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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:47:42 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:47:42 -0700 |
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Hale</title> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man Without a Country and Other Tales +by Edward E. Hale + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Man Without a Country and Other Tales + +Author: Edward E. Hale + +Release Date: May 20, 2005 [EBook #15868] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci, Joshua +Hutchinson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="tei tei-text"> +<div class="tei tei-front"> +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">The Man Without a Country and Other Tales</h1> + +<p class="tei tei-p"><span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="tei tei-hi">by</span></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Edward E. Hale</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">AUTHOR OF "IN HIS NAME," "TEN TIMES ONE IS TEN," "HOW TO DO IT,' +'WHAT CAREER," ETC., ETC.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">BOSTON:<br /> +ROBERTS BROTHERS.<br /> +1891.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">TICKNOR AND FIELDS,</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of +Massachusetts.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div id="toc" class="tei tei-div"><a name="toc_1" id="toc_1"></a><h1 class="tei tei-head">Contents</h1><ul class="toc"> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_1">Contents</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_2">THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_3">THE LAST OF THE FLORIDA.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_4">A PIECE OF POSSIBLE HISTORY.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_5">THE SOUTH AMERICAN EDITOR.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_6">THE OLD AND THE NEW, FACE TO FACE.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_7">THE DOT AND LINE ALPHABET.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_8">THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE RESOLUTE.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_9">MY DOUBLE, AND HOW HE UNDID ME</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_10">THE CHILDREN OF THE PUBLIC.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_11">Chapter I - The Pork-Barrel</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_12">Chapter II - Where is the Barrel?</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_13">Chapter III - My Life to its Crisis</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_14">Chapter IV - The Crisis</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 2em;"><a href="#toc_15">Chapter V - Fausta's Story</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_16">THE SKELETON IN THE CLOSET.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_17">CHRISTMAS WAITS IN BOSTON.</a></li> +<li style="margin: 0em 0em;"><a href="#toc_18">Notes</a></li> +</ul></div> +</div> + +<div class="tei tei-body"> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page005">[pg 005]</span> +<a name="Pg005" id="Pg005" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_2" id="toc_2"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY.</h1> +<h1 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">FROM THE INGHAM PAPERS.</h1> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This story was written in the summer of 1863, as a contribution, +however humble, towards the formation of a just and true +national sentiment, or sentiment of love to the nation. It was +at the time when Mr. Vallandigham had been sent across the +border. It was my wish, indeed, that the story might be printed +before the autumn elections of that year,—as my "testimony" +regarding the principles involved in them,—but circumstances +delayed its publication till the December number of the Atlantic +appeared.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It is wholly a fiction, "founded on fact." The facts on which +it is founded are these,—that Aaron Burr sailed down the Mississippi +River in 1805, again in 1806, and was tried for treason in +1807. The rest, with one exception to be noticed, is all fictitious.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was my intention that the story should have been published +with no author's name, other than that of Captain Frederic Ingham, +U.S.N. Whether writing under his name or my own, I +have taken no liberties with history other than such as every +writer of fiction is privileged to take,—indeed, must take, if fiction +is to be written at all.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The story having been once published, it passed out of my +hands. From that moment it has gradually acquired different +accessories, for which I am not responsible. Thus I have heard it +said, that at one bureau of the Navy Department they say that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page006">[pg 006]</span> +<a name="Pg006" id="Pg006" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Nolan was pardoned, in fact, and returned home to die. At another +bureau, I am told, the answer to questions is, that, though +it is true that an officer was kept abroad all his life, his name was +not Nolan. A venerable friend of mine in Boston, who discredits +all tradition, still recollects this "Nolan court-martial." One of +the most accurate of my younger friends had noticed Nolan's +death in the newspaper, but recollected "that it was in September, +and not in August." A lady in Baltimore writes me, I believe +in good faith, that Nolan has two widowed sisters residing +in that neighborhood. A correspondent of the Philadelphia +Despatch believed "the article untrue, as the United States corvette +'Levant' was lost at sea nearly three years since, between +San Francisco and San Juan." I may remark that this uncertainty +as to the place of her loss rather adds to the probability +of her turning up after three years in Lat. 2° 11' S., Long. 131° +W. A writer in the New Orleans Picayune, in a careful historical +paper, explained at length that I had been mistaken all +through; that Philip Nolan never went to sea, but to Texas; +that there he was shot in battle, March 21, 1801, and by orders +from Spain every fifth man of his party was to be shot, had they +not died in prison. Fortunately, however, he left his papers and +maps, which fell into the hands of a friend of the Picayune's +correspondent. This friend proposes to publish them,—and the +public will then have, it is to be hoped, the true history of Philip +Nolan, the man without a country.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">With all these continuations, however, I have nothing to do. +I can only repeat that my Philip Nolan is pure fiction. I cannot +send his scrap-book to my friend who asks for it, because I have +it not to send.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I remembered, when I was collecting material for my story, that +in General Wilkinson's galimatias, which he calls his "Memoirs," +is frequent reference to a business partner of his, of the name +of Nolan, who, in the very beginning of this century, was +killed in Texas. Whenever Wilkinson found himself in rather +<span class="tei-pb" id="page007">[pg 007]</span> +<a name="Pg007" id="Pg007" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +a deeper bog than usual, he used to justify himself by saying +that he could not explain such or such a charge because +"the papers referring to it were lost when <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Mr. Nolan</span> was imprisoned +in Texas." Finding this mythical character in the +mythical legends of a mythical time, I took the liberty to give +him a cousin, rather more mythical, whose adventures should be +on the seas. I had the impression that Wilkinson's friend was +named Stephen,—and as such I spoke of him in the early +editions of this story. But long after this was printed, I found +that the New Orleans paper was right in saying that the Texan +hero was named Philip Nolan.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">If I had forgotten him and his name, I can only say that Mr. +Jefferson, who did not forget him, abandoned him and his,—when +the Spanish Government murdered him and imprisoned his +associates for life. I have done my best to repair my fault, and +to recall to memory a brave man, by telling the story of his fate, +in a book called "Philip Nolan's Friends." To the historical +statements in that book the reader is referred. That the Texan +Philip Nolan played an important, though forgotten, part in our +national history, the reader will understand,—when I say that +the terror of the Spanish Government, excited by his adventures, +governed all their policy regarding Texas and Louisiana also, +till the last territory was no longer their own.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">If any reader considers the invention of a cousin too great a +liberty to take in fiction, I venture to remind him that "'Tis +sixty years since"; and that I should have the highest authority +in literature even for much greater liberties taken with annals so +far removed from our time.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">A Boston paper, in noticing the story of "My Double," contained +in another part of this collection, said it was highly <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">improbable</span>. +I have always agreed with that critic. I confess I +have the same opinion of this story of Philip Nolan. It passes on +ships which had no existence, is vouched for by officers who never +lived. Its hero is in two or three places at the same time, under +a process wholly impossible under any conceivable administration +<span class="tei-pb" id="page008">[pg 008]</span> +<a name="Pg008" id="Pg008" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of affairs. When my friend, Mr. W.H. Reed, sent me +from City Point, in Virginia, the record of the death of PHILIP +NOLAN, a negro from Louisiana, who died in the cause of his +country in service in a colored regiment, I felt that he had +done something to atone for the imagined guilt of the imagined +namesake of his unfortunate god-father.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">E.E.H.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">ROXBURY, MASS., March 20, 1886.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I supposed that very few casual readers of the New +York Herald of August 18th observed, in an obscure +corner, among the "Deaths," the announcement,—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">"NOLAN. Died, on board U.S. Corvette Levant, Lat. 2° 11' S., +Long. 131° W., on the 11th of May, PHILIP NOLAN."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I happened to observe it, because I was stranded at +the old Mission-House in Mackinaw, waiting for a +Lake Superior steamer which did not choose to come, +and I was devouring to the very stubble all the current +literature I could get hold of, even down to the +deaths and marriages in the Herald. My memory for +names and people is good, and the reader will see, as +he goes on, that I had reason enough to remember +Philip Nolan. There are hundreds of readers who +would have paused at that announcement, if the officer +of the Levant who reported it had chosen to make it +thus:—"Died, May 11th, THE MAN WITHOUT A +COUNTRY." For it was as "The Man without a +Country" that poor Philip Nolan had generally been +known by the officers who had him in charge during +some fifty years, as, indeed, by all the men who sailed +<span class="tei-pb" id="page009">[pg 009]</span> +<a name="Pg009" id="Pg009" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +under them. I dare say there is many a man who has +taken wine with him once a fortnight, in a three years' +cruise, who never knew that his name was "Nolan," +or whether the poor wretch had any name at all.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There can now be no possible harm in telling this +poor creature's story. Reason enough there has been +till now, ever since Madison's administration went out +in 1817, for very strict secrecy, the secrecy of honor +itself, among the gentlemen of the navy who have had +Nolan in successive charge. And certainly it speaks +well for the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">esprit de corps</span> of the profession, and the +personal honor of its members, that to the press this +man's story has been wholly unknown,—and, I think, +to the country at large also. I have reason to think, +from some investigations I made in the Naval Archives +when I was attached to the Bureau of Construction, +that every official report relating to him was burned +when Ross burned the public buildings at Washington. +One of the Tuckers, or possibly one of the Watsons, +had Nolan in charge at the end of the war; and when, +on returning from his cruise, he reported at Washington +to one of the Crowninshields,—who was in the +Navy Department when he came home,—he found +that the Department ignored the whole business. +Whether they really knew nothing about it or whether +it was a "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Non mi ricordo</span>," determined on as a piece +of policy, I do not know. But this I do know, that +since 1817, and possibly before, no naval officer has +mentioned Nolan in his report of a cruise. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page010">[pg 010]</span> +<a name="Pg010" id="Pg010" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But, as I say, there is no need for secrecy any +longer. And now the poor creature is dead, it seems +to me worth while to tell a little of his story, by way +of showing young Americans of to-day what it is to be +<span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="tei tei-hi">A Man Without a Country</span>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Philip Nolan was as fine a young officer as there +was in the "Legion of the West," as the Western +division of our army was then called. When Aaron +Burr made his first dashing expedition down to New +Orleans in 1805, at Fort Massac, or somewhere +above on the river, he met, as the Devil would have +it, this gay, dashing, bright young fellow, at some dinner-party, +I think. Burr marked him, talked to him, +walked with him, took him a day or two's voyage in +his flat-boat, and, in short, fascinated him. For the +next year, barrack-life was very tame to poor Nolan. +He occasionally availed himself of the permission the +great man had given him to write to him. Long, high-worded, +stilted letters the poor boy wrote and rewrote +and copied. But never a line did he have in reply from +the gay deceiver. The other boys in the garrison +sneered at him, because he sacrificed in this unrequited +affection for a politician the time which they devoted to +Monongahela, hazard, and high-low-jack. Bourbon, +euchre, and poker were still unknown. But one day +Nolan had his revenge. This time Burr came down the +river, not as an attorney seeking a place for his office, +but as a disguised conqueror. He had defeated I know +<span class="tei-pb" id="page011">[pg 011]</span> +<a name="Pg011" id="Pg011" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +not how many district-attorneys; he had dined at I +know not how many public dinners; he had been heralded +in I know not how many Weekly Arguses, and +it was rumored that he had an army behind him and an +empire before him. It was a great day—his arrival—to +poor Nolan. Burr had not been at the fort an hour +before he sent for him. That evening he asked Nolan +to take him out in his skiff, to show him a canebrake +or a cotton-wood tree, as he said,—really to seduce +him; and by the time the sail was over, Nolan was enlisted +body and soul. From that time, though he did not +yet know it, he lived as <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="tei tei-hi">A Man Without a Country</span>.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">What Burr meant to do I know no more than you, +dear reader. It is none of our business just now. Only, +when the grand catastrophe came, and Jefferson and +the House of Virginia of that day undertook to break +on the wheel all the possible Clarences of the then +House of York, by the great treason-trial at Richmond, +some of the lesser fry in that distant Mississippi Valley, +which was farther from us than Puget's Sound is +to-day, introduced the like novelty on their provincial +stage, and, to while away the monotony of the summer +at Fort Adams, got up, for <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">spectacles</span>, a string of court-martials +on the officers there. One and another of +the colonels and majors were tried, and, to fill out the +list, little Nolan, against whom, Heaven knows, there +was evidence enough,—that he was sick of the service, +had been willing to be false to it, and would +have obeyed any order to march any-whither with +<span class="tei-pb" id="page012">[pg 012]</span> +<a name="Pg012" id="Pg012" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +any one who would follow him had the order been +signed, "By command of His Exc. A. Burr." The +courts dragged on. The big flies escaped,—rightly +for all I know. Nolan was proved guilty enough, as I +say; yet you and I would never have heard of him, +reader, but that, when the president of the court +asked him at the close, whether he wished to say anything +to show that he had always been faithful to the +United States, he cried out, in a fit of frenzy,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"D——n the United States! I wish I may never +hear of the United States again!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I suppose he did not know how the words shocked +old Colonel Morgan, who was holding the court. +Half the officers who sat in it had served through the +Revolution, and their lives, not to say their necks, had +been risked for the very idea which he so cavalierly +cursed in his madness. He, on his part, had grown +up in the West of those days, in the midst of "Spanish +plot," "Orleans plot," and all the rest. He had been +educated on a plantation where the finest company +was a Spanish officer or a French merchant from Orleans. +His education, such as it was, had been perfected +in commercial expeditions to Vera Cruz, and I +think he told me his father once hired an Englishman +to be a private tutor for a winter on the plantation. +He had spent half his youth with an older brother, +hunting horses in Texas; and, in a word, to him +"United States" was scarcely a reality. Yet he had +been fed by "United States" for all the years since +<span class="tei-pb" id="page013">[pg 013]</span> +<a name="Pg013" id="Pg013" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +he had been in the army. He had sworn on his faith +as a Christian to be true to "United States." It was +"United States" which gave him the uniform he +wore, and the sword by his side. Nay, my poor Nolan, +it was only because "United States" had picked +you out first as one of her own confidential men of +honor that "A. Burr" cared for you a straw more +than for the flat-boat men who sailed his ark for him. +I do not excuse Nolan; I only explain to the reader +why he damned his country, and wished he might +never hear her name again.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He never did hear her name but once again. From +that moment, September 23, 1807, till the day he +died, May 11, 1863, he never heard her name again. +For that half-century and more he was a man without +a country.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Old Morgan, as I said, was terribly shocked. If +Nolan had compared George Washington to Benedict +Arnold, or had cried, "God save King George," +Morgan would not have felt worse. He called the +court into his private room, and returned in fifteen +minutes, with a face like a sheet, to say,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Prisoner, hear the sentence of the Court! The +Court decides, subject to the approval of the President, +that you never hear the name of the United +States again."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Nolan laughed. But nobody else laughed. Old +Morgan was too solemn, and the whole room was +hushed dead as night for a minute. Even Nolan lost +his swagger in a moment. Then Morgan added,— +<span class="tei-pb" id="page014">[pg 014]</span> +<a name="Pg014" id="Pg014" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Mr. Marshal, take the prisoner to Orleans in an +armed boat, and deliver him to the naval commander +there."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The Marshal gave his orders and the prisoner was +taken out of court.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Mr. Marshal," continued old Morgan, "see that +no one mentions the United States to the prisoner. +Mr. Marshal, make my respects to Lieutenant Mitchell +at Orleans, and request him to order that no one +shall mention the United States to the prisoner while +he is on board ship. You will receive your written +orders from the officer on duty here this evening. +The court is adjourned without day."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I have always supposed that Colonel Morgan himself +took the proceedings of the court to Washington +City, and explained them to Mr. Jefferson. Certain +it is that the President approved them,—certain, +that is, if I may believe the men who say they have +seen his signature. Before the Nautilus got round +from New Orleans to the Northern Atlantic coast +with the prisoner on board the sentence had been approved, +and he was a man without a country.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The plan then adopted was substantially the same +which was necessarily followed ever after. Perhaps +it was suggested by the necessity of sending him by +water from Fort Adams and Orleans. The Secretary +of the Navy—it must have been the first Crowninshield, +though he is a man I do not remember—was +requested to put Nolan on board a government vessel +<span class="tei-pb" id="page015">[pg 015]</span> +<a name="Pg015" id="Pg015" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +bound on a long cruise, and to direct that he should +be only so far confined there as to make it certain that +he never saw or heard of the country. We had few +long cruises then, and the navy was very much out +of favor; and as almost all of this story is traditional, +as I have explained, I do not know certainly what +his first cruise was. But the commander to whom he +was intrusted,—perhaps it was Tingey or Shaw, though +I think it was one of the younger men,—we are all +old enough now,—regulated the etiquette and the +precautions of the affair, and according to his scheme +they were carried out, I suppose, till Nolan died.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">When I was second officer of the "Intrepid," some +thirty years after, I saw the original paper of instructions. +I have been sorry ever since that I did not +copy the whole of it. It ran, however, much in this +way:—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"WASHINGTON (with a date, which +have been late in 1807).</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"SIR,—You will receive from Lieutenant Neale +the person of Philip Nolan, late a Lieutenant in the +United States Army.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"This person on his trial by court-martial expressed +with an oath the wish that he might 'never hear of +the United States again.'</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"The Court sentenced him to have his wish fulfilled.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"For the present, the execution of the order is intrusted +by the President to this Department. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page016">[pg 016]</span> +<a name="Pg016" id="Pg016" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You will take the prisoner on board your ship, +and keep him there with such precautions as shall prevent +his escape.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You will provide him with such quarters, rations, +and clothing as would be proper for an officer of his +late rank, if he were a passenger on your vessel on +the business of his Government.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"The gentlemen on board will make any arrangements +agreeable to themselves regarding his society. +He is to be exposed to no indignity of any kind, nor +is he ever unnecessarily to be reminded that he is a +prisoner.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"But under no circumstances is he ever to hear of +his country or to see any information regarding it, +and you will specially caution all the officers under +your command to take care, that, in the various indulgences +which may be granted, this rule, in which +his punishment is involved, shall not be broken.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"It is the intention of the Government that he +shall never again see the country which he has disowned. +Before the end of your cruise you will receive +orders which will give effect to this intention.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"Respectfully yours,</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"W. SOUTHARD, for the Secretary of the Navy."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">If I had only preserved the whole of this paper, +there would be no break in the beginning of my sketch +of this story. For Captain Shaw, if it were he, handed +<span class="tei-pb" id="page017">[pg 017]</span> +<a name="Pg017" id="Pg017" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +it to his successor in the charge, and he to his, and I +suppose the commander of the Levant has it to-day as +his authority for keeping this man in this mild custody.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The rule adopted on board the ships on which I +have met "the man without a country" was, I think, +transmitted from the beginning. No mess liked to +have him permanently, because his presence cut off all +talk of home or of the prospect of return, of politics +or letters, of peace or of war,—cut off more than +half the talk men liked to have at sea. But it was always +thought too hard that he should never meet the +rest of us, except to touch hats, and we finally sank +into one system. He was not permitted to talk with +the men, unless an officer was by. With officers he +had unrestrained intercourse, as far as they and he chose. +But he grew shy, though he had favorites: I was one. +Then the captain always asked him to dinner on Monday. +Every mess in succession took up the invitation in +its turn. According to the size of the ship, you had him +at your mess more or less often at dinner. His breakfast +he ate in his own state-room,—he always had a +state-room,—which was where a sentinel or somebody +on the watch could see the door. And whatever +else he ate or drank, he ate or drank alone. Sometimes, +when the marines or sailors had any special +jollification, they were permitted to invite "Plain-Buttons," +as they called him. Then Nolan was sent +with some officer, and the men were forbidden to speak +<span class="tei-pb" id="page018">[pg 018]</span> +<a name="Pg018" id="Pg018" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of home while he was there. I believe the theory +that the sight of his punishment did them good. They +called him "Plain-Buttons," because, while he always +chose to wear a regulation army-uniform, he was not +permitted to wear the army-button, for the reason that +it bore either the initials or the insignia of the country +he had disowned.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I remember, soon after I joined the navy, I was on +shore with some of the older officers from our ship and +from the Brandywine, which we had met at Alexandria. +We had leave to make a party and go up to +Cairo and the Pyramids. As we jogged along (you +went on donkeys then), some of the gentlemen (we +boys called them "Dons," but the phrase was long +since changed) fell to talking about Nolan, and some +one told the system which was adopted from the first +about his books and other reading. As he was almost +never permitted to go on shore, even though the vessel +lay in port for months, his time at the best hung +heavy; and everybody was permitted to lend him +books, if they were not published in America and +made no allusion to it. These were common enough +in the old days, when people in the other hemisphere +talked of the United States as little as we do of Paraguay. +He had almost all the foreign papers that came +into the ship, sooner or later; only somebody must go +over them first, and cut out any advertisement or +stray paragraph that alluded to America. This was a +little cruel sometimes, when the back of what was cut +<span class="tei-pb" id="page019">[pg 019]</span> +<a name="Pg019" id="Pg019" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +out might be as innocent as Hesiod. Right in the +midst of one of Napoleon's battles, or one of Canning's +speeches, poor Nolan would find a great hole, +because on the back of the page of that paper there +had been an advertisement of a packet for New York, +or a scrap from the President's message. I say this +was the first time I ever heard of this plan, which +afterwards I had enough and more than enough to do +with. I remember it, because poor Phillips, who was +of the party, as soon as the allusion to reading was +made, told a story of something which happened at the +Cape of Good Hope on Nolan's first voyage; and it is +the only thing I ever knew of that voyage. They had +touched at the Cape, and had done the civil thing with +the English Admiral and the fleet, and then, leaving +for a long cruise up the Indian Ocean, Phillips had +borrowed a lot of English books from an officer, which, +in those days, as indeed in these, was quite a windfall. +Among them, as the Devil would order, was the "Lay +of the Last Minstrel," which they had all of them +heard of, but which most of them had never seen. I +think it could not have been published long. Well, +nobody thought there could be any risk of anything +national in that, though Phillips swore old Shaw had +cut out the "Tempest" from Shakespeare before he let +Nolan have it, because he said "the Bermudas ought to +be ours, and, by Jove, should be one day." So Nolan +was permitted to join the circle one afternoon when a +lot of them sat on deck smoking and reading aloud. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page020">[pg 020]</span> +<a name="Pg020" id="Pg020" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +People do not do such things so often now, but when +I was young we got rid of a great deal of time so. +Well, so it happened that in his turn Nolan took the +book and read to the others; and he read very well, +as I know. Nobody in the circle knew a line of the +poem, only it was all magic and Border chivalry, and +was ten thousand years ago. Poor Nolan read steadily +through the fifth canto, stopped a minute and drank +something, and then began, without a thought of what +was coming,—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Who never to himself hath said,"—</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It seems impossible to us that anybody ever heard this +for the first time; but all these fellows did then, and +poor Nolan himself went on, still unconsciously or +mechanically,—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"This is my own, my native land!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Then they all saw something was to pay; but he expected +to get through, I suppose, turned a little pale, +but plunged on,—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">As home his footsteps he hath turned</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">From wandering on a foreign strand?—</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">If such there breathe, go, mark him well,"—</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">By this time the men were all beside themselves, wishing +there was any way to make him turn over two +pages; but he had not quite presence of mind for +that; he gagged a little, colored crimson, and staggered +on,— +<span class="tei-pb" id="page021">[pg 021]</span> +<a name="Pg021" id="Pg021" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"For him no minstrel raptures swell;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">High though his titles, proud his name,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Boundless his wealth as wish can claim,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Despite these titles, power, and pelf,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The wretch, concentred all in self,"—</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">and here the poor fellow choked, could not go on, but +started up, swung the book into the sea, vanished into +his state-room, "And by Jove," said Phillips, "we did +not see him for two months again. And I had to +make up some beggarly story to that English surgeon +why I did not return his Walter Scott to him."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That story shows about the time when Nolan's +braggadocio must have broken down. At first, they +said, he took a very high tone, considered his imprisonment +a mere farce, affected to enjoy the voyage, and +all that; but Phillips said that after he came out of +his state-room he never was the same man again. He +never read aloud again, unless it was the Bible or +Shakespeare, or something else he was sure of. But +it was not that merely. He never entered in with +the other young men exactly as a companion again. +He was always shy afterwards, when I knew him,—very +seldom spoke, unless he was spoken to, except to +a very few friends. He lighted up occasionally,—I +remember late in his life hearing him fairly eloquent +on something which had been suggested to him by +one of Fléchier's sermons,—but generally he had the +nervous, tired look of a heart-wounded man.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">When Captain Shaw was coming home,—if, as I +say, it was Shaw,—rather to the surprise of every +<span class="tei-pb" id="page022">[pg 022]</span> +<a name="Pg022" id="Pg022" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +body they made one of the Windward Islands, and lay +off and on for nearly a week. The boys said the officers +were sick of salt-junk, and meant to have turtle-soup +before they came home. But after several days +the Warren came to the same rendezvous; they exchanged +signals; she sent to Phillips and these homeward-bound +men letters and papers, and told them she +was outward-bound, perhaps to the Mediterranean, +and took poor Nolan and his traps on the boat back to +try his second cruise. He looked very blank when he +was told to get ready to join her. He had known +enough of the signs of the sky to know that till that +moment he was going "home." But this was a distinct +evidence of something he had not thought of, +perhaps,—that there was no going home for him, +even to a prison. And this was the first of some +twenty such transfers, which brought him sooner or +later into half our best vessels, but which kept him +all his life at least some hundred miles from the country +he had hoped he might never hear of again.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It may have been on that second cruise,—it was +once when he was up the Mediterranean,—that Mrs. +Graff, the celebrated Southern beauty of those days, +danced with him. They had been lying a long time +in the Bay of Naples, and the officers were very intimate +in the English fleet, and there had been great +festivities, and our men thought they must give a great +ball on board the ship. How they ever did it on board +the "Warren" I am sure I do not know. Perhaps it +<span class="tei-pb" id="page023">[pg 023]</span> +<a name="Pg023" id="Pg023" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +was not the "Warren," or perhaps ladies did not take +up so much room as they do now. They wanted to +use Nolan's state-room for something, and they hated +to do it without asking him to the ball; so the captain +said they might ask him, if they would be responsible +that he did not talk with the wrong people, "who +would give him intelligence." So the dance went on, +the finest party that had ever been known, I dare say; +for I never heard of a man-of-war ball that was not. +For ladies they had the family of the American consul, +one or two travellers who had adventured so far, and +a nice bevy of English girls and matrons, perhaps +Lady Hamilton herself.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, different officers relieved each other in standing +and talking with Nolan in a friendly way, so as to +be sure that nobody else spoke to him. The dancing +went on with spirit, and after a while even the fellows +who took this honorary guard of Nolan ceased to fear +any <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">contretemps</span>. Only when some English lady—Lady +Hamilton, as I said, perhaps—called for a set +of "American dances," an odd thing happened. +Everybody then danced contra-dances. The black +band, nothing loath, conferred as to what "American +dances" were, and started off with a "Virginia Reel," +which they followed with "Money-Musk," which, in +its turn in those days, should have been followed by +"The Old Thirteen." But just as Dick, the leader, +tapped for his fiddles to begin, and bent forward, about +to say, in true negro state, "'The Old Thirteen, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page024">[pg 024]</span> +<a name="Pg024" id="Pg024" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +gentlemen and ladies!" as he had said "'Virginny +Reel,' if you please!" and "'Money-Musk,' if you +please!" the captain's boy tapped him on the shoulder, +whispered to him, and he did not announce the name +of the dance; he merely bowed, began on the air, and +they all fell to,—the officers teaching the English +girls the figure, but not telling them why it had no +name.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But that is not the story I started to tell.—As the +dancing went on, Nolan and our fellows all got at ease, +as I said,—so much so, that it seemed quite natural +for him to bow to that splendid Mrs. Graff, and say,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I hope you have not forgotten me, Miss Rutledge. +Shall I have the honor of dancing?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He did it so quickly, that Fellows, who was by him, +could not hinder him. She laughed and said,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I am not Miss Rutledge any longer, Mr. Nolan; +but I will dance all the same," just nodded to Fellows, +as if to say he must leave Mr. Nolan to her, and led +him off to the place where the dance was forming.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Nolan thought he had got his chance. He had +known her at Philadelphia, and at other places had +met her, and this was a Godsend. You could not +talk in contra-dances, as you do in cotillons, or even +in the pauses of waltzing; but there were chances +for tongues and sounds, as well as for eyes and blushes. +He began with her travels, and Europe, and Vesuvius, +and the French; and then, when they had worked +down, and had that long talking-time at the bottom +<span class="tei-pb" id="page025">[pg 025]</span> +<a name="Pg025" id="Pg025" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of the set, he said, boldly,—a little pale, she said, as +she told me the story, years after,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And what do you hear from home, Mrs. Graff?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And that splendid creature looked through him. +Jove! how she must have looked through him!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Home!! Mr. Nolan!!! I thought you were the +man who never wanted to hear of home again!"—and +she walked directly up the deck to her husband, +and left poor Nolan alone, as he always was.—He did +not dance again.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I cannot give any history of him in order; nobody +can now; and, indeed, I am not trying to. These +are the traditions, which I sort out, as I believe them, +from the myths which have been told about this man +for forty years. The lies that have been told about +him are legion. The fellows used to say he was the +"Iron Mask"; and poor George Pons went to his +grave in the belief that this was the author of "Junius," +who was being punished for his celebrated libel on +Thomas Jefferson. Pons was not very strong in the +historical line. A happier story than either of these I +have told is of the War. That came along soon after. +I have heard this affair told in three or four ways,—and, +indeed, it may have happened more than once. +But which ship it was on I cannot tell. However, +in one, at least, of the great frigate-duels with the +English, in which the navy was really baptized, it +happened that a round-shot from the enemy entered +one of our ports square, and took right down the officer +<span class="tei-pb" id="page026">[pg 026]</span> +<a name="Pg026" id="Pg026" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of the gun himself, and almost every man of the +gun's crew. Now you may say what you choose +about courage, but that is not a nice thing to see. But, +as the men who were not killed picked themselves up, +and as they and the surgeon's people were carrying off +the bodies, there appeared Nolan, in his shirt-sleeves, +with the rammer in his hand, and, just as if he had been +the officer, told them off with authority,—who should +go to the cockpit with the wounded men, who should +stay with him,—perfectly cheery, and with that way +which makes men feel sure all is right and is going to +be right. And he finished loading the gun with +his own hands, aimed it, and bade the men fire. And +there he stayed, captain of that gun, keeping those fellows +in spirits, till the enemy struck,—sitting on the +carriage while the gun was cooling, though he was exposed +all the time,—showing them easier ways to +handle heavy shot,—making the raw hands laugh at +their own blunders,—and when the gun cooled again, +getting it loaded and fired twice as often as any other +gun on the ship. The captain walked forward by way +of encouraging the men, and Nolan touched his hat +and said,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I am showing them how we do this in the artillery, +sir."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And this is the part of the story where all the legends +agree; and the Commodore said,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I see you do, and I thank you, sir; and I shall +never forget this day, sir, and you never shall, sir." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page027">[pg 027]</span> +<a name="Pg027" id="Pg027" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And after the whole thing was over, and he had +the Englishman's sword, in the midst of the state and +ceremony of the quarter-deck, he said,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Where is Mr. Nolan? Ask Mr. Nolan to come +here."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And when Nolan came, the captain said,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Mr. Nolan, we are all very grateful to you to-day; +you are one of us to-day; you will be named in the +despatches."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And then the old man took off his own sword of +ceremony, and gave it to Nolan, and made him put it +on. The man told me this who saw it. Nolan cried +like a baby, and well he might. He had not worn a +sword since that infernal day at Fort Adams. But +always afterwards on occasions of ceremony, he wore +that quaint old French sword of the Commodore's.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The captain did mention him in the despatches. +It was always said he asked that he might be pardoned. +He wrote a special letter to the Secretary of +War. But nothing ever came of it. As I said, that +was about the time when they began to ignore the +whole transaction at Washington, and when Nolan's +imprisonment began to carry itself on because there was +nobody to stop it without any new orders from home.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I have heard it said that he was with Porter when +he took possession of the Nukahiwa Islands. Not +this Porter, you know, but old Porter, his father, Essex +Porter,—that is, the old Essex Porter, not this +Essex. As an artillery officer, who had seen service +<span class="tei-pb" id="page028">[pg 028]</span> +<a name="Pg028" id="Pg028" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +in the West, Nolan knew more about fortifications, +embrasures, ravelins, stockades, and all that, than any +of them did; and he worked with a right good-will in +fixing that battery all right. I have always thought +it was a pity Porter did not leave him in command +there with Gamble. That would have settled all the +question about his punishment. We should have kept +the islands, and at this moment we should have one +station in the Pacific Ocean. Our French friends, +too, when they wanted this little watering-place, would +have found it was preoccupied. But Madison and the +Virginians, of course, flung all that away.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">All that was near fifty year ago. If Nolan was thirty +then, he must have been near eighty when he died. +He looked sixty when he was forty. But he never +seemed to me to change a hair afterwards. As I imagine +his life, from what I have seen and heard of it, +he must have been in every sea, and yet almost never +on land. He must have known, in a formal way, more +officers in our service than any man living knows. +He told me once, with a grave smile, that no man in +the world lived so methodical a life as he. "You +know the boys say I am the Iron Mask, and you know +how busy he was." He said it did not do for any one to +try to read all the time, more than to do anything else +all the time; but that he read just five hours a day. +"Then," he said, "I keep up my note-books, writing +in them at such and such hours from what I have been +reading; and I include in these my scrap-books." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page029">[pg 029]</span> +<a name="Pg029" id="Pg029" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +These were very curious indeed. He had six or eight, +of different subjects. There was one of History, one +of Natural Science, one which he called "Odds and +Ends." But they were not merely books of extracts +from newspapers. They had bits of plants and ribbons, +shells tied on, and carved scraps of bone and +wood, which he had taught the men to cut for him, +and they were beautifully illustrated. He drew admirably. +He had some of the funniest drawings there, +and some of the most pathetic, that I have ever seen in +my life. I wonder who will have Nolan's scrap-books.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, he said his reading and his notes were his profession, +and that they took five hours and two hours +respectively of each day. "Then," said he, "every +man should have a diversion as well as a profession. +My Natural History is my diversion." That took +two hours a day more. The men used to bring him +birds and fish, but on a long cruise he had to satisfy +himself with centipedes and cockroaches and such small +game. He was the only naturalist I ever met who +knew anything about the habits of the house-fly and the +mosquito. All those people can tell you whether they +are <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Lepidoptera</span> or <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Steptopotera</span>; but as for telling how +you can get rid of them, or how they get away from +you when you strike them,—why Linnæus knew as +little of that as John Foy the idiot did. These nine +hours made Nolan's regular daily "occupation." The +rest of the time he talked or walked. Till he grew +very old, he went aloft a great deal. He always kept +<span class="tei-pb" id="page030">[pg 030]</span> +<a name="Pg030" id="Pg030" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +up his exercise; and I never heard that he was ill. +If any other man was ill, he was the kindest nurse +in the world; and he knew more than half the surgeons +do. Then if anybody was sick or died, or if +the captain wanted him to, on any other occasion, he +was always ready to read prayers. I have said that +he read beautifully.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">My own acquaintance with Philip Nolan began six +or eight years after the War, on my first voyage after I +was appointed a midshipman. It was in the first days +after our Slave-Trade treaty, while the Reigning House, +which was still the House of Virginia, had still a sort of +sentimentalism about the suppression of the horrors of +the Middle Passage, and something was sometimes done +that way. We were in the South Atlantic on that +business. From the time I joined, I believe I thought +Nolan was a sort of lay chaplain,—a chaplain with a +blue coat. I never asked about him. Everything in +the ship was strange to me. I knew it was green to +ask questions, and I suppose I thought there was a +"Plain-Buttons" on every ship. We had him to +dine in our mess once a week, and the caution was +given that on that day nothing was to be said about +home. But if they had told us not to say anything +about the planet Mars or the Book of Deuteronomy, +I should not have asked why; there were a great +many things which seemed to me to have as little reason. +I first came to understand anything about "the +man without a country" one day when we overhauled +<span class="tei-pb" id="page031">[pg 031]</span> +<a name="Pg031" id="Pg031" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +a dirty little schooner which had slaves on board. An +officer was sent to take charge of her, and, after a few +minutes, he sent back his boat to ask that some one +might be sent him who could speak Portuguese. We +were all looking over the rail when the message came, +and we all wished we could interpret, when the captain +asked Who spoke Portuguese. But none of the +officers did; and just as the captain was sending forward +to ask if any of the people could, Nolan stepped +out and said he should be glad to interpret, if the captain +wished, as he understood the language. The captain +thanked him, fitted out another boat with him, and +in this boat it was my luck to go.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">When we got there, it was such a scene as you seldom +see, and never want to. Nastiness beyond account, +and chaos run loose in the midst of the nastiness. +There were not a great many of the negroes; but by +way of making what there were understand that they +were free, Vaughan had had their hand-cuffs and ankle-cuffs +knocked off, and, for convenience' sake, was +putting them upon the rascals of the schooner's crew. +The negroes were, most of them, out of the hold, and +swarming all round the dirty deck, with a central +throng surrounding Vaughan and addressing him in +every dialect, and <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">patois</span> of a dialect, from the Zulu +click up to the Parisian of Beledeljereed.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As we came on deck, Vaughan looked down from a +hogshead, on which he had mounted in desperation, +and said:— +<span class="tei-pb" id="page032">[pg 032]</span> +<a name="Pg032" id="Pg032" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"For God's love, is there anybody who can make +these wretches understand something? The men gave +them rum, and that did not quiet them. I knocked +that big fellow down twice, and that did not soothe +him. And then I talked Choctaw to all of them together; +and I'll be hanged if they understood that as +well as they understood the English."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Nolan said he could speak Portuguese, and one or +two fine-looking Kroomen were dragged out, who, as +it had been found already, had worked for the Portuguese +on the coast at Fernando Po.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Tell them they are free," said Vaughan; "and +tell them that these rascals are to be hanged as soon as +we can get rope enough."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Nolan "put that into Spanish,"—that is, he explained +it in such Portuguese as the Kroomen could +understand, and they in turn to such of the negroes +as could understand them. Then there was such a +yell of delight, clinching of fists, leaping and dancing, +kissing of Nolan's feet, and a general rush made +to the hogshead by way of spontaneous worship of +Vaughan, as the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">deus ex machina</span> of the occasion.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Tell them," said Vaughan, well pleased, "that I +will take them all to Cape Palmas."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This did not answer so well. Cape Palmas was +practically as far from the homes of most of them +as New Orleans or Rio Janeiro was; that is, they +would be eternally separated from home there. And +their interpreters, as we could understand, instantly +<span class="tei-pb" id="page033">[pg 033]</span> +<a name="Pg033" id="Pg033" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +said, "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Ah, non Palmas</span>" and began to propose infinite +other expedients in most voluble language. Vaughan +was rather disappointed at this result of his liberality, +and asked Nolan eagerly what they said. The drops +stood on poor Nolan's white forehead, as he hushed +the men down, and said:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"He says, 'Not Palmas.' He says, 'Take us +home, take us to our own country, take us to our own +house, take us to our own pickaninnies and our own +women.' He says he has an old father and mother +who will die if they do not see him. And this one +says he left his people all sick, and paddled down to +Fernando to beg the white doctor to come and help +them, and that these devils caught him in the bay just +in sight of home, and that he has never seen anybody +from home since then. And this one says," choked +out Nolan, "that he has not heard a word from his +home in six months, while he has been locked up in +an infernal barracoon."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Vaughan always said he grew gray himself while +Nolan struggled through this interpretation. I, who +did not understand anything of the passion involved in +it, saw that the very elements were melting with fervent +heat, and that something was to pay somewhere. +Even the negroes themselves stopped howling, as they +saw Nolan's agony, and Vaughan's almost equal agony +of sympathy. As quick as he could get words, he +said:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Tell them yes, yes, yes; tell them they shall go +<span class="tei-pb" id="page034">[pg 034]</span> +<a name="Pg034" id="Pg034" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +to the Mountains of the Moon, if they will. If I sail +the schooner through the Great White Desert, they +shall go home!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And after some fashion Nolan said so. And then +they all fell to kissing him again, and wanted to rub +his nose with theirs.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But he could not stand it long; and getting Vaughan +to say he might go back, he beckoned me down into +our boat. As we lay back in the stern-sheets and +the men gave way, he said to me: "Youngster, let +that show you what it is to be without a family, +without a home, and without a country. And if you +are ever tempted to say a word or to do a thing that +shall put a bar between you and your family, your +home, and your country, pray God in his mercy to +take you that instant home to his own heaven. Stick +by your family, boy; forget you have a self, while +you do everything for them. Think of your home, +boy; write and send, and talk about it. Let it be +nearer and nearer to your thought, the farther you +have to travel from it; and rush back to it, when you +are free, as that poor black slave is doing now. And +for your country, boy," and the words rattled in his +throat, "and for that flag," and he pointed to the +ship, "never dream a dream but of serving her as she +bids you, though the service carry you through a +thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no +matter who flatters you or who abuses you, never +look at another flag, never let a night pass but you +<span class="tei-pb" id="page035">[pg 035]</span> +<a name="Pg035" id="Pg035" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that +behind all these men you have to do with, behind officers, +and government, and people even, there is the +Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong +to Her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by +Her, boy, as you would stand by your mother, if those +devils there had got hold of her to-day!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was frightened to death by his calm, hard passion, +but I blundered out, that I would, by all that was +holy, and that I had never thought of doing anything +else. He hardly seemed to hear me; but he did, +almost in a whisper, say: "O, if anybody had said so +to me when I was of your age!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I think it was this half-confidence of his, which I +never abused, for I never told this story till now, +which afterward made us great friends. He was +very kind to me. Often he sat up, or even got up, at +night, to walk the deck with me, when it was my +watch. He explained to me a great deal of my +mathematics, and I owe to him my taste for mathematics. +He lent me books, and helped me about my +reading. He never alluded so directly to his story +again; but from one and another officer I have learned, +in thirty years, what I am telling. When we parted +from him in St. Thomas harbor, at the end of our +cruise, I was more sorry than I can tell. I was very +glad to meet him again in 1830; and later in life, +when I thought I had some influence in Washington, +I moved heaven and earth to have him discharged. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page036">[pg 036]</span> +<a name="Pg036" id="Pg036" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +But it was like getting a ghost out of prison. They +pretended there was no such man, and never was +such a man. They will say so at the Department +now! Perhaps they do not know. It will not be the +first thing in the service of which the Department +appears to know nothing!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There is a story that Nolan met Burr once on one +of our vessels, when a party of Americans came on +board in the Mediterranean. But this I believe to be +a lie; or, rather, it is a myth, <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">ben trovato</span>, involving a +tremendous blowing-up with which he sunk Burr,—asking +him how he liked to be "without a country." +But it is clear from Burr's life, that nothing of the +sort could have happened; and I mention this only as +an illustration of the stories which get a-going where +there is the least mystery at bottom.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So poor Philip Nolan had his wish fulfilled. I +know but one fate more dreadful; it is the fate reserved +for those men who shall have one day to exile +themselves from their country because they have attempted +her ruin, and shall have at the same time to +see the prosperity and honor to which she rises when +she has rid herself of them and their iniquities. The +wish of poor Nolan, as we all learned to call him, not because +his punishment was too great, but because his +repentance was so clear, was precisely the wish of +every Bragg and Beauregard who broke a soldier's +oath two years ago, and of every Maury and Barron +who broke a sailor's. I do not know how often they +<span class="tei-pb" id="page037">[pg 037]</span> +<a name="Pg037" id="Pg037" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +have repented. I do know that they have done all +that in them lay that they might have no country,—that +all the honors, associations, memories, and hopes +which belong to "country" might be broken up into +little shreds and distributed to the winds. I know, +too, that their punishment, as they vegetate through +what is left of life to them in wretched Boulognes and +Leicester Squares, where they are destined to upbraid +each other till they die, will have all the agony of +Nolan's, with the added pang that every one who sees +them will see them to despise and to execrate them. +They will have their wish, like him.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">For him, poor fellow, he repented of his folly, and +then, like a man, submitted to the fate he had asked +for. He never intentionally added to the difficulty or +delicacy of the charge of those who had him in hold. +Accidents would happen; but they never happened +from his fault. Lieutenant Truxton told me, that, +when Texas was annexed, there was a careful discussion +among the officers, whether they should get hold +of Nolan's handsome set of maps, and cut Texas out +of it,—from the map of the world and the map of +Mexico. The United States had been cut out when +the atlas was bought for him. But it was voted, +rightly enough, that to do this would be virtually to +reveal to him what had happened, or, as Harry Cole +said, to make him think Old Burr had succeeded. So +it was from no fault of Nolan's that a great botch happened +at my own table, when, for a short time, I was +<span class="tei-pb" id="page038">[pg 038]</span> +<a name="Pg038" id="Pg038" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +in command of the George Washington corvette, on +the South American station. We were lying in the +La Plata, and some of the officers, who had been on +shore, and had just joined again, were entertaining us +with accounts of their misadventures in riding the +half-wild horses of Buenos Ayres. Nolan was at +table, and was in an unusually bright and talkative +mood. Some story of a tumble reminded him of an +adventure of his own, when he was catching wild +horses in Texas with his adventurous cousin, at a time +when he must have been quite a boy. He told the +story with a good deal of spirit,—so much so, that the +silence which often follows a good story hung over the +table for an instant, to be broken by Nolan himself. +For he asked perfectly unconsciously:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Pray, what has become of Texas? After the Mexicans +got their independence, I thought that province +of Texas would come forward very fast. It is really +one of the finest regions on earth; it is the Italy +of this continent. But I have not seen or heard a +word of Texas for near twenty years."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There were two Texan officers at the table. The +reason he had never heard of Texas was that Texas +and her affairs had been painfully cut out of his +newspapers since Austin began his settlements; so +that, while he read of Honduras and Tamaulipas, and, +till quite lately, of California,—this virgin province, +in which his brother had travelled so far, and, I believe, +had died, had ceased to be to him. Waters and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page039">[pg 039]</span> +<a name="Pg039" id="Pg039" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Williams, the two Texas men, looked grimly at each +other, and tried not to laugh. Edward Morris had his +attention attracted by the third link in the chain of +the captain's chandelier. Watrous was seized with a +convulsion of sneezing. Nolan himself saw that something +was to pay, he did not know what. And I, as +master of the feast, had to say,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Texas is out of the map, Mr. Nolan. Have you +seen Captain Back's curious account of Sir Thomas +Roe's Welcome?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">After that cruise I never saw Nolan again. I wrote +to him at least twice a year, for in that voyage we became +even confidentially intimate; but he never wrote +to me. The other men tell me that in those fifteen +years he <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">aged</span> very fast, as well he might indeed, but +that he was still the same gentle, uncomplaining, silent +sufferer that he ever was, bearing as best he could his +self-appointed punishment,—rather less social, perhaps, +with new men whom he did not know, but more +anxious, apparently, than ever to serve and befriend +and teach the boys, some of whom fairly seemed to +worship him. And now it seems the dear old fellow +is dead. He has found a home at last, and a country.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Since writing this, and while considering whether +or no I would print it, as a warning to the young Nolans +and Vallandighams and Tatnalls of to-day of what +it is to throw away a country, I have received from +Danforth, who is on board the Levant, a letter which +<span class="tei-pb" id="page040">[pg 040]</span> +<a name="Pg040" id="Pg040" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +gives an account of Nolan's last hours. It removes +all my doubts about telling this story.