ducks in the country. There are so +many kings out of business now that they could easily give us a bankrupt +one to put on our trade dollar, or something really <i>sweet</i> in emperors +who have seen better days. And a standing army of a hundred thousand +men, all drum-majors, in gorgeous uniforms, helmets, feathers, gold +lace, would certainly scare the Mexicans into caniptious and +unconditional surrender. The more I think of it, the more delightful it +seems. It is mere stupid obstinacy our people keeping up this farce of +self-government, when anybody can see that it is a perfect failure, and +that the country has no future whatever."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you talk in that way; but I don't think you would really like it," +said Mrs. Sykes. "Americans seem to think that they know everything: +they are above taking any hints from the Old World, and get as angry as +possible with me when I point out a few of the more glaring defects that +strike me."</p> + +<p>"I am surprised at that. Our great complaint is that we can't get any +advice from Europeans. If we only had a little, even, we might in time +loom up as a fifth-rate power. But no: they leave us over here in this +wilderness without one word of counsel or criticism, or so much as a +suggestion, and they ought not to be surprised that we are going to the +dogs. What else can they expect?" said Mr. Ketchum.</p> + +<p>"Husband, dear, you were very sharp with my cousin to-day, and it was +not like you to show temper,—at least, not temper exactly, but +vexation," said Mabel to him afterward in mild rebuke. "She has told me +that you quite detest the English, so that she wonders you should have +married me. And I said that you were far too intelligent and just to +cherish wrong feelings toward any people, much less my people."</p> + +<p>"Well, if <i>she</i> represented England I should drop England quietly over +the rapids some day when I could no longer stand her infernal +patronizing, impertinent airs, and rid the world of a nuisance," said +Mr. Ketchum, with energy. "Excuse my warmth, but that woman would poison +a prairie for me. Fortunately, I happen to know that she only represents +a class which neither Church nor State there has the authority to shoot, +<i>yet</i>, and I am not going to cry down white wool because there are black +sheep. Look at Sir Robert, and Miss Noel, and all the rest of them, how +different they are."</p> + +<p>Captain Kendall certainly found Niagara delightful, for, owing to the +absorption of the party in their different pursuits, he was able to see +more of Ethel than he had ever done. He was so different from the men +she had known that he was a continual study to her. Instead of the +studied indifference, shy avoidance, shy advances, culminating in a +blunt and straightforward declaration of "intentions," which she would +have thought natural in an admirer, followed by transparent, honest +delight in the event of acceptance, or manly submission to the +inevitable in the event of rejection, Captain Kendall had surprised her +by liking her immediately, or at least by showing that he did, and +seeking her persistently, without any pretence of concealment. He talked +to her of politics, of social questions in the broadest sense, of books, +scientific discoveries, his travels, and the travels of others. He read +whole volumes of poetry to her. He discoursed by the hour on the manly +character, its faults, merits, peculiarities, and possibilities, and +then contrasted it with the womanly one, trait for trait, and it seemed +to her that women had never been praised so eloquently, +enthusiastically, copiously. At no time was he in the least choked by +his feelings or at a loss for a fresh word or sentiment. Such romance, +such ideality, such universality, as it were, she had never met. When +his admiration was most unbridled it seemed to be offered to her as the +representative of a sex entirely perfect and lovely. Everything in +heaven and earth, apparently, ministered to his passion and made him +talk all around the beloved subject with a <span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span>wealth of simile and +suggestion that she had never dreamed of. But, if he gave full +expression to his agitated feelings in these ways, he was extremely +delicate, respectful, reserved, in others. He wrapped up his heart in so +many napkins, indeed, that, being a practical woman not extraordinarily +gifted in the matter of imagination, she frequently lost sight of it +altogether, and she sometimes failed to follow him in a broad road of +sentiment that (like the Western ones which Longfellow has described) +narrowed and narrowed until it disappeared, a mere thread, up a tree. If +he looked long, after one of these flights, at her sweet English face to +see what impression he had made, he was often forced to see that it was +not the one he had meant to make at all.</p> + +<p>"Is anything amiss?" she asked once, in her cool, level tone, fixing +upon him her sincerely honest eyes. "Are there blacks on my nose?" +Although she had distinctly refused him at Kalsing, as became a girl +destitute of vanity and coquetry and attached to some one else, she had +not found him the less fluent, omnipresent, persuasive, at Niagara. It +was diverting to see them seated side by side on Goat Island, he waving +his hand toward the blue sky, apostrophizing the water, the foliage, the +clouds, and what not, in prose and verse, quite content if he but got a +quiet glance and assenting word now and then, she listening demurely in +a state of protestant satisfaction, her fair hair very dazzling in the +sunshine, an unvarying apple-blossom tint in her calm face, her fingers +tatting industriously not to waste the time outright. It was very +agreeable in a way, she told herself, but something must really be done +to get rid of the man. And so, one morning when they chanced to be +alone, and he was being unusually ethereal and beautiful in his remarks, +telling her that, as Byron had said, she would be "the morning star of +memory" for him, she broke in squarely, "That is all very nice; very +pretty, I am sure. But I do hope you quite understand that I have not +the least idea of marrying you. There is no use in going on like this, +you know, and you would have a right to reproach me if I kept silent and +led you to think that I was being won over by your fine speeches. You +see, you don't really want a star at all. You want a wife; though +military men, as a rule, are better off single. I do thank you heartily +for liking me for myself, and all that, and I shall always remember the +kind things you have done, and our acquaintance, but you must put me +quite out of your head as a wife. I should not suit you at all. You +would have to leave the American service, and I should hate feeling I +had tied you down, and I couldn't contribute a penny toward the +household expenses, and, altogether, we are much better apart. It would +not answer at all. So, thank you again for the honor you have conferred +upon me, and be—be rather more—like other people, won't you, for the +future? Auntie fancies that I am encouraging you, and is getting very +vexed about it. Perhaps you had better go away? Yes, that would be best, +I think."</p> + +<p>Thus solicited, Captain Kendall went away, taking a mournfully-eloquent +farewell of Ethel, which she thought final; but in this she was +mistaken.</p> + +<p>Our party did not linger long after this. Sir Robert met a titled +acquaintance, who inflamed his mind so much about Manitoba that he +decided to go to Canada at once, taking Miss Noel, Ethel, and Mr. +Heathcote; Mrs. Sykes had taken up on her first arrival with some New +York people, who asked her to visit them in the central part of the +State,—which disposed of her; Mabel was secretly longing to get back to +her "American child," as Mrs. Sykes called little Jared Ponsonby; and +they separated, with the understanding that they should meet again +before the English guests left the country, and with a warm liking for +each other, the Sykes not being represented in the pleasant covenants of +friendship formed.</p> + +<p>"I am glad that we have not to bid Ketchum good-by here," said Sir +Robert. "Such a hearty, genial fellow! And how kind he has been to us! +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span>His hospitality is the true one; not merely so much food and +drink and moneyed outlay for some social or selfish end, but the +entertainment of friends because they <i>are</i> friends, with every possible +care for their pleasure and comfort, and the most unselfish willingness +to do anything that can contribute to either. I am afraid he would not +find many such hosts as himself with us. We entertain more than the +Americans, but I do not think we have as much of the real spirit of +hospitality as a nation. The relation between host and guest is less +personal, there is little sense of obligation, or rather sacredness, on +either side, and the convenience, interest, or amusement of the +Amphitryon is more apt to be considered, as a general thing, than the +pleasure of the guest: at least this has been growing more and more the +case in the last twenty years, as our society has broken away from old +traditions and levelled all its barriers, to the detriment of our social +graces, not to speak of our morals and manners. As for that charmingly +gentle, sweet woman Mrs. Ketchum, it is my opinion that we are not +likely to improve on that type of Englishwoman. A modest, simple, +religious creature, a thorough gentlewoman, and a devoted wife and +mother. My cousin Guy Rathbone is engaged to a specimen of a new +variety,—one of the 'emancipated,' forsooth; a woman who has a +betting-book instead of a Bible and plays cards all day Sunday. He tells +me that she is wonderfully clever, and that it is all he can do to keep +her from running about the kingdom delivering lectures on Agnosticism; +as if one wanted one's wife to be a trapesing, atheistical +Punch-and-Judy! And the fellow seemed actually pleased and flattered. He +told me that she had 'an astonishing grasp of such subjects' and was +'attracting a great deal of attention.' And I told him that if I had a +wife who attracted attention in such ways I would lock her up until she +came to her senses and the public had forgotten her want of modesty and +discretion. This ought to be called the Age of Fireworks. The craze for +notoriety is penetrating our very almshouses, and every toothless old +mumbler of ninety wants to get himself palmed off as a centenarian in +the papers and have a lot of stuff printed about him."</p> + +<p>"I see what you mean, Robert," said Miss Noel, "and it certainly cannot +be wholesome for women to thirst for excitement, and one would think a +lady would shrink from being conspicuous in any way; but things are very +much changed, as you say. And I agree with you in your estimate of the +Ketchums. She is a sweet young thing, and I heartily like him. Only +think! his last act was to send a great basket of fine fruits up to my +room, and quite an armful of railway-novels for the journey. Such +beautiful thought for our comfort as they have shown!"</p> + +<p>"He is rather a good sort in some ways, but a very ignorant man. I +showed him some of my specimens the other day, and he thought them +granitic, when they were really Silurian mica schist of some kind," put +in Mrs. Sykes, who never could bear unqualified praise. "Still, on the +whole, the Americans are less ignorant than might have been expected."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> consider Mr. Ketchum a most kind, gentlemanly, sociable, clever +man," said Miss Noel, with an emphatic nod of her head to each +adjective, "geology or no geology. And I must say that it is very +ungrateful of you to speak of him so sneeringly always."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert only waited to write the usual batch of letters, including a +last appeal to the editor of the "Columbia Eagle" to know whether he +intended to apologize for and publicly retract a certain article, and +asking "whether it was possible that any considerable or respectable +portion of the Americans could be so arbitrary, illiberal, and exclusive +as to wish to exclude the English from America." This done, he left for +Canada with his relatives. With his stay there we have nothing to do. It +consumed six weeks of exhaustive travel and study of Canadian conditions +and resources, resulting ultimately in the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span>conclusion that +Manitoba was not the place he was looking for. The ladies, who had been +left in Montreal, were then taken for a short tour through the country, +which they all enjoyed, after which Sir Robert asked Miss Noel whether +she would be willing to take Ethel back to Niagara and wait there a +fortnight, or perhaps a little longer, while he and Mr. Heathcote came +back by way of New England and from there went down into Maryland and +Virginia, where, according to "a member of the Canadian Parliament," +lands were to be had for a song.</p> + +<p>"A fortnight? I could spend a twelve-month there," exclaimed she. "Had +it not been that I was ashamed to insist upon being let off this +journey, I should have stopped there as it was."</p> + +<p>To Niagara the aunt and niece and Parsons went, as agreed, and there +they found Mr. Bates wandering languidly about the place in chronic +discontent with everything for not being something else. He had burned a +good deal of incense on Ethel's shrine when she was at Kalsing, and now +hailed their advent with some approach to enthusiasm, and attached +himself to their suite, <i>vice</i> Captain Kendall, retired. He liked to be +seen with them, thought the views from the Canadian side were "deucedly +fine," was cruelly affected by the advertisements in the neighborhood, +which he denounced as "dreadfully American," trickled out much feeble +criticism of and acid comment on his surroundings, gave utterance to +fervent wishes that he was "abrard," and in his own unpleasant way gave +Ethel to understand that she might make a fellow-countryman happy by +becoming Mrs. Samuel Bates if she liked to avail herself of a golden +opportunity. "I would live in England, you know. I am really far more at +home there than here," said the expatriated suitor. "I have been taken +for an Englishman as often as three times in one week, do you know. +Curious, isn't it? I ought to be down in Kent now, visiting Lady +Simpson, a great friend of mine, who has asked me there again and again. +You would like her if you knew her. She is quite the great lady down +there."</p> + +<p>"A foolish little man, and evidently a great snob, or else rather daft +upon some points," Ethel reported to her aunt. "And such a dull, +discontented creature, with all his money!" Ethel had some trials of her +own just then, and it was no great felicity to listen to Mr. Bates's +endless complaints, nor could she spare much sympathy for the sufferings +of the exile of Tecumseh, with his rose-leaf sensibilities, inanities, +absurdities.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the young gentleman who was indirectly responsible for many a +sad thought of two charming girls that we know of—and who shall say how +many more?—was enjoying as much happiness as ever fell to any man in +the capacity of ardent sportsman. He had joined the duke and his party +at St. Louis, and from there they had gone "well away from anywhere," as +he said in describing his adventures to Mr. Heathcote. He had at last +reached the ideal spot of all his wildest imaginations and most +cherished hopes,—"the wild part,"—really the great prairies, about two +hundred miles west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies. The dream +of his life was being fulfilled. He related, in a style not conspicuous +for literary merit, but very well suited to the simple annals of the +rich, how, having first procured guides, tents, ambulances, +camp-equipage, they had pushed on briskly to a military fort, where, +having made friends with "a pleasant, gentlemanly set of fellows," the +commanding officer, "a friendly old buffer," had courteously given them +an escort to protect them from "those dirty, treacherous brutes, the +Indians." Not a joy was wanting in this crowning bliss. The guide was "a +wonderful chap named Big-Foot Williams, so called by the Indians, good +all around from knocking over a rabbit to tackling a grizzly," with an +amazing knowledge of woodcraft, "a nose like a bloodhound, an eye as +cool as a toad's." No special mention was made of his ear; but the first +time he <span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span>got off his horse and applied it to the earth, +listening for the tramp of distant hoofs in a hushed silence, one bosom +could hardly hold all the rapture that filled Mr. Ramsay's figurative +cup up to the brim. And the tales he told of savageness long drawn out +were as dew to the parched herb, greedily absorbed at every pore. A +portrait of "Black Eagle," a noted chief, was given when they got among +the Indians,—"a great hulking slugger of a savage, awfully interesting, +long, reaching step, magnificent muscles, snake eye, could thrash us all +in turn if he liked. The best of the lot."</p> + +<p>Even the noble red man was not insensible to the charms of this +graceful, handsome young athlete who smiled at them perpetually and +said, "<i>Amigo! amigo</i>!" at short intervals,—a phrase suggested by the +redoubtable Williams and varied occasionally by a prefix of his own, +"<i>Muchee amigo</i>!" The way in which he tested the elasticity of their +bows, inspected their guns, the game they had killed, the other natural +objects about them, aroused a certain sympathy, perhaps. At any rate, +they were soon teaching him their mode of using the most picturesquely +murderous of all weapons, and Black Eagle offered, through the +interpreter, to give him a mustang and a fine wolf-skin. The pony was +declined, the skin accepted, a <i>quid pro quo</i> being bestowed on the +chief in the shape of one of Mr. Ramsay's breech-loaders, a gift that +made the snake eyes glitter. But what earthly return can be made for +some friendly offices? Could a thousand guns be considered as an +adequate payment for the delirious thrill that Mr. Ramsay felt when he +shot an arrow straight through the neck of a big buffalo, and, wheeling, +galloped madly away, like the hero of one of his favorite stories? Was +not the duke, who "knew a thing or two about shooting" and had hunted +the noble bison in Lithuania, almost as much delighted as though he had +done it himself? Is it any wonder that these intoxicating pleasures were +all-sufficient for the time to Mr. Ramsay? Perhaps Thekla would have +been forgotten by her Max, and Romeo would never have sighed and died +for love of Juliet, if those interesting lovers had ceased from wooing +and gone a-hunting of the buffalo instead. Not the most deadly and cruel +pangs of the most unfortunate attachment could have taken away all the +zest from such an occupation, provided they had had what the Mexican +journals call the "<i>corazon de los sportsmans</i>." Youth, strength, +courage, skill, exercised in a vagabondage that has all the nomadic +charm without any of its drawbacks, are apt to sponge the old figures +off the slate of life, leaving a teary smear, perhaps, to show where +they have been, and room for fresh problems. At night over the camp-fire +Mr. Ramsay gave a few pensive thoughts to the girl who regularly put two +handkerchiefs under her pillow to receive the tears that welled out +copiously when she was at last alone and unobserved after a day of +virtuous hypocrisy. Poor child! The pain was very real, and the tears +were bitter and salty enough, though they were to be dried in due time. +If he had known of them, perhaps he might have kept awake a little +longer; but when he wasn't sleepy he was hungry, and when he wasn't +hungry he was tired, and when he wasn't tired he was too actively +employed to think of anything but the business in hand. Happily, at +five-and-twenty it is perfectly possible to postpone being miserable +until a more convenient season; and, though he would have denied it +emphatically afterward, he certainly thought only occasionally of Bijou +at this period, and of Ethel not at all.</p> + +<p>Miss Noel heard very regularly from Mrs. Sykes all this while; and that +energetic traveller had not been idle. She had made her new friends +"take her about tremendously," she said. She had seen all the large +towns in that part of the country, and thought them "very ugly and +monotonously commonplace, but prosperous-looking,—like the +inhabitants." The scenery she had found "far too uninteresting to repay +the bother of sketching it." But she had <span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span>made a few pictures of +"the views most cracked up in the White Mountains,"—where she had +been,—"a sort of second-hand Switzerland of a place; really nothing +after the Himalayas, but made a great fuss over by the Americans." She +described with withering scorn a drive she took there.</p> + +<p>"We came suddenly one day upon a party in a kind of Cheap-Jack van," she +wrote,—"gayly-dressed people, tricked off in smart finery, and larking +like a lot of Ramsgate tradesmen on the public road. One of the impudent +creatures made a trumpet of his great ugly fist and spelt out the name +of the hotel at which they were stopping, and then put his hand to his +ear, as if to listen for the response. Expecting <i>me</i> to tell <i>them</i> +anything about myself! But I flatter myself that I was a match for them. +I just got out my umbrella and shot it up in their very faces as we +passed, in a way not to be mistaken. And—would you believe it?—the +rude wretches called out, 'The shower is over now! and 'What's the price +of starch?' and roared with laughing." A highly-colored description of "a +visit to a great Dissenting stronghold, Marbury Park," followed: "I was +immensely curious to see one of these characteristic national +exhibitions of hysteria, ignorance, superstition, and immorality, called +a 'camp-meeting.' to which the Americans of all classes flock annually +by the thousands, so I quite insisted upon being taken to one, though my +friends would have got out of it if they could. I fancy they were very +ashamed of it; and they had need to be. I will not attempt to describe +it in detail here,—you will hear what I have said of it in my +diary,—but a more glaringly vulgar, intensely American performance you +can't fancy. I have made a number of sketches of the grounds, the tents +and tent-life, with the people bathing and dressing and all that in the +most exposed manner; of the pavilion, where the roaring and ranting is +done; and of the great revivalist who was holding forth when I got +there, and who had got such a red face and seemed so excited that it is +my belief he was <i>regularly screwed</i>, though my friends denied it, of +course. With such a preacher, you can 'realize,' as they say, what the +people were like. A regular Derby-day crowd having a religious +saturnalia,—that is what it is. It would not be allowed at home, I am +sure. Disgusting! One can't wonder at the state of society in America +when one sees what their religion is. An unpleasant incident occurred to +me while sketching in the pavilion, that shows what I have often pointed +out to you,—the radicalism and odious impertinence of this people. I +was just putting the finishing-touches to my picture of the Rev. (?) +'Galusha Wickers' (the revivalist: such names as these Americans have!), +when I heard a voice behind me saying, 'Lor! Why, that's splendid! +perfectly splendid! Well, I declare, you've got him to a t. Lemmy see.' +And, if you please, a hand was thrust over my shoulder and the sketch +seized, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Can you fancy a more +unwarrantable, insufferable liberty? But they are all alike over here. I +turned about, and saw a woman who was examining the reverend revivalist +with much satisfaction. 'Well, you <i>have</i> got him, to be sure,' she +said, returning my angry glance with one of admiration, and quite +unabashed. 'What'll you take for it? I've sat under him for five years; +and for taking texteses from one end of the Bible to the other, and +leading in prayer, and filling the mourners' bench in five minutes, I +will say he hasn't got his equal in the universe. He's got a towering +intellect, I tell you. I'll give you fifty cents for this, if you'll +color it up nice for me and throw in a frame.' Of course I took the +picture away from the brazen creature and told her what I thought of her +conduct. 'Well, you air techy,' she said, and walked off leisurely." +Before closing her letter, Mrs. Sykes remarked of her hostess, "Quite +good for nothing physically, and absurdly romantic. She has been abroad +a good deal, and bores me dreadfully with her European reminiscences. +She is always talking in a foolish, rapturous <span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span>sort of way about +'dear Melrose,' or 'noble Tintern Abbey,' or 'enchanting Warwick +Castle;' and she has read simply libraries of books about England, and +puts me through a sort of examination about dozens of places and events, +as though I could carry all England about in my head. I really know less +of it than of most other countries: there is nothing to be got by +running about it. If one knew every foot of it, everybody would think it +a matter of course; but to be able to talk of Siam and the Fiji Islands, +Cambodia and Alaska, and the like, is really an advantage in society. +One gets the name of being a great traveller, and all that, and is asked +about tremendously and taken up to a wonderful extent. I know a man that +didn't wish to go to the trouble and expense of rambling all over the +world, and wanted the reputation of having done it, so he went into +lodgings at intervals near the British Museum and got all the books that +were to be had about a particular country, and, having read them, would +come back to the West End and give out that he had been there. It +answered beautifully for a while, and he was by way of being asked to +become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical, and was thought quite an +authority and wonderfully clever; but somehow he got found out, which +must have been a nuisance and spoiled everything. I can see that these +people consider it quite an honor to have me visit them, all because of +my having been around the world, I dare say. And of course I have let +them see that I know who is who and what is what. They are imploring me +to stay on; but I told them yesterday that it wouldn't suit my book at +all to stay over two weeks longer, when I had seen all there was to see. +That young Ramsay seems to be enjoying himself out there among those +nasty savages; and, as hunting is about the only thing he is fit for, he +had best stay out there altogether."</p> + +<p>The unwritten history of Mrs. Sykes's visit to Marbury Park would have +been more interesting than the account she gave. She took with her a +camp-chair, which she placed in any and every spot that suited her or +commanded the pictorial situations which she wished to make her own +permanently. To the horror and surprise of her friends, she plumped it +down immediately in front of Mr. Wickers (after marching past an immense +congregation), and, wholly unembarrassed by her conspicuous position, +settled herself comfortably, took out her block and pencil, and +proceeded to jot down that worthy's features line upon line, as though +he had been a newly-imported animal at the "Zoo" on exhibition, paying +no attention to the precept upon precept he was trying to impress upon +his audience.</p> + +<p>She walked all over the place repeatedly, went poking and prying into +such tents as she chanced to find empty, nor considered this an +essential requisite to the conferring of this honor. When less sociably +inclined, she established herself outside, close at hand, and in this +way made those valuable observations and spirited drawings which +subsequently enriched her diary and delighted a discerning British +public. But this is anticipating. When she tired of New York, she wrote +to Sir Robert that she wished to give as much time as possible to the +Mormons, and would leave at once for Salt Lake City, where she would +busy herself in laying bare the domestic system as it really existed, +and hold herself in readiness to join the party again when they should +arrive there <i>en route</i> to the Yosemite.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert, being an heroic creature, felt that he could bear this +temporary separation with fortitude, and, being about to start for +Boston when he got the news, forthwith threw himself upon the New +England States in a frenzied search for all the information to be had +about them,—their exact geographical position, by whom discovered, when +settled, climate, productions, population, principal towns and rivers. +He studied three maps of the region as he rattled along in the +south-bound train, and devoted the rest of the time to getting an +outline of its history: so that his nephew found him but an indifferent +companion.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span>"I suppose there are authorized maps and charts, geographical, +hydrographical, and topographical, issued by the government, and to be +seen at the libraries. I must get a look at them at once. These are +amateur productions, the work of irresponsible men, contradicting each +other in important particulars as to the relative positions of places, +and inaccurate in many respects, as I find by comparison," he said, +emerging from a prolonged study of his authorities. "You don't seem to +take much interest in all this. You should be at the pains to inform +yourself upon every possible point in connection with this country, or +any other in which you may find yourself; else why travel at all?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote, not having his uncle's thirst for information, was +reading a French novel at the time, and did not attempt to defend his +position, knowing it probably to be indefensible.</p> + +<p>Before getting to Boston the air turned very chill, and a fine, +penetrating rain set in that for a while disturbed the student of +American history with visions of rheumatism. "God bless my soul! I shall +be laid by the heels here for weeks. Damp is the one thing that I can't +stand up against. And I have not left my coat out!" he exclaimed, +tugging anxiously at his side-whiskers and annoyed to find how dependent +he had grown on his valet. "What shall I do? Ah! I have an idea. Damp. +What resists it and is practically water-proof? <i>Newspapers</i>!" With this +he stood up, seized the "Times" supplement, made a hole in the middle of +the central fold, and put it over his head. "Now I have improvised a +South-American <i>serape</i>" he observed, in a tone that betrayed the +pleasure it gave him to exercise his ingenuity. He then took two other +sheets and successively wrapped them around his legs, after the fashion +in vogue among gardeners intent upon protecting valuable plants from the +rigors of winter. This done, he smoothed down the <i>serape</i>, which showed +a volatile tendency to blow up a good deal, and, with a brief comment to +the effect that "oilskin or india-rubber could not be better," and no +staring about him to observe the effect of his action on the passengers, +replaced his hat, sat down, picked up his book again, readjusted his +eye-glasses, and went on with the episode he had been reading aloud to +his nephew, who, mildly bored by King Philip's war, was mildly amused by +the spectacle the baronet presented, and surprised to see that their +fellow-travellers thought it an excellent joke. A loud "Haw! haw!" and +many convulsive titters testified their appreciation of the absurd +contrast between Sir Robert's highly-respectable head, his grave, +absorbed air, and the remarkable way in which he was finished off below +the ears; but he read on and on, in his round, agreeable voice, +unconscious of the effect he was producing, until the train came to the +final stop, when Mr. Porter and a very dignified, rigid style of friend +came into the car to look for him.</p> + +<p>"My dear Porter, I am delighted to see you, and I shall be with you in +one moment. I shall then have ceased to be a grub and have become a most +beautiful butterfly, ready to fly away home with you as soon as ever you +like," he called out in greeting, and in a twinkling had torn off his +wrappers, and stood there a revealed acquaintance, carefully collecting +his "traps," and beaming cheerfully even upon the friend, who had not +come to a pantomime and showed that he disapproved of harlequins in +private life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Porter, however, was all cordiality, and very speedily transferred +his guests to his own house in the vicinity of Boston.</p> + +<p>The season was not the one for gaining a fair idea of the society of the +city and neighborhood; but if all the people who were away at the +sea-side and the mountains were half as charming as those left behind +and invited by Mr. Porter, to meet his friends, it is certain that Sir +Robert lost a great deal. On the other hand, it is equally certain that +if they had been at home Sir Robert would most likely be there now, and +this chronicle of his travels would end <span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span>here. As it was, he +found something novel and agreeable at every step, a fresh interest +every hour of his stay. He began at the beginning, and promptly found +out what kind of soil the city was built on, went on to consider such +questions as drainage, elevation, water-supply, wharves, quays, bridges, +and worked up to libraries, museums, public and private collections of +pictures, and what not. He ordered three pictures of Boston +artists,—two autumnal scenes, and an interior, a negro cabin, with an +hilarious sable group variously employed, called "Christmas in the +Quarters." Then the questions of fisheries, maritime traffic, coast and +harbor defences, light-houses, the ship-building interests, life-saving +associations, and railway systems, pressed for investigation, to say +nothing of the mills and manufactories, wages of operatives, +trades-unions, trade problems, and all the pros and cons of free trade +<i>versus</i> protective tariff. Over these he pondered and pored until all +hours every night; and the diary had now to be girt about with two stout +rubber bands to keep it from scattering instructive leaflets about +promiscuously and prematurely. And by day there were sites literary, +historical, or generally interesting to be visited, engagements with +many friends to keep, endless occupations apparently.</p> + +<p>There was so much to see and do that the place was delightful to him, +and he certainly made himself vastly agreeable in return to such of its +inhabitants as came in his way.</p> + +<p>"I have added to my circle some very valuable acquaintances, whom I +shall hope to retain as friends," he wrote to England, "notably a +medical man who confirms my germ-propagation theory of the 'vomito,' +which is now raging in the Southern part of the States (I had it, you +remember, on the west coast of Africa, and studied it in the +Barbadoes),—an exceptionally clever man, and, like all such men, +inclined to be eccentric. I think I was never more surprised than to +come upon him the other day in a side-street, where he was positively +having his boots polished <i>in public</i> by a ragged gamin who offered to +'shine' me for a 'dime.' He behaved sensibly about it,—betrayed no +embarrassment, though he must have felt excessively annoyed, made no +apologies, and only remarked that he had been out in the country, and +did not wish to be taken for a miller in the town.</p> + +<p>"I was led to believe before coming here that I should not be able to +tell that Boston was not an English town. It did not so impress me on a +surface-view, but it was not long before I recognized that the warp and +woof of the social fabric is that of our looms, though the pattern is a +little different,—a good sort of stuff, I think, warranted <i>to wash</i> +and wear. The variation, such as it is, tried by what I call my +differential nationometer, gives to the place its own peculiar, +delightful quality." The rigid gentleman, who was a great deal at the +Porters', was rather inclined to insist upon the great purity and beauty +of his English, to which he repeatedly invited attention, and, as Mr. +Ramsay would have said, "went in for" certain philological refinements +which Sir Robert had never heard before, and thoroughly disliked. But as +there are more Scotchmen in London than in Edinburgh, and better oranges +can be bought for less money in New York than in New Orleans, so it may +be that if you want to find really superior English you must leave +England altogether,—abandon it to its defective but firmly-rooted +<i>patois</i>, and seek in more classic shades for the well—spring of Saxon +undefiled. But Sir Robert was not inclined to do this. There were limits +to his liberality and spirit of investigation. When the rigid gentleman +instanced certain words to which he gave a pronunciation that made them +bear small resemblance to the same words as spoken by any class of +people laboring under the disadvantage of having been born and bred in +England, Sir Robert got impatient, and testily dismissed the subject +with, "Oh, come, now! I can stand a good deal, but I can't stand being +told that we don't know how to speak English in England." Something, +however, must <span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span>be pardoned to a foreigner. If Sir Robert would +not consent to set Emerson a little higher than the angels, as some +other Bostonians could have wished, and had never so much as heard of +Thoreau and other American celebrities not wholly insignificant, he had +an immense admiration for Longfellow, and could spout "Hiawatha" or +"Evangeline" with the best, associated Hawthorne with something besides +his own hedges in the month of May, and was eager to be taken out to +Beverly Farms, that he might "do himself the honor to call upon" the +wisest, wittiest, least-dreaded, and best-loved of Autocrats. When the +day fixed for his departure came, he was still revelling in what the +Historical Society of Massachusetts had to show him, and actually +stayed over a day that he might see the finest collection of cacti in +the country, and at last tore himself away with much difficulty and +lively regrets, carrying with him a collection of Indian curiosities +given him by Mr. Porter, whom he considered to have behaved "most +handsomely" in making him such a present. "I can't rob you outright, my +dear fellow. I feel a cut-purse, almost, when I think of taking all +these valuable and deeply-interesting objects illustrative of the life +and civilization of the aborigines," he said. "Give me duplicates, if +you will be so generous, but nothing unique, I insist." He finally +accepted one gem in the collection,—a towering structure of feathers +that formed "a most delightful head-dress, quite irresistibly +fascinating," tried it on before a mirror that gave back faithfully the +comical reflection, and incidentally delivered a lecture on the +head-ornaments of many savage and civilized nations of every age, though +not at all in the style of the famous Mr. Barlow.</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote at least was not sorry to find that they were, as he said. +"booked for Baltimore." The image of the beautiful Miss Bascombe had not +been effaced. Perhaps he had photographed it by some private process on +his heart with the lover's camera, which takes rather idealized but very +charming pictures, some of which never fade. At all events, there it +was, very distinct and very lovely, and always hung on the line in his +mental picture-gallery. It was positively with trepidation that he +presented himself before her very soon after his arrival; and an +undeniable blush "mantled" his cheek—if a blush can be said with any +propriety to mantle the male cheek—- when he marched into the +drawing-room, where she was doing a dainty bit of embroidery, and with +much simplicity and directness said, "You said I might come, you know, +and I have come; and I begged of Ethel to come too, but she could not +leave my aunt," before he had so much as shaken hands. Of course no +well-regulated and well-bred young woman—and Miss Bascombe was +both—ever permits herself to remember any man until she is engaged to +him; but she need not forget one that has impressed her agreeably. Miss +Bascombe had not forgotten the handsome Englishman she had met at Jenny +De Witt's, nor the little lecture she had given him on the duties of +brothers to sisters, and it did not strike her that his inaugural +address was at all eccentric or mysterious. He had been told what he +ought to do; he had tried to do it, as was quite right and proper. He +deserved some reward. And he got it,—though only as an encouragement to +abstract virtue, of course. The young lady was pleased to be friendly, +gracious, charming. Her mother came in presently, was equally friendly +and gracious, and almost as charming. Her father came home to dinner, +and was friendly too, and hearty, and very hospitable. Her brothers were +friendliest of all. He knew quite well that he had no claim on them, +that he had not saved the life of any member of the family or laid them +under any sort of obligation, individually or collectively, and no +reception could have seemed more special and dangerously cordial, yet no +anxieties oppressed, no fears distracted him. The weight of excessive +eligibility suddenly slipped off him, like the albatross from the neck +of the Ancient <span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span>Mariner, leaving him a thankful and a happy man, +and in a week he had established himself firmly at the Bascombes', +declined to accompany his uncle to Virginia, and definitely settled in +his own mind that he would take the step matrimonial,—the step from the +sublime to—well, not always the ridiculous. With this resolution he +naturally thought that the greatest obstacle to success had been +removed; but he was soon disillusionized. He had already come to see +that American girls were very much in the habit of being gracious to +everybody, and saying pretty and pleasant things, with no thought of an +hereafter; also that they did not live with St. George's, Hanover +Square, or its American equivalent, Trinity Church, New York, stamped on +the mental retina. Miss Bascombe was "very nice" to him, he told +himself, but she was quite as nice to a dozen other men. She was +uniformly kind, courteous, agreeable, to every one who came to the +house. Her cordiality to him meant nothing whatever. Yes, he was quite +free,—free as air; he saw that plainly, and perversely longed to assume +the fetters he had so long and so skilfully avoided. What was the use of +having serious intentions when not the slightest notice was taken of the +most compromising behavior? It was true that he was perfectly at liberty +to see more of Edith than an Englishman ever does of any woman not +related to him, and to say and do a thousand things any one of which at +home would have necessitated a proposal or instant flight. But no +importance whatever seemed to be attached to them here, and he was +utterly at a loss how to make his seriousness felt. Yet it was quite +clear that if there was to be any wooing done, he would have to do +it,—go every step of the way himself, with no assistance from Miss +Bascombe. "How on earth am I to show her that I care for her?" he +thought. "Other men send her dozens of bouquets, and box after box of +expensive sweets, and loads of books, and music without end, and they +come to see her continually, and take her about everywhere, and are +entirely devoted to her. I wonder what fellows over here do when they +are serious? How do they make themselves understood when they go on in +this way habitually? It is a most extraordinary state of affairs! And +neither party seems to feel in the least compromised by it. There is +that fellow Clinch, who fairly lives at the Bascombes', and when I asked +her if she was engaged to him she said, 'Engaged to George Clinch? What +an idea! <i>No</i>. What put that in your head? He is a nice fellow, and I +like him immensely, but there's nothing of that sort between us. What +made you think there was? And when I explained, she said, 'Oh, <i>that's</i> +nothing! He is just as nice to lots of other girls.' And when I +suggested to him that he was attached to her, he said, 'Edith Bascombe? +Oh, no! She is a great friend of mine, and a charming girl, but I have +never thought of that, nor has she. I go there a good deal, but I have +never paid her any marked attention.' No marked attention, indeed! +Nothing seems to mean anything here: it is worse than being in England, +where everything means something. No, it isn't, either. I vow that when +I am at the Clintons' in Surrey I scarcely dare offer the girls so much +as a muffin, and if I ask the carroty one, Beatrice, the simplest +question, she blushes and stammers as if I were proposing out of hand. +But what am I to do? I can't sing and take to serenading Edith on +moonlit nights with a guitar and a blue ribbon around my neck. I can't +push her into the river that I may pull her out again. I dare say there +is nothing for it but to adopt the American method,—enter with about +fifty others for a sort of sentimental steeple-chase, elbow or knock +every other fellow out of the way in the running, work awfully hard to +please the girl, and get in by half a length, if one wins at all. There +is no feeling sure of her until one is coming back from the altar, +evidently."</p> + +<p>Some of his conversations with Edith were certainly anything but +encouraging. At other times he felt morally sure that <span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span>she +shared that derangement of the bivalvular organ technically defined as +"a muscular viscus which is the primary instrument of the blood's +motion," whose worst pains are said to be worth more than the greatest +pleasures. He was very much in earnest, and entirely straightforward, +There were no balancing indecisions now, but the most downright +affirmation of preference. His little speeches were not veiled in rosy +clouds of metaphor and poetry and distant allusions, like Captain +Kendall's, nor did they flow out in an unfailing stream of romantic +eloquence, like that gifted warrior's. They were so honest and so +clumsy, indeed, that Edith could not help laughing at them merrily +sometimes, to his great discomfiture, consisting as they did chiefly of +such statements as, "You know that I am most awfully fond of you. I was +tremendously hard hit from the first. If you don't believe me, you can +ask Ramsay. I told him all about it. You aren't in the least like any +other girl that I have ever known, except Mrs. De Witt a little. I +suppose you know that I would have married her at the dropping of a hat +if I could have done so. But that is all over now. I care an awful lot +for you now, and shall be quite frightfully cut up if you won't have +anything to say to me,—I shall, really. I have got quite wrapped up in +you, upon my word. And I shall be intensely glad and proud if you will +consent to be my wife."</p> + +<p>When Edith failed to take such speeches as these seriously, poor Mr. +Heathcote was quite beside himself, and, in reply to her bantering +accusations as to his being "a great flirt" and not "really meaning one +word that he said," opposed either burly negation or a deeply-vexed +silence. They looked at so many things differently that they found a +piquant interest in discussing every subject that came up.</p> + +<p>"There go May Dunbar and Fred Beach," she said to him one Sunday as they +were coming home from church. "Isn't he handsome? They have been engaged +<i>three years</i>. Did you ever hear of such constancy?"</p> + +<p>"Do you call that constancy? Why, if a fellow can't wait three years for +a lovely girl like that, he must be a poor stick. Why, my uncle +Montgomery was engaged to his wife seventeen years, while he went out to +India and shook the pagoda-tree, after which he came back, paid all his +father's debts, and they married and went into the house they had picked +out before he sailed," said Mr. Heathcote.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious! what a time! I hope the poor things were happy at last. +Were they?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"H-m—pretty well. He is a rather fiery, tyrannical old party. She +doesn't get her own way to hurt," he replied.</p> + +<p>"I have heard that Englishwomen give way to the men in everything and +are always, voluntarily or involuntarily, sacrificed to them. It must be +so bad for both," said Edith sweetly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you go in for woman's rights and that sort of thing, I suppose," he +said, in a tone of annoyance.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I don't do anything of the kind," replied she, with warmth. "If +I did, I should be aping the men when I wasn't sneering at them. But I +respect your sex most when they most deserve to be respected, and I +don't see anything to admire in a selfish, tyrannical man that is always +imposing his will, opinions, and wishes upon the ladies of his household +and expects to be the first consideration from the cradle to the grave +because he happens to be a man."</p> + +<p>"But he is the head of his house. He ought to get his own way, if +anybody does, and, if he is not a coward, he will, too," said Mr. +Heathcote rather hotly. "Would you have a man a molly-coddle, tied to +his wife's apron-string, and not daring to call his soul his own?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," replied Edith. "It is the cowards that are the tyrants. +'The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring,' as our +American poet says. And women have souls of their own, except in the +East. Why shouldn't <i>they</i> be the first consideration and do as they +please, pray? They are the weaker, the more delicate and daintily bred. +If <span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span>there is any pampering and spoiling to be done, they should +be the objects of it. And as to rights, there is no divine right of way +given to man, that I know of. I don't believe in that sort of thing at +all. Of course no reasonable woman wants or expects everybody to kootoo +before her and everything to give way to her."</p> + +<p>"And no gentleman fails to show a proper respect for his wife's wishes +and comfort, not to mention her happiness," said Mr. Heathcote. "But of +course that sort of thing is only to be found in America. Englishmen are +all selfish, and tyrants, and domestic monsters, I know."</p> + +<p>"I didn't say anything of the kind," replied Edith quickly, her cheeks +pink with excitement. "I don't know anything about Englishmen or the +domestic system of England, and I never expect to. But, if what I have +heard is true, it is a system that tends to make men mortally selfish; +and selfish people, whether they are men or women, and whether they know +it or not, are <i>all</i> monsters. But I apologize for my remarks, and, as I +am not interested in the subject <i>in the least,</i> we will talk of +something else, if you please."</p> + +<p>This very feminine conclusion, delivered loftily and with sudden +reserve, left Mr. Heathcote in anything but an agreeable frame of mind, +and for an hour or two made him doubt the wisdom of international +marriages; but this mood passed away, and he remained a fixture at the +<i>maison</i> Bascombe, where the very postman came to know him and +generously sympathized with the malady from which he was suffering. Nor +was this the only house in which he was made very welcome. Baltimore is +one of many American cities that suffer from the vague but painful +accusation of being "provincial;" but, admitting this dreadful charge, +it has social, gastronomic, and other charms of its own that ought to +compensate for the absence of that doubtful good, cosmopolitanism. Mr. +Heathcote certainly found no fault with it, and did not miss the +population, pauperism, or other institutions of Paris, London, or +Vienna. On the contrary, he took very kindly to the pretty place, and +heartily liked the people. There was nothing oppressive or ostentatious +in the attentions he received, but just the cordiality, grace, and charm +of an old-established society of most refined traditions, perfect +<i>savoir-vivre,</i> and chronic hospitality.</p> + +<p>"You are making a Baltimorean of me, you are so awfully kind to me," he +would say, pronouncing the <i>a</i> in Bal as he would have done in sal; but +the truth was that he had become primarily a Bascomite and only very +incidentally a Baltimorean. The city counts hundreds of such converts +every year. He was so happy and entirely content that he would have +quite forgotten what it was to be bored just at this period but for +certain individuals,—a boastful, disagreeable Irishman, who fastened +upon him apparently for no other reason than that he might abuse England +at great length and talk of his own valor, accomplishments, and +"paddygree" (as he very properly called the record that established his +connection with Brian Boroo and Irish kings generally), and a lady who +seemed to take the most astounding, unquenchable interest in the English +nobility, as more than one lady had seemed to him to do, to his great +annoyance.</p> + +<p>"I don't know a bit about them, I assure you," he said to her; "but I +have the 'Peerage.' If you would like to see that, I will send it you +with pleasure."</p> + +<p>This only diverted her conversation into a different but equally +distasteful channel,—the great distinction and antiquity of her own +family. It really seemed as though she had a dread of Mr. Heathcote's +leaving the country with some wrong impression on this important subject +and was determined that he should be put in possession of all the +information she had or imagined herself to have about it. She talked to +him about it so much that the poor man was at incredible pains to keep +out of her way.</p> + +<p>"I don't care a brass copper about <span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span>her," he complained to +Edith; "and if the family has been producing women like her as long as +she says, and is going on at it, all I can say is that it is a pity they +have lasted this long, and the sooner they die out the better. What do I +care about her family, pray? I never heard as much about family in all +my life, I give you my word, as I have done since I came to America. The +stories told me are something wonderful,—all about the two brothers +that left England, and all that, you know. They seem all to have come +away in pairs, like the animals in the ark. I said to one fellow that +was beginning with those two brothers, '<i>Couldn't you make it three</i>, +don't you think?' And you'll not believe me, but I speak quite without +exaggeration, when I say that one woman out in Raising assured me +gravely that she was descended from the houses of York and Lancaster!"</p> + +<p>"<i>She didn't!"</i> exclaimed Edith. "That is, if she did, she must have +been <i>crazy</i>; and I won't have you going back to England and giving +false impressions of us by repeating such stories. Promise me that you +will never repeat it there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," he replied soothingly. "It's an extreme case, I +grant, and I'll say no more about it if it vexes you, but it is a true +tale all the same. Howe was her name, I remember; and I felt like +saying,—I'll eat my hand if I understand Howe this can possibly +be,'—that's in the Bab Ballads,—but I didn't."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert had small opportunity of making acquaintance with Baltimore. +He was very eager to get down into Virginia, and stayed there but two +days. On the second of these he attended a gentleman's dinner-party, the +annual mile-stone of a military society composed of men who had worn the +gray and marked the well-known tendency of tempus to fugit in this +agreeable fashion. Their ex-enemies of the blue were also there, but not +in the original overwhelming numbers, and the battle was now to one +party, now to the other, the race to the best <i>raconteur</i>, rivers of +champagne flowed instead of brave blood, and the smoke of cannon was +exchanged for that of Havanas. Sir Robert's face beamed more and more +brightly as the evening wore on, and reminiscences, anecdotes, stories, +jests, songs, were fluently and cleverly poured out in rapid succession +by the hilarious company. The fun was at its height, when he suddenly +leaned forward with his body at an insinuating angle and smilingly +addressed an officer opposite: "You must really let me say that I have +been delighted by all that I have heard here to-night, and appreciate +the compliment you have paid me in permitting me to join you. And now I +am going to ask a great favor. Could you, would you, give me some idea +of 'the rebel yell,' as it was called? We heard so much about that. I am +most curious to hear it. It is always spoken of as perfectly terrifying, +almost unearthly."</p> + +<p>The gentleman whom he addressed looked down the table and rapped to call +attention to what he had to say: "Boys, this English gentleman is asking +whether we can't give him some idea of what the rebel yell is like. What +do you say? If our Federal friends are afraid, they can get under the +table, where they will be perfectly safe, and a good deal more +comfortable than they used to be behind trees or in baggage-wagons," he +called out.</p> + +<p>A hearty laugh followed, and, their blood having got bubbles in it by +this time, a general assenting murmur was heard.</p> + +<p>The next instant a shriek, sky-rending, blood-curdling, savage beyond +description, went up,—a truly terrific yell in peace, and enough to +create a panic, one would think, in the Old Guard in time of war.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, thank you. <i>I am entirely satisfied"</i> said Sir Robert, in a +comically rueful tone, as soon as he could say anything for the uproar. +"I never imagined anything like it, never. Where did you get it? Who +invented it? Is it an adaptation of some war-cry of the North American +Indians? It sounds like what one would fancy their cries <span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span>might +be, doesn't it? It has got all the beasts of the forest in it; and I +confess that I for one, would have fled before it and stayed in the +wagons as long as there was the slightest danger of hearing it. By Jove! +it must have been heard in Boston when given in Virginia. It is curious +how very ancient the practice of—"</p> + +<p>But the company heard no more of curious practices, for their yell had +been heard, if not in Boston, in a far more remarkable quarter,—namely, +by the police, who now rushed in, prepared to club, arrest, and carry +off any and all disorderly and dreadful disturbers of the peace.</p> + +<p>If Sir Robert had been in any danger of being murdered, all experience +goes to show that no policeman could have been found before the +following morning, and then only in the remotest part of the city. As he +was merely being wined, dined, and amused, quite a formidable body of +these devoted but easily-misled guardians of respectability and +innocence poured into the room, where at first they could see nothing +for the smoke. Matters were explained, they were invited to "take +something" before they went, and took it, and, quite placated, filed out +into the passage again, and from thence into the street.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert sat up late that night, or rather began early on the +following day, to copy the stories he had most relished into the diary, +and do what justice he could to "the rebel yell," and, having added an +admirably discriminating chapter on "the present political situation in +the States," concluded with, "How striking is the good sense, the good +feeling, that both the conquerors and the conquered have shown, on the +whole! In other countries, how often has a war far less bloody and +protracted left in its wake evils far greater than the original one, in +guerilla warfare, murders, ceaseless revolt, and smouldering hatred +lasting for centuries on one side, and centuries of tyranny, oppression, +executions, confiscations, on the other! A brave and fine race this, not +made of the stuff that goes to keep up vendettas, shoot landlords, blow +up rulers, assassinate enemies. They can fight as well as any, and they +have shown that they can forgive better than most,—taken together, true +manliness. It may be that they are influenced by a consideration which +is said to be always present to an American,—'Will it pay?' and of +course so practical a people as this see that anarchy doesn't pay; but I +would rather attribute their conduct to nobler, more generous motives, +and in doing this seem to myself to be doing them no more than justice."</p> + +<p class="author"><b>F.C. BAYLOR.</b></p> + +<p>[TO BE CONCLUDED.]</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="OUR_VILLE"></a>OUR VILLE.</h2> + + +<p>The picturesqueness of France in our day is confined almost exclusively +to its humble life. The Renaissance and the Revolution swept away in +most parts of the country moated castle, abbaye, grange, and chateau, to +replace them with luxurious but conventional piles and ruins humbly +restored and humbly inhabited. Many a farmhouse with unkempt <i>cour</i> and +dishevelled <i>pelouse</i> is the relic of a turreted château, stables are +often desecrated churches, seigneurial <i>colombiers</i> shelter swine, and +battlemented portals to fortified walls serve, as does the one of our +ville, to house hideously-uniformed <i>douaniers</i> watching the luggage of +arriving travellers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span>Our ville was never an aristocratic one, and to this day very +few of our names are preceded by the idealizing particle <i>de</i>. We have +an ancient history, however,—so ancient that all historians place our +origin at <i>un temps trèsrecule</i>. We had houses and walls when Rouen +yonder was a marsh, and we saw Havre spring up like a mushroom only two +little centuries and a half ago. Besieged and taken, burned and ravaged, +alternately by Protestant and Catholic, no wonder our ville has not even +ruins to show that we are older than the fifteen hundreds. Still, +ancient though we are, we have always been a ville of humble +folk,—hardy sailors, brave fishers, and thrifty bourgeois,—and to-day, +as always, our highest families buy and sell and build their philistine +homes back toward the <i>côte</i>, while our humble ones picturesquely haunt +the <i>quais</i>.</p> + +<p>The town is exquisitely situated at the foot of abrupt <i>côtes</i>, just +where the broad and tranquil river shudders with mysterious deep +heavings and meets its dolphin-hued death in the all-devouring sea. Away +off in the shimmering distance is the second seaport city of France. On +still days,—and our gray or golden Norman days are almost always +still,—faint muffled sounds of life, the throbbing of factories, the +farewell boom of cannon from ships setting forth across the Atlantic, +even the musical notes of the Angelus, float across the water to us as +dreamily vague as perhaps our earth-throbs and passion-pulses reach a +world beyond the clouds. This city is our metropolis, with which we are +connected by small steamers crossing to and fro with the tide, and where +all our shopping is done, our own ville being too thoroughly limited and +<i>roturier</i> in taste to merit many of our shekels.</p> + +<p>In fact, such of our shopping as is done in our ville is in the quaint +marketplace, where black house-walls are beetling and bent, and +Sainte-Cathérine's ancient wooden tower stands the whole width of the +Place away from its Gothic church. Here we bargain and chaffer with +towering <i>bonnets blancs</i> for peasant pottery and faïence, paintable +half-worn stuffs, and delicious ancestral odds and ends of broken +peasant households.</p> + +<p>We have many streets over which wide eaves meet, and within which +twilight dwells at noonday. Some of the hand-wide streets run straight +up the <i>côte</i>, and are a succession of steep stairs climbing beside +crouching, timber-skeletoned houses perforated by narrow windows opening +upon vistas of shadow. Others seem only to run down from the <i>côte</i> to +the sea as steeply as black planks set against a high building. Upon the +very apex of the <i>côte</i>, visible miles away at sea, lives our richest +citizen. His house smiles serenely modern even if only pseudo-classic +contempt on all the quaint duskiness and irregularity below, and is +pillared, corniced, entablatured, and friezed, with lines severely +straight, although the building itself is as round as any mediæval +campanile and surmounted with a Gothic bell-turret, while the +entrance-gate is turreted, machicolated, castellated, like the +fortress-castles of the Goths.</p> + +<p>Lower down the <i>côte</i>, convent walls raise themselves above red-tiled +and lichen-grown roofs. In one of these convents, behind eyeless grim +walls, are hidden cloistered nuns; from others the Sisters go freely +forth upon errands of both business and mercy. The convent of cloisters, +Couvent des Augustines, is passing rich, and has houses and lands to +let. Once upon a time an <i>Américaine</i> coveted one of these picturesque +houses. She entered the convent and interviewed the business-manager, a +veiled nun behind close bars.</p> + +<p>"Madame may occupy the house," said <i>ma Soeur</i>, "by paying five hundred +francs a year, by observing every fast and feast of the Church, by +attending either matins or vespers every day, and by attending +confession and partaking of the holy sacrament every month."</p> + +<p>Madame is a zealous Catholic, therefore the terms, although peculiar, +did not seem too severe. She was about to remove into the house, when, +lo! she received word that, it having come to the knowledge of the +convent that the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span>husband of Madame was a heretic, he could not +be allowed to occupy any tenement of the Communauté.</p> + +<p>Although this cloistered sisterhood is vowed to perpetual seclusion, +once a year even heretics may gaze upon their pale faces. This annual +occasion is the prize-day of the school they teach, when the school-room +is decorated with white cloth and paper roses, the <i>curés</i> of +neighboring parishes and the Maire of our ville, with invited +distinguished guests, occupy the platform, and the floor below is free +to everybody furnished with invitation-cards.</p> + +<p>I had always longed to enter these prison-like walls and gaze from my +tempestuous distance upon those peaceful lives set apart from earth's +rush and turmoil in a fair and blessed haven of the Lord. I longed to +see those pure visionaries, pale spouses of Christ, and read upon +illumined faces the unspeakable rapture of mystic union with the Lamb of +God.</p> + +<p>Monsieur le Docteur S——, our family physician, is also physician of +the convent.</p> + +<p>"You will see nobody," he said, remarking my sentimental curiosity +concerning cloistered nuns,—"you will see nobody but a lot of +lace-mending and stocking-knitting old maids who failed to get +husbands."</p> + +<p>I had already heard queer stories of our old doctor's forty years of +attendance upon the convent, and I was not so easily discouraged. I was +especially anxious to see the Mother Superior, having many times heard +the story of her flight in slippers and dressing-gown from the +breakfast-table to bury herself forever within the walls that have held +her now these twenty-five years. In all these years her unforgiving +father has never seen her face, nor she his, although they live within +stone's throw of each other.</p> + +<p>"Know about him? of course she does," answered Victoire to my question. +"She knows all about him, and more too. Do you suppose there is an item +of news in the whole town that those cloistered nuns do not hear? If +you had been educated by them, as we were, and pumped dry every day as +to what went on in our own and our neighbors' families, you would not +ask that question."</p> + +<p>Victoire and I penetrated into the convent that very same day. We +followed a crowd of women, <i>paysannes</i> and <i>citoyennes</i>, into a sunny +court paved with large stones and arched by the noontide sky, but +unsoftened by tree or flower, and surrounded by the open windows of +dormitories. Over the threshold we had just crossed the nuns pass but +once after their vows,—pass outward, feet foremost, deaf and unseeing, +to a closer, darker home than even their cloistered one. Some of them +have seen nothing beyond their convent walls for forty years, while one +has here worn away sixty years.</p> + +<p><i>Sixty years</i> without one single glimpse of sweet dawn or fair sunset, +without one single vision of the sea in winter majesty of storm or +summer glory! <i>Sixty years</i> without sound of lisping music running +through tall grass, without one single whisper of the æolian pines, or +glimpse of blooming orchards against pure skies! <i>Sixty years</i>!</p> + +<p>Beside me in the school-room sat a buxom peasant-woman, who, as a little +girl crowned with a gaudy tinsel wreath descended from the platform, +confidentially informed me, "<i>C'est ma fille.</i> She has taken the prize +for good conduct, and there isn't a worse <i>coquine</i> in our whole +commune."</p> + +<p>I saw the pale visionaries, a circle of black-robed figures, with +dead-white bands, like coffin-cerements, across their brows. I saw them +almost unanimously fat, with pendulous jowls and black and broken teeth, +as remote from any expression of mystic fervors and spiritual espousals +as could be well imagined, <i>"Vieilles commères</i>!" grunted my <i>paysanne,</i> +who was evidently neither amiable nor saintly.</p> + +<p>Mother Mary-of-the-Angels, once Elise Gautier, was short, fat, and +bustling, with large round-eyed spectacles upon her nose, and the pasty +complexion and premature flaccid wrinkles that come <span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span>with long +seclusion from sunshine and exercise. She marched about like one who had +chosen Martha's rather than Mary's manner of serving her Lord, and we +saw her chat a full half-hour with the wife of the Maire, bowing, +smiling, gesticulating meantime with all the florid grace of a French +woman of the world.</p> + +<p>"The Maire's wife was her former intimate friend," whispered Victoire. +"See how much younger and healthier she looks than the Mother Superior, +and how much happier. <i>On dit</i> that it was chagrin at the marriage of +this friend that caused Élise Gautier to desert her widowed father and +dependent little brothers and sisters to bury herself in a convent."</p> + +<p>A more interesting story than Élise Gautier's is told in our ville. Some +years ago a nun left the Couvent des Augustines in open day, passing out +from the central door in her nun's garb, and meeting there a +foreign-looking man accompanied by a posse of gendarmes. The couple, +followed by a half-hooting, half-cheering mob, drove directly to the +hôtel-de-ville, where they were united in marriage. Then they went away +from our ville, where both were born, to the husband's home in Spain. +When those convent doors had closed upon her, a quarter of a century +before, and the lovers believed themselves eternally separated, she was +a lovely girl of twenty, he a bright youth of twenty-five. She passed +away from his despairing sight, fair and fresh as a spring flower, with +beautiful golden hair and violet eyes; she came out from that fatal +portal a woman of forty-five, stout, spectacled, with faded, thin hair +beneath her nun's cowl, to meet a portly gray-haired man of fifty, in +whom not even love's eye could detect the faintest vestige of the +slender bright-eyed lover of her youth.</p> + +<p>The unhappy Laure had been forced to unwilling vows to keep her from +this beggarly lover, and, when he fled to Spain, both became dead to our +ville for long years. Twenty-two years after Laure became Soeur Angelica +it was known in the convent that the machinery of the civil law, which +had only lately forbidden eternal religious vows, had been set in motion +to secure her release; but it remained a mystery who the spring of the +movement was, her parents having long been dead. Soeur Angelica herself +seemed almost more terrified than otherwise at the knowledge, for every +conventual influence was brought to bear upon her morbid conscience to +assure her that eternal damnation follows broken vows. It seems, +however, that amid all her spiritual stress she never confessed, even to +her spiritual director, what desecration had come upon that dovecote by +her constant correspondence with the lover of her youth, now a wealthy +wine-merchant in Spain. When she left the convent, some of these +love-letters were left behind; and to this day those scandalized doves, +to whom Soeur Angelica is forever a lost soul, wonder futilely how those +emissaries of Satan penetrated their holy walls.</p> + +<p>"How <i>did</i> they, do you suppose?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Victoire and Clarice smiled curiously, while Émile, with an expression +savoring of paganism and pig-tails, squinted obliquely toward our +doctor.</p> + +<p>"<i>Nous n'en savons rien</i>" they answered me.</p> + +<p>The social amusements of our ville are few, as must naturally be the +case in a provincial town ruled by the Draconian law that a <i>jeune fille +à marier</i> must be no more than an animated puppet, while <i>jeunes gens</i> +must have their coarse fling before they are fit for refined society. +Occasionally an ambulant theatrical troupe gives an entertainment in our +little theatre. Once a year Talbot comes, during vacation at the +Francais, and gives us "L'Avare" or "Le Roi s'amuse;" but such are small +events, to our provincial taste, compared with the vaulting and +grimacing of the more frequent English and American circus troupes in +our Place Thiers.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the chief distraction of our young people is going to early +mass, whither our young ladies go accompanied by <i>bonnes</i>, Maman having +not yet emerged from the French mamma's chrysalis condition <span class="pagenum">[Pg 134]</span>of +morning crimping-pins, petticoat and short gown, and list slippers. The +<i>bonnes</i> who thus serve as chaperons are often as young as or even +younger than the demoiselles whose virginal modesty they are supposed to +protect. That they are anything more than a mere form of guardian, a +figment of the social fiction that a young French girl never leaves her +mother's side till she goes to her husband's, it is unnecessary to +observe. Human nature, especially French human nature, is human nature +all the world over, and Romeo will woo and Juliet be won during early +mass or twilight vespers as well as from a balcony, in spite of all the +Montagues and Capulets. Girl-chaperons are oftener in sympathy with +ardent daughters than with worldly mothers, while even the oldest and +most sedate of French <i>bonnes</i> are malleable to other influences than +those of their legitimate employers. It was across our river, yonder +from whence the sound of the Angelus comes across the summer water like +the music of dreams, that Balzac's Modest Mignon carried on her +intrigues of hifalutin gush, by means of a facile <i>bonne</i>, with a man +whom she had never seen, and who deceived her by personating the poet +she wished him to be. Modest Mignons are not rare in our ville, and the +Gothic vaults of Saint-Léonard and the pillared aisles of +Sainte-Cathérine witness almost as many little intrigues, as many +heart-beats and blushes, as does "evenin' meetin'" in our own bucolic +regions.</p> + +<p>Désirée, our <i>femme-de-chambre,</i> before she came to us, lived in a +wealthy <i>roturier</i> family.</p> + +<p>"It was a good place, and I was sorry to lose it when Mademoiselle +Eugénie was married," said she. "The little gifts the <i>jeunes gens</i> +slipped into my panier as I came with mademoiselle from mass almost +equalled my wages. Mademoiselle had a good <i>dot</i> as well as beauty, and +<i>ces jeunes gens</i> expected to lose nothing by what they gave me. +Mademoiselle herself often said, 'Désirée, walk a few steps behind me, +and, while I keep my eyes upon the pavement, tell me all the young men +who turn to look after me. If you hear any of them say, "<i>Comme elle +est jolie!"</i> (How pretty she is!) you shall have my <i>batiste +mouchoirs</i>.'"</p> + +<p>On Sunday afternoons all the bourgeois world of our ville disports +itself upon the jetty. Not only then do all the mothers of the town with +daughters "to marry" bring those daughters to the weekly matrimonial +mart, but many of the mothers and chaperons of the near country round +about come in from rural <i>propriété</i> and rustic <i>chalet</i> to exhibit +their candidates. The method of procedure is eminently French, of +course, and eminently naïve, as even the intrigues and machinations of +Balzac's <i>bourgeoisie</i>, although intended as marvels of finesse, seem so +often naïveté itself to our blunter and less-plotting minds. The mothers +and daughters, or chaperons and charges, walk slowly arm in arm up and +down one side the jetty, facing the counter-current of young men and men +not young who have not lost interest in feminine attractions. Back and +forth, back and forth, for hours, move the two separate streams, never +for one instant commingling, each discussing the other's prospects, +characters, appearance, and, above all, <i>dots</i> and <i>rentes</i>, till +twilight falls and all the world goes home to dinner.</p> + +<p>Once upon a time a retired man of business came to our ville, +accompanied by his son. He was one of the class known in England as +"Commys," and so obnoxious in France as <i>commis-voyageurs.</i> He stopped +at the Cheval Blanc, and in conversation with mine host inquired if it +might chance that some café-keeper in the town desired to sell his café +and marry his daughter. Monsieur Brissom mentioned to him our +café-keepers blessed with marriageable daughters, and "Commy" made the +rounds among them, announcing that he had a son whom he wished to marry +to some charming demoiselle <i>dot</i>ed with a café. One of the café-keepers +had "<i>précisément votre affaire</i>." It was arranged that Mademoiselle +Clothilde should be promenaded by her mother the next Sunday on the +jetty, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span>where the young man should join the counter-current, and +thus each take observations of the other.</p> + +<p>As said, so done. Monsieur Henri and Mademoiselle Clothilde declared +themselves enchanted with each other.</p> + +<p>"<i>Très-bien</i>," said the reflective parents. "Now fall in love as fast as +ever you please."</p> + +<p>Monsieur and mademoiselle not only "fell," but plunged.</p> + +<p>Two weeks afterward, however, the papas fell out. Cafétier exacted more +than Commis could promise, and Commis declared Mademoiselle Clothilde +<i>pas grand' chose</i>: her eyebrows were too white, and her toes turned in.</p> + +<p>The marriage was declared "off," and the young people were ordered to +fall out of love the quickest possible.</p> + +<p>"Too late!" they cried.</p> + +<p>"You have seen each other but four times."</p> + +<p>"Quite enough," declared the lovers.</p> + +<p>"You shall not marry," shouted the parents.</p> + +<p>"We <i>will</i>!" screamed their offspring.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless they could not, for the French law gives almost absolute +power to parents. Mademoiselle would have no <i>dot</i> unless her father +chose to give her one, and no French marriage is legal without paternal +consent or the almost disgraceful expedient of <i>sommations +respectueuses</i>. Mademoiselle threatened to enter a convent. Cafétier +assured her that no convent opens cordial doors to <i>dot</i>less girls.</p> + +<p>Juliet was ready to defy all the Capulets when she had seen Romeo but +once; Corinne was ready to fling all her laurels at Oswald's feet at +their second interview; Rosamond Vincy planned her house-furnishing +during her second meeting with Lydgate; even Dorothea Brooke felt a +"trembling hope" the very next day after her first sight of Mr. +Casaubon. How, then, could one expect poor Clothilde to yield up her +undersized, thin-moustached, and very unheroic-looking Henri, having +seen him <i>four</i> times?</p> + +<p>There was one way out of her troubles,—that to which Alphonse Daudet's +and André Theuriet's people gravitate as needles to their pole. She +walked one dark midnight upon the jetty alone. Nobody saw the end; but +the next Sunday, three weeks to a day from the one when the two had +countermarched in matrimonial procession, Mademoiselle Clothilde was +laid in her grave.</p> + +<p>The whole French social system revolves around the <i>dot</i>.</p> + +<p>"How dare you speak to my father so!" I once heard a daughter reproach +her mother. "How dare you, who brought him no <i>dot</i>!"</p> + +<p>"It is a pity Madame Marais has no more influence in her family," I +heard remarked in a social company. "It is a pity, for she is a good +woman, and her husband and sons are all going to the bad."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is a pity," answered another; "but, then, what else can she +expect? She brought no <i>dot</i> into the family."</p> + +<p>Once upon a time a young man made a friendly call upon a family in our +ville, he a distant relative of the family. He sat in the <i>salon</i> with +mother and daughter, when suddenly the mother was called away a moment. +When she returned, not more than two minutes later,—horror! <i>she could +not enter the room!</i> In closing the door she had somehow disarranged the +handles; screws had dropped out and could not be found; the knob would +not turn. What a situation! A young girl shut up in a locked room with a +young man! What a scandal if the story got out in the town! and what +could the poor, distracted mamma do to release her daughter from that +damning situation without the knowledge of the servants? She dared not +even summon a locksmith, for locksmith tongues are free; and who would +not shoot out the lip at poor Jeanne, hearing the miserable story at +breakfast-tables to-morrow?</p> + +<p>"You must marry Jeanne, <i>mon cousin</i>," cried mamma through the keyhole.</p> + +<p>"Impossible, <i>ma cousine</i>. You know I am <i>fiancé</i>," laughed he.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he did!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span>For when papa heard that Jeanne had remained two whole hours +shut up with Cousin Pierre in a brilliantly-lighted <i>salon</i>, with a +frantic mother at the keyhole and all the servants grinning upon their +knees searching for the missing screws, he added twenty thousand francs +to her <i>dot</i> on the spot, and Pierre wrote to his other <i>fiancée</i> that +he had "changed his intentions."</p> + +<p>"Mamma's <i>tapage</i> was too funny," laughed Madame Pierre, telling me this +story herself. "Pierre and I laughed well on our side of the door, +although we were careful not to let maman hear us. For we had often been +alone together before when <i>nobody knew it</i>."</p> + +<p>Which makes all the difference in the world in our ville, as well as +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Pierre's funny experience did not end with his betrothal. In relating +the adventure which follows, I wish it distinctly to be understood that +I do it in all respect, admiration, and reverence for the Church which +is the mother of all Churches calling themselves Christian. The Holy +Roman Catholic Church is no less holy that her servants are so often +base and vile and that her livery is so often stolen to serve evil in. +What wickedness and hypocrisy have we not in our own Protestant clergy, +and without even the tremendous excuse for it which the conditions of +European society give for the occasional levity of its priesthood! In +France the Church is a recognized profession, to which parents destine +and for which they educate their sons without waiting for them to +exhibit any special bias toward a religious life. In spite of +themselves, many young men are even forced into the priesthood, not only +by strong family influence, but through having been educated so as to be +absolutely unfitted for any other walk of life. With us the priesthood +is a matter of deliberate and perfectly voluntary choice, and he who +wears it as a cloak is ten thousand times the hypocrite his Catholic +brother is.</p> + +<p>It happened that our <i>curé</i> of Saint-Étienne was a jolly good fellow, +somewhat given to wine-bibbing, and much given to Rabelaisian stories. +He was also hail-fellow-well-met with Pierre, and Pierre, like most of +the young men of France, prided himself upon his entire freedom from the +"superstitious." Père Duhaut lived by teaching and preaching.</p> + +<p>In France the church sacrament of marriage cannot be performed unless +both the contracting parties furnish certificates of having made +confession within three weeks. To secure his certificate it would be +necessary for Pierre to confess to the <i>curé</i> of Saint-Étienne, Père +Duhaut.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> confess to Duhaut!" he laughed in our house. "I'll +be—what's-his-named first. Old Duhaut might as well confess to me. I +shall simply give him six francs and get my certificate without any more +ado, just as the other fellows get theirs."</p> + +<p>That very afternoon Père Duhaut took tea with us, and Émile was mean +enough to betray Pierre's intentions.</p> + +<p>"We'll see," said our <i>curé</i>.</p> + +<p>The next day Pierre passed our windows. He bowed gayly, and called up +that he was going for his six francs' worth of ante-nuptial absolution. +An hour later he passed again, but he did not look up. In the evening +Père Duhaut came, bursting with laughter.</p> + +<p>"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," he guffawed. Then he told us +the story. Pierre, it seems, had offered the six francs, which offer the +confessor had rejected with scorn.</p> + +<p>"In to the confessional," he cried, "and make your confession like a +penitent!"</p> + +<p>"I'll make it fifteen," grinned Pierre.</p> + +<p>"Not for a thousand. In! <i>in</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Come, now, Duhaut, this is all humbug. You know I'm not penitent, and +I'll be—— if I'll confess to you."</p> + +<p>Without more words, the burly priest seized the recalcitrant and grabbed +him by the neck, trying to force him into the confession-box. Pierre +resisted, and, as the <i>curé</i> told us bursting with laughter, the two +wrestled and waltzed half around the church. Finally Pierre was brought +to his knees.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span>"<i>Eh bien, allez</i>! What am I to confess?" he grumbled.</p> + +<p>"Every sin you have committed since your last confession."</p> + +<p>How malicious was Père Duhaut in this! for he knew Pierre had not kept +the observances of the Church since he left home at seventeen, and had +not been an anchorite either.</p> + +<p>"I'll make it an even hundred," begged the now exasperated yet humbled +Pierre. "Come, now, do be reasonable; that's a jolly old boy."</p> + +<p>"Confess! confess!" roared the confessor, dealing the kneeling +impenitent a sounding cuff on the ear.</p> + +<p>"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," roared Père Duhaut. +"<i>Demandez-lui! Demandez-lui!</i>"</p> + +<p>But we never did.</p> + +<p>Until his grave received him, only a few weeks ago, a marked character +of our ville was a stooping old man, of a ghastly paleness, noted +through all the region for avarice and for speaking every one of his +many languages each with worse accent than the other. His Spanish +sounded like German, his German had the strongest possible American +accent, his English was vividly Teutonic, and after forty years of +marriage his Norman wife never ceased to mock at his atrociously-mouthed +French. He was wine-merchant and banker combined, and, though his social +position was among the best in our bourgeoise ville, all the world +smiled with the knowledge that the rich old <i>banquier</i>, whose nose had a +strong Hebraic curve, delivered his own merchandise at night from under +his long coat, in order to escape the tax on every bottle of wine +transported from one domicile to another.</p> + +<p>The stately gate-post of "Père S——'s" pretentious and philistine +mansion is decorated with the coats-of-arms of several nations. +England's is there, Germany's, Spain's, Portugal's, as well as our own +Eagle; while upon days when our own exiled hearts beat most proudly—4th +of July and 22d of February—our star-spangled banner floats from his +roof-top as well as from our own, the only two, of course, in our +ville. Our ville, so important to us, has scarcely an existence for our +home government, and administrative changes there float over us like +clouds of heaven, without touching us in their changefulness. Thus Père +S——, though so courteous and cordial to Americans, has been long years +forgotten at Washington, whence every living servitor of the +administration that appointed him our consul here has long since passed +away forever. He was born in Pennsylvania, of German parents, nearly +eighty years ago. He received his appointment in 1837, and held it +through fourteen administrations since Van Buren, without ever returning +to America, till he faded away one little month ago and was buried in +the parish cemetery of Saint-Léonard by a Lutheran pastor brought over +for the occasion from Havre. No church-bells tolled for his death, and +the street-children did not go on their way singing, as they always do, +to the sound of funeral bells.</p> + +<p>"<i>Viens, corps, ta fosse t'attend!</i>" for Pere S—— was a heretic, and +could not have slept in consecrated ground had he died before the +République Française removed religious restrictions from all +burial-places. All the consular corps in all the region round about +followed the old man to his long home, all our public buildings hung +their flags half-mast high, all our little world told queer stories of +the dead old man. But our own hearts grew tender with thoughts of this +life finished at fourscore years with its longing of almost half a +century unfulfilled. "Philip Nolan" we often called the old man, who +sometimes said to us, with yearning, pathetic voice,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot">"I am an American; I am here only till I make my fortune. When I am rich +enough I shall go <i>Home</i>. I shall die and be buried at Home,—when I am +rich enough."</div> + +<p>Temperament is Fate. Père S——'s temperament of Harpagon fated him to +die as he had lived,—a man without a country.</p> + +<p class="author">MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT.</p> + + + + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span> + +<h2>THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE.</h2> + +<h3><a name="PARADISE"></a>I. PARADISE.</h3> + + +<p>The island in Magog Lake was like a world by itself. Though there were +but fifteen or twenty acres of land in it, that land was so diversified +by dense woods, rocks, verdant open spots, and smooth shore-rims that it +seemed many places in one.</p> + +<p>Adam's tent was set in the arena of an amphitheatre of hills, upon +close, smooth sward sloping down to the lake-margin of milk-white sand. +Beyond the lake stood up a picture as heavenly to man's vision as the +New Jerusalem appearing in the clouds.</p> + +<p>This was a mountain bounded at the base by two spurs of the lake, and +clothed by a plumage of woods, except upon spaces near the centre of its +slope. Here green fields disclosed themselves and two farm-houses were +nested, basking in the light of a sky which deepened and deepened +through infinite blues.</p> + +<p>Though it was high noon, dew yet remained upon the abundance of ferns +and rock-mosses on those heights around the camp. The tent stood open at +both ends, framing a triangular bit of lake-water and shore. Within it +were a table piled with books, an oval mirror hung over a toilet-stand, +garments suspended along a line, a small square rug overlying the sward, +and camp-chairs.</p> + +<p>The two cots had been stripped of their blankets—which were out sunning +upon a pole—and set in the thickest shade, and upon one of these cots +Eva was stretched out, having a pillow under her head. Her dress was of +a green woollen stuff, and barely reached the instep of her low shoes. A +mighty bunch of trailing ferns, starred with furry azure flowers and +ox-eyed daisies, was fastened from her neck to her girdle. She had drawn +her broad sun-hat partly over the bewitching mystery of her eyes and +forehead, to keep the sky-glow at bay, but left space enough through +which to search the whole visible world, and her face was smiling with +pure joy. To be alive beside Lake Magog was sufficient; and she was both +alive and beloved.</p> + +<p>She thought within herself how indescribable all this beauty was. A +pleasant wind smelling of world-old fern-loam fanned her. There were +neither mosquitoes nor flies to sting, and, had there been, Adam was +provided with a bottle of pennyroyal oil, wherewith he would anoint her +face and hands, kissing any lump planted there before he came to the +rescue.</p> + +<p>Eva felt sure she never wanted to go back to civilization again. Days +and days of shining weather, fog-or dew-drenched in the morning, +wine-colored or opaline in the evening; cool, starry nights, so cool, so +dense with woods-shade that they drove her to hide her head in the +blankets under Adam's arm; glowing noons, when the world swam in +ecstasy; long pulls at the oars from point to point of this magic lake, +she holding the trolling-line at the stern of the boat, her husband +sometimes resting and leaning forward to get her smile at nearer range +upon his face; plunges into the warm lake-water in the afternoon when +time stood still in a trance of satisfaction:—what a honeymoon she was +having! Why should it ever end? There were responsible folks enough to +carry the world's work forward. Two people might be allowed to spend +their lives in paradise, if a change of seasons could only be prevented. +Anyhow, Eva was soaking up present joy. She half closed her eyes, and +whispered fragmentary words, feeling that her heart was a censer of +incense, swinging off clouds of thanksgiving at every beat.</p> + +<p>Adam came from the spring with a dripping pail. A fret-work of cool +drops stood all over the tin surface, even when he set the pail beside +his heated stove. That water had been filtered through <span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span>moss and +pebbles and chilled by overlaced boughs until its nature was glacial.</p> + +<p>The cooking-stove stood quite apart from the tent, under a tree. Blue +woodsmoke escaped from its pipe and straight-way disappeared. A covered +pot was already steaming, and Adam filled and put the kettle to boil. +Not far from the stove was a stationary table, made of boards fastened +upon posts. The potato-cellar and the cold-chest were boxes sunk in the +ground. Some dippers, griddles, and pans hung upon nails driven in the +tree.</p> + +<p>Adam spread the table with a red cloth, brought chairs from the tent, +and came and leaned over Eva's cot. He was a sandy-haired, blue-eyed, +hardy-looking Scotchman, gentlemanly in his carriage, and bearing upon +his visible character the stamp of Edinbro' colleges and of Calvinistic +sincerity. He wore the Highland cap or bonnet, a belted blouse, +knickerbockers, long gray stockings, and heavy-soled shoes.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mrs. Macgregor," said Adam, giving the name a joyful burr in his +throat, "my sweethairt. I must have a look of your eyes before you taste +a bit of my baked muskalunge."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Macgregor. And will I get up and set the table and help put +on dinner?"</p> + +<p>"No, my darling. It's all ready,—or all but a bit of fixing."</p> + +<p>"I am so happy," said Eva, "so lazy and happy, it doesn't seem fair to +the rest of the world."</p> + +<p>"There is at this time no rest of the world," responded Adam. "Nothing +has been created but an island and one man and woman. Do you belaive +me?"</p> + +<p>"I would if I didn't see those farm-houses, and the boats occasionally +coming and going on the lake; yes, and if you didn't have to row across +there for butter and milk, and to Magog village for other supplies."</p> + +<p>"That's a mere illusion. We live here on ambrosial distillations from +the rocks and muskalunge from the lake. I never came to Canada from old +Glazka town, and never saw Loch Achray, or Loch Lomond, or any body of +water save this, since I was created in God's image without any +knowledge of the catechism. And let me see a mon set foot on this +strond!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you inhospitable creature!"</p> + +<p>"I but said let me see him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I know what you meant. You meant you didn't want anybody."</p> + +<p>"My wants are all satisfied, thank God," said Adam, lifting his cap. "I +have you, and the breath o' life, and the camp-outfit."</p> + +<p>"And the mountains, and the lake, and the rocks, and the woods," added +Eva. "I never could have believed there were such sublime things in the +world if I hadn't seen them."</p> + +<p>"Neither could I," owned the Scotchman. "Especially such a sublime thing +as me wife."</p> + +<p>Eva struck at him, restraining her palm from bringing more than a pat +upon his cheek.</p> + +<p>"How your little hand makes me tremble!" said Adam, drawing his breath +from chest-depths. "Will I ever grow to glimpse at you without having +the blood spurt quick from me hairt, or to touch you without this +faintness o' joy? And don't mock me wi' your eyes, bonnie wee one, for +it's bonnie wee one you'll be to me when you're a fat auld woman the +size of yonder mountain. And <i>that</i> changes the laughter in your eyes."</p> + +<p>"I didn't suppose you ever <i>could</i> call me a fat old woman."</p> + +<p>"I'll be an auld man then meself, me fiery locks powthered with ashes, +and my auld knees knocking one at the ither," laughed Adam.</p> + +<p> + "But hand in hand we'll go,"<br /> + +sang Eva,<br /> + + "And sleep thegither at the foot,<br /> + Joh—n Ander—son, my jo—o." +</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't!" said Adam, with a sudden grasp on her wrist. "My God! one +must go first; and I could naither leave you nor close these eyes of +yours." He put his other hand across his eyelids, his lower features +wincing. "Sweetheart," said Adam, removing it, and taking her head +between his palms, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span>"for what we have already received the Lord +make us duly thankful. And shut up about the rest. And there's grace +said for dinner: excepting I didn't uncover me head. Excuse me bonnet."</p> + +<p>"Take off your ridiculous bonnet," said Eva, emerging from the eclipse +of a long kiss, "and drag me out of my web. If I am to be your helpmeet, +make me help."</p> + +<p>"You naidn't lift a finger, my darling. I don't afford and won't have a +sairvant in the camp, so I should sairve you myself."</p> + +<p>Passing over this argument, Eva crept up on the stretcher and had him +lift her to the ground. Her shape was very slender and elegant, and when +the two passed each an arm across the other's back to walk together +school-girl fashion, Adam's grasp sloped far downward. She did not quite +reach his shoulder.</p> + +<p>They made coffee, and served up their dinner in various pieces of +pottery. The baked muskalunge was portioned upon two plates and +surrounded with stewed potato. Potatoes with scorched jackets, enclosing +their own utmost fragrance, also came out of the ashes. Adam poured +coffee for Eva into a fragile china cup, and coffee for himself into a +tin pint-measure. The sugar was in a glass fruit-jar, and the cream came +directly off a pan in the cold-box. They had pressed beef in slices, +chow-chow through the neck of the bottle, apricot jam in a little white +pot, baker's rolls, and a cracked platter heaped with wild strawberries. +Around the second point of Magog Island, down one whole stony hill-side, +those strawberries grew too thick for stepping. The hugest, most deadly +sweet of cultivated berries could not match them. You ate in them the +light of the sky and the ancient life of the mountain.</p> + +<p>"I never was so hungry at home," said Eva, accepting a finely-done bit +of fish with which her lord fed her as a nestling. "Perhaps things taste +better eaten out of unmatched crockery and under a roof of leaves. I +wouldn't have a plate different in the whole camp."</p> + +<p>"Nor would I," said Adam.</p> + +<p>She looked across at the mountain-panorama, for, though stationary, it +was also forever changing, and the light of intense and burning noon was +different from the humid veil of morning.</p> + +<p>"And yonder goes a sail," she tacked to the end of her +mountain-observations.</p> + +<p>"Heaven speed it!" responded Adam, carrying his cup for a second filling +to the coffee-pot on the stove. "Will ye have a drop more?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, yes. I don't know how many drops more I shall drink. We get so +fierce and reckless about our victuals. Will it be the spirit of the old +counterfeiters who used to inhabit this island entering into us?" +suggested Eva, using the English-Canadian idiom of the western +provinces.</p> + +<p>"Without doot. It was their custom never to let a body leave this strond +alive, and they can only hairm us by making us eat oursels to death."</p> + +<p>"Nearly a hundred years ago, wasn't it, they lived here and made +counterfeit money and drew silly folks in to buy it of them? When I hear +the rocks all over this island sounding hollow like muffled drumming +under our feet, I scare myself thinking that gang may be hid hereabouts +yet and may come and peep into the tent some night."</p> + +<p>"Behind them all the army of bones they drowned in Magog watther or +buried in the island," laughed Adam. "It's not for a few old ghosts we'd +take up our pans and kettles and move out of the Gairden of Eden. I'll +keep you safe from the counterfeiters, my darling, never fear."</p> + +<p>"You said heaven speed that sail yonder; but the man has taken it down +and is rowing in here."</p> + +<p>"Then he's an impudent loon. Who asked him?"</p> + +<p>"The sight of our tent, very likely. And maybe it will be some friend of +ours, stopping at the Magog House. He wears a white helmet-hat; and +isn't that a yachting-suit of white flannel?"</p> + +<p>"He comes clothed as an angel of light," said Adam.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span>They both watched the figure and the boat growing larger in +perspective. Features formed in the blur under the rower's hat; his +individuality sprung suddenly from a shape which a moment ago might have +been any man's.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam, it will be Louis Satanette from Toronto," exclaimed Eva.</p> + +<p>"And what's a Toronto man doing away up on Lake Magog?"</p> + +<p>"What will a Glasgow man be doing away off here on Lake Magog?"</p> + +<p>"Camping with his wife, and getting more religion than ever was taught +in the creeds."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure of that, then."</p> + +<p>"Because I don't love a Frenchman?"</p> + +<p>"A French-Canadian. And a member of Parliament, too. Think of that at +his age! They say in Toronto he is one of the most promising men in the +provinces."</p> + +<p>"Can he spear a salmon with a gaff, and does he know a pairch from a +lunge? And he couldn't be a Macgregor, anyhow, if he was first man in +Canada."</p> + +<p>Eva laughed, and, forming her lips into a kiss, slyly impressed the same +upon the air, as if it could reach Adam through some invisible pneumatic +tube. He was not ashamed to make a return in kind; and, the boat being +now within their bay, they went down to the sand to meet it.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="FORBIDDEN_FRUIT" id="FORBIDDEN_FRUIT" />II. FORBIDDEN FRUIT.</h3> + + +<p>In spotless procession the days moved along until that morning on which +Adam dreamed his dream. He waked up trembling with joy and feeling the +tears run down his face. His watch ticked like the beating of a pulse +under his pillow, and he kept time to its rhythm with whispered words no +human ear would ever hear him utter with such rapture.</p> + +<p>He had dreamed of breasting oceans and groping through darkness after +his wife until he was ready to die. Then, while he lay helpless, she +came to him and lifted him up in her arms. There was perfect and +unearthly union between them. His happiness became awful. He woke up +shaken by it as by a hand of infinite power.</p> + +<p>Instead of turning toward her, he was still. Such experiences cannot be +told. The tongue falters and words limp when we try to repeat them to +the one beloved. A divine shame keeps us silent. Perhaps the glory of +that perfect love puts a halo around our common thoughts and actions for +days afterward, but no man or woman can fitly say, "I was in heaven with +you, my other soul, and the gladness was so mighty that I cried +helplessly long after I woke."</p> + +<p>Adam kept his sleeve across his eyes. He had risked his life in many an +adventure without changing a pulse-beat, but now he was an infant in the +grasp of emotion.</p> + +<p>When at last he cast a furtive glance at Eva's cot, she was not there. +She often slipped out in the early morning to drench herself with dew. +Once he had discovered her stooping on the sand, washing soiled clothes +in the lake. She clapped and rubbed the garments between soap and her +little fists. The sun was just coming up in the far northeast. Shapes of +mist gyrated slowly upward in the distance, and all the morning birds +were rushing about, full of eager business. Eva stopped her humming song +when she saw him, and laughed over her unusual employment. The first +time she ever washed clothes in her life she wanted to have Magog for +her tub and accomplish the labor on a vast and princess-like scale. Adam +helped her spread the wet things on bushes, and they both marvelled at +the bleached dazzle which the sun gave to those garments.</p> + +<p>He did not move from the cot, hoping awhile that she might come in, +dew-footed, and yet kiss him. That clear shining of the face which one +sometimes observes in pure-minded devotees, or in young mothers over +their firstborn, gave him a look of nobility in the pallid shadow of the +tent.</p> + +<p>He thought of all their days on the island, and, incidentally, of Louis +Satanette's frequent comings. The Frenchman <span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span>was a beautiful, +versatile fellow. He sailed a boat, he swam, he fished knowingly, he +sang like an angel, leaning his head back against a tree to let the +moonlight touch up his ivory face and silky moustache and eyebrows. He +had firm, marble-white fingers, nicely veined, on which reckless +exposure to sun and wind had no effect, and the kindliest blue eyes that +ever beamed equal esteem upon man and woman. Sometimes this Satanette +came in a blue-flannel suit, the collar turned well back from the +throat, and in a broad straw hat wound with pink and white tarlatan. He +looked like a flower,—if any flower ever expressed along with its +beauty the powerful nerve of manliness.</p> + +<p>Frequently he sailed out from Magog House and stayed all night on the +island, slinging his own hammock between trees. Then he and Adam rose +early and trolled for lunge in deep water under the cliff. In the +afternoon they all plunged into the lake, Eva swimming like a +cardinal-flower afloat. Adam was careful to keep near her, and finally +to help her into the boat, where she sat with her scarlet bathing-dress +shining in the sun and her drenched hair curling in an arch around her +face.</p> + +<p>All these days flashed before Adam while he put a slow foot out on the +tent-rug.</p> + +<p>There was nobody about the camp when he had made his morning toilet and +unclosed the tent-flaps, so he built a fire in the stove, hung the +bedding to sun, and set out the cots. A blueness which was not humid +filtered itself through the air everywhere, and fold upon fold of it +seemed rising from invisible censers on the mainland.</p> + +<p>Eva hailed him from the lake. She came rowing across the sun's track. +The water was fresh and blue, glittering like millions of alternately +dull and burnished scales.</p> + +<p>Adam drew the boat in and lifted her out, more tenderly but with more +reticence than usual.</p> + +<p>"You don't know where I have been, laddie," exclaimed Eva. "Look at all +the fern and broken bushes in the boat; and I have my pocket sagged +down with gold-streaked quartz. I went around to the other side of the +island, where the counterfeiters' hole is, to look into it while the +morning sun on the lake threw a reflection."</p> + +<p>"There's nothing wonderful to be seen there."</p> + +<p>"How will we know that? The rocks sound hollow all about, and there may +be a great cavern full of counterfeiters' relics. Oh, Adam, I saw Louis +Satanette's sail!"</p> + +<p>"He comes early this morn."</p> + +<p>"I think he has been camping by himself over on the lake-shore. He says +we'll explore the counterfeiters' hole, and let us go directly after +breakfast."</p> + +<p>"What is it worth the exploring?" said Adam. "Four rocks set on end, and +you crawl in on your hands and knees, look at the dark, and back out +again. It's but a burrow, and ends against the hill's heart of rock. +I've to row across yonder for the eggs and butter and milk."</p> + +<p>The smoke rising from different points on the mainland kept sifting and +sifting until at high noon the air was pearl-gray. As if there was not +enough shadow betwixt him and the sun, Adam sat in his boat at the foot +of the cliff, where brown glooms never rose quite off the water. He +looked down until sight could pierce no farther, and, though a fish or +two glided in beautiful curves beneath his eye, he had no hook dropped +in as his excuse for loitering.</p> + +<p>The eggs and butter and milk for which he had rowed across the lake were +covered with green leaves under one of the boat-benches.</p> + +<p>Straight above him, mass on mass, rose those protruding ribs of the +earth, the rocks. He lay back in the boat's stern and gazed at their +summit of pinetrees and ferns. Bunches of gigantic ferns sprouted from +every crevice, and not a leaf of the array but was worth half a +lifetime's study. Yet Adam's eye wandered aimlessly over it all, as if +it gave him no pleasure. Nor did he seem to wish that a little figure +would <span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span>bend from the summit, half swallowed in greenness and +made a vegetable mermaid from the waist downward, to call to him. He was +so haggard the freckles stood in bold relief upon his face and neck.</p> + +<p>The hiss of a boat and the sound of row-locks failed to move him from +his listless attitude. He did, however, turn his eyes and set his jaws +in the direction of the passing oarsman. Louis Satanette was all in +white flannel, and flush-faced like a cream-pink rose with pleasant +exhilaration. He held his oars poised and let his boat run slowly past +Adam.</p> + +<p>"What have you the matter?" he exclaimed, with sincere anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's naught," said Adam. "I'm just weary, weary."</p> + +<p>"You have been gone a very, very long time," said Louis, using the +double Canadian adjective. "Mrs. Macgregor is on the lookout."</p> + +<p>Adam thought of her when she was <i>not</i> on the lookout. He also thought +of her tidying things about the camp in the morning, and singing as he +pulled from the bay. Perhaps she was on another sort of lookout then.</p> + +<p>"I'll go in presently," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon?" said Louis Satanette, bending forward, and giving the +upward inflection to that graceful Canadian phrase which asks a +repetition while implying that the fault is with the hearer.</p> + +<p>"I said I'd go in presently. There's no hurry."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to take you in," said Louis. "You have approached too close +to the altars of the sylvan gods, and their sacrificial smoke has +overcome you. Don't you see it rising everywhere from the woods?"</p> + +<p>"The sylvan gods are none of my clan," remarked Adam, shifting his +position impatiently, "and it's little I know of them. There's a graat +dail of ignorance consailed aboot my pairson."</p> + +<p>Louis Satanette laughed with enjoyment:</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>au revoir</i>. I will put up my sail when I turn the points. It +will be a long run up the lakes, with this haze hanging and not wind +enough to lift it."</p> + +<p>"Good-day to ye," responded Adam. "We'll likely shift camp before you're +this way."</p> + +<p>"In so short a time?" exclaimed Louis.</p> + +<p>"In so lang a time. I'm soul-sick of it. It's lone; it's heavy. The +fine's too great for the pleasure of the feight. Look, now,—there were +two rough laddies up Glazka way, in my country, and they came to fists +aboot a sweethairt, the fools. But when they are stripped and ready, one +hits the table wi's hond, and says he, 'Ay, Georgie, I'm wullin' to +feight ye, but wha's goin' to pay the fine?'"</p> + +<p>Louis Satanette laughed again, but as if he did not know just what was +meant."</p> + +<p>"It's a cautious mon, is the Scotchmon," said Adam, "but no' so slow, +after all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, never slow!" said Louis. "Very, very fast indeed, to leave this +paradise in the midst of the summer."</p> + +<p>"'Farewell to lovely Loch Achray,'" sighed Adam:</p> + +<p> +"Where shall we find, in any land,<br /> +So lone a lake, so sweet a strand?"<br /> +</p> + +<p>Louis made a sign of adieu and dipped his oars.</p> + +<p>"It's only <i>au revoir</i>," said he, shooting past. "Be very, very far from +parting with Magog too early."</p> + +<p>"'So lone a lake, so sweet a strand,'" repeated Adam, dropping his head +back against the stern.</p> + +<p>He did not move while the sound of the other's oars died away behind +him. He did not move while the afternoon shadows spread far over the +water.</p> + +<p>The long Canadian twilight advanced stage by stage. First, all Magog +flushed, as if a repetition of the old miracle had turned it to wine. +Then innumerable night-hawks uttered their four musical notes in endless +succession, upon the heights, down in the woods, from the mainland +mountain. The north star became discernible almost overhead. Then, with +slow and irregular strokes, Adam <span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span>pulled away from the cliff, +and brought his keel to grate the sand in front of his tent.</p> + +<p>Eva was sitting there on a rock, huddling a shawl around her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam Macgregor!" she began, in a low voice, "and do you condescend +to bring your wraith back to me at last?"</p> + +<p>"It's nothing but my wraith," said Adam, lifting his eggs and butter and +milk, and stepping from the boat. "The mon in me died aboot noon."</p> + +<p>Eva walked along by his side to the cool-box, where he deposited his +load.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with you, laddie, that you look and talk so +strangely?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, naught," said Adam, turning and facing her. "I but saw you kissing +Louis Satanette on the hill to-day."</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="THE_FLAMING_SWORD" id="THE_FLAMING_SWORD" />III. THE FLAMING SWORD.</h3> + + + +<p>The changes which passed over her face were half concealed by the +twilight. She was grieved, indignant, and frightened, but over all other +expressions lurked the mischievous mirth of a bad child.</p> + +<p>"I meant to tell you about it," she said.</p> + +<p>"Hearken," said Adam, with a fierce stare. "I've stayed out on the lake +all day, and I'm quiet. At first I wasn't. But when he came by I gave +him nothing but a good word."</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd scolded him instead of me," said Eva, propping her back +against the table and puckering her lips.</p> + +<p>"<i>He</i> did naught," said Adam, "but what any man would do that got lave. +It's you that gave him lave that are to blame."</p> + +<p>"Don't be so serious about a little thing," put forth Eva. "We just +walked over to the counterfeiters' hole, and coming back we picked +strawberries, and he teased me like a girl, and caught hold of me and +kissed me. We've been such good friends in camp. I think it's this easy, +wild life made me do it."</p> + +<p>"She'll blame the very sky over her instead of taking blame to +herself," ground out Adam from between his jaws. "I sat in me boat +below and saw you arch your head and look at him ways that I remember. +My God! why did you make this woman so false, and yet so sweet that a +mon canna help loving her in spite o' his teeth?"</p> + +<p>"Because I'd die if folks didn't love me," burst out Eva, with a sob. +"And if men can't help loving me, what do you blame me for?"</p> + +<p>"What right have you to breathe such a word when you're married to me?"</p> + +<p>"But I'm not used to being married yet," pleaded Eva. "And I forgot, +this once."</p> + +<p>"It's once and for all," said Adam, "You'll never be to me what you were +before. Is it the English-Canadian way to bring up women to kiss every +comer?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't kiss anybody but Louis Satanette," maintained Eva, "and I +didn't really <i>want</i> to kiss <i>him</i>"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Adam. "Don't trouble your butterfly soul about it." +And he turned away and walked toward the tent.</p> + +<p>"I'll not love you if you say such awful things to me," she flashed +after him.</p> + +<p>"Ye can't take the breeks off a Hielandman," he replied, facing about, +"Ye never loved me. Not as I loved you. And it's no loss I've met, if I +could but think it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam!" Now she ran forward and caught him around the waist. "Don't +be so hard with me. I know I am very bad, but I didn't mean to be."</p> + +<p>Some faint perception of that coarse fibre within her was breaking with +horror through her face. She held to his hands after he had separated +her from his person and held her off.</p> + +<p>"All that you do still has its effect on me," said the man, gazing +sternly at her. "I love ye; but I despise myself for loving ye. This +morn I adored ye with reverence; this night you're as a bit o' that +earth."</p> + +<p>Eva let go his hands and sat down on the ground. As he made his +preparations <span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span>in the tent he could not help seeing with +compassion how abjectly her figure drooped. All its flexible proud +lines, were suddenly gone. She was dazed by his treatment and by the +light in which he put her trifling. She sat motionless until Adam came +out with one of the cots in his arms.</p> + +<p>"I'm to sleep upon the hill in the pine woods to-night," said he. "Go +into the tent, and I'll fasten the flaps. You shan't be scared by +anything."</p> + +<p>"Let me get in the boat and leave the island, if you can't breathe the +same air with me," said Eva. staggering up.</p> + +<p>"No, I can't breathe the same air with ye to-night, but ye'll go into +the tent," said Adam, with authority.</p> + +<p>"I'll not stay there," she rebelled. "I'll follow you. You don't know +what may be on this island."</p> + +<p>"There can be nothing worse than what I've seen," said Adam; "and that's +done all the hairm it can do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam, are we both crazy?" the small creature burst out, weeping as +if her heart would break. "Don't go away and leave me so. I am not real +bad in my heart, I know I am not; and if you would be a little patient +with me and help me, I shall get over my silly ways. There is something +in me, you can depend upon, if I <i>did</i> do that foolish thing. And my +mother didn't live long enough to train me, Adam; remember that. Won't +you please kiss me? My heart is breaking."</p> + +<p>He put down the cot and took her by the shoulders, trembling as he did +so from head to foot:</p> + +<p>"My wife, I belaive what you say. I'd give all the days remaining to me +if I could strain ye against my breast with the feeling I had this morn. +But there comes that sight. I never shall see the hill again, I never +shall see a spot of this island again, without seeing your mouth kissing +another man. Go into the tent. God knows I'd die before hairm should +come to you. But not to-night can I stay beside you. Or kiss you."</p> + +<p>He carried her into the tent and put her on her bed. She had made all +the night-preparations herself, placing the pillows on both cots and +turning back the sun-sweetened blankets.</p> + +<p>Adam left her sobbing, buttoned the tent-flaps outside, and placed a +barricade of kettles and pans which could not be touched without +disturbing him on the hill. Then, taking up his own bed, he marched off +through the ferns, edging his burden among dense boughs as he ascended.</p> + +<p>When he had made the joints of his couch creak with many uneasy +turnings, had clinched at leaves, and started up to return to the tent, +only to check himself in the act as often as he started, he lost +consciousness in uneasy dreams rather than fell asleep.</p> + +<p>He was smothering, and yet could not open his lips to gasp for a breath +of air. Then he was drowning: he gulped in vast sheets of water upon his +lungs. An alarm sounded from Eva's barricade. He heard the pans and +kettles clanging and her own voice in screams which pierced him, yet he +could not move. A nightmare of heat enveloped him; the smothering +element pouring upon his lungs was not water, but smoke; and he knew if +no effort of will could move his body to her rescue he must be perishing +himself.</p> + +<p>After these brief sensations his existence was as blank as the empty +void outside the worlds, until his ears began to throb like drums, and +he felt water, like the tears he had shed in the morning, running all +over his face. Eva held him in her arms, and alternately kissed his head +and drenched it from the lake.</p> + +<p>Moreover, he was in the boat, outside the bay, and their island glowed +like a furnace before his dazzled eyes.</p> + +<p>Those pine woods where he had gone to sleep were roaring up toward +heaven in a column of fire. The tent was burning, all its interior +illuminated until every object showed its minutest lines. He thought he +saw some of Eva's dark hairs in an upturned hair-brush on the +wash-stand.</p> + +<p>Fire ran along the cliff-edge and dropped hissing brands into the lake. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span>Old moss logs and pine-trees dry as tinder sent out sickening +heat. The light ran like a flash up the tree over their stove, and in an +instant its crown was wavering with flames. The grass itself caught here +and there, and in whatever direction the eye turned, new fires as +instantaneously sprang out to meet it.</p> + +<p>Stumps blazed up like lighted altars, or like huge gas-jets suddenly +turned on. Adam saw one log lying endwise downhill, one side of which +was crumbling into coals of fierce and tremulous heat, while from the +other side still sprung unsinged a delicate tuft of ferns.</p> + +<p>The smoke was driving straight upward in a quivering current, and in +Lake Magog's depths another island seemed to be on fire.</p> + +<p>Sublime as the sight was, all these details impressed themselves on the +man in an instant, and he turned his face directly up toward the woman.</p> + +<p>"Darling, your face looks blistered," said Adam.</p> + +<p>"It feels blistered," replied Eva. "I'll put some water on it, now that +you've caught your breath again. I thought I could not get you out from +those burning trees."</p> + +<p>"But you dragged me down the hill?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and then dipped you in the lake and pushed off with you in the +boat. I don't know how I did it. But here we are together."</p> + +<p>Adam bathed her face carefully himself, and held her tight in his arms. +The unspeakable love of which he had dreamed, and the heat of the +burning island, seemed welding them together without other sign than the +fact.</p> + +<p>Not a word was sighed out for forgiveness on either side. They held each +other and floated back into the lake. Adam took an oar and occasionally +paddled, without wholly releasing his hold of Eva.</p> + +<p>"Don't you remember our fish's nest?" she whispered beside his neck. "I +wonder if the slim little silver thing is swimming around over the +gravel hollow, frightened by all this glare? I hope those overhanging +bushes won't catch fire and drop coals on her; for she's a silly +thing,—she might not want to dart out in deep water and lose her +unhatched family."</p> + +<p>Adam smiled into his wife's eyes. He was quite singed, but did not know +it.</p> + +<p>"Ay, burn," he spoke out exultantly, apostrophizing the island. "Burn up +our first home and all. It's worth it. We're the other side o' the world +of fire now. We've passed through it, and are afloat on the sea of +glass."</p> + +<p class="author">M. H. CATHERWOOD.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="PROBATION" id="PROBATION" />PROBATION.</h3> + + + +<div class="poem_1"><div class="stanza"><p>Full slow to part with her best gifts is Fate:</p> +<p class="i2">The choicest fruitage comes not with the spring,</p> +<p>But still for summer's mellowing touch must wait,</p> +<p class="i2">For storms and tears that seasoned excellence bring;</p> +<p>And Love doth fix his joyfullest estate</p> +<p class="i2">In hearts that have been hushed 'neath Sorrow's brooding wing.</p> +<p>Youth sues to Fame: she coldly answers, "Toil!"</p> +<p class="i2">He sighs for Nature's treasures: with reserve</p> +<p>Responds the goddess, "Woo them from the soil."</p> +<p class="i2">Then fervently he cries, "Thee will I serve,—</p> +<p>Thee only, blissful Love." With proud recoil</p> +<p class="i2">The heavenly boy replies, "To serve me well—deserve."</p></div></div> + + +<p class="author">FLORENCE EARLE COATES.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span> + + + +<h2>THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST.</h2> + +<h3><a name="TWO_PAPERS"></a>TWO PAPERS.—II.</h3> + +<p>The route of Robertson lay over the great Indian war-path, which +led, in a southwesterly direction, from the valley of Virginia to the +Cherokee towns on the lower Tennessee, not far from the present city of +Chattanooga. He would, however, turn aside at the Tellico and visit +Echota, which was the home of the principal chiefs. While he is pursuing +his perilous way, it may be as well to glance for a moment at the people +among whom he is going at so much hazard.</p> + +<p>The Cherokees were the mountaineers of aboriginal America, and, like +most mountaineers, had an intense love of country and a keen +appreciation of the beautiful in nature, as is shown by the poetical +names they have bequeathed to their rivers and mountains. They were +physically a fine race of men, tall and athletic, of great bravery and +superior natural intelligence. It was their military prowess alone that +enabled them to hold possession of the country they occupied against the +many warlike tribes by whom they were surrounded.</p> + +<p>They had no considerable cities, or even villages, but dwelt in +scattered townships in the vicinity of some stream where fish and game +were found in abundance. A number of these towns, bearing the musical +names of Tallassee, Tamotee, Chilhowee, Citico, Tennassee, and Echota, +were at this time located upon the rich lowlands lying between the +Tellico and Little Tennessee Rivers. These towns contained a population, +in men, women, and children, estimated at from seven to eight thousand, +of whom perhaps twelve hundred were warriors. These were known as the +Ottari (or "among the mountains") Cherokees.</p> + +<p>About the same number, near the head-waters of the Savannah, in the +great highland belt between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains, were +styled the Erati (or "in the valley") Cherokees. Another body (among +whom were many Creeks), nearly as large, and much more lawless than +either of the others, occupied towns lower down the Tennessee and in the +vicinity of Lookout Mountain. These, from their residence near the +stream of that name, were known as the Chickamaugas.</p> + +<p>These various bodies were one people, governed by an Archimagus, or +King, who, with a supreme council of chiefs, which sat at Echota, +decided all important questions in peace or war. Under him were the +half-or vice-king and the several chiefs who governed the scattered +townships and together composed the supreme council. In them was lodged +the temporal power. Spiritual authority was of a far more despotic form +and character. It was vested in one person, styled the Beloved man or +woman of the tribe, who, over a people so superstitious as the +Cherokees, held a control that was wellnigh absolute. This person was +generally of superior intelligence, who, like the famous Prophet of the +Shawnees, officiated as physician, prophet, and intercessor with the +invisible powers; and, by virtue of the supernatural authority which he +claimed, he often by a single word decided the most important questions, +even when opposed by the king and the principal chiefs.</p> + +<p>Echota was located on the northern bank of the Tellico, about five miles +from the ruins of Fort Loudon, and thirty southwest from the present +city of Knoxville. It was the Cherokee City of Refuge. Once within its +bounds, an open foe, or even a red-handed criminal, could dwell in peace +and security. The danger to an enemy was in going and returning. It is +related that an Englishman who, in self-defence, once slew a Cherokee, +fled to this sacred city to escape the vengeance of the kindred of his +victim. He was treated here with such kindness that <span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span>after a +time he thought it safe to leave his asylum. The Indians warned him +against the danger, but he left, and on the following morning his body +was found on the outskirts of the town, pierced through and through with +a score of arrows.</p> + +<p>About two hundred cabins and wigwams, scattered, with some order but at +wide intervals, along the bank of the river, composed the village. The +cabins, like those of the white settlers, were square and built of logs; +the wigwams were conical, with a frame of slender poles gathered +together at the top and covered with buffalo-robes, dressed and smoked +to render them impervious to the weather. An opening at the side formed +the entrance, and over it was hung a buffalo-hide, which served as a +door. The fire was built in the centre of the lodge, and directly +overhead was an aperture to let out the smoke. Here the women performed +culinary operations, except in warm weather, when such employments were +carried on outside in the open air. At night the occupants of the lodge +spread their skins and buffalo-robes on the ground, and then men, women, +and children, stretching themselves upon them, went to sleep, with their +feet to the fire. By day the robes were rolled into mats and made to +serve as seats. A lodge of ordinary size would comfortably house a dozen +persons; but two families never occupied one domicile, and, the +Cherokees seldom having a numerous progeny, not more than five or six +persons were often tenants of a single wigwam.</p> + +<p>These rude dwellings were mostly strung along the two sides of a wide +avenue, which was shaded here and there with large oaks and poplars and +trodden hard with the feet of men and horses. At the back of each lodge +was a small patch of cleared land, where the women and the negro slaves +(stolen from the white settlers over the mountains) cultivated beans, +corn, and potatoes, and occasionally some such fruits as apples, pears, +and plums. All labor was performed by the women and slaves, as it was +considered beneath the dignity of an Indian brave to follow any +occupation but that of killing, either wild beasts in the hunt or +enemies in war. The house-lots were without fences, and not an enclosure +could be seen in the whole settlement, cattle and horses being left to +roam at large in the woods and openings.</p> + +<p>In the centre of Echota, occupying a wide opening, was a circular, +tower-shaped structure, some twenty feet high and ninety in +circumference. It was rudely built of stout poles, plastered with clay, +and had a roof of the same material sloping down to broad eaves, which +effectually protected the walls from moisture. It had a wide entrance, +protected by two large buffalo-hides hung so as to meet together in the +middle. There were no windows, but an aperture in the roof, shielded by +a flap of skins a few feet above the opening, let out the smoke and +admitted just enough light to dissipate a portion of the gloom that +always shrouded the interior. Low benches, neatly made of cane, were +ranged around the circumference of the room. This was the great +council-house of the Cherokees. Here they met to celebrate the +green-corn dance and their other national ceremonials; and here the king +and half-king and the princes and head-men of the various towns +consulted together on important occasions, such as making peace or +declaring war.</p> + +<p>At the time of which I write, several of the log cabins of Echota were +occupied by traders, adventurous white men who, tempted by the profit of +the traffic with the Cherokees, had been led to a more or less constant +residence among them. Their cabins contained their stock in +trade,—traps, guns, powder and lead, hatchets, looking-glasses, +"stroud," beads, scarlet cloth, and other trinkets, articles generally +of small cost, but highly prized by the red-men, and for which they gave +in exchange peltries of great value. The trade was one of slow returns, +but of great profits to the trader. And it was of about equal advantage +to the Indian; for with the trap or rifle he had gotten for a few skins +he was able to <span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span>secure more game in a day than his bow and arrow +and rude "dead-fall" would procure for him in a month of toilsome +hunting. The traders were therefore held in high esteem among the +Cherokees, who encouraged their living and even marrying among them. In +fact, such alliances were deemed highly honorable, and were often sought +by the daughters of the most distinguished chiefs. Consequently, among +the trader's other chattels would often be found a dusky mate and a +half-dozen half-breed children; and this, too, when he had already a +wife and family somewhere in the white settlements.</p> + +<p>These traders were an important class in the early history of the +country. Of necessity well acquainted with the various routes traversing +the Indian territory, and with the state of feeling among the savages, +and passing frequently to and fro between the Indian towns and the white +settlements, they were often enabled to warn the whites of intended +attacks, and to guide such hostile parties as invaded the Cherokee +territory. Though often natives of North Carolina or Virginia, and in +sympathy with the colonists, they were, if prudent of speech and +behavior, allowed to remain unmolested in the Indian towns, even when +the warriors were singing the war-song and brandishing the war-club on +the eve of an intended massacre of the settlers.</p> + +<p>Living in Echota at this time was one of this class who, on account of +his great services to the colonists, is deserving of special mention. +His name was Isaac Thomas, and he is said to have been a native of +Virginia. He is described as a man about forty years of age, over six +feet in height, straight, long-limbed, and wiry, and with a frame so +steeled by twenty years of mountain-life that he could endure any +conceivable hardship. His features were strongly marked and regular, and +they wore an habitual expression of comic gravity; but on occasion his +dark, deep-set eye had been known to light up with a look of +unconquerable pluck and determination. He wore moccasins and +hunting-shirt of buckskin, and his face, neck, and hands, from long +exposure, had grown to be of the same color as that material. His +coolness and intrepidity had been shown on many occasions, and these +qualities, together with his immense strength, had secured him high +esteem among the Cherokees, who, like all uncivilized people, set the +highest value upon personal courage and physical prowess. It is related +that shortly before the massacre at Fort Loudon he interfered in a +desperate feud between two Cherokee braves who had drawn their tomahawks +to hew each other in pieces. Stepping between them, he wrenched the +weapons from their hands, and then, both setting upon him at once, he +cooled their heated valor by lifting one after the other into the air +and gently tossing him into the Tellico. Subsequently, one of these +braves saved his life at the Loudon massacre, at the imminent risk of +his own. If I were writing fiction, I might make of this man an +interesting character: as it is, it will be seen that facts hereinafter +related will fully justify the length of this description.</p> + +<p>A wigwam, larger and more pretentious than most of the others in Echota, +stood a little apart from the rest, and not far from the council-house. +Like the others, it had a frame of poles covered with tanned skins; but +it was distinguished from them by a singular "totem,"—an otter in the +coils of a water-snake. Its interior was furnished with a sort of rude +splendor. The floor was carpeted with buffalo-hides and panther-skins, +and round the walls were hung eagles' tails, and the peltries of the +fox, the wolf, the badger, the otter, and other wild animals. From a +pole in the centre was suspended a small bag,—the mysterious +medicine-bag of the occupant. She was a woman who to this day is held in +grateful remembrance by many of the descendants of the early settlers +beyond the Alleghanies. Her personal appearance is lost to tradition, +but it is said to have been queenly and commanding. She was more than +the queen, she was the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span>prophetess and Beloved Woman, of the +Cherokees.</p> + +<p>At this time she is supposed to have been about thirty-five years of +age. Her father was an English officer named Ward, but her mother was of +the "blood royal," a sister of the reigning half-king Atta-Culla-Culla. +The records we have of her are scanty, as they are of all her people, +but enough has come down to us to show that she had a kind heart and a +sense of justice keen enough to recognize the rights of even her +enemies. She must have possessed very strong traits of character to +exercise as she did almost autocratic control over the fierce and +wellnigh untamable Cherokees when she was known to sympathize with and +befriend their enemies the white settlers. Not long before the time of +which I am writing, she had saved the lives of two whites,—Jeremiah +Jack and William Rankin,—who had come into collision with a party of +Cherokees; and subsequently she performed many similar services to the +frontier people.</p> + +<p>Other wigwams as imposing as that of Nancy Ward, and not far from the +council-house, were the habitations of the head-king Oconostota, the +half-king Atta-Culla-Culla, and the prince of Echota, Savanuca, +otherwise called the Raven. Of these men it will be necessary to say +more hereafter: here I need only remark that they have now gathered in +the council-house, with many of the principal warriors and head-men of +the Ottari Cherokees, and that the present fate of civilization in the +Southwest is hanging on their deliberations.</p> + +<p>They are of a gigantic race, and none of those at this conclave, except +Atta-Culla-Culla, are less than six feet in height "without their +moccasins." Squatted as they are gravely around the council-fire, they +present a most picturesque appearance. Among them are the +Bread-Slave-Catcher, noted for his exploits in stealing negroes; the +Tennassee Warrior, prince of the town of that name; Noon-Day, a +wide-awake brave; Bloody Fellow, whose subsequent exploits will show the +appropriateness of his name; Old Tassell, a wise and reasonably just +old man, afterward Archimagus; and John Watts, a promising young +half-breed, destined to achieve eminence in slaughtering white people.</p> + +<p>As one after another of them rises to speak, the rest, with downcast +eyes and cloudy visages, listen with silent gravity, only now and then +expressing assent by a solitary "Ugh!"</p> + +<p>There is strong, though suppressed, passion among them; but it is +passion under the control of reason. Whatever they decide to do will be +done without haste, and after a careful weighing of all the +consequences. In the midst of their deliberations the rapid tread of a +horse's feet is heard coming up the long avenue. The horseman halts +before the council-house, and soon the buffalo-hide parts in twain, and +a tall young warrior, decorated with eagles' feathers and half clad in +the highest style of Cherokee fashion, enters the door-way. He stands +silent, motionless, not moving a pace beyond the entrance, till +Oconostota, raising his eyes and lifting his huge form into an erect +posture, bids him speak and make known his errand.</p> + +<p>The young brave explains that the chief of the pale-faces has come down +the great war-path to an outlying town to see the head-men of the +Ottari. The warriors have detained him till they can know the will of +their father the Archimagus.</p> + +<p>The answer is brief: "Let him come. Oconostota will hear him."</p> + +<p>And now an hour goes by, during which these grave chiefs sit as silent +and motionless as if keeping watch around a sepulchre. At its close the +tramp of a body of horsemen is heard, and soon Robertson, escorted by a +score of painted warriors, enters the council-chamber. Like the rest, +the new-comers are of fine physical proportions; and, as the others rise +to their feet and all form in a circle about him, Robertson, who stands +only five feet nine inches and is not so robust as in later years, seems +like a pygmy among giants. Yet he is as cool, as collected, as +apparently unconscious of danger, as if every <span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span>one of those +painted savages (when aroused, red devils) was his near friend or +blood-relation. The chiefs glance at him, and then at one another, with +as much wonderment in their eyes as was ever seen in the eyes of a +Cherokee. They know he is but one man and they twelve hundred, and that +by their law of retaliation his life is forfeit; and yet he stands +there, a look of singular power on his face, as if not they but he were +master of the situation. They have seen physical bravery; but this is +moral courage, which, when a man has a great purpose, lifts him above +all personal considerations and makes his life no more to him than the +bauble he wears upon his finger.</p> + +<p>Robertson waits for the others to speak, and there is a short pause +before the old chief breaks the silence. Then, extending his hand to +Robertson, he says, "Our white brother is welcome. We have eaten of his +venison and drunk of his fire-water. He is welcome. Let him speak. +Oconostota will listen."</p> + +<p>The white man returns cordially the grasp of the Indian; and then, still +standing, while all about him seat themselves on the ground, he makes +known the object of his coming. I regret I cannot give here his exact +answer, for all who read this would wish to know the very words he used +on this momentous occasion. No doubt they were, like all he said, terse, +pithy, and in such scriptural phrase as was with him so habitual. I know +only the substance of what he said, and it was as follows: that the +young brave had been killed by one not belonging to the Watauga +community; that the murderer had fled, but when apprehended would be +dealt with as his crime deserved; and he added that he and his +companion-settlers had come into the country desiring to live in peace +with all men, but more especially with their near neighbors the brave +Cherokees, with whom they should always endeavor to cultivate relations +of friendliness and good-fellowship.</p> + +<p>The Indians heard him at first with silent gravity, but, as he went on, +their feelings warmed to him, and found vent in a few expressive +"Ughs!" and when he closed, the old Archimagus rose, and, turning to the +chiefs, said, "What our white brother says is like the truth. What say +my brothers? are not his words good?"</p> + +<p>The response was, "They are good."</p> + +<p>A general hand-shaking followed; and then they all pressed Robertson to +remain with them and partake of their hospitality. Though extremely +anxious to return at once with the peaceful tidings, he did so, and thus +converted possible enemies into positive friends; and the friendship +thus formed was not broken till the outbreak of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>While Robertson had been away, Sevier had not been idle. He had put +Watauga into the best possible state of defence. With the surprising +energy that was characteristic of him, he had built a fort and gathered +every white settler into it or safe within range of its muskets. His +force was not a hundred strong; but if Robertson had been safely out of +the savage hold, he might have enjoyed a visit from Oconostota and his +twelve hundred Ottari warriors.</p> + +<p>The fort was planned by Sevier, who had no military training except such +as he had received under his patron and friend Lord Dunmore. Though rude +and hastily built, it was a model of military architecture, and in the +construction of it Sevier displayed such a genius for war as readily +accounts for his subsequent achievements.</p> + +<p>It was located on Gap Creek, about half a mile northeast of the Watauga, +upon a gentle knoll, from about which the trees, and even stumps, were +carefully cleared, to prevent their sheltering a lurking enemy. The +buildings have now altogether crumbled away; but the spot is still +identified by a few graves and a large locust-tree,—then a slender +sapling, now a burly patriarch, which has remained to our day to point +out the spot where occurred the first conflict between civilization and +savagery in the new empire beyond the Alleghanies. For the conflict was +between those two <span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span>forces; and the forts along the frontier—of +which this at Watauga was the original and model—were the forerunners +of civilization,—the "voice crying in the wilderness," announcing the +reign of peace which was to follow.</p> + +<p>The fort covered a parallelogram of about an acre, and was built of log +cabins placed at intervals along the four sides, the logs notched +closely together, so that the walls were bullet-proof. One side of the +cabins formed the exterior of the fort, and the spaces between them were +filled with palisades of heavy timber, eight feet long, sharpened at the +ends, and set firmly into the ground. At each of the angles was a +block-house, about twenty feet square and two stories high, the upper +story projecting about two feet beyond the lower, so as to command the +sides of the fort and enable the besieged to repel a close attack or any +attempt to set fire to the buildings. Port-holes were placed at suitable +distances. There were two wide gate-ways, constructed to open quickly to +permit a sudden sally or the speedy rescue of outside fugitives. On one +of these was a lookout station, which commanded a wide view of the +surrounding country. The various buildings would comfortably house two +hundred people, but on an emergency a much larger number might find +shelter within the enclosure.</p> + +<p>The fort was admirably adapted to its design, and, properly manned, +would repel any attack of fire-arms in the hands of such desultory +warriors as the Indians. In the arithmetic of the frontier it came to be +adopted as a rule that one white man behind a wall of logs was a match +for twenty-five Indians in the open field; and subsequent events showed +this to have been not a vainglorious reckoning.</p> + +<p>There were much older men at Watauga than either Sevier or +Robertson,—one of whom was now only twenty-eight and the other +thirty,—but they had from the first been recognized as natural leaders. +These two events—the building of the fort and the Cherokee mission, +which displayed Sevier's uncommon military genius and Robertson's +ability and address as a negotiator—elevated them still higher in the +regard of their associates, and at once the cares and responsibilities +of leadership in both civil and military affairs were thrust upon them. +But Sevier, with a modesty which he showed throughout his whole career, +whenever it was necessary that one should take precedence of the other, +always insisted upon Robertson's having the higher position; and so it +was that in the military company which was now formed Sevier, who had +served as a captain under Dunmore, was made lieutenant, while Robertson +was appointed captain.</p> + +<p>The Watauga community had been till now living under no organized +government. This worked very well so long as the newly-arriving +immigrants were of the class which is "a law unto itself;" but when +another class came in,—men fleeing from debt in the older settlements +or hoping on the remote and inaccessible frontier to escape the penalty +of their crimes,—some organization which should have the sanction of +the whole body of settlers became necessary. Therefore, speaking in the +language of Sevier, they, "by consent of the people, formed a court, +taking the Virginia laws as a guide, as near as the situation of affairs +would admit."</p> + +<p>The settlers met in convention at the fort, and selected thirteen of +their number to draft articles of association for the management of the +colony. From these thirteen, five (among whom were Sevier and Robertson) +were chosen commissioners, and to them was given power to adjudicate +upon all matters of controversy and to adopt and direct all measures +having a bearing upon the peace, safety, good order, and well-being of +the community. By them, in the language of the articles, "all things +were to be settled."</p> + +<p>These articles of association were the first compact of civil government +anywhere west of the Alleghanies. They were adopted in 1772, three years +prior to the association formed for Kentucky "under the great elm-tree +outside of the fort at Boonesboro." The simple <span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span>government thus +established was sufficient to secure good order in the colony for +several years following.</p> + +<p>Now ensued four more years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity, during +which the settlement increased greatly in numbers and extended its +borders in all directions. The Indians, true to their pledges to +Robertson, continued friendly, though suffering frequently from the +depredations of lawless white men from the old settlements. These were +reckless, desperate characters, who had fled from the order and law of +established society to find freedom for unbridled license in the new +community. Driven out by the Watauga settlers, they herded together in +the wilderness, where they subsisted by hunting and fishing and preying +upon the now peaceable Cherokees. They were an annoyance to both the +peaceable white man and the red; but at length, when the Indians showed +feelings of hostility, they became a barrier between the savages and the +industrious cultivators of the soil, and thus unintentionally +contributed to the well-being of the Watauga community.</p> + +<p>No event materially affecting the interests of the colony occurred +during the four years following Robertson's visit to the Cherokees at +Echota. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought, but the +shot which was "heard round the world" did not echo till months +afterward in that secluded hamlet on the Watauga. But when it did +reverberate amid those old woods, every backwoodsman sprang to his feet +and asked to be enrolled to rush to the rescue of his countrymen on the +seaboard. His patriotism was not stimulated by British oppression, for +he was beyond the reach of the "king's minions." He had no grievances to +complain of, for he drank no tea, used no stamps, and never saw a +tax-gatherer. It was the "glorious cause of liberty," as Sevier +expressed it, which called them all to arms to do battle for freedom and +their countrymen.</p> + +<p>"A company of fine riflemen was accordingly enlisted, and embodied at +the expense and risque of their private fortunes, to act in defence of +the common cause on the sea-shore."<a name="FNanchor_001_1" id="FNanchor_001_1" /><a href="#Footnote_001_1" class="fnanchor">[001]</a> But before the volunteers could +be despatched over the mountains it became apparent that their services +would be needed at home for the defence of the frontier against the +Indians.</p> + +<p>Through the trader Isaac Thomas it soon became known to the settlers +that Cameron, the British agent, was among the Cherokees, endeavoring to +incite them to hostilities against the Americans. At first the Indians +resisted the enticements—the hopes of spoil and plunder and the +recovery of their hunting-grounds—which Cameron held out to them. They +could not understand how men of the same race and language could be at +war with one another. It was never so known in Indian tradition. But +soon—late in 1775—an event occurred which showed that the virus spread +among them by the crafty Scotchman had begun to work, at least with the +younger braves, and that it might at any moment break out among the +whole nation. A trader named Andrew Grear, who lived at Watauga, had +been at Echota. He had disposed of his wares, and was about to return +with the furs he had taken in exchange, when he perceived signs of +hostile feeling among some of the young warriors, and on his return, +fearing an ambuscade on the great war-path, he left it before he reached +the crossing at the French Broad, and went homeward by a less-frequented +trail along the Nolachucky. Two other traders, named Boyd and Dagget, +who left Echota on the following day, pursued the usual route, and were +waylaid and murdered at a small stream which has ever since borne the +name of Boyd's Creek. In a few days their bodies were found, only half +concealed in the shallow water; and as the tidings flew among the +scattered settlements they excited universal alarm and indignation.</p> + +<p>The settlers had been so long at peace with the Cherokees that they had +been <span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span>lulled into a false security; but, the savage having once +tasted blood, they knew his appetite would "grow by what it fed on," and +they prepared for a deadly struggle with an enemy of more than twenty +times their number. The fort at Watauga was at once put into a state of +efficient defence, smaller forts were erected in the centre of every +scattered settlement, and a larger one was built on the frontier, near +the confluence of the north and south forks of the Holston River, to +protect the more remote settlements. This last was called Fort Patrick +Henry, in honor of the patriotic governor of Virginia. The one at +Watauga received the name of Fort Lee.</p> + +<p>All the able-bodied males sixteen years of age and over were enrolled, +put under competent officers, and drilled for the coming struggle. But +the winter passed without any further act of hostility on the part of +the disaffected Cherokees. The older chiefs, true to their pledges to +Robertson, still held back, and were able to restrain the younger +braves, who thirsted for the conflict from a passion for the excitement +and glory they could find only in battle.</p> + +<p>Nancy Ward was in the secrets of the Cherokee leaders, and every word +uttered in their councils she faithfully repeated to the trader Isaac +Thomas, who conveyed the intelligence personally or by trusty messengers +to Sevier and Robertson at Watauga. Thus the settlers were enabled to +circumvent the machinations of Cameron until a more powerful enemy +appeared among the Cherokees in the spring of 1776. This was John +Stuart, British superintendent of Southern Indian affairs, a man of +great address and ability, and universally known and beloved among all +the Southwestern tribes. Fifteen years before, his life had been saved +at the Fort Loudon massacre by Atta-Culla-Culla, and a friendship had +then been contracted between them which now secured the influence of the +half-king in plunging the Cherokees into hostilities with the settlers.</p> + +<p>The plan of operations had been concerted between Stuart and the +British commander-in-chief, General Gage. It was for a universal rising +among the Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Shawnees, who were to +invade the frontiers of Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, while +simultaneously a large military and naval force under Sir Peter Parker +descended upon the Southern seaboard and captured Charleston. It was +also intended to enlist the co-operation of such inhabitants of the back +settlements as were known to be favorable to the British. Thus the +feeble colonists were to be not only encircled by a cordon of fire, but +a conflagration was to be lighted which should consume every patriot's +dwelling. It was an able but pitiless and bloodthirsty plan, for it +would let loose upon the settler every savage atrocity and make his +worst foes those of his own household. If successful, it would have +strangled in fire and blood the spirit of independence in the Southern +colonies.</p> + +<p>That it did not succeed seems to us, who know the means employed to +thwart it, little short of a miracle. Those means were the four hundred +and forty-five raw militia under Moultrie, who, behind a pile of +palmetto logs, on the 28th of June, 1776, repulsed Sir Peter Parker in +his attack on Sullivan's Island in the harbor of Charleston, South +Carolina, and the two hundred and ten "over-mountain men," under Sevier, +Robertson, and Isaac Shelby, who beat back, on the 20th and 21st of +July, the Cherokee invasion of the western frontier.</p> + +<p>As early as the 30th of May, Sevier and Robertson were apprised by their +faithful friend Nancy Ward of the intended attack, and at once they sent +messengers to Colonel Preston, of the Virginia Committee of Safety, for +an additional supply of powder and lead and a reinforcement of such men +as could be spared from home-service. One hundred pounds of powder and +twice as much lead, and one hundred militiamen, were despatched in +answer to the summons. The powder and lead were distributed among the +stations, and the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span>hundred men were sent to strengthen the +garrison of Fort Patrick Henry, the most exposed position on the +frontier. The entire force of the settlers was now two hundred and ten, +forty of whom were at Watauga under Sevier and Robertson, the remainder +at and near Fort Patrick Henry under no less than six militia captains, +no one of whom was bound to obey the command of any of the others. This +many-headed authority would doubtless have worked disastrously to the +loosely-jointed force had there not been in it as a volunteer a young +man of twenty-five who in the moment of supreme danger seized the +absolute command and rallied the men to victory. His name was Isaac +Shelby, and this was the first act in a long career in the whole of +which "he deserved well of his country."</p> + +<p>Thus, from the 30th of May till the 11th of July the settlers slept with +their rifles in their hands, expecting every night to hear the Indian +war-whoop, and every day to receive some messenger from Nancy Ward with +tidings that the warriors were on the march for the settlements. At last +the messengers came,—four of them at once,—as we may see from the +following letter, in which Sevier announces their arrival to the +Committee of Safety of Fincastle County, Virginia:</p> +<div class="letter_1"> + + <p class="address">"FORT LEE, July 11, 1776.</p> + <p>DEAR GENTLEMEN,—Isaac Thomas, William Falling, Jarot Williams, and + one more, have this moment come in, by making their escape from the + Indians, and say six hundred Indians and whites were to start for + this fort, and intend to drive the country up to New River before + they return.</p> + <p class="author">JOHN SEVIER."</p> + +</div> + +<p>He says nothing of the feeble fort and his slender garrison of only +forty men; he shows no sign of fear, nor does he ask for aid in the +great peril. The letter is characteristic of the man, and it displays +that utter fearlessness which, with other great qualities, made him the +hero of the Border. The details of the information brought by Thomas to +Sevier and Robertson showed how truthfully Nancy Ward had previously +reported to them the secret designs of the Cherokees. The whole nation +was about to set out upon the war-path. With the Creeks they were to +make a descent upon Georgia, and with the Shawnees, Mingoes, and +Delawares upon Kentucky and the exposed parts of Virginia, while seven +hundred chosen Ottari warriors were to fall upon the settlers on the +Watauga, Holston, and Nolachucky. This last force was to be divided into +two bodies of three hundred and fifty each, one of which, under +Oconostota, was to attack Fort Watauga; the other, under Dragging-Canoe, +head-chief of the Chickamaugas, was to attempt the capture of Fort +Patrick Henry, which they supposed to be still defended by only about +seventy men. But the two bodies were to act together, the one supporting +the other in case it should be found that the settlers were better +prepared for defence than was anticipated. The preparation for the +expedition Thomas had himself seen: its object and the points of attack +he had learned from Nancy Ward, who had come to his cabin at midnight on +the 7th of July and urged his immediate departure. He had delayed +setting out till the following night, to impart his information to +William Falling and Jarot and Isaac Williams, men who could be trusted, +and who he proposed should set out at the same time, but by different +routes, to warn the settlements, so that in case one or more of them was +waylaid and killed the others might have a chance to get through in +safety. However, at the last moment the British agent Cameron had +himself disclosed the purpose of the expedition to Falling and the two +brothers Williams, and detailed them with a Captain Guest to go along +with the Indians as far as the Nolachucky, when they were to scatter +among the settlements and warn any "king's men" to join the Indians or +to wear a certain badge by which they would be known and protected in +any attack from the savages. These men had set out with <span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span>the +Indians, but had escaped from them during the night of the 8th, and all +had arrived at Watauga in safety.</p> + +<p>Thomas and Falling were despatched at once with the tidings into +Virginia, the two Williamses were sent to warn the garrison at Fort +Patrick Henry, and then the little force at Watauga furbished up their +rifles and waited in grim expectation the coming of Oconostota.</p> + +<p>But the garrison at Fort Patrick Henry was the first to have tidings +from the Cherokees. Only a few men were at the fort, the rest being +scattered among the outlying stations, but all were within +supporting-distance. On the 19th of July the scouts came in and reported +that a large body of Indians was only about twenty miles away and +marching directly upon the garrison. Runners were at once despatched to +bring in the scattered forces, and by nightfall the one hundred and +seventy were gathered at the fort, ready to meet the enemy. Then a +council of war was held by the six militia captains to determine upon +the best plan of action. Some were in favor of awaiting the attack of +the savages behind the walls of the fort, but one of them, William +Cocke, who afterward became honorably conspicuous in the history of +Tennessee, proposed the bolder course of encountering the enemy in the +open field. If they did not, he contended that the Indians, passing them +on the flank, would fall on and butcher the defenceless women of the +settlements in their rear.</p> + +<p>It was a step of extreme boldness, for they supposed they would +encounter the whole body of seven hundred Cherokees; but it was +unanimously agreed to, and early on the following morning the little +army, with flankers and an advance guard of twelve men, marched out to +meet the enemy. They had not gone far when the advance guard came upon a +force of about twenty Indians. The latter fled, and the whites pursued +for several miles, the main body following close upon the heels of the +advance, but without coming upon any considerable force of the enemy. +Then, being in a country favorable to an ambuscade, and the evening +coming on, they held a council and decided to return to the fort.</p> + +<p>They had not gone upward of a mile when a large force of the enemy +appeared in their rear. The whites wheeled about at once, and were +forming into line, when the whole body of Indians rushed upon them with +great fury, shouting, "The Unacas are running! Come on! scalp them!" +They attacked simultaneously the centre and left flank of the whites; +and then was seen the hazard of going into battle with a many-headed +commander. For a moment all was confusion, and the companies in +attempting to form in the face of the impetuous attack were being +broken, when Isaac Shelby rushed to the front and ordered each company a +few steps to the rear, where they should reform, while he, with +Lieutenant Moore, Robert Edmiston, and John Morrison, and a private +named John Findlay,—in all five men,—should meet the onset of the +savages. Instantly the six captains obeyed the command, recognizing in +the volunteer of twenty-five their natural leader, and then the battle +became general. The Indians attacked furiously, and for a few moments +those five men bore the brunt of the assault. With his own hand Robert +Edmiston slew six of the more forward of the enemy, Morrison nearly as +many, and then Moore became engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand fight +with an herculean chieftain of the Cherokees. They were a few paces in +advance of the main body, and, as if by common consent, the firing was +partly suspended on both sides to await the issue of the conflict. +"Moore had shot the chief, wounding him in the knee, but not so badly as +to prevent him from standing. Moore advanced toward him, and the Indian +threw his tomahawk, but missed him. Moore sprung at him with his large +butcher-knife drawn, which the Indian caught by the blade and attempted +to wrest from the hand of his antagonist. Holding on with desperate +tenacity to the knife, both clinched with their left hands. A scuffle +ensued, in which the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span>Indian was thrown to the ground, his right +hand being nearly dissevered, and bleeding profusely. Moore, still +holding the handle of his knife in the right hand, succeeded with the +other in disengaging his own tomahawk from his belt, and ended the +strife by sinking it in the skull of the Indian. Until this conflict was +ended, the Indians fought with unyielding spirit. After its issue became +known, they retreated."<a name="FNanchor_002_2" id="FNanchor_002_2" /><a href="#Footnote_002_2" class="fnanchor">[002]</a> "Our men pursued in a cautious manner, lest +they might be led into an ambuscade, hardly crediting their own senses +that so numerous a foe was completely routed. In this miracle of a +battle we had not a man killed, and only five wounded, who all +recovered. But the wounded of the enemy died till the whole loss in +killed amounted to upward of forty."<a name="FNanchor_003_3" id="FNanchor_003_3" /><a href="#Footnote_003_3" class="fnanchor">[003]</a></p> + +<p>As soon as this conflict was over, a horseman was sent off to Watauga +with tidings of the astonishing victory. "A great day's work in the +woods," was Sevier's remark when speaking subsequently of this battle.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Oconostota, with his three hundred and fifty warriors, had +followed the trail along the Nolachucky, and on the morning of the 20th +had come upon the house of William Bean, the hospitable entertainer of +Robertson on his first visit to Watauga, Bean himself was at the fort, +to which had fled all the women and children in the settlement, but his +wife had preferred to remain at home. She had many friends among the +Indians, and she felt confident they would pass her without molestation. +She was mistaken. They took her captive, and removed her to their +station-camp on the Nolachucky. There a warrior pointed his rifle at +her, as if to fire; but Oconostota threw up the barrel and began to +question her as to the strength of the whites. She gave him misleading +replies, with which he appeared satisfied, for he soon told her she was +not to be killed, but taken to their towns to teach their women how to +manage a dairy.</p> + +<p>Those at the fort knew that Oconostota was near by on the Nolachucky, +but he had deferred the attack so long that they concluded the wary and +cautious old chief was waiting to be reinforced by the body under +Dragging-Canoe, which had gone to attack Fort Patrick Henry. News had +reached them of Shelby's victory, and, as it would be some time before +the broken Cherokees could rally and join Oconostota, they were in no +apprehension of immediate danger. Accordingly, they went about their +usual vocations, and so it happened that a number of the women ventured +outside the fort as usual to milk the cows on the morning of the 21st of +July. Among them was one who was destined to occupy for many years the +position of the "first lady in Tennessee."</p> + +<p>Her name was Catherine Sherrell, and she was the daughter of Samuel +Sherrell, one of the first settlers on the Watauga. In age she was +verging upon twenty, and she was tall, straight as an arrow, and lithe +as a hickory sapling. I know of no portrait of her in existence, but +tradition describes her as having dark eyes, flexible nostrils, regular +features, a clear, transparent skin, a neck like a swan, and a wealth of +wavy brown hair, which was a wonder to look at and was in striking +contrast to the whiteness of her complexion. A free life in the open air +had made her as supple as an eel and as agile as a deer. It was said +that, encumbered by her womanly raiment, she had been known to place one +hand upon a six-barred fence and clear it at a single bound. And now her +agility was to do her essential service.</p> + +<p>While she and the other women, unconscious of danger, were "coaxing the +snowy fluid from the yielding udders of the kine," suddenly the +war-whoop sounded through the woods, and a band of yelling savages +rushed out upon them. Quick as thought the women turned and darted for +the gate of the fort; but the savages were close upon them in a +neck-and-neck race, and Kate, more remote than the rest, was cut off +from the entrance. Seeing her danger, Sevier and a dozen others opened +the gate and were <span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span>about to rush out upon the savages, hundreds +of whom were now in front of the fort; but Robertson held them back, +saying they could not rescue her, and to go out would insure their own +destruction. At a glance Kate took in the situation. She could have no +help from her friends, and the tomahawk and scalping-knife were close +behind her. Instantly she turned, and, fleeter than a deer, made for a +point in the stockade some distance from the entrance. The palisades +were eight feet high, but with one bound she reached the top, and with +another was over the wall, falling into the arms of Sevier, who for the +first time called her his "bonnie Kate," his "brave girl for a +foot-race." The other women reached the entrance of the fort in safety.</p> + +<p>Then the baffled savages opened fire, and for a full hour it rained +bullets upon the little enclosure. But the missiles fell harmless: not a +man was wounded. Driven by the light charges the Indians were accustomed +to use, the bullets simply bounded off from the thick logs and did no +damage. But it was not so with the fire of the besieged. The order was, +"Wait till you see the whites of your enemies' eyes, and then make sure +of your man." And so every one of those forty rifles did terrible +execution.</p> + +<p>For twenty days the Indians hung about the fort, returning again and +again to the attack; but not a man who kept within the walls was even +wounded. It was not so with a man and a boy who, emboldened by a few +days' absence of the Indians, ventured outside to go down to the river. +The man was scalped on the spot; the boy was taken prisoner, and +subjected to a worse fate in one of the Indian villages. His name was +Moore, and he was a younger brother of the lieutenant who fought so +bravely in the battle near Fort Patrick Henry.</p> + +<p>At last, baffled and dispirited, the Indians fell back to the Tellico. +They had lost about sixty killed and a larger number wounded, and they +had inflicted next to no damage upon the white settlers. They were +enraged beyond bounds and thirsting for vengeance. Only two prisoners +were in their power; but on them they resolved to wreak their extremest +tortures. Young Moore was taken to the village of his captor, high up in +the mountains, and there burned at a stake. A like fate was determined +upon for good Mrs. Bean, the kindly woman whose hospitable door had ever +been open to all, white man or Indian. Oconostota would not have her +die; but Dragging-Canoe insisted that she should be offered up as a +sacrifice to the <i>manes</i> of his fallen warriors; and the head-king was +not powerful enough to prevent it.</p> + +<p>She was taken to the summit of one of the burial-mounds,—those relics +of a forgotten race which are so numerous along the banks of the +Tellico. She was tied to a stake, the fagots were heaped about her, and +the fire was about to be lighted, when suddenly Nancy Ward appeared +among the crowd of savages and ordered a stay of the execution. +Dragging-Canoe was a powerful brave, but not powerful enough to combat +the will of this woman. Mrs. Bean was not only liberated, but sent back +with an honorable escort to her husband.</p> + +<p>The village in which young Moore was executed was soon visited by Sevier +with a terrible retribution; and from that day for twenty years his name +was a terror among the Cherokees.</p> + +<p>Before many months there was a wedding in the fort at Watauga. It was +that of John Sevier and the "bonnie Kate," famous to this day for +leaping stockades and six-barred fences. He lived to be twelve years +governor of Tennessee and the idol of a whole people. She shared all his +love and all his honors; but in her highest estate she was never ashamed +of her lowly days, and never tired of relating her desperate leap at +Watauga; and, even in her old age, she would merrily add, "I would make +it again—every day in the week—for such a husband."</p> + +<p class="author">EDMUND KIRKE.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="A_PLEASANT_SPIRIT"></a>A PLEASANT SPIRIT.</h2> + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span>It was drawing toward nine o'clock, and symptoms of closing for +the night were beginning to manifest themselves in Mr. Pegram's store. +The few among the nightly loungers there who had still a remnant of +domestic conscience left had already risen from boxes and "kags," and +gathered up the pound packages of sugar and coffee which had served as +the pretext for their coming, but which would not, alas! sufficiently +account for the length of their stay. The older stagers still sat +composedly in the seats of honor immediately surrounding the red-hot +stove, and a look of disapproval passed over their faces as Mr. Pegram, +opening the door and thereby letting in a blast of cold air upon their +legs, proceeded to put up the outside shutters.</p> + +<p>"In a hurry to-night, ain't you, Pegram?" inquired Mr. Dickey, as the +proprietor returned, brushing flakes of snow from his coat and shivering +expressively.</p> + +<p>"Well, not particular," replied Mr. Pegram, with a deliberation which +confirmed his words, "but it's pretty nigh nine, and Sally she ast me +not to be later <i>than</i> nine to-night, for our hired girl's gone home for +a spell, and that makes it kind of lonesome for Sally: the baby don't +count for much, only when he cries, and I'll do him the justice to say +that isn't often."</p> + +<p>"It's a new thing for Sally to be scary, ain't it?" queried Mr. +Crumlish, with an expression of mild surprise.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I may say it is," admitted Mr. Pegram; "but, you know, we +had a kind of a warning, before we moved in, that all wasn't quite as it +should be, and, as bad luck would have it, there was a Boston paper come +round her new coat, with a story in it that laid out to be true, of +noises and appearances, and one thing and another, in a house right +there to Boston, and Sally she says to me, 'If they believe in them +things to Boston, where they don't believe in nothing they can't see and +handle, if all we hear's true, there must be something in it, and I only +wish I'd read that piece before we took the house.'</p> + +<p>"I keep a-telling her we've neither seen nor heard nothing out of the +common, so far, but all she'll say to that is, 'That's no reason we +won't;' and sure enough it isn't, though I don't tell her so."</p> + +<p>"But surely," said Mr. Birchard, the young schoolmaster, who boarded +with Mr. Dickey, "you don't believe any such trash as that account of a +haunted house in Boston?" There was a non-committal silence, and he went +on impatiently, "I could give you a dozen instances in which mysteries +of this kind, when they were energetically followed up, were proved to +be the results of the most simple and natural causes."</p> + +<p>"Like enough, like enough, young man," said Uncle Jabez Snyder, in his +tremulous tones, "and mebbe some folks not a hunderd miles from here +could tell you another dozen that hadn't no natural causes."</p> + +<p>"I should like very much to hear them," replied the young man, with an +exasperatingly incredulous smile.</p> + +<p>"If Pegram here wasn't in such a durned hurry to turn us out and shet +up," said Mr. Dickey, with manifest irritation, "Uncle Jabez could tell +you all you want to hear."</p> + +<p>Mr. Pegram looked disturbed. It was with him a fixed principle never to +disoblige a customer, and he saw that he was disobliging at least half a +dozen. On the other hand, he was not prepared to face his wife should he +so daringly disregard her wishes as to keep the store open half an hour +later than usual. He pondered for a few moments, and then his face +suddenly brightened, and he said, "If one of you gentlemen that passes +my house on your way home <span class="pagenum">[Pg 160]</span>would undertake to put coal on the +fire, put the lights out, lock the door, and bring me the key, the +store's at your disposal till ten o'clock; and I'm only sorry I can't +stay myself."</p> + +<p>Two or three immediately volunteered, but as the schoolmaster and Mr. +Dickey were the only ones whose way lay directly past Mr. Pegram's door, +it was decided that they should divide the labors and honors between +them.</p> + +<p>"I'd like you not to stop later <i>than</i> ten," said Mr. Pegram +deprecatingly, as he buttoned his great-coat and drew his hat down over +his eyes, "for I have to be up so early, since that boy cleared out, +that I need to go to bed sooner than I mostly do."</p> + +<p>Compliance with this modest request was readily promised, good-nights +were exchanged, and the lessened circle drew in more closely around the +stove, for several of the company had reluctantly decided that, all +things considered, it would be the better part of valor for them to go +when Mr. Pegram went.</p> + +<p>There was a few minutes' silence, and then Mr. Dickey said impatiently, +"We're all ready, Uncle Jabez. Why don't you fire away, so's to be +through by ten o'clock?"</p> + +<p>"I was a-thinkin' which one I'd best tell him," said Uncle Jabez mildly. +"They're all convincin' to a mind that's open to convincement, but I'd +like to pick out the one that's most so."</p> + +<p>"There's the one about Alviry Pratt's grandfather," suggested Mr. +Crumlish encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"No," mused the old man. "I've no doubt of that myself, but then it +didn't happen to me in person, and I've a notion he'd rather hear one +I've experienced than two I've heard tell of."</p> + +<p>"Of course I would, Uncle Jabez," said Mr. Birchard kindly, but with an +amused twinkle in his eyes. "You take your own time: it's only just +struck nine, and there's no hurry at all."</p> + +<p>"Supposin' I was to tell him that one about my first wife?" said the old +man presently, and with an inquiring look around the circle.</p> + +<p>Several heads were nodded approvingly, and Mr. Crumlish said, "The very +one I'd 'a' chosen myself if you'd ast me."</p> + +<p>Thus encouraged, Uncle Jabez, with a sort of deliberate promptness, +began: "We married very young, Lavina and me,—too young, some said, but +I never could see why, for I had a good farm, with health and strength +to carry it on, and she was a master-hand with butter and cheese. At any +rate, we thriv; and if we had plenty of children, there was plenty for +'em to eat, and they grew as fast as everything else did. She wasn't +what you'd fairly call handsome, Lavina wasn't, but she was +pleasant-appearin', very,—plump as a pa'tridge, with nice brown hair +and eyes and a clean-lookin' skin. But it was her smile in particular +that took me; and when she set in to laugh you couldn't no more' help +laughin' along with her than one bobolink can help laughin' back when he +hears another. She was the tenderest-hearted woman that ever breathed +the breath of life: she couldn't bear to hurt the feelin's of a cat, and +she'd go 'ithout a chicken-dinner any day sooner'n kill a chicken. As +time passed on and she begun to age a little, she grew stouter 'n' +stouter; but it didn't seem to worry her none. She'd puff and blow a +good bit when she went up-stairs, but she'd always laugh about it, and +say that when we was rich enough we'd put in an elevator, like they had +at a big hotel we saw once. It would suit her fine, she said, to set +down on a cushioned seat and be up-stairs afore she could git up again. +Now, you needn't think I'm wanderin' from the p'int," and Uncle Jabez +looked severely at Mr. Dickey, who was manifestly fidgeting. "All you +folks that have lived about here all your lives knew Lavina 'ithout my +tellin' you this; but Mr. Birchard he's a stranger in the neighborhood, +and it's needful to the understandin' of my story that he should know +just what sort of a woman she was,—or is, as I should say."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dickey subsided, while Mr. Birchard tried to throw still more of an +expression of the deepest interest and attention into his face. He must +have <span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span>succeeded, for the old man, going on with his story, fixed +his eyes more and more frequently upon those of the young one. They were +large, gentle, appealing blue eyes, with a mildly surprised expression, +which Mr. Birchard found exceedingly attractive. Whether or not the fact +that the youngest of Uncle Jabez's children, a daughter, had precisely +similar eyes, in any way accounted for the attraction, I leave to minds +more astute than my own.</p> + +<p>"You may think," the narrator resumed, when he felt that he had settled +Mr. Dickey, "whether or not you'd miss a woman like that, when you'd +summered and wintered with her more'n forty year. She always said she +hoped she'd go sudden, for she was so heavy it would 'a' took three or +four of the common run of folks to lift her, and she dreaded a long +sickness. Well, she was took at her word. We was settin', as it might be +now, one on one side the fire, the other on t'other, in the big +easy-cheers that Samuel—that's our oldest son, and a good boy, if I do +say it—had sent us with the fust spare money he had. She'd been +laughin' and jokin', as she so often did, five minutes afore. +Gracie—she was a little thing then, and, bein' the youngest, a little +sassy and sp'iled, mebbe—had been on a trip to the city, and she'd +brought her ma a present of a shoe-buttoner with a handle a full foot +long.</p> + +<p>"'There, ma,' she says, laughin' up in her mother's face; 'you was +complainin' about the distance it seemed to be to your feet: here's a +kind of a telegraft-pole to shorten it a little.'</p> + +<p>"My, how we did laugh! And Lavina must needs try it right away, to +please Gracie; and she said it worked beautiful. But whether it was the +laughin' so much right on top of a hearty supper, or the bendin' down to +try her new toy, or both, she jest says, as natural as I'm speakin' now, +'Jabez, I'm a-goin'—' and then stopped. And when I looked up to see why +she didn't finish, she was gone, sure enough."</p> + +<p>His voice broke, and he stopped abruptly. Mr. Birchard, without in the +least intending to do it, grasped his hand, and held it with +affectionate warmth for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, young man, thank you kindly," said Uncle Jabez, recovering +his voice and shaking Mr. Birchard's hand heartily at the same moment. +"You've an uncommon feelin' heart for one so young.</p> + +<p>"To say I was lonesome after she went don't say much; but time evens +things out after a while, or we couldn't stand it as long as we do. +Gracie she settled into a little woman all at once, as you may say, and +seemed older for a while than she does now. The rest was all married and +gone, but one boy,—a good boy, too. But they came around me, comfortin' +and helpin', though each one of 'em mourned her nigh as much as I did +myself; and after a while, as I said, I got used, in a manner, to doin' +'ithout her."</p> + +<p>Here he made a long pause, with his eyes intently fixed upon the +darkness of the adjoining store-room. The heat from the stove had become +too great after the shutting of the shutters, and one of the men had +opened an inner door for ventilation.</p> + +<p>Now, as one pair of eyes after another followed those of the old man, +there was a sort of subdued stir around the circle, and the +schoolmaster, to his intense disgust, caught himself looking hastily +over his shoulder,—the door being behind him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dickey broke the spell by suddenly rising, with the exclamation, "I +think we're cooled off about enough; and, as I'm a little rheumaticky +to-night, I'll shut that door, if you've none of you no objections."</p> + +<p>There was a subdued murmur of assent, the door was closed, and Uncle +Jabez returned to the thread of his discourse:</p> + +<p>"Lemme see: where was I? Oh, yes. You may think it a little strange, +now, but I didn't neither see nor hear tell of her for a full six +months. If I was makin' this story up, and anxious to make a <i>good</i> +story of it, you can see, if you're fair-minded, that I'd say she +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span>came back right away. Now, wouldn't I be most likely to? Say?"</p> + +<p>He appealed so directly to Mr. Birchard, pausing for a reply, that the +sceptic was obliged to answer in some way, and, with a curious sort of +reluctance, he said slowly, "Yes—I suppose—I'm sure you would."</p> + +<p>This seemed to satisfy Uncle Jabez, and he went on with his story:</p> + +<p>"I came home from town one stormy night, about six months after she +died, pretty well beat out,—entirely so, I may say. I'd been drivin' +some cattle into the city, and I'd had only a poor concern of a boy to +help me. The cattle was contrai-ry,—contrai-rier'n common; and I +remember thinkin', when the feller at the drove-yard handed me my check, +that I'd earned it pretty hard. That's the last about it I do remember. +I s'pose I must 'a' put it in my pocket-book, the same as usual; but I +rode home in a sort of a maze, I was so tired and drowsy, and I'd barely +sense enough to eat my supper and grease my boots afore I went to bed. I +had a bill to pay the next day, and I opened my pocket-book, quite +confident, to take out the check. It wasn't there. I always kep' a +number of papers in that pocket-book, and I thought at fust it had got +mislaid among 'em: so I turned everything out, and unfolded 'em one by +one, and poked my finger through a hole between the leather and the +linin', and made it a good deal bigger,—but that's neither here nor +there,—and before I was through I was certain sure of one thing,—- +that wherever else that check was, it wasn't in that pocket-book. Then I +tried my pockets, one after the other,—four in my coat, four in my +overcoat, three in my vest, two in my pants: no, it wasn't in any of +them, and I begun to feel pretty queer, I can tell you. It was my only +sale of cattle for the season; I was dependin' on it to pay a bill and +buy one or two things for Gracie; and, anyhow, it's no fun to lose a +hunderd-dollar check and feel as if it must have been bewitched away +from you. I rode back to the drove-yard, though I wasn't more'n half +rested from the day before, and they said they'd stop payment on the +check and give me a chance to look right good for it, and if I couldn't +find it they'd draw me another. You see, they knowed me right well, and +they wasn't afraid I was tryin' to play any sort of a game on 'em. +Still, it wasn't a pleasant thing to have happen, for, say the best you +could of it, it argued that I'd lost a considerable share of my wits. +So, when I come home, I felt so kind of worried and down-hearted that I +couldn't half eat my supper; and that worried Gracie,—she was a +thin-skinned little critter, and if I didn't eat the same as usual she'd +always take it into her head there was something wrong with the +victuals. I fell asleep in my cheer right after supper, and slept till +nine o'clock; and then Gracie woke me, and ast me if I didn't think I'd +better go to bed. I said yes, I s'posed I had; but by that time I was +hungry, and I ast her what she had good in the pantry. She brightened up +wonderful at that,—though when I come to look closer at her I see she'd +been cryin',—and she said there was doughnuts, fresh fried that day, +and the best half of a mince pie. I told her that was all right so far +as it went, but I'd like somethin' a little solider to begin with: so +she found me a few slices of cold pork and one of her cowcumber pickles, +and I eat a right good supper. She picked at a piece of pie, by way of +keepin' me company, but she didn't eat much. Now, I tell you this, which +you may think isn't revelant to the subject, to let you see I went to +bed comfortable. We laughed and talked over our little supper, and +pretended we was city-folks, on our way home from the theater, gettin' a +fancy supper at Delmonico's. And I forgot all about the check for the +time bein', as slick and clean as if I'd never had it nor lost it. But, +nevertheless, when I went to sleep I begun to dream about it, and was to +the full as much worried in my dream as I was when I was awake. I seemed +to myself to be huntin' all over the house, in every hole and corner I +could think of, and sometimes I'd come on pieces of paper that looked so +like it <span class="pagenum">[Pg 163]</span>outside I'd make sure I'd found it, and then when I +opened 'em they'd be ridickilous rhymes, 'ithout any sense to 'em; when +all of a sudden I heard Lavina's voice, as plain as you hear mine now. +It seemed to come from a good ways off just at first, callin' +'Father,'—she always called me 'Father,' partly because she didn't like +the name of Jabez, and it is a humbly name, I'm free to confess,—and +then again nearer, 'Father;' and then again, as if it was right at the +foot of the stairs. And this time it went on to say, loud and plain, +so's 't I could hear every word, 'You look in the little black teapot on +the top shelf of the pantry, where I kep' the missionary money, and see +what you'll find.' And with that I heard her laugh; and I'd know +Lavina's laugh among a thousand. I was too dazed like to do it right +away, and I must 'a' fell asleep while I was thinkin' about it, for when +I woke up it was broad daylight and Gracie was callin' to me to get up. +But I hadn't forgot a word that Lavina'd said, and I went for that +teapot as quick as I was dressed, and there was the check, sure enough, +in good order and condition!"</p> + +<p>He paused to look round at his audience and see the effect of this +statement, and the schoolmaster took advantage of the pause to ask, +"Were you in the habit of putting money in that teapot for safe-keeping, +Uncle Jabez?"</p> + +<p>"Young man, I was not," said Uncle Jabez emphatically, and evidently +annoyed both by the question and by the tone in which it was uttered. +"It was a little notion of Lavina's, and I'd never meddled with it, one +way or the other. But I'd left it be there after she died, because I +liked to look at it. I'd no more 'a' dreamed of puttin' that check in it +than I would of puttin' it into Gracie's work-box. But there it was, and +how it come there it wasn't vouchsafed me to know.</p> + +<p>"I think it must have been a matter of three or four months after this, +though I wouldn't like to say too positive, that I fell into my first +and last lawsuit. A man I'd always counted a good neighbor made out +he'd found an old title-deed which give him a right to a smart slice +off'n my best meadow-land. It dated fifty years back, and old Peter +Pinnell, that was the only surveyor in the township at that time, made +out he recollected runnin' the lines; and when McKellop, the feller that +claimed the track, took old Pinnell over the ground, to see if he could +find any landmarks that would help to make the claim good, they found a +big pine-tree jest where they wanted to find it, and cut into it at the +right height to find a 'blaze,' if there was one. The rings was marked +as plain as the lines on a map, and when they'd cut through fifty, there +was the mark, sure enough, and McKellop's lawyer crowed ready to hurt +himself. I was a good deal cut down, I can tell you, for I could see +pretty well that it was goin' to turn the scale; and when supper-time +came, Gracie could hardly coax me to the table. I said no, I didn't +feel to be hungry; for I couldn't get that strip of meadow-land out of +my head. And it wasn't so much the value of the land, either, though I +couldn't well afford to lose it, as it was the idee of McKellop's +crowin' and cacklin' all over the neighborhood about it. But Gracie +looked so anxious and tired that I come to the table, jest to satisfy +her; and I found I was hungry, after all, for I'd been trampin' round +the farm most of the day, lookin' for some landmark or sign that would +prove my claim, that dated seventy years back. I recollect we had soused +pigs' feet for supper that night; and I don't think I ever tasted better +in my life. I eat pretty free of them, as I always did of anything I +liked, and we wound up with some of her canned peaches, that she'd got +out to coax me to eat, and cream on 'em 'most as thick as butter: she +had a skimmer with holes into it that she always skimmed the cream with +for our own use. She'd made as good a pot of coffee as I ever tasted. +And when I'd had all I wanted, I felt a good deal better, and I says to +her,—'I'll fret over it no more, Gracie: <span class="pagenum">[Pg 164]</span>if it's his'n, let +him take it 'ithout more words.'</p> + +<p>"She read me a story out of the paper that made us both laugh right +hearty, and then a chapter, as usual, and then we went to bed. And all +come round jest as it did afore. I thought I was roamin' about the farm, +as I had been pretty nigh all day; but things was changed round, +somehow, and the further I went the more mixed up they got, till, jest +as I'd found the pine-tree, I heard Lavina's voice, the same as I'd done +afore,—first far, and then near,—sayin', 'Father;' and the third time +she said it, when it sounded close to, she went on to say, 'He's done +his cuttin', now do you do yours. You cut through twenty more rings, and +you'll find the blaze that marks <i>your</i> survey. And then thank him +kindly for givin' you the idee. The smartest of folks is too smart for +themselves once in a while.' And with that she laughed her own jolly, +hearty laugh; but that was the last she said; and I laid there wonderin' +and thinkin' for a while, and then dropped off to sleep. But it was all +as clear as a bell in my head in the morning, and I had McKellop and old +Peter at the pine-tree by eight o'clock. I'd sharpened my axe good, I +can tell you, and it didn't take me long to cut through twenty more +rings, and there, sure enough, was the blaze; and if ever you see a +blue-lookin' man, that man was McKellop; for as soon as old Peter see +the blaze he recollected hearin' his father tell about the survey; he +recollected it particular because the old man was a good judge of +apple-jack, and he'd said that <i>my</i> father'd gi'n him some of the best, +that day the survey was made, that he'd ever tasted. And Peter said he +reckoned he could find something about it in his father's books and +among some loose papers he had in a box. And, sure enough, he found +enough to make my claim as clear as a bell and make McKellop's as flat +as a pancake. Now, what do you think of <i>that</i>, hey?"</p> + +<p>Once more the old man peered into Birchard's face, and the schoolmaster +answered one question with another, after the custom of the country:</p> + +<p>"Did you ever know anything about the blazed tree before McKellop found +the blaze?"</p> + +<p>"When I come to think it over, I found I did," said Uncle Jabez, falling +all unconscious into the trap set for him. "I hadn't no papers about it, +but my father had told me all the ins and outs of it when I was a boy, +and it had somehow gone out of my mind."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean by 'Ah' in this connection," said Uncle +Jabez, speaking with unwonted sharpness; "but if you're misdoubtin' what +I tell you I may as well shet up and go home."</p> + +<p>"I don't doubt your word in the least, Uncle Jabez; I assure you I +don't," Mr. Birchard hastened to say. "And I'm deeply interested. I hope +you will go on and tell me all your experiences of this kind. I've heard +and read a good many ghost-stories; but in all of them the ghosts were +malicious creatures, who seemed to come back chiefly for the fun of +scaring people out of their wits. Yours is the first really benevolent +and well-meaning ghost of which I have ever heard; and it interests me +immensely; for I never could see why a person who was all goodness and +generosity while he—or she—was alive should turn into an unmitigated +nuisance after dying. I should think, if they must needs come back, they +might just as well be pleasant about it and make people glad to see—or +hear—them."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly the view I've always taken," said Mr. Crumlish modestly; +"and one reason I've never felt to doubt any of Uncle Jabez's stories is +that all the ghosts he's ever seen or heard tell of have been +decent-behaving ghosts, that didn't come back just for the fun of +scaring people to death."</p> + +<p>"That's so; that's so," said the old man, entirely mollified, and +hearing no note of sarcasm in the schoolmaster's rapidly-uttered +eloquence. "If any one of 'em was to behave ugly," he continued, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 165]</span>"it would shake my faith in the whole thing considerable; for I +couldn't bring myself to believe that anybody I've ever knowed could be +so far given over as to want to be ugly after dyin'."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I don't know," said Mr. Dickey argumentatively. "I <i>hev</i> +knowed certain folks that it seems to me would stick to their ugliness +alive or dead, and, though I've never seen no appearances of any kind, +as I may say, I can believe jist as easy that some of 'em come back for +mischief as that others come back for good."</p> + +<p>There was a few minutes' constrained silence after this remark. Mr. +Dickey's first wife had been what is popularly known as "a Tartar," and +there was a generally current rumor that as the last shovelful of earth +was patted down on her grave he had been heard to murmur, "Thanks be to +praise, she's quiet at last." The idea of her reappearance in her wonted +haunts was indeed a dismaying one, especially as Mr. Dickey had recently +married again, and, if the gossips knew anything about it, was repeating +much of his former painful experience. The silence, which was becoming +embarrassing, was finally broken by the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"Had you any more experiences of the kind you have just related, Uncle +Jabez?" he asked, in tones of such deep respect and lively interest that +Uncle Jabez responded, with gratifying promptness,—</p> + +<p>"Plenty, plenty, though perhaps them two that I've just told you was the +most strikin'. But it always seemed to me, after that first time, that +Lavina was on hand when anything went wrong or was likely to go wrong; +and ef I was to tell you all the scrapes she's kep' me out of and pulled +me out of, I should keep you settin' here all night. There was one +more," he continued, "that struck me a good deal at the time. It was +about money, like the fust one, in a different sort of way. It was +durin' those days when specie was so skurce and high that it was quite a +circumstance to get a piece of hard money. There come along a peddler in +a smart red wagon, with all sorts of women's trash packed into it, and +Gracie took it into her head to want some of his things. It happened to +be her birthday that day, and, as she didn't often pester me about +clothes, I told her to choose out what she wanted, up to five dollars' +worth, and, if the feller could change me a twenty-dollar note, I'd pay +for it. He jumped at it, sayin' he didn't count it any trouble at all to +give change, the way some storekeepers did, and that he always kep' a +lot on hand to oblige his customers. I will say for him that it seemed +to me he give Gracie an amazin' big five dollars' worth, and when he +come to make the change he handed out a ten-dollar gold piece, or what I +then took to be such, as easy as if he'd found it growin' on a bush, and +said nothin' whatever about the premium on it. Perhaps I'd ought to have +mentioned it, but it seemed to me it was his business more'n mine: so I +jest took it as if it was the most natural thing in life, and he went +off. I thought I might as well as not get the premium on it before it +went down the way folks said it was goin' to: so, after dinner, I +harnessed up, and drove down to the post-office,—it was kep' in the +drug-store then, the same as it is now,—and when I handed my gold piece +to the postmaster, which was also the druggist, and said I'd take a +quarter's worth of stamps, and I believed gold was worth a dollar +fifteen just now, he first smelt of it, and then bit it, and then poured +some stuff out'n a bottle onto it, and then handed it back to me with a +pityin' smile that somehow riled me more'n a little, and he says, says +he,—</p> + +<p>"'Somebody's fooled you badly, Uncle Jabez. That coin's a counterfeit. +Do you happen to know where you got it?'</p> + +<p>"'I know well enough,' I says, and I expect I spoke pretty mad, for I +<i>felt</i> mad. 'I got it of a travellin' peddler, that's far enough away by +this time, and if you're sure it's bad I'm that much out of pocket.' He +seemed right concerned about it, and ast me if I hadn't no clue that I +could track the peddler by; but I couldn't think of any, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 166]</span>and I +went home a good deal down in the mouth. But Gracie chirked me up, as +she always does, bless her! and she made me a Welsh rabbit for supper, +and some corn muffins, and a pot of good rich chocolate, by way of a +change, and we agreed that, as she'd a pretty big five dollars worth and +as the rest of the change was good, we'd say no more about it, for it +would be like lookin' for a needle in a hay-stack to try to track him.</p> + +<p>"'Why, father,' she says, 'I don't so much as know his name: do you?'</p> + +<p>"I told her no, I didn't; that if I'd heard his name I disremembered it, +but that I didn't think I'd heard it. And then that very night come +another visit from mother, and she told me all about it. She come the +way she always did, and when she spoke the last time, close to, as you +may say, she says,—</p> + +<p>"'I wouldn't give up that ten dollars so easy, if I was you, father. +That peddler's name is Hanigan,—Elwood Hanigan,—and he'll be at the +State Fair to-morrow. Now, do you go, and you'll find his red wagon with +no trouble at all; and jest be right down firm with him, and tell him +that if he doesn't give you good money in place of the bad he foisted +off on you you'll show him up to the whole fair, and you'll see how glad +he'll be to settle it.'</p> + +<p>"And with that she laughed jest as natural as life, and I heard no more +till Gracie knocked on my door in the morning."</p> + +<p>"And did you go to the fair and find him and get your money back?" asked +Birchard, who was interested in spite of his scepticism.</p> + +<p>"I did, jest that," replied Uncle Jabez. "I got off bright and early, +and, as luck would have it, I'd jest tied and blanketed my horse when +that wonderful smart red wagon come drivin' in at the gate. I waited +till he'd begun to pull his wares out and make a fine speech about 'em, +and then I jest walked up to him, cool and composed, and give him his +choice between payin' me good money for his bogus gold or hearin' <i>me</i> +make a speech; and you may jest bet your best hat he paid up quicker'n +winkin'. Perhaps I'd ought to have warned folks ag'in' him as it was, +but I had a notion he'd save his tricks till he got to another +neighborhood; and it turned out I was right. He didn't give none of his +gold change out that day. But you can see for yourself that if it hadn't +been for Lavina he'd have come off winnin' horse in that race. That was +always the way when mother was about: she had more sense in her little +finger than I had in my whole body, and head too, for that matter."</p> + +<p>"And you found that you really had not known the man's name until it was +conveyed to you in the manner in which you have described?" asked the +schoolmaster deferentially.</p> + +<p>"Well, no," said Uncle Jabez. "When I saw his wagon the next day, I +remembered of readin' his name in gilt letters on the side, tacked to +some patent medicine he claimed to have invented; but I don't suppose +I'd ever thought of it again if mother hadn't told it to me so plain."</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster said nothing. He had his own neat little theories +concerning all the manifestations which had been mentioned, but somehow +the old man's guileless belief had touched him, and he had no longer any +desire to shake it, even had it been possible to do so. But he could not +help probing the subject a little further: so presently he asked, "And +you've never spoken to her, never asked her if it were not possible for +you to see as well as hear her?"</p> + +<p>"Young man," said Uncle Jabez kindly, but solemnly, "there's such a sin +as presumption, and there's some old sayin' or other about fools rushin' +in where angels fear to tread. If you try to grab too much at once, +you're apt to lose all. If it was meant for me to see mother as well as +hear her, I <i>should</i> see her; and if I was to go to pryin' round and +tryin' to find out what's purposely hid from me, I make no doubt but I +should lose the little that's been vouchsafed to me. But I'd far rather +hear you ask questions like that than to have <span class="pagenum">[Pg 167]</span>you throwin' +doubt on the whole business, as you seemed inclined to do at fust."