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">To understand the first words of the letter, the non-professional +reader should remember that after 1817, +the position of every officer who had Nolan in charge +was one of the greatest delicacy. The government +had failed to renew the order of 1807 regarding him. +What was a man to do? Should he let him go? +What, then, if he were called to account by the Department +for violating the order of 1807? Should he +keep him? What, then, if Nolan should be liberated +some day, and should bring an action for false imprisonment +or kidnapping against every man who had had +him in charge? I urged and pressed this upon Southard, +and I have reason to think that other officers did the +same thing. But the Secretary always said, as they so +often do at Washington, that there were no special orders +to give, and that we must act on our own judgment. +That means, "If you succeed, you will be sustained; +if you fail, you will be disavowed." Well, as Danforth +says, all that is over now, though I do not know but I +expose myself to a criminal prosecution on the evidence +of the very revelation I am making.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Here is the letter:—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"LEVANT, 2° 2' S. @ 131° W.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR FRED:—I try to find heart and life to tell +you that it is all over with dear old Nolan. I have +been with him on this voyage more than I ever was, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page041">[pg 041]</span> +<a name="Pg041" id="Pg041" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +and I can understand wholly now the way in which +you used to speak of the dear old fellow. I could see +that he was not strong, but I had no idea the end was +so near. The doctor has been watching him very +carefully, and yesterday morning came to me and told +me that Nolan was not so well, and had not left his +state-room,—a thing I never remember before. He +had let the doctor come and see him as he lay there,—the +first time the doctor had been in the state-room,—and +he said he should like to see me. O dear! do +you remember the mysteries we boys used to invent +about his room, in the old Intrepid days? Well, I +went in, and there, to be sure, the poor fellow lay in +his berth, smiling pleasantly as he gave me his hand, +but looking very frail. I could not help a glance +round, which showed me what a little shrine he had +made of the box he was lying in. The stars and +stripes were triced up above and around a picture of +Washington, and he had painted a majestic eagle, with +lightnings blazing from his beak and his foot just clasping +the whole globe, which his wings overshadowed. +The dear old boy saw my glance, and said, with a sad +smile, 'Here, you see, I have a country!' And then +he pointed to the foot of his bed, where I had not seen +before a great map of the United States, as he had +drawn it from memory, and which he had there to look +upon as he lay. Quaint, queer old names were on it, +in large letters: 'Indiana Territory,' 'Mississippi Territory,' +and 'Louisiana Territory,' as I suppose our fathers +<span class="tei-pb" id="page042">[pg 042]</span> +<a name="Pg042" id="Pg042" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +learned such things: but the old fellow had +patched in Texas, too; he had carried his western +boundary all the way to the Pacific, but on that shore +he had defined nothing.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"'O Danforth,' he said, 'I know I am dying. I +cannot get home. Surely you will tell me something +now?—Stop! stop! Do not speak till I say what I +am sure you know, that there is not in this ship, that +there is not in America,—God bless her!—a more +loyal man than I. There cannot be a man who loves +the old flag as I do, or prays for it as I do, or hopes +for it as I do. There are thirty-four stars in it now, +Danforth. I thank God for that, though I do not +know what their names are. There has never been +one taken away: I thank God for that. I know by +that that there has never been any successful Burr. +O Danforth, Danforth,' he sighed out, 'how like a +wretched night's dream a boy's idea of personal fame +or of separate sovereignty seems, when one looks +back on it after such a life as mine! But tell me,—tell +me something,—tell me everything, Danforth, +before I die!'</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Ingham, I swear to you that I felt like a monster +that I had not told him everything before. Danger +or no danger, delicacy or no delicacy, who was I, that +I should have been acting the tyrant all this time over +this dear, sainted old man, who had years ago expiated, +in his whole manhood's life, the madness of a boy's +treason? 'Mr. Nolan,' said I, 'I will tell you every +thing you ask about. Only, where shall I begin?' +<span class="tei-pb" id="page043">[pg 043]</span> +<a name="Pg043" id="Pg043" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"O the blessed smile that crept over his white face! +and he pressed my hand and said, 'God bless you' +'Tell me their names,' he said, and he pointed to the +stars on the flag. 'The last I know is Ohio. My +father lived in Kentucky. But I have guessed Michigan +and Indiana and Mississippi,—that was where +Fort Adams is,—they make twenty. But where +are your other fourteen? You have not cut up any +of the old ones, I hope?'</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Well, that was not a bad text, and I told him the +names in as good order as I could, and he bade me +take down his beautiful map and draw them in as I +best could with my pencil. He was wild with delight +about Texas, told me how his cousin died there; he +had marked a gold cross near where he supposed his +grave was; and he had guessed at Texas. Then he +was delighted as he saw California and Oregon;—that, +he said, he had suspected partly, because he had +never been permitted to land on that shore, though +the ships were there so much. 'And the men,' said +he, laughing, 'brought off a good deal besides furs.' +Then he went back—heavens, how far!—to ask +about the Chesapeake, and what was done to Barron +for surrendering her to the Leopard, and whether +Burr ever tried again,—and he ground his teeth with +the only passion he showed. But in a moment that +was over, and he said, 'God forgive me, for I am sure +I forgive him.' Then he asked about the old war,—told +me the true story of his serving the gun the day +<span class="tei-pb" id="page044">[pg 044]</span> +<a name="Pg044" id="Pg044" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +we took the Java,—asked about dear old David Porter, +as he called him. Then he settled down more +quietly, and very happily, to hear me tell in an hour +the history of fifty years.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"How I wished it had been somebody who knew +something! But I did as well as I could. I told him +of the English war. I told him about Fulton and the +steamboat beginning. I told him about old Scott, and +Jackson; told him all I could think of about the Mississippi, +and New Orleans, and Texas, and his own old +Kentucky. And do you think, he asked who was in +command of the 'Legion of the West.' I told him it +was a very gallant officer named Grant, and that, by +our last news, he was about to establish his head-quarters +at Vicksburg. Then, 'Where was Vicksburg?' +I worked that out on the map; it was about a hundred +miles, more or less, above his old Fort Adams; and I +thought Fort Adams must he a ruin now. 'It must +be at old Vick's plantation,' at Walnut Hills, said he: +'well, that is a change!'</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I tell you, Ingham, it was a hard thing to condense +the history of half a century into that talk with +a sick man. And I do not now know what I told him,—of +emigration, and the means of it,—of steamboats, +and railroads, and telegraphs,—of inventions, and +books, and literature,—of the colleges, and West +Point, and the Naval School,—but with the queerest +interruptions that ever you heard. You see it was +Robinson Crusoe asking all the accumulated questions +of fifty-six years! +<span class="tei-pb" id="page045">[pg 045]</span> +<a name="Pg045" id="Pg045" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I remember he asked, all of a sudden, who was +President now; and when I told him, he asked if Old +Abe was General Benjamin Lincoln's son. He said +he met old General Lincoln, when he was quite a boy +himself, at some Indian treaty. I said no, that Old +Abe was a Kentuckian like himself, but I could not tell +him of what family; he had worked up from the ranks. +'Good for him!' cried Nolan; 'I am glad of that. +As I have brooded and wondered, I have thought our +danger was in keeping up those regular successions in +the first families.' Then I got talking about my visit +to Washington. I told him of meeting the Oregon +Congressman, Harding; I told him about the Smithsonian, +and the Exploring Expedition; I told him +about the Capitol, and the statues for the pediment, +and Crawford's Liberty, and Greenough's Washington: +Ingham, I told him everything I could think of +that would show the grandeur of his country and its +prosperity; but I could not make up my mouth to tell +him a word about this infernal Rebellion!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And he drank it in, and enjoyed it as I cannot +tell you. He grew more and more silent, yet I never +thought he was tired or faint. I gave him a glass of +water, but he just wet his lips, and told me not to go +away. Then he asked me to bring the Presbyterian +'Book of Public Prayer,' which lay there, and said, +with a smile, that it would open at the right place,—and +so it did. There was his double red mark down +the page; and I knelt down and read, and he repeated +<span class="tei-pb" id="page046">[pg 046]</span> +<a name="Pg046" id="Pg046" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +with me, 'For ourselves and our country, O +gracious God, we thank Thee, that, notwithstanding +our manifold transgressions of Thy holy laws, Thou +hast continued to us Thy marvellous kindness,'—and +so to the end of that thanksgiving. Then he turned to +the end of the same book, and I read the words more +familiar to me: 'Most heartily we beseech Thee with +Thy favor to behold and bless Thy servant, the President +of the United States, and all others in authority,'—and +the rest of the Episcopal collect. 'Danforth,' +said he, 'I have repeated those prayers night and +morning, it is now fifty-five years.' And then he +said he would go to sleep. He bent me down over +him and kissed me; and he said, 'Look in my Bible, +Danforth, when I am gone.' And I went away.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"But I had no thought it was the end. I thought +he was tired and would sleep. I knew he was happy +and I wanted him to be alone.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"But in an hour, when the doctor went in gently +he found Nolan had breathed his life away with a +smile. He had something pressed close to his lips. +It was his father's badge of the Order of the Cincinnati.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"We looked in his Bible, and there was a slip of +paper at the place where he had marked the text:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"'They desire a country, even a heavenly: wherefore +God is not ashamed to be called their God: for +he hath prepared for them a city.'</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"On this slip of paper he had written:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"'Bury me in the sea; it has been my home, and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page047">[pg 047]</span> +<a name="Pg047" id="Pg047" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +I love it. But will not some one set up a stone for +my memory at Fort Adams or at Orleans, that my +disgrace may not be more than I ought to bear? Say +on it:—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">"'<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">In Memory of</span></p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">PHILIP NOLAN,</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"><span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Lieutenant in the Army of the United States</span>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">He loved his country as no other man has loved her; but no +man deserved less at her hands.'"</p> +</blockquote> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page048">[pg 048]</span> +<a name="Pg048" id="Pg048" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_3" id="toc_3"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE LAST OF THE FLORIDA.</h1> +<h1 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">FROM THE INGHAM PAPERS.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[The Florida, Anglo-Rebel pirate, after inflicting horrible injuries +on the commerce of America and the good name of England, +was cut out by Captain Collins, from the bay of Bahia, by +one of those fortunate mistakes in international law which endear +brave men to the nations in whose interest they are committed. +When she arrived here the government was obliged to disavow +the act. The question then was, as we had her by mistake, +what we should do with her. At that moment the National +Sailors' Fair was in full blast at Boston, and I offered my +suggestion in answer in the following article, which was published +November 19, 1864, in the "Boatswain's Whistle," a little paper +issued at the fair.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The government did not take the suggestion. Very unfortunately, +before the Florida was got ready for sea, she was accidentally +sunk in a collision with a tug off Fort Monroe, and the +heirs of the Confederate government or the English bond-holders +must look there for her, if the Brazilian government will +give them permission.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">For the benefit of the New York Observer I will state that a +despatch sent round the world in a spiral direction westward +1,200 times, would not really arrive at its destination four years +before it started. It is only a joke which suggests it.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<h2 class="tei tei-head">SPECIAL DESPATCH.</h2> +<h2 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">LETTER FROM CAPTAIN INGHAM, IN COMMAND OF THE FLORIDA.</h2> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[Received four years in advance of the mail by a lightning express, +which has gained that time by running round the world 1,200 times +<span class="tei-pb" id="page049">[pg 049]</span> +<a name="Pg049" id="Pg049" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +in a spiral direction westward on its way from Brazil to our +publication-office. +Mrs. Ingham's address not being known, the letter is +printed for her information.]</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">No. 29.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">BAHIA, BRAZIL, April 1, 1868.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">MY DEAR WIFE:—We are here at last, thank fortune; +and I shall surrender the old pirate to-day to +the officers of government. We have been saluted, +are to be fêted, and perhaps I shall be made a Knight +Commander of the Golden Goose. I never was so +glad as when I saw the lights on the San Esperitu +head-land, which makes the south point of this Bahia +or bay.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">You will not have received my No. 28 from Loando, +and may have missed 26 and 24, which I gave to <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">outward</span> +bound whalemen. I always doubted whether +you got 1, 7, 9, and 11. And for me I have no word +of you since you waved your handkerchief from the +window in Springfield Street on the morning of the +1st of June, 1865, nearly four years. My dear child, +you will not know me.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Let me then repeat, very briefly, the outline of this +strange cruise; and when the letters come, you can +fill in the blanks.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The government had determined that the Florida +must be returned to the neutral harbor whence she +came. They had put her in complete repair, and six +months of diplomacy had made the proper apologies +to the Brazilian government. Meanwhile Collins, +who had captured her by mistake, had, by another +<span class="tei-pb" id="page050">[pg 050]</span> +<a name="Pg050" id="Pg050" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +mistake, been made an admiral, and was commanding +a squadron; and to insure her safe and respectful +delivery, I, who had been waiting service, was un +shelved, and, as you know, bidden to take command.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">She was in apple-pie order. The engines had been +cleaned up; and I thought we could make a quick +thing of it. I was a little dashed when I found the +crew was small; but I have been glad enough since +that we had no more mouths. No one but myself +knew our destination. The men thought we were to +take despatches to the Gulf squadron.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">You remember I had had only verbal orders to take +command, and after we got outside the bay I opened +my sealed despatches. The gist of them was in these +words:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You will understand that the honor of this government +is pledged for the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">safe</span> delivery of the Florida +to the government of Brazil. You will therefore +hazard nothing to gain speed. The quantity of your +coal has been adjusted with the view to give your +vessel her best trim, and the supply is not large. You +will husband it with care,—taking every precaution +to arrive in Bahia <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">safely</span> with your charge, in such +time as <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">your best discretion</span> may suggest to you."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Your best discretion</span>" was underscored.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I called Prendergast, and showed him the letter. +Then we called the engineer and asked about the coal. +He had not been into the bunkers, but went and returned +with his face white, through the black grime, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page051">[pg 051]</span> +<a name="Pg051" id="Pg051" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +to report "not four days' consumption." By some +cursed accident, he said, the bunkers had been filled +with barrels of salt-pork and flour!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">On this, I ordered a light and went below. There +had been some fatal misunderstanding somewhere. +The vessel was fitted out as for an arctic voyage. +Everywhere hard-bread, flour, pork, beef, vinegar, +sour-krout; but, clearly enough, not, at the very best, +five days of coal!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And I was to get to Brazil with this old pirate +transformed into a provision ship, "at my best discretion."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Prendergast," said I, "we will take it easy. +Were you ever in Bahia?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Took flour there in '55, and lay waiting for India-rubber +from July to October. Lost six men by yellow-jack."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Prendergast was from the merchant marine. I had +known him since we were children. "Ethan," said +I, "in my best discretion it would be bad to arrive +there before the end of October. Where would you +go?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I cannot say he took the responsibility. He would +not take it. You know, my dear, of course, that it +was I who suggested Upernavik. From the days of +the old marbled paper Northern Regions,—through +the quarto Ross and Parry and Back and the nephew +Ross and Kane and McClure and McClintock, you +know, my dear, what my one passion has been,—to +<span class="tei-pb" id="page052">[pg 052]</span> +<a name="Pg052" id="Pg052" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +see those floes and icebergs for myself. Surely you +forgive me, or at least excuse me. Do not you? +Here was this fast steamer under me. I ought not to +be in Bahia before October 25. It was June 1. Of +course we went to Upernavik.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I will not say I regret it now. Yet I will say that +on that decision, cautiously made, though it was "on +my discretion," all our subsequent misfortunes hang. +The Danes were kind to us,—the Governor especially, +though I had to carry the poor fellow bad news +about the Duchies and the Danish war, which was all +fresh then. He got up a dance for us, I remember, +and there I wrote No. 1 to you. I could not of course +help—when we left him—running her up a few degrees +to the north, just to see whether there is or is +not that passage between Igloolik and Prince Rupert's +Headland (and by the way there <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">is</span>). After we +passed Igloolik, there was such splendid weather, that +I just used up a little coal to drive her along the coast +of King William's Land; and there, as we waited for +little duck-shooting on the edge of a floe one day, as +our luck ordered, a party of natives came on board, +and we treated them with hard-tack crumbs and whale-oil. +They fell to dancing, and we to laughing,—they +danced more and we laughed more, till the oldest +woman tumbled in her bear-skin bloomers, and came +with a smash right on the little cast-iron frame by the +wheel, which screened binnacle and compass. My +dear child, there was such a hullalu and such a mess +<span class="tei-pb" id="page053">[pg 053]</span> +<a name="Pg053" id="Pg053" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +together as I remember now. We had to apologize, +the doctor set her head as well as he could. We gave +them gingerbread from the cabin, to console them, +and got them off without a fight. But the next morning +when I cast off from the floe, it proved the beggars +had stolen the compass card, needle and all.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">My dear Mary, there was not another bit of magnetized +iron in the ship. The government had been very +shy of providing instruments of any kind for Confederate +cruisers. Poor Ethan had traded off two compasses +only the day before for whalebone spears and +skin breeches, neither of which knew the north star +from the ace of spades. And this thing proved of +more importance than you will think; it really made +me feel that the stuff in the books and the sermons +about the mariners' needle was not quite poetry.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As you shall see, if I ever get through. (Since I +began, I have seen the Consul,—and heard the +glorious news from home,—and am to be presented +to the port authorities to-morrow.) It was the most +open summer, Mary, ever known there. If I had not +had to be here in October, I would have driven right +through Lancaster Sound, by Baring's Island, and +come out into the Pacific. But here was the honor +of the country, and we merely stole back through the +Straits. It was well enough there,—all daylight, +you know. But after we passed Cape Farewell, we +worked her into such fogs, child, as you never saw out +of Hyde Park. Did not I long for that compass-card! +<span class="tei-pb" id="page054">[pg 054]</span> +<a name="Pg054" id="Pg054" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +We sailed, and we sailed, and we sailed. For thirty-seven +days I did not get an observation, nor speak a +ship! October! It was October before we were +warm. At noon we used to sail where we thought it +was lightest. At night I used to keep two men up +for a lookout, lash the wheel, and let her drift like a +Dutchman. One way as good as another. Mary, +when I saw the sun at last, enough to get any kind of +observation, we were wellnigh three hundred miles +northeast of Iceland! Talk of fogs to me!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, I set her south again, but how long can you +know if you are sailing south, in those places where +the northeast winds and Scotch mists come from! +Thank Heaven, we got south, or we should have frozen +to death. We got into November, and we got into +December. We were as far south as 37° 29'; and +were in 31° 17' west on New Year's Day, 1866, when +the second officer wished me a happy new year, congratulated +me on the fine weather, said we should get +a good observation, and asked me for the new nautical +almanac! You know they are only calculated for five +years. We had two Greenwich ones on board, and +they ran out December 31, 1865. But the government +had been as stingy in almanacs as in coal and +compasses. They did not mean to keep the Confederacy +in almanacs.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That was the beginning of our troubles. I had to +take the old almanac, with Prendergast, and we figured +like Cocker, and always kept ahead with a +<span class="tei-pb" id="page055">[pg 055]</span> +<a name="Pg055" id="Pg055" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +month's tables. But somehow,—I feel sure we were +right,—but something was wrong; and after a few +weeks the lunars used to come out in the most beastly +way, and we always proved to be on the top of the +Andes or in the Marquesas Islands, or anywhere but +in the Atlantic Ocean. Well then, by good luck, we +spoke the Winged Batavian; could not speak a +word of Dutch, nor he a word of English; but he let +Ethan copy his tables, and so we ran for St. Sacrament. +I posted 8, 9, and 10 there; I gave the Dutchman +7, which I hope you got, but fear.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, this story is running long; but at St. Sacrament +we started again, but, as ill-luck would have +it, without a clean bill of health. At that time I could +have run into Bahia with coal—of which I had +bought some—in a week. But there was fever on +shore,—and bad,—and I knew we must make pratique +when we came into the outer harbor here; so, +rather than do that, we stretched down the coast, and +met that cyclone I wrote you about, and had to put +into Loando. Understand, this was the first time we +went into Loando. I have learned that wretched +hole well enough since. And it was as we were running +out of Loando, that, in reversing the engine too +suddenly, lest we should smash up an old Portuguese +woman's bum-boat, that the slides or supports of +the piston-rod just shot out of the grooves they run in +on the top, came cleverly down on the outside of the +carriage, gave that odious <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">g-r-r-r</span>, which I can hear +<span class="tei-pb" id="page056">[pg 056]</span> +<a name="Pg056" id="Pg056" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +now, and then, <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">dump</span>,—down came the whole weight +of the walking-beam, bent rod and carriages all into +three figure 8's, and there we were! I had as lief +run the boat with a clothes-wringer as with that engine, +any day, from then to now.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, we tinkered, and the Portuguese dock-yard +people tinkered. We took out this, and they took out +that. It was growing sickly, and I got frightened, +and finally I shipped the propeller and took it on board, +and started under such canvas as we had left,—not +much after the cyclone,—for the North and the +South together had rather rotted the original duck.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Then,—as I wrote you in No. 11,—it was too late +to get to Bahia before that summer's sickly season, +and I stretched off to cooler regions again, "in my +best discretion." That was the time when we had the +fever so horribly on board; and but for Wilder the +surgeon, and the Falkland Islands, we should be dead, +every man of us, now. But we touched in Queen's +Bay just in time. The Governor (who is his own +only subject) was very cordial and jolly and kind. +We all went ashore, and pitched tents, and ate ducks +and penguins till the men grew strong. I scraped +her, nearly down to the bends, for the grass floated +by our side like a mermaid's hair as we sailed, and +the once swift Florida would not make four knots an +hour on the wind;—and this was the ship I was to +get into Bahia in good order, at my best discretion!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Meanwhile none of these people had any news from +<span class="tei-pb" id="page057">[pg 057]</span> +<a name="Pg057" id="Pg057" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +America. The last paper at the Falkland Islands was +a London Times of 1864, abusing the Yankees. As +for the Portuguese, they were like the people Logan +saw at Vicksburg. "They don't know anything +good!" said he; "they don't know anything at all!" +It was really more for news than for water I put into +Sta. Lucia,—and a pretty mess I made of it there. +We looked so like pirates (as at bottom the old +tub is), that they took all of us who landed to the +guard-house. None of us could speak Sta. Lucia, +whatever that tongue may be, nor understand it. +And it was not till Ethan fired a shell from the 100-pound +Parrott over the town that they let us go. I +hope the dogs sent you my letters. I suppose there +was another infringement of neutrality. But if the +Brazilian government sends this ship to Sta. Lucia, I +shall not command her, that's all!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well! what happened at Loando the second time, +Valencia, and Puntos Pimos, and Nueva Salamanca, +and Loando this last time, you know and will know, +and why we loitered so. At last, thank fortune, here +we are. Actually, Mary, this ship logged on the +average only thirty-two knots a day for the last week +before we got her into port.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Now think of the ingratitude of men! I have +brought her in here, "according to my best discretion," +and do you believe, these hidalgos, or dons, or +senores, or whatever they are, had forgotten she existed. +And when I showed them to her, they said in +<span class="tei-pb" id="page058">[pg 058]</span> +<a name="Pg058" id="Pg058" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +good Portugal that I was a liar. Fortunately the Consul +is our old friend Kingsley. He was delighted to +see me; thought I was at the bottom of the sea. +From him we learned that the Confederacy was blown +sky-high long ago. And from all I can learn, I may +have the Florida back again for my own private yacht +or peculium, unless she goes to Sta. Lucia.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Not I, my friends! Scrape her, and mend her, and +give her to the marines,—and tell them her story; +but do not intrust her again to my own Polly's own</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">FREDERIC INGHAM</p> +</div> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page059">[pg 059]</span> +<a name="Pg059" id="Pg059" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_4" id="toc_4"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">A PIECE OF POSSIBLE HISTORY.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[This essay was first published in the Monthly Religious +Magazine, Boston, for October, 1851. One or another professor +of chronology has since taken pains to tell me that it is impossible. +But until they satisfy themselves whether Homer ever +lived at all, I shall hold to the note which I wrote to Miss Dryasdust's +cousin, which I printed originally at the end of the +article, and which will be found there in this collection. The +difficulties in the geography are perhaps worse than those of +chronology.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">A summer bivouac had collected together a little +troop of soldiers from Joppa, under the shelter of +a grove, where they had spread their sheep-skins, +tethered their horses, and pitched a single tent. With +the carelessness of soldiers, they were chatting away +the time till sleep might come, and help them to to-morrow +with its chances; perhaps of fight, perhaps of +another day of this camp indolence. Below the garden +slope where they were lounging, the rapid torrent of +Kishon ran brawling along. A full moon was rising +above the rough edge of the Eastern hills, and the +whole scene was alive with the loveliness of an Eastern +landscape. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page060">[pg 060]</span> +<a name="Pg060" id="Pg060" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As they talked together, the strains of a harp came +borne down the stream by the wind, mingling with +the rippling of the brook.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"The boys were right," said the captain of the +little company. "They asked leave to go up the +stream to spend their evening with the Carmel-men; +and said that they had there a harper, who would sing +and play for them."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Singing at night, and fighting in the morning! +It is the true soldier's life," said another.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Who have they there?" asked a third.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"One of those Ziklag-men," replied the chief. "He +came into camp a few days ago, seems to be an old +favorite of the king's, and is posted with his men, by +the old tomb on the edge of the hill. If you cross the +brook, he is not far from the Carmel post; and some +of his young men have made acquaintance there."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"One is not a soldier for nothing. If we make +enemies at sight, we make friends at sight too."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Echish here says that the harper is a Jew."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"What!—a deserter?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I do not know that; that is the king's lookout. +Their company came up a week ago, were reviewed +the day I was on guard at the outposts, and they had +this post I tell you of assigned to them. So the king +is satisfied; and, if he is, I am."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Jew or Gentile, Jehovah's man or Dagon's man," +said one of the younger soldiers, with a half-irreverent +tone, "I wish we had him here to sing to us." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page061">[pg 061]</span> +<a name="Pg061" id="Pg061" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And to keep us awake," yawned another.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Or to keep us from thinking of to-morrow," said +a third.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Can nobody sing here, or play, or tell an old-time +story?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There was nobody. The only two soldiers of the +post, who affected musical skill, were the two who +had gone up to the Carmelites' bivouac; and the little +company of Joppa—catching louder notes and louder, +as the bard's inspiration carried him farther and +farther away—crept as far up the stream as the limits +of their station would permit; and lay, without noise, +to catch, as they best could, the rich tones of the music +as it swept down the valley.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Soothed by the sound, and by the moonlight, and +by the summer breeze, they were just in mood to welcome +the first interruption which broke the quiet of +the night. It was the approach of one of their company, +who had been detached to Accho a day or two +before; and who came hurrying in to announce the +speedy arrival of companions, for whom he bespoke +a welcome. Just as they were to leave Accho, he +said, that day, on their return to camp, an Ionian +trading-vessel had entered port. He and his fellow-soldiers +had waited to help her moor, and had been +chatting with her seamen. They had told them of +the chance of battle to which they were returning; +and two or three of the younger Ionians, enchanted at +the relief from the sea's imprisonment, had begged +<span class="tei-pb" id="page062">[pg 062]</span> +<a name="Pg062" id="Pg062" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +them to let them volunteer in company with them. +These men had come up into the country with the soldiers, +therefore; and he who had broken the silence of +the listeners to the distant serenade had hurried on to +tell his comrades that such visitors were on their way.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">They soon appeared on foot, but hardly burdened +by the light packs they bore.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">A soldier's welcome soon made the Ionian sailors as +much at home with the men of the bivouac, as they +had been through the day with the detachment from +the sea-board. A few minutes were enough to draw +out sheep-skins for them to lie upon, a skin of wine for +their thirst, a bunch of raisins and some oat-cakes for +their hunger; a few minutes more had told the news +which each party asked from the other; and then +these sons of the sea and these war-bronzed Philistines +were as much at ease with each other as if they had +served under the same sky for years.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"We were listening to music," said the old chief, +"when you came up. Some of our young men have +gone up, indeed, to the picket yonder, to hear the +harper sing, whose voice you catch sometimes, when +we are not speaking."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You find the Muses in the midst of arms, then," +said one of the young Ionians.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Muses?" said the old Philistine, laughing. "That +sounds like you Greeks. Ah! sir, in our rocks here +we have few enough Muses, but those who carry these +lances, or teach us how to trade with the islands for +tin." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page063">[pg 063]</span> +<a name="Pg063" id="Pg063" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"That's not quite fair," cried another. "The +youngsters who are gone sing well; and one of them +has a harp I should be glad you should see. He made +it himself from a gnarled olive-root." And he turned +to look for it.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You'll not find it in the tent: the boy took it with +him. They hoped the Ziklag minstrel might ask +them to sing, I suppose."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"A harp of olive-wood," said the Ionian, "seems +Muse-born and Pallas-blessed."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And, as he spoke, one of the new-comers of the +Philistines leaned over, and whispered to the chief: +"He is a bard himself, and we made him promise to +sing to us. I brought his harp with me that he might +cheer up our bivouac. Pray, do you ask him."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The old chief needed no persuasion; and the eyes +of the whole force brightened as they found they had +a minstrel "of their own" now, when the old man +pressed the young Ionian courteously to let them hear +him: "I told you, sir, that we had no Muses of our +own; but we welcome all the more those who come +to us from over seas."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Homer smiled; for it was Homer whom he spoke +to,—Homer still in the freshness of his unblinded +youth. He took the harp which the young Philistine +handed to him, thrummed upon its chords, and as he +tuned them said: "I have no harp of olive-wood; we +cut this out, it was years ago, from an old oleander in +the marshes behind Colophon. What will you hear, +gentlemen?" +<span class="tei-pb" id="page064">[pg 064]</span> +<a name="Pg064" id="Pg064" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"The poet chooses for himself," said the courtly +old captain.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Let me sing you, then, of <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">the Olive Harp</span>"; and +he struck the chords in a gentle, quieting harmony, +which attuned itself to his own spirit, pleased as he +was to find music and harmony and the olive of peace +in the midst of the rough bivouac, where he had come +up to look for war. But he was destined to be disappointed. +Just as his prelude closed, one of the +young soldiers turned upon his elbow, and whispered +contemptuously to his neighbor: "Always <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">olives</span>, always +<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">peace</span>: that's all your music's good for!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The boy spoke too loud, and Homer caught the discontented +tone and words with an ear quicker than +the speaker had given him credit for. He ended the +prelude with a sudden crash on the strings, and said +shortly, "And what is better to sing of than the +olive?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The more courteous Philistines looked sternly on +the young soldier; but he had gone too far to be +frightened, and he flashed back: "War is better. My +broadsword is better. If I could sing, I would sing +to your Ares; we call him Mars!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Homer smiled gravely. "Let it be so," said he; +and, in a lower tone, to the captain, who was troubled +at the breach of courtesy, he added, "Let the boy +see what war and Mars are for."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He struck another prelude and began. Then was +it that Homer composed his "Hymn to Mars." In +<span class="tei-pb" id="page065">[pg 065]</span> +<a name="Pg065" id="Pg065" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +wild measure, and impetuous, he swept along through +the list of Mars's titles and attributes; then his key +changed, and his hearers listened more intently, more +solemnly, as in a graver strain, with slower music, and +an almost awed dignity of voice, the bard went on.—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p style="margin-left: 12em" class="tei tei-l">"Helper of mortals, hear!</p> +<p style="margin-left: 12em" class="tei tei-l"> As thy fires give</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">The present boldnesses that strive</p> +<p style="margin-left: 12em" class="tei tei-l"> In youth for honor;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">So would I likewise wish to have the power</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">To keep off from my head thy bitter hour,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And quench the false fire of my soul's low kind,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">By the fit ruling of my highest mind I</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">Control that sting of wealth</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That stirs me on still to the horrid scath</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">Of hideous battle!</p> +</div> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Do thou, O ever blessed! give me still</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Presence of mind to put in act my will,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">Whate'er the occasion be;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And so to live, unforced by any fear,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Beneath those laws of peace, that never are</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Affected with pollutions popular</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">Of unjust injury,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">As to bear safe the burden of hard fates,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Of foes inflexive, and inhuman hates!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The tones died away; the company was hushed for +a moment; and the old chief then said gravely to his +petulant follower, "That is what <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">men</span> fight for, boy." +But the boy did not need the counsel. Homer's manner, +his voice, the music itself, the spirit of the song, +as much as the words, had overcome him; and the +boasting soldier was covering his tears with his hands. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page066">[pg 066]</span> +<a name="Pg066" id="Pg066" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Homer felt at once (the prince of gentlemen he) +that the little outbreak, and the rebuke of it, had +jarred the ease of their unexpected meeting. How +blessed is the presence of mind with which the musician +of real genius passes from song to song, "whate'er +the occasion be!" With the ease of genius he +changed the tone of his melody again, and sang his +own hymn, "To Earth, the Mother of all."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The triumphant strain is one which harmonizes with +every sentiment; and he commanded instantly the rapt +attention of the circle. So engrossed was he, that he +did not seem to observe, as he sang, an addition to +their company of some soldiers from above in the valley, +just <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">as</span> he entered on the passage:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p style="margin-left: 12em" class="tei tei-l"> "Happy, then, are they</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">Whom thou, O great in reverence!</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Are bent to honor. They shall all things find</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">In all abundance! All their pastures yield</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Herds in all plenty. All their roofs are filled</p> +<p style="margin-left: 14em" class="tei tei-l"> With rich possessions.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">High happiness and wealth attend them,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">While, with laws well-ordered, they</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Cities of happy households sway;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And their sons exult in the pleasure of youth,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And their daughters dance with the flower-decked girls,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Who play among the flowers of summer!</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Such are the honors thy full hands divide;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Mother of Gods and starry Heaven's bride!"<a name="noteref_1" id="noteref_1"></a><a href="#note_1"><span class="footnoteref">1</span></a></p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">A buzz of pleasure and a smile ran round the circle, +in which the new-comers joined. They were the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page067">[pg 067]</span> +<a name="Pg067" id="Pg067" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +soldiers who had been to hear and join the music at +the Carmel-men's post. The tones of Homer's harp +had tempted them to return; and they had brought +with them the Hebrew minstrel, to whom they had +been listening. It was the outlaw David, of Bethlehem +Ephrata.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">David had listened to Homer more intently than +any one; and, as the pleased applause subsided, the +eyes of the circle gathered upon him, and the manner +of all showed that they expected him, in minstrel-fashion, +to take up the same strain.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He accepted the implied invitation, played a short +prelude, and taking Homer's suggestion of topic, sang +in parallel with it:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"I will sing a new song unto thee, O God!</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Upon psaltery and harp will I sing praise to thee.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Thou art He that giveth salvation to kings,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That delivereth David, thy servant, from the sword.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Rid me and save me from those who speak vanity,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood,—</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That our sons may be as plants in fresh youth;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That our daughters may be as corner-stones,—</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The polished stones of our palaces;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That our garners may be full with all manner of store;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in the way;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That there may be no cry nor complaint in our streets</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Happy is the people that is in such a case;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Yea, happy is the people whose God is the Lord!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The melody was triumphant; and the enthusiastic +manner yet more so. The Philistines listened delighted,—too +<span class="tei-pb" id="page068">[pg 068]</span> +<a name="Pg068" id="Pg068" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +careless of religion, they, indeed not to be +catholic in presence of religious enthusiasm; and Homer +wore the exalted expression which his face seldom +wore. For the first time since his childhood, Homer +felt that he was not alone in the world!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Who shall venture to tell what passed between the +two minstrels, when Homer, leaving his couch, crossed +the circle at once, flung himself on the ground by +David's side, gave him his hand; when they looked +each other in the face, and sank down into the rapid +murmuring of talk, which constant gesture illustrated, +but did not fully explain to the rough men around +them? They respected the poets' colloquy for a +while; but then, eager again to hear one harp or the +other, they persuaded one of the Ionian sailors to +ask Homer again to sing to them.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was hard to persuade Homer. He shook his +head, and turned back to the soldier-poet.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"What should <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">I</span> sing?" he said.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">They did not enter into his notion: hearers will not +always. And so, taking his question literally, they replied, +"Sing? Sing us of the snow-storm, the storm +of stones, of which you sang at noon."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Poor Homer! It was easier to do it than to be +pressed to do it; and he struck his harp again:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"It was as when, some wintry day, to men</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Jove would, in might, his sharp artillery show;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He wills his winds to sleep, and over plain</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">And mountains pours, in countless flakes, his snow,</p> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page069">[pg 069]</span> +<a name="Pg069" id="Pg069" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<p class="tei tei-l">Deep it conceals the rocky cliffs and hills,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Then covers all the blooming meadows o'er,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">All the rich monuments of mortals' skill,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">All ports and rocks that break the ocean-shore</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Rock, haven, plain, are buried by its fall;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">But the near wave, unchanging, drinks it all.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">So while these stony tempests veil the skies,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">While this on Greeks, and that on Trojans flies,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The walls unchanged above the clamor rise."<a name="noteref_2" id="noteref_2"></a><a href="#note_2"><span class="footnoteref">2</span></a></p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The men looked round upon David, whose expression, +as he returned the glance, showed that he had +enjoyed the fragment as well as they. But when they +still looked expectant, he did not decline the unspoken +invitation; but, taking Homer's harp, sang, as if the +words were familiar to him:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"He giveth snow like wool;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He scattereth the hoar-frost like ashes;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He casteth forth his ice like morsels;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Who can stand before his cold?</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He sendeth forth his word, and melteth them;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Always this '<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">He</span>,'" said one of the young soldiers +to another.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes," he replied; "and it was so in the beginning +of the evening, when we were above there."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"There is a strange difference between the two +men, though the one plays as well as the other, and +the Greek speaks with quite as little foreign accent as +the Jew, and their subjects are the same."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes," said the young Philistine harper; "if the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page070">[pg 070]</span> +<a name="Pg070" id="Pg070" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Greek should sing one of the Hebrew's songs, you +would know he had borrowed it, in a moment."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And so, if it were the other way."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Of course," said their old captain, joining in this +conversation. "Homer, if you call him so, sings the +thing made: David sings the maker. Or, rather, +Homer thinks of the thing made: David thinks of the +maker, whatever they sing."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I was going to say that Homer would sing of +cities; and David, of the life in them."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"It is not what they say so much, as the way they +look at it. The Greek sees the outside,—the beauty +of the thing; the Hebrew—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Hush!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">For David and his new friend had been talking too. +Homer had told him of the storm at sea they met a +few days before; and David, I think, had spoken of a +mountain-tornado, as he met it years before. In the +excitement of his narrative he struck the harp, which +was still in his hand, and sung:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Then the earth shook and trembled,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The foundations of the hills moved and were shaken,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">Because He was wroth;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">There went up a smoke out of his nostrils,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And fire out of his mouth devoured;</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">It burned with living coal.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">He bowed the heavens also, and came down,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And darkness was under his feet;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He rode upon a cherub and did fly,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He made darkness his resting-place,</p> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page071">[pg 071]</span> +<a name="Pg071" id="Pg071" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<p class="tei tei-l">His pavilion were dark waters and clouds of the skies;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">At the brightness before him his clouds passed by,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Hail-stones and coals of fire.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The Lord also thundered in the heavens,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And the highest gave his voice;</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Hail-stones and coals of fire.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And he shot out his lightnings, and discomfited them.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Then the channels of waters were seen,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">And the foundations of the world were made known,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">At thy rebuke, O Lord!</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">At the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">He sent from above, he took me,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">He drew me out of many waters."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Mine were but a few verses," said Homer. "I +am more than repaid by yours. Imagine Neptune, +our sea-god, looking on a battle:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"There he sat high, retired from the seas;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">There looked with pity on his Grecians beaten;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">There burned with rage at the god-king who slew them.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Then he rushed forward from the rugged mountains,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l"> Quickly descending;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He bent the forests also as he came down,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And the high cliffs shook under his feet.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l"> Three times he trod upon them,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And with his fourth step reached the home he sought for.</p> +</div> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"There was his palace, in the deep waters of the seas,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Shining with gold, and builded forever.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">There he yoked him his swift-footed horses;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Their hoofs are brazen, and their manes are golden.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l"> He binds them with golden thongs,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l"> He seizes his golden goad,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">He mounts upon his chariot, and doth fly:</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Yes! he drives them forth into the waves!</p> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page072">[pg 072]</span> +<a name="Pg072" id="Pg072" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<p class="tei tei-l">And the whales rise under him from the depths,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">For they know he is their king;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And the glad sea is divided into parts,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">That his steeds may fly along quickly;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And his brazen axle passes dry between the waves,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">So, bounding fast, they bring him to his Grecians."<a name="noteref_3" id="noteref_3"></a><a href="#note_3"><span class="footnoteref">3</span></a></p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And the poets sank again into talk.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You see it," said the old Philistine. "He paints +the picture. David sings the life of the picture."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes: Homer sees what he sings; David feels his +song."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Homer's is perfect in its description."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes; but for life, for the soul of the description, +you need the Hebrew."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Homer might be blind; and, with that fancy and +word-painting power of his, and his study of everything +new, he would paint pictures as he sang, though +unseen."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes," said another; "but David—" And he +paused.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"But David?" asked the chief.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I was going to say that he might be blind, deaf, +imprisoned, exiled, sick, or all alone, and that yet he +would never know he was alone; feeling as he does, +as he must to sing so, of the presence of this Lord of +his!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"He does not think of a snow-flake, but as sent +from him."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"While the snow-flake is reminding Homer of that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page073">[pg 073]</span> +<a name="Pg073" id="Pg073" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +hard, worrying, slinging work of battle. He must +have seen fight himself."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">They were hushed again. For, though they no +longer dared ask the poets to sing to them,—so engrossed +were they in each other's society,—the +soldiers were hardly losers from this modest courtesy. +For the poets were constantly arousing each other to +strike a chord, or to sing some snatch of remembered +song. And so it was that Homer, <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">àpropos</span> of I do not +know what, sang in a sad tone:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Like leaves on trees the race of man is found,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Now green in youth, now withering on the ground:</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Another race the following spring supplies;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">They fall successive, and successive rise.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">So generations in their course decay,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">So flourish these, when those have passed away."<a name="noteref_4" id="noteref_4"></a><a href="#note_4"><span class="footnoteref">4</span></a></p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">David waited for a change in the strain; but Homer +stopped. The young Hebrew asked him to go on; +but Homer said that the passage which followed was +mere narrative, from a long narrative poem. David +looked surprised that his new friend had not pointed +a moral as he sang; and said simply, "We sing that +thus:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"As for man, his days are as grass;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And the place thereof shall know it no more.</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l"> But the mercy of the Lord</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l"> Is from everlasting to everlasting</p> +<p style="margin-left: 12em" class="tei tei-l">Of them that fear him;</p> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page074">[pg 074]</span> +<a name="Pg074" id="Pg074" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">And his righteousness</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">Unto children's children,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">To such as keep his covenant,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">As remember his commandments to do them!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Homer's face flashed delighted. "I, like you, +'keep his covenant,'" he cried; and then without a +lyre, for his was still in David's hands, he sang, in +clear tone:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Thou bid'st me birds obey;—I scorn their flight,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">If on the left they rise, or on the right!</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Heed them who may, the will of Jove I own,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Who mortals and immortals rules alone!"<a name="noteref_5" id="noteref_5"></a><a href="#note_5"><span class="footnoteref">5</span></a></p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"That is more in David's key," said the young +Philistine harper, seeing that the poets had fallen to +talk together again. "But how would it sound in one +of the hymns on one of our feast-days?"</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Who mortals and immortals rules alone."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"How, indeed?" cried one of his young companions. +"There would be more sense in what the priests +say and sing, if each were not quarrelling for his +own,—Dagon against Astarte, and Astarte against +Dagon."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The old captain bent over, that the poets might not +hear him, and whispered: "There it is that the Hebrews +have so much more heart than we in such things. +Miserable fellows though they are, so many of them, +yet, when I have gone through their whole land with +the caravans, the chances have been that any serious-minded +<span class="tei-pb" id="page075">[pg 075]</span> +<a name="Pg075" id="Pg075" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +man spoke of no God but this '<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">He</span>' of +David's."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"What is his name?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"They do not know themselves, I believe."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Well, as I said an hour ago, God's man or Dagon's +man,—for those are good names enough for +me,—I care little; but I should like to sing as that +young fellow does."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"My boy," said the old man, "have not you heard +him enough to see that it is not <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">he</span> that sings, near as +much as this love of his for a Spirit he does not name? +It is that spirited heart of his that sings."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">You</span> sing like him? Find his life, boy; and perhaps +it may sing for you."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"We should be more manly men, if he sang to us +every night."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Or if the other did," said an Ionian sailor.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes," said the chief. "And yet, I think, if your +countryman sang every night to me, he would make +me want the other. Whether David's singing would +send me to his, I do not feel sure. But how silly to +compare them! As well compare the temple in Accho +with the roar of a whirlwind—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Or the point of my lance with the flight of an +eagle. The men are in two worlds."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"O, no! that is saying too much. You said that +one could paint pictures—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"—Into which the other puts life. Yes, I did say +so. We are fortunate that we have them together." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page076">[pg 076]</span> +<a name="Pg076" id="Pg076" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"For this man sings of men quite as well as the +other does; and to have the other sing of God—'</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"—Why, it completes the song. Between them +they bring the two worlds together."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"He bows the heavens, and comes down," said the +boy of the olive-harp, trying to hum David's air.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Let us ask them—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And just then there rang along the valley the +sound of a distant conch-shell. The soldiers groaned, +roused up, and each looked for his own side-arms and +his own skin.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But the poets talked on unheeding.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The old chief knocked down a stack of lances; but +the crash did not rouse them. He was obliged himself +to interrupt their eager converse.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I am sorry to break in; but the night-horn has +sounded to rest, and the guard will be round to inspect +the posts. I am sorry to hurry you away, sir," he +said to David.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">David thanked him courteously.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest," +said Homer, with a smile.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"We will all meet to-morrow. And may to-night's +dreams be good omens!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"If we dream at all," said Homer again:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Without a sign his sword the brave man draws,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And asks no omen but his country's cause."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">They were all standing together, as he made this +careless reply to the captain; and one of the young +<span class="tei-pb" id="page077">[pg 077]</span> +<a name="Pg077" id="Pg077" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +men drew him aside, and whispered that David was +in arms against his country.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Homer was troubled that he had spoken as he did, +But the young Jew looked little as if he needed +sympathy. He saw the doubt and regret which hung +over their kindly faces; told them not to fear for him; +singing, as he bade them good night, and with one of +the Carmel-men walked home to his own outpost:—</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the bear,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">He will deliver me."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And he smiled to think how his Carmelite companion +would start, if he knew when first he used +those words.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So they parted, as men who should meet on the +morrow.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But God disposes.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">David had left to-morrow's dangers for to-morrow +to care for. It seemed to promise him that he must +be in arms against Saul. But, unlike us in our eagerness +to anticipate our conflicts of duty, David <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">waited</span>.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And the Lord delivered him. While they were +singing by the brookside, the proud noblemen of the +Philistine army had forced an interview with their +king; and, in true native Philistine arrogance, insisted +that "this Hebrew" and his men should be sent +away.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">With the light of morning the king sent for the +minstrel, and courteously dismissed him, because "the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page078">[pg 078]</span> +<a name="Pg078" id="Pg078" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +princes of the Philistines have said, 'He shall not go +up with us to the battle.'"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So David marched his men to Ziklag.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And David and Homer never met on earth again.</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">NOTE.—This will be a proper place to print the following note, +which I was obliged to write to a second cousin of Miss Dryasdust +after she had read the MS. of the article above:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR MADAM:—I thank you for your kind suggestion, in returning +my paper, that it involves a piece of impossible history. You +inform me, that, according to the nomenclatured formulas and homophonic +analogies of Professor Gouraud, of never-to-be-forgotten +memory, "A NEEDLE is less useful for curing a DEAF HEAD, than +for putting ear-rings into a <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Miss's lily-ears</span>"; and that this shows +that +the second king of Judah, named David (or Deaf-head) began to +reign in 1055 B.C., and died 1040 B.C.'; and further, that, according +to the same authority, '<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Homer flourished</span> when the Greeks were fond +of his POETRY'; which, being interpreted, signifies that he flourished +in 914 B.C., and, consequently, could have had no more to do with +David than to plant ivy over his grave, in some of his voyages to +Phœnicia.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I thank you for the suggestion. I knew the unforgetting professor; +and I do not doubt that he remembered David and Homer as +his near friends. But, of course, to such a memory, a century or two +might easily slip aside.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Now, did you look up Clement? And did you not forget the +Arundelian Marbles? For, if you will take the long estimates, you +will find that some folks think Homer lived as long ago as the year +1150, and some that it was as 'short ago' as 850. And some set +David as long ago as 1170, and some bring him down to a hundred +and fifty years later. These are the long measures and the short +measures. So the long and short of it is, that you can keep the two +poets 320 years apart, while I have rather more than a century which +I can select any night of, for a bivouac scene, in which to bring them +together. Believe me, my dear Miss D., always yours, &c.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Confess that you forgot the Arundelian Marbles!"</p> +</blockquote> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page079">[pg 079]</span> +<a name="Pg079" id="Pg079" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_5" id="toc_5"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE SOUTH AMERICAN EDITOR.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[I am tempted to include this little burlesque in this collection +simply in memory of the Boston Miscellany, the magazine in +which it was published, which won for itself a brilliant reputation +in its short career. There was not a large staff of writers for +the Miscellany, but many of the names then unknown have +since won distinction. To quote them in the accidental order in +which I find them in the table of contents, where they are arranged +by the alphabetical order of the several papers, the Miscellany +contributors were Edward Everett, George Lunt, Nathan +Hale, Jr., Nathaniel Hawthorne, N.P. Willis, W.W. Story, J.R. +Lowell, C.N. Emerson, Alexander H. Everett, Sarah P. +Hale, W.A. Jones, Cornelius Matthews, Mrs. Kirkland, J.W. +Ingraham, H.T. Tuckerman, Evart A. Duyckinck, Francis A. +Durivage, Mrs. J. Webb, Charles F. Powell, Charles W. Storey, +Lucretia P. Hale, Charles F. Briggs, William E. Channing, +Charles Lanman, G.H. Hastings, and Elizabeth B. Barrett, now +Mrs. Browning, some of whose earliest poems were published in +this magazine. These are all the contributors whose names appear, +excepting the writers of a few verses. They furnished +nine tenths of the contents of the magazine. The two Everetts, +Powell, William Story, and my brother, who was the editor, were +the principal contributors. And I am tempted to say that I +think they all put some of their best work upon this magazine.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The misfortune of the Miscellany, I suppose, was that its publishers +had no capital. They had to resort to the claptraps of +fashion-plates and other engravings, in the hope of forcing an +<span class="tei-pb" id="page080">[pg 080]</span> +<a name="Pg080" id="Pg080" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +immediate sale upon persons who, caring for fashion-plates, did +not care for the literary character of the enterprise. It gave a +very happy escape-pipe, however, for the high spirits of some of +us who had just left college, and, through my brother's kindness, +I was sometimes permitted to contribute to the journal. In +memory of those early days of authorship, I select "The South +American Editor" to publish here. For the benefit of the New +York Observer, I will state that the story is not true. And +lest any should complain that it advocates elopements, I beg +to observe, in the seriousness of mature life, that the proposed +elopement did not succeed, and that the parties who proposed it +are represented as having no guardians or keepers but themselves. +The article was first published in 1842.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It is now more than six years since I received the +following letter from an old classmate of mine, Harry +Barry, who had been studying divinity, and was then +a settled minister. It was an answer to a communication +I had sent him the week before.</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"TOPSHAM, R.I. January 22, 1836.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"To say the truth, my dear George, your letter startled +me a little. To think that I, scarcely six months +settled in the profession, should be admitted so far into +the romance of it as to unite forever two young runaways +like yourself and Miss Julia What's-her-name +is at least curious. But, to give you your due, you +have made a strong case of it, and as Miss —— (what is +her name, I have not yours at hand) is not under any +real guardianship, I do not see but I am perfectly justified +<span class="tei-pb" id="page081">[pg 081]</span> +<a name="Pg081" id="Pg081" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +in complying with your rather odd request. You +see I make a conscientious matter of it.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Write me word when it shall be, and I will be sure +to be ready. Jane is of course in my counsels, and +she will make your little wife feel as much at home as +in her father's parlor. Trust us for secrecy.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I met her last week—"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But the rest of the letter has nothing to do with the +story.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The elopement alluded to in it (if the little transaction +deserves so high-sounding a name) was, in every +sense of the words, strictly necessary. Julia Wentworth +had resided for years with her grandfather, a +pragmatic old gentleman, to whom from pure affection +she had long yielded an obedience which he would +have had no right to extort, and which he was sometimes +disposed to abuse. He had declared in the most +ingenuous manner that she should never marry with +his consent any man of less fortune than her own would +be; and on his consent rested the prospect of her inheriting +his property.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Julia and I, however, care little for money now, we +cared still less then; and her own little property and +my own little salary made us esteem ourselves entirely +independent of the old gentleman and his +will.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">His intention respecting the poor girl's marriage was +thundered in her ears at least once a week, so that we +<span class="tei-pb" id="page082">[pg 082]</span> +<a name="Pg082" id="Pg082" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +both knew that I had no need to make court to him, +indeed, I had never seen him, always having met her +in walking, or in the evening at party, spectacle, concert, +or lecture. He had lately been more domineering +than usual, and I had but little difficulty in persuading +the dear girl to let me write to Harry Barry, +to make the arrangement to which he assented in the +letter which I have copied above. The reasoning which +I pressed upon her is obvious. We loved each other,—the +old gentleman could not help that; and as he +managed to make us very uncomfortable in Boston, in +the existing state of affairs, we naturally came to the +conclusion that the sooner we changed that state the +better. Our excursion to Topsham would, we supposed, +prove a very disagreeable business to him; but +we knew it would result very agreeably for us, and so, +though with a good deal of maidenly compunction and +granddaughterly compassion on Julia's part, we outvoted +him.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I have said that I had no fortune to enable me to +come near the old gentleman's <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">beau ideal</span> of a grandson-in-law. +I was then living on my salary as a South +American editor. Does the reader know what that +is? The South American editor of a newspaper has +the uncontrolled charge of its South American news. +Read any important commercial paper for a month, +and at the end of it tell me if you have any clear conception +of the condition of the various republics (!) +of South America. If you have, it is because that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page083">[pg 083]</span> +<a name="Pg083" id="Pg083" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +journal employs an individual for the sole purpose of +setting them in the clearest order before you, and +that individual is its South American editor. The +general-news editor of the paper will keep the run of +all the details of all the histories of all the rest of the +world, but he hardly attempts this in addition. If he +does, he fails. It is therefore necessary, from the most +cogent reasons, that any American news office which +has a strong regard for the consistency or truth of its +South American intelligence shall employ some person +competent to take the charge which I held in the establishment +of the Boston Daily Argus at the time of +which I am speaking. Before that enterprising paper +was sold, I was its "South American man"; this +being my only employment, excepting that by a special +agreement, in consideration of an addition to my salary, +I was engaged to attend to the news from St. +Domingo, Guatemala, and Mexico.<a name="noteref_6" id="noteref_6"></a><a href="#note_6"><span class="footnoteref">6</span></a></p> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page084">[pg 084]</span> +<a name="Pg084" id="Pg084" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Monday afternoon, just a fortnight after I received +Harry Barry's letter, in taking my afternoon walk +round the Common, I happened to meet Julia. I always +walked in the same direction when I was alone. +Julia always preferred to go the other way; it was the +only thing in which we differed. When we were together +I always went her way of course, and liked it +best. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page085">[pg 085]</span> +<a name="Pg085" id="Pg085" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I had told her, long before, all about Harry's letter, +and the dear girl in this walk, after a little blushing +and sighing, and half faltering and half hesitating and +feeling uncertain, yielded to my last and warmest +persuasions, and agreed to go to Mrs. Pollexfen's ball +that evening, ready to leave it with me in my +buggy sleigh, for a three hours' ride to Topsham, +where we both knew Harry would be waiting for +us. I do not know how she managed to get through +tea that evening with her lion of a grandfather, for +she could not then cover her tearful eyes with a veil +as she did through the last half of our walk together. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page086">[pg 086]</span> +<a name="Pg086" id="Pg086" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +I know that I got through my tea and such like ordinary +affairs by skipping them. I made all my arrangements, +bade Gage and Streeter be ready with the sleigh +at my lodgings (fortunately only two doors from Mrs. +Pollexfen's) at half-past nine o'clock, and was the +highest spirited of men when, on returning to those +lodgings myself at eight o'clock, I found the following +missives from the Argus office, which had been accumulating +through the afternoon.</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">No. 1.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"4 o'clock, P.M.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR SIR:—The southern mail, just in, brings +Buenos Ayres papers six days later, by the Medora, at +Baltimore.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"In haste, J.C."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">(Mr. C. was the gentleman who opened the newspapers, +and arranged the deaths and marriages; he +always kindly sent for me when I was out of the way.)</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">No. 2.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"5 o'clock, P.M.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR SIR:—The U.S. ship Preble is in at +Portsmouth; latest from Valparaiso. The mail is not +sorted.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"Yours, J.D."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">(Mr. D. arranged the ship news for the Argus.) +<span class="tei-pb" id="page087">[pg 087]</span> +<a name="Pg087" id="Pg087" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">No. 3.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"6 o'clock, p.m.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR SIR:—I boarded, this morning, off Cape +Cod, the Blunderhead, from Carthagena, and have a +week's later papers.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"Truly yours, J.E."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">(Mr. E. was the enterprising commodore of our +news-boats.)</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">No. 4.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"6-1/4 o'clock, P.M.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR SIR:—I have just opened accidentally the +enclosed letter, from our correspondent at Panama. +You will see that it bears a New Orleans post-mark. +I hope it may prove exclusive.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"Yours, J.F."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">(Mr. F. was general editor of the Argus.)</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">No. 5.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"6-1/2 o'clock, P.M.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR SIR:—A seaman, who appears to be an intelligent +man, has arrived this morning at New Bedford, +and says he has later news of the rebellion in +Ecuador than any published. The Rosina (his vessel) +brought no papers. I bade him call at your +room at eight o'clock, which he promised to do.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"Truly yours, J.G."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">(Mr. G. was clerk in the Argus counting-room.) +<span class="tei-pb" id="page088">[pg 088]</span> +<a name="Pg088" id="Pg088" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">No 6.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"7-1/2 o'clock, P.M.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Dear Sir:—The papers by the Ville de Lyon, +from Havre, which I have just received, mention the +reported escape of M. Bonpland from Paraguay, the +presumed death of Dr. Francia, the probable overthrow +of the government, the possible establishment +of a republic, and a great deal more than I understand +in the least.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"These papers had not come to hand when I wrote +you this afternoon. I have left them on your desk at +the office.</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"In haste, J.F."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was taken all aback by this mass of odd-looking +little notes. I had spent the afternoon in drilling Singelton, +the kindest of friends, as to what he should do +in any probable contingency of news of the next forty-eight +hours, for I did not intend to be absent on a wedding +tour even longer than that time; but I felt that +Singleton was entirely unequal to such a storm of intelligence +as this; and, as I hurried down to the office, +my chief sensation was that of gratitude that +the cloud had broken before I was out of the way; +for I knew I could do a great deal in an hour, and +I had faith that I might slur over my digest as quickly +as possible, and be at Mrs. Pollexfen's within the +time arranged.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I rushed into the office in that state of zeal in which +a man may do anything in almost no time. But first, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page089">[pg 089]</span> +<a name="Pg089" id="Pg089" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +I had to go into the conversation-room, and get the +oral news from my sailor; then Mr. H.; from one of +the little news-boats, came to me in high glee, with +some Venezuela Gazettes, which he had just extorted +from a skipper, who, with great plausibility, told him +that he knew his vessel had brought no news, for she +never had before. (N.B. In this instance she was the +only vessel to sail, after a three months' blockade.) +And then I had handed to me by Mr. J., one of the +commercial gentlemen, a private letter from Rio Janeiro, +which had been lent him. After these delays, +with full materials, I sprang to work—read, read, +read; wonder, wonder, wonder; guess, guess, guess; +scratch, scratch, scratch; and scribble, scribble, scribble, +make the only transcript I can give of the operations +which followed. At first, several of the other +gentlemen in the room sat around me; but soon Mr. +C., having settled the deaths and marriages, and the +police and municipal reporters immediately after him, +screwed out their lamps and went home; then the +editor himself, then the legislative reporters, then the +commercial editors, then the ship-news conductor, and +left me alone.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I envied them that they got through so much earlier +than usual, but scratched on, only interrupted by the +compositors coming in for the pages of my copy as +I finished them; and finally, having made my last +translation from the last <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Boletin Extraordinario</span>, sprang +up, shouting, "Now for Mrs. P.'s," and looked at +<span class="tei-pb" id="page090">[pg 090]</span> +<a name="Pg090" id="Pg090" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +my watch. It was half past one!<a name="noteref_7" id="noteref_7"></a><a href="#note_7"><span class="footnoteref">7</span></a> I thought of +course it had stopped,—no; and my last manuscript +page was numbered twenty-eight! Had I been writing +there five hours? Yes!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Reader, when you are an editor, with a continent's +explosions to describe, you will understand how one +may be unconscious of the passage of time.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I walked home, sad at heart. There was no light in +all Mr. Wentworth's house; there was none in any +of Mrs. Pollexfen's windows;<a name="noteref_8" id="noteref_8"></a><a href="#note_8"><span class="footnoteref">8</span></a> and the last carriage of +her last relation had left her door. I stumbled up +stairs in the dark, and threw myself on my bed. What +should I say, what could I say, to Julia? Thus pondering, +I fell asleep.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">If I were writing a novel, I should say that, at a late +hour the next day, I listlessly drew aside the azure +curtains of my couch, and languidly rang a silver bell +which stood on my dressing-table, and received from a +page dressed in an Oriental costume the notes and letters +which had been left for me since morning, and the +newspapers of the day.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I am not writing a novel.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The next morning, about ten o'clock, I arose and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page091">[pg 091]</span> +<a name="Pg091" id="Pg091" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +went down to breakfast. As I sat at the littered +table which every one else had left, dreading to attack +my cold coffee and toast, I caught sight of the morning +papers, and received some little consolation from +them. There was the Argus with its three columns +and a half of "Important from South America," +while none of the other papers had a square of any +intelligibility excepting what they had copied from the +Argus the day before. I felt a grim smile creeping +over my face as I observed this signal triumph of +our paper, and ventured to take a sip of the black +broth as I glanced down my own article to see if there +were any glaring misprints in it. Before I took the +second sip, however, a loud peal at the door-bell announced +a stranger, and, immediately after, a note was +brought in for me which I knew was in Julia's hand-writing.</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR GEORGE:—Don't be angry; it was not +my fault, really it was not. Grandfather came home +just as I was leaving last night, and was so angry, +and said I should not go to the party, and I had to +sit with him all the evening. Do write to me or +let me see you; do something—"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">What a load that note took off my mind! And yet, +what must the poor girl have suffered! Could the +old man suspect? Singleton was true to me as steel, I +knew. He could not have whispered,—nor Barry; +<span class="tei-pb" id="page092">[pg 092]</span> +<a name="Pg092" id="Pg092" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +out that Jane, Barry's wife. O woman! woman! +what newsmongers they are! Here were Julia and +I, made miserable for life, perhaps, merely that Jane +Barry might have a good story to tell. What right +had Barry to a wife? Not four years out of college, +and hardly settled in his parish. To think that I had +been fool enough to trust even him with the particulars +of my all-important secret! But here I was again +interrupted, coffee-cup still full, toast still untasted, by +another missive.</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"Tuesday morning.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"SIR:—I wish to see you this morning. Will you +call upon me, or appoint a time and place where I +may meet you?</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"Yours, JEDEDIAH WENTWORTH."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Send word by the bearer."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Tell Mr. Wentworth I will call at his house at +eleven o'clock."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The cat was certainly out; Mrs. Barry had told, or +some one else had, who I did not know and hardly +cared. The scene was to come now, and I was almost +glad of it. Poor Julia! what a time she must have +had with the old bear!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At eleven o'clock I was ushered into Mr. Wentworth's +sitting-room. Julia was there, but before I had even +spoken to her the old gentleman came bustling across +<span class="tei-pb" id="page093">[pg 093]</span> +<a name="Pg093" id="Pg093" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the room, with his "Mr. Hackmatack, I suppose"; and +then followed a formal introduction between me and +her, which both of us bore with the most praiseworthy +fortitude and composure, neither evincing, even by a +glance, that we had ever seen or heard of each other +before. Here was another weight off my mind and +Julia's. I had wronged poor Mrs. Barry. The +secret was not out—what could he want? It very +soon appeared.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">After a minute's discussion of the weather, the +snow, and the thermometer, the old gentleman drew +up his chair to mine, with "I think, sir, you are connected +with the Argus office?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes, sir; I am its South American editor.'</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes!" roared the old man, in a sudden rage. +"Sir, I wish South America was sunk in the depths +of the sea!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I am sure I do, sir," replied I, glancing at Julia, +who did not, however, understand me. I had not +fully passed out of my last night's distress.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">My sympathizing zeal soothed the old gentleman a +little, and he said more coolly, in an undertone: "Well, +sir, you are well informed, no doubt; tell me, in strict +secrecy, sir, between you and me, do you—do you +place full credit—entire confidence in the intelligence +in this morning's paper?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Excuse me, sir; what paper do you allude to? +Ah! the Argus, I see. Certainly, sir; I have not +the least doubt that it is perfectly correct." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page094">[pg 094]</span> +<a name="Pg094" id="Pg094" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"No doubt, sir! Do you mean to insult me?—Julia, +I told you so; he says there is no doubt it is +true. Tell me again there is some mistake, will +you?" The poor girl had been trying to soothe him +with the constant remark of uninformed people, that +the newspapers are always in the wrong. He turned +from her, and rose from his chair in a positive rage. +She was half crying. I never saw her more distressed. +What did all this mean? Were one, two, +or all of us crazy?</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It soon appeared. After pacing the length of the +room once or twice, Wentworth came up to me again, +and, attempting to appear cool, said between his closed +lips: "Do you say you have no doubt that Rio +Janeiro is strictly blockaded?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Not the slightest in the world," said I, trying to +seem unconcerned.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Not the slightest, sir? What are you so impudent +and cool about it for? Do you think you are talking +of the opening of a rose-bud or the death of a mosquito? +Have you no sympathy with the sufferings +of a fellow-creature? Why, sir!" and the old man's +teeth chattered as he spoke, "I have five cargoes of +flour on their way to Rio, and their captains will—Damn +it, sir, I shall lose the whole venture."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The secret was out. The old fool had been sending +flour to Rio, knowing as little of the state of affairs +there as a child.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And do you really mean, sir," continued the old +<span class="tei-pb" id="page095">[pg 095]</span> +<a name="Pg095" id="Pg095" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +man, "that there is an embargo in force in Monte +Video?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Certainly, sir; but I'm very sorry for it."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Sorry for it! of course you are;—and that all +foreigners are sent out of Buenos Ayres?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Undoubtedly, sir. I wish—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Who does not wish so? Why, sir, my corresponding +friends there are half across the sea by this +time. I wish Rosas was in—and that the Indians +have risen near Maranham?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Undoubtedly, sir."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Undoubtedly! I tell you, sir, I have two vessels +waiting for cargoes of India-rubbers there, under a +blunder-headed captain, who will do nothing he has +not been bidden to,—obey his orders if he breaks his +owners. You smile, sir? Why, I should have made +thirty thousand dollars this winter, sir, by my India-rubbers, +if we had not had this devilish mild, open +weather, you and Miss Julia there have been praising +so. But next winter must be a severe one, and +with those India-rubbers I should have made—But +now those Indians,—pshaw! And a revolution in +Chili?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"No trade there! And in Venezuela?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes, sir"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir! Sir, I am +ruined. Say 'Yes, sir,' to that. I have thirteen +vessels at this moment in the South American trade, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page096">[pg 096]</span> +<a name="Pg096" id="Pg096" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +sir; say 'Yes, sir,' to that. Half of them will be +taken by the piratical scoundrels; say 'Yes, sir,' to +that. Their insurance will not cover them; say 'Yes, +sir,' to that. The other half will forfeit their cargoes, +or sell them for next to nothing; say 'Yes, sir,' to +that. I tell you I am a ruined man, and I wish the +South America, and your daily Argus, and you—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Here the old gentleman's old-school breeding got +the better of his rage, and he sank down in his arm-chair, +and, bursting into tears, said: "Excuse me, +sir,—excuse me, sir,—I am too warm."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We all sat for a few moments in silence, but then I +took my share of the conversation. I wish you could +have seen the old man's face light up little by little, as +I showed him that to a person who understood the +politics and condition of the mercurial country with +which he had ignorantly attempted to trade, his condition +was not near so bad as he thought it; that though +one port was blockaded, another was opened; that +though one revolution thwarted him, a few weeks +would show another which would favor him; that the +goods which, as he saw, would be worthless at the +port to which he had sent them, would be valuable +elsewhere; that the vessels which would fail in securing +the cargoes he had ordered could secure others; +that the very revolutions and wars which troubled him +would require in some instances large government +purchases, perhaps large contracts for freight, possibly +even for passage,—his vessels might be used for transports; +<span class="tei-pb" id="page097">[pg 097]</span> +<a name="Pg097" id="Pg097" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +that the very excitement of some districts +might be made to turn to our advantage; that, in +short, there were a thousand chances open to him +which skilful agents could readily improve. I reminded +him that a quick run in a clipper schooner +could carry directions to half these skippers of his, to +whom, with an infatuation which I could not and +cannot conceive, he had left no discretion, and who +indeed were to be pardoned if they could use none, +seeing the tumult as they did with only half an eye. +I talked to him for half an hour, and went into details +to show that my plans were not impracticable. The old +gentleman grew brighter and brighter, and Julia, as I +saw, whenever I stole a glance across the room, felt +happier and happier. The poor girl had had a hard +time since he had first heard this news whispered the +evening before.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">His difficulties were not over, however; for when I +talked to him of the necessity of sending out one or +two skilful agents immediately to take the personal +superintendence of his complicated affairs, the old man +sighed, and said he had no skilful agents to send.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">With his customary suspicion, he had no partners, +and had never intrusted his clerks with any general +insight into his business. Besides, he considered them +all, like his captains, blunder-headed to the last degree. +I believe it was an idea of Julia's, communicated to +me in an eager, entreating glance, which induced me to +propose myself as one of these confidential agents, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page098">[pg 098]</span> +<a name="Pg098" id="Pg098" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +and to be responsible for the other. I thought, as I +spoke, of Singleton, to whom I knew I could explain +my plans in full, and whose mercantile experience +would make him a valuable coadjutor. The old gentleman +accepted my offer eagerly. I told him that +twenty-four hours were all I wanted to prepare myself. +He immediately took measures for the charter of +two little clipper schooners which lay in port then; +and before two days were past, Singleton and I were +on our voyage to South America. Imagine, if you +can, how these two days were spent. Then, as now, +I could prepare for any journey in twenty minutes, and +of course I had no little time at my disposal for last +words with Mr. and—Miss Wentworth. How I won +on the old gentleman's heart in those two days! How +he praised me to Julia, and then, in as natural affection, +how he praised her to me! And how Julia and +I smiled through our tears, when, in the last good-bys, +he said he was too old to write or read any but business +letters, and charged me and her to keep up a +close correspondence, which on one side should tell all +that I saw and did, and on the other hand remind me +of all at home.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I have neither time nor room to give the details of +that South American expedition. I have no right to. +There were revolutions accomplished in those days +without any object in the world's eyes; and, even in +mine, only serving to sell certain cargoes of long +<span class="tei-pb" id="page099">[pg 099]</span> +<a name="Pg099" id="Pg099" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +cloths and flour. The details of those outbreaks now +told would make some patriotic presidents tremble in +their seats; and I have no right to betray confidence +at whatever rate I purchased it. Usually, indeed, my +feats and Singleton's were only obtaining the best information +and communicating the most speedy instructions +to Mr. Wentworth's vessels, which were made to +move from port to port with a rapidity and intricacy of +movement which none besides us two understood in +the least. It was in that expedition that I travelled +almost alone across the continent. I was, I think, the +first white man who ever passed through the mountain +path of Xamaulipas, now so famous in all the Chilian +picturesque annuals. I was carrying directions for +some vessels which had gone round the Cape; and +what a time Burrows and Wheatland and I had a +week after, when we rode into the public square of +Valparaiso shouting, "Muera la Constitucion,—Viva +Libertad!" by our own unassisted lungs actually +raising a rebellion, and, which was of more importance, +a prohibition on foreign flour, while Bahamarra +and his army were within a hundred miles of us. +How those vessels came up the harbor, and how we +unloaded them, knowing that at best our revolution +could only last five days! But as I said, I must be +careful, or I shall be telling other people's secrets.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The result of that expedition was that those thirteen +vessels all made good outward voyages, and all but +one or two eventually made profitable home voyages. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page100">[pg 100]</span> +<a name="Pg100" id="Pg100" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +When I returned home, the old gentleman received +me with open arms. I had rescued, as he said, a large +share of that fortune which he valued so highly. To +say the truth, I felt and feel that he had planned +his voyages so blindly, that, without some wiser head +than his, they would never have resulted in anything. +They were his last, as they were almost his first, South +American ventures. He returned to his old course of +more methodical trading for the few remaining years +of his life. They were, thank Heaven, the only taste of +mercantile business which I ever had. Living as I +did, in the very sunshine of Mr. Went worth's favor, +I went through the amusing farce of paying my addresses +to Julia in approved form, and in due time received +the old gentleman's cordial assent to our union, +and his blessing upon it. In six months after my return, +we were married; the old man as happy as a +king. He would have preferred a little that the ceremony +should have been performed by Mr. B——, his +friend and pastor, but readily assented to my wishes +to call upon a dear and early friend of my own.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Harry Barry came from Topsham and performed +the ceremony, "assisted by Rev. Mr. B."</p> + +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">G.H.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">ARGUS COTTAGE, April 1, 1842.</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page101">[pg 101]</span> +<a name="Pg101" id="Pg101" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_6" id="toc_6"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE OLD AND THE NEW, FACE TO FACE.</h1> +<h1 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">A THUMB-NAIL SKETCH.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[This essay was published in Sartain's Magazine, in 1852, +as "A Thumb-nail Sketch," having received one of ten premiums +which Mr. Sartain offered to encourage young writers. It +had been written a few years earlier, some time before the studies +of St. Paul's life by Conybeare and Howson, now so well known, +were made public. The chronology of my essay does not precisely +agree with that of these distinguished scholars. But I make +no attempt now either to recast the essay or to discuss the delicate +and complicated questions which belong to the chronology +of Paul's life or to that of Nero; for there is no question with +regard to the leading facts. At the end of twenty years I may +again express the wish that some master competent to the greatest +themes might take the trial of Paul as the subject of a picture.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In a Roman audience-chamber, the old civilization +and the new civilization brought out, at the very birth +of the new, their chosen champions.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In that little scene, as in one of Rembrandt's thumb-nail +studies for a great picture, the lights and shades +are as distinct as they will ever be in the largest scene +<span class="tei-pb" id="page102">[pg 102]</span> +<a name="Pg102" id="Pg102" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of history. The champions were perfect representatives +of the parties. And any man, with the soul of +a man, looking on, could have prophesied the issue of +the great battle from the issue of that contest.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The old civilization of the Roman Empire, just at +that time, had reached a point which, in all those +outward forms which strike the eye, would regard +our times as mean indeed. It had palaces of marble, +where even modern kings would build of brick with +a marble front to catch the eye; it counted its armies +by thousands, where we count ours by hundreds; it +surmounted long colonnades with its exquisite statues, +for which modern labor digs deep in ruined cities, because +it cannot equal them from its own genius; it +had roads, which are almost eternal, and which, for +their purposes, show a luxury of wealth and labor +that our boasted locomotion cannot rival. These are +its works of a larger scale. And if you enter the +palaces, you find pictures of matchless worth, rich +dresses which modern looms cannot rival, and sumptuous +furniture at which modern times can only wonder. +The outside of the ancient civilization is unequalled +by the outside of ours, and for centuries will be unequalled +by it. We have not surpassed it there. And +we see how it attained this distinction, such as it was. +It came by the constant concentration of power. +Power in few hands is the secret of its display and +glory. And thus that form of civilization attained its +very climax in the moment of the greatest unity of +<span class="tei-pb" id="page103">[pg 103]</span> +<a name="Pg103" id="Pg103" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the Roman Empire. When the Empire nestled into +rest, after the convulsions in which it was born; when +a generation had passed away of those who had been +Roman citizens; when a generation arose, which, excepting +one man, the emperor, was a nation of Roman +subjects,—then the Empire was at its height of power, +its centralization was complete, the system of its civilization +was at the zenith of its success.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At that moment it was that there dawned at Rome +the first gray morning-light of the new civilization.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At that moment it was that that short scene, in that +one chamber, contrasted the two as clearly as they can +be contrasted even in long centuries.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There is one man, the emperor, who is a precise +type, an exact representative, of the old. That man is +brought face to face with another who is a precise +type, an exact representative, of the new.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Only look at them as they stand there! The man +who best illustrates the old civilization owes to it the +most careful nurture. From his childhood he has +been its petted darling. Its principal is concentration +under one head. He is that head. When he is a child, +men know he will be emperor of the world. The +wise men of the world teach him; the poets of the +world flatter him; the princes of the world bow to +him. He is trained in all elegant accomplishments; +he is led forward through a graceful, luxurious society. +His bearing is that of an emperor; his face is the face +of fine physical beauty. Imagine for yourself the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page104">[pg 104]</span> +<a name="Pg104" id="Pg104" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +sensual countenance of a young Bacchus, beautiful as +Milton's devils; imagine him clad in splendor before +which even English luxury is mean; arrayed in +jewels, to which even Eastern pomp is tinsel; imagine +an expression of tired hate, of low, brutal lust, +hanging on those exquisite licentious features, and you +have before you the type of Roman civilization. It is +the boy just budding into manhood, whom later times +will name as the lowest embodiment of meanness and +cruelty! You are looking upon Nero!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Not only is this man an exact type of the ancient civilization, +its central power, its outside beauty, but the +precise time of this sketch of ours is the exact climax +of the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">moral</span> results of the ancient civilization. We +are to look at Nero just when he has returned to +Rome from a Southern journey.<a name="noteref_9" id="noteref_9"></a><a href="#note_9"><span class="footnoteref">9</span></a> That journey had +one object, which succeeded. To his after-life it gives +one memory, which never dies. He has travelled to +his beautiful country palace, that he might kill his +mother!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We can picture to ourselves Agrippina, by knowing +that she was Nero's mother, and our picture will not +fail in one feature. She has all the beauty of sense, +all the attraction of passion. Indeed, she is the Empress +of Rome, because she is queen of beauty—and +of lust. She is most beautiful among the beautiful +of Rome; but what is that beauty of feature in a +state of whose matrons not one is virtuous, of whose +<span class="tei-pb" id="page105">[pg 105]</span> +<a name="Pg105" id="Pg105" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +daughters not one is chaste? It is the beauty of sense +alone, fit adornment of that external grandeur, of that +old society.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In the infancy of her son, this beautiful Agrippina +consulted a troop of fortune-tellers as to his fate; and +they told her that he would live to be Emperor of +Rome, and to kill his mother. With all the ecstasy +of a mother's pride fused so strangely with all the excess +of an ambitious woman's love of power, she cried +in answer, "He may kill me, if only he rules +Rome!"<a name="noteref_10" id="noteref_10"></a><a href="#note_10"><span class="footnoteref">10</span></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">She spoke her own fate in these words.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Here is the account of it by Tacitus. Nero had +made all the preparations; had arranged a barge, that of +a sudden its deck might fall heavily upon those in the +cabin, and crush them in an instant. He meant thus +to give to the murder which he planned the aspect of an +accident. To this fatal vessel he led Agrippina. He +talked with her affectionately and gravely on the way; +"and when they parted at the lakeside, with his old +boyish familiarity he pressed her closely to his heart, +either to conceal his purpose, or because the last sight +of a mother, on the eve of death, touched even his +cruel nature, and then bade her farewell."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Just at the point upon the lake where he had +directed, as the Empress sat in her cabin talking with +her attendants, the treacherous deck was let fall upon +them all. But the plot failed. She saw dead at her +<span class="tei-pb" id="page106">[pg 106]</span> +<a name="Pg106" id="Pg106" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +feet one of her favorites, crushed by the sudden blow. +But she had escaped it. She saw that death awaited +them all upon the vessel. The men around sprang forward, +ready to do their master's bidding in a less clumsy +and more certain way. But the Empress, with one of her +attendants, sprang from the treacherous vessel into the +less treacherous waves. And there, this faithful friend +of hers, with a woman's wit and a woman's devotion, +drew on her own head the blows and stabs of the murderers +above, by crying, as if in drowning, "Save me, +I am Nero's mother!" Uttering those words of self-devotion, +she was killed by the murderers above, while +the Empress, in safer silence, buoyed up by fragments +of the wreck, floated to the shore.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Nero had failed thus in secret crime, and yet he +knew that he could not stop here. And the next day +after his mother's deliverance, he sent a soldier to her +palace, with a guard; and there, where she was deserted +even by her last attendant, without pretence +of secrecy, they put to death the daughter and the +mother of a Cæsar. And Nero only waits to look +with a laugh upon the beauty of the corpse, before he +returns to resume his government at Rome.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That moment was the culminating moment of the +ancient civilization. It is complete in its centralizing +power; it is complete in its external beauty; it is +complete in its crime. Beautiful as Eden to the eye, +with luxury, with comfort, with easy indolence to all; +but dust and ashes beneath the surface! It is corrupted +<span class="tei-pb" id="page107">[pg 107]</span> +<a name="Pg107" id="Pg107" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +at the head! It is corrupted at the heart! +There is nothing firm!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This is the moment which I take for our little picture. +At this very moment there is announced the +first germ of the new civilization. In the very midst +of this falsehood, there sounds one voice of truth; in +the very arms of this giant, there plays the baby boy +who is to cleave him to the ground. This Nero slowly +returns to the city. He meets the congratulations of +a senate, which thank him and the gods that he has +murdered his own mother. With the agony of an undying +conscience torturing him, he strives to avert care by +amusement. He hopes to turn the mob from despising +him by the grandeur of their public entertainments. +He enlarges for them the circus. He calls unheard-of +beasts to be baited and killed for their enjoyment. +The finest actors rant, the sweetest musicians sing, +that Nero may forget his mother, and that his people +may forget him.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At that period, the statesmen who direct the machinery +of affairs inform him that his personal attention +is required one morning for a state trial, to be +argued before the Emperor in person. Must the Emperor +be there? May he not waste the hours in the +blandishments of lying courtiers, or the honeyed falsehoods +of a mistress? If he chooses thus to postpone +the audience, be it so; Seneca, Burrhus, and his other +counsellors will obey. But the time will come when +the worn-out boy will be pleased some morning with +<span class="tei-pb" id="page108">[pg 108]</span> +<a name="Pg108" id="Pg108" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the almost forgotten majesty of state. The time comes +one day. Worn out by the dissipation of the week, +fretted by some blunder of his flatterers, he sends for +his wiser counsellors, and bids them lead him to the +audience-chamber, where he will attend to these cases +which need an Emperor's decision. It is at that moment +that we are to look upon him.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He sits there, upon that unequalled throne, his face +sickly pale with boyish debauchery; his young fore +head worn with the premature sensual wrinkles of +lust; and his eyes bloodshot with last night's intemperance. +He sits there, the Emperor-boy, vainly trying +to excite himself, and forget her, in the blazonry of +that pomp, and bids them call in the prisoner.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">A soldier enters, at whose side the prisoner has +been chained for years. This soldier is a tried veteran +of the Prætorian cohorts. He was selected, that +from him this criminal could not escape; and for +that purpose they have been inseparably bound. But, +as he leads that other through the hall, he looks at +him with a regard and earnestness which say he is no +criminal to him. Long since, the criminal has been +the guardian of his keeper. Long since, the keeper +has cared for the prisoner with all the ardor of a new-found +son's affection.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">They lead that gray-haired captive forward, and +with his eagle eye he glances keenly round the hall. +That flashing eye has ere now bade monarchs quail; +and those thin lips have uttered words which shall +<span class="tei-pb" id="page109">[pg 109]</span> +<a name="Pg109" id="Pg109" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +make the world ring till the last moment of the world +shall come. The stately Eastern captive moves unawed +through the assembly, till he makes a subject's +salutation to the Emperor-judge who is to hear him. +And when, then, the gray-haired sage kneels before +the sensual boy, you see the prophet of the new +civilization kneel before the monarch of the old! You +see Paul make a subject's formal reverence to Nero!<a name="noteref_11" id="noteref_11"></a><a href="#note_11"><span class="footnoteref">11</span></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Let me do justice to the court which is to try him. +In that judgment-hall there are not only the pomp of +Rome, and its crime; we have also the best of its wisdom. +By the dissolute boy, Nero, there stands the prime +minister Seneca, the chief of the philosophers of his +time; "Seneca the saint," cry the Christians of the +next century. We will own him to be Seneca the +wise, Seneca almost the good. To this sage had been +given the education of the monster who was to rule +the world. This sage had introduced him into power, +had restrained his madness when he could, and with +his colleague had conducted the general administration +of the Empire with the greatest honor, while the boy +was wearing out his life in debauchery in the palace. +Seneca dared say more to Nero, to venture more with +him, than did any other man. For the young tiger +was afraid of his old master long after he had tasted +blood. Yet Seneca's system was a cowardly system. +It was the best of Roman morality and Greek philosophy, +and still it was mean. His daring was the bravest +<span class="tei-pb" id="page110">[pg 110]</span> +<a name="Pg110" id="Pg110" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of the men of the old civilization. He is the type +of their excellences, as is Nero the model of their +power and their adornments. And yet all that Seneca's +daring could venture was to seduce the baby-tyrant +into the least injurious of tyrannies. From the plunder +of a province he would divert him by the carnage +of the circus. From the murder of a senator he could +lure him by some new lust at home. From the ruin +of the Empire, he could seduce him by diverting him +with the ruin of a noble family. And Seneca did +this with the best of motives. He said he used all +the power in his hands, and he thought he did. He +was one of those men of whom all times have their +share. The bravest of his time, he satisfied himself +with alluring the beardless Emperor by petty crime +from public wrong; he could flatter him to the expedient. +He dared not order him to the right.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But Seneca knew what was right. Seneca also had +a well-trained conscience, which told him of right and +of wrong. Seneca's brother, Gallio, had saved Paul's +life when a Jewish mob would have dragged him to +pieces in Corinth; and the legend is that Seneca and +Paul had corresponded with each other before they +stood together in Nero's presence, the one as counsellor, +the other as the criminal.<a name="noteref_12" id="noteref_12"></a><a href="#note_12"><span class="footnoteref">12</span></a> When Paul arose +<span class="tei-pb" id="page111">[pg 111]</span> +<a name="Pg111" id="Pg111" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +from that formal salutation, when the apostle of the +new civilization spoke to the tottering monarch of the +old, if there had been one man in that assemblage, +could he have failed to see that that was a turning-point +in the world's history? Before him in that little +hall, in that little hour, was passing the scene which +for centuries would be acted out upon the larger stage.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Faith on the one side, before expediency and +cruelty on the other! Paul before Seneca and Nero! +He was ready to address Nero, with the eloquence +and vehemence which for years had been demanding +utterance.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He stood at length before the baby Cæsar, to whose +tribunal he had appealed from the provincial court of +a doubting Festus and a trembling Agrippa.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And who shall ask what words the vigorous Christian +spoke to the dastard boy! Who that knows the +eloquence which rung out on the ears of astonished +Stoics at Athens, which commanded the incense and +the hecatombs of wandering peasants in Asia, which +stilled the gabbling clamor of a wild mob at Jerusalem,—who +will doubt the tone in which Paul spoke +to Nero! The boy quailed for the moment before the +man! The gilded dotard shrunk back from the home +truths of the new, young, vigorous faith: the ruler +of a hundred legions was nothing before the God-commissioned +prisoner.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">No; though at this audience all men forsook Paul, +as he tells us; though not one of the timid converts +<span class="tei-pb" id="page112">[pg 112]</span> +<a name="Pg112" id="Pg112" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +were there, but the soldier chained at his side,—still he +triumphed over Nero and Nero's minister.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">From that audience-hall those three men retire. +The boy, grown old in lust, goes thence to be an hour +alone, to ponder for an hour on this God, this resurrection, +and this truth, of which the Jew, in such uncourtly +phrase, has harangued him. To be alone, until +the spectre of a dying mother rises again to haunt +him, to persecute him and drive him forth to his followers +and feasters, where he will try to forget Paul +and the Saviour and God, where he would be glad to +banish them forever. He does not banish them forever! +Henceforward, whenever that spectre of a +mother comes before him, it must re-echo the words of +God and eternity which Paul has spoken. Whenever +the chained and bleeding captive of the arena bends +suppliant before him, there must return the memory +of the only captive who was never suppliant before +him, and his words of sturdy power!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And Seneca? Seneca goes home with the mortified +feelings of a great man who has detected his own +meanness.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We all know the feeling; for all God's children +might be great, and it is with miserable mortification +that we detect ourselves in one or another pettiness. +Seneca goes home to say: "This wild <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Easterner</span> has +rebuked the Emperor as I have so often wanted to rebuke +him. He stood there, as I have wanted to stand, +a man before a brute. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page113">[pg 113]</span> +<a name="Pg113" id="Pg113" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"He said what I have thought, and have been afraid +to say. Downright, straightforward, he told the Emperor +truths as to Rome, as to man, and as to his vices, +which I have longed to tell him. He has done what I +am afraid to do. He has dared this, which I have +dallied with, and left undone. <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">What is the mystery of +his power?</span>"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Seneca did not know. Nero did not know. The +"Eastern mystery" was in presence before them, and +they knew it not!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">What was the mystery of Paul's power?</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Paul leaves them with the triumph of a man who +has accomplished the hope of long years. Those +solemn words of his, "After that, I <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">must</span> also see +Rome," expressed the longing of years, whose object +now, in part, at least, is gratified. He must see +Rome!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It is God's mission to him that he see Rome and its +Emperor. Paul has seen with the spirit's eye what +we have seen since in history,—that he is to be the +living link by which the electric fire of life should +pass first from religious Asia to quicken this dead, +brutish Europe. He knows that he is God's messenger +to bear this mystery of life eternal from the one +land to the other, and to unfold it there. And to-day +has made real, in fact, this his inward confidence. +To-day has put the seal of fact on that vision of his, +years since, when he first left his Asiatic home. A +prisoner in chains, still he has to-day seen the accomplishment +<span class="tei-pb" id="page114">[pg 114]</span> +<a name="Pg114" id="Pg114" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of the vows, hopes, and resolutions of that +field of Troy, most truly famous from the night he +spent there. There was another of these hours when +God brings into one spot the acts which shall be the +<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">argument</span> of centuries of history. Paul had come +down there in his long Asiatic journeys,—Eastern in +his lineage, Eastern in his temperament, Eastern in +his outward life, and Eastern in his faith,—to that +narrow Hellespont, which for long ages has separated +East from West, tore madly up the chains which +would unite them, overwhelmed even love when it +sought to intermarry them, and left their cliffs frowning +eternal hate from shore to shore. Paul stood +upon the Asian shore and looked across upon the +Western. There were Macedonia and the hills of +Greece, here Troas and the ruins of Ilium. The +names speak war. The blue Hellespont has no voice +but separation, except to Paul. But to Paul, sleeping, +it might be, on the tomb of Achilles, that night +the "man of Macedonia" appears, and bids him come +over to avenge Asia, to pay back the debt of Troy.