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Mr. Dickey briskly, "do you know it's well on to +half-past ten? and we were to have the key at Pegram's by ten. I think +we'd better do what there is to do, and clear out of this as quick as we +know how, and mebbe some of us will wish before an hour's gone that we +had Uncle Jabez's knack at makin' out a good story."</p> + +<p>"You speak for yourself, Dickey," said Mr. Crumlish good-naturedly. +"There's some of us that goes in and comes out, with nobody to care +which it is, nor how long we stay; but freedom has its drawbacks, as +well as other things."</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster laughed at himself for striking a match as he turned +the last light out, but he felt moving through his brain a vague wish +that Uncle Jabez would break himself of that trick he had of gazing +fixedly at nothing, and that other trick of stopping suddenly in the +middle of a sentence to cock his head, as if he were hearing some +far-away, uncertain sound.</p> + +<p class="author">MARGARET VANDEGRIFT.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="FISHING_IN_ELK_RIVER"></a>FISHING IN ELK RIVER.</h2> + + +<p>When a man has once absorbed into his system a love for fishing or +hunting, he is under the influence of an invisible power greater than +that of vaccine matter or the virus of rabies. The sporting-fever is the +veritable malady of St. Vitus, holding its victim forever on the go, as +game-seasons come, and so long as back and legs, eye and ear, can +wrestle with Time's infirmities. It breeds ambition, boasting, and +"yarns" to a proverbial extent, with a general disbelief in the possible +veracity of a brother sportsman, and an irresistible; desire to talk of +new and privately discovered sporting-heavens. The gold-seeker stakes +his claim, the "wild-catting" oil-borer boards up his lot, the inventor +patents his invention, and the author copyrights his brain-fruit; but +the sportsman crazily tells all he knows. So the secret gets out, and +the discoverer is robbed of his treasure and forced to seek new fields +for his rod and gun.</p> + +<p>Colonel Bangem had enjoyed a year's sport among the unvisited preserves +of Elk River. Mrs. Bangem and Bess, their daughter, had shared his +pleasures and acquired his fondness for such of them as were within +feminine reach. Any ordinary man would have been perfectly satisfied +with such company and delights; but no, when the bass began to leap and +the salmon to flash their tails, the pressure was too great. His friends +the Doctor and the Professor were written to, and summoned to his find. +They came, the secret was too good to keep, and that is the way this +chronicle of their doings happens to be written.</p> + +<p>No sooner was the invitation received than the Doctor eased his +conscience and delighted his patients by the regular professional +subterfuge of sending such of them as had money to the sea-shore, and +telling those who had not that they needed no medicine at present; the +Professor turned his classes over to an assistant on pretext of a sudden +bronchial attack, for which a dose of mountain-air was the prescribed +remedy. And so the two were whirled away on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Railroad across the renowned valley of Virginia and the eastern valley +steps of the Alleghany summits, past the gigantic basins where boil and +bubble springs curative of all human ills, down the wild boulder-tossed +waters <span class="pagenum">[Pg 168]</span>and magnificent cañons of New River, around +mountain-bases, through tunnels, and out into the broad, beautiful +fertility of the Kanawha Valley, until the spires of Charleston revealed +the last stage of their railroad journey. When their train stopped, +stalwart porters relieved them of their baggage and deafened them with +self-introductions in stentorian tones: "Yere's your Hale House porter!" +"I's de man fer St. Albert's!"</p> + +<p>"It's no wonder," said the Doctor, as he followed the sable guide from +the station to the river ferry, and looked across the Kanawha's busy +flow, covered with coal-barges, steamboats, and lumber-crafts, to +Charleston's long stretch of high-bank river front, "that Western rivers +get mad and rise against the deliberate insult of all the towns and +cities turning their backs to them. There is a mile of open front, +showing the cheerful faces of fine residences through handsome +shade-trees and over well-kept lawns; but here, where our ferry lands, +and where we see the city proper, stoops and kitchens, stove-pipes and +stairways, ash-piles and garbage-shoots, are stuck out in contempt of +the river's charms and the city's comeliness."</p> + +<p>"Stove-pipes and stairways have to be put somewhere," said the +matter-of-fact Professor. "And the best way to turn dirty things is +toward the water."</p> + +<p>The ferry-boat wheezed and coughed and sidled across the river to a +floating wharf, covered, as usual, with that portion of the population, +white and black, which has no interest in the arrival of trains, or +anything else, excepting meals at the time for them, but which manages +to live somehow by looking at other people working.</p> + +<p>"Give me," said the Professor, "the value of the time which men spend in +gazing at what does not concern them, and, according to my estimate, I +could build a submarine railroad from New York to Liverpool in two years +and three months. What are those fellows doing with their huge barrels +on wheels backed into the river?"</p> + +<p>"Dat is de Charleston water-works, boss," answered the grinning porter. +"Widout dem mules an' niggahs an' bar'ls dah wouldn't be 'nough water in +dis town to wet a chaw tobacky."</p> + +<p>A winding macadamized road leads up the river bank to the main street +running parallel with it. There is a short cut by a rickety stairway, +but, as some steep climbing has to be done before reaching the lower +step, it is seldom used. These formerly led directly to the Hale House, +a fine brick building, which faced the river, with a commodious portico, +and offered the further attractions of a pleasant interior and an +excellent table; but now a blackened space marked its site, as though a +huge tooth had been drawn from the city's edge, for one morning a +neighboring boiler blew up, carrying the Hale House and much valuable +property with it, but leaving the owners of the boiler.</p> + +<p>"Dat's where de Hale House was, boss, but it's done burned down. I's de +porter yit. When it's done builded ag'in I's gwine back dar. Dis time I +take you down to de St. Albert. I's used to yellin' Hale House porter so +many years dat St. Albert kind chokes me."</p> + +<p>So to the St. Albert went the Doctor and Professor, where they met with +a home-like greeting from its popular host.</p> + +<p>Wheeling was formerly the capital of West Virginia, but for good reasons +it was decided to move the seat of government from "that knot on the +Panhandle" to Charleston. A commodious building of brick and sandstone, +unchristened as to style of architecture, has been erected for the home +of the law-makers; and henceforth the city which started around the +little log fort built in 1786 by George Glendermon to afford protection +against Indians will be the seat of government for the great unfenced +State of West Virginia. Its business enterprise and thrift, its +excellent geographical and commercial position, its healthiness +notwithstanding its bad drainage, or rather no drainage, have induced a +growth almost phenomenal. Churches, factories, and commodious +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 169]</span>storehouses have spread the town rapidly over the beautiful +valley in which it lies. The United States government has been lavish in +its expenditure upon a handsome building for court, custom, and +post-office purposes; and to it flock, especially when court is in +session, as motley an assortment of our race as ever assembled at legal +mandate. Moonshiners, and those who regard whiskey-making, selling, and +drinking as things that ought to be as free as the air of the mountain +and licenses as unheard-of impositions of a highly oppressive +government, that would "tax a feller for usin' up his own growin' uv +corn," and courts as "havin' a powerful sight uv curiosity, peekin' into +other fellers' business," afford ample opportunities for the exercise of +judicial authority.</p> + +<p>A long mountaineer was before a dignified judge of the United States +Court for selling liquor without a license. He had bought a gallon at a +still,—as to the locality of which he professed profound +ignorance,—carried it thirty miles, and peddled it out to his +long-suffering and thirsty neighbors. Every native being a natural +informer, the story was soon told: arrest followed, a march of fifty +miles over the mountains, and a lengthy imprisonment before trial. +Following the advice of his assigned counsel, he pleaded guilty. Being +too poor to pay a fine, and having an unlimited family dependent upon +their own exertions,—which comprises the sum of parental responsibility +among the natives,—the judge released him on his own bail-bond, and +told him to go home. He deliberately put on his hat, walked up to his +honor, and said, "I say, jedge, I reckon you fellers 'ill give me 'nough +money to ride hum an' pay fer my grub, 'cause 'tain't fair, noway. You +fetched me clar down yere, footin' it the hull way, an' now you're +lettin' me off an' tellin' me to foot it back. 'Tain't fair, noway. +You-uns oughter pay me fer it." And he went off highly indignant at +having his modest request refused.</p> + +<p>There is much of the primitive not outgrown as yet by Charleston: it has +put on a long-tailed coat over its round-about. The gossipy telephone +is ahead of the street-cars; gas-works supply private consumers, while +the citizens wade the unlighted streets by the glimmer of their own +lanterns; innumerable cows contest the right of pedestrians to the board +footways and what of pavement separates the mud-holes; an +ice-manufactory supplies coolness to water peddled about in barrels; the +officials outnumber the capacity of the jail; the ferry-facilities vary +from an unstable leaky bateau to a dirty, open-decked dynamite +steamboat, whose night-service is subject to the lung-capacity of the +traveller hallooing for it, and the fares to necessities and +circumstances; the fine brick improvements are flanked by frame +tinder-boxes; the offal of the city has not a single relieving sewer: +yet it is a beautiful, healthy place, and the chief city of the greatest +mineral-district in the world.</p> + +<p>Our travellers breakfasted on delicious mountain mutton and vegetables +fresh from surrounding farms. Their host secured three men and a canoe +to carry them up Elk River to Colonel Bangem's camp, at the cost of one +dollar a day and "grub," or one dollar and a quarter a day if they found +themselves, with the moderate charge of fifty cents a day for the canoe.</p> + +<p>When the time arrived for starting, the Professor was missing. Bells +were rung, servants were despatched to search the hotel for him, but he +was not to be found. The Doctor grew impatient, but restrained himself +until an uncoated countryman, who had just walked into town and was +ready for a talk, told him that he "seed a feller, thet wuz a stranger +in these parts, with a three-legged picter-gallery, chasin' a water-cart +a right smart ways back in the town, ez I come in."</p> + +<p>"That's he," said the Doctor. "He is crazy after pictures. I'll give you +a dollar if you bring him to the hotel alive."</p> + +<p>"Is he wicked?" asked the man.</p> + +<p>"Generally," answered the Doctor, whose eyes began to twinkle; "but you +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 170]</span>get hold of his picture-gallery and run for the hotel: he will +follow you. I often have to manage him that way."</p> + +<p>"I'm minded to try coaxin' him in thet a-way fer a dollar. You jist take +keer uv my shoes, an' I'll hev him yer ez quick ez Tim Price kin foot +it, if he follers well an' hain't contrairy-like, holdin' back."</p> + +<p>Tim Price relieved his feet of their encumbrances, and started. When his +tall, gaunt figure had disappeared around the corner, the Doctor grew +red in the face from an internal convulsion, and then exploded past all +concealment of his joke.</p> + +<p>"If you gentlemen," he said to the by-standers, "want to see some fun, +just follow that man. I will stay here as judge whether the man brings +in the Professor or the Professor brings in the man."</p> + +<p>A good joke would stop a funeral in Charleston. The hotel was cleared of +men in an instant to follow Tim and enjoy the hunt. Tim sighted the +Professor about a quarter of a mile back in the town, A darky driving a +water-cart was standing up on the shafts, thrashing his mule with the +ends of his driving-lines, and urging it, by voice and gesture, to the +highest mule-speed: "Git up! git up! you lazy old no-go! Git up! Don't +you see dat picter-feller tryin' to took you an' me an' de bar'l? Git +up! Wag yer ears an' switch yer tail. You're not gwine ter stan' still +an' keep yer eyes on de instrement fer no gallery-man to took, 'less +you's fix' up fer Sunday. Git up, you ole long-eared corn-eater!"</p> + +<p>The Professor was keeping well up with the flying water-works. His hat +was stuck on the back of his head, he carried his camera with its tripod +spread ready for sudden action, and every step of his run was guided by +thoughts of proper distance, fixed focus, and determination to have the +water-works in his collection of instantaneous photographs. A turn in +the street gave the Professor his opportunity: he darted ahead, set his +camera, and took the whole show as it went galloping by, when he +reclined against a fence while making the street ring with his laugh.</p> + +<p>Tim Price, who was watching his chance, saw that it had come. He grabbed +the camera, gave a yell of triumph, and faced for the home-run. He had +not an instant to lose. The Professor sprang for his precious +instrument. Tim's long legs carried him across the street, over a fence +into a cross-cut lot, and away for the hotel at a mountaineer's speed. +The Professor was small, but active as a cat. Where Tim jumped fences, +the Professor squirmed through them; where Tim took one long stride, the +Professor scored three short ones. Tim lost his hat, and the Professor +threw off his coat as he ran. The main street was reached without +perceptible decrease of distance between them; but there the pavements +were something Tim's bare feet were not used to catching on, and the +people something he was not used to dodging: he upset several, but +dashed on, with his pursuer gaining on his heels. Men, women, dogs, and +darkies turned out to witness the race or follow it. "Stop thief!" "Go +it, Tim!" "You're catching him, stranger!" "Foot it, little one!" were +cries that speeded the running. The Doctor stood waiting at the hotel +door, laughing, shaking, and red as a veritable Bacchus. Tim Price +banged the camera into him, whirled round suddenly, caught the Professor +as he dashed at him, and held him in his powerful arms, squirming like +an eel.</p> + +<p>"Yere's your crazy man, stranger," said Tim, in slow, drawling tone. "I +tell you he kin jest p'intedly foot it. Thar hain't been such a run in +Kanoy County sence they stopped 'lectin' country fellers fer sheriff. I +reckon I've arned thet dollar. What shall I do with the leetle feller?"</p> + +<p>The Professor was powerless, but lay in Tim's arms biting, kicking, and +curled up like a yellow-jacket interested with an enemy.</p> + +<p>"Let him go," said the laughing Doctor. "He will stay with me now. He is +not dangerous when I am about. Set him on his feet."</p> + +<p>No sooner was the Professor deposited <span class="pagenum">[Pg 171]</span>on the pavement than he +dealt Tim a stinging blow which staggered him, and stood ready with +trained muscles set for defence.</p> + +<p>"Look yere, leetle un," said Tim, coolly and with great self-restraint, +"'tain't fer the likes uv me to hit you, bein's you're a bit out in your +top, but I'll gin you another hug ef you do that ag'in; I will, +p'intedly."</p> + +<p>In the good humor of the crowd, the mirth of the Doctor, and the +latter's possession of the camera the Professor scented a joke, and at +once saw his friend's hand in it. He joined in the laugh at his expense, +and lengthened his friend's face by saying, "The Doctor having had his +fun, he will now pay the bill at the bar for all of you: he pays all my +expenses: so walk in, gentlemen."</p> + +<p>The laws of hospitality west of the Alleghanies do not permit any one to +decline an invitation, so the Doctor settled for the whole procession +and paid Tim Price his well-earned dollar.</p> + +<p>"Captain," said Tim to the hotel-proprietor, who had joined the crowd, +"ef two fellers comes here from the East, one uv 'em ez round ez a +punkin an' red ez a flannel shirt an' bald ez a land-tortle, an' t'other +ez brown ez a mud-catty an' poor ez a razor-back hog, tell 'em I'm yere +to pilot 'em up Elk to Colonel Bangem's caliker tents. He said they were +ez green ez frogs, an' didn't know nothin' noway, an' fer me to take +keer uv 'em. He don't reckon they'll come tell to-morrow. One uv 'em's a +hoss-doctor, an' t'other's a perfessor uv religion, Colonel Bangem +telled me. I dunno whether the feller's a circuit-rider er a rale +preacher."</p> + +<p>"That's the highly-illuminated pumpkin, my good man," said the +Professor, pointing to the Doctor, "and I am Colonel Bangem's spiritual +adviser. We got here a day sooner than we expected to."</p> + +<p>"You don't say? May I never! An' the colonel never telled me nothin' +nohow 'bout any one uv you bein' crazy. Howdee? How do you like these +parts? Right smart town we've got yere, hain't it? I'll take keer uv +you. There hain't no man on Elk River kin take keer uv you better nor +Tim Price, ary time. I hain't much up to moon men, though. Thar's one +feller up my way thet gits kinder skeery at the full uv the moon; but I +hain't never tended him. I reckon I kin l'arn the job,—ez the ole boy +said when his marm set him to mindin' fleas off the cat."</p> + +<p>Tim Price was the hunter, boatman, fisherman, yarn-spinner, and +character of his region, and Colonel Bangem's faithful ally in all his +sports: the latter had therefore sent him to meet his friends on their +arrival at Charleston, and he at once proceeded to take command of the +whole party as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>"I footed it over the mountains, and sent my boat the river way. Hit +oughter be yere now: so we'll pack you men's tricks to the boats an' +p'int 'em up-stream. It 'ill be sundown afore we git thar."</p> + +<p>The party started from the hotel, the procession followed to see them +off, and they were soon down the Kanawha and into the mouth of Elk at +the point of the town. Log rafts, huge barges, miles of railroad-ties, +laid-up steamers, peddling-boats, with their highly-colored storehouses, +fishermen's scows, floating homely cabins alive with bare-legged +children and idlers of the water-side, push-boats loaded to the edge of +the narrow gunwales with merchandise for delivery to stores and dwellers +far up the river, boats loaded with hoop-poles, grist, chickens, and the +"home-plunder" of some mover to civilization, coming down the river from +the mountain-clearing, and samples of every conceivable kind of the +river's outpour, were tied to the banks or lazily floating on the +currentless back-water from the Kanawha.</p> + +<p>An old steamboat-captain once said of Elk that "it was the all-firedest +river God ever made,—fer it rises at both ends and runs both ways to +wunst." This is true, and is caused by the Kanawha, when rising, pouring +its water into the mouth of Elk and reversing its current for many +miles, while at the same <span class="pagenum">[Pg 172]</span>time rain falls in the mountains, +increasing the latter river's depth and velocity. Flour-mills, +iron-foundries, saw-mills, woollen-mills, and barrel-factories extend +their long wooden slides down to the river's edge, to gather material +for their consumption. A railroad spans it with an iron trussed bridge, +and the demands of wagon and foot-travel are met by an airy one +suspended by cables from tower-like abutments on either side, both +bridges swung high in the air, out of reach of flood and of the +smoke-stacks of passing steam-craft.</p> + +<p>A mile from the river's mouth, and just beyond the limits of Charleston, +is one of the finest sandstone-quarries in the world. The United States +government monopolizes most of its product in the construction of the +magnificent lock and shifting dams in course of erection on the Kanawha +to facilitate the transportation of coal from the immense deposits now +being mined to the great markets of the Ohio River. A little farther on, +the brown front of a timber dam and cribbed lock looks down upon a wild +swirl and rush of water; for through a cut gap in its centre Elk flows +unobstructed,—a penniless mob having made the opening one night that +their canoes might pass free and capitalists be encouraged to remove +such worthless stuff as money from the growing industries of the river. +Prior to this act of vandalism the water was backed by the dam for a +distance of fourteen miles, to Jarrett's Ford, making a halting-place +for rafts and logs, barges and floats, coming down from the vast forests +above when rains and snow-thaws raised the river and its tributaries; +but now a long stretch of boom catches what it can of Elk's commerce and +is a chartered parasite upon it.</p> + +<p>Here at the old dam the mountains close in tightly upon the narrow +valley. Log cabins and a few simple frame houses nestle upon diminutive +farms; the wild beauty of shoal and eddy, bouldered channel and +lake-like stretches of pool, rocky walls and timber-clad peaks, begins +to charm the stranger and draw him on and on through scenery as +attractive as grand toss of mountains and delve of river can make it.</p> + +<p>By dint of poling, pushing, rowing, and pulling, the boats were worked +over rapids and pools for almost a score of miles, to where the last +rays of the sun slid over a mountain-point and hit Colonel Bangem's hat +as it spun in the air by way of welcome, while the prows clove the water +of a lovely eddy lying in front of his camp. The meeting was that of old +friends, with the addition of a blush from Bess Bangem and its bright +reflection from the Professor's face.</p> + +<p>Tim Price took the colonel to one side mysteriously, and whispered, "I +took keer uv the Perfessor my own self: he guv me a power uv trouble, +though. Shell I hitch him now, er let him run loose?"</p> + +<p>"We'll turn him loose now, Tim; but if he takes to turning somersets, +catch him, loosen his collar, take off his boots, and throw him into the +river," was the colonel's sober reply.</p> + +<p>Scientists nowadays set up Energy as the ancestor of everything, measure +the value of its descendants by the quantity they possess of the family +trait, and spend their time in showing how to utilize it for the good of +mankind in general. Professor Yarren was an apostle of Energy: it +absorbed him, filled him. From the weight of the sun to boiled potatoes, +from the spring of a tiger to the jump of a flea, from the might of +chemical disembodiment to opening an oyster, he calculated, advised, and +dilated upon it. He himself, was the epitome of Energy: in his size he +economized space, in his diet he ate for power, not quantity. To him +eating and sleeping were Energy's warehousemen; idleness was dry-rot, +moth, and mildew; laughing, talking, whistling, singing, somersets, and +fishing, never-to-be-neglected and in-constant-use safety-valves. He +regarded himself as an assimilator of everything that went into him, be +it food, sight, sound, or scent, and his perfection as such in exact +ratio to the product he derived from them. So when next morning he said +"Come <span class="pagenum">[Pg 173]</span>on" to the Doctor, and Colonel Bangem, Mrs. Colonel +Bangem, Bess Bangem, and Martha, the mountain-maid, who were all +standing in front of the camp rigged for a day's fishing, he meant that +one of Energy's safety-valves was ready to blow off, and that further +delay might be dangerous to him.</p> + +<p>In the Doctor, Energy was stored in bond as it were, subject to duties, +and only to be issued on certificate that it was wanted for use and +everything ready for it: therefore at the Professor's "Come on" he +calmly sat down on a log, filled his pipe, leisurely lighted it, and +good-humoredly remarked, "I am confident that one-half of what we call +life is spent in undoing what we have done, in lamenting the lack of +what we have forgotten, or going back after it: therefore I make it a +rule when everything seems ready for a start—especially when going +fishing—to sit five minutes in calm communion with my pipe, thinking +matters over. It insures against much discomfort from treacherous +memories and neglect."</p> + +<p>As the Doctor whiffed at his pipe, he inventoried guns, tackle, lunch, +hammocks, air-cushions, gigs, frog-spears, and all other necessaries for +a day's sport on the river. The result was as he had prophesied,—many +things had been omitted. "Now," said he, when the five minutes were up, +"we might venture down the bank, which, rest assured, each member of +this party will have to climb up again after something left behind."</p> + +<p>A motley little fleet awaited the party at the water's +edge,—square-ended, flat-bottomed punts, sharp-bowed bateaux, long, +graceful, dug-out canoes, and a commodious push-boat, with cabin and +awning, whose motive power was poles. Elk River craft are as abundant as +the log cabins on its banks, and their pilots are as numerous as the +inhabitants. Neither sex nor size is a disqualification, for, excepting +the trifling matter of being web-toed, all are provided from birth with +water-going properties, and, be it seed-time or harvest, the river has +the first claim upon them for all its varied sports and occupations. A +shot at mallard, black-head, butter-duck, loon, wild goose, or +blue-winged teal, as they follow the river's winds northward in the +spring-time, will stop the ploughs furrowing its fertile bottoms as far +as its echoes roll around mountain-juts, and cause the hands that held +the lines to grasp old-fashioned rifles for a chance at the winged +passers. When, later, woodcock seek its margins, gray snipe, kill-deer, +mud-hens, and plovers its narrow fens, the scythe will rest in the +half-mown field while its wielder "takes a crack at 'em." And when +autumn brings thousands of gray squirrels, flocks of wild pigeon and +water-fowl, to feed on its mast, no household obligation or out-door +profit will keep the natives from shooting, morning, noon, and night.</p> + +<p>Some day in the near future a railroad will be built "up Elk," and then, +while commerce and civilization will get a lift, the loveliest of rivers +will be scarred; her trout-streams, carp-runs, bass-pools, +salmon-swirls, deer-licks, bear-dens, partridge-nestles, and +pheasant-covers will be overrun by sports-men, her magnificent mountains +will be scratched bald-headed by lumbermen, her laughing tributaries +will be saddened with saw-dust, and her queer, quaint, original +boat-pullers and "seng-diggers" will wear shoes in summer-time and coats +in winter, weather-board their log cabins, put glass in the windows and +partitions across the one room inside. Woods-meetings will creep into +churches, square sousing in the river will degenerate to the gentle +baptismal sprinkle; no picnics or barbecues will delight the inhabitants +with flying horses and fights, open fireplaces and sparking-benches will +give way to stoves and chairs, riding double on horseback, with fair +arms not afraid to hold tight against all dangers real or fancied, will +be a joy of the past, "bean-stringin's," "apple-parin's," +"punkin-clippin's," "sass-bilin's," "sugar-camps," "cabin-raisin's," +"log-rollin's," "bluin's," "tar-and-feathering," and "hangin's," will be +out-civilized, and the whole country will be spoiled.</p> + +<p>"It looks like a good biting morning <span class="pagenum">[Pg 174]</span>for bass," said Colonel +Bangem, while he was distributing the party properly among the boats. +"But, in spite of all signs, bass bite when they please. It is a sunny +morning: so use bright spoon-trolls, medium size. If the fish rise +freely, twenty-five feet of line is enough to have out on the stern +lines; and, as the ladies will use the poles, ten feet of line is enough +for them. Don't forget, Mrs. Bangem, to keep your troll spinning just +outside the swirl of the oar, and as near the surface of the water as +possible. You know you <i>will</i> talk and forget all about it. Now we will +start. If we get separated and it grows cloudy, change your trolls for +three-inch 'fairy minnows;' and if the wind ripples the water, let out +from sixty to eighty feet of line. Take the centre of the river, and you +will haul in salmon; for bass will not rise to a troll in the eddies +when the water is rough. Salmon will. Tim, take the lead with the +Professor, that the other men may see your stroke and course. In +trolling, the oarsman has as much to do with the success as the +fisherman."</p> + +<p>Off they went, three to a boat, the fishers seated in bow and stern, the +ladies in front with their fishing-poles, and the oarsman in his proper +place, rowing a slow, steady stroke, dipping true and silently just +fifty feet from bank, or sedge, or shelf of rock, steering outside of +snags and drift and where overhanging trees buried their shadows in the +water.</p> + +<p>The boats had hardly reached their positions—two on each side of the +stream—when a shout from the Professor announced a catch, as hand over +hand he cautiously drew in the swerving line or held it taut, as the +diving fish sought the rocky bottom or the friendly refuge of a log +drift. With unvarying stroke Tim kept his boat in deep water, away from +entangling dangers. There was a flash in the air and a jingle of the +troll, as a fine bass shot out of the water to shake the barbs from his +open mouth; but the hooks held firm, and the taut line foiled the effort +to dislodge them. Down came the fish with a splash, to dart for the +boat at lightning speed and leap again for life; but this time no jingle +of troll announced his game. He leaped ahead to fall upon the line and +thus tear the hooks from their hold. Successful fishing depends upon two +things,—the presence of fish and knowing more than fish do. At the +instant of the fish's leap the Professor slackened his line: down came +the bass on a limber loop, defeated in his strategy and wearied by his +effort, to be hauled quickly to the boat's side and landed, wriggling +and tossing, at Tim Price's feet.</p> + +<p>"You've cotched bass afore, Perfesser. You ez up to their ways ez a +mus'rat to a mussel, er a kingfisher to a minner," exclaimed Tim +admiringly, as he loosened the troll from a two-pound bass. "Hit's +p'intedly a pity you're out uv your head 'bout picters."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have one! I have one!—a fish! What kind is it?" screamed Bess +Bangem, who was the Professor's companion, as her light trout-pole bent +from a sudden tug, and the reel whirred as the line ran off.</p> + +<p>"Stop him, hold on to him, wind him in, and I will tell you," answered +the Professor, laughing.</p> + +<p>Bess was a practised hand, and loved the sport; but, woman-like, she +always paused to wonder what she had caught before proceeding to find +out.</p> + +<p>"It will be the subject of a lecture for you, whatever it is," replied +Bess, with a saucy shake of her head, as she wound in the line and +guided the playing fish with well-managed pole. Her fine face flushed +with the excitement of the run and leap of her prey, as it came nearer +and nearer, until Tim slipped the landing-net quietly under it and +landed a beauty in the boat.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow! I wonder if I hurt him?" said Bess.</p> + +<p>"Not much, if any," remarked the Professor. "I never was a fish, and +consequently never was foolish enough to jump at a bunch of hooks; but, +as the cartilage of a fish's mouth is almost nerveless, there is but +little pain from a hook diet. Bass, salmon, pike, and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 175]</span>other +gamey fish will often keep on biting after they have been badly hooked."</p> + +<p>"So will men," said Bess, as she threw her troll into the water to do +fresh duty.</p> + +<p>"You're p'intedly keerect," said Tim Price. "I got the sack four times, +an' hed right smart mittens, afore I cotched a stayin' holt on my old +woman."</p> + +<p>Shout after shout waked the mountain-echoes, as fish were held up in +triumph, and as the boats glided over the smooth water of the eddy. +Ahead was a mass of foam and a long dash of water down a shoal.</p> + +<p>"Yere's where me and the colonel catches 'em lively when I pull him," +said Martha to the Doctor. "They bite yere ez lively ez a stray pig in a +tater-patch. Whoop! I've got him! He pulls like a mule at a +hitchin'-rope. Keep your boat head to the current, Alec, an' pull hard, +er we'll drift down on him an' I'll lose him. Whoop! May I never! A +five-pounder! I'll slit him down the back an' brile him fer breakfast. +Whoop! In you come!"</p> + +<p>The boatmen pulled hard against the fierce current at the foot of the +shoal, crossed and recrossed, circled, and at it again, until a score or +more of noble bass were hooked from the swirl, and Colonel Bangem led +the way up the rapids. Then the oarsmen leaped into the water and towed +the boats through the wild current, until the eddy at the top of it +allowed them to take oars again.</p> + +<p>"Preacher, kin you paddle?" asked Tim Price of the Professor, as he +drained the water from his legs before getting into the boat. "Ef you +air a hand at it, take an oar an' paddle a bit astern: there'll be white +peerch an' red-hoss lyin' yere at the head uv the shore."</p> + +<p>The Professor took an oar and paddled, while Tim Price poised himself in +the boat, spear in hand and the long rope from its slender shaft coiled +at his feet. He peered intently into the water as the boat moved slowly +along. Presently every muscle of him was set: he bent backward for a +cast, pointed his spear with steady hands to a spot in the river, and +quick as a flash it pierced the water until its ten-foot shaft was seen +no more. As quickly was it recovered by Tim's active hands catching the +flying line to haul it in; and on its prongs squirmed a monstrous fish +of the sucker tribe,—a red-horse,—pinned through and through by his +unerring aim.</p> + +<p>Shoal and eddy, swirl and silent pool, yielded good sport and harvest, +as haunts of bass and salmon were entered and passed, until the inviting +mouth of Little Sandy Creek suggested rest for the boatmen and a stroll +for the fishers. A neat hotel, clean and well kept for so wild a region, +harbors lumbermen, rivermen, and those who love the rod and gun. There +are many such attractive centres along the banks of Elk, with charming +camping-grounds, where neighboring hospitality abounds, and chickens, +eggs, milk, corn, and bacon are abundant and cheap, and the finest +bass-and other fishing possible, from Queen's Shoal—four miles away—to +the old dam above Charleston. Above Queen's Shoal the region increases +in wildness and attractiveness for traveller or sportsman. Trout in +plenty find homes in the mountain-tributaries of Upper Elk; deer abound, +and all manner of smaller game. Where nature does her best work, man is +apt to do but little. Nature farms the Elk country.</p> + +<p>Bright moonlight, the early morning after the sun is up, and from a +couple of hours after mid-day until the mountain-shadows strike the +water in the evening, are the best times to troll for bass. If so +minded, they will rise to a fly at such times in the rapids; but no +allurement excepting the troll will bring them to the surface in still +water. When the river is rising, or the water is clouded with mud or +drift, bass scorn all surface-diet; but the live minnow or crawfish, +hellgramite or fish-worm, will capture them on trout-line or hook +attached to the soul-absorbing bob. A clothes-line wire cable, furnished +with well-assorted hooks baited with cotton, dough, and cheese well +mixed together, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 176]</span>and stretched in eddy-water when the river is +muddy, will give fine reward in carp, white perch, catfish, turtles, +garfish, and sweet revenge on the bait-stealing guana.</p> + +<p>After nooning, lunch, and a quiet loaf, the party sped homeward with the +current, handling rods and trolls as salmon and bass demanded lively +attention. Shooting a rapid, and out into a deep pool at its foot, the +Doctor's boat struck a snag, and he, having a resisting power equal to +that of a billiard-ball, put his heels where his head had been, and +disappeared under the water, to pop up again instantly, sputtering and +spitting, like a jug full of yeast with a corn-cob stopper.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hickey! Whoop!" exclaimed Martha, as she went off in wild screams +of laughter. "Kin you swim?" she asked, with the coolness of the +mountain-maiden she was.</p> + +<p>"No, no," sputtered the Doctor.</p> + +<p>"I reckon you'll tow good. Jest gimme your han', an' keep your feet +down, an' me an' Alec 'ill tow you ashore to dreen. Hit's like you're +purty wet."</p> + +<p>He was soon landed by the stalwart Martha and Alec, and, while he +attitudinized for draining, the Professor amused himself with taking an +instantaneous photograph.</p> + +<p>"By gum! he mought hev drownded," said Tim Price to the Professor. "The +Doctor hain't a good shape fer towin', but he floats higher than any +craft of his length I ever seed on Elk River."</p> + +<p>Just as the golden light of evening cast its sheen upon the river the +camp-tents came in sight, where a group of natives stood waiting the +arrival of the fishers to "hear what luck they'd hed."</p> + +<p>Colonel Bangem and Bess carried off equal honors in greatest +count,—sixty-two bass and five salmon each. Martha, with her +five-pounder, was weight champion. Mrs. Bangem had the only blue pike. +The Professor claimed that, besides his twoscore fish, he had +illustrations enough for a comic annual; and the Doctor asserted that he +knew more about bass than any of them, for he had been down where they +lived, and was of the opinion that he had swallowed a couple.</p> + +<p>Bess Bangem said to the Professor, as they went up the bank together, "I +had a great mind to count you in with my fish, to beat father; but I +caught you long ago, so it would not have been fair."</p> + +<p class="author">TOBE HODGE.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="ON_A_NOBLE_CHARACTER_MARRED_BY_LITTLENESS" />ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS.</h3> + + + +<div class="poem_1"><div class="stanza"><p>As Moscow's splendors trench on narrow lanes,</p> +<p class="i2">The wonder, brimming every traveller's eyes,</p> +<p>To disappointment's sudden darkness wanes</p> +<p class="i2">At finding meanness near such grandeur lies.</p></div> + + + +<div class="stanza"><p>O human city! built on Moscow's plan,</p> +<p class="i2">Thy great and little touch each other so,</p> +<p>Let me forbear, and, as an erring man,</p> +<p class="i2">Make my approaches wisely, from below,</p></div> + + + +<div class="stanza"><p>Hasting through all the narrow and the base</p> +<p class="i2">Before I stand where all is high and vast:</p> +<p>After the dark, let glory light my face,</p> +<p class="i2">Thy shining greatness break upon me <i>last</i>.</p></div></div> + + +<p class="author">CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 177]</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="THE_SCOTTISH_CROFTERS" id="THE_SCOTTISH_CROFTERS" />THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS.</h2> + + +<p>It is hard to dispel the halo which poetry and romance have thrown about +the Scottish Highlander and see him simply as he appears in every-day +life. And indeed, all fiction aside, there is in his history and +character much that is most admirable and noble. On many a terrible +battle-field his courage has been unsurpassed. His brave and tireless +struggle for existence where both climate and soil are unfriendly is +equally worthy of respect. Then, too, his sterling honesty and +independence in speech and action and his high moral and religious +qualities combine to make him a valuable citizen.</p> + +<p>Such considerations account in part for the interest which has been +excited in England by the claims of the Scottish crofters. There are, +however, other reasons why so much attention has of late been given to +their complaints. Their poverty and hardships have long been known in +England. The reports made by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by +Sir John McNeil a few years later contain accounts of miserably small +and unproductive holdings, of wretched hovels for dwellings, of lack of +enterprise and interest in making improvements, of curtailment of +pasture, of high rents and insecurity of tenure, very similar to those +found on the pages of the report of the late Royal Commission. While in +this interval the condition of the crofters has but slightly, if at all, +improved, there has been a very considerable improvement in the +condition of the middle and lower classes of the people in other parts +of Scotland and in England. The masses of the people have better houses, +better food and clothing, while with the development of the school +system and the newspaper press general intelligence has greatly +increased. The accounts of the poverty and wretchedness of the crofters +now reach the public much more quickly and make a much deeper impression +on all classes than they did forty years ago. While these small farmers +are not numerous,—there are probably not more than four thousand +families in need of relief,—many of their kinsmen elsewhere have +acquired wealth and influence and have been able to plead their cause +with good effect. In this country "The Scottish Land League" has issued +in "The Cry of the Crofter" an eloquent plea for help to carry on the +agitation to a successful issue.</p> + +<p>Another reason for the increased attention that has lately been given to +these claims is found in the rapidly-growing tendency to concede to the +landlord fewer and fewer and to the tenant more and more rights in the +land. The recent extension of the suffrage, giving votes to nearly two +millions of agricultural and other laborers, leads politicians to go as +far as possible in favoring new legislation in the interest of tenants +and laborers. The crofters' case has therefore come to be of special +interest as a part of the general land question which has of late +received so much attention from the English press and Parliament, and +which is pretty certain to be prominent for several years to come.</p> + +<p>Those who are familiar only with the relations existing between +landlord and tenant in this country are naturally surprised to find the +crofter demanding that his landlord shall (1) give him the use of more +land, (2) reduce his rent, (3) pay him on leaving his holding for all +his improvements, and (4) not accept in his stead another tenant, even +though the latter may be anxious to take the holding at a higher figure +or turn him out for any other reason. In addition to all this, the +crofters demand that the government shall advance them money to enable +them to build suitable houses and improve and stock their farms. An +American tenant who should make such demands would be considered insane. +No <span class="pagenum">[Pg 178]</span>such view of the crofters' +claims, however, is taken in England and Scotland.</p> + +<p>What, then, are the grounds upon which these extensive claims are +based? +Why should the crofter claim a right to have his holding enlarged and to +have the land at a lower rent than some one else may be willing to pay? +The reasons are to be found partly in his history, traditions, and +circumstances, and partly in the present tendency of the legislation and +discussions relating to the ownership and occupation of land.</p> + +<p>Under the old clan system, to which the crofter is accustomed to trace +his claims, the land was owned by the chief and clansmen in common, and +allotments and reallotments were made from time to time to individual +clansmen, each of whom had a right to some portion of the land, while +the commons were very extensive. Rent or service was paid to the chief, +who had more or less control over the clan lands and often possessed an +estate in severalty, with many personal dependants. In many cases the +power of the chief was great and tyrannical, and many of the clansmen +were in a somewhat servile condition; but the more influential clansmen +seem sometimes to have retained permanent possession of their +allotments. Long ago sub-letting became common, and hard services were +often exacted of the sub-tenants, whose lot was frequently a most +unhappy one. The modern cottar, as well as the squatter, had his +representative in the dependant of the chief, or clansman, or in the +outlaw or vagrant member of another clan who came to build his rude +cabin wherever he could find a sheltered and unoccupied spot. No doubt +many of the sub-tenants, even where they held originally by base and +uncertain services and at the will of their superior, came in time, like +the English copyholder, to have a generally-recognized right to the +permanent possession of their holdings, while custom tended to fix the +character and quantity of their services. The population was not +numerous, and it was probably not difficult for every man to secure a +plot of land of some sort.</p> + +<p>The crofters of to-day have lost for the most part the traditions of +the drawbacks and hardships of this ancient system, with its oppressive +services, to which many of their ancestors were subject, and have +commonly retained only the tradition of the right which every clansman +had to some portion of the clan lands. In 1745 the clan organizations +were abolished and the chiefs transformed into landlords and invested +with the fee-simple of the land. But, while changes were gradually made +on some estates in the direction of conformity to the English system, +most of the old customary rights of the people continued to be +recognized. The tenant was commonly allowed to occupy his holding from +year to year without interruption. Money rent gradually took the place +of service or rent in kind, but the amount exacted does not seem to have +been often increased arbitrarily. The rights of common, which were often +of great value, were respected.</p> + +<p>The descendants and successors, however, of the old Scotch lairds did +not always display the same regard for prescriptive rights and usages. +In some cases the extravagance and bankruptcy of the old owners caused +the titles to pass to Englishmen, while in others the inheritors of the +estates were more and more inclined to insist upon their legal rights +and to introduce in the management of their property rules similar to +those in use in England. Early in the present century sheep-farming was +found to be profitable, and many large areas of glen and mountain were +cleared of the greater part of their population and converted into +sheep-farms. Many of the mountainous parts of Scotland are of little use +for agricultural purposes. Formerly the crofters used large tracts as +summer pastures for their small herds of inferior stock. By and by the +proprietors found that large droves of better breeds of sheep could be +kept on these mountain-pastures. The crofters were too poor to undertake +the management of the large sheep-farms into which it was apparently +most profitable to divide these mountain-lands, and sheep-farmers from +the south became <span class="pagenum">[Pg 179]</span>the tenants. By introducing sheep-farming on a +large scale the landlords were able, they claimed, to use hundreds of +thousands of acres which before were of comparatively little value. The +large flocks of sheep could not, however, be kept without having the +lower slopes of the mountains on which to winter. It was these slopes +that the crofters commonly used for pasture, below which, in the straths +and glens, were their holdings and dwellings. The ruins of cottages, or +patches of green here and there where cottages stood, mark the sites of +many little holdings from which the crofters and their families were +turned out many years ago in order to make room for sheep-farms. The +proprietors sometimes recognized the rights of these native tenants, and +gave them new holdings in exchange for the old ones. The new crofts were +often nearer the sea, where the land was less favorable for grazing and +where the rights of common were less valuable, but the occupants had +better opportunities for supplementing their incomes from the land by +fishing and by gathering sea-weed for kelp, from which iodine was made. +There were, however, great numbers who were not supplied with new +crofts, but turned away from their old homes and left to shift for +themselves. Some of these, too poor to go elsewhere, built rude huts +wherever they could find a convenient spot, and thus increased the ranks +of the squatters. Others were allowed to share the already too small +holdings of their more fortunate brethren, while others, again, found +their way to the lowlands and cities of the south or to America. The +traditions of the hardships and sufferings endured by some of these +evicted crofters are still kept alive in the prosperous homes of their +children and grandchildren on this side of the Atlantic. The process of +clearing off the crofters went on for many years. In 1849 Hugh Miller, +in trying to arouse public sentiment against it, declared that, "while +the law is banishing its tens for terms of seven and fourteen +years,—the penalty of deep-dyed crimes,—irresponsible and infatuated +power is banishing its thousands for no crime whatever."</p> + +<p>Lately, owing to foreign competition and the deterioration of the land +that has been used for many years as sheep-pastures, sheep-farming has +become much less profitable than formerly, and many large tenants have +in consequence given up their farms. The enthusiasm for deer-hunting +has, however, increased with the increase of wealth and leisure among +Englishmen, and immense tracts, amounting altogether to nearly two +millions of acres, have been turned into deer-forests, yielding, as a +rule, a slightly higher rent than was paid by the crofters and +sheep-farmers. Much of this land is either unfit for agricultural +purposes or could not at present be cultivated with profit. Some of it, +however, is fertile, or well suited for grazing, and greatly coveted by +the crofters. The deer and other game often destroy or injure the crops +of the adjoining holdings, and thus add to the troubles of the occupants +and increase their indignation at the land's being used to raise sheep +and "vermin" instead of men. Most Americans have had intimations of this +feeling through the accounts of the hostility that has been shown to our +countryman, Mr. Winans, whose deer-forest is said to cover two hundred +square miles. While evictions are much less common than they were two or +three generations ago, there has all along been a disposition on the +part of the proprietors to enclose in their sheep-farms and deer-forests +lands that were formerly tilled or used as commons by the crofters and +cottars. In comparison with the crofter of to-day the sub-tenant of a +hundred years ago had, as a rule, more land for tillage, a far wider +range of pasture for his stock, and "greater freedom in regard to the +natural produce of the river and moor."</p> + +<p>Many of the crofters belong to families which have lived on the same +holdings for generations. It is a common experience everywhere that +long-continued use begets and fosters the feeling of ownership. This is +especially <span class="pagenum">[Pg 180]</span>true when, as in the crofter's case, there is so +much in the history and traditions of the people and the property that +tends to establish a right of possession. Besides, the crofter, or one +of his ancestors, has in most cases built the house and made other +improvements: sometimes he has reclaimed the land itself and changed a +barren waste into a garden. The labor and money which he and his +ancestors have expended in improving the place seem to him to give him +an additional right to occupy it always. It is his holding and his home, +the home of his fathers and of his family. While he may be unable to +resist the power of his landlord, and may have no legal security for his +rights and interests, he regards the curtailment of his privileges or +the increase of his rent as unjust, and eviction as a terrible outrage. +"The extermination of the Highlanders," says one of their kinsmen, "has +been carried on for many years as systematically and persistently as +that of the North-American Indians.... Who can withhold sympathy as +whole families have turned to take a last look at the heavens red with +their burning homes? The poor people shed no tears, for there was in +their hearts that which stifled such signs of emotion: they were +absorbed in despair. They were forced away from that which was dear to +their hearts, and their patriotism was treated with contemptuous +mockery.... There are various ways in which the crime of murder is +perpetrated. There are killings which are effected by the unjust and +cruel denying of lands to our fellow-creatures to enable them to obtain +food and raiment."</p> + +<p>The feeling of the crofters in regard to increase of rent and eviction +is very similar to that of the Irish tenantry. Very recently Mr. Parnell +uttered sentiments which both would accept as their own. "I trust," he +said, "that when any individual feels disposed to violate the divine +commandment by taking, under such circumstances, that which does not +belong to him, he will feel within him the promptings of patriotism and +religion, and that he will turn away from the temptation. Let him +remember that he is doing a great injustice to his country and his +class,—that though he may perhaps benefit materially for a while, yet +that ill-gotten gains will not prosper." Where crofters have been +evicted, or have had their privileges curtailed or their rent raised, +they and their descendants do not soon forget the grievance. Claims have +recently been made for lands which the crofters have not occupied for +two or three generations.</p> + +<p>The Scotch landlords are not, as a rule, cruel or unjust. On the +contrary, some of them are exceedingly kind and generous to their +tenants, and have spent large sums of money in making improvements which +add greatly to the prosperity and comfort of those who live on their +estates. Many of them recognize the right of their tenants to occupy +their holdings without interruption so long as the rent is paid +regularly. The natural tendency, however, to insist upon their legal +rights and to make the most they can out of their estates has led to not +a few cases of hardship and injustice. A few such instances in a +community are talked over for years, and often seriously interfere with +the contentment and industry of many families. The traditions and +recollections of the many evictions which have occurred during this +century have often caused the motives of the best landlords to be +suspected and their most benevolent acts to be misunderstood by their +tenants. The crofter system has been an extremely bad one in many +respects. There cannot be much interest in making improvements where the +tenant must build the houses, fences, stables, etc., but has no +guarantee that he will not be turned out of his holding or have his rent +so increased as practically to compel him to leave the place. The +kindness and humanity of the landlords have in many instances mitigated +the worst evils of the system; but, while human nature remains as it is, +no matter how just and generous individual landlords may be, general +prosperity and contentment are impossible <span class="pagenum">[Pg 181]</span>under the present +arrangements. The discontent and discouragement caused by the action of +the less kind and considerate landlords and agents frequently extend to +crofters who have no just grounds of complaint, and troubles and +hardships resulting from idleness or improvidence or other causes are +often attributed to the injustice of the laws or the cruelty of the +landlords.</p> + +<p>The poverty of the crofter often renders his condition deplorable. His +holding and right of common have been curtailed by the landlord, or he +has sub-divided them among his sons or kinsmen, until it would be +impossible for the produce of the soil to sustain the population, even +if no rent whatever were charged. Some years ago he was able to increase +his income by gathering sea-weed for kelp; but latterly, since iodine +can be obtained more cheaply from other sources, the demand for this +product has ceased. In some places the fishing is valuable, enabling him +to supply his family with food for a part of the year, and bringing him +money besides. He is, however, often too poor to provide the necessary +boats and nets, while in many places the absence of good harbors and +landings is a most serious drawback to the fishing industry. Sometimes +he supplements his income by spending a few months of the year in the +low country and obtaining work there. In most cases, however, a large +part of his income must be derived from the land. If there were plenty +of employment to be had, the little holding would do very well as a +garden, and the stock which he could keep on the common would add +greatly to his comfort. As things now are, he must look chiefly to the +land both for his subsistence and his rent, and, with an unfruitful soil +and an unfriendly climate, he is often on the verge of want.</p> + +<p>Still more wretched is the condition of the cottars and squatters. The +latter are in some places numerous and have taken up considerable +portions of land formerly used as common, thus interfering with the +rights of the crofters. They appropriate land and possess and pasture +stock, but pay no rent, obey no control, and scarcely recognize any +authority. The dwellings of this class and of some of the poorer +crofters are wretched in the extreme. A single apartment, with walls of +stone and mud, a floor of clay, a thatched roof, no windows, no chimney, +one low door furnishing an entrance for the occupants and a means of +ventilation and of escape for the smoke which rolls up black and thick +from the peat fire, furniture of the rudest imaginable sort, the +inhabitants—the human beings, the cows, the pigs, the sheep, and the +poultry—all crowded together in the miserable and filthy hut, make up a +picture which the most romantic and poetic associations can hardly +render pleasing to one accustomed to the comforts and refinements of +modern civilization. Of course many of the crofters live in greater +comfort, and some of the cottages are by no means unattractive. But the +Royal Commissioners say that the crofter's habitation is usually "of a +character that would imply physical and moral degradation in the eyes of +those who do not know how much decency, courtesy, virtue, and even +refinement survive amidst the sordid surroundings of a Highland hovel." +An Englishman who, on seeing these "sordid surroundings," was disposed +to compare the social and moral condition of the people to "the +barbarism of Egypt," was told that if he would ask one of the crofters, +in Gaelic or English, "What is the chief end of man?" he would soon see +the difference.</p> + +<p>With such a history, such traditions, grievances, conditions, and +hardships, it is not strange that the crofter should be ready to join an +agitation that promised a remedy. Some of his grievances and claims have +been so similar to those of the Irish tenant that the legislation which +followed the violent agitation in Ireland has led him to hope for +relief-measures similar to those enacted for the Irish tenantry. The +Irish Land Act of 1870 recognized the tenant's right to the permanent +possession of his holding and to his improvements, by providing that on +being turned out by his <span class="pagenum">[Pg 182]</span>landlord he should have compensation +for disturbance and for his improvements. It did not, however, secure +him against the landlord's so increasing his rent as practically to +appropriate his improvements and even force him to leave his holding +without any compensation. The Land Act of 1881 secured his interests by +establishing a court which should fix a fair rent, by giving him a right +to compensation for disturbance and for his improvements, and by +allowing him to sell his interests for the best price he can get for +them. It also enabled him to borrow from the government, at a low rate +of interest, three-fourths of the money necessary to purchase his +landlord's interest in the holding. This legal recognition and guarantee +of the Irish tenant's interests have led the crofter to hope that his +claims, based on better grounds, may also be conceded.</p> + +<p>The changes recently made in the land laws of England and Scotland, and +the activity of the advocates of further and more radical changes, have +increased this hope. Progressive English statesmen have long looked with +disfavor upon entails and settlements, and there have been a number of +enactments providing for cutting off entails and increasing the power of +limited owners. The last and most important of these, the Settled +Estates Act, passed in 1882, gives the tenant for life power to sell any +portion of the estate except the family mansion, and thus thoroughly +undermines the principle upon which primogeniture and entails are +founded. Much land which has hitherto been so tied up that the limited +owners were either unable or unwilling to develop it can now be sold and +improved. New measures have been proposed to increase still further the +power of limited owners and to make the sale and transfer of land easier +and less expensive. Many able statesmen are advocates of these measures. +Mr. Goschen in a recent speech at Edinburgh urged the need of a +land-register by which transfers of land might be made almost as cheaply +and easily as transfers of consols. By such an arrangement, it is held, +many farmers of small capital will be enabled to buy their farms, and +the land of the country will thus be dispersed among a much larger +number of owners. There has also been a very marked tendency to enlarge +the rights and the authority of the tenant farmer. The Agricultural +Holdings Act of 1883 gives the tenant a right to compensation for +temporary and, on certain conditions, for permanent improvements, and +permits him in most cases, where he cannot have compensation, to remove +fixtures or buildings which he has erected, contrary to the old doctrine +that whatever is fixed to the soil becomes the property of the landlord. +The landlord's power to distrain for rent is greatly reduced: formerly +he could distrain for six years' rent, now he can distrain only for the +rent of one year, and he is required to give the tenant twelve instead +of six months' notice to quit. The tenant is therefore more secure than +formerly in the possession of his farm and in spending money and labor +in making improvements that will render it more productive. Other +changes are proposed, which will give him still more rights, greater +freedom in the management of the farm, and additional encouragement to +adopt the best methods of farming and invest his labor and money in +improvements. Many of the land reformers advocate the adoption of +measures similar to those that have been enacted for Ireland. It has for +some time been one of the declared purposes of the Farmers' Alliance to +secure a system of judicial rents for the tenant farmers of England. An +important conference lately held at Aberdeen and participated in by +representatives of both the English and Scottish Farmers' Alliances +adopted an outline of a land bill for England and Scotland, providing +for the establishment of a land court, fixing fair rents, fuller +compensation for improvements, and the free sale of the tenant's +interests.</p> + +<p>The wretched condition of the dwellings of the agricultural laborers in +many parts of the country has attracted much attention, and plans for +bettering <span class="pagenum">[Pg 183]</span>their condition have frequently been urged. Lately +the interest in the subject has increased, prominent statesmen on both +sides having espoused the cause. In view of the political power which +the recent extension of the suffrage has given to the agricultural +laborers, there is a general expectation that a measure will shortly be +enacted requiring the owner or occupier of the farm to give each laborer +a plot of ground "of a size that he and his family can cultivate without +impairing his efficiency as a wage-earner," at a rent fixed by +arbitration, and providing for a loan of money by the state for the +erection of a proper dwelling. The provisions of the Irish Land Act and +its amendment relating to laborers' cottages and allotments suggest the +lines along which legislation for the improvement of laborers' dwellings +in England and Scotland is likely to proceed.</p> + +<p>Then there is the scheme for nationalizing the land, the state paying +the present owners no compensation, or a very small amount, and assuming +the chief functions now exercised by the landlords. No statesman has yet +ventured to advocate this scheme, but it has called forth a great deal +of discussion on the platform and in the newspapers and reviews, and has +captivated most of those who are inclined to adopt socialistic theories +of property. Mr. George himself has preached his favorite doctrine to +the crofters, whose views of their own rights in the land have led them +to look upon the plan with more favor than the English tenants. Others, +too, who have plans to advocate for giving tenants and laborers greater +rights have taken special pains to have their views presented to the +crofters, since the claims of the latter against the landlords seem to +rest upon so much stronger grounds than those of the English tenant.</p> + +<p>The agitations for the reform of the land laws in Ireland and England, +and the utterances of the advocates of the various plans for increasing +the rights and privileges of the tenant, have led the crofters to dwell +upon their grievances until they have become thoroughly aroused. They +have in many cases refused to pay rent, have resisted eviction and +driven away officers who attempted to serve writs, have offered violence +to the persons or property of some of those who have ventured to take +the crofts of evicted tenants, and in some instances have taken forcible +possession of lands which they thought ought to be added to their +crofts. The government found it necessary a short time ago to send +gunboats with marines and extra police to some of the islands and +districts to restore the authority of the law. The crofters and their +friends are thoroughly organized, and seem likely to insist upon their +claims with the persistency that is characteristic of their race. It is +now generally conceded that some remedy must be provided for their +grievances and hardships.</p> + +<p>The remedy that has been most frequently suggested, the only one +recommended by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by Sir John +McNeil in 1852, is emigration. The crofting system, it has often been +urged, belongs to a bygone age; it survives only because of its +remoteness from the centres of civilization and the ruggedness of the +country; the implements used by the crofters are of the most primitive +sort, while their agricultural methods are "slovenly and unskilful to +the last degree." It is impossible for these small farmers, with their +crude implements and methods, to compete with the large farmers, who +have better land and use the most improved implements and methods. +Besides, many of the crofters are, and their ancestors for many +generations have been, "truly laborers, living chiefly by the wages of +labor, and holding crofts and lots for which they pay rents, not from +the produce of the land, but from wages." If they cannot find employment +within convenient distance of their present homes, the best and kindest +thing for them is to help them to go where there is a good demand for +labor and better opportunities for earning a decent livelihood. To +encourage them to stay on their little crofts, where they are frequently +on the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 184]</span>verge of want, is unkind and very bad policy. One who +has seen the wretched hovels in which some of these crofter families +live, the small patches of unproductive land on which they try to +subsist, the hardships which they sometimes suffer, and the lack of +opportunities for bettering their condition in their native Highlands or +islands, and who knows how much has been accomplished by the enterprise +and energy of Highlanders in other parts of the world, can hardly help +wishing that they might all be helped to emigrate to countries where +their industry and economy would more certainly be rewarded, and where +they would have a fairer prospect for success in the struggle for life +and advancement. Many of them would undoubtedly be far better off if +they could emigrate under favorable conditions. The descendants of many +of those who were forced to leave their homes by "cruel and heartless +Highland lairds," and who suffered terrible hardships in getting to this +country and founding new homes, have now attained such wealth and +influence as they could not possibly have acquired among their ancestral +hills. The Royal Commissioners recommended that the state should aid +those who may be willing to emigrate from certain islands and districts +where the population is apparently too great for the means of +subsistence.</p> + +<p>The crofters are, however, strongly attached to their native hills and +glens, and they claim that such laws can and ought to be enacted as will +enable them to live in comfort where they are. The present, it is urged, +is a particularly favorable time to establish prosperous small farmers +in many parts of the Highlands where sheep-farming has proved a failure. +The inhabitants of the coasts and islands are largely a seafaring +people. There is quite as much Norse as Celtic blood in the veins of +many of them, and the Norseman's love of the sea leads them naturally to +fishing or navigation. The herring-fisheries, with liberal encouragement +on the part of the government, might be made far more profitable to the +fishermen and to the nation. Besides, the seafaring people of the +Highlands and islands "constitute a natural basis for the naval defence +of the country, a sort of defence which cannot be extemporized, and +which in possible emergencies can hardly be overrated." At the present +time they "contribute four thousand four hundred and thirty-one men to +the Royal Naval Reserve,—a number equivalent to the crews of seven +armored war-steamers of the first class." It is surely desirable to +foster a population which has been a "nursery of good citizens and good +workers for the whole empire," and of the best sailors and soldiers for +the British navy and army. Public policy demands that every legitimate +means be used to better the condition of the crofters and cottars, and +to encourage them to remain in and develop the industries of their own +country, instead of abandoning it to sheep and deer. Private interests +must be made subordinate to the public good. Parliament may therefore +interfere with the rights of landed property when the interests of the +people and of the nation demand it, as they do in this case.</p> + +<p>It was on some such grounds that the Royal Commissioners recommended +that restrictions be placed upon the further extension of deer-forests, +that the fishing interests should be aided by the government, that the +proprietors should be required to restore to the crofters lands formerly +used as common pastures, and to give them, under certain restrictions, +the use of more land, enlarging their holdings, and that in certain +cases they should be compelled to grant leases at rents fixed by +arbitration, and to give compensation for improvements. The government +is already helping the fishermen by constructing a new harbor and by +improving means of communication and transportation, and proposes to +greatly lighten taxation in the near future.</p> + +<p>The bill which the late government introduced into Parliament does not +undertake to provide for aid to those who may wish to emigrate, or for +the compulsory restoration of common pasture, or for the enlargement of +the holdings. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 185]</span>It does, however, propose to lend money on +favorable terms for stocking and improving enlarged or new holdings. As +a convention of landlords which was held at Aberdeen last January, and +which represented a large amount of land, resolved to increase the size +of crofters' holdings as suitable opportunities offered and when the +tenants could profitably occupy and stock the same, the demand for more +land seems likely to be conceded in many cases without compulsory +legislation. The bill defines a crofter to be a tenant from year to year +of a holding of which the rent is less than fifty pounds a year, and +which is situated in a crofting-parish. Every such crofter is to have +security of tenure so long as he pays his rent and complies with certain +other conditions; his rent is to be fixed by an official valuer or by +arbitration, if he and his landlord cannot agree in regard to it; he is +to have compensation, on quitting his holding, for all his improvements +which are suitable for the holding; and his heirs may inherit his +interests, although he may not sell or assign them. Such propositions +seem radical and calculated to interfere greatly with proprietary rights +and the freedom of contract. They are, however, but little more than +statements of the customs that already exist on some of the best +estates. Just as the government by the Irish Land Law Act (1881) took up +the Ulster tenant-right customs, gave them the force of law, and +extended them to all Ireland, it is proposed by this bill to give the +sanction of law to those customary rights which the crofters claim to +have inherited from former generations, and which have long been +conceded by some of the landlords.</p> + +<p>Such a measure of relief will not make all the crofters contented and +prosperous. It will, however, give them security against being turned +out of their homes and against excessively high rents, and will +encourage them to spend their labor and money in improving their +holdings. If some assistance could be given to those who may wish to +emigrate from overcrowded districts, and if the government would make +liberal advances of money to promote the fishing industry, the prospect +that the discontent and destitution would disappear would be much +better. The relief proposed will, however, be thankfully received by +many of the crofters and their friends.</p> + +<p class="author">DAVID BENNETT KING.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="MY_FRIEND_GEORGE_RANDALL" />MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL.</h2> + + +<p>Since his own days at the university George Randall had always had a +friend or two among the students who came after him. I remember how in +my Freshman year I used to see Tom Wayward going up the stairs in the +Academy of Music building to his office, and how I used to envy Billy +Wylde when I met him arm in arm with George on one of the campus malls. +It was occasionally whispered about that Randall's influence on these +young men was not of the very best, and that he used to have a +never-empty bottle of remarkably smooth whiskey in his closet, along +with old letter-files and brief-books; and it is undoubtedly true that +Perry Tomson and I used to consider George's friends as models in the +manner of smoking a pipe, or ordering whiskey-and-soda at Bertrand's to +give us an appetite for our mutton-chops or our <i>bifteck aux pommes</i>, +and in the delightful self-sufficiency with which in the pleasant spring +days they would cut recitations and loll on the grass smoking cigarettes +right under the nose, almost, of the professor. But they are both +married now, and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 186]</span>settled down to respectable conventional +success; and Billy Wylde, as I happen to know, has repaid the money +which George lent him wherewith to finish his education in Germany. The +estimable matrons of Lincoln who made so much ado over George's ruining +these young men,—who had such bright intellects and might have been +expected to do something but for that dreadfully well read lawyer's +awful influence,—these women do not consider it worth their while now, +in the face of the facts as they have turned out, to remember their +predictions, but confine themselves to making their dismal prophecies +anew in regard to the three young fellows whom George has of late taken +up. But then I remember how they went on about Perry Tomson and me in +the early part of our Junior year, when we began to enjoy the favor of +George's friendship; and if their miserable croaking never does any +good, I fancy it will never work any very great harm: so one might as +well let them croak in peace. In fact, one would more easily dam the +waters of Niagara than stop them, and George, I know, doesn't care the +cork of an empty beer-bottle what they say of him.</p> + +<p>I have never tried to analyze the influence for good George had over us, +or account for it in any way, nor do I care to. I have always considered +his friendship for me as one of the pleasantest and most profitable +experiences of my life in Lincoln. Perry and I were always more close +and loving friends, and cared for George with a silent but abiding sense +of gratitude in addition to the other sources of our affection for him, +after he showed us the boyish foolishness of our quarrel about Lucretia +Knowles. Of course I ought not to have grown angry at Perry's +good-natured cynicism; for how could he have imagined that I cared for +her? Though I sometimes think, even now, that Perry was indeed anxious +lest I should fall in love with her, and wanted to ridicule me out of +the notion, and I fear, in spite of his acquaintance, that he +disapproves of our engagement. I wonder if he will ever get over his +prejudice against women. The dear old fellow! if he would only consent +to know Lucretia better I am sure he would.</p> + +<p>One night in the winter before we graduated, Perry and I went with +George to the Third House, which is a mock session of the legislature +that the political wags of the State take advantage of to display their +wit and quickness at repartee and ability to make artistic fools of +themselves. If it happens to be a year for the election of a senator, as +it was in this case, the different candidates are in turn made fun of +and held up to ridicule or approval; and the chief issues of the time +are handled without gloves in a way that is always amusing and often +worth while in showing the ridiculous nature of some of them. The Third +House is usually held on some evening during the first or second week of +the session, and is opened by the Speaker calling the house to order +with a thundering racket of the gavel—"made from the wood of trees +grown on the prairies of the State"—and announcing the squatter +governor. Since the State was a territory, this announcement, after due +formalities, has been followed by the statement that, as the squatter +governor is somewhat illiterate, his message will be read by his private +secretary. After this personage has read his score or more pages of +jokes, sarcastic allusions, and ridiculous recommendations, the +discussion of the message takes place, during which any one who thinks +of a bright remark may get up and fire it at the gallery; and many very +lame attempts pass for good wit, and much private spite goes for +harmless fooling.</p> + +<p>George got us seats in the gallery next to old Billy Gait, the +bald-headed bachelor, who owns half a dozen houses which he rents for +fifty dollars a month each, and who lives on six hundred a year, +investing the surplus of his income every now and then in another house. +William, as usual, had a pretty girl at his elbow, and we heard him +telling her how he could never get interested in George Eliot's novels, +and how it beat <span class="pagenum">[Pg 187]</span>him to know why he ever wrote such tedious +books. The young lady smiled over her fan at Randall, and said that she +supposed Mr. Eliot had a great deal of spare time on his hands, but of +course he had no business to employ it in writing tiresome novels.</p> + +<p>George, who knew everybody, had a kindly greeting for all who were +within its reach, even for the tired-looking little school-teacher, who +had come out with her landlady's fifteen-year-old son as an escort and +in a little while had settled down to quiet enjoyment of the squatter +governor's message, approving with a quiet smile the grin that +occasionally spread over Perry's good-humored face. As for me, I was +made miserable from the start by seeing Lucretia Knowles in one of the +best seats on the floor, with a conceited fool of a +newspaper-correspondent at her side, whispering nonsense in her ear at +such a rate that she did nothing but laugh and turn her pretty head back +to speak with Mamie Jennings, her <i>fidus Achates</i>, and never once cast +her eyes toward the gallery. She has said since that she knew I was +there all the time, and that she didn't dare look at me, because I was +such a frightful picture of jealousy, with my fingers in my hair and my +elbow on the gallery railing, staring down on the floor as if I should +like to drop a bomb and annihilate the entire lot. It is all very well +to look back now and laugh and feel sorry for the curly-locked +journalist, who is writing letters from Mexico and trying to get over +the disappointment which the knowledge of our engagement gave him, but +it was very little fun for me at the time.</p> + +<p>I turned away a dozen times, and swore inwardly that I wouldn't look +that way again, and after each resolve I would find my eyes glancing +from one person to another in Lu's vicinity, until finally they would +rest again on her. When I had declared for the thirteenth time that I +wouldn't contemplate her heartless flirting, I noticed George bow to +some one who had just come in at the gallery door. A young man from one +of the western counties was making a satirical speech in favor of the +woman's suffrage amendment, misquoting Tennyson's "Princess" and making +the gallery shake with laughter, at the time; but I noticed George's +face light up and his eyes sparkle with pleasure at the sight of the +new-comer. She was a beautiful lady, over thirty, I should say, with the +sweetest face, for a sad one, I had ever seen. Of course, in a certain +way I like Lucretia's style of beauty better; but Mrs. Herbert was +beautiful in a way, so far as the women I have ever seen are concerned, +peculiar to herself. She was rather slender, and had a calm, graceful +bearing that I somehow at once associated with purity and nobleness. She +was quite simply dressed, and had on a small widow's bonnet, with the +ribbons tied under her chin, while a charming little girl, whose hair +curled obstinately over her forehead, had hold of her hand.</p> + +<p>I was somewhat surprised—I will not say disappointed exactly—to see +her lips break into a glad smile, though it made her face look all the +lovelier and sweeter, in reply to George's greeting; and when she came +toward us, as he beckoned her to do, every one immediately and gladly +made room for her to pass. Perry and I gave our seats to Mrs. Herbert +and her little girl; and I found myself speculating, as I leaned against +one of the pillars, on the difference of expression in the eyes of the +two, which were otherwise so much alike,—the same deep shade of brown, +the same soft look, the same lashes, and yet what a vast difference when +one thought of the combined effect of all these similar details. I spoke +to Perry of it, and he good-naturedly poked fun at me, saying I was +forever trying to see a romance or a history in people's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose you will say she isn't even lovely," I exclaimed, with +impatience.</p> + +<p>"I'm no judge," he replied, with exasperating carelessness; "but a +little too pale, I should say. I wish George hadn't introduced her to +me."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it made me feel cheap to have to back into old Billy Gait's bony +legs <span class="pagenum">[Pg 188]</span>and try to bow and shake hands before everybody,—in the +eyes of the assembled community, as Charley McWenn would say."</p> + +<p>McWenn was the stupid block of a journalist,—for I do think him a +stupid block, in spite of his cleverness,—and I realized then that I +had forgotten for a moment all about Lucretia. I could not see her from +my new position, so I amused myself by imagining how she was carrying +on.</p> + +<p>At last George and Mrs. Herbert rose up to go, and the former, as he +asked our forgiveness for leaving us, told us to come to his office when +we had enough of the Third House, and, if he wasn't there, to wait for +him. "We'll go over to Bertrand's and have some oysters," he said, with +his confidence-inspiring smile. I have always thought that if George had +not had so pleasant a smile and such a soulful laugh we should never +have been such friends.</p> + +<p>We found him waiting for us at the foot of the Academy of Music stairs, +with a cigar in his mouth and one for each of us in his hand, and we +knew from experience that his case was filled with a reserve.</p> + +<p>"It's a pleasant night, boys, isn't it?" he said, looking up at the +stars (wonderfully bright they were in the clear, cold atmosphere) as we +went, crunching the snow under our feet, along the deserted streets to +the little back-entrance we knew of to Bertrand's.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Perry; "but you missed the best thing of the whole circus by +leaving before Colonel Bouteille made his speech in favor of the +prohibition amendment." And he gave a <i>résumé</i> of the colonel's +laughable sophistry for George's benefit,—and for mine as well, for I +had paid no attention to the old toper's remarks.</p> + +<p>We could see the glimmer of lights behind the shutters of the faro-room +over Sudden's saloon and hear the rattle of the ivory counters as we +passed.</p> + +<p>"Do you ever go up there?" asked George, interrupting Perry.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; sometimes," we answered.</p> + +<p>"Play a little now and then? I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"We don't like to loaf around such a place," said Perry rather grandly, +considering our circumstances, "without putting down a few dollars."</p> + +<p>"That's all right," said George; "but once or twice is enough, boys. +After you have seen what the thing is like, keep away from the tiger. +She is a greedy beast, and always hungry; and of course you can't think +of sitting down at a poker-table with the professional players."</p> + +<p>Direct advice was rather a new strain for Randall, and we were not +surprised when he dropped it abruptly as we filed into a little private +room at the restaurant.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I fancy old Bouteille might have made a humorous speech," he said, +after ordering the oysters. "Three?" he added, looking at me, "or four?"</p> + +<p>"Quarts?" I asked in reply.</p> + +<p>George nodded.</p> + +<p>"Two, I should say."</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother!" exclaimed Perry. "We should only have to trouble the +waiter again."</p> + +<p>So George ordered four bottles of beer.</p> + +<p>"It's after ten o'clock, sir," said the waiter doubtfully. It is +needless to say that he was a new one.</p> + +<p>"That's the reason we came here," answered George, with a calm manner of +assumption that dissipated the waiter's doubts while it evidently filled +him with remorse. "Where's Auguste?"</p> + +<p>"He's gone to bed, sir; but I guess 'twill be all right." And the waiter +started to fetch the beer.</p> + +<p>"I should think so," growled Perry.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is not good form to drink beer with oysters," I suggested +mildly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I'm sure," said George.</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," said Perry; "they go so well together. I hope it isn't, +at any rate: I like to do things that are bad form."</p> + +<p>So I relapsed into silence, and my speculations about George's outbreak +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 189]</span>against gambling, and Mrs. Herbert's beautiful face and sad +eyes, and Lucretia Knowles's wicked light-heartedness.</p> + +<p>When we had finished eating and had opened the last bottle of beer, I +asked George, as he stopped his talk with Perry for a moment to relight +his cigar, who Mrs. Herbert was.</p> + +<p>"She is the noblest and most unfortunate woman in the world," he +replied, "I will tell you her story some time, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear it now," I cried, looking at Perry with triumph.</p> + +<p>"Yes, let us," said Perry, nothing to my surprise, for I knew his heart +was in the right place, if his ways were a little rough and +unimpressionable-like. "We have no recitations, no lectures, no +anything, to-morrow, and there is no one else in the restaurant but the +waiter, and he is asleep."</p> + +<p>And, in fact, we could hear him snoring.</p> + +<p>"No, I would rather not tell it here," George said simply; "but if you +will come with me to the office you shall hear it." And when we had +heard it we respected the feeling that had prompted him to consider even +the walls of such a place as unfit listeners. To be sure, it was a very +comfortable restaurant, where the waiters were always attentive and +skilful and the mutton-chops irreproachable, and many a pleasant evening +had we three had there over our cigars and Milwaukee, and sometimes a +bottle or two of claret. But so had Tom Hagard, the faro-dealer, and +Frank Sauter, who played poker over Sudden's, and Dick Bander, who got +his money from Madame Blank because he happened to be a swashing +slugger, and many another Tom, Dick, and Harry whose reputations were, +to say the least, questionable. Of course we never associated with such +characters, and plenty of estimable people besides ourselves frequented +Bertrand's. The place was not in bad odor at all, but merely a little +miscellaneous, and suited our plebeian fancies all the more on that +account. If young fellows want to be really comfortable in life, we +thought, and see a little at first hand just what sort of people make +up the world, they must not be too particular. So we used to sit down at +the next table to one where a gambler or a horse-jockey would perhaps be +seated, or a man of worse fame, and order our humble repast with a quiet +conscience and a strengthened determination never to become one among +such people. We would even see the gay flutter of skirts sometimes, as +the waiter entered one of the private rooms with an armful of dishes, +and hear the chatter and laughter of the wearers.</p> + +<p>We did not wonder, therefore, at George's preference for his own office, +whose four walls had never looked down upon anything but innocent young +fellows smoking and talking whatever harmless nonsense came into their +heads, or playing chess or penny-ante, or upon his own generous thoughts +and solitary contemplations, or hard work on some intricate lawsuit. So +we aroused the sleeping waiter, and walked back to the Academy of Music +building in silence.</p> + +<p>"It is rather a long story," said George, when we had at last made +ourselves comfortable, "and I have never told it before. I don't know +why I should tell it now, but somehow I want to. I felt this evening +after I left the Capitol that I would, and I asked leave of Mrs. Herbert +while we were walking to her home together. I knew she would let me: I +am the only friend, I suppose,—the only real friend, I mean, whom she +trusts and treats as an intimate friend,—that she has in the world. I +know I am the only person who knows the whole story of her sad life.</p> + +<p>"When I was in the university," he slowly continued, holding his cigar +in the gas-jet and turning it over and over between his fingers, with an +evident air of collating his reminiscences, "Phil Kendall and I were +great friends. I don't know how we ever came to be so: it was natural, I +suppose, for us to like each other. I used to notice that he did not +associate much with the other fellows; and yet he was the best runner +and boxer in the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 190]</span>class. He was the only fellow in the +university who could do the giant swing on the bar, and, though he had +never taken lessons, it was next to impossible for any one but Wayland, +the sub-professor in chemistry, to touch him with the foils. Somehow we +were drawn together, and before long were hardly ever apart. We used to +get out our Horace together, he with the pony and text and I with the +lexicon, for he was too impatient to hunt up the words. I believe you +study differently now."</p> + +<p>"We still have the pony," said Perry.</p> + +<p>"And we used to puzzle our heads together over Mechanics, for we didn't +have election as you do, and take long walks, and play chess, and get up +spreads in our room for nobody but us two. Not such elaborate affairs as +are called spreads now, but I warrant you they were fully as much +enjoyed. I fancy we were rather sentimental. We used to hold imaginary +conversations in the person of some favorite characters in fiction; but +we were very young and boyish."</p> + +<p>Perry glanced at me sheepishly, but George went on without noticing:</p> + +<p>"Phil's father lived here, and was proprietor of the only wholesale +grocery-store the town then boasted of. He had been captain of a +volunteer company in the war, and, I fancy, had a romance too. At any +rate, his wife had been dead since Phil was a little fellow in +knickerbockers; and not very long after her death a certain Mrs. Preston +had sent a little girl, about a year older than Phil, with a dying +charge to the captain to care for the friendless orphan for the sake of +their early love. No one but Grace could ever get anything out of the +old gentleman about her mother, and she never learned much. Mrs. Preston +had been unhappy at least, and perhaps miserable, in her marriage. We +always thought she had forsaken Mr. Kendall in their youth and made a +hasty marriage; but never a word was uttered by him about Grace's +father.</p> + +<p>"I used to imagine Mr. Kendall cared more for his adopted daughter than +for his son, from what I saw of them, and I was at the house a good +deal with Phil. I am sure they were very affectionate; and it was only +natural that the melancholy old man—that is the way he always struck +me—should have loved the daughter of the woman who had deserted him and +then turned toward him in her hour of supreme need. It showed that her +trust and belief in him and his goodness had never really left her. And, +besides, Grace was always so airy and light-hearted,—nothing could put +her out of humor,—so kind and gentle, and as lovely as a flower. She is +a splendid-looking woman yet, but one can have no idea of what she was +in those days, from the sad-eyed Mrs. Herbert who smiles so rarely on +any one but her little girl. Nannie is going to make much such a young +lady as her mother was, but I don't believe she will ever be quite so +beautiful.</p> + +<p>"Well, I was not long in discovering that Phil was in love with his +father's adopted daughter. I was never quite sure whether he knew it +himself at the time or not, but I could see easily enough that she +didn't dream of such a thing, nor the old captain either. They were so +much like brother and sister it used to make me feel wofully sorry for +Phil to see her throw her arms around his neck and kiss him for some +little kindness or other that he was always doing her: the difference of +mood in which the caress would be given from that in which Phil would +receive it was somehow always painful to me. Phil would never offer to +kiss her on his own account; and it is still a mystery to me why she +never discovered how he felt toward her until he became jealous. The +tenderness and gentle considerateness of his bearing were always so +marked that to a less innocent and pure nature, I fancy, it would have +been noticeable at once.</p> + +<p>"When we were Juniors, Phil took her to a party one night, just after +Easter. The captain was a scrupulous Churchman, and Grace was always by +him in the pew. She had not been confirmed, however, and never said a +word <span class="pagenum">[Pg 191]</span>to Phil and me about our persistency in staying away from +church, though the captain used to lecture Phil quite soberly about it. +This party was given at the house of one of the vestrymen, and they had +refreshments, and, after the rector had gone home, dancing. They called +it a sociable, and took up a collection for the ladies' aid society just +after the cake and coffee and whipped cream had been served. There was +where Grace first met George Herbert. He was a handsome young fellow, +well educated, a graduate of some Eastern college, clever and talented, +and his family in Rochester, New York, were considered very good people. +He had come to Lincoln to take a place on the 'Gazette,' and every one +thought him a young man of good parts and fair prospects.</p> + +<p>"He made up to Grace from the start. They were laughing and talking +together all the evening on a little sofa, just large enough for two, +that stood in the bow-window. There was a little crowd of young people +around the two most of the time, and she was saying bright things to +them all, but never, I noticed, at the expense of young Herbert, who +made most of his remarks so low that no one but Grace could hear them. +She always smiled and often broke out into her musical laugh at what he +said; and when Phil, who had been trapped into a game of whist with some +old fogies, finally came back into the parlor and made his way to where +Grace was having such a happy time, she even launched a shaft or two of +her wit at him.</p> + +<p>"I saw that the poor fellow was hurt: he turned away without answering, +though, and, coming over to where I was, sat down and began looking at +an album, trying hard all the time to hide his feelings. But in a moment +Grace was hanging over his shoulder, oblivious of her surroundings, and +lovingly begging his pardon if she had hurt him. I have sometimes +thought that Phil then fully realized for the first time how he cared +for her. The way in which her affection disregarded the presence of the +crowd smote him, I imagine, with something like despair. I saw him turn +pale and catch his breath, and I knew his laugh too well to be deceived, +as Grace was, when he made light of her self-accusations and declared +that than taking offence at her words nothing had been further from his +thoughts. This was in a sense true, of course, for ordinarily he would +have answered as light-heartedly almost as Grace herself; and it was +only the feeling of jealousy, unconscious perhaps, at any rate +irresistible, that gave her words undue—no, not that exactly, but +unusual influence over his feelings.</p> + +<p>"For a while Phil acted as considerately as ever, and made himself +thoroughly agreeable to several young ladies, whereat Grace was highly +pleased and soon took up again her mood of gayety. But when Phil brought +her a plate and napkin and some things to eat, and found her and Herbert +already served and with mock gravity breaking a piece of cake together +on the stairs,—'they were only doing it,' Phil declared to me +afterward, 'that they might touch each other's hands,'—he lost his +head. He must have spoken very bitterly, else he would never have +aroused Grace's anger. I don't know what he said, except that he +complained about having come to such a thing as a church sociable, which +he despised, and, inasmuch as he had done it for the sake of her +enjoyment and pleasure, she might at least have shown him the same +politeness she would have accorded to any of the insufferable prigs whom +she seemed delighted to honor.</p> + +<p>"Herbert started to reply, but Grace silenced him by a look, and said, +'We have been as brother and sister since childhood.' It was probably +well for Herbert's handsome face that he did not enter into a discussion +with Phil. They were both hot-tempered, and Phil had no scruples against +asking him out of doors, and would have been as cool in his manner and +as terrible in his strength as an iceberg.</p> + +<p>"Grace led Phil away, and tried to tell him how she had not supposed he +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 192]</span>would care; that she had imagined he would prefer to serve the +young lady with whom he had been talking; how she had never known him to +put such store by trivialities before; how 'at least we,' Phil told me, +bitterly quoting her words, 'at least we ought to be sure of each +other's hearts,' and did everything to pacify him. But he would listen +to nothing, and, coming to me, asked me to walk home with Grace, as he +was going away immediately. I imagined the trouble, and got him to admit +that he and Grace had said unkind words to each other. But he would say +nothing more about the matter till I found him in my room after it was +all over, when he raved about Grace until near morning, and cursed the +fate that had turned the bread of her kind affection for him into a +stone. 'How can I ever hope to win her love when she thinks that way of +me?' he would ask sorrowfully, after telling of some pure and loving +freedom she had taken. I was full of pity for the miserable fellow, but +I felt as if I ought to do all I could to discourage him. I was sure he +was right; he never could hope to, and I thought the sooner he learned +this, and to submit to it, the better it would be for him.</p> + +<p>"I persuaded him not to leave the party in the height of his resentment, +though, and he was so quiet before the dancing that I began to hope he +would beg Grace's pardon and take her home repentantly and in peace. But +he insisted on my going and offering to dance with her the first set in +his place. She had already promised, she said, to dance it with Mr. +Herbert, and it was in vain that I told her she must look upon me as +acting for Phil, and advised her for his sake to excuse herself to +Herbert and dance with either Phil or myself. 'If Phil should come and +ask me himself on his knees I would not do it,' she declared, with +superb grandeur, 'He has acted wrong, and imputed to me the worst +motives for trivial things which I did unthinkingly even, and, heaven +knows, without deliberate calculation.'</p> + +<p>"I saw it was no use to talk with her, and that in her present mood even +entreaty, to which she was usually so yielding, would be of no avail. I +felt very helpless and miserable about it, but I could do nothing. I saw +that Phil had made a grave mistake by accusing her of partiality for +Herbert, and that her acquaintance with him might possibly be forced +into a closer relation by Phil's jealousy. I kept away from him for a +while, and almost made Miss Scrawney think I had fallen in love with +her, in order to keep Phil from getting a word with me. At last, +however, just as the music began, he pulled my sleeve and asked in a +whisper if I wasn't going to take Grace out and dance with her.</p> + +<p>"'She was already engaged,' I answered.</p> + +<p>"'To whom?' said Phil. 'But there is no need to ask.' And at the moment, +indeed, almost as if in answer to his question, Grace entered the room +from the hall on Herbert's arm. I was afraid for an instant that Phil +would make a scene. The veins on his forehead swelled, and he started +forward as they passed within a few feet of where we were standing, +Grace smiling and talking to Herbert, apparently as oblivious of us as +if we had not been within a thousand miles of her; but he mastered the +impulse, whatever it was, and I have often speculated as to whether it +was to upbraid Grace or to strike Herbert.</p> + +<p>"'Look at her, George,' he said, with a calmness that was belied by the +look in his eyes. 'You wouldn't think that three hours ago she had never +known him, would you? nor that we had lived in the same house since we +were no higher than that. Her mother, I know, did her best to break my +old man's heart, and I warrant you it was for some such worthless fool +as that, who wasn't fit to black the dear old fellow's boots. Poor old +dad! we shall be together in the boat: when I begin to handle hams and +barrelled sugar we will write ourselves 'Kendall & Son' with a +flourish.' And as we went up the stairs to get his coat and hat he told +me to stay and offer to go home with Grace. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 193]</span>'It wouldn't do for +me to leave her unless you do, George,' he said; 'but if she wants to go +with Herbert, let her; but she shall not say I went away and left her +without an escort.'</p> + +<p>"I promised readily enough, and even hurried him away. There was no good +in his staying; in fact, I thought it better that he should leave; and +after he had gone I went to Grace. I managed the matter rather badly, +but I suppose the most consummate tact on my part would not have changed +things. I should have waited until I saw her alone, or until the party +was breaking up; but I went directly I saw they had stopped dancing. She +was leaning on the piano and letting Herbert fan her, and looking almost +too beautiful for real life as she turned her face toward him, flushed +with her exercise and beaming with excitement. There was something grand +to me in the expression of individuality and proud insistence that had +come to her so suddenly. It was no factitious strife of her nature +against the dependence of her position as an adopted daughter, I knew, +for she had never felt in the least but that she was perfectly free; it +was no caprice or stubbornness; it was merely her womanly assertion of +self and her unconscious protest against what she thought injustice. She +would not have believed from any one but Phil himself that he was in +love with her and jealous.</p> + +<p>"'Phil has gone away,' I said bluntly, interrupting their talk. She +looked at me for a moment and raised her eyebrows slightly.</p> + +<p>"'Has he?' was all she asked.</p> + +<p>"'Yes: he was feeling badly,' I went on. 'He asked me to walk home with +you when you were ready to go. I thought I would tell you now, so you +would not be at a loss in case you should want to leave before the party +breaks up.'</p> + +<p>"'You are very kind, I am sure, Mr. Kendall' (she usually called me +George), 'but I shall not want to go for ever so long yet. It was +needless for Phil to trouble you; he knew I should get home all +right,—but it was like him. I am awfully sorry to keep you waiting: I +know you are anxious to get back to your pipe and books.'</p> + +<p>"Here Herbert said something with the appearance of speaking to us both; +but she only could hear what it was. I, however, imagined readily +enough.</p> + +<p>"'Will you?' she answered him, in a pleased tone, and I fancied her +smile was grateful. 'Mr. Herbert is going to stay and dance a while +longer,' she went on, turning to me, 'and if he takes me home it will +not seem as if I were troubling any one too much, and—'</p> + +<p>"'Very well, Miss Preston,' I interrupted, making my best bow; 'as you +like.' And when I saw the smile on Herbert's face I didn't wonder much +at the way Phil had felt. 'Let me bid you good-night,' I said, bowing +again, and started off.</p> + +<p>"Grace followed me rapidly into the hall. 'Now, please don't you be +angry too, George,' she said, laying her hand on my arm.</p> + +<p>"'I am not angry,' I said.</p> + +<p>"'Do you think it right, George,' she asked earnestly,—and there was a +pleading look in her eyes,—'or manly to desert one's friends in +trouble?'</p> + +<p>"'I am doing the best I know how,' said I, 'to be true to my friend.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, George, I am so sorry!' Her voice trembled, and all her +queenliness had gone. 'You must not go off this way. You don't blame me +as Phil does, do you? Wait, I will get my things, and you shall walk +home with me now. I will see Phil and tell him—'</p> + +<p>"'He has gone to my room,' I said.</p> + +<p>"'Well, I will wait till you bring him home. You must tell him I forgive +him,—or no, tell him I am sorry and ask his forgiveness. Oh, George, we +cannot be this way. Only think how sad it would make his father—and—' +There were tears on her lashes, and her lips were trembling piteously. +She put her hand to her throat and could not go on. God forgive me if I +was wrong,—and I know I was,—but I couldn't help it then,—I asked, +almost with a sneer, if she didn't dislike to slight her estimable +friend Mr. Herbert's kindness; and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 194]</span>she turned away without a +word, as if regretting, from my unworthiness, the emotion she had shown.</p> + +<p>"I was in very nearly as bad a state as Phil for a while. I told him +just how I had acted, and he was rather pleased than otherwise at my +cruelty. We tried hard to make ourselves believe that Grace had deserved +it, and to a certain extent succeeded.</p> + +<p>"'She probably thought it was too high a price,' said Phil, 'when she +saw both of us going off offended, and she concluded not to give it. +But, then, it was just like her,' he added, in a kindlier spirit than +the natural interpretation of his words seemed to indicate.</p> + +<p>"It was a month before either of us went to the house. The old captain +thought at first that we were going to the dogs, and, I think, kept up a +kind of watch over our movements. He came in one morning, after he had +concluded his suspicions were wrong, and made a sort of expiatory call. +He tried to tell us how he had judged us too harshly, but couldn't quite +bring himself to it, and, after a good many half-uttered remarks that +did honor to the old gentleman's heart, if they didn't prove him a cool +hand in such matters, he left us with an unspoken blessing and some +homely, sound advice to do as we liked, so long as we were manly and +honest.</p> + +<p>"Within a week he was stricken with apoplexy on receiving news of some +serious losses, and was taken home without speaking. He died the next +morning just at sunrise, and Grace and Phil mingled their tears at his +bedside. He tried in vain to speak to them, and the pleased light in his +eyes as they took each other's hands and laid them, joined together, in +his, was the only sign he gave of having known there had been a +difference between them.</p> + +<p>"Poor Grace! she was very miserable and lonely after that. Phil could +never bear to be with her after he had spoken. Her true kindness and +gentle, loving pity were misery to him. He made a noble effort to stay +by and watch over her, but he was hardly fit to take care of himself. +She never knew how small a share of what little was left of his +father's money he took with him to the mountains, but she realized why +he went without waiting for his degree, and sadly approved his +resolution. She always kept the growing attachment between her and +Herbert from grating on Phil as much as was in her power, but he could +not help seeing it. Though he never said anything even to me, it was +plain that he had a poor opinion of the young journalist; and Grace was +very thankful to him for all he did and suffered.</p> + +<p>"She must have felt very much alone in the world after Phil left, and +the house certainly seemed empty and sad when I used to go there to see +her. There was no one but Grace and the housekeeper and an old +gentleman, a clerk in one of the State departments, to whom she had +rented rooms, partly for the money and partly to have a man in the +house. Herbert was with her whenever his work would permit, and there +was some talk about their intimacy among people who, even if they had +known her, were too base to have appreciated the fineness and truth and +purity of Grace's nature.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't blame her for marrying Herbert,—which she did the fall +after I graduated. They certainly were very much in love, and Herbert +had borne himself creditably in every way. No one could have foreseen +that he would turn out so badly; and for a year or more after their +marriage they were as happy as birds in May. Grace was never +light-hearted, as when I first knew her,—no woman of worth and +tenderness would have been,—but still she was happily and sweetly +contented, completely bound up in her husband, thinking almost of +nothing but him, and caring for nothing but his love.</p> + +<p>"When I came back from the law-school, I went to see them as soon as I +was settled. They had sold the house, and were living in a rented +cottage out in East Lincoln. Nannie, their baby, was quite if not more +than a year old then; and, though I had known that Grace would be a fond +mother, I was <span class="pagenum">[Pg 195]</span>unprepared to see the way in which she seemed +absolutely to worship the child. I immediately asked myself if it meant +that she was not so happy with Herbert as she had been. I met him at +tea, to which Grace insisted on my staying. His dress was as neat and as +carefully arranged as ever, and he was cordial enough toward me; but he +did not kiss Grace when he came in, and hardly looked at the baby. He +laughed a good deal, and told several amusing incidents of his newspaper +experience. I noticed that his old habit of looking at one's chin or +cravat instead of at one's eyes when he spoke to one had grown upon him. +He excused himself soon after tea on the ground of having to be at the +office, and went away smoking a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"Grace complained of the way in which his work kept him up nights. He +was never home until after midnight, she said, and sometimes not before +morning. She was afraid it was telling upon his health. 'You must come +and see me often. George.' she said, as she gave me her hand at parting. +'I see very little of my husband now, and, if it were not for Nannie, I +feel as if I should be almost unhappy. Then he would have to do some +other work, though he likes journalism so well.' That was the nearest +she ever came to complaining to me, though I soon knew that she had +plenty of cause. She was not entirely deceived by Herbert's assertions +and excuses. I learned before long, for I made a point of finding out, +that he was never obliged to be at the office after nine o'clock, that +he gambled and drank, and was looked on with unpleasant suspicions by +his employers, so that he might at any time find himself without a +position. He owned no property, and Grace's little patrimony had +disappeared, even to the money they had received for the house, without +leaving the slightest trace. Herbert's ill reputation was common +property in the town, and he and Grace went nowhere together. She had +even given up going to church, that she might be with him for a few +hours on Sundays; and now and then if he took her for a walk and pushed +the baby-carriage through the Capitol-grounds for an hour, she cared +more for it than for a whole stack of Mr. Gittner's sermons. She had no +friends at all, and but few acquaintances, and altogether had much to +bear up under. Right nobly she did it, too; never a word of complaint to +any one: I believe not even to herself would she admit that she was +treated basely.</p> + +<p>"They kept on in this way for a year after I opened my office. I heard +from Phil now and then,—brief notes that he was alive and well,—and on +the 11th of June, the date of the old captain's death, Grace always +received a long letter from him, full of references to their childhood, +but telling little of himself. Herbert's reputation became worse and +worse, and he deserved all the evil that was said of him. The tradesmen +refused him credit, and the carpets and furniture of their little +cottage grew old and thread-bare and were not replaced. I have seen him +play pool at Sudden's for half a day at a dollar a game, and perhaps +lose his week's wages. He was hand in glove with the set that lurked +about the 'club-room' over the saloon, and almost any night could be +seen at the faro-table fingering his chips and checking off the cards on +his tally-sheet. Nobody but strangers would sit down to a game of poker +or casino with him: he had grown much too skilful. He was what they +called a 'very smooth player:' though I never heard of his being openly +accused of cheating.</p> + +<p>"One of my first cases of consequence was to recover some money which +had been paid to some sharpers by an innocent young fellow from the East +for a worthless mine in Colorado. In connection with it I went to +Denver. Charlie Wayland, a brother of the chemistry professor, happened +to be on the same train. He owns the planing-mill down on Sixth Street +now, you know; but he was a wild young fellow then, and knew everything +that was going on. He intended to have a time, he said, while he was in +Denver; that was what he was going for. He went with <span class="pagenum">[Pg 196]</span>me to the +St. James, where I had written Phil to meet me, if he could come down +from Boulder.</p> + +<p>"Young Wayland had his time in the city, and I had finished my business +and was going to start back and leave him to enjoy by himself his trip +to Pike's Peak and the other sights of the State, considerably +disappointed at not having seen Phil, when he came in on us as I was +packing my grip-sack. He was rough and hardy as a bear, and had grown a +tremendous black beard: his heavy hand closed over mine till my knuckles +cracked. We were glad enough to see each other, and had plenty to talk +about. Of course I stayed over another day, and Wayland put off his trip +to Pike's Peak to keep us company, though we didn't care so much for his +presence as he seemed to think we did. But he gave us a little dinner at +Charpiot's, and I forgave his talkativeness for the sake of the +champagne, until he became excited by drinking too much of it and began +to talk about George Herbert. He was stating his system of morality, +which was, in effect,—and Charlie had acted up to it pretty well,—that +a fellow should go it when he was young, but when he was married he +ought to settle down.</p> + +<p>"'Now, I can't stand a fellow like that Herbert,' he said; and for all +my kicks under the table he went on, 'It may be well enough for the +French, but I say in this country it's a devilish shame. He is a young +fellow in Lincoln, Mr. Kendall,—got a splendid wife, and a little baby, +one of the nicest women in the world, and thinks the world of him, and +he goes it with the boys as if he was one of 'em. He never goes home, +though, unless he is sober enough to keep himself straight; but I've +seen him bowling full many a time. Wine, women, and song, you know, and +all that; it may be well enough for us young bloods, but in a fellow of +his circumstances I say it's wrong, damn it! and he oughtn't to do it.'</p> + +<p>"Now, I had told Phil that Grace was well and fairly happy. I had +thought it but just to sink my opinion and give Grace's own account of +herself and deliver her simple message without comment. 'Give Phil my +love,' she had said as I left her the night before I came away.</p> + +<p>"'And how does this Herbert's wife take all this?' asked Phil of +Wayland.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, she doesn't know all, I suppose. If she did, it would probably +kill her. My brother's wife says that if it were not for her child she +doesn't believe Mrs. Herbert would live very long, as it is.'</p> + +<p>"'Her trouble is common talk, then?' observed Phil, sipping his wine and +avoiding my eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Why, yes, to a certain extent; though she doesn't parade it, by any +means. In fact, she lives very much alone; no one ever sees her, hardly, +but George here, who is an old friend, you know. Maybe you used to know +her,' he added suddenly, coming to himself a little. 'Well, if you did,' +he went on, as Phil did not answer, 'you wouldn't know her now, they +say, for the lively, careless girl she was five or six years ago.' And +then he began to talk about the condition of the Chinese in Denver, and +how he had that morning seen one of them kicked off the sidewalk without +having given the least provocation.</p> + +<p>"Phil said nothing further about the Herberts all evening, but just +before we separated for the night he asked me if I could let him have +some money. I unsuspectingly thanked my stars that I could, and told him +so.</p> + +<p>"'Well, then,' he declared, 'I am going back to Lincoln with you +to-morrow.' And, in spite of all I could say, he did. He had his beard +shaved off, bought himself some civilized clothes, and made his +appearance with me on the streets of Lincoln as naturally as if he had +gone away but the day before. His life in the mountains had given him an +air of decision, a certain quiet energy and determination which +impressed one immediately with the sense of his being a man of strong +character, with a powerful will under perfect control. I grew to have so +much confidence in him that I thought his coming would somehow +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 197]</span>be a benefit to Grace, though I could not see how; in fact, when +I tried to reason about it, I told myself exactly the contrary. But Phil +seemed to have such implicit confidence in himself, to be so +self-sufficient and so ready for any emergency, and altogether such a +perfect man of action, that he inspired belief and confidence in others.</p> + +<p>"We met Herbert on our way up from the station: he was standing in front +of the 'Gazette' office, laughing and talking with Sudden's barkeeper. +He greeted Phil with cordiality, in spite of the latter's distant +bearing, and told him Grace would be greatly pleased at his arrival.</p> + +<p>"'I suppose she will be glad to see me,' said Phil, as we passed on. And +she was glad, very glad, to see him, but she was far from being made +happy by his coming. I sent a note out to her, and Phil and I followed +shortly after. I did not watch their meeting,—I thought, somehow, that +no one ought to see it,—but I knew he took her in his arms; and when +she came out on the porch to bring me in there were tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"We all sat and talked for a long while, Grace with her hand in Phil's +and her eyes on his face, when she was not looking anxiously after my +awkward attempts at caring for her baby; for of course Nannie had been +brought out almost the first thing. I think, from the way in which she +carefully avoided asking him his reasons for coming back, that she +divined what they were. I imagined that she blamed me as being the prime +cause; but there was nothing I could say to undeceive her. In fact, I +thought it better for her to believe so than to know the truth.</p> + +<p>"'She is miserably unhappy, George,' said Phil gloomily, as we walked +away. 'But you were right not to tell me. I can do nothing to help her: +I cannot even openly sympathize with her. It would have been better to +have kept on thinking she was happy: there was a bitter kind of +satisfaction to me in that, but still it was a satisfaction.'</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless Phil did not go back to the mountains. He stayed on here +for a month or more, dividing his time pretty equally between my office +and Grace's little parlor. He very seldom met Herbert. Now and then they +would be together at the cottage for half an hour, if Herbert happened +to come home while he was there, and when they met on the street they +would merely pass the time of day.</p> + +<p>"One evening before going to supper I waited until after seven o'clock +for Phil to come in, and just as I had given him up, and was starting +away alone, he entered the office, looking pale as a ghost, and +evidently in great distress of spirit.</p> + +<p>"'For God's sake, Phil, what is the matter?' I exclaimed, as he sank +upon the sofa and covered his face with his hands.</p> + +<p>"'Go away, George: go away and leave me,' was all he said; then he got +up and began walking violently up and down the room. At last he came +near me and put his hand on my shoulder. 'I've killed her, George, I am +afraid; At least I have killed him right before her eyes, and she may +never get over it. I didn't mean to, George, you know that; but he came +home drunk, and I had gone to bid Grace good-by,—for I had made up my +mind, George, to leave to-morrow,—and he came in. We had been talking +of father, and Grace was very sad and wretched, and there were tears in +her eyes when she kissed me, just as he came in and saw us. She was +frightened at his brutality, and clung to me in terror, when he began +swearing in a torrent of passion and calling her the vilest of names. He +struck at us with his cane. If he had struck me he might yet have been +alive; but when I saw the great red welt on Grace's neck and heard her +cry out, I was wild, George. For an instant, I believe, I could have +stamped him into bits, and if it had been my last act on earth I could +not have helped striking him.'</p> + +<p>"While he spoke, Phil stood with his hand on my shoulder, looking into +my eyes, as if he wanted me to judge him, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 198]</span>as if he would read +in my very look whether I blamed him or not. I took his hand.</p> + +<p>"'I thought you would understand,' he went on. 'I did not know I was +going to kill him, but I think I tried to: I struck him with all my +might, Grace threw herself between us and begged me not to hurt him +after he had fallen down, and took hold of my arm as if to hold me. But +when she saw the blood running from his temple, where he had struck it +on the window-sill, and how still and motionless he lay, she tried to go +to him, but could not for weakness and fainting. I carried her into Mrs. +Stanley's, and have not seen her since, but the doctor says she is very +ill. Herbert was dead when they went into the room after I told them +what had happened; and I suppose I had better give myself up to the +law.'</p> + +<p>"You can have no idea how I felt to see my dearest friend in such a +position. And poor Grace!—it was much worse for her. I thought with +Phil that she might never survive the shock and misery of it all. But +she did, and came out, weak and broken down as she was, to give her +testimony at Phil's trial. We had no trouble in getting a jury to acquit +him, and he went back to Colorado without bidding Grace good-by, +although she would have seen him and was even anxious to do so. Some +persons here, mostly women, pretended to think that there had been more +cause for Herbert's jealousy than was generally supposed; but they +belonged to the sanctimonious, hypocritical custom-worshippers. All +really good people remembered what Herbert had been, and refused to see +in him a martyr or even a wronged man.</p> + +<p>"After that Grace supported herself by dress-making and teaching music; +and some two years ago, when we heard that Phil had been killed by a +mine's caving in, and that he had left a little fortune to her and +Nannie, I, as his executor and her friend, induced her to take and use +it,—which she did, with simplicity and thankfulness and with her heart +full of pity and love for poor Phil. Yes, poor Phil! those five or six +years must have been full of misery to him, and he was probably thankful +when the end came. We never heard from him until after his death. There +was a letter that came to me with the will, that had been written long +before. None but they two know what was in it; and I, for one, do not +want to inquire."</p> + +<p>George sat for a long while in silence, looking at the glowing coals in +the huge reservoir stove. Neither Perry nor I cared to interrupt his +revery. At last he roused himself.</p> + +<p>"Well, boys," he said, "it is late: I think we had better go. It is all +over now, and life has gone on calmly for years. Other people have +forgotten that there ever were such persons as Phil or Herbert."</p> + +<p>When Perry and I reached our room we found it was almost three o'clock. +George had walked with us to the door, and very little had been said +between us. I took a cigarette and lay down on the bed. "Perry," I said, +as he was lighting the gas.</p> + +<p>"Sur to you," he answered, in a way he had of imitating a certain +barkeeper of our acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of George?"</p> + +<p>"You know what I think of him as well as I do."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I mean in connection with this that he has told us."</p> + +<p>"I think he acted just like himself all the way through."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think he has been in love with Mrs. Herbert from the first?"</p> + +<p>"Am I in the habit of imagining such nonsense?"</p> + +<p>"You may think it nonsense," I answered, with the quiet fervor of +conviction, "but I am sure it is nothing but the real state of the +case."</p> + +<p>"Bosh!" exclaimed Perry, throwing his boots into a corner; and therewith +the discussion closed.</p> + +<p>About a week ago I had a letter from him, though, in which he recalled +this circumstance and acknowledged that I had been in the right. "They +are going to be married in the fall," he wrote. "I <span class="pagenum">[Pg 199]</span>hope they +may be happy, and I suppose they will be; but I don't think Mrs. Herbert +ought to marry him unless she loves him; and I am fearful that she only +thinks to reward long years of faithful affection. George deserves more +than that." This was a good deal for Perry to manage to say. He usually +keeps as far away from such subjects as he well can,—which is partly +the reason, I think, that his opinion thereon is not greatly to be +trusted. As for me, I am sure George's wife will love him as much as he +deserves,—though this is almost an infinite amount,—and that she has +not been far from loving him from the beginning. I have bought a pair of +vases to send them; and I expect that Miss Lucretia Knowles will say, +when she learns how much they cost, that I was very extravagant. Not +that Lu is close or stingy at all; but she has promised to wait until I +have made a start in life, and is naturally impatient for me to get on +as rapidly as possible.</p> + +<p class="author">FRANK PARKE.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="THE_WOOD_THRUSH_AT_SUNSET" />THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET.</h3> + + + +<div class="poem_1"> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Lover of solitude,</p> +<p class="i2">Poet and priest of nature's mysteries,</p> +<p>If but a step intrude,</p> +<p class="i2">Thy oracle is mute, thy music dies.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Oft have I lightly wooed</p> +<p class="i2">Sweet Poesy to give me pause of pain,</p> +<p>Oft in her singing mood</p> +<p class="i2">Sought to surprise her haunt, and sought in vain.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>And thou art shy as she,</p> +<p class="i2">But mortal, or I had not found thy shrine,</p> +<p>To listen breathlessly</p> +<p class="i2">If I may make thy hoarded secret mine.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Thy tender mottled breast,</p> +<p class="i2">Dappled the color of our primal sod,</p> +<p>Now quick and song-possessed,</p> +<p class="i2">Doth seem to hold the very joy of God,—</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Joy hid from mortal quest</p> +<p class="i2">Of bosky loves on silver-moonéd eves,</p> +<p>And the high-hearted best</p> +<p class="i2">That swells thy throat with joy among the leaves.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Like the Muezzin's call</p> +<p class="i2">From some high minaret when day is done,</p> +<p>Among the beeches tall</p> +<p class="i2">Thy voice proclaims, "There is no God but one."</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>And but one Beauty, too,</p> +<p class="i2">Of whose sweet synthesis we ever fail:</p> +<p>She flies if we pursue,</p> +<p class="i2">Like thy swift wing down some dim intervale.</p></div> + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 200]</span> + +<div class="stanza"><p>For thou art lightly gone;</p> +<p class="i2">Gone is the flute-like note, the yearning strain,</p> +<p>And all the air forlorn</p> +<p class="i2">Is breathless till it hear thy voice again.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>But thou wilt not return;</p> +<p class="i2">Thou hast the secret of thy joy to keep,</p> +<p>And other hearts must learn</p> +<p class="i2">Thy tuneful message, ere the world may sleep,—</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Sleep lulled by many a dream</p> +<p class="i2">Of sylvan sounds that woo the ear in vain,</p> +<p>While still thy numbers seem</p> +<p class="i2">To voice the pain of bliss, the bliss of pain.</p></div> +</div> +<p class="author">MARY C. PECKHAM.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="A_FOREST_BEAUTY" id="A_FOREST_BEAUTY" />A FOREST BEAUTY.</h2> + + +<p>Last spring, or possibly it was early in June, I was walking, in company +with an intelligent farmer, through a bit of heavy forest that bordered +some fields of corn and wheat, when a golden, flame-like gleam from the +midst of the last year's leaves and twigs on the ground at my feet +attracted my sight. I stooped and picked up a large fragment of a flower +of the <i>Liriodendron Tulipifera</i> which had been let fall by some +foraging squirrel from the dark-green and fragrant top of the giant tree +nearest us. Strange to say, my farmer friend, who owned the rich Indiana +soil in which the tree grew, did not know, until I told him, that the +"poplar," as he called the tulip-tree, bears flowers. For twenty years +he had owned this farm, during which time he had cut down acres of +forest for rails and lumber, without ever having discovered the gorgeous +blossom which to me is the finest mass of form and color to be seen in +our American woods. As I had a commission from an artist to procure a +spray of these blooms for her, I at once began to search the tree-top +with my eyes. The bole, or stem, rose sixty feet, tapering but slightly, +to where some heavy and gnarled limbs put forth, their extremities lost +in masses of peculiarly dark, rich foliage. At first I could distinguish +no flowers, but at length here and there a suppressed glow of orange +shot with a redder tinge showed through the dusky gloom of the leaves. +Lo! there they were, hundreds of them, over three inches in diameter, +bold, gaudy, rich, the best possible examples of nature's pristine +exuberance of force and color. Two gray squirrels were frisking about +among the highest sprays, and it was my good fortune that my friend +carried on his shoulder a forty-four-calibre rifle; for, though it was +death to the nimble little animals, it proved to be the instrument with +which I procured my coveted flowers. It suggested the probability that, +if bullets could fetch down squirrels from that tree-top, they might +also serve to clip off and let fall some of the finest clusters or +sprays of tulip. The experiment was tried, with excellent result. I made +the little artist glad with some of the grandest specimens I have ever +seen.</p> + +<p>The tulip-tree is of such colossal size and it branches so high above +ground that it is little wonder few persons, even of those most used to +the woods, ever see <span class="pagenum">[Pg 201]</span>its bloom, which is commonly enveloped in a +mass of large, dark leaves. These leaves are peculiarly outlined, having +short lobes at the sides and a truncated end, while the stem is slender, +long, and wire-like. The flower has six petals and three transparent +sepals. In its centre rises a pale-green cone surrounded by from +eighteen to thirty stamens. Sap-green, yellow of various shades, +orange-vermilion, and vague traces of some inimitable scarlet, are the +colors curiously blended together within and without the grand +cup-shaped corolla. It is Edgar Fawcett who draws an exquisite poetic +parallel between the oriole and the tulip,—albeit he evidently did not +mean the flower of our Liriodendron, which is nearer the oriole colors. +The association of the bird with the flower goes further than color, +too; for the tulip-tree is a favorite haunt of the orioles. Audubon, in +the plates of his great ornithological work, recognizes this by +sketching the bird and some rather flat and weak tulip-sprays together +on the same sheet. I have fancied that nature in some way favors this +massing of colors by placing the food of certain birds where their +plumage will show to best advantage on the one hand, or serve to render +them invisible, on the other, while they are feeding. The golden-winged +woodpecker, the downy woodpecker, the red-bellied woodpecker, and that +grand bird the pileated woodpecker, all seem to prefer the tulip-tree +for their nesting-place, pecking their holes into the rotten boughs, +sometimes even piercing an outer rim of the fragrant green wood in order +to reach a hollow place. I remember, when I was a boy, lying in a dark +old wood in Kentucky and watching a pileated woodpecker at work on a +dead tulip-bough that seemed to afford a great number of dainty morsels +of food. There were streaks of hard wood through the rotten, and +whenever his great horny beak struck one of these it would sound as loud +and clear as the blow of a carpenter's hammer. This fine bird is almost +extinct now, having totally disappeared from nine-tenths of the area of +its former habitat. I never see a tulip-tree without recollecting the +wild, strangely-hilarious cry of the <i>Hylotomus pileatus</i>; and I cannot +help associating the giant bloom, its strength of form and vigor of +color, with the scarlet crest and king-like bearing of the bird. The big +trees of California excepted, our tulip-bearing Liriodendron is the +largest growth of the North-American forests; for, while the plane-tree +and the liquidambar-(sweet-gum) tree sometimes measure more in diameter +near the ground, they are usually hollow, and consequently bulged there, +while the tulip springs boldly out of the ground a solid shaft of clear, +clean, and sweetly-fragrant wood, sixty or seventy feet of the bole +being often entirely without limbs, with an average diameter of from +three to five feet. I found a stump in Indiana nearly eight feet in +diameter (measured three feet above the ground), and a tree in Clarke +County, Kentucky, of about the same girth, tapering slowly to the first +branch, fifty-eight feet from the root.</p> + +<p>In nearly all the Western and Southern States the tulip is generally +called poplar, and the lumber manufactured from it goes by the same +name, while in the East it is known as white-wood. The bark is very +thick and cork-like, exhaling an odor peculiarly pungent and agreeable; +the buds and tender twigs in the spring have a taste entirely individual +and unique, very pleasant to some persons, but quite repellent to +others. Gray squirrels and the young of the fox-squirrel eat the buds +and flowers as well as the cone-shaped fruit. Humming-birds and +bumble-bees in the blossoming-time make a dreamy booming among the +shadowy sprays. A saccharine, sticky substance, not unlike honey-dew, +may often be found in the hollows of the immense petals, in search of +which large black ants make pilgrimages from the root to the top of the +largest tulip-trees, patiently toiling for two or three hours over the +rough bark, among the bewildering wrinkles of which it is, a wonder how +the way is kept with such unerring <span class="pagenum">[Pg 202]</span>certainty. I have calculated +that in making such a journey the ant does what is equivalent to a man's +pedestrian tour from New York City to the Adirondacks by the roughest +route, and all for a smack of wild honey! But the ant makes his long +excursion with neither alpenstock nor luncheon, and without sleeping or +even resting on the way.</p> + +<p>The tulip-tree grows best in warm loam in which there is a mixture of +sand and vegetable mould superposed on clay and gravel. About its roots +you may find the lady-slipper and the dog-tooth violet, each in its +season. Its bark often bears the rarest lichens, and, near the ground, +short green moss as soft and thick as velvet. The poison-ivy and the +beautiful Virginia creeper like to clamber up the rough trunk, sometimes +clothing the huge tree from foot to top in a mantle of brown feelers and +glossy leaves. Seen at a distance, the tulip-tree and the +black-walnut-tree look very much alike; but upon approaching them the +superior symmetry and beauty of the former are at once discovered. The +leaves of the walnut are gracefully arranged, but they admit too much +light; while the tulip presents grand masses of dense foliage upheld by +knotty, big-veined branches, the perfect embodiment of vigor.</p> + +<p>In the days of bee-hunting in the West, I may safely say that a majority +of bee-trees were tulips. I have found two of these wild Hyblas since I +began my studies for this paper; but the trees have become so valuable +that the bees are left unmolested with their humming and their honey. It +seems that no more appropriate place for a nest of these wild +nectar-brewers could be chosen than the hollow bough of a giant +tulip,—a den whose door is curtained with leaves and washed round with +odorous airs, where the superb flowers, with their wealth of golden +pollen and racy sweets, blaze out from the cool shadows above and +beneath. But the sly old 'coon, that miniature Bruin of our Western +woods, is a great lover of honey, and not at all a respecter of the +rights of wild bees. He is tireless in his efforts to reach every +deposit of waxy comb and amber distillation within the range of his +keen power of scent. The only honey that escapes him is that in a hollow +too small for him to enter and too deep for his fore-paws to reach the +bottom.</p> + +<p>Poe, in his story of the Gold-Bug, falls into one of his characteristic +errors of conscience. The purposes of his plot required that a very +large and tall tree should be climbed, and, to be picturesque, a tulip +was chosen. But, in order to give a truthful air to the story, the +following minutely incorrect description is given: "In youth the +tulip-tree, or <i>Liriodendron Tulipiferum</i>, the most magnificent of +American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a +great height without lateral branches; but in its riper age the bark +becomes gnarled and uneven, while <i>many short limbs make their +appearance on the stem</i>" The italics are mine, and the sentence +italicized contains an unblushing libel upon the most beautiful of all +trees. Short branches never "appear on the stems" of old tulip-trees. +The bark, however, does grow rough and deeply seamed with age. I have +seen pieces of it six inches thick, which, when cut, showed a fine grain +with cloudy waves of rich brown color, not unlike the darkest mahogany. +But Poe, no matter how unconscionable his methods of art, had the true +artistic judgment, and he made the tulip-tree serve a picturesque turn +in the building of his fascinating story; though one would have had more +confidence in his descriptions of foliage if it had been May instead of +November.</p> + +<p>The growth of the tulip-tree, under favorable circumstances, is strong +and rapid, and, when not crowded or shaded by older trees, it begins +flowering when from eighteen to twenty-five years old. The +blooming-season, according to the exigences of weather, begins from May +20 to June 10 in Indiana, and lasts about a week. The fruit following +the flower is a cone an inch and a half long and nearly an inch in +diameter at the base, of a greenish—yellow color, very pungent and +odorous, and full of germs <span class="pagenum">[Pg 203]</span>like those of a pine-cone. The tree +is easily grown from the seed. Its roots are long, flexible, and tough, +and when young are pale yellow and of bitterish taste, but slightly +flavored with the stronger tulip individuality which characterizes the +juice and sap of the buds and the bark of the twigs. The leaves, as I +have said, are dark and rich, but their shape and color are not the half +of their beauty. There is a charm in their motion, be the wind ever so +light, that is indescribable. The rustle they make is not "sad" or +"uncertain," but cheerful and forceful. The garments of some young +giantess, such as Baudelaire sings of, might make that rustling as she +would run past one in a land of colossal persons and things.</p> + +<p>I have been surprised to find so little about the tulip-tree in our +literature. Our writers of prose and verse have not spared the magnolia +of the South, which is far inferior, both tree and flower, to our gaudy, +flaunting giantess of the West. Indeed, if I were an aesthete, and were +looking about me for a flower typical of a robust and perfect sentiment +of art, I should greedily seize upon the bloom of the tulip-tree. What a +"craze" for tulip borders and screens, tulip wallpapers and tulip +panel-carvings, I would set going in America! The colors, old gold, +orange, vermilion, and green,—the forms, gentle curves and classical +truncations, and all new and American, with a woodsy freshness and +fragrance in them. The leaves and flowers of the tulip-tree are so +simple and strong of outline that they need not be conventionalized for +decorative purposes. During the process of growth the leaves often take +on accidental shapes well suited to the variations required by the +designer. A wise artist, going into the woods to educate himself up to +the level of the tulip, could not fail to fill his sketch-books with +studies of the birds that haunt the tree, and especially such brilliant +ones as the red tanager, the five or six species of woodpecker, the +orioles, and the yellow-throated warbler. The Japanese artists give us +wonderful instances of the harmony between birds, flowers, and foliage; +not direct instances, it is true, but rather suggested ones, from which +large lessons might be learned by him who would carry the thought into +our woods with him in the light of a pure and safely-educated taste. +Take, for instance, the yellow-bellied woodpecker, with its red fore-top +and throat, its black and white lines, and its bright eyes, together +with its pale yellow shading of back and belly, and how well it would +"work in" with the tulip-leaves and flowers! Even its bill and feet +harmonize perfectly with the bark of the older twigs. So the +golden-wing, the tanager, and the orioles would bear their colors +harmoniously into any successful tulip design.</p> + +<p>South of the Alleghany Mountains I have not found as fine specimens of +this tree as I have in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Everywhere the +saw-mills are fast making sad havoc. The walnut and the tulip are soon +to be no more as "trees with the trees in the forest." Those growing in +the almost inaccessible "pockets" of the Kentucky and Tennessee +mountains may linger for a half-century yet, but eventually all will be +gone from wherever a man and a saw can reach them.</p> + +<p>The oak of England and the pine of Norway are not more typical than the +tulip-tree. The symmetry, vigor, and rich colors of our tree might +represent the force, freedom, and beauty of our government and our +social influences. If the American eagle is the bird of freedom, the +tulip is the tree of liberty,—strong, fragrant, giant-flowered, +flaunting, defiant, yet dignified and steadfast.</p> + +<p>A very intelligent old man, who in his youth was a great bear- and +panther-hunter, has often told me how the black bear and the tawny +catamount used to choose the ample "forks" of the tulip-tree for their +retreats when pursued by his dogs. The raccoon has superseded the larger +game, and it was but a few weeks ago that I found one lying, like a +striped, fluffy ball of fur, in a crotch ninety feet above ground. "Our +white-wood" lumber has grown so valuable that no land-owner will allow +the trees <span class="pagenum">[Pg 204]</span>to be cut by the hunter, and hence the old-fashioned +'coon-hunt has fallen among the things of the past, for it seems that +the 'coon is quite wise enough to choose for the place of his indwelling +the costliest tulip of the woods. I have already casually mentioned the +fact that the tulip-tree's bloom is scarcely known to exist by even +intelligent and well-informed Americans. Every one has heard of the +mimosa, the dogwood, the red-bud, and the magnolia, but not of the +tulip-bearing tree, with its incomparably bold, dashing, giantesque +flower, once so common in the great woods of our Western and Middle +States. I have not been able to formulate a good reason for this. Every +one whose attention is called to the flower at once goes into raptures +over its wild beauty and force of coloring, and wonders why poems have +not been written about it and legends built upon it. It is a grander +bloom than that which once, under the same name, nearly bankrupted +kingdoms, though it cannot be kept in pots and greenhouses. Its colors +are, like the idiosyncrasies of genius, as inimitable as they are +fascinating and elusive. Audubon was something of an artist, but his +tulip-blooms are utter failures. He could color an oriole, but not the +corolla of this queen of the woods. The most sympathetic and experienced +water-colorist will find himself at fault with those amber-rose, +orange-vermilion blushes, and those tender cloudings of yellow and +green. The stiff yet sensitive and fragile petals, the transparent +sepals, with their watery shades and delicate washing of olive-green, +the strong stamens and peculiarly marked central cone, are scarcely less +difficult. All the colors elude and mock the eager artist. While the +gamut of promising tints is being run, he looks, and, lo! the grand +tulip has shrivelled and faded. Again and again a fresh spray is fetched +in, but when the blooming-season is over he is still balked and +dissatisfied. The wild, Diana-like purity and the half-savage, +half-æsthetic grace have not wholly escaped him, but the color,—ah I +there is the disappointment.</p> + +<p>I have always nursed a fancy that there is something essential to +perfect health in the bitters and sweets of buds and roots and gums and +resins of the primeval woods. Why does the bird keep, even in old age, +the same brilliancy of plumage and the same clearness of eye? Is it +because it gets the <i>elixir vitæ</i> from the hidden reservoir of nature? +Be this as it may, there are times when I sincerely long for a ball of +liquidambar or a mouthful of pungent spring buds. The inner bark of the +tulip-tree has the wildest of all wild tastes, a peculiarly grateful +flavor when taken infinitesimally, something more savage than sassafras +or spice-wood, and full of all manner of bitter hints and astringent +threatenings: it has long been used as the very best appetizer for +horses in the early spring, and it is equally good for man. The +yellow-bellied woodpecker knows its value, taking it with head jauntily +awry and quiet wing-tremblings of delight. The squirrels get the essence +of it as they munch the pale leaf-buds, or later when they bite the +cones out of the flowers. The humming-birds and wild bees are the +favored ones, however, for they get the ultimate distillation of all the +racy and fragrant elements from root to bloom.</p> + +<p>The Indians knew the value of the tulip-tree as well as its beauty. +Their most graceful pirogues were dug from its bole, and its odorous +bark served to roof their rude houses. No boat I have ever tried runs so +lightly as a well-made tulip pirogue, or dug-out, and nothing under +heaven is so utterly crank and treacherous. Many an unpremeditated +plunge into cold water has one caused me while out fishing or +duck-shooting on the mountain-streams of North Georgia. If you dare +stand up in one, the least waver from a perfect balance will send the +sensitive, skittish thing a rod from under your feet, which of course +leaves you standing on the water without the faith to keep you from +going under; and usually it is your head that you are standing on. But, +to return to our tree, I would like to see its merits as an ornamental +and shade tree duly recognized. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 205]</span>If grown in the free air and +sunlight, it forms a heavy and beautifully-shaped top, on a smooth, +bright bole, and I think it might be forced to bloom about the fifteenth +year. The flowers of young, thrifty trees that have been left standing +in open fields are much larger, brighter, and more graceful than those +of old gnarled forest-trees, but the finest blooms I ever saw were on a +giant tulip in a thin wood of Indiana. A storm blew the tree down in the +midst of its flowering, and I chanced to see it an hour later. The whole +great top was yellow with the gaudy cups, each gleaming "like a flake of +fire," as Dr. Holmes says of the oriole. Some of them were nearly four +inches across. Last year a small tree, growing in a garden near where I +write, bloomed for the first time. It was about twenty years old. Its +flowers were paler and shallower than those gathered at the same time in +the woods. It may be that transplanting, or any sort of forcing or +cultivation, may cause the blooms to deteriorate in both shape and +color, but I am sure that plenty of light and air is necessary to their +best development.</p> + +<p>In one way the tulip-tree is closely connected with the most picturesque +and interesting period of American development. I mean the period of +"hewed-log" houses. Here and there among the hills of Indiana, Ohio, +Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, there remains one of those low, +heavy, lime-chinked structures, the best index of the first change from +frontier-life, with all its dangers and hardships, to the peace and +contentment of a broader liberty and an assured future. In fact, to my +mind, a house of hewed tulip-logs, with liberal stone chimneys and heavy +oaken doors, embowered in an old gnarled apple-and cherry-orchard, +always suggests a sort of simple honesty and hospitality long since +fallen into desuetude, but once the most marked characteristic of the +American people. It is hard to imagine any meanness or illiberality +being generated in such a house. Patriotism, domestic fidelity, and +spotless honesty used to sit before those broad fireplaces wherein the +hickory logs melted to snowy ashes. The men who hewed those logs "hewed +to the line" in more ways than one. Their words, like the bullets from +their flint-locked rifles, went straight to the point. The women, too, +they of the "big wheel" and the "little wheel," who carded and spun and +wove, though they may have been a trifle harsh and angular, were +diamond-pure and the mothers of vigorous offspring.</p> + +<p>I often wonder if there may not be a perfectly explainable connection +between the decay or disappearance of the forests and the evaporation, +so to speak, of man's rugged sincerity and earnestness. Why should not +the simple ingredients that make up the worldly part of our souls and +bodies be found in all their purity where nature's reservoir has never +been disturbed or its contents tainted? Why may not the subtile force +that develops the immense tulip-tree and clothes it with such a starry +mantle have power also to invigorate and intensify the life of man? "I +was rocked in a poplar trough," was the politician's boast a generation +ago. Such a declaration might mean a great deal if the sturdy, towering +strength of the tree out of which the trough was dug could have been +absorbed by the embryo Congressman. The "oldest inhabitant" of every +Western neighborhood recollects the "sugar-trough" used in the +maple-sap-gathering season, ere the genuine "sugar-camp" had been +abandoned. Young tulip-trees about fifteen inches in diameter were cut +down and their boles sawed into lengths of three feet. These were split +in two, and made into troughs by hollowing the faces and charring them +over a fire. During the bright spring days of sugar-making the young +Western mother would wrap her sturdy babe in its blanket and put it in a +dry sugar-trough to sleep while she tended the boiling syrup. A man born +sixty years ago in the region of tulip-trees and sugar-camps was +probably cradled in a "poplar" trough; and there were those born who +would now be sixty <span class="pagenum">[Pg 206]</span>years old if they had not in unwary infancy +tumbled into the enormous rainwater-troughs with which every +well-regulated house was furnished. I have seen one or two of these +having a capacity of fifty barrels dug from a single tulip bole. In such +a pitfall some budding Washington or Lincoln may have been whelmed +without causing so much as a ripple on the surface of history.</p> + +<p>But, turning to take leave of my stately and blooming Western beauty, I +see that she is both a blonde and a brunette. She has all the dreamy, +languid grace of the South combined with the <i>verve</i> and force of the +North. She is dark and she is fair, with blushing cheeks and dewy lips, +sound-hearted, strong, lofty, self-reliant, a true queen of the woods, +more stately than Diana, and more vigorous than Maid Marian.</p> + +<p class="author">MAURICE THOMPSON.</p> + + + + +<h2>OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.</h2> + +<h3><a name="Daniel_Websters_quot" />Daniel Webster's "Moods."</h3> + + +<p>A late magazine-article treating of one of America's illustrious +dead—Daniel Webster—alluded to his well-known sombre moods, and the +gentle suasion by which his accomplished wife was enabled to shorten +their duration or dispel them entirely.</p> + +<p>On an occasion well remembered, though the "chiel takin' notes" was but +a simple child, I myself was present when the grim, moody reticence of +the great orator converted fully twoscore ardent admirers into personal +foes.</p> + +<p>During the summer of 1837, Mr. Webster, in pursuit of a Presidential +nomination, executed his famous tour through the Great West, at that +time embracing only the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. +The first infant railway of the continent being yet in +swaddling-clothes, the journey was accomplished by private conveyance, +and the bumps and bruises stoically endured in probing bottomless pits +of prairie-mud, diversified by joltings over rude log-ways and intrusive +stumps, were but a part of the cruel price paid for a glittering prize +which in the end vanished before the aspirant like fairy gold. At +stations within reach of their personal influence, local politicians +flew to the side of the brilliant statesman with the beautiful fidelity +of steel to magnet: hence he was environed by a self-appointed escort of +obsequious men, constantly changing as he progressed.</p> + +<p>"Our member" spared neither whip nor spur, and joined the triumphal +march at Chicago. Mr. Webster was then on the home-stretch, and it was +shortly after this date that the incident I describe occurred. It was a +time of wild Western speculation; towns and cities sprung into being as +buoyantly as soap-bubbles, and often proved as perishing. Major Morse +was president of a company which, perceiving a promising site for harbor +and town on the shore of Michigan, where yet the Indian charmed the +deer, secured a tract of land and proceeded to lay out an inviting town +of—corner-lots. The major's family occupied temporarily a wide log +house, with a rough "lean-to" of bright pine boards freshly cut at the +mill below. Outside, the dwelling was merely a hut of primitive pattern +nestling under the shade of a tall tree; inside, it presented a large +room divided by curtains into cooking-and sleeping-apartments, +surmounted by a stifling loft reached by the rungs of a permanent +perpendicular ladder. Savory odors of wild fowl and venison daily +drifted up the charred throat of its clay-daubed chimney, and by the +same route, whenever the rolling smoke permitted, children sitting +about <span class="pagenum">[Pg 207]</span>the hearth took observations of the clouds and heavenly +bodies, according to the time of day. A narrow passage cut through the +heart of the old logs led into the fragrant "lean-to," where against the +wall rested a massive sideboard of dark mahogany, its top alight with +glitter of glass and silver, its inmost recesses redolent of the +creature comforts which the hospitality of the times demanded. Vases and +meaner crockery overflowed everywhere with the gorgeousness of blossoms +daily plucked from sandy slopes or the verge of the adjacent marsh. +Bright carpeting kindly hid the splintered floor, and pictures did like +service for the rough walls, while the whitest of muslin festooned the +tiny windows.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the Occasion, cheerful sunshine filtered through the +quivering leaves of the big tree near the house, glorifying a late +breakfast-table, around which the family were gathering, when horses +driven in hot haste were reined up at the door. Stepping quickly forth, +the major found his hand clasped by "our member," who begged the +hospitalities of the house for the great Daniel Webster and suite, just +at hand. Despite political differences, the desired welcome was heartily +accorded, and with crucified appetites the family retired to give place +to the unbidden guests, who filed into the room bandying compliments +with their gay host. A kingly head, grandly set above powerful +shoulders, easily marked the man in whom the interest of the hour +centred. Strangely quiet amid the noisy group, he moved alone, nor waked +responsive even to his host, until a brighter sally than usual provoked +a grim kind of laughter. Then he suddenly aroused himself to new life, +joining with a burst of humor in the pleasantries of the feast. The +unexpected brightness of the cosy room was not lost on Mr. Webster, who, +on entering, paused at the threshold and glanced around in an +appreciative manner, while a deep, restful sigh escaped his weary soul. +The dreary drive through the wilderness lent an added charm to the +little oasis of civilized comfort thus encountered in the lonely +backwoods of a Western quarter-section.</p> + +<p>News of the distinguished arrival speedily flew among the laborers +running the mill and constructing dwellings for the in-rushing +population. Tom and Bill of the hammer, and Mike and Patsey of the +spade, alike forsook their tools in order to witness the exit of a hero +from the major's door. They even hoped to receive some expression of +wisdom in golden words from lips used to the flow of stirring thought +and burning eloquence. Lounging patiently under the trees, the expectant +men listened to the clink and clatter of serving and the bursts of +merriment within. At the conclusion of the breakfast and the subsequent +chat, Mr. Webster asked for his hostess, to whom with great courtesy he +expressed his sense of "the kindness extended to the stranger in a +strange land," and, adieus being over, he approached the open door-way, +and looked strangely annoyed at the sight of a double line of +white-sleeved stalwart men who stood with bared heads awaiting his +appearance. Then a great <i>mood</i> fell upon the <i>man</i>, with never a gentle +soul at hand to charm it away. Not a feature stirred in recognition of +the, voluntary homage rendered by the throng of humble men,—men +controlling the ballots so ardently desired and sought. With hat pressed +firmly over an ominously lowering brow, looking straight before him with +cavernous, tired eyes which seemed to observe nothing whereon they +rested, Webster walked through the hushed lines in grave stateliness. +The crowd was only waiting for a spark of encouragement to shout itself +hoarse in enthusiastic huzzahs. Eyes shone with suppressed excitement, +and strong hearts swelled with pride in the towering man whose fame had +surged like a tidal wave over the land. Yet with insolent deliberation +he mounted the step and seated himself in the waiting carriage, giving +no sign of having even noticed the flattering demonstration made in his +honor. The smiles, nods, and hand-clasps expected of the chief were +lavishly dispensed by <span class="pagenum">[Pg 208]</span>his mortified satellites, all of which +availed not to smother the curses, loud and deep, splitting the summer +air, as the wheels disappeared in the forest.</p> + +<p>"Begorra, thin," bawled Patsey, "it's mesilf ut'll niver vote fur this +big Yankee 'ristocrat, <i>inne</i>how. Ef he wuz a foine Irish jintleman, +now, er even a r'yal prince av the blud, there'd be no sinse in his +airs, bedad!"</p> + +<p>Tom and Bill were less noisy in their just wrath, but it ran equally +deep: "He belongs to the party. But when Daniel comes up for +office—look out! We'll score a hard day's work against him, party or no +party!"</p> + +<p>The major rose to the occasion. Being a bit of a politician and an +old-school Democrat, he could not resist the opportunity presented. With +a humorous air he sprang to the nearest stump and improvised an electric +little speech which sent the men back to labor, <i>madder</i> if not wiser +voters.</p> + +<p>With other living witnesses of the events narrated, often wondering over +the strangeness of the scene of long ago, I am truly glad at the +eleventh hour to find the solution of the problem in <i>moods</i>, rather +than in a snobbish pride unbefitting the greatness of the man.</p> + +<p class="author">F.C.M.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="Feuds_and_Lynch_Law_in_the_Southwest" id="Feuds_and_Lynch_Law_in_the_Southwest" /><b>Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest.</b></h3> + + +<p>A great deal has been said and written lately about feuds and lynch-law +in the districts around the lower Mississippi. The reports of recent +lynching there have probably been very much exaggerated; and it would +certainly be unfair to form a positive opinion about the matter without +a thorough knowledge of all the circumstances.</p> + +<p>No one who visited that part of the country before the war could return +to it now without noticing the higher degree of order and the numerous +evidences of progress. But lynching law-breakers and resorting to the +knife or pistol to settle private disputes were once ordinary +occurrences there, and they were usually marked by a businesslike +coolness which gave them a distinctive character.</p> + +<p>In the winter of 1853-54 I was clerk of a steamer owned in Wheeling. The +steamer was obliged to wait some time at Napoleon for a rise in the +Arkansas River to enable it to pass over the bar at the confluence of +that river with the Mississippi. Napoleon then had between three and +four hundred inhabitants, and was considered the worst place on the +Mississippi except Natchez-under-the-Hill. Some of the dwellings were of +considerable size, and, judging from their exterior, were kept in good +order. They were the residences of the few who belonged to the better +class, and who, to a certain extent, exercised control over their less +reputable townsmen.</p> + +<p>We were treated very kindly by the citizens, and they declined any +return for their hospitality. We soon noticed that we were never invited +to visit any of them at their dwellings. At their places of business we +were cordially welcomed, and they seemed to take a great deal of +pleasure in giving us information and affording us any amusement in +their power.</p> + +<p>Having some canned oysters among our stores, we twice invited a number +of our friends to an oyster-supper. Although our invitations included +their families, none but male guests attended. This, together with the +fact that we rarely saw any ladies on the street, seemed very strange to +us; but we made no comments, for we discovered very soon after our +arrival that it would not be prudent to ask questions about matters that +did not concern us. At church one Sunday night we noticed that all the +ladies present—composing nearly the whole of the congregation—were +dressed in black, and many of them were in deep mourning. This gave us +some idea as to the reason for their exclusiveness. Soon afterward a +murder occurred almost within my own sight. Two friends were standing on +the street and talking pleasantly to each other, when they were +approached by a man whom they did not know. Suddenly a second man came +close to the stranger, and, without saying a word, drew a +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 209]</span>pistol and shot him dead. The murderer was instantly seized, +bound, and placed in the jail.</p> + +<p>The jail was a square pen about thirty feet high, built of hewn logs, +without any opening except in the roof. This opening was only large +enough to admit one person at a time, and was protected by a heavy door. +The prisoner was forced by his captors to mount the roof by means of a +ladder, and then was lowered with a rope to the ground inside. The rope +was withdrawn, the door securely fastened, and he was caged, without any +possible means of escape, to await the verdict and sentence of the jury +summoned by "Judge Lynch."</p> + +<p>The trial was very short. The facts were proven, and the verdict was +that the murderer should be severely whipped and made to leave the town +forthwith. The whipping was administered, and he left immediately +afterward.</p> + +<p>Of course there was a good deal of excitement over this matter, and all +the male inhabitants collected to talk about it. The discussion extended +to some similar cases of recent occurrence and soon gave rise to angry +disputes. In a very short time pistols and knives were produced, +invitations to fight were given, and it seemed that blood would soon be +shed. By the interference, however, of some of the older and more +influential citizens, quiet was restored, and no one was injured. We +were afterward told that there was hardly a man in the crowd who had not +lost a father, brother, or near male relative by knife or pistol, either +in a supposed fair fight or by foul means.</p> + +<p>At that time the hatred of negroes from "free States" was intense, while +those from "slave States" were treated kindly and regarded merely as +persons of an inferior race.</p> + +<p>Some time before our arrival, a steamer belonging to Pittsburg had +stopped at Napoleon, and the colored steward went on shore to buy +provisions. While bargaining for them he became involved in a quarrel +with a white man and struck him. He was instantly seized, and would no +doubt have paid for his temerity with his life if some one in the crowd +had not exclaimed, "A live nigger's worth twenty dead ones! Let's sell +him!" This suggestion was adopted. In a very short time the unfortunate +steward was bound, mounted on a swift horse, and hurried away toward the +interior of the State. He was guarded by a party of mounted men, and in +less than a week's time he was working on a plantation as a slave for +life, with no prospect of communicating with his relatives or friends.</p> + +<p>One morning the captain of the steamer and I saw a crowd collect, and on +approaching it we found a debate going on as to what should be done with +a large and well-dressed colored man, evidently under the influence of +liquor, who was seated on the ground with his arms and legs bound. He +had knocked one white man down and struck several others while they were +attempting to secure him. The crowd was undecided whether to give him a +good whipping for his offence or to send for his master (who lived on +the other side of the river, in Mississippi) and let him inflict the +punishment. Finally, the master was sent for. He soon appeared, and +stated that he had given his "<i>boy</i>" permission to come over to +Napoleon, and had also given him money to buy some things he wanted. He +was "a good boy," and had never been in trouble before, and if the +citizens of Napoleon would forgive him this time he, the master, would +guarantee that the boy should never visit Napoleon again. The master +also stated he would "stand drinks" for the whole crowd. This gave +general satisfaction. The drinks were taken, and the master and his +slave were enthusiastically escorted to their dug-out on the shore. Much +hand-shaking took place, in which the "boy" participated, and many +invitations were given to both to visit Napoleon again; after which they +rowed contentedly to their home.</p> + +<p class="author">J.A.M.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="The_Etymology_of_Babequot" id="The_Etymology_of_Babequot" /><b>The Etymology of "Babe."</b></h3> + + +<p>In the latest English etymological dictionary, that by the Rev. W.W. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 210]</span>Skeat, we read under the word <i>babe</i>, "Instead of <i>babe</i> being +formed from the infantine sound <i>ba</i>, it has been modified from <i>maqui</i>, +probably by infantine influences. <i>Baby</i> is a diminutive form."</p> + +<p><i>Maqui</i> is Early Welsh for <i>son</i>, and those to whom Mr. Skeat's modified +<i>maqui</i> seems absurd will be pleased to find its absurdity indicated, if +not proved, by a Greek author of the sixth century.</p> + +<p>The following passage in the seventy-sixth section of Damascius's "Life +of Isidorus" has escaped the notice of English etymologists generally:</p> + +<p>"Hermias had a son (the elder of his philosopher sons) by Ædesia, and +one day, when the child was seven months old, Ædesia was playing with +him, as mothers do, calling him <i>bábion</i> and <i>paidíon</i>, speaking in +diminutives. But Hermias overheard her, and was vexed, and censured +these childish diminutives, pronouncing an articulate reprimand.... Now +the Syrians, and especially those who dwell in Damascus, call newborn +children, and even those that have passed the period of childhood, +<i>bábia</i>, from the goddess <i>Babía</i>, whom they worship."</p> + +<p>What is <i>bábion</i> but the English <i>baby</i>, what <i>bábia</i> but the English +<i>babies?</i> We can hardly suppose that our English words are derived from +Syriac words in use fourteen centuries ago, or that the latter were +"modified from <i>maqui</i>" by "infantine" or other influences. We are +therefore driven to the conclusion that they were alike "formed from the +infantine sound <i>ba</i>," unless we accept Damascius's derivation from +<i>Babía</i>.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, we know no more concerning this goddess than did the +learned John Selden, who, writing two hundred and twenty-odd years ago, +"De Dis Syris," says, on page 296 of that work, "I cannot conjecture +whether <i>Babía,</i> who seems to have been reverenced among the Syrians as +goddess of childhood and youth, is identical with the Syrian Venus or +not, and I do not remember to have met with any mention of this deity +except in Damascius's Life of Isidorus."</p> + +<p>Selden's memory was not at fault: the words <i>bábion, bábia</i>, and <i>Babía</i> +occur only in the passage above quoted.</p> + +<p>In the absence of other evidence than Damascius's own, we may well +question whether he has not inverted the etymological relation between +the goddess and the babies. Most divinities owe their names to the +attributes or functions imputed to them by their worshippers. It seems, +therefore, more probable that the Syrian protectress of babies owes her +name to the <i>bábia</i> than that they were called <i>bábia</i> in her honor. If, +however, we accept Damascius's theory of their relation, what forbids us +to conjecture that the goddess's name was itself "formed from the +infantine sound <i>ba</i>"? In any case, the little domestic scene between +the priggish father and the dandling mother is amusing and instructive +to parents as well as to etymologists.</p> + +<p class="author">S.E.T.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + + + +<h2><a name="LITERATURE_OF_THE_DAY" />LITERATURE OF THE DAY.</h2> + +<p> +<b>"The Russian Revolt: its Causes, Condition, and Prospects."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Edmund Noble.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>The internal condition of Russia, though a matter of more than +speculative interest to its immediate neighbors, is not likely to become +what that of France has so often been,—a European question. The +institutions of other states will not be endangered by revolutionary +proceedings in the dominions of the Czar, nor will any oppression +exercised over his subjects be thought to justify foreign intervention. +Even Polish insurrections never led to any more active measures on the +part of the Western powers than delusive expressions of sympathy and +equally vain remonstrances. In these days, not Warsaw, but St. +Petersburg, is <span class="pagenum">[Pg 211]</span>the centre of disaffection, and the +ramifications extend inland, their action stimulated, it may be, to some +extent from external sources, but incapable of sending back any impulse +in return. Nihilism, being based on the absence, real or supposed, of +any political institutions worth preserving in Russia, cannot spread to +the discontented populations of other countries. Even German socialism +cannot borrow weapons or resources from a nation which has no large +proletariat and whose industries are still in their infancy. In the +nature of its government, the character of its people, and the problems +it is called upon to solve, Russia stands, as she has always stood, +alone, neither furnishing examples to other nations nor able, +apparently, to copy those which other nations have set. The great +peculiarity of the revolutionary movement is not simply that it does not +proceed from the mass of the people,—which is a common case +enough,—but that it runs counter to their instincts and their needs and +rouses not their sympathy but their aversion. The peasants, who +constitute four-fifths of the population, have no motive for seeking to +overturn the government. Their material condition, since the abolition +of serfdom, is superior to that of the Italian peasantry, who enjoy the +fullest political rights. As members of the village communities, they +hold possession and will ultimately obtain absolute ownership of more +than half the soil of the country, excluding the domains of the state. +In the same capacity they exercise a degree of local autonomy greater +than that which is vested in the communes of France. They are separated +from the other classes by differences of education, of habits, and of +interests, while the autocracy that rules supreme over all is regarded +by them as the protecting power that is to redress their grievances and +fulfil all their aspirations. The discontent which has bred so many +conspiracies, and which aims at nothing less than the subversion of the +monarchy, is confined to a portion of the educated classes, and proceeds +from causes that affect only those classes. Among them alone is there +any perception of the wide and ever-increasing difference between the +Russian system of government and that of every other European country, +any craving for the exercise of political rights and the activity of +political life, any experience of the restrictions imposed on thought +and speech and the obstacles to the advancement and diffusion of +knowledge and ideas, any consciousness that the corrupt, vexatious, and +oppressive bureaucracy by which all affairs are administered is a direct +outgrowth of unlimited and irresponsible power. Nor are they united in +desiring to destroy, or even to modify, this system. Apart from those +who find in it the means of satisfying their personal interests and +ambitions, and the larger number in whom indolence and the love of ease +stifle all thought and aspiration, there are many who believe, with +reason, that the country is not ripe for the adoption of European +institutions, that the foundations on which to construct them do not yet +exist, and that any attempt to introduce them would lead only to +calamitous results; while there is even a large party which contends +that, far from needing them, Russia is happily situated in being exempt +from the struggles and the storms, the wars of classes and of factions, +that have attended the course of Western civilization, and in being left +free to work out her own development by original and more peaceful +methods. No doubt the great majority of thinking people feel the +necessity for some large measures of reform and look forward to the +establishment of a constitutional system and the gradual extension of +political freedom to the mass of the nation. But there is no evidence +that the revolutionary spirit has spread or excited sympathy in any such +degree as its audacity, its resoluteness, and the terror created by its +sinister achievements have seemed at times to indicate. The active +members of the propaganda are almost exclusively young persons, living +apart from their families, of scanty means and without conspicuous +ability. They belong to the lower ranks of the nobility, the rising +<i>bourgeois</i> class, and, above all, that large body of necessitous +students, including many of the children of the ill-paid clergy, whom M. +Leroy-Beaulieu styles the "intellectual proletariat." Classical studies, +German metaphysics, and the scientific theories and discoveries of +recent years have had much to do with the fermentation that has led to +so many violent explosions, the universities have been the chief <i>foci</i> +of agitation, and in the attempts to suppress it the government has laid +itself open to the reproach of making war upon learning and seeking to +stifle intellectual development.</p> + +<p>Such is the view presented by recent <span class="pagenum">[Pg 212]</span>French and English writers +who have made the condition of Russia a subject of minute investigation. +Mr. Noble deals more in generalizations than in details, and sets forth +a theory which it is difficult to reconcile with the facts and +conclusions derived from other sources. According to him, Russia is, and +has been from the first establishment of the imperial rule, in a state +of chronic revolt. This revolt is "the protest of eighty millions of +people against their continued employment as a barrier in the path of +peaceful human progress and national development." "It is not the +educated classes alone, but the masses,—peasant and artisan, land-owner +and student,—of whose aspirations, at least, it may be said, as it was +said of the earliest and freest Russians, '<i>Neminem ferant +imperatorem</i>.'" Before the rise of the empire "the Russians lived as +freemen and happy." They "enjoyed what, in a political sense, we are +fairly entitled to regard as the golden age of their national +existence." The <i>veché</i>, or popular assembly, "was from a picturesque +point of view the grandest, from an administrative point of view the +simplest, and from a moral point of view the most equitable form of +government ever devised by man." The autocracy, established by force, +has encountered at all periods a steady, if passive, opposition, as +exemplified in the Raskol, or separation of the "Old Believers" from the +Orthodox Church, and in the resistance offered to the innovations of +Peter the Great: "in the one as in the other case the popular revolt was +against authority and all that it represented." It is admitted that +"among the peasants the revolt must long remain in its passive stage.... +Yet year by year, partly owing to educational processes, partly owing to +propaganda, even the peasants are being won over to the growing +battalions of discontent." The autocracy is "doomed." "The forces that +undermine it are cumulative and relentless." Its "true policy is to +spread its dissolution—after the manner of certain financial +operations—over a number of years." "The method of the change is really +not of importance. The vital matter is that the reform shall at once +concede and practically apply the principle of popular self-government, +granting at the same time the fullest rights of free speech and public +assembly." Finally, "the Tsar and his advisers" are bidden to "beware," +since "the spectacle of this frightfully unequal struggle ... is not +lost upon Europe, or even upon America."</p> + +<p>The horrible crudity, as we are fain to call it, of the notions thus +rhetorically set forth must be obvious to every reader acquainted with +the history of the rise and growth of states in general, however little +attention he may have given to those of Russia in particular. The +institutions of Russia differ fundamentally from those of other European +states. But the difference lies in historical conditions and +development, not in the principles underlying all human society. No +people has ever had a permanent government of its own resting solely or +chiefly on force. Wherever autocracy has acquired a firm footing, it has +done so by suppressing anarchy, establishing order and authority, and +securing national unity and independence. Nowhere has it fulfilled these +conditions more completely than in Russia. It grew up when the country +was lying prostrate under the Tartar domination, and it supplied the +impulse and the means by which that yoke was thrown off. It absorbed +petty principalities, extinguished their conflicting ambitions, and +consolidated their resources; checked the migrations of a nomad +population, and brought discordant races under a common rule; repelled +invasions to which, in its earlier disintegrated condition, the nation +must have succumbed, and built up an empire hardly less remarkable for +its cohesion and its strength than for the vastness of its territory. In +a word, it performed, more rapidly and thoroughly, the same work which +was accomplished by monarchy between the eighth and the fifteenth +century in Western Europe. If its methods were more analogous to those +of Eastern despotisms than of European sovereignties, if its excesses +were unrestrained and its power uncurbed, this is only saying that +Russia, instead of sharing in the heritage of Roman civilization and in +the mutual intercourse and common discipline through which the Western +communities were developed, was cut off from association with its more +fortunate kindred and subjected to influences from which they were, for +the most part, exempt. To hold up the crude democracy and turbulent +assemblies common in a primitive state of society as evidence that the +Russian people possessed at an early period of its history a beautifully +organized constitutional system; to contend that the most absolute +monarchy in existence has maintained itself for centuries, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 213]</span>without encountering a single serious insurrection, in a nation +whose distinguishing characteristic is its inability to endure a ruler; +to treat the introduction of a totally different and far more complex +system of government, the product elsewhere of elements that have no +existence in Russia, and of long struggles supplemented by violent +revolutions, as a thing that may be effected without danger or +difficulty, the "method" being "really not of importance,"—all this +strikes us as evincing a condition of mind that can only be regarded as +a survival from the period when the theories and illusions of the +eighteenth-century <i>philosophes</i> had not yet been dissipated by the +French Revolution.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> +<b>"A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago:</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Henry O. Forbes, F.R.G.S.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York: Harper & Brothers.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>Although a long succession of naturalists have done their best to +familiarize readers with the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Mr. +Forbes's book is full not only of freshly-adjusted and classified facts, +but of curious and valuable details of his own discoveries. Even the +best-known islands of the group are so inexhaustible in every form of +animal and vegetable life that much remains for the patient gleaner +after Darwin and Wallace, who found here some of the most striking +illustrations of their deductions and theories, It is well known that +startling contrasts in the distribution of plants and animals are met +with in these islands, even when they lie side by side; and in no other +part of the world is the history of mutations of climate, of the law of +migrations, and of the changes of sea and land, so open and palpable to +the scientific observer. Mr. Forbes's object seems to have been to visit +those islands which offer the most striking deviations from the more +general type. His earlier explorations were made alone, but during the +last eighteen months he was accompanied by a brave woman who came out +from England to Batavia to be married to him at the close of 1881. It is +painful to read of the deadly ordeals of climate and the excessive +discomforts and privations to which this lady was exposed. Her diary, +kept at Dilly during her husband's absence, while she was ill, utterly +deserted, and in danger of a lonely and agonizing death, makes a +singular contrast to the record of Miss Bird and others of her sex who +seem to have triumphed over all the vicissitudes possible to women. To +the general reader Mr. Forbes's travels in Java, Sumatra, and the +Keeling Islands are far more satisfactory than in those less familiar, +like Timor and Buru. In the light of the terrible events of 1883, +everything connected with the islands lying on either side of the +Straits of Sunda is of the highest interest. Those appalling disasters +which swept away part of Sumatra and Java and altered the configuration +of the whole volcanic group surrounding Krakatoa took place only a few +weeks after Mr. and Mrs. Forbes sailed for home. This widespread +destruction seemed to the inhabitants the culmination of a series of +calamitous years of drought, wet, blight, bovine pestilence, and fever. +It was Mr. Forbes's fortune to be in Java during these bad seasons, +which, from combined causes, made it impossible for flowers to perfect +themselves and fructify. This circumstance was, however, useful to the +naturalist, offering him an opportunity for experiments in the +fertilization of orchids and other plants. The account of the Dutch +cinchona-plantations, which now furnish quinine of the best quality, is +full of interest.</p> + +<p>Mr. Forbes's visit to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, in the Indian Ocean, +cannot be passed over. He was eager to visit a coral-reef, and this +atoll, stocked and planted only by the flotsam and jetsam of the seas, +the winds, and migrating birds, offers to the naturalist a most +delightful study; for here, progressing almost under his eyes, are the +phenomena which have made Bermuda and other coral groups. Little as the +Keeling Islands seem to offer in the way of secure habitation, they have +a population of some hundreds of people, presided over by their +energetic proprietor, Mr. Ross, who has planted the atoll thickly with +cocoanut palms. Gathering the nuts and expressing the oil is the chief +industry of the inhabitants, who are all taught to work and support +themselves in some useful way. No money is in circulation on the island: +a system of exchange and barter with agents in Batavia for necessary +products takes its place. This thriving little community has, however, +terrible forces to contend against. Darwin recounts the effects of an +earthquake which took place two years before his visit to the islands in +1836; a fierce cyclone brought ruin and devastation in <span class="pagenum">[Pg 214]</span>1862; +and in 1876 a terrible experience of cyclone and earthquake almost swept +away the whole settlement. This was followed by a most singular +phenomenon. "About thirty-six hours after the cyclone," writes Mr. +Forbes, "the water on the eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be +rising up from below of a dark color. The color was of an inky hue, and +its smell 'like that of rotten eggs.' ... Within twenty-four hours every +fish, coral, and mollusc in the part impregnated with this discoloring +substance—probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid died. So great was +the number of fish thrown on the beach, that it took three weeks of hard +work to bury them in a vast trench dug in the sand." Wherever this water +touched the growing coral-reef, it was blighted and killed. Darwin saw +similar "patches" of dead coral, and attributed them to some great fall +of the tide which had left the insects exposed to the light of the sun. +But it is probable that a similar submarine eruption had taken place +after the earthquake which preceded his visit to the Keeling Islands in +1836.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> +<b>"Birds in the Bush."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Bradford Torrey.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>We like the name of Mr. Torrey's book, which seems to carry with it a +practical reversal of the proverb that a bird in the hand is worth two +in the bush. For although in many ways it is a good and pleasant sign to +note the increase of amateur naturalists among us, we yet feel a dread +of an incursion of those lovers of classified collections, "each with +its Latin label on," who believe that in gaining stuffed specimens they +may best arrive at the charm and the mystery of that exquisite +phenomenon which we call bird-life. Mr. Torrey has no puerile ambitions +for birds in the hand, and a bird in the bush makes to his perception +holy ground, where he takes the shoes from off his feet and watches and +waits, feeling a delightful surprise in each piquant caprice of the +little songster. He tells the story of his experiences and impressions +simply and pleasantly, often utters a good thing without too much +emphasis, and yet more often says true things, which is more difficult +still. He is nowhere bookish, although he has read and can quote well if +need be. He reminds one occasionally of Emerson, oftener of Thoreau, +while his method is that of John Burroughs. His most careful studies are +perhaps of the birds on Boston Common and about Boston, but he writes +pleasantly and suggestively of those in the White Mountains. One likes +to be reminded that there are still bobolinks in the world, for they +have deserted many spots which they once favored. There used to be +meadows full of rocks, in each crevice of which nodded a scarlet +columbine, surrounded by grassy borders where wild strawberries grew +thickly, with hedge-rows running riot with blackberry, sumach, and +alder,—all reckless of utility and given over to lovely waste,—that +were vocal on June mornings with bobolinks, but where in these times one +might wait the whole day through and not hear a single note of the old +refrain. Our author finds them plentiful, however, at North Conway, +where, as he describes it, their "song dropped from above" while he sat +perched on a fence-rail looking at the snow-crowned Mount Washington +range.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> +<b>"The Cruise of the Brooklyn.</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A Journal of the principal events of a three years' cruise in</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the U. S. Flag-Ship Brooklyn, in the South Atlantic Station,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extending south of the Equator from Cape Horn east to the limits</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Indian Ocean on the seventieth meridian of east</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">longitude. Descriptions of places in South America, Africa, and</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madagascar, with details of the peculiar customs and industries</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of their inhabitants. The cruises of the other vessels of the</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American squadron, from November, 1881, to November, 1884."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By W.H. Beehler, Lieut. U. S. Navy.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Illustrated.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Press of J.B. Lippincott Co. Philadelphia. 1885.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>The copious information given on the title-page leaves little to be +supplied in regard to the subject-matter of this volume. The same +thoroughness is displayed in the narrative and descriptions, as well of +the incidents of the voyage and the details of shipboard life as of the +history, productions, and scenery of the various places visited. They +include, of course, no events or operations such as belong to the annals +of naval enterprise or maritime discovery, but, besides the ordinary +phases of service on foreign stations,—the interchange of courtesies +with the authorities, the routine of duty and discipline, and the +scarcely less regular round of amusements and festivities,—we have +interesting episodes, such as an account of the observations of the +transit of Venus at Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, the "Brooklyn" having been +detailed to take charge of the expedition sent out under Messrs. Very +and Wheeler. A visit to some of the ports of Madagascar soon after the +bombardment of Hovas <span class="pagenum">[Pg 215]</span>gives occasion for a readable relation of +the internal revolutions and the transactions with European powers that +have given a pretext, if such it can be called, for the French claim to +exercise a protectorate over a portion of the island, the enforcement of +which will require, in our author's opinion, "an army of at least fifty +thousand men." Cape Town was a place of stay for several weeks on both +the outward and the homeward voyage, and in this connection the history +of the South African states and colonies, including the English wars and +imbroglios with the Boers and the Zulus, is given in detail; while the +necessity for touching at St. Helena furnished an opportunity for +repeating the tale of Napoleon's captivity, with particulars preserved +among "the traditions of the old inhabitants, not generally known."</p> + +<p>It will be seen that Lieutenant Beehler made good use both of the means +of observation and of the leisure for study afforded by the "cruise." He +writes agreeably, and seems to have been careful in regard to the +sources from which he has gathered information. The book is beautifully +printed, and the illustrations are faithful but artistic renderings of +photographic views.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><a name="Recent_Fiction" /><b>Recent Fiction.</b></p> + + +<p> +<b>"At the Red Glove."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York: Harper & Brothers.</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>"Upon a Cast."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Charlotte Dunning.</span><br /> +New York: Harper & Brothers.<br /> +<br /> +<b>"Down the Ravine."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Charles Egbert Craddock.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>"By Shore and Sedge."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Bret Harte.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>"At Love's Extremes."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Maurice Thompson.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York: Cassell & Co.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>Although the scene of "At the Red Glove" is laid in Berne, it is a +typical French story of French people with French ideas and +characteristics, and it is French as well in the symmetry of its +arrangements and effects and its admirable technique. In point of fact, +Berne is a city where a German dialect is spoken, but among the lively +groups of <i>bourgeois</i> who carry on this effective little drama a +prettier and politer language is in vogue. Madame Carouge, whose +personality is the pivot upon which the story revolves, is a native of +southern France, and is the proprietor of the Hôtel Beauregard. Her +husband, who married her as a mere child and carried her away from a +life of poverty and neglect, has died before the opening of the story +and bequeathed all his property to his young and handsome wife. "Ah, but +I do not owe him much," the beautiful woman said: "he has wasted my +youth. I am eight-and-twenty, and I have not yet begun to live." Thus +Madame Carouge as a widow sets out to realize the dreams she has dreamed +in the dull apathetic days of her long bondage. Although she is bent on +love and happiness, she is yet sensible and discreet, and manages the +Hôtel Beauregard with skill and tact, while secluding herself from +common eyes. Destiny, however, as if eager at last to work in her favor, +throws in her way a handsome young Swiss, Rudolf Engemann by name, a +bank-clerk, with whom she falls deeply in love. Everything is +progressing to Madame's content, when a little convent-girl, Marie +Peyrolles, comes to Berne to live with her old aunt, a glove-seller, +whose sign in the Spitalgasse gives the name to the story. It would be a +difficult matter to find a prettier piece of comedy than that which +ensues upon Marie's advent. It is all simple, spontaneous, and, on the +part of the actors, entirely serious, yet the effect is delightfully +humorous. Berne, with its quaint arcaded streets, its Alpine views, and +its suburban resorts, makes a capital background, and gives the group +free play to meet with all sorts of picturesque opportunities. The story +is told without any straining after climaxes, but with many felicitous +touches that enhance the effect of every picture and incident. In scene, +characters, and plot, "At the Red Glove" offers a brilliant opportunity +to the dramatist, and one is tempted to think that the story must have +been originally conceived and planned with reference to the stage.</p> + +<p>"Upon a Cast" is also a very amusing little story, and turns on the +experiences of a couple of ladies who, with a longing for a quiet life,</p> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The world forgetting, by the world forgot,</span> +<p>settle on the North River in a town which, though called Newbroek, might +easily be identified as Poughkeepsie. Little counting upon this niche +outside the world becoming a centre of interest or a theatre of events, +the necessity of presenting their credentials to the social magnates of +the place does not occur to these ladies,—one the widow of a Prussian +officer, and the other her niece, who have returned to America after a +long residence abroad. They prefer to <span class="pagenum">[Pg 216]</span>remain, as it were, +incognito; and, pried; into as the seclusion of the new-comers is by all +the curious, this reticence soon causes misconstructions and scandals. +The petty gossip, the solemnities of self-importance, and the +Phariseeism of a country neighborhood are very well portrayed, and, we +fear, without any especial exaggeration. The story is told with +unflagging spirit, and shows quick perceptions and a lively feeling for +situations. Carol Lester's friendship for Oliver Floyd while she is +ignorant of the existence of his wife is a flaw in the pleasantness; but +"Upon a Cast" is well worthy of a high place in the list of summer +novels.</p> + +<p>Although "Down the Ravine" belongs to the category of books for young +people, the story is too true to life in characters and incidents, and +too artistically handled, not to find appreciative readers of all ages. +In fact, we are inclined to discover in the book stronger indications of +the author's powers as a novelist than in anything she has hitherto +published. "Where the Battle was Fought," in spite of all its fine +scenes, had not the same sustained interest nor the same spontaneity. +The plot of the present story is excellent, and the characters act and +react on each other in a simple and natural way. The youthful Diceys, +with the faithful, loyal Birt at their head, are a capital study; and +from first to last the author has nowhere erred in truth or failed in +humor.</p> + +<p>Taking into consideration the ease with which Mr. Bret Harte won his +laurels, and the belief which all his early admirers shared that here at +last was the great American novelist, who was to hold a distinctive +place in the world's literature, he has perhaps not fulfilled +expectations nor answered the demands upon his powers. The very +individuality of his work, its characteristic bias, has been, in point +of fact, a hinderance and an impediment. The unexpectedness of his first +stories, the enchanted surprise, like that of a new and delicious +vintage or a wonderful undiscovered chord in music,—these effects are +not easily made to recur with undiminished strength and charm. However, +one may generally find some bubbles of the old delightful elixir in Mr. +Harte's stories, and in this little group of them, regathered, we +believe, from English magazines, each is interesting in its way, and +each true to the author's typical idea, which is to discover to his +readers some heroic quality in unheroic human beings which transforms +their whole lives before our eyes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Thompson on his title-page announces himself as the author of two +novels, "A Tallahassee Girl" and "His Second Campaign," both of which we +read with pleasure, and this impression led us to turn hopefully to a +third by the same hand. "At Love's Extremes" does not, however, take our +fancy. If the author undertook to discuss a complex problem seriously, +he has failed to make it clear or vital to the reader; and if the +various episodes of Colonel Reynolds's life are to be passed over as +mere slight deviations from the commonplace, we can only say that we +consider them too unpleasant and abhorrent to good taste to be imposed +upon us so lightly. There are also points of the story which seem to +mock the good sense of the reader. Has the author considered the state +of mind of a young widow who has heard that her husband has been +murdered in a street-brawl in Texas, who has mourned him for years, and +then, after yielding to the solicitations of a new suitor and promising +to marry him, learns from his own lips that it was his hand (although +the act was one of self-defence) which sent her husband to his tragic +death? Mr. Thompson seems to violate the sanctities and the proprieties +of womanhood in allowing the widow, after a faint interval of shock, to +pass over this fact as unimportant. This situation has, of course, its +famous precedent in the scene in which Gloster wooes and wins the Lady +Anne beside her murdered husband's bier; but that is tragedy, and we +moderns are, besides, more squeamish than the people of those mediæval +times. In this story the situation becomes more logical, even if more +absurd, after the return of the husband who was supposed to have been +murdered. With a good deal of effort to show powerful feeling, the +characters in the book are all automatons, who say and do nothing with +real thought or real passion. The vernacular of the mountaineers seems +to have been carefully studied, and is so thoroughly outlandish and so +devoid of fine expressions that we are inclined to believe it more +accurate than the poetic and musical dialects which it is the fashion to +impose upon our credulity. But it must be confessed that, with only his +own rude and pointless <i>patois</i> in which to express himself, the +Southern cracker becomes painfully devoid of interest, to say nothing of +charm.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES" />FOOTNOTES.</h2> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_001_1" id="Footnote_001_1" /><a href="#FNanchor_001_1"><span class="label">[001]</span></a> John Sevier's Memorial to the North Carolina +Legislature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_002_2" id="Footnote_002_2" /><a href="#FNanchor_002_2"><span class="label">[002]</span></a> J.G.M. Ramsay, "Annals of Tennessee."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_003_3" id="Footnote_003_3" /><a href="#FNanchor_003_3"><span class="label">[003]</span></a> Haywood.</p></div> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14530 ***</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..eaa406c --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14530 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14530) diff --git a/old/14530-8.txt b/old/14530-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5940e22 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14530-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7633 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 30, 2004 [EBook #14530] +[Date last updated: July 30, 2005] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +[Note: The Table of Contents was added by the transcriber. +Footnotes will be found at the end of the text.] + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + +AUGUST, 1885. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +ON THIS SIDE. by F.C. BAYLOR. + VIII. + +OUR VILLE. by MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. + +THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. by M.H. CATHERWOOD. + I. PARADISE. + II. FORBIDDEN FRUIT. + III. THE FLAMING SWORD. + +PROBATION. by FLORENCE EARLE COATES. + +THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. by EDMUND KIRKE. + TWO PAPERS. II. + +A PLEASANT SPIRIT. by MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. + +FISHING IN ELK RIVER. by TOBE HODGE. + +ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS. by + CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES. + +THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. by DAVID BENNETT KING. + +MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. by FRANK PARKE. + +THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. by MARY C. PECKHAM. + +A FOREST BEAUTY. by MAURICE THOMPSON. + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + Daniel Webster's "Moods." by F.C.M. + Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest. by J.A.M. + The Etymology of "Babe." by S.E.T. + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + +Recent Fiction. + +FOOTNOTES. + + + * * * * * + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + + +_AUGUST, 1885_. + + + * * * * * + + + + +ON THIS SIDE. + +VIII. + + +Not the least delightful of Sir Robert's qualities was his capacity for +enjoying most things that came in his way, and finding some interest in +all. When Mr. Ketchum joined him in the library, where he was jotting +down "the _sobriquets_ of the American States and cities," and told him +of the Niagara plan, his ruddy visage beamed with pleasure. + +"A delightful idea. Capital," he said. "I suppose I can read up a bit +about it before we start, and not go there with my eyes shut. +Ni-a-ga-rah,--monstrously soft and pretty name. Isn't there something on +your shelves that would give me the information I want? But we can come +to that presently. Just now I want to find out, if I can, how these +nicknames came to be given. They must have originated in some great +popular movement, eh? I thought I saw my way, as, for example, the +'Empire State' and the 'Crescent City' and some others, but this 'Sucker +State,' now, and 'Buckeye' business,--what may that mean in plain +English?" + +Mr. Ketchum shed what light he could on these interesting questions, and +Sir Robert thoughtfully ran his hands through his side-whiskers, while, +with an apologetic "One moment, I beg," or "Very odd, very; that must go +down verbatim," he entered the gist of Mr. Ketchum's queer remarks in +his note-book. + +On the following morning he rose with Niagara in his soul. He had more +questions to ask at the breakfast-table than anybody could answer, and +was eager to be off. Mr. Ketchum, who had that week made no less than +fifty thousand dollars by a lucky investment, was in high spirits. +Captain Kendall, who had been allowed to join the party, was vastly +pleased by the prospect of another week in Ethel's society. Mrs. Sykes +was tired of Fairfield, and longed to be "on the move" again, as she +frankly said. So that, altogether, it was a merry company that finally +set off. + +The very first view of "the ocean unbound" increased their pleasure to +enthusiasm. Mrs. Sykes, without reservation, admitted that it was "a +grand spot," and felt as though she were giving the place a certificate +when she added, "_Quite_ up to the mark." She was out on the Suspension +Bridge, making a sketch, as soon as she could get there; she took one +from every other spot about the place; and when tired of her pencil, she +stalked about with her hammer, chipping off bits of rock that promised +geological interest. But she found her greatest amusement in the brides +that "infested the place" (to quote from her letter to her sister +Caroline), indulged in much satirical comment on them, and, choosing one +foolish young rustic who was there as her text, wrote in her diary, +"American brides like to go from the altar to some large hotel, where +they can display their finery, wear their wedding-dresses every evening, +and attract as much attention as possible. The national passion for +display makes them delight in anything that renders them conspicuous, no +matter how vulgar that display may be. If one must have a fools' +paradise, generally known as a honeymoon, this is about as pleasant a +place as any other for it; and, as there are several runaway couples +stopping here, and the place is just on the border, this is doubtless +the American Gretna Green, where silly women and temporarily-infatuated +men can marry in haste, to repent at leisure." + +Mr. Heathcote gave his camera enough to do, as may be imagined. He and +Sir Robert traced the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and +photographed it at every turn, made careful estimates of its length, +breadth, depth, the flow of currents, scale of descent to the mile, wear +of precipice, and time necessary for the river to retire from the falls +business altogether and meander tranquilly along on a level like other +rivers. They arrayed themselves in oil-skin suits and spent an +unconscionable time at the back of the Horseshoe Fall, roaring out +observations about it that were rarely heard, owing to the deafening +din, and had more than one narrow escape from tumbling into the water in +these expeditions. They carefully bottled some of it, which they +afterward carefully sealed with red wax and duly labelled, intending to +add it to a collection of similar phials which Sir Robert had made of +famous waters in many countries. They went over the mills and factories +in the neighborhood, and Sir Robert had long confabs with the managers, +of whom he asked permission to "jot down" the interesting facts +developed in the course of their conversations, surprising them by his +knowledge of mechanics and the subjects in hand. + +"Man alive! what do you want with _those_?" said he to one of them, a +keen-faced young fellow, who was showing him the boiler-fires. He +pointed with his stick as he spoke, and rattled it briskly about the +brick-work by way of accompaniment as he went on: "Such a waste of +force, of money! downright stupidity! You don't want it. You don't need +it, any more than you need an hydraulic machine tacked to the back of +your trains. You have got water enough running past your very door to--" + +"I've told that old fool Glass that a thousand times," broke in the +young man; "but if he wants to try and warm and light the world with a +gas-stove when the sun is up I guess it's no business of mine, though it +does rile me to see the power thrown away and good coal wasted. If I had +the capital, here's what _I_'d do. Here." + +Seizing Sir Robert's stick, the enthusiast drew a fondly-loved ideal +mill in the coal-dust at his feet, while Sir Robert looked and listened, +differed, suggested, with keen interest, and Mr. Heathcote gave but +haughty and ignorant attention to the talk that followed. + +"Yes, that's the way of it; but Glass has lived all his life with his +head in a bag, and he can't see it. I am surprised to see you take an +interest in it. Ever worked at it?" said the man in conclusion. + +"A little," said Sir Robert affably, who could truthfully have said as +much of anything. "Who is this Glass?" + +"Oh, he's the man that owns all this; the stupidest owl that ever lived. +I wish he could catch on like you. I'd like very well to work with you," +was the reply. + +"A bumptious fellow, that," commented Mr. Heathcote when they left. +"He'd 'like to work with you,' indeed!" + +"A fellow with ideas. I'd like to work with him," replied his uncle; +"though he isn't burdened with respect for his employers." + +Miss Noel meanwhile tied on her large straw hat, took her cane, basket, +trowel, tin box, and, followed by Parsons with her sketching-apparatus, +went off to hunt plants or wash in sketches, a most blissfully occupied +and preoccupied old lady. + +To Mr. Ketchum's great amusement, Miss Noel, Mrs. Sykes, and Mr. +Heathcote all arrived at a particular spot within a few moments of each +other one morning, all alike prepared and determined to get the view it +commanded. + +Miss Noel had said to Job _en route,_ "Do you think that I shall be able +to get a fly and drive about the country a bit? I should so like it. Are +they to be had there?" + +And he had replied, "You will have some difficulty in _not_ taking 'a +fly' there, I guess. The hackmen would rather drive your dead body +around town for nothing than let you enjoy the luxury of walking about +unmolested. But I will see to all that." + +Accordingly, a carriage had been placed at their disposal, and they had +taken some charming drives, in the course of which Parsons, occupying +the box on one occasion, was seen to be peering very curiously about +her. + +"A great pity, is it not, Parsons, that we can't see all this in the +autumn, when the thickets of scarlet and gold are said to be so very +beautiful?" said Miss Noel, addressing her affably. + +"Yes, mem," agreed Parsons. "And, if you please, mem, where are the +estates of the gentry, as I 'ave been lookin' for ever since we came +hover?" + +"Not in this part," replied Miss Noel. "The red Indians were here not +very long since. You should really get a pin-cushion of their +descendants, those mild, dirty creatures that work in bark and beads. +Buy of one that has been baptized: one shouldn't encourage them to +remain heathens, you know. Your friends in England will like to see +something made by them; and they were once very powerful and spread all +over the country as far as--as--I really forget where; but I know they +were very wild and dreadful, and lived in wigwams, and wore moccasins." + +"Oh, indeed, mem!" responded Parsons, impressed by the extent of her +mistress's information. + +"A wigwam is three upright poles, such as the gypsies use for their +kettles, thatched with the leaves of the palm and the plantain," Miss +Noel went on. "Dear me! It is very odd! I certainly remember to have +read that; but perhaps I am getting back to the Southern Americans +again, which does so vex Robert. I wonder if one couldn't see a wigwam +for one's self? It can't be plantain, after all: there is none growing +about here." + +She asked Mabel about this that evening, and the latter told her husband +how Miss Noel was always mixing up the two continents. + +"I don't despair, Mabel. They will find this potato-patch of ours after +a while," he said good-humoredly. + +But he was less amiable when Mrs. Sykes said at dinner next day, "I +should like to try your maize. Quite simply boiled, and eaten with +butter and salt, I am told it is quite good, really. I have heard that +the Duke of Slumborough thought it excellent." + +"You don't say so! I am so glad to hear it! I shall make it generally +known as far as I can. Such things encourage us to go on trying to make +a nation of ourselves. It would have paralyzed all growth and +development in this country for twenty years if he had thought it +'nasty,'" said Job. "Foreigners can't be too particular how they express +their opinions about us. Over and over again we have come within an ace +of putting up the shutters and confessing that it was no use pretending +that we could go on independently having a country of our own, with +distinct institutions, peculiarities, customs, manners, and even +productions. It would be so much better and easier to turn ourselves +over to a syndicate of distinguished foreigners who would govern us +properly,--stamp out ice-water and hot rolls from the first, as unlawful +and not agreeing with the Constitution, give us cool summers, prevent +children from teething hard, make it a penal offence to talk through the +nose, and put a bunch of Bourbons in the White House, with a divine +right to all the canvas-back ducks in the country. There are so many +kings out of business now that they could easily give us a bankrupt one +to put on our trade dollar, or something really _sweet_ in emperors who +have seen better days. And a standing army of a hundred thousand men, +all drum-majors, in gorgeous uniforms, helmets, feathers, gold lace, +would certainly scare the Mexicans into caniptious and unconditional +surrender. The more I think of it, the more delightful it seems. It is +mere stupid obstinacy our people keeping up this farce of +self-government, when anybody can see that it is a perfect failure, and +that the country has no future whatever." + +"Oh, you talk in that way; but I don't think you would really like it," +said Mrs. Sykes. "Americans seem to think that they know everything: +they are above taking any hints from the Old World, and get as angry as +possible with me when I point out a few of the more glaring defects that +strike me." + +"I am surprised at that. Our great complaint is that we can't get any +advice from Europeans. If we only had a little, even, we might in time +loom up as a fifth-rate power. But no: they leave us over here in this +wilderness without one word of counsel or criticism, or so much as a +suggestion, and they ought not to be surprised that we are going to the +dogs. What else can they expect?" said Mr. Ketchum. + +"Husband, dear, you were very sharp with my cousin to-day, and it was +not like you to show temper,--at least, not temper exactly, but +vexation," said Mabel to him afterward in mild rebuke. "She has told me +that you quite detest the English, so that she wonders you should have +married me. And I said that you were far too intelligent and just to +cherish wrong feelings toward any people, much less my people." + +"Well, if _she_ represented England I should drop England quietly over +the rapids some day when I could no longer stand her infernal +patronizing, impertinent airs, and rid the world of a nuisance," said +Mr. Ketchum, with energy. "Excuse my warmth, but that woman would poison +a prairie for me. Fortunately, I happen to know that she only represents +a class which neither Church nor State there has the authority to shoot, +_yet_, and I am not going to cry down white wool because there are black +sheep. Look at Sir Robert, and Miss Noel, and all the rest of them, how +different they are." + +Captain Kendall certainly found Niagara delightful, for, owing to the +absorption of the party in their different pursuits, he was able to see +more of Ethel than he had ever done. He was so different from the men +she had known that he was a continual study to her. Instead of the +studied indifference, shy avoidance, shy advances, culminating in a +blunt and straightforward declaration of "intentions," which she would +have thought natural in an admirer, followed by transparent, honest +delight in the event of acceptance, or manly submission to the +inevitable in the event of rejection, Captain Kendall had surprised her +by liking her immediately, or at least by showing that he did, and +seeking her persistently, without any pretence of concealment. He talked +to her of politics, of social questions in the broadest sense, of books, +scientific discoveries, his travels, and the travels of others. He read +whole volumes of poetry to her. He discoursed by the hour on the manly +character, its faults, merits, peculiarities, and possibilities, and +then contrasted it with the womanly one, trait for trait, and it seemed +to her that women had never been praised so eloquently, +enthusiastically, copiously. At no time was he in the least choked by +his feelings or at a loss for a fresh word or sentiment. Such romance, +such ideality, such universality, as it were, she had never met. When +his admiration was most unbridled it seemed to be offered to her as the +representative of a sex entirely perfect and lovely. Everything in +heaven and earth, apparently, ministered to his passion and made him +talk all around the beloved subject with a wealth of simile and +suggestion that she had never dreamed of. But, if he gave full +expression to his agitated feelings in these ways, he was extremely +delicate, respectful, reserved, in others. He wrapped up his heart in so +many napkins, indeed, that, being a practical woman not extraordinarily +gifted in the matter of imagination, she frequently lost sight of it +altogether, and she sometimes failed to follow him in a broad road of +sentiment that (like the Western ones which Longfellow has described) +narrowed and narrowed until it disappeared, a mere thread, up a tree. If +he looked long, after one of these flights, at her sweet English face to +see what impression he had made, he was often forced to see that it was +not the one he had meant to make at all. + +"Is anything amiss?" she asked once, in her cool, level tone, fixing +upon him her sincerely honest eyes. "Are there blacks on my nose?" +Although she had distinctly refused him at Kalsing, as became a girl +destitute of vanity and coquetry and attached to some one else, she had +not found him the less fluent, omnipresent, persuasive, at Niagara. It +was diverting to see them seated side by side on Goat Island, he waving +his hand toward the blue sky, apostrophizing the water, the foliage, the +clouds, and what not, in prose and verse, quite content if he but got a +quiet glance and assenting word now and then, she listening demurely in +a state of protestant satisfaction, her fair hair very dazzling in the +sunshine, an unvarying apple-blossom tint in her calm face, her fingers +tatting industriously not to waste the time outright. It was very +agreeable in a way, she told herself, but something must really be done +to get rid of the man. And so, one morning when they chanced to be +alone, and he was being unusually ethereal and beautiful in his remarks, +telling her that, as Byron had said, she would be "the morning star of +memory" for him, she broke in squarely, "That is all very nice; very +pretty, I am sure. But I do hope you quite understand that I have not +the least idea of marrying you. There is no use in going on like this, +you know, and you would have a right to reproach me if I kept silent and +led you to think that I was being won over by your fine speeches. You +see, you don't really want a star at all. You want a wife; though +military men, as a rule, are better off single. I do thank you heartily +for liking me for myself, and all that, and I shall always remember the +kind things you have done, and our acquaintance, but you must put me +quite out of your head as a wife. I should not suit you at all. You +would have to leave the American service, and I should hate feeling I +had tied you down, and I couldn't contribute a penny toward the +household expenses, and, altogether, we are much better apart. It would +not answer at all. So, thank you again for the honor you have conferred +upon me, and be--be rather more--like other people, won't you, for the +future? Auntie fancies that I am encouraging you, and is getting very +vexed about it. Perhaps you had better go away? Yes, that would be best, +I think." + +Thus solicited, Captain Kendall went away, taking a mournfully-eloquent +farewell of Ethel, which she thought final; but in this she was +mistaken. + +Our party did not linger long after this. Sir Robert met a titled +acquaintance, who inflamed his mind so much about Manitoba that he +decided to go to Canada at once, taking Miss Noel, Ethel, and Mr. +Heathcote; Mrs. Sykes had taken up on her first arrival with some New +York people, who asked her to visit them in the central part of the +State,--which disposed of her; Mabel was secretly longing to get back to +her "American child," as Mrs. Sykes called little Jared Ponsonby; and +they separated, with the understanding that they should meet again +before the English guests left the country, and with a warm liking for +each other, the Sykes not being represented in the pleasant covenants of +friendship formed. + +"I am glad that we have not to bid Ketchum good-by here," said Sir +Robert. "Such a hearty, genial fellow! And how kind he has been to us! +His hospitality is the true one; not merely so much food and drink and +moneyed outlay for some social or selfish end, but the entertainment of +friends because they _are_ friends, with every possible care for their +pleasure and comfort, and the most unselfish willingness to do anything +that can contribute to either. I am afraid he would not find many such +hosts as himself with us. We entertain more than the Americans, but I do +not think we have as much of the real spirit of hospitality as a nation. +The relation between host and guest is less personal, there is little +sense of obligation, or rather sacredness, on either side, and the +convenience, interest, or amusement of the Amphitryon is more apt to be +considered, as a general thing, than the pleasure of the guest: at least +this has been growing more and more the case in the last twenty years, +as our society has broken away from old traditions and levelled all its +barriers, to the detriment of our social graces, not to speak of our +morals and manners. As for that charmingly gentle, sweet woman Mrs. +Ketchum, it is my opinion that we are not likely to improve on that type +of Englishwoman. A modest, simple, religious creature, a thorough +gentlewoman, and a devoted wife and mother. My cousin Guy Rathbone is +engaged to a specimen of a new variety,--one of the 'emancipated,' +forsooth; a woman who has a betting-book instead of a Bible and plays +cards all day Sunday. He tells me that she is wonderfully clever, and +that it is all he can do to keep her from running about the kingdom +delivering lectures on Agnosticism; as if one wanted one's wife to be a +trapesing, atheistical Punch-and-Judy! And the fellow seemed actually +pleased and flattered. He told me that she had 'an astonishing grasp of +such subjects' and was 'attracting a great deal of attention.' And I +told him that if I had a wife who attracted attention in such ways I +would lock her up until she came to her senses and the public had +forgotten her want of modesty and discretion. This ought to be called +the Age of Fireworks. The craze for notoriety is penetrating our very +almshouses, and every toothless old mumbler of ninety wants to get +himself palmed off as a centenarian in the papers and have a lot of +stuff printed about him." + +"I see what you mean, Robert," said Miss Noel, "and it certainly cannot +be wholesome for women to thirst for excitement, and one would think a +lady would shrink from being conspicuous in any way; but things are very +much changed, as you say. And I agree with you in your estimate of the +Ketchums. She is a sweet young thing, and I heartily like him. Only +think! his last act was to send a great basket of fine fruits up to my +room, and quite an armful of railway-novels for the journey. Such +beautiful thought for our comfort as they have shown!" + +"He is rather a good sort in some ways, but a very ignorant man. I +showed him some of my specimens the other day, and he thought them +granitic, when they were really Silurian mica schist of some kind," put +in Mrs. Sykes, who never could bear unqualified praise. "Still, on the +whole, the Americans are less ignorant than might have been expected." + +"_I_ consider Mr. Ketchum a most kind, gentlemanly, sociable, clever +man," said Miss Noel, with an emphatic nod of her head to each +adjective, "geology or no geology. And I must say that it is very +ungrateful of you to speak of him so sneeringly always." + +Sir Robert only waited to write the usual batch of letters, including a +last appeal to the editor of the "Columbia Eagle" to know whether he +intended to apologize for and publicly retract a certain article, and +asking "whether it was possible that any considerable or respectable +portion of the Americans could be so arbitrary, illiberal, and exclusive +as to wish to exclude the English from America." This done, he left for +Canada with his relatives. With his stay there we have nothing to do. It +consumed six weeks of exhaustive travel and study of Canadian conditions +and resources, resulting ultimately in the conclusion that Manitoba was +not the place he was looking for. The ladies, who had been left in +Montreal, were then taken for a short tour through the country, which +they all enjoyed, after which Sir Robert asked Miss Noel whether she +would be willing to take Ethel back to Niagara and wait there a +fortnight, or perhaps a little longer, while he and Mr. Heathcote came +back by way of New England and from there went down into Maryland and +Virginia, where, according to "a member of the Canadian Parliament," +lands were to be had for a song. + +"A fortnight? I could spend a twelve-month there," exclaimed she. "Had +it not been that I was ashamed to insist upon being let off this +journey, I should have stopped there as it was." + +To Niagara the aunt and niece and Parsons went, as agreed, and there +they found Mr. Bates wandering languidly about the place in chronic +discontent with everything for not being something else. He had burned a +good deal of incense on Ethel's shrine when she was at Kalsing, and now +hailed their advent with some approach to enthusiasm, and attached +himself to their suite, _vice_ Captain Kendall, retired. He liked to be +seen with them, thought the views from the Canadian side were "deucedly +fine," was cruelly affected by the advertisements in the neighborhood, +which he denounced as "dreadfully American," trickled out much feeble +criticism of and acid comment on his surroundings, gave utterance to +fervent wishes that he was "abrard," and in his own unpleasant way gave +Ethel to understand that she might make a fellow-countryman happy by +becoming Mrs. Samuel Bates if she liked to avail herself of a golden +opportunity. "I would live in England, you know. I am really far more at +home there than here," said the expatriated suitor. "I have been taken +for an Englishman as often as three times in one week, do you know. +Curious, isn't it? I ought to be down in Kent now, visiting Lady +Simpson, a great friend of mine, who has asked me there again and again. +You would like her if you knew her. She is quite the great lady down +there." + +"A foolish little man, and evidently a great snob, or else rather daft +upon some points," Ethel reported to her aunt. "And such a dull, +discontented creature, with all his money!" Ethel had some trials of her +own just then, and it was no great felicity to listen to Mr. Bates's +endless complaints, nor could she spare much sympathy for the sufferings +of the exile of Tecumseh, with his rose-leaf sensibilities, inanities, +absurdities. + +Meanwhile, the young gentleman who was indirectly responsible for many a +sad thought of two charming girls that we know of--and who shall say how +many more?--was enjoying as much happiness as ever fell to any man in +the capacity of ardent sportsman. He had joined the duke and his party +at St. Louis, and from there they had gone "well away from anywhere," as +he said in describing his adventures to Mr. Heathcote. He had at last +reached the ideal spot of all his wildest imaginations and most +cherished hopes,--"the wild part,"--really the great prairies, about two +hundred miles west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies. The dream +of his life was being fulfilled. He related, in a style not conspicuous +for literary merit, but very well suited to the simple annals of the +rich, how, having first procured guides, tents, ambulances, +camp-equipage, they had pushed on briskly to a military fort, where, +having made friends with "a pleasant, gentlemanly set of fellows," the +commanding officer, "a friendly old buffer," had courteously given them +an escort to protect them from "those dirty, treacherous brutes, the +Indians." Not a joy was wanting in this crowning bliss. The guide was "a +wonderful chap named Big-Foot Williams, so called by the Indians, good +all around from knocking over a rabbit to tackling a grizzly," with an +amazing knowledge of woodcraft, "a nose like a bloodhound, an eye as +cool as a toad's." No special mention was made of his ear; but the first +time he got off his horse and applied it to the earth, listening for +the tramp of distant hoofs in a hushed silence, one bosom could hardly +hold all the rapture that filled Mr. Ramsay's figurative cup up to the +brim. And the tales he told of savageness long drawn out were as dew to +the parched herb, greedily absorbed at every pore. A portrait of "Black +Eagle," a noted chief, was given when they got among the Indians,--"a +great hulking slugger of a savage, awfully interesting, long, reaching +step, magnificent muscles, snake eye, could thrash us all in turn if he +liked. The best of the lot." + +Even the noble red man was not insensible to the charms of this +graceful, handsome young athlete who smiled at them perpetually and +said, "_Amigo! amigo_!" at short intervals,--a phrase suggested by the +redoubtable Williams and varied occasionally by a prefix of his own, +"_Muchee amigo_!" The way in which he tested the elasticity of their +bows, inspected their guns, the game they had killed, the other natural +objects about them, aroused a certain sympathy, perhaps. At any rate, +they were soon teaching him their mode of using the most picturesquely +murderous of all weapons, and Black Eagle offered, through the +interpreter, to give him a mustang and a fine wolf-skin. The pony was +declined, the skin accepted, a _quid pro quo_ being bestowed on the +chief in the shape of one of Mr. Ramsay's breech-loaders, a gift that +made the snake eyes glitter. But what earthly return can be made for +some friendly offices? Could a thousand guns be considered as an +adequate payment for the delirious thrill that Mr. Ramsay felt when he +shot an arrow straight through the neck of a big buffalo, and, wheeling, +galloped madly away, like the hero of one of his favorite stories? Was +not the duke, who "knew a thing or two about shooting" and had hunted +the noble bison in Lithuania, almost as much delighted as though he had +done it himself? Is it any wonder that these intoxicating pleasures were +all-sufficient for the time to Mr. Ramsay? Perhaps Thekla would have +been forgotten by her Max, and Romeo would never have sighed and died +for love of Juliet, if those interesting lovers had ceased from wooing +and gone a-hunting of the buffalo instead. Not the most deadly and cruel +pangs of the most unfortunate attachment could have taken away all the +zest from such an occupation, provided they had had what the Mexican +journals call the "_corazon de los sportsmans_." Youth, strength, +courage, skill, exercised in a vagabondage that has all the nomadic +charm without any of its drawbacks, are apt to sponge the old figures +off the slate of life, leaving a teary smear, perhaps, to show where +they have been, and room for fresh problems. At night over the camp-fire +Mr. Ramsay gave a few pensive thoughts to the girl who regularly put two +handkerchiefs under her pillow to receive the tears that welled out +copiously when she was at last alone and unobserved after a day of +virtuous hypocrisy. Poor child! The pain was very real, and the tears +were bitter and salty enough, though they were to be dried in due time. +If he had known of them, perhaps he might have kept awake a little +longer; but when he wasn't sleepy he was hungry, and when he wasn't +hungry he was tired, and when he wasn't tired he was too actively +employed to think of anything but the business in hand. Happily, at +five-and-twenty it is perfectly possible to postpone being miserable +until a more convenient season; and, though he would have denied it +emphatically afterward, he certainly thought only occasionally of Bijou +at this period, and of Ethel not at all. + +Miss Noel heard very regularly from Mrs. Sykes all this while; and that +energetic traveller had not been idle. She had made her new friends +"take her about tremendously," she said. She had seen all the large +towns in that part of the country, and thought them "very ugly and +monotonously commonplace, but prosperous-looking,--like the +inhabitants." The scenery she had found "far too uninteresting to repay +the bother of sketching it." But she had made a few pictures of "the +views most cracked up in the White Mountains,"--where she had been,--"a +sort of second-hand Switzerland of a place; really nothing after the +Himalayas, but made a great fuss over by the Americans." She described +with withering scorn a drive she took there. + +"We came suddenly one day upon a party in a kind of Cheap-Jack van," she +wrote,--"gayly-dressed people, tricked off in smart finery, and larking +like a lot of Ramsgate tradesmen on the public road. One of the impudent +creatures made a trumpet of his great ugly fist and spelt out the name +of the hotel at which they were stopping, and then put his hand to his +ear, as if to listen for the response. Expecting _me_ to tell _them_ +anything about myself! But I flatter myself that I was a match for them. +I just got out my umbrella and shot it up in their very faces as we +passed, in a way not to be mistaken. And--would you believe it?--the +rude wretches called out, 'The shower is over now! and 'What's the price +of starch?' and roared with laughing." A highly-colored description of "a +visit to a great Dissenting stronghold, Marbury Park," followed: "I was +immensely curious to see one of these characteristic national +exhibitions of hysteria, ignorance, superstition, and immorality, called +a 'camp-meeting.' to which the Americans of all classes flock annually +by the thousands, so I quite insisted upon being taken to one, though my +friends would have got out of it if they could. I fancy they were very +ashamed of it; and they had need to be. I will not attempt to describe +it in detail here,--you will hear what I have said of it in my +diary,--but a more glaringly vulgar, intensely American performance you +can't fancy. I have made a number of sketches of the grounds, the tents +and tent-life, with the people bathing and dressing and all that in the +most exposed manner; of the pavilion, where the roaring and ranting is +done; and of the great revivalist who was holding forth when I got +there, and who had got such a red face and seemed so excited that it is +my belief he was _regularly screwed_, though my friends denied it, of +course. With such a preacher, you can 'realize,' as they say, what the +people were like. A regular Derby-day crowd having a religious +saturnalia,--that is what it is. It would not be allowed at home, I am +sure. Disgusting! One can't wonder at the state of society in America +when one sees what their religion is. An unpleasant incident occurred to +me while sketching in the pavilion, that shows what I have often pointed +out to you,--the radicalism and odious impertinence of this people. I +was just putting the finishing-touches to my picture of the Rev. (?) +'Galusha Wickers' (the revivalist: such names as these Americans have!), +when I heard a voice behind me saying, 'Lor! Why, that's splendid! +perfectly splendid! Well, I declare, you've got him to a t. Lemmy see.' +And, if you please, a hand was thrust over my shoulder and the sketch +seized, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Can you fancy a more +unwarrantable, insufferable liberty? But they are all alike over here. I +turned about, and saw a woman who was examining the reverend revivalist +with much satisfaction. 'Well, you _have_ got him, to be sure,' she +said, returning my angry glance with one of admiration, and quite +unabashed. 'What'll you take for it? I've sat under him for five years; +and for taking texteses from one end of the Bible to the other, and +leading in prayer, and filling the mourners' bench in five minutes, I +will say he hasn't got his equal in the universe. He's got a towering +intellect, I tell you. I'll give you fifty cents for this, if you'll +color it up nice for me and throw in a frame.' Of course I took the +picture away from the brazen creature and told her what I thought of her +conduct. 'Well, you air techy,' she said, and walked off leisurely." +Before closing her letter, Mrs. Sykes remarked of her hostess, "Quite +good for nothing physically, and absurdly romantic. She has been abroad +a good deal, and bores me dreadfully with her European reminiscences. +She is always talking in a foolish, rapturous sort of way about 'dear +Melrose,' or 'noble Tintern Abbey,' or 'enchanting Warwick Castle;' and +she has read simply libraries of books about England, and puts me +through a sort of examination about dozens of places and events, as +though I could carry all England about in my head. I really know less of +it than of most other countries: there is nothing to be got by running +about it. If one knew every foot of it, everybody would think it a +matter of course; but to be able to talk of Siam and the Fiji Islands, +Cambodia and Alaska, and the like, is really an advantage in society. +One gets the name of being a great traveller, and all that, and is asked +about tremendously and taken up to a wonderful extent. I know a man that +didn't wish to go to the trouble and expense of rambling all over the +world, and wanted the reputation of having done it, so he went into +lodgings at intervals near the British Museum and got all the books that +were to be had about a particular country, and, having read them, would +come back to the West End and give out that he had been there. It +answered beautifully for a while, and he was by way of being asked to +become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical, and was thought quite an +authority and wonderfully clever; but somehow he got found out, which +must have been a nuisance and spoiled everything. I can see that these +people consider it quite an honor to have me visit them, all because of +my having been around the world, I dare say. And of course I have let +them see that I know who is who and what is what. They are imploring me +to stay on; but I told them yesterday that it wouldn't suit my book at +all to stay over two weeks longer, when I had seen all there was to see. +That young Ramsay seems to be enjoying himself out there among those +nasty savages; and, as hunting is about the only thing he is fit for, he +had best stay out there altogether." + +The unwritten history of Mrs. Sykes's visit to Marbury Park would have +been more interesting than the account she gave. She took with her a +camp-chair, which she placed in any and every spot that suited her or +commanded the pictorial situations which she wished to make her own +permanently. To the horror and surprise of her friends, she plumped it +down immediately in front of Mr. Wickers (after marching past an immense +congregation), and, wholly unembarrassed by her conspicuous position, +settled herself comfortably, took out her block and pencil, and +proceeded to jot down that worthy's features line upon line, as though +he had been a newly-imported animal at the "Zoo" on exhibition, paying +no attention to the precept upon precept he was trying to impress upon +his audience. + +She walked all over the place repeatedly, went poking and prying into +such tents as she chanced to find empty, nor considered this an +essential requisite to the conferring of this honor. When less sociably +inclined, she established herself outside, close at hand, and in this +way made those valuable observations and spirited drawings which +subsequently enriched her diary and delighted a discerning British +public. But this is anticipating. When she tired of New York, she wrote +to Sir Robert that she wished to give as much time as possible to the +Mormons, and would leave at once for Salt Lake City, where she would +busy herself in laying bare the domestic system as it really existed, +and hold herself in readiness to join the party again when they should +arrive there _en route_ to the Yosemite. + +Sir Robert, being an heroic creature, felt that he could bear this +temporary separation with fortitude, and, being about to start for +Boston when he got the news, forthwith threw himself upon the New +England States in a frenzied search for all the information to be had +about them,--their exact geographical position, by whom discovered, when +settled, climate, productions, population, principal towns and rivers. +He studied three maps of the region as he rattled along in the +south-bound train, and devoted the rest of the time to getting an +outline of its history: so that his nephew found him but an indifferent +companion. + +"I suppose there are authorized maps and charts, geographical, +hydrographical, and topographical, issued by the government, and to be +seen at the libraries. I must get a look at them at once. These are +amateur productions, the work of irresponsible men, contradicting each +other in important particulars as to the relative positions of places, +and inaccurate in many respects, as I find by comparison," he said, +emerging from a prolonged study of his authorities. "You don't seem to +take much interest in all this. You should be at the pains to inform +yourself upon every possible point in connection with this country, or +any other in which you may find yourself; else why travel at all?" + +Mr. Heathcote, not having his uncle's thirst for information, was +reading a French novel at the time, and did not attempt to defend his +position, knowing it probably to be indefensible. + +Before getting to Boston the air turned very chill, and a fine, +penetrating rain set in that for a while disturbed the student of +American history with visions of rheumatism. "God bless my soul! I shall +be laid by the heels here for weeks. Damp is the one thing that I can't +stand up against. And I have not left my coat out!" he exclaimed, +tugging anxiously at his side-whiskers and annoyed to find how dependent +he had grown on his valet. "What shall I do? Ah! I have an idea. Damp. +What resists it and is practically water-proof? _Newspapers_!" With this +he stood up, seized the "Times" supplement, made a hole in the middle of +the central fold, and put it over his head. "Now I have improvised a +South-American _serape_" he observed, in a tone that betrayed the +pleasure it gave him to exercise his ingenuity. He then took two other +sheets and successively wrapped them around his legs, after the fashion +in vogue among gardeners intent upon protecting valuable plants from the +rigors of winter. This done, he smoothed down the _serape_, which showed +a volatile tendency to blow up a good deal, and, with a brief comment to +the effect that "oilskin or india-rubber could not be better," and no +staring about him to observe the effect of his action on the passengers, +replaced his hat, sat down, picked up his book again, readjusted his +eye-glasses, and went on with the episode he had been reading aloud to +his nephew, who, mildly bored by King Philip's war, was mildly amused by +the spectacle the baronet presented, and surprised to see that their +fellow-travellers thought it an excellent joke. A loud "Haw! haw!" and +many convulsive titters testified their appreciation of the absurd +contrast between Sir Robert's highly-respectable head, his grave, +absorbed air, and the remarkable way in which he was finished off below +the ears; but he read on and on, in his round, agreeable voice, +unconscious of the effect he was producing, until the train came to the +final stop, when Mr. Porter and a very dignified, rigid style of friend +came into the car to look for him. + +"My dear Porter, I am delighted to see you, and I shall be with you in +one moment. I shall then have ceased to be a grub and have become a most +beautiful butterfly, ready to fly away home with you as soon as ever you +like," he called out in greeting, and in a twinkling had torn off his +wrappers, and stood there a revealed acquaintance, carefully collecting +his "traps," and beaming cheerfully even upon the friend, who had not +come to a pantomime and showed that he disapproved of harlequins in +private life. + +Mr. Porter, however, was all cordiality, and very speedily transferred +his guests to his own house in the vicinity of Boston. + +The season was not the one for gaining a fair idea of the society of the +city and neighborhood; but if all the people who were away at the +sea-side and the mountains were half as charming as those left behind +and invited by Mr. Porter, to meet his friends, it is certain that Sir +Robert lost a great deal. On the other hand, it is equally certain that +if they had been at home Sir Robert would most likely be there now, and +this chronicle of his travels would end here. As it was, he found +something novel and agreeable at every step, a fresh interest every hour +of his stay. He began at the beginning, and promptly found out what kind +of soil the city was built on, went on to consider such questions as +drainage, elevation, water-supply, wharves, quays, bridges, and worked +up to libraries, museums, public and private collections of pictures, +and what not. He ordered three pictures of Boston artists,--two autumnal +scenes, and an interior, a negro cabin, with an hilarious sable group +variously employed, called "Christmas in the Quarters." Then the +questions of fisheries, maritime traffic, coast and harbor defences, +light-houses, the ship-building interests, life-saving associations, and +railway systems, pressed for investigation, to say nothing of the mills +and manufactories, wages of operatives, trades-unions, trade problems, +and all the pros and cons of free trade _versus_ protective tariff. Over +these he pondered and pored until all hours every night; and the diary +had now to be girt about with two stout rubber bands to keep it from +scattering instructive leaflets about promiscuously and prematurely. And +by day there were sites literary, historical, or generally interesting +to be visited, engagements with many friends to keep, endless +occupations apparently. + +There was so much to see and do that the place was delightful to him, +and he certainly made himself vastly agreeable in return to such of its +inhabitants as came in his way. + +"I have added to my circle some very valuable acquaintances, whom I +shall hope to retain as friends," he wrote to England, "notably a +medical man who confirms my germ-propagation theory of the 'vomito,' +which is now raging in the Southern part of the States (I had it, you +remember, on the west coast of Africa, and studied it in the +Barbadoes),--an exceptionally clever man, and, like all such men, +inclined to be eccentric. I think I was never more surprised than to +come upon him the other day in a side-street, where he was positively +having his boots polished _in public_ by a ragged gamin who offered to +'shine' me for a 'dime.' He behaved sensibly about it,--betrayed no +embarrassment, though he must have felt excessively annoyed, made no +apologies, and only remarked that he had been out in the country, and +did not wish to be taken for a miller in the town. + +"I was led to believe before coming here that I should not be able to +tell that Boston was not an English town. It did not so impress me on a +surface-view, but it was not long before I recognized that the warp and +woof of the social fabric is that of our looms, though the pattern is a +little different,--a good sort of stuff, I think, warranted _to wash_ +and wear. The variation, such as it is, tried by what I call my +differential nationometer, gives to the place its own peculiar, +delightful quality." The rigid gentleman, who was a great deal at the +Porters', was rather inclined to insist upon the great purity and beauty +of his English, to which he repeatedly invited attention, and, as Mr. +Ramsay would have said, "went in for" certain philological refinements +which Sir Robert had never heard before, and thoroughly disliked. But as +there are more Scotchmen in London than in Edinburgh, and better oranges +can be bought for less money in New York than in New Orleans, so it may +be that if you want to find really superior English you must leave +England altogether,--abandon it to its defective but firmly-rooted +_patois_, and seek in more classic shades for the well--spring of Saxon +undefiled. But Sir Robert was not inclined to do this. There were limits +to his liberality and spirit of investigation. When the rigid gentleman +instanced certain words to which he gave a pronunciation that made them +bear small resemblance to the same words as spoken by any class of +people laboring under the disadvantage of having been born and bred in +England, Sir Robert got impatient, and testily dismissed the subject +with, "Oh, come, now! I can stand a good deal, but I can't stand being +told that we don't know how to speak English in England." Something, +however, must be pardoned to a foreigner. If Sir Robert would not +consent to set Emerson a little higher than the angels, as some other +Bostonians could have wished, and had never so much as heard of Thoreau +and other American celebrities not wholly insignificant, he had an +immense admiration for Longfellow, and could spout "Hiawatha" or +"Evangeline" with the best, associated Hawthorne with something besides +his own hedges in the month of May, and was eager to be taken out to +Beverly Farms, that he might "do himself the honor to call upon" the +wisest, wittiest, least-dreaded, and best-loved of Autocrats. When the +day fixed for his departure came, he was still revelling in what the +Historical Society of Massachusetts had to show him, and actually +stayed over a day that he might see the finest collection of cacti in +the country, and at last tore himself away with much difficulty and +lively regrets, carrying with him a collection of Indian curiosities +given him by Mr. Porter, whom he considered to have behaved "most +handsomely" in making him such a present. "I can't rob you outright, my +dear fellow. I feel a cut-purse, almost, when I think of taking all +these valuable and deeply-interesting objects illustrative of the life +and civilization of the aborigines," he said. "Give me duplicates, if +you will be so generous, but nothing unique, I insist." He finally +accepted one gem in the collection,--a towering structure of feathers +that formed "a most delightful head-dress, quite irresistibly +fascinating," tried it on before a mirror that gave back faithfully the +comical reflection, and incidentally delivered a lecture on the +head-ornaments of many savage and civilized nations of every age, though +not at all in the style of the famous Mr. Barlow. + +Mr. Heathcote at least was not sorry to find that they were, as he said. +"booked for Baltimore." The image of the beautiful Miss Bascombe had not +been effaced. Perhaps he had photographed it by some private process on +his heart with the lover's camera, which takes rather idealized but very +charming pictures, some of which never fade. At all events, there it +was, very distinct and very lovely, and always hung on the line in his +mental picture-gallery. It was positively with trepidation that he +presented himself before her very soon after his arrival; and an +undeniable blush "mantled" his cheek--if a blush can be said with any +propriety to mantle the male cheek--- when he marched into the +drawing-room, where she was doing a dainty bit of embroidery, and with +much simplicity and directness said, "You said I might come, you know, +and I have come; and I begged of Ethel to come too, but she could not +leave my aunt," before he had so much as shaken hands. Of course no +well-regulated and well-bred young woman--and Miss Bascombe was +both--ever permits herself to remember any man until she is engaged to +him; but she need not forget one that has impressed her agreeably. Miss +Bascombe had not forgotten the handsome Englishman she had met at Jenny +De Witt's, nor the little lecture she had given him on the duties of +brothers to sisters, and it did not strike her that his inaugural +address was at all eccentric or mysterious. He had been told what he +ought to do; he had tried to do it, as was quite right and proper. He +deserved some reward. And he got it,--though only as an encouragement to +abstract virtue, of course. The young lady was pleased to be friendly, +gracious, charming. Her mother came in presently, was equally friendly +and gracious, and almost as charming. Her father came home to dinner, +and was friendly too, and hearty, and very hospitable. Her brothers were +friendliest of all. He knew quite well that he had no claim on them, +that he had not saved the life of any member of the family or laid them +under any sort of obligation, individually or collectively, and no +reception could have seemed more special and dangerously cordial, yet no +anxieties oppressed, no fears distracted him. The weight of excessive +eligibility suddenly slipped off him, like the albatross from the neck +of the Ancient Mariner, leaving him a thankful and a happy man, and in +a week he had established himself firmly at the Bascombes', declined to +accompany his uncle to Virginia, and definitely settled in his own mind +that he would take the step matrimonial,--the step from the sublime +to--well, not always the ridiculous. With this resolution he naturally +thought that the greatest obstacle to success had been removed; but he +was soon disillusionized. He had already come to see that American girls +were very much in the habit of being gracious to everybody, and saying +pretty and pleasant things, with no thought of an hereafter; also that +they did not live with St. George's, Hanover Square, or its American +equivalent, Trinity Church, New York, stamped on the mental retina. Miss +Bascombe was "very nice" to him, he told himself, but she was quite as +nice to a dozen other men. She was uniformly kind, courteous, agreeable, +to every one who came to the house. Her cordiality to him meant nothing +whatever. Yes, he was quite free,--free as air; he saw that plainly, and +perversely longed to assume the fetters he had so long and so skilfully +avoided. What was the use of having serious intentions when not the +slightest notice was taken of the most compromising behavior? It was +true that he was perfectly at liberty to see more of Edith than an +Englishman ever does of any woman not related to him, and to say and do +a thousand things any one of which at home would have necessitated a +proposal or instant flight. But no importance whatever seemed to be +attached to them here, and he was utterly at a loss how to make his +seriousness felt. Yet it was quite clear that if there was to be any +wooing done, he would have to do it,--go every step of the way himself, +with no assistance from Miss Bascombe. "How on earth am I to show her +that I care for her?" he thought. "Other men send her dozens of +bouquets, and box after box of expensive sweets, and loads of books, and +music without end, and they come to see her continually, and take her +about everywhere, and are entirely devoted to her. I wonder what +fellows over here do when they are serious? How do they make themselves +understood when they go on in this way habitually? It is a most +extraordinary state of affairs! And neither party seems to feel in the +least compromised by it. There is that fellow Clinch, who fairly lives +at the Bascombes', and when I asked her if she was engaged to him she +said, 'Engaged to George Clinch? What an idea! _No_. What put that in +your head? He is a nice fellow, and I like him immensely, but there's +nothing of that sort between us. What made you think there was? And when +I explained, she said, 'Oh, _that's_ nothing! He is just as nice to lots +of other girls.' And when I suggested to him that he was attached to +her, he said, 'Edith Bascombe? Oh, no! She is a great friend of mine, +and a charming girl, but I have never thought of that, nor has she. I go +there a good deal, but I have never paid her any marked attention.' No +marked attention, indeed! Nothing seems to mean anything here: it is +worse than being in England, where everything means something. No, it +isn't, either. I vow that when I am at the Clintons' in Surrey I +scarcely dare offer the girls so much as a muffin, and if I ask the +carroty one, Beatrice, the simplest question, she blushes and stammers +as if I were proposing out of hand. But what am I to do? I can't sing +and take to serenading Edith on moonlit nights with a guitar and a blue +ribbon around my neck. I can't push her into the river that I may pull +her out again. I dare say there is nothing for it but to adopt the +American method,--enter with about fifty others for a sort of +sentimental steeple-chase, elbow or knock every other fellow out of the +way in the running, work awfully hard to please the girl, and get in by +half a length, if one wins at all. There is no feeling sure of her until +one is coming back from the altar, evidently." + +Some of his conversations with Edith were certainly anything but +encouraging. At other times he felt morally sure that she shared that +derangement of the bivalvular organ technically defined as "a muscular +viscus which is the primary instrument of the blood's motion," whose +worst pains are said to be worth more than the greatest pleasures. He +was very much in earnest, and entirely straightforward, There were no +balancing indecisions now, but the most downright affirmation of +preference. His little speeches were not veiled in rosy clouds of +metaphor and poetry and distant allusions, like Captain Kendall's, nor +did they flow out in an unfailing stream of romantic eloquence, like +that gifted warrior's. They were so honest and so clumsy, indeed, that +Edith could not help laughing at them merrily sometimes, to his great +discomfiture, consisting as they did chiefly of such statements as, "You +know that I am most awfully fond of you. I was tremendously hard hit +from the first. If you don't believe me, you can ask Ramsay. I told him +all about it. You aren't in the least like any other girl that I have +ever known, except Mrs. De Witt a little. I suppose you know that I +would have married her at the dropping of a hat if I could have done so. +But that is all over now. I care an awful lot for you now, and shall be +quite frightfully cut up if you won't have anything to say to me,--I +shall, really. I have got quite wrapped up in you, upon my word. And I +shall be intensely glad and proud if you will consent to be my wife." + +When Edith failed to take such speeches as these seriously, poor Mr. +Heathcote was quite beside himself, and, in reply to her bantering +accusations as to his being "a great flirt" and not "really meaning one +word that he said," opposed either burly negation or a deeply-vexed +silence. They looked at so many things differently that they found a +piquant interest in discussing every subject that came up. + +"There go May Dunbar and Fred Beach," she said to him one Sunday as they +were coming home from church. "Isn't he handsome? They have been engaged +_three years_. Did you ever hear of such constancy?" + +"Do you call that constancy? Why, if a fellow can't wait three years for +a lovely girl like that, he must be a poor stick. Why, my uncle +Montgomery was engaged to his wife seventeen years, while he went out to +India and shook the pagoda-tree, after which he came back, paid all his +father's debts, and they married and went into the house they had picked +out before he sailed," said Mr. Heathcote. + +"Good gracious! what a time! I hope the poor things were happy at last. +Were they?" asked Edith. + +"H-m--pretty well. He is a rather fiery, tyrannical old party. She +doesn't get her own way to hurt," he replied. + +"I have heard that Englishwomen give way to the men in everything and +are always, voluntarily or involuntarily, sacrificed to them. It must be +so bad for both," said Edith sweetly. + +"Oh, you go in for woman's rights and that sort of thing, I suppose," he +said, in a tone of annoyance. + +"Indeed I don't do anything of the kind," replied she, with warmth. "If +I did, I should be aping the men when I wasn't sneering at them. But I +respect your sex most when they most deserve to be respected, and I +don't see anything to admire in a selfish, tyrannical man that is always +imposing his will, opinions, and wishes upon the ladies of his household +and expects to be the first consideration from the cradle to the grave +because he happens to be a man." + +"But he is the head of his house. He ought to get his own way, if +anybody does, and, if he is not a coward, he will, too," said Mr. +Heathcote rather hotly. "Would you have a man a molly-coddle, tied to +his wife's apron-string, and not daring to call his soul his own?" + +"Not at all," replied Edith. "It is the cowards that are the tyrants. +'The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring,' as our +American poet says. And women have souls of their own, except in the +East. Why shouldn't _they_ be the first consideration and do as they +please, pray? They are the weaker, the more delicate and daintily bred. +If there is any pampering and spoiling to be done, they should be the +objects of it. And as to rights, there is no divine right of way given +to man, that I know of. I don't believe in that sort of thing at all. Of +course no reasonable woman wants or expects everybody to kootoo before +her and everything to give way to her." + +"And no gentleman fails to show a proper respect for his wife's wishes +and comfort, not to mention her happiness," said Mr. Heathcote. "But of +course that sort of thing is only to be found in America. Englishmen are +all selfish, and tyrants, and domestic monsters, I know." + +"I didn't say anything of the kind," replied Edith quickly, her cheeks +pink with excitement. "I don't know anything about Englishmen or the +domestic system of England, and I never expect to. But, if what I have +heard is true, it is a system that tends to make men mortally selfish; +and selfish people, whether they are men or women, and whether they know +it or not, are _all_ monsters. But I apologize for my remarks, and, as I +am not interested in the subject _in the least_, we will talk of +something else, if you please." + +This very feminine conclusion, delivered loftily and with sudden +reserve, left Mr. Heathcote in anything but an agreeable frame of mind, +and for an hour or two made him doubt the wisdom of international +marriages; but this mood passed away, and he remained a fixture at the +_maison_ Bascombe, where the very postman came to know him and +generously sympathized with the malady from which he was suffering. Nor +was this the only house in which he was made very welcome. Baltimore is +one of many American cities that suffer from the vague but painful +accusation of being "provincial;" but, admitting this dreadful charge, +it has social, gastronomic, and other charms of its own that ought to +compensate for the absence of that doubtful good, cosmopolitanism. Mr. +Heathcote certainly found no fault with it, and did not miss the +population, pauperism, or other institutions of Paris, London, or +Vienna. On the contrary, he took very kindly to the pretty place, and +heartily liked the people. There was nothing oppressive or ostentatious +in the attentions he received, but just the cordiality, grace, and charm +of an old-established society of most refined traditions, perfect +_savoir-vivre_, and chronic hospitality. + +"You are making a Baltimorean of me, you are so awfully kind to me," he +would say, pronouncing the _a_ in Bal as he would have done in sal; but +the truth was that he had become primarily a Bascomite and only very +incidentally a Baltimorean. The city counts hundreds of such converts +every year. He was so happy and entirely content that he would have +quite forgotten what it was to be bored just at this period but for +certain individuals,--a boastful, disagreeable Irishman, who fastened +upon him apparently for no other reason than that he might abuse England +at great length and talk of his own valor, accomplishments, and +"paddygree" (as he very properly called the record that established his +connection with Brian Boroo and Irish kings generally), and a lady who +seemed to take the most astounding, unquenchable interest in the English +nobility, as more than one lady had seemed to him to do, to his great +annoyance. + +"I don't know a bit about them, I assure you," he said to her; "but I +have the 'Peerage.' If you would like to see that, I will send it you +with pleasure." + +This only diverted her conversation into a different but equally +distasteful channel,--the great distinction and antiquity of her own +family. It really seemed as though she had a dread of Mr. Heathcote's +leaving the country with some wrong impression on this important subject +and was determined that he should be put in possession of all the +information she had or imagined herself to have about it. She talked to +him about it so much that the poor man was at incredible pains to keep +out of her way. + +"I don't care a brass copper about her," he complained to Edith; "and +if the family has been producing women like her as long as she says, and +is going on at it, all I can say is that it is a pity they have lasted +this long, and the sooner they die out the better. What do I care about +her family, pray? I never heard as much about family in all my life, I +give you my word, as I have done since I came to America. The stories +told me are something wonderful,--all about the two brothers that left +England, and all that, you know. They seem all to have come away in +pairs, like the animals in the ark. I said to one fellow that was +beginning with those two brothers, '_Couldn't you make it three_, don't +you think?' And you'll not believe me, but I speak quite without +exaggeration, when I say that one woman out in Raising assured me +gravely that she was descended from the houses of York and Lancaster!" + +"_She didn't!"_ exclaimed Edith. "That is, if she did, she must have +been _crazy_; and I won't have you going back to England and giving +false impressions of us by repeating such stories. Promise me that you +will never repeat it there." + +"Oh, that's all right," he replied soothingly. "It's an extreme case, I +grant, and I'll say no more about it if it vexes you, but it is a true +tale all the same. Howe was her name, I remember; and I felt like +saying,--I'll eat my hand if I understand Howe this can possibly +be,'--that's in the Bab Ballads,--but I didn't." + +Sir Robert had small opportunity of making acquaintance with Baltimore. +He was very eager to get down into Virginia, and stayed there but two +days. On the second of these he attended a gentleman's dinner-party, the +annual mile-stone of a military society composed of men who had worn the +gray and marked the well-known tendency of tempus to fugit in this +agreeable fashion. Their ex-enemies of the blue were also there, but not +in the original overwhelming numbers, and the battle was now to one +party, now to the other, the race to the best _raconteur_, rivers of +champagne flowed instead of brave blood, and the smoke of cannon was +exchanged for that of Havanas. Sir Robert's face beamed more and more +brightly as the evening wore on, and reminiscences, anecdotes, stories, +jests, songs, were fluently and cleverly poured out in rapid succession +by the hilarious company. The fun was at its height, when he suddenly +leaned forward with his body at an insinuating angle and smilingly +addressed an officer opposite: "You must really let me say that I have +been delighted by all that I have heard here to-night, and appreciate +the compliment you have paid me in permitting me to join you. And now I +am going to ask a great favor. Could you, would you, give me some idea +of 'the rebel yell,' as it was called? We heard so much about that. I am +most curious to hear it. It is always spoken of as perfectly terrifying, +almost unearthly." + +The gentleman whom he addressed looked down the table and rapped to call +attention to what he had to say: "Boys, this English gentleman is asking +whether we can't give him some idea of what the rebel yell is like. What +do you say? If our Federal friends are afraid, they can get under the +table, where they will be perfectly safe, and a good deal more +comfortable than they used to be behind trees or in baggage-wagons," he +called out. + + +A hearty laugh followed, and, their blood having got bubbles in it by +this time, a general assenting murmur was heard. + +The next instant a shriek, sky-rending, blood-curdling, savage beyond +description, went up,--a truly terrific yell in peace, and enough to +create a panic, one would think, in the Old Guard in time of war. + +"Thank you, thank you. _I am entirely satisfied"_ said Sir Robert, in a +comically rueful tone, as soon as he could say anything for the uproar. +"I never imagined anything like it, never. Where did you get it? Who +invented it? Is it an adaptation of some war-cry of the North American +Indians? It sounds like what one would fancy their cries might be, +doesn't it? It has got all the beasts of the forest in it; and I confess +that I for one, would have fled before it and stayed in the wagons as +long as there was the slightest danger of hearing it. By Jove! it must +have been heard in Boston when given in Virginia. It is curious how very +ancient the practice of--" + +But the company heard no more of curious practices, for their yell had +been heard, if not in Boston, in a far more remarkable quarter,--namely, +by the police, who now rushed in, prepared to club, arrest, and carry +off any and all disorderly and dreadful disturbers of the peace. + +If Sir Robert had been in any danger of being murdered, all experience +goes to show that no policeman could have been found before the +following morning, and then only in the remotest part of the city. As he +was merely being wined, dined, and amused, quite a formidable body of +these devoted but easily-misled guardians of respectability and +innocence poured into the room, where at first they could see nothing +for the smoke. Matters were explained, they were invited to "take +something" before they went, and took it, and, quite placated, filed out +into the passage again, and from thence into the street. + +Sir Robert sat up late that night, or rather began early on the +following day, to copy the stories he had most relished into the diary, +and do what justice he could to "the rebel yell," and, having added an +admirably discriminating chapter on "the present political situation in +the States," concluded with, "How striking is the good sense, the good +feeling, that both the conquerors and the conquered have shown, on the +whole! In other countries, how often has a war far less bloody and +protracted left in its wake evils far greater than the original one, in +guerilla warfare, murders, ceaseless revolt, and smouldering hatred +lasting for centuries on one side, and centuries of tyranny, oppression, +executions, confiscations, on the other! A brave and fine race this, not +made of the stuff that goes to keep up vendettas, shoot landlords, blow +up rulers, assassinate enemies. They can fight as well as any, and they +have shown that they can forgive better than most,--taken together, true +manliness. It may be that they are influenced by a consideration which +is said to be always present to an American,--'Will it pay?' and of +course so practical a people as this see that anarchy doesn't pay; but I +would rather attribute their conduct to nobler, more generous motives, +and in doing this seem to myself to be doing them no more than justice." + + F.C. BAYLOR. + +[TO BE CONCLUDED.] + + + + +OUR VILLE. + + +The picturesqueness of France in our day is confined almost exclusively +to its humble life. The Renaissance and the Revolution swept away in +most parts of the country moated castle, abbaye, grange, and chateau, to +replace them with luxurious but conventional piles and ruins humbly +restored and humbly inhabited. Many a farmhouse with unkempt _cour_ +and dishevelled _pelouse_ is the relic of a turreted château, +stables are often desecrated churches, seigneurial _colombiers_ +shelter swine, and battlemented portals to fortified walls serve, as +does the one of our ville, to house hideously-uniformed _douaniers_ +watching the luggage of arriving travellers. + +Our ville was never an aristocratic one, and to this day very few of our +names are preceded by the idealizing particle _de_. We have an +ancient history, however,--so ancient that all historians place our +origin at _un temps trèsrecule_. We had houses and walls when Rouen +yonder was a marsh, and we saw Havre spring up like a mushroom only two +little centuries and a half ago. Besieged and taken, burned and ravaged, +alternately by Protestant and Catholic, no wonder our ville has not even +ruins to show that we are older than the fifteen hundreds. Still, +ancient though we are, we have always been a ville of humble +folk,--hardy sailors, brave fishers, and thrifty bourgeois,--and to-day, +as always, our highest families buy and sell and build their philistine +homes back toward the _côte_, while our humble ones picturesquely +haunt the _quais_. + +The town is exquisitely situated at the foot of abrupt _côtes_, +just where the broad and tranquil river shudders with mysterious deep +heavings and meets its dolphin-hued death in the all-devouring sea. Away +off in the shimmering distance is the second seaport city of France. On +still days,--and our gray or golden Norman days are almost always +still,--faint muffled sounds of life, the throbbing of factories, the +farewell boom of cannon from ships setting forth across the Atlantic, +even the musical notes of the Angelus, float across the water to us as +dreamily vague as perhaps our earth-throbs and passion-pulses reach a +world beyond the clouds. This city is our metropolis, with which we are +connected by small steamers crossing to and fro with the tide, and where +all our shopping is done, our own ville being too thoroughly limited and +_roturier_ in taste to merit many of our shekels. + +In fact, such of our shopping as is done in our ville is in the quaint +marketplace, where black house-walls are beetling and bent, and +Sainte-Cathérine's ancient wooden tower stands the whole width of the +Place away from its Gothic church. Here we bargain and chaffer with +towering _bonnets blancs_ for peasant pottery and faïence, +paintable half-worn stuffs, and delicious ancestral odds and ends of +broken peasant households. + +We have many streets over which wide eaves meet, and within which +twilight dwells at noonday. Some of the hand-wide streets run straight +up the _côte_, and are a succession of steep stairs climbing beside +crouching, timber-skeletoned houses perforated by narrow windows opening +upon vistas of shadow. Others seem only to run down from the _côte_ +to the sea as steeply as black planks set against a high building. Upon +the very apex of the _côte_, visible miles away at sea, lives our +richest citizen. His house smiles serenely modern even if only +pseudo-classic contempt on all the quaint duskiness and irregularity +below, and is pillared, corniced, entablatured, and friezed, with lines +severely straight, although the building itself is as round as any +mediæval campanile and surmounted with a Gothic bell-turret, while the +entrance-gate is turreted, machicolated, castellated, like the +fortress-castles of the Goths. + +Lower down the _côte_, convent walls raise themselves above +red-tiled and lichen-grown roofs. In one of these convents, behind +eyeless grim walls, are hidden cloistered nuns; from others the Sisters +go freely forth upon errands of both business and mercy. The convent of +cloisters, Couvent des Augustines, is passing rich, and has houses and +lands to let. Once upon a time an _Américaine_ coveted one of these +picturesque houses. She entered the convent and interviewed the +business-manager, a veiled nun behind close bars. + +"Madame may occupy the house," said _ma Soeur_, "by paying five +hundred francs a year, by observing every fast and feast of the Church, +by attending either matins or vespers every day, and by attending +confession and partaking of the holy sacrament every month." + +Madame is a zealous Catholic, therefore the terms, although peculiar, +did not seem too severe. She was about to remove into the house, when, +lo! she received word that, it having come to the knowledge of the +convent that the husband of Madame was a heretic, he could not be +allowed to occupy any tenement of the Communauté. + +Although this cloistered sisterhood is vowed to perpetual seclusion, +once a year even heretics may gaze upon their pale faces. This annual +occasion is the prize-day of the school they teach, when the school-room +is decorated with white cloth and paper roses, the _curés_ of +neighboring parishes and the Maire of our ville, with invited +distinguished guests, occupy the platform, and the floor below is free +to everybody furnished with invitation-cards. + +I had always longed to enter these prison-like walls and gaze from my +tempestuous distance upon those peaceful lives set apart from earth's +rush and turmoil in a fair and blessed haven of the Lord. I longed to +see those pure visionaries, pale spouses of Christ, and read upon +illumined faces the unspeakable rapture of mystic union with the Lamb of +God. + +Monsieur le Docteur S----, our family physician, is also physician of +the convent. + +"You will see nobody," he said, remarking my sentimental curiosity +concerning cloistered nuns,--"you will see nobody but a lot of +lace-mending and stocking-knitting old maids who failed to get +husbands." + +I had already heard queer stories of our old doctor's forty years of +attendance upon the convent, and I was not so easily discouraged. I was +especially anxious to see the Mother Superior, having many times heard +the story of her flight in slippers and dressing-gown from the +breakfast-table to bury herself forever within the walls that have held +her now these twenty-five years. In all these years her unforgiving +father has never seen her face, nor she his, although they live within +stone's throw of each other. + +"Know about him? of course she does," answered Victoire to my question. +"She knows all about him, and more too. Do you suppose there is an item +of news in the whole town that those cloistered nuns do not hear? If you +had been educated by them, as we were, and pumped dry every day as to +what went on in our own and our neighbors' families, you would not ask +that question." + +Victoire and I penetrated into the convent that very same day. We +followed a crowd of women, _paysannes_ and _citoyennes_, into +a sunny court paved with large stones and arched by the noontide sky, +but unsoftened by tree or flower, and surrounded by the open windows of +dormitories. Over the threshold we had just crossed the nuns pass but +once after their vows,--pass outward, feet foremost, deaf and unseeing, +to a closer, darker home than even their cloistered one. Some of them +have seen nothing beyond their convent walls for forty years, while one +has here worn away sixty years. + +_Sixty years_ without one single glimpse of sweet dawn or fair +sunset, without one single vision of the sea in winter majesty of storm +or summer glory! _Sixty years_ without sound of lisping music +running through tall grass, without one single whisper of the æolian +pines, or glimpse of blooming orchards against pure skies! _Sixty +years_! + +Beside me in the school-room sat a buxom peasant-woman, who, as a little +girl crowned with a gaudy tinsel wreath descended from the platform, +confidentially informed me, "_C'est ma fille._ She has taken the +prize for good conduct, and there isn't a worse _coquine_ in our +whole commune." + +I saw the pale visionaries, a circle of black-robed figures, with +dead-white bands, like coffin-cerements, across their brows. I saw them +almost unanimously fat, with pendulous jowls and black and broken teeth, +as remote from any expression of mystic fervors and spiritual espousals +as could be well imagined, _"Vieilles commères_!" grunted my +_paysanne,_ who was evidently neither amiable nor saintly. + +Mother Mary-of-the-Angels, once Elise Gautier, was short, fat, and +bustling, with large round-eyed spectacles upon her nose, and the pasty +complexion and premature flaccid wrinkles that come with long seclusion +from sunshine and exercise. She marched about like one who had chosen +Martha's rather than Mary's manner of serving her Lord, and we saw her +chat a full half-hour with the wife of the Maire, bowing, smiling, +gesticulating meantime with all the florid grace of a French woman of +the world. + +"The Maire's wife was her former intimate friend," whispered Victoire. +"See how much younger and healthier she looks than the Mother Superior, +and how much happier. _On dit_ that it was chagrin at the marriage +of this friend that caused Élise Gautier to desert her widowed father +and dependent little brothers and sisters to bury herself in a convent." + +A more interesting story than Élise Gautier's is told in our ville. Some +years ago a nun left the Couvent des Augustines in open day, passing out +from the central door in her nun's garb, and meeting there a +foreign-looking man accompanied by a posse of gendarmes. The couple, +followed by a half-hooting, half-cheering mob, drove directly to the +hôtel-de-ville, where they were united in marriage. Then they went away +from our ville, where both were born, to the husband's home in Spain. +When those convent doors had closed upon her, a quarter of a century +before, and the lovers believed themselves eternally separated, she was +a lovely girl of twenty, he a bright youth of twenty-five. She passed +away from his despairing sight, fair and fresh as a spring flower, with +beautiful golden hair and violet eyes; she came out from that fatal +portal a woman of forty-five, stout, spectacled, with faded, thin hair +beneath her nun's cowl, to meet a portly gray-haired man of fifty, in +whom not even love's eye could detect the faintest vestige of the +slender bright-eyed lover of her youth. + +The unhappy Laure had been forced to unwilling vows to keep her from +this beggarly lover, and, when he fled to Spain, both became dead to our +ville for long years. Twenty-two years after Laure became Soeur Angelica +it was known in the convent that the machinery of the civil law, which +had only lately forbidden eternal religious vows, had been set in motion +to secure her release; but it remained a mystery who the spring of the +movement was, her parents having long been dead. Soeur Angelica herself +seemed almost more terrified than otherwise at the knowledge, for every +conventual influence was brought to bear upon her morbid conscience to +assure her that eternal damnation follows broken vows. It seems, +however, that amid all her spiritual stress she never confessed, even to +her spiritual director, what desecration had come upon that dovecote by +her constant correspondence with the lover of her youth, now a wealthy +wine-merchant in Spain. When she left the convent, some of these +love-letters were left behind; and to this day those scandalized doves, +to whom Soeur Angelica is forever a lost soul, wonder futilely how those +emissaries of Satan penetrated their holy walls. + +"How _did_ they, do you suppose?" I asked. + +Victoire and Clarice smiled curiously, while Émile, with an expression +savoring of paganism and pig-tails, squinted obliquely toward our +doctor. + +"_Nous n'en savons rien_" they answered me. + +The social amusements of our ville are few, as must naturally be the +case in a provincial town ruled by the Draconian law that a _jeune +fille à marier_ must be no more than an animated puppet, while +_jeunes gens_ must have their coarse fling before they are fit for +refined society. Occasionally an ambulant theatrical troupe gives an +entertainment in our little theatre. Once a year Talbot comes, during +vacation at the Francais, and gives us "L'Avare" or "Le Roi s'amuse;" +but such are small events, to our provincial taste, compared with the +vaulting and grimacing of the more frequent English and American circus +troupes in our Place Thiers. + +Perhaps the chief distraction of our young people is going to early +mass, whither our young ladies go accompanied by _bonnes_, Maman +having not yet emerged from the French mamma's chrysalis condition of +morning crimping-pins, petticoat and short gown, and list slippers. The +_bonnes_ who thus serve as chaperons are often as young as or even +younger than the demoiselles whose virginal modesty they are supposed to +protect. That they are anything more than a mere form of guardian, a +figment of the social fiction that a young French girl never leaves her +mother's side till she goes to her husband's, it is unnecessary to +observe. Human nature, especially French human nature, is human nature +all the world over, and Romeo will woo and Juliet be won during early +mass or twilight vespers as well as from a balcony, in spite of all the +Montagues and Capulets. Girl-chaperons are oftener in sympathy with +ardent daughters than with worldly mothers, while even the oldest and +most sedate of French _bonnes_ are malleable to other influences +than those of their legitimate employers. It was across our river, +yonder from whence the sound of the Angelus comes across the summer +water like the music of dreams, that Balzac's Modest Mignon carried on +her intrigues of hifalutin gush, by means of a facile _bonne_, with +a man whom she had never seen, and who deceived her by personating the +poet she wished him to be. Modest Mignons are not rare in our ville, and +the Gothic vaults of Saint-Léonard and the pillared aisles of +Sainte-Cathérine witness almost as many little intrigues, as many +heart-beats and blushes, as does "evenin' meetin'" in our own bucolic +regions. + +Désirée, our _femme-de-chambre,_ before she came to us, lived in a +wealthy _roturier_ family. + +"It was a good place, and I was sorry to lose it when Mademoiselle +Eugénie was married," said she. "The little gifts the _jeunes gens_ +slipped into my panier as I came with mademoiselle from mass almost +equalled my wages. Mademoiselle had a good _dot_ as well as beauty, +and _ces jeunes gens_ expected to lose nothing by what they gave +me. Mademoiselle herself often said, 'Désirée, walk a few steps behind +me, and, while I keep my eyes upon the pavement, tell me all the young +men who turn to look after me. If you hear any of them say, "_Comme +elle est jolie!_" (How pretty she is!) you shall have my _batiste +mouchoirs_.'" + +On Sunday afternoons all the bourgeois world of our ville disports +itself upon the jetty. Not only then do all the mothers of the town with +daughters "to marry" bring those daughters to the weekly matrimonial +mart, but many of the mothers and chaperons of the near country round +about come in from rural _propriété_ and rustic _chalet_ to +exhibit their candidates. The method of procedure is eminently French, +of course, and eminently naïve, as even the intrigues and machinations +of Balzac's _bourgeoisie_, although intended as marvels of finesse, +seem so often naïveté itself to our blunter and less-plotting minds. The +mothers and daughters, or chaperons and charges, walk slowly arm in arm +up and down one side the jetty, facing the counter-current of young men +and men not young who have not lost interest in feminine attractions. +Back and forth, back and forth, for hours, move the two separate +streams, never for one instant commingling, each discussing the other's +prospects, characters, appearance, and, above all, _dots_ and +_rentes_, till twilight falls and all the world goes home to +dinner. + +Once upon a time a retired man of business came to our ville, +accompanied by his son. He was one of the class known in England as +"Commys," and so obnoxious in France as _commis-voyageurs._ He +stopped at the Cheval Blanc, and in conversation with mine host inquired +if it might chance that some café-keeper in the town desired to sell his +café and marry his daughter. Monsieur Brissom mentioned to him our +café-keepers blessed with marriageable daughters, and "Commy" made the +rounds among them, announcing that he had a son whom he wished to marry +to some charming demoiselle _dot_ed with a café. One of the +café-keepers had "_précisément votre affaire_." It was arranged +that Mademoiselle Clothilde should be promenaded by her mother the next +Sunday on the jetty, where the young man should join the +counter-current, and thus each take observations of the other. + +As said, so done. Monsieur Henri and Mademoiselle Clothilde declared +themselves enchanted with each other. + +"_Très-bien_," said the reflective parents. "Now fall in love as +fast as ever you please." + +Monsieur and mademoiselle not only "fell," but plunged. + +Two weeks afterward, however, the papas fell out. Cafétier exacted more +than Commis could promise, and Commis declared Mademoiselle Clothilde +_pas grand' chose_: her eyebrows were too white, and her toes +turned in. + +The marriage was declared "off," and the young people were ordered to +fall out of love the quickest possible. + +"Too late!" they cried. + +"You have seen each other but four times." + +"Quite enough," declared the lovers. + +"You shall not marry," shouted the parents. + +"We _will_!" screamed their offspring. + +Nevertheless they could not, for the French law gives almost absolute +power to parents. Mademoiselle would have no _dot_ unless her +father chose to give her one, and no French marriage is legal without +paternal consent or the almost disgraceful expedient of _sommations +respectueuses_. Mademoiselle threatened to enter a convent. Cafétier +assured her that no convent opens cordial doors to _dot_less girls. + +Juliet was ready to defy all the Capulets when she had seen Romeo but +once; Corinne was ready to fling all her laurels at Oswald's feet at +their second interview; Rosamond Vincy planned her house-furnishing +during her second meeting with Lydgate; even Dorothea Brooke felt a +"trembling hope" the very next day after her first sight of Mr. +Casaubon. How, then, could one expect poor Clothilde to yield up her +undersized, thin-moustached, and very unheroic-looking Henri, having +seen him _four_ times? + +There was one way out of her troubles,--that to which Alphonse Daudet's +and André Theuriet's people gravitate as needles to their pole. She +walked one dark midnight upon the jetty alone. Nobody saw the end; but +the next Sunday, three weeks to a day from the one when the two had +countermarched in matrimonial procession, Mademoiselle Clothilde was +laid in her grave. + +The whole French social system revolves around the _dot_. + +"How dare you speak to my father so!" I once heard a daughter reproach +her mother. "How dare you, who brought him no _dot_!" + +"It is a pity Madame Marais has no more influence in her family," I +heard remarked in a social company. "It is a pity, for she is a good +woman, and her husband and sons are all going to the bad." + +"Yes, it is a pity," answered another; "but, then, what else can she +expect? She brought no _dot_ into the family." + +Once upon a time a young man made a friendly call upon a family in our +ville, he a distant relative of the family. He sat in the _salon_ +with mother and daughter, when suddenly the mother was called away a +moment. When she returned, not more than two minutes later,--horror! +_she could not enter the room!_ In closing the door she had somehow +disarranged the handles; screws had dropped out and could not be found; +the knob would not turn. What a situation! A young girl shut up in a +locked room with a young man! What a scandal if the story got out in the +town! and what could the poor, distracted mamma do to release her +daughter from that damning situation without the knowledge of the +servants? She dared not even summon a locksmith, for locksmith tongues +are free; and who would not shoot out the lip at poor Jeanne, hearing +the miserable story at breakfast-tables to-morrow? + +"You must marry Jeanne, _mon cousin_," cried mamma through the +keyhole. + +"Impossible, _ma cousine_. You know I am _fiancé_," laughed +he. + +Nevertheless he did! + +For when papa heard that Jeanne had remained two whole hours shut up +with Cousin Pierre in a brilliantly-lighted _salon_, with a frantic +mother at the keyhole and all the servants grinning upon their knees +searching for the missing screws, he added twenty thousand francs to her +_dot_ on the spot, and Pierre wrote to his other _fiancée_ that he had +"changed his intentions." + +"Mamma's _tapage_ was too funny," laughed Madame Pierre, telling me +this story herself. "Pierre and I laughed well on our side of the door, +although we were careful not to let maman hear us. For we had often been +alone together before when _nobody knew it_." + +Which makes all the difference in the world in our ville, as well as +elsewhere. + +Pierre's funny experience did not end with his betrothal. In relating +the adventure which follows, I wish it distinctly to be understood that +I do it in all respect, admiration, and reverence for the Church which +is the mother of all Churches calling themselves Christian. The Holy +Roman Catholic Church is no less holy that her servants are so often +base and vile and that her livery is so often stolen to serve evil in. +What wickedness and hypocrisy have we not in our own Protestant clergy, +and without even the tremendous excuse for it which the conditions of +European society give for the occasional levity of its priesthood! In +France the Church is a recognized profession, to which parents destine +and for which they educate their sons without waiting for them to +exhibit any special bias toward a religious life. In spite of +themselves, many young men are even forced into the priesthood, not only +by strong family influence, but through having been educated so as to be +absolutely unfitted for any other walk of life. With us the priesthood +is a matter of deliberate and perfectly voluntary choice, and he who +wears it as a cloak is ten thousand times the hypocrite his Catholic +brother is. + +It happened that our _curé_ of Saint-Étienne was a jolly good +fellow, somewhat given to wine-bibbing, and much given to Rabelaisian +stories. He was also hail-fellow-well-met with Pierre, and Pierre, like +most of the young men of France, prided himself upon his entire freedom +from the "superstitious." Père Duhaut lived by teaching and preaching. + +In France the church sacrament of marriage cannot be performed unless +both the contracting parties furnish certificates of having made +confession within three weeks. To secure his certificate it would be +necessary for Pierre to confess to the _curé_ of Saint-Étienne, +Père Duhaut. + +"_I_ confess to Duhaut!" he laughed in our house. "I'll +be--what's-his-named first. Old Duhaut might as well confess to me. I +shall simply give him six francs and get my certificate without any more +ado, just as the other fellows get theirs." + +That very afternoon Père Duhaut took tea with us, and Émile was mean +enough to betray Pierre's intentions. + +"We'll see," said our _curé_. + +The next day Pierre passed our windows. He bowed gayly, and called up +that he was going for his six francs' worth of ante-nuptial absolution. +An hour later he passed again, but he did not look up. In the evening +Père Duhaut came, bursting with laughter. + +"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," he guffawed. Then he told us +the story. Pierre, it seems, had offered the six francs, which offer the +confessor had rejected with scorn. + +"In to the confessional," he cried, "and make your confession like a +penitent!" + +"I'll make it fifteen," grinned Pierre. + +"Not for a thousand. In! _in_!" + +"Come, now, Duhaut, this is all humbug. You know I'm not penitent, and +I'll be---- if I'll confess to you." + +Without more words, the burly priest seized the recalcitrant and grabbed +him by the neck, trying to force him into the confession-box. Pierre +resisted, and, as the _curé_ told us bursting with laughter, the +two wrestled and waltzed half around the church. Finally Pierre was +brought to his knees. + +"_Eh bien, allez_! What am I to confess?" he grumbled. + +"Every sin you have committed since your last confession." + +How malicious was Père Duhaut in this! for he knew Pierre had not kept +the observances of the Church since he left home at seventeen, and had +not been an anchorite either. + +"I'll make it an even hundred," begged the now exasperated yet humbled +Pierre. "Come, now, do be reasonable; that's a jolly old boy." + +"Confess! confess!" roared the confessor, dealing the kneeling +impenitent a sounding cuff on the ear. + +"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," roared Père Duhaut. +"_Demandez-lui! Demandez-lui!_" + +But we never did. + +Until his grave received him, only a few weeks ago, a marked character +of our ville was a stooping old man, of a ghastly paleness, noted +through all the region for avarice and for speaking every one of his +many languages each with worse accent than the other. His Spanish +sounded like German, his German had the strongest possible American +accent, his English was vividly Teutonic, and after forty years of +marriage his Norman wife never ceased to mock at his atrociously-mouthed +French. He was wine-merchant and banker combined, and, though his social +position was among the best in our bourgeoise ville, all the world +smiled with the knowledge that the rich old _banquier_, whose nose +had a strong Hebraic curve, delivered his own merchandise at night from +under his long coat, in order to escape the tax on every bottle of wine +transported from one domicile to another. + +The stately gate-post of "Père S----'s" pretentious and philistine +mansion is decorated with the coats-of-arms of several nations. +England's is there, Germany's, Spain's, Portugal's, as well as our own +Eagle; while upon days when our own exiled hearts beat most proudly--4th +of July and 22d of February--our star-spangled banner floats from his +roof-top as well as from our own, the only two, of course, in our ville. +Our ville, so important to us, has scarcely an existence for our home +government, and administrative changes there float over us like clouds +of heaven, without touching us in their changefulness. Thus Père S----, +though so courteous and cordial to Americans, has been long years +forgotten at Washington, whence every living servitor of the +administration that appointed him our consul here has long since passed +away forever. He was born in Pennsylvania, of German parents, nearly +eighty years ago. He received his appointment in 1837, and held it +through fourteen administrations since Van Buren, without ever returning +to America, till he faded away one little month ago and was buried in +the parish cemetery of Saint-Léonard by a Lutheran pastor brought over +for the occasion from Havre. No church-bells tolled for his death, and +the street-children did not go on their way singing, as they always do, +to the sound of funeral bells. + +"_Viens, corps, ta fosse t'attend!_" for Pere S---- was a heretic, +and could not have slept in consecrated ground had he died before the +République Française removed religious restrictions from all +burial-places. All the consular corps in all the region round about +followed the old man to his long home, all our public buildings hung +their flags half-mast high, all our little world told queer stories of +the dead old man. But our own hearts grew tender with thoughts of this +life finished at fourscore years with its longing of almost half a +century unfulfilled. "Philip Nolan" we often called the old man, who +sometimes said to us, with yearning, pathetic voice,-- + +"I am an American; I am here only till I make my fortune. When I am rich +enough I shall go _Home_. I shall die and be buried at Home,--when +I am rich enough." + +Temperament is Fate. Père S----'s temperament of Harpagon fated him to +die as he had lived,--a man without a country. + + MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. + + + + +THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. + +I. + +PARADISE. + + +The island in Magog Lake was like a world by itself. Though there were +but fifteen or twenty acres of land in it, that land was so diversified +by dense woods, rocks, verdant open spots, and smooth shore-rims that it +seemed many places in one. + +Adam's tent was set in the arena of an amphitheatre of hills, upon +close, smooth sward sloping down to the lake-margin of milk-white sand. +Beyond the lake stood up a picture as heavenly to man's vision as the +New Jerusalem appearing in the clouds. + +This was a mountain bounded at the base by two spurs of the lake, and +clothed by a plumage of woods, except upon spaces near the centre of its +slope. Here green fields disclosed themselves and two farm-houses were +nested, basking in the light of a sky which deepened and deepened +through infinite blues. + +Though it was high noon, dew yet remained upon the abundance of ferns +and rock-mosses on those heights around the camp. The tent stood open at +both ends, framing a triangular bit of lake-water and shore. Within it +were a table piled with books, an oval mirror hung over a toilet-stand, +garments suspended along a line, a small square rug overlying the sward, +and camp-chairs. + +The two cots had been stripped of their blankets--which were out sunning +upon a pole--and set in the thickest shade, and upon one of these cots +Eva was stretched out, having a pillow under her head. Her dress was of +a green woollen stuff, and barely reached the instep of her low shoes. A +mighty bunch of trailing ferns, starred with furry azure flowers and +ox-eyed daisies, was fastened from her neck to her girdle. She had drawn +her broad sun-hat partly over the bewitching mystery of her eyes and +forehead, to keep the sky-glow at bay, but left space enough through +which to search the whole visible world, and her face was smiling with +pure joy. To be alive beside Lake Magog was sufficient; and she was both +alive and beloved. + +She thought within herself how indescribable all this beauty was. A +pleasant wind smelling of world-old fern-loam fanned her. There were +neither mosquitoes nor flies to sting, and, had there been, Adam was +provided with a bottle of pennyroyal oil, wherewith he would anoint her +face and hands, kissing any lump planted there before he came to the +rescue. + +Eva felt sure she never wanted to go back to civilization again. Days +and days of shining weather, fog-or dew-drenched in the morning, +wine-colored or opaline in the evening; cool, starry nights, so cool, so +dense with woods-shade that they drove her to hide her head in the +blankets under Adam's arm; glowing noons, when the world swam in +ecstasy; long pulls at the oars from point to point of this magic lake, +she holding the trolling-line at the stern of the boat, her husband +sometimes resting and leaning forward to get her smile at nearer range +upon his face; plunges into the warm lake-water in the afternoon when +time stood still in a trance of satisfaction:--what a honeymoon she was +having! Why should it ever end? There were responsible folks enough to +carry the world's work forward. Two people might be allowed to spend +their lives in paradise, if a change of seasons could only be prevented. +Anyhow, Eva was soaking up present joy. She half closed her eyes, and +whispered fragmentary words, feeling that her heart was a censer of +incense, swinging off clouds of thanksgiving at every beat. + +Adam came from the spring with a dripping pail. A fret-work of cool +drops stood all over the tin surface, even when he set the pail beside +his heated stove. That water had been filtered through moss and pebbles +and chilled by overlaced boughs until its nature was glacial. + +The cooking-stove stood quite apart from the tent, under a tree. Blue +woodsmoke escaped from its pipe and straight-way disappeared. A covered +pot was already steaming, and Adam filled and put the kettle to boil. +Not far from the stove was a stationary table, made of boards fastened +upon posts. The potato-cellar and the cold-chest were boxes sunk in the +ground. Some dippers, griddles, and pans hung upon nails driven in the +tree. + +Adam spread the table with a red cloth, brought chairs from the tent, +and came and leaned over Eva's cot. He was a sandy-haired, blue-eyed, +hardy-looking Scotchman, gentlemanly in his carriage, and bearing upon +his visible character the stamp of Edinbro' colleges and of Calvinistic +sincerity. He wore the Highland cap or bonnet, a belted blouse, +knickerbockers, long gray stockings, and heavy-soled shoes. + +"Well, Mrs. Macgregor," said Adam, giving the name a joyful burr in his +throat, "my sweethairt. I must have a look of your eyes before you taste +a bit of my baked muskalunge." + +"Well, Mr. Macgregor. And will I get up and set the table and help put +on dinner?" + +"No, my darling. It's all ready,--or all but a bit of fixing." + +"I am so happy," said Eva, "so lazy and happy, it doesn't seem fair to +the rest of the world." + +"There is at this time no rest of the world," responded Adam. "Nothing +has been created but an island and one man and woman. Do you belaive +me?" + +"I would if I didn't see those farm-houses, and the boats occasionally +coming and going on the lake; yes, and if you didn't have to row across +there for butter and milk, and to Magog village for other supplies." + +"That's a mere illusion. We live here on ambrosial distillations from +the rocks and muskalunge from the lake. I never came to Canada from old +Glazka town, and never saw Loch Achray, or Loch Lomond, or any body of +water save this, since I was created in God's image without any +knowledge of the catechism. And let me see a mon set foot on this +strond!" + +"Oh, you inhospitable creature!" + +"I but said let me see him." + +"Yes, but I know what you meant. You meant you didn't want anybody." + +"My wants are all satisfied, thank God," said Adam, lifting his cap. "I +have you, and the breath o' life, and the camp-outfit." + +"And the mountains, and the lake, and the rocks, and the woods," added +Eva. "I never could have believed there were such sublime things in the +world if I hadn't seen them." + +"Neither could I," owned the Scotchman. "Especially such a sublime thing +as me wife." + +Eva struck at him, restraining her palm from bringing more than a pat +upon his cheek. + +"How your little hand makes me tremble!" said Adam, drawing his breath +from chest-depths. "Will I ever grow to glimpse at you without having +the blood spurt quick from me hairt, or to touch you without this +faintness o' joy? And don't mock me wi' your eyes, bonnie wee one, for +it's bonnie wee one you'll be to me when you're a fat auld woman the +size of yonder mountain. And _that_ changes the laughter in your eyes." + +"I didn't suppose you ever _could_ call me a fat old woman." + +"I'll be an auld man then meself, me fiery locks powthered with ashes, +and my auld knees knocking one at the ither," laughed Adam. + + "But hand in hand we'll go," +sang Eva, + "And sleep thegither at the foot, + Joh--n Ander--son, my jo--o." + +"Oh, don't!" said Adam, with a sudden grasp on her wrist. "My God! one +must go first; and I could naither leave you nor close these eyes of +yours." He put his other hand across his eyelids, his lower features +wincing. "Sweetheart," said Adam, removing it, and taking her head +between his palms, "for what we have already received the Lord make us +duly thankful. And shut up about the rest. And there's grace said for +dinner: excepting I didn't uncover me head. Excuse me bonnet." + +"Take off your ridiculous bonnet," said Eva, emerging from the eclipse +of a long kiss, "and drag me out of my web. If I am to be your helpmeet, +make me help." + +"You naidn't lift a finger, my darling. I don't afford and won't have a +sairvant in the camp, so I should sairve you myself." + +Passing over this argument, Eva crept up on the stretcher and had him +lift her to the ground. Her shape was very slender and elegant, and when +the two passed each an arm across the other's back to walk together +school-girl fashion, Adam's grasp sloped far downward. She did not quite +reach his shoulder. + +They made coffee, and served up their dinner in various pieces of +pottery. The baked muskalunge was portioned upon two plates and +surrounded with stewed potato. Potatoes with scorched jackets, enclosing +their own utmost fragrance, also came out of the ashes. Adam poured +coffee for Eva into a fragile china cup, and coffee for himself into a +tin pint-measure. The sugar was in a glass fruit-jar, and the cream came +directly off a pan in the cold-box. They had pressed beef in slices, +chow-chow through the neck of the bottle, apricot jam in a little white +pot, baker's rolls, and a cracked platter heaped with wild strawberries. +Around the second point of Magog Island, down one whole stony hill-side, +those strawberries grew too thick for stepping. The hugest, most deadly +sweet of cultivated berries could not match them. You ate in them the +light of the sky and the ancient life of the mountain. + +"I never was so hungry at home," said Eva, accepting a finely-done bit +of fish with which her lord fed her as a nestling. "Perhaps things taste +better eaten out of unmatched crockery and under a roof of leaves. I +wouldn't have a plate different in the whole camp." + +"Nor would I," said Adam. + +She looked across at the mountain-panorama, for, though stationary, it +was also forever changing, and the light of intense and burning noon was +different from the humid veil of morning. + +"And yonder goes a sail," she tacked to the end of her +mountain-observations. + +"Heaven speed it!" responded Adam, carrying his cup for a second filling +to the coffee-pot on the stove. "Will ye have a drop more?" + +"Indeed, yes. I don't know how many drops more I shall drink. We get so +fierce and reckless about our victuals. Will it be the spirit of the old +counterfeiters who used to inhabit this island entering into us?" +suggested Eva, using the English-Canadian idiom of the western +provinces. + +"Without doot. It was their custom never to let a body leave this strond +alive, and they can only hairm us by making us eat oursels to death." + +"Nearly a hundred years ago, wasn't it, they lived here and made +counterfeit money and drew silly folks in to buy it of them? When I hear +the rocks all over this island sounding hollow like muffled drumming +under our feet, I scare myself thinking that gang may be hid hereabouts +yet and may come and peep into the tent some night." + +"Behind them all the army of bones they drowned in Magog watther or +buried in the island," laughed Adam. "It's not for a few old ghosts we'd +take up our pans and kettles and move out of the Gairden of Eden. I'll +keep you safe from the counterfeiters, my darling, never fear." + +"You said heaven speed that sail yonder; but the man has taken it down +and is rowing in here." + +"Then he's an impudent loon. Who asked him?" + +"The sight of our tent, very likely. And maybe it will be some friend of +ours, stopping at the Magog House. He wears a white helmet-hat; and +isn't that a yachting-suit of white flannel?" + +"He comes clothed as an angel of light," said Adam. + +They both watched the figure and the boat growing larger in perspective. +Features formed in the blur under the rower's hat; his individuality +sprung suddenly from a shape which a moment ago might have been any +man's. + +"Oh, Adam, it will be Louis Satanette from Toronto," exclaimed Eva. + +"And what's a Toronto man doing away up on Lake Magog?" + +"What will a Glasgow man be doing away off here on Lake Magog?" + +"Camping with his wife, and getting more religion than ever was taught +in the creeds." + +"I'm not so sure of that, then." + +"Because I don't love a Frenchman?" + +"A French-Canadian. And a member of Parliament, too. Think of that at +his age! They say in Toronto he is one of the most promising men in the +provinces." + +"Can he spear a salmon with a gaff, and does he know a pairch from a +lunge? And he couldn't be a Macgregor, anyhow, if he was first man in +Canada." + +Eva laughed, and, forming her lips into a kiss, slyly impressed the same +upon the air, as if it could reach Adam through some invisible pneumatic +tube. He was not ashamed to make a return in kind; and, the boat being +now within their bay, they went down to the sand to meet it. + + + + +II. + +FORBIDDEN FRUIT. + + +In spotless procession the days moved along until that morning on which +Adam dreamed his dream. He waked up trembling with joy and feeling the +tears run down his face. His watch ticked like the beating of a pulse +under his pillow, and he kept time to its rhythm with whispered words no +human ear would ever hear him utter with such rapture. + +He had dreamed of breasting oceans and groping through darkness after +his wife until he was ready to die. Then, while he lay helpless, she +came to him and lifted him up in her arms. There was perfect and +unearthly union between them. His happiness became awful. He woke up +shaken by it as by a hand of infinite power. + +Instead of turning toward her, he was still. Such experiences cannot be +told. The tongue falters and words limp when we try to repeat them to +the one beloved. A divine shame keeps us silent. Perhaps the glory of +that perfect love puts a halo around our common thoughts and actions for +days afterward, but no man or woman can fitly say, "I was in heaven with +you, my other soul, and the gladness was so mighty that I cried +helplessly long after I woke." + +Adam kept his sleeve across his eyes. He had risked his life in many an +adventure without changing a pulse-beat, but now he was an infant in the +grasp of emotion. + +When at last he cast a furtive glance at Eva's cot, she was not there. +She often slipped out in the early morning to drench herself with dew. +Once he had discovered her stooping on the sand, washing soiled clothes +in the lake. She clapped and rubbed the garments between soap and her +little fists. The sun was just coming up in the far northeast. Shapes of +mist gyrated slowly upward in the distance, and all the morning birds +were rushing about, full of eager business. Eva stopped her humming song +when she saw him, and laughed over her unusual employment. The first +time she ever washed clothes in her life she wanted to have Magog for +her tub and accomplish the labor on a vast and princess-like scale. Adam +helped her spread the wet things on bushes, and they both marvelled at +the bleached dazzle which the sun gave to those garments. + +He did not move from the cot, hoping awhile that she might come in, +dew-footed, and yet kiss him. That clear shining of the face which one +sometimes observes in pure-minded devotees, or in young mothers over +their firstborn, gave him a look of nobility in the pallid shadow of the +tent. + +He thought of all their days on the island, and, incidentally, of Louis +Satanette's frequent comings. The Frenchman was a beautiful, versatile +fellow. He sailed a boat, he swam, he fished knowingly, he sang like an +angel, leaning his head back against a tree to let the moonlight touch +up his ivory face and silky moustache and eyebrows. He had firm, +marble-white fingers, nicely veined, on which reckless exposure to sun +and wind had no effect, and the kindliest blue eyes that ever beamed +equal esteem upon man and woman. Sometimes this Satanette came in a +blue-flannel suit, the collar turned well back from the throat, and in a +broad straw hat wound with pink and white tarlatan. He looked like a +flower,--if any flower ever expressed along with its beauty the powerful +nerve of manliness. + +Frequently he sailed out from Magog House and stayed all night on the +island, slinging his own hammock between trees. Then he and Adam rose +early and trolled for lunge in deep water under the cliff. In the +afternoon they all plunged into the lake, Eva swimming like a +cardinal-flower afloat. Adam was careful to keep near her, and finally +to help her into the boat, where she sat with her scarlet bathing-dress +shining in the sun and her drenched hair curling in an arch around her +face. + +All these days flashed before Adam while he put a slow foot out on the +tent-rug. + +There was nobody about the camp when he had made his morning toilet and +unclosed the tent-flaps, so he built a fire in the stove, hung the +bedding to sun, and set out the cots. A blueness which was not humid +filtered itself through the air everywhere, and fold upon fold of it +seemed rising from invisible censers on the mainland. + +Eva hailed him from the lake. She came rowing across the sun's track. +The water was fresh and blue, glittering like millions of alternately +dull and burnished scales. + +Adam drew the boat in and lifted her out, more tenderly but with more +reticence than usual. + +"You don't know where I have been, laddie," exclaimed Eva. "Look at all +the fern and broken bushes in the boat; and I have my pocket sagged +down with gold-streaked quartz. I went around to the other side of the +island, where the counterfeiters' hole is, to look into it while the +morning sun on the lake threw a reflection." + +"There's nothing wonderful to be seen there." + +"How will we know that? The rocks sound hollow all about, and there may +be a great cavern full of counterfeiters' relics. Oh, Adam, I saw Louis +Satanette's sail!" + +"He comes early this morn." + +"I think he has been camping by himself over on the lake-shore. He says +we'll explore the counterfeiters' hole, and let us go directly after +breakfast." + +"What is it worth the exploring?" said Adam. "Four rocks set on end, and +you crawl in on your hands and knees, look at the dark, and back out +again. It's but a burrow, and ends against the hill's heart of rock. +I've to row across yonder for the eggs and butter and milk." + +The smoke rising from different points on the mainland kept sifting and +sifting until at high noon the air was pearl-gray. As if there was not +enough shadow betwixt him and the sun, Adam sat in his boat at the foot +of the cliff, where brown glooms never rose quite off the water. He +looked down until sight could pierce no farther, and, though a fish or +two glided in beautiful curves beneath his eye, he had no hook dropped +in as his excuse for loitering. + +The eggs and butter and milk for which he had rowed across the lake were +covered with green leaves under one of the boat-benches. + +Straight above him, mass on mass, rose those protruding ribs of the +earth, the rocks. He lay back in the boat's stern and gazed at their +summit of pinetrees and ferns. Bunches of gigantic ferns sprouted from +every crevice, and not a leaf of the array but was worth half a +lifetime's study. Yet Adam's eye wandered aimlessly over it all, as if +it gave him no pleasure. Nor did he seem to wish that a little figure +would bend from the summit, half swallowed in greenness and made a +vegetable mermaid from the waist downward, to call to him. He was so +haggard the freckles stood in bold relief upon his face and neck. + +The hiss of a boat and the sound of row-locks failed to move him from +his listless attitude. He did, however, turn his eyes and set his jaws +in the direction of the passing oarsman. Louis Satanette was all in +white flannel, and flush-faced like a cream-pink rose with pleasant +exhilaration. He held his oars poised and let his boat run slowly past +Adam. + +"What have you the matter?" he exclaimed, with sincere anxiety. + +"Oh, it's naught," said Adam. "I'm just weary, weary." + +"You have been gone a very, very long time," said Louis, using the +double Canadian adjective. "Mrs. Macgregor is on the lookout." + +Adam thought of her when she was _not_ on the lookout. He also thought +of her tidying things about the camp in the morning, and singing as he +pulled from the bay. Perhaps she was on another sort of lookout then. + +"I'll go in presently," he muttered. + +"Beg pardon?" said Louis Satanette, bending forward, and giving the +upward inflection to that graceful Canadian phrase which asks a +repetition while implying that the fault is with the hearer. + +"I said I'd go in presently. There's no hurry." + +"Allow me to take you in," said Louis. "You have approached too close +to the altars of the sylvan gods, and their sacrificial smoke has +overcome you. Don't you see it rising everywhere from the woods?" + +"The sylvan gods are none of my clan," remarked Adam, shifting his +position impatiently, "and it's little I know of them. There's a graat +dail of ignorance consailed aboot my pairson." + +Louis Satanette laughed with enjoyment: + +"Well, _au revoir_. I will put up my sail when I turn the points. It +will be a long run up the lakes, with this haze hanging and not wind +enough to lift it." + +"Good-day to ye," responded Adam. "We'll likely shift camp before you're +this way." + +"In so short a time?" exclaimed Louis. + +"In so lang a time. I'm soul-sick of it. It's lone; it's heavy. The +fine's too great for the pleasure of the feight. Look, now,--there were +two rough laddies up Glazka way, in my country, and they came to fists +aboot a sweethairt, the fools. But when they are stripped and ready, one +hits the table wi's hond, and says he, 'Ay, Georgie, I'm wullin' to +feight ye, but wha's goin' to pay the fine?'" + +Louis Satanette laughed again, but as if he did not know just what was +meant." + +"It's a cautious mon, is the Scotchmon," said Adam, "but no' so slow, +after all." + +"Oh, never slow!" said Louis. "Very, very fast indeed, to leave this +paradise in the midst of the summer." + +"'Farewell to lovely Loch Achray,'" sighed Adam: + "Where shall we find, in any land, + So lone a lake, so sweet a strand?" + +Louis made a sign of adieu and dipped his oars. + +"It's only _au revoir_," said he, shooting past. "Be very, very far from +parting with Magog too early." + +"'So lone a lake, so sweet a strand,'" repeated Adam, dropping his head +back against the stern. + +He did not move while the sound of the other's oars died away behind +him. He did not move while the afternoon shadows spread far over the +water. + +The long Canadian twilight advanced stage by stage. First, all Magog +flushed, as if a repetition of the old miracle had turned it to wine. +Then innumerable night-hawks uttered their four musical notes in endless +succession, upon the heights, down in the woods, from the mainland +mountain. The north star became discernible almost overhead. Then, with +slow and irregular strokes, Adam pulled away from the cliff, and brought +his keel to grate the sand in front of his tent. + +Eva was sitting there on a rock, huddling a shawl around her. + +"Oh, Adam Macgregor!" she began, in a low voice, "and do you condescend +to bring your wraith back to me at last?" + +"It's nothing but my wraith," said Adam, lifting his eggs and butter and +milk, and stepping from the boat. "The mon in me died aboot noon." + +Eva walked along by his side to the cool-box, where he deposited his +load. + +"What is the matter with you, laddie, that you look and talk so +strangely?" + +"Oh, naught," said Adam, turning and facing her. "I but saw you kissing +Louis Satanette on the hill to-day." + + + + +III. + + +THE FLAMING SWORD. + +The changes which passed over her face were half concealed by the +twilight. She was grieved, indignant, and frightened, but over all other +expressions lurked the mischievous mirth of a bad child. + +"I meant to tell you about it," she said. + +"Hearken," said Adam, with a fierce stare. "I've stayed out on the lake +all day, and I'm quiet. At first I wasn't. But when he came by I gave +him nothing but a good word." + +"I wish you'd scolded him instead of me," said Eva, propping her back +against the table and puckering her lips. + +"_He_ did naught," said Adam, "but what any man would do that got lave. +It's you that gave him lave that are to blame." + +"Don't be so serious about a little thing," put forth Eva. "We just +walked over to the counterfeiters' hole, and coming back we picked +strawberries, and he teased me like a girl, and caught hold of me and +kissed me. We've been such good friends in camp. I think it's this easy, +wild life made me do it." + +"She'll blame the very sky over her instead of taking blame to +herself," ground out Adam from between his jaws. "I sat in me boat +below and saw you arch your head and look at him ways that I remember. +My God! why did you make this woman so false, and yet so sweet that a +mon canna help loving her in spite o' his teeth?" + +"Because I'd die if folks didn't love me," burst out Eva, with a sob. +"And if men can't help loving me, what do you blame me for?" + +"What right have you to breathe such a word when you're married to me?" + +"But I'm not used to being married yet," pleaded Eva. "And I forgot, +this once." + +"It's once and for all," said Adam, "You'll never be to me what you were +before. Is it the English-Canadian way to bring up women to kiss every +comer?" + +"I didn't kiss anybody but Louis Satanette," maintained Eva, "and I +didn't really _want_ to kiss _him_" + +"Never mind," said Adam. "Don't trouble your butterfly soul about it." +And he turned away and walked toward the tent. + +"I'll not love you if you say such awful things to me," she flashed +after him. + +"Ye can't take the breeks off a Hielandman," he replied, facing about, +"Ye never loved me. Not as I loved you. And it's no loss I've met, if I +could but think it." + +"Oh, Adam!" Now she ran forward and caught him around the waist. "Don't +be so hard with me. I know I am very bad, but I didn't mean to be." + +Some faint perception of that coarse fibre within her was breaking with +horror through her face. She held to his hands after he had separated +her from his person and held her off. + +"All that you do still has its effect on me," said the man, gazing +sternly at her. "I love ye; but I despise myself for loving ye. This +morn I adored ye with reverence; this night you're as a bit o' that +earth." + +Eva let go his hands and sat down on the ground. As he made his +preparations in the tent he could not help seeing with compassion how +abjectly her figure drooped. All its flexible proud lines, were suddenly +gone. She was dazed by his treatment and by the light in which he put +her trifling. She sat motionless until Adam came out with one of the +cots in his arms. + +"I'm to sleep upon the hill in the pine woods to-night," said he. "Go +into the tent, and I'll fasten the flaps. You shan't be scared by +anything." + +"Let me get in the boat and leave the island, if you can't breathe the +same air with me," said Eva. staggering up. + +"No, I can't breathe the same air with ye to-night, but ye'll go into +the tent," said Adam, with authority. + +"I'll not stay there," she rebelled. "I'll follow you. You don't know +what may be on this island." + +"There can be nothing worse than what I've seen," said Adam; "and that's +done all the hairm it can do." + +"Oh, Adam, are we both crazy?" the small creature burst out, weeping as +if her heart would break. "Don't go away and leave me so. I am not real +bad in my heart, I know I am not; and if you would be a little patient +with me and help me, I shall get over my silly ways. There is something +in me, you can depend upon, if I _did_ do that foolish thing. And my +mother didn't live long enough to train me, Adam; remember that. Won't +you please kiss me? My heart is breaking." + +He put down the cot and took her by the shoulders, trembling as he did +so from head to foot: + +"My wife, I belaive what you say. I'd give all the days remaining to me +if I could strain ye against my breast with the feeling I had this morn. +But there comes that sight. I never shall see the hill again, I never +shall see a spot of this island again, without seeing your mouth kissing +another man. Go into the tent. God knows I'd die before hairm should +come to you. But not to-night can I stay beside you. Or kiss you." + +He carried her into the tent and put her on her bed. She had made all +the night-preparations herself, placing the pillows on both cots and +turning back the sun-sweetened blankets. + +Adam left her sobbing, buttoned the tent-flaps outside, and placed a +barricade of kettles and pans which could not be touched without +disturbing him on the hill. Then, taking up his own bed, he marched off +through the ferns, edging his burden among dense boughs as he ascended. + +When he had made the joints of his couch creak with many uneasy +turnings, had clinched at leaves, and started up to return to the tent, +only to check himself in the act as often as he started, he lost +consciousness in uneasy dreams rather than fell asleep. + +He was smothering, and yet could not open his lips to gasp for a breath +of air. Then he was drowning: he gulped in vast sheets of water upon his +lungs. An alarm sounded from Eva's barricade. He heard the pans and +kettles clanging and her own voice in screams which pierced him, yet he +could not move. A nightmare of heat enveloped him; the smothering +element pouring upon his lungs was not water, but smoke; and he knew if +no effort of will could move his body to her rescue he must be perishing +himself. + +After these brief sensations his existence was as blank as the empty +void outside the worlds, until his ears began to throb like drums, and +he felt water, like the tears he had shed in the morning, running all +over his face. Eva held him in her arms, and alternately kissed his head +and drenched it from the lake. + +Moreover, he was in the boat, outside the bay, and their island glowed +like a furnace before his dazzled eyes. + +Those pine woods where he had gone to sleep were roaring up toward +heaven in a column of fire. The tent was burning, all its interior +illuminated until every object showed its minutest lines. He thought he +saw some of Eva's dark hairs in an upturned hair-brush on the +wash-stand. + +Fire ran along the cliff-edge and dropped hissing brands into the lake. +Old moss logs and pine-trees dry as tinder sent out sickening heat. The +light ran like a flash up the tree over their stove, and in an instant +its crown was wavering with flames. The grass itself caught here and +there, and in whatever direction the eye turned, new fires as +instantaneously sprang out to meet it. + +Stumps blazed up like lighted altars, or like huge gas-jets suddenly +turned on. Adam saw one log lying endwise downhill, one side of which +was crumbling into coals of fierce and tremulous heat, while from the +other side still sprung unsinged a delicate tuft of ferns. + +The smoke was driving straight upward in a quivering current, and in +Lake Magog's depths another island seemed to be on fire. + +Sublime as the sight was, all these details impressed themselves on the +man in an instant, and he turned his face directly up toward the woman. + +"Darling, your face looks blistered," said Adam. + +"It feels blistered," replied Eva. "I'll put some water on it, now that +you've caught your breath again. I thought I could not get you out from +those burning trees." + +"But you dragged me down the hill?" + +"Yes, and then dipped you in the lake and pushed off with you in the +boat. I don't know how I did it. But here we are together." + +Adam bathed her face carefully himself, and held her tight in his arms. +The unspeakable love of which he had dreamed, and the heat of the +burning island, seemed welding them together without other sign than the +fact. + +Not a word was sighed out for forgiveness on either side. They held each +other and floated back into the lake. Adam took an oar and occasionally +paddled, without wholly releasing his hold of Eva. + +"Don't you remember our fish's nest?" she whispered beside his neck. "I +wonder if the slim little silver thing is swimming around over the +gravel hollow, frightened by all this glare? I hope those overhanging +bushes won't catch fire and drop coals on her; for she's a silly +thing,--she might not want to dart out in deep water and lose her +unhatched family." + +Adam smiled into his wife's eyes. He was quite singed, but did not know +it. + +"Ay, burn," he spoke out exultantly, apostrophizing the island. "Burn up +our first home and all. It's worth it. We're the other side o' the world +of fire now. We've passed through it, and are afloat on the sea of +glass." + + M. H. CATHERWOOD. + + + + +PROBATION. + + +Full slow to part with her best gifts is Fate: + The choicest fruitage comes not with the spring, +But still for summer's mellowing touch must wait, + For storms and tears that seasoned excellence bring; +And Love doth fix his joyfullest estate + In hearts that have been hushed 'neath Sorrow's brooding wing. +Youth sues to Fame: she coldly answers, "Toil!" + He sighs for Nature's treasures: with reserve +Responds the goddess, "Woo them from the soil." + Then fervently he cries, "Thee will I serve,-- +Thee only, blissful Love." With proud recoil + The heavenly boy replies, "To serve me well--deserve." + + FLORENCE EARLE COATES. + + + + +THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. + +TWO PAPERS. II. + + +The route of Robertson lay over the great Indian war-path, which led, in +a southwesterly direction, from the valley of Virginia to the Cherokee +towns on the lower Tennessee, not far from the present city of +Chattanooga. He would, however, turn aside at the Tellico and visit +Echota, which was the home of the principal chiefs. While he is pursuing +his perilous way, it may be as well to glance for a moment at the people +among whom he is going at so much hazard. + +The Cherokees were the mountaineers of aboriginal America, and, like +most mountaineers, had an intense love of country and a keen +appreciation of the beautiful in nature, as is shown by the poetical +names they have bequeathed to their rivers and mountains. They were +physically a fine race of men, tall and athletic, of great bravery and +superior natural intelligence. It was their military prowess alone that +enabled them to hold possession of the country they occupied against the +many warlike tribes by whom they were surrounded. + +They had no considerable cities, or even villages, but dwelt in +scattered townships in the vicinity of some stream where fish and game +were found in abundance. A number of these towns, bearing the musical +names of Tallassee, Tamotee, Chilhowee, Citico, Tennassee, and Echota, +were at this time located upon the rich lowlands lying between the +Tellico and Little Tennessee Rivers. These towns contained a population, +in men, women, and children, estimated at from seven to eight thousand, +of whom perhaps twelve hundred were warriors. These were known as the +Ottari (or "among the mountains") Cherokees. + +About the same number, near the head-waters of the Savannah, in the +great highland belt between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains, were +styled the Erati (or "in the valley") Cherokees. Another body (among +whom were many Creeks), nearly as large, and much more lawless than +either of the others, occupied towns lower down the Tennessee and in the +vicinity of Lookout Mountain. These, from their residence near the +stream of that name, were known as the Chickamaugas. + +These various bodies were one people, governed by an Archimagus, or +King, who, with a supreme council of chiefs, which sat at Echota, +decided all important questions in peace or war. Under him were the +half-or vice-king and the several chiefs who governed the scattered +townships and together composed the supreme council. In them was lodged +the temporal power. Spiritual authority was of a far more despotic form +and character. It was vested in one person, styled the Beloved man or +woman of the tribe, who, over a people so superstitious as the +Cherokees, held a control that was wellnigh absolute. This person was +generally of superior intelligence, who, like the famous Prophet of the +Shawnees, officiated as physician, prophet, and intercessor with the +invisible powers; and, by virtue of the supernatural authority which he +claimed, he often by a single word decided the most important questions, +even when opposed by the king and the principal chiefs. + +Echota was located on the northern bank of the Tellico, about five miles +from the ruins of Fort Loudon, and thirty southwest from the present +city of Knoxville. It was the Cherokee City of Refuge. Once within its +bounds, an open foe, or even a red-handed criminal, could dwell in peace +and security. The danger to an enemy was in going and returning. It is +related that an Englishman who, in self-defence, once slew a Cherokee, +fled to this sacred city to escape the vengeance of the kindred of his +victim. He was treated here with such kindness that after a time he +thought it safe to leave his asylum. The Indians warned him against the +danger, but he left, and on the following morning his body was found on +the outskirts of the town, pierced through and through with a score of +arrows. + +About two hundred cabins and wigwams, scattered, with some order but at +wide intervals, along the bank of the river, composed the village. The +cabins, like those of the white settlers, were square and built of logs; +the wigwams were conical, with a frame of slender poles gathered +together at the top and covered with buffalo-robes, dressed and smoked +to render them impervious to the weather. An opening at the side formed +the entrance, and over it was hung a buffalo-hide, which served as a +door. The fire was built in the centre of the lodge, and directly +overhead was an aperture to let out the smoke. Here the women performed +culinary operations, except in warm weather, when such employments were +carried on outside in the open air. At night the occupants of the lodge +spread their skins and buffalo-robes on the ground, and then men, women, +and children, stretching themselves upon them, went to sleep, with their +feet to the fire. By day the robes were rolled into mats and made to +serve as seats. A lodge of ordinary size would comfortably house a dozen +persons; but two families never occupied one domicile, and, the +Cherokees seldom having a numerous progeny, not more than five or six +persons were often tenants of a single wigwam. + +These rude dwellings were mostly strung along the two sides of a wide +avenue, which was shaded here and there with large oaks and poplars and +trodden hard with the feet of men and horses. At the back of each lodge +was a small patch of cleared land, where the women and the negro slaves +(stolen from the white settlers over the mountains) cultivated beans, +corn, and potatoes, and occasionally some such fruits as apples, pears, +and plums. All labor was performed by the women and slaves, as it was +considered beneath the dignity of an Indian brave to follow any +occupation but that of killing, either wild beasts in the hunt or +enemies in war. The house-lots were without fences, and not an enclosure +could be seen in the whole settlement, cattle and horses being left to +roam at large in the woods and openings. + +In the centre of Echota, occupying a wide opening, was a circular, +tower-shaped structure, some twenty feet high and ninety in +circumference. It was rudely built of stout poles, plastered with clay, +and had a roof of the same material sloping down to broad eaves, which +effectually protected the walls from moisture. It had a wide entrance, +protected by two large buffalo-hides hung so as to meet together in the +middle. There were no windows, but an aperture in the roof, shielded by +a flap of skins a few feet above the opening, let out the smoke and +admitted just enough light to dissipate a portion of the gloom that +always shrouded the interior. Low benches, neatly made of cane, were +ranged around the circumference of the room. This was the great +council-house of the Cherokees. Here they met to celebrate the +green-corn dance and their other national ceremonials; and here the king +and half-king and the princes and head-men of the various towns +consulted together on important occasions, such as making peace or +declaring war. + +At the time of which I write, several of the log cabins of Echota were +occupied by traders, adventurous white men who, tempted by the profit of +the traffic with the Cherokees, had been led to a more or less constant +residence among them. Their cabins contained their stock in +trade,--traps, guns, powder and lead, hatchets, looking-glasses, +"stroud," beads, scarlet cloth, and other trinkets, articles generally +of small cost, but highly prized by the red-men, and for which they gave +in exchange peltries of great value. The trade was one of slow returns, +but of great profits to the trader. And it was of about equal advantage +to the Indian; for with the trap or rifle he had gotten for a few skins +he was able to secure more game in a day than his bow and arrow and rude +"dead-fall" would procure for him in a month of toilsome hunting. The +traders were therefore held in high esteem among the Cherokees, who +encouraged their living and even marrying among them. In fact, such +alliances were deemed highly honorable, and were often sought by the +daughters of the most distinguished chiefs. Consequently, among the +trader's other chattels would often be found a dusky mate and a +half-dozen half-breed children; and this, too, when he had already a +wife and family somewhere in the white settlements. + +These traders were an important class in the early history of the +country. Of necessity well acquainted with the various routes traversing +the Indian territory, and with the state of feeling among the savages, +and passing frequently to and fro between the Indian towns and the white +settlements, they were often enabled to warn the whites of intended +attacks, and to guide such hostile parties as invaded the Cherokee +territory. Though often natives of North Carolina or Virginia, and in +sympathy with the colonists, they were, if prudent of speech and +behavior, allowed to remain unmolested in the Indian towns, even when +the warriors were singing the war-song and brandishing the war-club on +the eve of an intended massacre of the settlers. + +Living in Echota at this time was one of this class who, on account of +his great services to the colonists, is deserving of special mention. +His name was Isaac Thomas, and he is said to have been a native of +Virginia. He is described as a man about forty years of age, over six +feet in height, straight, long-limbed, and wiry, and with a frame so +steeled by twenty years of mountain-life that he could endure any +conceivable hardship. His features were strongly marked and regular, and +they wore an habitual expression of comic gravity; but on occasion his +dark, deep-set eye had been known to light up with a look of +unconquerable pluck and determination. He wore moccasins and +hunting-shirt of buckskin, and his face, neck, and hands, from long +exposure, had grown to be of the same color as that material. His +coolness and intrepidity had been shown on many occasions, and these +qualities, together with his immense strength, had secured him high +esteem among the Cherokees, who, like all uncivilized people, set the +highest value upon personal courage and physical prowess. It is related +that shortly before the massacre at Fort Loudon he interfered in a +desperate feud between two Cherokee braves who had drawn their tomahawks +to hew each other in pieces. Stepping between them, he wrenched the +weapons from their hands, and then, both setting upon him at once, he +cooled their heated valor by lifting one after the other into the air +and gently tossing him into the Tellico. Subsequently, one of these +braves saved his life at the Loudon massacre, at the imminent risk of +his own. If I were writing fiction, I might make of this man an +interesting character: as it is, it will be seen that facts hereinafter +related will fully justify the length of this description. + +A wigwam, larger and more pretentious than most of the others in Echota, +stood a little apart from the rest, and not far from the council-house. +Like the others, it had a frame of poles covered with tanned skins; but +it was distinguished from them by a singular "totem,"--an otter in the +coils of a water-snake. Its interior was furnished with a sort of rude +splendor. The floor was carpeted with buffalo-hides and panther-skins, +and round the walls were hung eagles' tails, and the peltries of the +fox, the wolf, the badger, the otter, and other wild animals. From a +pole in the centre was suspended a small bag,--the mysterious +medicine-bag of the occupant. She was a woman who to this day is held in +grateful remembrance by many of the descendants of the early settlers +beyond the Alleghanies. Her personal appearance is lost to tradition, +but it is said to have been queenly and commanding. She was more than +the queen, she was the prophetess and Beloved Woman, of the Cherokees. + +At this time she is supposed to have been about thirty-five years of +age. Her father was an English officer named Ward, but her mother was of +the "blood royal," a sister of the reigning half-king Atta-Culla-Culla. +The records we have of her are scanty, as they are of all her people, +but enough has come down to us to show that she had a kind heart and a +sense of justice keen enough to recognize the rights of even her +enemies. She must have possessed very strong traits of character to +exercise as she did almost autocratic control over the fierce and +wellnigh untamable Cherokees when she was known to sympathize with and +befriend their enemies the white settlers. Not long before the time of +which I am writing, she had saved the lives of two whites,--Jeremiah +Jack and William Rankin,--who had come into collision with a party of +Cherokees; and subsequently she performed many similar services to the +frontier people. + +Other wigwams as imposing as that of Nancy Ward, and not far from the +council-house, were the habitations of the head-king Oconostota, the +half-king Atta-Culla-Culla, and the prince of Echota, Savanuca, +otherwise called the Raven. Of these men it will be necessary to say +more hereafter: here I need only remark that they have now gathered in +the council-house, with many of the principal warriors and head-men of +the Ottari Cherokees, and that the present fate of civilization in the +Southwest is hanging on their deliberations. + +They are of a gigantic race, and none of those at this conclave, except +Atta-Culla-Culla, are less than six feet in height "without their +moccasins." Squatted as they are gravely around the council-fire, they +present a most picturesque appearance. Among them are the +Bread-Slave-Catcher, noted for his exploits in stealing negroes; the +Tennassee Warrior, prince of the town of that name; Noon-Day, a +wide-awake brave; Bloody Fellow, whose subsequent exploits will show the +appropriateness of his name; Old Tassell, a wise and reasonably just +old man, afterward Archimagus; and John Watts, a promising young +half-breed, destined to achieve eminence in slaughtering white people. + +As one after another of them rises to speak, the rest, with downcast +eyes and cloudy visages, listen with silent gravity, only now and then +expressing assent by a solitary "Ugh!" + +There is strong, though suppressed, passion among them; but it is +passion under the control of reason. Whatever they decide to do will be +done without haste, and after a careful weighing of all the +consequences. In the midst of their deliberations the rapid tread of a +horse's feet is heard coming up the long avenue. The horseman halts +before the council-house, and soon the buffalo-hide parts in twain, and +a tall young warrior, decorated with eagles' feathers and half clad in +the highest style of Cherokee fashion, enters the door-way. He stands +silent, motionless, not moving a pace beyond the entrance, till +Oconostota, raising his eyes and lifting his huge form into an erect +posture, bids him speak and make known his errand. + +The young brave explains that the chief of the pale-faces has come down +the great war-path to an outlying town to see the head-men of the +Ottari. The warriors have detained him till they can know the will of +their father the Archimagus. + +The answer is brief: "Let him come. Oconostota will hear him." + +And now an hour goes by, during which these grave chiefs sit as silent +and motionless as if keeping watch around a sepulchre. At its close the +tramp of a body of horsemen is heard, and soon Robertson, escorted by a +score of painted warriors, enters the council-chamber. Like the rest, +the new-comers are of fine physical proportions; and, as the others rise +to their feet and all form in a circle about him, Robertson, who stands +only five feet nine inches and is not so robust as in later years, seems +like a pygmy among giants. Yet he is as cool, as collected, as +apparently unconscious of danger, as if every one of those painted +savages (when aroused, red devils) was his near friend or +blood-relation. The chiefs glance at him, and then at one another, with +as much wonderment in their eyes as was ever seen in the eyes of a +Cherokee. They know he is but one man and they twelve hundred, and that +by their law of retaliation his life is forfeit; and yet he stands +there, a look of singular power on his face, as if not they but he were +master of the situation. They have seen physical bravery; but this is +moral courage, which, when a man has a great purpose, lifts him above +all personal considerations and makes his life no more to him than the +bauble he wears upon his finger. + +Robertson waits for the others to speak, and there is a short pause +before the old chief breaks the silence. Then, extending his hand to +Robertson, he says, "Our white brother is welcome. We have eaten of his +venison and drunk of his fire-water. He is welcome. Let him speak. +Oconostota will listen." + +The white man returns cordially the grasp of the Indian; and then, still +standing, while all about him seat themselves on the ground, he makes +known the object of his coming. I regret I cannot give here his exact +answer, for all who read this would wish to know the very words he used +on this momentous occasion. No doubt they were, like all he said, terse, +pithy, and in such scriptural phrase as was with him so habitual. I know +only the substance of what he said, and it was as follows: that the +young brave had been killed by one not belonging to the Watauga +community; that the murderer had fled, but when apprehended would be +dealt with as his crime deserved; and he added that he and his +companion-settlers had come into the country desiring to live in peace +with all men, but more especially with their near neighbors the brave +Cherokees, with whom they should always endeavor to cultivate relations +of friendliness and good-fellowship. + +The Indians heard him at first with silent gravity, but, as he went on, +their feelings warmed to him, and found vent in a few expressive +"Ughs!" and when he closed, the old Archimagus rose, and, turning to the +chiefs, said, "What our white brother says is like the truth. What say +my brothers? are not his words good?" + +The response was, "They are good." + +A general hand-shaking followed; and then they all pressed Robertson to +remain with them and partake of their hospitality. Though extremely +anxious to return at once with the peaceful tidings, he did so, and thus +converted possible enemies into positive friends; and the friendship +thus formed was not broken till the outbreak of the Revolution. + +While Robertson had been away, Sevier had not been idle. He had put +Watauga into the best possible state of defence. With the surprising +energy that was characteristic of him, he had built a fort and gathered +every white settler into it or safe within range of its muskets. His +force was not a hundred strong; but if Robertson had been safely out of +the savage hold, he might have enjoyed a visit from Oconostota and his +twelve hundred Ottari warriors. + +The fort was planned by Sevier, who had no military training except such +as he had received under his patron and friend Lord Dunmore. Though rude +and hastily built, it was a model of military architecture, and in the +construction of it Sevier displayed such a genius for war as readily +accounts for his subsequent achievements. + +It was located on Gap Creek, about half a mile northeast of the Watauga, +upon a gentle knoll, from about which the trees, and even stumps, were +carefully cleared, to prevent their sheltering a lurking enemy. The +buildings have now altogether crumbled away; but the spot is still +identified by a few graves and a large locust-tree,--then a slender +sapling, now a burly patriarch, which has remained to our day to point +out the spot where occurred the first conflict between civilization and +savagery in the new empire beyond the Alleghanies. For the conflict was +between those two forces; and the forts along the frontier--of which +this at Watauga was the original and model--were the forerunners of +civilization,--the "voice crying in the wilderness," announcing the +reign of peace which was to follow. + +The fort covered a parallelogram of about an acre, and was built of log +cabins placed at intervals along the four sides, the logs notched +closely together, so that the walls were bullet-proof. One side of the +cabins formed the exterior of the fort, and the spaces between them were +filled with palisades of heavy timber, eight feet long, sharpened at the +ends, and set firmly into the ground. At each of the angles was a +block-house, about twenty feet square and two stories high, the upper +story projecting about two feet beyond the lower, so as to command the +sides of the fort and enable the besieged to repel a close attack or any +attempt to set fire to the buildings. Port-holes were placed at suitable +distances. There were two wide gate-ways, constructed to open quickly to +permit a sudden sally or the speedy rescue of outside fugitives. On one +of these was a lookout station, which commanded a wide view of the +surrounding country. The various buildings would comfortably house two +hundred people, but on an emergency a much larger number might find +shelter within the enclosure. + +The fort was admirably adapted to its design, and, properly manned, +would repel any attack of fire-arms in the hands of such desultory +warriors as the Indians. In the arithmetic of the frontier it came to be +adopted as a rule that one white man behind a wall of logs was a match +for twenty-five Indians in the open field; and subsequent events showed +this to have been not a vainglorious reckoning. + +There were much older men at Watauga than either Sevier or +Robertson,--one of whom was now only twenty-eight and the other +thirty,--but they had from the first been recognized as natural leaders. +These two events--the building of the fort and the Cherokee mission, +which displayed Sevier's uncommon military genius and Robertson's +ability and address as a negotiator--elevated them still higher in the +regard of their associates, and at once the cares and responsibilities +of leadership in both civil and military affairs were thrust upon them. +But Sevier, with a modesty which he showed throughout his whole career, +whenever it was necessary that one should take precedence of the other, +always insisted upon Robertson's having the higher position; and so it +was that in the military company which was now formed Sevier, who had +served as a captain under Dunmore, was made lieutenant, while Robertson +was appointed captain. + +The Watauga community had been till now living under no organized +government. This worked very well so long as the newly-arriving +immigrants were of the class which is "a law unto itself;" but when +another class came in,--men fleeing from debt in the older settlements +or hoping on the remote and inaccessible frontier to escape the penalty +of their crimes,--some organization which should have the sanction of +the whole body of settlers became necessary. Therefore, speaking in the +language of Sevier, they, "by consent of the people, formed a court, +taking the Virginia laws as a guide, as near as the situation of affairs +would admit." + +The settlers met in convention at the fort, and selected thirteen of +their number to draft articles of association for the management of the +colony. From these thirteen, five (among whom were Sevier and Robertson) +were chosen commissioners, and to them was given power to adjudicate +upon all matters of controversy and to adopt and direct all measures +having a bearing upon the peace, safety, good order, and well-being of +the community. By them, in the language of the articles, "all things +were to be settled." + +These articles of association were the first compact of civil government +anywhere west of the Alleghanies. They were adopted in 1772, three years +prior to the association formed for Kentucky "under the great elm-tree +outside of the fort at Boonesboro." The simple government thus +established was sufficient to secure good order in the colony for +several years following. + +Now ensued four more years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity, during +which the settlement increased greatly in numbers and extended its +borders in all directions. The Indians, true to their pledges to +Robertson, continued friendly, though suffering frequently from the +depredations of lawless white men from the old settlements. These were +reckless, desperate characters, who had fled from the order and law of +established society to find freedom for unbridled license in the new +community. Driven out by the Watauga settlers, they herded together in +the wilderness, where they subsisted by hunting and fishing and preying +upon the now peaceable Cherokees. They were an annoyance to both the +peaceable white man and the red; but at length, when the Indians showed +feelings of hostility, they became a barrier between the savages and the +industrious cultivators of the soil, and thus unintentionally +contributed to the well-being of the Watauga community. + +No event materially affecting the interests of the colony occurred +during the four years following Robertson's visit to the Cherokees at +Echota. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought, but the +shot which was "heard round the world" did not echo till months +afterward in that secluded hamlet on the Watauga. But when it did +reverberate amid those old woods, every backwoodsman sprang to his feet +and asked to be enrolled to rush to the rescue of his countrymen on the +seaboard. His patriotism was not stimulated by British oppression, for +he was beyond the reach of the "king's minions." He had no grievances to +complain of, for he drank no tea, used no stamps, and never saw a +tax-gatherer. It was the "glorious cause of liberty," as Sevier +expressed it, which called them all to arms to do battle for freedom and +their countrymen. + +"A company of fine riflemen was accordingly enlisted, and embodied at +the expense and risque of their private fortunes, to act in defence of +the common cause on the sea-shore."[001] But before the volunteers could +be despatched over the mountains it became apparent that their services +would be needed at home for the defence of the frontier against the +Indians. + +Through the trader Isaac Thomas it soon became known to the settlers +that Cameron, the British agent, was among the Cherokees, endeavoring to +incite them to hostilities against the Americans. At first the Indians +resisted the enticements--the hopes of spoil and plunder and the +recovery of their hunting-grounds--which Cameron held out to them. They +could not understand how men of the same race and language could be at +war with one another. It was never so known in Indian tradition. But +soon--late in 1775--an event occurred which showed that the virus spread +among them by the crafty Scotchman had begun to work, at least with the +younger braves, and that it might at any moment break out among the +whole nation. A trader named Andrew Grear, who lived at Watauga, had +been at Echota. He had disposed of his wares, and was about to return +with the furs he had taken in exchange, when he perceived signs of +hostile feeling among some of the young warriors, and on his return, +fearing an ambuscade on the great war-path, he left it before he reached +the crossing at the French Broad, and went homeward by a less-frequented +trail along the Nolachucky. Two other traders, named Boyd and Dagget, +who left Echota on the following day, pursued the usual route, and were +waylaid and murdered at a small stream which has ever since borne the +name of Boyd's Creek. In a few days their bodies were found, only half +concealed in the shallow water; and as the tidings flew among the +scattered settlements they excited universal alarm and indignation. + +The settlers had been so long at peace with the Cherokees that they had +been lulled into a false security; but, the savage having once tasted +blood, they knew his appetite would "grow by what it fed on," and they +prepared for a deadly struggle with an enemy of more than twenty times +their number. The fort at Watauga was at once put into a state of +efficient defence, smaller forts were erected in the centre of every +scattered settlement, and a larger one was built on the frontier, near +the confluence of the north and south forks of the Holston River, to +protect the more remote settlements. This last was called Fort Patrick +Henry, in honor of the patriotic governor of Virginia. The one at +Watauga received the name of Fort Lee. + +All the able-bodied males sixteen years of age and over were enrolled, +put under competent officers, and drilled for the coming struggle. But +the winter passed without any further act of hostility on the part of +the disaffected Cherokees. The older chiefs, true to their pledges to +Robertson, still held back, and were able to restrain the younger +braves, who thirsted for the conflict from a passion for the excitement +and glory they could find only in battle. + +Nancy Ward was in the secrets of the Cherokee leaders, and every word +uttered in their councils she faithfully repeated to the trader Isaac +Thomas, who conveyed the intelligence personally or by trusty messengers +to Sevier and Robertson at Watauga. Thus the settlers were enabled to +circumvent the machinations of Cameron until a more powerful enemy +appeared among the Cherokees in the spring of 1776. This was John +Stuart, British superintendent of Southern Indian affairs, a man of +great address and ability, and universally known and beloved among all +the Southwestern tribes. Fifteen years before, his life had been saved +at the Fort Loudon massacre by Atta-Culla-Culla, and a friendship had +then been contracted between them which now secured the influence of the +half-king in plunging the Cherokees into hostilities with the settlers. + +The plan of operations had been concerted between Stuart and the +British commander-in-chief, General Gage. It was for a universal rising +among the Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Shawnees, who were to +invade the frontiers of Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, while +simultaneously a large military and naval force under Sir Peter Parker +descended upon the Southern seaboard and captured Charleston. It was +also intended to enlist the co-operation of such inhabitants of the back +settlements as were known to be favorable to the British. Thus the +feeble colonists were to be not only encircled by a cordon of fire, but +a conflagration was to be lighted which should consume every patriot's +dwelling. It was an able but pitiless and bloodthirsty plan, for it +would let loose upon the settler every savage atrocity and make his +worst foes those of his own household. If successful, it would have +strangled in fire and blood the spirit of independence in the Southern +colonies. + +That it did not succeed seems to us, who know the means employed to +thwart it, little short of a miracle. Those means were the four hundred +and forty-five raw militia under Moultrie, who, behind a pile of +palmetto logs, on the 28th of June, 1776, repulsed Sir Peter Parker in +his attack on Sullivan's Island in the harbor of Charleston, South +Carolina, and the two hundred and ten "over-mountain men," under Sevier, +Robertson, and Isaac Shelby, who beat back, on the 20th and 21st of +July, the Cherokee invasion of the western frontier. + +As early as the 30th of May, Sevier and Robertson were apprised by their +faithful friend Nancy Ward of the intended attack, and at once they sent +messengers to Colonel Preston, of the Virginia Committee of Safety, for +an additional supply of powder and lead and a reinforcement of such men +as could be spared from home-service. One hundred pounds of powder and +twice as much lead, and one hundred militiamen, were despatched in +answer to the summons. The powder and lead were distributed among the +stations, and the hundred men were sent to strengthen the garrison of +Fort Patrick Henry, the most exposed position on the frontier. The +entire force of the settlers was now two hundred and ten, forty of whom +were at Watauga under Sevier and Robertson, the remainder at and near +Fort Patrick Henry under no less than six militia captains, no one of +whom was bound to obey the command of any of the others. This +many-headed authority would doubtless have worked disastrously to the +loosely-jointed force had there not been in it as a volunteer a young +man of twenty-five who in the moment of supreme danger seized the +absolute command and rallied the men to victory. His name was Isaac +Shelby, and this was the first act in a long career in the whole of +which "he deserved well of his country." + +Thus, from the 30th of May till the 11th of July the settlers slept with +their rifles in their hands, expecting every night to hear the Indian +war-whoop, and every day to receive some messenger from Nancy Ward with +tidings that the warriors were on the march for the settlements. At last +the messengers came,--four of them at once,--as we may see from the +following letter, in which Sevier announces their arrival to the +Committee of Safety of Fincastle County, Virginia: + + "FORT LEE, July 11, 1776. + + DEAR GENTLEMEN,--Isaac Thomas, William Falling, Jarot Williams, and + one more, have this moment come in, by making their escape from the + Indians, and say six hundred Indians and whites were to start for + this fort, and intend to drive the country up to New River before + they return. + + JOHN SEVIER." + +He says nothing of the feeble fort and his slender garrison of only +forty men; he shows no sign of fear, nor does he ask for aid in the +great peril. The letter is characteristic of the man, and it displays +that utter fearlessness which, with other great qualities, made him the +hero of the Border. The details of the information brought by Thomas to +Sevier and Robertson showed how truthfully Nancy Ward had previously +reported to them the secret designs of the Cherokees. The whole nation +was about to set out upon the war-path. With the Creeks they were to +make a descent upon Georgia, and with the Shawnees, Mingoes, and +Delawares upon Kentucky and the exposed parts of Virginia, while seven +hundred chosen Ottari warriors were to fall upon the settlers on the +Watauga, Holston, and Nolachucky. This last force was to be divided into +two bodies of three hundred and fifty each, one of which, under +Oconostota, was to attack Fort Watauga; the other, under Dragging-Canoe, +head-chief of the Chickamaugas, was to attempt the capture of Fort +Patrick Henry, which they supposed to be still defended by only about +seventy men. But the two bodies were to act together, the one supporting +the other in case it should be found that the settlers were better +prepared for defence than was anticipated. The preparation for the +expedition Thomas had himself seen: its object and the points of attack +he had learned from Nancy Ward, who had come to his cabin at midnight on +the 7th of July and urged his immediate departure. He had delayed +setting out till the following night, to impart his information to +William Falling and Jarot and Isaac Williams, men who could be trusted, +and who he proposed should set out at the same time, but by different +routes, to warn the settlements, so that in case one or more of them was +waylaid and killed the others might have a chance to get through in +safety. However, at the last moment the British agent Cameron had +himself disclosed the purpose of the expedition to Falling and the two +brothers Williams, and detailed them with a Captain Guest to go along +with the Indians as far as the Nolachucky, when they were to scatter +among the settlements and warn any "king's men" to join the Indians or +to wear a certain badge by which they would be known and protected in +any attack from the savages. These men had set out with the Indians, but +had escaped from them during the night of the 8th, and all had arrived +at Watauga in safety. + +Thomas and Falling were despatched at once with the tidings into +Virginia, the two Williamses were sent to warn the garrison at Fort +Patrick Henry, and then the little force at Watauga furbished up their +rifles and waited in grim expectation the coming of Oconostota. + +But the garrison at Fort Patrick Henry was the first to have tidings +from the Cherokees. Only a few men were at the fort, the rest being +scattered among the outlying stations, but all were within +supporting-distance. On the 19th of July the scouts came in and reported +that a large body of Indians was only about twenty miles away and +marching directly upon the garrison. Runners were at once despatched to +bring in the scattered forces, and by nightfall the one hundred and +seventy were gathered at the fort, ready to meet the enemy. Then a +council of war was held by the six militia captains to determine upon +the best plan of action. Some were in favor of awaiting the attack of +the savages behind the walls of the fort, but one of them, William +Cocke, who afterward became honorably conspicuous in the history of +Tennessee, proposed the bolder course of encountering the enemy in the +open field. If they did not, he contended that the Indians, passing them +on the flank, would fall on and butcher the defenceless women of the +settlements in their rear. + +It was a step of extreme boldness, for they supposed they would +encounter the whole body of seven hundred Cherokees; but it was +unanimously agreed to, and early on the following morning the little +army, with flankers and an advance guard of twelve men, marched out to +meet the enemy. They had not gone far when the advance guard came upon a +force of about twenty Indians. The latter fled, and the whites pursued +for several miles, the main body following close upon the heels of the +advance, but without coming upon any considerable force of the enemy. +Then, being in a country favorable to an ambuscade, and the evening +coming on, they held a council and decided to return to the fort. + +They had not gone upward of a mile when a large force of the enemy +appeared in their rear. The whites wheeled about at once, and were +forming into line, when the whole body of Indians rushed upon them with +great fury, shouting, "The Unacas are running! Come on! scalp them!" +They attacked simultaneously the centre and left flank of the whites; +and then was seen the hazard of going into battle with a many-headed +commander. For a moment all was confusion, and the companies in +attempting to form in the face of the impetuous attack were being +broken, when Isaac Shelby rushed to the front and ordered each company a +few steps to the rear, where they should reform, while he, with +Lieutenant Moore, Robert Edmiston, and John Morrison, and a private +named John Findlay,--in all five men,--should meet the onset of the +savages. Instantly the six captains obeyed the command, recognizing in +the volunteer of twenty-five their natural leader, and then the battle +became general. The Indians attacked furiously, and for a few moments +those five men bore the brunt of the assault. With his own hand Robert +Edmiston slew six of the more forward of the enemy, Morrison nearly as +many, and then Moore became engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand fight +with an herculean chieftain of the Cherokees. They were a few paces in +advance of the main body, and, as if by common consent, the firing was +partly suspended on both sides to await the issue of the conflict. +"Moore had shot the chief, wounding him in the knee, but not so badly as +to prevent him from standing. Moore advanced toward him, and the Indian +threw his tomahawk, but missed him. Moore sprung at him with his large +butcher-knife drawn, which the Indian caught by the blade and attempted +to wrest from the hand of his antagonist. Holding on with desperate +tenacity to the knife, both clinched with their left hands. A scuffle +ensued, in which the Indian was thrown to the ground, his right hand +being nearly dissevered, and bleeding profusely. Moore, still holding +the handle of his knife in the right hand, succeeded with the other in +disengaging his own tomahawk from his belt, and ended the strife by +sinking it in the skull of the Indian. Until this conflict was ended, +the Indians fought with unyielding spirit. After its issue became known, +they retreated."[002] "Our men pursued in a cautious manner, lest they +might be led into an ambuscade, hardly crediting their own senses that +so numerous a foe was completely routed. In this miracle of a battle we +had not a man killed, and only five wounded, who all recovered. But the +wounded of the enemy died till the whole loss in killed amounted to +upward of forty."[003] + +As soon as this conflict was over, a horseman was sent off to Watauga +with tidings of the astonishing victory. "A great day's work in the +woods," was Sevier's remark when speaking subsequently of this battle. + +Meanwhile, Oconostota, with his three hundred and fifty warriors, had +followed the trail along the Nolachucky, and on the morning of the 20th +had come upon the house of William Bean, the hospitable entertainer of +Robertson on his first visit to Watauga, Bean himself was at the fort, +to which had fled all the women and children in the settlement, but his +wife had preferred to remain at home. She had many friends among the +Indians, and she felt confident they would pass her without molestation. +She was mistaken. They took her captive, and removed her to their +station-camp on the Nolachucky. There a warrior pointed his rifle at +her, as if to fire; but Oconostota threw up the barrel and began to +question her as to the strength of the whites. She gave him misleading +replies, with which he appeared satisfied, for he soon told her she was +not to be killed, but taken to their towns to teach their women how to +manage a dairy. + +Those at the fort knew that Oconostota was near by on the Nolachucky, +but he had deferred the attack so long that they concluded the wary and +cautious old chief was waiting to be reinforced by the body under +Dragging-Canoe, which had gone to attack Fort Patrick Henry. News had +reached them of Shelby's victory, and, as it would be some time before +the broken Cherokees could rally and join Oconostota, they were in no +apprehension of immediate danger. Accordingly, they went about their +usual vocations, and so it happened that a number of the women ventured +outside the fort as usual to milk the cows on the morning of the 21st of +July. Among them was one who was destined to occupy for many years the +position of the "first lady in Tennessee." + +Her name was Catherine Sherrell, and she was the daughter of Samuel +Sherrell, one of the first settlers on the Watauga. In age she was +verging upon twenty, and she was tall, straight as an arrow, and lithe +as a hickory sapling. I know of no portrait of her in existence, but +tradition describes her as having dark eyes, flexible nostrils, regular +features, a clear, transparent skin, a neck like a swan, and a wealth of +wavy brown hair, which was a wonder to look at and was in striking +contrast to the whiteness of her complexion. A free life in the open air +had made her as supple as an eel and as agile as a deer. It was said +that, encumbered by her womanly raiment, she had been known to place one +hand upon a six-barred fence and clear it at a single bound. And now her +agility was to do her essential service. + +While she and the other women, unconscious of danger, were "coaxing the +snowy fluid from the yielding udders of the kine," suddenly the +war-whoop sounded through the woods, and a band of yelling savages +rushed out upon them. Quick as thought the women turned and darted for +the gate of the fort; but the savages were close upon them in a +neck-and-neck race, and Kate, more remote than the rest, was cut off +from the entrance. Seeing her danger, Sevier and a dozen others opened +the gate and were about to rush out upon the savages, hundreds of whom +were now in front of the fort; but Robertson held them back, saying they +could not rescue her, and to go out would insure their own destruction. +At a glance Kate took in the situation. She could have no help from her +friends, and the tomahawk and scalping-knife were close behind her. +Instantly she turned, and, fleeter than a deer, made for a point in the +stockade some distance from the entrance. The palisades were eight feet +high, but with one bound she reached the top, and with another was over +the wall, falling into the arms of Sevier, who for the first time called +her his "bonnie Kate," his "brave girl for a foot-race." The other women +reached the entrance of the fort in safety. + +Then the baffled savages opened fire, and for a full hour it rained +bullets upon the little enclosure. But the missiles fell harmless: not a +man was wounded. Driven by the light charges the Indians were accustomed +to use, the bullets simply bounded off from the thick logs and did no +damage. But it was not so with the fire of the besieged. The order was, +"Wait till you see the whites of your enemies' eyes, and then make sure +of your man." And so every one of those forty rifles did terrible +execution. + +For twenty days the Indians hung about the fort, returning again and +again to the attack; but not a man who kept within the walls was even +wounded. It was not so with a man and a boy who, emboldened by a few +days' absence of the Indians, ventured outside to go down to the river. +The man was scalped on the spot; the boy was taken prisoner, and +subjected to a worse fate in one of the Indian villages. His name was +Moore, and he was a younger brother of the lieutenant who fought so +bravely in the battle near Fort Patrick Henry. + +At last, baffled and dispirited, the Indians fell back to the Tellico. +They had lost about sixty killed and a larger number wounded, and they +had inflicted next to no damage upon the white settlers. They were +enraged beyond bounds and thirsting for vengeance. Only two prisoners +were in their power; but on them they resolved to wreak their extremest +tortures. Young Moore was taken to the village of his captor, high up in +the mountains, and there burned at a stake. A like fate was determined +upon for good Mrs. Bean, the kindly woman whose hospitable door had ever +been open to all, white man or Indian. Oconostota would not have her +die; but Dragging-Canoe insisted that she should be offered up as a +sacrifice to the _manes_ of his fallen warriors; and the head-king was +not powerful enough to prevent it. + +She was taken to the summit of one of the burial-mounds,--those relics +of a forgotten race which are so numerous along the banks of the +Tellico. She was tied to a stake, the fagots were heaped about her, and +the fire was about to be lighted, when suddenly Nancy Ward appeared +among the crowd of savages and ordered a stay of the execution. +Dragging-Canoe was a powerful brave, but not powerful enough to combat +the will of this woman. Mrs. Bean was not only liberated, but sent back +with an honorable escort to her husband. + +The village in which young Moore was executed was soon visited by Sevier +with a terrible retribution; and from that day for twenty years his name +was a terror among the Cherokees. + +Before many months there was a wedding in the fort at Watauga. It was +that of John Sevier and the "bonnie Kate," famous to this day for +leaping stockades and six-barred fences. He lived to be twelve years +governor of Tennessee and the idol of a whole people. She shared all his +love and all his honors; but in her highest estate she was never ashamed +of her lowly days, and never tired of relating her desperate leap at +Watauga; and, even in her old age, she would merrily add, "I would make +it again--every day in the week--for such a husband." + + EDMUND KIRKE. + + + + +A PLEASANT SPIRIT. + + +It was drawing toward nine o'clock, and symptoms of closing for the +night were beginning to manifest themselves in Mr. Pegram's store. The +few among the nightly loungers there who had still a remnant of domestic +conscience left had already risen from boxes and "kags," and gathered up +the pound packages of sugar and coffee which had served as the pretext +for their coming, but which would not, alas! sufficiently account for +the length of their stay. The older stagers still sat composedly in the +seats of honor immediately surrounding the red-hot stove, and a look of +disapproval passed over their faces as Mr. Pegram, opening the door and +thereby letting in a blast of cold air upon their legs, proceeded to put +up the outside shutters. + +"In a hurry to-night, ain't you, Pegram?" inquired Mr. Dickey, as the +proprietor returned, brushing flakes of snow from his coat and shivering +expressively. + +"Well, not particular," replied Mr. Pegram, with a deliberation which +confirmed his words, "but it's pretty nigh nine, and Sally she ast me +not to be later _than_ nine to-night, for our hired girl's gone +home for a spell, and that makes it kind of lonesome for Sally: the baby +don't count for much, only when he cries, and I'll do him the justice to +say that isn't often." + +"It's a new thing for Sally to be scary, ain't it?" queried Mr. +Crumlish, with an expression of mild surprise. + +"Well, yes, I may say it is," admitted Mr. Pegram; "but, you know, we +had a kind of a warning, before we moved in, that all wasn't quite as it +should be, and, as bad luck would have it, there was a Boston paper come +round her new coat, with a story in it that laid out to be true, of +noises and appearances, and one thing and another, in a house right +there to Boston, and Sally she says to me, 'If they believe in them +things to Boston, where they don't believe in nothing they can't see and +handle, if all we hear's true, there must be something in it, and I only +wish I'd read that piece before we took the house.' + +"I keep a-telling her we've neither seen nor heard nothing out of the +common, so far, but all she'll say to that is, 'That's no reason we +won't;' and sure enough it isn't, though I don't tell her so." + +"But surely," said Mr. Birchard, the young schoolmaster, who boarded +with Mr. Dickey, "you don't believe any such trash as that account of a +haunted house in Boston?" There was a non-committal silence, and he went +on impatiently, "I could give you a dozen instances in which mysteries +of this kind, when they were energetically followed up, were proved to +be the results of the most simple and natural causes." + +"Like enough, like enough, young man," said Uncle Jabez Snyder, in his +tremulous tones, "and mebbe some folks not a hunderd miles from here +could tell you another dozen that hadn't no natural causes." + +"I should like very much to hear them," replied the young man, with an +exasperatingly incredulous smile. + +"If Pegram here wasn't in such a durned hurry to turn us out and shet +up," said Mr. Dickey, with manifest irritation, "Uncle Jabez could tell +you all you want to hear." + +Mr. Pegram looked disturbed. It was with him a fixed principle never to +disoblige a customer, and he saw that he was disobliging at least half a +dozen. On the other hand, he was not prepared to face his wife should he +so daringly disregard her wishes as to keep the store open half an hour +later than usual. He pondered for a few moments, and then his face +suddenly brightened, and he said, "If one of you gentlemen that passes +my house on your way home would undertake to put coal on the fire, put +the lights out, lock the door, and bring me the key, the store's at your +disposal till ten o'clock; and I'm only sorry I can't stay myself." + +Two or three immediately volunteered, but as the schoolmaster and Mr. +Dickey were the only ones whose way lay directly past Mr. Pegram's door, +it was decided that they should divide the labors and honors between +them. + +"I'd like you not to stop later _than_ ten," said Mr. Pegram +deprecatingly, as he buttoned his great-coat and drew his hat down over +his eyes, "for I have to be up so early, since that boy cleared out, +that I need to go to bed sooner than I mostly do." + +Compliance with this modest request was readily promised, good-nights +were exchanged, and the lessened circle drew in more closely around the +stove, for several of the company had reluctantly decided that, all +things considered, it would be the better part of valor for them to go +when Mr. Pegram went. + +There was a few minutes' silence, and then Mr. Dickey said impatiently, +"We're all ready, Uncle Jabez. Why don't you fire away, so's to be +through by ten o'clock?" + +"I was a-thinkin' which one I'd best tell him," said Uncle Jabez mildly. +"They're all convincin' to a mind that's open to convincement, but I'd +like to pick out the one that's most so." + +"There's the one about Alviry Pratt's grandfather," suggested Mr. +Crumlish encouragingly. + +"No," mused the old man. "I've no doubt of that myself, but then it +didn't happen to me in person, and I've a notion he'd rather hear one +I've experienced than two I've heard tell of." + +"Of course I would, Uncle Jabez," said Mr. Birchard kindly, but with an +amused twinkle in his eyes. "You take your own time: it's only just +struck nine, and there's no hurry at all." + +"Supposin' I was to tell him that one about my first wife?" said the old +man presently, and with an inquiring look around the circle. + +Several heads were nodded approvingly, and Mr. Crumlish said, "The very +one I'd 'a' chosen myself if you'd ast me." + +Thus encouraged, Uncle Jabez, with a sort of deliberate promptness, +began: "We married very young, Lavina and me,--too young, some said, but +I never could see why, for I had a good farm, with health and strength +to carry it on, and she was a master-hand with butter and cheese. At any +rate, we thriv; and if we had plenty of children, there was plenty for +'em to eat, and they grew as fast as everything else did. She wasn't +what you'd fairly call handsome, Lavina wasn't, but she was +pleasant-appearin', very,--plump as a pa'tridge, with nice brown hair +and eyes and a clean-lookin' skin. But it was her smile in particular +that took me; and when she set in to laugh you couldn't no more' help +laughin' along with her than one bobolink can help laughin' back when he +hears another. She was the tenderest-hearted woman that ever breathed +the breath of life: she couldn't bear to hurt the feelin's of a cat, and +she'd go 'ithout a chicken-dinner any day sooner'n kill a chicken. As +time passed on and she begun to age a little, she grew stouter 'n' +stouter; but it didn't seem to worry her none. She'd puff and blow a +good bit when she went up-stairs, but she'd always laugh about it, and +say that when we was rich enough we'd put in an elevator, like they had +at a big hotel we saw once. It would suit her fine, she said, to set +down on a cushioned seat and be up-stairs afore she could git up again. +Now, you needn't think I'm wanderin' from the p'int," and Uncle Jabez +looked severely at Mr. Dickey, who was manifestly fidgeting. "All you +folks that have lived about here all your lives knew Lavina 'ithout my +tellin' you this; but Mr. Birchard he's a stranger in the neighborhood, +and it's needful to the understandin' of my story that he should know +just what sort of a woman she was,--or is, as I should say." + +Mr. Dickey subsided, while Mr. Birchard tried to throw still more of an +expression of the deepest interest and attention into his face. He must +have succeeded, for the old man, going on with his story, fixed his eyes +more and more frequently upon those of the young one. They were large, +gentle, appealing blue eyes, with a mildly surprised expression, which +Mr. Birchard found exceedingly attractive. Whether or not the fact that +the youngest of Uncle Jabez's children, a daughter, had precisely +similar eyes, in any way accounted for the attraction, I leave to minds +more astute than my own. + +"You may think," the narrator resumed, when he felt that he had settled +Mr. Dickey, "whether or not you'd miss a woman like that, when you'd +summered and wintered with her more'n forty year. She always said she +hoped she'd go sudden, for she was so heavy it would 'a' took three or +four of the common run of folks to lift her, and she dreaded a long +sickness. Well, she was took at her word. We was settin', as it might be +now, one on one side the fire, the other on t'other, in the big +easy-cheers that Samuel--that's our oldest son, and a good boy, if I do +say it--had sent us with the fust spare money he had. She'd been +laughin' and jokin', as she so often did, five minutes afore. +Gracie--she was a little thing then, and, bein' the youngest, a little +sassy and sp'iled, mebbe--had been on a trip to the city, and she'd +brought her ma a present of a shoe-buttoner with a handle a full foot +long. + +"'There, ma,' she says, laughin' up in her mother's face; 'you was +complainin' about the distance it seemed to be to your feet: here's a +kind of a telegraft-pole to shorten it a little.' + +"My, how we did laugh! And Lavina must needs try it right away, to +please Gracie; and she said it worked beautiful. But whether it was the +laughin' so much right on top of a hearty supper, or the bendin' down to +try her new toy, or both, she jest says, as natural as I'm speakin' now, +'Jabez, I'm a-goin'--' and then stopped. And when I looked up to see why +she didn't finish, she was gone, sure enough." + +His voice broke, and he stopped abruptly. Mr. Birchard, without in the +least intending to do it, grasped his hand, and held it with +affectionate warmth for a moment. + +"Thank you, young man, thank you kindly," said Uncle Jabez, recovering +his voice and shaking Mr. Birchard's hand heartily at the same moment. +"You've an uncommon feelin' heart for one so young. + +"To say I was lonesome after she went don't say much; but time evens +things out after a while, or we couldn't stand it as long as we do. +Gracie she settled into a little woman all at once, as you may say, and +seemed older for a while than she does now. The rest was all married and +gone, but one boy,--a good boy, too. But they came around me, comfortin' +and helpin', though each one of 'em mourned her nigh as much as I did +myself; and after a while, as I said, I got used, in a manner, to doin' +'ithout her." + +Here he made a long pause, with his eyes intently fixed upon the +darkness of the adjoining store-room. The heat from the stove had become +too great after the shutting of the shutters, and one of the men had +opened an inner door for ventilation. + +Now, as one pair of eyes after another followed those of the old man, +there was a sort of subdued stir around the circle, and the +schoolmaster, to his intense disgust, caught himself looking hastily +over his shoulder,--the door being behind him. + +Mr. Dickey broke the spell by suddenly rising, with the exclamation, "I +think we're cooled off about enough; and, as I'm a little rheumaticky +to-night, I'll shut that door, if you've none of you no objections." + +There was a subdued murmur of assent, the door was closed, and Uncle +Jabez returned to the thread of his discourse: + +"Lemme see: where was I? Oh, yes. You may think it a little strange, +now, but I didn't neither see nor hear tell of her for a full six +months. If I was makin' this story up, and anxious to make a _good_ +story of it, you can see, if you're fair-minded, that I'd say she came +back right away. Now, wouldn't I be most likely to? Say?" + +He appealed so directly to Mr. Birchard, pausing for a reply, that the +sceptic was obliged to answer in some way, and, with a curious sort of +reluctance, he said slowly, "Yes--I suppose--I'm sure you would." + +This seemed to satisfy Uncle Jabez, and he went on with his story: + +"I came home from town one stormy night, about six months after she +died, pretty well beat out,--entirely so, I may say. I'd been drivin' +some cattle into the city, and I'd had only a poor concern of a boy to +help me. The cattle was contrai-ry,--contrai-rier'n common; and I +remember thinkin', when the feller at the drove-yard handed me my check, +that I'd earned it pretty hard. That's the last about it I do remember. +I s'pose I must 'a' put it in my pocket-book, the same as usual; but I +rode home in a sort of a maze, I was so tired and drowsy, and I'd barely +sense enough to eat my supper and grease my boots afore I went to bed. I +had a bill to pay the next day, and I opened my pocket-book, quite +confident, to take out the check. It wasn't there. I always kep' a +number of papers in that pocket-book, and I thought at fust it had got +mislaid among 'em: so I turned everything out, and unfolded 'em one by +one, and poked my finger through a hole between the leather and the +linin', and made it a good deal bigger,--but that's neither here nor +there,--and before I was through I was certain sure of one thing,--- +that wherever else that check was, it wasn't in that pocket-book. Then I +tried my pockets, one after the other,--four in my coat, four in my +overcoat, three in my vest, two in my pants: no, it wasn't in any of +them, and I begun to feel pretty queer, I can tell you. It was my only +sale of cattle for the season; I was dependin' on it to pay a bill and +buy one or two things for Gracie; and, anyhow, it's no fun to lose a +hunderd-dollar check and feel as if it must have been bewitched away +from you. I rode back to the drove-yard, though I wasn't more'n half +rested from the day before, and they said they'd stop payment on the +check and give me a chance to look right good for it, and if I couldn't +find it they'd draw me another. You see, they knowed me right well, and +they wasn't afraid I was tryin' to play any sort of a game on 'em. +Still, it wasn't a pleasant thing to have happen, for, say the best you +could of it, it argued that I'd lost a considerable share of my wits. +So, when I come home, I felt so kind of worried and down-hearted that I +couldn't half eat my supper; and that worried Gracie,--she was a +thin-skinned little critter, and if I didn't eat the same as usual she'd +always take it into her head there was something wrong with the +victuals. I fell asleep in my cheer right after supper, and slept till +nine o'clock; and then Gracie woke me, and ast me if I didn't think I'd +better go to bed. I said yes, I s'posed I had; but by that time I was +hungry, and I ast her what she had good in the pantry. She brightened up +wonderful at that,--though when I come to look closer at her I see she'd +been cryin',--and she said there was doughnuts, fresh fried that day, +and the best half of a mince pie. I told her that was all right so far +as it went, but I'd like somethin' a little solider to begin with: so +she found me a few slices of cold pork and one of her cowcumber pickles, +and I eat a right good supper. She picked at a piece of pie, by way of +keepin' me company, but she didn't eat much. Now, I tell you this, which +you may think isn't revelant to the subject, to let you see I went to +bed comfortable. We laughed and talked over our little supper, and +pretended we was city-folks, on our way home from the theater, gettin' a +fancy supper at Delmonico's. And I forgot all about the check for the +time bein', as slick and clean as if I'd never had it nor lost it. But, +nevertheless, when I went to sleep I begun to dream about it, and was to +the full as much worried in my dream as I was when I was awake. I seemed +to myself to be huntin' all over the house, in every hole and corner I +could think of, and sometimes I'd come on pieces of paper that looked so +like it outside I'd make sure I'd found it, and then when I opened 'em +they'd be ridickilous rhymes, 'ithout any sense to 'em; when all of a +sudden I heard Lavina's voice, as plain as you hear mine now. It seemed +to come from a good ways off just at first, callin' 'Father,'--she +always called me 'Father,' partly because she didn't like the name of +Jabez, and it is a humbly name, I'm free to confess,--and then again +nearer, 'Father;' and then again, as if it was right at the foot of the +stairs. And this time it went on to say, loud and plain, so's 't I could +hear every word, 'You look in the little black teapot on the top shelf +of the pantry, where I kep' the missionary money, and see what you'll +find.' And with that I heard her laugh; and I'd know Lavina's laugh +among a thousand. I was too dazed like to do it right away, and I must +'a' fell asleep while I was thinkin' about it, for when I woke up it was +broad daylight and Gracie was callin' to me to get up. But I hadn't +forgot a word that Lavina'd said, and I went for that teapot as quick as +I was dressed, and there was the check, sure enough, in good order and +condition!" + +He paused to look round at his audience and see the effect of this +statement, and the schoolmaster took advantage of the pause to ask, +"Were you in the habit of putting money in that teapot for safe-keeping, +Uncle Jabez?" + +"Young man, I was not," said Uncle Jabez emphatically, and evidently +annoyed both by the question and by the tone in which it was uttered. +"It was a little notion of Lavina's, and I'd never meddled with it, one +way or the other. But I'd left it be there after she died, because I +liked to look at it. I'd no more 'a' dreamed of puttin' that check in it +than I would of puttin' it into Gracie's work-box. But there it was, and +how it come there it wasn't vouchsafed me to know. + +"I think it must have been a matter of three or four months after this, +though I wouldn't like to say too positive, that I fell into my first +and last lawsuit. A man I'd always counted a good neighbor made out he'd +found an old title-deed which give him a right to a smart slice off'n my +best meadow-land. It dated fifty years back, and old Peter Pinnell, that +was the only surveyor in the township at that time, made out he +recollected runnin' the lines; and when McKellop, the feller that +claimed the track, took old Pinnell over the ground, to see if he could +find any landmarks that would help to make the claim good, they found a +big pine-tree jest where they wanted to find it, and cut into it at the +right height to find a 'blaze,' if there was one. The rings was marked +as plain as the lines on a map, and when they'd cut through fifty, there +was the mark, sure enough, and McKellop's lawyer crowed ready to hurt +himself. I was a good deal cut down, I can tell you, for I could see +pretty well that it was goin' to turn the scale; and when supper-time +came, Gracie could hardly coax me to the table. I said no, I didn't feel +to be hungry; for I couldn't get that strip of meadow-land out of my +head. And it wasn't so much the value of the land, either, though I +couldn't well afford to lose it, as it was the idee of McKellop's +crowin' and cacklin' all over the neighborhood about it. But Gracie +looked so anxious and tired that I come to the table, jest to satisfy +her; and I found I was hungry, after all, for I'd been trampin' round +the farm most of the day, lookin' for some landmark or sign that would +prove my claim, that dated seventy years back. I recollect we had soused +pigs' feet for supper that night; and I don't think I ever tasted better +in my life. I eat pretty free of them, as I always did of anything I +liked, and we wound up with some of her canned peaches, that she'd got +out to coax me to eat, and cream on 'em 'most as thick as butter: she +had a skimmer with holes into it that she always skimmed the cream with +for our own use. She'd made as good a pot of coffee as I ever tasted. +And when I'd had all I wanted, I felt a good deal better, and I says to +her,--'I'll fret over it no more, Gracie: if it's his'n, let him take it +'ithout more words.' + +"She read me a story out of the paper that made us both laugh right +hearty, and then a chapter, as usual, and then we went to bed. And all +come round jest as it did afore. I thought I was roamin' about the farm, +as I had been pretty nigh all day; but things was changed round, +somehow, and the further I went the more mixed up they got, till, jest +as I'd found the pine-tree, I heard Lavina's voice, the same as I'd done +afore,--first far, and then near,--sayin', 'Father;' and the third time +she said it, when it sounded close to, she went on to say, 'He's done +his cuttin', now do you do yours. You cut through twenty more rings, and +you'll find the blaze that marks _your_ survey. And then thank him +kindly for givin' you the idee. The smartest of folks is too smart for +themselves once in a while.' And with that she laughed her own jolly, +hearty laugh; but that was the last she said; and I laid there wonderin' +and thinkin' for a while, and then dropped off to sleep. But it was all +as clear as a bell in my head in the morning, and I had McKellop and old +Peter at the pine-tree by eight o'clock. I'd sharpened my axe good, I +can tell you, and it didn't take me long to cut through twenty more +rings, and there, sure enough, was the blaze; and if ever you see a +blue-lookin' man, that man was McKellop; for as soon as old Peter see +the blaze he recollected hearin' his father tell about the survey; he +recollected it particular because the old man was a good judge of +apple-jack, and he'd said that _my_ father'd gi'n him some of the +best, that day the survey was made, that he'd ever tasted. And Peter +said he reckoned he could find something about it in his father's books +and among some loose papers he had in a box. And, sure enough, he found +enough to make my claim as clear as a bell and make McKellop's as flat +as a pancake. Now, what do you think of _that_, hey?" + +Once more the old man peered into Birchard's face, and the schoolmaster +answered one question with another, after the custom of the country: + +"Did you ever know anything about the blazed tree before McKellop found +the blaze?" + +"When I come to think it over, I found I did," said Uncle Jabez, falling +all unconscious into the trap set for him. "I hadn't no papers about it, +but my father had told me all the ins and outs of it when I was a boy, +and it had somehow gone out of my mind." + +"Ah!" said the schoolmaster. + +"I don't know what you mean by 'Ah' in this connection," said Uncle +Jabez, speaking with unwonted sharpness; "but if you're misdoubtin' what +I tell you I may as well shet up and go home." + +"I don't doubt your word in the least, Uncle Jabez; I assure you I +don't," Mr. Birchard hastened to say. "And I'm deeply interested. I hope +you will go on and tell me all your experiences of this kind. I've heard +and read a good many ghost-stories; but in all of them the ghosts were +malicious creatures, who seemed to come back chiefly for the fun of +scaring people out of their wits. Yours is the first really benevolent +and well-meaning ghost of which I have ever heard; and it interests me +immensely; for I never could see why a person who was all goodness and +generosity while he--or she--was alive should turn into an unmitigated +nuisance after dying. I should think, if they must needs come back, they +might just as well be pleasant about it and make people glad to see--or +hear--them." + +"That's exactly the view I've always taken," said Mr. Crumlish modestly; +"and one reason I've never felt to doubt any of Uncle Jabez's stories is +that all the ghosts he's ever seen or heard tell of have been +decent-behaving ghosts, that didn't come back just for the fun of +scaring people to death." + +"That's so; that's so," said the old man, entirely mollified, and +hearing no note of sarcasm in the schoolmaster's rapidly-uttered +eloquence. "If any one of 'em was to behave ugly," he continued, "it +would shake my faith in the whole thing considerable; for I couldn't +bring myself to believe that anybody I've ever knowed could be so far +given over as to want to be ugly after dyin'." + +"Well, now, I don't know," said Mr. Dickey argumentatively. "I +_hev_ knowed certain folks that it seems to me would stick to their +ugliness alive or dead, and, though I've never seen no appearances of +any kind, as I may say, I can believe jist as easy that some of 'em come +back for mischief as that others come back for good." + +There was a few minutes' constrained silence after this remark. Mr. +Dickey's first wife had been what is popularly known as "a Tartar," and +there was a generally current rumor that as the last shovelful of earth +was patted down on her grave he had been heard to murmur, "Thanks be to +praise, she's quiet at last." The idea of her reappearance in her wonted +haunts was indeed a dismaying one, especially as Mr. Dickey had recently +married again, and, if the gossips knew anything about it, was repeating +much of his former painful experience. The silence, which was becoming +embarrassing, was finally broken by the schoolmaster. + +"Had you any more experiences of the kind you have just related, Uncle +Jabez?" he asked, in tones of such deep respect and lively interest that +Uncle Jabez responded, with gratifying promptness,-- + +"Plenty, plenty, though perhaps them two that I've just told you was the +most strikin'. But it always seemed to me, after that first time, that +Lavina was on hand when anything went wrong or was likely to go wrong; +and ef I was to tell you all the scrapes she's kep' me out of and pulled +me out of, I should keep you settin' here all night. There was one +more," he continued, "that struck me a good deal at the time. It was +about money, like the fust one, in a different sort of way. It was +durin' those days when specie was so skurce and high that it was quite a +circumstance to get a piece of hard money. There come along a peddler in +a smart red wagon, with all sorts of women's trash packed into it, and +Gracie took it into her head to want some of his things. It happened to +be her birthday that day, and, as she didn't often pester me about +clothes, I told her to choose out what she wanted, up to five dollars' +worth, and, if the feller could change me a twenty-dollar note, I'd pay +for it. He jumped at it, sayin' he didn't count it any trouble at all to +give change, the way some storekeepers did, and that he always kep' a +lot on hand to oblige his customers. I will say for him that it seemed +to me he give Gracie an amazin' big five dollars' worth, and when he +come to make the change he handed out a ten-dollar gold piece, or what I +then took to be such, as easy as if he'd found it growin' on a bush, and +said nothin' whatever about the premium on it. Perhaps I'd ought to have +mentioned it, but it seemed to me it was his business more'n mine: so I +jest took it as if it was the most natural thing in life, and he went +off. I thought I might as well as not get the premium on it before it +went down the way folks said it was goin' to: so, after dinner, I +harnessed up, and drove down to the post-office,--it was kep' in the +drug-store then, the same as it is now,--and when I handed my gold piece +to the postmaster, which was also the druggist, and said I'd take a +quarter's worth of stamps, and I believed gold was worth a dollar +fifteen just now, he first smelt of it, and then bit it, and then poured +some stuff out'n a bottle onto it, and then handed it back to me with a +pityin' smile that somehow riled me more'n a little, and he says, says +he,-- + +"'Somebody's fooled you badly, Uncle Jabez. That coin's a counterfeit. +Do you happen to know where you got it?' + +"'I know well enough,' I says, and I expect I spoke pretty mad, for I +_felt_ mad. 