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Come over <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">and help us.</span>" Give us life, for we +gave you death. Give us help for we gave you ruin. +Paul was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. The +Christian Alexander, he crosses to Macedon with +the words of peace instead of war,—the Christian +shepherd of the people, he carries to Greece, from +Troy, the tidings of salvation instead of carnage, of +charity instead of license. And he knows that to +<span class="tei-pb" id="page115">[pg 115]</span> +<a name="Pg115" id="Pg115" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Europe it is the beginning of her new civilization, it in +the dawn of her new warfare, of her new poetry, of +her reign of heroes who are immortal.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">faith</span> of his, now years old, has this day received +its crowning victory. This day, when he has +faced Nero and Seneca together, may well stand in +his mind as undoing centuries of bloodshed and of +license.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And in this effort, and in that spiritual strength +which had nerved him in planning it and carrying it +through, was the "Asian mystery." Ask what was +the secret of Paul's power as he bearded the baby +Emperor, and abashed the baby Philosopher? What +did he give the praise to, as he left that scene? What +was the principle in action there, but faith in the new +life, faith in the God who gave it!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We do not wonder, as Seneca wondered, that such +a man as Paul dared say anything to such a boy as +Nero! The absolute courage of the new faith was +the motive-power which forced it upon the world. +Here were the sternest of morals driven forward with +the most ultra bravery.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Perfect faith gave perfect courage to the first witnesses. +And there was the "mystery" of their victories.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And so, in this case, when after a while Seneca +again reminded Nero of his captive, poor Nero did not +dare but meet him again. Yet, when he met him +again in that same judgment-hall, he did not dare +<span class="tei-pb" id="page116">[pg 116]</span> +<a name="Pg116" id="Pg116" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +hear him long; and we may be sure that there were +but few words before, with such affectation of dignity +as he could summon, he bade them set the prisoner +free.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Paul free! The old had faced the new. Each +had named its champion. And the new conquers! +<span class="tei-pb" id="page117">[pg 117]</span> +<a name="Pg117" id="Pg117" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> +</div> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_7" id="toc_7"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE DOT AND LINE ALPHABET.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[This sketch was originally published in the Atlantic Monthly +for October, 1858, just at the time that the first Atlantic Cable, +whose first prattle had been welcomed by the acclamations of +a continent, gasped its last under the manipulations of De +Sauty. It has since been copied by Mr. Prescott in his valuable +hand-book of the electric telegraph.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The war, which has taught us all so much, has given a brilliant +illustration of the dot and line alphabet, wholly apart from the +electric use of it, which will undoubtedly be often repeated. In +the movements of our troops under General Foster in North +Carolina, Dr. J.B. Upham of Boston, the distinguished medical +director in that department, equally distinguished for the success +with which he has led forward the musical education of New England, +trained a corps of buglers to converse with each other by +long and short bugle-notes, and thus to carry information with +literal accuracy from point to point at any distance within which +the tones of a bugle could be heard. It will readily be seen that +there are many occasions in military affairs when such means of +conversation might prove of inestimable value. Mr. Tuttle, the +astronomer, on duty in the same campaign, made a similar arrangement +with long and short flashes of light.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Just in the triumph week of that Great Telegraph +which takes its name from the Atlantic Monthly, I +<span class="tei-pb" id="page118">[pg 118]</span> +<a name="Pg118" id="Pg118" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +read in the September number of that journal the revelations +of an observer who was surprised to find that +he had the power of reading, as they run, the revelations +of the wire. I had the hope that he was about +to explain to the public the more general use of this +instrument,—which, with a stupid fatuity, the public +has as yet failed to grasp. Because its signals have +been first applied by means of electro-magnetism, and +afterwards by means of the chemical power of electricity, +the many-headed people refuses to avail itself, +as it might do very easily, of the same signals for +the simpler transmission of intelligence, whatever the +power employed.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The great invention of Mr. Morse is his register and +alphabet. He himself eagerly disclaims any pretension +to the original conception of the use of electricity +as an errand-boy. Hundreds of people had thought +of that and suggested it: but Morse was the first to +give the errand-boy such a written message, that he +could not lose it on the way, nor mistake it when he +arrived. The public, eager to thank Morse, as he deserves, +thanks him for something he did not invent. +For this he probably cares very little; nor do I care +more. But the public does not thank him for what +he did originate,—this invaluable and simple alphabet. +Now, as I use it myself in every detail of life, +and see every hour how the public might use it, if it +chose, I am really sorry for this negligence,—both on +the score of his fame, and of general convenience. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page119">[pg 119]</span> +<a name="Pg119" id="Pg119" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Please to understand, then, ignorant Reader, that +this curious alphabet reduces all the complex machinery +of Cadmus and the rest of the writing-masters to +characters as simple as can be made by a dot, a space, +and a line, variously combined. Thus, the marks .— designate +the letter A. The marks —... designate +the letter B. All the other letters are designated in +as simple a manner.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Now I am stripping myself of one of the private +comforts of my life, (but what will one not do for +mankind?) when I explain that this simple alphabet +need not be confined to electrical signals. <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Long</span> and +<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">short</span> make it all,—and wherever long and short can +be combined, be it in marks, sounds, sneezes, fainting-fits, +canes, or children, ideas can be conveyed by this +arrangement of the long and short together. Only last +night I was talking scandal with Mrs. Wilberforce at +a summer party at the Hammersmiths. To my amazement, +my wife, who scarcely can play "The Fisher's +Hornpipe," interrupted us by asking Mrs. Wilberforce +if she could give her the idea of an air in +"The Butcher of Turin." Mrs. Wilberforce had +never heard that opera,—indeed, had never heard +of it. My angel-wife was surprised,—stood thrumming +at the piano,—wondered she could not catch +this very odd bit of discordant accord at all,—but +checked herself in her effort, as soon as I observed +that her long notes and short notes, in their tum-tee, +tee,—tee-tee, tee-tum tum, meant, "He's her brother." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page120">[pg 120]</span> +<a name="Pg120" id="Pg120" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +The conversation on her side turned from "The Butcher +of Turin," and I had just time on the hint thus given +me by Mrs. I. to pass a grateful eulogium on the distinguished +statesman whom Mrs. Wilberforce, with all +a sister's care, had rocked in his baby-cradle,—whom, +but for my wife's long and short notes, I should have +clumsily abused among the other statesmen of the day.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">You will see, in an instant, awakening Reader, that +it is not the business simply of "operators" in telegraphic +dens to know this Morse alphabet, but your +business, and that of every man and woman. If our +school committees understood the times, it would be +taught, even before phonography or physiology, at +school. I believe both these sciences now precede the +old English alphabet.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As I write these words, the bell of the South Congregational +strikes dong, dong, dong,—dong, dong, +dong, dong,—dong,—dong. Nobody has unlocked +the church-door. I know that, for I am locked up in +the vestry. The old tin sign, "In case of fire, the +key will be found at the opposite house," has long +since been taken down, and made into the nose of a +water-pot. Yet there is no Goody Two-Shoes locked +in. No one except me, and certainly I am not ringing +the bell. No! But, thanks to Dr. Channing's +Fire Alarm,<a name="noteref_13" id="noteref_13"></a><a href="#note_13"><span class="footnoteref">13</span></a> the bell is informing the South End that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page121">[pg 121]</span> +<a name="Pg121" id="Pg121" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +there is a fire in District Dong-dong-dong,—that is to +say, District No. 3. Before I have explained to you +so far, the "Eagle" engine, with a good deal of noise, +has passed the house on its way to that fated district. +An immense improvement this on the old system, +when the engines radiated from their houses in every +possible direction, and the fire was extinguished by +the few machines whose lines of quest happened to +cross each other at the particular place where the child +had been building cob-houses out of lucifer-matches in +a paper warehouse. Yes, it is a very great improvement. +All those persons, like you and me, who have +no property in District Dong-dong-dong, can now sit +at home at ease;—and little need we think upon the +mud above the knees of those who have property in +that district and are running to look after it. But for +them the improvement only brings misery. You arrive +wet, hot/or cold, or both, at the large District No. 3, to +find that the lucifer-matches were half a mile away +from your store,—and that your own private watchman, +even, had not been waked by the working of the +distant engines. Wet property holder, as you walk +home, consider this. When you are next in the Common +Council, vote an appropriation for applying +Morse's alphabet of long and short to the bells. Then +they can be made to sound intelligibly. Daung ding +ding,—ding,—ding daung,—daung daung daung, +and so on, will tell you as you wake in the night that it +is Mr. B.'s store which is on fire, and not yours, or that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page122">[pg 122]</span> +<a name="Pg122" id="Pg122" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +it is yours and not his. This is not only a convenience +to you and a relief to your wife and family, who +will thus be spared your excursions to unavailable and +unsatisfactory fires, and your somewhat irritated return,—it +will be a great relief to the Fire Department. +How placid the operations of a fire where none attend +except on business! The various engines arrive, but +no throng of distant citizens, men and boys, fearful of +the destruction of their all. They have all roused on +their pillows to learn that it is No. 530 Pearl Street +which is in flames. All but the owner of No. 530 +Pearl Street have dropped back to sleep. He alone +has rapidly repaired to the scene. That is he, who +stands in the uncrowded street with the Chief Engineer, +on the deck of No. 18, as she plays away. His property +destroyed, the engines retire,—he mentions the +amount of his insurance to those persons who represent +the daily press, they all retire to their homes,—and +the whole is finished as simply, almost, as was his +private entry in his day-book the afternoon before.<a name="noteref_14" id="noteref_14"></a><a href="#note_14"><span class="footnoteref">14</span></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This is what might be, if the magnetic alarm only +struck <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">long</span> and <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">short</span>, and we had all learned Morse's +alphabet. Indeed, there is nothing the bells could not +tell, if you would only give them time enough. We +have only one chime, for musical purposes, in the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page123">[pg 123]</span> +<a name="Pg123" id="Pg123" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +town. But, without attempting tunes, only give the +bells the Morse alphabet, and every bell in Boston +might chant in monotone the words of "Hail Columbia" +at length, every Fourth of July. Indeed, if Mr. +Barnard should report any day that a discouraged +'prentice-boy had left town for his country home, all +the bells could instantly be set to work to speak articulately, +in language regarding which the dullest imagination +need not be at loss,</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Turn again, Higginbottom,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Lord Mayor of Boston!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I have suggested the propriety of introducing this +alphabet into the primary schools. I need not say I +have taught it to my own children,—and I have been +gratified to see how rapidly it made head, against +the more complex alphabet, in the grammar schools. +Of course it does;—an alphabet of two characters +matched against one of twenty-six,—or of forty-odd, +as the very odd one of the phonotypists employ! On +the Franklin-medal day I went to the Johnson-School +examination. One of the committee asked a nice +girl what was the capital of Brazil. The child looked +tired and pale, and, for an instant, hesitated. But, before +she had time to commit herself, all answering was +rendered impossible by an awful turn of whooping-cough +which one of my own sons was seized with,—who +had gone to the examination with me. Hawm, +hem hem;—hem hem hem;—hem, hem;—hawm, +hem hem;—hem hem hem;—hem, hem,—barked +<span class="tei-pb" id="page124">[pg 124]</span> +<a name="Pg124" id="Pg124" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the poor child, who was at the opposite extreme of the +school-room. The spectators and the committee looked +to see him fall dead with a broken blood-vessel. I +confess that I felt no alarm, after I observed that some +of his gasps were long and some very <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">staccato</span>;—nor +did pretty little Mabel Warren. She recovered her +color,—and, as soon as silence was in the least restored, +answered, "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Rio</span> is the capital of Brazil,"—as modestly +and properly as if she had been taught it in her cradle. +They are nothing but children, any of them,—but +that afternoon, after they had done all the singing +the city needed for its annual entertainment of the +singers, I saw Bob and Mabel start for a long expedition +into West Roxbury,—and when he came +back, I know it was a long featherfew, from her +prize school-bouquet, that he pressed in his Greene's +"Analysis," with a short frond of maiden's hair.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I hope nobody will write a letter to "The Atlantic," +to say that these are very trifling uses. The communication +of useful information is never trifling. It is +as important to save a nice child from mortification on +examination-day, as it is to tell Mr. Fremont that he +is not elected President. If, however, the reader is +distressed, because these illustrations do not seem to +his more benighted observation to belong to the big +bow-wow strain of human life, let him consider the +arrangement which ought to have been made years +since, for lee shores, railroad collisions, and that curious +class of maritime accidents where one steamer runs +<span class="tei-pb" id="page125">[pg 125]</span> +<a name="Pg125" id="Pg125" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +into mother under the impression that she is a light +house. Imagine the Morse alphabet applied to a steam-whistle, +which is often heard five miles. It needs +only <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">long</span> and <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">short</span> again. "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Stop Comet</span>," for instance, +when you send it down the railroad line, by the wire, +is expressed thus:</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p"> ... — . . ....,... . . — — . —</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Very good message, if Comet happens to be at the +telegraph station when it comes! But what if Cornel +has gone by? Much good will your trumpery message +do then! If, however, you have the wit to sound +your long and short on an engine-whistle, thus;—Scre +scre, scre; screeee; scre scre; scre scre scre scre +scre; scre scre scre,—scre scre; screeeee screeeee; +scre; screeeee;—why, then the whole neighborhood, +for five miles around, will know that Comet must +stop, if only they understand spoken language,—and +among others, the engineman of Comet will understand +it; and Comet will not run into that wreck of +worlds which gives the order,—with the nucleus of +hot iron and his tail of five hundred tons of coal.—So, +of the signals which fog-bells can give, attached +to light-houses. How excellent to have them proclaim +through the darkness, "I am Wall "! Or of signals +for steamship-engineers. When our friends were on +board the "Arabia" the other day, and she and the +"Europa" pitched into each other,—as if, on that +happy week, all the continents were to kiss and join +hands all round,—how great the relief to the passengers +<span class="tei-pb" id="page126">[pg 126]</span> +<a name="Pg126" id="Pg126" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +on each, if, through every night of their passage, +collision had been prevented by this simple expedient! +One boat would have screamed, "Europa, Europa, +Europa," from night to morning,—and the other, +"Arabia, Arabia, Arabia,"—and neither would have +been mistaken, as one unfortunately was, for a light-house.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The long and short of it is, that whoever can mark +distinctions of time can use this alphabet of long-and-short, +however he may mark them. It is therefore +within the compass of all intelligent beings, except +those who are no longer conscious of the passage of +time, having exchanged its limitations for the wider +sweep of eternity. The illimitable range of this alphabet, +however, is not half disclosed when this has +been said. Most articulate language addresses itself +to one sense, or at most to two, sight and sound. I +see, as I write, that the particular illustrations I have +given are all of them confined to signals seen or signals +heard. But the dot-and-line alphabet, in the few years +of its history, has already shown that it is not restricted +to these two senses, but makes itself intelligible to all. +Its message, of course, is heard as well as read. Any +good operator understands the sounds of its ticks upon +the flowing strip of paper, as well as when he sees it +As he lies in his cot at midnight, he will expound the +passing message without striking a light to see it +But this is only what may be said of any written language. +You can read this article to your wife, or she +<span class="tei-pb" id="page127">[pg 127]</span> +<a name="Pg127" id="Pg127" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +can read it, as she prefers; that is, she chooses whether +it shall address her eye or her ear. But the long-and-short +alphabet of Morse and his imitators despises +such narrow range. It addresses whichever of the +five senses the listener chooses. This fact is illustrated +by a curious set of anecdotes,—never yet put in print, +I think,—of that critical despatch which in one night +announced General Taylor's death to this whole land. +Most of the readers of these lines probably read that +despatch in the morning's paper. The compositors +and editors had read it. To them it was a despatch +to the eye. But half the operators at the stations +<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">heard</span> it ticked out, by the register stroke, and knew +it before they wrote it down for the press. To them +it was a despatch to the ear. My good friend Langenzunge +had not that resource. He had just been promised, +by the General himself (under whom he served +at Palo Alto), the office of Superintendent of the +Rocky Mountain Lines. He was returning from +Washington over the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, on +a freight-train, when he heard of the President's danger. +Langenzunge loved Old Rough and Ready,—and +he felt badly about his own office, too. But his +extempore train chose to stop at a forsaken shanty-village +on the Potomac, for four mortal hours, at midnight. +What does he do, but walk down the line into +the darkness, climb a telegraph-post, cut a wire, and +applied the two ends to his tongue, to <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">taste</span>, at the fatal +moment, the words, "Died at half past ten." Poor +<span class="tei-pb" id="page128">[pg 128]</span> +<a name="Pg128" id="Pg128" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Langenzunge! he hardly had nerve to solder the wire +again. Cogs told me that they had just fitted up the +Naguadavick stations with Bain's chemical revolving +disk. This disk is charged with a salt of potash, +which, when the electric spark passes through it, is +changed to Prussian blue. Your despatch is noiselessly +written in dark blue dots and lines. Just as the +disk started on that fatal despatch, and Cogs bent over +it to read, his spirit-lamp blew up,—as the dear things +will. They were beside themselves in the lonely, +dark office; but, while the men were fumbling for +matches, which would not go, Cogs's sister, Nydia, a +sweet blind girl, who had learned Bain's alphabet from +Dr. Howe at South Boston, bent over the chemical +paper, and <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">smelt</span> out the prussiate of potash, as it formed +itself in lines and dots to tell the sad story. Almost +anybody used to reading the blind books can read the +embossed Morse messages with the finger,—and so +this message was read at all the midnight way-stations +where no night-work is expected, and where the companies +do not supply fluid or oil. Within my narrow +circle of acquaintance, therefore, there were these +simultaneous instances, where the same message was +seen, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt. So universal is +the dot-and-line alphabet,—for Bain's is on the same +principle as Morse's.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The reader sees, therefore, first, that the dot-and-line +alphabet can be employed by any being who has +command of any long and short symbols,—be they +<span class="tei-pb" id="page129">[pg 129]</span> +<a name="Pg129" id="Pg129" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +long and short notches, such as Robinson Crusoe kept +his accounts with, or long and short waves of electricity, +such as these which Valentia is sending across to +the Newfoundland bay, so prophetically and appropriately +named "The Bay of Bulls." Also, I hope the +reader sees that the alphabet can be understood by any +intelligent being who has any one of the five senses +left him,—by all rational men, that is, excepting the +few eyeless deaf persons who have lost both taste and +smell in some complete paralysis. The use of Morse's +telegraph is by no means confined to the small clique +who possess or who understand electrical batteries. It +is not only the torpedo or the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Gymnotus electricus</span> that +can send us messages from the ocean. Whales in the +sea can telegraph as well as senators on land, if they +will only note the difference between long spoutings +and short ones. And they can listen, too. If they +will only note the difference between long and short, +the eel of Ocean's bottom may feel on his slippery skin +the smooth messages of our Presidents, and the catfish, +in his darkness, look fearless on the secrets of a Queen. +Any beast, bird, fish, or insect, which can discriminate +between long and short, may use the telegraph alphabet, +if he have sense enough. Any creature, which +can hear, smell, taste, feel, or see, may take note of its +signals, if he can understand them. A tired listener +at church, by properly varying his long yawns and his +short ones, may express his opinion of the sermon to +the opposite gallery before the sermon is done. A +<span class="tei-pb" id="page130">[pg 130]</span> +<a name="Pg130" id="Pg130" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +dumb tobacconist may trade with his customers in an +alphabet of short-sixes and long-nines. A beleaguered +Sebastopol may explain its wants to the relieving army +beyond the line of the Chernaya, by the lispings of its +short Paixhans and its long twenty-fours.</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page131">[pg 131]</span> +<a name="Pg131" id="Pg131" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_8" id="toc_8"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE RESOLUTE.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[I had some opportunities, which no other writer for the press +had, I believe, of examining the Resolute on her return from +that weird voyage which is the most remarkable in the history +of the navies of the world. And, as I know of no other printed +record of the whole of that voyage than this, which was published +in the Boston Daily Advertiser of June 11, 1856, I reprint it +here. Readers should remember that the English government +abandoned all claim on the vessel; that the American government +then bought her of the salvors, refitted her completely, and sent +her to England as a present to the Queen. The Queen visited +the ship, and accepted the present in person. The Resolute has +never since been to sea. I do not load the page with authorities; +but I studied the original reports of the Arctic expeditions carefully +in preparing the paper, and I believe it to be accurate +throughout.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The voyage from New London to England, when she was thus +returned, is strictly her last voyage. But when this article was +printed its name was correct.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was in early spring in 1852, early on the morning +of the 21st of April, that the stout English discovery +ship Resolute, manned by a large crew, commanded +by a most manly man, Henry Kellett, left her +<span class="tei-pb" id="page132">[pg 132]</span> +<a name="Pg132" id="Pg132" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +moorings in the great river Thames, a little below the +old town of London, was taken in tow by a fussy +steam-tug, and proudly started as one of a fine English +squadron in the great search of the nations for the lost +Sir John Franklin. It was late in the year 1855, on +the 24th of December, that the same ship, weather-worn, +scantily rigged, without her lighter masts, all in +the trim of a vessel which has had a hard fight with +wind, water, ice, and time, made the light-house of +<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">New</span> London,—waited for day and came round to anchor +in the other river Thames, of <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">New</span> England. +Not one man of the English crew was on board. The +gallant Captain Kellett was not there; but in his place +an American master, who had shown, in his way, equal +gallantry. The sixty or seventy men with whom she +sailed were all in their homes more than a year ago. +The eleven men with whom she returned had had to +double parts, and to work hard to make good the +places of the sixty. And between the day when the +Englishmen left her, and the day the Americans found +her, she had spent fifteen months and more alone. +She was girt in by the ice of the Arctic seas. No +man knows where she went, what narrow scapes she +passed through, how low her thermometers marked +cold;—it is a bit of her history which was never +written. Nor what befell her little tender, the "Intrepid," +which was left in her neighborhood, "ready +for occupation," just as she was left. No man will +ever tell of the nip that proved too much for her,—of +<span class="tei-pb" id="page133">[pg 133]</span> +<a name="Pg133" id="Pg133" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the opening of her seams, and her disappearance +beneath the ice. But here is the hardy Resolute, +which, on the 15th of May, 1854, her brave commander +left, as he was ordered, "ready for occupation,"—which +the brave Captain Buddington found September +10, 1855, more than a thousand miles from there, +and pronounced still "ready for occupation";—and +of what can be known of her history from Old London +to New London, from Old England's Thames to New +England's Thames, we will try to tell the story; as it +is written in the letters of her old officers and told by +the lips of her new rescuers.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">For Arctic work, if ships are to go into every nook +and lane of ice that will yield at all to wind and steam, +they must be as nearly indestructible as man can make +them. For Arctic work, therefore, and for discovery +work, ships built of the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">teak</span> wood of Malabar and Java +are considered most precisely fitted. Ships built of +teak are said to be wholly indestructible by time. To +this we owe the fact, which now becomes part of a +strange coincidence, that one of the old Captain Cook's +ships which went round the world with him has been, +till within a few years, a whaling among the American +whalers, revisiting, as a familiar thing, the shores which +she was first to discover. The English admiralty, +eager to fit out for Arctic service a ship of the best +build they could find, bought the two teak-built ships +Baboo and Ptarmigan in 1850,—sent them to their own +dock-yards to be refitted, and the Baboo became the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page134">[pg 134]</span> +<a name="Pg134" id="Pg134" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Assistance,—the Ptarmigan became the Resolute, of +their squadrons of Arctic discovery.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Does the reader know that in the desolation of the +Arctic shores the Ptarmigan is the bird most often +found? It is the Arctic grouse or partridge,<a name="noteref_15" id="noteref_15"></a><a href="#note_15"><span class="footnoteref">15</span></a> and +often have the ptarmigans of Melville Island furnished +sport and even dinners to the hungry officers of the +"Resolute," wholly unconscious that she had ever been +their god-child, and had thrown off their name only to +take that which she now wears.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Early in May, 1850, just at the time we now know +that brave Sir John Franklin and the remnant of his +crew were dying of starvation at the mouth of Back's +River, the "Resolute" sailed first for the Arctic seas, +the flag-ship of Commodore Austin, with whose little +squadron our own De Haven and his men had such +pleasant intercourse near Beechey Island. In the +course of that expedition she wintered off Cornwallis +Island,—and in autumn of the next year returned to +England.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Whenever a squadron or a man or an army returns +to England, unless in the extreme and exceptional case +of complete victory over obstacle invincible, there is +always dissatisfaction. This is the English way. And +so there was dissatisfaction when Captain Austin returned +with his ships and men. There was also still +a lingering hope that some trace of Franklin might yet +be found, perhaps some of his party. Yet more, there +<span class="tei-pb" id="page135">[pg 135]</span> +<a name="Pg135" id="Pg135" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +were two of the searching ships which had entered the +Polar seas from Behring's Straits on the west, the +"Enterprise" and "Investigator," which might need +relief before they came through or returned. Arctic +search became a passion by this time, and at once a +new squadron was fitted out to take the seas in the +spring of 1852. This squadron consisted of the "Assistance" +and "Resolute" again, which had been refitted +since their return, of the "Intrepid" and "Pioneer," +two steamships used as tenders to the "Assistance" +and "Resolute" respectively, and of the "North +Star," which had also been in those regions, and now +went as a storeship to the rest of the squadron. To +the command of the whole Sir Edward Belcher was +appointed, an officer who had served in some of the +earlier Arctic expeditions. Officers and men volunteered +in full numbers for the service, and these five +vessels therefore carried out a body of men who brought +more experience of the Northern seas together than +any expedition which had ever visited them.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Of these, Captain Henry Kellett had command of +the "Resolute," and was second in seniority to Sir +Edward Belcher, who made the "Assistance" the flag-ship. +It shows what sort of man he was, to say that +for more than ten years he spent only part of one in +England, and was the rest of the time in an antipodean +hemisphere or a hyperborean zone. Before brave Sir +John Franklin sailed, Captain Kellett was in the Pacific. +Just as he was to return home, he was ordered +<span class="tei-pb" id="page136">[pg 136]</span> +<a name="Pg136" id="Pg136" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +into the Arctic seas to search for Sir John. Three +years successively, in his ship the "Herald," he passed +inside Behring's Straits, and far into the Arctic Ocean. +He discovered "Herald Island," the farthest land +known there. He was one of the last men to see McClure +in the "Investigator" before she entered the +Polar seas from the northwest. He sent three of his +men on board that ship to meet them all again, as will +be seen, in strange surroundings. After more than +seven years of this Pacific and Arctic life, he returned +to England, in May or June, 1851, and in the next +winter volunteered to try the eastern approach to the +same Arctic seas in our ship, the "Resolute." Some +of his old officers sailed with him.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We know nothing of Captain Kellett but what his +own letters, despatches, and instructions show, as they +are now printed in enormous parliamentary blue-books, +and what the despatches and letters of his officers and +of his commander show. But these papers present the +picture of a vigorous, hearty man, kind to his crew +and a great favorite with them, brave in whatever trial, +always considerate, generous to his officers, reposing +confidence in their integrity; a man, in short, of whom +the world will be apt to hear more. His commander, +Sir Edward Belcher, tried by the same standard, appears +a brave and ready man, apt to talk of himself, +not very considerate of his inferiors, confident in his +own opinion; in short, a man with whom one would +not care to spend three Arctic winters. With him, as +<span class="tei-pb" id="page137">[pg 137]</span> +<a name="Pg137" id="Pg137" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +we trace the "Resolute's" fortunes, we shall have +much to do. Of Captain Kellett we shall see something +all along till the day when he sadly left her, as +bidden by Sir Edward Belcher, "ready for occupation."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">With such a captain, and with sixty-odd men, the +"Resolute" cast off her moorings in the gray of the +morning on the 21st of April, 1852, to go in search of +Sir John Franklin. The brave Sir John had died two +years before, but no one knew that, nor whispered it. +The river steam-tug "Monkey" took her in tow, other +steamers took the "Assistance" and the "North +Star"; the "Intrepid" and "Pioneer" got up their +own steam, and to the cheers of the little company +gathered at Greenhithe to see them off, they went down +the Thames. At the Nore, the steamship "Desperate" +took the "Resolute" in charge, Sir Edward +Belcher made the signal "Orkneys" as the place of +rendezvous, and in four days she was there, in Stromness +outer harbor. Here there was a little shifting of +provisions and coal-bags, those of the men who could +get on shore squandered their spending-money, and +then, on the 28th of April, she and hers bade good +by to British soil. And, though they have welcomed +it again long since, she has not seen it from then till +now.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The "Desperate" steamer took her in tow, she sent +her own tow-lines to the "North Star," and for three +days in this procession of so wild and weird a name, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page138">[pg 138]</span> +<a name="Pg138" id="Pg138" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +they three forged on westward toward Greenland,—a +train which would have startled any old Viking had +he fallen in with it, with a fresh gale blowing all the +time and "a nasty sea." On the fourth day all the +tow-lines broke or were cast off however, Neptune and +the winds claimed their own, and the "Resolute" +tried her own resources. The towing steamers were +sent home in a few days more, and the squadron left +to itself.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We have too much to tell in this short article to be +able to dwell on the details of her visits to the hospitable +Danes of Greenland, or of her passage through +the ice of Baffin's Bay. But here is one incident, +which, as the event has proved, is part of a singular +coincidence. On the 6th of July all the squadron, +tangled in the ice, joined a fleet of whalers beset in it, +by a temporary opening between the gigantic masses. +Caught at the head of a bight in the ice, with the "Assistance" +and the "Pioneer," the "Resolute" was, +for the emergency, docked there, and, by the ice closing +behind her, was, for a while, detained. Meanwhile +the rest of the fleet, whalers and discovery ships, passed +on by a little lane of water, the American whaler "McLellan" +leading. This "McLellan" was one of the +ships of the spirited New London merchants, Messrs. +Perkins & Smith, another of whose vessels has now +found the "Resolute" and befriended her in her need +in those seas. The "McLellan" was their pioneer +vessel there. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page139">[pg 139]</span> +<a name="Pg139" id="Pg139" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The "North Star" of the English squadron followed +the "McLellan." A long train stretched out behind. +Whalers and government ships, as they happened to +fall into line,—a long three quarters of a mile. It +was lovely weather, and, though the long lane closed +up so that they could neither go back nor forward,—nobody +apprehended injury till it was announced on +the morning of the 7th that the poor "McLellan" was +nipped in the ice and her crew were deserting her. +Sir Edward Belcher was then in condition to befriend +her, sent his carpenters to examine her,—put a few +charges of powder into the ice to relieve the pressure +upon her,—and by the end of the day it was agreed +that her injuries could be repaired, and her crew went +on board again. But there is no saying what ice will +do next. The next morning there was a fresh wind, +the "McLellan" was caught again, and the water +poured into her, a steady stream. She drifted about +unmanageable, now into one ship, now into another, +and the English whalemen began to pour on board, to +help themselves to such plunder as they chose. At +the Captain's request, Sir Edward Belcher put an end +to this, sent sentries on board, and working parties, to +clear her as far as might be, and keep account of what +her stores were and where they went to. In a day or +two more she sank to the water's edge and a friendly +charge or two of powder put her out of the way of harm +to the rest of the fleet. After such a week spent together +it will easily be understood that the New London +<span class="tei-pb" id="page140">[pg 140]</span> +<a name="Pg140" id="Pg140" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +whalemen did not feel strangers on board one of Sir +Edward's vessels when they found her "ready for occupation" +three years and more afterwards.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In this tussle with the ice, the "Resolute" was +nipped once or twice, but she has known harder nips +than that since. As July wore away, she made her +way across Baffin's Bay, and on the 10th of August +made Beechey Island,—known now as the head-quarters +for years of the searching squadrons, because, as it +happened, the place where the last traces of Franklin's +ships were found,—the wintering place of his first +winter. But Captain Kellett was on what is called +the "western search," and he only stayed at Beechey +Island to complete his provisions from the storeships, +and in the few days which this took, to see for himself +the sad memorials of Franklin's party,—and then the +"Resolute" and "Intrepid" were away, through +Barrow's Straits,—on the track which Parry ran +along with such success thirty-three years before,—and +which no one had followed with as good fortune +as he, until now.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">On the 15th of August Captain Kellett was off; +bade good by to the party at Beechey Island, and was +to try his fortune in independent command. He had +not the best of luck at starting. The reader must remember +that one great object of these Arctic expeditions +was to leave provisions for starving men. For +such a purpose, and for travelling parties of his own +over the ice, Captain Kellett was to leave a depot at +<span class="tei-pb" id="page141">[pg 141]</span> +<a name="Pg141" id="Pg141" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Assistance Bay, some thirty miles only from Beechey +Island. In nearing for that purpose the "Resolute" +grounded, was left with but seven feet of water, the +ice threw her over on her starboard bilge, and she +was almost lost. Not quite lost, however, or we +should not be telling her story. At midnight she was +got off, leaving sixty feet of her false keel behind. +Captain Kellett forged on in her,—left a depot here +and another there,—and at the end of the short Arctic +summer had come as far westward as Sir Edward +Parry came. Here is the most westerly point the +reader will find on most maps far north in America,—the +Melville Island of Captain Parry. Captain Kellett's +associate, Captain McClintock of the "Intrepid," +had commanded the only party which had been +here since Parry. In 1851 he came over from Austin's +squadron with a sledge party. So confident is every +one there that nobody has visited those parts unless +he was sent, that McClintock encouraged his men one +day by telling them that if they got on well, they +should have an old cart Parry had left thirty-odd years +before, to make a fire of. Sure enough; they came to +the place, and there was the wreck of the cart just as +Parry left it. They even found the ruts the old cart +left in the ground as if they had not been left a week. +Captain Kellett came into harbor, and with great +spirit he and his officers began to prepare for the extended +searching parties of the next spring. The +"Resolute" and her tender came to anchor off Dealy +<span class="tei-pb" id="page142">[pg 142]</span> +<a name="Pg142" id="Pg142" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Island, and there she spent the next eleven months of +her life, with great news around her in that time.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There is not much time for travelling in autumn. +The days grow very short and very cold. But what, +days there were were spent in sending out carts and +sledges with depots of provisions, which the parties of +the next spring could use. Different officers were +already assigned to different lines of search in spring. +On their journeys they would be gone three months +and more, with a party of some eight men,—dragging +a sled very like a Yankee wood-sled with their +instruments and provisions, over ice and snow. To +extend those searches as much as possible, and to prepare +the men for that work when it should come, +advanced depots were now sent forward in the autumn, +under the charge of the gentlemen who would have to +use them in the spring.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">One of these parties, the "South line of Melville +Island" party, was under a spirited young officer +Mr. Mecham, who had tried such service in the last +expedition. He had two of "her Majesty's sledges," +"The Discovery" and "The Fearless," a depot of +twenty days' provision to be used in the spring, and +enough for twenty-five days' present use. All the +sledges had little flags, made by some young lady +friends of Sir Edward Belcher's. Mr. Mecham's bore +an armed hand and sword on a white ground, with the +motto, "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Per mare, per terram, per glaciem</span>" Over +mud, land, snow, and ice they carried their dépot, and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page143">[pg 143]</span> +<a name="Pg143" id="Pg143" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +were nearly back, when, on the 12th of October, 1852, +Mr. Mecham made the great discovery of the expedition.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">On the shore of Melville Island, above Winter Harbor, +is a great sandstone boulder, ten feet high, seven +or eight broad, and twenty and more long, which is +known to all those who have anything to do with +those regions as "Parry's sandstone," for it stood near +Parry's observatory the winter he spent here, and Mr. +Fisher, his surgeon, cut on a flat face of it this inscription:—</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S</p> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> SHIPS HECLA AND GRIPER,</p> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> COMMANDED BY</p> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">W.E. <span style="font-variant: small-caps" class="tei tei-hi">Parry and Mr. Liddon</span>,</p> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> WINTERED IN THE ADJACENT</p> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> HARBOR 1819-20.</p> +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> A. FISHER, SCULPT.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was a sort of God Terminus put up to mark the +end of that expedition, as the Danish gentlemen tell +us our Dighton rock is the last point of Thorfinn's expedition +to these parts. Nobody came to read Mr. +Fisher's inscription for thirty years and more,—a little +Arctic hare took up her home under the great +rock, and saw the face of man for the first time when, +on the 5th of June, 1851, Mr. McClintock, on his first +expedition this way, had stopped to see whether possibly +any of Franklin's men had ever visited it. He +found no signs of them, had not so much time as Mr. +Fisher for stone-cutting, but carved the figures 1851 +<span class="tei-pb" id="page144">[pg 144]</span> +<a name="Pg144" id="Pg144" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +on the stone, and left it and the hare. To this stone, +on his way back to the "Resolute," Mr. Mecham came +again (as we said) on the 12th of October, one +memorable Tuesday morning, having been bidden +to leave a record there. He went on in advance of +his party, meaning to cut 1852 on the stone. On top +of it was a small cairn of stones built by Mr. McClintock +the year before. Mecham examined this, and to +his surprise a copper cylinder rolled out from under +a spirit tin. "On opening it, I drew out a roll folded +in a bladder, which, being frozen, broke and crumbled. +From its dilapidated appearance, I thought at the moment +it must be some record of Sir Edward Parry, +and, fearing I might damage it, laid it down with the +intention of lighting the fire to thaw it. My curiosity, +however, overcame my prudence, and on opening +it carefully with my knife, I came to a roll of cartridge +paper with the impression fresh upon the seals. +My astonishment may be conceived on finding it contained +an account of the proceedings of H.M. ship 'Investigator' +since parting company with the "Herald" +[Captain Kellett's old ship] in August, 1850, in Behring's +Straits. Also a chart which disclosed to view not +only the long-sought Northwest Passage, but the +completion of the survey of Banks and Wollaston lands. +Opened and indorsed Commander McClintock's despatch; +found it contained the following additions:—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">"'Opened and copied by his old friend and messmate upon this +date, April 28, 1852. ROBERT McCLURE</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"'Party all well and return to Investigator to-day.'"</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page145">[pg 145]</span> +<a name="Pg145" id="Pg145" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p">A great discovery indeed to flash across one in a +minute. The "Investigator" had not been heard +from for more than two years. Here was news of her +not yet six months old. The Northwest Passage had +been dreamed of for three centuries and more. Here +was news of its discovery,—news that had been +known to Captain McClure for two years. McClure +and McClintock were lieutenants together in the +"Enterprise" when she was sent after Sir John Franklin +in 1848, and wintered together at Port Leopold +the next winter. Now, from different hemispheres, +they had come so near meeting at this old block of +sandstone. Mr. Mecham bade his mate build a new +cairn, to put the record of the story in, and hurried on +to the "Resolute" with his great news,—news of almost +everybody but Sir John Franklin. Strangely +enough, the other expedition, Captain Collinson's, had +had a party in that neighborhood, between the other +two, under Mr. Parks; but it was his extreme point +possible, and he could not reach the Sandstone, though +he saw the ruts of McClure's sleigh. This was not +known till long afterwards.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The "Investigator," as it appeared from this despatch +of Captain McClure's, had been frozen up in the Bay of +Mercy of Banks Land: Banks Land having been for +thirty years at once an Ultima Thule and Terra Incognita, +put down on the maps where Captain Parry +saw it across thirty miles of ice and water in 1819. +Perhaps she was still in that same bay: these old +<span class="tei-pb" id="page146">[pg 146]</span> +<a name="Pg146" id="Pg146" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +friends wintering there, while the "Resolute" and +"Intrepid" were lying under Dealy Island, and only +one hundred and seventy miles between. It must have +been tantalizing to all parties to wait the winter through, +and not even get a message across. But until winter +made it too cold and dark to travel, the ice in the strait +was so broken up that it was impossible to attempt to +traverse it, even with a light boat, for the lanes of water. +So the different autumn parties came in, the last on the +last of October, and the officers and men entered on +their winter's work and play, to push off the winter +days as quickly as they could.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The winter was very severe; and it proved that, +as the "Resolute" lay, they were a good deal exposed +to the wind. But they kept themselves busy,—exercised +freely,—found game quite abundant within +reasonable distances on shore, whenever the light +served,—kept schools for the men,—delivered scientific +lectures to whoever would listen,—established +the theatre for which the ship had been provided at +home,—and gave juggler's exhibitions by way of variety. +The recent system of travelling in the fall and +spring cuts in materially to the length of the Arctic +winters as Ross, Parry, and Back used to experience +it, and it was only from the 1st of November to the +10th of March that they were left to their own resources. +Late in October one of the "Resolute's" men +died, and in December one of the "Intrepid's," but, +excepting these cases, they had little sickness, for +<span class="tei-pb" id="page147">[pg 147]</span> +<a name="Pg147" id="Pg147" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +weeks no one on the sick-list; indeed, Captain Kellett +says cheerfully that a sufficiency of good provisions, +with plenty of work in the open air, will insure good +health in that climate.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As early in the spring as he dared risk a travelling +party, namely, on the 10th of March, 1853, he sent +what they all called a forlorn hope across to the Bay +of Mercy, to find any traces of the "Investigator"; +for they scarcely ventured to hope that she was still +there. This start was earlier by thirty-five days than +the early parties had started on the preceding expedition. +But it was every way essential that, if Captain +McClure had wintered in the Bay of Mercy, the messenger +should reach him before he sent off any or all +his men, in travelling parties, in the spring. The little +forlorn hope consisted of ten men under the command +of Lieutenant Pirn, an officer who had been with Captain +Kellett in the "Herald" on the Pacific side, had +spent a winter in the "Plover" up Behring's Straits, +and had been one of the last men whom the "Investigator" +had seen before they put into the Arctic Ocean, to +discover, as it proved, the Northwest Passage.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Here we must stop a moment, to tell what one of +these sledge parties is by whose efforts so much has +been added to our knowledge of Arctic geography, in +journeys which could never have been achieved in +ships or boats. In the work of the "Resolute's" parties, +in this spring of 1852, Commander McClintock +travelled 1,325 miles with his sledge, and Lieutenant +<span class="tei-pb" id="page148">[pg 148]</span> +<a name="Pg148" id="Pg148" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Mecham 1,163 miles with his, through regions before +wholly unexplored. The sledge, as we have said, is +in general contour not unlike a Yankee wood-sled, +about eleven feet long. The runners are curved at +each end. The sled is fitted with a light canvas +trough, so adjusted that, in case of necessity, all the +stores, &c., can be ferried over any narrow lane of water +in the ice. There are packed on this sled a tent +for eight or ten men, five or six pikes, one or more of +which Is fitted as an ice-chisel; two large buffalo-skins, +a water-tight floor-cloth, which contrives</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">"a double debt to pay,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">A floor by night, the sledge's sail by day"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">(and it must be remembered that "day" and "night" +in those regions are very equivocal terms). There +are, besides, a cooking-apparatus, of which the fire is +made in spirit or tallow lamps, one or two guns, a +pick and shovel, instruments for observation, pannikins, +spoons, and a little magazine of such necessaries, +with the extra clothing of the party. Then the provision, +the supply of which measures the length of +the expedition, consists of about a pound of bread and +a pound of pemmican per man per day, six ounces of +pork, and a little preserved potato, rum, lime-juice, +tea, chocolate, sugar, tobacco, or other such creature +comforts. The sled is fitted with two drag-ropes, at +which the men haul. The officer goes ahead to find +the best way among hummocks of ice or masses of +snow. Sometimes on a smooth floe, before the wind, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page149">[pg 149]</span> +<a name="Pg149" id="Pg149" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the floor-cloth is set for a sail, and she runs off merrily, +perhaps with several of the crew on board, and +the rest running to keep up. But sometimes over +broken ice it is a constant task to get her on at all. +You hear, "One, two, three, <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">haul</span>" all day long, as she +is worked out of one ice "cradle-hole" over a hummock +into another. Different parties select different hours +for travelling. Captain Kellett finally considered that +the best division of time, when, as usual, they had constant +daylight, was to start at four in the afternoon, +travel till ten P.M., <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">breakfast</span> then, tent and rest four +hours; travel four more, tent, dine, and sleep nine +hours. This secured sleep, when the sun was the +highest and most trying to the eyes. The distances +accomplished with this equipment are truly surprising. +Each man, of course, is dressed as warmly as flannel, +woollen cloth, leather, and seal-skin will dress him. +For such long journeying, the study of boots becomes +a science, and our authorities are full of discussions as +to canvas or woollen, or carpet or leather boots, of +strings and of buckles. When the time "to tent" +comes, the pikes are fitted for tent-poles, and the tent +set up, its door to leeward, on the ice or snow. The +floor-cloth is laid for the carpet. At an hour fixed, +all talking must stop. There is just room enough for +the party to lie side by side on the floor-cloth. Each +man gets into a long felt bag, made of heavy felting literally +nearly half an inch thick. He brings this up +wholly over his head, and buttons himself in. He has a +<span class="tei-pb" id="page150">[pg 150]</span> +<a name="Pg150" id="Pg150" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +little hole in it to breathe through. Over the felt is +sometimes a brown holland bag, meant to keep out moisture. +The officer lies farthest in the tent,—as being +next the wind, the point of hardship and so of honor. +The cook for the day lies next the doorway, as being +first to be called. Side by side the others lie between. +Over them all Mackintosh blankets with the buffalo-robes +are drawn, by what power this deponent +sayeth not, not knowing. No watch is kept, for +there is little danger of intrusion. Once a whole party +was startled by a white bear smelling at them, who +waked one of their dogs, and a droll time they had of +it, springing to their arms while enveloped in their +sacks. But we remember no other instance where a +sentinel was needed. And occasionally in the journals +the officer notes that he overslept in the morning, and +did not "call the cook" early enough. What a passion +is sleep, to be sure, that one should oversleep +with such comforts round him!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Some thirty or forty parties, thus equipped, set out +from the "Resolute" while she was under Captain Kellett's +charge, on various expeditions. As the journey +of Lieutenant Pim to the "Investigator" at Banks +Land was that on which turned the great victory of +her voyage, we will let that stand as a specimen of all. +None of the others, however, were undertaken at so +early a period of the year, and, on the other hand, +several others were much longer,—some of them, as +has been said, occupying three months and more. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page151">[pg 151]</span> +<a name="Pg151" id="Pg151" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Lieutenant Pim had been appointed in the autumn to +the "Banks Land search," and had carried out his +depots of provisions when the other officers took theirs. +Captain McClure's chart and despatch made it no +longer necessary to have that coast surveyed, but +made it all the more necessary to have some one go +and see if he was still there. The chances were +against this, as a whole summer had intervened since +he was heard from. Lieutenant Pim proposed, however, +to travel all round Banks Land, which is an island +about the size and shape of Ireland, in search +of him, Collinson, Franklin, or anybody. Captain +Kellett, however, told him not to attempt this with his +force, but to return to the ship by the route he went. +First he was to go to the Bay of Mercy; if the "Investigator" +was gone, he was to follow any traces of +her, and, if possible, communicate with her or her +consort, the "Enterprise."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Lieutenant Pim started with a sledge and seven +men, and a dog-sledge with two under Dr. Domville, +the surgeon, who was to bring back the earliest news +from the Bay of Mercy to the captain. There was a +relief sledge to go part way and return. For the intense +cold of this early season they had even more +careful arrangements than those we have described. +Their tent was doubled. They had extra Mackintoshes, +and whatever else could be devised. They had +bad luck at starting,—broke down one sledge and +had to send back for another; had bad weather, and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page152">[pg 152]</span> +<a name="Pg152" id="Pg152" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +must encamp, once for three days. "Fortunately," +says the lieutenant of this encampment, "the temperature +arose from fifty-one below zero to thirty-six below, +and there remained," while the drift accumulated +to such a degree around the tents, that within +them the thermometer was only twenty below, and, +when they cooked, rose to zero. A pleasant time of +it they must have had there on the ice, for those three +days, in their bags smoking and sleeping! No wonder +that on the fourth day they found they moved +slowly, so cramped and benumbed were they. This +morning a new sledge came to them from the ship; +they got out of their bags, packed, and got under way +again. They were still running along shore, but soon +sent back the relief party which had brought the new +sled, and in a few days more set out to cross the strait, +some twenty-five to thirty miles wide, which, when it +is open, as no man has ever seen it, is one of the Northwest +Passages discovered by these expeditions.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Horrible work it was! Foggy and dark, so they +could not choose the road, and, as it happened, lit on +the very worst mass of broken ice in the channel. +Just as they entered on it, one black raven must needs +appear. "Bad luck," said the men. And when Mr. +Pim shot a musk-ox, their first, and the wounded +creature got away, "So much for the raven," they +croaked again. Only three miles the first day, four +miles the second day, two and a half the third, and +half a mile the fourth; this was all they gained by +<span class="tei-pb" id="page153">[pg 153]</span> +<a name="Pg153" id="Pg153" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +most laborious hauling over the broken ice, dragging +one sledge at a time, and sometimes carrying forward +the stores separately and going back for the sledges. +Two days more gave them eight miles more, but on +the seventh day on this narrow strait, the dragging +being a little better, the great sledge slipped off a +smooth hummock, broke one runner to smash, and +"there they were."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">If the two officers had a little bit of a "tiff" out +there on the ice, with the thermometer at eighteen below, +only a little dog-sledge to get them anywhere, +their ship a hundred miles off, fourteen days' travel as +they had come, nobody ever knew it; they kept their +secret from us, it is nobody's business, and it is not to +be wondered at. Certainly they did not agree. The +Doctor, whose sled, the "James Fitzjames," was still +sound, thought they had best leave the stores and all +go back; but the Lieutenant, who had the command, +did not like to give it up, so he took the dogs and the +"James Fitzjames" and its two men and went on, +leaving the Doctor on the floe, but giving him directions +to go back to land with the wounded sledge and +wait for him to return. And the Doctor did it, like +a spirited fellow, travelling back and forth for what he +could not take in one journey, as the man did in the +story who had a peck of corn, a goose, and a wolf to +get across the river. Over ice, over hummock the +Lieutenant went on his way with his dogs, not a bear +nor a seal nor a hare nor a wolf to feed them with: +<span class="tei-pb" id="page154">[pg 154]</span> +<a name="Pg154" id="Pg154" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +preserved meats, which had been put up with dainty +care for men and women, all he had for the ravenous, +tasteless creatures, who would have been more pleased +with blubber, came to Banks Land at last, but no game +there; awful drifts; shut up in the tent for a whole +day, and he himself so sick he could scarcely stand! +There were but three of them in all; and the captain +of the sledge not unnaturally asked poor Pim, when he +was at the worst, "What shall I do, sir, if you die?" +Not a very comforting question!