'I got it of a travellin' peddler, that's far enough +away by this time, and if you're sure it's bad I'm that much out of +pocket.' He seemed right concerned about it, and ast me if I hadn't no +clue that I could track the peddler by; but I couldn't think of any, and +I went home a good deal down in the mouth. But Gracie chirked me up, as +she always does, bless her! and she made me a Welsh rabbit for supper, +and some corn muffins, and a pot of good rich chocolate, by way of a +change, and we agreed that, as she'd a pretty big five dollars worth and +as the rest of the change was good, we'd say no more about it, for it +would be like lookin' for a needle in a hay-stack to try to track him. + +"'Why, father,' she says, 'I don't so much as know his name: do you?' + +"I told her no, I didn't; that if I'd heard his name I disremembered it, +but that I didn't think I'd heard it. And then that very night come +another visit from mother, and she told me all about it. She come the +way she always did, and when she spoke the last time, close to, as you +may say, she says,-- + +"'I wouldn't give up that ten dollars so easy, if I was you, father. +That peddler's name is Hanigan,--Elwood Hanigan,--and he'll be at the +State Fair to-morrow. Now, do you go, and you'll find his red wagon with +no trouble at all; and jest be right down firm with him, and tell him +that if he doesn't give you good money in place of the bad he foisted +off on you you'll show him up to the whole fair, and you'll see how glad +he'll be to settle it.' + +"And with that she laughed jest as natural as life, and I heard no more +till Gracie knocked on my door in the morning." + +"And did you go to the fair and find him and get your money back?" asked +Birchard, who was interested in spite of his scepticism. + +"I did, jest that," replied Uncle Jabez. "I got off bright and early, +and, as luck would have it, I'd jest tied and blanketed my horse when +that wonderful smart red wagon come drivin' in at the gate. I waited +till he'd begun to pull his wares out and make a fine speech about 'em, +and then I jest walked up to him, cool and composed, and give him his +choice between payin' me good money for his bogus gold or hearin' +_me_ make a speech; and you may jest bet your best hat he paid up +quicker'n winkin'. Perhaps I'd ought to have warned folks ag'in' him as +it was, but I had a notion he'd save his tricks till he got to another +neighborhood; and it turned out I was right. He didn't give none of his +gold change out that day. But you can see for yourself that if it hadn't +been for Lavina he'd have come off winnin' horse in that race. That was +always the way when mother was about: she had more sense in her little +finger than I had in my whole body, and head too, for that matter." + +"And you found that you really had not known the man's name until it was +conveyed to you in the manner in which you have described?" asked the +schoolmaster deferentially. + +"Well, no," said Uncle Jabez. "When I saw his wagon the next day, I +remembered of readin' his name in gilt letters on the side, tacked to +some patent medicine he claimed to have invented; but I don't suppose +I'd ever thought of it again if mother hadn't told it to me so plain." + +The schoolmaster said nothing. He had his own neat little theories +concerning all the manifestations which had been mentioned, but somehow +the old man's guileless belief had touched him, and he had no longer any +desire to shake it, even had it been possible to do so. But he could not +help probing the subject a little further: so presently he asked, "And +you've never spoken to her, never asked her if it were not possible for +you to see as well as hear her?" + +"Young man," said Uncle Jabez kindly, but solemnly, "there's such a sin +as presumption, and there's some old sayin' or other about fools rushin' +in where angels fear to tread. If you try to grab too much at once, +you're apt to lose all. If it was meant for me to see mother as well as +hear her, I _should_ see her; and if I was to go to pryin' round +and tryin' to find out what's purposely hid from me, I make no doubt but +I should lose the little that's been vouchsafed to me. But I'd far +rather hear you ask questions like that than to have you throwin' doubt +on the whole business, as you seemed inclined to do at fust." + +"Look here," said Mr. Dickey briskly, "do you know it's well on to +half-past ten? and we were to have the key at Pegram's by ten. I think +we'd better do what there is to do, and clear out of this as quick as we +know how, and mebbe some of us will wish before an hour's gone that we +had Uncle Jabez's knack at makin' out a good story." + +"You speak for yourself, Dickey," said Mr. Crumlish good-naturedly. +"There's some of us that goes in and comes out, with nobody to care +which it is, nor how long we stay; but freedom has its drawbacks, as +well as other things." + +The schoolmaster laughed at himself for striking a match as he turned +the last light out, but he felt moving through his brain a vague wish +that Uncle Jabez would break himself of that trick he had of gazing +fixedly at nothing, and that other trick of stopping suddenly in the +middle of a sentence to cock his head, as if he were hearing some +far-away, uncertain sound. + + MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. + + + + +FISHING IN ELK RIVER. + + +When a man has once absorbed into his system a love for fishing or +hunting, he is under the influence of an invisible power greater than +that of vaccine matter or the virus of rabies. The sporting-fever is the +veritable malady of St. Vitus, holding its victim forever on the go, as +game-seasons come, and so long as back and legs, eye and ear, can +wrestle with Time's infirmities. It breeds ambition, boasting, and +"yarns" to a proverbial extent, with a general disbelief in the possible +veracity of a brother sportsman, and an irresistible; desire to talk of +new and privately discovered sporting-heavens. The gold-seeker stakes +his claim, the "wild-catting" oil-borer boards up his lot, the inventor +patents his invention, and the author copyrights his brain-fruit; but +the sportsman crazily tells all he knows. So the secret gets out, and +the discoverer is robbed of his treasure and forced to seek new fields +for his rod and gun. + +Colonel Bangem had enjoyed a year's sport among the unvisited preserves +of Elk River. Mrs. Bangem and Bess, their daughter, had shared his +pleasures and acquired his fondness for such of them as were within +feminine reach. Any ordinary man would have been perfectly satisfied +with such company and delights; but no, when the bass began to leap and +the salmon to flash their tails, the pressure was too great. His friends +the Doctor and the Professor were written to, and summoned to his find. +They came, the secret was too good to keep, and that is the way this +chronicle of their doings happens to be written. + +No sooner was the invitation received than the Doctor eased his +conscience and delighted his patients by the regular professional +subterfuge of sending such of them as had money to the sea-shore, and +telling those who had not that they needed no medicine at present; the +Professor turned his classes over to an assistant on pretext of a sudden +bronchial attack, for which a dose of mountain-air was the prescribed +remedy. And so the two were whirled away on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Railroad across the renowned valley of Virginia and the eastern valley +steps of the Alleghany summits, past the gigantic basins where boil and +bubble springs curative of all human ills, down the wild boulder-tossed +waters and magnificent cañons of New River, around mountain-bases, +through tunnels, and out into the broad, beautiful fertility of the +Kanawha Valley, until the spires of Charleston revealed the last stage +of their railroad journey. When their train stopped, stalwart porters +relieved them of their baggage and deafened them with self-introductions +in stentorian tones: "Yere's your Hale House porter!" "I's de man fer +St. Albert's!" + +"It's no wonder," said the Doctor, as he followed the sable guide from +the station to the river ferry, and looked across the Kanawha's busy +flow, covered with coal-barges, steamboats, and lumber-crafts, to +Charleston's long stretch of high-bank river front, "that Western rivers +get mad and rise against the deliberate insult of all the towns and +cities turning their backs to them. There is a mile of open front, +showing the cheerful faces of fine residences through handsome +shade-trees and over well-kept lawns; but here, where our ferry lands, +and where we see the city proper, stoops and kitchens, stove-pipes and +stairways, ash-piles and garbage-shoots, are stuck out in contempt of +the river's charms and the city's comeliness." + +"Stove-pipes and stairways have to be put somewhere," said the +matter-of-fact Professor. "And the best way to turn dirty things is +toward the water." + +The ferry-boat wheezed and coughed and sidled across the river to a +floating wharf, covered, as usual, with that portion of the population, +white and black, which has no interest in the arrival of trains, or +anything else, excepting meals at the time for them, but which manages +to live somehow by looking at other people working. + +"Give me," said the Professor, "the value of the time which men spend in +gazing at what does not concern them, and, according to my estimate, I +could build a submarine railroad from New York to Liverpool in two years +and three months. What are those fellows doing with their huge barrels +on wheels backed into the river?" + +"Dat is de Charleston water-works, boss," answered the grinning porter. +"Widout dem mules an' niggahs an' bar'ls dah wouldn't be 'nough water in +dis town to wet a chaw tobacky." + +A winding macadamized road leads up the river bank to the main street +running parallel with it. There is a short cut by a rickety stairway, +but, as some steep climbing has to be done before reaching the lower +step, it is seldom used. These formerly led directly to the Hale House, +a fine brick building, which faced the river, with a commodious portico, +and offered the further attractions of a pleasant interior and an +excellent table; but now a blackened space marked its site, as though a +huge tooth had been drawn from the city's edge, for one morning a +neighboring boiler blew up, carrying the Hale House and much valuable +property with it, but leaving the owners of the boiler. + +"Dat's where de Hale House was, boss, but it's done burned down. I's de +porter yit. When it's done builded ag'in I's gwine back dar. Dis time I +take you down to de St. Albert. I's used to yellin' Hale House porter so +many years dat St. Albert kind chokes me." + +So to the St. Albert went the Doctor and Professor, where they met with +a home-like greeting from its popular host. + +Wheeling was formerly the capital of West Virginia, but for good reasons +it was decided to move the seat of government from "that knot on the +Panhandle" to Charleston. A commodious building of brick and sandstone, +unchristened as to style of architecture, has been erected for the home +of the law-makers; and henceforth the city which started around the +little log fort built in 1786 by George Glendermon to afford protection +against Indians will be the seat of government for the great unfenced +State of West Virginia. Its business enterprise and thrift, its +excellent geographical and commercial position, its healthiness +notwithstanding its bad drainage, or rather no drainage, have induced a +growth almost phenomenal. Churches, factories, and commodious +storehouses have spread the town rapidly over the beautiful valley in +which it lies. The United States government has been lavish in its +expenditure upon a handsome building for court, custom, and post-office +purposes; and to it flock, especially when court is in session, as +motley an assortment of our race as ever assembled at legal mandate. +Moonshiners, and those who regard whiskey-making, selling, and drinking +as things that ought to be as free as the air of the mountain and +licenses as unheard-of impositions of a highly oppressive government, +that would "tax a feller for usin' up his own growin' uv corn," and +courts as "havin' a powerful sight uv curiosity, peekin' into other +fellers' business," afford ample opportunities for the exercise of +judicial authority. + +A long mountaineer was before a dignified judge of the United States +Court for selling liquor without a license. He had bought a gallon at a +still,--as to the locality of which he professed profound +ignorance,--carried it thirty miles, and peddled it out to his +long-suffering and thirsty neighbors. Every native being a natural +informer, the story was soon told: arrest followed, a march of fifty +miles over the mountains, and a lengthy imprisonment before trial. +Following the advice of his assigned counsel, he pleaded guilty. Being +too poor to pay a fine, and having an unlimited family dependent upon +their own exertions,--which comprises the sum of parental responsibility +among the natives,--the judge released him on his own bail-bond, and +told him to go home. He deliberately put on his hat, walked up to his +honor, and said, "I say, jedge, I reckon you fellers 'ill give me 'nough +money to ride hum an' pay fer my grub, 'cause 'tain't fair, noway. You +fetched me clar down yere, footin' it the hull way, an' now you're +lettin' me off an' tellin' me to foot it back. 'Tain't fair, noway. +You-uns oughter pay me fer it." And he went off highly indignant at +having his modest request refused. + +There is much of the primitive not outgrown as yet by Charleston: it has +put on a long-tailed coat over its round-about. The gossipy telephone +is ahead of the street-cars; gas-works supply private consumers, while +the citizens wade the unlighted streets by the glimmer of their own +lanterns; innumerable cows contest the right of pedestrians to the board +footways and what of pavement separates the mud-holes; an +ice-manufactory supplies coolness to water peddled about in barrels; the +officials outnumber the capacity of the jail; the ferry-facilities vary +from an unstable leaky bateau to a dirty, open-decked dynamite +steamboat, whose night-service is subject to the lung-capacity of the +traveller hallooing for it, and the fares to necessities and +circumstances; the fine brick improvements are flanked by frame +tinder-boxes; the offal of the city has not a single relieving sewer: +yet it is a beautiful, healthy place, and the chief city of the greatest +mineral-district in the world. + +Our travellers breakfasted on delicious mountain mutton and vegetables +fresh from surrounding farms. Their host secured three men and a canoe +to carry them up Elk River to Colonel Bangem's camp, at the cost of one +dollar a day and "grub," or one dollar and a quarter a day if they found +themselves, with the moderate charge of fifty cents a day for the canoe. + +When the time arrived for starting, the Professor was missing. Bells +were rung, servants were despatched to search the hotel for him, but he +was not to be found. The Doctor grew impatient, but restrained himself +until an uncoated countryman, who had just walked into town and was +ready for a talk, told him that he "seed a feller, thet wuz a stranger +in these parts, with a three-legged picter-gallery, chasin' a water-cart +a right smart ways back in the town, ez I come in." + +"That's he," said the Doctor. "He is crazy after pictures. I'll give you +a dollar if you bring him to the hotel alive." + +"Is he wicked?" asked the man. + +"Generally," answered the Doctor, whose eyes began to twinkle; "but you +get hold of his picture-gallery and run for the hotel: he will follow +you. I often have to manage him that way." + +"I'm minded to try coaxin' him in thet a-way fer a dollar. You jist take +keer uv my shoes, an' I'll hev him yer ez quick ez Tim Price kin foot +it, if he follers well an' hain't contrairy-like, holdin' back." + +Tim Price relieved his feet of their encumbrances, and started. When his +tall, gaunt figure had disappeared around the corner, the Doctor grew +red in the face from an internal convulsion, and then exploded past all +concealment of his joke. + +"If you gentlemen," he said to the by-standers, "want to see some fun, +just follow that man. I will stay here as judge whether the man brings +in the Professor or the Professor brings in the man." + +A good joke would stop a funeral in Charleston. The hotel was cleared of +men in an instant to follow Tim and enjoy the hunt. Tim sighted the +Professor about a quarter of a mile back in the town, A darky driving a +water-cart was standing up on the shafts, thrashing his mule with the +ends of his driving-lines, and urging it, by voice and gesture, to the +highest mule-speed: "Git up! git up! you lazy old no-go! Git up! Don't +you see dat picter-feller tryin' to took you an' me an' de bar'l? Git +up! Wag yer ears an' switch yer tail. You're not gwine ter stan' still +an' keep yer eyes on de instrement fer no gallery-man to took, 'less +you's fix' up fer Sunday. Git up, you ole long-eared corn-eater!" + +The Professor was keeping well up with the flying water-works. His hat +was stuck on the back of his head, he carried his camera with its tripod +spread ready for sudden action, and every step of his run was guided by +thoughts of proper distance, fixed focus, and determination to have the +water-works in his collection of instantaneous photographs. A turn in +the street gave the Professor his opportunity: he darted ahead, set his +camera, and took the whole show as it went galloping by, when he +reclined against a fence while making the street ring with his laugh. + +Tim Price, who was watching his chance, saw that it had come. He grabbed +the camera, gave a yell of triumph, and faced for the home-run. He had +not an instant to lose. The Professor sprang for his precious +instrument. Tim's long legs carried him across the street, over a fence +into a cross-cut lot, and away for the hotel at a mountaineer's speed. +The Professor was small, but active as a cat. Where Tim jumped fences, +the Professor squirmed through them; where Tim took one long stride, the +Professor scored three short ones. Tim lost his hat, and the Professor +threw off his coat as he ran. The main street was reached without +perceptible decrease of distance between them; but there the pavements +were something Tim's bare feet were not used to catching on, and the +people something he was not used to dodging: he upset several, but +dashed on, with his pursuer gaining on his heels. Men, women, dogs, and +darkies turned out to witness the race or follow it. "Stop thief!" "Go +it, Tim!" "You're catching him, stranger!" "Foot it, little one!" were +cries that speeded the running. The Doctor stood waiting at the hotel +door, laughing, shaking, and red as a veritable Bacchus. Tim Price +banged the camera into him, whirled round suddenly, caught the Professor +as he dashed at him, and held him in his powerful arms, squirming like +an eel. + +"Yere's your crazy man, stranger," said Tim, in slow, drawling tone. "I +tell you he kin jest p'intedly foot it. Thar hain't been such a run in +Kanoy County sence they stopped 'lectin' country fellers fer sheriff. I +reckon I've arned thet dollar. What shall I do with the leetle feller?" + +The Professor was powerless, but lay in Tim's arms biting, kicking, and +curled up like a yellow-jacket interested with an enemy. + +"Let him go," said the laughing Doctor. "He will stay with me now. He is +not dangerous when I am about. Set him on his feet." + +No sooner was the Professor deposited on the pavement than he dealt Tim +a stinging blow which staggered him, and stood ready with trained +muscles set for defence. + +"Look yere, leetle un," said Tim, coolly and with great self-restraint, +"'tain't fer the likes uv me to hit you, bein's you're a bit out in your +top, but I'll gin you another hug ef you do that ag'in; I will, +p'intedly." + +In the good humor of the crowd, the mirth of the Doctor, and the +latter's possession of the camera the Professor scented a joke, and at +once saw his friend's hand in it. He joined in the laugh at his expense, +and lengthened his friend's face by saying, "The Doctor having had his +fun, he will now pay the bill at the bar for all of you: he pays all my +expenses: so walk in, gentlemen." + +The laws of hospitality west of the Alleghanies do not permit any one to +decline an invitation, so the Doctor settled for the whole procession +and paid Tim Price his well-earned dollar. + +"Captain," said Tim to the hotel-proprietor, who had joined the crowd, +"ef two fellers comes here from the East, one uv 'em ez round ez a +punkin an' red ez a flannel shirt an' bald ez a land-tortle, an' t'other +ez brown ez a mud-catty an' poor ez a razor-back hog, tell 'em I'm yere +to pilot 'em up Elk to Colonel Bangem's caliker tents. He said they were +ez green ez frogs, an' didn't know nothin' noway, an' fer me to take +keer uv 'em. He don't reckon they'll come tell to-morrow. One uv 'em's a +hoss-doctor, an' t'other's a perfessor uv religion, Colonel Bangem +telled me. I dunno whether the feller's a circuit-rider er a rale +preacher." + +"That's the highly-illuminated pumpkin, my good man," said the +Professor, pointing to the Doctor, "and I am Colonel Bangem's spiritual +adviser. We got here a day sooner than we expected to." + +"You don't say? May I never! An' the colonel never telled me nothin' +nohow 'bout any one uv you bein' crazy. Howdee? How do you like these +parts? Right smart town we've got yere, hain't it? I'll take keer uv +you. There hain't no man on Elk River kin take keer uv you better nor +Tim Price, ary time. I hain't much up to moon men, though. Thar's one +feller up my way thet gits kinder skeery at the full uv the moon; but I +hain't never tended him. I reckon I kin l'arn the job,--ez the ole boy +said when his marm set him to mindin' fleas off the cat." + +Tim Price was the hunter, boatman, fisherman, yarn-spinner, and +character of his region, and Colonel Bangem's faithful ally in all his +sports: the latter had therefore sent him to meet his friends on their +arrival at Charleston, and he at once proceeded to take command of the +whole party as a matter of course. + +"I footed it over the mountains, and sent my boat the river way. Hit +oughter be yere now: so we'll pack you men's tricks to the boats an' +p'int 'em up-stream. It 'ill be sundown afore we git thar." + +The party started from the hotel, the procession followed to see them +off, and they were soon down the Kanawha and into the mouth of Elk at +the point of the town. Log rafts, huge barges, miles of railroad-ties, +laid-up steamers, peddling-boats, with their highly-colored storehouses, +fishermen's scows, floating homely cabins alive with bare-legged +children and idlers of the water-side, push-boats loaded to the edge of +the narrow gunwales with merchandise for delivery to stores and dwellers +far up the river, boats loaded with hoop-poles, grist, chickens, and the +"home-plunder" of some mover to civilization, coming down the river from +the mountain-clearing, and samples of every conceivable kind of the +river's outpour, were tied to the banks or lazily floating on the +currentless back-water from the Kanawha. + +An old steamboat-captain once said of Elk that "it was the all-firedest +river God ever made,--fer it rises at both ends and runs both ways to +wunst." This is true, and is caused by the Kanawha, when rising, pouring +its water into the mouth of Elk and reversing its current for many +miles, while at the same time rain falls in the mountains, increasing +the latter river's depth and velocity. Flour-mills, iron-foundries, +saw-mills, woollen-mills, and barrel-factories extend their long wooden +slides down to the river's edge, to gather material for their +consumption. A railroad spans it with an iron trussed bridge, and the +demands of wagon and foot-travel are met by an airy one suspended by +cables from tower-like abutments on either side, both bridges swung high +in the air, out of reach of flood and of the smoke-stacks of passing +steam-craft. + +A mile from the river's mouth, and just beyond the limits of Charleston, +is one of the finest sandstone-quarries in the world. The United States +government monopolizes most of its product in the construction of the +magnificent lock and shifting dams in course of erection on the Kanawha +to facilitate the transportation of coal from the immense deposits now +being mined to the great markets of the Ohio River. A little farther on, +the brown front of a timber dam and cribbed lock looks down upon a wild +swirl and rush of water; for through a cut gap in its centre Elk flows +unobstructed,--a penniless mob having made the opening one night that +their canoes might pass free and capitalists be encouraged to remove +such worthless stuff as money from the growing industries of the river. +Prior to this act of vandalism the water was backed by the dam for a +distance of fourteen miles, to Jarrett's Ford, making a halting-place +for rafts and logs, barges and floats, coming down from the vast forests +above when rains and snow-thaws raised the river and its tributaries; +but now a long stretch of boom catches what it can of Elk's commerce and +is a chartered parasite upon it. + +Here at the old dam the mountains close in tightly upon the narrow +valley. Log cabins and a few simple frame houses nestle upon diminutive +farms; the wild beauty of shoal and eddy, bouldered channel and +lake-like stretches of pool, rocky walls and timber-clad peaks, begins +to charm the stranger and draw him on and on through scenery as +attractive as grand toss of mountains and delve of river can make it. + +By dint of poling, pushing, rowing, and pulling, the boats were worked +over rapids and pools for almost a score of miles, to where the last +rays of the sun slid over a mountain-point and hit Colonel Bangem's hat +as it spun in the air by way of welcome, while the prows clove the water +of a lovely eddy lying in front of his camp. The meeting was that of old +friends, with the addition of a blush from Bess Bangem and its bright +reflection from the Professor's face. + +Tim Price took the colonel to one side mysteriously, and whispered, "I +took keer uv the Perfessor my own self: he guv me a power uv trouble, +though. Shell I hitch him now, er let him run loose?" + +"We'll turn him loose now, Tim; but if he takes to turning somersets, +catch him, loosen his collar, take off his boots, and throw him into the +river," was the colonel's sober reply. + +Scientists nowadays set up Energy as the ancestor of everything, measure +the value of its descendants by the quantity they possess of the family +trait, and spend their time in showing how to utilize it for the good of +mankind in general. Professor Yarren was an apostle of Energy: it +absorbed him, filled him. From the weight of the sun to boiled potatoes, +from the spring of a tiger to the jump of a flea, from the might of +chemical disembodiment to opening an oyster, he calculated, advised, and +dilated upon it. He himself, was the epitome of Energy: in his size he +economized space, in his diet he ate for power, not quantity. To him +eating and sleeping were Energy's warehousemen; idleness was dry-rot, +moth, and mildew; laughing, talking, whistling, singing, somersets, and +fishing, never-to-be-neglected and in-constant-use safety-valves. He +regarded himself as an assimilator of everything that went into him, be +it food, sight, sound, or scent, and his perfection as such in exact +ratio to the product he derived from them. So when next morning he said +"Come on" to the Doctor, and Colonel Bangem, Mrs. Colonel Bangem, Bess +Bangem, and Martha, the mountain-maid, who were all standing in front of +the camp rigged for a day's fishing, he meant that one of Energy's +safety-valves was ready to blow off, and that further delay might be +dangerous to him. + +In the Doctor, Energy was stored in bond as it were, subject to duties, +and only to be issued on certificate that it was wanted for use and +everything ready for it: therefore at the Professor's "Come on" he +calmly sat down on a log, filled his pipe, leisurely lighted it, and +good-humoredly remarked, "I am confident that one-half of what we call +life is spent in undoing what we have done, in lamenting the lack of +what we have forgotten, or going back after it: therefore I make it a +rule when everything seems ready for a start--especially when going +fishing--to sit five minutes in calm communion with my pipe, thinking +matters over. It insures against much discomfort from treacherous +memories and neglect." + +As the Doctor whiffed at his pipe, he inventoried guns, tackle, lunch, +hammocks, air-cushions, gigs, frog-spears, and all other necessaries for +a day's sport on the river. The result was as he had prophesied,--many +things had been omitted. "Now," said he, when the five minutes were up, +"we might venture down the bank, which, rest assured, each member of +this party will have to climb up again after something left behind." + +A motley little fleet awaited the party at the water's +edge,--square-ended, flat-bottomed punts, sharp-bowed bateaux, long, +graceful, dug-out canoes, and a commodious push-boat, with cabin and +awning, whose motive power was poles. Elk River craft are as abundant as +the log cabins on its banks, and their pilots are as numerous as the +inhabitants. Neither sex nor size is a disqualification, for, excepting +the trifling matter of being web-toed, all are provided from birth with +water-going properties, and, be it seed-time or harvest, the river has +the first claim upon them for all its varied sports and occupations. A +shot at mallard, black-head, butter-duck, loon, wild goose, or +blue-winged teal, as they follow the river's winds northward in the +spring-time, will stop the ploughs furrowing its fertile bottoms as far +as its echoes roll around mountain-juts, and cause the hands that held +the lines to grasp old-fashioned rifles for a chance at the winged +passers. When, later, woodcock seek its margins, gray snipe, kill-deer, +mud-hens, and plovers its narrow fens, the scythe will rest in the +half-mown field while its wielder "takes a crack at 'em." And when +autumn brings thousands of gray squirrels, flocks of wild pigeon and +water-fowl, to feed on its mast, no household obligation or out-door +profit will keep the natives from shooting, morning, noon, and night. + +Some day in the near future a railroad will be built "up Elk," and then, +while commerce and civilization will get a lift, the loveliest of rivers +will be scarred; her trout-streams, carp-runs, bass-pools, +salmon-swirls, deer-licks, bear-dens, partridge-nestles, and +pheasant-covers will be overrun by sports-men, her magnificent mountains +will be scratched bald-headed by lumbermen, her laughing tributaries +will be saddened with saw-dust, and her queer, quaint, original +boat-pullers and "seng-diggers" will wear shoes in summer-time and coats +in winter, weather-board their log cabins, put glass in the windows and +partitions across the one room inside. Woods-meetings will creep into +churches, square sousing in the river will degenerate to the gentle +baptismal sprinkle; no picnics or barbecues will delight the inhabitants +with flying horses and fights, open fireplaces and sparking-benches will +give way to stoves and chairs, riding double on horseback, with fair +arms not afraid to hold tight against all dangers real or fancied, will +be a joy of the past, "bean-stringin's," "apple-parin's," +"punkin-clippin's," "sass-bilin's," "sugar-camps," "cabin-raisin's," +"log-rollin's," "bluin's," "tar-and-feathering," and "hangin's," will be +out-civilized, and the whole country will be spoiled. + +"It looks like a good biting morning for bass," said Colonel Bangem, +while he was distributing the party properly among the boats. "But, in +spite of all signs, bass bite when they please. It is a sunny morning: +so use bright spoon-trolls, medium size. If the fish rise freely, +twenty-five feet of line is enough to have out on the stern lines; and, +as the ladies will use the poles, ten feet of line is enough for them. +Don't forget, Mrs. Bangem, to keep your troll spinning just outside the +swirl of the oar, and as near the surface of the water as possible. You +know you _will_ talk and forget all about it. Now we will start. If we +get separated and it grows cloudy, change your trolls for three-inch +'fairy minnows;' and if the wind ripples the water, let out from sixty +to eighty feet of line. Take the centre of the river, and you will haul +in salmon; for bass will not rise to a troll in the eddies when the +water is rough. Salmon will. Tim, take the lead with the Professor, that +the other men may see your stroke and course. In trolling, the oarsman +has as much to do with the success as the fisherman." + +Off they went, three to a boat, the fishers seated in bow and stern, the +ladies in front with their fishing-poles, and the oarsman in his proper +place, rowing a slow, steady stroke, dipping true and silently just +fifty feet from bank, or sedge, or shelf of rock, steering outside of +snags and drift and where overhanging trees buried their shadows in the +water. + +The boats had hardly reached their positions--two on each side of the +stream--when a shout from the Professor announced a catch, as hand over +hand he cautiously drew in the swerving line or held it taut, as the +diving fish sought the rocky bottom or the friendly refuge of a log +drift. With unvarying stroke Tim kept his boat in deep water, away from +entangling dangers. There was a flash in the air and a jingle of the +troll, as a fine bass shot out of the water to shake the barbs from his +open mouth; but the hooks held firm, and the taut line foiled the effort +to dislodge them. Down came the fish with a splash, to dart for the +boat at lightning speed and leap again for life; but this time no jingle +of troll announced his game. He leaped ahead to fall upon the line and +thus tear the hooks from their hold. Successful fishing depends upon two +things,--the presence of fish and knowing more than fish do. At the +instant of the fish's leap the Professor slackened his line: down came +the bass on a limber loop, defeated in his strategy and wearied by his +effort, to be hauled quickly to the boat's side and landed, wriggling +and tossing, at Tim Price's feet. + +"You've cotched bass afore, Perfesser. You ez up to their ways ez a +mus'rat to a mussel, er a kingfisher to a minner," exclaimed Tim +admiringly, as he loosened the troll from a two-pound bass. "Hit's +p'intedly a pity you're out uv your head 'bout picters." + +"Oh, I have one! I have one!--a fish! What kind is it?" screamed Bess +Bangem, who was the Professor's companion, as her light trout-pole bent +from a sudden tug, and the reel whirred as the line ran off. + +"Stop him, hold on to him, wind him in, and I will tell you," answered +the Professor, laughing. + +Bess was a practised hand, and loved the sport; but, woman-like, she +always paused to wonder what she had caught before proceeding to find +out. + +"It will be the subject of a lecture for you, whatever it is," replied +Bess, with a saucy shake of her head, as she wound in the line and +guided the playing fish with well-managed pole. Her fine face flushed +with the excitement of the run and leap of her prey, as it came nearer +and nearer, until Tim slipped the landing-net quietly under it and +landed a beauty in the boat. + +"Poor fellow! I wonder if I hurt him?" said Bess. + +"Not much, if any," remarked the Professor. "I never was a fish, and +consequently never was foolish enough to jump at a bunch of hooks; but, +as the cartilage of a fish's mouth is almost nerveless, there is but +little pain from a hook diet. Bass, salmon, pike, and other gamey fish +will often keep on biting after they have been badly hooked." + +"So will men," said Bess, as she threw her troll into the water to do +fresh duty. + +"You're p'intedly keerect," said Tim Price. "I got the sack four times, +an' hed right smart mittens, afore I cotched a stayin' holt on my old +woman." + +Shout after shout waked the mountain-echoes, as fish were held up in +triumph, and as the boats glided over the smooth water of the eddy. +Ahead was a mass of foam and a long dash of water down a shoal. + +"Yere's where me and the colonel catches 'em lively when I pull him," +said Martha to the Doctor. "They bite yere ez lively ez a stray pig in a +tater-patch. Whoop! I've got him! He pulls like a mule at a +hitchin'-rope. Keep your boat head to the current, Alec, an' pull hard, +er we'll drift down on him an' I'll lose him. Whoop! May I never! A +five-pounder! I'll slit him down the back an' brile him fer breakfast. +Whoop! In you come!" + +The boatmen pulled hard against the fierce current at the foot of the +shoal, crossed and recrossed, circled, and at it again, until a score or +more of noble bass were hooked from the swirl, and Colonel Bangem led +the way up the rapids. Then the oarsmen leaped into the water and towed +the boats through the wild current, until the eddy at the top of it +allowed them to take oars again. + +"Preacher, kin you paddle?" asked Tim Price of the Professor, as he +drained the water from his legs before getting into the boat. "Ef you +air a hand at it, take an oar an' paddle a bit astern: there'll be white +peerch an' red-hoss lyin' yere at the head uv the shore." + +The Professor took an oar and paddled, while Tim Price poised himself in +the boat, spear in hand and the long rope from its slender shaft coiled +at his feet. He peered intently into the water as the boat moved slowly +along. Presently every muscle of him was set: he bent backward for a +cast, pointed his spear with steady hands to a spot in the river, and +quick as a flash it pierced the water until its ten-foot shaft was seen +no more. As quickly was it recovered by Tim's active hands catching the +flying line to haul it in; and on its prongs squirmed a monstrous fish +of the sucker tribe,--a red-horse,--pinned through and through by his +unerring aim. + +Shoal and eddy, swirl and silent pool, yielded good sport and harvest, +as haunts of bass and salmon were entered and passed, until the inviting +mouth of Little Sandy Creek suggested rest for the boatmen and a stroll +for the fishers. A neat hotel, clean and well kept for so wild a region, +harbors lumbermen, rivermen, and those who love the rod and gun. There +are many such attractive centres along the banks of Elk, with charming +camping-grounds, where neighboring hospitality abounds, and chickens, +eggs, milk, corn, and bacon are abundant and cheap, and the finest +bass-and other fishing possible, from Queen's Shoal--four miles away--to +the old dam above Charleston. Above Queen's Shoal the region increases +in wildness and attractiveness for traveller or sportsman. Trout in +plenty find homes in the mountain-tributaries of Upper Elk; deer abound, +and all manner of smaller game. Where nature does her best work, man is +apt to do but little. Nature farms the Elk country. + +Bright moonlight, the early morning after the sun is up, and from a +couple of hours after mid-day until the mountain-shadows strike the +water in the evening, are the best times to troll for bass. If so +minded, they will rise to a fly at such times in the rapids; but no +allurement excepting the troll will bring them to the surface in still +water. When the river is rising, or the water is clouded with mud or +drift, bass scorn all surface-diet; but the live minnow or crawfish, +hellgramite or fish-worm, will capture them on trout-line or hook +attached to the soul-absorbing bob. A clothes-line wire cable, furnished +with well-assorted hooks baited with cotton, dough, and cheese well +mixed together, and stretched in eddy-water when the river is muddy, +will give fine reward in carp, white perch, catfish, turtles, garfish, +and sweet revenge on the bait-stealing guana. + +After nooning, lunch, and a quiet loaf, the party sped homeward with the +current, handling rods and trolls as salmon and bass demanded lively +attention. Shooting a rapid, and out into a deep pool at its foot, the +Doctor's boat struck a snag, and he, having a resisting power equal to +that of a billiard-ball, put his heels where his head had been, and +disappeared under the water, to pop up again instantly, sputtering and +spitting, like a jug full of yeast with a corn-cob stopper. + +"Oh, Hickey! Whoop!" exclaimed Martha, as she went off in wild screams +of laughter. "Kin you swim?" she asked, with the coolness of the +mountain-maiden she was. + +"No, no," sputtered the Doctor. + +"I reckon you'll tow good. Jest gimme your han', an' keep your feet +down, an' me an' Alec 'ill tow you ashore to dreen. Hit's like you're +purty wet." + +He was soon landed by the stalwart Martha and Alec, and, while he +attitudinized for draining, the Professor amused himself with taking an +instantaneous photograph. + +"By gum! he mought hev drownded," said Tim Price to the Professor. "The +Doctor hain't a good shape fer towin', but he floats higher than any +craft of his length I ever seed on Elk River." + +Just as the golden light of evening cast its sheen upon the river the +camp-tents came in sight, where a group of natives stood waiting the +arrival of the fishers to "hear what luck they'd hed." + +Colonel Bangem and Bess carried off equal honors in greatest +count,--sixty-two bass and five salmon each. Martha, with her +five-pounder, was weight champion. Mrs. Bangem had the only blue pike. +The Professor claimed that, besides his twoscore fish, he had +illustrations enough for a comic annual; and the Doctor asserted that he +knew more about bass than any of them, for he had been down where they +lived, and was of the opinion that he had swallowed a couple. + +Bess Bangem said to the Professor, as they went up the bank together, "I +had a great mind to count you in with my fish, to beat father; but I +caught you long ago, so it would not have been fair." + + TOBE HODGE. + + + + +ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS. + + +As Moscow's splendors trench on narrow lanes, + The wonder, brimming every traveller's eyes, +To disappointment's sudden darkness wanes + At finding meanness near such grandeur lies. + +O human city! built on Moscow's plan, + Thy great and little touch each other so, +Let me forbear, and, as an erring man, + Make my approaches wisely, from below, + +Hasting through all the narrow and the base + Before I stand where all is high and vast: +After the dark, let glory light my face, + Thy shining greatness break upon me _last_. + + CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES. + + + + +THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. + + +It is hard to dispel the halo which poetry and romance have thrown about +the Scottish Highlander and see him simply as he appears in every-day +life. And indeed, all fiction aside, there is in his history and +character much that is most admirable and noble. On many a terrible +battle-field his courage has been unsurpassed. His brave and tireless +struggle for existence where both climate and soil are unfriendly is +equally worthy of respect. Then, too, his sterling honesty and +independence in speech and action and his high moral and religious +qualities combine to make him a valuable citizen. + +Such considerations account in part for the interest which has been +excited in England by the claims of the Scottish crofters. There are, +however, other reasons why so much attention has of late been given to +their complaints. Their poverty and hardships have long been known in +England. The reports made by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by +Sir John McNeil a few years later contain accounts of miserably small +and unproductive holdings, of wretched hovels for dwellings, of lack of +enterprise and interest in making improvements, of curtailment of +pasture, of high rents and insecurity of tenure, very similar to those +found on the pages of the report of the late Royal Commission. While in +this interval the condition of the crofters has but slightly, if at all, +improved, there has been a very considerable improvement in the +condition of the middle and lower classes of the people in other parts +of Scotland and in England. The masses of the people have better houses, +better food and clothing, while with the development of the school +system and the newspaper press general intelligence has greatly +increased. The accounts of the poverty and wretchedness of the crofters +now reach the public much more quickly and make a much deeper impression +on all classes than they did forty years ago. While these small farmers +are not numerous,--there are probably not more than four thousand +families in need of relief,--many of their kinsmen elsewhere have +acquired wealth and influence and have been able to plead their cause +with good effect. In this country "The Scottish Land League" has issued +in "The Cry of the Crofter" an eloquent plea for help to carry on the +agitation to a successful issue. + +Another reason for the increased attention that has lately been given to +these claims is found in the rapidly-growing tendency to concede to the +landlord fewer and fewer and to the tenant more and more rights in the +land. The recent extension of the suffrage, giving votes to nearly two +millions of agricultural and other laborers, leads politicians to go as +far as possible in favoring new legislation in the interest of tenants +and laborers. The crofters' case has therefore come to be of special +interest as a part of the general land question which has of late +received so much attention from the English press and Parliament, and +which is pretty certain to be prominent for several years to come. + +Those who are familiar only with the relations existing between landlord +and tenant in this country are naturally surprised to find the crofter +demanding that his landlord shall (1) give him the use of more land, +(2) reduce his rent, (3) pay him on leaving his holding for all his +improvements, and (4) not accept in his stead another tenant, even +though the latter may be anxious to take the holding at a higher figure +or turn him out for any other reason. In addition to all this, the +crofters demand that the government shall advance them money to enable +them to build suitable houses and improve and stock their farms. An +American tenant who should make such demands would be considered insane. +No such view of the crofters' claims, however, is taken in England and +Scotland. + +What, then, are the grounds upon which these extensive claims are based? +Why should the crofter claim a right to have his holding enlarged and to +have the land at a lower rent than some one else may be willing to pay? +The reasons are to be found partly in his history, traditions, and +circumstances, and partly in the present tendency of the legislation and +discussions relating to the ownership and occupation of land. + +Under the old clan system, to which the crofter is accustomed to trace +his claims, the land was owned by the chief and clansmen in common, and +allotments and reallotments were made from time to time to individual +clansmen, each of whom had a right to some portion of the land, while +the commons were very extensive. Rent or service was paid to the chief, +who had more or less control over the clan lands and often possessed an +estate in severalty, with many personal dependants. In many cases the +power of the chief was great and tyrannical, and many of the clansmen +were in a somewhat servile condition; but the more influential clansmen +seem sometimes to have retained permanent possession of their +allotments. Long ago sub-letting became common, and hard services were +often exacted of the sub-tenants, whose lot was frequently a most +unhappy one. The modern cottar, as well as the squatter, had his +representative in the dependant of the chief, or clansman, or in the +outlaw or vagrant member of another clan who came to build his rude +cabin wherever he could find a sheltered and unoccupied spot. No doubt +many of the sub-tenants, even where they held originally by base and +uncertain services and at the will of their superior, came in time, like +the English copyholder, to have a generally-recognized right to the +permanent possession of their holdings, while custom tended to fix the +character and quantity of their services. The population was not +numerous, and it was probably not difficult for every man to secure a +plot of land of some sort. + +The crofters of to-day have lost for the most part the traditions of the +drawbacks and hardships of this ancient system, with its oppressive +services, to which many of their ancestors were subject, and have +commonly retained only the tradition of the right which every clansman +had to some portion of the clan lands. In 1745 the clan organizations +were abolished and the chiefs transformed into landlords and invested +with the fee-simple of the land. But, while changes were gradually made +on some estates in the direction of conformity to the English system, +most of the old customary rights of the people continued to be +recognized. The tenant was commonly allowed to occupy his holding from +year to year without interruption. Money rent gradually took the place +of service or rent in kind, but the amount exacted does not seem to have +been often increased arbitrarily. The rights of common, which were often +of great value, were respected. + +The descendants and successors, however, of the old Scotch lairds did +not always display the same regard for prescriptive rights and usages. +In some cases the extravagance and bankruptcy of the old owners caused +the titles to pass to Englishmen, while in others the inheritors of the +estates were more and more inclined to insist upon their legal rights +and to introduce in the management of their property rules similar to +those in use in England. Early in the present century sheep-farming was +found to be profitable, and many large areas of glen and mountain were +cleared of the greater part of their population and converted into +sheep-farms. Many of the mountainous parts of Scotland are of little use +for agricultural purposes. Formerly the crofters used large tracts as +summer pastures for their small herds of inferior stock. By and by the +proprietors found that large droves of better breeds of sheep could be +kept on these mountain-pastures. The crofters were too poor to undertake +the management of the large sheep-farms into which it was apparently +most profitable to divide these mountain-lands, and sheep-farmers from +the south became the tenants. By introducing sheep-farming on a large +scale the landlords were able, they claimed, to use hundreds of +thousands of acres which before were of comparatively little value. The +large flocks of sheep could not, however, be kept without having the +lower slopes of the mountains on which to winter. It was these slopes +that the crofters commonly used for pasture, below which, in the straths +and glens, were their holdings and dwellings. The ruins of cottages, or +patches of green here and there where cottages stood, mark the sites of +many little holdings from which the crofters and their families were +turned out many years ago in order to make room for sheep-farms. The +proprietors sometimes recognized the rights of these native tenants, and +gave them new holdings in exchange for the old ones. The new crofts were +often nearer the sea, where the land was less favorable for grazing and +where the rights of common were less valuable, but the occupants had +better opportunities for supplementing their incomes from the land by +fishing and by gathering sea-weed for kelp, from which iodine was made. +There were, however, great numbers who were not supplied with new +crofts, but turned away from their old homes and left to shift for +themselves. Some of these, too poor to go elsewhere, built rude huts +wherever they could find a convenient spot, and thus increased the ranks +of the squatters. Others were allowed to share the already too small +holdings of their more fortunate brethren, while others, again, found +their way to the lowlands and cities of the south or to America. The +traditions of the hardships and sufferings endured by some of these +evicted crofters are still kept alive in the prosperous homes of their +children and grandchildren on this side of the Atlantic. The process of +clearing off the crofters went on for many years. In 1849 Hugh Miller, +in trying to arouse public sentiment against it, declared that, "while +the law is banishing its tens for terms of seven and fourteen +years,--the penalty of deep-dyed crimes,--irresponsible and infatuated +power is banishing its thousands for no crime whatever." + +Lately, owing to foreign competition and the deterioration of the land +that has been used for many years as sheep-pastures, sheep-farming has +become much less profitable than formerly, and many large tenants have +in consequence given up their farms. The enthusiasm for deer-hunting +has, however, increased with the increase of wealth and leisure among +Englishmen, and immense tracts, amounting altogether to nearly two +millions of acres, have been turned into deer-forests, yielding, as a +rule, a slightly higher rent than was paid by the crofters and +sheep-farmers. Much of this land is either unfit for agricultural +purposes or could not at present be cultivated with profit. Some of it, +however, is fertile, or well suited for grazing, and greatly coveted by +the crofters. The deer and other game often destroy or injure the crops +of the adjoining holdings, and thus add to the troubles of the occupants +and increase their indignation at the land's being used to raise sheep +and "vermin" instead of men. Most Americans have had intimations of this +feeling through the accounts of the hostility that has been shown to our +countryman, Mr. Winans, whose deer-forest is said to cover two hundred +square miles. While evictions are much less common than they were two or +three generations ago, there has all along been a disposition on the +part of the proprietors to enclose in their sheep-farms and deer-forests +lands that were formerly tilled or used as commons by the crofters and +cottars. In comparison with the crofter of to-day the sub-tenant of a +hundred years ago had, as a rule, more land for tillage, a far wider +range of pasture for his stock, and "greater freedom in regard to the +natural produce of the river and moor." + +Many of the crofters belong to families which have lived on the same +holdings for generations. It is a common experience everywhere that +long-continued use begets and fosters the feeling of ownership. This is +especially true when, as in the crofter's case, there is so much in the +history and traditions of the people and the property that tends to +establish a right of possession. Besides, the crofter, or one of his +ancestors, has in most cases built the house and made other +improvements: sometimes he has reclaimed the land itself and changed a +barren waste into a garden. The labor and money which he and his +ancestors have expended in improving the place seem to him to give him +an additional right to occupy it always. It is his holding and his home, +the home of his fathers and of his family. While he may be unable to +resist the power of his landlord, and may have no legal security for his +rights and interests, he regards the curtailment of his privileges or +the increase of his rent as unjust, and eviction as a terrible outrage. +"The extermination of the Highlanders," says one of their kinsmen, "has +been carried on for many years as systematically and persistently as +that of the North-American Indians.... Who can withhold sympathy as +whole families have turned to take a last look at the heavens red with +their burning homes? The poor people shed no tears, for there was in +their hearts that which stifled such signs of emotion: they were +absorbed in despair. They were forced away from that which was dear to +their hearts, and their patriotism was treated with contemptuous +mockery.... There are various ways in which the crime of murder is +perpetrated. There are killings which are effected by the unjust and +cruel denying of lands to our fellow-creatures to enable them to obtain +food and raiment." + +The feeling of the crofters in regard to increase of rent and eviction +is very similar to that of the Irish tenantry. Very recently Mr. Parnell +uttered sentiments which both would accept as their own. "I trust," he +said, "that when any individual feels disposed to violate the divine +commandment by taking, under such circumstances, that which does not +belong to him, he will feel within him the promptings of patriotism and +religion, and that he will turn away from the temptation. Let him +remember that he is doing a great injustice to his country and his +class,--that though he may perhaps benefit materially for a while, yet +that ill-gotten gains will not prosper." Where crofters have been +evicted, or have had their privileges curtailed or their rent raised, +they and their descendants do not soon forget the grievance. Claims have +recently been made for lands which the crofters have not occupied for +two or three generations. + +The Scotch landlords are not, as a rule, cruel or unjust. On the +contrary, some of them are exceedingly kind and generous to their +tenants, and have spent large sums of money in making improvements which +add greatly to the prosperity and comfort of those who live on their +estates. Many of them recognize the right of their tenants to occupy +their holdings without interruption so long as the rent is paid +regularly. The natural tendency, however, to insist upon their legal +rights and to make the most they can out of their estates has led to not +a few cases of hardship and injustice. A few such instances in a +community are talked over for years, and often seriously interfere with +the contentment and industry of many families. The traditions and +recollections of the many evictions which have occurred during this +century have often caused the motives of the best landlords to be +suspected and their most benevolent acts to be misunderstood by their +tenants. The crofter system has been an extremely bad one in many +respects. There cannot be much interest in making improvements where the +tenant must build the houses, fences, stables, etc., but has no +guarantee that he will not be turned out of his holding or have his rent +so increased as practically to compel him to leave the place. The +kindness and humanity of the landlords have in many instances mitigated +the worst evils of the system; but, while human nature remains as it is, +no matter how just and generous individual landlords may be, general +prosperity and contentment are impossible under the present +arrangements. The discontent and discouragement caused by the action of +the less kind and considerate landlords and agents frequently extend to +crofters who have no just grounds of complaint, and troubles and +hardships resulting from idleness or improvidence or other causes are +often attributed to the injustice of the laws or the cruelty of the +landlords. + +The poverty of the crofter often renders his condition deplorable. His +holding and right of common have been curtailed by the landlord, or he +has sub-divided them among his sons or kinsmen, until it would be +impossible for the produce of the soil to sustain the population, even +if no rent whatever were charged. Some years ago he was able to increase +his income by gathering sea-weed for kelp; but latterly, since iodine +can be obtained more cheaply from other sources, the demand for this +product has ceased. In some places the fishing is valuable, enabling him +to supply his family with food for a part of the year, and bringing him +money besides. He is, however, often too poor to provide the necessary +boats and nets, while in many places the absence of good harbors and +landings is a most serious drawback to the fishing industry. Sometimes +he supplements his income by spending a few months of the year in the +low country and obtaining work there. In most cases, however, a large +part of his income must be derived from the land. If there were plenty +of employment to be had, the little holding would do very well as a +garden, and the stock which he could keep on the common would add +greatly to his comfort. As things now are, he must look chiefly to the +land both for his subsistence and his rent, and, with an unfruitful soil +and an unfriendly climate, he is often on the verge of want. + +Still more wretched is the condition of the cottars and squatters. The +latter are in some places numerous and have taken up considerable +portions of land formerly used as common, thus interfering with the +rights of the crofters. They appropriate land and possess and pasture +stock, but pay no rent, obey no control, and scarcely recognize any +authority. The dwellings of this class and of some of the poorer +crofters are wretched in the extreme. A single apartment, with walls of +stone and mud, a floor of clay, a thatched roof, no windows, no chimney, +one low door furnishing an entrance for the occupants and a means of +ventilation and of escape for the smoke which rolls up black and thick +from the peat fire, furniture of the rudest imaginable sort, the +inhabitants--the human beings, the cows, the pigs, the sheep, and the +poultry--all crowded together in the miserable and filthy hut, make up a +picture which the most romantic and poetic associations can hardly +render pleasing to one accustomed to the comforts and refinements of +modern civilization. Of course many of the crofters live in greater +comfort, and some of the cottages are by no means unattractive. But the +Royal Commissioners say that the crofter's habitation is usually "of a +character that would imply physical and moral degradation in the eyes of +those who do not know how much decency, courtesy, virtue, and even +refinement survive amidst the sordid surroundings of a Highland hovel." +An Englishman who, on seeing these "sordid surroundings," was disposed +to compare the social and moral condition of the people to "the +barbarism of Egypt," was told that if he would ask one of the crofters, +in Gaelic or English, "What is the chief end of man?" he would soon see +the difference. + +With such a history, such traditions, grievances, conditions, and +hardships, it is not strange that the crofter should be ready to join an +agitation that promised a remedy. Some of his grievances and claims have +been so similar to those of the Irish tenant that the legislation which +followed the violent agitation in Ireland has led him to hope for +relief-measures similar to those enacted for the Irish tenantry. The +Irish Land Act of 1870 recognized the tenant's right to the permanent +possession of his holding and to his improvements, by providing that on +being turned out by his landlord he should have compensation for +disturbance and for his improvements. It did not, however, secure him +against the landlord's so increasing his rent as practically to +appropriate his improvements and even force him to leave his holding +without any compensation. The Land Act of 1881 secured his interests by +establishing a court which should fix a fair rent, by giving him a right +to compensation for disturbance and for his improvements, and by +allowing him to sell his interests for the best price he can get for +them. It also enabled him to borrow from the government, at a low rate +of interest, three-fourths of the money necessary to purchase his +landlord's interest in the holding. This legal recognition and guarantee +of the Irish tenant's interests have led the crofter to hope that his +claims, based on better grounds, may also be conceded. + +The changes recently made in the land laws of England and Scotland, and +the activity of the advocates of further and more radical changes, have +increased this hope. Progressive English statesmen have long looked with +disfavor upon entails and settlements, and there have been a number of +enactments providing for cutting off entails and increasing the power of +limited owners. The last and most important of these, the Settled +Estates Act, passed in 1882, gives the tenant for life power to sell any +portion of the estate except the family mansion, and thus thoroughly +undermines the principle upon which primogeniture and entails are +founded. Much land which has hitherto been so tied up that the limited +owners were either unable or unwilling to develop it can now be sold and +improved. New measures have been proposed to increase still further the +power of limited owners and to make the sale and transfer of land easier +and less expensive. Many able statesmen are advocates of these measures. +Mr. Goschen in a recent speech at Edinburgh urged the need of a +land-register by which transfers of land might be made almost as cheaply +and easily as transfers of consols. By such an arrangement, it is held, +many farmers of small capital will be enabled to buy their farms, and +the land of the country will thus be dispersed among a much larger +number of owners. There has also been a very marked tendency to enlarge +the rights and the authority of the tenant farmer. The Agricultural +Holdings Act of 1883 gives the tenant a right to compensation for +temporary and, on certain conditions, for permanent improvements, and +permits him in most cases, where he cannot have compensation, to remove +fixtures or buildings which he has erected, contrary to the old doctrine +that whatever is fixed to the soil becomes the property of the landlord. +The landlord's power to distrain for rent is greatly reduced: formerly +he could distrain for six years' rent, now he can distrain only for the +rent of one year, and he is required to give the tenant twelve instead +of six months' notice to quit. The tenant is therefore more secure than +formerly in the possession of his farm and in spending money and labor +in making improvements that will render it more productive. Other +changes are proposed, which will give him still more rights, greater +freedom in the management of the farm, and additional encouragement to +adopt the best methods of farming and invest his labor and money in +improvements. Many of the land reformers advocate the adoption of +measures similar to those that have been enacted for Ireland. It has for +some time been one of the declared purposes of the Farmers' Alliance to +secure a system of judicial rents for the tenant farmers of England. An +important conference lately held at Aberdeen and participated in by +representatives of both the English and Scottish Farmers' Alliances +adopted an outline of a land bill for England and Scotland, providing +for the establishment of a land court, fixing fair rents, fuller +compensation for improvements, and the free sale of the tenant's +interests. + +The wretched condition of the dwellings of the agricultural laborers in +many parts of the country has attracted much attention, and plans for +bettering their condition have frequently been urged. Lately the +interest in the subject has increased, prominent statesmen on both sides +having espoused the cause. In view of the political power which the +recent extension of the suffrage has given to the agricultural laborers, +there is a general expectation that a measure will shortly be enacted +requiring the owner or occupier of the farm to give each laborer a plot +of ground "of a size that he and his family can cultivate without +impairing his efficiency as a wage-earner," at a rent fixed by +arbitration, and providing for a loan of money by the state for the +erection of a proper dwelling. The provisions of the Irish Land Act and +its amendment relating to laborers' cottages and allotments suggest the +lines along which legislation for the improvement of laborers' dwellings +in England and Scotland is likely to proceed. + +Then there is the scheme for nationalizing the land, the state paying +the present owners no compensation, or a very small amount, and assuming +the chief functions now exercised by the landlords. No statesman has yet +ventured to advocate this scheme, but it has called forth a great deal +of discussion on the platform and in the newspapers and reviews, and has +captivated most of those who are inclined to adopt socialistic theories +of property. Mr. George himself has preached his favorite doctrine to +the crofters, whose views of their own rights in the land have led them +to look upon the plan with more favor than the English tenants. Others, +too, who have plans to advocate for giving tenants and laborers greater +rights have taken special pains to have their views presented to the +crofters, since the claims of the latter against the landlords seem to +rest upon so much stronger grounds than those of the English tenant. + +The agitations for the reform of the land laws in Ireland and England, +and the utterances of the advocates of the various plans for increasing +the rights and privileges of the tenant, have led the crofters to dwell +upon their grievances until they have become thoroughly aroused. They +have in many cases refused to pay rent, have resisted eviction and +driven away officers who attempted to serve writs, have offered violence +to the persons or property of some of those who have ventured to take +the crofts of evicted tenants, and in some instances have taken forcible +possession of lands which they thought ought to be added to their +crofts. The government found it necessary a short time ago to send +gunboats with marines and extra police to some of the islands and +districts to restore the authority of the law. The crofters and their +friends are thoroughly organized, and seem likely to insist upon their +claims with the persistency that is characteristic of their race. It is +now generally conceded that some remedy must be provided for their +grievances and hardships. + +The remedy that has been most frequently suggested, the only one +recommended by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by Sir John +McNeil in 1852, is emigration. The crofting system, it has often been +urged, belongs to a bygone age; it survives only because of its +remoteness from the centres of civilization and the ruggedness of the +country; the implements used by the crofters are of the most primitive +sort, while their agricultural methods are "slovenly and unskilful to +the last degree." It is impossible for these small farmers, with their +crude implements and methods, to compete with the large farmers, who +have better land and use the most improved implements and methods. +Besides, many of the crofters are, and their ancestors for many +generations have been, "truly laborers, living chiefly by the wages of +labor, and holding crofts and lots for which they pay rents, not from +the produce of the land, but from wages." If they cannot find employment +within convenient distance of their present homes, the best and kindest +thing for them is to help them to go where there is a good demand for +labor and better opportunities for earning a decent livelihood. To +encourage them to stay on their little crofts, where they are frequently +on the verge of want, is unkind and very bad policy. One who has seen +the wretched hovels in which some of these crofter families live, the +small patches of unproductive land on which they try to subsist, the +hardships which they sometimes suffer, and the lack of opportunities for +bettering their condition in their native Highlands or islands, and who +knows how much has been accomplished by the enterprise and energy of +Highlanders in other parts of the world, can hardly help wishing that +they might all be helped to emigrate to countries where their industry +and economy would more certainly be rewarded, and where they would have +a fairer prospect for success in the struggle for life and advancement. +Many of them would undoubtedly be far better off if they could emigrate +under favorable conditions. The descendants of many of those who were +forced to leave their homes by "cruel and heartless Highland lairds," +and who suffered terrible hardships in getting to this country and +founding new homes, have now attained such wealth and influence as they +could not possibly have acquired among their ancestral hills. The Royal +Commissioners recommended that the state should aid those who may be +willing to emigrate from certain islands and districts where the +population is apparently too great for the means of subsistence. + +The crofters are, however, strongly attached to their native hills and +glens, and they claim that such laws can and ought to be enacted as will +enable them to live in comfort where they are. The present, it is urged, +is a particularly favorable time to establish prosperous small farmers +in many parts of the Highlands where sheep-farming has proved a failure. +The inhabitants of the coasts and islands are largely a seafaring +people. There is quite as much Norse as Celtic blood in the veins of +many of them, and the Norseman's love of the sea leads them naturally to +fishing or navigation. The herring-fisheries, with liberal encouragement +on the part of the government, might be made far more profitable to the +fishermen and to the nation. Besides, the seafaring people of the +Highlands and islands "constitute a natural basis for the naval defence +of the country, a sort of defence which cannot be extemporized, and +which in possible emergencies can hardly be overrated." At the present +time they "contribute four thousand four hundred and thirty-one men to +the Royal Naval Reserve,--a number equivalent to the crews of seven +armored war-steamers of the first class." It is surely desirable to +foster a population which has been a "nursery of good citizens and good +workers for the whole empire," and of the best sailors and soldiers for +the British navy and army. Public policy demands that every legitimate +means be used to better the condition of the crofters and cottars, and +to encourage them to remain in and develop the industries of their own +country, instead of abandoning it to sheep and deer. Private interests +must be made subordinate to the public good. Parliament may therefore +interfere with the rights of landed property when the interests of the +people and of the nation demand it, as they do in this case. + +It was on some such grounds that the Royal Commissioners recommended +that restrictions be placed upon the further extension of deer-forests, +that the fishing interests should be aided by the government, that the +proprietors should be required to restore to the crofters lands formerly +used as common pastures, and to give them, under certain restrictions, +the use of more land, enlarging their holdings, and that in certain +cases they should be compelled to grant leases at rents fixed by +arbitration, and to give compensation for improvements. The government +is already helping the fishermen by constructing a new harbor and by +improving means of communication and transportation, and proposes to +greatly lighten taxation in the near future. + +The bill which the late government introduced into Parliament does not +undertake to provide for aid to those who may wish to emigrate, or for +the compulsory restoration of common pasture, or for the enlargement of +the holdings. It does, however, propose to lend money on favorable terms +for stocking and improving enlarged or new holdings. As a convention of +landlords which was held at Aberdeen last January, and which represented +a large amount of land, resolved to increase the size of crofters' +holdings as suitable opportunities offered and when the tenants could +profitably occupy and stock the same, the demand for more land seems +likely to be conceded in many cases without compulsory legislation. The +bill defines a crofter to be a tenant from year to year of a holding of +which the rent is less than fifty pounds a year, and which is situated +in a crofting-parish. Every such crofter is to have security of tenure +so long as he pays his rent and complies with certain other conditions; +his rent is to be fixed by an official valuer or by arbitration, if he +and his landlord cannot agree in regard to it; he is to have +compensation, on quitting his holding, for all his improvements which +are suitable for the holding; and his heirs may inherit his interests, +although he may not sell or assign them. Such propositions seem radical +and calculated to interfere greatly with proprietary rights and the +freedom of contract. They are, however, but little more than statements +of the customs that already exist on some of the best estates. Just as +the government by the Irish Land Law Act (1881) took up the Ulster +tenant-right customs, gave them the force of law, and extended them to +all Ireland, it is proposed by this bill to give the sanction of law to +those customary rights which the crofters claim to have inherited from +former generations, and which have long been conceded by some of the +landlords. + +Such a measure of relief will not make all the crofters contented and +prosperous. It will, however, give them security against being turned +out of their homes and against excessively high rents, and will +encourage them to spend their labor and money in improving their +holdings. If some assistance could be given to those who may wish to +emigrate from overcrowded districts, and if the government would make +liberal advances of money to promote the fishing industry, the prospect +that the discontent and destitution would disappear would be much +better. The relief proposed will, however, be thankfully received by +many of the crofters and their friends. + + DAVID BENNETT KING. + + + + +MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. + + +Since his own days at the university George Randall had always had a +friend or two among the students who came after him. I remember how in +my Freshman year I used to see Tom Wayward going up the stairs in the +Academy of Music building to his office, and how I used to envy Billy +Wylde when I met him arm in arm with George on one of the campus malls. +It was occasionally whispered about that Randall's influence on these +young men was not of the very best, and that he used to have a +never-empty bottle of remarkably smooth whiskey in his closet, along +with old letter-files and brief-books; and it is undoubtedly true that +Perry Tomson and I used to consider George's friends as models in the +manner of smoking a pipe, or ordering whiskey-and-soda at Bertrand's to +give us an appetite for our mutton-chops or our _bifteck aux +pommes_, and in the delightful self-sufficiency with which in the +pleasant spring days they would cut recitations and loll on the grass +smoking cigarettes right under the nose, almost, of the professor. But +they are both married now, and settled down to respectable conventional +success; and Billy Wylde, as I happen to know, has repaid the money +which George lent him wherewith to finish his education in Germany. The +estimable matrons of Lincoln who made so much ado over George's ruining +these young men,--who had such bright intellects and might have been +expected to do something but for that dreadfully well read lawyer's +awful influence,--these women do not consider it worth their while now, +in the face of the facts as they have turned out, to remember their +predictions, but confine themselves to making their dismal prophecies +anew in regard to the three young fellows whom George has of late taken +up. But then I remember how they went on about Perry Tomson and me in +the early part of our Junior year, when we began to enjoy the favor of +George's friendship; and if their miserable croaking never does any +good, I fancy it will never work any very great harm: so one might as +well let them croak in peace. In fact, one would more easily dam the +waters of Niagara than stop them, and George, I know, doesn't care the +cork of an empty beer-bottle what they say of him. + +I have never tried to analyze the influence for good George had over us, +or account for it in any way, nor do I care to. I have always considered +his friendship for me as one of the pleasantest and most profitable +experiences of my life in Lincoln. Perry and I were always more close +and loving friends, and cared for George with a silent but abiding sense +of gratitude in addition to the other sources of our affection for him, +after he showed us the boyish foolishness of our quarrel about Lucretia +Knowles. Of course I ought not to have grown angry at Perry's +good-natured cynicism; for how could he have imagined that I cared for +her? Though I sometimes think, even now, that Perry was indeed anxious +lest I should fall in love with her, and wanted to ridicule me out of +the notion, and I fear, in spite of his acquaintance, that he +disapproves of our engagement. I wonder if he will ever get over his +prejudice against women. The dear old fellow! if he would only consent +to know Lucretia better I am sure he would. + +One night in the winter before we graduated, Perry and I went with +George to the Third House, which is a mock session of the legislature +that the political wags of the State take advantage of to display their +wit and quickness at repartee and ability to make artistic fools of +themselves. If it happens to be a year for the election of a senator, as +it was in this case, the different candidates are in turn made fun of +and held up to ridicule or approval; and the chief issues of the time +are handled without gloves in a way that is always amusing and often +worth while in showing the ridiculous nature of some of them. The Third +House is usually held on some evening during the first or second week of +the session, and is opened by the Speaker calling the house to order +with a thundering racket of the gavel--"made from the wood of trees +grown on the prairies of the State"--and announcing the squatter +governor. Since the State was a territory, this announcement, after due +formalities, has been followed by the statement that, as the squatter +governor is somewhat illiterate, his message will be read by his private +secretary. After this personage has read his score or more pages of +jokes, sarcastic allusions, and ridiculous recommendations, the +discussion of the message takes place, during which any one who thinks +of a bright remark may get up and fire it at the gallery; and many very +lame attempts pass for good wit, and much private spite goes for +harmless fooling. + +George got us seats in the gallery next to old Billy Gait, the +bald-headed bachelor, who owns half a dozen houses which he rents for +fifty dollars a month each, and who lives on six hundred a year, +investing the surplus of his income every now and then in another house. +William, as usual, had a pretty girl at his elbow, and we heard him +telling her how he could never get interested in George Eliot's novels, +and how it beat him to know why he ever wrote such tedious books. The +young lady smiled over her fan at Randall, and said that she supposed +Mr. Eliot had a great deal of spare time on his hands, but of course he +had no business to employ it in writing tiresome novels. + +George, who knew everybody, had a kindly greeting for all who were +within its reach, even for the tired-looking little school-teacher, who +had come out with her landlady's fifteen-year-old son as an escort and +in a little while had settled down to quiet enjoyment of the squatter +governor's message, approving with a quiet smile the grin that +occasionally spread over Perry's good-humored face. As for me, I was +made miserable from the start by seeing Lucretia Knowles in one of the +best seats on the floor, with a conceited fool of a +newspaper-correspondent at her side, whispering nonsense in her ear at +such a rate that she did nothing but laugh and turn her pretty head back +to speak with Mamie Jennings, her _fidus Achates_, and never once cast +her eyes toward the gallery. She has said since that she knew I was +there all the time, and that she didn't dare look at me, because I was +such a frightful picture of jealousy, with my fingers in my hair and my +elbow on the gallery railing, staring down on the floor as if I should +like to drop a bomb and annihilate the entire lot. It is all very well +to look back now and laugh and feel sorry for the curly-locked +journalist, who is writing letters from Mexico and trying to get over +the disappointment which the knowledge of our engagement gave him, but +it was very little fun for me at the time. + +I turned away a dozen times, and swore inwardly that I wouldn't look +that way again, and after each resolve I would find my eyes glancing +from one person to another in Lu's vicinity, until finally they would +rest again on her. When I had declared for the thirteenth time that I +wouldn't contemplate her heartless flirting, I noticed George bow to +some one who had just come in at the gallery door. A young man from one +of the western counties was making a satirical speech in favor of the +woman's suffrage amendment, misquoting Tennyson's "Princess" and making +the gallery shake with laughter, at the time; but I noticed George's +face light up and his eyes sparkle with pleasure at the sight of the +new-comer. She was a beautiful lady, over thirty, I should say, with the +sweetest face, for a sad one, I had ever seen. Of course, in a certain +way I like Lucretia's style of beauty better; but Mrs. Herbert was +beautiful in a way, so far as the women I have ever seen are concerned, +peculiar to herself. She was rather slender, and had a calm, graceful +bearing that I somehow at once associated with purity and nobleness. She +was quite simply dressed, and had on a small widow's bonnet, with the +ribbons tied under her chin, while a charming little girl, whose hair +curled obstinately over her forehead, had hold of her hand. + +I was somewhat surprised--I will not say disappointed exactly--to see +her lips break into a glad smile, though it made her face look all the +lovelier and sweeter, in reply to George's greeting; and when she came +toward us, as he beckoned her to do, every one immediately and gladly +made room for her to pass. Perry and I gave our seats to Mrs. Herbert +and her little girl; and I found myself speculating, as I leaned against +one of the pillars, on the difference of expression in the eyes of the +two, which were otherwise so much alike,--the same deep shade of brown, +the same soft look, the same lashes, and yet what a vast difference when +one thought of the combined effect of all these similar details. I spoke +to Perry of it, and he good-naturedly poked fun at me, saying I was +forever trying to see a romance or a history in people's eyes. + +"Well, I suppose you will say she isn't even lovely," I exclaimed, with +impatience. + +"I'm no judge," he replied, with exasperating carelessness; "but a +little too pale, I should say. I wish George hadn't introduced her to +me." + +"Why?" + +"Oh, it made me feel cheap to have to back into old Billy Gait's bony +legs and try to bow and shake hands before everybody,--in the eyes of +the assembled community, as Charley McWenn would say." + +McWenn was the stupid block of a journalist,--for I do think him a +stupid block, in spite of his cleverness,--and I realized then that I +had forgotten for a moment all about Lucretia. I could not see her from +my new position, so I amused myself by imagining how she was carrying +on. + +At last George and Mrs. Herbert rose up to go, and the former, as he +asked our forgiveness for leaving us, told us to come to his office when +we had enough of the Third House, and, if he wasn't there, to wait for +him. "We'll go over to Bertrand's and have some oysters," he said, with +his confidence-inspiring smile. I have always thought that if George had +not had so pleasant a smile and such a soulful laugh we should never +have been such friends. + +We found him waiting for us at the foot of the Academy of Music stairs, +with a cigar in his mouth and one for each of us in his hand, and we +knew from experience that his case was filled with a reserve. + +"It's a pleasant night, boys, isn't it?" he said, looking up at the +stars (wonderfully bright they were in the clear, cold atmosphere) as we +went, crunching the snow under our feet, along the deserted streets to +the little back-entrance we knew of to Bertrand's. + +"Yes," said Perry; "but you missed the best thing of the whole circus by +leaving before Colonel Bouteille made his speech in favor of the +prohibition amendment." And he gave a _résumé_ of the colonel's +laughable sophistry for George's benefit,--and for mine as well, for I +had paid no attention to the old toper's remarks. + +We could see the glimmer of lights behind the shutters of the faro-room +over Sudden's saloon and hear the rattle of the ivory counters as we +passed. + +"Do you ever go up there?" asked George, interrupting Perry. + +"Why, yes; sometimes," we answered. + +"Play a little now and then? I suppose?" + +"We don't like to loaf around such a place," said Perry rather grandly, +considering our circumstances, "without putting down a few dollars." + +"That's all right," said George; "but once or twice is enough, boys. +After you have seen what the thing is like, keep away from the tiger. +She is a greedy beast, and always hungry; and of course you can't think +of sitting down at a poker-table with the professional players." + +Direct advice was rather a new strain for Randall, and we were not +surprised when he dropped it abruptly as we filed into a little private +room at the restaurant. + +"Yes, I fancy old Bouteille might have made a humorous speech," he said, +after ordering the oysters. "Three?" he added, looking at me, "or four?" + +"Quarts?" I asked in reply. + +George nodded. + +"Two, I should say." + +"Oh, bother!" exclaimed Perry. "We should only have to trouble the +waiter again." + +So George ordered four bottles of beer. + +"It's after ten o'clock, sir," said the waiter doubtfully. It is +needless to say that he was a new one. + +"That's the reason we came here," answered George, with a calm manner of +assumption that dissipated the waiter's doubts while it evidently filled +him with remorse. "Where's Auguste?" + +"He's gone to bed, sir; but I guess 'twill be all right." And the waiter +started to fetch the beer. + +"I should think so," growled Perry. + +"I suppose it is not good form to drink beer with oysters," I suggested +mildly. + +"I don't know, I'm sure," said George. + +"I suppose not," said Perry; "they go so well together. I hope it isn't, +at any rate: I like to do things that are bad form." + +So I relapsed into silence, and my speculations about George's outbreak +against gambling, and Mrs. Herbert's beautiful face and sad eyes, and +Lucretia Knowles's wicked light-heartedness. + +When we had finished eating and had opened the last bottle of beer, I +asked George, as he stopped his talk with Perry for a moment to relight +his cigar, who Mrs. Herbert was. + +"She is the noblest and most unfortunate woman in the world," he +replied, "I will tell you her story some time, perhaps." + +"Let us hear it now," I cried, looking at Perry with triumph. + +"Yes, let us," said Perry, nothing to my surprise, for I knew his heart +was in the right place, if his ways were a little rough and +unimpressionable-like. "We have no recitations, no lectures, no +anything, to-morrow, and there is no one else in the restaurant but the +waiter, and he is asleep." + +And, in fact, we could hear him snoring. + +"No, I would rather not tell it here," George said simply; "but if you +will come with me to the office you shall hear it." And when we had +heard it we respected the feeling that had prompted him to consider even +the walls of such a place as unfit listeners. To be sure, it was a very +comfortable restaurant, where the waiters were always attentive and +skilful and the mutton-chops irreproachable, and many a pleasant evening +had we three had there over our cigars and Milwaukee, and sometimes a +bottle or two of claret. But so had Tom Hagard, the faro-dealer, and +Frank Sauter, who played poker over Sudden's, and Dick Bander, who got +his money from Madame Blank because he happened to be a swashing +slugger, and many another Tom, Dick, and Harry whose reputations were, +to say the least, questionable. Of course we never associated with such +characters, and plenty of estimable people besides ourselves frequented +Bertrand's. The place was not in bad odor at all, but merely a little +miscellaneous, and suited our plebeian fancies all the more on that +account. If young fellows want to be really comfortable in life, we +thought, and see a little at first hand just what sort of people make up +the world, they must not be too particular. So we used to sit down at +the next table to one where a gambler or a horse-jockey would perhaps be +seated, or a man of worse fame, and order our humble repast with a quiet +conscience and a strengthened determination never to become one among +such people. We would even see the gay flutter of skirts sometimes, as +the waiter entered one of the private rooms with an armful of dishes, +and hear the chatter and laughter of the wearers. + +We did not wonder, therefore, at George's preference for his own office, +whose four walls had never looked down upon anything but innocent young +fellows smoking and talking whatever harmless nonsense came into their +heads, or playing chess or penny-ante, or upon his own generous thoughts +and solitary contemplations, or hard work on some intricate lawsuit. So +we aroused the sleeping waiter, and walked back to the Academy of Music +building in silence. + +"It is rather a long story," said George, when we had at last made +ourselves comfortable, "and I have never told it before. I don't know +why I should tell it now, but somehow I want to. I felt this evening +after I left the Capitol that I would, and I asked leave of Mrs. Herbert +while we were walking to her home together. I knew she would let me: I +am the only friend, I suppose,--the only real friend, I mean, whom she +trusts and treats as an intimate friend,--that she has in the world. I +know I am the only person who knows the whole story of her sad life. + +"When I was in the university," he slowly continued, holding his cigar +in the gas-jet and turning it over and over between his fingers, with an +evident air of collating his reminiscences, "Phil Kendall and I were +great friends. I don't know how we ever came to be so: it was natural, I +suppose, for us to like each other. I used to notice that he did not +associate much with the other fellows; and yet he was the best runner +and boxer in the class. He was the only fellow in the university who +could do the giant swing on the bar, and, though he had never taken +lessons, it was next to impossible for any one but Wayland, the +sub-professor in chemistry, to touch him with the foils. Somehow we were +drawn together, and before long were hardly ever apart. We used to get +out our Horace together, he with the pony and text and I with the +lexicon, for he was too impatient to hunt up the words. I believe you +study differently now." + +"We still have the pony," said Perry. + +"And we used to puzzle our heads together over Mechanics, for we didn't +have election as you do, and take long walks, and play chess, and get up +spreads in our room for nobody but us two. Not such elaborate affairs as +are called spreads now, but I warrant you they were fully as much +enjoyed. I fancy we were rather sentimental. We used to hold imaginary +conversations in the person of some favorite characters in fiction; but +we were very young and boyish." + +Perry glanced at me sheepishly, but George went on without noticing: + +"Phil's father lived here, and was proprietor of the only wholesale +grocery-store the town then boasted of. He had been captain of a +volunteer company in the war, and, I fancy, had a romance too. At any +rate, his wife had been dead since Phil was a little fellow in +knickerbockers; and not very long after her death a certain Mrs. Preston +had sent a little girl, about a year older than Phil, with a dying +charge to the captain to care for the friendless orphan for the sake of +their early love. No one but Grace could ever get anything out of the +old gentleman about her mother, and she never learned much. Mrs. Preston +had been unhappy at least, and perhaps miserable, in her marriage. We +always thought she had forsaken Mr. Kendall in their youth and made a +hasty marriage; but never a word was uttered by him about Grace's +father. + +"I used to imagine Mr. Kendall cared more for his adopted daughter than +for his son, from what I saw of them, and I was at the house a good deal +with Phil. I am sure they were very affectionate; and it was only +natural that the melancholy old man--that is the way he always struck +me--should have loved the daughter of the woman who had deserted him and +then turned toward him in her hour of supreme need. It showed that her +trust and belief in him and his goodness had never really left her. And, +besides, Grace was always so airy and light-hearted,--nothing could put +her out of humor,--so kind and gentle, and as lovely as a flower. She is +a splendid-looking woman yet, but one can have no idea of what she was +in those days, from the sad-eyed Mrs. Herbert who smiles so rarely on +any one but her little girl. Nannie is going to make much such a young +lady as her mother was, but I don't believe she will ever be quite so +beautiful. + +"Well, I was not long in discovering that Phil was in love with his +father's adopted daughter. I was never quite sure whether he knew it +himself at the time or not, but I could see easily enough that she +didn't dream of such a thing, nor the old captain either. They were so +much like brother and sister it used to make me feel wofully sorry for +Phil to see her throw her arms around his neck and kiss him for some +little kindness or other that he was always doing her: the difference of +mood in which the caress would be given from that in which Phil would +receive it was somehow always painful to me. Phil would never offer to +kiss her on his own account; and it is still a mystery to me why she +never discovered how he felt toward her until he became jealous. The +tenderness and gentle considerateness of his bearing were always so +marked that to a less innocent and pure nature, I fancy, it would have +been noticeable at once. + +"When we were Juniors, Phil took her to a party one night, just after +Easter. The captain was a scrupulous Churchman, and Grace was always by +him in the pew. She had not been confirmed, however, and never said a +word to Phil and me about our persistency in staying away from church, +though the captain used to lecture Phil quite soberly about it. This +party was given at the house of one of the vestrymen, and they had +refreshments, and, after the rector had gone home, dancing. They called +it a sociable, and took up a collection for the ladies' aid society just +after the cake and coffee and whipped cream had been served. There was +where Grace first met George Herbert. He was a handsome young fellow, +well educated, a graduate of some Eastern college, clever and talented, +and his family in Rochester, New York, were considered very good people. +He had come to Lincoln to take a place on the 'Gazette,' and every one +thought him a young man of good parts and fair prospects. + +"He made up to Grace from the start. They were laughing and talking +together all the evening on a little sofa, just large enough for two, +that stood in the bow-window. There was a little crowd of young people +around the two most of the time, and she was saying bright things to +them all, but never, I noticed, at the expense of young Herbert, who +made most of his remarks so low that no one but Grace could hear them. +She always smiled and often broke out into her musical laugh at what he +said; and when Phil, who had been trapped into a game of whist with some +old fogies, finally came back into the parlor and made his way to where +Grace was having such a happy time, she even launched a shaft or two of +her wit at him. + +"I saw that the poor fellow was hurt: he turned away without answering, +though, and, coming over to where I was, sat down and began looking at +an album, trying hard all the time to hide his feelings. But in a moment +Grace was hanging over his shoulder, oblivious of her surroundings, and +lovingly begging his pardon if she had hurt him. I have sometimes +thought that Phil then fully realized for the first time how he cared +for her. The way in which her affection disregarded the presence of the +crowd smote him, I imagine, with something like despair. I saw him turn +pale and catch his breath, and I knew his laugh too well to be deceived, +as Grace was, when he made light of her self-accusations and declared +that than taking offence at her words nothing had been further from his +thoughts. This was in a sense true, of course, for ordinarily he would +have answered as light-heartedly almost as Grace herself; and it was +only the feeling of jealousy, unconscious perhaps, at any rate +irresistible, that gave her words undue--no, not that exactly, but +unusual influence over his feelings. + +"For a while Phil acted as considerately as ever, and made himself +thoroughly agreeable to several young ladies, whereat Grace was highly +pleased and soon took up again her mood of gayety. But when Phil brought +her a plate and napkin and some things to eat, and found her and Herbert +already served and with mock gravity breaking a piece of cake together +on the stairs,--'they were only doing it,' Phil declared to me +afterward, 'that they might touch each other's hands,'--he lost his +head. He must have spoken very bitterly, else he would never have +aroused Grace's anger. I don't know what he said, except that he +complained about having come to such a thing as a church sociable, which +he despised, and, inasmuch as he had done it for the sake of her +enjoyment and pleasure, she might at least have shown him the same +politeness she would have accorded to any of the insufferable prigs whom +she seemed delighted to honor. + +"Herbert started to reply, but Grace silenced him by a look, and said, +'We have been as brother and sister since childhood.' It was probably +well for Herbert's handsome face that he did not enter into a discussion +with Phil. They were both hot-tempered, and Phil had no scruples against +asking him out of doors, and would have been as cool in his manner and +as terrible in his strength as an iceberg. + +"Grace led Phil away, and tried to tell him how she had not supposed he +would care; that she had imagined he would prefer to serve the young +lady with whom he had been talking; how she had never known him to put +such store by trivialities before; how 'at least we,' Phil told me, +bitterly quoting her words, 'at least we ought to be sure of each +other's hearts,' and did everything to pacify him. But he would listen +to nothing, and, coming to me, asked me to walk home with Grace, as he +was going away immediately. I imagined the trouble, and got him to admit +that he and Grace had said unkind words to each other. But he would say +nothing more about the matter till I found him in my room after it was +all over, when he raved about Grace until near morning, and cursed the +fate that had turned the bread of her kind affection for him into a +stone. 'How can I ever hope to win her love when she thinks that way of +me?' he would ask sorrowfully, after telling of some pure and loving +freedom she had taken. I was full of pity for the miserable fellow, but +I felt as if I ought to do all I could to discourage him. I was sure he +was right; he never could hope to, and I thought the sooner he learned +this, and to submit to it, the better it would be for him. + +"I persuaded him not to leave the party in the height of his resentment, +though, and he was so quiet before the dancing that I began to hope he +would beg Grace's pardon and take her home repentantly and in peace. But +he insisted on my going and offering to dance with her the first set in +his place. She had already promised, she said, to dance it with Mr. +Herbert, and it was in vain that I told her she must look upon me as +acting for Phil, and advised her for his sake to excuse herself to +Herbert and dance with either Phil or myself. 'If Phil should come and +ask me himself on his knees I would not do it,' she declared, with +superb grandeur, 'He has acted wrong, and imputed to me the worst +motives for trivial things which I did unthinkingly even, and, heaven +knows, without deliberate calculation.' + +"I saw it was no use to talk with her, and that in her present mood even +entreaty, to which she was usually so yielding, would be of no avail. I +felt very helpless and miserable about it, but I could do nothing. I saw +that Phil had made a grave mistake by accusing her of partiality for +Herbert, and that her acquaintance with him might possibly be forced +into a closer relation by Phil's jealousy. I kept away from him for a +while, and almost made Miss Scrawney think I had fallen in love with +her, in order to keep Phil from getting a word with me. At last, +however, just as the music began, he pulled my sleeve and asked in a +whisper if I wasn't going to take Grace out and dance with her. + +"'She was already engaged,' I answered. + +"'To whom?' said Phil. 'But there is no need to ask.' And at the moment, +indeed, almost as if in answer to his question, Grace entered the room +from the hall on Herbert's arm. I was afraid for an instant that Phil +would make a scene. The veins on his forehead swelled, and he started +forward as they passed within a few feet of where we were standing, +Grace smiling and talking to Herbert, apparently as oblivious of us as +if we had not been within a thousand miles of her; but he mastered the +impulse, whatever it was, and I have often speculated as to whether it +was to upbraid Grace or to strike Herbert. + +"'Look at her, George,' he said, with a calmness that was belied by the +look in his eyes. 'You wouldn't think that three hours ago she had never +known him, would you? nor that we had lived in the same house since we +were no higher than that. Her mother, I know, did her best to break my +old man's heart, and I warrant you it was for some such worthless fool +as that, who wasn't fit to black the dear old fellow's boots. Poor old +dad! we shall be together in the boat: when I begin to handle hams and +barrelled sugar we will write ourselves 'Kendall & Son' with a +flourish.' And as we went up the stairs to get his coat and hat he told +me to stay and offer to go home with Grace. 'It wouldn't do for me to +leave her unless you do, George,' he said; 'but if she wants to go with +Herbert, let her; but she shall not say I went away and left her without +an escort.' + +"I promised readily enough, and even hurried him away. There was no good +in his staying; in fact, I thought it better that he should leave; and +after he had gone I went to Grace. I managed the matter rather badly, +but I suppose the most consummate tact on my part would not have changed +things. I should have waited until I saw her alone, or until the party +was breaking up; but I went directly I saw they had stopped dancing. She +was leaning on the piano and letting Herbert fan her, and looking almost +too beautiful for real life as she turned her face toward him, flushed +with her exercise and beaming with excitement. There was something grand +to me in the expression of individuality and proud insistence that had +come to her so suddenly. It was no factitious strife of her nature +against the dependence of her position as an adopted daughter, I knew, +for she had never felt in the least but that she was perfectly free; it +was no caprice or stubbornness; it was merely her womanly assertion of +self and her unconscious protest against what she thought injustice. She +would not have believed from any one but Phil himself that he was in +love with her and jealous. + +"'Phil has gone away,' I said bluntly, interrupting their talk. She +looked at me for a moment and raised her eyebrows slightly. + +"'Has he?' was all she asked. + +"'Yes: he was feeling badly,' I went on. 'He asked me to walk home with +you when you were ready to go. I thought I would tell you now, so you +would not be at a loss in case you should want to leave before the party +breaks up.' + +"'You are very kind, I am sure, Mr. Kendall' (she usually called me +George), 'but I shall not want to go for ever so long yet. It was +needless for Phil to trouble you; he knew I should get home all +right,--but it was like him. I am awfully sorry to keep you waiting: I +know you are anxious to get back to your pipe and books.' + +"Here Herbert said something with the appearance of speaking to us both; +but she only could hear what it was. I, however, imagined readily +enough. + +"'Will you?' she answered him, in a pleased tone, and I fancied her +smile was grateful. 'Mr. Herbert is going to stay and dance a while +longer,' she went on, turning to me, 'and if he takes me home it will +not seem as if I were troubling any one too much, and--' + +"'Very well, Miss Preston,' I interrupted, making my best bow; 'as you +like.' And when I saw the smile on Herbert's face I didn't wonder much +at the way Phil had felt. 'Let me bid you good-night,' I said, bowing +again, and started off. + +"Grace followed me rapidly into the hall. 'Now, please don't you be +angry too, George,' she said, laying her hand on my arm. + +"'I am not angry,' I said. + +"'Do you think it right, George,' she asked earnestly,--and there was a +pleading look in her eyes,--'or manly to desert one's friends in +trouble?' + +"'I am doing the best I know how,' said I, 'to be true to my friend.' + +"'Oh, George, I am so sorry!' Her voice trembled, and all her +queenliness had gone. 'You must not go off this way. You don't blame me +as Phil does, do you? Wait, I will get my things, and you shall walk +home with me now. I will see Phil and tell him--' + +"'He has gone to my room,' I said. + +"'Well, I will wait till you bring him home. You must tell him I forgive +him,--or no, tell him I am sorry and ask his forgiveness. Oh, George, we +cannot be this way. Only think how sad it would make his father--and--' +There were tears on her lashes, and her lips were trembling piteously. +She put her hand to her throat and could not go on. God forgive me if I +was wrong,--and I know I was,--but I couldn't help it then,--I asked, +almost with a sneer, if she didn't dislike to slight her estimable +friend Mr. Herbert's kindness; and she turned away without a word, as if +regretting, from my unworthiness, the emotion she had shown. + +"I was in very nearly as bad a state as Phil for a while. I told him +just how I had acted, and he was rather pleased than otherwise at my +cruelty. We tried hard to make ourselves believe that Grace had deserved +it, and to a certain extent succeeded. + +"'She probably thought it was too high a price,' said Phil, 'when she +saw both of us going off offended, and she concluded not to give it. +But, then, it was just like her,' he added, in a kindlier spirit than +the natural interpretation of his words seemed to indicate. + +"It was a month before either of us went to the house. The old captain +thought at first that we were going to the dogs, and, I think, kept up a +kind of watch over our movements. He came in one morning, after he had +concluded his suspicions were wrong, and made a sort of expiatory call. +He tried to tell us how he had judged us too harshly, but couldn't quite +bring himself to it, and, after a good many half-uttered remarks that +did honor to the old gentleman's heart, if they didn't prove him a cool +hand in such matters, he left us with an unspoken blessing and some +homely, sound advice to do as we liked, so long as we were manly and +honest. + +"Within a week he was stricken with apoplexy on receiving news of some +serious losses, and was taken home without speaking. He died the next +morning just at sunrise, and Grace and Phil mingled their tears at his +bedside. He tried in vain to speak to them, and the pleased light in his +eyes as they took each other's hands and laid them, joined together, in +his, was the only sign he gave of having known there had been a +difference between them. + +"Poor Grace! she was very miserable and lonely after that. Phil could +never bear to be with her after he had spoken. Her true kindness and +gentle, loving pity were misery to him. He made a noble effort to stay +by and watch over her, but he was hardly fit to take care of himself. +She never knew how small a share of what little was left of his father's +money he took with him to the mountains, but she realized why he went +without waiting for his degree, and sadly approved his resolution. She +always kept the growing attachment between her and Herbert from grating +on Phil as much as was in her power, but he could not help seeing it. +Though he never said anything even to me, it was plain that he had a +poor opinion of the young journalist; and Grace was very thankful to him +for all he did and suffered. + +"She must have felt very much alone in the world after Phil left, and +the house certainly seemed empty and sad when I used to go there to see +her. There was no one but Grace and the housekeeper and an old +gentleman, a clerk in one of the State departments, to whom she had +rented rooms, partly for the money and partly to have a man in the +house. Herbert was with her whenever his work would permit, and there +was some talk about their intimacy among people who, even if they had +known her, were too base to have appreciated the fineness and truth and +purity of Grace's nature. + +"I couldn't blame her for marrying Herbert,--which she did the fall +after I graduated. They certainly were very much in love, and Herbert +had borne himself creditably in every way. No one could have foreseen +that he would turn out so badly; and for a year or more after their +marriage they were as happy as birds in May. Grace was never +light-hearted, as when I first knew her,--no woman of worth and +tenderness would have been,--but still she was happily and sweetly +contented, completely bound up in her husband, thinking almost of +nothing but him, and caring for nothing but his love. + +"When I came back from the law-school, I went to see them as soon as I +was settled. They had sold the house, and were living in a rented +cottage out in East Lincoln. Nannie, their baby, was quite if not more +than a year old then; and, though I had known that Grace would be a fond +mother, I was unprepared to see the way in which she seemed absolutely +to worship the child. I immediately asked myself if it meant that she +was not so happy with Herbert as she had been. I met him at tea, to +which Grace insisted on my staying. His dress was as neat and as +carefully arranged as ever, and he was cordial enough toward me; but he +did not kiss Grace when he came in, and hardly looked at the baby. He +laughed a good deal, and told several amusing incidents of his newspaper +experience. I noticed that his old habit of looking at one's chin or +cravat instead of at one's eyes when he spoke to one had grown upon him. +He excused himself soon after tea on the ground of having to be at the +office, and went away smoking a cigarette. + +"Grace complained of the way in which his work kept him up nights. He +was never home until after midnight, she said, and sometimes not before +morning. She was afraid it was telling upon his health. 'You must come +and see me often. George.' she said, as she gave me her hand at parting. +'I see very little of my husband now, and, if it were not for Nannie, I +feel as if I should be almost unhappy. Then he would have to do some +other work, though he likes journalism so well.' That was the nearest +she ever came to complaining to me, though I soon knew that she had +plenty of cause. She was not entirely deceived by Herbert's assertions +and excuses. I learned before long, for I made a point of finding out, +that he was never obliged to be at the office after nine o'clock, that +he gambled and drank, and was looked on with unpleasant suspicions by +his employers, so that he might at any time find himself without a +position. He owned no property, and Grace's little patrimony had +disappeared, even to the money they had received for the house, without +leaving the slightest trace. Herbert's ill reputation was common +property in the town, and he and Grace went nowhere together. She had +even given up going to church, that she might be with him for a few +hours on Sundays; and now and then if he took her for a walk and pushed +the baby-carriage through the Capitol-grounds for an hour, she cared +more for it than for a whole stack of Mr. Gittner's sermons. She had no +friends at all, and but few acquaintances, and altogether had much to +bear up under. Right nobly she did it, too; never a word of complaint to +any one: I believe not even to herself would she admit that she was +treated basely. + +"They kept on in this way for a year after I opened my office. I heard +from Phil now and then,--brief notes that he was alive and well,--and on +the 11th of June, the date of the old captain's death, Grace always +received a long letter from him, full of references to their childhood, +but telling little of himself. Herbert's reputation became worse and +worse, and he deserved all the evil that was said of him. The tradesmen +refused him credit, and the carpets and furniture of their little +cottage grew old and thread-bare and were not replaced. I have seen him +play pool at Sudden's for half a day at a dollar a game, and perhaps +lose his week's wages. He was hand in glove with the set that lurked +about the 'club-room' over the saloon, and almost any night could be +seen at the faro-table fingering his chips and checking off the cards on +his tally-sheet. Nobody but strangers would sit down to a game of poker +or casino with him: he had grown much too skilful. He was what they +called a 'very smooth player:' though I never heard of his being openly +accused of cheating. + +"One of my first cases of consequence was to recover some money which +had been paid to some sharpers by an innocent young fellow from the East +for a worthless mine in Colorado. In connection with it I went to +Denver. Charlie Wayland, a brother of the chemistry professor, happened +to be on the same train. He owns the planing-mill down on Sixth Street +now, you know; but he was a wild young fellow then, and knew everything +that was going on. He intended to have a time, he said, while he was in +Denver; that was what he was going for. He went with me to the St. +James, where I had written Phil to meet me, if he could come down from +Boulder. + +"Young Wayland had his time in the city, and I had finished my business +and was going to start back and leave him to enjoy by himself his trip +to Pike's Peak and the other sights of the State, considerably +disappointed at not having seen Phil, when he came in on us as I was +packing my grip-sack. He was rough and hardy as a bear, and had grown a +tremendous black beard: his heavy hand closed over mine till my knuckles +cracked. We were glad enough to see each other, and had plenty to talk +about. Of course I stayed over another day, and Wayland put off his trip +to Pike's Peak to keep us company, though we didn't care so much for his +presence as he seemed to think we did. But he gave us a little dinner at +Charpiot's, and I forgave his talkativeness for the sake of the +champagne, until he became excited by drinking too much of it and began +to talk about George Herbert. He was stating his system of morality, +which was, in effect,--and Charlie had acted up to it pretty well,--that +a fellow should go it when he was young, but when he was married he +ought to settle down. + +"'Now, I can't stand a fellow like that Herbert,' he said; and for all +my kicks under the table he went on, 'It may be well enough for the +French, but I say in this country it's a devilish shame. He is a young +fellow in Lincoln, Mr. Kendall,--got a splendid wife, and a little baby, +one of the nicest women in the world, and thinks the world of him, and +he goes it with the boys as if he was one of 'em. He never goes home, +though, unless he is sober enough to keep himself straight; but I've +seen him bowling full many a time. Wine, women, and song, you know, and +all that; it may be well enough for us young bloods, but in a fellow of +his circumstances I say it's wrong, damn it! and he oughtn't to do it.' + +"Now, I had told Phil that Grace was well and fairly happy. I had +thought it but just to sink my opinion and give Grace's own account of +herself and deliver her simple message without comment. 'Give Phil my +love,' she had said as I left her the night before I came away. + +"'And how does this Herbert's wife take all this?' asked Phil of +Wayland. + +"'Oh, she doesn't know all, I suppose. If she did, it would probably +kill her. My brother's wife says that if it were not for her child she +doesn't believe Mrs. Herbert would live very long, as it is.' + +"'Her trouble is common talk, then?' observed Phil, sipping his wine and +avoiding my eyes. + +"'Why, yes, to a certain extent; though she doesn't parade it, by any +means. In fact, she lives very much alone; no one ever sees her, hardly, +but George here, who is an old friend, you know. Maybe you used to know +her,' he added suddenly, coming to himself a little. 'Well, if you did,' +he went on, as Phil did not answer, 'you wouldn't know her now, they +say, for the lively, careless girl she was five or six years ago.' And +then he began to talk about the condition of the Chinese in Denver, and +how he had that morning seen one of them kicked off the sidewalk without +having given the least provocation. + +"Phil said nothing further about the Herberts all evening, but just +before we separated for the night he asked me if I could let him have +some money. I unsuspectingly thanked my stars that I could, and told him +so. + +"'Well, then,' he declared, 'I am going back to Lincoln with you +to-morrow.' And, in spite of all I could say, he did. He had his beard +shaved off, bought himself some civilized clothes, and made his +appearance with me on the streets of Lincoln as naturally as if he had +gone away but the day before. His life in the mountains had given him an +air of decision, a certain quiet energy and determination which +impressed one immediately with the sense of his being a man of strong +character, with a powerful will under perfect control. I grew to have so +much confidence in him that I thought his coming would somehow be a +benefit to Grace, though I could not see how; in fact, when I tried to +reason about it, I told myself exactly the contrary. But Phil seemed to +have such implicit confidence in himself, to be so self-sufficient and +so ready for any emergency, and altogether such a perfect man of action, +that he inspired belief and confidence in others. + +"We met Herbert on our way up from the station: he was standing in front +of the 'Gazette' office, laughing and talking with Sudden's barkeeper. +He greeted Phil with cordiality, in spite of the latter's distant +bearing, and told him Grace would be greatly pleased at his arrival. + +"'I suppose she will be glad to see me,' said Phil, as we passed on. And +she was glad, very glad, to see him, but she was far from being made +happy by his coming. I sent a note out to her, and Phil and I followed +shortly after. I did not watch their meeting,--I thought, somehow, that +no one ought to see it,--but I knew he took her in his arms; and when +she came out on the porch to bring me in there were tears in her eyes. + +"We all sat and talked for a long while, Grace with her hand in Phil's +and her eyes on his face, when she was not looking anxiously after my +awkward attempts at caring for her baby; for of course Nannie had been +brought out almost the first thing. I think, from the way in which she +carefully avoided asking him his reasons for coming back, that she +divined what they were. I imagined that she blamed me as being the prime +cause; but there was nothing I could say to undeceive her. In fact, I +thought it better for her to believe so than to know the truth. + +"'She is miserably unhappy, George,' said Phil gloomily, as we walked +away. 'But you were right not to tell me. I can do nothing to help her: +I cannot even openly sympathize with her. It would have been better to +have kept on thinking she was happy: there was a bitter kind of +satisfaction to me in that, but still it was a satisfaction.' + +"Nevertheless Phil did not go back to the mountains. He stayed on here +for a month or more, dividing his time pretty equally between my office +and Grace's little parlor. He very seldom met Herbert. Now and then they +would be together at the cottage for half an hour, if Herbert happened +to come home while he was there, and when they met on the street they +would merely pass the time of day. + +"One evening before going to supper I waited until after seven o'clock +for Phil to come in, and just as I had given him up, and was starting +away alone, he entered the office, looking pale as a ghost, and +evidently in great distress of spirit. + +"'For God's sake, Phil, what is the matter?' I exclaimed, as he sank +upon the sofa and covered his face with his hands. + +"'Go away, George: go away and leave me,' was all he said; then he got +up and began walking violently up and down the room. At last he came +near me and put his hand on my shoulder. 'I've killed her, George, I am +afraid; At least I have killed him right before her eyes, and she may +never get over it. I didn't mean to, George, you know that; but he came +home drunk, and I had gone to bid Grace good-by,--for I had made up my +mind, George, to leave to-morrow,--and he came in. We had been talking +of father, and Grace was very sad and wretched, and there were tears in +her eyes when she kissed me, just as he came in and saw us. She was +frightened at his brutality, and clung to me in terror, when he began +swearing in a torrent of passion and calling her the vilest of names. He +struck at us with his cane. If he had struck me he might yet have been +alive; but when I saw the great red welt on Grace's neck and heard her +cry out, I was wild, George. For an instant, I believe, I could have +stamped him into bits, and if it had been my last act on earth I could +not have helped striking him.' + +"While he spoke, Phil stood with his hand on my shoulder, looking into +my eyes, as if he wanted me to judge him, as if he would read in my very +look whether I blamed him or not. I took his hand. + +"'I thought you would understand,' he went on. 'I did not know I was +going to kill him, but I think I tried to: I struck him with all my +might, Grace threw herself between us and begged me not to hurt him +after he had fallen down, and took hold of my arm as if to hold me. But +when she saw the blood running from his temple, where he had struck it +on the window-sill, and how still and motionless he lay, she tried to go +to him, but could not for weakness and fainting. I carried her into Mrs. +Stanley's, and have not seen her since, but the doctor says she is very +ill. Herbert was dead when they went into the room after I told them +what had happened; and I suppose I had better give myself up to the +law.' + +"You can have no idea how I felt to see my dearest friend in such a +position. And poor Grace!--it was much worse for her. I thought with +Phil that she might never survive the shock and misery of it all. But +she did, and came out, weak and broken down as she was, to give her +testimony at Phil's trial. We had no trouble in getting a jury to acquit +him, and he went back to Colorado without bidding Grace good-by, +although she would have seen him and was even anxious to do so. Some +persons here, mostly women, pretended to think that there had been more +cause for Herbert's jealousy than was generally supposed; but they +belonged to the sanctimonious, hypocritical custom-worshippers. All +really good people remembered what Herbert had been, and refused to see +in him a martyr or even a wronged man. + +"After that Grace supported herself by dress-making and teaching music; +and some two years ago, when we heard that Phil had been killed by a +mine's caving in, and that he had left a little fortune to her and +Nannie, I, as his executor and her friend, induced her to take and use +it,--which she did, with simplicity and thankfulness and with her heart +full of pity and love for poor Phil. Yes, poor Phil! those five or six +years must have been full of misery to him, and he was probably thankful +when the end came. We never heard from him until after his death. There +was a letter that came to me with the will, that had been written long +before. None but they two know what was in it; and I, for one, do not +want to inquire." + +George sat for a long while in silence, looking at the glowing coals in +the huge reservoir stove. Neither Perry nor I cared to interrupt his +revery. At last he roused himself. + +"Well, boys," he said, "it is late: I think we had better go. It is all +over now, and life has gone on calmly for years. Other people have +forgotten that there ever were such persons as Phil or Herbert." + +When Perry and I reached our room we found it was almost three o'clock. +George had walked with us to the door, and very little had been said +between us. I took a cigarette and lay down on the bed. "Perry," I said, +as he was lighting the gas. + +"Sur to you," he answered, in a way he had of imitating a certain +barkeeper of our acquaintance. + +"What do you think of George?" + +"You know what I think of him as well as I do." + +"Yes; but I mean in connection with this that he has told us." + +"I think he acted just like himself all the way through." + +"Don't you think he has been in love with Mrs. Herbert from the first?" + +"Am I in the habit of imagining such nonsense?" + +"You may think it nonsense," I answered, with the quiet fervor of +conviction, "but I am sure it is nothing but the real state of the +case." + +"Bosh!" exclaimed Perry, throwing his boots into a corner; and therewith +the discussion closed. + +About a week ago I had a letter from him, though, in which he recalled +this circumstance and acknowledged that I had been in the right. "They +are going to be married in the fall," he wrote. "I hope they may be +happy, and I suppose they will be; but I don't think Mrs. Herbert ought +to marry him unless she loves him; and I am fearful that she only thinks +to reward long years of faithful affection. George deserves more than +that." This was a good deal for Perry to manage to say. He usually keeps +as far away from such subjects as he well can,--which is partly the +reason, I think, that his opinion thereon is not greatly to be trusted. +As for me, I am sure George's wife will love him as much as he +deserves,--though this is almost an infinite amount,--and that she has +not been far from loving him from the beginning. I have bought a pair of +vases to send them; and I expect that Miss Lucretia Knowles will say, +when she learns how much they cost, that I was very extravagant. Not +that Lu is close or stingy at all; but she has promised to wait until I +have made a start in life, and is naturally impatient for me to get on +as rapidly as possible. + + FRANK PARKE. + + + + +THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. + + +Lover of solitude, + Poet and priest of nature's mysteries, +If but a step intrude, + Thy oracle is mute, thy music dies. + +Oft have I lightly wooed + Sweet Poesy to give me pause of pain, +Oft in her singing mood + Sought to surprise her haunt, and sought in vain. + +And thou art shy as she, + But mortal, or I had not found thy shrine, +To listen breathlessly + If I may make thy hoarded secret mine. + +Thy tender mottled breast, + Dappled the color of our primal sod, +Now quick and song-possessed, + Doth seem to hold the very joy of God,-- + +Joy hid from mortal quest + Of bosky loves on silver-moonéd eves, +And the high-hearted best + That swells thy throat with joy among the leaves. + +Like the Muezzin's call + From some high minaret when day is done, +Among the beeches tall + Thy voice proclaims, "There is no God but one." + +And but one Beauty, too, + Of whose sweet synthesis we ever fail: +She flies if we pursue, + Like thy swift wing down some dim intervale. + +For thou art lightly gone; + Gone is the flute-like note, the yearning strain, +And all the air forlorn + Is breathless till it hear thy voice again. + +But thou wilt not return; + Thou hast the secret of thy joy to keep, +And other hearts must learn + Thy tuneful message, ere the world may sleep,-- + +Sleep lulled by many a dream + Of sylvan sounds that woo the ear in vain, +While still thy numbers seem + To voice the pain of bliss, the bliss of pain. + + MARY C. PECKHAM. + + + + +A FOREST BEAUTY. + + +Last spring, or possibly it was early in June, I was walking, in company +with an intelligent farmer, through a bit of heavy forest that bordered +some fields of corn and wheat, when a golden, flame-like gleam from the +midst of the last year's leaves and twigs on the ground at my feet +attracted my sight. I stooped and picked up a large fragment of a flower +of the _Liriodendron Tulipifera_ which had been let fall by some +foraging squirrel from the dark-green and fragrant top of the giant tree +nearest us. Strange to say, my farmer friend, who owned the rich Indiana +soil in which the tree grew, did not know, until I told him, that the +"poplar," as he called the tulip-tree, bears flowers. For twenty years +he had owned this farm, during which time he had cut down acres of +forest for rails and lumber, without ever having discovered the gorgeous +blossom which to me is the finest mass of form and color to be seen in +our American woods. As I had a commission from an artist to procure a +spray of these blooms for her, I at once began to search the tree-top +with my eyes. The bole, or stem, rose sixty feet, tapering but slightly, +to where some heavy and gnarled limbs put forth, their extremities lost +in masses of peculiarly dark, rich foliage. At first I could distinguish +no flowers, but at length here and there a suppressed glow of orange +shot with a redder tinge showed through the dusky gloom of the leaves. +Lo! there they were, hundreds of them, over three inches in diameter, +bold, gaudy, rich, the best possible examples of nature's pristine +exuberance of force and color. Two gray squirrels were frisking about +among the highest sprays, and it was my good fortune that my friend +carried on his shoulder a forty-four-calibre rifle; for, though it was +death to the nimble little animals, it proved to be the instrument with +which I procured my coveted flowers. It suggested the probability that, +if bullets could fetch down squirrels from that tree-top, they might +also serve to clip off and let fall some of the finest clusters or +sprays of tulip. The experiment was tried, with excellent result. I made +the little artist glad with some of the grandest specimens I have ever +seen. + +The tulip-tree is of such colossal size and it branches so high above +ground that it is little wonder few persons, even of those most used to +the woods, ever see its bloom, which is commonly enveloped in a mass of +large, dark leaves. These leaves are peculiarly outlined, having short +lobes at the sides and a truncated end, while the stem is slender, long, +and wire-like. The flower has six petals and three transparent sepals. +In its centre rises a pale-green cone surrounded by from eighteen to +thirty stamens. Sap-green, yellow of various shades, orange-vermilion, +and vague traces of some inimitable scarlet, are the colors curiously +blended together within and without the grand cup-shaped corolla. It is +Edgar Fawcett who draws an exquisite poetic parallel between the oriole +and the tulip,--albeit he evidently did not mean the flower of our +Liriodendron, which is nearer the oriole colors. The association of the +bird with the flower goes further than color, too; for the tulip-tree is +a favorite haunt of the orioles. Audubon, in the plates of his great +ornithological work, recognizes this by sketching the bird and some +rather flat and weak tulip-sprays together on the same sheet. I have +fancied that nature in some way favors this massing of colors by placing +the food of certain birds where their plumage will show to best +advantage on the one hand, or serve to render them invisible, on the +other, while they are feeding. The golden-winged woodpecker, the downy +woodpecker, the red-bellied woodpecker, and that grand bird the pileated +woodpecker, all seem to prefer the tulip-tree for their nesting-place, +pecking their holes into the rotten boughs, sometimes even piercing an +outer rim of the fragrant green wood in order to reach a hollow place. I +remember, when I was a boy, lying in a dark old wood in Kentucky and +watching a pileated woodpecker at work on a dead tulip-bough that seemed +to afford a great number of dainty morsels of food. There were streaks +of hard wood through the rotten, and whenever his great horny beak +struck one of these it would sound as loud and clear as the blow of a +carpenter's hammer. This fine bird is almost extinct now, having totally +disappeared from nine-tenths of the area of its former habitat. I never +see a tulip-tree without recollecting the wild, strangely-hilarious cry +of the _Hylotomus pileatus_; and I cannot help associating the +giant bloom, its strength of form and vigor of color, with the scarlet +crest and king-like bearing of the bird. The big trees of California +excepted, our tulip-bearing Liriodendron is the largest growth of the +North-American forests; for, while the plane-tree and the +liquidambar-(sweet-gum) tree sometimes measure more in diameter near the +ground, they are usually hollow, and consequently bulged there, while +the tulip springs boldly out of the ground a solid shaft of clear, +clean, and sweetly-fragrant wood, sixty or seventy feet of the bole +being often entirely without limbs, with an average diameter of from +three to five feet. I found a stump in Indiana nearly eight feet in +diameter (measured three feet above the ground), and a tree in Clarke +County, Kentucky, of about the same girth, tapering slowly to the first +branch, fifty-eight feet from the root. + +In nearly all the Western and Southern States the tulip is generally +called poplar, and the lumber manufactured from it goes by the same +name, while in the East it is known as white-wood. The bark is very +thick and cork-like, exhaling an odor peculiarly pungent and agreeable; +the buds and tender twigs in the spring have a taste entirely individual +and unique, very pleasant to some persons, but quite repellent to +others. Gray squirrels and the young of the fox-squirrel eat the buds +and flowers as well as the cone-shaped fruit. Humming-birds and +bumble-bees in the blossoming-time make a dreamy booming among the +shadowy sprays. A saccharine, sticky substance, not unlike honey-dew, +may often be found in the hollows of the immense petals, in search of +which large black ants make pilgrimages from the root to the top of the +largest tulip-trees, patiently toiling for two or three hours over the +rough bark, among the bewildering wrinkles of which it is, a wonder how +the way is kept with such unerring certainty. I have calculated that in +making such a journey the ant does what is equivalent to a man's +pedestrian tour from New York City to the Adirondacks by the roughest +route, and all for a smack of wild honey! But the ant makes his long +excursion with neither alpenstock nor luncheon, and without sleeping or +even resting on the way. + +The tulip-tree grows best in warm loam in which there is a mixture of +sand and vegetable mould superposed on clay and gravel. About its roots +you may find the lady-slipper and the dog-tooth violet, each in its +season. Its bark often bears the rarest lichens, and, near the ground, +short green moss as soft and thick as velvet. The poison-ivy and the +beautiful Virginia creeper like to clamber up the rough trunk, sometimes +clothing the huge tree from foot to top in a mantle of brown feelers and +glossy leaves. Seen at a distance, the tulip-tree and the +black-walnut-tree look very much alike; but upon approaching them the +superior symmetry and beauty of the former are at once discovered. The +leaves of the walnut are gracefully arranged, but they admit too much +light; while the tulip presents grand masses of dense foliage upheld by +knotty, big-veined branches, the perfect embodiment of vigor. + +In the days of bee-hunting in the West, I may safely say that a majority +of bee-trees were tulips. I have found two of these wild Hyblas since I +began my studies for this paper; but the trees have become so valuable +that the bees are left unmolested with their humming and their honey. It +seems that no more appropriate place for a nest of these wild +nectar-brewers could be chosen than the hollow bough of a giant +tulip,--a den whose door is curtained with leaves and washed round with +odorous airs, where the superb flowers, with their wealth of golden +pollen and racy sweets, blaze out from the cool shadows above and +beneath. But the sly old 'coon, that miniature Bruin of our Western +woods, is a great lover of honey, and not at all a respecter of the +rights of wild bees. He is tireless in his efforts to reach every +deposit of waxy comb and amber distillation within the range of his keen +power of scent. The only honey that escapes him is that in a hollow too +small for him to enter and too deep for his fore-paws to reach the +bottom. + +Poe, in his story of the Gold-Bug, falls into one of his characteristic +errors of conscience. The purposes of his plot required that a very +large and tall tree should be climbed, and, to be picturesque, a tulip +was chosen. But, in order to give a truthful air to the story, the +following minutely incorrect description is given: "In youth the +tulip-tree, or _Liriodendron Tulipiferum_, the most magnificent of +American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a +great height without lateral branches; but in its riper age the bark +becomes gnarled and uneven, while _many short limbs make their +appearance on the stem_" The italics are mine, and the sentence +italicized contains an unblushing libel upon the most beautiful of all +trees. Short branches never "appear on the stems" of old tulip-trees. +The bark, however, does grow rough and deeply seamed with age. I have +seen pieces of it six inches thick, which, when cut, showed a fine grain +with cloudy waves of rich brown color, not unlike the darkest mahogany. +But Poe, no matter how unconscionable his methods of art, had the true +artistic judgment, and he made the tulip-tree serve a picturesque turn +in the building of his fascinating story; though one would have had more +confidence in his descriptions of foliage if it had been May instead of +November. + +The growth of the tulip-tree, under favorable circumstances, is strong +and rapid, and, when not crowded or shaded by older trees, it begins +flowering when from eighteen to twenty-five years old. The +blooming-season, according to the exigences of weather, begins from May +20 to June 10 in Indiana, and lasts about a week. The fruit following +the flower is a cone an inch and a half long and nearly an inch in +diameter at the base, of a greenish--yellow color, very pungent and +odorous, and full of germs like those of a pine-cone. The tree is easily +grown from the seed. Its roots are long, flexible, and tough, and when +young are pale yellow and of bitterish taste, but slightly flavored with +the stronger tulip individuality which characterizes the juice and sap +of the buds and the bark of the twigs. The leaves, as I have said, are +dark and rich, but their shape and color are not the half of their +beauty. There is a charm in their motion, be the wind ever so light, +that is indescribable. The rustle they make is not "sad" or "uncertain," +but cheerful and forceful. The garments of some young giantess, such as +Baudelaire sings of, might make that rustling as she would run past one +in a land of colossal persons and things. + +I have been surprised to find so little about the tulip-tree in our +literature. Our writers of prose and verse have not spared the magnolia +of the South, which is far inferior, both tree and flower, to our gaudy, +flaunting giantess of the West. Indeed, if I were an aesthete, and were +looking about me for a flower typical of a robust and perfect sentiment +of art, I should greedily seize upon the bloom of the tulip-tree. What a +"craze" for tulip borders and screens, tulip wallpapers and tulip +panel-carvings, I would set going in America! The colors, old gold, +orange, vermilion, and green,--the forms, gentle curves and classical +truncations, and all new and American, with a woodsy freshness and +fragrance in them. The leaves and flowers of the tulip-tree are so +simple and strong of outline that they need not be conventionalized for +decorative purposes. During the process of growth the leaves often take +on accidental shapes well suited to the variations required by the +designer. A wise artist, going into the woods to educate himself up to +the level of the tulip, could not fail to fill his sketch-books with +studies of the birds that haunt the tree, and especially such brilliant +ones as the red tanager, the five or six species of woodpecker, the +orioles, and the yellow-throated warbler. The Japanese artists give us +wonderful instances of the harmony between birds, flowers, and foliage; +not direct instances, it is true, but rather suggested ones, from which +large lessons might be learned by him who would carry the thought into +our woods with him in the light of a pure and safely-educated taste. +Take, for instance, the yellow-bellied woodpecker, with its red fore-top +and throat, its black and white lines, and its bright eyes, together +with its pale yellow shading of back and belly, and how well it would +"work in" with the tulip-leaves and flowers! Even its bill and feet +harmonize perfectly with the bark of the older twigs. So the +golden-wing, the tanager, and the orioles would bear their colors +harmoniously into any successful tulip design. + +South of the Alleghany Mountains I have not found as fine specimens of +this tree as I have in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Everywhere the +saw-mills are fast making sad havoc. The walnut and the tulip are soon +to be no more as "trees with the trees in the forest." Those growing in +the almost inaccessible "pockets" of the Kentucky and Tennessee +mountains may linger for a half-century yet, but eventually all will be +gone from wherever a man and a saw can reach them. + +The oak of England and the pine of Norway are not more typical than the +tulip-tree. The symmetry, vigor, and rich colors of our tree might +represent the force, freedom, and beauty of our government and our +social influences. If the American eagle is the bird of freedom, the +tulip is the tree of liberty,--strong, fragrant, giant-flowered, +flaunting, defiant, yet dignified and steadfast. + +A very intelligent old man, who in his youth was a great bear- and +panther-hunter, has often told me how the black bear and the tawny +catamount used to choose the ample "forks" of the tulip-tree for their +retreats when pursued by his dogs. The raccoon has superseded the larger +game, and it was but a few weeks ago that I found one lying, like a +striped, fluffy ball of fur, in a crotch ninety feet above ground. "Our +white-wood" lumber has grown so valuable that no land-owner will allow +the trees to be cut by the hunter, and hence the old-fashioned +'coon-hunt has fallen among the things of the past, for it seems that +the 'coon is quite wise enough to choose for the place of his indwelling +the costliest tulip of the woods. I have already casually mentioned the +fact that the tulip-tree's bloom is scarcely known to exist by even +intelligent and well-informed Americans. Every one has heard of the +mimosa, the dogwood, the red-bud, and the magnolia, but not of the +tulip-bearing tree, with its incomparably bold, dashing, giantesque +flower, once so common in the great woods of our Western and Middle +States. I have not been able to formulate a good reason for this. Every +one whose attention is called to the flower at once goes into raptures +over its wild beauty and force of coloring, and wonders why poems have +not been written about it and legends built upon it. It is a grander +bloom than that which once, under the same name, nearly bankrupted +kingdoms, though it cannot be kept in pots and greenhouses. Its colors +are, like the idiosyncrasies of genius, as inimitable as they are +fascinating and elusive. Audubon was something of an artist, but his +tulip-blooms are utter failures. He could color an oriole, but not the +corolla of this queen of the woods. The most sympathetic and experienced +water-colorist will find himself at fault with those amber-rose, +orange-vermilion blushes, and those tender cloudings of yellow and +green. The stiff yet sensitive and fragile petals, the transparent +sepals, with their watery shades and delicate washing of olive-green, +the strong stamens and peculiarly marked central cone, are scarcely less +difficult. All the colors elude and mock the eager artist. While the +gamut of promising tints is being run, he looks, and, lo! the grand +tulip has shrivelled and faded. Again and again a fresh spray is fetched +in, but when the blooming-season is over he is still balked and +dissatisfied. The wild, Diana-like purity and the half-savage, +half-æsthetic grace have not wholly escaped him, but the color,--ah I +there is the disappointment. + +I have always nursed a fancy that there is something essential to +perfect health in the bitters and sweets of buds and roots and gums and +resins of the primeval woods. Why does the bird keep, even in old age, +the same brilliancy of plumage and the same clearness of eye? Is it +because it gets the _elixir vitæ_ from the hidden reservoir of +nature? Be this as it may, there are times when I sincerely long for a +ball of liquidambar or a mouthful of pungent spring buds. The inner bark +of the tulip-tree has the wildest of all wild tastes, a peculiarly +grateful flavor when taken infinitesimally, something more savage than +sassafras or spice-wood, and full of all manner of bitter hints and +astringent threatenings: it has long been used as the very best +appetizer for horses in the early spring, and it is equally good for +man. The yellow-bellied woodpecker knows its value, taking it with head +jauntily awry and quiet wing-tremblings of delight. The squirrels get +the essence of it as they munch the pale leaf-buds, or later when they +bite the cones out of the flowers. The humming-birds and wild bees are +the favored ones, however, for they get the ultimate distillation of all +the racy and fragrant elements from root to bloom. + +The Indians knew the value of the tulip-tree as well as its beauty. +Their most graceful pirogues were dug from its bole, and its odorous +bark served to roof their rude houses. No boat I have ever tried runs so +lightly as a well-made tulip pirogue, or dug-out, and nothing under +heaven is so utterly crank and treacherous. Many an unpremeditated +plunge into cold water has one caused me while out fishing or +duck-shooting on the mountain-streams of North Georgia. If you dare +stand up in one, the least waver from a perfect balance will send the +sensitive, skittish thing a rod from under your feet, which of course +leaves you standing on the water without the faith to keep you from +going under; and usually it is your head that you are standing on. But, +to return to our tree, I would like to see its merits as an ornamental +and shade tree duly recognized. If grown in the free air and sunlight, +it forms a heavy and beautifully-shaped top, on a smooth, bright bole, +and I think it might be forced to bloom about the fifteenth year. The +flowers of young, thrifty trees that have been left standing in open +fields are much larger, brighter, and more graceful than those of old +gnarled forest-trees, but the finest blooms I ever saw were on a giant +tulip in a thin wood of Indiana. A storm blew the tree down in the midst +of its flowering, and I chanced to see it an hour later. The whole great +top was yellow with the gaudy cups, each gleaming "like a flake of +fire," as Dr. Holmes says of the oriole. Some of them were nearly four +inches across. Last year a small tree, growing in a garden near where I +write, bloomed for the first time. It was about twenty years old. Its +flowers were paler and shallower than those gathered at the same time in +the woods. It may be that transplanting, or any sort of forcing or +cultivation, may cause the blooms to deteriorate in both shape and +color, but I am sure that plenty of light and air is necessary to their +best development. + +In one way the tulip-tree is closely connected with the most picturesque +and interesting period of American development. I mean the period of +"hewed-log" houses. Here and there among the hills of Indiana, Ohio, +Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, there remains one of those low, +heavy, lime-chinked structures, the best index of the first change from +frontier-life, with all its dangers and hardships, to the peace and +contentment of a broader liberty and an assured future. In fact, to my +mind, a house of hewed tulip-logs, with liberal stone chimneys and heavy +oaken doors, embowered in an old gnarled apple-and cherry-orchard, +always suggests a sort of simple honesty and hospitality long since +fallen into desuetude, but once the most marked characteristic of the +American people. It is hard to imagine any meanness or illiberality +being generated in such a house. Patriotism, domestic fidelity, and +spotless honesty used to sit before those broad fireplaces wherein the +hickory logs melted to snowy ashes. The men who hewed those logs "hewed +to the line" in more ways than one. Their words, like the bullets from +their flint-locked rifles, went straight to the point. The women, too, +they of the "big wheel" and the "little wheel," who carded and spun and +wove, though they may have been a trifle harsh and angular, were +diamond-pure and the mothers of vigorous offspring. + +I often wonder if there may not be a perfectly explainable connection +between the decay or disappearance of the forests and the evaporation, +so to speak, of man's rugged sincerity and earnestness. Why should not +the simple ingredients that make up the worldly part of our souls and +bodies be found in all their purity where nature's reservoir has never +been disturbed or its contents tainted? Why may not the subtile force +that develops the immense tulip-tree and clothes it with such a starry +mantle have power also to invigorate and intensify the life of man? "I +was rocked in a poplar trough," was the politician's boast a generation +ago. Such a declaration might mean a great deal if the sturdy, towering +strength of the tree out of which the trough was dug could have been +absorbed by the embryo Congressman. The "oldest inhabitant" of every +Western neighborhood recollects the "sugar-trough" used in the +maple-sap-gathering season, ere the genuine "sugar-camp" had been +abandoned. Young tulip-trees about fifteen inches in diameter were cut +down and their boles sawed into lengths of three feet. These were split +in two, and made into troughs by hollowing the faces and charring them +over a fire. During the bright spring days of sugar-making the young +Western mother would wrap her sturdy babe in its blanket and put it in a +dry sugar-trough to sleep while she tended the boiling syrup. A man born +sixty years ago in the region of tulip-trees and sugar-camps was +probably cradled in a "poplar" trough; and there were those born who +would now be sixty years old if they had not in unwary infancy tumbled +into the enormous rainwater-troughs with which every well-regulated +house was furnished. I have seen one or two of these having a capacity +of fifty barrels dug from a single tulip bole. In such a pitfall some +budding Washington or Lincoln may have been whelmed without causing so +much as a ripple on the surface of history. + +But, turning to take leave of my stately and blooming Western beauty, I +see that she is both a blonde and a brunette. She has all the dreamy, +languid grace of the South combined with the _verve_ and force of +the North. She is dark and she is fair, with blushing cheeks and dewy +lips, sound-hearted, strong, lofty, self-reliant, a true queen of the +woods, more stately than Diana, and more vigorous than Maid Marian. + + MAURICE THOMPSON. + + + + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + +Daniel Webster's "Moods." + + +A late magazine-article treating of one of America's illustrious +dead--Daniel Webster--alluded to his well-known sombre moods, and the +gentle suasion by which his accomplished wife was enabled to shorten +their duration or dispel them entirely. + +On an occasion well remembered, though the "chiel takin' notes" was but +a simple child, I myself was present when the grim, moody reticence of +the great orator converted fully twoscore ardent admirers into personal +foes. + +During the summer of 1837, Mr. Webster, in pursuit of a Presidential +nomination, executed his famous tour through the Great West, at that +time embracing only the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and +Illinois. The first infant railway of the continent being yet in +swaddling-clothes, the journey was accomplished by private conveyance, +and the bumps and bruises stoically endured in probing bottomless pits +of prairie-mud, diversified by joltings over rude log-ways and intrusive +stumps, were but a part of the cruel price paid for a glittering prize +which in the end vanished before the aspirant like fairy gold. At +stations within reach of their personal influence, local politicians +flew to the side of the brilliant statesman with the beautiful fidelity +of steel to magnet: hence he was environed by a self-appointed escort of +obsequious men, constantly changing as he progressed. + +"Our member" spared neither whip nor spur, and joined the triumphal +march at Chicago. Mr. Webster was then on the home-stretch, and it was +shortly after this date that the incident I describe occurred. It was a +time of wild Western speculation; towns and cities sprung into being as +buoyantly as soap-bubbles, and often proved as perishing. Major Morse +was president of a company which, perceiving a promising site for harbor +and town on the shore of Michigan, where yet the Indian charmed the +deer, secured a tract of land and proceeded to lay out an inviting town +of--corner-lots. The major's family occupied temporarily a wide log +house, with a rough "lean-to" of bright pine boards freshly cut at the +mill below. Outside, the dwelling was merely a hut of primitive pattern +nestling under the shade of a tall tree; inside, it presented a large +room divided by curtains into cooking-and sleeping-apartments, +surmounted by a stifling loft reached by the rungs of a permanent +perpendicular ladder. Savory odors of wild fowl and venison daily +drifted up the charred throat of its clay-daubed chimney, and by the +same route, whenever the rolling smoke permitted, children sitting about +the hearth took observations of the clouds and heavenly bodies, +according to the time of day. A narrow passage cut through the heart of +the old logs led into the fragrant "lean-to," where against the wall +rested a massive sideboard of dark mahogany, its top alight with glitter +of glass and silver, its inmost recesses redolent of the creature +comforts which the hospitality of the times demanded. Vases and meaner +crockery overflowed everywhere with the gorgeousness of blossoms daily +plucked from sandy slopes or the verge of the adjacent marsh. Bright +carpeting kindly hid the splintered floor, and pictures did like service +for the rough walls, while the whitest of muslin festooned the tiny +windows. + +On the morning of the Occasion, cheerful sunshine filtered through the +quivering leaves of the big tree near the house, glorifying a late +breakfast-table, around which the family were gathering, when horses +driven in hot haste were reined up at the door. Stepping quickly forth, +the major found his hand clasped by "our member," who begged the +hospitalities of the house for the great Daniel Webster and suite, just +at hand. Despite political differences, the desired welcome was heartily +accorded, and with crucified appetites the family retired to give place +to the unbidden guests, who filed into the room bandying compliments +with their gay host. A kingly head, grandly set above powerful +shoulders, easily marked the man in whom the interest of the hour +centred. Strangely quiet amid the noisy group, he moved alone, nor waked +responsive even to his host, until a brighter sally than usual provoked +a grim kind of laughter. Then he suddenly aroused himself to new life, +joining with a burst of humor in the pleasantries of the feast. The +unexpected brightness of the cosy room was not lost on Mr. Webster, who, +on entering, paused at the threshold and glanced around in an +appreciative manner, while a deep, restful sigh escaped his weary soul. +The dreary drive through the wilderness lent an added charm to the +little oasis of civilized comfort thus encountered in the lonely +backwoods of a Western quarter-section. + +News of the distinguished arrival speedily flew among the laborers +running the mill and constructing dwellings for the in-rushing +population. Tom and Bill of the hammer, and Mike and Patsey of the +spade, alike forsook their tools in order to witness the exit of a hero +from the major's door. They even hoped to receive some expression of +wisdom in golden words from lips used to the flow of stirring thought +and burning eloquence. Lounging patiently under the trees, the expectant +men listened to the clink and clatter of serving and the bursts of +merriment within. At the conclusion of the breakfast and the subsequent +chat, Mr. Webster asked for his hostess, to whom with great courtesy he +expressed his sense of "the kindness extended to the stranger in a +strange land," and, adieus being over, he approached the open door-way, +and looked strangely annoyed at the sight of a double line of +white-sleeved stalwart men who stood with bared heads awaiting his +appearance. Then a great _mood_ fell upon the _man_, with +never a gentle soul at hand to charm it away. Not a feature stirred in +recognition of the, voluntary homage rendered by the throng of humble +men,--men controlling the ballots so ardently desired and sought. With +hat pressed firmly over an ominously lowering brow, looking straight +before him with cavernous, tired eyes which seemed to observe nothing +whereon they rested, Webster walked through the hushed lines in grave +stateliness. The crowd was only waiting for a spark of encouragement to +shout itself hoarse in enthusiastic huzzahs. Eyes shone with suppressed +excitement, and strong hearts swelled with pride in the towering man +whose fame had surged like a tidal wave over the land. Yet with insolent +deliberation he mounted the step and seated himself in the waiting +carriage, giving no sign of having even noticed the flattering +demonstration made in his honor. The smiles, nods, and hand-clasps +expected of the chief were lavishly dispensed by his mortified +satellites, all of which availed not to smother the curses, loud and +deep, splitting the summer air, as the wheels disappeared in the forest. + +"Begorra, thin," bawled Patsey, "it's mesilf ut'll niver vote fur this +big Yankee 'ristocrat, _inne_how. Ef he wuz a foine Irish jintleman, +now, er even a r'yal prince av the blud, there'd be no sinse in his +airs, bedad!" + +Tom and Bill were less noisy in their just wrath, but it ran equally +deep: "He belongs to the party. But when Daniel comes up for +office--look out! We'll score a hard day's work against him, party or no +party!" + +The major rose to the occasion. Being a bit of a politician and an +old-school Democrat, he could not resist the opportunity presented. With +a humorous air he sprang to the nearest stump and improvised an electric +little speech which sent the men back to labor, _madder_ if not +wiser voters. + +With other living witnesses of the events narrated, often wondering over +the strangeness of the scene of long ago, I am truly glad at the +eleventh hour to find the solution of the problem in _moods_, +rather than in a snobbish pride unbefitting the greatness of the man. + + F.C.M. + + + + +Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest. + + +A great deal has been said and written lately about feuds and lynch-law +in the districts around the lower Mississippi. The reports of recent +lynching there have probably been very much exaggerated; and it would +certainly be unfair to form a positive opinion about the matter without +a thorough knowledge of all the circumstances. + +No one who visited that part of the country before the war could return +to it now without noticing the higher degree of order and the numerous +evidences of progress. But lynching law-breakers and resorting to the +knife or pistol to settle private disputes were once ordinary +occurrences there, and they were usually marked by a businesslike +coolness which gave them a distinctive character. + +In the winter of 1853-54 I was clerk of a steamer owned in Wheeling. The +steamer was obliged to wait some time at Napoleon for a rise in the +Arkansas River to enable it to pass over the bar at the confluence of +that river with the Mississippi. Napoleon then had between three and +four hundred inhabitants, and was considered the worst place on the +Mississippi except Natchez-under-the-Hill. Some of the dwellings were of +considerable size, and, judging from their exterior, were kept in good +order. They were the residences of the few who belonged to the better +class, and who, to a certain extent, exercised control over their less +reputable townsmen. + +We were treated very kindly by the citizens, and they declined any +return for their hospitality. We soon noticed that we were never invited +to visit any of them at their dwellings. At their places of business we +were cordially welcomed, and they seemed to take a great deal of +pleasure in giving us information and affording us any amusement in +their power. + +Having some canned oysters among our stores, we twice invited a number +of our friends to an oyster-supper. Although our invitations included +their families, none but male guests attended. This, together with the +fact that we rarely saw any ladies on the street, seemed very strange to +us; but we made no comments, for we discovered very soon after our +arrival that it would not be prudent to ask questions about matters that +did not concern us. At church one Sunday night we noticed that all the +ladies present--composing nearly the whole of the congregation--were +dressed in black, and many of them were in deep mourning. This gave us +some idea as to the reason for their exclusiveness. Soon afterward a +murder occurred almost within my own sight. Two friends were standing on +the street and talking pleasantly to each other, when they were +approached by a man whom they did not know. Suddenly a second man came +close to the stranger, and, without saying a word, drew a pistol and +shot him dead. The murderer was instantly seized, bound, and placed in +the jail. + +The jail was a square pen about thirty feet high, built of hewn logs, +without any opening except in the roof. This opening was only large +enough to admit one person at a time, and was protected by a heavy door. +The prisoner was forced by his captors to mount the roof by means of a +ladder, and then was lowered with a rope to the ground inside. The rope +was withdrawn, the door securely fastened, and he was caged, without any +possible means of escape, to await the verdict and sentence of the jury +summoned by "Judge Lynch." + +The trial was very short. The facts were proven, and the verdict was +that the murderer should be severely whipped and made to leave the town +forthwith. The whipping was administered, and he left immediately +afterward. + +Of course there was a good deal of excitement over this matter, and all +the male inhabitants collected to talk about it. The discussion extended +to some similar cases of recent occurrence and soon gave rise to angry +disputes. In a very short time pistols and knives were produced, +invitations to fight were given, and it seemed that blood would soon be +shed. By the interference, however, of some of the older and more +influential citizens, quiet was restored, and no one was injured. We +were afterward told that there was hardly a man in the crowd who had not +lost a father, brother, or near male relative by knife or pistol, either +in a supposed fair fight or by foul means. + +At that time the hatred of negroes from "free States" was intense, while +those from "slave States" were treated kindly and regarded merely as +persons of an inferior race. + +Some time before our arrival, a steamer belonging to Pittsburg had +stopped at Napoleon, and the colored steward went on shore to buy +provisions. While bargaining for them he became involved in a quarrel +with a white man and struck him. He was instantly seized, and would no +doubt have paid for his temerity with his life if some one in the crowd +had not exclaimed, "A live nigger's worth twenty dead ones! Let's sell +him!" This suggestion was adopted. In a very short time the unfortunate +steward was bound, mounted on a swift horse, and hurried away toward the +interior of the State. He was guarded by a party of mounted men, and in +less than a week's time he was working on a plantation as a slave for +life, with no prospect of communicating with his relatives or friends. + +One morning the captain of the steamer and I saw a crowd collect, and on +approaching it we found a debate going on as to what should be done with +a large and well-dressed colored man, evidently under the influence of +liquor, who was seated on the ground with his arms and legs bound. He +had knocked one white man down and struck several others while they were +attempting to secure him. The crowd was undecided whether to give him a +good whipping for his offence or to send for his master (who lived on +the other side of the river, in Mississippi) and let him inflict the +punishment. Finally, the master was sent for. He soon appeared, and +stated that he had given his "_boy_" permission to come over to +Napoleon, and had also given him money to buy some things he wanted. He +was "a good boy," and had never been in trouble before, and if the +citizens of Napoleon would forgive him this time he, the master, would +guarantee that the boy should never visit Napoleon again. The master +also stated he would "stand drinks" for the whole crowd. This gave +general satisfaction. The drinks were taken, and the master and his +slave were enthusiastically escorted to their dug-out on the shore. Much +hand-shaking took place, in which the "boy" participated, and many +invitations were given to both to visit Napoleon again; after which they +rowed contentedly to their home. + + J.A.M. + + + + +The Etymology of "Babe." + + +In the latest English etymological dictionary, that by the Rev. W.W. +Skeat, we read under the word _babe_, "Instead of _babe_ being +formed from the infantine sound _ba_, it has been modified from +_maqui_, probably by infantine influences. _Baby_ is a diminutive +form." + +_Maqui_ is Early Welsh for _son_, and those to whom Mr. +Skeat's modified _maqui_ seems absurd will be pleased to find its +absurdity indicated, if not proved, by a Greek author of the sixth +century. + +The following passage in the seventy-sixth section of Damascius's "Life +of Isidorus" has escaped the notice of English etymologists generally: + +"Hermias had a son (the elder of his philosopher sons) by Ædesia, and +one day, when the child was seven months old, Ædesia was playing with +him, as mothers do, calling him _bábion_ and _paidíon_, +speaking in diminutives. But Hermias overheard her, and was vexed, and +censured these childish diminutives, pronouncing an articulate +reprimand.... Now the Syrians, and especially those who dwell in +Damascus, call newborn children, and even those that have passed the +period of childhood, _bábia_, from the goddess _Babía_, whom +they worship." + +What is _bábion_ but the English _baby_, what _bábia_ but +the English _babies?_ We can hardly suppose that our English words +are derived from Syriac words in use fourteen centuries ago, or that the +latter were "modified from _maqui_" by "infantine" or other +influences. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that they were +alike "formed from the infantine sound _ba_," unless we accept +Damascius's derivation from _Babía_. + +Unfortunately, we know no more concerning this goddess than did the +learned John Selden, who, writing two hundred and twenty-odd years ago, +"De Dis Syris," says, on page 296 of that work, "I cannot conjecture +whether _Babía,_ who seems to have been reverenced among the +Syrians as goddess of childhood and youth, is identical with the Syrian +Venus or not, and I do not remember to have met with any mention of this +deity except in Damascius's Life of Isidorus." + +Selden's memory was not at fault: the words _bábion, bábia_, and +_Babía_ occur only in the passage above quoted. + +In the absence of other evidence than Damascius's own, we may well +question whether he has not inverted the etymological relation between +the goddess and the babies. Most divinities owe their names to the +attributes or functions imputed to them by their worshippers. It seems, +therefore, more probable that the Syrian protectress of babies owes her +name to the _bábia_ than that they were called _bábia_ in her +honor. If, however, we accept Damascius's theory of their relation, what +forbids us to conjecture that the goddess's name was itself "formed from +the infantine sound _ba_"? In any case, the little domestic scene +between the priggish father and the dandling mother is amusing and +instructive to parents as well as to etymologists. + + S.E.T. + + + + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + + +"The Russian Revolt: its Causes, Condition, and Prospects." + By Edmund Noble. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + +The internal condition of Russia, though a matter of more than +speculative interest to its immediate neighbors, is not likely to become +what that of France has so often been,--a European question. The +institutions of other states will not be endangered by revolutionary +proceedings in the dominions of the Czar, nor will any oppression +exercised over his subjects be thought to justify foreign intervention. +Even Polish insurrections never led to any more active measures on the +part of the Western powers than delusive expressions of sympathy and +equally vain remonstrances. In these days, not Warsaw, but St. +Petersburg, is the centre of disaffection, and the ramifications extend +inland, their action stimulated, it may be, to some extent from external +sources, but incapable of sending back any impulse in return. Nihilism, +being based on the absence, real or supposed, of any political +institutions worth preserving in Russia, cannot spread to the +discontented populations of other countries. Even German socialism +cannot borrow weapons or resources from a nation which has no large +proletariat and whose industries are still in their infancy. In the +nature of its government, the character of its people, and the problems +it is called upon to solve, Russia stands, as she has always stood, +alone, neither furnishing examples to other nations nor able, +apparently, to copy those which other nations have set. The great +peculiarity of the revolutionary movement is not simply that it does not +proceed from the mass of the people,--which is a common case +enough,--but that it runs counter to their instincts and their needs and +rouses not their sympathy but their aversion. The peasants, who +constitute four-fifths of the population, have no motive for seeking to +overturn the government. Their material condition, since the abolition +of serfdom, is superior to that of the Italian peasantry, who enjoy the +fullest political rights. As members of the village communities, they +hold possession and will ultimately obtain absolute ownership of more +than half the soil of the country, excluding the domains of the state. +In the same capacity they exercise a degree of local autonomy greater +than that which is vested in the communes of France. They are separated +from the other classes by differences of education, of habits, and of +interests, while the autocracy that rules supreme over all is regarded +by them as the protecting power that is to redress their grievances and +fulfil all their aspirations. The discontent which has bred so many +conspiracies, and which aims at nothing less than the subversion of the +monarchy, is confined to a portion of the educated classes, and proceeds +from causes that affect only those classes. Among them alone is there +any perception of the wide and ever-increasing difference between the +Russian system of government and that of every other European country, +any craving for the exercise of political rights and the activity of +political life, any experience of the restrictions imposed on thought +and speech and the obstacles to the advancement and diffusion of +knowledge and ideas, any consciousness that the corrupt, vexatious, and +oppressive bureaucracy by which all affairs are administered is a direct +outgrowth of unlimited and irresponsible power. Nor are they united in +desiring to destroy, or even to modify, this system. Apart from those +who find in it the means of satisfying their personal interests and +ambitions, and the larger number in whom indolence and the love of ease +stifle all thought and aspiration, there are many who believe, with +reason, that the country is not ripe for the adoption of European +institutions, that the foundations on which to construct them do not yet +exist, and that any attempt to introduce them would lead only to +calamitous results; while there is even a large party which contends +that, far from needing them, Russia is happily situated in being exempt +from the struggles and the storms, the wars of classes and of factions, +that have attended the course of Western civilization, and in being left +free to work out her own development by original and more peaceful +methods. No doubt the great majority of thinking people feel the +necessity for some large measures of reform and look forward to the +establishment of a constitutional system and the gradual extension of +political freedom to the mass of the nation. But there is no evidence +that the revolutionary spirit has spread or excited sympathy in any such +degree as its audacity, its resoluteness, and the terror created by its +sinister achievements have seemed at times to indicate. The active +members of the propaganda are almost exclusively young persons, living +apart from their families, of scanty means and without conspicuous +ability. They belong to the lower ranks of the nobility, the rising +_bourgeois_ class, and, above all, that large body of necessitous +students, including many of the children of the ill-paid clergy, whom M. +Leroy-Beaulieu styles the "intellectual proletariat." Classical studies, +German metaphysics, and the scientific theories and discoveries of +recent years have had much to do with the fermentation that has led to +so many violent explosions, the universities have been the chief +_foci_ of agitation, and in the attempts to suppress it the +government has laid itself open to the reproach of making war upon +learning and seeking to stifle intellectual development. + +Such is the view presented by recent French and English writers who have +made the condition of Russia a subject of minute investigation. Mr. +Noble deals more in generalizations than in details, and sets forth a +theory which it is difficult to reconcile with the facts and conclusions +derived from other sources. According to him, Russia is, and has been +from the first establishment of the imperial rule, in a state of chronic +revolt. This revolt is "the protest of eighty millions of people against +their continued employment as a barrier in the path of peaceful human +progress and national development." "It is not the educated classes +alone, but the masses,--peasant and artisan, land-owner and student,--of +whose aspirations, at least, it may be said, as it was said of the +earliest and freest Russians, '_Neminem ferant imperatorem_.'" +Before the rise of the empire "the Russians lived as freemen and happy." +They "enjoyed what, in a political sense, we are fairly entitled to +regard as the golden age of their national existence." The _veché_, +or popular assembly, "was from a picturesque point of view the grandest, +from an administrative point of view the simplest, and from a moral +point of view the most equitable form of government ever devised by +man." The autocracy, established by force, has encountered at all +periods a steady, if passive, opposition, as exemplified in the Raskol, +or separation of the "Old Believers" from the Orthodox Church, and in +the resistance offered to the innovations of Peter the Great: "in the +one as in the other case the popular revolt was against authority and +all that it represented." It is admitted that "among the peasants the +revolt must long remain in its passive stage.... Yet year by year, +partly owing to educational processes, partly owing to propaganda, even +the peasants are being won over to the growing battalions of +discontent." The autocracy is "doomed." "The forces that undermine it +are cumulative and relentless." Its "true policy is to spread its +dissolution--after the manner of certain financial operations--over a +number of years." "The method of the change is really not of importance. +The vital matter is that the reform shall at once concede and +practically apply the principle of popular self-government, granting at +the same time the fullest rights of free speech and public assembly." +Finally, "the Tsar and his advisers" are bidden to "beware," since "the +spectacle of this frightfully unequal struggle ... is not lost upon +Europe, or even upon America." + +The horrible crudity, as we are fain to call it, of the notions thus +rhetorically set forth must be obvious to every reader acquainted with +the history of the rise and growth of states in general, however little +attention he may have given to those of Russia in particular. The +institutions of Russia differ fundamentally from those of other European +states. But the difference lies in historical conditions and +development, not in the principles underlying all human society. No +people has ever had a permanent government of its own resting solely or +chiefly on force. Wherever autocracy has acquired a firm footing, it has +done so by suppressing anarchy, establishing order and authority, and +securing national unity and independence. Nowhere has it fulfilled these +conditions more completely than in Russia. It grew up when the country +was lying prostrate under the Tartar domination, and it supplied the +impulse and the means by which that yoke was thrown off. It absorbed +petty principalities, extinguished their conflicting ambitions, and +consolidated their resources; checked the migrations of a nomad +population, and brought discordant races under a common rule; repelled +invasions to which, in its earlier disintegrated condition, the nation +must have succumbed, and built up an empire hardly less remarkable for +its cohesion and its strength than for the vastness of its territory. In +a word, it performed, more rapidly and thoroughly, the same work which +was accomplished by monarchy between the eighth and the fifteenth +century in Western Europe. If its methods were more analogous to those +of Eastern despotisms than of European sovereignties, if its excesses +were unrestrained and its power uncurbed, this is only saying that +Russia, instead of sharing in the heritage of Roman civilization and in +the mutual intercourse and common discipline through which the Western +communities were developed, was cut off from association with its more +fortunate kindred and subjected to influences from which they were, for +the most part, exempt. To hold up the crude democracy and turbulent +assemblies common in a primitive state of society as evidence that the +Russian people possessed at an early period of its history a beautifully +organized constitutional system; to contend that the most absolute +monarchy in existence has maintained itself for centuries, without +encountering a single serious insurrection, in a nation whose +distinguishing characteristic is its inability to endure a ruler; to +treat the introduction of a totally different and far more complex +system of government, the product elsewhere of elements that have no +existence in Russia, and of long struggles supplemented by violent +revolutions, as a thing that may be effected without danger or +difficulty, the "method" being "really not of importance,"--all this +strikes us as evincing a condition of mind that can only be regarded as +a survival from the period when the theories and illusions of the +eighteenth-century _philosophes_ had not yet been dissipated by the +French Revolution. + + + + +"A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago: + A Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883." + By Henry O. Forbes, F.R.G.S. + New York: Harper & Brothers. + + +Although a long succession of naturalists have done their best to +familiarize readers with the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Mr. +Forbes's book is full not only of freshly-adjusted and classified facts, +but of curious and valuable details of his own discoveries. Even the +best-known islands of the group are so inexhaustible in every form of +animal and vegetable life that much remains for the patient gleaner +after Darwin and Wallace, who found here some of the most striking +illustrations of their deductions and theories, It is well known that +startling contrasts in the distribution of plants and animals are met +with in these islands, even when they lie side by side; and in no other +part of the world is the history of mutations of climate, of the law of +migrations, and of the changes of sea and land, so open and palpable to +the scientific observer. Mr. Forbes's object seems to have been to visit +those islands which offer the most striking deviations from the more +general type. His earlier explorations were made alone, but during the +last eighteen months he was accompanied by a brave woman who came out +from England to Batavia to be married to him at the close of 1881. It is +painful to read of the deadly ordeals of climate and the excessive +discomforts and privations to which this lady was exposed. Her diary, +kept at Dilly during her husband's absence, while she was ill, utterly +deserted, and in danger of a lonely and agonizing death, makes a +singular contrast to the record of Miss Bird and others of her sex who +seem to have triumphed over all the vicissitudes possible to women. To +the general reader Mr. Forbes's travels in Java, Sumatra, and the +Keeling Islands are far more satisfactory than in those less familiar, +like Timor and Buru. In the light of the terrible events of 1883, +everything connected with the islands lying on either side of the +Straits of Sunda is of the highest interest. Those appalling disasters +which swept away part of Sumatra and Java and altered the configuration +of the whole volcanic group surrounding Krakatoa took place only a few +weeks after Mr. and Mrs. Forbes sailed for home. This widespread +destruction seemed to the inhabitants the culmination of a series of +calamitous years of drought, wet, blight, bovine pestilence, and fever. +It was Mr. Forbes's fortune to be in Java during these bad seasons, +which, from combined causes, made it impossible for flowers to perfect +themselves and fructify. This circumstance was, however, useful to the +naturalist, offering him an opportunity for experiments in the +fertilization of orchids and other plants. The account of the Dutch +cinchona-plantations, which now furnish quinine of the best quality, is +full of interest. + +Mr. Forbes's visit to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, in the Indian Ocean, +cannot be passed over. He was eager to visit a coral-reef, and this +atoll, stocked and planted only by the flotsam and jetsam of the seas, +the winds, and migrating birds, offers to the naturalist a most +delightful study; for here, progressing almost under his eyes, are the +phenomena which have made Bermuda and other coral groups. Little as the +Keeling Islands seem to offer in the way of secure habitation, they have +a population of some hundreds of people, presided over by their +energetic proprietor, Mr. Ross, who has planted the atoll thickly with +cocoanut palms. Gathering the nuts and expressing the oil is the chief +industry of the inhabitants, who are all taught to work and support +themselves in some useful way. No money is in circulation on the island: +a system of exchange and barter with agents in Batavia for necessary +products takes its place. This thriving little community has, however, +terrible forces to contend against. Darwin recounts the effects of an +earthquake which took place two years before his visit to the islands in +1836; a fierce cyclone brought ruin and devastation in 1862; and in 1876 +a terrible experience of cyclone and earthquake almost swept away the +whole settlement. This was followed by a most singular phenomenon. +"About thirty-six hours after the cyclone," writes Mr. Forbes, "the +water on the eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be rising up +from below of a dark color. The color was of an inky hue, and its smell +'like that of rotten eggs.' ... Within twenty-four hours every fish, +coral, and mollusc in the part impregnated with this discoloring +substance--probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid died. So great was +the number of fish thrown on the beach, that it took three weeks of hard +work to bury them in a vast trench dug in the sand." Wherever this water +touched the growing coral-reef, it was blighted and killed. Darwin saw +similar "patches" of dead coral, and attributed them to some great fall +of the tide which had left the insects exposed to the light of the sun. +But it is probable that a similar submarine eruption had taken place +after the earthquake which preceded his visit to the Keeling Islands in +1836. + + + + +"Birds in the Bush." + By Bradford Torrey. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + +We like the name of Mr. Torrey's book, which seems to carry with it a +practical reversal of the proverb that a bird in the hand is worth two +in the bush. For although in many ways it is a good and pleasant sign to +note the increase of amateur naturalists among us, we yet feel a dread +of an incursion of those lovers of classified collections, "each with +its Latin label on," who believe that in gaining stuffed specimens they +may best arrive at the charm and the mystery of that exquisite +phenomenon which we call bird-life. Mr. Torrey has no puerile ambitions +for birds in the hand, and a bird in the bush makes to his perception +holy ground, where he takes the shoes from off his feet and watches and +waits, feeling a delightful surprise in each piquant caprice of the +little songster. He tells the story of his experiences and impressions +simply and pleasantly, often utters a good thing without too much +emphasis, and yet more often says true things, which is more difficult +still. He is nowhere bookish, although he has read and can quote well if +need be. He reminds one occasionally of Emerson, oftener of Thoreau, +while his method is that of John Burroughs. His most careful studies are +perhaps of the birds on Boston Common and about Boston, but he writes +pleasantly and suggestively of those in the White Mountains. One likes +to be reminded that there are still bobolinks in the world, for they +have deserted many spots which they once favored. There used to be +meadows full of rocks, in each crevice of which nodded a scarlet +columbine, surrounded by grassy borders where wild strawberries grew +thickly, with hedge-rows running riot with blackberry, sumach, and +alder,--all reckless of utility and given over to lovely waste,--that +were vocal on June mornings with bobolinks, but where in these times one +might wait the whole day through and not hear a single note of the old +refrain. Our author finds them plentiful, however, at North Conway, +where, as he describes it, their "song dropped from above" while he sat +perched on a fence-rail looking at the snow-crowned Mount Washington +range. + + + + +"The Cruise of the Brooklyn. + A Journal of the principal events of a three years' cruise in + the U. S. Flag-Ship Brooklyn, in the South Atlantic Station, + extending south of the Equator from Cape Horn east to the limits + in the Indian Ocean on the seventieth meridian of east + longitude. Descriptions of places in South America, Africa, and + Madagascar, with details of the peculiar customs and industries + of their inhabitants. The cruises of the other vessels of the + American squadron, from November, 1881, to November, 1884." + By W.H. Beehler, Lieut. U. S. Navy. + Illustrated. + Press of J.B. Lippincott Co. Philadelphia. 1885. + + +The copious information given on the title-page leaves little to be +supplied in regard to the subject-matter of this volume. The same +thoroughness is displayed in the narrative and descriptions, as well of +the incidents of the voyage and the details of shipboard life as of the +history, productions, and scenery of the various places visited. They +include, of course, no events or operations such as belong to the annals +of naval enterprise or maritime discovery, but, besides the ordinary +phases of service on foreign stations,--the interchange of courtesies +with the authorities, the routine of duty and discipline, and the +scarcely less regular round of amusements and festivities,--we have +interesting episodes, such as an account of the observations of the +transit of Venus at Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, the "Brooklyn" having been +detailed to take charge of the expedition sent out under Messrs. Very +and Wheeler. A visit to some of the ports of Madagascar soon after the +bombardment of Hovas gives occasion for a readable relation of the +internal revolutions and the transactions with European powers that have +given a pretext, if such it can be called, for the French claim to +exercise a protectorate over a portion of the island, the enforcement of +which will require, in our author's opinion, "an army of at least fifty +thousand men." Cape Town was a place of stay for several weeks on both +the outward and the homeward voyage, and in this connection the history +of the South African states and colonies, including the English wars and +imbroglios with the Boers and the Zulus, is given in detail; while the +necessity for touching at St. Helena furnished an opportunity for +repeating the tale of Napoleon's captivity, with particulars preserved +among "the traditions of the old inhabitants, not generally known." + +It will be seen that Lieutenant Beehler made good use both of the means +of observation and of the leisure for study afforded by the "cruise." He +writes agreeably, and seems to have been careful in regard to the +sources from which he has gathered information. The book is beautifully +printed, and the illustrations are faithful but artistic renderings of +photographic views. + + + + +Recent Fiction. + + +"At the Red Glove." + New York: Harper & Brothers. + +"Upon a Cast." + By Charlotte Dunning. +New York: Harper & Brothers. + +"Down the Ravine." + By Charles Egbert Craddock. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +"By Shore and Sedge." + By Bret Harte. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +"At Love's Extremes." + By Maurice Thompson. + New York: Cassell & Co. + + +Although the scene of "At the Red Glove" is laid in Berne, it is a +typical French story of French people with French ideas and +characteristics, and it is French as well in the symmetry of its +arrangements and effects and its admirable technique. In point of fact, +Berne is a city where a German dialect is spoken, but among the lively +groups of _bourgeois_ who carry on this effective little drama a +prettier and politer language is in vogue. Madame Carouge, whose +personality is the pivot upon which the story revolves, is a native of +southern France, and is the proprietor of the Hôtel Beauregard. Her +husband, who married her as a mere child and carried her away from a +life of poverty and neglect, has died before the opening of the story +and bequeathed all his property to his young and handsome wife. "Ah, but +I do not owe him much," the beautiful woman said: "he has wasted my +youth. I am eight-and-twenty, and I have not yet begun to live." Thus +Madame Carouge as a widow sets out to realize the dreams she has dreamed +in the dull apathetic days of her long bondage. Although she is bent on +love and happiness, she is yet sensible and discreet, and manages the +Hôtel Beauregard with skill and tact, while secluding herself from +common eyes. Destiny, however, as if eager at last to work in her favor, +throws in her way a handsome young Swiss, Rudolf Engemann by name, a +bank-clerk, with whom she falls deeply in love. Everything is +progressing to Madame's content, when a little convent-girl, Marie +Peyrolles, comes to Berne to live with her old aunt, a glove-seller, +whose sign in the Spitalgasse gives the name to the story. It would be a +difficult matter to find a prettier piece of comedy than that which +ensues upon Marie's advent. It is all simple, spontaneous, and, on the +part of the actors, entirely serious, yet the effect is delightfully +humorous. Berne, with its quaint arcaded streets, its Alpine views, and +its suburban resorts, makes a capital background, and gives the group +free play to meet with all sorts of picturesque opportunities. The story +is told without any straining after climaxes, but with many felicitous +touches that enhance the effect of every picture and incident. In scene, +characters, and plot, "At the Red Glove" offers a brilliant opportunity +to the dramatist, and one is tempted to think that the story must have +been originally conceived and planned with reference to the stage. + +"Upon a Cast" is also a very amusing little story, and turns on the +experiences of a couple of ladies who, with a longing for a quiet life, + + The world forgetting, by the world forgot, + +settle on the North River in a town which, though called Newbroek, might +easily be identified as Poughkeepsie. Little counting upon this niche +outside the world becoming a centre of interest or a theatre of events, +the necessity of presenting their credentials to the social magnates of +the place does not occur to these ladies,--one the widow of a Prussian +officer, and the other her niece, who have returned to America after a +long residence abroad. They prefer to remain, as it were, incognito; +and, pried; into as the seclusion of the new-comers is by all the +curious, this reticence soon causes misconstructions and scandals. The +petty gossip, the solemnities of self-importance, and the Phariseeism of +a country neighborhood are very well portrayed, and, we fear, without +any especial exaggeration. The story is told with unflagging spirit, and +shows quick perceptions and a lively feeling for situations. Carol +Lester's friendship for Oliver Floyd while she is ignorant of the +existence of his wife is a flaw in the pleasantness; but "Upon a Cast" +is well worthy of a high place in the list of summer novels. + +Although "Down the Ravine" belongs to the category of books for young +people, the story is too true to life in characters and incidents, and +too artistically handled, not to find appreciative readers of all ages. +In fact, we are inclined to discover in the book stronger indications of +the author's powers as a novelist than in anything she has hitherto +published. "Where the Battle was Fought," in spite of all its fine +scenes, had not the same sustained interest nor the same spontaneity. +The plot of the present story is excellent, and the characters act and +react on each other in a simple and natural way. The youthful Diceys, +with the faithful, loyal Birt at their head, are a capital study; and +from first to last the author has nowhere erred in truth or failed in +humor. + +Taking into consideration the ease with which Mr. Bret Harte won his +laurels, and the belief which all his early admirers shared that here at +last was the great American novelist, who was to hold a distinctive +place in the world's literature, he has perhaps not fulfilled +expectations nor answered the demands upon his powers. The very +individuality of his work, its characteristic bias, has been, in point +of fact, a hinderance and an impediment. The unexpectedness of his first +stories, the enchanted surprise, like that of a new and delicious +vintage or a wonderful undiscovered chord in music,--these effects are +not easily made to recur with undiminished strength and charm. However, +one may generally find some bubbles of the old delightful elixir in Mr. +Harte's stories, and in this little group of them, regathered, we +believe, from English magazines, each is interesting in its way, and +each true to the author's typical idea, which is to discover to his +readers some heroic quality in unheroic human beings which transforms +their whole lives before our eyes. + +Mr. Thompson on his title-page announces himself as the author of two +novels, "A Tallahassee Girl" and "His Second Campaign," both of which we +read with pleasure, and this impression led us to turn hopefully to a +third by the same hand. "At Love's Extremes" does not, however, take our +fancy. If the author undertook to discuss a complex problem seriously, +he has failed to make it clear or vital to the reader; and if the +various episodes of Colonel Reynolds's life are to be passed over as +mere slight deviations from the commonplace, we can only say that we +consider them too unpleasant and abhorrent to good taste to be imposed +upon us so lightly. There are also points of the story which seem to +mock the good sense of the reader. Has the author considered the state +of mind of a young widow who has heard that her husband has been +murdered in a street-brawl in Texas, who has mourned him for years, and +then, after yielding to the solicitations of a new suitor and promising +to marry him, learns from his own lips that it was his hand (although +the act was one of self-defence) which sent her husband to his tragic +death? Mr. Thompson seems to violate the sanctities and the proprieties +of womanhood in allowing the widow, after a faint interval of shock, to +pass over this fact as unimportant. This situation has, of course, its +famous precedent in the scene in which Gloster wooes and wins the Lady +Anne beside her murdered husband's bier; but that is tragedy, and we +moderns are, besides, more squeamish than the people of those mediæval +times. In this story the situation becomes more logical, even if more +absurd, after the return of the husband who was supposed to have been +murdered. With a good deal of effort to show powerful feeling, the +characters in the book are all automatons, who say and do nothing with +real thought or real passion. The vernacular of the mountaineers seems +to have been carefully studied, and is so thoroughly outlandish and so +devoid of fine expressions that we are inclined to believe it more +accurate than the poetic and musical dialects which it is the fashion to +impose upon our credulity. But it must be confessed that, with only his +own rude and pointless _patois_ in which to express himself, the +Southern cracker becomes painfully devoid of interest, to say nothing of +charm. + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +[001] John Sevier's Memorial to the North Carolina Legislature. + +[002] J.G.M. Ramsay, "Annals of Tennessee." + +[003] Haywood. + + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, *** + +***** This file should be named 14530-8.txt or 14530-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/3/14530/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 30, 2004 [EBook #14530] +[Date last updated: July 30, 2005] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + + <div class="trans-note"> + Transcriber's Note: The Table of Contents was added by the + transcriber. Footnotes will be found at the end of the text. + </div> + <h1> + LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + </h1> + <hr class="short" /> + <h3> + <i>AUGUST, 1885.</i> + </h3> + <hr class="short" /> + <div class="toc"><p> + <b>TABLE OF CONTENTS.</b><span class= + "TOCpagenum"><b>Page</b></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + ON THIS SIDE. by F.C. BAYLOR.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">VIII.</span> <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#ON_THIS_SIDE">113</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + OUR VILLE. by MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#OUR_VILLE">131</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. by M.H. CATHERWOOD.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">I. + PARADISE.</span><span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#PARADISE">138</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">II. FORBIDDEN + FRUIT.</span><span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#FORBIDDEN_FRUIT">141</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">III. THE + FLAMING SWORD.</span> <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#THE_FLAMING_SWORD">144</a></span><br /> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + PROBATION. by FLORENCE EARLE COATES.<span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#PROBATION">146</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p>THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. by EDMUND KIRKE.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">TWO PAPERS.</span> + <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#TWO_PAPERS">147</a></span></p> + <p> </p> + <p> + A PLEASANT SPIRIT. by MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#A_PLEASANT_SPIRIT">159</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + FISHING IN ELK RIVER. by TOBE HODGE. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#FISHING_IN_ELK_RIVER">167</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p>ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 2em;">by CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES.</span> + <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#ON_A_NOBLE_CHARACTER_MARRED_BY_LITTLENESS">176</a></span></p> + <p> </p> + <p> + THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. by DAVID BENNETT KING. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#THE_SCOTTISH_CROFTERS">177</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. by FRANK PARKE. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#MY_FRIEND_GEORGE_RANDALL">185</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. by MARY C. PECKHAM. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#THE_WOOD_THRUSH_AT_SUNSET">199</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + A FOREST BEAUTY. by MAURICE THOMPSON. <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#A_FOREST_BEAUTY">200</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p>OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.<br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Daniel Webster's "Moods." by + F.C.M.</span><span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#Daniel_Websters_quot">206</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">Feuds and Lynch-Law in the + Southwest. by J.A.M.</span> <span class= + "TOCpagenum"><a href="#Feuds_and_Lynch_Law_in_the_Southwest">208</a></span><br /> + <span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Etymology of "Babe." by + S.E.T.</span> <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#The_Etymology_of_Babequot">210</a></span></p> + <p> </p> + <p> + LITERATURE OF THE DAY. <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#LITERATURE_OF_THE_DAY">210</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p> + Recent Fiction. <span class="TOCpagenum"><a href="#Recent_Fiction">215</a></span> + </p><p> </p> + <p><a href="#FOOTNOTES"> + FOOTNOTES.</a> + </p></div> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h2><a name="ON_THIS_SIDE" id="ON_THIS_SIDE" />ON THIS SIDE.</h2> + +<h3>VIII.</h3> + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 113]</span>Not the least delightful of Sir Robert's qualities was his capacity for +enjoying most things that came in his way, and finding some interest in +all. When Mr. Ketchum joined him in the library, where he was jotting +down "the <i>sobriquets</i> of the American States and cities," and told him +of the Niagara plan, his ruddy visage beamed with pleasure.</p> + +<p>"A delightful idea. Capital," he said. "I suppose I can read up a bit +about it before we start, and not go there with my eyes shut. +Ni-a-ga-rah,—monstrously soft and pretty name. Isn't there something on +your shelves that would give me the information I want? But we can come +to that presently. Just now I want to find out, if I can, how these +nicknames came to be given. They must have originated in some great +popular movement, eh? I thought I saw my way, as, for example, the +'Empire State' and the 'Crescent City' and some others, but this 'Sucker +State,' now, and 'Buckeye' business,—what may that mean in plain +English?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Ketchum shed what light he could on these interesting questions, and +Sir Robert thoughtfully ran his hands through his side-whiskers, while, +with an apologetic "One moment, I beg," or "Very odd, very; that must go +down verbatim," he entered the gist of Mr. Ketchum's queer remarks in +his note-book.</p> + +<p>On the following morning he rose with Niagara in his soul. He had more +questions to ask at the breakfast-table than anybody could answer, and +was eager to be off. Mr. Ketchum, who had that week made no less than +fifty thousand dollars by a lucky investment, was in high spirits. +Captain Kendall, who had been allowed to join the party, was vastly +pleased by the prospect of another week in Ethel's society. Mrs. Sykes +was tired of Fairfield, and longed to be "on the move" again, as she +frankly said. So that, altogether, it was a merry company that finally +set off.</p> + +<p>The very first view of "the ocean unbound" increased their pleasure to +enthusiasm. Mrs. Sykes, without reservation, admitted that it was "a +grand spot," and felt as though she were giving the place a certificate +when she added, "<i>Quite</i> up to the mark." She was out on the Suspension +Bridge, making a sketch, as soon as she could get there; she took one +from every other spot about the place; and when tired of her pencil, she +stalked about with her hammer, chipping off bits of rock that promised +geological interest. But she found her greatest amusement in the brides +that "infested the place" (to quote from her letter to her sister +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 114]</span>Caroline), indulged in much satirical comment on them, and, +choosing one foolish young rustic who was there as her text, wrote in +her diary, "American brides like to go from the altar to some large +hotel, where they can display their finery, wear their wedding-dresses +every evening, and attract as much attention as possible. The national +passion for display makes them delight in anything that renders them +conspicuous, no matter how vulgar that display may be. If one must have +a fools' paradise, generally known as a honeymoon, this is about as +pleasant a place as any other for it; and, as there are several runaway +couples stopping here, and the place is just on the border, this is +doubtless the American Gretna Green, where silly women and +temporarily-infatuated men can marry in haste, to repent at leisure."</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote gave his camera enough to do, as may be imagined. He and +Sir Robert traced the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and +photographed it at every turn, made careful estimates of its length, +breadth, depth, the flow of currents, scale of descent to the mile, wear +of precipice, and time necessary for the river to retire from the falls +business altogether and meander tranquilly along on a level like other +rivers. They arrayed themselves in oil-skin suits and spent an +unconscionable time at the back of the Horseshoe Fall, roaring out +observations about it that were rarely heard, owing to the deafening +din, and had more than one narrow escape from tumbling into the water in +these expeditions. They carefully bottled some of it, which they +afterward carefully sealed with red wax and duly labelled, intending to +add it to a collection of similar phials which Sir Robert had made of +famous waters in many countries. They went over the mills and factories +in the neighborhood, and Sir Robert had long confabs with the managers, +of whom he asked permission to "jot down" the interesting facts +developed in the course of their conversations, surprising them by his +knowledge of mechanics and the subjects in hand.</p> + +<p>"Man alive! what do you want with <i>those</i>?" said he to one of them, a +keen-faced young fellow, who was showing him the boiler-fires. He +pointed with his stick as he spoke, and rattled it briskly about the +brick-work by way of accompaniment as he went on: "Such a waste of +force, of money! downright stupidity! You don't want it. You don't need +it, any more than you need an hydraulic machine tacked to the back of +your trains. You have got water enough running past your very door to—"</p> + +<p>"I've told that old fool Glass that a thousand times," broke in the +young man; "but if he wants to try and warm and light the world with a +gas-stove when the sun is up I guess it's no business of mine, though it +does rile me to see the power thrown away and good coal wasted. If I had +the capital, here's what <i>I</i>'d do. Here."</p> + +<p>Seizing Sir Robert's stick, the enthusiast drew a fondly-loved ideal +mill in the coal-dust at his feet, while Sir Robert looked and listened, +differed, suggested, with keen interest, and Mr. Heathcote gave but +haughty and ignorant attention to the talk that followed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that's the way of it; but Glass has lived all his life with his +head in a bag, and he can't see it. I am surprised to see you take an +interest in it. Ever worked at it?" said the man in conclusion.</p> + +<p>"A little," said Sir Robert affably, who could truthfully have said as +much of anything. "Who is this Glass?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, he's the man that owns all this; the stupidest owl that ever lived. +I wish he could catch on like you. I'd like very well to work with you," +was the reply.</p> + +<p>"A bumptious fellow, that," commented Mr. Heathcote when they left. +"He'd 'like to work with you,' indeed!"</p> + +<p>"A fellow with ideas. I'd like to work with him," replied his uncle; +"though he isn't burdened with respect for his employers."</p> + +<p>Miss Noel meanwhile tied on her large straw hat, took her cane, basket, +trowel, tin box, and, followed by Parsons <span class="pagenum">[Pg 115]</span>with her +sketching-apparatus, went off to hunt plants or wash in sketches, a most +blissfully occupied and preoccupied old lady.</p> + +<p>To Mr. Ketchum's great amusement, Miss Noel, Mrs. Sykes, and Mr. +Heathcote all arrived at a particular spot within a few moments of each +other one morning, all alike prepared and determined to get the view it +commanded.</p> + +<p>Miss Noel had said to Job <i>en route,</i> "Do you think that I shall be able +to get a fly and drive about the country a bit? I should so like it. Are +they to be had there?"</p> + +<p>And he had replied, "You will have some difficulty in <i>not</i> taking 'a +fly' there, I guess. The hackmen would rather drive your dead body +around town for nothing than let you enjoy the luxury of walking about +unmolested. But I will see to all that."</p> + +<p>Accordingly, a carriage had been placed at their disposal, and they had +taken some charming drives, in the course of which Parsons, occupying +the box on one occasion, was seen to be peering very curiously about +her.</p> + +<p>"A great pity, is it not, Parsons, that we can't see all this in the +autumn, when the thickets of scarlet and gold are said to be so very +beautiful?" said Miss Noel, addressing her affably.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mem," agreed Parsons. "And, if you please, mem, where are the +estates of the gentry, as I 'ave been lookin' for ever since we came +hover?"</p> + +<p>"Not in this part," replied Miss Noel. "The red Indians were here not +very long since. You should really get a pin-cushion of their +descendants, those mild, dirty creatures that work in bark and beads. +Buy of one that has been baptized: one shouldn't encourage them to +remain heathens, you know. Your friends in England will like to see +something made by them; and they were once very powerful and spread all +over the country as far as—as—I really forget where; but I know they +were very wild and dreadful, and lived in wigwams, and wore moccasins."</p> + +<p>"Oh, indeed, mem!" responded Parsons, impressed by the extent of her +mistress's information.</p> + +<p>"A wigwam is three upright poles, such as the gypsies use for their +kettles, thatched with the leaves of the palm and the plantain," Miss +Noel went on. "Dear me! It is very odd! I certainly remember to have +read that; but perhaps I am getting back to the Southern Americans +again, which does so vex Robert. I wonder if one couldn't see a wigwam +for one's self? It can't be plantain, after all: there is none growing +about here."</p> + +<p>She asked Mabel about this that evening, and the latter told her husband +how Miss Noel was always mixing up the two continents.</p> + +<p>"I don't despair, Mabel. They will find this potato-patch of ours after +a while," he said good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>But he was less amiable when Mrs. Sykes said at dinner next day, "I +should like to try your maize. Quite simply boiled, and eaten with +butter and salt, I am told it is quite good, really. I have heard that +the Duke of Slumborough thought it excellent."</p> + +<p>"You don't say so! I am so glad to hear it! I shall make it generally +known as far as I can. Such things encourage us to go on trying to make +a nation of ourselves. It would have paralyzed all growth and +development in this country for twenty years if he had thought it +'nasty,'" said Job. "Foreigners can't be too particular how they express +their opinions about us. Over and over again we have come within an ace +of putting up the shutters and confessing that it was no use pretending +that we could go on independently having a country of our own, with +distinct institutions, peculiarities, customs, manners, and even +productions. It would be so much better and easier to turn ourselves +over to a syndicate of distinguished foreigners who would govern us +properly,—stamp out ice-water and hot rolls from the first, as unlawful +and not agreeing with the Constitution, give us cool summers, prevent +children from teething hard, make it a penal offence to talk through the +nose, and put a bunch of Bourbons in <span class="pagenum">[Pg 116]</span>the White House, with a +divine right to all the canvas-back ducks in the country. There are so +many kings out of business now that they could easily give us a bankrupt +one to put on our trade dollar, or something really <i>sweet</i> in emperors +who have seen better days. And a standing army of a hundred thousand +men, all drum-majors, in gorgeous uniforms, helmets, feathers, gold +lace, would certainly scare the Mexicans into caniptious and +unconditional surrender. The more I think of it, the more delightful it +seems. It is mere stupid obstinacy our people keeping up this farce of +self-government, when anybody can see that it is a perfect failure, and +that the country has no future whatever."</p> + +<p>"Oh, you talk in that way; but I don't think you would really like it," +said Mrs. Sykes. "Americans seem to think that they know everything: +they are above taking any hints from the Old World, and get as angry as +possible with me when I point out a few of the more glaring defects that +strike me."</p> + +<p>"I am surprised at that. Our great complaint is that we can't get any +advice from Europeans. If we only had a little, even, we might in time +loom up as a fifth-rate power. But no: they leave us over here in this +wilderness without one word of counsel or criticism, or so much as a +suggestion, and they ought not to be surprised that we are going to the +dogs. What else can they expect?" said Mr. Ketchum.</p> + +<p>"Husband, dear, you were very sharp with my cousin to-day, and it was +not like you to show temper,—at least, not temper exactly, but +vexation," said Mabel to him afterward in mild rebuke. "She has told me +that you quite detest the English, so that she wonders you should have +married me. And I said that you were far too intelligent and just to +cherish wrong feelings toward any people, much less my people."</p> + +<p>"Well, if <i>she</i> represented England I should drop England quietly over +the rapids some day when I could no longer stand her infernal +patronizing, impertinent airs, and rid the world of a nuisance," said +Mr. Ketchum, with energy. "Excuse my warmth, but that woman would poison +a prairie for me. Fortunately, I happen to know that she only represents +a class which neither Church nor State there has the authority to shoot, +<i>yet</i>, and I am not going to cry down white wool because there are black +sheep. Look at Sir Robert, and Miss Noel, and all the rest of them, how +different they are."</p> + +<p>Captain Kendall certainly found Niagara delightful, for, owing to the +absorption of the party in their different pursuits, he was able to see +more of Ethel than he had ever done. He was so different from the men +she had known that he was a continual study to her. Instead of the +studied indifference, shy avoidance, shy advances, culminating in a +blunt and straightforward declaration of "intentions," which she would +have thought natural in an admirer, followed by transparent, honest +delight in the event of acceptance, or manly submission to the +inevitable in the event of rejection, Captain Kendall had surprised her +by liking her immediately, or at least by showing that he did, and +seeking her persistently, without any pretence of concealment. He talked +to her of politics, of social questions in the broadest sense, of books, +scientific discoveries, his travels, and the travels of others. He read +whole volumes of poetry to her. He discoursed by the hour on the manly +character, its faults, merits, peculiarities, and possibilities, and +then contrasted it with the womanly one, trait for trait, and it seemed +to her that women had never been praised so eloquently, +enthusiastically, copiously. At no time was he in the least choked by +his feelings or at a loss for a fresh word or sentiment. Such romance, +such ideality, such universality, as it were, she had never met. When +his admiration was most unbridled it seemed to be offered to her as the +representative of a sex entirely perfect and lovely. Everything in +heaven and earth, apparently, ministered to his passion and made him +talk all around the beloved subject with a <span class="pagenum">[Pg 117]</span>wealth of simile and +suggestion that she had never dreamed of. But, if he gave full +expression to his agitated feelings in these ways, he was extremely +delicate, respectful, reserved, in others. He wrapped up his heart in so +many napkins, indeed, that, being a practical woman not extraordinarily +gifted in the matter of imagination, she frequently lost sight of it +altogether, and she sometimes failed to follow him in a broad road of +sentiment that (like the Western ones which Longfellow has described) +narrowed and narrowed until it disappeared, a mere thread, up a tree. If +he looked long, after one of these flights, at her sweet English face to +see what impression he had made, he was often forced to see that it was +not the one he had meant to make at all.</p> + +<p>"Is anything amiss?" she asked once, in her cool, level tone, fixing +upon him her sincerely honest eyes. "Are there blacks on my nose?" +Although she had distinctly refused him at Kalsing, as became a girl +destitute of vanity and coquetry and attached to some one else, she had +not found him the less fluent, omnipresent, persuasive, at Niagara. It +was diverting to see them seated side by side on Goat Island, he waving +his hand toward the blue sky, apostrophizing the water, the foliage, the +clouds, and what not, in prose and verse, quite content if he but got a +quiet glance and assenting word now and then, she listening demurely in +a state of protestant satisfaction, her fair hair very dazzling in the +sunshine, an unvarying apple-blossom tint in her calm face, her fingers +tatting industriously not to waste the time outright. It was very +agreeable in a way, she told herself, but something must really be done +to get rid of the man. And so, one morning when they chanced to be +alone, and he was being unusually ethereal and beautiful in his remarks, +telling her that, as Byron had said, she would be "the morning star of +memory" for him, she broke in squarely, "That is all very nice; very +pretty, I am sure. But I do hope you quite understand that I have not +the least idea of marrying you. There is no use in going on like this, +you know, and you would have a right to reproach me if I kept silent and +led you to think that I was being won over by your fine speeches. You +see, you don't really want a star at all. You want a wife; though +military men, as a rule, are better off single. I do thank you heartily +for liking me for myself, and all that, and I shall always remember the +kind things you have done, and our acquaintance, but you must put me +quite out of your head as a wife. I should not suit you at all. You +would have to leave the American service, and I should hate feeling I +had tied you down, and I couldn't contribute a penny toward the +household expenses, and, altogether, we are much better apart. It would +not answer at all. So, thank you again for the honor you have conferred +upon me, and be—be rather more—like other people, won't you, for the +future? Auntie fancies that I am encouraging you, and is getting very +vexed about it. Perhaps you had better go away? Yes, that would be best, +I think."</p> + +<p>Thus solicited, Captain Kendall went away, taking a mournfully-eloquent +farewell of Ethel, which she thought final; but in this she was +mistaken.</p> + +<p>Our party did not linger long after this. Sir Robert met a titled +acquaintance, who inflamed his mind so much about Manitoba that he +decided to go to Canada at once, taking Miss Noel, Ethel, and Mr. +Heathcote; Mrs. Sykes had taken up on her first arrival with some New +York people, who asked her to visit them in the central part of the +State,—which disposed of her; Mabel was secretly longing to get back to +her "American child," as Mrs. Sykes called little Jared Ponsonby; and +they separated, with the understanding that they should meet again +before the English guests left the country, and with a warm liking for +each other, the Sykes not being represented in the pleasant covenants of +friendship formed.</p> + +<p>"I am glad that we have not to bid Ketchum good-by here," said Sir +Robert. "Such a hearty, genial fellow! And how kind he has been to us! +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 118]</span>His hospitality is the true one; not merely so much food and +drink and moneyed outlay for some social or selfish end, but the +entertainment of friends because they <i>are</i> friends, with every possible +care for their pleasure and comfort, and the most unselfish willingness +to do anything that can contribute to either. I am afraid he would not +find many such hosts as himself with us. We entertain more than the +Americans, but I do not think we have as much of the real spirit of +hospitality as a nation. The relation between host and guest is less +personal, there is little sense of obligation, or rather sacredness, on +either side, and the convenience, interest, or amusement of the +Amphitryon is more apt to be considered, as a general thing, than the +pleasure of the guest: at least this has been growing more and more the +case in the last twenty years, as our society has broken away from old +traditions and levelled all its barriers, to the detriment of our social +graces, not to speak of our morals and manners. As for that charmingly +gentle, sweet woman Mrs. Ketchum, it is my opinion that we are not +likely to improve on that type of Englishwoman. A modest, simple, +religious creature, a thorough gentlewoman, and a devoted wife and +mother. My cousin Guy Rathbone is engaged to a specimen of a new +variety,—one of the 'emancipated,' forsooth; a woman who has a +betting-book instead of a Bible and plays cards all day Sunday. He tells +me that she is wonderfully clever, and that it is all he can do to keep +her from running about the kingdom delivering lectures on Agnosticism; +as if one wanted one's wife to be a trapesing, atheistical +Punch-and-Judy! And the fellow seemed actually pleased and flattered. He +told me that she had 'an astonishing grasp of such subjects' and was +'attracting a great deal of attention.' And I told him that if I had a +wife who attracted attention in such ways I would lock her up until she +came to her senses and the public had forgotten her want of modesty and +discretion. This ought to be called the Age of Fireworks. The craze for +notoriety is penetrating our very almshouses, and every toothless old +mumbler of ninety wants to get himself palmed off as a centenarian in +the papers and have a lot of stuff printed about him."</p> + +<p>"I see what you mean, Robert," said Miss Noel, "and it certainly cannot +be wholesome for women to thirst for excitement, and one would think a +lady would shrink from being conspicuous in any way; but things are very +much changed, as you say. And I agree with you in your estimate of the +Ketchums. She is a sweet young thing, and I heartily like him. Only +think! his last act was to send a great basket of fine fruits up to my +room, and quite an armful of railway-novels for the journey. Such +beautiful thought for our comfort as they have shown!"</p> + +<p>"He is rather a good sort in some ways, but a very ignorant man. I +showed him some of my specimens the other day, and he thought them +granitic, when they were really Silurian mica schist of some kind," put +in Mrs. Sykes, who never could bear unqualified praise. "Still, on the +whole, the Americans are less ignorant than might have been expected."</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> consider Mr. Ketchum a most kind, gentlemanly, sociable, clever +man," said Miss Noel, with an emphatic nod of her head to each +adjective, "geology or no geology. And I must say that it is very +ungrateful of you to speak of him so sneeringly always."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert only waited to write the usual batch of letters, including a +last appeal to the editor of the "Columbia Eagle" to know whether he +intended to apologize for and publicly retract a certain article, and +asking "whether it was possible that any considerable or respectable +portion of the Americans could be so arbitrary, illiberal, and exclusive +as to wish to exclude the English from America." This done, he left for +Canada with his relatives. With his stay there we have nothing to do. It +consumed six weeks of exhaustive travel and study of Canadian conditions +and resources, resulting ultimately in the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 119]</span>conclusion that +Manitoba was not the place he was looking for. The ladies, who had been +left in Montreal, were then taken for a short tour through the country, +which they all enjoyed, after which Sir Robert asked Miss Noel whether +she would be willing to take Ethel back to Niagara and wait there a +fortnight, or perhaps a little longer, while he and Mr. Heathcote came +back by way of New England and from there went down into Maryland and +Virginia, where, according to "a member of the Canadian Parliament," +lands were to be had for a song.</p> + +<p>"A fortnight? I could spend a twelve-month there," exclaimed she. "Had +it not been that I was ashamed to insist upon being let off this +journey, I should have stopped there as it was."</p> + +<p>To Niagara the aunt and niece and Parsons went, as agreed, and there +they found Mr. Bates wandering languidly about the place in chronic +discontent with everything for not being something else. He had burned a +good deal of incense on Ethel's shrine when she was at Kalsing, and now +hailed their advent with some approach to enthusiasm, and attached +himself to their suite, <i>vice</i> Captain Kendall, retired. He liked to be +seen with them, thought the views from the Canadian side were "deucedly +fine," was cruelly affected by the advertisements in the neighborhood, +which he denounced as "dreadfully American," trickled out much feeble +criticism of and acid comment on his surroundings, gave utterance to +fervent wishes that he was "abrard," and in his own unpleasant way gave +Ethel to understand that she might make a fellow-countryman happy by +becoming Mrs. Samuel Bates if she liked to avail herself of a golden +opportunity. "I would live in England, you know. I am really far more at +home there than here," said the expatriated suitor. "I have been taken +for an Englishman as often as three times in one week, do you know. +Curious, isn't it? I ought to be down in Kent now, visiting Lady +Simpson, a great friend of mine, who has asked me there again and again. +You would like her if you knew her. She is quite the great lady down +there."</p> + +<p>"A foolish little man, and evidently a great snob, or else rather daft +upon some points," Ethel reported to her aunt. "And such a dull, +discontented creature, with all his money!" Ethel had some trials of her +own just then, and it was no great felicity to listen to Mr. Bates's +endless complaints, nor could she spare much sympathy for the sufferings +of the exile of Tecumseh, with his rose-leaf sensibilities, inanities, +absurdities.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, the young gentleman who was indirectly responsible for many a +sad thought of two charming girls that we know of—and who shall say how +many more?—was enjoying as much happiness as ever fell to any man in +the capacity of ardent sportsman. He had joined the duke and his party +at St. Louis, and from there they had gone "well away from anywhere," as +he said in describing his adventures to Mr. Heathcote. He had at last +reached the ideal spot of all his wildest imaginations and most +cherished hopes,—"the wild part,"—really the great prairies, about two +hundred miles west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies. The dream +of his life was being fulfilled. He related, in a style not conspicuous +for literary merit, but very well suited to the simple annals of the +rich, how, having first procured guides, tents, ambulances, +camp-equipage, they had pushed on briskly to a military fort, where, +having made friends with "a pleasant, gentlemanly set of fellows," the +commanding officer, "a friendly old buffer," had courteously given them +an escort to protect them from "those dirty, treacherous brutes, the +Indians." Not a joy was wanting in this crowning bliss. The guide was "a +wonderful chap named Big-Foot Williams, so called by the Indians, good +all around from knocking over a rabbit to tackling a grizzly," with an +amazing knowledge of woodcraft, "a nose like a bloodhound, an eye as +cool as a toad's." No special mention was made of his ear; but the first +time he <span class="pagenum">[Pg 120]</span>got off his horse and applied it to the earth, +listening for the tramp of distant hoofs in a hushed silence, one bosom +could hardly hold all the rapture that filled Mr. Ramsay's figurative +cup up to the brim. And the tales he told of savageness long drawn out +were as dew to the parched herb, greedily absorbed at every pore. A +portrait of "Black Eagle," a noted chief, was given when they got among +the Indians,—"a great hulking slugger of a savage, awfully interesting, +long, reaching step, magnificent muscles, snake eye, could thrash us all +in turn if he liked. The best of the lot."</p> + +<p>Even the noble red man was not insensible to the charms of this +graceful, handsome young athlete who smiled at them perpetually and +said, "<i>Amigo! amigo</i>!" at short intervals,—a phrase suggested by the +redoubtable Williams and varied occasionally by a prefix of his own, +"<i>Muchee amigo</i>!" The way in which he tested the elasticity of their +bows, inspected their guns, the game they had killed, the other natural +objects about them, aroused a certain sympathy, perhaps. At any rate, +they were soon teaching him their mode of using the most picturesquely +murderous of all weapons, and Black Eagle offered, through the +interpreter, to give him a mustang and a fine wolf-skin. The pony was +declined, the skin accepted, a <i>quid pro quo</i> being bestowed on the +chief in the shape of one of Mr. Ramsay's breech-loaders, a gift that +made the snake eyes glitter. But what earthly return can be made for +some friendly offices? Could a thousand guns be considered as an +adequate payment for the delirious thrill that Mr. Ramsay felt when he +shot an arrow straight through the neck of a big buffalo, and, wheeling, +galloped madly away, like the hero of one of his favorite stories? Was +not the duke, who "knew a thing or two about shooting" and had hunted +the noble bison in Lithuania, almost as much delighted as though he had +done it himself? Is it any wonder that these intoxicating pleasures were +all-sufficient for the time to Mr. Ramsay? Perhaps Thekla would have +been forgotten by her Max, and Romeo would never have sighed and died +for love of Juliet, if those interesting lovers had ceased from wooing +and gone a-hunting of the buffalo instead. Not the most deadly and cruel +pangs of the most unfortunate attachment could have taken away all the +zest from such an occupation, provided they had had what the Mexican +journals call the "<i>corazon de los sportsmans</i>." Youth, strength, +courage, skill, exercised in a vagabondage that has all the nomadic +charm without any of its drawbacks, are apt to sponge the old figures +off the slate of life, leaving a teary smear, perhaps, to show where +they have been, and room for fresh problems. At night over the camp-fire +Mr. Ramsay gave a few pensive thoughts to the girl who regularly put two +handkerchiefs under her pillow to receive the tears that welled out +copiously when she was at last alone and unobserved after a day of +virtuous hypocrisy. Poor child! The pain was very real, and the tears +were bitter and salty enough, though they were to be dried in due time. +If he had known of them, perhaps he might have kept awake a little +longer; but when he wasn't sleepy he was hungry, and when he wasn't +hungry he was tired, and when he wasn't tired he was too actively +employed to think of anything but the business in hand. Happily, at +five-and-twenty it is perfectly possible to postpone being miserable +until a more convenient season; and, though he would have denied it +emphatically afterward, he certainly thought only occasionally of Bijou +at this period, and of Ethel not at all.</p> + +<p>Miss Noel heard very regularly from Mrs. Sykes all this while; and that +energetic traveller had not been idle. She had made her new friends +"take her about tremendously," she said. She had seen all the large +towns in that part of the country, and thought them "very ugly and +monotonously commonplace, but prosperous-looking,—like the +inhabitants." The scenery she had found "far too uninteresting to repay +the bother of sketching it." But she had <span class="pagenum">[Pg 121]</span>made a few pictures of +"the views most cracked up in the White Mountains,"—where she had +been,—"a sort of second-hand Switzerland of a place; really nothing +after the Himalayas, but made a great fuss over by the Americans." She +described with withering scorn a drive she took there.</p> + +<p>"We came suddenly one day upon a party in a kind of Cheap-Jack van," she +wrote,—"gayly-dressed people, tricked off in smart finery, and larking +like a lot of Ramsgate tradesmen on the public road. One of the impudent +creatures made a trumpet of his great ugly fist and spelt out the name +of the hotel at which they were stopping, and then put his hand to his +ear, as if to listen for the response. Expecting <i>me</i> to tell <i>them</i> +anything about myself! But I flatter myself that I was a match for them. +I just got out my umbrella and shot it up in their very faces as we +passed, in a way not to be mistaken. And—would you believe it?—the +rude wretches called out, 'The shower is over now! and 'What's the price +of starch?' and roared with laughing." A highly-colored description of "a +visit to a great Dissenting stronghold, Marbury Park," followed: "I was +immensely curious to see one of these characteristic national +exhibitions of hysteria, ignorance, superstition, and immorality, called +a 'camp-meeting.' to which the Americans of all classes flock annually +by the thousands, so I quite insisted upon being taken to one, though my +friends would have got out of it if they could. I fancy they were very +ashamed of it; and they had need to be. I will not attempt to describe +it in detail here,—you will hear what I have said of it in my +diary,—but a more glaringly vulgar, intensely American performance you +can't fancy. I have made a number of sketches of the grounds, the tents +and tent-life, with the people bathing and dressing and all that in the +most exposed manner; of the pavilion, where the roaring and ranting is +done; and of the great revivalist who was holding forth when I got +there, and who had got such a red face and seemed so excited that it is +my belief he was <i>regularly screwed</i>, though my friends denied it, of +course. With such a preacher, you can 'realize,' as they say, what the +people were like. A regular Derby-day crowd having a religious +saturnalia,—that is what it is. It would not be allowed at home, I am +sure. Disgusting! One can't wonder at the state of society in America +when one sees what their religion is. An unpleasant incident occurred to +me while sketching in the pavilion, that shows what I have often pointed +out to you,—the radicalism and odious impertinence of this people. I +was just putting the finishing-touches to my picture of the Rev. (?) +'Galusha Wickers' (the revivalist: such names as these Americans have!), +when I heard a voice behind me saying, 'Lor! Why, that's splendid! +perfectly splendid! Well, I declare, you've got him to a t. Lemmy see.' +And, if you please, a hand was thrust over my shoulder and the sketch +seized, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Can you fancy a more +unwarrantable, insufferable liberty? But they are all alike over here. I +turned about, and saw a woman who was examining the reverend revivalist +with much satisfaction. 'Well, you <i>have</i> got him, to be sure,' she +said, returning my angry glance with one of admiration, and quite +unabashed. 'What'll you take for it? I've sat under him for five years; +and for taking texteses from one end of the Bible to the other, and +leading in prayer, and filling the mourners' bench in five minutes, I +will say he hasn't got his equal in the universe. He's got a towering +intellect, I tell you. I'll give you fifty cents for this, if you'll +color it up nice for me and throw in a frame.' Of course I took the +picture away from the brazen creature and told her what I thought of her +conduct. 'Well, you air techy,' she said, and walked off leisurely." +Before closing her letter, Mrs. Sykes remarked of her hostess, "Quite +good for nothing physically, and absurdly romantic. She has been abroad +a good deal, and bores me dreadfully with her European reminiscences. +She is always talking in a foolish, rapturous <span class="pagenum">[Pg 122]</span>sort of way about +'dear Melrose,' or 'noble Tintern Abbey,' or 'enchanting Warwick +Castle;' and she has read simply libraries of books about England, and +puts me through a sort of examination about dozens of places and events, +as though I could carry all England about in my head. I really know less +of it than of most other countries: there is nothing to be got by +running about it. If one knew every foot of it, everybody would think it +a matter of course; but to be able to talk of Siam and the Fiji Islands, +Cambodia and Alaska, and the like, is really an advantage in society. +One gets the name of being a great traveller, and all that, and is asked +about tremendously and taken up to a wonderful extent. I know a man that +didn't wish to go to the trouble and expense of rambling all over the +world, and wanted the reputation of having done it, so he went into +lodgings at intervals near the British Museum and got all the books that +were to be had about a particular country, and, having read them, would +come back to the West End and give out that he had been there. It +answered beautifully for a while, and he was by way of being asked to +become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical, and was thought quite an +authority and wonderfully clever; but somehow he got found out, which +must have been a nuisance and spoiled everything. I can see that these +people consider it quite an honor to have me visit them, all because of +my having been around the world, I dare say. And of course I have let +them see that I know who is who and what is what. They are imploring me +to stay on; but I told them yesterday that it wouldn't suit my book at +all to stay over two weeks longer, when I had seen all there was to see. +That young Ramsay seems to be enjoying himself out there among those +nasty savages; and, as hunting is about the only thing he is fit for, he +had best stay out there altogether."</p> + +<p>The unwritten history of Mrs. Sykes's visit to Marbury Park would have +been more interesting than the account she gave. She took with her a +camp-chair, which she placed in any and every spot that suited her or +commanded the pictorial situations which she wished to make her own +permanently. To the horror and surprise of her friends, she plumped it +down immediately in front of Mr. Wickers (after marching past an immense +congregation), and, wholly unembarrassed by her conspicuous position, +settled herself comfortably, took out her block and pencil, and +proceeded to jot down that worthy's features line upon line, as though +he had been a newly-imported animal at the "Zoo" on exhibition, paying +no attention to the precept upon precept he was trying to impress upon +his audience.</p> + +<p>She walked all over the place repeatedly, went poking and prying into +such tents as she chanced to find empty, nor considered this an +essential requisite to the conferring of this honor. When less sociably +inclined, she established herself outside, close at hand, and in this +way made those valuable observations and spirited drawings which +subsequently enriched her diary and delighted a discerning British +public. But this is anticipating. When she tired of New York, she wrote +to Sir Robert that she wished to give as much time as possible to the +Mormons, and would leave at once for Salt Lake City, where she would +busy herself in laying bare the domestic system as it really existed, +and hold herself in readiness to join the party again when they should +arrive there <i>en route</i> to the Yosemite.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert, being an heroic creature, felt that he could bear this +temporary separation with fortitude, and, being about to start for +Boston when he got the news, forthwith threw himself upon the New +England States in a frenzied search for all the information to be had +about them,—their exact geographical position, by whom discovered, when +settled, climate, productions, population, principal towns and rivers. +He studied three maps of the region as he rattled along in the +south-bound train, and devoted the rest of the time to getting an +outline of its history: so that his nephew found him but an indifferent +companion.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 123]</span>"I suppose there are authorized maps and charts, geographical, +hydrographical, and topographical, issued by the government, and to be +seen at the libraries. I must get a look at them at once. These are +amateur productions, the work of irresponsible men, contradicting each +other in important particulars as to the relative positions of places, +and inaccurate in many respects, as I find by comparison," he said, +emerging from a prolonged study of his authorities. "You don't seem to +take much interest in all this. You should be at the pains to inform +yourself upon every possible point in connection with this country, or +any other in which you may find yourself; else why travel at all?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote, not having his uncle's thirst for information, was +reading a French novel at the time, and did not attempt to defend his +position, knowing it probably to be indefensible.</p> + +<p>Before getting to Boston the air turned very chill, and a fine, +penetrating rain set in that for a while disturbed the student of +American history with visions of rheumatism. "God bless my soul! I shall +be laid by the heels here for weeks. Damp is the one thing that I can't +stand up against. And I have not left my coat out!" he exclaimed, +tugging anxiously at his side-whiskers and annoyed to find how dependent +he had grown on his valet. "What shall I do? Ah! I have an idea. Damp. +What resists it and is practically water-proof? <i>Newspapers</i>!" With this +he stood up, seized the "Times" supplement, made a hole in the middle of +the central fold, and put it over his head. "Now I have improvised a +South-American <i>serape</i>" he observed, in a tone that betrayed the +pleasure it gave him to exercise his ingenuity. He then took two other +sheets and successively wrapped them around his legs, after the fashion +in vogue among gardeners intent upon protecting valuable plants from the +rigors of winter. This done, he smoothed down the <i>serape</i>, which showed +a volatile tendency to blow up a good deal, and, with a brief comment to +the effect that "oilskin or india-rubber could not be better," and no +staring about him to observe the effect of his action on the passengers, +replaced his hat, sat down, picked up his book again, readjusted his +eye-glasses, and went on with the episode he had been reading aloud to +his nephew, who, mildly bored by King Philip's war, was mildly amused by +the spectacle the baronet presented, and surprised to see that their +fellow-travellers thought it an excellent joke. A loud "Haw! haw!" and +many convulsive titters testified their appreciation of the absurd +contrast between Sir Robert's highly-respectable head, his grave, +absorbed air, and the remarkable way in which he was finished off below +the ears; but he read on and on, in his round, agreeable voice, +unconscious of the effect he was producing, until the train came to the +final stop, when Mr. Porter and a very dignified, rigid style of friend +came into the car to look for him.</p> + +<p>"My dear Porter, I am delighted to see you, and I shall be with you in +one moment. I shall then have ceased to be a grub and have become a most +beautiful butterfly, ready to fly away home with you as soon as ever you +like," he called out in greeting, and in a twinkling had torn off his +wrappers, and stood there a revealed acquaintance, carefully collecting +his "traps," and beaming cheerfully even upon the friend, who had not +come to a pantomime and showed that he disapproved of harlequins in +private life.</p> + +<p>Mr. Porter, however, was all cordiality, and very speedily transferred +his guests to his own house in the vicinity of Boston.</p> + +<p>The season was not the one for gaining a fair idea of the society of the +city and neighborhood; but if all the people who were away at the +sea-side and the mountains were half as charming as those left behind +and invited by Mr. Porter, to meet his friends, it is certain that Sir +Robert lost a great deal. On the other hand, it is equally certain that +if they had been at home Sir Robert would most likely be there now, and +this chronicle of his travels would end <span class="pagenum">[Pg 124]</span>here. As it was, he +found something novel and agreeable at every step, a fresh interest +every hour of his stay. He began at the beginning, and promptly found +out what kind of soil the city was built on, went on to consider such +questions as drainage, elevation, water-supply, wharves, quays, bridges, +and worked up to libraries, museums, public and private collections of +pictures, and what not. He ordered three pictures of Boston +artists,—two autumnal scenes, and an interior, a negro cabin, with an +hilarious sable group variously employed, called "Christmas in the +Quarters." Then the questions of fisheries, maritime traffic, coast and +harbor defences, light-houses, the ship-building interests, life-saving +associations, and railway systems, pressed for investigation, to say +nothing of the mills and manufactories, wages of operatives, +trades-unions, trade problems, and all the pros and cons of free trade +<i>versus</i> protective tariff. Over these he pondered and pored until all +hours every night; and the diary had now to be girt about with two stout +rubber bands to keep it from scattering instructive leaflets about +promiscuously and prematurely. And by day there were sites literary, +historical, or generally interesting to be visited, engagements with +many friends to keep, endless occupations apparently.</p> + +<p>There was so much to see and do that the place was delightful to him, +and he certainly made himself vastly agreeable in return to such of its +inhabitants as came in his way.</p> + +<p>"I have added to my circle some very valuable acquaintances, whom I +shall hope to retain as friends," he wrote to England, "notably a +medical man who confirms my germ-propagation theory of the 'vomito,' +which is now raging in the Southern part of the States (I had it, you +remember, on the west coast of Africa, and studied it in the +Barbadoes),—an exceptionally clever man, and, like all such men, +inclined to be eccentric. I think I was never more surprised than to +come upon him the other day in a side-street, where he was positively +having his boots polished <i>in public</i> by a ragged gamin who offered to +'shine' me for a 'dime.' He behaved sensibly about it,—betrayed no +embarrassment, though he must have felt excessively annoyed, made no +apologies, and only remarked that he had been out in the country, and +did not wish to be taken for a miller in the town.</p> + +<p>"I was led to believe before coming here that I should not be able to +tell that Boston was not an English town. It did not so impress me on a +surface-view, but it was not long before I recognized that the warp and +woof of the social fabric is that of our looms, though the pattern is a +little different,—a good sort of stuff, I think, warranted <i>to wash</i> +and wear. The variation, such as it is, tried by what I call my +differential nationometer, gives to the place its own peculiar, +delightful quality." The rigid gentleman, who was a great deal at the +Porters', was rather inclined to insist upon the great purity and beauty +of his English, to which he repeatedly invited attention, and, as Mr. +Ramsay would have said, "went in for" certain philological refinements +which Sir Robert had never heard before, and thoroughly disliked. But as +there are more Scotchmen in London than in Edinburgh, and better oranges +can be bought for less money in New York than in New Orleans, so it may +be that if you want to find really superior English you must leave +England altogether,—abandon it to its defective but firmly-rooted +<i>patois</i>, and seek in more classic shades for the well—spring of Saxon +undefiled. But Sir Robert was not inclined to do this. There were limits +to his liberality and spirit of investigation. When the rigid gentleman +instanced certain words to which he gave a pronunciation that made them +bear small resemblance to the same words as spoken by any class of +people laboring under the disadvantage of having been born and bred in +England, Sir Robert got impatient, and testily dismissed the subject +with, "Oh, come, now! I can stand a good deal, but I can't stand being +told that we don't know how to speak English in England." Something, +however, must <span class="pagenum">[Pg 125]</span>be pardoned to a foreigner. If Sir Robert would +not consent to set Emerson a little higher than the angels, as some +other Bostonians could have wished, and had never so much as heard of +Thoreau and other American celebrities not wholly insignificant, he had +an immense admiration for Longfellow, and could spout "Hiawatha" or +"Evangeline" with the best, associated Hawthorne with something besides +his own hedges in the month of May, and was eager to be taken out to +Beverly Farms, that he might "do himself the honor to call upon" the +wisest, wittiest, least-dreaded, and best-loved of Autocrats. When the +day fixed for his departure came, he was still revelling in what the +Historical Society of Massachusetts had to show him, and actually +stayed over a day that he might see the finest collection of cacti in +the country, and at last tore himself away with much difficulty and +lively regrets, carrying with him a collection of Indian curiosities +given him by Mr. Porter, whom he considered to have behaved "most +handsomely" in making him such a present. "I can't rob you outright, my +dear fellow. I feel a cut-purse, almost, when I think of taking all +these valuable and deeply-interesting objects illustrative of the life +and civilization of the aborigines," he said. "Give me duplicates, if +you will be so generous, but nothing unique, I insist." He finally +accepted one gem in the collection,—a towering structure of feathers +that formed "a most delightful head-dress, quite irresistibly +fascinating," tried it on before a mirror that gave back faithfully the +comical reflection, and incidentally delivered a lecture on the +head-ornaments of many savage and civilized nations of every age, though +not at all in the style of the famous Mr. Barlow.</p> + +<p>Mr. Heathcote at least was not sorry to find that they were, as he said. +"booked for Baltimore." The image of the beautiful Miss Bascombe had not +been effaced. Perhaps he had photographed it by some private process on +his heart with the lover's camera, which takes rather idealized but very +charming pictures, some of which never fade. At all events, there it +was, very distinct and very lovely, and always hung on the line in his +mental picture-gallery. It was positively with trepidation that he +presented himself before her very soon after his arrival; and an +undeniable blush "mantled" his cheek—if a blush can be said with any +propriety to mantle the male cheek—- when he marched into the +drawing-room, where she was doing a dainty bit of embroidery, and with +much simplicity and directness said, "You said I might come, you know, +and I have come; and I begged of Ethel to come too, but she could not +leave my aunt," before he had so much as shaken hands. Of course no +well-regulated and well-bred young woman—and Miss Bascombe was +both—ever permits herself to remember any man until she is engaged to +him; but she need not forget one that has impressed her agreeably. Miss +Bascombe had not forgotten the handsome Englishman she had met at Jenny +De Witt's, nor the little lecture she had given him on the duties of +brothers to sisters, and it did not strike her that his inaugural +address was at all eccentric or mysterious. He had been told what he +ought to do; he had tried to do it, as was quite right and proper. He +deserved some reward. And he got it,—though only as an encouragement to +abstract virtue, of course. The young lady was pleased to be friendly, +gracious, charming. Her mother came in presently, was equally friendly +and gracious, and almost as charming. Her father came home to dinner, +and was friendly too, and hearty, and very hospitable. Her brothers were +friendliest of all. He knew quite well that he had no claim on them, +that he had not saved the life of any member of the family or laid them +under any sort of obligation, individually or collectively, and no +reception could have seemed more special and dangerously cordial, yet no +anxieties oppressed, no fears distracted him. The weight of excessive +eligibility suddenly slipped off him, like the albatross from the neck +of the Ancient <span class="pagenum">[Pg 126]</span>Mariner, leaving him a thankful and a happy man, +and in a week he had established himself firmly at the Bascombes', +declined to accompany his uncle to Virginia, and definitely settled in +his own mind that he would take the step matrimonial,—the step from the +sublime to—well, not always the ridiculous. With this resolution he +naturally thought that the greatest obstacle to success had been +removed; but he was soon disillusionized. He had already come to see +that American girls were very much in the habit of being gracious to +everybody, and saying pretty and pleasant things, with no thought of an +hereafter; also that they did not live with St. George's, Hanover +Square, or its American equivalent, Trinity Church, New York, stamped on +the mental retina. Miss Bascombe was "very nice" to him, he told +himself, but she was quite as nice to a dozen other men. She was +uniformly kind, courteous, agreeable, to every one who came to the +house. Her cordiality to him meant nothing whatever. Yes, he was quite +free,—free as air; he saw that plainly, and perversely longed to assume +the fetters he had so long and so skilfully avoided. What was the use of +having serious intentions when not the slightest notice was taken of the +most compromising behavior? It was true that he was perfectly at liberty +to see more of Edith than an Englishman ever does of any woman not +related to him, and to say and do a thousand things any one of which at +home would have necessitated a proposal or instant flight. But no +importance whatever seemed to be attached to them here, and he was +utterly at a loss how to make his seriousness felt. Yet it was quite +clear that if there was to be any wooing done, he would have to do +it,—go every step of the way himself, with no assistance from Miss +Bascombe. "How on earth am I to show her that I care for her?" he +thought. "Other men send her dozens of bouquets, and box after box of +expensive sweets, and loads of books, and music without end, and they +come to see her continually, and take her about everywhere, and are +entirely devoted to her. I wonder what fellows over here do when they +are serious? How do they make themselves understood when they go on in +this way habitually? It is a most extraordinary state of affairs! And +neither party seems to feel in the least compromised by it. There is +that fellow Clinch, who fairly lives at the Bascombes', and when I asked +her if she was engaged to him she said, 'Engaged to George Clinch? What +an idea! <i>No</i>. What put that in your head? He is a nice fellow, and I +like him immensely, but there's nothing of that sort between us. What +made you think there was? And when I explained, she said, 'Oh, <i>that's</i> +nothing! He is just as nice to lots of other girls.' And when I +suggested to him that he was attached to her, he said, 'Edith Bascombe? +Oh, no! She is a great friend of mine, and a charming girl, but I have +never thought of that, nor has she. I go there a good deal, but I have +never paid her any marked attention.' No marked attention, indeed! +Nothing seems to mean anything here: it is worse than being in England, +where everything means something. No, it isn't, either. I vow that when +I am at the Clintons' in Surrey I scarcely dare offer the girls so much +as a muffin, and if I ask the carroty one, Beatrice, the simplest +question, she blushes and stammers as if I were proposing out of hand. +But what am I to do? I can't sing and take to serenading Edith on +moonlit nights with a guitar and a blue ribbon around my neck. I can't +push her into the river that I may pull her out again. I dare say there +is nothing for it but to adopt the American method,—enter with about +fifty others for a sort of sentimental steeple-chase, elbow or knock +every other fellow out of the way in the running, work awfully hard to +please the girl, and get in by half a length, if one wins at all. There +is no feeling sure of her until one is coming back from the altar, +evidently."</p> + +<p>Some of his conversations with Edith were certainly anything but +encouraging. At other times he felt morally sure that <span class="pagenum">[Pg 127]</span>she +shared that derangement of the bivalvular organ technically defined as +"a muscular viscus which is the primary instrument of the blood's +motion," whose worst pains are said to be worth more than the greatest +pleasures. He was very much in earnest, and entirely straightforward, +There were no balancing indecisions now, but the most downright +affirmation of preference. His little speeches were not veiled in rosy +clouds of metaphor and poetry and distant allusions, like Captain +Kendall's, nor did they flow out in an unfailing stream of romantic +eloquence, like that gifted warrior's. They were so honest and so +clumsy, indeed, that Edith could not help laughing at them merrily +sometimes, to his great discomfiture, consisting as they did chiefly of +such statements as, "You know that I am most awfully fond of you. I was +tremendously hard hit from the first. If you don't believe me, you can +ask Ramsay. I told him all about it. You aren't in the least like any +other girl that I have ever known, except Mrs. De Witt a little. I +suppose you know that I would have married her at the dropping of a hat +if I could have done so. But that is all over now. I care an awful lot +for you now, and shall be quite frightfully cut up if you won't have +anything to say to me,—I shall, really. I have got quite wrapped up in +you, upon my word. And I shall be intensely glad and proud if you will +consent to be my wife."</p> + +<p>When Edith failed to take such speeches as these seriously, poor Mr. +Heathcote was quite beside himself, and, in reply to her bantering +accusations as to his being "a great flirt" and not "really meaning one +word that he said," opposed either burly negation or a deeply-vexed +silence. They looked at so many things differently that they found a +piquant interest in discussing every subject that came up.</p> + +<p>"There go May Dunbar and Fred Beach," she said to him one Sunday as they +were coming home from church. "Isn't he handsome? They have been engaged +<i>three years</i>. Did you ever hear of such constancy?"</p> + +<p>"Do you call that constancy? Why, if a fellow can't wait three years for +a lovely girl like that, he must be a poor stick. Why, my uncle +Montgomery was engaged to his wife seventeen years, while he went out to +India and shook the pagoda-tree, after which he came back, paid all his +father's debts, and they married and went into the house they had picked +out before he sailed," said Mr. Heathcote.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious! what a time! I hope the poor things were happy at last. +Were they?" asked Edith.</p> + +<p>"H-m—pretty well. He is a rather fiery, tyrannical old party. She +doesn't get her own way to hurt," he replied.</p> + +<p>"I have heard that Englishwomen give way to the men in everything and +are always, voluntarily or involuntarily, sacrificed to them. It must be +so bad for both," said Edith sweetly.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you go in for woman's rights and that sort of thing, I suppose," he +said, in a tone of annoyance.</p> + +<p>"Indeed I don't do anything of the kind," replied she, with warmth. "If +I did, I should be aping the men when I wasn't sneering at them. But I +respect your sex most when they most deserve to be respected, and I +don't see anything to admire in a selfish, tyrannical man that is always +imposing his will, opinions, and wishes upon the ladies of his household +and expects to be the first consideration from the cradle to the grave +because he happens to be a man."</p> + +<p>"But he is the head of his house. He ought to get his own way, if +anybody does, and, if he is not a coward, he will, too," said Mr. +Heathcote rather hotly. "Would you have a man a molly-coddle, tied to +his wife's apron-string, and not daring to call his soul his own?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," replied Edith. "It is the cowards that are the tyrants. +'The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring,' as our +American poet says. And women have souls of their own, except in the +East. Why shouldn't <i>they</i> be the first consideration and do as they +please, pray? They are the weaker, the more delicate and daintily bred. +If <span class="pagenum">[Pg 128]</span>there is any pampering and spoiling to be done, they should +be the objects of it. And as to rights, there is no divine right of way +given to man, that I know of. I don't believe in that sort of thing at +all. Of course no reasonable woman wants or expects everybody to kootoo +before her and everything to give way to her."</p> + +<p>"And no gentleman fails to show a proper respect for his wife's wishes +and comfort, not to mention her happiness," said Mr. Heathcote. "But of +course that sort of thing is only to be found in America. Englishmen are +all selfish, and tyrants, and domestic monsters, I know."</p> + +<p>"I didn't say anything of the kind," replied Edith quickly, her cheeks +pink with excitement. "I don't know anything about Englishmen or the +domestic system of England, and I never expect to. But, if what I have +heard is true, it is a system that tends to make men mortally selfish; +and selfish people, whether they are men or women, and whether they know +it or not, are <i>all</i> monsters. But I apologize for my remarks, and, as I +am not interested in the subject <i>in the least,</i> we will talk of +something else, if you please."</p> + +<p>This very feminine conclusion, delivered loftily and with sudden +reserve, left Mr. Heathcote in anything but an agreeable frame of mind, +and for an hour or two made him doubt the wisdom of international +marriages; but this mood passed away, and he remained a fixture at the +<i>maison</i> Bascombe, where the very postman came to know him and +generously sympathized with the malady from which he was suffering. Nor +was this the only house in which he was made very welcome. Baltimore is +one of many American cities that suffer from the vague but painful +accusation of being "provincial;" but, admitting this dreadful charge, +it has social, gastronomic, and other charms of its own that ought to +compensate for the absence of that doubtful good, cosmopolitanism. Mr. +Heathcote certainly found no fault with it, and did not miss the +population, pauperism, or other institutions of Paris, London, or +Vienna. On the contrary, he took very kindly to the pretty place, and +heartily liked the people. There was nothing oppressive or ostentatious +in the attentions he received, but just the cordiality, grace, and charm +of an old-established society of most refined traditions, perfect +<i>savoir-vivre,</i> and chronic hospitality.</p> + +<p>"You are making a Baltimorean of me, you are so awfully kind to me," he +would say, pronouncing the <i>a</i> in Bal as he would have done in sal; but +the truth was that he had become primarily a Bascomite and only very +incidentally a Baltimorean. The city counts hundreds of such converts +every year. He was so happy and entirely content that he would have +quite forgotten what it was to be bored just at this period but for +certain individuals,—a boastful, disagreeable Irishman, who fastened +upon him apparently for no other reason than that he might abuse England +at great length and talk of his own valor, accomplishments, and +"paddygree" (as he very properly called the record that established his +connection with Brian Boroo and Irish kings generally), and a lady who +seemed to take the most astounding, unquenchable interest in the English +nobility, as more than one lady had seemed to him to do, to his great +annoyance.</p> + +<p>"I don't know a bit about them, I assure you," he said to her; "but I +have the 'Peerage.' If you would like to see that, I will send it you +with pleasure."</p> + +<p>This only diverted her conversation into a different but equally +distasteful channel,—the great distinction and antiquity of her own +family. It really seemed as though she had a dread of Mr. Heathcote's +leaving the country with some wrong impression on this important subject +and was determined that he should be put in possession of all the +information she had or imagined herself to have about it. She talked to +him about it so much that the poor man was at incredible pains to keep +out of her way.</p> + +<p>"I don't care a brass copper about <span class="pagenum">[Pg 129]</span>her," he complained to +Edith; "and if the family has been producing women like her as long as +she says, and is going on at it, all I can say is that it is a pity they +have lasted this long, and the sooner they die out the better. What do I +care about her family, pray? I never heard as much about family in all +my life, I give you my word, as I have done since I came to America. The +stories told me are something wonderful,—all about the two brothers +that left England, and all that, you know. They seem all to have come +away in pairs, like the animals in the ark. I said to one fellow that +was beginning with those two brothers, '<i>Couldn't you make it three</i>, +don't you think?' And you'll not believe me, but I speak quite without +exaggeration, when I say that one woman out in Raising assured me +gravely that she was descended from the houses of York and Lancaster!"</p> + +<p>"<i>She didn't!"</i> exclaimed Edith. "That is, if she did, she must have +been <i>crazy</i>; and I won't have you going back to England and giving +false impressions of us by repeating such stories. Promise me that you +will never repeat it there."</p> + +<p>"Oh, that's all right," he replied soothingly. "It's an extreme case, I +grant, and I'll say no more about it if it vexes you, but it is a true +tale all the same. Howe was her name, I remember; and I felt like +saying,—I'll eat my hand if I understand Howe this can possibly +be,'—that's in the Bab Ballads,—but I didn't."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert had small opportunity of making acquaintance with Baltimore. +He was very eager to get down into Virginia, and stayed there but two +days. On the second of these he attended a gentleman's dinner-party, the +annual mile-stone of a military society composed of men who had worn the +gray and marked the well-known tendency of tempus to fugit in this +agreeable fashion. Their ex-enemies of the blue were also there, but not +in the original overwhelming numbers, and the battle was now to one +party, now to the other, the race to the best <i>raconteur</i>, rivers of +champagne flowed instead of brave blood, and the smoke of cannon was +exchanged for that of Havanas. Sir Robert's face beamed more and more +brightly as the evening wore on, and reminiscences, anecdotes, stories, +jests, songs, were fluently and cleverly poured out in rapid succession +by the hilarious company. The fun was at its height, when he suddenly +leaned forward with his body at an insinuating angle and smilingly +addressed an officer opposite: "You must really let me say that I have +been delighted by all that I have heard here to-night, and appreciate +the compliment you have paid me in permitting me to join you. And now I +am going to ask a great favor. Could you, would you, give me some idea +of 'the rebel yell,' as it was called? We heard so much about that. I am +most curious to hear it. It is always spoken of as perfectly terrifying, +almost unearthly."</p> + +<p>The gentleman whom he addressed looked down the table and rapped to call +attention to what he had to say: "Boys, this English gentleman is asking +whether we can't give him some idea of what the rebel yell is like. What +do you say? If our Federal friends are afraid, they can get under the +table, where they will be perfectly safe, and a good deal more +comfortable than they used to be behind trees or in baggage-wagons," he +called out.</p> + +<p>A hearty laugh followed, and, their blood having got bubbles in it by +this time, a general assenting murmur was heard.</p> + +<p>The next instant a shriek, sky-rending, blood-curdling, savage beyond +description, went up,—a truly terrific yell in peace, and enough to +create a panic, one would think, in the Old Guard in time of war.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, thank you. <i>I am entirely satisfied"</i> said Sir Robert, in a +comically rueful tone, as soon as he could say anything for the uproar. +"I never imagined anything like it, never. Where did you get it? Who +invented it? Is it an adaptation of some war-cry of the North American +Indians? It sounds like what one would fancy their cries <span class="pagenum">[Pg 130]</span>might +be, doesn't it? It has got all the beasts of the forest in it; and I +confess that I for one, would have fled before it and stayed in the +wagons as long as there was the slightest danger of hearing it. By Jove! +it must have been heard in Boston when given in Virginia. It is curious +how very ancient the practice of—"</p> + +<p>But the company heard no more of curious practices, for their yell had +been heard, if not in Boston, in a far more remarkable quarter,—namely, +by the police, who now rushed in, prepared to club, arrest, and carry +off any and all disorderly and dreadful disturbers of the peace.</p> + +<p>If Sir Robert had been in any danger of being murdered, all experience +goes to show that no policeman could have been found before the +following morning, and then only in the remotest part of the city. As he +was merely being wined, dined, and amused, quite a formidable body of +these devoted but easily-misled guardians of respectability and +innocence poured into the room, where at first they could see nothing +for the smoke. Matters were explained, they were invited to "take +something" before they went, and took it, and, quite placated, filed out +into the passage again, and from thence into the street.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert sat up late that night, or rather began early on the +following day, to copy the stories he had most relished into the diary, +and do what justice he could to "the rebel yell," and, having added an +admirably discriminating chapter on "the present political situation in +the States," concluded with, "How striking is the good sense, the good +feeling, that both the conquerors and the conquered have shown, on the +whole! In other countries, how often has a war far less bloody and +protracted left in its wake evils far greater than the original one, in +guerilla warfare, murders, ceaseless revolt, and smouldering hatred +lasting for centuries on one side, and centuries of tyranny, oppression, +executions, confiscations, on the other! A brave and fine race this, not +made of the stuff that goes to keep up vendettas, shoot landlords, blow +up rulers, assassinate enemies. They can fight as well as any, and they +have shown that they can forgive better than most,—taken together, true +manliness. It may be that they are influenced by a consideration which +is said to be always present to an American,—'Will it pay?' and of +course so practical a people as this see that anarchy doesn't pay; but I +would rather attribute their conduct to nobler, more generous motives, +and in doing this seem to myself to be doing them no more than justice."</p> + +<p class="author"><b>F.C. BAYLOR.</b></p> + +<p>[TO BE CONCLUDED.]</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="OUR_VILLE"></a>OUR VILLE.</h2> + + +<p>The picturesqueness of France in our day is confined almost exclusively +to its humble life. The Renaissance and the Revolution swept away in +most parts of the country moated castle, abbaye, grange, and chateau, to +replace them with luxurious but conventional piles and ruins humbly +restored and humbly inhabited. Many a farmhouse with unkempt <i>cour</i> and +dishevelled <i>pelouse</i> is the relic of a turreted château, stables are +often desecrated churches, seigneurial <i>colombiers</i> shelter swine, and +battlemented portals to fortified walls serve, as does the one of our +ville, to house hideously-uniformed <i>douaniers</i> watching the luggage of +arriving travellers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 131]</span>Our ville was never an aristocratic one, and to this day very +few of our names are preceded by the idealizing particle <i>de</i>. We have +an ancient history, however,—so ancient that all historians place our +origin at <i>un temps trèsrecule</i>. We had houses and walls when Rouen +yonder was a marsh, and we saw Havre spring up like a mushroom only two +little centuries and a half ago. Besieged and taken, burned and ravaged, +alternately by Protestant and Catholic, no wonder our ville has not even +ruins to show that we are older than the fifteen hundreds. Still, +ancient though we are, we have always been a ville of humble +folk,—hardy sailors, brave fishers, and thrifty bourgeois,—and to-day, +as always, our highest families buy and sell and build their philistine +homes back toward the <i>côte</i>, while our humble ones picturesquely haunt +the <i>quais</i>.</p> + +<p>The town is exquisitely situated at the foot of abrupt <i>côtes</i>, just +where the broad and tranquil river shudders with mysterious deep +heavings and meets its dolphin-hued death in the all-devouring sea. Away +off in the shimmering distance is the second seaport city of France. On +still days,—and our gray or golden Norman days are almost always +still,—faint muffled sounds of life, the throbbing of factories, the +farewell boom of cannon from ships setting forth across the Atlantic, +even the musical notes of the Angelus, float across the water to us as +dreamily vague as perhaps our earth-throbs and passion-pulses reach a +world beyond the clouds. This city is our metropolis, with which we are +connected by small steamers crossing to and fro with the tide, and where +all our shopping is done, our own ville being too thoroughly limited and +<i>roturier</i> in taste to merit many of our shekels.</p> + +<p>In fact, such of our shopping as is done in our ville is in the quaint +marketplace, where black house-walls are beetling and bent, and +Sainte-Cathérine's ancient wooden tower stands the whole width of the +Place away from its Gothic church. Here we bargain and chaffer with +towering <i>bonnets blancs</i> for peasant pottery and faïence, paintable +half-worn stuffs, and delicious ancestral odds and ends of broken +peasant households.</p> + +<p>We have many streets over which wide eaves meet, and within which +twilight dwells at noonday. Some of the hand-wide streets run straight +up the <i>côte</i>, and are a succession of steep stairs climbing beside +crouching, timber-skeletoned houses perforated by narrow windows opening +upon vistas of shadow. Others seem only to run down from the <i>côte</i> to +the sea as steeply as black planks set against a high building. Upon the +very apex of the <i>côte</i>, visible miles away at sea, lives our richest +citizen. His house smiles serenely modern even if only pseudo-classic +contempt on all the quaint duskiness and irregularity below, and is +pillared, corniced, entablatured, and friezed, with lines severely +straight, although the building itself is as round as any mediæval +campanile and surmounted with a Gothic bell-turret, while the +entrance-gate is turreted, machicolated, castellated, like the +fortress-castles of the Goths.</p> + +<p>Lower down the <i>côte</i>, convent walls raise themselves above red-tiled +and lichen-grown roofs. In one of these convents, behind eyeless grim +walls, are hidden cloistered nuns; from others the Sisters go freely +forth upon errands of both business and mercy. The convent of cloisters, +Couvent des Augustines, is passing rich, and has houses and lands to +let. Once upon a time an <i>Américaine</i> coveted one of these picturesque +houses. She entered the convent and interviewed the business-manager, a +veiled nun behind close bars.</p> + +<p>"Madame may occupy the house," said <i>ma Soeur</i>, "by paying five hundred +francs a year, by observing every fast and feast of the Church, by +attending either matins or vespers every day, and by attending +confession and partaking of the holy sacrament every month."</p> + +<p>Madame is a zealous Catholic, therefore the terms, although peculiar, +did not seem too severe. She was about to remove into the house, when, +lo! she received word that, it having come to the knowledge of the +convent that the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 132]</span>husband of Madame was a heretic, he could not +be allowed to occupy any tenement of the Communauté.</p> + +<p>Although this cloistered sisterhood is vowed to perpetual seclusion, +once a year even heretics may gaze upon their pale faces. This annual +occasion is the prize-day of the school they teach, when the school-room +is decorated with white cloth and paper roses, the <i>curés</i> of +neighboring parishes and the Maire of our ville, with invited +distinguished guests, occupy the platform, and the floor below is free +to everybody furnished with invitation-cards.</p> + +<p>I had always longed to enter these prison-like walls and gaze from my +tempestuous distance upon those peaceful lives set apart from earth's +rush and turmoil in a fair and blessed haven of the Lord. I longed to +see those pure visionaries, pale spouses of Christ, and read upon +illumined faces the unspeakable rapture of mystic union with the Lamb of +God.</p> + +<p>Monsieur le Docteur S——, our family physician, is also physician of +the convent.</p> + +<p>"You will see nobody," he said, remarking my sentimental curiosity +concerning cloistered nuns,—"you will see nobody but a lot of +lace-mending and stocking-knitting old maids who failed to get +husbands."</p> + +<p>I had already heard queer stories of our old doctor's forty years of +attendance upon the convent, and I was not so easily discouraged. I was +especially anxious to see the Mother Superior, having many times heard +the story of her flight in slippers and dressing-gown from the +breakfast-table to bury herself forever within the walls that have held +her now these twenty-five years. In all these years her unforgiving +father has never seen her face, nor she his, although they live within +stone's throw of each other.</p> + +<p>"Know about him? of course she does," answered Victoire to my question. +"She knows all about him, and more too. Do you suppose there is an item +of news in the whole town that those cloistered nuns do not hear? If +you had been educated by them, as we were, and pumped dry every day as +to what went on in our own and our neighbors' families, you would not +ask that question."</p> + +<p>Victoire and I penetrated into the convent that very same day. We +followed a crowd of women, <i>paysannes</i> and <i>citoyennes</i>, into a sunny +court paved with large stones and arched by the noontide sky, but +unsoftened by tree or flower, and surrounded by the open windows of +dormitories. Over the threshold we had just crossed the nuns pass but +once after their vows,—pass outward, feet foremost, deaf and unseeing, +to a closer, darker home than even their cloistered one. Some of them +have seen nothing beyond their convent walls for forty years, while one +has here worn away sixty years.</p> + +<p><i>Sixty years</i> without one single glimpse of sweet dawn or fair sunset, +without one single vision of the sea in winter majesty of storm or +summer glory! <i>Sixty years</i> without sound of lisping music running +through tall grass, without one single whisper of the æolian pines, or +glimpse of blooming orchards against pure skies! <i>Sixty years</i>!</p> + +<p>Beside me in the school-room sat a buxom peasant-woman, who, as a little +girl crowned with a gaudy tinsel wreath descended from the platform, +confidentially informed me, "<i>C'est ma fille.</i> She has taken the prize +for good conduct, and there isn't a worse <i>coquine</i> in our whole +commune."</p> + +<p>I saw the pale visionaries, a circle of black-robed figures, with +dead-white bands, like coffin-cerements, across their brows. I saw them +almost unanimously fat, with pendulous jowls and black and broken teeth, +as remote from any expression of mystic fervors and spiritual espousals +as could be well imagined, <i>"Vieilles commères</i>!" grunted my <i>paysanne,</i> +who was evidently neither amiable nor saintly.</p> + +<p>Mother Mary-of-the-Angels, once Elise Gautier, was short, fat, and +bustling, with large round-eyed spectacles upon her nose, and the pasty +complexion and premature flaccid wrinkles that come <span class="pagenum">[Pg 133]</span>with long +seclusion from sunshine and exercise. She marched about like one who had +chosen Martha's rather than Mary's manner of serving her Lord, and we +saw her chat a full half-hour with the wife of the Maire, bowing, +smiling, gesticulating meantime with all the florid grace of a French +woman of the world.</p> + +<p>"The Maire's wife was her former intimate friend," whispered Victoire. +"See how much younger and healthier she looks than the Mother Superior, +and how much happier. <i>On dit</i> that it was chagrin at the marriage of +this friend that caused Élise Gautier to desert her widowed father and +dependent little brothers and sisters to bury herself in a convent."</p> + +<p>A more interesting story than Élise Gautier's is told in our ville. Some +years ago a nun left the Couvent des Augustines in open day, passing out +from the central door in her nun's garb, and meeting there a +foreign-looking man accompanied by a posse of gendarmes. The couple, +followed by a half-hooting, half-cheering mob, drove directly to the +hôtel-de-ville, where they were united in marriage. Then they went away +from our ville, where both were born, to the husband's home in Spain. +When those convent doors had closed upon her, a quarter of a century +before, and the lovers believed themselves eternally separated, she was +a lovely girl of twenty, he a bright youth of twenty-five. She passed +away from his despairing sight, fair and fresh as a spring flower, with +beautiful golden hair and violet eyes; she came out from that fatal +portal a woman of forty-five, stout, spectacled, with faded, thin hair +beneath her nun's cowl, to meet a portly gray-haired man of fifty, in +whom not even love's eye could detect the faintest vestige of the +slender bright-eyed lover of her youth.</p> + +<p>The unhappy Laure had been forced to unwilling vows to keep her from +this beggarly lover, and, when he fled to Spain, both became dead to our +ville for long years. Twenty-two years after Laure became Soeur Angelica +it was known in the convent that the machinery of the civil law, which +had only lately forbidden eternal religious vows, had been set in motion +to secure her release; but it remained a mystery who the spring of the +movement was, her parents having long been dead. Soeur Angelica herself +seemed almost more terrified than otherwise at the knowledge, for every +conventual influence was brought to bear upon her morbid conscience to +assure her that eternal damnation follows broken vows. It seems, +however, that amid all her spiritual stress she never confessed, even to +her spiritual director, what desecration had come upon that dovecote by +her constant correspondence with the lover of her youth, now a wealthy +wine-merchant in Spain. When she left the convent, some of these +love-letters were left behind; and to this day those scandalized doves, +to whom Soeur Angelica is forever a lost soul, wonder futilely how those +emissaries of Satan penetrated their holy walls.</p> + +<p>"How <i>did</i> they, do you suppose?" I asked.</p> + +<p>Victoire and Clarice smiled curiously, while Émile, with an expression +savoring of paganism and pig-tails, squinted obliquely toward our +doctor.</p> + +<p>"<i>Nous n'en savons rien</i>" they answered me.</p> + +<p>The social amusements of our ville are few, as must naturally be the +case in a provincial town ruled by the Draconian law that a <i>jeune fille +à marier</i> must be no more than an animated puppet, while <i>jeunes gens</i> +must have their coarse fling before they are fit for refined society. +Occasionally an ambulant theatrical troupe gives an entertainment in our +little theatre. Once a year Talbot comes, during vacation at the +Francais, and gives us "L'Avare" or "Le Roi s'amuse;" but such are small +events, to our provincial taste, compared with the vaulting and +grimacing of the more frequent English and American circus troupes in +our Place Thiers.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the chief distraction of our young people is going to early +mass, whither our young ladies go accompanied by <i>bonnes</i>, Maman having +not yet emerged from the French mamma's chrysalis condition <span class="pagenum">[Pg 134]</span>of +morning crimping-pins, petticoat and short gown, and list slippers. The +<i>bonnes</i> who thus serve as chaperons are often as young as or even +younger than the demoiselles whose virginal modesty they are supposed to +protect. That they are anything more than a mere form of guardian, a +figment of the social fiction that a young French girl never leaves her +mother's side till she goes to her husband's, it is unnecessary to +observe. Human nature, especially French human nature, is human nature +all the world over, and Romeo will woo and Juliet be won during early +mass or twilight vespers as well as from a balcony, in spite of all the +Montagues and Capulets. Girl-chaperons are oftener in sympathy with +ardent daughters than with worldly mothers, while even the oldest and +most sedate of French <i>bonnes</i> are malleable to other influences than +those of their legitimate employers. It was across our river, yonder +from whence the sound of the Angelus comes across the summer water like +the music of dreams, that Balzac's Modest Mignon carried on her +intrigues of hifalutin gush, by means of a facile <i>bonne</i>, with a man +whom she had never seen, and who deceived her by personating the poet +she wished him to be. Modest Mignons are not rare in our ville, and the +Gothic vaults of Saint-Léonard and the pillared aisles of +Sainte-Cathérine witness almost as many little intrigues, as many +heart-beats and blushes, as does "evenin' meetin'" in our own bucolic +regions.</p> + +<p>Désirée, our <i>femme-de-chambre,</i> before she came to us, lived in a +wealthy <i>roturier</i> family.</p> + +<p>"It was a good place, and I was sorry to lose it when Mademoiselle +Eugénie was married," said she. "The little gifts the <i>jeunes gens</i> +slipped into my panier as I came with mademoiselle from mass almost +equalled my wages. Mademoiselle had a good <i>dot</i> as well as beauty, and +<i>ces jeunes gens</i> expected to lose nothing by what they gave me. +Mademoiselle herself often said, 'Désirée, walk a few steps behind me, +and, while I keep my eyes upon the pavement, tell me all the young men +who turn to look after me. If you hear any of them say, "<i>Comme elle +est jolie!"</i> (How pretty she is!) you shall have my <i>batiste +mouchoirs</i>.'"</p> + +<p>On Sunday afternoons all the bourgeois world of our ville disports +itself upon the jetty. Not only then do all the mothers of the town with +daughters "to marry" bring those daughters to the weekly matrimonial +mart, but many of the mothers and chaperons of the near country round +about come in from rural <i>propriété</i> and rustic <i>chalet</i> to exhibit +their candidates. The method of procedure is eminently French, of +course, and eminently naïve, as even the intrigues and machinations of +Balzac's <i>bourgeoisie</i>, although intended as marvels of finesse, seem so +often naïveté itself to our blunter and less-plotting minds. The mothers +and daughters, or chaperons and charges, walk slowly arm in arm up and +down one side the jetty, facing the counter-current of young men and men +not young who have not lost interest in feminine attractions. Back and +forth, back and forth, for hours, move the two separate streams, never +for one instant commingling, each discussing the other's prospects, +characters, appearance, and, above all, <i>dots</i> and <i>rentes</i>, till +twilight falls and all the world goes home to dinner.</p> + +<p>Once upon a time a retired man of business came to our ville, +accompanied by his son. He was one of the class known in England as +"Commys," and so obnoxious in France as <i>commis-voyageurs.</i> He stopped +at the Cheval Blanc, and in conversation with mine host inquired if it +might chance that some café-keeper in the town desired to sell his café +and marry his daughter. Monsieur Brissom mentioned to him our +café-keepers blessed with marriageable daughters, and "Commy" made the +rounds among them, announcing that he had a son whom he wished to marry +to some charming demoiselle <i>dot</i>ed with a café. One of the café-keepers +had "<i>précisément votre affaire</i>." It was arranged that Mademoiselle +Clothilde should be promenaded by her mother the next Sunday on the +jetty, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 135]</span>where the young man should join the counter-current, and +thus each take observations of the other.</p> + +<p>As said, so done. Monsieur Henri and Mademoiselle Clothilde declared +themselves enchanted with each other.</p> + +<p>"<i>Très-bien</i>," said the reflective parents. "Now fall in love as fast as +ever you please."</p> + +<p>Monsieur and mademoiselle not only "fell," but plunged.</p> + +<p>Two weeks afterward, however, the papas fell out. Cafétier exacted more +than Commis could promise, and Commis declared Mademoiselle Clothilde +<i>pas grand' chose</i>: her eyebrows were too white, and her toes turned in.</p> + +<p>The marriage was declared "off," and the young people were ordered to +fall out of love the quickest possible.</p> + +<p>"Too late!" they cried.</p> + +<p>"You have seen each other but four times."</p> + +<p>"Quite enough," declared the lovers.</p> + +<p>"You shall not marry," shouted the parents.</p> + +<p>"We <i>will</i>!" screamed their offspring.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless they could not, for the French law gives almost absolute +power to parents. Mademoiselle would have no <i>dot</i> unless her father +chose to give her one, and no French marriage is legal without paternal +consent or the almost disgraceful expedient of <i>sommations +respectueuses</i>. Mademoiselle threatened to enter a convent. Cafétier +assured her that no convent opens cordial doors to <i>dot</i>less girls.</p> + +<p>Juliet was ready to defy all the Capulets when she had seen Romeo but +once; Corinne was ready to fling all her laurels at Oswald's feet at +their second interview; Rosamond Vincy planned her house-furnishing +during her second meeting with Lydgate; even Dorothea Brooke felt a +"trembling hope" the very next day after her first sight of Mr. +Casaubon. How, then, could one expect poor Clothilde to yield up her +undersized, thin-moustached, and very unheroic-looking Henri, having +seen him <i>four</i> times?</p> + +<p>There was one way out of her troubles,—that to which Alphonse Daudet's +and André Theuriet's people gravitate as needles to their pole. She +walked one dark midnight upon the jetty alone. Nobody saw the end; but +the next Sunday, three weeks to a day from the one when the two had +countermarched in matrimonial procession, Mademoiselle Clothilde was +laid in her grave.</p> + +<p>The whole French social system revolves around the <i>dot</i>.</p> + +<p>"How dare you speak to my father so!" I once heard a daughter reproach +her mother. "How dare you, who brought him no <i>dot</i>!"</p> + +<p>"It is a pity Madame Marais has no more influence in her family," I +heard remarked in a social company. "It is a pity, for she is a good +woman, and her husband and sons are all going to the bad."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is a pity," answered another; "but, then, what else can she +expect? She brought no <i>dot</i> into the family."</p> + +<p>Once upon a time a young man made a friendly call upon a family in our +ville, he a distant relative of the family. He sat in the <i>salon</i> with +mother and daughter, when suddenly the mother was called away a moment. +When she returned, not more than two minutes later,—horror! <i>she could +not enter the room!</i> In closing the door she had somehow disarranged the +handles; screws had dropped out and could not be found; the knob would +not turn. What a situation! A young girl shut up in a locked room with a +young man! What a scandal if the story got out in the town! and what +could the poor, distracted mamma do to release her daughter from that +damning situation without the knowledge of the servants? She dared not +even summon a locksmith, for locksmith tongues are free; and who would +not shoot out the lip at poor Jeanne, hearing the miserable story at +breakfast-tables to-morrow?</p> + +<p>"You must marry Jeanne, <i>mon cousin</i>," cried mamma through the keyhole.</p> + +<p>"Impossible, <i>ma cousine</i>. You know I am <i>fiancé</i>," laughed he.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless he did!</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 136]</span>For when papa heard that Jeanne had remained two whole hours +shut up with Cousin Pierre in a brilliantly-lighted <i>salon</i>, with a +frantic mother at the keyhole and all the servants grinning upon their +knees searching for the missing screws, he added twenty thousand francs +to her <i>dot</i> on the spot, and Pierre wrote to his other <i>fiancée</i> that +he had "changed his intentions."</p> + +<p>"Mamma's <i>tapage</i> was too funny," laughed Madame Pierre, telling me this +story herself. "Pierre and I laughed well on our side of the door, +although we were careful not to let maman hear us. For we had often been +alone together before when <i>nobody knew it</i>."</p> + +<p>Which makes all the difference in the world in our ville, as well as +elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Pierre's funny experience did not end with his betrothal. In relating +the adventure which follows, I wish it distinctly to be understood that +I do it in all respect, admiration, and reverence for the Church which +is the mother of all Churches calling themselves Christian. The Holy +Roman Catholic Church is no less holy that her servants are so often +base and vile and that her livery is so often stolen to serve evil in. +What wickedness and hypocrisy have we not in our own Protestant clergy, +and without even the tremendous excuse for it which the conditions of +European society give for the occasional levity of its priesthood! In +France the Church is a recognized profession, to which parents destine +and for which they educate their sons without waiting for them to +exhibit any special bias toward a religious life. In spite of +themselves, many young men are even forced into the priesthood, not only +by strong family influence, but through having been educated so as to be +absolutely unfitted for any other walk of life. With us the priesthood +is a matter of deliberate and perfectly voluntary choice, and he who +wears it as a cloak is ten thousand times the hypocrite his Catholic +brother is.</p> + +<p>It happened that our <i>curé</i> of Saint-Étienne was a jolly good fellow, +somewhat given to wine-bibbing, and much given to Rabelaisian stories. +He was also hail-fellow-well-met with Pierre, and Pierre, like most of +the young men of France, prided himself upon his entire freedom from the +"superstitious." Père Duhaut lived by teaching and preaching.</p> + +<p>In France the church sacrament of marriage cannot be performed unless +both the contracting parties furnish certificates of having made +confession within three weeks. To secure his certificate it would be +necessary for Pierre to confess to the <i>curé</i> of Saint-Étienne, Père +Duhaut.</p> + +<p>"<i>I</i> confess to Duhaut!" he laughed in our house. "I'll +be—what's-his-named first. Old Duhaut might as well confess to me. I +shall simply give him six francs and get my certificate without any more +ado, just as the other fellows get theirs."</p> + +<p>That very afternoon Père Duhaut took tea with us, and Émile was mean +enough to betray Pierre's intentions.</p> + +<p>"We'll see," said our <i>curé</i>.</p> + +<p>The next day Pierre passed our windows. He bowed gayly, and called up +that he was going for his six francs' worth of ante-nuptial absolution. +An hour later he passed again, but he did not look up. In the evening +Père Duhaut came, bursting with laughter.</p> + +<p>"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," he guffawed. Then he told us +the story. Pierre, it seems, had offered the six francs, which offer the +confessor had rejected with scorn.</p> + +<p>"In to the confessional," he cried, "and make your confession like a +penitent!"</p> + +<p>"I'll make it fifteen," grinned Pierre.</p> + +<p>"Not for a thousand. In! <i>in</i>!"</p> + +<p>"Come, now, Duhaut, this is all humbug. You know I'm not penitent, and +I'll be—— if I'll confess to you."</p> + +<p>Without more words, the burly priest seized the recalcitrant and grabbed +him by the neck, trying to force him into the confession-box. Pierre +resisted, and, as the <i>curé</i> told us bursting with laughter, the two +wrestled and waltzed half around the church. Finally Pierre was brought +to his knees.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 137]</span>"<i>Eh bien, allez</i>! What am I to confess?" he grumbled.</p> + +<p>"Every sin you have committed since your last confession."</p> + +<p>How malicious was Père Duhaut in this! for he knew Pierre had not kept +the observances of the Church since he left home at seventeen, and had +not been an anchorite either.</p> + +<p>"I'll make it an even hundred," begged the now exasperated yet humbled +Pierre. "Come, now, do be reasonable; that's a jolly old boy."</p> + +<p>"Confess! confess!" roared the confessor, dealing the kneeling +impenitent a sounding cuff on the ear.</p> + +<p>"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," roared Père Duhaut. +"<i>Demandez-lui! Demandez-lui!</i>"</p> + +<p>But we never did.</p> + +<p>Until his grave received him, only a few weeks ago, a marked character +of our ville was a stooping old man, of a ghastly paleness, noted +through all the region for avarice and for speaking every one of his +many languages each with worse accent than the other. His Spanish +sounded like German, his German had the strongest possible American +accent, his English was vividly Teutonic, and after forty years of +marriage his Norman wife never ceased to mock at his atrociously-mouthed +French. He was wine-merchant and banker combined, and, though his social +position was among the best in our bourgeoise ville, all the world +smiled with the knowledge that the rich old <i>banquier</i>, whose nose had a +strong Hebraic curve, delivered his own merchandise at night from under +his long coat, in order to escape the tax on every bottle of wine +transported from one domicile to another.</p> + +<p>The stately gate-post of "Père S——'s" pretentious and philistine +mansion is decorated with the coats-of-arms of several nations. +England's is there, Germany's, Spain's, Portugal's, as well as our own +Eagle; while upon days when our own exiled hearts beat most proudly—4th +of July and 22d of February—our star-spangled banner floats from his +roof-top as well as from our own, the only two, of course, in our +ville. Our ville, so important to us, has scarcely an existence for our +home government, and administrative changes there float over us like +clouds of heaven, without touching us in their changefulness. Thus Père +S——, though so courteous and cordial to Americans, has been long years +forgotten at Washington, whence every living servitor of the +administration that appointed him our consul here has long since passed +away forever. He was born in Pennsylvania, of German parents, nearly +eighty years ago. He received his appointment in 1837, and held it +through fourteen administrations since Van Buren, without ever returning +to America, till he faded away one little month ago and was buried in +the parish cemetery of Saint-Léonard by a Lutheran pastor brought over +for the occasion from Havre. No church-bells tolled for his death, and +the street-children did not go on their way singing, as they always do, +to the sound of funeral bells.</p> + +<p>"<i>Viens, corps, ta fosse t'attend!</i>" for Pere S—— was a heretic, and +could not have slept in consecrated ground had he died before the +République Française removed religious restrictions from all +burial-places. All the consular corps in all the region round about +followed the old man to his long home, all our public buildings hung +their flags half-mast high, all our little world told queer stories of +the dead old man. But our own hearts grew tender with thoughts of this +life finished at fourscore years with its longing of almost half a +century unfulfilled. "Philip Nolan" we often called the old man, who +sometimes said to us, with yearning, pathetic voice,—</p> + +<div class="blockquot">"I am an American; I am here only till I make my fortune. When I am rich +enough I shall go <i>Home</i>. I shall die and be buried at Home,—when I am +rich enough."</div> + +<p>Temperament is Fate. Père S——'s temperament of Harpagon fated him to +die as he had lived,—a man without a country.</p> + +<p class="author">MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT.</p> + + + + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 138]</span> + +<h2>THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE.</h2> + +<h3><a name="PARADISE"></a>I. PARADISE.</h3> + + +<p>The island in Magog Lake was like a world by itself. Though there were +but fifteen or twenty acres of land in it, that land was so diversified +by dense woods, rocks, verdant open spots, and smooth shore-rims that it +seemed many places in one.</p> + +<p>Adam's tent was set in the arena of an amphitheatre of hills, upon +close, smooth sward sloping down to the lake-margin of milk-white sand. +Beyond the lake stood up a picture as heavenly to man's vision as the +New Jerusalem appearing in the clouds.</p> + +<p>This was a mountain bounded at the base by two spurs of the lake, and +clothed by a plumage of woods, except upon spaces near the centre of its +slope. Here green fields disclosed themselves and two farm-houses were +nested, basking in the light of a sky which deepened and deepened +through infinite blues.</p> + +<p>Though it was high noon, dew yet remained upon the abundance of ferns +and rock-mosses on those heights around the camp. The tent stood open at +both ends, framing a triangular bit of lake-water and shore. Within it +were a table piled with books, an oval mirror hung over a toilet-stand, +garments suspended along a line, a small square rug overlying the sward, +and camp-chairs.</p> + +<p>The two cots had been stripped of their blankets—which were out sunning +upon a pole—and set in the thickest shade, and upon one of these cots +Eva was stretched out, having a pillow under her head. Her dress was of +a green woollen stuff, and barely reached the instep of her low shoes. A +mighty bunch of trailing ferns, starred with furry azure flowers and +ox-eyed daisies, was fastened from her neck to her girdle. She had drawn +her broad sun-hat partly over the bewitching mystery of her eyes and +forehead, to keep the sky-glow at bay, but left space enough through +which to search the whole visible world, and her face was smiling with +pure joy. To be alive beside Lake Magog was sufficient; and she was both +alive and beloved.</p> + +<p>She thought within herself how indescribable all this beauty was. A +pleasant wind smelling of world-old fern-loam fanned her. There were +neither mosquitoes nor flies to sting, and, had there been, Adam was +provided with a bottle of pennyroyal oil, wherewith he would anoint her +face and hands, kissing any lump planted there before he came to the +rescue.</p> + +<p>Eva felt sure she never wanted to go back to civilization again. Days +and days of shining weather, fog-or dew-drenched in the morning, +wine-colored or opaline in the evening; cool, starry nights, so cool, so +dense with woods-shade that they drove her to hide her head in the +blankets under Adam's arm; glowing noons, when the world swam in +ecstasy; long pulls at the oars from point to point of this magic lake, +she holding the trolling-line at the stern of the boat, her husband +sometimes resting and leaning forward to get her smile at nearer range +upon his face; plunges into the warm lake-water in the afternoon when +time stood still in a trance of satisfaction:—what a honeymoon she was +having! Why should it ever end? There were responsible folks enough to +carry the world's work forward. Two people might be allowed to spend +their lives in paradise, if a change of seasons could only be prevented. +Anyhow, Eva was soaking up present joy. She half closed her eyes, and +whispered fragmentary words, feeling that her heart was a censer of +incense, swinging off clouds of thanksgiving at every beat.</p> + +<p>Adam came from the spring with a dripping pail. A fret-work of cool +drops stood all over the tin surface, even when he set the pail beside +his heated stove. That water had been filtered through <span class="pagenum">[Pg 139]</span>moss and +pebbles and chilled by overlaced boughs until its nature was glacial.</p> + +<p>The cooking-stove stood quite apart from the tent, under a tree. Blue +woodsmoke escaped from its pipe and straight-way disappeared. A covered +pot was already steaming, and Adam filled and put the kettle to boil. +Not far from the stove was a stationary table, made of boards fastened +upon posts. The potato-cellar and the cold-chest were boxes sunk in the +ground. Some dippers, griddles, and pans hung upon nails driven in the +tree.</p> + +<p>Adam spread the table with a red cloth, brought chairs from the tent, +and came and leaned over Eva's cot. He was a sandy-haired, blue-eyed, +hardy-looking Scotchman, gentlemanly in his carriage, and bearing upon +his visible character the stamp of Edinbro' colleges and of Calvinistic +sincerity. He wore the Highland cap or bonnet, a belted blouse, +knickerbockers, long gray stockings, and heavy-soled shoes.</p> + +<p>"Well, Mrs. Macgregor," said Adam, giving the name a joyful burr in his +throat, "my sweethairt. I must have a look of your eyes before you taste +a bit of my baked muskalunge."</p> + +<p>"Well, Mr. Macgregor. And will I get up and set the table and help put +on dinner?"</p> + +<p>"No, my darling. It's all ready,—or all but a bit of fixing."</p> + +<p>"I am so happy," said Eva, "so lazy and happy, it doesn't seem fair to +the rest of the world."</p> + +<p>"There is at this time no rest of the world," responded Adam. "Nothing +has been created but an island and one man and woman. Do you belaive +me?"</p> + +<p>"I would if I didn't see those farm-houses, and the boats occasionally +coming and going on the lake; yes, and if you didn't have to row across +there for butter and milk, and to Magog village for other supplies."</p> + +<p>"That's a mere illusion. We live here on ambrosial distillations from +the rocks and muskalunge from the lake. I never came to Canada from old +Glazka town, and never saw Loch Achray, or Loch Lomond, or any body of +water save this, since I was created in God's image without any +knowledge of the catechism. And let me see a mon set foot on this +strond!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you inhospitable creature!"</p> + +<p>"I but said let me see him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but I know what you meant. You meant you didn't want anybody."</p> + +<p>"My wants are all satisfied, thank God," said Adam, lifting his cap. "I +have you, and the breath o' life, and the camp-outfit."</p> + +<p>"And the mountains, and the lake, and the rocks, and the woods," added +Eva. "I never could have believed there were such sublime things in the +world if I hadn't seen them."</p> + +<p>"Neither could I," owned the Scotchman. "Especially such a sublime thing +as me wife."</p> + +<p>Eva struck at him, restraining her palm from bringing more than a pat +upon his cheek.</p> + +<p>"How your little hand makes me tremble!" said Adam, drawing his breath +from chest-depths. "Will I ever grow to glimpse at you without having +the blood spurt quick from me hairt, or to touch you without this +faintness o' joy? And don't mock me wi' your eyes, bonnie wee one, for +it's bonnie wee one you'll be to me when you're a fat auld woman the +size of yonder mountain. And <i>that</i> changes the laughter in your eyes."</p> + +<p>"I didn't suppose you ever <i>could</i> call me a fat old woman."</p> + +<p>"I'll be an auld man then meself, me fiery locks powthered with ashes, +and my auld knees knocking one at the ither," laughed Adam.</p> + +<p> + "But hand in hand we'll go,"<br /> + +sang Eva,<br /> + + "And sleep thegither at the foot,<br /> + Joh—n Ander—son, my jo—o." +</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't!" said Adam, with a sudden grasp on her wrist. "My God! one +must go first; and I could naither leave you nor close these eyes of +yours." He put his other hand across his eyelids, his lower features +wincing. "Sweetheart," said Adam, removing it, and taking her head +between his palms, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 140]</span>"for what we have already received the Lord +make us duly thankful. And shut up about the rest. And there's grace +said for dinner: excepting I didn't uncover me head. Excuse me bonnet."</p> + +<p>"Take off your ridiculous bonnet," said Eva, emerging from the eclipse +of a long kiss, "and drag me out of my web. If I am to be your helpmeet, +make me help."</p> + +<p>"You naidn't lift a finger, my darling. I don't afford and won't have a +sairvant in the camp, so I should sairve you myself."</p> + +<p>Passing over this argument, Eva crept up on the stretcher and had him +lift her to the ground. Her shape was very slender and elegant, and when +the two passed each an arm across the other's back to walk together +school-girl fashion, Adam's grasp sloped far downward. She did not quite +reach his shoulder.</p> + +<p>They made coffee, and served up their dinner in various pieces of +pottery. The baked muskalunge was portioned upon two plates and +surrounded with stewed potato. Potatoes with scorched jackets, enclosing +their own utmost fragrance, also came out of the ashes. Adam poured +coffee for Eva into a fragile china cup, and coffee for himself into a +tin pint-measure. The sugar was in a glass fruit-jar, and the cream came +directly off a pan in the cold-box. They had pressed beef in slices, +chow-chow through the neck of the bottle, apricot jam in a little white +pot, baker's rolls, and a cracked platter heaped with wild strawberries. +Around the second point of Magog Island, down one whole stony hill-side, +those strawberries grew too thick for stepping. The hugest, most deadly +sweet of cultivated berries could not match them. You ate in them the +light of the sky and the ancient life of the mountain.</p> + +<p>"I never was so hungry at home," said Eva, accepting a finely-done bit +of fish with which her lord fed her as a nestling. "Perhaps things taste +better eaten out of unmatched crockery and under a roof of leaves. I +wouldn't have a plate different in the whole camp."</p> + +<p>"Nor would I," said Adam.</p> + +<p>She looked across at the mountain-panorama, for, though stationary, it +was also forever changing, and the light of intense and burning noon was +different from the humid veil of morning.</p> + +<p>"And yonder goes a sail," she tacked to the end of her +mountain-observations.</p> + +<p>"Heaven speed it!" responded Adam, carrying his cup for a second filling +to the coffee-pot on the stove. "Will ye have a drop more?"</p> + +<p>"Indeed, yes. I don't know how many drops more I shall drink. We get so +fierce and reckless about our victuals. Will it be the spirit of the old +counterfeiters who used to inhabit this island entering into us?" +suggested Eva, using the English-Canadian idiom of the western +provinces.</p> + +<p>"Without doot. It was their custom never to let a body leave this strond +alive, and they can only hairm us by making us eat oursels to death."</p> + +<p>"Nearly a hundred years ago, wasn't it, they lived here and made +counterfeit money and drew silly folks in to buy it of them? When I hear +the rocks all over this island sounding hollow like muffled drumming +under our feet, I scare myself thinking that gang may be hid hereabouts +yet and may come and peep into the tent some night."</p> + +<p>"Behind them all the army of bones they drowned in Magog watther or +buried in the island," laughed Adam. "It's not for a few old ghosts we'd +take up our pans and kettles and move out of the Gairden of Eden. I'll +keep you safe from the counterfeiters, my darling, never fear."</p> + +<p>"You said heaven speed that sail yonder; but the man has taken it down +and is rowing in here."</p> + +<p>"Then he's an impudent loon. Who asked him?"</p> + +<p>"The sight of our tent, very likely. And maybe it will be some friend of +ours, stopping at the Magog House. He wears a white helmet-hat; and +isn't that a yachting-suit of white flannel?"</p> + +<p>"He comes clothed as an angel of light," said Adam.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 141]</span>They both watched the figure and the boat growing larger in +perspective. Features formed in the blur under the rower's hat; his +individuality sprung suddenly from a shape which a moment ago might have +been any man's.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam, it will be Louis Satanette from Toronto," exclaimed Eva.</p> + +<p>"And what's a Toronto man doing away up on Lake Magog?"</p> + +<p>"What will a Glasgow man be doing away off here on Lake Magog?"</p> + +<p>"Camping with his wife, and getting more religion than ever was taught +in the creeds."</p> + +<p>"I'm not so sure of that, then."</p> + +<p>"Because I don't love a Frenchman?"</p> + +<p>"A French-Canadian. And a member of Parliament, too. Think of that at +his age! They say in Toronto he is one of the most promising men in the +provinces."</p> + +<p>"Can he spear a salmon with a gaff, and does he know a pairch from a +lunge? And he couldn't be a Macgregor, anyhow, if he was first man in +Canada."</p> + +<p>Eva laughed, and, forming her lips into a kiss, slyly impressed the same +upon the air, as if it could reach Adam through some invisible pneumatic +tube. He was not ashamed to make a return in kind; and, the boat being +now within their bay, they went down to the sand to meet it.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="FORBIDDEN_FRUIT" id="FORBIDDEN_FRUIT" />II. FORBIDDEN FRUIT.</h3> + + +<p>In spotless procession the days moved along until that morning on which +Adam dreamed his dream. He waked up trembling with joy and feeling the +tears run down his face. His watch ticked like the beating of a pulse +under his pillow, and he kept time to its rhythm with whispered words no +human ear would ever hear him utter with such rapture.</p> + +<p>He had dreamed of breasting oceans and groping through darkness after +his wife until he was ready to die. Then, while he lay helpless, she +came to him and lifted him up in her arms. There was perfect and +unearthly union between them. His happiness became awful. He woke up +shaken by it as by a hand of infinite power.</p> + +<p>Instead of turning toward her, he was still. Such experiences cannot be +told. The tongue falters and words limp when we try to repeat them to +the one beloved. A divine shame keeps us silent. Perhaps the glory of +that perfect love puts a halo around our common thoughts and actions for +days afterward, but no man or woman can fitly say, "I was in heaven with +you, my other soul, and the gladness was so mighty that I cried +helplessly long after I woke."</p> + +<p>Adam kept his sleeve across his eyes. He had risked his life in many an +adventure without changing a pulse-beat, but now he was an infant in the +grasp of emotion.</p> + +<p>When at last he cast a furtive glance at Eva's cot, she was not there. +She often slipped out in the early morning to drench herself with dew. +Once he had discovered her stooping on the sand, washing soiled clothes +in the lake. She clapped and rubbed the garments between soap and her +little fists. The sun was just coming up in the far northeast. Shapes of +mist gyrated slowly upward in the distance, and all the morning birds +were rushing about, full of eager business. Eva stopped her humming song +when she saw him, and laughed over her unusual employment. The first +time she ever washed clothes in her life she wanted to have Magog for +her tub and accomplish the labor on a vast and princess-like scale. Adam +helped her spread the wet things on bushes, and they both marvelled at +the bleached dazzle which the sun gave to those garments.</p> + +<p>He did not move from the cot, hoping awhile that she might come in, +dew-footed, and yet kiss him. That clear shining of the face which one +sometimes observes in pure-minded devotees, or in young mothers over +their firstborn, gave him a look of nobility in the pallid shadow of the +tent.</p> + +<p>He thought of all their days on the island, and, incidentally, of Louis +Satanette's frequent comings. The Frenchman <span class="pagenum">[Pg 142]</span>was a beautiful, +versatile fellow. He sailed a boat, he swam, he fished knowingly, he +sang like an angel, leaning his head back against a tree to let the +moonlight touch up his ivory face and silky moustache and eyebrows. He +had firm, marble-white fingers, nicely veined, on which reckless +exposure to sun and wind had no effect, and the kindliest blue eyes that +ever beamed equal esteem upon man and woman. Sometimes this Satanette +came in a blue-flannel suit, the collar turned well back from the +throat, and in a broad straw hat wound with pink and white tarlatan. He +looked like a flower,—if any flower ever expressed along with its +beauty the powerful nerve of manliness.</p> + +<p>Frequently he sailed out from Magog House and stayed all night on the +island, slinging his own hammock between trees. Then he and Adam rose +early and trolled for lunge in deep water under the cliff. In the +afternoon they all plunged into the lake, Eva swimming like a +cardinal-flower afloat. Adam was careful to keep near her, and finally +to help her into the boat, where she sat with her scarlet bathing-dress +shining in the sun and her drenched hair curling in an arch around her +face.</p> + +<p>All these days flashed before Adam while he put a slow foot out on the +tent-rug.</p> + +<p>There was nobody about the camp when he had made his morning toilet and +unclosed the tent-flaps, so he built a fire in the stove, hung the +bedding to sun, and set out the cots. A blueness which was not humid +filtered itself through the air everywhere, and fold upon fold of it +seemed rising from invisible censers on the mainland.</p> + +<p>Eva hailed him from the lake. She came rowing across the sun's track. +The water was fresh and blue, glittering like millions of alternately +dull and burnished scales.</p> + +<p>Adam drew the boat in and lifted her out, more tenderly but with more +reticence than usual.</p> + +<p>"You don't know where I have been, laddie," exclaimed Eva. "Look at all +the fern and broken bushes in the boat; and I have my pocket sagged +down with gold-streaked quartz. I went around to the other side of the +island, where the counterfeiters' hole is, to look into it while the +morning sun on the lake threw a reflection."</p> + +<p>"There's nothing wonderful to be seen there."</p> + +<p>"How will we know that? The rocks sound hollow all about, and there may +be a great cavern full of counterfeiters' relics. Oh, Adam, I saw Louis +Satanette's sail!"</p> + +<p>"He comes early this morn."</p> + +<p>"I think he has been camping by himself over on the lake-shore. He says +we'll explore the counterfeiters' hole, and let us go directly after +breakfast."</p> + +<p>"What is it worth the exploring?" said Adam. "Four rocks set on end, and +you crawl in on your hands and knees, look at the dark, and back out +again. It's but a burrow, and ends against the hill's heart of rock. +I've to row across yonder for the eggs and butter and milk."</p> + +<p>The smoke rising from different points on the mainland kept sifting and +sifting until at high noon the air was pearl-gray. As if there was not +enough shadow betwixt him and the sun, Adam sat in his boat at the foot +of the cliff, where brown glooms never rose quite off the water. He +looked down until sight could pierce no farther, and, though a fish or +two glided in beautiful curves beneath his eye, he had no hook dropped +in as his excuse for loitering.</p> + +<p>The eggs and butter and milk for which he had rowed across the lake were +covered with green leaves under one of the boat-benches.</p> + +<p>Straight above him, mass on mass, rose those protruding ribs of the +earth, the rocks. He lay back in the boat's stern and gazed at their +summit of pinetrees and ferns. Bunches of gigantic ferns sprouted from +every crevice, and not a leaf of the array but was worth half a +lifetime's study. Yet Adam's eye wandered aimlessly over it all, as if +it gave him no pleasure. Nor did he seem to wish that a little figure +would <span class="pagenum">[Pg 143]</span>bend from the summit, half swallowed in greenness and +made a vegetable mermaid from the waist downward, to call to him. He was +so haggard the freckles stood in bold relief upon his face and neck.</p> + +<p>The hiss of a boat and the sound of row-locks failed to move him from +his listless attitude. He did, however, turn his eyes and set his jaws +in the direction of the passing oarsman. Louis Satanette was all in +white flannel, and flush-faced like a cream-pink rose with pleasant +exhilaration. He held his oars poised and let his boat run slowly past +Adam.</p> + +<p>"What have you the matter?" he exclaimed, with sincere anxiety.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's naught," said Adam. "I'm just weary, weary."</p> + +<p>"You have been gone a very, very long time," said Louis, using the +double Canadian adjective. "Mrs. Macgregor is on the lookout."</p> + +<p>Adam thought of her when she was <i>not</i> on the lookout. He also thought +of her tidying things about the camp in the morning, and singing as he +pulled from the bay. Perhaps she was on another sort of lookout then.</p> + +<p>"I'll go in presently," he muttered.</p> + +<p>"Beg pardon?" said Louis Satanette, bending forward, and giving the +upward inflection to that graceful Canadian phrase which asks a +repetition while implying that the fault is with the hearer.</p> + +<p>"I said I'd go in presently. There's no hurry."</p> + +<p>"Allow me to take you in," said Louis. "You have approached too close +to the altars of the sylvan gods, and their sacrificial smoke has +overcome you. Don't you see it rising everywhere from the woods?"</p> + +<p>"The sylvan gods are none of my clan," remarked Adam, shifting his +position impatiently, "and it's little I know of them. There's a graat +dail of ignorance consailed aboot my pairson."</p> + +<p>Louis Satanette laughed with enjoyment:</p> + +<p>"Well, <i>au revoir</i>. I will put up my sail when I turn the points. It +will be a long run up the lakes, with this haze hanging and not wind +enough to lift it."</p> + +<p>"Good-day to ye," responded Adam. "We'll likely shift camp before you're +this way."</p> + +<p>"In so short a time?" exclaimed Louis.</p> + +<p>"In so lang a time. I'm soul-sick of it. It's lone; it's heavy. The +fine's too great for the pleasure of the feight. Look, now,—there were +two rough laddies up Glazka way, in my country, and they came to fists +aboot a sweethairt, the fools. But when they are stripped and ready, one +hits the table wi's hond, and says he, 'Ay, Georgie, I'm wullin' to +feight ye, but wha's goin' to pay the fine?'"</p> + +<p>Louis Satanette laughed again, but as if he did not know just what was +meant."</p> + +<p>"It's a cautious mon, is the Scotchmon," said Adam, "but no' so slow, +after all."</p> + +<p>"Oh, never slow!" said Louis. "Very, very fast indeed, to leave this +paradise in the midst of the summer."</p> + +<p>"'Farewell to lovely Loch Achray,'" sighed Adam:</p> + +<p> +"Where shall we find, in any land,<br /> +So lone a lake, so sweet a strand?"<br /> +</p> + +<p>Louis made a sign of adieu and dipped his oars.</p> + +<p>"It's only <i>au revoir</i>," said he, shooting past. "Be very, very far from +parting with Magog too early."</p> + +<p>"'So lone a lake, so sweet a strand,'" repeated Adam, dropping his head +back against the stern.</p> + +<p>He did not move while the sound of the other's oars died away behind +him. He did not move while the afternoon shadows spread far over the +water.</p> + +<p>The long Canadian twilight advanced stage by stage. First, all Magog +flushed, as if a repetition of the old miracle had turned it to wine. +Then innumerable night-hawks uttered their four musical notes in endless +succession, upon the heights, down in the woods, from the mainland +mountain. The north star became discernible almost overhead. Then, with +slow and irregular strokes, Adam <span class="pagenum">[Pg 144]</span>pulled away from the cliff, +and brought his keel to grate the sand in front of his tent.</p> + +<p>Eva was sitting there on a rock, huddling a shawl around her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam Macgregor!" she began, in a low voice, "and do you condescend +to bring your wraith back to me at last?"</p> + +<p>"It's nothing but my wraith," said Adam, lifting his eggs and butter and +milk, and stepping from the boat. "The mon in me died aboot noon."</p> + +<p>Eva walked along by his side to the cool-box, where he deposited his +load.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with you, laddie, that you look and talk so +strangely?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, naught," said Adam, turning and facing her. "I but saw you kissing +Louis Satanette on the hill to-day."</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="THE_FLAMING_SWORD" id="THE_FLAMING_SWORD" />III. THE FLAMING SWORD.</h3> + + + +<p>The changes which passed over her face were half concealed by the +twilight. She was grieved, indignant, and frightened, but over all other +expressions lurked the mischievous mirth of a bad child.</p> + +<p>"I meant to tell you about it," she said.</p> + +<p>"Hearken," said Adam, with a fierce stare. "I've stayed out on the lake +all day, and I'm quiet. At first I wasn't. But when he came by I gave +him nothing but a good word."</p> + +<p>"I wish you'd scolded him instead of me," said Eva, propping her back +against the table and puckering her lips.</p> + +<p>"<i>He</i> did naught," said Adam, "but what any man would do that got lave. +It's you that gave him lave that are to blame."</p> + +<p>"Don't be so serious about a little thing," put forth Eva. "We just +walked over to the counterfeiters' hole, and coming back we picked +strawberries, and he teased me like a girl, and caught hold of me and +kissed me. We've been such good friends in camp. I think it's this easy, +wild life made me do it."</p> + +<p>"She'll blame the very sky over her instead of taking blame to +herself," ground out Adam from between his jaws. "I sat in me boat +below and saw you arch your head and look at him ways that I remember. +My God! why did you make this woman so false, and yet so sweet that a +mon canna help loving her in spite o' his teeth?"</p> + +<p>"Because I'd die if folks didn't love me," burst out Eva, with a sob. +"And if men can't help loving me, what do you blame me for?"</p> + +<p>"What right have you to breathe such a word when you're married to me?"</p> + +<p>"But I'm not used to being married yet," pleaded Eva. "And I forgot, +this once."</p> + +<p>"It's once and for all," said Adam, "You'll never be to me what you were +before. Is it the English-Canadian way to bring up women to kiss every +comer?"</p> + +<p>"I didn't kiss anybody but Louis Satanette," maintained Eva, "and I +didn't really <i>want</i> to kiss <i>him</i>"</p> + +<p>"Never mind," said Adam. "Don't trouble your butterfly soul about it." +And he turned away and walked toward the tent.</p> + +<p>"I'll not love you if you say such awful things to me," she flashed +after him.</p> + +<p>"Ye can't take the breeks off a Hielandman," he replied, facing about, +"Ye never loved me. Not as I loved you. And it's no loss I've met, if I +could but think it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam!" Now she ran forward and caught him around the waist. "Don't +be so hard with me. I know I am very bad, but I didn't mean to be."</p> + +<p>Some faint perception of that coarse fibre within her was breaking with +horror through her face. She held to his hands after he had separated +her from his person and held her off.</p> + +<p>"All that you do still has its effect on me," said the man, gazing +sternly at her. "I love ye; but I despise myself for loving ye. This +morn I adored ye with reverence; this night you're as a bit o' that +earth."</p> + +<p>Eva let go his hands and sat down on the ground. As he made his +preparations <span class="pagenum">[Pg 145]</span>in the tent he could not help seeing with +compassion how abjectly her figure drooped. All its flexible proud +lines, were suddenly gone. She was dazed by his treatment and by the +light in which he put her trifling. She sat motionless until Adam came +out with one of the cots in his arms.</p> + +<p>"I'm to sleep upon the hill in the pine woods to-night," said he. "Go +into the tent, and I'll fasten the flaps. You shan't be scared by +anything."</p> + +<p>"Let me get in the boat and leave the island, if you can't breathe the +same air with me," said Eva. staggering up.</p> + +<p>"No, I can't breathe the same air with ye to-night, but ye'll go into +the tent," said Adam, with authority.</p> + +<p>"I'll not stay there," she rebelled. "I'll follow you. You don't know +what may be on this island."</p> + +<p>"There can be nothing worse than what I've seen," said Adam; "and that's +done all the hairm it can do."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Adam, are we both crazy?" the small creature burst out, weeping as +if her heart would break. "Don't go away and leave me so. I am not real +bad in my heart, I know I am not; and if you would be a little patient +with me and help me, I shall get over my silly ways. There is something +in me, you can depend upon, if I <i>did</i> do that foolish thing. And my +mother didn't live long enough to train me, Adam; remember that. Won't +you please kiss me? My heart is breaking."</p> + +<p>He put down the cot and took her by the shoulders, trembling as he did +so from head to foot:</p> + +<p>"My wife, I belaive what you say. I'd give all the days remaining to me +if I could strain ye against my breast with the feeling I had this morn. +But there comes that sight. I never shall see the hill again, I never +shall see a spot of this island again, without seeing your mouth kissing +another man. Go into the tent. God knows I'd die before hairm should +come to you. But not to-night can I stay beside you. Or kiss you."</p> + +<p>He carried her into the tent and put her on her bed. She had made all +the night-preparations herself, placing the pillows on both cots and +turning back the sun-sweetened blankets.</p> + +<p>Adam left her sobbing, buttoned the tent-flaps outside, and placed a +barricade of kettles and pans which could not be touched without +disturbing him on the hill. Then, taking up his own bed, he marched off +through the ferns, edging his burden among dense boughs as he ascended.</p> + +<p>When he had made the joints of his couch creak with many uneasy +turnings, had clinched at leaves, and started up to return to the tent, +only to check himself in the act as often as he started, he lost +consciousness in uneasy dreams rather than fell asleep.</p> + +<p>He was smothering, and yet could not open his lips to gasp for a breath +of air. Then he was drowning: he gulped in vast sheets of water upon his +lungs. An alarm sounded from Eva's barricade. He heard the pans and +kettles clanging and her own voice in screams which pierced him, yet he +could not move. A nightmare of heat enveloped him; the smothering +element pouring upon his lungs was not water, but smoke; and he knew if +no effort of will could move his body to her rescue he must be perishing +himself.</p> + +<p>After these brief sensations his existence was as blank as the empty +void outside the worlds, until his ears began to throb like drums, and +he felt water, like the tears he had shed in the morning, running all +over his face. Eva held him in her arms, and alternately kissed his head +and drenched it from the lake.</p> + +<p>Moreover, he was in the boat, outside the bay, and their island glowed +like a furnace before his dazzled eyes.</p> + +<p>Those pine woods where he had gone to sleep were roaring up toward +heaven in a column of fire. The tent was burning, all its interior +illuminated until every object showed its minutest lines. He thought he +saw some of Eva's dark hairs in an upturned hair-brush on the +wash-stand.</p> + +<p>Fire ran along the cliff-edge and dropped hissing brands into the lake. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 146]</span>Old moss logs and pine-trees dry as tinder sent out sickening +heat. The light ran like a flash up the tree over their stove, and in an +instant its crown was wavering with flames. The grass itself caught here +and there, and in whatever direction the eye turned, new fires as +instantaneously sprang out to meet it.</p> + +<p>Stumps blazed up like lighted altars, or like huge gas-jets suddenly +turned on. Adam saw one log lying endwise downhill, one side of which +was crumbling into coals of fierce and tremulous heat, while from the +other side still sprung unsinged a delicate tuft of ferns.</p> + +<p>The smoke was driving straight upward in a quivering current, and in +Lake Magog's depths another island seemed to be on fire.</p> + +<p>Sublime as the sight was, all these details impressed themselves on the +man in an instant, and he turned his face directly up toward the woman.</p> + +<p>"Darling, your face looks blistered," said Adam.</p> + +<p>"It feels blistered," replied Eva. "I'll put some water on it, now that +you've caught your breath again. I thought I could not get you out from +those burning trees."</p> + +<p>"But you dragged me down the hill?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and then dipped you in the lake and pushed off with you in the +boat. I don't know how I did it. But here we are together."</p> + +<p>Adam bathed her face carefully himself, and held her tight in his arms. +The unspeakable love of which he had dreamed, and the heat of the +burning island, seemed welding them together without other sign than the +fact.</p> + +<p>Not a word was sighed out for forgiveness on either side. They held each +other and floated back into the lake. Adam took an oar and occasionally +paddled, without wholly releasing his hold of Eva.</p> + +<p>"Don't you remember our fish's nest?" she whispered beside his neck. "I +wonder if the slim little silver thing is swimming around over the +gravel hollow, frightened by all this glare? I hope those overhanging +bushes won't catch fire and drop coals on her; for she's a silly +thing,—she might not want to dart out in deep water and lose her +unhatched family."</p> + +<p>Adam smiled into his wife's eyes. He was quite singed, but did not know +it.</p> + +<p>"Ay, burn," he spoke out exultantly, apostrophizing the island. "Burn up +our first home and all. It's worth it. We're the other side o' the world +of fire now. We've passed through it, and are afloat on the sea of +glass."</p> + +<p class="author">M. H. CATHERWOOD.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="PROBATION" id="PROBATION" />PROBATION.</h3> + + + +<div class="poem_1"><div class="stanza"><p>Full slow to part with her best gifts is Fate:</p> +<p class="i2">The choicest fruitage comes not with the spring,</p> +<p>But still for summer's mellowing touch must wait,</p> +<p class="i2">For storms and tears that seasoned excellence bring;</p> +<p>And Love doth fix his joyfullest estate</p> +<p class="i2">In hearts that have been hushed 'neath Sorrow's brooding wing.</p> +<p>Youth sues to Fame: she coldly answers, "Toil!"</p> +<p class="i2">He sighs for Nature's treasures: with reserve</p> +<p>Responds the goddess, "Woo them from the soil."</p> +<p class="i2">Then fervently he cries, "Thee will I serve,—</p> +<p>Thee only, blissful Love." With proud recoil</p> +<p class="i2">The heavenly boy replies, "To serve me well—deserve."</p></div></div> + + +<p class="author">FLORENCE EARLE COATES.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 147]</span> + + + +<h2>THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST.</h2> + +<h3><a name="TWO_PAPERS"></a>TWO PAPERS.—II.</h3> + +<p>The route of Robertson lay over the great Indian war-path, which +led, in a southwesterly direction, from the valley of Virginia to the +Cherokee towns on the lower Tennessee, not far from the present city of +Chattanooga. He would, however, turn aside at the Tellico and visit +Echota, which was the home of the principal chiefs. While he is pursuing +his perilous way, it may be as well to glance for a moment at the people +among whom he is going at so much hazard.</p> + +<p>The Cherokees were the mountaineers of aboriginal America, and, like +most mountaineers, had an intense love of country and a keen +appreciation of the beautiful in nature, as is shown by the poetical +names they have bequeathed to their rivers and mountains. They were +physically a fine race of men, tall and athletic, of great bravery and +superior natural intelligence. It was their military prowess alone that +enabled them to hold possession of the country they occupied against the +many warlike tribes by whom they were surrounded.</p> + +<p>They had no considerable cities, or even villages, but dwelt in +scattered townships in the vicinity of some stream where fish and game +were found in abundance. A number of these towns, bearing the musical +names of Tallassee, Tamotee, Chilhowee, Citico, Tennassee, and Echota, +were at this time located upon the rich lowlands lying between the +Tellico and Little Tennessee Rivers. These towns contained a population, +in men, women, and children, estimated at from seven to eight thousand, +of whom perhaps twelve hundred were warriors. These were known as the +Ottari (or "among the mountains") Cherokees.</p> + +<p>About the same number, near the head-waters of the Savannah, in the +great highland belt between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains, were +styled the Erati (or "in the valley") Cherokees. Another body (among +whom were many Creeks), nearly as large, and much more lawless than +either of the others, occupied towns lower down the Tennessee and in the +vicinity of Lookout Mountain. These, from their residence near the +stream of that name, were known as the Chickamaugas.</p> + +<p>These various bodies were one people, governed by an Archimagus, or +King, who, with a supreme council of chiefs, which sat at Echota, +decided all important questions in peace or war. Under him were the +half-or vice-king and the several chiefs who governed the scattered +townships and together composed the supreme council. In them was lodged +the temporal power. Spiritual authority was of a far more despotic form +and character. It was vested in one person, styled the Beloved man or +woman of the tribe, who, over a people so superstitious as the +Cherokees, held a control that was wellnigh absolute. This person was +generally of superior intelligence, who, like the famous Prophet of the +Shawnees, officiated as physician, prophet, and intercessor with the +invisible powers; and, by virtue of the supernatural authority which he +claimed, he often by a single word decided the most important questions, +even when opposed by the king and the principal chiefs.</p> + +<p>Echota was located on the northern bank of the Tellico, about five miles +from the ruins of Fort Loudon, and thirty southwest from the present +city of Knoxville. It was the Cherokee City of Refuge. Once within its +bounds, an open foe, or even a red-handed criminal, could dwell in peace +and security. The danger to an enemy was in going and returning. It is +related that an Englishman who, in self-defence, once slew a Cherokee, +fled to this sacred city to escape the vengeance of the kindred of his +victim. He was treated here with such kindness that <span class="pagenum">[Pg 148]</span>after a +time he thought it safe to leave his asylum. The Indians warned him +against the danger, but he left, and on the following morning his body +was found on the outskirts of the town, pierced through and through with +a score of arrows.</p> + +<p>About two hundred cabins and wigwams, scattered, with some order but at +wide intervals, along the bank of the river, composed the village. The +cabins, like those of the white settlers, were square and built of logs; +the wigwams were conical, with a frame of slender poles gathered +together at the top and covered with buffalo-robes, dressed and smoked +to render them impervious to the weather. An opening at the side formed +the entrance, and over it was hung a buffalo-hide, which served as a +door. The fire was built in the centre of the lodge, and directly +overhead was an aperture to let out the smoke. Here the women performed +culinary operations, except in warm weather, when such employments were +carried on outside in the open air. At night the occupants of the lodge +spread their skins and buffalo-robes on the ground, and then men, women, +and children, stretching themselves upon them, went to sleep, with their +feet to the fire. By day the robes were rolled into mats and made to +serve as seats. A lodge of ordinary size would comfortably house a dozen +persons; but two families never occupied one domicile, and, the +Cherokees seldom having a numerous progeny, not more than five or six +persons were often tenants of a single wigwam.</p> + +<p>These rude dwellings were mostly strung along the two sides of a wide +avenue, which was shaded here and there with large oaks and poplars and +trodden hard with the feet of men and horses. At the back of each lodge +was a small patch of cleared land, where the women and the negro slaves +(stolen from the white settlers over the mountains) cultivated beans, +corn, and potatoes, and occasionally some such fruits as apples, pears, +and plums. All labor was performed by the women and slaves, as it was +considered beneath the dignity of an Indian brave to follow any +occupation but that of killing, either wild beasts in the hunt or +enemies in war. The house-lots were without fences, and not an enclosure +could be seen in the whole settlement, cattle and horses being left to +roam at large in the woods and openings.</p> + +<p>In the centre of Echota, occupying a wide opening, was a circular, +tower-shaped structure, some twenty feet high and ninety in +circumference. It was rudely built of stout poles, plastered with clay, +and had a roof of the same material sloping down to broad eaves, which +effectually protected the walls from moisture. It had a wide entrance, +protected by two large buffalo-hides hung so as to meet together in the +middle. There were no windows, but an aperture in the roof, shielded by +a flap of skins a few feet above the opening, let out the smoke and +admitted just enough light to dissipate a portion of the gloom that +always shrouded the interior. Low benches, neatly made of cane, were +ranged around the circumference of the room. This was the great +council-house of the Cherokees. Here they met to celebrate the +green-corn dance and their other national ceremonials; and here the king +and half-king and the princes and head-men of the various towns +consulted together on important occasions, such as making peace or +declaring war.</p> + +<p>At the time of which I write, several of the log cabins of Echota were +occupied by traders, adventurous white men who, tempted by the profit of +the traffic with the Cherokees, had been led to a more or less constant +residence among them. Their cabins contained their stock in +trade,—traps, guns, powder and lead, hatchets, looking-glasses, +"stroud," beads, scarlet cloth, and other trinkets, articles generally +of small cost, but highly prized by the red-men, and for which they gave +in exchange peltries of great value. The trade was one of slow returns, +but of great profits to the trader. And it was of about equal advantage +to the Indian; for with the trap or rifle he had gotten for a few skins +he was able to <span class="pagenum">[Pg 149]</span>secure more game in a day than his bow and arrow +and rude "dead-fall" would procure for him in a month of toilsome +hunting. The traders were therefore held in high esteem among the +Cherokees, who encouraged their living and even marrying among them. In +fact, such alliances were deemed highly honorable, and were often sought +by the daughters of the most distinguished chiefs. Consequently, among +the trader's other chattels would often be found a dusky mate and a +half-dozen half-breed children; and this, too, when he had already a +wife and family somewhere in the white settlements.</p> + +<p>These traders were an important class in the early history of the +country. Of necessity well acquainted with the various routes traversing +the Indian territory, and with the state of feeling among the savages, +and passing frequently to and fro between the Indian towns and the white +settlements, they were often enabled to warn the whites of intended +attacks, and to guide such hostile parties as invaded the Cherokee +territory. Though often natives of North Carolina or Virginia, and in +sympathy with the colonists, they were, if prudent of speech and +behavior, allowed to remain unmolested in the Indian towns, even when +the warriors were singing the war-song and brandishing the war-club on +the eve of an intended massacre of the settlers.</p> + +<p>Living in Echota at this time was one of this class who, on account of +his great services to the colonists, is deserving of special mention. +His name was Isaac Thomas, and he is said to have been a native of +Virginia. He is described as a man about forty years of age, over six +feet in height, straight, long-limbed, and wiry, and with a frame so +steeled by twenty years of mountain-life that he could endure any +conceivable hardship. His features were strongly marked and regular, and +they wore an habitual expression of comic gravity; but on occasion his +dark, deep-set eye had been known to light up with a look of +unconquerable pluck and determination. He wore moccasins and +hunting-shirt of buckskin, and his face, neck, and hands, from long +exposure, had grown to be of the same color as that material. His +coolness and intrepidity had been shown on many occasions, and these +qualities, together with his immense strength, had secured him high +esteem among the Cherokees, who, like all uncivilized people, set the +highest value upon personal courage and physical prowess. It is related +that shortly before the massacre at Fort Loudon he interfered in a +desperate feud between two Cherokee braves who had drawn their tomahawks +to hew each other in pieces. Stepping between them, he wrenched the +weapons from their hands, and then, both setting upon him at once, he +cooled their heated valor by lifting one after the other into the air +and gently tossing him into the Tellico. Subsequently, one of these +braves saved his life at the Loudon massacre, at the imminent risk of +his own. If I were writing fiction, I might make of this man an +interesting character: as it is, it will be seen that facts hereinafter +related will fully justify the length of this description.</p> + +<p>A wigwam, larger and more pretentious than most of the others in Echota, +stood a little apart from the rest, and not far from the council-house. +Like the others, it had a frame of poles covered with tanned skins; but +it was distinguished from them by a singular "totem,"—an otter in the +coils of a water-snake. Its interior was furnished with a sort of rude +splendor. The floor was carpeted with buffalo-hides and panther-skins, +and round the walls were hung eagles' tails, and the peltries of the +fox, the wolf, the badger, the otter, and other wild animals. From a +pole in the centre was suspended a small bag,—the mysterious +medicine-bag of the occupant. She was a woman who to this day is held in +grateful remembrance by many of the descendants of the early settlers +beyond the Alleghanies. Her personal appearance is lost to tradition, +but it is said to have been queenly and commanding. She was more than +the queen, she was the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 150]</span>prophetess and Beloved Woman, of the +Cherokees.</p> + +<p>At this time she is supposed to have been about thirty-five years of +age. Her father was an English officer named Ward, but her mother was of +the "blood royal," a sister of the reigning half-king Atta-Culla-Culla. +The records we have of her are scanty, as they are of all her people, +but enough has come down to us to show that she had a kind heart and a +sense of justice keen enough to recognize the rights of even her +enemies. She must have possessed very strong traits of character to +exercise as she did almost autocratic control over the fierce and +wellnigh untamable Cherokees when she was known to sympathize with and +befriend their enemies the white settlers. Not long before the time of +which I am writing, she had saved the lives of two whites,—Jeremiah +Jack and William Rankin,—who had come into collision with a party of +Cherokees; and subsequently she performed many similar services to the +frontier people.</p> + +<p>Other wigwams as imposing as that of Nancy Ward, and not far from the +council-house, were the habitations of the head-king Oconostota, the +half-king Atta-Culla-Culla, and the prince of Echota, Savanuca, +otherwise called the Raven. Of these men it will be necessary to say +more hereafter: here I need only remark that they have now gathered in +the council-house, with many of the principal warriors and head-men of +the Ottari Cherokees, and that the present fate of civilization in the +Southwest is hanging on their deliberations.</p> + +<p>They are of a gigantic race, and none of those at this conclave, except +Atta-Culla-Culla, are less than six feet in height "without their +moccasins." Squatted as they are gravely around the council-fire, they +present a most picturesque appearance. Among them are the +Bread-Slave-Catcher, noted for his exploits in stealing negroes; the +Tennassee Warrior, prince of the town of that name; Noon-Day, a +wide-awake brave; Bloody Fellow, whose subsequent exploits will show the +appropriateness of his name; Old Tassell, a wise and reasonably just +old man, afterward Archimagus; and John Watts, a promising young +half-breed, destined to achieve eminence in slaughtering white people.</p> + +<p>As one after another of them rises to speak, the rest, with downcast +eyes and cloudy visages, listen with silent gravity, only now and then +expressing assent by a solitary "Ugh!"</p> + +<p>There is strong, though suppressed, passion among them; but it is +passion under the control of reason. Whatever they decide to do will be +done without haste, and after a careful weighing of all the +consequences. In the midst of their deliberations the rapid tread of a +horse's feet is heard coming up the long avenue. The horseman halts +before the council-house, and soon the buffalo-hide parts in twain, and +a tall young warrior, decorated with eagles' feathers and half clad in +the highest style of Cherokee fashion, enters the door-way. He stands +silent, motionless, not moving a pace beyond the entrance, till +Oconostota, raising his eyes and lifting his huge form into an erect +posture, bids him speak and make known his errand.</p> + +<p>The young brave explains that the chief of the pale-faces has come down +the great war-path to an outlying town to see the head-men of the +Ottari. The warriors have detained him till they can know the will of +their father the Archimagus.</p> + +<p>The answer is brief: "Let him come. Oconostota will hear him."</p> + +<p>And now an hour goes by, during which these grave chiefs sit as silent +and motionless as if keeping watch around a sepulchre. At its close the +tramp of a body of horsemen is heard, and soon Robertson, escorted by a +score of painted warriors, enters the council-chamber. Like the rest, +the new-comers are of fine physical proportions; and, as the others rise +to their feet and all form in a circle about him, Robertson, who stands +only five feet nine inches and is not so robust as in later years, seems +like a pygmy among giants. Yet he is as cool, as collected, as +apparently unconscious of danger, as if every <span class="pagenum">[Pg 151]</span>one of those +painted savages (when aroused, red devils) was his near friend or +blood-relation. The chiefs glance at him, and then at one another, with +as much wonderment in their eyes as was ever seen in the eyes of a +Cherokee. They know he is but one man and they twelve hundred, and that +by their law of retaliation his life is forfeit; and yet he stands +there, a look of singular power on his face, as if not they but he were +master of the situation. They have seen physical bravery; but this is +moral courage, which, when a man has a great purpose, lifts him above +all personal considerations and makes his life no more to him than the +bauble he wears upon his finger.</p> + +<p>Robertson waits for the others to speak, and there is a short pause +before the old chief breaks the silence. Then, extending his hand to +Robertson, he says, "Our white brother is welcome. We have eaten of his +venison and drunk of his fire-water. He is welcome. Let him speak. +Oconostota will listen."</p> + +<p>The white man returns cordially the grasp of the Indian; and then, still +standing, while all about him seat themselves on the ground, he makes +known the object of his coming. I regret I cannot give here his exact +answer, for all who read this would wish to know the very words he used +on this momentous occasion. No doubt they were, like all he said, terse, +pithy, and in such scriptural phrase as was with him so habitual. I know +only the substance of what he said, and it was as follows: that the +young brave had been killed by one not belonging to the Watauga +community; that the murderer had fled, but when apprehended would be +dealt with as his crime deserved; and he added that he and his +companion-settlers had come into the country desiring to live in peace +with all men, but more especially with their near neighbors the brave +Cherokees, with whom they should always endeavor to cultivate relations +of friendliness and good-fellowship.</p> + +<p>The Indians heard him at first with silent gravity, but, as he went on, +their feelings warmed to him, and found vent in a few expressive +"Ughs!" and when he closed, the old Archimagus rose, and, turning to the +chiefs, said, "What our white brother says is like the truth. What say +my brothers? are not his words good?"</p> + +<p>The response was, "They are good."</p> + +<p>A general hand-shaking followed; and then they all pressed Robertson to +remain with them and partake of their hospitality. Though extremely +anxious to return at once with the peaceful tidings, he did so, and thus +converted possible enemies into positive friends; and the friendship +thus formed was not broken till the outbreak of the Revolution.</p> + +<p>While Robertson had been away, Sevier had not been idle. He had put +Watauga into the best possible state of defence. With the surprising +energy that was characteristic of him, he had built a fort and gathered +every white settler into it or safe within range of its muskets. His +force was not a hundred strong; but if Robertson had been safely out of +the savage hold, he might have enjoyed a visit from Oconostota and his +twelve hundred Ottari warriors.</p> + +<p>The fort was planned by Sevier, who had no military training except such +as he had received under his patron and friend Lord Dunmore. Though rude +and hastily built, it was a model of military architecture, and in the +construction of it Sevier displayed such a genius for war as readily +accounts for his subsequent achievements.</p> + +<p>It was located on Gap Creek, about half a mile northeast of the Watauga, +upon a gentle knoll, from about which the trees, and even stumps, were +carefully cleared, to prevent their sheltering a lurking enemy. The +buildings have now altogether crumbled away; but the spot is still +identified by a few graves and a large locust-tree,—then a slender +sapling, now a burly patriarch, which has remained to our day to point +out the spot where occurred the first conflict between civilization and +savagery in the new empire beyond the Alleghanies. For the conflict was +between those two <span class="pagenum">[Pg 152]</span>forces; and the forts along the frontier—of +which this at Watauga was the original and model—were the forerunners +of civilization,—the "voice crying in the wilderness," announcing the +reign of peace which was to follow.</p> + +<p>The fort covered a parallelogram of about an acre, and was built of log +cabins placed at intervals along the four sides, the logs notched +closely together, so that the walls were bullet-proof. One side of the +cabins formed the exterior of the fort, and the spaces between them were +filled with palisades of heavy timber, eight feet long, sharpened at the +ends, and set firmly into the ground. At each of the angles was a +block-house, about twenty feet square and two stories high, the upper +story projecting about two feet beyond the lower, so as to command the +sides of the fort and enable the besieged to repel a close attack or any +attempt to set fire to the buildings. Port-holes were placed at suitable +distances. There were two wide gate-ways, constructed to open quickly to +permit a sudden sally or the speedy rescue of outside fugitives. On one +of these was a lookout station, which commanded a wide view of the +surrounding country. The various buildings would comfortably house two +hundred people, but on an emergency a much larger number might find +shelter within the enclosure.</p> + +<p>The fort was admirably adapted to its design, and, properly manned, +would repel any attack of fire-arms in the hands of such desultory +warriors as the Indians. In the arithmetic of the frontier it came to be +adopted as a rule that one white man behind a wall of logs was a match +for twenty-five Indians in the open field; and subsequent events showed +this to have been not a vainglorious reckoning.</p> + +<p>There were much older men at Watauga than either Sevier or +Robertson,—one of whom was now only twenty-eight and the other +thirty,—but they had from the first been recognized as natural leaders. +These two events—the building of the fort and the Cherokee mission, +which displayed Sevier's uncommon military genius and Robertson's +ability and address as a negotiator—elevated them still higher in the +regard of their associates, and at once the cares and responsibilities +of leadership in both civil and military affairs were thrust upon them. +But Sevier, with a modesty which he showed throughout his whole career, +whenever it was necessary that one should take precedence of the other, +always insisted upon Robertson's having the higher position; and so it +was that in the military company which was now formed Sevier, who had +served as a captain under Dunmore, was made lieutenant, while Robertson +was appointed captain.</p> + +<p>The Watauga community had been till now living under no organized +government. This worked very well so long as the newly-arriving +immigrants were of the class which is "a law unto itself;" but when +another class came in,—men fleeing from debt in the older settlements +or hoping on the remote and inaccessible frontier to escape the penalty +of their crimes,—some organization which should have the sanction of +the whole body of settlers became necessary. Therefore, speaking in the +language of Sevier, they, "by consent of the people, formed a court, +taking the Virginia laws as a guide, as near as the situation of affairs +would admit."</p> + +<p>The settlers met in convention at the fort, and selected thirteen of +their number to draft articles of association for the management of the +colony. From these thirteen, five (among whom were Sevier and Robertson) +were chosen commissioners, and to them was given power to adjudicate +upon all matters of controversy and to adopt and direct all measures +having a bearing upon the peace, safety, good order, and well-being of +the community. By them, in the language of the articles, "all things +were to be settled."</p> + +<p>These articles of association were the first compact of civil government +anywhere west of the Alleghanies. They were adopted in 1772, three years +prior to the association formed for Kentucky "under the great elm-tree +outside of the fort at Boonesboro." The simple <span class="pagenum">[Pg 153]</span>government thus +established was sufficient to secure good order in the colony for +several years following.</p> + +<p>Now ensued four more years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity, during +which the settlement increased greatly in numbers and extended its +borders in all directions. The Indians, true to their pledges to +Robertson, continued friendly, though suffering frequently from the +depredations of lawless white men from the old settlements. These were +reckless, desperate characters, who had fled from the order and law of +established society to find freedom for unbridled license in the new +community. Driven out by the Watauga settlers, they herded together in +the wilderness, where they subsisted by hunting and fishing and preying +upon the now peaceable Cherokees. They were an annoyance to both the +peaceable white man and the red; but at length, when the Indians showed +feelings of hostility, they became a barrier between the savages and the +industrious cultivators of the soil, and thus unintentionally +contributed to the well-being of the Watauga community.</p> + +<p>No event materially affecting the interests of the colony occurred +during the four years following Robertson's visit to the Cherokees at +Echota. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought, but the +shot which was "heard round the world" did not echo till months +afterward in that secluded hamlet on the Watauga. But when it did +reverberate amid those old woods, every backwoodsman sprang to his feet +and asked to be enrolled to rush to the rescue of his countrymen on the +seaboard. His patriotism was not stimulated by British oppression, for +he was beyond the reach of the "king's minions." He had no grievances to +complain of, for he drank no tea, used no stamps, and never saw a +tax-gatherer. It was the "glorious cause of liberty," as Sevier +expressed it, which called them all to arms to do battle for freedom and +their countrymen.</p> + +<p>"A company of fine riflemen was accordingly enlisted, and embodied at +the expense and risque of their private fortunes, to act in defence of +the common cause on the sea-shore."<a name="FNanchor_001_1" id="FNanchor_001_1" /><a href="#Footnote_001_1" class="fnanchor">[001]</a> But before the volunteers could +be despatched over the mountains it became apparent that their services +would be needed at home for the defence of the frontier against the +Indians.</p> + +<p>Through the trader Isaac Thomas it soon became known to the settlers +that Cameron, the British agent, was among the Cherokees, endeavoring to +incite them to hostilities against the Americans. At first the Indians +resisted the enticements—the hopes of spoil and plunder and the +recovery of their hunting-grounds—which Cameron held out to them. They +could not understand how men of the same race and language could be at +war with one another. It was never so known in Indian tradition. But +soon—late in 1775—an event occurred which showed that the virus spread +among them by the crafty Scotchman had begun to work, at least with the +younger braves, and that it might at any moment break out among the +whole nation. A trader named Andrew Grear, who lived at Watauga, had +been at Echota. He had disposed of his wares, and was about to return +with the furs he had taken in exchange, when he perceived signs of +hostile feeling among some of the young warriors, and on his return, +fearing an ambuscade on the great war-path, he left it before he reached +the crossing at the French Broad, and went homeward by a less-frequented +trail along the Nolachucky. Two other traders, named Boyd and Dagget, +who left Echota on the following day, pursued the usual route, and were +waylaid and murdered at a small stream which has ever since borne the +name of Boyd's Creek. In a few days their bodies were found, only half +concealed in the shallow water; and as the tidings flew among the +scattered settlements they excited universal alarm and indignation.</p> + +<p>The settlers had been so long at peace with the Cherokees that they had +been <span class="pagenum">[Pg 154]</span>lulled into a false security; but, the savage having once +tasted blood, they knew his appetite would "grow by what it fed on," and +they prepared for a deadly struggle with an enemy of more than twenty +times their number. The fort at Watauga was at once put into a state of +efficient defence, smaller forts were erected in the centre of every +scattered settlement, and a larger one was built on the frontier, near +the confluence of the north and south forks of the Holston River, to +protect the more remote settlements. This last was called Fort Patrick +Henry, in honor of the patriotic governor of Virginia. The one at +Watauga received the name of Fort Lee.</p> + +<p>All the able-bodied males sixteen years of age and over were enrolled, +put under competent officers, and drilled for the coming struggle. But +the winter passed without any further act of hostility on the part of +the disaffected Cherokees. The older chiefs, true to their pledges to +Robertson, still held back, and were able to restrain the younger +braves, who thirsted for the conflict from a passion for the excitement +and glory they could find only in battle.</p> + +<p>Nancy Ward was in the secrets of the Cherokee leaders, and every word +uttered in their councils she faithfully repeated to the trader Isaac +Thomas, who conveyed the intelligence personally or by trusty messengers +to Sevier and Robertson at Watauga. Thus the settlers were enabled to +circumvent the machinations of Cameron until a more powerful enemy +appeared among the Cherokees in the spring of 1776. This was John +Stuart, British superintendent of Southern Indian affairs, a man of +great address and ability, and universally known and beloved among all +the Southwestern tribes. Fifteen years before, his life had been saved +at the Fort Loudon massacre by Atta-Culla-Culla, and a friendship had +then been contracted between them which now secured the influence of the +half-king in plunging the Cherokees into hostilities with the settlers.</p> + +<p>The plan of operations had been concerted between Stuart and the +British commander-in-chief, General Gage. It was for a universal rising +among the Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Shawnees, who were to +invade the frontiers of Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, while +simultaneously a large military and naval force under Sir Peter Parker +descended upon the Southern seaboard and captured Charleston. It was +also intended to enlist the co-operation of such inhabitants of the back +settlements as were known to be favorable to the British. Thus the +feeble colonists were to be not only encircled by a cordon of fire, but +a conflagration was to be lighted which should consume every patriot's +dwelling. It was an able but pitiless and bloodthirsty plan, for it +would let loose upon the settler every savage atrocity and make his +worst foes those of his own household. If successful, it would have +strangled in fire and blood the spirit of independence in the Southern +colonies.</p> + +<p>That it did not succeed seems to us, who know the means employed to +thwart it, little short of a miracle. Those means were the four hundred +and forty-five raw militia under Moultrie, who, behind a pile of +palmetto logs, on the 28th of June, 1776, repulsed Sir Peter Parker in +his attack on Sullivan's Island in the harbor of Charleston, South +Carolina, and the two hundred and ten "over-mountain men," under Sevier, +Robertson, and Isaac Shelby, who beat back, on the 20th and 21st of +July, the Cherokee invasion of the western frontier.</p> + +<p>As early as the 30th of May, Sevier and Robertson were apprised by their +faithful friend Nancy Ward of the intended attack, and at once they sent +messengers to Colonel Preston, of the Virginia Committee of Safety, for +an additional supply of powder and lead and a reinforcement of such men +as could be spared from home-service. One hundred pounds of powder and +twice as much lead, and one hundred militiamen, were despatched in +answer to the summons. The powder and lead were distributed among the +stations, and the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 155]</span>hundred men were sent to strengthen the +garrison of Fort Patrick Henry, the most exposed position on the +frontier. The entire force of the settlers was now two hundred and ten, +forty of whom were at Watauga under Sevier and Robertson, the remainder +at and near Fort Patrick Henry under no less than six militia captains, +no one of whom was bound to obey the command of any of the others. This +many-headed authority would doubtless have worked disastrously to the +loosely-jointed force had there not been in it as a volunteer a young +man of twenty-five who in the moment of supreme danger seized the +absolute command and rallied the men to victory. His name was Isaac +Shelby, and this was the first act in a long career in the whole of +which "he deserved well of his country."</p> + +<p>Thus, from the 30th of May till the 11th of July the settlers slept with +their rifles in their hands, expecting every night to hear the Indian +war-whoop, and every day to receive some messenger from Nancy Ward with +tidings that the warriors were on the march for the settlements. At last +the messengers came,—four of them at once,—as we may see from the +following letter, in which Sevier announces their arrival to the +Committee of Safety of Fincastle County, Virginia:</p> +<div class="letter_1"> + + <p class="address">"FORT LEE, July 11, 1776.</p> + <p>DEAR GENTLEMEN,—Isaac Thomas, William Falling, Jarot Williams, and + one more, have this moment come in, by making their escape from the + Indians, and say six hundred Indians and whites were to start for + this fort, and intend to drive the country up to New River before + they return.</p> + <p class="author">JOHN SEVIER."</p> + +</div> + +<p>He says nothing of the feeble fort and his slender garrison of only +forty men; he shows no sign of fear, nor does he ask for aid in the +great peril. The letter is characteristic of the man, and it displays +that utter fearlessness which, with other great qualities, made him the +hero of the Border. The details of the information brought by Thomas to +Sevier and Robertson showed how truthfully Nancy Ward had previously +reported to them the secret designs of the Cherokees. The whole nation +was about to set out upon the war-path. With the Creeks they were to +make a descent upon Georgia, and with the Shawnees, Mingoes, and +Delawares upon Kentucky and the exposed parts of Virginia, while seven +hundred chosen Ottari warriors were to fall upon the settlers on the +Watauga, Holston, and Nolachucky. This last force was to be divided into +two bodies of three hundred and fifty each, one of which, under +Oconostota, was to attack Fort Watauga; the other, under Dragging-Canoe, +head-chief of the Chickamaugas, was to attempt the capture of Fort +Patrick Henry, which they supposed to be still defended by only about +seventy men. But the two bodies were to act together, the one supporting +the other in case it should be found that the settlers were better +prepared for defence than was anticipated. The preparation for the +expedition Thomas had himself seen: its object and the points of attack +he had learned from Nancy Ward, who had come to his cabin at midnight on +the 7th of July and urged his immediate departure. He had delayed +setting out till the following night, to impart his information to +William Falling and Jarot and Isaac Williams, men who could be trusted, +and who he proposed should set out at the same time, but by different +routes, to warn the settlements, so that in case one or more of them was +waylaid and killed the others might have a chance to get through in +safety. However, at the last moment the British agent Cameron had +himself disclosed the purpose of the expedition to Falling and the two +brothers Williams, and detailed them with a Captain Guest to go along +with the Indians as far as the Nolachucky, when they were to scatter +among the settlements and warn any "king's men" to join the Indians or +to wear a certain badge by which they would be known and protected in +any attack from the savages. These men had set out with <span class="pagenum">[Pg 156]</span>the +Indians, but had escaped from them during the night of the 8th, and all +had arrived at Watauga in safety.</p> + +<p>Thomas and Falling were despatched at once with the tidings into +Virginia, the two Williamses were sent to warn the garrison at Fort +Patrick Henry, and then the little force at Watauga furbished up their +rifles and waited in grim expectation the coming of Oconostota.</p> + +<p>But the garrison at Fort Patrick Henry was the first to have tidings +from the Cherokees. Only a few men were at the fort, the rest being +scattered among the outlying stations, but all were within +supporting-distance. On the 19th of July the scouts came in and reported +that a large body of Indians was only about twenty miles away and +marching directly upon the garrison. Runners were at once despatched to +bring in the scattered forces, and by nightfall the one hundred and +seventy were gathered at the fort, ready to meet the enemy. Then a +council of war was held by the six militia captains to determine upon +the best plan of action. Some were in favor of awaiting the attack of +the savages behind the walls of the fort, but one of them, William +Cocke, who afterward became honorably conspicuous in the history of +Tennessee, proposed the bolder course of encountering the enemy in the +open field. If they did not, he contended that the Indians, passing them +on the flank, would fall on and butcher the defenceless women of the +settlements in their rear.</p> + +<p>It was a step of extreme boldness, for they supposed they would +encounter the whole body of seven hundred Cherokees; but it was +unanimously agreed to, and early on the following morning the little +army, with flankers and an advance guard of twelve men, marched out to +meet the enemy. They had not gone far when the advance guard came upon a +force of about twenty Indians. The latter fled, and the whites pursued +for several miles, the main body following close upon the heels of the +advance, but without coming upon any considerable force of the enemy. +Then, being in a country favorable to an ambuscade, and the evening +coming on, they held a council and decided to return to the fort.</p> + +<p>They had not gone upward of a mile when a large force of the enemy +appeared in their rear. The whites wheeled about at once, and were +forming into line, when the whole body of Indians rushed upon them with +great fury, shouting, "The Unacas are running! Come on! scalp them!" +They attacked simultaneously the centre and left flank of the whites; +and then was seen the hazard of going into battle with a many-headed +commander. For a moment all was confusion, and the companies in +attempting to form in the face of the impetuous attack were being +broken, when Isaac Shelby rushed to the front and ordered each company a +few steps to the rear, where they should reform, while he, with +Lieutenant Moore, Robert Edmiston, and John Morrison, and a private +named John Findlay,—in all five men,—should meet the onset of the +savages. Instantly the six captains obeyed the command, recognizing in +the volunteer of twenty-five their natural leader, and then the battle +became general. The Indians attacked furiously, and for a few moments +those five men bore the brunt of the assault. With his own hand Robert +Edmiston slew six of the more forward of the enemy, Morrison nearly as +many, and then Moore became engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand fight +with an herculean chieftain of the Cherokees. They were a few paces in +advance of the main body, and, as if by common consent, the firing was +partly suspended on both sides to await the issue of the conflict. +"Moore had shot the chief, wounding him in the knee, but not so badly as +to prevent him from standing. Moore advanced toward him, and the Indian +threw his tomahawk, but missed him. Moore sprung at him with his large +butcher-knife drawn, which the Indian caught by the blade and attempted +to wrest from the hand of his antagonist. Holding on with desperate +tenacity to the knife, both clinched with their left hands. A scuffle +ensued, in which the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 157]</span>Indian was thrown to the ground, his right +hand being nearly dissevered, and bleeding profusely. Moore, still +holding the handle of his knife in the right hand, succeeded with the +other in disengaging his own tomahawk from his belt, and ended the +strife by sinking it in the skull of the Indian. Until this conflict was +ended, the Indians fought with unyielding spirit. After its issue became +known, they retreated."<a name="FNanchor_002_2" id="FNanchor_002_2" /><a href="#Footnote_002_2" class="fnanchor">[002]</a> "Our men pursued in a cautious manner, lest +they might be led into an ambuscade, hardly crediting their own senses +that so numerous a foe was completely routed. In this miracle of a +battle we had not a man killed, and only five wounded, who all +recovered. But the wounded of the enemy died till the whole loss in +killed amounted to upward of forty."<a name="FNanchor_003_3" id="FNanchor_003_3" /><a href="#Footnote_003_3" class="fnanchor">[003]</a></p> + +<p>As soon as this conflict was over, a horseman was sent off to Watauga +with tidings of the astonishing victory. "A great day's work in the +woods," was Sevier's remark when speaking subsequently of this battle.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile, Oconostota, with his three hundred and fifty warriors, had +followed the trail along the Nolachucky, and on the morning of the 20th +had come upon the house of William Bean, the hospitable entertainer of +Robertson on his first visit to Watauga, Bean himself was at the fort, +to which had fled all the women and children in the settlement, but his +wife had preferred to remain at home. She had many friends among the +Indians, and she felt confident they would pass her without molestation. +She was mistaken. They took her captive, and removed her to their +station-camp on the Nolachucky. There a warrior pointed his rifle at +her, as if to fire; but Oconostota threw up the barrel and began to +question her as to the strength of the whites. She gave him misleading +replies, with which he appeared satisfied, for he soon told her she was +not to be killed, but taken to their towns to teach their women how to +manage a dairy.</p> + +<p>Those at the fort knew that Oconostota was near by on the Nolachucky, +but he had deferred the attack so long that they concluded the wary and +cautious old chief was waiting to be reinforced by the body under +Dragging-Canoe, which had gone to attack Fort Patrick Henry. News had +reached them of Shelby's victory, and, as it would be some time before +the broken Cherokees could rally and join Oconostota, they were in no +apprehension of immediate danger. Accordingly, they went about their +usual vocations, and so it happened that a number of the women ventured +outside the fort as usual to milk the cows on the morning of the 21st of +July. Among them was one who was destined to occupy for many years the +position of the "first lady in Tennessee."</p> + +<p>Her name was Catherine Sherrell, and she was the daughter of Samuel +Sherrell, one of the first settlers on the Watauga. In age she was +verging upon twenty, and she was tall, straight as an arrow, and lithe +as a hickory sapling. I know of no portrait of her in existence, but +tradition describes her as having dark eyes, flexible nostrils, regular +features, a clear, transparent skin, a neck like a swan, and a wealth of +wavy brown hair, which was a wonder to look at and was in striking +contrast to the whiteness of her complexion. A free life in the open air +had made her as supple as an eel and as agile as a deer. It was said +that, encumbered by her womanly raiment, she had been known to place one +hand upon a six-barred fence and clear it at a single bound. And now her +agility was to do her essential service.</p> + +<p>While she and the other women, unconscious of danger, were "coaxing the +snowy fluid from the yielding udders of the kine," suddenly the +war-whoop sounded through the woods, and a band of yelling savages +rushed out upon them. Quick as thought the women turned and darted for +the gate of the fort; but the savages were close upon them in a +neck-and-neck race, and Kate, more remote than the rest, was cut off +from the entrance. Seeing her danger, Sevier and a dozen others opened +the gate and were <span class="pagenum">[Pg 158]</span>about to rush out upon the savages, hundreds +of whom were now in front of the fort; but Robertson held them back, +saying they could not rescue her, and to go out would insure their own +destruction. At a glance Kate took in the situation. She could have no +help from her friends, and the tomahawk and scalping-knife were close +behind her. Instantly she turned, and, fleeter than a deer, made for a +point in the stockade some distance from the entrance. The palisades +were eight feet high, but with one bound she reached the top, and with +another was over the wall, falling into the arms of Sevier, who for the +first time called her his "bonnie Kate," his "brave girl for a +foot-race." The other women reached the entrance of the fort in safety.</p> + +<p>Then the baffled savages opened fire, and for a full hour it rained +bullets upon the little enclosure. But the missiles fell harmless: not a +man was wounded. Driven by the light charges the Indians were accustomed +to use, the bullets simply bounded off from the thick logs and did no +damage. But it was not so with the fire of the besieged. The order was, +"Wait till you see the whites of your enemies' eyes, and then make sure +of your man." And so every one of those forty rifles did terrible +execution.</p> + +<p>For twenty days the Indians hung about the fort, returning again and +again to the attack; but not a man who kept within the walls was even +wounded. It was not so with a man and a boy who, emboldened by a few +days' absence of the Indians, ventured outside to go down to the river. +The man was scalped on the spot; the boy was taken prisoner, and +subjected to a worse fate in one of the Indian villages. His name was +Moore, and he was a younger brother of the lieutenant who fought so +bravely in the battle near Fort Patrick Henry.</p> + +<p>At last, baffled and dispirited, the Indians fell back to the Tellico. +They had lost about sixty killed and a larger number wounded, and they +had inflicted next to no damage upon the white settlers. They were +enraged beyond bounds and thirsting for vengeance. Only two prisoners +were in their power; but on them they resolved to wreak their extremest +tortures. Young Moore was taken to the village of his captor, high up in +the mountains, and there burned at a stake. A like fate was determined +upon for good Mrs. Bean, the kindly woman whose hospitable door had ever +been open to all, white man or Indian. Oconostota would not have her +die; but Dragging-Canoe insisted that she should be offered up as a +sacrifice to the <i>manes</i> of his fallen warriors; and the head-king was +not powerful enough to prevent it.</p> + +<p>She was taken to the summit of one of the burial-mounds,—those relics +of a forgotten race which are so numerous along the banks of the +Tellico. She was tied to a stake, the fagots were heaped about her, and +the fire was about to be lighted, when suddenly Nancy Ward appeared +among the crowd of savages and ordered a stay of the execution. +Dragging-Canoe was a powerful brave, but not powerful enough to combat +the will of this woman. Mrs. Bean was not only liberated, but sent back +with an honorable escort to her husband.</p> + +<p>The village in which young Moore was executed was soon visited by Sevier +with a terrible retribution; and from that day for twenty years his name +was a terror among the Cherokees.</p> + +<p>Before many months there was a wedding in the fort at Watauga. It was +that of John Sevier and the "bonnie Kate," famous to this day for +leaping stockades and six-barred fences. He lived to be twelve years +governor of Tennessee and the idol of a whole people. She shared all his +love and all his honors; but in her highest estate she was never ashamed +of her lowly days, and never tired of relating her desperate leap at +Watauga; and, even in her old age, she would merrily add, "I would make +it again—every day in the week—for such a husband."</p> + +<p class="author">EDMUND KIRKE.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="A_PLEASANT_SPIRIT"></a>A PLEASANT SPIRIT.</h2> + + +<p><span class="pagenum">[Pg 159]</span>It was drawing toward nine o'clock, and symptoms of closing for +the night were beginning to manifest themselves in Mr. Pegram's store. +The few among the nightly loungers there who had still a remnant of +domestic conscience left had already risen from boxes and "kags," and +gathered up the pound packages of sugar and coffee which had served as +the pretext for their coming, but which would not, alas! sufficiently +account for the length of their stay. The older stagers still sat +composedly in the seats of honor immediately surrounding the red-hot +stove, and a look of disapproval passed over their faces as Mr. Pegram, +opening the door and thereby letting in a blast of cold air upon their +legs, proceeded to put up the outside shutters.</p> + +<p>"In a hurry to-night, ain't you, Pegram?" inquired Mr. Dickey, as the +proprietor returned, brushing flakes of snow from his coat and shivering +expressively.</p> + +<p>"Well, not particular," replied Mr. Pegram, with a deliberation which +confirmed his words, "but it's pretty nigh nine, and Sally she ast me +not to be later <i>than</i> nine to-night, for our hired girl's gone home for +a spell, and that makes it kind of lonesome for Sally: the baby don't +count for much, only when he cries, and I'll do him the justice to say +that isn't often."</p> + +<p>"It's a new thing for Sally to be scary, ain't it?" queried Mr. +Crumlish, with an expression of mild surprise.</p> + +<p>"Well, yes, I may say it is," admitted Mr. Pegram; "but, you know, we +had a kind of a warning, before we moved in, that all wasn't quite as it +should be, and, as bad luck would have it, there was a Boston paper come +round her new coat, with a story in it that laid out to be true, of +noises and appearances, and one thing and another, in a house right +there to Boston, and Sally she says to me, 'If they believe in them +things to Boston, where they don't believe in nothing they can't see and +handle, if all we hear's true, there must be something in it, and I only +wish I'd read that piece before we took the house.'</p> + +<p>"I keep a-telling her we've neither seen nor heard nothing out of the +common, so far, but all she'll say to that is, 'That's no reason we +won't;' and sure enough it isn't, though I don't tell her so."</p> + +<p>"But surely," said Mr. Birchard, the young schoolmaster, who boarded +with Mr. Dickey, "you don't believe any such trash as that account of a +haunted house in Boston?" There was a non-committal silence, and he went +on impatiently, "I could give you a dozen instances in which mysteries +of this kind, when they were energetically followed up, were proved to +be the results of the most simple and natural causes."</p> + +<p>"Like enough, like enough, young man," said Uncle Jabez Snyder, in his +tremulous tones, "and mebbe some folks not a hunderd miles from here +could tell you another dozen that hadn't no natural causes."</p> + +<p>"I should like very much to hear them," replied the young man, with an +exasperatingly incredulous smile.</p> + +<p>"If Pegram here wasn't in such a durned hurry to turn us out and shet +up," said Mr. Dickey, with manifest irritation, "Uncle Jabez could tell +you all you want to hear."</p> + +<p>Mr. Pegram looked disturbed. It was with him a fixed principle never to +disoblige a customer, and he saw that he was disobliging at least half a +dozen. On the other hand, he was not prepared to face his wife should he +so daringly disregard her wishes as to keep the store open half an hour +later than usual. He pondered for a few moments, and then his face +suddenly brightened, and he said, "If one of you gentlemen that passes +my house on your way home <span class="pagenum">[Pg 160]</span>would undertake to put coal on the +fire, put the lights out, lock the door, and bring me the key, the +store's at your disposal till ten o'clock; and I'm only sorry I can't +stay myself."</p> + +<p>Two or three immediately volunteered, but as the schoolmaster and Mr. +Dickey were the only ones whose way lay directly past Mr. Pegram's door, +it was decided that they should divide the labors and honors between +them.</p> + +<p>"I'd like you not to stop later <i>than</i> ten," said Mr. Pegram +deprecatingly, as he buttoned his great-coat and drew his hat down over +his eyes, "for I have to be up so early, since that boy cleared out, +that I need to go to bed sooner than I mostly do."</p> + +<p>Compliance with this modest request was readily promised, good-nights +were exchanged, and the lessened circle drew in more closely around the +stove, for several of the company had reluctantly decided that, all +things considered, it would be the better part of valor for them to go +when Mr. Pegram went.</p> + +<p>There was a few minutes' silence, and then Mr. Dickey said impatiently, +"We're all ready, Uncle Jabez. Why don't you fire away, so's to be +through by ten o'clock?"</p> + +<p>"I was a-thinkin' which one I'd best tell him," said Uncle Jabez mildly. +"They're all convincin' to a mind that's open to convincement, but I'd +like to pick out the one that's most so."</p> + +<p>"There's the one about Alviry Pratt's grandfather," suggested Mr. +Crumlish encouragingly.</p> + +<p>"No," mused the old man. "I've no doubt of that myself, but then it +didn't happen to me in person, and I've a notion he'd rather hear one +I've experienced than two I've heard tell of."</p> + +<p>"Of course I would, Uncle Jabez," said Mr. Birchard kindly, but with an +amused twinkle in his eyes. "You take your own time: it's only just +struck nine, and there's no hurry at all."</p> + +<p>"Supposin' I was to tell him that one about my first wife?" said the old +man presently, and with an inquiring look around the circle.</p> + +<p>Several heads were nodded approvingly, and Mr. Crumlish said, "The very +one I'd 'a' chosen myself if you'd ast me."</p> + +<p>Thus encouraged, Uncle Jabez, with a sort of deliberate promptness, +began: "We married very young, Lavina and me,—too young, some said, but +I never could see why, for I had a good farm, with health and strength +to carry it on, and she was a master-hand with butter and cheese. At any +rate, we thriv; and if we had plenty of children, there was plenty for +'em to eat, and they grew as fast as everything else did. She wasn't +what you'd fairly call handsome, Lavina wasn't, but she was +pleasant-appearin', very,—plump as a pa'tridge, with nice brown hair +and eyes and a clean-lookin' skin. But it was her smile in particular +that took me; and when she set in to laugh you couldn't no more' help +laughin' along with her than one bobolink can help laughin' back when he +hears another. She was the tenderest-hearted woman that ever breathed +the breath of life: she couldn't bear to hurt the feelin's of a cat, and +she'd go 'ithout a chicken-dinner any day sooner'n kill a chicken. As +time passed on and she begun to age a little, she grew stouter 'n' +stouter; but it didn't seem to worry her none. She'd puff and blow a +good bit when she went up-stairs, but she'd always laugh about it, and +say that when we was rich enough we'd put in an elevator, like they had +at a big hotel we saw once. It would suit her fine, she said, to set +down on a cushioned seat and be up-stairs afore she could git up again. +Now, you needn't think I'm wanderin' from the p'int," and Uncle Jabez +looked severely at Mr. Dickey, who was manifestly fidgeting. "All you +folks that have lived about here all your lives knew Lavina 'ithout my +tellin' you this; but Mr. Birchard he's a stranger in the neighborhood, +and it's needful to the understandin' of my story that he should know +just what sort of a woman she was,—or is, as I should say."</p> + +<p>Mr. Dickey subsided, while Mr. Birchard tried to throw still more of an +expression of the deepest interest and attention into his face. He must +have <span class="pagenum">[Pg 161]</span>succeeded, for the old man, going on with his story, fixed +his eyes more and more frequently upon those of the young one. They were +large, gentle, appealing blue eyes, with a mildly surprised expression, +which Mr. Birchard found exceedingly attractive. Whether or not the fact +that the youngest of Uncle Jabez's children, a daughter, had precisely +similar eyes, in any way accounted for the attraction, I leave to minds +more astute than my own.</p> + +<p>"You may think," the narrator resumed, when he felt that he had settled +Mr. Dickey, "whether or not you'd miss a woman like that, when you'd +summered and wintered with her more'n forty year. She always said she +hoped she'd go sudden, for she was so heavy it would 'a' took three or +four of the common run of folks to lift her, and she dreaded a long +sickness. Well, she was took at her word. We was settin', as it might be +now, one on one side the fire, the other on t'other, in the big +easy-cheers that Samuel—that's our oldest son, and a good boy, if I do +say it—had sent us with the fust spare money he had. She'd been +laughin' and jokin', as she so often did, five minutes afore. +Gracie—she was a little thing then, and, bein' the youngest, a little +sassy and sp'iled, mebbe—had been on a trip to the city, and she'd +brought her ma a present of a shoe-buttoner with a handle a full foot +long.</p> + +<p>"'There, ma,' she says, laughin' up in her mother's face; 'you was +complainin' about the distance it seemed to be to your feet: here's a +kind of a telegraft-pole to shorten it a little.'</p> + +<p>"My, how we did laugh! And Lavina must needs try it right away, to +please Gracie; and she said it worked beautiful. But whether it was the +laughin' so much right on top of a hearty supper, or the bendin' down to +try her new toy, or both, she jest says, as natural as I'm speakin' now, +'Jabez, I'm a-goin'—' and then stopped. And when I looked up to see why +she didn't finish, she was gone, sure enough."</p> + +<p>His voice broke, and he stopped abruptly. Mr. Birchard, without in the +least intending to do it, grasped his hand, and held it with +affectionate warmth for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, young man, thank you kindly," said Uncle Jabez, recovering +his voice and shaking Mr. Birchard's hand heartily at the same moment. +"You've an uncommon feelin' heart for one so young.</p> + +<p>"To say I was lonesome after she went don't say much; but time evens +things out after a while, or we couldn't stand it as long as we do. +Gracie she settled into a little woman all at once, as you may say, and +seemed older for a while than she does now. The rest was all married and +gone, but one boy,—a good boy, too. But they came around me, comfortin' +and helpin', though each one of 'em mourned her nigh as much as I did +myself; and after a while, as I said, I got used, in a manner, to doin' +'ithout her."</p> + +<p>Here he made a long pause, with his eyes intently fixed upon the +darkness of the adjoining store-room. The heat from the stove had become +too great after the shutting of the shutters, and one of the men had +opened an inner door for ventilation.</p> + +<p>Now, as one pair of eyes after another followed those of the old man, +there was a sort of subdued stir around the circle, and the +schoolmaster, to his intense disgust, caught himself looking hastily +over his shoulder,—the door being behind him.</p> + +<p>Mr. Dickey broke the spell by suddenly rising, with the exclamation, "I +think we're cooled off about enough; and, as I'm a little rheumaticky +to-night, I'll shut that door, if you've none of you no objections."</p> + +<p>There was a subdued murmur of assent, the door was closed, and Uncle +Jabez returned to the thread of his discourse:</p> + +<p>"Lemme see: where was I? Oh, yes. You may think it a little strange, +now, but I didn't neither see nor hear tell of her for a full six +months. If I was makin' this story up, and anxious to make a <i>good</i> +story of it, you can see, if you're fair-minded, that I'd say she +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 162]</span>came back right away. Now, wouldn't I be most likely to? Say?"</p> + +<p>He appealed so directly to Mr. Birchard, pausing for a reply, that the +sceptic was obliged to answer in some way, and, with a curious sort of +reluctance, he said slowly, "Yes—I suppose—I'm sure you would."</p> + +<p>This seemed to satisfy Uncle Jabez, and he went on with his story:</p> + +<p>"I came home from town one stormy night, about six months after she +died, pretty well beat out,—entirely so, I may say. I'd been drivin' +some cattle into the city, and I'd had only a poor concern of a boy to +help me. The cattle was contrai-ry,—contrai-rier'n common; and I +remember thinkin', when the feller at the drove-yard handed me my check, +that I'd earned it pretty hard. That's the last about it I do remember. +I s'pose I must 'a' put it in my pocket-book, the same as usual; but I +rode home in a sort of a maze, I was so tired and drowsy, and I'd barely +sense enough to eat my supper and grease my boots afore I went to bed. I +had a bill to pay the next day, and I opened my pocket-book, quite +confident, to take out the check. It wasn't there. I always kep' a +number of papers in that pocket-book, and I thought at fust it had got +mislaid among 'em: so I turned everything out, and unfolded 'em one by +one, and poked my finger through a hole between the leather and the +linin', and made it a good deal bigger,—but that's neither here nor +there,—and before I was through I was certain sure of one thing,—- +that wherever else that check was, it wasn't in that pocket-book. Then I +tried my pockets, one after the other,—four in my coat, four in my +overcoat, three in my vest, two in my pants: no, it wasn't in any of +them, and I begun to feel pretty queer, I can tell you. It was my only +sale of cattle for the season; I was dependin' on it to pay a bill and +buy one or two things for Gracie; and, anyhow, it's no fun to lose a +hunderd-dollar check and feel as if it must have been bewitched away +from you. I rode back to the drove-yard, though I wasn't more'n half +rested from the day before, and they said they'd stop payment on the +check and give me a chance to look right good for it, and if I couldn't +find it they'd draw me another. You see, they knowed me right well, and +they wasn't afraid I was tryin' to play any sort of a game on 'em. +Still, it wasn't a pleasant thing to have happen, for, say the best you +could of it, it argued that I'd lost a considerable share of my wits. +So, when I come home, I felt so kind of worried and down-hearted that I +couldn't half eat my supper; and that worried Gracie,—she was a +thin-skinned little critter, and if I didn't eat the same as usual she'd +always take it into her head there was something wrong with the +victuals. I fell asleep in my cheer right after supper, and slept till +nine o'clock; and then Gracie woke me, and ast me if I didn't think I'd +better go to bed. I said yes, I s'posed I had; but by that time I was +hungry, and I ast her what she had good in the pantry. She brightened up +wonderful at that,—though when I come to look closer at her I see she'd +been cryin',—and she said there was doughnuts, fresh fried that day, +and the best half of a mince pie. I told her that was all right so far +as it went, but I'd like somethin' a little solider to begin with: so +she found me a few slices of cold pork and one of her cowcumber pickles, +and I eat a right good supper. She picked at a piece of pie, by way of +keepin' me company, but she didn't eat much. Now, I tell you this, which +you may think isn't revelant to the subject, to let you see I went to +bed comfortable. We laughed and talked over our little supper, and +pretended we was city-folks, on our way home from the theater, gettin' a +fancy supper at Delmonico's. And I forgot all about the check for the +time bein', as slick and clean as if I'd never had it nor lost it. But, +nevertheless, when I went to sleep I begun to dream about it, and was to +the full as much worried in my dream as I was when I was awake. I seemed +to myself to be huntin' all over the house, in every hole and corner I +could think of, and sometimes I'd come on pieces of paper that looked so +like it <span class="pagenum">[Pg 163]</span>outside I'd make sure I'd found it, and then when I +opened 'em they'd be ridickilous rhymes, 'ithout any sense to 'em; when +all of a sudden I heard Lavina's voice, as plain as you hear mine now. +It seemed to come from a good ways off just at first, callin' +'Father,'—she always called me 'Father,' partly because she didn't like +the name of Jabez, and it is a humbly name, I'm free to confess,—and +then again nearer, 'Father;' and then again, as if it was right at the +foot of the stairs. And this time it went on to say, loud and plain, +so's 't I could hear every word, 'You look in the little black teapot on +the top shelf of the pantry, where I kep' the missionary money, and see +what you'll find.' And with that I heard her laugh; and I'd know +Lavina's laugh among a thousand. I was too dazed like to do it right +away, and I must 'a' fell asleep while I was thinkin' about it, for when +I woke up it was broad daylight and Gracie was callin' to me to get up. +But I hadn't forgot a word that Lavina'd said, and I went for that +teapot as quick as I was dressed, and there was the check, sure enough, +in good order and condition!"</p> + +<p>He paused to look round at his audience and see the effect of this +statement, and the schoolmaster took advantage of the pause to ask, +"Were you in the habit of putting money in that teapot for safe-keeping, +Uncle Jabez?"</p> + +<p>"Young man, I was not," said Uncle Jabez emphatically, and evidently +annoyed both by the question and by the tone in which it was uttered. +"It was a little notion of Lavina's, and I'd never meddled with it, one +way or the other. But I'd left it be there after she died, because I +liked to look at it. I'd no more 'a' dreamed of puttin' that check in it +than I would of puttin' it into Gracie's work-box. But there it was, and +how it come there it wasn't vouchsafed me to know.</p> + +<p>"I think it must have been a matter of three or four months after this, +though I wouldn't like to say too positive, that I fell into my first +and last lawsuit. A man I'd always counted a good neighbor made out +he'd found an old title-deed which give him a right to a smart slice +off'n my best meadow-land. It dated fifty years back, and old Peter +Pinnell, that was the only surveyor in the township at that time, made +out he recollected runnin' the lines; and when McKellop, the feller that +claimed the track, took old Pinnell over the ground, to see if he could +find any landmarks that would help to make the claim good, they found a +big pine-tree jest where they wanted to find it, and cut into it at the +right height to find a 'blaze,' if there was one. The rings was marked +as plain as the lines on a map, and when they'd cut through fifty, there +was the mark, sure enough, and McKellop's lawyer crowed ready to hurt +himself. I was a good deal cut down, I can tell you, for I could see +pretty well that it was goin' to turn the scale; and when supper-time +came, Gracie could hardly coax me to the table. I said no, I didn't +feel to be hungry; for I couldn't get that strip of meadow-land out of +my head. And it wasn't so much the value of the land, either, though I +couldn't well afford to lose it, as it was the idee of McKellop's +crowin' and cacklin' all over the neighborhood about it. But Gracie +looked so anxious and tired that I come to the table, jest to satisfy +her; and I found I was hungry, after all, for I'd been trampin' round +the farm most of the day, lookin' for some landmark or sign that would +prove my claim, that dated seventy years back. I recollect we had soused +pigs' feet for supper that night; and I don't think I ever tasted better +in my life. I eat pretty free of them, as I always did of anything I +liked, and we wound up with some of her canned peaches, that she'd got +out to coax me to eat, and cream on 'em 'most as thick as butter: she +had a skimmer with holes into it that she always skimmed the cream with +for our own use. She'd made as good a pot of coffee as I ever tasted. +And when I'd had all I wanted, I felt a good deal better, and I says to +her,—'I'll fret over it no more, Gracie: <span class="pagenum">[Pg 164]</span>if it's his'n, let +him take it 'ithout more words.'</p> + +<p>"She read me a story out of the paper that made us both laugh right +hearty, and then a chapter, as usual, and then we went to bed. And all +come round jest as it did afore. I thought I was roamin' about the farm, +as I had been pretty nigh all day; but things was changed round, +somehow, and the further I went the more mixed up they got, till, jest +as I'd found the pine-tree, I heard Lavina's voice, the same as I'd done +afore,—first far, and then near,—sayin', 'Father;' and the third time +she said it, when it sounded close to, she went on to say, 'He's done +his cuttin', now do you do yours. You cut through twenty more rings, and +you'll find the blaze that marks <i>your</i> survey. And then thank him +kindly for givin' you the idee. The smartest of folks is too smart for +themselves once in a while.' And with that she laughed her own jolly, +hearty laugh; but that was the last she said; and I laid there wonderin' +and thinkin' for a while, and then dropped off to sleep. But it was all +as clear as a bell in my head in the morning, and I had McKellop and old +Peter at the pine-tree by eight o'clock. I'd sharpened my axe good, I +can tell you, and it didn't take me long to cut through twenty more +rings, and there, sure enough, was the blaze; and if ever you see a +blue-lookin' man, that man was McKellop; for as soon as old Peter see +the blaze he recollected hearin' his father tell about the survey; he +recollected it particular because the old man was a good judge of +apple-jack, and he'd said that <i>my</i> father'd gi'n him some of the best, +that day the survey was made, that he'd ever tasted. And Peter said he +reckoned he could find something about it in his father's books and +among some loose papers he had in a box. And, sure enough, he found +enough to make my claim as clear as a bell and make McKellop's as flat +as a pancake. Now, what do you think of <i>that</i>, hey?"</p> + +<p>Once more the old man peered into Birchard's face, and the schoolmaster +answered one question with another, after the custom of the country:</p> + +<p>"Did you ever know anything about the blazed tree before McKellop found +the blaze?"</p> + +<p>"When I come to think it over, I found I did," said Uncle Jabez, falling +all unconscious into the trap set for him. "I hadn't no papers about it, +but my father had told me all the ins and outs of it when I was a boy, +and it had somehow gone out of my mind."</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you mean by 'Ah' in this connection," said Uncle +Jabez, speaking with unwonted sharpness; "but if you're misdoubtin' what +I tell you I may as well shet up and go home."</p> + +<p>"I don't doubt your word in the least, Uncle Jabez; I assure you I +don't," Mr. Birchard hastened to say. "And I'm deeply interested. I hope +you will go on and tell me all your experiences of this kind. I've heard +and read a good many ghost-stories; but in all of them the ghosts were +malicious creatures, who seemed to come back chiefly for the fun of +scaring people out of their wits. Yours is the first really benevolent +and well-meaning ghost of which I have ever heard; and it interests me +immensely; for I never could see why a person who was all goodness and +generosity while he—or she—was alive should turn into an unmitigated +nuisance after dying. I should think, if they must needs come back, they +might just as well be pleasant about it and make people glad to see—or +hear—them."</p> + +<p>"That's exactly the view I've always taken," said Mr. Crumlish modestly; +"and one reason I've never felt to doubt any of Uncle Jabez's stories is +that all the ghosts he's ever seen or heard tell of have been +decent-behaving ghosts, that didn't come back just for the fun of +scaring people to death."</p> + +<p>"That's so; that's so," said the old man, entirely mollified, and +hearing no note of sarcasm in the schoolmaster's rapidly-uttered +eloquence. "If any one of 'em was to behave ugly," he continued, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 165]</span>"it would shake my faith in the whole thing considerable; for I +couldn't bring myself to believe that anybody I've ever knowed could be +so far given over as to want to be ugly after dyin'."</p> + +<p>"Well, now, I don't know," said Mr. Dickey argumentatively. "I <i>hev</i> +knowed certain folks that it seems to me would stick to their ugliness +alive or dead, and, though I've never seen no appearances of any kind, +as I may say, I can believe jist as easy that some of 'em come back for +mischief as that others come back for good."</p> + +<p>There was a few minutes' constrained silence after this remark. Mr. +Dickey's first wife had been what is popularly known as "a Tartar," and +there was a generally current rumor that as the last shovelful of earth +was patted down on her grave he had been heard to murmur, "Thanks be to +praise, she's quiet at last." The idea of her reappearance in her wonted +haunts was indeed a dismaying one, especially as Mr. Dickey had recently +married again, and, if the gossips knew anything about it, was repeating +much of his former painful experience. The silence, which was becoming +embarrassing, was finally broken by the schoolmaster.