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He did not die. He got a few hours' sleep, felt +better and started again, but had the discouragement +of finding such tokens of an open strait the last +year that he felt sure that the ship he was going to +look for would be gone. One morning, he had been +off for game for the dogs unsuccessfully, and, when he +came back to his men, learned that they had seen seventeen +deer. After them goes Pim; finds them to +be <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">three hares</span>, magnified by fog and mirage, and their +long ears answering for horns. This same day they +got upon the Bay of Mercy. No ship in sight! +Right across it goes the Lieutenant to look for records; +when, at two in the afternoon, Robert Hoile sees +something black up the bay. Through the glass the +Lieutenant makes it out to be a ship. They change +their direction at once. Over the ice towards her! +He leaves the sledge at three and goes on. How far it +seems! At four he can see people walking about, and a +pile of stones and flag-staff on the beach. Keep on, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page155">[pg 155]</span> +<a name="Pg155" id="Pg155" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Pim; shall one never get there? At five he is within a +hundred yards of her, and no one has seen him. But +just then the very persons see him who ought to! +Pim beckons, waves his arms as the Esquimaux do in +sign of friendship. Captain McClure and his lieutenant +Haswell are "taking their exercise," the chief +business of those winters, and at last see him! Pim is +black as Erebus from the smoke of cooking in the +little tent. McClure owns, not to surprise only, but +to a twinge of dismay. "I paused in my advance," +says he, "doubting who or what it could be, a denizen +of this or the other world." But this only lasts a +moment. Pim speaks. Brave man that he can. +How his voice must have choked, as if he were in +a dream. "I am Lieutenant Pim, late of 'Herald.' +Captain Kellett is at Melville Island." Well-chosen +words, Pim, to be sent in advance over the hundred +yards of floe! Nothing about the "Resolute,"—that +would have confused them. But "Pim," "Herald," +and "Kellett" were among the last signs of England +they had seen,—all this was intelligible. An excellent +little speech, which the brave man had been +getting ready, perhaps, as one does a telegraphic despatch, +for the hours that he had been walking over +the floe to her. Then such shaking hands, such a +greeting. Poor McClure could not speak at first. +One of the men at work got the news on board; +and up through the hatches poured everybody, sick +and well, to see the black stranger, and to hear his +<span class="tei-pb" id="page156">[pg 156]</span> +<a name="Pg156" id="Pg156" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +news from England. It was nearly three years since +they had seen any civilized man but themselves.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The 28th of July, three years before, Commander +McClure had sent his last despatch to the Admiralty. +He had then prophesied just what in three years he +had almost accomplished. In the winter of 1850 he +had discovered the Northwest Passage. He had +come round into one branch of it, Banks Straits, in +the next summer; had gladly taken refuge on the +Bay of Mercy in a gale; and his ship had never left +it since. Let it be said, in passing, that most likely +she is there now. In his last despatches he had told the +Admiralty not to be anxious about him if he did not +arrive home before the autumn of 1854. As it proved, +that autumn he did come with all his men, except those +whom he had sent home before, and those who had +died. When Pim found them, all the crew but thirty +were under orders for marching, some to Baffin's Bay, +some to the Mackenzie River, on their return to England. +McClure was going to stay with the rest, and +come home with the ship, if they could; if not, by +sledges to Port Leopold, and so by a steam-launch +which he had seen left there for Franklin in 1849. +But the arrival of Mr. Pim put an end to all these +plans. We have his long despatch to the Admiralty +explaining them, finished only the day before Pim arrived. +It gives the history of his three years' exile +from the world,—an exile crowded full of effective +work,—in a record which gives a noble picture of the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page157">[pg 157]</span> +<a name="Pg157" id="Pg157" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +man. The Queen has made him Sir Robert Le Mesurier +McClure since, in honor of his great discovery.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Banks Land, or Baring Island, the two names belong +to the same island, on the shores of which McClure +and his men had spent most of these two years +or more, is an island on which they were first of civilized +men to land. For people who are not very particular, +the measurement of it which we gave before, +namely, that it is about the size and shape of Ireland, +is precise enough. There is high land in the interior +probably, as the winds from in shore are cold. The +crew found coal and dwarf willow which they could +burn; lemmings, ptarmigan, hares, reindeer, and +musk-oxen, which they could eat.</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Farewell to the land where I often have wended</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">My way o'er its mountains and valleys of snow;</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Farewell to the rocks and the hills I've ascended,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The bleak arctic homes of the buck and the doe;</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Farewell to the deep glens where oft has resounded</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The snow-bunting's song, as she carolled her lay</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">To hillside and plain, by the green sorrel bounded,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Till struck by the blast of a cold winter's day."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There is a bit of description of Banks Land, from +the anthology of that country, which, so far as we +know, consists of two poems by a seaman named Nelson, +one of Captain McClure's crew. The highest +temperature ever observed on this "gem of the sea" +was 53° in midsummer. The lowest was 65° below +zero in January, 1853; that day the thermometer did +not rise to 60° below, that month was never warmer +<span class="tei-pb" id="page158">[pg 158]</span> +<a name="Pg158" id="Pg158" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +than 16° below, and the average of the month was +43° below. A pleasant climate to spend three years +in!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">One day for talk was all that could be allowed, after +Mr. Pim's amazing appearance. On the 8th of +April, he and his dogs, and Captain McClure and a +party, were ready to return to our friend the "Resolute." +They picked up Dr. Domville on the way; he +had got the broken sledge mended, and killed five +musk-oxen, against they came along. He went on in +the dog-sledge to tell the news, but McClure and his +men kept pace with them; and he and Dr. Domville +had the telling of the news together.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was decided that the "Investigator" should be +abandoned, and the "Intrepid" and "Resolute" made +room for her men. Glad greeting they gave them +too, as British seamen can give. More than half the +crews were away when the "Investigator's" parties +came in, but by July everybody had returned. They +had found islands where the charts had guessed there +was sea, and sea where they had guessed there was +land; had changed peninsulas into islands and islands +into peninsulas. Away off beyond the seventy +eighth parallel, Mr. McClintock had christened the farthest +dot of land "Ireland's Eye," as if his native island +were peering off into the unknown there;—a great +island, which will be our farthest now, for years to +come, had been named "Prince Patrick's Land," in +honor of the baby prince who was the youngest when +<span class="tei-pb" id="page159">[pg 159]</span> +<a name="Pg159" id="Pg159" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +they left home. Will he not be tempted, when he is +a man, to take a crew, like another Madoc, and, as +younger sons of queens should, go and settle upon this +tempting god-child? They had heard from Sir Edward +Belcher's part of the squadron; they had heard +from England; had heard of everything but Sir +John Franklin. They had even found an ale-bottle +of Captain Collinson's expedition,—but not a stick +nor straw to show where Franklin or his men had +lived or died. Two officers of the "Investigator" +were sent home to England this summer by a ship +from Beechey Island, the head-quarters; and thus +we heard, in October, 1853, of the discovery of the +Northwest Passage.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">After their crews were on board again, and the +"Investigator's" sixty stowed away also, the "Resolute" +and "Intrepid" had a dreary summer of it. +The ice would not break up. They had hunting-parties +on shore and races on the floe; but the captain +could not send the "Investigators" home as he wanted +to, in his steam tender. All his plans were made, +and made on a manly scale,—if only the ice would +open. He built a storehouse on the island for Collinson's +people, or for you, reader, and us, if we +should happen there, and stored it well, and left this +record:—</p> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page160">[pg 160]</span> +<a name="Pg160" id="Pg160" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">"This is a house which I have named the 'Sailor's +Home,' under the especial patronage of my Lords +Commissioners of the Admiralty.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Here</span> royal sailors and marines are fed, clothed, +and receive double pay for inhabiting it."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In that house is a little of everything, and a good +deal of victuals and drink; but nobody has been +there since the last of the "Resolute's" men came +away.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At last, the 17th of August, a day of foot-racing +and jumping in bags and wrestling, all hands present, +as at a sort of "Isthmian games," ended with a +gale, a cracking up of ice, and the "Investigators" +thought they were on their way home, and Kellett +thought he was to have a month of summer yet. But +no; "there is nothing certain in this navigation +from one hour to the next." The "Resolute" and +"Intrepid" were never really free of ice all that autumn; +drove and drifted to and fro in Barrow's Straits +till the 12th of November; and then froze up, without +anchoring, off Cape Cockburn, perhaps one hundred +and forty miles from their harbor of the last winter. +The log-book of that winter is a curious record; the +ingenuity of the officer in charge was well tasked to +make one day differ from another. Each day has the +first entry for "ship's position" thus: "In the floe off +Cape Cockburn." And the blank for the second +entry, thus: "In the same position." Lectures, theatricals, +schools, &c., whiled away the time; but there +could be no autumn travelling parties, and not much +hope for discovery in the summer.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Spring came. The captain went over ice in his +<span class="tei-pb" id="page161">[pg 161]</span> +<a name="Pg161" id="Pg161" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +little dog-sled to Beechey Island, and received his directions +to abandon his ships. It appears that he +would rather have sent most of his men forward, and +with a small crew brought the "Resolute" home +that autumn or the next. But Sir Edward Belcher +considered his orders peremptory "that the safety of +the crews must preclude any idea of extricating the +ships." Both ships were to be abandoned. Two +distant travelling parties were away, one at the "Investigator," +one looking for traces of Collinson, which +they found. Word was left for them, at a proper +point, not to seek the ship again, but to come on to +Beechey Island. And at last, having fitted the +"Intrepid's" engines so that she could be under +steam in two hours, having stored both ships with +equal proportions of provisions, and made both vessels +"ready for occupation," the captain calked down the +hatches, and with all the crew he had not sent on +before,—forty-two persons in all,—left her Monday, +the 15th of May, 1854, and started with the sledges +for Beechey Island.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Poor old "Resolute"! All this gay company is gone +who have made her sides split with their laughter. +Here is Harlequin's dress, lying in one of the wardrooms, +but there is nobody to dance Harlequin's +dances. "Here is a lovely clear day,—surely to-day +they will come on deck and take a meridian!" No, +nobody comes. The sun grows hot on the decks; +but it is all one, nobody looks at the thermometer! +<span class="tei-pb" id="page162">[pg 162]</span> +<a name="Pg162" id="Pg162" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +"And so the poor ship was left all alone." Such +gay times she has had with all these brave young men +on board! Such merry winters, such a lightsome +summer! So much fun, so much nonsense! So +much science and wisdom, and now it is all so still! +Is the poor "Resolute" conscious of the change? Does +she miss the races on the ice, the scientific lecture +every Tuesday, the occasional racket and bustle of +the theatre, and the worship of every Sunday? Has +not she shared the hope of Captain Kellett, of McClure, +and of the crew, that she may <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">break out well!</span> +She sees the last sledge leave her. The captain drives +off his six dogs,—vanishes over the ice, and they are +all gone "Will they not come back again?" says +the poor ship. And she looks wistfully across the ice +to her little friend the steam tender "Intrepid," and she +sees there is no one there. "Intrepid! Intrepid! +have they really deserted us? We have served them so +well, and have they really left us alone? A great +many were away travelling last year, but they came +home. Will not any of these come home now?" +No, poor "Resolute"! Not one of them ever came back +again! Not one of them meant to. Summer came. +August came. No one can tell how soon, but some +day or other this her icy prison broke up, and the +good ship found herself on her own element again; +shook herself proudly, we cannot doubt, nodded joyfully +across to the "Intrepid," and was free. But +alas! there was no master to take latitude and longitude, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page163">[pg 163]</span> +<a name="Pg163" id="Pg163" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +no helmsman at the wheel. In clear letters +cast in brass over her helm there are these words, +"England expects each man to do his duty." But +here is no man to heed the warning, and the rudder +flaps this way and that way, no longer directing her +course, but stupidly swinging to and fro. And she +drifts here and there,—drifts out of sight of her little +consort,—strands on a bit of ice floe now, and then +is swept off from it,—and finds herself, without even +the "Intrepid's" company, alone on these blue seas with +those white shores. But what utter loneliness! Poor +"Resolute "! She longed for freedom,—but what is +freedom where there is no law? What is freedom +without a helmsman! And the "Resolute" looks back +so sadly to the old days when she had a master. And +the short bright summer passes. And again she sees +the sun set from her decks. And now even her topmasts +see it set. And now it does not rise to her +deck. And the next day it does not rise to her topmast. +Winter and night together! She has known +them before! But now it is winter and night and +loneliness all together. This horrid ice closes up round +her again. And there is no one to bring her into harbor,—she +is out in the open sound. If the ice drifts +west, she must go west. If it goes east, she must +east. Her seeming freedom is over, and for that +long winter she is chained again. But her heart is +true to old England. And when she can go east, she +is so happy! and when she must go west, she is so sad! +<span class="tei-pb" id="page164">[pg 164]</span> +<a name="Pg164" id="Pg164" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Eastward she does go! Southward she does go! +True to the instinct which sends us all home, she tracks +undirected and without a sail fifteen hundred miles of +that sea, without a beacon, which separates her from +her own. And so goes a dismal year. "Perhaps another +spring they will come and find me out, and fix +things below. It is getting dreadfully damp down +there; and I cannot keep the guns bright and the +floors dry," No, good old "Resolute." May and +June pass off the next year, and nobody comes; +and here you are all alone out in the bay, drifting in +this dismal pack. July and August,—the days are +growing shorter again. "Will nobody come and take +care of me, and cut off these horrid blocks of ice, and +see to these sides of bacon in the hold, and all these +mouldy sails, and this powder, and the bread and the +spirit that I have kept for them so well? It is September, +and the sun begins to set again. And here is +another of those awful gales. Will it be my very last? +all alone here,—who have done so much,—and if +they would only take care of me I can do so much +more. Will nobody come? Nobody?.... What! +Is it ice blink,—are my poor old lookouts blind? Is +not there the 'Intrepid'? Dear 'Intrepid,' I will +never look down on you again! No! there is no +smoke-stack, it is not the 'Intrepid.' But it is somebody. +Pray see me, good somebody. Are you a +Yankee whaler? I am glad to see the Yankee whalers, +I remember the Yankee whalers very pleasantly. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page165">[pg 165]</span> +<a name="Pg165" id="Pg165" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +We had a happy summer together once.... It will +be dreadful if they do not see me! But this ice, this +wretched ice! They do see me,—I know they see +me, but they cannot get at me. Do not go away, good +Yankees; pray come and help me. I know I can get +out, if you will help a little.... But now it is a +whole week and they do not come! Are there any +Yankees, or am I getting crazy? I have heard them +talk of crazy old ships, in my young days.... No! +I am not crazy. They are coming! they are coming. +Brave Yankees! over the hummocks, down into the +sludge. Do not give it up for the cold. There is +coal below, and we will have a fire in the Sylvester, +and in the captain's cabin.... There is a horrid lane +of water. They have not got a Halkett. O, if one +of these boats of mine would only start for them, instead +of lying so stupidly on my deck here! But the +men are not afraid of water! See them ferry over on +that ice block! Come on, good friends! Welcome, +whoever you be,—Dane, Dutch, French, or Yankee, +come on! come on! It is coming up a gale, but I +can bear a gale. Up the side, men. I wish I could +let down the gangway alone. But here are all these +blocks of ice piled up,—you can scramble over them! +Why do you stop? Do not be afraid. I will make +you very comfortable and jolly. Do not stay talking +there. Pray come in. There is port in the captain's +cabin, and a little preserved meat in the pantry. +You must be hungry; pray come in! O, he is coming, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page166">[pg 166]</span> +<a name="Pg166" id="Pg166" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +and now all four are coming. It would be +dreadful if they had gone back! They are on deck. +Now I shall go home! How lonely it has been!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was true enough that when Mr. Quail, the brother +of the captain of the "McLellan," whom the "Resolute" +had befriended, the mate of the George Henry, whaler, +whose master, Captain Buddington, had discovered +the "Resolute" in the ice, came to her after a +hard day's journey with his men, the men faltered with +a little superstitious feeling, and hesitated for a minute +about going on board. But the poor lonely ship wooed +them too lovingly, and they climbed over the broken +ice and came on deck. She was lying over on her +larboard side, with a heavy weight of ice holding her +down. Hatches and companion were made fast, as +Captain Kellett had left them. But, knocking open +the companion, groping down stairs to the after cabin +they found their way to the captain's table; somebody +put his hand on a box of lucifers, struck a light, and +revealed—books scattered in confusion, a candle +standing, which he lighted at once, the glasses and +the decanters from which Kellett and his officers +had drunk good by to the vessel. The whalemen +filled them again, and undoubtedly felt less discouraged. +Meanwhile night came on, and a gale arose. So hard +did it blow, that for two days these four were the whole +crew of the "Resolute," and it was not till the 19th of +September that they returned to their own ship, and +reported what their prize was. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page167">[pg 167]</span> +<a name="Pg167" id="Pg167" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">All these ten days, since Captain Buddington had +first seen her, the vessels had been nearing each other. +On the 19th he boarded her himself; found that in +her hold, on the larboard side, was a good deal of ice; +on the starboard side there seemed to be water. In +fact, her tanks had burst from the extreme cold; and +she was full of water, nearly to her lower deck. +Everything that could move from its place had moved; +everything was wet; everything that would mould +was mouldy. "A sort of perspiration" settled on the +beams above. Clothes were wringing wet. The captain's +party made a fire in Captain Kellett's stove, and +soon started a sort of shower from the vapor with +which it filled the air. The "Resolute" has, however, +four fine force-pumps. For three days the captain +and six men worked fourteen hours a day on one +of these, and had the pleasure of finding that they +freed her of water,—that she was tight still. They +cut away upon the masses of ice; and on the 23d of +September, in the evening, she freed herself from her +encumbrances, and took an even keel. This was off +the west shore of Baffin's Bay, in latitude 67°. On +the shortest tack she was twelve hundred miles from +where Captain Kellett left her.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There was work enough still to be done. The rudder +was to be shipped, the rigging to be made taut, +sail to be set; and it proved, by the way, that the sail +on the yards was much of it still serviceable, while +a suit of new linen sails below were greatly injured by +<span class="tei-pb" id="page168">[pg 168]</span> +<a name="Pg168" id="Pg168" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +moisture. In a week more they had her ready to +make sail. The pack of ice still drifted with both +ships; but on the 21st of October, after a long northwest +gale, the "Resolute" was free,—more free than +she had been for more than two years.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Her "last voyage" is almost told. Captain Buddington +had resolved to bring her home. He had +picked ten men from the "George Henry," leaving her +fifteen, and with a rough tracing of the American +coast drawn on a sheet of foolscap, with his lever +watch and a quadrant for his instruments, he squared +off for New London. A rough, hard passage they had +of it. The ship's ballast was gone, by the bursting of +the tanks; she was top-heavy and under manned. He +spoke a British whaling bark, and by her sent to +Captain Kellett his epaulettes, and to his own owners +news that he was coming. They had heavy gales +and head winds, were driven as far down as the Bermudas; +the water left in the ship's tanks was brackish, +and it needed all the seasoning which the ship's +chocolate would give to make it drinkable. "For +sixty hours at a time," says the spirited captain, "I +frequently had no sleep"; but his perseverance was +crowned with success at last, and on the night of the +23d-24th of December he made the light off the +magnificent harbor from which he sailed; and on Sunday +morning, the 24th, dropped anchor in the Thames, +opposite <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">New</span> London, ran up the royal ensign on the +shorn masts of the "Resolute," and the good people +<span class="tei-pb" id="page169">[pg 169]</span> +<a name="Pg169" id="Pg169" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of the town knew that he and his were safe, and that +one of the victories of peace was won.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As the fine ship lies opposite the piers of that +beautiful town, she attracts visitors from everywhere, +and is, indeed, a very remarkable curiosity. Seals +were at once placed, and very properly, on the captain's +book-cases, lockers, and drawers, and wherever +private property might be injured by wanton curiosity, +and two keepers are on duty on the vessel, till her +destination is decided. But nothing is changed from +what she was when she came into harbor. And, from +stem to stern, every detail of her equipment is a +curiosity, to the sailor or to the landsman. The +candlestick in the cabin is not like a Yankee candlestick. +The hawse hole for the chain cable is fitted as +has not been seen before. And so of everything between. +There is the aspect of wet over everything +now, after months of ventilation;—the rifles, +which were last fired at musk-oxen in Melville Island, +are red with rust, as if they had lain in the bottom of +the sea; the volume of Shakespeare, which you find +in an officer's berth, has a damp feel, as if you had +been reading it in the open air in a March north-easter. +The old seamen look with most amazement, +perhaps, on the preparations for amusement,—the +juggler's cups and balls, or Harlequin's spangled +dress; the quiet landsman wonders at the gigantic +ice-saws, at the cast-off canvas boots, the long thick +Arctic stockings. It seems almost wrong to go into +<span class="tei-pb" id="page170">[pg 170]</span> +<a name="Pg170" id="Pg170" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Mr. Hamilton's wardroom, and see how he arranged +his soap-cup and his tooth-brush; and one does not tell +of it, if he finds on a blank leaf the secret prayer a +sister wrote down for the brother to whom she gave a +prayer-book. There is a good deal of disorder now,—thanks +to her sudden abandonment, and perhaps to +her three months' voyage home. A little union-jack +lies over a heap of unmended and unwashed underclothes; +when Kellett left the ship, he left his country's +flag over his arm-chair as if to keep possession. +Two officers' swords and a pair of epaulettes were on +the cabin table. Indeed, what is there not there,—which +should make an Arctic winter endurable,—make +a long night into day,—or while long days +away?</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The ship is stanch and sound. The "last voyage" +which we have described will not, let us hope, be the +last voyage of her career. But wherever she goes, +under the English flag or under our own, she will +scarcely ever crowd more adventure into one cruise +than into that which sealed the discovery of the Northwest +Passage; which gave new lands to England, +nearest to the pole of all she has; which spent more +than a year, no man knows where, self-governed +and unguided; and which, having begun under the +strict <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">régime</span> of the English navy, ended under the remarkable +mutual rules, adopted by common consent, +on the business of American whalemen.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Is it not worth noting that in this chivalry of Arctic +<span class="tei-pb" id="page171">[pg 171]</span> +<a name="Pg171" id="Pg171" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +adventure, the ships which have been wrecked have +been those of the fight or horror? They are the "Fury," +the "Victory," the "Erebus," the "Terror." But the +ships which never failed their crews,—which, for all +that man knows, are as sound now as ever,—bear the +names of peaceful adventure; the "Hecla," the "Enterprise," +and "Investigator," the "Assistance" and +"Resolute," the "Pioneer" and "Intrepid," and our +"Advance" and "Rescue" and "Arctic," never +threatened any one, even in their names. And they +never failed the men who commanded them or who +sailed in them.</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page172">[pg 172]</span> +<a name="Pg172" id="Pg172" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_9" id="toc_9"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">MY DOUBLE, AND HOW HE UNDID ME</h1> +<h1 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">ONE OF THE INGHAM PAPERS.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[A Boston journal, in noticing this story, called it improbable. +I think it is. But I think the moral important. It was first +published in the Atlantic Monthly for September, 1859.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It is not often that I trouble the readers of the +Atlantic Monthly. I should not trouble them now, +but for the importunities of my wife, who "feels +to insist" that a duty to society is unfulfilled, till I +have told why I had to have a double, and how he undid +me. She is sure, she says, that intelligent persons +cannot understand that pressure upon public servants +which alone drives any man into the employment of a +double. And while I fear she thinks, at the bottom +of her heart, that my fortunes will never be remade, +she has a faint hope that, as another Rasselas, I may +teach a lesson to future publics, from which they may +profit, though we die. Owing to the behavior of my +double, or, if you please, to that public pressure which +compelled me to employ him, I have plenty of leisure +to write this communication.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I am, or rather was, a minister, of the Sandemanian +<span class="tei-pb" id="page173">[pg 173]</span> +<a name="Pg173" id="Pg173" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +connection. I was settled in the active, wide-awake +town of Naguadavick, on one of the finest water-powers +in Maine. We used to call it a Western town in the +heart of the civilization of New England. A charming +place it was and is. A spirited, brave young parish +had I; and it seemed as if we might have all "the +joy of eventful living" to our heart's content.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Alas! how little we knew on the day of my ordination, +and in those halcyon moments of our first house-keeping. +To be the confidential friend in a hundred +families in the town,—cutting the social trifle, as my +friend Haliburton says, "from the top of the whipped +syllabub to the bottom of the sponge-cake, which is +the foundation,"—to keep abreast of the thought of +the age in one's study, and to do one's best on Sunday to +interweave that thought with the active life of an active +town, and to inspirit both and make both infinite +by glimpses of the Eternal Glory, seemed such an exquisite +forelook into one's life! Enough to do, and all +so real and so grand! If this vision could only have +lasted!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The truth is, that this vision was not in itself a delusion, +nor, indeed, half bright enough. If one could +only have been left to do his own business, the vision +would have accomplished itself and brought out new +paraheliacal visions, each as bright as the original. +The misery was and is, as we found out, I and Polly, +before long, that besides the vision, and besides the +usual human and finite failures in life (such as breaking +<span class="tei-pb" id="page174">[pg 174]</span> +<a name="Pg174" id="Pg174" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the old pitcher that came over in the "Mayflower" +and putting into the fire the Alpenstock with which +her father climbed Mont Blanc),—besides these, I say +(imitating the style of Robinson Crusoe), there were +pitchforked in on us a great rowen-heap of humbugs, +handed down from some unknown seed-time, in +which we were expected, and I chiefly, to fulfil certain +public functions before the community, of the character +of those fulfilled by the third row of supernumeraries +who stand behind the Sepoys in the spectacle of the +"Cataract of the Ganges." They were the duties, +in a word, which one performs as member of one or +another social class or subdivision, wholly distinct from +what one does as A. by himself A. What invisible +power put these functions on me, it would be very +hard to tell. But such power there was and is. And +I had not been at work a year before I found I was +living two lives, one real and one merely functional,—for +two sets of people, one my parish, whom I +loved, and the other a vague public, for whom I did +not care two straws. All this was in a vague notion, +which everybody had and has, that this second life +would eventually bring out some great results, unknown +at present, to somebody somewhere.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Crazed by this duality of life, I first read Dr. Wigan +on the "Duality of the Brain," hoping that I could +train one side of my head to do these outside jobs, and +the other to do my intimate and real duties. For +Richard Greenough once told me, that, in studying +<span class="tei-pb" id="page175">[pg 175]</span> +<a name="Pg175" id="Pg175" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +for the statue of Franklin, he found that the left side +of the great man's face was philosophic and reflective, +and the right side funny and smiling. If you will go +and look at the bronze statue, you will find he has repeated +this observation there for posterity. The eastern +profile is the portrait of the statesman Franklin, the +western of poor Richard. But Dr. Wigan does not go +into these niceties of this subject, and I failed. It was +then that, on my wife's suggestion, I resolved to look +out for a Double.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was, at first, singularly successful. We happened +to be recreating at Stafford Springs that summer. +We rode out one day, for one of the relaxations of +that watering-place, to the great Monson Poorhouse. +We were passing through one of the large halls, when +my destiny was fulfilled!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He was not shaven. He had on no spectacles. +He was dressed in a green baize roundabout and faded +blue overalls, worn sadly at the knee. But I saw at +once that he was of my height, five feet four and a half. +He had black hair, worn off by his hat. So have and +have not I. He stooped in walking. So do I. His +hands were large, and mine. And—choicest gift of +Fate in all—he had, not "a strawberry-mark on his +left arm," but a cut from a juvenile brickbat over his +right eye, slightly affecting the play of that eyebrow. +Reader, so have I! My fate was sealed!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">A word with Mr. Holley, one of the inspectors, settled +the whole thing. It proved that this Dennis +<span class="tei-pb" id="page176">[pg 176]</span> +<a name="Pg176" id="Pg176" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Shea was a harmless, amiable fellow, of the class known +as shiftless, who had sealed his fate by marrying a +dumb wife, who was at that moment ironing in the +laundry. Before I left Stafford, I had hired both for +five years. We had applied to Judge Pynchon, then +the probate judge at Springfield, to change the name +of Dennis Shea to Frederic Ingham. We had explained +to the Judge, what was the precise truth, that +an eccentric gentleman wished to adopt Dennis, under +this new name, into his family. It never occurred to +him that Dennis might be more than fourteen years +old. And thus, to shorten this preface, when we +returned at night to my parsonage at Naguadavick, +there entered Mrs. Ingham, her new dumb laundress, +myself, who am Mr. Frederic Ingham, and my double, +who was Mr. Frederic Ingham by as good right as I.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">O the fun we had the next morning in shaving his +beard to my pattern, cutting his hair to match mine, +and teaching him how to wear and how to take off +gold-bowed spectacles! Really, they were electro-plate, +and the glass was plain (for the poor fellow's eyes +were excellent). Then in four successive afternoons +I taught him four speeches. I had found these would +be quite enough for the supernumerary-Sepoy line of +life, and it was well for me they were; for though +he was good-natured, he was very shiftless, and it +was, as our national proverb says, "like pulling teeth," +to teach him. But at the end of the next week he +could say, with quite my easy and frisky air,— +<span class="tei-pb" id="page177">[pg 177]</span> +<a name="Pg177" id="Pg177" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">1. "Very well, thank you. And you?" This for +a answer to casual salutations.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">2. "I am very glad you liked it."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">3. "There has been so much said, and, on the whole, +so well said, that I will not occupy the time."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">4. "I agree, in general, with my friend the other +side of the room."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At first I had a feeling that I was going to be at +great cost for clothing him. But it proved, of course, +at once, that, whenever he was out, I should be at +home. And I went, during the bright period of his +success, to so few of those awful pageants which require +a black dress-coat and what the ungodly call, +after Mr. Dickens, a white choker, that in the happy +retreat of my own dressing-gowns and jackets my days +went by as happily and cheaply as those of another +Thalaba. And Polly declares there was never a year +when the tailoring cost so little. He lived (Dennis, +not Thalaba) in his wife's room over the kitchen. He +had orders never to show himself at that window. +When he appeared in the front of the house, I retired +to my sanctissimum and my dressing-gown. In short, +the Dutchman and his wife, in the old weather-box, +had not less to do with each other than he and I. He +made the furnace-fire and split the wood before daylight; +then he went to sleep again, and slept late; +then came for orders, with a red silk bandanna tied +round his head, with his overalls on, and his dress-coat +and spectacles off. If we happened to be interrupted, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page178">[pg 178]</span> +<a name="Pg178" id="Pg178" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +no one guessed that he was Frederic Ingham +as well as I; and, in the neighborhood, there grew up +an impression that the minister's Irishman worked day-times +in the factory-village at New Coventry. After +I had given him his orders, I never saw him till the +next day.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I launched him by sending him to a meeting of the +Enlightenment Board. The Enlightenment Board +consists of seventy-four members, of whom sixty-seven +are necessary to form a quorum. One becomes a member +under the regulations laid down in old Judge +Dudley's will. I became one by being ordained pastor +of a church in Naguadavick. You see you cannot help +yourself, if you would. At this particular time we +had had four successive meetings, averaging four hours +each,—wholly occupied in whipping in a quorum. +At the first only eleven men were present; at the +next, by force of three circulars, twenty-seven; at the +third, thanks to two days' canvassing by Auchmuty +and myself, begging men to come, we had sixty. +Half the others were in Europe. But without a +quorum we could do nothing. All the rest of us waited +grimly for our four hours, and adjourned without any +action. At the fourth meeting we had flagged, and +only got fifty-nine together. But on the first appearance +of my double,—whom I sent on this fatal Monday +to the fifth meeting,—he was the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">sixty-seventh</span> +man who entered the room. He was greeted with a +storm of applause! The poor fellow had missed his +<span class="tei-pb" id="page179">[pg 179]</span> +<a name="Pg179" id="Pg179" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +way,—read the street signs ill through his spectacles +(very ill, in fact, without them),—and had not dared +to inquire. He entered the room,—finding the president +and secretary holding to their chairs two judges +of the Supreme Court, who were also members <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">ex +officio</span>, and were begging leave to go away. On his +entrance all was changed. <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Presto</span>, the by-laws were +suspended, and the Western property was given away. +Nobody stopped to converse with him. He voted, as +I had charged him to do, in every instance, with the +minority. I won new laurels as a man of sense, though +a little unpunctual,—and Dennis, <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">alias</span> Ingham, returned +to the parsonage, astonished to see with how +little wisdom the world is governed. He cut a few of +my parishioners in the street; but he had his glasses +off, and I am known to be near-sighted. Eventually +he recognized them more readily than I.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I "set him again" at the exhibition of the New +Coventry Academy; and here he undertook a "speaking +part,"—as, in my boyish, worldly days, I remember +the bills used to say of Mlle. Celeste. We are all +trustees of the New Coventry Academy; and there +has lately been "a good deal of feeling" because the +Sandemanian trustees did not regularly attend the exhibitions. +It has been intimated, indeed, that the Sandemanians +are leaning towards Free-Will, and that we +have, therefore, neglected these semiannual exhibitions, +while there is no doubt that Auchmuty last year +went to Commencement at Waterville. Now the head +<span class="tei-pb" id="page180">[pg 180]</span> +<a name="Pg180" id="Pg180" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +master at New Coventry is a real good fellow, who +knows a Sanskrit root when he sees it, and often cracks +etymologies with me,—so that, in strictness, I ought to +go to their exhibitions. But think, reader, of sitting +through three long July days in that Academy chapel, +following the programme from</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">TUESDAY MORNING. <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">English Composition.</span> "SUNSHINE." Miss +Jones.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">round to</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p"><span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Trio on Three Pianos.</span> Duel from the Opera of "Midshipman +Easy." <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Marryat</span>.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">coming in at nine, Thursday evening! Think of this, +reader, for men who know the world is trying to go +backward, and who would give their lives if they could +help it on! Well! The double had succeeded so +well at the Board, that I sent him to the Academy. +(Shade of Plato, pardon!) He arrived early on +Tuesday, when, indeed, few but mothers and clergymen +are generally expected, and returned in the evening +to us, covered with honors. He had dined at the +right hand of the chairman, and he spoke in high +terms of the repast. The chairman had expressed his +interest in the French conversation. "I am very glad +you liked it," said Dennis; and the poor chairman, +abashed, supposed the accent had been wrong. At the +end of the day, the gentlemen present had been called +upon for speeches,—the Rev. Frederic Ingham first, +as it happened; upon which Dennis had risen, and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page181">[pg 181]</span> +<a name="Pg181" id="Pg181" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +had said, "There has been so much said, and, on the +whole, so well said, that I will not occupy the time." +The girls were delighted, because Dr. Dabney, the +year before, had given them at this occasion a scolding +on impropriety of behavior at lyceum lectures. They +all declared Mr. Ingham was a love,—and <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">so</span> handsome! +(Dennis is good-looking.) Three of them, +with arms behind the others' waists, followed him up +to the wagon he rode home in; and a little girl with +a blue sash had been sent to give him a rosebud. +After this <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">début</span> in speaking, he went to the exhibition +for two days more, to the mutual satisfaction of all +concerned. Indeed, Polly reported that he had pronounced +the trustees' dinners of a higher grade than +those of the parsonage. When the next term began, +I found six of the Academy girls had obtained permission +to come across the river and attend our church. +But this arrangement did not long continue.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">After this he went to several Commencements for +me, and ate the dinners provided; he sat through +three of our Quarterly Conventions for me,—always +voting judiciously, by the simple rule mentioned above, +of siding with the minority. And I, meanwhile, who +had before been losing caste among my friends, as +holding myself aloof from the associations of the body, +began to rise in everybody's favor. "Ingham's a +good fellow,—always on hand "; "never talks much, +but does the right thing at the right time"; "is not +as unpunctual as he used to be,—he comes early, and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page182">[pg 182]</span> +<a name="Pg182" id="Pg182" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +sits through to the end." "He has got over his old +talkative habit, too. I spoke to a friend of his about it +once; and I think Ingham took it kindly," etc., etc.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This voting power of Dennis was particularly valuable +at the quarterly meetings of the proprietors of the +Naguadavick Ferry. My wife inherited from her father +some shares in that enterprise, which is not yet fully developed, +though it doubtless will become a very valuable +property. The law of Maine then forbade stockholders +to appear by proxy at such meetings. Polly disliked to +go, not being, in fact, a "hens'-rights hen," transferred +her stock to me. I, after going once, disliked it more +than she. But Dennis went to the next meeting, and +liked it very much. He said the arm-chairs were +good, the collation good, and the free rides to stockholders +pleasant. He was a little frightened when +they first took him upon one of the ferry-boats, but +after two or three quarterly meetings he became quite +brave.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Thus far I never had any difficulty with him. Indeed, +being, as I implied, of that type which is called +shiftless, he was only too happy to be told daily what +to do, and to be charged not to be forthputting or in +any way original in his discharge of that duty. He +learned, however, to discriminate between the lines of +his life, and very much preferred these stockholders' +meetings and trustees' dinners and Commencement +collations to another set of occasions, from which he +used to beg off most piteously. Our excellent brother, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page183">[pg 183]</span> +<a name="Pg183" id="Pg183" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Dr. Fillmore, had taken a notion at this time that +our Sandemanian churches needed more expression of +mutual sympathy. He insisted upon it that we were +remiss. He said, that, if the Bishop came to preach +at Naguadavick, all the Episcopal clergy of the neighborhood +were present; if Dr. Pond came, all the Congregational +clergymen turned out to hear him; if Dr. +Nichols, all the Unitarians; and he thought we owed +it to each other, that, whenever there was an occasional +service at a Sandemanian church, the other +brethren should all, if possible, attend. "It looked +well," if nothing more. Now this really meant that +I had not been to hear one of Dr. Fillmore's lectures +on the Ethnology of Religion. He forgot that +he did not hear one of my course on the "Sandemanianism +of Anselm." But I felt badly when he +said it; and afterwards I always made Dennis go to +hear all the brethren preach, when I was not preaching +myself. This was what he took exceptions to,—the +only thing, as I said, which he ever did except +to. Now came the advantage of his long morning-nap, +and of the green tea with which Polly supplied +the kitchen. But he would plead, so humbly, to be +let off, only from one or two! I never excepted him, +however. I knew the lectures were of value, and I +thought it best he should be able to keep the connection.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Polly is more rash than I am, as the reader has observed +in the outset of this memoir. She risked Dennis +<span class="tei-pb" id="page184">[pg 184]</span> +<a name="Pg184" id="Pg184" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +one night under the eyes of her own sex. Governor +Gorges had always been very kind to us, and, +when he gave his great annual party to the town, asked +us. I confess I hated to go. I was deep in the new +volume of Pfeiffer's "Mystics," which Haliburton had +just sent me from Boston. "But how rude," said +Polly, "not to return the Governor's civility and Mrs. +Gorges's, when they will be sure to ask why you are +away!" Still I demurred, and at last she, with the +wit of Eve and of Semiramis conjoined, let me off by +saying that, if I would go in with her, and sustain the +initial conversations with the Governor and the ladies +staying there, she would risk Dennis for the rest of +the evening. And that was just what we did. She +took Dennis in training all that afternoon, instructed +him in fashionable conversation, cautioned him against +the temptations of the supper-table,—and at nine in +the evening he drove us all down in the carryall. I +made the grand star-<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">entrée</span> with Polly and the pretty +Walton girls, who were staying with us. We had put +Dennis into a great rough top-coat, without his glasses: +and the girls never dreamed, in the darkness, of +looking at him. He sat in the carriage, at the door, +while we entered. I did the agreeable to Mrs. +Gorges, was introduced to her niece, Miss Fernanda; +I complimented Judge Jeffries on his decision in +the great case of D'Aulnay <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">vs.</span> Laconia Mining Company; +I stepped into the dressing-room for a +moment, stepped out for another, walked home +<span class="tei-pb" id="page185">[pg 185]</span> +<a name="Pg185" id="Pg185" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +after a nod with Dennis and tying the horse to a +pump; and while I walked home, Mr. Frederic Ingham, +my double, stepped in through the library into the +Gorges's grand saloon.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Oh! Polly died of laughing as she told me of it at +midnight! And even here, where I have to teach my +hands to hew the beech for stakes to fence our cave, +she dies of laughing as she recalls it,—and says that +single occasion was worth all we have paid for it. +Gallant Eve that she is! She joined Dennis at the +library-door, and in an instant presented him to Dr. +Ochterlony, from Baltimore, who was on a visit in town, +and was talking with her as Dennis came in. "Mr. +Ingham would like to hear what you were telling us +about your success among the German population." +And Dennis bowed and said, in spite of a scowl from +Polly, "I'm very glad you liked it." But Dr. Ochterlony +did not observe, and plunged into the tide of +explanation; Dennis listened like a prime-minister, +and bowing like a mandarin, which is, I suppose, +the same thing. Polly declared it was just like Haliburton's +Latin conversation with the Hungarian minister, +of which he is very fond of telling. "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Quæne +sit historia Reformationis in Ungariâ?</span>" quoth Haliburton, +after some thought. And his <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">confrère</span> replied +gallantly, "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">In seculo decimo tertio</span>," etc., etc., etc.; +and from <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">decimo tertio</span><a name="noteref_16" id="noteref_16"></a><a href="#note_16"><span class="footnoteref">16</span></a> to the nineteenth century and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page186">[pg 186]</span> +<a name="Pg186" id="Pg186" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +a half lasted till the oysters came. So was it that before +Dr. Ochterlony came to the "success," or near it, +Governor Gorges came to Dennis, and asked him to +hand Mrs. Jeffries down to supper, a request which he +heard with great joy.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Polly was skipping round the room, I guess, gay as +a lark. Auchmuty came to her "in pity for poor +Ingham," who was so bored by the stupid pundit,—and +Auchmuty could not understand why I stood it so +long. But when Dennis took Mrs. Jeffries down, +Polly could not resist standing near them. He was a +little flustered, till the sight of the eatables and drinkables +gave him the same Mercian courage which it +gave Diggory. A little excited then, he attempted +one or two of his speeches to the Judge's lady. But +little he knew how hard it was to get in even a <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">promptu</span> +there edgewise. "Very well, I thank you," said +he, after the eating elements were adjusted; "and +you?" And then did not he have to hear about the +mumps, and the measles, and arnica, and belladonna, +and chamomile-flower, and dodecatheon, till she +changed oysters for salad; and then about the old +practice and the new, and what her sister said, and +what her sister's friend said, and what the physician +to her sister's friend said, and then what was said by +the brother of the sister of the physician of the friend +of her sister, exactly as if it had been in Ollendorff? +There was a moment's pause, as she declined Champagne. +"I am very glad you liked it," said Dennis +<span class="tei-pb" id="page187">[pg 187]</span> +<a name="Pg187" id="Pg187" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +again, which he never should have said but to one +who complimented a sermon. "Oh! you are so sharp, +Mr. Ingham! No! I never drink any wine at all,—except +sometimes in summer a little currant shrub,—from +our own currants, you know. My own mother,—that +is, I call her my own mother, because, you +know, I do not remember," etc., etc., etc.; till they +came to the candied orange at the end of the feast, +when Dennis, rather confused, thought he must say +something, and tried No. 4,—"I agree, in general, +with my friend the other side of the room,"—which +he never should have said but at a public meeting. +But Mrs. Jeffries, who never listens expecting to understand, +caught him up instantly with "Well, I'm +sure my husband returns the compliment; he always +agrees with you,—though we do worship with the +Methodists; but you know, Mr. Ingham," etc., etc., +etc., till the move up-stairs; and as Dennis led her +through the hall, he was scarcely understood by any +but Polly, as he said, "There has been so much said, +and, on the whole, so well said, that I will not occupy +the time."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">His great resource the rest of the evening was +standing in the library, carrying on animated conversations +with one and another in much the same way. +Polly had initiated him in the mysteries of a discovery +of mine, that it is not necessary to finish your +sentences in a crowd, but by a sort of mumble, +omitting sibilants and dentals. This, indeed, if your +<span class="tei-pb" id="page188">[pg 188]</span> +<a name="Pg188" id="Pg188" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +words fail you, answers even in public extempore +speech, but better where other talking is going on. +Thus: "We missed you at the Natural History Society, +Ingham." Ingham replies, "I am very gligloglum, +that is, that you were mmmmm." By +gradually dropping the voice, the interlocutor is compelled +to supply the answer. "Mrs. Ingham, I hope +your friend Augusta is better." Augusta has not been +ill. Polly cannot think of explaining, however, and +answers, "Thank you, Ma'am; she is very rearason +wewahwewoh," in lower and lower tones. And +Mrs. Throckmorton, who forgot the subject of which +she spoke as soon as she asked the question, is quite +satisfied. Dennis could see into the card-room, and +came to Polly to ask if he might not go and play all-fours. +But, of course, she sternly refused. At midnight +they came home delighted,—Polly, as I said, +wild to tell me the story of the victory; only both the +pretty Walton girls said, "Cousin Frederic, you did +not come near me all the evening."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We always called him Dennis at home, for convenience, +though his real name was Frederic Ingham, +as I have explained. When the election-day came +round, however, I found that by some accident there +was only one Frederic Ingham's name on the voting-list; +and as I was quite busy that day in writing some +foreign letters to Halle, I thought I would forego my +privilege of suffrage, and stay quietly at home, telling +Dennis that he might use the record on the voting-list, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page189">[pg 189]</span> +<a name="Pg189" id="Pg189" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +and vote. I gave him a ticket, which I told him he +might use, if he liked to. That was that very sharp +election in Maine which the readers of the Atlantic so +well remember, and it had been intimated in public +that the ministers would do well not to appear at the +polls. Of course, after that, we had to appear by self +or proxy. Still, Naguadavick was not then a city, and +this standing in a double queue at town-meeting several +hours to vote was a bore of the first water; and so +when I found that there was but one Frederic Ingham +on the list, and that one of us must give up, I stayed at +home and finished the letters (which, indeed, procured +for Fothergill his coveted appointment of Professor +of Astronomy at Leavenworth), and I gave Dennis, +as we called him, the chance. Something in the +matter gave a good deal of popularity to the Frederic +Ingham name; and at the adjourned election, next +week, Frederic Ingham was chosen to the legislature. +Whether this was I or Dennis I never really knew. +My friends seemed to think it was I; but I felt that +as Dennis had done the popular thing, he was entitled +to the honor; so I sent him to Augusta when the time +came, and he took the oaths. And a very valuable +member he made. They appointed him on the Committee +on Parishes; but I wrote a letter for him, resigning, +on the ground that he took an interest in our +claim to the stumpage in the minister's sixteenths of +Gore A, next No. 7, in the 10th Range. He never +made any speeches, and always voted with the minority, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page190">[pg 190]</span> +<a name="Pg190" id="Pg190" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +which was what he was sent to do. He made me +and himself a great many good friends, some of whom +I did not afterwards recognize as quickly as Dennis +did my parishioners. On one or two occasions, when +there was wood to saw at home, I kept him at home; +but I took those occasions to go to Augusta myself. +Finding myself often in his vacant seat at these times, +I watched the proceedings with a good deal of care; +and once was so much excited that I delivered my +somewhat celebrated speech on the Central School-District +question, a speech of which the "State of +Maine" printed some extra copies. I believe there is +no formal rule permitting strangers to speak; but no +one objected.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Dennis himself, as I said, never spoke at all. But +our experience this session led me to think that if, by +some such "general understanding" as the reports +speak of in legislation daily, every member of Congress +might leave a double to sit through those deadly sessions +and answer to roll-calls and do the legitimate +party-voting, which appears stereotyped in the regular +list of Ashe, Bocock, Black, etc., we should gain decidedly +in working-power. As things stand, the saddest +State prison I ever visit is that Representatives' +Chamber in Washington. If a man leaves for an +hour, twenty "correspondents" may be howling, +"Where was Mr. Pendergrast when the Oregon bill +passed?" And if poor Pendergrast stays there! Certainly +the worst use you can make of a man is to put +him in prison! +<span class="tei-pb" id="page191">[pg 191]</span> +<a name="Pg191" id="Pg191" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I know, indeed, that public men of the highest rank +have resorted to this expedient long ago. Dumas's +novel of the "Iron Mask" turns on the brutal imprisonment +of Louis the Fourteenth's double. There +seems little doubt, in our own history, that it was the +real General Pierce who shed tears when the delegate +from Lawrence explained to him the sufferings of +the people there, and only General Pierce's double +who had given the orders for the assault on that town, +which was invaded the next day. My charming +friend, George Withers, has, I am almost sure, a +double, who preaches his afternoon sermons for him. +This is the reason that the theology often varies so +from that of the forenoon. But that double is almost +as charming as the original. Some of the most well +defined men, who stand out most prominently on the +background of history, are in this way stereoscopic +men, who owe their distinct relief to the slight differences +between the doubles. All this I know. My +present suggestion is simply the great extension of the +system, so that all public machine-work may be done +by it.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But I see I loiter on my story, which is rushing to +the plunge. Let me stop an instant more, however, +to recall, were it only to myself, that charming year +while all was yet well. After the double had become +a matter of course, for nearly twelve months before he +undid me, what a year it was! Full of active life, full +of happy love, of the hardest work, of the sweetest +<span class="tei-pb" id="page192">[pg 192]</span> +<a name="Pg192" id="Pg192" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +sleep, and the fulfilment of so many of the fresh aspirations +and dreams of boyhood! Dennis went to +every school-committee meeting, and sat through all +those late wranglings which used to keep me up till +midnight and awake till morning. He attended all +the lectures to which foreign exiles sent me tickets +begging me to come for the love of Heaven and of +Bohemia. He accepted and used all the tickets for +charity concerts which were sent to me. He appeared +everywhere where it was specially desirable that "our +denomination," or "our party," or "our class," or +"our family," or "our street," or "our town," or +"our country," or "our State," should be fully represented. +And I fell back to that charming life which +in boyhood one dreams of, when he supposes he shall +do his own duty and make his own sacrifices, without +being tied up with those of other people. My rusty +Sanskrit, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, +Italian, Spanish, German, and English began to take +polish. Heavens! how little I had done with them +while I attended to my <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">public</span> duties! My calls on my +parishioners became the friendly, frequent, homelike +sociabilities they were meant to be, instead of the hard +work of a man goaded to desperation by the sight of +his lists of arrears. And preaching! what a luxury +preaching was when I had on Sunday the whole result +of an individual, personal week, from which to +speak to a people whom all that week I had been +meeting as hand-to-hand friend;—I, never tired on +<span class="tei-pb" id="page193">[pg 193]</span> +<a name="Pg193" id="Pg193" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Sunday, and in condition to leave the sermon at home, +if I chose, and preach it extempore, as all men should +do always. Indeed, I wonder, when I think that a +sensible people, like ours,—really more attached to +their clergy than they were in the lost days, when the +Mathers and Nortons were noblemen,—should choose +to neutralize so much of their ministers' lives, and destroy +so much of their early training, by this undefined +passion for seeing them in public. It springs +from our balancing of sects. If a spirited Episcopalian +takes an interest in the almshouse, and is put on +the Poor Board, every other denomination must have +a minister there, lest the poorhouse be changed into +St. Paul's Cathedral. If a Sandemanian is chosen +president of the Young Men's Library, there must be +a Methodist vice-president and a Baptist secretary. +And if a Universalist Sunday-School Convention collects +five hundred delegates, the next Congregationalist +Sabbath-School Conference must be as large, "lest +'they'—whoever <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">they</span> may be—should think 'we'—whoever +<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">we</span> may be—are going down."