</p> + +<p>"Had you any more experiences of the kind you have just related, Uncle +Jabez?" he asked, in tones of such deep respect and lively interest that +Uncle Jabez responded, with gratifying promptness,—</p> + +<p>"Plenty, plenty, though perhaps them two that I've just told you was the +most strikin'. But it always seemed to me, after that first time, that +Lavina was on hand when anything went wrong or was likely to go wrong; +and ef I was to tell you all the scrapes she's kep' me out of and pulled +me out of, I should keep you settin' here all night. There was one +more," he continued, "that struck me a good deal at the time. It was +about money, like the fust one, in a different sort of way. It was +durin' those days when specie was so skurce and high that it was quite a +circumstance to get a piece of hard money. There come along a peddler in +a smart red wagon, with all sorts of women's trash packed into it, and +Gracie took it into her head to want some of his things. It happened to +be her birthday that day, and, as she didn't often pester me about +clothes, I told her to choose out what she wanted, up to five dollars' +worth, and, if the feller could change me a twenty-dollar note, I'd pay +for it. He jumped at it, sayin' he didn't count it any trouble at all to +give change, the way some storekeepers did, and that he always kep' a +lot on hand to oblige his customers. I will say for him that it seemed +to me he give Gracie an amazin' big five dollars' worth, and when he +come to make the change he handed out a ten-dollar gold piece, or what I +then took to be such, as easy as if he'd found it growin' on a bush, and +said nothin' whatever about the premium on it. Perhaps I'd ought to have +mentioned it, but it seemed to me it was his business more'n mine: so I +jest took it as if it was the most natural thing in life, and he went +off. I thought I might as well as not get the premium on it before it +went down the way folks said it was goin' to: so, after dinner, I +harnessed up, and drove down to the post-office,—it was kep' in the +drug-store then, the same as it is now,—and when I handed my gold piece +to the postmaster, which was also the druggist, and said I'd take a +quarter's worth of stamps, and I believed gold was worth a dollar +fifteen just now, he first smelt of it, and then bit it, and then poured +some stuff out'n a bottle onto it, and then handed it back to me with a +pityin' smile that somehow riled me more'n a little, and he says, says +he,—</p> + +<p>"'Somebody's fooled you badly, Uncle Jabez. That coin's a counterfeit. +Do you happen to know where you got it?'</p> + +<p>"'I know well enough,' I says, and I expect I spoke pretty mad, for I +<i>felt</i> mad. 'I got it of a travellin' peddler, that's far enough away by +this time, and if you're sure it's bad I'm that much out of pocket.' He +seemed right concerned about it, and ast me if I hadn't no clue that I +could track the peddler by; but I couldn't think of any, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 166]</span>and I +went home a good deal down in the mouth. But Gracie chirked me up, as +she always does, bless her! and she made me a Welsh rabbit for supper, +and some corn muffins, and a pot of good rich chocolate, by way of a +change, and we agreed that, as she'd a pretty big five dollars worth and +as the rest of the change was good, we'd say no more about it, for it +would be like lookin' for a needle in a hay-stack to try to track him.</p> + +<p>"'Why, father,' she says, 'I don't so much as know his name: do you?'</p> + +<p>"I told her no, I didn't; that if I'd heard his name I disremembered it, +but that I didn't think I'd heard it. And then that very night come +another visit from mother, and she told me all about it. She come the +way she always did, and when she spoke the last time, close to, as you +may say, she says,—</p> + +<p>"'I wouldn't give up that ten dollars so easy, if I was you, father. +That peddler's name is Hanigan,—Elwood Hanigan,—and he'll be at the +State Fair to-morrow. Now, do you go, and you'll find his red wagon with +no trouble at all; and jest be right down firm with him, and tell him +that if he doesn't give you good money in place of the bad he foisted +off on you you'll show him up to the whole fair, and you'll see how glad +he'll be to settle it.'</p> + +<p>"And with that she laughed jest as natural as life, and I heard no more +till Gracie knocked on my door in the morning."</p> + +<p>"And did you go to the fair and find him and get your money back?" asked +Birchard, who was interested in spite of his scepticism.</p> + +<p>"I did, jest that," replied Uncle Jabez. "I got off bright and early, +and, as luck would have it, I'd jest tied and blanketed my horse when +that wonderful smart red wagon come drivin' in at the gate. I waited +till he'd begun to pull his wares out and make a fine speech about 'em, +and then I jest walked up to him, cool and composed, and give him his +choice between payin' me good money for his bogus gold or hearin' <i>me</i> +make a speech; and you may jest bet your best hat he paid up quicker'n +winkin'. Perhaps I'd ought to have warned folks ag'in' him as it was, +but I had a notion he'd save his tricks till he got to another +neighborhood; and it turned out I was right. He didn't give none of his +gold change out that day. But you can see for yourself that if it hadn't +been for Lavina he'd have come off winnin' horse in that race. That was +always the way when mother was about: she had more sense in her little +finger than I had in my whole body, and head too, for that matter."</p> + +<p>"And you found that you really had not known the man's name until it was +conveyed to you in the manner in which you have described?" asked the +schoolmaster deferentially.</p> + +<p>"Well, no," said Uncle Jabez. "When I saw his wagon the next day, I +remembered of readin' his name in gilt letters on the side, tacked to +some patent medicine he claimed to have invented; but I don't suppose +I'd ever thought of it again if mother hadn't told it to me so plain."</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster said nothing. He had his own neat little theories +concerning all the manifestations which had been mentioned, but somehow +the old man's guileless belief had touched him, and he had no longer any +desire to shake it, even had it been possible to do so. But he could not +help probing the subject a little further: so presently he asked, "And +you've never spoken to her, never asked her if it were not possible for +you to see as well as hear her?"</p> + +<p>"Young man," said Uncle Jabez kindly, but solemnly, "there's such a sin +as presumption, and there's some old sayin' or other about fools rushin' +in where angels fear to tread. If you try to grab too much at once, +you're apt to lose all. If it was meant for me to see mother as well as +hear her, I <i>should</i> see her; and if I was to go to pryin' round and +tryin' to find out what's purposely hid from me, I make no doubt but I +should lose the little that's been vouchsafed to me. But I'd far rather +hear you ask questions like that than to have <span class="pagenum">[Pg 167]</span>you throwin' +doubt on the whole business, as you seemed inclined to do at fust."</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Mr. Dickey briskly, "do you know it's well on to +half-past ten? and we were to have the key at Pegram's by ten. I think +we'd better do what there is to do, and clear out of this as quick as we +know how, and mebbe some of us will wish before an hour's gone that we +had Uncle Jabez's knack at makin' out a good story."</p> + +<p>"You speak for yourself, Dickey," said Mr. Crumlish good-naturedly. +"There's some of us that goes in and comes out, with nobody to care +which it is, nor how long we stay; but freedom has its drawbacks, as +well as other things."</p> + +<p>The schoolmaster laughed at himself for striking a match as he turned +the last light out, but he felt moving through his brain a vague wish +that Uncle Jabez would break himself of that trick he had of gazing +fixedly at nothing, and that other trick of stopping suddenly in the +middle of a sentence to cock his head, as if he were hearing some +far-away, uncertain sound.</p> + +<p class="author">MARGARET VANDEGRIFT.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="FISHING_IN_ELK_RIVER"></a>FISHING IN ELK RIVER.</h2> + + +<p>When a man has once absorbed into his system a love for fishing or +hunting, he is under the influence of an invisible power greater than +that of vaccine matter or the virus of rabies. The sporting-fever is the +veritable malady of St. Vitus, holding its victim forever on the go, as +game-seasons come, and so long as back and legs, eye and ear, can +wrestle with Time's infirmities. It breeds ambition, boasting, and +"yarns" to a proverbial extent, with a general disbelief in the possible +veracity of a brother sportsman, and an irresistible; desire to talk of +new and privately discovered sporting-heavens. The gold-seeker stakes +his claim, the "wild-catting" oil-borer boards up his lot, the inventor +patents his invention, and the author copyrights his brain-fruit; but +the sportsman crazily tells all he knows. So the secret gets out, and +the discoverer is robbed of his treasure and forced to seek new fields +for his rod and gun.</p> + +<p>Colonel Bangem had enjoyed a year's sport among the unvisited preserves +of Elk River. Mrs. Bangem and Bess, their daughter, had shared his +pleasures and acquired his fondness for such of them as were within +feminine reach. Any ordinary man would have been perfectly satisfied +with such company and delights; but no, when the bass began to leap and +the salmon to flash their tails, the pressure was too great. His friends +the Doctor and the Professor were written to, and summoned to his find. +They came, the secret was too good to keep, and that is the way this +chronicle of their doings happens to be written.</p> + +<p>No sooner was the invitation received than the Doctor eased his +conscience and delighted his patients by the regular professional +subterfuge of sending such of them as had money to the sea-shore, and +telling those who had not that they needed no medicine at present; the +Professor turned his classes over to an assistant on pretext of a sudden +bronchial attack, for which a dose of mountain-air was the prescribed +remedy. And so the two were whirled away on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Railroad across the renowned valley of Virginia and the eastern valley +steps of the Alleghany summits, past the gigantic basins where boil and +bubble springs curative of all human ills, down the wild boulder-tossed +waters <span class="pagenum">[Pg 168]</span>and magnificent cañons of New River, around +mountain-bases, through tunnels, and out into the broad, beautiful +fertility of the Kanawha Valley, until the spires of Charleston revealed +the last stage of their railroad journey. When their train stopped, +stalwart porters relieved them of their baggage and deafened them with +self-introductions in stentorian tones: "Yere's your Hale House porter!" +"I's de man fer St. Albert's!"</p> + +<p>"It's no wonder," said the Doctor, as he followed the sable guide from +the station to the river ferry, and looked across the Kanawha's busy +flow, covered with coal-barges, steamboats, and lumber-crafts, to +Charleston's long stretch of high-bank river front, "that Western rivers +get mad and rise against the deliberate insult of all the towns and +cities turning their backs to them. There is a mile of open front, +showing the cheerful faces of fine residences through handsome +shade-trees and over well-kept lawns; but here, where our ferry lands, +and where we see the city proper, stoops and kitchens, stove-pipes and +stairways, ash-piles and garbage-shoots, are stuck out in contempt of +the river's charms and the city's comeliness."</p> + +<p>"Stove-pipes and stairways have to be put somewhere," said the +matter-of-fact Professor. "And the best way to turn dirty things is +toward the water."</p> + +<p>The ferry-boat wheezed and coughed and sidled across the river to a +floating wharf, covered, as usual, with that portion of the population, +white and black, which has no interest in the arrival of trains, or +anything else, excepting meals at the time for them, but which manages +to live somehow by looking at other people working.</p> + +<p>"Give me," said the Professor, "the value of the time which men spend in +gazing at what does not concern them, and, according to my estimate, I +could build a submarine railroad from New York to Liverpool in two years +and three months. What are those fellows doing with their huge barrels +on wheels backed into the river?"</p> + +<p>"Dat is de Charleston water-works, boss," answered the grinning porter. +"Widout dem mules an' niggahs an' bar'ls dah wouldn't be 'nough water in +dis town to wet a chaw tobacky."</p> + +<p>A winding macadamized road leads up the river bank to the main street +running parallel with it. There is a short cut by a rickety stairway, +but, as some steep climbing has to be done before reaching the lower +step, it is seldom used. These formerly led directly to the Hale House, +a fine brick building, which faced the river, with a commodious portico, +and offered the further attractions of a pleasant interior and an +excellent table; but now a blackened space marked its site, as though a +huge tooth had been drawn from the city's edge, for one morning a +neighboring boiler blew up, carrying the Hale House and much valuable +property with it, but leaving the owners of the boiler.</p> + +<p>"Dat's where de Hale House was, boss, but it's done burned down. I's de +porter yit. When it's done builded ag'in I's gwine back dar. Dis time I +take you down to de St. Albert. I's used to yellin' Hale House porter so +many years dat St. Albert kind chokes me."</p> + +<p>So to the St. Albert went the Doctor and Professor, where they met with +a home-like greeting from its popular host.</p> + +<p>Wheeling was formerly the capital of West Virginia, but for good reasons +it was decided to move the seat of government from "that knot on the +Panhandle" to Charleston. A commodious building of brick and sandstone, +unchristened as to style of architecture, has been erected for the home +of the law-makers; and henceforth the city which started around the +little log fort built in 1786 by George Glendermon to afford protection +against Indians will be the seat of government for the great unfenced +State of West Virginia. Its business enterprise and thrift, its +excellent geographical and commercial position, its healthiness +notwithstanding its bad drainage, or rather no drainage, have induced a +growth almost phenomenal. Churches, factories, and commodious +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 169]</span>storehouses have spread the town rapidly over the beautiful +valley in which it lies. The United States government has been lavish in +its expenditure upon a handsome building for court, custom, and +post-office purposes; and to it flock, especially when court is in +session, as motley an assortment of our race as ever assembled at legal +mandate. Moonshiners, and those who regard whiskey-making, selling, and +drinking as things that ought to be as free as the air of the mountain +and licenses as unheard-of impositions of a highly oppressive +government, that would "tax a feller for usin' up his own growin' uv +corn," and courts as "havin' a powerful sight uv curiosity, peekin' into +other fellers' business," afford ample opportunities for the exercise of +judicial authority.</p> + +<p>A long mountaineer was before a dignified judge of the United States +Court for selling liquor without a license. He had bought a gallon at a +still,—as to the locality of which he professed profound +ignorance,—carried it thirty miles, and peddled it out to his +long-suffering and thirsty neighbors. Every native being a natural +informer, the story was soon told: arrest followed, a march of fifty +miles over the mountains, and a lengthy imprisonment before trial. +Following the advice of his assigned counsel, he pleaded guilty. Being +too poor to pay a fine, and having an unlimited family dependent upon +their own exertions,—which comprises the sum of parental responsibility +among the natives,—the judge released him on his own bail-bond, and +told him to go home. He deliberately put on his hat, walked up to his +honor, and said, "I say, jedge, I reckon you fellers 'ill give me 'nough +money to ride hum an' pay fer my grub, 'cause 'tain't fair, noway. You +fetched me clar down yere, footin' it the hull way, an' now you're +lettin' me off an' tellin' me to foot it back. 'Tain't fair, noway. +You-uns oughter pay me fer it." And he went off highly indignant at +having his modest request refused.</p> + +<p>There is much of the primitive not outgrown as yet by Charleston: it has +put on a long-tailed coat over its round-about. The gossipy telephone +is ahead of the street-cars; gas-works supply private consumers, while +the citizens wade the unlighted streets by the glimmer of their own +lanterns; innumerable cows contest the right of pedestrians to the board +footways and what of pavement separates the mud-holes; an +ice-manufactory supplies coolness to water peddled about in barrels; the +officials outnumber the capacity of the jail; the ferry-facilities vary +from an unstable leaky bateau to a dirty, open-decked dynamite +steamboat, whose night-service is subject to the lung-capacity of the +traveller hallooing for it, and the fares to necessities and +circumstances; the fine brick improvements are flanked by frame +tinder-boxes; the offal of the city has not a single relieving sewer: +yet it is a beautiful, healthy place, and the chief city of the greatest +mineral-district in the world.</p> + +<p>Our travellers breakfasted on delicious mountain mutton and vegetables +fresh from surrounding farms. Their host secured three men and a canoe +to carry them up Elk River to Colonel Bangem's camp, at the cost of one +dollar a day and "grub," or one dollar and a quarter a day if they found +themselves, with the moderate charge of fifty cents a day for the canoe.</p> + +<p>When the time arrived for starting, the Professor was missing. Bells +were rung, servants were despatched to search the hotel for him, but he +was not to be found. The Doctor grew impatient, but restrained himself +until an uncoated countryman, who had just walked into town and was +ready for a talk, told him that he "seed a feller, thet wuz a stranger +in these parts, with a three-legged picter-gallery, chasin' a water-cart +a right smart ways back in the town, ez I come in."</p> + +<p>"That's he," said the Doctor. "He is crazy after pictures. I'll give you +a dollar if you bring him to the hotel alive."</p> + +<p>"Is he wicked?" asked the man.</p> + +<p>"Generally," answered the Doctor, whose eyes began to twinkle; "but you +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 170]</span>get hold of his picture-gallery and run for the hotel: he will +follow you. I often have to manage him that way."</p> + +<p>"I'm minded to try coaxin' him in thet a-way fer a dollar. You jist take +keer uv my shoes, an' I'll hev him yer ez quick ez Tim Price kin foot +it, if he follers well an' hain't contrairy-like, holdin' back."</p> + +<p>Tim Price relieved his feet of their encumbrances, and started. When his +tall, gaunt figure had disappeared around the corner, the Doctor grew +red in the face from an internal convulsion, and then exploded past all +concealment of his joke.</p> + +<p>"If you gentlemen," he said to the by-standers, "want to see some fun, +just follow that man. I will stay here as judge whether the man brings +in the Professor or the Professor brings in the man."</p> + +<p>A good joke would stop a funeral in Charleston. The hotel was cleared of +men in an instant to follow Tim and enjoy the hunt. Tim sighted the +Professor about a quarter of a mile back in the town, A darky driving a +water-cart was standing up on the shafts, thrashing his mule with the +ends of his driving-lines, and urging it, by voice and gesture, to the +highest mule-speed: "Git up! git up! you lazy old no-go! Git up! Don't +you see dat picter-feller tryin' to took you an' me an' de bar'l? Git +up! Wag yer ears an' switch yer tail. You're not gwine ter stan' still +an' keep yer eyes on de instrement fer no gallery-man to took, 'less +you's fix' up fer Sunday. Git up, you ole long-eared corn-eater!"</p> + +<p>The Professor was keeping well up with the flying water-works. His hat +was stuck on the back of his head, he carried his camera with its tripod +spread ready for sudden action, and every step of his run was guided by +thoughts of proper distance, fixed focus, and determination to have the +water-works in his collection of instantaneous photographs. A turn in +the street gave the Professor his opportunity: he darted ahead, set his +camera, and took the whole show as it went galloping by, when he +reclined against a fence while making the street ring with his laugh.</p> + +<p>Tim Price, who was watching his chance, saw that it had come. He grabbed +the camera, gave a yell of triumph, and faced for the home-run. He had +not an instant to lose. The Professor sprang for his precious +instrument. Tim's long legs carried him across the street, over a fence +into a cross-cut lot, and away for the hotel at a mountaineer's speed. +The Professor was small, but active as a cat. Where Tim jumped fences, +the Professor squirmed through them; where Tim took one long stride, the +Professor scored three short ones. Tim lost his hat, and the Professor +threw off his coat as he ran. The main street was reached without +perceptible decrease of distance between them; but there the pavements +were something Tim's bare feet were not used to catching on, and the +people something he was not used to dodging: he upset several, but +dashed on, with his pursuer gaining on his heels. Men, women, dogs, and +darkies turned out to witness the race or follow it. "Stop thief!" "Go +it, Tim!" "You're catching him, stranger!" "Foot it, little one!" were +cries that speeded the running. The Doctor stood waiting at the hotel +door, laughing, shaking, and red as a veritable Bacchus. Tim Price +banged the camera into him, whirled round suddenly, caught the Professor +as he dashed at him, and held him in his powerful arms, squirming like +an eel.</p> + +<p>"Yere's your crazy man, stranger," said Tim, in slow, drawling tone. "I +tell you he kin jest p'intedly foot it. Thar hain't been such a run in +Kanoy County sence they stopped 'lectin' country fellers fer sheriff. I +reckon I've arned thet dollar. What shall I do with the leetle feller?"</p> + +<p>The Professor was powerless, but lay in Tim's arms biting, kicking, and +curled up like a yellow-jacket interested with an enemy.</p> + +<p>"Let him go," said the laughing Doctor. "He will stay with me now. He is +not dangerous when I am about. Set him on his feet."</p> + +<p>No sooner was the Professor deposited <span class="pagenum">[Pg 171]</span>on the pavement than he +dealt Tim a stinging blow which staggered him, and stood ready with +trained muscles set for defence.</p> + +<p>"Look yere, leetle un," said Tim, coolly and with great self-restraint, +"'tain't fer the likes uv me to hit you, bein's you're a bit out in your +top, but I'll gin you another hug ef you do that ag'in; I will, +p'intedly."</p> + +<p>In the good humor of the crowd, the mirth of the Doctor, and the +latter's possession of the camera the Professor scented a joke, and at +once saw his friend's hand in it. He joined in the laugh at his expense, +and lengthened his friend's face by saying, "The Doctor having had his +fun, he will now pay the bill at the bar for all of you: he pays all my +expenses: so walk in, gentlemen."</p> + +<p>The laws of hospitality west of the Alleghanies do not permit any one to +decline an invitation, so the Doctor settled for the whole procession +and paid Tim Price his well-earned dollar.</p> + +<p>"Captain," said Tim to the hotel-proprietor, who had joined the crowd, +"ef two fellers comes here from the East, one uv 'em ez round ez a +punkin an' red ez a flannel shirt an' bald ez a land-tortle, an' t'other +ez brown ez a mud-catty an' poor ez a razor-back hog, tell 'em I'm yere +to pilot 'em up Elk to Colonel Bangem's caliker tents. He said they were +ez green ez frogs, an' didn't know nothin' noway, an' fer me to take +keer uv 'em. He don't reckon they'll come tell to-morrow. One uv 'em's a +hoss-doctor, an' t'other's a perfessor uv religion, Colonel Bangem +telled me. I dunno whether the feller's a circuit-rider er a rale +preacher."</p> + +<p>"That's the highly-illuminated pumpkin, my good man," said the +Professor, pointing to the Doctor, "and I am Colonel Bangem's spiritual +adviser. We got here a day sooner than we expected to."</p> + +<p>"You don't say? May I never! An' the colonel never telled me nothin' +nohow 'bout any one uv you bein' crazy. Howdee? How do you like these +parts? Right smart town we've got yere, hain't it? I'll take keer uv +you. There hain't no man on Elk River kin take keer uv you better nor +Tim Price, ary time. I hain't much up to moon men, though. Thar's one +feller up my way thet gits kinder skeery at the full uv the moon; but I +hain't never tended him. I reckon I kin l'arn the job,—ez the ole boy +said when his marm set him to mindin' fleas off the cat."</p> + +<p>Tim Price was the hunter, boatman, fisherman, yarn-spinner, and +character of his region, and Colonel Bangem's faithful ally in all his +sports: the latter had therefore sent him to meet his friends on their +arrival at Charleston, and he at once proceeded to take command of the +whole party as a matter of course.</p> + +<p>"I footed it over the mountains, and sent my boat the river way. Hit +oughter be yere now: so we'll pack you men's tricks to the boats an' +p'int 'em up-stream. It 'ill be sundown afore we git thar."</p> + +<p>The party started from the hotel, the procession followed to see them +off, and they were soon down the Kanawha and into the mouth of Elk at +the point of the town. Log rafts, huge barges, miles of railroad-ties, +laid-up steamers, peddling-boats, with their highly-colored storehouses, +fishermen's scows, floating homely cabins alive with bare-legged +children and idlers of the water-side, push-boats loaded to the edge of +the narrow gunwales with merchandise for delivery to stores and dwellers +far up the river, boats loaded with hoop-poles, grist, chickens, and the +"home-plunder" of some mover to civilization, coming down the river from +the mountain-clearing, and samples of every conceivable kind of the +river's outpour, were tied to the banks or lazily floating on the +currentless back-water from the Kanawha.</p> + +<p>An old steamboat-captain once said of Elk that "it was the all-firedest +river God ever made,—fer it rises at both ends and runs both ways to +wunst." This is true, and is caused by the Kanawha, when rising, pouring +its water into the mouth of Elk and reversing its current for many +miles, while at the same <span class="pagenum">[Pg 172]</span>time rain falls in the mountains, +increasing the latter river's depth and velocity. Flour-mills, +iron-foundries, saw-mills, woollen-mills, and barrel-factories extend +their long wooden slides down to the river's edge, to gather material +for their consumption. A railroad spans it with an iron trussed bridge, +and the demands of wagon and foot-travel are met by an airy one +suspended by cables from tower-like abutments on either side, both +bridges swung high in the air, out of reach of flood and of the +smoke-stacks of passing steam-craft.</p> + +<p>A mile from the river's mouth, and just beyond the limits of Charleston, +is one of the finest sandstone-quarries in the world. The United States +government monopolizes most of its product in the construction of the +magnificent lock and shifting dams in course of erection on the Kanawha +to facilitate the transportation of coal from the immense deposits now +being mined to the great markets of the Ohio River. A little farther on, +the brown front of a timber dam and cribbed lock looks down upon a wild +swirl and rush of water; for through a cut gap in its centre Elk flows +unobstructed,—a penniless mob having made the opening one night that +their canoes might pass free and capitalists be encouraged to remove +such worthless stuff as money from the growing industries of the river. +Prior to this act of vandalism the water was backed by the dam for a +distance of fourteen miles, to Jarrett's Ford, making a halting-place +for rafts and logs, barges and floats, coming down from the vast forests +above when rains and snow-thaws raised the river and its tributaries; +but now a long stretch of boom catches what it can of Elk's commerce and +is a chartered parasite upon it.</p> + +<p>Here at the old dam the mountains close in tightly upon the narrow +valley. Log cabins and a few simple frame houses nestle upon diminutive +farms; the wild beauty of shoal and eddy, bouldered channel and +lake-like stretches of pool, rocky walls and timber-clad peaks, begins +to charm the stranger and draw him on and on through scenery as +attractive as grand toss of mountains and delve of river can make it.</p> + +<p>By dint of poling, pushing, rowing, and pulling, the boats were worked +over rapids and pools for almost a score of miles, to where the last +rays of the sun slid over a mountain-point and hit Colonel Bangem's hat +as it spun in the air by way of welcome, while the prows clove the water +of a lovely eddy lying in front of his camp. The meeting was that of old +friends, with the addition of a blush from Bess Bangem and its bright +reflection from the Professor's face.</p> + +<p>Tim Price took the colonel to one side mysteriously, and whispered, "I +took keer uv the Perfessor my own self: he guv me a power uv trouble, +though. Shell I hitch him now, er let him run loose?"</p> + +<p>"We'll turn him loose now, Tim; but if he takes to turning somersets, +catch him, loosen his collar, take off his boots, and throw him into the +river," was the colonel's sober reply.</p> + +<p>Scientists nowadays set up Energy as the ancestor of everything, measure +the value of its descendants by the quantity they possess of the family +trait, and spend their time in showing how to utilize it for the good of +mankind in general. Professor Yarren was an apostle of Energy: it +absorbed him, filled him. From the weight of the sun to boiled potatoes, +from the spring of a tiger to the jump of a flea, from the might of +chemical disembodiment to opening an oyster, he calculated, advised, and +dilated upon it. He himself, was the epitome of Energy: in his size he +economized space, in his diet he ate for power, not quantity. To him +eating and sleeping were Energy's warehousemen; idleness was dry-rot, +moth, and mildew; laughing, talking, whistling, singing, somersets, and +fishing, never-to-be-neglected and in-constant-use safety-valves. He +regarded himself as an assimilator of everything that went into him, be +it food, sight, sound, or scent, and his perfection as such in exact +ratio to the product he derived from them. So when next morning he said +"Come <span class="pagenum">[Pg 173]</span>on" to the Doctor, and Colonel Bangem, Mrs. Colonel +Bangem, Bess Bangem, and Martha, the mountain-maid, who were all +standing in front of the camp rigged for a day's fishing, he meant that +one of Energy's safety-valves was ready to blow off, and that further +delay might be dangerous to him.</p> + +<p>In the Doctor, Energy was stored in bond as it were, subject to duties, +and only to be issued on certificate that it was wanted for use and +everything ready for it: therefore at the Professor's "Come on" he +calmly sat down on a log, filled his pipe, leisurely lighted it, and +good-humoredly remarked, "I am confident that one-half of what we call +life is spent in undoing what we have done, in lamenting the lack of +what we have forgotten, or going back after it: therefore I make it a +rule when everything seems ready for a start—especially when going +fishing—to sit five minutes in calm communion with my pipe, thinking +matters over. It insures against much discomfort from treacherous +memories and neglect."</p> + +<p>As the Doctor whiffed at his pipe, he inventoried guns, tackle, lunch, +hammocks, air-cushions, gigs, frog-spears, and all other necessaries for +a day's sport on the river. The result was as he had prophesied,—many +things had been omitted. "Now," said he, when the five minutes were up, +"we might venture down the bank, which, rest assured, each member of +this party will have to climb up again after something left behind."</p> + +<p>A motley little fleet awaited the party at the water's +edge,—square-ended, flat-bottomed punts, sharp-bowed bateaux, long, +graceful, dug-out canoes, and a commodious push-boat, with cabin and +awning, whose motive power was poles. Elk River craft are as abundant as +the log cabins on its banks, and their pilots are as numerous as the +inhabitants. Neither sex nor size is a disqualification, for, excepting +the trifling matter of being web-toed, all are provided from birth with +water-going properties, and, be it seed-time or harvest, the river has +the first claim upon them for all its varied sports and occupations. A +shot at mallard, black-head, butter-duck, loon, wild goose, or +blue-winged teal, as they follow the river's winds northward in the +spring-time, will stop the ploughs furrowing its fertile bottoms as far +as its echoes roll around mountain-juts, and cause the hands that held +the lines to grasp old-fashioned rifles for a chance at the winged +passers. When, later, woodcock seek its margins, gray snipe, kill-deer, +mud-hens, and plovers its narrow fens, the scythe will rest in the +half-mown field while its wielder "takes a crack at 'em." And when +autumn brings thousands of gray squirrels, flocks of wild pigeon and +water-fowl, to feed on its mast, no household obligation or out-door +profit will keep the natives from shooting, morning, noon, and night.</p> + +<p>Some day in the near future a railroad will be built "up Elk," and then, +while commerce and civilization will get a lift, the loveliest of rivers +will be scarred; her trout-streams, carp-runs, bass-pools, +salmon-swirls, deer-licks, bear-dens, partridge-nestles, and +pheasant-covers will be overrun by sports-men, her magnificent mountains +will be scratched bald-headed by lumbermen, her laughing tributaries +will be saddened with saw-dust, and her queer, quaint, original +boat-pullers and "seng-diggers" will wear shoes in summer-time and coats +in winter, weather-board their log cabins, put glass in the windows and +partitions across the one room inside. Woods-meetings will creep into +churches, square sousing in the river will degenerate to the gentle +baptismal sprinkle; no picnics or barbecues will delight the inhabitants +with flying horses and fights, open fireplaces and sparking-benches will +give way to stoves and chairs, riding double on horseback, with fair +arms not afraid to hold tight against all dangers real or fancied, will +be a joy of the past, "bean-stringin's," "apple-parin's," +"punkin-clippin's," "sass-bilin's," "sugar-camps," "cabin-raisin's," +"log-rollin's," "bluin's," "tar-and-feathering," and "hangin's," will be +out-civilized, and the whole country will be spoiled.</p> + +<p>"It looks like a good biting morning <span class="pagenum">[Pg 174]</span>for bass," said Colonel +Bangem, while he was distributing the party properly among the boats. +"But, in spite of all signs, bass bite when they please. It is a sunny +morning: so use bright spoon-trolls, medium size. If the fish rise +freely, twenty-five feet of line is enough to have out on the stern +lines; and, as the ladies will use the poles, ten feet of line is enough +for them. Don't forget, Mrs. Bangem, to keep your troll spinning just +outside the swirl of the oar, and as near the surface of the water as +possible. You know you <i>will</i> talk and forget all about it. Now we will +start. If we get separated and it grows cloudy, change your trolls for +three-inch 'fairy minnows;' and if the wind ripples the water, let out +from sixty to eighty feet of line. Take the centre of the river, and you +will haul in salmon; for bass will not rise to a troll in the eddies +when the water is rough. Salmon will. Tim, take the lead with the +Professor, that the other men may see your stroke and course. In +trolling, the oarsman has as much to do with the success as the +fisherman."</p> + +<p>Off they went, three to a boat, the fishers seated in bow and stern, the +ladies in front with their fishing-poles, and the oarsman in his proper +place, rowing a slow, steady stroke, dipping true and silently just +fifty feet from bank, or sedge, or shelf of rock, steering outside of +snags and drift and where overhanging trees buried their shadows in the +water.</p> + +<p>The boats had hardly reached their positions—two on each side of the +stream—when a shout from the Professor announced a catch, as hand over +hand he cautiously drew in the swerving line or held it taut, as the +diving fish sought the rocky bottom or the friendly refuge of a log +drift. With unvarying stroke Tim kept his boat in deep water, away from +entangling dangers. There was a flash in the air and a jingle of the +troll, as a fine bass shot out of the water to shake the barbs from his +open mouth; but the hooks held firm, and the taut line foiled the effort +to dislodge them. Down came the fish with a splash, to dart for the +boat at lightning speed and leap again for life; but this time no jingle +of troll announced his game. He leaped ahead to fall upon the line and +thus tear the hooks from their hold. Successful fishing depends upon two +things,—the presence of fish and knowing more than fish do. At the +instant of the fish's leap the Professor slackened his line: down came +the bass on a limber loop, defeated in his strategy and wearied by his +effort, to be hauled quickly to the boat's side and landed, wriggling +and tossing, at Tim Price's feet.</p> + +<p>"You've cotched bass afore, Perfesser. You ez up to their ways ez a +mus'rat to a mussel, er a kingfisher to a minner," exclaimed Tim +admiringly, as he loosened the troll from a two-pound bass. "Hit's +p'intedly a pity you're out uv your head 'bout picters."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I have one! I have one!—a fish! What kind is it?" screamed Bess +Bangem, who was the Professor's companion, as her light trout-pole bent +from a sudden tug, and the reel whirred as the line ran off.</p> + +<p>"Stop him, hold on to him, wind him in, and I will tell you," answered +the Professor, laughing.</p> + +<p>Bess was a practised hand, and loved the sport; but, woman-like, she +always paused to wonder what she had caught before proceeding to find +out.</p> + +<p>"It will be the subject of a lecture for you, whatever it is," replied +Bess, with a saucy shake of her head, as she wound in the line and +guided the playing fish with well-managed pole. Her fine face flushed +with the excitement of the run and leap of her prey, as it came nearer +and nearer, until Tim slipped the landing-net quietly under it and +landed a beauty in the boat.</p> + +<p>"Poor fellow! I wonder if I hurt him?" said Bess.</p> + +<p>"Not much, if any," remarked the Professor. "I never was a fish, and +consequently never was foolish enough to jump at a bunch of hooks; but, +as the cartilage of a fish's mouth is almost nerveless, there is but +little pain from a hook diet. Bass, salmon, pike, and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 175]</span>other +gamey fish will often keep on biting after they have been badly hooked."</p> + +<p>"So will men," said Bess, as she threw her troll into the water to do +fresh duty.</p> + +<p>"You're p'intedly keerect," said Tim Price. "I got the sack four times, +an' hed right smart mittens, afore I cotched a stayin' holt on my old +woman."</p> + +<p>Shout after shout waked the mountain-echoes, as fish were held up in +triumph, and as the boats glided over the smooth water of the eddy. +Ahead was a mass of foam and a long dash of water down a shoal.</p> + +<p>"Yere's where me and the colonel catches 'em lively when I pull him," +said Martha to the Doctor. "They bite yere ez lively ez a stray pig in a +tater-patch. Whoop! I've got him! He pulls like a mule at a +hitchin'-rope. Keep your boat head to the current, Alec, an' pull hard, +er we'll drift down on him an' I'll lose him. Whoop! May I never! A +five-pounder! I'll slit him down the back an' brile him fer breakfast. +Whoop! In you come!"</p> + +<p>The boatmen pulled hard against the fierce current at the foot of the +shoal, crossed and recrossed, circled, and at it again, until a score or +more of noble bass were hooked from the swirl, and Colonel Bangem led +the way up the rapids. Then the oarsmen leaped into the water and towed +the boats through the wild current, until the eddy at the top of it +allowed them to take oars again.</p> + +<p>"Preacher, kin you paddle?" asked Tim Price of the Professor, as he +drained the water from his legs before getting into the boat. "Ef you +air a hand at it, take an oar an' paddle a bit astern: there'll be white +peerch an' red-hoss lyin' yere at the head uv the shore."</p> + +<p>The Professor took an oar and paddled, while Tim Price poised himself in +the boat, spear in hand and the long rope from its slender shaft coiled +at his feet. He peered intently into the water as the boat moved slowly +along. Presently every muscle of him was set: he bent backward for a +cast, pointed his spear with steady hands to a spot in the river, and +quick as a flash it pierced the water until its ten-foot shaft was seen +no more. As quickly was it recovered by Tim's active hands catching the +flying line to haul it in; and on its prongs squirmed a monstrous fish +of the sucker tribe,—a red-horse,—pinned through and through by his +unerring aim.</p> + +<p>Shoal and eddy, swirl and silent pool, yielded good sport and harvest, +as haunts of bass and salmon were entered and passed, until the inviting +mouth of Little Sandy Creek suggested rest for the boatmen and a stroll +for the fishers. A neat hotel, clean and well kept for so wild a region, +harbors lumbermen, rivermen, and those who love the rod and gun. There +are many such attractive centres along the banks of Elk, with charming +camping-grounds, where neighboring hospitality abounds, and chickens, +eggs, milk, corn, and bacon are abundant and cheap, and the finest +bass-and other fishing possible, from Queen's Shoal—four miles away—to +the old dam above Charleston. Above Queen's Shoal the region increases +in wildness and attractiveness for traveller or sportsman. Trout in +plenty find homes in the mountain-tributaries of Upper Elk; deer abound, +and all manner of smaller game. Where nature does her best work, man is +apt to do but little. Nature farms the Elk country.</p> + +<p>Bright moonlight, the early morning after the sun is up, and from a +couple of hours after mid-day until the mountain-shadows strike the +water in the evening, are the best times to troll for bass. If so +minded, they will rise to a fly at such times in the rapids; but no +allurement excepting the troll will bring them to the surface in still +water. When the river is rising, or the water is clouded with mud or +drift, bass scorn all surface-diet; but the live minnow or crawfish, +hellgramite or fish-worm, will capture them on trout-line or hook +attached to the soul-absorbing bob. A clothes-line wire cable, furnished +with well-assorted hooks baited with cotton, dough, and cheese well +mixed together, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 176]</span>and stretched in eddy-water when the river is +muddy, will give fine reward in carp, white perch, catfish, turtles, +garfish, and sweet revenge on the bait-stealing guana.</p> + +<p>After nooning, lunch, and a quiet loaf, the party sped homeward with the +current, handling rods and trolls as salmon and bass demanded lively +attention. Shooting a rapid, and out into a deep pool at its foot, the +Doctor's boat struck a snag, and he, having a resisting power equal to +that of a billiard-ball, put his heels where his head had been, and +disappeared under the water, to pop up again instantly, sputtering and +spitting, like a jug full of yeast with a corn-cob stopper.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hickey! Whoop!" exclaimed Martha, as she went off in wild screams +of laughter. "Kin you swim?" she asked, with the coolness of the +mountain-maiden she was.</p> + +<p>"No, no," sputtered the Doctor.</p> + +<p>"I reckon you'll tow good. Jest gimme your han', an' keep your feet +down, an' me an' Alec 'ill tow you ashore to dreen. Hit's like you're +purty wet."</p> + +<p>He was soon landed by the stalwart Martha and Alec, and, while he +attitudinized for draining, the Professor amused himself with taking an +instantaneous photograph.</p> + +<p>"By gum! he mought hev drownded," said Tim Price to the Professor. "The +Doctor hain't a good shape fer towin', but he floats higher than any +craft of his length I ever seed on Elk River."</p> + +<p>Just as the golden light of evening cast its sheen upon the river the +camp-tents came in sight, where a group of natives stood waiting the +arrival of the fishers to "hear what luck they'd hed."</p> + +<p>Colonel Bangem and Bess carried off equal honors in greatest +count,—sixty-two bass and five salmon each. Martha, with her +five-pounder, was weight champion. Mrs. Bangem had the only blue pike. +The Professor claimed that, besides his twoscore fish, he had +illustrations enough for a comic annual; and the Doctor asserted that he +knew more about bass than any of them, for he had been down where they +lived, and was of the opinion that he had swallowed a couple.</p> + +<p>Bess Bangem said to the Professor, as they went up the bank together, "I +had a great mind to count you in with my fish, to beat father; but I +caught you long ago, so it would not have been fair."</p> + +<p class="author">TOBE HODGE.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="ON_A_NOBLE_CHARACTER_MARRED_BY_LITTLENESS" />ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS.</h3> + + + +<div class="poem_1"><div class="stanza"><p>As Moscow's splendors trench on narrow lanes,</p> +<p class="i2">The wonder, brimming every traveller's eyes,</p> +<p>To disappointment's sudden darkness wanes</p> +<p class="i2">At finding meanness near such grandeur lies.</p></div> + + + +<div class="stanza"><p>O human city! built on Moscow's plan,</p> +<p class="i2">Thy great and little touch each other so,</p> +<p>Let me forbear, and, as an erring man,</p> +<p class="i2">Make my approaches wisely, from below,</p></div> + + + +<div class="stanza"><p>Hasting through all the narrow and the base</p> +<p class="i2">Before I stand where all is high and vast:</p> +<p>After the dark, let glory light my face,</p> +<p class="i2">Thy shining greatness break upon me <i>last</i>.</p></div></div> + + +<p class="author">CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES.</p> + + + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 177]</span> + + + + +<h2><a name="THE_SCOTTISH_CROFTERS" id="THE_SCOTTISH_CROFTERS" />THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS.</h2> + + +<p>It is hard to dispel the halo which poetry and romance have thrown about +the Scottish Highlander and see him simply as he appears in every-day +life. And indeed, all fiction aside, there is in his history and +character much that is most admirable and noble. On many a terrible +battle-field his courage has been unsurpassed. His brave and tireless +struggle for existence where both climate and soil are unfriendly is +equally worthy of respect. Then, too, his sterling honesty and +independence in speech and action and his high moral and religious +qualities combine to make him a valuable citizen.</p> + +<p>Such considerations account in part for the interest which has been +excited in England by the claims of the Scottish crofters. There are, +however, other reasons why so much attention has of late been given to +their complaints. Their poverty and hardships have long been known in +England. The reports made by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by +Sir John McNeil a few years later contain accounts of miserably small +and unproductive holdings, of wretched hovels for dwellings, of lack of +enterprise and interest in making improvements, of curtailment of +pasture, of high rents and insecurity of tenure, very similar to those +found on the pages of the report of the late Royal Commission. While in +this interval the condition of the crofters has but slightly, if at all, +improved, there has been a very considerable improvement in the +condition of the middle and lower classes of the people in other parts +of Scotland and in England. The masses of the people have better houses, +better food and clothing, while with the development of the school +system and the newspaper press general intelligence has greatly +increased. The accounts of the poverty and wretchedness of the crofters +now reach the public much more quickly and make a much deeper impression +on all classes than they did forty years ago. While these small farmers +are not numerous,—there are probably not more than four thousand +families in need of relief,—many of their kinsmen elsewhere have +acquired wealth and influence and have been able to plead their cause +with good effect. In this country "The Scottish Land League" has issued +in "The Cry of the Crofter" an eloquent plea for help to carry on the +agitation to a successful issue.</p> + +<p>Another reason for the increased attention that has lately been given to +these claims is found in the rapidly-growing tendency to concede to the +landlord fewer and fewer and to the tenant more and more rights in the +land. The recent extension of the suffrage, giving votes to nearly two +millions of agricultural and other laborers, leads politicians to go as +far as possible in favoring new legislation in the interest of tenants +and laborers. The crofters' case has therefore come to be of special +interest as a part of the general land question which has of late +received so much attention from the English press and Parliament, and +which is pretty certain to be prominent for several years to come.</p> + +<p>Those who are familiar only with the relations existing between +landlord and tenant in this country are naturally surprised to find the +crofter demanding that his landlord shall (1) give him the use of more +land, (2) reduce his rent, (3) pay him on leaving his holding for all +his improvements, and (4) not accept in his stead another tenant, even +though the latter may be anxious to take the holding at a higher figure +or turn him out for any other reason. In addition to all this, the +crofters demand that the government shall advance them money to enable +them to build suitable houses and improve and stock their farms. An +American tenant who should make such demands would be considered insane. +No <span class="pagenum">[Pg 178]</span>such view of the crofters' +claims, however, is taken in England and Scotland.</p> + +<p>What, then, are the grounds upon which these extensive claims are +based? +Why should the crofter claim a right to have his holding enlarged and to +have the land at a lower rent than some one else may be willing to pay? +The reasons are to be found partly in his history, traditions, and +circumstances, and partly in the present tendency of the legislation and +discussions relating to the ownership and occupation of land.</p> + +<p>Under the old clan system, to which the crofter is accustomed to trace +his claims, the land was owned by the chief and clansmen in common, and +allotments and reallotments were made from time to time to individual +clansmen, each of whom had a right to some portion of the land, while +the commons were very extensive. Rent or service was paid to the chief, +who had more or less control over the clan lands and often possessed an +estate in severalty, with many personal dependants. In many cases the +power of the chief was great and tyrannical, and many of the clansmen +were in a somewhat servile condition; but the more influential clansmen +seem sometimes to have retained permanent possession of their +allotments. Long ago sub-letting became common, and hard services were +often exacted of the sub-tenants, whose lot was frequently a most +unhappy one. The modern cottar, as well as the squatter, had his +representative in the dependant of the chief, or clansman, or in the +outlaw or vagrant member of another clan who came to build his rude +cabin wherever he could find a sheltered and unoccupied spot. No doubt +many of the sub-tenants, even where they held originally by base and +uncertain services and at the will of their superior, came in time, like +the English copyholder, to have a generally-recognized right to the +permanent possession of their holdings, while custom tended to fix the +character and quantity of their services. The population was not +numerous, and it was probably not difficult for every man to secure a +plot of land of some sort.</p> + +<p>The crofters of to-day have lost for the most part the traditions of +the drawbacks and hardships of this ancient system, with its oppressive +services, to which many of their ancestors were subject, and have +commonly retained only the tradition of the right which every clansman +had to some portion of the clan lands. In 1745 the clan organizations +were abolished and the chiefs transformed into landlords and invested +with the fee-simple of the land. But, while changes were gradually made +on some estates in the direction of conformity to the English system, +most of the old customary rights of the people continued to be +recognized. The tenant was commonly allowed to occupy his holding from +year to year without interruption. Money rent gradually took the place +of service or rent in kind, but the amount exacted does not seem to have +been often increased arbitrarily. The rights of common, which were often +of great value, were respected.</p> + +<p>The descendants and successors, however, of the old Scotch lairds did +not always display the same regard for prescriptive rights and usages. +In some cases the extravagance and bankruptcy of the old owners caused +the titles to pass to Englishmen, while in others the inheritors of the +estates were more and more inclined to insist upon their legal rights +and to introduce in the management of their property rules similar to +those in use in England. Early in the present century sheep-farming was +found to be profitable, and many large areas of glen and mountain were +cleared of the greater part of their population and converted into +sheep-farms. Many of the mountainous parts of Scotland are of little use +for agricultural purposes. Formerly the crofters used large tracts as +summer pastures for their small herds of inferior stock. By and by the +proprietors found that large droves of better breeds of sheep could be +kept on these mountain-pastures. The crofters were too poor to undertake +the management of the large sheep-farms into which it was apparently +most profitable to divide these mountain-lands, and sheep-farmers from +the south became <span class="pagenum">[Pg 179]</span>the tenants. By introducing sheep-farming on a +large scale the landlords were able, they claimed, to use hundreds of +thousands of acres which before were of comparatively little value. The +large flocks of sheep could not, however, be kept without having the +lower slopes of the mountains on which to winter. It was these slopes +that the crofters commonly used for pasture, below which, in the straths +and glens, were their holdings and dwellings. The ruins of cottages, or +patches of green here and there where cottages stood, mark the sites of +many little holdings from which the crofters and their families were +turned out many years ago in order to make room for sheep-farms. The +proprietors sometimes recognized the rights of these native tenants, and +gave them new holdings in exchange for the old ones. The new crofts were +often nearer the sea, where the land was less favorable for grazing and +where the rights of common were less valuable, but the occupants had +better opportunities for supplementing their incomes from the land by +fishing and by gathering sea-weed for kelp, from which iodine was made. +There were, however, great numbers who were not supplied with new +crofts, but turned away from their old homes and left to shift for +themselves. Some of these, too poor to go elsewhere, built rude huts +wherever they could find a convenient spot, and thus increased the ranks +of the squatters. Others were allowed to share the already too small +holdings of their more fortunate brethren, while others, again, found +their way to the lowlands and cities of the south or to America. The +traditions of the hardships and sufferings endured by some of these +evicted crofters are still kept alive in the prosperous homes of their +children and grandchildren on this side of the Atlantic. The process of +clearing off the crofters went on for many years. In 1849 Hugh Miller, +in trying to arouse public sentiment against it, declared that, "while +the law is banishing its tens for terms of seven and fourteen +years,—the penalty of deep-dyed crimes,—irresponsible and infatuated +power is banishing its thousands for no crime whatever."</p> + +<p>Lately, owing to foreign competition and the deterioration of the land +that has been used for many years as sheep-pastures, sheep-farming has +become much less profitable than formerly, and many large tenants have +in consequence given up their farms. The enthusiasm for deer-hunting +has, however, increased with the increase of wealth and leisure among +Englishmen, and immense tracts, amounting altogether to nearly two +millions of acres, have been turned into deer-forests, yielding, as a +rule, a slightly higher rent than was paid by the crofters and +sheep-farmers. Much of this land is either unfit for agricultural +purposes or could not at present be cultivated with profit. Some of it, +however, is fertile, or well suited for grazing, and greatly coveted by +the crofters. The deer and other game often destroy or injure the crops +of the adjoining holdings, and thus add to the troubles of the occupants +and increase their indignation at the land's being used to raise sheep +and "vermin" instead of men. Most Americans have had intimations of this +feeling through the accounts of the hostility that has been shown to our +countryman, Mr. Winans, whose deer-forest is said to cover two hundred +square miles. While evictions are much less common than they were two or +three generations ago, there has all along been a disposition on the +part of the proprietors to enclose in their sheep-farms and deer-forests +lands that were formerly tilled or used as commons by the crofters and +cottars. In comparison with the crofter of to-day the sub-tenant of a +hundred years ago had, as a rule, more land for tillage, a far wider +range of pasture for his stock, and "greater freedom in regard to the +natural produce of the river and moor."</p> + +<p>Many of the crofters belong to families which have lived on the same +holdings for generations. It is a common experience everywhere that +long-continued use begets and fosters the feeling of ownership. This is +especially <span class="pagenum">[Pg 180]</span>true when, as in the crofter's case, there is so +much in the history and traditions of the people and the property that +tends to establish a right of possession. Besides, the crofter, or one +of his ancestors, has in most cases built the house and made other +improvements: sometimes he has reclaimed the land itself and changed a +barren waste into a garden. The labor and money which he and his +ancestors have expended in improving the place seem to him to give him +an additional right to occupy it always. It is his holding and his home, +the home of his fathers and of his family. While he may be unable to +resist the power of his landlord, and may have no legal security for his +rights and interests, he regards the curtailment of his privileges or +the increase of his rent as unjust, and eviction as a terrible outrage. +"The extermination of the Highlanders," says one of their kinsmen, "has +been carried on for many years as systematically and persistently as +that of the North-American Indians.... Who can withhold sympathy as +whole families have turned to take a last look at the heavens red with +their burning homes? The poor people shed no tears, for there was in +their hearts that which stifled such signs of emotion: they were +absorbed in despair. They were forced away from that which was dear to +their hearts, and their patriotism was treated with contemptuous +mockery.... There are various ways in which the crime of murder is +perpetrated. There are killings which are effected by the unjust and +cruel denying of lands to our fellow-creatures to enable them to obtain +food and raiment."</p> + +<p>The feeling of the crofters in regard to increase of rent and eviction +is very similar to that of the Irish tenantry. Very recently Mr. Parnell +uttered sentiments which both would accept as their own. "I trust," he +said, "that when any individual feels disposed to violate the divine +commandment by taking, under such circumstances, that which does not +belong to him, he will feel within him the promptings of patriotism and +religion, and that he will turn away from the temptation. Let him +remember that he is doing a great injustice to his country and his +class,—that though he may perhaps benefit materially for a while, yet +that ill-gotten gains will not prosper." Where crofters have been +evicted, or have had their privileges curtailed or their rent raised, +they and their descendants do not soon forget the grievance. Claims have +recently been made for lands which the crofters have not occupied for +two or three generations.</p> + +<p>The Scotch landlords are not, as a rule, cruel or unjust. On the +contrary, some of them are exceedingly kind and generous to their +tenants, and have spent large sums of money in making improvements which +add greatly to the prosperity and comfort of those who live on their +estates. Many of them recognize the right of their tenants to occupy +their holdings without interruption so long as the rent is paid +regularly. The natural tendency, however, to insist upon their legal +rights and to make the most they can out of their estates has led to not +a few cases of hardship and injustice. A few such instances in a +community are talked over for years, and often seriously interfere with +the contentment and industry of many families. The traditions and +recollections of the many evictions which have occurred during this +century have often caused the motives of the best landlords to be +suspected and their most benevolent acts to be misunderstood by their +tenants. The crofter system has been an extremely bad one in many +respects. There cannot be much interest in making improvements where the +tenant must build the houses, fences, stables, etc., but has no +guarantee that he will not be turned out of his holding or have his rent +so increased as practically to compel him to leave the place. The +kindness and humanity of the landlords have in many instances mitigated +the worst evils of the system; but, while human nature remains as it is, +no matter how just and generous individual landlords may be, general +prosperity and contentment are impossible <span class="pagenum">[Pg 181]</span>under the present +arrangements. The discontent and discouragement caused by the action of +the less kind and considerate landlords and agents frequently extend to +crofters who have no just grounds of complaint, and troubles and +hardships resulting from idleness or improvidence or other causes are +often attributed to the injustice of the laws or the cruelty of the +landlords.</p> + +<p>The poverty of the crofter often renders his condition deplorable. His +holding and right of common have been curtailed by the landlord, or he +has sub-divided them among his sons or kinsmen, until it would be +impossible for the produce of the soil to sustain the population, even +if no rent whatever were charged. Some years ago he was able to increase +his income by gathering sea-weed for kelp; but latterly, since iodine +can be obtained more cheaply from other sources, the demand for this +product has ceased. In some places the fishing is valuable, enabling him +to supply his family with food for a part of the year, and bringing him +money besides. He is, however, often too poor to provide the necessary +boats and nets, while in many places the absence of good harbors and +landings is a most serious drawback to the fishing industry. Sometimes +he supplements his income by spending a few months of the year in the +low country and obtaining work there. In most cases, however, a large +part of his income must be derived from the land. If there were plenty +of employment to be had, the little holding would do very well as a +garden, and the stock which he could keep on the common would add +greatly to his comfort. As things now are, he must look chiefly to the +land both for his subsistence and his rent, and, with an unfruitful soil +and an unfriendly climate, he is often on the verge of want.</p> + +<p>Still more wretched is the condition of the cottars and squatters. The +latter are in some places numerous and have taken up considerable +portions of land formerly used as common, thus interfering with the +rights of the crofters. They appropriate land and possess and pasture +stock, but pay no rent, obey no control, and scarcely recognize any +authority. The dwellings of this class and of some of the poorer +crofters are wretched in the extreme. A single apartment, with walls of +stone and mud, a floor of clay, a thatched roof, no windows, no chimney, +one low door furnishing an entrance for the occupants and a means of +ventilation and of escape for the smoke which rolls up black and thick +from the peat fire, furniture of the rudest imaginable sort, the +inhabitants—the human beings, the cows, the pigs, the sheep, and the +poultry—all crowded together in the miserable and filthy hut, make up a +picture which the most romantic and poetic associations can hardly +render pleasing to one accustomed to the comforts and refinements of +modern civilization. Of course many of the crofters live in greater +comfort, and some of the cottages are by no means unattractive. But the +Royal Commissioners say that the crofter's habitation is usually "of a +character that would imply physical and moral degradation in the eyes of +those who do not know how much decency, courtesy, virtue, and even +refinement survive amidst the sordid surroundings of a Highland hovel." +An Englishman who, on seeing these "sordid surroundings," was disposed +to compare the social and moral condition of the people to "the +barbarism of Egypt," was told that if he would ask one of the crofters, +in Gaelic or English, "What is the chief end of man?" he would soon see +the difference.</p> + +<p>With such a history, such traditions, grievances, conditions, and +hardships, it is not strange that the crofter should be ready to join an +agitation that promised a remedy. Some of his grievances and claims have +been so similar to those of the Irish tenant that the legislation which +followed the violent agitation in Ireland has led him to hope for +relief-measures similar to those enacted for the Irish tenantry. The +Irish Land Act of 1870 recognized the tenant's right to the permanent +possession of his holding and to his improvements, by providing that on +being turned out by his <span class="pagenum">[Pg 182]</span>landlord he should have compensation +for disturbance and for his improvements. It did not, however, secure +him against the landlord's so increasing his rent as practically to +appropriate his improvements and even force him to leave his holding +without any compensation. The Land Act of 1881 secured his interests by +establishing a court which should fix a fair rent, by giving him a right +to compensation for disturbance and for his improvements, and by +allowing him to sell his interests for the best price he can get for +them. It also enabled him to borrow from the government, at a low rate +of interest, three-fourths of the money necessary to purchase his +landlord's interest in the holding. This legal recognition and guarantee +of the Irish tenant's interests have led the crofter to hope that his +claims, based on better grounds, may also be conceded.</p> + +<p>The changes recently made in the land laws of England and Scotland, and +the activity of the advocates of further and more radical changes, have +increased this hope. Progressive English statesmen have long looked with +disfavor upon entails and settlements, and there have been a number of +enactments providing for cutting off entails and increasing the power of +limited owners. The last and most important of these, the Settled +Estates Act, passed in 1882, gives the tenant for life power to sell any +portion of the estate except the family mansion, and thus thoroughly +undermines the principle upon which primogeniture and entails are +founded. Much land which has hitherto been so tied up that the limited +owners were either unable or unwilling to develop it can now be sold and +improved. New measures have been proposed to increase still further the +power of limited owners and to make the sale and transfer of land easier +and less expensive. Many able statesmen are advocates of these measures. +Mr. Goschen in a recent speech at Edinburgh urged the need of a +land-register by which transfers of land might be made almost as cheaply +and easily as transfers of consols. By such an arrangement, it is held, +many farmers of small capital will be enabled to buy their farms, and +the land of the country will thus be dispersed among a much larger +number of owners. There has also been a very marked tendency to enlarge +the rights and the authority of the tenant farmer. The Agricultural +Holdings Act of 1883 gives the tenant a right to compensation for +temporary and, on certain conditions, for permanent improvements, and +permits him in most cases, where he cannot have compensation, to remove +fixtures or buildings which he has erected, contrary to the old doctrine +that whatever is fixed to the soil becomes the property of the landlord. +The landlord's power to distrain for rent is greatly reduced: formerly +he could distrain for six years' rent, now he can distrain only for the +rent of one year, and he is required to give the tenant twelve instead +of six months' notice to quit. The tenant is therefore more secure than +formerly in the possession of his farm and in spending money and labor +in making improvements that will render it more productive. Other +changes are proposed, which will give him still more rights, greater +freedom in the management of the farm, and additional encouragement to +adopt the best methods of farming and invest his labor and money in +improvements. Many of the land reformers advocate the adoption of +measures similar to those that have been enacted for Ireland. It has for +some time been one of the declared purposes of the Farmers' Alliance to +secure a system of judicial rents for the tenant farmers of England. An +important conference lately held at Aberdeen and participated in by +representatives of both the English and Scottish Farmers' Alliances +adopted an outline of a land bill for England and Scotland, providing +for the establishment of a land court, fixing fair rents, fuller +compensation for improvements, and the free sale of the tenant's +interests.</p> + +<p>The wretched condition of the dwellings of the agricultural laborers in +many parts of the country has attracted much attention, and plans for +bettering <span class="pagenum">[Pg 183]</span>their condition have frequently been urged. Lately +the interest in the subject has increased, prominent statesmen on both +sides having espoused the cause. In view of the political power which +the recent extension of the suffrage has given to the agricultural +laborers, there is a general expectation that a measure will shortly be +enacted requiring the owner or occupier of the farm to give each laborer +a plot of ground "of a size that he and his family can cultivate without +impairing his efficiency as a wage-earner," at a rent fixed by +arbitration, and providing for a loan of money by the state for the +erection of a proper dwelling. The provisions of the Irish Land Act and +its amendment relating to laborers' cottages and allotments suggest the +lines along which legislation for the improvement of laborers' dwellings +in England and Scotland is likely to proceed.</p> + +<p>Then there is the scheme for nationalizing the land, the state paying +the present owners no compensation, or a very small amount, and assuming +the chief functions now exercised by the landlords. No statesman has yet +ventured to advocate this scheme, but it has called forth a great deal +of discussion on the platform and in the newspapers and reviews, and has +captivated most of those who are inclined to adopt socialistic theories +of property. Mr. George himself has preached his favorite doctrine to +the crofters, whose views of their own rights in the land have led them +to look upon the plan with more favor than the English tenants. Others, +too, who have plans to advocate for giving tenants and laborers greater +rights have taken special pains to have their views presented to the +crofters, since the claims of the latter against the landlords seem to +rest upon so much stronger grounds than those of the English tenant.</p> + +<p>The agitations for the reform of the land laws in Ireland and England, +and the utterances of the advocates of the various plans for increasing +the rights and privileges of the tenant, have led the crofters to dwell +upon their grievances until they have become thoroughly aroused. They +have in many cases refused to pay rent, have resisted eviction and +driven away officers who attempted to serve writs, have offered violence +to the persons or property of some of those who have ventured to take +the crofts of evicted tenants, and in some instances have taken forcible +possession of lands which they thought ought to be added to their +crofts. The government found it necessary a short time ago to send +gunboats with marines and extra police to some of the islands and +districts to restore the authority of the law. The crofters and their +friends are thoroughly organized, and seem likely to insist upon their +claims with the persistency that is characteristic of their race. It is +now generally conceded that some remedy must be provided for their +grievances and hardships.</p> + +<p>The remedy that has been most frequently suggested, the only one +recommended by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by Sir John +McNeil in 1852, is emigration. The crofting system, it has often been +urged, belongs to a bygone age; it survives only because of its +remoteness from the centres of civilization and the ruggedness of the +country; the implements used by the crofters are of the most primitive +sort, while their agricultural methods are "slovenly and unskilful to +the last degree." It is impossible for these small farmers, with their +crude implements and methods, to compete with the large farmers, who +have better land and use the most improved implements and methods. +Besides, many of the crofters are, and their ancestors for many +generations have been, "truly laborers, living chiefly by the wages of +labor, and holding crofts and lots for which they pay rents, not from +the produce of the land, but from wages." If they cannot find employment +within convenient distance of their present homes, the best and kindest +thing for them is to help them to go where there is a good demand for +labor and better opportunities for earning a decent livelihood. To +encourage them to stay on their little crofts, where they are frequently +on the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 184]</span>verge of want, is unkind and very bad policy. One who +has seen the wretched hovels in which some of these crofter families +live, the small patches of unproductive land on which they try to +subsist, the hardships which they sometimes suffer, and the lack of +opportunities for bettering their condition in their native Highlands or +islands, and who knows how much has been accomplished by the enterprise +and energy of Highlanders in other parts of the world, can hardly help +wishing that they might all be helped to emigrate to countries where +their industry and economy would more certainly be rewarded, and where +they would have a fairer prospect for success in the struggle for life +and advancement. Many of them would undoubtedly be far better off if +they could emigrate under favorable conditions. The descendants of many +of those who were forced to leave their homes by "cruel and heartless +Highland lairds," and who suffered terrible hardships in getting to this +country and founding new homes, have now attained such wealth and +influence as they could not possibly have acquired among their ancestral +hills. The Royal Commissioners recommended that the state should aid +those who may be willing to emigrate from certain islands and districts +where the population is apparently too great for the means of +subsistence.</p> + +<p>The crofters are, however, strongly attached to their native hills and +glens, and they claim that such laws can and ought to be enacted as will +enable them to live in comfort where they are. The present, it is urged, +is a particularly favorable time to establish prosperous small farmers +in many parts of the Highlands where sheep-farming has proved a failure. +The inhabitants of the coasts and islands are largely a seafaring +people. There is quite as much Norse as Celtic blood in the veins of +many of them, and the Norseman's love of the sea leads them naturally to +fishing or navigation. The herring-fisheries, with liberal encouragement +on the part of the government, might be made far more profitable to the +fishermen and to the nation. Besides, the seafaring people of the +Highlands and islands "constitute a natural basis for the naval defence +of the country, a sort of defence which cannot be extemporized, and +which in possible emergencies can hardly be overrated." At the present +time they "contribute four thousand four hundred and thirty-one men to +the Royal Naval Reserve,—a number equivalent to the crews of seven +armored war-steamers of the first class." It is surely desirable to +foster a population which has been a "nursery of good citizens and good +workers for the whole empire," and of the best sailors and soldiers for +the British navy and army. Public policy demands that every legitimate +means be used to better the condition of the crofters and cottars, and +to encourage them to remain in and develop the industries of their own +country, instead of abandoning it to sheep and deer. Private interests +must be made subordinate to the public good. Parliament may therefore +interfere with the rights of landed property when the interests of the +people and of the nation demand it, as they do in this case.</p> + +<p>It was on some such grounds that the Royal Commissioners recommended +that restrictions be placed upon the further extension of deer-forests, +that the fishing interests should be aided by the government, that the +proprietors should be required to restore to the crofters lands formerly +used as common pastures, and to give them, under certain restrictions, +the use of more land, enlarging their holdings, and that in certain +cases they should be compelled to grant leases at rents fixed by +arbitration, and to give compensation for improvements. The government +is already helping the fishermen by constructing a new harbor and by +improving means of communication and transportation, and proposes to +greatly lighten taxation in the near future.</p> + +<p>The bill which the late government introduced into Parliament does not +undertake to provide for aid to those who may wish to emigrate, or for +the compulsory restoration of common pasture, or for the enlargement of +the holdings. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 185]</span>It does, however, propose to lend money on +favorable terms for stocking and improving enlarged or new holdings. As +a convention of landlords which was held at Aberdeen last January, and +which represented a large amount of land, resolved to increase the size +of crofters' holdings as suitable opportunities offered and when the +tenants could profitably occupy and stock the same, the demand for more +land seems likely to be conceded in many cases without compulsory +legislation. The bill defines a crofter to be a tenant from year to year +of a holding of which the rent is less than fifty pounds a year, and +which is situated in a crofting-parish. Every such crofter is to have +security of tenure so long as he pays his rent and complies with certain +other conditions; his rent is to be fixed by an official valuer or by +arbitration, if he and his landlord cannot agree in regard to it; he is +to have compensation, on quitting his holding, for all his improvements +which are suitable for the holding; and his heirs may inherit his +interests, although he may not sell or assign them. Such propositions +seem radical and calculated to interfere greatly with proprietary rights +and the freedom of contract. They are, however, but little more than +statements of the customs that already exist on some of the best +estates. Just as the government by the Irish Land Law Act (1881) took up +the Ulster tenant-right customs, gave them the force of law, and +extended them to all Ireland, it is proposed by this bill to give the +sanction of law to those customary rights which the crofters claim to +have inherited from former generations, and which have long been +conceded by some of the landlords.</p> + +<p>Such a measure of relief will not make all the crofters contented and +prosperous. It will, however, give them security against being turned +out of their homes and against excessively high rents, and will +encourage them to spend their labor and money in improving their +holdings. If some assistance could be given to those who may wish to +emigrate from overcrowded districts, and if the government would make +liberal advances of money to promote the fishing industry, the prospect +that the discontent and destitution would disappear would be much +better. The relief proposed will, however, be thankfully received by +many of the crofters and their friends.</p> + +<p class="author">DAVID BENNETT KING.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="MY_FRIEND_GEORGE_RANDALL" />MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL.</h2> + + +<p>Since his own days at the university George Randall had always had a +friend or two among the students who came after him. I remember how in +my Freshman year I used to see Tom Wayward going up the stairs in the +Academy of Music building to his office, and how I used to envy Billy +Wylde when I met him arm in arm with George on one of the campus malls. +It was occasionally whispered about that Randall's influence on these +young men was not of the very best, and that he used to have a +never-empty bottle of remarkably smooth whiskey in his closet, along +with old letter-files and brief-books; and it is undoubtedly true that +Perry Tomson and I used to consider George's friends as models in the +manner of smoking a pipe, or ordering whiskey-and-soda at Bertrand's to +give us an appetite for our mutton-chops or our <i>bifteck aux pommes</i>, +and in the delightful self-sufficiency with which in the pleasant spring +days they would cut recitations and loll on the grass smoking cigarettes +right under the nose, almost, of the professor. But they are both +married now, and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 186]</span>settled down to respectable conventional +success; and Billy Wylde, as I happen to know, has repaid the money +which George lent him wherewith to finish his education in Germany. The +estimable matrons of Lincoln who made so much ado over George's ruining +these young men,—who had such bright intellects and might have been +expected to do something but for that dreadfully well read lawyer's +awful influence,—these women do not consider it worth their while now, +in the face of the facts as they have turned out, to remember their +predictions, but confine themselves to making their dismal prophecies +anew in regard to the three young fellows whom George has of late taken +up. But then I remember how they went on about Perry Tomson and me in +the early part of our Junior year, when we began to enjoy the favor of +George's friendship; and if their miserable croaking never does any +good, I fancy it will never work any very great harm: so one might as +well let them croak in peace. In fact, one would more easily dam the +waters of Niagara than stop them, and George, I know, doesn't care the +cork of an empty beer-bottle what they say of him.</p> + +<p>I have never tried to analyze the influence for good George had over us, +or account for it in any way, nor do I care to. I have always considered +his friendship for me as one of the pleasantest and most profitable +experiences of my life in Lincoln. Perry and I were always more close +and loving friends, and cared for George with a silent but abiding sense +of gratitude in addition to the other sources of our affection for him, +after he showed us the boyish foolishness of our quarrel about Lucretia +Knowles. Of course I ought not to have grown angry at Perry's +good-natured cynicism; for how could he have imagined that I cared for +her? Though I sometimes think, even now, that Perry was indeed anxious +lest I should fall in love with her, and wanted to ridicule me out of +the notion, and I fear, in spite of his acquaintance, that he +disapproves of our engagement. I wonder if he will ever get over his +prejudice against women. The dear old fellow! if he would only consent +to know Lucretia better I am sure he would.</p> + +<p>One night in the winter before we graduated, Perry and I went with +George to the Third House, which is a mock session of the legislature +that the political wags of the State take advantage of to display their +wit and quickness at repartee and ability to make artistic fools of +themselves. If it happens to be a year for the election of a senator, as +it was in this case, the different candidates are in turn made fun of +and held up to ridicule or approval; and the chief issues of the time +are handled without gloves in a way that is always amusing and often +worth while in showing the ridiculous nature of some of them. The Third +House is usually held on some evening during the first or second week of +the session, and is opened by the Speaker calling the house to order +with a thundering racket of the gavel—"made from the wood of trees +grown on the prairies of the State"—and announcing the squatter +governor. Since the State was a territory, this announcement, after due +formalities, has been followed by the statement that, as the squatter +governor is somewhat illiterate, his message will be read by his private +secretary. After this personage has read his score or more pages of +jokes, sarcastic allusions, and ridiculous recommendations, the +discussion of the message takes place, during which any one who thinks +of a bright remark may get up and fire it at the gallery; and many very +lame attempts pass for good wit, and much private spite goes for +harmless fooling.</p> + +<p>George got us seats in the gallery next to old Billy Gait, the +bald-headed bachelor, who owns half a dozen houses which he rents for +fifty dollars a month each, and who lives on six hundred a year, +investing the surplus of his income every now and then in another house. +William, as usual, had a pretty girl at his elbow, and we heard him +telling her how he could never get interested in George Eliot's novels, +and how it beat <span class="pagenum">[Pg 187]</span>him to know why he ever wrote such tedious +books. The young lady smiled over her fan at Randall, and said that she +supposed Mr. Eliot had a great deal of spare time on his hands, but of +course he had no business to employ it in writing tiresome novels.</p> + +<p>George, who knew everybody, had a kindly greeting for all who were +within its reach, even for the tired-looking little school-teacher, who +had come out with her landlady's fifteen-year-old son as an escort and +in a little while had settled down to quiet enjoyment of the squatter +governor's message, approving with a quiet smile the grin that +occasionally spread over Perry's good-humored face. As for me, I was +made miserable from the start by seeing Lucretia Knowles in one of the +best seats on the floor, with a conceited fool of a +newspaper-correspondent at her side, whispering nonsense in her ear at +such a rate that she did nothing but laugh and turn her pretty head back +to speak with Mamie Jennings, her <i>fidus Achates</i>, and never once cast +her eyes toward the gallery. She has said since that she knew I was +there all the time, and that she didn't dare look at me, because I was +such a frightful picture of jealousy, with my fingers in my hair and my +elbow on the gallery railing, staring down on the floor as if I should +like to drop a bomb and annihilate the entire lot. It is all very well +to look back now and laugh and feel sorry for the curly-locked +journalist, who is writing letters from Mexico and trying to get over +the disappointment which the knowledge of our engagement gave him, but +it was very little fun for me at the time.</p> + +<p>I turned away a dozen times, and swore inwardly that I wouldn't look +that way again, and after each resolve I would find my eyes glancing +from one person to another in Lu's vicinity, until finally they would +rest again on her. When I had declared for the thirteenth time that I +wouldn't contemplate her heartless flirting, I noticed George bow to +some one who had just come in at the gallery door. A young man from one +of the western counties was making a satirical speech in favor of the +woman's suffrage amendment, misquoting Tennyson's "Princess" and making +the gallery shake with laughter, at the time; but I noticed George's +face light up and his eyes sparkle with pleasure at the sight of the +new-comer. She was a beautiful lady, over thirty, I should say, with the +sweetest face, for a sad one, I had ever seen. Of course, in a certain +way I like Lucretia's style of beauty better; but Mrs. Herbert was +beautiful in a way, so far as the women I have ever seen are concerned, +peculiar to herself. She was rather slender, and had a calm, graceful +bearing that I somehow at once associated with purity and nobleness. She +was quite simply dressed, and had on a small widow's bonnet, with the +ribbons tied under her chin, while a charming little girl, whose hair +curled obstinately over her forehead, had hold of her hand.</p> + +<p>I was somewhat surprised—I will not say disappointed exactly—to see +her lips break into a glad smile, though it made her face look all the +lovelier and sweeter, in reply to George's greeting; and when she came +toward us, as he beckoned her to do, every one immediately and gladly +made room for her to pass. Perry and I gave our seats to Mrs. Herbert +and her little girl; and I found myself speculating, as I leaned against +one of the pillars, on the difference of expression in the eyes of the +two, which were otherwise so much alike,—the same deep shade of brown, +the same soft look, the same lashes, and yet what a vast difference when +one thought of the combined effect of all these similar details. I spoke +to Perry of it, and he good-naturedly poked fun at me, saying I was +forever trying to see a romance or a history in people's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose you will say she isn't even lovely," I exclaimed, with +impatience.</p> + +<p>"I'm no judge," he replied, with exasperating carelessness; "but a +little too pale, I should say. I wish George hadn't introduced her to +me."</p> + +<p>"Why?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it made me feel cheap to have to back into old Billy Gait's bony +legs <span class="pagenum">[Pg 188]</span>and try to bow and shake hands before everybody,—in the +eyes of the assembled community, as Charley McWenn would say."</p> + +<p>McWenn was the stupid block of a journalist,—for I do think him a +stupid block, in spite of his cleverness,—and I realized then that I +had forgotten for a moment all about Lucretia. I could not see her from +my new position, so I amused myself by imagining how she was carrying +on.</p> + +<p>At last George and Mrs. Herbert rose up to go, and the former, as he +asked our forgiveness for leaving us, told us to come to his office when +we had enough of the Third House, and, if he wasn't there, to wait for +him. "We'll go over to Bertrand's and have some oysters," he said, with +his confidence-inspiring smile. I have always thought that if George had +not had so pleasant a smile and such a soulful laugh we should never +have been such friends.</p> + +<p>We found him waiting for us at the foot of the Academy of Music stairs, +with a cigar in his mouth and one for each of us in his hand, and we +knew from experience that his case was filled with a reserve.</p> + +<p>"It's a pleasant night, boys, isn't it?" he said, looking up at the +stars (wonderfully bright they were in the clear, cold atmosphere) as we +went, crunching the snow under our feet, along the deserted streets to +the little back-entrance we knew of to Bertrand's.</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Perry; "but you missed the best thing of the whole circus by +leaving before Colonel Bouteille made his speech in favor of the +prohibition amendment." And he gave a <i>résumé</i> of the colonel's +laughable sophistry for George's benefit,—and for mine as well, for I +had paid no attention to the old toper's remarks.</p> + +<p>We could see the glimmer of lights behind the shutters of the faro-room +over Sudden's saloon and hear the rattle of the ivory counters as we +passed.</p> + +<p>"Do you ever go up there?" asked George, interrupting Perry.</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; sometimes," we answered.</p> + +<p>"Play a little now and then? I suppose?"</p> + +<p>"We don't like to loaf around such a place," said Perry rather grandly, +considering our circumstances, "without putting down a few dollars."</p> + +<p>"That's all right," said George; "but once or twice is enough, boys. +After you have seen what the thing is like, keep away from the tiger. +She is a greedy beast, and always hungry; and of course you can't think +of sitting down at a poker-table with the professional players."</p> + +<p>Direct advice was rather a new strain for Randall, and we were not +surprised when he dropped it abruptly as we filed into a little private +room at the restaurant.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I fancy old Bouteille might have made a humorous speech," he said, +after ordering the oysters. "Three?" he added, looking at me, "or four?"</p> + +<p>"Quarts?" I asked in reply.</p> + +<p>George nodded.</p> + +<p>"Two, I should say."</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother!" exclaimed Perry. "We should only have to trouble the +waiter again."</p> + +<p>So George ordered four bottles of beer.</p> + +<p>"It's after ten o'clock, sir," said the waiter doubtfully. It is +needless to say that he was a new one.</p> + +<p>"That's the reason we came here," answered George, with a calm manner of +assumption that dissipated the waiter's doubts while it evidently filled +him with remorse. "Where's Auguste?"</p> + +<p>"He's gone to bed, sir; but I guess 'twill be all right." And the waiter +started to fetch the beer.</p> + +<p>"I should think so," growled Perry.</p> + +<p>"I suppose it is not good form to drink beer with oysters," I suggested +mildly.</p> + +<p>"I don't know, I'm sure," said George.</p> + +<p>"I suppose not," said Perry; "they go so well together. I hope it isn't, +at any rate: I like to do things that are bad form."</p> + +<p>So I relapsed into silence, and my speculations about George's outbreak +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 189]</span>against gambling, and Mrs. Herbert's beautiful face and sad +eyes, and Lucretia Knowles's wicked light-heartedness.</p> + +<p>When we had finished eating and had opened the last bottle of beer, I +asked George, as he stopped his talk with Perry for a moment to relight +his cigar, who Mrs. Herbert was.</p> + +<p>"She is the noblest and most unfortunate woman in the world," he +replied, "I will tell you her story some time, perhaps."</p> + +<p>"Let us hear it now," I cried, looking at Perry with triumph.</p> + +<p>"Yes, let us," said Perry, nothing to my surprise, for I knew his heart +was in the right place, if his ways were a little rough and +unimpressionable-like. "We have no recitations, no lectures, no +anything, to-morrow, and there is no one else in the restaurant but the +waiter, and he is asleep."</p> + +<p>And, in fact, we could hear him snoring.</p> + +<p>"No, I would rather not tell it here," George said simply; "but if you +will come with me to the office you shall hear it." And when we had +heard it we respected the feeling that had prompted him to consider even +the walls of such a place as unfit listeners. To be sure, it was a very +comfortable restaurant, where the waiters were always attentive and +skilful and the mutton-chops irreproachable, and many a pleasant evening +had we three had there over our cigars and Milwaukee, and sometimes a +bottle or two of claret. But so had Tom Hagard, the faro-dealer, and +Frank Sauter, who played poker over Sudden's, and Dick Bander, who got +his money from Madame Blank because he happened to be a swashing +slugger, and many another Tom, Dick, and Harry whose reputations were, +to say the least, questionable. Of course we never associated with such +characters, and plenty of estimable people besides ourselves frequented +Bertrand's. The place was not in bad odor at all, but merely a little +miscellaneous, and suited our plebeian fancies all the more on that +account. If young fellows want to be really comfortable in life, we +thought, and see a little at first hand just what sort of people make +up the world, they must not be too particular. So we used to sit down at +the next table to one where a gambler or a horse-jockey would perhaps be +seated, or a man of worse fame, and order our humble repast with a quiet +conscience and a strengthened determination never to become one among +such people. We would even see the gay flutter of skirts sometimes, as +the waiter entered one of the private rooms with an armful of dishes, +and hear the chatter and laughter of the wearers.</p> + +<p>We did not wonder, therefore, at George's preference for his own office, +whose four walls had never looked down upon anything but innocent young +fellows smoking and talking whatever harmless nonsense came into their +heads, or playing chess or penny-ante, or upon his own generous thoughts +and solitary contemplations, or hard work on some intricate lawsuit. So +we aroused the sleeping waiter, and walked back to the Academy of Music +building in silence.</p> + +<p>"It is rather a long story," said George, when we had at last made +ourselves comfortable, "and I have never told it before. I don't know +why I should tell it now, but somehow I want to. I felt this evening +after I left the Capitol that I would, and I asked leave of Mrs. Herbert +while we were walking to her home together. I knew she would let me: I +am the only friend, I suppose,—the only real friend, I mean, whom she +trusts and treats as an intimate friend,—that she has in the world. I +know I am the only person who knows the whole story of her sad life.</p> + +<p>"When I was in the university," he slowly continued, holding his cigar +in the gas-jet and turning it over and over between his fingers, with an +evident air of collating his reminiscences, "Phil Kendall and I were +great friends. I don't know how we ever came to be so: it was natural, I +suppose, for us to like each other. I used to notice that he did not +associate much with the other fellows; and yet he was the best runner +and boxer in the <span class="pagenum">[Pg 190]</span>class. He was the only fellow in the +university who could do the giant swing on the bar, and, though he had +never taken lessons, it was next to impossible for any one but Wayland, +the sub-professor in chemistry, to touch him with the foils. Somehow we +were drawn together, and before long were hardly ever apart. We used to +get out our Horace together, he with the pony and text and I with the +lexicon, for he was too impatient to hunt up the words. I believe you +study differently now."</p> + +<p>"We still have the pony," said Perry.</p> + +<p>"And we used to puzzle our heads together over Mechanics, for we didn't +have election as you do, and take long walks, and play chess, and get up +spreads in our room for nobody but us two. Not such elaborate affairs as +are called spreads now, but I warrant you they were fully as much +enjoyed. I fancy we were rather sentimental. We used to hold imaginary +conversations in the person of some favorite characters in fiction; but +we were very young and boyish."</p> + +<p>Perry glanced at me sheepishly, but George went on without noticing:</p> + +<p>"Phil's father lived here, and was proprietor of the only wholesale +grocery-store the town then boasted of. He had been captain of a +volunteer company in the war, and, I fancy, had a romance too. At any +rate, his wife had been dead since Phil was a little fellow in +knickerbockers; and not very long after her death a certain Mrs. Preston +had sent a little girl, about a year older than Phil, with a dying +charge to the captain to care for the friendless orphan for the sake of +their early love. No one but Grace could ever get anything out of the +old gentleman about her mother, and she never learned much. Mrs. Preston +had been unhappy at least, and perhaps miserable, in her marriage. We +always thought she had forsaken Mr. Kendall in their youth and made a +hasty marriage; but never a word was uttered by him about Grace's +father.</p> + +<p>"I used to imagine Mr. Kendall cared more for his adopted daughter than +for his son, from what I saw of them, and I was at the house a good +deal with Phil. I am sure they were very affectionate; and it was only +natural that the melancholy old man—that is the way he always struck +me—should have loved the daughter of the woman who had deserted him and +then turned toward him in her hour of supreme need. It showed that her +trust and belief in him and his goodness had never really left her. And, +besides, Grace was always so airy and light-hearted,—nothing could put +her out of humor,—so kind and gentle, and as lovely as a flower. She is +a splendid-looking woman yet, but one can have no idea of what she was +in those days, from the sad-eyed Mrs. Herbert who smiles so rarely on +any one but her little girl. Nannie is going to make much such a young +lady as her mother was, but I don't believe she will ever be quite so +beautiful.</p> + +<p>"Well, I was not long in discovering that Phil was in love with his +father's adopted daughter. I was never quite sure whether he knew it +himself at the time or not, but I could see easily enough that she +didn't dream of such a thing, nor the old captain either. They were so +much like brother and sister it used to make me feel wofully sorry for +Phil to see her throw her arms around his neck and kiss him for some +little kindness or other that he was always doing her: the difference of +mood in which the caress would be given from that in which Phil would +receive it was somehow always painful to me. Phil would never offer to +kiss her on his own account; and it is still a mystery to me why she +never discovered how he felt toward her until he became jealous. The +tenderness and gentle considerateness of his bearing were always so +marked that to a less innocent and pure nature, I fancy, it would have +been noticeable at once.</p> + +<p>"When we were Juniors, Phil took her to a party one night, just after +Easter. The captain was a scrupulous Churchman, and Grace was always by +him in the pew. She had not been confirmed, however, and never said a +word <span class="pagenum">[Pg 191]</span>to Phil and me about our persistency in staying away from +church, though the captain used to lecture Phil quite soberly about it. +This party was given at the house of one of the vestrymen, and they had +refreshments, and, after the rector had gone home, dancing. They called +it a sociable, and took up a collection for the ladies' aid society just +after the cake and coffee and whipped cream had been served. There was +where Grace first met George Herbert. He was a handsome young fellow, +well educated, a graduate of some Eastern college, clever and talented, +and his family in Rochester, New York, were considered very good people. +He had come to Lincoln to take a place on the 'Gazette,' and every one +thought him a young man of good parts and fair prospects.</p> + +<p>"He made up to Grace from the start. They were laughing and talking +together all the evening on a little sofa, just large enough for two, +that stood in the bow-window. There was a little crowd of young people +around the two most of the time, and she was saying bright things to +them all, but never, I noticed, at the expense of young Herbert, who +made most of his remarks so low that no one but Grace could hear them. +She always smiled and often broke out into her musical laugh at what he +said; and when Phil, who had been trapped into a game of whist with some +old fogies, finally came back into the parlor and made his way to where +Grace was having such a happy time, she even launched a shaft or two of +her wit at him.</p> + +<p>"I saw that the poor fellow was hurt: he turned away without answering, +though, and, coming over to where I was, sat down and began looking at +an album, trying hard all the time to hide his feelings. But in a moment +Grace was hanging over his shoulder, oblivious of her surroundings, and +lovingly begging his pardon if she had hurt him. I have sometimes +thought that Phil then fully realized for the first time how he cared +for her. The way in which her affection disregarded the presence of the +crowd smote him, I imagine, with something like despair. I saw him turn +pale and catch his breath, and I knew his laugh too well to be deceived, +as Grace was, when he made light of her self-accusations and declared +that than taking offence at her words nothing had been further from his +thoughts. This was in a sense true, of course, for ordinarily he would +have answered as light-heartedly almost as Grace herself; and it was +only the feeling of jealousy, unconscious perhaps, at any rate +irresistible, that gave her words undue—no, not that exactly, but +unusual influence over his feelings.</p> + +<p>"For a while Phil acted as considerately as ever, and made himself +thoroughly agreeable to several young ladies, whereat Grace was highly +pleased and soon took up again her mood of gayety. But when Phil brought +her a plate and napkin and some things to eat, and found her and Herbert +already served and with mock gravity breaking a piece of cake together +on the stairs,—'they were only doing it,' Phil declared to me +afterward, 'that they might touch each other's hands,'—he lost his +head. He must have spoken very bitterly, else he would never have +aroused Grace's anger. I don't know what he said, except that he +complained about having come to such a thing as a church sociable, which +he despised, and, inasmuch as he had done it for the sake of her +enjoyment and pleasure, she might at least have shown him the same +politeness she would have accorded to any of the insufferable prigs whom +she seemed delighted to honor.</p> + +<p>"Herbert started to reply, but Grace silenced him by a look, and said, +'We have been as brother and sister since childhood.' It was probably +well for Herbert's handsome face that he did not enter into a discussion +with Phil. They were both hot-tempered, and Phil had no scruples against +asking him out of doors, and would have been as cool in his manner and +as terrible in his strength as an iceberg.</p> + +<p>"Grace led Phil away, and tried to tell him how she had not supposed he +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 192]</span>would care; that she had imagined he would prefer to serve the +young lady with whom he had been talking; how she had never known him to +put such store by trivialities before; how 'at least we,' Phil told me, +bitterly quoting her words, 'at least we ought to be sure of each +other's hearts,' and did everything to pacify him. But he would listen +to nothing, and, coming to me, asked me to walk home with Grace, as he +was going away immediately. I imagined the trouble, and got him to admit +that he and Grace had said unkind words to each other. But he would say +nothing more about the matter till I found him in my room after it was +all over, when he raved about Grace until near morning, and cursed the +fate that had turned the bread of her kind affection for him into a +stone. 'How can I ever hope to win her love when she thinks that way of +me?' he would ask sorrowfully, after telling of some pure and loving +freedom she had taken. I was full of pity for the miserable fellow, but +I felt as if I ought to do all I could to discourage him. I was sure he +was right; he never could hope to, and I thought the sooner he learned +this, and to submit to it, the better it would be for him.</p> + +<p>"I persuaded him not to leave the party in the height of his resentment, +though, and he was so quiet before the dancing that I began to hope he +would beg Grace's pardon and take her home repentantly and in peace. But +he insisted on my going and offering to dance with her the first set in +his place. She had already promised, she said, to dance it with Mr. +Herbert, and it was in vain that I told her she must look upon me as +acting for Phil, and advised her for his sake to excuse herself to +Herbert and dance with either Phil or myself. 'If Phil should come and +ask me himself on his knees I would not do it,' she declared, with +superb grandeur, 'He has acted wrong, and imputed to me the worst +motives for trivial things which I did unthinkingly even, and, heaven +knows, without deliberate calculation.'</p> + +<p>"I saw it was no use to talk with her, and that in her present mood even +entreaty, to which she was usually so yielding, would be of no avail. I +felt very helpless and miserable about it, but I could do nothing. I saw +that Phil had made a grave mistake by accusing her of partiality for +Herbert, and that her acquaintance with him might possibly be forced +into a closer relation by Phil's jealousy. I kept away from him for a +while, and almost made Miss Scrawney think I had fallen in love with +her, in order to keep Phil from getting a word with me. At last, +however, just as the music began, he pulled my sleeve and asked in a +whisper if I wasn't going to take Grace out and dance with her.</p> + +<p>"'She was already engaged,' I answered.</p> + +<p>"'To whom?' said Phil. 'But there is no need to ask.' And at the moment, +indeed, almost as if in answer to his question, Grace entered the room +from the hall on Herbert's arm. I was afraid for an instant that Phil +would make a scene. The veins on his forehead swelled, and he started +forward as they passed within a few feet of where we were standing, +Grace smiling and talking to Herbert, apparently as oblivious of us as +if we had not been within a thousand miles of her; but he mastered the +impulse, whatever it was, and I have often speculated as to whether it +was to upbraid Grace or to strike Herbert.</p> + +<p>"'Look at her, George,' he said, with a calmness that was belied by the +look in his eyes. 'You wouldn't think that three hours ago she had never +known him, would you? nor that we had lived in the same house since we +were no higher than that. Her mother, I know, did her best to break my +old man's heart, and I warrant you it was for some such worthless fool +as that, who wasn't fit to black the dear old fellow's boots. Poor old +dad! we shall be together in the boat: when I begin to handle hams and +barrelled sugar we will write ourselves 'Kendall & Son' with a +flourish.' And as we went up the stairs to get his coat and hat he told +me to stay and offer to go home with Grace. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 193]</span>'It wouldn't do for +me to leave her unless you do, George,' he said; 'but if she wants to go +with Herbert, let her; but she shall not say I went away and left her +without an escort.'</p> + +<p>"I promised readily enough, and even hurried him away. There was no good +in his staying; in fact, I thought it better that he should leave; and +after he had gone I went to Grace. I managed the matter rather badly, +but I suppose the most consummate tact on my part would not have changed +things. I should have waited until I saw her alone, or until the party +was breaking up; but I went directly I saw they had stopped dancing. She +was leaning on the piano and letting Herbert fan her, and looking almost +too beautiful for real life as she turned her face toward him, flushed +with her exercise and beaming with excitement. There was something grand +to me in the expression of individuality and proud insistence that had +come to her so suddenly. It was no factitious strife of her nature +against the dependence of her position as an adopted daughter, I knew, +for she had never felt in the least but that she was perfectly free; it +was no caprice or stubbornness; it was merely her womanly assertion of +self and her unconscious protest against what she thought injustice. She +would not have believed from any one but Phil himself that he was in +love with her and jealous.</p> + +<p>"'Phil has gone away,' I said bluntly, interrupting their talk. She +looked at me for a moment and raised her eyebrows slightly.</p> + +<p>"'Has he?' was all she asked.</p> + +<p>"'Yes: he was feeling badly,' I went on. 'He asked me to walk home with +you when you were ready to go. I thought I would tell you now, so you +would not be at a loss in case you should want to leave before the party +breaks up.'</p> + +<p>"'You are very kind, I am sure, Mr. Kendall' (she usually called me +George), 'but I shall not want to go for ever so long yet. It was +needless for Phil to trouble you; he knew I should get home all +right,—but it was like him. I am awfully sorry to keep you waiting: I +know you are anxious to get back to your pipe and books.'</p> + +<p>"Here Herbert said something with the appearance of speaking to us both; +but she only could hear what it was. I, however, imagined readily +enough.</p> + +<p>"'Will you?' she answered him, in a pleased tone, and I fancied her +smile was grateful. 'Mr. Herbert is going to stay and dance a while +longer,' she went on, turning to me, 'and if he takes me home it will +not seem as if I were troubling any one too much, and—'</p> + +<p>"'Very well, Miss Preston,' I interrupted, making my best bow; 'as you +like.' And when I saw the smile on Herbert's face I didn't wonder much +at the way Phil had felt. 'Let me bid you good-night,' I said, bowing +again, and started off.</p> + +<p>"Grace followed me rapidly into the hall. 'Now, please don't you be +angry too, George,' she said, laying her hand on my arm.</p> + +<p>"'I am not angry,' I said.</p> + +<p>"'Do you think it right, George,' she asked earnestly,—and there was a +pleading look in her eyes,—'or manly to desert one's friends in +trouble?'</p> + +<p>"'I am doing the best I know how,' said I, 'to be true to my friend.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, George, I am so sorry!' Her voice trembled, and all her +queenliness had gone. 'You must not go off this way. You don't blame me +as Phil does, do you? Wait, I will get my things, and you shall walk +home with me now. I will see Phil and tell him—'</p> + +<p>"'He has gone to my room,' I said.</p> + +<p>"'Well, I will wait till you bring him home. You must tell him I forgive +him,—or no, tell him I am sorry and ask his forgiveness. Oh, George, we +cannot be this way. Only think how sad it would make his father—and—' +There were tears on her lashes, and her lips were trembling piteously. +She put her hand to her throat and could not go on. God forgive me if I +was wrong,—and I know I was,—but I couldn't help it then,—I asked, +almost with a sneer, if she didn't dislike to slight her estimable +friend Mr. Herbert's kindness; and <span class="pagenum">[Pg 194]</span>she turned away without a +word, as if regretting, from my unworthiness, the emotion she had shown.</p> + +<p>"I was in very nearly as bad a state as Phil for a while. I told him +just how I had acted, and he was rather pleased than otherwise at my +cruelty. We tried hard to make ourselves believe that Grace had deserved +it, and to a certain extent succeeded.</p> + +<p>"'She probably thought it was too high a price,' said Phil, 'when she +saw both of us going off offended, and she concluded not to give it. +But, then, it was just like her,' he added, in a kindlier spirit than +the natural interpretation of his words seemed to indicate.</p> + +<p>"It was a month before either of us went to the house. The old captain +thought at first that we were going to the dogs, and, I think, kept up a +kind of watch over our movements. He came in one morning, after he had +concluded his suspicions were wrong, and made a sort of expiatory call. +He tried to tell us how he had judged us too harshly, but couldn't quite +bring himself to it, and, after a good many half-uttered remarks that +did honor to the old gentleman's heart, if they didn't prove him a cool +hand in such matters, he left us with an unspoken blessing and some +homely, sound advice to do as we liked, so long as we were manly and +honest.</p> + +<p>"Within a week he was stricken with apoplexy on receiving news of some +serious losses, and was taken home without speaking. He died the next +morning just at sunrise, and Grace and Phil mingled their tears at his +bedside. He tried in vain to speak to them, and the pleased light in his +eyes as they took each other's hands and laid them, joined together, in +his, was the only sign he gave of having known there had been a +difference between them.</p> + +<p>"Poor Grace! she was very miserable and lonely after that. Phil could +never bear to be with her after he had spoken. Her true kindness and +gentle, loving pity were misery to him. He made a noble effort to stay +by and watch over her, but he was hardly fit to take care of himself. +She never knew how small a share of what little was left of his +father's money he took with him to the mountains, but she realized why +he went without waiting for his degree, and sadly approved his +resolution. She always kept the growing attachment between her and +Herbert from grating on Phil as much as was in her power, but he could +not help seeing it. Though he never said anything even to me, it was +plain that he had a poor opinion of the young journalist; and Grace was +very thankful to him for all he did and suffered.</p> + +<p>"She must have felt very much alone in the world after Phil left, and +the house certainly seemed empty and sad when I used to go there to see +her. There was no one but Grace and the housekeeper and an old +gentleman, a clerk in one of the State departments, to whom she had +rented rooms, partly for the money and partly to have a man in the +house. Herbert was with her whenever his work would permit, and there +was some talk about their intimacy among people who, even if they had +known her, were too base to have appreciated the fineness and truth and +purity of Grace's nature.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't blame her for marrying Herbert,—which she did the fall +after I graduated. They certainly were very much in love, and Herbert +had borne himself creditably in every way. No one could have foreseen +that he would turn out so badly; and for a year or more after their +marriage they were as happy as birds in May. Grace was never +light-hearted, as when I first knew her,—no woman of worth and +tenderness would have been,—but still she was happily and sweetly +contented, completely bound up in her husband, thinking almost of +nothing but him, and caring for nothing but his love.</p> + +<p>"When I came back from the law-school, I went to see them as soon as I +was settled. They had sold the house, and were living in a rented +cottage out in East Lincoln. Nannie, their baby, was quite if not more +than a year old then; and, though I had known that Grace would be a fond +mother, I was <span class="pagenum">[Pg 195]</span>unprepared to see the way in which she seemed +absolutely to worship the child. I immediately asked myself if it meant +that she was not so happy with Herbert as she had been. I met him at +tea, to which Grace insisted on my staying. His dress was as neat and as +carefully arranged as ever, and he was cordial enough toward me; but he +did not kiss Grace when he came in, and hardly looked at the baby. He +laughed a good deal, and told several amusing incidents of his newspaper +experience. I noticed that his old habit of looking at one's chin or +cravat instead of at one's eyes when he spoke to one had grown upon him. +He excused himself soon after tea on the ground of having to be at the +office, and went away smoking a cigarette.</p> + +<p>"Grace complained of the way in which his work kept him up nights. He +was never home until after midnight, she said, and sometimes not before +morning. She was afraid it was telling upon his health. 'You must come +and see me often. George.' she said, as she gave me her hand at parting. +'I see very little of my husband now, and, if it were not for Nannie, I +feel as if I should be almost unhappy. Then he would have to do some +other work, though he likes journalism so well.' That was the nearest +she ever came to complaining to me, though I soon knew that she had +plenty of cause. She was not entirely deceived by Herbert's assertions +and excuses. I learned before long, for I made a point of finding out, +that he was never obliged to be at the office after nine o'clock, that +he gambled and drank, and was looked on with unpleasant suspicions by +his employers, so that he might at any time find himself without a +position. He owned no property, and Grace's little patrimony had +disappeared, even to the money they had received for the house, without +leaving the slightest trace. Herbert's ill reputation was common +property in the town, and he and Grace went nowhere together. She had +even given up going to church, that she might be with him for a few +hours on Sundays; and now and then if he took her for a walk and pushed +the baby-carriage through the Capitol-grounds for an hour, she cared +more for it than for a whole stack of Mr. Gittner's sermons. She had no +friends at all, and but few acquaintances, and altogether had much to +bear up under. Right nobly she did it, too; never a word of complaint to +any one: I believe not even to herself would she admit that she was +treated basely.</p> + +<p>"They kept on in this way for a year after I opened my office. I heard +from Phil now and then,—brief notes that he was alive and well,—and on +the 11th of June, the date of the old captain's death, Grace always +received a long letter from him, full of references to their childhood, +but telling little of himself. Herbert's reputation became worse and +worse, and he deserved all the evil that was said of him. The tradesmen +refused him credit, and the carpets and furniture of their little +cottage grew old and thread-bare and were not replaced. I have seen him +play pool at Sudden's for half a day at a dollar a game, and perhaps +lose his week's wages. He was hand in glove with the set that lurked +about the 'club-room' over the saloon, and almost any night could be +seen at the faro-table fingering his chips and checking off the cards on +his tally-sheet. Nobody but strangers would sit down to a game of poker +or casino with him: he had grown much too skilful. He was what they +called a 'very smooth player:' though I never heard of his being openly +accused of cheating.</p> + +<p>"One of my first cases of consequence was to recover some money which +had been paid to some sharpers by an innocent young fellow from the East +for a worthless mine in Colorado. In connection with it I went to +Denver. Charlie Wayland, a brother of the chemistry professor, happened +to be on the same train. He owns the planing-mill down on Sixth Street +now, you know; but he was a wild young fellow then, and knew everything +that was going on. He intended to have a time, he said, while he was in +Denver; that was what he was going for. He went with <span class="pagenum">[Pg 196]</span>me to the +St. James, where I had written Phil to meet me, if he could come down +from Boulder.</p> + +<p>"Young Wayland had his time in the city, and I had finished my business +and was going to start back and leave him to enjoy by himself his trip +to Pike's Peak and the other sights of the State, considerably +disappointed at not having seen Phil, when he came in on us as I was +packing my grip-sack. He was rough and hardy as a bear, and had grown a +tremendous black beard: his heavy hand closed over mine till my knuckles +cracked. We were glad enough to see each other, and had plenty to talk +about. Of course I stayed over another day, and Wayland put off his trip +to Pike's Peak to keep us company, though we didn't care so much for his +presence as he seemed to think we did. But he gave us a little dinner at +Charpiot's, and I forgave his talkativeness for the sake of the +champagne, until he became excited by drinking too much of it and began +to talk about George Herbert. He was stating his system of morality, +which was, in effect,—and Charlie had acted up to it pretty well,—that +a fellow should go it when he was young, but when he was married he +ought to settle down.</p> + +<p>"'Now, I can't stand a fellow like that Herbert,' he said; and for all +my kicks under the table he went on, 'It may be well enough for the +French, but I say in this country it's a devilish shame. He is a young +fellow in Lincoln, Mr. Kendall,—got a splendid wife, and a little baby, +one of the nicest women in the world, and thinks the world of him, and +he goes it with the boys as if he was one of 'em. He never goes home, +though, unless he is sober enough to keep himself straight; but I've +seen him bowling full many a time. Wine, women, and song, you know, and +all that; it may be well enough for us young bloods, but in a fellow of +his circumstances I say it's wrong, damn it! and he oughtn't to do it.'</p> + +<p>"Now, I had told Phil that Grace was well and fairly happy. I had +thought it but just to sink my opinion and give Grace's own account of +herself and deliver her simple message without comment. 'Give Phil my +love,' she had said as I left her the night before I came away.</p> + +<p>"'And how does this Herbert's wife take all this?' asked Phil of +Wayland.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, she doesn't know all, I suppose. If she did, it would probably +kill her. My brother's wife says that if it were not for her child she +doesn't believe Mrs. Herbert would live very long, as it is.'</p> + +<p>"'Her trouble is common talk, then?' observed Phil, sipping his wine and +avoiding my eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Why, yes, to a certain extent; though she doesn't parade it, by any +means. In fact, she lives very much alone; no one ever sees her, hardly, +but George here, who is an old friend, you know. Maybe you used to know +her,' he added suddenly, coming to himself a little. 'Well, if you did,' +he went on, as Phil did not answer, 'you wouldn't know her now, they +say, for the lively, careless girl she was five or six years ago.' And +then he began to talk about the condition of the Chinese in Denver, and +how he had that morning seen one of them kicked off the sidewalk without +having given the least provocation.</p> + +<p>"Phil said nothing further about the Herberts all evening, but just +before we separated for the night he asked me if I could let him have +some money. I unsuspectingly thanked my stars that I could, and told him +so.</p> + +<p>"'Well, then,' he declared, 'I am going back to Lincoln with you +to-morrow.' And, in spite of all I could say, he did. He had his beard +shaved off, bought himself some civilized clothes, and made his +appearance with me on the streets of Lincoln as naturally as if he had +gone away but the day before. His life in the mountains had given him an +air of decision, a certain quiet energy and determination which +impressed one immediately with the sense of his being a man of strong +character, with a powerful will under perfect control. I grew to have so +much confidence in him that I thought his coming would somehow +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 197]</span>be a benefit to Grace, though I could not see how; in fact, when +I tried to reason about it, I told myself exactly the contrary. But Phil +seemed to have such implicit confidence in himself, to be so +self-sufficient and so ready for any emergency, and altogether such a +perfect man of action, that he inspired belief and confidence in others.</p> + +<p>"We met Herbert on our way up from the station: he was standing in front +of the 'Gazette' office, laughing and talking with Sudden's barkeeper. +He greeted Phil with cordiality, in spite of the latter's distant +bearing, and told him Grace would be greatly pleased at his arrival.</p> + +<p>"'I suppose she will be glad to see me,' said Phil, as we passed on. And +she was glad, very glad, to see him, but she was far from being made +happy by his coming. I sent a note out to her, and Phil and I followed +shortly after. I did not watch their meeting,—I thought, somehow, that +no one ought to see it,—but I knew he took her in his arms; and when +she came out on the porch to bring me in there were tears in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"We all sat and talked for a long while, Grace with her hand in Phil's +and her eyes on his face, when she was not looking anxiously after my +awkward attempts at caring for her baby; for of course Nannie had been +brought out almost the first thing. I think, from the way in which she +carefully avoided asking him his reasons for coming back, that she +divined what they were. I imagined that she blamed me as being the prime +cause; but there was nothing I could say to undeceive her. In fact, I +thought it better for her to believe so than to know the truth.</p> + +<p>"'She is miserably unhappy, George,' said Phil gloomily, as we walked +away. 'But you were right not to tell me. I can do nothing to help her: +I cannot even openly sympathize with her. It would have been better to +have kept on thinking she was happy: there was a bitter kind of +satisfaction to me in that, but still it was a satisfaction.'</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless Phil did not go back to the mountains. He stayed on here +for a month or more, dividing his time pretty equally between my office +and Grace's little parlor. He very seldom met Herbert. Now and then they +would be together at the cottage for half an hour, if Herbert happened +to come home while he was there, and when they met on the street they +would merely pass the time of day.</p> + +<p>"One evening before going to supper I waited until after seven o'clock +for Phil to come in, and just as I had given him up, and was starting +away alone, he entered the office, looking pale as a ghost, and +evidently in great distress of spirit.</p> + +<p>"'For God's sake, Phil, what is the matter?' I exclaimed, as he sank +upon the sofa and covered his face with his hands.</p> + +<p>"'Go away, George: go away and leave me,' was all he said; then he got +up and began walking violently up and down the room. At last he came +near me and put his hand on my shoulder. 'I've killed her, George, I am +afraid; At least I have killed him right before her eyes, and she may +never get over it. I didn't mean to, George, you know that; but he came +home drunk, and I had gone to bid Grace good-by,—for I had made up my +mind, George, to leave to-morrow,—and he came in. We had been talking +of father, and Grace was very sad and wretched, and there were tears in +her eyes when she kissed me, just as he came in and saw us. She was +frightened at his brutality, and clung to me in terror, when he began +swearing in a torrent of passion and calling her the vilest of names. He +struck at us with his cane. If he had struck me he might yet have been +alive; but when I saw the great red welt on Grace's neck and heard her +cry out, I was wild, George. For an instant, I believe, I could have +stamped him into bits, and if it had been my last act on earth I could +not have helped striking him.'</p> + +<p>"While he spoke, Phil stood with his hand on my shoulder, looking into +my eyes, as if he wanted me to judge him, <span class="pagenum">[Pg 198]</span>as if he would read +in my very look whether I blamed him or not. I took his hand.</p> + +<p>"'I thought you would understand,' he went on. 'I did not know I was +going to kill him, but I think I tried to: I struck him with all my +might, Grace threw herself between us and begged me not to hurt him +after he had fallen down, and took hold of my arm as if to hold me. But +when she saw the blood running from his temple, where he had struck it +on the window-sill, and how still and motionless he lay, she tried to go +to him, but could not for weakness and fainting. I carried her into Mrs. +Stanley's, and have not seen her since, but the doctor says she is very +ill. Herbert was dead when they went into the room after I told them +what had happened; and I suppose I had better give myself up to the +law.'</p> + +<p>"You can have no idea how I felt to see my dearest friend in such a +position. And poor Grace!—it was much worse for her. I thought with +Phil that she might never survive the shock and misery of it all. But +she did, and came out, weak and broken down as she was, to give her +testimony at Phil's trial. We had no trouble in getting a jury to acquit +him, and he went back to Colorado without bidding Grace good-by, +although she would have seen him and was even anxious to do so. Some +persons here, mostly women, pretended to think that there had been more +cause for Herbert's jealousy than was generally supposed; but they +belonged to the sanctimonious, hypocritical custom-worshippers. All +really good people remembered what Herbert had been, and refused to see +in him a martyr or even a wronged man.</p> + +<p>"After that Grace supported herself by dress-making and teaching music; +and some two years ago, when we heard that Phil had been killed by a +mine's caving in, and that he had left a little fortune to her and +Nannie, I, as his executor and her friend, induced her to take and use +it,—which she did, with simplicity and thankfulness and with her heart +full of pity and love for poor Phil. Yes, poor Phil! those five or six +years must have been full of misery to him, and he was probably thankful +when the end came. We never heard from him until after his death. There +was a letter that came to me with the will, that had been written long +before. None but they two know what was in it; and I, for one, do not +want to inquire."</p> + +<p>George sat for a long while in silence, looking at the glowing coals in +the huge reservoir stove. Neither Perry nor I cared to interrupt his +revery. At last he roused himself.</p> + +<p>"Well, boys," he said, "it is late: I think we had better go. It is all +over now, and life has gone on calmly for years. Other people have +forgotten that there ever were such persons as Phil or Herbert."</p> + +<p>When Perry and I reached our room we found it was almost three o'clock. +George had walked with us to the door, and very little had been said +between us. I took a cigarette and lay down on the bed. "Perry," I said, +as he was lighting the gas.</p> + +<p>"Sur to you," he answered, in a way he had of imitating a certain +barkeeper of our acquaintance.</p> + +<p>"What do you think of George?"</p> + +<p>"You know what I think of him as well as I do."</p> + +<p>"Yes; but I mean in connection with this that he has told us."</p> + +<p>"I think he acted just like himself all the way through."</p> + +<p>"Don't you think he has been in love with Mrs. Herbert from the first?"</p> + +<p>"Am I in the habit of imagining such nonsense?"</p> + +<p>"You may think it nonsense," I answered, with the quiet fervor of +conviction, "but I am sure it is nothing but the real state of the +case."</p> + +<p>"Bosh!" exclaimed Perry, throwing his boots into a corner; and therewith +the discussion closed.</p> + +<p>About a week ago I had a letter from him, though, in which he recalled +this circumstance and acknowledged that I had been in the right. "They +are going to be married in the fall," he wrote. "I <span class="pagenum">[Pg 199]</span>hope they +may be happy, and I suppose they will be; but I don't think Mrs. Herbert +ought to marry him unless she loves him; and I am fearful that she only +thinks to reward long years of faithful affection. George deserves more +than that." This was a good deal for Perry to manage to say. He usually +keeps as far away from such subjects as he well can,—which is partly +the reason, I think, that his opinion thereon is not greatly to be +trusted. As for me, I am sure George's wife will love him as much as he +deserves,—though this is almost an infinite amount,—and that she has +not been far from loving him from the beginning. I have bought a pair of +vases to send them; and I expect that Miss Lucretia Knowles will say, +when she learns how much they cost, that I was very extravagant. Not +that Lu is close or stingy at all; but she has promised to wait until I +have made a start in life, and is naturally impatient for me to get on +as rapidly as possible.</p> + +<p class="author">FRANK PARKE.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="THE_WOOD_THRUSH_AT_SUNSET" />THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET.</h3> + + + +<div class="poem_1"> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Lover of solitude,</p> +<p class="i2">Poet and priest of nature's mysteries,</p> +<p>If but a step intrude,</p> +<p class="i2">Thy oracle is mute, thy music dies.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Oft have I lightly wooed</p> +<p class="i2">Sweet Poesy to give me pause of pain,</p> +<p>Oft in her singing mood</p> +<p class="i2">Sought to surprise her haunt, and sought in vain.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>And thou art shy as she,</p> +<p class="i2">But mortal, or I had not found thy shrine,</p> +<p>To listen breathlessly</p> +<p class="i2">If I may make thy hoarded secret mine.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Thy tender mottled breast,</p> +<p class="i2">Dappled the color of our primal sod,</p> +<p>Now quick and song-possessed,</p> +<p class="i2">Doth seem to hold the very joy of God,—</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Joy hid from mortal quest</p> +<p class="i2">Of bosky loves on silver-moonéd eves,</p> +<p>And the high-hearted best</p> +<p class="i2">That swells thy throat with joy among the leaves.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Like the Muezzin's call</p> +<p class="i2">From some high minaret when day is done,</p> +<p>Among the beeches tall</p> +<p class="i2">Thy voice proclaims, "There is no God but one."</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>And but one Beauty, too,</p> +<p class="i2">Of whose sweet synthesis we ever fail:</p> +<p>She flies if we pursue,</p> +<p class="i2">Like thy swift wing down some dim intervale.</p></div> + +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 200]</span> + +<div class="stanza"><p>For thou art lightly gone;</p> +<p class="i2">Gone is the flute-like note, the yearning strain,</p> +<p>And all the air forlorn</p> +<p class="i2">Is breathless till it hear thy voice again.</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>But thou wilt not return;</p> +<p class="i2">Thou hast the secret of thy joy to keep,</p> +<p>And other hearts must learn</p> +<p class="i2">Thy tuneful message, ere the world may sleep,—</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"><p>Sleep lulled by many a dream</p> +<p class="i2">Of sylvan sounds that woo the ear in vain,</p> +<p>While still thy numbers seem</p> +<p class="i2">To voice the pain of bliss, the bliss of pain.</p></div> +</div> +<p class="author">MARY C. PECKHAM.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="A_FOREST_BEAUTY" id="A_FOREST_BEAUTY" />A FOREST BEAUTY.</h2> + + +<p>Last spring, or possibly it was early in June, I was walking, in company +with an intelligent farmer, through a bit of heavy forest that bordered +some fields of corn and wheat, when a golden, flame-like gleam from the +midst of the last year's leaves and twigs on the ground at my feet +attracted my sight. I stooped and picked up a large fragment of a flower +of the <i>Liriodendron Tulipifera</i> which had been let fall by some +foraging squirrel from the dark-green and fragrant top of the giant tree +nearest us. Strange to say, my farmer friend, who owned the rich Indiana +soil in which the tree grew, did not know, until I told him, that the +"poplar," as he called the tulip-tree, bears flowers. For twenty years +he had owned this farm, during which time he had cut down acres of +forest for rails and lumber, without ever having discovered the gorgeous +blossom which to me is the finest mass of form and color to be seen in +our American woods. As I had a commission from an artist to procure a +spray of these blooms for her, I at once began to search the tree-top +with my eyes. The bole, or stem, rose sixty feet, tapering but slightly, +to where some heavy and gnarled limbs put forth, their extremities lost +in masses of peculiarly dark, rich foliage. At first I could distinguish +no flowers, but at length here and there a suppressed glow of orange +shot with a redder tinge showed through the dusky gloom of the leaves. +Lo! there they were, hundreds of them, over three inches in diameter, +bold, gaudy, rich, the best possible examples of nature's pristine +exuberance of force and color. Two gray squirrels were frisking about +among the highest sprays, and it was my good fortune that my friend +carried on his shoulder a forty-four-calibre rifle; for, though it was +death to the nimble little animals, it proved to be the instrument with +which I procured my coveted flowers. It suggested the probability that, +if bullets could fetch down squirrels from that tree-top, they might +also serve to clip off and let fall some of the finest clusters or +sprays of tulip. The experiment was tried, with excellent result. I made +the little artist glad with some of the grandest specimens I have ever +seen.</p> + +<p>The tulip-tree is of such colossal size and it branches so high above +ground that it is little wonder few persons, even of those most used to +the woods, ever see <span class="pagenum">[Pg 201]</span>its bloom, which is commonly enveloped in a +mass of large, dark leaves. These leaves are peculiarly outlined, having +short lobes at the sides and a truncated end, while the stem is slender, +long, and wire-like. The flower has six petals and three transparent +sepals. In its centre rises a pale-green cone surrounded by from +eighteen to thirty stamens. Sap-green, yellow of various shades, +orange-vermilion, and vague traces of some inimitable scarlet, are the +colors curiously blended together within and without the grand +cup-shaped corolla. It is Edgar Fawcett who draws an exquisite poetic +parallel between the oriole and the tulip,—albeit he evidently did not +mean the flower of our Liriodendron, which is nearer the oriole colors. +The association of the bird with the flower goes further than color, +too; for the tulip-tree is a favorite haunt of the orioles. Audubon, in +the plates of his great ornithological work, recognizes this by +sketching the bird and some rather flat and weak tulip-sprays together +on the same sheet. I have fancied that nature in some way favors this +massing of colors by placing the food of certain birds where their +plumage will show to best advantage on the one hand, or serve to render +them invisible, on the other, while they are feeding. The golden-winged +woodpecker, the downy woodpecker, the red-bellied woodpecker, and that +grand bird the pileated woodpecker, all seem to prefer the tulip-tree +for their nesting-place, pecking their holes into the rotten boughs, +sometimes even piercing an outer rim of the fragrant green wood in order +to reach a hollow place. I remember, when I was a boy, lying in a dark +old wood in Kentucky and watching a pileated woodpecker at work on a +dead tulip-bough that seemed to afford a great number of dainty morsels +of food. There were streaks of hard wood through the rotten, and +whenever his great horny beak struck one of these it would sound as loud +and clear as the blow of a carpenter's hammer. This fine bird is almost +extinct now, having totally disappeared from nine-tenths of the area of +its former habitat. I never see a tulip-tree without recollecting the +wild, strangely-hilarious cry of the <i>Hylotomus pileatus</i>; and I cannot +help associating the giant bloom, its strength of form and vigor of +color, with the scarlet crest and king-like bearing of the bird. The big +trees of California excepted, our tulip-bearing Liriodendron is the +largest growth of the North-American forests; for, while the plane-tree +and the liquidambar-(sweet-gum) tree sometimes measure more in diameter +near the ground, they are usually hollow, and consequently bulged there, +while the tulip springs boldly out of the ground a solid shaft of clear, +clean, and sweetly-fragrant wood, sixty or seventy feet of the bole +being often entirely without limbs, with an average diameter of from +three to five feet. I found a stump in Indiana nearly eight feet in +diameter (measured three feet above the ground), and a tree in Clarke +County, Kentucky, of about the same girth, tapering slowly to the first +branch, fifty-eight feet from the root.</p> + +<p>In nearly all the Western and Southern States the tulip is generally +called poplar, and the lumber manufactured from it goes by the same +name, while in the East it is known as white-wood. The bark is very +thick and cork-like, exhaling an odor peculiarly pungent and agreeable; +the buds and tender twigs in the spring have a taste entirely individual +and unique, very pleasant to some persons, but quite repellent to +others. Gray squirrels and the young of the fox-squirrel eat the buds +and flowers as well as the cone-shaped fruit. Humming-birds and +bumble-bees in the blossoming-time make a dreamy booming among the +shadowy sprays. A saccharine, sticky substance, not unlike honey-dew, +may often be found in the hollows of the immense petals, in search of +which large black ants make pilgrimages from the root to the top of the +largest tulip-trees, patiently toiling for two or three hours over the +rough bark, among the bewildering wrinkles of which it is, a wonder how +the way is kept with such unerring <span class="pagenum">[Pg 202]</span>certainty. I have calculated +that in making such a journey the ant does what is equivalent to a man's +pedestrian tour from New York City to the Adirondacks by the roughest +route, and all for a smack of wild honey! But the ant makes his long +excursion with neither alpenstock nor luncheon, and without sleeping or +even resting on the way.</p> + +<p>The tulip-tree grows best in warm loam in which there is a mixture of +sand and vegetable mould superposed on clay and gravel. About its roots +you may find the lady-slipper and the dog-tooth violet, each in its +season. Its bark often bears the rarest lichens, and, near the ground, +short green moss as soft and thick as velvet. The poison-ivy and the +beautiful Virginia creeper like to clamber up the rough trunk, sometimes +clothing the huge tree from foot to top in a mantle of brown feelers and +glossy leaves. Seen at a distance, the tulip-tree and the +black-walnut-tree look very much alike; but upon approaching them the +superior symmetry and beauty of the former are at once discovered. The +leaves of the walnut are gracefully arranged, but they admit too much +light; while the tulip presents grand masses of dense foliage upheld by +knotty, big-veined branches, the perfect embodiment of vigor.</p> + +<p>In the days of bee-hunting in the West, I may safely say that a majority +of bee-trees were tulips. I have found two of these wild Hyblas since I +began my studies for this paper; but the trees have become so valuable +that the bees are left unmolested with their humming and their honey. It +seems that no more appropriate place for a nest of these wild +nectar-brewers could be chosen than the hollow bough of a giant +tulip,—a den whose door is curtained with leaves and washed round with +odorous airs, where the superb flowers, with their wealth of golden +pollen and racy sweets, blaze out from the cool shadows above and +beneath. But the sly old 'coon, that miniature Bruin of our Western +woods, is a great lover of honey, and not at all a respecter of the +rights of wild bees. He is tireless in his efforts to reach every +deposit of waxy comb and amber distillation within the range of his +keen power of scent. The only honey that escapes him is that in a hollow +too small for him to enter and too deep for his fore-paws to reach the +bottom.</p> + +<p>Poe, in his story of the Gold-Bug, falls into one of his characteristic +errors of conscience. The purposes of his plot required that a very +large and tall tree should be climbed, and, to be picturesque, a tulip +was chosen. But, in order to give a truthful air to the story, the +following minutely incorrect description is given: "In youth the +tulip-tree, or <i>Liriodendron Tulipiferum</i>, the most magnificent of +American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a +great height without lateral branches; but in its riper age the bark +becomes gnarled and uneven, while <i>many short limbs make their +appearance on the stem</i>" The italics are mine, and the sentence +italicized contains an unblushing libel upon the most beautiful of all +trees. Short branches never "appear on the stems" of old tulip-trees. +The bark, however, does grow rough and deeply seamed with age. I have +seen pieces of it six inches thick, which, when cut, showed a fine grain +with cloudy waves of rich brown color, not unlike the darkest mahogany. +But Poe, no matter how unconscionable his methods of art, had the true +artistic judgment, and he made the tulip-tree serve a picturesque turn +in the building of his fascinating story; though one would have had more +confidence in his descriptions of foliage if it had been May instead of +November.</p> + +<p>The growth of the tulip-tree, under favorable circumstances, is strong +and rapid, and, when not crowded or shaded by older trees, it begins +flowering when from eighteen to twenty-five years old. The +blooming-season, according to the exigences of weather, begins from May +20 to June 10 in Indiana, and lasts about a week. The fruit following +the flower is a cone an inch and a half long and nearly an inch in +diameter at the base, of a greenish—yellow color, very pungent and +odorous, and full of germs <span class="pagenum">[Pg 203]</span>like those of a pine-cone. The tree +is easily grown from the seed. Its roots are long, flexible, and tough, +and when young are pale yellow and of bitterish taste, but slightly +flavored with the stronger tulip individuality which characterizes the +juice and sap of the buds and the bark of the twigs. The leaves, as I +have said, are dark and rich, but their shape and color are not the half +of their beauty. There is a charm in their motion, be the wind ever so +light, that is indescribable. The rustle they make is not "sad" or +"uncertain," but cheerful and forceful. The garments of some young +giantess, such as Baudelaire sings of, might make that rustling as she +would run past one in a land of colossal persons and things.</p> + +<p>I have been surprised to find so little about the tulip-tree in our +literature. Our writers of prose and verse have not spared the magnolia +of the South, which is far inferior, both tree and flower, to our gaudy, +flaunting giantess of the West. Indeed, if I were an aesthete, and were +looking about me for a flower typical of a robust and perfect sentiment +of art, I should greedily seize upon the bloom of the tulip-tree. What a +"craze" for tulip borders and screens, tulip wallpapers and tulip +panel-carvings, I would set going in America! The colors, old gold, +orange, vermilion, and green,—the forms, gentle curves and classical +truncations, and all new and American, with a woodsy freshness and +fragrance in them. The leaves and flowers of the tulip-tree are so +simple and strong of outline that they need not be conventionalized for +decorative purposes. During the process of growth the leaves often take +on accidental shapes well suited to the variations required by the +designer. A wise artist, going into the woods to educate himself up to +the level of the tulip, could not fail to fill his sketch-books with +studies of the birds that haunt the tree, and especially such brilliant +ones as the red tanager, the five or six species of woodpecker, the +orioles, and the yellow-throated warbler. The Japanese artists give us +wonderful instances of the harmony between birds, flowers, and foliage; +not direct instances, it is true, but rather suggested ones, from which +large lessons might be learned by him who would carry the thought into +our woods with him in the light of a pure and safely-educated taste. +Take, for instance, the yellow-bellied woodpecker, with its red fore-top +and throat, its black and white lines, and its bright eyes, together +with its pale yellow shading of back and belly, and how well it would +"work in" with the tulip-leaves and flowers! Even its bill and feet +harmonize perfectly with the bark of the older twigs. So the +golden-wing, the tanager, and the orioles would bear their colors +harmoniously into any successful tulip design.</p> + +<p>South of the Alleghany Mountains I have not found as fine specimens of +this tree as I have in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Everywhere the +saw-mills are fast making sad havoc. The walnut and the tulip are soon +to be no more as "trees with the trees in the forest." Those growing in +the almost inaccessible "pockets" of the Kentucky and Tennessee +mountains may linger for a half-century yet, but eventually all will be +gone from wherever a man and a saw can reach them.</p> + +<p>The oak of England and the pine of Norway are not more typical than the +tulip-tree. The symmetry, vigor, and rich colors of our tree might +represent the force, freedom, and beauty of our government and our +social influences. If the American eagle is the bird of freedom, the +tulip is the tree of liberty,—strong, fragrant, giant-flowered, +flaunting, defiant, yet dignified and steadfast.</p> + +<p>A very intelligent old man, who in his youth was a great bear- and +panther-hunter, has often told me how the black bear and the tawny +catamount used to choose the ample "forks" of the tulip-tree for their +retreats when pursued by his dogs. The raccoon has superseded the larger +game, and it was but a few weeks ago that I found one lying, like a +striped, fluffy ball of fur, in a crotch ninety feet above ground. "Our +white-wood" lumber has grown so valuable that no land-owner will allow +the trees <span class="pagenum">[Pg 204]</span>to be cut by the hunter, and hence the old-fashioned +'coon-hunt has fallen among the things of the past, for it seems that +the 'coon is quite wise enough to choose for the place of his indwelling +the costliest tulip of the woods. I have already casually mentioned the +fact that the tulip-tree's bloom is scarcely known to exist by even +intelligent and well-informed Americans. Every one has heard of the +mimosa, the dogwood, the red-bud, and the magnolia, but not of the +tulip-bearing tree, with its incomparably bold, dashing, giantesque +flower, once so common in the great woods of our Western and Middle +States. I have not been able to formulate a good reason for this. Every +one whose attention is called to the flower at once goes into raptures +over its wild beauty and force of coloring, and wonders why poems have +not been written about it and legends built upon it. It is a grander +bloom than that which once, under the same name, nearly bankrupted +kingdoms, though it cannot be kept in pots and greenhouses. Its colors +are, like the idiosyncrasies of genius, as inimitable as they are +fascinating and elusive. Audubon was something of an artist, but his +tulip-blooms are utter failures. He could color an oriole, but not the +corolla of this queen of the woods. The most sympathetic and experienced +water-colorist will find himself at fault with those amber-rose, +orange-vermilion blushes, and those tender cloudings of yellow and +green. The stiff yet sensitive and fragile petals, the transparent +sepals, with their watery shades and delicate washing of olive-green, +the strong stamens and peculiarly marked central cone, are scarcely less +difficult. All the colors elude and mock the eager artist. While the +gamut of promising tints is being run, he looks, and, lo! the grand +tulip has shrivelled and faded. Again and again a fresh spray is fetched +in, but when the blooming-season is over he is still balked and +dissatisfied. The wild, Diana-like purity and the half-savage, +half-æsthetic grace have not wholly escaped him, but the color,—ah I +there is the disappointment.</p> + +<p>I have always nursed a fancy that there is something essential to +perfect health in the bitters and sweets of buds and roots and gums and +resins of the primeval woods. Why does the bird keep, even in old age, +the same brilliancy of plumage and the same clearness of eye? Is it +because it gets the <i>elixir vitæ</i> from the hidden reservoir of nature? +Be this as it may, there are times when I sincerely long for a ball of +liquidambar or a mouthful of pungent spring buds. The inner bark of the +tulip-tree has the wildest of all wild tastes, a peculiarly grateful +flavor when taken infinitesimally, something more savage than sassafras +or spice-wood, and full of all manner of bitter hints and astringent +threatenings: it has long been used as the very best appetizer for +horses in the early spring, and it is equally good for man. The +yellow-bellied woodpecker knows its value, taking it with head jauntily +awry and quiet wing-tremblings of delight. The squirrels get the essence +of it as they munch the pale leaf-buds, or later when they bite the +cones out of the flowers. The humming-birds and wild bees are the +favored ones, however, for they get the ultimate distillation of all the +racy and fragrant elements from root to bloom.</p> + +<p>The Indians knew the value of the tulip-tree as well as its beauty. +Their most graceful pirogues were dug from its bole, and its odorous +bark served to roof their rude houses. No boat I have ever tried runs so +lightly as a well-made tulip pirogue, or dug-out, and nothing under +heaven is so utterly crank and treacherous. Many an unpremeditated +plunge into cold water has one caused me while out fishing or +duck-shooting on the mountain-streams of North Georgia. If you dare +stand up in one, the least waver from a perfect balance will send the +sensitive, skittish thing a rod from under your feet, which of course +leaves you standing on the water without the faith to keep you from +going under; and usually it is your head that you are standing on. But, +to return to our tree, I would like to see its merits as an ornamental +and shade tree duly recognized. <span class="pagenum">[Pg 205]</span>If grown in the free air and +sunlight, it forms a heavy and beautifully-shaped top, on a smooth, +bright bole, and I think it might be forced to bloom about the fifteenth +year. The flowers of young, thrifty trees that have been left standing +in open fields are much larger, brighter, and more graceful than those +of old gnarled forest-trees, but the finest blooms I ever saw were on a +giant tulip in a thin wood of Indiana. A storm blew the tree down in the +midst of its flowering, and I chanced to see it an hour later. The whole +great top was yellow with the gaudy cups, each gleaming "like a flake of +fire," as Dr. Holmes says of the oriole. Some of them were nearly four +inches across. Last year a small tree, growing in a garden near where I +write, bloomed for the first time. It was about twenty years old. Its +flowers were paler and shallower than those gathered at the same time in +the woods. It may be that transplanting, or any sort of forcing or +cultivation, may cause the blooms to deteriorate in both shape and +color, but I am sure that plenty of light and air is necessary to their +best development.</p> + +<p>In one way the tulip-tree is closely connected with the most picturesque +and interesting period of American development. I mean the period of +"hewed-log" houses. Here and there among the hills of Indiana, Ohio, +Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, there remains one of those low, +heavy, lime-chinked structures, the best index of the first change from +frontier-life, with all its dangers and hardships, to the peace and +contentment of a broader liberty and an assured future. In fact, to my +mind, a house of hewed tulip-logs, with liberal stone chimneys and heavy +oaken doors, embowered in an old gnarled apple-and cherry-orchard, +always suggests a sort of simple honesty and hospitality long since +fallen into desuetude, but once the most marked characteristic of the +American people. It is hard to imagine any meanness or illiberality +being generated in such a house. Patriotism, domestic fidelity, and +spotless honesty used to sit before those broad fireplaces wherein the +hickory logs melted to snowy ashes. The men who hewed those logs "hewed +to the line" in more ways than one. Their words, like the bullets from +their flint-locked rifles, went straight to the point. The women, too, +they of the "big wheel" and the "little wheel," who carded and spun and +wove, though they may have been a trifle harsh and angular, were +diamond-pure and the mothers of vigorous offspring.</p> + +<p>I often wonder if there may not be a perfectly explainable connection +between the decay or disappearance of the forests and the evaporation, +so to speak, of man's rugged sincerity and earnestness. Why should not +the simple ingredients that make up the worldly part of our souls and +bodies be found in all their purity where nature's reservoir has never +been disturbed or its contents tainted? Why may not the subtile force +that develops the immense tulip-tree and clothes it with such a starry +mantle have power also to invigorate and intensify the life of man? "I +was rocked in a poplar trough," was the politician's boast a generation +ago. Such a declaration might mean a great deal if the sturdy, towering +strength of the tree out of which the trough was dug could have been +absorbed by the embryo Congressman. The "oldest inhabitant" of every +Western neighborhood recollects the "sugar-trough" used in the +maple-sap-gathering season, ere the genuine "sugar-camp" had been +abandoned. Young tulip-trees about fifteen inches in diameter were cut +down and their boles sawed into lengths of three feet. These were split +in two, and made into troughs by hollowing the faces and charring them +over a fire. During the bright spring days of sugar-making the young +Western mother would wrap her sturdy babe in its blanket and put it in a +dry sugar-trough to sleep while she tended the boiling syrup. A man born +sixty years ago in the region of tulip-trees and sugar-camps was +probably cradled in a "poplar" trough; and there were those born who +would now be sixty <span class="pagenum">[Pg 206]</span>years old if they had not in unwary infancy +tumbled into the enormous rainwater-troughs with which every +well-regulated house was furnished. I have seen one or two of these +having a capacity of fifty barrels dug from a single tulip bole. In such +a pitfall some budding Washington or Lincoln may have been whelmed +without causing so much as a ripple on the surface of history.</p> + +<p>But, turning to take leave of my stately and blooming Western beauty, I +see that she is both a blonde and a brunette. She has all the dreamy, +languid grace of the South combined with the <i>verve</i> and force of the +North. She is dark and she is fair, with blushing cheeks and dewy lips, +sound-hearted, strong, lofty, self-reliant, a true queen of the woods, +more stately than Diana, and more vigorous than Maid Marian.</p> + +<p class="author">MAURICE THOMPSON.</p> + + + + +<h2>OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP.</h2> + +<h3><a name="Daniel_Websters_quot" />Daniel Webster's "Moods."</h3> + + +<p>A late magazine-article treating of one of America's illustrious +dead—Daniel Webster—alluded to his well-known sombre moods, and the +gentle suasion by which his accomplished wife was enabled to shorten +their duration or dispel them entirely.</p> + +<p>On an occasion well remembered, though the "chiel takin' notes" was but +a simple child, I myself was present when the grim, moody reticence of +the great orator converted fully twoscore ardent admirers into personal +foes.</p> + +<p>During the summer of 1837, Mr. Webster, in pursuit of a Presidential +nomination, executed his famous tour through the Great West, at that +time embracing only the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. +The first infant railway of the continent being yet in +swaddling-clothes, the journey was accomplished by private conveyance, +and the bumps and bruises stoically endured in probing bottomless pits +of prairie-mud, diversified by joltings over rude log-ways and intrusive +stumps, were but a part of the cruel price paid for a glittering prize +which in the end vanished before the aspirant like fairy gold. At +stations within reach of their personal influence, local politicians +flew to the side of the brilliant statesman with the beautiful fidelity +of steel to magnet: hence he was environed by a self-appointed escort of +obsequious men, constantly changing as he progressed.</p> + +<p>"Our member" spared neither whip nor spur, and joined the triumphal +march at Chicago. Mr. Webster was then on the home-stretch, and it was +shortly after this date that the incident I describe occurred. It was a +time of wild Western speculation; towns and cities sprung into being as +buoyantly as soap-bubbles, and often proved as perishing. Major Morse +was president of a company which, perceiving a promising site for harbor +and town on the shore of Michigan, where yet the Indian charmed the +deer, secured a tract of land and proceeded to lay out an inviting town +of—corner-lots. The major's family occupied temporarily a wide log +house, with a rough "lean-to" of bright pine boards freshly cut at the +mill below. Outside, the dwelling was merely a hut of primitive pattern +nestling under the shade of a tall tree; inside, it presented a large +room divided by curtains into cooking-and sleeping-apartments, +surmounted by a stifling loft reached by the rungs of a permanent +perpendicular ladder. Savory odors of wild fowl and venison daily +drifted up the charred throat of its clay-daubed chimney, and by the +same route, whenever the rolling smoke permitted, children sitting +about <span class="pagenum">[Pg 207]</span>the hearth took observations of the clouds and heavenly +bodies, according to the time of day. A narrow passage cut through the +heart of the old logs led into the fragrant "lean-to," where against the +wall rested a massive sideboard of dark mahogany, its top alight with +glitter of glass and silver, its inmost recesses redolent of the +creature comforts which the hospitality of the times demanded. Vases and +meaner crockery overflowed everywhere with the gorgeousness of blossoms +daily plucked from sandy slopes or the verge of the adjacent marsh. +Bright carpeting kindly hid the splintered floor, and pictures did like +service for the rough walls, while the whitest of muslin festooned the +tiny windows.</p> + +<p>On the morning of the Occasion, cheerful sunshine filtered through the +quivering leaves of the big tree near the house, glorifying a late +breakfast-table, around which the family were gathering, when horses +driven in hot haste were reined up at the door. Stepping quickly forth, +the major found his hand clasped by "our member," who begged the +hospitalities of the house for the great Daniel Webster and suite, just +at hand. Despite political differences, the desired welcome was heartily +accorded, and with crucified appetites the family retired to give place +to the unbidden guests, who filed into the room bandying compliments +with their gay host. A kingly head, grandly set above powerful +shoulders, easily marked the man in whom the interest of the hour +centred. Strangely quiet amid the noisy group, he moved alone, nor waked +responsive even to his host, until a brighter sally than usual provoked +a grim kind of laughter. Then he suddenly aroused himself to new life, +joining with a burst of humor in the pleasantries of the feast. The +unexpected brightness of the cosy room was not lost on Mr. Webster, who, +on entering, paused at the threshold and glanced around in an +appreciative manner, while a deep, restful sigh escaped his weary soul. +The dreary drive through the wilderness lent an added charm to the +little oasis of civilized comfort thus encountered in the lonely +backwoods of a Western quarter-section.</p> + +<p>News of the distinguished arrival speedily flew among the laborers +running the mill and constructing dwellings for the in-rushing +population. Tom and Bill of the hammer, and Mike and Patsey of the +spade, alike forsook their tools in order to witness the exit of a hero +from the major's door. They even hoped to receive some expression of +wisdom in golden words from lips used to the flow of stirring thought +and burning eloquence. Lounging patiently under the trees, the expectant +men listened to the clink and clatter of serving and the bursts of +merriment within. At the conclusion of the breakfast and the subsequent +chat, Mr. Webster asked for his hostess, to whom with great courtesy he +expressed his sense of "the kindness extended to the stranger in a +strange land," and, adieus being over, he approached the open door-way, +and looked strangely annoyed at the sight of a double line of +white-sleeved stalwart men who stood with bared heads awaiting his +appearance. Then a great <i>mood</i> fell upon the <i>man</i>, with never a gentle +soul at hand to charm it away. Not a feature stirred in recognition of +the, voluntary homage rendered by the throng of humble men,—men +controlling the ballots so ardently desired and sought. With hat pressed +firmly over an ominously lowering brow, looking straight before him with +cavernous, tired eyes which seemed to observe nothing whereon they +rested, Webster walked through the hushed lines in grave stateliness. +The crowd was only waiting for a spark of encouragement to shout itself +hoarse in enthusiastic huzzahs. Eyes shone with suppressed excitement, +and strong hearts swelled with pride in the towering man whose fame had +surged like a tidal wave over the land. Yet with insolent deliberation +he mounted the step and seated himself in the waiting carriage, giving +no sign of having even noticed the flattering demonstration made in his +honor. The smiles, nods, and hand-clasps expected of the chief were +lavishly dispensed by <span class="pagenum">[Pg 208]</span>his mortified satellites, all of which +availed not to smother the curses, loud and deep, splitting the summer +air, as the wheels disappeared in the forest.</p> + +<p>"Begorra, thin," bawled Patsey, "it's mesilf ut'll niver vote fur this +big Yankee 'ristocrat, <i>inne</i>how. Ef he wuz a foine Irish jintleman, +now, er even a r'yal prince av the blud, there'd be no sinse in his +airs, bedad!"</p> + +<p>Tom and Bill were less noisy in their just wrath, but it ran equally +deep: "He belongs to the party. But when Daniel comes up for +office—look out! We'll score a hard day's work against him, party or no +party!"</p> + +<p>The major rose to the occasion. Being a bit of a politician and an +old-school Democrat, he could not resist the opportunity presented. With +a humorous air he sprang to the nearest stump and improvised an electric +little speech which sent the men back to labor, <i>madder</i> if not wiser +voters.</p> + +<p>With other living witnesses of the events narrated, often wondering over +the strangeness of the scene of long ago, I am truly glad at the +eleventh hour to find the solution of the problem in <i>moods</i>, rather +than in a snobbish pride unbefitting the greatness of the man.</p> + +<p class="author">F.C.M.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="Feuds_and_Lynch_Law_in_the_Southwest" id="Feuds_and_Lynch_Law_in_the_Southwest" /><b>Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest.</b></h3> + + +<p>A great deal has been said and written lately about feuds and lynch-law +in the districts around the lower Mississippi. The reports of recent +lynching there have probably been very much exaggerated; and it would +certainly be unfair to form a positive opinion about the matter without +a thorough knowledge of all the circumstances.</p> + +<p>No one who visited that part of the country before the war could return +to it now without noticing the higher degree of order and the numerous +evidences of progress. But lynching law-breakers and resorting to the +knife or pistol to settle private disputes were once ordinary +occurrences there, and they were usually marked by a businesslike +coolness which gave them a distinctive character.</p> + +<p>In the winter of 1853-54 I was clerk of a steamer owned in Wheeling. The +steamer was obliged to wait some time at Napoleon for a rise in the +Arkansas River to enable it to pass over the bar at the confluence of +that river with the Mississippi. Napoleon then had between three and +four hundred inhabitants, and was considered the worst place on the +Mississippi except Natchez-under-the-Hill. Some of the dwellings were of +considerable size, and, judging from their exterior, were kept in good +order. They were the residences of the few who belonged to the better +class, and who, to a certain extent, exercised control over their less +reputable townsmen.</p> + +<p>We were treated very kindly by the citizens, and they declined any +return for their hospitality. We soon noticed that we were never invited +to visit any of them at their dwellings. At their places of business we +were cordially welcomed, and they seemed to take a great deal of +pleasure in giving us information and affording us any amusement in +their power.</p> + +<p>Having some canned oysters among our stores, we twice invited a number +of our friends to an oyster-supper. Although our invitations included +their families, none but male guests attended. This, together with the +fact that we rarely saw any ladies on the street, seemed very strange to +us; but we made no comments, for we discovered very soon after our +arrival that it would not be prudent to ask questions about matters that +did not concern us. At church one Sunday night we noticed that all the +ladies present—composing nearly the whole of the congregation—were +dressed in black, and many of them were in deep mourning. This gave us +some idea as to the reason for their exclusiveness. Soon afterward a +murder occurred almost within my own sight. Two friends were standing on +the street and talking pleasantly to each other, when they were +approached by a man whom they did not know. Suddenly a second man came +close to the stranger, and, without saying a word, drew a +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 209]</span>pistol and shot him dead. The murderer was instantly seized, +bound, and placed in the jail.</p> + +<p>The jail was a square pen about thirty feet high, built of hewn logs, +without any opening except in the roof. This opening was only large +enough to admit one person at a time, and was protected by a heavy door. +The prisoner was forced by his captors to mount the roof by means of a +ladder, and then was lowered with a rope to the ground inside. The rope +was withdrawn, the door securely fastened, and he was caged, without any +possible means of escape, to await the verdict and sentence of the jury +summoned by "Judge Lynch."</p> + +<p>The trial was very short. The facts were proven, and the verdict was +that the murderer should be severely whipped and made to leave the town +forthwith. The whipping was administered, and he left immediately +afterward.</p> + +<p>Of course there was a good deal of excitement over this matter, and all +the male inhabitants collected to talk about it. The discussion extended +to some similar cases of recent occurrence and soon gave rise to angry +disputes. In a very short time pistols and knives were produced, +invitations to fight were given, and it seemed that blood would soon be +shed. By the interference, however, of some of the older and more +influential citizens, quiet was restored, and no one was injured. We +were afterward told that there was hardly a man in the crowd who had not +lost a father, brother, or near male relative by knife or pistol, either +in a supposed fair fight or by foul means.</p> + +<p>At that time the hatred of negroes from "free States" was intense, while +those from "slave States" were treated kindly and regarded merely as +persons of an inferior race.</p> + +<p>Some time before our arrival, a steamer belonging to Pittsburg had +stopped at Napoleon, and the colored steward went on shore to buy +provisions. While bargaining for them he became involved in a quarrel +with a white man and struck him. He was instantly seized, and would no +doubt have paid for his temerity with his life if some one in the crowd +had not exclaimed, "A live nigger's worth twenty dead ones! Let's sell +him!" This suggestion was adopted. In a very short time the unfortunate +steward was bound, mounted on a swift horse, and hurried away toward the +interior of the State. He was guarded by a party of mounted men, and in +less than a week's time he was working on a plantation as a slave for +life, with no prospect of communicating with his relatives or friends.</p> + +<p>One morning the captain of the steamer and I saw a crowd collect, and on +approaching it we found a debate going on as to what should be done with +a large and well-dressed colored man, evidently under the influence of +liquor, who was seated on the ground with his arms and legs bound. He +had knocked one white man down and struck several others while they were +attempting to secure him. The crowd was undecided whether to give him a +good whipping for his offence or to send for his master (who lived on +the other side of the river, in Mississippi) and let him inflict the +punishment. Finally, the master was sent for. He soon appeared, and +stated that he had given his "<i>boy</i>" permission to come over to +Napoleon, and had also given him money to buy some things he wanted. He +was "a good boy," and had never been in trouble before, and if the +citizens of Napoleon would forgive him this time he, the master, would +guarantee that the boy should never visit Napoleon again. The master +also stated he would "stand drinks" for the whole crowd. This gave +general satisfaction. The drinks were taken, and the master and his +slave were enthusiastically escorted to their dug-out on the shore. Much +hand-shaking took place, in which the "boy" participated, and many +invitations were given to both to visit Napoleon again; after which they +rowed contentedly to their home.</p> + +<p class="author">J.A.M.</p> + + + + +<h3><a name="The_Etymology_of_Babequot" id="The_Etymology_of_Babequot" /><b>The Etymology of "Babe."</b></h3> + + +<p>In the latest English etymological dictionary, that by the Rev. W.W. +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 210]</span>Skeat, we read under the word <i>babe</i>, "Instead of <i>babe</i> being +formed from the infantine sound <i>ba</i>, it has been modified from <i>maqui</i>, +probably by infantine influences. <i>Baby</i> is a diminutive form."</p> + +<p><i>Maqui</i> is Early Welsh for <i>son</i>, and those to whom Mr. Skeat's modified +<i>maqui</i> seems absurd will be pleased to find its absurdity indicated, if +not proved, by a Greek author of the sixth century.</p> + +<p>The following passage in the seventy-sixth section of Damascius's "Life +of Isidorus" has escaped the notice of English etymologists generally:</p> + +<p>"Hermias had a son (the elder of his philosopher sons) by Ædesia, and +one day, when the child was seven months old, Ædesia was playing with +him, as mothers do, calling him <i>bábion</i> and <i>paidíon</i>, speaking in +diminutives. But Hermias overheard her, and was vexed, and censured +these childish diminutives, pronouncing an articulate reprimand.... Now +the Syrians, and especially those who dwell in Damascus, call newborn +children, and even those that have passed the period of childhood, +<i>bábia</i>, from the goddess <i>Babía</i>, whom they worship."</p> + +<p>What is <i>bábion</i> but the English <i>baby</i>, what <i>bábia</i> but the English +<i>babies?</i> We can hardly suppose that our English words are derived from +Syriac words in use fourteen centuries ago, or that the latter were +"modified from <i>maqui</i>" by "infantine" or other influences. We are +therefore driven to the conclusion that they were alike "formed from the +infantine sound <i>ba</i>," unless we accept Damascius's derivation from +<i>Babía</i>.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, we know no more concerning this goddess than did the +learned John Selden, who, writing two hundred and twenty-odd years ago, +"De Dis Syris," says, on page 296 of that work, "I cannot conjecture +whether <i>Babía,</i> who seems to have been reverenced among the Syrians as +goddess of childhood and youth, is identical with the Syrian Venus or +not, and I do not remember to have met with any mention of this deity +except in Damascius's Life of Isidorus."</p> + +<p>Selden's memory was not at fault: the words <i>bábion, bábia</i>, and <i>Babía</i> +occur only in the passage above quoted.</p> + +<p>In the absence of other evidence than Damascius's own, we may well +question whether he has not inverted the etymological relation between +the goddess and the babies. Most divinities owe their names to the +attributes or functions imputed to them by their worshippers. It seems, +therefore, more probable that the Syrian protectress of babies owes her +name to the <i>bábia</i> than that they were called <i>bábia</i> in her honor. If, +however, we accept Damascius's theory of their relation, what forbids us +to conjecture that the goddess's name was itself "formed from the +infantine sound <i>ba</i>"? In any case, the little domestic scene between +the priggish father and the dandling mother is amusing and instructive +to parents as well as to etymologists.</p> + +<p class="author">S.E.T.</p> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + + + +<h2><a name="LITERATURE_OF_THE_DAY" />LITERATURE OF THE DAY.</h2> + +<p> +<b>"The Russian Revolt: its Causes, Condition, and Prospects."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Edmund Noble.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>The internal condition of Russia, though a matter of more than +speculative interest to its immediate neighbors, is not likely to become +what that of France has so often been,—a European question. The +institutions of other states will not be endangered by revolutionary +proceedings in the dominions of the Czar, nor will any oppression +exercised over his subjects be thought to justify foreign intervention. +Even Polish insurrections never led to any more active measures on the +part of the Western powers than delusive expressions of sympathy and +equally vain remonstrances. In these days, not Warsaw, but St. +Petersburg, is <span class="pagenum">[Pg 211]</span>the centre of disaffection, and the +ramifications extend inland, their action stimulated, it may be, to some +extent from external sources, but incapable of sending back any impulse +in return. Nihilism, being based on the absence, real or supposed, of +any political institutions worth preserving in Russia, cannot spread to +the discontented populations of other countries. Even German socialism +cannot borrow weapons or resources from a nation which has no large +proletariat and whose industries are still in their infancy. In the +nature of its government, the character of its people, and the problems +it is called upon to solve, Russia stands, as she has always stood, +alone, neither furnishing examples to other nations nor able, +apparently, to copy those which other nations have set. The great +peculiarity of the revolutionary movement is not simply that it does not +proceed from the mass of the people,—which is a common case +enough,—but that it runs counter to their instincts and their needs and +rouses not their sympathy but their aversion. The peasants, who +constitute four-fifths of the population, have no motive for seeking to +overturn the government. Their material condition, since the abolition +of serfdom, is superior to that of the Italian peasantry, who enjoy the +fullest political rights. As members of the village communities, they +hold possession and will ultimately obtain absolute ownership of more +than half the soil of the country, excluding the domains of the state. +In the same capacity they exercise a degree of local autonomy greater +than that which is vested in the communes of France. They are separated +from the other classes by differences of education, of habits, and of +interests, while the autocracy that rules supreme over all is regarded +by them as the protecting power that is to redress their grievances and +fulfil all their aspirations. The discontent which has bred so many +conspiracies, and which aims at nothing less than the subversion of the +monarchy, is confined to a portion of the educated classes, and proceeds +from causes that affect only those classes. Among them alone is there +any perception of the wide and ever-increasing difference between the +Russian system of government and that of every other European country, +any craving for the exercise of political rights and the activity of +political life, any experience of the restrictions imposed on thought +and speech and the obstacles to the advancement and diffusion of +knowledge and ideas, any consciousness that the corrupt, vexatious, and +oppressive bureaucracy by which all affairs are administered is a direct +outgrowth of unlimited and irresponsible power. Nor are they united in +desiring to destroy, or even to modify, this system. Apart from those +who find in it the means of satisfying their personal interests and +ambitions, and the larger number in whom indolence and the love of ease +stifle all thought and aspiration, there are many who believe, with +reason, that the country is not ripe for the adoption of European +institutions, that the foundations on which to construct them do not yet +exist, and that any attempt to introduce them would lead only to +calamitous results; while there is even a large party which contends +that, far from needing them, Russia is happily situated in being exempt +from the struggles and the storms, the wars of classes and of factions, +that have attended the course of Western civilization, and in being left +free to work out her own development by original and more peaceful +methods. No doubt the great majority of thinking people feel the +necessity for some large measures of reform and look forward to the +establishment of a constitutional system and the gradual extension of +political freedom to the mass of the nation. But there is no evidence +that the revolutionary spirit has spread or excited sympathy in any such +degree as its audacity, its resoluteness, and the terror created by its +sinister achievements have seemed at times to indicate. The active +members of the propaganda are almost exclusively young persons, living +apart from their families, of scanty means and without conspicuous +ability. They belong to the lower ranks of the nobility, the rising +<i>bourgeois</i> class, and, above all, that large body of necessitous +students, including many of the children of the ill-paid clergy, whom M. +Leroy-Beaulieu styles the "intellectual proletariat." Classical studies, +German metaphysics, and the scientific theories and discoveries of +recent years have had much to do with the fermentation that has led to +so many violent explosions, the universities have been the chief <i>foci</i> +of agitation, and in the attempts to suppress it the government has laid +itself open to the reproach of making war upon learning and seeking to +stifle intellectual development.</p> + +<p>Such is the view presented by recent <span class="pagenum">[Pg 212]</span>French and English writers +who have made the condition of Russia a subject of minute investigation. +Mr. Noble deals more in generalizations than in details, and sets forth +a theory which it is difficult to reconcile with the facts and +conclusions derived from other sources. According to him, Russia is, and +has been from the first establishment of the imperial rule, in a state +of chronic revolt. This revolt is "the protest of eighty millions of +people against their continued employment as a barrier in the path of +peaceful human progress and national development." "It is not the +educated classes alone, but the masses,—peasant and artisan, land-owner +and student,—of whose aspirations, at least, it may be said, as it was +said of the earliest and freest Russians, '<i>Neminem ferant +imperatorem</i>.'" Before the rise of the empire "the Russians lived as +freemen and happy." They "enjoyed what, in a political sense, we are +fairly entitled to regard as the golden age of their national +existence." The <i>veché</i>, or popular assembly, "was from a picturesque +point of view the grandest, from an administrative point of view the +simplest, and from a moral point of view the most equitable form of +government ever devised by man." The autocracy, established by force, +has encountered at all periods a steady, if passive, opposition, as +exemplified in the Raskol, or separation of the "Old Believers" from the +Orthodox Church, and in the resistance offered to the innovations of +Peter the Great: "in the one as in the other case the popular revolt was +against authority and all that it represented." It is admitted that +"among the peasants the revolt must long remain in its passive stage.... +Yet year by year, partly owing to educational processes, partly owing to +propaganda, even the peasants are being won over to the growing +battalions of discontent." The autocracy is "doomed." "The forces that +undermine it are cumulative and relentless." Its "true policy is to +spread its dissolution—after the manner of certain financial +operations—over a number of years." "The method of the change is really +not of importance. The vital matter is that the reform shall at once +concede and practically apply the principle of popular self-government, +granting at the same time the fullest rights of free speech and public +assembly." Finally, "the Tsar and his advisers" are bidden to "beware," +since "the spectacle of this frightfully unequal struggle ... is not +lost upon Europe, or even upon America."</p> + +<p>The horrible crudity, as we are fain to call it, of the notions thus +rhetorically set forth must be obvious to every reader acquainted with +the history of the rise and growth of states in general, however little +attention he may have given to those of Russia in particular. The +institutions of Russia differ fundamentally from those of other European +states. But the difference lies in historical conditions and +development, not in the principles underlying all human society. No +people has ever had a permanent government of its own resting solely or +chiefly on force. Wherever autocracy has acquired a firm footing, it has +done so by suppressing anarchy, establishing order and authority, and +securing national unity and independence. Nowhere has it fulfilled these +conditions more completely than in Russia. It grew up when the country +was lying prostrate under the Tartar domination, and it supplied the +impulse and the means by which that yoke was thrown off. It absorbed +petty principalities, extinguished their conflicting ambitions, and +consolidated their resources; checked the migrations of a nomad +population, and brought discordant races under a common rule; repelled +invasions to which, in its earlier disintegrated condition, the nation +must have succumbed, and built up an empire hardly less remarkable for +its cohesion and its strength than for the vastness of its territory. In +a word, it performed, more rapidly and thoroughly, the same work which +was accomplished by monarchy between the eighth and the fifteenth +century in Western Europe. If its methods were more analogous to those +of Eastern despotisms than of European sovereignties, if its excesses +were unrestrained and its power uncurbed, this is only saying that +Russia, instead of sharing in the heritage of Roman civilization and in +the mutual intercourse and common discipline through which the Western +communities were developed, was cut off from association with its more +fortunate kindred and subjected to influences from which they were, for +the most part, exempt. To hold up the crude democracy and turbulent +assemblies common in a primitive state of society as evidence that the +Russian people possessed at an early period of its history a beautifully +organized constitutional system; to contend that the most absolute +monarchy in existence has maintained itself for centuries, +<span class="pagenum">[Pg 213]</span>without encountering a single serious insurrection, in a nation +whose distinguishing characteristic is its inability to endure a ruler; +to treat the introduction of a totally different and far more complex +system of government, the product elsewhere of elements that have no +existence in Russia, and of long struggles supplemented by violent +revolutions, as a thing that may be effected without danger or +difficulty, the "method" being "really not of importance,"—all this +strikes us as evincing a condition of mind that can only be regarded as +a survival from the period when the theories and illusions of the +eighteenth-century <i>philosophes</i> had not yet been dissipated by the +French Revolution.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> +<b>"A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago:</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Henry O. Forbes, F.R.G.S.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York: Harper & Brothers.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>Although a long succession of naturalists have done their best to +familiarize readers with the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Mr. +Forbes's book is full not only of freshly-adjusted and classified facts, +but of curious and valuable details of his own discoveries. Even the +best-known islands of the group are so inexhaustible in every form of +animal and vegetable life that much remains for the patient gleaner +after Darwin and Wallace, who found here some of the most striking +illustrations of their deductions and theories, It is well known that +startling contrasts in the distribution of plants and animals are met +with in these islands, even when they lie side by side; and in no other +part of the world is the history of mutations of climate, of the law of +migrations, and of the changes of sea and land, so open and palpable to +the scientific observer. Mr. Forbes's object seems to have been to visit +those islands which offer the most striking deviations from the more +general type. His earlier explorations were made alone, but during the +last eighteen months he was accompanied by a brave woman who came out +from England to Batavia to be married to him at the close of 1881. It is +painful to read of the deadly ordeals of climate and the excessive +discomforts and privations to which this lady was exposed. Her diary, +kept at Dilly during her husband's absence, while she was ill, utterly +deserted, and in danger of a lonely and agonizing death, makes a +singular contrast to the record of Miss Bird and others of her sex who +seem to have triumphed over all the vicissitudes possible to women. To +the general reader Mr. Forbes's travels in Java, Sumatra, and the +Keeling Islands are far more satisfactory than in those less familiar, +like Timor and Buru. In the light of the terrible events of 1883, +everything connected with the islands lying on either side of the +Straits of Sunda is of the highest interest. Those appalling disasters +which swept away part of Sumatra and Java and altered the configuration +of the whole volcanic group surrounding Krakatoa took place only a few +weeks after Mr. and Mrs. Forbes sailed for home. This widespread +destruction seemed to the inhabitants the culmination of a series of +calamitous years of drought, wet, blight, bovine pestilence, and fever. +It was Mr. Forbes's fortune to be in Java during these bad seasons, +which, from combined causes, made it impossible for flowers to perfect +themselves and fructify. This circumstance was, however, useful to the +naturalist, offering him an opportunity for experiments in the +fertilization of orchids and other plants. The account of the Dutch +cinchona-plantations, which now furnish quinine of the best quality, is +full of interest.</p> + +<p>Mr. Forbes's visit to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, in the Indian Ocean, +cannot be passed over. He was eager to visit a coral-reef, and this +atoll, stocked and planted only by the flotsam and jetsam of the seas, +the winds, and migrating birds, offers to the naturalist a most +delightful study; for here, progressing almost under his eyes, are the +phenomena which have made Bermuda and other coral groups. Little as the +Keeling Islands seem to offer in the way of secure habitation, they have +a population of some hundreds of people, presided over by their +energetic proprietor, Mr. Ross, who has planted the atoll thickly with +cocoanut palms. Gathering the nuts and expressing the oil is the chief +industry of the inhabitants, who are all taught to work and support +themselves in some useful way. No money is in circulation on the island: +a system of exchange and barter with agents in Batavia for necessary +products takes its place. This thriving little community has, however, +terrible forces to contend against. Darwin recounts the effects of an +earthquake which took place two years before his visit to the islands in +1836; a fierce cyclone brought ruin and devastation in <span class="pagenum">[Pg 214]</span>1862; +and in 1876 a terrible experience of cyclone and earthquake almost swept +away the whole settlement. This was followed by a most singular +phenomenon. "About thirty-six hours after the cyclone," writes Mr. +Forbes, "the water on the eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be +rising up from below of a dark color. The color was of an inky hue, and +its smell 'like that of rotten eggs.' ... Within twenty-four hours every +fish, coral, and mollusc in the part impregnated with this discoloring +substance—probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid died. So great was +the number of fish thrown on the beach, that it took three weeks of hard +work to bury them in a vast trench dug in the sand." Wherever this water +touched the growing coral-reef, it was blighted and killed. Darwin saw +similar "patches" of dead coral, and attributed them to some great fall +of the tide which had left the insects exposed to the light of the sun. +But it is probable that a similar submarine eruption had taken place +after the earthquake which preceded his visit to the Keeling Islands in +1836.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p> +<b>"Birds in the Bush."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Bradford Torrey.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>We like the name of Mr. Torrey's book, which seems to carry with it a +practical reversal of the proverb that a bird in the hand is worth two +in the bush. For although in many ways it is a good and pleasant sign to +note the increase of amateur naturalists among us, we yet feel a dread +of an incursion of those lovers of classified collections, "each with +its Latin label on," who believe that in gaining stuffed specimens they +may best arrive at the charm and the mystery of that exquisite +phenomenon which we call bird-life. Mr. Torrey has no puerile ambitions +for birds in the hand, and a bird in the bush makes to his perception +holy ground, where he takes the shoes from off his feet and watches and +waits, feeling a delightful surprise in each piquant caprice of the +little songster. He tells the story of his experiences and impressions +simply and pleasantly, often utters a good thing without too much +emphasis, and yet more often says true things, which is more difficult +still. He is nowhere bookish, although he has read and can quote well if +need be. He reminds one occasionally of Emerson, oftener of Thoreau, +while his method is that of John Burroughs. His most careful studies are +perhaps of the birds on Boston Common and about Boston, but he writes +pleasantly and suggestively of those in the White Mountains. One likes +to be reminded that there are still bobolinks in the world, for they +have deserted many spots which they once favored. There used to be +meadows full of rocks, in each crevice of which nodded a scarlet +columbine, surrounded by grassy borders where wild strawberries grew +thickly, with hedge-rows running riot with blackberry, sumach, and +alder,—all reckless of utility and given over to lovely waste,—that +were vocal on June mornings with bobolinks, but where in these times one +might wait the whole day through and not hear a single note of the old +refrain. Our author finds them plentiful, however, at North Conway, +where, as he describes it, their "song dropped from above" while he sat +perched on a fence-rail looking at the snow-crowned Mount Washington +range.</p> + + +<p> </p> +<p> +<b>"The Cruise of the Brooklyn.</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A Journal of the principal events of a three years' cruise in</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the U. S. Flag-Ship Brooklyn, in the South Atlantic Station,</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">extending south of the Equator from Cape Horn east to the limits</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the Indian Ocean on the seventieth meridian of east</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">longitude. Descriptions of places in South America, Africa, and</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madagascar, with details of the peculiar customs and industries</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of their inhabitants. The cruises of the other vessels of the</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">American squadron, from November, 1881, to November, 1884."</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By W.H. Beehler, Lieut. U. S. Navy.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Illustrated.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Press of J.B. Lippincott Co. Philadelphia. 1885.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>The copious information given on the title-page leaves little to be +supplied in regard to the subject-matter of this volume. The same +thoroughness is displayed in the narrative and descriptions, as well of +the incidents of the voyage and the details of shipboard life as of the +history, productions, and scenery of the various places visited. They +include, of course, no events or operations such as belong to the annals +of naval enterprise or maritime discovery, but, besides the ordinary +phases of service on foreign stations,—the interchange of courtesies +with the authorities, the routine of duty and discipline, and the +scarcely less regular round of amusements and festivities,—we have +interesting episodes, such as an account of the observations of the +transit of Venus at Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, the "Brooklyn" having been +detailed to take charge of the expedition sent out under Messrs. Very +and Wheeler. A visit to some of the ports of Madagascar soon after the +bombardment of Hovas <span class="pagenum">[Pg 215]</span>gives occasion for a readable relation of +the internal revolutions and the transactions with European powers that +have given a pretext, if such it can be called, for the French claim to +exercise a protectorate over a portion of the island, the enforcement of +which will require, in our author's opinion, "an army of at least fifty +thousand men." Cape Town was a place of stay for several weeks on both +the outward and the homeward voyage, and in this connection the history +of the South African states and colonies, including the English wars and +imbroglios with the Boers and the Zulus, is given in detail; while the +necessity for touching at St. Helena furnished an opportunity for +repeating the tale of Napoleon's captivity, with particulars preserved +among "the traditions of the old inhabitants, not generally known."</p> + +<p>It will be seen that Lieutenant Beehler made good use both of the means +of observation and of the leisure for study afforded by the "cruise." He +writes agreeably, and seems to have been careful in regard to the +sources from which he has gathered information. The book is beautifully +printed, and the illustrations are faithful but artistic renderings of +photographic views.</p> + +<p> </p> +<p><a name="Recent_Fiction" /><b>Recent Fiction.</b></p> + + +<p> +<b>"At the Red Glove."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York: Harper & Brothers.</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>"Upon a Cast."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Charlotte Dunning.</span><br /> +New York: Harper & Brothers.<br /> +<br /> +<b>"Down the Ravine."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Charles Egbert Craddock.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>"By Shore and Sedge."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Bret Harte.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.</span><br /> +<br /> +<b>"At Love's Extremes."</b><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">By Maurice Thompson.</span><br /> +<span style="margin-left: 1em;">New York: Cassell & Co.</span><br /> +</p> + + +<p>Although the scene of "At the Red Glove" is laid in Berne, it is a +typical French story of French people with French ideas and +characteristics, and it is French as well in the symmetry of its +arrangements and effects and its admirable technique. In point of fact, +Berne is a city where a German dialect is spoken, but among the lively +groups of <i>bourgeois</i> who carry on this effective little drama a +prettier and politer language is in vogue. Madame Carouge, whose +personality is the pivot upon which the story revolves, is a native of +southern France, and is the proprietor of the Hôtel Beauregard. Her +husband, who married her as a mere child and carried her away from a +life of poverty and neglect, has died before the opening of the story +and bequeathed all his property to his young and handsome wife. "Ah, but +I do not owe him much," the beautiful woman said: "he has wasted my +youth. I am eight-and-twenty, and I have not yet begun to live." Thus +Madame Carouge as a widow sets out to realize the dreams she has dreamed +in the dull apathetic days of her long bondage. Although she is bent on +love and happiness, she is yet sensible and discreet, and manages the +Hôtel Beauregard with skill and tact, while secluding herself from +common eyes. Destiny, however, as if eager at last to work in her favor, +throws in her way a handsome young Swiss, Rudolf Engemann by name, a +bank-clerk, with whom she falls deeply in love. Everything is +progressing to Madame's content, when a little convent-girl, Marie +Peyrolles, comes to Berne to live with her old aunt, a glove-seller, +whose sign in the Spitalgasse gives the name to the story. It would be a +difficult matter to find a prettier piece of comedy than that which +ensues upon Marie's advent. It is all simple, spontaneous, and, on the +part of the actors, entirely serious, yet the effect is delightfully +humorous. Berne, with its quaint arcaded streets, its Alpine views, and +its suburban resorts, makes a capital background, and gives the group +free play to meet with all sorts of picturesque opportunities. The story +is told without any straining after climaxes, but with many felicitous +touches that enhance the effect of every picture and incident. In scene, +characters, and plot, "At the Red Glove" offers a brilliant opportunity +to the dramatist, and one is tempted to think that the story must have +been originally conceived and planned with reference to the stage.