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Freed from these necessities, that happy year I began +to know my wife by sight. We saw each other +sometimes. In those long mornings, when Dennis +was in the study explaining to map-peddlers that, I had +eleven maps of Jerusalem already, and to school-book +agents that I would see them hanged before I would +be bribed to introduce their text-books into the schools,—she +and I were at work together, as in those old +<span class="tei-pb" id="page194">[pg 194]</span> +<a name="Pg194" id="Pg194" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +dreamy days,—and in these of our log-cabin again. +But all this could not last,—and at length poor Dennis, +my double, overtasked in turn, undid me.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was thus it happened. There is an excellent +fellow, once a minister,—I will call him Isaacs,—who +deserves well of the world till he dies, and after, +because he once, in a real exigency, did the right +thing, in the right way, at the right time, as no other +man could do it. In the world's great football match, +the ball by chance found him loitering on the outside +of the field; he closed with it, "camped" it, charged +it home,—yes, right through the other side,—not +disturbed, not frightened by his own success,—and +breathless found himself a great man, as the Great +Delta rang applause. But he did not find himself +a rich man; and the football has never come in his +way again. From that moment to this moment he +has been of no use, that one can see at all. Still, for +that great act we speak of Isaacs gratefully and remember +him kindly; and he forges on, hoping to +meet the football somewhere again. In that vague +hope, he had arranged a "movement" for a general +organization of the human family into Debating-Clubs, +County Societies, State Unions, etc., etc., with a view +of inducing all children to take hold of the handles of +their knives and forks, instead of the metal. Children +have bad habits in that way. The movement, of +course, was absurd; but we all did our best to forward, +not it, but him. It came time for the annual county-meeting +<span class="tei-pb" id="page195">[pg 195]</span> +<a name="Pg195" id="Pg195" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +on this subject to be held at Naguadavick. +Isaacs came round, good fellow! to arrange for it,—got +the town-hall, got the Governor to preside (the +saint!—he ought to have triplet doubles provided +him by law), and then came to get me to speak. +"No," I said, "I would not speak, if ten Governors +presided. I do not believe in the enterprise. If I +spoke, it should be to say children should take hold of +the prongs of the forks and the blades of the knives. +I would subscribe ten dollars, but I would not speak a +mill." So poor Isaacs went his way sadly, to coax +Auchmuty to speak, and Delafield. I went out. +Not long after he came back, and told Polly that they +had promised to speak, the Governor would speak, +and he himself would close with the quarterly report, +and some interesting anecdotes regarding Miss Biffin's +way of handling her knife and Mr. Nellis's way +of footing his fork. "Now if Mr. Ingham will only +come and sit on the platform, he need not say one +word; but it will show well in the paper,—it will +show that the Sandemanians take as much interest in +the movement as the Armenians or the Mesopotamians, +and will be a great favor to me." Polly, good soul! +was tempted, and she promised. She knew Mrs. Isaacs +was starving, and the babies,—she knew Dennis +was at home,—and she promised! Night came, and +I returned. I heard her story. I was sorry. I +doubted. But Polly had promised to beg me, and I +dared all! I told Dennis to hold his peace, under all +circumstances, and sent him down. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page196">[pg 196]</span> +<a name="Pg196" id="Pg196" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was not half an hour more before he returned, +wild with excitement,—in a perfect Irish fury,—which +it was long before I understood. But I knew +at once that he had undone me!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">What happened was this. The audience got together, +attracted by Governor Gorges's name. There +were a thousand people. Poor Gorges was late from +Augusta. They became impatient. He came in direct +from the train at last, really ignorant of the object +of the meeting. He opened it in the fewest +possible words, and said other gentlemen were present +who would entertain them better than he. The audience +were disappointed, but waited. The Governor, +prompted by Isaacs, said, "The Honorable Mr. +Delafield will address you." Delafield had forgotten +the knives and forks, and was playing the Ruy Lopez +opening at the chess-club. "The Rev. Mr. Auchmuty +will address you." Auchmuty had promised to +speak late, and was at the school-committee. "I see +Dr. Stearns in the hall; perhaps he will say a word." +Dr. Stearns said he had come to listen and not to speak +The Governor and Isaacs whispered. The Governor +looked at Dennis, who was resplendent on the platform; +but Isaacs, to give him his due, shook his head. +But the look was enough. A miserable lad, ill-bred, +who had once been in Boston, thought it would sound +well to call for me, and peeped out, "Ingham!" A +few more wretches cried, "Ingham! Ingham!" +Still Isaacs was firm; but the Governor, anxious, indeed, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page197">[pg 197]</span> +<a name="Pg197" id="Pg197" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +to prevent a row, knew I would say something, +and said, "Our friend Mr. Ingham is always +prepared; and, though we had not relied upon him, +he will say a word perhaps." Applause followed, +which turned Dennis's head. He rose, fluttered, and +tried No. 3: "There has been so much said, and, on +the whole, so well said, that I will not longer occupy +the time!" and sat down, looking for his hat; for +things seemed squally. But the people cried, "Go +on! go on!" and some applauded. Dennis, still confused, +but flattered by the applause, to which neither +he nor I are used, rose again, and this time tried No. +2: "I am very glad you liked it!" in a sonorous, +clear delivery. My best friends stared. All the people +who did not know me personally yelled with delight +at the aspect of the evening; the Governor was +beside himself, and poor Isaacs thought he was undone! +Alas, it was I! A boy in the gallery cried in a loud +tone, "It's all an infernal humbug," just as Dennis, +waving his hand, commanded silence, and tried No. 4: +"I agree, in general, with my friend the other side of +the room." The poor Governor doubted his senses +and crossed to stop him,—not in time, however. +The same gallery-boy shouted, "How's your mother?" +and Dennis, now completely lost, tried, as his +last shot, No. 1, vainly: "Very well, thank you; and +you?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I think I must have been undone already. But +Dennis, like another Lockhard, chose "to make sicker." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page198">[pg 198]</span> +<a name="Pg198" id="Pg198" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The audience rose in a whirl of amazement, rage, and +sorrow. Some other impertinence, aimed at Dennis, +broke all restraint, and, in pure Irish, he delivered +himself of an address to the gallery, inviting any person +who wished to fight to come down and do so,—stating, +that they were all dogs and cowards and the +sons of dogs and cowards,—that he would take any +five of them single-handed. "Shure, I have said all +his Riverence and the Misthress bade me say," cried +he, in defiance; and, seizing the Governor's cane from +his hand, brandished it, quarter-staff fashion, above his +head. He was, indeed, got from the hall only with +the greatest difficulty by the Governor, the City Marshal, +who had been called in, and the Superintendent +of my Sunday-School.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The universal impression, of course, was, that the +Rev. Frederic Ingham had lost all command of himself +in some of those haunts of intoxication which for fifteen +years I have been laboring to destroy. Till this +moment, indeed, that is the impression in Naguadavick. +This number of the Atlantic will relieve from it a +hundred friends of mine who have been sadly wounded +by that notion now for years; but I shall not be likely +ever to show my head there again.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">No! My double has undone me.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We left town at seven the next morning. I came +to No. 9, in the Third Range, and settled on the Minister's +Lot. In the new towns in Maine, the first +settled minister has a gift of a hundred acres of land. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page199">[pg 199]</span> +<a name="Pg199" id="Pg199" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I am the first settled minister in No. 9. My wife and +little Paulina are my parish. We raise corn enough +to live on in summer. We kill bear's meat enough to +carbonize it in winter. I work on steadily on my +"Traces of Sandemanianism in the Sixth and Seventh +Centuries," which I hope to persuade Phillips, Sampson, +& Co. to publish next year. We are very happy, +but the world thinks we are undone.</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page200">[pg 200]</span> +<a name="Pg200" id="Pg200" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_10" id="toc_10"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE CHILDREN OF THE PUBLIC.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[This story originated in the advertisement of the humbug +which it describes. Some fifteen or twenty years since, when +gift enterprises rose to one of their climaxes, a gift of a large sum +of money, I think $10,000, was offered in New York to the most +successful ticket-holder in some scheme, and one of $5,000 to the +second. It was arranged that one of these parties should be a +man and the other a woman; and the amiable suggestion was +added, on the part of the undertaker of the enterprise, that if the +gentleman and lady who drew these prizes liked each other +sufficiently well when the distribution was made, they might regard +the decision as a match made for them in Heaven, and take +the money as the dowry of the bride. This thoroughly practical, +and, at the same time, thoroughly absurd suggestion, arrested the +attention of a distinguished story-teller, a dear friend of mine, +who proposed to me that we should each of us write the history +of one of the two successful parties, to be woven together by their +union at the end. The plan, however, lay latent for years,—the +gift enterprise of course blew up,—and it was not until the +summer of 1862 that I wrote my half of the proposed story, with +the hope of eliciting the other half. My friend's more important +engagements, however, have thus far kept Fausta's detailed biography +from the light. I sent my half to Mr. Frank Leslie, in +competition for a premium offered by him, as is stated in the +second chapter of the story. And the story found such favor in +the eyes of the judges, that it received one of his second premiums. +The first was very properly awarded to Miss Louisa +<span class="tei-pb" id="page201">[pg 201]</span> +<a name="Pg201" id="Pg201" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Alcott, for a story of great spirit and power. "The Children of +the Public" was printed in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper +for January 24 and January 31, 1863. The moral which it tries +to illustrate, which is, I believe, an important one, was thus commended +to the attention of the very large circle of the readers of +that journal,—a journal to which I am eager to say I think this +nation has been very largely indebted for the loyalty, the good +sense, and the high tone which seem always to characterize it. +During the war, the pictorial journals had immense influence in +the army, and they used this influence with an undeviating regard +to the true honor of the country.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_11" id="toc_11"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head">CHAPTER I.</h2> +<h2 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">THE PORK-BARREL.</h2> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Felix," said my wife to me, as I came home to-night, +"you will have to go to the pork-barrel."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Are you quite sure," said I,—"quite sure? 'Woe +to him,' says the oracle, 'who goes to the +pork-barrel +before the moment of his need.'"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And woe to him, say I," replied my brave wife,—"woe +and disaster to him; but the moment of our +need has come. The figures are here, and you shall +see. I have it all in black and in white."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And so it proved, indeed, that when Miss Sampson, +the nurse, was paid for her month's service, and when +the boys had their winter boots, and when my +life-insurance +assessment was provided for, and the new +payment for the insurance on the house,—when the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page202">[pg 202]</span> +<a name="Pg202" id="Pg202" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +taxes were settled with the collector (and my wife +had to lay aside double for the war),—when the pew-rent +was paid for the year, and the water-rate—we +must have to start with, on the 1st of January, one +hundred dollars. This, as we live, would pay, in +cash, the butcher, and the grocer, and the baker, and +all the dealers in things that perish, and would buy +the omnibus tickets, and recompense Bridget till the +1st of April. And at my house, if we can see forward +three months we are satisfied. But, at my house, we +are never satisfied if there is a credit at any store for +us. We are sworn to pay as we go. We owe no +man anything.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So it was that my wife said: "Felix, you will have +to go to the pork-barrel."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This is the story of the pork-barrel.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It happened once, in a little parish in the Green +Mountains, that the deacon reported to Parson +Plunkett, that, as he rode to meeting by Chung-a-baug +Pond, he saw Michael Stowers fishing for +pickerel through a hole in the ice on the Sabbath day. +The parson made note of the complaint, and that afternoon +drove over to the pond in his "one-horse shay." +He made his visit, not unacceptable, on the poor +Stowers household, and then crossed lots to the place +where he saw poor Michael hoeing. He told Michael +that he was charged with Sabbath breaking, and bade +him plead to the charge. And poor Mike, like a man, +plead guilty; but, in extenuation, he said that there +<span class="tei-pb" id="page203">[pg 203]</span> +<a name="Pg203" id="Pg203" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +was nothing to eat in the house, and rather than see +wife and children faint, he had cut a hole in the ice, +had put in his hook again and again, and yet again, +and coming home had delighted the waiting family +with an unexpected breakfast. The good parson +made no rebuke, nodded pensive, and drove straightway +to the deacon's door.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Deacon," said he, "what meat did you eat for +breakfast yesterday?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The deacon's family had eaten salt pork, fried.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And where did you get the pork, Deacon?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The Deacon stared, but said he had taken it from +his pork-barrel.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes, Deacon," said the old man; "I supposed so. +I have been to see Brother Stowers, to talk to him +about his Sabbath-breaking; and, Deacon, I find the +pond is his pork-barrel."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The story is a favorite with me and with Fausta. +But "woe," says the oracle, "to him who goes to the +pork-barrel before the moment of his need." And to +that "woe" both Fausta and I say "amen." For +we know that there is no fish in our pond for spend-thrifts +or for lazy-bones; none for people who wear +gold chains or Attleborough jewelry; none for people +who are ashamed of cheap carpets or wooden mantelpieces. +Not for those who run in debt will the fish +bite; nor for those who pretend to be richer or better +or wiser than they are. No! But we have found, in +our lives, that in a great democracy there reigns a +<span class="tei-pb" id="page204">[pg 204]</span> +<a name="Pg204" id="Pg204" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +great and gracious sovereign. We have found that this +sovereign, in a reckless and unconscious way, is, all +the time, making the most profuse provision for all the +citizens. We have found that those who are not too +grand to trust him fare as well as they deserve. We +have found, on the other hand, that those who lick his +feet or flatter his follies fare worst of living men. +We find that those who work honestly, and only seek +a man's fair average of life, or a woman's, get that +average, though sometimes by the most singular experiences +in the long run. And thus we find that, +when an extraordinary contingency arises in life, as just +now in ours, we have only to go to our pork-barrel, +and the fish rises to our hook or spear.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The sovereign brings this about in all sorts of ways, +but he does not fail, if, without flattering him, you +trust him. Of this sovereign the name is—"the +Public." Fausta and I are apt to call ourselves his +children, and so I name this story of our lives,</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">"THE CHILDREN OF THE PUBLIC."</p> +</div> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_12" id="toc_12"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head">CHAPTER II.</h2> +<h2 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">WHERE IS THE BARREL?</h2> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Where is the barrel this time, Fausta?" said I, +after I had added and subtracted her figures three +times, to be sure she had carried her tens and hundreds +<span class="tei-pb" id="page205">[pg 205]</span> +<a name="Pg205" id="Pg205" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +rightly. For the units, in such accounts, in +face of Dr. Franklin, I confess I do not care.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"The barrel," said she, "is in FRANK LESLIE'S +OFFICE. Here is the mark!" and she handed me +FRANK LESLIE'S NEWSPAPER, with a mark at this +announcement:—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p"><span style="font-weight: 700" class="tei tei-hi">$100</span></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">for the best Short Tale of from one to two pages of FRANK LESLIE'S +ILLUSTRATED NEWSPAPER, to be sent in on or before the 1st of +November, 1862.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"There is another barrel," she said, "with $5,000 +in it, and another with $1,000. But we do not want +$5,000 or $1,000. There is a little barrel with $50 +in it. But see here, with all this figuring, I cannot +make it do. I have stopped the gas now, and I have +turned the children's coats,—I wish you would see +how well Robert's looks,—and I have had a new tile +put in the cook-stove, instead of buying that lovely +new 'Banner.' But all will not do. We must go to +this barrel."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And what is to be the hook, darling, this time?" +said I.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I have been thinking of it all day. I hope you +will not hate it,—I know you will not like it exactly; +but why not write down just the whole story of +what it is to be 'Children of the Public'; how we +came to live here, you know; how we built the house, +and—all about it?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"How Felix knew Fausta," said I; "and how +Fausta first met Felix, perhaps; and when they first +<span class="tei-pb" id="page206">[pg 206]</span> +<a name="Pg206" id="Pg206" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +kissed each other; and what she said to him when +they did so."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Tell that, if you dare," said Fausta; "but perhaps—the +oracle says we must not be proud—perhaps +you might tell just a little. You know—really +almost everybody is named Carter now; and I do +not believe the neighbors will notice,—perhaps they +won't read the paper. And if they do notice it, I +don't care! There!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"It will not be so bad as—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But I never finished the sentence. An imperative +gesture closed my lips physically as well as metaphorically, +and I was glad to turn the subject enough to +sit down to tea with the children. After the bread +and butter we agreed what we might and what we +might not tell, and then I wrote what the reader is +now to see.</p> +</div> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_13" id="toc_13"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head">CHAPTER III.</h2> +<h2 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">MY LIFE TO ITS CRISIS.</h2> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">New-Yorkers of to-day see so many processions, +and live through so many sensations, and hurrah for +so many heroes in every year, that it is only the +oldest of fogies who tells you of the triumphant procession +of steamboats which, in the year 1824, welcomed +General Lafayette on his arrival from his +tour through the country he had so nobly served. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page207">[pg 207]</span> +<a name="Pg207" id="Pg207" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But, if the reader wishes to lengthen out this story +he may button the next silver-gray friend he meets, +and ask him to tell of the broken English and broken +French of the Marquis, of Levasseur, and the rest of +them; of the enthusiasm of the people and the readiness +of the visitors, and he will please bear in mind +that of all that am I.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">For it so happened that on the morning when, for +want of better lions to show, the mayor and governor +and the rest of them took the Marquis and his secretary, +and the rest of them, to see the orphan asylum +in Deering Street,—as they passed into the first ward, +after having had "a little refreshment" in the managers' +room, Sally Eaton, the head nurse, dropped the +first courtesy to them, and Sally Eaton, as it happened, +held me screaming in her arms. I had been sent to +the asylum that morning with a paper pinned to my +bib, which said my name was Felix Carter.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Eet ees verra fine," said the Marquis, smiling +blandly.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Ràvissant!" said Levasseur, and he dropped a +five-franc piece into Sally Eaton's hand. And so the +procession of exhibiting managers talking bad French, +and of exhibited Frenchmen talking bad English, +passed on; all but good old Elkanah Ogden—God +bless him!—who happened to have come there with +the governor's party, and who loitered a minute to +talk with Sally Eaton about me.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Years afterwards she told me how the old man +<span class="tei-pb" id="page208">[pg 208]</span> +<a name="Pg208" id="Pg208" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +kissed me, how his eyes watered when he asked my +story, how she told again of the moment when I was +heard screaming on the doorstep, and how she offered +to go and bring the paper which had been pinned to +my bib. But the old man said it was no matter,—"only +we would have called him Marquis," said he, +"if his name was not provided for him. We must +not leave him here," he said; "he shall grow up a +farmer's lad, and not a little cockney." And so, +instead of going the grand round of infirmaries, kitchens, +bakeries, and dormitories with the rest, the good +old soul went back into the managers' room, and +wrote at the moment a letter to John Myers, who +took care of his wild land in St. Lawrence County for +him, to ask him if Mrs. Myers would not bring up +an orphan baby by hand for him; and if, both together, +they would not train this baby till he said +"stop"; if, on the other hand, he allowed them, in +the yearly account, a hundred dollars each year for the +charge.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Anybody who knows how far a hundred dollars +goes in the backwoods, in St. Lawrence County, will +know that any settler would be glad to take a ward so +recommended. Anybody who knew Betsy Myers as +well as old Elkanah Ogden did, would know she +would have taken any orphan brought to her door, +even if he were not recommended at all.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So it happened, thanks to Lafayette and the city +council! that I had not been a "Child of the Public" +<span class="tei-pb" id="page209">[pg 209]</span> +<a name="Pg209" id="Pg209" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +a day, before, in its great, clumsy, liberal way, it had +provided for me. I owed my healthy, happy home +of the next fourteen years in the wilderness to those +marvellous habits, which I should else call absurd, +with which we lionize strangers. Because our hospitals +and poorhouses are the largest buildings we +have, we entertain the Prince of Wales and Jenny +Lind alike, by showing them crazy people and paupers. +Easy enough to laugh at is the display; but if, dear +Public, it happen, that by such a habit you ventilate +your Bridewell or your Bedlam, is not the ventilation, +perhaps, a compensation for the absurdity? I do not +know if Lafayette was any the better for his seeing +the Deering Street Asylum; but I do know I was.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This is no history of my life. It is only an illustration +of one of its principles. I have no anecdotes +of wilderness life to tell, and no sketch of the lovely +rugged traits of John and Betsy Myers,—my real +father and mother. I have no quest for the pretended +parents, who threw me away in my babyhood, to record. +They closed accounts with me when they left +me on the asylum steps, and I with them. I grew up +with such schooling as the public gave,—ten weeks +in winter always, and ten in summer, till I was big +enough to work on the farm,—better periods of schools, +I hold, than on the modern systems. Mr. Ogden I +never saw. Regularly he allowed for me the hundred +a year till I was nine years old, and then suddenly he +died, as the reader perhaps knows. But John Myers +<span class="tei-pb" id="page210">[pg 210]</span> +<a name="Pg210" id="Pg210" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +kept me as his son, none the less. I knew no change +until, when I was fourteen, he thought it time for me +to see the world, and sent me to what, in those days, +was called a "Manual-Labor School."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There was a theory coming up in those days, wholly +unfounded in physiology, that if a man worked five +hours with his hands, he could study better in the +next five. It is all nonsense. Exhaustion is exhaustion; +and if you exhaust a vessel by one stopcock, +nothing is gained or saved by closing that and opening +another. The old up-country theory is the true +one. Study ten weeks and chop wood fifteen; study +ten more and harvest fifteen. But the "Manual-Labor +School" offered itself for really no pay, only +John Myers and I carried over, I remember, a dozen +barrels of potatoes when I went there with my books. +The school was kept at Roscius, and if I would work +in the carpenter's shop and on the school farm five +hours, why they would feed me and teach me all they +knew in what I had of the day beside.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Felix," said John, as he left me, "I do not suppose +this is the best school in the world, unless you +make it so. But I do suppose you can make it so. +If you and I went whining about, looking for the best +school in the world, and for somebody to pay your +way through it, I should die, and you would lose your +voice with whining, and we should not find one after +all. This is what the public happens to provide for +you and me. We won't look a gift-horse in the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page211">[pg 211]</span> +<a name="Pg211" id="Pg211" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +mouth. Get on his back, Felix; groom him well as +you can when you stop, feed him when you can, and +at all events water him well and take care of him +well. My last advice to you, Felix, is to take what +is offered you, and never complain because nobody +offers more."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Those words are to be cut on my seal-ring, if I +ever have one, and if Dr. Anthon or Professor Webster +will put them into short enough Latin for me. +That is the motto of the "Children of the Public."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">John Myers died before that term was out. And +my more than mother, Betsy, went back to her friends +in Maine. After the funeral I never saw them more. +How I lived from that moment to what Fausta and I +call the Crisis is nobody's concern. I worked in the +shop at the school, or on the farm. Afterwards I +taught school in neighboring districts. I never bought +a ticket in a lottery or a raffle. But whenever there +was a chance to do an honest stroke of work, I did it. +I have walked fifteen miles at night to carry an election +return to the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Tribune's</span> agent at Gouverneur. I +have turned out in the snow to break open the road +when the supervisor could not find another man in the +township.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">When Sartain started his magazine, I wrote an +essay in competition for his premiums, and the essay +earned its hundred dollars. When the managers of +the "Orphan Home," in Baltimore, offered their +prizes for papers on bad boys, I wrote for one of them, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page212">[pg 212]</span> +<a name="Pg212" id="Pg212" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +and that helped me on four hard months. There was +no luck in those things. I needed the money, and I +put my hook into the pork-barrel,—that is, I trusted +the Public. I never had but one stroke of luck in my +life. I wanted a new pair of boots badly. I was +going to walk to Albany, to work in the State library +on the history of the Six Nations, which had an interest +for me. I did not have a dollar. Just then +there passed Congress the bill dividing the surplus +revenue. The State of New York received two or +three millions, and divided it among the counties. +The county of St. Lawrence divided it among the +townships, and the township of Roscius divided it +among the voters. Two dollars and sixty cents of +Uncle Sam's money came to me, and with that money +on my feet I walked to Albany. That I call luck! +How many fools had to assent in an absurdity before +I could study the history of the Six Nations!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But one instance told in detail is better than a +thousand told in general, for the illustration of a principle. +So I will detain you no longer from the history +of what Fausta and I call</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">THE CRISIS.</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page213">[pg 213]</span> +<a name="Pg213" id="Pg213" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_14" id="toc_14"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head">CHAPTER IV.</h2> +<h2 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">THE CRISIS.</h2> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was at work as a veneerer in a piano-forte factory +at Attica, when some tariff or other was passed +or repealed; there came a great financial explosion, +and our boss, among the rest, failed. He +owed us all six months' wages, and we were all very +poor and very blue. Jonathan Whittemore—a real +good fellow, who used to cover the hammers with +leather—came to me the day the shop was closed, +and told me he was going to take the chance to go to +Europe. He was going to the Musical Conservatory +at Leipsic, if he could. He would work his passage +out as a stoker. He would wash himself for three +or four days at Bremen, and then get work, if he could, +with Voightlander or Von Hammer till he +could enter the Conservatory. By way of preparation +for this he wanted me to sell him my Adler's +German Dictionary.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I've nothing to give you for it, Felix, but this +foolish thing,—it is one of Burrham's tickets,—which +I bought in a frolic the night of our sleigh-ride. I'll +transfer it to you."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I told Jonathan he might have the dictionary and +welcome. He was doing a sensible thing, and he +would use it twenty times as much as I should. As +<span class="tei-pb" id="page214">[pg 214]</span> +<a name="Pg214" id="Pg214" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +for the ticket, he had better keep it. I did not want +it. But I saw he would feel better if I took it,—so +he indorsed it to me.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Now the reader must know that this Burrham was +a man who had got hold of one corner of the idea of +what the Public could do for its children. He had +found out that there were a thousand people who +would be glad to make the tour of the mountains +and the lakes every summer if they could do it for +half-price. He found out that the railroad companies +were glad enough to put the price down if they could +be sure of the thousand people. He mediated between +the two, and so "cheap excursions" came into +being. They are one of the gifts the Public gives its +children. Rising from step to step, Burrham had, just +before the great financial crisis, conceived the idea of +a great cheap combination, in which everybody was +to receive a magazine for a year and a cyclopædia, +both at half-price; and not only so, but the money +that was gained in the combination was to be given +by lot to two ticket-holders, one a man and one a +woman, for their dowry in marriage. I dare say the +reader remembers the prospectus. It savors too much +of the modern "Gift Enterprise" to be reprinted in +full; but it had this honest element, that everybody +got more than he could get for his money in retail. I +have my magazine, the old <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Boston Miscellany</span>, to this +day, and I just now looked out Levasseur's name in +my cyclopædia; and, as you will see, I have reason to +know that all the other subscribers got theirs. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page215">[pg 215]</span> +<a name="Pg215" id="Pg215" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">One of the tickets for these books, for which Whittemore +had given five good dollars, was what he gave +to me for my dictionary. And so we parted. I +loitered at Attica, hoping for a place where I could +put in my oar. But my hand was out at teaching, +and in a time when all the world's veneers of different +kinds were ripping off, nobody wanted me to put on +more of my kind,—so that my cash ran low. I +would not go in debt,—that is a thing I never did. +More honest, I say, to go to the poorhouse, and make +the Public care for its child there, than to borrow what +you cannot pay. But I did not come quite to that, as +you shall see.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was counting up my money one night,—and it +was easily done,—when I observed that the date on +this Burrham order was the 15th of October, and it +occurred to me that it was not quite a fortnight before +those books were to be delivered. They were to be +delivered at Castle Garden, at New York; and the +thought struck me that I might go to New York, try my +chance there for work, and at least see the city, which +I had never seen, and get my cyclopædia and magazine. +It was the least offer the Public ever made to +me; but just then the Public was in a collapse, and the +least was better than nothing. The plan of so long a +journey was Quixotic enough, and I hesitated about it +a good deal. Finally I came to this resolve: I would +start in the morning to walk to the lock-station at +Brockport on the canal. If a boat passed that night +<span class="tei-pb" id="page216">[pg 216]</span> +<a name="Pg216" id="Pg216" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +where they would give me my fare for any work I +could do for them, I would go to Albany. If not, I +would walk back to Lockport the next day, and try +my fortune there. This gave me, for my first day's +enterprise, a foot journey of about twenty-five miles. +It was out of the question, with my finances, for me +to think of compassing the train.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Every point of life is a pivot on which turns the +whole action of our after-lives; and so, indeed, of the +after-lives of the whole world. But we are so pur-blind +that we only see this of certain special enterprises +and endeavors, which we therefore call critical. +I am sure I see it of that twenty-five miles of fresh +autumnal walking. I was in tiptop spirits. I found +the air all oxygen, and everything "all right." I did +not loiter, and I did not hurry. I swung along with +the feeling that every nerve and muscle drew, as in +the trades a sailor feels of every rope and sail. And +so I was not tired, not thirsty, till the brook appeared +where I was to drink; nor hungry till twelve o'clock +came, when I was to dine. I called myself as I +walked "The Child of Good Fortune," because the +sun was on my right quarter, as the sun should be +when you walk, because the rain of yesterday had +laid the dust for me, and the frost of yesterday had +painted the hills for me, and the northwest wind +cooled the air for me. I came to Wilkie's Cross-Roads +just in time to meet the Claremont baker and buy my +dinner loaf of him. And when my walk was nearly +<span class="tei-pb" id="page217">[pg 217]</span> +<a name="Pg217" id="Pg217" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +done, I came out on the low bridge at Sewell's, which +is a drawbridge, just before they raised it for a passing +boat, instead of the moment after. Because I was all +right I felt myself and called myself "The Child of Good +Fortune." Dear reader, in a world made by a loving +Father, we are all of us children of good fortune, if we +only have wit enough to find it out, as we stroll along.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The last stroke of good fortune which that day had +for me was the solution of my question whether or no +I would go to Babylon. I was to go if any good-natured +boatman would take me. This is a question, Mr. +Millionnaire, more doubtful to those who have not +drawn their dividends than to those who have. As I +came down the village street at Brockport, I could see +the horses of a boat bound eastward, led along from +level to level at the last lock; and, in spite of my determination +not to hurry, I put myself on the long, +loping trot which the St. Regis Indians taught me, +that I might overhaul this boat before she got under +way at her new speed. I came out on the upper gate +of the last lock just as she passed out from the lower +gate. The horses were just put on, and a reckless boy +gave them their first blow after two hours of rest and +corn. As the heavy boat started off under the new +motion, I saw, and her skipper saw at the same instant, +that a long new tow-rope of his, which had lain +coiled on deck, was suddenly flying out to its full +length. The outer end of it had been carried upon +the lock-side by some chance or blunder, and there +<span class="tei-pb" id="page218">[pg 218]</span> +<a name="Pg218" id="Pg218" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +some idle loafer had thrown the looped bight of it +over a hawser-post. The loafers on the lock saw, as I +did, that the rope was running out, and at the call of +the skipper one of them condescended to throw the +loop overboard, but he did it so carelessly that the lazy +rope rolled over into the lock, and the loop caught on +one of the valve-irons of the upper gate. The whole +was the business of an instant, of course. But the +poor skipper saw, what we did not, that the coil of the +rope on deck was foul, and so entangled round his long +tiller, that ten seconds would do one of three things,—they +would snap his new rope in two, which was a trifle, +or they would wrench his tiller-head off the rudder, +which would cost him an hour to mend, or they would +upset those two horses, at this instant on a trot, and +put into the canal the rowdy youngster who had started +them. It was this complex certainty which gave fire +to the double cries which he addressed aft to us on +the lock, and forward to the magnet boy, whose indifferent +intelligence at that moment drew him along.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was stepping upon the gate-head to walk across it. +It took but an instant, not nearly all the ten seconds, +to swing down by my arms into the lock, keeping myself +hanging by my hands, to catch with my right foot +the bight of the rope and lift it off the treacherous +iron, to kick the whole into the water, and then to +scramble up the wet lock-side again. I got a little +wet, but that was nothing. I ran down the tow-path, +beckoned to the skipper, who sheered his boat up to +the shore, and I jumped on board. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page219">[pg 219]</span> +<a name="Pg219" id="Pg219" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At that moment, reader, Fausta was sitting in a +yellow chair on the deck of that musty old boat, +crocheting from a pattern in <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Grodey's Lady's Book</span>. +I remember it as I remember my breakfast of this +morning. Not that I fell in love with her, nor did I +fall in love with my breakfast; but I knew she was +there. And that was the first time I ever saw her. +It is many years since, and I have seen her every day +from that evening to this evening. But I had then no +business with her. My affair was with him whom I have +called the skipper, by way of adapting this fresh-water +narrative to ears accustomed to Marryat and Tom +Cringle. I told him that I had to go to New York; +that I had not time to walk, and had not money to +pay; that I should like to work my passage to Troy, +if there were any way in which I could; and to ask +him this I had come on board.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Waal," said the skipper, "'taint much that is to +be done, and Zekiel and I calc'late to do most of that +and there's that blamed boy beside—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This adjective "blamed" is the virtuous oath by +which simple people, who are improving their habits, +cure themselves of a stronger epithet, as men take to +flagroot who are abandoning tobacco.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"He ain't good for nothin', as you see," continued +the skipper meditatively, "and you air, anybody can +see that," he added. "Ef you've mind to come to +Albany, you can have your vittles, poor enough they +are too; and ef you are willing to ride sometimes, you +<span class="tei-pb" id="page220">[pg 220]</span> +<a name="Pg220" id="Pg220" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +can ride. I guess where there's room for three in the +bunks there's room for four. 'Taint everybody would +have cast off that blamed hawser-rope as neat as you +did."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">From which last remark I inferred, what I learned +as a certainty as we travelled farther, that but for the +timely assistance I had rendered him I should have +plead for my passage in vain.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This was my introduction to Fausta. That is to +say, she heard the whole of the conversation. The +formal introduction, which is omitted in no circle of +American life to which I have ever been admitted, +took place at tea half an hour after, when Mrs. Grills, +who always voyaged with her husband, brought in +the flapjacks from the kitchen. "Miss Jones," said +Grills, as I came into the meal, leaving Zekiel at the +tiller,—"Miss Jones, this is a young man who is going +to Albany. I don't rightly know how to call your +name, sir." I said my name was Carter. Then he +said, "Mr. Carter, this is Miss Jones. Mrs. Grills, +Mr. Carter. Mr. Carter, Mrs. Grills. She is my +wife." And so our <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">partie carrée</span> was established for +the voyage.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In these days there are few people who know that +a journey on a canal is the pleasantest journey in the +world. A canal has to go through fine scenery. It +cannot exist unless it follow through the valley of a +stream. The movement is so easy that, with your +eyes shut, you do not know you move. The route is +<span class="tei-pb" id="page221">[pg 221]</span> +<a name="Pg221" id="Pg221" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +so direct, that when you are once shielded from the +sun, you are safe for hours. You draw, you read, +you write, or you sew, crochet, or knit. You play on +your flute or your guitar, without one hint of inconvenience. +At a "low bridge" you duck your head +lest you lose your hat,—and that reminder teaches +you that you are human. You are glad to know this, +and you laugh at the memento. For the rest of the +time you journey, if you are "all right" within, in +elysium.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I rode one of those horses perhaps two or three +hours a day. At locks I made myself generally useful. +At night I walked the deck till one o'clock, with my +pipe or without it, to keep guard against the lock-thieves. +The skipper asked me sometimes, after he +found I could "cipher," to disentangle some of the +knots in his bills of lading for him. But all this made +but a little inroad in those lovely autumn days, and +for the eight days that we glided along,—there is one +blessed level which is seventy miles long,—I spent +most of my time with Fausta. We walked together +on the tow-path to get our appetites for dinner and +for supper. At sunrise I always made a cruise inland, +and collected the gentians and black alder-berries and +colored leaves, with which she dressed Mrs. Grill's +table. She took an interest in my wretched sketch-book, +and though she did not and does not draw well, +she did show me how to spread an even tint, which I +never knew before. I was working up my French. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page222">[pg 222]</span> +<a name="Pg222" id="Pg222" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +She knew about as much and as little as I did, and +we read Mad. Reybaud's Clementine together, guessing +at the hard words, because we had no dictionary.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Dear old Grill offered to talk French at table, and +we tried it for a few days. But it proved he picked +up his pronunciation at St. Catherine's, among the +boatmen there, and he would say <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">shwo</span> for "horses," +where the book said <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">chevaux</span>. Our talk, on the +other hand, was not Parisian,—but it was not +Catherinian,—and we subsided into English again.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So sped along these blessed eight days. I told +Fausta thus much of my story, that I was going to +seek my fortune in New York. She, of course, knew +nothing of me but what she saw, and she told me +nothing of her story.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But I was very sorry when we came into the basin +at Troy, for I knew then that in all reason I must +take the steamboat down. And I was very glad,—I +have seldom in my life been so glad,—when I found +that she also was going to New York immediately. +She accepted, very pleasantly, my offer to carry her +trunk to the Isaac Newton for her, and to act as her +escort to the city. For me, my trunk,</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"in danger tried,"</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Swung in my hand,—"nor left my side."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">My earthly possessions were few anywhere. I had +left at Attica most of what they were. Through the +voyage I had been man enough to keep on a working-gear +fit for a workman's duty. And old Grills had not +<span class="tei-pb" id="page223">[pg 223]</span> +<a name="Pg223" id="Pg223" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +yet grace enough to keep his boat still on Sunday. +How one remembers little things! I can remember +each touch of the toilet, as, in that corner of a dark +cuddy where I had shared "Zekiel's" bunk with him. +I dressed myself with one of my two white shirts, and +with the change of raiment which had been tight +squeezed in my portmanteau. The old overcoat was +the best part of it, as in a finite world it often is. I +sold my felt hat to Zekiel, and appeared with a light +travelling-cap. I do not know how Fausta liked my +metamorphosis. I only know that, like butterflies, +for a day or two after they go through theirs, I felt +decidedly cold.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As Carter, the canal man, I had carried Fausta's +trunk on board. As Mr. Carter, I gave her my arm, +led her to the gangway of the Newton, took her passage +and mine, and afterwards walked and sat through +the splendid moonlight of the first four hours down +the river.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Miss Jones determined that evening to breakfast on +the boat. Be it observed that I did not then know +her by any other name. She was to go to an aunt's +house, and she knew that if she left the boat on its +early arrival in New York, she would disturb that +lady by a premature ringing at her bell. I had no +reason for haste, as the reader knows. The distribution +of the cyclopædias was not to take place till the +next day, and that absurd trifle was the only distinct +excuse I had to myself for being in New York at all. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page224">[pg 224]</span> +<a name="Pg224" id="Pg224" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +I asked Miss Jones, therefore, if I might not be her +escort still to her aunt's house. I had said it would +be hard to break off our pleasant journey before I had +seen where she lived, and I thought she seemed +relieved to know that she should not be wholly a +stranger on her arrival. It was clear enough that her +aunt would send no one to meet her.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">These preliminaries adjusted, we parted to our +respective cabins. And when, the next morning, at +that unearthly hour demanded by Philadelphia trains +and other exigencies, the Newton made her dock, I +rejoiced that breakfast was not till seven o'clock, that +I had two hours more of the berth, which was luxury +compared to Zekiel's bunk,—I turned upon my other +side and slept on.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Sorry enough for that morning nap was I for the +next thirty-six hours. For when I went on deck, and +sent in the stewardess to tell Miss Jones that I was +waiting for her, and then took from her the check for +her trunk, I woke to the misery of finding that, in +that treacherous two hours, some pirate from the pier +had stepped on board, had seized the waiting trunk, +left almost alone, while the baggage-master's back was +turned, and that, to a certainty, it was lost. I did not +return to Fausta with this story till the breakfast-bell +had long passed and the breakfast was very cold. I +did not then tell it to her till I had seen her eat her +breakfast with an appetite much better than mine. I +had already offered up stairs the largest reward to anybody +<span class="tei-pb" id="page225">[pg 225]</span> +<a name="Pg225" id="Pg225" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +who would bring it back which my scanty purse +would pay. I had spoken to the clerk, who had sent +for a policeman. I could do nothing more, and I did +not choose to ruin her chop and coffee by ill-timed +news. The officer came before breakfast was over, +and called me from table.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">On the whole, his business-like way encouraged +one. He had some clews which I had not thought +possible. It was not unlikely that they should pounce +on the trunk before it was broken open. I gave him +a written description of its marks; and when he civilly +asked if "my lady" would give some description of +any books or other articles within, I readily promised +that I would call with such a description at the police +station. Somewhat encouraged, I returned to Miss +Jones, and, when I led her from the breakfast-table, +told her of her misfortune. I took all shame to myself +for my own carelessness, to which I attributed the +loss. But I told her all that the officer had said to +me, and that I hoped to bring her the trunk at her +aunt's before the day was over.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Fausta took my news, however, with a start which +frightened me. All her money, but a shilling or two, +was in the trunk. To place money in trunks is a +weakness of the female mind which I have nowhere +seen accounted for. Worse than this, though,—as +appeared after a moment's examination of her travelling +<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">sac</span>,—her portfolio in the trunk contained the +letter of the aunt whom she came to visit, giving her +<span class="tei-pb" id="page226">[pg 226]</span> +<a name="Pg226" id="Pg226" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +her address in the city. To this address she had no +other clew but that her aunt was Mrs. Mary Mason, +had married a few years before a merchant named +Mason, whom Miss Jones had never seen, and of +whose name and business this was all she knew. They +lived in a numbered street, but whether it was Fourth +Street, or Fifty-fourth, or One Hundred and Twenty-fourth, +or whether it was something between, the +poor child had no idea. She had put up the letter +carefully, but had never thought of the importance of +the address. Besides this aunt, she knew no human +being in New York.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Child of the Public," I said to myself, "what do +you do now?" I had appealed to my great patron in +sending for the officer, and on the whole I felt that +my sovereign had been gracious to me, if not yet +hopeful. But now I must rub my lamp again, and +ask the genie where the unknown Mason lived. The +genie of course suggested the Directory, and I ran for +it to the clerk's office. But as we were toiling down +the pages of "Masons," and had written off thirteen +or fourteen who lived in numbered streets, Fausta +started, looked back at the preface and its date, flung +down her pencil in the only abandonment of dismay in +which I ever saw her, and cried, "First of May! +They were abroad until May. They have been +abroad since the day they were married!" So that +genie had to put his glories into his pocket, and carry +his Directory back to the office again. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page227">[pg 227]</span> +<a name="Pg227" id="Pg227" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The natural thing to propose was, that I should +find for Miss Jones a respectable boarding-house, and +that she should remain there until her trunk was +found, or till she could write to friends who had this +fatal address, and receive an answer. But here she +hesitated. She hardly liked to explain why,—did not +explain wholly. But she did not say that she had +no friends who knew this address. She had but few +relations in the world, and her aunt had communicated +with her alone since she came from Europe. As for +the boarding-house, "I had rather look for work," she +said bravely. "I have never promised to pay money +when I did not know how to obtain it; and that"—and +here she took out fifty or sixty cents from her +purse—"and that is all now. In respectable boarding-houses, +when people come without luggage, they +are apt to ask for an advance. Or, at least," she added +with some pride, "I am apt to offer it."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I hastened to ask her to take all my little store; but +I had to own that I had not two dollars. I was sure, +however, that my overcoat and the dress-suit I wore +would avail me something, if I thrust them boldly up +some spout. I was sure that I should be at work +within a day or two. At all events, I was certain of +the cyclopædia the next day. That should go to old +Gowan's,—in Fulton Street it was then,—"the moral +centre of the intellectual world," in the hour I got it. +And at this moment, for the first time, the thought +crossed me, "If mine could only be the name drawn, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page228">[pg 228]</span> +<a name="Pg228" id="Pg228" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +so that that foolish $5,000 should fall to me." In that +case I felt that Fausta might live in "a respectable +boarding-house" till she died. Of this, of course, I +said nothing, only that she was welcome to my poor +dollar and a half, and that I should receive the next +day some more money that was due me.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You forget, Mr. Carter," replied Fausta, as +proudly as before,—"you forget that I cannot borrow +of you any more than of a boarding-house-keeper. I +never borrow. Please God, I never will. It must +be," she added, "that in a Christian city like this +there is some respectable and fit arrangement made +for travellers who find themselves where I am. What +that provision is I do not know; but I will find out +what it is before this sun goes down."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I paused a moment before I replied. If I had been +fascinated by this lovely girl before, I now bowed in +respect before her dignity and resolution; and, with +my sympathy, there was a delicious throb of self-respect +united, when I heard her lay down so simply, as +principles of her life, two principles on which I had +always myself tried to live. The half-expressed habits +of my boyhood and youth were now uttered for me as +axioms by lips which I knew could speak nothing but +right and truth.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I paused a moment. I stumbled a little as I expressed +my regret that she would not let me help her,—joined +with my certainty that she was in the right +in refusing,—and then it the only stiff speech I ever +made to her, I said:— +<span class="tei-pb" id="page229">[pg 229]</span> +<a name="Pg229" id="Pg229" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I am the 'Child of the Public.' If you ever hear +my story, you will say so too. At the least, I can +claim this, that I have a right to help you in your +quest as to the way in which the public will help you. +Thus far I am clearly the officer in his suite to whom +he has intrusted you. Are you ready, then, to go on +shore?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Fausta looked around on that forlorn ladies' saloon, +as if it were the last link holding her to her old safe +world.</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Looked upon skylight, lamp, and chain,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">As what she ne'er might see again."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Then she looked right through me; and if there had +been one mean thought in me at that minute, she +would have seen the viper. Then she said, sadly,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I have perfect confidence in you, though people +would say we were strangers. Let us go."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And we left the boat together. We declined the +invitations of the noisy hackmen, and walked slowly to +Broadway.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We stopped at the station-house for that district, +and to the attentive chief Fausta herself described +those contents of her trunk which she thought would +be most easily detected, if offered for sale. Her mother's +Bible, at which the chief shook his head; Bibles, +alas! brought nothing at the shops; a soldier's medal, +such as were given as target prizes by the Montgomery +regiment; and a little silver canteen, marked +with the device of the same regiment, seemed to him +<span class="tei-pb" id="page230">[pg 230]</span> +<a name="Pg230" id="Pg230" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +better worthy of note. Her portfolio was wrought +with a cipher, and she explained to him that she was +most eager that this should be recovered. The pocketbook +contained more than one hundred dollars, which +she described, but he shook his head here, and gave +her but little hope of that, if the trunk were once +opened. His chief hope was for this morning.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And where shall we send to you then, madam?" +said he.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I had been proud, as if it were my merit, of the +impression Fausta had made upon the officer, in her +quiet, simple, ladylike dress and manner. For myself, +I thought that one slip of pretence in my dress or +bearing, a scrap of gold or of pinchbeck, would have +ruined both of us in our appeal. But, fortunately, I +did not disgrace her, and the man looked at her as if +he expected her to say "Fourteenth Street." What +would she say?</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"That depends upon what the time will be. Mr. +Carter will call at noon, and will let you know."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We bowed, and were gone. In an instant more +she begged my pardon, almost with tears; but I told +her that if she also had been a "Child of the Public," +she could not more fitly have spoken to one of her +father's officers. I begged her to use me as her protector, +and not to apologize again. Then we laid out +the plans which we followed out that day.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The officer's manner had reassured her, and I succeeded +in persuading her that it was certain we should +<span class="tei-pb" id="page231">[pg 231]</span> +<a name="Pg231" id="Pg231" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +have the trunk at noon. How much better to wait, at +least so far, before she entered on any of the enterprises +of which she talked so coolly, as of offering herself +as a nursery-girl, or as a milliner, to whoever +would employ her, if only she could thus secure an +honest home till money or till aunt were found. Once +persuaded that we were safe from this Quixotism, I +told her that we must go on, as we did on the canal, +and first we must take our constitutional walk for two +hours.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"At least," she said, "our good papa, the Public, +gives us wonderful sights to see, and good walking to +our feet, as a better Father has given us this heavenly +sky and this bracing air."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And with those words the last heaviness of despondency +left her face for that day. And we plunged into +the delicious adventure of exploring a new city, +staring into windows as only strangers can, revelling +in print-shops as only they do, really seeing the fine +buildings as residents always forget to do, and laying +up, in short, with those streets, nearly all the associations +which to this day we have with them.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Two hours of this tired us with walking, of course. +I do not know what she meant to do next; but at ten +I said, "Time for French, Miss Jones." "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Ah oui</span>" +said she, "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">mais où</span>?" and I had calculated my distances, +and led her at once into Lafayette Place; and, +in a moment, pushed open the door of the Astor +Library, led her up the main stairway, and said, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page232">[pg 232]</span> +<a name="Pg232" id="Pg232" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"This is what the Public provides for his children +when they have to study."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"This is the Astor," said she, delighted. "And +we are all right, as you say, here?" Then she saw +that our entrance excited no surprise among the few +readers, men and women, who were beginning to assemble.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We took our seats at an unoccupied table, and +began to revel in the luxuries for which we had only +to ask that we might enjoy. I had a little memorandum +of books which I had been waiting to see. She +needed none; but looked for one and another, and yet +another, and between us we kept the attendant well in +motion. A pleasant thing to me to be finding out her +thoroughbred tastes and lines of work, and I was +happy enough to interest her in some of my pet readings; +and, of course, for she was a woman, to get +quick hints which had never dawned on me before. A +very short hour and a half we spent there before I +went to the station-house again. I went very quickly. +I returned to her very slowly.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The trunk was not found. But they were now +quite sure they were on its track. They felt certain +it had been carried from pier to pier and taken back +up the river. Nor was it hopeless to follow it. The +particular rascal who was supposed to have it would +certainly stop either at Piermont or at Newburg. +They had telegraphed to both places, and were in +time for both. "The day boat, sir, will bring your +<span class="tei-pb" id="page233">[pg 233]</span> +<a name="Pg233" id="Pg233" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +lady's trunk, and will bring me Rowdy Rob, too, I +hope," said the officer. But at the same moment, as +he rang his bell, he learned that no despatch had yet +been received from either of the places named. I did +not feel so certain as he did.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But Fausta showed no discomfort as I told my +news. "Thus far," said she, "the Public serves me +well. I will borrow no trouble by want of faith." +And I—as Dante would say—and I, to her, "will +you let me remind you, then, that at one we dine, +that Mrs. Grills is now placing the salt-pork upon the +cabin table, and Mr. Grills asking the blessing; and, +as this is the only day when I can have the honor of +your company, will you let me show you how a Child +of the Public dines, when his finances are low?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Fausta laughed, and said again, less tragically than +before, "I have perfect confidence in you,"—little +thinking how she started my blood with the words; +but this time, as if in token, she let me take her hand +upon my arm, as we walked down the street together.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">If we had been snobs, or even if I had been one, +I should have taken her to Taylor's, and have spent +all the money I had on such a luncheon as neither of +us had ever eaten before. Whatever else I am, I am +not a snob of that sort. I show my colors. I led +her into a little cross-street which I had noticed in our +erratic morning pilgrimage. We stopped at a German +baker's. I bade her sit down at the neat marble table, +and I bought two rolls. She declined lager, which +<span class="tei-pb" id="page234">[pg 234]</span> +<a name="Pg234" id="Pg234" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +I offered her in fun. We took water instead, and +we had dined, and had paid two cents for our meal, +and had had a very merry dinner, too, when the clock +struck two.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And now, Mr. Carter," said she, "I will steal no +more of your day. You did not come to New York +to escort lone damsels to the Astor Library or to dinner. +Nor did I come only to see the lions or to read +French. I insist on your going to your affairs, and +leaving me to mine. If you will meet me at the +Library half an hour before it closes, I will thank you; +till then," with a tragedy shake of the hand, and a +merry laugh, "adieu!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I knew very well that no harm could happen to her +in two hours of an autumn afternoon. I was not sorry +for her <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">congé</span>, for it gave me an opportunity to follow +my own plans. I stopped at one or two cabinet-makers, +and talked with the "jours" about work, +that I might tell her with truth that I had been in +search of it;—then I sedulously began on calling upon +every man I could reach named Mason. O, how +often I went through one phase or another of this +colloquy:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Is Mr. Mason in?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"That's my name, sir."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Can you give me the address of Mr. Mason who +returned from Europe last May?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Know no such person, sir."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The reader can imagine how many forms this dialogue +<span class="tei-pb" id="page235">[pg 235]</span> +<a name="Pg235" id="Pg235" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +could be repeated in, before, as I wrought my +way through a long line of dry-goods cases to a distant +counting-room, I heard some one in it say, "No, +madam, I know no such person as you describe"; and +from the recess Fausta emerged and met me. Her +plan for the afternoon had been the same with mine. +We laughed as we detected each other; then I told +her she had had quite enough of this, that it was time +she should rest, and took her, <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">nolens volens</span>, into the +ladies' parlor of the St. Nicholas, and bade her wait +there through the twilight, with my copy of Clementine, +till I should return from the police-station. If +the reader has ever waited in such a place for some +one to come and attend to him, he will understand +that nobody will be apt to molest him when he has not +asked for attention.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Two hours I left Fausta in the rocking-chair, which +there the Public had provided for her. Then I returned, +sadly enough. No tidings of Rowdy Rob, +none of trunk, Bible, money, letter, medal, or anything. +Still was my district sergeant hopeful, and, +as always, respectful. But I was hopeless this time, +and I knew that the next day Fausta would be plunging +into the war with intelligence-houses and advertisements. +For the night, I was determined that she +should spend it in my ideal "respectable boarding-house." +On my way down town, I stopped in at one +or two shops to make inquiries, and satisfied myself +where I would take her. Still I thought it wisest that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page236">[pg 236]</span> +<a name="Pg236" id="Pg236" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +we should go after tea; and another cross-street +baker, and another pair of rolls, and another tap at the +Croton, provided that repast for us. Then I told +Fausta of the respectable boarding-house, and that she +must go there. She did not say no. But she did say +she would rather not spend the evening there. "There +must be some place open for us," said she. "There! +there is a church-bell! The church is always home. +Let us come there."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So to "evening meeting" we went, startling the sexton +by arriving an hour early. If there were any who +wondered what was the use of that Wednesday-evening +service, we did not. In a dark gallery pew we +sat, she at one end, I at the other; and, if the whole +truth be told, each of us fell asleep at once, and slept +till the heavy organ tones taught us that the service +had begun. A hundred or more people had straggled +in then, and the preacher, good soul, he took for his +text, "Doth not God care for the ravens?" I cannot +describe the ineffable feeling of home that came over +me in that dark pew of that old church. I had never +been in so large a church before. I had never heard +so heavy an organ before. Perhaps I had heard better +preaching, but never any that came to my occasions +more. But it was none of these things which +moved me. It was the fact that we were just where +we had a right to be. No impudent waiter could ask +us why we were sitting there, nor any petulant policeman +propose that we should push on. It was God's +house, and, because his, it was his children's. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page237">[pg 237]</span> +<a name="Pg237" id="Pg237" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">All this feeling of repose grew upon me, and, as it +proved, upon Fausta also. For when the service was +ended, and I ventured to ask her whether she also +had this sense of home and rest, she assented so +eagerly, that I proposed, though with hesitation, a +notion which had crossed me, that I should leave her +there.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I cannot think," I said, "of any possible harm +that could come to you before morning."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Do you know, I had thought of that very same +thing, but I did not dare tell you," she said.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Was not I glad that she had considered me her +keeper! But I only said, "At the 'respectable +boarding-house' you might be annoyed by questions."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And no one will speak to me here. I know that +from Goody Two-Shoes."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I will be here," said I, "at sunrise in the morning." +And so I bade her good by, insisting on leaving +in the pew my own great-coat. I knew she might +need it before morning. I walked out as the sexton +closed the door below on the last of the down-stairs +worshippers. He passed along the aisles below, with +his long poker which screwed down the gas. I saw at +once that he had no intent of exploring the galleries. +But I loitered outside till I saw him lock the doors +and depart; and then, happy in the thought that Miss +Jones was in the safest place in New York,—as comfortable +as she was the night before, and much more +<span class="tei-pb" id="page238">[pg 238]</span> +<a name="Pg238" id="Pg238" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +comfortable than she had been any night upon the +canal, I went in search of my own lodging.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"To the respectable boarding-house?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Not a bit, reader. I had no shillings for respectable +or disrespectable boarding-houses. I asked the first +policeman where his district station was. I went into +its office, and told the captain that I was green in the +city; had got no work and no money. In truth, I +had left my purse in Miss Jones's charge, and a five-cent +piece, which I showed the chief, was all I had. +He said no word but to bid me go up two flights and +turn into the first bunk I found. I did so; and in five +minutes was asleep in a better bed than I had slept in +for nine days.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That was what the Public did for me that night. +I, too, was safe!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I am making this story too long. But with that +night and its anxieties the end has come. At sunrise +I rose and made my easy toilet. I bought and ate my +roll,—varying the brand from yesterday's. I bought +another, with a lump of butter, and an orange, for +Fausta. I left my portmanteau at the station, while I +rushed to the sexton's house, told his wife I had left +my gloves in church the night before,—as was the +truth,—and easily obtained from her the keys. In +a moment I was in the vestibule—locked in—was +in the gallery, and there found Fausta, just awake, as +she declared, from a comfortable night, reading her +morning lesson in the Bible, and sure, she said, that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page239">[pg 239]</span> +<a name="Pg239" id="Pg239" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +I should soon appear. Nor ghost, nor wraith, had +visited her. I spread for her a brown paper tablecloth +on the table in the vestibule. I laid out her +breakfast for her, called her, and wondered at her +toilet. How is it that women always make themselves +appear as neat and finished as if there were no conflict, +dust, or wrinkle in the world.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">[Here Fausta adds, in this manuscript, a parenthesis, +to say that she folded her undersleeves neatly, and her +collar, before she slept, and put them between the +cushions, upon which she slept. In the morning they +had been pressed—without a sad-iron.]</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">She finished her repast. I opened the church door +for five minutes. She passed out when she had +enough examined the monuments, and at a respectable +distance I followed her. We joined each other, +and took our accustomed morning walk; but then she +resolutely said, "Good by," for the day. She would +find work before night,—work and a home. And I +must do the same. Only when I pressed her to let +me know of her success, she said she would meet me +at the Astor Library just before it closed. No, she +would not take my money. Enough, that for twenty-four +hours she had been my guest. When she had +found her aunt and told her the story, they should +insist on repaying this hospitality. Hospitality, dear +reader, which I had dispensed at the charge of six +cents. Have you ever treated Miranda for a day and +found the charge so low? When I urged other assistance +<span class="tei-pb" id="page240">[pg 240]</span> +<a name="Pg240" id="Pg240" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +she said resolutely, "No." In fact, she had +already made an appointment at two, she said, and she +must not waste the day.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I also had an appointment at two; for it was at that +hour that Burrham was to distribute the cyclopædias at +Castle Garden. The Emigrant Commission had not +yet seized it for their own. I spent the morning +in asking vainly for Masons fresh from Europe, and +for work in cabinet-shops. I found neither, and +so wrought my way to the appointed place, where, +instead of such wretched birds in the bush, I was to +get one so contemptible in my hand.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Those who remember Jenny Lind's first triumph +night at Castle Garden have some idea of the crowd +as it filled gallery and floor of that immense hall when I +entered. I had given no thought to the machinery of +this folly, I only know that my ticket bade me be +there at two P.M. this day. But as I drew near, the +throng, the bands of policemen, the long queues of +persons entering, reminded me that here was an affair +of ten thousand persons, and also that Mr. Burrham +was not unwilling to make it as showy, perhaps as +noisy, an affair as was respectable, by way of advertising +future excursions and distributions. I was led to +seat No. 3,671 with a good deal of parade, and when I +came there I found I was very much of a prisoner. I +was late, or rather on the stroke of two. Immediately, +almost, Mr. Burrham arose in the front and made +a long speech about his liberality, and the public's +<span class="tei-pb" id="page241">[pg 241]</span> +<a name="Pg241" id="Pg241" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +liberality, and everybody's liberality in general, and +the method of the distribution in particular. The +mayor and four or five other well-known and respectable +gentlemen were kind enough to be present to +guarantee the fairness of the arrangements. At the +suggestion of the mayor and the police, the doors +would now be closed, that no persons might interrupt +the ceremony till it was ended. And the distribution +of the cyclopædias would at once go forward, in the +order in which the lots were drawn,—earliest numbers +securing the earliest impressions; which, as Mr. +Burrham almost regretted to say, were a little better +than the latest. After these had been distributed two +figures would be drawn,—one green and one red, to +indicate the fortunate lady and gentleman who would +receive respectively the profits which had arisen from +this method of selling the cyclopædias, after the expenses +of printing and distribution had been covered, +and after the magazines had been ordered.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Great cheering followed this announcement from all +but me. Here I had shut myself up in this humbug +hall, for Heaven knew how long, on the most important +day of my life. I would have given up willingly +my cyclopædia and my chance at the "profits," for +the certainty of seeing Fausta at five o'clock. If I +did not see her then, what might befall her, and when +might I see her again. An hour before this certainty +was my own, now it was only mine by my liberating +myself from this prison. Still I was encouraged by +<span class="tei-pb" id="page242">[pg 242]</span> +<a name="Pg242" id="Pg242" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +seeing that everything was conducted like clock-work. +From literally a hundred stations they were distributing +the books. We formed ourselves into queues as +we pleased, drew our numbers, and then presented +ourselves at the bureaux, ordered our magazines, and +took our cyclopædias. It would be done, at that rate, +by half past four. An omnibus might bring me to +the Park, and a Bowery car do the rest in time. +After a vain discussion for the right of exit with one +or two of the attendants, I abandoned myself to this +hope, and began studying my cyclopædia.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was sufficiently amusing to see ten thousand people +resign themselves to the same task, and affect to be +unconcerned about the green and red figures which +were to divide the "profits." I tried to make out who +were as anxious to get out of that tawdry den as I was. +Four o'clock struck, and the distribution was not done. +I began to be very impatient. What if Fausta fell +into trouble? I knew, or hoped I knew, that she would +struggle to the Astor Library, as to her only place of +rescue and refuge,—her asylum. What if I failed +her there? I who had pretended to be her protector! +"Protector, indeed!" she would say, if she knew I +was at a theatre witnessing the greatest folly of the +age. And if I did not meet her to-day, when should I +meet her? If she found her aunt, how should I find +her? If she did not find her,—good God? that was +worse,—where might she not be before twelve hours +were over? Then the fatal trunk! I had told the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page243">[pg 243]</span> +<a name="Pg243" id="Pg243" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +police agent he might send it to the St. Nicholas, because +I had to give him some address. But Fausta +did not know this, and the St. Nicholas people knew +nothing of us. I grew more and more excited, and +when at last my next neighbor told me that it was half +past four, I rose and insisted on leaving my seat. +Two ushers with blue sashes almost held me down; +they showed me the whole assembly sinking into +quiet. In fact, at that moment Mr. Burrham was +begging every one to be seated. I would not be +seated. I would go to the door. I would go out. +"Go, if you please!" said the usher next it, contemptuously. +And I looked, and there was no handle! +Yet this was not a dream. It is the way they arrange +the doors in halls where they choose to keep people +in their places. I could have collared that grinning +blue sash. I did tell him I would wring his precious +neck for him, if he did not let me out. I said I would +sue him for false imprisonment; I would have a writ +of <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">habeas corpus</span>.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Habeas corpus</span> be d——d!" said the officer, with an +irreverent disrespect to the palladium. "If you are +not more civil, sir, I will call the police, of whom we +have plenty. You say you want to go out; you are +keeping everybody in."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And, in fact, at that moment the clear voice of the +mayor was announcing that they would not go on +until there was perfect quiet; and I felt that I was imprisoning +all these people, not they me. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page244">[pg 244]</span> +<a name="Pg244" id="Pg244" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Child of the Public," said my mourning genius, +"are you better than other men?" So I sneaked +back to seat No. 3,671, amid the contemptuous and +reproachful looks and sneers of my more respectable +neighbors, who had sat where they were told to do. +We must be through in a moment, and perhaps Fausta +would be late also. If only the Astor would keep +open after sunset! How often have I wished that +since, and for less reasons!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Silence thus restored, Mr. A——, the mayor, led +forward his little daughter, blindfolded her, and bade +her put her hand into a green box, from which +she drew out a green ticket. He took it from her, +and read, in his clear voice again, "No. 2,973!" By +this time we all knew where the "two thousands" +sat. Then "nine hundreds" were not far from the +front, so that it was not far that that frightened girl, +dressed all in black, and heavily veiled, had to walk, +who answered to this call. Mr. A—— met her, +helped her up the stair upon the stage, took from her +her ticket, and read, "Jerusha Stillingfleet, of Yellow +Springs, who, at her death, as it seems, transferred +this right to the bearer."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The disappointed nine thousand nine hundred and +ninety-nine joined in a rapturous cheer, each man and +woman, to show that he or she was not disappointed. +The bearer spoke with Mr. Burrham, in answer to his +questions, and, with a good deal of ostentation, he +opened a check-book, filled a check and passed it to +<span class="tei-pb" id="page245">[pg 245]</span> +<a name="Pg245" id="Pg245" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +her, she signing a receipt as she took it, and transferring +to him her ticket. So far, in dumb show, all was +well. What was more to my purpose, it was rapid, for +we should have been done in five minutes more, but +that some devil tempted some loafer in a gallery to +cry, "Face! face!" Miss Stillingfleet's legatee was +still heavily veiled.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In one horrid minute that whole amphitheatre, +which seemed to me then more cruel than the Coliseum +ever was, rang out with a cry of "Face, face!" I tried +the counter-cry of "Shame! shame!" but I was in +disgrace among my neighbors, and a counter-cry +never takes as its prototype does, either. At first, on +the stage, they affected not to hear or understand; +then there was a courtly whisper between Mr. Burrham +and the lady; but Mr. A——, the mayor, and +the respectable gentlemen, instantly interfered. It +was evident that she would not unveil, and that they +were prepared to indorse her refusal. In a moment +more she courtesied to the assembly; the mayor gave +her his arm, and led her out through a side-door.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">O, the yell that rose up then! The whole assembly +stood up, and, as if they had lost some vested right, +hooted and shrieked, "Back! back! Face! face!" +Mr. A—— returned, made as if he would speak, +came forward to the very front, and got a moment's silence.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"It is not in the bond, gentlemen," said he. "The +young lady is unwilling to unveil, and we must not +compel her." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page246">[pg 246]</span> +<a name="Pg246" id="Pg246" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Face! face!" was the only answer, and oranges +from up stairs flew about his head and struck upon the +table,—an omen only fearful from what it prophesied. +Then there was such a row for five minutes as I hope +I may never see or hear again. People kept their +places fortunately, under a vague impression that they +should forfeit some magic rights if they left those numbered +seats. But when, for a moment, a file of policemen +appeared in the orchestra, a whole volley of +cyclopædias fell like rain upon their chief, with a renewed +cry of "Face! face!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At this juncture, with a good deal of knowledge of +popular feeling, Mr. A—— led forward his child again. +Frightened to death the poor thing was, and crying; +he tied his handkerchief round her eyes hastily, and +took her to the red box. For a minute the house was +hushed. A cry of "Down! down!" and every one +took his place as the child gave the red ticket to her +father. He read it as before, "No. 3,671!" I heard +the words as if he did not speak them. All excited +by the delay and the row, by the injustice to the +stranger and the personal injustice of everybody to me, +I did not know, for a dozen seconds, that every one +was looking towards our side of the house, nor was it +till my next neighbor with the watch said, "Go, you +fool," that I was aware that 3,671 was I! Even then, +as I stepped down the passage and up the steps, my +only feeling was, that I should get out of this horrid +trap, and possibly find Miss Jones lingering near the +<span class="tei-pb" id="page247">[pg 247]</span> +<a name="Pg247" id="Pg247" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Astor,—not by any means that I was invited to take +a check for $5,000.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">There was not much cheering. Women never mean +to cheer, of course. The men had cheered the green +ticket, but they were mad with the red one. I gave +up my ticket, signed my receipt, and took my check, +shook hands with Mr. A—— and Mr. Burrham, and +turned to bow to the mob,—for mob I must call it +now. But the cheers died away. A few people tried +to go out perhaps, but there was nothing now to retain +any in their seats as before, and the generality +rose, pressed down the passages, and howled, "Face! +face!" I thought for a moment that I ought to say +something, but they would not hear me, and, after a +moment's pause, my passion to depart overwhelmed +me. I muttered some apology to the gentlemen, and +left the stage by the stage door.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I had forgotten that to Castle Garden there can be +no back entrance. I came to door after door, which +were all locked. It was growing dark. Evidently +the sun was set, and I knew the library door would be +shut at sunset. The passages were very obscure. All +around me rang this horrid yell of the mob, in which +all that I could discern was the cry, "Face, face!" +At last, as I groped round, I came to a practicable +door. I entered a room where the western sunset +glare dazzled me. I was not alone. The veiled lady +in black was there. But the instant she saw me she +sprang towards me, flung herself into my arms, and cried:— +<span class="tei-pb" id="page248">[pg 248]</span> +<a name="Pg248" id="Pg248" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Felix, is it you?—you are indeed my protector!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was Miss Jones! It was Fausta! She was the +legatee of Miss Stillingfleet. My first thought was, +"O, if that beggarly usher had let me go! Will I +ever, ever think I have better rights than the Public +again?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I took her in my arms. I carried her to the sofa. +I could hardly speak for excitement. Then I did say +that I had been wild with terror; that I had feared I +had lost her, and lost her forever; that to have lost +that interview would have been worse to me than +death; for unless she knew that I loved her better +than man ever loved woman, I could not face a lonely +night, and another lonely day.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"My dear, dear child," I said, "you may think me +wild; but I must say this,—it has been pent up too +long."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Say what you will," she said after a moment, in +which still I held her in my arms; she was trembling +so that she could not have sat upright alone,—"say +what you will, if only you do not tell me to spend another +day alone."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And I kissed her, and I kissed her, and I kissed her, +and I said, "Never, darling, God helping me, till I +die!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">How long we sat there I do not know. Neither of +us spoke again. For one, I looked out on the sunset +and the bay. We had but just time to rearrange ourselves +<span class="tei-pb" id="page249">[pg 249]</span> +<a name="Pg249" id="Pg249" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +in positions more independent, when Mr. A—— +came in, this time in alarm, to say:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Miss Jones, we must get you out of this place, or +we must hide you somewhere. I believe, before God, +they will storm this passage, and pull the house about +our ears."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">He said this, not conscious as he began that I was +there. At that moment, however, I felt as if I could +have met a million men. I started forward and passed +him, saying, "Let me speak to them." I rushed upon +the stage, fairly pushing back two or three bullies who +were already upon it. I sprang upon the table, kicking +down the red box as I did so, so that the red +tickets fell on the floor and on the people below. One +stuck in an old man's spectacles in a way which made +the people in the galleries laugh. A laugh is a great +blessing at such a moment. Curiosity is another. +Three loud words spoken like thunder do a good deal +more. And after three words the house was hushed +to hear me. I said:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Be fair to the girl. She has no father nor mother +She has no brother nor sister. She is alone in the +world, with nobody to help her but the Public—and +me!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The audacity of the speech brought out a cheer +and we should have come off in triumph, when some +rowdy—the original "face" man, I suppose—said,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And who are you?" +<span class="tei-pb" id="page250">[pg 250]</span> +<a name="Pg250" id="Pg250" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">If the laugh went against me now I was lost, of +course. Fortunately I had no time to think. I said +without thinking,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I am the Child of the Public, and her betrothed +husband!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">O Heavens! what a yell of laughter, of hurrahings, +of satisfaction with a <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">dénouement</span>, rang through the +house, and showed that all was well. Burrham +caught the moment, and started his band, this time +successfully,—I believe with "See the Conquering +Hero." The doors, of course, had been open long +before. Well-disposed people saw they need stay no +longer; ill-disposed people dared not stay; the blue-coated +men with buttons sauntered on the stage in +groups, and I suppose the worst rowdies disappeared +as they saw them. I had made my single speech, and +for the moment I was a hero.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I believe the mayor would have liked to kiss me. +Burrham almost did. They overwhelmed me with +thanks and congratulations. All these I received as +well as I could,—somehow I did not feel at all surprised,—everything +was as it should be. I scarcely +thought of leaving the stage myself, till, to my surprise, +the mayor asked me to go home with him to dinner.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Then I remembered that we were not to spend the +rest of our lives in Castle Garden. I blundered out +something about Miss Jones, that she had no escort +except me, and pressed into her room to find her. A +group of gentlemen was around her. Her veil was +<span class="tei-pb" id="page251">[pg 251]</span> +<a name="Pg251" id="Pg251" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +back now. She was very pale, but very lovely. Have +I said that she was beautiful as heaven? She was +the queen of the room, modestly and pleasantly receiving +their felicitations that the danger was over, and +owning that she had been very much frightened.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Until," she said, "my friend, Mr. Carter, was fortunate +enough to guess that I was here. How he did +it," she said, turning to me, "is yet an utter mystery +to me."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">She did not know till then that it was I who had +shared with her the profits of the cyclopædias.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As soon as we could excuse ourselves, I asked some +one to order a carriage. I sent to the ticket-office for +my valise, and we rode to the St. Nicholas. I fairly +laughed as I gave the hackman at the hotel door what +would have been my last dollar and a half only two +hours before. I entered Miss Jones's name and my +own. The clerk looked, and said, inquiringly,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Is it Miss Jones's trunk which came this afternoon?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I followed his finger to see the trunk on the marble +floor. Rowdy Rob had deserted it, having seen, perhaps, +a detective when he reached Piermont. The +trunk had gone to Albany, had found no owner, and +had returned by the day boat of that day.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Fausta went to her room, and I sent her supper +after her. One kiss and "Good night" was all that I +got from her then.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"In the morning," said she, "you shall explain." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page252">[pg 252]</span> +<a name="Pg252" id="Pg252" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was not yet seven, I went to my own room and +dressed, and tendered myself at the mayor's just before +his gay party sat down to dine. I met, for the +first time in my life, men whose books I had read, and +whose speeches I had by heart, and women whom I +have since known to honor; and, in the midst of this +brilliant group, so excited had Mr. A—— been in +telling the strange story of the day, I was, for the +hour, the lion.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I led Mrs. A—— to the table; I made her laugh +very heartily by telling her of the usher's threats to +me, and mine to him, and of the disgrace into which I +fell among the three thousand six hundreds. I had +never been at any such party before. But I found it +was only rather simpler and more quiet than most +parties I had seen, that its good breeding was exactly +that of dear Betsy Myers.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As the party broke up, Mrs. A—— said to me,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Mr. Carter, I am sure you are tired, with all this +excitement. You say you are a stranger here. Let +me send round for your trunk to the St. Nicholas, and +you shall spend the night here. I know I can make +you a better bed than they."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I thought as much myself, and assented. In half +an hour more I was in bed in Mrs. A—— 's "best +room."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I shall not sleep better," said I to myself, "than +I did last night."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That was what the Public did for me that night. I +was safe again!</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page253">[pg 253]</span> +<a name="Pg253" id="Pg253" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_15" id="toc_15"></a> +<h2 class="tei tei-head">CHAPTER LAST.</h2> +<h2 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">FAUSTA'S STORY.</h2> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">Fausta slept late, poor child. I called for her +before breakfast. I waited for her after. About +ten she appeared, so radiant, so beautiful, and so kind! +The trunk had revealed a dress I never saw before, +and the sense of rest, and eternal security, and unbroken +love had revealed a charm which was never +there to see before. She was dressed for walking, and, +as she met me, said,—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Time for constitutional, Mr. Millionnaire."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So we walked again, quite up town, almost to the +region of pig-pens and cabbage-gardens which is now +the Central Park. And after just the first gush of my +enthusiasm, Fausta said, very seriously:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I must teach you to be grave. You do not know +whom you are asking to be your wife. Excepting +Mrs. Mason, No. 27 Thirty-fourth Street, sir, there is +no one in the world who is of kin to me, and she does +not care for me one straw, Felix," she said, almost +sadly now. "You call yourself 'Child of the Public.' +I started when you first said so, for that is just what I +am.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I am twenty-two years old. My father died before I +was born. My mother, a poor woman, disliked by his +relatives and avoided by them, went to live in Hoboken +<span class="tei-pb" id="page254">[pg 254]</span> +<a name="Pg254" id="Pg254" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +over there, with me. How she lived, God knows, +but it happened that of a strange death she died, I in +her arms."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">After a pause, the poor girl went on:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"There was a great military review, an encampment. +She was tempted out to see it. Of a sudden +by some mistake, a ramrod was fired from a careless +soldier's gun, and it pierced her through her heart. I +tell you, Felix, it pinned my baby frock into the +wound, so that they could not part me from her till it +was cut away.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Of course every one was filled with horror. Nobody +claimed poor me, the baby. But the battalion, +the Montgomery Battalion, it was, which had, by mischance, +killed my mother, adopted me as their child. +I was voted 'Fille du Regiment.' They paid an assessment +annually, which the colonel expended for me. +A kind old woman nursed me."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"She was your Betsy Myers," interrupted I.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And when I was old enough I was sent into Connecticut, +to the best of schools. This lasted till I was +sixteen. Fortunately for me, perhaps, the Montgomery +Battalion then dissolved. I was finding it hard to +answer the colonel's annual letters. I had my living +to earn,—it was best I should earn it. I declined a +proposal to go out as a missionary. I had no call. I +answered one of Miss Beecher's appeals for Western +teachers. Most of my life since has been a school-ma'am's. +It has had ups and downs. But I have always +<span class="tei-pb" id="page255">[pg 255]</span> +<a name="Pg255" id="Pg255" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +been proud that the Public was my godfather; +and, as you know," she said, "I have trusted the +Public well. I have never been lonely, wherever I +went. I tried to make myself of use. Where I was +of use I found society. The ministers have been kind +to me. I always offered my services in the Sunday +schools and sewing-rooms. The school committees +have been kind to me. They are the Public's high +chamberlains for poor girls. I have written for the +journals. I won one of Sartain's hundred-dollar +prizes—"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And I another," interrupted I.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"When I was very poor, I won the first prize for +an essay on bad boys."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And I the second," answered I.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I think I know one bad boy better than he +knows himself," said she. But she went on. "I +watched with this poor Miss Stillingfleet the night she +died. This absurd 'distribution' had got hold of her, +and she would not be satisfied till she had transferred +that strange ticket, No. 2,973, to me, writing the indorsement +which you have heard. I had had a longing +to visit New York and Hoboken again. This +ticket seemed to me to beckon me. I had money +enough to come, if I would come cheaply. I wrote +to my father's business partner, and enclosed a note to +his only sister. She is Mrs. Mason. She asked me, +coldly enough, to her house. Old Mr. Grills always +liked me,—he offered me escort and passage as far as +<span class="tei-pb" id="page256">[pg 256]</span> +<a name="Pg256" id="Pg256" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Troy or Albany. I accepted his proposal, and you +know the rest."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">When I told Fausta my story, she declared I made +it up as I went along. When she believed it,—as +she does believe it now,—she agreed with me in declaring +that it was not fit that two people thus joined +should ever be parted. Nor have we been, ever!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">She made a hurried visit at Mrs. Mason's. She prepared +there for her wedding. On the 1st of November +we went into that same church which was our first +home in New York; and that dear old raven-man +made us</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p">ONE!</p> +</div> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page257">[pg 257]</span> +<a name="Pg257" id="Pg257" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_16" id="toc_16"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">THE SKELETON IN THE CLOSET.</h1> + +<p class="tei tei-p">BY J. THOMAS DARKAGH (LATE C.C.S.).</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[This paper was first published in the "Galaxy," in 1866.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I see that an old chum of mine is publishing bits of +confidential Confederate History in Harper's Magazine. +It would seem to be time, then, for the pivots +to be disclosed on which some of the wheelwork of +the last six years has been moving. The science of +history, as I understand it, depends on the timely disclosure +of such pivots, which are apt to be kept out +of view while things are moving.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was in the Civil Service at Richmond. Why I +was there, or what I did, is nobody's affair. And I +do not in this paper propose to tell how it happened +that I was in New York in October, 1864, on confidential +business. Enough that I was there, and that +it was honest business. That business done, as far as +it could be with the resources intrusted to me, I prepared +to return home. And thereby hangs this tale, +and, as it proved, the fate of the Confederacy.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">For, of course, I wanted to take presents home to +my family. Very little question was there what these +presents should be,—for I had no boys nor brothers. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page258">[pg 258]</span> +<a name="Pg258" id="Pg258" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +The women of the Confederacy had one want, which +overtopped all others. They could make coffee out +of beans; pins they had from Columbus; straw hats +they braided quite well with their own fair hands; +snuff we could get better than you could in "the old +concern." But we had no hoop-skirts,—skeletons, +we used to call them. No ingenuity had made them. +No bounties had forced them. The Bat, the Greyhound, +the Deer, the Flora, the J.C. Cobb, the Varuna, +and the Fore-and-Aft all took in cargoes of them +for us in England. But the Bat and the Deer and the +Flora were seized by the blockaders, the J.C. Cobb +sunk at sea, the Fore-and-Aft and the Greyhound +were set fire to by their own crews, and the Varuna +(our Varuna) was never heard of. Then the State +of Arkansas offered sixteen townships of swamp land +to the first manufacturer who would exhibit five gross +of a home-manufactured article. But no one ever +competed. The first attempts, indeed, were put to an +end, when Schofield crossed the Blue Lick, and destroyed +the dams on Yellow Branch. The consequence +was, that people's crinoline collapsed faster +than the Confederacy did, of which that brute of a +Grierson said there was never anything of it but the +outside.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Of course, then, I put in the bottom of my new +large trunk in New York, not a "duplex elliptic," +for none were then made, but a "Belmonte," of +thirty springs, for my wife. I bought, for her more +<span class="tei-pb" id="page259">[pg 259]</span> +<a name="Pg259" id="Pg259" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +common wear, a good "Belle-Fontaine." For Sarah +and Susy each, I got two "Dumb-Belles." For Aunt +Eunice and Aunt Clara, maiden sisters of my wife, +who lived with us after Winchester fell the fourth +time, I got the "Scotch Harebell," two of each. For +my own mother I got one "Belle of the Prairies" and +one "Invisible Combination Gossamer." I did not +forget good old Mamma Chloe and Mamma Jane. +For them I got substantial cages, without names. +With these, tied in the shapes of figure eights in the +bottom of my trunk, as I said, I put in an assorted +cargo of dry-goods above, and, favored by a pass, and +Major Mulford's courtesy on the flag-of-truce boat, I +arrived safely at Richmond before the autumn closed.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was received at home with rapture. But when, +the next morning, I opened my stores, this became +rapture doubly enraptured. Words cannot tell the +silent delight with which old and young, black and +white, surveyed these fairy-like structures, yet unbroken +and unmended.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Perennial summer reigned that autumn day in that +reunited family. It reigned the next day, and the +next. It would have reigned till now if the Belmontes +and the other things would last as long as the +advertisements declare; and, what is more, the Confederacy +would have reigned till now, President Davis +and General Lee! but for that great misery, which all +families understand, which culminated in our great +misfortune. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page260">[pg 260]</span> +<a name="Pg260" id="Pg260" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I was up in the cedar closet one day, looking for an +old parade cap of mine, which I thought, though it +was my third best, might look better than my second +best, which I had worn ever since my best was lost at +the Seven Pines. I say I was standing on the lower +shelf of the cedar closet, when, as I stepped along in +the darkness, my right foot caught in a bit of wire, +my left did not give way in time, and I fell, with a +small wooden hat-box in my hand, full on the floor. +The corner of the hat-box struck me just below the +second frontal sinus, and I fainted away.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">When I came to myself I was in the blue chamber; +I had vinegar on a brown paper on my forehead; the +room was dark, and I found mother sitting by me, +glad enough indeed to hear my voice, and to know +that I knew her. It was some time before I fully understood +what had happened. Then she brought me +a cup of tea, and I, quite refreshed, said I must go to +the office.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Office, my child!" said she. "Your leg is broken +above the ankle; you will not move these six +weeks. Where do you suppose you are?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Till then I had no notion that it was five minutes +since I went into the closet. When she told me the +time, five in the afternoon, I groaned in the lowest +depths. For, in my breast pocket in that innocent +coat, which I could now see lying on the window-seat, +were the duplicate despatches to Mr. Mason, for which, +late the night before, I had got the Secretary's signature. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page261">[pg 261]</span> +<a name="Pg261" id="Pg261" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +They were to go at ten that morning to Wilmington, +by the Navy Department's special messenger. +I had taken them to insure care and certainty. I had +worked on them till midnight, and they had not been +signed till near one o'clock. Heavens and earth, and +here it was five o'clock! The man must be half-way +to Wilmington by this time. I sent the doctor for +Lafarge, my clerk. Lafarge did his prettiest in rushing +to the telegraph. But no! A freshet on the +Chowan River, or a raid by Foster, or something, or +nothing, had smashed the telegraph wire for that night. +And before that despatch ever reached Wilmington the +navy agent was in the offing in the Sea Maid.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"But perhaps the duplicate got through?" No, +breathless reader, the duplicate did not get through. +The duplicate was taken by Faucon, in the Ino. I +saw it last week in Dr. Lieber's hands, in Washington. +Well, all I know is, that if the duplicate had got +through, the Confederate government would have +had in March a chance at eighty-three thousand two +hundred and eleven muskets, which, as it was, never left +Belgium. So much for my treading into that blessed +piece of wire on the shelf of the cedar closet, up stairs.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"What was the bit of wire?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, it was not telegraph wire. If it had been, it +would have broken when it was not wanted to. +Don't you know what it was? Go up in your own +cedar closet, and step about in the dark, and see what +brings up round your ankles. Julia, poor child, cried +<span class="tei-pb" id="page262">[pg 262]</span> +<a name="Pg262" id="Pg262" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +her eyes out about it. When I got well enough to sit +up, and as soon as I could talk and plan with her, she +brought down seven of these old things, antiquated +Belmontes and Simplex Elliptics, and horrors without +a name, and she made a pile of them in the bedroom, +and asked me in the most penitent way what she +should do with them.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You can't burn them" said she; "fire won't +touch them. If you bury them in the garden, they +come up at the second raking. If you give them to +the servants, they say, 'Thank-e, missus,' and throw +them in the back passage. If you give them to the poor, +they throw them into the street in front, and do not say, +'Thank-e,' Sarah sent seventeen over to the sword +factory, and the foreman swore at the boy, and told +him he would flog him within an inch of his life if he +brought any more of his sauce there; and so—and +so," sobbed the poor child, "I just rolled up these +wretched things, and laid them in the cedar closet, +hoping, you know, that some day the government +would want something, and would advertise for them. +You know what a good thing; I made out of the bottle +corks."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">In fact, she had sold our bottle corks for four thousand +two hundred and sixteen dollars of the first issue. +We afterward bought two umbrellas and a corkscrew +with the money.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, I did not scold Julia. It was certainly no +fault of hers that I was walking on the lower shelf of +<span class="tei-pb" id="page263">[pg 263]</span> +<a name="Pg263" id="Pg263" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +her cedar closet. I told her to make a parcel of the +things, and the first time we went to drive I hove the +whole shapeless heap into the river, without saying +mass for them.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But let no man think, or no woman, that this was +the end of troubles. As I look back on that winter, +and on the spring of 1865 (I do not mean the steel +spring), it seems to me only the beginning. I got out +on crutches at last; I had the office transferred to +my house, so that Lafarge and Hepburn could work +there nights, and communicate with me when I could +not go out; but mornings I hobbled up to the Department, +and sat with the Chief, and took his orders. +Ah me! shall I soon forget that damp winter morning, +when we all had such hope at the office. One or +two of the army fellows looked in at the window as +they ran by, and we knew that they felt well; and +though I would not ask Old Wick, as we had nick-named +the Chief, what was in the wind, I knew the +time had come, and that the lion meant to break the +net this time. I made an excuse to go home earlier +than usual; rode down to the house in the Major's +ambulance, I remember; and hopped in, to surprise +Julia with the good news, only to find that the whole +house was in that quiet uproar which shows that something +bad has happened of a sudden.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"What is it, Chloe?" said I, as the old wench +rushed by me with a bucket of water.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Poor Mr. George, I 'fraid he's dead, sah!" +<span class="tei-pb" id="page264">[pg 264]</span> +<a name="Pg264" id="Pg264" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And there he really was,—dear handsome, bright +George Schaff,—the delight of all the nicest girls of +Richmond; he lay there on Aunt Eunice's bed on the +ground floor, where they had brought him in. He +was not dead,—and he did not die. He is making +cotton in Texas now. But he looked mighty near it +then. "The deep cut in his head" was the worst I +then had ever seen, and the blow confused everything. +When McGregor got round, he said it was not hopeless; +but we were all turned out of the room, and +with one thing and another he got the boy out of the +swoon, and somehow it proved his head was not broken.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">No, but poor George swears to this day it were better +it had been, if it could only have been broken the +right way and on the right field. For that evening +we heard that everything had gone wrong in the surprise. +There we had been waiting for one of those +early fogs, and at last the fog had come. And Jubal +Early had, that morning, pushed out every man he +had, that could stand; and they lay hid for three mortal +hours, within I don't know how near the picket +line at Fort Powhatan, only waiting for the shot which +John Streight's party were to fire at Wilson's Wharf, as +soon as somebody on our left centre advanced in force +on the enemy's line above Turkey Island stretching +across to Nansemond. I am not in the War Department, +and I forget whether he was to advance <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">en barbette</span> +or by <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">échelon</span> of infantry. But he was to advance +somehow, and he knew how; and when he advanced, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page265">[pg 265]</span> +<a name="Pg265" id="Pg265" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +you see, that other man lower down was to rush in, +and as soon as Early heard him he was to surprise +Powhatan, you see; and then, if you have understood +me, Grant and Butler and the whole rig of them +would have been cut off from their supplies, would +have had to fight a battle for which they were not prepared, +with their right made into a new left, and their +old left unexpectedly advanced at an oblique angle +from their centre, and would not that have been the +end of them?</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Well, that never happened. And the reason it +never happened was, that poor George Schaff, with +the last fatal order for this man whose name I forget +(the same who was afterward killed the day before +High Bridge), undertook to save time by cutting +across behind my house, from Franklin to Green Streets. +You know how much time he saved,—they waited all +day for that order. George told me afterwards that +the last thing he remembered was kissing his hand to +Julia, who sat at her bedroom window. He said he +thought she might be the last woman he ever saw this +side of heaven. Just after that, it must have been,—his +horse—that white Messenger colt old Williams bred—went +over like a log, and poor George was pitched +fifteen feet head-foremost against a stake there was in +that lot. Julia saw the whole. She rushed out with +all the women, and had just brought him in when I +got home. And that was the reason that the great +promised combination of December, 1864, never came +off at all. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page266">[pg 266]</span> +<a name="Pg266" id="Pg266" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I walked out in the lot, after McGregor turned me +out of the chamber, to see what they had done with +the horse. There he lay, as dead as old Messenger +himself. His neck was broken. And do you think, I +looked to see what had tripped him. I supposed it +was one of the boys' bandy holes. It was no such +thing. The poor wretch had tangled his hind legs in +one of those infernal hoop-wires that Chloe had thrown +out in the piece when I gave her her new ones. +Though I did not know it then, those fatal scraps of +rusty steel had broken the neck that day of Robert +Lee's army.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That time I made a row about it. I felt too badly +to go into a passion. But before the women went to +bed,—they were all in the sitting-room together,—I +talked to them like a father. I did not swear. I had +got over that for a while, in that six weeks on my back. +But I did say the old wires were infernal things, and +that the house and premises must be made rid of them. +The aunts laughed,—though I was so serious,—and +tipped a wink to the girls. The girls wanted to laugh, +but were afraid to. And then it came out that the +aunts had sold their old hoops, tied as tight as they +could tie them, in a great mass of rags. They had +made a fortune by the sale,—I am sorry to say it +was in other rags, but the rags they got were new instead +of old,—it was a real Aladdin bargain. The +new rags had blue backs, and were numbered, some +as high as fifty dollars. The rag-man had been in a +<span class="tei-pb" id="page267">[pg 267]</span> +<a name="Pg267" id="Pg267" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +hurry, and had not known what made the things so +heavy. I frowned at the swindle, but they said all +was fair with a pedler,—and I own I was glad the +things were well out of Richmond. But when I +said I thought it was a mean trick, Lizzie and Sarah +looked demure, and asked what in the world I would +have them do with the old things. Did I expect them +to walk down to the bridge themselves with great parcels +to throw into the river, as I had done by Julia's? +Of course it ended, as such things always do, by my +taking the work on my own shoulders. I told them +to tie up all they had in as small a parcel as they could, +and bring them to me.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Accordingly, the next day, I found a handsome +brown paper parcel, not so very large, considering, +and strangely square, considering, which the minxes +had put together and left on my office table. They +had a great frolic over it. They had not spared red +tape nor red wax. Very official it looked, indeed, +and on the left-hand corner, in Sarah's boldest and +most contorted hand, was written, "Secret service." +We had a great laugh over their success. And, indeed, +I should have taken it with me the next time I +went down to the Tredegar, but that I happened to +dine one evening with young Norton of our gallant +little navy, and a very curious thing he told us.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">We were talking about the disappointment of the +combined land attack. I did not tell what upset poor +Schaff's horse; indeed, I do not think those navy men +<span class="tei-pb" id="page268">[pg 268]</span> +<a name="Pg268" id="Pg268" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +knew the details of the disappointment. O'Brien had +told me, in confidence, what I have written down probably +for the first time now. But we were speaking, in +a general way, of the disappointment. Norton finished +his cigar rather thoughtfully, and then said: "Well, +fellows, it is not worth while to put in the newspapers, +but what do you suppose upset our grand naval attack, +the day the Yankee gunboats skittled down the river +so handsomely?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Why," said Allen, who is Norton's best-beloved +friend, "they say that you ran away from them as fast +as they did from you."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Do they?" said Norton, grimly. "If you say +that, I'll break your head for you. Seriously, men," +continued he, "that was a most extraordinary thing. +You know I was on the ram. But why she stopped +when she stopped I knew as little as this wineglass +does; and Callender himself knew no more than I. +We had not been hit. We were all right as a trivet for +all we knew, when, skree! she began blowing off steam, +and we stopped dead, and began to drift down under +those batteries. Callender had to telegraph to the little +Mosquito, or whatever Walter called his boat, and the +spunky little thing ran down and got us out of the +scrape. Walter did it right well; if he had had a +monitor under him he could not have done better. +Of course we all rushed to the engine-room. What +in thunder were they at there? All they knew was +they could get no water into her boiler. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page269">[pg 269]</span> +<a name="Pg269" id="Pg269" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Now, fellows, this is the end of the story. As +soon as the boilers cooled off they worked all right on +those supply pumps. May I be hanged if they had +not sucked in, somehow, a long string of yarn, and +cloth, and, if you will believe me, a wire of some +woman's crinoline. And that French folly of a sham +Empress cut short that day the victory of the Confederate +navy, and old Davis himself can't tell when we +shall have such a chance again!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Some of the men thought Norton lied. But I +never was with him when he did not tell the truth. I +did not mention, however, what I had thrown into the +water the last time I had gone over to Manchester. +And I changed my mind about Sarah's "secret-service" +parcel. It remained on my table.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That was the last dinner our old club had at the +Spotswood, I believe. The spring came on, and the +plot thickened. We did our work in the office as +well as we could; I can speak for mine, and if other +people—but no matter for that! The 3d of April +came, and the fire, and the right wing of Grant's +army. I remember I was glad then that I had moved +the office down to the house, for we were out of the +way there. Everybody had run away from the Department; +and so, when the powers that be took possession, +my little sub-bureau was unmolested for some +days. I improved those days as well as I could,—burning +carefully what was to be burned, and hiding +carefully what was to be hidden. One thing that +<span class="tei-pb" id="page270">[pg 270]</span> +<a name="Pg270" id="Pg270" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +happened then belongs to this story. As I was at +work on the private bureau,—it was really a bureau, +as it happened, one I had made Aunt Eunice give up +when I broke my leg,—I came, to my horror, on a +neat parcel of coast-survey maps of Georgia, Alabama, +and Florida. They were not the same Maury stole +when he left the National Observatory, but they were +like them. Now I was perfectly sure that on that fatal +Sunday of the flight I had sent Lafarge for these, +that the President might use them, if necessary, in his +escape. When I found them, I hopped out and called +for Julia, and asked her if she did not remember his +coming for them. "Certainly," she said, "it was the +first I knew of the danger. Lafarge came, asked for +the key of the office, told me all was up, walked in, +and in a moment was gone."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And here, on the file of April 3d, was Lafarge's +line to me:—</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I got the secret-service parcel myself, and have +put it in the President's own hands. I marked it, +'Gulf coast,' as you bade me."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">What could Lafarge have given to the President? +Not the soundings of Hatteras Bar. Not the working-drawings +of the first monitor. I had all these under +my hand. Could it be,—"Julia, what did we do with +that stuff of Sarah's that she marked <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">secret service?</span>"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As I live, we had sent the girls' old hoops to the +President in his flight.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And when the next day we read how he used them, +<span class="tei-pb" id="page271">[pg 271]</span> +<a name="Pg271" id="Pg271" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +and how Pritchard arrested him, we thought if he +had only had the right parcel he would have found +the way to Florida.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That is really the end of this memoir. But I should +not have written it, but for something that happened +just now on the piazza. You must know, some of +us wrecks are up here at the Berkeley baths. My uncle +has a place near here. Here came to-day John Sisson, +whom I have not seen since Memminger ran and +took the clerks with him. Here we had before, both +the Richards brothers, the great paper men, you +know, who started the Edgerly Works in Prince +George's County, just after the war began. After +dinner, Sisson and they met on the piazza. Queerly +enough, they had never seen each other before, though +they had used reams of Richards's paper in correspondence +with each other, and the treasury had used +tons of it in the printing of bonds and bank-bills. Of +course we all fell to talking of old times,—old they +seem now, though it is not a year ago. "Richards," +said Sisson at last, "what became of that last order of +ours for water-lined, pure linen government-callendered +paper of <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">sureté?</span> We never got it, and I never +knew why."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Did you think Kilpatrick got it?" said Richards, +rather gruffly.