</p> + +<p>"Upon a Cast" is also a very amusing little story, and turns on the +experiences of a couple of ladies who, with a longing for a quiet life,</p> +<span style="margin-left: 5em;">The world forgetting, by the world forgot,</span> +<p>settle on the North River in a town which, though called Newbroek, might +easily be identified as Poughkeepsie. Little counting upon this niche +outside the world becoming a centre of interest or a theatre of events, +the necessity of presenting their credentials to the social magnates of +the place does not occur to these ladies,—one the widow of a Prussian +officer, and the other her niece, who have returned to America after a +long residence abroad. They prefer to <span class="pagenum">[Pg 216]</span>remain, as it were, +incognito; and, pried; into as the seclusion of the new-comers is by all +the curious, this reticence soon causes misconstructions and scandals. +The petty gossip, the solemnities of self-importance, and the +Phariseeism of a country neighborhood are very well portrayed, and, we +fear, without any especial exaggeration. The story is told with +unflagging spirit, and shows quick perceptions and a lively feeling for +situations. Carol Lester's friendship for Oliver Floyd while she is +ignorant of the existence of his wife is a flaw in the pleasantness; but +"Upon a Cast" is well worthy of a high place in the list of summer +novels.</p> + +<p>Although "Down the Ravine" belongs to the category of books for young +people, the story is too true to life in characters and incidents, and +too artistically handled, not to find appreciative readers of all ages. +In fact, we are inclined to discover in the book stronger indications of +the author's powers as a novelist than in anything she has hitherto +published. "Where the Battle was Fought," in spite of all its fine +scenes, had not the same sustained interest nor the same spontaneity. +The plot of the present story is excellent, and the characters act and +react on each other in a simple and natural way. The youthful Diceys, +with the faithful, loyal Birt at their head, are a capital study; and +from first to last the author has nowhere erred in truth or failed in +humor.</p> + +<p>Taking into consideration the ease with which Mr. Bret Harte won his +laurels, and the belief which all his early admirers shared that here at +last was the great American novelist, who was to hold a distinctive +place in the world's literature, he has perhaps not fulfilled +expectations nor answered the demands upon his powers. The very +individuality of his work, its characteristic bias, has been, in point +of fact, a hinderance and an impediment. The unexpectedness of his first +stories, the enchanted surprise, like that of a new and delicious +vintage or a wonderful undiscovered chord in music,—these effects are +not easily made to recur with undiminished strength and charm. However, +one may generally find some bubbles of the old delightful elixir in Mr. +Harte's stories, and in this little group of them, regathered, we +believe, from English magazines, each is interesting in its way, and +each true to the author's typical idea, which is to discover to his +readers some heroic quality in unheroic human beings which transforms +their whole lives before our eyes.</p> + +<p>Mr. Thompson on his title-page announces himself as the author of two +novels, "A Tallahassee Girl" and "His Second Campaign," both of which we +read with pleasure, and this impression led us to turn hopefully to a +third by the same hand. "At Love's Extremes" does not, however, take our +fancy. If the author undertook to discuss a complex problem seriously, +he has failed to make it clear or vital to the reader; and if the +various episodes of Colonel Reynolds's life are to be passed over as +mere slight deviations from the commonplace, we can only say that we +consider them too unpleasant and abhorrent to good taste to be imposed +upon us so lightly. There are also points of the story which seem to +mock the good sense of the reader. Has the author considered the state +of mind of a young widow who has heard that her husband has been +murdered in a street-brawl in Texas, who has mourned him for years, and +then, after yielding to the solicitations of a new suitor and promising +to marry him, learns from his own lips that it was his hand (although +the act was one of self-defence) which sent her husband to his tragic +death? Mr. Thompson seems to violate the sanctities and the proprieties +of womanhood in allowing the widow, after a faint interval of shock, to +pass over this fact as unimportant. This situation has, of course, its +famous precedent in the scene in which Gloster wooes and wins the Lady +Anne beside her murdered husband's bier; but that is tragedy, and we +moderns are, besides, more squeamish than the people of those mediæval +times. In this story the situation becomes more logical, even if more +absurd, after the return of the husband who was supposed to have been +murdered. With a good deal of effort to show powerful feeling, the +characters in the book are all automatons, who say and do nothing with +real thought or real passion. The vernacular of the mountaineers seems +to have been carefully studied, and is so thoroughly outlandish and so +devoid of fine expressions that we are inclined to believe it more +accurate than the poetic and musical dialects which it is the fashion to +impose upon our credulity. But it must be confessed that, with only his +own rude and pointless <i>patois</i> in which to express himself, the +Southern cracker becomes painfully devoid of interest, to say nothing of +charm.</p> + +<p> </p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES" />FOOTNOTES.</h2> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_001_1" id="Footnote_001_1" /><a href="#FNanchor_001_1"><span class="label">[001]</span></a> John Sevier's Memorial to the North Carolina +Legislature.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_002_2" id="Footnote_002_2" /><a href="#FNanchor_002_2"><span class="label">[002]</span></a> J.G.M. Ramsay, "Annals of Tennessee."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_003_3" id="Footnote_003_3" /><a href="#FNanchor_003_3"><span class="label">[003]</span></a> Haywood.</p></div> + + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, *** + +***** This file should be named 14530-h.htm or 14530-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/3/14530/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/old/14530.txt b/old/14530.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7cd78ca --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14530.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7633 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885 + +Author: Various + +Release Date: December 30, 2004 [EBook #14530] +[Date last updated: July 30, 2005] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +[Note: The Table of Contents was added by the transcriber. +Footnotes will be found at the end of the text.] + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + +AUGUST, 1885. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + +ON THIS SIDE. by F.C. BAYLOR. + VIII. + +OUR VILLE. by MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. + +THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. by M.H. CATHERWOOD. + I. PARADISE. + II. FORBIDDEN FRUIT. + III. THE FLAMING SWORD. + +PROBATION. by FLORENCE EARLE COATES. + +THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. by EDMUND KIRKE. + TWO PAPERS. II. + +A PLEASANT SPIRIT. by MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. + +FISHING IN ELK RIVER. by TOBE HODGE. + +ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS. by + CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES. + +THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. by DAVID BENNETT KING. + +MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. by FRANK PARKE. + +THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. by MARY C. PECKHAM. + +A FOREST BEAUTY. by MAURICE THOMPSON. + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + Daniel Webster's "Moods." by F.C.M. + Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest. by J.A.M. + The Etymology of "Babe." by S.E.T. + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + +Recent Fiction. + +FOOTNOTES. + + + * * * * * + + + + +LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE. + + +_AUGUST, 1885_. + + + * * * * * + + + + +ON THIS SIDE. + +VIII. + + +Not the least delightful of Sir Robert's qualities was his capacity for +enjoying most things that came in his way, and finding some interest in +all. When Mr. Ketchum joined him in the library, where he was jotting +down "the _sobriquets_ of the American States and cities," and told him +of the Niagara plan, his ruddy visage beamed with pleasure. + +"A delightful idea. Capital," he said. "I suppose I can read up a bit +about it before we start, and not go there with my eyes shut. +Ni-a-ga-rah,--monstrously soft and pretty name. Isn't there something on +your shelves that would give me the information I want? But we can come +to that presently. Just now I want to find out, if I can, how these +nicknames came to be given. They must have originated in some great +popular movement, eh? I thought I saw my way, as, for example, the +'Empire State' and the 'Crescent City' and some others, but this 'Sucker +State,' now, and 'Buckeye' business,--what may that mean in plain +English?" + +Mr. Ketchum shed what light he could on these interesting questions, and +Sir Robert thoughtfully ran his hands through his side-whiskers, while, +with an apologetic "One moment, I beg," or "Very odd, very; that must go +down verbatim," he entered the gist of Mr. Ketchum's queer remarks in +his note-book. + +On the following morning he rose with Niagara in his soul. He had more +questions to ask at the breakfast-table than anybody could answer, and +was eager to be off. Mr. Ketchum, who had that week made no less than +fifty thousand dollars by a lucky investment, was in high spirits. +Captain Kendall, who had been allowed to join the party, was vastly +pleased by the prospect of another week in Ethel's society. Mrs. Sykes +was tired of Fairfield, and longed to be "on the move" again, as she +frankly said. So that, altogether, it was a merry company that finally +set off. + +The very first view of "the ocean unbound" increased their pleasure to +enthusiasm. Mrs. Sykes, without reservation, admitted that it was "a +grand spot," and felt as though she were giving the place a certificate +when she added, "_Quite_ up to the mark." She was out on the Suspension +Bridge, making a sketch, as soon as she could get there; she took one +from every other spot about the place; and when tired of her pencil, she +stalked about with her hammer, chipping off bits of rock that promised +geological interest. But she found her greatest amusement in the brides +that "infested the place" (to quote from her letter to her sister +Caroline), indulged in much satirical comment on them, and, choosing one +foolish young rustic who was there as her text, wrote in her diary, +"American brides like to go from the altar to some large hotel, where +they can display their finery, wear their wedding-dresses every evening, +and attract as much attention as possible. The national passion for +display makes them delight in anything that renders them conspicuous, no +matter how vulgar that display may be. If one must have a fools' +paradise, generally known as a honeymoon, this is about as pleasant a +place as any other for it; and, as there are several runaway couples +stopping here, and the place is just on the border, this is doubtless +the American Gretna Green, where silly women and temporarily-infatuated +men can marry in haste, to repent at leisure." + +Mr. Heathcote gave his camera enough to do, as may be imagined. He and +Sir Robert traced the Niagara River from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, and +photographed it at every turn, made careful estimates of its length, +breadth, depth, the flow of currents, scale of descent to the mile, wear +of precipice, and time necessary for the river to retire from the falls +business altogether and meander tranquilly along on a level like other +rivers. They arrayed themselves in oil-skin suits and spent an +unconscionable time at the back of the Horseshoe Fall, roaring out +observations about it that were rarely heard, owing to the deafening +din, and had more than one narrow escape from tumbling into the water in +these expeditions. They carefully bottled some of it, which they +afterward carefully sealed with red wax and duly labelled, intending to +add it to a collection of similar phials which Sir Robert had made of +famous waters in many countries. They went over the mills and factories +in the neighborhood, and Sir Robert had long confabs with the managers, +of whom he asked permission to "jot down" the interesting facts +developed in the course of their conversations, surprising them by his +knowledge of mechanics and the subjects in hand. + +"Man alive! what do you want with _those_?" said he to one of them, a +keen-faced young fellow, who was showing him the boiler-fires. He +pointed with his stick as he spoke, and rattled it briskly about the +brick-work by way of accompaniment as he went on: "Such a waste of +force, of money! downright stupidity! You don't want it. You don't need +it, any more than you need an hydraulic machine tacked to the back of +your trains. You have got water enough running past your very door to--" + +"I've told that old fool Glass that a thousand times," broke in the +young man; "but if he wants to try and warm and light the world with a +gas-stove when the sun is up I guess it's no business of mine, though it +does rile me to see the power thrown away and good coal wasted. If I had +the capital, here's what _I_'d do. Here." + +Seizing Sir Robert's stick, the enthusiast drew a fondly-loved ideal +mill in the coal-dust at his feet, while Sir Robert looked and listened, +differed, suggested, with keen interest, and Mr. Heathcote gave but +haughty and ignorant attention to the talk that followed. + +"Yes, that's the way of it; but Glass has lived all his life with his +head in a bag, and he can't see it. I am surprised to see you take an +interest in it. Ever worked at it?" said the man in conclusion. + +"A little," said Sir Robert affably, who could truthfully have said as +much of anything. "Who is this Glass?" + +"Oh, he's the man that owns all this; the stupidest owl that ever lived. +I wish he could catch on like you. I'd like very well to work with you," +was the reply. + +"A bumptious fellow, that," commented Mr. Heathcote when they left. +"He'd 'like to work with you,' indeed!" + +"A fellow with ideas. I'd like to work with him," replied his uncle; +"though he isn't burdened with respect for his employers." + +Miss Noel meanwhile tied on her large straw hat, took her cane, basket, +trowel, tin box, and, followed by Parsons with her sketching-apparatus, +went off to hunt plants or wash in sketches, a most blissfully occupied +and preoccupied old lady. + +To Mr. Ketchum's great amusement, Miss Noel, Mrs. Sykes, and Mr. +Heathcote all arrived at a particular spot within a few moments of each +other one morning, all alike prepared and determined to get the view it +commanded. + +Miss Noel had said to Job _en route,_ "Do you think that I shall be able +to get a fly and drive about the country a bit? I should so like it. Are +they to be had there?" + +And he had replied, "You will have some difficulty in _not_ taking 'a +fly' there, I guess. The hackmen would rather drive your dead body +around town for nothing than let you enjoy the luxury of walking about +unmolested. But I will see to all that." + +Accordingly, a carriage had been placed at their disposal, and they had +taken some charming drives, in the course of which Parsons, occupying +the box on one occasion, was seen to be peering very curiously about +her. + +"A great pity, is it not, Parsons, that we can't see all this in the +autumn, when the thickets of scarlet and gold are said to be so very +beautiful?" said Miss Noel, addressing her affably. + +"Yes, mem," agreed Parsons. "And, if you please, mem, where are the +estates of the gentry, as I 'ave been lookin' for ever since we came +hover?" + +"Not in this part," replied Miss Noel. "The red Indians were here not +very long since. You should really get a pin-cushion of their +descendants, those mild, dirty creatures that work in bark and beads. +Buy of one that has been baptized: one shouldn't encourage them to +remain heathens, you know. Your friends in England will like to see +something made by them; and they were once very powerful and spread all +over the country as far as--as--I really forget where; but I know they +were very wild and dreadful, and lived in wigwams, and wore moccasins." + +"Oh, indeed, mem!" responded Parsons, impressed by the extent of her +mistress's information. + +"A wigwam is three upright poles, such as the gypsies use for their +kettles, thatched with the leaves of the palm and the plantain," Miss +Noel went on. "Dear me! It is very odd! I certainly remember to have +read that; but perhaps I am getting back to the Southern Americans +again, which does so vex Robert. I wonder if one couldn't see a wigwam +for one's self? It can't be plantain, after all: there is none growing +about here." + +She asked Mabel about this that evening, and the latter told her husband +how Miss Noel was always mixing up the two continents. + +"I don't despair, Mabel. They will find this potato-patch of ours after +a while," he said good-humoredly. + +But he was less amiable when Mrs. Sykes said at dinner next day, "I +should like to try your maize. Quite simply boiled, and eaten with +butter and salt, I am told it is quite good, really. I have heard that +the Duke of Slumborough thought it excellent." + +"You don't say so! I am so glad to hear it! I shall make it generally +known as far as I can. Such things encourage us to go on trying to make +a nation of ourselves. It would have paralyzed all growth and +development in this country for twenty years if he had thought it +'nasty,'" said Job. "Foreigners can't be too particular how they express +their opinions about us. Over and over again we have come within an ace +of putting up the shutters and confessing that it was no use pretending +that we could go on independently having a country of our own, with +distinct institutions, peculiarities, customs, manners, and even +productions. It would be so much better and easier to turn ourselves +over to a syndicate of distinguished foreigners who would govern us +properly,--stamp out ice-water and hot rolls from the first, as unlawful +and not agreeing with the Constitution, give us cool summers, prevent +children from teething hard, make it a penal offence to talk through the +nose, and put a bunch of Bourbons in the White House, with a divine +right to all the canvas-back ducks in the country. There are so many +kings out of business now that they could easily give us a bankrupt one +to put on our trade dollar, or something really _sweet_ in emperors who +have seen better days. And a standing army of a hundred thousand men, +all drum-majors, in gorgeous uniforms, helmets, feathers, gold lace, +would certainly scare the Mexicans into caniptious and unconditional +surrender. The more I think of it, the more delightful it seems. It is +mere stupid obstinacy our people keeping up this farce of +self-government, when anybody can see that it is a perfect failure, and +that the country has no future whatever." + +"Oh, you talk in that way; but I don't think you would really like it," +said Mrs. Sykes. "Americans seem to think that they know everything: +they are above taking any hints from the Old World, and get as angry as +possible with me when I point out a few of the more glaring defects that +strike me." + +"I am surprised at that. Our great complaint is that we can't get any +advice from Europeans. If we only had a little, even, we might in time +loom up as a fifth-rate power. But no: they leave us over here in this +wilderness without one word of counsel or criticism, or so much as a +suggestion, and they ought not to be surprised that we are going to the +dogs. What else can they expect?" said Mr. Ketchum. + +"Husband, dear, you were very sharp with my cousin to-day, and it was +not like you to show temper,--at least, not temper exactly, but +vexation," said Mabel to him afterward in mild rebuke. "She has told me +that you quite detest the English, so that she wonders you should have +married me. And I said that you were far too intelligent and just to +cherish wrong feelings toward any people, much less my people." + +"Well, if _she_ represented England I should drop England quietly over +the rapids some day when I could no longer stand her infernal +patronizing, impertinent airs, and rid the world of a nuisance," said +Mr. Ketchum, with energy. "Excuse my warmth, but that woman would poison +a prairie for me. Fortunately, I happen to know that she only represents +a class which neither Church nor State there has the authority to shoot, +_yet_, and I am not going to cry down white wool because there are black +sheep. Look at Sir Robert, and Miss Noel, and all the rest of them, how +different they are." + +Captain Kendall certainly found Niagara delightful, for, owing to the +absorption of the party in their different pursuits, he was able to see +more of Ethel than he had ever done. He was so different from the men +she had known that he was a continual study to her. Instead of the +studied indifference, shy avoidance, shy advances, culminating in a +blunt and straightforward declaration of "intentions," which she would +have thought natural in an admirer, followed by transparent, honest +delight in the event of acceptance, or manly submission to the +inevitable in the event of rejection, Captain Kendall had surprised her +by liking her immediately, or at least by showing that he did, and +seeking her persistently, without any pretence of concealment. He talked +to her of politics, of social questions in the broadest sense, of books, +scientific discoveries, his travels, and the travels of others. He read +whole volumes of poetry to her. He discoursed by the hour on the manly +character, its faults, merits, peculiarities, and possibilities, and +then contrasted it with the womanly one, trait for trait, and it seemed +to her that women had never been praised so eloquently, +enthusiastically, copiously. At no time was he in the least choked by +his feelings or at a loss for a fresh word or sentiment. Such romance, +such ideality, such universality, as it were, she had never met. When +his admiration was most unbridled it seemed to be offered to her as the +representative of a sex entirely perfect and lovely. Everything in +heaven and earth, apparently, ministered to his passion and made him +talk all around the beloved subject with a wealth of simile and +suggestion that she had never dreamed of. But, if he gave full +expression to his agitated feelings in these ways, he was extremely +delicate, respectful, reserved, in others. He wrapped up his heart in so +many napkins, indeed, that, being a practical woman not extraordinarily +gifted in the matter of imagination, she frequently lost sight of it +altogether, and she sometimes failed to follow him in a broad road of +sentiment that (like the Western ones which Longfellow has described) +narrowed and narrowed until it disappeared, a mere thread, up a tree. If +he looked long, after one of these flights, at her sweet English face to +see what impression he had made, he was often forced to see that it was +not the one he had meant to make at all. + +"Is anything amiss?" she asked once, in her cool, level tone, fixing +upon him her sincerely honest eyes. "Are there blacks on my nose?" +Although she had distinctly refused him at Kalsing, as became a girl +destitute of vanity and coquetry and attached to some one else, she had +not found him the less fluent, omnipresent, persuasive, at Niagara. It +was diverting to see them seated side by side on Goat Island, he waving +his hand toward the blue sky, apostrophizing the water, the foliage, the +clouds, and what not, in prose and verse, quite content if he but got a +quiet glance and assenting word now and then, she listening demurely in +a state of protestant satisfaction, her fair hair very dazzling in the +sunshine, an unvarying apple-blossom tint in her calm face, her fingers +tatting industriously not to waste the time outright. It was very +agreeable in a way, she told herself, but something must really be done +to get rid of the man. And so, one morning when they chanced to be +alone, and he was being unusually ethereal and beautiful in his remarks, +telling her that, as Byron had said, she would be "the morning star of +memory" for him, she broke in squarely, "That is all very nice; very +pretty, I am sure. But I do hope you quite understand that I have not +the least idea of marrying you. There is no use in going on like this, +you know, and you would have a right to reproach me if I kept silent and +led you to think that I was being won over by your fine speeches. You +see, you don't really want a star at all. You want a wife; though +military men, as a rule, are better off single. I do thank you heartily +for liking me for myself, and all that, and I shall always remember the +kind things you have done, and our acquaintance, but you must put me +quite out of your head as a wife. I should not suit you at all. You +would have to leave the American service, and I should hate feeling I +had tied you down, and I couldn't contribute a penny toward the +household expenses, and, altogether, we are much better apart. It would +not answer at all. So, thank you again for the honor you have conferred +upon me, and be--be rather more--like other people, won't you, for the +future? Auntie fancies that I am encouraging you, and is getting very +vexed about it. Perhaps you had better go away? Yes, that would be best, +I think." + +Thus solicited, Captain Kendall went away, taking a mournfully-eloquent +farewell of Ethel, which she thought final; but in this she was +mistaken. + +Our party did not linger long after this. Sir Robert met a titled +acquaintance, who inflamed his mind so much about Manitoba that he +decided to go to Canada at once, taking Miss Noel, Ethel, and Mr. +Heathcote; Mrs. Sykes had taken up on her first arrival with some New +York people, who asked her to visit them in the central part of the +State,--which disposed of her; Mabel was secretly longing to get back to +her "American child," as Mrs. Sykes called little Jared Ponsonby; and +they separated, with the understanding that they should meet again +before the English guests left the country, and with a warm liking for +each other, the Sykes not being represented in the pleasant covenants of +friendship formed. + +"I am glad that we have not to bid Ketchum good-by here," said Sir +Robert. "Such a hearty, genial fellow! And how kind he has been to us! +His hospitality is the true one; not merely so much food and drink and +moneyed outlay for some social or selfish end, but the entertainment of +friends because they _are_ friends, with every possible care for their +pleasure and comfort, and the most unselfish willingness to do anything +that can contribute to either. I am afraid he would not find many such +hosts as himself with us. We entertain more than the Americans, but I do +not think we have as much of the real spirit of hospitality as a nation. +The relation between host and guest is less personal, there is little +sense of obligation, or rather sacredness, on either side, and the +convenience, interest, or amusement of the Amphitryon is more apt to be +considered, as a general thing, than the pleasure of the guest: at least +this has been growing more and more the case in the last twenty years, +as our society has broken away from old traditions and levelled all its +barriers, to the detriment of our social graces, not to speak of our +morals and manners. As for that charmingly gentle, sweet woman Mrs. +Ketchum, it is my opinion that we are not likely to improve on that type +of Englishwoman. A modest, simple, religious creature, a thorough +gentlewoman, and a devoted wife and mother. My cousin Guy Rathbone is +engaged to a specimen of a new variety,--one of the 'emancipated,' +forsooth; a woman who has a betting-book instead of a Bible and plays +cards all day Sunday. He tells me that she is wonderfully clever, and +that it is all he can do to keep her from running about the kingdom +delivering lectures on Agnosticism; as if one wanted one's wife to be a +trapesing, atheistical Punch-and-Judy! And the fellow seemed actually +pleased and flattered. He told me that she had 'an astonishing grasp of +such subjects' and was 'attracting a great deal of attention.' And I +told him that if I had a wife who attracted attention in such ways I +would lock her up until she came to her senses and the public had +forgotten her want of modesty and discretion. This ought to be called +the Age of Fireworks. The craze for notoriety is penetrating our very +almshouses, and every toothless old mumbler of ninety wants to get +himself palmed off as a centenarian in the papers and have a lot of +stuff printed about him." + +"I see what you mean, Robert," said Miss Noel, "and it certainly cannot +be wholesome for women to thirst for excitement, and one would think a +lady would shrink from being conspicuous in any way; but things are very +much changed, as you say. And I agree with you in your estimate of the +Ketchums. She is a sweet young thing, and I heartily like him. Only +think! his last act was to send a great basket of fine fruits up to my +room, and quite an armful of railway-novels for the journey. Such +beautiful thought for our comfort as they have shown!" + +"He is rather a good sort in some ways, but a very ignorant man. I +showed him some of my specimens the other day, and he thought them +granitic, when they were really Silurian mica schist of some kind," put +in Mrs. Sykes, who never could bear unqualified praise. "Still, on the +whole, the Americans are less ignorant than might have been expected." + +"_I_ consider Mr. Ketchum a most kind, gentlemanly, sociable, clever +man," said Miss Noel, with an emphatic nod of her head to each +adjective, "geology or no geology. And I must say that it is very +ungrateful of you to speak of him so sneeringly always." + +Sir Robert only waited to write the usual batch of letters, including a +last appeal to the editor of the "Columbia Eagle" to know whether he +intended to apologize for and publicly retract a certain article, and +asking "whether it was possible that any considerable or respectable +portion of the Americans could be so arbitrary, illiberal, and exclusive +as to wish to exclude the English from America." This done, he left for +Canada with his relatives. With his stay there we have nothing to do. It +consumed six weeks of exhaustive travel and study of Canadian conditions +and resources, resulting ultimately in the conclusion that Manitoba was +not the place he was looking for. The ladies, who had been left in +Montreal, were then taken for a short tour through the country, which +they all enjoyed, after which Sir Robert asked Miss Noel whether she +would be willing to take Ethel back to Niagara and wait there a +fortnight, or perhaps a little longer, while he and Mr. Heathcote came +back by way of New England and from there went down into Maryland and +Virginia, where, according to "a member of the Canadian Parliament," +lands were to be had for a song. + +"A fortnight? I could spend a twelve-month there," exclaimed she. "Had +it not been that I was ashamed to insist upon being let off this +journey, I should have stopped there as it was." + +To Niagara the aunt and niece and Parsons went, as agreed, and there +they found Mr. Bates wandering languidly about the place in chronic +discontent with everything for not being something else. He had burned a +good deal of incense on Ethel's shrine when she was at Kalsing, and now +hailed their advent with some approach to enthusiasm, and attached +himself to their suite, _vice_ Captain Kendall, retired. He liked to be +seen with them, thought the views from the Canadian side were "deucedly +fine," was cruelly affected by the advertisements in the neighborhood, +which he denounced as "dreadfully American," trickled out much feeble +criticism of and acid comment on his surroundings, gave utterance to +fervent wishes that he was "abrard," and in his own unpleasant way gave +Ethel to understand that she might make a fellow-countryman happy by +becoming Mrs. Samuel Bates if she liked to avail herself of a golden +opportunity. "I would live in England, you know. I am really far more at +home there than here," said the expatriated suitor. "I have been taken +for an Englishman as often as three times in one week, do you know. +Curious, isn't it? I ought to be down in Kent now, visiting Lady +Simpson, a great friend of mine, who has asked me there again and again. +You would like her if you knew her. She is quite the great lady down +there." + +"A foolish little man, and evidently a great snob, or else rather daft +upon some points," Ethel reported to her aunt. "And such a dull, +discontented creature, with all his money!" Ethel had some trials of her +own just then, and it was no great felicity to listen to Mr. Bates's +endless complaints, nor could she spare much sympathy for the sufferings +of the exile of Tecumseh, with his rose-leaf sensibilities, inanities, +absurdities. + +Meanwhile, the young gentleman who was indirectly responsible for many a +sad thought of two charming girls that we know of--and who shall say how +many more?--was enjoying as much happiness as ever fell to any man in +the capacity of ardent sportsman. He had joined the duke and his party +at St. Louis, and from there they had gone "well away from anywhere," as +he said in describing his adventures to Mr. Heathcote. He had at last +reached the ideal spot of all his wildest imaginations and most +cherished hopes,--"the wild part,"--really the great prairies, about two +hundred miles west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies. The dream +of his life was being fulfilled. He related, in a style not conspicuous +for literary merit, but very well suited to the simple annals of the +rich, how, having first procured guides, tents, ambulances, +camp-equipage, they had pushed on briskly to a military fort, where, +having made friends with "a pleasant, gentlemanly set of fellows," the +commanding officer, "a friendly old buffer," had courteously given them +an escort to protect them from "those dirty, treacherous brutes, the +Indians." Not a joy was wanting in this crowning bliss. The guide was "a +wonderful chap named Big-Foot Williams, so called by the Indians, good +all around from knocking over a rabbit to tackling a grizzly," with an +amazing knowledge of woodcraft, "a nose like a bloodhound, an eye as +cool as a toad's." No special mention was made of his ear; but the first +time he got off his horse and applied it to the earth, listening for +the tramp of distant hoofs in a hushed silence, one bosom could hardly +hold all the rapture that filled Mr. Ramsay's figurative cup up to the +brim. And the tales he told of savageness long drawn out were as dew to +the parched herb, greedily absorbed at every pore. A portrait of "Black +Eagle," a noted chief, was given when they got among the Indians,--"a +great hulking slugger of a savage, awfully interesting, long, reaching +step, magnificent muscles, snake eye, could thrash us all in turn if he +liked. The best of the lot." + +Even the noble red man was not insensible to the charms of this +graceful, handsome young athlete who smiled at them perpetually and +said, "_Amigo! amigo_!" at short intervals,--a phrase suggested by the +redoubtable Williams and varied occasionally by a prefix of his own, +"_Muchee amigo_!" The way in which he tested the elasticity of their +bows, inspected their guns, the game they had killed, the other natural +objects about them, aroused a certain sympathy, perhaps. At any rate, +they were soon teaching him their mode of using the most picturesquely +murderous of all weapons, and Black Eagle offered, through the +interpreter, to give him a mustang and a fine wolf-skin. The pony was +declined, the skin accepted, a _quid pro quo_ being bestowed on the +chief in the shape of one of Mr. Ramsay's breech-loaders, a gift that +made the snake eyes glitter. But what earthly return can be made for +some friendly offices? Could a thousand guns be considered as an +adequate payment for the delirious thrill that Mr. Ramsay felt when he +shot an arrow straight through the neck of a big buffalo, and, wheeling, +galloped madly away, like the hero of one of his favorite stories? Was +not the duke, who "knew a thing or two about shooting" and had hunted +the noble bison in Lithuania, almost as much delighted as though he had +done it himself? Is it any wonder that these intoxicating pleasures were +all-sufficient for the time to Mr. Ramsay? Perhaps Thekla would have +been forgotten by her Max, and Romeo would never have sighed and died +for love of Juliet, if those interesting lovers had ceased from wooing +and gone a-hunting of the buffalo instead. Not the most deadly and cruel +pangs of the most unfortunate attachment could have taken away all the +zest from such an occupation, provided they had had what the Mexican +journals call the "_corazon de los sportsmans_." Youth, strength, +courage, skill, exercised in a vagabondage that has all the nomadic +charm without any of its drawbacks, are apt to sponge the old figures +off the slate of life, leaving a teary smear, perhaps, to show where +they have been, and room for fresh problems. At night over the camp-fire +Mr. Ramsay gave a few pensive thoughts to the girl who regularly put two +handkerchiefs under her pillow to receive the tears that welled out +copiously when she was at last alone and unobserved after a day of +virtuous hypocrisy. Poor child! The pain was very real, and the tears +were bitter and salty enough, though they were to be dried in due time. +If he had known of them, perhaps he might have kept awake a little +longer; but when he wasn't sleepy he was hungry, and when he wasn't +hungry he was tired, and when he wasn't tired he was too actively +employed to think of anything but the business in hand. Happily, at +five-and-twenty it is perfectly possible to postpone being miserable +until a more convenient season; and, though he would have denied it +emphatically afterward, he certainly thought only occasionally of Bijou +at this period, and of Ethel not at all. + +Miss Noel heard very regularly from Mrs. Sykes all this while; and that +energetic traveller had not been idle. She had made her new friends +"take her about tremendously," she said. She had seen all the large +towns in that part of the country, and thought them "very ugly and +monotonously commonplace, but prosperous-looking,--like the +inhabitants." The scenery she had found "far too uninteresting to repay +the bother of sketching it." But she had made a few pictures of "the +views most cracked up in the White Mountains,"--where she had been,--"a +sort of second-hand Switzerland of a place; really nothing after the +Himalayas, but made a great fuss over by the Americans." She described +with withering scorn a drive she took there. + +"We came suddenly one day upon a party in a kind of Cheap-Jack van," she +wrote,--"gayly-dressed people, tricked off in smart finery, and larking +like a lot of Ramsgate tradesmen on the public road. One of the impudent +creatures made a trumpet of his great ugly fist and spelt out the name +of the hotel at which they were stopping, and then put his hand to his +ear, as if to listen for the response. Expecting _me_ to tell _them_ +anything about myself! But I flatter myself that I was a match for them. +I just got out my umbrella and shot it up in their very faces as we +passed, in a way not to be mistaken. And--would you believe it?--the +rude wretches called out, 'The shower is over now! and 'What's the price +of starch?' and roared with laughing." A highly-colored description of "a +visit to a great Dissenting stronghold, Marbury Park," followed: "I was +immensely curious to see one of these characteristic national +exhibitions of hysteria, ignorance, superstition, and immorality, called +a 'camp-meeting.' to which the Americans of all classes flock annually +by the thousands, so I quite insisted upon being taken to one, though my +friends would have got out of it if they could. I fancy they were very +ashamed of it; and they had need to be. I will not attempt to describe +it in detail here,--you will hear what I have said of it in my +diary,--but a more glaringly vulgar, intensely American performance you +can't fancy. I have made a number of sketches of the grounds, the tents +and tent-life, with the people bathing and dressing and all that in the +most exposed manner; of the pavilion, where the roaring and ranting is +done; and of the great revivalist who was holding forth when I got +there, and who had got such a red face and seemed so excited that it is +my belief he was _regularly screwed_, though my friends denied it, of +course. With such a preacher, you can 'realize,' as they say, what the +people were like. A regular Derby-day crowd having a religious +saturnalia,--that is what it is. It would not be allowed at home, I am +sure. Disgusting! One can't wonder at the state of society in America +when one sees what their religion is. An unpleasant incident occurred to +me while sketching in the pavilion, that shows what I have often pointed +out to you,--the radicalism and odious impertinence of this people. I +was just putting the finishing-touches to my picture of the Rev. (?) +'Galusha Wickers' (the revivalist: such names as these Americans have!), +when I heard a voice behind me saying, 'Lor! Why, that's splendid! +perfectly splendid! Well, I declare, you've got him to a t. Lemmy see.' +And, if you please, a hand was thrust over my shoulder and the sketch +seized, without so much as a 'By your leave.' Can you fancy a more +unwarrantable, insufferable liberty? But they are all alike over here. I +turned about, and saw a woman who was examining the reverend revivalist +with much satisfaction. 'Well, you _have_ got him, to be sure,' she +said, returning my angry glance with one of admiration, and quite +unabashed. 'What'll you take for it? I've sat under him for five years; +and for taking texteses from one end of the Bible to the other, and +leading in prayer, and filling the mourners' bench in five minutes, I +will say he hasn't got his equal in the universe. He's got a towering +intellect, I tell you. I'll give you fifty cents for this, if you'll +color it up nice for me and throw in a frame.' Of course I took the +picture away from the brazen creature and told her what I thought of her +conduct. 'Well, you air techy,' she said, and walked off leisurely." +Before closing her letter, Mrs. Sykes remarked of her hostess, "Quite +good for nothing physically, and absurdly romantic. She has been abroad +a good deal, and bores me dreadfully with her European reminiscences. +She is always talking in a foolish, rapturous sort of way about 'dear +Melrose,' or 'noble Tintern Abbey,' or 'enchanting Warwick Castle;' and +she has read simply libraries of books about England, and puts me +through a sort of examination about dozens of places and events, as +though I could carry all England about in my head. I really know less of +it than of most other countries: there is nothing to be got by running +about it. If one knew every foot of it, everybody would think it a +matter of course; but to be able to talk of Siam and the Fiji Islands, +Cambodia and Alaska, and the like, is really an advantage in society. +One gets the name of being a great traveller, and all that, and is asked +about tremendously and taken up to a wonderful extent. I know a man that +didn't wish to go to the trouble and expense of rambling all over the +world, and wanted the reputation of having done it, so he went into +lodgings at intervals near the British Museum and got all the books that +were to be had about a particular country, and, having read them, would +come back to the West End and give out that he had been there. It +answered beautifully for a while, and he was by way of being asked to +become a Fellow of the Royal Geographical, and was thought quite an +authority and wonderfully clever; but somehow he got found out, which +must have been a nuisance and spoiled everything. I can see that these +people consider it quite an honor to have me visit them, all because of +my having been around the world, I dare say. And of course I have let +them see that I know who is who and what is what. They are imploring me +to stay on; but I told them yesterday that it wouldn't suit my book at +all to stay over two weeks longer, when I had seen all there was to see. +That young Ramsay seems to be enjoying himself out there among those +nasty savages; and, as hunting is about the only thing he is fit for, he +had best stay out there altogether." + +The unwritten history of Mrs. Sykes's visit to Marbury Park would have +been more interesting than the account she gave. She took with her a +camp-chair, which she placed in any and every spot that suited her or +commanded the pictorial situations which she wished to make her own +permanently. To the horror and surprise of her friends, she plumped it +down immediately in front of Mr. Wickers (after marching past an immense +congregation), and, wholly unembarrassed by her conspicuous position, +settled herself comfortably, took out her block and pencil, and +proceeded to jot down that worthy's features line upon line, as though +he had been a newly-imported animal at the "Zoo" on exhibition, paying +no attention to the precept upon precept he was trying to impress upon +his audience. + +She walked all over the place repeatedly, went poking and prying into +such tents as she chanced to find empty, nor considered this an +essential requisite to the conferring of this honor. When less sociably +inclined, she established herself outside, close at hand, and in this +way made those valuable observations and spirited drawings which +subsequently enriched her diary and delighted a discerning British +public. But this is anticipating. When she tired of New York, she wrote +to Sir Robert that she wished to give as much time as possible to the +Mormons, and would leave at once for Salt Lake City, where she would +busy herself in laying bare the domestic system as it really existed, +and hold herself in readiness to join the party again when they should +arrive there _en route_ to the Yosemite. + +Sir Robert, being an heroic creature, felt that he could bear this +temporary separation with fortitude, and, being about to start for +Boston when he got the news, forthwith threw himself upon the New +England States in a frenzied search for all the information to be had +about them,--their exact geographical position, by whom discovered, when +settled, climate, productions, population, principal towns and rivers. +He studied three maps of the region as he rattled along in the +south-bound train, and devoted the rest of the time to getting an +outline of its history: so that his nephew found him but an indifferent +companion. + +"I suppose there are authorized maps and charts, geographical, +hydrographical, and topographical, issued by the government, and to be +seen at the libraries. I must get a look at them at once. These are +amateur productions, the work of irresponsible men, contradicting each +other in important particulars as to the relative positions of places, +and inaccurate in many respects, as I find by comparison," he said, +emerging from a prolonged study of his authorities. "You don't seem to +take much interest in all this. You should be at the pains to inform +yourself upon every possible point in connection with this country, or +any other in which you may find yourself; else why travel at all?" + +Mr. Heathcote, not having his uncle's thirst for information, was +reading a French novel at the time, and did not attempt to defend his +position, knowing it probably to be indefensible. + +Before getting to Boston the air turned very chill, and a fine, +penetrating rain set in that for a while disturbed the student of +American history with visions of rheumatism. "God bless my soul! I shall +be laid by the heels here for weeks. Damp is the one thing that I can't +stand up against. And I have not left my coat out!" he exclaimed, +tugging anxiously at his side-whiskers and annoyed to find how dependent +he had grown on his valet. "What shall I do? Ah! I have an idea. Damp. +What resists it and is practically water-proof? _Newspapers_!" With this +he stood up, seized the "Times" supplement, made a hole in the middle of +the central fold, and put it over his head. "Now I have improvised a +South-American _serape_" he observed, in a tone that betrayed the +pleasure it gave him to exercise his ingenuity. He then took two other +sheets and successively wrapped them around his legs, after the fashion +in vogue among gardeners intent upon protecting valuable plants from the +rigors of winter. This done, he smoothed down the _serape_, which showed +a volatile tendency to blow up a good deal, and, with a brief comment to +the effect that "oilskin or india-rubber could not be better," and no +staring about him to observe the effect of his action on the passengers, +replaced his hat, sat down, picked up his book again, readjusted his +eye-glasses, and went on with the episode he had been reading aloud to +his nephew, who, mildly bored by King Philip's war, was mildly amused by +the spectacle the baronet presented, and surprised to see that their +fellow-travellers thought it an excellent joke. A loud "Haw! haw!" and +many convulsive titters testified their appreciation of the absurd +contrast between Sir Robert's highly-respectable head, his grave, +absorbed air, and the remarkable way in which he was finished off below +the ears; but he read on and on, in his round, agreeable voice, +unconscious of the effect he was producing, until the train came to the +final stop, when Mr. Porter and a very dignified, rigid style of friend +came into the car to look for him. + +"My dear Porter, I am delighted to see you, and I shall be with you in +one moment. I shall then have ceased to be a grub and have become a most +beautiful butterfly, ready to fly away home with you as soon as ever you +like," he called out in greeting, and in a twinkling had torn off his +wrappers, and stood there a revealed acquaintance, carefully collecting +his "traps," and beaming cheerfully even upon the friend, who had not +come to a pantomime and showed that he disapproved of harlequins in +private life. + +Mr. Porter, however, was all cordiality, and very speedily transferred +his guests to his own house in the vicinity of Boston. + +The season was not the one for gaining a fair idea of the society of the +city and neighborhood; but if all the people who were away at the +sea-side and the mountains were half as charming as those left behind +and invited by Mr. Porter, to meet his friends, it is certain that Sir +Robert lost a great deal. On the other hand, it is equally certain that +if they had been at home Sir Robert would most likely be there now, and +this chronicle of his travels would end here. As it was, he found +something novel and agreeable at every step, a fresh interest every hour +of his stay. He began at the beginning, and promptly found out what kind +of soil the city was built on, went on to consider such questions as +drainage, elevation, water-supply, wharves, quays, bridges, and worked +up to libraries, museums, public and private collections of pictures, +and what not. He ordered three pictures of Boston artists,--two autumnal +scenes, and an interior, a negro cabin, with an hilarious sable group +variously employed, called "Christmas in the Quarters." Then the +questions of fisheries, maritime traffic, coast and harbor defences, +light-houses, the ship-building interests, life-saving associations, and +railway systems, pressed for investigation, to say nothing of the mills +and manufactories, wages of operatives, trades-unions, trade problems, +and all the pros and cons of free trade _versus_ protective tariff. Over +these he pondered and pored until all hours every night; and the diary +had now to be girt about with two stout rubber bands to keep it from +scattering instructive leaflets about promiscuously and prematurely. And +by day there were sites literary, historical, or generally interesting +to be visited, engagements with many friends to keep, endless +occupations apparently. + +There was so much to see and do that the place was delightful to him, +and he certainly made himself vastly agreeable in return to such of its +inhabitants as came in his way. + +"I have added to my circle some very valuable acquaintances, whom I +shall hope to retain as friends," he wrote to England, "notably a +medical man who confirms my germ-propagation theory of the 'vomito,' +which is now raging in the Southern part of the States (I had it, you +remember, on the west coast of Africa, and studied it in the +Barbadoes),--an exceptionally clever man, and, like all such men, +inclined to be eccentric. I think I was never more surprised than to +come upon him the other day in a side-street, where he was positively +having his boots polished _in public_ by a ragged gamin who offered to +'shine' me for a 'dime.' He behaved sensibly about it,--betrayed no +embarrassment, though he must have felt excessively annoyed, made no +apologies, and only remarked that he had been out in the country, and +did not wish to be taken for a miller in the town. + +"I was led to believe before coming here that I should not be able to +tell that Boston was not an English town. It did not so impress me on a +surface-view, but it was not long before I recognized that the warp and +woof of the social fabric is that of our looms, though the pattern is a +little different,--a good sort of stuff, I think, warranted _to wash_ +and wear. The variation, such as it is, tried by what I call my +differential nationometer, gives to the place its own peculiar, +delightful quality." The rigid gentleman, who was a great deal at the +Porters', was rather inclined to insist upon the great purity and beauty +of his English, to which he repeatedly invited attention, and, as Mr. +Ramsay would have said, "went in for" certain philological refinements +which Sir Robert had never heard before, and thoroughly disliked. But as +there are more Scotchmen in London than in Edinburgh, and better oranges +can be bought for less money in New York than in New Orleans, so it may +be that if you want to find really superior English you must leave +England altogether,--abandon it to its defective but firmly-rooted +_patois_, and seek in more classic shades for the well--spring of Saxon +undefiled. But Sir Robert was not inclined to do this. There were limits +to his liberality and spirit of investigation. When the rigid gentleman +instanced certain words to which he gave a pronunciation that made them +bear small resemblance to the same words as spoken by any class of +people laboring under the disadvantage of having been born and bred in +England, Sir Robert got impatient, and testily dismissed the subject +with, "Oh, come, now! I can stand a good deal, but I can't stand being +told that we don't know how to speak English in England." Something, +however, must be pardoned to a foreigner. If Sir Robert would not +consent to set Emerson a little higher than the angels, as some other +Bostonians could have wished, and had never so much as heard of Thoreau +and other American celebrities not wholly insignificant, he had an +immense admiration for Longfellow, and could spout "Hiawatha" or +"Evangeline" with the best, associated Hawthorne with something besides +his own hedges in the month of May, and was eager to be taken out to +Beverly Farms, that he might "do himself the honor to call upon" the +wisest, wittiest, least-dreaded, and best-loved of Autocrats. When the +day fixed for his departure came, he was still revelling in what the +Historical Society of Massachusetts had to show him, and actually +stayed over a day that he might see the finest collection of cacti in +the country, and at last tore himself away with much difficulty and +lively regrets, carrying with him a collection of Indian curiosities +given him by Mr. Porter, whom he considered to have behaved "most +handsomely" in making him such a present. "I can't rob you outright, my +dear fellow. I feel a cut-purse, almost, when I think of taking all +these valuable and deeply-interesting objects illustrative of the life +and civilization of the aborigines," he said. "Give me duplicates, if +you will be so generous, but nothing unique, I insist." He finally +accepted one gem in the collection,--a towering structure of feathers +that formed "a most delightful head-dress, quite irresistibly +fascinating," tried it on before a mirror that gave back faithfully the +comical reflection, and incidentally delivered a lecture on the +head-ornaments of many savage and civilized nations of every age, though +not at all in the style of the famous Mr. Barlow. + +Mr. Heathcote at least was not sorry to find that they were, as he said. +"booked for Baltimore." The image of the beautiful Miss Bascombe had not +been effaced. Perhaps he had photographed it by some private process on +his heart with the lover's camera, which takes rather idealized but very +charming pictures, some of which never fade. At all events, there it +was, very distinct and very lovely, and always hung on the line in his +mental picture-gallery. It was positively with trepidation that he +presented himself before her very soon after his arrival; and an +undeniable blush "mantled" his cheek--if a blush can be said with any +propriety to mantle the male cheek--- when he marched into the +drawing-room, where she was doing a dainty bit of embroidery, and with +much simplicity and directness said, "You said I might come, you know, +and I have come; and I begged of Ethel to come too, but she could not +leave my aunt," before he had so much as shaken hands. Of course no +well-regulated and well-bred young woman--and Miss Bascombe was +both--ever permits herself to remember any man until she is engaged to +him; but she need not forget one that has impressed her agreeably. Miss +Bascombe had not forgotten the handsome Englishman she had met at Jenny +De Witt's, nor the little lecture she had given him on the duties of +brothers to sisters, and it did not strike her that his inaugural +address was at all eccentric or mysterious. He had been told what he +ought to do; he had tried to do it, as was quite right and proper. He +deserved some reward. And he got it,--though only as an encouragement to +abstract virtue, of course. The young lady was pleased to be friendly, +gracious, charming. Her mother came in presently, was equally friendly +and gracious, and almost as charming. Her father came home to dinner, +and was friendly too, and hearty, and very hospitable. Her brothers were +friendliest of all. He knew quite well that he had no claim on them, +that he had not saved the life of any member of the family or laid them +under any sort of obligation, individually or collectively, and no +reception could have seemed more special and dangerously cordial, yet no +anxieties oppressed, no fears distracted him. The weight of excessive +eligibility suddenly slipped off him, like the albatross from the neck +of the Ancient Mariner, leaving him a thankful and a happy man, and in +a week he had established himself firmly at the Bascombes', declined to +accompany his uncle to Virginia, and definitely settled in his own mind +that he would take the step matrimonial,--the step from the sublime +to--well, not always the ridiculous. With this resolution he naturally +thought that the greatest obstacle to success had been removed; but he +was soon disillusionized. He had already come to see that American girls +were very much in the habit of being gracious to everybody, and saying +pretty and pleasant things, with no thought of an hereafter; also that +they did not live with St. George's, Hanover Square, or its American +equivalent, Trinity Church, New York, stamped on the mental retina. Miss +Bascombe was "very nice" to him, he told himself, but she was quite as +nice to a dozen other men. She was uniformly kind, courteous, agreeable, +to every one who came to the house. Her cordiality to him meant nothing +whatever. Yes, he was quite free,--free as air; he saw that plainly, and +perversely longed to assume the fetters he had so long and so skilfully +avoided. What was the use of having serious intentions when not the +slightest notice was taken of the most compromising behavior? It was +true that he was perfectly at liberty to see more of Edith than an +Englishman ever does of any woman not related to him, and to say and do +a thousand things any one of which at home would have necessitated a +proposal or instant flight. But no importance whatever seemed to be +attached to them here, and he was utterly at a loss how to make his +seriousness felt. Yet it was quite clear that if there was to be any +wooing done, he would have to do it,--go every step of the way himself, +with no assistance from Miss Bascombe. "How on earth am I to show her +that I care for her?" he thought. "Other men send her dozens of +bouquets, and box after box of expensive sweets, and loads of books, and +music without end, and they come to see her continually, and take her +about everywhere, and are entirely devoted to her. I wonder what +fellows over here do when they are serious? How do they make themselves +understood when they go on in this way habitually? It is a most +extraordinary state of affairs! And neither party seems to feel in the +least compromised by it. There is that fellow Clinch, who fairly lives +at the Bascombes', and when I asked her if she was engaged to him she +said, 'Engaged to George Clinch? What an idea! _No_. What put that in +your head? He is a nice fellow, and I like him immensely, but there's +nothing of that sort between us. What made you think there was? And when +I explained, she said, 'Oh, _that's_ nothing! He is just as nice to lots +of other girls.' And when I suggested to him that he was attached to +her, he said, 'Edith Bascombe? Oh, no! She is a great friend of mine, +and a charming girl, but I have never thought of that, nor has she. I go +there a good deal, but I have never paid her any marked attention.' No +marked attention, indeed! Nothing seems to mean anything here: it is +worse than being in England, where everything means something. No, it +isn't, either. I vow that when I am at the Clintons' in Surrey I +scarcely dare offer the girls so much as a muffin, and if I ask the +carroty one, Beatrice, the simplest question, she blushes and stammers +as if I were proposing out of hand. But what am I to do? I can't sing +and take to serenading Edith on moonlit nights with a guitar and a blue +ribbon around my neck. I can't push her into the river that I may pull +her out again. I dare say there is nothing for it but to adopt the +American method,--enter with about fifty others for a sort of +sentimental steeple-chase, elbow or knock every other fellow out of the +way in the running, work awfully hard to please the girl, and get in by +half a length, if one wins at all. There is no feeling sure of her until +one is coming back from the altar, evidently." + +Some of his conversations with Edith were certainly anything but +encouraging. At other times he felt morally sure that she shared that +derangement of the bivalvular organ technically defined as "a muscular +viscus which is the primary instrument of the blood's motion," whose +worst pains are said to be worth more than the greatest pleasures. He +was very much in earnest, and entirely straightforward, There were no +balancing indecisions now, but the most downright affirmation of +preference. His little speeches were not veiled in rosy clouds of +metaphor and poetry and distant allusions, like Captain Kendall's, nor +did they flow out in an unfailing stream of romantic eloquence, like +that gifted warrior's. They were so honest and so clumsy, indeed, that +Edith could not help laughing at them merrily sometimes, to his great +discomfiture, consisting as they did chiefly of such statements as, "You +know that I am most awfully fond of you. I was tremendously hard hit +from the first. If you don't believe me, you can ask Ramsay. I told him +all about it. You aren't in the least like any other girl that I have +ever known, except Mrs. De Witt a little. I suppose you know that I +would have married her at the dropping of a hat if I could have done so. +But that is all over now. I care an awful lot for you now, and shall be +quite frightfully cut up if you won't have anything to say to me,--I +shall, really. I have got quite wrapped up in you, upon my word. And I +shall be intensely glad and proud if you will consent to be my wife." + +When Edith failed to take such speeches as these seriously, poor Mr. +Heathcote was quite beside himself, and, in reply to her bantering +accusations as to his being "a great flirt" and not "really meaning one +word that he said," opposed either burly negation or a deeply-vexed +silence. They looked at so many things differently that they found a +piquant interest in discussing every subject that came up. + +"There go May Dunbar and Fred Beach," she said to him one Sunday as they +were coming home from church. "Isn't he handsome? They have been engaged +_three years_. Did you ever hear of such constancy?" + +"Do you call that constancy? Why, if a fellow can't wait three years for +a lovely girl like that, he must be a poor stick. Why, my uncle +Montgomery was engaged to his wife seventeen years, while he went out to +India and shook the pagoda-tree, after which he came back, paid all his +father's debts, and they married and went into the house they had picked +out before he sailed," said Mr. Heathcote. + +"Good gracious! what a time! I hope the poor things were happy at last. +Were they?" asked Edith. + +"H-m--pretty well. He is a rather fiery, tyrannical old party. She +doesn't get her own way to hurt," he replied. + +"I have heard that Englishwomen give way to the men in everything and +are always, voluntarily or involuntarily, sacrificed to them. It must be +so bad for both," said Edith sweetly. + +"Oh, you go in for woman's rights and that sort of thing, I suppose," he +said, in a tone of annoyance. + +"Indeed I don't do anything of the kind," replied she, with warmth. "If +I did, I should be aping the men when I wasn't sneering at them. But I +respect your sex most when they most deserve to be respected, and I +don't see anything to admire in a selfish, tyrannical man that is always +imposing his will, opinions, and wishes upon the ladies of his household +and expects to be the first consideration from the cradle to the grave +because he happens to be a man." + +"But he is the head of his house. He ought to get his own way, if +anybody does, and, if he is not a coward, he will, too," said Mr. +Heathcote rather hotly. "Would you have a man a molly-coddle, tied to +his wife's apron-string, and not daring to call his soul his own?" + +"Not at all," replied Edith. "It is the cowards that are the tyrants. +'The bravest are the tenderest, the loving are the daring,' as our +American poet says. And women have souls of their own, except in the +East. Why shouldn't _they_ be the first consideration and do as they +please, pray? They are the weaker, the more delicate and daintily bred. +If there is any pampering and spoiling to be done, they should be the +objects of it. And as to rights, there is no divine right of way given +to man, that I know of. I don't believe in that sort of thing at all. Of +course no reasonable woman wants or expects everybody to kootoo before +her and everything to give way to her." + +"And no gentleman fails to show a proper respect for his wife's wishes +and comfort, not to mention her happiness," said Mr. Heathcote. "But of +course that sort of thing is only to be found in America. Englishmen are +all selfish, and tyrants, and domestic monsters, I know." + +"I didn't say anything of the kind," replied Edith quickly, her cheeks +pink with excitement. "I don't know anything about Englishmen or the +domestic system of England, and I never expect to. But, if what I have +heard is true, it is a system that tends to make men mortally selfish; +and selfish people, whether they are men or women, and whether they know +it or not, are _all_ monsters. But I apologize for my remarks, and, as I +am not interested in the subject _in the least_, we will talk of +something else, if you please." + +This very feminine conclusion, delivered loftily and with sudden +reserve, left Mr. Heathcote in anything but an agreeable frame of mind, +and for an hour or two made him doubt the wisdom of international +marriages; but this mood passed away, and he remained a fixture at the +_maison_ Bascombe, where the very postman came to know him and +generously sympathized with the malady from which he was suffering. Nor +was this the only house in which he was made very welcome. Baltimore is +one of many American cities that suffer from the vague but painful +accusation of being "provincial;" but, admitting this dreadful charge, +it has social, gastronomic, and other charms of its own that ought to +compensate for the absence of that doubtful good, cosmopolitanism. Mr. +Heathcote certainly found no fault with it, and did not miss the +population, pauperism, or other institutions of Paris, London, or +Vienna. On the contrary, he took very kindly to the pretty place, and +heartily liked the people. There was nothing oppressive or ostentatious +in the attentions he received, but just the cordiality, grace, and charm +of an old-established society of most refined traditions, perfect +_savoir-vivre_, and chronic hospitality. + +"You are making a Baltimorean of me, you are so awfully kind to me," he +would say, pronouncing the _a_ in Bal as he would have done in sal; but +the truth was that he had become primarily a Bascomite and only very +incidentally a Baltimorean. The city counts hundreds of such converts +every year. He was so happy and entirely content that he would have +quite forgotten what it was to be bored just at this period but for +certain individuals,--a boastful, disagreeable Irishman, who fastened +upon him apparently for no other reason than that he might abuse England +at great length and talk of his own valor, accomplishments, and +"paddygree" (as he very properly called the record that established his +connection with Brian Boroo and Irish kings generally), and a lady who +seemed to take the most astounding, unquenchable interest in the English +nobility, as more than one lady had seemed to him to do, to his great +annoyance. + +"I don't know a bit about them, I assure you," he said to her; "but I +have the 'Peerage.' If you would like to see that, I will send it you +with pleasure." + +This only diverted her conversation into a different but equally +distasteful channel,--the great distinction and antiquity of her own +family. It really seemed as though she had a dread of Mr. Heathcote's +leaving the country with some wrong impression on this important subject +and was determined that he should be put in possession of all the +information she had or imagined herself to have about it. She talked to +him about it so much that the poor man was at incredible pains to keep +out of her way. + +"I don't care a brass copper about her," he complained to Edith; "and +if the family has been producing women like her as long as she says, and +is going on at it, all I can say is that it is a pity they have lasted +this long, and the sooner they die out the better. What do I care about +her family, pray? I never heard as much about family in all my life, I +give you my word, as I have done since I came to America. The stories +told me are something wonderful,--all about the two brothers that left +England, and all that, you know. They seem all to have come away in +pairs, like the animals in the ark. I said to one fellow that was +beginning with those two brothers, '_Couldn't you make it three_, don't +you think?' And you'll not believe me, but I speak quite without +exaggeration, when I say that one woman out in Raising assured me +gravely that she was descended from the houses of York and Lancaster!" + +"_She didn't!"_ exclaimed Edith. "That is, if she did, she must have +been _crazy_; and I won't have you going back to England and giving +false impressions of us by repeating such stories. Promise me that you +will never repeat it there." + +"Oh, that's all right," he replied soothingly. "It's an extreme case, I +grant, and I'll say no more about it if it vexes you, but it is a true +tale all the same. Howe was her name, I remember; and I felt like +saying,--I'll eat my hand if I understand Howe this can possibly +be,'--that's in the Bab Ballads,--but I didn't." + +Sir Robert had small opportunity of making acquaintance with Baltimore. +He was very eager to get down into Virginia, and stayed there but two +days. On the second of these he attended a gentleman's dinner-party, the +annual mile-stone of a military society composed of men who had worn the +gray and marked the well-known tendency of tempus to fugit in this +agreeable fashion. Their ex-enemies of the blue were also there, but not +in the original overwhelming numbers, and the battle was now to one +party, now to the other, the race to the best _raconteur_, rivers of +champagne flowed instead of brave blood, and the smoke of cannon was +exchanged for that of Havanas. Sir Robert's face beamed more and more +brightly as the evening wore on, and reminiscences, anecdotes, stories, +jests, songs, were fluently and cleverly poured out in rapid succession +by the hilarious company. The fun was at its height, when he suddenly +leaned forward with his body at an insinuating angle and smilingly +addressed an officer opposite: "You must really let me say that I have +been delighted by all that I have heard here to-night, and appreciate +the compliment you have paid me in permitting me to join you. And now I +am going to ask a great favor. Could you, would you, give me some idea +of 'the rebel yell,' as it was called? We heard so much about that. I am +most curious to hear it. It is always spoken of as perfectly terrifying, +almost unearthly." + +The gentleman whom he addressed looked down the table and rapped to call +attention to what he had to say: "Boys, this English gentleman is asking +whether we can't give him some idea of what the rebel yell is like. What +do you say? If our Federal friends are afraid, they can get under the +table, where they will be perfectly safe, and a good deal more +comfortable than they used to be behind trees or in baggage-wagons," he +called out. + + +A hearty laugh followed, and, their blood having got bubbles in it by +this time, a general assenting murmur was heard. + +The next instant a shriek, sky-rending, blood-curdling, savage beyond +description, went up,--a truly terrific yell in peace, and enough to +create a panic, one would think, in the Old Guard in time of war. + +"Thank you, thank you. _I am entirely satisfied"_ said Sir Robert, in a +comically rueful tone, as soon as he could say anything for the uproar. +"I never imagined anything like it, never. Where did you get it? Who +invented it? Is it an adaptation of some war-cry of the North American +Indians? It sounds like what one would fancy their cries might be, +doesn't it? It has got all the beasts of the forest in it; and I confess +that I for one, would have fled before it and stayed in the wagons as +long as there was the slightest danger of hearing it. By Jove! it must +have been heard in Boston when given in Virginia. It is curious how very +ancient the practice of--" + +But the company heard no more of curious practices, for their yell had +been heard, if not in Boston, in a far more remarkable quarter,--namely, +by the police, who now rushed in, prepared to club, arrest, and carry +off any and all disorderly and dreadful disturbers of the peace. + +If Sir Robert had been in any danger of being murdered, all experience +goes to show that no policeman could have been found before the +following morning, and then only in the remotest part of the city. As he +was merely being wined, dined, and amused, quite a formidable body of +these devoted but easily-misled guardians of respectability and +innocence poured into the room, where at first they could see nothing +for the smoke. Matters were explained, they were invited to "take +something" before they went, and took it, and, quite placated, filed out +into the passage again, and from thence into the street. + +Sir Robert sat up late that night, or rather began early on the +following day, to copy the stories he had most relished into the diary, +and do what justice he could to "the rebel yell," and, having added an +admirably discriminating chapter on "the present political situation in +the States," concluded with, "How striking is the good sense, the good +feeling, that both the conquerors and the conquered have shown, on the +whole! In other countries, how often has a war far less bloody and +protracted left in its wake evils far greater than the original one, in +guerilla warfare, murders, ceaseless revolt, and smouldering hatred +lasting for centuries on one side, and centuries of tyranny, oppression, +executions, confiscations, on the other! A brave and fine race this, not +made of the stuff that goes to keep up vendettas, shoot landlords, blow +up rulers, assassinate enemies. They can fight as well as any, and they +have shown that they can forgive better than most,--taken together, true +manliness. It may be that they are influenced by a consideration which +is said to be always present to an American,--'Will it pay?' and of +course so practical a people as this see that anarchy doesn't pay; but I +would rather attribute their conduct to nobler, more generous motives, +and in doing this seem to myself to be doing them no more than justice." + + F.C. BAYLOR. + +[TO BE CONCLUDED.] + + + + +OUR VILLE. + + +The picturesqueness of France in our day is confined almost exclusively +to its humble life. The Renaissance and the Revolution swept away in +most parts of the country moated castle, abbaye, grange, and chateau, to +replace them with luxurious but conventional piles and ruins humbly +restored and humbly inhabited. Many a farmhouse with unkempt _cour_ +and dishevelled _pelouse_ is the relic of a turreted chateau, +stables are often desecrated churches, seigneurial _colombiers_ +shelter swine, and battlemented portals to fortified walls serve, as +does the one of our ville, to house hideously-uniformed _douaniers_ +watching the luggage of arriving travellers. + +Our ville was never an aristocratic one, and to this day very few of our +names are preceded by the idealizing particle _de_. We have an +ancient history, however,--so ancient that all historians place our +origin at _un temps tresrecule_. We had houses and walls when Rouen +yonder was a marsh, and we saw Havre spring up like a mushroom only two +little centuries and a half ago. Besieged and taken, burned and ravaged, +alternately by Protestant and Catholic, no wonder our ville has not even +ruins to show that we are older than the fifteen hundreds. Still, +ancient though we are, we have always been a ville of humble +folk,--hardy sailors, brave fishers, and thrifty bourgeois,--and to-day, +as always, our highest families buy and sell and build their philistine +homes back toward the _cote_, while our humble ones picturesquely +haunt the _quais_. + +The town is exquisitely situated at the foot of abrupt _cotes_, +just where the broad and tranquil river shudders with mysterious deep +heavings and meets its dolphin-hued death in the all-devouring sea. Away +off in the shimmering distance is the second seaport city of France. On +still days,--and our gray or golden Norman days are almost always +still,--faint muffled sounds of life, the throbbing of factories, the +farewell boom of cannon from ships setting forth across the Atlantic, +even the musical notes of the Angelus, float across the water to us as +dreamily vague as perhaps our earth-throbs and passion-pulses reach a +world beyond the clouds. This city is our metropolis, with which we are +connected by small steamers crossing to and fro with the tide, and where +all our shopping is done, our own ville being too thoroughly limited and +_roturier_ in taste to merit many of our shekels. + +In fact, such of our shopping as is done in our ville is in the quaint +marketplace, where black house-walls are beetling and bent, and +Sainte-Catherine's ancient wooden tower stands the whole width of the +Place away from its Gothic church. Here we bargain and chaffer with +towering _bonnets blancs_ for peasant pottery and faience, +paintable half-worn stuffs, and delicious ancestral odds and ends of +broken peasant households. + +We have many streets over which wide eaves meet, and within which +twilight dwells at noonday. Some of the hand-wide streets run straight +up the _cote_, and are a succession of steep stairs climbing beside +crouching, timber-skeletoned houses perforated by narrow windows opening +upon vistas of shadow. Others seem only to run down from the _cote_ +to the sea as steeply as black planks set against a high building. Upon +the very apex of the _cote_, visible miles away at sea, lives our +richest citizen. His house smiles serenely modern even if only +pseudo-classic contempt on all the quaint duskiness and irregularity +below, and is pillared, corniced, entablatured, and friezed, with lines +severely straight, although the building itself is as round as any +mediaeval campanile and surmounted with a Gothic bell-turret, while the +entrance-gate is turreted, machicolated, castellated, like the +fortress-castles of the Goths. + +Lower down the _cote_, convent walls raise themselves above +red-tiled and lichen-grown roofs. In one of these convents, behind +eyeless grim walls, are hidden cloistered nuns; from others the Sisters +go freely forth upon errands of both business and mercy. The convent of +cloisters, Couvent des Augustines, is passing rich, and has houses and +lands to let. Once upon a time an _Americaine_ coveted one of these +picturesque houses. She entered the convent and interviewed the +business-manager, a veiled nun behind close bars. + +"Madame may occupy the house," said _ma Soeur_, "by paying five +hundred francs a year, by observing every fast and feast of the Church, +by attending either matins or vespers every day, and by attending +confession and partaking of the holy sacrament every month." + +Madame is a zealous Catholic, therefore the terms, although peculiar, +did not seem too severe. She was about to remove into the house, when, +lo! she received word that, it having come to the knowledge of the +convent that the husband of Madame was a heretic, he could not be +allowed to occupy any tenement of the Communaute. + +Although this cloistered sisterhood is vowed to perpetual seclusion, +once a year even heretics may gaze upon their pale faces. This annual +occasion is the prize-day of the school they teach, when the school-room +is decorated with white cloth and paper roses, the _cures_ of +neighboring parishes and the Maire of our ville, with invited +distinguished guests, occupy the platform, and the floor below is free +to everybody furnished with invitation-cards. + +I had always longed to enter these prison-like walls and gaze from my +tempestuous distance upon those peaceful lives set apart from earth's +rush and turmoil in a fair and blessed haven of the Lord. I longed to +see those pure visionaries, pale spouses of Christ, and read upon +illumined faces the unspeakable rapture of mystic union with the Lamb of +God. + +Monsieur le Docteur S----, our family physician, is also physician of +the convent. + +"You will see nobody," he said, remarking my sentimental curiosity +concerning cloistered nuns,--"you will see nobody but a lot of +lace-mending and stocking-knitting old maids who failed to get +husbands." + +I had already heard queer stories of our old doctor's forty years of +attendance upon the convent, and I was not so easily discouraged. I was +especially anxious to see the Mother Superior, having many times heard +the story of her flight in slippers and dressing-gown from the +breakfast-table to bury herself forever within the walls that have held +her now these twenty-five years. In all these years her unforgiving +father has never seen her face, nor she his, although they live within +stone's throw of each other. + +"Know about him? of course she does," answered Victoire to my question. +"She knows all about him, and more too. Do you suppose there is an item +of news in the whole town that those cloistered nuns do not hear? If you +had been educated by them, as we were, and pumped dry every day as to +what went on in our own and our neighbors' families, you would not ask +that question." + +Victoire and I penetrated into the convent that very same day. We +followed a crowd of women, _paysannes_ and _citoyennes_, into +a sunny court paved with large stones and arched by the noontide sky, +but unsoftened by tree or flower, and surrounded by the open windows of +dormitories. Over the threshold we had just crossed the nuns pass but +once after their vows,--pass outward, feet foremost, deaf and unseeing, +to a closer, darker home than even their cloistered one. Some of them +have seen nothing beyond their convent walls for forty years, while one +has here worn away sixty years. + +_Sixty years_ without one single glimpse of sweet dawn or fair +sunset, without one single vision of the sea in winter majesty of storm +or summer glory! _Sixty years_ without sound of lisping music +running through tall grass, without one single whisper of the aeolian +pines, or glimpse of blooming orchards against pure skies! _Sixty +years_! + +Beside me in the school-room sat a buxom peasant-woman, who, as a little +girl crowned with a gaudy tinsel wreath descended from the platform, +confidentially informed me, "_C'est ma fille._ She has taken the +prize for good conduct, and there isn't a worse _coquine_ in our +whole commune." + +I saw the pale visionaries, a circle of black-robed figures, with +dead-white bands, like coffin-cerements, across their brows. I saw them +almost unanimously fat, with pendulous jowls and black and broken teeth, +as remote from any expression of mystic fervors and spiritual espousals +as could be well imagined, _"Vieilles commeres_!" grunted my +_paysanne,_ who was evidently neither amiable nor saintly. + +Mother Mary-of-the-Angels, once Elise Gautier, was short, fat, and +bustling, with large round-eyed spectacles upon her nose, and the pasty +complexion and premature flaccid wrinkles that come with long seclusion +from sunshine and exercise. She marched about like one who had chosen +Martha's rather than Mary's manner of serving her Lord, and we saw her +chat a full half-hour with the wife of the Maire, bowing, smiling, +gesticulating meantime with all the florid grace of a French woman of +the world. + +"The Maire's wife was her former intimate friend," whispered Victoire. +"See how much younger and healthier she looks than the Mother Superior, +and how much happier. _On dit_ that it was chagrin at the marriage +of this friend that caused Elise Gautier to desert her widowed father +and dependent little brothers and sisters to bury herself in a convent." + +A more interesting story than Elise Gautier's is told in our ville. Some +years ago a nun left the Couvent des Augustines in open day, passing out +from the central door in her nun's garb, and meeting there a +foreign-looking man accompanied by a posse of gendarmes. The couple, +followed by a half-hooting, half-cheering mob, drove directly to the +hotel-de-ville, where they were united in marriage. Then they went away +from our ville, where both were born, to the husband's home in Spain. +When those convent doors had closed upon her, a quarter of a century +before, and the lovers believed themselves eternally separated, she was +a lovely girl of twenty, he a bright youth of twenty-five. She passed +away from his despairing sight, fair and fresh as a spring flower, with +beautiful golden hair and violet eyes; she came out from that fatal +portal a woman of forty-five, stout, spectacled, with faded, thin hair +beneath her nun's cowl, to meet a portly gray-haired man of fifty, in +whom not even love's eye could detect the faintest vestige of the +slender bright-eyed lover of her youth. + +The unhappy Laure had been forced to unwilling vows to keep her from +this beggarly lover, and, when he fled to Spain, both became dead to our +ville for long years. Twenty-two years after Laure became Soeur Angelica +it was known in the convent that the machinery of the civil law, which +had only lately forbidden eternal religious vows, had been set in motion +to secure her release; but it remained a mystery who the spring of the +movement was, her parents having long been dead. Soeur Angelica herself +seemed almost more terrified than otherwise at the knowledge, for every +conventual influence was brought to bear upon her morbid conscience to +assure her that eternal damnation follows broken vows. It seems, +however, that amid all her spiritual stress she never confessed, even to +her spiritual director, what desecration had come upon that dovecote by +her constant correspondence with the lover of her youth, now a wealthy +wine-merchant in Spain. When she left the convent, some of these +love-letters were left behind; and to this day those scandalized doves, +to whom Soeur Angelica is forever a lost soul, wonder futilely how those +emissaries of Satan penetrated their holy walls. + +"How _did_ they, do you suppose?" I asked. + +Victoire and Clarice smiled curiously, while Emile, with an expression +savoring of paganism and pig-tails, squinted obliquely toward our +doctor. + +"_Nous n'en savons rien_" they answered me. + +The social amusements of our ville are few, as must naturally be the +case in a provincial town ruled by the Draconian law that a _jeune +fille a marier_ must be no more than an animated puppet, while +_jeunes gens_ must have their coarse fling before they are fit for +refined society. Occasionally an ambulant theatrical troupe gives an +entertainment in our little theatre. Once a year Talbot comes, during +vacation at the Francais, and gives us "L'Avare" or "Le Roi s'amuse;" +but such are small events, to our provincial taste, compared with the +vaulting and grimacing of the more frequent English and American circus +troupes in our Place Thiers. + +Perhaps the chief distraction of our young people is going to early +mass, whither our young ladies go accompanied by _bonnes_, Maman +having not yet emerged from the French mamma's chrysalis condition of +morning crimping-pins, petticoat and short gown, and list slippers. The +_bonnes_ who thus serve as chaperons are often as young as or even +younger than the demoiselles whose virginal modesty they are supposed to +protect. That they are anything more than a mere form of guardian, a +figment of the social fiction that a young French girl never leaves her +mother's side till she goes to her husband's, it is unnecessary to +observe. Human nature, especially French human nature, is human nature +all the world over, and Romeo will woo and Juliet be won during early +mass or twilight vespers as well as from a balcony, in spite of all the +Montagues and Capulets. Girl-chaperons are oftener in sympathy with +ardent daughters than with worldly mothers, while even the oldest and +most sedate of French _bonnes_ are malleable to other influences +than those of their legitimate employers. It was across our river, +yonder from whence the sound of the Angelus comes across the summer +water like the music of dreams, that Balzac's Modest Mignon carried on +her intrigues of hifalutin gush, by means of a facile _bonne_, with +a man whom she had never seen, and who deceived her by personating the +poet she wished him to be. Modest Mignons are not rare in our ville, and +the Gothic vaults of Saint-Leonard and the pillared aisles of +Sainte-Catherine witness almost as many little intrigues, as many +heart-beats and blushes, as does "evenin' meetin'" in our own bucolic +regions. + +Desiree, our _femme-de-chambre,_ before she came to us, lived in a +wealthy _roturier_ family. + +"It was a good place, and I was sorry to lose it when Mademoiselle +Eugenie was married," said she. "The little gifts the _jeunes gens_ +slipped into my panier as I came with mademoiselle from mass almost +equalled my wages. Mademoiselle had a good _dot_ as well as beauty, +and _ces jeunes gens_ expected to lose nothing by what they gave +me. Mademoiselle herself often said, 'Desiree, walk a few steps behind +me, and, while I keep my eyes upon the pavement, tell me all the young +men who turn to look after me. If you hear any of them say, "_Comme +elle est jolie!_" (How pretty she is!) you shall have my _batiste +mouchoirs_.'" + +On Sunday afternoons all the bourgeois world of our ville disports +itself upon the jetty. Not only then do all the mothers of the town with +daughters "to marry" bring those daughters to the weekly matrimonial +mart, but many of the mothers and chaperons of the near country round +about come in from rural _propriete_ and rustic _chalet_ to +exhibit their candidates. The method of procedure is eminently French, +of course, and eminently naive, as even the intrigues and machinations +of Balzac's _bourgeoisie_, although intended as marvels of finesse, +seem so often naivete itself to our blunter and less-plotting minds. The +mothers and daughters, or chaperons and charges, walk slowly arm in arm +up and down one side the jetty, facing the counter-current of young men +and men not young who have not lost interest in feminine attractions. +Back and forth, back and forth, for hours, move the two separate +streams, never for one instant commingling, each discussing the other's +prospects, characters, appearance, and, above all, _dots_ and +_rentes_, till twilight falls and all the world goes home to +dinner. + +Once upon a time a retired man of business came to our ville, +accompanied by his son. He was one of the class known in England as +"Commys," and so obnoxious in France as _commis-voyageurs._ He +stopped at the Cheval Blanc, and in conversation with mine host inquired +if it might chance that some cafe-keeper in the town desired to sell his +cafe and marry his daughter. Monsieur Brissom mentioned to him our +cafe-keepers blessed with marriageable daughters, and "Commy" made the +rounds among them, announcing that he had a son whom he wished to marry +to some charming demoiselle _dot_ed with a cafe. One of the +cafe-keepers had "_precisement votre affaire_." It was arranged +that Mademoiselle Clothilde should be promenaded by her mother the next +Sunday on the jetty, where the young man should join the +counter-current, and thus each take observations of the other. + +As said, so done. Monsieur Henri and Mademoiselle Clothilde declared +themselves enchanted with each other. + +"_Tres-bien_," said the reflective parents. "Now fall in love as +fast as ever you please." + +Monsieur and mademoiselle not only "fell," but plunged. + +Two weeks afterward, however, the papas fell out. Cafetier exacted more +than Commis could promise, and Commis declared Mademoiselle Clothilde +_pas grand' chose_: her eyebrows were too white, and her toes +turned in. + +The marriage was declared "off," and the young people were ordered to +fall out of love the quickest possible. + +"Too late!" they cried. + +"You have seen each other but four times." + +"Quite enough," declared the lovers. + +"You shall not marry," shouted the parents. + +"We _will_!" screamed their offspring. + +Nevertheless they could not, for the French law gives almost absolute +power to parents. Mademoiselle would have no _dot_ unless her +father chose to give her one, and no French marriage is legal without +paternal consent or the almost disgraceful expedient of _sommations +respectueuses_. Mademoiselle threatened to enter a convent. Cafetier +assured her that no convent opens cordial doors to _dot_less girls. + +Juliet was ready to defy all the Capulets when she had seen Romeo but +once; Corinne was ready to fling all her laurels at Oswald's feet at +their second interview; Rosamond Vincy planned her house-furnishing +during her second meeting with Lydgate; even Dorothea Brooke felt a +"trembling hope" the very next day after her first sight of Mr. +Casaubon. How, then, could one expect poor Clothilde to yield up her +undersized, thin-moustached, and very unheroic-looking Henri, having +seen him _four_ times? + +There was one way out of her troubles,--that to which Alphonse Daudet's +and Andre Theuriet's people gravitate as needles to their pole. She +walked one dark midnight upon the jetty alone. Nobody saw the end; but +the next Sunday, three weeks to a day from the one when the two had +countermarched in matrimonial procession, Mademoiselle Clothilde was +laid in her grave. + +The whole French social system revolves around the _dot_. + +"How dare you speak to my father so!" I once heard a daughter reproach +her mother. "How dare you, who brought him no _dot_!" + +"It is a pity Madame Marais has no more influence in her family," I +heard remarked in a social company. "It is a pity, for she is a good +woman, and her husband and sons are all going to the bad." + +"Yes, it is a pity," answered another; "but, then, what else can she +expect? She brought no _dot_ into the family." + +Once upon a time a young man made a friendly call upon a family in our +ville, he a distant relative of the family. He sat in the _salon_ +with mother and daughter, when suddenly the mother was called away a +moment. When she returned, not more than two minutes later,--horror! +_she could not enter the room!_ In closing the door she had somehow +disarranged the handles; screws had dropped out and could not be found; +the knob would not turn. What a situation! A young girl shut up in a +locked room with a young man! What a scandal if the story got out in the +town! and what could the poor, distracted mamma do to release her +daughter from that damning situation without the knowledge of the +servants? She dared not even summon a locksmith, for locksmith tongues +are free; and who would not shoot out the lip at poor Jeanne, hearing +the miserable story at breakfast-tables to-morrow? + +"You must marry Jeanne, _mon cousin_," cried mamma through the +keyhole. + +"Impossible, _ma cousine_. You know I am _fiance_," laughed +he. + +Nevertheless he did! + +For when papa heard that Jeanne had remained two whole hours shut up +with Cousin Pierre in a brilliantly-lighted _salon_, with a frantic +mother at the keyhole and all the servants grinning upon their knees +searching for the missing screws, he added twenty thousand francs to her +_dot_ on the spot, and Pierre wrote to his other _fiancee_ that he had +"changed his intentions." + +"Mamma's _tapage_ was too funny," laughed Madame Pierre, telling me +this story herself. "Pierre and I laughed well on our side of the door, +although we were careful not to let maman hear us. For we had often been +alone together before when _nobody knew it_." + +Which makes all the difference in the world in our ville, as well as +elsewhere. + +Pierre's funny experience did not end with his betrothal. In relating +the adventure which follows, I wish it distinctly to be understood that +I do it in all respect, admiration, and reverence for the Church which +is the mother of all Churches calling themselves Christian. The Holy +Roman Catholic Church is no less holy that her servants are so often +base and vile and that her livery is so often stolen to serve evil in. +What wickedness and hypocrisy have we not in our own Protestant clergy, +and without even the tremendous excuse for it which the conditions of +European society give for the occasional levity of its priesthood! In +France the Church is a recognized profession, to which parents destine +and for which they educate their sons without waiting for them to +exhibit any special bias toward a religious life. In spite of +themselves, many young men are even forced into the priesthood, not only +by strong family influence, but through having been educated so as to be +absolutely unfitted for any other walk of life. With us the priesthood +is a matter of deliberate and perfectly voluntary choice, and he who +wears it as a cloak is ten thousand times the hypocrite his Catholic +brother is. + +It happened that our _cure_ of Saint-Etienne was a jolly good +fellow, somewhat given to wine-bibbing, and much given to Rabelaisian +stories. He was also hail-fellow-well-met with Pierre, and Pierre, like +most of the young men of France, prided himself upon his entire freedom +from the "superstitious." Pere Duhaut lived by teaching and preaching. + +In France the church sacrament of marriage cannot be performed unless +both the contracting parties furnish certificates of having made +confession within three weeks. To secure his certificate it would be +necessary for Pierre to confess to the _cure_ of Saint-Etienne, +Pere Duhaut. + +"_I_ confess to Duhaut!" he laughed in our house. "I'll +be--what's-his-named first. Old Duhaut might as well confess to me. I +shall simply give him six francs and get my certificate without any more +ado, just as the other fellows get theirs." + +That very afternoon Pere Duhaut took tea with us, and Emile was mean +enough to betray Pierre's intentions. + +"We'll see," said our _cure_. + +The next day Pierre passed our windows. He bowed gayly, and called up +that he was going for his six francs' worth of ante-nuptial absolution. +An hour later he passed again, but he did not look up. In the evening +Pere Duhaut came, bursting with laughter. + +"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," he guffawed. Then he told us +the story. Pierre, it seems, had offered the six francs, which offer the +confessor had rejected with scorn. + +"In to the confessional," he cried, "and make your confession like a +penitent!" + +"I'll make it fifteen," grinned Pierre. + +"Not for a thousand. In! _in_!" + +"Come, now, Duhaut, this is all humbug. You know I'm not penitent, and +I'll be---- if I'll confess to you." + +Without more words, the burly priest seized the recalcitrant and grabbed +him by the neck, trying to force him into the confession-box. Pierre +resisted, and, as the _cure_ told us bursting with laughter, the +two wrestled and waltzed half around the church. Finally Pierre was +brought to his knees. + +"_Eh bien, allez_! What am I to confess?" he grumbled. + +"Every sin you have committed since your last confession." + +How malicious was Pere Duhaut in this! for he knew Pierre had not kept +the observances of the Church since he left home at seventeen, and had +not been an anchorite either. + +"I'll make it an even hundred," begged the now exasperated yet humbled +Pierre. "Come, now, do be reasonable; that's a jolly old boy." + +"Confess! confess!" roared the confessor, dealing the kneeling +impenitent a sounding cuff on the ear. + +"Ask Pierre how he got his certificate," roared Pere Duhaut. +"_Demandez-lui! Demandez-lui!_" + +But we never did. + +Until his grave received him, only a few weeks ago, a marked character +of our ville was a stooping old man, of a ghastly paleness, noted +through all the region for avarice and for speaking every one of his +many languages each with worse accent than the other. His Spanish +sounded like German, his German had the strongest possible American +accent, his English was vividly Teutonic, and after forty years of +marriage his Norman wife never ceased to mock at his atrociously-mouthed +French. He was wine-merchant and banker combined, and, though his social +position was among the best in our bourgeoise ville, all the world +smiled with the knowledge that the rich old _banquier_, whose nose +had a strong Hebraic curve, delivered his own merchandise at night from +under his long coat, in order to escape the tax on every bottle of wine +transported from one domicile to another. + +The stately gate-post of "Pere S----'s" pretentious and philistine +mansion is decorated with the coats-of-arms of several nations. +England's is there, Germany's, Spain's, Portugal's, as well as our own +Eagle; while upon days when our own exiled hearts beat most proudly--4th +of July and 22d of February--our star-spangled banner floats from his +roof-top as well as from our own, the only two, of course, in our ville. +Our ville, so important to us, has scarcely an existence for our home +government, and administrative changes there float over us like clouds +of heaven, without touching us in their changefulness. Thus Pere S----, +though so courteous and cordial to Americans, has been long years +forgotten at Washington, whence every living servitor of the +administration that appointed him our consul here has long since passed +away forever. He was born in Pennsylvania, of German parents, nearly +eighty years ago. He received his appointment in 1837, and held it +through fourteen administrations since Van Buren, without ever returning +to America, till he faded away one little month ago and was buried in +the parish cemetery of Saint-Leonard by a Lutheran pastor brought over +for the occasion from Havre. No church-bells tolled for his death, and +the street-children did not go on their way singing, as they always do, +to the sound of funeral bells. + +"_Viens, corps, ta fosse t'attend!_" for Pere S---- was a heretic, +and could not have slept in consecrated ground had he died before the +Republique Francaise removed religious restrictions from all +burial-places. All the consular corps in all the region round about +followed the old man to his long home, all our public buildings hung +their flags half-mast high, all our little world told queer stories of +the dead old man. But our own hearts grew tender with thoughts of this +life finished at fourscore years with its longing of almost half a +century unfulfilled. "Philip Nolan" we often called the old man, who +sometimes said to us, with yearning, pathetic voice,-- + +"I am an American; I am here only till I make my fortune. When I am rich +enough I shall go _Home_. I shall die and be buried at Home,--when +I am rich enough." + +Temperament is Fate. Pere S----'s temperament of Harpagon fated him to +die as he had lived,--a man without a country. + + MARGARET BERTHA WRIGHT. + + + + +THE PRIMITIVE COUPLE. + +I. + +PARADISE. + + +The island in Magog Lake was like a world by itself. Though there were +but fifteen or twenty acres of land in it, that land was so diversified +by dense woods, rocks, verdant open spots, and smooth shore-rims that it +seemed many places in one. + +Adam's tent was set in the arena of an amphitheatre of hills, upon +close, smooth sward sloping down to the lake-margin of milk-white sand. +Beyond the lake stood up a picture as heavenly to man's vision as the +New Jerusalem appearing in the clouds. + +This was a mountain bounded at the base by two spurs of the lake, and +clothed by a plumage of woods, except upon spaces near the centre of its +slope. Here green fields disclosed themselves and two farm-houses were +nested, basking in the light of a sky which deepened and deepened +through infinite blues. + +Though it was high noon, dew yet remained upon the abundance of ferns +and rock-mosses on those heights around the camp. The tent stood open at +both ends, framing a triangular bit of lake-water and shore. Within it +were a table piled with books, an oval mirror hung over a toilet-stand, +garments suspended along a line, a small square rug overlying the sward, +and camp-chairs. + +The two cots had been stripped of their blankets--which were out sunning +upon a pole--and set in the thickest shade, and upon one of these cots +Eva was stretched out, having a pillow under her head. Her dress was of +a green woollen stuff, and barely reached the instep of her low shoes. A +mighty bunch of trailing ferns, starred with furry azure flowers and +ox-eyed daisies, was fastened from her neck to her girdle. She had drawn +her broad sun-hat partly over the bewitching mystery of her eyes and +forehead, to keep the sky-glow at bay, but left space enough through +which to search the whole visible world, and her face was smiling with +pure joy. To be alive beside Lake Magog was sufficient; and she was both +alive and beloved. + +She thought within herself how indescribable all this beauty was. A +pleasant wind smelling of world-old fern-loam fanned her. There were +neither mosquitoes nor flies to sting, and, had there been, Adam was +provided with a bottle of pennyroyal oil, wherewith he would anoint her +face and hands, kissing any lump planted there before he came to the +rescue. + +Eva felt sure she never wanted to go back to civilization again. Days +and days of shining weather, fog-or dew-drenched in the morning, +wine-colored or opaline in the evening; cool, starry nights, so cool, so +dense with woods-shade that they drove her to hide her head in the +blankets under Adam's arm; glowing noons, when the world swam in +ecstasy; long pulls at the oars from point to point of this magic lake, +she holding the trolling-line at the stern of the boat, her husband +sometimes resting and leaning forward to get her smile at nearer range +upon his face; plunges into the warm lake-water in the afternoon when +time stood still in a trance of satisfaction:--what a honeymoon she was +having! Why should it ever end? There were responsible folks enough to +carry the world's work forward. Two people might be allowed to spend +their lives in paradise, if a change of seasons could only be prevented. +Anyhow, Eva was soaking up present joy. She half closed her eyes, and +whispered fragmentary words, feeling that her heart was a censer of +incense, swinging off clouds of thanksgiving at every beat. + +Adam came from the spring with a dripping pail. A fret-work of cool +drops stood all over the tin surface, even when he set the pail beside +his heated stove. That water had been filtered through moss and pebbles +and chilled by overlaced boughs until its nature was glacial. + +The cooking-stove stood quite apart from the tent, under a tree. Blue +woodsmoke escaped from its pipe and straight-way disappeared. A covered +pot was already steaming, and Adam filled and put the kettle to boil. +Not far from the stove was a stationary table, made of boards fastened +upon posts. The potato-cellar and the cold-chest were boxes sunk in the +ground. Some dippers, griddles, and pans hung upon nails driven in the +tree. + +Adam spread the table with a red cloth, brought chairs from the tent, +and came and leaned over Eva's cot. He was a sandy-haired, blue-eyed, +hardy-looking Scotchman, gentlemanly in his carriage, and bearing upon +his visible character the stamp of Edinbro' colleges and of Calvinistic +sincerity. He wore the Highland cap or bonnet, a belted blouse, +knickerbockers, long gray stockings, and heavy-soled shoes. + +"Well, Mrs. Macgregor," said Adam, giving the name a joyful burr in his +throat, "my sweethairt. I must have a look of your eyes before you taste +a bit of my baked muskalunge." + +"Well, Mr. Macgregor. And will I get up and set the table and help put +on dinner?" + +"No, my darling. It's all ready,--or all but a bit of fixing." + +"I am so happy," said Eva, "so lazy and happy, it doesn't seem fair to +the rest of the world." + +"There is at this time no rest of the world," responded Adam. "Nothing +has been created but an island and one man and woman. Do you belaive +me?" + +"I would if I didn't see those farm-houses, and the boats occasionally +coming and going on the lake; yes, and if you didn't have to row across +there for butter and milk, and to Magog village for other supplies." + +"That's a mere illusion. We live here on ambrosial distillations from +the rocks and muskalunge from the lake. I never came to Canada from old +Glazka town, and never saw Loch Achray, or Loch Lomond, or any body of +water save this, since I was created in God's image without any +knowledge of the catechism. And let me see a mon set foot on this +strond!" + +"Oh, you inhospitable creature!" + +"I but said let me see him." + +"Yes, but I know what you meant. You meant you didn't want anybody." + +"My wants are all satisfied, thank God," said Adam, lifting his cap. "I +have you, and the breath o' life, and the camp-outfit." + +"And the mountains, and the lake, and the rocks, and the woods," added +Eva. "I never could have believed there were such sublime things in the +world if I hadn't seen them." + +"Neither could I," owned the Scotchman. "Especially such a sublime thing +as me wife." + +Eva struck at him, restraining her palm from bringing more than a pat +upon his cheek. + +"How your little hand makes me tremble!" said Adam, drawing his breath +from chest-depths. "Will I ever grow to glimpse at you without having +the blood spurt quick from me hairt, or to touch you without this +faintness o' joy? And don't mock me wi' your eyes, bonnie wee one, for +it's bonnie wee one you'll be to me when you're a fat auld woman the +size of yonder mountain. And _that_ changes the laughter in your eyes." + +"I didn't suppose you ever _could_ call me a fat old woman." + +"I'll be an auld man then meself, me fiery locks powthered with ashes, +and my auld knees knocking one at the ither," laughed Adam. + + "But hand in hand we'll go," +sang Eva, + "And sleep thegither at the foot, + Joh--n Ander--son, my jo--o." + +"Oh, don't!" said Adam, with a sudden grasp on her wrist. "My God! one +must go first; and I could naither leave you nor close these eyes of +yours." He put his other hand across his eyelids, his lower features +wincing. "Sweetheart," said Adam, removing it, and taking her head +between his palms, "for what we have already received the Lord make us +duly thankful. And shut up about the rest. And there's grace said for +dinner: excepting I didn't uncover me head. Excuse me bonnet." + +"Take off your ridiculous bonnet," said Eva, emerging from the eclipse +of a long kiss, "and drag me out of my web. If I am to be your helpmeet, +make me help." + +"You naidn't lift a finger, my darling. I don't afford and won't have a +sairvant in the camp, so I should sairve you myself." + +Passing over this argument, Eva crept up on the stretcher and had him +lift her to the ground. Her shape was very slender and elegant, and when +the two passed each an arm across the other's back to walk together +school-girl fashion, Adam's grasp sloped far downward. She did not quite +reach his shoulder. + +They made coffee, and served up their dinner in various pieces of +pottery. The baked muskalunge was portioned upon two plates and +surrounded with stewed potato. Potatoes with scorched jackets, enclosing +their own utmost fragrance, also came out of the ashes. Adam poured +coffee for Eva into a fragile china cup, and coffee for himself into a +tin pint-measure. The sugar was in a glass fruit-jar, and the cream came +directly off a pan in the cold-box. They had pressed beef in slices, +chow-chow through the neck of the bottle, apricot jam in a little white +pot, baker's rolls, and a cracked platter heaped with wild strawberries. +Around the second point of Magog Island, down one whole stony hill-side, +those strawberries grew too thick for stepping. The hugest, most deadly +sweet of cultivated berries could not match them. You ate in them the +light of the sky and the ancient life of the mountain. + +"I never was so hungry at home," said Eva, accepting a finely-done bit +of fish with which her lord fed her as a nestling. "Perhaps things taste +better eaten out of unmatched crockery and under a roof of leaves. I +wouldn't have a plate different in the whole camp." + +"Nor would I," said Adam. + +She looked across at the mountain-panorama, for, though stationary, it +was also forever changing, and the light of intense and burning noon was +different from the humid veil of morning. + +"And yonder goes a sail," she tacked to the end of her +mountain-observations. + +"Heaven speed it!" responded Adam, carrying his cup for a second filling +to the coffee-pot on the stove. "Will ye have a drop more?" + +"Indeed, yes. I don't know how many drops more I shall drink. We get so +fierce and reckless about our victuals. Will it be the spirit of the old +counterfeiters who used to inhabit this island entering into us?" +suggested Eva, using the English-Canadian idiom of the western +provinces. + +"Without doot. It was their custom never to let a body leave this strond +alive, and they can only hairm us by making us eat oursels to death." + +"Nearly a hundred years ago, wasn't it, they lived here and made +counterfeit money and drew silly folks in to buy it of them? When I hear +the rocks all over this island sounding hollow like muffled drumming +under our feet, I scare myself thinking that gang may be hid hereabouts +yet and may come and peep into the tent some night." + +"Behind them all the army of bones they drowned in Magog watther or +buried in the island," laughed Adam. "It's not for a few old ghosts we'd +take up our pans and kettles and move out of the Gairden of Eden. I'll +keep you safe from the counterfeiters, my darling, never fear." + +"You said heaven speed that sail yonder; but the man has taken it down +and is rowing in here." + +"Then he's an impudent loon. Who asked him?" + +"The sight of our tent, very likely. And maybe it will be some friend of +ours, stopping at the Magog House. He wears a white helmet-hat; and +isn't that a yachting-suit of white flannel?" + +"He comes clothed as an angel of light," said Adam. + +They both watched the figure and the boat growing larger in perspective. +Features formed in the blur under the rower's hat; his individuality +sprung suddenly from a shape which a moment ago might have been any +man's. + +"Oh, Adam, it will be Louis Satanette from Toronto," exclaimed Eva. + +"And what's a Toronto man doing away up on Lake Magog?" + +"What will a Glasgow man be doing away off here on Lake Magog?" + +"Camping with his wife, and getting more religion than ever was taught +in the creeds." + +"I'm not so sure of that, then." + +"Because I don't love a Frenchman?" + +"A French-Canadian. And a member of Parliament, too. Think of that at +his age! They say in Toronto he is one of the most promising men in the +provinces." + +"Can he spear a salmon with a gaff, and does he know a pairch from a +lunge? And he couldn't be a Macgregor, anyhow, if he was first man in +Canada." + +Eva laughed, and, forming her lips into a kiss, slyly impressed the same +upon the air, as if it could reach Adam through some invisible pneumatic +tube. He was not ashamed to make a return in kind; and, the boat being +now within their bay, they went down to the sand to meet it. + + + + +II. + +FORBIDDEN FRUIT. + + +In spotless procession the days moved along until that morning on which +Adam dreamed his dream. He waked up trembling with joy and feeling the +tears run down his face. His watch ticked like the beating of a pulse +under his pillow, and he kept time to its rhythm with whispered words no +human ear would ever hear him utter with such rapture. + +He had dreamed of breasting oceans and groping through darkness after +his wife until he was ready to die. Then, while he lay helpless, she +came to him and lifted him up in her arms. There was perfect and +unearthly union between them. His happiness became awful. He woke up +shaken by it as by a hand of infinite power. + +Instead of turning toward her, he was still. Such experiences cannot be +told. The tongue falters and words limp when we try to repeat them to +the one beloved. A divine shame keeps us silent. Perhaps the glory of +that perfect love puts a halo around our common thoughts and actions for +days afterward, but no man or woman can fitly say, "I was in heaven with +you, my other soul, and the gladness was so mighty that I cried +helplessly long after I woke." + +Adam kept his sleeve across his eyes. He had risked his life in many an +adventure without changing a pulse-beat, but now he was an infant in the +grasp of emotion. + +When at last he cast a furtive glance at Eva's cot, she was not there. +She often slipped out in the early morning to drench herself with dew. +Once he had discovered her stooping on the sand, washing soiled clothes +in the lake. She clapped and rubbed the garments between soap and her +little fists. The sun was just coming up in the far northeast. Shapes of +mist gyrated slowly upward in the distance, and all the morning birds +were rushing about, full of eager business. Eva stopped her humming song +when she saw him, and laughed over her unusual employment. The first +time she ever washed clothes in her life she wanted to have Magog for +her tub and accomplish the labor on a vast and princess-like scale. Adam +helped her spread the wet things on bushes, and they both marvelled at +the bleached dazzle which the sun gave to those garments. + +He did not move from the cot, hoping awhile that she might come in, +dew-footed, and yet kiss him. That clear shining of the face which one +sometimes observes in pure-minded devotees, or in young mothers over +their firstborn, gave him a look of nobility in the pallid shadow of the +tent. + +He thought of all their days on the island, and, incidentally, of Louis +Satanette's frequent comings. The Frenchman was a beautiful, versatile +fellow. He sailed a boat, he swam, he fished knowingly, he sang like an +angel, leaning his head back against a tree to let the moonlight touch +up his ivory face and silky moustache and eyebrows. He had firm, +marble-white fingers, nicely veined, on which reckless exposure to sun +and wind had no effect, and the kindliest blue eyes that ever beamed +equal esteem upon man and woman. Sometimes this Satanette came in a +blue-flannel suit, the collar turned well back from the throat, and in a +broad straw hat wound with pink and white tarlatan. He looked like a +flower,--if any flower ever expressed along with its beauty the powerful +nerve of manliness. + +Frequently he sailed out from Magog House and stayed all night on the +island, slinging his own hammock between trees. Then he and Adam rose +early and trolled for lunge in deep water under the cliff. In the +afternoon they all plunged into the lake, Eva swimming like a +cardinal-flower afloat. Adam was careful to keep near her, and finally +to help her into the boat, where she sat with her scarlet bathing-dress +shining in the sun and her drenched hair curling in an arch around her +face. + +All these days flashed before Adam while he put a slow foot out on the +tent-rug. + +There was nobody about the camp when he had made his morning toilet and +unclosed the tent-flaps, so he built a fire in the stove, hung the +bedding to sun, and set out the cots. A blueness which was not humid +filtered itself through the air everywhere, and fold upon fold of it +seemed rising from invisible censers on the mainland. + +Eva hailed him from the lake. She came rowing across the sun's track. +The water was fresh and blue, glittering like millions of alternately +dull and burnished scales. + +Adam drew the boat in and lifted her out, more tenderly but with more +reticence than usual. + +"You don't know where I have been, laddie," exclaimed Eva. "Look at all +the fern and broken bushes in the boat; and I have my pocket sagged +down with gold-streaked quartz. I went around to the other side of the +island, where the counterfeiters' hole is, to look into it while the +morning sun on the lake threw a reflection." + +"There's nothing wonderful to be seen there." + +"How will we know that? The rocks sound hollow all about, and there may +be a great cavern full of counterfeiters' relics. Oh, Adam, I saw Louis +Satanette's sail!" + +"He comes early this morn." + +"I think he has been camping by himself over on the lake-shore. He says +we'll explore the counterfeiters' hole, and let us go directly after +breakfast." + +"What is it worth the exploring?" said Adam. "Four rocks set on end, and +you crawl in on your hands and knees, look at the dark, and back out +again. It's but a burrow, and ends against the hill's heart of rock. +I've to row across yonder for the eggs and butter and milk." + +The smoke rising from different points on the mainland kept sifting and +sifting until at high noon the air was pearl-gray. As if there was not +enough shadow betwixt him and the sun, Adam sat in his boat at the foot +of the cliff, where brown glooms never rose quite off the water. He +looked down until sight could pierce no farther, and, though a fish or +two glided in beautiful curves beneath his eye, he had no hook dropped +in as his excuse for loitering. + +The eggs and butter and milk for which he had rowed across the lake were +covered with green leaves under one of the boat-benches. + +Straight above him, mass on mass, rose those protruding ribs of the +earth, the rocks. He lay back in the boat's stern and gazed at their +summit of pinetrees and ferns. Bunches of gigantic ferns sprouted from +every crevice, and not a leaf of the array but was worth half a +lifetime's study. Yet Adam's eye wandered aimlessly over it all, as if +it gave him no pleasure. Nor did he seem to wish that a little figure +would bend from the summit, half swallowed in greenness and made a +vegetable mermaid from the waist downward, to call to him. He was so +haggard the freckles stood in bold relief upon his face and neck. + +The hiss of a boat and the sound of row-locks failed to move him from +his listless attitude. He did, however, turn his eyes and set his jaws +in the direction of the passing oarsman. Louis Satanette was all in +white flannel, and flush-faced like a cream-pink rose with pleasant +exhilaration. He held his oars poised and let his boat run slowly past +Adam. + +"What have you the matter?" he exclaimed, with sincere anxiety. + +"Oh, it's naught," said Adam. "I'm just weary, weary." + +"You have been gone a very, very long time," said Louis, using the +double Canadian adjective. "Mrs. Macgregor is on the lookout." + +Adam thought of her when she was _not_ on the lookout. He also thought +of her tidying things about the camp in the morning, and singing as he +pulled from the bay. Perhaps she was on another sort of lookout then. + +"I'll go in presently," he muttered. + +"Beg pardon?" said Louis Satanette, bending forward, and giving the +upward inflection to that graceful Canadian phrase which asks a +repetition while implying that the fault is with the hearer. + +"I said I'd go in presently. There's no hurry." + +"Allow me to take you in," said Louis. "You have approached too close +to the altars of the sylvan gods, and their sacrificial smoke has +overcome you. Don't you see it rising everywhere from the woods?" + +"The sylvan gods are none of my clan," remarked Adam, shifting his +position impatiently, "and it's little I know of them. There's a graat +dail of ignorance consailed aboot my pairson." + +Louis Satanette laughed with enjoyment: + +"Well, _au revoir_. I will put up my sail when I turn the points. It +will be a long run up the lakes, with this haze hanging and not wind +enough to lift it." + +"Good-day to ye," responded Adam. "We'll likely shift camp before you're +this way." + +"In so short a time?" exclaimed Louis. + +"In so lang a time. I'm soul-sick of it. It's lone; it's heavy. The +fine's too great for the pleasure of the feight. Look, now,--there were +two rough laddies up Glazka way, in my country, and they came to fists +aboot a sweethairt, the fools. But when they are stripped and ready, one +hits the table wi's hond, and says he, 'Ay, Georgie, I'm wullin' to +feight ye, but wha's goin' to pay the fine?'" + +Louis Satanette laughed again, but as if he did not know just what was +meant." + +"It's a cautious mon, is the Scotchmon," said Adam, "but no' so slow, +after all." + +"Oh, never slow!" said Louis. "Very, very fast indeed, to leave this +paradise in the midst of the summer." + +"'Farewell to lovely Loch Achray,'" sighed Adam: + "Where shall we find, in any land, + So lone a lake, so sweet a strand?" + +Louis made a sign of adieu and dipped his oars. + +"It's only _au revoir_," said he, shooting past. "Be very, very far from +parting with Magog too early." + +"'So lone a lake, so sweet a strand,'" repeated Adam, dropping his head +back against the stern. + +He did not move while the sound of the other's oars died away behind +him. He did not move while the afternoon shadows spread far over the +water. + +The long Canadian twilight advanced stage by stage. First, all Magog +flushed, as if a repetition of the old miracle had turned it to wine. +Then innumerable night-hawks uttered their four musical notes in endless +succession, upon the heights, down in the woods, from the mainland +mountain. The north star became discernible almost overhead. Then, with +slow and irregular strokes, Adam pulled away from the cliff, and brought +his keel to grate the sand in front of his tent. + +Eva was sitting there on a rock, huddling a shawl around her. + +"Oh, Adam Macgregor!" she began, in a low voice, "and do you condescend +to bring your wraith back to me at last?" + +"It's nothing but my wraith," said Adam, lifting his eggs and butter and +milk, and stepping from the boat. "The mon in me died aboot noon." + +Eva walked along by his side to the cool-box, where he deposited his +load. + +"What is the matter with you, laddie, that you look and talk so +strangely?" + +"Oh, naught," said Adam, turning and facing her. "I but saw you kissing +Louis Satanette on the hill to-day." + + + + +III. + + +THE FLAMING SWORD. + +The changes which passed over her face were half concealed by the +twilight. She was grieved, indignant, and frightened, but over all other +expressions lurked the mischievous mirth of a bad child. + +"I meant to tell you about it," she said. + +"Hearken," said Adam, with a fierce stare. "I've stayed out on the lake +all day, and I'm quiet. At first I wasn't. But when he came by I gave +him nothing but a good word." + +"I wish you'd scolded him instead of me," said Eva, propping her back +against the table and puckering her lips. + +"_He_ did naught," said Adam, "but what any man would do that got lave. +It's you that gave him lave that are to blame." + +"Don't be so serious about a little thing," put forth Eva. "We just +walked over to the counterfeiters' hole, and coming back we picked +strawberries, and he teased me like a girl, and caught hold of me and +kissed me. We've been such good friends in camp. I think it's this easy, +wild life made me do it." + +"She'll blame the very sky over her instead of taking blame to +herself," ground out Adam from between his jaws. "I sat in me boat +below and saw you arch your head and look at him ways that I remember. +My God! why did you make this woman so false, and yet so sweet that a +mon canna help loving her in spite o' his teeth?" + +"Because I'd die if folks didn't love me," burst out Eva, with a sob. +"And if men can't help loving me, what do you blame me for?" + +"What right have you to breathe such a word when you're married to me?" + +"But I'm not used to being married yet," pleaded Eva. "And I forgot, +this once." + +"It's once and for all," said Adam, "You'll never be to me what you were +before. Is it the English-Canadian way to bring up women to kiss every +comer?" + +"I didn't kiss anybody but Louis Satanette," maintained Eva, "and I +didn't really _want_ to kiss _him_" + +"Never mind," said Adam. "Don't trouble your butterfly soul about it." +And he turned away and walked toward the tent. + +"I'll not love you if you say such awful things to me," she flashed +after him. + +"Ye can't take the breeks off a Hielandman," he replied, facing about, +"Ye never loved me. Not as I loved you. And it's no loss I've met, if I +could but think it." + +"Oh, Adam!" Now she ran forward and caught him around the waist. "Don't +be so hard with me. I know I am very bad, but I didn't mean to be." + +Some faint perception of that coarse fibre within her was breaking with +horror through her face. She held to his hands after he had separated +her from his person and held her off. + +"All that you do still has its effect on me," said the man, gazing +sternly at her. "I love ye; but I despise myself for loving ye. This +morn I adored ye with reverence; this night you're as a bit o' that +earth." + +Eva let go his hands and sat down on the ground. As he made his +preparations in the tent he could not help seeing with compassion how +abjectly her figure drooped. All its flexible proud lines, were suddenly +gone. She was dazed by his treatment and by the light in which he put +her trifling. She sat motionless until Adam came out with one of the +cots in his arms. + +"I'm to sleep upon the hill in the pine woods to-night," said he. "Go +into the tent, and I'll fasten the flaps. You shan't be scared by +anything." + +"Let me get in the boat and leave the island, if you can't breathe the +same air with me," said Eva. staggering up. + +"No, I can't breathe the same air with ye to-night, but ye'll go into +the tent," said Adam, with authority. + +"I'll not stay there," she rebelled. "I'll follow you. You don't know +what may be on this island." + +"There can be nothing worse than what I've seen," said Adam; "and that's +done all the hairm it can do." + +"Oh, Adam, are we both crazy?" the small creature burst out, weeping as +if her heart would break. "Don't go away and leave me so. I am not real +bad in my heart, I know I am not; and if you would be a little patient +with me and help me, I shall get over my silly ways. There is something +in me, you can depend upon, if I _did_ do that foolish thing. And my +mother didn't live long enough to train me, Adam; remember that. Won't +you please kiss me? My heart is breaking." + +He put down the cot and took her by the shoulders, trembling as he did +so from head to foot: + +"My wife, I belaive what you say. I'd give all the days remaining to me +if I could strain ye against my breast with the feeling I had this morn. +But there comes that sight. I never shall see the hill again, I never +shall see a spot of this island again, without seeing your mouth kissing +another man. Go into the tent. God knows I'd die before hairm should +come to you. But not to-night can I stay beside you. Or kiss you." + +He carried her into the tent and put her on her bed. She had made all +the night-preparations herself, placing the pillows on both cots and +turning back the sun-sweetened blankets. + +Adam left her sobbing, buttoned the tent-flaps outside, and placed a +barricade of kettles and pans which could not be touched without +disturbing him on the hill. Then, taking up his own bed, he marched off +through the ferns, edging his burden among dense boughs as he ascended. + +When he had made the joints of his couch creak with many uneasy +turnings, had clinched at leaves, and started up to return to the tent, +only to check himself in the act as often as he started, he lost +consciousness in uneasy dreams rather than fell asleep. + +He was smothering, and yet could not open his lips to gasp for a breath +of air. Then he was drowning: he gulped in vast sheets of water upon his +lungs. An alarm sounded from Eva's barricade. He heard the pans and +kettles clanging and her own voice in screams which pierced him, yet he +could not move. A nightmare of heat enveloped him; the smothering +element pouring upon his lungs was not water, but smoke; and he knew if +no effort of will could move his body to her rescue he must be perishing +himself. + +After these brief sensations his existence was as blank as the empty +void outside the worlds, until his ears began to throb like drums, and +he felt water, like the tears he had shed in the morning, running all +over his face. Eva held him in her arms, and alternately kissed his head +and drenched it from the lake. + +Moreover, he was in the boat, outside the bay, and their island glowed +like a furnace before his dazzled eyes. + +Those pine woods where he had gone to sleep were roaring up toward +heaven in a column of fire. The tent was burning, all its interior +illuminated until every object showed its minutest lines. He thought he +saw some of Eva's dark hairs in an upturned hair-brush on the +wash-stand. + +Fire ran along the cliff-edge and dropped hissing brands into the lake. +Old moss logs and pine-trees dry as tinder sent out sickening heat. The +light ran like a flash up the tree over their stove, and in an instant +its crown was wavering with flames. The grass itself caught here and +there, and in whatever direction the eye turned, new fires as +instantaneously sprang out to meet it. + +Stumps blazed up like lighted altars, or like huge gas-jets suddenly +turned on. Adam saw one log lying endwise downhill, one side of which +was crumbling into coals of fierce and tremulous heat, while from the +other side still sprung unsinged a delicate tuft of ferns. + +The smoke was driving straight upward in a quivering current, and in +Lake Magog's depths another island seemed to be on fire. + +Sublime as the sight was, all these details impressed themselves on the +man in an instant, and he turned his face directly up toward the woman. + +"Darling, your face looks blistered," said Adam. + +"It feels blistered," replied Eva. "I'll put some water on it, now that +you've caught your breath again. I thought I could not get you out from +those burning trees." + +"But you dragged me down the hill?" + +"Yes, and then dipped you in the lake and pushed off with you in the +boat. I don't know how I did it. But here we are together." + +Adam bathed her face carefully himself, and held her tight in his arms. +The unspeakable love of which he had dreamed, and the heat of the +burning island, seemed welding them together without other sign than the +fact. + +Not a word was sighed out for forgiveness on either side. They held each +other and floated back into the lake. Adam took an oar and occasionally +paddled, without wholly releasing his hold of Eva. + +"Don't you remember our fish's nest?" she whispered beside his neck. "I +wonder if the slim little silver thing is swimming around over the +gravel hollow, frightened by all this glare? I hope those overhanging +bushes won't catch fire and drop coals on her; for she's a silly +thing,--she might not want to dart out in deep water and lose her +unhatched family." + +Adam smiled into his wife's eyes. He was quite singed, but did not know +it. + +"Ay, burn," he spoke out exultantly, apostrophizing the island. "Burn up +our first home and all. It's worth it. We're the other side o' the world +of fire now. We've passed through it, and are afloat on the sea of +glass." + + M. H. CATHERWOOD. + + + + +PROBATION. + + +Full slow to part with her best gifts is Fate: + The choicest fruitage comes not with the spring, +But still for summer's mellowing touch must wait, + For storms and tears that seasoned excellence bring; +And Love doth fix his joyfullest estate + In hearts that have been hushed 'neath Sorrow's brooding wing. +Youth sues to Fame: she coldly answers, "Toil!" + He sighs for Nature's treasures: with reserve +Responds the goddess, "Woo them from the soil." + Then fervently he cries, "Thee will I serve,-- +Thee only, blissful Love." With proud recoil + The heavenly boy replies, "To serve me well--deserve." + + FLORENCE EARLE COATES. + + + + +THE PIONEERS OF THE SOUTHWEST. + +TWO PAPERS. II. + + +The route of Robertson lay over the great Indian war-path, which led, in +a southwesterly direction, from the valley of Virginia to the Cherokee +towns on the lower Tennessee, not far from the present city of +Chattanooga. He would, however, turn aside at the Tellico and visit +Echota, which was the home of the principal chiefs. While he is pursuing +his perilous way, it may be as well to glance for a moment at the people +among whom he is going at so much hazard. + +The Cherokees were the mountaineers of aboriginal America, and, like +most mountaineers, had an intense love of country and a keen +appreciation of the beautiful in nature, as is shown by the poetical +names they have bequeathed to their rivers and mountains. They were +physically a fine race of men, tall and athletic, of great bravery and +superior natural intelligence. It was their military prowess alone that +enabled them to hold possession of the country they occupied against the +many warlike tribes by whom they were surrounded. + +They had no considerable cities, or even villages, but dwelt in +scattered townships in the vicinity of some stream where fish and game +were found in abundance. A number of these towns, bearing the musical +names of Tallassee, Tamotee, Chilhowee, Citico, Tennassee, and Echota, +were at this time located upon the rich lowlands lying between the +Tellico and Little Tennessee Rivers. These towns contained a population, +in men, women, and children, estimated at from seven to eight thousand, +of whom perhaps twelve hundred were warriors. These were known as the +Ottari (or "among the mountains") Cherokees. + +About the same number, near the head-waters of the Savannah, in the +great highland belt between the Blue Ridge and the Smoky Mountains, were +styled the Erati (or "in the valley") Cherokees. Another body (among +whom were many Creeks), nearly as large, and much more lawless than +either of the others, occupied towns lower down the Tennessee and in the +vicinity of Lookout Mountain. These, from their residence near the +stream of that name, were known as the Chickamaugas. + +These various bodies were one people, governed by an Archimagus, or +King, who, with a supreme council of chiefs, which sat at Echota, +decided all important questions in peace or war. Under him were the +half-or vice-king and the several chiefs who governed the scattered +townships and together composed the supreme council. In them was lodged +the temporal power. Spiritual authority was of a far more despotic form +and character. It was vested in one person, styled the Beloved man or +woman of the tribe, who, over a people so superstitious as the +Cherokees, held a control that was wellnigh absolute. This person was +generally of superior intelligence, who, like the famous Prophet of the +Shawnees, officiated as physician, prophet, and intercessor with the +invisible powers; and, by virtue of the supernatural authority which he +claimed, he often by a single word decided the most important questions, +even when opposed by the king and the principal chiefs. + +Echota was located on the northern bank of the Tellico, about five miles +from the ruins of Fort Loudon, and thirty southwest from the present +city of Knoxville. It was the Cherokee City of Refuge. Once within its +bounds, an open foe, or even a red-handed criminal, could dwell in peace +and security. The danger to an enemy was in going and returning. It is +related that an Englishman who, in self-defence, once slew a Cherokee, +fled to this sacred city to escape the vengeance of the kindred of his +victim. He was treated here with such kindness that after a time he +thought it safe to leave his asylum. The Indians warned him against the +danger, but he left, and on the following morning his body was found on +the outskirts of the town, pierced through and through with a score of +arrows. + +About two hundred cabins and wigwams, scattered, with some order but at +wide intervals, along the bank of the river, composed the village. The +cabins, like those of the white settlers, were square and built of logs; +the wigwams were conical, with a frame of slender poles gathered +together at the top and covered with buffalo-robes, dressed and smoked +to render them impervious to the weather. An opening at the side formed +the entrance, and over it was hung a buffalo-hide, which served as a +door. The fire was built in the centre of the lodge, and directly +overhead was an aperture to let out the smoke. Here the women performed +culinary operations, except in warm weather, when such employments were +carried on outside in the open air. At night the occupants of the lodge +spread their skins and buffalo-robes on the ground, and then men, women, +and children, stretching themselves upon them, went to sleep, with their +feet to the fire. By day the robes were rolled into mats and made to +serve as seats. A lodge of ordinary size would comfortably house a dozen +persons; but two families never occupied one domicile, and, the +Cherokees seldom having a numerous progeny, not more than five or six +persons were often tenants of a single wigwam. + +These rude dwellings were mostly strung along the two sides of a wide +avenue, which was shaded here and there with large oaks and poplars and +trodden hard with the feet of men and horses. At the back of each lodge +was a small patch of cleared land, where the women and the negro slaves +(stolen from the white settlers over the mountains) cultivated beans, +corn, and potatoes, and occasionally some such fruits as apples, pears, +and plums. All labor was performed by the women and slaves, as it was +considered beneath the dignity of an Indian brave to follow any +occupation but that of killing, either wild beasts in the hunt or +enemies in war. The house-lots were without fences, and not an enclosure +could be seen in the whole settlement, cattle and horses being left to +roam at large in the woods and openings. + +In the centre of Echota, occupying a wide opening, was a circular, +tower-shaped structure, some twenty feet high and ninety in +circumference. It was rudely built of stout poles, plastered with clay, +and had a roof of the same material sloping down to broad eaves, which +effectually protected the walls from moisture. It had a wide entrance, +protected by two large buffalo-hides hung so as to meet together in the +middle. There were no windows, but an aperture in the roof, shielded by +a flap of skins a few feet above the opening, let out the smoke and +admitted just enough light to dissipate a portion of the gloom that +always shrouded the interior. Low benches, neatly made of cane, were +ranged around the circumference of the room. This was the great +council-house of the Cherokees. Here they met to celebrate the +green-corn dance and their other national ceremonials; and here the king +and half-king and the princes and head-men of the various towns +consulted together on important occasions, such as making peace or +declaring war. + +At the time of which I write, several of the log cabins of Echota were +occupied by traders, adventurous white men who, tempted by the profit of +the traffic with the Cherokees, had been led to a more or less constant +residence among them. Their cabins contained their stock in +trade,--traps, guns, powder and lead, hatchets, looking-glasses, +"stroud," beads, scarlet cloth, and other trinkets, articles generally +of small cost, but highly prized by the red-men, and for which they gave +in exchange peltries of great value. The trade was one of slow returns, +but of great profits to the trader. And it was of about equal advantage +to the Indian; for with the trap or rifle he had gotten for a few skins +he was able to secure more game in a day than his bow and arrow and rude +"dead-fall" would procure for him in a month of toilsome hunting. The +traders were therefore held in high esteem among the Cherokees, who +encouraged their living and even marrying among them. In fact, such +alliances were deemed highly honorable, and were often sought by the +daughters of the most distinguished chiefs. Consequently, among the +trader's other chattels would often be found a dusky mate and a +half-dozen half-breed children; and this, too, when he had already a +wife and family somewhere in the white settlements. + +These traders were an important class in the early history of the +country. Of necessity well acquainted with the various routes traversing +the Indian territory, and with the state of feeling among the savages, +and passing frequently to and fro between the Indian towns and the white +settlements, they were often enabled to warn the whites of intended +attacks, and to guide such hostile parties as invaded the Cherokee +territory. Though often natives of North Carolina or Virginia, and in +sympathy with the colonists, they were, if prudent of speech and +behavior, allowed to remain unmolested in the Indian towns, even when +the warriors were singing the war-song and brandishing the war-club on +the eve of an intended massacre of the settlers. + +Living in Echota at this time was one of this class who, on account of +his great services to the colonists, is deserving of special mention. +His name was Isaac Thomas, and he is said to have been a native of +Virginia. He is described as a man about forty years of age, over six +feet in height, straight, long-limbed, and wiry, and with a frame so +steeled by twenty years of mountain-life that he could endure any +conceivable hardship. His features were strongly marked and regular, and +they wore an habitual expression of comic gravity; but on occasion his +dark, deep-set eye had been known to light up with a look of +unconquerable pluck and determination. He wore moccasins and +hunting-shirt of buckskin, and his face, neck, and hands, from long +exposure, had grown to be of the same color as that material. His +coolness and intrepidity had been shown on many occasions, and these +qualities, together with his immense strength, had secured him high +esteem among the Cherokees, who, like all uncivilized people, set the +highest value upon personal courage and physical prowess. It is related +that shortly before the massacre at Fort Loudon he interfered in a +desperate feud between two Cherokee braves who had drawn their tomahawks +to hew each other in pieces. Stepping between them, he wrenched the +weapons from their hands, and then, both setting upon him at once, he +cooled their heated valor by lifting one after the other into the air +and gently tossing him into the Tellico. Subsequently, one of these +braves saved his life at the Loudon massacre, at the imminent risk of +his own. If I were writing fiction, I might make of this man an +interesting character: as it is, it will be seen that facts hereinafter +related will fully justify the length of this description. + +A wigwam, larger and more pretentious than most of the others in Echota, +stood a little apart from the rest, and not far from the council-house. +Like the others, it had a frame of poles covered with tanned skins; but +it was distinguished from them by a singular "totem,"--an otter in the +coils of a water-snake. Its interior was furnished with a sort of rude +splendor. The floor was carpeted with buffalo-hides and panther-skins, +and round the walls were hung eagles' tails, and the peltries of the +fox, the wolf, the badger, the otter, and other wild animals. From a +pole in the centre was suspended a small bag,--the mysterious +medicine-bag of the occupant. She was a woman who to this day is held in +grateful remembrance by many of the descendants of the early settlers +beyond the Alleghanies. Her personal appearance is lost to tradition, +but it is said to have been queenly and commanding. She was more than +the queen, she was the prophetess and Beloved Woman, of the Cherokees. + +At this time she is supposed to have been about thirty-five years of +age. Her father was an English officer named Ward, but her mother was of +the "blood royal," a sister of the reigning half-king Atta-Culla-Culla. +The records we have of her are scanty, as they are of all her people, +but enough has come down to us to show that she had a kind heart and a +sense of justice keen enough to recognize the rights of even her +enemies. She must have possessed very strong traits of character to +exercise as she did almost autocratic control over the fierce and +wellnigh untamable Cherokees when she was known to sympathize with and +befriend their enemies the white settlers. Not long before the time of +which I am writing, she had saved the lives of two whites,--Jeremiah +Jack and William Rankin,--who had come into collision with a party of +Cherokees; and subsequently she performed many similar services to the +frontier people. + +Other wigwams as imposing as that of Nancy Ward, and not far from the +council-house, were the habitations of the head-king Oconostota, the +half-king Atta-Culla-Culla, and the prince of Echota, Savanuca, +otherwise called the Raven. Of these men it will be necessary to say +more hereafter: here I need only remark that they have now gathered in +the council-house, with many of the principal warriors and head-men of +the Ottari Cherokees, and that the present fate of civilization in the +Southwest is hanging on their deliberations. + +They are of a gigantic race, and none of those at this conclave, except +Atta-Culla-Culla, are less than six feet in height "without their +moccasins." Squatted as they are gravely around the council-fire, they +present a most picturesque appearance. Among them are the +Bread-Slave-Catcher, noted for his exploits in stealing negroes; the +Tennassee Warrior, prince of the town of that name; Noon-Day, a +wide-awake brave; Bloody Fellow, whose subsequent exploits will show the +appropriateness of his name; Old Tassell, a wise and reasonably just +old man, afterward Archimagus; and John Watts, a promising young +half-breed, destined to achieve eminence in slaughtering white people. + +As one after another of them rises to speak, the rest, with downcast +eyes and cloudy visages, listen with silent gravity, only now and then +expressing assent by a solitary "Ugh!" + +There is strong, though suppressed, passion among them; but it is +passion under the control of reason. Whatever they decide to do will be +done without haste, and after a careful weighing of all the +consequences. In the midst of their deliberations the rapid tread of a +horse's feet is heard coming up the long avenue. The horseman halts +before the council-house, and soon the buffalo-hide parts in twain, and +a tall young warrior, decorated with eagles' feathers and half clad in +the highest style of Cherokee fashion, enters the door-way. He stands +silent, motionless, not moving a pace beyond the entrance, till +Oconostota, raising his eyes and lifting his huge form into an erect +posture, bids him speak and make known his errand. + +The young brave explains that the chief of the pale-faces has come down +the great war-path to an outlying town to see the head-men of the +Ottari. The warriors have detained him till they can know the will of +their father the Archimagus. + +The answer is brief: "Let him come. Oconostota will hear him." + +And now an hour goes by, during which these grave chiefs sit as silent +and motionless as if keeping watch around a sepulchre. At its close the +tramp of a body of horsemen is heard, and soon Robertson, escorted by a +score of painted warriors, enters the council-chamber. Like the rest, +the new-comers are of fine physical proportions; and, as the others rise +to their feet and all form in a circle about him, Robertson, who stands +only five feet nine inches and is not so robust as in later years, seems +like a pygmy among giants. Yet he is as cool, as collected, as +apparently unconscious of danger, as if every one of those painted +savages (when aroused, red devils) was his near friend or +blood-relation. The chiefs glance at him, and then at one another, with +as much wonderment in their eyes as was ever seen in the eyes of a +Cherokee. They know he is but one man and they twelve hundred, and that +by their law of retaliation his life is forfeit; and yet he stands +there, a look of singular power on his face, as if not they but he were +master of the situation. They have seen physical bravery; but this is +moral courage, which, when a man has a great purpose, lifts him above +all personal considerations and makes his life no more to him than the +bauble he wears upon his finger. + +Robertson waits for the others to speak, and there is a short pause +before the old chief breaks the silence. Then, extending his hand to +Robertson, he says, "Our white brother is welcome. We have eaten of his +venison and drunk of his fire-water. He is welcome. Let him speak. +Oconostota will listen." + +The white man returns cordially the grasp of the Indian; and then, still +standing, while all about him seat themselves on the ground, he makes +known the object of his coming. I regret I cannot give here his exact +answer, for all who read this would wish to know the very words he used +on this momentous occasion. No doubt they were, like all he said, terse, +pithy, and in such scriptural phrase as was with him so habitual. I know +only the substance of what he said, and it was as follows: that the +young brave had been killed by one not belonging to the Watauga +community; that the murderer had fled, but when apprehended would be +dealt with as his crime deserved; and he added that he and his +companion-settlers had come into the country desiring to live in peace +with all men, but more especially with their near neighbors the brave +Cherokees, with whom they should always endeavor to cultivate relations +of friendliness and good-fellowship. + +The Indians heard him at first with silent gravity, but, as he went on, +their feelings warmed to him, and found vent in a few expressive +"Ughs!" and when he closed, the old Archimagus rose, and, turning to the +chiefs, said, "What our white brother says is like the truth. What say +my brothers? are not his words good?" + +The response was, "They are good." + +A general hand-shaking followed; and then they all pressed Robertson to +remain with them and partake of their hospitality. Though extremely +anxious to return at once with the peaceful tidings, he did so, and thus +converted possible enemies into positive friends; and the friendship +thus formed was not broken till the outbreak of the Revolution. + +While Robertson had been away, Sevier had not been idle. He had put +Watauga into the best possible state of defence. With the surprising +energy that was characteristic of him, he had built a fort and gathered +every white settler into it or safe within range of its muskets. His +force was not a hundred strong; but if Robertson had been safely out of +the savage hold, he might have enjoyed a visit from Oconostota and his +twelve hundred Ottari warriors. + +The fort was planned by Sevier, who had no military training except such +as he had received under his patron and friend Lord Dunmore. Though rude +and hastily built, it was a model of military architecture, and in the +construction of it Sevier displayed such a genius for war as readily +accounts for his subsequent achievements. + +It was located on Gap Creek, about half a mile northeast of the Watauga, +upon a gentle knoll, from about which the trees, and even stumps, were +carefully cleared, to prevent their sheltering a lurking enemy. The +buildings have now altogether crumbled away; but the spot is still +identified by a few graves and a large locust-tree,--then a slender +sapling, now a burly patriarch, which has remained to our day to point +out the spot where occurred the first conflict between civilization and +savagery in the new empire beyond the Alleghanies. For the conflict was +between those two forces; and the forts along the frontier--of which +this at Watauga was the original and model--were the forerunners of +civilization,--the "voice crying in the wilderness," announcing the +reign of peace which was to follow. + +The fort covered a parallelogram of about an acre, and was built of log +cabins placed at intervals along the four sides, the logs notched +closely together, so that the walls were bullet-proof. One side of the +cabins formed the exterior of the fort, and the spaces between them were +filled with palisades of heavy timber, eight feet long, sharpened at the +ends, and set firmly into the ground. At each of the angles was a +block-house, about twenty feet square and two stories high, the upper +story projecting about two feet beyond the lower, so as to command the +sides of the fort and enable the besieged to repel a close attack or any +attempt to set fire to the buildings. Port-holes were placed at suitable +distances. There were two wide gate-ways, constructed to open quickly to +permit a sudden sally or the speedy rescue of outside fugitives. On one +of these was a lookout station, which commanded a wide view of the +surrounding country. The various buildings would comfortably house two +hundred people, but on an emergency a much larger number might find +shelter within the enclosure. + +The fort was admirably adapted to its design, and, properly manned, +would repel any attack of fire-arms in the hands of such desultory +warriors as the Indians. In the arithmetic of the frontier it came to be +adopted as a rule that one white man behind a wall of logs was a match +for twenty-five Indians in the open field; and subsequent events showed +this to have been not a vainglorious reckoning. + +There were much older men at Watauga than either Sevier or +Robertson,--one of whom was now only twenty-eight and the other +thirty,--but they had from the first been recognized as natural leaders. +These two events--the building of the fort and the Cherokee mission, +which displayed Sevier's uncommon military genius and Robertson's +ability and address as a negotiator--elevated them still higher in the +regard of their associates, and at once the cares and responsibilities +of leadership in both civil and military affairs were thrust upon them. +But Sevier, with a modesty which he showed throughout his whole career, +whenever it was necessary that one should take precedence of the other, +always insisted upon Robertson's having the higher position; and so it +was that in the military company which was now formed Sevier, who had +served as a captain under Dunmore, was made lieutenant, while Robertson +was appointed captain. + +The Watauga community had been till now living under no organized +government. This worked very well so long as the newly-arriving +immigrants were of the class which is "a law unto itself;" but when +another class came in,--men fleeing from debt in the older settlements +or hoping on the remote and inaccessible frontier to escape the penalty +of their crimes,--some organization which should have the sanction of +the whole body of settlers became necessary. Therefore, speaking in the +language of Sevier, they, "by consent of the people, formed a court, +taking the Virginia laws as a guide, as near as the situation of affairs +would admit." + +The settlers met in convention at the fort, and selected thirteen of +their number to draft articles of association for the management of the +colony. From these thirteen, five (among whom were Sevier and Robertson) +were chosen commissioners, and to them was given power to adjudicate +upon all matters of controversy and to adopt and direct all measures +having a bearing upon the peace, safety, good order, and well-being of +the community. By them, in the language of the articles, "all things +were to be settled." + +These articles of association were the first compact of civil government +anywhere west of the Alleghanies. They were adopted in 1772, three years +prior to the association formed for Kentucky "under the great elm-tree +outside of the fort at Boonesboro." The simple government thus +established was sufficient to secure good order in the colony for +several years following. + +Now ensued four more years of uninterrupted peace and prosperity, during +which the settlement increased greatly in numbers and extended its +borders in all directions. The Indians, true to their pledges to +Robertson, continued friendly, though suffering frequently from the +depredations of lawless white men from the old settlements. These were +reckless, desperate characters, who had fled from the order and law of +established society to find freedom for unbridled license in the new +community. Driven out by the Watauga settlers, they herded together in +the wilderness, where they subsisted by hunting and fishing and preying +upon the now peaceable Cherokees. They were an annoyance to both the +peaceable white man and the red; but at length, when the Indians showed +feelings of hostility, they became a barrier between the savages and the +industrious cultivators of the soil, and thus unintentionally +contributed to the well-being of the Watauga community. + +No event materially affecting the interests of the colony occurred +during the four years following Robertson's visit to the Cherokees at +Echota. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought, but the +shot which was "heard round the world" did not echo till months +afterward in that secluded hamlet on the Watauga. But when it did +reverberate amid those old woods, every backwoodsman sprang to his feet +and asked to be enrolled to rush to the rescue of his countrymen on the +seaboard. His patriotism was not stimulated by British oppression, for +he was beyond the reach of the "king's minions." He had no grievances to +complain of, for he drank no tea, used no stamps, and never saw a +tax-gatherer. It was the "glorious cause of liberty," as Sevier +expressed it, which called them all to arms to do battle for freedom and +their countrymen. + +"A company of fine riflemen was accordingly enlisted, and embodied at +the expense and risque of their private fortunes, to act in defence of +the common cause on the sea-shore."[001] But before the volunteers could +be despatched over the mountains it became apparent that their services +would be needed at home for the defence of the frontier against the +Indians. + +Through the trader Isaac Thomas it soon became known to the settlers +that Cameron, the British agent, was among the Cherokees, endeavoring to +incite them to hostilities against the Americans. At first the Indians +resisted the enticements--the hopes of spoil and plunder and the +recovery of their hunting-grounds--which Cameron held out to them. They +could not understand how men of the same race and language could be at +war with one another. It was never so known in Indian tradition. But +soon--late in 1775--an event occurred which showed that the virus spread +among them by the crafty Scotchman had begun to work, at least with the +younger braves, and that it might at any moment break out among the +whole nation. A trader named Andrew Grear, who lived at Watauga, had +been at Echota. He had disposed of his wares, and was about to return +with the furs he had taken in exchange, when he perceived signs of +hostile feeling among some of the young warriors, and on his return, +fearing an ambuscade on the great war-path, he left it before he reached +the crossing at the French Broad, and went homeward by a less-frequented +trail along the Nolachucky. Two other traders, named Boyd and Dagget, +who left Echota on the following day, pursued the usual route, and were +waylaid and murdered at a small stream which has ever since borne the +name of Boyd's Creek. In a few days their bodies were found, only half +concealed in the shallow water; and as the tidings flew among the +scattered settlements they excited universal alarm and indignation. + +The settlers had been so long at peace with the Cherokees that they had +been lulled into a false security; but, the savage having once tasted +blood, they knew his appetite would "grow by what it fed on," and they +prepared for a deadly struggle with an enemy of more than twenty times +their number. The fort at Watauga was at once put into a state of +efficient defence, smaller forts were erected in the centre of every +scattered settlement, and a larger one was built on the frontier, near +the confluence of the north and south forks of the Holston River, to +protect the more remote settlements. This last was called Fort Patrick +Henry, in honor of the patriotic governor of Virginia. The one at +Watauga received the name of Fort Lee. + +All the able-bodied males sixteen years of age and over were enrolled, +put under competent officers, and drilled for the coming struggle. But +the winter passed without any further act of hostility on the part of +the disaffected Cherokees. The older chiefs, true to their pledges to +Robertson, still held back, and were able to restrain the younger +braves, who thirsted for the conflict from a passion for the excitement +and glory they could find only in battle. + +Nancy Ward was in the secrets of the Cherokee leaders, and every word +uttered in their councils she faithfully repeated to the trader Isaac +Thomas, who conveyed the intelligence personally or by trusty messengers +to Sevier and Robertson at Watauga. Thus the settlers were enabled to +circumvent the machinations of Cameron until a more powerful enemy +appeared among the Cherokees in the spring of 1776. This was John +Stuart, British superintendent of Southern Indian affairs, a man of +great address and ability, and universally known and beloved among all +the Southwestern tribes. Fifteen years before, his life had been saved +at the Fort Loudon massacre by Atta-Culla-Culla, and a friendship had +then been contracted between them which now secured the influence of the +half-king in plunging the Cherokees into hostilities with the settlers. + +The plan of operations had been concerted between Stuart and the +British commander-in-chief, General Gage. It was for a universal rising +among the Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Shawnees, who were to +invade the frontiers of Georgia, Virginia, and the Carolinas, while +simultaneously a large military and naval force under Sir Peter Parker +descended upon the Southern seaboard and captured Charleston. It was +also intended to enlist the co-operation of such inhabitants of the back +settlements as were known to be favorable to the British. Thus the +feeble colonists were to be not only encircled by a cordon of fire, but +a conflagration was to be lighted which should consume every patriot's +dwelling. It was an able but pitiless and bloodthirsty plan, for it +would let loose upon the settler every savage atrocity and make his +worst foes those of his own household. If successful, it would have +strangled in fire and blood the spirit of independence in the Southern +colonies. + +That it did not succeed seems to us, who know the means employed to +thwart it, little short of a miracle. Those means were the four hundred +and forty-five raw militia under Moultrie, who, behind a pile of +palmetto logs, on the 28th of June, 1776, repulsed Sir Peter Parker in +his attack on Sullivan's Island in the harbor of Charleston, South +Carolina, and the two hundred and ten "over-mountain men," under Sevier, +Robertson, and Isaac Shelby, who beat back, on the 20th and 21st of +July, the Cherokee invasion of the western frontier. + +As early as the 30th of May, Sevier and Robertson were apprised by their +faithful friend Nancy Ward of the intended attack, and at once they sent +messengers to Colonel Preston, of the Virginia Committee of Safety, for +an additional supply of powder and lead and a reinforcement of such men +as could be spared from home-service. One hundred pounds of powder and +twice as much lead, and one hundred militiamen, were despatched in +answer to the summons. The powder and lead were distributed among the +stations, and the hundred men were sent to strengthen the garrison of +Fort Patrick Henry, the most exposed position on the frontier. The +entire force of the settlers was now two hundred and ten, forty of whom +were at Watauga under Sevier and Robertson, the remainder at and near +Fort Patrick Henry under no less than six militia captains, no one of +whom was bound to obey the command of any of the others. This +many-headed authority would doubtless have worked disastrously to the +loosely-jointed force had there not been in it as a volunteer a young +man of twenty-five who in the moment of supreme danger seized the +absolute command and rallied the men to victory. His name was Isaac +Shelby, and this was the first act in a long career in the whole of +which "he deserved well of his country." + +Thus, from the 30th of May till the 11th of July the settlers slept with +their rifles in their hands, expecting every night to hear the Indian +war-whoop, and every day to receive some messenger from Nancy Ward with +tidings that the warriors were on the march for the settlements. At last +the messengers came,--four of them at once,--as we may see from the +following letter, in which Sevier announces their arrival to the +Committee of Safety of Fincastle County, Virginia: + + "FORT LEE, July 11, 1776. + + DEAR GENTLEMEN,--Isaac Thomas, William Falling, Jarot Williams, and + one more, have this moment come in, by making their escape from the + Indians, and say six hundred Indians and whites were to start for + this fort, and intend to drive the country up to New River before + they return. + + JOHN SEVIER." + +He says nothing of the feeble fort and his slender garrison of only +forty men; he shows no sign of fear, nor does he ask for aid in the +great peril. The letter is characteristic of the man, and it displays +that utter fearlessness which, with other great qualities, made him the +hero of the Border. The details of the information brought by Thomas to +Sevier and Robertson showed how truthfully Nancy Ward had previously +reported to them the secret designs of the Cherokees. The whole nation +was about to set out upon the war-path. With the Creeks they were to +make a descent upon Georgia, and with the Shawnees, Mingoes, and +Delawares upon Kentucky and the exposed parts of Virginia, while seven +hundred chosen Ottari warriors were to fall upon the settlers on the +Watauga, Holston, and Nolachucky. This last force was to be divided into +two bodies of three hundred and fifty each, one of which, under +Oconostota, was to attack Fort Watauga; the other, under Dragging-Canoe, +head-chief of the Chickamaugas, was to attempt the capture of Fort +Patrick Henry, which they supposed to be still defended by only about +seventy men. But the two bodies were to act together, the one supporting +the other in case it should be found that the settlers were better +prepared for defence than was anticipated. The preparation for the +expedition Thomas had himself seen: its object and the points of attack +he had learned from Nancy Ward, who had come to his cabin at midnight on +the 7th of July and urged his immediate departure. He had delayed +setting out till the following night, to impart his information to +William Falling and Jarot and Isaac Williams, men who could be trusted, +and who he proposed should set out at the same time, but by different +routes, to warn the settlements, so that in case one or more of them was +waylaid and killed the others might have a chance to get through in +safety. However, at the last moment the British agent Cameron had +himself disclosed the purpose of the expedition to Falling and the two +brothers Williams, and detailed them with a Captain Guest to go along +with the Indians as far as the Nolachucky, when they were to scatter +among the settlements and warn any "king's men" to join the Indians or +to wear a certain badge by which they would be known and protected in +any attack from the savages. These men had set out with the Indians, but +had escaped from them during the night of the 8th, and all had arrived +at Watauga in safety. + +Thomas and Falling were despatched at once with the tidings into +Virginia, the two Williamses were sent to warn the garrison at Fort +Patrick Henry, and then the little force at Watauga furbished up their +rifles and waited in grim expectation the coming of Oconostota. + +But the garrison at Fort Patrick Henry was the first to have tidings +from the Cherokees. Only a few men were at the fort, the rest being +scattered among the outlying stations, but all were within +supporting-distance. On the 19th of July the scouts came in and reported +that a large body of Indians was only about twenty miles away and +marching directly upon the garrison. Runners were at once despatched to +bring in the scattered forces, and by nightfall the one hundred and +seventy were gathered at the fort, ready to meet the enemy. Then a +council of war was held by the six militia captains to determine upon +the best plan of action. Some were in favor of awaiting the attack of +the savages behind the walls of the fort, but one of them, William +Cocke, who afterward became honorably conspicuous in the history of +Tennessee, proposed the bolder course of encountering the enemy in the +open field. If they did not, he contended that the Indians, passing them +on the flank, would fall on and butcher the defenceless women of the +settlements in their rear. + +It was a step of extreme boldness, for they supposed they would +encounter the whole body of seven hundred Cherokees; but it was +unanimously agreed to, and early on the following morning the little +army, with flankers and an advance guard of twelve men, marched out to +meet the enemy. They had not gone far when the advance guard came upon a +force of about twenty Indians. The latter fled, and the whites pursued +for several miles, the main body following close upon the heels of the +advance, but without coming upon any considerable force of the enemy. +Then, being in a country favorable to an ambuscade, and the evening +coming on, they held a council and decided to return to the fort. + +They had not gone upward of a mile when a large force of the enemy +appeared in their rear. The whites wheeled about at once, and were +forming into line, when the whole body of Indians rushed upon them with +great fury, shouting, "The Unacas are running! Come on! scalp them!" +They attacked simultaneously the centre and left flank of the whites; +and then was seen the hazard of going into battle with a many-headed +commander. For a moment all was confusion, and the companies in +attempting to form in the face of the impetuous attack were being +broken, when Isaac Shelby rushed to the front and ordered each company a +few steps to the rear, where they should reform, while he, with +Lieutenant Moore, Robert Edmiston, and John Morrison, and a private +named John Findlay,--in all five men,--should meet the onset of the +savages. Instantly the six captains obeyed the command, recognizing in +the volunteer of twenty-five their natural leader, and then the battle +became general. The Indians attacked furiously, and for a few moments +those five men bore the brunt of the assault. With his own hand Robert +Edmiston slew six of the more forward of the enemy, Morrison nearly as +many, and then Moore became engaged in a desperate hand-to-hand fight +with an herculean chieftain of the Cherokees. They were a few paces in +advance of the main body, and, as if by common consent, the firing was +partly suspended on both sides to await the issue of the conflict. +"Moore had shot the chief, wounding him in the knee, but not so badly as +to prevent him from standing. Moore advanced toward him, and the Indian +threw his tomahawk, but missed him. Moore sprung at him with his large +butcher-knife drawn, which the Indian caught by the blade and attempted +to wrest from the hand of his antagonist. Holding on with desperate +tenacity to the knife, both clinched with their left hands. A scuffle +ensued, in which the Indian was thrown to the ground, his right hand +being nearly dissevered, and bleeding profusely. Moore, still holding +the handle of his knife in the right hand, succeeded with the other in +disengaging his own tomahawk from his belt, and ended the strife by +sinking it in the skull of the Indian. Until this conflict was ended, +the Indians fought with unyielding spirit. After its issue became known, +they retreated."[002] "Our men pursued in a cautious manner, lest they +might be led into an ambuscade, hardly crediting their own senses that +so numerous a foe was completely routed. In this miracle of a battle we +had not a man killed, and only five wounded, who all recovered. But the +wounded of the enemy died till the whole loss in killed amounted to +upward of forty."[003] + +As soon as this conflict was over, a horseman was sent off to Watauga +with tidings of the astonishing victory. "A great day's work in the +woods," was Sevier's remark when speaking subsequently of this battle. + +Meanwhile, Oconostota, with his three hundred and fifty warriors, had +followed the trail along the Nolachucky, and on the morning of the 20th +had come upon the house of William Bean, the hospitable entertainer of +Robertson on his first visit to Watauga, Bean himself was at the fort, +to which had fled all the women and children in the settlement, but his +wife had preferred to remain at home. She had many friends among the +Indians, and she felt confident they would pass her without molestation. +She was mistaken. They took her captive, and removed her to their +station-camp on the Nolachucky. There a warrior pointed his rifle at +her, as if to fire; but Oconostota threw up the barrel and began to +question her as to the strength of the whites. She gave him misleading +replies, with which he appeared satisfied, for he soon told her she was +not to be killed, but taken to their towns to teach their women how to +manage a dairy. + +Those at the fort knew that Oconostota was near by on the Nolachucky, +but he had deferred the attack so long that they concluded the wary and +cautious old chief was waiting to be reinforced by the body under +Dragging-Canoe, which had gone to attack Fort Patrick Henry. News had +reached them of Shelby's victory, and, as it would be some time before +the broken Cherokees could rally and join Oconostota, they were in no +apprehension of immediate danger. Accordingly, they went about their +usual vocations, and so it happened that a number of the women ventured +outside the fort as usual to milk the cows on the morning of the 21st of +July. Among them was one who was destined to occupy for many years the +position of the "first lady in Tennessee." + +Her name was Catherine Sherrell, and she was the daughter of Samuel +Sherrell, one of the first settlers on the Watauga. In age she was +verging upon twenty, and she was tall, straight as an arrow, and lithe +as a hickory sapling. I know of no portrait of her in existence, but +tradition describes her as having dark eyes, flexible nostrils, regular +features, a clear, transparent skin, a neck like a swan, and a wealth of +wavy brown hair, which was a wonder to look at and was in striking +contrast to the whiteness of her complexion. A free life in the open air +had made her as supple as an eel and as agile as a deer. It was said +that, encumbered by her womanly raiment, she had been known to place one +hand upon a six-barred fence and clear it at a single bound. And now her +agility was to do her essential service. + +While she and the other women, unconscious of danger, were "coaxing the +snowy fluid from the yielding udders of the kine," suddenly the +war-whoop sounded through the woods, and a band of yelling savages +rushed out upon them. Quick as thought the women turned and darted for +the gate of the fort; but the savages were close upon them in a +neck-and-neck race, and Kate, more remote than the rest, was cut off +from the entrance. Seeing her danger, Sevier and a dozen others opened +the gate and were about to rush out upon the savages, hundreds of whom +were now in front of the fort; but Robertson held them back, saying they +could not rescue her, and to go out would insure their own destruction. +At a glance Kate took in the situation. She could have no help from her +friends, and the tomahawk and scalping-knife were close behind her. +Instantly she turned, and, fleeter than a deer, made for a point in the +stockade some distance from the entrance. The palisades were eight feet +high, but with one bound she reached the top, and with another was over +the wall, falling into the arms of Sevier, who for the first time called +her his "bonnie Kate," his "brave girl for a foot-race." The other women +reached the entrance of the fort in safety. + +Then the baffled savages opened fire, and for a full hour it rained +bullets upon the little enclosure. But the missiles fell harmless: not a +man was wounded. Driven by the light charges the Indians were accustomed +to use, the bullets simply bounded off from the thick logs and did no +damage. But it was not so with the fire of the besieged. The order was, +"Wait till you see the whites of your enemies' eyes, and then make sure +of your man." And so every one of those forty rifles did terrible +execution. + +For twenty days the Indians hung about the fort, returning again and +again to the attack; but not a man who kept within the walls was even +wounded. It was not so with a man and a boy who, emboldened by a few +days' absence of the Indians, ventured outside to go down to the river. +The man was scalped on the spot; the boy was taken prisoner, and +subjected to a worse fate in one of the Indian villages. His name was +Moore, and he was a younger brother of the lieutenant who fought so +bravely in the battle near Fort Patrick Henry. + +At last, baffled and dispirited, the Indians fell back to the Tellico. +They had lost about sixty killed and a larger number wounded, and they +had inflicted next to no damage upon the white settlers. They were +enraged beyond bounds and thirsting for vengeance. Only two prisoners +were in their power; but on them they resolved to wreak their extremest +tortures. Young Moore was taken to the village of his captor, high up in +the mountains, and there burned at a stake. A like fate was determined +upon for good Mrs. Bean, the kindly woman whose hospitable door had ever +been open to all, white man or Indian. Oconostota would not have her +die; but Dragging-Canoe insisted that she should be offered up as a +sacrifice to the _manes_ of his fallen warriors; and the head-king was +not powerful enough to prevent it. + +She was taken to the summit of one of the burial-mounds,--those relics +of a forgotten race which are so numerous along the banks of the +Tellico. She was tied to a stake, the fagots were heaped about her, and +the fire was about to be lighted, when suddenly Nancy Ward appeared +among the crowd of savages and ordered a stay of the execution. +Dragging-Canoe was a powerful brave, but not powerful enough to combat +the will of this woman. Mrs. Bean was not only liberated, but sent back +with an honorable escort to her husband. + +The village in which young Moore was executed was soon visited by Sevier +with a terrible retribution; and from that day for twenty years his name +was a terror among the Cherokees. + +Before many months there was a wedding in the fort at Watauga. It was +that of John Sevier and the "bonnie Kate," famous to this day for +leaping stockades and six-barred fences. He lived to be twelve years +governor of Tennessee and the idol of a whole people. She shared all his +love and all his honors; but in her highest estate she was never ashamed +of her lowly days, and never tired of relating her desperate leap at +Watauga; and, even in her old age, she would merrily add, "I would make +it again--every day in the week--for such a husband." + + EDMUND KIRKE. + + + + +A PLEASANT SPIRIT. + + +It was drawing toward nine o'clock, and symptoms of closing for the +night were beginning to manifest themselves in Mr. Pegram's store. The +few among the nightly loungers there who had still a remnant of domestic +conscience left had already risen from boxes and "kags," and gathered up +the pound packages of sugar and coffee which had served as the pretext +for their coming, but which would not, alas! sufficiently account for +the length of their stay. The older stagers still sat composedly in the +seats of honor immediately surrounding the red-hot stove, and a look of +disapproval passed over their faces as Mr. Pegram, opening the door and +thereby letting in a blast of cold air upon their legs, proceeded to put +up the outside shutters. + +"In a hurry to-night, ain't you, Pegram?" inquired Mr. Dickey, as the +proprietor returned, brushing flakes of snow from his coat and shivering +expressively. + +"Well, not particular," replied Mr. Pegram, with a deliberation which +confirmed his words, "but it's pretty nigh nine, and Sally she ast me +not to be later _than_ nine to-night, for our hired girl's gone +home for a spell, and that makes it kind of lonesome for Sally: the baby +don't count for much, only when he cries, and I'll do him the justice to +say that isn't often." + +"It's a new thing for Sally to be scary, ain't it?" queried Mr. +Crumlish, with an expression of mild surprise. + +"Well, yes, I may say it is," admitted Mr. Pegram; "but, you know, we +had a kind of a warning, before we moved in, that all wasn't quite as it +should be, and, as bad luck would have it, there was a Boston paper come +round her new coat, with a story in it that laid out to be true, of +noises and appearances, and one thing and another, in a house right +there to Boston, and Sally she says to me, 'If they believe in them +things to Boston, where they don't believe in nothing they can't see and +handle, if all we hear's true, there must be something in it, and I only +wish I'd read that piece before we took the house.' + +"I keep a-telling her we've neither seen nor heard nothing out of the +common, so far, but all she'll say to that is, 'That's no reason we +won't;' and sure enough it isn't, though I don't tell her so." + +"But surely," said Mr. Birchard, the young schoolmaster, who boarded +with Mr. Dickey, "you don't believe any such trash as that account of a +haunted house in Boston?" There was a non-committal silence, and he went +on impatiently, "I could give you a dozen instances in which mysteries +of this kind, when they were energetically followed up, were proved to +be the results of the most simple and natural causes." + +"Like enough, like enough, young man," said Uncle Jabez Snyder, in his +tremulous tones, "and mebbe some folks not a hunderd miles from here +could tell you another dozen that hadn't no natural causes." + +"I should like very much to hear them," replied the young man, with an +exasperatingly incredulous smile. + +"If Pegram here wasn't in such a durned hurry to turn us out and shet +up," said Mr. Dickey, with manifest irritation, "Uncle Jabez could tell +you all you want to hear." + +Mr. Pegram looked disturbed. It was with him a fixed principle never to +disoblige a customer, and he saw that he was disobliging at least half a +dozen. On the other hand, he was not prepared to face his wife should he +so daringly disregard her wishes as to keep the store open half an hour +later than usual. He pondered for a few moments, and then his face +suddenly brightened, and he said, "If one of you gentlemen that passes +my house on your way home would undertake to put coal on the fire, put +the lights out, lock the door, and bring me the key, the store's at your +disposal till ten o'clock; and I'm only sorry I can't stay myself." + +Two or three immediately volunteered, but as the schoolmaster and Mr. +Dickey were the only ones whose way lay directly past Mr. Pegram's door, +it was decided that they should divide the labors and honors between +them. + +"I'd like you not to stop later _than_ ten," said Mr. Pegram +deprecatingly, as he buttoned his great-coat and drew his hat down over +his eyes, "for I have to be up so early, since that boy cleared out, +that I need to go to bed sooner than I mostly do." + +Compliance with this modest request was readily promised, good-nights +were exchanged, and the lessened circle drew in more closely around the +stove, for several of the company had reluctantly decided that, all +things considered, it would be the better part of valor for them to go +when Mr. Pegram went. + +There was a few minutes' silence, and then Mr. Dickey said impatiently, +"We're all ready, Uncle Jabez. Why don't you fire away, so's to be +through by ten o'clock?" + +"I was a-thinkin' which one I'd best tell him," said Uncle Jabez mildly. +"They're all convincin' to a mind that's open to convincement, but I'd +like to pick out the one that's most so." + +"There's the one about Alviry Pratt's grandfather," suggested Mr. +Crumlish encouragingly. + +"No," mused the old man. "I've no doubt of that myself, but then it +didn't happen to me in person, and I've a notion he'd rather hear one +I've experienced than two I've heard tell of." + +"Of course I would, Uncle Jabez," said Mr. Birchard kindly, but with an +amused twinkle in his eyes. "You take your own time: it's only just +struck nine, and there's no hurry at all." + +"Supposin' I was to tell him that one about my first wife?" said the old +man presently, and with an inquiring look around the circle. + +Several heads were nodded approvingly, and Mr. Crumlish said, "The very +one I'd 'a' chosen myself if you'd ast me." + +Thus encouraged, Uncle Jabez, with a sort of deliberate promptness, +began: "We married very young, Lavina and me,--too young, some said, but +I never could see why, for I had a good farm, with health and strength +to carry it on, and she was a master-hand with butter and cheese. At any +rate, we thriv; and if we had plenty of children, there was plenty for +'em to eat, and they grew as fast as everything else did. She wasn't +what you'd fairly call handsome, Lavina wasn't, but she was +pleasant-appearin', very,--plump as a pa'tridge, with nice brown hair +and eyes and a clean-lookin' skin. But it was her smile in particular +that took me; and when she set in to laugh you couldn't no more' help +laughin' along with her than one bobolink can help laughin' back when he +hears another. She was the tenderest-hearted woman that ever breathed +the breath of life: she couldn't bear to hurt the feelin's of a cat, and +she'd go 'ithout a chicken-dinner any day sooner'n kill a chicken. As +time passed on and she begun to age a little, she grew stouter 'n' +stouter; but it didn't seem to worry her none. She'd puff and blow a +good bit when she went up-stairs, but she'd always laugh about it, and +say that when we was rich enough we'd put in an elevator, like they had +at a big hotel we saw once. It would suit her fine, she said, to set +down on a cushioned seat and be up-stairs afore she could git up again. +Now, you needn't think I'm wanderin' from the p'int," and Uncle Jabez +looked severely at Mr. Dickey, who was manifestly fidgeting. "All you +folks that have lived about here all your lives knew Lavina 'ithout my +tellin' you this; but Mr. Birchard he's a stranger in the neighborhood, +and it's needful to the understandin' of my story that he should know +just what sort of a woman she was,--or is, as I should say." + +Mr. Dickey subsided, while Mr. Birchard tried to throw still more of an +expression of the deepest interest and attention into his face. He must +have succeeded, for the old man, going on with his story, fixed his eyes +more and more frequently upon those of the young one. They were large, +gentle, appealing blue eyes, with a mildly surprised expression, which +Mr. Birchard found exceedingly attractive. Whether or not the fact that +the youngest of Uncle Jabez's children, a daughter, had precisely +similar eyes, in any way accounted for the attraction, I leave to minds +more astute than my own. + +"You may think," the narrator resumed, when he felt that he had settled +Mr. Dickey, "whether or not you'd miss a woman like that, when you'd +summered and wintered with her more'n forty year. She always said she +hoped she'd go sudden, for she was so heavy it would 'a' took three or +four of the common run of folks to lift her, and she dreaded a long +sickness. Well, she was took at her word. We was settin', as it might be +now, one on one side the fire, the other on t'other, in the big +easy-cheers that Samuel--that's our oldest son, and a good boy, if I do +say it--had sent us with the fust spare money he had. She'd been +laughin' and jokin', as she so often did, five minutes afore. +Gracie--she was a little thing then, and, bein' the youngest, a little +sassy and sp'iled, mebbe--had been on a trip to the city, and she'd +brought her ma a present of a shoe-buttoner with a handle a full foot +long. + +"'There, ma,' she says, laughin' up in her mother's face; 'you was +complainin' about the distance it seemed to be to your feet: here's a +kind of a telegraft-pole to shorten it a little.' + +"My, how we did laugh! And Lavina must needs try it right away, to +please Gracie; and she said it worked beautiful. But whether it was the +laughin' so much right on top of a hearty supper, or the bendin' down to +try her new toy, or both, she jest says, as natural as I'm speakin' now, +'Jabez, I'm a-goin'--' and then stopped. And when I looked up to see why +she didn't finish, she was gone, sure enough." + +His voice broke, and he stopped abruptly. Mr. Birchard, without in the +least intending to do it, grasped his hand, and held it with +affectionate warmth for a moment. + +"Thank you, young man, thank you kindly," said Uncle Jabez, recovering +his voice and shaking Mr. Birchard's hand heartily at the same moment. +"You've an uncommon feelin' heart for one so young. + +"To say I was lonesome after she went don't say much; but time evens +things out after a while, or we couldn't stand it as long as we do. +Gracie she settled into a little woman all at once, as you may say, and +seemed older for a while than she does now. The rest was all married and +gone, but one boy,--a good boy, too. But they came around me, comfortin' +and helpin', though each one of 'em mourned her nigh as much as I did +myself; and after a while, as I said, I got used, in a manner, to doin' +'ithout her." + +Here he made a long pause, with his eyes intently fixed upon the +darkness of the adjoining store-room. The heat from the stove had become +too great after the shutting of the shutters, and one of the men had +opened an inner door for ventilation. + +Now, as one pair of eyes after another followed those of the old man, +there was a sort of subdued stir around the circle, and the +schoolmaster, to his intense disgust, caught himself looking hastily +over his shoulder,--the door being behind him. + +Mr. Dickey broke the spell by suddenly rising, with the exclamation, "I +think we're cooled off about enough; and, as I'm a little rheumaticky +to-night, I'll shut that door, if you've none of you no objections." + +There was a subdued murmur of assent, the door was closed, and Uncle +Jabez returned to the thread of his discourse: + +"Lemme see: where was I? Oh, yes. You may think it a little strange, +now, but I didn't neither see nor hear tell of her for a full six +months. If I was makin' this story up, and anxious to make a _good_ +story of it, you can see, if you're fair-minded, that I'd say she came +back right away. Now, wouldn't I be most likely to? Say?" + +He appealed so directly to Mr. Birchard, pausing for a reply, that the +sceptic was obliged to answer in some way, and, with a curious sort of +reluctance, he said slowly, "Yes--I suppose--I'm sure you would." + +This seemed to satisfy Uncle Jabez, and he went on with his story: + +"I came home from town one stormy night, about six months after she +died, pretty well beat out,--entirely so, I may say. I'd been drivin' +some cattle into the city, and I'd had only a poor concern of a boy to +help me. The cattle was contrai-ry,--contrai-rier'n common; and I +remember thinkin', when the feller at the drove-yard handed me my check, +that I'd earned it pretty hard. That's the last about it I do remember. +I s'pose I must 'a' put it in my pocket-book, the same as usual; but I +rode home in a sort of a maze, I was so tired and drowsy, and I'd barely +sense enough to eat my supper and grease my boots afore I went to bed. I +had a bill to pay the next day, and I opened my pocket-book, quite +confident, to take out the check. It wasn't there. I always kep' a +number of papers in that pocket-book, and I thought at fust it had got +mislaid among 'em: so I turned everything out, and unfolded 'em one by +one, and poked my finger through a hole between the leather and the +linin', and made it a good deal bigger,--but that's neither here nor +there,--and before I was through I was certain sure of one thing,--- +that wherever else that check was, it wasn't in that pocket-book. Then I +tried my pockets, one after the other,--four in my coat, four in my +overcoat, three in my vest, two in my pants: no, it wasn't in any of +them, and I begun to feel pretty queer, I can tell you. It was my only +sale of cattle for the season; I was dependin' on it to pay a bill and +buy one or two things for Gracie; and, anyhow, it's no fun to lose a +hunderd-dollar check and feel as if it must have been bewitched away +from you. I rode back to the drove-yard, though I wasn't more'n half +rested from the day before, and they said they'd stop payment on the +check and give me a chance to look right good for it, and if I couldn't +find it they'd draw me another. You see, they knowed me right well, and +they wasn't afraid I was tryin' to play any sort of a game on 'em. +Still, it wasn't a pleasant thing to have happen, for, say the best you +could of it, it argued that I'd lost a considerable share of my wits. +So, when I come home, I felt so kind of worried and down-hearted that I +couldn't half eat my supper; and that worried Gracie,--she was a +thin-skinned little critter, and if I didn't eat the same as usual she'd +always take it into her head there was something wrong with the +victuals. I fell asleep in my cheer right after supper, and slept till +nine o'clock; and then Gracie woke me, and ast me if I didn't think I'd +better go to bed. I said yes, I s'posed I had; but by that time I was +hungry, and I ast her what she had good in the pantry. She brightened up +wonderful at that,--though when I come to look closer at her I see she'd +been cryin',--and she said there was doughnuts, fresh fried that day, +and the best half of a mince pie. I told her that was all right so far +as it went, but I'd like somethin' a little solider to begin with: so +she found me a few slices of cold pork and one of her cowcumber pickles, +and I eat a right good supper. She picked at a piece of pie, by way of +keepin' me company, but she didn't eat much. Now, I tell you this, which +you may think isn't revelant to the subject, to let you see I went to +bed comfortable. We laughed and talked over our little supper, and +pretended we was city-folks, on our way home from the theater, gettin' a +fancy supper at Delmonico's. And I forgot all about the check for the +time bein', as slick and clean as if I'd never had it nor lost it. But, +nevertheless, when I went to sleep I begun to dream about it, and was to +the full as much worried in my dream as I was when I was awake. I seemed +to myself to be huntin' all over the house, in every hole and corner I +could think of, and sometimes I'd come on pieces of paper that looked so +like it outside I'd make sure I'd found it, and then when I opened 'em +they'd be ridickilous rhymes, 'ithout any sense to 'em; when all of a +sudden I heard Lavina's voice, as plain as you hear mine now. It seemed +to come from a good ways off just at first, callin' 'Father,'--she +always called me 'Father,' partly because she didn't like the name of +Jabez, and it is a humbly name, I'm free to confess,--and then again +nearer, 'Father;' and then again, as if it was right at the foot of the +stairs. And this time it went on to say, loud and plain, so's 't I could +hear every word, 'You look in the little black teapot on the top shelf +of the pantry, where I kep' the missionary money, and see what you'll +find.' And with that I heard her laugh; and I'd know Lavina's laugh +among a thousand. I was too dazed like to do it right away, and I must +'a' fell asleep while I was thinkin' about it, for when I woke up it was +broad daylight and Gracie was callin' to me to get up. But I hadn't +forgot a word that Lavina'd said, and I went for that teapot as quick as +I was dressed, and there was the check, sure enough, in good order and +condition!" + +He paused to look round at his audience and see the effect of this +statement, and the schoolmaster took advantage of the pause to ask, +"Were you in the habit of putting money in that teapot for safe-keeping, +Uncle Jabez?" + +"Young man, I was not," said Uncle Jabez emphatically, and evidently +annoyed both by the question and by the tone in which it was uttered. +"It was a little notion of Lavina's, and I'd never meddled with it, one +way or the other. But I'd left it be there after she died, because I +liked to look at it. I'd no more 'a' dreamed of puttin' that check in it +than I would of puttin' it into Gracie's work-box. But there it was, and +how it come there it wasn't vouchsafed me to know. + +"I think it must have been a matter of three or four months after this, +though I wouldn't like to say too positive, that I fell into my first +and last lawsuit. A man I'd always counted a good neighbor made out he'd +found an old title-deed which give him a right to a smart slice off'n my +best meadow-land. It dated fifty years back, and old Peter Pinnell, that +was the only surveyor in the township at that time, made out he +recollected runnin' the lines; and when McKellop, the feller that +claimed the track, took old Pinnell over the ground, to see if he could +find any landmarks that would help to make the claim good, they found a +big pine-tree jest where they wanted to find it, and cut into it at the +right height to find a 'blaze,' if there was one. The rings was marked +as plain as the lines on a map, and when they'd cut through fifty, there +was the mark, sure enough, and McKellop's lawyer crowed ready to hurt +himself. I was a good deal cut down, I can tell you, for I could see +pretty well that it was goin' to turn the scale; and when supper-time +came, Gracie could hardly coax me to the table. I said no, I didn't feel +to be hungry; for I couldn't get that strip of meadow-land out of my +head. And it wasn't so much the value of the land, either, though I +couldn't well afford to lose it, as it was the idee of McKellop's +crowin' and cacklin' all over the neighborhood about it. But Gracie +looked so anxious and tired that I come to the table, jest to satisfy +her; and I found I was hungry, after all, for I'd been trampin' round +the farm most of the day, lookin' for some landmark or sign that would +prove my claim, that dated seventy years back. I recollect we had soused +pigs' feet for supper that night; and I don't think I ever tasted better +in my life. I eat pretty free of them, as I always did of anything I +liked, and we wound up with some of her canned peaches, that she'd got +out to coax me to eat, and cream on 'em 'most as thick as butter: she +had a skimmer with holes into it that she always skimmed the cream with +for our own use. She'd made as good a pot of coffee as I ever tasted. +And when I'd had all I wanted, I felt a good deal better, and I says to +her,--'I'll fret over it no more, Gracie: if it's his'n, let him take it +'ithout more words.' + +"She read me a story out of the paper that made us both laugh right +hearty, and then a chapter, as usual, and then we went to bed. And all +come round jest as it did afore. I thought I was roamin' about the farm, +as I had been pretty nigh all day; but things was changed round, +somehow, and the further I went the more mixed up they got, till, jest +as I'd found the pine-tree, I heard Lavina's voice, the same as I'd done +afore,--first far, and then near,--sayin', 'Father;' and the third time +she said it, when it sounded close to, she went on to say, 'He's done +his cuttin', now do you do yours. You cut through twenty more rings, and +you'll find the blaze that marks _your_ survey. And then thank him +kindly for givin' you the idee. The smartest of folks is too smart for +themselves once in a while.' And with that she laughed her own jolly, +hearty laugh; but that was the last she said; and I laid there wonderin' +and thinkin' for a while, and then dropped off to sleep. But it was all +as clear as a bell in my head in the morning, and I had McKellop and old +Peter at the pine-tree by eight o'clock. I'd sharpened my axe good, I +can tell you, and it didn't take me long to cut through twenty more +rings, and there, sure enough, was the blaze; and if ever you see a +blue-lookin' man, that man was McKellop; for as soon as old Peter see +the blaze he recollected hearin' his father tell about the survey; he +recollected it particular because the old man was a good judge of +apple-jack, and he'd said that _my_ father'd gi'n him some of the +best, that day the survey was made, that he'd ever tasted. And Peter +said he reckoned he could find something about it in his father's books +and among some loose papers he had in a box. And, sure enough, he found +enough to make my claim as clear as a bell and make McKellop's as flat +as a pancake. Now, what do you think of _that_, hey?" + +Once more the old man peered into Birchard's face, and the schoolmaster +answered one question with another, after the custom of the country: + +"Did you ever know anything about the blazed tree before McKellop found +the blaze?" + +"When I come to think it over, I found I did," said Uncle Jabez, falling +all unconscious into the trap set for him. "I hadn't no papers about it, +but my father had told me all the ins and outs of it when I was a boy, +and it had somehow gone out of my mind." + +"Ah!" said the schoolmaster. + +"I don't know what you mean by 'Ah' in this connection," said Uncle +Jabez, speaking with unwonted sharpness; "but if you're misdoubtin' what +I tell you I may as well shet up and go home." + +"I don't doubt your word in the least, Uncle Jabez; I assure you I +don't," Mr. Birchard hastened to say. "And I'm deeply interested. I hope +you will go on and tell me all your experiences of this kind. I've heard +and read a good many ghost-stories; but in all of them the ghosts were +malicious creatures, who seemed to come back chiefly for the fun of +scaring people out of their wits. Yours is the first really benevolent +and well-meaning ghost of which I have ever heard; and it interests me +immensely; for I never could see why a person who was all goodness and +generosity while he--or she--was alive should turn into an unmitigated +nuisance after dying. I should think, if they must needs come back, they +might just as well be pleasant about it and make people glad to see--or +hear--them." + +"That's exactly the view I've always taken," said Mr. Crumlish modestly; +"and one reason I've never felt to doubt any of Uncle Jabez's stories is +that all the ghosts he's ever seen or heard tell of have been +decent-behaving ghosts, that didn't come back just for the fun of +scaring people to death." + +"That's so; that's so," said the old man, entirely mollified, and +hearing no note of sarcasm in the schoolmaster's rapidly-uttered +eloquence. "If any one of 'em was to behave ugly," he continued, "it +would shake my faith in the whole thing considerable; for I couldn't +bring myself to believe that anybody I've ever knowed could be so far +given over as to want to be ugly after dyin'." + +"Well, now, I don't know," said Mr. Dickey argumentatively. "I +_hev_ knowed certain folks that it seems to me would stick to their +ugliness alive or dead, and, though I've never seen no appearances of +any kind, as I may say, I can believe jist as easy that some of 'em come +back for mischief as that others come back for good." + +There was a few minutes' constrained silence after this remark. Mr. +Dickey's first wife had been what is popularly known as "a Tartar," and +there was a generally current rumor that as the last shovelful of earth +was patted down on her grave he had been heard to murmur, "Thanks be to +praise, she's quiet at last." The idea of her reappearance in her wonted +haunts was indeed a dismaying one, especially as Mr. Dickey had recently +married again, and, if the gossips knew anything about it, was repeating +much of his former painful experience. The silence, which was becoming +embarrassing, was finally broken by the schoolmaster. + +"Had you any more experiences of the kind you have just related, Uncle +Jabez?" he asked, in tones of such deep respect and lively interest that +Uncle Jabez responded, with gratifying promptness,-- + +"Plenty, plenty, though perhaps them two that I've just told you was the +most strikin'. But it always seemed to me, after that first time, that +Lavina was on hand when anything went wrong or was likely to go wrong; +and ef I was to tell you all the scrapes she's kep' me out of and pulled +me out of, I should keep you settin' here all night. There was one +more," he continued, "that struck me a good deal at the time. It was +about money, like the fust one, in a different sort of way. It was +durin' those days when specie was so skurce and high that it was quite a +circumstance to get a piece of hard money. There come along a peddler in +a smart red wagon, with all sorts of women's trash packed into it, and +Gracie took it into her head to want some of his things. It happened to +be her birthday that day, and, as she didn't often pester me about +clothes, I told her to choose out what she wanted, up to five dollars' +worth, and, if the feller could change me a twenty-dollar note, I'd pay +for it. He jumped at it, sayin' he didn't count it any trouble at all to +give change, the way some storekeepers did, and that he always kep' a +lot on hand to oblige his customers. I will say for him that it seemed +to me he give Gracie an amazin' big five dollars' worth, and when he +come to make the change he handed out a ten-dollar gold piece, or what I +then took to be such, as easy as if he'd found it growin' on a bush, and +said nothin' whatever about the premium on it. Perhaps I'd ought to have +mentioned it, but it seemed to me it was his business more'n mine: so I +jest took it as if it was the most natural thing in life, and he went +off. I thought I might as well as not get the premium on it before it +went down the way folks said it was goin' to: so, after dinner, I +harnessed up, and drove down to the post-office,--it was kep' in the +drug-store then, the same as it is now,--and when I handed my gold piece +to the postmaster, which was also the druggist, and said I'd take a +quarter's worth of stamps, and I believed gold was worth a dollar +fifteen just now, he first smelt of it, and then bit it, and then poured +some stuff out'n a bottle onto it, and then handed it back to me with a +pityin' smile that somehow riled me more'n a little, and he says, says +he,-- + +"'Somebody's fooled you badly, Uncle Jabez. That coin's a counterfeit. +Do you happen to know where you got it?' + +"'I know well enough,' I says, and I expect I spoke pretty mad, for I +_felt_ mad. 'I got it of a travellin' peddler, that's far enough +away by this time, and if you're sure it's bad I'm that much out of +pocket.' He seemed right concerned about it, and ast me if I hadn't no +clue that I could track the peddler by; but I couldn't think of any, and +I went home a good deal down in the mouth. But Gracie chirked me up, as +she always does, bless her! and she made me a Welsh rabbit for supper, +and some corn muffins, and a pot of good rich chocolate, by way of a +change, and we agreed that, as she'd a pretty big five dollars worth and +as the rest of the change was good, we'd say no more about it, for it +would be like lookin' for a needle in a hay-stack to try to track him. + +"'Why, father,' she says, 'I don't so much as know his name: do you?' + +"I told her no, I didn't; that if I'd heard his name I disremembered it, +but that I didn't think I'd heard it. And then that very night come +another visit from mother, and she told me all about it. She come the +way she always did, and when she spoke the last time, close to, as you +may say, she says,-- + +"'I wouldn't give up that ten dollars so easy, if I was you, father. +That peddler's name is Hanigan,--Elwood Hanigan,--and he'll be at the +State Fair to-morrow. Now, do you go, and you'll find his red wagon with +no trouble at all; and jest be right down firm with him, and tell him +that if he doesn't give you good money in place of the bad he foisted +off on you you'll show him up to the whole fair, and you'll see how glad +he'll be to settle it.' + +"And with that she laughed jest as natural as life, and I heard no more +till Gracie knocked on my door in the morning." + +"And did you go to the fair and find him and get your money back?" asked +Birchard, who was interested in spite of his scepticism. + +"I did, jest that," replied Uncle Jabez. "I got off bright and early, +and, as luck would have it, I'd jest tied and blanketed my horse when +that wonderful smart red wagon come drivin' in at the gate. I waited +till he'd begun to pull his wares out and make a fine speech about 'em, +and then I jest walked up to him, cool and composed, and give him his +choice between payin' me good money for his bogus gold or hearin' +_me_ make a speech; and you may jest bet your best hat he paid up +quicker'n winkin'. Perhaps I'd ought to have warned folks ag'in' him as +it was, but I had a notion he'd save his tricks till he got to another +neighborhood; and it turned out I was right. He didn't give none of his +gold change out that day. But you can see for yourself that if it hadn't +been for Lavina he'd have come off winnin' horse in that race. That was +always the way when mother was about: she had more sense in her little +finger than I had in my whole body, and head too, for that matter." + +"And you found that you really had not known the man's name until it was +conveyed to you in the manner in which you have described?" asked the +schoolmaster deferentially. + +"Well, no," said Uncle Jabez. "When I saw his wagon the next day, I +remembered of readin' his name in gilt letters on the side, tacked to +some patent medicine he claimed to have invented; but I don't suppose +I'd ever thought of it again if mother hadn't told it to me so plain." + +The schoolmaster said nothing. He had his own neat little theories +concerning all the manifestations which had been mentioned, but somehow +the old man's guileless belief had touched him, and he had no longer any +desire to shake it, even had it been possible to do so. But he could not +help probing the subject a little further: so presently he asked, "And +you've never spoken to her, never asked her if it were not possible for +you to see as well as hear her?" + +"Young man," said Uncle Jabez kindly, but solemnly, "there's such a sin +as presumption, and there's some old sayin' or other about fools rushin' +in where angels fear to tread. If you try to grab too much at once, +you're apt to lose all. If it was meant for me to see mother as well as +hear her, I _should_ see her; and if I was to go to pryin' round +and tryin' to find out what's purposely hid from me, I make no doubt but +I should lose the little that's been vouchsafed to me. But I'd far +rather hear you ask questions like that than to have you throwin' doubt +on the whole business, as you seemed inclined to do at fust." + +"Look here," said Mr. Dickey briskly, "do you know it's well on to +half-past ten? and we were to have the key at Pegram's by ten. I think +we'd better do what there is to do, and clear out of this as quick as we +know how, and mebbe some of us will wish before an hour's gone that we +had Uncle Jabez's knack at makin' out a good story." + +"You speak for yourself, Dickey," said Mr. Crumlish good-naturedly. +"There's some of us that goes in and comes out, with nobody to care +which it is, nor how long we stay; but freedom has its drawbacks, as +well as other things." + +The schoolmaster laughed at himself for striking a match as he turned +the last light out, but he felt moving through his brain a vague wish +that Uncle Jabez would break himself of that trick he had of gazing +fixedly at nothing, and that other trick of stopping suddenly in the +middle of a sentence to cock his head, as if he were hearing some +far-away, uncertain sound. + + MARGARET VANDEGRIFT. + + + + +FISHING IN ELK RIVER. + + +When a man has once absorbed into his system a love for fishing or +hunting, he is under the influence of an invisible power greater than +that of vaccine matter or the virus of rabies. The sporting-fever is the +veritable malady of St. Vitus, holding its victim forever on the go, as +game-seasons come, and so long as back and legs, eye and ear, can +wrestle with Time's infirmities. It breeds ambition, boasting, and +"yarns" to a proverbial extent, with a general disbelief in the possible +veracity of a brother sportsman, and an irresistible; desire to talk of +new and privately discovered sporting-heavens. The gold-seeker stakes +his claim, the "wild-catting" oil-borer boards up his lot, the inventor +patents his invention, and the author copyrights his brain-fruit; but +the sportsman crazily tells all he knows. So the secret gets out, and +the discoverer is robbed of his treasure and forced to seek new fields +for his rod and gun. + +Colonel Bangem had enjoyed a year's sport among the unvisited preserves +of Elk River. Mrs. Bangem and Bess, their daughter, had shared his +pleasures and acquired his fondness for such of them as were within +feminine reach. Any ordinary man would have been perfectly satisfied +with such company and delights; but no, when the bass began to leap and +the salmon to flash their tails, the pressure was too great. His friends +the Doctor and the Professor were written to, and summoned to his find. +They came, the secret was too good to keep, and that is the way this +chronicle of their doings happens to be written. + +No sooner was the invitation received than the Doctor eased his +conscience and delighted his patients by the regular professional +subterfuge of sending such of them as had money to the sea-shore, and +telling those who had not that they needed no medicine at present; the +Professor turned his classes over to an assistant on pretext of a sudden +bronchial attack, for which a dose of mountain-air was the prescribed +remedy. And so the two were whirled away on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Railroad across the renowned valley of Virginia and the eastern valley +steps of the Alleghany summits, past the gigantic basins where boil and +bubble springs curative of all human ills, down the wild boulder-tossed +waters and magnificent canons of New River, around mountain-bases, +through tunnels, and out into the broad, beautiful fertility of the +Kanawha Valley, until the spires of Charleston revealed the last stage +of their railroad journey. When their train stopped, stalwart porters +relieved them of their baggage and deafened them with self-introductions +in stentorian tones: "Yere's your Hale House porter!" "I's de man fer +St. Albert's!" + +"It's no wonder," said the Doctor, as he followed the sable guide from +the station to the river ferry, and looked across the Kanawha's busy +flow, covered with coal-barges, steamboats, and lumber-crafts, to +Charleston's long stretch of high-bank river front, "that Western rivers +get mad and rise against the deliberate insult of all the towns and +cities turning their backs to them. There is a mile of open front, +showing the cheerful faces of fine residences through handsome +shade-trees and over well-kept lawns; but here, where our ferry lands, +and where we see the city proper, stoops and kitchens, stove-pipes and +stairways, ash-piles and garbage-shoots, are stuck out in contempt of +the river's charms and the city's comeliness." + +"Stove-pipes and stairways have to be put somewhere," said the +matter-of-fact Professor. "And the best way to turn dirty things is +toward the water." + +The ferry-boat wheezed and coughed and sidled across the river to a +floating wharf, covered, as usual, with that portion of the population, +white and black, which has no interest in the arrival of trains, or +anything else, excepting meals at the time for them, but which manages +to live somehow by looking at other people working. + +"Give me," said the Professor, "the value of the time which men spend in +gazing at what does not concern them, and, according to my estimate, I +could build a submarine railroad from New York to Liverpool in two years +and three months. What are those fellows doing with their huge barrels +on wheels backed into the river?" + +"Dat is de Charleston water-works, boss," answered the grinning porter. +"Widout dem mules an' niggahs an' bar'ls dah wouldn't be 'nough water in +dis town to wet a chaw tobacky." + +A winding macadamized road leads up the river bank to the main street +running parallel with it. There is a short cut by a rickety stairway, +but, as some steep climbing has to be done before reaching the lower +step, it is seldom used. These formerly led directly to the Hale House, +a fine brick building, which faced the river, with a commodious portico, +and offered the further attractions of a pleasant interior and an +excellent table; but now a blackened space marked its site, as though a +huge tooth had been drawn from the city's edge, for one morning a +neighboring boiler blew up, carrying the Hale House and much valuable +property with it, but leaving the owners of the boiler. + +"Dat's where de Hale House was, boss, but it's done burned down. I's de +porter yit. When it's done builded ag'in I's gwine back dar. Dis time I +take you down to de St. Albert. I's used to yellin' Hale House porter so +many years dat St. Albert kind chokes me." + +So to the St. Albert went the Doctor and Professor, where they met with +a home-like greeting from its popular host. + +Wheeling was formerly the capital of West Virginia, but for good reasons +it was decided to move the seat of government from "that knot on the +Panhandle" to Charleston. A commodious building of brick and sandstone, +unchristened as to style of architecture, has been erected for the home +of the law-makers; and henceforth the city which started around the +little log fort built in 1786 by George Glendermon to afford protection +against Indians will be the seat of government for the great unfenced +State of West Virginia. Its business enterprise and thrift, its +excellent geographical and commercial position, its healthiness +notwithstanding its bad drainage, or rather no drainage, have induced a +growth almost phenomenal. Churches, factories, and commodious +storehouses have spread the town rapidly over the beautiful valley in +which it lies. The United States government has been lavish in its +expenditure upon a handsome building for court, custom, and post-office +purposes; and to it flock, especially when court is in session, as +motley an assortment of our race as ever assembled at legal mandate. +Moonshiners, and those who regard whiskey-making, selling, and drinking +as things that ought to be as free as the air of the mountain and +licenses as unheard-of impositions of a highly oppressive government, +that would "tax a feller for usin' up his own growin' uv corn," and +courts as "havin' a powerful sight uv curiosity, peekin' into other +fellers' business," afford ample opportunities for the exercise of +judicial authority. + +A long mountaineer was before a dignified judge of the United States +Court for selling liquor without a license. He had bought a gallon at a +still,--as to the locality of which he professed profound +ignorance,--carried it thirty miles, and peddled it out to his +long-suffering and thirsty neighbors. Every native being a natural +informer, the story was soon told: arrest followed, a march of fifty +miles over the mountains, and a lengthy imprisonment before trial. +Following the advice of his assigned counsel, he pleaded guilty. Being +too poor to pay a fine, and having an unlimited family dependent upon +their own exertions,--which comprises the sum of parental responsibility +among the natives,--the judge released him on his own bail-bond, and +told him to go home. He deliberately put on his hat, walked up to his +honor, and said, "I say, jedge, I reckon you fellers 'ill give me 'nough +money to ride hum an' pay fer my grub, 'cause 'tain't fair, noway. You +fetched me clar down yere, footin' it the hull way, an' now you're +lettin' me off an' tellin' me to foot it back. 'Tain't fair, noway. +You-uns oughter pay me fer it." And he went off highly indignant at +having his modest request refused. + +There is much of the primitive not outgrown as yet by Charleston: it has +put on a long-tailed coat over its round-about. The gossipy telephone +is ahead of the street-cars; gas-works supply private consumers, while +the citizens wade the unlighted streets by the glimmer of their own +lanterns; innumerable cows contest the right of pedestrians to the board +footways and what of pavement separates the mud-holes; an +ice-manufactory supplies coolness to water peddled about in barrels; the +officials outnumber the capacity of the jail; the ferry-facilities vary +from an unstable leaky bateau to a dirty, open-decked dynamite +steamboat, whose night-service is subject to the lung-capacity of the +traveller hallooing for it, and the fares to necessities and +circumstances; the fine brick improvements are flanked by frame +tinder-boxes; the offal of the city has not a single relieving sewer: +yet it is a beautiful, healthy place, and the chief city of the greatest +mineral-district in the world. + +Our travellers breakfasted on delicious mountain mutton and vegetables +fresh from surrounding farms. Their host secured three men and a canoe +to carry them up Elk River to Colonel Bangem's camp, at the cost of one +dollar a day and "grub," or one dollar and a quarter a day if they found +themselves, with the moderate charge of fifty cents a day for the canoe. + +When the time arrived for starting, the Professor was missing. Bells +were rung, servants were despatched to search the hotel for him, but he +was not to be found. The Doctor grew impatient, but restrained himself +until an uncoated countryman, who had just walked into town and was +ready for a talk, told him that he "seed a feller, thet wuz a stranger +in these parts, with a three-legged picter-gallery, chasin' a water-cart +a right smart ways back in the town, ez I come in." + +"That's he," said the Doctor. "He is crazy after pictures. I'll give you +a dollar if you bring him to the hotel alive." + +"Is he wicked?" asked the man. + +"Generally," answered the Doctor, whose eyes began to twinkle; "but you +get hold of his picture-gallery and run for the hotel: he will follow +you. I often have to manage him that way." + +"I'm minded to try coaxin' him in thet a-way fer a dollar. You jist take +keer uv my shoes, an' I'll hev him yer ez quick ez Tim Price kin foot +it, if he follers well an' hain't contrairy-like, holdin' back." + +Tim Price relieved his feet of their encumbrances, and started. When his +tall, gaunt figure had disappeared around the corner, the Doctor grew +red in the face from an internal convulsion, and then exploded past all +concealment of his joke. + +"If you gentlemen," he said to the by-standers, "want to see some fun, +just follow that man. I will stay here as judge whether the man brings +in the Professor or the Professor brings in the man." + +A good joke would stop a funeral in Charleston. The hotel was cleared of +men in an instant to follow Tim and enjoy the hunt. Tim sighted the +Professor about a quarter of a mile back in the town, A darky driving a +water-cart was standing up on the shafts, thrashing his mule with the +ends of his driving-lines, and urging it, by voice and gesture, to the +highest mule-speed: "Git up! git up! you lazy old no-go! Git up! Don't +you see dat picter-feller tryin' to took you an' me an' de bar'l? Git +up! Wag yer ears an' switch yer tail. You're not gwine ter stan' still +an' keep yer eyes on de instrement fer no gallery-man to took, 'less +you's fix' up fer Sunday. Git up, you ole long-eared corn-eater!" + +The Professor was keeping well up with the flying water-works. His hat +was stuck on the back of his head, he carried his camera with its tripod +spread ready for sudden action, and every step of his run was guided by +thoughts of proper distance, fixed focus, and determination to have the +water-works in his collection of instantaneous photographs. A turn in +the street gave the Professor his opportunity: he darted ahead, set his +camera, and took the whole show as it went galloping by, when he +reclined against a fence while making the street ring with his laugh. + +Tim Price, who was watching his chance, saw that it had come. He grabbed +the camera, gave a yell of triumph, and faced for the home-run. He had +not an instant to lose. The Professor sprang for his precious +instrument. Tim's long legs carried him across the street, over a fence +into a cross-cut lot, and away for the hotel at a mountaineer's speed. +The Professor was small, but active as a cat. Where Tim jumped fences, +the Professor squirmed through them; where Tim took one long stride, the +Professor scored three short ones. Tim lost his hat, and the Professor +threw off his coat as he ran. The main street was reached without +perceptible decrease of distance between them; but there the pavements +were something Tim's bare feet were not used to catching on, and the +people something he was not used to dodging: he upset several, but +dashed on, with his pursuer gaining on his heels. Men, women, dogs, and +darkies turned out to witness the race or follow it. "Stop thief!" "Go +it, Tim!" "You're catching him, stranger!" "Foot it, little one!" were +cries that speeded the running. The Doctor stood waiting at the hotel +door, laughing, shaking, and red as a veritable Bacchus. Tim Price +banged the camera into him, whirled round suddenly, caught the Professor +as he dashed at him, and held him in his powerful arms, squirming like +an eel. + +"Yere's your crazy man, stranger," said Tim, in slow, drawling tone. "I +tell you he kin jest p'intedly foot it. Thar hain't been such a run in +Kanoy County sence they stopped 'lectin' country fellers fer sheriff. I +reckon I've arned thet dollar. What shall I do with the leetle feller?" + +The Professor was powerless, but lay in Tim's arms biting, kicking, and +curled up like a yellow-jacket interested with an enemy. + +"Let him go," said the laughing Doctor. "He will stay with me now. He is +not dangerous when I am about. Set him on his feet." + +No sooner was the Professor deposited on the pavement than he dealt Tim +a stinging blow which staggered him, and stood ready with trained +muscles set for defence. + +"Look yere, leetle un," said Tim, coolly and with great self-restraint, +"'tain't fer the likes uv me to hit you, bein's you're a bit out in your +top, but I'll gin you another hug ef you do that ag'in; I will, +p'intedly." + +In the good humor of the crowd, the mirth of the Doctor, and the +latter's possession of the camera the Professor scented a joke, and at +once saw his friend's hand in it. He joined in the laugh at his expense, +and lengthened his friend's face by saying, "The Doctor having had his +fun, he will now pay the bill at the bar for all of you: he pays all my +expenses: so walk in, gentlemen." + +The laws of hospitality west of the Alleghanies do not permit any one to +decline an invitation, so the Doctor settled for the whole procession +and paid Tim Price his well-earned dollar. + +"Captain," said Tim to the hotel-proprietor, who had joined the crowd, +"ef two fellers comes here from the East, one uv 'em ez round ez a +punkin an' red ez a flannel shirt an' bald ez a land-tortle, an' t'other +ez brown ez a mud-catty an' poor ez a razor-back hog, tell 'em I'm yere +to pilot 'em up Elk to Colonel Bangem's caliker tents. He said they were +ez green ez frogs, an' didn't know nothin' noway, an' fer me to take +keer uv 'em. He don't reckon they'll come tell to-morrow. One uv 'em's a +hoss-doctor, an' t'other's a perfessor uv religion, Colonel Bangem +telled me. I dunno whether the feller's a circuit-rider er a rale +preacher." + +"That's the highly-illuminated pumpkin, my good man," said the +Professor, pointing to the Doctor, "and I am Colonel Bangem's spiritual +adviser. We got here a day sooner than we expected to." + +"You don't say? May I never! An' the colonel never telled me nothin' +nohow 'bout any one uv you bein' crazy. Howdee? How do you like these +parts? Right smart town we've got yere, hain't it? I'll take keer uv +you. There hain't no man on Elk River kin take keer uv you better nor +Tim Price, ary time. I hain't much up to moon men, though. Thar's one +feller up my way thet gits kinder skeery at the full uv the moon; but I +hain't never tended him. I reckon I kin l'arn the job,--ez the ole boy +said when his marm set him to mindin' fleas off the cat." + +Tim Price was the hunter, boatman, fisherman, yarn-spinner, and +character of his region, and Colonel Bangem's faithful ally in all his +sports: the latter had therefore sent him to meet his friends on their +arrival at Charleston, and he at once proceeded to take command of the +whole party as a matter of course. + +"I footed it over the mountains, and sent my boat the river way. Hit +oughter be yere now: so we'll pack you men's tricks to the boats an' +p'int 'em up-stream. It 'ill be sundown afore we git thar." + +The party started from the hotel, the procession followed to see them +off, and they were soon down the Kanawha and into the mouth of Elk at +the point of the town. Log rafts, huge barges, miles of railroad-ties, +laid-up steamers, peddling-boats, with their highly-colored storehouses, +fishermen's scows, floating homely cabins alive with bare-legged +children and idlers of the water-side, push-boats loaded to the edge of +the narrow gunwales with merchandise for delivery to stores and dwellers +far up the river, boats loaded with hoop-poles, grist, chickens, and the +"home-plunder" of some mover to civilization, coming down the river from +the mountain-clearing, and samples of every conceivable kind of the +river's outpour, were tied to the banks or lazily floating on the +currentless back-water from the Kanawha. + +An old steamboat-captain once said of Elk that "it was the all-firedest +river God ever made,--fer it rises at both ends and runs both ways to +wunst." This is true, and is caused by the Kanawha, when rising, pouring +its water into the mouth of Elk and reversing its current for many +miles, while at the same time rain falls in the mountains, increasing +the latter river's depth and velocity. Flour-mills, iron-foundries, +saw-mills, woollen-mills, and barrel-factories extend their long wooden +slides down to the river's edge, to gather material for their +consumption. A railroad spans it with an iron trussed bridge, and the +demands of wagon and foot-travel are met by an airy one suspended by +cables from tower-like abutments on either side, both bridges swung high +in the air, out of reach of flood and of the smoke-stacks of passing +steam-craft. + +A mile from the river's mouth, and just beyond the limits of Charleston, +is one of the finest sandstone-quarries in the world. The United States +government monopolizes most of its product in the construction of the +magnificent lock and shifting dams in course of erection on the Kanawha +to facilitate the transportation of coal from the immense deposits now +being mined to the great markets of the Ohio River. A little farther on, +the brown front of a timber dam and cribbed lock looks down upon a wild +swirl and rush of water; for through a cut gap in its centre Elk flows +unobstructed,--a penniless mob having made the opening one night that +their canoes might pass free and capitalists be encouraged to remove +such worthless stuff as money from the growing industries of the river. +Prior to this act of vandalism the water was backed by the dam for a +distance of fourteen miles, to Jarrett's Ford, making a halting-place +for rafts and logs, barges and floats, coming down from the vast forests +above when rains and snow-thaws raised the river and its tributaries; +but now a long stretch of boom catches what it can of Elk's commerce and +is a chartered parasite upon it. + +Here at the old dam the mountains close in tightly upon the narrow +valley. Log cabins and a few simple frame houses nestle upon diminutive +farms; the wild beauty of shoal and eddy, bouldered channel and +lake-like stretches of pool, rocky walls and timber-clad peaks, begins +to charm the stranger and draw him on and on through scenery as +attractive as grand toss of mountains and delve of river can make it. + +By dint of poling, pushing, rowing, and pulling, the boats were worked +over rapids and pools for almost a score of miles, to where the last +rays of the sun slid over a mountain-point and hit Colonel Bangem's hat +as it spun in the air by way of welcome, while the prows clove the water +of a lovely eddy lying in front of his camp. The meeting was that of old +friends, with the addition of a blush from Bess Bangem and its bright +reflection from the Professor's face. + +Tim Price took the colonel to one side mysteriously, and whispered, "I +took keer uv the Perfessor my own self: he guv me a power uv trouble, +though. Shell I hitch him now, er let him run loose?" + +"We'll turn him loose now, Tim; but if he takes to turning somersets, +catch him, loosen his collar, take off his boots, and throw him into the +river," was the colonel's sober reply. + +Scientists nowadays set up Energy as the ancestor of everything, measure +the value of its descendants by the quantity they possess of the family +trait, and spend their time in showing how to utilize it for the good of +mankind in general. Professor Yarren was an apostle of Energy: it +absorbed him, filled him. From the weight of the sun to boiled potatoes, +from the spring of a tiger to the jump of a flea, from the might of +chemical disembodiment to opening an oyster, he calculated, advised, and +dilated upon it. He himself, was the epitome of Energy: in his size he +economized space, in his diet he ate for power, not quantity. To him +eating and sleeping were Energy's warehousemen; idleness was dry-rot, +moth, and mildew; laughing, talking, whistling, singing, somersets, and +fishing, never-to-be-neglected and in-constant-use safety-valves. He +regarded himself as an assimilator of everything that went into him, be +it food, sight, sound, or scent, and his perfection as such in exact +ratio to the product he derived from them. So when next morning he said +"Come on" to the Doctor, and Colonel Bangem, Mrs. Colonel Bangem, Bess +Bangem, and Martha, the mountain-maid, who were all standing in front of +the camp rigged for a day's fishing, he meant that one of Energy's +safety-valves was ready to blow off, and that further delay might be +dangerous to him. + +In the Doctor, Energy was stored in bond as it were, subject to duties, +and only to be issued on certificate that it was wanted for use and +everything ready for it: therefore at the Professor's "Come on" he +calmly sat down on a log, filled his pipe, leisurely lighted it, and +good-humoredly remarked, "I am confident that one-half of what we call +life is spent in undoing what we have done, in lamenting the lack of +what we have forgotten, or going back after it: therefore I make it a +rule when everything seems ready for a start--especially when going +fishing--to sit five minutes in calm communion with my pipe, thinking +matters over. It insures against much discomfort from treacherous +memories and neglect." + +As the Doctor whiffed at his pipe, he inventoried guns, tackle, lunch, +hammocks, air-cushions, gigs, frog-spears, and all other necessaries for +a day's sport on the river. The result was as he had prophesied,--many +things had been omitted. "Now," said he, when the five minutes were up, +"we might venture down the bank, which, rest assured, each member of +this party will have to climb up again after something left behind." + +A motley little fleet awaited the party at the water's +edge,--square-ended, flat-bottomed punts, sharp-bowed bateaux, long, +graceful, dug-out canoes, and a commodious push-boat, with cabin and +awning, whose motive power was poles. Elk River craft are as abundant as +the log cabins on its banks, and their pilots are as numerous as the +inhabitants. Neither sex nor size is a disqualification, for, excepting +the trifling matter of being web-toed, all are provided from birth with +water-going properties, and, be it seed-time or harvest, the river has +the first claim upon them for all its varied sports and occupations. A +shot at mallard, black-head, butter-duck, loon, wild goose, or +blue-winged teal, as they follow the river's winds northward in the +spring-time, will stop the ploughs furrowing its fertile bottoms as far +as its echoes roll around mountain-juts, and cause the hands that held +the lines to grasp old-fashioned rifles for a chance at the winged +passers. When, later, woodcock seek its margins, gray snipe, kill-deer, +mud-hens, and plovers its narrow fens, the scythe will rest in the +half-mown field while its wielder "takes a crack at 'em." And when +autumn brings thousands of gray squirrels, flocks of wild pigeon and +water-fowl, to feed on its mast, no household obligation or out-door +profit will keep the natives from shooting, morning, noon, and night. + +Some day in the near future a railroad will be built "up Elk," and then, +while commerce and civilization will get a lift, the loveliest of rivers +will be scarred; her trout-streams, carp-runs, bass-pools, +salmon-swirls, deer-licks, bear-dens, partridge-nestles, and +pheasant-covers will be overrun by sports-men, her magnificent mountains +will be scratched bald-headed by lumbermen, her laughing tributaries +will be saddened with saw-dust, and her queer, quaint, original +boat-pullers and "seng-diggers" will wear shoes in summer-time and coats +in winter, weather-board their log cabins, put glass in the windows and +partitions across the one room inside. Woods-meetings will creep into +churches, square sousing in the river will degenerate to the gentle +baptismal sprinkle; no picnics or barbecues will delight the inhabitants +with flying horses and fights, open fireplaces and sparking-benches will +give way to stoves and chairs, riding double on horseback, with fair +arms not afraid to hold tight against all dangers real or fancied, will +be a joy of the past, "bean-stringin's," "apple-parin's," +"punkin-clippin's," "sass-bilin's," "sugar-camps," "cabin-raisin's," +"log-rollin's," "bluin's," "tar-and-feathering," and "hangin's," will be +out-civilized, and the whole country will be spoiled. + +"It looks like a good biting morning for bass," said Colonel Bangem, +while he was distributing the party properly among the boats. "But, in +spite of all signs, bass bite when they please. It is a sunny morning: +so use bright spoon-trolls, medium size. If the fish rise freely, +twenty-five feet of line is enough to have out on the stern lines; and, +as the ladies will use the poles, ten feet of line is enough for them. +Don't forget, Mrs. Bangem, to keep your troll spinning just outside the +swirl of the oar, and as near the surface of the water as possible. You +know you _will_ talk and forget all about it. Now we will start. If we +get separated and it grows cloudy, change your trolls for three-inch +'fairy minnows;' and if the wind ripples the water, let out from sixty +to eighty feet of line. Take the centre of the river, and you will haul +in salmon; for bass will not rise to a troll in the eddies when the +water is rough. Salmon will. Tim, take the lead with the Professor, that +the other men may see your stroke and course. In trolling, the oarsman +has as much to do with the success as the fisherman." + +Off they went, three to a boat, the fishers seated in bow and stern, the +ladies in front with their fishing-poles, and the oarsman in his proper +place, rowing a slow, steady stroke, dipping true and silently just +fifty feet from bank, or sedge, or shelf of rock, steering outside of +snags and drift and where overhanging trees buried their shadows in the +water. + +The boats had hardly reached their positions--two on each side of the +stream--when a shout from the Professor announced a catch, as hand over +hand he cautiously drew in the swerving line or held it taut, as the +diving fish sought the rocky bottom or the friendly refuge of a log +drift. With unvarying stroke Tim kept his boat in deep water, away from +entangling dangers. There was a flash in the air and a jingle of the +troll, as a fine bass shot out of the water to shake the barbs from his +open mouth; but the hooks held firm, and the taut line foiled the effort +to dislodge them. Down came the fish with a splash, to dart for the +boat at lightning speed and leap again for life; but this time no jingle +of troll announced his game. He leaped ahead to fall upon the line and +thus tear the hooks from their hold. Successful fishing depends upon two +things,--the presence of fish and knowing more than fish do. At the +instant of the fish's leap the Professor slackened his line: down came +the bass on a limber loop, defeated in his strategy and wearied by his +effort, to be hauled quickly to the boat's side and landed, wriggling +and tossing, at Tim Price's feet. + +"You've cotched bass afore, Perfesser. You ez up to their ways ez a +mus'rat to a mussel, er a kingfisher to a minner," exclaimed Tim +admiringly, as he loosened the troll from a two-pound bass. "Hit's +p'intedly a pity you're out uv your head 'bout picters." + +"Oh, I have one! I have one!--a fish! What kind is it?" screamed Bess +Bangem, who was the Professor's companion, as her light trout-pole bent +from a sudden tug, and the reel whirred as the line ran off. + +"Stop him, hold on to him, wind him in, and I will tell you," answered +the Professor, laughing. + +Bess was a practised hand, and loved the sport; but, woman-like, she +always paused to wonder what she had caught before proceeding to find +out. + +"It will be the subject of a lecture for you, whatever it is," replied +Bess, with a saucy shake of her head, as she wound in the line and +guided the playing fish with well-managed pole. Her fine face flushed +with the excitement of the run and leap of her prey, as it came nearer +and nearer, until Tim slipped the landing-net quietly under it and +landed a beauty in the boat. + +"Poor fellow! I wonder if I hurt him?" said Bess. + +"Not much, if any," remarked the Professor. "I never was a fish, and +consequently never was foolish enough to jump at a bunch of hooks; but, +as the cartilage of a fish's mouth is almost nerveless, there is but +little pain from a hook diet. Bass, salmon, pike, and other gamey fish +will often keep on biting after they have been badly hooked." + +"So will men," said Bess, as she threw her troll into the water to do +fresh duty. + +"You're p'intedly keerect," said Tim Price. "I got the sack four times, +an' hed right smart mittens, afore I cotched a stayin' holt on my old +woman." + +Shout after shout waked the mountain-echoes, as fish were held up in +triumph, and as the boats glided over the smooth water of the eddy. +Ahead was a mass of foam and a long dash of water down a shoal. + +"Yere's where me and the colonel catches 'em lively when I pull him," +said Martha to the Doctor. "They bite yere ez lively ez a stray pig in a +tater-patch. Whoop! I've got him! He pulls like a mule at a +hitchin'-rope. Keep your boat head to the current, Alec, an' pull hard, +er we'll drift down on him an' I'll lose him. Whoop! May I never! A +five-pounder! I'll slit him down the back an' brile him fer breakfast. +Whoop! In you come!" + +The boatmen pulled hard against the fierce current at the foot of the +shoal, crossed and recrossed, circled, and at it again, until a score or +more of noble bass were hooked from the swirl, and Colonel Bangem led +the way up the rapids. Then the oarsmen leaped into the water and towed +the boats through the wild current, until the eddy at the top of it +allowed them to take oars again. + +"Preacher, kin you paddle?" asked Tim Price of the Professor, as he +drained the water from his legs before getting into the boat. "Ef you +air a hand at it, take an oar an' paddle a bit astern: there'll be white +peerch an' red-hoss lyin' yere at the head uv the shore." + +The Professor took an oar and paddled, while Tim Price poised himself in +the boat, spear in hand and the long rope from its slender shaft coiled +at his feet. He peered intently into the water as the boat moved slowly +along. Presently every muscle of him was set: he bent backward for a +cast, pointed his spear with steady hands to a spot in the river, and +quick as a flash it pierced the water until its ten-foot shaft was seen +no more. As quickly was it recovered by Tim's active hands catching the +flying line to haul it in; and on its prongs squirmed a monstrous fish +of the sucker tribe,--a red-horse,--pinned through and through by his +unerring aim. + +Shoal and eddy, swirl and silent pool, yielded good sport and harvest, +as haunts of bass and salmon were entered and passed, until the inviting +mouth of Little Sandy Creek suggested rest for the boatmen and a stroll +for the fishers. A neat hotel, clean and well kept for so wild a region, +harbors lumbermen, rivermen, and those who love the rod and gun. There +are many such attractive centres along the banks of Elk, with charming +camping-grounds, where neighboring hospitality abounds, and chickens, +eggs, milk, corn, and bacon are abundant and cheap, and the finest +bass-and other fishing possible, from Queen's Shoal--four miles away--to +the old dam above Charleston. Above Queen's Shoal the region increases +in wildness and attractiveness for traveller or sportsman. Trout in +plenty find homes in the mountain-tributaries of Upper Elk; deer abound, +and all manner of smaller game. Where nature does her best work, man is +apt to do but little. Nature farms the Elk country. + +Bright moonlight, the early morning after the sun is up, and from a +couple of hours after mid-day until the mountain-shadows strike the +water in the evening, are the best times to troll for bass. If so +minded, they will rise to a fly at such times in the rapids; but no +allurement excepting the troll will bring them to the surface in still +water. When the river is rising, or the water is clouded with mud or +drift, bass scorn all surface-diet; but the live minnow or crawfish, +hellgramite or fish-worm, will capture them on trout-line or hook +attached to the soul-absorbing bob. A clothes-line wire cable, furnished +with well-assorted hooks baited with cotton, dough, and cheese well +mixed together, and stretched in eddy-water when the river is muddy, +will give fine reward in carp, white perch, catfish, turtles, garfish, +and sweet revenge on the bait-stealing guana. + +After nooning, lunch, and a quiet loaf, the party sped homeward with the +current, handling rods and trolls as salmon and bass demanded lively +attention. Shooting a rapid, and out into a deep pool at its foot, the +Doctor's boat struck a snag, and he, having a resisting power equal to +that of a billiard-ball, put his heels where his head had been, and +disappeared under the water, to pop up again instantly, sputtering and +spitting, like a jug full of yeast with a corn-cob stopper. + +"Oh, Hickey! Whoop!" exclaimed Martha, as she went off in wild screams +of laughter. "Kin you swim?" she asked, with the coolness of the +mountain-maiden she was. + +"No, no," sputtered the Doctor. + +"I reckon you'll tow good. Jest gimme your han', an' keep your feet +down, an' me an' Alec 'ill tow you ashore to dreen. Hit's like you're +purty wet." + +He was soon landed by the stalwart Martha and Alec, and, while he +attitudinized for draining, the Professor amused himself with taking an +instantaneous photograph. + +"By gum! he mought hev drownded," said Tim Price to the Professor. "The +Doctor hain't a good shape fer towin', but he floats higher than any +craft of his length I ever seed on Elk River." + +Just as the golden light of evening cast its sheen upon the river the +camp-tents came in sight, where a group of natives stood waiting the +arrival of the fishers to "hear what luck they'd hed." + +Colonel Bangem and Bess carried off equal honors in greatest +count,--sixty-two bass and five salmon each. Martha, with her +five-pounder, was weight champion. Mrs. Bangem had the only blue pike. +The Professor claimed that, besides his twoscore fish, he had +illustrations enough for a comic annual; and the Doctor asserted that he +knew more about bass than any of them, for he had been down where they +lived, and was of the opinion that he had swallowed a couple. + +Bess Bangem said to the Professor, as they went up the bank together, "I +had a great mind to count you in with my fish, to beat father; but I +caught you long ago, so it would not have been fair." + + TOBE HODGE. + + + + +ON A NOBLE CHARACTER MARRED BY LITTLENESS. + + +As Moscow's splendors trench on narrow lanes, + The wonder, brimming every traveller's eyes, +To disappointment's sudden darkness wanes + At finding meanness near such grandeur lies. + +O human city! built on Moscow's plan, + Thy great and little touch each other so, +Let me forbear, and, as an erring man, + Make my approaches wisely, from below, + +Hasting through all the narrow and the base + Before I stand where all is high and vast: +After the dark, let glory light my face, + Thy shining greatness break upon me _last_. + + CHARLOTTE FISKE BATES. + + + + +THE SCOTTISH CROFTERS. + + +It is hard to dispel the halo which poetry and romance have thrown about +the Scottish Highlander and see him simply as he appears in every-day +life. And indeed, all fiction aside, there is in his history and +character much that is most admirable and noble. On many a terrible +battle-field his courage has been unsurpassed. His brave and tireless +struggle for existence where both climate and soil are unfriendly is +equally worthy of respect. Then, too, his sterling honesty and +independence in speech and action and his high moral and religious +qualities combine to make him a valuable citizen. + +Such considerations account in part for the interest which has been +excited in England by the claims of the Scottish crofters. There are, +however, other reasons why so much attention has of late been given to +their complaints. Their poverty and hardships have long been known in +England. The reports made by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by +Sir John McNeil a few years later contain accounts of miserably small +and unproductive holdings, of wretched hovels for dwellings, of lack of +enterprise and interest in making improvements, of curtailment of +pasture, of high rents and insecurity of tenure, very similar to those +found on the pages of the report of the late Royal Commission. While in +this interval the condition of the crofters has but slightly, if at all, +improved, there has been a very considerable improvement in the +condition of the middle and lower classes of the people in other parts +of Scotland and in England. The masses of the people have better houses, +better food and clothing, while with the development of the school +system and the newspaper press general intelligence has greatly +increased. The accounts of the poverty and wretchedness of the crofters +now reach the public much more quickly and make a much deeper impression +on all classes than they did forty years ago. While these small farmers +are not numerous,--there are probably not more than four thousand +families in need of relief,--many of their kinsmen elsewhere have +acquired wealth and influence and have been able to plead their cause +with good effect. In this country "The Scottish Land League" has issued +in "The Cry of the Crofter" an eloquent plea for help to carry on the +agitation to a successful issue. + +Another reason for the increased attention that has lately been given to +these claims is found in the rapidly-growing tendency to concede to the +landlord fewer and fewer and to the tenant more and more rights in the +land. The recent extension of the suffrage, giving votes to nearly two +millions of agricultural and other laborers, leads politicians to go as +far as possible in favoring new legislation in the interest of tenants +and laborers. The crofters' case has therefore come to be of special +interest as a part of the general land question which has of late +received so much attention from the English press and Parliament, and +which is pretty certain to be prominent for several years to come. + +Those who are familiar only with the relations existing between landlord +and tenant in this country are naturally surprised to find the crofter +demanding that his landlord shall (1) give him the use of more land, +(2) reduce his rent, (3) pay him on leaving his holding for all his +improvements, and (4) not accept in his stead another tenant, even +though the latter may be anxious to take the holding at a higher figure +or turn him out for any other reason. In addition to all this, the +crofters demand that the government shall advance them money to enable +them to build suitable houses and improve and stock their farms. An +American tenant who should make such demands would be considered insane. +No such view of the crofters' claims, however, is taken in England and +Scotland. + +What, then, are the grounds upon which these extensive claims are based? +Why should the crofter claim a right to have his holding enlarged and to +have the land at a lower rent than some one else may be willing to pay? +The reasons are to be found partly in his history, traditions, and +circumstances, and partly in the present tendency of the legislation and +discussions relating to the ownership and occupation of land. + +Under the old clan system, to which the crofter is accustomed to trace +his claims, the land was owned by the chief and clansmen in common, and +allotments and reallotments were made from time to time to individual +clansmen, each of whom had a right to some portion of the land, while +the commons were very extensive. Rent or service was paid to the chief, +who had more or less control over the clan lands and often possessed an +estate in severalty, with many personal dependants. In many cases the +power of the chief was great and tyrannical, and many of the clansmen +were in a somewhat servile condition; but the more influential clansmen +seem sometimes to have retained permanent possession of their +allotments. Long ago sub-letting became common, and hard services were +often exacted of the sub-tenants, whose lot was frequently a most +unhappy one. The modern cottar, as well as the squatter, had his +representative in the dependant of the chief, or clansman, or in the +outlaw or vagrant member of another clan who came to build his rude +cabin wherever he could find a sheltered and unoccupied spot. No doubt +many of the sub-tenants, even where they held originally by base and +uncertain services and at the will of their superior, came in time, like +the English copyholder, to have a generally-recognized right to the +permanent possession of their holdings, while custom tended to fix the +character and quantity of their services. The population was not +numerous, and it was probably not difficult for every man to secure a +plot of land of some sort. + +The crofters of to-day have lost for the most part the traditions of the +drawbacks and hardships of this ancient system, with its oppressive +services, to which many of their ancestors were subject, and have +commonly retained only the tradition of the right which every clansman +had to some portion of the clan lands. In 1745 the clan organizations +were abolished and the chiefs transformed into landlords and invested +with the fee-simple of the land. But, while changes were gradually made +on some estates in the direction of conformity to the English system, +most of the old customary rights of the people continued to be +recognized. The tenant was commonly allowed to occupy his holding from +year to year without interruption. Money rent gradually took the place +of service or rent in kind, but the amount exacted does not seem to have +been often increased arbitrarily. The rights of common, which were often +of great value, were respected. + +The descendants and successors, however, of the old Scotch lairds did +not always display the same regard for prescriptive rights and usages. +In some cases the extravagance and bankruptcy of the old owners caused +the titles to pass to Englishmen, while in others the inheritors of the +estates were more and more inclined to insist upon their legal rights +and to introduce in the management of their property rules similar to +those in use in England. Early in the present century sheep-farming was +found to be profitable, and many large areas of glen and mountain were +cleared of the greater part of their population and converted into +sheep-farms. Many of the mountainous parts of Scotland are of little use +for agricultural purposes. Formerly the crofters used large tracts as +summer pastures for their small herds of inferior stock. By and by the +proprietors found that large droves of better breeds of sheep could be +kept on these mountain-pastures. The crofters were too poor to undertake +the management of the large sheep-farms into which it was apparently +most profitable to divide these mountain-lands, and sheep-farmers from +the south became the tenants. By introducing sheep-farming on a large +scale the landlords were able, they claimed, to use hundreds of +thousands of acres which before were of comparatively little value. The +large flocks of sheep could not, however, be kept without having the +lower slopes of the mountains on which to winter. It was these slopes +that the crofters commonly used for pasture, below which, in the straths +and glens, were their holdings and dwellings. The ruins of cottages, or +patches of green here and there where cottages stood, mark the sites of +many little holdings from which the crofters and their families were +turned out many years ago in order to make room for sheep-farms. The +proprietors sometimes recognized the rights of these native tenants, and +gave them new holdings in exchange for the old ones. The new crofts were +often nearer the sea, where the land was less favorable for grazing and +where the rights of common were less valuable, but the occupants had +better opportunities for supplementing their incomes from the land by +fishing and by gathering sea-weed for kelp, from which iodine was made. +There were, however, great numbers who were not supplied with new +crofts, but turned away from their old homes and left to shift for +themselves. Some of these, too poor to go elsewhere, built rude huts +wherever they could find a convenient spot, and thus increased the ranks +of the squatters. Others were allowed to share the already too small +holdings of their more fortunate brethren, while others, again, found +their way to the lowlands and cities of the south or to America. The +traditions of the hardships and sufferings endured by some of these +evicted crofters are still kept alive in the prosperous homes of their +children and grandchildren on this side of the Atlantic. The process of +clearing off the crofters went on for many years. In 1849 Hugh Miller, +in trying to arouse public sentiment against it, declared that, "while +the law is banishing its tens for terms of seven and fourteen +years,--the penalty of deep-dyed crimes,--irresponsible and infatuated +power is banishing its thousands for no crime whatever." + +Lately, owing to foreign competition and the deterioration of the land +that has been used for many years as sheep-pastures, sheep-farming has +become much less profitable than formerly, and many large tenants have +in consequence given up their farms. The enthusiasm for deer-hunting +has, however, increased with the increase of wealth and leisure among +Englishmen, and immense tracts, amounting altogether to nearly two +millions of acres, have been turned into deer-forests, yielding, as a +rule, a slightly higher rent than was paid by the crofters and +sheep-farmers. Much of this land is either unfit for agricultural +purposes or could not at present be cultivated with profit. Some of it, +however, is fertile, or well suited for grazing, and greatly coveted by +the crofters. The deer and other game often destroy or injure the crops +of the adjoining holdings, and thus add to the troubles of the occupants +and increase their indignation at the land's being used to raise sheep +and "vermin" instead of men. Most Americans have had intimations of this +feeling through the accounts of the hostility that has been shown to our +countryman, Mr. Winans, whose deer-forest is said to cover two hundred +square miles. While evictions are much less common than they were two or +three generations ago, there has all along been a disposition on the +part of the proprietors to enclose in their sheep-farms and deer-forests +lands that were formerly tilled or used as commons by the crofters and +cottars. In comparison with the crofter of to-day the sub-tenant of a +hundred years ago had, as a rule, more land for tillage, a far wider +range of pasture for his stock, and "greater freedom in regard to the +natural produce of the river and moor." + +Many of the crofters belong to families which have lived on the same +holdings for generations. It is a common experience everywhere that +long-continued use begets and fosters the feeling of ownership. This is +especially true when, as in the crofter's case, there is so much in the +history and traditions of the people and the property that tends to +establish a right of possession. Besides, the crofter, or one of his +ancestors, has in most cases built the house and made other +improvements: sometimes he has reclaimed the land itself and changed a +barren waste into a garden. The labor and money which he and his +ancestors have expended in improving the place seem to him to give him +an additional right to occupy it always. It is his holding and his home, +the home of his fathers and of his family. While he may be unable to +resist the power of his landlord, and may have no legal security for his +rights and interests, he regards the curtailment of his privileges or +the increase of his rent as unjust, and eviction as a terrible outrage. +"The extermination of the Highlanders," says one of their kinsmen, "has +been carried on for many years as systematically and persistently as +that of the North-American Indians.... Who can withhold sympathy as +whole families have turned to take a last look at the heavens red with +their burning homes? The poor people shed no tears, for there was in +their hearts that which stifled such signs of emotion: they were +absorbed in despair. They were forced away from that which was dear to +their hearts, and their patriotism was treated with contemptuous +mockery.... There are various ways in which the crime of murder is +perpetrated. There are killings which are effected by the unjust and +cruel denying of lands to our fellow-creatures to enable them to obtain +food and raiment." + +The feeling of the crofters in regard to increase of rent and eviction +is very similar to that of the Irish tenantry. Very recently Mr. Parnell +uttered sentiments which both would accept as their own. "I trust," he +said, "that when any individual feels disposed to violate the divine +commandment by taking, under such circumstances, that which does not +belong to him, he will feel within him the promptings of patriotism and +religion, and that he will turn away from the temptation. Let him +remember that he is doing a great injustice to his country and his +class,--that though he may perhaps benefit materially for a while, yet +that ill-gotten gains will not prosper." Where crofters have been +evicted, or have had their privileges curtailed or their rent raised, +they and their descendants do not soon forget the grievance. Claims have +recently been made for lands which the crofters have not occupied for +two or three generations. + +The Scotch landlords are not, as a rule, cruel or unjust. On the +contrary, some of them are exceedingly kind and generous to their +tenants, and have spent large sums of money in making improvements which +add greatly to the prosperity and comfort of those who live on their +estates. Many of them recognize the right of their tenants to occupy +their holdings without interruption so long as the rent is paid +regularly. The natural tendency, however, to insist upon their legal +rights and to make the most they can out of their estates has led to not +a few cases of hardship and injustice. A few such instances in a +community are talked over for years, and often seriously interfere with +the contentment and industry of many families. The traditions and +recollections of the many evictions which have occurred during this +century have often caused the motives of the best landlords to be +suspected and their most benevolent acts to be misunderstood by their +tenants. The crofter system has been an extremely bad one in many +respects. There cannot be much interest in making improvements where the +tenant must build the houses, fences, stables, etc., but has no +guarantee that he will not be turned out of his holding or have his rent +so increased as practically to compel him to leave the place. The +kindness and humanity of the landlords have in many instances mitigated +the worst evils of the system; but, while human nature remains as it is, +no matter how just and generous individual landlords may be, general +prosperity and contentment are impossible under the present +arrangements. The discontent and discouragement caused by the action of +the less kind and considerate landlords and agents frequently extend to +crofters who have no just grounds of complaint, and troubles and +hardships resulting from idleness or improvidence or other causes are +often attributed to the injustice of the laws or the cruelty of the +landlords. + +The poverty of the crofter often renders his condition deplorable. His +holding and right of common have been curtailed by the landlord, or he +has sub-divided them among his sons or kinsmen, until it would be +impossible for the produce of the soil to sustain the population, even +if no rent whatever were charged. Some years ago he was able to increase +his income by gathering sea-weed for kelp; but latterly, since iodine +can be obtained more cheaply from other sources, the demand for this +product has ceased. In some places the fishing is valuable, enabling him +to supply his family with food for a part of the year, and bringing him +money besides. He is, however, often too poor to provide the necessary +boats and nets, while in many places the absence of good harbors and +landings is a most serious drawback to the fishing industry. Sometimes +he supplements his income by spending a few months of the year in the +low country and obtaining work there. In most cases, however, a large +part of his income must be derived from the land. If there were plenty +of employment to be had, the little holding would do very well as a +garden, and the stock which he could keep on the common would add +greatly to his comfort. As things now are, he must look chiefly to the +land both for his subsistence and his rent, and, with an unfruitful soil +and an unfriendly climate, he is often on the verge of want. + +Still more wretched is the condition of the cottars and squatters. The +latter are in some places numerous and have taken up considerable +portions of land formerly used as common, thus interfering with the +rights of the crofters. They appropriate land and possess and pasture +stock, but pay no rent, obey no control, and scarcely recognize any +authority. The dwellings of this class and of some of the poorer +crofters are wretched in the extreme. A single apartment, with walls of +stone and mud, a floor of clay, a thatched roof, no windows, no chimney, +one low door furnishing an entrance for the occupants and a means of +ventilation and of escape for the smoke which rolls up black and thick +from the peat fire, furniture of the rudest imaginable sort, the +inhabitants--the human beings, the cows, the pigs, the sheep, and the +poultry--all crowded together in the miserable and filthy hut, make up a +picture which the most romantic and poetic associations can hardly +render pleasing to one accustomed to the comforts and refinements of +modern civilization. Of course many of the crofters live in greater +comfort, and some of the cottages are by no means unattractive. But the +Royal Commissioners say that the crofter's habitation is usually "of a +character that would imply physical and moral degradation in the eyes of +those who do not know how much decency, courtesy, virtue, and even +refinement survive amidst the sordid surroundings of a Highland hovel." +An Englishman who, on seeing these "sordid surroundings," was disposed +to compare the social and moral condition of the people to "the +barbarism of Egypt," was told that if he would ask one of the crofters, +in Gaelic or English, "What is the chief end of man?" he would soon see +the difference. + +With such a history, such traditions, grievances, conditions, and +hardships, it is not strange that the crofter should be ready to join an +agitation that promised a remedy. Some of his grievances and claims have +been so similar to those of the Irish tenant that the legislation which +followed the violent agitation in Ireland has led him to hope for +relief-measures similar to those enacted for the Irish tenantry. The +Irish Land Act of 1870 recognized the tenant's right to the permanent +possession of his holding and to his improvements, by providing that on +being turned out by his landlord he should have compensation for +disturbance and for his improvements. It did not, however, secure him +against the landlord's so increasing his rent as practically to +appropriate his improvements and even force him to leave his holding +without any compensation. The Land Act of 1881 secured his interests by +establishing a court which should fix a fair rent, by giving him a right +to compensation for disturbance and for his improvements, and by +allowing him to sell his interests for the best price he can get for +them. It also enabled him to borrow from the government, at a low rate +of interest, three-fourths of the money necessary to purchase his +landlord's interest in the holding. This legal recognition and guarantee +of the Irish tenant's interests have led the crofter to hope that his +claims, based on better grounds, may also be conceded. + +The changes recently made in the land laws of England and Scotland, and +the activity of the advocates of further and more radical changes, have +increased this hope. Progressive English statesmen have long looked with +disfavor upon entails and settlements, and there have been a number of +enactments providing for cutting off entails and increasing the power of +limited owners. The last and most important of these, the Settled +Estates Act, passed in 1882, gives the tenant for life power to sell any +portion of the estate except the family mansion, and thus thoroughly +undermines the principle upon which primogeniture and entails are +founded. Much land which has hitherto been so tied up that the limited +owners were either unable or unwilling to develop it can now be sold and +improved. New measures have been proposed to increase still further the +power of limited owners and to make the sale and transfer of land easier +and less expensive. Many able statesmen are advocates of these measures. +Mr. Goschen in a recent speech at Edinburgh urged the need of a +land-register by which transfers of land might be made almost as cheaply +and easily as transfers of consols. By such an arrangement, it is held, +many farmers of small capital will be enabled to buy their farms, and +the land of the country will thus be dispersed among a much larger +number of owners. There has also been a very marked tendency to enlarge +the rights and the authority of the tenant farmer. The Agricultural +Holdings Act of 1883 gives the tenant a right to compensation for +temporary and, on certain conditions, for permanent improvements, and +permits him in most cases, where he cannot have compensation, to remove +fixtures or buildings which he has erected, contrary to the old doctrine +that whatever is fixed to the soil becomes the property of the landlord. +The landlord's power to distrain for rent is greatly reduced: formerly +he could distrain for six years' rent, now he can distrain only for the +rent of one year, and he is required to give the tenant twelve instead +of six months' notice to quit. The tenant is therefore more secure than +formerly in the possession of his farm and in spending money and labor +in making improvements that will render it more productive. Other +changes are proposed, which will give him still more rights, greater +freedom in the management of the farm, and additional encouragement to +adopt the best methods of farming and invest his labor and money in +improvements. Many of the land reformers advocate the adoption of +measures similar to those that have been enacted for Ireland. It has for +some time been one of the declared purposes of the Farmers' Alliance to +secure a system of judicial rents for the tenant farmers of England. An +important conference lately held at Aberdeen and participated in by +representatives of both the English and Scottish Farmers' Alliances +adopted an outline of a land bill for England and Scotland, providing +for the establishment of a land court, fixing fair rents, fuller +compensation for improvements, and the free sale of the tenant's +interests. + +The wretched condition of the dwellings of the agricultural laborers in +many parts of the country has attracted much attention, and plans for +bettering their condition have frequently been urged. Lately the +interest in the subject has increased, prominent statesmen on both sides +having espoused the cause. In view of the political power which the +recent extension of the suffrage has given to the agricultural laborers, +there is a general expectation that a measure will shortly be enacted +requiring the owner or occupier of the farm to give each laborer a plot +of ground "of a size that he and his family can cultivate without +impairing his efficiency as a wage-earner," at a rent fixed by +arbitration, and providing for a loan of money by the state for the +erection of a proper dwelling. The provisions of the Irish Land Act and +its amendment relating to laborers' cottages and allotments suggest the +lines along which legislation for the improvement of laborers' dwellings +in England and Scotland is likely to proceed. + +Then there is the scheme for nationalizing the land, the state paying +the present owners no compensation, or a very small amount, and assuming +the chief functions now exercised by the landlords. No statesman has yet +ventured to advocate this scheme, but it has called forth a great deal +of discussion on the platform and in the newspapers and reviews, and has +captivated most of those who are inclined to adopt socialistic theories +of property. Mr. George himself has preached his favorite doctrine to +the crofters, whose views of their own rights in the land have led them +to look upon the plan with more favor than the English tenants. Others, +too, who have plans to advocate for giving tenants and laborers greater +rights have taken special pains to have their views presented to the +crofters, since the claims of the latter against the landlords seem to +rest upon so much stronger grounds than those of the English tenant. + +The agitations for the reform of the land laws in Ireland and England, +and the utterances of the advocates of the various plans for increasing +the rights and privileges of the tenant, have led the crofters to dwell +upon their grievances until they have become thoroughly aroused. They +have in many cases refused to pay rent, have resisted eviction and +driven away officers who attempted to serve writs, have offered violence +to the persons or property of some of those who have ventured to take +the crofts of evicted tenants, and in some instances have taken forcible +possession of lands which they thought ought to be added to their +crofts. The government found it necessary a short time ago to send +gunboats with marines and extra police to some of the islands and +districts to restore the authority of the law. The crofters and their +friends are thoroughly organized, and seem likely to insist upon their +claims with the persistency that is characteristic of their race. It is +now generally conceded that some remedy must be provided for their +grievances and hardships. + +The remedy that has been most frequently suggested, the only one +recommended by the Emigration Commissioners in 1841 and by Sir John +McNeil in 1852, is emigration. The crofting system, it has often been +urged, belongs to a bygone age; it survives only because of its +remoteness from the centres of civilization and the ruggedness of the +country; the implements used by the crofters are of the most primitive +sort, while their agricultural methods are "slovenly and unskilful to +the last degree." It is impossible for these small farmers, with their +crude implements and methods, to compete with the large farmers, who +have better land and use the most improved implements and methods. +Besides, many of the crofters are, and their ancestors for many +generations have been, "truly laborers, living chiefly by the wages of +labor, and holding crofts and lots for which they pay rents, not from +the produce of the land, but from wages." If they cannot find employment +within convenient distance of their present homes, the best and kindest +thing for them is to help them to go where there is a good demand for +labor and better opportunities for earning a decent livelihood. To +encourage them to stay on their little crofts, where they are frequently +on the verge of want, is unkind and very bad policy. One who has seen +the wretched hovels in which some of these crofter families live, the +small patches of unproductive land on which they try to subsist, the +hardships which they sometimes suffer, and the lack of opportunities for +bettering their condition in their native Highlands or islands, and who +knows how much has been accomplished by the enterprise and energy of +Highlanders in other parts of the world, can hardly help wishing that +they might all be helped to emigrate to countries where their industry +and economy would more certainly be rewarded, and where they would have +a fairer prospect for success in the struggle for life and advancement. +Many of them would undoubtedly be far better off if they could emigrate +under favorable conditions. The descendants of many of those who were +forced to leave their homes by "cruel and heartless Highland lairds," +and who suffered terrible hardships in getting to this country and +founding new homes, have now attained such wealth and influence as they +could not possibly have acquired among their ancestral hills. The Royal +Commissioners recommended that the state should aid those who may be +willing to emigrate from certain islands and districts where the +population is apparently too great for the means of subsistence. + +The crofters are, however, strongly attached to their native hills and +glens, and they claim that such laws can and ought to be enacted as will +enable them to live in comfort where they are. The present, it is urged, +is a particularly favorable time to establish prosperous small farmers +in many parts of the Highlands where sheep-farming has proved a failure. +The inhabitants of the coasts and islands are largely a seafaring +people. There is quite as much Norse as Celtic blood in the veins of +many of them, and the Norseman's love of the sea leads them naturally to +fishing or navigation. The herring-fisheries, with liberal encouragement +on the part of the government, might be made far more profitable to the +fishermen and to the nation. Besides, the seafaring people of the +Highlands and islands "constitute a natural basis for the naval defence +of the country, a sort of defence which cannot be extemporized, and +which in possible emergencies can hardly be overrated." At the present +time they "contribute four thousand four hundred and thirty-one men to +the Royal Naval Reserve,--a number equivalent to the crews of seven +armored war-steamers of the first class." It is surely desirable to +foster a population which has been a "nursery of good citizens and good +workers for the whole empire," and of the best sailors and soldiers for +the British navy and army. Public policy demands that every legitimate +means be used to better the condition of the crofters and cottars, and +to encourage them to remain in and develop the industries of their own +country, instead of abandoning it to sheep and deer. Private interests +must be made subordinate to the public good. Parliament may therefore +interfere with the rights of landed property when the interests of the +people and of the nation demand it, as they do in this case. + +It was on some such grounds that the Royal Commissioners recommended +that restrictions be placed upon the further extension of deer-forests, +that the fishing interests should be aided by the government, that the +proprietors should be required to restore to the crofters lands formerly +used as common pastures, and to give them, under certain restrictions, +the use of more land, enlarging their holdings, and that in certain +cases they should be compelled to grant leases at rents fixed by +arbitration, and to give compensation for improvements. The government +is already helping the fishermen by constructing a new harbor and by +improving means of communication and transportation, and proposes to +greatly lighten taxation in the near future. + +The bill which the late government introduced into Parliament does not +undertake to provide for aid to those who may wish to emigrate, or for +the compulsory restoration of common pasture, or for the enlargement of +the holdings. It does, however, propose to lend money on favorable terms +for stocking and improving enlarged or new holdings. As a convention of +landlords which was held at Aberdeen last January, and which represented +a large amount of land, resolved to increase the size of crofters' +holdings as suitable opportunities offered and when the tenants could +profitably occupy and stock the same, the demand for more land seems +likely to be conceded in many cases without compulsory legislation. The +bill defines a crofter to be a tenant from year to year of a holding of +which the rent is less than fifty pounds a year, and which is situated +in a crofting-parish. Every such crofter is to have security of tenure +so long as he pays his rent and complies with certain other conditions; +his rent is to be fixed by an official valuer or by arbitration, if he +and his landlord cannot agree in regard to it; he is to have +compensation, on quitting his holding, for all his improvements which +are suitable for the holding; and his heirs may inherit his interests, +although he may not sell or assign them. Such propositions seem radical +and calculated to interfere greatly with proprietary rights and the +freedom of contract. They are, however, but little more than statements +of the customs that already exist on some of the best estates. Just as +the government by the Irish Land Law Act (1881) took up the Ulster +tenant-right customs, gave them the force of law, and extended them to +all Ireland, it is proposed by this bill to give the sanction of law to +those customary rights which the crofters claim to have inherited from +former generations, and which have long been conceded by some of the +landlords. + +Such a measure of relief will not make all the crofters contented and +prosperous. It will, however, give them security against being turned +out of their homes and against excessively high rents, and will +encourage them to spend their labor and money in improving their +holdings. If some assistance could be given to those who may wish to +emigrate from overcrowded districts, and if the government would make +liberal advances of money to promote the fishing industry, the prospect +that the discontent and destitution would disappear would be much +better. The relief proposed will, however, be thankfully received by +many of the crofters and their friends. + + DAVID BENNETT KING. + + + + +MY FRIEND GEORGE RANDALL. + + +Since his own days at the university George Randall had always had a +friend or two among the students who came after him. I remember how in +my Freshman year I used to see Tom Wayward going up the stairs in the +Academy of Music building to his office, and how I used to envy Billy +Wylde when I met him arm in arm with George on one of the campus malls. +It was occasionally whispered about that Randall's influence on these +young men was not of the very best, and that he used to have a +never-empty bottle of remarkably smooth whiskey in his closet, along +with old letter-files and brief-books; and it is undoubtedly true that +Perry Tomson and I used to consider George's friends as models in the +manner of smoking a pipe, or ordering whiskey-and-soda at Bertrand's to +give us an appetite for our mutton-chops or our _bifteck aux +pommes_, and in the delightful self-sufficiency with which in the +pleasant spring days they would cut recitations and loll on the grass +smoking cigarettes right under the nose, almost, of the professor. But +they are both married now, and settled down to respectable conventional +success; and Billy Wylde, as I happen to know, has repaid the money +which George lent him wherewith to finish his education in Germany. The +estimable matrons of Lincoln who made so much ado over George's ruining +these young men,--who had such bright intellects and might have been +expected to do something but for that dreadfully well read lawyer's +awful influence,--these women do not consider it worth their while now, +in the face of the facts as they have turned out, to remember their +predictions, but confine themselves to making their dismal prophecies +anew in regard to the three young fellows whom George has of late taken +up. But then I remember how they went on about Perry Tomson and me in +the early part of our Junior year, when we began to enjoy the favor of +George's friendship; and if their miserable croaking never does any +good, I fancy it will never work any very great harm: so one might as +well let them croak in peace. In fact, one would more easily dam the +waters of Niagara than stop them, and George, I know, doesn't care the +cork of an empty beer-bottle what they say of him. + +I have never tried to analyze the influence for good George had over us, +or account for it in any way, nor do I care to. I have always considered +his friendship for me as one of the pleasantest and most profitable +experiences of my life in Lincoln. Perry and I were always more close +and loving friends, and cared for George with a silent but abiding sense +of gratitude in addition to the other sources of our affection for him, +after he showed us the boyish foolishness of our quarrel about Lucretia +Knowles. Of course I ought not to have grown angry at Perry's +good-natured cynicism; for how could he have imagined that I cared for +her? Though I sometimes think, even now, that Perry was indeed anxious +lest I should fall in love with her, and wanted to ridicule me out of +the notion, and I fear, in spite of his acquaintance, that he +disapproves of our engagement. I wonder if he will ever get over his +prejudice against women. The dear old fellow! if he would only consent +to know Lucretia better I am sure he would. + +One night in the winter before we graduated, Perry and I went with +George to the Third House, which is a mock session of the legislature +that the political wags of the State take advantage of to display their +wit and quickness at repartee and ability to make artistic fools of +themselves. If it happens to be a year for the election of a senator, as +it was in this case, the different candidates are in turn made fun of +and held up to ridicule or approval; and the chief issues of the time +are handled without gloves in a way that is always amusing and often +worth while in showing the ridiculous nature of some of them. The Third +House is usually held on some evening during the first or second week of +the session, and is opened by the Speaker calling the house to order +with a thundering racket of the gavel--"made from the wood of trees +grown on the prairies of the State"--and announcing the squatter +governor. Since the State was a territory, this announcement, after due +formalities, has been followed by the statement that, as the squatter +governor is somewhat illiterate, his message will be read by his private +secretary. After this personage has read his score or more pages of +jokes, sarcastic allusions, and ridiculous recommendations, the +discussion of the message takes place, during which any one who thinks +of a bright remark may get up and fire it at the gallery; and many very +lame attempts pass for good wit, and much private spite goes for +harmless fooling. + +George got us seats in the gallery next to old Billy Gait, the +bald-headed bachelor, who owns half a dozen houses which he rents for +fifty dollars a month each, and who lives on six hundred a year, +investing the surplus of his income every now and then in another house. +William, as usual, had a pretty girl at his elbow, and we heard him +telling her how he could never get interested in George Eliot's novels, +and how it beat him to know why he ever wrote such tedious books. The +young lady smiled over her fan at Randall, and said that she supposed +Mr. Eliot had a great deal of spare time on his hands, but of course he +had no business to employ it in writing tiresome novels. + +George, who knew everybody, had a kindly greeting for all who were +within its reach, even for the tired-looking little school-teacher, who +had come out with her landlady's fifteen-year-old son as an escort and +in a little while had settled down to quiet enjoyment of the squatter +governor's message, approving with a quiet smile the grin that +occasionally spread over Perry's good-humored face. As for me, I was +made miserable from the start by seeing Lucretia Knowles in one of the +best seats on the floor, with a conceited fool of a +newspaper-correspondent at her side, whispering nonsense in her ear at +such a rate that she did nothing but laugh and turn her pretty head back +to speak with Mamie Jennings, her _fidus Achates_, and never once cast +her eyes toward the gallery. She has said since that she knew I was +there all the time, and that she didn't dare look at me, because I was +such a frightful picture of jealousy, with my fingers in my hair and my +elbow on the gallery railing, staring down on the floor as if I should +like to drop a bomb and annihilate the entire lot. It is all very well +to look back now and laugh and feel sorry for the curly-locked +journalist, who is writing letters from Mexico and trying to get over +the disappointment which the knowledge of our engagement gave him, but +it was very little fun for me at the time. + +I turned away a dozen times, and swore inwardly that I wouldn't look +that way again, and after each resolve I would find my eyes glancing +from one person to another in Lu's vicinity, until finally they would +rest again on her. When I had declared for the thirteenth time that I +wouldn't contemplate her heartless flirting, I noticed George bow to +some one who had just come in at the gallery door. A young man from one +of the western counties was making a satirical speech in favor of the +woman's suffrage amendment, misquoting Tennyson's "Princess" and making +the gallery shake with laughter, at the time; but I noticed George's +face light up and his eyes sparkle with pleasure at the sight of the +new-comer. She was a beautiful lady, over thirty, I should say, with the +sweetest face, for a sad one, I had ever seen. Of course, in a certain +way I like Lucretia's style of beauty better; but Mrs. Herbert was +beautiful in a way, so far as the women I have ever seen are concerned, +peculiar to herself. She was rather slender, and had a calm, graceful +bearing that I somehow at once associated with purity and nobleness. She +was quite simply dressed, and had on a small widow's bonnet, with the +ribbons tied under her chin, while a charming little girl, whose hair +curled obstinately over her forehead, had hold of her hand. + +I was somewhat surprised--I will not say disappointed exactly--to see +her lips break into a glad smile, though it made her face look all the +lovelier and sweeter, in reply to George's greeting; and when she came +toward us, as he beckoned her to do, every one immediately and gladly +made room for her to pass. Perry and I gave our seats to Mrs. Herbert +and her little girl; and I found myself speculating, as I leaned against +one of the pillars, on the difference of expression in the eyes of the +two, which were otherwise so much alike,--the same deep shade of brown, +the same soft look, the same lashes, and yet what a vast difference when +one thought of the combined effect of all these similar details. I spoke +to Perry of it, and he good-naturedly poked fun at me, saying I was +forever trying to see a romance or a history in people's eyes. + +"Well, I suppose you will say she isn't even lovely," I exclaimed, with +impatience. + +"I'm no judge," he replied, with exasperating carelessness; "but a +little too pale, I should say. I wish George hadn't introduced her to +me." + +"Why?" + +"Oh, it made me feel cheap to have to back into old Billy Gait's bony +legs and try to bow and shake hands before everybody,--in the eyes of +the assembled community, as Charley McWenn would say." + +McWenn was the stupid block of a journalist,--for I do think him a +stupid block, in spite of his cleverness,--and I realized then that I +had forgotten for a moment all about Lucretia. I could not see her from +my new position, so I amused myself by imagining how she was carrying +on. + +At last George and Mrs. Herbert rose up to go, and the former, as he +asked our forgiveness for leaving us, told us to come to his office when +we had enough of the Third House, and, if he wasn't there, to wait for +him. "We'll go over to Bertrand's and have some oysters," he said, with +his confidence-inspiring smile. I have always thought that if George had +not had so pleasant a smile and such a soulful laugh we should never +have been such friends. + +We found him waiting for us at the foot of the Academy of Music stairs, +with a cigar in his mouth and one for each of us in his hand, and we +knew from experience that his case was filled with a reserve. + +"It's a pleasant night, boys, isn't it?" he said, looking up at the +stars (wonderfully bright they were in the clear, cold atmosphere) as we +went, crunching the snow under our feet, along the deserted streets to +the little back-entrance we knew of to Bertrand's. + +"Yes," said Perry; "but you missed the best thing of the whole circus by +leaving before Colonel Bouteille made his speech in favor of the +prohibition amendment." And he gave a _resume_ of the colonel's +laughable sophistry for George's benefit,--and for mine as well, for I +had paid no attention to the old toper's remarks. + +We could see the glimmer of lights behind the shutters of the faro-room +over Sudden's saloon and hear the rattle of the ivory counters as we +passed. + +"Do you ever go up there?" asked George, interrupting Perry. + +"Why, yes; sometimes," we answered. + +"Play a little now and then? I suppose?" + +"We don't like to loaf around such a place," said Perry rather grandly, +considering our circumstances, "without putting down a few dollars." + +"That's all right," said George; "but once or twice is enough, boys. +After you have seen what the thing is like, keep away from the tiger. +She is a greedy beast, and always hungry; and of course you can't think +of sitting down at a poker-table with the professional players." + +Direct advice was rather a new strain for Randall, and we were not +surprised when he dropped it abruptly as we filed into a little private +room at the restaurant. + +"Yes, I fancy old Bouteille might have made a humorous speech," he said, +after ordering the oysters. "Three?" he added, looking at me, "or four?" + +"Quarts?" I asked in reply. + +George nodded. + +"Two, I should say." + +"Oh, bother!" exclaimed Perry. "We should only have to trouble the +waiter again." + +So George ordered four bottles of beer. + +"It's after ten o'clock, sir," said the waiter doubtfully. It is +needless to say that he was a new one. + +"That's the reason we came here," answered George, with a calm manner of +assumption that dissipated the waiter's doubts while it evidently filled +him with remorse. "Where's Auguste?" + +"He's gone to bed, sir; but I guess 'twill be all right." And the waiter +started to fetch the beer. + +"I should think so," growled Perry. + +"I suppose it is not good form to drink beer with oysters," I suggested +mildly. + +"I don't know, I'm sure," said George. + +"I suppose not," said Perry; "they go so well together. I hope it isn't, +at any rate: I like to do things that are bad form." + +So I relapsed into silence, and my speculations about George's outbreak +against gambling, and Mrs. Herbert's beautiful face and sad eyes, and +Lucretia Knowles's wicked light-heartedness. + +When we had finished eating and had opened the last bottle of beer, I +asked George, as he stopped his talk with Perry for a moment to relight +his cigar, who Mrs. Herbert was. + +"She is the noblest and most unfortunate woman in the world," he +replied, "I will tell you her story some time, perhaps." + +"Let us hear it now," I cried, looking at Perry with triumph. + +"Yes, let us," said Perry, nothing to my surprise, for I knew his heart +was in the right place, if his ways were a little rough and +unimpressionable-like. "We have no recitations, no lectures, no +anything, to-morrow, and there is no one else in the restaurant but the +waiter, and he is asleep." + +And, in fact, we could hear him snoring. + +"No, I would rather not tell it here," George said simply; "but if you +will come with me to the office you shall hear it." And when we had +heard it we respected the feeling that had prompted him to consider even +the walls of such a place as unfit listeners. To be sure, it was a very +comfortable restaurant, where the waiters were always attentive and +skilful and the mutton-chops irreproachable, and many a pleasant evening +had we three had there over our cigars and Milwaukee, and sometimes a +bottle or two of claret. But so had Tom Hagard, the faro-dealer, and +Frank Sauter, who played poker over Sudden's, and Dick Bander, who got +his money from Madame Blank because he happened to be a swashing +slugger, and many another Tom, Dick, and Harry whose reputations were, +to say the least, questionable. Of course we never associated with such +characters, and plenty of estimable people besides ourselves frequented +Bertrand's. The place was not in bad odor at all, but merely a little +miscellaneous, and suited our plebeian fancies all the more on that +account. If young fellows want to be really comfortable in life, we +thought, and see a little at first hand just what sort of people make up +the world, they must not be too particular. So we used to sit down at +the next table to one where a gambler or a horse-jockey would perhaps be +seated, or a man of worse fame, and order our humble repast with a quiet +conscience and a strengthened determination never to become one among +such people. We would even see the gay flutter of skirts sometimes, as +the waiter entered one of the private rooms with an armful of dishes, +and hear the chatter and laughter of the wearers. + +We did not wonder, therefore, at George's preference for his own office, +whose four walls had never looked down upon anything but innocent young +fellows smoking and talking whatever harmless nonsense came into their +heads, or playing chess or penny-ante, or upon his own generous thoughts +and solitary contemplations, or hard work on some intricate lawsuit. So +we aroused the sleeping waiter, and walked back to the Academy of Music +building in silence. + +"It is rather a long story," said George, when we had at last made +ourselves comfortable, "and I have never told it before. I don't know +why I should tell it now, but somehow I want to. I felt this evening +after I left the Capitol that I would, and I asked leave of Mrs. Herbert +while we were walking to her home together. I knew she would let me: I +am the only friend, I suppose,--the only real friend, I mean, whom she +trusts and treats as an intimate friend,--that she has in the world. I +know I am the only person who knows the whole story of her sad life. + +"When I was in the university," he slowly continued, holding his cigar +in the gas-jet and turning it over and over between his fingers, with an +evident air of collating his reminiscences, "Phil Kendall and I were +great friends. I don't know how we ever came to be so: it was natural, I +suppose, for us to like each other. I used to notice that he did not +associate much with the other fellows; and yet he was the best runner +and boxer in the class. He was the only fellow in the university who +could do the giant swing on the bar, and, though he had never taken +lessons, it was next to impossible for any one but Wayland, the +sub-professor in chemistry, to touch him with the foils. Somehow we were +drawn together, and before long were hardly ever apart. We used to get +out our Horace together, he with the pony and text and I with the +lexicon, for he was too impatient to hunt up the words. I believe you +study differently now." + +"We still have the pony," said Perry. + +"And we used to puzzle our heads together over Mechanics, for we didn't +have election as you do, and take long walks, and play chess, and get up +spreads in our room for nobody but us two. Not such elaborate affairs as +are called spreads now, but I warrant you they were fully as much +enjoyed. I fancy we were rather sentimental. We used to hold imaginary +conversations in the person of some favorite characters in fiction; but +we were very young and boyish." + +Perry glanced at me sheepishly, but George went on without noticing: + +"Phil's father lived here, and was proprietor of the only wholesale +grocery-store the town then boasted of. He had been captain of a +volunteer company in the war, and, I fancy, had a romance too. At any +rate, his wife had been dead since Phil was a little fellow in +knickerbockers; and not very long after her death a certain Mrs. Preston +had sent a little girl, about a year older than Phil, with a dying +charge to the captain to care for the friendless orphan for the sake of +their early love. No one but Grace could ever get anything out of the +old gentleman about her mother, and she never learned much. Mrs. Preston +had been unhappy at least, and perhaps miserable, in her marriage. We +always thought she had forsaken Mr. Kendall in their youth and made a +hasty marriage; but never a word was uttered by him about Grace's +father. + +"I used to imagine Mr. Kendall cared more for his adopted daughter than +for his son, from what I saw of them, and I was at the house a good deal +with Phil. I am sure they were very affectionate; and it was only +natural that the melancholy old man--that is the way he always struck +me--should have loved the daughter of the woman who had deserted him and +then turned toward him in her hour of supreme need. It showed that her +trust and belief in him and his goodness had never really left her. And, +besides, Grace was always so airy and light-hearted,--nothing could put +her out of humor,--so kind and gentle, and as lovely as a flower. She is +a splendid-looking woman yet, but one can have no idea of what she was +in those days, from the sad-eyed Mrs. Herbert who smiles so rarely on +any one but her little girl. Nannie is going to make much such a young +lady as her mother was, but I don't believe she will ever be quite so +beautiful. + +"Well, I was not long in discovering that Phil was in love with his +father's adopted daughter. I was never quite sure whether he knew it +himself at the time or not, but I could see easily enough that she +didn't dream of such a thing, nor the old captain either. They were so +much like brother and sister it used to make me feel wofully sorry for +Phil to see her throw her arms around his neck and kiss him for some +little kindness or other that he was always doing her: the difference of +mood in which the caress would be given from that in which Phil would +receive it was somehow always painful to me. Phil would never offer to +kiss her on his own account; and it is still a mystery to me why she +never discovered how he felt toward her until he became jealous. The +tenderness and gentle considerateness of his bearing were always so +marked that to a less innocent and pure nature, I fancy, it would have +been noticeable at once. + +"When we were Juniors, Phil took her to a party one night, just after +Easter. The captain was a scrupulous Churchman, and Grace was always by +him in the pew. She had not been confirmed, however, and never said a +word to Phil and me about our persistency in staying away from church, +though the captain used to lecture Phil quite soberly about it. This +party was given at the house of one of the vestrymen, and they had +refreshments, and, after the rector had gone home, dancing. They called +it a sociable, and took up a collection for the ladies' aid society just +after the cake and coffee and whipped cream had been served. There was +where Grace first met George Herbert. He was a handsome young fellow, +well educated, a graduate of some Eastern college, clever and talented, +and his family in Rochester, New York, were considered very good people. +He had come to Lincoln to take a place on the 'Gazette,' and every one +thought him a young man of good parts and fair prospects. + +"He made up to Grace from the start. They were laughing and talking +together all the evening on a little sofa, just large enough for two, +that stood in the bow-window. There was a little crowd of young people +around the two most of the time, and she was saying bright things to +them all, but never, I noticed, at the expense of young Herbert, who +made most of his remarks so low that no one but Grace could hear them. +She always smiled and often broke out into her musical laugh at what he +said; and when Phil, who had been trapped into a game of whist with some +old fogies, finally came back into the parlor and made his way to where +Grace was having such a happy time, she even launched a shaft or two of +her wit at him. + +"I saw that the poor fellow was hurt: he turned away without answering, +though, and, coming over to where I was, sat down and began looking at +an album, trying hard all the time to hide his feelings. But in a moment +Grace was hanging over his shoulder, oblivious of her surroundings, and +lovingly begging his pardon if she had hurt him. I have sometimes +thought that Phil then fully realized for the first time how he cared +for her. The way in which her affection disregarded the presence of the +crowd smote him, I imagine, with something like despair. I saw him turn +pale and catch his breath, and I knew his laugh too well to be deceived, +as Grace was, when he made light of her self-accusations and declared +that than taking offence at her words nothing had been further from his +thoughts. This was in a sense true, of course, for ordinarily he would +have answered as light-heartedly almost as Grace herself; and it was +only the feeling of jealousy, unconscious perhaps, at any rate +irresistible, that gave her words undue--no, not that exactly, but +unusual influence over his feelings. + +"For a while Phil acted as considerately as ever, and made himself +thoroughly agreeable to several young ladies, whereat Grace was highly +pleased and soon took up again her mood of gayety. But when Phil brought +her a plate and napkin and some things to eat, and found her and Herbert +already served and with mock gravity breaking a piece of cake together +on the stairs,--'they were only doing it,' Phil declared to me +afterward, 'that they might touch each other's hands,'--he lost his +head. He must have spoken very bitterly, else he would never have +aroused Grace's anger. I don't know what he said, except that he +complained about having come to such a thing as a church sociable, which +he despised, and, inasmuch as he had done it for the sake of her +enjoyment and pleasure, she might at least have shown him the same +politeness she would have accorded to any of the insufferable prigs whom +she seemed delighted to honor. + +"Herbert started to reply, but Grace silenced him by a look, and said, +'We have been as brother and sister since childhood.' It was probably +well for Herbert's handsome face that he did not enter into a discussion +with Phil. They were both hot-tempered, and Phil had no scruples against +asking him out of doors, and would have been as cool in his manner and +as terrible in his strength as an iceberg. + +"Grace led Phil away, and tried to tell him how she had not supposed he +would care; that she had imagined he would prefer to serve the young +lady with whom he had been talking; how she had never known him to put +such store by trivialities before; how 'at least we,' Phil told me, +bitterly quoting her words, 'at least we ought to be sure of each +other's hearts,' and did everything to pacify him. But he would listen +to nothing, and, coming to me, asked me to walk home with Grace, as he +was going away immediately. I imagined the trouble, and got him to admit +that he and Grace had said unkind words to each other. But he would say +nothing more about the matter till I found him in my room after it was +all over, when he raved about Grace until near morning, and cursed the +fate that had turned the bread of her kind affection for him into a +stone. 'How can I ever hope to win her love when she thinks that way of +me?' he would ask sorrowfully, after telling of some pure and loving +freedom she had taken. I was full of pity for the miserable fellow, but +I felt as if I ought to do all I could to discourage him. I was sure he +was right; he never could hope to, and I thought the sooner he learned +this, and to submit to it, the better it would be for him. + +"I persuaded him not to leave the party in the height of his resentment, +though, and he was so quiet before the dancing that I began to hope he +would beg Grace's pardon and take her home repentantly and in peace. But +he insisted on my going and offering to dance with her the first set in +his place. She had already promised, she said, to dance it with Mr. +Herbert, and it was in vain that I told her she must look upon me as +acting for Phil, and advised her for his sake to excuse herself to +Herbert and dance with either Phil or myself. 'If Phil should come and +ask me himself on his knees I would not do it,' she declared, with +superb grandeur, 'He has acted wrong, and imputed to me the worst +motives for trivial things which I did unthinkingly even, and, heaven +knows, without deliberate calculation.' + +"I saw it was no use to talk with her, and that in her present mood even +entreaty, to which she was usually so yielding, would be of no avail. I +felt very helpless and miserable about it, but I could do nothing. I saw +that Phil had made a grave mistake by accusing her of partiality for +Herbert, and that her acquaintance with him might possibly be forced +into a closer relation by Phil's jealousy. I kept away from him for a +while, and almost made Miss Scrawney think I had fallen in love with +her, in order to keep Phil from getting a word with me. At last, +however, just as the music began, he pulled my sleeve and asked in a +whisper if I wasn't going to take Grace out and dance with her. + +"'She was already engaged,' I answered. + +"'To whom?' said Phil. 'But there is no need to ask.' And at the moment, +indeed, almost as if in answer to his question, Grace entered the room +from the hall on Herbert's arm. I was afraid for an instant that Phil +would make a scene. The veins on his forehead swelled, and he started +forward as they passed within a few feet of where we were standing, +Grace smiling and talking to Herbert, apparently as oblivious of us as +if we had not been within a thousand miles of her; but he mastered the +impulse, whatever it was, and I have often speculated as to whether it +was to upbraid Grace or to strike Herbert. + +"'Look at her, George,' he said, with a calmness that was belied by the +look in his eyes. 'You wouldn't think that three hours ago she had never +known him, would you? nor that we had lived in the same house since we +were no higher than that. Her mother, I know, did her best to break my +old man's heart, and I warrant you it was for some such worthless fool +as that, who wasn't fit to black the dear old fellow's boots. Poor old +dad! we shall be together in the boat: when I begin to handle hams and +barrelled sugar we will write ourselves 'Kendall & Son' with a +flourish.' And as we went up the stairs to get his coat and hat he told +me to stay and offer to go home with Grace. 'It wouldn't do for me to +leave her unless you do, George,' he said; 'but if she wants to go with +Herbert, let her; but she shall not say I went away and left her without +an escort.' + +"I promised readily enough, and even hurried him away. There was no good +in his staying; in fact, I thought it better that he should leave; and +after he had gone I went to Grace. I managed the matter rather badly, +but I suppose the most consummate tact on my part would not have changed +things. I should have waited until I saw her alone, or until the party +was breaking up; but I went directly I saw they had stopped dancing. She +was leaning on the piano and letting Herbert fan her, and looking almost +too beautiful for real life as she turned her face toward him, flushed +with her exercise and beaming with excitement. There was something grand +to me in the expression of individuality and proud insistence that had +come to her so suddenly. It was no factitious strife of her nature +against the dependence of her position as an adopted daughter, I knew, +for she had never felt in the least but that she was perfectly free; it +was no caprice or stubbornness; it was merely her womanly assertion of +self and her unconscious protest against what she thought injustice. She +would not have believed from any one but Phil himself that he was in +love with her and jealous. + +"'Phil has gone away,' I said bluntly, interrupting their talk. She +looked at me for a moment and raised her eyebrows slightly. + +"'Has he?' was all she asked. + +"'Yes: he was feeling badly,' I went on. 'He asked me to walk home with +you when you were ready to go. I thought I would tell you now, so you +would not be at a loss in case you should want to leave before the party +breaks up.' + +"'You are very kind, I am sure, Mr. Kendall' (she usually called me +George), 'but I shall not want to go for ever so long yet. It was +needless for Phil to trouble you; he knew I should get home all +right,--but it was like him. I am awfully sorry to keep you waiting: I +know you are anxious to get back to your pipe and books.' + +"Here Herbert said something with the appearance of speaking to us both; +but she only could hear what it was. I, however, imagined readily +enough. + +"'Will you?' she answered him, in a pleased tone, and I fancied her +smile was grateful. 'Mr. Herbert is going to stay and dance a while +longer,' she went on, turning to me, 'and if he takes me home it will +not seem as if I were troubling any one too much, and--' + +"'Very well, Miss Preston,' I interrupted, making my best bow; 'as you +like.' And when I saw the smile on Herbert's face I didn't wonder much +at the way Phil had felt. 'Let me bid you good-night,' I said, bowing +again, and started off. + +"Grace followed me rapidly into the hall. 'Now, please don't you be +angry too, George,' she said, laying her hand on my arm. + +"'I am not angry,' I said. + +"'Do you think it right, George,' she asked earnestly,--and there was a +pleading look in her eyes,--'or manly to desert one's friends in +trouble?' + +"'I am doing the best I know how,' said I, 'to be true to my friend.' + +"'Oh, George, I am so sorry!' Her voice trembled, and all her +queenliness had gone. 'You must not go off this way. You don't blame me +as Phil does, do you? Wait, I will get my things, and you shall walk +home with me now. I will see Phil and tell him--' + +"'He has gone to my room,' I said. + +"'Well, I will wait till you bring him home. You must tell him I forgive +him,--or no, tell him I am sorry and ask his forgiveness. Oh, George, we +cannot be this way. Only think how sad it would make his father--and--' +There were tears on her lashes, and her lips were trembling piteously. +She put her hand to her throat and could not go on. God forgive me if I +was wrong,--and I know I was,--but I couldn't help it then,--I asked, +almost with a sneer, if she didn't dislike to slight her estimable +friend Mr. Herbert's kindness; and she turned away without a word, as if +regretting, from my unworthiness, the emotion she had shown. + +"I was in very nearly as bad a state as Phil for a while. I told him +just how I had acted, and he was rather pleased than otherwise at my +cruelty. We tried hard to make ourselves believe that Grace had deserved +it, and to a certain extent succeeded. + +"'She probably thought it was too high a price,' said Phil, 'when she +saw both of us going off offended, and she concluded not to give it. +But, then, it was just like her,' he added, in a kindlier spirit than +the natural interpretation of his words seemed to indicate. + +"It was a month before either of us went to the house. The old captain +thought at first that we were going to the dogs, and, I think, kept up a +kind of watch over our movements. He came in one morning, after he had +concluded his suspicions were wrong, and made a sort of expiatory call. +He tried to tell us how he had judged us too harshly, but couldn't quite +bring himself to it, and, after a good many half-uttered remarks that +did honor to the old gentleman's heart, if they didn't prove him a cool +hand in such matters, he left us with an unspoken blessing and some +homely, sound advice to do as we liked, so long as we were manly and +honest. + +"Within a week he was stricken with apoplexy on receiving news of some +serious losses, and was taken home without speaking. He died the next +morning just at sunrise, and Grace and Phil mingled their tears at his +bedside. He tried in vain to speak to them, and the pleased light in his +eyes as they took each other's hands and laid them, joined together, in +his, was the only sign he gave of having known there had been a +difference between them. + +"Poor Grace! she was very miserable and lonely after that. Phil could +never bear to be with her after he had spoken. Her true kindness and +gentle, loving pity were misery to him. He made a noble effort to stay +by and watch over her, but he was hardly fit to take care of himself. +She never knew how small a share of what little was left of his father's +money he took with him to the mountains, but she realized why he went +without waiting for his degree, and sadly approved his resolution. She +always kept the growing attachment between her and Herbert from grating +on Phil as much as was in her power, but he could not help seeing it. +Though he never said anything even to me, it was plain that he had a +poor opinion of the young journalist; and Grace was very thankful to him +for all he did and suffered. + +"She must have felt very much alone in the world after Phil left, and +the house certainly seemed empty and sad when I used to go there to see +her. There was no one but Grace and the housekeeper and an old +gentleman, a clerk in one of the State departments, to whom she had +rented rooms, partly for the money and partly to have a man in the +house. Herbert was with her whenever his work would permit, and there +was some talk about their intimacy among people who, even if they had +known her, were too base to have appreciated the fineness and truth and +purity of Grace's nature. + +"I couldn't blame her for marrying Herbert,--which she did the fall +after I graduated. They certainly were very much in love, and Herbert +had borne himself creditably in every way. No one could have foreseen +that he would turn out so badly; and for a year or more after their +marriage they were as happy as birds in May. Grace was never +light-hearted, as when I first knew her,--no woman of worth and +tenderness would have been,--but still she was happily and sweetly +contented, completely bound up in her husband, thinking almost of +nothing but him, and caring for nothing but his love. + +"When I came back from the law-school, I went to see them as soon as I +was settled. They had sold the house, and were living in a rented +cottage out in East Lincoln. Nannie, their baby, was quite if not more +than a year old then; and, though I had known that Grace would be a fond +mother, I was unprepared to see the way in which she seemed absolutely +to worship the child. I immediately asked myself if it meant that she +was not so happy with Herbert as she had been. I met him at tea, to +which Grace insisted on my staying. His dress was as neat and as +carefully arranged as ever, and he was cordial enough toward me; but he +did not kiss Grace when he came in, and hardly looked at the baby. He +laughed a good deal, and told several amusing incidents of his newspaper +experience. I noticed that his old habit of looking at one's chin or +cravat instead of at one's eyes when he spoke to one had grown upon him. +He excused himself soon after tea on the ground of having to be at the +office, and went away smoking a cigarette. + +"Grace complained of the way in which his work kept him up nights. He +was never home until after midnight, she said, and sometimes not before +morning. She was afraid it was telling upon his health. 'You must come +and see me often. George.' she said, as she gave me her hand at parting. +'I see very little of my husband now, and, if it were not for Nannie, I +feel as if I should be almost unhappy. Then he would have to do some +other work, though he likes journalism so well.' That was the nearest +she ever came to complaining to me, though I soon knew that she had +plenty of cause. She was not entirely deceived by Herbert's assertions +and excuses. I learned before long, for I made a point of finding out, +that he was never obliged to be at the office after nine o'clock, that +he gambled and drank, and was looked on with unpleasant suspicions by +his employers, so that he might at any time find himself without a +position. He owned no property, and Grace's little patrimony had +disappeared, even to the money they had received for the house, without +leaving the slightest trace. Herbert's ill reputation was common +property in the town, and he and Grace went nowhere together. She had +even given up going to church, that she might be with him for a few +hours on Sundays; and now and then if he took her for a walk and pushed +the baby-carriage through the Capitol-grounds for an hour, she cared +more for it than for a whole stack of Mr. Gittner's sermons. She had no +friends at all, and but few acquaintances, and altogether had much to +bear up under. Right nobly she did it, too; never a word of complaint to +any one: I believe not even to herself would she admit that she was +treated basely. + +"They kept on in this way for a year after I opened my office. I heard +from Phil now and then,--brief notes that he was alive and well,--and on +the 11th of June, the date of the old captain's death, Grace always +received a long letter from him, full of references to their childhood, +but telling little of himself. Herbert's reputation became worse and +worse, and he deserved all the evil that was said of him. The tradesmen +refused him credit, and the carpets and furniture of their little +cottage grew old and thread-bare and were not replaced. I have seen him +play pool at Sudden's for half a day at a dollar a game, and perhaps +lose his week's wages. He was hand in glove with the set that lurked +about the 'club-room' over the saloon, and almost any night could be +seen at the faro-table fingering his chips and checking off the cards on +his tally-sheet. Nobody but strangers would sit down to a game of poker +or casino with him: he had grown much too skilful. He was what they +called a 'very smooth player:' though I never heard of his being openly +accused of cheating. + +"One of my first cases of consequence was to recover some money which +had been paid to some sharpers by an innocent young fellow from the East +for a worthless mine in Colorado. In connection with it I went to +Denver. Charlie Wayland, a brother of the chemistry professor, happened +to be on the same train. He owns the planing-mill down on Sixth Street +now, you know; but he was a wild young fellow then, and knew everything +that was going on. He intended to have a time, he said, while he was in +Denver; that was what he was going for. He went with me to the St. +James, where I had written Phil to meet me, if he could come down from +Boulder. + +"Young Wayland had his time in the city, and I had finished my business +and was going to start back and leave him to enjoy by himself his trip +to Pike's Peak and the other sights of the State, considerably +disappointed at not having seen Phil, when he came in on us as I was +packing my grip-sack. He was rough and hardy as a bear, and had grown a +tremendous black beard: his heavy hand closed over mine till my knuckles +cracked. We were glad enough to see each other, and had plenty to talk +about. Of course I stayed over another day, and Wayland put off his trip +to Pike's Peak to keep us company, though we didn't care so much for his +presence as he seemed to think we did. But he gave us a little dinner at +Charpiot's, and I forgave his talkativeness for the sake of the +champagne, until he became excited by drinking too much of it and began +to talk about George Herbert. He was stating his system of morality, +which was, in effect,--and Charlie had acted up to it pretty well,--that +a fellow should go it when he was young, but when he was married he +ought to settle down. + +"'Now, I can't stand a fellow like that Herbert,' he said; and for all +my kicks under the table he went on, 'It may be well enough for the +French, but I say in this country it's a devilish shame. He is a young +fellow in Lincoln, Mr. Kendall,--got a splendid wife, and a little baby, +one of the nicest women in the world, and thinks the world of him, and +he goes it with the boys as if he was one of 'em. He never goes home, +though, unless he is sober enough to keep himself straight; but I've +seen him bowling full many a time. Wine, women, and song, you know, and +all that; it may be well enough for us young bloods, but in a fellow of +his circumstances I say it's wrong, damn it! and he oughtn't to do it.' + +"Now, I had told Phil that Grace was well and fairly happy. I had +thought it but just to sink my opinion and give Grace's own account of +herself and deliver her simple message without comment. 'Give Phil my +love,' she had said as I left her the night before I came away. + +"'And how does this Herbert's wife take all this?' asked Phil of +Wayland. + +"'Oh, she doesn't know all, I suppose. If she did, it would probably +kill her. My brother's wife says that if it were not for her child she +doesn't believe Mrs. Herbert would live very long, as it is.' + +"'Her trouble is common talk, then?' observed Phil, sipping his wine and +avoiding my eyes. + +"'Why, yes, to a certain extent; though she doesn't parade it, by any +means. In fact, she lives very much alone; no one ever sees her, hardly, +but George here, who is an old friend, you know. Maybe you used to know +her,' he added suddenly, coming to himself a little. 'Well, if you did,' +he went on, as Phil did not answer, 'you wouldn't know her now, they +say, for the lively, careless girl she was five or six years ago.' And +then he began to talk about the condition of the Chinese in Denver, and +how he had that morning seen one of them kicked off the sidewalk without +having given the least provocation. + +"Phil said nothing further about the Herberts all evening, but just +before we separated for the night he asked me if I could let him have +some money. I unsuspectingly thanked my stars that I could, and told him +so. + +"'Well, then,' he declared, 'I am going back to Lincoln with you +to-morrow.' And, in spite of all I could say, he did. He had his beard +shaved off, bought himself some civilized clothes, and made his +appearance with me on the streets of Lincoln as naturally as if he had +gone away but the day before. His life in the mountains had given him an +air of decision, a certain quiet energy and determination which +impressed one immediately with the sense of his being a man of strong +character, with a powerful will under perfect control. I grew to have so +much confidence in him that I thought his coming would somehow be a +benefit to Grace, though I could not see how; in fact, when I tried to +reason about it, I told myself exactly the contrary. But Phil seemed to +have such implicit confidence in himself, to be so self-sufficient and +so ready for any emergency, and altogether such a perfect man of action, +that he inspired belief and confidence in others. + +"We met Herbert on our way up from the station: he was standing in front +of the 'Gazette' office, laughing and talking with Sudden's barkeeper. +He greeted Phil with cordiality, in spite of the latter's distant +bearing, and told him Grace would be greatly pleased at his arrival. + +"'I suppose she will be glad to see me,' said Phil, as we passed on. And +she was glad, very glad, to see him, but she was far from being made +happy by his coming. I sent a note out to her, and Phil and I followed +shortly after. I did not watch their meeting,--I thought, somehow, that +no one ought to see it,--but I knew he took her in his arms; and when +she came out on the porch to bring me in there were tears in her eyes. + +"We all sat and talked for a long while, Grace with her hand in Phil's +and her eyes on his face, when she was not looking anxiously after my +awkward attempts at caring for her baby; for of course Nannie had been +brought out almost the first thing. I think, from the way in which she +carefully avoided asking him his reasons for coming back, that she +divined what they were. I imagined that she blamed me as being the prime +cause; but there was nothing I could say to undeceive her. In fact, I +thought it better for her to believe so than to know the truth. + +"'She is miserably unhappy, George,' said Phil gloomily, as we walked +away. 'But you were right not to tell me. I can do nothing to help her: +I cannot even openly sympathize with her. It would have been better to +have kept on thinking she was happy: there was a bitter kind of +satisfaction to me in that, but still it was a satisfaction.' + +"Nevertheless Phil did not go back to the mountains. He stayed on here +for a month or more, dividing his time pretty equally between my office +and Grace's little parlor. He very seldom met Herbert. Now and then they +would be together at the cottage for half an hour, if Herbert happened +to come home while he was there, and when they met on the street they +would merely pass the time of day. + +"One evening before going to supper I waited until after seven o'clock +for Phil to come in, and just as I had given him up, and was starting +away alone, he entered the office, looking pale as a ghost, and +evidently in great distress of spirit. + +"'For God's sake, Phil, what is the matter?' I exclaimed, as he sank +upon the sofa and covered his face with his hands. + +"'Go away, George: go away and leave me,' was all he said; then he got +up and began walking violently up and down the room. At last he came +near me and put his hand on my shoulder. 'I've killed her, George, I am +afraid; At least I have killed him right before her eyes, and she may +never get over it. I didn't mean to, George, you know that; but he came +home drunk, and I had gone to bid Grace good-by,--for I had made up my +mind, George, to leave to-morrow,--and he came in. We had been talking +of father, and Grace was very sad and wretched, and there were tears in +her eyes when she kissed me, just as he came in and saw us. She was +frightened at his brutality, and clung to me in terror, when he began +swearing in a torrent of passion and calling her the vilest of names. He +struck at us with his cane. If he had struck me he might yet have been +alive; but when I saw the great red welt on Grace's neck and heard her +cry out, I was wild, George. For an instant, I believe, I could have +stamped him into bits, and if it had been my last act on earth I could +not have helped striking him.' + +"While he spoke, Phil stood with his hand on my shoulder, looking into +my eyes, as if he wanted me to judge him, as if he would read in my very +look whether I blamed him or not. I took his hand. + +"'I thought you would understand,' he went on. 'I did not know I was +going to kill him, but I think I tried to: I struck him with all my +might, Grace threw herself between us and begged me not to hurt him +after he had fallen down, and took hold of my arm as if to hold me. But +when she saw the blood running from his temple, where he had struck it +on the window-sill, and how still and motionless he lay, she tried to go +to him, but could not for weakness and fainting. I carried her into Mrs. +Stanley's, and have not seen her since, but the doctor says she is very +ill. Herbert was dead when they went into the room after I told them +what had happened; and I suppose I had better give myself up to the +law.' + +"You can have no idea how I felt to see my dearest friend in such a +position. And poor Grace!--it was much worse for her. I thought with +Phil that she might never survive the shock and misery of it all. But +she did, and came out, weak and broken down as she was, to give her +testimony at Phil's trial. We had no trouble in getting a jury to acquit +him, and he went back to Colorado without bidding Grace good-by, +although she would have seen him and was even anxious to do so. Some +persons here, mostly women, pretended to think that there had been more +cause for Herbert's jealousy than was generally supposed; but they +belonged to the sanctimonious, hypocritical custom-worshippers. All +really good people remembered what Herbert had been, and refused to see +in him a martyr or even a wronged man. + +"After that Grace supported herself by dress-making and teaching music; +and some two years ago, when we heard that Phil had been killed by a +mine's caving in, and that he had left a little fortune to her and +Nannie, I, as his executor and her friend, induced her to take and use +it,--which she did, with simplicity and thankfulness and with her heart +full of pity and love for poor Phil. Yes, poor Phil! those five or six +years must have been full of misery to him, and he was probably thankful +when the end came. We never heard from him until after his death. There +was a letter that came to me with the will, that had been written long +before. None but they two know what was in it; and I, for one, do not +want to inquire." + +George sat for a long while in silence, looking at the glowing coals in +the huge reservoir stove. Neither Perry nor I cared to interrupt his +revery. At last he roused himself. + +"Well, boys," he said, "it is late: I think we had better go. It is all +over now, and life has gone on calmly for years. Other people have +forgotten that there ever were such persons as Phil or Herbert." + +When Perry and I reached our room we found it was almost three o'clock. +George had walked with us to the door, and very little had been said +between us. I took a cigarette and lay down on the bed. "Perry," I said, +as he was lighting the gas. + +"Sur to you," he answered, in a way he had of imitating a certain +barkeeper of our acquaintance. + +"What do you think of George?" + +"You know what I think of him as well as I do." + +"Yes; but I mean in connection with this that he has told us." + +"I think he acted just like himself all the way through." + +"Don't you think he has been in love with Mrs. Herbert from the first?" + +"Am I in the habit of imagining such nonsense?" + +"You may think it nonsense," I answered, with the quiet fervor of +conviction, "but I am sure it is nothing but the real state of the +case." + +"Bosh!" exclaimed Perry, throwing his boots into a corner; and therewith +the discussion closed. + +About a week ago I had a letter from him, though, in which he recalled +this circumstance and acknowledged that I had been in the right. "They +are going to be married in the fall," he wrote. "I hope they may be +happy, and I suppose they will be; but I don't think Mrs. Herbert ought +to marry him unless she loves him; and I am fearful that she only thinks +to reward long years of faithful affection. George deserves more than +that." This was a good deal for Perry to manage to say. He usually keeps +as far away from such subjects as he well can,--which is partly the +reason, I think, that his opinion thereon is not greatly to be trusted. +As for me, I am sure George's wife will love him as much as he +deserves,--though this is almost an infinite amount,--and that she has +not been far from loving him from the beginning. I have bought a pair of +vases to send them; and I expect that Miss Lucretia Knowles will say, +when she learns how much they cost, that I was very extravagant. Not +that Lu is close or stingy at all; but she has promised to wait until I +have made a start in life, and is naturally impatient for me to get on +as rapidly as possible. + + FRANK PARKE. + + + + +THE WOOD-THRUSH AT SUNSET. + + +Lover of solitude, + Poet and priest of nature's mysteries, +If but a step intrude, + Thy oracle is mute, thy music dies. + +Oft have I lightly wooed + Sweet Poesy to give me pause of pain, +Oft in her singing mood + Sought to surprise her haunt, and sought in vain. + +And thou art shy as she, + But mortal, or I had not found thy shrine, +To listen breathlessly + If I may make thy hoarded secret mine. + +Thy tender mottled breast, + Dappled the color of our primal sod, +Now quick and song-possessed, + Doth seem to hold the very joy of God,-- + +Joy hid from mortal quest + Of bosky loves on silver-mooned eves, +And the high-hearted best + That swells thy throat with joy among the leaves. + +Like the Muezzin's call + From some high minaret when day is done, +Among the beeches tall + Thy voice proclaims, "There is no God but one." + +And but one Beauty, too, + Of whose sweet synthesis we ever fail: +She flies if we pursue, + Like thy swift wing down some dim intervale. + +For thou art lightly gone; + Gone is the flute-like note, the yearning strain, +And all the air forlorn + Is breathless till it hear thy voice again. + +But thou wilt not return; + Thou hast the secret of thy joy to keep, +And other hearts must learn + Thy tuneful message, ere the world may sleep,-- + +Sleep lulled by many a dream + Of sylvan sounds that woo the ear in vain, +While still thy numbers seem + To voice the pain of bliss, the bliss of pain. + + MARY C. PECKHAM. + + + + +A FOREST BEAUTY. + + +Last spring, or possibly it was early in June, I was walking, in company +with an intelligent farmer, through a bit of heavy forest that bordered +some fields of corn and wheat, when a golden, flame-like gleam from the +midst of the last year's leaves and twigs on the ground at my feet +attracted my sight. I stooped and picked up a large fragment of a flower +of the _Liriodendron Tulipifera_ which had been let fall by some +foraging squirrel from the dark-green and fragrant top of the giant tree +nearest us. Strange to say, my farmer friend, who owned the rich Indiana +soil in which the tree grew, did not know, until I told him, that the +"poplar," as he called the tulip-tree, bears flowers. For twenty years +he had owned this farm, during which time he had cut down acres of +forest for rails and lumber, without ever having discovered the gorgeous +blossom which to me is the finest mass of form and color to be seen in +our American woods. As I had a commission from an artist to procure a +spray of these blooms for her, I at once began to search the tree-top +with my eyes. The bole, or stem, rose sixty feet, tapering but slightly, +to where some heavy and gnarled limbs put forth, their extremities lost +in masses of peculiarly dark, rich foliage. At first I could distinguish +no flowers, but at length here and there a suppressed glow of orange +shot with a redder tinge showed through the dusky gloom of the leaves. +Lo! there they were, hundreds of them, over three inches in diameter, +bold, gaudy, rich, the best possible examples of nature's pristine +exuberance of force and color. Two gray squirrels were frisking about +among the highest sprays, and it was my good fortune that my friend +carried on his shoulder a forty-four-calibre rifle; for, though it was +death to the nimble little animals, it proved to be the instrument with +which I procured my coveted flowers. It suggested the probability that, +if bullets could fetch down squirrels from that tree-top, they might +also serve to clip off and let fall some of the finest clusters or +sprays of tulip. The experiment was tried, with excellent result. I made +the little artist glad with some of the grandest specimens I have ever +seen. + +The tulip-tree is of such colossal size and it branches so high above +ground that it is little wonder few persons, even of those most used to +the woods, ever see its bloom, which is commonly enveloped in a mass of +large, dark leaves. These leaves are peculiarly outlined, having short +lobes at the sides and a truncated end, while the stem is slender, long, +and wire-like. The flower has six petals and three transparent sepals. +In its centre rises a pale-green cone surrounded by from eighteen to +thirty stamens. Sap-green, yellow of various shades, orange-vermilion, +and vague traces of some inimitable scarlet, are the colors curiously +blended together within and without the grand cup-shaped corolla. It is +Edgar Fawcett who draws an exquisite poetic parallel between the oriole +and the tulip,--albeit he evidently did not mean the flower of our +Liriodendron, which is nearer the oriole colors. The association of the +bird with the flower goes further than color, too; for the tulip-tree is +a favorite haunt of the orioles. Audubon, in the plates of his great +ornithological work, recognizes this by sketching the bird and some +rather flat and weak tulip-sprays together on the same sheet. I have +fancied that nature in some way favors this massing of colors by placing +the food of certain birds where their plumage will show to best +advantage on the one hand, or serve to render them invisible, on the +other, while they are feeding. The golden-winged woodpecker, the downy +woodpecker, the red-bellied woodpecker, and that grand bird the pileated +woodpecker, all seem to prefer the tulip-tree for their nesting-place, +pecking their holes into the rotten boughs, sometimes even piercing an +outer rim of the fragrant green wood in order to reach a hollow place. I +remember, when I was a boy, lying in a dark old wood in Kentucky and +watching a pileated woodpecker at work on a dead tulip-bough that seemed +to afford a great number of dainty morsels of food. There were streaks +of hard wood through the rotten, and whenever his great horny beak +struck one of these it would sound as loud and clear as the blow of a +carpenter's hammer. This fine bird is almost extinct now, having totally +disappeared from nine-tenths of the area of its former habitat. I never +see a tulip-tree without recollecting the wild, strangely-hilarious cry +of the _Hylotomus pileatus_; and I cannot help associating the +giant bloom, its strength of form and vigor of color, with the scarlet +crest and king-like bearing of the bird. The big trees of California +excepted, our tulip-bearing Liriodendron is the largest growth of the +North-American forests; for, while the plane-tree and the +liquidambar-(sweet-gum) tree sometimes measure more in diameter near the +ground, they are usually hollow, and consequently bulged there, while +the tulip springs boldly out of the ground a solid shaft of clear, +clean, and sweetly-fragrant wood, sixty or seventy feet of the bole +being often entirely without limbs, with an average diameter of from +three to five feet. I found a stump in Indiana nearly eight feet in +diameter (measured three feet above the ground), and a tree in Clarke +County, Kentucky, of about the same girth, tapering slowly to the first +branch, fifty-eight feet from the root. + +In nearly all the Western and Southern States the tulip is generally +called poplar, and the lumber manufactured from it goes by the same +name, while in the East it is known as white-wood. The bark is very +thick and cork-like, exhaling an odor peculiarly pungent and agreeable; +the buds and tender twigs in the spring have a taste entirely individual +and unique, very pleasant to some persons, but quite repellent to +others. Gray squirrels and the young of the fox-squirrel eat the buds +and flowers as well as the cone-shaped fruit. Humming-birds and +bumble-bees in the blossoming-time make a dreamy booming among the +shadowy sprays. A saccharine, sticky substance, not unlike honey-dew, +may often be found in the hollows of the immense petals, in search of +which large black ants make pilgrimages from the root to the top of the +largest tulip-trees, patiently toiling for two or three hours over the +rough bark, among the bewildering wrinkles of which it is, a wonder how +the way is kept with such unerring certainty. I have calculated that in +making such a journey the ant does what is equivalent to a man's +pedestrian tour from New York City to the Adirondacks by the roughest +route, and all for a smack of wild honey! But the ant makes his long +excursion with neither alpenstock nor luncheon, and without sleeping or +even resting on the way. + +The tulip-tree grows best in warm loam in which there is a mixture of +sand and vegetable mould superposed on clay and gravel. About its roots +you may find the lady-slipper and the dog-tooth violet, each in its +season. Its bark often bears the rarest lichens, and, near the ground, +short green moss as soft and thick as velvet. The poison-ivy and the +beautiful Virginia creeper like to clamber up the rough trunk, sometimes +clothing the huge tree from foot to top in a mantle of brown feelers and +glossy leaves. Seen at a distance, the tulip-tree and the +black-walnut-tree look very much alike; but upon approaching them the +superior symmetry and beauty of the former are at once discovered. The +leaves of the walnut are gracefully arranged, but they admit too much +light; while the tulip presents grand masses of dense foliage upheld by +knotty, big-veined branches, the perfect embodiment of vigor. + +In the days of bee-hunting in the West, I may safely say that a majority +of bee-trees were tulips. I have found two of these wild Hyblas since I +began my studies for this paper; but the trees have become so valuable +that the bees are left unmolested with their humming and their honey. It +seems that no more appropriate place for a nest of these wild +nectar-brewers could be chosen than the hollow bough of a giant +tulip,--a den whose door is curtained with leaves and washed round with +odorous airs, where the superb flowers, with their wealth of golden +pollen and racy sweets, blaze out from the cool shadows above and +beneath. But the sly old 'coon, that miniature Bruin of our Western +woods, is a great lover of honey, and not at all a respecter of the +rights of wild bees. He is tireless in his efforts to reach every +deposit of waxy comb and amber distillation within the range of his keen +power of scent. The only honey that escapes him is that in a hollow too +small for him to enter and too deep for his fore-paws to reach the +bottom. + +Poe, in his story of the Gold-Bug, falls into one of his characteristic +errors of conscience. The purposes of his plot required that a very +large and tall tree should be climbed, and, to be picturesque, a tulip +was chosen. But, in order to give a truthful air to the story, the +following minutely incorrect description is given: "In youth the +tulip-tree, or _Liriodendron Tulipiferum_, the most magnificent of +American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a +great height without lateral branches; but in its riper age the bark +becomes gnarled and uneven, while _many short limbs make their +appearance on the stem_" The italics are mine, and the sentence +italicized contains an unblushing libel upon the most beautiful of all +trees. Short branches never "appear on the stems" of old tulip-trees. +The bark, however, does grow rough and deeply seamed with age. I have +seen pieces of it six inches thick, which, when cut, showed a fine grain +with cloudy waves of rich brown color, not unlike the darkest mahogany. +But Poe, no matter how unconscionable his methods of art, had the true +artistic judgment, and he made the tulip-tree serve a picturesque turn +in the building of his fascinating story; though one would have had more +confidence in his descriptions of foliage if it had been May instead of +November. + +The growth of the tulip-tree, under favorable circumstances, is strong +and rapid, and, when not crowded or shaded by older trees, it begins +flowering when from eighteen to twenty-five years old. The +blooming-season, according to the exigences of weather, begins from May +20 to June 10 in Indiana, and lasts about a week. The fruit following +the flower is a cone an inch and a half long and nearly an inch in +diameter at the base, of a greenish--yellow color, very pungent and +odorous, and full of germs like those of a pine-cone. The tree is easily +grown from the seed. Its roots are long, flexible, and tough, and when +young are pale yellow and of bitterish taste, but slightly flavored with +the stronger tulip individuality which characterizes the juice and sap +of the buds and the bark of the twigs. The leaves, as I have said, are +dark and rich, but their shape and color are not the half of their +beauty. There is a charm in their motion, be the wind ever so light, +that is indescribable. The rustle they make is not "sad" or "uncertain," +but cheerful and forceful. The garments of some young giantess, such as +Baudelaire sings of, might make that rustling as she would run past one +in a land of colossal persons and things. + +I have been surprised to find so little about the tulip-tree in our +literature. Our writers of prose and verse have not spared the magnolia +of the South, which is far inferior, both tree and flower, to our gaudy, +flaunting giantess of the West. Indeed, if I were an aesthete, and were +looking about me for a flower typical of a robust and perfect sentiment +of art, I should greedily seize upon the bloom of the tulip-tree. What a +"craze" for tulip borders and screens, tulip wallpapers and tulip +panel-carvings, I would set going in America! The colors, old gold, +orange, vermilion, and green,--the forms, gentle curves and classical +truncations, and all new and American, with a woodsy freshness and +fragrance in them. The leaves and flowers of the tulip-tree are so +simple and strong of outline that they need not be conventionalized for +decorative purposes. During the process of growth the leaves often take +on accidental shapes well suited to the variations required by the +designer. A wise artist, going into the woods to educate himself up to +the level of the tulip, could not fail to fill his sketch-books with +studies of the birds that haunt the tree, and especially such brilliant +ones as the red tanager, the five or six species of woodpecker, the +orioles, and the yellow-throated warbler. The Japanese artists give us +wonderful instances of the harmony between birds, flowers, and foliage; +not direct instances, it is true, but rather suggested ones, from which +large lessons might be learned by him who would carry the thought into +our woods with him in the light of a pure and safely-educated taste. +Take, for instance, the yellow-bellied woodpecker, with its red fore-top +and throat, its black and white lines, and its bright eyes, together +with its pale yellow shading of back and belly, and how well it would +"work in" with the tulip-leaves and flowers! Even its bill and feet +harmonize perfectly with the bark of the older twigs. So the +golden-wing, the tanager, and the orioles would bear their colors +harmoniously into any successful tulip design. + +South of the Alleghany Mountains I have not found as fine specimens of +this tree as I have in Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. Everywhere the +saw-mills are fast making sad havoc. The walnut and the tulip are soon +to be no more as "trees with the trees in the forest." Those growing in +the almost inaccessible "pockets" of the Kentucky and Tennessee +mountains may linger for a half-century yet, but eventually all will be +gone from wherever a man and a saw can reach them. + +The oak of England and the pine of Norway are not more typical than the +tulip-tree. The symmetry, vigor, and rich colors of our tree might +represent the force, freedom, and beauty of our government and our +social influences. If the American eagle is the bird of freedom, the +tulip is the tree of liberty,--strong, fragrant, giant-flowered, +flaunting, defiant, yet dignified and steadfast. + +A very intelligent old man, who in his youth was a great bear- and +panther-hunter, has often told me how the black bear and the tawny +catamount used to choose the ample "forks" of the tulip-tree for their +retreats when pursued by his dogs. The raccoon has superseded the larger +game, and it was but a few weeks ago that I found one lying, like a +striped, fluffy ball of fur, in a crotch ninety feet above ground. "Our +white-wood" lumber has grown so valuable that no land-owner will allow +the trees to be cut by the hunter, and hence the old-fashioned +'coon-hunt has fallen among the things of the past, for it seems that +the 'coon is quite wise enough to choose for the place of his indwelling +the costliest tulip of the woods. I have already casually mentioned the +fact that the tulip-tree's bloom is scarcely known to exist by even +intelligent and well-informed Americans. Every one has heard of the +mimosa, the dogwood, the red-bud, and the magnolia, but not of the +tulip-bearing tree, with its incomparably bold, dashing, giantesque +flower, once so common in the great woods of our Western and Middle +States. I have not been able to formulate a good reason for this. Every +one whose attention is called to the flower at once goes into raptures +over its wild beauty and force of coloring, and wonders why poems have +not been written about it and legends built upon it. It is a grander +bloom than that which once, under the same name, nearly bankrupted +kingdoms, though it cannot be kept in pots and greenhouses. Its colors +are, like the idiosyncrasies of genius, as inimitable as they are +fascinating and elusive. Audubon was something of an artist, but his +tulip-blooms are utter failures. He could color an oriole, but not the +corolla of this queen of the woods. The most sympathetic and experienced +water-colorist will find himself at fault with those amber-rose, +orange-vermilion blushes, and those tender cloudings of yellow and +green. The stiff yet sensitive and fragile petals, the transparent +sepals, with their watery shades and delicate washing of olive-green, +the strong stamens and peculiarly marked central cone, are scarcely less +difficult. All the colors elude and mock the eager artist. While the +gamut of promising tints is being run, he looks, and, lo! the grand +tulip has shrivelled and faded. Again and again a fresh spray is fetched +in, but when the blooming-season is over he is still balked and +dissatisfied. The wild, Diana-like purity and the half-savage, +half-aesthetic grace have not wholly escaped him, but the color,--ah I +there is the disappointment. + +I have always nursed a fancy that there is something essential to +perfect health in the bitters and sweets of buds and roots and gums and +resins of the primeval woods. Why does the bird keep, even in old age, +the same brilliancy of plumage and the same clearness of eye? Is it +because it gets the _elixir vitae_ from the hidden reservoir of +nature? Be this as it may, there are times when I sincerely long for a +ball of liquidambar or a mouthful of pungent spring buds. The inner bark +of the tulip-tree has the wildest of all wild tastes, a peculiarly +grateful flavor when taken infinitesimally, something more savage than +sassafras or spice-wood, and full of all manner of bitter hints and +astringent threatenings: it has long been used as the very best +appetizer for horses in the early spring, and it is equally good for +man. The yellow-bellied woodpecker knows its value, taking it with head +jauntily awry and quiet wing-tremblings of delight. The squirrels get +the essence of it as they munch the pale leaf-buds, or later when they +bite the cones out of the flowers. The humming-birds and wild bees are +the favored ones, however, for they get the ultimate distillation of all +the racy and fragrant elements from root to bloom. + +The Indians knew the value of the tulip-tree as well as its beauty. +Their most graceful pirogues were dug from its bole, and its odorous +bark served to roof their rude houses. No boat I have ever tried runs so +lightly as a well-made tulip pirogue, or dug-out, and nothing under +heaven is so utterly crank and treacherous. Many an unpremeditated +plunge into cold water has one caused me while out fishing or +duck-shooting on the mountain-streams of North Georgia. If you dare +stand up in one, the least waver from a perfect balance will send the +sensitive, skittish thing a rod from under your feet, which of course +leaves you standing on the water without the faith to keep you from +going under; and usually it is your head that you are standing on. But, +to return to our tree, I would like to see its merits as an ornamental +and shade tree duly recognized. If grown in the free air and sunlight, +it forms a heavy and beautifully-shaped top, on a smooth, bright bole, +and I think it might be forced to bloom about the fifteenth year. The +flowers of young, thrifty trees that have been left standing in open +fields are much larger, brighter, and more graceful than those of old +gnarled forest-trees, but the finest blooms I ever saw were on a giant +tulip in a thin wood of Indiana. A storm blew the tree down in the midst +of its flowering, and I chanced to see it an hour later. The whole great +top was yellow with the gaudy cups, each gleaming "like a flake of +fire," as Dr. Holmes says of the oriole. Some of them were nearly four +inches across. Last year a small tree, growing in a garden near where I +write, bloomed for the first time. It was about twenty years old. Its +flowers were paler and shallower than those gathered at the same time in +the woods. It may be that transplanting, or any sort of forcing or +cultivation, may cause the blooms to deteriorate in both shape and +color, but I am sure that plenty of light and air is necessary to their +best development. + +In one way the tulip-tree is closely connected with the most picturesque +and interesting period of American development. I mean the period of +"hewed-log" houses. Here and there among the hills of Indiana, Ohio, +Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, there remains one of those low, +heavy, lime-chinked structures, the best index of the first change from +frontier-life, with all its dangers and hardships, to the peace and +contentment of a broader liberty and an assured future. In fact, to my +mind, a house of hewed tulip-logs, with liberal stone chimneys and heavy +oaken doors, embowered in an old gnarled apple-and cherry-orchard, +always suggests a sort of simple honesty and hospitality long since +fallen into desuetude, but once the most marked characteristic of the +American people. It is hard to imagine any meanness or illiberality +being generated in such a house. Patriotism, domestic fidelity, and +spotless honesty used to sit before those broad fireplaces wherein the +hickory logs melted to snowy ashes. The men who hewed those logs "hewed +to the line" in more ways than one. Their words, like the bullets from +their flint-locked rifles, went straight to the point. The women, too, +they of the "big wheel" and the "little wheel," who carded and spun and +wove, though they may have been a trifle harsh and angular, were +diamond-pure and the mothers of vigorous offspring. + +I often wonder if there may not be a perfectly explainable connection +between the decay or disappearance of the forests and the evaporation, +so to speak, of man's rugged sincerity and earnestness. Why should not +the simple ingredients that make up the worldly part of our souls and +bodies be found in all their purity where nature's reservoir has never +been disturbed or its contents tainted? Why may not the subtile force +that develops the immense tulip-tree and clothes it with such a starry +mantle have power also to invigorate and intensify the life of man? "I +was rocked in a poplar trough," was the politician's boast a generation +ago. Such a declaration might mean a great deal if the sturdy, towering +strength of the tree out of which the trough was dug could have been +absorbed by the embryo Congressman. The "oldest inhabitant" of every +Western neighborhood recollects the "sugar-trough" used in the +maple-sap-gathering season, ere the genuine "sugar-camp" had been +abandoned. Young tulip-trees about fifteen inches in diameter were cut +down and their boles sawed into lengths of three feet. These were split +in two, and made into troughs by hollowing the faces and charring them +over a fire. During the bright spring days of sugar-making the young +Western mother would wrap her sturdy babe in its blanket and put it in a +dry sugar-trough to sleep while she tended the boiling syrup. A man born +sixty years ago in the region of tulip-trees and sugar-camps was +probably cradled in a "poplar" trough; and there were those born who +would now be sixty years old if they had not in unwary infancy tumbled +into the enormous rainwater-troughs with which every well-regulated +house was furnished. I have seen one or two of these having a capacity +of fifty barrels dug from a single tulip bole. In such a pitfall some +budding Washington or Lincoln may have been whelmed without causing so +much as a ripple on the surface of history. + +But, turning to take leave of my stately and blooming Western beauty, I +see that she is both a blonde and a brunette. She has all the dreamy, +languid grace of the South combined with the _verve_ and force of +the North. She is dark and she is fair, with blushing cheeks and dewy +lips, sound-hearted, strong, lofty, self-reliant, a true queen of the +woods, more stately than Diana, and more vigorous than Maid Marian. + + MAURICE THOMPSON. + + + + +OUR MONTHLY GOSSIP. + +Daniel Webster's "Moods." + + +A late magazine-article treating of one of America's illustrious +dead--Daniel Webster--alluded to his well-known sombre moods, and the +gentle suasion by which his accomplished wife was enabled to shorten +their duration or dispel them entirely. + +On an occasion well remembered, though the "chiel takin' notes" was but +a simple child, I myself was present when the grim, moody reticence of +the great orator converted fully twoscore ardent admirers into personal +foes. + +During the summer of 1837, Mr. Webster, in pursuit of a Presidential +nomination, executed his famous tour through the Great West, at that +time embracing only the States of Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and +Illinois. The first infant railway of the continent being yet in +swaddling-clothes, the journey was accomplished by private conveyance, +and the bumps and bruises stoically endured in probing bottomless pits +of prairie-mud, diversified by joltings over rude log-ways and intrusive +stumps, were but a part of the cruel price paid for a glittering prize +which in the end vanished before the aspirant like fairy gold. At +stations within reach of their personal influence, local politicians +flew to the side of the brilliant statesman with the beautiful fidelity +of steel to magnet: hence he was environed by a self-appointed escort of +obsequious men, constantly changing as he progressed. + +"Our member" spared neither whip nor spur, and joined the triumphal +march at Chicago. Mr. Webster was then on the home-stretch, and it was +shortly after this date that the incident I describe occurred. It was a +time of wild Western speculation; towns and cities sprung into being as +buoyantly as soap-bubbles, and often proved as perishing. Major Morse +was president of a company which, perceiving a promising site for harbor +and town on the shore of Michigan, where yet the Indian charmed the +deer, secured a tract of land and proceeded to lay out an inviting town +of--corner-lots. The major's family occupied temporarily a wide log +house, with a rough "lean-to" of bright pine boards freshly cut at the +mill below. Outside, the dwelling was merely a hut of primitive pattern +nestling under the shade of a tall tree; inside, it presented a large +room divided by curtains into cooking-and sleeping-apartments, +surmounted by a stifling loft reached by the rungs of a permanent +perpendicular ladder. Savory odors of wild fowl and venison daily +drifted up the charred throat of its clay-daubed chimney, and by the +same route, whenever the rolling smoke permitted, children sitting about +the hearth took observations of the clouds and heavenly bodies, +according to the time of day. A narrow passage cut through the heart of +the old logs led into the fragrant "lean-to," where against the wall +rested a massive sideboard of dark mahogany, its top alight with glitter +of glass and silver, its inmost recesses redolent of the creature +comforts which the hospitality of the times demanded. Vases and meaner +crockery overflowed everywhere with the gorgeousness of blossoms daily +plucked from sandy slopes or the verge of the adjacent marsh. Bright +carpeting kindly hid the splintered floor, and pictures did like service +for the rough walls, while the whitest of muslin festooned the tiny +windows. + +On the morning of the Occasion, cheerful sunshine filtered through the +quivering leaves of the big tree near the house, glorifying a late +breakfast-table, around which the family were gathering, when horses +driven in hot haste were reined up at the door. Stepping quickly forth, +the major found his hand clasped by "our member," who begged the +hospitalities of the house for the great Daniel Webster and suite, just +at hand. Despite political differences, the desired welcome was heartily +accorded, and with crucified appetites the family retired to give place +to the unbidden guests, who filed into the room bandying compliments +with their gay host. A kingly head, grandly set above powerful +shoulders, easily marked the man in whom the interest of the hour +centred. Strangely quiet amid the noisy group, he moved alone, nor waked +responsive even to his host, until a brighter sally than usual provoked +a grim kind of laughter. Then he suddenly aroused himself to new life, +joining with a burst of humor in the pleasantries of the feast. The +unexpected brightness of the cosy room was not lost on Mr. Webster, who, +on entering, paused at the threshold and glanced around in an +appreciative manner, while a deep, restful sigh escaped his weary soul. +The dreary drive through the wilderness lent an added charm to the +little oasis of civilized comfort thus encountered in the lonely +backwoods of a Western quarter-section. + +News of the distinguished arrival speedily flew among the laborers +running the mill and constructing dwellings for the in-rushing +population. Tom and Bill of the hammer, and Mike and Patsey of the +spade, alike forsook their tools in order to witness the exit of a hero +from the major's door. They even hoped to receive some expression of +wisdom in golden words from lips used to the flow of stirring thought +and burning eloquence. Lounging patiently under the trees, the expectant +men listened to the clink and clatter of serving and the bursts of +merriment within. At the conclusion of the breakfast and the subsequent +chat, Mr. Webster asked for his hostess, to whom with great courtesy he +expressed his sense of "the kindness extended to the stranger in a +strange land," and, adieus being over, he approached the open door-way, +and looked strangely annoyed at the sight of a double line of +white-sleeved stalwart men who stood with bared heads awaiting his +appearance. Then a great _mood_ fell upon the _man_, with +never a gentle soul at hand to charm it away. Not a feature stirred in +recognition of the, voluntary homage rendered by the throng of humble +men,--men controlling the ballots so ardently desired and sought. With +hat pressed firmly over an ominously lowering brow, looking straight +before him with cavernous, tired eyes which seemed to observe nothing +whereon they rested, Webster walked through the hushed lines in grave +stateliness. The crowd was only waiting for a spark of encouragement to +shout itself hoarse in enthusiastic huzzahs. Eyes shone with suppressed +excitement, and strong hearts swelled with pride in the towering man +whose fame had surged like a tidal wave over the land. Yet with insolent +deliberation he mounted the step and seated himself in the waiting +carriage, giving no sign of having even noticed the flattering +demonstration made in his honor. The smiles, nods, and hand-clasps +expected of the chief were lavishly dispensed by his mortified +satellites, all of which availed not to smother the curses, loud and +deep, splitting the summer air, as the wheels disappeared in the forest. + +"Begorra, thin," bawled Patsey, "it's mesilf ut'll niver vote fur this +big Yankee 'ristocrat, _inne_how. Ef he wuz a foine Irish jintleman, +now, er even a r'yal prince av the blud, there'd be no sinse in his +airs, bedad!" + +Tom and Bill were less noisy in their just wrath, but it ran equally +deep: "He belongs to the party. But when Daniel comes up for +office--look out! We'll score a hard day's work against him, party or no +party!" + +The major rose to the occasion. Being a bit of a politician and an +old-school Democrat, he could not resist the opportunity presented. With +a humorous air he sprang to the nearest stump and improvised an electric +little speech which sent the men back to labor, _madder_ if not +wiser voters. + +With other living witnesses of the events narrated, often wondering over +the strangeness of the scene of long ago, I am truly glad at the +eleventh hour to find the solution of the problem in _moods_, +rather than in a snobbish pride unbefitting the greatness of the man. + + F.C.M. + + + + +Feuds and Lynch-Law in the Southwest. + + +A great deal has been said and written lately about feuds and lynch-law +in the districts around the lower Mississippi. The reports of recent +lynching there have probably been very much exaggerated; and it would +certainly be unfair to form a positive opinion about the matter without +a thorough knowledge of all the circumstances. + +No one who visited that part of the country before the war could return +to it now without noticing the higher degree of order and the numerous +evidences of progress. But lynching law-breakers and resorting to the +knife or pistol to settle private disputes were once ordinary +occurrences there, and they were usually marked by a businesslike +coolness which gave them a distinctive character. + +In the winter of 1853-54 I was clerk of a steamer owned in Wheeling. The +steamer was obliged to wait some time at Napoleon for a rise in the +Arkansas River to enable it to pass over the bar at the confluence of +that river with the Mississippi. Napoleon then had between three and +four hundred inhabitants, and was considered the worst place on the +Mississippi except Natchez-under-the-Hill. Some of the dwellings were of +considerable size, and, judging from their exterior, were kept in good +order. They were the residences of the few who belonged to the better +class, and who, to a certain extent, exercised control over their less +reputable townsmen. + +We were treated very kindly by the citizens, and they declined any +return for their hospitality. We soon noticed that we were never invited +to visit any of them at their dwellings. At their places of business we +were cordially welcomed, and they seemed to take a great deal of +pleasure in giving us information and affording us any amusement in +their power. + +Having some canned oysters among our stores, we twice invited a number +of our friends to an oyster-supper. Although our invitations included +their families, none but male guests attended. This, together with the +fact that we rarely saw any ladies on the street, seemed very strange to +us; but we made no comments, for we discovered very soon after our +arrival that it would not be prudent to ask questions about matters that +did not concern us. At church one Sunday night we noticed that all the +ladies present--composing nearly the whole of the congregation--were +dressed in black, and many of them were in deep mourning. This gave us +some idea as to the reason for their exclusiveness. Soon afterward a +murder occurred almost within my own sight. Two friends were standing on +the street and talking pleasantly to each other, when they were +approached by a man whom they did not know. Suddenly a second man came +close to the stranger, and, without saying a word, drew a pistol and +shot him dead. The murderer was instantly seized, bound, and placed in +the jail. + +The jail was a square pen about thirty feet high, built of hewn logs, +without any opening except in the roof. This opening was only large +enough to admit one person at a time, and was protected by a heavy door. +The prisoner was forced by his captors to mount the roof by means of a +ladder, and then was lowered with a rope to the ground inside. The rope +was withdrawn, the door securely fastened, and he was caged, without any +possible means of escape, to await the verdict and sentence of the jury +summoned by "Judge Lynch." + +The trial was very short. The facts were proven, and the verdict was +that the murderer should be severely whipped and made to leave the town +forthwith. The whipping was administered, and he left immediately +afterward. + +Of course there was a good deal of excitement over this matter, and all +the male inhabitants collected to talk about it. The discussion extended +to some similar cases of recent occurrence and soon gave rise to angry +disputes. In a very short time pistols and knives were produced, +invitations to fight were given, and it seemed that blood would soon be +shed. By the interference, however, of some of the older and more +influential citizens, quiet was restored, and no one was injured. We +were afterward told that there was hardly a man in the crowd who had not +lost a father, brother, or near male relative by knife or pistol, either +in a supposed fair fight or by foul means. + +At that time the hatred of negroes from "free States" was intense, while +those from "slave States" were treated kindly and regarded merely as +persons of an inferior race. + +Some time before our arrival, a steamer belonging to Pittsburg had +stopped at Napoleon, and the colored steward went on shore to buy +provisions. While bargaining for them he became involved in a quarrel +with a white man and struck him. He was instantly seized, and would no +doubt have paid for his temerity with his life if some one in the crowd +had not exclaimed, "A live nigger's worth twenty dead ones! Let's sell +him!" This suggestion was adopted. In a very short time the unfortunate +steward was bound, mounted on a swift horse, and hurried away toward the +interior of the State. He was guarded by a party of mounted men, and in +less than a week's time he was working on a plantation as a slave for +life, with no prospect of communicating with his relatives or friends. + +One morning the captain of the steamer and I saw a crowd collect, and on +approaching it we found a debate going on as to what should be done with +a large and well-dressed colored man, evidently under the influence of +liquor, who was seated on the ground with his arms and legs bound. He +had knocked one white man down and struck several others while they were +attempting to secure him. The crowd was undecided whether to give him a +good whipping for his offence or to send for his master (who lived on +the other side of the river, in Mississippi) and let him inflict the +punishment. Finally, the master was sent for. He soon appeared, and +stated that he had given his "_boy_" permission to come over to +Napoleon, and had also given him money to buy some things he wanted. He +was "a good boy," and had never been in trouble before, and if the +citizens of Napoleon would forgive him this time he, the master, would +guarantee that the boy should never visit Napoleon again. The master +also stated he would "stand drinks" for the whole crowd. This gave +general satisfaction. The drinks were taken, and the master and his +slave were enthusiastically escorted to their dug-out on the shore. Much +hand-shaking took place, in which the "boy" participated, and many +invitations were given to both to visit Napoleon again; after which they +rowed contentedly to their home. + + J.A.M. + + + + +The Etymology of "Babe." + + +In the latest English etymological dictionary, that by the Rev. W.W. +Skeat, we read under the word _babe_, "Instead of _babe_ being +formed from the infantine sound _ba_, it has been modified from +_maqui_, probably by infantine influences. _Baby_ is a diminutive +form." + +_Maqui_ is Early Welsh for _son_, and those to whom Mr. +Skeat's modified _maqui_ seems absurd will be pleased to find its +absurdity indicated, if not proved, by a Greek author of the sixth +century. + +The following passage in the seventy-sixth section of Damascius's "Life +of Isidorus" has escaped the notice of English etymologists generally: + +"Hermias had a son (the elder of his philosopher sons) by AEdesia, and +one day, when the child was seven months old, AEdesia was playing with +him, as mothers do, calling him _babion_ and _paidion_, +speaking in diminutives. But Hermias overheard her, and was vexed, and +censured these childish diminutives, pronouncing an articulate +reprimand.... Now the Syrians, and especially those who dwell in +Damascus, call newborn children, and even those that have passed the +period of childhood, _babia_, from the goddess _Babia_, whom +they worship." + +What is _babion_ but the English _baby_, what _babia_ but +the English _babies?_ We can hardly suppose that our English words +are derived from Syriac words in use fourteen centuries ago, or that the +latter were "modified from _maqui_" by "infantine" or other +influences. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that they were +alike "formed from the infantine sound _ba_," unless we accept +Damascius's derivation from _Babia_. + +Unfortunately, we know no more concerning this goddess than did the +learned John Selden, who, writing two hundred and twenty-odd years ago, +"De Dis Syris," says, on page 296 of that work, "I cannot conjecture +whether _Babia,_ who seems to have been reverenced among the +Syrians as goddess of childhood and youth, is identical with the Syrian +Venus or not, and I do not remember to have met with any mention of this +deity except in Damascius's Life of Isidorus." + +Selden's memory was not at fault: the words _babion, babia_, and +_Babia_ occur only in the passage above quoted. + +In the absence of other evidence than Damascius's own, we may well +question whether he has not inverted the etymological relation between +the goddess and the babies. Most divinities owe their names to the +attributes or functions imputed to them by their worshippers. It seems, +therefore, more probable that the Syrian protectress of babies owes her +name to the _babia_ than that they were called _babia_ in her +honor. If, however, we accept Damascius's theory of their relation, what +forbids us to conjecture that the goddess's name was itself "formed from +the infantine sound _ba_"? In any case, the little domestic scene +between the priggish father and the dandling mother is amusing and +instructive to parents as well as to etymologists. + + S.E.T. + + + + +LITERATURE OF THE DAY. + + +"The Russian Revolt: its Causes, Condition, and Prospects." + By Edmund Noble. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + +The internal condition of Russia, though a matter of more than +speculative interest to its immediate neighbors, is not likely to become +what that of France has so often been,--a European question. The +institutions of other states will not be endangered by revolutionary +proceedings in the dominions of the Czar, nor will any oppression +exercised over his subjects be thought to justify foreign intervention. +Even Polish insurrections never led to any more active measures on the +part of the Western powers than delusive expressions of sympathy and +equally vain remonstrances. In these days, not Warsaw, but St. +Petersburg, is the centre of disaffection, and the ramifications extend +inland, their action stimulated, it may be, to some extent from external +sources, but incapable of sending back any impulse in return. Nihilism, +being based on the absence, real or supposed, of any political +institutions worth preserving in Russia, cannot spread to the +discontented populations of other countries. Even German socialism +cannot borrow weapons or resources from a nation which has no large +proletariat and whose industries are still in their infancy. In the +nature of its government, the character of its people, and the problems +it is called upon to solve, Russia stands, as she has always stood, +alone, neither furnishing examples to other nations nor able, +apparently, to copy those which other nations have set. The great +peculiarity of the revolutionary movement is not simply that it does not +proceed from the mass of the people,--which is a common case +enough,--but that it runs counter to their instincts and their needs and +rouses not their sympathy but their aversion. The peasants, who +constitute four-fifths of the population, have no motive for seeking to +overturn the government. Their material condition, since the abolition +of serfdom, is superior to that of the Italian peasantry, who enjoy the +fullest political rights. As members of the village communities, they +hold possession and will ultimately obtain absolute ownership of more +than half the soil of the country, excluding the domains of the state. +In the same capacity they exercise a degree of local autonomy greater +than that which is vested in the communes of France. They are separated +from the other classes by differences of education, of habits, and of +interests, while the autocracy that rules supreme over all is regarded +by them as the protecting power that is to redress their grievances and +fulfil all their aspirations. The discontent which has bred so many +conspiracies, and which aims at nothing less than the subversion of the +monarchy, is confined to a portion of the educated classes, and proceeds +from causes that affect only those classes. Among them alone is there +any perception of the wide and ever-increasing difference between the +Russian system of government and that of every other European country, +any craving for the exercise of political rights and the activity of +political life, any experience of the restrictions imposed on thought +and speech and the obstacles to the advancement and diffusion of +knowledge and ideas, any consciousness that the corrupt, vexatious, and +oppressive bureaucracy by which all affairs are administered is a direct +outgrowth of unlimited and irresponsible power. Nor are they united in +desiring to destroy, or even to modify, this system. Apart from those +who find in it the means of satisfying their personal interests and +ambitions, and the larger number in whom indolence and the love of ease +stifle all thought and aspiration, there are many who believe, with +reason, that the country is not ripe for the adoption of European +institutions, that the foundations on which to construct them do not yet +exist, and that any attempt to introduce them would lead only to +calamitous results; while there is even a large party which contends +that, far from needing them, Russia is happily situated in being exempt +from the struggles and the storms, the wars of classes and of factions, +that have attended the course of Western civilization, and in being left +free to work out her own development by original and more peaceful +methods. No doubt the great majority of thinking people feel the +necessity for some large measures of reform and look forward to the +establishment of a constitutional system and the gradual extension of +political freedom to the mass of the nation. But there is no evidence +that the revolutionary spirit has spread or excited sympathy in any such +degree as its audacity, its resoluteness, and the terror created by its +sinister achievements have seemed at times to indicate. The active +members of the propaganda are almost exclusively young persons, living +apart from their families, of scanty means and without conspicuous +ability. They belong to the lower ranks of the nobility, the rising +_bourgeois_ class, and, above all, that large body of necessitous +students, including many of the children of the ill-paid clergy, whom M. +Leroy-Beaulieu styles the "intellectual proletariat." Classical studies, +German metaphysics, and the scientific theories and discoveries of +recent years have had much to do with the fermentation that has led to +so many violent explosions, the universities have been the chief +_foci_ of agitation, and in the attempts to suppress it the +government has laid itself open to the reproach of making war upon +learning and seeking to stifle intellectual development. + +Such is the view presented by recent French and English writers who have +made the condition of Russia a subject of minute investigation. Mr. +Noble deals more in generalizations than in details, and sets forth a +theory which it is difficult to reconcile with the facts and conclusions +derived from other sources. According to him, Russia is, and has been +from the first establishment of the imperial rule, in a state of chronic +revolt. This revolt is "the protest of eighty millions of people against +their continued employment as a barrier in the path of peaceful human +progress and national development." "It is not the educated classes +alone, but the masses,--peasant and artisan, land-owner and student,--of +whose aspirations, at least, it may be said, as it was said of the +earliest and freest Russians, '_Neminem ferant imperatorem_.'" +Before the rise of the empire "the Russians lived as freemen and happy." +They "enjoyed what, in a political sense, we are fairly entitled to +regard as the golden age of their national existence." The _veche_, +or popular assembly, "was from a picturesque point of view the grandest, +from an administrative point of view the simplest, and from a moral +point of view the most equitable form of government ever devised by +man." The autocracy, established by force, has encountered at all +periods a steady, if passive, opposition, as exemplified in the Raskol, +or separation of the "Old Believers" from the Orthodox Church, and in +the resistance offered to the innovations of Peter the Great: "in the +one as in the other case the popular revolt was against authority and +all that it represented." It is admitted that "among the peasants the +revolt must long remain in its passive stage.... Yet year by year, +partly owing to educational processes, partly owing to propaganda, even +the peasants are being won over to the growing battalions of +discontent." The autocracy is "doomed." "The forces that undermine it +are cumulative and relentless." Its "true policy is to spread its +dissolution--after the manner of certain financial operations--over a +number of years." "The method of the change is really not of importance. +The vital matter is that the reform shall at once concede and +practically apply the principle of popular self-government, granting at +the same time the fullest rights of free speech and public assembly." +Finally, "the Tsar and his advisers" are bidden to "beware," since "the +spectacle of this frightfully unequal struggle ... is not lost upon +Europe, or even upon America." + +The horrible crudity, as we are fain to call it, of the notions thus +rhetorically set forth must be obvious to every reader acquainted with +the history of the rise and growth of states in general, however little +attention he may have given to those of Russia in particular. The +institutions of Russia differ fundamentally from those of other European +states. But the difference lies in historical conditions and +development, not in the principles underlying all human society. No +people has ever had a permanent government of its own resting solely or +chiefly on force. Wherever autocracy has acquired a firm footing, it has +done so by suppressing anarchy, establishing order and authority, and +securing national unity and independence. Nowhere has it fulfilled these +conditions more completely than in Russia. It grew up when the country +was lying prostrate under the Tartar domination, and it supplied the +impulse and the means by which that yoke was thrown off. It absorbed +petty principalities, extinguished their conflicting ambitions, and +consolidated their resources; checked the migrations of a nomad +population, and brought discordant races under a common rule; repelled +invasions to which, in its earlier disintegrated condition, the nation +must have succumbed, and built up an empire hardly less remarkable for +its cohesion and its strength than for the vastness of its territory. In +a word, it performed, more rapidly and thoroughly, the same work which +was accomplished by monarchy between the eighth and the fifteenth +century in Western Europe. If its methods were more analogous to those +of Eastern despotisms than of European sovereignties, if its excesses +were unrestrained and its power uncurbed, this is only saying that +Russia, instead of sharing in the heritage of Roman civilization and in +the mutual intercourse and common discipline through which the Western +communities were developed, was cut off from association with its more +fortunate kindred and subjected to influences from which they were, for +the most part, exempt. To hold up the crude democracy and turbulent +assemblies common in a primitive state of society as evidence that the +Russian people possessed at an early period of its history a beautifully +organized constitutional system; to contend that the most absolute +monarchy in existence has maintained itself for centuries, without +encountering a single serious insurrection, in a nation whose +distinguishing characteristic is its inability to endure a ruler; to +treat the introduction of a totally different and far more complex +system of government, the product elsewhere of elements that have no +existence in Russia, and of long struggles supplemented by violent +revolutions, as a thing that may be effected without danger or +difficulty, the "method" being "really not of importance,"--all this +strikes us as evincing a condition of mind that can only be regarded as +a survival from the period when the theories and illusions of the +eighteenth-century _philosophes_ had not yet been dissipated by the +French Revolution. + + + + +"A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago: + A Narrative of Travel and Exploration from 1878 to 1883." + By Henry O. Forbes, F.R.G.S. + New York: Harper & Brothers. + + +Although a long succession of naturalists have done their best to +familiarize readers with the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, Mr. +Forbes's book is full not only of freshly-adjusted and classified facts, +but of curious and valuable details of his own discoveries. Even the +best-known islands of the group are so inexhaustible in every form of +animal and vegetable life that much remains for the patient gleaner +after Darwin and Wallace, who found here some of the most striking +illustrations of their deductions and theories, It is well known that +startling contrasts in the distribution of plants and animals are met +with in these islands, even when they lie side by side; and in no other +part of the world is the history of mutations of climate, of the law of +migrations, and of the changes of sea and land, so open and palpable to +the scientific observer. Mr. Forbes's object seems to have been to visit +those islands which offer the most striking deviations from the more +general type. His earlier explorations were made alone, but during the +last eighteen months he was accompanied by a brave woman who came out +from England to Batavia to be married to him at the close of 1881. It is +painful to read of the deadly ordeals of climate and the excessive +discomforts and privations to which this lady was exposed. Her diary, +kept at Dilly during her husband's absence, while she was ill, utterly +deserted, and in danger of a lonely and agonizing death, makes a +singular contrast to the record of Miss Bird and others of her sex who +seem to have triumphed over all the vicissitudes possible to women. To +the general reader Mr. Forbes's travels in Java, Sumatra, and the +Keeling Islands are far more satisfactory than in those less familiar, +like Timor and Buru. In the light of the terrible events of 1883, +everything connected with the islands lying on either side of the +Straits of Sunda is of the highest interest. Those appalling disasters +which swept away part of Sumatra and Java and altered the configuration +of the whole volcanic group surrounding Krakatoa took place only a few +weeks after Mr. and Mrs. Forbes sailed for home. This widespread +destruction seemed to the inhabitants the culmination of a series of +calamitous years of drought, wet, blight, bovine pestilence, and fever. +It was Mr. Forbes's fortune to be in Java during these bad seasons, +which, from combined causes, made it impossible for flowers to perfect +themselves and fructify. This circumstance was, however, useful to the +naturalist, offering him an opportunity for experiments in the +fertilization of orchids and other plants. The account of the Dutch +cinchona-plantations, which now furnish quinine of the best quality, is +full of interest. + +Mr. Forbes's visit to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, in the Indian Ocean, +cannot be passed over. He was eager to visit a coral-reef, and this +atoll, stocked and planted only by the flotsam and jetsam of the seas, +the winds, and migrating birds, offers to the naturalist a most +delightful study; for here, progressing almost under his eyes, are the +phenomena which have made Bermuda and other coral groups. Little as the +Keeling Islands seem to offer in the way of secure habitation, they have +a population of some hundreds of people, presided over by their +energetic proprietor, Mr. Ross, who has planted the atoll thickly with +cocoanut palms. Gathering the nuts and expressing the oil is the chief +industry of the inhabitants, who are all taught to work and support +themselves in some useful way. No money is in circulation on the island: +a system of exchange and barter with agents in Batavia for necessary +products takes its place. This thriving little community has, however, +terrible forces to contend against. Darwin recounts the effects of an +earthquake which took place two years before his visit to the islands in +1836; a fierce cyclone brought ruin and devastation in 1862; and in 1876 +a terrible experience of cyclone and earthquake almost swept away the +whole settlement. This was followed by a most singular phenomenon. +"About thirty-six hours after the cyclone," writes Mr. Forbes, "the +water on the eastern side of the lagoon was observed to be rising up +from below of a dark color. The color was of an inky hue, and its smell +'like that of rotten eggs.' ... Within twenty-four hours every fish, +coral, and mollusc in the part impregnated with this discoloring +substance--probably hydrosulphuric or carbonic acid died. So great was +the number of fish thrown on the beach, that it took three weeks of hard +work to bury them in a vast trench dug in the sand." Wherever this water +touched the growing coral-reef, it was blighted and killed. Darwin saw +similar "patches" of dead coral, and attributed them to some great fall +of the tide which had left the insects exposed to the light of the sun. +But it is probable that a similar submarine eruption had taken place +after the earthquake which preceded his visit to the Keeling Islands in +1836. + + + + +"Birds in the Bush." + By Bradford Torrey. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + + +We like the name of Mr. Torrey's book, which seems to carry with it a +practical reversal of the proverb that a bird in the hand is worth two +in the bush. For although in many ways it is a good and pleasant sign to +note the increase of amateur naturalists among us, we yet feel a dread +of an incursion of those lovers of classified collections, "each with +its Latin label on," who believe that in gaining stuffed specimens they +may best arrive at the charm and the mystery of that exquisite +phenomenon which we call bird-life. Mr. Torrey has no puerile ambitions +for birds in the hand, and a bird in the bush makes to his perception +holy ground, where he takes the shoes from off his feet and watches and +waits, feeling a delightful surprise in each piquant caprice of the +little songster. He tells the story of his experiences and impressions +simply and pleasantly, often utters a good thing without too much +emphasis, and yet more often says true things, which is more difficult +still. He is nowhere bookish, although he has read and can quote well if +need be. He reminds one occasionally of Emerson, oftener of Thoreau, +while his method is that of John Burroughs. His most careful studies are +perhaps of the birds on Boston Common and about Boston, but he writes +pleasantly and suggestively of those in the White Mountains. One likes +to be reminded that there are still bobolinks in the world, for they +have deserted many spots which they once favored. There used to be +meadows full of rocks, in each crevice of which nodded a scarlet +columbine, surrounded by grassy borders where wild strawberries grew +thickly, with hedge-rows running riot with blackberry, sumach, and +alder,--all reckless of utility and given over to lovely waste,--that +were vocal on June mornings with bobolinks, but where in these times one +might wait the whole day through and not hear a single note of the old +refrain. Our author finds them plentiful, however, at North Conway, +where, as he describes it, their "song dropped from above" while he sat +perched on a fence-rail looking at the snow-crowned Mount Washington +range. + + + + +"The Cruise of the Brooklyn. + A Journal of the principal events of a three years' cruise in + the U. S. Flag-Ship Brooklyn, in the South Atlantic Station, + extending south of the Equator from Cape Horn east to the limits + in the Indian Ocean on the seventieth meridian of east + longitude. Descriptions of places in South America, Africa, and + Madagascar, with details of the peculiar customs and industries + of their inhabitants. The cruises of the other vessels of the + American squadron, from November, 1881, to November, 1884." + By W.H. Beehler, Lieut. U. S. Navy. + Illustrated. + Press of J.B. Lippincott Co. Philadelphia. 1885. + + +The copious information given on the title-page leaves little to be +supplied in regard to the subject-matter of this volume. The same +thoroughness is displayed in the narrative and descriptions, as well of +the incidents of the voyage and the details of shipboard life as of the +history, productions, and scenery of the various places visited. They +include, of course, no events or operations such as belong to the annals +of naval enterprise or maritime discovery, but, besides the ordinary +phases of service on foreign stations,--the interchange of courtesies +with the authorities, the routine of duty and discipline, and the +scarcely less regular round of amusements and festivities,--we have +interesting episodes, such as an account of the observations of the +transit of Venus at Santa Cruz, in Patagonia, the "Brooklyn" having been +detailed to take charge of the expedition sent out under Messrs. Very +and Wheeler. A visit to some of the ports of Madagascar soon after the +bombardment of Hovas gives occasion for a readable relation of the +internal revolutions and the transactions with European powers that have +given a pretext, if such it can be called, for the French claim to +exercise a protectorate over a portion of the island, the enforcement of +which will require, in our author's opinion, "an army of at least fifty +thousand men." Cape Town was a place of stay for several weeks on both +the outward and the homeward voyage, and in this connection the history +of the South African states and colonies, including the English wars and +imbroglios with the Boers and the Zulus, is given in detail; while the +necessity for touching at St. Helena furnished an opportunity for +repeating the tale of Napoleon's captivity, with particulars preserved +among "the traditions of the old inhabitants, not generally known." + +It will be seen that Lieutenant Beehler made good use both of the means +of observation and of the leisure for study afforded by the "cruise." He +writes agreeably, and seems to have been careful in regard to the +sources from which he has gathered information. The book is beautifully +printed, and the illustrations are faithful but artistic renderings of +photographic views. + + + + +Recent Fiction. + + +"At the Red Glove." + New York: Harper & Brothers. + +"Upon a Cast." + By Charlotte Dunning. +New York: Harper & Brothers. + +"Down the Ravine." + By Charles Egbert Craddock. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +"By Shore and Sedge." + By Bret Harte. + Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. + +"At Love's Extremes." + By Maurice Thompson. + New York: Cassell & Co. + + +Although the scene of "At the Red Glove" is laid in Berne, it is a +typical French story of French people with French ideas and +characteristics, and it is French as well in the symmetry of its +arrangements and effects and its admirable technique. In point of fact, +Berne is a city where a German dialect is spoken, but among the lively +groups of _bourgeois_ who carry on this effective little drama a +prettier and politer language is in vogue. Madame Carouge, whose +personality is the pivot upon which the story revolves, is a native of +southern France, and is the proprietor of the Hotel Beauregard. Her +husband, who married her as a mere child and carried her away from a +life of poverty and neglect, has died before the opening of the story +and bequeathed all his property to his young and handsome wife. "Ah, but +I do not owe him much," the beautiful woman said: "he has wasted my +youth. I am eight-and-twenty, and I have not yet begun to live." Thus +Madame Carouge as a widow sets out to realize the dreams she has dreamed +in the dull apathetic days of her long bondage. Although she is bent on +love and happiness, she is yet sensible and discreet, and manages the +Hotel Beauregard with skill and tact, while secluding herself from +common eyes. Destiny, however, as if eager at last to work in her favor, +throws in her way a handsome young Swiss, Rudolf Engemann by name, a +bank-clerk, with whom she falls deeply in love. Everything is +progressing to Madame's content, when a little convent-girl, Marie +Peyrolles, comes to Berne to live with her old aunt, a glove-seller, +whose sign in the Spitalgasse gives the name to the story. It would be a +difficult matter to find a prettier piece of comedy than that which +ensues upon Marie's advent. It is all simple, spontaneous, and, on the +part of the actors, entirely serious, yet the effect is delightfully +humorous. Berne, with its quaint arcaded streets, its Alpine views, and +its suburban resorts, makes a capital background, and gives the group +free play to meet with all sorts of picturesque opportunities. The story +is told without any straining after climaxes, but with many felicitous +touches that enhance the effect of every picture and incident. In scene, +characters, and plot, "At the Red Glove" offers a brilliant opportunity +to the dramatist, and one is tempted to think that the story must have +been originally conceived and planned with reference to the stage. + +"Upon a Cast" is also a very amusing little story, and turns on the +experiences of a couple of ladies who, with a longing for a quiet life, + + The world forgetting, by the world forgot, + +settle on the North River in a town which, though called Newbroek, might +easily be identified as Poughkeepsie. Little counting upon this niche +outside the world becoming a centre of interest or a theatre of events, +the necessity of presenting their credentials to the social magnates of +the place does not occur to these ladies,--one the widow of a Prussian +officer, and the other her niece, who have returned to America after a +long residence abroad. They prefer to remain, as it were, incognito; +and, pried; into as the seclusion of the new-comers is by all the +curious, this reticence soon causes misconstructions and scandals. The +petty gossip, the solemnities of self-importance, and the Phariseeism of +a country neighborhood are very well portrayed, and, we fear, without +any especial exaggeration. The story is told with unflagging spirit, and +shows quick perceptions and a lively feeling for situations. Carol +Lester's friendship for Oliver Floyd while she is ignorant of the +existence of his wife is a flaw in the pleasantness; but "Upon a Cast" +is well worthy of a high place in the list of summer novels. + +Although "Down the Ravine" belongs to the category of books for young +people, the story is too true to life in characters and incidents, and +too artistically handled, not to find appreciative readers of all ages. +In fact, we are inclined to discover in the book stronger indications of +the author's powers as a novelist than in anything she has hitherto +published. "Where the Battle was Fought," in spite of all its fine +scenes, had not the same sustained interest nor the same spontaneity. +The plot of the present story is excellent, and the characters act and +react on each other in a simple and natural way. The youthful Diceys, +with the faithful, loyal Birt at their head, are a capital study; and +from first to last the author has nowhere erred in truth or failed in +humor. + +Taking into consideration the ease with which Mr. Bret Harte won his +laurels, and the belief which all his early admirers shared that here at +last was the great American novelist, who was to hold a distinctive +place in the world's literature, he has perhaps not fulfilled +expectations nor answered the demands upon his powers. The very +individuality of his work, its characteristic bias, has been, in point +of fact, a hinderance and an impediment. The unexpectedness of his first +stories, the enchanted surprise, like that of a new and delicious +vintage or a wonderful undiscovered chord in music,--these effects are +not easily made to recur with undiminished strength and charm. However, +one may generally find some bubbles of the old delightful elixir in Mr. +Harte's stories, and in this little group of them, regathered, we +believe, from English magazines, each is interesting in its way, and +each true to the author's typical idea, which is to discover to his +readers some heroic quality in unheroic human beings which transforms +their whole lives before our eyes. + +Mr. Thompson on his title-page announces himself as the author of two +novels, "A Tallahassee Girl" and "His Second Campaign," both of which we +read with pleasure, and this impression led us to turn hopefully to a +third by the same hand. "At Love's Extremes" does not, however, take our +fancy. If the author undertook to discuss a complex problem seriously, +he has failed to make it clear or vital to the reader; and if the +various episodes of Colonel Reynolds's life are to be passed over as +mere slight deviations from the commonplace, we can only say that we +consider them too unpleasant and abhorrent to good taste to be imposed +upon us so lightly. There are also points of the story which seem to +mock the good sense of the reader. Has the author considered the state +of mind of a young widow who has heard that her husband has been +murdered in a street-brawl in Texas, who has mourned him for years, and +then, after yielding to the solicitations of a new suitor and promising +to marry him, learns from his own lips that it was his hand (although +the act was one of self-defence) which sent her husband to his tragic +death? Mr. Thompson seems to violate the sanctities and the proprieties +of womanhood in allowing the widow, after a faint interval of shock, to +pass over this fact as unimportant. This situation has, of course, its +famous precedent in the scene in which Gloster wooes and wins the Lady +Anne beside her murdered husband's bier; but that is tragedy, and we +moderns are, besides, more squeamish than the people of those mediaeval +times. In this story the situation becomes more logical, even if more +absurd, after the return of the husband who was supposed to have been +murdered. With a good deal of effort to show powerful feeling, the +characters in the book are all automatons, who say and do nothing with +real thought or real passion. The vernacular of the mountaineers seems +to have been carefully studied, and is so thoroughly outlandish and so +devoid of fine expressions that we are inclined to believe it more +accurate than the poetic and musical dialects which it is the fashion to +impose upon our credulity. But it must be confessed that, with only his +own rude and pointless _patois_ in which to express himself, the +Southern cracker becomes painfully devoid of interest, to say nothing of +charm. + + + + +FOOTNOTES. + + +[001] John Sevier's Memorial to the North Carolina Legislature. + +[002] J.G.M. Ramsay, "Annals of Tennessee." + +[003] Haywood. + + + * * * * * + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Lippincott's Magazine, August, 1885, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE, *** + +***** This file should be named 14530.txt or 14530.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/5/3/14530/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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