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"None of your chaff, Richards. Just tell where +the paper went, for in the loss of that lot of paper, as +it proved, the bottom dropped out of the Treasury +<span class="tei-pb" id="page272">[pg 272]</span> +<a name="Pg272" id="Pg272" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +tub. On that paper was to have been printed our +new issue of ten per cent, convertible, you know, and +secured on that up-country cotton, which Kirby Smith +had above the Big Raft. I had the printers ready for +near a month waiting for that paper. The plates +were really very handsome. I'll show you a proof +when we go up stairs. Wholly new they were, made +by some Frenchmen we got, who had worked for the +Bank of France. I was so anxious to have the thing +well done, that I waited three weeks for that paper, +and, by Jove, I waited just too long. We never got +one of the bonds off, and that was why we had no +money in March."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Richards threw his cigar away. I will not say he +swore between his teeth, but he twirled his chair +round, brought it down on all fours, both his elbows +on his knees and his chin in both hands.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Mr. Sisson," said he, "if the Confederacy had +lived, I would have died before I ever told what became +of that order of yours. But now I have no +secrets, I believe, and I care for nothing. I do not +know now how it happened. We knew it was an +extra nice job. And we had it on an elegant little +new French Fourdrinier, which cost us more than we +shall ever pay. The pretty thing ran like oil the day +before. That day, I thought all the devils were in it. +The more power we put on the more the rollers +screamed; and the less we put on, the more sulkily +the jade stopped. I tried it myself every way; back +current; I tried; forward current; high feed; low +<span class="tei-pb" id="page273">[pg 273]</span> +<a name="Pg273" id="Pg273" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +freed, I tried it on old stock, I tried it on new; and, +Mr. Sisson, I would have made better paper in a coffee-mill! +We drained off every drop of water. We +washed the tubs free from size. Then my brother, +there, worked all night with the machinists, taking +down the frame and the rollers. You would not believe +it, sir, but that little bit of wire,"—and he took +out of his pocket a piece of this hateful steel, which +poor I knew so well by this time,—"that little bit of +wire had passed in from some hoop-skirt, passed the +pickers, passed the screens, through all the troughs, +up and down through what we call the lacerators, +and had got itself wrought in, where, if you know a +Fourdrinier machine, you may have noticed a brass +ring riveted to the cross-bar, and there this cursed little +knife—for you see it was a knife, by that time—had +been cutting to pieces the endless wire web every +time the machine was started. You lost your bonds, +Mr. Sisson, because some Yankee woman cheated one +of my rag-men."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">On that story I came up stairs. Poor Aunt Eunice! +She was the reason I got no salary on the 1st of April. +I thought I would warn other women by writing down +the story.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">That fatal present of mine, in those harmless hour-glass +parcels, was the ruin of the Confederate navy, +army, ordnance, and treasury; and it led to the capture +of the poor President too.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But, Heaven be praised, no one shall say that my +office did not do its duty!</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page274">[pg 274]</span> +<a name="Pg274" id="Pg274" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="page" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<a name="toc_17" id="toc_17"></a> +<h1 class="tei tei-head">CHRISTMAS WAITS IN BOSTON.</h1> +<h1 style="font-size: 85%" class="tei tei-head">FROM THE INGHAM PAPERS.</h1> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">[When my friends of the Boston Daily Advertiser asked me +last year to contribute to their Christmas number, I was very +glad to recall this scrap of Mr. Ingham's memoirs.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">For in most modern Christmas stories I have observed that the +rich wake up of a sudden to befriend the poor, and that the +moral is educed from such compassion. The incidents in this +story show, what all life shows, that the poor befriend the rich +as truly as the rich the poor: that, in the Christian life, each +needs all.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I have been asked a dozen times how far the story is true. +Of course no such series of incidents has ever taken place in this +order in four or five hours. But there is nothing told here which +has not parallels perfectly fair in my experience or in that of any +working minister.]</p> +</blockquote> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I always give myself a Christmas present.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And on this particular year the present was a carol +party, which is about as good fun, all things consenting +kindly, as a man can have.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Many things must consent, as will appear. First of +all, there must be good sleighing; and second, a fine +night for Christmas eve. Ours are not the carollings +<span class="tei-pb" id="page275">[pg 275]</span> +<a name="Pg275" id="Pg275" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +of your poor shivering little East Angles or South Mercians, +where they have to plod round afoot in countries +which do not know what a sleigh-ride is.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I had asked Harry to have sixteen of the best voices +in the chapel school to be trained to five or six good +carols, without knowing why. We did not care to +disappoint them if a February thaw setting in on the +24th of December should break up the spree before it +began. Then I had told Howland that he must reserve +for me a span of good horses, and a sleigh that I +could pack sixteen small children into, tight-stowed. +Howland is always good about such things, knew what +the sleigh was for, having done the same in other +years, and made the span four horses of his own accord, +because the children would like it better, and +"it would be no difference to him." Sunday night, +as the weather nymphs ordered, the wind hauled +round to the northwest and everything froze hard. +Monday night, things moderated and the snow began +to fall steadily,—so steadily; and so Tuesday night +the Metropolitan people gave up their unequal contest, +all good men and angels rejoicing at their discomfiture, +and only a few of the people in the very +lowest <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Bolgie</span> being ill-natured enough to grieve. +And thus it was, that by Thursday evening was one hard +compact roadway from Copp's Hill to the Bone-burner's +Gehenna, fit for good men and angels to ride over, +without jar, without noise, and without fatigue to horse +or man. So it was that when I came down with Lycidas +<span class="tei-pb" id="page276">[pg 276]</span> +<a name="Pg276" id="Pg276" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +to the chapel at seven o'clock, I found Harry +had gathered there his eight pretty girls and his eight +jolly boys, and had them practising for the last time,</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Carol, carol, Christians,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Carol joyfully;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Carol for the coming</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Of Christ's nativity."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I think the children had got inkling of what was +coming, or perhaps Harry had hinted it to their mothers. +Certainly they were warmly dressed, and when, +fifteen minutes afterwards, Howland came round himself +with the sleigh, he had put in as many rugs and +bear-skins as if he thought the children were to be +taken new-born from their respective cradles. Great +was the rejoicing as the bells of the horses rang beneath +the chapel windows, and Harry did not get his +last <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">da capo</span> for his last carol. Not much matter indeed, +for they were perfect enough in it before midnight.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Lycidas and I tumbled in on the back seat, each +with a child in his lap to keep us warm; I flanked +by Sam Perry, and he by John Rich, both of the +mercurial age, and therefore good to do errands. +Harry was in front somewhere flanked in like wise, +and the other children lay in miscellaneously between, +like sardines when you have first opened the box +I had invited Lycidas, because, besides being my best +friend, he is the best fellow in the world, and so deserves +the best Christmas eve can give him. Under +<span class="tei-pb" id="page277">[pg 277]</span> +<a name="Pg277" id="Pg277" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +the full moon, on the still white snow, with sixteen children +at the happiest, and with the blessed memories of +the best the world has ever had, there can be nothing +better than two or three such hours.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"First, driver, out on Commonwealth Avenue. +That will tone down the horses. Stop on the left after +you have passed Fairfield Street." So we dashed +up to the front of Haliburton's palace, where he was +keeping his first Christmas tide. And the children, +whom Harry had hushed down for a square or two, +broke forth with good full voice under his strong lead +in</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Shepherd of tender sheep,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">singing with all that unconscious pathos with which +children do sing, and starting the tears in your eyes in +the midst of your gladness. The instant the horses' +bells stopped their voices began. In an instant more +we saw Haliburton and Anna run to the window and +pull up the shades, and in a minute more faces at all +the windows. And so the children sung through +Clement's old hymn. Little did Clement think of bells +and snow, as he taught it in his Sunday school there +in Alexandria. But perhaps to-day, as they pin up the +laurels and the palm in the chapel at Alexandria, they +are humming the words, not thinking of Clement +more than he thought of us. As the children closed +with</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Swell the triumphant song</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">To Christ, our King."</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page278">[pg 278]</span> +<a name="Pg278" id="Pg278" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Haliburton came running out, and begged me to bring +them in. But I told him, "No," as soon as I could +hush their shouts of "Merry Christmas"; that we +had a long journey before us, and must not alight by +the way. And the children broke out with</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Hail to the night,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Hail to the day,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">rather a favorite,—quicker and more to the childish +taste perhaps than the other,—and with another +"Merry Christmas" we were off again.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Off, the length of Commonwealth Avenue, to where +it crosses the Brookline branch of the Mill-Dam, +dashing along with the gayest of the sleighing-parties +as we came back into town, up Chestnut Street, +through Louisburg Square; ran the sleigh into a +bank on the slope of Pinckney Street in front of Walter's +house; and, before they suspected there that +any one had come, the children were singing</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Carol, carol, Christians,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Carol joyfully."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Kisses flung from the window; kisses flung back +from the street. "Merry Christmas" again with a +good-will, and then one of the girls began,</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"When Anna took the baby,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">And pressed his lips to hers,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">and all of them fell in so cheerily. O dear me! it is a +scrap of old Ephrem the Syrian, if they did but know +it! And when, after this, Harry would fain have driven +<span class="tei-pb" id="page279">[pg 279]</span> +<a name="Pg279" id="Pg279" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +on, because two carols at one house was the rule, how +the little witches begged that they might sing just one +song more there, because Mrs. Alexander had been so +kind to them, when she showed them about the German +stitches. And then up the hill and over to the +North End, and as far as we could get the horses up +into Moon Court, that they might sing to the Italian +image-man who gave Lucy the boy and dog in plaster, +when she was sick in the spring. For the children +had, you know, the choice of where they would go, and +they select their best friends, and will be more apt to +remember the Italian image-man than Chrysostom +himself, though Chrysostom should have "made a few +remarks" to them seventeen times in the chapel. +Then the Italian image-man heard for the first time in +his life</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Now is the time of Christmas come,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">and</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Jesus in his babes abiding."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And then we came up Hanover Street and stopped +under Mr. Gerry's chapel, where they were dressing +the walls with their evergreens, and gave them</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Hail to the night,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Hail to the day,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">and so down State Street and stopped at the Advertiser +office, because, when the boys gave their "Literary +Entertainment," Mr. Hale put in their advertisement +for nothing, and up in the old attic there the +compositors were relieved to hear +<span class="tei-pb" id="page280">[pg 280]</span> +<a name="Pg280" id="Pg280" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Nor war nor battle sound,"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">and</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"The waiting world was still;"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">so that even the leading editor relaxed from his gravity, +and the "In-General" man from his more serious +views, and the Daily the next morning wished everybody +a merry Christmas with even more unction, and +resolved that in coming years it would have a supplement, +large enough to contain all the good wishes. +So away again to the houses of confectioners who had +given the children candy,—to Miss Simonds's house, +because she had been so good to them in school,—to +the palaces of millionnaires who had prayed for these +children with tears if the children only knew it,—to +Dr. Frothingham's in Summer Street, I remember, +where we stopped because the Boston Association of +Ministers met here,—and out on Dover Street Bridge, +that the poor chair-mender might hear our carols sung +once more before he heard them better sung in an +other world where nothing needs mending.</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"King of glory, king of peace!"</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Hear the song, and see the Star!"</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Welcome be thou, heavenly King!"</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Was not Christ our Saviour?"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">and all the others, rung out with order or without +order, breaking the hush directly as the horses' bells +were stilled, thrown into the air with all the gladness +of childhood, selected sometimes as Harry +happened to think best for the hearers, but more +<span class="tei-pb" id="page281">[pg 281]</span> +<a name="Pg281" id="Pg281" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +often as the jubilant and uncontrolled enthusiasm of +the children bade them break out in the most joyous, +least studied, and purely lyrical of all. O, we went to +twenty places that night, I suppose! We went to the +grandest places in Boston, and we went to the meanest. +Everywhere they wished us a merry Christmas, +and we them. Everywhere a little crowd gathered +round us, and then we dashed away far enough to +gather quite another crowd; and then back, perhaps, +not sorry to double on our steps if need were, and +leaving every crowd with a happy thought of</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"The star, the manger, and the Child!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">At nine we brought up at my house, D Street, three +doors from the corner, and the children picked their +very best for Polly and my six little girls to hear, and +then for the first time we let them jump out and run +in. Polly had some hot oysters for them, so that the +frolic was crowned with a treat. There was a Christmas +cake cut into sixteen pieces, which they took home +to dream upon; and then hoods and muffs on again, +and by ten o'clock, or a little after, we had all the girls +and all the little ones at their homes. Four of the big +boys, our two flankers and Harry's right and left +hand men, begged that they might stay till the last +moment. They could walk back from the stable, and +"rather walk than not, indeed." To which we assented, +having gained parental permission, as we left +younger sisters in their respective homes. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page282">[pg 282]</span> +<a name="Pg282" id="Pg282" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">II.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Lycidas and I both thought, as we went into +these modest houses, to leave the children, to say +they had been good and to wish a "Merry Christmas" +ourselves to fathers, mothers, and to guardian aunts, +that the welcome of those homes was perhaps the +best part of it all. Here was the great stout sailor-boy +whom we had not seen since he came back from +sea. He was a mere child when he left our school +years on years ago, for the East, on board Perry's +vessel, and had been round the world. Here was +brave Mrs. Masury. I had not seen her since her +mother died. "Indeed, Mr. Ingham, I got so used to +watching then, that I cannot sleep well yet o' nights; +I wish you knew some poor creature that wanted me +to-night, if it were only in memory of Bethlehem." +"You take a deal of trouble for the children," said +Campbell, as he crushed my hand in his; "but you +know they love you, and you know I would do as +much for you and yours,"—which I knew was true. +"What can I send to your children?" said Dalton, +who was finishing sword-blades. (Ill wind was Fort +Sumter, but it blew good to poor Dalton, whom it set +up in the world with his sword-factory.) "Here's an +old-fashioned tape-measure for the girl, and a Sheffield +wimble for the boy. What, there is no boy? Let +one of the girls have it then; it will count one more +present for her." And so he pressed his brown-paper +<span class="tei-pb" id="page283">[pg 283]</span> +<a name="Pg283" id="Pg283" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +parcel into my hand. From every house, +though it were the humblest, a word of love, as sweet, +in truth, as if we could have heard the voice of angels +singing in the sky.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I bade Harry good night; took Lycidas to his +lodgings, and gave his wife my Christmas wishes and +good night; and, coming down to the sleigh again, gave +way to the feeling which I think you will all understand, +that this was not the time to stop, but just the +time to begin. For the streets were stiller now, and +the moon brighter than ever, if possible, and the blessings +of these simple people and of the grand people, +and of the very angels in heaven, who are not bound +to the misery of using words when they have anything +worth saying,—all these wishes and blessings were +round me, all the purity of the still winter night, +and I didn't want to lose it all by going to bed to +sleep. So I put the boys all together, where they +could chatter, took one more brisk turn on the two +avenues, and then, passing through Charles Street, I +believe I was even thinking of Cambridge, I noticed +the lights in Woodhull's house, and, seeing they were +up, thought I would make Fanny a midnight call. +She came to the door herself. I asked if she were +waiting for Santa Claus, but saw in a moment that I +must not joke with her. She said she had hoped I +was her husband. In a minute was one of those contrasts +which make life, life. God puts us into the +world that we may try them and be tried by them. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page284">[pg 284]</span> +<a name="Pg284" id="Pg284" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Poor Fanny's mother had been blocked up on the +Springfield train as she was coming on to Christmas. +The old lady had been chilled through, and was here +in bed now with pneumonia. Both Fanny's children +had been ailing when she came, and this morning the +doctor had pronounced it scarlet fever. Fanny had +not undressed herself since Monday, nor slept, I +thought, in the same time. So while we had been +singing carols and wishing merry Christmas, the poor +child had been waiting, and hoping that her husband +or Edward, both of whom were on the tramp, would +find for her and bring to her the model nurse, who +had not yet appeared. But at midnight this unknown +sister had not arrived, nor had either of the men +returned. When I rang, Fanny had hoped I was one +of them. Professional paragons, dear reader, are shy +of scarlet fever. I told the poor child that it was +better as it was. I wrote a line for Sam Perry to take +to his aunt, Mrs. Masury, in which I simply said: +"Dear mamma, I have found the poor creature who +wants you to-night. Come back in this carriage." I +bade him take a hack at Gates's, where they were all +up waiting for the assembly to be done at Papanti's. +I sent him over to Albany Street; and really as I sat +there trying to soothe Fanny, it seemed to me less +time than it has taken to dictate this little story about +her, before Mrs. Masury rang gently, and I left them, +having made Fanny promise that she would consecrate +the day, which at that moment was born, by trusting +<span class="tei-pb" id="page285">[pg 285]</span> +<a name="Pg285" id="Pg285" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +God, by going to bed and going to sleep, knowing +that her children were in much better hands than +hers. As I passed out of the hall, the gas-light fell +on a print of Correggio's Adoration, where Woodhull +had himself written years before,</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Ut appareat iis qui in tenebris et umbra mortis positi sunt."</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Darkness and the shadow of death" indeed, and +what light like the light and comfort such a woman as +my Mary Masury brings!</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And so, but for one of the accidents, as we call +them, I should have dropped the boys at the corner +of Dover Street, and gone home with my Christmas +lesson.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But it happened, as we irreverently say,—it happened +as we crossed Park Square, so called from +its being an irregular pentagon of which one of the +sides has been taken away, that I recognized a tall +man, plodding across in the snow, head down, round-shouldered, +stooping forward in walking, with his +right shoulder higher than his left; and by these tokens +I knew Tom Coram, prince among Boston princes. +Not Thomas Coram that built the Foundling Hospital, +though he was of Boston too; but he was longer +ago. You must look for him in Addison's contribution +to a supplement to the Spectator,—the old Spectator, +I mean, not the Thursday Spectator, which is +more recent. Not Thomas Coram, I say, but Tom +Coram, who would build a hospital to-morrow, if you +<span class="tei-pb" id="page286">[pg 286]</span> +<a name="Pg286" id="Pg286" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +showed him the need, without waiting to die first, and +always helps forward, as a prince should, whatever is +princely, be it a statue at home, a school in Richmond, +a newspaper in Florida, a church in Exeter, a +steam-line to Liverpool, or a widow who wants a hundred +dollars. I wished him a merry Christmas, and +Mr. Howland, by a fine instinct, drew up the horses +as I spoke. Coram shook hands; and, as it seldom +happens that I have an empty carriage while he is on +foot, I asked him if I might not see him home. He +was glad to get in. We wrapped him up with spoils +of the bear, the fox, and the bison, turned the horses' +heads again,—five hours now since they started on +this entangled errand of theirs,—and gave him his +ride. "I was thinking of you at the moment," said +Coram,—"thinking of old college times, of the mystery +of language as unfolded by the Abbé Faria to +Edmond Dantes in the depths of the Chateau d'If. +I was wondering if you could teach me Japanese, if I +asked you to a Christmas dinner." I laughed. Japan +was really a novelty then, and I asked him since when +he had been in correspondence with the sealed country. +It seemed that their house at Shanghae had just sent +across there their agents for establishing the first house +in Edomo, in Japan, under the new treaty. Everything +looked promising, and the beginnings were made for +the branch which has since become Dot and Trevilyan +there. Of this he had the first tidings in his letters +by the mail of that afternoon. John Coram, his +<span class="tei-pb" id="page287">[pg 287]</span> +<a name="Pg287" id="Pg287" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +brother, had written to him, and had said that he +enclosed for his amusement the Japanese bill of particulars, +as it had been drawn out, on which they had +founded their orders for the first assorted cargo ever +to be sent from America to Edomo. Bill of particulars +there was, stretching down the long tissue-paper in +exquisite chirography. But by some freak of the "total +depravity of things," the translated order for the assorted +cargo was not there. John Coram, in his care +to fold up the Japanese writing nicely, had left on his +own desk at Shanghae the more intelligible English. +"And so I must wait," said Tom philosophically, "till +the next East India mail for my orders, certain that +seven English houses have had less enthusiastic and +philological correspondents than my brother."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I said I did not see that. That I could not teach +him to speak the Taghalian dialects so well, that he +could read them with facility before Saturday. But I +could do a good deal better. Did he remember writing +a note to old Jack Percival for me five years ago? +No, he remembered no such thing; he knew Jack +Percival, but never wrote a note to him in his life. +Did he remember giving me fifty dollars, because I +had taken a delicate boy, whom I was going to send +to sea, and I was not quite satisfied with the government +outfit? No, he did not remember that, which +was not strange, for that was a thing he was doing +every day, "Well, I don't care how much you remember, +but the boy about whom you wrote to Jack +<span class="tei-pb" id="page288">[pg 288]</span> +<a name="Pg288" id="Pg288" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Percival, for whose mother's ease of mind you provided +the half-hundred, is back again,—strong, +straight, and well; what is more to the point, he had +the whole charge of Perry's commissariat on shore at +Yokohama, was honorably discharged out there, reads +Japanese better than you read English; and if it +will help you at all, he shall be here at your house at +breakfast." For as I spoke we stopped at Coram's +door. "Ingham," said Coram, "if you were not a +parson, I should say you were romancing." "My +child," said I, "I sometimes write a parable for the +Atlantic; but the words of my lips are verity, as all +those of the Sandemanians. Go to bed; do not even +dream of the Taghalian dialects; be sure that the Japanese +interpreter will breakfast with you, and the next +time you are in a scrape send for the nearest minister. +George, tell your brother Ezra that Mr. Coram wishes +him to breakfast here to-morrow morning at eight +o'clock; don't forget the number, Pemberton Square, +you know." "Yes, sir," said George; and Thomas +Coram laughed, said "Merry Christmas," and we +parted.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">It was time we were all in bed, especially these boys. +But glad enough am I as I write these words that the +meeting of Coram set us back that dropped-stitch in +our night's journey. There was one more delay. +We were sweeping by the Old State House, the boys +singing again, "Carol, carol, Christians," as we dashed +along the still streets, when I caught sight of Adams +<span class="tei-pb" id="page289">[pg 289]</span> +<a name="Pg289" id="Pg289" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Todd, and he recognized me. He had heard us singing +when we were at the Advertiser office. Todd is +an old fellow-apprentice of mine,—and he is now, or +rather was that night, chief pressman in the Argus +office. I like the Argus people,—it was there that I +was South American Editor, now many years ago,—and +they befriend me to this hour. Todd hailed me, +and once more I stopped. "What sent you out +from your warm steam-boiler?" "Steam-boiler, indeed," +said Todd. "Two rivets loose,—steam-room +full of steam,—police frightened,—neighborhood in +a row,—and we had to put out the fire. She would +have run a week without hurting a fly,—only a little +puff in the street sometimes. But there we are, Ingham. +We shall lose the early mail as it stands. Seventy-eight +tokens to be worked now." They always +talked largely of their edition at the Argus. Saw it +with many eyes, perhaps; but this time, I am sure, +Todd spoke true. I caught his idea at once. In +younger and more muscular times, Todd and I had +worked the Adams press by that fly-wheel for full +five minutes at a time, as a test of strength; and in +my mind's eye, I saw that he was printing his paper +at this moment with relays of grinding stevedores. +He said it was so. "But think of it to-night," said +he. "It is Christmas eve, and not an Irishman to +be hired, though one paid him ingots. Not a man +can stand the grind ten minutes." I knew that very +well from old experience, and I thanked him inwardly +<span class="tei-pb" id="page290">[pg 290]</span> +<a name="Pg290" id="Pg290" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +for not saying "the demnition grind," with Mantihni. +"We cannot run the press half the time," said he; +"and the men we have are giving out now. We +shall lose all our carrier delivery." "Todd," said I, +"is this a night to be talking of ingots, or hiring, or +losing, or gaining? When will you learn that Love +rules the court, the camp, and the Argus office." And +I wrote on the back of a letter to Campbell: "Come +to the Argus office, No. 2 Dassett's Alley, with seven +men not afraid to work"; and I gave it to John and +Sam, bade Howland take the boys to Campbell's +house,—walked down with Todd to his office,—challenged +him to take five minutes at the wheel, in memory +of old times,—made the tired relays laugh as +they saw us take hold; and then,—when I had cooled +off, and put on my Cardigan,—met Campbell, with +his seven sons of Anak, tumbling down the stairs, +wondering what round of mercy the parson had found +for them this time. I started home, knowing I should +now have my Argus with my coffee.</p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">III.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And so I walked home. Better so, perhaps, after +all, than in the lively sleigh, with the tinkling bells.</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"It was a calm and silent night!—</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Seven hundred years and fifty-three</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Had Rome been growing up to might,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">And now was queen of land and sea!</p> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page291">[pg 291]</span> +<a name="Pg291" id="Pg291" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +<p class="tei tei-l">No sound was heard of clashing wars,—</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Held undisturbed their ancient reign</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">In the solemn midnight,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">Centuries ago!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">What an eternity it seemed since I started with +those children singing carols. Bethlehem, Nazareth, +Calvary, Rome, Roman senators, Tiberius, Paul, +Nero, Clement, Ephrem, Ambrose, and all the singers,—Vincent +de Paul, and all the loving wonderworkers, +Milton and Herbert and all the carol-writers, +Luther and Knox and all the prophets,—what a +world of people had been keeping Christmas with +Sam Perry and Lycidas and Harry and me; and +here were Yokohama and the Japanese, the Daily +Argus and its ten million tokens and their readers,—poor +Fanny Woodhull and her sick mother there, +keeping Christmas too! For a finite world, these are +a good many "waits" to be singing in one poor fellow's +ears on one Christmas-tide.</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"'Twas in the calm and silent night!—</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">The senator of haughty Rome,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Impatient urged his chariot's flight,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">From lordly revel, roiling home.</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Triumphal arches gleaming swell</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">His breast, with thoughts of boundless sway</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">What recked the <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Roman</span> what befell</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">A paltry province far away,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">In the solemn midnight,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">Centuries ago!</p> +<span class="tei-pb" id="page292">[pg 292]</span> +<a name="Pg292" id="Pg292" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +</div> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"Within that province far away</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Went plodding home a weary boor;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">A streak of light before him lay,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Fallen through a half-shut stable door</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">Across his path. He passed,—for naught</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Told <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">what was going on within</span>;</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">How keen the stars, his only thought,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">The air how calm and cold and thin,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 8em" class="tei tei-l">In the solemn midnight,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 10em" class="tei tei-l">Centuries ago!"</p> +</div> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Streak of light"—Is there a light in Lycidas's +room? They not in bed! That is making a night of +it! Well, there are few hours of the day or night +when I have not been in Lycidas's room, so I let myself +in by the night-key he gave me, ran up the stairs,—it +is a horrid seven-storied, first-class lodging-house. +For my part, I had as lief live in a steeple. Two +flights I ran up, two steps at a time,—I was younger +then than I am now,—pushed open the door which +was ajar, and saw such a scene of confusion as I never +saw in Mary's over-nice parlor before. Queer! I +remember the first thing that I saw was wrong was +a great ball of white German worsted on the floor. +Her basket was upset. A great Christmas-tree lay +across the rug, quite too high for the room; a large +sharp-pointed Spanish clasp-knife was by it, with +which they had been lopping it; there were two +immense baskets of white papered presents, both upset; +but what frightened me most was the centre-table. +Three or four handkerchiefs on it,—towels, +napkins, I know not what,—all brown and red and +<span class="tei-pb" id="page293">[pg 293]</span> +<a name="Pg293" id="Pg293" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +almost black with blood! I turned, heart-sick, to +look into the bedroom,—and I really had a sense of +relief when I saw somebody. Bad enough it was, +however. Lycidas, but just now so strong and well, +lay pale and exhausted on the bloody bed, with the +clothing removed from his right thigh and leg, while +over him bent Mary and Morton. I learned afterwards +that poor Lycidas, while trimming the Christmas-tree, +and talking merrily with Mary and Morton,—who, +by good luck, had brought round his presents +late, and was staying to tie on glass balls and apples,—had +given himself a deep and dangerous wound +with the point of the unlucky knife, and had lost a +great deal of blood before the hemorrhage could be +controlled. Just before I entered, the stick tourniquet +which Morton had improvised had slipped in poor +Mary's unpractised hand, at the moment he was about +to secure the bleeding artery, and the blood followed +in such a gush as compelled him to give his whole +attention to stopping its flow. He only knew my +entrance by the "Ah, Mr. Ingham," of the frightened +Irish girl, who stood useless behind the head of the bed.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"O Fred," said Morton, without looking up, "I +am glad you are here."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And what can I do for you?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Some whiskey,—first of all."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"There are two bottles," said Mary, who was holding +the candle,—"in the cupboard behind his dressing-glass." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page294">[pg 294]</span> +<a name="Pg294" id="Pg294" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I took Bridget with me, struck a light in the dressing-room +(how she blundered about the match), and +found the cupboard door locked! Key doubtless in +Mary's pocket,—probably in pocket of "another +dress." I did not ask. Took my own bunch, willed +tremendously that my account-book drawer key should +govern the lock, and it did. If it had not, I should +have put my fist through the panels. Bottle of bedbug +poison; bottle marked "bay rum"; another bottle +with no mark; two bottles of Saratoga water. "Set +them all on the floor, Bridget." A tall bottle of +Cologne. Bottle marked in MS. What in the +world is it? "Bring that candle, Bridget." "Eau +destillée. Marron, Montreal." What in the world +did Lycidas bring distilled water from Montreal for? +And then Morton's clear voice in the other room, +"As quick as you can, Fred." "Yes! in one moment. +Put all these on the floor, Bridget." Here they are +at last. "Bourbon whiskey." "Corkscrew, Bridget."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Indade, sir, and where is it?" "Where? I +don't know. Run down as quick as you can, and +bring it. His wife cannot leave him." So Bridget +ran, and the first I heard was the rattle as she pitched +down the last six stairs of the first flight headlong. +Let us hope she has not broken her leg. I meanwhile +am driving a silver pronged fork into the Bourbon +corks, and the blade of my own penknife on the other +side.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Now, Fred," from George within. (We all call +<span class="tei-pb" id="page295">[pg 295]</span> +<a name="Pg295" id="Pg295" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Morton "George.") "Yes, in one moment," I +replied. Penknife blade breaks off, fork pulls right +out, two crumbs of cork come with it. Will that girl +never come?</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">I turned round; I found a goblet on the wash-stand; +I took Lycidas's heavy clothes-brush, and +knocked off the neck of the bottle. Did you ever do +it, reader, with one of those pressed glass bottles they +make now? It smashed like a Prince Rupert's drop +in my hand, crumbled into seventy pieces,—a nasty +smell of whiskey on the floor,—and I, holding just +the hard bottom of the thing with two large spikes +running worthless up into the air. But I seized the +goblet, poured into it what was left in the bottom, and +carried it in to Morton as quietly as I could. He bade +me give Lycidas as much as he could swallow; then +showed me how to substitute my thumb for his, and +compress the great artery. When he was satisfied that +he could trust me, he began his work again, silently; +just speaking what must be said to that brave Mary, +who seemed to have three hands because he needed +them. When all was secure, he glanced at the +ghastly white face, with beads of perspiration on the +forehead and upper lip, laid his finger on the pulse, +and said: "We will have a little more whiskey. No, +Mary, you are overdone already; let Fred bring it." +The truth was that poor Mary was almost as white as +Lycidas. She would not faint,—that was the only +reason she did not,—and at the moment I wondered +<span class="tei-pb" id="page296">[pg 296]</span> +<a name="Pg296" id="Pg296" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +that she did not fall. I believe George and I were both +expecting it, now the excitement was over. He called +her Mary and me Fred, because we were all together +every day of our lives. Bridget, you see, was still +nowhere.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">So I retired for my whiskey again,—to attack that +other bottle. George whispered quickly as I went, +"Bring enough,—bring the bottle." Did he want +the bottle corked? Would that Kelt ever come up +stairs? I passed the bell-rope as I went into the +dressing-room, and rang as hard as I could ring. I +took the other bottle, and bit steadily with my teeth +at the cork, only, of course, to wrench the end of it +off. George called me, and I stepped back. "No," +said he, "bring your whiskey."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Mary had just rolled gently back on the floor. I +went again in despair. But I heard Bridget's step +this time. First flight, first passage; second flight, +second passage. She ran in in triumph at length, +with a <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">screw-driver!</span></p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"No!" I whispered,—"no. The crooked thing +you draw corks with," and I showed her the bottle +again. "Find one somewhere and don't come back +without it." So she vanished for the second time.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Frederic!" said Morton. I think he never called +me so before. Should I risk the clothes-brush again? +I opened Lycidas's own drawers,—papers, boxes, +everything in order,—not a sign of a tool.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Frederic!" "Yes," I said. But why did I +<span class="tei-pb" id="page297">[pg 297]</span> +<a name="Pg297" id="Pg297" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +say "Yes"? "Father of Mercy, tell me what to +do."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And my mazed eyes, dim with tears,—did you ever +shed tears from excitement?—fell on an old razor-strop +of those days of shaving, made by C. WHITTAKER, +SHEFFIELD. The "Sheffield" stood in black letters +out from the rest like a vision. They make cork +screws in Sheffield too. If this Whittaker had only +made a corkscrew! And what is a "Sheffield wimble?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Hand in my pocket,—brown paper parcel.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Where are you, Frederic?" "Yes," said I, for +the last time. Twine off! brown paper off. And I +learned that the "Sheffield wimble" was one of +those things whose name you never heard before, +which people sell you in Thames Tunnel, where a +hoof-cleaner, a gimlet, a screw-driver, and a <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">corkscrew</span> +fold into one handle.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes," said I, again. "Pop," said the cork +"Bubble, bubble, bubble," said the whiskey. Bottle +in one hand, full tumbler in the other, I walked in. +George poured half a tumblerful down Lycidas's +throat that time. Nor do I dare say how much he +poured down afterwards. I found that there was need +of it, from what he said of the pulse, when it was all +over. I guess Mary had some, too.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">This was the turning-point. He was exceedingly +weak, and we sat by him in turn through the night, +giving, at short intervals, stimulants and such food as +<span class="tei-pb" id="page298">[pg 298]</span> +<a name="Pg298" id="Pg298" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +he could swallow easily; for I remember Morton was +very particular not to raise his head more than we +could help. But there was no real danger after this.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">As we turned away from the house on Christmas +morning,—I to preach and he to visit his patients,—he +said to me, "Did you make that whiskey?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"No," said I, "but poor Dod* Dalton had to furnish +the corkscrew."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And I went down to the chapel to preach. The +sermon had been lying ready at home on my desk,—and +Polly had brought it round to me,—for there had +been no time for me to go from Lycidas's home to D +Street and to return. There was the text, all as it +was the day before:—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">"They helped every one his neighbor, and every one said to his +brother, Be of good courage. So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, +and he that smootheth with the hammer him that smote the +anvil."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">And there were the pat illustrations, as I had finished +them yesterday; of the comfort Mary Magdalen +gave Joanna, the court lady; and the comfort +the court lady gave Mary Magdalen, after the mediator +of a new covenant had mediated between them; +how Simon the Cyrenian, and Joseph of Arimathea, +and the beggar Bartimeus comforted each other, +gave each other strength, common force, <span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">com-fort</span>, +when the One Life flowed in all their veins; how +on board the ship the Tent-Maker proved to be Captain, +and the Centurion learned his duty from his +<span class="tei-pb" id="page299">[pg 299]</span> +<a name="Pg299" id="Pg299" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +Prisoner, and how they "<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">All</span> came safe to shore," because +the New Life was there. But as I preached, I +caught Frye's eye. Frye is always critical; and I +said to myself, "Frye would not take his illustrations +from eighteen hundred years ago." And I saw dear +old Dod Dalton trying to keep awake, and Campbell +hard asleep after trying, and Jane Masury looking +round to see if her mother did not come in; and Ezra +Sheppard, looking, not so much at me, as at the window +beside me, as if his thoughts were the other side +of the world. And I said to them all, "O, if I could +tell you, my friends, what every twelve hours of my +life tells me,—of the way in which woman helps woman, +and man helps man, when only the ice is broken,—how +we are all rich so soon as we find out that we +are all brothers, and how we are all in want, unless +we can call at any moment for a brother's hand,—then +I could make you understand something, in the +lives you lead every day, of what the New Covenant, +the New Commonwealth, the New Kingdom is to be."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But I did not dare tell Dod Dalton what Campbell +had been doing for Todd, nor did I dare tell Campbell +by what unconscious arts old Dod had been helping +Lycidas. Perhaps the sermon would have been +better had I done so.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">But, when we had our tree in the evening at home, +I did tell all this story to Polly and the bairns, and I +gave Alice her measuring-tape,—precious with a spot +of Lycidas's blood,—and Bertha her Sheffield wimble. +<span class="tei-pb" id="page300">[pg 300]</span> +<a name="Pg300" id="Pg300" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> +"Papa," said old Clara, who is the next child, "all +the people gave presents, did not they, as they did +in the picture in your study?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Yes," said I, "though they did not all know they +were giving them."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Why do they not give such presents every day?" +said Clara.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"O child," I said, "it is only for thirty-six hours +of the three hundred and sixty-five days, that all people +remember that they are all brothers and sisters, +and those are the hours that we call, therefore, Christmas +eve and Christmas day."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"And when they always remember it," said Bertha, +"it will be Christmas all the time! What fun!"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"What fun, to be sure; but Clara, what is in the +picture?"</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Why, an old woman has brought eggs to the baby +in the manger, and an old man has brought a sheep. +I suppose they all brought what they had."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"I suppose those who came from Sharon brought +roses," said Bertha. And Alice, who is eleven, and +goes to the Lincoln School, and therefore knows everything, +said, "Yes, and the Damascus people brought +Damascus wimbles."</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"This is certain," said Polly, "that nobody tried to +give a straw, but the straw, if he really gave it, carried +a blessing."</p> +</div> + +<span class="tei-pb" id="page301">[pg 301]</span> +<a name="Pg301" id="Pg301" class="tei tei-anchor"></a> + +<hr class="doublepage" /> + +<div class="tei tei-div"> +<h1 class="tei tei-head"><span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">EDWARD E. HALE'S WRITINGS.</span></h1> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">THE GOOD TIME COMING; or, Our New Crusade.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Square 18mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.00</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"It has all the characteristics of its brilliant author,—unflagging +entertainment, helpfulness, suggestive, practical hints, and a contagious +vitality that sets one's blood tingling. Whoever has read 'Ten Times +One is Ten' will know just what we mean. We predict that the new +volume, as being a more charming story, will have quite as great a parish +of readers. The gist of the book is to show how possible it is for the +best spirits of a community, through wise organization, to form themselves +into a lever by means of which the whole tone of the social status +may be elevated, and the good and highest happiness of the helpless +many be attained through the self-denying exertions of the powerful +few."—<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Southern Churchman.</span></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">THE INGHAM PAPERS, 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"But it is not alone for their wit and ingenuity we prize Mr. Hale's +stories, but for the serious thought, the moral, or practical suggestion +underlying all of them. They are not written simply to amuse, but have +a graver purpose. Of the stories in the present volume, the best to our +thinking is 'The Rag Man and Rag Woman.'"—<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Boston Transcript.</span></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">HOW TO DO IT 16mo. $1.00</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Good sense, very practical suggestions, telling illustrations (in words), +lively fancy, and delightful humor combine to make Mr. Hale's hints +exceedingly taking and stimulating, and we do not see how either sex +can fail, after reading his pages, to know How to Talk, How to Write, +How to Read, How to go into Society, and How to Travel. These, with +Life at School, Life in Vacation, Life Alone, Habits in Church, Life +with Children, Life with your Elders, Habits of Reading, and Getting +Ready, are the several topics of the more than as many chapters, and +make the volume one which should find its way to the hands of every +boy and girl. To this end we would like to see it in every Sabbath-school +library in the land."—<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Congregationalist.</span></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">CRUSOE IN NEW YORK, and other Stories, 16mo. $1.00</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"If one desires something unique, full of wit, a veiled sarcasm that is +rich in the extreme, it will all be found in this charming little book. +The air of perfect sincerity with which they are told, the diction, +reminding one of 'The Vicar of Wakefield,' and the ludicrous +improbability of the tales, give them a power rarely met with in 'short +stories.' There is many a lesson to be learned from the quiet little +volume." +<span class="tei-pb" id="page302">[pg 302]</span> +<a name="Pg302" id="Pg302" class="tei tei-anchor"></a></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">HIS LEVEL BEST. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"We like Mr. Hale's style. He is fresh, frank, pungent, straightforward, +and pointed. The first story is the one that gives the book its +title, and it is related in a dignified manner, showing peculiar genius and +humorous talent. The contents are, 'His Level Best,' 'The Brick +Moon,' 'Water Talk,' 'Mouse and Lion,' 'The Modern Sinbad,' +'A Tale of a Salamander,'"—<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Philadelphia Exchange.</span></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">GONE TO TEXAS; or, The Wonderful Adventures of a +Pullman, 16mo. $1.00.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"There are few books of travel which combine in a romance of true love +so many touches of the real life of many people, in glimpses of happy +homes, in pictures of scenery and sunset, as the beautiful panorama +unrolled before us from the windows of this Pullman car. The book is +crisp and bright, and has a pleasant flavor; and whatever is lovely in +the spirit of its author, or of good report in his name, one may look +here and find promise of both fulfilled."—<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Exchange.</span></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">WHAT CAREER? or, The Choice of a Vocation and the +Use of Time. 16mo. $1.25.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"'What Career?' is a book which will do anybody good to read; especially +is it a profitable book for young men to 'read, mark, and inwardly +digest.' Mr. Hale seems to know what young men need, and +here he gives them the result of his large experience and careful +observation. +A list of the subjects treated in this little volume will sufficiently +indicate its scope: (1) The Leaders Lead; (2) The Specialties; (3) Noblesse +Oblige; (4) The Mind's Maximum; (5) A Theological Seminary; +(6) Character; (7) Responsibilities of Young Men; (8) Study Outside +School; (9) The Training of Men; (10) Exercise."—<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Watchman.</span></p> + + +<p class="tei tei-p">UPS AND DOWNS. An Every-Day Novel, 16mo. $1.50.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"This book is certainly very enjoyable. It delineates American life so +graphically that we feel as if Mr. Hale must have seen every rood of +ground he describes, and must have known personally every character +he so cleverly depicts. In his hearty fellowship with young people lies +his great power. The story is permeated with a spirit of glad-heartedness +and elasticity which in this hurried, anxious, money-making age it is most +refreshing to meet with in any one out of his teens; and the author's +sympathy +with, and respect for, the little romances of his young friends is +most fraternal."—<span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">New Church Magazine</span>.</p> + +<p style="text-align: center" class="tei tei-p"> * * * * * </p> + +<p class="tei tei-p"><span style="font-style: italic" class="tei tei-hi">Sold everywhere. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price, by the +Publishers</span>,</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">ROBERTS BROTHERS, BOSTON.</p> +</div> + +</div> + <div class="tei tei-back"> + <hr class="doublepage" /> + +<div id="footnotes" class="tei tei-div"><a name="toc_18" id="toc_18"></a><h1 class="tei tei-head">Notes</h1><dl class="footnote"> +<dt><a name="note_1" id="note_1"></a><a href="#noteref_1">1.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">After Chapman.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_2" id="note_2"></a><a href="#noteref_2">2.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">After Cowper and Pope. Long after!</p></dd><dt><a name="note_3" id="note_3"></a><a href="#noteref_3">3.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Iliad, vi.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_4" id="note_4"></a><a href="#noteref_4">4.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Iliad, vi—POPE.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_5" id="note_5"></a><a href="#noteref_5">5.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Iliad, xii., after Sotheby.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_6" id="note_6"></a><a href="#noteref_6">6.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">I do not know that this explanation is at all clear. Let +me, as the mathematicians say, give an instance which will illustrate +the importance of this profession. It is now a few months since I +received the following note from a distinguished member of the +Cabinet:—</p> +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p style="text-align: right" class="tei tei-p">"WASHINGTON, January ——, 1842.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"DEAR SIR:—We are in a little trouble about a little thing. There are +now in this city no less than three gentlemen bearing credentials to +government as Chargés from the Republic of Oronoco. They are, of course, +accredited from three several home governments. The President signified, +when the first arrived, that he would receive the Chargé from that +government, on the 2d proximo, but none of us know who the right Chargé +is. The newspapers tell nothing satisfactory about it. I suppose you +know: can you write me word be fore the 2d?</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"The gentlemen are: Dr. Estremadura, accredited from the 'Constitutional +Government,'—his credentials are dated the 2d of November; Don Paulo +Vibeira, of the 'Friends of the People,' 5th of November; M. Antonio de +Vesga, 'Constitution of 1823,' October 27th. They attach great +importance to our decision, each having scrip to sell. In haste, truly +yours."</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">To this letter I returned the following reply:—</p> + +<blockquote style="margin: 2em 4em" class="tei tei-quote"> +<p class="tei tei-p">"SIR:—Our latest dates from Oronoco are to the 13th ultimo. The +'Constitution of '23' was then in full power. If, however, the policy of +our government be to recognize the gentlemen whose principals shall be +in office on the 2d proximo, it is a very different affair.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"You may not be acquainted with the formulas for ascertaining the +duration of any given modern revolution. I now use the following, which +I find almost exactly correct.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Multiply the age of the President by the number of statute miles from +the equator, divide by the number of pages in the given Constitution; +the result will be the length of the outbreak, in days. This formula +includes, as you will see, an allowance for the heat of the climate, the +zeal of the leader, and the verbosity of the theorists. The Constitution +of 1823 was reproclaimed on the 25th of October last If you will give +the above formula into the hands of any of your clerks, the calculation +from it will show that that government will go out of power on the 1st +of February, at 25 minutes after 1, P.M. Your choice, on the 2d, must be +therefore between Vibeira and Estremadura; here you will have no +difficulty. Bobádil (Vibeira's principal) was on the 13th ultimo +confined under sentence of death, at such a distance from the capital +that he cannot possibly escape and get into power before the 2d of +February. The 'Friends of the People,' in Oronoco, have always moved +slowly; they never got up an insurrection in less than nineteen days' +canvassing; that was in 1839. Generally they are even longer. Of course, +Estremadura will be your man.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"Believe me, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">"GEORGE HACKMATACK"</p> +</blockquote> + +<p class="tei tei-p">The Cabinet had the good sense to act on my advice. My information +proved nearly correct, the only error being one of seven minutes +in the downfall of the 1823 Constitution. This arose from my making +no allowance for difference of longitude between Piaut, where their +government was established, and Opee, where it was crushed. The +difference of time between those places is six minutes and fifty-three +seconds, as the reader may see on a globe.</p> + +<p class="tei tei-p">Estremadura was, of course, presented to the President, and sold +his scrip.]</p></dd><dt><a name="note_7" id="note_7"></a><a href="#noteref_7">7.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Newspaper men of 1868 will be amused to think that half past +one was late in 1836. At that time the "Great Western Mail" was +due in Boston at 6 P.M., and there was no later news except "local," +or an occasional horse express.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_8" id="note_8"></a><a href="#noteref_8">8.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">The reader will observe the Arcadian habits of 1836, when the +German was yet unknown.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_9" id="note_9"></a><a href="#noteref_9">9.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Anno Christi, 60.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_10" id="note_10"></a><a href="#noteref_10">10.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Tacit. Annal., xiv. 9</p></dd><dt><a name="note_11" id="note_11"></a><a href="#noteref_11">11.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Anno Christi, 60. See Neander, P. & T., B. iii. ch. x</p></dd><dt><a name="note_12" id="note_12"></a><a href="#noteref_12">12.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">This correspondence, as preserved in the collections of +fragments, +has too much the aspect of a school-boy exercise to claim much credit, +though high authorities support it as genuine. But the probability +that there was such a correspondence, though now lost, is very strong.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_13" id="note_13"></a><a href="#noteref_13">13.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">The Fire Alarm is the invention of Dr. William F. Channing:</p> + +<div style="text-align: left" class="tei tei-lg"> +<p class="tei tei-l">"A wizard of such dreaded fame,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">That when in Salamanca's cave,</p> +<p style="margin-left: 6em" class="tei tei-l">Him listed his magic wand to wave,</p> +<p class="tei tei-l">The bells would ring in Notre Dame"</p> +</div></dd><dt><a name="note_14" id="note_14"></a><a href="#noteref_14">14.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">I am proud to say that such suggestions have had so much +weight, that in 1868 the alarm strikes the number of the box which first +telegraphs danger, six-four, six-four, &c., six being the district +number, and four the box number in that district.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_15" id="note_15"></a><a href="#noteref_15">15.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Tetrao lagopus.</p></dd><dt><a name="note_16" id="note_16"></a><a href="#noteref_16">16.</a></dt><dd><p class="tei tei-p">Which means, "In the thirteenth century," my dear little bell +and coral reader. You have rightly guessed that the question means +"What is the history of the Reformation in Hungary?"</p></dd></dl></div> + </div> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Man Without a Country and Other +Tales, by Edward E. Hale + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY *** + +***** This file should be named 15868-h.htm or 15868-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/8/6/15868/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci, Joshua +Hutchinson 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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